Chapter 27

I opened my eyes. I found myself in a vast emptiness, covered in darkness all around. Unlike in Zack's Forever Night, I can't sense any magic at all.

I was floating calmly like a spirit without a body. It was total silence. Calm yet eerie. Then, a sound. I couldn't tell what it was. It was too soft. Another sound followed. It echoed around the dark world.

I went in the direction the sounds were coming from. Gradually, the sounds got louder. Then, I reached a point where I could make out the sound. It sounded like a woman. A woman…. Training? Probably. Either that or fighting.

Then, I saw a glimmer of light. Right there, I saw the woman's figure too. She was generally fit and muscular. She had short black hair and a pair of brown irises. She gave me the impression that she was a 'human'. No obvious affinity to magic, no animal-like features, and most importantly, seemed to have trained her soul. I still haven't seen any other creatures who were able to cultivate their souls besides humans. Well, human souls were super weak to begin with. So even with training, we were still nothing compared to most other monsters.

Her punches and kicks were brilliantly executed. Her combos were swift, which in turn could make it very hard for a target to dodge too.

Female fighters aren't something I've never seen before. In the competition alone, I met three already. But, those three excelled in using ranged attacks or quick agile attacks.

The woman in front of me was different. She was training in hand-to-hand combat and boxing. The main problem was that women were physically weaker than men, so fighting in a battle of strength would leave her in a disadvantageous spot. However, she has one heads up. Her movements were super agile too, which would then allow her to dodge attacks easier.

As I slowly approached her, someone else came into view. It was an opponent. He was around 20cm taller than her. Not only that, he was also much bulkier. From just comparing their size, the woman would easily lose if she received a direct blow.

The man swung a punch. The woman swiftly dodged it by crouching down. Then, she quickly closed the distance between them and did a direct blow to the man's abdomen.

The man didn't even budge. He let out a smile and then tried to trap her from both sides.

Suddenly, I saw two sparks of light from both sides of the man. Something got launched out of the spark. It was aimed directly at the back of the man. They slashed the man and flew away.

The two slashes caught the man off-guard. He opened up his arms by reflex. Then, the woman took the chance and jumped into the air. She swung a roundhouse kick. Her kick slammed right to the side of the man's head.

The man was pushed to his left. He stumbled a little as he tried to find his footing.

At that moment, the flashes of light appeared again. This time, they flew right into the woman's hands. I got a better look. She was holding daggers.

She swiftly launched herself at the man. With the daggers in her hand, she sliced at the man's right arm.

The man jumped back from the sudden attack. His right arm was bleeding heavily. He wasn't able to go far though. With her quick footwork, she dashed to the man and positioned her daggers at the man's neck. Fear and regret were seen in the man's eyes. Then, the man dissipated into nothingness.

The woman stood up instead. She held the two daggers by her sides and looked into the darkness.

Now that she wasn't moving anymore, I could finally properly look at the daggers.

Both daggers had crystals in them. One of them was midnight blue while the other was yellow. They looked familiar…. They looked like…. Darksky and Stardust! I was genuinely shocked.

Those two daggers were the only things I could recognize in this dark world. This meant that these two were most probably the reason I was here. Could they be…. Sword spirits?

"Stardust! Darksky!" I shouted on a whim. I never believed in sword spirits but it wouldn't hurt trying.

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Nothing. It was silence, as to be expected. I guess the sword spirit theory was a bust.

Then, another theory popped into my mind. This time, it was much more plausible. The theory of magical memory. This theory was especially plausible because of the fact these two were magical weapons too.

The hypothesis said that magic can hold memories, emotions, and even dreams. But, the amount of them contained inside magic were so scarce and thin that it was impossible to read them.

However, what if the magic were channeled through an item that could collect magic? Research still hasn't been able to explain the phenomenon, but the items could somehow collect and keep these memories and that was a fact.

With this, the memories were slowly collected in a magical item. Usually, the weapon would also contain information of the world around it, this would mean that other people would see the memories in third person. This accumulation process continued until enough memories were collected and eventually 'overflowed' to the outside world. I never believed this theory, but….

If this was the case, it would mean that these were memories absorbed by Stardust and Darksky. And, that woman was their past owner.

I continued watching from afar. Then, a pair of red eyes appeared in the darkness. I believed the distance between the eyes and her was a few hundred meters. The woman stood in a prepared-for-battle stance. Slowly, more eyes appeared alongside it.

The world began lighting up. I saw hilly terrain between the woman and the row of eyes. I started to be able to vaguely see the body shape of the creatures too. They looked like oversized wolves with long necks and huge sharp claws. Their body seemed to be armored in things resembling scales, but these scales are fully black and don't reflect much light. Overall, it looked like a monster from hell. It was like someone tried mixing a bear, a wolf, a snake, an ankylosaurus, and added some magic into it. Then, this was their result.

More voices appeared. Other people, or should I say 'humans' started to come into view too.

"PREPARE FOR BATTLE!" One of them shouted.

"We can't give up, this is humanity's last settlement! Remember, if we die, the human race might be gone forever!"

A man ran up to the woman. "Lady Edith! You mustn't stay here. You should be in the castle!"

Edith looked at the man. "Go back to the castle and what? Watch humanity be pushed to the brink of extinction?"

"No, my lady." The man rephrased his sentence. "It's not safe for you here. It would be a tragic loss to the kingdom if you died."

"Like there's going to be a kingdom if we lose anyways," Edith mumbled. "Just tell my father to make my sister the heir. I don't want to spend the rest of my life stuck in a castle," she said as she walked away.

"My lady…" the man kept silent. He probably knew that was no way to change her mind.

Lady Edith walked to another man. This time, the man looked like a general in the army. "General Hussey. Give me a quick report."

"The scouts reported that the ripper devils numbered over ten thousand. This is still only a rough estimate and the numbers could be much higher."

After hearing "ripper devils," a gust of info came into my brain. It took me a few seconds to comprehend it, but I managed. The information felt quite incomplete. However, it was enough to get the main concept of them.

These creatures were named Ripsibia devilocarnus, or better known as ripper devils. They turned active every time a "blood moon period" came. Their desire to kill would be enchanted during this period.

Their biggest targets were humans. They would also hunt other creatures too. All except demi-humans, that is. No one knew the reason though.

Many humans at that time were willing to turn themselves into demi-humans to survive the massacre. They do it by using magical methods that include drinking the blood of animals, undergoing spells that would 'combine the soul of the animal with the human', and some other unspeakable acts. But, this part was quite cloudy so I couldn't really understand it.

Back to the event unfolding in front of me, the human race has been pushed to its last stand. They were about to face off to what they assume to be their last battle before humankind goes extinct. Just one ripper devil could easily kill 10 men on its own, and here they are facing the devils at a one-to-one ratio, based on their estimated numbers. It looked hopeless. And, it probably was, considering that the human race was technically wiped off the face of Aurelion already.

As for this "Lady Edith", she was the eldest daughter of the last human kingdom. The reigning monarch didn't manage to conceive a son, but two daughters instead. Edith had never liked to stay inside a castle but her sister, Tilly, was the opposite. Edith was a fighter by nature while Tilly was the sweet little princess.

"Get into defensive positions!" A man's voice snapped me back to the battle.

"Fire!" Another man shouted. Ballistas and catapults launched projectiles upon the wave of devils. Dust and dirt were blasted into the air as the projectiles rained down. It suddenly felt like there was a chance of winning.

However, among the dust, red eyes continued to march forward. More eyes came back into view along the horizon. Then, loud screeches were heard. The monsters suddenly sped up and closed the distance.

The humans, with their shields, swords, and pikes, stood like a human wall and prepared to push the devils back. The two sides clashed.

The humans did well at the beginning. They killed off hundreds of devils as soon as they approached the front lines. Lady Edith and a few other elite soldiers commanded the squads. But, the wave was never-ending. Then, the inevitable happened. A breach in the defenses ended up causing the whole front line to fall apart. Human casualties rose. The devils inched closer to the kingdom gates. Hope was lost.

Lady Edith and the elite soldiers, General Hussey, Squadron leader Liza, Squadron leader Isaac, and a few other lesser known officers, were willing to fight to their last breaths. They fought the overwhelming storm of devils at the gates as the civilians evacuated the kingdom. They unavoidably lost their lives in the bloody struggle and the other humans were eventually hunted down. They had no hope to begin with, but they stood strong. After the battle, this marked the end of the reign of humankind in Aurelion. Demi-humans then became the dominant species and quickly spread around the world.

Now, 4000 years later, I stepped on this human-barren land that countless humans were once slaughtered on.

X

"Big bro! Big bro!"

I ignored the voice.

"Big bro! You're gonna be late for the battle!"

Battle? What battle? Battle…. The competition?

I instantly sat straight up. I looked at the person next to me. It was Brusken.

"Big bro! You're finally awake! The battle is starting in an hour! Come on!" said Brusken.

I looked around me. Kishi was standing on the other side of my bed. I noticed Eff leaning on the wall near the door too. She had crossed her hands and gave me an angry look.

I took a deep breath to gather my thoughts. Ahh, yeah. I was in the past and was witnessing the last stand of humanity. Or, should I say, a memory of the past.

I stood up. "Brusken, Eff, you two should get going first. I'll catch up soon. And, thanks for waking me up."

Brusken replied, "sure thing, big bro! Don't be late!"

"Let's go, Brusken." Eff told Brusken as both of them left. I looked at Kishi. He smiled and nodded. Then, he walked out of the room too.

I took out Darksky and Stardust. Then, I monologued, "so, you two were basically the last relics of humankind huh?"

I could swear that nothing happened. But, I felt like both of them sparkled a little after I monologued. I then quickly prepared myself and walked to the arena.