Side Story 1: The Reversal of the Cold Wind

*Has already been uploaded to the EndlessFantasy Website before, but we are required to upload it here as well.

"We are about to win."

At a summit illuminated by the setting sun, a maiden with a gentle smile stood still on the hillside and watched in silence at the battlefield downhill, which had so much blood flowing in it that blood rivers were formed.

"You are full of bullsh*t." A thin and weak teenager with fair skin sat on a rock that was not far away. He laughed nastily as he happily watched as a troop of fully-equipped heavy cavaliers run over a troop of sword-and-shield soldiers standing in a square-shaped formation, leaving behind numerous spots of bloody mud after the horseshoes left.

On the chaotic and bloody battlefield, tens of thousands of people struggled between fighting in close quarters, and death. But no matter which party it was, they made it a point to avoid this small hillside.

"We are destined to win this, but don't you think they're too courageous? To think that they did not even kneel down with trembling legs after they saw your power themselves!" the fair teenager shouted excitedly, "Trample on them! Trample on them and tear them into pieces!"

The maiden with her pleasant smile did not answer him.

At that moment, a tall and muscular body showed up abruptly behind them. It was a young man. However, his tall and muscular figure always led others to think that he was a much older man. With a serious face, the man he seized with his right hand was suddenly thrown on the ground. 

It was a man who shone from head to toe. Even the armor on his body was bright-gold and dazzling, and the others had no choice but to turn their heads away. 

However, the shining man was at this moment badly-wounded all over his body, and his suit of armor was wrecked. More dazzling, brilliant rays permeated some of his wounds, and some faintly sparkling liquid flowed out from his wounds.

It was as if some sort of energy was rapidly flowing out of his body. 

"This is…?" The fair teenager crawled forward on his hands and legs as though he had discovered a new toy. He stared curiously at the glowing man.

"This god wanted to circumnavigate us and arrive behind us," the tall and muscular young man said seriously while pouting. "So I brought him here."

With curiosity, the fair teenager watched the glowing man—the god—and muttered, "But you almost killed him."

The badly-wounded god was calmer than one had imagined.

Although the god's voice was weak, he still spoke calmly. "Calamities, your evil plan has been discovered by Holy Sun." the brilliant rays on the god's body flickered faintly as he spoke in a calm manner, as if he was not captured nor were his days numbered, but he was instead doing something insignificant. "You are bound to fail."

"What are you talking about?" The teenager put his ear closer to the god's lips, giggling. "Who are you? I cannot hear you!"

"Listen, ignorant and fearless calamity," the god said quietly, "I am Holy Sun's…" The god paused for a while, he seemed to be thinking about something. But the brilliant rays on his body flickered even more urgently.

"I am… I am…" The god seemed to be puzzled about something and did not finish his words. "I am…" The god raised his head, and gold rays shone from his eyes. 

"Calamity, what have you done?" he said anxiously, and seemed to have lost his usual calmness and composure. "Why do I… why do I not know who I am?"

The tall and muscular young man glanced at him coldly in an intimidating manner.

"Of course you don't know who you are," he answered seriously. "Because you have never existed."

In the next moment, the brilliant rays on the god's body increased tremendously!

"Existed?" The god's expression changed. He cried out in panic, "You are… you are…" But he paused again. After a few seconds, he lifted his head in despair. "I should know who you are... but I do not know it now."

 The fair teenager giggled. The tall and muscular young man crossed his arms. The maiden who was smiling behaved like usual. 

The god closed his eyes calmly. "It looks like I no longer exist," he said.

In the next second, an incredibly bright light exploded from the god's entire body! He looked just like a little sun. It completely illuminated the small hillside!

Suddenly, the brilliant rays diminished. The place where the god was laid upon was empty now. 

The tall and muscular young man looked up and gazed at his two companions. 

"Some new information," he said sternly. "Future is in the south, clearing that organization step by step. With his ability, he should be able to find the culprit very soon." The tall and muscular man paused for a while. "Power purged the people and elves in the Sighing Mountains. After all, he does not like to drag things out.

"As for Nightmare, he dug a hole and went underground… He said he's chasing after the Sovereign of the Abyss. He will be able to ask about the vital information of those weapons if he can get a hold of him."

The fair teenager was obviously uninterested in such matters. He turned his head around again and paid attention to the battlefield.

The smiling maiden replied, "Holy Sun and the other gods, do they know about it?"

"Even if they know about it, it does not matter; other than Taurus, we do not fear anyone," the tall and muscular man said solemnly, "What's more, Power has freed his hands of all tasks, and can attend to this matter."

 At that moment...

 "What? The calvary. Not only did they not run for their lives, they even had the guts to come running towards us!" The teenager leaped up in surprise and waved excitedly at the few scattered knights charging out of the distant battlefield towards them.

"Hey! We're here! Come on!"

The knights were already covered in wounds, but they still followed the youngest knight at the forefront, holding a pike in his left hand and a flag in his right. They advanced courageously.

The knights launched the assault.

The maiden and teenager heard their slogan faintly. It sounded somewhat like, "Long live the Empire."

The teenager hesitated, and looked at the tall and muscular young man before he shook his head firmly.

The fair teenager put on a hopeful look and turned to see the young maiden. "Giza! Giza! Can you please attack? You know my style, it's nothing to marvel at, and B is too serious and boring. You should attack so that I can watch this longer. What do you think? What do you think?"

The maiden smiled a little and stood up, unbothered. The tall and muscular young man frowned. The fair teenager clapped madly and cheered loudly.

The smiling maiden walked towards the approaching knights. Then, the young knight who acted as the leader thrust the pike in his hand forward resolutely, and the spear pierced through her chest. 

"Ahhh!!!"

The young maiden screamed in pain as blood spurted out from her chest.

As the wind howled, the pike lifted the maiden off the ground with the aid of the horse's inertia.

The leading young knight felt his heart quiver as he watched the maiden's pained expression and the blood gushing out of her.

'Why?...'

Then, a blood-drenched knight behind him in the prime of his life bellowed in a mad frenzy to wake the prince up from his daze.

"Prince Tormond! Do not fall into her trap!"

The young prince snapped out of his daze immediately. As he charged forward, his hands held the pike while he sped along. His silver superpower seeped through his skin like flowing light, illuminating him and making him shine with dazzling brilliance.

He angrily shouted, "Go to hell, calamity!"

With the help of his superpower, the maiden's body was thrown up high into the sky. Her blood spurted everywhere. Not far away was the teenager on the hill. He made a big fuss and, for some unknown reason, seemed excited.

It started to rain blood.

Tormond's view was covered by a layer of blood. 'Is this the maiden's blood? Isn't this… a little too much?' He was forced to close his eyes.

In the next minute, Tormond's body was thrown off like he was hit by a powerful force. When he recovered from the short bout of dizziness, there were very few of his cavaliers left in sight. 

His surroundings had become a sea of blood with broken limbs scattered around him.

Tormond watched his surroundings, unable to believe his eyes. He recognized many of his comrade-in-arms who marched through life and death with him. There were some where he only saw parts of their bodies.

Mason, Quinn, Leitroto…

Hot tears fell down the young knight's face. He could not control their fall. 

'No. Why? Why is it still not working? Didn't the witches say that…'

"Your Highness!" An enraged roar came.

Before him was the prime-aged knight. He knelt on the ground and held his right arm. There was pain written all over his face.

Tormond recovered his senses and swiftly got to his feet before he yelled, "Fakenhaz!"

Fakenhaz lifted his head. His contorted face was covered in blood.

"Your Highness! She is insiiiide!!" Fakenhaz's right arm started to visibly swell at an abnormal rate. 

"Kill me! KILL ME!" Fakenhaz's heart-wrenching shriek struck Tormond's heart.

Tormond stood up on unsteady feet as he looked for a weapon... 

...but someone was faster than him.

A thin knight drenched in blood from head to toe struggled to his feet. He cut down Fakenhaz's right arm with a swift swing of his sword, which was five or six times the size of an average man!

His right arm fell to the ground, but it was still writhing about and swelling.

While Fakenhaz bellowed in rage, the thin knight laboriously dragged his body to arrive beside Tormond.

"Knight Arunde…" Tormond watched the thin knight with hot tears streaming down his face. 

The thin Arunde smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness, if you make it back alive, tell those women that the experiment on Weapon Prototype 62 failed."

Once he finished speaking, Fakenhaz's severed right arm on the ground swelled to its largest degree. Then, it exploded with a bang. 

Blood spilled in all directions like lava spurting out of an erupting volcano!

Tormond was thrown into the air again.

This time, Arunde and Fakenhaz shielded him behind them to reduce the shock.

Tormond recovered very quickly. Arunde and Fakenhaz lay not far away. They were unconscious. 

Tormond looked up with great difficulty.

The strange maiden was covered head to toe in fresh, red blood. She walked naked towards him. 

Behind her was a teenager with excitement on his face, along with a tall and muscular young man. They followed her slowly.

Tormond gritted his teeth and drew the dagger strapped to his thigh. 

"Come on, calamity!" he yelled.

But the maiden did not do anything. She only lowered her body quietly in front of him before she revealed a lovely and gentle smile to him. 

"Your attack just now was very painful," she said softly. "But that's life, right?"

Tormond bellowed madly, thrust forward with his dagger, and stabbed the maiden's chest again.

Blood spilled everywhere. The maiden groaned in pain.

"Stop pretending, calamity!" Tormond shouted in despair and madness as tears streamed down his face. "You are immortal!"

The maiden placed her sticky and blood-stained hands over the young knight's dagger-wielding right hand. She arduously put on a smile and said, "But still, it hurts."

She lifted her hand and covered Tormond's face.

Tormond struggled madly, but the maiden's hand seemed to have wrapped around his hand firmly. He could only let out a sigh and closed his eyes as he waited for his life to end.

At that exact moment, the fair teenager, the tall and muscular young man, and the naked, blood-drenched maiden looked up at the same time in the direction of the sky above them.

The three of them wore different expressions.

The blood-stained maiden let go of Tormond and walked back to the other two people. 

Tormond panted. After he was spared, he looked up at the sky in confusion. He could not see anything. But soon enough, he no longer needed to be puzzled. 

Low, rumbling sounds of thunder trembled out from the endless clouds behind the setting sun. 

*Rooooaar!*

The rolling thunder grew louder, almost resonating with the air. It echoed between the sky and earth!

*Rooooaar! Rooooaar!!*

Most of the troops who were fighting against each other on the battlefield were so shocked that they stopped swinging their weapons. 

*Rooooaar! Rooooooooaaar!!*

Even the earth was shaken by the thunderous roars!

"B! What is this?" The fair teenager touched his hair and looked confused. The tall and muscular young man did not answer as he seemed to be in deep thought.

Above the layers of cloud, the scarlet red rays of sunset were suddenly covered by dark shadows. The shadows spread rapidly. Then, they covered the clouds in the entire area. 

The sun was hidden. The sky and the earth began to dim.

*Rooooaar!*

Together with the rolling thunder came strange and random howls of wind.

*Whooooosh...*

Tormond watched all this in the darkness, stunned. The blood-stained maiden furrowed her brow. The fair teenager looked in the young man's direction, and urged him for an answer. "B! What exactly is it?"

It was only at this moment that the tall and muscular man turned his head around and put on a stern face. 

"Dragon," the young man said crisply. 

"...Dragons."