We all walk through the gates, all of us seeing a straight path of destruction leading to the castle ahead of us.
"Gaah!"
I hear someone scream. A few more steps and I notice several guards attacking a man. He's fending them off, but obviously injured. He stumbles back, holding out a short sword and glaring at the guards. I look closer, noticing a woman and girl behind him. Vex jumps forward, towards the altercation.
"Hey! Back off!"
Vex shouts, only one of the guards looking at him. The guard quickly lunges toward Vex and swings wildly. Vex easily dodges and slaps the sword out of the guard's hand.
"Stop! We don't have to fight!"
The guard seems to ignore Vex's words. I notice the other guards once again attacking the man. In an instant, my tattoo pulses as I teleport to the other guards and smile. My left hand throbs as I jam my hand through one of the guards chests. Vex shouts, but the other guards don't seem to care at all that their comrade died.
"Dante! Stop!"
I look to Vex from the corner of my eye, ripping my hand out the side of the guards ribcage, ripping his flesh, bone, and armor from his body. Vex jumps towards me, but I toss the dead guard down and slap the other guard lightly across the face. To my amazement, the guard's head flies off and slams against some rubble.
"Everyone feels so weak now."
I mumble to myself, Vex grabbing my wrist and glaring at me. He grits his teeth and looks at the two dead guards. He looks back to me, and starts to speak up. Before he can, the other guard slams his sword into Vex's back. Vex barely reacts, continuing to speak to me.
"We don't have to kill them, we can win peacefully."
I stare at Vex, then smile. My left arm throbs again, and without thinking, I grab Vex by the throat with my left hand. He grits his teeth and puts both of his hands on my wrist. I hold out my other hand towards the guard he was initially dodging.
"[Telekinesis 1]."
The guard flies forward, his face stopping gently against the palm of my hand.
"Vex."
He stares at me, a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek. I quickly lift him off the ground and tilt my head slightly.
"It's just so boring doing things peacefully. Especially since their deaths are deserved."
With one swift grip, I crush the guard's helmet and skull. Blood shoots from the holes at the sides of the helmet and the guard falls completely limp. The last guard once again swings towards Vex, but I pull him out of the way and place my hand on the other guard's throat.
I crush the other guard's throat, just as easily as a normal human could grip the air. I drop the dead body while Vex tries to pry himself free. Blankk walks over to me and places his hand on top of Vex's hands.
"Please let Vex go, I'd hate to have to fight you in these conditions. I would prefer our team to be at full strength to fight Arthur."
I chuckle at Blankk's words, instantly dropping Vex and turning towards Arthur's castle. The man, woman, and little girl walk over to me. The man takes a deep breath, and speaks up. His voice is shaky and clearly exhausted.
"T-thank you. We don't have anything to show our gratitude for saving us, b-but if you ever need anything, you can ask me!"
He bows, wincing from pain. The little girl slowly moves towards me and stares up at me. With a booming sensation in my left hand, I reach back for HexCalibur. The little girl smiles.
"Thank you, mister!"
I grip the handle of my blade, feeling an urge to kill overtaking me. I quickly draw my blade and thrust it towards the girls face, stopping inches from her. I feel my muscles seemingly split and resist. The girl looks at me, confused. I clench my teeth, my entire body locking up. The man quickly pulls the girl back at stares at me, shocked.
"W-what's wrong with you!?"
His voice rings through me, my entire body revolting against my command to attack. Vex steps in front of me, and stares at me, smiling lightly.
"This is your doing, isn't it, Vex!?"
I shout, my entire body shaking. Vex shakes his head and places his hand on my shoulder.
"This is entirely YOU."
Vex smiles, pushing my sword down. An upset voice echoes in the back of my mind.
"Damn, stop resisting."
I shake my head, quickly snapping back into myself. Almost like waking up from zoning out, I feel strange. I lower my sword and look around.
"Wait, what happened? Did we beat the guards?"
Vex chuckles and looks back to the family behind him.
"Sorry about that, he just has his moments."
The man nods reluctantly and starts to hurry the woman and girl away. As they walk passed us, I see something coming towards us from the corner of my vision. I quickly turn and hold out my hand.
"[Telekinesis 2]!"
A massive stone stops about thirty feet from the family and us. I set the stone down on top of some rubble, noticing Arthur walking towards us from behind it. I quickly ready my sword, feeling my heart pounding.
He exhales loudly and calmly stomps towards us. He wields his massive orange sword with one hand and glares at me.
"Ah, the perpetual thorns in my side return."
He lunges forward and Vex draws his sword. As Arthur slams his sword downward, I step forward and block his strike. I feel my forearms crack from the impact, but I don't give in. I struggle to hold Arthur, feeling my legs starting to go out.
"Pitiful, even after all the times you've gotten stronger, you still can't properly wield a sword."
Arthur's tail wraps around my ankle, quickly pulling me off balance and slashing through my left arm. Blankk and Vex lunge towards Arthur. But he holds me in front of himself, instantly stopping their frontal attacks. As they both jump to the sides, Arthur pulls the sword from my hip and blocks both of them with his swords.
I swing my sword upward, but Arthur raises his foot and steps onto my blade, pushing it into the ground. Vex growls and speaks up.
"How can you speak! Last we met you could barely say anything and now you don't want to shut up!"
Arthur looks to Vex and laughs deeply. Arthur's deep voice seemingly echoes through the destroyed area around us.
"I went back into the dungeon for exactly one minute, or sixty weeks inside, to relearn everything I had forgotten. Due to my newly heightened intelligence, it wasn't very hard. And why wouldn't I talk? You're all so weak, you can't even push me enough to make me concentrate."
Arthur taunts us, easily keeping all three of our blades under control.