17 Sacrifices

So where are you guys from? You certainly couldn't be more different in appearance so I'm really curious. Are you lovers or just friends? No, I dont think so. You're not as beautiful as her so that's not possible.

"Better leave the small talk at that. With your eloquence, I wonder how people put up with you for years."

" Women have really enjoyed my company. And at least I try to make conversation not like you two who just quietly walk ahead. "

"It's called focus, in your little world there probably weren't any monsters or big dangers. Besides, the women enjoyed your money rather than your acquaintance."

"You saw it yourself, the imprint of their lips on my gun. If that is not proof enough then let the goddess herself give me a sign."

Nothing happened, Aiden got nervous.

"From the looks of it, she couldn't stand you and left."

"Not you too Lynia, why is everyone conspiring against me? Now all that's missing is the giant owl and your team is complete."

When Lynia tried to call Irazel back he did not respond to her call. Suddenly, the bird spoke into Lynia's mind. She knew that the animals that formed a bond with an elf were loyal companions, but that they could communicate by magic was new even to her.

"I think I heard Irazel, we're almost there."

"What, he didn't make a sound. Don't tell me you can talk to animals?"

"She can only communicate with Irazel, the elves form a bond with different animals of the forest. That's how they both know if the other is still alive. That they can communicate with each other through thought, it is surprising since they only have been in the covenant for a short time."

"How do you know all this? How exactly can I answer him?"

"All I know is that you focus on his inner image and then communicate with him. I'm not an elf so you'll have to figure it out for yourself."

After a few minutes, she could hear Irazel's words clearly. However, what he was communicating to her caused her to panic.

"Fuck, we have to hurry. Irazel saw how fire and smoke could be seen in Osikan. If we hurry we should arrive within an hour."

"So your mother has made the first move. Aiden how well do you know this baron and what about his soldiers?"

"I have only heard the words and rumors of the travelers. He was mentioned many times, he prefers torture rather than a quick death. And there is supposed to be an arena in the middle of the city, who knows if it is really true. Osikan would be guarded by some dark elves, the baron broke them by his methods and then converted them to his soldiers. Lynia, be prepared to deal with your own people."

Lynia could no longer listen to the two and ran as fast as she could straight at Osikan.

Damn it Lynia, if you just storm in like that we're all going to die. Now I remember why I usually travel alone. Then I wouldn't have such problems."

"There's no point in getting upset anymore, let's figure out how to get through the city."

Aiden and Leo ran as fast as they could, but the endurance and speed of the elves was something else.

From afar they saw Osikan and saw the smoke coming out of the walls . They charged through one of them and followed the screams. The houses were on fire and the smell of corpses was in the air. After they turned around a corner a big group of soldiers charged at them.

"I hope you don't have that sword and your daggers just for show."

"Didn't Zaris mention it? No one has ever defeated me in battle."

"Then you can prove it now. And Aiden, don't try to play games. It is their people but if you attack them then with the aim to kill. Mistakes are going to be punished by death, this is NOT your people so stay alive."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

The two watched Lynia fight her way through the tumult into the city. Meanwhie Irazel scouted the surrounding area for Kail and Mina. Aiden and Leo worked their way through the carnage until they encountered the first soldiers. Leo showed off his sword skills, even without his power he was a great threat. During his fight, he looked over at Aiden. The prince was almost invincible, he had a smile on his face and enjoyed the fight while he defeated one after the other. The two had lost sight of Lynia but there was indeed an arena in the middle of the city. The two ran as fast as they could until they were at the entrance gate. There Leo saw that the rebellion had failed, they were cornered by monsters tamed by the Baron. Lynia had found her mother but it was hopeless. Her army was far smaller and her brothers and sisters had little stamina to fight.

"Look what you have done to yourselves. You haven't been obedient and I don't like it when someone is not obedient. This will be your grave."

In the midst of his speech, Leo and Aiden burst into the arena and fought side by side against one of the giant monsters. Even though their characters couldn't have been more different they were a good team. Aiden took the monster's attention while Leo hurt the creature non-stop. In the end together they dealt the finishing blow. At this sight, the rest of the dark elves got new courage and fought the beasts together under the leadership of Lynia and her mother.

"Well done, really amazing to defeat all my pets but I'll let you in on a secret: not one of these monsters was fully grown. It took almost 10 years, in complete darkness it grew up but now its moment has come. Arates, show them what you are capable of."

Suddenly there was a loud rumble until a huge creature stomped through the arena. Lava dripped from its mouth, which cooled on the ground and immediately turned to stone. To Leo, it looked like an oversized T-Rex whose skin was almost impenetrable. When the creature saw the group, it instantly attacked, spewing fire from its mouth like a dragon turning the soldiers to ash. Irazel circled above the creature, trying to distract it. As he did so, he told Lynia the monster's weak point.

"WE CAN DEFEAT IT, AIM FOR ITS EYES: THIS WILL WEAKEN ITS MAGIC AND WE CAN ATTACK IT DIRECTLY. THIS IS OUR ONLY CHANCE IF WE WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE, THINK OF YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO ARE STILL WAITING FOR YOU SOMEWHERE HERE!"

Her order was carried out without any hesitation, everyone realized that she had the same aura as her mother. While Aiden and Leo tried to distract the creature together, Leo had more and more doubts about their idea. Attacking such a creature with simple magic arrows had 2 possible effects: Either the arrows would weaken or even destroy the enemy's magic. In the worst case, however, the creature's magic would be strengthened and its destructive power significantly increased. In the fight, Leo saw the arrows directly hit the creature's eyes. It cried out and began to stagger, but Leo's prediction came true. The lava that ran out of its mouth did not turn to stone in its mouth, but it glowed even brighter. Even as it dripped onto the ground, it remained in a liquid state, robbing even a fraction of Leo's mana. Orange stripes began to form all over the creature's body, growing larger and larger.

"Um, I'm assuming that's not good. Your expression tells me everything so what now?"

"Try to tell Lynia to stop attacking immediately. Tell her to pass the order on to the army. The beast is still dazed, but it will soon destroy everyone in it's path. I will distract it alone.

"Are you insane, completely alone?! I thought we still a big journey ahead of us, but now you want to kill yourself."

"AIDEN JUST DO WHAT I TELL YOU!!! I HAVE A PLAN SO YOU BETTER TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND THE OTHERS!"

Before Aiden could argue further, Leos armor started to burn. The fire on his arm transferred to his sword, which burst into black flames. He then swung the sword over his head, huge black strands in the shape of snakes formed from the sword and raced towards the creature, literally biting down on its skin. But the creature didn't react and continued to attack the group. When Leo thought his plan had failed, black marks formed on the creature's skin and spread all over its body. The fire in its mouth went out and formed into stone, suffocating the creature. With a huge bang it fell to the ground, the dark elves were relieved even though they had lost some of their comrades in this fight. Even Leo took a deep breath, but when he saw the Baron's reaction, something was not right. The tyrant still had a wide smile and started to laugh. Suddenly the creature opened its eyes again, but this time they were completely black. It let out a terrible scream, black smoke coming out of its skin. Leo realized what he had just done to himself and the army. The creature must have come from an ancient time, where the forbidden magics posed no threat to them. Now Leo had only added fuel to the fire and made the creature nearly invincible. He signaled for everyone to stay back and not attack, but it was too late. Some of the warriors were caught in the smoke and robbed of their life energy. It was gruesome, their corpses were devoured by the creature. Leo was at a loss for words, none of his plans would work. He began to take off his armor. The runes had spread even larger on his skin.

He picked up his sword and was about to cut his arm bloody. Before he could fully swing the blade, the rune on the weapon lit up very brightly. At this moment Leo regained hope again, he put on his armor and tried to distract the creature further. He managed to do this relatively easily since he was the cause of its strength. But instead of attacking, he dodged all attacks until he heard a loud roar outside the city. The stomping grew louder and faster until one of the stone walls of the arena broke. Opposite the creature now stood a huge black wolf with orange eyes and streaks of fire on its fur. As it roared again, it spewed fire from its mouth directly into the creature's face. Unimpressed, it took the attack, but it was too late.

Through the smoke, it didn't see Leo's sword rushing toward its head. The weapon barely penetrated the skin between the forehead of the beast.

"NOW METSU, FINISH IT!"

At that moment, the wolf knocked the creature down and drove the sword through its head. It cried out once more before falling silent. The wolf growled and walked towards Leo but the fight wasn't over yet.

"Kuhaha, fascinating, fascinating! How I have longed for such excitement. It's back, the feeling of helplessness and fear. Finally my boredom stops but before I die I have created a last little game.

Then he killed himself with a dagger through the chest. Under his balcony gates opened from which the recently abducted and enslaved brothers and sisters came out. As if brainwashed, they turned their weapons against their former families. Among them were Mina and Kail, who glared angrily at Lynia. She and her mother looked at the two with a horrified expression. There was hardly time to react before they attacked the army. But this time it was directly their family members against whom they fought. Many tried to get them out of their trance and did not fight them properly. So their numbers became smaller and smaller, nobody knew how to get them out of this brainwashing. And so they tried to beat their opponents without killing them. This backfired for the most part, without mercy they were murdered by their foolishness.

"Aiden don't make exceptions, no one is going to win if they keep fighting half assed like this."

"It's their family Leo! Of course they'll try anything to save them. At any rate, I'm going to give it a shot!

"Are they all supposed to die in the process? They went all this way only to be slaughtered by their friends and their families. Their emotions are like poison that makes them weak! I won't try this methods, my mission is different!

"Fuck Leo, then what did Lynia come here for. Just for you to destroy everything for her?"

"I'm not the one destroying everything. They are destroying themselves, pointless sacrifices for a purpose that isn't even clear . Remember one thing: I am not your enemy Aiden."

With these words, Leo entered the battle. He saw Lynia who just managed to knock some of the opponents unconscious, but many others were unsuccessful and ended up losing their lives. Lynia's mother was also following her plan and was under heavy pressure. Leo sent Metsu to help her and wipe out the enemies while he himself was fighting. He saw that the soldiers had tears in their eyes, but then again he saw the corpses lying on their side. So he killed the soldiers until he heard a loud cry. He could hardly believe what he saw. Metsu did not attack the enemies but only distracted them so that others could try the strategy of Lynia's mother. It seemed to work, but Metsu was taking more and more attacks. When Leo saw the pool of blood forming under his partner, he went completely berserk.

"METSU, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU. WHY AREN'T YOU ATTACKING? DON'T YOU FEEL THE WOUNDS THEY ARE DOING TO YOU. KILL THEM METSU, KILL THEM! THAT'S THE ONLY WAY WE SURVIVED SO LISTEN TO ME AND ANNIHILATE THEM ALREADY!"

But Metsu did not react to his words, he continued to defend with his body without attacking himself. It seemed that he really wanted to protect everyone. Leo couldn't believe it, Metsu had never behaved like this before. They always followed one rule: to eliminate enemies and dangers immediately. When Leo heard Mestu scream again, he couldn't take it anymore. Suddenly, red lines formed above his eye. His sword began to turn completely black. In the next moment, black smoke surrounded Leo. Quick as a flash, he worked his way forward to Metsu and slaughtered each enemy. Those who stood behind Metsu and tried not to kill her family he knocked over to the back. In the next moment, he decapitated all their family members who attacked Metsu. The battle was over but Leo's hands were shaking while he was still full of rage. The smoke around him disappeared but his aura did not change.

Before Lynia could confront him, Aiden held her back. It was not the Leo they knew who stood before them. If they approached him now, their lives would be in danger. He looked closely at the giant wolf's wounds. Leo saw that Metsu's eyes were no longer glowing orange. After he touched him, his eyes suddenly flashed again and he had his natural aura back. Leo had calmed down a bit but he ordered Metsu not to intervene in his next actions. After that, Leo went straight to Lynia's mother, who only looked at him with remorse. He pushed his way through the crowd and grabbed her by the throat. She had a hard time breathin g while he let his anger free.

"Leo, what the hell has gotten into you, let her go right now!"

Lynia stood before him with her bow but he did not respond to her words.

"I didn't think your ability was that strong. To avoid the sacrifice of your friends, you wanted to sacrifice my partner. AM I RIGHT?!

Lynia's mother remained silent and looked away from Leo. He threw her backwards into the dirt.

"Normally, I should kill you all for what your leader did. You better pray to your damn goddess that your plan works! Because if not you will suffer the same fate as your fallen comrades.

When Leo looked up, even Irazel was nowhere to be seen. He clenched his fists again and nursed the giant wolf's wounds. Aiden and Lynia realized what he was talking about. Neither knew what to think about it. Suddenly one of the soldiers woke up and returned to normal. One by one, their family members woke up and regained their sanity. They cried with joy, finally they were reunited. However, many of them did not wake up and lay dead. On their bodies were signs of a heavy poison that could defeat even the strongest creatures in a high dose. Apparently, this was also part of the tyrant's game: To destroy the hope of many survivors. Suddenly, Kail and Mina also woke up, and were immediately embraced by Lynia. Both had smiles on their faces as Lynia lifted them up. Suddenly Mina fell to the ground again, her veins on her neck turning black, she could barely breathe. Lynia and her mother panicked and watched helplessly as she was about to die. Leo and Aiden never thought they would see Lynia cry. She was older than both of them and looked more grown up.

"I'm sorry little sister, if I had been there for you more and protected you better you never would have ended up here. It's my fault, I failed.

While Leo saw this he got a big headache, he turned away and walked up to Metsu. The wolf was badly wounded and licking his wounds. Leo knew he would not die, but he could hardly watch his faithful partner lying there so miserable. When he tried to heal him with his blood, the wolf just growled at him.

"Of course I'll use it, I don't want to see you in this condition a second longer.

I don't care what happens, without you I would never have gotten this far. After today I won't use it for a while, you know I'm strong enough as it is."

The wolf growled, pointed his head in Lynia's direction and then looked Leo straight in the eye.

" Absolutely out of the question, you must have gone crazy on your trip. I'm not going to waste any on her. I don't feel like arguing with you so just keep quiet."

The next moment, Metsu roared right into his face, his eyes lighting up angrily. He threw Leo backwards and howled loudly into the sky.

"DO YOU WANT TO GO ON LIKE THIS, IN YOUR CONDITION YOU WONT BE ABLE TO MAKE ANY PROGRESS FOR 2 DAYS. WHY DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND ?! I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU! WE DON'T HAVE TIME METSU!"

The wolf made a sad face and nudged Leo.

"Fuck, what happened to you? I thought we had our rules. You've gone way too soft. Okay, i'll make you a deal: you recover on your own and don't you dare go after us in your condition. Then I'll grant you your wish."

Full of anger he walked towards Lynia and her sister. Silently he was cutting open the black scar on his arm. He dripped the blood directly into Mina's mouth. He ignored any of their words andturned around

Mina's breathing calmed down, her veins colored normally, and she actually opened her eyes.

I know I used your friend and I can't make that up to you. But I want to thank you for your help-

"Shut it, look around you. No one would express their thanks to me, they probably didn't like my kind of assistance. Your people are more ignorant and naive than I had suspected. Look closely, see what your sentimentality has caused. Never cross my path, next time you we'll be enemies. Although I can tell by your looks that I am your enemy anyway. Thank your leader who used my only friend to save her people. Now you see how hatred for one can spread to many. "

"You would have done the same thing if your family had been in this situatio-"

"I never had a family so spare me your words. Take care of yours and shut up. And don't you dare follow us Lynia, or you'll pay the price your mother should've payed today!"

Leo didn't react to any of her words and left the arena together with Metsu. Meanwhile, Aiden helped the dark elves carry their brothers and sistesr out of the arena and tried to calm them down.

"We're leaving so get ready!

"What's wrong with Lynia, didn't she want to accompany us?"

"She has other problems, I don't need help from weaklings."

Aiden never thought he'd see Leo like this. The lines above his eye slowly disappeared as he examined Metsu closely once again. Today Aiden had seen a taste of Leo's powers. Now Aiden knew that he should never make Leo his enemy.

"Where do we go next?"

"Let's just say that we'll help to start a war."