I Wasn’t Aiming At You

Orion stared at the army below with a calm gaze, examining the people to look for any unexpected variables.

His breath was rhythmic and undisturbed as he steps closer to the edge of the stairs and with a small step he begins to plummet to the stone floor.

The soldiers panic and scramble in all directions to make way for the giant's landing. *BOOM* The stone cracked and caved into a small crater when he landed. Smoke rose and Orion stood up slowly with his eye locked onto the two guardians.

The anxious but somewhat calm expressions in the two men's eyes confused Orion but he thought nothing of it in the end.

'Am I missing something?' Orion thought to himself as he scanned the room one more time but found nothing out of place.

Tobias was killed easily simply because he wasn't qualified to become a guardian with his sub par archery and inexperience due to his age.

Tobias became the guardian of the west because he gave full command of his territory and subjects to the crown prince and became a yes-man for the prince to control.

The two men in front of Orion were different, as they have fought in wars since young and became guardians due to their own strength and achievements.

Wether he liked it or not, he had to take this situation seriously.

"Charge!" Jared commanded the soldiers, and without hesitation they all came rushing at Orion. From the corner of his eye he saw a blur but when he turned to look there was just hundreds of soldiers in the way.

From the look in the soldiers eyes Orion could tell these were all veteran and battle hardened soldiers.

Once they reached his range, Orion swiftly charged forward and swung his right arm holding his monstrous long sword.

Some resisted and tried to parry or block the attack with their weapons, but their attempts were all futile.

Once Orion's blade made contact with their weapons and armor, they were cut through cleanly at the neck or chest.

Heads went flying and blood splattered with every step Orion took, only swinging his Tachi in his left hand when somebody got too close or a spear thrust came for his neck.

The soldiers in front couldn't hold out as Orion moved in a straight line towards Riley and Jared's position.

Twenty meters away, Orion felt something approaching him quickly and he shifted his head to the right but an arrow barely nicked his neck, leaving a small cut not even a centimetre long.

"Tch" Jared threw down the heavy crossbow in his hand as he thought he missed his shot, he then unsheathed his golden sword made of a metal that only the royal family posses.

Orion looked at Jared briefly and continued to move forward. Orion ducked as another arrow flew past his head from his right side.

With his legs bent he crossed his arms and catapulted himself forward crashing into the soldiers in front.

With his armor and shell he didn't have to worry about an attack from beside or behind him too much.

Orion cut through flesh and bone as he killed as many soldiers as possible. When he cut through ten soldiers, another ten would fill their positions.

In the end, Orion had to cut through more than seventy percent of the soldiers before he got close to the two guardians.

As Orion quickly approached Riley and Jared, he sheathed his Tachi and held his Nodachi with both hands for the first time.

With a deep breath he swung his sword with both hands cutting through the final soldiers in front of him.

The air pressure following his swing was intense and made the remaining charging soldiers on the sides come to a halt in their movements.

Orion bent down once more and brought the handle of his sword close to his chest. With his right hand on the handle and his left on the butt of it, he thrust his long sword aiming straight at Jared's chest.

Jared didn't move a finger as Riley appeared in front with his gigantic long sword in his hands.

Riley blocked the thrust with the broad side of his sword but was sent flying into the wall behind as he spat a mouthful of blood in the air.

Jared stepped to the side allowing Riley to pass by and got into a fencing stance with his thin, long golden sword.

*BOOM*

The sound of Riley crashing into the wall and Jared's thrust to Orion's eye happened simultaneously.

Orion tilted his head avoiding the thrust and lowered his shoulder to charge at Jared's chest.

Unfortunately Jared jumped and did a front flip over Orion's head landing behind him. Orion didn't stop charging forward as his next target was now the injured Riley that's pulling himself up from the rubble.

Orion covered multiple meters every step as if he was running on wind. Riley could feel the pressure coming his way and swung his long sword horizontally.

Orion dodged his swing and positioned himself on Riley's left side. Orion wound up his leg and delivered a roundhouse kick to Riley's ribs, crushing his armor and puncturing his body with a ruthless kick. The spikes on his heavy boots destroyed his ribs as a loud crack and a spurt of blood came from Riley.

Riley felt like a cannon ball hit his ribs and sent him flying into the air. "DAMN IT" Jared screamed as he was already behind Orion. Jared jumped and aimed at the back of Orion's neck with a thrust of his sword.

Orion turned his body sideways and dodged to the left as if he had eyes in the back of his head and punched Jared square in the chest caving in his shiny armor with his fist. *splat* a mouthful of blood came out of Jared's mouth and landed on Orion's face blinding him for a second.

Orion took a deep breath to feel his surroundings as he tried to wipe the blood out of his eye. 'Hmm?' Orion could feel something strange in his sixth sense that felt like static.

*putchi*

Orion opened his eye as he felt a sharp pain on his right side and looked down to see a man stabbing a sword into his ribs. He was covered in black with a mask of a black skull and red shining eyes.

Blood came out of Orion's mouth and trailed down his neck as his eyes filled with unmeasurable fury. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Orion bellowed with extreme hate as he grabbed the man's head and crushed his skull with his right hand.

Orion's vision began to blur and his knees became week as he finally understood what happened.

By being the strongest guardian Orion would constantly take small doses of different poisons to build up his immunity throughout his life. There were some poisons, however, that he couldn't come across in large enough quantities.

The arrow Jared shot earlier was covered in one of those poisons that wouldn't kill him but it would dull his senses enough for something like this to happen.

The man in black came from an organization that was thought to be wiped out by Orion's father years ago. His father fought against the organization killing most, if not all, of its members.

His father however was killed by a heavy dose of this poison when he fought and killed the head of this organization.

They were called the Shadow Demons since they caused discord and chaos to many countries from the shadows.

The hatred Orion had for these terrorists was his sole purpose of becoming the strongest on the continent.

"How could you collude with such scum?!" Orion yelled as his vision clouded. "Kekekek, thank you for the compliment", an old and creepy voice was heard from the dark doorway leading to the bottom floor.

A hunched old man clad in black robes appeared from the darkness as he slowly walked towards Orion.

"There's no need to worry now. His majesty has become our true sovereign and will lead us to control this world, and we shall assist him from the shadows as best as we can" the old man said as he came closer to Orion.

"DESPICABLE! YOU SHOULD HAVE ALL ROTTEN IN H-" *cough* Orion yelled and coughed up a mouthful of blood as he fell to his knee.

Riley and Jared walked towards him slowly with pale faces writhing in pain. "The short sword lodged into your ribs has the same poison on it that killed your father, you should feel honoured as it's the last of its existence, kekekek."

The old man waved his hand and said, "Finish him, and take everything."

Feeling his consciousness fading, Orion removed the short sword and threw it at the old man in a final attempt at defiance.

The old man however easily dodged the sword causing it to fly past him. "Whoa, how feisty! Kekeke, but not good enough," the old mans face was shrouded in darkness but his malicious smile could still be seen.

"I...wasn't....aiming...at you" *cough* Orion said quietly making the three men turn around to see the short sword wedged into a pillar with multiple cracks on it as the cracks continued to grow in number.

"NO!" The old man screeched, "WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!" But the old man was too late as the pillar collapsed on cue and the whole tower began to rumble.

"SHIT!" Jared was fuming as everyone began to scramble in an attempt to run away in the chaos.

Orion stayed on his knees as he looked up at the crumbling ceiling and begins to ponder on his past. When he closed his eyes slowly he heard something strange. A voice with no emotion sounded in his head clear as day.

[DING]

[SUFFICIENT LIFE FORCE EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN ABSORBED]

[REBOOTING.....]

[DING]

[NEW HOST HAS BEEN SELECTED THROUGH LIFE FORCE EXPERIENCE]

[WARNING! HOST'S VESSEL IS DAMAGED... LIFE FORCE REMAINING.....12%]

[RETURNING VESSEL TO PRIME CONDITION.....

SUCCESS]

[ATTEMPTING TO MERGE]

Orion felt excruciating pain for one last moment as an intense heat could be felt from his chest. It felt like he was being branded by a thick metal pole sending high voltage electric currents through all his nerves and cells.

He began to black out as he heard a final message before the world went black.

[MERGING SUCCESSFUL]

[RETURNING TO OMEGA]