“Emperor Corwin, the first of his line, had merely sat on the imperial throne for three hundred years when the divide happened.

Magi made war on Magi. Open war was waged on space stations, on the surface of planets and in the vastness of space.

We later learned that a third of the Magi across the empire had, over the last millennia, sworn their loyalty to what they believed were the true gods of mankind. The one thing our enslavers had stolen from us in our infancy.

The idea spread like wildfire throughout the empire.

Soon, brother fought brother, and sister fought sister.

The spirit of Earth had been destroyed so long ago, but it was still a sore memory for humanity.

Unlike other species, we had no guiding hand through the cosmos.

The ancients, as the younger species around us called them, a group making up the ruling body of this universe, even claimed that a species without their own patron God or Gods had no afterlife. The spirit of their dead would wander aimlessly throughout eternity, never able to evolve, only to be put out as the final long dark came to an end. A species like ours had no future in their eyes. We were a lost and useless species.

A question that has stumped our record-keepers since before we were enslaved: why does humanity always fall back to committing violence?

Even as I am recording this synopsis of our sordid history, war rages outside my quarters.”

- Elistar Iscariot, Grand Magister during the second Kingfisher dynasty.

Looking up at me, the steel-gray eyes of the lady holding my leg in a grip strong enough to crush iron were unflinching in their determination. I was debating if I needed that leg all that much, but taking into account my recent stint as a cripple, I decided it was far too early to start jumping around on one leg just yet.

She had the classic features associated with imperials. High cheekbones, firm jawline and thin lips. The only thing missing was a magnificent nose like my own. Not everyone can be as amazing as me.

“I see you are doing better, my lady. While I must apologize for not having appropriated quarters fit for someone of your exalted self, I must admit I am having a slight issue when communicating with the locals. Speaking off, I was just about to ask the lot down there if they could vacate the area so you could get some rest in something more fitting like the palace down below.”

Her unnerving stare turned from piercing to humorous and, finally, shocked as she snorted and proceeded to touch her face.

When she finally accepted that she had a nose again, she proceeded to just sit there and wink at me, in the least flirty way I have ever been forced to endure. That or she was simply blinking because she once again could use her newly regrown eyelids. Either way, it was a study in human emotion to watch.

An unknown time later, as I stood there watching the young lady touch herself with the hand that wasn't holding my leg, the sound of battle accompanied the slightly strange scene.

I'm all for people making free with their own bodies, but looking at her massaging her newly regrown, quite generous breasts was a bit much for me when the person in question was neither paid to do so nor attempting to entice me into a more interesting state of dress.

It's difficult for me to admit, but I was close to feeling something akin to embarrassment. Oh, how the tables have turned. Alucard, how far you have fallen.

When she finally let go of me, I looked down at the woman who had once been broken and made whole again.

Shaking, arms wrapped around herself, she sat there with her face hidden from the world.

No, she was still in need of healing, but of the sort, I had no knowledge or skill to heal. I could not heal a torn spirit, a lost soul.

Minutes passed as I stood there looking at the broken spirit while old buried memories haunted me.

Memories of a young man brought out from the darkens. A young man, broken and beaten beyond what anyone was meant to survive. I felt the memories flash through me like a frigid wave of hatred, despair and shame.

Then the warmth came, chasing away the demons. Love and empathy replaced hatred and ruin.

It had been a long road, and things had not always gone well, but instead of kicks, whips and abuse, the young man was shown kindness and care until, one day, the demons could no longer hurt him.

On that day, I was reborn, and with the same love and compassion shown since the very first day, I was welcomed and given the freedom to be.

I chose to be a protector of the wretched and lost. I chose to become a tool of freedom to the enslaved.

I had chosen my new family, the Crimson Legion of Mars.

With the bitter moments of holding Bullseye's hand as she passed from this world. Our squad huddled around her as the Godling had torn her spirit apart in its last feeble attempt at staying in our plane of existence.

I thought I had lost my direction that day, but her love and teaching stayed with me. Maybe it was time for me to pass some of it on to someone else in need.

Who knows, if she is watching from wherever we go after death, she will know that she is not forgotten, and just maybe it will make her smile.

Sitting down, I gently took her head in my hands and lifted her tear-streaked face, peering into her gray eyes. For a moment, I was taken aback, remembering another pair of gray eyes that had once looked at me as I now looked at this young woman.

With a gentle voice against the backdrop of the raging battle beneath us, I said.

“Hi there, my friends call me Smiley. Would you like to be my friend? I would like to be yours.”

I gave her my best smile, delivering the same silly and childish words spoken to me so many millennia ago. The very same words that became the start of my salvation.

In hindsight, making someone who is crying snort in amusement was a bad idea. Snot and tears went all over the place. The poor sheets that became the cleanup crew of that particular disaster deserve a medal.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

It did, however, give her something else to think about for the moment, so I count it as a success.

“I believe you said your name was Alucard?”

”True, but Smiley is something my family used to call me a long time ago. Alucard works just as well.”

“I will consider it. You may call me Sabina. I hope you understand that I am grateful beyond what mere words can express, and you can rest assured that what you have done for me will not be forgotten or go unrewarded…How did…What… You freed me, and you healed me. Why? You are not of my house. You do not owe me allegiance. I would have remembered the face of a new Awakened in our retinue. I don't know what to say. Why?”

Well, at least I knew she was of the nobility by her speech pattern, an Easterner, and despite her petite build, she certainly had the muscles of a warrior. That either meant her family was destitute or was close to the throne. Ironically, the more powerful imperial families expected their children to be fighters, and the lesser nobility mostly married away children to build alliances.

Then again, if she was from the high nobility of the empire, she may very well expect me to ransom her or use her against her own house in some way. Since I hadn't murdered her myself yet, it was probably close to what was running through her mind. Imperial politics was not a sport for the faint of heart. It was considered less deadly to serve at one of the frontiers.

Now, how do I stop her from stabbing me in the back to get away from whatever insane plan she imagined I must be harboring?

“Why? Because I could. Chance put me in the cell across from yours. I would not wish anyone to suffer at the not-so-gentle hands of the untekhi. The snakes aren't exactly known for their empathy and compassion.

As to healing you, I used an artifact. Sadly, it will not work again, so let's try to avoid losing any body parts from now on. I much prefer being able to scratch myself again, thank you very much.”

It was close enough to the truth. She wouldn't be able to communicate with the AI even if she found it somehow, and if the battleship didn't count as an artifact, nothing did.

“I see. Now, will you tell me why we are joining the battle I can hear down there? Would it not be better to escape while they are occupied with each other? I mean no offense, but I can barely feel any power from you at all.”

It wasn't that I disagreed with the idea of using the prisoners as a distraction; they were not my people, but I was having a bit of a moral crisis about the entire thing. Sure, they wouldn't have fared any better without my intervention, but now that I had changed their fate, I felt a certain amount of responsibility.

A part of my newfound morality may also be what was hidden down in the cellar of the palace.

When it came to her not feeling much power radiating off me, it was because of my domain, according to Sir Michael. He explained that some of the shadow and dark domains had boons that partly or fully hid an Awakened's power unless they fully opened the rift to their domain.

It was a boon especially popular among assassins, scouts and others with abilities that focused on striking an enemy without being noticed, and it was especially popular with those that had abilities that had a high damage output on a single entity, together with boons that multiplied the damage of a Awakeneds first attack or a unnoticed attack.

Things only got more complicated from there, so I decided it wasn't worth studying too much since I had True Sight.

To be fair, she had to be quite powerful herself to be able to discern any power in me at all. That might explain why she was a bit vary. I checked off a few boxes about being an assassin. Sans the weapons.

“There are a few things I need from that building. I wouldn't worry too much. You can rest up a bit here while I expedite things along.”

“No. You will not leave me alone. If you need whatever is down there, I will help you reach the palace.”

Well, I did offer to be her friend. I guess friends can help exterminate a few hundred remdra together. It does sound like a good bonding experience.

Summoning an oversized remdra sword in my hand, I asked.

“Will my lady be needing an ax, sword or spear?”

Yeah, that shocked her a bit. I had never heard of an ability that could do what my new pendant could, so I doubted they were common.

“Ax, I would like an ax.”

Summoning an oversized ax, I handed it to her. Despite looking comically large, she didn't seem to have any trouble with the weight as she slowly stood up and took a couple of cross swings, making the blade howl as it cut through the air. I have to admit I wanted to see what she could do.

Giving her a last salute, I turned back to the edge, looking over the plaza and activated Jump, followed by Controlled Fall as I was about to land in a group of enemies preparing to storm the palace.

As I stood up from the pool of remdra bits, activating Celerity while taking in the around fifty remdra encircling me. I couldn't help but feel my lips curling up in an all-too-familiar smile.

Small ones and big ones. Remdra in all sizes and shapes. Come one, come all, we got something to suit every taste.

If some untekhi decided to show their forked tongue, I would be more than happy to rip it out of its mouth.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted Sabina landing a good twenty meters in front of the same building I had been on top of moments before. I couldn't help but wince as she grimaced at the landing. It was a bit high, even for a powerful Awakened.

With an enviable grace I watched as she stood up in a perfect two-handed stance. I had been trying to drill my body into copying. My body was still years away from being that effortlessly perfect.

The next thing I knew, four of her were swinging their axes at the enemy that had been five or so meters away a second ago. That wasn't a fight. She was de-remdraing the plaza at an enviable rate. No wasted moments, no stopping.

I almost felt ashamed as I raised my sword in my sloppy stance and slid towards the nearest remdra.

What was I doing? This wasn't a fight. This was a slaughter, and the butcher they had called was me. Six long tentacles slid out of my back, tearing through my clothes since a certain AI had forgotten to add that feature to my wardrobe. The fact that I forgot to mention it was not important.

The anticipation of bloodshed brought forth a laugh. Okay, maybe it was more like a cackle, but any critics wouldn't be around long enough to complain.

With the flick of my wrist, the sword I was holding flew faster than my victim could react and sent a tall remdra hurling backward hard enough to pierce the chest of the one behind it with the tip of the sword sticking out of its back. Now that was comedy gold.

Hurling myself towards the largest group to my right, I dove tentacles first into the mass of remdra. Piercing, tearing, ripping and kicking.

It was a symphony of blood and screams.

Tightening the grip I had on a big bastard's tail, I used the momentum of having my tentacles performing open heart surgery on six other remdra to swing big and grumpy into its smaller companion. The satisfying crunch and blood shooting from beneath the big one was a balm to my soul.

To think these damn weaklings cripple me. To the snap of large ribs breaking, I landed on the now dead remdras chest, sending even more blood squirting around me.

With a thought, I used a tentacle to propel me at a breakneck speed into the next group of remdra.

While small, the constant influx of power was almost as intoxicating as being able to use my body again.

A tentacle snapped the neck of a remdra while another swung out, slicing a small remdra from groin to neck. I watched it slip and fall on its own intestines as it tried reaching me through its blood-lust.

Sliding forward, I rose up in a punch to the ribs of a big remdra blocking my way, sending it reeling. I broke its neck before it could get its footing back and spun around it, slicing open any remdra close enough to my tentacles. Blood and power flowed on this field of slaughter.

We were driving a wedge into the center of the enemy. To be fair, there were two wedges since a few remdra between us were too far away to bother with. At least, that was my excuse.

Summoning another ax, I sent it twirling in the general direction of where I imagined Sabina would be in a few moments. The one she was wielding was looking ready to be scrapped. I guess that is one downside of having a war ax made entirely of poor-quality metal.

“Thank you!”

“You are welcome. A group is coming up behind you, led by a big claw-hand one.”

Sure, she probably knew, but one of my favorite hobbies is informing people of things they already knew to make myself look better in the eyes of the observer. It was damn annoying for the recipient, so I was not completely clear who I was trying to impress with my vast knowledge and unmatched perception. “Is it you?” I silently asked the head I was holding in my hand of a particularly ugly remdra.

At least I managed to annoy her enough that she increased her assault. You get them, lady. Imagine they have my face.

We hadn't really discussed a plan, but at the moment, breaking for the palace seemed pointless. Why they didn't have any Awakened around, I did not know, but they might as well let a pair of foxes into the hen-house.

I doubt we could get away with killing every single remdra out here; we would run out of energy before that, but a few hundred? A couple of thousand? I guess we shall see.

Using Push and Tremor, I sent a group stumbling as I proceeded to jump among the fallen, reaping lives in wide swaths, using my body as much as my weapon to punish the enemy for capturing me and everyone inside the palace. I punished them for taking part in torturing and killing countless beings. I moved among them at will, striking both at their weakest and their strongest.

At some point, our wild abandon must have impressed quite a few of the spectators inside the palace. The great doors that barred the way were pulled back, and like a tide, burly, tall humans came rushing out, followed by a few gigantic mantises and quite a few kobolds wielding spears.

Shifters, I thought, as quite a few of the humans in the front got down on four and started changing.

Some, turning into birds and took flight. They kept soaring over the battlefield.

There were exotic animals like savanna rhinos and snow lions but the majority turned into different species of oversized wolves. However, the leader of the shifters was a cave bear.

Utilizing my great skills of observation I could see Its snarls and grunts lead the other beast-men to form position in the wave of beasts about to hit the remdra lines. Its position as leader of the pack may have been because it was a tactical genius, but I somehow think it has more to do with the person now having fully changed into a great cave bear with around nine hundred kilos of angry bear slamming into the enemy line,

Seeing the enemy now being ripped apart from three different directions, I couldn't help but wonder how the remdras had started their morning and if this were how they imagined it would end…