[Sovereign]

Jeff was on his knees.

His hands were shaking, uncontrollably sobbing as he stared at the ground.

The rain had slowly stopped, yet the distant thunder remained. 

A faint and low rumbling rolling in the background of a city being torn apart.

Mori had already sent the corpses away. Only Sarah remained next to him, half-eaten.

He stood up from the wooden chair, frowning.

"You couldn't choose until the end, huh?"

Jeff's silence contrasted against Sarah's wailing. She was lying there, on the floor, in a puddle of blood.

"k-kill...me..."

Mori turned toward the alleyway to his right, Aura came out of it with her clothes bloody, her hands soaking red.

"Is it done?" he asked.

"Yes," she looked behind him. "Are you not going to finish her?" 

Mori turned and looked at Sarah, almost 'just' realizing she was there.

"Oh. No."

Aura walked onto the road, meeting Mori in the middle, now glancing at Jeff.

She approached, leaning on his shoulder, talking in his ear. 

"They've been moved, it's mainly only humans here. These 'Royal Guards' are pretty strong, Lilae as well. They've dealt with the guards easily."

"Good," said Mori.

He glanced one last time at Jeff, and turned toward the gate.

"Let's go."

They started walking, side by side, toward the opened gate.

They took a few steps, stopping as they heard a distant whistle. 

Mori's hand grabbed onto a chain that wasn't there before, quickly whipping it around, swirling it around Aura, tightly grabbing her.

Using both hands, he pulled on it, and violently flung Aura through the gate. Her body, like a ragdoll, skipped on the ground a few times while whirling.

In a quick motion, he raised his available chains up, creating a net between him and the sky.

The sky was illuminated in a single flash, then an explosion shook the ground as it hit Mori's chains.

He tried holding his ground, but was sent flying backward, rolling on the ground way past Jeff.

Mori's body finally stopped moving. 

He felt a stinging pain throughout his body, as he put a knee to the ground, but another explosion sent him flying back again.

He rolled on the ground violently, barely able to move.

His head was angled toward the gate. He saw someone descend from the sky, rays of light acting like wings as the person softly touched the ground.

They slowly walked toward Mori, it looked like they held a solid ray of light in their hand.

It was a man, with bright white eyes and white hair.

He was getting closer. The way he walked seemed light and breezy.

Jeff who was next to the person raised his head to look at him.

"Luxian... What are-"

"Our expectations of you were low, Jeff, but this..."

"S-Sorry... I'll make this up, I swear..."

"Yeah, yeah," sighed Luxian.

Luxian? Someone from our world.

He was getting closer, slowly walking until he was finally in range. Mori closed his eye for a second, concentrating.

Once he was done, he opened his eyes again, got up and swung at him.

His wide-angled punch didn't connect, his arm detached at the elbow before he could even notice it happened. His forearm was quickly sent flying further away.

He tried punching with his other hand, his other elbow cut clean again.

He couldn't see Luxian's moves, only flashes of blinding light, before his limbs detached.

Mori's blood splattered everywhere, like a red stream turned into mist.

Once the last flash stopped, Mori fell backward on the ground, realizing his knees had been severed as well.

The man walked next to Mori, covered in his blood as he looked down at him. 

He wore a very thin white armor, half of it white-dyed leather and the other half thin sheets of metal.

"...is this it?" he asked, frowning.

Luxian turned around, looking at Jeff. "You're serious, Jeff? You couldn't deal with him?"

"He's a sort of necromancer, his things are roaming around, probably on their way back, be careful," said Jeff as he got up.

"I did see them as I arrived."

Luxian raised his hand, the 'solid light' he held pointed at the sky.

Through the dark clouds light pierced, multiple white rays, so many that it felt like they were under a bright lamp.

Only the floating giant sword was discernible, with all its imperfections as it was lit up against a bright background.

A high-pitched noise rose as the light grew stronger upon the whole city, until it finally stopped, the sky going back to its darker shade.

"Done. No more corpses walking around. What's up with that sword?" asked Luxian toward Jeff.

"He did that," said Jeff pointing at Mori.

Luxian's attention went back to Mori.

"Huh. And what kind of sovereign are you? Necromancy? Dark Magic? Demonic? Eh. No matter, you're weak."

Luxian walked around Mori's body, studying it with his piercing white eyes.

"You look... horrible. And surprised. You thought you had more time, right?"

Luxian shrugged.

"Well, let's just say you haven't taken the smartest approach. And your lack of luck is at fault too, they almost never take me off the front lines, since I'm the strongest here after all."

Luxian smiled, raising both his arms up.

"Why so serious?! Lighten up. Hah. Get it? No? Alright."

Luxian had stopped walking around Mori.

"So, as a general tip," Luxian turned around again, "Hey! Jeff, what's his name?"

"Mori," he said.

"Mori? eh. So, Mori. As a general tip, if you send your monsters on a rampage in nearby towns, and they suddenly all start heading toward Dustriver, what do you think happens?"

Ah. The hexes I sent along with Griswald.

"You see," continued Luxian, "as soon as I arrived, they weirdly started heading here. You can imagine my surprise when I even saw Fate here."

"Fate?" said Mori.

"Oh, you do talk..." said Luxian.

"Fate? What do you mean, Luxian," said Jeff.

Luxian turned toward Jeff again, sighing. 

"Listen, you, out of anyone, should know this. Learning about this world's Gods is really the minimum."

Luxian scratched his head.

"Well, I had hoped you were stronger, the war at the border is truly boring, but this was over so quickly I'll be sent back right away..."

"How did you know I was a Sovereign?" asked Mori, bleeding on the ground.

"You can tell Sovereigns by their mana. I can tell you're the sovereign of something dark. Your disgusting mana is leaking out of you like a faulty faucet. Not only that, the amount is quite... lackluster. You probably didn't think it was important to break through your paths. No matter, even if you did, it's not like I'd ever lose..."

Luxian wholeheartedly laughed, his hands on his hips.

Jeff took a few steps, stumbling forward.

"Wait, I want to do it..."

"You're the last one who can request anything here. Not only did you lose this city, you also lost all the men we assigned here. You might meet the same fate, actually..."

"Wait...-"

"Ah, don't worry, you'll appear before a court. You're not dying here."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Mori.

Luxian laughed again, running a hand through his hair. "Haha, yes, I'm sure. Any last words?"