Matthew’s POV

My mind has never felt so clear, I wandered through the empty streets of the underground city with an unconscious being on my back. With no care in the world I walked towards the largest of the structures, alone I walked and unarmed I moved. Before I would have thought this as insanity but not I couldn’t care less, I have a plan in mind and the other three I made too busy to guard me while they do their tasks. Without meeting any of the residents I reached the coliseum from the run down villa I had emerged from, nobody within the villa was left alive after I left. Fortunately the young emperor wasn’t present which let me set down the crumbs for him to follow, oh this is going to be a wonderful day! With a bright smile maybe a bit too much on the sinister side…I opened the gates to the coliseum as an almost invisible force eliminated the two guards that had tried to stop me, after entering I didn’t stop and continued walking through the half cleaned up gore and the half-assed patch job on the fence ending up all the way down in the arena. I walked to the centre where I had two wooden stakes prepared with chains to hold the old priest “Is everything prepared?” I asked nobody in particular as I lifted the old man and chained him up to the wooden pillars, “Yes…Hehehee!...Everything is ready…” a loud voice echoed into my mind. “Excellent! Take your positions then, while I question…our oh so friendly neighbour” I stood in front of the chained up being, his face slightly lifted up higher and slapped him across the face three times. “Wha..hah…hah…” he woke up shivering and shakily looked around “What…?” I sighed and grabbed a tool from the belt around my waist “I will be asking the questions here if you do not mind…” I pressed the wrench looking object around his left index finger and twisted “Huh?AHAHHAAAAAAAAHHH” he screamed purely out of pain as tears of agony fell down his wrinkly cheeks. “Now if your answers provide…I will refrain from using my new toys” he stared at me and nodded as a chuckle escaped my lips “Wonderful, now tell me…what is…what has happened…to me?” I opened my arms wide as I awaited his answer, he momentarily stared down at the ground “Tch…An old dog needs a special touch to teach apparently?” I lowered the wrench to his right big toe and pressed it’s fangs around the nail. “Speak…” I pulled slowly and slowly out another scream of agony came along with the nail, this went on for another four toes and three fingers until…I threw away the wrench and pulled out another resembling a hair crimper.

He stared wide eyed at the item as I lowered my posture and slowly made the tool approach his crotch in a wavy toying gesture “Shall we proceed to…more interesting means?”, “Do you have no honour?” he breathed in deeply as I pressed the tool around his thigh and poured in mana. When the screams of agony weakened and the smell of burned flesh began I spoke “Honour is for the weak to speak of, an excuse to force rules of combat upon the sly” I rose and stared him straight in the face “Now speak, or next time I won’t bluff” a purple glow emanated from my eyes as my grin grew and a sinister chuckle left my lungs. He looked up at me with a weak smile “Your people called us devils for our looks…although our race’s name doesn’t interpret I find…ironic…because you are the real devils he….AAHAHHHHHAAAAAAAAHH” I had pressed the device to his crotch and interrupted his little speech, “Indeed my race’s culture can be quiet the thing to laugh at…Full of hypocrisy…Fear…Manipulation! But none the less I am what I am and you are what you are, a threat that I will take care of. Now answer my questions priest, because from here on out...I am done being lenient with you” my full killing intent purposely attacked his aura as he shivered and wept. “What…Am I?” three words exited my lips begging the same question I asked before but with power behind them, “You are…the impossible…For millennia the four champions fought in the name of Darkness, Light, Nature and Corruption…Four fronts fought each other in so many more wars than even I know of…hah…your own world may have been the battleground for such a war…the last one corruption was victorious and literally devoured the spoils…what you call the void was once a single entity…a champion. You though…you are no champion as I thought…when you arrived I felt your presence…as a priest It is my role…to find you…end you while I protect and grow my champion…but now there is no point anymore…” he looked straight into my eyes as tears streamed down his face “You are the chosen of Chaos, the being that brought the other four down to their knees…You are…in every sense of the word…a Monster…” I backed up, looked at him momentarily and laughed a heart filled laugh “Chosen of Chaos? Monster? Truly I feel…different…but higher beings? My race has had many gods and goddesses, what makes you think I’ll believe your crap?”.

He stared at me in disbelief “Your change in…personality…your weapons’s evolution…what else…is there to believe?” he slumped down his head, “He doesn’t need to believe anything, teacher. Only that his death is now imminent.” I turned towards the childish voice and grinned “Well…Good of you to show yourself to the party! You are after all…the VIP!” I raised my arms in a gesture of grandeur but it only made his glare grow even colder. “Even if what teacher spoke is true, you have just awakened. Your power cannot compare to mine! You are weakened! Unarmed! As good as dead as your people say!” Alexius’s expression was pure anger, he glanced between the bloody tools on the floor and his teacher “You come into our land…murder our officials…kill our people…” a thick emerald aura built up around him, the ground under his feet crumbled as the air around him dimmed into fog. “Ah yes about that...enough with the theatricals and light shows kid…” I flicked my fingers as the signal I had prearranged, we watched as a thick blue barrier engulfed the whole arena and Alexius’s aura dissipated “Indeed I may be weakened…truthfully my mana is reaching its limits…” I took step after step towards the devil “I am unarmed…but a long shot away from dead. You seem to misunderstand what it means to be human…” I right in front of his dumbfounded face “When we are at our weakest…” I put my right hand gently around his neck “Is when we become the most dangerous of creatures… ”. He slapped away my hand and took a couple steps back “What…how…”, “Simple really, your kind had all the tools I required ready for me. The priest was the bait, the arena the cage…you the catch. The simplest method of hunting…yet has its own complications depending on the prey”. Alexius steadied himself and glared at me “You….YOU!!!” he dashed forward as I could see it in his eyes he was hellbent on killing me, “Don’t rush now” I grabbed his fisted arm as it approached my stomach and I spun with it until I was throwing him to the side with his arm as a handhold, he tumbled a couple times till he came to a stop “Tell me, what do you think corruption is? Your element that is”. He looked up at me ignoring my question “I’ll kill you…” he spoke in his language and rushed at me again, he leaped and spun mid-air aiming his left leg at my head. “Not bad” I turned sideways and grabbed his leg with my right arm then pulled downwards, I jammed my left elbow into his gut.

He fell to the ground by my feet and began spitting out whatever he had for breakfast…lunch…whatever time it was “I believe corruption isn’t the distortion of material…No that is indeed chaos…Corruption is enhancement…Emotional enhancement…Lust…Anger…Fear… they all are corruption…the void?...Gluttony…Your teacher?...Greed…You?...Love. Pushed by your parent’s lust and your teacher’s greed you were forced into what you are now, your love for them prevented you from declining…Well guess what kid” I stomped on his back “At least you had a choice”. “Choice?...What choice did I have?....” I was about to lower myself and end his life (“NO”) a voice screamed I knew in my head (“He can be saved Matt…Don’t get lost…”) Saya whispered , I sighed and stomped on his back again “Follow my words now…don’t get lost…Imagine this…A whole race of bipedal humanoids with mediocrely advanced technology without the use of any kind of magic what so ever who had almost faced extinction by the hand of a gluttonous void, then had to face an army of weaponized monsters…tens…hundreds…thousands…”I bent down and whispered into his ear ”of me” I felt him shiver under my leg “Guess what happened to them?...They survived, I will spare you the details…but surely even you understand…My race will absolutely not take any more chances…They have allied with multiple other races even though remain very sceptical about them…but your race? You have already shown yourselves to be dangerous…what do you think my race will do? With you?” he gave up trying to rise and let his face hit the dusty ground “I don’t…I don’t know…” I rose up and backed off from him as he turned over and stared at the barrier. “If my race finds out that you have not only enslaved some of us but also see us as a lower species…Well I’m afraid you will be nuked…killed…exterminated…Massacred till there is no one left and believe me when I tell you that you will not be able to save anybody…not even yourself” as I spoke I glanced at the upper floor to see a shimmer of purple (“The audience shall soon arrive…”) I looked back down at the devilish child laying on the ground defeated. “Then what?...Why do you not kill me now? Why tell me this?...” he slammed his fist on the ground as tears fell from his eyes (“Truly corrupted…so easy to influence”) “Because I have an offer for you, call it a deal with the devil if you may”.

My grin lowered as my old blank expression returned, Alexius looked up at me “an offer?” I glanced back at the priest making sure he was unconscious then back at him “Yes, something I need you to take part in fully…If you wish for your race to survive…for your sister to be returned unharmed…You will do exactly as I say…” I raised my right arm and flicked my fingers, the barrier lowered and both aethers appeared in my hands. Two dark pistols with different designs of runes, a purple hue to their form and a longer than normal barrel also carved with the same purplish runes, they were Ember and Wayne in their new although similar forms.

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Alexius’s POV

The creature I considered my worst nightmare stood there as the only reason I couldn’t kill him broke down, the barrier fell and my fear turned to confusion “Wha…” I looked back down to see he was in my face “Don’t fight back unless a voice tells you to” my eyes went wide as from one of his weapons a blast of energy threw me back and through the walls. I flew so far that when I landed I couldn’t see the coliseum anymore, I had ordered the citizens into the lower shelters when I heard he escaped but…I could see from the corner of my eyes…they were peeking out to watch the disturbance…they watch me rise up from the dust as blood trickled down my front (“How can I?...HOW CAN I NOT FIGHT BACK!? WHEN THEY ARE ALL WATCHING ME!”) my aura thickened as the air around me grew stale and the floor barren and cracked, but I wasn’t ready. Another attack hit my side but this one was much stronger although seemingly smaller, the small blast of condensed mana hit so hard I was shot a couple feet into the cavern’s wall behind me. “This is your champion? A little child barely off his mother’s supervision? ” I heard the beast coming closer as his voice echoed through my ears “Disgusting, you send children to fight your battles yet expect to survive this day?” I pushed myself out of the hole my body made and stared up at the being on top one of the roofs, anger built up inside me as I watched him standing up there looking so damn high and mighty “I’ll!...” but then I looked around again. The ones I swore to defend, my people, my blood, my family peeked out from around walls and doors with fear and expectation in their eyes (“How can I sentence them to death? Just cause I’m angry?...”) I stood my ground and waited for his move. “Your warriors are dead, your peaks of society dead, your rulers dead. There now stands your last champion ” he points at me “He is all that remains between you….And me…But not even he…can save you…or him…” from behind him he threw down a corpse into the streets, my eyes went wide as I saw it’s features “T…teacher…”. “Emperor, I present you one last offer. Surrender or face complete annihilation.” I was about to drop to my knees when “Fight…Act…Then lose.” A voice echoed into my mind. I looked up at his face and he was grinning, he gestured with his hand for me to come…(“Fine…I’ll play your game…monster…”) the aura around me condensed around my legs and I walked forward.

I leaped upwards and pushed forward with my legs to dash mid-air (“Why should I believe him? How can I know he isn’t lying? Why wouldn’t he lie?...”) mana formed on my right fist as I sped forward towards his head (“DAMNIT JUST DIE!”) mist swirled around his whole body as I passed right through him, I shot right into the building under him and crashed down through the roof. Four shots followed me down that hit both legs and arms, pain rushed through all four as I felt multiple bones dislocating and some breaking. I looked up and saw those beast like purple slits only a foot away staring down at me as he lowered to whisper into my ear “Even at my current strength, something so obvious as that might as well be asking for death” my skin crawled as I heard his serpentine voice so close again, his very breath made me feel like choking. He grabbed me by the collar and forced me up, I steadied myself as he…dusted my shoulders off and grinned like a maniac…to say he got under my skin would be an understatement as this being absolutely terrified me. I looked up at the hole I made then at his grinning face and then at the weapon aimed at my chest, then back up to his face as another blast of mana hit me straight in the gut. I flew through the wall and back into the streets, I screamed in pain as I clutched my gut while although the damage to my body was decreased pain was a completely different story. “I gave you a choice emperor…It is not becoming to keep me waiting for an answer…” He strolled out of the broken down wall with his left arm hanging down armed while his right’s weapon rested on his right shoulder, “Why has this happened to us…” my voice sounded choked with smoke as I spoke. I shuddered as his grin grew wider, something I had thought impossible till now “Don’t think you can blame this on something else…This is no tragedy…This is no coincidence either…And don’t dare call for fate. This is something you all let happen, you let your rulers run wild and do as they pleased. Even now you set your pride aside and let a child defend you!” he wasn’t speaking to me, he glanced around the streets at the citizens. “Weakness! Cowardice! Greed! Those are what you currently represent! Do you like that image? It’s what you have left, all you have left. Your identity is all you have, if it stays as is…Your race will die. Your only option is to improve your image here, now and in front of me. Prove to me you are no longer a threat and I will not kill every last one of you.”

I glanced around at the tunnels taking to the shelters, some citizens interpreting for the others, fear the only thing I could see in their expressions until they heard his words. I clenched my fists, I want to kill him so badly I can barely restrain myself (“No…if there is the smallest chance…thousands of him…is that even possible? I don’t know…but…just him alone…killed all of them…we wouldn’t survive…”). I rose from the rubble and dirt “In the name of the empire!…we surrender!...” I fell to my knees as I rested my fists on my legs and looked down at the ground, “Then pledge so, what do you have that is worth our trust?” I thought it was over…I thought surrendering was all I had to do…but no…it wanted more…I looked up at the devil himself as his monstrous eyes stared down at me “What…What else do you want?...”. “You are the emperor now aren’t you? A pledge is worth nothing without a life as sacrifice” his eyes flared as his aura thickened and formed strange lines in front of me, purple tendrils of mana forming an image which made me swallow my heart “You…But…”. “I don’t care, you wish to live? You wish to get back on our righteous side? Then prove you are willing to sacrifice what you hold most dear, maybe then we will share ours with you.” I stared at his expressionless face, no sign of emotion to be seen “I propose….my sisters life to you…” I bowed my head down and slammed it into the dirt “Please…have mercy…”

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Matthew’s POV

The terrified young ruler bowed down his head into the ground in front of me, I stepped closer and crouched down in front of him making many citizens hold their breaths “I accept your offer for peace emperor, my people will be back soon. Make preparations , no guards are to be armed not even civilians and make sure to keep your doors open.” I rise up and walk back towards the coliseum as many civilians and guards rush to their prince’s side. (“Teleportation could be quiet the dreadful thing…they will only teleport back into where they already teleported out of…to not end up inside stone…therefore that should be their entrance…unless they find the actual one…Guess I’ll have to wait and see….Hehehe…”)

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A couple hours earlier, Ell’s POV

“LET GO OF ME! MATT! SAYA!” My rage had reached a new high as I could only stop myself from killing the two holding me, I had to stand there and watch as we left our comrade to what seemed to be his death…when we appeared inside the ship’s TP room I had already turned to throw my rage at the platoon leaders but…someone beat me to it. “JREL! SKEL! KAYLIEGH! WHAT ARE MY POLICIES ON LEAVING OTHERS BEHIND?!” Zeaxar was standing in the middle of the room as everybody else who was waiting for us kept their distance from his thick fiery aura, the three platoon leaders swallowed as the avian stepped forward to speak “Sir…he broke protocol…he k…” “DO I LOOK LIKE I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT PROTOCOL?!” Zeaxar stomped towards Skel and literally headbutted him to the ground “You abandoned a member, a platoon leader no less! Do you feel it now? The shame? Well you’ve brought that down on all of us. I expect the whole outfit to be arranged for combat within minutes, we’re swarming that city for our man.” He glanced at the princess and the noble woman who were staring with dumbfounded expressions, reeking of fear “Arrange cells for the prisoners, CASTELL! The elite squad is launching” He immediately turned and left the room that was still full of his aura. I glared at the platoon leaders as they began issuing orders and arranging their platoons to get attendance of the rest, “Calm down child, he’ll be fine. He’s made of a tougher bark than anybody in this room” Leya spoke from behind me “I mean no disrespect young elder but…you don’t sound or look convinced of your trust in him either” I turned to her as I spoke. She bit her lip “Indeed I dislike the man, his methods are far from what I first expected of him but that’s my fault for making those expectations in the first place…I do not know what has gone through his mind, what he did was unbecoming of a member but that doesn’t mean it was wrong. They caged us, stripped us and forced us to fight monsters and each other. He spoke truth before opening the gate, none of us had the stomach for it except for him” She looked down at me and tapped me on the shoulder “Just keep your emotions in check young sapling, at your age…with your power in the first place…I’m surprised your mother let you leave the clerics at all” she sighed and walked towards Glent and Kesh.

The hours went by as we waited for the elite squad to scout for an entrance but returned with nothing, the outfit leaders decided that teleportation was our only way in and so we formed squads to go in bit by bit. I was grateful to elder Leya for giving her spot to me so I could go in first, the squad was made up of a hundred and twenty members which was the maximum amount the teleporters could take at once without putting some at risk. I had spent the whole time waiting at the TP room so I was one of the first to be there, while I waited with my back to the wall a familiar voice called out “Ell!” I turned to see Anabel rushing towards me “Are… are you alright?” she looked worried “Yeah…it’s just…I’m worried something happened…something bad…You’re human too…do you think…he’s okay?” I looked at her and her smile faded away. “I don’t know, I mean he beat an outfit leader on week one…and…he’s one of them…the mon…cerberii that brought my race to its final knee…he survived the onslaught…He’ll live through this…” she rested her back to the wall by me, “He has to…” the words left my lips before I could think of what I said “Huh?...Umm..Ell…I don’t mean to pry but…Do you?...Matt?...” Anabel turned slightly red even though she mentioned it “Hm? No…no…at least…I don’t think so…Us Elfs have…different senses than your kind…at my age we are emotionally unbalanced…very unbalanced…thankfully I am reaching maturity…I was...Hehe…way worse…But when he is around…It’s strange…it’s as if…It doesn’t matter if I’m maturing or not…I feel like I can be myself…It’s not attraction…It’s the freedom I feel with him around…I feel…a connection with him…” I turned to look at her and pouted in annoyance “That didn’t change your mind did it?...” Anabel chuckled “Nope…not one bit” I sighed. Suddenly another familiar voice took over every conversation in the room “FORM UP YOU SLOW BASTARDS!” Zeaxar rushed into the room with six cloaked figures behind him, each cloak having its own emblem with the company’s colours. The Elite squad formed up in front of him and we lined up behind them. “Listen up, this is our fuck up and ours alone. We will fix this and get our man back, that is our first priority. If this new race does indeed show itself to be a threat to our homes…we have permission to exterminate. If you do not have the stomach for this leave now, the humans have volunteered to do this themselves but I will not allow our name to be tarnished. Nobody? Very well then, Mages! Engage teleportation!”.

Lights flickered as multiple runic rings formed around our small army, everyone prepared there weapons as I summoned forth my nature’s arms. We were prepared to fight, everyone was already releasing their aura except for Zeaxar and the Elites who stood like ghosts almost unnoticeable within our collective bloodlust. My vision went black as the teleportation initiated and our forms disappeared, “Took you long enough?” a familiar voice entered my ears as I opened my eyes to the dreadful arena. Zeaxar’s bloodlust and the Elite’s collective aura blasted forth gaining everyone and everything’s attention, “Platoon captain, care to explain why I had to call to action the whole outfit in your behalf yet you sit there on a wooden stool surrounded by your would be captors? ” Zeaxar stepped forward and I saw him sitting there on a stool. Under my breath I whispered “Matt…?” because of all the auras around me I couldn’t sense him very well but I could still tell that something was wrong and very different, “That is simple boss” Matthew stood up from the stool “Is it now?” Zeaxar stopped midway and began glaring down the line of unarmed guards, civilians and the single child that stood out like a sore thumb. “They have surrendered, I have taken care of their leaders and the only three survivors are your two captives and the young man you see here. He has inherited leadership of his people and has afterwards begged for forgiveness and wishes to surrender” he spoke as if he was bored, as if none of this interested him anymore. He walked passed Zeaxar with an uninterested expression which made many eyebrows raise, “I see…interesting? Two, four, six. Scout for sharpshooters or hidden groups” on Zeaxar’s orders three of the elites nodded and instantly disappeared from sight, “Very well then…if you wouldn’t mind joining us young king…I would like to go over the…terms…of your surrender” the child slumped down his shoulders and nodded “I’ll come…” he then looked up and glanced at Matthew’s back as he stepped forward and stopped next to Zeaxar. “Three, five, seven. Spread out and watch. Everybody else brace for teleportation, we’re going back to base. HQ Requesting immediate teleportation back, I don’t give a damn if they’re tired!” he spoke the last part on the comms, I waited for my vision in the TP room to return before deciding to approach Matt along with Anabel.

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Edited by; Birse

Author; Next chapter’s reveal might catch…some…or many…by surprise…;P remember to rate and maybe leave a comment! :D