This chapter will probably be the longest one to ever exist on my account. This is a compilation of the original 33 or so chapters, the drafts I wanted to publish but decided against, and little updates from here and there.

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The original doesn't exist anymore so the revised one from October will have to make do:

Prologue:

As the Author I would suggest you to please read the ten beginning pieces of the auxiliary to become accustomed to the setting and story. However, I do hope you enjoy the story regardless.

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Fourth Era 68th year (Present day)

Argent lie on the ground bleeding out unconscious, with a great sword, dagger, and arrows all embedded in his back. His body, broken by a multitude of magics so powerful not even his dragon blood could help him withstand it. "Haahhh! That bastard thought we nobles would never stand up for ourselves, all because of his rank, Bah I guess Emperor rank is just a slightly stronger high king," said a short woman named Etta, of house Frostborn. "Etta don't forget we still have to get back to the Front," A tall, gruff, man spoke as he began walking back to his objective. "Hey Zan don't go! We still got to scatter some darkness about so it looks like he fought a elite squad, someone powerful like those Succubi hoes. That way the people don't think we killed their beloved Emperor!" Etta spoke with a chuckle as she began to demonize and scatter her darkness about. With a sigh Zan joined in with the menial task, "Do you have the corpse with you?" he said as he slit his wrists and sprayed blood about to make the scene even more realistic. "Of course!" she beamed. "Jeffery sure thought of everything." she said as she threw down a crystal, and stomped it while filling her leg with mana.

Suddenly a bright flash happened and the crystal shattered Etta leaped backwards to avoid the sudden expansion. Where the crystal once was, there lay the corpse of a female demon, and the darkness coming off of it made theirs look like raindrops to an ocean. Her skin was black, pink, and red, looking no older than seventy^, but her eyes they were open wide with terror her face forever contorted as if she was about to call for anything to come to her aid. The biggest tell was that sword, Argent made that sword with the assistance of the elves, and dark elves over the course of a hundred days. That sword went missing 2 years ago and here it was, it was called the king of giants and could channel his mana perfectly, easily making it his favorite.

Etta was thrown into the air by the sheer energy pouring out of this corpse only held down by Zan who barely had enough strength to dig into the ground and avoid being blown away. "Holy! How the hell did he kill that thing! Is there anyone alive who could even challenge "THAT"?" Etta screamed in terror while Zan's mind raced, "That's the power of the Demon king... right? No that's just her power... the power of the apex..." Zan thought. But soon it became peaceful and the energy ceased to surge fourth, no it was more like being swallowed by the energy. Not even Zan's monstrous physique could handle the amounts of darkness released from her corpse. Horrified Etta tried to drag Zan away but he was lost in thought, he hasn't been pushed that far by anything beside the first Etmata. "Zan let's go with that much power argent surely still is alive! We must flee damn it!" By some stroke of luck Etta pulled Zan's attention back to the situation at hand. The two raced towards their rendezvous with Jeffery because the world was going to get very bloody in a few hours.

Argent was still breathing, rather weakly but breathing nonetheless. He could feel his body failing, but he willed it onward anyways because he couldn't let himself fall just yet. "Where am I?... Did I die?... NO! I can't let that happen I must bring this war to an end!" Mana flaring he thought as he continued to lie there bleeding. Argent could feel a tugging on his soul but he fought against it, but he was fighting a losing battle. Now as his consciousness waned, he saw a light and his soul was ripped from his body.

Author's Thought: N/A

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Fourth Era 42nd year (First attempt of writing it.):

Fourth Era 42nd year (25 years ago)

My mind was fuzzy when I awoke, somehow standing on my feet while staring down at the ground watching as this red liquid was trickling down my face, pooling on my chin and nose and dripping onto the charred ground below. Soon it came to me that what I was looking at and said, "Blood?" and then the seemingly obvious thoughts began to flow in my head, "whose blood…. is this…. my head…. it hurts, it all hurts…." I only came partially out of my daze when an explosion threw me off my feet, and onto my face. "Oh, I'm on the frontline…." I said in an emotionless tone while trying to get my body to obey me just enough that I could begin to stand again. Back on my feet I now focused on looking around to get my bearings once more, and I saw a silver clad man with a sword glowing with energy facing off against another man; this man was wearing an all too familiar black crested armor, his head was exposed revealing horns about one foot long, and a tail protruding from his back. "Demon!" I shouted as I clutched my head and had a wave of pain go through my head. Then it all came back to me blurred and fragmented but still; I was Argent Emperor of Huma, and this is the Gaulda Plains. This one battle will be the defining moment, of our victory, or our continued defeat.

After coming-to I began rushing toward the fighting soldiers to save the poor sods who were trying to fight demons close range. "Get back!" I shouted as I soon noticed a massive fireball plummeting from the skies, scales began to grow over my skin, as a make-shift armor so I'd tank the oncoming magic blast that blew away hundreds of demons and human soldiers. Cursing the inadequacy of my bombing squad I swung my sword twice to throw a wind-blade of fire and a second normal wind-blade about 500 meters, to stagger the closest demon forces and create enough of an opening for my men to escape and for me to take their place. Hearing the cries of what sounded like ten demons mixed between male and female voices crying out. I believed that attack to be effective enough that I could delay their advancement for even ten seconds just enough time for me to make my way over there to assist their survival. As I was approaching the one-hundred-meter range I could now clearly hear their shouting and almost make out their struggle but I didn't have enough time to run all the way there. Against all good judgement I remembered a spell I learned when I was a child; it was a spell made by a merchant who was sick of how long it took his delivery boy to get around the capitol; so, he made a spell that changed the transportation industry forever, flight. I casted the oh so dangerous flight spell as I blasted into the sky.

From above I could see one of my many squad captains. I think her name was Ellen of squad 7, and she was trying to emulate demon telekinesis by using earth and wind magic to throw spear-like stone pillars at the demon soldiers in an attempt to ward them off for her wounded comrades to escape. "Why isn't she demonizing?" I thought as I began descending to 10 meters above the ground, "If she wants to use telekinesis, she should just use it." I began to charge up some level 3 spells once I noticed the demons had already reorganized and restarted their onslaught. The 7th squad began faltering not even one second in, but Ellen was still using her weaker, unstable, experimental, magic. Enraged I shouted "Demonize now Ellen!" as I pelted the demon army from afar while dropping my altitude and increasing my speed. Both my shouting and magic barrage seemed to catch more than just her attention, both demons and humans now knew my position clearly. It'll only take a second to get over there but I need intel, ASAP.

While still in my flight I am fully able to see everything below and in front of me. As it is now, I'm about fifty meters away from the scuffling group, now that I can see the forces clearly, I am able to get a proper read of the situation. Within the demon forces I see seventy normal infantry men within typical D-C ranks so they shouldn't be two hard to wipe out. After flying about ten meters the next group I saw was a small kill team of twenty magicians with their strengths bottoming out at F-rank and peaking at A-rank, they seem to specialize in telekinesis so melee combat is out of the question unless I use domain magics, but those are too draining for this situation so a magic barrage seems to be the most logical route. As I approached thirty meters I dropped out of my flight and began a sprint. Whilst I was canceling flight the infantry have switched their target from the 7th squad before me, to me for I am a far higher priority threat, it was at this time I began demonizing with an output set to A class levels. With the infantry moving in an attempt to rush and overwhelm they blocked my view of the 7th but have exposed the rest of their forces. Then I saw them; the Knights of the Demon King they all ranked far above the classed (excluding AA & S ranks) which are nothing more than grunts, these guys minimum requirement is Lesser Lord rank. No longer can I be reserved in this fight.

In response to the Knights appearing, I cranked my darkness to the maximum my body can handle pushing myself to Lord rank darkness. Once complete an explosion of black mist left my body and changed me to be more like the demons. My horn's structure changed to sense mana; my tail changed to be like theirs; my skin and scales were covered in darkness; and my limbs even further weaponized. But all these changes weren't enough, those knights could do the same but it gave me an advantage. However, I could now sense the flow of mana, my mana, their mana, and my soldiers' mana. It gave me a sense of freedom, of power! Then the rest of my memories flooded me reminding me of everything far clearer than before. "Ahh, ... How I missed this feeling," I said with a grin while running into the hoard of demons.

Earlier I counted seventy soldiers and now I can only see about forty. Regardless of their numbers, they were still well trained and dangerous given an opportunity. I decided it would be a good call to create a killing domain, as draining as it is to give me a further advantage. Next, I made a sword using condensed mana and fused it with my normal sword and swung it fast and hard in a large ark. It was filled with a large amount of mana and it threw off non elemental wind blades. Swiftly killing most of the D-ranks, just in time so I wouldn't get stabbed too badly by their spears. Whilst my domain was draining the vitality of all those within my domain. Although the C-ranks didn't last much longer, eventually dying due to their life force being drained by my killing field. But their struggle wasn't all for naught they did manage to give me a few wounds which temporarily slowed me down. I was highly tempted to begin absorbing their darkness, alas time is running out and I must move onward.

I began sprinting towards the kill squad of mages with the intent to put those mages in range of my domain. But they saw what I was planning and together pushed me back with their telekinesis. To escape their grasp, I recast the flight spell whilst dispelling the domain and began prepping my magics. From above I charged up 20 high powered wind blades and rained them down, but they were prepared. By the time my attacks reached them they had already thrown up the corpses of their fallen infantry comrades to take the brunt of the attack. After seeing how they disrespect their own dead enraged I shouted, "Do the sacrifices of your comrades mean anything to you lowly dogs!?" Shooting downward I used telekinesis to throw the corpses aside and bypass their guard and crush the closest mage's head in my hands. After one had died, they grabbed my body using telekinesis and slammed me into the ground and continued to drag me through the ground. Then they pulled me up into the air and began trying to tear me apart, but I wasn't going to die so easily. In a desperate attempt to get away I spit a lightning bolt at the one who looked like the leader and fried them dead. Then I used their own teleportation to get behind them which ate a chunk of my darkness but I didn't falter. Next, I stabbed through a B-rank and impaled him on my sword but in a desperate attempt to stop me from killing even more of his comrades, grabbed onto me and screamed "Kill their King!" as his allies shot at allies shot spears and tried to crush us out of existence. I had made a new armor out of scales to protect me to minimize the damage, but its protection won't last forever. To fool them I pretended to go limp hanging on their friend's corpse as they continued their onslaught and began moving towards us as if they have tunnel vision set in by hatred. With a hidden grin I began concentrating to make a new killing domain to entrap them in a death trap. Once they were close enough, I released the domain. All of the low ranks either died immediately or became comatose and their life force and mana began restoring me. Glancing at the knights I hurriedly killed the one that managed to remain standing.

To me it's been an eternity but in reality, only a minute has passed since I began fighting. And thankfully the knights haven't made any noticeable moves but that isn't necessarily good either. I looked over at the remains of squad seven and most of them were alive, but were still in combat with 30 normal demon infantry and losing. Unsurprisingly Ellen was dead, and her magic experiment failed. "At Least she died a human, because to those ignorant fools becoming like me is the gravest sin, and to die as a being using stolen lifeforce and corrupted by the darkness is the closest thing to being damned," I said while turning to face the knights. I opened my mouth once more to speak and give one last warning to my men, "I order you to demonize and flee from this area if you want to live!" Then looked to the Knights and began to appraise them in my head.

There were two knights: A tall and quite possibly physically powerful female of unknown origin, and a shorter knight of unknown sex, but they wore their crested helm proudly. The short one was from the "King's eyes'' order which is specially trained for reconnaissance and assassinations. While the tall female had no second crest that told of her order, just the crest on her chest that detailed she was a knight. I asked "You, what order are you from? The succubi order? or of a more normal creed like the order of warriors?" Astounded that an enemy would talk responded she responded in a polite tone "Emperor of humans you are rather ballsy to ask of us our orders, but I'll oblige you, the short one as you can see is from the Kings eyes the order of assassination and I am from the Frost edge order, an order of magic swordsmen, but earlier you flattered me saying I would even dare to try out for "That" order. If I so dared try they would kill me so painfully, so instantly you could never imagine! So, for that little complement I'll make your death quick and painless."

The tall female drew her sword and shifted her weight forward as if she was waiting for me to get into position so we could have a fair fight. Alas I was smarter than that, and she was too, her fellow knight was gone which meant one of few things. "That shorty must've been a telepath; else how would they disappear to the extent that I can't even sense them using the ambient mana!" I thought to myself. To counter their telepathy, I reformed my killing domain as a restrictive domain and began doing the instinctual chants for pyrokinesis so I could throw spears of fire. The midget stabbed me mid cast breaking my concentration, but I slapped them into a nearby stone with enough force to cause a small explosion. I had lost sight of the swordswoman, when I threw the small one. I spotted the swordswoman's shadow in front of me, and looked above. Shooting pillars of fire at her while casting wind blades alongside it. She countered my prokinetics using cryokinetics, while my wind blades were thrown off by their clash, and she used telekinesis to smash into the ground with her sword creating a grand explosion. But I was just barely fast enough to roll to the side and avoid any major damage. The force of the explosion was great enough to throw me twenty meters making me think "Just to think how fast she would be if she was completely unrestricted!"

As I began to clamber to my feet, I got kicked in the chin by an undetectable assailant, hard enough to throw me onto my back. Then I heard a footstep on my right, so I quickly rolled to the left and dodged a knife slamming downward into the ground where I once was. I flicked to my feet instantly and kicked the area where the dirt was broken, and felt a massive shock wave of force reverberate throughout my leg as an explosion of mana and force occurred. The sheer amount of force canceled their mind link making them visible and throwing the small armored demon into the sky. Their friend was rushing towards me but they were still dependent on terrestrial movement, she closed in about to cleave me in half as I blasted back into the sky at full speed. I slammed into the midget demon again to throw them even higher in the sky, and out of their friend's reach.

As we ascended, I began a barrage of magic and melee attacks to pummel them to death or into a coma, and with each hit their plate armor began to shatter regardless of how much mana they infused it with. But my darkness was dropping fast, I needed to kill and absorb them ASAP. I began creating spiked knuckles to reinforce my already weaponized hands and feet. Under my continued barrage their body was breaking apart like their armor, and blood and other fluids seeped through the many cracks in their armor, their helmet finally broke apart as well as the rest of their armor as I grabbed their neck. The demon was nothing more than a little boy, and this child's blood was on my hands, on the demon king's hands, and on his parents' hands. Alas I must not falter, even if it means killing a thousand children, for the only alternative is extinction. "Boy do you have any last request before you die?" I asked out of pity, in response he spat in my face and quietly uttered "Die! Y..Y-ou… Damn human!" as his eyes rolled back and life left his body. "Unfortunately, I cannot do that," I said as I changed his position to one where he is cradled in a more respectful position "But when this war is over the names of all who lost their lives will be remembered and memorialized for the rest of time."

After absorbing the boy's darkness, I was fully charged once more, and began descending towards the ground. The woman I was fighting earlier looked up with tears in her eyes, and uttered the name "Eugene!" in a cracked and enraged tone. "YOU HUMAN BASTARD!!!! YOU KILLED MY BROTHER YOU FUCKING SCUM!!!" Even from a hundred and fifty meters I could sense her darkness, "So I guess this is what would be a rage induced super form," I thought to myself. Icicles formed in the air primed and ready to fire at me and the now deceased boy. Even if it made me look like a heretic to my fellow humans, I refuse to dishonor the dead, so I shouted down, "Let me lie the boy down in a safe place, so that he isn't harmed any further by a battle that doesn't concern him anymore.'' She still looked enraged but she stepped back and nodded dropping her ice spears.

The swordswoman must have cared at least a little bit for the boy. Because once I placed him down, she seemingly teleported and slashed at me vertically in an attempt to cleave me in half. Although I could track her position using my horns and tail's ability to sense mana, she had managed to move just barely slower than I could follow up with a counter. In response to her speed, I created as many earthen spears as I could muster to impale her on the ground, but she didn't even flinch at the impacts they made. I backed away as quickly as I could because she could be at an even higher rank than me, and if so, this war is lost if I can't overcome her. Running towards the closest sword I grabbed it and began filling it with mana, but again she teleported and slashed at me, taking my sword and shattering it instantly. This time her blade was so cold it could freeze my blood in a second. With the small gap in her guard, I punched her in the ribs with all the strength I could gather, and she shot into the ground nearly half a kilometer away. Then I grabbed a spear that one of the infantries had and began flying in the same direction she had been launched in. But the temperature dropped as I began approaching the ten-meter range, so I dashed backwards as icicles formed in the air and were flung at supersonic speeds that were slower than me but far too many to dodge effectively. After being hit a few times, I shot forward after evading enough to create an opening to land another hit. But suddenly a wind blade was flung at me at a stupid high-speed breaking the rest of my barrier, but it gave me enough of an opportunity to dodge the full strike but it still grazed me with enough force to smash me out of the air. The warrior teleported in front of me and went for my neck with her great sword, but I parried just in the nick of time in such a way that she could only gouge my left shoulder. Since it seemed like she was completely sure that strike would end the encounter, she overswung and made a massive opening in her guard exposing the area I'd punched earlier. The armor was completely shattered and the skin was black and bleeding. In a desperate attempt to quickly end the fight I thrust my spear into her chest with all the energy left within my body.

As the blade pierced her flesh, I sent a pulse of mana throughout her body and it began to tear her apart from the inside-out. She screamed in agony at the energy pouring in and tried to push me aside, but this time I pressed in. The spear had pinned itself to her and had begun spewing the energy I had infused it with, so I released the handle from my grasp after shoving her a few inches back. While she was still stunned, I broke her sword hand's wrist with a karate chop. The sheer pain of the ordeal woke her up, but it didn't last for very long. Because I kicked her in the head with great enough might that I broke her left horn right off her head while holding her offhand by the wrist. Finally, she fell to the ground comatose. However as soon as she hit the dirt a glassy sphere of mana had swallowed both her and the boy and yanked them off into the sky.

"Dragon Magic!!! How! Grandmother put us in a blood pact with them!!" I shouted and looked around for signs of another dragon, then I remembered the only known being who can use any magic is the demon king. Fear shook me, but I must move onward. As I began moving towards the closest conflict point, I noticed I no longer had any control over my body, it was as if I watched a memory over. My soul was being pulled with force so great that not even I could resist, and was pulled out of my body to be sent through the void.

Author's Thought: "Kay going to be blunt this is bad. Wayyyy to high of a word count with way too little substance. If you're seeing this it means it ain't deleted yet, because i'm working on a replacement."

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Fourth Era 7th year (part one): Original

As my soul crossed the void, I could hear the voices of countless beings. Some were mocking, some were just gossiping, but the only thing I knew was with every syllable it shook my soul.

Luckily something within me told me it would soon stop, and then it did. I saw a bright flash as I slowly lifted my head off of something all too familiar. I looked up and saw my mother, and I was overwhelmed with emotions. My very soul shook with joy. But I soon sensed another presence, one matching my own.

My mouth moved and so did my body but I had no control, it was as if I was recalling a vivid memory, or placed in a repeating dream. So as it was all I could do I let the memory run its course.

I looked about the room to get my bearings and recall where I was. Soon I spotted the calendar, but the boy in control wasn't concerned about the date. He was instead concerned about the beautiful banners decorating the gathering hall and the multitude of guests wandering about.

"Argent!" my mother said just stern enough to catch my attention.

"Yes Mommy!" the other me exclaimed while still looking about the room. Now staring at the most decorated banner in the room, I finally remembered when this was. It was my Great Grandma's 16,027th birthday, not many dragons live that long, much less other races such as beastkin.

Once again Mom spoke, "Argent, are you listening to me?"

With a jolt the boy said, "Yes Mommy, I'm listening!" as he shifted our head and looked her in the eye. Mom gave a smile to me and once again, and I felt as if my soul could melt, I missed my parents almost more than anything else in the world. With a chuckle she responded "Okay, okay, I hope you know Grammy wants to see you during the party, and she wants you showing off your dragon blood, Do you know what that means?"

With a smile I responded "Horns, and tail, and wings!" Etmata³ nodded in agreement until she caught the last one, "No wings, even if you know how, you aren't ready yet!" With a semi dejected face I leaped off her lap after giving her a kiss on the cheek, and ran into the crowd.

I began a sprint without much direction towards the closest tall object, and climbed up as quick as my small body could. From my vantage point I felt as if I was at the top of the world, even though it was only two meters from my head to the ground. Then I looked around and saw my Great grandma, Etmata¹.

Grandma was exactly as I remembered. She stood at six foot two inches, with shallowly scared brown skin that was slightly tinted green because of her scales that grew on her skin. Like the demons she had horns but their true purpose wasn't in sensing mana, it was in storing it. She also had a tail, which she typically hid because it had been mamed at one point, but it served the same purpose as her horns.

In excitement I leaped down and ran in direction of Etmata¹, but soon crashed into a group of children. I knew who they were and it almost broke me far more intensely than anything before. It was my wife Mary a pure blood beastkin and her half brother Lars, already I wished this wasn't a dream but now that wish grew stronger than before. My emotions were so strong I believe it even affected the other me, or I would like to believe that.

My horns were lodged in Mary's chest and I was stuck until Lars got back up and shoved me off her. My horns were dripping with blood and I immediately said "Oh no! Your hurt!" as I tried to gather my mana for a healing spell "I know some elven magic, so I can try to heal you!" As I came closer Lars slapped me in the face and cried, "You stupid demon, I wish vampires like you weren't allowed citizenship!" With tears welling up in his eyes he looked down at his bleeding sister and said, "Mary, your gonna be okay! I'll... I'll get dad, he'll know what to do!" He said as he jumped up with fear on his eyes and ran off into the crowd.

I could see Mary weakly pleading for Lars to stay, but he didn't hear her. She was losing blood and it was pooling on the ground. A small crowd began to form around us, so subconsciously I threw up a wall of mana to protect us. I crawled over to Mary and began to gather my mana once again, so I could use my limited healing magic.

Mary looked at my hands glowing a bright green as I lay them on her chest, but oddly enough she didn't look like it pained her. Instead she smiled at me, the boy who had just stabbed her and had her blood dripping off his horns. She groaned once as the wound was forcibly snapped shut, but soon showed a bright smile. This smile made me miss her far more than I had ever imagined, I had no idea exactly what hurt the most. Was the fact that she's been dead for twelve years that hurt me, or the fact that if I'm not going to recover from my wounds and come-to I will join her without ending this miserable war.

She clambered to her feet, and grabbed me like I was just a balloon and spun me around while laughing then said, "WOW! You really did heal me, Are you an elf?... no they don't have horns ather maybe?... no you you would've sensed me like Lars could if you were... Ohh! Your a vampire right?" As she spun me I noticed my feet couldn't even touch the ground and she was two full heads taller than me. I responded, "No! Not vampire! Dragon, I'm a dragon!" in the proudest voice that a little boy shake could.

Once I had said my peace she let me down immediately, because she just realized she was shaking the crown prince. And then I laughed at her weird reaction, and she laughed too. Then Mary seemed to realize what just happened, and had now befriended the crown prince. She grabbed my hand and ran off towards where she thought her family would be, so she could explain what happened.

Soon Cynthia, Mary's mother, came within view. She was a beastkin, that never told if she was a fox or cat, but she looked like she could fit within either group if she tried. Beside her was Lars who looked panicked and was crying loud enough that I could hear him from twenty meters away. Now I could see what he was, he was half beastkin half ather, and now he had his horns fully exposed and his hair was ruffled.

As I drew closer their conversation because more clear to me, "Th-that stupid vamp, they...they stabbed Mary and I can't do anything!" Lars cried onto his mother's shoulder and she replied, "It's gonna be okay Lars, Papa went to go get some med staff, and they should already be with her," Cynthia said it but she sounded almost as panicked as Lars, and in her eyes you could see genuine fear. Suddenly Mary blurted out, "Lars I'm fine!" loud enough to startle those nearby and catch their attention.

As soon as Lars saw her he began running towards us, but soon the relief in his eyes turned into wrath, not at his sister but at me. He quickly changed target and yelled angrily at me, it sounded more like a terrified scream than an intelligent war cry if I'm being honest, but his intent was the later. He ran past his sister and slammed a fist into my face with enough force to knock me out. When I came-to it was less than two seconds later and I was still moving through the air. In response I put up a wall of mana to catch me, but Lars was already upon me once again. Feebly I threw up my arms trying to resist his powerful punches, but soon his mother pulled him off me. Now looking over I saw Mary talking to a black haired wolfkin man. The man was her father and his name was David, he was talking to mary probably trying to figure out how she was even standing there.

Cynthia gave Lars to his father and soon helped me up, she explained that she was very sorry for how he had reacted and wanted to thank me for helping her daughter with such a grievous injury. Like the child I was I quickly bounced up and began to both apologize and brag about the incident. Then Lars suddenly came up to me and said, "Look, Argent... I'm sorry,... I-I lost my dad when I was little to a vampire going berserk, and when I saw someone who looks like they could be a vamp I-I... I'm sorry," After hearing this I just hugged the boy and smiled knowing that it must've hurt having lost his father. Then I said, "It's okay we're going to be friends and I'll help protect you!" while looking him in the eye. Then suddenly my vision completely cut off, and I was terrified.

Author's Thought: "Oof I write way too slowly... anyway this is my second time writing this chapter. The first time I wrote it in third person, but that just felt far too impartial and it made me dissatisfied with it."

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Fourth Era 7th year (Part two): Original

When my senses returned I was in my Grandma's arms, while she was talking about her interactions with Empress Rosalyn. I have many things I could say about my grandma. For example thanking her for her sacrifices over these six thousand years, or I could yell at her for not properly training me in her magics. Regardless I miss her because as I grew older she was constantly imparting her wisdom to me, so I must enjoy this dream while I can.

I looked about the room even though I was supposed to be listening to her story, I guess the little me didn't find it too interesting. Then I saw a man who I knew as Uncle Del he was an ather around 5'7" so you had to look rather hard to find him, but I could recognize his signature hat in an instant. Dad told me he wasn't my uncle by blood, but that he was a very good friend of Ados his grandfather.

"Look Grammy it's Uncle Del!" I said as I pointed towards him. I said it suddenly so it nearly spooked Grandma and made her get laughed at by her friends. Etmata¹ responded with a gentle smile, "You little turd! Didn't you say you could handle a little story about the family? Oh well give Grammy a kiss and I'll let you down, But remember you gotta come back in a bit, because I got a gift for you!" Enthusiastically I gave her a kiss on the cheek and waited for her to place me on the ground.

Quickly I ran to Uncle Del and said, "Hey Uncle Del look at me!" as I flaunted my horns and tail, "Mommy told me to show off my dragon blood! Do you think I look powerful?" He laughed at me and told me, "Of course you do, how else could you be her grandkid!" as he pointed at Grandma.

When this happened I simply didn't know what the adults meant whenever they used grandma as a standard measure of power, but now I knew she was the apex within this world. The only person she wouldn't have a one hundred percent chance of beating would be the Demon King, a being she called the strongest living thing in this world. Not that she was the only strong being in the world, Uncle Del for example was a level 7.5 esper. Because of that he could move the castle with just his mind, teleport long distances, and use telepathy to get people to obey him.

Suddenly he knelt down which I didn't remember happening at all, and placed his hand on my head. "Argent I don't know what's going on in there but be strong!" Uncle Del said in a concerned tone. I expected the boy to say something in response, but he didn't... Then I realized I couldn't feel his presence, "What did you do?" I blurted in fear. This never happened before when I would dream about my past. My mind raced because all those who appeared were like NPC's you'd find in games, but he moved as if he was alive!

I tried to speak again but he put his hand on my mouth and said, "Feel yourself! Draw out your true might even if it kills you! You are like my own grandkid, so please don't die in such a dishonorable way!" I now see his face was contorted in pain as tears ran down his face, he gave me one last hug and then my body was hit with waves of pain. My soul shook and he knelt there hugging my body crying aloud, and the hall moved as if nothing happened. Finally I could sense the void, it was here to try to take me once again.

I was grabbed by the void and I was lifted into the air, through the castle ceiling, and through the sky. Where it was taking me I know not, but now I am at its mercy. Things raced through my mind and I prayed to the All Maker that I would be safe. In the end my vision went black and I felt nothing.

Author's Thought: "Oof that's sad man. anyways two chapters in two days ain't that great."

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Fourth Era 68th year: -IDK if I made more than one draft… With stuff being simplified to "DK" and various typos, and errors.-

Argent's soul shook within the void and his body lie next to a corpse. The corpse of a woman named Areal, she was a friend of his and Mary's they would always converse in their black modes so neither suspected that they weren't on the same side. They lie in the middle of a forest that has been ravaged by the darkness pouring out of her. In the void Argent suddenly remembered that Dragon blood never thins, and that he can't die here. He then thought about what Uncle Del said in the dream "Draw out your true might even if it kills you," Argent made one last prayer to the All Maker and then began.

He began trying to call fourth all his mana, darkness, and physical strength. He felt his body and opened his eyes now breathing, in pain but still breathing. He slowly ascended to his feet, with blood gushing out of his wounds. Argent concentrated all his darkness beyond the maximum and let it flow free, with an explosion of black mist the sky went dark. With mana overflowing he spread his draconic wings and cast flight, shooting off into the sky towards the front. The wounds that covers his body were healed as he moved hundreds of kilometers per second and arrived at his objective. Argent now with a presence large enough that the entire continent could feel it.

His horns and tail burned because his body was containing far more energy than they were ever designed to hold. Now mindlessly he shouted with wrath and rained down an endless barrage of level 50 spells, tore mountains from the earth, and shook the skies. The gods looked at him in horror for he was at the point where he could challenge their reign. However Argent's goal was far more humble than that; it was now to wipe out all demon kind. Like a lightning bolt armies lost their heads, royalty was crushed out of existence, and Argent continued to move forward undaunted, as the gods pummeled him with divine punishment. Alas he carried not, Argent moved forward as if he has lost all reason, his body now hitting Saint by human ranks and his dragon blood began to exceed King rank. His power shook the continent endlessly and then suddenly three forces appeared to confront him.

Argent's younger cousin, Jeffery, who was raised as if he was his brother, the one who had been planning on Argent falling today. But now he was floating there at his maximum output, but the difference between them was as if an ant challenged a god. He shook in fear and yelled at Argent, "You Devil! I knew your name would change you! You plan on ending everything here, is that it?" He was always jealous of Argent's talent and power but no one could have predicted what would have happened.

Jeffrey knew the founder was known as the Devil by some, but to the ather he was known as the Devil Slayer and is revered as a god of the land. A good chunk of the demon army wanted to take Huma because to them it is a holy land where their god now lies dormant. Humans and other other races feared that name above all other normal names, but Etmata³ felt her son was worthy of a legendary name. But to the masses that meant declaring her son on par with a being revered as a Devil. But Jeffery's hatred was born from a different reason, Jeffrey was an elitist while Argent was a egalitarian.

Another being who appeared was Jeffrey's second in command, Thomas. Thomas wasn't very much of anything, all he did was faithful obey his orders. When Jeffrey told him to kill he killed, when he was told to move he moved. The man was also an elitist and he wanted to put Jeffrey on the throne, so he could undo all the things Etmata had done to make the country fair to all.

The third and final person who came to confront him was none other than the demon king himself. He wasn't like the others who had powerful builds, but was more of a modest form. He was 5'8" while black, his hair was a dark grey and he looked upon Argent with a pained smile. He was quite excited that there were others who were at his level, and excited that it was Argent of all people who had acquired Saint rank. At the same time It pained him to fight Argent, for he was only 68. "Boy you shouldn't be doing this! I didn't make that promise for nothing! This shall be your final warning, Back off now!" he thundered with great might.

Argent cared not about being surrounded, but what the demon king said nearly shook him. He could tell a part of himself knew what he meant but refused to speak up. All Argent knew was when one side goes extinct this endless war can truly end.

With a pulse of energy he threw the insurgents from the sky and readied himself to face the Demon King. He shot forward holding The King of Giants and swung it with enough power that the sky, earth, and soldiers were carved away. Somehow the demon king didn't even bother to block it, instead he just flicked the tip of the blade with enough force that it shattered. But Argent wasn't scared, he continued to flood the sword with mana until it screamed endlessly. And began swinging it in a melee based barrage. The demon king was now forced to fight seriously. They traded blows endlessly, each had enough force to destroy a nation, yet neither fell. Argent cancelled all of his spell casting and focused on the foe before him. The black sky was shifted red as Argent formed a killing domain, to slay all before him.

The Demon King knew that things were going south and thought, "He'll kill everyone here if this goes unchecked!" He quickly began hitting Argent with the full intent of murder and let his darkness pour out and began using his full power to end this as fast as possible. Astoundingly Argent charged unphased by the impacts hitting his body, so the Dk used his full power to rip his sword from his grasp. "You Insurgent Bastards strike now!" Dk screamed. He grabbed Argent's shoulder and stabbed him in the chest with his own sword, which was followed up with the swords of the two he had thrown. Finally Argent went limp the gods ceased to throw lightning, and his energy seemingly dispersed, this fight was over... or was it.

Author's Thought: "The story will change from first to third occasionally. I wish I could just stick to one or the other, but my mind is a little bit too fragmented at times. I usually spend 3-5 days writing a chapter and I constantly am rewriting the chapter. That will no longer be the case, I will try to upload nearly daily, but don't hold your breath about it."

-I'm Pretty sure that you noticed that by now, so idk why I put that there.-

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The End of The King?: -Found DK-

"I guess this is the end of me" I thought as blood spurted out of my ribs and back. Nearly every bone in my body is shattered, my head is in the demon king's hand, and my body is being hit by someone that was basically my brother. "Guess Jeffrey was right, I did become the devil to kill the devil, Now I'll die as the devil, not as the hero king I once was," As the void was about to take me I heard a voice say, "You're the only dragon who prays to me... So I'll give you this one gift."

Suddenly I was thrown into a room with many six winged beings and one walked up to me. It looked like a male human, but both its eyes and hair were white. And it stood two full heads taller than me, even though I'm 6'7". It looked like it took a prodominantly male figure I couldn't tell if this was his true form or not. He was fully armoured but had patches of skin poking through where it had been damaged.

"Michael you sure I should be the one to do this? I just returned and have quite a few things to fix," the being said. I looked around the room to find this Michael fellow but I had failed. Then I noticed that I couldn't even tell how powerful these things are, which could mean one of four things; that they were impossibly weak; didn't use mana; were hiding their presence; or were so powerful that their presence has already swallowed the entire world by the time I was born.

"Azazel Hurry up or he's going to hurt himself trying to sense us!" The one who said that was sitting on the ground in a white tunic. "Okay Mike, I'll hurry up!" the being who I assume is named Azazel said after giving the sitting man an odd hand sign. He then touched my chest and said, "What was I supposed to do exactly? Oh yeah teach em something and awaken the rest right! Oh this is gonna hurt like hell bud,"

My vision completely cut out and when it was restored I was still hanging in the hand of the Demon King. My soul burned! It's a pain that I wouldn't dare wish upon anything. For it isn't one that you can power through, but that feels like it could burn for an eternity. My power that bottomed out, now felt limitless and overflowing. I decided to take a breath and release my wrath even if it kills me!

I screamed at the top of my lungs as I let all within me break loose. Then I grabbed the Dk's arm and he looked at me in horror as if he's seen this scene once before and knew he couldn't do anything against it. I tore his arm off and kicked a hole in his torso with enough force to send him out of my sight. The sky cleared up with each breath but the energy ceased to be released, but just as suddenly as I "Killed the Demon King" he had returned. He punched my gut with a fresh arm but it shattered instantly upon it. In a rage I slapped his face and his head shattered, but as he had received far grueling wounds than that he recovered almost instantly. We traded blows and the gods put in a full effort to eradicate us, for they feared for their lives. He now took the initiative and hit me far above the sky we traded blows within the stars and shattered through planets. The powers coursing through our veins nearly endlessly, we fought till the universe quivered at our presence. We crashed into lands far too grand to be explored fully as I sent spells within orders that were passed down only within myth, and he followed up with the same. The pain began to cease and was soon replaced by excitement, but our bodies were begining to brake apart and the Demon King was almost out of energy. In a desperate attempt to kill me he dashed towards and we shot towards Axios and shattered the mountains. Now that We lie on the planet face he and the gods slammed into me until my body finally gave in. Then my life had burned out.

Author's Thought: "huh I guess he didn't die earlier, but he's probably dead now"

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From Ashes I Was Reborn: -Let the character inconsistencies begin.-

My life had ended, plain and simple, I killed many of my own soldiers and killed many planets in that final fight. All I can do now is weep, my family are all dead, save my mother who lie in a coma, I have no descendants to take my place, now I broke my final vow to my wife. "I had failed you all!" I cried out to the void.

Then I felt a kick to the ribs and keeled over clutching my chest. Then a boy's voice screamed "You hornless scum! Get up! I'm not done beating you! So get up you waste!" I looked around but could see nothing, you know because I'm dead. Wait, who just spoke to me, a deadman? Then I heard a girl's voice, "Hans Stop kicking him, If he dies we'll be beat by the village elder! I hate that failure, but he hasn't come of age yet, So just be patient and we'll kill him then!" The boy who I assume is Hans responded, "I don't care! I don't want to waste village resources on him for ten years! You hear that Argent! You're a complete waste! How could you fail to grow horns! Even if we gave you up as a sacrifice to the Chief it would still be a waste!" "Hans! Just Stop we need to go mom's coming!" Then I hear a struggle as if the boy was being dragged away. "Rose, It was your idea to stab him! If you didn't do that I could kick him more!" he screamed as he grew more distant.

"Huh, I guess I'm partially possessing this boy," I thought. Then suddenly I heard the voice of Azazel, "Michael, that retarded garbage! He sent you back before I could finish all the awakenings, now you're in this mess!" He sighed and then said, "K you should be ok within twenty four hours... I'm sorry about your other body, If it makes you feel better I'll kick Michael's A- oh your a kid right now, Still I'm gonna go give him a real walloping for you!"

So I waited... one hour... two hours... twenty five hours... forty eight hours... In the end it took 72 hours before anything happened. When something finally happened my soul shook and I screamed once again. But this time it wasn't because my spirit was on fire, but because of how many broken bones I had. In pain I laughed until someone came outside and hit my head with a rock.

In the morning I began to laugh once again, not that I wanted to be hit again, but because how stupid this is! Who reincarnates, sure we commonly said to those we killed may you reincarnate as the winning race, heck even the demons said the same! Does that mean it's all over am I finally done with endless war. Does that ever happen though, well obviously no it doesn't. But my laughter was ended once again by the same angry woman with a rock.

After coming-to I hear an all to familiar voice, "Yo, You're finally awake, It's only been eighteen hours and you're up already! So I nearly killed Michael... it was worth it, but now I gotta go do something in another world so I'm gonna give you a little limit release system so when you're ready you'll unlock a bit more of the stuff I awakened... wait you got that entire rank thing right? think it's like that, but you ain't seen nuttin' yet!" Suddenly his voice disappeared and I assumed I should assess my injuries.

I struggled to sit up which means either a lot or a little has gone wrong. I also noticed that my ribs, and forearms were broken, nothing that I couldn't fix, but it sucked nonetheless. I crawled onto my feet but tripped on some rope like thing. After looking at it for a second I realized that it was a bloody, severed tail. I shrieked at the sight, who hits a child with a severed tail! Then I realized, If I'm a Demon, no Ather where's MY tail? I screamed again at the thought, I THE descendant of Etmata, a proud Dragon has no tail. The simple thought of not having a tail was enough for me to go black. The village was shocked my the sudden explosion of mana from a boy who was thought to be nothing more than garbage. However it got my point across, if you fight me I'll kill you. While my entire body was boosted I reattached my tail and healed my body, but even after doing all that I wasn't forced out of the form. So I decided to walk around in my black form until it finally gives out.

It was late at night when my black form finally gave out. While I was out and about I decided to explore the village and learned quite a bit by just listening to the chatter of the town. I learned things about how the de-, no the Ather, used their magic in day to day life. They would use it in surprisingly boring ways pyromancy to light fires, cryomancy to freeze food, telekinesis to lift heavy things, the only thing that really seemed any different from the ather was how primitive their houses were. Another thing I learned is that I really am a hornless freak, sure when I was alive I covered my horns with light magic but that was reflex from Lars, when I wasn't around him I left them visible. I had to spend the afternoon coming to terms with that...

Also I found Rose and Hans were stalking me, but when I looked at them they fled from my sight. I think for them it's very hard to go black, which I simply laughed at the thought initially. But when the rock lady tried to hit me again she saw me and ran, which wouldn't be done if she could do the same... right?

Author's Thought: "I thought you wondered where that entire little battle ark would end. well now I get to put that reincarnation tag to use."

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Housing Problem:

It's been about two weeks since I reincarnated as a Demon. Since then I've made many interesting discoveries. For example I am only five years old, and I have the same name. That we are an unimportant border village on the easternmost border. And that the demons here are nothing more than demons, no it would be disrespectful to the soldiers who fought for these "THINGS" to call them demons. These meatbags are pretty darn cruel, I learned that "my" entire life they've been been beating me from dawn till dusk. Just so I'll have been weak enough to justify "sacrificing" me to some f-class demon.

Needless cruelty aside, I now know why the ather regard these meatbags as another race. Speaking of which, I gave Rose and Hans "A Stern Talking to" like they had done so to me. Long ago I wouldn't dare assault a child regardless of what they did, unless they took it upon themselves to become soldiers. I now believe that part of me had died for none of the kids here give a crap about each other, and they really hate me in particular. I don't know what the previous owner of this body did to tick them off but it worked. Back to the point, I found melee to be the only viable option for combat... is this what it's like for all of the low ranks? It's not that I couldn't use magic, they just were way too weak, or they didn't even work. So far in my base form the only usable magic is dragon magic.

Recently adults and one "classed" man come to beat me at night in the village, so I'm making a soddy about 300 meters from the village fence. However I see a man around 5'7" walk up to the plot. "Argent! What the Hell are you doing? Did you receive permission to come out here?" I was carrying a slab of sod when he decided to bother me, but I'll just ignore him and keep working on my house. "Hey! You friggin brat what the hell are you doing? You better tell me before I beat you boy!" He screamed,."I'm building a soddy, thank you very much," I interjected as he rambled. I finished placing my sod and spoke to the short angry man, "Now if you could, please go die in the field over there, it'll attract some birds, or ooh maybe a wolf, but if I'm real lucky I'll get a low level mana beast!" I said pointing towards the mountainous forest area with a smile. The man got angry and he flicked his tail about, and stomped around like an idiot, then left me be. And I resumed my construction.

Author's Thought: N/A

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Housing Problem. 2:

I finally finished my soddy after ten hours of grueling work. I intentionally used more energy than needed by using all the magic I could during construction, so I would adjust my body to using the magic of other races. Hopefully I'll grow some more magic organs, so I can produce the energy needed to use those spells properly. In my old body I had to train for months for my body to adjust to a magic, then for it to make the proper mana channels for said magic, and finally form a magic organ that made the right mana type. But somehow it took twice as long for me to tire out in my new body. I guess the ather are just stronger than humans.

I now am standing just beyond the gate and I'm exhausted, so I must avoid any and all life threatening situations. The gate isn't a door but there are two villagers acting as the guards. As I was approaching them they began to laugh at me. "What's so funny? If you wouldn't mind telling me," I promptly stated. "Look at this Chucklef**k! What do you think you're doing at our village?" the man said in a moderately annoyed tone. "Uh I'm kinda a villager last time I checked, Can't you remember," I responded as I continued to approach the gate. The man laughed and blocked my path with his staff saying, "Don't you know? you've been exiled, After what you did to Hans and Rose you're no member of our village,"

This made me ponder what he meant by that, all I did was beat them up. They gave me seriously dangerous injuries and got off scot-free, but I broke their noses and their non-dominant arm. And because of that they want to exile me. I can't make any sense of this.

"What do you mean I've been exiled? I didn't break any rules!" I said as I pushed my way past his staff. I continued to walk until he smashed his staff into the back of my head."I don't think you understand, boy! you're exiled, did you think you could give them that bad of a beating and get off without punishment? Sure you didn't break any rules, I don't care where you learned to do that-that darkening, They are thousands of times more important than a quarter vamp freak!" The guard screamed, as he kicked me with every word. His partner joined in and continued to kick me until they had pushed me back out of the village.

It wasn't until the evening I could move again. I thanked the All Maker once again for letting me live through that entire struggle and returned to my new home.

My soddy isn't too big but it's not small by any means. I cleared the ground and laid out some of the damaged pelts I found in the trash pit after washing them. I also used thatch as a torch to light up the room, and gave my building a primitive vent system so I can light a fire in here without any risk of suffocating. I don't really have a bed but I used human earth magic over the course of construction to give an elevated platform for me to sleep on. "I miss the palace!" I said with a sigh. As I placed my head on my pillow and went to sleep.

Author's Thought: "oof now he's homeless. that aside for a while it'll leave Argent as the focus and move onto the current situation in the world." -IDK What I meant by this… maybe I changed my mind right after writing this and instead added more chapters.-

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Areal? 1:

I saw a flash of red light fill my vision and I was put in the body of someone else. This wasn't like my reincarnation, or when I had flashbacks, it was more like I was absorbing the information of all those who had an effect on me. Azazel said things were going to happen, but he never said what it would entail.

I was in the body of a woman, who was around six feet tall. Another notible feature was her skin, it was a pinkish color with a white accent. She seems to be practicing a swordsmanship style similar to what I learned from Areal, then we heard a shout which quickly confirmed my suspicion, "Areal! Get over here!"

When I heard her name it sent many bittersweet memories through my mind. She was an important influence on Mary and my life, and... I couldn't... Then many thoughts ran through my mind, but something broke my concentration. A voice, it kept echoing throughout my mind, but it wasn't my own. "Ahhh, what does she want now? Today's supposed to be my free day," This voice said as if she was exhausted. My mind is too weak to make everything out properly. Then Suddenly the body jerked towards the voice, and we were there before I could even react. "Ma'am!" We shouted in reverence with a salute.

I felt my sense of self being eaten away at, and I tried to fight it, but I could tell I will lose soon. Suddenly the feelings I had were ended, and my sense of self had eroded. Now we has become I, and Argent has shifted to Areal.

I was grabbed by the shoulder by this woman who was almost as tall as I was, "Areal I've just received orders straight from the Demon King, He wants me to send you on an escort mission over there with the King's Eyes," Then she.. No, Enda her name is Enda. Enda smiled and looked me in the eyes, "I know how hard you've worked to get here, and it's now paying off, Good work," Enda removed her hand from my shoulder and gave me a push in the direction of the armory, and I was off.

I-We-She-... "Who am I? No! I am Areal," I thought. then I ran over my combat style. I dislike using my magic, because it takes away mana I could use to reinforce my body. As such my loadout was a Greatsword, two daggers, a rope dart, and some light armor which was enchanted with various things to make it more combat efficient. Once assured of my typical style I geared up I began to set out for the target location. For me on foot it was a five hour trip because I'm a Heavenly King, but not everyone is as strong as me. For a horse rider, it would take nearly 5 months to get there, but a tank could get there in around one month.

After running for around two hours, I encountered a patrol of normal infantry. I asked them about the nearby areas and what to expect from it. They told me a few things, but the thing that caught my attention was this, "Ma'am there's a heightened presence of mid to high level mana beasts," His voice was shaky and his legs were visibly quivering as he spoke to me. His fears made my mind run on "Figures, He's terrified of me, I mean I would be too if someone a whole head taller than me began demanding intel from me, but I wonder what it's going to be like when I'm eventually discharged, I mean I've got duties to fulfill... I'll just ask mom about what she did," I thought as I analyzed his stature. He must find it weird, or terrifying that a succubi would ever interact with him.

"Ma'am did you g-get all that?" he said. I looked at his chest and saw a well worn name tag adorned with two silver stars, clearly saying Barry. "Hmm? Oh no sorry, I was trying to figure out your rank, You A-class? Nevermind, please go on... Barry?" The man was shaking hard almost as if he believes he's about to die. He nodded and tried to speak once more but the words refused to leave his throat. I grabbed his shoulder gently and said, "Whatever it is I trust you mean well, but I won't press any further." Then I was off.

I arrived at the location early, and Barry was right. There were many splotches of blood and the corpses of lesser animals scattered about. I also saw the ground and trees were maimed with claw marks. "What kinda mid level beast can do this!" I thought to myself. Then I was thrown to the ground by an explosion, quickly followed up by screams of pain. I listened to the screams and quickly discerned the conversation, "Argent! Grab Mary and Lars, we're pulling out!" a man shouted desperately. "What about the reward?" a younger man screamed. I immediately ran towards the chaos greatsword in hand, with the internet of securing the area and saving the civilians.

Author's Thought: N/A

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Areal? 2:

I now approach the fight and I can see how bad it is. I see three casualties who had no mana whatsoever and three who had any mana circulation in their bodies. Time was limited and their condition was critical, I quickly dumped some of the HP^ I had brought along with me, before shifting my focus towards the three remaining fighters.

The first was a stout male who had rich brown hair, and a goatee who was using some sort of mana rifle*, because surly he wouldn't be stupid enough to use old fashioned bullets. The second was a well built man with silver hair and sideburns, wearing something like a leather jacket with many empty pouches. He used his gauntlets as weapons like the Beastkin would but used telekinesis alongside it, which made me question his race. The third man was the one who caught my attention. This one had bright red hair with strands of pink running throughout it, and an untamed sense of power coming off of him, but he didn't look much older than twenty. The red head must've been a Holyman, because he stood at the back of the group and casted pyromancies and a plethora of other types of magic at their giant foe even though he had a sword and light armor.

They were facing off with a low to mid level mana beast commonly known as the Mega Deer, but this guy was way too big. The buck was ten meters tall and had mana on par with a AA-Class demon, this beast was definitely a variant. I looked over at the group and saw the one in the back slam his hands together and throw them aside to release a red pulse of energy that swallowed the entire group. "Why would you waste so much mana on a shockwave?" I pondered as I looked into the sky.

Somehow I didn't notice a fourth member until I looked up. I saw a girl with long gray hair and a semi muscular build for someone 5'2". She dropped like lightning, but even just for a moment we locked eyes, an impressive feat for a weakling. With her speed she smashed her heel into the giant's forehead, pushing it into the growing red sphere.

"I can't sense inside of that orb!" I thought to myself as I walked up to it cautiously. Standing before it I could feel a presence that made me feel uneasy, as if there's humans around. No it's something more unsettling, I just can't name it. I pressed my hand against the giant orb expecting to pass through like a weak flimsy barrier, but it stopped my hand completely. However I used far more force than I would have like and pressed through it, breaking inside.

As soon as my hand broke through the surface, I felt my strength and mana being ripped away. "What the Hell!" I screamed as I yanked my hand out. I looked at my hand and winced at the pain, it had been torn apart and lost it's skin. "What kind of magic is he using to make that?" My hand was shaking as my mana slowly returned and repaired it. I took a breath and concentrated my mana to reinforce my body and ran into the sphere of mana.

Inside I could feel my strength draining, it was slowly going, but annoying nonetheless. I then saw the boy's group all seemed to have a green glow around them, and they were unhindered by this draining air. I tried to call to them but I heard the mega deer shriek. The beast appeared to be unbothered by the air, but I could sense its mana decrease to that of an advanced A-class demon. The monster must've sensed me because it charged right at me. It's eyes full of intent, it knew I was a threat and wanted to remove me from the situation. It slammed its front legs into the ground where I stood, but it missed its mark because I had already leaped above it. The Mega swung its antlers towards me but I had already chopped it into pieces before anyone could even react.

As I fell to the ground the group had shifted their focus towards me. A shockwave emmanated from my body as I slammed into the ground and rose to my full height. They were squared off against me, their weapons were tightly held and my sense of unease increased. "These guys must be humans!" I thought to myself as I reached for my great sword. I shifted to a stance where I could attack with the most ferocity, and looked at their equipment. On all of their chests they had a little emblem of a deer skull and an axe, two of them were bronze, the redhead had a silver, but the old man with the gun, had a golden one. He barked "Argent drop your domain, We're leaving!" as he put his gun on his back and slowly backed away.

The pink haired boy sighed angerly as the red 'domain' receded back into his body. Then the boy, no Argent, yelled at the stout gold plate, "What about the core Robert? We need the cash!". But the old man said, "And? So what if we don't get the reward, it's only 300 gold!" The boy nearly fainted after hearing this, "We lost three people, for just 300 gold! Why didn't you ask Uncle Del if he could hit us up with a higher paying hunt? Or at the very least you should have asked about one that bronze plates could do!" You could feel the anger coming off Argent and I remained readied in case they ever made a move.

"Mary, Lars you're with me right?" Argent said to the pair that were analyzing the corpse from a distance. "Sorry Argent I got to agree with Rob, We failed the hunt, and she's a Succubi," the silver haired man pointed towards me with a terrified face, "Going against her is paramount to going against the Demon King, I don't know what connections your uncle has, but I doubt he could hold back the wrath of the Demon King," The gray haired girl had already ran towards their injured, probably worried about their survival. But then I saw her tail it was similar to that of a fox, which isn't your typical Ather tail. That would explain my sense of unease, with Halfkin** about. I let out a long sigh of relief before shouting, "I want your names, ages, and specific races!" I sheathed my sword and yanked the Biters towards me, "And You Halfkin I want to see your tags, now!" But this Argent wasn't scared even though I screamed at him, "Shut up! Your only a level 3!" he shot off as he stormed towards me. I was startled, he could tell my level*** at a glance, but it wouldn't matter because I focused on melee over magic.

I felt a change and-and... And she,... Areal? Areal moved all according to my memory, but I was seeing through her eyes, and feeling what she felt... why- why am I seeing through this murderer's eyes? No, Why did I lie, why did she lie... The boy looked us in the eye, I looked us in the eye and said in words that didn't match his mouth, "Ar... Argent, Wake up!... they're going to kill you!"

Author's Thought: "^ A basic compound developed by the demons that jumpstarts the healing process, short for heal powder

* Long ago humans invented rifles based on the information given to them my "wanderers" and summons. However their effacacy was very limited compared to magic, so they took the basic design and replaced bullets with concentrated mana.

** Halfkin is a derogatory term for half Beastkin-Ather children, annother term is Biter.

*** Ather magic is divided into levels, each level is 10x stronger than the last typically measured like so: Level 2.5. Humans divide their magic grades into circles." -This will remain true for the most part even after the reboot.-

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Children Are Only as Good as Their Parents: -Shit's dark and poorly explained… you'll see how crude this version is when I'm done in Volume 3-4 or so.-

"The inheritance is being interrupted, ejecting Awakened... I'm sorry... I-I... Please...Don't reject my inheritance for you... It's all I can give you." said the voice that ran through my head the entire time.

I opened my eyes with tears running down my face, "Areal?" I said. I don't know how much of an effect that dream had but I'm back in my five year old body, in my cozy little soddy. I have all I put in it. a chair, desk, torches. the small demon who harassed me earlier. Wait... "What are you doing here?" I asked him. He grabbed my shoulder and gave me a hug, "Argent! They're going to kill you! They got word an envoy from the Demon King will arrive tomorrow, and they want to sacrifice you to them!"

My eyes went wide, at his statement. Then I thought was he going to bring me in. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, you're not my own... I never told you because they I didn't want you to know but I'm going to tell you everything that I can!" He grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me out of my soddy, "You see that mountain, we're going to cross over it tonight...If I don't make it Know that I'm proud of you!" He picked me up and began sprinting towards the mountains.

I noticed that he had pain in his voice and had tears running down his face, but when I asked what was wrong he smiled and said, "A whole lots wrong, but it ain't nothing to worry your little head about!" It made me feel wrong, because everything he said it was if he was pouring his heart out, and had only days to live. But what saddened me the most was the fact that he spoke to the boy, unaware that he has already left this world. Alas I listened intently for if I one day encountered the soul of the boy who gave me his body I'd tell him all about this night, and thank him for this body. The man continued onward while telling me his story, my father's story, and my mom's as well.

His name was Kane. He was just a typical horned demon who worked on the family farm with his brother, Richard. Kane had worked hard, day in and day out just so his village, his family, and he would thrive. Until Richard was drafted, he barely qualified, only being an F-class by sheer luck. Kane knew that he must continue, working so his village will thrive, and he did. Kane found a woman named Jess, and they fell in love, had children, the whole nine yards. And just like that twelve years had passed, he was finally an F-class like his brother but he wasn't drafted. No fate was far too cruel for him to die in a war.

A drought struck the land where they lived so they couldn't get any crops to grow, as such the village entered a time of famine. Kane had grown the farm from a garden to something that could feed a village and they were very dependant on his crops, so when he couldn't grow any food they blamed his family. They said his wife angered the gods and his children were unholy, but they didn't stop at name calling. There were assaults and vandalism even after the drought had ended. Sadly things got worse when fires broke out in the mountains and burned his fields, and one day the Chief himself made a move. In the dead of night he broke in and abducted Kane's family and crucified them in an attempt to appease the god's.

Kane was broken beyond repair, but a ray of light made it's way into his life, Richard was back, followed by a woman, with child.

Kane was still carrying me as he talked and I could hear the pain in his voice, he looked at me and smiled as if I could do no wrong, "Argent, This will be the last night I will be with you, not because I don't love you... but because I am dying, I broke out of the jail to save you... Pushed too far past my limits... Just live on make it so I don't die for nothing," I could now smell the blood from his body, whatever was done is by now far beyond my abilities, but he simply carried on.

Author's Thought: N/A

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Children Are Only as Good as Their Parents part 2(This is kinda dark): -I stand by my prior statement, and that goes for this entire trilogy-

Kane ended his story after saying Richard had returned, and shifted to telling about his brother's story.

My father, Richard was drafted before Kane brought his farm to the top, and had been sent to boot camp to learn all of the necessary knowledge. There he went through hell for his rank and was given some of the hardest lessons, assassination, high level initialization of darkness, destruction magic, and all of the normal classes on top of that. They wanted him to fail, and become a bronze pawn. But he was stubborn and didn't falter.

Kane went on to explain that in the army there were four distinct ranks; bronze, silver, gold, and glass. Each rank had five stars one could achieve, and they would signify your talent.

Kane continued as if he could remember talking with his brother about all the things they were doing. Bronze were the weaklings who were almost nothing more than meat shields or disposable pawns with little to no future. Silver was the most common rank but only one star silver, anything higher than that was rare. They were the infantry, the calvary, the mages everything. But my father aspired for the top, he wanted to be Glass rank, and if he could he'd become a knight.

However he wasn't endowed with the prowess to become a knight because you needed to be a lesser lord. But he did make the top of one star Glass regardless of how hard they tried to keep him down. Sadly his passion quickly died when he was sent to the frontline to do infantry work. It was understandable because he was only F-class, but being treated like a throwaway killed his pride. Richard's only hope was going back to his farm seeing his brother, and for that he demanded nothing but his best.

Kane finally decided to rest his weary body for a few minutes, and he drank from a weird red flask. "It's the only worthwhile thing your father left in this world aside from you..." he paused and rubbed the bottle as if he was polishing its glowing body. "Here! it's yours..." he said as he tossed me the bottle, "It produces a fluid that forces regeneration in the body, but only when you fill it with mana," He laughed and said, "But it can't fix everything, so you should be careful!" he laughed again trying to lift the mood.

I remained silent nodding along and looking towards my field, It was filled with small little orange lights. "We just missed them," I thought. I looked back at Kane, he was breathing heavily, and had lost a bit of his color. He saw my eyes and smiled, he's been running for around an hour and a half in what seems like excruciating pain.

"Uncle Kane, I'm sorry for telling you to di-," Kane suddenly cut me off and cried, " What the hell happened to you boy? Ever since Rose and Hans started "playing" with you you've been coming back to the farm covered in bruises, Then you stopped calling me Dad, Now... It's like you're a different person, especially in the last few weeks... You haven't been coming home, and you started building that damn sod house!" Tears were seriously flowing out of his eyes and his voice was cracking. "I-I tried to intervene... but, but...you just thought that's how you were supposed to live... Oh what am I doing... Now we're in deep, and I won't get to see you grow up, and... and-!"

I was wrong when I said they aren't people, right now Kane seemed more human than some of the people I had surrounded myself with when I was alive. "Dad!... I-I, I had been beaten into a coma... And honestly I don't even know who I was, who you are, just that I got beat... a lot, But tonight I've felt like I have rediscovered who I am, if just a little bit." I honestly had no idea where I was going with this, but if it would bring him any comfort, I would gladly say it a thousand times. Kane smiled and gave me a hugged me and for some reason I began to cry, as if I had become a child once again.

We sat there for what seemed like an eternity and it brought me a comfort I thought I never expected to feel again. "Hell, I've missed this... and I can only thank you for this..." We sat and looked at the stars as if there's nothing wrong with the world. Kane then said, "I have a stash of your inheritances from your mom... and your father's crests, he was... you'll learn as you hear more." We got up and began to move again.

Your father, he grew but in exchange he had forsaken his sanity, he was the first S-class to have appeared in one hundred years. When I heard it I almost lost my mind, a royal, born from our family. What I didn't know was that for eleven years he fought against humanity and made it into a Order, the most hated knight order. The Incubi.

The Incubi were the the strongest all male order that was personally crafted by the Demon King himself. They had two directives the first of which was why they were feared. The first less pressing was to become as strong as possible while active duty. However the second was life threatening, and very cruel to the members of the order. They were to have children as often as they could, with their maximum time in-between was one year. However if they failed to do as directed, their magic would cause their heart to explode.

Theirs was a very similar directive, to the Succubi, but there was no benefits to be an Incubi. Females have the most immediate effect on the strength of a child, the more powerful the mother, the more powerful the kid. Plus they were only required one kid in their lifetime. However the males weren't as pressing, the more powerful the male the stronger their offspring would be over generations. So when you're in a war to extinction you want the instant effect, but the generational effect could make females who have a higher strength so it can loop. So that's what the demon king enforced.

My father was finally was discharged, and he began his two year journey. It was nearly a year later and he was running out of time. He didn't want to have children with just any woman, he wanted to settle down on his farm, but his order wasn't going to help him. With only one week left before his directive would kill him he had to change gears. He found one of the half human rejects; a Vampire who was on the verge of suicide wandering the countryside. Richard lamented about what he had to do, but he was already loose with his morals since he had ascended. And for Richard at this point stepping further into madness was a small sacrifice for his goal. Kane went silent for a second as if he didn't want to tell me something, and I could see his face contorted with regret and pain.

"Argent... you're technically nobility, I didn't want you to be influenced by their cruelty, so we continued to live on that plot, Where It all began." He slipped a rolled piece of paper over his shoulder, "Here's the map, everything is there, I made it so my brother could retire peacefully, but..." I took the map even though it doesn't really interest me all too much.

Kane continued to tell about Richard until he caught up with his side, and I learned of the many unspeakable atrocities he committed. The many merits he had. And adventures he went on as he journeyed home. But the things that stuck with me were How he had raped my mother until she conceived, and how he forced her to follow him until he was sure the pregnancy wouldn't fail as he journeyed home. Then even how he finally regained his sanity with the help and council of the one he had harmed. Now fully resolved to die properly, on his farm not as a hero, or admirable figure, but a war criminal who had no other desire but to return home, regardless of what he faced.

When Kane finally caught up with the whole thirteen years, he was shaking with emotions at his brother's actions, but refused to lie to me. "When Richard arrived that day, he was shaking with rage, Your mother, Elly was as well, She wrote in the same mail chain as me and Richard, He promised she would be able to raise their child safely on the farm, But he didn't know what had happened... the atrocities committed by the previous Chief,"

"He told her to take me to the retirement house and gave one last order, "No matter what happens, Do not return to the village until I call for you, I'll prove my identity with my badge," And so we waited, From the mountains we heard their screams for days, I wasn't there to witness it, but I could make out the screams of men, women and child, And I could hear a struggle so violent I covered my ears, until a stone fell from the sky, On it's side painted in blood was something written like a will, his medals were kept in another side, it told us to return to the farm, and we did." He was shaking as he spoke, as if it was just as terrifying now as it was then, he described the scene he came upon.

The Chief was torn limb from limb with his head on a pike. The villagers who endorsed the Chief were all dismembered on the ground, some dead and some alive. He told about how he could tell the village wasn't anything anymore. Storefronts evaporated, blood was everywhere, and those who lived were all crying out to Argent. Praying that he would grant his strength to someone so Richard would be slain like the Devil he was.

The village was marked everywhere with inane ramblings across the roads, and walls. Kane could finally see the farm through all the chaos. The farmhouse was caved in on the left side, the barn was just a flat pile of rubble, and his animals were lying about, some rotting while others shallowly breathing. In yard of the farmhouse Richard sat in a makeshift throne with a sign hanging on his neck saying "I the lowest scum have slain all those lower than me," as if he was nothing more than a madman. His eyes looked almost dead, "There...I did it, Now Kane... I want you... to kill me," Kane's voice went quiet and calm, and he slowly continued. "Elly and I were horrified by what he did, but even more so that he would suggest killing himself, I-I grabbed the sword from his bag of things and did as he asked of me, then I felt so many emotions as I sunk it through his chest but now, Now I just feel numb about it, But I will forever remember his last words, "The boy, Name him Argent, Raise him right, and hide me forever." Kane went silent, knowing that he couldn't keep his final request.

Author's Thought: "I'm sorry for not properly explaining everything about their story, but long story short the biggest reason Eight didn't do anything drastic is that she literally can't, not won't. However the reason she followed Richard was to initially kill him when he dropped his guard. However as time continued she felt there was another way for him to be useful to her a way to reapply a bit of her missing humanity." -I couldn't even explain a worthwhile explanation… what that says about my writing abilities I don't know, but at least I have been doing better. -

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The Child Greater than His Parents:

It was nearly two hours before he spoke again. He was fatigued far more than he let on. When he finally stopped, he had lost most of his color and was almost fainting. I grabbed the bottle and filled it with as much mana as I could and handed it to him. It was glowing a bright red and I could hear the fluid swishing around on the inside. "Go figure, you did something not even your father could," he took a sip, then started to chug the bottle.

He tried to get up and leave with me but I told him it's not safe enough for him to move yet. It took a while but he finally gave in to my nagging. While we were sitting there he began to tell me about my mother. He began when she was still in Huma.

Her name and codename was Eight because she was the eighth Vampire ever born. There were two thousand first generation vamps, and they were made for one purpose, War. I already know about this event and had even met an had a relationship with her while she was alive. Back then she worked for my mother as the leader of a mercenary group. But I have no idea why she had left, but when I took power she was gone. When I asked around they said she was all that was left of the original first generation vampires, and she told them she was going to secure a future for her people.

When I was alive we desperately searched for her. We restarted the research, so we could finish our work and make them a stable species. So this could be very important info. Eight had apparently gone on a journey to ensure that the war would continue on forever, so the vampires would forever be the sword and shield of Huma. Kane expressed relief that she had failed in her mission, but lamented why she did.

"Argent, do you remember your mother?" "No, No I don't, I wish I did, but I don't." I stuttered. Kane sighed and said in a somber tone, "It's truly regrettable that you don't, but it may come to you later, I just want you to know she loved you, When your father died she cried, for many different reasons but she simply didn't know what to do, She was raised and lived as a disposable weapon that was never finished, brought to the brink of insanity many times, And yet as a tool that had no purpose she had managed to restore your father's sanity with her counseling, and she had been given a new purpose by your birth... it's just she and I... It's all we ever hoped that you would be the child that is far greater than his parents." With that he got up and resumed his sprint.

The sun was rising, and we were approaching the peak of the mountain and the view was beautiful. Far too beautiful for the dark and painful evening that we had pushed through. But our souls were soothed by the sigh before us. The foothills were bathed in a orange light, the forests were teeming with life, and the rivers that we saw were like little cracks in the glass that was our planet. And I knew that I can't lie any longer, I-I must confess the truth, "Dad! I-I have something that you need to know!" I blurted. "Hmm? Yeah Argent?" He said in a singsong voice. This time I knew that I should tell him, but something tugged at my soul and I knew that I couldn't do it, "I'm glad we got to talk about your past, And the things you're telling me right now I swear, I will never forget!" He smiled at me after stopping at a large tree, and set me down."We'll camp here for now, because I know we're both tired." so we headed to sleep far above the ground to rest and recover from our exiting night.

Author's Thought: "Wow! according to Webnovel I have over a thousand views on this series... I'm going to prioritize writing out broken sum for now, so this will probably get an upload later this week if things go well." -Well shiii… that's not going to happen unless people like her character, anyways Eight and Richard will get their own segments in a later volume. FYI We are in volume 1 in the Cannon one, and I've planned (loosly) up to volume 3-4.-

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Reality:

Kane sat in a tree a hundred meters off the ground. Stroking the hair of the boy who he had raised as his own child. "My time is up... But I can't let him go just yet," Kane thought to himself. He looked off into the foothills and listened to the forest, knowing that this might not be that bad of a place to die. Kane kissed his seragate son on the forehead, and pulled out a journal. Kane had been writing it his whole life and wanted to give it to Emilia his daughter when she grew up. It contained mostly just farming strategies and his thoughts on the times, but today he would put in the final entry.

"Today is the Fourth Era 68th year 302nd day"

"Argent, I hope you don't hate the village for what is happening, I know that by the time you read this, I'll already have gone to see The Great Devil Slayer and have joined his legion, I...." Kane wrote onward with a smile. He knew his story wouldn't change the world, nor save his life, but he felt as if he told Argent about himself that it would be as if he never died. "Oh I almost forgot to tell you, if you like your hair color you're going to need to redye it, Elly told me all first gen vampires have green hair and the same goes for..." Kane dropped his pen while he was writing and was too weak to resume its use.

Kane pulled up his sleeve with his little remaining strength to expose something of great worth. It was a Comm, a device made by humans through joint research with the dark elves, Richard killed a few high commanders and found them on their wrists. His Comm wasn't the newest model, but it is better than anything else in the Demos Kingdom. "Elly, Jess, I'm coming home to see you," Kane said weakly as he let out his final sigh.

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In a crater in the Gorga mountains a blonde haired man lay broken and bleeding. His name was Jeffrey, the same man who had betrayed Emperor Argent. Jeffrey had only survived because of the mercy of the Demon King, and his dragon blood. He had been laying here for two weeks and the rampage of the gods and Demon King hadn't subsided until today. Taking advantage of the opportunity Jeffrey went to check on the destruction, of his brother.

"There's no way in hell that he survived that,... But the Demon King wouldn't continue wailing away on a corpse, would he?" Jeffrey thought as he approached the depth of the crater. And even from a distance he could sense the demonic mana, but the Demon King was nowhere to be seen. Jeffery let out his wings and flew over to his brother's corpse. Once there he stood frozen in fear, and his face locked in horror as if he was staring at a god. There lie Argent, who was breathing heavily and slowly regenerating, but unlike before when he had to transform to release a concentration of darkness of an Incubi. Yet Argent now had a similar level to the Demon King while in his base form.

Jeffery laughed aloud in madness. He began kicking Argent in the head with the intent to kill him, but he failed and only got a broken toe. Then he laughed again becaues with Argent in a coma, the throne was within his grasp and no one could object to him. "Unless Argent has some bastard I don't know about, his awakening is the only thing i have to fear." Jeffery said while looking down on Argent. Then Jeffery shouted "THE NOBLES SHALL RISE AGAIN!!!" as he flew towards the closest human city.

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At the same time Etta and Zan both clawed their way out of a cave barely hanging onto life. "ETTA! What the Hell was that! Didn't YOU say you killed him! Because I'm PRETTY DAMN SURE he was alive." Zan screamed at Etta while carrying her out of the rubble. Etta was stunned that the quiet and prompt Zan would ever scream at anyone, much less her. "Look Zan I get you're angry but-" She began as Zan lifted her over his leg so he could punt her as far as he could. "Wait! Wait! Wait! Don't punt me! I can't survive that! Look our houses are quite close, so you don't want to start a feud, Right?" Zan was fed up with the coalition of nobles and Etta especially. Etta looked in Zan's eyes and could only know he didn't care for their relationship any longer.

Zan threw Etta to the ground saying, "I can't fight that Devil!" while he walked on towards what should be his territory. He paused his walk and spoke as if he was in shock, "I Quit, I'm done with the coalition, Because if I have to fight against Argent I'm bailing, I'm making my own group, come join if you wish." Zan then used flight magic to fly out of Etta's sight.

Etta was in shock, she had known Zan since they were childern, and he had never raised his hand against her much less his voice. Etta didn't know what to do or how this happened, "It was just supposed to be an easy job, We kill Argent, put Jeffery on the throne, and we'll have it made... I was sure that would've killed anyone, I have to report this to Jeffery! If Zan really does form a new loyalist group, there will be a civil war, much less a fued between families." Etta thought, as she began running towards the capitol.

Author's Thought: "It's a bit fragmented, but i really dont want to go off and ruin the entire story's flow by leaving the MC for three chapters, or make another side story just so I could explain the situation of the world. I already have a glossiary and two side stories, The glossiary will cover things like countries, races, groups, and characters. Broken sum is going to cover Eight's story because She is stupid important to the world, and the story. While LEM is about his GreatGM because she is also important" -LOL I'm not doing that RN.-

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'Parently won't let you have more than 20k words in a chapter like who doesn't want to read a whole novel in one go.