《Era Of War: Everfall Empire (Book 2)》


 Ch. 1: Elite Captain, Fa Jin

    The man with long, dark hair stood afloat in the breeze. The man walks forward, stepping down in a way similar to walking down a staircase.


    "Turn back now, i will not ask twice." He says in a brooding, loud voice. He continues walking, walking on air itself as he moves to stand before Ezra, their faces so close their noses are nearly touching.


    Ezra apears frozen, his Chain-whip is shattered, he glances fearfully at the long, slim blade in the man''s right hand. He knows that trying to summon his whip again is a sure-death scenario.


    He steps back slightly, but the second his foot makes contact with the ground behind him, the tip of the man''s sword is immediatelly at his neck.


    "What''s wrong? Not so confident now, are we?" Fa Jin mocks, bringing his blade closer to Ezra''s neck, breaking skin and making a few drops of blood fall onto the sword''s tip.


    Helena looks on in horror, covering the eyes of the little kids beside her. She grits her teeth, telling the children to stay put as she moves out of the bushes and walks out into the view of Fa Jin.


    He looks at her with slight shock at the earings she wears, earings in the shape of water droplets. He smirks smugly.


    "This is getting quite interesting... Aren''t you a lively lady?" His smirks grows wider as he sees her summon a sword of water, "what else can you do, Principle?"


    He says again, now grinning like a maniac as he turns Ezra around and puts the sword to his neck, "one step and this kid will lose his head, i don''t enjoy killing children that much but i won''t hesitate to do it anyway."


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    Helena freezes, her sword dissappears and she lifts her arms up above her head as a sign of surrender, "we can solve this without violence, there is no need for any of us to die tonight..." She says reluctantly.


    Fa Jin lets out a sinister chuckle as he turns his head to the brushes next to Helena, "Come out now brother, no use in hiding..." He says and from the bushes emerges Qiang Jin with a sour expression.


    "Well, it''s quite a surprise, of all people seeing you is the last thing i expected... To be honest i was quite hoping you were killed by a dire wolf so i wouldn''t have had to worry about seeing your ugly face again..." He points his sword at Qiang and bends his knees as if preparing for an attack, but Johan quickly rushes to attack Fa Jin with his swords already drawn.


    The Elite Captain''s eyes widen for a moment before he lets go of Ezra and slashes, breaking Johan''s swords and sending him flying with a kick to the chest, he immediatelly dashes to attack Qiang who had started running towards a few houses, but his gaze turns to Helena who is trying to summon her realm, he quickly changes his targets and dashes at Helena, slashing her waist.


    She stops speaking and falls to her knees, her guts spilling onto the ground. She vomits blood and the Captain''s smirk dissappears.


    "I had meant to cut you in half, its quite refreshing to see an opponent who is strong enough to withstand my strikes." He turns his head and smirks again upon seeing Johan rushing again, this time straight at him.


    He assumes a stance and strikes with his sword in the same manner as before but this time Johan easily parries and almost stabs Fa Jin in the chest, had only barely manages to dodge, his long brown and white robe gets slashed in the process and he scoffs.


    "Annoying... A vagabond child who dares strike me?" He looks up and sees the golden chain-whip flying at him, he dodges again easily with a bored expression.


    His eyes widen once more once a sharp slash of water flies past his head, cutting a few strands of hair, forcing him to have a realisation... These children can actually kill him! He quickly bend down and touches the ground with his open palm creating a small blue seal on the floor.


    "Realm: Endless Flower Garden!" He yells out angrily summoning a large almost, endless looking garden filled with beautiful trees and flowers.


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 2: Endless Flower Garden

    Before their very eyes a realm apears, an endless flower garden. An endless expanse of trees and flowers, it has many gates and paths laid through the garden.


    It is an ethereal sight, a sight of limitless glory like a blessing for all who lay their eyes on its beauty. All three of them stand motionless amidst the colorful flowers as their eyes are wide and filled with awe.


    "What the hell are you gawking at?" Fa Jin says before a punch to the gut sends Helena flying through a stone gate then further tumbling onto the stone path below.


    That seems to snap Johan out of the trance who rushes at him with a neutral expression, but is kicked with a weak kick to his side that somehow sends him flying the same distance as Helena.


    He begins to vomit while holding his side, blood staining his white robe. Fa Jin turns to Ezra next with a callous look on his face as he stares him down, Ezra fearfully swings his chain whip but Fa Jin''s body lets out a blue glow and the whip simply passes through as if he weren''t even there.


    "Shatter." His eyes glow blue once again and the chain whip in Ezra''s had falls apart. Before even getting time to process the event, he gets slapped away into a statue only saving himself when using a spell to phase through the statue.


    The statue seems to be of an old man, long white beard and hair as well as a coat and a brown robe. It seems to be the same robe that Fa Jin is wearing.


    Ezra comes out from behind the statue and stares at the Captain before asking, "who''s the old man?"


    "Thats Archos'' Grandmaster, you uneducated brat." He says with a scoff, "the first Everfall knight."


    "I see..." Ezra says with an annoyed glare, ''i can''t win in a one on one fight, i have to buy time... His realm ability is still mystery though...'' Ezra thinks to himself before speaking again.


    "What is your realm''s ability?" He backs away from him slightly.


    "As if i''d answer that... Why don''t you figure it out?" Fa smirks, as if he had already won the fight.


    ''as expected... But his power seems to have increased from the kick he landed on Johan... I think i understand now...'' Ezra thinks again and smirks.


    "Come on, Fa Jin, was it? You''re quite pitiful, given your title as the Elite Captain, you''re not quite Elite are you?" Ezra lets out a sly giggle.


    "What?" He grits his teeth and grips his sword tighter.


    "You heard me, how strong can you possibly be if you can''t even defeat a few kids? I mean, i myself am only fourteen! How does it feel being weaker than a few kids?" Fa snaps at those words, "Weaker?! You dare call me weaker?! The only reason i don''t cut you apart is due to my orders!" He says and immediatelly holds a hand over his mouth as if he wasn''t supposed to say that.


    "Orders? So you were given orders to not hurt me? I''m quite flattered... I didn''t think i was that famous!" He puts his hands behind his back, happy that he had managed to anger Fa Jin.


    Fa Jin laughs sinisterly, "hurt you? The orders were just to not kill you, now that i think about it, i could just butcher you and wait for the healers to put you back together." Ezra puts a hand over his mouth, his eyes widening.


    The Captain sees that and rushes towards him, trying to punch Ezra the same way as Helena. Suddenly, Ezra''s eyes glow golden and he removes the hand from his mouth, "gotcha!" He yells, a golden glow emerges from the ground.


    "Catena!" He says and golden chains tie in a spiral around Fa Jin''s wrist, he tries to pull away to no avail. Was he tricked? The kid was merely taunting and what is this trap? Did he place it when he stepped back prior in their conversation?!


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    Whatever it was, he knew he had been tricked and that he underestimated this child, Ezra move to the side and points his palm to his head, "Flatus!" and shoots a blast at him. He manages to block in time with his sword but the sheer strength of the spell sends him flying back, the chains around his wrist breaking and his sword shattering into a million fragments.


    This small trick had cost him his sword and almost his life, something which had never happened in all his years of battle. He had thrown the Principle girl into unconsciousness and incapacitated the child who had powerful Manna so how? How is this child even managing to overpower him, even worse, outsmart him? This child with weak Manna, an inferior creature, got an upper hand on him in his own realm which was the greatest shame of all in his mind.


    "Catena!" Ezra rushes at Fa, many chains come from all sides of the garden but Fa puts his fingers together in the shape of a triangle, "Procella!" He yells and a wave of blue Manna surges towards Ezra who only barely blocks it with a "Scutum" mustering a fragile golden shield which breaks but allows him to dodge a split second later.


    "You''re skilled, i''ll give you that... You are still just a child, an inexperienced weak child who has weak Manna on top of that!" He chuckles angrily, "you know, you remind me a lot of my older brother... Which makes me so much angrier! If i were allowed to, i would break every bone in your body and see you bleed out..." He laughs maniacally, as if he had lost his mind already.


    "Good for you...?" Ezra tilts his head to the side in confusion.


    "You snarky brat! You will lose that smirk once i beat you into a pool of blood!" He cries out angrily, Ezra just keeps looking at him with a bewildered expression.


    "I''m... Not smirking...?" That sends a chill down Fa Jin''s spine and he dashes at Ezra with a growl, almost like a wild animal catching pray, Ezra jumps away, using a spell to boost himself up like a gust of wind.


    "Procella." Ezra puts his fingers together in a triangle shape and a lazer like wave shoots at Fa. He jumps away into a small river flowing inbetween a flower field, right before falling into the river he touches the water with his finger tip and his blue Manna, almost like electricity, flows into the very river and allows Fa Jin to stand on the surface of the water.


    The Elite Captain looks at Ezra with widened eyes and a mystified, almost terrified look on his face. Ezra begins to slowly walk towards the river, adjusting his short golden hair and basking his dark skin in the summer sun of the realm.


    "Wh- what was that?! You''re joking, right? This is all a cruel joke, right?!" Fa Jin seems to be fully losing his mind, "you dare use my own spell against me?!"


    Ezra simply chuckles nonchalantly, making Fa even more furious, this child can copy his spells?! Not only that, but he can copy them after only seeing them once?!


    "How?! This is proposterous!"


    "It''s easy, you know... You just have to put your fingers in a triangle and just summon your Manna into the triangle and shoot it out!" Fa Jin''s eyes widen even more, easy?! Was this kid mocking him?! It took him years to learn such a spell!


    "Using complex spells like Catena, forming chains out of Manna... These are all complex things, you truly are his kid..." He laughs, "you definitelly are a problem..."


    "Now, shall we continue our fight or will you continue to bore me with your annoying speeches...?" Ezra picks his nose, flicking the snot away.


    "Catena!" Fa summons chains from the water that fly at Ezra who summons his whips again and destroys the chains.


    Fa''s eyes glow blue and he commands "shatter" once again, the whip shatters but unlike last time, Ezra simply smirks and the chain links fly individually at great speeds cutting Fa Jin''s robe and his face he tries to command them to shatter again but they all dissappear from his view and interlock around his ankle, re-forming the chain-whip which Ezra swings and with it, swings Fa Jin into a stone statue.


    Ezra disperses the chain-whip and walks over to the broken statue, Fa jin is laying beside it bruised, cut and bloodied. He is coughing violently until he looks up at Ezra who has an evil grin on his face, he immediatelly goes on one knee and grits his teeth.


    "How stupid of you... Losing to a child..." Ezra laughs and points his open palm to Fa Jin''s head.


    "I''ll make this quick, i don''t want you to suffer anymore... Flatus." He says but nothing happens, even his eyes remain their original color, its only Fa Jin who is smiling now.


    "Manna is a finite resource, you have very little of it so you should be careful to not spend too much too quickly, i guess i shouldn''t have expected you to understand that..." He stands up and the realm dissappears, Ezra frantically tries to use another spell but fails as he is taken by the face and slammed into the ground.


    Fa Jin, bloodied and beaten, looks down at the three children laying unconscious on the ground before him and smiles, "you three will be great assets to us... I am very impressed..."


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 3: Jin Estate

    As streaks of light shine through the window, Ezra slowly opens his eyes, laying on his side he seems to be facing a table. It takes him time to realise what is going on but when he does, he immediatelly jolts up.


    A wet towel falls onto his lap from his forehead, he seems to have been laying in a rather fancy bed, covered by pinkish-blue bed sheets. He looks around and sees a very lavish looking room, he looks in awe at everything before finally looking down at the towel in his lap.


    A very neatly folded, white towel lays in his lap as he is sitting up on the bed, he takes it into his hand, it seems to be wet and laced with some type of medicinal herb but it is unclear which one due to an unfamiliar odor.


    He pulls the sheets off himself and stands up, setting the towel on the bedside table next to a glass of water. He looks over to a round window, the rim of the window is a golden, coiled dragon biting its own tail, outside it seems as if it is autumn which perplexes Ezra. Wasn''t it summer when he was in Seelvia? Nevertheless, he decides to leave the room and sees a golden dragon on the door again.


    ''Whoever owns this house must really love dragons...'' He thinks to himself and opens the door, the creek of the door opening is soon followed by a loud yelp from the other side of the door.


    Ezra flinches and looks at who he hit and sees Helena on the floor, she seems to be covered in water. She sighs and stands up.


    "You''re awake, i was just about to go check on you, how are you feeling?" She says with worry in her tone.


    "I''m fine, you woke up already?" He replies to which Helena simply nods.


    "Yes, i woke up halfway in a carriage Fa Jin used to bring us here. I was honestly pretty close to slicing him into pieces but he explained that he meant no harm and we agreed on a cease fire."


    "I see... And the others?"


    "Qiang is nowhere to be found, sadly though Johan is still unconscious."


    Ezra looks worried for a moment but continues to walk through the hall, "i''ll go and explore the place a little, you can go do whatever."


    He walks through the halls, many servants come to pass. He walks on the wooden floor, the floor creeking with every new step. The walls are beautifully decorated with golden dragons on the walls although its quite unclear if it''s real gold.


    Ezra descends down a staircase, many guards walk around through the halls, the scene looks captivating somewhat. On the stairs he walks past a woman, she is dressed in a completely white, thin robe, she has long white hair in likeness to Johan, a small smile on her face. She looks almost like a divine spirit.


    "Oh, you''re awake?" Her voice is soft, tender.


    Ezra immediatelly turned to face her. She giggled slightly.


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    "What is that bewildered look for? How rude of you to give me such a look after i''ve lent you my room!" She teased, "i''m only joking, i have some things to retrieve from upstairs, do you wish to come with? Perhaps we could exchange a few words while there. I''m sure you must have at least a few questions."


    Ezra nods slowly and hesitantly but follows her up, she laughs at his hesitation. She opens a wooden sliding door, on the othe side is an attic, its quite well organised. The room is also large but isn''t decorated at all, just a plain room with shelves and a table in the middle of it.


    She takes a chair and climbs on it to reach a high shelf, taking a scroll and then stepping down from the chair, "what is that?" Ezra asks.


    "My mother''s scroll, she was quite the diligent writer." She walks past him, but Ezra seems to notice a single tear roll down her cheek as she leaves the room.


    Ezra follows behind, asking her name to which she replies with a simple "Yue" and continues to walk. They get to the stairs and below the staircase stands Fa Jin.


    "Hurry up, sister, we need to meet with the elders and divulge the plans to stop the Seelvian forces." Yue points to Ezra, "may he come as well?" Fa jin nods and walks off, leaving the home.


    "Sister?" Ezra asks.


    "Yes, i am Fa Jin''s elder sister. He already told me about you, Ezra."


    "Really? What did he say?"


    "He told me how he absolutely crushed you in a fight and brought you to your knees, making you beg for mercy..."


    "Sure he did..." Ezra rolls his eyes in annoyance, making her give a sly grin.


    They begin to walk, leaving the clan residence. The air outside is fresh, autumn air, the Estate seems to be located in a dense forest, the ground covered in fallen orange leaves. They walk for a bit within the large Estate, soon arriving at a house, the house seems to be filled with people, all old and decrepit.


    "Who is this kid? An outsider in our great Estate?!" A man with a long black beard said with an annoyed tone, he walks forward in an intimidating manner looking down at Ezra who seems unfazed.


    "Miss Yue, what is the meaning of this? Every day you act more and more like an insolent brat!" Another man said, stomping his walking stick onto the ground, "perhaps it was a mistake to appoint you as Head of the Jin clan!"


    "Elder Fang, sit down. I won''t ask twice." Yue''s expression turns serious, "i will not stand for mockery in this meeting, this is wartime and time is not on our side."


    Elder Fang begins to sweat profusely and sits down immediatelly, Fa Jin grins at this moment holding back laughter.


    Yue sits as well and Ezra sits down next to her, she takes out the scroll and sets it down on the large round table. On the scroll is some writing and a map, hand drawn but very well made in ink painting style and in color.


    The map is of the border between Seelvia and Archos, showing the positions of every village in the region as well as every large city.


    "The forces of Seelvia have been able to pass the dragon gates of the west, utilising a night assault. The forces of our clan were weakened due to a previous battle and while awaiting reinforcements from the Grandmaster, all dissappeared without a trace."


    Yue says, everyone looks on in shame and disapointment. Their forces so easily crushed, left without a single trace of an attack? To the elders, it''s something so proposterous, almost out of a fairytale.


    "This is very likely the work of a Principle," Fa Jin adds, "at this rate, its safe to assume we''ll be crushed before we even blink."


    "What?! Double the guards! We must protect the Estate!" An elder calls out.


    "I doubt it would do anything." Another elder adds.


    The elders argue among each other about the situation, calling it hopeless and saying they should surrender immediatelly to save themselves, meanwhile, Yue looks lost in thought before she opens her mouth to speak.


    "Hope isn''t lost..." That snaps the elders'' gazes to her, hope lighting up in their eyes.


    "There is a certain people who will be of great help to us..." She turns to Ezra, "Ezra, will you join the war effort?"


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 4: Visit to the Garden

    "I refuse." Ezra said sharply, "I didn''t come here to fight in your wars, i am an outsider."


    Yue sighs, as if she had expected that answer. She turns to him with an apologetic glare, "i am sorry... You''re only a child, its wrong of me to force you into battle... And yet, this fight doesn''t just concern our futures but the futures of every single person in Archos currently, including you and your friends."


    Ezra looks down, as if contemplating something, he looks back at her, "if it''s like that... I suppose i have no choice... I''ll do what i can to keep my friends and myself safe..."


    Yue''s face flashes an expression of relief, "thank you..." Ezra smirks slightly, "however... I do have a few conditions that you will have to abide by..."


    "And that is?" Yue says, growing increasingly worried.


    "First, me, Helena, Johan or Qiang will not fight on the frontlines. Second, you will provide us with training at the moment while we''re here, after all, help goes both ways, no?" Yue grits her teeth for a moment at his words but nods, "as you wish..."


    She turns to the elders, "dismissed." she waves her hand and everyone starts to leave the room slowly. Ezra follows her to the main building of the estate, walking slowly on the gravel below.


    The winds blow harder, it seems as if a storm is starting, Ezra looks over at Yue who has a solemn expression, she faintly mutters the words "Just like him..." but he pays no mind to them, her words are a faint whisper barely able to be heard.


    Yue and Ezra enter the house and Helena runs down the spiral staircase, clearly in distress. "Ezra! Johan! Johan dissappeared!" She exclaimed which makes them both upstairs and to the room which Johan was in, the bed is completely empty with only a letter on the sheets.


    Ezra takes the letter into his hand and reads, the letter details on why he went and to not search for him. Ezra grips the paper, "bullshit!" He yells.


    "I know! He did say he would run away, and now with Qiang running away into hiding... Its only you and me now..." Helena looks annoyed, "well, whatever, once i find Johan again i will give him a beating of a lifetime!" She leaves the room, shutting the door.


    Ezra stays, staring at the paper in his hand with a blank look before folding it and setting it aside and leaving the room. He waves at Helena down the hallway, "sis!" He calls out to her and she stops, freezing in place and looks at him in bewilderment.


    "What did you just call me...?" Ezra realises quickly and shakes his head, "oh, nevermind, just come here!"


    She walks over, trying to brush off what just happened, "what is it?"


    "Oh, Yue Jin asked me to join the war effort which included you..."


    "Huh?! Don''t tell me you accepted!"


    "I didn''t... Well, i kinda did but we won''t be fighting on the frontlines..."


    Helena rolls her eyes at that, "well... That''s at least a little better..."


    Ezra looks outside, a storm seems to be starting and the sun is setting. "Yeah, the situation outside is pretty bad... I haven''t seen such bad storms in a while..." Helena sighs, looking worried, "perhaps the work of a Principle..."


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    "A Principle? Is a Principle close?!" Ezra stares in shock while Helena just shakes her head.


    "She doesn''t need to be close... He power can alter the weather of a country from a whole diffrent nation."


    "Whoa... She must be a high ranking Principle..."


    Helena chuckles, "Actually, no, she is only rank eight among the Principles." Ezra stares in further shock as Helena continues, "the Principle of Ignorance, Leviathan. Her ability is called ''Ecokinesis''. She can manipulate nature in all ways, including the weather."


    "Remind me why she is rank eight again?"


    "Oh, the Principles aren''t ranked by just strength, they''re ranked by usefulness and inteligence." Ezra sighs at her words, "i''ll be in my room for now, call me for dinner."


    Ezra walks off, entering the room Yue gave him and locks the door, he lays in bed, and burries his face into a pillow as tears come to his eyes, memories of his older sister flood his mind and completely overload every emotion. He sobs quietly as to not be heard crying as if he had held back every single emotion for years. Crying as if he had never cried before.


    The grief and pain he had ignored all returns to him in a single moment, the thought that he will never see her again makes his head feel like it''s gonna explode, calling a completely different person "sis" makes his pain even worse. Guilt and regret sets in, every time he told his sister "no" or refused to help her or even caused trouble for her makes him regret his whole existence.


    After what seems like hours, a knock is heard on Ezra''s door. A female voice, presumably a maid, calls him down for dinner. He gets out of bed, his mind still running with perpetual memories of him and his sister.


    He leaves the room and goes downstairs into the dining room, at the table are Yue, Helena, Fa Jin and an unknown fourth individual. A man with a black hair and in a black, armorless robe, a curved, saber-like sword on his hip.


    Ezra sits down, Helena takes a look at his face, "are you alright?" She asks worriedly, seeing his eyes red, to which he nods and assures her that he is fine.


    She decides to not make any further remarks keeping quiet and begining to eat, the man in the black hair seems to be lost in thought, an empty bowl of dan dan noodles in front of him.


    Ezra looks at his own bowl of noodles, some chopsticks next to the bowl. He looks at how Fa Jin uses them and begins to eat with the chopsticks. He takes some noodles into his mouth, swallowing quickly before the spice hits. He begins to cough, Helena chuckles at the sight, eating her noodles calmly wiithout making a face.


    "Are you not a fan of spice?" Fa Jin says quietly while he eats, a glass of water at his side just in case.


    "I guess not..." He coughs again.


    "Well, you better still eat it all or else sister Yue will be angry. You know, she made this food for all of us herself, she rarely ever did that even for me."


    "Hey, if you can''t eat it you can always give it to me." Helena teased.


    "I''d rather die than give anything to you." Ezra chuckled.


    "Rude..." She rolls her eyes, "oh and by the way, a new guy just came!" She points to the black haired man.


    "Aparently, he is a mercenary hired by Yue to search for Qiang, isn''t that nice?!" She said with an excited smile.


    "That''s nice, i guess..." He continues to eat in pain, "by the way, where is Yue?"


    "She went to her room, she is a very anti-social person, so she really spent far too much time around people than she would normally like." Fa Jin says.


    Ezra suddenly remembers Yue''s tears  when he first met her so after dinner ends he walks over to Fa Jin who is trying to leave after finishing his food.


    "Hey, i need to tell you something..." He puts a hand on Fa''s shoulder.


    Fa simply nods and Ezra mentions Yue''s tears and what they were doing which makes Fa''s eyes widen slightly, looking to be in slight pain.


    "Meet me in the garden..." He says and leaves the room.


    Ezra follows him to the garden, as he walks the stone path he realises... The garden looks the same as the garden in his realm does? But he doesn''t ask questions and continues to walk until the both of them stop in front of a statue of the Grandmaster.


    They stand in pouring rain, the sky is cloudy but the storm clearly wasn''t as bad as Helena made it out to be. They look at the statue, Fa Jin takes a deep breath and speaks.


    "Do you know what realms truly are?"


    "Abilities to help you in battle?"


    "No, they are instincts... Realms are a survival instinct in our very soul to prevent death..."


    Ezra keeps quiet, listening intently.


    "They manifest through trauma and get summoned for the first time in accordance to a life threatening situation. This garden is where i unlocked my realm..."


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 5: The Principle of Ignorance, Leviathan

    The cold breeze blows softly as Fa stares at the statue of the grandmaster with a melancholic expression while Ezra gives Fa a sad look.


    "This garden is where i unlocked my realm..." Fa Jin says, his eyes twitching slightly.


    "May i ask... What was your trauma...?"


    "I was seven years old when an assasin ambushed my mother in the garden and murdered her... He tried to murder me as well but i killed the man when i unlocked my realm..." He sighs, "for that reason, my realm''s ability imbues death into every person in it, multiplying the damage delt to anyone inside."


    "I''m sorry to hear that..." Ezra says quietly.


    "It''s alright, but never mention this to Yue, she was inseperable from our mother when our father left and she is still not over her death. I still remember her crying day and night after her death..." He sighs deeply again, "you can leave now, i''ll stay for a little while longer."


    Ezra doesn''t question him and simply turns around to leave, he begins to walk away, slowly stepping closer to the home, his mind completely full of thoughts and concern for both Yue and Fa.


    The sun slowly sets behind the horizon and stars light up the night sky, Ezra looks up at the path forward and sees Helena and the swordsman slowly aproach him. He waves at them with a small smile, Helena waves back with a grin while the swordsman only looks at Ezra with a neutral expression.


    "Ezra!" Helena yells out, "i''ll be going out to search for Qiang with the swordsman guy, wanna come?"


    "The two of you are enough, no? Besides, i''m kinda sleepy..."


    "It''ll be easier with three of us, and we don''t know what dangers lurk in the forest. And Yue also encouraged us to go so we could familiarize ourselves with the environment."


    Ezra rolls his eyes, "fine, i''ll go..."


    The three of them begin to walk away from the estate, very quickly leaving the gate and going into a dark forest of evergreen trees. Ezra walks beside Helena in silence while the swordsman walks slightly in front of them.


    Ezra looks at the swordsman, seeing a large sword on his back but doesn''t seem to impede his movement, on the contrary, he walks faster than both Ezra and Helena, almost like the weight on his back isn''t even there.


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    Ezra sighs, looking up at the sky in boredom but looking a little on edge and it doesn''t help that the forest is extremely large and dark. He looks on into the endless umbra before him and his heartbeat quickens.


    Bushes shush all around him and crows caw loudly from atop the tall evergreen trees. It''s already well into the night and the moon casts its silver light upon the forest below, by then, they had already traversed many kilometers.


    Helena apears bored now as well and sighs, looking at the swordsman, asking for his name to start small talk however the man only says "Huan Lian" and continues to walk, clearly uninterested in a conversation.


    "Um... So where are you from...?" Helena asks with a nervous smile.


    "I am of the noble Huan clan, i will say nothing more." He continues to walk and Helena sighs even deeper to which Ezra asks her why she even speaks to him but she doesn''t answer, only shrugging.


    "So..." She starts to speak again before Lian shushes her, "I am payed to look for your friend, not to listen to your yapping." He says coldly, he then focuses on listening to the forest sounds, howling of wolves and shushing of every bush in the area as if the man is one with nature.


    "It''s safe." He clears his throat and walks again, "I have to be on the lookout since i am traveling with two children, i wouldn''t like to be responsible for any injuries."


    Helena nods, "well, you see... I am..." He cuts her off again telling her that he knows of her identity as a Principle. They walk more and more, the sky begins to slowly turn red as the moon dissappears behind the horizon and Huan Lian stops dead in his tracks, his black eyes widening as he grips the handle of his large blade, hearing a bloodcurdling scream of a woman echo through the forest.


    Three creatures run from the north, bearing large claws and teeth with bloodshot eyes, with a single motion of his hand Lian slashes the creatures in three, bending down and analizing the vaguely humanoid corpses at his feet.


    Helena walks forward, "this is... Metamorphosis... And the scream earlier... This is Leviathan''s doing..."


    "Leviathan... Sounds strong..." Ezra says with a nervous smile, "i''m so screwed..." The next moment Lian dashes into the forest with Helena and Ezra reluctantly follows them.


    After running for a minute the arrive close to a giant ravine, trees, boulders even entire hills. A loud childish laugh is heard and wind rushes at Lian who is pushed out out of the way by Helena, the ground is almost erased entirely as the vortex rushes across, even destroying Helena''s left leg that is immediatelly healed.


    Ezra arrives soon after and the three of them stand face to face with a little girl, her hair in a ponytail and she wears a small checkered skirt. Ezra moves back slightly fearfully but a tree pulls him back into itself and begins to absorb him as he shouts for help.


    Helena summons her water sword and gets into a stance while the child only looks at them with a wild, evil grin. Playfully repeating "new toys!"


    Helena and Lian stand still, sweating profusely while the girl simply puts her hands behind her back with a smile, "my name''s Leviathan, what''s yours?"


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 6: The Black Sword, Huan Lian

    The little girl before them grins widely, her whole right arm turning into a giant tenticle of flesh and bone, Lian jumps to evade and slashes down at Leviathan who blocks with her arm, the sword not even piercing her flesh, almost like it struck pure steel.


    Huan Lian notices her earings, glowing earings in the shape green leaves before he is thrown back into a tree. All the while Ezra is still getting absorbed by the tree.


    Helena then attempts to slash the tree with her water but the tree doesn''t even get injured and the slashes merely get repeled to which Leviathan begins to laugh.


    "Fools! The tree has been made indestructible by me!" Leviathan says while chuckling, her voice small and child-like, "all three of you will die today!" Leviathan does a basic evil laugh, almost sounding like a child trying to sound like a villain.


    Leviathan brings her arms up above her head, "Ecokinesis: Wall of flesh!" a flesh wall apears out of thin air in front of her, dripping blood onto the grass below before it gets minced to bits by a single swing of Huan Lian''s sword. Helena sends out water through the bits of flesh still in the air after Lian''s attack.


    Once the aftermath of both attacks settles do they realise Leviathan is nowhere to be found until a sword of bone cuts Helena in half, both halves of her body getting kicked away. Lian dashes at her, his sword ripping through the air like thunder as he aims to decapitate the child.


    His sword then stops, again, as if it had struck steel, upon looking back he finds his large black sword stopped by the child''s open palm.


    He jumps back in a battle ready position while pointing the tip of the sword at her, "your blade feels dull." She says, cracking her neck.


    "Because it is." He replied unconcernedly, listening to Ezra murmur something under his breath as his whole body seems nearly completely absorbed by the tree.


    Helena jumps out from some bushes and sends a water slash at Leviathan which cuts her across her arm leaving the bone clearly visible. The little girl tears up at the pain and grits her teeth before touching a hill with her open palm.


    The hill begins to transform into a giant golem of stone, moss and grass that sprints at them before it gets destroyed by a single slash from Lian which makes Leviathan annoyed, her wound healing and leaving a scar across her arm.


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    Ezra continues to murmur slowly before he speaks up, his voice strained, "Realm: Deathly Hollow!" and a platform made of marble apears surrounded by a field of swords stuck in the ground, a soft breeze blowing making the black grass around the platform. The platform also seems to be surrounded by ruins made of marble.


    Ezra takes deep breaths, finally freed from the tree while Helena and Leviathan marvel at the scenery before them. Ezra wastes no time and immediatelly summons his chain whip, his eyes glowing golden as he releases a "flatus" from his palm that misses.


    "What does this realm do, child?" Lian says, not turning to Ezra.


    "I''m not too sure but you can''t die in this realm."


    "That''s nice..." Helena says, cracking her neck, "we''ll just have to kill Leviathan, right?"


    "Here''s the thing, i think the immortality part works for both sides..." Ezra chuckles nervously.


    Leviathan runs at them, Ezra immediatelly gets split in half diagonally with a bone whip before black goo brings him back to life, Leviathan then struck by Huan Lian''s sword and thrown up, hitting an invisible barrier that seems to be seperating the fields of swords and the platform.


    Leviathan''s body suddenly grows large, like a giant, as she swipes with her arm across the whole platform but gets stopped by Lian who put his hand up and clenched his fist making blue light envelop the arm and stop it from moving.


    "Hydrokinesis: Tidesplitter!" Helena yells and an enormous water slash decapitated Leviathan who gets revived by black goo much to their annoyance.


    "Ezra, now what?!" Helena screams.


    "I think i figured it out... I got slightly weaker the last time i died so i''m pretty sure we just have to kill her enough times to weaken her." Ezra shrugs and waves his chain whip away.


    "Huh? Why are you getting rid of your weapon?" Helena questions.


    "Oh, that... Well... I won''t be fighting. I won''t fight that thing! And besides, i''m the youngest so i gotta be protected!" He says smugly while Helena stares in bewilderment but doesn''t say anything.


    Huan Lian runs forward, hitting Leviathan before she can recover. Limbs fly off and blood splashes at Lian until Helena joins in and they collectively beat her to a pulp, perpetually reviving her and killing her as her screams of pain echo through the realm. Suddenly, the realm collapses, Helena, Lian and Leviathan back in their prior positions.


    Leviathan drops to her knees, crying out of pain and fear. Her cries are loud and make her seem like a regular child who had only scraped their knee. Huan Lian stares and both him and Helena don''t leave their battle ready positions.


    While Huan Lian attempts to move forward a tentacle flies at his chest before he can even react but it gets easily blocked by a sword, when they look up at the sword''s holder they find Qiang standing with a short sword with a broken blade and a grin plastered on his face.


    "Long time no see, eh?!"


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 7: Jade Thunder

    Qiang laughs loudly, facing Leviathan with a wide grin. Helena shouts his name with a wide happy smile while Leviathan growls angrily.


    "Another one?! Why are there so many if you?! This isn''t fair!" She stomps her foot on the ground with a pouty look, "that''s it! I''m done playing nice!" She yells, her face blushing red from anger as her body begins to change. Her hands begin to change into a finn like shape as she screams in pain from the transformation.


    Her transformation then abruptly stops as she is picked up by the back of her collar by a slim hand, holding her up with two fingers. As they look up at the figure holding her they find a slim woman wearing a revealing outfit with a curvy body shape.


    On both her ears they notice earings which are two golden pieces held together by pink strings. The woman smirks as she sees Huan Lian ready for a fight, she then turns her gaze to Helena.


    "Hello, Helena dear!" Helena rolls her eyes, "i hadn''t expected you to join the opposing side right after betraying us."


    "You betrayed yourselves, i wasn''t going to stay with a bunch of people who were trying to sacrifice me!"


    "Your loss, dear." The woman says with a tender, seductive voice.


    Ezra walks closer to Helena and whispers, "who is that?"


    "That''s Principle rank four, the Principle of Control, Buer." She says aloud to which Buer smirk, saying there was no need to expose her.


    Huan Lian nearly jumps at Buer but is stopped by Helena who pulls him back. Buer then waves to them, "don''t go attacking me now, i''m merely collecting my daughter."


    Leviathan protest calling her mom and telling her to put her down to which Buer slaps her and dismisses her protests.


    "Anyway, goodbye to you four, i believe we''ll meet again in more deadly circumstances." She chuckles and waves her hand across the open air, "Textikinesis: Sky Curtain." She says as the sky coats itself around her thin fingers like a cloth, covering her whole body and once it returns back into place Leviathan and Buer are nowhere to be seen.


    Once they dissappear, Lian turns to Helena with a scowl, "why did you stop me?" He asked angrily, gritting his teeth.


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    "We could barely fight Leviathan, we couldn''t have defeated Buer in our current states..." She says in annoyance, "and how would you know that?! You''re only a former low ranking Principle!" He yells.


    Qiang aproaches, keeping a grin on his face and his eyes closed, "believe me, she knows quite a lot about the Principles, definitelly more than you, ''Principle expert''." He mocks and looks down at Lian.


    "I see you did research... But you''re blind, so why do you think you have any right to mock me?" He looks up at Qiang who is at least a head taller than him.


    "Cus'' i''m stronger than you, dwarf!" He shows him his large muscles with a loud laugh.


    "Oh, yeah?! Why don''t we settle this with a duel?!" Lian says angrily and Qiang laughs again and agrees, stroking his beard.


    Helena aproaches them with an annoyed look before getting slapped on the back of the head lightly by Ezra who is pointing with his thumb, gesturing for them to leave the scene and Helena reluctantly obliged. They walk away slowly, leaving Lian and Qiang to bicker by themselves in the forest which is begining to be illuminated by golden light of sunrise.


    "Hey, how did the guy know you were a Principle?" Ezra asks softly.


    "I don''t really know, he is aparently really interested in Principles and when he saw me he began touching me weirdly and asking me weird questions. Honestly, he is just a strange person overall."


    "I can tell... But we found Qiang finally so all is well..." He sighs, "and i have to be trained by Fa Jin... Oh, and Yue said she has some gift for me after training."


    Helena perks up, "a gift?" Ezra nods, "yes, she said it was some clothing."


    Helena chuckles, "well, good luck with the training, i''ll be taking a bath in the estate bath house and falling asleep."


    "Isn''t water dangerous for Principles?"


    "Yeah, but not unless i take out my earrings. It''s what gives us power due to the demon blood in it but it''s also what gives us our weakness of water."


    Ezra simply nods and continues to walk as he takes in the breath-taking sunrise before him. Once arriving at the estate, Helena waves him goodbye and enters the bathhouse while Ezra heads to the training grounds but upon getting there he sees nobody and sighs wearily before going into the main building of the estate.


    Once he enters he sees Fa Jin sitting across an unknown man in green attire while he eats a meal, he aproaches casually, not caring about the presence of the stranger. He speaks to Fa Jin and tells him about his training to which he simply points to the man sitting across from him.


    The man then stands up and walks over at Ezra, he stands tall, at least 190 cm as he bends to Ezra''s level and putting out his hand for him to shake, which he does. Ezra looks up at the man who has a sly smile on his face, "Nice to meet you, my name is Xuan Lei, you?" His smirk turns into an eerie grin.


    "Ezra Shai, Nice to meet you too." He says with slightly spooked tone.


    "I see... Ezra... Great to know young child." Xuan Lei''s crimson colored eyes narrow as he takes note of Ezra''s tan skin and blonde hair.


    "Who are you exactly?" Ezra says warily.


    "Oh, i am the current head of the Xuan clan and a high elder of the court of Archos."


    "A... High elder?"


    "Yes, i am one of the strongest men in the whole nation of Archos and one of the Grandmaster''s closest advisors."


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 8: God is Dead

    The sun is now bright outside as it illuminates the walls of the diamond blue room. In it is Lucifer looking out the window, thinking of something and next to him is Azazel sitting on a chair in his obsidian black armor around his upper body and stopping at his shoulders. Azazel turns his head at a sound coming from the door and both of them are soon met with Buer still carrying Leviathan.


    "I''ve returned, Lord Lucifer." Buer says, slightly out of breath.


    "Good job, Lord Buer. You can rest now." He says to Buer and waves his hand, she then bows and leaves with Leviathan in hand.


    "Lucifer, why keep someone as useless as Leviathan alive?" Azazel asks, resting his fist and head on a table next to him.


    "Not a single person is useless, Azazel, everything has worked out in perfect plan thanks to you and we shall soon see the heavens fall at last." He replies with a deep sigh.


    "I am worried, Lucifer, what if something goes wrong? You know god sees everything."


    "God is dead, and i will kill him." Lucifer turns around and walks out, "you know the next step so there is no time to waste. Do not dissapoint."


    Azazel nods with a look of determination while he also seeming to comtemplate something but quickly shakes the feeling off as he sets off. Meanwhile in the Jin estate, Ezra still stands face to face with Xuan Lei who is grinning slyly with his crimson eyes narrowed to the point they''re almost like horizontal slits.


    "i... I see... Great to meet you... But i''ll have to talk to miss Yue now..." Ezra says, his look wary as he walks away from the man in green.


    "Well, great to meet you as well, we will meet later!" Xuan Lei chuckles, taking note of Ezra''s golden hair and tan skin, his grin growing wider.


    "Say, Fa Jin, do you think we could take this boy with us to the capital?"


    Fa Jin shakes his head, "that wouldn''t do, Yue would never accept until he gets specific training here."


    Xuan Lei''s grin dissappears, "we could offer more and better training at the Everfall palace."


    "Still no, my sister would never agree, she wants him to have specific training according to her regime."


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    Xuan Lei scoffs, "that sly vixen... She really must go against us in everything doesn''t she... I want her dead so bad..."


    "You know that is impossible, right?" Fa Jin chuckles at his obsurd ideas, "my sister could defeat you with her hands tied..." Xuan Lian turns his head away at that and simply excuses himself, quickly packing his bags and leaving in a hurry.


    Ezra walks away with a slightly frightened expression but pauses when he bumps into Yue. Yue looks at him and chuckles, her white robes flow back as he hands go to her sides, holding a book.


    "Ezra? What do you need?"


    "Oh, um... I was thinking you could train me? Since Fa will probably take some time talking to the guy and i really need training..." Ezra looks at her with an annoyed expression.


    "Me?" She laughs, "i can''t train you, I''m not that strong in fighting." Ezra grumbles at that, "but i can convince Fa, come with me."


    She walks to Fa who is still eating his food, "hey, finish faster, Ezra needs his training, if you keep eating like that you''ll quickly get fat!" She scolds jokingly and turns to leave before remembering, "oh, and Ezra mentioned a man who you were speaking to, who was that?"


    "Yes, just a high elder." He says and Yue''s face turns sour and she nods before leaving, "Anyway, Ezra, i''ll finish this and then we''ll train, okay?"


    Fa Jin hurries and finishes his food, leaving with Ezra outside to the empty training grounds. He places Ezra before a training dummy and hands him a sword. He shows him some techniques with a sword, the optimal stance and way to slash. Ezra then slowly begins to copy his movements effortlessly, almost as if he was born with a sword in hand.


    "I really don''t understand why Yue refuses to train you..." Fa scoffs, "she is probably in her room bed, reading her favorite book or something... I never understood that, what''s so interesting about words on a paper?"


    Ezra chuckles, "she told me she isn''t good at fighting."


    "Bullshit! She has been getting letters from the everfall court ever since she became head of the Jin clan!" Ezra simply stares at him in confusion.


    "Yes, exactly! Although she specialises in healing spells she is one of the greatest if not the greatest healer in current times!"


    "But how does that help in a fight?"


    "don''t underestimate her, she has no idea how to use weapons or any hand to hand combat but her abilities in spell casting are on par with the strongest High Elders in Archos."


    Ezra looks shocked but before he can speak he hears footsteps, as they turn their heads at the sound''s source they see Qiang. Qiang looks at his brother with a look of slight anger and Fa returns his anger.


    "So you came back, brother." He says to Qiang who doesn''t reply and merely glares, the tension in the air growing higher with every second.


    Huan Lian then enters the main building of the estate and quickly goes to Yue for payment, she answers the knocks on her door and pays the agreed sum. He walks down the hallway to leave, walking past Helena who was going upstairs, she is in new robes that Yue provided, her earring back on her ears as she enters the room Yue had given to Ezra.


    She walks to the bed and sees a letter, she stares at it and picks it up, she looks at the words written in black ink and her blood quickly runs cold, her eyes wide and face pale as she drops the note after reading the words, "from Belial."


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 9: Letter of Declaration

    As Helena drops the letter on the floor as cold sweat runs down her face, "Belial?! What the fuck could she want?!" She says breathily, her chest heaving as she takes deep breaths to calm down. Her mind is running wild, the thought that the Principle of Harmony will personally come to "send them off" makes her nearly collapse to her knees in fear.


    She wastes no time as she takes off running out of the room, downstairs she sees Yue walking out into the hallway while carrying a book. She catches up to her and tells her about the letter frantically and Yue just stares emotionlessly.


    "I see... How strong is this "Belial"?" Yue says with a shrug.


    "Belial is at least the third strongest Principle! Her power is Umbrakinesis! We need to run as fast as possible, she attacks tonight!"


    "I suppose so... Then we will prepare, tell Fa and Ezra to prepare their bags and i''ll prepare the chariot for them while i stay behind." Yue smirks.


    "What?!" Helena stares in disbelief, "why would you kill yourself like that?!"


    "Someone has to protect my book collection and my mother''s scrolls." She puts her hands on her hips with a small pout while Helena''s expression darkens.


    "Fine, suit yourself." She says before walking off to find Fa and Ezra.


    She walks on into the training area to see Ezra standing inbetween Qiang and Fa to stop a fight from happening. Helena looks angry and hurriedly restrains them with water and puts them next to each other against an autumn tree and tells them everything about the letter, asking them to prepare immediatelly.


    Once they leave, Helena breathes a deep sigh of relief and turns to Ezra, "what was that about?" She says, an air of annoyance remaining in her tone.


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    "I don''t know... Seems like Qiang and Fa are on bad terms. I''ll ask Qiang later, i''ll prepare first."


    He walks away and Helena stays, staring into empty space thinking of how illogical the letter is. If the Principle of Harmony never attacks someone and hates battle then why would she not send a General of hers? She has many so it would only seem natural unless it was a direct order from Lucifer himself. Those thoughts weigh on her mind, even worse, why would he not send Baal or Azazel? Both stronger Principles.


    Her thinking is interupted by yelling in the main building, upon entering she is greeted by Fa who is yelling at Yue, telling her that risking her life in such a worthless way is stupid to which Yue simply doesn''t say anything, a silent scowl on her face. Fa Jin slams his fist into the wall, forming cracks in it as he stares at her in anger. She doesn''t reply, only taking out a single purple box and handing it to him.


    "Open it after you get out of here." She flashes a small smile and walks off.


    Fa Jin only stares at the box and looks sad and worried but doesn''t push the issue further, Yue then goes to find Ezra and once she finds him on the second floor, packing his things she walks over and hands his a brown box, telling him to open it once they leave the estate.


    The chariot is readied, and they begin to board. Fa Jin looks back at his sister with a sad, almost tearful gaze.


    He walks over to her and hugs her, kissing her softly on the cheek, "please be careful, sister..."


    She chuckles and nods, seeing him walk off. She then sits down on the ground and waits for nightfall. After multiple hours, footsteps are heard at the path towards the estate, the gate opening slowly before Yue looks at the figure who apeared. A tall and slim woman with long white hair and a black and white dress, a blindfold across her eyes.


    Yue stands up, "took you long enough to apear..." She yawns, dressed in a flowing teal robe.


    "I had thought everyone would have left after the letter..."


    "No, i wouldn''t leave just like that... Especially when i finally have the opportunity to kill a Principle."


    "Kill me? You think you''re capable of that?"


    "Don''t worry, i''ll make it as painful as possible, i''m just getting excited..." Yue grins widely.


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 10: Principle of Harmony, Belial

    Yue smiles and stands up, putting her arms up and facing the full moon in the night sky, throughout the sky the galaxy beautifully illuminates the darkness with thousands of stars.


    "What a beautiful night..." Yue chuckles, "it''s only fitting that i lay you to rest under the gaze of the stars, no?" Her eyes glow red and she releases a flatus from her palm that takes off Belial''s arm and destroys the whole gate to the Jin estate.


    Belial thinks of the speed and size of the spell, she shudders, never facing a spell as fast or large before. She regenerates her arm and metal claws activate, wrapping around her hands as she dashes at Yue who casually dodges her attack with an excited grin, Yue backs away from her as shadows wolves form, growling with bloodlust as they jump at her.


    Yue prepares to destroy them but the wolves deform into a ball of shadows that hits her away through trees into a forest. Belial apears right after, materialising from shadows as the ball of shadows reshapes into a giant wolf that rips her arm off with its teeth before dissappearing.


    Belial stands before Yue who is on her knees, holding the wound of her torn off arm, "how does it feel? Not so smug now, are we?" Belial laughs, seeing her bleeding out on the ground.


    "It hurts like a bitch..." She says, breathing heavily from the pain, slowly standing up, her lips curving into a grin. "Regeneratus." She says and her arm completely regenerates.


    "What''s this now...?" Belial steps back slightly.


    "I am a master of healing spells for a reason... So... This fight will be pretty long, won''t it?" While the two of them speak, the chariot rides off along a path towards the capital, Fa sits next to Ezra while Helena and Qiang are next to some elders from the Jin clan. All of them sit in silence, Helena notices tears falling from Fa Jin''s eyes yet she still keeps quiet, merely looking away.


    Yue keeps her Manna flow stable as she stands, keeping her whole body attuned to her surroundings as she seems to try and sense Manna around her. Belial notices this but doesn''t make a move, seemingly a little fearful of her, sensing large amounts of Manna within her.


    "Good... The chariot went far enough away..." Yue opens her eyes and looks straight at Belial.


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    "I wonder, why didn''t you go with the chariot?"


    "Simple, i know, despite you being a ''Principle of Harmony'', you only came here to kill. You didn''t give us time so you could let us escape, but rather, wanted us to try and escape so you could murder us all while we weren''t paying attention, am i right?"


    "And? If you are correct, how does that help your case? I will simply kill you here and then destroy the chariot, you are just a random spoiled girl from a prestigious clan, nothing more. You think you have what it takes to end my life? Go ahead and try."


    "Fine... The chariot is far enough away anyway so i can finally go all out..." Yue''s grin widens, a glowing red mark apearing on her right cheek, going across her eye, the mark apears to be in a shape of a cross.


    Belial''s eyes widen and she jumps back, "a... A Vanguard?!"


    "Exactly! Isn''t it pretty? Too bad it''ll lead to your death..."


    A Vanguard, a mark that apears on a person from birth. It is considered to a mark directly given to a person by god, it is also considered by people as a symbol of a Grandmaster. A person with a Vanguard is almost guaranteed to become a Grandmaster. It is a mark that gifts near infinite amounts of Manna to a person as well as amps their spell casting power by 80%.


    The mark then glows along with Yue''s eyes, Belial hastily tries to use her Supreme Art and with two finger she slashes off her blindfold, revealing the Principle''s red eyes.


    "Fluctus!" She shoots a wave of Manna from her hands, destroying Belial''s whole body before it regenerates. Yue dodges shadows sent at her before she says "Finalis!" and many objects around her begin to decay and crumble to dust.


    "What kind of spells do you even know?!" Belial says fearfully, seeing Yue''s abilities.


    "Quite a few!" Her body glows and she flies at Belial, saying "Vulnus" and sending a giant red slash the size of an entire mountain at the Principle.


    "Die!" Belial cuts her in half with shadows slashes but she reconstructs again, pointing two finger at Belial, "Imperium!" Yue yells and Belial''s body begins to contort and moves in a strange motion as Yue laughs maniacally.


    She flicks back and Belial flies through many trees and rolls on the ground before healing and standing up, Yue''s grin dissappears, "let''s end this, prepare yourself." She says, her whole body surging with incomprehensible amount of Manna, as Belial''s body begins to surge with her own power, her earings in the shape of black droplets.


    "Let''s end this in a single attack." They dash towards each other and punch forward. Fa hears something from the chariot and a large sound can be heard as their attention is turned toward a large pillar of red Manna going towards the sky, bursting through the cloud and creating a type of red Aurora Borealis.


    But the pillar is the slowly replaced by a pillar of shadows before it dissappears. Fa Jin''s eyes immediatelly fill with tears as he falls to his knees


    "I... I can''t feel her Manna anymore..."

 Ch. 11: Bloodshed, part 1

    "I can''t feel her Manna anymore..." Fa Jin slams his fist on the floor of the chariot cart as he sobs, tears staining the wooden floorboards. Qiang stands next to him, still grinning like a madman.


    "Don''t lose hope in elder sister." He says, Fa looks up at him with an angry look, "what do you know you weak-spelled animal?!" He yells standing up and looking Qiang straight in the eyes, getting dangerously close to his face.


    "Calm down, young master Fa, we shouldn''t lose hope so quickly!" An elder tugs at Fa Jin''s black robe, Fa Jin turns to the old man before the chariot is abruptly thrown slightly forward before stopping, the windows of the cart break and decapitated heads of the horses and the charioteer fall inside, everyone pauses in shock as they stare blankly.


    Helena stands up and tells everyone to leave the cart, the elders stand up to leave but upon getting to the cart door their heads fall from their shoulders and their bodies are reduced to nothing but pools of blood. Helena bursts a hole through the side of the cart letting everyone else along with one other elder go through safely, looking disgusted.


    "Pretty smart for a girl, you used those elders as cannon fodder, didn''t you?" A man says from atop a tree branch.


    Ezra recognises him as the same Principle who stood next to Aisha during the fight on the wiermrest river, "i''m not the same as you, so don''t lump me in with you!" She says, forming a sword out of water.


    "Oh, but you are, i''ve seen the way you slaughtered those children on the mission with me! You enjoyed it!"


    Helena looks away in shame, "no matter how much you try to deny it, you''re the same as me, maybe even worse!" He laughs hysterically, visions flash in Helena''s mind, memories when she destroyed a family with Asmodius, the screams of a young boy''s cries as he sits in a pool of blood, surrounded by the corpses of his brother and sister. A young child who''s life was robbed, just a small child, slaughtered, due to his father''s debts to Mammon. And Helena, standing before him with a crazed smile, what was she thinking? Why did she do this with such excitement? She questions herself.


    Her water sword dissappears, guilt and sorrow on her face and her head laying low, she had lost her will to fight.


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    "Fret not, dear Helena! Join me in murdering these low-lifes! Just think about how much fun we had in the past! Just you and me, the best of friends!" He puts a hand on his chest, leaning in with a smile.


    "No... I will be better... I have to be better..." She looks up at him, "i will kill you with my own two hands, to make up for everything i''ve done!" She creates two water swords.


    "Oh? So, you will simply throw everything away?!" He yells and jumps down, "Fine, then i will have to kill you too! Show me how much you changed then, but know that you will never escape the lives you took, you will never wash the blood off your hands!"


    Ezra and Fa try to get in front of her but she stops them, "i will kill him myself." She walks forward, water enveloping her body, spikes made of surging water pertruding from her legs and arms, water coating her whole body as a form of armor. Water then trickles down her face in streaks from her eyes, wings from the same, each feather like a water droplet as well a crown adorning her head made if water as well.


    Asmodius laughs when he sees the transformation, "still incomplete i see? Your transformations still need work... But i guess i''ll play with you a little."


    His body is enveloped by blood, forming an exoskeleton, his blood forms fly-like eyes and wings and his lower body becoming similar to that of a centipede.


    "Face me now! My ability shall slaughter you!"


    Asmodius'' ability, "Absolute Bloodshed", flips all his blood and coats it around his body, allowing him to use his Hemokinesis without the downside of having to hurt himself as well as altering his body and giving him different capabilities.


    Helena immediatelly uses "Tide Splitter" to send a wave of water to destroy him but it simply breaks his exoskeleton which repairs itself after and creates praying mantis arms form him.


    "You abomination..."


    "Am i? I would say i merely improved my body." Says Asmodius with a distorted voice.


    He sends slashes of blood towards her but is quickly blocked with her wings, she sends a rain of sharp water arrows at him but it still does no damage.


    "I suppose this is a stalemate then, isn''t it?" She says with a sigh.


    "I guess so..." He begins to laugh again, "Hemokinesis, Supreme art: Blood Fountain!"


    The whole area is surrounded by a giant sea of blood, blood falling from the sky like a fountain. Ezra, Fa and Qiang try to move but they are stuck in the blood, along with the Jin clan elder.


    "So... How do you like this?" Asmodius says with a smile, as he sees Helena fly up to escape the blood fountain, "have you forgotten i have wings?" She says with a chuckle.


    "No, but do your friends have wings?" She looks back at them fearfully, "in one minute, this blood with turn acidic, and anyone trapped will be melted, is that understood?" His transformation dissappears and he returns to normal.


    "Sadly, i can''t keep my true form active anymore due to a loss of energy, but how long to you think you can last in the blood fountain? Remember, the timer has already begun." He grins widely.


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 12: Bloodshed, Part 2

    Yue stands before Belial who''s wounds regenerate in an instant while darkness stops orbiting at her feet, she looks at Yue who''s Vanguard dissappears from her face, she simply says the command and her wounds regenerate. Not long after, sunlight illuminates both their faces, the darkness of the night slowly dissappearing making the destroyed forest all the more visible. Around them is a large field of ash and dust from their previous clash.


    "I suppose we both lost most of our strength, didn''t we?" Yue smiles, cracking her neck, "i''m quite tired so i would really like to end this quickly." She yawns.


    "Don''t get arrogant, i really hate people like you... Always feeling like you''re superior to others!"


    "Because i am, say, may i ask you a question?" She asks Belial who keeps silent but Yue takes that as a yes, "why partake in a war to kill many people while being the ''Principle of Harmony''?"


    "Every person knows that sometimes war is necessary to bring about true peace. That is what we are, the Ten Principles of Peace: bloodshed, freedom, justice, order, enlightenment, preservation, harmony, control, ignorance and wealth. We are all important and all have a role to play, some greater some lesser."


    "And how would taking over Archos serve your cause?"


    "This world is flawed, and must be overthrown. That is our role, to ensure Lord Lucifer has his rightful place among the heavens, and follow him. Even if that must mean we destroy a nation and its people."


    "Now i really wanna kill you!" Yue grits her teeth and clenches her fists, "what gives you the right, exactly, to invoke such cruelty upon the people?!"


    "Our right? We are followers of Lucifer, what we do is righteous by default."


    Yue snaps at that and claps her hands together, around her body red lightning apears to channel, she then points her finger forward like a finger gun and lighting shoots forward, only barely dodged by Belial who stands in shock as Yue stand next to her, touching her arm with a single hand and it slowly starts to decay and disintegrate. "Finalis."


    Belial steps away, slowly regenerating her wound. "You... You are a healer... My sources state you have never gotten into a battle before..."


    "I specialise in healing spells, i am not a healer." Yue chuckles, "i was the one who invented the first self-healing spell and it''s only natural i would create a completely opposite spell using a similar principle. ''Finalis'', the anti-healing spell, decaying anything touched on an atomic level."


    "You should have expected this, Belial, after all, i am the greatest healer in the seven realms, right? I cannot possibly fight, right?"


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    Belial growls and dashes upwards, charging up an attack, her red eyes glaring at Yue who has red spinning lights around her body before she completely dissappears and re-apearing in front of her, almost like teleportation, she points her glowing palm at Belial.


    "Ignis!" And a wave of fire destroys most of Belial''s body, Yue smiles as she witnesses the bloodbath before her, seeing Belial''s body fuse back together and regenerate before the Principle ultimatelly falls on one knee.


    "What a disapointment, i expected more from the third strongest Principle." Yue looks at her with an excited smile, "get up, i''ve only just warmed up."


    Meanwhile, Helena was fighting Asmodius while Ezra, Qiang and Fa Jin are all stuck in the fountain of blood.


    "You have one minute, before the blood turns acidic." Asmodius says with a smirk, seeing Ezra trying to use a spell to get out.


    "Oh, and i forgot to mention... The blood fountain stops all who are trapped within it from using Manna or any other abilities, good luck!"


    Helena stares at them in shock, rushing to kill Asmodius with water but the blood all around Asmodius in the fountain move to block each attack perfectly, as if it has a mind of its own. Fa Jin unsheathes his sword, thinking of using it to push the blood but Ezra touches the blade, saying that he has an idea.


    Moments later while Helena still tries to get close to Asmodius until they both freeze, seeing electricity run through the pool of blood and Ezra standing on the blood with Qiang and Fa Jin beside him.


    Asmodius looks angry slightly, "but... I prevented you from using Manna so how did you possibly do this?!"


    "I just picked up a few things from books i read back in my stay in Seelvia." Ezra laughs, "it''s quite a neat trick, manipulating Manna from an object to use as your own."


    "That''s bullshit! Nobody has such a good memory!" Asmodius yells out before a water spear impales his chest and dissappearing, he stumbles backwards, trying to regenerate the wound, gasping and panicking before collapsing to his knees and losing consciousness.


    Seeing the blood fountain dissappear, Helena leaves her true form and steps onto the ground with a sigh of relief, "he''s dead..." She says, smiling slightly before her gaze turns to a crack, she looks stunned looking at a crack in reality itself.


    The crack widens and an eye apears to open, almost like a portal, from it, a tall man steps out long white hair, black eyes and a black robe that nearly reaches to the ground, on his face is a serious expression and on his ears are black glowing earrings that apear like someone fuzed multiple cubes unevenly into each other.


    "Lucifer..." Helena begins to step back in fear, on her face is an expression of complete terror.


    "Helena, my dear, what''s wrong?" He says tenderly, putting a hand on Asmodius'' body, "Chronokinesis..." He says and Asmodius'' body instantly regenerates and Asmodius wakes up.


    "I always have to be the one to do everything, don''t i? You will get severily reprimanded, Principle of Bloodshed." Lucifer says and Asmodius immediatelly nods and runs into the portal, running for dear life.


    "Now, i must deal with the rest of you and be on my way." He says and steps forward, "Chronokinesis: Unmove." time then stops, freezing all four of them.


    Lucifer then points his palm forward at Helena, "Chronokinesis: Temporal Fracture." He then moves his palm quickly to the side of his body, blocking an incoming lightning bolt, shattering time-space, destroying the lightning with it.


    "Not bad, i didn''t think someone could shatter time-space..." Yue comes out from inside a bush, a little nervous now.


    "Yue..." Lucifer says, his lips curling into a smirk


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 13: Bloodshed, Part 3

    "Yue..." Lucifer smirked, "i was honestly not expecting this, i thought you''d surely be defeated by Belial."


    "You underestimated me, that will be your downfall." She says, he expression growing slightly serious but excitement can clearly be seen building up inside her.


    "Do not get arrogant just because you defeated my third strongest Principle." He takes a deep breath, his smile growing, "i can finally have her power..."


    "What...? Did you take her power upon her death?!"


    "Take? No, i merely returned what was already mine." He chuckled, "i bestowed the power of the Principles to them so it is only natural that their power returns to me upon their demise, no?"


    Yue stays silent, her excitement dissappears, instead replaced by a sudden feeling of worry and dread. She realises that she would have to fight and defeat Lucifer, otherwise, her brothers and friends will be killed, but how could she ever do something like that?! Considering the legends of Lucifer''s power, it''s an impossible task! With those thoughts, her nervousness grows.


    "You know, you remind of a woman i fought two hundred years ago in the war, she was the one who defeated one of my high demon lords, Belial, and managed to fight toe-to-toe with me." Lucifer laughs, "what''s more impressive is that she only had weak Manna and no Vanguard but she had managed to lead three million soldiers to victory against my demonic armies... Even in my prime she still defeated me with her superior intellect."


    "Eleanor Evangale, wasn''t it?" Yue asks.


    "Ah... Yes, that''s the one!" Lucifer laughs some more, "i do wonder though... Could you do the same?" Lucifer puts two of his fingers together.


    Yue steps back fearfully before Lucifer flicks his fingers and she thrown away through a large tree, breaking through it with great force shattering her spine but she manages to regenerate with her spell, though still struggling to get up. Upon looking up she sees Lucifer floating in the air, his sclera turning teal green. Gazing into his eyes is almost like gazing into time-space itself.


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    "Bow." He says coldly and Yue goes on her knees, placing her open palms onto the ground, she releases Manna into the ground for a split second and crimson chains apear, wrapping around Lucifer''s leg and throwing down roughly.


    "Necto!" Yue says, red webbing around her fingers fuze into a dart that she proceeds to throw at Lucifer, but Lucifer does the same, creating a black dart of black Manna that clashes with Yue''s, the darts break apart, reshaping into a maelstrom of black and red Manna that soon dissappears.


    Lucifer stands up with a low chuckle, "not bad... You are clearly proficient in spells... Probably a master, no?" He sighs, "alas, i''m afraid that just won''t do... You''ll need much, much more to even match my power."


    Yue grits her teeth and her Vanguard apears on her face again, Lucifer stares with widened eyes before smiling with interest, Yue puts her open hand forward and a black bow apears along with a red string of Manna, she pulls the string back and a giant red glowing arrow apears, twice the size of the bow. Upon releasing the string, the arrow flies through the air, eradicating everything in its path before it stops mere inches from Lucifer''s face who is completely unfazed.


    "Every flashy attack is useless if it doesn''t reach me." He chuckles darkly with a soft smile on his face.


    "Imperium!" She says, pointing two fingers at Lucifer controling his body to cancel his own ability making the arrow strike his face.


    Lucifer stumbles back, holding his cheek which has a small burn on it that quickly regenerates, "not bad..." He says before apearing next to her, "but it has become quite irritating." Before she can even move he lifts up his arm, "Chorokinesis: Spatial slash." space itself moves itself like a slash and tears off Yue''s head.


    Yue''s body falls, her bow falling next to her body as Lucifer turns around and walks off, he gets close to Helena and touches her shoulder, unpausing time for her, he restrains her with his ability and the eye in space opens again.


    He turns around and puts his palm up to use an attack but his arm is blown off by a red arrow, a second arrow the pierces his chest, making him turn around when the arrow dissappears only to see Yue standing with a small smile.


    "Yue...!" He says with another grin.


    "I was aiming for your head but i suppose my vision still hasn''t fully regenerated."


    "Your regeneration spells have been automatised?"


    "With the help of my Vanguard, of course." With that, Lucifer sighs and unpauses time for Ezra, Qiang and Fa.


    The immediatelly try to move to attack when they see Lucifer but are stopped by Yue who tells them about the range of Lucifer''s space manipulation being only ten meters. Surprised with Yue''s knowledge, Lucifer chuckles and starts to move away into the eye with Helena in hand.


    "Ezra, remember that i have offered you mercy today but you have many horrible events in store for you, try to not break too quickly, okay?" And with those final words he enters the eye before the rift in space closes.

 Ch. 14: Principle of Justice, Astaroth.

    Helena apears chained up in a dark room, shackels at her feet and arms as she apears to be kneeling and stripped almost completely naked. Outside the room are multiple guards armed with spears and sheathed swords at their hips, they all seem to wear half a white theater mask with a sad look the mask''s face.


    The guards all step aside as a tall enigmatic figure steps through the door, on his face is a full white mask, half of the mask smiling while the other frowns, the frowning part however seems to have a small crack on the side of it. The man''s hair is fully black and in a wolf cut while on his ears are blue water droplet earrings.


    "The Judge..." Helena says with an angry tone.


    "Why the long face? I thought you''d be happy to finally see me again, sister." The masked man laughs, stepping closer to her while resting his hand on the longsword on his right hip, the long sword has a blue handle with a golden sheath.


    "Lucifer is such a coward, couldn''t he have killed me himself instead of sending you?"


    "He didn''t send me, i chose this myself." The man''s eyes can be seen narrowing from the mask''s eye hole, "i''ll be your judge and executioner."


    "I see... So do it then, kill me."


    "I''m afraid not, there is a man who wants to see you and i won''t disobey his command."


    Helena only looks down and then uses all her strength to try and break the shackles but the chains only glow golden, not even close to breaking.


    "Useless, those chains were embued with a spell of unbreaking. Although the spell wasn''t too powerful it will be enough to keep you locked up."


    Helena sighs in annoyance, "how boring..." She says to which Astaroth chuckles, "is it really? Why don''t i make it a little less boring then?" He unsheathes his sword.


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    He quickly slashes and cuts off Helena''s pointer finger which immediatelly regenerates, Helena procceeds to laugh, saying that she feels no pain to which Astaroth smiles, "let''s change that." And he takes off her earrings, setting them aside on a table.


    "I see..." Helena realises what he will do so she changes the topic, "where even am i?"


    "Oh, we are still in Archos, the water i summon has the ability of creation, so i created a palace for myself. It took quite a while so i am very proud of my work." He swings again and cuts off the same finger as before, however, this time it doesn''t regenerate. Blood gushes out and Helena screams in agony.


    "Y- you... I''ll murder you once i get out!" Helena said, taking deep breaths to calm the pain down.


    "Sure you will, your friends won''t save you either, i doubt they''d even want to save a person like you!" He laughs, "and even if they do, i have five hundred guards in this place alone!"


    Astaroth pauses for a moment, remembering something, "although... That woman, Yue... I heard she defeated Belial on her own... If she storms this place it will be bloody..."


    "Exactly! You can''t win! So i say to release me now or you will suffer the consequences later!" Helena''s smile dissappears after she feels her middle finger cut off by the sword in Astaroth''s hand.


    "Silence! How dare you command me, sister? Don''t forget your place, you sack of shit!" He shouts, "the weak like you don''t deserve a place in this world! This is the ''justice'' that you shall be eradicated by!"


    Helena keeps quiet, merely staring at her brother with an angry and pained expression, "i will murder every last one of you, Ezra, you and any other weakling in Archos that i see! That is Justice! Only the strong shall live, only then can humanity truly evolve, only then can we truly become a higher, more perfect being we were intended to be!" Helena stares at him, gripping her right hand into a tight fist.


    "Oh, and i''ll make sure to kill you in front of Azazel! That would truly be an interesting show, wouldn''t it?" He laughs, Helena looks down, seemingly reminiscing on past events before moving, trying desperately to destroy the binds as tears fill her eyes. However, Astaroth quickly kicks her in the face and stabs her thigh.


    "Shut it! Cry all you want but that won''t change fate, i was annointed as a replacement to you but i can never truly replace you if i don''t first slaughter you! So keep your mouth shut and wait, alright? I''ll make it quick on you."


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 15: Vision(?)

    The sun now shines bright in the sky as Yue travels with her brothers and Ezra as well as elder Feng, they leisurely stroll in a small town passing by drunkards and other common folk, on Yue''s back rests a large backpack carrying valuable items from the Jin clan estate.


    "I can''t believe she was taken... And i was powerless to stop it..." Ezra says with a sad expression but Qiang wraps an arm around his shoulder, "don''t worry, kid! We will find her and save her, i can say with outmost certainty!" He says but Ezra doesn''t seem to cheer up. "Besides, i know her! She wouldn''t ever let herself be defeated in such a way!"


    While they converse, Helena is still chained in the palace, kneeling on the cold brick floor of the prison as the Principle of Justice merely sits on a luxurious chair which wasn''t there before, he plays with his sword, cutting his finger over and over again on the sword''s edge.


    Helena looks completely exhausted, still kneeling completely naked, her black hair flowing down onto the floor. Her hair apears cleanly cut but without any pattern, clearly cut by a sword''s edge. Astaroth smiles, the holes of his mask only showing his white teeth and narrowed blue eyes.


    "Do you like it? This is only a fraction of the pain you had caused to your victims in your missions... You had brought horrible pain and sorrow to them and their loved ones so now you shall face your retribution." He laughs, "after all, that is true Justice, isn''t it, Principle of Resentment?"


    "Don''t act so high and mighty!" She yells, "you have done things far worse so you have no right to judge me!"


    "Oh, i have every right! After all, i am Justice, what i do is right by default." He says in a condescending tone as he raises his sword and cleaves Helena''s left arm clean off.


    Helena screams in pain as blood gushes out of the wound but it quite quickly stops bleeding but her whole body is still cramping up.


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    "I see... You still have some demonic blood within you... Small amounts but enough..." He laughs, "i''m glad, i would''ve hated if you had died from a severed limb, perhaps you aren''t as weak as i originally assumed." He brings his blade up to her neck.


    "Now... Tell me... Where is Johan?" He asks but Helena keeps quiet, "don''t wanna speak, huh? Oh, i will enjoy killing you! Once he arrives, i will cut you up into pieces!"


    "I don''t know where Johan is..." She says with difficulty, "bullshit!" Astaroth yells, "you traveled with him and our sources say that he is no longer with you, so where is he?!" He shouts again but upon seeing Helena''s silence he puts his sword away and facepalms.


    "Damn it... That just made my job a whole lot more difficult..." He sighs, "why me... Why couldn''t Belphagor get this job? I always get the most difficult jobs..." He complains, talking to himself before finally sheathing his sword and telling Helena that he will leave her alone for a moment before he leaves the room.


    Meanwhile, Yue had already found a place to stay in a stranger''s home who seemed very welcoming, though she would have to share one room with her brothers and Ezra as well as elder Feng she didn''t mind as long as it was shelter from the rain and they didn''t have to sleep outside.


    The home was humble, as all homes were in the town and they didn''t have a large house, seemingly living in home with only a few rooms but it was quite well decorated. As everyone lays on the floor of one of the room, moonlight shining through the open window as the sound of rain fills the quiet space.


    Everyone sleeps as Ezra seems to be the only one awake, the fact of Helena''s capture seems to eat at his mind, how he could ever allow something like that to happen makes him angry at himself, how would he ever be able to live with himself if Helena dies due to his own weakness?


    Though he eventually falls asleep, he still thinks about Helena. As he sleeps he dreams of a dark room, Helena chained up with a severed arm with two tall male figures standing before her while images of a blue palace with a large garden and fountain flash in his mind before one of the figures slashes down with a sword at Helena. Ezra abruptly awakens in a cold sweat, holding his face which is filled with fear as he constantly repeats the words "it is just a dream..."


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 16: Vision.

    When Ezra wakes up in the middle of the night, he looks around the room and sees everyone asleep soundly on the floor but for a moment he senses a presence watching him nearby. Fearfully, he look everywhere and sees a red eye in space that dissappears with a blink. He holds his head, immediatelly getting a giant headache with thousands of voices seemingly apearing in his head all speaking at once, muttering the words "It''s not too late, justice will descend." Repeating thousands of times a second, the words barely able to be made out.


    Ezra stands up and leaves the room to clear his head for a moment, going through the hallway of the house and leaving through the front door. He steps into some mud, getting his bare feet dirty as he looks around, his eyes glowing a slight ember color as he leans onto a dilapidated old fence while he stares into the void of night, his head still aching.


    Once his eyes focus again he stares into the wood of a shed that is marked with a number "2" as well as a torn calendar marked two days from then and his the vision of a sword descending at Helena fills his mind again which makes him pass out seconds later into the mud.


    Upon awaking, he finds himself in the stranger''s house, a woman tending to him as he lays on the bed, surrounded by his friends. He instantly sits up and says "two days."


    As everyone looks at him in confusion he explains, "we have two days to save Helena."


    "What makes you say that?" Yue says with a smirk.


    "Just a hunch..." He looks away.


    Yue nods, seemingly understanding everything while everyone else looks at him in confusion, "alright... But we still don''t know where she is being kept at." Fa Jin says.


    "Well... I did see a blue palace surrounded by woods in my dream..."


    "I see... Was the forest large?" Ezra quickly nods and the woman beside the bed interjects, "sounds like the great green wall, why don''t you try your luck there?"


    Ezra looks confused but Yue quickly explains much about the great green wall, a forest which is named as such due to being nearly completely untraversible and due to it not having many visitors or inspections, the depths of the forest would be a perfect hideout during a war.


    "Perhaps we should... We have my Teleportation spells to help traverse the place." Yue says, quickly getting ready, "we shouldn''t wait anymore."


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    Fa Jin nods, "Qiang and Ezra, you leave towards the Capital." Ezra however shakes his head, "i will come, i don''t care what you say!" Fa facepalms, "Fine, i don''t care, i won''t argue with children. You and Qiang can leave with Yue, i''ll go towards the Capital." Fa Jin rolls his eyes and takes out an inchanted dagger, "you''ll need this." he hands it to Qiang.


    Yue nods, "take my things with you when you leave, don''t you dare forget!" She says before she leaves the house with Qiang and Ezra.


    Upon leaving they go southward and stand before the entrance after multiple hours of walking, they enter the dense forest slowly, the sun scorching high above, the time is about 4PM. The forest has trees that are extremely large and old, almost unnatural while the ground is covered in large green bushes which differs from the rest of Archos which is seemingly stuck in a perpetual autumn.


    "Hey... Miss Yue... Why is this place so strange...?" Ezra asks, looking slightly creeped out.


    "Ooh! Thats an interesting story!" She smiles widely, "i''m so glad you asked!"


    "To begin, there used to be four inteligent races... Well, two in the begining. The dragons and the Immortals." She says, "those races interbred and made humans and demons!"


    Qiang laughs, "Uh huh... And how do you know that?"


    "I read it."


    "So you believe anything you read in a book?"


    "At least i can read." Yue says, Qiang laughs loudly at that, seemingly not offended.


    "Anyway, to answer your question, an immortal was killed on the territory of Archos about two hundred years ago by the head of the Evangale clan at the time which led to perpetual autumn." Yue says, "the means were unknown and nobody researched it much but there are many theories on how to kill an immortal but we do know immortals can use both Manna and Miasma in battle and are imbodiments of a concept."


    "Oh, that kinda sounds like an immortal i saw in a cave..."


    "You what?" Yue stares at Qiang in bewilderment, "you saw an immortal?!"


    "Yeh, with Helena, he kept speaking about our deepest secrets!"


    "Huh? Never heard of that one... Are you sure it wasn''t a crazy homeless guy...? You know, most immortals have spiritually ascended..." She shrugs.


    "How could a crazy guy know our secrets? Makes no sense, y''know?" He says with another laugh, "hey, sister, should put a book down for once, it''s unbecoming of a spellcaster to be such a nerd." Yue rolls her eyes before stopping abruptly.


    "I feel something... Halt your steps!" Yue says, backing away while looking above into the trees, her eyes glowing and searching for any Manna reading.


    "Yeah, there is someone around." Qiang says, "i can sense a strong Manna presence."


    "Alright... A person so deep and far from civilisations cannot possibly be friendly, i suppose that must mean we''re close, right?" Yue prepares for an attack while Ezra summons his chain whip.


    A person then descends from atop tree, landing on her feet as she rushes at Yue, summoning a sword of Manna out of her wrist while striking down, Ezra attempts to use the control spell but the girl breaks out of it easily before Yue uses imperium to throw the girl away but she returns immediatelly and strikes at Yue who teleports away.


    The girl goes for a neck stab with the sword but gets blocked by Qiang''s dagger, as she dashes again Yue''s arrow flies by and destroys the girl''s mask, she covers her face, she has tan skin and long golden hair, her eyes glowing red with Manna.


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 17: The Scales Have Tipped

    As the girl''s mask cracks slightly upon being hit with Yue''s Arrow, she quickly cover her face with her hands while the fragments of the mask slowly fall onto the ground, a soft red glow emerging from behind the girl''s fingers: a crimson mark in the shape of a rose around her eye. Yue is shocked upon seeing a vanguard while Ezra steps back slightly, he notices something familiar about the girl but doesn''t quite understand what, has he seen this girl before?


    He pushes those thoughts away and swings with his whip, but she dissappears in a cloud of scarlet smoke. As the smoke clears Qiang asks about the girl but Ezra and Yue are just as confused as him. Yue suggests that they are quite close to the enemy and immediatelly begins to move, running through the forest along with both Ezra and Qiang who follow closely behind.


    "Miss Yue, do you know where you''re going?!" Ezra yells out while he follows her behind.


    "No, but this girl might be a sign we are on the right track!" She runs before she abruptly stops in her tracks with a fearful expression on her face, Ezra and Qiang soon stop next to her while Qiang feels something in front of them he can''t quite understand what.


    "What''s goin'' on...?!" He yells before Yue covers his mouth, "What... Is that...?" Ezra says as he stares into a wall of branches and vines which do not connect to any tree, clearly not a natural construct.


    While they stand confused vines quickly latch onto their legs and arms, restraining them onto the ground, the vines and branches of the wall move and unveil a man with long golden hair which turns white at the ends of it, the man seems to be a young man, abouth twenty years old, who''s skin is absolutely perfect without a single scar or mole while his body is adorned with a white robe, he looks as if he had fallen from heaven.


    "Intruders... In thy garden... What act of blasphemy is this...?" The man said, his voice a perfect pitch while it sounds soft but loud enough, almost as if it resonates in the ears of the listeners.


    Everyone freezes immediatelly, Yue''s eyes narrow and she breaks out of the vines, slashing with her hand to summon a vulnus spell which hits the man straight in the head, he recoils back slightly, both Qiang and Ezra escape the vines and go towards Yue''s side. The man looks at them, looking confused rather than injured as his face looks completely unscathed. The ground beneath Yue''s feet moves, dragging her forwards towards the man before he punches through her body, destroying a huge chunk of her body.


    Her body then slowly regenerates using her regeneratus spell and the man''s face twists into a slight smirk, "i see... This is quite the interesting sight thine eyes hath witnessed..." He says slowly as Yue begins to stand up again he aproaches her with a smirk, his hands behind his back as he inspects her body, "your Manna is quite great... A Vanguard, perchance?" When Yue nods, the man looks even more impressed and laughs slight, telling her about her potential. "I see you''re still quite afraid... This one''s name is Angelonia."


    Yue steps back slightly, Angelonia moves towards her, grabbing her arm and throwing her away, ripping the arm off, "very impressive... I wonder, can you heal a wound of the heart?" the man grins, showing his perfect white teeth.


    "Angelonia... Who gave you such a girly name?" Yue uses regeneratus again, and starts to make fun of the man before her to mask her worry.


    "Girly?" Angelonia laughs and his hair grows longer and silky while his face and body gain softer features, "women, men, black or white, it is all the same." He says his body changing race, one second he is white, the next second he is black, then tan and so on. His gender changes along with his skin color and his height as well. "I, Angelonia, am a being above such mere concepts as gender, sex or race! I am an immortal and you lowly humans should all bow at my feet!"


    "Bow at your feet?" Yue says with a curious look, an idea coming to mind. She goes down on one knee and showers the immortal with praise, "oh, Angelonia, eternal and beautiful, please have mercy on our worthless lives!" Angelonia''s face lights up and they seem delighted at the praise, "well... Since you''re asking so nicely, which is rare for a human, i will allow you three to live! I shall guide you to my abode, but first, i must ask thee a question!" Yue nods and the Immortal continues, "what are you humans doing in this ancient forest? I can tell curiousity is not guiding you here."


    Yue starts talking about the war and all the events that had happened, Angelonia''s face darkens once Yue starts talking about a Principle, he immediatelly starts leaving through the forest, Yue follows and gestures for Ezra and Qiang to follow as well.


    After walking aimlessly for what seems to be a few hours, they walk onto a part of the forest that is cleared of any trees for miles with many ruins laying on the ground, the ground seems wet even though the rest of the forest ground is dry.


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    As Ezra looks around he seems the ruin walls are wet with a golden liquid, he walks forwards and touches the liquid, it feels as if it is still fresh. He sees the window opening and more of the golden liquid inside of the ruined building, he peers his head inside and sees a body with more of the liquid smeared on the walls.


    He jumps back quickly with a frightened look on his face, the Immortal apears next to him, his face shows a melancholic look as he stares at the building, "those people were my brethren once..." Ezra looks confused and shocked, asking how they died to what Angelonia simply utters a single name, "Lucifer".


    Ezra stares in confusion, looking around the many ruins and asking himself if Lucifer was capable of doing something like this? Angelonia speaks of Lucifer''s deeds, his betrayal of the heavenly gardens and of his power, describing his power as "godly".


    "Out of all of the Immortals, he would be considered one of the strongest, the Pillar of Space-time, and the twin brother of Michael the Pillar of War." Angelonia says, "Pillars are the beings which hold up the heavenly temple, and once one dies or dissappears they get replaced... But Lucifer''s place remains vacant to this day."


    "Do you fear him? Is that why you trembled at the thought of a Principle?" Yue suggests while Angelonia nods reluctantly, "i cannot fight with you, i will remain here, lest Lucifer returns to finish the job..."


    "Um... I- i thought Lucifer couldn''t defeat an Immortal...?" Ezra trembles slightly, Angelonia shakes his head, "you don''t understand who you will be facing against! He is more powerful than me and is a Pillar!" Ezra tries to refute his statement but is immediatelly cut off and shushed by the Immortal before him, "i will not fight! Never!"


    Yue sighs at that, "we''re not asking you to fight, just to give us a slight hint please...? We don''t have much time in this forest, just a mere day!" Yue begs, "Lucifer will know i''m here! I cannot do such a thing!" He shouts, "how is that so?" Yue replies with a smirk, "why don''t you run to liuxuan? You''ll be protected at the capital." Angelonia seems to fume at that, yelling fearfully at Yue, "do you think a mere few humans could protect me?! Huh?!" He repeats frantically, "maybe not... But who knows... Perhaps you could see a familiar face there? You never know."


    The Immortal growls and points in a direction, "go straight from there, you will find what you are looking for..." His body melts into the ground and he completely dissappears. Yue laughs slightly and follows the direction as they were shown.


    Meanwhile, as the sun sets at the horizon, blood drips onto the floor of the dark room as Helena remains chained, her left arm completely severed off while her right arm had all her fingers cut off, her head is pointing downwards to the floor, her expression lifeless and miserable. Before her stands a tall figure in a blue and white suit and a blue cape, his head adorned with a white theater mask.


    "My dear sister, do you see the price to pay for treachery?" Astaroth lifts the longsword up and swiftly slashes her right arm off, Helena screams in pain and squirms but that is quickly supressed with a biting of the tongue, blood drips out of Helena''s mouth and onto the floor. Astaroth chuckles darkly and lifts her chin up with his fingers, his glare quickly flashing between Helena''s teary eyes and her naked body.


    "Painful, isn''t it? And here you though you would be able to betray the Ten Principles of Peace just like that without repercussion?" He says, poking the sharp point of the longsword in her face but they are interupted by a sudden knock on the steel door of the room, Astaroth turns his head only to see the steel door melt to the floor and a figure in black and golden armor pass through the door frame. The figure apears tall with long black hair, a golden chestplate, shoulder guards and gauntlets. Astaroth grins behind his mask, his eyes narrowing.


    "Lord Azazel... I see you have arrived... Perhaps you could''ve knocked?" Astaroth jokes slightly but Azazel continues to stare at him coldly, "do you think you are deserving of such a gesture?" He asks, and Astaroth merely looks away, sweating slightly. Azazel looks at Helena briefly, Helena strains her eyes, lifting her head up with some difficulty.


    "Why... Are you here... Father...?" She says, her voice hoarse while Azazel does not respond, only staring at her with a sharp glare, although he seems cold he feels a strange feeling in his heart... Is it perhaps regret...? Or maybe sadness? He doesn''t understand it either and just continues to stare.


    "Well... I''ll leave you two alone, i have some unfinished business to attend to urgently." Astaroth says and quickly walks out of there.


    Ezra and Yue stand in front of an extremely tall wall, while Qiang is laying below a tree with his arms behind his head, Yue shoots a spell at the wall, cutting a part of it but the wall regenerates, as if it took no damage in the first place. Qiang snickers, "give up, the wall ain''t budgin''!"


    "I have to save Helena, i will not stop until i do and i will not let the same thing happen again!" Ezra shouts in a furious tone, remembering the day of his sister''s murder makes his blood boil further.


    "No need to get mad, i am only statin'' facts. No matter what you do, the wall heals so why don''t you rest up and think of another solution?" Qiang suggest with a chuckle, seemingly uncaring about the whole situations, "i also wanna help Helena but this ain''t doin'' anything"


    Yue sighs, "what other way is there? I can''t teleport past it, the wall is disrupting my Manna and we can''t phase through it either..." She sighs, defeated and turns around, starting to walk towards Qiang until the wall collapses fully into a giant puddle of water on the ground, Ezra and Yue turn around with in confusion which quickly turns into fear as they see Astaroth standing on the other side of the puddle, he doesn''t say anything only takes off his theater mask to reveal a grin on his face.


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 18: The Judge

    As Astaroth grins and removes his mask he draws his sword, throwing the mask onto the ground, Qiang follows suit, drawing the dagger he was given by Fa Jin while Ezra also summons his golden chain whip. Yue attemps to activate her Vanguard but she is immediatelly impaled in the chest with the longsword


    Ezra swings with his whip and with a single slash of Astaroth''s sword the whip is destroyed. Qiang dashes towards Astaroth, who creates swords above his head which fly towards Qiang, making him back away in surprise upon seeing the swords dissolve into water once they hit the ground.


    Qiang stares in shock, standing across from Astaroth while Ezra faces his back, "one down." He says, "honestly, defeating the strongest opponent so easily is very disapointing..." He slashes towards Qiang and water gushes out of his sword''s tip in a slashing pattern. Meanwhile, Azazel is standing before Helena, his expression neutral as he stares down at her body, laying on the ground naked.


    "Have you anything to say to me, father? Or do you merely come here to see me in this miserable state?" She says, taking deep breaths between words to try and calm down her pain, Azazel continues to look at her silently, "i came to say my farewell to you." He finally says, to which Helena chuckles in pain. "i hate you, so you shouldn''t have visited... You gave me trauma i barely recovered from as ''training'' so you can go fuck yourself..."


    "It made you stronger, child, you knew escape was impossible and yet you still ran, i have to say this fate is deserved." He replies while Helena stays quiet, "and yet, my dear daughter, this is still merciful compared to what Lord Lucifer would''ve done..."


    Astaroth''s battle continues until a cut from Qiang''s dagger takes Astaroth''s arm, Astaroth stares at wound which had started regenerating. Once his whole arm had regenerated he chuckles, looking impressed while he speaks to Qiang, "how interesting... I can tell you''re blind and yet you fight at a level higher than most other pigs with weak Manna, hwhere  that possible?" Qiang laughs, "you thought i''d be easy to kill? For a Principle, you seem quite dense." Astaroth''s eyes narrow slightly at that, Ezra slashes with his whip but Astaroth cuts it again with his sword.


    "what an annoying duo these two are... The blond boy boy is supporting with his whip and wide range of spells while the older man''s dexterity and usage of that dagger gives me too much trouble... I suppose i''ll kill the kid first!" Astaroth thinks to himself and dashes towards Ezra, he swings his sword to slash him but is flies to the side. His eyes widen after standing up, seeing a tree next to him and Qiang sitting on the trunk of the tree, his dagger resting on his shoulder while he is grinning.


    "Your fight is with me, brat, lets keep it that way." He laughs and stands up, dashing towards Astaroth who blocks the dagger and shatters the blade of his longsword. He jumps back and scoffs, rolling his eyes as he throws the longsword away and puts his hand forward.


    "I hereby summon forth, Sword of Justice!" He says, his eyes closed while a longsword apears in his hand, the blade of the sword pale blue, the handle being a dark blue color while at the bottom of the handle having scales hanging below. Qiang stares in shock as the scales tip onto the side. "How do you like it? It''s a beautiful weapon, capable of instantly killing all that is unjust."


    Qiang laughs, "you think a thing like that scares me?" He dashes and immediatelly disarms Astaroth, he then immediatelly stabs Astaroth in the chest. The next second though, the sword again apears in Astaroth''s hand and is now piercing Qiang''s chest. He pulls the blade out and Qiang falls down to the ground, a wide smile now on the Principle''s face.


    "Two down."


    He dashes towards Ezra, slashing down with the sword, Ezra swings his arm and Manna gathers like wind around his body, the sword of justice is blow out of Astaroth''s hand while Ezra immediatelly uses a "Flatus" to blow a hole in his chest. He jumps back a second after, in his eyes burns a flame of determination, the sword returns to Astaroth''s hand and his chest wound heals. He looks into Ezra''s eyes which still give off an ember glow due to his Manna.


    "How annoying of you... What even is Helena to you...?" Astraroth asks in annoyance, "You and your useless little friends have barely known her for a month and yet you still waste your life to help her? How pathetic!" He laughs.


    Ezra grits his teeth, "so? What''s your point? A month is more then enough time for friendship! Plus... She reminds of someone i used to know..." Astraroth sighs at that dashes again at Ezra who uses a spell and phases through Astaroth, leaving only a slight scratch on his arm Ezra again blows him away with a spell into a tree.


    Astraroth gets up and smirks, "he can change his spell type? Thats quite a level of mastery..." He thinks to himself. Ezra then looks at his wound which confuses him, if he used phase then he wouldn''t be injured? It makes zero sense for the scratch to be there! Astaroth notices his confusion and chuckles, "what, did you think that spell you used was gonna save you? You dumbass!" He holds back a laugh. "Allow me to give you a heads up, child... The sword cannot miss. Every strike, regardless of defense, shields or anything similar, will connect to the target. Furthermore, a sword designed by the judge of all that is unholy to extrerminate sin and sinner alike will have an effect, regardless of the size of the wound."


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    Ezra stands confused before he immediatelly falls to the ground while screaming in pain, tears in his eyes. The pain almost as if he got his arm severed off. Astaroth walks over to Ezra with a deep chuckle, pointing his sword downwards while Ezra slowly looks up at him, "why... Do this...?" Ezra asks, his voice strained.


    "Why? Allow me to ask you the same thing. Why do this for someone who you had known only for a few weeks...? Why not roll over and die already, worm?" Astaroth says with a look of disgust.


    "I do this because it''s right... She deserves better! She deserves to live!" Ezra yells, his had already stopped bleeding.


    "Are you sure...? See, this simply shows how little you know about her and the things she had done as a Principle!" Astaroth laughs, "i''d say she has killed a lot more than me! You see, you are a mere nobody, a naive child that doesn''t understand anything."


    Ezra seems to look down and contemplate something, "i... I know... But she wishes to change..."


    "Change? And how exactly will that happen? I don''t think killing thousands is something you can attone for on a mere whim. In this world, you are either born to do good or to do evil. That''s why i believe you should''ve rolled over and died. There is no place for villains like yourself in the new world of Lucifer''s creation."


    "And... How are you not evil? You kill and destroy, is that not evil...?" Ezra stands up and his eyes narrow, annoyance growing in him.


    "Oh, those are insignificant lives that i, as a judge, should have the right to end." He grins as he sees Ezra''s anger, "i don''t care about you, or Helena, you both are sinners who''s life shouldn''t exist, genetic mistakes. I''m doing the world a favor by ending the lives of both of you... Helena may be my sister but she will not get special treatement."


    "S- sister...?" Ezra grits his teeth, "you... Would hurt your own family, you sick fuck?!" He lunges at Astaroth, his fist and eyes glowing with Manna. Astaroth sighs as he sees Ezra rush at him and rapidly cuts Ezra across the chest in an X pattern, telling Ezra to not get in his family business before picking up his mask again and walking away.


    The sun is now raised in the middle of the sky, indicating it is already noon while Fa Jin is preparing to leave to the towards the Capital alone, the family which had taken him and his siblings in along with Ezra had prepared gifts for his journey along with some supplies to help him, thanking him for his help around the house while their young daughter who looks around five or six years old gifts him a singular flower which puts a smile on his face, he didn''t like the family since they were ordinary and he could tell they were weak people, but after some time in this village he enjoys his time here.


    He bows slightly and thanks her, he looks out of the window to see children laughing and playing, they seem to dance leasurely. He looks away to his backpack as he packs some stuff but is interrupted by a sound of something hitting the window and crying from the little gorl next to him. He looks over at the source of the sound and see a severed arm of a child on the window, staining the glass with blood.


    He tells the girl to leave before he takes his sword and runs outside only to see a pool of blood where the children were playing with only bits of meat left of the children. He grits his teeth and looks over at a roof of a house and sees a young tan girl with blonde hair and a Vanguard in the shape of a flower across her eyes as she holds the severed head of an adult man in one hand and in her other a sword made of Manna with a sinister smile on her face. Fa Jin stares at the girl, who looks to be no more that fifteen or sixteen years old, and he readies his weapon, taking note of her Vanguard.


    "Realm: Endless Flower Garden." Fa Jin''s realm envelops the both of them as they now stand face to face with only a few meters difference between them.


    Meanwhile, Astaroth is walking down the steps to the basement where Helena is kept locked up, the theater mask still covering his face and the Sword of Justice in his hand as he steps in front of her.


    "You two had a nice chat? I apologize for leaving, but i had to take care of a few... Nuisances..."


    "And what would that be?" Azazel asks impatiently.


    "Intruders, the boy Ezra and Yue who caused our lord Lucifer much trouble have been defeated. Now... All that remains is this rotten whore..." He says with a chuckle, looking over at Helena before raising his sword above his head.


    Azazel looks at her with a grim expression, looking down with an almost sad look. Once he swings the Sword of Justice, the sword ends up blocked by Azazel''s sword, to which Astaroth looks shocked and angry.


    "What is the meaning of this, Azazel?!" He screams, "i take it this is treachery, no? What do you think Lord Lucifer will say when he finds out you stopped my blade?!"


    "You''re right... I suppose... I apologize, i let my feelings and emotions get in the way." He pulls his sword back and sheathes it while Astaroth prepares for another strike, Helena closes her eyes and prepares for the slash but the slash never comes. Upon opening her eyes again she sees Astaroth on the ground by a wall and Qiang cutting the chains that bind her legs, she looks at Yue who is pointing her bow at Azazel while he stands unfazed by the events.


    Qiang brings her over to a table, putting her earrings back on and her arms start to slowly regenerate again, Qiang then holds her and comforts her as she begins to silently cry. Yue still points a bow, now alternating between pointing it at Azazel and Astaroth who is just now standing up.


    "Where is the boy?!" Astaroth yells towards Yue but she simply chuckles, "oh, Ezra? Don''t worry, he''ll show up when the time is right."


    "How the hell are even alive?!"


    "Don''t underestimate a healer, and always double-check your kills." She gives a sly smile.


    "How amusing..." Azazel says, scratching his chin, "but don''t think i can let you leave alive..."


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 19: Absolute Justice

    Fa Jin stands across from the young girl, surrounded by the endless seas of flowers giving of a pleasant, although synthetic, aroma of carried by a gentle breeze and a scorching sun above reminiscent of a summer''s day. The aura of the realm seeming slightly different than in his fight with Ezra.


    The petite lady stands in awe at the flowers, her gaze blank as she stares off into the empty space but a strong kick to her side knocks her out of her trance. She stands up a second after and runs off across the flower fields, following the flow of a river flowing throughout endlessly. Fa Jin calmly walks towards the flowing stream and touches the water.


    "Magnetise." He commands and a type of electricity runs through the river. Fa Jin moves his hand and the water moves around the girl and restrains her, holding her in the air.


    He slowly strolls over to her, his eyes still glow blue with Manna and a slight smirk rests on his face, he grows closer and closer, reaching out with his large curved sword and pressing it on her neck, "now talk." He commands sternly.


    The girl squirms and moves around, unable to break free from the water that binds her in the air, not even answering his question as she grunts and groan, using her full power to splatter the water away, however, the water barely even ripples. Fa Jin stares at her with narrowed eyes and sighs, "speak, i will not ask again." He commands once again, now in a louder tone. The girl stops moving, a crimson aura surrounding her small frame while her Vanguard glows red along with her eyes. She suddenly looks down at him, her sclera dark as night while she clenches her fists and grits her teeth.


    "Who are you to command me?" She breaks away from the water, scattering the droplets everywhere, making it rain for a moment before lunging forward and slashing with her sword. After getting dodged, she repeats but Fa Jin continues to effortlessly block and evade her attacks and they exchange blows, during their altercation, Fa Jin manifests blue markings on his eyelids and and the sides of his face in tandem with his glowing blue eyes.


    "Her raw power is extraordinary, but she is simply striking so barbarically, no rhyme or reason to her strikes, just full power attacks without any defense, does she wish to die?" He thinks to himself as he blocks her attacks, using Soul Vision, a spell which allows him to see Manna itself directly, he gazes towards the girl seeing giant waves of Manna rupture around her like an crimson aura that tears through the air like thunder. He shudders at the power the small girl is able to unleash and the readies his blade.


    Meanwhile in the courtyard of Astaroth''s palace, Ezra stands across from another middle aged man. Both their weapons in their hands, the man wielding two bright blue scythes while Ezra is panting, trying to catch his breath. He looks around, looking at the man and then at his feet, on the grounds of the courtyard lay dozens of men, all lifeless.


    "What is it, kid? Tired already?" The man looks at Ezra with a smug smile etched on his face, he points one of his scythes at his face. Ezra stands up straight and stretches, swinging the whip at the man who effortlessly dodges the chain.


    "What... What is your name... Old man?" Ezra says, circling him like a predator watching his prey. He swings multiple times with the whip but is dodged just as easily.


    "You can''t hit me with those sloppy strikes." The man chuckles, his voice slightly deep and raspy, still standing in one place with a smug look, "oh, child, names aren''t something that one gives out so easily." Ezra still persists, insisting the man give his name while continuing to strike with the chain-whip and the as the man dodges he refuses to give out his name, eventually, the man grows annoyed and blocks one of Ezra''s strikes.


    "Why is it that you wish to know my name?!" He yells slightly in annoyance.


    "Is it not common courtesy to know the name of your opponent?"


    "Opponent? This fight is far more one-sided than you make it out to be, child!"


    The sound of yelling catches their attention, coming from the palace, although they ignore it and focus on their own fight. In the palace, however, Yue is still pointing the bow towards Astaroth and Azazel who stands unfazed.


    "Come, Principle of Justice, let us settle this!" Qiang yells out again, Astaroth takes a mere step forward before being kicked out of the basement of the palace, a kick powerful enough to send him flying through the walls of the palace into the backyard. Qiang follows suit and jumps out, landing next to him.


    "Your power is extraordinary... You must have a great sense of Manna to be able to enhance your body is such a fashion. Fine, then! I shall fell you, here and now!" He summons the sword of justice with the chant.


    "Let us take this outside, woman." Azazel unsheathes his sword picking Yue up by the collar of her white robe and bringing her onto the roof of the palace.


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    Helena stays in the basement in a fetal position, hugging her knees in shock at the events unfolding before her, while Ezra is still tirelessly fighting the old man in the courtyard. By now, the large, grand gate is in ruins along with most of the decorative objects in the courtyard. Both the old man and he are panting, trying to catch their breath, their weapons fading slightly due to a lack of Manna.


    "Old man... Ready for the final blow...?" Ezra says, lifting the handle of his whip, standing up straight and trying to mask his exhaustion.


    "Of course... I gotta say, it was fun fighting you, however annoying that is for me to say..." He chuckles and raises his dual scythes. They both rush at each other, the old man swings a scythe that passes right through Ezra due to a spell. Once he realises what happened, he turns and prepares a "flatus" but Ezra whip ends up searing him, branding the mark of chains along his left shoulder and back.


    The man then swings with his other scythe to break Ezra''s whip, Ezra steps back and sigh, his eyes glow and his hair flares up, he swirls around with the remaining chain and chants: "Manna output, one hundred percent!" He extends the whip with Manna mid-swirl, creating a maelstrom of golden light that reduces the old man into red mist, creating a crater following the attack''s pattern.


    The chain whip dissappears and Ezra sighs, falling to his knees with a weary expression. He looks forward at the palace and tries to walk forward but his legs give out completely. With a grunt of pain due to injuries, he crawls towards the palace, slowly moving on the ground, hearing the sounds of battle in the palace''s direction.


    In the palace backyard, Qiang readies his dagger and Astaroth his sword; and they both clash their blades, water surging around the both of them as they swing in unison. Helena sits couped up under a table with a fearful, traumatized expression on her face. On the roof of the palace, however, stand Yue and Azazel across from each other. Yue releases her bow string, sending an arrow flying towards Azazel who stands unfazed looking at her with an indifferent expression as the arrow melts down onto the ground and the air heats up around him and then burst aflame.


    He swings with his katana, sending a slash of fire towards Yue who easily dodges. Astaroth down on the ground is continuing to battle with Qiang, but even with the sword of justice, the battle goes nowhere.


    Astaroth huffs and jumps back, coating himself into a cocoon of water, Qiang stands confused, unable to see any Manna resonating from Astaroth anymote.


    "Huh... What is this now?" He laughs, "i suppose you would have more tricks up your sleeve, Principle of Justice..."


    The cocoom bursts open, revealing a slightly taller being, wings made of pearly white feathers on his back, clothes resembling armor with shoulder pads and a leather chestplate, his thighs having metal plates as well while on his head is a broken crown, on half missing and the other heavily damaged and on his wrist are golden scales, hanging from his wrist by rope. His face looks non-existant, instead, there sits a mask with no holes for eyes, nose or mouth. On the sides of his head, however, are two faces, on one side is a face representing sadness and on the other is a face representing happiness.


    The happy face speaks, it constantly sounds as if it will burst into laughter any second, and although its mouth opens as it speaks, its eyes remain closed.


    "How beautiful, a warrior like you is rarely seen, now i shall show you the true power of Justice!" the face laughs and the sword of justice is lifted high in the air and with a swing, water slashes towards Qiang who is ready to block the attack, Helena rushes in and blocks the strike with her wing, already in her true form.


    The eyes of the two faces snap open as they catch sight of Helena, their mouths opening with a shocked expression and their eye sockets empty, only void behind them. They shout in a screeching voice "Sinner!". As that happens, Astaroth finds himself in a pitch-black place, a void that surrounds everything, and a loud, echoing voice is heard, a scratchy but dignified sounding male voice that seems to be telling him to let go, to relish control, a voice deep in his subconscious.


    Helena and Qiang stare at Astaroth, seeing his faceless mask start to crack and shatter, revealing a face of a man i his twenties, a face with no imperfections, as if the most perfect being to ever live and the long hair that spread down to Astaroth''s knees, which was pitch-black, becomes as pale as moonlight. Helena stands up straight and asks him who he is to which he responds "I am Astaroth." with that same dignified and scratchy voice as before, only now, as if three people are speaking at once.


    The sound of the voice makes Azazel turn his head towards him, looking at him with wide eyes, "Ajax, you fool!" He yells and Helena looks shocked as well for a moment as she realises what has happened but her shock is quickly replaced by anger and resentment. She summons a blast of water from her palm that is deflected away with a single wave of Astaroth''s palm, making it splatter across the ground and eat away at the grass and dirt like acid.


    She makes her water form a shape of a giant sword that she casts down towards The Principle of Justice who dodges the attack with a side step. Once his feet make contact with the ground again he feels wetness surround his whole body, Helena had covered the ground in water and brought it upwards to eradicate him with a single attack. As the water covers his body and begins to melt and burn his skin, he doesn''t let out even a whimper of pain and upon the water''s dissappearance he heals all his injuries as if they didn''t even happen.


    Helena steps back in shock, "No Principle can regenerate from my water..." She says quietly, almost whispering which makes Astaroth laugh.


    "Principle? What is that? Is that what that runt, Lucifer, calls you these days?" He steps closer to her, "and what was that about ''your power''? Don''t provoke me, pretender!" He grabs her by her face and slams her into the ground, shattering one of her wings while she blast his chest with water, sending him back, forcing him to heal once again.


    "I may not be at my full strength but this girl is an easy target still... But she is using my power from a thousand years ago... It''s tricky to overcome..." He think to himself before the scales tied to his wrist tip to the right and he lifts his arm in the air, drops of blood falling onto the ground below as the chains of on his wrist tighten until blood bursts outwards.


    "Authority of Genesis, Absolute Justice!"


    TO BE CONTINUED...

 Ch. 19: Embodiment of Justice

    "Authority of Genesis, Absolute Justice!" Astaroth''s blood spills down onto the ground and lands on the scales.


    In that moment, Qiang steps in front of Helena with his dagger in a fighting stance. With a small smirk, Astaroth walks forward and swings the sword of Justice in his right hand only to get blocked by Qiang''s dagger and is stabbed, making Astaroth jump back, the dagger having only ricocheted off his skin and leaving no wounds or cuts.


    In that moment, Qiang understood what has happened, his attacks had grown stronger and faster and his skin thicker and more durable. In this moment, he was not fighting with the Principle of Justice any longer. No. Something worse, something far more malevolent. On the roof of the now almost destroyed palace stands Yue with Azazel, both of them taking eyes off their fight and looking over at the battle below, looking at the new form Astaroth took.


    Astaroth takes a few steps back and turns around, begining to chant: "oh, rivers of life, oh vile sinners... Bathing in the pool of dispair, birthing divine resentment... Be cleansed with the rivers endless flow and berid of your suffering; bask in the flame of repentance..." Large scales materialise from water in front of him, a large key-hole in the center. "Realm: Embodiment of Justice." He puts the sword inside the key-hole and rotates it ninety degrees, blue energy surging around his body as the scales dissolve onto the ground.


    Realm, embodiment of justice, instead of summoning a realm and dividing space, it instead summons the realm that, once the ability is activated, allows the user the power of the realm without sacrificing large amounts of energy or summoning a wide landscape. The ability''s activation now ensures that the power the sword of Justice once held is now imbued into Astaroth''s entire physical form, making every single strike of water or his fists to be as lethal as piercing someone''s heart directly. On top of that, his ability "Authority of Genesis, Absolute Justice" allows Astaroth to always have an edge over his opponent, allowing him to always be stronger, faster and more durable, as long as he, deep in his subconsious, believes the person he is fighting is evil.


    This fact alone is why he is considered to be the greatest fighter among the Principles, second only to Azazel.


    Despite the apparent increase in Astaroth''s power, Qiang still remains rooted in the ground with a grin on his face. Helena stands behind him, her left wing slowly reconstructing itself and regrowing the crystaline structures.


    Qiang grounds himself, his dagger in reverse grip as he simply stares at Astaroth with his empty eyes, sensing, almost even seeing his manna fluctuate. Astaroth creates a spear and slashes down towards Qiang who dodges masterfully, each attack thrown at him is blocked and evaded as if he had recieved a divine gift of precognition.


    "This man is supposed to be blind?" Astaroth thinks to himself, noticing his own speed and strength increase doesn''t seem to change a single thing in their fight, he is getting predicted by this blind man he thought of as a bug he could easily crush, who is even fighting against him on equal footing?


    "Commendable." He says, stepping back, "you truly have peeked my interest." He lifts his arm up and steel rods come out of the ground, impaling Qiang in his back and dissappearing the next second. Astaroth chuckles and steps closer to Qiang, "just as i thought..."


    Qiang lifts his head up before promptly falling to his knees, "what...?" He says, his voice strained and weak.


    "You''re blind, and yet you can sense my movements... It took me some time to figure it out but i realised you used Manna to ''see'' your opponents and even predict attacks. And so, i used an attack with no Manna to injure you." Astaroth laughs, "clever, huh? It would be enough to kill you instantly if my realm had taken effect, however, it didn''t..." He seems perplexed for a moment.


    "Perhaps i am so righteous the sword didn''t recognise me as a sinner, huh?" Qiang jokes before standing up, "as you can see, i can still fight!" he looks back at Helena who is still injured, "and you will not reach her, even if i must die!" Astaroth''s eyes widen at his honorable words and he chuckles, begining to percieve Qiang almost like a chivalrous knight, a warrior who fights with honor no matter the cost.


    "You... Are truly a beautiful person..." Astaroth cuts off Qiangs arm with a second spear falling from the sky and then kicks him into the wall of the palace, knocking him unconscious before he turns his attention to Helena.


    Helena, however, seems to have been prepared; her hands in front of her body, her palms open and between them a perpetually growing bubble of water. "Hydrokinesis, supreme art!" She chants in preparation which makes Astaroth step back in fear. She puts her hands into the bubble but before she is able to release the attack, Azazel steps between them to prevent their altercation.


    Helena lets the bubbles dissipate as she looks at Azazel who grabs her roughly by her wrist, a scarlet red eye opening in space, like the sky itself is divided by a portal with a lone crow flying above as Helena falls into the eye and dissappears from sight as it closes. Azazel turns to the opponent before him, Astaroth, who seems smug as he sees Azazel with sword in hand.


    "Oh, lord of war, could it be your daughter softened your battle hungry heart?" He says, the faces on the side of his head then begin to laugh, taunting the Principle of Order.Stolen story; please report.


    Astaroth then blinks and upon opening his eyes he is met with Azazel''s sword piercing his chest and blood gushing down his whole body. He furiously flaps his angelic wings which begin to slowly melt away along with his arms, clothes, faces and legs. The sword apears to glow red from the heat of Azazel''s hand.


    On the rooftop of the palace, Yue is charging an arrow towards both the Principles, chanting the words; "Manna output, sixty percent!", her hair glows red and her Vanguard glows more brightly than ever as she releases the bow string and sends the arrow flying towards them both. The crimson arrow nearly reaches Azazel as he is prepared to dodge but when he tries to jump he falls downwards, the "eye" opening beneath them and teleporting them away. The arrow continues to fly, however, and eventually hits the ground, redirecting the force of the Manna upwards and creating a wave of Manna that eviscerates an entire section of the forest, leaving nothing behind except scorched earth.


    The palace dissappears after, making Yue descend down to the ground. She manages to break her fall with a mobility spell and looks around to see that only water remains of the palace, along with its courtyard.


    "Miss Yue! That was incredible!" Ezra screams out while running towards her and hugging her, "you''re not hurt, right?"


    She chuckles heartily, "of course not." She pats him on his head, he is quite a bit shorted than her. She looks towards Qiang, who is unconscious on the floor, walking over to check and heal his wounds.


    She uses "Regeneratus", healing all his injuries but he doesn''t immediatelly wake up, which makes her sigh. "The injuries that Principle inflicts... They''re very difficult to heal... And it''s chilling to know he is only the fifth of the Principles..."


    "Yeah... But you had no trouble defeating Belial, right? How powerful could a lower rank be?" Ezra says in confusion.


    "In raw power, Belial had me beat by a long shot, the only reason i had won our fight is due to her inexperience. She must''ve been so used to assasinations that she had no real battle experience."


    "Heh... I guess that means i can beat her too, right?" Ezra says smugly.


    "Absolutely not. Every single one of the Principles is far more powerful than you." She slaps his shoulder but grins slightly, "don''t worry, though... I will teach you once we get to the capital, okay?"


    He sighs loudly, "fine..." He says, tired as if he hadn''t slept for days. He then looks slightly worried as he stares back to Yue, "where is Helly...?"


    "Helly? You''re that close to her already?" She chuckles but her expression suddenly turns grim, "we don''t know, the Principle took her away but we will get her back, i can promise you that."


    "I see... I swear, if they hurt her..." He clenches his fists at his sides while gritting his teeth.


    "Don''t worry, i believe they''re not trying to injure her... With that said, i''m not sure what they''re plan is with her... I believe you said she was a former Principle?"


    "Yes... She was..."


    "I suppose they might try and make her rejoin them? But who knows, let''s focus on getting to the Capital and we''ll plan from there, i mean, Johan is still missing, right? Now we have to rescue Helena and find Johan."


    Yue picks up Qiang, carrying his large body on her shoulder while with her free hand she summons a clone with Manna, giving it an order to find Fa Jin and tell him to leave immediatelly for the Capital. The clone then runs off through the woods faster than any human can manage.


    Ezra stares at Yue in amazement, "what spell is that?! Did you invent it?!" Making Yue chuckle due to his naivete. "No, no, it''s a very widely known but difficult spell, i might teach you one day."


    "Then did you invent any spells?" She chuckles again at Ezra''s question, "Of course, regeneratus, which is a regeneration spell, and i also invented a decay spell that works on a similar principle as regeneratus but just the opposite. I''ll explain it to you when the time comes." She then spaces out for a moment, thinking of what Fa Jin is doing at the moment.


    Meanwhile, at the village, Fa Jin stands across the young tan girl, a gash on her shoulder. His sword drenched in blood and his realm collapsed, he looks into her eyes before an "Eye" opens beneath her, enveloping her entire body before closing again. Fa Jin jumps back a little in shock, his form sweaty and exhausted from the previous battle that unfolded. He looks to the roof of a house and sees a crow, a red glowing eyes on its forehead, its eyes seem to look at nothing as if completely dead while the eye on its forehead looks around the village. If you gaze long enough at the crow, it begins to apear rotten, as if it is already dead.


    "Ew... What a strange bird..." Fa Jin exclaims.


    "Be not afraid." The crow speaks, making Fa Jin''s eyes widen. He points his sword at it, some blood dripping from the edge. "I knew something was off... What is this? Possesion of corpses?"


    "You can tell? I''m impressed."


    "Who are you, then? A human? A demon? An Immortal?"


    "Neither, i am the Principle of Enlightenment."


    Fa Jin scoffs and lowers his sword towards the ground, while staring at the crow, "why did you come here in that state, afraid i''d defeat you?"


    "On the contrary, i also simply had no reason to. As you saw, i came to collect the vessel, i had no intention to come seeking conflict or battle." Fa Jin continues to glare at the crow before it speaks again, "if you desire to fight me, be patient, that time will come in the near future." The eye on the crow closes and it falls of the roof, now as an inanimate corpse.


    Meanwhile, Astaroth is awakening in a carriage on a trail, next to him is Helena and Azazel is sitting near the window. Astaroth looks at the both of them, now in his normal state, feeling shocked and disoriented.


    "I see you came with us, huh sister?" He says, coughing a little, "Lord Lucifer has a lot to tell you, you see..."


    She grits her teeth, "how did the people of Seelvia not rebel already, under such tyranical rule?!"


    "How? Well, Lucifer masqueraded and took the form of the now former Grandmaster of seelvia and created a device that was linked with his blood. He used the influence and trust people had in the former Grandmaster and used it to make the people wear the device and those that refused were shot. Obviously, everyone chose to wear it which made the device connect with their subconscious mind and made them all adore Lucifer and his beliefs, therefore, he controls the population and even the whole millitary of the country which fights for him without a second thought! Is he not a genius?" He laughs, "sometimes, i can''t help but think what a mastermind he is!"


    "So, why go through all the trouble of taking me away?" She looks at him with a hateful glare.


    "Well... It''s for a mission Lucifer has prepared for us, Principle rank four and rank six will be there, and of course, you are there will be there as the final step. Just be patient, sis!


    TO BE CONTINUED...