Longest Chapter yet!

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Chapter 18: The Chapel

The Journey back was a lot longer.

This time Makoto did not ride in a Caravan so he had to walk to whole stretch.

But at the same time he was able to continue even after nightfall so it was not too bad.

He generally decided to avoid most Monsters.

The anger had still not left him even after traveling for hours and he had no intention of playing for time, as far as he knew the Quest could have a timer he just wasn't aware of.

On the road back to Talis he was attacked twice, once during the night and the other time during the day.

Both times it was Goblin Bandits and Raiders.

They only ranged from level 14 to 16 so he quickly disposed of them and scared the rest away.

Even the excitement of battle could not quench the fire that had been burning inside of him since he saw Boran.

Just thinking back again and seeing the broken man before his inner eye fueled the rage inside of him even more.

During his Journey and the few times he had to fight he naturally did pick up the loot that dropped and put it in his already overflowing Inventory.

In his rush to Talis, Makoto forgot to sell the Junk inside of his Inventory and to restock on supplies.

He would have to do that in Talis before he went to look for the Chapel.

Something he did during his travel was to check his status window, as it had been a long time since he last looked at it.

Status WindowName:MakotoLevel:16Alignment:NeutralClass:Crimson WarriorRace:HumanGender:MaleTitlesSlayer of All, Righteous Demon, First of a KindHealth:1210/1210Mana:560/560Strength:106Agility:112 (+5)Vitality:72 (+20)Wisdom:40Intelligence:40Fame:26Evasiveness:38Special Effects:+5% Damage against all living beings.

+15% Damage against Chaotic or Individuals with an 'Evil Alignment.

It had been quite some time indeed since he had gotten his class.

Just out of curiosity he checked the leader-board and was pleasantly surprised.

"98th place, not bad."

The experience he had gotten in the Spider Dungeon and from the Tasks in Shivercliff had been quite good indeed if he was able to jump that far in only 2 days.

Giro was still at first place, his level at 21 now.

He had gathered quite some fame for himself as far as Makoto could see from the forums.

During his Journey back, Makoto read through the forums while walking and was able to find out quite a few things.

First of all, nobody had any idea what the fame stat actually did even after all this time.

There was quite a bit of speculation but no actual evidence or hard proof of what it really did.

Secondly, it was possible to achieve stat gains through specific actions like Makoto had gotten for Fame and Evasiveness.

You could get them for every stat but no one really knew how to and the few people who got them in Strength and Agility for example said it was not worth it as it took many hours and you only got a single stat point for all your efforts.

Also you could not get it performing the same action again apparently so that complicated things even more.

In the end it seemed like a neat feature for free stats but at the same time useless as it was so difficult actually acquiring them.

Dismissing the idea of farming stats, Makoto opened another window and looked at the most viewed forums.

There was some basic information that he already knew about but most players had been unaware of some of the simple facts.

In Azalon, the realism was a big part of the game, that meant if you poked someone's eye out in a fight you would actually give them the 'Blind' status effect, same with 'Cripple' or 'Bleed' like Makoto had done so many times in the past.

You could give all types of status effects but at the same time you could also receive them, making PvP even nastier than it already was.

Another thing he found out was that there was an option to duel, you would die but respawn at the same place and not lose any experience.

It was simply to test who was the better player.

The best place to test that was in the Tournament that was held every month in Elisante, the Capital of Asuria.

Makoto had heard quite a lot about this from Veronica already as she was burning with the desire to fight other players there.

It also seemed to be a big thing in the forums as he could see countless comments about who was the strongest or would win if they fought.

Maybe I should check it out after I finish things in Talis?

It was worth a shot going to the Capital as he had no other destination right now and Makoto had already heard so much about the Labyrinth City Elisante that it had piqued his interest.

But before he could think about going to a new city and fight other players for fame and glory he had to take care of something rather nasty.

Something that made his fingers twitch and was very nasty indeed...

The destruction of the Blood Moon Church was something he was eager to carry out...

Licking his lips in an attempt to quench this bloodthirsty feeling he had, the people Makoto passed while heading towards Talis had a cold shiver run down their spine when they saw his blood red eyes.

.....

Late in the evening after traveling for more than a day, he finally returned to the Marine city.

Instead of feeling relieved after looking at the beautiful City with all it's wonders and artworks, Makoto only felt an odd sensation of things to come.

With heavy steps Makoto walked over the stone bridge connecting Talis to the mainland.

His eyes glowed in a demonic red beneath the hood of his cloak and many avoided eye contact with him.

They could feel the cruel air around him and tried to avoid his path as best as possible.

NPC guards swallowed after he walked past them and a few believers of a certain church started kneeling on the ground, their hands clasped and their eyes closed, praying to whomever they believed in.

Many could feel it as he passed them.

The devil had come to Talis.

Dressed in a blood red cloak with matching blood red eyes he wandered the streets, stalking the still unaware prey, waiting.

Completely unaware of the things happening all around him, Makoto kept on walking through the streets, he had indeed changed since he was last here, for better or worse was left to dispute.

After finally reaching his destination he put his hand on the shoulder of the Merchant and spoke.

"Dio, it is good to see you my friend."

The small man turned around and his eyes grew big after seeing Makoto.

"Damn, i-is that you boy? It has only been what, a bit more than a week and I barely recognize ya. What happened to your eyes?"

Dio asked with a seriously concerned look and Makoto looked at him questioningly.

"What do you mean? What is wrong with my eyes?"

Without saying anything else the merchant turned around and quickly handed him a mirror.

In it, Makoto could see his own face but indeed many things had changed.

His skin had grown pale and his face haggard with his cheek bones showing, giving his usually plain face sharp edges.

His normally dark eyes glowed in a dim blood red and his stare alone seemed to be able to make a grown man cry.

Utterly stunned he stared at this sinister appearance and finally looked towards Dio.

"I honestly have no idea how this happened..."

He finally said while handing back the handmirror.

Still with a worried look, Dio nodded and pocketed the small object.

"Well tell me boy, why ya visiting my little stall, please don't tell me you finally decided on robbing me poor..."

"No, I wanted to sell a few things that I got from my Journey to the north if that would be alright with you."

"Show me what you got first and then we talk business."

Makoto nodded and pulled forth a big bundle of Venom Sacks, many pelts and other junk he had gathered during his hunting spree.

He decided to keep 100 Venom Sacks for a later date and sold the abundant rest.

Dio was quite surprised seeing so many rather unique item's and after contemplating for a while made his offer.

"How bout I give ya 15 Silver for it all? We get things like this rarely and I think I could get a big profit if I play me cards right so you in or not?"

The Merchant asked with an outstretched hand.

Makoto had not expected this much to begin with and shook the man's hand without even needing to think about it.

"Alright, now before you give me the money, could you take away the costs for about 10 bandages, food for 2 weeks worth of travel and 5 mana potions?"

Makoto asked and Dio nodded while getting to work.

5 Minutes later he was handed 9 Silver and 78 Copper together with everything he had asked for.

"Pleasure doing business with you."

Makoto said with a faint grin and turned to leave.

He could still feel the unending rage burn inside of him, the thought crossed his mind that exactly this rage could be the reason for his outward appearance to have changed this much.

"Don't go and do anything stupid, ya hear me boy?!"

Dio shouted from afar and Makoto couldn't hide the thankful smile on his face.

Even if the Merchant always complained how Makoto was robbing him poor they still had something akin to friendship between each other which he very much appreciated.

It didn't matter to Makoto anymore if Dio was an NPC or not, seeing Boran together with many others in Shivercliff taught Makoto that even those NPCs could feel loss, experience joy and cry over the death of someone close to them.

They were a part of this world and they could share joy as well as pain with each other.

Did it even matter at this point if they were real or not?

The only thing that was tragic about this whole thing was that the NPCs that died inside Azalon would never come back.

They could not revive like players.

Just like in Real Life, for them there was no reset button.

And again Makoto experienced a memory, the milky white eyes of a little girl, not older than 4 brutally killed and drained of her blood.

The blood red light in his own eyes intensified yet again and the anger welled inside of him, ever consuming, burning at his very core.

The knowledge that if he would have just been a bit faster in the Spider Dungeon or finished the Tasks right away... that he could have possible saved them... that was what truly filled him with rage.

Shaking off the visions of carnage and murder that dwelled deep inside of him, Makoto was aware of his immediate surroundings again and started talking to a few NPCs.

He was asking around about a Chapel inside Talis, it was his only clue after all and a building like that could not just simply have been built in one night so someone must know something.

Soon enough a guard pointed him the way.

"Yeah I know the old thing, it's abandoned now but if I remember correctly if you turn right at the docks you should be able to see it. I don't recommend entering it as the building is quite old and it has been said that it is at risk of collapsing so tread carefully."

Thanking the guardsman, Makoto turned and walked towards the docks.

The smell of sea and unwashed people grew stronger the closer he got and after getting to a cross section he turned right.

Soon enough he could see white marble reflect the last lights of the day.

The white Chapel looked more like a temple with its many columns and ornaments decorating the structure.

Something akin to decay was visible, cracks in the smooth stone, plants breaking through the foundation and a few broken slabs here and there.

Someone had spanned a white cloth over the entrance so Makoto had to duck and crawl on the ground a bit to actually enter the Chapel.

The inside was quite big.

Wooden benches filled the gigantic room, many of them broken and full of dust.

One of the Columns inside had also broken down and was effectively blocking off the left side of the room.

Without making any noise, Makoto explored the room.

He knew his mission was to kill everyone inside of the Chapel so there had to be at least a dozen enemies without question.

Alerting them all to his presence without knowing how strong they were was a bad move, even if he was burning full of rage and desire to put things right.

As far as he could tell the whole entire room was empty and abandoned.

Only after circling around the Column could he see the stone slab that had been removed from the ground, revealing a hidden staircase that led downwards.

Keeping the secret entrance in mind, Makoto did not go down the stairs right away.

If that was the entrance to the main force of the Blood Moon Church he would make sure that he was not overlooking anyone that could still be in the actual Chapel.

With careful steps, Makoto sneaked past one pillar after another until he finally arrived at the actual altar at the end of the room.

He immediately recognized it as the same altar that had been prayed to in the other two rituals, even here the entire stone slab on top of it had been coated in a layer of dried blood.

Disgusted, Makoto turned away and saw a small door that could possibly lead to another room inside the Chapel.

Same as before he made sure not to make any noise and pressed his ear against the wood of the door.

Faintly but still audible he could hear voices through the wood.

They seemed to be too far away to be alerted if the door was suddenly opened so while keeping his sword at the ready, Makoto entered the room.

This seemed to be the Infirmary, possibly here to treat anyone who knocked on the Chapel's door for medical aid.

Rows of beds with white sheets over them could be seen, all of them separated by a white cloth, giving each patient at least some privacy.

At the end of it all he could see the back of a red hooded figure, sitting at a table, the flickering light of a candle eerily illuminating everything around it.

After sneaking a bit closer, Makoto could see 2 shadows through the white cloth, outlined by the light.

3 people in total.

Gripping his sword tightly, Makoto straightened himself and envisioned the faces of Boran an the others at Shivercliff again.

Adding more fuel to the already brightly burning flame inside of his chest.

Without hiding his steps anymore, Makoto approached the Blood Moon believers, finally able to see letters above each head.

Blood Moon Priest: lvl 18

Heads turned his way and without hurry, Makoto kept walking towards them.

Scrambling to get up from their chairs the 3 Blood Moon Priests grabbed into their robes and pulled out identical daggers.

"Who are you stranger? Leave this place immediately, this is sacred ground!"

"Bullshit, nothing sacred about the Blood Moon Church, the only thing that is sacred to you is sacrificing the lives of innocent people, fucking fanatics."

Disgusted, Makoto spit on their feet, enraging the surrounding Priests.

"How dare you speak of our church like that, name yourself stranger so we may put an end to your miserable existence!"

One of the hooded man shouted, waving his dagger angrily.

Makoto couldn't help but smile.

"Oh, forgive me for being so rude and not introducing myself to human trash like you.

My name is Makoto, Slayer of All, previously called Dark Crusader and now a Righteous Demon, here to exact vengeance for all the lives that the Blood Moon Church has taken.

Basically, I'm here to fucking kill you all."

After finishing his sentence he lunged forward and with a deep roar and the red light in his eyes growing stronger he rammed his sword into the nearest Priest while activating 'Curse Blade'.

328 Damage dealt!

You have put a status effect on your opponent!

Bleed: -28 hp every 2 seconds for 14 seconds.

You have put a status effect on your opponent!

Poisoned: -20 hp every second for 15 seconds.

Luckily for him the additional effect of his sword activated and now, experiencing both status effects stacked on top of each other at the same time, the Priest's health took a quick dive and Makoto had time to focus the other two.

With an evil grin he jumped forward, evading a stab.

Spinning on his heel and quickly crouching down he executed a low slash and hit all 4 knee caps of the other 2 Priests.

198 Damage dealt!

176 Damage dealt!

You have put a status effect on your opponent!

Cripple: -40% movement and attack speed until the battle is finished.

154 Damage dealt!

201 Damage dealt!

You have put a status effect on your opponent!

Cripple: -40% movement and attack speed until the battle is finished.

With a scream, both Priests fell to the floor and dropped their respective weapons while grasping at their damaged knees.

The screams around him excited Makoto and with a gentle motion he cut along one arm of the nearest Priest, fountains of blood gushed forth into the air and Makoto could practically taste it on his lips.

Without any mercy he gave one of the Priest countless cuts, letting him bleed like a pig while making the other two watch the blood drenched and screaming Priest flail about.

"Demon! You goddamn Demon!"

One of the Priests howled and Makoto couldn't help but break into a mad laughing fit.

"You call me a fucking Demon after doing the same thing to so many others? Goddamn Hypocrite, this is a taste of your own medicine and now shut it."

Sheathing his sword, Makoto stepped closer and grabbed the upper and lower jaw of the Priest that had called him a Demon.

With a roar and using all the Strength he possessed he opened the man's mouth as far as he could until a loud crunch accompanied by a bloodcurdling scream went through the room.

Tossing the lower part of the man's jaw to the side, Makoto wiped his hands clean on his cloak.

"That's what you get for speaking up to me."

He said with a smile and watched the Priest grasp for his face, trying to stop the constant flow of blood that escaped his hands.

Turning towards the last Priest that was shaking like a leaf in the wind, his eyes big like cart wheels, Makoto couldn't stop the sinister smile that appeared on his face.

Seeing it, the already physically and mentally battered Priest let out a high pitched squeak and then fell on his back with the white of his eyes visible.

He had literally fainted.

Surprised about the turn of events, Makoto was interrupted by a sudden system message.

For your incredible actions and continued efforts in putting the fear of god into many beings you have unlocked a Skill!

Aura of the Beast:Your presence alone shakes the hearts of many, with an air of savagery and cruelty around you even guards do not want to take actions against you, fear is your most powerful tool and the use of it comes naturally to you.Skill Type:active/passiveSkill Level1 (23%)Skill Effect:Everyone around you (6 feet at current level) will have their stats reduced by 1% and accuracy dropped by 5%.Additional Effect:Your eyes have permanently changed color.Uses:5 mana per second.

It was an incredibly interesting Skill that would be pretty useful at later levels but the drain on mana if he also used 'Curse Blade' while having this aura activated was unreal.

It generally fit his playstyle of giving his opponents constant status effects or de-buffs so he was pretty happy about acquiring it.

Turning towards the 3 Blood Moon Priests, an evil smile was visible on Makoto's face and the red of his eyes shimmered for an instant.

While grabbing another Priest at his jaw a scream echoed through the Chapel followed by the sinister laugh of something that could be described as worse than the whole Blood Moon Church itself...

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Attention!

I realized yesterday that today is the official 2 weeks anniversary for Azalon so I decided to give you guys double chapter today!

But wait there's more!

Not only did i write two chapters with a word count of over 3500 words each yesterday, I also worte the whole storyline for Volume two.

It was a ROUGH script which turned into over 20+ pages!

I QUITE LITERALLY WROTE FOR NEARLY 12 HOURS YESTERDAY! (Toilet breaks included)

I now only have stumps instead of hands... (No but without kidding I had cramps in my arms when i went to bed)

Hope you enjoy and see you in a few hours for the final chapter of Volume 1! :D