Tain laid there in the burnt soil of their fight. Hellion was preparing his final move that would finish him off. He knew that he had taken a gamble in planning all of this. He had hired mercenaries from his own pocket and leaked the information to a known spy of the Shamans that was in the guards. Then once the information reached the headquarters of the Shamans he had his own spy propose the plan to kill Bi’wan’s family in order to frame it on himself.

He had even managed to convince the Mayor to work with him on the plan so that they could take down Hellion and the Shamans. Azeus had a long time grudge towards Hellion and the fact that the Killian Empire was backing him was enough for Azeus to sign off on the plan.

Yet he laid there haggard, almost out of aura, the left side of his body in wrecks, and his feet burnt and broiled. He had expected these levels of injuries from his fight with Hellion, but he hadn’t expected that Hellion had the essence of a Horror with him.

Tain watched as another of Hellion’s talismans burst into violet flames. At least he could take solace in the fact that he had set back Hellion for possibly years. Talismans were incredibly difficult and expensive to craft, and at this point he would take victories where he could.

He watched as another blade of violet moonlight took shape in front of Hellion. Suddenly, he felt a wave of pressure explode out from behind him, surpassing even him and Hellion in their prime. He barely managed to lift his head and look behind him at Bi’wan, seeing him swallow a small violet orb.

Bi’wans’s entire body was covered in violet covered cracks that had violet mist seeping through them. The left side of his face where the mark of the horn was covered in violet flame, similar to the one that engulfed the talismans. He looked like he would only be able to last for a couple of seconds at most. Tain saw Bi’wan lift his hands towards him, and suddenly he felt stronger than ever before.

Tain felt his vision stop swimming. All the pain that he felt disappeared. Strength flooded him. He pushed off the ground with his right hand, which he had been able to miraculously hold onto his sword with even after the explosion and dizziness.

In an instant he went flying towards the side just as the blade of moonlight that Hellion fired off passed by him. In mid air, he twisted so that his torso was facing the sky, sword in hand raised as well. Even though there was a massive amount of strength flooding him, his instinct told him he didn’t have the time to reach Hellion. So he did the only thing he could think of. He gathered all the remaining aura and felt it being amplified by Bi’wan.

He twisted his torso towards Hellion and swung his sword down while he was in the air. A concentrated slice of red aura corrupted by violet lighting, transcending anything he had ever unleashed before, roared towards Hellion at an unprecedented speed. A high pitched sound rang out from it, like the very air itself was being cut.

Another talisman erupted into violet flames and a violet tinted barrier formed in front of Hellion, a true testament to the decades of training he had. The wave of aura slammed into the barrier, which didn’t even manage to hold for a quarter of a second.

It sped forward, leaving a massive trail in the ground before it. Several of Hellion’s trinkets lit up in unison as he used everything in his arsenal, but it was already too late. The slice passed him by in an instant and continued into the headquarters behind him, cutting nearly halfway before fading.

Hellion took one last look at his two killers. His rival that he had been fighting against for years over all sorts of things and his student and friend that he had raised. He hadn’t thought that he would die so early, but he supposed it was a fitting end for someone like him. A relaxed smile appeared on his face as the moon in the sky disappeared, sunlight returning all around him.

His smile split as the two halves of Hellion fell to the ground.

Tain landed on the ground with a thump. All that remained of his sword was a shattered hilt. The last attack had been so powerful that his sword hadn’t been able to handle it. Neither had his hand. It was covered in countless tiny violet scars that resembled lightning bolts and it had been completely shattered. It would take several months of dedicated healers, but he was sure most of his injuries besides his eye could be recovered.

Tain felt his consciousness start to fade, but before it did he looked back towards Bi’wan. The left side of his face had stopped burning and left smouldered skin that was burnt to a crisp. His entire body was still spewing violet mist and as the seconds passed, it seemed to be getting worse and worse. As the seconds passed he saw Bi’wan’s body start to crumble and fade away into violet mist.

“Thank you.” Tain heard Bi’wan say in a clear voice. “I hope what I did can resolve even the tiniest bit of my sins. Make sure to protect Mazual, it is my home after all.”

Tain watched in horror as the rest of Bi’wan’s body crumbled and disappeared into violet mist, leaving no trace of the man called Bi’wan behind. All that was left of him was the memories of people which would eventually fade over the generations.

The sounds of battle still rang out from around him, but he couldn’t hold onto his fading consciousness anymore. He wished that he could help out his men who were still fighting, however he had no strength left in him. Darkness washed over him.

------------

Ilon, Quyon, and Maymun stood there and watched the battle between Hellion and Tain play out in silence. Even if they did try and help Tain, they were more likely to be a nuisance and distraction instead of providing much help. Only when they got intent would they be able to fight them on even terms.

“That's…” Ilon said as Hellion injected the Horror’s blood into himself. He didn’t directly see what it was as they were far away, but he could tell from the change in the moon and the energy radiating off him.

“A Horror’s blood. I wonder if he got it himself or if he found a dealer?” Maymun questioned. Horror’s blood was very illegal in all countries and very rare due to the extreme difficulty in obtaining it. The blood and body of a Horror usually evaporated when not in contact with the Horror, but there were some ways to get around it.

One of those ways was to capture a Horror with the ability to split itself into multiple parts and store the blood in one of those parts. The inside of Hellion’s prosthetic finger probably had a small bit of a Horror inside it. Ilon wasn’t able to confirm it though because there was no core for him to sense.

“Tain might be done for.” Quyon said as she watched Hellion’s power spike. Tain managed to dodge one attack, but death was coming for him on the next. “Looks like we’ll have to leave town.”

Suddenly, as soon as Bi’wan swallowed something, a Horror appeared in their senses. There was one thing that was different though. They knew what the Horror was.

“What? Bi’wan?” Ilon asked with wide eyes. He didn’t see what Bi’wan had consumed, but whatever it was it turned him from a regular human being into a monster.

“He turned into a Horror? Is that even possible?” Maymun sputtered out. They had always known Horrors to be a natural part of the world. They weren’t exactly sure what Horrors were or how they were formed, they just simply existed.

They never would have believed it if they hadn’t just witnessed it. A Horror had just been artificially made.

“Look.” Quyon said as she pointed out Bi’wan’s body. It was breaking down second by second, until it was gone, lasting only fifteen seconds. The Horror in their senses faded. “It wasn’t stable, but it seems that someone is attempting to make artificial Horrors.”

“We definitely need to report this.” Ilon said with his eyebrows furrowed. If someone was able to successfully weaponize Horrors, he didn’t even want to think about what that meant for the future.

“I agree. Kalamush has the network set up in the capital. Are you both fine with going there after we leave?” Quyon asked. Kalamush was known as the rat king and he was their main way to provide secret information to the other members of the Cursed. Long-range communication tools existed, but Shamans provided the service and could easily intercept and record the information.They did have a cipher for their messages, but Shamans that specialized in cracking coded information existed.

“Yeah. What do we do about this situation though?” Maymun asked. There were still several dozen fights going on which mostly favoured the guard. Tain had collapsed and the Mayor was still standing there quietly.

“Honestly, the only thing we can do is make sure no one kills Tain. We need to question him later about what Bi’wan ate.” Quyon said as she started walking over to where Tain was. Maymun and Ilon quickly followed behind her.

Halfway towards Tain they encountered the Mayor who was standing there, spectating the remaining battles. He had two of his guards remaining by his side, both of which were cloaked.

“Who are you?” The Mayor asked, his cat-like eyes narrowing.

“Mercenaries that Tain hired. Excuse me for asking, but are you a Demi-human?” Ilon said with a bit of surprise. Demi-humans were humans who had some small beast-like feature, whether it be eyes like a cat, or something like scales on their arms. They were thought to be descendants of Merdi, a human who mated with the founding Totem.

“I am. And what do you want with Tain?” The guards around the Mayor pulled out their weapons. One was using a longsword and the other was using two daggers.

“We’re going to make sure no one kills him in his weakened state.” Ilon responded. The Mayor put up his hand to stop his guards from doing anything.

“Then, I’ll go with you. My name is Azeus.” The Mayor said, keeping his relaxed manner the entire time.

“I’m Ilon. This is Quyon and Maymun.” Ilon introduced them as they went with the Mayor to Tain. After a couple of seconds some guards who specialized in healing arrived and started emergency treatment on Tain and the other injured guards.

The sounds of fighting had greatly died down, with only a couple going on.

“What’s the situation?” Azeus asked one of his guards who had come back.

“The Shamans have been rounded up and are making their last stand. They’ll be wiped out soon.” The cloaked guard had a voice that was androgynous, making it impossible to even tell their gender.

“I see. How are the casualties from our side?” Azeus stoically asked.

“Two confirmed deaths, about a dozen injured and unable to fight. From the guards, around fifty deaths and many have been greatly injured.” The guard reported. “From the Shamans, around one hundred and fifty deaths with another thirty to forty putting up a last stand.”

“Make sure none escape.” Azeus said with bloodlust leaking through.

“Is it really necessary to kill all of them?” Maymun asked. She didn’t see the need to eliminate all of the Shamans. A lot of them had been raised in the city and were loyal to the city.

“It is. The Duhnovian Empire has been secretly kidnapping Shaman’s families from Antoss in attempts to get them to obey Duhnovo. They’ve also been raising Shaman’s in Antoss from a young age and brainwashing them. We can’t take any chances.” Azeus grimly said. Duhnovo was preparing for war right from the time that Antoss was founded, and the Killian Empire was as well. Their ploys from 30-40 years ago coming to fruition now.

“Did Tain plan all of this?” Quyon asked out of the blue.

“He did. We’ve had dozens of plans that wouldn’t work out, but the perfect opportunity arose with Bi’wan and the three of you.” Azeus responded.

“So, you used us?” Quyon questioned with a monotone voice.

“That we did. That’s just how life is, use and be used.” Azeus looked at Quyon who had crossed her arms.

“Tain’s family died.” Quyon said. After the first had been killed the rest were evaporated by Hellion’s massive attack with his moon totem.

“That wasn’t his actual family. They were part of Killian’s corpse corps, a bad name if I do say so myself. Killian sent an expert over to disguise them to look exactly the same as Tain’s family.” Azeus said proudly.

“So you sacrificed innocents and dozens of your own comrades?” Maymun was furious. It was one thing for warriors to kill each other, but it was another to get innocents involved. One of the things that Maymun hated the most was when the strong bullied and killed the weak.

“Yes.” Azeus admitted without hesitating. No trace of guilt could be seen on his face. “War is coming within the next couple of years. There is no room for naive ideals, girl.” Azeus’ eyes turned sharp and were filled with determination and bloodlust.

Maymun stood down after hearing that. She was still furious that someone was willing to sacrifice innocent and defenseless people, but she understood that there would be people willing to do that and there was nothing she could do to change that. It was why she hated politics of all sorts.

“Won’t Duhnovo respond and call you rebels? Now they can justify sending an army to help Antoss clear out the ‘rebels’.” Ilon questioned. He really didn’t understand why they would do something that would result in their demise.

“That’s the point.” Azeus said with a wicked grin. He didn’t explain any further, but going by his face Ilon could tell that this was the main purpose in attacking the Shamans.

“It’s the spark.” Ilon muttered in realization. Horror and guilt filled him once again. They had just participated in the starting point of a potential all out war between Duhnovo and Killian. They were the reason that hundreds of thousands would die in the future.

It was already too late to try and do anything to prevent it. Even if he killed Azeus, Tain, and all the rest participating in this attack it would be labeled a terrorist attack and both Duhnovo and Killian would send in troops to help ‘resolve’ it.

Silence reigned over the group until the final sounds of fighting died down. One of Azeus’ bodyguards returned with the news that all of the Shamans had been killed and that only one had been able to escape. After a bit, more and more medical professionals arrived to treat the wounded.

“Are you going to help?” Ilon asked Quyon as he watched Tain and close to a hundred other guards being treated.

“No. They knew what they were getting into. These are the consequences of their actions.” Quyon responded coldly. She didn’t take well to being used or massacres happening before her eyes.

“I see. Then we have no reason to be here.” Ilon said with understanding. They tried their best to help people whenever they could, but they were not saints. Ilon didn’t even consider himself or Quyon and Maymun as good people. “We’ll come and find Tain when he wakes up. We still need to ask some questions.” Ilon said to Azeus.

“Have a good day.” Azeus said with a bit of a mocking smile. The three of them ignored him and left, leaving behind the scene of tragedy. A massive circle of scorched dirt, A long scar in the dirt leading to the headquarters, and hundreds upon hundreds dead and injured.