A group of five peoples was running through the mountains. After a few hours, they arrived at their destination.
"We were too late. Search the surrounding and see if you find something," A man with a hexagonal face with a brown beard and blonde hair said in an annoyed tone. He was wearing full body armor like a knight. He was the leader of Team 10 of the Light Legion, Jorge Berg.
"It's all your fault. Why do we need to save some mortals? We aren't some Heroes of Justice. Our job is to just fight those Dark Legion Bastards." A boy said sarcastically. All the other people in the team were wearing armor except this boy. He was the scouting, logistics, and he was also one of the team's heavy hitters with the highest mission success rate.
He was going to be promoted to the leader of Team 10, but it was all swept away by Jorge. This is why he never let any opportunity of mocking and criticizing Jorge go.
"That's enough, Clement. He did nothing wrong. If we don't help someone who is in need, how are we different from bastards of those Dark Legion? Or are you just so salty about not being able to become the Leader that you want to throw a tantrum now and then like a little girl?" Clement's face became red with embarrassment while others were laughing. Only Jorge wasn't laughing and looked like he was just a bystander watching a show.
"Shut your trap, Beckett. Don't think I don't about the Dark stuff you do behind the Light Legion, your connection with Dark Legion. Don't make me spill it out in front of the Commander." Beckett's face became dark after hearing Clement. Beckett was about to say something when Jorge opened his mouth.
"Shut up, both of you. Settle your beef somewhere else. Don't ruin the Reputation of the Light Legion in public." Although this all started because of him, and Beckett supported him, he didn't want this conversation to go any longer. He didn't care about himself, he only cared about the Light Legion.
Clement looked at Beckett and smirked. Beckett's face was red as a tomato. All this bootlicking for nothing. Instead, he only got scolded. He then went his way to search for some clues.
After a few minutes, one of the members of the team found something. After some time, they figured it out to be a remain of a Teleportation Magic Circle.
While checking for other things, a huge red light pillar formed from inside the magic circle .
"Retreat! Retreat!!" Jorge gave the order to retreat, but it was for nothing as all of them had already retreated. The Life Force of Living things in the surrounding of the pillar was sucked into it.
After sucking some amount of life energy, a transparent brick made of life energy was formed. Like this, many bricks were formed and covered the Light Pillar. As the bricks formed, the Life Force around were all absorbed. The place looked like a wasteland, all the rocks crumbled, grasses dried, the soil dried, the river dried, the sky was turning grey with a hue of red.
The People from Light Legion kept running away. While running away, Clement stumbled on something. When he looked at what he stumbled on, he saw a metal piece with some design of some bird. He wondered what it was, but he didn't have time for that. He grabbed it and ran away.
...
A magic circle lit up, and two people came out of it. One had a calm face, and others had an astonished face.
They were Sulong and Mizar. Mizar expected the Dark Legion would be dirty, full of dead bodies, and in chaos, but it was the complete opposite.
It was a big city, with a clean environment and lively.
"What? You expected it to be a wasteland or what? Let's go." Sulong said, seeing Mizar's astonished face.
Sulong walked slightly in front of Mizar. This city is better than Rung Clan. Most of the things here were made specifically for Dark Mages. There were Blacksmiths, Potion Masters, Spell Masters, etc. Most of the Mana Springs were also modified to produce Dark Mana. There were different Experimental Grounds for various Magics.
Up in the sky was a huge Virtual Board that had tasks with rewards, most kills, merits, etc. There was also Sulong's name on the board under Kills, Merits, and other things.
"Don't the Light Legion and other Clans see it if it is high in the air?" Mizar asked, pointing at the board.
"Hahaha... I was also fooled at first. That is not the real sky; it's just a Simulation. We are many kilometers below the ground."
Mizar was taken aback hearing it. Never would he have thought that it was not real. Seeing this broadened his horizons.
After sometimes they arrived in front of a building. 'Registration and Tasks' was written on a wooden board.
Walking into the building, there was a desk with a girl standing behind it.
"Welcome, Sir Sulong. Congratulations on completing your task. People are talking about it quite a bit. Are you here to pick a new task? Who is this with you?" The girl asked with enthusiasm and a smile on her face.
"This is Mizar; he is like my brother. He tremendously helped in completing the task. I am here to register him."
"Alright. Stand there." The girl said to Mizar, pointing at a round stone slab.
After Mizar stood on the stone slab, the girl asked Mizar to drop blood on the stone slab while holding a black crystal ball in his non-dominant hand.
After a few drops of blood landed on the round stone slab, it began to lit up. Different Symbols started appearing on the air, which neither the girl, Sulong, nor Mizar understood.
The girl was flustered. Never once in her life had such a thing happened. The symbols started connecting to each other, and a massive amount of energy was being sucked from the surrounding.
The girl was near Mizar, and her lifeforce was getting sucked at a rapid rate. From her teen self to middle-aged to an old woman, she changed in an instant.
Sulong had already retreated. He didn't try to rescue the girl; even if he tried, he wouldn't be able to rescue her.
Just as the girl was about to die, a formless hand made of Mana brought her out of the building. A black barrier was formed around the building.
The owner of the formless hand was providing energy for the barrier. Not a single person could like that face. It was half-decayed, some part of the face having rotten flesh, some didn't even have a rotten flesh with skeleton showing. It was a horrendous face.
He was one of the Cheifs of 'Rise of the Dark Legion,' the Lich Kuva.