-Chapter Sixty-

What Creates a Broken Villain - Part Two

“This bastard… even with ten spears in his gut, he’s still alive…” Quarren Leos’ fading consciousness heard from a voice laden with disdain spit over him.

“Throw him in the prison!” another, authoritative voice, booming with command, gave the order. Quarren felt himself get pulled up roughly by his weak arms, and he was carried away.

His vision faded in and out. Each time, he caught a glimpse of the faces of his dead comrades and their bodies littered around them.

Around them, the heavy downpour washed away the rivers of blood. Quarren closed his eyes again, only one thought in his mind.

Please let me die.

But as he drew further away from the location where he attacked the Prince, and he was being forced into a carriage, his ears perked up on their own accord.

“He’s alive! He’s alive! Get a physician!” Quarren’s eyes snapped open and darted out the barred window, where he saw a dozen Holy Knights surrounding the fallen Prince.

“He’s alive!!!”

—-----------------------

There was a thunderous bang and the crinkling of keys as Quarren Leos was roughly thrown into a cold, concrete jail.

And on the man’s face was… despair.

How could this be? At the cost of the lives of his closest comrades, and even his own freedom… that bastard still lives?

His chest jolted as he glared up at the ceiling, and the sky beyond it.

“How could you do this to me!? Goddess!!!” he roared, his voice echoing down the corridors.

Miraculously, the Prince survived his wound, and lived past his severe injuries.

Quarren Leos had been too weak to bring about his revenge.

—-----------------------

The attack on the Holy Prince was an upsetting article passed about the Capital. And the fact that was it was carried out by a squadron of the Holy Knights was even more sensational.

Though the Holy Royal Family tried to suppress that fact, it got out regardless thanks to superb journalism.

And that was how Quarren Leos became a legend to some, but to those affiliated with the Royal Family and the Church, he had become no different to a Demon committing heresy.

They threw him into their signature jail, the one located in the basement of the Royal Palace, and there, for years, they tortured him.

The man dreamt of the day he would escape to try again, but in the face of their brutality, his mind gradually began to crumble.

He was weak. He was powerless. He had despaired.

While his lover and closest friends were dead, he allowed their killer to roam free.

And he despaired.

—-----------------------

Years and years went by. The man known as Quarren Leos was no more.

As he hung barely alive, for no reason whatsoever other than to experience his torment, all that was left was a husk of flesh.

But if there was one surviving sliver of intention, of desire, of will… it was the death of the Holy Prince.

Quarren Leos hung by chains around his wrists, his eyes red with silent, brewing anger, when the cell door opened and an unfamiliar figure stepped in.

Quarren Leos was so far gone that his eyes did not even move at the newcomer, but then, the dark shadow’s raspy voice began to speak.

“Quarren Leos, the man who attacked the Holy Prince… but failed.”

At the words, an enraged crease furrowed the brow of the chained man, and his neck weakly looked up.

“W-what do you want… Who are you…?” his own, dry voice rasped back, instinctively feeling from the man’s aura that he was no jailer or Holy Knight.

“Do you know what’s been happening, in the time you’ve been locked up here?” the voice asked, its speaker’s face concealed in shadow.

“W-what…?” the half-alive man squinted his eyes, confused by what this shadow desired with him.

“Of course you wouldn’t know,” it coldly continued. “You’ve been trapped here. Well, I can give you some news for free.” There was no eerie smile. There was no emotion, as it talked.

Just straight to the point.

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“The man who raped your lover and then tossed her away like a broken toy… lived. He didn’t die instantly from your attack, and unfortunately for you, he was able to stay barely alive long enough for him to get healed… by the world’s greatest doctor.”

Quarren’s weak fingers balled into a fist as he listened, remaining wordless, gnashing his teeth with a low growl.

“We can give you a second chance for your revenge. We can free you from this prison.”

We? Quarren inhaled sharply, and his angry voice dropped to a whisper.

“...T-there’s no point. I’m too weak. I’m half the man I used to be, and even at my prime, I failed to succeed, even at the cost of the life of my comrades.”

His clenched fists fell open in submission.

“To have even a chance of reaching him, I have to be able to get through his defences of multiple Eighth Tier Holy Knights.”

Even now, the shadow showed no signs of emotion. Even though the man it set its sights on was broken.

“Of course, we are aware of that much. Worry not. All you must do is make up your mind. If you are determined to try, we will give you not only a chance, but also the weapons and power for your revenge.”

It stretched out a shadowy hand as Quarren looked up with his blurry vision.

“If you take our hand, you will not regret it.”

There was a long pause. It was deafening silence between the two of them, as Quarren looked up with his squinted eyes. Only the odd, eching of dripping water could be heard between them.

And then Quarren’s torn voice spoke and broke the silence.

“...I’ll take it.”

—-----------------------

Like magic, the chains around Quarren’s wrists and ankle magically split, clunking heavily as it struck the ground, and Quarren’s weak body fell forward onto the concrete.

“Congratulations. Before we leave, we have something to ask you.”

Quarren slowly, slowly pushed himself up, kneeling exhaustively on the ground.

“What is it?”

“There was another prisoner in the cell beside you. A woman with purple hair. She disappeared many months ago. Do you have any idea where she might have gone?” the shadow asked and Quarren looked to the wall, thinking back.

“...Yes. One day, the Holy Knights came and took her away. She was kicking and screaming, but she was just a small girl smaller than half my size, so of course… they just dragged her off while overpowering her. I don’t know anything beyond that.”

“Hmm… no, that is very good. So she is in possession of the Kingdom still,” the shadow wondered aloud. “That’s a good place to start. Alright, Quarren Leos. The next time we meet, we are hoping you will have satisfied our expectations, and become a warrior capable of enacting your revenge.”

With another raise of its hand, a portal opened beneath Quarren’s body.

“T-teleportation magic?” he uttered in awe, and with a single spell, he was freed from the prison that kept him so broken for so long.

As he fell into the wormhole, all he saw was the shadow towering over him from within the prison. Ah, if only he realised earlier what a great representation such a view would be of his life. But that was a pointless thought, because even then, he only cared about his revenge.

—-----------------------

-Two Years Later-

“...You guys aren’t gonna die, right?” Quarren’s voice asked. In the silent room, only the crackling of the electric lamp on the ceiling could be heard.

“What? What kind of stupid question is that?” an annoyed woman's voice asked. The silhouettes in the dim, yellow room, were pulling on their jackets and coats.

“Right… of course,” Quarren smiled to himself. “No, it’s just because… the last time I did this, everybody else died.”

“Hey man, that won’t happen with us. We’re Eighth Tier! And not just any Eighth Tiers - we’re enhanced by the organisation. The five of us can even fight a Ninth Tier,” said Kenny, giving the larger Quarren a slap on the bicep.

“Alright, alright. I’ll be relying on you all to hold the others back.”

The group nodded, and as soon as they shoved their way out of the door, Quarren’s light hearted demeanour immediately disappeared. His gaze and aura rapidly turned dark, a product of the two years of hellish training and experiments at the hands of the Organisation.

Without a word, the small squad blended into the crowds busily occupying the streets, their nefarious agenda soon to be carried out.

—-----------------------

It was easy. This power… Quarren has never felt anything like it. To think that revenge could have been this effortless?

The man thought as he stood, covered in blood, over the corpse of the Holy Prince. There was a look in his eyes that was not man-like. A beast-like, unrecognisable entity with rage coursing through it.

The Holy Knights that had killed his comrades in the past were now joining them in the afterlife. They were unable to stop Quarren this time at all. He bull dozed through them like they were paper dolls with his new, enhanced physique.

Disgustingly, when he reached the Prince, the Prince did not even recognise him. The pig was pegging for his life, pissing his pants, snot and saliva spluttering from his nose and lips.

With a single blow- no, a tap, Quarren heard a crunch and the Prince went limp. And he was standing over the Prince, his shoulders rising and falling with growls from his voice.

That was it?

“RARGHH!” Quarren roared, reaching down to slam the ground. Blood erupted like a storm in his face. And then he slammed the Prince’s body again. And again. And again.

The squelching became quieter and quieter as the Prince’s flesh was ground out of existence, until Quarren was only smashing the concrete.

How hollow. How empty.

He lost his most precious person to him. He lost years of his life to him. He even lost his sanity to him. And yet, after doing all of these horrible things to Quarren, he dies within the blink of an eye?

How empty.

From now on, Quarren had nothing to live for. He turned back to his comrades who were picking at the corpses of Eighth Tier Holy Knights, and with a deep breath, he fell to his knee.

“I, Quarren Leos, pledge the remaining of my life to my benefactor, the Black Ghosts,” his voice, loud but emotinless, vowed.

There was a ‘swiiiish’ and yet again, the shadow stood before him. For the first time, it smiled eerily.

“Welcome to the Black Ghosts, lieutenant.”