Last time…

Darius Lucifugus made a visit to Roberto Vazquez at his house. Darius revealed that he knew everything about Roberto and Maria which led to a direct confrontation between Roberto and Darius. Roberto fought bravely and gained the upper hand over Darius, their battle destroyed multiple houses. Roberto was about to put an end to Darius, but Darius showed that he captured Maria and Daniel. This led to Roberto accepting defeat and the Vazquez family disappeared that day…

In the military base owned by Darius, Uriel wakes up and he is encountered by Skeleton Masked-Man. Uriel acting aggressively gets cut in the stomach and he is left for dead...As the moon begins to turn Crimson...A man dressed in a Charro suit mounting a horse appears in the Horizon…

Military Base located several Kms away from Sun City...

Roberto hangs from the ceiling with chains holding his arms, he is covered in blood and barely conscious. A portal opens once again and the man with the mask presents himself in front of Roberto. Darius walks towards him; “Did you finish the job?”

“Yes, sir, the kid is slowly dying…” The man in the mask replies, Roberto opens his eyes with rage. The man with the mask opens a portal:

“I am finished for today sir…I will take my leave…”

“Good work…you may leave. The masked man walks towards the portal and dissapears. Darius Lucifugus notices Roberto awake:

“Buenas noches Roberto, how are you doing?”

Roberto regains consciousness and asks; “Where are we?”

“In a military base 100 miles away from Sun City, you can call it my evil layer...HAHAHA”

Roberto feel anger as he tries to break free:

“SON OF A BITCH, let me go or I´ll kill you”

“Like father, like son I see. Your kid said the same thing to my subordinate in the other room and he reacted the same way as you, but neither of you can understand the position you’re in...So, my subordinate silenced him under my orders...”

“You what?”

“Relax...he will live...I hope so…”

Darius laughs, he presses a button on the wall and four monitors begin to light up, revealing his family. Maria is guarded with two men unconscious with special seals in her chair that seal her mana. Valerie is unconscious as well with a guard looking after her. Daniel sleeps as he is being tied in a chair. Uriel is conscious lying on the ground with water and blood.

“I´ll let them free if you cooperate with me, do we have a deal?” Darius looks at Roberto. Roberto with tears in his eyes, feeling powerless, lowers his head:

“I´ll do it, ask me what you want” He says it with a low voice as Darius laughs at him.

“I need the location of the 7 cities of Gold… I know they are located in this region and I need to find them. Your organization knows it now help me find them and you will be free.”

“Why do you want the gold? You are already rich, so why?” Roberto asks with confusion.

“We need them to be enlightened” Darius replies with a demonic smile.

Roberto closes his eyes and thinks about his family and nods his head:

“I only know a few, I will show you…”

Roberto says calmly. Darius opens a giant map of the region; “Now show me”

***************************************************************************

In the entrance of the base, two guards were having a chat and one of them began to yawn…

“Man, nothing fun happens here” The guard on the right scratches his head. The guard on the left replies; “I know, I wanted to go inside to have fun with that sexy woman or the cute girl... HAHAHA.”

“eah, I know man…We could have some fun right…”

“I know, man, what a bad night to be assigned as guards... HAHAHA”

At that moment when the guards are laughing. a silhouette of a man in a horse with a great round hat and a Mexican jorongo appears in front of them and begins to laugh:

“HAHAHA, you are right, this is a bad night for you, pervertidos de mierda!” (Perverted Shit)

The two guards put a frightened face and point their guns at him:

“Hold it! Who are you? Stay where you are or will fire you”

“Go ahead” The man replies as his eyes glow a red color, and his horse moves slowly towards them.

(PIU PIU PIU PIU PIU PIU)

The guards fire at the man but the bullets do not have effect on him. The bullets connect him but he does not stop. The man takes out a sword and swings it in front of them. The guards stop shooting wondering what happened.

(SSLLLAASSHHH)

“What did you do, are you joking with us?” The guards ask the man with a frightened expression. The man puts his sword away:

“I already cut you, Descansen en paz!” (Rest in Peace)

The guards see blood from their bodies that were cut in half. The whole gate and parts of the building are destroyed creating a huge explosion on the generator. The power goes off, causing a black out.

“Where are you muchacho?” The man talks to himself, as he looks at a door located at the end of the base:

“I found you muchacho, don’t worry, today is your lucky day.”

The man climbs down of his horse, and opens a portal in front of them:

“Good job amigo, you can rest now”

The horse passes the portal and the man closes it. As he closes the portal more guards appear shooting at him. The man takes out a sword with his left hand and a pistol in his right as he screams:

“THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN HAHAHA” ***************************************************************************

“Haa...ha...ha…” Uriel slowly opens his eyes, he has his face lying on the ground, the room is empty and he only sees darkness.

“Where am I?” Uriel asks to himself as he tries to stand up, he slowly lifts his body but he feels something strange. He can't move his arms or legs, he looks at them and notices that he has chains.

Uriel, with a frightened tone begins to say; “Why am I chain up, what's happening?”

(BAAADDUUMMPPP)

Uriel feels strange, he feels extremely weak that causes him to fall once again. That night is so cold that he can see his breath, he breathes heavily as he notices a warm liquid coming out of his head.

“What's this warm feeling?” Uriel looks at the ground and sees a red color liquid, suddenly he raises his body one more time and sees a puddle of blood, the boy than sees that he is bleeding from his head and his stomach.

He remembers that he was cut by someone wearing a skeleton mask. Uriel begins to shake and tears come out from his eyes.

“SOMEBODY HELP ME, SOMEBODY, I DON'T WANT TO DIE! HELP!”

Uriel cries as he once again falls completely to the ground feeling very weak. Tears dont stop falling as he cries with fear.

“Mama, Papa, Valerie, Daniel...where are you?”

Uriel´s vision begins to get blurry as he breathes even heavier.

“Why is this happening to me? Why did it have to be today? Why was I so weak that I couldn't protect my little sister?”

Uriel slowly begins to close his eyes as he thinks:

“Mama, Papa, Valerie and Daniel, I am very sorry but this is the end for me…”

There is silence in the room, Uriel stops breathing as his blood loss was too great. Uriel begins to feel as if he is floating; “It's so warm and peaceful…”

Suddenly, everything turns red...The boy opens his eyes and sees a giant black figure. The figure is blurry and it appears to be changing its shape.

“YOU CAN'T DIE YET… YOU MUST AWAKENED...YOU ARE THE SUCCESSOR…”

Uriel is left speechless as the shadowy figure expands, turning everything black, the boy who is really scared turns around and sees a giant skeleton face.

“HAHAHA, YOU SURE ARE WEAK, NO WONDER YOU´RE FATHER WAS DEFEATED, NOW I WILL GO AHEAD AND MAKE MY WAY WITH YOUR SISTER, I BET SHE CAN HANDLE MORE THAN YOU…”

He opens his eyes full of determination, he begins to crawl towards the door as he begins to think:

“I won't let you hurt my sister, even if I die, I will die protecting her…”

(BBBOOOMM, CCCRRRAASSSHHH)

“RUN AWAY, THAT GUY IS DANGEROUS, WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS….AHHHHH…”

He hears loud noises, followed by gunshots and explosions. He stops as he wonders what was going on. The explosions get closer to him. Uriel, with fear of what was going on outside continues, to crawl slowly as he knows that he doesn't have much time left.

(SSSSSLLLLLAASSHHHH)

Suddenly, the door collapses in half, a red light shines in the room. A dust cloud begins to fill the room completely. The boy breathes heavily as he looks up and sees a figure approaching him. The dust cloud clears or reveals the silhouette of a man. The man is wearing a Mariachi attire with a mariachi sombrero covering his face.

Uriel is frightened as he sees two red eyes looking down at him. He is left speechless as he coughs up blood.

“HAHAHA, DON'T TELL ME YOU ARE DYING, MUCHACHO” The man says with a joyful tone, Uriel looks up with a blurry vision as the man continues to speak.

“NOW, NOW, DON´T TELL ME THAT YOU ARE AFRAID OF ME… ANSWER ME THIS QUESTION, DO YOU WANT POWER?”

Uriel sees a man with red eyes glowing. Uriel tries to get away crawling with the little strength he has left, but the man begins to laugh and says:

“HAHAHA...Where are you going muchacho, I am no bad guy. I came to rescue you and your family...” The man says with a smile on his face but Uriel does not believe what he says, however he is very weak to move and asks the man:

“Why? I don't even know you, do you know my dad?” Uriel asks the man and he replies:

“Yes, I know him…we’re good friends… Now I will free you muchacho”

The man pulls his sword, Uriel gets scared and closes his eyes. The man lifts the sword and makes a swing.

(SSSLLLAASSHHH)

He immediately cuts Uriel’s ropes off, freeing him.

“There you see muchacho, don´t be a scaredy cat.” The man laughs at Uriel and he changes his expression to a more serious face:

“Muchacho do you want to be strong? Do you want power? Do you want to save your family?” The man asks Uriel. Uriel looks at him with a suspicious face. Uriel suddenly remembers what happened to him last night:

“Tomorrow, I will come to you...and we will begin the ceremony…”

“What ceremony?”

“The ceremony for you to become my successor…”

Uriel begins to lose consciousness as the man looks at him with a serious face:

“ENJOY TOMORROW, MY SUCCESSOR, BECAUSE TOMORROW WILL BE YOUR LAST DAY…”

“You’re the one who helped me save Alejandro…”

“That’s right Muchacho, I see you remembered…”

“And I made that promise to you…”

“You’re not going to fall back, are you? That would make you a big COBARDE” (Coward)

“No..I did promise you that…”

“Right now, you are weak, but you have potential. You are my successor and I need to pass this power down, so what do you say?” The man asks Uriel as he stretches his arm to him.

Uriel sees in a puddle of water his beat-up face. He feels pain in his body and feels frustration. He sees that he is slowly dying. Uriel feels rage and remembers the man with the skeleton mask beating him up.

Uriel thinks about his family and makes a determined face:

“I agree, but you need to help me save my family”

The man smiles and replies; “Very well Muchacho, but, if you accept now…there is no turning back”

Uriel nods with a determined expression, the man laughs; “Excellent, just like your father…”

The moon turns Crimson, illuminating the sky in a beautiful red color.

“The time is right…” The man brings out a knife and makes a cut in his right hand, and then grabs Uriel´s right hand and make a cut on his as well and grabs his hand with both uniting the blood and the man begins to chant in latin:

“Et faciet foedus, vincula non conteram Fatum meum tuum est imperium, et virtus mea”

(Translates: I make a pact, the chains of fate will not break, my power is yours, and your power is mine)

At that moment rain starts to pour down non-stop while the crimson moon is still showing. The lightning flashes at the base, and at their feet a large red magic circle forms with the words:

Bellum,Sanguis, Foedus, Equitem (Translates: War, Blood, Pact, Horseman)

In the middle of the circle the symbol of flames appears, suddenly chains appear from the four points and slowly begin to wrap their hands. The right side of the man's face turns into a skull, and the right side of Uriel´s face turns into a skull as well.

“Prepare yourself muchacho; this is going to hurt”

He grabs Uriel´s hands harder and begins to chant:

“Mitto ad te his summis” (Translates: I pass this crest to you)

The circle shines brighter. The symbol of a flame in the right foreman of the man begins to spread red veins that go down into Uriel´s foreman.

“AHHHHH” Uriel screams in pain, he kneels down and cries in suffering.

“Bare with me muchacho it's almost over.” The man screams at Uriel as he does not let go of his hand. The man chants one last time:

“Et beneficium Tuum fatum finem huius” (Tanslates: I end this ritual of fate)

The man completes the ritual. The man lets go of Uriel´s hand and their faces turn back to normal. Uriel sees his left foreman and the symbol of a flame appears. His eyes turned red with the corneas black as well. Uriel breathes heavily and the man begins to laugh:

“HAHAHA, it is done muchacho, you are now my successor. Bienvenido a la familia, I am El CHARRO NEGRO but you may call me Juan de la Trinidad.”

The man puts on a great smile. Uriel opens his eyes wider because he does not believe what happened. The famous folk tale of “El Charro Negro” was real:

“You mean, that you are El Charro Negro?”

“I'll skip the details for another time, right now let’s save your sister and family that are captive as well.”

Juan looks at Uriel who changes his face with a more serious expression.

“Let's go!”

***************************************************************************

Uriel and Juan de la Trinidad run into Building “B” where Valerie, Daniel and his mother were captive. They run into the hallway and hear a loud scream:

“GGYYHHHAHHHH, HELP ME PLEASE!”

Uriel recognizes Valerie´s voice and runs faster to the door. Juan slices the door in half. Uriel sees a guard touching Valerie´s legs, and licking her face trying to rape her.

“GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!” Uriel screams with fury.

“Hey muchacho you should watch your strength, you don't want to set the al-”

(PPPPUUUMMM)

Uriel with a great speed punches the guard in the face causing him to pass through the wall going through the room where the other guards were.

Uriel loses the sensitivity of his right arm because of the force he used, and loses his strength.

“Damn it, I can't move,” Uriel lies down on the floor.

“HAHAHA, you need to listen to me muchacho… just leave this to me…”

Juan pulls his gun and shoots with great speed to the guards and he kills all of the guards including the one that Uriel punched. Juan immediately unties Valerie:

“This is bad, she was not raped, lucky us, but they did touch her, she might get traumatized.”

Uriel looks frightened; “What can I do to help her? Valerie, stay with me…”

“Don’t worry Muchacho, you have me with you, remember…” Juan says as he touches Valerie´s forehead and chants:

“Memoria Perdida”(Lost Memory)

A bright golden mana shines in her forehead. Valerie slowly forgets the horrible experience the guards gave her. She opens her eyes and sees Uriel who got his strength back, and his eyes are back to normal. She quickly runs and hugs Uriel:

“Uriel, big brother, thank goodness you are okay.”

“I´m glad you are alright Valerie, thank you for being brave.” Uriel says it while he hugs her tightly. He looks at Juan and says to him; “Thank You”

“Don’t thank me yet muchacho, we still need to take your brother and your mother, remember.” Uriel stands up and holds Valerie´s hand and says:

“Be brave , hermana.” in which Valerie nods in agreement:

“I will”

***************************************************************************

(SLAAASSHHH)

Juan de la Trinidad slashed the door open where Uriel and Valerie´s mom and Daniel were. In the room Maria was unconscious and tied to a chair. Daniel was in a bed sick of fever.

Juan unties Maria, Maria falls to the ground. Juan senses more guards coming their way. Juan looks at Uriel:

“You got 5 minutes to talk to your mother… I'm going to take care of the other guards.”

Juan leaves the room. After he leaves, gunshots are heard with explosions.

(PIU PIU PIU PIU PIU)

“Mom, Mom wake up please” Uriel and Valerie try to wake Maria up.

Maria slowly opens her eyes to see her children. She quickly gets up and hugs them. Maria begins to cry; “Forgive me, please, forgive me, it's my entire fault my children. I am sorry.”

“Don´t worry mama, we are okay.” Valerie hugs her tighter. Maria feels a sting in her arm coming from Uriel´s side. She sees Uriel and notices Uriel´s eyes.

A guard appears with a gun and screams; “Nobody move!”

At that moment, he gets stabbed from behind, killing him instantly.

“Well, I see that you’re up, Maria…”

“El Charro Negro” enters the room with his red eyes. He looks at Uriel; “Time´s up muchacho, let´s go”

Maria puts on a frightening face and with a shivering voice she asks; “Y-Y-You, why are you here?”

Maria looks at Uriel´s forearm and sees the flame symbol. Maria cries as she looks at her son’s eyes:

“WHY, WHY DID YOU, WHY?

“I´m sorry Mama, I had no choice, I needed to save you.” Uriel replies to his mother with a determined face. Maria begins to cry and hugs him;

“Uriel, you don’t know what you have done to yourself…”

“Relax Maria, the only thing he did was to save himself from dying...you should've seen him bleeding...he looked so cute...hahaha…”

(COUGH COUGH COUGH)

Daniel coughs intensely. Valerie goes to him and hugs him saying; “Please don't die brother.”

Juan touches Daniel´s forehead and analyses the situation:

“It appears his flu got worse because of the cold weather…I can stabilize him, if you want.”

Maria grabs Daniel and says: “Don't touch him, you demon.”

“HAHAHA, Demons are useless compared to me.” Juan turns around and begins to walk away:

“If you want him to die, just let him be, he won’t last until morning”

Maria doesn’t have enough mana because of the “mana draining chains.”

“Mama, it’s okay…” She looks at Valerie and Uriel, making her agree to Juan´s help; “Very well...please...save my son...I beg you…”

“No need to beg me...I would do anything for my successor…” Juan puts his hand on Daniel´s forehead and says; “Curacion” (Healing)

A small yellow light comes from his forehead lowering his fever. Daniel slowly opens his eyes.

“Where Am I?” Daniel asks Maria, who is crying of joy, hugs him; “Don’t worry hijo, just try to rest, close your eyes.”

Maria touches his chest causing him to sleep. The five of them leave the building and run for the exit. Juan”El Charro” runs in front taking down the guards that appear. Uriel runs holding Valerie´s hand and Maria carries Daniel in her back.

“We need to find Roberto…” Maria says to Juan; “I know that...but unfortunately, he is with Darius Lucifugus right now…”

“Darius Lucifugus?” Uriel asks Juan. Juan smiles; “That’s right, the man who caused all of this to happen…”

(BBBBOOOOMMMMM)

Everyone gets outside as they see a huge explosion in the main building where Roberto was located.

Stay Tuned for the conclusion of the story arc...Birth of the Successor...on the next Volume…