The beastkin rushes at Setanta from all sides, and he fights and fights and fights.

Red Branch battle arts; Starflower, Clover, Tulip, Sky flower, Sonic thrust, Camellia Japonica, Passiflora, Morning Glory.

Again and again, he uses the forms of his style to strike down the foes who come for his neck, using whatever weapons he can, even his own flesh.

His weapons and flesh break down from this constant battle, but Setanta doesn’t stop until he starts to push them back.

Scared by this Dáire rookies rush back in to help him and his men, and the fight rages on even more.

They come towards Setanta again, and again ripping his flesh out which causes Setanta to scream in pain again and again. But never falls.

To all those who see this sight fear and awe is put in their hearts as they await for him to crumble down and simply give up, but again and again he rises to strike down more and more beastkin until, the very foes he is fighting start to feel more strain then he does.

The rookies, the elite, the Fanalis, the druids, and even Dáire himself fail to kill him and all of them no matter how much they try can’t break down the man in front of them.

-Break-

Φ Arriving on horseback with her allies, Findabair follows the rising sun to the giant tree the druids made, and as she does, she gazes upon an amazing sight with Ruairí, Fráech, Niall, and a group of warriors beside her.

Setanta stands on top of Dáire with his foot on his face, and scattered everywhere are the bodies of all his warriors beaten and bruised beyond belief, and the tree they’re all hanging off of, is drenched in blood.

In utter disbelief, Findabair says, “Did Setanta beat them all?”

Fráech says, “Those were all warriors from Laoch? Fanalis at that, did this boy really defeat them all?”

Ruairí says, “This goes beyond talent. This is a feat that some houses wouldn’t even be able to handle.”

Setanta who stands on top of Dáire says, “You were strong I wasn’t able to defeat you without inflicting fatal wounds.”

“I am honoured. To think I would witness the beginnings of a great king such as yourself.”

Ignoring his compliments, Setanta says, “We could still get you patched up.”

Dáire laughs a bit, and says, “I refuse.” Then he bites off his tongue, and Setanta stabs him in his heart before he dies of blood loss.

Then he says, “I don’t like my hand being forced.”

Moving forward Setanta stares at the crowd of people who clutch themselves and shake in fear of the fact that their protectors are all dead.

Setanta glares at them all, and they all feel intense fear spread through their bodies. Every single sense tells them all to run, but Setanta says, “I have memorised all of your scents, and faces.”

Hearing this makes the few who were about to dash away stop and plant their feet into the ground, then Setanta says, “Understand this you fools! Take pride in your people and take pride in your ancestors. Feel hatred for the humans who have embarrassed us and tortured our ancestors.

Despise the weak who hide behind others, and shame those who choose to live their lives as cowards. Find joy in your strength and use it however you wish. Even gather together like this if you ever feel you are in danger again.

But do not touch those who truly wish to live with their heads held high. Challenge them, but due not break them with your words or actions, for if you ever do such a thing, I will be a hound who will chase you all down till you're meet a bloody pathetic end.

I am the protector of the beastkin and the one who wishes the beast of all of the Tuatha Dé Dannan. So, remember this I am the defender of Culainn, Cú Culainn, and any who wish to harm him should remember that for the rest of their lives. Now my people follow the orders of your king and return to where you came.”

His presence and warriors dazzle those who watch him making the lot of them fall to their knees out of a mixture of this and relief from the fact they are not dead.

Many of them cry at this, but at the same time many shout, “Long live the future High King, Setanta Ó Faoláin, CÚ CULAINN!”

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The shouts grow more and more and more, and as they do Ruairí says, “I made the right choice on who to follow,” with a bright smile on his face.

Findabair, Fráech and Ruairí notice an intense aura that emanates from Niall.

Findabair quickly takes notice of the fact that it was the house of Laoch which has just been dishonoured and slaughtered, and then she says, “Niall wait!”

But Niall dashes forward from his house all the way up to the tree tops where Setanta stands, and with blurry vision, Setanta says, “What the hell do you want?”

Setanta shakes as he stands and Niall walks forward, but Setanta falls over, and Niall catches him.

“You didn’t come here for revenge?”

“My uncle challenged you to a fight and lost. You killed him before he died was far more kindness than a loser like him needed, I thank you for that.”

“I see. Please tell Ruairí to heal my friends, they won’t hold out for much longer.”

Setanta falls unconscious and standing up, Niall says, “Hey Findabair, I think my new name will be Cú Raoi, I have decided that’s the name I must take on to match this boy.”

Sighing, she says, “That’s fine.”

Raising her voice, Findabair says, “By order of the house of Biorg, I command all Tuatha Dé Dannan in the area to stand down and follow our lead. I want each and every one of you to help me get medical attention to the injured and save as many as we can!”

Soon under the lead of the Biorgs, everyone instantly starts to tend to the wounds of all those scattered throughout the area making an effort to save as many as possible.

-Break-

Φ With a limp I move forward, and I say, “How are you doing blondie?”

In front of me is Aurelius sitting over Culainn’s body holding the corpse of Culainn’s munchnunchers, as beastkin stands guard over the both of them.

I stare at both guards and signal them to leave, and they follow my instructions.

Aurelius seeing this says, “It seems you have earned quite a bit of respect.”

With a smug smile, I say, “They have just witnessed how great and amazing I am.”

With a smile as well, he says, “People cannot turn away from the truth for that long so obviously they would.”

Raising his energy, Aurelius says, “I knew you were strong but when I heard what you did, I almost fell unconscious again, to think you could fight them all off while protecting us. Though I do apologise for all of your people you had to kill for us.”

“I only killed about a quarter of them. For the rookies I realized inflicting intense pain was enough to knock them out of the fight, the elites, and Dáire were the only ones I had to kill to down.”

Looking at my arm, I say, “They were strong, if I didn’t have my ability to regenerate I would have died no less than 22 times, and if they figured out they needed to destroy my head earlier in the battle I would have died without a doubt.”

Falling to my backside, I say, “But this comes with the issue of now that my regeneration weakness will probably spread to the furthest reaches of our empire. In all honesty, killing everyone here would be for the best.”

“Oh, is the great Cú Culainn scared that if people figure out his secret he could be killed?”

“NOT A CHANCE! DON’ T MOCK ME!”

“See, so there is nothing to be scared of idiot.”

I pout a bit and as I do Aurelius looks at Culainn, and I say, “You do realize what you did was more idiotic than me. If you didn’t awaken spirit energy you would have died an embarrassing death.”

“What of it?”

“I mean if you had died you wouldn’t have been able to see your family ever again.”

“While that is a tragedy, what would be worse is that I become a person who is no longer myself.”

“Self-preservation matters more to you than family. I wouldn’t have guessed that.”

“My family don’t love the sack of flesh named Aurelius. They love Aurelius, so I have to make sure he is kept alive, and in that moment Aurelius wanted to protect Culainn.”

“But why? You’re a slave; if you had chosen to simply allow him to die no wrong would have been held against you. At the end of the day you're still property.”

“Do you believe in free will?”

“Huh?”

“I have met many slaves who said, that we don’t have free will all things are decided by past actions that you will never understand. They were destined to become slaves according to themselves and any feelings of love or hatred they have towards it is pointless because it was meant to be that way.”

“Sounds like the talk of cowards.”

“I don’t know. Back then those words gave me even more hope than the ramblings of the religious among us, it made all the pain just hurt less like I had finally let go of the reigns.

But I don’t really believe in such a thing anymore, because even if I was given evidence to the contrary I could just write it off by saying it was always supposed to be this way, just like how the church of the messiah calls everything good or bad gods will.

In the end, I think most of it just sounds like comforting lies. I believe that regardless of my situation I have a choice and that I should always act accordingly.

I can’t have control of becoming a slave, but it would be ridiculous to deny the fact that I have had control over more choices in my life than not, and I want to live my life accordingly.”

The look on Aurelius's face as he says this is calm and tranquil like he is more connected to the world than any other in this moment. And it pisses me off far more than anything I have ever experienced before.

“Hey Aurelius, don’t you think it is utterly stupid and ridiculous for you to be having such an expression when talking about beastkin?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Aurelius you said you had a woman you loved right? Her name was Lillian, if she was as pretty as you said I am sure many fun nights were had with her.”

Aurelius says, “Hey Setanta, shut up,” in a rather calm tone.

“What you don’t like to hear it, but it’s the truth you should know as well as I do that the beastkin used all the women they could find to increase our population again, and again. I am sure your lovely one-day wife already has had beauty her taken away, and has birthed kids who look down and hate her.

Then after that, she was tossed aside like the rest of the women and sent to the plantations where they were made to breed like cattle until they eventually succumbed to the poor living arrangements and died dog deaths.

Or better yet maybe her former master was fond enough to keep her, but to hide the fact he has done such a thing I am sure he has kept her trapped and locked away in a basement living with whatever bastard children she has birthed since then.”

Aurelius smacks me in the face, then pins me to the ground and says, “ENOUGH!”