2 Chapter II - Ultio V

Darkness began to swirl and rise from the corpse of Ultio, before coalescing to form a being made of pure darkness. The being was outfitted in light armour formed from the very shadows it was made out of, sort of like a Spandex suit. Around its neck was a scarf that was made from blue energy, just like its skin.

Peeking from underneath the shinks in the armour was an odd, neon blue light- the same as the young man who summoned it's eyes.

The headpiece of the armour was an odd thing that covered its entire head, save for its face and hair, revealing the handsome, youthful features of Ultio- except his skin was made from light blue energy. Extending from the back of the headpiece like a ponytail, was a light blue plume which reached the creature's ankles.

Detecting the young man's presence, the creature immediately went down on one knee respectfully and patiently awaited his master's words.

The young man could sense it in the back of his head that the creature was awaiting a name and was totally under his command, giving him unrestrained and unconditional loyalty.

"Rise... Hermes,"

The creature bowed his head thankfully before rising to its feet.

The young man stared at his shoulder curiously as the tattoo of a Pauldron appeared on his right shoulder. It possessed intricate designs that resembled that of Hermes' armour, however, the most obvious design was a large lion head with red eyes, which was set on the 'cop' of the Pauldron.

"A connection... To my... Shadow," The young man said with a nod. His vocabulary had improved, because after summoning Hermes, he suddenly received all of Ultio's memories.

The young man turned to Hans' corpse, but couldn't find anything, as she had turned into a pile of ash and dust, and had been blown away by the violent winds invading the tent from outside.

The young man shrugged and turned back to Hermes. However, this time, he found a weird panel floating in front of him.

Name: Hermes

Rank: Shadow Soldier

Level: 1

Class: Messenger

Title: None

Strength: 10

Speed: 22

Charisma: 16

Luck: 12

Sprint (B)

Knife Throw (C)

Bare-knuckle Boxing (D)

"Amusing," The young man said with a smirk and kicked the sword Ultio wielded towards Hermes. "Take up your sword. It's time to fight,"

He assumed the last three details on the panel were skills carried over from the shadow's past life, so he was fairly certain that Ultio hadn't been a very strong person in life. As a matter of fact, he remembered that older woman bullying him because of his rank.

At least he wouldn't be totally useless now. The young man did wonder how Hermes had trained such a useless skill like Sprint to the (B) rank. No wonder he was a messenger; his sprint speed would be astonishing. Combined with the fact that his natural speed was twice his strength... He could be quite dangerous if he wielded a proper weapon.

Unfortunately, they weren't in the right position to choose what weapon they would use, so Hermes had to manage the longsword.

"Now, Hermes, let us get ourselves some information," The young man said as his eyes shone brightly.

*****

The soldiers of the Free Empire stationed at the Plains of Nïx were milling around their camp, doing whatever the hells they wanted as they awaited their captain's next orders.

Through the intense blizzard, none of the highly trained soldiers heard, as two of their own were slaughtered right under their noses. Though they weren't to blame; the strong winds did muffle most of the sounds in the air.

Within the Captain's tent, the moans of pleasure coming from more than a few women filled the air.

The Captain, a tall, broad man with thick muscles was steadily pleasing two young maidens he had been 'gifted' with by one of the Dukes of the Free Empire. His tongue licked over and over again as he knelt in front of each of the naked maidens and went to town on their vaginas.

A few minutes later, a young man with long, blue hair entered the tent. He was dressed in thin, steel armour made from High Steel; a sign of his high rank. He saluted the Captain, not bothered by the older man's current actions as he gave a brief report.

"Captain Eide, Sir Barry's army has been successfully wiped out by the Baal Shur army. Although they were pushed back, the Baal Shur army still has a few hundred soldiers and dozens of War Beasts at their disposal, as well as a few mercenaries. What shall our next course of action be?"

Eide lifted his head from the nether regions of one of the maidens and got to his feet. "Well... For one, we can hit them while their down, but that seems to be impossible, as the weather will effectively negate our speed, which would have been efficient in catching up to those retreating dogs," He said as he plopped himself on the bed, along with the two maidens. He was privileged to have a bed in his tent as he was the captain, unlike Hans.

Flashing the young man with blue hair a lazy smile, Eide asked, "What do you think we should do, Sevon?"

The blue haired youth, Sevon, carefully spoke. "We could send our fastest squad out to slowly whittle their numbers down as our main squad moves out to deal the finishing blow,"

Eide furrowed his brows as he thought about Seron's plan. The two maidens on the bed quickly approached him and started taking off his clothes, however he didn't pay them any mind, as he was thinking of how to help his country win this war.

"Get Hans in here for me. I hope she's not humping that youth anymore; she'll ruin that kid's life if this continues," Eide said with a sigh. "She's the only pyromancer that is above Bronze-rank that hadn't been hired by those bloody nobles. We paid five hundred silver to hire her services for this war, knowing the dangers she'll face. Plus... We've known each other since childhood, and I know damn well that she'll have an idea,"

"I shall summon her for you, Captain Eide," Sevon said with a crisp salute.

Eide let out a sigh of lamentation. "Please stop calling me so formally. Your parents will kill me if they hear you speaking to me with so much respects. I'm just a commoner, after all, and you're the successor of the Windhelm family; one of the most powerful noble families in the Empire,"

"You flatter me," Sevon said with a small chuckle, before saluting one more time and leaving.

Eide sighed after Sevon's departure. "That kid... I hope he can rise quickly, I wouldn't mind giving him my title and my skills," He said, before turning back to the maidens, who were growing impatient.

However, less then a second later, a soldier suddenly flew into the tent, all battered and bloody. Or rather, half a soldier flew into the tent.

Eide cursed and rolled off the bed. He snatched his ornate Saber as he sprung to his feet and threw on his breastplate. "Quick, you guys leave the tent the second I step out. Find a carriage and move straight to the Empire. Warn the King of immense danger in the Plains of Nïx," Eide said to the frightened maidens before he ran outside the tent, gripping his sword with white knuckles.

*****

A few minutes prior, Hermes and his master stepped out of Hans' tent.

"Stealth should be our priority until... Until I say otherwise, okay?"

Hermes nodded once in response to his master's question, before brandishing his sword.

"Now go. Begin with the strongest. Quick, straightforward attacks and never stop running for one second. If you get pressured, return to me immediately." The young man said and turned towards the largest tent set up at the center of the camp; the Captain's tent.

He let out a breath and sent Hermes off to begin his slaughter, while he spun the spear in his hands. He had picked a pair of pants from Hans' tent, however, they were suited for a woman, so they were a little tight on him. But fortunately, his slender frame made it possible for him to wear the pants without fear of ripping them.

"Now... It's time for a slaughter-" The young man's words were cut off by the sound of a high pitched scream piercing through the sound of the blizzard. "Oh wow, Hermes has already beat me to it,"

Shrugging, the young man charged at the Captain's tent as he saw a blue haired youth enter. Fortunately, although the Captain's tent was at the center of the camp, it was still far enough from the other tents, that the sound of slaughter couldn't reach the Captain.

"Wonderful," The young man said with a smirk. He couldn't identify the cause of his bloodlust, nor the reason why he felt like he had to kill these people, but the instinct was coming from the back of his head; the same place he had listened to, in order to raise Hermes.

With a powerful dash, the young man displayed inhuman speed and arrived in front of the tent in no time.

A soldier, who was stationed outside the tent saw him and drew his sword while approaching him.

The young man snorted and stabbed the soldier through the gut with his spear. He yanked the spear to the side, splitting a portion of the man's torso. But it was the kick he delivered next that caused the man to fully split in half.

Just as the blue haired youth came out of the tent, the torn upper body of the soldier flew over his head and into the tent.

"Hi there,"

The blue haired youth's eyes widened, but he didn't have to chance to even speak, when someone pushed him out of the way and charged at the young man.

"Who are you?" Captain Eide shouted as he leapt into the air and brought his sword down on the young man.

He frowned slightly at the question and dodged the Captain's attack by leaning to the side.

"I am... Hm... That's odd," The young man said, as he couldn't recall his name. "Well for now, just call me..."

"Ultio V."