The Unstoppable Force

It is a sunny day. The golden sunlight beams down on the world below. Myleth, only five at the time, was visiting the Lenon Grand Fountain on the main street. Those wealthy enough will usually take the time to visit this tourist destination every summer. The tourist destination bought lots of money to the town, and lucky street vendors who got the chance to place their carts near the fountain were rewarded dearly. Myleth runs in front of his family, his teenage brother following him at a similar pace. His parents walk fast enough to keep up with the two but are too embarrassed to run.

Through the crowd of people, Myleth manages to reach the fountain itself. In the center of the fountain, a white-marble statue of the legendary Hilirith stands tall. Myleth immediately recognizes him from the stories told in school.

"Oh! It's him, Jonah!" Myleth says to his older brother.

"What exactly do you know about that man?" Myleth's older brother asks.

"Hilrith was a human who worshiped God, preaching his word so well that he was one day given powerful magic. He was able to do cool things with that power from God too. One day, a group of evil people called The Soulless Movement For Freedom attempted an all-out takeover of Lenon. He died for us, fighting in this very fountain. He used the last of his life to drive out the devil worshipers." Myleth says.

Jonah looks down at his little brother in disappointment.

"Myleth... you know that story is..."

Myleth and Jonah's father places his hand on Jonah's shoulder. Jonah looks up at his father to see him shaking his head.

"He's too young." their father whispers into Jonah's ear.

"My teacher said that if you put you touch the water, God will bless you with good luck," Myleth says enthusiastically as he rolls up his sleeve and plants his entire arm into the fountain.

A great fuss can then be heard among the crowd as a hooded man pushes through. An angel flies over the crowd, staring down at the man. The angel swoops down and lifts the man a few feet above the crowd, before throwing him into the fountain. The man lies in defeat in the fountain, accepting his fate. The angel lands a few feet away, unsheathing its blade. Myleth gets a headache from the power that radiates off the angel. The angel takes slow steps toward the man. The crowd watches, knowing that there is nothing they can do to stop the man from dying. As Myleth realizes an execution is about to take place, he rushes out in front of the man. He moves too quickly for his family to stop him. He holds his arms out to his side, using himself as a shield.

"Wait! Please don't kill him!" Myleth shouts.

The angel walks up to Myleth, the sheer amount of pain being unleashed on Myleth's head being more than he's ever had to bare. It's almost enough to break any child. Myleth stares up at the angel as if it is a titan. Absolutely nothing he could do could possibly stop this angel.

"Boy. Do you understand that this man stole? He is a thief, his value being even less than most of you lowly humans. Now step aside so that I may cleanse him in the lord's name." the angel says.

"Myleth! Come back!" His mother shouts.

Myleth's father nervously thinks about what to do in this situation.

"He sinned? But what did he steal? Why would he steal if God said not to?" He asks. Myleth turns around to see a loaf of bread beside the man. "Wait. But he stole to eat. Why is that bad?"

"It's not what he stole. It's that he stole. Now move, before I move you."

Myleth's headache hurts his head more than the act of staring into the sun itself, yet Myleth perseveres as his nose begins to bleed.

"Mighty one! But this man does not deserve to die!"

The angel then kneels down to Myleth, putting its hands on Myleth's face. It grips Myleth by the jaw and cheeks, pointing Myleth's gaze directly into its eyes.

"You, a human, shall not question God's authority if you want to live to an old age." the angel says. The angel then throws Myleth by the jaw and into the fountain water. It then walks over to the man who lies defeated in the water.

Myleth's father runs over to Myleth, picking him up and rushing back over to the crowd. As the two run away, Myleth gazes upon the angel. The angel takes his blade and slices it across the thief's stomach. The blood splatters onto some people in the crowd and blood leaks from his body and into the water. Myleth's eyes stretch open in shock. He's never witnessed a murder before. The angel then swings his blade through the man's face. As his blade leaves the skin and swings through the air, blood splatters onto the statue of Hilirith. As Myleth and his family leave the scene, the graphic display of blood staining the statue of his hero is etched into his mind.

Presently, the soulless student is slowly drowning him in the same fountain where Myleth witnessed his first murder. His eyes aren't like the soulless ones from earlier. Most soulless have lifeless eyes, devoid of humanity from years of smoking ordas. This man's eyes are pure red as if they're full of rage. The ordas didn't drain him of his humanity but rather set him more in tune with his more primal instincts. The man is also more competent than his colleagues from earlier. Within seconds of Myleth summoning the black wings warrior, the man targeted Myleth immediately. He then pinned Myleth into the fountain, where he lies restrained now. He had attacked the user as if he knew it would cancel out the summon and leave the summoner offenseless. He holds Myleth's head in the water by the hair with his arm made of midnight energy. Myleth takes his dagger and attempts to swing it behind him, only to find that the penetrable parts of the man's body are too far for him to reach in his position.

"It's ok, boy. Just lie still and let the water enter your lungs. A man's life shouldn't end in resistance." The soulless man says.

The taunt comes to Myleth as muffles through the water.

'The way he handled my black wings in seconds was insane. How'd he know to attack the user?' Myleth thinks to himself.

Myleth thinks of Crosith. She bleeds out feet away from the two. Without the healing elixirs, she will pass in minutes from her wounds. Myleth then focuses his energy on his blade in one last-ditch effort. The sigil appears on his dagger, lighting up the fountain with its energy. The warrior then materializes in front of Myleth.

The man doesn't even attempt to defend himself from the warrior.

Myleth tries to control the warrior, having him swing his blade at the man. He then finds that it's impossible to control his black wings warrior without it being in his sight.

'What the hell! It's like this guy knows more about the black wings than I do!' Myleth thinks.

The black wings warrior fades away as Myleth slowly begins to lose consciousness.

'I need to...'

'I need to fight!'

'Fight...'

'Dirty'

With the last of his energy, Myleth swings his right leg backward in an upward ax-swinging motion. The heel of his shoe hits the man in his private area. Myleth can barely hear through the water, but the man sounds like he lets out a grunt of pain. The man, armorless, loosens his grip on Myleth's hair. Myleth then uses this opportunity to slip his head out of the water and gasp for air.

As Myleth emerges, he makes eye contact with the man as he stumbles back. Myleth then bolts towards the soulless man, dagger in hand. Myleth swings his dagger towards the man's face only for the man to take a leap back, creating a gap between the two.

Myleth summons his black wing as the man creates a longsword out of midnight energy.

The black wings warrior launches itself at the man, their blades kissing.

"You remind me of myself when I was young, kid." the man shouts.

Myleth ignores the man, prompting the warrior to launch a heavy kick into the man's stomach. The man loses his balance, his longsword slipping off the warrior's claymore. The warrior then swiftly lifts his claymore into the air, preparing for an execution. Myleth commands the warrior to drop its blade, the man rolling out of the way of the attack. As the warrior goes to pick its claymore back up, it finds that its claymore has grown too heavy. The man then runs, jumping on and leaping off the top of the warrior's claymore. The man then leaps off of the warrior's head, swinging his blade down on Myleth. Myleth leaps backward and into the fountain. The man lands on the ground, looking up at Myleth. He then rushes in towards Myleth, the warrior following close behind him.

'This kid shows promise. Still, I must cut him down if I ever want to get my revenge.' The man thinks to himself.

He swings his blade at Myleth, the warrior catching his blade in midair. The man jumps, launching his legs into the warrior's chest and simultaneously dissolving his longsword. The kick launches the man towards Myleth. He tackles Myleth before he can do anything to defend himself. He pins Myleth into the water, luring his human arm back. He then launches it into Myleth's face and knocks it beneath the water. As Myleth comes back up for air, he hits him with the same arm again. He repeatedly does this, refusing to let Myleth breathe. With each punch, he further establishes that he is an unstoppable force.

The man then cocks back his arm of midnight energy. He launches his fist into Myleth's face, the punch being the strongest punch Myleth has ever felt in his years of streetfighting. Blood immediately flows from Myleth's nose and mouth.

Myleth spits blood onto the man's face. The act strikes the man for a moment as if it wasn't the first time he'd seen something like it. Myleth then spits blood again, hitting the man in his eyes. This temporarily blinds the man, Myleth headbutting him as he attempts to regain his sight. This knocks the man backward and off of Myleth.

The man begins to splash water into his eyes. Myleth takes his dagger and positions it over the man. He drives his dagger towards the man's head but then stops himself. He holds the blade suspended in the air, hesitating to finish the job.

'It's a human life. I've never had to...' Myleth thinks to himself.

Myleth then runs off. As Myleth runs off, the man continues to attempt to clean his eyes. Through the chaos, he takes a second from cleaning his eyes and wipes some of Myleth's blood off his face. He then licks the blood off his finger as a smile stretches across his face. He cracks his neck as a euphoric feeling rushes over him. He then attempts to get a hold of himself.

'No. If I kill him, I can't enjoy it.' the man thinks to himself.

The man thinks of his daily dosage of ordas and how high it is. He then thinks about a man. The man wore a set of armor that wasn't of this earth. The armor set was almost demonic in nature. No, the man himself was. As he met the man, despite only being a teenager at the time, he could tell who the man was by the energy that poured off him. As the ceremony concluded, the man took his arm. What disturbs him the most, is that the man in armor shares the same eyes that he has now.

'I can't let that part of me win! I can't let him take me!' the man thinks to himself as he spits Myleth's blood out his mouth.

Myleth reaches into the front of the wreckage and grabs a small bag with potions sticking out of it. Myleth wraps the bag around his shoulder and rushes towards Crosith. He reaches Crosith, who lies on the ground and hurryingly pours a green elixir into her mouth.

Crosith feels the energy rushing back into her body and the pain being numbed as she takes a breath of air. She takes a glance at the fountain, to see that the man from before has disappeared.

"He's gone. Where the fuck did he go?" Crosith asks.

Myleth looks over at the fountain.

"Slippery bastard," Myleth says.

The man appears behind Myleth, his footsteps not bringing a sound. Just one of the many perks of being a soulless student.

Crosith pushes Myleth to the side, immediately rushing in to attack the man. She unsheathes a knife from her boot, throwing it at the man. The man swings his longsword, knocking the knife out of the air. Crosith doesn't take any time in closing the gap between them as he takes the time to recover his blade from that swing. She drop-kicks the man in the face, his body flying back from the force. His body slams against the ground. He quickly rolls back and recovers.

Crosith's body bounces back from the force, her doing a flip and her feet landing on the ground. As her feet land, a sigil glows on her boot and she launches into the air, back toward the man. She then unsheathes a dagger from inside of her cloak, the two's blades meeting.

Myleth watches the exchange, their blades meeting in battle. As the two dance, Crosith is barely able to keep up as the man is a soulless student. Still, through years of encounters with soulless, she manages. As the two fight and Crosith manages to keep up with the taxing draw of fighting the adept fighter, a question hits Myleth. Something that Myleth hasn't really thought about up until this point. Something that makes him question the sanity of his new confidant as a whole.

'Just how many fucking people has this lady killed.' Myleth thinks to himself. I mean. She has a collection of sigils. You're only born with one, so just how many sigil users has she cut down in this mission? And not to mention how skilled she is at fighting. A fighter that experienced is no saint.

'This woman. Just who am I working with exactly?'

Myleth then hears a growl in the distance, before seeing the wolf from earlier launch itself out at Crosith in the middle of her and the man's exchange. Myleth is quick to summon his black wings. The black wings warrior plants his blade in the ground, catching the hound by its teeth. The warrior then knocks the wolf on the head with just enough force to knock it unconscious. The warrior then picks its blade back up and rushes into battle with the man.

The warrior swings his claymore at the man, the man catching it with his arm. The man then jumps up, kicking the warrior in the face. The warrior falls back, letting go of his claymore. The man then wields the claymore with his midnight hand and his midnight sword with his human hand.

'But as it goes on, I can feel it. The bloodlust rushing over me. I'm enjoying this.' The man thinks to himself.

The warrior then jumps back up and runs towards the man. The man swings his blades sideways at the warrior, the warrior ducking beneath the swipe with barely any breathing room.

The warrior then punches the man in the stomach, the man coughing up black blood onto the warrior's armor. As the man falls to the ground, the black blood begins to slowly dissolve the warrior's gauntlets.

As the man hits the ground, he rolls back and swings his blade across the warrior's hands. Defenseless, the warrior's hands are cut clean off. As the blade goes through the warrior's hands, the warrior manages to kick the man in the left side of his abdomen. The kick launches the warrior to the ground, leaving him gasping for air.

Crosith rushes in to finish the man off in his weakened state, but the same wolf from earlier gets back up and starts to rush towards Crosith. Crosith stares down the wolf, and without hesitation, without a second thought, she takes another knife out of her boot and throws it into the wolf's mouth. The wolf stops in its tracks, falling over and groveling in its pain. Crosith walks up to the wolf, looking it in the eyes. She then stares Myleth in the eyes as she drives her dagger into the wolf's head. The blood of the wolf splatters over her face and clothes. Her eyes are cold, and she looks at Myleth and says one thing.

"You don't spare an enemy, Myleth. It's a sign of weakness. When you get them down, make sure you finish the job."

A few golden lights begin to shine through the fog in the sky.

'Dammit. They're here!' Crosith thinks to herself.

The man then stands back up, still holding both his midnight sword and Myleth's claymore. He slides an ordas blunt into his mouth as a lustful smile stretches across his face.

"Come get me, you ugly bastards. Here, I, an agent of Lucifer stand. I'm a filthy heretic, so hurry up. Come on, so I can cut you down." the man enthusiastically shouts at the top of his lungs.

'That asshole. He's giving away our position.' Crosith thinks. She then looks into his eyes. The look in his eyes from before is more intense, his eyes bloodshot and his pupils redder than before. 'Wait. He doesn't even seem to care about us right now. It's like he just wants blood. Anyone's blood. Those angels are just a bigger target. What he's doing is suicidal!' Crosith thinks.

Crosith then shoots a look at Myleth before running in the direction of the town's exit.

As Crosith runs, Myleth thinks of the blood on Crosith's face. Myleth then runs over to the corpse of the wolf. Life is barely in the dog's eyes, it slowly dying.

'She...is Crosith a monster? Will working with her make me a monster?' Myleth thinks to himself.

The wolf lets out one last shrivel, followed by a weak whimper.

"Hurry!" Crosith shouts.

Myleth then looks into the dog's fading eyes for a few more seconds, before looking up at the angel's golden glow. The glow makes him think of his impotence to save the man in the fountain. It makes him think about how the story of Hilrith was a lie and how he later found out in life that God was incapable of loving a human. He thinks of his family's impotence when they were raided and struck down by an angel for helping the rebellion. Then, as the glow slowly descends, he thinks of the crow. The crow that's been watching him. Myleth then turns to Crosith and runs after her, the thought of the dog still bothering him, but the thought of the crow bothering him more.