Conflict

Titus Grahnbel

Chaos fanned out like a fire in a forest. Spreading from one to another, speeding up with each passing second. A pool of crimson red scattered on the ground.

There he stood, his blood red eyes complimented perfectly with the noxious scene in front of me.

The day was going by very peacefully, neither did we pick any fight with any named blood, nor did we mess with a Vritra.

Yet, in the morning when I was having breakfast with my family, an alarm of someone barging into our place was heard.

Just as I reached the hallway of our mansion, the door sliced open.

Draped in a black robe, he stormed in while he held a sword composed of Soulfire.

Several of our guards stood in front, in an attempt to slow him.

But, with just one step of his, heads flew in the air as blood sprayed like a fountain.

He took another step, and more heads flew.

With each step, more and more of our people fell victim to his sword as the fear inside of me continued to rise uncontrollably.

Obsidian horns peeked out of the robe, crimson eyes with curly moss hair.

It was a Vritra warrior, but why would they come after us?

Only when he was near enough did I realize, he hadn't received any damage at all until now. His dress resembled that of a reaper than a casual one now that he was close enough.

"What did we even do to you?" I asked, my voice trembling due to my fear.

Smiling weakly, he replied, "Oh it's nothing, just taking out the weeds before they get bothersome."

A chill ran down my spine, I already knew that I had no way of escaping from here. But at least my children, I have to make sure that they-

The train of thoughts that unraveled in my mind came to a halt as I saw him grinning, his eyes were focusing behind me.

Looking behind I saw my family, my daughter was terrified by the atmosphere, my two sons trembling in fear while my wife was flabbergasted at seeing the massacre.

"Run away-" my voice came out hurriedly, warning them of the danger. But I was too late.

Blood splattered as the blade of Soulfire plunged into both of my son's chests.

"Aaaaaahhhh," Ada let out a blood curdling scream seeing her brothers dead. The Vritra soon spun on his heel and knocked my daughter out by hitting the base of her neck.

Despair filled inside my heart.

All of this occurred in an instant and here I stood, useless, unable to do anything at all.

"No, don't," a whine left my throat, my voice pleaded, in hope that he would let us go. But he didn't.

Pivoting his leg, he spun and swung his sword diagonally at my wife, killing her.

In the midst of it all, his moss green hair fluttered, not caring about the bloody scene around him.

My legs gave out as I fell to my knees, everything that I had, my life, my family, they were all gone.

"You might be wondering why I did this to you," he said, "You know, in every turn that I was in, you were the biggest pain in the arse we had to endure."

"Blood and Honor, Blood and Honor, Blood and damned fucking Honor! I can't help but be surprised that none of you get tired of this nonstop bullshit," he sneered, "But well, I sure am tired of it all."

Raising his sword he said, "Don't say that you weren't given mercy, everytime you were left on your own devices or forgiven, you bunch always came back for revenge."

His words confused me, I never knew him and I was pretty sure I didn't mess with any blood that recently had someone awaken. But my thoughts were cut short again.

"Well not anymore now," were the last words I heard as his sword swiftly moved towards me. A crimson veil took over my vision as I choked on my own blood.

Soon, I felt the cold blanket of nature taking over me as a veil of darkness slowly took over my vision.

But, before my whole vision darkened, for some reason the green haired Vritra transitioned into a Navy, almost midnight blue haired girl with crown-like onyx shaped obsidian horns.

'Who is she?'

But before astonishment could rise inside me, the curtain of pure black completely took over me.

Caera

Like a fountain of water, blood sprayed out of the wound painting the entire place in a color of crimson red. The sword of Soulfire in my hand felt cold to the very touch.

Everything was going as per as it was planned.

Grahnbel might be the first but not the only one to be massacred like this. Many more Named and High Bloods will be destroyed by my hand, every single one of those who were an obstacle for me in my previous turns.

In annoyance I clicked my tongue, the artifact was a bit damaged due to the weird artifact used by the Grahnbel, but it didn't matter much now. The fact that I was able to make progress is enough.

Traces like Ada were left in the massacres, traces that were clear enough to know that these were all done by a Vritra.

By the disguise of Haedrig and the confession of the other Named and High Blood children, doubts will soon start to sprout inside every other Blood now, which will soon give rise to several internal strife.

A thought popped up inside me, was I leaving behind these children under my small pretense of humane morales or for my plans? I had no way of knowing.

Even in my last few turns I did the same thing, changing the ideas to have less flaws in them every single time.

But, that man was always there, acting as the true wild card of the whole board.

Remembering him always made me smile, yet made the most bitter memories of mine pop up.

In an attempt to divert my mind, my eyes landed on the remnants of the destruction that I caused.

Blood scattered everywhere, the whole ground was now nothing but a pond of crimson red. It was as if a blood crazed demon had gone on a rampage.

And that demon was none other than me myself.

Like a puppet of destruction, I moved forward.

Even if the whole world would go against me, I had to move forward.

Is that how he felt back then? I again had no answer for that.

But I still moved forward as the pile of corpses increased, and the blood of my enemies threatened to drown me.

At this point, I wasn't even sure why I was still struggling like this, but the dead faces of my loved ones haunted me. Their cold bodies clung to me, not letting me forget my failures.

As such, I moved, moved in fear that my failures shall repeat again along with the unforgiving nightmare that follows through in tandem.

Bairon Wykes

Blood splattered on the ground, screams of terror and chaos spread like a raging fire. A colossal amount of pressure came down upon us like water from a broken dam.

Adam, the red haired augmenter of the Twin Horns just had his arm cut off by the mysterious man that blocked our way out.

The blonde women of the party screamed in terror of the pressure while the other adventurers were trying to stop the attacker.

Spikes rose from the ground and shadows. Everyone retreated in seeing the spikes rising.

A sense of powerlessness filled inside me. Even after being an intermediate silver stage mage, I wasn't even able to lift a finger in front of him.

Lightning coalesced in my arm, I could feel my hand growing number by each passing second. In tandem to my raging emotions, lightning responded as it launched forward with a thunderous boom.

In response, spikes rose from the shadows as the lightning spell bounced off its surface.

Disbelief proliferated inside me, as spikes extended from the ground towards me. Condensing mana to my limit, I let it all out in a burst of lightning.

Even so, a spike made it through and impaled my leg.

'Your weakness shall be the end of you Bairon.'

His words suddenly started to echo in my mind.

A bitter taste spread in my mouth as further words of the man I hated the most resurfaced.

'Weak.'

'A successor to the Wykes name cannot be weak or let themselves be overwhelmed by others.'

The words that continued to haunt me.

The attacker snickered like a madman. His demeaning gaze bore upon us and his voice reverberated, making everyone despair at the hands of their inevitable death.

"Oya? There is another one?" The attacker's rough voice spoke. Turning behind I saw him, his long pristine white hair flowed in tandem with the wind.

His black robe fluttered in the wind that blew, announcing his advent. Bloodshot Amethyst eyes bored down on the sickly figure. Tremendous fury seemed to rage in his eyes, yet it felt as if his attention wasn't even here.

With a flick of his hand, a staff materialized in his arms. A staff that seemed to have dropped from the heavens. A staff that seemed to look down on the world.

The hunched man appeared to be afraid of the staff.

Runes appeared on Grey's body, extending from his arms to his chest and so on. The amethyst orb gleamed in an otherworldly light, mana unraveled, coiled and formed an intricate structure.

"Divergence."

A simple chant.

The ground tore by the tremendous force of the mana.

The two figures retreated back, two distinct forms of mana rose in tandem to their call. Spikes of earth that resembled that of a reaper's scythe rose in opposition to the raging flames that threatened to engulf everything in its way.

Along with Grey's arm rising, winds rose creating a whirlwind that further fanned the flames.

Soon, a spiral of spikes rose to stop the relentless flames.

Diverting my attention, I tried to pull my leg out of the spike. Only after exerting a colossal amount of strength was I able to pull my leg out and the pain that followed was as tremendous.

A smoldering sensation seared through my leg, my leg limped due to the injuries caused by the spike. It felt as if my leg was set aflame.

But my attention was soon diverted again by the ear deafening boom that caused the cave to shake.

Grey surfaced from the clouds of dust, numerous spells of diversified elements spiraled on the tip of his staff. Pillars of coiled earth rose in an attempt to tear the barrage of spells that came down raining.

A scoff echoed, "For a second I was scared thinking that you were a dragon but it seems my worries were unfounded. You were someone like us I see."

Saying that, Grey's opponent kicked on the ground and reached towards him.

In response he conjured stones of stone and hurled them towards the opponent.

Seeing that Grey was on the losing side, the first thing that popped in my mind was to retreat. I gritted my teeth, in disgust of myself.

Soon a whistle was heard, the stone projectiles that Grey conjured were now shooting forward at an unfathomable speed. Yet, even then the hunched man redirected them all with his claws and his conjured spikes.

But one made it through.

One of the stone projectiles made it through his defenses and hit the horn on his head, breaking it a bit.

"Yes!" I exclaimed out of joy that an attack made it through.

But the pressure that was upon us soon doubled.

With enraged eyes, the attacker glared at grey, "How dare you….How dare a lesser such as you try to even touch me!?"

Like that, all of the spells that Grey conjured, from fire to water, wind to earth, be it lightning or gravity, all were overpowered by the sheer number of spikes that rose. And from that mass of spikes he emerged.

His arm extended forward, impaling through Grey's abdomen.

Blood dripped down from both Grey's mouth and impaled stomach.

Snickering like a madman, he said, "Hear and remember my name, the name of the man who has killed you effortlessly for this is the consequences of going against me."

Saying that, he threw Grey away from his grasp. "Uto, etch this name in your soul as this is your curse which shall haunt you in your afterlife."

Turning back, he made his way towards us. A palpable pressure came down upon us, making us unable to move.

"The brat isn't dead yet, don't worry. His death will be filled with more anguish if he sees his comrades die while he crawls powerlessly."

His cackling echoed in the dark, hollow cave. Like a madman, he moved forward with that crazed grim of his.

"So which one shall it be?"

Despair filled inside of me.

"So it shall be you."

Powerlessness filled inside me with each of his nearing steps.

My teeth gritted in realization of my weakness. I condensed lightning mana on my arm, even if I had to die, I would die causing at least a bit of damage.

"Oh, quite daring I see. But I am pretty sure you saw what happened when someone tried to be the hero."

He sneered, and again continued with his cackles.

Until, the pressure that was upon us doubled.

Uto's face froze to the sudden increase in pressure.

He turned back and what awaited his eye wasn't something pleasing for him.

Grey stood, a halo emerging from his back as it hovered over his head. Runes spread all across his body as an iridescent flame covered his wound.

(E/n: Like Tron but the disc goes over the head xD)

His amethyst gold eyes settled on Uto, a sense of divinity being emitted from them.