“KEON! YOU?! YOU CAN NOT BE SERIOUS! HOW?!” Raiko bellowed, in fact he practically howled that last word.
He could not believe what he was looking at. Keon, one of his closest friends and a trusted advisor, a Beast of honour, intelligence, strength and sheer will, someone who had fought with him on innumerable occasions and laughed with him as well… was now looking at him with glowing green eyes and the mark of Envy upon his head, laughing boisterously with elation as if he was having the time of his life.
His previously grey-coloured wind elemental aura was now flaring to new heights with a new green shade. But more astonishing was that parts of his fur were also turning the same colour.
Keon the Unrelenting Whirlwind… was becoming a Creature in Green. A Creature in Green, also known as an Avatar of Envy, was the state that a being reached when their affinity with Envy Essence reached a certain threshold. At that threshold, the filthy Envy Essence would no longer just augment mana and soul, it would also begin to affect the flesh and blood.
Raiko hated to admit it but he would be a fool to not acknowledge that the very Envy Essence that he hated so much came with very alluring powers.
It was undoubtedly that reason that Keon was laughing so much now, gleeful about the fact that the strength he had apparently been suppressing could now be unleashed.
But this was why this was all so baffling to Raiko. Keon had not shown the slightest sign of deviation in his actions that would make any of this seem plausible. Ever since the wolf had submitted to him all those years ago, he had remained honest and loyal all this time. In fact, the nature of Envy was almost opposite to Keon’s character.
The loyal wolf was nothing like the envious phoenix who had viciously violated his own brother for the sake of power. And yet, contrary to common sense, it was this same wolf who was growing bigger as his nails and patches of fur turned green.
*HOOOOOOOOOOWLL*
In an unmistakable act of provocation and arrogance, Keon lifted his head to howl to the sky, loudly at that, and yet, Raiko still stood there stunned. Even when others around him began to move to attack the familiar yet unrecognisable wolf, he, for a moment, did not know what to do.
As scenes of the past flicked through his mind, all contradicting the reality before him, he felt… lost.
“How is this even remotely possible?” He murmured.
“BROTHER RAIKO WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DO NOT FALTER!! FIGHT!!!” A voice roared from the sky.
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Raiko’s head snapped up and he caught the sight of a ginormous red Divine Dragon. It was Drako. He couldn’t help but freeze as he stared at his best friend, fearing for the worst even if the likelihood of the worst was practically zero. Keon becoming an Avatar of Envy should have also been a nigh zero possibility, but the wild growls that signified a ferocious fight proved otherwise.
Looking at the Dragon, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Raiko who was always butting heads with this best friend of his, felt that the red scales that Drako was so proud of, were indeed, perhaps, one of the most beautiful things in this world as he always liked to brag.
No green, just red and orange.
“Haha…” He chuckled lightly for a moment as he placed a hand over his eyes, feeling slightly dizzy as all sorts of emotions ran through him. However, key among them was a climbing embarrassment. This was the most disgraceful moment of his life- oh wait, nevermind. This was the second, no third most disgraceful moment of his life. The time he and Drako met Dodo the Guardian would always-
“BAH!” Raiko spat as he swiped his hands through the air.
‘What am I doing!’ He chided himself, however he still did not jump into action. He looked up at Drako with a grateful look in his eyes, planning to thank him, but something happened and the words that came out were.
“WHO DID YOU SAY WAS FALTERING? WERE YOU REFERRING TO ME, THE INVINCIBLE, UNMATCHED, AND BEAUTIFUL EMPEROR RAIKO…?! HOLD ON THERE!”
He swivelled around and leapt at Keon with his 2 hands positioned to slash and maim, all his previous reservations and confusion gone.
The only things he felt now were a burning need to exact vengeance, a yearning need to wipe away the embarrassment of his folly, a great deal of gratitude to Drako, and perhaps… a little bit of sorrow for what he was about to do.
…
The war broke out in full force on a scale that was already rivalling the worst ones in history. The 2 sides had yet to completely reach each other and yet it was already in this state.
All sorts of people were revealing themselves to be unexpectedly related to Envy, and some of them had even been victorious in their assassinations. But the most vicious fights were taking place in the sea where the allied forces were clashing with the malformed creatures that had randomly built bodies.
“Chimeras…” Eridel whispered under his breath as he caressed his chin.
Back when he had been experimenting with the creation of an uncontrolled Hybrid system, he had decided to tweak a few of the species amongst the Monster Race, giving them a unique factor that allowed them to breed with other species and create hybrid offspring. He simply named them ‘Breeders’.
There was some success. They did as he wished and created hybrid offspring, although at a low quality where the offspring was mostly of one race with only a few features of the other (unlike the perfect Soulchildren), however, when those offspring grew up and started creating offspring of their own, problems began to emerge that only became more and more prominent each generation.
These malformed creatures that were fighting against the allied forces were the result.