Chapter 3 Frothdore

Nealf, now within Johnathan's mind, could only feel the powerful aura of the battle. The landscapes were ripping apart, and the sky was darkening; she began to look around to find the heart of the power and only realized that the power was protruding from the sky. Looking closely, she could see Johnathan floating there, and in front of him was the eleventh nation's artifact. Even with its human-like features, you could tell it was an artifact because of the tattoo around its left eye; even the eyes didn't seem ordinary with its unusual luster of blue, yet it had a similar figure to a young woman with black hair; its armor was comparable to the scales of a dragon. Nealf could feel its aura, crying of rage and bloodlust, yet Johnathan was a mix between rage and sadness. Blood was also dripping from Johnathan's face, showing tears of blood.

Nealf looks back down, scanning her surroundings. She can only find remnants of Frothdore bodies of the innocent. It begins to pain her; she knew many from this nation, and now to find out about it.

She thinks to herself, "What has happened to this hero? What caused the artifact to lose or to attack its nation?"

Something crashes right beside her. She jumps up and begins to fly. Looking down, she sees Johnathan on the ground, slowly standing.

His voice booms through the air, sending out a shockwave, "ELIZA, FIND ANY SURVIVORS AND GET THEM OUT OF HERE!"

The artifact appears in front of Johnathan and goes after his neck with a blade of light; Johnathan then grabs the artifact's arm and slams it into the ground, sending a shockwave that destroys their surroundings. With a long breath, steam leaves his mouth, and his eyes begin to glow; his aura changes into bloodlust. He plans to finish this.

He throws the artifact into the distance and slowly unsheathes his katana; the blade hums with a golden glow. He steps and disappears from Nealf's vision. She looks at where he once stood and sees footsteps engraved into the ground.

A bright light flashes and pierces the sky, and it burns even more radiant as Nealf feels the presence grow of these two fighting for each other's head. Nealf speeds towards the light to see how this is playing out. Even though she knew who won, she had to find out why this memory was playing and what caused his memories to be blocked. As she flies towards the light, she sees where Eliza stands. With the glimpse, Nealf can see that Eliza is injured and trying to help people from the rubble, not even focusing on herself.

Nealf nods to herself, "It's only a memory, nothing else."

This rings through her head; an entire nation has fallen with so much destruction. This hasn't happened in the past thousand years. Yet this man was part of the reason for this destruction.

Arriving at the core of the light, she could see both striking at each other. Johnathan's armor rips off and reforms while the artifact summons beams and weapons of light to fight against this beast. Johnathan screams and pulls his great sword off his back, his armor ripping around his muscles as he swings the sword downward; he is slowly becoming a mindless beast rather than a hero. His aura was only screaming bloodlust, yet there was pain behind all that. It seemed that he had an emotional connection to this artifact.

The tip of the greatsword touches the ground, ripping it open. The gash went on for miles, scaring the land forever.

Nealf thinks, "This is the power of one of the great ten heroes. Only using pure strength and not tapping into his mana is insane. What is he? I knew he was powerful, but this...."

Johnathan slings his sword through the air, causing a shockwave and making the artifact back off. It then begins to hum, and its power increases. It begins to lose its true self and becomes a mindless beast, joining Johnathan.

Johnathan stands tall, shoves his greatsword into the ground, and begins to rip his armor off. This time, it doesn't regenerate on him. His hair flows upward, and pure mana drips off him, burning into the ground. He unsheathes his katana once again. This time, it didn't glow golden but a deep red with a blue edge. His eyes narrow on the artifact, and his tears run down his face.

"Sorry, old friend, and I'm sorry I couldn't save them..." his tone was calm with a growl, but it carried the weight of sorrow.

He steps forward, and the ground crumbles underneath his feet. The artifact summons a spear and darts toward Johnathan, planning to drive it through his heart, stopping it at the last moment; Johnathan holds the spear and snaps it while raising the katana in the air. He swings it and clashes with an invisible barrier, sending a shockwave around them, destroying more of the landscape. In the distance, the rest of the nation's castle begins to fall.

The artifact jumps back and releases a barrage of beams, each hitting Johnathan. Barely even burning Johnathan, it didn't faze his pace toward the artifact. The artifact summons hundreds of thousands of blades in the air, making each one target Johnathan. With a motion of the artifact's hand, the blades quickly drop from the sky, running down Johnathan's chiseled body, some leaving gashes and long cuts while others shatter against his skin. His pace was steady, and his will was set upon ending the artifacts' suffering. It didn't deserve to feel the bloodlust it had and the pain it may feel.

Now standing in front of the artifact, Johnathan looks down at the artifact's face. Tears ran down it, and its bloodlust, still evident, was fluctuating, making its eyes flicker. With its strength waning, it forms a greatsword of a mix of elements. With its remaining power, it runs through Johntahn's chest. Johnathan doesn't budge and slowly reaches down to the artifact's neck. With a swift gesture, he cuts the artifact's hand from the greatsword. He then raises his katana to the artifact's neck and speaks once again,

"I will end your suffering now, Linai." his tone was quiet and soothing.

In a gentle gesture, he cuts off the artifact's head. Then, a blinding light comes from the artifact's body. Humming, it draws energy in and then releases all of its power, exploding.

Instinctively shielding herself, Nealf slowly opens her eyes to see Johnathan lying in a crater, his body partly destroyed.

She hears someone yelling, "JOHN, WHERE ARE YOU?"

She sees a figure in a dark cloak running down the side of the crater, the Figure's voice full of worry. Nealf looks closely to see Eliza running down the cavity toward where Johnathan is lying. She decides that she has seen enough and returns to reality.

She opens her eyes to find Eliza kneeling on the other side of Johnathan, scanning his body and magical essence.

With a cold glint in her eyes, Nealf finally breaks the silence. 'It seems you conveniently overlooked some details about the nation's downfall... and his role in it,' she says, her voice barely concealing the bite of accusation.

Eliza continues to look down, "I didn't have time to get to that part, and I would rather have him by my side before speaking of the events."

Nealf shakes her head, holding back her frustration, "I will say, I only got to see the battle between him and the artifact; I left when you ran down the crater."

Eliza pauses and looks up at Nealf, "So you saw everything that happened?"

Nealf pauses and thinks about her answer, "It seemed that I was placed in the middle of the battle. Your friend here was in the sky fighting the artifact." Nealf looks around, focuses more of her power on the barrier, and speaks to Eliza with a questioning tone, "What do you know of the artifacts? Your friend here seemed sad that he had to kill it and even called it by a name."

Eliza's breath becomes shallow, and she speaks with a dissipating voice, "As you know, each nation has its artifact. The stories are told of them not having emotions and only following the royal bloodline." Eliza pauses and takes a breath, "They lie about them; some of the artifacts over the years had gained a mind of their own. They stay loyal to the royal family because they were created for that."

Nealf stares at her. The stories she has heard of these artifacts were that they are relics of thousands of years ago; nothing could stop them or even survive the onslaught they could bring. Yet, before her, someone that did survive it and had killed such a being. Even the guild logs didn't know these artifacts could gain consciousness. It only held the record of their power and element. Frothdore's artifact was of the dragon element, which gave it the administration of all earthly elements- Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Dark, and Light. That would explain some of its attacks, from the blades in the sky and the beams it used. Yet, if this man or being had taken it out, this would raise him from the ten great heroes to the middle rank of the five lords.

Nealf speaks up from her thoughts, "What more can you tell me of these artifacts?"

Eliza looks her in the eyes, "We have direct connections to the royal families as messengers. We also get a lot of free time around these artifacts, and each one seemed to be holding back emotions." She hesitates, "The one he killed was the first to express itself to us, and he gave it that name. So, you get an idea of why he felt the way he did; it was like a child to him."

Nealf tilts her head, "What of the others? Did they do the same?"

Eliza nods, "Not all of them, but some harbinger evil like the royal blood that runs the kingdom. It takes after them and becomes like them. The one Johnathan had to kill loved its bloodline, and it spent most of its time around the heir." she pauses as her face tears up, "That family... I still can't believe they got to the."

She slams her fist into the ground, "WHY?! WHY THEM?!"

Nealf looks down at Johnathan and waves her hand, "Sleep."

Eliza falls over onto Johnathan. Nealf then stands and waves her hand, making the barrier disappear. She then raises her hand, making the two float behind her.

She asks herself, "What have the two of you done?"