The whistling sound of the Blood Spear flying through the air could be heard as it hurtled toward a Thorka warship at incredible speed, penetrating its side hulls all the way to the bottom deck, and stopping embedded into the deck floor. A loud creaking resounded through the ship, followed by vibrations and strong impacts from outside that violently shook the entire vessel, swaying it back and forth almost to the point of capsizing. This tumultuous assault continued for half an hour before it finally subsided.
“It’s finally stopped,” a voice emanated from the Blood Spear as it began to melt, its solid form liquefying into a pool on the deck. The liquid shimmered briefly before rising into the air, converging and solidifying into the battered and broken body of Jakal. He hovered momentarily before falling harshly to the ground, landing face-first. Lying motionless on the floor, his entire right arm was missing, and burn-like scars marred the entire right side of his upper torso.
“What was that light!? It-it was terrifying...” Jakal muttered, still lying on the floor, beads of sweat running down his form at the memory. He tried to get off the floor and noticed he was missing his right arm, so he levitated to his feet.
“UGH!... I feel weak. Is this what it feels like using ‘Blood-Art’ without a medium?” Jakal said as he landed on his feet before turning his gaze up to the holes in the ship created when he crashed. Looking through it, he noticed a bright white light illuminating the dark night, and his expression became cautious.
He levitated off the ground and flew through the hole to the main deck. Upon arriving on the main deck, his attention was immediately drawn to a great pillar of light descending from above the clouds into the ocean.
“W-what sort of being could control such power?” Jakal thought to himself as he gazed at the pillar of light in awe, wanting for it.
"[WHAT ARE YOU DOING, JAKAL?! COME TO YOUR SENSES!]" Abet said through telepathy in a loud and hurried tone.
"[LORD ABET!?...]" Jakal reacted to her voice.
"[I THOUGHT YOU WERE BUYING ME SOME TIME. WHY IS THAT HUMAN NOW UNDERGOING AN ‘AURA BAPTISM’!?]" Lord Abet asked in a loud and angry tone.
“So that’s what an Aura Baptism looks like,” Jakal thought.
[I was buying some time, but we got trapped by the human’s trick. Then suddenly, the white pillar of light fell and wiped out the RED-CLOAKS. AND FOR SOME REASON, I CAN’T REACH THEM.]"
"[...I SEE THEY GOT CAUGHT IN THE LIGHT. THEN THERE IS NO NEED TRYING TO REACH THINGS THAT NO LONGER EXIST.]"
"[...What do you mean no longer exists? That’s impossible. Even if they are lowly red-cloaks, they should only regenerate slowly, even if their physical bodies were reduced to dust, as they are immortal. So how could they be dead?]" Jakal insisted.
"[THERE IS NO TIME FOR THIS! YOU NEED TO STOP THAT HUMAN NOW! I CAN SENSE THAT THE PILLAR OF LIGHT IS RESTORING HIS STRENGTH AND MAKING HIM MUCH STRONGER THAN HE WAS. IF YOU DON’T STOP HIM NOW, IT WILL BE TOO LATE.]" Abet's urgent voice echoed in Jakal's mind through telepathy, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"[HOW DO I STOP HIM WHEN HE IS SHIELDED BY THAT STRANGE LIGHT?]" Jakal asked.
"[USE YOUR BLOOD ART,]" Lord Abet replied with a quick and cold tone.
"[...]" Jakal stood silent for a few seconds, considering her words.
"[IF I USE IT AGAIN WITHOUT A MEDIUM AND IN THE STATE I AM IN, I WOULD BE POWERLESS IN FRONT OF HIM ONCE HE’S OUT. AND SEEING AS MY REGENERATION HAS HALTED AFTER TAKING A HIT FROM THAT LIGHT, IT SEEMS THAT IT’S TRUE THAT WE CAN BE KILLED... THIS IS OUR LOSS. WE SHOULD RETREAT BEFORE THE BAPTISM IS DONE.]"
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"[RETREAT!... THERE IS NO RETREAT! RETREAT WOULD MEAN FAILING ‘MOTHER,’ SO IF WE MUST SACRIFICE, SO BE IT....]" "[BRING HIM OUT!!]" Lord Abet's voice shifted, echoing eerily as she used her blood art to control Jakal’s mind.
“...” Immediately, Jakal’s eyes turned black. He stared at the pillar of light, stretched forth his hand, conjured a blood spear, and stabbed it onto the deck floor. "[BLOOD-ART- CRIMSON CONVERGENCE.]"
Activating his blood art, a distortion in space rippled around the spear. The air crackled with terrifying force, and then Izaak appeared in an instant where the blood spear had been.
A loud thud echoed as Jakal fell to his knees, his mind freed but his body weakened and powerless to resist the danger before him. Shock and confusion marred his face as he looked up at the hulking human. “What have I done?” he muttered, feeling a creeping sense of death in his guts as he locked eyes with Izaak.
“...” Izaak remained silent, turning his gaze to the distant Aura Baptism before looking back at Jakal.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said in a threatening tone, taking a few steps closer to Jakal. With every step, an immense pressure radiated from him, causing the entire ship to sink further into the sea under his weight. He stopped right in front of Jakal and raised a hand.
“The power to create something intangible, tangible... this is Aura,” Izaak said as mana particles gathered in his palm, transforming into a red energy that exuded destruction. He then shaped the energy into the form of a dagger.
“...Hmm, it seems that without completing the baptism, I can only use this much Aura...” Izaak mused, pointing the blade of his aura dagger at Jakal’s face with a swift motion. “But it should be enough...”
Izaak's gaze bore into Jakal with killing intent. With a simple horizontal swipe, the entire ship and Jakal were blown away. The sea rose into the air, the deafening roar of the sea exploding, a testament to the sheer power unleashed.
Moments later, as drops of water fell from the sky like rain, Izaak walked toward the remains of Jakal’s upper torso, which was floating on the surface. As he arrived, he gazed at him with a cold expression before saying, “I will ask one more time: Did you, or the one you serve, have anything to do with what happened to the emperor?”
“....” Hearing Izaak’s question, Jakal remained quiet as his body continued to disintegrate into nothing. Looking up into the sky solemnly, a devious smile appeared on his face before he completely died.
“W-what was that?-” Izaak said, puzzled by the meaning of Jakal’s expression. But before he had time to think, he felt the presence of multiple hostiles. He turned his attention to them immediately, sensing a more threatening presence behind him.
“Did you think a sneak attack like this would work on me?” Izaak said with confidence, turning around at incredible speed, approaching with a decisive strike. But the situation changed in the microseconds it took for his Aura dagger to reach her heart, as his eyes had already met her form.
The bandages covering her mouth and neck were off, revealing what they concealed. Just like any other humanoid, she had eyes, a nose, and ears but no mouth on her face. It was not sewn shut but had never existed. Instead, she had a total of four mouths on her neck: one in the center, two on both sides and the last at the back.
“PARALYZE,” she said physically with the front mouth. Immediately after, Izaak froze as his eyes turned black, and he fell toward the sea, crashing with a loud splash.
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SIX MONTHS LATER, BEHIND THE SOUTHERN REGION’S SECOND DEFENSE LINE—ELARIS CITY, GIGGADON EMPIRE, REFUGEE QUARTER
Six months had passed, and the war continued to rage on as the armies of the Giggadon and Thorka empires continually clashed. The Thorka Empire, having occupied the southern region’s first defense line, attempted to advance to the second defense line but were repeatedly pushed back by the remnants of the first defense line armies and the forces stationed at the second defense line. This ongoing conflict led to many civilian towns, villages, and cities between the first and second defense lines experiencing raids by the Thorka armies and opportunistic bandits taking advantage of the chaos to gain spoils.
In light of this danger, hundreds of thousands of civilians became refugees, abandoning their homes and traveling behind the second defense line for safety, with many now staying in slums of cities like Elaris, transformed into sprawling refugee quarters teeming with displaced families trying to survive amidst the ongoing war.
Elaris, one of the eight largest cities in the southern region of the Giggadon Empire, is also known as the City of Sculptors. This city is ruled by House Elaris, renowned for its enchanting work with wood and stone. The house's progenitor, Aemon Elaris, was a commoner whose extraordinary talent for sculpting earned him recognition and favor.
Aemon’s rise to nobility began when he was tasked by the first emperor of the Murela Empire to sculpt a statue of a beast with large wings, sharp claws, and fire spewing from its mouth.