As the lid swung open, dense smoke began to seep out of the machine, the fog crawled along the floor slowly swallowing the feet of everyone present. 

"You truly amuse me Mira" Duncan said with his indifferent expression still on his face as he stared intently at the mysterious object in the middle of the room. Despite his calm demeanor Duncan was panicking on the inside, this unknown factor could prove detrimental to his plans and he could not be stopped now, not when he could practically taste his victory; so with this in mind he gave an order: 

"Secure the object"  

The soldiers hesitated for a moment but soon began to move in on the container with their swords pointed cautiously at it, as they got closer the sound of breathing could be heard from within the container making them halt in their tracks. One soldier turned his head back to look at Duncan and said something to him in an unfamiliar language, Duncan simply nodded, receiving confirmation the soldier stepped closer to the container's dark interior which concealed its contents, lifting his sword the soldier prepared to thrust into the darkness when suddenly a hand shot out and grabbed his throat with an iron grip. 

A second hand came out slowly from the darkness and grabbed the side of the container, slowly like a demon rising out of the abyss the figure of a man emerged. The man stared intently at the struggling soldier in his grasp like a scientist would a test subject, having finished with his observations the man tightened his grip around the soldier's throat and with a snap the soldier's body ceased all movement. 

"What are you standing around for?! KILL HIM!!" Having realized the situation was no longer within his control Duncan ordered his soldiers to attack while he also prepared to defend himself.  

--------------------- 

'It's warm' I thought to myself, for a few moments I stood still simply relishing in the warm feeling. I was soon interrupted as I felt something collide against my flesh, opening my eyes the first thing I saw was a small man no taller than my chest backing away in fear, finally noticing my surroundings I looked around and saw a room filled with individuals dressed in all black attire circling me. 

As I was taking in my surroundings I heard the sound of wind whistling coming from behind me, I spun around just in time to catch an arrow between my thumb and index finger just before it struck my head.  

Crushing the arrowhead and dropping it to the floor I saw a soldier with a bow in his.......her hands if the lumps of flesh on her chest were any indication. I walked towards her, seeing me walking in their direction the other soldiers charged at me and furiously hacked away at me. Annoyance washed over me like a tidal wave and heat began building up in my eyes, I noticed that although there was nothing barring the build up of energy in my eyes from escaping it would not discharge unless I willed it, with that piece of information I allowed the energy to escape my eyes as it disintegrated all soldiers attacking me leaving just a handful alive but they were missing limbs. 

The lady who shot at me was wailing on the ground with her hands clutching what used to be her legs, 'Aim needs work' I thought to myself as I turned around to catch an incoming sword from one of the luckier soldiers who were still capable of movement. 

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

I flung the soldier up into the air and delivered a punch to his stomach as he came back down reducing him to a mess of flesh, blood and bones. After that display of strength I was not surprised to see the others slowly retreat, as I was about to walk away the crowd of soldiers parted to reveal a man in a black trench coat coming towards me with a black sword which seemed to suck the color out of the surroundings in hand 

"Lamesh takar umf paru" I tilted my head in confusion as I could not understand what he was saying, seeing my confusion the man shook his head and got into a battle stance. I was confused, don't these people do anything other than fighting? I remained standing upright as I did not know any stances, for a moment we stood facing each other waiting for the other to make a move but neither of us wanted to make the first move. 

The standoff was broken when the figure of a woman in golden armor with snow white hair appeared out of nowhere and began attacking the man in black. The man raised his sword to block the incoming attack which produced a loud clanging sound which resounded throughout the room, I watched as the two did their deadly dance but after a while I got bored so I turned around to leave.  

As I approached what appeared to be what used to be a door I felt someone's hand grab my forearm, turning around I saw an elderly man with graying hair and a well trimmed beard. 

"Domo zan cara linteh umufaro samas" not knowing what the man was saying I could only stare blankly at his pleading expression, of course I was not dense enough to not notice he was trying to ask me to help the woman defeat the wannabe villain. Seeing my blank expression the man started rummaging around his blue robes before finally pulling out a black ring with a red gem, I took the ring from him and placed it on my index finger and admired it for a moment. 

The man spoke again but this time I understood what he was saying "please sir" the man began "lend her majesty your strength". I turned to look at the ongoing fight just in time to see the woman who was apparently royalty receive a kick to the stomach which launched her right at me, I sighed to myself and caught the woman with relative ease and dropped her on the floor. The man in black looked at me cautiously as I debated whether or not to help the queen and the elderly man, seeing me hesitating the elderly man hurriedly added "we can pay you for your trouble, just please help us" seeing the old man so desperate I took pity on him and simply nodded. 

Turning around to face the man in black, I see him shaking his head, whether in contempt or pity I do not know nor do I care. As I folded and unfolded my fists I felt an itching between my knuckles, glancing down at my hands I see slits between each of my knuckles but I had no time for further investigation so all I could do was ignore the itching and once again focus on my opponent. 

As I turned to face my opponent I was surprised to see I was face to face with a sword as black as the void. Before I could react I was slashed across my face and the sword cut into my flesh but was stopped when it connected with bone, the force of the impact however forced me to take several steps back. I could already feel my injury healing at a fast rate but nonetheless I opted to end the fight quickly and that last attack sort of ticked me off. 

He looked cocky for a moment but shock soon replaced his cocky grin as he saw my injury healing and for the first time, I spoke "My turn" my voice was husky and deep. I pushed off the ground causing the ground beneath me to crack as I rocketed toward my enemy who raised his sword to block the blow, bad choice, as my fist made contact with his word it shattered but that did not slow down my momentum as my fist made contact with his chest afterwards launching him backwards and into the wall.  

I skidded to a halt and walked towards the unconscious body on the floor, picking him up and tossing the man over my shoulder I walked up to the two stunned faces of the old man and the white haired lady staring at me. I dropped the man to the ground which snapped the two out of their stupor, I stretched my hand forward, the queen thinking I was trying to help her up reached for my hand but stopped when she saw me shaking my head, seeing her frowning in confusion I enlightened her  

"Compensation" I plainly stated 

The dumbstruck looks on their faces made me smile inside