*Thud*
Blaze's body fell on the ground, marking the end of one of the greatest warriors in Herferd.
Ace took his storage ring and his core.
Ace's gaze turned to the general who was kneeling on the ground. The general quickly noticed his gaze and,
*Thud*
And banged his head on the ground, kowtowing.
"Ac- Lord Ace! Please let me live! I will serve you to the best of my ability, I will be your dog and will do anything you say! Please! Spare my life!" the once-proud general pleaded for mercy.
"Does that mean you will betray the emperor? You will betray the empire which helped you grow into what you are?" Ace questioned.
"Please don't phrase it like that, Lord Ace. I not betraying my Empire, I have just gained some enlightenment. Now that I think about it, the Vrest Family was always loyal to the Empire, there is no way they will ever betray the empire. Someone must have plotted against your family, and the emperor not being able to realize it was a plot was a sign that the emperor is getting old. I just want to support the man I feel is the most suitable for being the new empe- Lord Ace, what are you doing?"
Ace extended his right hand towards the general.
*Swoosh*
Suddenly, the air around the general became heavy and it got harder to breathe. Then fierce wind started blowing around the general.
His eyes widened and he looked at Ace who looked at him with a cold expression.
*Slash* *Slash* *Slash*
"Uggh!" Many cuts appeared all-over the general's body.
*Slash*
"AAAGGHHH!!" The general screeched in pain as his right arm got severed from his body.
"Lord Ace" He pleaded.
"I despise traitors" Ace declared with the same calm look.
The general eyes widened and he quickly tried to stand up.
*Slash*
"AAAAGGHHHH!" before the general could use his elemental qi to resist, his left leg got disconnected from his body. The immense pain caused him to lose concentration and he fell to the ground.
*Slash* *Slash* *Slash*
"AAAGGHHHH!!" The wind blades quickened and started cutting general limbs, one by one. The General himself just lied on the ground as he endured excruciating pain without being able to resist.
…
Soon, the general's body couldn't take it anymore and...
He perished.
Ace again returned to the sky, floating above all.
"The one who surrenders will live, the others, will be Slaughtered" He declared.
*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*
*Thud* *Thud* *Thud*
The sound of weapons falling followed by enemy soldiers falling on their knees was heard.
Ace's grinned and raised his hands.
"Kill them!" He ordered.
"Hyyaaaa!" The Vorste soldiers roared in unison before they started massacring all the empire soldiers. The enemy soldier's eyes widened in fright as they couldn't believe what Ace just said.
They had clearly surrendered, why are they being killed?
Of course, their questions remained unanswered, and before they could even pick their weapons, the Vorste Soldiers massacred them all.
"Aaggh!"
"Aaghh!"
"No ple-Aghh"
Soldiers' cries were heard all over the place and not a single one was left alive.
...
They already submitted, then why the trickery?
Where's the pride in that?
The answer? It doesn't matter or maybe the correct answer is that,
It was a battlefield, Battlefield.
What pride? What trickery?
There is just victory and defeat.
Who will live to tell the tales about that less prideful moment?
Ace's only aim was to win with fewer casualties as possible.
Plus, this wasn't the end.
The main goal was Vlade Halous. The emperor of the Holy Sword Empire, a Divinity.
"General Luke, I'll leave the rest to you" Ace commanded.
"As you command, my lord." The Vorste Army general bowed respectfully before he turned towards the soldiers.
"Comrades, the Victory is ours!"
"Yeahhh!!"
"Now I will give you 24 hours, take over the enemy camp and rest well. Then we will march towards the Imperial city and slaughter our enemy!"
"Yeahhh!!!" The cheers were heard before everyone got to work.
…
This world was called Herferd, a superior world.
The best or may the worse part about this world was that people here can use magic to get strong. The stronger the person, the more respect they earn.
There are 16 Attributes one can train in to achieve greater heights.
The Fire.
The Water.
The Earth.
The Air.
The Wood.
These five, are the basic Attributes.
Then comes, the upgrades.
The Magma.
The Ice.
The Metal.
The Typhoon.
The Plants.
Then the Advance Attributes.
The Light.
The Darkness.
The Lightning.
And then, the 3 Saint Attributes.
The Soul.
The Space.
The Time.
Of course, these are the known elements; there are many unknowns in this world of Magic.
All these Attributes can be trained up to 9 levels. Once one breakthrough nine levels, he achieves Divinity.
However, it is not simple as it seems. In the population of 100 trillion, there are more than 10,000 mages who have achieved the 9th level in their respective Attributes but there were only 4 Divinities. And among these 4, only 3 are known to the world, the Emperors of the three biggest Empires in Herferd.
Of course, the last Divinity is our protagonist, Ace Vorste.
A Divinity is strong. Like, really strong. Like, if somehow, a normal person consumes a single drop of a Divinity's blood, he could start his own journey as a protagonist of a novel. THAT is how strong a Divinity is.
…
Imperial Palace of the Holy Sword Empire.
"Emperor, urgent news!" A messenger spoke as he rushed into the palace before kneeling.
"Report" a clear, majestic voice was heard.
The one who spoke was a handsome man sitting on a golden colored throne, he was wearing luxurious imperial clothes.
He had a calm look on his face. His black hair, black eyes, thin eyebrows, straight nose along perfectly craved face gave him a dignified look. His movements; refined. Tone; calm. However, don't go on his looks, though he looks in his early thirties, he is around 3400 years old and, he was the youngest of the 3 emperors.
He was Vlade Halous, the emperor of the Holy Sword Empire and one of the 3 no 4 Divinities in the world.
"We lost our connections with our spies in, the Flame city. We believe that we lost the war and the spied were killed" Though the messenger's tone was clam, his legs were trembling in fear.
Emperor Vlade is known to be ruthless and cruel, and the news he was reporting was nowhere near good, he knew that he might lose his life but what could he do? It was his job.
"How did we lose? Didn't you say that they only had 3 million soldiers?
As far as I know, there should be 30 million troops placed on the borders.
How did we lose, are the other empires helping the Vorste kingdom?" The emperor questioned in a calm tone, it looked like he wasn't bothered by the loss.
Or that was what the others could feel from his tone.
"Your imperial majesty, there were no signs of other empires involving themselves found. We have no idea about the current situation" the messenger informed.
*Sigh"
The emperor sighed deeply and the messenger's heartbeat quickened.
"You can go" The emperor declared and without wasting any more time, the messenger kowtowed in gratitude.
"I thank your Imperial Majesty for his benevolence. I shall take my leave" He stated and quickly left the hall.
"Call Blaze, I need to talk to him" Vlade ordered.
"Y-your majesty…" A servant who was ordered stuttered.
"What?"
"Your majesty, Sir Blaze isn't responding to our calls" he informed.
A slight frown appeared on the Emperor's face but it disappeared quickly.
"Bring his personal servant to the hall" Vlade ordered.
"We have already sent guards to bring him here. They should be here in a moment" He replied and Vlade nodded.
"Your majesty, Sir Blaze's personal attendant is at the doors"
Vlade nodded and Blaze's personnel attendant entered the room.
"William greets your imperial majesty" William, Blaze's personal attendant greeted while being on his knees and his head bowed down.
"Where is Blaze?" Vlade questioned.
"Master Blaze rushed towards the Flame city stating that he will capture the one who wants to harm the empire alive and will present him to the Emperor" William answered but contrary to his expectations, everybody eyes opened wide, the emperor included.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" A nobleman who wasn't able to control his shock questioned.
William visibly trembled but answered.
"What I say is true, my lord. Master Blaze is in Flames City"
"WH-" The noblemen wanted to continue but the emperor raised his hand, causing him to shut his mouth.
"When did he left?" Vlade questioned.
"Around 3 days ago, he should have reached the Flames city some time ago, maybe the lord is on his way back with the enemy head" William replied.
"…"
"No… it's not possible…"
"Is he dead?"
"Blaze? He died?"
"Not possible"
"Yeah, he is one of our strongest mages. How can he die?"
"Ye-"
"Silence" Vlade ordered, silencing every nobleman.
"Call the messenger who reported about the spy" Vlade ordered.
Moments later, the messenger returned, one could tell by seeing his pale face that he was scared shitless.
"This messenger greets your Imperial Majesty" he greeted.
"When was the last message received from the spies?" Vlade questioned.
"It was 2 hours ago" he replied.
The emperor frowned before he questioned, "How did you Identify him?"
"He knew the code only our spies know"
"Did you see ever him before?"
"He was a new recr-" Soon, the messenger realized something.
*Slash*
Without batting an eye, the Emperor slashed his sword, blood flowed and the messenger's head rolled on the floor.
"Prepare for war, the Enemy can be here anyt-"
"VLADE HALOUS! COME OUT!
PAY YOUR RESPECTS!
YOUR GRAND DADDY IS HERE!"