Death on the Field

The battlefield was greater than it looked from the distance, it seemed almost unending, and perhaps it was. She had seen that this place had elements that were similar to the Ethereal. Its rules were not the same as those in the Real Realm. The laws were different.

As they approached, she tried to get a sense of the battle, but found that she couldn't really focus on anything inside the barrier. It was as if there was a covering over the battle that shielded it from all senses and prevented her mind from understanding. She could see in, but she found that it was almost as if everything she saw just slipped her mind. Like her eyes saw, but her mind couldn't register. She could tell that there were people fighting ahead, but nothing else beyond that. She couldn't even hear the fighting.

Nathan cracked his knuckles, then glanced at her and grinned. A moment later he ran straight for the battlefield, surprising her. He jumped in and passed the barrier that blocked the senses. A moment later she saw a commotion and flashes of fire.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She didn't really feel like fighting, not without a cause at least. Perhaps that made her ill-suited for the Warrior Afterlife. Perhaps she wouldn't ever arrive here when her time came. There were none of her family here other than Nathan. She knew that many had been warriors, or soldiers at least. And she had asked him why that was, but never got a real answer.

She looked at the battle, and almost turned around, but ultimately she decided to do as her brother had asked.

She knew that he was trying to help her. And even though she didn't know how this could help her, she trusted him enough.

She equipped her gear and called out Resav out of her soul, then she stepped through and entered the field.

The moment she stepped through and onto the battlefield she froze. It was as if the world opened up to her again. The noise was deafening. Cries filled the air, mixed in with the sounds of metal hitting metal, of flesh being sundered, of blood hitting the ground. Explosions and whistles of arrows passing through the air. The sensation of perks and abilities being activated. It all coalesced into a music that was very familiar to her, violence, battle, war.

Memories of the years past flashed through her mind, the scent of it hit her nostrils and she remembered what it felt to feel warm blood splash on her face, to taste it on her lips, to smell it burning as her fire evaporated it from her skin.

She lost herself in her memories so deeply that she didn't even notice when a warrior rushed at her. But even so deeply lost in her head, her body was honed in battle. Her Battle Knowledge perk warned her and she moved on instinct, enough that his attack missed its target and hit her in the shoulder instead of the head.

Her armor rang as the axe smashed into it, and did nothing. Her armor was far stronger, and her stats meant that she was barely moved by his strength.

The warrior blinked at her, then pulled back, raising his axe to attack again. Nayra rolled her shoulder, and when he came to attack again she raised her shield. She caught the blow, then took a step forward, bracing herself she bashed with the shield. He tried to block, but her strength was greater. She sent him flying away into a group of warriors fighting nearby, bowling them all over.

Her sense of Death shook, it was strange. She could feel it, yet she knew that it was incomplete. As if there was something missing from it here. It was faint, as if just a low tier of it was present. Her stats didn't increase as much as a real Death would've made it.

People were "dying" next to her, but from what Nathan had told her they didn't truly die. This place protected them from even Soul damage. Nothing here could kill a Soul, perks that could just didn't work. Well, nothing except the Aspect of True Death. But that didn't really exist, it was a side effect of Soul damage, only Ryun had a true source of it, and thankfully he hadn't tried to test it out.

Nayra let the flow of battle wash over her with Battle Trance, feeling the heartbeat of the violence. And then, she stepped forward, joining the fun.

Qi flowed through her body as her {Mantle of the Rising Mists} bolstered her stats, making her stronger, faster, better in every way. She let her Aura out at a low intensity and a thin Scorching Mist surrounded her, making the weaker warriors turn and run away while some caught on fire.

Her spear sang through the air, and fire surrounded her. She took down a dozen warriors in the span of a second. And soon her presence on the field was noticed. The beat of the battle changed, shifted as the grand free for all turned its attention to her.

She felt herself smile behind her helmet. It had been so long since she had been in a battle quite like this, surrounded by other warriors. Her last battles had been against monsters, and they didn't have the same impact on her as this did. She felt it in her core. This was where she belonged. Among the warriors.

Nayra was the Chooser of the Slain, and monster couldn't be chosen. It had been so long since she had been in a battle where she could choose a death of a warrior.

But this, even though she knew that none of them could truly die, this made her remember the Aspect of Death that was inside of her very being. Killing in combat was part of Death, and even though this didn't truly kill anyone, she could feel the echo of the Aspect in herself with every warrior she took down in a shower of blood. It was her job to choose, and to usher them to the Afterlife after.

She let herself be free, pushing the thoughts of the Aspect and her Class aside and just allowed herself to enjoy the moment. The freedom of fighting against others without needing to worry about who they were, why they were fighting, or if it was right for her to kill them.

Her arrival shook the field, as she used her bolstering perk on those around her. She overrode the filters on her perk, and Lady of Battle made them stronger, to better challenge her.

With [Dawn Dash] she moved through them, stabbing and slashing with her entire form covered in [Deathfire Immolation].

She could feel her flames consuming bodies, creating slivers of Death, but not the true end that came with True Death. She put all those thoughts aside and continued fighting, just enjoying herself.

Then, stronger warriors found her. Those who had died near the peaks of their focuses. The first was a caster, who ruptured the Earth beneath her.

Wings of fire sprouted from her back and she took to the sky. Then stabbed out with Er’ishi Resav, using God-killing Spear. Her awakened spear elongated, and pierced him from afar.

She pulled the giant spear out now, then triggered Titan-killing Spear and increased the size of the spear tip then she swiped across the ground and over dozens of warriors. She was Chooser of the Slain, but there was no one to choose on this battlefield, they were all already dead.

But she felt the change on the entire battlefield wash over her as everyone noticed her. As they all felt her arrival, and with her arrived Death on the Field.

With a smile on her face, she jumped flew back down to meet more warriors, to fight with no care in the world at all.