"So? We talked the big talk but there's still only three of us." Celestia sits, one leg dangling off the city wall, overlooking the forest beyond us.

"Careful up there, you're probably about to get sniped by an arrow." Rainel crosses his arms.

"Eh, it's good practice to warm up my reaction speed."

"Not that it's particularly fast for you is it?"

Celestia snaps her hand out quickly as a whistling sound comes flying from the forest. I rear away in surprise as Celestia halts it between her index and middle finger.

"Don't worry, they'll send better archers next time."

"Heh, almost looks like fun." Rainel was sitting down on the ground, his back against the fence Celestia was sitting on.

...

"Well, what do you got strongest person in the world?" Rainel then asks.

"I guess I could fight all... what thirty thousand of them? I'll just walk in there and start swinging until something happens."

"You got any ideas flame prince?" Rainel immediately asks me after hearing Celestia's idea.

"How about starting a forest fire?" I had the idea simmering in my mind for a while. "We could drive all of them out, delay the push, maybe convince the commander to recall all the forces for a proper fight?"

"They'll probably just walk around." Celestia catches the second arrow casually. "Plus there's no hope for that woman she's already made up her mind."

Rainel looks down at the ground cupping his hand under his chin. "If only we could start the fire in a giant circle. We can let nature do the rest."

"Oop-" Celestia clumsily fails to catch the arrow and knocks it rapidly spinning straight for my torso. I blink once before the arrow passes straight through my chest, which I had turned to fire.

"Ah, still nicked me." I look down and gingerly touch the small, newly formed scratch welling on my chest.

"Nice reactions! It's almost faster than some Ankudo I know." Celestia exclaims, completely unconcerned for my safety

"Alright, get down from there." Rainel tugs on Celestia's other leg, causing her to come back to the ground.

I stare at the fresh blood on my fingers, wait a second...

"Wait, you said you needed it in a ring?"

"Yea, preferably trap the entire camp in there."

"It just so happens... I figured out a way to do that a couple months ago."

"Wait, you're saying you can do it?"

"Yea, I just need to walk around the entire circumference leaving a trail of my blood. I can combust it all at once, then feed the fire to make sure it goes inward.

Rainel looks at me for a couple seconds, before getting up off the ground. "Celestia."

"I hear you loud and clear." Celestia hops onto her feet as well.

"What are you two doing?" I ask.

"We're going to go scout out the ring, we'll be back in no time."

Rainel

I remember the days when I used to care about morals, have principles, or any of that shit. Back when I had the luxury to do so, back when I was a happy fool, back when I was a hero.

Celestia and I run through the dense forest. I brush my hand against the bark of a small tree, crumbling away in my hand.

"Wow it's dry." I rub my fingers together and mumble. Despite being night time, the humidity up in these mountains was unusually low.

"Couple people patrolling to our north." Celestia says.

"Alright, let's kill them, take their uniforms." I say.

"We only need to find the circumference around the camp, there's no need to come close." Celestia continues running. "We can do this just fine without getting seen."

"... Alright, I can trust it." I leave the patrols alone. Their disappearance may be suspicious anyways if they're expected to come back.

I was supposed to be the one, a mysterious figure from overseas that would change the direction of history, I was supposed to be the hero, before the Tetsudo would even arrive! I clench my gauntlets and and drive them into the shield wall, the entire defense flying apart with a single punch.

I grin, grinning! Was I even taking this battle seriously? A beast of pure metal, swords and spears could not pierce my armor, unstoppable as both metal and bone crumbled under my grasp. An overwhelming force of crushing talent. A bastion of perfection.

The biggest lie ever propagated was that anybody could do anything. With enough hard work, you would be able to trump talent. A contradiction, considering hard work is the biggest talent of them all. You are given a dice roll when you're born and that's it, fate takes care of the rest.

I just happened to get 6s all across the board.

But that's not enough.

I barrel through the crowd of soldiers. "Come on! You gotta be better than that!" I scour around hungrily, searching for the commander. Soldiers soon begin to desperately scramble out of my way rather than facing me head on, as I tear through the battlefield, laughing with joy.

Enter the hero.

Celestia and I stare at the massive river blocking our path.

"Hey Celestia, what would you do if you were trapped in a burning ring of fire?" I ask her while wading into the pebbles.

"I would jump over it." Celestia responds simply. "If I were to escape through the river, undoubtedly there would be enemies waiting on the other side."

"So you think so too huh." I nod. “Alright I’ll deal with that then. There’s only one more loose end that I want you to deal with.”

“You need to take this more seriously, you know.” Enteric says. “Why are you so adamant on using those gauntlets when you can control that multi sword thing?”

“A severely injured soldier is bigger burden than a dead soldier, come on, it’s basic battle strategy.” I slap my friend’s back. “Plus, you know how simple it is to treat a slash wound? With a blunt injury you gotta deal with all the bleeding from inside, bones broken into a million pieces, sometimes organs get caved in and the problem becomes way more complex.”

“I know that, but I just get the feeling that you’re taking thing too easy on those bastards sometimes.” Enteric pouts.

“You know. Back when I lived in Zlitia I was taught that every person you kill is a hand ready to drag you down to hell once you die. It’s impossible to escape an eye for an eye, so the karmic punishment will be that much greater.”

“God, you still believe in that shit? There’s no karma, you’ll just die and stop existing.”

“I don’t believe in that stuff, but I do follow it. It helps me to be the best version of myself I’ve found.”

“Or is it arrogance, thinking you can have your cake and eat it.”

“Hehe, I can eat a lot of things if I set my mind to it. I’m greedy after all.”

Cain

I look at my hands, how many people am I about to kill? I’ve killed people before but… Once I set off the fire there will be no escape. Thousands of people spending their last moments before their lungs fill up with burned air.

“Who… What are you doing up there?” A soldier walks up to me and asks. I was sitting on top of a flag pole, balancing on a single foot.

The wind flaps, causing my hair to fall over my eyes. Oh damn, I don’t remember the last time I got a haircut.

“Say, if you had a magical level to end this war. But it would kill every single one of your enemies without mercy. Would you pull it?” I ask the soldier.

“I… What are you talking about? Just get down from there, it’s dangerous.” The soldier responds.

“What are you even doing here by the way? Your commander has already ordered a retreat.” I shift the topic while hopping off from the flag pole.

“…” The soldier doesn’t respond immediately. “It just feels a bit strange giving up so easily. Nothing I can do but—“ He shrugs. “At least I can feel like I’ve actually done something in the end.”

“I’m guessing the soldiers napping on the walls are in the same boat?” I then gesture behind me.

“Some do it for family, some do it because this is our home, doesn’t matter, we’re all going to the same place in the end.” The soldier solemnly stares into the horizon. “Whatever the next world is, it has to be better than now.”

I look up into the sky. “Do you have a family?”

“No siree, my dad hates me, my mom is dead, and I’ve never found a woman to settle down with, guess that makes things easier for me.”

“No brother or sister?”

“Well… I have a younger brother living somewhere in those god forsaken camps those Oliviand soldiers propped up after Incstrom was conquered, but I… I don’t think I’ll ever see him again.”

“Mmh, those bastards are really evil aren’t they?” I start walking back to the gate. The two of them should be returning any minute now. After that, it’ll be time to move.

Rainel

“I don’t like this.” Celestia complains as we head back to the city.

“I don’t expect you to like anything when it comes to war.” I reply.

“No it just feels too easy you know? We’re about to win and we don’t even need to do anything, there’s no skill or combat involved. It’s just free candy.” She says.

I feel a surge of annoyance. “I wish I were privileged enough to complain about a war being too easy.” I glower at her. “What are you? Some sort of peace loving Agate?”

“You know what you know what, you’re right, I’m sorry.” Strangely, Celestia walks back her position almost immediately…Actually, that’s really really strange, she doesn’t even argue?

I give her a weird glance but decide not to question it further. “Come on lets move faster, the invasion will most likely happen after the sun rises, we need to get back to Cain and set up the ring immediately.” I say.

Celestia doesn’t respond, instead she was staring at the ground unfocused.

“Celestia?”

“Alright, stay here. Both of us don’t need to make the trip and I can run way faster than you. Wait by the river. I’ll be in position when it’s time, I’ll give you my word.” Celestia says, unusually serious, before digging her feet into the dirt and accelerating far ahead of me.

I slow down to a jog and stop moving, conflicted thoughts and decisions running through my mind.

“Ah fuck it.” I turn around and begin running back to the river.

I roll out my sheet across a long table, the sheet essentially functioned as my scabbard as it was impractical to strap on six swords to my waist all at once. The sheet rolls out, exposing six blackmetal blades strapped to the leather, they had been sharpened to perfection, specially designed with grooves and etches to soak up my blood.

“Maybe I do need to practice with these a little before the invasion.” I murmur to myself. I then roll the sheet back up into a cylinder and turn it vertically.

I open my hand, hesitant, but then poke my finger with a small needle attached to the top of the scabbard. I close my eyes, forcing my blood to aggressively flow out of an otherwise trivial scratch. The blood runs down the blades, trickling, burying itself deep into each blade, filling the metal and cloth with life. In Zlitia there is a battle art known as San Shitsu Wan, which translates to three sword style. Two swords for each hand, while one sword flies around controlled purely by Anku. True warriors of this style were very rare, as splitting concentration like this was usually fatal in real combat. Most warriors I knew didn’t brave the dangers despite its fame and instead opted for a single sword, which allowed them to keep things simple.

I am the only practitioner of six sword style in all of history. A storm of blades so overwhelming in both single combat and multi combat, in both offense and defense, it was just the pure representation of unfathomable talent, nothing else could describe it.

I let out a deep breath and strap the scabbard onto my back.

Cain

Celestia runs through the forest ahead of me, carrying me on her back. I let my arm dangle down the side as blood drips off my fingers, a large gash on my wrist.

I squeeze my eyes shut in both concentration and pain, filling every single drop of blood with my Tetsu. I could not feel anything, I could not smell anything, I could not hear anything, I could only focus.

A single drop of blood spatters a small green leaf, attached to a berry bush, staining it red.

Celestia finally slows down, setting me down on the side of a tree.

I pant breathlessly, not enough oxygen being carried around my body from the lack of blood

“The ring is complete.” She says emotionlessly, as she wraps my wrist tightly with a strand of gauze.

“Where’s Rainel?” I pant, ready to snap my fingers and set off the trigger.

“He’s by the river we passed. A lot of people will likely try to escape by swimming so he’s going to finish them off as they come through.”

I nod. “Good, then I guess all that’s left to do is…” I hold up my hand at Celestia. Unexpectedly she reaches out and grabs my hand firmly.

“Wait for my signal. If there are people who can escape I have to deal with them, I need to make sure no-one might find you here.”

Without waiting for a response Celestia dashes away, straight for the inside of the circle.

I drop my arms in exhaustion and close my eyes, my head dangling down into my chest.

“I thought I’d see you here.” I open my eyes and gaze forward. Sitting in front of me was the deserter I once met and saved long ago. He was looking at me with a neutral expression, impossible to read.

“Oh who am I kidding, you were always there next to me.” I chuckle to myself and blink once, causing to illusion to dissipate.

I lean back against the tree and close my eyes once more. In the end, I’m the only one in this solitary forest.

Somewhere in the land beyond, laughter could be heard echoing through the desolate shades.

Rainel

We ride our horses up the hill until we reach the tip. The land spilling out in all directions as we wane over. Before us was a massive city, once our largest city in fact.

Five-hundred thousand strong. The odds were in our favor, a neigh unstoppable army. Retribution is upon us. Soon, Kaldros will be ours again. I slam my metal gauntlets together three times, a large clanking noise that could be heard from far and wide.

A hero from a faraway land, leading a dying country into an un-winnable victory. Huh, I wonder if that would make for a good story.

I close my eyes. Celestia just ran by the river with Cain two minutes ago. Which means that the circle is most likely complete at this point in time. I prick my finger with the scabbard and throw it around my back.

There are no heroes, that much I’m certain of.

I hear a shout of a woman’s voice in the distance. The voice booms throughout the land, echoing off the mountains and hills.

“BURN IT DOWN.”

A flash of light.

The once peaceful sounds of nature burn off into a dead silence, followed by a roaring boom cascading outwards.

The once crystal clear colors of the river illuminate with a bright orange and red hue.

And just like that, we were in hell.