I was at my all-time lowest in my life. I had no money, no family to turn to, and worst of all, no Liara. I had been prepared to end my own suffering, but I received two offers one day.
The first offer I had received was to help train the Royal family's youngest son for a hefty sum and housing in the castle. It was a perfect opportunity to gain money, make my name heard, and work for my home kingdom at the same time. This was the clear choice for me to pick, there was nothing anybody could do better.
The second offer came a day after the first. I was getting ready to move into the castle, when a cute blonde woman dressed in black approached me. She was from the Azure Kingdom, and she wanted me to commit treason and defect to their side. All I would have to do was participate in an assassination, and I would be given immense wealth and a name for myself in the kingdom. The job disgusted me, but what disgusted me even more was the fact that I was considering it. It pains me to say, but if I hadn't gotten the job from the castle, I might have actually taken the mission.
I politely turned down the woman's offer. She had been respectful about it and bowed her head at my words. And that was the last I had heard from the Azurans, at least until tonight.
Liara and Stella both looked at me, but they nodded their heads and turned back to the priest looking guy. He frowned and looked behind him at the group he commanded.
"I would prefer not to dirty my hands with such filth, take care of it for me."
The group nodded simultaneously and lept out into action. Within a fraction of a second, Liara had unsheathed her blade. A blinding blue flash of light ran through the entire group and before they could even reach us, all of their heads had been pierced between the eyes. The bodies that were midair had flopped down and the ones that had been running continued their sprint, not realizing they were dead until their legs had shut down.
Liara had appeared as if she didn't move, but in reality, she moved so fast that it appeared time had stopped. She elegantly blew holes in each individual member of the group before finally making it back to her previous position. The priest looked at Liara in awe. He had his arm wrapped around his flaming spear and was clapping at the display. I, on the other hand, was confused as to why his shirt hadn't caught fire.
"Amazing! Simply splendid! What immense speed! Not even my eyes could keep up in that instant!"
"Pardon?" I spoke out of pure confusion as to what he meant, because he was blindfolded.
The priest looked over to me with a smile on his face and replied, "Ah, yes. Although it may look like a blindfold, it's actually my geas! Eyes of Judgment!"
Liara stepped forward once more to attack him while he was talking. Once more, she moved faster than even the trained eye could see. She had gone for a strike to pierce the head of the priest, but my eyes caught something strange. Having spent over a decade with Liara, my eyes learned to adapt and process information at the same speed that she moved. Although it should have only been Liara moving in that instant, the priest had also moved.
The blindfolded priest moved his head to the left for a dodge and spun around to counter attack with his spear. The cut would have sliced Liara in half if I didn't cast 'impenetrable armor' onto her. The strike caused no damage to her, but it caught Liara off-guard and sent her flying away.
"That wasn't very nice. I was speaking." The priest looked irritated.
He stepped forward and immediately arrived in front of me. He's fast! He swung his spear downward, but I blocked it with my arm. The 'impenetrable armor' skill I had learned made it where you would be able to coat the body of any person with an indestructible armor. I formed a blade out of the armor on my off-hand and attempted a counter attack, but he was too fast. The priest grabbed the spear with both hands and twisted his body above my swing. He proceeded to kick off of my shoulder and land in front of me with a back flip.
The priest looked over at his swinging arm in confusion, which had been injured. He then looked at me in even more anger.
"Hurts, doesn't it? You may be the seventh most powerful first rank when it comes to attack, but I'm the strongest when it comes to defense."
I stepped in front of Stella, who was taken back at my strength, and raised both of my arms into a guard position. Both of my arms formed gauntlets with four small spikes sticking out from the front.
"Insulant!" He attempted to step forward again, but was stopped by a fully recovered Liara, who had pierced his good arm.
He looked back and made three large steps away from her, retreating. He began glowing in a white light and all of his injuries had healed completely. Liara came to my side in front of Stella and readied her sword once more.
The priest looked furious at the two of us. The flames on his spear became more and more intense and began enveloping his body. His body became engulfed in white flames and he looked like a being made of pure light. Large white wings of flame sprouted from his back and two long, curved horns sprouted from his head. The surrounding area began burning and his spear grew twice its size and the flames had become far more intense.
"It's time to get serious! I shall cleanse you all in a holy flame!"
"Come then!" Liara had begun glowing blue and sparks started flowing from her body.
She had undergone the same transformation as the priest. Her body became enveloped in an electric blue and small blue wings sprouted from her body and a pure blue ring appeared above her head. She moved her stance down lower than she had before and sparks began violently flowing from her body. I had Stella back up as she might receive harm from Liara's sparks.
"I guess I should do the same." I stood beside Liara when I said that.
My body began glowing with dark blue and white light. I felt my body begin being covered with a full suit of knight armor. Plates stacked upon plates of shields covered my body entirely and compressed into one suit. One large pentagon-shaped shield formed on my left arm and a short spear formed on my right. My head was then covered with an orange T-shaped helmet with two bright white curved horns sticking out. I readied myself for battle beside Liara. I had cast 'impenetrable armor on Stella beforehand so she wouldn't be affected by the resulting battle.
When one becomes as strong as Liara, Austin, or I, they gain the ability to contract and become one with this world's heavens. Liara had contracted the angel of lightning while I had contracted the angel of defense. Depending on the strength of the person, you can ascend to godhood like I or Austin. Horns will then sprout from the head instead of a halo.
"Die." Liara, Austin, and I all moved at the same time.
Liara thrusted the rapier with blinding speed, but Austin dodged in an instant. He attempted a right handed spear thrust for a counter, but I blocked and reflected the damage back at him.
"Gahh! Damn you heathens!"
He thrusted his spear at Liara once more, but she used her rapier to steer the attack off course and into the ground. The ground behind her shattered into pieces and the flowers were obliterated. Liara then countered with quick strikes to the chest, arms, and head. Austin successfully dodged each attack and pulled his spear out of the ground. I moved forward and used my short spear to slash downward. He moved to the side in an instant and the resulting slash cut part of the garden in half.
"You foolish heathen!" Austin moved in an instant, thrusting his spear toward my exposed helmet visor.
Just then, a shadowy figure shoved me out of the way of the attack. I turned to see Stella commanding the deceased bodies of the assassins with shadow magic. She sent the horde of undead shadows at Austin, who moved to defend. Liara had moved at the same time, attempting to strike while he was distracted. Austin moved to block the attack, but was instead slashed on his back by a shadow soldier.
"Gahh!" He screamed, "Get back!"
The wound on his back began growing infected with dark magic. He kicked Liara in the abdomen, sending her flying away. He proceeded to use the momentum from the kick in order to spin around and slice the shadows apart. White flames were scattered across the garden as the slash moved its way toward the defenseless Stella. The slash collided with her body and it disintegrated into blackness immediately.
"What? An illusion?"
Stella had reappeared behind Austin with a long black dagger. She thrusted the shadow blade into his back and he coughed out in pain. He moved to grab at his back with his
left hand, but I stepped forward and thrusted my spear into his stomach. He coughed up blood when I did that and tried to kick me away. Just then, Liara stepped into the fight and made an attempt to strike at his heart.
"Arhhgg!" He let loose a bloodcurdling scream, "Get away from me! Filthy heathens!"
The flames surrounding Austin grew far more intense than before and forced us back. His crimson blood gushing out from his wounds dissipated as the white flames cauterized his wounds. However, he was no longer capable of healing. He was dying slowly due to the dark magic's infection deep in his system. He was no longer capable of fighting and he knew this fact.
"Damned heathens! Protecting the demons! Don't you know what they did? They should be treated as monsters!"
His fury toward the demon race was as intense as the flames he emitted. His fire was becoming weak. Dimming as the infection seeped deeper into his body. We simply stared at him, knowing he wouldn't be able to do anything.
"Damnit! Damn you all! I hope you suffer eternally in the great pits of Nazurus for your betrayal!"
In a last ditch effort, he tried escaping. Liara had tried to stop him, but Stella raised her hand in front of her with a solemn expression. Liara nodded and sheathed her blade. Both her and I had released our divine forms and reverted back to our original forms. Austin was nowhere to be seen anymore and I heard the sounds of male and female voices in the distance.
The palace guards and maids had finally shown up and assisted us in getting to the medical bay. Before leaving, I looked up at the sky where Austin had escaped and wondered what could have happened if I had been on the other side? I continued looking until I noticed a floating metal ball that looked like an eyeball hovering over the garden. When it noticed me glaring at it, it disappeared into the night at the speed of sound.
"So someone with an aura I've never seen was watching?" I shrugged.
I continued with the maids to the sick bay with Liara and Stella. What would have happened indeed…