Principles and the Message

In the far west, there was a giant lightning storm. A common disaster that appears all around the continent.

Though they are common and often appear, they never get close to any towns, cities, etc.

That's because these storms are created and controlled by Stormblitzes, creatures born from lightning.

From their element, it was obvious what they are capable of doing. They take the form of a golden wolf, tiger, lion, fox, etc. They have metal rods on their back which conducts lightning energy and also connects them with other Stormblitzes; an easy way for them to lend energy and communicate with each other.

Stormblitzes are passive creatures but are considered very hostile when threatened. By themselves, they can't do much, but if they were to be in numbers, they have the potential to take out an entire human army.

The storms they caused are created by their thunderous roars, able to conjure storms. These storms can range from thunderstorms to even a violent lightning tornado.

Though they are known to be passive, they've been out of control these past months.

The storm had already struck 3 towns, destroying homes, striking them with lightning, and leaving nothing behind. It was now heading for the city nearest.

This storm was controlled by 4 Stormblitzes, dragging the storm behind their tails towards the city as they leap from tree to tree, striking them with thunder from the storm clouds above them.

As they neared the city, a sudden force blew them back and the flames engulfing the trees were quickly extinguished by not the rain coming from the storm clouds, but the man floating in front of them.

"Well, well, seems I was a bit late, but just in time too," Joseph said, descending onto the top of a tree.

The Stormblitzes watched as Joseph descended. One of them took this as a chance to attack him. It lashed its tail towards Joseph, sending a lightning bolt towards him. When it was just about to strike him though, Joseph faced his palm towards the lightning bolt and suddenly it was split into two, avoiding Joseph and coursing through the trees behind him, causing them to be set on fire.

Joseph turned and watched as the trees were set on fire.

"Oh, that wasn't supposed to happen." He said.

On the palm of his left hand gave off immense power which shone red. The Stormblitzes noticing this quickly grew cautious and surrounded him.

Joseph could only smile as he looked at them.

"Red Angel Palm. Pretty lame in appearance, but the energy it gives off is pretty intense."

The levels of the four Stormblitzes were all around level 1500 but luckily for Joseph, he was already near level 3000. It wasn't much of a surprise due to his Passive Skill Transcend. However, despite being stronger, he knew it would be too arrogant to underestimate a Stormblitz, let alone 4 of them.

"Come on," Joseph beckoned, and the Stormblitzes pounced towards him.

When they got close, Joseph faced his palm at them and red energy amassed at the end of his palms.

"Total Rejection."

Suddenly, they were blown away and the lightning they possessed was immediately dispersed from their body. They quickly caught themselves and perched on top of the tree.

"Now, now, that's not all you got, right?" Joseph taunted. The four Stormblitzes growled and let out a thunderous roar, causing thunder to strike them. The tree they were standing was now burning.

Joseph noticed that the thunder that struck them came from the eye of the storm above him. Joseph looked up and smirked.

"Come on now, I know you are up there!" Joseph yelled, looking up at the concentrated ball of lightning in the air.

The entity descended before suddenly teleporting everywhere, sending lightning everywhere. Joseph faced his right hand at the lightning and it was all absorbed into the right demon-esque arm of his.

"Total Consumption."

The ball of lightning floated in front of Joseph before turning into a Stormblitz which was two times the size of the other Stormblitzes.

Joseph quickly appraised it and he found out that this one was much stronger than the others. It was above level 3000, much higher than his level.

"I see, an alpha."

All Stormblitzes are led by an alpha which will appear different from the others. The lightning energy they generate is more potent than a normal Stormblitz would generate.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I'll take out each of you one by one."

The Stormblitzes cried, thunder booming through the air. A lightning bolt plummeted towards Joseph and struck him.

However, that lightning bolt was quickly absorbed into his right hand.

"Total Consumption."

Another lightning bolt was thrown towards Joseph, but when Joseph faced his left hand towards it, it was repelled and struck a tree.

"Total Rejection."

The Red Angel Palm and the Blue Devil Arm control one principle each. These principles must be completely opposite to the other. This will allow for more potential growth in return for a higher difficulty to master it.

The Red Angel Palm possesses the Principle of Rejection, allowing all matter to be repelled, and the Blue Devil Arm wields the Principle of Consumption, consuming all matter in its path.

Through rejection, Joseph can repel any attack brought onto him with his own mana, potentially countering it, and through consumption, he can consume the attack, absorbing the amount of mana required to use it.

These Principles will combine with the Void itself; the place where it will draw out that energy, and Cursed Arts; the property allowing the activation of the technique. With this, the user will be able to bring forth the principles in a physical form, hence the techniques Cerulean Cyclone and Scarlet Storm.

Everything in the Cerulean Cyclone's path is absorbed and sucked into the void connected to it while Scarlet Storm does the opposite; repelling everything in its path with repulsing energy. These two may be different in properties, but they have the same attack power as the other. However, if these two attacks were to be put on a destructive scale...

Scarlet Storm would be the one.

On the end of his left palm, red energy leaked and formed a cube.

"Cursed Red Arts: Scarlet Storm."

That same cube then generated into a red void and was launched at the Stormblitzes. Three of them including the alpha managed to flee from his attack but two of them weren't so lucky. When Scarlet Storm made contact, they were quickly crushed by its overpowering rejection.

In just a few seconds, the only thing in front of Joseph's path was an incredibly large crater. The mountain in the distance had a noticeable hole in it. The red void flew up into the air before exploding.

Joseph took deep breaths as he descended onto the ground.

Despite possessing so much power, his body is unable to handle the contradiction between the two, and his mana reserve can only hold so much. He did come after fighting three other groups of Stormblitzes.

Even though he was down, the Stormblitzes noticed the power difference and quickly fled. Joseph looked up and watched as the storm quickly moved away.

"Crap, they got away. Well, someone else can deal with them... probably."

***

It was midnight and the Healer Hero, Risa had returned to the castle. The king had already expected her return.

"So did you-" He was going to ask but once he spotted the sad look on her face, he shut his mouth immediately.

"It... didn't go well." Cage answered. He gulped as he stared at Risa.

After the encounter with the Inept Hero, Naoko, he's learned how much strength he possessed. Secretly, he could sense how people felt since he was a demi-human of wolf descent. He also knew exactly how Risa felt.

But... when he tried to sense that in Naoko... it was all scrambled. Joy? Fear? Anger? He couldn't feel those until that one night. All he felt was pure misery.

However, the last time he had seen him, he felt a callous thought running through his veins.

Along the way, he felt a violent presence coming from the shadows around him, but he didn't know why, only that they left a trace of his scent.

Cage grew cautious as he looked at the shadows around him in the throne room. When he saw the king walk up to Risa, he noticed her shadow protruding and a blade formed from it.

"...huh?"

A warrior clad in black jumped out and swung its blade towards the king.

"What the-!?"

Clang!

Luckily for the king, Anastasia was standing by his side and parried the black warrior's strike.

The warrior skidded back and jumped into a shadow, disappearing. It was only just one however, four more shadows jumped out and attempted to attack the king at the same time but they were quickly neutralized by Anastasia whose rapier glowed white.

The shadows quickly regenerated and hid in the shadows before one of them emerged and placed its hand on the left side of his chest before introducing itself.

"Good afternoon." He greeted. "I am a servant sent by my lord."

"W-who?"

"My lord... or should I say the Inept Hero?"

"What business does he have sending you?"

"Oh, he sent me to give you a message."

"What message?"

A chuckling sound emitted from the shadow servant before it lost composure hand leaned back while letting out a bloodcurdling laugh.

"Hehehe... well... I'm just going to say... you are a coward."

The right half of the shadow servant's face was shaped into Naoko's old appearance and there was a massive grin on his face.

"You think using the one most connected to me could convince me to come back? Well, you are highly mistaken. I will not come back, even if that woman attempts so."

He would then point at Risa before turning his attention back to the king.

"If you want me back, then you will have to do it by force. Of course, you'll have others do it for you since you will be sitting here all day."

The king opened his mouth the say something but he was quickly interrupted.

"This is only the beginning, so you should expect some more. Now, we'll be on our way."

Then the face of the shadow servant returned to normal and the servant jumped into the shadows, fleeing with the others.

***

The shadows quickly traveled through the darkness and then they stumbled upon a camp where Nero resided.

"Did you do it?" Nero asked, and the shadows nodded.

"Good. Go back to guarding now."

The shadows nodded before dispersing. Nero sighed as he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

The day after, he and the others arrived at Maroon city.

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