*************************

Ceran 'Braveheart' Grimes

My soldiers and I fight valiantly, barricading ourselves amidst the dense, Onyx-stoned buildings of our city. I've lived here all my life, and I won't let this scum come and take it from me. No matter what. This is ours. Not theirs. I don't care what they want, what they feel, or who they fight for. This is my home.

Raising my Colt, I take quick aim, flowing Ether into my hands as I strike down two distant bandits before darting forward and cutting down another. Gunfire echoes through the narrow streets as we defend against the relentless onslaught of bandits and pirates attempting to plunder our home. Despite our efforts, some of the marauders prove formidable, claiming the lives of a few brave soldiers. I stay in the front, guiding the newer soldiers and those who have fought less than I. After all, I am a 6th Sigiled. If I am to cower, then who will stand up? Certainly not those Angels.

I glance right as Eugene is cut down, and I swiftly avenge him, blood flowing down my arms. Before I can even kneel to say goodbye to my dying friend, a chill weaves its way down my spine.

Looking left, I see the source. Amidst the chaos, a lone figure emerges on the street through the dust and debris, an ominous aura surrounding him. Nothing dares to approach the man without meeting an invisible force, be it people, Ether, or bullets—yet it seems more like disintegration than mere deflection. Squinting through the haze of battle, I discern that everything in his path is effortlessly cleaved in two by an unseen blade.

Yet... the man simply has two swinging sleeves. There are no arms attached to his torso.

Fear grips my heart as I recognize the man walking toward us. A primal terror settles in, for I know there's no escape from this human-shaped monster.

Lennon Hull. The only non-Angel the Estates could never buy out or threaten. Even the great Edmund Dudley retreated to the frontier to be left alone. Lennon simply ignored the threats or killed any that came for his hide. Not that he's so low anymore.

Desperation seizes me, and I scream at the top of my lungs, ordering a hasty retreat. Before I can fully process the impending danger, I catch a horrifying glimpse of my lower body rolling away, severed from the rest of me. My heart thumps powerfully, and I lash out with my blade, a final act of defiance, only to lose the feeling of my hand. Blood soaks my pupils as I crash to the ground, turning into many segments. The pain doesn't even register within my mind in time.

Darkness takes over my vision as all my men and family members, even if distant, embark on the same fate. I can only close my eyes and accept my death to the Bladeless Monster.

***************************

Jacky 'Wroughtsteel' Dewey

Standing resolute on the wall against my orders to retreat sent by my grandmother, I pick off bandits with precision, my shots finding their marks effortlessly. I won't let them take my city, my home. The Angles are too willing to let destruction come for a final victory. I don't want to lose any family or friends.

The chaos of war surrounds me as some soldiers die nearby, but my focus remains unwavering. They aren't Estatesman. After all, there is no point in caring for them. More frustrating, however, there are a few elusive foes, either too swift or shielded by Ether, that evade my gunfire.

Suddenly, a figure strides forward, an unsettling calm amid the turmoil. Anything in his vicinity is effortlessly cleaved in two, sending a shiver down my spine. As the realization hits me, I sputter out a single word.

"Dominion."

Panic grips me, and I immediately turn around to run. Memories of my grandmother Keely Dewey's tales flood my mind. The gravity of the impending threat bestows my mind with the agility to throw my Ether together in a Quilt of well-practiced skills.

Beneath my feet, the wall rumbles ominously, and fright sets in. The once-sturdy wall crumbles with a thunderous roar, a cascade of dark stones relinquishing their positions. A diagonal slice, as if a Godly hand had severed its foundation, leaves the wall in ruins, sliding away like a defeated giant.

In the blink of an eye, my instincts kick in. A desperate sprint backward, the air thick with dust and the echoes of destruction. The collapse unfolds in slow motion, an avalanche of stones and debris hurtling toward me. With every ounce of strength with my Ether bolstering my form to that of steel, I leap off the crumbling edge, the world tilting and disintegrating behind me.

Midair, time seems to stretch, the chaos frozen in a suspended dance of destruction. And then, the heart-stopping descent, the thud of landing against the ground on the inner side of the wall. The impact jolts through my bones, yet survival courses through my veins.

As I rise from the settling dust with adrenaline ignoring my weary bones, though, a towering figure approaches. He isn't that tall or that physically imposing, but it's his ambiance that halts any and all resistance. Lennon Hull strolls through a war as if he is going for a simple walk. A loose coat hangs over his shoulders, the arms flapping in the wind. If I didn't know any better, I'd guess his hands were in his pockets.

If it were any other man, I'd scoff and call bullshit. But here he is, effortlessly cleaving through the remains of the wall. Less than effortless. He walks, and the bricks split.

The authority of a Dominion is absolute.

I crawl backward, endeavoring to run away with all my might, but all I manage to do is what is equivalent to a baby's pace. The Bladeless Monster strides toward me, finally speaking a word.

"Pleasant to see you again, Jacky. The last time we met... it wasn't that enjoyable of an affair for me, was it? Yet... Isn't today so positively charming?"

************************

Keely 'Onyx Hand' Dewey

With a crashing wave of destruction and panic, I land beside my granddaughter as she stares at the man before her. Dirt and stone yield to my fist, and I stand to my full height, towering over the Bladeless Monster. For a man, he isn't all that tall. Though, I do recognize that my height is abnormal.

Lennon Hull's face shifts to meet mine, a thin smile on his lips. I can't help but feel a slight shiver run down my back as I force Onyx Body into motion. My whole frame holds the identical toughness as the durable rock around us, and I take advantage of that, pushing a dozen skills to propel me even further in stature that would kill me without my Dzil.

I can't believe this young upstart can put such fear in me. He's been an Angel for what? Six months? And he already has a Virtue and a Dominion?

Billy is a dumbass if he thinks the Graves of this generation is more important. This man...

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He's a second Vincent. There are no other precedents such as this. Not even the Primes before the old bastard had such a meteoric rise. None of them were beaten down as heavily, either. To be crippled beyond all metrics and...

And yet... Lennon Hull clawed his way back from the abyss without any fingers.

"Lennon Hull. I have an offer if you are willing to hear it, but at the very least, spare my granddaughter for me."

Jacky's eyes widen as she sputters out a thing of shock, but I wave my hand and close her mouth with a carefully placed thread of Ether. No skill, just manipulation to a high degree.

"Why are you off—"

Lennon's eyes narrow as I try to salvage my granddaughter's shortcomings.

"Don't mind her, Lennon. She doesn't know what is at stake here."

Still, the man doesn't reply. I take it as a positive note for now and deliver what my organization can offer.

"If you join those of us who have recently awoken to kill Eli and the other miscreants here, you can be upon the Covenant we make after. We all must work together to reach Godhood so that we can kill the one below. Without total cooperation, however, we are doomed. And... Eli has been secretly killing my family and those of the other Estates to keep us down. We do not want him here any longer as he only grows more tyrannical."

I finish my offer with a relieved sigh, happy that I got it off at all based on how Lennon is said to be. I've been Slumbering for decades, so I could only catch up on so much. When I was last seen 'alive,' this young man hadn't even been born yet.

And so, I wait with bated breath for an answer.

Lennon Hull's bottomless pupils swerve from me to Jacky, then onto the city behind me, Primary. The movements are slow, gradual, and calm. The least talented Angel ever holds, perhaps, the greatest strength a Power ever has.

He is more mighty than me, that's for sure, but that doesn't mean I can't kill him if I must. I know many tricks and skills, but he only has his Dominion and Dzil-turned-Power. Adding on his missing arms, there are weaknesses to exploit. Had he still been able to wield a blade, though...

Even Eli or Ed couldn't have stopped him. Marshall, too. Damn... Still can't believe that tough bastard kicked the bucket. I wish he had accepted my marriage proposal back in the day.

My thoughts swerve only for a moment as seconds turn into nearly a full, suspenseful minute as I stare at him. Fires burn around the wall from his devastation, and gunfire only grows more consequential, but I let all that pass me by. This is far more vital to the birth of the God-seeking Covenant.

Still, Lennon Hull only returns my stare. Coldness runs up my legs, into my spine, then into the base of my skull as I see how his eyes change. Then, with finality, he speaks with such a tone that I know I won't be able to save my daughter's daughter.

With every word, he ends up a bit closer to us despite not taking a single step that I can witness as I'm so bogged down by his presence that only continues to surmount.

"Were it not for the Deweys, Edmund could have trained many more students far away from war. You all have gotten countless of my friends killed. Your family and those you ally yourself with are a plague onto these lands."

******************************

Lennon 'Bladeless Monster' Hull

"But I will not kill you all for those reasons. I will kill you not for revenge or righteousness despite how this world so badly needs a reset. I will kill you all because I can, just as you did to those you could before."

I plunder a step toward Keely, a legend long thought dead, as she backsteps, dragging her granddaughter with her. The wrinkles on the Onyx Hand's face are less than I would expect for someone nearly ninety. She sputters out a quick defense, and I retaliate with a single sentence before she falls silent.

"I thought you were a kind man, Lennon? What happened to all those you have saved? Many more will live if you side with us."

"I am not a good man, and I will never claim to be one."

The rumors of the Slumbering must have been true. These figures are wise and deceitful. Too bad for them I am all out of patience. I have held my steel for too long, letting them push me around. I yearn for blood. And so does my dear long-gone Dia.

"I will kill and dismember each and every one of your God-awful families. I will free the Shaws from the binds you have placed on them as you hunted them down to a single man. I will find whatever sick things you have done to the people of these lands and eradicate it. I will do it without remorse or hesitation. And you? I will pry you limb from limb without even considering your offer. No kings or lords will ever reign within humanity ever again, even if their tendrils come from the shadows. The only title a man should have is upon their obituary."

I stride more and more at Keely with the purpose of cementing my resolve into the world at large. And with each word, the Ether inside my body grows more ambitious. Monster beats with a life of its own, parts of my body gaining strength and agility unnatural even to me. It is an odd feeling, a new one, a welcomed one, and I relish the sensation.

Keely tosses Jacky behind her and screams with a howling fit of horror. Then, she charges toward me with reddened eyes.

"Run, Jacky! NOW! Lennon! Hull! You will do no such thing. You will die here without making it another foot into my home! This has been rigged from the start, Lennon. You will never succeed in your goals, neither will Eli."

A smile falls onto my lips as I take a breath, and in turn, time slows.

My veins bulge, my eyes redden, and my legs begin to tremble. Monster delivers such virality that I struggle to withstand it for a moment. Without two arms, the effects are even more pronounced on the rest of my frame. Nevertheless, I meet the woman's gaze with my own, admiring, for just a single moment, her courage to face me head-on.

"Good. I prefer it when others cheat. Makes victory more satisfying."

Still, within a single step, I bring the tremors to bear. All things within me are subject to my authority. As I take my step, however, Keely is before me, her body just as empowered and strained as mine. She raises an arm to swing her destructive fist at me, the flesh blackened into dense stone by her Ether. As if moving my arm, I glance at her hand and heft my soul.

"AH!"

A scream echoes through the air as Keely tumbles in reverse. I move to follow her but pause as she sticks the landing, twisting to face me again.

Her arm is not removed. Only a cleft is upon the stone of her arm. Hmm... Interesting.

I was not aware there was a human with defenses that could reach Marshall's height. To withstand my Dominion... even if it is only a single blade...

My feet kick outward, and I dart toward her, lashing with my soul. Dozens of slashes are born with inevitability out of my Dominion, marked not even by space itself. Keely stumbles, taking each and single every strike without dodging any.

But it is not without injury. Unlike other humans, though, blood does not fall from her wounds. Flakes of Onyx clutter the ground with every slash.

"You... dammit!"

Keely retreats further as she retrieves something from her back. All the while, I Slash. Again and again, I cut at her with my soul, and my Dominion orders it so. Chunks and chunks of her body fall bit by bit as I don't give myself time to ready one large enough to end her immediately.

I meant what I said—limb from limb.

Nevertheless, the object she pulls from her back gives me pause. It is a long gourd shaped like that of a drinking gourd, yet it is suffused with rotting blackness. So, I aim for it with a Slash, but Keely puts her body in the way, taking another hit. I'm not sure what this thing is, but it's definitely an Arca. I'm not naive or arrogant enough to believe I'm immune to such effects.

Again, I endeavor to cleave it in twain, but Keely doesn't let me. She catches a Slash with her Onyx Palm moments before it hits the gourd. Just as I had heard of her in the past, her hand is far more resilient than even the sturdiest steel, resisting the attack without a mark. I find a mirrored smile on her face.

"It's not hard to block if I know where you're aiming, Lennon. Now... let's see you suffer."

She boasts the gourd from her possessions, and a sense of foreboding washes over me as she delicately rubs her fingers over its top, activating the powers of the Arca. The name of the long-lost Arca echoes in my mind—the Gourd of Suffering.

In an instant, the atmosphere transforms. Endless sensations invade my pores, flesh, and every orifice. A malevolent force, a concoction of pain, sorrow, grief, anger, and sadness, all facets of suffering, swirls inside me. Shock renders me slow to react as my senses are overwhelmed with every negative emotion like relentless, crashing waves.

I fight against the torrent of emotions, but the weight is too much. I crumple to my knees, and the intensity blurs my vision. Desperation claws at me as I witness Keely, the one who unleashed this torment, succumb to the same overwhelming force. She collapses to the ground, mirroring my descent, though more profound.

Seconds pass as blood trails out my nose, eyes, and ears. I cough out a section of flesh that I recognize as my lung. The Gourd Of Suffering... artifacts formed into objects are obscenely rare and are a magnitude above others of the same caliber. Nevertheless, I fight the pressure but buckle underneath the weight. It is all-encompassing agony. Every memory of loss, every personal failure, every person I've ever watched die, it all comes at once in a tidal wave of pain.

Keely, however, falteringly stands after several moments. She coughs out toward me, stepping toward my fallen form as I attempt to bring my soul to meet her. I fail.

"It took me ten years to learn how to embrace the suffering from the gourd. You are too confident, Lennon. Not all things can be brute-forced. Even the old man knew when to retreat."

I stare up at her as she gets closer and closer, each step seemingly more straightforward and effortless for her to make. The Angel, newly awoken from her Slumber, raises her palm toward me. I grit my teeth, meeting her palm with an explosion of emotion, forcing my own being to meet the Gourd Of Suffering.

Emotion is what drives the soul, and the soul motions the Ether. At the core, it falls to feelings.

Against the sorrow, I stand undeterred, promising to bring vengeance.

Against the grief, I waver slightly but regain my clarity by remembering my mentor. He lost far more than I ever had to lose, yet he never faltered.

Against the wrath, I embrace it, twisting and melding it to fit my very own.

Every other negative, I either face head-on or contort to aid me. I have lived a life of suffering as that is the only way I could reach this state. Keely would never understand, born as she was.

Her hand pauses in the air, trapped by a dozen simultaneous Slashes. I witness her eyes flitter open in panic as more surround her whole form.

"I earned every inch of this power with suffering. All you do is sharpen the blade. You were born with a mighty weapon. I toiled endlessly for mine. That is the difference. Ten years of suffering for you? This is every day for me."

Keely Dewey's hand falls to the earth, landing with a clank of stone on stone. She leaps backward, realizing that she has failed, but I pounce. My body refuses to move, but my soul endures the suffering with its head held high.

As she runs away, leaving both the gourd and her granddaughter, I slice open her back and remove her left leg, mirroring what I did to her right arm. Nevertheless, she escapes my reach just barely, falling to the ground and crawling away like that of a toddler.

Still, I cannot move. The Gourd Of Suffering assails me constantly, preventing a modicum of motion from my body. Yet, with every moment, I grow accustomed.

Gradually, I quit accepting any of the emotions that it rips from the depths of myself. Instead, I rear my own force against it all. The relentless tide, like a sea of falling stars, wades a path to my mind.

I could break the gourd with my soul. I could remove this pressure upon me at any moment with a few Slashes. But...

Lennon Hull gives no quarter.

And there is no better foe to sharpen me than myself. I will keep this thing. It is now mine.