《Star Ocean》 Prologue - Beginnings Year 2354 A.D Humanity, climbing out of the ashes of the fires if nuclear war joined hands in piece. They joined hands and formed a single global power under 1 language and 1 rule. It was the birth of United Earth Alliance With military expenses pretty much cut a lot of money got thrown into discovery and exploration Year 2365 A.D Scientists have found a way to minipulate and harness the Higs Boson Higs Boson Is an elementary particle in quantum physics that impart mass to other atoms by taking it from another. Year 2393 A.D Scientists at the Global Space Agency, using the Higs Boson made the first FTLT engine. The faster you go the heavier you get. It''s because of this law that objects cannot move at the speed of light. Because the object will keep getting heavier and heavier. Using the Higs Boson, scientists could transfer the mass of the ship and the mass gained to the space in front of the oject. The space in front of them wich got more massive over time will pull the object wich weighs almost nothing towards it. Because the field of mass will always be in from of the object, the object will always move. The faster the object moved the more massive the space in front of them got. The more massive the space in front of them got the faster the object moved. Scientists have dubbed dubbed phenomenon a Mass Effect. Year 1 GE (Galactic Erra) McArthy Donald successful tested faster than light travel engine (FTLT) launching a new erra for humanity. This has become a first global holiday called Year 1. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Year 23 GE Humanity has discovered Intelligent Life on planet X-21A. A committee us formed in response to this news. It was called the Galactic Affair Year 24 GE Negotiations between the indigenous lifeforms and the GA broke down Year 25 GE First war of the new erra The indigenous habitants of the planet who were called Mizu. They had the same level of technology as Earth in 2000. It was a one sided slaughter. Year 27 GE The entity known as the Galactic Alliance was made known. The Galactic Alliance consisted of top 300 races. They had many rules and regulations and they expected Humans who were still in their infancy to follow. They forbid any interaction with civilizations that have not attained FTLT. Humanity In their ignorance broke this rule and altered the history of a race. This is also the years that humbled the UEA. Half of their fleet sent to the planet X-2A1 were destroyed in seconds. Year 132 GE Humanity have secured a seat at the Galactic Alliance Year 547 GE A UEA''s special agent recruit is heading for A-28B in the Eta Carinae Nebula to a terraformed planet for his final examination. When his transport ship experiences a anomily. It''s blasted out of the Mass effect field and into uncharted space where it cash lands on a unknown planet. Chapter 1 A brave new world Note: I obviously suck at writing. I''m doing it mainly for fun. I''m rewriting it from chapter 1 The world of Astral, once, in a forgotten age, a great cataclysm had occurred here. The world shattered and millions of people have said to have died. Nearly 2 species were nearly completely annihilated. The elves took the brunt of the magic cataclysm and when the dust settled only 42,000 elves survived. All of them happened to be outside their homeland when the great cataclysm occurred. In those days the Grand Elven Empire sat at the world¡¯s head with no rival in sight. They had a great elemental affinity and formed contracts with an elemental spirit that came from the plain beyond. A great barrier separated these two plains. The plains beyond was that of gods and elements. Like the elves, the beast men only fared slightly better. Their lands bordered with the elves and when the cataclysm happened nearly 5 million beast men were instantly killed. Only 210,000 beast men survived. The two most powerful races were nearly wiped out. No one knows how the Grand City of Ethos looked, but legends say that it was located in paradises, surrounded by mist. The grand golden towers overshadowed any mountain in view and it truly looked divine. A city of gold and pearl In contrast, the beast men lived with nature inside hollowed great trees. They have super strength, speed, and agility. Many become a 4th rank warrior by their sixteenth year. Their unity with nature allows them to tame wild beasts alike. Waverns which looks something like a flying stingray were the pride and joy with their practice. A wavernis a peculiar creature that rides the air current. It''s flat wide body would often be tattooed in tribal markings. In beast men culture, your honor as a warrior was measured by the beast you tame. The human empire was virtually untouched. Only 53,000 humans died in the bordering town, mostly died due to large hordes of stampeding monsters. With great destruction comes great rebirth. The Great Cataclysm has torn through the barrier and a rift. It was like a never-ending sea of darkness that spirals. It was as if it would swallow the whole existence. With the world shattered, people began to despair. They called the dark swirling mass the world eater. But instead of death, something miraculous emerged. Manna. It took a while for people to notice, but soon they discovered that pure manna smothered the world of Astral. It created mass mutations across the spectrum. Babies with dark skin and red eyes began to be born with inert manna. They were shunned as abominations and the Great Demon Race was born. After countless battles, the humans and the demons reached a truce. Demon race was too powerful to defeat and the human race were too many. The demons agreed to stay in the north and both races learned how to live with each other. Some were born with such a great inert manna that when they reached adolescence, they would slowly transform into an elemental. They became known as Fey. They left their homes behind to avoid the same fate of the demons who suffered before. They began to live one with nature and soon large villages deep in the forests were erected. There were other more substantial mutations. There were some who upon mutating lost their mind. They were called Fiends and they are considered an A class monster. Many monstrosities were created in such a manner. It was not only humanoid creatures that experienced mutations. Great lizards especially had it good. Normally, large lizards get their energy from the sun¡¯s radiation. They are cold blooded and all. After the great calamity, many great lizards underwent a brand new phenomenon called manna crystallization. Because the lizards accumulated way more manna than they could possibly spend by laying in the sun, the manna began to condense and crystals began to appear on their scales. Over the next few hundred years, the lizard would slowly become encased in a brilliant Chrystal. After 1000 years of slumber, a dragon would break free and emerge from its crystal cocoon. It is truly a mighty being of magic that can rival even the gods. Its monster rank is SSS+. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Now 7,000 years after the calamity a world of Astral is dominated by the human race. Outside of the Lands of Azure, the non-humans got discriminated against. Many fell victim to slavers. Land of Azure is the 2nd greatest empire and is a kingdom of magic. The kingdom lays atop a shattered land that floats in the sky. The abysmal amount of manna coming out creates a field of negated gravity for thousands of miles around. Manna has seeped into every fiber of this land. After countless eons, manna crystallization had formed towering spires throughout the floating land. Demon Continent, City of Mar. Many people crowded the streets of the city of Mar. though it is not as grand as the demon¡¯s capital, it still is grand in its own right. After the war with the humans 3 thousand years ago the demon race underwent a reform. The time of hiding inside caves amongst the magma was over. The demons got what they fought for. Peace. Today was a day that they celebrate their liberty and freedom. Countless sounds of laughter, as well as the sounds of music, can be heard. The demon continent has been without a king for nearly 1000 years. Now the demon empire and its 2 cities are run by the council of 9. 9 archdemons who hold vast power. If a member of the council was labeled as a monster by the hunter¡¯s association, then each Archdemon would rank at a solid S++. Suddenly the night became day and soon the music and laughter died down as everyone dropped what they were doing to look at the spectacle above. All looked in amazement and wonder as a giant majestic blaze like trail streaked across the sky. Nothing withinit''s likeness has ever happened throughout all recorded history. Time seemed to stop as the whole demon continent gazed upon the light show above. In the city below. Woman- ¡°b-beautiful¡­¡± Old man ¡°by the gods¡­.¡± Guard- ¡°¡­¡­¡­..¡± ......... The crowds watched as the falling star made traced an arc through the night sky and plowed into the vast wilderness just over the horizon BOOOOM!!! A defining sound roared through the land, throwing everyone in the city towards the ground. Few recovered fast enough to see what happened. The fallen star broke through the air as if there was a barrier there. ¡°W-what was that!¡± a man¡¯s bewildered cry could be heard as he tried to look back up. He saw it just in time. Such a silent splendor. Thousands watched the silent impact. It was almost eerie. Then came a defining roar. The earth shook and a gale of wind formed by the shockwave of the impact blew few hundred people back. Few minutes later in the demon capital Eramor. Messenger - Lord! Council of 9 member - Report. What news doyou bring? Messenger ¨C ¡°An unknown object or spell fell through the sky. Luckily it missed Mar, but the surrounding vegetation has suffered greatly¡± Council Member ¨C Sur¡­.YOU FOOL! The messenger cringed Council Member ¨C ¡°Why would I be worried about few trees at a time like this?¡± Get my men ready! We depart immediately Messenger ¨C y-yes sir! World of Astral Creature Classified by size Lesser - lesser Draconic Lizard No Name - Draconic Lizard Greater ¨C Great Draconic Lizard Creature classified by power ¨C Standard rank [D-,D,D+, C-,C,C+,B-,B,B+,A-,A,A+,A++] Saint rank ¨C [S,SS,SSS,SSSS] Chapter 2 Lord of Terror Lord Aron was the 8th member of the Council of 9. He had an apearance of a 13 year old child and he would often get teased. But don''t be fooled; lord Aron is a true demon, both visious and brutal. His motto is "a battle avoided is a life saved." Not his life of course. He really didn''t like senseless killing. Its not that he valued life; its just that killing trash was like pulling weeds. It was a bothersome chore that he''s way too lazy to do. Hence he prefers to stay out of conflicts as it usually results in extra work. Before he killed the previous 8th council, Aron was often overlooked and belittled. He was treated like a child..that was until the previous lord tried to blackmail him. As you might imagine, no one dared to belittle him again. When he was still called a human, Lord Aron was just a few months shy of his 13th year. young Aron ventured off into the woods one day and fell into a subteranian laberinth. Until then, no one knew Labranths existed. Labranths are regions where manna crystallization occurred and has boiled over to the surface. Monsters then come in and eat the manna crystals. Over thousands of years, vast tunnel systems are formed. Sometimes the tunnels collapse, traping the monsters inside. Only 51 Labranths were unearthed. Lord Aron was traped in the manna dense labranth for nearly 100 years. When he finaly forced himself out he was an S class demon. He had very thin dark purple manna crystal shallow scales under his eyes and on the bridge of his nose. The scale patern widened past the nose and receded into his hairline. His hair was a brilliant white and it would emit a faint glow when it caught the moonlight. The same manna scales enveloped his forearms and faded into his dark grey skin as it got closer to his elbows. A diffrent chrystal the size of a football was embedded in his chest. It was blacker then any known black and it would turn the area around him a dark monochrome hue when his emotions ran amok. Aproaching the area where the fallen star landed, the scene was- Aron - "Remarkable!" Aron looked from his mount at the scene below. Utter devistation. Aron - "How many dragons do you think it would take to create such carnage" Captain Akira - "....all 5..... . ." When dragons first emirged from their chrystal cacoons few thousand years ago, they decimated the lands. Whole empires had to move underground when ever a dragon came near. After thousands of years they slowly died off from old age. The mutation that they first underwent thousands of years ago made them infertile. The 5 remaining dragons were wise and powerful beyond measure. Lord of the North - Dragon of Frost Lord of the South - Dragon of Storms Lord of the East - Dragon of Life Lord of the West - Dragon of Light Lord of the Land - Dragon of Darkness Aron - "....indeed you are right" Aron said as he looked at Akira. Akira was a demon of the newer generations. You looks few years younger than his age, which was 23. Dispite being so young still, Akira was a 6th rank Blade Caster. New generations of demons are demons that have been born in the last 30 years. They had pale skin and deep crimson eyes. Akira was riding his mount, which was custom bread, large flying lizard. After realizing that manna causes mutations they formed a whole process. These creates, who belonged to Lord Aron, took nearly 50 years to breed and are worth as much as a medium sized castle. Dragoons as they were called were a symbol of status, power and wealth. "Let''s get closer!" Aron yelled as he dive bombed with a screeching howl. "!" By the time Akira realised what was happening, Aron was already half a mile down. This was Captain''s Akira''s 4th time flying dragoons. He never went close to that speed. Akira took a deep breath and tried to swallow as his mouth became dry. "I really might die..." barely escaped his lips as his dragoon dove head first below "!....." Akira gritted his teeth as he tried his best to hold on. Wind howled past him, dethening him in the process. It was like the air itself tried to pull him loose. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. "Truely, these are lord Aron'' dragoons" Akira thought to himself. "No one but him could ride these beast" As Akira finally caught up to Lord Aron the dragoon evened out his speed and began to glide. The sudden change from severe turbulance to absolute tranquility made Akira loose track of his thoughts. He got lost in the moment "This is nice." He thought out loud Aron - "You can see it too? Look at it!" Akira - "See what?" He tried to look where Lord Aron was looking and squinted his eyes Arora - "I don''t thi- I don''t know what it is, buts it obviously devine. I have never seen such brilliant metal. "Come on, let''s take a closer look!" Aron exclaimed Seeing Aron so eager and exited made him seem child like. Akira couldn''t help but smile while observing Akira - "Sh...t-that was close" Akira said as he cough himself. "Gotta be careful....if Lord Aron found out, I might die" As they approached the object Akira could finally make out its shape. "A magic light stone?" The object before him had a brilliant shine. Looking at it was almost as bad as looking at the sun. It had a strange sheen to it. It was as if the whole object was constantly wet. Akira - "No...that''s no stone.....I really is was devine class metal" The object was round in size and it had a terrible metal sheen. The shine reflected the sun''s light all around it and disintegrated any level 4 monster or lower that roamed 50 meters to close to the object. "Stay here" Aron said as he began his approach As Aron aproached the round metal object the surrounding monsters scattered. Getting closer to the object, he experienced a pleasant sensation that he had not felt since he was still 12. "This is..." Aron stoper in his tracks. "S...I feel the sun''s..warmth?.." He couldn''t fight back the tears Aron hasn''t felt the sun''s warmth or the cool morning breeze for over 200 years. "What''s wrong?!" Akira shouted as concern filled his face Lord Aron was....crying? "I shall bring 5 his back to my castle" Aron declared. "Rever and Fletcher you can go back" he said as he looked at the two dragoons." They both turned around and flew off at break neck speeds. "Lord Aron" Akira called to him. "Why did you send them off?" "Have what I came for" he said "...so, why did you send them away?" Aron - "You don''t know?" Akira - "Know what?" Akira looked confused Aron face palms himself. After a brief silence he said "I shall have you taught proper" He said as a small smile permiated from his lips. Lord Jarvis, the 3rd council member had created many magical devices and methods. By aligning the gate that you want to go to with magical symbols placed on the ground then you can teleport anything withing the circle. No one knows exactly how it works, but apparently super powerful magical devices can distort and bend reality. This was baned outside of the demon continent because they felt that by messing with reality, they were challenging the gods. Aron finished setting up the magic symbols that linked to the gate inside his castle. "All set" he said as he could barely hold in his excitement. He looked like a child who couldn''t wait to open his Christmas presents. "Hurry" he motioned Akira to get closer "Ok, I''m comming" As soon as he got in the 50m range of the metal sphere, the referred light scorched his skin. It''s as if someone this time really stuffed him into an oven "Bare with it..." he told himself "L-lord,...huf,huf, c-an we leave already......" Akira was in a tribe state. His skin was emitting steam. Aron - "pfft, Akira, I bet you''re just dying to go.." Akira - "tha-that''s not.....funny.....I''m really d- Aron - "Finsihed!" A faint light encompased the area and the world stretched beneath their feet. They instantly got pulled in. BLINK Chapter 3: Hero in the Egg I was floating, and I say floating, because I couldn''t figure out my body positioning. I couldn''t even see my legs or any of my body parts! There is a white space in front of me. Nothing but sheer whiteness. No corners, no angles, nothing to tell me the size of the space I was in. I felt so infinitesimaly small compared to the endless white. I don''t know how much time has past since I''ve been here. I''ve been wondering; If I''m conceous than my Interplanetary Travel Pod, or ITP, should have woke me up....am I dead? No, I don''t think so; Religion has been proven false soon after we developed space travel so what is- (I WELCOME YOU..) What? The frightening voice bled me out of my deep though. All of my senses were at their limits; it was as if I was being crushed, no, overwhelmed. W-What in the world..... As I looked up, I became wide eyed... Like a drop of ink invading the crystalline pure water, it decended, becoming more vast by the second. I shudder; realising that it-what ever this was, engulfed the very space that made me feel my own insignificance. (CHILD...AMONG MY ENDLESS BOREDOM, YOU ARE THE ONLY INTRESTING THING TO HAPPEN SINCE....LONGER THAN I CAN REMEMBER....WHAT ARE YOU....WHERE DO YOU COME FROM) .... ...... I was to afraid to say anything. (.....) Then I suddenly saw the endless darkness begin swirl. It was like an endless storm before me. The winds howled in a chorus of dying screams. I-can''t... I was clutching my ears with all my mights. My eyes were shut in pain........then ..nothing Huh? Everything is quiet? I slowly opened my eyes to see the being before me. It was a small black....dragon? I though they only existed in fairy tales. I remember watching how to train your dragon when I was much yonger. It was a classic 2D movie, but I still enjoyed it. It was one of my favorite movies. I took a closer look at its face;...c-cute.. "Toothless.." I said out loud. (W-toothles?...No, I''m the Lord of the L-) "I-IT TALKED!!!" I exclaimed pointing at the cute, black, talking dragon in front of me. Why am I pointing....there is no one around to see. Wait, what happened to- (Can you answer me child? Where do you come from?) My eyes slowly widened as I slowly realised who this being was (.....) I noticed it still waiting. I-uh, I am- I quickly cut myself off, remembering that I am now a cadet for the Alliance. So this could be an enemy who intercepted my pod.. I am Chaos, special agent cadet 00595 from the Galactic Alliance. (CHAOS 596....) The black dragon gave a full smile;which, showed it full set of sharp teeth in the process. Scary.... (So, Chaos...Yo say that you are from a place called ''Galactic Alliance'') N-no, I from earth....do you not know of Galactic Alliance? Shit...this could be one of those type 0 civilizations? I can''t be caught interacting with them. There existed a scale called the Tier 4. civilization got rated from type 0 to type 4. Though no one has seen type 3 or type 4, they are theoretically possiblr. Humans and every race on the Galactic Council were type 2. (I could see your thoughts, human...) Shit. Fine. There''s no point in hiding it I guess. "The scale is ment to classify races. Type 0 is a race that has not yet learned to harness the forces of their own planet. They use coal if that or other means of energy. Type 1 civilization can harness the energy of the their own planet. They can harness eartquakes, storms and tidlewaves. They can also create those things at will. Type 2 civilization is the civilization that can harness the power of their star. Nothing known to science can kill a type 2 civilization. Even if their own star were to explode, they would simply move to another." This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. I said that part with pride (So you are from one if thus type 2 civilization? Good, good.) The dragon said while nodding his head in satisfaction Wait. When did I give it a gender? The dragon looked a bit annoyed when I thought that. (I think you are miss understanding something. You underestimate my world. According to your scale, it should be type 1) "Th-then you have computers?" I asked as excitement filled my voice I could send a message out then- (Computer? What are those) ..lying cute black dragon... (He,he,he) (You are an interesting one..As you are now, you will die instantly. I will lent you my strength...) I collapsed on the ground as I began to writhe in pain as the ink like black smoke seeped into me (Be greatfull, for this is my strength you are taking...) ------------------------------ I have been slumbering for longer than I remember. I have been on this plane longer than I can remember. I have been unchallenged for linger than I can remember. Everything happened longer than I can remember. My essence of self is slowly degrading. Slowly fading away until.......... Suddenly everything around me began to shake. Who dares I spread my essence, and there I found it. A small fragile light. So small and insignificant. So.. I noticed a feeling welling up in me that I had never felt. Compassion? I want to nurture this dying light? Why is it dying? I noticed something inside. A child? He feels diffrent. Not of this place. I''ve watched him for a little while now. He cryed, then he laughed. Now he has been quiet for a while I decided to greet him. "I welcome you" I said as nicely as I could I saw him stager and fall. I wonder what''s wrong with him? "Child, among my endless boredom, you are the only intresting thing that happened since.....longer than I can remember. What are you? Where do you come from?" I then noticed that the child before me was frightened out of his wits. Am I that scary? I should change my form. A smaller version of my self. As I began talking to him, the more fascinated I became. It was all so intresting. There are billions of worlds out there. Billions of places to explore. I just needed to leave with him. And the time he told me his name, that was truely suprising. I think the demons have a legend about him. Something like. Chaos, hatched from the egg of light, he comes clad in darkness. The child of the land begs for his call and whim. He is the truely the most chosen and devine, for he was born from the same egg as the dragon itself. Simething like that, I think Strange prophecy. It''s funny that it will be true. I will help him. Though it drained some of my strength, it not much. That boys body couldn''t handle much. But he should still have more than any child his age. The longer he will spent in my world, the stronger he will become. Now all we have to wait for is the "Egg" to hatch Chapter 4: As the Cogs Turn The hall was quit as the news from the north came in ??? ¨C ¡°Do we have anymore news from the north?¡± Servant ¨C ¡°No, Lord just what we already know¡­¡± ??? ¨C ¡°I see¡­You¡¯re dismissed¡± As the servant left hew couldn¡¯t help but to thing about how the recent information from the north will impact the world. He seriously despised his master. Ezikeil, being a Halfling was no stranger to the ruling of the Human. Everything that didn¡¯t get enslaved got killed. If Asura were to see the human empire, he would think Rome. They prospered from innovation and oppression. Nearly 65% of the population in their empire were slaves. While demons and demi humans lived in oppression, the humans prospered. Though Ezikeil was a prodigy in a rare variant type of magic and was far from weak, he was only one man with a slave collar that let his master kill him on a whim. In his heart, every day, the inferno of his rage screamed and mocked him of his cowardice. As Ezikeil left a man in gold armor with pure white robes with golden embroidery started. His voice held power as it rung through the hall. ¡°Lord Victus, Have you have no further word from our spy?¡± The man in gold armor was no other than Julian Cesar, the chief and commander of the human race. He looked quite divine in his grand armor. The armor was a relic of an unknown age. Some even say that his Armor comes from the great beyond. It made Cesar virtually invulnerable, and it was the reason for Cesar¡¯s great success. When he was still a young soldier in the army, his commander stumbled upon a labyrinth. While his commander and comrades fought the never ending hordes of monsters, he fled and accidentally discovered this armor. Although no one knows the exact particulars of this event, many people think, and its advertised, that Cesar killed his comrades after they tried to flee when their commander died. Now no one besides Cesar knows the truth. His Armor was embroidered with silver designs and on its back stood a pair what looked like half wings of silver with golden tips. By channeling manna to this, it allowed him to detach and control 20 sword like weapons protruding from is back with just a thought. The extent of Cesar¡¯s manipulation of these weapons is still unknown. ¡°No, my lord¡± lord Victus answered. ¡°The Lord of Terror keeps a keen eye¡± He finished ¡°And what of the egg?¡± Cesar said ¡°It¡¯s as you heard, the demons have it.¡± The air became heavy for a moment. ¡°Filthy things..¡± Cesar uttered. ¡°Assemble the Purge¡± He said after a brief pause. There was complete silence in the room which Victus finally broke. ¡°As you will my lord¡± ---------------------------------------------- Lord Aron had a troubled look on his face. His double agent, Akira, had told him that the human empire has assembled the purge. Akira was one of his best spies. Lord Aron took him when he demolished one of the Empire¡¯s bases. When Lord Asura found him, he gave him an ultimatum. Work for me and save lives, or die where he stood. He then contracted him to a custom made slave collar. It appears as a blank. So if someone else contracted his slave collar; Lord Aron¡¯s command overrode it. Any additional contract conditions can be overridden. So now Lord Aron is now at a loss on what to do. He stood there in front of the egg, basking in its light as he thought about his next move. Ever since he transported the egg to his castle, he allocated his bed chambers next to it. This way he can monitor the egg better. But more important than that, he enjoyed the warm rays emitting from the egg. Aron couldn¡¯t call any other council member for assistance, he had to face this himself. He sat next to the egg and started his preparations ------------------------------------------------- Azure empire. Chancellor Otacon sat in his study as his aide walked in. ¡°Chancellor, it appears that the Holy empire is commencing an assault on Lord Aron¡¯s estate.¡± ¡°¡­..¡± there was a long pause as Otacon thought about the implications of this news before he finally spoke. ¡°Send word to everyone not to interfere, especially Lord Estoc, heaven knows he will do something stupid if Lord Aron is involved. We shall only observe¡± Aide ¨C ¡°Umm,¡­.Chancellor,¡­umm¡± Her hesitation was plain as day. ¡°Speak already, what is it?¡± Otacon urged her. ¡°Lord Estoc is already gone..¡± ¡°What!!??¡± The Chancellor exclaimed in both anger and surprise. He stilled himself before he said ¡°That fool will be the death of me. ¡°I will make sure to punish him well¡± Otacon said in a sinister tone as his aide felt a chill down her spine. ¡°Send Jarvis, I don¡¯t want anything to happen to that boy¡± ------------------------------------------------------- ¡°It shall be done¡± She said as she gave a slight bow, before walking off. ¡°But Chief, we have nothing to do with them!¡± A shout pierced the still crackle of the fire. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.A group of about 100 elite warriors circled around a large fire. They were the elders and great warriors of the beast man tribe known as Kalu. ¡°Silence you fool!¡± The chief¡¯s shout caused everyone to flinch as pure bloodlust oozed out of him. ¡°Do not belittle yourself any further¡± There was a clear intensity in his words ¡°We are not humans. If you want to partake in politics then I shall shave you bare and sent you to them.¡± You could hear few gulps as everyone waited for the Chief to speak. They knew that Chief absolutely, with all his might, hated humans. They killed and enslaved many of his close friends and family. They killed his wife, Enslaved and raped his daughter in front of him as he lay there bleeding out. It was only by sheer luck that Lord Aron found him. After coming back from gathering materials for his research, he veered to the direction of the rising smoke. As Aron walked through the wreckage of the settlement, he was surprised about how the absence of bodies. *There should be more bodies, given the size of the settlement* Aron thought as he walked through the wreckage *Must be a slaver raid* he concluded. As he continued to walk, he almost gave up searching for any survivors when his keen senses picked up labored breathing. As he approached closer he could feel immense hate radiating from the direction of the breathing. Barberous POV I cursed myself as I lay there dying, I cursed my weakness, curse my fate, Curse those damn humans. Fucking humans.. Then suddenly I heard someone approaching me. Did they come back to finished me off? My rage which was building up like a snowball going down a mountain finally exploded. I-I shall take a-at least one of you with me¡­ I barely managed to say as I struggled to get up. Even now my vision was failing me. I must kill, kill them all ¡°I will kill ALL OF YOU¡± I roared Then I felt a sudden pressure on my chest, followed by a warm sensation. ¡°Shut up¡± I heard someone say as he embedded his hand into my chest. W-what? I was struggling to comprehend what happened. He leaned closer to me and whispered in my ear. ¡°Be thankful for this favor. You should know that it¡¯s not done out of good will, but by personal gain. One day, not too far off, I shall call on upon you. Until you can repay your debt train and learn as much as you can, so that when that day comes, you might be useful to me.¡± As suddenly as he appeared, he disappeared. As the warm sensation spread into his body from his chest, it slowly began to hurt. Unimaginably so. AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!! Barberous cried out as he convulsed on the ground. He later learned that the person who saved him was Lord Aron. Not only did he save him, he gave him power. It came in the form of large lighting element Chrystal. The pain came from the mutation that his body suddenly underwent to adapt to the Chrystal. Barberous silently reminisced the event which has been engraved into his mind. After a long uncomfortable silence, the Chief said to himself ¡°I shall repay my debt to you, friend¡± Then he finally said after collecting himself ¡°Lord Aron saved my life. To not come to him during his time of need would mean to throw my honor away as a warrior. If all else has been taken, we still have our pride as warriors and honor that comes with it. To undermine this decision is to undermine this notion. I shall not tolerate any coward that have no honor. If you are one of those coward then go to humans where you belong. Talk to them about all the things that you have in common. Maybe they will even be nice.¡± Everyone unanimously agreed and war preparations began --------------------------------------------------------------------- Asura stood there examining himself. His body underwent a drastic change. His hair was now the purest of black. When he moved, his long black hair would look like dense black ink blot moving in water. It had a sense of weightlessness. It flowed with him whenever he would move. His skin has become a light grey collar and his eyes were a deep violet. All of his nails were black and they too oozed out a dark mass that escaped up like smoke before dissipated into the surrounded spaced. I hope they will recognize me¡­..or my DNA¡­..they can technically use a brain scanner to know that its me¡­ Asura pondered about how his new appearance will affect his standing in the Alliance. ¡°I hope they don¡¯t decide to experiment on me¡± Asura thought out loud as he looked at Lord of the Land, who he promptly named ¡°toothless¡±. This egg is preventing you from coming out because of the dense manna in the atmosphere. I shall teach you how to devour He said as he showed his full teeth smiled. He said ¡°So, are you hungry?¡± Chapter 5: Lone Struggle The ground shook and the oceans roared. The air trembled as the pressure of 100 elite Holy Magic knights descended upon the demon plane. They are called the Purge because they ¡°cleanse¡± all the ¡°filth¡± of the land. They used light magic to eradicate everything in their path. From a distance, it might look as if a giant mass of light was devouring everything that comes near it. In nature, light comes from the stars. A star can give birth to countless civilization, and when the light dims and dies out, so does the civilization it supported. In the same way, light magic held the power of life and death for life and death are two sides of the same coin. To avoid this some galactic races had to move away from their dying star and find a new one. As the blinding mass of light went through the land, everything in its path was dissolved into the most basic of element. Of course the people of this world didn¡¯t know these things. To them, their magic just reduced everything into nothing. Despite being attuned with nature and having the ability to control certain aspects of it, they were eons behind in terms of technology of earth. Maybe more. Aron gritted his teeth as he saw the purge. He had no known defenses or counter measures against it. He had confidence in his sheer strength, but his affinities put him at a disadvantage. Aron realized this long ago, and spent many years working with His primary affinity, which is darkness is weak against light and his secondary affinity, lighting, does little damage if any, against light element. Lightning, after all, produces light. This basic theory of elemental interaction was the standard in his world. It was bare bones, and from a scientific approach, it was greatly flawed. Aron suspected tis, but he didn¡¯t know to what extent. He spent great deal of time working with Jarvis to find the greater truth. Aron sat atop his castle watching the purge approach. He really wanted to get away, but he couldn¡¯t just leave the egg. He knew too well of the purge. It consisted 100 A ranked magic knight¡¯s lead by commander Alexander. They were a shock and crack troop all in one. On the other hand, Aron only had a hand full of people at his disposal who can match their strength. But Aron was a one man army; a force onto itself. This will be my first time going all out Aron though as he prepared his attack as the surrounding air began to turn a greyish monochrome. ¡°Dark Prison¡± A black disk appeared over the purged, hovered for a second, then crashed down with an enormous amount of force. Even though it landed on the purge nearly 5 miles away, the impact was so great that it shook the entire castle, causing one of its towers to collapse. As Aron struggled to see through the dust kicked up, suddenly the purge grew even brighter and in the next instant 5 holes, 10-20 ft. in diameter riddled the walls. They were perfect circular holes. It was as if someone cut them out of the structure using some unknown tool. ¡°No effect?...¡± Aron was flabbergasted The approaching purge continued as if they never faced his attack in the first place. --------------------------------------------------------- Inside the ¡°egg¡± Asura felt the tremors. These past few days, he has been trying to learn magic, but it was like grasping at air. It was so different to him that it was almost impossible. If toothless didn¡¯t say otherwise, he would have given up long ago. It¡¯s like trying to move a part of your body that you have never moved before. This made Asura recall the time he tried to move his ears after seeing a friend doing it. No matter how much he tried, he never seemed to be able to do it. Except this was much harder. Asura was not trying to move a part of his own body with muscles that he never knew he had, he was trying to utilize a force that he never knew existed. But the black mana circulating in him did seem somehow familiar. ¡°You must hurry and learn magic¡± toothless said with a tone of urgency. ¡°There is no telling what will happen if they capture your vessel. On earth learning has become obsolete. Just by simply plug in their brain into a computer, they can upload any information they want form vast stores of knowledge on the internet. So much information coming in at once can drastically change a person. So they would segment the process into 3 parts. The fist Information upload, or IU for short, is done at age of 6. The next one part was uploaded at the age of 12. The final upload was done when someone has reached their 16th birthday. Asura, being a special cadet already had his 3 uploads, despite being only 14 years old. He tried to rack his brain as he tried to find out how to utilize this new force. There was another shaking, this time it was even more severe. ¡°I have to hurry¡± Asura thought to himself as he tried various methods to help him harness mana. ------------------------------------------------------------ Using lighting body modification, Aron began to travel at break neck speeds. Though Aron was more powerful than the knights, the knights were able to keep up with him because light travels faster than lightning. Having 100 attackers, all who could move as fast as him or close to it, going after him really pushed him beyond his limits. He had no breathing room. Every fraction of a second was a life or death struggle and every minute felt like an eternity. The castle was heavily damaged. 3 out of 5 towers collapsed and half of the wall was obliterated along with 1/4ths of the castle. Now he was bloodied and exhausted. Suddenly he felt some air being displaced ¡°!!.....Shit!¡± He desperately tried to erect a barrier, but as soon as he did, it shattered like glass. The force of the impact caused him to fly some 100 meters back, before hitting a wall, causing it to crumble. His mana exhaustion was clearly visible. Already, Aron has fought for nearly a whole day going at 100%. Most of his attacks got negated or deflected by the combined strength of the Purge Unit. Even though the Purge members were all A rank magic knights, they can only use 2 types of light magic, making them experts in them. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. They had 1 offensive spell called Purge which devoured everything. The other was simple body enhancement magic called the Divine Blessing. Their ability to utilize offensive magic for defensive purposes and vice versa made their expertise clearly evident ¡°You guys stand clear¡± Alexander ordered his men the moment after Aron was blown back into the wall by his attack. His helmet hid a devious grin of his face as he approached Aron, who was still alive but greatly injured and unable to move ¡°I shall enjoy this greatly¡± Alexander said in a sinister tone. ¡°You 10¡± he pointed at the group of his elite knights. ¡°Let¡¯s enjoy this together¡± Alexander Slowly approached Aron, who was now coughing up blood. Many years of experience have taught Alexander to virtue of caution. ¡°Oh, Great Lord of Terror, You¡¯re looking quite down¡­.¡± Alexander said in a mocking tone. He was now directly in front of Aron ¡°Here let me help you..¡± He wave his hand, lifting Aron up by some unseen force. ¡°Now, just be a good boy and stay there¡± Alexander said with a smirk as he dispelled his Purge magic and Divine Blessing before taking off his helmet. Aron who was floating few inches off the ground, could do nothing as at least 9 knights had his movements sealed. As Alexander nonchalantly walked to one of his men, He took off his helmet before handing it to him. He turned around to face Aron. ¡°Can¡¯t let you die too quickly¡± he said as cocked back his arm in an exaggerated manner. He punched Aron in his rib cage with every ounce of his physical strength, causing them to break. A loud cracking sound pierced the still air. This caused Aron to grimace and cough out some blood. His vision blurred under the pain and damage caused by the blow. ¡°Otherwise what¡¯s the point?¡± Alexander continued as he cocked back his other arm in the same exaggerated manner as before sinking his fist into his other rib cage. More sounds of breaking ribs resounded through the Air. ¡°Isn¡¯t that right little Aron? If you are not taking your time¡­..you¡¯re just not having fun..¡± Alexander spoke to Aron as if he was some little kid being taught a lesson befor striking him again. More sound of bones breaking could be heard ¡°Ahhh¡­.music to my ears¡± Alexander said with a pleasant smile ¡°Hey boys¡± he turned toward the 10 men standing behind him ¡°Would you like to join in on the fun? I think I jammed my finger..¡± He said looking at his fake injury. The 10 men behind him looked eager. Alexander casually walled into Aron¡¯s castle through the gaping hole. Moments later he came out with a chair. He sat down in front of Aron and said to his men who circled the bloody Lord ¡°Begin¡± After 2 hours of listening to what sounded like a buffalo being hit with baseball bats, Aron was nearly dead. He was barely conscious. Virtually every bone in his body was shattered or broken. ¡°That¡¯s enough¡± Alexander said after he yawned ¡°This is no fun at all. A was hoping to at least hear you scream or beg.¡± He walked up to Aron, who barely managed to look up at him. ¡°How low you have fallen¡± chuckled Alexander. ¡°Well my men looked like they had fun¡± He suddenly flashed a devious smile. ¡°You know who you remind me of right now?¡± Alexander paused for a brief moment. Its¡¯s been such a long time ago¡­I think her name started with an L or something L,L, Lessa? No that wasn¡¯t it. Lisa? No, that still not it. Maybe it was an S? Hmm¡­Ah, Sera.¡± Aron¡¯s eye widened with rage and disbelief. Sera was once his lover before she mysteriously disappeared during her travels. ¡°Yes, that was her name. Sera¡± A grin spread across Alexander¡¯s face. ¡°Yes, I remember now, she had the same look as you¡­.She was quite defiant at first but after being ran through few times she couldn¡¯t get enough¡­¡± Alexander paused looking at Aron to see his expression. After being satisfied, he continued. ¡°It¡¯s all coming back to me now. She couldn¡¯t stop talking about how her boyfriend would save her or something. What a looser right? I mean this boyfriend of hers.¡± Arons face distorted in rage as he began to thrash about, trying to break himself free from the binding magic. ¡°You should have seen the look at her face. For a whore, she was quite the looker. She kept us company for few months before she tied to escape.¡± ¡°Hehe¡± A laughter from one of the knights could be heard. ¡°What a stupid bitch¡± He continued. ¡°After she tried to run, we chopped off her head and used it as a sex toy before it started to smell. Stank worse than my shit¡± ¡°Hahaha¡± They erupted into laughter Aron was now crying in rage while thrashing around. Alexander being extremely pleased with his reaction finally said ¡°I just love breaking people. I mean I could have just used a slave collar Arons thrashing soon subsided, but he continued to cry ¡°Oh great Lord of Terror, where is your indomitable will now. With all your wisdom and power, you¡¯re now crying lik- Booom!! A sudden the force of a powerful impacted where Alexander stood just moments before threw a massive amount dirt and debris in to the surrounding area causing a thick cloud of dust and dirt convening the area. Soon chunks of earth began to rain down. The sudden turn of. events put surrounding knights in a silent stupor. The shock was too great and now they couldn¡¯t utter a word; their brain couldn¡¯t process what just happened As the dust began to settle, the knight barely made out a figure who was slowly standing up. ¡°Commander!¡± they exclaimed in relief. ¡°*****¡± They could barely make it out. It was a faint whisper that was carried with the wind. Slowly, but surly creeping up to them, chilling them to the bone. ¡°Heavens Wrath¡± Soon their relief turned into despair Chapter 6: Death Gods Burden Asura was sitting on the ground cross-legged with his hand on his chin. He ignored the rumbling as he tried recall the familiar feel. ¡°Toothless, you say that you know a lot about mana, do you know of its properties and nature?¡± Asura asked as he brought toothless to attention. Toothless, after raising his head, gave a devious grin as he read my mind. This confirmed my suspicion. I delve in¡­¡­..it took me a while, but I could feel a cool sensation running through my veins. A pitch black dot appeared on the center of my chest; then it rapidly spear to cover my body which is now the darkest of black. An empty void Slow moving tendrils of black ink like smoke escapes my being. I noticed toothless¡¯ surprised expression, before giving a satisfied smile. ¡°Amazing¡­.to think dark matter can be used this way¡­¡± I was astonished beyond belief. Humans have learned that Dark Matter moves along a certain frequency. Using this theory, they have established a way to communicate between colonies throughout the galaxy instantly. What¡¯s more, it allowed you to communicate with thought alone. Normally, at a certain age, humans get an electronic implant. It amplifies and tunes the frequency of your thoughts to the vibration of dark matter. Because dark matter is directly linked to the sting field, you can communicate at virtually any distance almost instantly. This was insane to Asura. No one thought to use it this way¡­..Why would they? It would be like electrocuting themselves so that your body can harness electricity. It was a dumb, illogical idea. What¡¯s more, the familiar feeling I had¡­¡­.If properties of dark matter is like the properties of mana, then nature of dark matter is the nature of Darkness element itself; their qualities mirror one another. ¡°My affinities is that of dark matter, which have the properties of mana¡­..¡± Toothless had a priceless face too. His mouth was gaped open, and his eyes bulged wide. It seems he didn¡¯t know the truth to this extent. The darkness element, because it is links to mana itself. It allows you to turn your power in any element and have an infinite supply. Everything resides in darkness. We reside in the darkness of our shadow, as the moon resides in the darkness of space. I purged the dark ma- I mean mana, out of my body and revert to my original appearance. I didn¡¯t have a mirror, but I could tell, I looked quite scary. Toothless quickly interjected ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that¡­The more you tap into the source, the more you get attuned to it. The more you become attuned to it, the easier it will be to use it.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying that I should stay looking scary? I mean this is almost bad enough¡­¡± I said looking at my grey skin and my black fingernails, which oozed out dark energy. ¡°¡­.Fine..¡± toothless sighed Suddenly the ink like black smoke started oozing out of toothless as it began to condense in some sort of liquid. Now it really did look like ink. I watched with concern as the liquid slowly began to make its way towards me, before it started to envelope me. ¡°Wh-Whats is this stuff¡­¡± I said with great concern ¡°Oh, stop being such a concernicus and relax..¡± I didn¡¯t understand concern-what? ¡°¡­¡­.¡± He stared at me blankly for a few seconds before finally saying ¡°It¡¯s a joke alright. You know, humans like to name themselves after specific nature. You know, they use lots of us¡¯s¡­..¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what to think¡­ Toothless looked a bit flustered, as he tried to break the awkward silence again. ¡°You know, Romulus, Julius, Optimus¡­..Fabulous?..¡± I-my brain cells couldn¡¯t take anymore. ¡°So what now?¡± I quickly tried to get back on topic. Must have lost nearly half of my brain cells to that Toothless quickly went back to his business like demeanor. ¡°Errerm.¡± Cleared his throat before starting. ¡°Yes, well, just imagine some cool armor you want. The black liquid will turn into any armor that you can imagine. Anyway, you should be grateful because I gave you a bit more of my power. If you dispel the suit, your mana pool will expand and you gain a greater affinity to darkness, and when you don your armor, that power will just act as a shield instead. ¡°Cool¡± I said with clear excitement ¡°So, does this keep the functions of any armor I create¡± ¡°Heheh, clever aren¡¯t you..?¡± toothless chuckled. ¡°No, we just learnt to cheat the system..¡± I said as I began to shape my armor. After a while, I realized that it doesn¡¯t matter how terrifying I look, I can change my appearance at will now. In in fact, in battle, the scarier I am, the better. I decided to make ¡°dark themed¡± medieval armor with few technical features. First I had my helmet come with a computer integrated system or CIS, which linked an AI processor to my mind. I can now instantly process any incoming sensatory data. This should be good for now I thought as I finished the final details. After all was said and done, I created an armor that was my own age¡¯s version of Gut¡¯s armor. It was pure black with violet glow emanating from his where his helmet joins at the eyes. The suit itself was made of the hardest composite material he could think of. ¡°I find it hard to believe that anything would scratch me¡± I said as I looked myself from head to toe. I heard toothless slightly chuckle in the background ¡°I quickly realized that I¡¯ve missed something crucial. ¡°Ah, a condensed Gama ray blade that would come out of my gauntlets would be pretty cool¡± Gamma rays are hundreds of thousands of times more powerful than photons that a standard laser can produce. Such a weapon would be unchallenged in this world. I felt pretty damn confident. I had the most powerful weapon in the world and I was indestructible, or at least beyond this world¡¯s means. ¡°Are you ready?¡± I heard toothless ask. ¡°Yeh¡± I answered with resolve ¡°You have absorbed enough mana, so you should be able to do this¡­¡± I heard toothless say. ¡°Enough mana?¡± I was confused. Do I not have a limitless supply? ¡°Oh, that? Hehehe..Dont worry about it. It¡¯s not important¡­¡­probably..¡± He hid his chuckling with his front le-, paws. It actually made his seem quite cute. ¡°hmmm¡­.he¡¯s definitely up to something¡± I felt like there was something wrong here. I just couldn¡¯t put my finger to it. ¡°Oh, well¡± I shrug my shoulders as I gave up after a while. ¡°Now, pour all the mana you have into this space. ¡° toothless instructed I did as I was instructed. ¡°This is pointless¡­.¡± I thought to my self Suddenly, the blank white nothingness faded and I was submerged in utter darkness. [Capsule life support]Environmental equalization complete¡­..Please stand by¡­[Capsule life support] ¡­¡­¡­.I waited for¡­It¡¯s hard to tell how long. Time seem to pass slow in this darkness. [Capsule life support]System shut down prepared¡­¡­¡­¡­.System shut down in 3¡­2¡­1¡­system shut down complete¡­.Goodbye[Capsule life support] Suddenly, a blinding beam of light split the darkness in two. Then I watched as the light spread engulfing the surrounding darkness. As the darkness receded, I stepped forward into the light. Toothless flew out soon after and landed on my shoulder Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Finally,¡­..I am here.¡± ---------------------- ---------------------- As the dust settled a figure emerged from within. He seemed like a giant. He was 6ft. 8 of pure muscle and he had a handsome face that showed a hint of mischief. But now that face wore a grim expression now. He was the executioner, He was death itself. Behind him, the surrounding soldiers notice Alexander¡¯s twitching body in the center of a giant crater. His body was bent in crooked manner. And all of his limbs were broken in two Everyone was left aghast. They couldn¡¯t move or speak. They were too shocked at the turn of events. ¡°N-Don¡¯t kill him¡± through the silence a weak voice was heard. ¡°Please,¡­¡­let him live¡­¡± Estok, who was the obvious the perpetrator, showed clear confusion but soon recover as he saw Aron¡¯s feral gaze ¡°Anyone else¡­?¡± Estok asked. He didn¡¯t want to make a mistake and accidently kill the wrong person ¡°Just those 10¡­..¡± Aron said as murder filled the air. ¡°And everyone else?......¡± Everyone stood in silence, breathless, waiting for the answer ¡°¡­Don¡¯t let a single one live¡± His words cut through the still air like razors through flesh. Estok instantly vanished as Aron was left by himself. Soon screams and explosions could be heard in the distance ¡°What a fool!¡± The 10 elite knights who were about to piss their pants, started to laugh hysterically. ¡°A-are you going to fight all by you self? Bwahaha¡± ¡°I¡­would break some of your legs¡­pft¡­If they weren¡¯t broken already! Bwahahaha! They all erupted into laughter. But Aron just laid there, staring at sky with a pleasant smile on his face. He began to hum a happy yet sad melody. ¡°Oye, don¡¯t you hear us? You¡¯re fucked. A single one of use can heal the commander, and a single one of us can kill you. We have 8 more still¡­...This dude¡­¡­I think the little lord is getting delirious!¡± He mocked as he slowly approached, pulling his sword out. He wore a face of ugly arrogance. ¡°I shall cut you up the old fashioned way¡± He smiled as he licked his sword A sudden yell broke the moment. ¡°What?¡± the knight who was approaching Aron, asked in annoyance ¡°Healing magic is not working¡­¡± ¡°Impossible¡± he rebuttaled ¡°try regeneration magic¡± ¡°I already have¡± ¡°Now that I think about it, purge is not working either¡± One knight said ¡°What! How could this be! I can¡¯t use Divine Blessing?¡± Said another He tried some of his own magic. It¡¯s as they¡¯ve said. None of their magic was working. He then slowly looked at Aron who began to hum a happy, yet sad melody as he continued to stare at the sky, his slight smile grew wider as he began to hum more loudly. The color of everything around was devoured by a grey monochrome that grew darker and darker as silence took over. It was silence of isolation, the silence that builds tension when you know you are trapped with an unknown beast. Shivers ran down their spines and the silence was soon broken with cries of pleas and apologies. Aron who took those sounds as music to his ears began to hum even louder. This was Aron¡¯s Ultimate attack called Death God¡¯s Burden. It increased the mass in a given range up to 10,000 fold. You can make the duration of the effect longer by decreasing the rate of mass increased and the range. Aron would utilize this to the fullest to get the most time out of it. The elite holy knights who now had no defensive buffers began to be crushed. Very, very slowly. Pleas and cries turned into yell and shrieks of the 10 holy knights. ¡°Such a beautiful melody¡± Aron looked like he was staring at something beyond his reach Estok was a force of rage, a rampaging god of war. All 90 A rank magic knights attacked Just before he used nearly half of his magic sealing the magic of 10 holy knights by overpowering and rupturing their mana circulatory system. He could do this because of his great affinity in light magic He was using one of the top tier enhancing skill called ¡°Heavens Wrath¡± It had 10 times more effect then divine blessing, which was two ranks below it. He was an unprecedented genius in body enhancement spells, which were his specialty. Despite all this, he was still having a hard time fighting the remaining 60 experts who started to work as a single team. Estok was getting tired Estoc face flashed with fury as another wave of murderous intent filled the air. He recalled the state that was in Aron. The Aron who he grew up looking up to. Aron who he considered his family. He always seen him as an older brother. Something to strive for and be more like. To see him in that broken, battered state,¡­..it twisted his heart in knots. His ferial gaze still vivid in his memory. Rage consumed him once more as he charged at the nearest light. He smashed through the knight¡¯s Purge and Divine Blessing, which coated his body before smashing through his head. A load pop and splatter could be heard Estok seemed to teleport trough another knight. The others were slow to react. They turned aroujnd in startle as they saw the knight suddenly explode. The only thing that was left was just tiny bits mixed with some blood. Chucky salsa comes to mind As he stood there, the rock behind him cracked and upturned beneath force of his an initial charge. Knights who filled in that space during the brief moment got blown away. One even lost his leg. This explosion was soon followed by another. The area directly in front of Estok was now a large V shaped gouge cutting through the terrain, going for about 300 yards. He instantly killed 5 knights. The knight that Estock ¡°teleported¡± through was now a simple blood splatter on the dirt. As he would move so fast, the force, transfer was too slow for him. He would simply move and explosions and dying screams would follow in his wake. It looked as if there was a terrible lag. The whole weight of the mana dense atmosphere would collapse into the vacant space that was suddenly left by Estok¡¯s freakishly fast movement. This created a vacuum which sucked thing in, before imploding on itself with a loud thunderclap. The never ending sounds of battle went through the whole night and into the next morning. There was still 23 knights left and Estock was beyond tire. Now they combatted with great expertise and caution. They knew that Estok couldn¡¯t last long Estok¡¯s bones ached and his joints creaked. The constant body enhancement took its toll on his body. He had to continue¡­.Aron¡¯s image was still burned in his head ¡°Not enough..¡± Estok said with a fierce face as he tried to push through and do one more charge Chapter 7: Into the Labyrinth As Asura made his way out of his capsule, he was startled by the unusual sight before him. Under the phenomenal architecture and the decor of what seemed to be some basement, people all around were prostrating themselves. Asura felt quite awkward at the situation in front of him. He had spent god knows how much time the capsule and the first thing he sees is people kneeling before him. This was all too strange. ¡°D-Did I end up in some cult?¡± Asura thought to himself trying to shake away his unease. Suddenly a rumble from above broke his thoughts. ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on up there but it probably be a bad Idea for me to go up there¡± Asura thought looking up at the ceiling. With so many people present before him the silence was like an unbearable pressure that increased with each passing second. Asura slightly shivered at the eeriness of the situation. No one uttered a sound and they all tried their best to avoid eye contact. Asura looked up again as the rumble shook the subterranean room once more¡­A bit of dust fell into his eye. ¡°Shit!¡± Asura screamed in his head. But he didn¡¯t want the cause a scene with so many cultists around him, so he gritted his teeth and bared it for the moment. He had to get the hell out of here. Even if the world was ending up above, it still would be better than staying with these cultist. Who knows what they want to do with him. V-e-r-y rigidly, Asura tried his best to appear normal as he left the room and headed upstairs. The occupants of the basement watched as Asura finally left. They have all gathered around the egg when it started to emit a strange energy. They have heard the stories and legend about the hero who would be born from a n egg of light, clad in darkness. It was beyond words for they all have witnessed a birth of a god, the harbinger of change that will bring forth the age of chaos. Lord of Chaos was born "To think a stupid fairy tale would come true like this¡­¡± Some murmured. Others soon followed. ¡°He walks with such confidence. ¡°You saw his reaction?¡± One of the servants inquired ¡°Yeh..¡± Another answered, shaking the events which transpired from his head. ¡°He truly is a lord of great benevolence. To think that he would actually be effected by our situation¡­.¡± He recalled when Asura shook in rage after he looked up. Soon praises of Lord of Chaos filled the hall. In the narrow hall, Asura neared the entrance of the basement. Here the sound of explosions were more intense. But strangely there was little sound. If there was a battle going on, wouldn¡¯t there be lots of yells and such? As he made his way out, the scene before him baffled him. ----------------------------------- ¡°23 left..¡± Estok thought to himself. His breathing was heavy and he couldn¡¯t possibly last much longer. Estok had short blond hair with a handsome, manly face. He was as large as a beast man and his previous display showed that his size isn¡¯t just for show. He wore gold and black armor with oversized gauntlets which covered his forearms. Before, these gauntlets provided him with extra amount of mass to better smash through his enemies, but now they were nothing more than a burden. Just keeping his arms up, took a great deal of effort; especially since now, his manna is nearly completely depleted. Estok straightened himself and let out a loud sight as he breathed in the much needed air to oxygenate his muscles. He unbuckled one of his gauntlets. As it fell to the ground it nearly sunk in from its extreme weight. Asura, who was silently watching from within the ruins, watched in silent amazement. The gauntlet left a small crater. ¡°It must weigh nearly 100 tons¡± He thought to himself. Suddenly his invincible armor didn¡¯t feel so invincible anymore. ¡°If I got hit with that¡­¡± Asura didn¡¯t finish his thought as he watched the lone warrior unbuckle his other gauntlet while taking another deep breath in. He didn¡¯t want to think what would happen to him. Estok let out his longest breath yet. He lowered himself into a different stance. His planted his feet wide apart and slowly raised his arms. He raised his right hand over his head and his left hand in front of him as if he was aiming something. He suddenly called out ¡°Heavenly Palm strike!¡± then he vanished. Or at least that¡¯s what Asura saw. Almost instantly, a loud impact was heard from a knight some 100 meters away. The knight barely managed to block. The force of the impact. This caused the knight¡¯s sword to shatter, and the knight himself to fly back nearly 50 feet. Asura realized what happened By purging himself of a large weight, the warrior sacrificed his defense for pure offense. Though the warrior had now supper speed, his destructiveness, which came from the weight of his gauntlets was cut in half. Unlike before, Estok¡¯s excessive speed didn¡¯t cause any craters or large explosions to form from the point of his takeoff. There was not enough mass to cause this to happen like before. As the knight was struck by Estok,s initial blow, he was sent flying backward. He regained his senses in midair and rotated his body to use it like an air break. But Estok couldn¡¯t allow him to recover. As the knight began to slow down in midair, Estok suddenly appeared behind him. The knight could do nothing as he was flying toward Estok at a high speed. Estok clenched his fist and swing his forearm forward, cloth-lining the incoming knight. Nearly crushing his windpipe, the force of the impact caused the knight to flip back twice in the air. As his head was coming back around, Estok grabbed it and slammed the knight back down. This caused the ground to slightly shake. Estok slowly lifted the dented knight by his head and readied a finishing blow. All of this happened in less than a second. As his hand readied to pierce the knights heart, 3 other knights surrounded him, stopping his attack. Estok who was forced away gritted his teeth. ¡°So close..¡± He thought. ¡°Thanks for..¡± The knight was about to show his gratitude. ¡°Save it for L- Before he could finish his sentence a loud roar was heard and the knight who was about to speak suddenly had no head. The other knights were dumb founded as their brains were racking over what had happened Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. A large black beast man with yellow lightning like patterns suddenly appeared. The pattern, as if coming to life, arced and crackled around him in a dazzling display ¡°Do not get ahead of yourselves¡± The beast man said. He was a giant, even among his own kind. Whereas the average beast stood at the height 7-8ft, he stood at over 10ft. ¡°Lest you loose it¡± He finished with a grin as he crushed the head in the palm of his hand Asura stared in amazement. The creatures below him, that cult. They were close to a human in appearance. Except they had strange colored skin¡­.¡±well I can¡¯t really talk about that anymore¡± Asura though, remembering his own skin color and appearance. Anyway. They looked similar to animals back on earth. These animal like creatures ran down the mountain to the battle below. It was an avalanche and predators all hunting, a single prey. ¡°I better go¡± I don¡¯t want to get caught up in this. If those creatures are anywhere near as strong as that warrior then he stood no chance. He suddenly remembered Toothless¡¯s evil grin. A shiver ran up his spine. ¡°Is he still mad about that?¡± Asura asked himself. ¡°Speaking of him. Where did he go?¡± He wondered as he looked around. The warrior¡¯s display of might was an eye opener for him. ¡°Just what are their armor made of?¡± he silently asked himself. If this is some new ultra strong alloy, then he would be loaded with wealth and fame when he got back. He made his way through the ruined castle and out of it front gate. Even though the castle was quite lavish, it didn¡¯t compare to the nicer hotels back on earth. So he didn¡¯t really take note of anything. Although the stone work was quite good. ¡°It must all have been done by hand¡± Asura frowned at the thought of all that effort. Back on earth, huge mobile 3D printers printed most structures. Homes, as extraordinary or as lavish as they can be could be printed in a single day with all the furniture and appliances included. He remembered a news article about how the huge mobile units are being done away with and are being replaced by the new orbital 3d printer. It rapidly transmits atoms through the air to any location in the world, letting you print on the spot. All you had to do was purchase their services, design your house, choose your location, and wabam! The next day you have your house. It would take at least 10 years for this technology be introduced to the market. As he reminisced, he made his way into the forest without even releasing it. When he was finally back in reality, he finally realized that he was in the middle of a dark forest. He soon realized that the forest was strangely quiet. No sound of a bird or any other animal or insect could be heard. He couldn¡¯t see past the forest¡¯s canopy, so navigation was virtually impossible. God, why didn¡¯t he get his proper bearings? He cursed his own absent-mindness. As he made his way deeper and deeper, using the vegetation growth as a guide, he could navigate with great difficulty. He knew that when the sun was at its zenith, some light would trickle down, allowing for moss to grow. So the side with the most moss is the direction of the sun when it is at its highest. The only problem is that for some reason, this theory was proved false here and for some reason. He just got his self-deeper and deeper in the forest and soon he was in front of a large tree. By far, probably the biggest tree in the forest. It was nearly 40 meters across. As I approached it, slowly, but surly, a slight hue of light started to envelop the tree. Not knowing what to do, he called out to toothless. He noticed a dark, ink like mist leaving his body, which took the form of toothless. I finally understood what toothless meant when he said that he gave me part of himself. ¡°The real thing must be that endless dark mass¡± Asura shuddered at that thought. ¡°What¡± He said while hovering in midair. ¡°Umm..I¡¯m lost. And this tree is acting weird..¡± Toothless, after noticing the tree was taken back. Then he finally said ¡°There was a legend. It said that long ago a dark lord tried to summon great chaos. But 4 heroes of light stopped him by sealing him in a great tree. The life force of the tree would keep his own from breaking free.¡± ¡°Did it happen?¡± I asked ¡°Something happened..¡± He said. He was obviously teasing me. ¡°Like¡­¡± I inquired further Toothless sighed before he said. Ok, fine. The Elves who were nearly wiped out by the great calamity tried to summon the Lord of Chaos. Elves developed a near worshiping relationship to Lord of Chaos as he was said to bring great change. The elves, more than anyone wanted this to happen. Though the cult was only few in number as the other elves were in hiding. Humans saw the elves as a potential gold mine. They began raping all the elven girls to produce offspring that was strong in magic. Manna mutations from this is what gave birth to some demons. Demons were viewed as abominations. The members of the cult were eradicated by 4 strong humans and the leader was sealed in this tree. To mock him, they made the Lord of Chaos the only being who could unlock the prison. I guess they never really thought that he would be real. That was too much information at once. Great manna calamity? Elves? Who is this Lord of Chaos anyway? Toothless saw me try to take all the information. As to avoid being asked questions, he said ¡°Well, don¡¯t worry about all that too much. The important thing is that you stumbled upon a gold mine. In front of you is a Labyrinth.¡± ¡°A labyrinth?...¡± As Asura was told the details of this world, he began to act more and more childlike. He was excited. He often read books about heroes in fantasy world but to really be a part of it? Dragons, magic and dungeons included. It even had fantasy like story. Dark wizards and all. This was like that VRRPG he used to play. ¡°Maybe I should have fun for now¡­..There¡¯s no harm right?¡± Asura though as he walked towards the glowing tree and into the Labyrinth Chapter 8: Deaths Master It was like someone pulled a veil of darkness over my eyes. I couldn¡¯t see anything in front of me. Only strange groans and some scurrying could be heard in the distance. The echoes just amplified the effect, coupled with the sound of water dripping somewhere close by, it made it seem like. Some of the water dripped and hit Asura on the face. It seemed too viscous to be water, it was a little sticky too¡­.must be sap or something. Asura didn¡¯t think anything stage as he tried to wipe some of it off with his hand. ¡°I must look ridiculous¡± Asura thought to himself. He felt some of the liquid seep into his armor. Asura concentrated and after few second, he finally willed his armor off. Like in the Pod, the armor became an ink black mist that seemed to float in the water around him. There was no water obviously, but that¡¯s effect I saw. It was like a dense, black, viscous liquid. Hmm, I wonder if I can just suck this into my body, it¡¯s too troublesome having it float around me like this. I reached out and willed the mist entered my body, I felt millions of sharp, infinitely tiny needles dig into my body. The deeper it got, the wider these needles seemed to become. And the pain amplified. The pain was so great that I couldn¡¯t even utter a groan. I just drooled with my mouth open as I convulsed on the ground. Hours later the pain reached its peak as it was concentrated closer to my center. My arms and legs,¡­.I don¡¯t know if I have them anymore felt like they were disintegrated as the pain made its way deeper, becoming more wide spread as it went. Now it was close to his heart. I don¡¯t know why, but through the darkness, before I fainted, I saw Toothless¡¯s menacing smile. Toothless didn¡¯t say a word, but his face clearly showed his thought ¡°Dumbass¡± ---- I had a dream¡­..my mother¡­.Wait my mother?,..I had a mother?! I sat up at alarm, snapped out of my dream. I tried to rack my head of what I had seen, or I had not seen. This damn darkness... I will the darkness around me back, what I saw left me speechless Everything around me was a blackish red, like old spoiled blood. And this smell, why didn¡¯t I smell it before? I asked myself as I plugged my nose and mouth, to limit the exposure, but it was already too late. Some of the rancid smell got into my mouth,causing me to gag. ¡°Blleeeuee¡­ghak¡± I couldn¡¯t hold it as the rancid smell made its way into my mouth. Then I noticed my hands.. They were covered in blood? No, I was covered in blood? I looked up and I could see a scene of horror. Countless corpses are mangled and scattered about within the walls and ceiling of the tree¡¯s interior Some seemed to be alive and were groaning, but they were too far gone. They were all crushed between the wood. Mean while skeletons riddled the ground ¡°What is this?..¡± I asked absent mindedly ¡°Oh yess¡± Toothless hissed. ¡°This is the tree of death¡± ¡°Tree of death?¡± The name was truly menacing¡­ ¡°Oh, didn¡¯t you know? The forest you were walking through was the Forest of Death.¡± ¡°¡­.¡± >_< why did you tell me such an important thing.. ¡°Anyway, there are two Great Trees.¡± Tree of life which was originally destroyed because of the calamity was replanted in the human kingdom¡­.I don¡¯t know what happened to it since, And this tree, which has been here as long as I could remember. At that moment, I heard a blood curling screech as the space around me froze¡­No, literally. Time seemed to stop. There was a long pause as I looked around. The blood which was dripping from the mangled bodies above floated in mid air. It was surreal,.. There was another screech, but this one was much louder. *Bubum* ¡°Ahhh,m-my head!¡± A felt a stab in my brain. I don¡¯t know if I should grasp my head or close my ears. Then I saw it ooze in. Trapped in time, I saw it. A dark black mist similar to my own, but unlike my own, it was more of a gas than a liquid. It seeped forth as it clung low to the ground. It moved outside of time, against it, as if the laws didn¡¯t effect it. It rose and slowly took shape a humanoid shape clad in dark robes. It was death itself. All my notion of living left my body, my knees buckled and I fell to the ground. ¡°Scrrreeeeeeechhhh!!¡± It howled as once again I lost consciousness.¡± ¡°You really are a dumbass¡± Toohtless shook his head as he watched the mist slowly envelope his ticket out of here. ¡°Aren¡¯t you being a bit too forceful? It¡¯s his first time after all¡± ¡°¡­¡­..¡± The black mist seemed to pause and shake ¡°Screech?¡± ¡°What¡¯s that? I can¡¯t understand you¡­¡± ¡°Y-you IDIOT!!!¡± ---- Wahhh! I shouldn¡¯t have took that turn¡­.I¡¯ve been lost here for¡­Arg! Don¡¯t even want to think about it. Remember that our new master, Lord of Chaos would appear,¡­b-but that was ¡­3000 years ago¡­Bwaaahaaha. Hm? I-It-Its him? ¡°IT¡¯S HIMM!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but to yell in excitement. Finally, after all this searching, I found him! Hahahaha. As I make it around the corner, I see him¡­ahhhh¡­so majestic. The blood compliments his inky black dark aura,¡­so beautiful¡­It reminded me of certain someone¡­grumpy This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.¡°Master!¡± I call out to him Huh? His skin became pale and he collapsed huh? ¡°Nooooooooo, Master, don¡¯t die!!¡±I said jumping on him ¡°Aren¡¯t you being a bit too forceful? It¡¯s his first time after all¡± I heard a familiar voice say. As I looked at myself on top of my new master I can¡¯t help but to tremble. *Blushes* W-w-w-w-w¡­¡­.. ¡°¡­¡­..¡± Oh wait who was that? I turned to look ¡°Brother?¡± ¡°What¡¯s that? I can¡¯t understand you¡­¡± Oh, yeh, that¡¯s right¡­I haven¡¯t spoken to anyone for a while¡­I¡¯ve just been using sounds¡­I must¡¯ve sounded like¡­my face grew bright with embracement ¡°Y-you IDIOT!!!¡± ---- "Ugh, my head¡­." I said rubbing it as I looked around¡­..was it a dream? I was In some small dark cave with a camp fire¡­.The warmth of a camp fire¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­I was pulled into the trance as I watched the flames dance about. It made my mind wonder about my home¡­I missed it.. ¡°Um, master?¡± An unknown female voice broke my concentration I looked around and I saw a girl about 15 year old sitting on a strangely flat stone, fidgeting. She wore a dark black over sized robe which made her seem even cuter, on top of that she wore narrow framed glasses. ¡°Who are you?¡± I was really curious. Though I couldn¡¯t see her face that well, I could tell she was cute. ¡°M-my name is Ezraele¡­¡± Huh? Is she blushing? ¡°Umm, that is, if you don¡¯t mind¡­¡­¡± ¡°What is it? ¡°C-can I enter you?!¡± She asked as she stood up and approached me. She was holding some kind of scythe¡­must be some kind of farmer¡­ ¡°HUH? W-what are you asking all of a sudden¡­¡­shouldn¡¯t I be the one to ask..-huh? Don¡¯t tell me she¡¯s actually a¡­. ¡°Could it be ¡­¡­ that you¡¯re a boy?... She looked pretty started as if not knowing what to say¡­or should I say ¡°he¡± You can¡¯t fool me ¡°Y-YOU IDIOT!!!¡± She hit my face with the scythe as she turned around running away crying. ¡°W-what¡¯s going on?!¡± I heard flapping sound getting closer. I looked over and noticed toothless flapping lazily with his body sagging down. ¡°You really are a moron aren¡¯t you? You don¡¯t recognize her? She¡¯s the angel death. The same one that made you piss your pants in that bloody tree¡­¡± ¡°Bloody tree? Whaat?¡± It wasn¡¯t a dream then he¡¯s¡­¡­ ¡°Oh yeh, she my sister¡± ¡°What?!¡± Later that night¡­.. ¡°I-it my first time¡­.be gentle OK?¡± *Vein pop* ¡°Ok, but this might hurt a little, but bare with it¡± *Vein pop* Ok, just slide it in¡­. ¡°What the hell are you doing with my sister?!¡± ¡°Well she¡¯s trying to slide herself in me¡­¡± I realized how bad it sounded. I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s the same thing toothless did¡­ ¡°um, you know, the thing you did when you bonded yourself to me..¡± ¡°Oh that?¡± greedy bitch. Always ruins my plans¡­.. ¡°Well keep it down will you¡­¡± grumy I don¡¯t know what with him ¡°Ok, Here I come¡± Ezraele took my attention back to the matter at hand as she slowly seeped herself into me ¡°Ah!¡± I heard her cry out ¡°Hey, are you alright?¡± She sounded like she was in pain¡­ or¡­¡­. ¡°Ahhh!¡± ¡°Hey?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°More! More!¡± ¡°SOOOO GOOOD!!¡± Ezraele cried out ¡°Ehh?¡± I felt a dark pressure radiating from toothless Wahhh¡­.i-its not my fault. So it turns out the Angel of Death, Ezraele is a giant purv¡­ The next day toothless told me about the place we were in. According to him, the Tree of Death¡¯s roots ambush its prey from below....It then draws the captured food toward the tree¡¯s base before slowly squeezing the blood from them. The tree¡¯s root, which span the whole length pf the forest draws in anything that enters the forest. It then uses the blood and bones to nourish itself. ¡°Y-you don¡¯t say¡­..Isn¡¯t that something important that you should have brought up¡­¡­why didn¡¯t you..?¡± ¡°Whaha¡­.I¡¯ll never tell¡­.¡± Damn lizard¡­Oh yeh, that righ! "What exactly happened to me when I absorbed my armor?" ¡°Oh that. Well,¡­You are not of this world, so you don¡¯t have any manna channels to speak of. When you forcedly absorbed your armor, you forced that manna through your body¡­.if it wasn¡¯t for me, you would¡¯ve died ¡°Gulp¡± Oh yeh, I almost forgot.. I was supposed to do this a while ago. Well it better now, since to enable its proper function, you have to access you manna channels¡­something that you didn¡¯t have before. Toothless let out his black inkle aura and it condensed into a brilliant black gem. ¡°What is it?¡± I was really curious what the point of this gem was. But given Toothless¡¯s personality, I was quite wary. ¡°You¡¯ll find out soon enough¡± The beautiful black gem floated to me and embedded itself into the center of my forehead. This serves two functions. Its secondary function serves as a universal translator, while it primary functions¡­.Well, I¡¯ll let you figure that out. Chapter 9: It would be best... ¡°Master, where are we going?¡± Ezraele was a talkative sort, she¡¯s been blabbering nonstop about her ordeal these past 3000 years¡­.it was tiring. But I enjoyed her care free naive attitude. It took the tension away from the matter at hand. That being that I¡¯m trapped on this world for now. First thing first though. Toothless told me that the demon continent has the strongest one of the strongest magical beasts around, and frankly, judging from toothless¡¯s expression, well,¡­let¡¯s just say that I should leave this continent I haven¡¯t been slacking these past days either. I¡¯ve been learning more about manna from Ezraele. Toothless¡¯s was grumbling the whole time about how she was taking all the fun away¡­ According to her, manna behaves much like a gas in that, under regular atmospheric pressures it¡¯s a gas, while under greater density and pressure, it becomes a liquid. She really didn¡¯t use such technical terms but that¡¯s just how I interpreted her explanation. She said that when manna is dense, it is a liquid, When it¡¯s not dense, its air. ¡°So If I condense air, I can make a super cold liquid?¡± I asked ¡°Ohh,¡­I don¡¯t know about that¡­¡­Why would air turn into a cold liquid..? ¡°Well,¡­where to start. Everything in the universe is made of atoms. Atoms form molecules and the molecular density dictates whether that molecule becomes a solid, liquid or a gas. While heat causes things to expand, cold, causes it to contract. So a gas that became a liquid must be really cold. In addition¡­¡­¡± I continued my explanation. Soon she began to space out as some steam started to rise from her head. Well, I guess I should stop.. When Ezra finally recovered from information overload, she finally said ¡°I don¡¯t really understand¡­But just as I though, you really are amazing!¡± she said with eyes sparkling like a kid. ¡°You have to understand that weather and geological activity is centered specific frequencies throughout the world.¡± Toothles suddenly butted in ¡°I sort of figured that already.¡± I said. "Let me guess. Certain frequencies produce certain element. When wind and water collide, they produce ice. When fire and earth collides, they produce huge lava lakes and volcanoes. When there is abundant wind element, they collide, creating lightning in the process.¡± Then I could take lightning. Heat and air should also create plasma though ionization¡­¡± ¡°Could you stop talking about it already¡­you¡¯re making my brain hurt¡­.¡± I chuckled at Toothless'' response We talked about Elementals before we moved to something else. "But they are relatively friendly¡­So you shouldn¡¯t be too concerned with them. Beings that you might be more concerned about are called Fades, unlike the elementals, they cannot die¡± Toothless continued ¡°Cannot die? Figuratively like, it will later come back, or literally like, it¡¯s indestructible.¡± Asura was expecting it to be figuratively as he didn''t believe anything to be indestructible. "The latter." Toothless'' answer startled Asura " Fades are born from people. The stronger they were in their life, the stronger they will be as a fade. Fades are thought of men long dead. Your mind operates by using brainwaves, apparently, when your body dies, these waves linger for a while before they balance out. If they are mentally strong enough, they try to take in as much manna as they can. When they finally absorbed enough, they become self-sustaining. ¡° Toothless then chuckled ¡°You know humans are too funny. They think that those Fades are the true gods. It got so funny that even Fades themselves began to think that. Heheh:¡± Thoothless chuckled as he whipped a tear from his eyes. ¡°Well besides their power level, and experience; all of them are the same. Right now, there are two major faction. On one side you have fades who died with a righteous heart. On the other side you have those who died with a vile, evil heart. This is truly a good vs evil battle¡­heh¡± You could tell that Toothless was trying not to laugh. ¡°But get this¡­pft..¡± Toothless was holding back his laughter as he put his tiny dragon paw over his mouth. He looked quite cute like that Those humans are so self-righteous, more often than not, they end up on the side of evil..Hahahahaa¡± Toothless burst into laughter, unable to contain it anymore. ¡°They who die their ¡®righteous death¡¯ and linger, only find themselves being born as demons. ¡°hahahahhahhahah¡± Hmm I didn¡¯t really get Toothless¡¯ joke. I guess toothless isn¡¯t too different from his sister¡­ ¡°Hm?¡± I see some smoke in the distance. It must be a river side village. I¡¯ve been following the river for few day now. I was tired and dirty, I longed for a bed. As I got closer I saw the village, or its walls at least. The walls where all built out of towering logs that stuck out of the ground with sharpened tops. The walls themselves were drawn out wide into a rectangular shape. On the corners, 3 watch towers stuck out. ***** Gerald was a man like any other. He grew up dreaming of becoming an adventurer. Looking at it now, he missed those days. His carless laughter, his mother¡¯s warm smile. Thinking of his innocence, made Gerald frown. He looked at his hand as if they were covered in blood. ¡°How can I face my mother now..¡± he whispered to himself. He wanted to become an adventurer, but growing up sheltered, he lacked the experience. So when the mercenary guild called the Red Hand passed through his village, he decided not to miss this opportunity and join them. He was 15 at the time. When he was 18, he was allowed to go on subjugation quests. He was rising star and people around him called him a genius¡­.It was fun. Fun until the new band leader took on a job from a noble merchant. I knew with all my heart that slavery was bad. But they are demons, so maybe not if it¡¯s them? I¡¯ve read great tales of Demon Lord and their viciousness. They were like the boogieman. There was this really strong one called Aron. He was known as Lord of Terror. I¡¯ve read that he drink human infant¡¯s blood as if it were his wine and feast on the bodies of children while they were still alive. But the more and more slaves the Red Hand capture, the more and guiltier his consciousness felt. They have been at this base for more than 4 years now, and in few days day will head back to the human continent. This base was once a fortified river town called Rivia. Being secluded and on the river which could be reached by the ocean made this a prime staging point. Despite his genius, he was reprimanded and made fun of for still being a kid. They raped nearly all girls despite the age. One day he heard something that baffled him. He heard Josh and Markus taking from behind a door early in the morning ¡°They younger the better.¡± Gerald heard Josh as he walked past the door. This caused Gerald to stop in his tracks ¡°Nothing as good as a supper tight cunt around my cock to wake me up in the morning. This is the best gig yet¡± ¡°Right? We fuck and breed these demons for 5 years and in exchange we will get 100,000 gold crowns? What a win! As long as we bring enough young slaves in.¡± ¡°Who cares! The younger the tighter!..guhuh..The tighter the better!¡± The sounds and the conversation coming from behind the door made his stomach turn, he just walked away what could a single person do? Besides I didn¡¯t do nothing wrong. I cannot be punished by other¡¯s evil deeds Such were Gerald¡¯s thoughts until 2 more years. That was when they began to scrap the bodies of the ones that were too used up. No use in keeping slaves that even if they survived longer, could never survive the voyage. The children were fed their parent¡¯s flesh¡­because it was more cost effective. They then used their bones as a fertilizer for a farm that fed the band. The men of the village were made to fight one another in coliseum like competitions with other beasts. I only seen this once and I enjoyed it. Until I watching it here. Many died for simple entertainment. The town hall became a breeding center. There were other buildings one was where the infants were kept. Some really sick pervs went there often looking relieved every time. It sickens me to think what the babies were probably fed¡­ After a while, that trend caught on among the regular slaves. They would beg to eat and drink their filth¡­Anything was better than eating their own kind¡­So they would often compete and fought among each other to get better shares. The band members would laugh and make fun of them about them being disgusting and such. Gerald didn¡¯t wanted any part in it and started to avoid everyone. Throughout the years, He became secluded and thus assigned watch duty daily. He couldn¡¯t wait to get back home. From the 3rd watch tower, He spotted something approaching by the main road in the distance¡­Slowly the speck got gradually larger. ¡°What is that¡­.¡± Josh asked after he went over to his junior. ¡°I can¡¯t tell yet, it¡¯s still too far¡­¡± Answered Gerald As the figure got gradually closer the more his heart sunk ¡°N-no¡­It can¡¯t be!¡± Gerald yelled frantically. What is before him was a being he remembered from his childhood memories which seemed like a century away¡­A beings that oozed ink like darkness¡­they were the Fallen Fallen were the foolish mortals who ate Essence of the Lord of the Land in the hopes to gain immortality and great power. They got both. They could be dumb and behave like a forces of nature, ravaging anything that got in their path as they mindlessly roam the world. It became too costly for the empires to hope to defeat them, so their best hope was to repel them. Other who¡¯s self-remained and survive the mutation become corrupted intelligent beings. No one has ever seen one. As the figure got closer, Josh too noticed. But unlike me, he didn¡¯t know what he was looking at. Then suddenly ¡°E-ENEMY ATTACK!!!¡± As if snapping back into reality after a 30 second gap, he finally yelled out the enemy approaching. ¡°Madness, madness¡­.We cannot hope to fight that..¡± Gerald spoke as he looked at the approaching figure. His eyes were filled with panic ¡°I cannot die here¡­..not after¡­not after this! I cannot die here after I have seen all of this! I must..get¡­away..¡± In the panic of the sudden alarm, Gerald made his escape ***** ¡°Don¡¯t let him get any closer!¡± one mercenary yelled ¡°Throw another volley at him!¡± another called out ¡°M-monster!¡± ¡°Men! Get a hold of yourselves! I will whip you into shape when this is done!¡± The leader cried out. ¡°He can¡¯t possibly breach the gate on his own. Secure the goods and kill any slave that cant make the voyage. We don¡¯t have room for all of them, so make sure you kill enough. We will just have to leave today!¡± The leader roared to raise moral. ¡°Even if he found a way to breach the gate, we will be long gone.¡± As men left, soon cries and yells of countless deaths followed. ¡°Sir¡± Someone called as he approached the band leader. ¡°What? Make it quick¡± ¡°W-we¡¯ve run out of arrows¡± ¡°J-just call everyone up on the walls down, and have them reinforce the barricade. It¡¯s obvious were just wasting our energy on him¡± ¡°Y-yes sir!¡± ***** Repelling the incoming barrage of arrows magic and spears was an easy task for Asura, who had mastery of nature. With his new found knowledge of how magic works, he extinguished the magic way before that magic even got close to him. A round, thin revolving wall of air repelled or shredded any incoming arrows or spears. The arrows and spears were all made of wood, so it was quite easy Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Some lighting also came my way. So I weaved various earth elements together to form 2 meter, sharp rods made of pure silver. Why silver? Because it¡¯s the best conductor of electricity. I had to make sure that the roods were also well above my head for obvious reasons. They rose from the ground few feet from me here and there as I continued to walk forward. I didn¡¯t extinguish their magic with sheer force. Instead, I used the laws of nature. Coming at me was a combination of different magic. Water, fire, earthen spikes. Well just this much shouldn¡¯t be a problem I altered the earthen spike¡¯s structure from being made or rock to being made of dry soil. Remember I had control of all manna I then injected water element into the spikes which caused them to sog and flatten out as it start to fall to the ground in puddles of mud. I fed surrounding air into the incoming fire balls which caused them to grow bigger and bigger until they burned out. It was a pretty spectacular scene, lightning was raining all around me, but never once touching me. Instead they are drawn to silver spikes that continued so sprout out of the ground as I walked. My surrounding spaces where filled with bright flashes of fire balls burning out as mud rained from the sky. None of it ever touched me. The barrage of magic stopped as I approached the gate. It was a large wooden gate fitted with armor plating. The door looked imposing but Asura just shrugged ¡°Now they won¡¯t open the door¡­Oh well minus well if I¡¯ve already gotten this far.¡± Asura said as he stretched his hand in front of him. Like fingers sinking into puddy, his fingers sunk through the armor plating and into the 20ft high wooden gate. With great ease, he pulled the gated forward towards himself. This caused parts of the walls that were connected to the gate to collapse outward. After easily forcing the gate out of its hinges he just threw the massive gate behind him as if it were a mere twig. Asura was met with a silence as he looked to the men in front of him. All of them were struck speechless with their mouths open. ¡°Monster..¡± I heard someone whisper I walked little forward and soon another cried out ¡°No! Get away! Stay back!¡± ¡°Why are you attacking me?¡± I calmly asked. They just looked at me stupid I Then I finally noticed my form ¡°Ohh.....that¡¯s why..¡± I notice my body was still in the elemental form from that I was in from absorbing my armor¡­which was a part of toothless¡­.if not toothless himself¡­¡­.It gave me an uneasy feeling. Slowly the ink like darkness condense and I formed my new armor that was not so scary¡­.*I need to make friends now¡­.* Asura thought to himself. Though it was a little too late for that. There was a silver ring appeared on his chest. Darkness from that silver ring sprouted out and formed a dark breastplate that didn¡¯t extend beyond his abdomen. 2 Wide black leather straps covered in black scales sprouted from beneath the breastplate and crisscrossed his abdomen in a single cross. The straps across his abdomen extend back up his back where dark scale like plating ran up the spine in a bone like structure. It extend up and covered his shoulder blades in an intricate plate design. Small rib like plates sprouted out of the spine like structure to form a gradual larger ribs that hugged his sides. It started short and stump-like on his mid-back and as it extended up to the shoulder blades, the ribs got progressively longer and wider until they melded with the plates on his shoulder blades. Those plates flow up and over my shoulders to form wicked pouldrons As the straps went across the arms, it formed sleeves that wrapped his fingers and extended just past his knuckles. Above his knuckles formed an armor plating and spread across his fingers and forearms to form sick gauntlets. The tips of his fingers were now as sharp as any knife. As it extended down to his legs, it formed into his greaves. The remaining darkness wrapped his waste and drooped behind him like a robe that looked more like an artwork drawn in gold. As a final touch, dark lengthy fur sprouted from the breastplates, around the neck and small slivers of gold sprouted forward out of the silver ring and created intricate embroidery all across my plated armor while the leather portion remained untouched. My skin was light grey hue and my hair flowed in endless blackness. ¡°Pardon me¡± I said as I walked forward ¡°Huh? Some of them were dumbfounded of my question They all parted and let me pass without uttering a single word. As I walked further in I started hearing creams of people dying and begging for their lives. My face stiffed as I dashed forward. It was a blood bath. One of the soldiers was pulling a women¡¯s blood soaked hair forward while she was sitting down. As he pulled her hair forward, he stabbed at her back, killing her. Another one was swinging his sword at a beaten little girl covered in filth. There were 15 dead bodies in the town center with over 50 huddled together with lifeless eyes, waiting for their demise. ¡°STOP!!!¡± Asura roared. And as if responding to his will, time itself stopped. Toothles¡­If you don¡¯t tell me who is responsible For..THIS! We will part ways here. I will not ally myself with anyone who promotes this¡­for ANY REASON¡­ ¡°That one of the reason why I want to leave this place..¡± Toothless sounded sad. ¡°But I can¡¯t just commit complete genocide. Even if I do, creatures here just go through the same cycle. The races that are left form groups and the people on top will find other races to discriminate against to elevate their position.¡± It will just repeat¡­But if you want to know then just read their memories.¡± I went over to the woman who was stopped in time as she was stabbed in her back right below her neck. I reached out and touched her head. A flood of memories flooded my mind. They were happy memories. This woman¡¯s name was Merriegol. She grew up in her village called Rivia. This was a prosperous and strong village that made their livelihood by hunting beats in the surrounding lands. That was also why the giant wall was erected. It was because some of the beast travel in packs and were quite strong. She lived her happy life and was about to merry a charming boy. Her parents were still quite close and she even ended up having a cute 6 year old sister. But then one night, humans came by water. They enslaved everyone. Raped her little sister and humiliated her in front of her and her parents. They just shoed their thing down her throat to shut her up. She couldn¡¯t do anything as she watched her sister begging us to save her before she gagged on the man¡¯s thing and died from lack of air. She and those around her experienced unimaginable degradation and horrors for the next 4 and a half years. ¡°I- I don¡¯t want your suffering..!¡± Tears flooded Asuras eyes .................. "heh...haha....hahahahaha!" Asura erupted into laughter after a long wait "I finally understand your joke....Toothless." ............... After a long silence he finally said. ¡°Ezra¡­.when they die¡­¡­..make sure they suffer until the end of time." Asura said with great pain in his heart. I want them to suffer¡­¡± It was a faint whisper but the message was clear as she nodded her head Then the attacking soldiers splattered. Since the time was still stopped, they looked like water balloons filled with blood that were just burst open. They remained like that. ¡°Ezra¡­I know you are tied with the souls of this world and can manipulate them¡­Please..¡± Asura looked at her with pleading eyes. Please wash the surge from them. ¡±I don¡¯t care what you have to do...I don''t care what I have to do¡­¡­ Just...please save them!¡± Ezra showed an affectionate smiled and quietly whispered to herself ¡°You really are amazing¡± From the bottom of her heart she was glad Chaos had a compassionate heart. As the other soldiers that I left at the gate made their way to me after regaining their senses, they slowly and ever so cautiously encircled me. *Right..Ezra only stopped time in this portion of space..* Asura recalled Then their leader stepped forward. He unsheathed his sword and pointed it at me. ¡°I don¡¯t know who you are. But you will not get away with this..Do you even know who you are Messing WITH!? We ar- ¡°I don¡¯t care¡± Asura simply cut him off. This infuriated the leader ¡°I do not wish to hear word uttered by trash like you¡­.You will all die here.¡± Asura continued ¡°You brat!¡± Their leader roared as he charged at Asura. His bizarre speed caught him off guard. Then, just like that, his body was slammed with such force that it created a small earth quake. I looked at Ezra who was now fuming Actually, now that Aura looked around, he noticed everyone was forced down to their bellies as if prostrating themselves. The surrounding air quivered and it was like the whole world about to end. ¡°H-how DARE YOU!¡± A loud boom seemed to shake the world The once cute Ezra with her oversized robes and scythe was now a menacing being. She was like the grim reaper, in a soul harvest. *Wait, Is that even her?* ¡°You..Insolent WORMS! I shall bathe in your blood and feast on your souls. I shall make you experience the worse pain imaginable as you slowly wither and die. Only then will your torment begin! I shall make you all regret ever being born for trying to lay a hand on my Master!¡± She roared as the pressure continued to increase. Some cracking of bones where heard here and there, coupled with muffled screams. ¡°Kill everyone except this one this one¡­.¡± I said motioning to the leader who was prostrating himself at my feet "He still has many things to say.." Just like that, Ever soldier were swallowed by what seemed to be a mini black hole and warped out. ¡°I will save them for later¡± Ezra said as a matter of fact. I went over and touched his head and I saw his life display before me.. ¡°What a vile being...He poisoned the previous leader, even after being saved and sheltered by him..¡± I said to myself as I searched his memories. *There! Chancellor Valgar¡­is it? There was another one?¡± As I finished my scan, I was made known of another man who seemed to escape¡­.* ¡°Gerald¡­.¡± I said that name aloud as if to remember "I know what to do with you...." Asura said in a menacing tone. "Ezra, make this one into a weapon. I want his soul to scream in unimaginable pain every-time he is taken out of his sheathe." Immediately, his body began to twist in odd angle as gut wrenching sounds of countless bones breaking could be heard and he crumpled onto himself to formed a sword that lay in the pool of blood that was once the leader....What was his name again? Who cares... I Slowly walked over to him and picked him up "Your torment has only just began" Asura said softly as he unsheathed the blade. "Skhaaaaaaa" An ear piercing sound of a tormented souls instantly met Asura''s ears. He slowly destroyed the sheathe before he tossed the sword as far as he could in the distance as though it was garbage. The sword wailed the whole way. As if satisfied he turned around to face death and the mighty dragon as he weaved fire all around him. ¡°Toothless, warp everyone to the human continent. I shall strike down all who allowed this to happen...¡± He softly growled with dried tears as fire engulfed every structure of the village Toothless just sighed and said ¡°Fine, but this is your only freebie¡­.¡± Then my scenery changed as we all warped out of the impeding inferno. "It would be best if nothing remained." Chapter 10 Gods Emissary Asura strolled down the luxurious corridor. It was like the image of heaven. The walls, which were purl white, were embellished with intricate patterns of pure gold which filled the walls with various design and patterns with hints of silver here and there. These patterns made lines which gave way to geometric shapes. It really gave the whole thing some contrast while highlighting the pure white walls at the same time. Some places where more ornate than others, but the hall still had a uniform orderly feel to it. Asura couldn¡¯t help but to glance at the oversized paintings which hung from the wall. These paintings where of men of various ages. No doubt they were all kings and other great men. There was even a painting of the current head master of the school here. This made Asura think back on his reason for being here. Asura was on his way to that very head master. The school, or academy to be more accurate, was better known as Sanctuary. Asura arrived here 9 months ago and caused quite a stir. He did what no other has done before, he shattered the identification orb with his magic power which was unheard of before. From then on, countless of factions flocked to him in order to gain his favor. As Asura took his eyes off the painting, he continued his walk toward the large door in front of him ¡°What a self-important asshole¡­¡± Asura though looking at the painting. All the paintings, with the exception for the emperor, where painting of dead men. Did he think himself to be his equal? Well, no matter. *He will never be an emperor; but dead? That¡¯s a different story.* Asura cruelly thought to himself. No, he was not on his way to kill the man. That¡¯s not saying he won¡¯t. At least not yet. He assumed the reason he was called in was because of his radical ideas which took root in the academy. Now it was hotly debated and were even some fatalities as a result of debates turning violent. When it¡¯s an argument about god, at least with these primitive people; it¡¯s like blowing on a cinder¡­ Asura smiled as he recalled his success so far. Thank GOD that this BS religion was largely similar to the old earthen religions back home which went extinct few hundred years ago back home. Home..Asura was really getting home sick. HE really didn¡¯t want to die, so he had to find another way to leave this place. It¡¯s also possible that this was actually part of his training that he is supposed to undergo. Even though information was free and can be easily uploaded, some information were considered as secret and were maintained by the organization that held them. So it was really possible that this is all some sort of high end simulation or just a live test of capabilities. Compared to Alliances Military might, beings like toothless would put up quite a fight, but at the end, it can¡¯t match the star fleet who¡¯s main guns can easily commit Terracide. In fact, their bigger armaments could wipe out a medium sized solar system. Well, the chance of this being part of his training was highly unlikely. If the Alliance knew about some of the materials here¡­Well, no sense of thinking about that now. Asura¡¯s, mind snapped to the matter at hand as he approached the door. It was a large gold door which stood 3 meters high. No doubt that was pure gold. Not that made him stare at it slack jawed. Between the current LENRs and 3d printers, something like gold became common. The door was decorated with the same white stone that was used on the wall. Except that these stones where carved with absolute perfection in every detail. A bit of sliver was used to offset the two colors while at the same time adding a sense of wealth. No doubt, this guy though himself as god¡¯s greatest gift to earth. As Asura placed his hand on the doors, they simply opened. Walking through, he noticed that the chamber, which was quite large in size, was in a shape of a ? of a circle. Is this the same thing they did with the Vatican? The chamber plust the hallway before made a key shape. Now that Asura though about this. *Hahahah, destroying this fool will be a real pleasure.* He thought himself as a key? That¡¯s just too much. As Asura approached the headmaster¡¯s desk, which was large in size and stood lonely in the front center of the chamber. Behind the desk, on each side, stood staircases which led to the same central platform. There were few comfy looking chairs with piles of books here and there. No doubt this was where he headmaster spent most of his time. All Asura saw behind that sitting area was a labyrinth of bookshelves that took a crescent shape to match the contour of circular room. Each book shelf were filled to the brim with various books. In this world, the printing press was not even invented. At least not to his knowledge. So having this many books in one place was truly a spectacle for a normal person. Asura turned his gaze to the man sitting behind the desk. The man that sat behind the desk was indeed the one from the painting. He looked like a senile, old librarian who decided to dress too fancy. Must be because he¡¯s senile. Asura fought to suppress a front coming over his face. This caused the corner of his mouth to twitch slightly. ¡°Leroe de Victus, whats this I hear of you stirring trouble. Some accused you of fallacy and others even blasphemy. Do you know how serious these allegations are? The head master said after Asura stopped in front of the desk There was a long pause before, Asu, or as he is called now, Leroe spoke ¡°If someone was saying such things about you, what would you do? Asura asked with a bored face. This great wise man before him was nothing more than a senile fool. ¡°What would you do?¡± ¡°What? I-I won¡¯t be in that situation to receive such allegations in the first place.¡± This guy really was stupid ¡°Is that so? Perhaps it is because that you are a headmaster and I am not? I¡¯m sure if I was the headmaster, no one would dare to spread such false rumors about me as they do now. But I am not headmaster am I? Leroe said with an annoyed face. ¡°So, being that as such, unlike you I have to worry about people smearing my reputation when other people in leadership position treat rumor as fact. Isn¡¯t that right Mr. Headmaster?¡± Asura gave him his best smile. ¡±You don¡¯t have to worry about such things because the first thing someone would do is investigate it. After sorting through fact, and not rumor, they would make a conclusion to find you innocent or guilty. Tell me Mr. Headmaster, did you also do this? What hath you threaten me with a charge on nothing more than a rumor?¡± ¡°SILENCE!¡± I will not sit here and listen to you smear my honor, m- ¡°Tell me then, what of my honor? Is your honor greater than mine? You¡¯re Name? I¡¯m gaining support day by day. You see Mr. Headmaster, we are equal in the eyes of god. We are all creation of god. While you can argue your superiority for now and say that your position is more important, I say not. You see unlike you, I love facts and I will never question someone¡¯s honor based on nothing more than¡­rumor. Do you not recall what happened 3 turns ago? How I shattered the classification orb? You already know what that means.¡± Yes he knew what that meant. I overwhelmed the crystal. As I spoke the headmaster¡¯s face contorted more and more. He was near his limit. You see, it¡¯s also a fact that I will grow greater that you can ever hope to be. With great power comes greater position. Tell me then; in the eyes of god, who is more important? A Head master that has already reached his peak and is past his prime; or a genius youth with limitless potential that will surly grow to be leagued above anything the Headmaster can hope to achieve. While it may be rude, it is true, and it¡¯s already archived as fact. Tell me then, whose honor is more important? Not in your eyes, but in gods eyes. I do not deny that I cause quite a stir, but that¡¯s only because of other people¡¯s close minded ignorance. I do not force others to act out in a violent manner. It¡¯s simply lack of basic self-control. From where I stand, isn¡¯t it your duty as headmaster to enforce this self-control? Isn¡¯t this the root of the problem anyway? If self-control was taught and enforced in this great academy, would we still have problems of people loosing self-control and acting out in an angry or violent manner simply because others say something that they don¡¯t like? Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± I could clearly see fury in his eyes as he retained his silence. But he was practicing self-control. That¡¯s why I planted that part in the first place. It would make someone look really foolish if they acted out after the talk of self-control and all. Hook, bait and sinker. ¡°Well then Mr. Headmaster, I you have nothing more to say, then I¡¯ll take my leave.¡± With steady steps Leroe di Victus made his exit Back on earth, in the past, Martin Luther started the protestant reformation. Here, I started the beginnings of one. The plan in Asuras mind was clear as day. Step1 Infiltrate the academy. Step2 Plant the seed of reformation and create friction in beliefs among the academy. Step3 ¡°Acquire evidence of church¡¯s corruption¡­or just plant the evidence. There are other things I can do for this. Step4 Preach of churches corruption and use that to shoehorn the reformation forward. Step5 continue to sabotage the church and their image while continuing gathering support. Step6 After amassing power and support, fake my assassination and make it look like the church did it. Step7 Watch as the empire plunges into civil war and disintegrates. Well, for now, Step2 is nearly complete as he made his way out of the hall and into the courtyard. ¡°I will make them pay for what they did¡­.¡± Asura¡¯s mind was clouded in dark though as a familiar voice rung out. ¡°So, how it go? I see that you still have your skin.¡± A youth said with a grin. It was Rubius. That name¡­Toothless is right. Names with us¡¯s were indeed common among humans. Thinking of toothless made him irritating. ¡°Oh, common, don¡¯t be that way!¡± Rubius said playfully. ¡°It went pretty well, considering what they are saying about me¡± Asura said as he took on his persona. ¡°Yeh , no doubt some would just rather see you dead. Or worse¡­¡± he said as if spooked. ¡°Really funny..¡± Leroe said Rubi just rubbed the back of his head and laughed like an idiot and laughed ¡°Well I don¡¯t think you have to worry much more. You are gaining support day by day.¡± Rubi was really a mystery. Asu knew that he was more than meets the eye. No, under that idiotic mask of his lay a cunning man. He had a young face devoid of any facial hair. He had hair that was a hue of sakura in fool bloom which he wore in a messy fashion. In short, he looked like a noble peasant¡­.if there were such a thing¡­He certainly behaved in a stereotypical peasant way. This made Asura recall a nifty book called the 48 laws of power. Law 21 in particular. Play a sucker to catch a sucker-Seem dumber than your mark. But Asura didn¡¯t worry about such things. It was Asura that approached him in the first place. So he was obviously not his mark. He¡¯s probably a spy or what not. As Asura was trying to discern Rubi¡¯s agenda, a girl made his way to him. *Ah, here¡¯s someone normal* Asura thought to himself. ¡°Anna, what can I do for you¡± Asura said as he turned to face her. She looked like a stereotypical attractive secretary with luscious brown hair. She held a small book in her hand. The meeting you requested, I set it up. The members are waiting for you¡± ¡°Someone¡¯s a bussy man. Huh? Going from one meeting to the rest, I¡¯m so jealous¡± ¡°¡­.Yes, I¡¯m sure. If you¡¯re stoped playing around how about coming with me¡± ¡°Yeh, yeh, I¡¯m coming¡± He acted like it was a bother. But no doubt he was curious. ¡°Anna, please lead the way¡± It wouldn¡¯t do good to keep the members waiting. I was now standing before our members. It was about 200 something people. I with Anna and Rubi by my side was standing in front of a podium¡­In a dimly lit hall. This again¡­..¡±Tch¡± I cast my magic and lit the hall to full daylight. As you might imagine, I sea of murmurs rose up and flooded the hall. I began my speech in aloud tone to silence them ¡°You have¡± I paused for a dramatic effect ¡°been gathered here¡±..¡±Because you have all chosen to support me throughout my endeavors.¡± I paused to hear the hall which by now have fallen silent. Though some of you care not for me but the profit that I may provide; to those people I say thank you. Your reasons are your own and I care not. Those of you that have gathered because they pray for change and hope that I¡¯m its harbinger. Thank you, for if it wasn¡¯t for your support and praise, I wouldn¡¯t be here today.¡± I paused and looked around to read the mood. Everyone was listening attentively. Good ¡°I have promised a great many deal of things..¡± I raised my arm loosely to my chest level and opened my palm. From it I materialized a single block with the letter A on it. The whole room exploded into murmur. Not because of what was in my hand, but how it got there. In any theory of magic in any land this wasn¡¯t even known, much less thought possible. To them it was something akin to the power of god, the great creator. ¡°This is creation magic!¡± My voice rung through the hall. ¡°Our benevolent god has bestowed this power upon me to fulfill his wish on earth while he is in heaven.¡± I paused to see everyone looking at me with revere. Even the two standing next to me were taken back. I knew I had won the undying loyalty of most people here. But that still wasn¡¯t enough. I wanted to create a true spectacle. ¡°Brothers, I have promised you all great deal of many things. I do not wish to go, back on that promise. I can see the protest on their face. One was about to say that it didn¡¯t matter anymore, but I waved my hand and motioned him to sit back down. Our god believes that good works should be rewarded. In second script on the fifth verse, it is said whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him. So I will keep my word.¡± ¡°My first promise to you was knowledge, I will fulfill this promise now.¡± In my hand, I have a block. You can carve any letter you wish into a block. I motioned to the block in my hand. From the podium in front of me I pulled out a piece of paper and showed it to everyone so they could see that it was blank. I then placed the paper on the podium and before everyone, stamped the large block onto on the blank paper. I then lifted it and showed it to everyone.¡± Gasps rose though out as everyone started to talk about the implication of what I had shown them. ¡°This technology was a gift from god in a form of a vision. It is called a printing press.¡± Chapter 11 I forgot, I Dont Care 1 Year Ago-Asura¡¯s Diary Day 1 - Part 1 Looking for a place to settle the survivors of Rivera I stumbled upon a grove. It was a large clearing in the forest that was like an oasis within an oasis. Thousands of flowers littered the field, and in the midst of it all was a lake. So pristine and beautiful was the scene that everybody stopped and marveled at its splendor. If paradise on earth existed, this was it. Some people in the crowd started to cry while others muttered something like ¡°have we died and went to heaven?¡± Even the trees which outcropped the grove were covered in vines that sprouted beautiful, radiant flowers of all shapes and colors. Dozens of small trees were scattered though out the grove that bore all types of fruit; even the countless flowers which riddled the floor hid a delicious secret. Beneath the flowers grew a vast array of hundreds of berries. While most of them remained under the flower¡¯s canopy, there were some that grew past the canopy, revealing its delicious treats everyone to see. Amidst all of this, a girl¡¯s voice could be heard. She was singing. It was a voice of an angel. Like countless flowers and fruit, it was beautiful and sweet. Following the voice, my eyes landed on a girl. She had hair that seemed burn in deep crimson. Her dress which was of sky blue was outlined with white frills that was accented with a pale pink. Because had her back towards us she failed to notice us. Hearing her voice play this beautiful melody, I stood there in silence and listened It was a melody that seemed to melt the ice from my heart. After losing myself in her voice, she started to sing ¡°A clouded dream on an earthly night Hangs upon the crescent moon A voiceless song in an ageless light Sings at the coming dawn Birds in flight are calling there Where the heart moves the stones It''s there that my heart is calling All for the love of you A painting hangs on an ivy wall Nestled in the emerald moss The eyes declare a truce of trust And then it draws me far away Where deep in the desert twilight Sand melts in pools of the sky When darkness lays her crimson cloak Your lamps will call me home And so it''s there my homage''s due Clutched by the still of the night And now I feel, feel you move Every breath is full So it''s there my homage''s due Clutched by the still of the night Even the distance feels so near All for the love of you.¡± After a long pause to confirm that she was done, I began to clap, and soon everyone followed. The girl, as if startled, hesitantly looked back to face us. ¡°You¡¯re not..Who are you people?¡± The girl was a woman in her middle years. I almost instantly noticed her ears. She was obviously an elf. Judging from her face alone, I concluded that she must be quite ancient. ¡°Alright we shall settle here for now!¡± I shouted the command so that everyone could here.¡± The lady just looked at me as if she¡¯s confused about something¡­Oh, well. ¡°Unload!¡± I followed up with my command. ¡°Pitch up tents and get the fire started to cook the meat we have gathered¡± Everyone began to do as they were instructed. ¡°Wait¡­WHAT!??¡± As if snapping out of her confusion she suddenly started to protest. ¡°You people can¡¯t be here, hurry, you must leave!¡± She frantically yelled while looking back and forth to see if anyone was paying attention with hopeful eyes. They were not ¡°I¡¯ll see what she has to say later¡± I though. I left them to their duties and went to scout nearby areas to see if there¡¯s danger. As I left the forest I noticed a dozen people riding my way in all sorts of beast like horses. The one in front was especially unique. It looked like a mix between a multi-tailed fox and a gallant horse. It had 3 fox like tails of pure white which were tipped in orange. As if to compliment this. The fluffy mane had a highlight of orange at its edges. It would be ashamed if such a creature died. As they approached me they slowed down. Immediately, the guy riding the majestical beast opened his mouth and began yelling something awful. ¡°You there. Halt!¡± ¡°What is this?¡± I thought as I began to try to walk around them. I acted as if I hadn¡¯t had a slightest clue. The whole lot of them immediately pulled out their swords. That got escalated faster than I expected. Should I thank them for their own vanity? They just saved me a bunch of time acting like a buffoon to slowly anger him. Even now the guy¡¯s whole body shook with anger. Literally. ¡°Y-you dare¡­HOW DAre a lowly peasant like you try to ignore me! ME? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I AM- He instantly stopped dead in his tracks as I let out a bit of pressure. Though shocked, I could tell that he was not afraid. ¡°You¡­¡± God his voice was so annoying. Sounded way too nasally. Was it because he had a big nose? Probably..I concluded in my head ¡°Boy..¡± I voice rang forward that sounded too much like a heavy piece metal being scraped against rocks. It belonged to a guy clad in black armor. What interested me more was his horse. It seemed to be made out of bone and shadows. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°You will pay for your ignorance with your life¡± He growled ¡°To dare to insult- ¡°What!?¡± My sudden yell interrupted him mid-sentence. He inhaled deeply to calm himself. ¡°For insult- ¡°WHO!?¡± He was visibly holding in his anger. ¡°Will you let me say his name?!¡± He blurted out in frustration ¡°I don¡¯t care for such useless things..¡± Ok I obviously steered him to ask that question. Perfect set up. Law 31. Control the options----Get others to play the cards you deal. ¡°How dare y-you?!¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if it was a question or something. It just sounding weird. Like he didn¡¯t believe what he just heard and wanted to confirm it. But alas being in his position he couldn¡¯t ask questions in a situation like this. It would have made him seem like an idiot. In his curious stupor, the only thing he could do is to challenge me. And the anger he was fighting back..Just one..more¡­push. ¡°Enough, just finish him. Let him suffer for his insolence. You will beg by the time he is done. You will know to fear the na- ¡°No one asked you Lord Nasal Voice!¡± ¡°Nasal Voice?¡± He couldn¡¯t believe what he heard. ¡°YoU PeASanT¡± His voice sounded unevenly. So hoarse. Was he thaat mad? ¡°You mad??¡± I said with a stupid smile. and there¡¯s that push. Yep he¡¯s gone ¡°KiL HIM!!!¡± Not like he had to say anything. Mister heavy metal was already charging my way on his badass horse. He was clearly blinded by rage. ¡°Umm can you do something about that horse?¡± I asked toothless. Who kept himself invisible. ¡°Why should I?¡± He asked with a resigned face as he crossed his little dragon paws. ¡°Well it¡¯s made out of your prime element¡­Isn¡¯t it sad that you would let such people enslave one of your creatures¡­To think you would abban- ¡°I get it. Fine¡± And just like that, Mr. Heavymetal¡¯s horse vanished. With no horse supporting him, his body, which was leaning forward up to this point fell rapidly to the ground head first. At that speed he probably instantly broke his neck, but I figure Id create a spectacle. As his body cartwheeled forward I encased him in my gravity spell and began to exert pressure. By the time Mr. HeavyMetal reached my toes, He was nothing more than a pebble. ¡°Oopse¡± I said in a tone that was reminiscent of a halfhearted apology. Everyone in front of me were now stunned ¡°W-who are you? No, You must be working for them..¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± He fell into a brief silent. ¡°Keep those three alive¡± Even though I said it quite loudly, that guy didn¡¯t seem to notice ¡°Hahaha¡± he suddenly erupted into laughter. ¡°How much did your organization spend finding me here? It must have been crippling..¡± He said in a sinister tone. Meanwhile Ezra who showed up just before his rant began killing everyone behind him. Her deathly aura made sure that no sound entered or escaped from her space. ¡°No matter,-¡± he continued his ranting"But I will not die in vaine. My allies will hunt you down one by one until there is nothing left" The whole time I was flabbergasted as I watched Ezra brutally murdering all of his companions in the background. I see some of them trying to beg and crawl away. But they were just dragged back and killed even more brutally than before. Is she constantly bringing them to life? I shuddered ¡°Yes, you should be scared. I have 3 others who are even stronger than Dark Soul who you just killed. Do you think you can beat all 3 of them?¡± He asked confidently. The 3 of them stepped forward. Show this fool what happens when he messes with- Before he could finish all 3 of them charged forward at a terrifying speed. As if their lives were depending on it. Well I think they were. Nasal Voice snickered. He probably though something like ¡°Too scared to even act? Its only expected¡± Poor Fellow. He¡¯s really out of the loop. As they got within range, NV¡¯s eyes widened in anticipation. And then they all slammed their heads into the mud and prostrated themselves on their bellies with their arms spread. In unison they all cried ¡°WE ARE SORRY MASTER, PLEASE FORGIVE OUR IGNORANCE AND SPARE OUR WORTHLESS LIVES¡± Clear desperation filled their eyes. ¡°It ok, little doggies. As long as you boys behave yourself, you should stick around for a while to come. AV wasn¡¯t believing what he was seeing, I am V- ¡°I don¡¯t care¡± I interrupted. Why does he want me to know his name so bad? Holding in his frustration, he resigned himself. ¡°To hire one such as yourself they must have spent nearly all of their wealth. At least I will die knowing that I crippled my long hated enemy¡± "...Ok,.. I don¡¯t know what you are talking about? I don¡¯t even know who you are.¡± As if on cue, and waiting for the chance to finally come, he stuck his chest out in pride said ¡°I am- ¡°Oh, I forgot, I don¡¯t care¡± I instantly depressurize the area around him, and he exploded faster than you could say chunky salsa. ¡°Aww, I got his spleen on my shoes..¡± I said as I tried to shake of some something off my shoe. After that I returned to our new settlement. Anyway. I need to find the culprit responsible for Rivia. Virmin? No, no, V-V. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll think of it later.. For now, Let¡¯s eat. I¡¯m starving Chapter 12 Ant Lion First I would like to apologize if my story so far is a bit confusing. As for the recent chapters¡­ At the end of chapter 9, We teleported to the human continent Chapter 10 takes place 1 year later Chapter 11 is part 1 of the journal entry describing the events that took place after the end of chapter 9. Plus a few days of travel ---------------------- 1 Year Ago-Asura¡¯s Diary Day 1-Part 2 The food in front of me looked quite messy. And the taste¡­It¡¯s not like I had to eat anyway. It was more of a caving. I sighed inwardly as the food in front of me fell substantially short to the BBq feast I had imagined. What was in front of me was a soup with overcooked chucks of meat swimming in it. No flavor, No texture. Everything was bland. I have to teach who ever made this how to properly cook. As I was staring into my soup for a while, I decided to leave it alone. Few refugees who looked at me in anticipation when I picked up the spoon soon wore a face of disappointment after I left my meal alone after taking 1 mouthful.. I got up and left for the woods. ¡°I¡¯ll have my BBq one way or another.¡± I thought to myself. As I entered the forest, The three guard dogs that I left to guard our encampment began to follow me. Annoying buggarts ¡°What are you doing?¡± I asked. ¡°We..umm..following you?¡± their answer sounded more like a question. ¡°Master Boss.¡± They quickly added. ¡°I thought I told you to guard the camp.¡± I said without expecting a response. But master, E-E-Ezraele said to guard Master¡¯s life as if our existence depended on it.¡± "She said¡­She said that if we- I didn¡¯t want hear his terrifying description of what Ezra would do to them if they failed. ¡°Ok, ok.¡± I said ¡°You don¡¯t need to tell me the gory details¡± I am a firm believer in sleeping in the mess you make, but somehow I felt pity for them. ¡°Just one though¡± They looked super happy at my response. As if the weight of the world has been lifted from their shoulders. ¡°THANK YOU!¡± They clamored in unison. Sigh, these 3 will give me headache. I though inwardly As I made my way further into the woods, I began to look around for anything usable. I was hoping I would find naturally growing spices. After an hour of looking I gave up. ¡°Master Boss, if you don¡¯t mind me asking.. What are you looking for?¡± ¡°Spices¡± I promptly answered. ¡°Spices?¡± he sounded perplexed ¡°Why would you look for spices way out here?¡± ¡°What do you mean..?¡± ¡°Umm..That is, Master Boss¡­Spices can only be found in the markets¡­.¡± He shyly said. It made me feel uncomfortable to see the mountain of the man in front of me acting so skittish. Does he not have his pride? Or did Ezra stomped it out of him already? No use worrying about it now. What¡¯s done is done. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I furrowed my brow as I though deeply about the matter. ¡°I need to establish a trade agreement with the lord of a nearby town or city then. Even though, I can make none organic substances at will, I haven¡¯t learned how to manipulate life yet. So I couldn¡¯t just fabricate food and other edibles out of nowhere. ¡°Hey you¡­What your name anyway.¡± I asked. I couldn¡¯t go around calling him ¡°you¡±, especially if there are 3 of them. There were a sparkles in his eyes. It was a face that said "I though you''d never ask. He slammed his right hand into the chest of his plated armor and proudly announced ¡°I am the great Hero Beowulf! I hav- I quickly cut him off before he could go on his rant. ¡°I didn¡¯t ask your life story..¡± I could see clear disappointment on his face. ¡°Beowulf is it¡­I¡¯ll call you Wulf¡± Before he had a chance to protest, I continued ¡°Where is the nearest town?¡± I asked. I wanted to go there as soon as possible to buy the spices we need. ¡°You mean a city then? It¡¯s rare for any town to sell spices..¡± I furrowed my brows. Is he trying to act smart with me? Based on what caused this subject alone, you can easily conclude what I meant. I was not really familiar with the particulars of this place. I was looking for spices and asked for the nearest town. Him knowing that spices are only sold in cities-After he saw my face and he quickly added ¡°The nearest city is The Great Merchant City Scale.-It has 10 merc- I of course, deep in my thoughts, didn¡¯t hear him. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. -was trying to make himself feel superior by blabbering about irrelevant nonsense- ¨CMerchant Lords. These merchant lords govern the city together in order to- - wait, I could get some info by listening to him. Maybe I could even ask some questions. ¡°Ok its decided then. I¡¯ll use this as an opportunity to learn some info." I though -make greater profit¡± Profit? What¡¯s he talking about? Oh, yeh. I need to ask some questions. Something like- ¡°Who rules the city?¡± I asked. His right eyebrow twitched. Before he started to explain everything to me for the *first* time, he sighed. What¡¯s that attitude about? ¡°As I was saying, there is 10 merchant lords who govern the city together in order to make greater profit. They decided that clear hostilities among themselves would just result in the loss of profit.¡± ¡°So they were smart and decided to work together¡± I said I wondered I anyone person was running the things behind the scenes. There has to be a lead figure for things to run so smoothly. If you have 10 groups of similar power together, and each opposition was your rival, I don¡¯t think I have to go into detail in explaining how that would cause a lot of tension. Someone must be keeping them together. I concluded ¡°They couldn¡¯t be just happily coexisting, they have to have a leader. Who is it?¡± The way he spoke of the merchants made it seem like each one of them could rival a king with the wealth and power that they have accumulated over the years. This made me wonder at how big the city must have been. Wulf remained silent for a while. Then he finally said ¡°That is Chancellor Valgar..¡± ¡­. ¡°Who?¡± That name sounded familiar. Kind of like that Chancellor Vulgar. Was it because they are both chancellors? Well, no use thinking about it. ¡°Where is this Chancellor Valgar?¡± I asked. I wanted to establish ties with such a powerful man Wulf fidgeted like a schoolgirl as he spoke ¡°He¡¯s..um..that is..¡± As if recalling a nightmare, Wulf finally spoke something that made sense ¡°He¡¯..dead¡± ¡°Dead? What? Who would be powerful enough to do that to a man of such stature and get away scot-free. Wait, did he get away scot-free? Hahah. What dumb-ass, who would do that anyway. Surly someone like Valgar had powerful friends in high places. Hahaha what idiot. Anyone with half a brain would steer clear of upsetting him because of his friends. Well not me, cause my friends are stronger. But it it was anyone else..¡± I whipped the tear of hysteria from my eye. Wulf looked as if he couldn¡¯t tell whether I was joking or not. ¡°Well who did it? What dumb-ass killed this chancellor Valgar?¡± As if not knowing how to respond, wulf answered with a question ¡°You did¡­?¡± ¡°¡­¡­..¡± What? As if- ¡°As if I¡¯d kill someone so powerful without even knowing it¡­.haha. Imagine stepping on an ant only to realize it¡¯s a lion? Hahaha. Good joke..¡± ¡±Hahah¡± Wulf awkwardly laughed along with me. Probably because he was unsure how to respond. ¡°Yeh, it was¡­¡­.really funny¡­¡±He said as he averted his eyes. Wait he looks serious ¡°You don¡¯t mean that was¡­?¡± Wulf silently nodded ¡°Say whaaat!"