Thanos slipped out of the hidden sentry position under the cover of darkness whilst leaving a clone of himself behind. He took a winding path down a steep rocky decline, jumping onto a nearby tree once he was halfway down.
He had already used his Many Forms Mirage to conjure a set of suitable gear that better hid him during the night. Slowly, he made his way through the dense trees, making sure to take his time so as not to alert the young noble.
Distant noise carried from Mysthaven as the rhythmic chanting of the ancestral worship ceremony caused the hairs on his arms to rise slightly. He enjoyed the festivities and hated that he would mar the evening by spilling blood, but his ancestors wouldn't mind. He knew they would understand.
As he moved in closer to the sentry position hidden in amongst the greenery of the forest, a new noise drifted over, giving him pause as he tried to work out what it was.
That can't be what I think it is, can it?
Moving faster now, using the activities ahead as cover, he landed on a branch overlooking the covered guard point and icily started at the complication inside.
"Oh... Mmmm."
A sensual feminine moan floated up to his ears as he stared at Tantalus and Rhea mid-coitus. The noble vigorously thrust from behind as the young woman faced out into the night. If she wasn't so lost in pleasure, she might have seen him up there hidden amongst the trees, but he doubted it.
Now what?
Finding them both here slapping flesh together was the perfect occurrence. The part of Thanos that hungered for revenge screamed at him to drop down and open them up even more than they already were, but he couldn't help but hesitate.
Tantalus had sent people to kill him, and returning the favour was never in doubt for even a second in his mind. The main complication was Rhea. He had still not decided what he wanted to do to the girl, or instead, he had but was held back from going through with it.
She was someone he had grown up around, watched her as a goofy little girl and spent time being looked after by her mother. Could he kill the kind woman's only child?
On the face of it, Rhea had sneak attacked him and left him for dead. She might not have wielded the blade that harmed him, but she may well have twisted the knife after the fact.
What do I do?
He could wait, let them have their moment and then strike when the girl leaves as he doubted she would spend the night out here. Even though he was staring at the lovers, he didn't see them as an internal battle rattled his mind. Before a victor could be decided in his mind, a booming male voice rolled across the land, stopping his thoughts and the entwined lovers mid-hump.
"Wu Zetian, come out. I know you're here. I can feel the stench of that creature nearby."
The angry voice hurt his ears, and he felt it had come from somewhere near the village. Not caring if he was spotted, he dashed the few hundred metres back to his overwatch location, jumping up the steep incline from one rock to the next, arriving at the top in record time.
Looking out towards the well-lit village in the distance, a tall figure of a man hovered in the air. The intruder was wearing an ornate golden robe inlaid with silver designs.
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to see the distant shape, but eventually, the angry face of a plain-looking man with east asian features and short black hair came into focus.
"Wu Zetian, come out, or I, Fang Ming, will flatten this village and force you out." The man called Fang Ming yelled, his piercing voice bouncing off the surrounding mountains.
The name Wu Zetian stood out to him, and he tried to work out where he had heard it before. It took his mind an agonisingly long couple of moments before he recalled.
The class one bounty, Wu Zetian, the Nightmare Witch!
Not good, why would she be here?
As he decided what to do, a harsh feminine voice wafted up in reply.
"Fang Ming, you old dog. Why wouldn't I come out now that I have you alone?" Wu Zetian called back.
The purple form that rose into the air caused his eyes to open wide and his mouth to hang open. He watched dumbfounded as the frail old woman who had been the village herbalist floated in the air across from Fang Ming.
The weathered face and cracked skin morphed into a young, dark-haired beauty with pink pouty lips as a small skeletal bird spread its bony wings on her shoulder. She was also of east asian origin, and this made Thanos wonder about what other cultures from ancient Earth had spread here.
"To think I was the one who found you, the heavens are smiling down on me," Fang Ming stated as his mad glee echoed off the nearby landscape, a cruel smile warping his face.
"You killed my only grandson. For that, I'm going to grind your bones into dust." Fang Ming crazily laughed as a sizeable white spear appeared in his hand.
"That little monster deserved his death after what he did to my niece. Little Fe-Fe was worth a dozen of that man." Wu Zetian screamed in rage, a short butterfly sword appearing in hand.
"It was her blessing to lay with a man of the Fang clan." Fang Ming Sneered and levelled the spear at the woman.
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"Such a blessing that she took her own life because of the disgrace your family put her through. Today, I will honour her by killing you in her name." Wu Zetian angrily called out.
Thanos could feel the air in the surroundings become supercharged. It was as if static electricity built around him, causing the hairs across his body to stand on end. A feeling of intense dread gripped his heart, and he knew this must be the legendary feeling of someone's killing intent.
The rising apprehension was drowned out by his worry about how his family and fellow villagers were faring under that feeling of slaughter. Looking down, he saw distant figures lining the walls and rooftops as they, too, stared up into the air with worried faces.
He couldn't spot his family anywhere and debated what to do when the two experts hovering in the air attacked.
The initial exchange was seismic, and he felt the rocky ground under him vibrate as the two met in the air over the village. A concussive force spread out, nearly knocking him off his feet.
He looked down at the village, worry carving his face and saw a couple of buildings collapse because of the tremendous attack, and the worry in his heart grew.
Looking up, he saw the pair above locked in their initial exchange, weapons locked together before Wu Zetian dashed backwards, sending out an arc of dark wind at the jeering man across from her.
Fang Mings's spear spun before him like a helicopter blade as a chilly blast of air met the attack, causing another earth-shaking explosion.
This time, Thanos was knocked to his feet as he tried to watch the ongoing battle in the air but failed to track either of the two fighters.
The combatants flickered around in the sky faster than his eye could see, the constant stream of bone-rattling explosions ringing his ears. He was relieved to see the duo moving away from air space above the village, only to panic when they suddenly veered in his direction.
Diving for cover in the dug-in overwatch position, he hunkered down as a hurricane of power blew overhead. The stone fortification he was in felt like it would shake apart for an instant before the fighters moved further away.
Jumping back out, he found the pair locked in combat in the distance. They were easy to spot as trees below them were blown over, and a nearby cliff face collapsed as they passed by.
Glancing at the village, he saw many of the houses had collapsed, but their farmhouse still stood, looking a little worse for wear. His fellow villagers swarmed around in the distance, and he could feel the panic from where he was.
It was apparent there would be injuries and a lot of structural damage to repair, but he didn't think it was catastrophic for Mysthaven. The village would survive as it hadn't been a target. He quickly searched for his family but couldn't find them.
The battling duo who had moved into the distance started to work back slightly, but it wasn't on a direct course for him or the village, so he turned to watch the fight. He hoped for enlightenment or a world-shaking epiphany to jump at him from watching the exchange, but nothing did.
Using his essence vision, he tried to get a better sense of the pair's cultivation and essence affinities but ultimately failed at the former. The cultivation of Wu Zetian and Fang Ming was a complete blank to him, and he couldn't sense much through the maelstrom of swirling essence left in their wake.
The essence, on the other hand, was a different story. The sheer amount of it leaking into the surroundings made it easy to pick out. From as best as Thanos could gather, Wu Zetian was a wind and death essence cultivator, whilst Fang Ming used a type of essence he hadn't encountered before.
Focusing on that essence reminded him of a bad snowstorm a year ago, so he called this snow essence. It appeared to have much in common with water essence and how it changes when colder, similar to ice but slightly different.
"You hag, accept your death."
Fang Ming roared as he stopped above a distant snowy mountain peak.
Thanos watched in awe as the snow from that peak rose into the air behind Fang Ming, turning into a series of enormous spears similar to the one held by the man.
Wu Zetian waved her hand as the attack in the distance formed, sending out a series of large bones that came together in a mass of swirling white wind.
Thanos watched as the bones formed into a giant shape of a large shield the size of a small hill in front of the female cultivator. The bird staying close by her side dove into the white bone shield, and he watched as that familiar eerie green glow suffused the shield, causing it to shimmer the same colour.
"Die!" Fang Ming roared and stabbed forward with his spear, sending the gigantic ice spears hurtling through the air at the women.
Thanos watched in awe at the sight of spears the size of small mountains crashing into the shield, the sound ringing like a struck bell that shook his very existence.
Fighting to keep from blowing away at the tremendous winds that blew past him, he watched as the woman and shield crashed into a distant mountain, splitting it in half and causing it to collapse.
Shattered spears that had struck the shield were launched through the air, and he watched in horror as a large piece dropped towards him, causing him to dive back into the defensive position for cover.
It landed nearby with a crash, and after several breaths, he slid back outside to gulp at the sight before him. A large section of broken ice similar in size to a tall tree from this world was sticking into the ground less than a dozen metres away.
He glanced over his shoulder at Mysthaven and sighed with relief that none had struck the valley as a loud noise drew his attention back to the fight.
The mountain Wu Zetian had crashed into had erupted like a furious volcano as house-sized rocks shot off in all directions. Luckily, none even came close to him or the village this time.
Rising from that ruined mountain was a gargantuan monstrosity of bone and blazing green energy as the creature spread giant bony wings. The scene looked like the birth of an undead phoenix as it let out an angry roar.
Flapping its wings, the grotesque bird took to the sky, and Thanos spotted Wu Zetian standing on its back, her sword held ready. Fang Ming was still above the mountain he had stripped of snow, spear pointing at the woman as if in a challenge. With a feral roar, the undead creature answered as it shot forward to meet the man.
Another round of super fast exchanges occurred in the distance, and he watched as the man ripped snow off the various peaks he passed, keeping them as giant snowy orbs that circled defensively around him.
These giant balls of white would occasionally smash into the creature of bone, knocking it away as the pair of cultivators traded blows. Thanos watched as they fought through the air in a circular motion, vanishing into the extreme distance before heading back this way.
Oh no.
Panic gripped him as the conflict looped around and was on a direct course for the village. Arriving near the village, Wu Zetian placed her palm against the undead creature beneath her, and Thanos watched as the green glow turned black.
The undead creature let out a deafening roar as dark wind blasted up into the air above it, heading towards Fang Ming.
The man pulled up further into the air as the five rotating snowy globes surrounding him combined, moving between the man and the dark wave sent his way. Using his spear, he slammed down on the solid white orb, sending it directly at the incoming attack.
Thanos watched intently, heart pounding as sweat trickled down his back. Much to his relief, the mighty clash didn't happen as that dark wind ate away at the orb, slowing its descent as it did. Thankfully, it wasn't on a course to impact the village directly.
After a short stalemate, the descending ball that had ground to a halt in the air slowly picked up speed as the dark wind fizzled out.
"You always did care about others too much." Fang Mings's icy cold voice echoed across the area.
Thanos watched as the man flicked to the side in the air, as if teleporting, before throwing his white spear like a javelin, looking like some kind of frost god.
The thrown weapon tore through the air and hit the giant ball, knocking it on a direct collision course with Mysthaven.
Someone nearby screamed no as he watched in abject horror as the attack sped towards the only true home he had ever known. Just before it impacted, he saw a flash of green as the bony monstrosity attempted to intercept the attack.
He only realised the scream came from him after the attack impacted directly into the centre of the village, dropping him to his knees as he tore at his hair.
The blast wave caused by the massive ball of ice crashing into the valley toppled the nearby mountains, and he felt himself picked up and dragged through the air like a rag doll, screaming in anguish all the while.
A flying piece of debris hit him on the side of his head, and his vision, like the night that surrounded him, turned black.