The hall was quit as the news from the north came in

??? – “Do we have anymore news from the north?”

Servant – “No, Lord just what we already know…”

??? – “I see…You’re dismissed”

As the servant left hew couldn’t help but to thing about how the recent information from the north will impact the world. He seriously despised his master. Ezikeil, being a Halfling was no stranger to the ruling of the Human. Everything that didn’t get enslaved got killed. If Asura were to see the human empire, he would think Rome. They prospered from innovation and oppression. Nearly 65% of the population in their empire were slaves. While demons and demi humans lived in oppression, the humans prospered. Though Ezikeil was a prodigy in a rare variant type of magic and was far from weak, he was only one man with a slave collar that let his master kill him on a whim. In his heart, every day, the inferno of his rage screamed and mocked him of his cowardice.

As Ezikeil left a man in gold armor with pure white robes with golden embroidery started. His voice held power as it rung through the hall.

“Lord Victus, Have you have no further word from our spy?”

The man in gold armor was no other than Julian Cesar, the chief and commander of the human race. He looked quite divine in his grand armor. The armor was a relic of an unknown age. Some even say that his Armor comes from the great beyond. It made Cesar virtually invulnerable, and it was the reason for Cesar’s great success. When he was still a young soldier in the army, his commander stumbled upon a labyrinth. While his commander and comrades fought the never ending hordes of monsters, he fled and accidentally discovered this armor. Although no one knows the exact particulars of this event, many people think, and its advertised, that Cesar killed his comrades after they tried to flee when their commander died. Now no one besides Cesar knows the truth.

His Armor was embroidered with silver designs and on its back stood a pair what looked like half wings of silver with golden tips. By channeling manna to this, it allowed him to detach and control 20 sword like weapons protruding from is back with just a thought. The extent of Cesar’s manipulation of these weapons is still unknown.

“No, my lord” lord Victus answered. “The Lord of Terror keeps a keen eye” He finished

“And what of the egg?” Cesar said

“It’s as you heard, the demons have it.”

The air became heavy for a moment. “Filthy things..” Cesar uttered. “Assemble the Purge” He said after a brief pause.

There was complete silence in the room which Victus finally broke. “As you will my lord”

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Lord Aron had a troubled look on his face. His double agent, Akira, had told him that the human empire has assembled the purge.

Akira was one of his best spies. Lord Aron took him when he demolished one of the Empire’s bases. When Lord Asura found him, he gave him an ultimatum. Work for me and save lives, or die where he stood. He then contracted him to a custom made slave collar. It appears as a blank. So if someone else contracted his slave collar; Lord Aron’s command overrode it. Any additional contract conditions can be overridden.

So now Lord Aron is now at a loss on what to do. He stood there in front of the egg, basking in its light as he thought about his next move. Ever since he transported the egg to his castle, he allocated his bed chambers next to it. This way he can monitor the egg better. But more important than that, he enjoyed the warm rays emitting from the egg.

Aron couldn’t call any other council member for assistance, he had to face this himself.

He sat next to the egg and started his preparations

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Azure empire.

Chancellor Otacon sat in his study as his aide walked in. “Chancellor, it appears that the Holy empire is commencing an assault on Lord Aron’s estate.”

“…..” there was a long pause as Otacon thought about the implications of this news before he finally spoke. “Send word to everyone not to interfere, especially Lord Estoc, heaven knows he will do something stupid if Lord Aron is involved. We shall only observe”

Aide – “Umm,….Chancellor,…umm” Her hesitation was plain as day.

“Speak already, what is it?” Otacon urged her.

“Lord Estoc is already gone..”

“What!!??” The Chancellor exclaimed in both anger and surprise. He stilled himself before he said “That fool will be the death of me. “I will make sure to punish him well” Otacon said in a sinister tone as his aide felt a chill down her spine.

“Send Jarvis, I don’t want anything to happen to that boy”

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“It shall be done” She said as she gave a slight bow, before walking off.

“But Chief, we have nothing to do with them!” A shout pierced the still crackle of the fire.

A group of about 100 elite warriors circled around a large fire. They were the elders and great warriors of the beast man tribe known as Kalu.

“Silence you fool!” The chief’s shout caused everyone to flinch as pure bloodlust oozed out of him. “Do not belittle yourself any further” There was a clear intensity in his words “We are not humans. If you want to partake in politics then I shall shave you bare and sent you to them.”

You could hear few gulps as everyone waited for the Chief to speak. They knew that Chief absolutely, with all his might, hated humans. They killed and enslaved many of his close friends and family. They killed his wife, Enslaved and raped his daughter in front of him as he lay there bleeding out.

It was only by sheer luck that Lord Aron found him. After coming back from gathering materials for his research, he veered to the direction of the rising smoke.

As Aron walked through the wreckage of the settlement, he was surprised about how the absence of bodies.

*There should be more bodies, given the size of the settlement* Aron thought as he walked through the wreckage *Must be a slaver raid* he concluded.

As he continued to walk, he almost gave up searching for any survivors when his keen senses picked up labored breathing. As he approached closer he could feel immense hate radiating from the direction of the breathing.

Barberous POV

I cursed myself as I lay there dying, I cursed my weakness, curse my fate, Curse those damn humans. Fucking humans..

Then suddenly I heard someone approaching me. Did they come back to finished me off? My rage which was building up like a snowball going down a mountain finally exploded.

I-I shall take a-at least one of you with me… I barely managed to say as I struggled to get up. Even now my vision was failing me. I must kill, kill them all “I will kill ALL OF YOU” I roared

Then I felt a sudden pressure on my chest, followed by a warm sensation. “Shut up” I heard someone say as he embedded his hand into my chest.

W-what? I was struggling to comprehend what happened. He leaned closer to me and whispered in my ear. “Be thankful for this favor. You should know that it’s not done out of good will, but by personal gain. One day, not too far off, I shall call on upon you. Until you can repay your debt train and learn as much as you can, so that when that day comes, you might be useful to me.”

As suddenly as he appeared, he disappeared. As the warm sensation spread into his body from his chest, it slowly began to hurt. Unimaginably so.

AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!! Barberous cried out as he convulsed on the ground. He later learned that the person who saved him was Lord Aron. Not only did he save him, he gave him power. It came in the form of large lighting element Chrystal. The pain came from the mutation that his body suddenly underwent to adapt to the Chrystal.

Barberous silently reminisced the event which has been engraved into his mind.

After a long uncomfortable silence, the Chief said to himself

“I shall repay my debt to you, friend”

Then he finally said after collecting himself

“Lord Aron saved my life. To not come to him during his time of need would mean to throw my honor away as a warrior. If all else has been taken, we still have our pride as warriors and honor that comes with it. To undermine this decision is to undermine this notion. I shall not tolerate any coward that have no honor. If you are one of those coward then go to humans where you belong. Talk to them about all the things that you have in common. Maybe they will even be nice.”

Everyone unanimously agreed and war preparations began

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Asura stood there examining himself. His body underwent a drastic change. His hair was now the purest of black. When he moved, his long black hair would look like dense black ink blot moving in water. It had a sense of weightlessness. It flowed with him whenever he would move. His skin has become a light grey collar and his eyes were a deep violet. All of his nails were black and they too oozed out a dark mass that escaped up like smoke before dissipated into the surrounded spaced.

I hope they will recognize me…..or my DNA…..they can technically use a brain scanner to know that its me…

Asura pondered about how his new appearance will affect his standing in the Alliance.

“I hope they don’t decide to experiment on me” Asura thought out loud as he looked at Lord of the Land, who he promptly named “toothless”.

This egg is preventing you from coming out because of the dense manna in the atmosphere. I shall teach you how to devour

He said as he showed his full teeth smiled. He said “So, are you hungry?”