The man stumbled backward and coughed up a glob of blood. His gaze had fallen to the ground before finding me again. I could see in his eyes an egotistical anger. It was like staring into the eyes of a rabid mana beast. His teeth clenched together as if he was trying to break them into each other.
"You damned bastard," he spoke as he pulled the sword out of his shoulder. He dropped the sword and covered the wound with his other arm. A brief clanging sound followed as the sword hit the ground and found a place to settle.
"You'll pay for that!" he shouted. He cocked one of his arms back. The look in his eyes intensified.
An abrupt scream broke the tension and drew our attention to its direction. From a pile of broken stone and fragments of the arena's walls, Ares had risen and began screaming. His screams were sharp and inhumane. They sounded like animalistic screams of a beast smoldering in pain. A surge of power rushed out of him. Dark flames manifested from the ground up and rocketed into the sky around him. They engulfed him before spreading across the area in a massive shockwave.
***
POV of Aaref Fayeworth:
My attention shifted from the airborne enemies around me to a dark flash across the sky behind me. Along with it, I felt a strong surge of mana increasing by the moment. Its presence was dark, immense—almost rivaling that of the golem. It appeared to have spawned in the upper southern regions of the kingdom—quite the distance but not too far.
What is that? I thought. I was still looking off in its direction and had almost forgotten about the enemies surrounding me. They seemed to have also noticed it but disregarded it faster than I did. I turned my head as I sensed the approach of one of them. The rest of them seemed to had followed his lead and joined in for a sneak attack. Interrupting my motion of flight, I boosted myself further into the air in a swift, evasive movement. The unknown presence clouded my thoughts. It seemed incredibly dangerous if left unchecked and possibly catastrophic in addition to the current destruction. Even worse, it was further away from the Kingsmen and I.
I looked down at the Kingsmen. Most of them were battling multiple mages at once. One of them, a fierce, brunette, quickly disposed of her enemies with a combination of lithe movements and direct blows. Sliding across the backs of those foolish enough to engage her, she'd use her own body to deliver a perfect counterattack. She then dropped to the ground to evade another attack from an enemy flying in. As he missed, she rose back up with the speed of lightning. Grabbing her side as if grabbing an imaginary silthe, she imitated the withdrawal of a sword and struck the mage down with a rising lightning spell.
The enemy mages continued to attack and barely gave me room to get lost in thought. I continued to dodge their attacks with slight movements too fast for them to process. In between every punch, kick, and spell they threw at me, I grabbed a nearby person and used them as a shield before tossing them to the side. They dropped like bugs: sixteen, fifteen, twelve, eight... Finally, I had locked onto the mana source from earlier. In that area, I could also sense another golem and two live individuals alongside a small creature. The fight seemed to be waging on nearby the arena in Reichart where the first round had occurred.
There's nobody else around to help in that area, I thought. Shit!
One of the remaining mages tried to sneak a punch from behind me. Mid-thought, I caught it and locked eyes with him. I could feel his fear as his hand trembled in mine. His eyes were also trembling as he failed to pull his fist free of my grasp. A look of horror shot across his face. His mouth opened—probably to scream before his inevitable death.
"Sorry," I said, "but your time's up."
I grasped his fist tighter—almost crushing it completely before using my mana to accelerate his remaining life force to its end. His body shriveled up like a corpse degenerated by old age. I let go of his fist and watched as his body drop to the ground. Ash flew out from his severed arm as his fist crumbled and dispersed with the wind.
His comrades looked shock, heartbroken, and terrified. Some of their faces were solemn as their eyes watched his body hit the hard, stone ground. Even the last of the mages on the ground turned around to witness the death of their comrade. They were silent. A couple of their mouths gaped in awe and despair. And for a second, I thought I saw one of them shed a tear.
"Allen!" someone on the ground cried out.
"And for the rest of you," I announced to the other mages still surrounding me, "I believe your time has come too."
One of them gasped. She shrieked and shuddered back, nearly losing balance in the air. Fear had finally laid its mark upon her. It infiltrated her mind and allowed madness to run rampant. I could see it in her eyes. She was already dead... mentally. My task was even simpler now. I launched forward at her, tapped her forehead, and watched as her body dropped from the sky.
Extending my arms out, I channeled my mana into each hand. It sat on my palms and accumulated into two spheres. I threw the one in my left hand first before spinning around quickly and throwing the other one behind me. The two spheres expanded and exploded in the vicinity of the mages. All of them vaporized.
THUMP!
Now then, I thought, the only threat that remains here is you. I looked at the golem nearly face-to-face before looking down at the Kingsmen. But... I have other things to attend to.
I looked down at Lucian and the others. Most of the Kingsmen of the Star had finished off their opponents.
"Lucian!" I yelled down for his attention. He was still in the middle of a battle with several other mages. One of them sliced at him with a sword. He conjured a blade of light and blocked it before looking up at me. "Another threat emerged in Reichart," I told him. "Take the Kingsmen and quickly dispose of the Golem!"
"Right!" he yelled back and nodded. Using brute force with his light blade, he knocked the mage back, and spiraled around, slashing all enemies within his vicinity.
"Kingsmen!" he yelled out. "Go ahead and handle all enemies around you! We will perform a combination spell and focus on the Golem."
They gathered together in a semi-circular formation. Together, they began to cast a spell as the other five gathered behind them in an arrow formation.
"Combination Magic: Star Field!" they yelled out.
Numerous specs of mana manifested in front of them like bright stars. They formed a dome around all of the kingsmen.
"Star Field Extension," the second formation chanted. They waved their arms back and forth, channeling the mana around them. "Star Strike!"
The mana gathered in one spot. It shot through the dome and blasted the golem's core. Large chunks of rock fell as the golem's lower chest opened up. The golem staggered backward.
Good, I thought. Y'all should be able to handle this.
I looked back in the direction of the dark flare from earlier. Using a chunk of my remaining mana, I began soaring through the air like a shooting star in that direction.
***
POV of Leader of the Dark Brethren:
I stood on top of the kingdom's outer walls rejoicing with my arms out. "Long live the Star Kingdom!" I laughed to the heavens. I couldn't help but smile as I watched the destruction spread throughout the kingdom.
It was beautiful. Buildings laid in ruin. Fire crawled across the upper and lower centers of the kingdom. Smoke rose from the ground like dark clouds looming over the kingdom. I could hear the flames waging across the kingdom. A collection of faint screams also surfaced as the distant grubmling of buildings collapsing drowned them out. In the middle of all the chaos, The two golems stood out like enormous buildings–taller than everything else in the kingdom but its walls. Death filled the kingdom as destruction tore it apart giving the sunset a crimson, faint glow.
"Nobody can stop me," I said to myself. "After all, this is only the beginning." I chuckled away once more.
Turning my head to the southwestern towns of the kingdom, I saw a flurry of magic–imitating sudden flares throughout the dark sunset–erupt around the kingdom as my subordinates began attacking the towns surrounding Gol. Fire had spread across the region as a mass of smoke harbored its victims inside. I could see clashes of magic as bright lights appeared throughout the area. Whether it was citizens, guildsmen, adventurers, or even the king's knights... they were too late.
I could care less if my subordinates were to die here. I had plenty more of them, and we had already succeeded in our invasion. More than enough damage had spread throughout the kingdom.
"Disappointing," I sighed. "The Star Kingdom... one of the three mightiest kingdoms, and you couldn't even handle two golems and a bunch of subpar mages." I turned my head slightly in Gol's direction.
She was getting up from the ground. A familiar, raging presence swept through that area. I could feel my eyebrows raise upon sensing it.
Westyn should be in that direction, I thought.
I jumped off of the 50-meter wall. The wind from my descent blew against my body furiously. Perhaps, I'll have some fun, I thought.
I smashed into the ground and began walking in the direction of Gol.