A/N: First off, I want to say sorry to everyone for the long wait. Work has really picked up and it has been hectic. Also I have started to train for an event that my unit is doing called the Warrior Dash after work so it really has been eating into my time to write... Anyways I just want to let you guys know I probably won't be able to keep up my original speed of one chp a day... Now it won't be as long of a wait as it was from the last chp and now but most likely a chp every two-three days for the foreseeable future until work calms down and the Warrior Dash on the 25th of April. Hope you guys understand!
I know this isn't a chp but this is the prequel to Elemental God that I submitted for the Wizard in Wonderland contest. Hope this helps enlighten you all about why he was so revenge driven and shows you how strong he used to be haha. Anyways shout out to Wraith for PRing this and hope you all enjoy it!
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“Azuel, you damn devil! We have finally caught you! It is time for you to pay for the atrocious sins you have committed against humanity!”
“HAHAHA. Atrocious crimes?! If ridding our world of a few scumbags from the Estran Kingdom is an atrocious crime, then I shall gladly go to hell along with you all!”
With thousands of stars shining brightly in the night sky, a host of ten thousand troops were sprawled out on an open plain that spanned for thousands of yards. The soldiers wore silver armor that reflected the star shines throughout the plains. On the cloth that covered the middle portion of the armor, Estran Kingdom’s insignia of a red griffon was stitched on. The front row of the coalition was made up of soldiers who held large tower shields that dwarfed their own heights and was decorated with the same insignia. Behind them, rows upon rows the soldiers carried an array of weaponry that ranged from swords, to spears, to polearms, and even javelins.
In the rear, thousands of archers stood at the ready. The archers, like the soldiers, wore the Griffon insignia over their leather armor. With their black oak long bows in their hands and arrows in the quiver behind their back, they were prepared to bring their mighty long bows up and into position to fire at a moment’s notice.
Alongside the archers, there were large masses of people that wore only a red robe. In their hands were large wooden staves of various designs. These people were members of the Estran Kingdom’s famous mage division “Apep”.
The Apep Division was rumored to be the world’s strongest mage unit. Just like the mythical dragon they were named after, they were supposed to have the strength to devour the gods. Even though there were mages who were stronger individually, the Apep Division’s true strength laid in their mass spells. Mass spells were magic spells that were cast by multiple mages. They were said to be hundreds of times stronger than a spell cast by a single individual.
In between the masses of bodies stood large banners that streamed in the air as soft winds came from the east. Circled around the banners was a contingent of knights that wore golden armor and a group of mages which wore pure white robes that radiated a light aura. If anybody looked upon them, they wouldn’t be able to help but to sigh in admiration.
This contingent was Estran Kingdom’s elite unit, the Paladins. This unit only recruited the most outstanding of Soldiers who were gifted in the light element. It was rumored that ten Paladins once defeated five hundred soldiers during a battle.
Inside the Paladin’s formation were the King, the prince, and all of the Kingdom’s generals. As they all looked at Azuel two hundred yards away, expressions of contempt and hate could be seen on their faces. All of them couldn’t help but think of the disgrace that had been brought upon their beloved Kingdom the past five years.
Even though there was an army of ten thousand only two hundred yards away from him, a large grin was on Azuel’s face. His heart was unusually calm in this situation. This was the moment that he had been waiting for ever since he began his path for vengeance twenty years ago. Slowly, he began to recall the scenes that culminated to this final fight.
Twenty years ago, on the day of his wedding, the Estran Kingdom had sent a platoon to slaughter them. The first victim was his father as an arrow impaled his throat. With that as a signal, over thirty soldiers with an insignia of a red griffin charged in. Enraged at his father’s death and fearful for the lives of his mother and wife, Azuel roared as he charged forward to confront them.
Ice began to form into a spear in Azuel right hand. Even though he didn’t have his beloved “Brionac” with him, he rushed the soldiers with no fear for his own life. When he was only fifty feet away from them, he finalized his spell and dark clouds appeared rapidly over the soldier’s heads. Before any of them could reach, lightning upon lightning fell upon them, roasting some of them inside their armor while paralyzing the others. Unfortunately, the spell was only able to take out ten of them before the two sides collided.
Just like an animal cornered, Azuel abandoned any notion of defense and ferociously attacked the soldiers. As he attacked them with his spear, fire balls, ice spikes, and rock bullets attacked the nearby soldiers. Even though he was taking them down one by one, Azuel also accumulated many wounds on his body and was unable to do anything as three of the soldiers peeled off and went for his mother and wife.
When he noticed the three peel off, he attempted to block their progress but was held in place by the remaining five. At the sight of them approaching the women, his eyes became red. With reckless abandon, he renewed his attack on the five soldiers so that they he could catch up.
Even though the soldiers were scared witless, none dared to retreat. If word reached their superior and the King, their families would be executed for their treason. If they died here, their families would instead receive compensation and should be able to carry on. As fear mixed with their desperation and determination, they continued to hold on as the other three went to complete their task: Kill Chrystal.
As he dispatched the final soldier, Azuel raised his head to the sight of his mother being stabbed in the chest. As she turned her face toward Azuel for the final time, he could see her apologetic face. Even when she met her death, the last feeling she felt was that of sadness for her son who would have to live from now on without his parents.
Azuel’s body froze. Even though he was one of the strongest demons within the army, all he could do was watch as his parents were murdered in front of his eyes. Just then, he noticed movement at the corner of his vision. As he turned his head to look, he saw the other two approach his wife.
“CHRYSTALLL!!!”
At the sight of his wife, his body rushed forward at a speed that he never known he could reach. Startled by the yell, Chrystal turned her head toward Azuel as he desperately ran toward her. Even though she knew he wouldn’t make it in time and she would be killed, she didn’t release her gaze from her newlywed husband and showed him the dazzling smile which had captivated him in the first place.
The two Soldiers also noticed Azuel’s approach due to the shout and turned around to block his forward path. At the sight of the soldiers, Azuel created a spear made out of ice and a bullet of earth which killed the two on impact. Since he was so obsessed in the thought of saving his wife, Azuel didn’t notice that he had released magic without an incantation for the first time.
Just as he was only twenty feet away, however, the soldier completed his mission. With both of his hands on the hilt, he thrusted the sword forward and stabbed Chrystal’s abdomen.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
With the sight of his wife being stabbed still in his eyes, Azuel reached the soldier and violently displaced his head from his body with one sweep before he pushed the body away. As the sword came out of her body, Chrystal’s body collapsed toward the ground. Just as her body was about to hit the ground, Azuel caught her and gently laid her on the ground while he supported her body.
“CHRYSTAL! CHRYSTAL! WAKE UP! YOU CAN’T DIE ON ME HERE! WE HAVE SO MUCH TO DO REMEMBER? WE STILL HAVEN’T BUILT A HOUSE FOR THE TWO OF US. A HOUSE THAT WAS SO WARM THAT NO ONE WOULD EVER WANT TO LEAVE! WE STILL HAVEN’T BROUGHT TO THIS WORLD OUR CHILDREN WHO WOULD PLAY IN THE FRONT YARD AND WOULD BE THE EXACT IMAGE OF YOU!”
As Azuel attempted to stop the blood flow from her stomach and yelled, Chrystal slowly opened her eyes. At the sight of her husband, a smile appeared on her face while a steady flow of tears began to roll down her face.
“Azuel, I am truly happy to have met you in this life. Before I met you, I felt so lost and lonely after my parents had died. These past four months…..truly have been…. some of…. the happiest ...moments...in my life. Thank...you...Azuel….I…love…you”
Azuel spent the next month to heal. Even though all he wanted to do was find out who ordered the mission, he knew that with his body the way it was, he would only walk to his own death. The mere thought of dying before he got his revenge was too much for him to handle and thus he decided to bide his time. His body slowly healed and after three weeks, his body was back to its original form. Satisfied, he prepared for his journey and on the fourth week decided to leave.
“Hey dad, mom, my love, I don’t know when the next time I will be able to visit you three will be. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect you. My current strength wasn’t enough. Even though I want to find whoever did this to you three right now and rip their head off, I know that I am too weak. I plan on going into hiding to train for the next fifteen years inside the Forest of Despair. Even though it is very dangerous, there is no better place to quickly get stronger. I promise you on my name Azuel Donqen, that I shall not stop until I kill those responsible from the Estran Kingdom. Well then, watch over me from above okay? I love and miss you three…”
With that, Azuel put the hood of his cloak over his head, turned, and left without once turning around. There were no additional words needed. With his eyes filled with determination, he began his travel to the Forest of Despair.
The Forest of Despair was an infamous forest that housed thousands of strong monsters. It was even rumored to be the home of one of the most notorious races, the Black Dragons. Many people had gone inside, but few had ever returned. Azuel planned to train there since he would always be in life or death situations and there was no faster way to become stronger. With a week of constant travel, he arrived at the edge of the forest.
“So this is the Forest of Despair, huh? It sure does give a depressing aura. Well, it’s time for me to get acquainted with my new home for the next fifteen years!”
With those words, Azrael moved forward without hesitation and entered the Forest of Despair.
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“Ahh~ it feels so good to finally get out of that damn depressing place.”
At the edge of the Forest of Despair, a large demon could be spotted. If anyone had seen him, they would automatically have assumed he was some beggar because his cloak and pants were all worn down and in tatters. There were large claw marks and there were several locations where patches of cloth were missing on his cloak.
“It really has been fifteen years huh? Well then, it’s about time to head towards Estran Kingdom.”
With a grin on his face, Azuel began to head east.
If anyone familiar with Azuel saw him just then, they would question whether it was the same person. Even though physically his large six foot well-muscled frame was the same, the feeling he gave off had completely changed. After he spent fifteen years within the Forest of Despair and had faced constant life and death situations, he gave off an overwhelming aura and exuded confidence.
For the next five years, Azuel went from province to province and assaulted the nobles of the Estran Kingdom. The red griffin insignia on the armor of the soldiers during that fateful day represented the Estran Kingdom. The only people capable of ordering such an attack were the high nobility.
Azuel always left carnage and dead soldiers in his wake in his attacks. After he had killed all the guards, he would question the nobles about the events that had happened fifteen years ago before he killed them. Slowly, rumors began to appear throughout the Kingdom that a “devil” had begun to kill the evil nobilities. After he had killed five nobles, the Royal family finally acted and sent out a unit to hunt him.
On the tenth noble, Azuel finally find a clue. The noble had heard a rumor that ten years ago General Zwetif ordered a special platoon to conduct a mission in the demon country. Satisfied that he finally had a clue, he gave the noble a quick death by beheading him and left.
Ten days afterwards, Azrael finally reached General Zwetif’s location. That night, he infiltrated the Zwetif estate and killed all the guards before he interrogated General Zwetif. At first, he showed a brave front and refused to tell Azuel what he wanted. He hadn’t expected Azuel to not mind and begin to torture him, however. After an hour of constant torture, General Zwetif gave in and told him everything he wanted to know. The truth shocked and horrified Azuel.
Ten years before Azuel had met Chrystal, the King Galan and his special contingent which included General Zwetif traveled along the border of the Estran Kingdom and demon country. At that time, the King had spotted Chrystal when she was out with her parents to pick edible plants to eat. As soon as he laid eyes upon her, he became enthralled.
When King Galan approached, Chrystal and her parents immediately bowed. They could tell by his guards that the person was some high noble or royalty. When he saw them bow, King Galan smirked and told them who he was and that he wanted to make Chrystal his concubine. When her parents heard this, their face paled. Even though they didn’t want to refuse a request from a King, they didn’t want their daughter to be forced even more.
When the King heard their refusal, he became infuriated. He gave General Zwetif the order to kill them and the General complied with gusto. At the sight of her parents being murdered, Chrystal couldn’t help but cry in despair as she rushed forward to her parents that were lying on the ground. As she ran, however, soldiers grabbed her and took her in front of the King.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
With a rotten smirk on his face, he ordered his men to search for the dead parent’s home. When they found it fifteen minutes later, they headed toward the house at once. Once they entered the clearing where the house was, King Galan ordered his men to toss Chrystal inside and then to guard the house. With a knowing smile on their face, the men tosses her in and provided security.
For the next eight years, the King periodically went to the forest along with General Zwetif and some guards. Even though she found she was disgusted and wanted to kill herself, she just couldn’t bear to take away her life which was the only legacy that had been left by her parents. She also contemplated whether she should flee, but she couldn’t get herself to leave the house that she had grown up in with her parents. She also wouldn’t have put it against King Galan to find out she had fled and to quickly find her.
For the next year and a half, King Galan wasn’t able to visit due to issues with the Kingdom. After being separated for such a long time, he was excited to see her. When he arrived at the house, however, it was void of any life.
On the bed was a note. When a soldier brought the letter to him, he opened it immediately and read the content.
Dear King Galan,
I can no longer bear it. I have found a man that I love and have left with him. Please let me go and don’t look for us.
- Chrystal
After he read the short letter, he ripped the letter to pieces in rage. His heart raged at the thought of Chrystal’s betrayal. He immediately ordered General Zwetif to send thirty soldiers to immediately go search for Chrystal and kill her and her love.
When Azuel heard the whole story, his mind went blank with fury. His hand which was grabbing General Zwetif lit on fire and began to burn his face. As General Zwetif cried in agony, Azuel imagined his poor wife at the time. He wasn’t mad at all about how she lied about her past. Who would want to recall that sort of hideous memory and tell others about it?
After General Zwetif had been burned to death, he let go of the charred body and moved out with only the thought of how to kill the King in his mind.
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The next morning, when King Galan woke up, he heard about the death of General Zwetif. Furious, he immediately ordered an investigation. That night, after a long day of Royal family business, he returned to his room to find a note on his bed. Curious, he picked it up and read the contents.
I know about Chrystal. I will await for you at Lord Ven’s Plains.
When he saw the contents of the note, King Galan’s face paled. The Belia Religious Order was very powerful within the Estran Kingdom, almost enough to rival the Royal family. Over ninety percent of the citizens were followers of Belia. In the religion, it was forbidden for a man to take anyone except his wife to bed even if he was the King.
Even though he had multiple concubines, they were all spread out through the Kingdom in various locations secretly. If word came out that he had cheated on his wife and took a concubine, then the citizens would be in an uproar. With the citizens backing, the Belia Religious Order may very well remove him from power and execute him.
Without a second thought, King Galan summoned the Captain of his elite guards. He ordered him to immediately dispatch fifty elite soldiers to Lord Ven’s Plains to kill whoever left the note. With a nod, the Captain acknowledged the order and left to see it done. That night, the King did not sleep well.
For the next week, the King waited to hear the news that the person had been killed but received no word. It was only a half day travel from the capital to the plains. When he yelled at the Captain about what happened, all he got in reply was that most likely the soldiers had been killed. Furious, he immediately ordered the Captain to send out two hundred soldiers this time.
Once again, even after a week the King received no word. As he became frantic, he ordered more and more soldiers to be sent out. Four hundred soldiers, seven hundred, even a thousand… none returned. As word spread of large movements of soldiers never returning, King Galan finally lost it and personally went to Lord Ven’s Plains alongside his son and a ten thousand strong army.
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“You devil, you sure must have had fun killing my men! Well that ends tonight! Prepare to enjoy your visit to hell!”
“Me? Go to hell? AHAHAHA. Well you’re right I really might go to hell. Before I go, however, I will make sure to take you along with me! You dare think you can do what you did to my wife and live?!”
“Wife?!?!”
King Galan face changed into one of confusion at Azuel’s words. After a few moments, however, his face lights up in recognition.
“Ah! So you’re that whore’s husband huh?”
At those words, Azuel face contorts. Without another word, he sprinted forward. At the sight of him rushing forward, King Galan nodded to his commanding General. Seeing the King’s nod, the commanding General issued out commands.
“Archers! Fire at will! Apep Division! Cast to kill! Take that bastard out!”
The archers raised their bows in a uniform motion and fired. The light from the stars and moon was blanketed out by the shower of a thousand arrows as they rained down upon Azuel. At the sight of them, however, Azuel smirked and insta-casted a wind spell. As the wind caught hold of the arrows, it turned them back to the army.
During the fifteen years he had trained in the Forest of Despair, he had learned that he could now insta-cast magic spells. As he trained, he got more familiar with the technique and could insta-cast all but the most difficult of spells.
As the mages within the Apep Division frantically attempted to deflect the arrows that were now aimed at them, Azuel also began a shortened incantation.
“Let the world spiral into ruin at the end of time! Ragnorak!”
At the rear of the army formation, in the thousand yard square where the majority of the mages had consolidated, the temperature drastically changed. For half the square, the temperature quickly dropped lower than negative two hundred and fifty Celsius. All the mages and soldiers in the area stopped moving and a layer of ice appeared around their body. In the other half, the temperature quickly rose to over one thousand Celsius. The grass and trees in the area instantly caught on fire as the clothing vaporized and the armor on the soldiers melted.
“AAAAHHHHH!”
Screams of agony arose from the rear. As King Galan looked on in disbelief, Estran Kingdom’s pride, the Apep Division, were decimated as they either froze or burned to death. As everyone looked back due to the sudden scream, their faces paled at the sight of the nightmarish scene. Azrael didn’t neglect the opportunity and rushed into the first rank as he slashed down with Brionac’s one end now covered in an icy aura.
Wherever the blade traveled, a blast of freezing ice exploded out at the soldiers. When the ice made contact with their shields and armor, they instantly froze solid and cracked. As he used the momentum of the swing, he did a three hundred and sixty degree turn and let loose an inferno that burned any soldiers in its path to crisp as the other blade covered with a bright orange aura swept through the air.
King Galan couldn’t help but to open his eyes wide in disbelief at the scene he just saw. With just two sweeps, Azuel had killed more than fifty soldiers. The battle had just started but before even a single strike had landed on him, he had killed over one thousand soldiers!
“ALL SOLDIERS! DON’T JUST STAND THERE AND WAIT FOR YOUR DEATHS! ATTACK DAMN IT! SURROUND HIM AND KILL HIM!”
The commanding General also panicked at the sight. In all of his life, he had never seen someone take out over one thousand soldiers with such ease. He felt a chill run down his spine and began to wonder whether the being in front of them was indeed the devil of legend.
Even though he was surrounded on all sides by enemies, Azuel never panicked. With one swing of Brionac, tens of people fell. At that time, he began the words to another incantation.
“Feel the weight of the sins which you have committed and let the darkness take you! Heavy Sin!”
The moment Azuel had completed the incantation, all the soldiers within a hundred yard distance felt the gravity around them increase exponentially. Heavy Sin was a darkness spell that increased the gravity in an area around the caster by twice the pressure. This caused anybody nearby to immediately be weighed down by double their body and to have all of their equipment double in weight as well. As the soldiers movements slowed down, Azuel took advantage to fell several more foes.
Even though the corpses around him began to stack on top of each other, there was no end in sight. For every soldier he killed, it seemed as though three would take their place. After hours of battle and the death of thousands of soldiers, the enemy began to leave wounds on Azuel’s body.
Even though there were only a few archers left, they continued to fire a constant barrage of arrows toward him without worrying about hitting their own allies. The majority of the arrows were blocked away or hit the soldiers, but a few still managed to hit Azuel, particularly his back.
As he gritted his teeth to suppress the pain, Azuel continued on. After over three hours of constant battle, he literally stood on a hill of corpses as the body count of dead continued to increase. During this time, he had sacrificed his left arm to defend against a sword strike that he couldn’t reach in time. His arm, from the elbow down, fell to the ground as he took the life of that soldier as well as the lives of every enemy near him.
King Galan couldn’t believe the sight in front of him. The only reason he had brought out his full army of ten thousand was because he had assumed that Azuel couldn’t have dispatched all the Soldiers he had sent out before by himself. He thought there would be an army of thousands that awaited him in Lord Ven’s Plains.
When he had only seen Azuel alone he continued to hold that belief. At the sight of Azuel charging forward by himself, he had scoffed and thought the barrage of arrows would kill him. That’s when everything had begun to go wrong.
He couldn’t comprehend how Azuel had been able to cast such a high level wind spell in the short span it took for the arrows to reach him. Not only that but a few seconds later he had released that ridiculous ice and fire spell that had destroyed his prided Apep Division in an instant. He felt as though his heart had dropped at that scene. It had taken him many painstakingly long years of training and funds to raise them to their status. All of that, however, had disappeared with only one spell.
As he continued to watch his men drop like flies, he couldn’t take it anymore. The army of ten thousand that he was so proud had been decimated into only one thousand in the span of six hours by one man!
“...my...my army… demolished by one demon...ha..haha this is nightmare right?”
“Yo...your majesty… This one has nothing to say..”
“General! Send in the Paladins! At this rate the whole army will be destroyed!”
“Yes, your majesty! All Paladins, advance forward and defeat the demon!”
With a salute towards the King, the commanding General and the fifty Paladins sprinted forward. As the Paladins rushed forward, Azuel noticed them approach and panicked a little.
’Shit…. it’s already hard enough trying to take care of the remaining soldiers….Well it’s a good thing I saved some mana for one more forbidden level spell...’
“Oh mighty Goddess of the Ice, encase the foes that attempt to strike me down with your Frozen Majesty. Niflheim!”
Since he didn’t have enough mana to affect a large area, Azuel waited until the Paladins were within fifty feet to finish his incantation. Unfortunately, he was unable to defend himself in time while he chanted the incantation and his right leg was cut off below his knee. As the final words escaped his lips, the world around him in fifty yard radius turned into a world of ice as the temperature dropped to absolute Zero. The sweat on the soldier’s and paladin’s bodies and all the moisture in the air began to turn into ice as it encased their bodies. Everyone in the fifty yard radius froze while in movement, encased in a solid block of ice as if they were statues that had been chiseled by the great sculptors of old.
“No..no way..he still had enough mana to cast the forbidden skill Niflheim?!”
At the sight of his remaining army being encased in blocks of ice, King Galan couldn’t help but to despair. His glorious army of ten thousand had been destroyed! Destroyed by a single demon!
After he had finished casting Niflheim, Azuel dropped onto his knees on top of the hill made of dead corpses. With half of his right leg cut off, he couldn’t support his body anymore. As he breathed roughly to bring much needed oxygen into his body, he glared at the three remaining survivors.
When they saw Azuel collapse to his knee, King Galan and the prince immediately began to flee. The two of them didn’t have any battle potential, and they had no wish to perish here on this horrendous battlefield.
“*Haa* *Haa* Hmph, like I’d let you flee!”
With his last remaining mana, Azuel created two small rock bullets. As they flew through the air at mach speed, the two rock bullets pierced through the two figures as they fled. After taking a few steps forward, the two bodies simultaneously fell toward the ground.
“*Haa* *Haa*... I sure caused a mess, didn’t I? Haha.. at least I don’t have any regrets about leaving this cursed life… I’ve finally avenged you Chrystal… Ahh… Why am i so tired… I’ll just shut… my eyes.. real...quick…”
As if in defiance against death, Azuel’s figure refused to fall to the ground. As he said his final words, his eyelids fluttered a couple of times before he finally took his last breath and closed his eyes for the final time...