Kellen's soulless eyes began to radiate a dark reddish hue. The grotesque throne room reflected inside these two insidious orbs.
The only person actually aware of this strange change was Amira, who curiously studied the bloody light glowing in Kellen's eyes.
"Wha- What are you?" She asked as she retracted her knives and retreated a step away from her opponent. She had never seen anything like this before and as she stared into Kellen's enraged pupils, she actually felt a slight chill run down her spine.
Her voice seemed to be practically inaudible amongst the waves of voices currently sounding out in Kellen's mind.
'Weak!'
'You're so weak!'
Similar phrases continued to bounce back and forth behind his vicious glare.
"Shut up!" Roared Kellen as a murderous intent began to surface from his being.
He no longer could see the dangerous seductive woman brandishing two curved knives standing in front of him. Instead, different images from his mind began to alter his reality.
"What's wrong Zero? Are you gonna fight me or something? Go ahead! Weak trash like you wouldn't even be able to take a beating much less dish one out. Why don't you go ahead and just die like your failure friends!" Ruthlessly taunted Seven, who seemingly appeared in front of Kellen before his face twisted and distorted into another shape.
"I hate brats like you! Why can't you just follow orders? This is for the victory of our country! Do you want to end up like your worthless traitor friend? He deserved for me to shoot him! And just like him, you're gonna disobey my orders!" Shouted an agent behind black shades while aiming a revolver at Kellen.
The hammer on the back of the pistol clicked and the weapon fired with a small blinding flash of gun smoke. Nothing fired from the gun but after the small cloud of smoke vanished a new face appeared.
"You pitiful mortals! I shall grant all of you unworthy creatures another poor existence! I gave you my blessing! You should be grateful to be my puppet! You should be begging me for salvation!" Sweetly said the goddess with a twisted and sinister smile.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Yelled Kellen as his fierce red eyes glowed even more savagely.
The negative energy spread from his mind throughout the rest of his body, fully engulfing him. A thick red mist started to seep out from his pores like sweat, condensing, and beginning to burn like lit embers.
'Damn! Who turned on the fucking heat in here?' Complained Osiris as he floated around in hellish flames that were raging in Kellen's mind.
He checked in to see how his stupid inheritor was faring.
'Oy! Brat what are you doing? Kid! Hey! Hello?' The deity floated back and forth in the fiery landscape trying to get his inheritor's attention.
He was met with absolute silence no matter what he did.
'Oh shit... He's really lost it this time! Nergal! Nergal! You lazy sack of shit! Get up! Your little demon is going haywire!' Shouted Osiris as he rushed deeper into Kellen's mind space to where Nergal was contained.
Inside his celestial cage, Nergal sat in a deep meditative position as if he was asleep. However, this peaceful atmosphere was soon disrupted by some loud banging.
'Oy! Oy! Wake up! The kid is losing it right now!' Annoyingly yelled Osiris as he beat on the exterior of the cage with his fists.
Nergal opened one of his eyes before closing it again.
'I'll let you go just this once for disturbing me since your like my junior. But do not expect anything short of your obliteration from existence if you do that again.' Calmly replied Nergal as he stayed unmoving from his position.
'I know but your precious little relative has lost all control! Do you want him to just die?' Questioned Osiris irritably.
'If he dies from something as little as this then he is no longer a relative of mine. He'll be fine. He only lost control over his demonic energy. Let him be. He'll survive. Probably.' Said Nergal with an exasperated sigh.
'Probably? You realize our bloody lives are currently tied to his at the moment right?' Shouted Osiris as he banged a fist on the cage again.
'Yes, and I would rather remain faded out from existence if our kid here cannot even handle this much. Have you forgotten my vengeance? Don't you wanna get revenge for what that fucking blessed faction did to us? If he can't deal with a few simple mortals then how are we ever supposed to face them? He has obviously been growing weak since you've babied him so much.' Said Nergal in a matter of fact tone.
'Bu-'
'Leave me now while I'm still in a merciful mood. I need to focus on rejuvenating my energy.' Finished Nergal while cutting off the conversation.
'Fucking old geezer, I swear...' Mumbled Osiris as he left the celestial cage.
Meanwhile Ceric too was not in much of a better situation.
"Did all of you bastards have a hand in creating this mess? Do any of you even know how fucking long it takes to scrub away these stains? You better not move around to much when you die and get more blood everywhere!" Ceric pestered as he notched three arrows.
"What is this guy on?" Asked one of the cloaked men.
"I don't know but once we kill him I call dibs on whatever kind of drug he's got on him."
"Shut it you two! If lady Amira finishes before us then drugs are the least of our problems!" Ordered the man in the lead.
"What about that one over there?" Pointed the first man.
"We'll finish him after this nutcase." Said the leader as he brandished his dagger.
Three arrows flew at one of the men in the back. He successfully deflected one but his body caught the remaining two before falling.
The remaining three men quickly closed the remaining distance to limit the archer's attacks.
"What's a bow good for now?" Sneered one of the cloaked men.
"For a clean wake up." Responded Ceric before sneaking one last arrow off his bow.
"You missed dumbass!" Snickered another one of the cloaked men.
"Maybe..." Responded Ceric as he dropped his bow and unsheathed a shortsword from his waist.
The three men rushed the lone archer.
Ceric focused on the leader as he evaded the first two aggressors.
The shortswords and daggers clashed within the encirclement.
"You should've stuck with archery." Laughed the leader of the group as he slid the dagger off the hilt of one of the shortswords and sliced into Ceric's arm.
Ceric grimaced as he kicked the man off of him.
"This is the end archer!" Suddenly, yelled one of the other men as he appeared behind Ceric while he was engaged with the leader.
"Wha-!" The same man yelped in surprise as a longsword protruded from his chest.
"Next time can you not shoot me in the bloody thigh!" Said Strom as he used his foot to push on the cloaked man's back to dislodge his blade.
"What? I thought you told me not to fuck this up? Besides, who was the one losing their shit in the beginning anyways?" Replied Ceric through gritted teeth as he procured another wound from the leader's daggers.
"I know this one was on me. We'll talk about this later... You handle the other small fry, I got this one." Ordered Strom as he intercepted the leader's daggers about to pierce through Ceric's neck.
"Yes sir!" Replied Ceric as he rushed over to the other remaining cloaked man.
Suddenly, the air inside the throne room began to heat up until everyone felt as if their blood was beginning to boil.
"What's happening?" Asked Ceric as he countered a dagger and sliced his shortsword across his opponents leg.
The air surrounding the group felt like it was continuing to raise in temperature. It was strangely humid, moist, and taste of iron, as if the air around them was actually becoming saturated by blood.
"It's the kid... That witch must've done something... We need to finish this up here so we can give him a hand!" Shouted Strom while beads of sweat began to drip down his face.
Deflecting a dagger aimed at his chest and counter attacking with a slash from his longsword, Strom swiftly glanced over to see the kid's condition.
But what he saw was something vastly different than what he had expected.
The kid stood still without any movement while his opponent eerily copied his stature. It was a deadlock.
Strom widened his eyes as he noticed the only form of movement from the standoff was the strange red mist beginning to swirl around Kellen and a sword lined with dark flames. As Strom looked at those flames he felt a sudden urge begin to swell up in his chest.
'Brother! Run! She isn't who she says she is!'
A voice seemed to shout out to Strom from within the flames.
He could've sworn he had seen his deceased brother's face pleading from under the dark flames for a moment before shaking his head to regain focus.
'I can't be losing my head again! It's like those flames are feeding off of rage and the thirst for vengeance.' He thought.
Although it was only a momentary glance, Strom felt as if he was still staring at those bloodthirsty flames even as he forcefully removed his gaze. His brother's face still continued to haunt his mind as small whispering voices urged him on.
'Kill...'
'Kill them all...'
'She killed him...'
'They deserve to die...'
The leader of the cloaked men smirked as he noticed the strange movements of his opponent. It looked as if Strom was utterly exhausted as he loosely swayed on his feet.
"Time to die!" Shouted the leader as he brandished his daggers and rushed in for the kill.
He crossed the daggers in his hands and lunged for the vulnerable portion of Strom's neck that was revealed from his armor.
However, right before the daggers could sink into their target, the leader's opponent lifted his head. A slight chill raced down the leader's spine as he met the eyes of his prey.
The flashing longsword immediately penetrated the man's chest as the crackling sound of lighting boomed. It all happened so fast that from an outside point of view an onlooker would assume the sword had teleported into the man's body.
Lightning spiderwebbed out from the fallen man's body and the sizzling sound of flesh could be heard as the dead leader was slowly charred.
Strom stood there, staring down at his fallen opponent, with little to no expression besides the two small orbs of flames that were dancing in delight inside his eyes.
'Kill them all...'
'Kill them...'
'Destroy...'
'Revenge...'
The voices continued to raise in volume as the captain slowly turned his head towards Ceric who was finishing off his opponent.
Lightning crackled around his whole body as he slowly approached them, with his longsword scraping the ground, buzzing with high voltage electricity like a swarm of angry hornets.