The setting sun was covered by clouds, casting the land in darkness. The clouds occasionally lit up as thunder rumbled within. Drop by drop, rain started falling to the Earth, before becoming a torrential storm.
Inside the Beast Woods, three figures dressed in robes were sheltered from the rain by a cabin. They sat inside on a sofa, next to a fireplace, with two of them looking at the central figure intently. The eyes of the third figure were pitch black, making him look like a devil.
For a quiet minute, the only thing that could be heard were the crackling of the fire, and the rain pouring on the ground outside.
A minute passed, and the central figure closed his eyes. When he opened them, it was normal again.
“The plan has finally succeeded. Everything has been set in motion,” he spoke quietly.
He got up from the sofa and walked to the front door, the two figures following him obediently.
The man lifted himself into the air using some strange wind spirit, and the two figures were also floating behind him. They floated slowly above the woods.
It was dark, making it difficult to see anything. However, lightning occasionally struck, lighting up various parts of the forest. One particular lightning was extremely big and lit up the section of the forest before the trio.
The sight before them was terrifying.
Uncountable numbers of demons and onis filled the ground like blades of grass. There were even thousands and thousands of warrior class demons and onis.
“It is time to make our move…” the leader of the dark mages whispered.
He raised his hand, and the army of demons moved.
Their direction – the three villages!
…
In a location not too far from the cabin, two figures watched the army quietly from atop a tree.
One was dressed in grand purple robes with white, fractal patterns spread throughout, and the other in a plain, white breastplate. The first had eyes of concentric black and purple circles, whilst the second had black eyes with white streaks that formed the shape of a spider web.
The two stared at the demon army for a while. Then, the one dressed in purple robes looked up at the night sky and spoke quietly.
“It is going to be a stormy night.”
…
“FATHER!” Drake cried, running to him.
How was this possible? Astoria told him that Hazezel had just knocked him out, so how could he be here, with a sword stabbed into him?
Drake couldn’t believe his eyes and pulled the sword out. Blood gushed out of his wound.
This can’t be happening! Drake thought.
His father had cultivated the undying body, which could heal itself, so why wasn’t it working? However, even Drake knew that Holt couldn't heal from fatal wounds. But how could he have been fatally stabbed in the first place?
It didn’t make sense!
Drake put his finger under Holt’s nose but couldn’t detect any signs of breathing. He checked for a pulse but there wasn’t any either.
‘I… I don’t believe it!’ he gasped, falling to the floor.
Holt, his father, the village head, the strongest fighter in the village and one of the strongest fighters in the war, was dead!
Hearing Drake’s cries, several footsteps hurried towards him.
“What’s going on?” Hazezel yelled. He immediately spotted Drake, and then Holt. His face froze.
“Father!” he cried, frozen in spot. Drake looked at his brother who had a look of terror on his face.
“What… happened?” Drake asked weakly.
“I… have no idea!” Hazezel whispered.
The guards behind him were also horrified.
“You must know! You were the only one here, right?” asked Drake, standing up.
“What are you talking about?” Hazezel asked.
“I met Astoria on the way, and she told me everything that happened. You were the last person with father, so how could you not know what happened to him?” Drake asked again.
“Oh…” Hazezel responded.
He didn’t expect that Drake would have met Astoria, but his mind worked quickly.
“After knocking father out, I left the place myself. Once he woke up, I was going to tell him that maybe he was attacked by the dark mages or something, so he wouldn’t question me. So, I really don’t know what happened!”
Drake was dismayed.
If Hazezel wasn’t here, then who was? Who did this?
A million thoughts raced through his mind, but they were interrupted by Hazezel.
“What if… what if the dark mages actually did do this?” Hazezel whispered.
Drake was alarmed. Dark mages? Here? What would they be doing here? Weren’t they in the Beast Woods?
Actually, Hazezel’s story wasn’t adding up. Telling Holt that he was knocked out by dark mages to let Astoria escape was such a ridiculous idea. If they had the ability to sneak into the mansion and attack him without anyone noticing, wouldn’t they have directly killed him a long time ago? And why would they want to help Astoria? It was such a terrible excuse that Holt would see through it immediately, and so it was impossible that Hazezel would use such a stupid excuse.
If Drake was thinking clearly, he might have realised that. However, he was so shocked at seeing his father’s death that his brain wasn’t working properly.
Hence, he didn’t notice when Hazezel started walking towards him.
“Actually, I am certain that this was the work of dark mages,” Hazezel said confidently as he approached Drake even closer.
Drake also didn’t notice that Hazezel was holding something in his hands behind his back.
“How could you be so sure?” Drake asked.
“Because…” Hazezel replied, stepping even closer. His face was just inches from Drake’s and his figure cast a large shadow on the room. A single candle flame lit up his face so Drake could see his eyes.
They were pitch black!
“Because I am one of them!” Hazezel yelled.
Instantly, he brought out the mana restraining shackles he was hiding and bounded Drake with them.
Drake was stunned.
His father’s death, Hazezel’s confession, and now being unable to use mana. Hence, he didn’t even realise that Hazezel brought out a knife and stabbed him right in the stomach.
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Drake gasped in pain, his breath knocked out of his lungs. He looked down in disbelief to see a knife poking out of him. Without mana, the artifact robe he created was just an ordinary robe and couldn’t block Hazezel’s attack.
Hazezel looked at him with black eyes and an eerie smile.
Drake stumbled backwards, pain flooding through his body. His eyes became blurry, and his brain became fuzzy as he started losing blood. Unable to maintain balance, he collapsed on the floor and hit his head against the hard, concrete floor.
The last thing he saw, were pitch-black eyes, and a wide grin.
A few hours later, Drake awoke.
His vision was still blurry and his whole body was still aching with pain.
Slowly, he opened his eyes and tried to make out his surroundings. He was in a dark cell, hands and feet bound by mana restraining shackles. His stomach was bandaged, but his whole body hurt, and he couldn’t use his mana.
He felt weaker than ever.
“Welcome back!” spoke a cheery voice.
Drake turned his head slowly, his neck making a creaking noise like a badly oiled door.
Just outside his cell, sat the guy responsible for everything.
“HAZEZEL!” Drake yelled but started coughing again.
Why? Why did he do this? What was wrong with him? Everything was going fine, right? They were a happy family...
“So WWWWHHHHYYYYYY???” Drake screamed that last word and started coughing and panting for breath again.
“Calm down, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Hazezel said casually.
Drake gave him a death stare. He always loved his family, and he trusted them with all his heart. So why did Hazezel do this? Drake just couldn’t understand. He wanted to believe that there was a good reason for everything… but what could be a good reason for killing your own father?
Hazezel seemed to read his thoughts and spoke.
“My reason is very simple really, it’s because we can’t win.”
“What…?” Drake asked weakly.
“Think about it Drake,” Hazezel spoke. “There are two grand dark mages who themselves could hold off both father and Myra, the strongest fighters in the war. Even if the rest of us were to be able to hold off their unending demon army, they have a mage king! A MAGE KING!” he exclaimed the last phrase again as if to emphasise the fact.
“The mage king alone could easily kill father and Myra, along with the rest of the village elders, before decimating our armies. Even freaks like Ray and Elwin would stand no chance, let alone people like us. We cannot win against them!”
“But still!” Drake protested.
He had recovered some strength now.
“The fact that the mage king hadn’t attacked so far must mean something right. Maybe he has some injury and can’t fight properly, which is why they’re using the demons instead. Why else would they spend so much effort controlling and attacking us with the demons if they could wipe us out themselves?”
Unbeknownst to him, Drake had actually hit the mark with his guess. However, Hazezel just sighed.
“Maybe that’s true. But even if he couldn’t fight at full strength, a single one of his spells was enough to wipe out an army of hundreds. Father and Myra would have died too if they weren’t lucky enough to use the canyon to hide from most of the flames. He would at the least have strength far above that of a grand mage. And this is not even accounting for the commander class demon they control!”
Drake bit his lip.
“So, what’s your solution then? Kill our father? How is that going to solve our crisis at all?”
“Of course it won’t,” Hazezel replied, smiling wickedly. “It won’t solve our crisis, but it will solve mine.”
“I see…” Drake responded, understanding the situation.
Hazezel must have made a deal with the dark mages to kill Holt in exchange for letting him live.
“Despicable!” Drake spat. He couldn’t believe that Hazezel would betray his own father, his flesh and blood, to save his own skin.
Drake would rather die than live like that.
For a while, no one spoke. And then Drake asked another question.
“What about everyone else?”
Hazezel smiled.
“Well, I sent Ray away to make sure he wouldn’t interfere with anything,” he began.
Drake was speechless, and then realised that the demon tide attacking the elven village at the time when their forces were the most outstretched, was Hazezel’s perfect plan to send Ray away. Otherwise, if Ray was still present here now, he would have easily barged in to save Drake or maybe stopped Hazezel from killing Holt in the first place.
“Astoria will start her new life with Sam,” Hazezel turned to look at Drake. “And you can too.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t want to hurt you, Drake. As long as you agree to a few conditions, I can let you go to start a new life somewhere else.”
Drake ignored his proposal.
“What about Elwin?”
Hazezel hesitated, then sighed.
“I sent him on a mission… he won’t be coming back.”
“Bastard!” Drake screamed.
Drake stared at the floor, his blood boiling.
First Holt, and now his big brother. He had fought alongside Elwin and went through so much together. He thought of his emerald hair and his kind smile, his jokes, and his sense of duty and righteousness. He thought of all the time they spent together from when Drake was a baby. He thought of the time when Elwin went to get revenge for him against the minotaur as a child, even though he was weak then and must have been scared.
So many memories and emotions swarmed his brain, making Drake feel suffocated.
Was he really going to die? Was that the end for his brother? He couldn’t digest that information.
All those memories and emotions exploded erratically in his mind, before condensing into a singular thought and a singular emotion. He had never felt such a strong emotion before; neither in his previous life nor now.
But he knew what it was.
“I. Hate. You.”
Drake spoke those three words and became quiet.
Hazezel observed his brother.
“You can hate me all you want but that doesn’t change anything. It is the basic instinct of every creature to want to survive, so there’s nothing wrong in me doing what it takes to ensure my survival right? I wouldn’t want to hurt any of you if I could help it, but if it comes down to survival, I don’t have a choice.”
Hazezel didn’t sound like he was trying to justify his actions. He spoke in a condescending tone as if educating his silly little brother who didn’t understand the ways of the world.
At this moment, loud horns sounded from the village gate and the village fell into a panic.
Drake looked up, wondering what was going on.
“They’re here,” Hazezel spoke, looking out through a window.
Panicked screams spreading across the village travelled through the windows to echo across the prisons.
The demon army had begun their full assault.
Hazezel turned to look back at Drake.
“Even if I didn’t do anything, everyone would have died in this war anyway,” he spoke sternly.
“At least this way, a few of us will survive,” saying so, Hazezel continued with his sentence from earlier.
“My offer is simple; I will give you a pill that will destroy your mana core. Once you lose your powers as a mage, you are free to leave. I will arrange a carriage with money for you to take and start your life somewhere else. You should thank me for saving your life.”
Drake was completely quiet and ignored his brother.
“You don’t have a lot of time Drake, think carefully and let me know. I will return in a few hours.”
With those words, Hazezel turned and left the prison, leaving Drake alone to deal with his thoughts and emotions.
Meanwhile, in a spot near the central point between the villages and the Beast Woods, two groups stood facing each other.
The village scouts spotted the huge demon army approaching and sent the message back to the respective villages. In a panic, they talked to each other and realised that this was the dark mage’s final attack, which meant that they would personally show up.
The village leaders realised that the dark mages posed the greatest threat, hence, they decided to make a group composed of the strongest fighters of each village to engage the dark mages, while the soldiers held back the front lines and prevented the villages from being invaded.
Elwin who had gone out on another mission couldn’t join the fight, however, a strong group was put together nonetheless.
The ‘Hammer of Leon’ Bjorn who had cultivated the early-stage undying body, and the ‘Twin Blades of Leon’ George and Georgina Langston who had cultivated the perfect stage steel body, were sent from the Leon village.
From the elves’ side, Ray Dragmoor, along with two others of the strongest elves were sent. They were both slightly weaker than Ray, at the peak of the warrior mage realm and cultivated the middle-stage steel body.
Finally, from Jain village, one undying body martial artist elder, and a perfect steel body martial artist, were sent.
Apart from Elwin and a few other village elders, these eight were the strongest that their three villages had to offer. And even among the elders, only Byron and Myra were at the undying body or grand mage realm, with the rest being at the peak of the steel body realm at most.
They were now facing another group. Two figures dressed in black robes were at the front. To their right was someone who seemed to be half dead – the undead Jin Tong. To their left were two, pseudo-commander class demons – a demon elephant which was the size of a building, and a demon monkey, as tall as a tree, holding a large pole. Behind them stood the biggest monster of them all, the commander class demon, the armoured mountain bear.
The group of six were staring at the group of eight with menacing looks.
“So, you all have decided to die first,” one of the dark mages laughed evilly.
Ray spat with hatred but was uninterested in the conversation.
“Bjorn, please deal with that oversized bear, my elves will support you. Master George and Miss Georgina, take care of that dumb monkey and elephant,” Ray started giving out orders.
He then looked at the steel body martial artist from the Jain village and asked him to deal with Jin Tong.
Ray himself, and the other undying body martial artist, decided to take on the two dark grand mages.
No one protested.
Due to the mountain bear’s armour, it had strong defences and wouldn’t be easy to fight one-on-one even for an undying body martial artist. Hence, having the elves support Bjorn to bring it down as soon as possible would be for the best.
The pseudo commander class elephant, monkey, and Jin Tong were stronger than the perfect steel body martial artists fighting them, however, they should hopefully be able to at least stall them easily enough. Once one of the other battles finished, they could come to help the rest.
Reports also mentioned at least two pseudo-commander class demons being sent to each of the villages.
‘Combined with the demon army, they would be keeping Myra, Holt, and Byron busy,’ Ray thought with a sigh.
Even without the mage king showing up, they had their hands full. He didn’t know where the mage king was, but once he appeared, it would be game over for them.
Naturally, Ray wasn’t aware of Holt’s death, Elwin being sent on a suicide mission, and Drake being restrained. If he knew, he would realise how screwed they already were. The Jain village was basically defenceless now against the large number of warrior class and the several pseudo-commander class demons. Once it was wiped out, the army would quickly overwhelm the other two villages.
They were all but done for.
Unaware of this, Ray and the others stared at their enemies.
The armoured mountain bear roared, signalling the start of their battle.