"W-What?" I asked, not believing what I had just heard.

"Altair, what are you saying?" my sister asked, grabbing the wood elf by the shoulder.

As soon as even one finger touched him he turned around, grabbed her arm and bent it. All I heard was a crack followed by a scream. Elsa sunk to the ground, grabbing her arm. The front part of her forearm was just dangling down unnaturally.

"What are you doing!?" I screamed angrily, enhancing my entire body.

"What's it look like? I'm taking revenge," Altair said as he stepped right in front of me.

I had to look up at him since he was taller than I was. All the others around us just stared with a mix of shock and fear in their eyes.

"You slaughtered everyone I know, called us heretics even though we never worshipped anything, and now, now you're going to pay for just that," Altair said as he smiled down at me with this crazy, blood-lusting look in his eyes.

I swallowed.

"So... so you're just another devil worshipper," I concluded as I looked at him, anger boiling up within me. "You just got close to my sister because you wanted to kill me..."

"Uhh, ten points for the commander, he figured it all out," Altair said, laughter in his voice. "As if I could ever like a disgusting human, I can't stand your kind, you overdeveloped apes took everything from me!" he yelled as mana burst forth from his body at a horrifying rate.

That's when the ground around him cracked and even more, mana seemed to come forth from him. It was at that moment that I realized what he had been hiding from us. This was more than just anger, this was the combined power of all his wrath that swirled around him in the form of mana. They had taught us about this back in school, they had taught us about the history of the church, they had taught us about the great heroes, the ones that killed the seven demon rulers of sin. And right now, at this very moment, I witnessed what was probably a mere speck of dust of that very power. At this very moment, I witnessed the Power of Wrath itself, the power of Ira, the power of the legendary demon queen, the oldest of seven siblings. At this moment I witnessed power that surpassed me in every way imaginable.

I walked backwards, trying to avoid it... but before I even realized that he had raised his fist it had already been buried deep inside my chest. I felt it, as it closed around my barely beating heart. I felt how it slowly crushed the very thing that kept me alive... I felt it rip every last bit of hope, of strength and of life out of me. The last thing I saw before everything turned black was Altair, his right fist tightly wrapped around my heart and covered in blood, standing above me as I sank to the ground, smiling, and laughing like a maniac.

POV: Elsa Rigarium

Altair just stood there, the heart of my brother still in his hand as he turned around.

"Well, this feels oldy satisfying," he said, his smile only getting wider as he raised the heart up, holding it against the sun.

Blood dripped down onto his face. He opened his mouth and let some of it drip inside. With every action, he took my eyes just became wider as my body became number and number. In the background was a raging battle. A battle between an army so big it could take out even high paladins with ease, fighting against an army small enough to comfortably fit within Fort Kalrim, a small army led by a being so powerful even the saints feared it, an army led by the silver flame, Eden. I saw the silvery flames light up everything as they raged around both armies. But no matter how gruesome that battle was, the most gruesome thing was Altair, the man that I had seen as the last hope for my family, the man that I was willing to marry so that my family could finally regain what it had lost, the man that had just broken my arm, killed my brother right in front of me and was currently drinking his blood.

"A-Altair, w-w-what are you doing?" someone asked.

I turned my head, only to see young Nara Signia, a boy that admired his sister so much he dressed like her, acted like her and even changed his name to sound more like that of a woman despite still seeing himself as a man. A boy dressed in the finest battle dress that I had ever seen. He began approaching Altair, shaking, crying even. His magic had activated, and by the looks of it, he still wasn't aware of it. An army of ethereal wolves was walking after him, walking across the floor, not leaving a single footprint.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"W-What are you doing?" Nara asked again, his voice filled with disbelief, filled with fear, filled with the faintest sliver of admiration.

And who could blame the boy, this man, the man that had just killed his own commander, was the very same man that had saved the sister Nara admired so much just weeks before they first met. But Altair never answered him. Altair simply looked at Nara with the same wicked smile. Then he took a step forwards, instantly he stood before Nara, leaving behind a trail of dust and a cracked ground.

"Wanna know what I did to Ivory?" he asked, chuckling a little as he grabbed Nara by the face, lifted him up into the air and tightened his grip.

Nara's head burst almost instantly, turning into a bloody mess, just like the head of Ivory Malkes.

So he killed her... no wonder he never seemed all that sad about it.

At this point, I had already given up. If I had Berserker I might be able to beat him... but Berserker wasn't available at the moment, so all I could do at this moment was wait, wait for my inevitable death... and as the sister of the one responsible for killing all of his friends and loved ones, I was sure that my death would eventually come, and it would probably come much sooner than later. I felt the mana of my spirits, as they tried to help me, but they were still inside the carriage, even if I went there now and got them, I would be stopped before I even came close.

All I could do right now was wait for him to kill me, all I could do was watch as he slaughtered all the others first, occasionally smiling at me as he did. First came those that I only knew from the last battle as those that lasted the longest.

"We need to leave," someone suddenly said right into my ear.

I turned my head and saw smoke.

"Don't worry, we have a plan," the smoke said.

A plan? What kind of plan could Sarl have to escape this mad man? His mana pressure alone was enough to kill some people... I knew that for a fact since it was happening around me right now. One of our soldiers charged at him and then suddenly fell to the ground, turning into a bloody puddle, with some flesh and broken bones mixed in, directly on impact.

I scoffed.

"What type of plan could you possibly have?" I asked.

"Oh, just wait," Sarl responded.

A giant smoke cloud appeared out of nowhere at that very moment and I felt the ground beneath me split. I fell into a long tunnel, inside I found both Duwal and Sarl, standing right before me.

"Now let's get going before he realizes that we're gone," Duwal said.

I nodded.

Could this work? Is there any chance that this will work?

The answer to that question was no. The ground burst open and suddenly I was pressed to the ground. In the darkness of the tunnel, I saw two crimson lights.

"Already leaving?" Altair asked as the mana that violently surged around him ripped apart the ground.

"Shit," Duwal said. "You two go and flee, I'll stop him... for some time. The tunnel leads all the way to the camp of that army out there, I already contacted them via a message written at the exit, reinforcements should also arrive if we're lucky. There's no way we're letting this heretic li-" Duwal said, but before he could finish the sentence Altair grabbed his head and smashed it into the wall.

"Good plan, but you shouldn't say stuff like that while the one you're trying to get away from is there you stupid fuck," Altair said, his voice sounding disturbing, it sent a shiver down my spine.

I could barely believe that I had ever thought it was comforting in any way. I could barely believe I ever considered this monster someone that might one day be our saviour.

"But let's say I play along? What do you think will happen?" Altair asked, his two crimson eyes directed at me.

I swallowed again as I felt fear well up inside me once again.

"You'll die," Sarl said, with enough confidence for the both of us.

"Will I? That's quite peculiar. Since, you know, there is someone that's going to refuse to let me die, it's the mother of a certain demon queen in my head," Altair said with a smile that I could barely see on his face.

Even if I could barely see that smile I could tell that it was one of amusement. Then I realized what he meant. The mother of a certain demon queen... he meant her... he definitely meant her... his power must be that power, which meant that she was the mother of that certain demon queen.

"Run," I said.

"What?" Sarl asked, confused.

"This is out of our league, out of everyone's league," I said as the fact that we were about to die sank in deeper.

"I like that look of fear both of you have," Altair said.

Both of us?

I looked up, at Sarl's face. I had believed that his pride was too big for him to be afraid... but I was wrong, his talk was a mere act. His eyes gave it away. He was terrified to his core, I could almost hear his bones rattle as he was shaking.

"You know what? I'll leave you, for now, this might be fun in the future," Altair said as he turned away from us, never once drawing in his mana pressure. "Of course I'm crazy Ira, who do you take me for?" he said to no one I could see, but he did mention that name... Ira, that was a name I knew well, a name that appeared in almost all of the old texts about the founding of the church.

Him saying that name confirmed my fear that the mother he was talking about was truly her... the one that surpassed everyone except for one... the one that only has the dead sage to fear, Veraniala Adventus, arch demon lord, one of the founders of the Demon Lord Council... and first wife of the First Demon King.