Twenty minutes later the aircraft landed in the middle of a beautiful forest, in a big clearing. There were flowerbeds, filled with colorful flowers, a small lake, a beautiful house made of luxurious and high-quality planks. The house had three floors, serving as the home of the Emperor and his concubines. The only downside was that it was autumn, so the trees’ leaves were falling down one by one, covering the ground in dry, yellow leaves.

Okay, this is fucking not what I expected from an evil Emperor, Elena thought as she left the General’s shadow and stopped behind the trunk of a tree.

“Is this for real?” Audrey couldn’t help but ask when she appeared behind her, looking at the beautiful scenery.

“Well, this guy knows how to live,” Dred commented.

“This tree won’t hide you, Dred…” Elena remarked as she got around it and looked at his sides sticking out.

“It’s not like we need it in this thick forest. I just came after you girls,” he chuckled, keeping his voice low. Sticking her head through the thick bush, Elena looked at the General’s back with furrowed brows. The technicians stayed inside the aircraft and only the General entered the house. Although her bacteria were stuck on his skin, she wanted to see the place for herself.

“Let’s go, but before that… technicians who are serving an Empire of this kind should be dealt with. I don’t plan to let anyone leave this place alive either, so…” stepping through the bushes, Elena walked towards the aircraft as she slowly pulled out her daggers and licked her lips.

“She has gone into a frenzy, hasn’t she?” Audrey asked Dred upon noticing her strange tone and behavior.

“A-haha… yeah. We were born to kill, so our instincts are a bit focused on that,” he said, showing his white teeth, his body stiff.

“You too are bloodthirsty, I see. I can’t understand you, but really,” Audrey shook her head.

“It’s so thrilling when we can do whatever we want with our prey. Like meat dolls, we can tear them into pieces!” he said, slightly panting.

“Are you a pervert or what?”

“No, I’m just excited!” he shouted as he ran after Elena.

Stopping behind the aircraft, Elena knocked on the door but no reply came out. Of course, this was because they saw through a camera who was standing there. “W-What do you want?” a scared shout could be heard.

Touching her cherry lips, a grin formed on Elena’s face. “I just want to talk, I swear!”

“Please go away!” a reply came.

“You are so cute,” she chuckled as she thrust her dagger through the steel and sliced through it as if it was butter.

“This place is fucking great!” Audrey shouted, feeling excited upon seeing Elena’s monstrous strength and the difference in the quality of materials she knew and this world had. She was always excited to see more of the world, like a true wanderer.

Elena stepped through the door she made on the back of the aircraft and looked around. “Oh boys, I must release some steam if I want to stay sane, so please be my food,” she said with a chuckle, facing tens of rifles pointed at her.

Dred turned into a black bear, standing at three meters on all fours. While the technicians were standing there unmoving, pointing their guns at Elena, he stood up on his hind legs and smashed the side of their vehicle. The steel got bashed in and struck the back of a guy with a great force, making him fall forward and crash into a guy on the other side. The others opened fire and tried to kill Elena, but all of their bullets went through her body and riddled the vehicle with holes instead.

Appearing in the middle of the group, Elena spun in a circle, her dagger slicing through the waists of the nearest people. The sound of slicing meat, nerves, and breaking of bones mixed together into a symphony in her ears. Dred tore out the side of the aircraft and bashed the back of the nearest guy, his claws cutting his body into two halves. The victim’s blood rushed up his throat and he spat it on Dred’s arm before losing his consciousness.

A technician was daring enough to raise his empty gun and try to hit the back of Elena’s head. Sensing it long ago, she simply stepped to the side. As the guy fell forward, she thrust her dagger forward and quickly penetrated through his skin, meat, and nerves. It got between his ribs without any mistake and skewered his heart. The same person reflexively tried to hold his chest as if it would help him, but he just skewered his own hands on the tip of the dagger instead.

Thinking that it was his best shot, another guy decided to attack now and tried to do the same. He hit the back of the first attacker as a result while Elena let go of her dagger, spun around his body and swept her other dagger through his neck, beheading him with a clean strike. His mouth was opened wide as his head fell to the ground and rolled towards the back of the aircraft. Elena stomped on the head, crushing it into a bloody pulp.

She pulled out her dagger from the other guy’s body and kicked his back with his full strength. Loud cracks resounded in the inside of the vehicle as he was propelled forward and flew through the air like a broken kite and crashed into the wall on the other side, turning into a bloody pulp. His guts, bones, and meat trickled down on the wall, dirtying the floor.

Dred tore the side of the vehicle into pieces like a vehement beast and forced his body into it. With his huge body, each swipe he made killed two or three people, turning all of them into bloody pulps on the walls. Seeing that there were only two people left, each of them in a corner, they decided to not be greedy and share in the fun. Grabbing his target’s shoulders, he opened his jaws. His teeth bore into the guy’s neck, tearing his muscles, nerves, and the upper part of his spine. As his jaws closed, he tore off it completely and chewed on it with happiness.

Seeing the gory scene, the other guy fell on his knees and peed himself. “This too is a way of poverty, isn’t it? Being weak sucks, I know that much,” Elena sighed as a shadow covered her whole head and turned into a gaping maw. It bit off her target’s head in the same manner Dred did. When the shady head dissolved, there was no blood on her face and the torn off head disappeared altogether.

Clenching her dagger, she felt something sticky covering her hands and the handles of her daggers. Looking down, she saw that it was the blood of the murdered people, which was quickly turning colder and colder in the breezy autumn. Turning around, she heard a squishy sound. Raising her leg and looking under her feet, she realized that she stepped on some kind of organ she couldn’t recognize in its current form.

When Dred crawled out of the vehicle, she closed her eyes and slapped her hands together. A powerful gust of wind spread outwards, her as the epicenter. It pushed all the blood, bones, limbs, and organs towards the walls, painting them red. “This irony smell is really thrilling,” she thought aloud happily, licking her lips.

“You are way too fucked up,” Audrey commented, looking at the sight with a frown on her face. “Do you plan to leave it like this?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Well, they wouldn’t give me any experience or strength, but I’ll let them rest in peace,” she replied as she snapped her fingers and everything but the vehicle and its original contents disappeared.

“Impressive sight as always,” Audrey remarked.

“Why is it impressive?”

“The sight of everything turning into nothing in the blink of an eye is pretty impressive. Your power is impressive, that’s all,” she explained herself.

“Are you fancying Devour, by any chance?” Dred asked, poking her back with his huge paw.

“Yes, I do. I too have it, but it’s nowhere near as powerful as yours,” she said, slightly discouraged, but still happy to have it.

“Mhm, I understand you, but don’t mind it,” Elena replied as she stepped out of the aircraft and walked towards the house. She swung her daggers and the blood on them splashed onto the leaf-covered ground, turning a few yellow leaves dark red.

“Just clean yourself for fuck’s sake. You look sick in the head…” Audrey commented behind Elena’s back, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Seeing that she was ignoring her, she shot a ball of water towards Elena and made her soaking wet.

“...This felt fucking cold, alright? Can’t you add some fire element if you are doing something like this?” Elena said through gritted teeth. “If not for my armor, my skin would be wet too and I’d get a cold!” she added, trying to make Audrey feel bad with no success.

“You were a dirty pig, so it was for the best,” she replied, walking past her and entering the house. On the other side of the door, a hall welcomed her. The walls and the floor were covered in dark gray tiles, while the luxurious chandeliers covered it in a yellow light. There was a long red carpet on the floor, a door on the other side of it, four meters away. Two guards stood in front of it, pointing their guns at Audrey.

Two tiny knives whistled past Audrey’s ears after penetrating the door, and bore their way into the eyes of the guards, going through their eyeballs, entering their brains in the end. But thanks to Elena’s huge strength, their heads blew up and dirtied the ground.

“...”

“What? I just killed them,” Elena said, seeing Audrey shaking her head.

After taking a few steps forward, two people jumped out of some randomly opening holes in the walls and jumped at Elena, trying to ambush her. She stepped back, evading their slow attacks and while Dred flew through the air and tore the guy on the left into pieces, she thrust her dagger into the throat of the other guy.

Five people stepped through the door and opened fire at the trio with poor results. When they ran out of ammo, Elena returned to her original form and threw five knives towards their throats. It sliced through their muscles and nerves, separating their heads from their bodies. Stomping on the ground, her shadow spread out and devoured everybody.

“People can’t do anything too big alone. For you to serve this Emperor, you are just as bad and worth my special care,” Elena muttered, touching the handle of the door.

“Huh? I should reconsider if I wanted your care, shouldn’t I?” Audrey asked herself aloud, wrinkling her brows.

“Hahaha, no. I wouldn’t hurt my dear friend,” Elena said with a chuckle, hearing her concerned voice.

“That’s good to know, but we are actually the same as these guards. I mean, in a way, we too are serving you,” Audrey commented.

“Fine, I can’t deny that and my ‘plan’ is probably just as bad as this Emperor’s, so I should be the first to be killed, but-”

“Well, no? You don’t want to kill everybody only bad people, so it’s fine, in my opinion,” she said, patting the top of Elena’s head and going past her.

Slightly pouting, she waved her hand at her friend, “You aren’t my mother! You redhead!” Audrey just laughed at her words, while exploring the luxurious living room. Closing her eyes, she used her Sense and found the General and the Emperor quite far away under the ground. Furrowing her brows, she used Earth Magic to split the ground open and found a dark pathway.

Elena and Dred just finished killing everyone in the house and appeared beside her. “Shall we go?” she asked, raising a brow. Audrey nodded her head and jumped down. The wind blew through the dark passageway, catching their long hair. Stepping forward, Audrey felt a tile sink into the ground under her foot. Looking at Elena, she shrugged her shoulders, “I’m sorry!”

“... I think that I stepped on one too.”

They heard a loud rumbling sound and a huge rock appeared behind them in the next moment, rolling towards them. Smirking, Elena used Earth Magic and disintegrated it into tiny pieces. Audrey raised her leg and stepped forward. Seeing that nothing happened, she did the same.

But the trap Audrey activated was the rolling rock. When she raised her foot, the ground split into two halves under them. She saw shiny and pointy spikes under them, ready to skewer them. Before reaching it, she swung her arm and a huge wave of darkness shot forward. By the time it dispersed, they were on the ground, which was littered with rust powder.

“Low-class metals are easy to disintegrate,” she humphed, crossing her arms and looking up at Dred, who was out of the area of effect. Since they were only a good twenty meters deep, they just jumped up and landed beside Dred.

They activated many traps through the pathway, but none of them worked since they were created for weaker people. “I’m sure that nobody from this planet could get through this place,” Elena commented, shaking her head as she punched a thick stone door, breaking it open.

On the other side was a light-filled cavern with many gold coins and other antique things inside. In the middle of it was a golden throne and a young man, seemingly at the age of twenty-five was sitting in it. The gray-haired General was standing beside him, pointing his handgun at Elena’s head.

“Why are you even trying?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. Raising her hand, a ball of darkness shot forward and disintegrated the bullet and the General’s weapon too. The General swung his arm, visibly trying to cast some kind of spell but with no success. Looking at his own hand with confusion, he tried again, but with no effect.

“You can’t use Magic because you are an undead,” Elena commented with a bright smile on her face. The Emperor was looking at the scene with interest, though silent.

“What do you mean? I’m a human!” the General shouted, feeling dread in his heart.

“No, I killed you already.”

“Hahaha, this woman is stupid. We haven’t even met before!” At this, the Emperor furrowed his brows and brushed his hand through his long, blonde hair, which had tints of black in it.

“You did meet them before,” he spoke for the first time, his voice a bit hoarse.

“What? No, I’ve never met these people! How did you get here and what do you want?!” he asked with a dark face, hiding his worry. He was questioning himself and his memories, but he didn’t wish to show it in front of the Emperor, his old friend he held in high regards.

“What happened to you?” the Emperor asked as he leaned closer to the General and touched his head. “Strange, I can’t sense anything. Did you do something to him?” he asked with furrowed brows, looking at Elena.

“Who knows? But I should kill you quickly, time is pressing, you know?” she asked, raising her hand, ready to kill the Emperor.

“WAIT!” the General shouted, jumping in front of the Emperor, his muscular body hiding the Emperor’s lean and comparably small body.

“What is it?” she asked, furrowing her brows.

“I- I know that you are too powerful and that you did something to me, but please don’t kill him!”

“Why would I not kill this evildoer?”

“Because he is my friend! I know that his goals are visibly evil, but he wasn’t like this in the past! He loved his family and was a kind person!” he shouted.

“Who cares? He has done too many bad things, now,” Elena replied, while a bolt of flickering lightning formed in her hand.

“No! It’s easy to kill others with that strength of yours, but why don’t you try to change people instead? Is it because it’s harder to do? I’ve been trying to change my friend’s personality for the better for years with my meager strength! What do you even know about us?” the General asked, making the Emperor change facial expressions after each sentence. Kicking his back, the General fell forward.

“You were trying to do what? You prick,” he shouted angrily, pointing at him. A strange, black ring caught Elena’s eyes, which didn’t escape the Emperor’s sight either. He quickly pulled back his hand and hid it behind his back.

Ho? An interesting reaction you’ve got there, she thought with interest.

“Please help me change him instead of just killing him!” the General shouted as he stood up from the ground. Pointing at his old friend, he added, “It all started when we found this ancient cave!”

“Tell me more about this and I might reconsider killing you all,” Elena’s eyes shone with a strange light upon hearing his words.

Nodding his head, feeling hope, the General continued much to the Emperor’s dismay and unhappiness. But he knew that he was in no position to intervene. “We grew up together as sons of two noble families. We were twenty-four years at that time when we found this pathway, but the first step almost killed the both of us. Later we came back with a group of trap specialists and with heavy losses, we got here.”

“We were very happy to see so much gold and treasures here, but Shin, the Emperor was the first to notice that blank ring in the throne chair. He put it on immediately and it was alright at that time. We had the system of the traps on paper, so we were able to easily come in and out whenever we wanted without stepping on any of the traps.”

“Since our parents were strict, we didn’t have a high allowance and we used the gold in here to fool around. Of course, we killed the trap masters to hide this secret. The real problem started a few days later when Shin started mentioning things that were frowned upon. Ideals of men ruling over women formed in his mind, though later I realized that it was just the first step.”

“He started telling me plans about taking over the whole planet. They were simple and quite stupid at the start, but he got better and better at it with a visible speed. Each time he shared his plans, they turned more and more detailed and vile. That’s when I realized that something was wrong and that he wasn’t just joking or practicing tactics, which wasn’t an unusual thing in our war-filled world. I asked him to take off his ring. His reply was a slap in the face and I was beaten up.”

“I never understood how he got so strong and he even used a few spells. Later-”

Hearing enough, Elena interrupted him, “Okay, stop. So this black ring is the reason behind his current personality, isn’t it?”

“Yes! He even killed his own family when he overtook the throne!”

“And why did you serve him? You should have killed him long ago,” she furrowed her brows, not finding his reasons. Appearing in front of him, she grabbed his throat and raised him into the air, “I asked why? As his friend, you should have known better and ask for help or kill him if you can’t win over him. No, you helped him doing so many bad things instead. What is your saving grace?”

Gritting his teeth, slightly stuttering, he shouted, “I- I LOVE HIM!”

“Huh?”

“I LOVE HIM!” he repeated his words, leaving Elena in a dumbfounded state. Raising her brows, she let go of him and stepped back.

“Alright, I can accept your reason, but you will go down together,” she replied, ready to attack.

“WAIT! Why?! Just because I’m different?”

“What? No, it has nothing to do with it. He turned evil and even if he turned good, he should be punished for what he has done, even if because of a mistake in the past. It’s the same for you. I just wanted to hear why and how it happened since people don’t just start having these kinds of plans and goals without a reason,” she replied, feeling slightly surprised by his outrage.

Jumping up, he charged at Elena, trying to save his love, “I’ll take you with me!” the General shouted with a mad face.

Dred appeared in front of Elena and slapped the General’s face with his paw, tearing his head off. The General’s head soared through the air and bounced off the wall.

As it rolled to the feet of the Emperor, who stepped on it with a grin on his face, “You were trying to save me, huh? You little shit, I should have killed you too, but you served your purpose all this time, so it’s fine.”

“It’s your turn so don’t be so happy,” Elena said as her shadow rushed forward. Raising his hand, the Emperor waved with a grin on his face. Inspect, Elena thought while looking at the ring.

Name: Eighth Ring of Calamity

Rarity: Legendary

Durability: N/A

Effects: #[email protected]##@?>#[email protected]

Description

This is the eighth piece of the ring of calamity from a set of eight. This ring is usable only once, just like the other pieces. It’s the legacy of a king who had immense knowledge and control over space and nature. These eight rings were his last creations, along with a formation that connected his home planet, ‘Dink’ to another planet which was renamed to ‘Dunk’ under his rule. There are seven more rings hidden within each gateway.

When the formation is filled to the brim with blood, the gateway will open and the planets will be connected once again. Each ring has a different effect when Mana is channeled through them. See the effect above. When you collect every ring, they will merge into a single one, which will be the true legacy of the late king, called ‘Hector’.

A tiny gate of shadow appeared under the Emperor, showing a city on the other side of it, which had a similar style compared to their Dunk planet.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Elena’s face turned ashen as she shouted, trying to quicken up the speed of her shadow by pouring Mana into it.

But before she could reach him, she saw him disappear in a flash, leaving the cave… empty.