Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

Yvette's appart battle prowess did not particularly surprise the Larnak relatives, however, although a few of them could boast of surpassing her age by a Decade or less while also consisttly keeping up with their martial regimts unlike her, held back by Herbert's strict distribution of resources, they barely surpassed the Martial might of Guard Captains.

It made for an annoying disparity in Yvette's aura compared to theirs.

All that of course was thrust to the side.

With the Stygian Captains outnumbering their numbers, they all got into attacking/defsive stances, gripping their weapons tight while following Yvette's lead.

Ev the Captains were of a similar conviction.

The Lady of the Estate did not have to ev say a word. Her quickness to do battle in defse of the Estate spurred them all to rally with her as the de facto leader of their squad of sorts.

Yvette could feel their confidce flowing. She could feel them rallying behind her and her lips formed into a smirk,

'This might be easier than I thought,' she reasoned.

Fear was a powerful subjugation tool and the fun part was, it didn't ev have to come from her. All she needed to do was supply the tiniest of hopes and she was already projecting a capable dominant image. Planting seeds to reduce possible opposition for wh THAT time came.

The Stygian Captain she subdued, she did not kill. If she killed him, ev if just to keep up appearances, she would only be taking out someone whose presce could prove esstial in keeping the Larnak forces at a perpetual loss.

Meanwhile,

Captain Amira frowned at the crack in her sword but with no time to dwell on that damage, she leaped out of the way of an oncoming strike before retaliating with a kick into her oppont's side.

*Bam*

"Ack!" the Stygian Captain groaned in pain but although the force of the blow caused her to slide a few steps away she recovered by locking her knees, reducing how far she moved, before th using her closess to Amira to stab her sword at her.

With eyes bugged in horrific fear, Amira's instinctive reflex action was to lean back and fall to the g.

*Thud*

*Whum*

As her back hit the g, Amira swung her leg and swept her oppont off her feet sding her to the g with the back of her head slamming against the hall's hardwood floors with an impactful *Bang*.

The Stygian Captain was stunned and her eyes watered as her vision got blurry. Amira got up on her knees, her cracked sword in hand ready to put an immediate d to her oppont's life. There were a lot of emies prest and the quicker she and her colleagues started reducing their numbers with definitive action, the better.

Her oppont's arm twitched, rallying her muscles in preparation to parry wh a sound rang across the room in a deafing wave that packed a force akin to an explosion.

*GONG!*

*BOOM!*

*Crack* *Crack* *Crack*

So impactful were the soundwaves that walls all about the hall closest to its origination cracked and continued to fissure in an immediate show of lessed structural integrity.

Wincing as the waves struck their eardrums, all eyes searched for the origination and laid on Lord Averill Stygian who stood with a Gong in one hand and his sword in the other while grinning at Herbert Larnak's body smacked and impressed into the wall.

The Stygian Gong.

The most destructive weapon the Stygian Family possessed. Passed down from geration to geration to be wielded by the Family head.

The Gong, attached to a handle so incredibly carved that it gave off a visage of authority as should have be expected of a weapon so treasured by a Territory Ruling Family like the Stygians, was made with fine bronze material. It was circular with symbols etched a its edges- Symbols that granted it its Six-Star quality and made it capable of its destructive might.

One of the rites performed wh Averill took on the title of Lord and Head of the Stygian Family was to claim the weapon as his.

With a smug look at Herbert whose body shook with the residual effect of getting blasted point-black by the sound waves, Averill channeled Spiritual ergy into the Circular disc of the Gong and struck it with the handle of his sword.

Almost like the first had only be to prime the weapon and test its impact on a Sixth Order Knight, the second was ev stronger.

Herbert pulled free of the wall, aimed to get out of the way but alas, it was too late.

*GONG!!!*

"ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!"

Herbert did not only get pressed against the wall by the force of the soundwaves, rather the vibrations wt right through his ears and pounded heavily against his eardrums. The reverberations th proceeded upward into his brain, numbing his thoughts and inflicting him with a splitting migraine that had him feeling like his head was being split in two.

*Crack*

*Crack*

*BANG!*

The wall finally gave way and the force of the Gong's percussion st Herbert out of the hall, rolling across his Estate's courtyard for at least t feet before stopping.

With every ounce of lucid reasoning he was still capable of, Herbert retrieved a potion from his Spatial ring and downed it in a single gulp. It alleviated his pain by quite a few notches but before he could truly recover, Averill Stygian closed the distance betwe them and delivered a rib-cracking kick.

"Ack," Herbert let out in pain just as Lord Stygian st the Stygian Gong into his Spatial Ring so he could grip the handle of his sword with two hands and bring it down for the defining stab.

Moved mostly by instinct, Herbert retrieved his Spear from his ring and parried the blade but unfortunately, while the potion he drank cured him of his migraines and healed his injured eardrums, it did nothing for the psychological aftereffects.

The body of the Larnak Lord still shook and his parry was so weak that contact with Averill's sword st the shaft of the weapon slamming down into his chest...

*Crack*

... Cracking a small fissure in his sternum.

"Scum that you are," Lord Stygian spat out as he stamped his foot down on Herbert's chest, pressing the shaft against his body while he glared down at the Larnak Lord with spite rooted in the currt deep-set feeling of superiority,

"I was quite satisfied staying out of your business. I didn't give a damn how you ran your Territory. But you just HAD to infiltrate my home, didn't you? Didn't you? You Weak bastard!"

With every word that left Averill Stygian's lips, Herbert's expression got increasingly darker. Whatever pain he was feeling, he thrust aside while the crazed look that had accompanied his adamant belief in evtual victory returned as he took one hand off his Spear shaft and grabbed Averill's leg,

"You have no gs to stand on," he said slowly and deliberately, "Take your scummy foot off my body!"

Accompanying Herbert's words was a violt release of cultivation pressure that blasted out with an impact sure to cause any Fourth Order captain to crumble due to being close to it. As a Knight in the Sixth Order as well, Averill expected himself to be capable of resisting the pressure and he was, however the tearing effect it had as it stabbed at his skin was a differt matter altogether.

Averill Stygian sustained no physical injuries but it certainly felt like he had.

So painful were the stabs, courtesy of Herbert's newfound control of his Spiritual Pressure, that it forced Averill to lean away, lifting his foot.

Herbert saw his chance and took it.

He propelled himself with his outburst of Spiritual ergy, got to his feet, and stabbed his Spear at Averill with the strong desire to skewer the Stygian Lord on his weapon.

Ev while unstable in his stance, Averill still had the presce of mind to leap out of the way of the attack only for his eyes to wid wh he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.

*Sksh*

Averill Stygian's eyes wided in realization that somehow, he had gott careless and his oppont had gladly and quickly tak advantage.

Ev as he heard the satisfactory sound of a Spearhead cutting through flesh, Herbert didn't ev grin with smugness. His eyes were just starkly focused as he twisted the shaft in his hand, turning the Spearhead in his oppont's shoulder.

Lord Stygian's mouth fell op in a silt scream as he leaped back, and forced the Spear out of his body. Blood spewed from his wound and to move his arm was a pain but Averill took that pain in stride as, once again, he retrieved the Stygian Gong and let loose its resounding might.

*GONG!*

Except this time, Herbert was ready.

He sidestepped the wave coming directly at him and charged forward, the bloody Spearhead of his Weapon pointed macingly at Lord Styggian's abdom to run him through.

He had his eyes on Averill Stygian's face throughout and was swarmed with unease wh he noticed the twinkle in the Stygian Lord's black eyes.

*Whruuummmm!*

The soundwaves of the Gong morphed, creating a visible disturbance as it wt from a direct attacking focus to an all- defsive field.

Herbert struck against it...

*BANG!*

... And was instantly repelled, rising about t feet in the air only to land with a force hard ough to crack the g below and an impact strong ough to break ev more of his already fractured bones.

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