Curse of Strahd: Iron death curtain

Part 2: Finale?!

-You're a horrible liar... The demon spoke, his low and graveled voice ringing loudly in Etro's ears, the latter clicked his tongue and ignored him, trying to remain unfazed by the demon's venomous sarcasm, I wish I could see the faces of the unconscious two when they-

-You really love running your mouth, huh? The man interrupted, irritated...

-Can't let me have fun even at my death? You're cruel! The demon persisted, chuckling slightly upon noticing the man gritting his teeth in frustration, don't worry, I'll play my part, as long as you don't run with your tail between your legs, that is...

-I already told you, not a chance!

"You said before that only those who follow their desires are strong... I couldn't understand that until now, quite ironic that the secrets of one's life are answered only near their death...I cursed my own life, I hated this crushing feeling that always plagued me... But I never understood it"

-Quit spacing out, brat, eyes forward! The demon's voice rang through his head again, snapping him out of his bubble.

Etro didn't reply, his drowned out the demon's voice in the voice of Ragnar as he remembered the times they sparred together in the open field during their journey, "spread out your legs and bend knees slightly to dip your body down a little, concentrate your body mass, but don't stiffen up, let your muscles breath and feel your own heartbeat throughout your body", Etro's body moved, taking the same stance he envisioned in his mind, his ling filling with air as he inhaled and exhaled loudly, he reached with his right hand behind him, pulling out his dagger than Thorinn had made for him, "This thing was a pain in the ass to make, cherish it like you'd cherish your damn balls!", Etro smirked slightly as Thorinns voice sounded in his mind, "look your opponent dead in the eyes, it'll make you feel stronger, you have a nasty look in your eyes, so it might scare 'em too!", Etro lifted up his head in response to Harold's old words, he opened his eyes wide and centered them on the guardian, "every action is just the body's response to a need, my dear Etro, from sex to battle, find that need, and your body will move", Zoe's soft gentle voice rang through his ears, and as always, her wording gave him a slight feeling of discomfort, but it felt like home, Etro put his right hand up to guard his face, while his left stretched out beside him with his palm open, "w-well, magic kind of re-resonates with everyone differently...for me? Well...it's kind of embarrassing to admit but, happy memories help!", Demitri's soft fragile voice rang last in Etro's mind, he could almost feel his lips curling into a soft smile as he turned his face bashfully, Etro's hand engulfed in a powerful bright blazing light of magical flames that ignited from his palm...

"I hated my weakness, but I was too scared to fight against it, that's why I was weak...And maybe if I had seen all the clues sooner, none of this would've happened, they wouldn't have gotten hurt...and maybe Thorinn would still be alive...I will never forgive myself, but I won't let myself be bound down by this weakness any longer...So lend me all of your strength, let me break those chains, let me shed blood one more time, I want to let this anger out on the world one last time, and I want to protect them all..."

"Break through the chains of your mortality as you dance on the edge of oblivion, pave the road of that leads to your death with the corpses of those who stand in your way...Reject your humanity, embrace what you were always meant to be!"

The glow in the guardian's eyes intensified, he lifted his hammer to the ceiling and let out a loud metallic bellow that violently shook its steel shell, the crystal at the center of the hammer shimmered with a purple light, quickly followed by the same dark that spilled from the walls earlier, Etro maintained his stance as he watched the mist dance around the still air, carried around by non-existent gusts of wind that blew it forward towards him, before falling in one swift motion, the mist spread across the ground, and from within it rose the same dark creatures, the souls of the damned, this time, Etro could almost hear their agonized screams and pleas to be released, the man was shook but ultimately unfazed, and with one final motion from the guardian, the creatures charged at him. The man quickly swung his left hand, releasing the bolt of fire in his palm, the flame rushed forward with great speed, zipping through the air with a loud hissing noise, it landed on the chest of one of the monsters, exploding with a flash more brilliant than any other time Etro had used this power, much to his surprise, the explosion engulfed two of the ten that were ahead of him, burning their forms and incinerating the ash. Etro jumped a small step forward to reposition himself while he prepared another fire bolt, only to find his body rushing through the air until he was mere inches away from one of the creatures before he could finish his attack, he reacted quickly and clutched his fist and plunged it into the creature's face, knocking it back a few meters where it crashed into another, Etro paused for a moment, trying to understand what just happened, "Magic is enhancing your physical attributes by several folds...Your mind has not yet caught up to what your body can do, however", the demon's voice passed through Etro's mind, the latter simple smirked and retook his stance, "I guess I'll just have to adjust in real-time". Etro's legs suddenly bent, plunging his body down, averting the sword swing of one of the creatures that snuck up behind him, he swiftly turned and leaped back, plunging his magic infused dagger into the monster's head, killing it. The man stood up quickly, turning around sharply while passing his dagger from his right to his left, blocking another monster's sword that was swinging down towards him, as the two blades clashed, Etro felt his strength faltering for a moment, that was long enough for monster to overpower him and the sword broke through the stalemate, finding its way into Etro's stomach, he dropped his dagger and held the blade plunged into him with both of his hands, trying to stop it from reaching deeper into his torso, his attempt was cut short by a bolt of magic crashing into his left arm and erupting into a small explosion that sent him flying back a couple meters, he emerged from the smoke on his knees, his hand pressing down on the wound in his stomach, a large burn mark stretching from the left side of his face and down his arm, an intense pain suddenly pulsed in his chest, Etro felt the pain from his other injuries quickly subsiding, the wound burn shrunk and his open stomach closed and the bleeding stopped, the man quickly stood up and shot a fire bolt from both of his hands that enveloped a group of creatures that were approaching him. "Ah, forgot to mention, overusing that strength or overloading your soul will result in a pretty painful death." The demon mockingly spoke. "Fucking asshole", the man cursed under his breath as he regained his composure with a deep breath, as he looked ahead of him, he noticed the movements of the silhouettes becoming easier to follow, he figured that his body's beginning to adapt to the increasing influx of magic, he planted his feet into the ground and guarded himself with him hands as the creatures swarmed him, he reclined backwards, dodging a sword slash from the first of them to reach him, quickly countering with a powerful strike to its stomach that knocked it back, giving Etro the space to maneuver away from three more that attempted to stab him in the back again, he concentrated him magic into his right before slamming it into the ground, the floor underneath the three attackers erupted with a wall of fire that incinerated them instantly, Etro swung his left hand, the wall of flame followed his movements, encircling him and 4 others, Etro jumped between them with both arms stretched out, two magic missiles manifested into both of his open palms that rushed forward and sank into each monster's chest, he jumped high above the circle of fire before the missiles exploded, "about thirty five left, but all of them are ones with armors and swords, Are they giving up on magic attacks?" Etro wondered as his eyes scanned the hall while he was in the air, his attention was quickly diverted to the guardian, who had been standing almost perfectly still until now, beginning to move slowly, lifting its hammer up, but not in his direction, Etro quickly deduced where he was aiming, but before he could react, the guardian threw its hammer with an incredible speed that he couldn't follow let alone react to, the hammer zipped through the air for a few seconds before crashing into the wall that Etro had created, shattering it completely and swiftly returning back to it, the guardian made another loud metallic bellow. The monsters took a second to react but started moving towards the broken wall, three of them climbing over it, Etro landed and put both of his hands in front of him before pulling them both up, another wall of stone rose from the ground, blocking the path for the others trying to pass through and crushing a couple between it and ceiling. Etro breathed a sigh of relief that was cut short by three arrows piercing his deep into his back, Etro moaned growled as he felt a paralyzing pain as one of the arrows struck his spine, the other creatures ran towards him as he fought through the pain, he wrapped his hand around the three arrows and removed them with another muffled grunt of pain.