“Right towards me like a good dog,” the Warden’s laughter cut through the chamber as Mitch sprinted towards him. The man’s glow grew as he pulled more energy from the pods that surrounded him.

  Galadrith glowed in Mitch’s hand as he propelled himself with his full strength. “Shut him up,” the sword hissed in his mind. Rex growled in agreement, expanding and contracting in time with Mitch as he panted heavily.

  Mitch set fire to souls with Soul Sacrifice. Each one seared through his flesh, filling him with raw energy that forced him to move faster. Mitch barely considered the loss of souls as their fuel pushed him. Their sacrifice would aid him in ending the nightmare of the Farm.

  Settlement Amount: 257(-6) Souls, 338 Beast Souls, 0 Credits, 556 Flesh.

  Before he knew it, Mitch was before one of the pods that fed the Warden. Inside, a small figure hung limp and cut–a gnome, withered and broken. Even in his rushed state, Mitch could see the faint rise and fall of their chest.

  “Break it.” Galadrith snarled.

  Mitch leapt through the air, raising Galadrith high. The blade’s crimson aura flared. With a roar, Mitch brought the sword crashing down onto the pod.

  The pod shattered in a violent burst of purple shards that exploded out. The gnome tumbled to the ground, soul still captive in the jar that clattered but did not shatter onto the ground. The soul was withered and flickering. Mitch heard the gnome’s pained moans as he slumped to the ground, shaking from pain.

  Thankfully, the tendrils of energy connecting the pod to the Warden snapped like brittle threads.

  The Warden staggered behind his wall. His glowing body dimmed slightly. “You dare–?”

  Mitch trembled from the strain of the Soul Sacrifices. But he wasn’t done. He planted his feet and swung again at the next pod. It too fed the Warden’s power.

  Mitch’s second strike cleaved through the pod’s shimmering barrier with another crack. Purple light erupted as it shattered, and an elf fell forward, their cry of anguish piercing.

  They hit the ground hard. Limbs trembling as they clutched their cut chest.

  Another tendril of energy snapped away from the Warden and dissolved into the air. The elves' hands reached for the jar that held their withered soul and cradled it to their chest, soul still trapped in the jar.

  But the Warden’s laughter only grew louder. The glow around his body pulsed, pulling thicker tendrils, as he drew even more energy from the pods that surrounded him.

  “Clever boy. But a couple of cracks won’t stop me.” The Warden’s sneer was like poison.

  Mitch turned to face the glowing wall shielding the Warden. “You think you’re untouchable,” he growled. “But you’re standing right here.”

  With all his strength, he swung Galadrith. The soul sword connected with the wall in a cataclysmic strike. A deafening roar filled the chamber, purple shards exploding outward as the barrier shattered under the blow.

  The Warden stumbled backward, his face testing into a wicked grin. “You know,” he said mockingly. “You should really work on that anger, doggy.”

  Before Mitch could move, the Warden’s hand shot forward, his red-ringed finger glowing with a brilliant crimson light.

  A funnel of Abyssal fire roared forth. Massive, all-consuming torrent of molten agony that hit Mitch like a storm.

  The firestorm struck Mitch, engulfing him from head to toe. The heat seared through his flesh and bone. His skin bubbled and melted away, his muscle burned away, and the fire raged on towards his bones. The fallen elf and gnome were extinguished in the flame instantly.

  Mitch reached for their souls in the flames, but they were gone. Like their bodies, their souls had been roasted away.

  No!

  Rex’s agonized howl flowed in his mind, the Shadowshroud shrinking under the assault. His armor reduced quickly as Rex was depleted from the assault.

  No! Rex! Hold on!

  Mitch’s legs buckled under the overwhelming pain. But he refused to collapse before the Warden.

  Mitch devoured his reserves of flesh in a desperate attempt to keep him alive. Each wave of healing rebuilt what the fire destroyed, only for it to be burned again.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Settlement Amount: 257 Souls, 338 Beast Souls, 0 Credits, 235(-321) Flesh.

  His nerves were ablaze with pain that stretched eternally. But even as his body was reduced to a smoldering ruin, Mitch stood.

  He took one step forward through the flame.

  Then another.

  Mitch’s mind wavered, slipping into the abyss of pain as Agony’s Embrace surged uncontrollably. The cycle of suffering and strength couldn’t keep up with the torrent of fire tearing him apart. His body screamed for relief. His spirit flickered on the edge of collapse. He could feel it. His end was coming.

  But in the depths of his torment, a single thought cut through. Sharp and unyielding.

  All of them. Hathgar. Sable. Varak. Rex. They’re counting on me.

  The faces of the tortured souls flashed in his mind like a brand against the darkness. Sable, fierce and unrelenting, fighting with everything she had. Hathgar, laughing and bold, a glimmer of hope in his new life. Varak, determined to change her path, seeking redemption in his shadow. Galadrith, a scarred soul, offering his unwavering service.

  Then came Ron. His fear-stricken face before he pulled the trigger. The man who had brought Mitch into this twisted world. Who had set him on this path of debt, pain, and unrelenting suffering.

  Fucking Ron.

  The weight of it all pressed down on him like a mountain. Their pain intertwined with his own. It wasn’t just his agony. It was theirs. It was the weight of the debt that had consumed his actions and dragged him into this endless cycle of torment.

  And still, he stood. He stood before the torrent of Abyssal fire, refusing to fall. He stood for himself. For his friends. For those that followed him.

  Until he became something more.

  Affliction Skill Threshold Hit

  Affliction Skill Upgraded

  Agony’s Embrace

  Level 8(+1)

  Pain is not just power—it is defiance. Pain no longer defines you; it frees you.

  Harness suffering into unrelenting strength, permanently fortifying your body and amplifying your resolve.

  Consume Souls or Flesh to heal and rebuild. Souls may fuel what flesh alone cannot.

  +Mantle of Defiance (Sublevel 1)

  Radiate an invisible aura of defiance.

  For five beats of your heart, stand unshaken before horror, damage, or pain. Recharges through endured suffering.

  Mitch’s body seized as the upgrade took hold. The notification flashed, but there was no time to process it. The howling pain of Rex filled his thoughts. Without hesitation, Mitch activated the sub ability.

  Mantle of Defiance Activated

  He propelled himself forward, the Mantle of Defiance around him, unseen, unyielding. It repelled the firestorm’s suffocating force. For five beats of his heart, Mitch was untouchable. An unstoppable force tearing through the flames.

  “Hold on, Rex!” Mitch’s voice was raw with desperation. He felt the Shadowshroud’s anguish echoing in his mind. The pain of his companion blistering and battered beneath the relentless torrent of fire. He couldn’t let this continue. He wouldn’t.

  Rex’s presence withered to fragile threads clinging to his form. But Rex was alive. Still there. That was all Mitch needed to push harder.

  The Warden’s laughter faltered, then died completely as Mitch emerged from the inferno.

  A hulking figure of burned flesh. He strode forward, every step filled with wrath.

  “How…How are you still alive!?” the Warden sputtered as his flame torrent sputtered.

  Mitch didn’t answer immediately. His body trembled, blood dripping from open wounds as flesh regrew from his healing reserves.

  Settlement Amount: 257 Souls, 338 Beast Souls, 0 Credits, 209(-34) Flesh.

  “We’re not done,” Mitch answered the Warden coldly. He took another step forward, Galadrith glowing red in his hand. “And you hurt my fucking dog.”

  Rex whimpered weakly in his mind. His presence felt faint but alive. Mitch’s rage burned at the sound, but relief also made its way through.

  Rex was still with him. Barely, but he was there.

  Mitch approached the Warden as the man stumbled backwards, panic creeping across his face.

  Hathgar’s screams echoed through the Farm.

  “It’s not possible!” the Warden sputtered, stumbling back as Mitch closed the distance. His hands shook, “What are you? You’re…you’re no man–you’re a monster!”

  Sable’s wires snapped forward and wrapped tightly around the Warden’s arms and chest. The man trashed, his movements erratic. “You filthy—” he snarled, but his voice faltered as his body began to dissolve into a shimmering purple mist. “You can’t hold me. I am the master here!”

  The Warden’s form continued to dissolve, starting to siphon through the tendrils toward the nearest pod. He slipped through Sable’s tightening wires. The mist curled and darted like a living thing.

  Mitch leapt at the man as he continued to dissolve, his form getting away.

  “You’re mine!” Mitch roared. He swung Galadrith, but the mist evaded him, flowing faster toward its escape. He couldn’t let his monster escape–not after everything.

  “No!” Sable shouted, her wires pulling tighter on his disintegrating form. “You are NOT escaping.”

  Galadrith’s voice rang out in Mitch’s mind. “I will not stand for this monster to escape.”

  With a burst of crimson energy, a chain shot out from Galadrith’s hilt. The links rattled as they stretched through the air.

  Galadrith had unleashed his chains, and they shot forward faster than Mitch’s eye could track.

  The Warden’s misted form twisted towards a pod as the chain closed in. His scream echoed in time with Hathgar’s wails.

  And then Galadrith’s Chains struck.