Lifesbane

This was a rune meant for saints

The blueprint was given to richard by Beye

Lifesbane was a divine weapon to every powerhouse that had the carrying capacity to wield it. However, the difficulty of crafting this rune exceeded even most grade 4 runes, and the ability to layer multiple of it on top of each other meant there was almost never any on the market.

Every stroke of his right now had ten or eleven superimposed with it

each is worth a top tier offering.

## Abilities

slicing half a metre deep into the creature’s body. Using the momentum of the dodge, he continued to cut through horizontally for nearly a metre before pulling away.

The wound itself was huge, but its true lethality only showed itself once Richard opened up some distance. The monster suddenly stopped moving, its eyes gleaming with immense fear as it let out a primal howl. Tens of cracks spread out from the wound, each one extremely deep.

This was Lacerate, one of Lifesbane’s special effects.

Originally, he had been focused on the perfect sword strike; a single attack that compressed all the power of Lifesbane into one devastating attack. That was what Decapitate was born out of. Now, however, he had Mana Armament and all the other runes of his set to consider. His fighting style would have to comprehensively make use of those and his blessings themselves until eventually it would evolve into an entirely new type of martial arts.

## REMODELED LIFESBANE

Although both had a similar effect of increasing attack speed and adding various effects to the damage, Richard’s version required fully manual activation for each strike and was not a stacking rune. It wasn’t nearly as powerful, but by extension it also needed much less carrying capacity.

Lawrence immediately understood that Richard now fully understood the essence of the Lifesbane design, and was capable of deriving a new rune out of it. This creation wasn’t as aggressive as the original, and thus not as valuable, but it was much easier and cheaper to produce. For the average powerhouse who wasn’t fully equipped yet, this was an absolute blessing.

As he continued to study the rune, Lawrence grew enamoured by just the lines Richard had drawn. If one looked at the rune as a work of art, this piece would take on an entirely different meaning, of a vigorous power that was forcefully repressed, as though the helpless roar of an injured beast.

## EVOLVED LIFESBANE

Many people said that Lifesbane was a rune with soul, but that wasn’t exactly accurate. No rune actually had a true soul below grade 5, and even the grade 5 ones that did just had a powerful soul sealed within or mimicked the effect with divinity. A rune capable of cultivating an actual soul would likely be able to kill gods! With Lifesbane, the word soul was used in the sense that this rune was crafted with intent.

However, Richard felt a vicious aura radiating from the Lifesbane in front of him. It seemed to be roaring without end, causing a resonance with his very soul. He started to reach out for this rune, but suddenly hesitated as he realised his hand was shaking with fear. The crimson glow seemed to lead to an entirely different world, and the roars slowly gave way to many other noises.

Just as he touched the Lifesbane to start inspecting it, the four existing runes on his forearms lit aglow. A thread of crimson light joined them to the new rune, which immediately burnt up and formed two blood-like balls that sank into his arms.

His forearms still only had the four stacks, with no trace of a fifth. However, there were some changes to the ones that did exist; they seemed to be more blurred out than before, more inset in his body. If they were formerly like a sharp dagger, they were now like rusted cleavers. The blade itself wasn’t as sharp, but the power it could summon was much higher.

His nails also turned a bright red, and as he continued the activation the colour spread across his fingers to his entire hand. It looked like he had just dipped his arms into a puddle of blood.

Small yet complicated patterns started to appear from the wrist upwards, joining into the existing mana lines of the Lifesbane runes. The entirety of his forearms turned crimson before the expansion stopped, and the lines started to glow. Richard almost couldn’t believe that these hands were his; the long fingers now looked even more elegant and pretty, but the red glow seemed to urge him to tear things apart!

Richard just tapped his workbench with a finger, but the wooden desk was immediately cut apart like butter. The spot that had been pierced started to decay, turning ash grey before it scattered across the ground. The hole continued to widen until the entire bench lay in cinders.

## **References**

1. ↑ Book 4, Chapter 101
2. ↑ Book 5, Chapter 46
3. ↑ Book 4, Chapter 121-122
4. ↑ Book 5, Chapter 44
5. ↑ Book 5, Chapter 88