《Blackened》 Prologue: part 1 A huge roar can be heard outside of the castle. Nearly half a million people can be heard chanting: "Long live the our Four Elemental Church! Death to the heretic King!" With each chant getting progressively louder, the angry mob furiously tried to barge its way through the castle gates. Inside the castle, a female servant carrying a baby boy wrapped blankets arrived at the throne room.then "I knew this would happen, that damned Four Elemental Church!" The red-haired King angrily yelled "but this progressed faster than I expected.¡± "Your majesty, we''re running out of time. Please evacuate, it won''t be long until they break into this room." The king slowly approached the female servant. The robust and charismatic king, showed a fatherly smile. With each step he took, tears slowly rolled down his cheek. "Yue, I guess if we aren''t allowed to be together in this world, perhaps in the next world we may achieve true happiness..." The king whispered as he closed his eyes, gently caressing his son''s hair. "Your majesty!" "Take him to the stables, there is a horse waiting there. Orz, my trusted knight is there. Quickly! We don''t have much time!" "What about you!?" The female servant shrieked as the loud chanting reached the throne room doors. "Go! My son is the last hope of my bloodline. I''m the only one that can stop this. I''ll follow shortly after!" Upon hearing that, the female servant''s limbs stopped shaking. "Hng!" She slapped herself on the face to regain composure and left the throne room. After the servant left, the king wiped his tears. "My son, I hoped to raise you, watch you learn how to walk, watch you say your first word, watch you meet your first love, and hoped to see you once again succeed the throne..." He raised his arms "...but alas, fate is cruel. You are the symbol of love between Yue and I. I don''t have much to give you, nor do I deserve to be your father, but as long as I''m alive, they will never get to you!" Light surrounded the King, a huge golden magic circle began to shine behind his back. "Void wall!" Small blobs of darkness started to gather in front of the throne room''s gigantic doors. The black mass continued to grow, as the doors slowly cracked. ..... On the other side of the doors, protesters started throwing everything at the door. Firebombs were thrown, swords were drawn and others started to cast magic on it. "The door is breaking! Use fire magic and break down this earth-style reinforcement magic!" One of the protesters yelled out. Ten hooded mages at the back began chanting their spells. "Move out of the way!" Yelled one of the mages. The crowd frantically split apart. "Move! Move! If you get hit, we''re gonna leave you behind!" Another protester yelled. "Dragon''s breath!" Mana left the hands of all ten mages and condensed into a giant fireball in front of them. Once the ball grew to about human-sized, a huge blaze erupted in front of it, hitting the door. The door stood no chance, and was immediately destroyed "Oooooh, so this is the power of the 6th star spell, ¡®Dragon''s breath¡¯. Those ten mages must be 5 star mages." "To think it would take ten of them to cast this spell, what power!" The ten mages collapsed, presumably from exhaustion, and watched their spell devour the fortified door. The flames burned right through the door, as if it wasn''t even there. Embers flew everywhere, with the wake of its destruction seared onto the smoking red floor. Then, it suddenly disappeared. "..eh?" One of the mages whispered, astonished that the spell vanished. The flames were seemingly sucked into a black void like it was nothing. "Tch." A white masked man, dressed in a tuxedo walked forward from the crowd. "At least the door is gone. My sincere respects to his royal majesty, he truly is the worthy of title ''King of the Void''.¡± The man smiled. ¡°However, before me, this is useless!¡± The masked man whispered something, while raising his right hand. A bright red magic circle appeared underneath his feet. Immediately, a massive blue dragon made of flames, surged from his hand, charging at the black void. A bright explosion occurred upon impact. Debris flew everywhere, hitting some of the protesters. As the white masked man open his eyes, he discovered the the absence of the black void, as well as the red carpet leading to the throne. Adjusting his vision, a well-built red-haired man appeared on the golden throne, with a crown on his head, a golden scepter on his hand, and his body covered with shining platinum armor. A bright golden magic circle behind him, radiantly illuminating the throne room, he said. ¡°Welcome! Are you the one responsible for this mess?" The white masked man walked forward, wiping dust off his tuxedo. Upon arriving near the throne, he bowed. "My deepest apologies, your majesty. Let me introduce myself. I am the representative of the four elemental church. As you should already know, we are here to uphold God¡¯s teachings of the 4 elements. I am here to subdue and convert anyone who practices the heretic ¡°Void¡±, as this is not in God¡¯s teachings. We have the royal knights, the dukes, and the cabinet already under our control. Please surrender the rest of the royal family, and I can guarantee your life at least." Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Damn. My legs won''t stop shaking. What is this pressure? The king''s face was shadowed by the golden magic formation, unable to see his facial expression. Suddenly, the masked man fell to his knees. I can''t feel my legs. What is this massive killing intent? ¡°Subdue and convert? Is this what you said to my fellow void magicians after you mercilessly killed them?¡± The king slowly stood up from the throne. He slammed his golden scepter on the ground. "More importantly, you want me to betray my family?" A smile appeared on his face. "And spare me? The four elemental church is going to spare a heretic like me?" "HAHAHA!" Laughter erupted from the king. "The four elemental church already executed my entire bloodline, and you''re here to execute the last remaining void mage. Do you think I''ll allow you to kill me without a fight? I wasn''t crowned king for nothing!" The king yelled, as mana began pouring to his golden scepter. "Not good! Summon ''The Order''!" The masked man called out to his subordinate. Instantly, ten hooded figures appeared behind the masked man. "Ooh, just this for me? You are severely underestimating me." The king smiled. "Your majesty, these ten mages are the most powerful mages affiliated with the four elemental church. Each of them are at least 7th star mage. Perhaps, your highness is the one underestimating us." The masked man confidently stood up. "HAHAHA. Ha. Ha..." Killing intent flooded the throne room. Everyone was forced to their knees. "Die." The smile disappeared on the King''s face, while he raised his scepter. "Black Death!" Black flames appeared, enveloping the entire room, a scene which looked like hell itself. "Impossible! A 7th star fire spell!" "I thought he was a void mage!?" "A mage can only cast spells of other elements 2 stars below their rank." "Tch, he must be at least a 9th star mage!" "Can he possibly be an immortal!?" "Calm down! Douse it with a water spell!¡± said the masked man, clearly shaken by the killing intent. ¡°He can¡¯t possibly be immortal level yet! There has never been an immortal-level void magician, or will there ever be!¡± The ten mages huddled in a circle, pouring all their mana onto the centre of the circle. ¡°Quickly! The flames are closing in!¡± said the masked man. A giant blue magic circle shone underneath the 10 mages, a massive amount of mana was being channeled. ¡°Ice Age!¡± Ice immediately spread out from the magic formation in all directions, immediately freezing the black flames, producing massive amounts of steam. A scene one said to be from the very depths of hell itself, transformed into an icy tundra. The 10 mages, exhausted from casting such a massive spell, trying to catch their breath. "It takes ten times the mana required to jump from one spell rank to the other." "8th star water magic, ''Ice Age'', should be ten times more powerful than that ''Black Death''." "Did we get him?" The steam slowly cleared, with golden light piercing the steam. The king stood there unharmed. A large blob of darkness was present in front of him. "Ha! This is your so called ''The Order''? Elite mages? I didn''t even break a sweat." The king chuckled. "So this is void magic, able to absorb any non-organic substances and energy. Pity this doesn¡¯t work on living things, but this renders magic ineffective ." The masked man stood calmly analyzing the situation. "I deeply apologize your majesty, it seems that we indeed, took you too lightly. Be honored to face the full force of the four elemental church!" The masked man snapped his fingers, and hundreds 5th star mages appeared behind him. Their collective power can easily invade nations. All these, gathered just for one man. He turned around and faced them. ¡°Everyone! This is day will be a day recorded in history books everywhere! You all will be remembered as the men of God, who faithfully followed His teachings! For years, we have worked day and night to cleanse this world from this filth, this so called ¡®Void Magic¡¯! Brothers! Our journey is finally at an end, but before that, we have last mission¡­¡± ¡°...to destroy the last remaining void mage, his royal majesty!¡± ¡°OOOOO!¡±. The throne room shook as hundreds of mages roared. ¡°Use your most powerful spell on him! We end this in one go!¡± commanded the white masked man. ¡°Sir, won¡¯t his void magic just absorb everything?¡± ¡°A void magician has no control over the void. Void magic in essence, just opens up a portal to the void. Ranking up as a void magician only improves the size and the duration of the portal. Eventually, he¡¯ll use up all his mana and won¡¯t be able to defend!¡± A huge amount of mana gathered in the throne room, as hundreds of mages prepared to use their most powerful spells. Hundreds of magic circles or all colours illuminated the throne room, making it nearly impossible to see. After a short delay, hundreds of 5th star spells of differing elements, aimed at the king. A breath-taking display of colors followed by an huge explosion. The castle disintegrated. Prologue: part 2 Flaming debris flew everywhere. A huge ash cloud erupted from the site of the battle, expanding to the sky. Within the ruins of the fallen castle, thousands of protesters were frantically removing debris from their their allies, while nursing the injured. Meanwhile, at the source of the blast, the former grandiose throne room was now a desolate crater. ¡°*cough* Did we get him?¡± said one of the mages, as he tried to stand up in the castle ruins while fatigue took hold of him, exhausted from casting his most powerful spell. "If we didn''t cast mana shields beforehand, we would''ve been annihilated by our own spells." "Haha, this is the collective power of the four element church. No one can stand before us. Behold the power God bestowed upon his chosen ones!" "Maybe a bit too much, we don''t have the King''s corpse to silence the remaining opposition." "There''s no need for that, the mere destruction of the royal palace already signifies the end of the ''Void'' monarchy." The masked man finally spoke up, wiping his formerly black tuxedo, now turned gray from the amount of ash produced by the explosion, with tiny rips caused by debris. "Our main priority is to tend to the injured or the exhausted. Call the crusade for assistance. Most of our mages can barely stand up." "Yes sir!" One messenger hurriedly ran out of the ruins. The able-bodied mages started to cast healing magic on their injured comrades. The other mages incapable of healing magic helped others back up their feet. Damn! This is a disaster. I didn''t expect him to be 9th star mage. Fortunately, there were no casualties. Clean up is going to a huge headache, as well as explaining this to the Archbishop. The masked man held up his hand and channeled his remaining mana to cast a spell. "Gust!" A simple wind spell of the 3rd star.''Gust'' summons a small gale, in this case, to help clean up operations The dust cloud started to disperse, as wind continuously flowed to the area. Huh? Why is the wind disappearing? As the dust cloud disappeared, a small clearing could be seen. A shadow and a dark blob became visible from a distance. "HAHAHAHA!" Laughter echoed the ruins. Impossible! The surrounding mages stopped their actions. Color left everyone''s faces. "I admit, that was a powerful attack and took most of my mana to stop it." The king smiled, and raised his golden scepter. Not good! A huge red magic circle appeared behind him. Mana gathered on his palms, slowly being converted to heat. "Black Fire!" The entire ruins instantly filled with infernal black flames and surrounded the mages. Helpless to stop it, everyone didn¡¯t know whether to laugh or cry. Some closed their eyes and hoped the inferno would provide a swift and painless death. ¡°God, please save us!¡± cried one of the mages. I really didn''t want to do this, but I have to use trump card. A huge amount of mana surrounded the masked man. Blue light appeared behind him as a giant magic circle formed. Condensing his last vestiges of mana to his hand. Losing control of his mana due to exhaustion, blood gushed from his arms. "My most powerful spell! Despair of the Undines!¡± Dozens of blue spirits appeared, carrying a transparent blue jug, above the masked man. They gathered together and started to pour the contents of the jug. Instantly, a huge tsunami of water was produced, completely engulfing the ruins, and neutralizing the hell fires surrounding the mages. Without stopping, the wave continued to grow in size, as water poured non-stop the Undines. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Everyone opened their eyes. ¡°We¡¯re saved!¡± ¡°Hoo, a 7th star water spell to cancel my ¡®Black Fire¡¯. You are truly a formidable foe, but I can easily negate this with a 7th star wind spell. Come forth ¡®Electric Fang¡¯.¡± The clouds above the battlefield started to darken. Dozens of lightning flashes flickered by the clouds. The next moment, a huge thunderous boom was heard, and countless lightning bolts struck the ground in front of the king. A ball made of pure electricity started to form. As the huge tsunami approached the king, the ball took shape of a huge electric serpent and charged at the incoming wave head on, slowly pushing the wave back. The masked man smiled. Suddenly, the Undines started to cry, and their tears fell along the water flowing from the jugs. The wave instantly doubled in size, now rivaling a small mountain, and effortless overpowered the electric serpent. "Schreee!" The electric serpent screamed before disappearing. ¡°Tch, this ¡®Despair of the Undines¡¯ is actually an 8th star spell!¡± The wave grew even more, now overshadowing even the tallest mountains,and crashed into the king before disappearing. A huge mass of darkness appeared in front of the king. This void absorbed the entire brunt of the attack. ¡°As expected of a 9th star mage, able to stop my most powerful spell.¡± The king fell to his knees, clutching on his staff, as sweat covered his face. ¡°It seems we have reached a stalemate, your 7th star spells are useless against an 8th star mage like me, your mana almost spent, and your void magic cannot harm me. Nevertheless, my goal was to stall anyway.¡± The ground started to vibrate, and millions of footsteps can be heard from a distance. ¡°The crusade is here!¡± yelled one of the mages, jumping out of sheer joy. ¡°I knew that wasn¡¯t enough to defeat your Majesty, but can you stop the ¡®Crusade¡¯?¡± Hundreds of thousands of soldiers appeared, archers lined at the far back, along with the catapults. A field of soldiers surrounded the ruins of the castle. Countless spears, shields, and horses as far as the eye can see. ¡°This is the end, your Majesty.¡± ¡°Is this all the four elemental church¡¯s forces?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°All this for me?¡± ¡°Yes. Any last words?¡± ¡°Come and get me!¡± In the next instant, all of the four elemental church¡¯s forces charged at the king. An endless rain of arrows, thousand of spells was chanted, and hundreds of thousands of spears charged simultaneously, all aimed at the king. Something¡¯s wrong. Determination, not despair is present in the King¡¯s eyes. Can he have some sort of plan? Impossible, there is no way for void magic to harm living beings, much less the crusade. Does he have an ace up his sleeve? No, he probably just accepted his fate. The king closed his eyes, and said something inaudible. A large golden magic circle formed behind the king, larger than anyone has ever seen, blinded everyone present. Void magic? It¡¯s not going to work, your majesty. No, it can¡¯t be! ¡°Everyone! Run away!¡± screamed the masked man. The king finally finished chanting his spell, slamming his palms at the ground. ¡°The four elemental church goes with me!¡± screamed the King. The entire capital disappeared.