Blood Cleansing [ V ]

After the reaction from the orb, Xavier found himself floating above a bloody battlefield. The ground below was littered with the corpses of uniformed mages and powerful beasts, the latter outnumbering the former. The strong stench of blood permeated the air, reaching Xavier's nostrils.

In the center of the battlefield, a group of powerful mages encircled a hooded figure clad in a dark purple robe. The figure was badly injured, bleeding profusely, but he stood his ground, defiant and unyielding.

"You cursed demon! Your crimes have reached the Holy Mage Alliance. You must pay for them," one of the mages, the oldest among the lot, shouted, his voice dripping with disdain.

"Look how the Beast Monarch has fallen," another mage taunted. "You should have never disobeyed the Holy Alliance's orders to cease your destruction of the Northern Continent."

"Hand over the relic of darkn..." another began, but the hooded figure cut him off with a sharp, defiant glare.

The mages continued their condemnation, their voices filled with righteous fury as they addressed the hooded figure as the Beast Monarch. Some even went as far as adding "Nefarious" before the name.

In the sky, Xavier shivered as he suddenly recalled that name. It was the name of his bloodline! He had seen it in his stats twice when he opened them. However, he did not understand a thing about it or why it was there. He also recalled that it was an S-rank bloodline, but all its skills were locked.

Realizing the connection, Xavier paid more attention to the words and actions of the mages and the nefarious Beast Monarch. 

The mages continued with their insults, trying their best to win a verbal battle over the Beast Monarch. 

Quite the opposite of their expectation, the Beast Monarch was unfazed, he stared into the eyes of his opponents without fear.

"The Holy Alliance single-handedly started the war between two major races of this world for their own benefit but never condemned themselves. However, when I do something less evil than yours, you act as though you are pure as white. How pathetic," he scoffed at his opponents.

The mages of the Holy Alliance snorted while some gritted their teeth.

"We gave you a choice before; you could have continued with your actions if only you handed over the relic of darkness," the one who spoke earlier with disdain shook his head and said. Among the other mages, he was the oldest and acted as the leader.

'Relic of darkness, what is that?' Xavier questioned himself. He was curious; why was this so important that such powerful mages ganged up against a lone figure?

"The relic of darkness does not have any relationship with the Holy Alliance. Your name literally contradicts the purpose of the relic," the Beast Monarch scoffed. His every response angered the mages even more. 

The mages argued with different self-righteous points, but the Beast Monarch checked them with facts, which they refused to accept.

"You were given numerous opportunities to hand over the relic, but it seems you don't like that. As a punishment, you will be killed, and a mind interrogation spell will be activated on you to extract all your secrets, including the location of the relic," the oldest grinned.

"Haha, you have no way to escape death now, you demon!"

"Please let me kill him. Because of this bastard, my seven generations have been wiped out from existence."

"He slaughtered all the humans in my magic house; I should be the one to kill him."

"No, that should be me."

Following the announcement of the oldest mage, the younger mages began arguing about who would get the honor of ending the Beast Monarch.

"Are these people sick in the head? A villain is right in front of you, and you're arguing about who should kill him. This is one of the main reasons I hate heroes or those pretending to be one," Xavier snorted. 

The actions of these people were despicable. Even though he knew the Beast Monarch's actions were evil, Xavier couldn't help but take his side.

However, even while he supported him, he was aware there was no chance of victory in this situation; the Beast Monarch was badly injured and looked really weak from his perspective. There was no way he could beat the dozens of mages around him. 'Wait, what's he doing?'

Xavier's eyes were suddenly drawn to the Beast Monarch in the middle of the conflict. The Beast Monarch, with his remaining strength, began to chant in an ancient, guttural language. The air around him crackled with dark energy.

Before the mages noticed, it was already too late.

"Fucking end your rubbish and stop him!" the oldest alerted the others. "He's summoning something!"

"Too late, old pathetic fucks," the Beast Monarch mocked with his last breath. 

Above him, a swirling dark vortex formed, growing larger and more menacing by the second. 

From the sky, Xavier noticed all the corpses of the dead beasts and mages floating towards the vortex. 

The vortex hungrily swallowed them and grew larger.

In a split second, a large, menacing beast emerged from its depths. It was an undead monstrosity, its form a grotesque combination of twisted bones and decaying flesh. Its eyes glowed with an eerie, malevolent light, and its roar echoed across the battlefield, a sound that sent shivers down Xavier's spine. The beast's wings, tattered and black as night, stretched wide, casting a dark shadow over the mages.

The mages immediately launched their attacks, spells of fire, ice, and lightning converging on the monstrous beast. But the beast was relentless, swatting away the attacks with its mighty wings and spewing torrents of dark waves at them.

Amid the chaos, the Nefarious Monarch looked up, his eyes locking onto Xavier's curious gaze. 

'What??' Xavier was surprised to see the eyes staring at him. 

He was confused, wondering if the eyes were looking at him or if it was just a coincidence from the past. But his next action changed his thoughts.

The Beast Monarch fell to the ground, his eyes shutting peacefully. His body transformed into a crow of darkness before dispersing and disappearing into thin air. 

On the spot where he disappeared, there was a large book and five orbs like the one he had touched that brought him to this violent past. 

But one of the mages attacking his monstrous creation spotted these and immediately swooped down to grab them. 

Nevertheless, before he arrived at the spot, the book turned into smoke and disappeared. 

The five orbs flew into the air and sped off in opposite directions with an unmatchable force. The speed was so strong, it shot through the body of the mage trying to seize them and killed him.

One of the five orbs moved with deliberate intent toward Xavier. It glowed with an ethereal light, casting strange shadows on the ground below.

Xavier recognized this one from the others; it was the same one he had touched. Everything from its color to its appearance was identical.

'Why is it flying toward me?' After seeing how it had killed that mage, he couldn't stay still as it flew in his direction.

"He has awakened!!"

Suddenly, a loud voice pierced through the air, yanking his consciousness away.