《Arbiter of Power (Canceled and currently redone as 'Re:' version.)》Chapter 002: Power without Reason
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The day Hirahn descended upon the world of mortals would be a milestone in history, forever to be remembered as the day when the lands turned red.
An army comprising of hundreds of thousands of layman, slaves and servants alone, millions of trained soldiers from 3 of the six human kingdoms. Together they would be enough to conquer a continent for them alone, they were a force to be reckoned with.
But on this fateful day, when the warministers and generals exulted in their presumably victory over the never before conquered fortress Ysold, when they uncorked wines that one would only get for odious expenses, even a life would not be enough to pay them off, on this day the Mad God descended on the realm of mortals.
Heralded by gelid rain and fierce thunder a creature of pure spite took its leisure to rape the honor and courage those kingdoms' soldiers had with an iron fist of terror.
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"Let us begin...", ceremoniously the devil raised his hands into the chilling air. As he willed the world obeyed.
Magic was the fundamental essence behind everything, the make-up for aether, the life-force. It's importance was higher than those of the many Gods, except for the one and only God that was renowed through the multiverse, Sara'ahn.
But now, a rogue part of Sara'ahn landed in this world plunged in civil wars. Fight fire with fire. Fight evil with even greater evil. Hirahn gladly followed this principle as he licked over his nightmarish fangs.
Hirahn clutched the empty space in his voracious claws, as magic incarnate he was more than capable of unleashing its full potential. The world groaned in pain as Hirahn used magic for his destructive urges, the strain of a real God using magic was barely endurable for the mortal realm.
A deathly cool wind picked up from the dark sky and passed over the bulk of men willing to lose their life in a war with purpose, not this. Just a second later one could hear armors rattling and life being erased. Below Hirahn soldiers started to fall like leaves in autumn, their bodies wrinkled messes and masks of pain with pallid leather as skin. Blackened miasma left their orifices and gathered around Hirahn. Beating steadily inside Hirahn's grip was now a globe of dark energies.
"Purge all.", Hirahn whispered, the globe deformed and changed into a crimson heart.
*Thump Thump*
The heart pumped life for an unknown body, send a shockwave over the battlefield. Some people in Silays might have not understood the situation at hand but now even those few felt this foreboding chill deep down in their guts.
*Thump Thump*
Another layer of soldiers fell victim to the invisble death that harvested their life force. Only the wind told them what future was to come, and as it did some prayed, others cackled manically, anon others weeped as the winds scythed them down for a third time.
*Thump Thump*
With each platoon of soldiers vanquished, their life squeezed from their mortal vessels, the heartbeat grew steadier. Nurtured with each passing of life it grew louder and more powerful. Surprisingly some of the soldiers stood stock still after the wind passed them, unharmed and with life teeming in their young bodies.
Cordially those few rejoiced in silence, in absolute bliss of well... living, what else?
Hirahn bit his lip as he saw those few soldiers still standing. "You won't allow me huh....?", he whispered in his original voice, mellow to the ears and as pleasant as any other voice out there.
He clenched his chest and shock fiercly his head. "Because of this you died, we were to soft!", he cursed himself and returned to his much more evil ego.
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Those soldiers that kept standing were deemed innocent by his heart, he couldn't kill them. Those were the soldiers whose life was riven by the cruel inteference of conscripts. They wanted nothing more than go back to their home, greet their family, their wife and maybe even kids. Those were the soldiers that judged their comrades in arms with patronizing gazes as they raped and plundered, some even hindered their comrades at doing the cattish deed. It was their luck that morals and ethics prevailed in them, in a time of strive and war this was rare.
Hirahn paid no further heed, he had more than enough specimen of the genus homo to vent his despair on.
"Let's continue...', he mumbled.
*Thump Thump*
Another heartbeat and more souls were harvested. Thousands had now already lost their lives. Messengers of all three kingdoms scattered into all cardinal directions, passing one message after the other to their respective generals.
Hirahn only grimaced at those insects and jaunty thought about ways to crush their hope. Why even wait with the crushing? His preparations were nigh complete.
Pricking the steel-like skin on his palm with one of his claws he smeared one small drip of blood onto the still pumping heart. Edaciously it swallowed the blood like a newborn its mother's milk, tendrils shot out from the heart, tried to force the small cut ajar to get closer to the anodyne liquid.
Hirahn only smiled warmly. "No, no my dear you can eat in just a minute.", he soothed the mass of flesh with his diabolic words. Squirming under its father's comfort the heart retracted its tendrils and waited, waited for the time to unleash its strength to its father's will.
"A body... you need a body...", Hirahn grumbled and scratched his chin. He swept his gaze across the endless plain of more soldiers. "Guess they will do...".
Clasping his hand he let the heart float still in the air. As he distanced his palms from each other a red lightnting arched across his skin, crackled with deadly static and powerful electricity, but how could it be as simple as that?
Swiping with his hands once over the battlefield the red tether of lethal energy transformed into something much more devestating. Lunging forward the red wisp of magic warped its form into beastly spectres, whailing over the plain with crisp cries they harvested more souls for their master.
Swaping from one charcoaled body to another they zapped to and fro, extinguished life in mere moments. The wraiths spread further and snaked their way through the masses of soldiers. Undiluted their power remained stable and many more people were sent to the afterlife, of course except the innocent few. Later reknown as the choosen ones that survived this deadly cataclysm, but that's a story for another time.
A gale scrapped the ashes from the bloodied soil and moved as one being of greyness into the air, swirled around the red, vividly pulsating heart in Hirahn's clutches and formed bizarre shapes.
Swallowed by the airborne body of ash the heart fused into the grey, demonic mass of human remains. Delighting on the burned carcasses of thousands upon thousands of sullied soldiers the abstract and wriggling mass of dried flesh and blood started to coalesce into a palpable creature.
*Wuuu Wuuu Wouaaaaa!*, the cry of a newborn echoed over the vestige of troops. Naturally they couldn't bother with this unfitting cry, it might prove as nothing more than a mirage, wanting to tear their flesh and delight on their bones, that lured them in with a newborns innocence. No, they had enough. This battle was lost.
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All conviction aside, they didn't fear being branded as renegade as long as they could keep their skin and bowels intact. Obvious terror festered in the minds of those millions of soldiers as they could only watch fecklessly how their comrades were simply turned into minced meat, heaps of flesh, empty casks that harbored a once brisk spirit or into ash and dust. They could do nothing, they wanted to do nothing with this war anymore. But alas it was to late for them to repent and pray to whatever Gods they believed in. Hirahn was the dark judge, he would let justice befall those that sinned and on this field of carnage there were only a handpicked few that would survive him.
It was not a call of duty that spurred Hirahn in destroying those people, they were no different than those that hid inside the fortress that laid in his back. But they were right before his eyes.
Let me ask you: Would a starving man refuse the meal infront of his nose and instead walk hundreds of meters to get a scoop of the same shit that would have been dished up at the spot he was two minutes before?! No, he would not. He would eat the scraps of dirt and feces, smear his face in them and maybe just maybe take the meal that is around the corner as seconds.
Hirahn was the same. Senseless slaughter was not in his character, well, it was but Saraya's influence stopped him from going ramapant. But who was there to stop him now? Humans? PAH! Don't be hilarious! Even the halfwits of selfproclaimed Gods would bow their heads below their ballsack if they encountered Hirahn!
Today Hirahn would feast!
"My child, go forth! Indulge in their despair.", Hirahn commanded the child as he flicked the youngling demon into the many armies. Latching onto the first soldier in its vicinity the dark child ripped his spine apart with unnatural strength. Bathing in the man's blood the creature grew bigger.
"I think it's time to thank the person that gave me this golden opportunity!", Hirahn smirked the most devious of smiles as he uttered those ostensibly thankful words to his 'benefactor'. "Yes, thank him...", he licked his ashen lips.
Landing admist the corpses, nay, unidentifiable remains of what may have been at some point in time human, he plunged the air into turmoil and the earth trembled from his arrival. A man in his early twenties, presumably -appearances can be deceitful-, blocked Hirahn's path. A plain yet blood stained sword was held tightly in the man's hands, the long sword perked with its tip into the scattered remains around those confronting figures.
Silver hairs swayed harmoniously in the wind and those few rays of moonlight, rare and sparse, shrouded the man in blinding handsomeness and naughty playfulness. But right now his features were tenesed as angst-sweat covered his brows.
"Mortal, scram!", Hirahn did not deign to further look at the Vilis, the king of Silays, Alexander. He simply waved him off like a page, disrespect that could only come from those with powers unsurmountable.
Alexander clutched his sword even tighter, ignoring the blood that flowed freely as his nails pierced the skin on his palms. The slight pain was rather a perk for Alexander, it distracted his mind from the fear that threatened to pull him into a chasm of eternal terror and trauma.
Hirahn walked past Alexander, how could he expect any resistance from a mortal?
*Rustle*
Unbelieving Hirahn stared up. "You gotta be kidding me.", he whispered to himself. Surprise was all over Hirahn's face, even the false, hideous grin had combusted into nothingness. "I guess I can spare a bit of my time.", he spoke slightly louder as his bare feet crunched the ground beneath.
"What do you have to say, demon?!", Alexander inquired as he picked up the sound of Hirahn's whispers. A reaction from the enemy was good, it made him predictable and raised the chances to survive!
"Nothing, it's just. This gives me all such a headache. Can't even kill in peace. Tsk tsk tsk!", dejectedly Hirahn sighed.
"So you just think this is a game? Have you no heart?!", Alexander screamed, hoping to defy whatever madness was trying to grip his soul.
"Whatever, let's get started!", Hirahn smiled the utmost disgusting smile in the world as he motioned for Alexander to stop his useless questioning and just get this over with.
"You will regret this, filthy monstrosity.", Alexander crouched down, ready to shot out like the arrow of its bow.
"Oh! I a monster? No, no, no! Tell that this guy behind me.", Hirahn jokingly said and pointed behind him. Alexander couldn't help but peek over Hirahn's shoulder, one eye still focused on him although this might be as useless as simply closing his eyes completely.
Soldiers flew through the air as a ten eyed apparation plowed through the ranks of defenses like a hot knife through butter. Its four arms equipped with four equally massive cleavers crushed the soldier with their weight rather than cut them apart. Three black hooves crushed all those that were lucky enough to avoid the fourfolded incarnaion of massacre. A child's face peeked out from the monster's abdomen, with a happy grin human remains preyed from between its lips. "Waaaahahaa", the face giggled and another row of soldiers was flatened by uncomparable strength. Spears and swords stuck in the abominations body but it choose to ignore the light tickle.
Eyes filled with despair Alexander could only keep a wry smile to himself. He wanted to kill these men just a moment ago, but this? No, he could not allow such a thing; a warrior had its pride! This devil had to be stopped at any cost, reasoning was of no use this far into the carnage already.
Alexander gulped down the threats he would have spit out, was he really in any place to say that to the master of the beast that could in all likeliness slaughter ten of his kind? No he could not.
"Haa... you devil will face my retribution!", he spit out the most generic of heroic lines in the book, Alexander knew it was pathetic but his jumbled mind didn't allow any smart follow up.
'So this will be it... At least I can buy us some time. Yes, that will do.', Alexander found a sliver of hope in this literal night of otherwise festive days.
Kicking off the ground he sprinted with his sword nudged at his shoulder, the proximity of his closest partner calmed him down considerably. This would be the last fight, the last stand and the last chance!
'Go, Alex, go!', he heard his deceased wife's voice lull inside his numb head, as spirited as always. 'Elina, wait for me, soon I will be at your side my dear.', he answered the call.
With a terrifying grin, fangs as black as the night dropped from his jaws, Hirahn unfolded his wings and floated with explosive speed into the sprinting Alexander. 'Let's see what this world has to offer.', he thought slightly intrigued.
With this the fight between the Vilis, the Strongest, and the Mad God began.
(I apologize to all of those that would love to lynch me since I took so many parallels out of Overlord. I won't do it again, I promise!)
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