On leaving the arena, Arthur waved Merlin over as they had plans after the rites, he also motioned for Rick but a quick hand sign told him that he had to go home, since his dad was just a two steps in front of him, leading him home.
Seeing Dante he said with a smile
" wow your really strong Dante, we almost didn't make it "
Turning his head, Dante had a stern look in his eyes as he answered
" next time you wouldn't be so lucky " turning around, he moved off
" what's his problem? " Arthur inquired
" just let him be, some people like to be left alone " Merlin speculated
"Anyways, let's head over there, there's something I've been meaning to show you " Arthur spoke, this tine with his usual corny smile
"Alright then, race you there " Merlin said as he soon dashed off towards their destination.
Following suit, Arthur soon joined him as they jumped off trees and sped through the forest with the most graceful strides
It took them about 30mimutes of them running at full speed to finally reach the checkpoint - their secret training grounds, it was nothing fancy, just another clearing, but this time the space was limited as well as tailor made to their liking, with ropes tied here and there, showing their territory.
" so, what is it? "
"Well actually its a new ring I've been working on " he answered
" well then let's see it "
Getting to a stance, with his right hand hiding his blade in a piercing form over his head and his left hand showed off a hand sign of his two fingers (before his thumb) out stretched, while the rest were packed tightly around his palm.
"Lightning style - 3rd ring - Lightning bolt" he chanted
As time went by, the tip of his blade began emitting a pale blue essence and in no time sparks flew from it and finally the show ended with a dwarf sized round orb of lightning leaving the swords tip with a speed akin yo a lightning bolt, its target being a tree of in front of it.
On impact, the spherical orb disappeared but after a brief moment, streaks of light spawned on the tree's bark and in but a few seconds, the tree look like a pillar of fire as the streaks of lightning scorched the leaves of the tree to a crisp.
" so what do you think, although the effect is substantial for now, its size is laughable and also it consumes a lot of runes" Arthur spoke, taking a seat on the ground, as he was too dizzy to stand - the ring had taken a lot out of him than he had expected.
"I think this could be tour strongest ring yet"
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" how so? " Arthur asked
" well if I'm not wrong, then this ring shows promise for runic distortion" he answered
"runic what?!! "
"Runic distortion - its a phenomenon present in some rings, its basically the ability to conceal a spells true might in order to deceive or bait the target" he said
Seeing Arthurs confused face, he continued
" imagine launching the lightning bolt at some one and then using rune perception, the person knows the intensity of the ring, runic distortion enables you to hide the try strength of a ring so that a ring that looks weak would still pack quite a punch "he finished
"Ohhh - now I get it " he said as he stopped scratching his head
" so does it work on all rings " he asked
" No, energy distortion is only possible in a handfull of rings because of its high concentration aptitude "
" alright then, can you show me what you've been working on, 'cause I could tell you weren't going all out in the tournament" Arthur said
"Ok" was the reply
" and what's it called!? " he asked
" I call it 'Terra Teleny ', its an earth art " he said
"Well then show.... "
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
The gong sounded three times, informing them that it was time to head back to the village for the usual evening briefing
" another time then " Merlin said
"Ok; let's go" Arthur replied as the two rushed back to the village
The gong was to signify the village's meeting time ; a one bang gong, to mark the end of hi ting or farming e.t. c, a two bang gong to announce the bed time for all the minors in the village and then the three bang gong to call the entire village into the town square for a meeting
They got to the Later hall a great building which stood at the town square, it peaked an outstanding 30 metres high and covered an area of about 40 metres on diameter, in a word it was simply magnificent, easily dwarfing the other structures around it
They arrived just in tine as the fates were closed afterwards. At the large podium at the centre stood the Order
The crowd pilled in and soon enough everyone was present .Asake held out his hand in August signalling for silence .
"We called this meeting to warn you all of the impending danger ,we all face ,as you all know the hexi have begun closing in on us ,spreading past our boarders and into the forest "
" The danger is imminent and so we have decided that once the rites are over,we are to retreat to the asylum to seek refuge " Asake spoke ending his speech .
The village comprised of about a hundred and fifty people with the exception of children and right now ,those whispers echoed through the hall
" Impossible!! , how will they treat us " a voice spoke
" Are we to become their slaves ?" another said
" No! , I'll rather....." A third voice began to say but was rudely interrupted
" Die?... Well if you welcome the idea then I guess you can stay behind " This time it was a ring leader who spoke and it was none other than Sinbad Belmont, he said so with a smile on his face.
" Ha - hau - how can you say that ,well what do we expect ,you are a Belmont after all, all of you are just blood thirsty animals " a fat man stood and shouted at Sinbad ,shutting the others up with his booming voice
" What did you say ? " Sinbad asked with his face forming a frown
" You heard me " he shouted "you pigs were lucky enough that we let you hide after all you've done ,even making one of you our leader ,yet you have no shame do you ,...you're just a bunch of freakin' animals " he finished , unafraid of Sinbad's glare
" Animal!! ? Animal!! ?.... You dare call me an animal ... Ha ! ha ! ha ! Well then I guess I can't betray my tag , can I ?" Sinbad asked adjust his hysteria
" Wha -- what"
" Animals hunt, don't they? " he asked still laughing ,but this time he began moving towards the man
" Sinbad stop ! " Ember shouted but he remained oblivious
"Animals also feed, don't they? " he continued
Rengen walked forward and held his arm, but a single stare from Sinbad made him retract his hand
" Animals also fight ,don't they " he was now admist the crowd, getting down from the podium. They have way anytime he came by forming a long snake trail
" What do we do Asake , if we don't do anything ,Sinbad may kill him " Akila asked pleading with Asake
" I'm afraid we can't do anything,we all know that it's against ring custom to insult a ring leader , that alone is punishable by death , so he is already a dead man " Asake replies simply
Inake began moving towards Sinbad in a quick fashion ,dodging and ducking past the people as he went through
Finally Sinbad was face to face with the man " Ah! ..I forgot one , animals decide the fate of their prey .... don't they? " mere metres away from him, the man still stood his ground not shaking in fear
" And what do you think you can do you dog, your family destroyed my entire clan and for that I myself shall have your head - men!" he shouted
" HA! HA! HA!, well you can try "
Out of the shadows three men appeared, clad in armour ranging from an alpha tier to a beta tier. The three drew out their swords and proceeded to unleash their rings
* Water style - 1st ring - water whip *
* Larva style - 3rd ring - partial eruption *
* Storm style - 4th ring - hollow tornado *
Like clockwork , a water whip ensnared Sinbad, the the ground beneath him began boiling and a tornado formed with him at its centre
" Ha! - " the man cheered for his men ,but in a blink of an eye , all the rings disintegrated and all that was left was Sinbad still with a grin on his face, uninjured and unfazed
* Blood ring - 4th ring - ..* he started chanting
" Sinbad Nooooo!!! " Ember shouted
* ...Blood boil* he ended
Immediately, the three guards dropped to the floor and began clutching their chest, sweat dripping from their entire body.They swayed left to right until finally, none could move again, blood flowed from their nose, mouth and eyes covering their backs In a steaming reddish puddle
Then he focused his attention on the now scared man
" Oh please, i beg you, I'm sorry, spare me " the man begged as tears streamed out of his eyes
" Oh ! , Does the prey beg ?, no he doesn't he accepts his fate , doesn't he " Sinbad inquired with a serious look on his face
" Oh!, Please have mercy "
" Sinbad!, not here not now " Inake said
" Oh!, You here you want to see me hunt my prey " he asked Inake with a terrifying smile
" I'm serious Sinbad, this isn't the time for this" he stated
" Well what do you know, it's your lucky day, I'm in a good mood " Sinbad said to the man with a smile
" Ah! Ah! ,Thank you " he said
" For what?... ,you will still die"
" I thought .....You just said.."
" Yes I did, my plan was to end you slowly ,but with Inake here I'm forced to finish you quickly " he answered
" You bastard! ....you!" The man yelled and ran towards Sinbad
But mere moments before he was to reach Sinbad's neck with a concealed blade, his body splattered on the floor, diced to a million pieces, blood everywhere and a puddle of his organs stewed with the blood
" Ah! Inake , how could you , he was mine" Sinbad said this time he was dead serious
" You wasted too much time, next time be more efficient " Inake answered swinging his sword to remove the blood on it and then sheathing it back in place
" Well then , next time I promise to be quick " he replied once again with a smile
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The death of the fat man - Mr Tyrone seemed to shut the crowd up and the meeting went on till it finally ended with Asake asking everyone to start preparing for the move
The clouds grew dark and eventually the twinkles above it emerged, lighting up the night sky
Arthur layed on his bed still pondering on what he had witnessed
What ring was that ? .....how was it able to do that much damage without any runic discharge .... And he didn't even take a step in order to cut a million times .....isn't that impossible...
By this ,he was referring to the ring Inake used ....no trace ...no incantation ....no sigil ....no nothing but suddenly a man died .
" Oh well , they are the highest ring's, so I guess this would be child's play to them" he reasoned
Slowly, sleep took him away and surely within a few minutes he was in the land of dreams.
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In his dream a voice called out to him - " today a man died, a hero for some, a terror for others, but know this, every voice has a consequence, we either pay now or in the future".
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*BOOM* *BANG* *CRACK*
" What the hell is going on out there " Arthur groaned as he was rudely awakened from his sleep by the condition outside .
Checking his window ,he noticed that still the sky was a but dark , meaning it was still the early hours
" Are they throwing a parade out there ? ...or what "
Another bang caused an earthquake, rattling the foundation of his hut
Then it suddenly stopped . After a while of silence , he presumed that it was safe to go out , slowly getting up he was just a step away from his bed when he heard a loud shout
"DREGBANE!!, IS HERE!!".....
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Asake could smell the fireballs from his hut even before they reached the village. At first he reasoned that the villagers were setting up a bonfire to commemorate their last days in the forest, then he noticed that there were no shouts of joy or screams of jubilation from the children as was the norm when such events occured. Everywhere was quiet....too quiet.
Finally sensing the urgency of the situation, he rushed out of his room sword in hand. He hoped he was just being overly cautious and everything was okay, but when he gazed at the night sky however, his nightmare became a reality.
Thick balls of fire as high up as the eye could see descending on the settlement at a visible speed
He touched his prosef - a magic tool which enabled communication either through projection, summoning and or telepathy. It was an Order tool which came in handy over the years, as with today as he spoke into it.
"Order, to me"
Right then and there. A dark sigil wove it's lines on the ground and not a second later the Order appeared beside him
Their looks of confusion and disorientation, both as a result of forced teleportation, were haulted by a loud order.
"Handle those below, I'll take care of those above" Asake said
Without warning he jumped into the air heading straight for the envoy of flames.
Mid impact, he drew his sword, chanting a ring under his breath
"Flame style - 2nd ring - Red Dawn"
Slashing his sword through a circular path, a vertical ring of fire blazed Infront of him, cancelling put the effects of the fireballs.
But his work wasn't over yet. Behind the ghastly flames, flying hexi creatures lunged at him with talons and ra or sharp teeth; so he was feeling anything but satisfied.
Meanwhile below, the battle raged on as hexi after hexi poured through the forest paths aiming to encroach them, but the rings were nothing if not resilient.
The Order held their ground, and the fireworks began
" Barrier style - 9th ring - Detonating domes"
" Light style - 10th ring - Blade blitz"
" Void style - 4th ring - Dark blade"
" "Smoke style - 6th ring - Unknown peril"
" Blood style - 1st ring - Haemorrhaging blade"
" Gale style - 4th ring - Tornado fang"
" Mech style - 1st ring - A-eye
" Spatial art - 3rd ring - Infinity fold"
" Soul style - 11th ring - Soul assassin; soul brigade
The result of which was the summoning of brightly coloured sigils which filled the night sky. It looked beautiful when gazed at from afar, but the contrasting result from their emergence was the gore which were the stacks and piles of hexi corpses littered on the ground.
As they continued to hold the line with what strength they still retained, more and more hexi came through the bush tracks until finally a dark red portal drew itself at one of the settlement corners, obscured by the chaos of the early morning.
A figure walked through it with earth quaking steps, but surprisingly what was louder was the fearful shout of a ring, whose voice was heard almost throughtout the area
"DREGBANE IS HERE!!.."
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Arthur shrieked in his bed as he heard the scream. Different thoughts ravaged his mind, centred on only the destruction of his village
"Why now!" He cried
"Why doesn't anything ever work for us," he had now gotten up from his bed trying to clean off the tears which betrayed his minds notion to stop
" First we were banished from Sanctum and now this, is our race to be wiped out" he struggled to get a hold of himself
The rings really had seen a lot of misfortune in their lives. First the banishment Arthur spoke of was actually self imposed due to the discrimination they received from the people of Sanctum, then there was the having to live in the forest to escape the woes of human behaviour, then the predation they suffered at the hands of the hexi and now, this, the final chapter in their sorrowful tale; their death.
He couldn't take it anymore. No one deserved to suffer a lifetime of disappointment and grievances for simply being true to themselves. Or maybe life as he knew it was unfair and would be better off without it.
His head spun and his teeth chattered. The cries of agony and pain as well as the sounds of explosions did nothing to pacify his already unstable state, instead it made it worse.
"Should I flee?" he wondered "but then where will I even go to?" . All his life he had been raised in the forest, so there was no other place he knew to call 'home'.
" No. I can't run away leaving my people to burn" he steadied himself once more as he made his way to where his sword was kept
"Son of the dragon, flee" a voice said to him. The same voice he remembered hearing in his dream the night before.
He paused, a few steps from reaching his sword
" Who is there?!" He shouted
"Show yourself" he spun round the room yet no one was in sight
"Is this my fate?" He asked himself " am I so much a coward that even my own consciousness regards me as a traitor" he broke down to the floor sobbing. His heart aggrieved over the pain of his people.
Realising once again that he was behaving cowardly, he went for his sword, steadied himself and opened the door to witness the scene beyond the confort of his hut.
Slowly creaking the door open, he suddenly threw it open in rage. The sight before him broke him down both mentally and physically.
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He saw his father held up on his last leg, literally. Cuts and bruises littered his body; from the distance, Arthur couldn't identify any fatal blows, but because of the person who held his father's kneck, he knew there had to be many
The attacker in question had a large scaly arm with protruding throns on his elbow. The person he saw couldn't be called a human. Why?, Well certain signs would surely infer humanity, wouldn't it?. For instance the scales on his arms where certainly not human, the metallic lustre his chest had was most definitely not human, the larger than life build he projected truly didn't look anything human, last but not least, his blood red eyes; indignitive of overwhelming bloodlust completed the list of things which could be classified as inhuman.
Looking on, Arthur felt something snap in his head. The rage soon took control as he unsheathed his sword before taking a stance which made him resemble a lightning bolt in regards to its streamlined and structurally penetrating nature.
He channeled ever bit of lightning runes he could sense, further increasing the surrounding lightning strikes spawning around him
He bolted straight for Dregbane leaving a trail of burnt grasses and leaves behind. The look on his face was almost unrecognisable; pure hatred was what he exuded, ever fibre of his being clenched with his sword as he aimed to decapitate his opponent
Dregbane remaind transfixed to where he stood, a sly grin on his face
"Ah, this must be your son Asake, he will make a fine addition to the hexelite indeed"
The hexelite were an elite group of practicioners who served directly under Dregbane. They were the best of the best in his army, often taking charge as generals to raise entire kingdoms as well as the occasional mass homicide. Everywhere they went Chaos and darkness followed.
Hearing his words, tears streamed down Asake's eyes as he pleaded to be used in place of his son
"He is but a child, he bears no obstacle, take me instead" he sobbed
But Dregbane simply tightened his grip around his kneck to shut him up
"Come to me, I'm going to have fun breaking you" he looked on at the incoming bolt of lightning
"Lightning style - 1st rage - Sonic strike"
BOOM
A large bang went off shaking the very foundations of the ground. The explosion caused smoke to momentarily obsure the surrounding. Not like there was anything left to see. The blast had caused the ground to cave in on impact, then the electrified shockwave sent sparks flying everywhere setting most of the surrounding vegetation ablaze.
Upon impact, Arthur was shot off in the opposite direction by the collision. He flew back to about a dozen meters before finally digging his sword into the ground to stop his projection.
With one knee on the ground as he came to a hault, he looked on to see the state of his opponent but it seemed the gods were truly against them.
As the smoke cleared, the once faint silhouette of Dregbane soon came into view. His scaly exterior was unscaved, not even a scratch was on it.
Broken, Arthur fell to the ground
Lightning style - 1st rage - Sonic strike was his strongest quick attack. Although not as strong as purge, but it's instantaneous usage gave it points over its stronger variation. Added with the fact that he absorbed elemental runes even before igniting the ring, he just couldn't believe it had no effect. He was very sure that his attack at that moment could kill an Alpha tier hexi, but to Dregbane it was worse than a tickle since he didn't even laugh.
His mind was left in confusion and disillusion. He though that at the very least he would have been able to drag out the battle so as to give the other rings who were passed out to his side to come to,and help him. But he was sure now that if Dregbane wanted to fight him, he wouldn't last a second and moreso, he wouldn't know how he died.
"Pathetic, what am I to do now?" He thought, scenes of how he envisioned dying began taking root in his mind. They looked so vivid and real that he himself thought he had already died and was simply in the interlude
"Run.." again the voice said
"Should I?-" he was about to think but then he violently shoot his head "a ring dies with his honour, my father didn't abandon his people, neither will I" he got up from the ground taking his sword up once more and entering his stance
"Run!" The voice shouted, this time anxiety invaded his mind as well as the cold breeze which was know to originate from fear
"Shut up!" He willed his shaking body still " I will fight to my very last breath, and even then I will still fight" he steadied his breathing and looked on at his opponent
"I'll be taking him now Asake. As I suspected the boy shows great promise" a devilish smile appeared on his face
He wanted to see the extent of his power and now he was elated at the chance to break a strong spirit. He dropped Asake to the floor, barely conscious to watch as his son was tortured to submission.
He walked forward driving an eerie feeling in Arthur's mind
"I will fight, I will fight, I will fight" he said, repeating it in his thoughts to avail any lingering fears
"Very well son of the dragon, I will fight with you" the voice said
He took a step forward, but soon stumbled to the ground. He was panting, adding to that his heart rate reducing, everywhere was becoming blurry and blurry. Subconsciously he knew the end was near, but he didn't care, he struggled to his feet to face the looming evil.
He thought it was because of runic exersion, but it was something much more worthwhile. Before he knew what was going on he felt his spirit slip away, and just like that he was gone.
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A new aura formed around Arthur, an air of Godliness surrounded him, making even Dregbane wary as he stopped in his tracks.
Arthur's eyes shone with a blinding light, clear signs of lightning strikes trapped within them. He too stood still, but unlike Dregbane who stopped to stare, Arthur stopped to prepare. More lightning surrounded him to the point where a blinding light could be seen for miles and miles of the forest. Alrhought the morning sun had yet to rise, it looked as though it were midday with the sun brought closer to the earth surface projecting it's light and radiant heat, but it was much worse. Lightning bolts flooded the area killing all the surrounding hexi up until the keshnian border which was about three kilometres in length. Not only were they killed, but their corpses also disintegrated under the burning light.
The shocking part was that through all this, Arthur- or rather the being that took possession of him had yet to attack. This was all just him channeling the lightning runes around him. Similar to what Arthur had done at the beginning of the fight, but at a bigger and grander scale.
And like Arthur, once he was done he chanted his ring
"Lightning realm - 1st ring - Thunder Emperor"
The ground shook and a roar escaped the earth's mouth. Waves of lightning streamed out of his body causing the ground to scorch all who stepped on it. The sky turned darker; darker than usual. Although they was still in the early hours of the day, storm clouds began surfacing. The sky was washed clean of stars as the lightning arcs danced round the horizon.
Yet in all this, Arthur had yet to move, still he had not attacked; but the scene around him said otherwise.
Finally, he drew his sword, a sound akin to thunder swept past the ground and in that instant he had slashed Dregbanes chest with his blade shrouded in lightning
Expecting the same rebound as before, Dregbane stood his ground but reality soon hit him.
He heard a dripping sound admist the smoke screen that had been laid from the strike. Looking on to see the phenomenon of a rainless shower, he was surprised to find that the 'drip' came from him- his chest to be precise.
The sound continued as the blood flowed through a large diagonal cut on his chest. He staggered backward holding unto his wound
for the first time in almost a dozen decades he was re-aquatinted with the viscosity of his own blood. His face looked of disbelief and fear. The previous domineering deamenour now only a distant memory.
Realising his defeat, he backed into a portal which sent him far away from his present foe. But even he knew; regardless of distance, scars still revealed a frightening closeness. And what a closeness that would be, being that the cut had begun from the top of his left shoulder to the bottom of his right waist.
With his bulky physique, the cut was almost as long as Arthur himself.
Seeing that his mission had been completed, Arthur withdrew his ring before falling to the ground, loosing consciousness as well as the godlike aura he once had