Aster raised another wall, blocking the incoming set of knives being thrown at him, he could barely catch a glimpse of serene, she jumped and weaved through the rapidly expanding maze of earthen walls and pillars being made by him. A leather whip snapped onto his hand from a wall to his right, soon after one of the women appeared above him letting loose an arrow towards him, with a stomp of his foot a wall shot from the ground curving over his face to block the arrow, Aster yanked the whip towards him dropping the wall she was hiding behind, grabbing her by the neck as she flew towards him, slamming her into the ground, another arrow flew his way, grazing the top of his shoulder, Aster quickly pulled his hand over himself as if he were pulling a veil, a wall of earth quickly covering him.

“this is becoming annoying”, Aster said, “enough with the cowardly tactics serene, I only want the pillar, we, don’t have to fight”, the wall covering him soon crumbled revealing a rather large woman who wielded a Warhammer even bigger than Aster’s, caught by surprise aster jumped back, barely noticing the knives heading in his direction he swiped his hand backwards, summoning another wall to protect himself.

Serene knew she couldn’t stand still, that would be playing into Aster’s hand, he was strong, but she knew that she and the other women were faster than him and had the advantage of numbers. Once again she dashed off jumping from wall to wall, she had made her way around the wall Aster had just frantically summoned, ‘this was it she thought’, the were beginning to unnerve him, seeing another opening she hurled her knives at him once again, only to be met with the same result again, a wall,

“Serene stop being so stubborn, we don’t have to fight each other”, she heard his voice ring out, she had stopped behind another pillar, her next jump was quite the distance and she would be in his eyesight, but, that meant she would also have another opening at him, tensing her legs in preparation, she had also noticed three more girls getting ready to attack, they all nodded at each other, Serene sprang from behind the wall jumping into the air, her hand already mid swing at her target,

“your experience in fighting as a team makes you all predictable”, Aster said, releasing his fist that he had clutched, from the ground a barrage of pointed stone projectiles launched into the air, Serene’s eye’s widened, crossing her arms to her body she recalled all of her knives that she had thrown, each blade racing towards her, protecting her body from Aster’s attack. She landed behind another earthen wall protected from the worst of it, barely managing to escape with some scratches, her back rested against the wall, taking a deep breath she collected herself, wiping the drops she felt hit her forehead, her knives laid scattered around her on the ground many of them broken, some still whole.

‘great the rain should lower his visibility’, she thought, but the drops kept increasing until she felt a continuous pour fall onto her, when she opened her eyes she was met with the mangled corpse of another girl, chunks of her head missing, one of her eyes replaced with a stone projectile, her neck hanging onto her chest by mere strings,

“would you give up Levant, how about Polaris, maybe even Barak, huh, what about the little dhampir bitch at home, would you sell out any of them Aster ?”, Serene said, stepping out from behind the wall, her eyes locking with Aster’s, as he stared back in silence.

“I thought so”, Serene said wiping the blood from her face, Holding out both of her hands she summoned two of her knives from the ground. Aster looked on at her, her expression had changed, her will had hardened it, impressed he let out a small smile, with his hand outstretched and a flick of his wrist, all of the earthen walls receded back into the ground, revealing Kiara surrounded by the rest of her corps.

“hmph, you had all of that talk before, yet you still hide behind your subordinates, a cowardly tactic”, Aster said, dropping the head of his war hammer on the ground, “you’re their leader, you should be at the front fighting, instead you send them marching off to their deaths alone”,

“I was not hiding, I simply granted them their wish, they wanted the glory of taking your head themselves, all I did was oblige”, Kiara said, stepping from behind the grop of women, sword in hand.

“excuses, a leader does what is best for everyone even if they all don’t agree, what you did was send women who believed in you to their deaths simply to gage my strength”, Aster said, in between Serene and himself laid the body of the girl who attacked him with the hammer, her body riddled with holes, stepping forward aster picked up her hammer, his divine energy manifested as a green flowing state of aura, consuming the hammer in its entirety before disappearing, aster however had no time to pay it any mind.

“shall I kill you with the weapon of one who you sacrificed”, Aster said, smirking as he took another step forward, Kiara dashed forward, jumping in front of serene, blocking her face with her sword, seconds before a whip of sand connected with it,

“finally feel like fighting”, Aster said,

“no no no”, Kiara replied shaking her head, “I’m not going to fight you I’m going to kill you”, Kiara continued, dashing towards Aster,

“fine by me”, Aster said, dashing from where he stood, dropping the hammer he had in his hand and summoning his own. The two weapons bashed against each other, Kiara swung down with her blade aiming for Aster’s neck, only for it to be blocked by his hammer, with one great swing Aster pushed her back, his body had began to swell with power, he could feel his grip on his senses slipping.

Kiara had been flung backwards, sending her sword into the ground she landed on her feet coming to a halt, “I’ve always hated that fucking technique”, kiara said, yanking on her chain to pull her sword back to her, Serene landed next her,

“Kiara we should be careful, I’ve never seen him like this”, Serene said,

“weren’t you the one who told me that he was trained to kill”, Kiara said,

“I know I said that but he was always reserved when it came to killing, he would usually capture or incapacitate rather than just kill from the get go, but since his skin turned that silver tone, he’s ruthlessly taken out anyone who has attacked him”, Serene said,

“trying to come up with a plan, its too late for that now”, Aster said looking at the two women talking,

“shut it you walking boulder”, Kiara shouted,

“why are you so judge mental ?”, Aster asked, lifting his Hammer in the air and swinging down with as much force as he could muster, sending a ripple effect outwards, Large spikes of earth sprang out from the ground, impaling a few of the girls and injuring several others,

Kiara, gracefully landed on top of one of the spikes with serene in her arms, “I’m not judge mental, in my eyes there are but a few people in this world who stand up to or surpass, master Aluric”, she commented, placing serene down gently out of her arms,

“but you, I see as nothing but pathetic”, Kiara exclaimed,

“the day after that little incident in the capital, I had serene tell me all about you and your little group, I laughed when she told me how shaken up you were when she attacked you with her boytoy, but what made me come after you was when she began to tell me how quickly you moved on after she left, she came back to her home only to find that you had replaced her already, if it’s one thing I hate is a man who is so ready and willing to abandon a girl who he claimed he was in love with”, Kiara said,

Aster Looked up at Kiara, she wore a smug smile on her face, she knew she had struck a nerve in him, he was angry, he clenched his jaw tight, squeezing the handle of his hammer, his hands shook with rage, Lunging forward, he struck down where Kiara stood, striking the top of stone spike and reducing it to rubble.

“ohh did I strike a nerve again”, kiara taunted, throwing her Sword and chain at Aster, the sword piercing his grey flesh, in the back of his shoulder, Aster grit his teeth as the pain seared through his body, he jerked his shoulder forward causing the blade to pull away, Across the battlefield lightning arced through the air, soon after a shockwave could be felt.

Aster spun around tossing his Warhammer at Kiara, catching her by surprise she tried to evade the attack, the hammer slammed into her arm knocking her to the ground. This spurred the remainder of Kiara’s troops back into action, Aster smiled at this he felt the power of the unholy wrath spike once again, refusing to recall his weapon Aster charged fists first into the fray, landing a series of punches and kicks tohis enemies, dispatching a number of them quickly, one of them swung at him with dual swords, he caught her by her twisting it so that she dropped one of her swords, which he caught, piercing her chest with her own weapon she fell to the ground her hand going limp as he held onto it.

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Kiara looked on in horror as Aster dismantled the women she had trained one by one in a matter of minutes, He now walked towards her and serene dragging the last one, she was still breathing, but one her legs was brutally mutilated, one of her arm were broken to the point that the bone broke the skin, she like most of the others who weren’t dead wouldn’t be able to fight seemingly ever again. the only two that stood against him now were serene and kiara,

“mistress, its only the two of us left, what should we do ?”, serene asked, helping kiara to her feet,

“how about we put an end to this fight”, Aster said as he walked towards them, Dropping the limp arm of the unconscious girl,

“like hell”, serene screamed, as she flung her knives At Aster, she dashed towards him punching and kicking in his direction, but to no avail was she able to hit him as he dodged all of her attacks, and as she threw another punch Aster caught it,

“I don’t want to fight you, just tell me why you decided to follow a bunch of mass murderers”, Aster asked,

“Mass murderers, Ast take a look around you, they are at war, for the gods sake, you just tore through all of them like they were insects you were swatting, I’ve seen you, worked with you, you march on the orders of your clan, you only serve their interests, I ran because I was scared, scared of what you had become scared that one day I would become one of your victims”, Serene said, the fight leaving her arms as she no longer struggled to get away from Aster,

“I guess my fears were right”, Serene said,

“You’re wrong, I never wanted to hurt you I asked you time and time again to stand down, let me fight her, and only her, but you insisted on fighting, as for this war, this is something that her guild master and the prince started, I’ve heard the stories and have seen their victims, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children, they’ve killed them all, and in the name of what, for the sake of what, greed, power, conquest, I won’t deny that I have a lot of blood on my hands, and a lot of it I regret, but I nothing compared to the blood soaked monsters you work for”, Aster said, letting go of Serene’s hand,

“but even after all that you’ve done, I still want you to come back ho….”, Aster stopped, he felt a burning sensation int the pit of his stomach, blood ran from his mouth, looking down he saw the golden edge of Kiara’s sword pointing out from stomach,

“enough with that mushy shit”, kiara said, pushing on the sword, causing the sword to slowly push deeper into Aster’s body,

“you know nothing of Master Aluric’s plans or motivations, and even if he had none he wouldn’t need any, the weak follow the strong or they die, and right now we are simply stronger than them, stronger than you”, Kiara said, Aster could feel the energy leave his body, as his skin slowly went back to it’s normal state, he could see the golden glow of his divine energy slowly start to fade away,

“fun fact about these chains of mine, they slowly drain the divine energy of anything they come into contact with and adds that energy to mine”, kiara said, as she pulled the blade from Aster’s abdomen,

his eyes were stuck on serene, she was smirking, the look of accomplishment, spread across her face, “now that I’m seeing you like this I wonder why I was ever scared of you”, she commented,

as Aster heard these words, he had a sinking feeling in his stomach, thats when he realized, he realized that there was no coming back for serene she was fully committed to her cause,

“hahahahahahahahahahaha”, Aster began to laugh, his eyes wide with amusement,

“ has he lost it now that he knows he is going to die”, Kiara asked, scoffing at Aster,

“I get it now, I get it, there’s no saving you”, Aster said, as he struggled to his feet,

“and since there is no saving you there’s only one thing to do”, he said, sticking out his hand in serene’s direction,

“what are you”, she stopped as a sudden force propelled her in Aster’s direction, landing her neck in Aster’s hand, she struggled to look at him, and what she saw truly terrified her, the look of true unadulterated rage was on his face, he reached behind her taking his hammer from where he reached, He slammed her into the ground, blood spurting out of her mouth as she made contact, he lifted her up again, then back into the ground, she felt a hot sensation wash over her, as one half of her vision, darkened into a red hue, Aster looked at serene, half of her face covered in blood, her hands tightly squeezed around his hand that held her by the neck, she wheezed on the ground, taking deep breaths trying to muster the strength to say words,

“don’t bother trying to say anything, you’re finished, so stay put”, Aster said, letting go his hand from her body, he slowly walked forward, facing down kiara, he slammed the bottom of war hammer into the ground, the orbs on the top of the hammer began to glow with intensity, as the top of the hammer morphed into a clear crystal like material, the each face of the hammer grew jagged sharp edges,

“lets finish this”, aster said, dashing forward towards Kiara, Kiara gripped her sword with both hands doing the same, as they ,met in the middle, metal clashing against each other, this time kiara taking the first strike, attacking aster with a knee to the gaping wound on his stomach, Aster winced in pain, as one of his knees buckled slightly, he used this to his advantage dropping on that knee, pushing kiara over his head and onto the other side of him, he spun turning around and using that momentum, he held his hammer by the end letting it out at its full length, landing an attack on kiara, knocking her through some nearby spikes, as dust flared up, but before the dust could settle kiara launched her sword and chain at Aster catching him off guard, the sword flew pass his face cutting him above his eye,

Aster reacting quickly, caught the chain, before she could pull it back yanking it, pulling her towards him, he grabbed a hold of his hammer with both of his hands swinging it at her with his full might, Kiara helpless to do anything raised both of her hands to block the incoming strike if even a little, as Aster Struck, blood flew through the air, kiara’s limp body spinning it the air,

as she landed with a loud ‘THUD’, Aster dropped to one knee, blood streaming down his abdomen, he could feel his breathing getting heavier and heavier, he turned around to face his downed opponent, but to his disappointment, kiara was already struggling back to her feet, with her sword in hand, blood pouring down her face, bruises strewn about her arms, she lunged forward at Aster once more, her arms raised as she struck downwards towards her opponent, Aster thew up his hammer in retaliation, blocking the blow from her, but he was surprised, the strike had enough force behind it to push him onto one knee, he saw her grit her teeth, as she began to apply even more pressure to her sword, and once again he could feel his divine energy being slowly pulled towards her, Aster clenched his teeth together and tightened his grip on his hammer, slowly he began to resist the pressure she was exerting over him, as he struggled back to his feet, putting the weight of his body behind him he pushed her off of him once more,

he swung his hammer downwards at her, causing kiara to evade the attack, but Aster used that momentum as he did before, changing his trajectory, he spun his body, striking kiara in her side with the jagged edges of his hammer, however this time kiara held onto the hammer, dropping her sword and locking her hands onto it and in a quick movement tugged the hammer out of Aster’s hands, sending the bloodied hammer elsewhere, jumping towards him afterwards punching him in his face but aster recovered quickly from the shock, responding with a punch of his own, sending her flying into the air, using his powers he used the earth to launch himself into the sky, as he stuck out his arm calling for his hammer, as the hammer quickly came he grabbed it in one hand and kiara in the next,

swing his hammer at kiara, she raised her hands once more to block the incoming blow this time covering one arm in her chains, but that wasn’t enough as the blow sent her rocketing towards, the ground, a thunderous sound was heard as she collided with the earth, as the dust settled kiara coughed up blood, her body numb from the onslaught of attacks, Aster landed back on the ground, he made his way over to her,

“before I end it, tell me, why, why did you create this corps of yours ?”, Aster asked,

cough,cough,“shit”, kiara said, as she coughed up even more blood, her vision going in and out of blurriness, she could tell that she reached her limits, she knew she had little fight left in her, she looked at Aster, blood streaming down his stomach, bruises all over his body, blood running down his face, and mouth,

“fine, I’ll answer, you’re desperate, that look suits a pathetic man like yourself, I created them because I missed my home, I come from a place where the women are the warriors, the protectors, the rulers, so I created my unit and trained them to be such, not that it matters now”, Kiara said

“that’s all I’m telling you now get it over with, at least I didn’t go out without a fight”, she finished,

“is that it, your final answer is, that it wasn't your idea to begin with, well die as you lived, following in the footsteps of others”, aster said, as sharp crystal tipped spikes grew around her, and Aster raised his hammer, she could tell he was aiming for her head, as he swung down,

SCHLIK, SCHLIK,SCHLIK, three knives flew out of nowhere, two hit aster in his arm and one buried itself into his side, Aster couldn't perceive them, as the blood from the cut over his eye had trickled down blocking his vision,

he lowered his hand, turning to see who had attacked, him, and there she stood, serene, struggling to stay on her feet,

“there I finally hit you”, she said, dropping down her knees,

“splendid, miss serene, just wonderful”, an unfamiliar voice rang out, and seemingly out of nowhere a man in a purple mask, with a cross covering one eye appeared out of thin air, behind serene,

“don’t be surprised”, he said, appearing next to Aster, kicking aster into the spikes that were meant for kiara, as the spikes dug into Aster’s back, the masked man appeared over him,

“now you just stay there”, he said, disappearing again, this time reappearing next to kiara,

“mistress kiara, I’ve been explicitly told by the orders of the prince of Dracht himself that none of the pillars are to die here today”, he said, throwing her over his shoulder, he disappeared once more, this time reappearing where he first appeared, next to serene, he placed his hand on serene’s shoulder,

“let us take our leave miss serene”, he said, as the three of them disappeared,