/// 3rd Person POV ///
The room was empty. An eerie silence dwelled inside it. The usually bustling throne room was empty, devoid of any noise or life.
A throne laid in the room, carved out of gold. And atop the throne sat a 16 year old looking boy. The bangs of his white hair, laid sprawled over his sharply chiselled face. His eyes shone a vibrant amethyst colour. His expression was neutral but the slight fear and shaking of his hand, no matter how slight, was still there.
The king of asuras sat on his throne, his fingers interlocked, tapping his heels slightly on the ground in anticipation of what was about to come.
The shine in his eyes subsided as they reverted back to their original colour,
"So this is your secret, King Grey." He muttered under his breath while a devilish smirk formed on his face.
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"So, what do we do? Can we go like last time? Like, draw swords and just pounce on every asura we can lay our hands on?" Regis asked Arthur with determination on which Arthur couldn't quite put his finger on.
"Of course no. We aren't here for a genocide. Just removal of Kezzes and his loyal followers." Arthur replied with a frown as his gaze got fixed at a particular point in space.
Regis also felt this as he looked in Arthur's eyes and then redirected his gaze in the same direction. Despite being unable to detect mana Regis could feel it. The sheer amount of mana, practically oozing out the asura's bodies.
*cough, wheeze, cough*
Regis looked at Arthur, his hand placed on his chest and the other infront of his mouth. As he removed his hand he spotted multiple dots of blood, scattered over his pale palm.
"It's acting up again, isn't it?" Regis asked, his worry evident in his voice.
"Yes, I don't seem to have much time now. I have to either let it out or die containing it. It all depends on how quickly we deal with things here, and move on to Kezzes." Arthur managed to say before another fit of coughs caught him.
"They won't be a problem. I can handle them if I use the destruction form, but I'll need 30 minutes to recharge." Regis laid out his plan.
"Let's just deal with them together. It will be better this way." Arthur replied as Regis nodded.
Multiple silhouettes appeared from a distance, mana flaring around them, their king's force already applying pressure on both of them. But Arthur and Regis stood unfazed, not bothered in the slightest by the killing intent of 50 elite asuras.
A devious sneer formed on the duo's face as they let their intent run rampant. Their killing intent, amassed from killing thousands if not hundreds of thousands asuras, ran loose like some wild mana beast. The sky darkened as their killing intent physically manifested. A feat considered impossible.
"What is that?"
"No, what are they?"
"They're lessers, nothing more."
"It's just a lesser's parlor trick, fret not."
"How is that a parlour trick, only Lord Indrath is capable enough to manifest his king's force."
The battalion went into a frenzy, as they saw his killing intent swing from one place to another. The ground beneath them shook as visible crevices formed all over the ground. Regis's intent was no less as it took the shape of a thundercloud, looming over them just like their imminent death.
"Let's not drag this." Arthur said as Regis nodded.
*bzzz*
Both of them summoned aetheric swords in their hands. The asuras' eyes widened as they looked at a lesser and another one, a weapon, wielding what they could never even dream of with such ease.
"Kill those lessers." One of them roared as everyone charged at the duo. Multiple spells fired from above as they saw multiple other asuras approaching from behind.
Regis and Arthur split as they took different courses. Purplish-ashen flames lit on Regis' sword as he clashed his sword with the first asura. Their swords collided, producing a large boom. The asura was sent multiple yards back.
Just as he went into stance again, he heard something break. Looking down to his sword, the same flame was clinging to it, as the sword crumbled. Hungrily, the destruction flames cling to the asura and wipe out his very existence.
Regis floated in the sky, looking down at the asura who was eradicated without a trace, with an emotionless face.
"Well then, let's get this over with."
His sword was once again lit with destruction, as he leapt towards them. One after another, his sword began to cleave the enemies, in an instant. Just as their swords were about to make contact and kill another one, a vine bursted from the ground. It was thicker than any tree he had seen. He avoided it just in the nick of time.
The vine shot towards the sky, and split into two. One of them attacked Regis while the other went towards Arthur. Regis dodged his own, but he saw Arthur was busy with a huge number.
"Dodge Arthur, from behind." Regis screamed in his link.
"….."
There was no response as the vine just managed to graze his ear. 'Why isn't the link establishing?' Regis thought to himself as a figure appeared in front of them.
Clad in green armour that seemed to have glitters all over it, with two pairs of wings. Her eyes shone a brilliant emerald as she appeared in front of Regis.
'Clan Leader of Hamadryads' he thought.
"Ahh, Lady Mapellia. I was wondering when you will crawl out of your tree, but finally you've decided to grace us with your presence." Regis said in a mocking tone. The Hamadryad race, especially the Mapellia Clan, were longtime allies of dragons.
"You will pay for brutalising our bonds." She said growling as she let her bloodlust run rampant. Unlike dryads who dwelled in trees, The Hamadryads were bonded to their specific trees. Hence if harming the trees was akin to harming them.
"Oh come on, you've got to be kidding me. That's a weird fetish you got there, bonding with trees and stuff. I can show you a much better time." Regis said, throwing a wink as the mana around her fluctuated. Vines erupted from the ground and attacked him from all directions. Regis twisted his body, and like a hurricane delivered multiple slashes. Hundreds of amethyst arcs originated from his swings, warping the space around it as it diced the vines like cutting butter with a hot knife.
A realisation hit Lady Mapellia. "Stay away from the fire. It's fueled with creation type mana arts." She roared as everyone put a significant distance. All of them started to siphon mana from their bodies and started preparing spells.
Regis let out a deep breath. The flames dancing on his fingers became even more erratic. He brought his hand Infront of his face. His gaze remained fixed on the flame as his eyes shone with nostalgia. But more than that, a relentless desire to wreak havoc.
"What do you think destruction is?" Regis asked. The absurdity of his question made many of them look at him with a frown laden face.
"Buying time would do you no good, lesser." Mapellia said in a spite laced tone.
"Destruction is something immaterial. Something that's a must. You cannot comprehend it or use it to its full extent if you materialise it in a single way. Even you Asuras die at one point, don't you?" Regis said in a solemn tone and a calm face. They all were quiet, listening to him amusingly as they considered them his last words.
"Everything in this world is born with its nemesis. Just like every living thing is bound to die, similarly, every creation shall face its doom, it's DESTRUCTION. Every rise has a fall. Nothing remains forever. Destruction of even the strongest is inevitable." Regis continued and paused to let his words weigh down on them. "Just like this..!" He said as he snapped his finger.
A blood curdling scream echoed. Lady Mapellia looked back as she saw a leviathan scream in agony. Amethyst light shone from inside his body as it came out from his ears and mouth, followed by an unnatural amount of blood. His skin shrank, sticking to his bones as he went crashing down to the ground. Everyone looked at the corpse and Regis, in turns with a look of disbelief.
"Nothing much there fellas, just destroyed his organs and blood, leaving an empty husk. It's quite fascinating how destruction works." He snapped his fingers again as another one's whole body started shining in an amethyst colour and his whole body exploded. Suddenly a mutual feeling crept up their spine, like a phantom sneaking up on them and devouring their insides.
Carnal Fear.
He snapped his fingers again as another one's limbs fell apart. A pair of hands, feet and a head separated from his body as they fell downward in different directions. He continued brutalising them until only Mapellia was left. An alchemy of rage, spite and revenge, barely controlled, brewed inside her but the feeling of fear overcame it. With one swift movement she spun around and started her escape.
Suddenly her head jolted back as a burning pain went throughout her body. She looked back to see the same man, gripping her by her long, glittery green hair.
"Fufu, Where'd you think you're going? Definitely not letting you go until I have my fun." He said with a devilish smirk, her already pale skin went even pale and cold, as her entire life force had been drained out of it.
On the other side Arthur continued raining down spells on Asuras, killing one after another. Suddenly, his instincts screamed at him to run away. He looked back as he saw a figure floating in the sky, his hands tucked behind his back, white hair swaying in tandem with the blowing wind, his purple eyes peering down at the sight Infront of him and a slight scowl on his face.
"How disappointing." He said as every asura stopped in their tracks. "Get back everyone. I shall personally get rid of this abomination." He said as the edges of his real form flickered around him for a second.
He started to descend, but Arthur not letting the antagonist to make his dramatic appearance like in a clíche anime, god-stepped towards him. Coalescing his hand with aether, he punched Kezzes' face with the speed of a rocket.
A huge explosion resounded, obscuring everyone's view. Once the dust began to settle, everyone fixed their sight on the two strongest beings among them. It was no shame after seeing his capabilities to deem Arthur, kezzes' equal.
The dust subsided as the sight came into view. Kezzes was gripping Arthur's hand, totally nullifying his punch, and a look of surprise was not only plastered over Arthur's face but also Kezzes'.
"Looks like you violated fate too much." Kezzes said his voice tinged with amusement and victory. Arthur withdrew his fist, as he godstepped behind him and delivered another punch. Kezzes spun around and received the blow straight to his face.
"That did not hurt, albeit this is going to a lot." He said as he kicked Arthur in the solar plexus, knocking the air out of him. Arthur crashed inside the mountain with a huge explosion, almost demolishing it.
Kezzes neared the mountain as he saw Arthur coughing up blood. He removed what looked like a second skin from his neck. He gripped the back of his own neck and peeled it off in one swift motion, revealing a huge deep scar.
"You'll pay for this.I'll make you pay for it. For making me go mad over this scar every second of these past 12 years. I'll make sure you suffer a fate worse than hell. I'll..." he was cut short as his ear got shot, leaving a fountain of blood behind.
"Shut up you Kezzes. I'm sick of hearing those lines. You just won't stop blabbering them, not then not now." Arthur's voice ringed behind him, as he turned to look at Arthur, his whole body a bloody mess but it was recovering.
"What do you know about hell, Kezzes? Nothing…! But worry not, I'll show you one. Let us play in the depths of hell." Arthur said as a golden light engulfed him.
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(A/n What do you think is wrong with Arthur? Idk myself. 🫥
Anyways hope you enjoy the chapter, and I'm out
🫡
Sayonara.)