Brutus the Berserker

In 1118 AE, after almost 300 years absence from the world below, Brutus the Strong was called upon by his old partner Hans the Quick to defend Epic from Florian invaders. In a 20 day long battle, Brutus killed 700,000 Florians as watched by the most prestigious warrior guild of the Tiberian Empire, the Monster Slayer Guild. Upon return to South city before he left again, Brutus was greeted with legions of prayers.

"My lord, please come with us to the guild center"

"I'm am looking for Hans the Quick"

"My lord, Hans is at the guild center, please come."

Brutus and the messenger walked down a few street and eventually came to a small building with a large fence around it.

"Through here my lord"

"This is your guild center?"

"Yes, Hans should be in here"

Brutus followed the messenger into the building.

"I have brought Brutus with me"

"Good, take him with you to level 2"

"Where is Hans?"

"Hans is in the meeting place on level 2, Rufus will show you the way."

Brutus and Rufus walked down some stairs behind the counter and passed a sign labeled '2'. The room they enter has a long spiraling ramp around the sides and many people are sitting on the edge. As Brutus and Rufus walk to the bottom many of the people thank Brutus and congratulate him.

"Ah Brutus, thanks for dealing with those creatures."

"I told them what would happen if they ever came over here again. I'll be headed to Florus soon to finish them off"

"You don't need to do that, we can send the monsters to do that for us."

"The monsters?"

"Ah yes, they are members of this guild who have become so skilled in combat that even the sea monsters will not attack them. It's the same principle that let the Florians cross the ocean. Besides, the men would relish in a chance to conquer a foreign land."

"They aren't ready to take on the Florians in their own homeland. Florus is an unforgiving place, which shows how the Florians have become what they are today."

"Lord Brutus, we believe that if all of our members were assembled, we could travel the ocean safely and establish settlements in Florus and have glorious battle with the monsters that live there. "

"I stayed in Florus for over 70 years and had battle with them every day. They would ask to battle me so often an entire city was made for the creation of an arena and places for them to train. Florians will only stand down under total overwhelming strength."

"Brutus, remember the namen and how soldiers from all over Epic came to help defeat Hohenheim on Meka?"

"Remember how only a few dozen survived the battle Hans? Anyone here know who General Lee of Fencing was?"

"Yeah he was a great warrior who was killed by the emperor of evil a few hundred years ago."

"But do you remember the thousands of men who died before ever even reaching Meka? Dozens of ships destroyed in a few minutes by Coldsteel."

"Our guild has been training for hundreds of years to do battle with the fiercest of monsters, we can do it!"

"It is true Brutus, I have seen many men who join with the same longing for battle that you had when we needed Phaser dealt with."

Brutus put his hand on the void razor and pulled his helmet on.

"If any of you can spar with me for 5 minutes, I will personally take anyone and everything you want to Florus and let you do whatever you want there."

"I'll go then!"

A man stands up from the ramp and jumps down to were Brutus and Hans are.

"That is Egill, he has been with us for 14 years and fought with the Florians when they first landed. "

"Draw your sword!"

"Won't you need a vibranium sword Brutus?"

"My sword is black because of the millions of souls it has absorbed in fierce combat. The Void Razor is a one of a kind vibranium sword."

"Then we start."

Egill rolled at Brutus and Brutus stomped on the ground. A pillar of stone pushed Egill into the air and he hit the ceiling.

"Don't forget what strengths and powers your opponent has. Next challenger."

"Is Titus here?"

"Eyy, but I twas waitin for yeself ter chalerng im."

"Titus is a man of brutish strength like yourself, he will fight you!"

Titus jumped from the stands and drew two swords.

"Den les fiht."

Brutus drew the void razor at Titus who lunged at Brutus. Brutus swung at Titus with the void razor but Titus was able to block it with his sword. The force from Brutus swinging the sword pushed Titus into the wall though.

"This man is a weakling, nobody here can deflect a blow from my sword."

"Alright, looks like we should have all monsters line up and prepare to fight."

"Yes lord Flavius"

Around 40 people assembled at the bottom of the ramp.

"If you want, you could all try to fight me at the same time."

"Even you could not take on 40 monsters like these, the strongest most skilled warriors of the guild."

"If one of your men is worth 10,000 Florians, i'd still have an easy time with them."

"Alright, everyone at once!"

All 40 of the men surrounded Brutus and drew their swords. A few at a time rushed at Brutus because his huge sword could reach them if they came slowly, but even rushing Brutus was too fast for them. The slayers watching were amazed at how he could swing the enormous vibranium sword so fast, and while wearing full vibranium armor. Eight men came at him at once, two on each side, one from above and one from below. Brutus dropped the void razor and flexed. All 8 of the men flew back and had their skin burnt like acid was spilled on them.

"Some of you saw that same attack used on the Florians. Think how much I was holding back this time."

"You will have to show me that sometime Brutus."

"Alright Brutus, we concede defeat to you."

"Wait not so fast, I believe you were addressing everyone in the room when you asked for a challenger, well I would like to fight you."

"Ah, a match between old friends, I accept"

"Alright, come at me when you are ready Brutus, but remember they don't call me quick for no reason."

Brutus swung the void razor and Hans, but Hans dodged it. Brutus swung again, yet Hans dodged again. Brutus tried to hit Hans for a few more minutes but missed every time. Finally Brutus threw fire at Hans, but Hans was able to push wind into the flames and direct them upwards. Brutus hit a few cannons at Hans, but Hans pushed them into the ground each time.

"I might not be as powerful as you, but strength alone will not make you as fast as I am."

"That's exactly why I developed divine destruction."

"Well do you want to give up, or should we keep going?"

"I fought almost a million Florians over the course of 20 days, I think I can keep fighting until you get tired."

"The berserker will lose his lust for battle if he can't hit anything."

Brutus lunged at Hans but Hans jumped and threw Brutus on his back.

"I know the only weak spot in the Berserker's Battle Armor are the holes you use to see from, that was a nasty trick to pull on everyone here, that even if they hit you they could never do any damage."

"Fine, you can take the win for this."

"So you will take us to Florus?"

"Yes. Whenever you are all ready, we will leave."

"Thank you my lord, we will provide all accommodation for you while you wait."

"I will be going to East city to wait. Who is the current king of the empire?"

"Oh, it's Duilius Tiber."

"You better send two diplomats with him, Brutus thinks the king owes him a flavor or two."

"It is a known fact I saved the empire from the Florians twice, the Tiber kings owe me big time."

"Alright, just don't ask for anything too big."

"I just want a statue 10 times my size made from pure vibranium in the center of the palace."

"Alright, I will try to speed things along and collect as many members as possible from across Epic."

"See-ya later Hans."

Brutus left the guild center with two diplomats following him and started walking to East city. Brutus arrived with the diplomats in East city after a few days of walking. The diplomats were not quite slayer material, and they did not know enhancing, so Brutus thought he was doing most of the work. East city was much larger now than in the 800's.

"South city had huge building like these too, what makes this kind of construction possible?"

"Well Brutus my lord, in the last few hundred years, anyone who is anyone has been trying to implement something called strength to weight ratio. Ground enhancers made buildings in the past with very bad strength to weight ratios, but by using wood from the great forest, building can be made stronger and lighter, thus able to go higher."

"This is nonsense, a strong building is one made from stone, not wood."

"Well, not according to the engineering guild."

"Is the stone palace still there?"

"Oh yes, the stone palace is a marvelous piece of engineering, it must have been quite the team of people who built it."

"It was made by ground enhancers after the first destruction of South city originally. Then we had to make it a second time when the Florians invaded the first time."

"Why do you live on Brutus? After so many hundreds of years is it not time for you to pass on?"

"Hans and I are the only ones who can stand up to an evil even more powerful than the Florians."

"Well we should get something to eat inside the city before going to the palace. There are some really good restaurants over this way."

Brutus follows the two diplomats into a building labeled 'Sea Steak'. A woman greets them and shows them to a table, then hands them each a menu.

"Back when I lived in east city we just bought food at the market and had an enhancer cook it."

"Well that was then and this is now."

"That's right. Members of the guild bring dead sea monsters to the shop behind here and they then sell the steaks they get from the monsters to this restaurant that cooks them. It's really good."

"So just order the weight of the steak you want when the waitress comes."

"I'll have the biggest steak you have."

"I'll have an 8 oz."

"12 oz for me, and here is our guild identification."

The diplomat held up their sword and showed a rune on the blade.

"Alright, that will be 90 gold."

"Here."

The diplomat gave the waitress 90 gold and then the waitress walked off. An hour or so later they returned with three steaks.

"That's the monster steak. 32 oz's of thick cut deep water sea monster steak."

"This is a boy's steak."

Brutus ate the entire steak. The three men left the building and made their way to the palace. A few minutes of walking and they were there.

"We are diplomats from the monster slayer guild here to have audience with the king."

"In light of the recent Florian invasion, the king is not taking visitors."

"But we have the man who saved Epic and defeated the Florians with us, this here is Brutus the Strong."

"So that is the real void razor and berserker's battle armor?"

"I was given this armor by the first Tiber king."

"Alright, I will have someone accompany you into the palace."

The guard whistled a few notes and someone came from the keep.

"Hi I'm Ari, I will take you to the king."

Ari took Brutus and the diplomats to a large set of doors and had two guards on the sides open them. Brutus knew what this was and looked far into the room at the thrown.

"So we have the legend himself in the palace?"

"You Duilius Tiber?"

"You must address the king by his formal title."

"That is alright Deorwine, the mountain of a man in the room is Brutus the Strong, who very recently took on the entire invading Florian army."

"He doesn't look like anything special."

"Can't you see that huge blade he has?"

"Oh my, It must be over 200 pounds."

"600 pounds, and the armor is even heavier."

"We would all like to thank you for the service you have done for the empire. I am sure my ancestors are all grateful for your contribution to the welfare of all of Epic."

"I would like something for my actions."

"We would have anything made for you great warrior, because none of this is possible without you."

"I want a 100 foot high statue of me made in the center of town."

"He is just joking."

"No i'm not. 100 feet of glory. And gold plated."

"Maybe we could make a new suit of armor for you? Technology in the past hundred years has gone very far. We might even be able to make a new sword for you."

"This sword has felled over a million creatures. This armor was intended as a gift for the last Midas king."

"We have been working on battle gear for you to use for the past 150 years. Every part of the armor is designed for comfort and maneuverability, and the sword uses mathematically optimal measurements to get the most power out of your swing."

"How about a sword that can cut vibranium, and then armor that cannot be cut by that."

"We have just the thing. Our mineral engineers call it Mithril, and it is stronger than anything we have ever seen."

"And here I thought you were going to suggest more vibranium."

"While it is true vibranium absorbs vibrations that impact it, Mithril has powers of the elementals!"

"I already have the powers of the elements."

"But the power from Mithril has a new power, a fifth element."

"Ice was the fifth element, and I can already use that."

"No, ice is merely an adaptation of the water element, Mithril uses an element nobody has ever been able to use. It's called lightning."

"Like what comes from the sky sometimes during the rain?"

"Exactly. With Mithril, lightning can be utilized as an enhancer ability."

"Lord Brutus, it is very simple. With a Mithril staff, lightning can be directed at opponents. Who knows what could be done with a Mithril sword."

"Alright, how does Mithril stand up to vibranium in physical strength though?"

"Currently Mithril is not as strong as Vibranium, but if we simply make the core of the sword mithril, it should allow the void razor to control lightning with minimal difference in weight."

"Where is the mithril at?"

"We have it locked securely under the palace. Follow the guide."

'Alright, just follow me."

Brutus followed the guide to a staircase and went down two floors. The second underfloor of the palace was dark and had a few forges.

"Malory, we need the mithril stockpile room unlocked."

"Who is with you?"

"This is Brutus the Strong. He is taking the mithril for his sword."

"Never heard of him."

"Just unlock the mithril."

Malory led Brutus and the guide to a large iron door and opened it with a key. Inside was a pile of silvery powder.

"Just mix it in boiling water and mold the paste however you want it formed. Let it sit a few days and it will be hard as steel."

"Right."

Brutus placed his hand on the void razor and pulled a pole of vibranium out of it.

"Incredible, what enhancer ability allows you to manipulate vibranium, a man made material?"

"Oh, it's just ground enhancing. Do something with this."

"We will gladly take such a large amount of vibranium, and in such a nice pole shape."

Brutus held his hand out and water started to appear and fall into the hole.

"Water enhancing in a place like this?"

"There is enough moisture in the air for me to collect it. Just give me the mithril powder."

Brutus poured the mithril powder into the hole and at the same time heated the water and mixed it. Steam was coming from the hole as he poured the mithril powder in it, and slowly a hard mass formed at the bottom of the hole.

"Alright, now how do I use lightning?"

"Speak to the court mage, the guide can show you."

"Yes lord Brutus, follow me back upstairs."