After being cast to the depths of hell just for being born 'wrong,' Lokus was beaten down and trampled upon in its unforgiving lands, where power was everything. And for someone with no power like him? He was stuck at the bottom of the food chain. But his heart burned with a vengeance and a desire to show the world just how big of a mistake it had made in pushing him aside, to make those who had cast him down regret that they had ever looked down upon him. Amidst his suffering, the Phantom Monarch System answered his call for vengeance. Now armed with the opportunity to tear down those who stood above him, he begins his ascent to the top of the world, to cast down the ones who have thrown him away and make them rue the day they had ever thought themselves his betters. His so-called parents? He would show them what it meant to be worthless. The man who had banished him? Lokus would crush him under a torrent of ice. Those who had shunned him, scorned him, hated him? He would repay their hatred back tenfold. During his crusade, the words of a prophecy loom to his back all the while, its words haunting and its fulfillment fast approaching. "Dread thrice-shunned's rise heralds death. Broken kingdoms, shattered bonds, Reducing the waning light to but a distant whisper. Under sin, the daughter births a kindred spirit Tolling the war of void and stars for power nearest. Sinful winter shall clash with righteous sand, Inching towards an eclipse. Death heralds the end, the end heralds the beyond." ........ Readers will learn about the world as Lokus does. However, if you have questions and I deem them okay to answer without spoiling anything, I'll be more than happy to reply. Otherwise, you'll have to wait for Lokus to learn about them. The power system is inspired by both cultivation novels and rpgs, and the world itself by several fantasy books I loved growing up. If you like gritty scenes, systems, no harems, and struggles between good and evil, this might be the story for you.
CLANG! Crash!
Lokus was sent stumbling back by a well-placed push from the woman, narrowly throwing his sword up in time to block what would have been a devastating blow from above.
"Sloppy," the woman remarked disdainfully. She swept his feet out from under him with a leg, then pointed the tip of her sword at his throat when he landed on his back. "Pitiful."
Lokus' masked face looked at the tip of her sword, sweat dripping down his brow and seeping into the gaps under his mask as his breaths came in ragged heaves.
After Allvain's orders, he had been led to one of the sections of that wide open market/sparring area reserved for the latter.
Endalia had discarded her fluttering cloak for the fight, revealing a tight black band that bound her chest and loose-fitting pants that hung low on her hips and billowed around her ankles.