Ashes X

A little girl was running with all her might. She was wearing a dress that was covered in blood. Her footsteps left a trail of blood, and behind her, a rampaging Lindworm.

The girl tripped, and the Lindwyrm arrived to claim its prize.

The little girl backed away slowly, her eyes streaming down with tears, "Someone… please… help me… Father… please… Father!"

Triiiiiiiiiiir!

Slash!

The Lindwyrm flew past the little girl's body, split perfectly in the middle, "Are you okay, my little one?"

A tall man standing at two meters with black hair placed an overly large sword on his shoulder and stood above Lindwyrm's body.

[Lv. 247]

This man was the Town Lord of the newly founded White Wing Town; his name was Wing Dracma, Yulia's Father, "What are you doing here, Yulia? I thought I told you not to come to the forest, remember?"

Yulia ran to Wing with tears on her face, crying, burying her face on his thigh, "Father! Sorry, I just… I just wanted to offer you a hand."

"Hahahaha, you don't need to do that, Yulia," Wing laughed wholeheartedly, "I can take care of them. I have been promoted to a Knight meant to slay them. Besides, if you try to help, you'll just mess everything up as you always do."

"Huh?" Yulia could feel the hand on her tightening. The presence of fire raised, and she panicked. She raised her head and saw Wing's face burning away like paper. Bits and pieces lifted, revealing a skull burning in green flames.

What was once an armor of gleaming steel now became charred black. His radiant sword became black with green flames. Who was once a proud Knight stood transformed into the treacherous creature called a Death Knight.

The embodiment of a Knight's shame of going against their oath and creed. Wing, the greatest Knight Yulia she ever knew, was tainted because of her doing.

"No… you can't… that's impossible… Father… he's… he won't…."

The memory of the Death Knight killing the mother and her child surged in. The news of him killing hundreds of Knights in his forest from different Sectors was the most apparent. Yulia did not want to believe that her Father would turn into a being that would throw away his oath.

The Death Knight grabbed Yulia's dainty head and looked her in the eyes, "Look at me, Yulia… this is what you did to me. Because of you, I was lured into a trap and forced to kill all of those citizens just to get you back. All so you can live. All so you can curse the people around over, and over, and over again. Just like how you killed your mother the moment you were born. How you sacrificed your Father to the Lindwyrm to buy yourself time to escape and how you led me to my death! I had to die so you can live! All of those people can live all, so you can live! This is who you are, Yulia! You are a bringer of death!"

Yulia could not even say anything. All she could do was stand there, unmoving. Fight as she may, "Wing's" words were true.

"Everything I touched… is destroyed…." Yulia despaired, and the darkness around her gradually devoured her. The mark on her forehead awakened, and the mark on her neck sped up.

The Death Knight contorted into a shadow specter and wrapped itself around Yulia. It whispered her wrongs, acts, thoughts, emotions, anything that could be thought to be vile or even rude.

What was once a pure soul slowly transformed with the words of the vileness planted years before, "Do you want to hurt more people like what you did to me?" the specter asked.

"....no… I do not." Yulia answered.

"How valiant of you. Then, what do you have to do to protect those you care about?"

"...disappear from this world… to vanish so I can no longer harm those I cherish," Yulia whispered as her eyes slowly lost their color.

The specter transformed into a murky liquid that wrapped around her body.

"How gracious… but why do you want to disappear? Tell me, Yulia, so I can understand."

Yulia was dragged into a world of darkness from the Forest, surrounded by the people she had "wronged" in her life. Wing, who was transformed into a Death Knight, her biological Father sacrificed to buy her time, the woman who gave her life for hers, the citizens who all lost their lives due to the famine at the hands of the Death Knight… everyone she encountered who had lost their lives surrounded Yulia.

In that darkness, they pointed at her with their corroding fingers. Their bodies disintegrating, their eyes rotten as well as their flesh. They opened their mouths, mouthing off the same thing.

Yulia repeated their words, "... I am a curse."

"Yes, that's right. You are a curse that brings death unto the world-"

"WRONG!" A voice boomed and echoed, cutting off the specter's vile whispers.

CRACK!

BOOM!

From the darkness overhead, the world cracked, and landed on the ground was a man wearing armor made of cold steel and welding an ethereal sword double his height.

"You!" The specter around Yulia glared at his presence, "You are not welcome here, Human. The Ritual has been completed. She now belongs to the Great Lord. Leave!"

"She has not fallen into depravity. My daughter is not that weak." Wing planted his sword next to him and took a deep breath, "Yulia! Open your eyes!"

"KILL HIM!" The specter roared, and a rush of Undead moved to kill Wing.

A torrential wave of killing intent crashed onto Wing, yet, he did not budge. He lifted his sword and dove into their ranks, not showing a hint of fear.

An explosive swing blew away the corrupted figures of the dead, "Yulia! Open your eyes!"

Wing's voice stole Yulia's attention. She raised her head to look at who it was, but the light behind her eyes was already dim, "Fa…there? Where are… you?"

She asked, wanting to reach her hand out. The specter, however, pulled her hand back, whispering, "Stop calling him."

"But."

"Do you want him to get hurt?"

"No… please… don't hurt him… please… don't." A single sentence was enough for her to stop desiring her Father's presence. Yulia backed away, trembling at the idea of hurting whatever was left of Wing, "Father… please… just leave… I don't want you to… get hurt… because of me."

BOOM!

Yulia begged, and the horde of Undead grew stronger. Wing, however, did not even stop, "No! I will not!" he answered.

"But…."

"They didn't! Listen to me, Yulia! No one died because of you! Not that it was your fault!" Wing shouted, diving into the flood of undead figures.

"Whenever I feel happy, everything starts to get destroyed. When I thought I would be loved by my Father, he died. When I made friends, they also perished; when I smiled by your side, everything was taken away! Everything I touch withers and dies. Every time I feel happiness, those who stand beside me suffer! I am nothing but a curse which has to disappear so I can stop hurting those I love."

"You're wrong! You are not a curse!"

"How do you know that!?"

"Because you are my greatest treasure." Wing answered softly, his voice echoing right in front of her, "You are my everything, Yulia. My pride and joy."

"No, don't listen to him. He's just saying that. The truth is, he hates you. He lost his arm because of you and got stuck in a rural place." the specter rebuked.

"That's wrong!" Isaac roared, "I was born into a generational family of Knights, and I was the weakest amongst them. When I was a Page Knight, I only sought strength for my selfish desires. My greatest goal was to prove my worth. To make those who looked down upon me kiss the ground and lick the earth I tread upon. When I went on the mission to a backwater town, I cursed my fate. Everyone knew that being sent to such a place far from the capital meant you were being sent to be forgotten, but there, I understood the meaning of being a Knight of being human. When the kid desperately tried to call for her help, I moved before my mind could think. While recovering, I learned of a child who chose to smile despite the hardship life forced upon her. That day I lost my arm, but I regained my heart as a Knight and as a human."

Wing paused, remembering what kind of man he was before.

Now, he was seen as a Hero and a man whose strength was feared, but he was not like that before he met Yulia, "You taught me how to live with a smile, accept what I was given, and give to those who do not. I was a Knight, an adult, but I learned from you more than I could from where I came from. With my strength, my humanity was renewed."

Wing spent only ten years with Yulia as his daughter, but it was the most fantastic days he lived. It could not be compared to the hellish days he spent with his family back in his former home.

He may have had nothing in that rural town. He was bare of money, and his parents abandoned him, but his smile was the brightest then because he had Yulia by his side, and he, in turn, treated her as his very own.

"Yulia, you are not a curse, you are my greatest treasure, you….you are my precious daughter. The happiest day of his life was not when I broke the barrier of 500 but when you first called me Father. So, please… I beg of you… don't push me away, my daughter."

Wing started crying as he fell to his knees. To him, his honor being tarnished did not matter, but the idea of Yulia hating him, he could not handle, "If you hate me for leaving you behind… I offer you my apologies. Was it because I failed… to protect you… if so, then… I'm so-"

Yulia had already embraced him before he could even finish his words, "Please… don't apologize…I could never hate Father."

It did not matter how old she was as Yulia broke as she finally realized that the one she was hugging was the man she lost 25 years ago. The man she managed to embrace was the first person to ever accept her whole.

"No… no, no…I…." a tear ran down her face. The light behind Yulia's eyes returned after accepting the pain instead of running away from them.

She moved away from the darkness, and Yulia allowed her emotions to be expressed. No longer did she stop them from showing. The cold exterior she posed disappeared as in front of her father, she broke down no different from a little girl, "Don't apologize… I was the one who failed you, Father… I fell into depravity and fell… into this trap… I… I-AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

The Father and daughter, who had been ripped apart from each other's embrace 25 years ago, were finally reunited, but it was cut short as a red light glowed from Yulia's neck completed the circle, and she started screaming in pain.

"YULIA!? YULIA!" Wing panicked as she suddenly screamed aloud. "What's happening!? I pulled her away from the darkness, so why was it completed?"

"Gahahahaha!" the specter laughed behind Yulia, "It doesn't matter! The mark of death on her neck is different. You may have pulled her out of the darkness, but the ritual will still not stop! She may not fall to the darkness, but she will die nevertheless!"

***

Isaac could feel his body crumbling, but his self-regeneration allowed him to live. His man was drained, and his stamina was reaching its limits, but he was just happy he could breathe without feeling his body screaming.

It now just felt like he was being ripped apart. It felt better than being disintegrated.

"I don't think I can fight any more than this." he had long reached his limits. Remaining conscious was him breaking his limitations, "How anticlimactic."

Despite looking like he was on the verge of death, Isaac still felt the ending of his fight wasn't deserving, "Ughhhh, forget about it. I want to rest now. I wish nothing happens anymore… what… the fuck… is that?"

A being heard his words from the darkness, and a massive figure slowly formed behind Yulia.

A being as big as four meters with a giant executioner's ax in hand stood behind Yulia. It wore a robe over its body and a hood on its head covering its face, but it failed to hide its massive arms.

The being raised its ax and Isaac already knew what would happen, "Shit!"

Before his mind could think, his body had already moved and jumped into the danger pushing Yulia out of the way. The force of the ax blew Isaac out of the cyclone with Yulia in his embrace.

He crashed to the ground and then coughed up blood, "... that's two ribs," he said from between his teeth.

He held Yulia in his embrace, and the Undead outside eyed them with evil desires. Isaac backed away slowly, and the cyclone disappeared, revealing the monster inside, [Brute Enforcer Lv. 700]

"That's… not good."

The Enforcer swatted away the other Undeads and arrived right before Isaac and Yulia. It slowly raised its ax. He exerted what energy he could to save Yulia, and now, he was truly empty.

"Fuck!" Isaac cursed as he brought out a stake from his clothes and was about to drive it into his chest when the sound of metal clashing reached his ears.

Clang!

"That's as far as you would go." A white hand reached out from Yulia's back, stopping the Executioner's ax and from Yulia's body came out a man wearing armor standing at two meters tall.

The man clenched his fist, "Back away."

BAM!

A punch struck the Enforcer's face, sending it staggering ten steps back.

Isaac watched in awe and amazement as he looked at the ethereal armored man, '...she had him all this time? Why did he come out only now?' was his first question.

"Isaac… thank you." the ethereal man spoke.

"That voice… Wing!?" Isaac's thoughts were broken because right in front of him stood a man that should be dead, "What are you doing here?"

"The same as always… to protect my daughter. She's quite the handful, right?" Wing laughed as he looked Isaac in the eyes with sincerity and said, "...thanks for everything, Isaac. If not for you… Yulia would have been turned into a Dullahan now. After this… you can keep the things in my cabin and my sword."

Wing turned around and walked toward the enemy without fear of those words.

"Wait, why are you acting like that all of a… wait, you can't mean…. Wing? WING!"

Wing knew this strength wouldn't last long, so he ignored Isaac's voice. Instead, he just stood his ground and raised his right hand.

The Enforcer saw him and, with rage, roared and charged toward Wing with all its might.

Wing did not move and announced!

"My name is Wing Dracma! I have lived my life and erred from my path! But one last time, let me call upon thy name!"

What was the body but the vessel for the soul? His body was no more, but Wing could still stand as a Knight once more. As a soul, he stood in front of the Harvester armored.

For the last time, Wing raised his sword.

For the last time, he would swing his sword.

For the last time, he would be able to embody his namesake.

"AWAKEN, MY FRIEND! DURANDAL!"

A Phoenix's cry pierced the heavens and on Wing's ethereal hand appeared the sword in the middle of Town.

And with a movement polished to its absolute limits, Wing's sword descended with final authority!

SLASH!

With this swing... Wing would protect his beloved daughter for the last time.