-Chapter Five-

Fatefully Merciless

The opponent to be most fearful of is that invisible to the eye… not the vanguard of the enemy nor their flank, but in truth… your own ally.

Aelius laid back into his chair, giving a deep breath as he took a moment to overview the last forty hours of work. His eyes scanned from corner to corner of the screen until he turned his attention to the bunker’s calendar. Eight days left until Alea was going to leave Farrien. Does he have enough time? He doesn’t know where she is being deployed to, but as long as it was no different to his first life, he knows she will be safe until the first encounter with the invaders. Aelius reached forward to the keyboard and brought up a different screen, displaying the anatomy of them. A horrid creature on two legs with claws, horns, black eyes and scaly skin. He never knew what they actually are meant to be called. He only knew them as Devils, as they had be come to known as after their terrorist-like attacks on dozens of nations. Three years… fuck, I can’t wait. A mix of excitement and madness swirled within him. I get to kill these bastards again. Lucky me.

Devils invaded the Sacred Continent a thousand years ago. Their origins were unknown - they simply appeared out of numerous underground caverns and dungeons dotted around the Continent. Their power was unrivaled only because of their innate constitution. For humans, throughout all of recorded history, the number of Mages that reached the pinnacle of humanity, the Tenth ring, could be counted only on two hands. The number of people who surpassed the Tenth Ring were… zero. In current ages, legendary Mages like Director Polia were at the Eighth ring, and famous warriors like his father and the Aerianne Archduke, as well as various other fighters, were at the Seventh ring. Devils however, were completely different. The weakest Devil Aelius ever met was at the Twelfth ring, and the strongest he ever met was at the Thirtieth ring. Needless to say, these abhorrent monsters desiccated humanity. For the five hundred years before the Saints returned and repelled them with the power of industrial technology, the survivors on the Sacred Continent were enslaved by the Devils. This was because of one simple reason. Devils enhanced their Magic power through lifeforce, or blood, in other terms. They were like Vampires, but far less graceful and far more savage. By these barbarians, humans were converted into livestock and treated like animals. Such a day will never come again. Though Aelius does not know how they reproduce, or if at all, he had long since taken up the mantle to genocide them into exctinction. Such was his crusade.

To have access to a bunker was a god-send to Aelius. For now, the knowledge stored in his mind can finally be harvested to fruition. Another four days had passed, and Aelius had finally finished his creation. The charms he gave to his parents and younger sister were easily made enough, with materials on hand. That was just how high his alchemic prowess was, throughout his years of experience. However, what he truly desired, could only be made with the facilities in a Saint’s bunker. It was Saint technology, after all. Aelius observed the dazzling white hairpin with a beaming smile. One singular pearl sat at the top of it. The exterior was made to synthesise a marble appearance, but the interior was all machinery. What was special about Aelius’ creations however was despite being comprised entirely of tech, he had channeled both Mana and Divine power into it to create an ultimate artifact. With this, Alea had no chance of ever dying. Imbued in it was the Sixth tier spell Return. If set off, Aelius will immediately be summoned to the vicinity of the pearl and it was programmed to go off if the wearer’s vital signs drop below a certain level. He spent one day designing the technology from scratch, and three days casting the spell onto it, so as to not aggregate the poison in his core. It took longer than he expected, but now was finally time to go present it to her. Afterward, he will be free to travel to the main bunker and begin the true preparations for the invasions, from both the Saints and the Devils. This artifact was the key to his plan’s success. With this failsafe in place, he can focus on sharpening the real skills he needed to in order to bring about a different future. Aelius pushed his chair out from the desk and rose to his feet to stretch before he traversed across the room to the other end where a metal chest awaited him. “It’s time,” he spoke lowly as he reached forward to it. The metal bed lay like a coffin but upon being opened, a stream of cold, dense gas leaked out and covered the ground like snow. An ominous murkey aqua green light shone from within it, and Aelius reached into the freezing cold to grab hold of something solid. A cold, metallic shaft at the bottom of the chamber. It reflected in the low light with a gleam, as Aelius examined the 0.38 caliber chamber and it clicked as it loaded. The other thing he had come to the bunker for was to gain access to none other than… the Saint’s arsenal. The weighty revolver sat comfortably in his hand, and he immediately raised it to the nearby wall, his eyes narrowing. “The only weapon effective against Devils. In a world where we thought Magic was everything, there existed such a basic twist. Only the Saints figured it out, but that was with thanks only to external help.” Aelius narrowed his eyes. “What are the origins of the machine god?”

When asked, can Mana block bullets, what would one respond? Well, if they knew what bullets even were, they’d most likely say yes. Mana can block bullets. So how come guns work on Devils? Well, the answer was simple for those who knew it. Including Aelius. While Devils were blessed with high Mana rings, they had one significant weakness that has no defence against guns and bullets. They were melee-mains, and not by choice. In Aelius’ time, he has never encountered a caster Devil. Due to their constitution, they were incapable of producing Mana outside of their bodies. This meant that their Mana can never come into contact with bullets, unlike humans who can put up barriers. Of course, this doesn’t mean they can’t tank Mana spells. The Mana that dwells under the surface of their scales and skin counteracts any other Mana it comes into contact with, but pure bullets of metal go straight through their otherwise impenetrable flesh. This was the Saints’ revelation when they arrived at the Saints continent. They were presented the gift of knowledge by none other than the machine god.

Aelius was about to squeeze the trigger at the wall to test the gun when the lights turned red around him and he cast his eyes to the screen with a raised eyebrow. “Hmm?” he scurried back across the room to examine the monitor. On it, the cloaked surveillance showed him a skirmish between two groups taking place right above him. “What the…?”

In the crisp air of the night, all was silent through the darkness of the trees. Only the breeze and calls of crickets could be heard, until a high shrill noise echoed through the forest. What was once black became illuminated red as a ball of crimson shot up into the sky, shedding light over the land like a beacon. Below at its feet, a small group of five ran mysterious shadows frantically sprinted past roots and plants. Their frantic breathing and the patter of their footsteps could now be heard, but nothing else. They didn’t even dare to look back behind them until they heard an ominous cackling. The red light shone onto them, revealing an old woman in her eighties, two aged men at mid-life, a teenage girl and a child boy hurriedly trying to cross the grass. “Just keep running!” The man at the front called out, carrying a heavy greatsword on his back. At his call, the grandmother began to slowly fall behind, unable to catch her breath. “Grandma, you have to make it!” The teenage girl cried as she carried the other child with her.

“No… just go on…” the grandmother came to a stop at a treetrunk, heavily putting her hand on her chest as she gasped.

“Shit…” the second middle-aged man, a warrior holding a spear, came to an abrupt stop and spun around.

“Lia, just take your younger brother and run. Don’t look back. You have to make it to Dawnbreak. Remember what we told you. Look for the man named Donagon, he will help you.” The warrior carrying a greatsword came to a stop as well, joining his comrade with his blade unsheathed.

“Let’s do it. Let’s hold them off.”

“No!” the teenage girl called Lia cried. “Let’s just all keep running. Please. Please don’t leave us. Guys…” tears streamed down her cheeks as she tried to tug on the sleeve of the greatsword warrior.

“Just go! They’re coming!” he called. Not a moment passed until they all froze as they heard a laughter cross the darkness at them. “Tch, too late. They’re already here. Lia!! Just go!!! Do you want your younger brother to die in vain as well? Even if you dare to throw away your own life, what about him?”

Lia looked down at her younger sibling, who looked back up at her with sullen eyes. “Spear uncle…” she sniffled, looking back.

“My, how touching is this… you’re all prepared to die?” The same voice of laughter from earlier finally revealed themselves, stepping out with a smirk. Possessing the chiseled body of a fighter, the tanned barbarian took a step forward carrying a machete on his shoulder. “It’s not like we were out to kill you,” he heaved with laughter. “Like I said, we just needed a toll fee. But since you decided to run, well, we’ll have to think of some other compensation now, won’t we?”

The man with the spear took a deep breath. “We already told earlier we have no money on us.”

“Well, give us them weapons then. Is it really worth dying over a piece of metal?” the barbarian heaved with evil laughter, his eyes shining with greed as he took in the complex etchings on the tip of the spear.

“I doubt you’ll spare us even after we hand these over,” the greatsword carrier readied into a stance. “It’s too late now. They’ve surrounded us. It’s do or die. Auntie, do you think you can manage?” he glanced over at the old lady who had now gasped her breath.

“I’m sorry I dragged you all into this mess. I have one last spell left in me. I’ll need the two of you to stall for time,” she nodded grimly to her companion.

“Very well. We shall do it.”

“Good. Oh, and,” she began to add, “look after the two of them for me. This damned poison.” She revealed a wand from under her sleeve and began to chant.

“Boys, they’re putting up a last stand! Attack! Don’t let her finish the spell!” he called and several silhouettes appeared out of the trees around them. The two close-range fighters took up an encircled position to protect the tree, both of them wearing faces of dead seriousness. In the dead of the night, the sound of clashing blades and flying sparks of metal clanged. They exchanged blow after blow, the two swordsmen standing their ground to not let any attacks pass to the three they needed to protect. But as time passed, it became evident the difference in number was overwhelming the pair. The young girl Lia cried out as she saw blood splatter over her two uncles and their swings grow weaker every passing moment, until she heard a loud stab behind her. Turning around in shock, the young girl’s dark blue eyes widened at the glinting metal poking through her grandmother’s chest.

N-no… Lia’s breath caught in her throat. A stray blade hit her… “Grandmother…” she reached forward to tug the old woman’s torn sleeve whose gray hair fluttered in the wind as she turned. Revealing her pale skin, two streams of blood fell down the sides of her mouth, the corners upturned in a final warm smile.

“E-eighth tier… Second Sun…” she weakly ushered with her final breath and collapsed. As Lia’s high pitched cry squealed through the air and the uncles glanced over their shoulders in anguish, the black empyrean overhead lit up brilliantly. Light left the old woman’s body and flew to the sky, clumping together to form a miniature white hole. All on the field looked up in awe as the light grew brighter until all were blinded, the sound of rushing wind and pure energy drawing ever-closer to their ear drums, leaving nothing but a white plane.

When Lia’s vision returned to her, her grandmother’s still body lay on the grass before her. She gave a sniffle at the sight, feeling her heart tear when her attention was caught by a cough to her side. Her two uncles knelt on the dirt, their hands clutching their chests tightly. “Lia…! Lia, Leo, are you okay?” the spearmaster asked, pushing himself to his feet again.

“W-we’re fine,” Lia choked with a sob. Their moment didn’t last long as more shadows appeared from the surrounding trees that had avoided the burning might of the Eight tier spell. “Ahh, shit,” the blademaster weakly raised his great sword again. Lia gasped at the sight of the man using his heavy sword with only one arm, the other hanging limply by his side covered in wounds. “There’s still survivors. Looks like it’s time for a clean up crew.” Lia felt hopelessness and despair gnaw at her as the waves of opponents drew ever closer toward them. Centred deep within her fear was a soul-killing burden of helplessness.

Is there anything I can do? Is there anything I can do to help them? Why have I always been so weak? So useless? She looked down to her younger brother, who silently gazed back at her with calm eyes. “Right…” she chuckled to herself through her tears and quickly knelt down. “Leo. Leo, my dear brother,” she took him into a heartfelt embrace. “As long as you live on, everything is fine. Don’t ever forget, your sister loves you. I’ll find a way. I’ll find a way, I promise.” She pulled away from him, and as always, the young child simply watched.

“Wow…!” the captain of the enemy group exclaimed as he took a step forward. “Who would’ve thought that half-dead bag of flesh was actually an Eight tier mage? We’re lucky she was already half-a-leg in her grave huh, boys?” The crowd cackled in laughter.

“Tch, still alive,” the spearmaster spat.

The blademaster opposite to him could feel his consciousness fading, but he knew behind him were still the two younglings. He cannot fall here. The man was about to summon every ounce of his remaining will to conclude the battle, when he saw Lia walk past him out toward the enemies.

“Lia! Wait, what are you doing!?” he called out at the top of his lungs, but she only gave him a small smile over her shoulder, before she turned back to the apparent captain leading the remaining men toward them.

“What’s this, lassy?” the short, fat and unkempt stumpy snorted. “You’re gonna take us all on by yourself?”

“W-w…” she tried to speak, but her voice refused to function and she had to take an extra moment to calm herself. “I beg you.” She dropped to her knees and placed her head to the grass. “Please leave them alive. I’ll do anything, so please… just let them go… I’ll do anything,” she cried, but mustered her voice so she could be heard through her tears.

“Nooo! Lia! Get back!” the blademaster roared.

You can’t… you can’t let something like this defile and sully you. You are destined for greatness. You are undeserving of such a fate! He bit his tongue at the feeling of helplessness clutching him as well.

“Ohohoho, looks like everyone in your group has some backbone, ehehe. Go on then, raise your head, give us a good look atcha,” the enemy captain stepped forward and grasped her by the face, raising her up so he could examine her. “Hmmm, hehehe. Beneath all of that dirt, you’re actually quite a beauty, aren’t-cha? Well, consider yourself lucky that my leader likes black-haired girls, looks like the City Lord’s daughter. How old are you even, aye?”

Lia tried to blink back the tears with a sniffle.

“F-fifteen,” she uttered.

“Hehehe, that’s a good find then. You’re in the ripe age of picking! Fine, you come with us without any resistance, and we’ll let those guys behind you go without any harm, eh. How about it?” With a sob, Lia could do nothing but nod. Though the gravity of what awaited her here-on weighed heavily on her, she had no choice but to agree.

“Please. Please,” she pushed herself to her feet, and allowed the man to pull her behind their line of thugs.

“LIA!!!” Her two uncles screamed.

“Kwahahha!” the captain cackled as he pushed her into the arms of his underlings and pointed his blade to the small remaining group.

“Get them, boys! You fool, don’t you know any better than to trust a skullduggery like me!?”

“Nooo!” Lia cried out as she tried to run back to her group, but was pulled back by the arms of the men grabbing her tightly. “Don’t touch them!”

A battle cry rang out from her uncles as they met the attackers head on, but were far too tired out and Lia saw before her eyes both of them go down at once, overwhelmed by dozens of opponents each. For a moment it felt like time froze as she took in the horrendous sight. It’s all my fault. I’m all to blame. I’m so sorry. Her own helpenessess suffocated her, her desire to change this outcome acting as her curse. I’m all to blame. She could feel her hope leaving her, and as her mind slowly regressed away, she felt the air begin to vibrate and something suddenly jolted her back awake, kicking her mind back into clarity.

“Reeearghhh!” Her scream rose in pitch to the point of sounding like a siren, and she felt her chest begin to burst. The air burnt her lungs like fire. Rage and desperation coursed through her veins and she felt her vision turn red. Power like she had never felt before burst forth out of her body and a red shockwave erupted out from around her. She felt the men around her turn to dust, but as quickly as the energy came upon her, it left her as well and she felt completely drained. Without even the strength to stand remaining, she fell onto her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks at the sight of her dead grandmother, her dying uncles and her younger brother caught up in the midst of the fray, but had no power to do anything more.

Please… she pleaded as she fell to the side and hit the grass, unable to move and only observe.

“Goddess be damned, this one’s special!” the same, obnoxious voice of the captain could be heard as his footsteps pattered up to her. “You little wench, you tried to kill me, kwahahaha. It’s a good thing I backed a few metres away.” She felt a hand grab her hair and pull her head up. “Take a good look. This’ll be the last time you ever see them.” Completely still and motionless, Lia’s sullen eyes took in the view of the onslaught, and her two uncles desperate efforts to fend off the attackers while being clawed apart. “P-please…” her voice fell from her lips.

Please someone save us. Anybody… help… and then there was a thunderous boom.

Every soul on the field froze when a spotlight hit them, and a single voice cut through the air.

“Jesus Christ, who the fuck is making noise on my lawn?”

Lia could only make out a black figure facing them from the blinding white light. “Huh?” The captain’s snarl faded into a frown instead. “Who the hell is this?”

“Hey you, fatso, I heard you saying some pretty obscene things earlier.” Before anyone could react, the figure appeared in front of the face of the captain, who flinched and dropped Lia back to the ground. She gave a cough as she rolled over, looking up to see a brown-haired boy about her age standing over her. His eyes glowed a deep, enraged red, and his deep, low growl of a voice casting fear into all of their hearts at his words.

“What was that about the City Lord’s daughter? You wouldn’t happen to be talking about the Kanarian Princess, were you?” Lia’s eyes darted back to the enemy leader, who stood before him with his legs trembling uncontrollably.

“KNEEL.” An overwhelming aura of authority shot out of the boy’s body and all the thieves fell onto one knee with their heads pointed to the ground. None of them dared to lift their gaze up. For a moment, Lia could see the thoughts passing through the boy’s head on his face. He was contemplating his next action, but took a breath to slow himself down and backed a step away. He glanced at her for a moment, before his expression twisted in displeasure and he looked back at the captain.

“What were you guys doing here?” he asked. The captain stayed silent, still trembling. “ANSWER ME.” Jumping in fright, the captain’s small voice squeaked out of his throat.

“W-we were r-r-robbing and p-pillaging…”

“You guys are bandits?” The young boy further questioned.

“That’s right,” the captain nodded.

“Then why were you trying to kill these guys? And even take this girl away? Do you partake in the slave trade too?” the boy asked. His gaze was akin to the god of judgement’s fury, burning a hole through the back of the man’s head.

“My boss likes them… and his orders were to rob everyone we saw.” The young boy facepalmed and gave a sigh.

“Oh Goddess, why do I always meet deplorable fools like this wherever I go?” he looked up to the night sky. “The invasion has yet to even take place and look how low we’ve fallen.” He turned his red eyes back to the captain. “I would say nothing personal, but unfortunately, it is personal. You only have yourself to blame for being caught up in my holy crusade.” His voice dropped to a hollow low by the end of his sentence. Lia watched as in an instant, the young boy unholstered an odd metal device into his hand and placed the barrel of it up to the man’s skull. A ‘bang’ rang out and the leader’s body fell limp over. Though some jolted, they were all unable to move from the overwhelming fear. They didn’t even know how their squad captain just died. The young boy knelt down and picked up Lia in his two arms, carrying her back to her uncles and younger brother, before gently laying her down and turning to the uncles.

“You guys are bleeding out,” he remarked as he knelt down and clicked his fingers. Miraculously, the bleeding stopped on their open wounds, and he turned back to the kneeling thieves.

“Okay, here’s the deal, you fuckers. One of you go call out your leader here. I don’t care if you set off fireworks or what. For every minute it takes for him to arrive, I’m going to kill one of you. Anddddd. Start!” The young boy raised his weapon to a nearby thief and another bang rang out. They keeled over, bleeding from the head, and frantically, one of the thieves still alive ran up to their dead leader’s body to loot him. He found a small beacon and set it off to the sky, before kneeling back down with their hands on their heads, crying.

“Do you want me to spare you?” the young boy asked, putting a foot on one of the others. “You should’ve thought about that all the times in the past you harmed innocent people. Evil-doers like you deserve to burn in purgatory for eternity.” Another bang rang out and another was down.

The remaining thieves were left thinking they could only hope their leader comes sooner to deal with this monster.

Dawson snuck a glance at the young teenage boy who was calmly pacing back and forth in front of them, after taking the lives of four people. He never knew this is how they would meet their match. Their squad leader who was the fifth tier was killed in an instant by the weapon the kid was holding. But surely that was just that. A weapon that they must get their hands on! Everything would be fine if the leader came to save them, but who knows how many of them would die before it came to that point? He exchanged glances between him and his fellow comrades, and they counted down in sync before they all let out a shout and jumped to their feet.

“Charge him down!!!” the group of twenty men roared. “He can’t take us all on at once!”

Dawson was one of the first to reach him. The boy could not raise his weapon at all of them as they swarmed him, but as he got closer he felt something was wrong. The boy’s red eyes turned onto him without even a sound uttered. Dawson felt as though his soul was burnt away at the sheer force of his aura and he froze. It felt like he was going to drop dead. The air suffocated him. What’s going on? He frantically thought, looking down at his shaking body. Why can’t I move? Damn it, move! He looked back to the boy and felt a chill run down his spine. Just who is this monster? All of his other comrades were also huddling on the ground, whimpering in fear at his red gaze.

“Your greed knows no bounds,” were the last words Dawson heard before there was a bang, and the world went spinning around him before turning dark.

Blood splattered onto Aelius’ face, but he simply continued gazing at the thieves with cold eyes. These ordinary men have no method of resisting my bloodlust, especially when I’m fused with Asura. He glanced over his shoulder back at the girl who laid on the ground with no strength to move, only to watch his every action. And I just wanted to head back to Farrien City in peace. He sighed, turning back to the remaining thieves. “How Goddess-damn long is your leader going to take?” he scratched his hair with the barrel of his gun when he felt a presence appear and begin to encroach on him.

“Wow, you deplorable thieves had such a strong bastard leading you?” he scoffed as three figures appeared at the tree’s edge and stepped out.

“What the hell is this?” A black-haired man stood in the middle between two women, wearing exotic dresses and armour, carrying swords and a bow. The man glanced over at the fallen body of the enemy captain before he turned his eyes back onto Aelius and they narrowed.

“That’s an interesting little weapon you got there, kid. It even lets a tier two take out a tier five? How fascinating. Hand it over and I’ll let you die painlessly for killing so many of my men.”

“Wrong answer. Try again,” Aelius smiled and raised his revolver before shooting. A bang rang out but no body dropped. He had aimed at one of the women standing by the enemy leader’s side, but the woman had just dodged her head to the side, getting off with a flesh wound across her cheek. Immediately, the other woman opposite to her waved her hand and conjured a mana barrier.

“You bastard, how dare you try to harm my women,” the black-haired leader growled, enraged.

“Ohoho,” Aelius chuckled. “You dodged that, huh? That must mean you’re at least at the Sixth tier.” He narrowed his eyes. “Two Six tiers, a Seventh tier, a dozen Fifth tiers and eighteen Fourth-tiers. Wow, you guys have prepared a feast for me!” Aelius exclaimed.

“A Second tier like you has no chance of winning. I was going to be nice, but now I’m going to grind your corpse into mince! Let’s see how you’re going to hit us from the other side of this barrier!”

The woman who’s cheek Aelius grazed raised her bow, ready to let loose a bolt but hesitated when the young boy began to laugh hysterically.

“Oh, you don’t know but you’ve already fallen into my trap. It’s fine if you dodged that bullet. I never wanted to kill you with it anyways.” Aelius raised his hand and the red glow in his two eyes grew brighter.

“Asura, Blood Puppet.”

At his words, the woman felt something begin to suck through her cheek and her eyes frantically darted down to see blood red silk spinning out of her veins directly. Not a single second passed and her vision had turned completely red, and she was unable to see anything. Unable to think.

“You see, my little dear hates other pretty women the most, because they’re always ugly deep down. She says their blood always tastes foul. But sometimes, there’s just no choice but to use what we have on hand. Consider it your honour.”

The black-haired man’s eyes widened in bewilderment as the woman next to him exploded in a storm of blood, leaving behind only a misty, red silhouette in the air, like a demoness incarnate.

“I don’t show mercy to bastards like you,” Aelius growled. “Attack!” he commanded with a wave of his hand.