“You won’t win this battle." The king scoffed, lifting his hand and grabbing his tie.
Wearing entirely golden clothes, a thin armored fabric, the king shined in the midst of battle like a diamond in a mine. Kesshō hissed at him, baring her fangs to spray her venom, but stopped midway. In her panic she had used all her venom on the general, having none left for the king. She turned as Kurai swung the sword in a diagonal slash and glimpsed the king appearing behind him, sword in hand.
She jumped in between the king and Kurai, the sword bouncing off her scales. The king grunted as he pulled the sword back and Kurai turned around. Regaining her footing, Kesshō swung her sword but the king disappeared again.
“It is futile, really.” The king sighed, appearing where he was when the battle started.
“What sort of magic do you have?” Kurai questioned as he turned towards him.
“The strongest sort.” The king answered, not disclosing any further.
He disappeared again, appearing around Kesshō and Kurai at many places. They stood with their backs to one another, all their focus on tracking the king. He appeared to the right of Kurai, his sword in hand. Kurai slashed in that direction but the king disappeared and reappeared at his left. Turning around, Kesshō slashed with her sword but the king got away again. They held their ground, not being able to do anything but defend each other from the mysterious powers of the king. He appeared a fair distance away from them, pacing back and forth.
“If I was you I would have paid more attention to my people,” He mumbled.
Kurai and Kesshō turned to the fort in unison, horror seizing them at the sight. The gates had been breached already, the flag of the kingdom of Einsdael being mounted on the top of the fort.
“No," Kurai gasped.
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Mei and Yuki stood in the courtyard, alone, waiting for the enemy soldiers to arrive.
“You know what, you were my most beloved student ever and always will be," Mei whispered.
“And you will always be like an older sister to me, one I loved nearly as much as my brother,” Yuki whispered back.
“Well that’s reassuring.” Mei chuckled, brandishing her katana.
“Sure is.” Yuki replied, a katana made of ice in her hand.
Many soldiers rushed into the courtyard from all directions at the same time, surrounding the pair.
“This will be our last stand it seems," Mei sighed.
“Let’s make it count then.” Yuki smirked, waving her hand and forming multiple icicles in the air.
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Sora and Hori stood on the path outside, surrounded on all sides by enemies. Both of them bore many cuts, none fatal, but still bleeding.
“Who would have thought it would end like this,” Hori sighed.
“I did, everyone did,” Sora replied.
“You are not as bad as I made you out to be at first, ninjas are also just as great as samurai it seems," Hori mumbled.
“Let’s see, the one who dies first is weaker,” Sora challenged.
“You are not going to change even in the face of death," Hori chuckled. "Fair enough, you are so eager to lose afterall,” Hori accepted.
The steels of both their swords flashing they charged straight into the mass of enemies, disappearing amongst the horde.
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“This would certainly lead to development, in what way is the question,” Lyranse mumbled thoughtfully. He paced back and forth in the peaceful garden of flowers, carefully not stepping on the flowers.
“Halt!” A soldier yelled at him.
He held out one hand and the soldier disintegrated into thin air. “Sh–” Lyranse raised his finger to his lips– "The Empress will soon be going to sleep, do not disturb the peace in this garden she loved."
He shook his head on the sight of many other soldiers, all of them disintegrating in a similar manner. “Let’s see what your plan here is Creator, hope it succeeds otherwise things won’t turn out well, for anyone unfortunate enough to exist at such a time."
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Kurai and Kesshō gave the king the small gap in attention he needed. Teleporting beside the two of them he thrust his sword in between them. Both of them, suddenly aware of their mistake jumped to dodge the blow, getting separated in the process.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The king teleported all around the both of them, causing them to swing their sword wildly, not caring if he was actually there or not, wasting their energy. The both of them edged closer to each other while swinging wildly, noticing this the king teleported between them and blocking Kurai’s sword kicked him in the chest.
Kurai didn’t even move, instead he grabbed the king’s leg and toppled him over, following with a stab from his sword. Kesshō's expression turned to joy before turning to one of horror as the king disappeared from beneath Kurai. Kurai’s sword stabbed the ground as the king’s impaled him in the back. He didn’t scream, didn’t make any sound, just turned to Kesshō and gave a weak smile as blood tricked out of his mouth.
Summoning all his strength he pushed the king away, the blue lines on his hand glowing brighter than before. Getting up, the sword still through his chest, he gathered his strength in his sword and unleashed a slash with all his strength. The blue slash of energy was mixed with traces of red, ploughing through everything in its way it moved towards the fort. It colliding with the wall, destroying it, moving on to destroy the fort itself right after.
Kesshō was, again, too slow to act as the king appeared behind Kurai and impaled him with another sword. This time, the blue lines didn’t glow brighter, instead, they started to fade as Kurai crumpled to the ground. Kesshō also fell to the ground, her legs not able to support as the moment overwhelmed her, tears rolling down her eyes and falling to the bloodstained snow.
“As I had said when this battle begun, futile.” The king scoffed, kicking Kurai’s corpse to the side.
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“Seems like things went the way they were supposed to," Lyranse sighed. “Your sacrifice will not be in vain, O great warrior, the seed that you sowed in this life is going to give you, and many others, fruits of success in many more lives to come.”
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“It is time to return, my queen,” The king smiled.
Kesshō clutched her katana's handle, her hands trembling as she got up on unsteady feet. Her pupils were thinking slits, her entire focus on her sole target, one she wanted to kill no matter what. She pointed her katana at him, the bloodthirst clearly visible as she breathed heavily through her mouth, saliva dripping from the corners. Claws sprung up from the back of her palms, digging into the katana's handle, along with her wings from her back. She snarled at the king, causing him to instinctively take a step back, retreating from what stood in front of him.
Kesshō lunged at the king at blinding speed, barely giving him time to react. His hand went straight to his tie, disappeared from his place right after. Reappearing beside her he kicked her in the side, sending her tumbling on the ground. Digging her claws in the snow she stopped herself, getting back to her feet, her feet shaking as she pushed herself up with her tails.
Her eyes focus where she needed to attack, the only thing to figure out now remained how. She charged at the king again in the same manner, leading to the same result. She kept attacking in the same way, receiving the same result every time, getting back up faster each time.
The king scoffed at her foolishness, realising she simply repeated the same thing, no thought process behind the attacks. She lunged at him again, he appeared to the side again and kicked her, however this time he missed. Using her wings she dodged the kick, wrapping her tails around both his hands she pulled him closer, kicking him in the chest and knocking him to the ground.
She quickly overpowered him with her tails, binding his legs and hands and pinning them to the ground, and sat on his chest, staring right into his eyes, allowing some of her venom to mix with her saliva and drip onto him. He writhed on the ground like a worm, trying to get out of her grip, but failing miserably. She flexed her claws before using them to inflict a five lined slash on his chest and revealing a chained pocket watch underneath his tie. He screamed in agony as blood stained his golden attire. The pocket watch bounced near his mouth from the slash, and holding onto his last hope, the king turned his head in an attempt to press the button with his mouth.
Kesshō punched his face with her right hand several times before he stopped trying, the pocket watch barely out of his reach. Lifting the pocket watch, she crushed it between her claws. Her claws sliced through it nearly effortlessly, dropping the broken remains onto the king. He watched in horror as the pieces clattered to the ground from his chest, and Kesshō flexed her claws to inflict some actual damage now.
He noticed the soldiers returning from the corner of his eye and screamed at the top of his lungs, at first to get their attention, then due to the pain as Kesshō claws dug deep into his stomach. She clawed at him viciously, not willing to leave even his corpse recognizable by any. The soldiers rushed to their king’s aid, but watched helplessly as their king's stomach was sliced open and his guts spilled.
Those who attempted to get closer and rescue him were impaled by Kesshō’s tails, some others still succeeding in stabbing her with their spears a couple times, though she still didn’t let go of the king. By the time she stopped clawing the only thing left was a dismembered and broken skeleton, covered in blood with pieces of flesh stuck here and there. The entire area around her was covered in the king’s blood and his flesh, scattered around along with many of his bones.
The soldiers looked around in horror at the sight before it turned to terror as Kesshō flexed her claws and fangs, hissing at the soldiers. They all stepped back as she got back on her feet, the nearest one turning and running away, only to get wrapped by her tails and tripped, before being pounced on and clawed to death by Kesshō. She continued her carnage, killing every soldier with her claws, not wasting much time dismembering them, but still making sure anyone who saw these corpses would have nightmares for months.
By the time Kesshō was done with her carnage it turned nighttime. Everyone was dead as far as the eye could see, blood and dead bodies scattered across the mountain, all the way till near the top and some distance away from the bottom. In her scouting to make sure no enemies were left alive Kesshō had discovered the corpses of Mei, Yuki, Sora, and Hori, all stabbed through the heart. Half the fort was frozen in ice and from the looks of it, Yuki was the one that lasted the longest and killed the most out of the four.
Kesshō returned outside, to Kurai’s corpse. She sat beside it, wondering what to do. Not knowing what she should do, not having anyone to turn to as Lyranse wasn’t here, she did the only thing which she thought would be good for her, one she has wondered if she should do for a long time.
In this life, there were very few Kesshō cared about, and those that cared about her as well. And out of them, Kurai was the one that cared the most, and the one she cared about the most. With him dead, she decided there was nothing left for her to do in this life, she has already been through much, and if life is meant to be this sort of an occurence, she preferred to not have one.
Lifting her katana she breath some fire onto it, heating it till it came close to melting, stabbing herself through the heart with it, a loud crack echoing through the silent mountainside. Her scales were tough, but her heart was fragile, and it was already broken enough for a stab to finish it. She slowly died, bleeding out, wondering if everyone she killed felt the same way. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to drift to an eternal sleep, not wishing to wake up again.