What was that just now? I thought I had heard a noise…No… its not a noise. Something’s shaking.

Rel’s eyes drowsily opened to him seeing a blade pointed right at his face. As it descended down, his alertness had just come to a point where he could move and he barely avoided the blade impaling him.

He got up in a quick flurry and the knight immediately went on the defensive. His shield held upwards to block Rel’s next attack but instead, he was sent flying through the building walls. Both the walls and the shield had crumpled under the force of his punch.

Despite this fact, no one else had wakened up. The noise should have been loud enough to disrupt the entire house.

“Oi! ORA! WAKE UP”

His shout could distort the entire castle with its rumbling. Noone was yet awake. “What in the world…”

“ALEL! LIN!”

Still, silence filled the house. The clangs of armor weren’t even making a noise. No one had seemed to realize he was there.

That’s when Rel realized that he couldn’t even hear himself. The knights that invaded could not even hear him. They made no noise themselves. Fear and confusion struck until he reached his answer…

“Mass Muffling spell!!”

He thought as hard as he could. First, he had to defend everyone still here. Several of the children had awoken from disruptions other than noise and what had occurred was just massive death after death.

Lin who had been on the second floor was overloaded with sensory. He had fallen asleep and overstrained himself. All the eyes he was watching through had fallen asleep, and when all his windows became black, he himself had succumbed to the fatigue.

Now he awoke to a frightening vision; Several of the children waking up to blood and screaming in horror. His vision expanded and he could see through the eyes of hundreds.

It had hurt his brain to try and perceive through the eyes of any more than that, but even he could tell that it wasn’t just 300 or 500 people. There were thousands around the tower.

The first division had gone into the tower to clear everything out. Lin cursed and slammed his fist towards the floor of the tower. He had failed to become useful in the only way he could.

His scream sounded throughout the tower, but neither his fist or his voice could be heard. “…no…I gotta save them. How could I have failed..”

No. He can still stop at least some of the damage. He got up scurrying, tripping over himself and tumbling forward. He hadn’t really gotten used to the lack of legs yet, but he continued to drag himself down the steps of the tower.

This extremely fast movement required him to tumble down each of the steps whenever he got to them.

How many injuries had he already sustained just trying to traverse the tower alone? How would he certainly be of any use?

He clenched his teeth, bared with the pain and hurried as fast as he could down each floor. Every second that passed another pair of eyes opened and then closed instantly.

He could see it from Rel’s eyes now, observing the situation. Rel was destroying knight after knight and had eventually managed to catch most of their attention.

Upon realizing how many of them he was going through, they silently decided that facing him all at once was the much better decision.

Rel’s eyes had been scanning the area for someone. Ora, Alel. Any one of them. Finally, he had Caught site of Alel’s long black hair and immediately beelined towards her. With a quick dive and yank of her hair, she woke up enraged.

It was an old game Rel used to do to her so she instantly flared out punches at Rel before realizing the direness of the actual situation.

Rel was covered in blood though it was not his own. Alel’s eyes scanned the area around her.

10….13…14…16..17

17 armored knights were within the tower itself. And several others were either unconscious or dead thanks to Rel. Despite this, she realized most of the kids were asleep.

“What in the world…is going on here, Rel?”

Rel’s mouth moved, but no answer came out of it. She couldn’t help but feel everything was out of place. Why was all this damage done to the building, and no one awake? Why hadn’t Lin detected this invasion… why couldn’t they hear each other?

A knight came at the both of them and Lin only managed to claw at his eyes. Her relic required time to charge up and heat to molten proportions.

The night dodged her strike and slammed her back with his shield. The difference in size, weight, and strength was too great. She tumbled across the floor before Rel’s foot met the knight's helmet and sank him to the floor instantly.

“I see…so I’m the only one who stands much of a chance here huh. Lin, you rest up. Find Ora if you can, and wake him up.”

Alel stared blankly at Rel, completely unable to hear what was talking about. Nonetheless, she scurried away from the violence and searched for Ora.

Just as Rel’s vision was turned away from Alel, she was kicked across the room and collided with the door. She got up and immediately slipped upon a ton of blood. “Shiittt!” The knight was already upon her before she could right herself.

Just then the door behind her swung open and the knight's sword which was to swing down on her had stopped halfway through. An arm fell to the ground and blood showered her. Alel looked up to see Lin standing over her, stopping the knight's sword with his arm.

Now he had no balance whatsoever. His only retort was to slam his fist onto the knight as he fell over. Putting all his weight into the punch didn’t help at all. The armor was too powerful for Lin’s fists. The knight slid back for a quick second before battering Lin’s face with his shield as he went down.

He was out for the count.

Just then Rel leaped into the air and shouted as loud as he could. Though no one heard it. “This will wake you up, ORAAA!!!”

As he came down onto the ground, he slammed both of his fists into the ground. Though no one could hear anything still, the entire tower began to rumble. The metallic poles and cell bars vibrated heavily.

This caused everyone to wake up and turn towards Rel. “Heh….game over punks.” Everyone in the tower had awoken just now. Everyone.

Amidst the confusion and frantic fear that they all felt, a sense of relief flew over Rel and Alel. They spotted the tiny white-haired kid rising up from beneath his blanket.

The guards closed in on Rel who couldn’t stop laughing. Even as they all bared their swords towards him and threatened his death.

The game was already over.

Even amidst the silence, they could feel the rage that emanated from the white-haired kid. Most of them turned around to face him.

“White-haired plague child…this is the one from the intel.”

Of course, whoever that knight was talking to, none of the rest could hear him. The muffling spell works in an entire vicinity.

Tch. A sea of shadows swept over the room and covered everything in darkness. By the time the shadows alleviated, all of them were dead. He did this to avoid any intel from getting out of what happened.

He could already tell there was more of them outside the tower. The dark, hollow eyes of Ora’s scanned the room, counting each of the bodies.

His teeth clenched the moment he came up to a number greater than 5. He began to breathe heavily and fell to his knees. “How many did I lose…How many.”

He couldn’t bear to count the rest of them. “What have I been doing all this time….I’m stronger now. I should be able to stop any of them from coming to harm’s way.” He slammed his fists onto the room.

He got up and looked outside of the tower, and he could see, in every street were thousands and thousands of guards. They had the entire place surrounded. “Heh…hahahahahaha”

“You dare take what’s mine. You dare mess with my family. My home.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHA TRULY YOU’RE ALL FOOLS!!!! THIS WILL BE THE LAST TIME YOU STEP FOOT INTO MY HOME!”

He motioned for everyone to stay right where they were. He realized now that no one could hear him.

Outside what greeted him was the rest of the Garrison from Sei’O. He must have pulled resources from all over Sei’O. But why?

Several shadows stemmed from Ora’s back and he climbed up the side of the tower like a spider, until he was at the top of the highest floor.

He could see a much clearer view of everyone. Now he could truly tell how far the unit measured. They had spilled into all crevice’s and all streets of the slums.

“Who’s responsible for the muffling spell. There has to be a mage amongst them somewhere…somewhere…”

He looked around, but could not spot anyone who appeared to be of Magical affinity. To magicians armor and metals usually hindered their magical prowess. Most of them required clothing that gave them a full measure of the elements.

“Very well. Forget the mage. Alucarde, how many of them do you think I can reach with one technique.”

“With your current skill …I’d say only…. about 5,000.”

“There can’t be more than 2,000 of them.”

“Let the massacre begin.”

“Betrayal of Shadows.”

A lot of rumbling occurred below as the knights all scurried around and ran back and forth. Several trampled each other. Shadows sprouted from themselves and impaled each of the knights.

Many of the others watched from the windows of the tower. What they were witnessing was something straight out of a nightmare. The thousands and thousands of guards all screaming at once made zero noise at all thanks to the muffling spell.

But the collection of screams formed waves of vibrations that shook through buildings, shook the ground, and even shook through your bones.

Every second that passed by, massive shadow spikes would collide with several hundreds of guards, elevating them into the sky and leaving them twisted and contorted like that. The ones who managed to survive the betrayal began scurrying frantically, avoiding all the other tendrils that erupted forth.

Ora was not killing them, despite impaling the majority of them. He had suspended much of the living in the sky.

The knights frantically ran to the doors of the tower, seeking refuge, but were continuously slain by shadows before they could reach the doorways.

The only way one could describe this, was a scene straight from hell.

Ora’s eyes continued to scan the area. The fact that he could not hear their screams meant that the muffle effect was still active. Thus, the magician was still untouched.

“Where are you mage….” He scanned the clouds, he scanned the ground before him. He could not glimpse one single mage amongst the group.

Perhaps the rear….

At the very back of this group, cycling through the array of casualties, he could see one robed man all the way behind the rest of the group. Behind this man was another familiar face. Lord Valen.

“Ahhh….there you are. Ora’s tendrils clung onto the side of the building tightly before pushing off of it and launching Ora like a bullet.

“Lord Valen, you must get back. I never knew such a power could exist in the slums of Sei’O.”

Lord Olren Valen’s eyes remained wide with shock. “H-how…heh. Like I’d turn back now.”

“What a giant embarrassment. I brought all my forces here to show that you do not mess with the country of Baerim…and here I am, rapidly losing all my forces.”

“Lord Valen, out of everyone here, it is you who should return alive. You are of monumental importance to the plans of Baerim. Especially in the near future.”

There was a time when Lord Valen was one of the most revered men alive. It was not for his prowess in battle, but for his tactics against other armies and even the more powerful enemies.

But still, against raw power like this….it was nothing he could prepare for.

“If anything. I will make sure everyone here dies along with me.” The mage smiled. His long brown hair rested to his back. Two bangs framed the side of his face and rested over his chest. He was a rather lanky man who appeared to be in his early 20’s.

It was no bluff that he could probably end everyone in this group along with himself. He was a prodigy appointed to help Valen by the Keins. The kid was a genius when it came to magic and was able to perform various AOE spells. That, and his magical reach was tremendous. To be able to cast a muffling spell on a field this wide, was superb for anyone his age.

“You mean to tell me y- you plan on self-destructing?”

He nodded. “Aye.”

“You’d die.”

He nodded again. “I know.”

“You see…when the Keins had sent me to work for you. He told me my purpose in life.”

He picked up his staff. “It was so that I may die serving you on the field. In fact…he told me of a situation similar to this happening.” As he said those words, his hands trembled slightly. Even if he didn’t look like it, he was afraid of death.

“So please. Leave here, and make it back to Baerim. I’ll take things from he-“

ZOOOM! He could not even make out what had occurred. Too fast. Much too fast. All he knew now, was Lord Valen stood before him, half of his torso with a hole in it. The attack had taken out most of his upper body. From his waist, up to his chest.

The white-haired plague child stood on the other end of the hole. A giant drill of shadows untwisted from his arms as he straightened out. The mage attempted to cast a spell at him but was battered by a wall of shadows before he could even finish his chant.

Right after he was hit, the screams filled the entire area and the howls rang out like cicadas. If one could feel the vibrations earlier, they could certainly hear it now. Ora’s ears had popped from the sudden.

“Huh… don’t tell me that one hit killed him already. Or maybe he’s just unconscious.”

He walked through the field of carnage. By now, there was an intricate web of spikes that towered to the skies, linking bodies with each other. The ones who were impaled and suspended into the skies could be heard screaming and begging for mercy.

Whenever a soldier was brave enough to go after him, they’d be added to the sky funeral above. “Show yourself, Mage.”

Noone was around. Where he should have landed, the mage was gone. “I see…teleportation magic. Tch.”

“You’re all too loud. The rest of you can all die now.”

Within the instant he gave the order, all noise stopped. Simultaneously, all 3000 guards perished.

Ora returned to the tower, met with the stares of everyone there. It was one thing to see him take on 50 Yorbian knights…it was another to see him bring down 3,000 people at once.

They had heard all the noises hush at the same time. They knew what this meant. At this very moment, a majority of them feared Ora even though they were friends.

He smiled and gave them a thumbs up. “It’s okay now” that smile was one that was bittersweet. He was smiling because he could save them but saddened at the ones he couldn’t save. In truth, he considered this event a failure.