Shambled Town

"The blood-sun is… gone?"

Cole asked aloud, his breath forming a small fog that dissipated quickly.

'Suddenly, it feels more chilly than it's supposed to be…' Once the biting cold hit his skin, Cole realized that the sky was grim, clouded, and gray.

"Was everything I saw and went through an illusion…?" Gaining a flicker of hope, Cole quickly dismissed it after seeing the planted blade of his sword against the ground.

"Kgha?!"

Instantly, a stabbing sensation behind Cole's eye rose, as if a hole was being drilled through his very skull.

"What the hell!?" 

Grunting and cursing in pain, Cole quickly picked himself up, noticing that the vision in his left eye was rather hazy.

Shaking his head, he didn't dwell further on it considering a whole batch of thick, blood-boiling, sort of liquid came into contact with his bare eye.

"I wonder what happened during the time I was blacked out…" Trailing off and sheathing his sword, Cole began to make his way back to Elyndor which was a ten-minute jog from the forest.

Quickening his steps through the rough forest human-carved roads, Cole managed to exit it, running through the grasslands quicker and quicker as the smell of ash entered his nose.

'Something must be burning…'

Reaching such a conclusion, he felt a slight bit of relief when the gates of Elyndor came in sight… 

"There are no gates?" 

"No, more like, they've been destroyed…"

Reaching an answer, Cole slowed his steps gradually, trying to rationalize his thought processes alongside the deep breaths he took to relax before reaching the town.

'Almost there.' 

Taking orders from his inner voice, Cole proceeded to move towards the shattered wall, hiding behind the rubble so he could scan the area before moving in.

As soon as he found an appropriate position, Cole peeked on the right side of the wall, focusing on the scenery before him.

'Oh, for fuck sake!'

What lay before him, was pure destruction.

Buildings were demolished, dead bodies were scattered everywhere, and then there was…

'Is that a severed limb of a monster?'

Taking notice of a grotesque appendage, Cole quickly switched his position and vigilantly began striding towards the dark and furry body part.

"What type of monster has such a huge arm?" 

Unbelieving towards the severed piece of meat with still fresh blood seeping out of the cut, Cole couldn't help but ask such questions aloud.

'Did the hidden monsters act up in panic once that blood thingy appeared—?!'

Boom!

A loud detonation was heard from afar.

"What was that?" 

Quickly breaking through the battered streets of Elyndor, Cole couldn't help but notice how weary the structures really seemed, as if a major amount of time had passed while he was consumed by that darkness inside the forest.

"Hmph!" Hopping over half-destroyed walls with his refined body, Cole was able to finally make out some voices and crashes.

Bam!

Ting!

Clang!

It was a noise he had grown alongside his life, and so, he recognized it immediately.

"Definitely Swords, and maybe… magic?"

His eyes jumping around in his sockets, studying the area quickly halted once they took notice of a monster as big as a casual house.

Fwo~

With a whip, Cole's feet skidded to a halt and he quickly repositioned after a ruined house, further investigating the roaring monster.

'So it was that one whose arm was cut off at the entrance of Elyndor, huh?'

'Wait, I need to go up that pile to get a better look—?'

As Cole climbed above the hurdle of shattered concrete, he was met with a sight he had never witnessed before.

Fwoom~

Ka-poof!

"Groaargh!"

A spectacle of light, as if purely composed solely for him developed on the opening, formerly the plaza of the town.

'It's… beautiful?' 

Dumbstruck, Cole couldn't even do anything as he gazed upon the show.

An emerald green blade of wind.

A flame akin to pure rubies.

A water blade similar to never-seen sapphires.

An icicle similar to the once-in-a-few-years snow that fell upon Elyndor, or rather, Cole's hair.

"Kirryagh!"

With a screech, the giant monster with reptilian skin, six red-glowing eyes, four centaur limbs, and four other human-like appendages on his upper body, released a dark flame through its maws that opened unnaturally wide.

"Be careful, it's attacking!"

The one who wielded the beautiful wind blades gracefully, a woman, a young lady yelled out to her party members as she flew through the air like a bolt, quickly getting out of that monster's sight.

"No need to tell us!" 

A man with average looks, but astounding confidence, quickly sheathed his huge blade as he jumped backwards, scanning the area purposefully as he skillfully managed to parkour through his obstacles.

'He's a trained man— no, they all are.' Cole thought to himself, immersed in the show that was occurring right in front of him, and then—

Feeling a scream in his direction, Cole finally broke out of his trance.

"—hite haired, watch out!"

"Huh?" 

Raising his brows up, Cole was unsure if the wind lady was talking to him, surprised that she even found him considering he was hidden… or not.

Cole was standing out like a sore thumb above a building, and that was the exact reason the gigantic dark flame was currently inches away from his face.

"Oh?"

'She was really talking to me.'

Cole realized as his time slowed.

'What an idiot I am!' 

Unable to chastise himself in his last moments about his carelessness, Cole couldn't help but drown in a bit of frustration.

Then, that sound entered his ears again.

The world was moving in slow motion, and yet Cole's thought processes remained as quick as normal.

Ding.

[Special Conditions have been met!]

'Special conditions…?' 

Unable to help and repeat the words that appeared in front of him in the actual world, Cole was quickly bombarded with other messages.

[The Curse: 'Angel of Destruction' has been fully spread upon 'Cole Deimos']

Then, he received a note from these very same texts.

[Note: May your Destruction cause Salvation, oh Angel of Destruction.]