A message from the author, me, to some hurtful readers:
Spoiler :
First. If you find my speed too slow that you see it as enough reason to drop my story, feel free to drop it. No need to notify me about it, and even insult me about it. I have a life outside of writing, heck, I already stated that I'm going through college, International Law, even. It is my final subject, and I am close to graduating so I need to pour in efforts to pass it, especially since it is my second take of the subject having failed it once previously.
Second, the PayPal and Bitcoin are just there for you to donate OPTIONALLY and is a ONE TIME THING. Once I reach my goal, I will remove it, assuming nobody bookmarked it. I am not doing it for sponsored chapters, nor I am doing it for a steady flow of chapters. If you want to donate, then donate. If you don't want to donate, then don't donate. No need to lambast me about it. For your information, I still have zero balance, yet here I am still posting a chapter. Sorry about the lateness, but I have a college degree to chase after.
Third, my race should have nothing to do with my writing and your reading. Unless you're a racist fuckboy then I would understand.
Hopefully, your toxicity won't spread to other authors and will stay between us. You know who you are.
Also, I have a new fic I am writing alongside Cavaron. Songs of Legacies: Black Garm
Inspired by a lot of military-themed games, that one steam punk game with a character named Gilbert Bates, and my ROTC.
Have a chapter.
Fairly confusing chapter/s inbound.
And the format changed because of my mood.
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Cavaron and Azrael charged towards each other head on. Cavaron's magic swords sung through the air as they were reinforced by, not just one nor two, but three dense layers of mana. Three layers of Mana Blades were dense enough that one could no longer see the blue and red swords, but only a brightly shining white edge. In contrast, due to the Dark Fate flames' influence, Azrael and his scythe were jet black as the darkest, lightless night with nothing else but the mere flickering of tongues of black fire that wrapped around Azrael's body.
Only a few more meters before collision, and Cavaron expended as much mana as he could into his whole body in an attempt to strengthen it further. His body began to glow light blue as mana flowed through his veins. Muscles hardening, grip tightening, Cavaron became a glowing mass of mana heavily contrasted by Azrael's black fire.
Collision.
Cavaron brought down his right, his Blood Sword, still seething with power from the blood of slain enemies. Azrael's scythe met with it, and an explosive sound along with a massive shockwave that tore the ground apart and shook the sky were produced upon impact. The surrounding Azuals that were harassing Cavaron either were blown away or got disintegrated from the clashing of energies. A second after the shockwave was produced, Cavaron's left descended, his Mana Sword brimming with power overwhelming from an overpowering influx of mana from Cavaron coupled with the slain enemies' as well as the boost gained from the three shining layers of Mana Blades held what was seemingly the sword of judgment down onto Azrael.
Azrael, having used his scythe to block Cavaron's Blood Sword, revealed a smile that shocked Cavaron. Azrael wrapped his right hand with black fire, and used his hand to catch the Mana Sword. There, something unbelievable happened. Azrael's black fire tore through the three layers of Mana Blades, but rather than forcefully tearing them apart, they appeared to be erased instead. Cavaron was stunned, and this gave Azrael enough time to reach the sword itself, destroying it.
"Nooo!!!" cried Aquila, "The Mana Sword! The Mana Sword!!"
The others looked at the flying beastman in the sky. "What happened, Aquila!?" shouted Culverin/Ignis. The skirmishes of the summons stopped momentarily hearing the distress in Aquila's voice, and gathered beneath the flying beastman. Even Aimi and Aomi were brought by Adelward.
Aquila, who was watching Cavaron with his hawk-like eyes, looked at the others, "Cavaron... Cavaron's Mana Sword was destroyed by Azrael!" The others' eyes went wide in disbelief. Almost at the same time, everybody else shouted, "How!?" Aquila looked back at Cavaron, "Azrael wrapped his hand with black fire... The same fire we saw on that day, a hundred years ago." The Elementals and the Spirits present, especially those who knew of it, looked towards Cavaron with changed faces and tightened grips.
---
Aisha... Aisha... Aisha...
Her name flooded my thoughts as I knelt down beside her body.
"Aisha... Aisha... Aisha..."
My thoughts then leaked through my lips, repeating her name like a crazed lunatic. I brought her body closer to me, and held her limp head close to my chest. Her eyes closed, her soft lips grow pale and cold. With the absence of her pulse, she went further and further away.
Behind me was Azrael, laughing at my pitiful appearance, at Aisha's dead body. With his godforsaken form, he inched closer to me, slowly but surely as though exhuming absolute confidence, absolute power.
"Aisha... Aisha..."
I kept calling out to her in hopes of hearing her voice.
"Well, this is a happy time for me." said Azrael as he arrived behind me, "I didn't think she'd actually use her body to block my attack. She must be very... dear... to you." He said the word "dear" rather irritatingly.
Yet, I still looked at Aisha's lifeless body, with my lips still uttering her name.
Azrael brought his scythe to my defenseless neck, "Thank you, gods of fate, for giving me this opportunity to claim his soul."
As I felt the blade on my neck come closer, I felt a strange power within my body.
---
Cavaron still knelt by Aisha's body while Azrael/Grim Revenant was about to sever his neck. The others around them no longer fought, and merely stood still to see the end of a once powerful being.
"Aisha..." uttered Cavaron.
"Hmph, ignoring me, eh?" said Azrael/Grim Revenant, "No matter. Come, let me feed on your soul."
"Aisha... Aisha... AISHA... AiSha... AISha... aisHa..." However, something strange was happening to Cavaron, "Aisha... aiSha... AisHa... AISHa... AISHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Voice changed, power fluctuating. The moment Azrael/Grim Revenant was about to sever his neck, black flames erupted from every orifice of Cavaron's body.
"AISHA... AISHA... AISHA... AISHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZRRRRRRAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Cavaron held his head as black flames came from his face, his torso, his body in its entirety.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"
A savage cry exploded from his lips as the black flames engulfed Cavaron.
Shocked, Azrael/Grim Revenant and the others took many steps back, "By the gods! What is happening!?"
"AAAAAAAIIIIISSSSSHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZRRRRAAAAAAEEEEEELLLLLLL!!!!!!!!"
Bone chilling screams swallowed the battlefield as the black flames even devoured Aisha's dead body, and even attempted to devour the fleeing Azrael.
"What in the world is that flame!?" cried Azrael/Grim Revenant, "Isn't that the same black thing around his soul!?"
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
As Cavaron became wrapped in black flames, he let out a cry so foul that one's throat should have bled.
After a while, the wildly dancing black flames ceased its consumption of the surrounding area, and settled, leaving only a pitch black warrior bathed in black flames at the center who was holding his head so tight that it should have burst. The pitch black warrior relaxed his arms, and let them drop to his sides. Calm and serene, it made an absolutely contrasting image to the hell before.
"Cavaron..." uttered Azrael/Grim Revenant as he looked at the black warrior.
The black warrior, Cavaron, turned towards Azrael's direction, and Azrael was taken aback at the change in appearance.
Cavaron's hair had turned as white as snow from his originally brown hair. His eyes also changed, it became as red as the crimson blood that flowed in one's own body from his originally emerald green eyes. His blue armor was wrapped in black flames as its tongues flicked in the wind. His red cape turned black as well giving him a menacing appearance. The differences between the Cavaron then and the Cavaron now were leagues apart which made the others stunned.
Cavaron stared at Azrael as though he was wondering who he was. Azrael was on guard, 'The hell is going on? I can't sense his soul.' he thought as he warily watched Cavaron.
However, Cavaron smiled at Azrael, shocking him. Cavaron's smile became bigger and wider, until finally, "Hahaha..." a laugh left his mouth. This random act bewildered Azrael, 'Has he gone nuts?'
"Hahaha..." Cavaron laughed and laughed, and each second that passed, his laugh became louder and more manic, Hahaha... HAHAHA... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
With a sudden explosion, Cavaron left from where he stood, and appeared right in front of Azrael while wielding a massive two-hander with one hand that suddenly materialized out of nowhere.
"Shit!" cursed Azrael as he raised his massive arms to block Cavaron's attack. However, rather that a collision, Cavaron's sword merely carved through Azrael's bony arms like a hot knife through butter.
"Argh!" cried Azrael, "Pain!? Why did I feel pain!?"
Without pause, Cavaron's massive sword cleaved Azrael's arm off, and the severed arm disintegrated into nothingness. With his momentum, Cavaron spun around in midair and was about to deliver another powerful attack, "HAHAHAHAHAAA!!"
"DAMN YOU!" Azrael suddenly shone brightly and reverted to his human form seeing that his large body became detrimental to his efforts. Having reverted back, Azrael's smaller body evaded Cavaron's cleaving attack. Except, "What the fuck!?" Azrael was surprised that Cavaron's massive sword suddenly turned at an impossible angle making his effort to evade go to waste. Instead, he had his scythe meet the sword in an attempt to parry the attack.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
However, like his arm before, the black two-hander cleaved through the scythe, destroying it.
"My Godslayer! You destroyed my Godslayer!" cried Azrael, "Dammit all! Damn the gods of fate!"
Without respite, Cavaron turned again to deliver one more attack. Alarm flooded Azrael's face, and attempted to flee. "Screw this! I know when I'm about to lose!" he cried as he ran off towards a crowd of soldiers. The soldiers, however, seeing that Azrael was headed towards them ran away to the opposite direction. With Azrael's speed, he was able to blend into the crowd but, "AHAHAHAHA!!!!" Cavaron brought down his two-hander, and produced an earth-shattering wave of black energy that tore through scores upon scores of soldiers, be it human, demon, or angel, none survived. Bearing witness to having dozens of their kind slain effortlessly, the surviving armies did not hesitate to flee the area.
"Run! Drop everything and run!" Nobody knew who ordered this, but each soldier of the three races fled away from Cavaron, leaving an empty spot where the meadow was.
"What is this madness?" said Demetria as she helplessly watched Cavaron slaughter his way to Azrael, "How... How can that flame do such a thing...? Aisha... Even my daughter was devoured... A part of my very being... And an inheritor of such power..." She looked towards where Azrael had killed Aisha, "Even so... Even so... I felt a flicker of life yet... Yet... Cavaron... Why?"
Cavaron tore through hordes of humans, angels, and demons. Even those in the skies weren't spared in his wanton destruction. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!" laughing without a care, each swing of his two-hander, dozens fell, more than when Azrael used his abilities.
'Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!' cursed Azrael as he frantically and narrowly evaded each of Cavaron's attacks, resulting in dozens of unfortunate soldiers dying.
Suddenly, Cavaron raised his left hand, and drew a circle in the air. After having drawn the circle, he opened his palm, and made a gesture of grasping the drawn circle.
Unknown power was felt as it fluctuated. High above them in the sky, a massive black ring appeared. The black ring was made from the very same black flame that wrapped Cavaron's body.
---
Argent Mountains, Ladenras.
Deep within a volcano, there was a muscle-bound being sitting crosslegged on top of a stone platform surrounded by calmly flowing magma. It was Fire Lord Culverin. Seated calmly, with his eyes closed, he awoke as he felt something strange in the air, 'What is this?' he thought.
Just as he was about to stand, black energies wrapped his body, and devoured him, "WHA–!?"
---
Somewhere unknown.
Dark clouds covered the sky as storm clouds let rain and thunder fall onto the earth. Down below, farmers were dancing from the blessing of the gods for their fields. A festival was in full bloom despite the loud thunder around them.
High above the clouds, a small child was dancing like the farmers on the ground. "Ahahaha!! Be happy my friends!" It was Bronte, he was happily dancing along with the rain and thunder until, "Eh?" black energy appeared and swallowed the happy child, abruptly ending the wonderful shower, and left the farmers wondering what happened.
---
Somewhere unknown.
A blond youth was walking alongside a four-winged angel in a corridor, "Sister, it seems that the gate the temple was guarding has been breached." he said to the angel, "Would it be all right for you to join me?"
The four-winged angel looked at the blond youth next to her, "Of course, my dear Etheran." It was Shamira. The two of them continued through the corridor, and many multi-winged angels, whom they've passed by, saluted at Etheran. Despite having no wings, it would seem that Etheran ranked higher than them.
Suddenly, Shamira stopped in place, "What's wrong, sister?" asked Etheran. Shamira's face turned pale as she held her shoulders, "Something's strange. I felt a weird energy surrounding me." Her voice shuddered, and black energies suddenly materialized around her. "What!? No! Noo!" Shamira was swallowed by the very black energies that surrounded her.
"Sister!? Sister!!!"
---
Within an unknown space.
Two children laid next to each other side by side. One boy, one girl. Twins, to be exact. Both children had waist length hair, but the girl had golden hair while the boy had silver hair. The two children were peacefully sleeping until the girl sat upright and rubbed her eyes.
"Ahh... Hmm?" The girl yawned and noticed something around her. There were black energies swirling around them, but did not immediately devour them. "Curious." said the girl. Looking over to the boy beside her, she nudged him to wake him up.
"Rata, wake up." said the girl, "Someone's calling for us."
The boy, Rata, turned to the other side, "Five more minutes, Rati... Zzz..."
The girl, Rati, kicked the boy, Rata off wherever they were sleeping on, "Papa's calling." she said.
Hearing the word "Papa", Rata became fully awake, " Papa!? Let's go! Let's go!"
And with that as a cue, the black energies swallowed the two children.
...
Similar occurances happened to the other elementals, spirits, and summons contracted with Cavaron.
---
Back in Edeortha.
"What is going on here?" a disbelieving voice left the lips of an Eastern-looking warrior, "Cavaron... My brother... Argh... Ahhh... AAHHHHHH!!!!" The warrior held his head just as the black energies infected him, corrupted his thoughts, overpowered his will. Masamune became lost to Cavaron's own madness, and, like him, the other Elementals, Spirits, and summons, fell victim to the maddening black energies. Culverin, Ventus, Bronte, Tirta, Avani, Glacia, Shamira, Nox, Adelward, Burkhard, Ylva, Felicia, Aquila, Gunther, Bellatrix, Ulrika, and Muramasa. Elementals and Spirits went berserk under the effects of Cavaron's black energies. After them, three more women appeared, Sapphire of Azure Earth, Ruby of Crimson Ice, and Emerald of Viridian Flames. These three women, while seemingly able to maintain some semblance of sanity, still helplessly brought down pandemonium upon the unfortunate dwellers of Edeortha.
This incident will be known in the future as the Wrath of Gods, a storm of elements that supposedly destroyed a third of the world. However, just from the number of summons, it would seem to be impossible for them to utterly destroy a third of a world.
Soon, two lights came from the black ring in the sky. One golden light, and one silvery light.
"Rata, it seems that Papa is in pain." A golden dragon emerged from the ring. Likewise, a similarly appearing, but silver in color, dragon appeared next to it.
"Who hurt Papa!? I will destroy them!!!"
Two gigantic dragons, a golden dragon and a silver dragon, whose wingspans reached over a kilometer each descended from the heavens. Rata and Rati, the two children who were sleeping in an unknown space were the two domineering dragons in Edeortha's sky.
The humans, angels, and demons who saw all of these ran. They all ran away without care for their companions nor for their enemies, and merely sought their own survival.
"Kill Papa's enemies!!!" Rata, the silver dragon, opened his gigantic maw, and let loose a massive ball of fire that fell onto hundreds of poor souls. Rati, the golden dragon, instead flapped her wings and produced massive pillars of lightning that destroyed an even greater number of poor souls.
Yet, even with all the fire and brimstone, the scale of their attacks was still a fraction of what would be purported.
That was because it wasn't the summons themselves that dealt the most destructive blow.
High above the clouds of Edeortha, much higher than the black ring itself, close to what one would think as outer space, was a purple-haired youth with golden eyes. This youth stood on an empty space as he looked down at the hell below.
"Cavaron, my friend..." uttered the youth, "You were one of the first to have reached out to me after losing everything I had. You considered me as a friend. No, you didn't consider it, you truly believed it. I was happy when you held out your hand when I was suffering because of that damned Father of ours. Now, you are the one grievously suffering because of our same Father, and because of this world. Let this be my gift to you, my dear friend."
The purple-haired youth looked up to the stars, and reached out to them. With a fluctuation of power, his hand became hazy as he made a grasping gesture. "Astral Storm." Two words left his lips, and he pulled down his closed fist.
The countless stars in the sky suddenly became bigger and bigger. Little by little, the stars themselves became meteors that penetrated through Edeortha's atmosphere, and these meteors bombarded the surface that would forever change Edeortha.
Until the last meteor fell, the youth stayed and watched over Cavaron before phasing out of existence.
...
Azrael stood dumbfounded at the sight of his surroundings. "By the gods of fate, this is the worst." Summons rampaging from the black energies emitted by Cavaron, Planar Dragons laying waste to hundreds and thousands of Edeortha's inhabitants, and an unknown number of meteors falling down from the skies and pummeled everything it could reach down to oblivion. Fragments of earth began to levitate to the sky, and earth around them began to grow barren.
Absolute destruction, and it was Azrael's and Cavaron's actions that led to this. No one no longer knew how many would survive, nor who had died. Even Demetria, their so called goddess disappeared. Ethra, thankfully, was far from ground zero, yet had trouble avoiding the crashing meteors that fell from the dark sky. She flew, and she flew until none of the meteors reached her. Tired and fatigued, she fell from the sky, but was caught by a surviving squadron of Sky Knights that had been following her long before.
Just as Azrael awoke from his stupor, he felt his flesh tear open, and saw a smiling Cavaron piercing his black hand through his body. "How...? Why...?" These were Azrael's last words as his body was viciously torn apart by Cavaron's bare hands.
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I knew I forgot to mention a character.
Rata and Rati, I wonder if some people will notice the source of inspiration.