Volume I Scions of Destiny - Chapter 3 Part II: Rupture (II)

As Monkeyi stood up, she heard coughs and whimpers of pain clearly near the dust cloud raised by the enemy’s last attack against the main south gate. The Demon Lord truly surprised everyone with the unexpected force he had and his numerous army of wild demons.

The Demon Lord truly surprised everyone with the unexpected force he had and his numerous army of wild demons.

Her partial black samurai armor was dusty and her face was decorated in minor scratches caused by shards of rock flying from a random explosion. Even so, her face didn’t flinch for even a second, as she tried to think about a new strategy before the time was up for the whole Citadel. “Regroup to the south gate! We must not let them breach the Citadel!” Monkeyi shouted the only order that first came to her mind as there was no time to waste.

Every still-conscious Elin Reaper stood up as fast as they could and carried out Monkeyi’s order, forming a defensive line in front of the fairly destroyed gate while the dense cloud of dust slowly dispersed in their sight.

Suddenly without warning, the floor quaked as a powerful heavy step echoed throughout the battlefield, till everyone could see a towering shadow a few meters away in the dust.

“Get ready!” Monkeyi shouted unfazed by the quake as all the Reapers fixed their eyes on the unknown figure in sight.

Some moved their necks as others took a slow deep breath, getting ready to rush towards their enemies upon command, but it never came, instead the great shadow halted its advance and when none expected it, from the dense sight-hindering cloud of dust, a large and massive flame flew towards them.

It was so fast that they could only lift their arms by reflex in hopes of defending themselves from the oppressive flames, but it was to no avail.

The only one who held her feet was Monkeyi, watching with her straight and unyielding gaze fixed on the flames flying directly at them.

But the flames never reached them. Instead, the flames impacted a large crescent transparent magic dome comprised of countless small bluish-twinkling hexagons, protecting them as the entire flame covered the dome before dying out after a few seconds.

No one could know the caster’s identity but there was no time to dwell on it since they could hear the next wave of enemies coming in front of them.

Then, two Elins, Lailyn and another Elin, fell in front of the defensive line that is under Monkeyi’s command. This last one, was shorter in height compared to Lailyn’s by a few centimeters, had daffodil colored hair, cerulean eyes and innocent lips slightly darker than her pale skin tone.

She wore a one-piece white dress with a dark-red canvas surrounding her hip, long black stockings covering half her thighs as well as low blackish heels. Besides she was wearing two long black gloves but she has no weapons on her at all.

This Elin stood out among the others present, along with a black eye-patch covering her left eye, she had no visible animal traits like the other Elins.

Both were glaring at the great shadow in front of them unflinching, as well as carrying a serene but pressuring aura around them.

Meanwhile, the defensive line was recently blessed with the opportunity of rest for a while.

“Lailyn, we arrived just in time apparently. Kukuku…”

The short Elin spoke with a confident smile while the other reapers saved by that mysterious barrier were surprised by their commanding officer’s shocking levels of confidence in front of a Demon Lord on the battlefield.

“Don’t be so arrogant, Dekarin. Make yourself useful and remove this dust blocking our view.” Lailyn said with her usual unfazed voice tone and expression.

“Eh?! I did save them all, right?! That’s already worthy enough!” She protested.

“Dekarin…”

“Alright, Alright!” Dekarin lifted her right hand forward and swiftly murmured a few words in a forgotten dialect, conjuring a strong wind around them and removed the thick cloud of dust.

“Done,” Dekarin said upset.

In that moment, everyone could see the Demon Lord’s visage a few meters away, standing still. The Demon Lord had a draconic image, two big armored feet supporting his large armored arms and torso, and a height around 7 meters.

His whole muscular body was made of what seemed like brown rock, his black head had two reddish horns and from his back are two black bone wings covered in fire. Also, the Demon Lord was armed with black-reddish dual blades.

He held a bold smile, confident that victory was already earned, thinking that the Reapers died from his flames, but then his expectations were betrayed when he saw that none were even charred from his deadly flames.

On the other part, Lailyn and Dekarin ignored him and fixed their gazes on the army behind him.

“That’s going to be troublesome; those are a lot of wild demons charging at us, Lailyn.”

“We’ve handled worse, Dekarin.”

“I know I know, I just hope this time the fun last a little longer.”

“You never change, do you?”

“That’s my best skill kukukuku...”

Both chattered in the middle of the battlefield while there were thousands of hostile wild demons charging at them in front of them.

“Everyone!...Get ready!” Monkeyi shouted as her soldiers sharpened their focus on the incoming battle.

“Commander, there’s too many of them! We should fall back and…”

“No, we will stand and fight!” Monkeyi interrupted her subordinate without hesitation while she fixed her gaze on the enemy without moving a muscle while Lailyn and Dekarin, were at the middle of the battlefield leisurely chatting.

Meanwhile, the Demon forces kept advancing at full speed as Monkeyi struggled in forming a strategy to defeat the overwhelming odds against her.

Suddenly, when the wild demons were about to reach Lailyn’s and Dekarin’s position, Lailyn lifted her hand at the height of her shoulder, signaling her comrades to advance.

“Charge!” Monkeyi and her soldiers could hear a clear and vivacious shout coming from behind the Steel Citadel’s huge black walls, while in front of her many Reapers were jumping off the top of the walls and rushing towards the wild demons upon landing.

All of them were wearing different Ninja armors, but all of them wore a common black band with red lines at its contours around their arms, which Monkeyi recognized immediately. The symbol on their bands was a purplish lotus flower, representing these Elins as part of the Black Lotus Order.

*Ahhh!*

The Elins’ battle cries flooded the battlefield as they continued to appear, numbering in hundreds or perhaps thousands.

“We will aid our people! Charge!” Monkeyi shouted with all her lungs as she unsheathed her black swords and then rushed forward alongside their fellow Elin Reapers.

Each of the wild demons possessed a different aspect. Some were humanoids, draconics, wolves, among other aspects. But they were all no stronger than an average human, with some exceptions.

Even so, their large numbers and the excessive reproductive capacities alongside their high-tier illusion magic made the wild demons formidable and dangerous if underestimated.

The Demon Lords in the very beginning were also wild demons, but their intellectual capacities and their advanced reasoning could be compared with a High Elf, as proof that they were more evolved and distinguishable than the others.

These Demon Lords self-proclaimed themselves as the rulers of the Nightmare Realm and it remained so over thousands of years, till the Reapers arrived.

When the Reapers arrived the Realm after escaping from the hunt of the Amans, High Elves, and Human forces, there were nine Demon Lords, each ruling a part of the Nightmare Realm.

Upon arrival in the Nightmare Realm, the Reapers quickly settled down and started constructing their new homeland near the Lake of Tears in the middle of a black sand desert, with the help of a few Castanics that also arrived with them.

The ninth Demon Lord was the first to notice this foreign invasion and quickly mobilized his troops against the Reapers; the Demon Lord was confident of his victory though he underestimated his enemy, ending up dead in the hands of Lhya in the first attack he once led.

Lhya and her people showed no signs of giving up, as they kept going forward even after their own people turned their backs and pointed them as monsters as their former allies.

Lhya and her people's’ will was unbreakable.

A year later after the Reapers entered the realm, Lhya was known as the Crimson Princess after she killed six of the Demon Lords with her own hands while her Citadel, known also as Steel Citadel by her enemies and people, remained almost intact from the consecutive wars against the Demon Lords.

After these wars, the remaining Demon Lords ceased their attacks and left Lhya and her people in peace, but something inside Lhya warned her that they were preparing for their last attempt on defeating her and her people.

Lhya knew that her people would fight alongside her, but there was too much blood spilled already and as a Leader, it was her duty to defend and lead her people to a better tomorrow, for that she needed to find a new way to defend her Citadel without an army, to provide her people a true peace for the first time in years.

Lhya wanted a peace which would let her people forge the future once took away from them by their own people and allies.

Despite being outnumbered, each of the Black Lotus Order members was formidably fighting the oppressing herd of wild demons, no matter how many times the Elins were badly wounded, be it their arms, legs or torsos, or knocked down.

As after a few seconds from their wounds came out a purplish-black fire which regenerated their wounds. then they could get up again as if they would be coming back from the death, summon their weapons and then kept fighting the enemy fiercely.

Their tenacious will was unexplainable.

They were literally unkillable unless their fragment of life in their chests were directly removed or damaged to a certain extent.

Their enemies knew that, but it was hard to do. Even so, every time in a while during the length of the battle an Elin fell to the ground dead with a wound on their chest directly impacting her fragment of life.

Every Elin Reaper was fighting wild demons but none attempted to fight the Demon Lord, as he stood confident, waiting for an opponent who would dare challenge him. Meanwhile, the defensive line was slowly retreating as they couldn't hold the line against the sheer overwhelming numbers.

Suddenly, the front line filled with thousands of wild demons were engulfed in flames casted by Dekarin in the rearguard as her eyes glow along with having a sinister smile.

“Kukukukuku...time to have some fun!” Dekarin shouted as she mildly lifted her right hand forward with her palm extended, while on it floated a black mysterious book. Meanwhile, the Elins members of the Black Lotus Order shouted a stronger battle cry conveying their unbreakable will.

“Impossible!” The Demon Lord shouted as he saw his army decimated although not defeated.

“I would worry more about myself if I were you…” A firm, emotionless voice came to his ears up close, as an Elin was calmly standing on his left shoulder without him even noticing. It was Lailyn.

“Eh?!” The Demon Lord looked surprised to his left shoulder and briefly froze in shock.

Meanwhile, in the front lines, a black-purple haired Elin with wolf ears adorned in black-reddish light plate armor was cutting her path through wild demons with incredible speed using two black scythes of orange blades, as she moved towards the Demon Lord.

“The Princess Lhya is here! Keep pushing forward!” The officers shouted as the pressure was lowered thanks to the Dekarin’s advanced magic spells, allowing the defensive line to advance.

Explosions mainly from Dekarin’s spells, battle cries, sword clashes, screams of pain and more drowned the battlefield as the Princess Lhya kept swiftly killing any wild demon in her path towards the Demon Lord.

Suddenly, the Demon Lord felt a huge murderous aura targeting him.

Quickly, the Demon Lord moved his shoulders forcing Lailyn to jump off him and evade several swings from his dual blades.

Lailyn dodged every swing as if she could see through his movements with side steps and leapt back, she had many chances to attack him, but she never did, as she was intentionally mocking him while doing time.

“You little whore!” The Demon Lord shouted as Lailyn as her panther ears flinched upon hearing his words and then started to wag her fox tail left and right.

“You can’t even touch me…” Lailyn said as she fixed her emerald eyes at the Demon Lord with her usual apathetic expression but condescending gaze.

“You…” The Demon Lord exclaimed in anger as he swung his sword backward and then with all his strength, he pounced his sword towards Lailyn, but his attack never finished.

The black desert sand under the Demon Lord’s feet was stained with blood as a cry of pain echoed throughout the battlefield meanwhile behind him; his whole right arm fell to the ground alongside his sword.

“Agggghhhhh!” The Demon Lord kept crying as he dropped the other sword to clutch his new bloody right stump of a shoulder and fell to his knees.

“Lady Lhya, it is an honor having you on the battlefield,” Lailyn exclaimed emotionlessly as she slightly bowed.

“So, this is the so-called, third Demon Lord...what was his name? Oh right...Valmorgur, you are weaker than your brother, you know?” Lhya said as she appeared in front of him without any weapon as she had a straight expression on her face while she inspected him closely.

"You...you are a monster...Crimson Princess...she will defeat you...I am sure of it…” The third Demon Lord, Valmorgur said with a weak voice as Lhya settled her clawed black gauntlets.

“It is enough; I will end your poor life.” Lhya said ignoring his words as she summoned with a purple-black smoke one of her scythes and positioned behind him and put the edge of her scythe close to his neck.

“I will avenge all those who have fallen today with your blood!” Lhya said with a voice not only serious but also filled with her feelings, and when she was about to move with all her strengths the scythe backwards and cut Valmorgur’s neck, she detected an odd voice as well as a massive powerful aura near her, interrupting her killing blow.

“Fufufufufu...so this is the Crimson Princess...” A suggestive but threatening female voice was heard by everyone near Valmorgur.

Meanwhile, the Reapers were victorious on the battlefield as the wild demons were almost eradicated from the battlefield despite their overwhelming numbers, due Dekarin and her high-level Explosion Magic which shred apart the enemy forces quickly.

The ones that survived were in disarray and on the retreat as the Reapers raised their hands and/or weapons in hand and cheered to celebrate their victory.

The voice came from a woman of about 5’91’’ of height, which was wearing a completely white one-piece bustier dress covering part of her shoulders with a medium skirt with thin translucent lacings around the skirt edges. She also wore black gloves covering half her forearms as well as long black stockings wearing no shoes.

Her hair was black as well as her wide overshadowing wings, but her most unique traits were her pink-violet eyes and small stubby horns protruding out of her head. Her skin was pale white almost like snow, and her features are like a doll given flesh and life as she looks like an adorable young girl but her voice and manners were quite odd.

At the moment after she spoke, she had one of her hands vicegrip her head and the other on her lips as she looked at Lhya with a beautiful but eerie smile.

Lailyn and Lhya felt right away that this woman’s aura was quite different than the Demon Lord’s present with them, both could feel her huge magical aura around her like a cloak. Immediately Lailyn stepped into her way ready to fight, guarding Lhya.

“Uh? Fufufufu No no no...Don’t be mistaken…I am only here to talk with you, my dear Princess...fufufufufu…” She said while keeping her eerie smile.

Lailyn kept watching intently every minuscule part of her body ready to react at even the slightest twitch.

“Hahahahaha...she’s here… the first Demon Lord...Zelel…hehe...” Valmorgur murmured morbidly.

“Shut up…” Lhya said as she was going to cut Valmorgur’s neck, but suddenly her weapon vanished without her permission as she felt a huge impact on her chest, knocking her back a few meters while a shining white arcane circle swiftly formed under Lailyn and immobilized her completely.

"Fufufufu...I am sorry, but I can’t let you do that my dear…” Zelel added with a suggestive voice speaking her ‘concern’ while she walked to Lailyn and delicately placed her finger under her chin.

Lailyn had a complicated expression on her face as she struggled to escape the immobilization upon feeling Zelel’s hand.

“You are all so interesting...ahh…” Zelel said with an odd suggestive tone as she lightly licked her own lips.

Suddenly, with incredible speed and technique Lhya appeared from purple-black smoke above Zelel with both of her scythes aiming for her shoulders, but Zelel gently back stepped and avoided her deadly scythes, but it allowed Lailyn to break free from the immobilization spell and swiftly threw a few shurikens at Zelel.

The shurikens targeted Zelel’s head, left torso, neck and chest. However, with incredible speed and reflexes, Zelel effortlessly caught every shuriken thrown at her in between her fingers and then inspected them.

“Interesting toys...oh?” And after a second, the caught shurikens exploded in a purplish-black color, but Lailyn and Lhya knew well that all it won’t be enough to defeat her, as they can tell that this Demon Lord was extremely dangerous compared to the ones they’ve killed in the past.

After the explosion dissipated, Zelel was unharmed standing on her two feet unmoved with her eerie smile. Lhya and Lailyn stood unfazed at the expected outcome for a few seconds before they both simultaneously attacked with flawless synchrony.

Lailyn aimed for Zelel’s feet while Lhya once again tried to attack from above, both summoned their black scythes with yellow blades in the middle of their performed synchronised attack, both of them were going to hit Zelel simultaneously as she still didn't move even a millimeter, but both attacks were stopped and repelled at the same time by a magic shield instantly formed around Zelel.

As the attacks hit the shield, yellowish sparks flew as the shield reflected the force of their attacks knocking back both, Lailyn and Lhya.

“I suppose that it’s my turn then…” Zelel added as she disappeared from sight in black smoke in front Lhya and Lailyn.

Suddenly, Lhya felt a strong kick from her back knocking her to the sand as she spun from the force as Lailyn noticed this, quickly approached and tried to cut Zelel with her scythes, but she just avoided her severals attacks, went through Lailyn’s defenses and nimbly positioned herself between Lailyn’s arms and then Zelel put both of her palms on Lailyn’s stomach.

“No hard feelings my dear…” Zelel murmured to Lailyn and then she felt a huge shock on her stomach knocking her back and then she fell to the ground unable to stand, recoiling from the immense pain all over her body.

“Uhm…” Zelel cocked her head to her side. “I think it is too late to say it but...I just came here to talk with you, my dear…” Zelel exclaimed with an out of place worried voice.

Lhya stood up with many scratches decorating her face but they were short lived as the purplish fire cleansed every minor injury, healing them. Her face was serious and looked at Zelel with caution.

“What do you want then?” Lhya exclaimed as she tried to keep herself serene as she intently watched Zelel.

“Oh...uhmm… I was just defending my species… wouldn't you do the same with yours?” Zelel said as she smiled oddly happily with both of her hands at her back.

“Speak then,” Lhya exclaimed cold and sharp. Meanwhile at her side appeared Lailyn in purplish-black smoke since she was already recovered from her injuries.

“I’m here to offer you what you’ve always wanted…” Zelel said mysteriously as Lhya listened intently as Zelel turned around and looked at the Steel Citadel with both of her hands at her back.

“...A definitive peace for you and your people…” Zelel added in a serious voice for the first time as she kept staring the Steel Citadel.

Fire,

Incineration.

The soldiers were literally being incinerated by a sorceress wearing a black dress with a short skirt of the same color, her long black stockings had red horizontal lines. Her eyes were of a bright teal and her skin like beige porcelain. Her hair was black and short reaching above her neck and she had a little heart mark on her right cheek.

While this happened, some cannon shots could be barely heard through Velika as the floor slightly trembled, but none noticed it due to their attention absolutely focused in the battle in front of them.

Although the front line before her intervention was being pushed by the Shrouded Rose Sentinels, now this line was slowly retreating even after the hard attempts of every soldier still wearing red aura around them as well as the strange tattoo around their left eyes.

But Ralu’s flames and explosions were tearing apart their efforts.

“Sinac!” Nethaniel shouted hoping he could maybe stop the sorceress calmly walking through the middle of the battlefield incinerating any enemy in her sight causing explosive havoc on her enemy’s back lines.

“Hop. Skip. Jump.” Ralu said casually as she advanced, suddenly she back-stepped and dodged a horizontal sword slash. It was a soldier of the Shrouded Rose Sentinels which tried to cut her in two with his sword. She gazed at the soldier, seeing fear in his eyes as his attack left him completely defenseless.

Ralu quickly approached in front of the soldier, raising her hand after wrapping it in fire and then cleaved him in two; despite his heavy armour and helmet, she cut him in half from his head like butter with a sinister smile.

Suddenly, she felt a magic spell casted from the front and quickly lifted her hand to cast a magic shield around her and successfully repelled it as the battle around her was still inconclusive.

Most veterans present knew that this battle didn't seem good at all, any Officer would have already called for the retreat but this time, Nethaniel alongside his men and women knew that it was a death sentence doing that now, as there was just one way out now: defeat the enemy.

“This is going to be fun,” Ralu said aloud as she fixed her gaze on the Human magician who’s now preparing another spell and started to walk towards him. This human was wearing a red robe and held a magic book in his left hand.

Sinac was casting a powerful spell but it would take time to complete the cast, but he knew that Ralu was too confident about her skills so he just kept casting it, and when he was about to threw his magic spell, planning to pierce Ralu’s powerful magic shield...

...In sudden contradiction of what Sinac planned in mind, Ralu moved out of his sight when a soldier swiftly passed in front of her.

‘Where is she?!’ Sinac thought to himself as he suddenly heard a desperate cry from Mech and Nethaniel.

“Sinac!”

“Noo!”

After their shouts, Sinac felt something piercing through his chest and his body turning cold as a corpse, which caused him to look down to see a flame-cloaked hand. Sinac was renowned for his mid-level magic skills which were incredible for a normal Human, but compared to Ralu, he was just an amateur with talent.

“How…” Sinac mumbled as Ralu pulled her hand out of Sinac’s chest and then he fell to the ground as he felt his legs weak, with his eyes wide opened by the surprise of the attack and the sudden incoming death as the glow of his eyes slowly faded away with his life.

“Hahahehehehihihi-eh?” Ralu was laughing until she was interrupted by a huge pressure condensed projectile shot from an unknown direction, instantly breaking her shield and knocking her back with enough force to crash her body into a wall.

From the midst of countless soldiers battling for their lives, appeared Mech with her hand lifted straight up as she ran towards Sinac.

Mech quickly reached to where lied Sinac, knelt down at his side and then shook Sinac’s corpse.

“Sinac! Sinac!” Mech said several times with a tearful voice as she used her wooden staff and casted an arcane healing circle around Sinac’s corpse, but to no avail.

The only thing she did was heal the huge hole in his chest, but she wasn't able to bring him back, as he was already dead.

Mech knew this before she casted the healing circle, but Sinac was her friend for a couple of years when she joined the Elite Team of the Free Traders Collective.

They were comrades in multiples missions and fought enemies together side by side, so seeing her comrade fall in front of her eyes was a direct, critical hit on her morale, but not just hers, also the morale of all the Team fighting there as well.

“You cannot die now Sinac! You have a family you promised to defend! You cannot leave them alone!” Mech said with a tearful voice as she hit Sinac’s corpse with her clenched hands as the enemies which were approaching to her seeing the opportunity to kill her, were pierced by pinpoint shots killing them instantly as their corpses were knocked back and then fell down.

These arrows were fired by Bready, the Popori archer, who was covering Mech from several meters back. The space to fire was reduced alongside a long distance, a mistake could have ended in friendly-fire, but his archery skills were almost perfect.

“Mech! You can’t give up now! We need to keep fighting!” Bready shouted seriously as he kept skillfully shooting his arrows covering Mech, but she wasn't hearing anymore.

Meanwhile Nethaniel after piercing an enemy’s chest with his dual swords and then pulled them out to let the corpse plop to the ground, he stopped and watched his surroundings and he noticed how the volunteers were already being overwhelmed by the enemy forces, many of them were young people and they were dying.

His men and women aren't an exception either, although they were professionals and veterans, he could see their fatigue accumulated in the long battle due to their dull movements. They were reaching their limits as well, resulting in brutal death by impalement from enemy weapons.

“Shit.” Nethaniel murmured as he couldn't see a way out of all this. “Try to regroup into a defensive formation!” Nethaniel shouted aloud as everyone tried to follow his orders in middle of the chaos of the battlefield.

Slowly, Ralu got up from her crash with the wall meanwhile Mech stood up from the side of Sinac’s corpse and walked towards Ralu.

“Tsk...so the Bloody Priestess is going to unmask herself, uh?” Ralu said as she shook the dust off her clothes as her blackish cat ears subtly startled upon feeling Mech’s penetrating gaze on her.

She was more than close enough to hit Ralu with one of her magic spells, but Mech didn't do it since she hesitated upon hearing Ralu’s words.

Mech’s mind was now flooded with several brutal and bloody images in her head which she did with her own hands years ago. She wasn't ready to forgive herself yet as Ralu didn't waste this opportunity.

“If you are going to hesitate so much, then DIE!” Ralu said while casting a deadly elemental firebolt aimed at Mech, but Ralu got interrupted by an uproaring battle cry coming from the other part of the plaza, behind the Enlighten Union forces. It was the Pora Elinu Nation forces.

Ralu halted her casting as she smiled.

“Ups… I think it’s time to retreat then, I must continue with the next step of the plan. Our battle must be postponed until then, Bloody Priestess!” Then she summoned a reddish arcane circle under her.

“Bye bye!” Ralu vividly said childishly aloud as she was swiftly swallowed by the arcane circle under her while wearing a sinister smile on her face.

“Mhmm....I hope Aurora is not angry with my Master...but this was the real plan after all hahahahihihi…” Ralu thoughtfully murmured to herself before the arcane circle completely enveloped her as Mech was still frozen in shock, trapped in her mind.

So much blood on her hands...so much endless pain that it shattered her soul every time she remembered it... she was immersed in an endless darkness where no light can reach her since her deeds cannot be undone. None would ever share light with her within this darkness.

Suddenly, without warning, Mech felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to see who is behind her and saw Bready looking at her with worry.

“Everything will be alright, Mech. Reinforcements from Pora Elinu have already arrived!” He said while he pointed ahead as his little fluffy tail waved side to side, trying to cheer her up but she just looked down as she turned to Sinac’s corpse.

“I have once again failed.” Mech murmured to herself.

None could notice the strings of destiny slowly aligning and every time there was less time to change their actions, as the light slowly fades away, flickering back into the darkness.

By that time, none had noticed the reddish aura engulfing them as their tattoo around their eyes completely faded away.

The Enlighten Union forces were in disarray as they were fighting on two fronts. The ties of the battle turned gracefully for the Free Traders and the Shrouded Rose Sentinels as they started to advance despite their fatigue, it was the last brief effort and they would earn the victory, that many gave their lives for.

A victorious battle cry could be heard echoing throughout the city as they can see their victory before their eyes as they fiercely advanced, taking the lives of their enemies.

“Keep pushing forward!” Nethaniel fiercely shouted as he swung his swords on an enemy chest and then he kept advancing as in the deepest of his mind, something told him that he was forgetting a critical detail, but he couldn't notice it in time.

On the other side of the battlefield, there was Queen Valentina alongside the Princess Caut leading the battlefield.

The Princess fired her arrows swiftly killing numerous enemies as Queen Valentina drew her one-handed sword with delicate but lethal motion as if she was performing a deadly dance with her enemies without allowing a drop of blood to stain her ostentatious light blue armor after each swing.

Valentina’s sword had a crimson grip while her blade was of a light-blue color.

Both alongside several royal soldiers kept advancing through the enemy lines, searching for the enemy general.

As they kept advancing, the enemies became fiercer the more they advance but the Queen kept advancing since from afar noticed a tall white-haired Human male equipped with heavy plate armor behind several of his troops with a serious face.

It was Aurora, the general of the Enlighten Union forces.

Aurora was directly staring at Valentina as he has admitted his loss.

“I’ve been played...but at least I will die with honor in the hands of a formidable enemy, but it is not going to be that easy.” Aurora thought out loud as his eyes locked onto Valentina .

Meanwhile many of his soldiers around him a few meters away were being killed by numerous FTC and Shrouded Rose Sentinels forces as many swords clashes could be still heard.

The Queen Valentina knew immediately that he was the enemy’s General as she ordered to stop advancing with a gesture and sheathed her sword. Her troops and Caut immediately stopped while Valentina took a step forward, looking into her enemy’s eyes with a straight gaze.

“For the dream of Nature...” She murmured.

Then she gripped the handle of her sword and stepped one foot forward as she casted a spell on her scabbarded sword engulfing it in a fluorescent blue flame as her eyes glowed in an intense blue, without drawing her sword.

While her sword was still sheathed, she gathered energy into her sword for a few seconds and then slashed with a quickdraw, firing a bluish narrow waning wave at the enemies in front of her.

Many of the enemy's soldiers before her were heavily knocked back crashing into their allies behind them as they fell unconscious while the ones who weren't hit by Valentina’s wave rushed towards her, but they were quickly intercepted by Pora Elinu’s forces behind her.

Then Valentina’s eyes returned to their normal state and she quickly rushed towards Aurora.

“Uhmm...so this is Pora Elinu’s infamous Harbinger of the Moon...let's test her determination…” Aurora murmured to himself while his straight face kept unfazed even after the demonstration of Valentina’s prowess as he saw Valentina quickly approaching to him.

Suddenly, Aurora lifted a female Castanic’s body that lied in front him with his left hand, then he threw it forward. That Castanic was Zekka, and Valentina’s cougar ears were slightly startled from hearing her near silent heart beat.

Valentina swiftly sprinted as she evaded severals enemies’ swords attacks while Aurora unsheathed his platinum sword from his hip and lifted it in front of Zekka.

“My Queen!” Her soldiers shouted trying to keep up her step, but she was already several meters away from them as they were intercepted by enemies.

“Cover her!” The Princess Caut shouted as she fired an arrow and killed an enemy charging at her.

The Aurora’s sword was swung down while having a complicated expression on his face but then he smiled.

Nethaniel was still fighting alongside all his people when suddenly in his mind appeared a frightening scene which paralyzed his advance as his soldiers around of him kept advancing.

In front of him, Zekka and the Queen Valentina were dead by several swords cuts on their bodies while he heard a familiar voice...as well as seeing a phantasmal white female silhouette from afar.

“The time...is running out…”

The images in front of him felt so real that it was...as if he experienced them before.

He was frozen for a few seconds but then he was quickly interrupted by one of his warriors.

“Master Clan Leader! The Elins have stopped! We must defend them, they are...I don't know what is happening!” The sentinel explained in despair as the front lead by the Pora Elinu forces almost completely stopped...as if they’re suffering from intense pain.

Every Elin were on their knees with both of their hands gripping their chests as if they were burning with the intensity of a thousand suns.

The enemies, which were already decimated but not yet defeated didn't waste this opportunity and tried to heavily execute every Elin in sight as the Pora Elinu Nation forces which were not Elins tried to defend them as much as they could, but to no avail, they couldn't save everyone.

“A FEW SPLIT OF THE MAIN GROUP AND INTERCEPT THEIR FORCES!” Nethaniel shouted his orders and losing no time, he tried to find the Queen Valentina, as he saw around every Elin was kneeled touching their chest with a gaunt expression on their faces.

His mind knew very well what happened, but he didn't want to admit it.

Nethaniel ran as he killed a few enemies which got in his way till he saw Valentina before him.

Aurora’s sword brutally bore through Valentina’s vertebrae diagonally till almost her center torso.

Valentina was hugging Zekka’s body trying to defend her while Zekka was trying to stop Aurora’s sword with her bare hands, which were getting heavily cut by the blade, even so Zekka didn't give up, even after her torso was partially cut by Aurora’s sword.

The blood trickled down Badka’s hand and body, as her face twisted in pain but even so, she still held onto Aurora’s sword.

Upon seeing this, Nethaniel quickly approached Aurora from the front and strongly kicked his body knocking him back forcing him to drop his sword.

“Badka. Treat Valentina well.” Nethaniel said fiercely as his darkened gaze fixed onto Aurora.

Zekka looked Nethaniel’s back with a gaunt expression alongside a sad smile, since the body she was holding wasn't alive anymore while Aurora took a sword on the ground and then stabbed it to the floor, waiting for Nethaniel to challenge him.

At the same this happened, the Princess Caut was also kneeling on the floor as she thought aloud in despair.

“Impossible!...my mother...she...died...nonono…ahh!” Caut tried to negate the reality, but she couldn't.

Suddenly, once again she heard that strange female voice inside her mind.

‘I can give you the power needed to avenge your Queen, your Mother, your people…’ Caut heard the malicious voice as she felt an unceasing warm, painful stitch within her chest.

“No…” Caut attempted to refuse, but her will was weakening every time the voice whispered in her mind.

‘You just need...to embrace...the Darkness!’

“Ahhh!” The Princess Caut yelled in pain and then whispered. “I...embrace...the darkness”

After her words, a blackish-purple aura engulfed her whole body.

Her light armor completely changed to a black heavy armor with medium sized shoulder pads resting on her shoulders, her hands were enwrapped by black demon-clawed gauntlets and her boots were lengthened till her knees .

Her eyes’ color faded away before turning into a crimson red as an aura of the same color came out from her left eye.

Also her brown wolf ears and tail became black as night while her long orange hair shortened to a length of 2 inches leaving her short hair.

The Princess Caut stood up, no longer feeling the pain within her chest, as her people were still kneeled on the floor.

She accepted the darkness inside her, to avenge her mother’s death.

Her wolf ears startled as she could barely feel her mother’s presence and swiftly moved towards her with a dense murderous aura around her while the soldiers which saw her they felt a slight chill through their bodies.

When Nethaniel was about to rush against Aurora a creature got in his way, or more precisely, an Elin. At the very beginning he was confused but then he remembered.

“A...reaper…” Nethaniel mumbled as the Elin half turned and Nethaniel could see her piercing gaze and then heard her severe cold voice.

“I will make him pay!” And then she glared at Aurora with her crimson eyes emitting a dense crimson aura, as if she’s wordlessly telling him she was going to give him a thousand deaths.

Immediately Aurora felt a massive chill through all his body as he stepped back involuntarily as if he would have seen the Death made flesh in front of him.

The second after, Caut was already before him as she summoned light-bluish arrows on her hands and pierced them on his feet plating him on the floor as Aurora cried in pain.

Then she summoned two more arrows and pierced them through Aurora’s eyes with incredible speed and accuracy which forced his whole body to the ground, breaking his feets.

“Ahhhh!” Aurora gave a desperate cry of pain.

Many would have said that the fight was already over, but the Princess didn't stop. With her wolf ears she could still hear Aurora’s pulse, so she jumped on him and summoned one more arrow, piercing it again and again, multiple times on Aurora’s chest.

“Help…” He whelped with a strangled cry, but Caut continued his punishment.

She yelled every time she stabbed him repeatedly with the same arrow. “Agh! Agh!”

The blood started to splash on her face, but she didn't care.

“Agh! Agh!” She kept piercing the sharp arrow on the corpse as the battle in the plaza had already finished and every soldier was watching the brutal duel, many couldn't even keep watching as they lowered their gazes while others looked at it with a gaunt expression on their faces.

But the sadness in her heart did not vanish as swift as Aurora’s final breath. It was still there and it will not fade within her heart, as the others Elins slowly stood back up, with their eyes filled with tears.

“Agh! Aagh! Aaagh!” She kept stabbing Aurora’s corpse with the same arrow as her tears started to trickle, however at the same time, Nethaniel slowly approached her.

The first time he saw her, he didn't recognize her but then he noticed it, just by her unique orange hair.

Suddenly, the Princess Caut felt a hand on her shoulder.

“It is enough!...Princess Caut...he is already dead!” Nethaniel said with a severe voice.

“Ahhh!” The Princess turned screaming as she would have tried to make him scram while hitting Nethaniel’s foot with her bloody fist.

But Nethaniel didn't budge an inch.

The Princess kept hitting him with harmless force as she cried. “Ahh! Ahhh! Why?!!”

Nethaniel just stood clenching his fists as the Princess then laid her head on Nethaniel’s feet and kept crying streams of tears.

Meanwhile, Zekka knew that was her fault since the Queen Valentina saved her with at a great cost.

If she just didn’t use ‘Doombringer’...everything could have been different. Zekka just looked down upon she heard Caut’s cry.

“Why?!!” The Princess Caut shouted as she kept crying. The Princess Caut couldn't understand why her mother died by the hands of a human, fighting for reasons not worth the lives lost.

But the destiny already made its move, the only thing everyone could do, was to accept it and move on.

Edited by I4MD347H