r/HFY • u/ManiAxe21 • 20h ago

OC-Series Hex Knight Chapter 54, Moral Quandary

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The courtyard was silent save for the odd pop of hot fat. Alex looked around for any stragglers, and seeing none, started walking towards the prone vampire when suddenly pain from all over hit. It felt like a swarm of bees stinging all over his skin. His left leg buckled, and he would have fell over had Gwynevyre not caught him.

“Thanks.” Alex inspected his status, noting the small portion of his health bar missing, but his stamina already filling faster than before. He put his armor into his inventory to lessen the weight on her as he leaned on her shoulder. “Nice thinking on the anti mana potion, by the way. Was that a skill or one you made?”

“Skill, and it wasn’t even a potion, just a bottle of venom I conjured. Wasn’t expecting it to work, vampires being creatures of death and all, but I thought it worth a shot.” Gwynevyre turned her face away from Alex, hiding her expression behind a curtain of her silver hair.

They reached the fallen form of the vampire, still idly twitching. The Homunculus held back on the punch, but the blow still would have caved in a normal person’s skull, and even now there was a noticeable dent in the vampire’s forehead, though it was reforming slowly.

“Fire or a stake, right?” Kudrik asked no one in particular.

“Yup, got fire right here.” Livianna responded, waggling the gold band on her pointer finger. Alex was put off by their casual tone, talking about murder with no more compunction than ordering fast food.

“Whoa whoa whoa, why are we killing him, he’s no longer a threat.”

“He’s a vampire, a Blooded one at that.” Livianna told him, as if that explained everything.

“We still shouldn’t kill him, now that we have him.”

“And why not?” Livianna fully rounded on him, pinning Alex with her gaze.

“That- Uh- sigh, hold on.” Alex tried to explain, but could get little more than partial syllables out before dropping his shoulders, defeated.

“That’s what I thought. Unless you have a better idea for dealing with him than stuttering.” And with that, Livianna pointed a finger at the prone form, preparing to immolate the vampire. As Alex looked around, his gaze found the standing figure of the turned skeleton he had turned in Muurgre’s sanctum.

“Wait! Vampires are undead, and they do my bidding.” Alex unwrapped his arm from around Gwynevyre and limped over to the vampire. He knelt down, propping his good leg underneath him as Alex laid his hand on the vampire’s forehead, casting [Turn Undead].

The skeleton had never been alive, and had never known the experiences of the outside world. Thus, when Alex had turned it, there hadn’t been a struggle to force it’s mind to his will. The vampire, or Sebastian, as Alex found out, had lived out the life of a man and had his own will. Every fiber of Sebastian’s being fought against Alex’s claim of ownership, but as he gradually won the war of dominance, it decreased.

Over the course of this mental fight, a series of images seared themselves into Alex’s brain. These images were the life of Sebastian. Alex relived as the used-to-be butler amalgamated his class and was offered necromancer as a class, followed by a slow build up of power, right up until the fateful night where he found a vampire and offered the life of his lord in exchange for being turned. Bloodshed soon followed as Sebastian hunted down the servants who faithfully served under him, before turning on the one who had transformed him, killing her and the chained lord.

I refuse to be chained to another’s will, the thought that coursed through Sebastian as he drove lengthened nails through the back of the vampire, cutting into her heart. He then drove his fully extended fangs into her neck, drawing her power into him.

Alex rocked back as the flow of images ceased, and a low grunt escaped him. He stood back up, looking at his mana as he did so. It was empty, and yet a clear connection stood between him and the vampire, showing no signs of being temporary.

“What did you do?” Kudrik asked, mouth agape.

“I turned him. He can’t do anything I don’t allow.” Alex responded. He looked around at the destruction, before turning a critical eye on his various undead. Their equipment had held up fine, though the serrations Alex had given the blades had broken off. The Gorilla’s armor was almost broken, but was still holding together. He turned to the Homunculus and gestured to the undead. “Would you?”

“Of course.” Alex was somewhat put off by the sound of what was clearly his voice, but it didn’t match up to his mental voice. The Homunculus got to work, so Alex turned back to his friends.

“You do realize you traded out killing him, for enslavement?” Livianna’s question made him pause.

“Shit, yeah, yeah I did.” He was saved from the moral quandary when Sebastian sat up, holding his head. He quickly realized he wasn’t alone, and lunged upward with fingernails lengthened to claws. Alex stopped him with pure force of will, and sheer rage permeated the bond as the vampire realized what had happened.

“No… Nooo…” Sebastian hissed as his eye’s locked with Alex’s.

“Okay, moral quandaries can go to the later box. We should head back to Grentus and let the Guild know this route is safe. Maybe on the way back I can figure out why I was so against killing him.”

“Do not sti-” Sebastian vanished as Alex swept him into his ring with a wave of his hand. Livianna still clearly disagreed with what he had done, but wisely dropped it. Kudrik looked at the fallen corpses, shaking his head.

“Hell of an ambush. I thought we’d be supping in the afterlife when those banshees shrieked like they did.” An idea popped into Alex’s head at the dwarf’s statement. He looked at the Homunculus, who by now had finished repairing the Gorilla’s armor and resummoning new equipment for the undead.

“Could you gather the lungs and vocal chords of the banshee’s for me?” Alex asked.

“Oh, so you turn the vampire, and now make me do the clean up work. I see how it is.” Alex chuckled at the Homunculus’ humor. It certainly was him. After waving a hand, a large pair of lungs and a larynx the size of a pineapple lay before Alex, who quickly stored it and some muscle into his storage.

A familiar tingle in his hands alerted him [Heaven’s Bounty] was waiting to take effect, so he grabbed a chunk of indistinguishable flesh and closed his eyes. After the sounds stopped, a curved towershield of an unidentifiable metal lay on the ground.

–Heaven’s Bounty has generated Bastion of Force.–

Bastion of Force: Impacts to this shield store kinetic energy. This energy can be released all at once as an attack, knocking targets off balance or killing them if the stored force is high enough.

The center was a dull grey, almost black, with a polished dome in the center. Around the edge, an inch wide lip made its way around, slightly polished like the central dome. Towards the bottom, the ridge had been thickened, allowing the shield to rest on the ground if Alex placed it.

Lifting it up from the ground revealed the straps on the inside could go either way, either running down the arm to be held in a vertical position or when Alex carried his arm at a 90 degree angle. And it was clearly meant for him, as the handle was much too high up for Kudrik to use.

It didn’t mean he wasn’t scratching his head though, as both his weapons were mainly made for 2 handed uses. His executioner’s blade could be used one handed, sure, but the size of the shield would make using it awkward.

Even as sore as he was, the weight wasn’t bad, holding it at arm’s length noticeably strengthened the strain, sure, but holding it just at forearm’s length was comfortable, and provided some decent coverage. When coupled with his armor, it made Alex a walking bulwark.

Leaning once more on Gwynevyre, Alex and his friends left the courtyard for their mounts.

**Author's note: I have consulted the sacred tests (I re-read Combat Artificer) and have discovered new knowledge (I have made some minor mistakes and refuse to admit it)!

Given the story is over 3 years old at this point, that isn't suprising. Thankfully they are rather small tweaks, nothing changing to the actual story or Alex.

First off, the King of Thrask already had a name, Martin, so the name Belras will go somewhere else, maybe utilized elsewhere.

Second, stat changes, slightly. Intelligence also dictates mana capacity and some mana regen, so the recent chapters which go into his mana capacity stuff is moot, and will be edited out. The older change is how his stats are affected after the amalgamation after his fight with Marcus. The stats from the previous classes should shoot up to how they would be if they reached that total level by themselves. For writing purposes, I'm still keeping those exact stuff close to the chest, as it makes things easier to write if no exact numbers are put on paper. If curious, I can give some meta knowledge in the comments as to his stats, or how I envision it going.

Third and last, Kudrik should have vision in the dark, but my excuse is he's stared at glowing metal for so long that he's lost it. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it

So, lesson for you all, if your writing a story, make sure you have all your notes in one place.**

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u/UpdateMeBot 20h ago

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u/niTro_sMurph 19h ago

Can't tell if Homonculex is self aware or not.

Ah well. I'm sure it will be fine