“Ok, assuming we believe you. What business does the dark lord have here?” Raymond asked as particles of darkness gathered around him.

The strange man, who called himself Kraeven, casually walked over to Raymond as his two followers stood idly behind him.

One of them was a bald man who was covered in dark armour and the other was a woman who was also clad in beautiful dark armour. Although it looked less like armour and more like a dark exoskeleton.

“Taeana?” Estella asked as she walked towards the armoured woman.

“Eevana?” The woman gasped before running towards Eevana.

The two hugged each other, leaving everyone at a loss for words.

“You know each other?” Kraeven asked.

“Yes, my lord. She is my sister.” Taeana said as tears fell from her eyes.

“Well, that’s a convenient coincidence,” Kraeven said before facing Raymond again.

“Anyway, I’m currently touring the three realms. Divon here says I should see if the world is truly worth saving.” Kraeven said as he looked at everyone around him.

“Oh? I thought the entire purpose of a dark lord was to destroy the world, not save it.” Raymond asked as the sky darkened.

“Actually, my duty is quite the opposite. You see, the pits of Nar' Agrun overspill with darkness. Something up here is causing a great imbalance in the world and I was born to destroy it. Whatever it may be.” Kraeven said as he narrowed his eyes.

Silence followed.

That silence was eventually broken by Keema as she cried out into the night.

“Ok. So how did you get to this exact spot? Pardon my prodding, but I find hard to believe that you ran into us randomly.” Raymond asked.

At this point, Peeta, Kalos and everyone else was ready for battle.

“Well, that’s pretty simple. I looked for the largest source of darkness and that led me to-" Kraeven cut himself off before turning to Kalos.

“-you,” Kraeven said.

This was the last straw.

Raymond summoned Reu, Peeta summoned his Eexel and everyone else readied themselves.

“I’m not sure who you are or what you’re up to, but if you lay a finger on my son, I will destroy you,” Raymond growled as plumes of his power erupted from his body.

Kraeven’s expression remained unchanged as he looked into Raymond’s eyes.

“I’ve done nothing that would suggest I would ever harm your son and yet you’ve chosen to bare your fangs,” Kraeven said calmly.

“I’m sorry, but it’s not every day that someone pops up and announces that they are the incarnation of darkness. I just want to make sure you understand that if your intentions are malicious, there will be nothing left of you when I’m done.” Raymond said.

“My lord, I believe they are unwilling to accept your word. Maybe a show of force could convince them.” The one known as Divon said.

“Oh? Hey, Uh-"

“Raymond.”

“Yes, Raymond. Let’s have a one on one match between you and me. If you win, I return to my home forever and the world ends due to your narrow mindedness. If I win and you’re still alive, then you and I will spend the rest of our time trying to save the world. Sounds pretty fair, no?” Kraeven asked.

Raymond looked at the others briefly before sighing.

“Fine. There’s a ton of space around here.” Raymond said as he walked out into the space that surrounded the little outpost.

Kraeven followed him as they made their way to a spot far from the camp.

“So… that’s the dark lord?” Crimwal asked.

“Yes. Isn’t he amazing?” Taeana asked.

“Meh, he’s not all that,” Eevana said teasingly.

“Oh? I assume you’ve found someone else to serve?” Taeana asked.

“Yes,” Eevana said as she looked at Kalos who glared at Kraeven as he walked away.

“Oh… he is an interesting one. Anyway, catch me up on your time here. Who knows, I might just tell you more about Kraeven. Then maybe you can serve him too.” Taeana said as she and Eevana walked to a separate spot.

Divon looked around and his gaze fell on the Aventor brothers.

“Mmm… for Velzen… you look pretty weak.” He said coldly.

“And you would know that how exactly?” Alis asked before he noticed that the man had a pair of dark compound eyes.

“Oh my goodness…” Alis gasped.

“He’s a Velzen as well,” Reeca said.

“Yep. The woman standing next to you is far stronger than you are. But then again...” Divon said. His Expressionless face coldly stared at Alis and his brother.

Meanwhile, Raymond and Kraeven stood three meters apart as the moonlight lit up their surroundings.

“We don’t have to fight, you know,” Kraeven said.

“Oh? Then do I have your word that you won’t touch my son?"

“No. If I can’t find a way to save the world that doesn’t involve killing him, then I’ll kill him.” Kraeven said before Raymond zapped towards him at an impossible speed.

Kraeven didn’t even manage to blink before Raymond punched him square in the face with the force of a thousand suns, but to Raymond’s surprise, Kraeven didn’t move.

Not a drop of blood spilt and not a bone was broken.

Kraeven sighed before punching Raymond with everything he had.

He wanted to save the world. So pulling any punches would only waste time.

Kraeven’s eyes slightly widened as he noticed that Raymond was still standing in front of him.

The ground beneath them had long since crumbled and Raymond was releasing deadly jets of darkness with every passing second.

[Be careful, master!]

Taeana cried from within Kraeven’s mind.

Raymond swung Reu diagonally while charging it with as much energy as possible.

Kraeven saw this and tried dashing away, but Raymond wasn’t going to drag this out. He violently shifted his body, dragging the massive storm of magical energy within Reu before pointing it at Kraeven.

Kraeven crossed his arms in a desperate attempt to absorb some of the damage, but Raymond wasn’t done.

He dashed towards Kraeven and kicked his crossed arms, sending him deep into the ground.

Kraeven was buried deep with the ground and tons of soil and rock separated him from his opponent.

“This won’t kill me, just letting you know,” Kraeven yelled as he struggled to move.

“I know!” Raymond yelled as a low hum echoed throughout the world.

Shit! Kraeven thought clawed out of the ground as fast as he could, only to be punched in the face by Raymond.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

He used the punch to get some distance between him and Raymond.

Kraeven then looked around for whatever was making the strange low sound earlier, but in that moment of distraction, Raymond launched himself towards Kraeven and sent out another kick towards him, but Kraeven’s mind had adapted to the speed at which Raymond moved.

Kraeven narrowly evaded the kick and kicked Raymond in turn.

Raymond flew backwards but Kraeven wasn’t going to stop there. He ran towards Raymond and summoned his weapon.

An ancient relic he found within the heart of Nar' Agrun.

It looked suspiciously similar to Raymond’s sword, but Kraeven didn’t care.

He swung his sword, aiming for Raymond’s neck, but Raymond used Reu to block the incoming attack. This resulted in a shockwave that sent the two fighters flying away from each other.

Raymond saw that he was going nowhere with his current tactics.

“Kalos!” Raymond called out to his son and even though they were separated by quite some distance, Kalos heard his father’s call.

“Yes?” Kalos asked.

“Tell everyone to close their eyes!” Raymond yelled before the world was bathed in complete darkness.

Kraeven looked around and saw nothing. He was surrounded by an endless sea of darkness that threatened to destroy the very fabric of reality.

Kraeven then bore witness to what could only be called a being of pure light.

Raymond was covered head to toe in a glorious pure white armour and above his head was an orb that burnt Kraeven’s eyes when he looked at it.

“See? Tell me. Do you think that your power is natural? I haven’t even been to Nesrafaar yet and I can guarantee that no one there has even a fraction of the light that you have.” Kraeven yelled.

“Oh? You’re still alive.” Raymond’s voice rang out across the world as dark tentacles rose from the ground.

“You see, I am not as powerful as you or your son. No, my power comes from Nar' Agrun. It sent me here to correct this… error in creation.” Kraeven said as the tentacles made contact with his body, infusing him with an endless amount of darkness.

Raymond disappeared and before Kraeven knew it, all of the dark tentacles had been cut.

Kraeven instinctively grabbed the air in front of his neck and luckily caught the blade of Raymond’s weapon.

A shockwave blew the ground beneath them apart, but it was already in shambles at this point.

Raymond infused more of his power into Reu and eventually, black blood began to run along its edge.

Kraeven notice that he was bleeding and so he dashed away.

“Should we call it a draw?” Kraeven asked, but Raymond didn’t respond.

Instead, the orb above his head grew brighter.

Kraeven’s legs then buckled and he fell to the ground before a beam shot out of the orb.

The beam erased any and all traces of all creation in its path leaving a perfectly circular hole in the earth.

Kraeven’s face twisted into a frown.

“No!” He screamed.

“Look at what you’re doing! I haven’t even gotten a chance to explore this realm yet and you want to break it!” Kraeven yelled as a dark Obelisk materialized out of thin air.

It descended from the skies at an incredible speed before hitting the tiny Raymond head-on.

The dark Obelisk shattered into a million pieces, but Kraeven wasn’t satisfied.

He created another one and another one, each of them landing on top of where Raymond was supposed to be.

“You still there?” Kraeven called out and in instant, the world trembled before the mountain of debris crumbled. Revealing a mostly unharmed Raymond.

“What the-" Kraeven gasped as the orb above Raymond’s head started glowing again.

Kraeven wanted to dodge whatever was coming, but he then noticed that Raymond was aiming in the same direction as the camp.

Kraeven sighed before crossing his arms.

“Raymond, you’re about to make a big mistake!” He yelled, but it seemed as though Raymond couldn’t even hear him.

[My lord, are you alright?]

Taeana asked.

[No, not really. This man is beyond tough and it seems like he’s really upset about the fact that we may have to kill his son and possibly him. Well, it’s understandable, but come on!]

Kraeven griped as Raymond shot out his death beam.

The beam hit Kraeven, but he didn’t run. Even as it burnt his skin and cooked him alive.

Kraeven summoned more dark tentacles and they fed him darkness as Raymond’s beam continued to burn him.

Kraeven then felt something approaching him at a high speed.

He checked and saw that it was Raymond who immediately punched him in the face. That punch was followed by several more punches and kicks that threatened to tear Kraeven apart, but he held on strong.

Kraeven hit the ground pretty hard but got up only to face the godlike form that was Raymond.

“Can you hear me now? Sheesh, you’re like a Haevrul. All muscle, no brains.” Kraeven said, but Raymond didn’t respond.

Kraeven looked deep into Raymond’s eyes and saw an endless amount of power and rage.

Rage that threatened to direct itself at the world.

Kraeven couldn’t allow that.

Kraeven also noticed that Raymond’s hair was now as white as his armour.

“Mmm…” Kraeven droned as Raymond slowly walked towards him.

Raymond placed his hand on Kraeven’s shoulder before looking up.

“You’re right. My power really is destructive.” Raymond said with a voice so beautiful tears threatened to run down Kraeven’s face.

“Good. Now, let’s go back to-"

“We’ll have to take this fight elsewhere,” Raymond said before grabbing Kraeven by the neck.

Kraeven desperately tried to jerk himself free from Raymond’s grasp, but it was futile.

Raymond launched himself into the sky, with Kraeven in hand.

Reality began to bend as Raymond’s speed approached that which was not possible, even for Raymond.

Kraeven felt the world around him shift and it wasn’t long before he found himself in a different place.

He looked out and saw nothing but light.

The light went on forever, but within it, Kraeven could see what looked like people.

Unfortunately for Kraeven, he didn’t have much time to admire them as Raymond punched him in the face.

“No matter how hard you punch me, I will not die! Not until I fulfil my purpose.” Kraeven yelled as he desperately swung his weapon in an attempt to fend off the approaching Raymond.

“Well… you might be able to kill me, but then what? Are you going to let all of creation suffer? Dammit, I wonder how much more destructive your son will be-" Raymond interrupted Kraeven by punching him in the face.

That’s when Kraeven noticed that the figures he saw in the distance weren’t people, they were gigantic beings.

“Halt! What brings you to Nesrafaar?” One of the several gigantic beings asked.

Its body was a pale grey and its white hair and white eyes reminded Kraeven of Raymond, except Raymond was covered in mud and dirt.

Raymond looked up into the giant's eyes and dropped Reu.

The sword hung mid-air as its wielder approached the giant.

“Speak, mortal. Lest we return you to your realm this instant.” The being said before Raymond zapped towards its giant head.

Raymond punched the creature in the face, sending its large eyeballs flying out of their sockets.

“Arrg!” The being cried in pain as its comrades approached Raymond.

Raymond glared at all of them before growling deeply.

“All I want is to spend eternity with my son. Why is that so hard for you to understand?” He muttered.

“There will be no eternity if the both of you continue to exist,” Kraeven said as he approached Raymond, but in that instant, Raymond zapped towards the injured giant before piercing into its chest.

The giant convulsed in pain before Raymond emerged from the giant's chest with one of its ribs which he lodged into the neck of a nearby giant.

Raymond then grabbed Reu and narrowly avoided getting caught by the hand of an enraged giant.

He skilfully cleaved open the giant's arm before shooting in and out of its skull.

The other giants then began gathering extreme amounts of light energy, but Raymond carelessly floated in front of them as even Kraeven began burning up.

The remaining giants then shot out several beams of white-hot magical energy, but Raymond completely deflected them using Reu’s side.

A massive shockwave shook Nesrafaar and when the smoke cleared, the giants could see no traces of Raymond.

Reality trembled and in an instant, the heads of all of the giants shattered.

Litres upon litres of blood coated the white realm as Raymond floated above the giant corpses while chunks of flesh and large bones spattered all around.

“See? That’s not normal. I think we should-"

“Wait!” They both heard someone call.

Kraeven looked down and saw a speck.

“Wanna check that out?” Kraeven asked before meeting Raymond’s cold gaze.

“Ok,” Raymond said before they both descended to where the speck was.

There, they saw what could possibly be the most beautiful woman in existence.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Raymond asked, making the little woman tremble in fear.

“My name is Eirini and I kindly beg that you return to your realm, lest more lives are lost.” The woman said.

Raymond tilted his head as the death orb above his head disappeared.

Kraeven let out a sigh of pure relief.

“You’re the goddess Eirini?” Raymond asked.

“Well, I’m no goddess, but I am Eirini.” The woman said with a voice so soft, it sounded as though it would leave her at any moment.

“Mmm…” Raymond droned as he closed his eyes.

“Kraeven. Promise me that you won’t touch my son and I’ll promise I’ll help you save the world.” Raymond said as his armour faded.

Kraeven nodded his head.

“Yes, but-" Kraeven was about to reiterate that the situation where he’d have to kill both Raymond and his son was still viable, but he held his tongue.

“Never mind. Let’s just go back for now.” Kraeven said as Raymond returned to his normal form.

Well, his hair and eyes were still white, but Kraeven didn’t care.

Raymond glared at Eirini. His godlike white form burnt itself into her mind and his cruel white eyes bore deep into her soul.

“A lot of people die every day in your name. I wonder what they’d think if they knew that the goddess they worshipped was nothing but a child.” Raymond said.

Kraeven frowned in confusion before noticing that Eirini was crying and a certain liquid dripped from her legs as she trembled.

Raymond turned to leave and Kraeven followed closely behind.

.

..

Kalos stared into the sky as ash coated the land.

Keema and Estella had gotten into the carriage and Eevana had done her best to ensure that nothing other than pure air could enter.

Crimwal approached Kalos. Eevana had made a scarf for him, so he had no trouble breathing.

“Are you alright?” Crimwal asked.

“Mmm… yes- no. I don’t exactly know how to feel.” Kalos said as the sky thundered.

“It’s ok. Just remember that you have all of us here with you. Your dad included. If you need to talk, don’t hesitate.” Crimwal said before returning to the campfire.

Kalos had ordered that no one was to enter the carriage to keep Estella safe, so they all had to brave the winter cold.

Divon and Taeana on the other hand weren’t as calm as the others.

“What’s wrong with you two?” Peeta asked. He was still wearing his dark armour and had his Eexel ready just in case Divon tried anything stupid.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Divon said even though everyone could clearly see that he and Taeana were both distressed.

“You’re clearly not ok. So either fess up or go somewhere else where I can’t see you.” Peeta said.

“It’s our master. We’ve just lost contact with him.” Taeana said.

“What do you mean?” Crimwal asked.

“We’re connected to lord Kraeven. But we lost contact with him after your master disappeared with him.” Taeana said.

"Why are you telling them that?” Divon asked.

“Because I’m scared our lord may never return.”

“Is your faith in lord Kraeven so little that you would believe him dead after a fight with a human? You saepenar are awfully emotional.” Divon said.

The skies thundered once again, but this time two figures descended from their embrace.

Raymond and Kraeven landed near the camp.

Taeana ran towards Kraeven and Kalos slowly walked towards his dad.

“Kalos… I-“

“It’s ok dad. Get some rest. We’ll talk once the sun rises.” Kalos said as he accompanied his father to his tent.

Raymond snuck a glance behind him and saw a gigantic hole in the ground that was so wide and so deep, it looked like it didn’t have a bottom.