Chris swore upon his own dead grandparents that he would never drink alcohol again. It was not just the incident with Pyrrha which soured his mood, not the fact that he had apparently been sleeping for a whole damn day and missed their departure from Hephatan. All of that would be bad on its own and would have had made him swear this oath.

The thing that truly had him pissed was the post hangover headache that still lingered in his mind. It had reduced from the pounding pain which assaulted his brain when he awoke but that prickly sting was just as irritating.

It stuck with him through out the entire meeting with the Hephatantian high command when discussing their strategy. No matter how much water Chris down through the meeting, he could not fully subdue it and that left him feeling truly irritable.

A problem which wasn't helped when he saw Pyrrha again, leading to both him and the elf pretending to not see eachother. Ursa's nagging followed by Thor and Hamanymu's teasing did not help matters and Chris was tempted to lash out at his friends, but he knew that he owed them for having followed him as well and saving both him and Pyrrha from their drunken desires.

He found himself with a bubbling storm of irritated rage which he could not aim at anyone on the boat, but a target was found on the island multiple kilometres away. He could almost make out it's protruding outline at a distance and something within him beat in anticipation at the possibility of unleashing everything inside him on the unfortunate rebels holed up there.

The Viper sailed at the head of this ten battleship armada. It might have seemed like an overreaction to send an accumulated number of fifty thousand troops with large battleships to bring the rebels to heel, but everything that they had uncovered in investigation of the rebels said otherwise.

This island had been stocked up and slowly filled by Lunar Empire loyalist for close to two years. Every piece of weaponry that they not just owned, but were able to corruptly sneak through the country came here and that was without mentioning the multiple communications with pirate mercenary bands that had been discovered in the homes of the over thirty thousand rebels who had slipped out of Hephatan after their failed take over.

Anyone who said that this would be an easy fight was sorely mistaken and if they weren't careful, that island would be their grave.

"Ddraig." he heard a voice which he had not heard in a long time behind him. He was tempted to keep his back turned and ignore Theseus Troezen, but the Fae's voice was too close and regardless of how much Chris did not want to interact with his enemy, he had no choice.

He took a deep sigh before he turned to face Theseus, wondering what mocking insult would flow past the Fae's mouth. Their eyes locked and Chris had to fight off the natural instinct to wince as the pain in his forehead sharpened in anticipation from the headache that Theseus would no doubt leave him with.

"Troezen." Chris responded. Their tension remained solid for a few seconds before Theseus took a deep breath and uttered out some words which were like a slap to Chris's face.

"I would like to apologise for my previous behaviour, it was unbecoming of me."

For a second Chris forgot that it felt like a needle was being driven into his skull as he looked at the Fae who had never had a good thing to say about him since they had first met. He wondered if this is was some kind of joke which would result in Theseus leaving him some "witty" remark.

"Ar... Is this a joke?" he carefully asked around to see if any of the thousands of men and women on the deck preparing for their land were acting in a suspicious manner.

Theseus's face twisted into an annoyed scowl as he snapped back. "Of course you nitwit. I am simply trying to make peace with you. Take it or leave it, I don't give a single damn."

"I understand that." he truly did not. "I just want to know why?"

Theseus took in a deep breath as if muling over his next few words. "Let's say that this past week a few friends of yours have helped me see you in a new light. You might not the absolute fool that I took you for when we first met... you have a level of honour, I suppose."

Chris was even more confused, what friends was Theseus talking about and how would they convince him that Chris wasn't his enemy. Chris had helped saved the whole of Jord and the Nexus of Narratives from destruction and even then Theseus Troezen didn't show any respect.

He took a deep breath and deciding to take this rather strange gift horse. "I am grateful for that... I suppose. Is that all that you wanted to say?"

Theseus raised his nose in indignation saying. "Of course, what else do you expect, a kiss?. I believe that is Ulster's current domain."

As Theseus walked away Chris struggled to hold back the desire to loudly scream in despair as he wondered just who else knew about his dalliance with Pyrrha the previous day.

XXXXXXX

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His mood had soured even more when the time to disembark came. Ishtar had gathered everyone to the deck and whilst the pilots boarded their flying vessel's and beasts, the rest of them would have to board the small vessels meant for boarding other ships or for beach landings like this.

Ishtar divided everyone chosen in groups of fifty people who would be part of that chosen few that would act as the landing vanguard. He had been chosen to lead one such group with his team and Theseus's team being under him, not exactly the most optimal situation for him. The moment he locked eyes with Pyrrha, the elf adverted her eyes from him and that hurt a bit.

When they boarded their boats and set for the beach Chris sat at the head of the boat and as far away from Pyrrha Ulster. He sat in silence with only his deep thoughts about the past few days to keep him company. His exile was cut off when someone sat down next to him and it was Hamanymu.

"You can be really melodramatic, you know that" Hamanymu stated.

"Is wanting space to myself melodramatic?"

"You got drunk and you kissed a girl who consented to it, get over it. You are pretending as if one of us died."

Chris sighed and rubbed his eyes not interested in any part of this. "Hamanymu, what do want."

"To pull a friend out of a sour stupor."

"This is probably not the best way to do it."

"Probably, but you will need to lose the emo nature about you." Hamanymu then leaned in close for a whisper. "It's also not a good look for the rest of the men to see you looking like we are riding into the certain jaws of death."

Chris looked back to the other fifty troops in the ship who all held dour expressions upon their faces and had a general air of defeat. Hamanymu leaned in again and he whispered. "Give them a smile or something."

Chris doubted that it would help them much, but he forced a smile upon his face before saying. "Don't be so somber my friends, victory and glory awaits us all."

To his suprise this got a few smiles and grunts of approval from the cluster of fifty. But the smile which shined even more brightly was that of a certain elf in the back. Chris turned back to face the island and besides him, Hamanymu kept the largest smile that he had ever seen upon his friends face.

"See, not so b...." his voice was drowned out by a loud booming sound which was like thunder.

Infant the sound continued and the waters of the Amatoshin Ocean violently erupted upwards. Chris knew projectiles when he saw them and looking upon the beach, he could see a sizable gathering of enemy combatants with massive cannons aimed towards them and breathing out hypersonic projectiles.

"We should turn back!" Hamanymu shouted as a projectile landed so close to them that the boat was rocked and water was splashed over them.

Some of the other boats seemed to have a similar line of thought because they had began turning around and return to the battleships which awaited them a few kilometres back.

"No..." Chris could feel a deep thump in his heart and this time it was not fear, but anticipation for the coming slaughter. He rose up and turned to face his fellow knights and Asikari.

"Look there." he shouted with his sword drawn which he used to gesture for the island. "There is our enemy, there are the people who would join the Lunar Empire in not just oppressing our allies, but us as well. We can not in good conscience simply turn about and grant them this day. We will sail forward and we shall remind them and the masters who hold them by the balls, just who the hell Avalon is!"

"You expect us to survive this beach with fifty people!" Theseus shouted from the back in indignation.

"Of course not, I expect us to take the entire beach with fifty people." Chris responded with a smirk before turning to face the island and aiming his sword forward. "Now, onwards?!"

The boats were thankfully enchanted with wards that held back high speed projectiles. Though that it allowed the water from the impacts to rain upon the boats, but Chris did not care, all that mattered was that the island was forty meters away.

Thirty meters away. He stretched for what was to come.

Twenty metres away. He put on his helmet and strapped a standard issue hand gun to his thigh.

Ten meters away.

"For Avalon!" he roared and he leaped off of the boat, the first invader to set foot upon the ship. In his right hand he grasped onto Lucius-Aurora and in the left a hand gun which he used to open fire into the mass of rebels whilst using his knightly enhanced speed to dance around the hundreds of hypersonic projectiles that came his way.

He rushed forward and found his path blocked by a group of fool's who thought that they could stop him and theirs was the first blood which Lucius-Aurora soaked the beach with and he could smell its sweet aroma as he went forward with him butchery.

"Damn you Avalonian!" one of the cannons gunners roared in rage as he aimed towards Chris but a wall of earth emerged and took the full force of the shot.

"This is extremely reckless!" Ursa shouted at Chris as she used her earthen Magics to damage the cannons by tempering with her spells that distorted and tempered with the local gravitational pull.

"And yet we are winning. " Chris replied as he grabbed a rebel and easily drove his blade through the man's body.

"We haven't won yet, you fool!" she shouted as she multitasked between manipulating the earth and firing a constant stream of arrows into the enemy masses.

"Then less talking and a little more...." he said whilst artfully grabbing a spear thrown at him in midair and throwing it back through the original thrower. ".... Killing."

Ursa ignored him and continued her battle side by side with him. With both their helmets on, none of them could get a adequate idea of what face the other was making. A shame really, for if Ursa had seen the face Chris made whilst using an ice shard to disembow a enemy combatant, she would have feared him even more than these rebels who littered the beach in corpses and projectile casings.

The others fought a more cautious battle against the Lunar Empire loyalist and yet Chris fought like a juggernaut. He was constantly moving forward on the attack leaving corpses and puddles of crimson life essence in his wake. The fury and sheer skill with which he fought was enough to make some rebels turn tail and flee. Their fear was a more intoxicating vice than their deaths for the Avalonian prince, he even began chuckling.

"Stand and fight!" he roared as slew the last gunner of a cannon before the man could turn and flee. Chris then grabbed ahold of the thirty ton cannon and with a flick he through it into another of the nearest cannon, damaging and finally allowing the whole of the Avalonian and Hephatan invasion forces to land on a beach littered with the corpses of more than three hundred belonging to the enemy and a dry sandy beach that had began developing patches of wet red sand.

Chris's cyclone of death and destruction ended when a axe came from his peripheral vision, though he managed to block and counterattack, barely missing his attacker by a quarter of an inch. This recent attacker was a Fae dressed in armour which Chris recognised as high ranked on Hephatan.

"Today you will die Avalonian." the elf growled and Chris chuckled.

"Death for me?. No, I will know death when it conquers me and as of yet it has not proven my equal but as for you my friend, let us see if you are just as strong." he leveled his blade at the elf and lunged.

Blade and axe met in midair and the earth beneath them crumbled from the force of their blows. The elf was clearly skilled and strong enough to stand strong in the first minute of the exchange but Chris was just so much more better. None of the elfs blows touched or dented his armour, whilst his had littered the enemy's body with with a thousand dents all leaking crimson.

Their once constant trade of blows became Chris effortlessly parrying and blocking the elfs increasingly desperate and sluggish strikes. He left a mist wraith as he sidestepped a downwards axe blow, he then caught the axe by its handle, sliced it in half with Lucius-Aurora and used that part of its head to strike the elf in the helmet so hard and imprint of it remained as he was sent sailing upon his back.

"A valiant effort, but it ends here." he mockingly teased as he stalked towards his crawling and bleeding victim.

The elf stopped trying to crawl away and he leaped from the sands at Chris with a hand engulfed in cold purple flame. The purple flame of dark energy, something that he would have onced recoiled from in dread but now he confidently outstretched his hand and caught it, drinking up that warping substance and leaving its user trapped in his grip, mouth agape in shock.

"W... What are you?"

"I am Death."

The elf's head landed a few meters away from the rest of his body. The last thing he saw was the glint of those cold purple eyes behind that helmet and the cheering of the invaders as they took the beach.