Purple And Blue

Overwhelming darkness enveloped the entire war zone. It became an advantage for creatures that were living their lives in the shadows. Elves and magicians did their best to cast a light spell to illuminate their surroundings, but that was to no avail; even the largest and brightest fireball they can produce did not give them vision.

This phenomenon made the allied force restless. They felt trapped in a world of nothingness. Fear consumed their hearts, affecting their mentality. Their senses became numb, and unintended friendly fire started to occur.

After a while, pillars of flame rose on the battlefield, and countless demons were caught in the sudden surge of burning lava.

Then a thunderous roar was heard from above. "Don't get fooled by this trick; strengthen your will and focus your mind. Do not let your fears control you."

The Dragon King appeared to give his support.

"Salamander, what are you doing here? What happened to the Demon King?" questioned a green dragon.

"The old man was on the move. I was tasked with finishing the situation here," Salamander replied.

Salamander roared once more, and it attracted all the mindless demons. His claws tore all the approaching enemies apart while the others were turned to ashes. Dead bodies from demons started to pile up. The Dragon King's arrival gave security to the soldiers. And they got accustomed to it as time went on, fighting in the dark.

Demons who'd seen this scenario started to lose their momentum. Some of them knew how Salamander, the King of Dragons, brutally killed the Orc Lord, one of the Four Darkness Generals. Then, those who still had their consciousness intact fell back from the battlefield, and this act gave a near-end conclusion.

Little did they know that the being they feared so much had been trashed in strength by their King a moment ago.

. . . .

Behind the castle walls, Ren and Anelia continued their dance with each other. Ren, with his willpower, managed to pass Anelia's overwhelming defense in time. With the tip of his sword, he barely made a small cut on the vampire's right cheek, but red smoke rose from it, and it healed in less than a second.

"Well, at least, I'm improving. A little progress is still progress," Ren thought.

Anelia jumped backwards after that close encounter with Ren. She felt fear for her life, if she didn't manage to move her head in time, a simple cut wouldn't be the one she would get. Though she healed it for now, she could not do this every time without sipping blood.

'Who is this man?' She thought.  She attacked him a hundred times, and his armor was now blown to pieces. And yet, no matter how many times he fell, he climbed up and plunged at her. She looked at the sky and saw Cinhard, who was battling four enemies. She wanted to go up there and help her king deal with those people, but she knew how strong Cinhard was. The best support she could provide was to kill the man in front of her. Therefore, she bit her right hand and sucked her blood.

Ren, who saw that scene, lounged right away at the Vampire Queen, but she released a shockwave that threw him away. He knew what Anelia did very well. High-ranking vampires consumed their blood, sacrificing their regenerative abilities to obtain a sudden boost in physical capabilities. They transformed from elegant nobles into berserk fighters. Due to Cinhard's domain, Ren couldn't see well; he was just hanging due to the help of his enhanced eyesight. He scanned his surroundings to see where Anelia was when he felt a sudden pain in his abdomen.

The next second, he found himself lying on the ground; his head got smacked, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. When he tried to stand, a heavy kick landed on his face. He tumbled upwards, and his body formed an arc before he slammed into a post. After that, a black-haired woman raised him by pulling some strands of his hair. His face and body were now in a complete mess. His nose and mouth, even his ear, were covered in blood. Yet he still thrust his sword at the silhouette in front of him.

Anelia saw the sword that was going straight for her chest. But she didn't evade. The sword traveled along its trajectory but couldn't pierce her. The attack was a hollow one.

"At least, your courage is commendable," Anelia said before she punched Ren once more.

Ren's mind went blank due to the punch that Anelia gave him. His eyes closed, but he never let go of his sword. Anelia looked at his nape, and her fangs grew longer. She bent down while still holding Ren by his hair. She was pleased by the outcome of the fight, and she wanted to kill Ren by sucking him dry, but when she was supposed to take a bite. A spear made of lightning was thrown between her and Ren. She pulled Ren away before she evaded the attack, like a child who wouldn't let go of her newfound toy. She ran backwards while holding Ren by his hair to avoid the rain of lightning spears.

"Let him go, you blood-sucking demon," Calix shouted with anger while chasing Anelia. He produced a massive bolt of lightning and then threw it at her.

Anelia made several human-sized black orbs to slow down the lightning bolt thrown by Calix while getting away from him. The time limit for her blood sacrifice was getting near, and she couldn't face Calix after that because of the backlash from consuming her blood.

She looked at Cinhard, but his hands were tied at the moment. He was locked in an extreme battle with the Human Emperor and two others. She ran away into the woods to hide from Calix when she saw an undead army marching out of the swamp. And a smile blossomed from her lips.

"As I thought, you were alive after all, Cadaver," she shouted while running towards the marching army of bones. But the undead knights attacked her as soon as she approached them. Extreme shock was written all over her face. She managed to dodge, but a spear of lightning struck her in the back. It made her immobile for a second. And the next moment, two undead knights thrust their swords into her chest, giving her extreme pain. She dropped Ren and tried to free herself by sending shockwaves to the knights, but a huge magic circle appeared below her, sealing all of her abilities. Afterwards, roots emerged upwards, and wrapped her hands and feet to prevent her from escaping.

"Bastard, Cadaver, why are you doing this?" She asked, full of hatred. Then a man whose face was covered in stitches walked out from the sea of undead. He was dressed in a hooded black robe, and if you looked closely, you would have noticed that his eye sockets were empty. He had a wooden staff with three skulls lined up from the top down to the shaft. Each skull's eye emitted lights of three different colors: black at the very top, red in the middle, and blue at the bottom. He was one of the Four Darkness Generals—the Undead Summoner of the West—who they thought was dead due to a sudden loss of contact a few months ago.

"Anelia, Anelia, Anelia, this is a revolution, my dear. It's time to change the ruler of this place. And it will be my pleasure if you will pledge your loyalty to me," the man said while caressing Anelia's face. 

"I won't bow down to anyone other than Cinhard," Anelia replied, then she spat in Cadaver's direction. Due to this, Cadaver slapped her with fury.

Calix, who was chasing Anelia, arrived the moment before this happened. And he continued to observe as the death knights retracted their swords, which made the vampire growl in pain.

"One last chance, Anelia, be mine, and I will save you from this; you will still be the queen, and I," Cadaver paused for a second then laughed before he continued, "the king."

Anelia wanted to kill the man who was laughing in front of her, but she couldn't do a thing. Tears started to form in the corner of her eyes, not because of the pain she felt but for the reason that she wouldn't be seeing Cinhard again.

"Cinhard will kill you, traitor," Anelia whispered with a smile on her face while tears silently flowed down her cheeks.

"You bitch," Cadaver said, then he slapped Anelia once again due to irritation. He walked back to the sea of undead, and one of the knights stepped closer to Anelia and stabbed her chest. The pain that she felt slowly faded away as her crimson-red eyes started to dim and closed for eternity.

Calix, who witnessed this scene, picked up the unconscious Ren and watched as the undead dragged the Vampire Queen's lifeless body back to the castle.

'I hope that we are right about the choice we've made,' he thought while he walked behind the army of bones.

. . . . .

On the outskirts of a certain kingdom in the Embercrown Empire, a white-haired young woman was standing next to a window. She was staring in the direction of the Forest of Nightmares when her black eyes suddenly turned into a crimson-red hue.

. . . . .

After Calix left the battle above the castle, purple and blue flames began to clash with each other. Augustus Embercrown VI, the Blazing Plum Phoenix, was the current Emperor of the entire human race. He charged at Cinhard again and threw a burning straight punch to the Demon King's face.

Cinhard did not wait for the emperor's fist, instead, he welcomed the attack by doing the same thing. Their fists collided and produced a massive shockwave in the atmosphere. Then with his left hand, he hacked the Emperor's side with his blade, but Augustus parried it with a simple tap of his palm and clenched his fist to aim for the Demon King's abdomen. Cinhard stopped the attack by holding the Emperor's arm before it reached him. Once again, he burst his blue flames with the idea of burning the arm of the emperor, but just like what happened a few moments before, the emperor ignored the sudden blast of blue flames and punched him again.

"As I thought, even my flame can't do a single thing to you," Cinhard said after evading the emperor's fist.

"I'm the manifestation of flame itself. You can't use it against me; that is my Legacy," Augustus replied before he kicked Cinhard's side.

"No need to tell me; I already figured that much. But for you to declare your very own Legacy, you sure are confident, aren't you?" Cinhard asked while continuously dodging the emperor's attack.

Augustus didn't reply to Cinhard's provocation; instead, circlets of flame suddenly enveloped his arms, and all of his punches became much faster and fiercer, but Cinhard managed to dodge all the attacks, and he even performed counterattacks when an arrow passed through him within a hair's breadth.

"Do not forget about us," the elven prince said while aiming his next shot.

Cinhard stepped in the air and vanished from the emperor's field of vision, and then a hand grasped the elf's head from behind.

"Of course not; I did not forget about you; I just think that you're not worthy enough of my attention," Cinhard said after his figure appeared at the back of the elf.

The elven prince let go of his bow and put all of his strength into his arm, yanking the hand away from him. But Cinhard's grip did not even budge.

A ball of water was immediately thrown at Cinhard by Kizhaia while the old man was furiously running and shooting flames in his and the elf prince's direction, but the Demon King didn't even pay attention to their attacks as a curtain of flame appeared, encircled the two men, and negated all of the incoming projectiles.

"Let him go, Cinhard," Kizhaia begged from afar.

"The moment you stepped on this land, you should at least prepare yourself to die," Cinhard said before he clenched his fist.

The elf shouted in agony before his head had been crushed into tiny particles of flesh and bones. Blood splattered on Cinhard's face and clothes. Even the elf's brain turned into mincemeat.

But the Demon King seemed not to be that content with the result of his action when, in the next second, he set the young elf's body on fire.

The elven prince had been turned into ashes the moment the Emperor arrived. He threw a blazing punch but got blocked by the burning sword. Then, Cinhard, who was now drenched in blood, disappeared once more from his eyes.

. . . . .