At that time it was obvious who amongst the army would reach the final showdown, it was always Alvatrone and Slejj. Everybody knew that. Going into the competition those who registered only did so to fill in the vacancies in order for the tournament to proceed, meanwhile the entire army awaited for the final showdown. The two rivals had been going at each other ever since they joined the army. At that moment they were seen as equals, and the tournament was to be the deciding factor, a final face-off to finally rank one above the other. They did not anticipate what was to come of the event.Registering last was a slacker, the laziest of men amongst the army ranks, Honorary State Guard Garvin Nez. Nobody knew why he was interested in the tournament since he was never interested in anything at all, except food and sleep. Some even questioned how he got the honorary State Guard rank in the first place. All in all, he was called out, his match against another knight guard was to be the ope
He hoisted his arms up high, beckoning to the skies. He drew in an extensive breath, breathing through the gaps of his teeth he sounded like he was in the middle of a virile blizzard.“I call to you great presence. Heed to my orison and grant me your unfathomable power! For we serve you, o great link, our path to...Tomasa!”With the last word slipping through the cracks of his teeth along came a ghostly radiation. Drom was overcome by a sudden burst of vigor, his broken ribs searched for their severed parts and wound themselves together. His scissored knee reshaped and reverted, allowing him to bend his leg again. Within moments he was back to his old self again, perhaps better.“Now, the link has chosen you to be one of the people who should witness the truth, just as he chose us.”“Truth?!” Drom said, still confused as to what had happened. Moments ago he was in unbelievable pain and a moment after he felt like he could sprint up a hill without breaking a sweat.“The great link has
OUTSIDE THE WALLS"Okay it's done, the king is down. Dakario does your thing." Anato said.Dakario locked his eyes once more, summoning his inner voice that the vurhans listen to. Immediately he surmised his brief meditation the vurhans started shrieking at the top of their lungs. Their shouts echoed throughout the city. Lights flickered on as the residents were awoken by the terrifying howls. At the gates, the soldiers grew ill at ease and commenced an attack towards the army of undead Knights."Alright everybody hurdle up, it's about time we joined in on the fun," Anato said to the others.IN THE CASTLEIt felt like time had refrigerated. Alicia watched, in horror, as Drom plunged to the floor, Daito standing beside him with the blood-stained dagger still under his grasp. The quiet buzzing in her ear grew into a high-pitched noise, as the room erupted into chaos. The delegates approached the two intruders with the intent to kill. Lora also stood beside Alicia dazed in a similar tran
He turned to the three, Thomas Milner, Alexander Xermia and Sigrid Hemon, weighed down by the immense weight of the chains around their necks, hands, and feet." The imperfect pot has been presented to the buyer, and he has deemed it unworthy to hold water. So I must crush this pot into dust and forge a new one! And it is going to be done with, or without you. There is respect, and then there is fear, we shall have to see which one is more powerful than then other."He walked off, leaving room for his undead knights to drag the three back in the dungeon. Thomas Milner stared at her as he was relentlessly dragged back to his cell." And you of all people turn against your kind! An honorary state guard abandoning her people to serve the tyrant who destroyed their lives."" They were never my people. I don't belong with you and I am with my people. So if you have nothing to say I suggest you shut your mouth and go back to your cell!" Lora barked back.The three were thrown back into the
Daito obeyed. The blue rings faded away and he slowly began charging towards the crowd. Alvatrone stayed behind to watch. As he descended the slope, gravity accelerated his locomotion. He took flight a few feet close to the charging group, cutting across the atmosphere with a flaring dropkick. The guards put up a barrier of shields but he just charged through it, breaking the wooden shields like they were pieces of paper.The absolute force of the impact discarded the back row of the line of defense like rag dolls, they tumbled across the ground licking grass and covering their bodies with a fresh blanket of mud. Those that we're able to recover from the first blow did so, charging towards Daito with their spearheads and sword tips pointed at him. The first to engage swung his blade momentously, aiming for his neck.It was as if he phased from one place to the other. The guard blinked and before he knew it, Daito had already evaded his attack and was standing behind him. His neck was
Drom walked out from the throne platform and over to the table, "It would be nice of you to introduce yourself and tell us who you represent.""Oh, sorry, my apologies, I must have forgotten my manners. My name is Ladzgery Tyndale, and I come from a kingdom outside the walls, and I am here as a representative of my domain, I am a soul magician.""How dare you bring the accursed arts into our kingdom!" Rovier cried out, the others lashed back at Tyndale, some angry, most of them afraid."What do you want from us? Your kind has no right inside these walls!" Drom said. He was equally stunned by the disclosure."I have come to help you rule your throne. I have come to salvage this kingdom and save it from its mediocre rulers! I have come, to claim what is rightfully mine!"His words sparked a new uproar, the delegates drew their weapons ready to attack him, throwing insults towards him. In all the commotion Daito appeared from the staircase, walking over to Drom. His pitch-black mordant e
"Look, kid, what do you think will happen when you return to Royal Republic? What will people think of you? The dark bender who ran away because he was too afraid to face his responsibilities. You are one half of the duo who is supposed to lead the entire nation, and do you think people will respect you, a coward? No one will take orders from a frail man who runs away from his responsibility. Look, kid, I'm already a traitor, or so people say, and my return to Royal Republic is going to end in one way or another with execution, so if I can't help you right now, I might as well go down preserving your reputation.""... That's stupid. You know I'm never going to agree to that..."Slejj re-lit his pipe and inhaled the energizing smoke, "When the time comes, you'll see that I'm making sense, and you'll make the proper choice," he said as he blew a ring of smoke into the air and watched it dissipate.Daito paused for a moment, moving his gaze away from the book for a time to comprehend Sle
DISTRICT DARKAlicia locked herself up inside her house. She felt the entire weight of the world on her shoulders and she wasn’t strong enough to bear that burden. She wanted to get stronger, but there was no possible way she could. The heads made sure of that. They took the covenant book, the only thing that could help her master the art of god magic. The last two remaining dark benders were practically erased from the face of the earth, meaning everything she was learning was either by sheer luck or instinct. She tried hard not to cry, but she couldn’t hold it in any longer. She cried herself to exhaustion. She shed the act she was putting on of being a strong fierce leader and allowed herself to feel vulnerable for once, to be a young adult girl in a cruel world. The rest of her fellow state guards in her living room could hear her crying, but they all put themselves in her shoes and knew deep in their hearts what she was going through. They would have done the same, take a break
They rushed into the palace, two awls trailing behind them, holding a huge wooden box. When they were climbing the flight of stairs, one of the awls relaxed his grasp on the case's side handle and it slid off, falling to the ground. The case's housing broke open and objects spewed out, including several scrolls, a large book with a lock restricting the pages, and a fairly long dagger. "Wait, I'm familiar with both the book and the sword. They are normally at my father's place. He's been devoting a lot of time lately to reading that book." "And what is the purpose of the blade?" "It's for, yeah, I read about it in my father's library a long time ago, it's used for the rite when when...no!" Daito's eyes abruptly opened as he realized what the intention of the visit could be. He made a hasty descent down the trunk, losing his balance and slipping off several times. Drom pursued him blindly. "Hey! Dai, what is it tell me!" "Come on Drom! We have to hurry before it's too late." They
Needle-like pain reverberated across her skull. She lost her orientation, the world began spinning. As she tried to straighten to her feet another powerful blow landed across her frame, knocking the air out of her lungs, sending her spinning and spiraling across the floor. She collided with the wall, breaking her momentum. Jrue swung his twin blades with malicious intent. Though it wasn’t him succumbing to all those terrifying blows they were so brutal that he felt the impact of his raw strength. Before his blades could gain momentum he was rudely picked off the ground with an inhumane tackle. He was driven to the wall, the impact so violent it pushed the bricks out of position. Once he was pinned to the wall a flurry of punches started coming his way. The iron-like knuckles dug into his face, he felt like a hammer pounding his cheeks. His mouth filled with blood. The relentless attacks were halted by a deafening sound of a metal bar striking Tyndale’s skull. It seemed to have less
“A paralytic Poison. I see I taught you well my son…” “Don’t you ever dare call me that again!” He picked up his right arm and slit his wrist across, doing the same to his left hand. Jrue wanted him to suffer. He wanted him to bleed to death knowing that he was powerless, unable to do anything about it and save himself. He left him outside and limped back into the house. All the soldiers guarding the house had evacuated, deployed to handle the uprising of the slaves in the mines, giving the two siblings all the time they needed to execute duties assigned to them by Anato Strider as part of their escape plan. He managed to reach the room where the fight had begun. He shook her sister to wake. “Lora, Lora! Wake up, it is done!” All Lora felt was an unrealistically powerful force driving her to the ground. She landed with a thud, her head bouncing off the moldy floor. Needle-like pain reverberated across her skull. She lost her orientation, the world began spinning. As she tried to s
Albert was unconcerned about her feelings. He spread the crinkled letter out on the table and began reading it aloud. "The official report. On the second day of the third week of the sixth moon of the year, the commander of the independent states arrived at Defectors State headquarters, where honorary State guard, Lora Deryleen, provided information on the whereabouts of the fugitive, ex-commander, and traitor to the States, Slejj. In the evening, the commander gathered an army to go over to make a stand. "What are you babbling about, is it a fantasy scenario you've been dreaming about?" "Come on...you of all people should know the report never lies," "You seriously can't be considering something this low Albert!," "I made a deal with fugitives Lora, fugitives you wanted to protect. now it seems like their crimes have caught up to them, and there is no way I can delay the inevitable," "You're not going to be able to accomplish it, Albert. We struck a deal!" "Lora...dear Lora, I
The kick was aimed at the shield. Tyndale pushed out the shield with his kick so violently that it broke the teeth submerged into the metal. As the shield rolled on the mud with the teeth sticking out of it, Jericho shrieked in pain. Daito finally came to, getting to his feet just in time before the blast shot the Vurhan's entire face off. He charged forward with a blast of his own. Tyndale reverted his attention towards him which left him exposed to the mercy of the beast. Another swipe of the claws ripped up a shred of his skin, allowing blood to run over his chest. His muscular arms pushed Daito back onto the ground once more. He kicked the vurhan and took out its left knee with a blast of energy, rendering it immobile, momentarily. As the vurhan stumbled to the ground he grabbed its arm and pulled it back up, directing its head towards his punch. The two targets collided, leaving a bloody green stain on the Vurhan's face as it slid across the mud. Tyndale felt a severe force pus
"I made a deal with fugitives Lora, fugitives you wanted to protect. now it seems like their crimes have caught up to them, and there is no way I can delay the inevitable," "You're not going to be able to accomplish it, Albert. We struck a deal!" "Lora...dear Lora, I mean, come on, you knew what you were up to. We all knew this make-believe family you built wasn't going to last." "Albert, you're a jerk!" "Let's not talk about that princess. I'm aware of your darkest secrets!" "Wait... What secret?" He moved closer to her face, leaning in. Her stomach turned at the smell of his alcoholic breath. "You think I don't know about your little secret, Deryleen... you're not from around here, are you?" "You're not selling it Albert...get out of here." Lora bumped shoulders with him as she walked into her quarters. "Get out of my quarters now!!!" "... According to the second official report, Lora Deryleen and Alicia Iko captured the previous commander of the independent nations and we
Alicia dazed in a similar trance. She looked on as her apparently dead little brother reaped his swords and whirled them, chopping off delegates arms and legs. At one point he arced his head and caught sight of her, but ventured on with his slaughter as if she wasn't even there, as if he had no clue who she was. Reene and the others tapped them out of their stupor as they pulled out their swords. Alicia began galloping straight towards Drom, and Lora headed for Deryleen. Before they could both reach their intended targets the rest of the faction popped up under the teleportation circle and dropped to the arena, jumping straight into the action. Outside the castle, the intense battle raged on. The army of undead knights fought relentlessly like they had nothing to lose, mostly because they didn't. They overpowered the knights trying to secure the castle and fell to their blades, most of them cowardly retreating. The vurhans continued their orchestra, by then the whole city had awoken
"You know the truth is I was never your brother you simpleton! I was never your brother!" "... Wha... What did I ever do to you brother?" "NOTHING! And that is why I despise you. You never did anything for anyone, only cared about yourself. Using others to get what you wanted... Using me to become the commander!" Slejj coughed up a couple of times before speaking. "What in the hell are you talking about?" "I do not need to explain myself to you! Have you ever heard of Enkai, the forest deity who supposedly guarded the gates against crossers? Protected the Independent States from the world outside, especially vurhans." Slejj stared back in discomfort as a response. "Well, do you remember the day we were on the battlefield, fighting off the hoards of vurhans? I was the one who called on to him. I corrupted him with the help of some new friends I made. Using the power I made it turn against us... It killed and devoured those soldiers, and it was also to devour you! But I didn't pla
Fear was creeping in and Jrue was re-evaluating his options. A retreat would seem reasonable at that point. Lora had been completely taken out of the equation. “Well! I am Waiting!” Tyndale barked, his voice full of excitement. Jrue charged towards him. He wasn’t that good of a fighter in tight spaces but give him an open field and he would perform his acrobatic stunts that surprisingly packed a punch. He sought to tilt the odds to his advantage by taking him to an open field, and there was only one way he saw how. Running full steam ahead he tackled Tyndale and they both burst through the window, shattering the glass and falling three from a height three stories high. There was no object below to cushion their landing, so they sprawled to the hard ground. Jrue landed on his chest, breaking a bone or two. Tyndale landed on the shards of glass. They dug into his back, yet he seemed not to feel irritated by the pain. Before he could get up Jrue rushed over to him and impaled his leg w