Kingdom of Heildin, Capital City: 936, November 12th, Monday, 3:00 AM.
A pool of crimson blood painted the hardwood floor, splattered all over the small living room of what used to be the home of a happy family. The dark gel-like substance was illuminated under a white light installed in the ceiling, reflecting the face of a black-haired woman gritting her teeth with agonizing breaths.
Her palms, knees, hair, neck, mouth, and torso were mostly covered in the crimson color of her own blood. The plates of her obsidian armor remained shattered with multiple fissures and dents, starting to peel off after withstanding egregious amounts of punishment.
“Ngh…” Eutychia groaned while keeping her palms pressed in the hardwood as she tried to lift herself up, stopped by a series of painful coughs that spilled out blood into the floor from her red mouth. “I can… still fight…”
“I don’t doubt it,” a man replied from mere feet away.
He sat just in front of her in the only functional couch of the house, calmly resting among the chaos with a lifted chin and a snarky grin in his face. Shattered windows, a broken television on the floor, cracked walls, and every couch in the area split in half with clean cuts was all that remained from the cozy living room—demonstrating the turmoil that unfolded only a couple of minutes ago.
The man leaned forward on his sit while resting both arms on his knees, watching with amusement as the princess struggled to pick herself up. Her feet slipped in her own blood many times, but through sheer will and pride she was able to pull herself up in one knee—panting heavily with a deadly glare she offered the smirking knight.
“You play around too much…” she growled—drawing a quick chuckle from her opponent.
“I think I’ve earned the right to,” replied Loki as he stood up from his sit. “You on the other hand decided to abandon what you had. Don’t you miss the food at the castle, princess?”
“Heildin’s residents… are more important than any riches I may have had.” She proudly stated. “And will not stop until I see them all safe from your order… even if it kills me.”
“Yeah?” the knight raised an eyebrow as he strolled closer to the girl, kneeling in close to meet her intense glare with an arrogant grin reflected in his glowing azure eyes. “What if I kill you right now then? How much will you can accomplish with that?”
“…” the injured black knight clenched her jaw and wrinkled her nose, giving a furious frown that caused her brows to twitch, but offering no words in response.
Her hardened and threatening expression brought only delight to the knight’s heart, who responded with a mocking laugh at the bleeding princess. Loki threw his head back in laughter, holding nothing back as he stood back up. His insulting display only lasted for a few of seconds, regaining his self-control by exhaling through his lips with a whistling sound.
“Not a single thing… that’s the answer.” He told the princess before grabbing her by the arm, and forcefully pulling her back on two feet. “Now get out of my sight before you make me throw up. Weaklings like you make me sick.”
“You won’t…” Eutychia spoke through painful grunts. “Kill me?”
“Why?” he said, proceeding to walk towards the open door of the exit—revealing the dark and cold outdoors of an abandoned neighborhood. “What could I possibly get by killing every insect that crosses me?”
“You didn’t seem to have a problem with it before…” claimed the black knight with a weak snarl, hugging her sides with one arm while the other hung next to her. “I’ve known you ever since I was a child… did you forget?”
“Bah! You know nothing,” scoffed the knight without stopping his stride towards the outside. “I’ll tell your dad that his former favorite princess has escaped somehow. I might say that you beat me or something, but that would be overselling your skills so probably not.”
Just as he finished his sentence, and his first foot stepped into the soft white snow of the house’s entrance, a strange and frightening presence that only a gladean knight could perceive brought Loki’s attention towards the north. Such malevolence would bring any warrior to their knees, but the feeling of excitement brewing inside the knight overtook any other emotion he could’ve possibly had at the time.
“Father will not believe you…” said Eutychia as she limped her way towards the entrance, but still remaining inside the house.
“So?” Loki shrugged in a dismissive manner, offering his last words to the princess before making his quick exit. “It’s not like he can do anything about it,” he smirked to her from over his shoulder, and vanished from view in a blink of the young woman’s eyes—leaving her injured and confused among the chaos.
“My head…” she groaned while resting her forehead in one hand. “What is he thinking?”
Southern Region of the Deadlands, Near Heildin’s Capital: 936, November 12th, Monday, 3:00 AM.
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A stomping army rapidly approached the gigantic black wall that concealed them from the outside world. Their every step caused the earth to rumble as their absurd numbers showered the field with glowing crimson lights, which the enormous rampart matched with its own bright throbbing veins.
Many gaunt creature’s stumbled upon each other like mindless zombies, while the smarter and stronger beasts sprinted like warriors of the past across the battlefield. Some were armed with bladed limbs, others mimicked the appearance of nature’s most deadly predators—which ranged from tetrapod reptiles, to bipedal humanoid demons, each one equipped with its own way to rip their prey to shreds in an instant.
As the tales and legends continue to live on thanks to humanity’s strive for survival however, there will always be the mention of warriors that could turn the predator into prey, and flip the tables of any conflict that no common foe could bring themselves to oppose. One title in specific had always had its place in the annals of history, one that transformed a nameless man into a legend, and another into a myth, merging both fighters into a single entity known as the champion. This name was sought out by a man that had gone through many rigorous challenges in order to achieve such title, seeking nothing but praise and glory through any means laid at his disposal.
“Is this all?” Loki taunted with a smirk as one of his azure swords materialized in his hand, crushing the skull of a gaunt creature with the other. “How many times are we gonna do this? If you want to take this place, then you will have to come out and meet me here yourself.”
Titled champion of the order, and one of only three pure blooded knights left in the world, he fearlessly lunged himself at the army of demons stomping the field with an unstoppable advance. Through lightning speed slashes of his sword, he cut through several demons at once with swift movements as he continued diving further into the horde—shining a bright azure light among the crimson glow of the specters. One of the larger creatures met the knight with a fearsome roar, parting its mouth wide open to present him with hundreds of sharp pointy teeth that bent inwards.
The powerful beast exhibited a humanoid appearance, displaying no eyes or nose, but only its large mouth covering the entirety of its face. Such terrifying and gruesome looks did not aid the demon against its opponent however, as the swift azure light that sliced its neck open did not wait to put an end to its grizzly growls.
Its slit throat caused the specter’s head to flop backwards, and its knees to bend as it quickly collapsed on the ground. Both its severed head and inert body hit the dirt simultaneously, and vanished into embers in just an instant. Loki stomped through its ashes like a fast train running past the station with negligence, making even his own chuckle struggle in catching to his absurd speed.
“Hah! How pathetic!” he roared before jumping in the air, raising the heads of all specters present.
The knight’s heart ignited with passion at the sight of so many demons below him, keeping his wide unblinking eyes on the ocean of crimson. He stared at them like an eager child, watching his favorite toy through the transparent glass pane of a store. The man raised the azure sword above his head, and flung it down towards the horde with a powerful throw.
Piles of sharp rocks burst from the ground as the blade buried itself in the scorched earth—missing every specter around it. The presence of its azure glow caught the attention of all creatures for only a quick second, long enough for Loki to end their lives swiftly in just one motion. He appeared with an instant azure light at the center of all specters near his weapon, and sliced their bodies in a single spin of his body as he ripped the sword from the ground—slashing all monsters in half from one rib to the other. His azure and gold tunic flapped aggressively with the powerful gust emitted by his attack, which caused the crimson fog around him to be blown away with it.
“This feels great…” he told himself. “If Ninigi can resist the Deadlands then…”
His monologue was quickly interrupted by the deadly breath of a four-legged beast lunging at him from behind, enveloping his head inside its mouth in an attempt to crush his skull with its razor-sharp teeth in a single bite. The beast’s efforts would only earn it a mouthful of azure particles however, as the knight vanished from view in the fraction of a second.
The specter landed back on the ground to stand on its hind legs, displaying the intimidating appearance and height of a black armored bear. Throbbing veins ran inside the fissures of its body, which glowed fiercely with a crimson light.
“As if you could do anything to me,” the knight’s voice taunting from behind immediately caught its attention—prompting the specter to spin around with a powerful swing of its claws.
Loki’s bright azure sword clashed with the bears attack however, flinging its arm back and exposing the core under its belly. Such easy target meant the instantaneous dead of the demon, whose body was split in half from the stomach to the head in a quick counter from the gladean knight. Both its halves separated from each other with a crunching sound, and collapsed on the dirt as nothing more than a burst of embers.
“I’m not playing games anymore,” the knight smirked devilishly at the sight of his dead opponent. “This time… this time you will see.”
An hour passed by quickly, and the number of demons dwindled with every death caused by the order’s champion. What started as an army became a horde, and that turned into a small group, all of them brought to their knees by the absurd strength and speed of the gladean knight—who had every intention of leaving nothing but ashes behind his path. The man’s feet hit the ground as he fell from the sky, followed by the dust of a dead specter that rained down on him from above.
“Not a bad training session,” Loki said with a satisfied smirk. He threw his head back while giving it a quick shake, running a few fingers through his hair to dust off the remaining ashes. “Can’t help but feel like you are not trying yet… bastard.”
The sounds of battle were replaced by the eerie whooshing sounds of the wind, which carried the crimson fog across the region with a gentle breeze. Nothing remained in the field but the lone knight, who moved his eyes towards the center of the hellish zone. His fists clenched tightly, and his brows lowered with a jutted chin—taking in the silence with a determined gaze into the nothingness of the Deadlands center.
“You are a hero, Loki!” a young woman’s voice echoed in his ears, but did not replace the emptiness of his surroundings. “I don’t care what people think about you! If nobody does it, then I’ll be the one to write your story! I-I didn’t learn how to read… or write…. but I’ll do my best for you, promise!”
“I will kill you myself, Specter.” Muttered the knight. “And with you out of the way…” he turned his back on the Deadlands with a sharp turn, proceeding to stride away towards Heildin as the enormous horde of demons now joined with the fog. “Nothing will be able to keep that daemon from clinging to this world. Be ready for me too… King.”
END OF CHAPTER