Argant rode the carriage atop of a small hill. The horses neighed in satisfaction because of the sudden break.

With a jump Argant left the riders seat and stood on the cold dirt ground. It was already night and two beautiful silver moons were looming over him. The hill was desolate, only a few patches of grass were growing at the edges and no trees were nearby.

Breathing cold air under his mask Argant looked around. His mind was filled with rage and cruelty. The urge to kill colored his eyes red, which shone like the forebidding eyes of a demonic predator.

Argant stretched out his left arm and opened his hand up, after a quite whisper a small blob of darkness was quickly formed and slowly turned into a thin black snake. Argant hid the snake under his sleeve, the snake quickly coiled itself around his arm and could not be seen under the fine clothes.

The blood on his left hand was formed into a thread of crimson red, flying towards Argant's mouth and quickly being drank up.

Argant could feel his veins pulsate with vigor as the new blood entered his blood stream.

All these abilities simply spawned in Argant's mind wihtout any need to learn them at all. Argant had no idea where they came from but he was thankful for the knowledge.

A gust of wind arose under Argant's feet and collected the loose dirt into a small heap. With a plop Argant fell into his selfmade dirt bed. He wqas long ago accustomed to the feeling of sleeping on the ground.

Pictures of his old and new family flashed past his mind as he tried to find a handful of sleep. Whenever he thinks about them he can feel his heart skip a beat but just an instant afterwards these pictures begin to corode and are replaced by the two years of cruelty and torment. Only his most recent memory, Maria's kiss, was still pure. Argant did not know when these last happy memories will fade and he couldn't care anymore. His mind was already a mess of destruction and carnage, he wanted revenge!

But taking revenge on the dead was impossible so he had to switch on living targets to vent his anger on.

The sun replaced the moons after a while and burned its blinding rays of light into Argant's closed eyelids.

Argant's eyes only openned slowly, reluctant to open up at all. The mask was moved in such a fashion that Argant's eyes could be covered up.

Slowly his eyes adapted to the new brightness. The horses just stood where they had been before, no need or lack of sleep was seen in their eyes or on their bodies. These were horses of the demon continents after all, great endurance and faster movement were granted through the high essence density, also absorbable by animals.

Argant once again boarded the carriage and hurried the horses forward. The hill was left behind and the scenery changed into a thick cluster of different trees.

The sun tried its best to shine through but the pack of trees was to dense and only a few lucky rays managed contact with the ground, thus the forest was only dimly lit.

Different kinds of animals hushed to and fro between the thickets. Some cries or roars of prey and predators could be heard but most of them were drowned in the sound of the rustling leaves and swaying trees.

The carriage was moving slightly slower over the muddy ground and after many hours only half of the forest was passed.

Argant just lazily laid around in the carriage as an unnatural sound penetrated the monotony of the forest's song.

The sounds were unique, the sounds of battle. Argant could identify them from everywhere, the smell of blood was also a helpful indicator for Argant.

Licking his lips under the mask he ushered the horses to a quick sprint until he was only two- or threehundred meters away from the ongoing battle.

Argant jumped out of the carriage and moved, as swift as the wind, down the road. When he could already catch a few glimpses of burning bullets and a display of rainbow colored lights he decided to enter into the carpet of trees to remain hidden.

Using a thin fog of darkness Argant shrouded himself and advanced closer to the battle.

Two parties were opposing each other. One party consisted of a group of Kobolds and Ishtars, much like hobogoblins but bigger and scrawnier with sharp claws on hand and feet. The other group was clearly a group of adventurers, there equipment was clean and looked more like ornaments than real weapons, which is the reason why they are already badly wounded by the stout short swords of the Kobolds and the fierce claws of the Ishtars.

The adventurer group consisted of six people, four female and two males. The males were clearly warriors, or tried to be ones, they had armor than shone in brilliant colors if it wasn't smudged by their own blood and dirt. Each of them held a broadsword that was clearly to much to handle and was thus only an oversized iron board. Out of the four females two were light style and tried their hardest to heal the males, making their mana pools deplete like a river in a desert. Of the other two one was an archer and the other a pyro mage.

To Argant this group was laughable, the clerics could not attack with light magic because Kobolds and Ishtars were very much like animals and did not sin even if they killed countless others. They had to kill for their own survival. So the clerics were already useless even if they could heal, the warriors just took one hit after the other and so the constant healing incantations costed time and mana. The pyromage was even worse. She had no training in teambattles and often hit the warriors or simply missed the swift Kobolds and Ishtars

Only the archer possed some decent skill, using amplified arm strength to stretch the bowstring to the utmost limit the arrows that were shot by the ebenwood bow were transformed into deadly projectiles. The arrows whirred through the forest and lodged themselves in the bodies of the opponents.

The Ishtar and Kobolds numbered twelve and were at least five times as coordinated as the adventurers. With a few barks and skreeches the Ishtar and Kobolds split up into two groups. One group of nine that was pulling the attention of the adventurers and another group of three that headed straight for the archer, although the Ishtar moved through the treetops rather than walking on the ground

If Argant can decide between human like people and beasts on which he can vent his anger on he still possesed a bit of human sanity and thus has choosen the three Ishtar oncoming.

The archer was overwhelmed with the enemies inteligence and tried to use her bow as a blunt weapon, but the Ishtar used their slim but surprisingly sturdy arms to smash her into a tree. The clerics changed their focus on the archer and quickly began to heal her. The result was that the warriors were overpowered by their wounds and quickly fell unconscious due to blood loss. The Kobolds ignored the dying warriors and dashed to the pyromage, the person with the potential highest offense, IF SHE COULD HIT, DAMMIT! With the Enemies being now so close the pyromage quickly chanted some spells and killed two Kobolds off before a sword lodged itself in her shoulder, the blade would have bisected her if not for her chain male under the robe.

The clerics were stunned by the current development and could not focus on any of the people at all. A rusty blade flashed before the eyes of one of the clerics.

Whispering a silent prayer the cleric awaited death. The other cleric seeing her comrades demise tried to move her body to tackle the Kobold away but he was already to close. Death was inevitable.

Is what the cleric thought.

Before the blade could cleave her head a black serpent tore its fangs into the Kobold. Instantly the flesh turned white and then purple with black spots. Foam spouted out of the Kobold's mouth until it died.

The snake moved deeper into the Kobold, like a drill, and soon the corpse started to twitch and move again.

The undead Kobold turned back from the cleric and stabbed at an Ishtar that wanted to check on the Kobold's condition. The blade pierced the green chest and in the same instant a black serpent moved around the balde and entered the gashing wound. The Ishtar coughed up some blue blood and looked with disbelieving eyes at the Kobold before it fell down. And then it stood up again with black dots covering its skin.

With Argant's combination in Darkness magic of poisoning and then controlling the dead he quickly raised an army of mindless ghouls.

In the same time that Argant's semi sentinent serpent did its work, he himself quickly disposed of the three Ishtar that wanted to execute the Archer. When they wanted to jump on her, as she was leaning against a tree, Argant quickly swiped them away with wind magic. Being in mid air and caught off guard they were easily catched by the sudden gale and thrown of course. The Ishtar howled in pain as they fell head first into the forest ground but in just a few seconds they stood up again, green blood sticking atop of their heads.

When they turned around they were shocked. Two giant humming windblades were floating right above Argant and with a shwooosh they were fired towards two of the three Ishtar. One was directly bisected while the other managed to dodge partly, leaving behind a severed arm and a cleaved flank. The wounded Ishtar tried to turn away but suddenly its green blood formed into countless blades and started to rain down on it. With a few shrieks the Ishtar fell to the ground, unnmoving and covered in countless wounds.

The third Ishtar stared with shock at Argant and tried to run away but a hand made of green blood, that popped out of the small puddle of the green liquid, held it rooted at its place.

Argant grinned wickedly under his mask and a dense black fog streamed out of his left hand. The fog circled around the Ishtar and slowly entered through its mouth. When the fog was gone a black seal appeared on the forehead of the Ishtar and its red eyes turned pitch black.

With his undead army attacking only a few Kobolds remained. Argant willed the marked Ishtar to the Kobolds and with the other undeads they were mercilessly slaughtered.

The black seal started to fade a bit as well as Argant's control as the eyes regained their lost color. The Ishtar stared at his fallen comrades, it completely remembered what it di just moments ago, slashing the flesh of his friends open, bathing in their blood and gore.

With fury in its eyes it wanted to turn towards Argant but the black seal once again lit up and terrifying black lightnings crackled under its skin. The Ishtar howled in pain and was momentarily stunned. Argant moved closer and used the rusty sword to poke the Ishtar, drawing bloody lines on its body.

After a whole minute the Ishtar died, unable to move or fight back. Looking at the disfiguered corpse Argant flashed a smile. “That mind control is pretty useful.“. Argant mused to himself while he pursed his lips.

Argant moved his hand and the undeads turned into unmoving corpses again. Black serpents flew atop of Argant's palm and transformed into one, which quickly resumed its position around of Argant's arm.

The group of adventurers was completely stunned, those that were still conscious of course.

“What you lookin' at. Shouldn't you heal those guys?“. Argant's voice was hoarse and dry.

The clerics looked at each other and quickly channeled the light type essence into their minds to chant a massive spell.

A green light with flakes of gold radiated out of a magical circle inbetween the clerics. After a while a huge dome of green and gold was set up in a radius of twenty meters. The deep wounds on the warriors quickly healed as well as the tear on the unconscious pyromancer. The archer was still pretty fine, except of some broken ribs which were quickly mended by the healing magic.

Argant looked at his 'work of art', Kobolds and Ishtar with bursted purple skin and bloody wounds on their bodies. The look of disbelief and sadness over the loss of their comrades was still present on their faces. Argant felt this was pretty good for his first slaughter and turned towards the group of adventurers who where scrambling together.

They were already young adults, between 16 and 24 at most, but because of the field work and rich meals Argant's body was already the same height as those girls, the warriors were way taqler than him, they had perfect faces and seemed to be of the Elfin bloodline, pointy ears, white hair and the stuff.

The girls were real beauties. The pyromancer had a savage air around her, red, long and curly hair, sharp blue eyes, a fine nose and pearl white skin. What was even more astonishing were the literal flames on the girls hairtips and arms. Her robe was a blood red and seemed to ignore the burning flames. She was a Krampus.

The archer had tanned skin and short black hair, dark brown eyes with vertical pupils, dark red lips – formed into a relieved grin –, and a slight button nose. Her grin showed a row of crystal clear teeth and four sharp canines. The tip of her fingers were armed with sharp claws instead of fingernails. Her body was toned and her belly top barely hold her breasts in check. Her shorts revealed long musclular legs and instead of feet a pair of paws was revealed. The archer girl was a Lycanthrope.

What surprised Argant were the twin clerics, long blonde, braided hair flowed like a golden river and their green eyes shoned like emeralds. Their rosy lips trembled slightly as they watched Argant proudly stand before the heap of flesh but it did in no way blemish their beauty. On each of the girls a pair of angel wings was placed on the back as well as a pair of blunt horns on their heads. Both of them were Valkyries.

“So... Who are you guys?“. Argant asked with an arrogant attitude. He rescued them after all it was only fair that they would show some respect.

“Tch. If you ask you should at least tell your name first. Bastard magician...“. One of the warriors muttered.

“Hoh... So I did not save your sorry asses? And this is how you repay me... Well...“. Waisting no more words Argant transformed into a blur with the help of wind magic and appeared right before the Elf warrior. Sending out a rocket fast fist straight into his face the warrior was sent flying into a tree. Teeth clattered out of the poor guys mouth and he coughed up mouthfuls of blood.

“Hehehehe. Now I ask again. Who are you guys?“. Argant couldn't help his snicker, the warrior was just to weak.

The other warrior, learning from his friends mistake hurriedly introduced himself. “My name is Erik and I am a nature style warrior. That poor guy you send flying is a friend of my village, Kai, he himself is a nature warrior as well.“. Erik gave Argant a respectful nod and turned towards his friend to help him up.

Argant turned his gaze towards the girls.

“M-m-my name is Eorina. Nice t-t-to meet you.“. The red haired pyromancer said in a shy manner, completely dispersing the savage aura she had before.

“Silana is my name. Nice to make your acquaintance.“. The archer responded in a respectful manner. Because of her race Argant esteemed her to be around four years old or younger, the adult age for all canin races.

“Lana/Lara. Nice to meet you.“. The twins said in unison. Tilting their heads to the side and giving Argant a joyful smile.

Argant frowned, he couldn't cope with the playful type he rather liked mature persons a conversation between them was more comfortable.

So Argant turned towards Silana, Erik was still helping Kai who was still out of comission.

“Why are you here?“

“We came here for a mission. According to the nearby famers the Kobolds and Ishtar became a, I quote, real pain in the ass. So we came to kill them.“

„Ye... kill. I saw you guys 'killing' them.“

“Yeah... This was our first job, alright?“

“Haaaaaah...“. Argant could only sigh, in terms of power they were far inferior to him and yet they sought out a quest like that.

“So, they are dead and now?“. Argant inquired.

“Won't you bother to tell us your name?“. Silana countered, noticing that Argant might avoid this question if not asked directly.

“Why should I tell you guys? I could kill you right now, you know?“

“Uhhhh... Come on! Were is the harm?“

Argant sneered but in the end he gave in.

“Argant is my name. I am a traveller and right now I am heading towards the capital of Rennhild. Any other questions?“

“No. Well... yes. Could you help travel with us to the farmer to end this quest? I promise you get a fair share of the reward!“

“Tell me how much?“

“80/20. 80 us 20 you.“

“Pffffffft! HAHAHAHA! Are you serious? I killed all of them and saved your puny lifes and now you wanna give me a FIFTH? You got a deathwish or what?“

“Allright, alright. I was just testing the waters.“

“50/50?“

“What, are you joking? 20/80 or your lifes are forfeit. Last offer.“. Argant's gaze was stern and unwavering, there was no room for negotiations anymore.

“And from what should we live? The fee alone cost 5 gold coins, and the remuneration is only 125 gold. If you get eighty percent we six have to split 20 gold amongst us. Cheapskate!“

Argant swayed the knife back and forth, this bloody, rusty knife. A simple gesture but a savage threat.

“Could we at least keep the corpses?“

“Sure. I don't need them anyway. No words left? Good. Let's go!“

“Wait a minute! Lana and Lara have to rest, no we all have to. It is quite fatiguing for your mind to walk on knifes edge for that long!“

“I got a carriage not to far from here, and rest assured I alone am enough for a majority of the beasts in this forest.“

Instead of hustling the exhausted group to the carriage Argant himself disappeared like the wind and returned seconds later with a carriage in tow.

Argant modified the carriage in a way that the acadamies emblem was cut down, left over was an ordinary black carriage.

The carriage had space for four people and two seats for the drivers. The girls sat inside while Erik and Kai were driving. Argant has choosen to stay atop the carriage, lazing around and sometimes keeping watch over the surroundings.

They quickly made their way through the forest. Silana had an excelent accuracy once she could focus on her target and swiftly disposed of potential dangers. Even Argant couldn't help but reveal a satisfied expression, of course no one could see his face under the mask.

Eorina took some time to practice the low rank fire spells as well.

To execute a spell one has to collect the elemental essence in the environment, then the gathered essence, which is in an unstable state, has to be controlled, this is were mana comes in play. Mana helps the elemental essence to take form and is nothing more than a control element. The bigger your own mana pool the more essence you can control at once or over a longer time.

A chant's objective is to make the user fall into a state of trance for a better mana control, the problem here is that many magicians can only enter this trance in a static state and are that way more vulnerable to attacks in this timeframe.

Only people with a great control over ones mind or special abilities are able to easily manipulate the mana within to execute spells in rapid succsessions.

Eorina was rather weak in terms of mana control, resulting in her being unable to control the trajectory or the are of effect of her spells as well as the strength.

Once the mana pool or ki is depleted over and over again the body switches onto another source for a last desperate struggle, the soul essence. Using soul essence to power once body has great benefits as it is an even purer energy than elemental essence itself but the drawbacks are severe, nausea and pain all over once body as well as amnesia and permanent damage to once mind and short- and long-term memory are the result.

Thus the group stopped Eorina the moment she fainted for the first time due to mana exhaustion, a warning signal of the body.

When the sun was already down and the moon rising the group of seven could already see a small village only a few hundred meters up ahead, a wooden gate was blocking the entrance to the village and a few horned guards were keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings.

Argant, still laying atop the carriage, looked up at the starry sky, pulling the mask from his face two rows of tears were forcing its way out of Argant's eyes. The reason? His last happy memory, the kiss, was already clouded by the red fog of blood and madness. Argant shock his head, trying to force the corruption in his mind away, but it constantly ate away at his mind, killing Argant slowly in the process and giving birth to something much darker.

What the fuck is happening to me?!. These were Argants thoughts as they finally stopped infront of the village gates.