The moon. The dark sky. As the sun slowly rose from hell...
She was the Hawk. A killer without a face. From the tallest tower. From the tallest peaks. Diving like an eagle, like a bird, like a dragon, like an Ancient Diety. She was a Hawk of Hell...
---
An arrow pierced through the folds between Magnom Calisto's shoulder piece and his spiked backplate. Blood poured out from the wooden shaft of the arrow as the metal tip sunk deep into his shoulder.
Whistle...
Magnom Calisto quickly dodged to the right of the window as another arrow zoomed across the sky and flew into the room piercing into the cold stone floor.
"She's good..." smirked Tusk as he held up his black sword.
Magnom Calisto reached behind his shoulder with his clunky armor and pulled out the singular arrow stuck between his skin.
Tusk stepped forward. He swung his sword parallel to Magnom Calisto's stomach.
But the General saw through it all. He perfectly parried Tusk's attack with a strong attack of his own.
Tink!
The two bounced off of each other.
But the General was faster. He instantly rained down another strong slice at Tusk, who jumped back at the attack as it cut across his neck leaving a small wound in his color bone and armor, but it wasn't anything too deep.
"He predicted it..." mumbled Tusk to himself.
"You will never beat me Assassin! Your thoughts are my thoughts, your moves are my moves. Give up now before you embarrass yourself."
Tusk ignored the General's words. He just kept himself in his own head.
How could he fight someone who knows his own thoughts, his own truths? How could he wound someone who knows everything you know...? How could he...? How could... How...
For some reason, Tusk had a nack for thinking in the moment. It was one of his specialties. But it was also one of his flaws since thinking in the moment for Tusk always led to injuries and bad mistakes.
But this time his mistake would become his blessing. Since instead of thinking too much he decided to do the opposite.
Nothing...
He decided to not think about anything at all...
To go blank... To go black... To become a Monster...
Tusk jumped to the other end of the cobblestone room. The candle lights flickering to his night shadow as he pulled up his Thunder Sword. He then slid his pointer finger along its golden-edged blade and softly whispered a chant.
"What are you doing?" asked Magnom Calisto as he pulled up his massive bronze longsword and placed it firmly over his forehead.
He then chanted in a similar fashion, "Mind's Eye!"
The Sword of Truth lit up in a golden shower of diamond blue and golden brown. He then pulled its blade away from his forehead to reveal a singular golden diamond-shaped eye located on the top of his forehead.
"Now I can see all of your truths within a second of a second. Nothing lost, nothing gained, your time will become my life. Fall in my arms feeble man."
Magnom Calisto looked into Tusk's head and all he saw was a single whispered chant.
"Sword Unleash..."
"What? Sword unleash? What is that?"
[Sword 1 Unleashed: Thunder Dragon]
Then it all went black. Not a single thought, not a single movement. All Magnom Calisto could see was Tusk's past. His long horrid past.
Of death.
And depression.
And sadness.
And despair.
And pain.
And everything in-between.
And then his own mind went dark. He was blocked by a presence too powerful. A presence too strong... Magnom Calisto opened his regular eyes and looked infront of-
"GGGGRRROOOAAAARRRRRR!"
A destructive roar screamed out from Tusk's mouth. A roar so loud that everything in its path exploded. It was a roar that burst open Magnom Calisto's eardrums and all the servants hiding in the room next door.
Magnom Calisto looked up in a deadpan silence through the slit in his overheating armor. He looked at the mindless Tusk. His eyes a red oval, his skin a pearlescent blue, his arms crawled forward in turquoise scales, his fingers turned to claws, a pair of spanning wax wings bursting out from his back.
"A... A... A Monster..."
Magnom Calisto started to cry as he wondered if this was but a truth his sword was telling him or just a simple reality.
Was this just in Tusk's mind or was this in real life? Who could tell? Who knew the truth?
Was anything real or fake anymore? Was his sword telling anything right or wrong, or was it all a lie? Was this world a lie?
Then the blood came. A red velvet curtain fell through Magnom Calisto's armor, as he wondered about the bestial nature of life. About Gods, Mortals, Death, and the Ancient Deities that roamed in-between.
"We kill and be killed? We fight and survive for what? What was I fighting for? To die at the hands of a Monster? Was it his Sword of Feun that did this to him? Or was this his pure willpower, his own imagination? What is the truth behind these swords, what is the truth in life, of life, of everything?"
Then in an almost comical fashion, as Tusk ripped out Magnom Calisto's heart, the Sword of Truth spoke to him for the first time.
[Sword 14 Unleashed: Almighty's Lie]
The truth of reality, of life, of God, and the world. The sword told him everything that ever existed. The Sword of Truth told Magnom Calisto all that ever was and all that ever existed. It was a power that made his mind melt, explode, turn to dust, but then back again. He knew everything. The end of the world. The future of the world. The world that could be and could not. It was everything in one.
Then he died.
---
Sariel stood at the top of the sandy ridge that watched over the Castle of Togenshire. He stood next to his tan horse plated in full silver armor. He got on his horse and stared off into the rising sun.
Caroline walked up to him with her hand raised, her bow across her back, and her quiver emptied.
"It's all done. The guards are down and Tusk did it... But..."
She looked at Sariel in fear.
"You saw it didn't you?" asked Sariel with a simple yet effective frown.
"Yes... He's a Monster..."
"Good, watch him closely. Learn why he does what he does, and learn to not become him... It takes a Monster to kill Monsters."
Sariel unsheathed his Sword of Souls and pointed it at the Castle of Togenshire.
The sun rose behind him as Soldiers rode up from the ridge.
"All my men! Fight for me! Till death and honor!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.
All the other men on horseback lined up along the hill of sand. They were all cast in silver armor, their faces rough and fierce in screaming rage as they prepared themselves for battle..
Sariel looked down at Caroline.
"Get back to the camp, rest a bit. You deserved it."
"Yes sir..."
Caroline walked away as the soldiers on horseback screamed out to the rising sun!
"AHHHHHHHGGGGHGHHHHARRRHGGGHHEHEAA!!!"
The battle commenced and all the soldiers rode out along the sea of sand. The sun turning the sky to a glistening orange and yellow as Sariel rode along with them. His sword held out the entire time. The leading tip of the charge.
It takes a Monster to kill Monsters...
"Sacrifice," whispered Sariel.
A wave of souls rushed out from the earth clawing against the sand. The skies parted in his horse's wake as the dead came to life. Monsters of ungodly sin. Creatures from hell below. Those lost to their own mortality. The dead commanded by a single man.
Who was the Monster?
---
Tusk awoke to his body coated in blood. The General, the Soldier, the four servants, all dead. His skin a dry burning rythm as he laid back half naked.
"What... What happened?"
He stood up and turned to his sword impaled in the flesh of a mauled servant's corpse. He sighed and pulled it out. He then looked down at the rubble. The blood-soaked walls and furniture. The destroyed cabinets and shelves. He looked at it all. Then his vision coaght sight of a single file laying alone in the corner. He walked up to it and read the writing on the front of its concealed frame out loud.
"Target information?" He picked up the file and read over the ink written words on the inside, "Targets information: Eighteen-year-old woman, white hair, yellow eyes, lean body. Name is Ethera... Lives in the Kingdom of Grasshol... Doesn't trust men... And..." He read over the last line in the file, "Has the ability to sense and locate the Twenty Swords of Feun..."