Blood Rings
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Warning
The following novel contains material that may be harmful or traumatic to some readers.
It contains graphic descriptions of murder, violence and other unpleasant texts.
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-Continent of Ithrai, Kingdom of Sedruan, The Year 1005-
-Supreme Throne, Supreme Palace, Capital of Sedruan, Sreah-
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///
A vast golden throne hall and the jewel of it all is the glorious, mighty mithril throne.
The true legacy of the royal family of Sedruan, the Sedruansti family.
The throne gives the family the ultimate power.
The Kingdom of Sedruan is famous for its vast wealth and sense of government and military.
The Sedruans have many weapons, and very strong people to protect the kingdom and especially the family.
12 Mighty Royal Knights, looking after the Royal Family and used in the investigation of various mysteries.
Almost 52 years old, Philip VII. Sedruanti has ruled the Kingdom of Sedruan for 22 years and has led it to even greater heights of wealth.
But it has taken its own price.
Lots of dead
lots of dead...
///
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-Continent of Ithrai, Kingdom of Sedruan, The Year 1005-
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(Two and a half days after the Red City disaster, and the day after Samuel and Christian left the Red Province)
A throne room crowded with servants, and a king who sits bored on his throne waiting for any news.
Surrounding the king are four Royal Knights.
To the right of the King is the 6th Royal Knight Jason Rafa, and behind him is the 7th Royal Knight Michael Estagardian with a huge scar on his face.
To the left of the King stands the elder 5th Royal Knight Abraham Martin and behind him the 8th Royal Knight, the elf Vesryn Magroris.
Suddenly, a messenger comes up to the King.
"Your Majesty King, 12th Royal Knight Christian Morris, and 11th Royal Knight Samuel Palatine have arrived urgently. I have them-"
"Yes," The King interrupts the messenger emphatically, who comes to the door and opens it.
The King sits up a little more comfortably and is highly curious about the information surrounding the Red City.
Samuel and Christian stand before the steps up to the throne and kneel before Philip.
"Highness-"
"What information do you carry?" An excited King Philip interrupts Samuel, who is carrying information.
"And stand up, I want to hear it better." He tells the Knights, who stand.
The King sees considerable nervousness in them, and a stress that, while disconcerting, also satisfies him.
"What has happened to you? You look like a pile of shit." He laughs, but they are still nervous.
The King is even more unnerved, and the Knights around him begin to watch and listen closely to Samuel and Christian.
"Then fucking spill." The already slightly impatient and angry King says.
Samuel wipes a hand across his forehead from sweat.
"Highness King. We bring you information regarding the Red City disaster."
He glances at Christian, who begins to speak.
"According to... previous information, the epicenter did not start in the city, but in the next village."
The King pauses, and so do the other Knights.
"So the explosion started in the village, stretching all the way to the Red City, and the surrounding area? Am I understanding this correctly?" The King asks, startled.
"Yes, Highness King. Even after activating the city's magic shield..."
"The Red City was destroyed." Samuel finishes, catching everyone present completely by surprise.
"W-W-What?" The stunned King can't believe what he just heard.
"That was exactly our reaction, Your Highness. Of course, that's not all."
He lowers his gaze, sighing, and that unnerves the King even more.
"We thought that groups from other kingdoms were behind this. However, after speaking with a higher mage who, after a thorough-"
"To the point!" He shouts over Samuel in a forceful tone.
"One person caused this." This shocks the King, and everyone presents even more.
"One-" With a shocked expression.
"How is that possible?" He rises from his throne.
"How is it possible that someone dares to oppose me?" The king gets angry.
...
The king calms down, exhales a breath, and asks.
He ran through the names in his head that could theoretically betray him.
But it was hard for him because he was sure that no one could betray him.
"Who is behind this?" He asks in a firm voice.
They both start to panic slightly.
"King ah... I'm sorry." Christian stammers.
"The thing is, we don't know who it is but we have some assumptions."
A huge question grabs the king.
"Who?"
Samuel sighs.
"I know my lord that it may be my imagination but this person would be highly likely and capable to do."
A small shock comes over Michael Estegardian as he probably already knows who it is.
///
Michael Estegardian is the only one Lucius lets live. The survivor of the Estegardian massacre.
20 Years old, big scar on face, black hair, and red eyes
///
"Could be Lucius Cain." Even after the words are spoken, the atmosphere turns absolutely horrifying.
The servants were startled by his name and began to tremble. They all looked at the King.
The pressure increased, and all the Royal Knights looked at the King, who just couldn't believe Samuel's words.
He starts laughing.
A desperate laugh that the King begins to let out.
Michael Estegardian flushed red, keeping his emotions in check.
"It-it-" He begins to laugh even harder.
"So, so good..." He repeats his name in his head.
~laugh~
~laugh~
~lau...
...
And he sets a serious face.
"That's not good."
He sits back on his throne and starts to think.
He looks at Michael Estegardian, who is furious.
He smiles.
"Estegardian?" The King has already come up with a plan.
In his mind, he realizes that he is the only one who survived Lucian's rampage.
///
However, he wondered if Estegardian was connected to Cain.
After all, in the 12 years Lucius had been actively killing and massacring, he hadn't left a single one alive.
Why did he leave Estegardian alive?
Are they planning something together?
Are they planning a revolution?
The king was becoming paranoid.
Over time, he became suspicious of almost everyone.
///
Estegardian looks at him.
"Highness"
You could see the immense anger he was trying to hide.
If he could, he would let it out, but he can't.
But the king remembers Samuel's words.
'It is only my speculation'.
He realizes he can't act on assumptions. But he's not going to do anything.
He looks at Samuel and Christian.
"Give the order to increase the guards in every village, town, and fucking forest."
"If it really was him, we need to be sure, and more importantly, we need evidence."
Samuel and Christian take a knee.
"And what reason do I have to say?" Samuel asks.
The king rolls his eyes and sighs.
"Then make something the fuck up. What's that brain in your head for you idiot!"
The king who gets angry and who can't hold his temper is noticed by everyone.
The King has been phlegmatic or even skeptical all along, but he's completely wary and irritated about the Phantom's name.
"Yes, Your Highness. I apologize." Samuel finishes and leaves the throne room.
The King quickly gets up and walks over to Michael.
"Unless, of course, it turns out to be him."
He looks into his eyes where he sees pain and anger.
"You're going to kill him, aren't you?"
~blink~
~~smile~~
And nods his head in agreement.
The King points his finger at the 8th Royal Knight, Abraham Martin.
"Give the information to the Royal Trinity, the Holy Trinity, the Magical Trinity, and anyone else with any fucking power to investigate, and most importantly..."
He clenches his fists.
"Make them watch out."
///
They're all horrified by Philip's orders. Summoning such weapons right off the bat is a completely unique thing to do.
Only the 1st Royal Knight wields immense power and summons a straight trio from all the important groups.
But they asked themselves.
Will it be enough?
Enough for the Phantom of Hatred himself?
They didn't have the answer.
They began to pray to God in their minds.
Only to find out it wasn't him after all.
...
Of course, even God can't help.
Even God...
///
"Yes, Highness." And Abraham leaves.
Philip turns towards the throne room.
"Why... would you come back?" Philip thinks.
...
He looks for Gold and Mithril in his throne room.
"Unless you want to destroy the system."
"You have to beat my ace cards..." He smiles.
"Cain."
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-Continent of Ithrai, Kingdom of Sedruan, The Year 1005-
-Gateway, City of Portis, The nearest town to the capital-
(One day later)
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Lucius walks the streets of Portis, which are filled with life and love.
Hooded, he walks through the city, heading toward one specific place.
He notices the increased guards and suspects why this is so.
But he ignores this and continues on toward the center.
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-The Centre-
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Lucius makes his way to the center and tries to look for a pole that had a bird mark on it, pointing into one of the dark alleys.
However, during his search, he begins to hear something from the center.
"Clear the way!"
"Clear the way!" It echoes outside the cathedral that was the monument to Portis and the monument to the Center.
Lucius slowly makes his way toward the crowd of people watching someone.
He pushes people away discreetly and calmly to get to the front.
Once he's at the front, he notices an extravagant carriage that 3 people are just getting out of.
///
The first to get off is a young and smiling man with golden hair and golden eyes. His armor is golden white and he greets the people.
Then a second man, a few years older, with black hair and green eyes steps out. He wasn't human, but he was a wood elf. He was tall and his armor was the same as the first man.
Lucius figured that this was some powerful trio or just plain 'famous' shit.
But then a third, overgrown old man with white hair and a white beard stepped out of the carriage.
From him, Lucius immediately smells Holy Magic and senses great power and strength.
///
"This is the Holy Trinity!"
"Exactly."
"Golden hair... That must be Ferdinand Ulqia."
"Elf? That must be Khatar Vagella. I hear he's an elven genius."
"And the third one must be St. Martin."
Voices begin to echo from the crowd, to which Lucius listens carefully.
"Saint Martin?" A boy asks. He didn't know who it was.
"You don't know the famous, and last living, Holy Member of Portia Cathedral?"
"He's been alive for over 220 years, and he is extremely powerful and strong. He is a good friend of the King." Lucius is taken aback by the words about Saint Martin.
'That's why I... felt such power from him'
Lucius said in his head and then decides to leave where he is but hears one more thing.
"Why did they come back?"
"Weren't they supposed to be gone for a few more years?"
Lucius turns his head to hear better.
"Since the incident in the Red City, the King has summoned all his powerful people."
"Do they know who did it?"
...
'So Philip is getting scared?'
He smiles.
'We'll see.'
Lucius takes one last look at St. Martin, then leaves.
St. Martin notices the hooded man and slightly begins to wonder who he is.
'I'm getting too paranoid.'
He laughs and walks off with the others into the cathedral.
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-One of the dark alleys-
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Lucius enters the dark alleyway he went to after finding the pointing bird.
He goes to the end and starts digging up dirt.
This takes a few minutes and then he pulls out a small wooden box.
He opens it, and there are 3 rings that were iconic of his hateful nature.
He puts them on his palm and looks at them.
He slightly smiles.
"You have been in the dark for a long time."
"Now feel the hatred of mine again."
He puts them on and clenches his fists a few times.
"And look who we have here." There is a voice behind Lucius.
~laugh~
...
He turns to see four men with knives.
One of them bends down to the one in front who is talking.
"We shouldn't have done this, what-"
"Shut up, and do what you gotta do, asshole." He immediately interrupts the "Thieving Gang" speaker aggressively.
...
He looks at Lucius again.
"How about you roll us all a-"
Lucius disappears from view in an instant and gets right in front of the talking thief.
She pierces his eyes with her fingers, and inside he grasps the orbit tightly.
[Orbit is the bone around the eyes.]
And with a third finger, he rips open his teeth and grabs his upper jaw.
He drops the knife, which Lucius immediately catches and stabs the man in front of him in the side of the neck.
He quickly pulls it out and starts stabbing the first one without eyes in the back.
Of course, he's already stabbing the dead body.
Then he just takes his head, which he had already grabbed, and smashes it so hard against the wall that the whole head flies apart and the wall is stained with brains and blood.
The third swing his knife quickly, but Lucian catches the blade in his hand.
His foot strikes the fourth in the stomach, and he then falls against the wall.
Lucius then tears the thief's throat with his hand and blood starts gushing from the artery, which stains Lucius as well.
He falls to his knees, trying to cover the artery with his hands.
Of course, he then falls completely to the ground, where he is completely dead.
The blood that flowed from his neck could be faintly heard.
...
The fourth one recovers and looks into Lucius' face.
However, he smashes the last one's head against the wall with his foot, ending the massacre.
Lucius makes his way out of the alley, where he puts his hood back on and covers himself with it.
But before he leaves completely. He turns to the corpses.
He shakes his head and smiles.
He puts on the hood and walks out of the alley.
...
He took the bloody massacre as a welcome gift.
He came for what he wanted.
And then he quietly leaves town again.
His next stop is the capital, where he'll go.
Back to where he started.
The underworld of Itria.
To be continued...