{1} Facing Death!

In an expansive plane far away from any local city, thousands of soldiers all equipped in the finest armour battled for their life with each passing second. The skies seemed to be mourning the loss of the many souls as it had been crying tears heavily for hours now.

The floor was littered with blood, bodies and weapons which were now ownerless as their previous master had long since died. And standing amidst the thousands of pierced lifeless bodies was a lone man panting heavily while staring out across the raging battlefield.

His eyes seemed sharp as they shun with a devilish red, a contrast to his Jett black hair. As for his face although dirty was still without a doubt handsome. He had a sharp jawline and a smallish nose that had a bead of sweat dripping from it. Using his left arm he wiped his face of splattered blood before cutting with his right arm at the closest person to him, mercilessly killing him.

He wasn't sure how many people he had killed to date as now he could take a life without a second thought.

[When will this all end] He thought to himself while releasing a deep sigh. [It's been 12 hours of continuous fighting. What the hell are those elders even doing?] He continued lost in thought.

This man was called Leon, to be more specific Leon Maxwell.

However, after what happened a couple of years ago, nobody dared to call his second name or even his first name, to be honest. Instead, they called him the Bloody Demon.

After taking the throne of the Maxwell dynasty by force he had been in a state of consistent war with the hidden elders of the dynasty. With enemies to the west and the north, eyeing any possible chance to crush their opponent, Leon didn't even know if he could correctly recall how many pointless wars he had carried out.

[It's the same thing every time. Those Elders are too scared to directly face me that they end up just sending tens of thousands of people.]

[This needless fighting, when will it end!]

As if the almighty god in the skies answered his prays, a voice boomed out from behind him. Snapping Leon out of his thoughts.

"Leon Maxwell!"

Leon immediately knew whose voice that belonged to and even though he was struggling to stand up straight right now, he stood up straight and turned with a menacing look in his eyes.

"So you're finally showing yourself, after all, this time huh?" Leon spoke with an ice-cold killing intent that seemed to freeze everything around him.

Leon stared at the approaching people, leading them was an old man. So old in fact one would think that he wouldn't be able to move. He was covered in wrinkles and looked like aged bark on a grand oak tree. Still, he floated slightly in the air before landing on the open floor 15 meters away from Leon.

In his right hand, he held a cane as support and his left hand was tucked behind his back. He had an old white beard that fell to his chest, it maintained a clear white and was very well looked after.

Still, Leon looked on towards the old man with eyes that wished to obliterate his soul.

"Leon for your crimes against the Maxwell dynasty, we elders have decided to remove you from this world! Do you accept your crimes?" He bellowed out with an authoritative tone as if he was educating a young teen.

It was clear as day that he didn't place Leon in his eyes from start to finish.

"Do I accept my crimes?" Leon scoffed in anger as the vein on his head bulged, "DO I ACCEPT MY CRIMES?...." He repeated the old man's words once more but louder this time. If Leon was a volcano right now, well let's just say he erupted.

"You really are outrageously shameless. Daring, to question me about crimes? You of all people talking about crimes! Hahaha!" Leon laughed somewhat like a maniac as he was consumed by anger. Still, the old man stayed silent and just stared at Leon with silent eyes.

A few moments later after Leon had finished his laughing spree, he calmed slightly enough to talk more and spoke once more. "Tell me, old man, what do all of you elders get from playing your games with the lives of the people of the dynasty?"

"Are you purposefully trying to turn the capital into the East?" Leon's word's shocked the elders slightly as they didn't expect him to ask such a question at such a time.

The old man sighed deeply and released a breath, "The Maxwell dynasty used to be incredible before my useless son took over. We won the war with the neighbouring Empire in the East and conquered their land but ahh. What can you do? I was injured in my final battle and until not too long ago I didn't see any way to change that..."

Leon was even more confused by what the old man was saying. Just staying silent he readied his sword for the approaching battle.

"However, a few years ago I found a way to recover my strength from taking the souls of the dead and by using that energy to heal my injuries... The Maxwell Dynasty will reign supreme once more!!!"

Leon's eyes widened in shock at those words. "BLACK MAGIC?!" He shouted unable to stop himself from interrupting the old man.

"Hahaha!" The old man gave a subtle laugh at Leon's antics.

Black magic was something heavily unfavoured as the devil's medium. Only people who were insane would voluntarily turn to black magic for strength. It was the practice of using the souls of the dead and death energy to manipulate the world around you. It was the direct opposite of the normal route of using Mana to gain strength and the second you started, nature would mark you and your entire bloodline as enemies to the world. It was basically placing a curse on yourself for power.

"Well enough chitchat!" The old man spoke out, "It's time for you to die!"

Immediately the old man gathered the souls from across the entire battlefield and channelled them to him. Fogs of deathly black soon began to conjure as they were then shaped into hundreds of sharp, piercing swords.

Leon seeing the scene play out in front of him gulped, [This doesn't look good! I need to attack before he can release that attack!]

Kicking from the floor he lifted the sword in his hand and dashed toward the elders in front of him. His body was lowered slightly as he readied himself for anything.

"SHIELD THE ANCESTOR!" The elders around the old man shouted before dashing towards Leon. Some were mages and others were knights like Leon himself.

Leon seeing the abundance of attacks heading his way chose to carry on forward. He gritted his teeth and steeled his resolve as he screamed out, "This all ends today!"

Leon dodged and evaded efficiently as the control of his body was top notch. It was obvious he had a vast amount of experience in fighting in disadvantageous situations. Without the nerves conquering him, he sliced at a nearby elder, plunging his sword into his chest before changing direction effortlessly, dipping his left shoulder quickly to avoid a follow-up attack. The sound of wind tearing flooded his left ear as a Mana bolt whistled with great velocity past him.

[1 down, and 11 to go!] Leon childishly thought as he smiled like a battle maniac.

However, his thoughts of winning were abruptly interrupted by a shout coming from the Ancestor. "Move, I'm ready!" He commanded sternly. The other elders soon listened as they back away from Leon with a look in their eyes of victory.

As for Leon, he didn't know what was going to happen but he looked at the old man that was now covered by darkness as if he was the grim reaper himself. He chanted nonsense that he couldn't make out like he was some kind of warlock.

"Hkaaafhajofnpa!"

In the next moment, a beam of darkness shot out from the old man and pierced Leon's chest. It was so quick that it travelled at the speed of light. There was literally no way Leon could have dodged that attack.

[Huh?] Questions rained down upon Leon as he fell to the floor in anguish. His mind was being overcome by many screams and shouts of the dead and his entire skeleton jolted in his body like it wanted to tear his skin apart and run away.

"Arrrrrrrrrhhhhhhh!!!" He was unable to hold in his screams of pain as blood soon leaked from every pore in his body. His eyes, mouth, ears, even the several cuts that were beginning to stop from his previous battles.

The old man seeing Leon's pain showed a cold smile, "Leon, things could have turned out completely different if you had just listened to our words from the start!"

"Since you're going to die today anyway, I'll tell you a story to send you off!"

"A story of your beloved sister, Rosie Maxwell!" The old man's smile seemed to grow larger mentioning the name of Leon's sister. He knew Leon's love for his sister was the only thing in this world that could possibly turn him crazy.

Leon hearing the old man's words started listening even despite the absurd amount of pain he was currently enduring. His eyes showed an unrivalled amount of fury as he had always wanted to understand what happened to his sister. It was a lifelong regret not being able to protect her.

"Your sister met her painful death a bit like yours currently... She was such a pain until the end, always peeking her nose into business that she shouldn't have... All to find her long lost little brother." Continuing the old man didn't bother missing anything out. "It was ordered from the elders of course. However, your second brother did enjoy it and truthfully even I was creeped out at his many ways of torture. I believe her final words were 'Don't touch my brother, he's done nothing wrong!'"

"Always pleading for us to leave you alone... How stupid!" The old man was openly ridiculed.

Leon's eyes showed a stream of tears at his inability to protect his sister as he dug his fingers into the bloody soil.

"Well, sleep tight!" The old man laughed as he picked up a sword from Leon's hands and pierced it into his chest, maintaining his eyes locked onto Leon the entire time.

[So this is it, I die with a single regret! I should have protected my sister!]

Before long his consciousness plunged into the black abyss.