Edward's eyes opened slowly. He was submerged, butt naked, in a clear liquid thirty feet into the ground. It felt warm and soothing. He could gradually feel his energy being restored. His severed limbs and lower body had regrown. He was in nirvana at this point when he heard voices.
"Pull him out." A female voice ordered. Thin layers of clear energy swirled around the liquid in multiple directions as they lifted both the liquid and Edward up to a ledge. It dropped him on his knees, and he let out a deep breath. He looked upwards and saw a person in a hooded cloak. Four gnomes walked with clothing.
"Here are human rags," they said, as they dropped them on the ground.
Edward looked at the 'rags,' which were a clean turtleneck with a denim jacket and jeans.
"Your energy is unstable, so this is all you have to cover up." She snapped her fingers and two giant orcs with butcher Knives walked up behind her.
"Bring him to the main court in an hour." She ordered as she took her leave.
"Tchh..." Edward hissed. The orcs grunted at him. He sighed and wore his clothes. They chained his hands and feet. The chains were draining out his energy slowly. They worked in such a way that the more you tried to resist, the faster the drain. The orcs began leading him through a dark hallway.
After walking for about thirty minutes, they came out of the dark hall and into a large silver-glass castle. Source energy ran through every wall. He looked to his left; he could see the brownish sky outside. The air flowed in and lifted his hair gently. He took a deep breath as nostalgia began to hit him. They walked till they came across a large wall. The ground below them attached to the wall, glowed and began to rise. Edward's eyes glanced downwards as he could see the barren lands spread down to the horizon. He felt frustrated. His mind drifted back to the stories his parents would tell him about a time when the world flourished.
Their species, called the Heilimaw, are beings born as a clear core, much like an egg. The difference is that their bodies begin to form around the core during an incubation period of three months. Once they awake as offspring, the core chooses the best place in their bodies to absorb source energy. After a year, they gain the ability to wield source energy. They used it for technological advancement, clothes, research and power development, agriculture, and military advancements. They had a monarchy system with multiple royal houses and an incumbent general ruling house. Each royal house had its people segregated into two main classes. The Mga Heilimaw, the higher echelon who mostly emit the colours of red, white and black(said to be blessed by source and usually of the royal line). The Mababang Heilimaw, the lower echelon consisting of those who emit the colours blue, green, and yellow. The colours also signified strength and by law, strength determines the ruler. This led to occasional wars to usurp power from any incumbent ruling house. The segregation also spread into the types of jobs, the types of land to be owned, who forcefully gets conscripted anytime the royals wanted to dethrone each other. Aside from occasional wars, the land flourished greatly, in fact so much that those who were treated "unfairly" from the lower echelon would still be living lives comparable to millionaires in the human world. Then came a problem. The issue of Awakening.
It began in the lower echelon, people awakening into colours of those in the higher echelon. At first, it was thought to be a blessing from source to reward the lower echelon for their uncompromised loyalty and hard work. But then it happened, an event in history that would bring their world to the brink of destruction. Someone from the royal house awakened. From the colour black to the colour of pure source energy that flows through their world. The colour brown. By law, his house was meant to be the ruling house, but the other royal houses refused and banded together to get rid of his house completely. Not only had they gotten an awakened black source, but they had been the house that had ruled the most and was known for their cruelty. Their war ravaged the world in a few days and most of the royal houses were destroyed due to the power of this new awakened alone. The surviving royal houses surrendered which was meant to end the war, but the new brown source had a god complex. He decided to break the ruling house system and made everyone completely subservient to his power.
He decimated his ruling house first including the royal houses that had surrendered to it. They were no more than seven black sources left who went into hiding. The citizens suffered greatly during these periods. Being killed by stray attacks, having black sources combat each other in their districts thereby killing millions, or just having their regions incinerated if the brown source suspected any black sources hiding there. Those that tried to intervene died meaningless deaths. The seven black sources after days of running hiding while trying to recover their strength went back to challenge the brown source. They managed to seal him by sacrificing their life energy. It took all 7 together at a near-death state to finally seal him in a large crystal lattice. They turned to stone in the process and after about a month of massive bloodshed, the fighting had stopped.
The aftermath was a serious blow to the core of the planet. Source energy began to dissipate and after a few years, everything went to shit. The Mga Heilimaw tried to restore the order they knew but the Mababang Heilimaw weren't going to toil and sacrifice everything again. A hundred years of civil war waged on amongst the suffering populates and further reduced the world to a pathetic state and it's continually deteriorating ever since. The 100 year civil war was at its peak by the time Edward (the demon) had come of age. Despite born as a green source, he was valiant, very determined and downright difficult to kill. He rose through the ranks and became the commander of the Orcs during the war. It was a few years after the war ended that he had his encounter with humans.
As the ground kept elevating, he reminisced about the war before one of the orcs hit his shoulder. He glared at it, and it grunted at him. He sighed and looked forward.
The elevating ground reached the edge of the topmost part of the wall. After walking for a while, Edward and his escorts got to the end of their path. The orcs moved to the side. There was nothing but a vast empty space in front. Edward looked upwards and stepped forward, a silver glass step appeared. Refracting through it was the brownish energy.
"Glad to see the orcs are still dogs of the king. Obeying to the last order... living as they die, pointlessly."
Edward scoffs. The orc to his right clenched its knife, widened its eyes, and turned towards Edward but the other orc gave it a stern glare that forced it to calm.
"The tone of speaking, the different yet similar energy, the aura, and distaste for the modern Monarchy... Even if you are in another form, you never change, do you... Azaskiel." The second orc scoffed.
"Azaskiel... I haven't been called that in so long. The name feels so foreign to me." Edward responded with a smile.
"I see you became the new commander of the Orc division... Andrago." He added.
"What?! Him? He is the..." The first orc tried to speak. but Andrago cut him off.
"All questions will be asked later. For now, the King requires your presence. Try not to piss him off with that shitty personality of yours. I might not get to have my questions answered." Andrago chimed in.
"Hmph..." Edward retorted.
As Edward continued to walk, steps kept appearing as they took him upwards till he reached the final step connected to the main court. It was an oval-shaped glass area with the distance from Edwards' end to the other end in front of him being thirty meters. The farthest distance from his left side to his right side was fifty meters. There were empty elevated seats to the right and the left. In front of Edward was a large throne, and a huge creature shrouded in dark with its pupils glowing white sat glaring at him. The hooded lady stood by its side. Edward walked forward till he got to the centre and fell to his knees. He joined his fists together and lifted it above his head as he looked downwards.
"The customs of a Mababang Heilimaw, the energy of a Mga Heilimaw and the physical appearance of a human... What exactly are you?" The King questioned.
"I am Azaskiel of the Orc faction and former commander of their division."
The king lifted an eyebrow.
"The name Azaskiel was that of the previous commander of the orcs. But not only was he green source, but he also died in a raid on the human world twenty years ago." The hooded lady interjected. The King's eyes glowed.
"I have an ability called foresight. If you dare lie, I would know and you will pay dearly for it." His Iris became white as it seemed like he was scanning Edward. He narrowed his gaze.
"How did you... How did you do it?" He retorted now surprised but also intrigued.
"I can't say, but it has to do with how the humans manipulate source energy." Edward responded. He lifted his gaze towards the King and added, "We are literally their 'source' materials."
"Our core..." The King's eyes widened.
"Our consciousness is rooted deep within the core. It makes sense that the more they tap into the power the more our consciousness is liable to take over. Talk about a double-edged sword." The hooded lady chimed in.
"Exactly..." Edward added with a smirk.
"Those damned humans! How dare they use our lost brothers and sisters against us! Unforgivable!" the King roared. His presence became immense even without any source energy seeping from his body. Edward clenched his fist and looked downwards.
"Gather the armies. We are going to invade them thoroughly. We will destroy every single one of them right at this moment."
"The energy it would take for you to open up a portal large enough to carry our armies will be too great, it may backlash on the army weakening or killing them as they attempt to pass. Those who manage to pass through may get easily defeated by the humans and have their cores harvested hence getting more manpower on their side. What we need is to find a way to open and connect with the two main portals from our side accurately and at will. For someone with the ability of foresight, you do make really stupid decisions. No wonder the humans have prevailed most of our raids." Edward scoffed.
The room went silent. The hooded lady chuckled and then...
Black energy wrapped around Edward and formed a sphere. He began to choke. He tried placing his hands on his throat but suddenly the energy pulled his body and stretched him. He tried to resist but was easily overwhelmed. Soon after, he started having a seizure. His veins popped out and his eyes began to sink in.
"You say I make stupid decisions…" the King's voice was cold. "What would you call seeking the wrath of a superior being."
The energy tightened around Edward's body and began twisting it. Edward could feel his bones getting crushed and blood began tearing from his body.
"The knowledge you have on resurrection is best kept away from the public. This is an efficient way to make it so... Isn't that right! Azaskiel!"
"KKkk couuurrr ghhhhh." Edward choked as he felt the life being squeezed from his body.
"My liege. I'd ask you to pardon his rudeness. We could take the valid points he made and augment our plans. So also, he has a lot of information on humans that could prove valuable to us. With his help, we might land a major victory against the humans." The hooded lady advised.
"Tchh..." The King squeezed Edward a bit more before dropping him to the floor.
"He is all yours!"
"Thank you, my liege."the hooded lady bowed.
"She walked up to Edward and said, "You really do have a death wish"
Edward giggled a bit before going unconscious.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Captain Oumar of the legion squad has arrived. Sorry to keep you waiting!" The yellow source soldier beamed after blasting the orc away. Two light blue source soldiers arrived at the scene to help up Kris and the other source soldier. A third source soldier with Sapphire blue armor landed afterwards.
"Robert, Kamil (both light blue sources) ... You two focus on search and rescue. Asim (Sapphire blue source), you heal and guard those two. This one is mine."
"Roger!" Kamil and Robert exclaimed.
"Tch... showoff. To think I called dibs earlier." Asim hissed as he walked closer to Kris and the other source soldier and began healing them.
"Dibs in the mud, first come first serve." Oumar laughed.
The Orc roared and burst out from the rubble it was buried in. It was infuriated. Its eyes bulged out and its body began to grow to about twice the original size as a violent stream of energy surrounded it. It condensed the energy in its left hand and a second mace formed. It stretched open its right palm and called out its other mace from the rubble.
While being healed, Kris was finally able to speak properly.
"What are you doing? He is just a yellow source... Aren't you going to help him?" He warned.
"The fact that you asked must mean you are very new hence not part of this battle unit." Asim furrowed his eyebrow.
Kris let out a nervous laugh while Asim sighed.
"Don't worry about him. If anyone is going to get the job done, it's him. The one and only soldier that truly defies the word 'limits'." Asim smirked as he finished healing both Kris and the other soldier. Kris looked confused and Asim noticed the switch in his facial expression.
"Just watch... This is the man known as the strongest of the weak, and you are about to witness why!" Asim smirked as he stood to watch the battle about to unfold.
Oumar placed his staff on his right hand and began walking towards the orc with a faint smile. The orc growled at Oumar's calmness. Their eyes met and all the orc could feel were tingly sensations of danger. Sweat dripped from its forehead as Oumar kept approaching it.
It couldn't comprehend why it felt fear and that pissed it off more.
"What's wrong, you are beginning to get awfully quiet." Oumar prattled.
"You don't have to hold back just because of my source type. Come at me with all you have." He added with a slight snicker.
The orc's eyes widened, and its energy flowed outwards. It dug its right leg into the ground and dashed straight for Oumar with a battle cry. Oumar pointed his staff in the demon's direction.
"Expand!" He whispered. The staff stretched with incredible speed. Striking the Orc on its chest plate like a shot from a sniper, but faster. It coughed out as the force from the impact sent it crashing through the rubble it came from and into a building. It ragingly burst out of the building screaming at the top of its lungs.
"Chill out... At this rate, you'll make it too easy for me." Oumar teased.
It spun the mace on its right hand and began running towards Oumar. Oumar released his yellow energy and expanded the staff ten meters into the air. It began to glow as the energy swirled around his body.
"That's right, it wouldn't be fun otherwise." He dragged down the staff instantly. At that moment before it touched the orc, Oumar saw it smile as it twisted its body leftward, thereby avoiding the staff which tore and dug deep into the ground. The demon laughed and dashed to Oumar's side. It struck at him with its right mace. Oumar's staff shrunk to its normal size as he pulled it up to deflect the mace. The clash released a wide spread of blue energy and made Oumar crouch on his left side.
The demon hissed. It lifted the second mace and tried to strike down Oumar, but he blasted the demon's feet, created a smokescreen, and propelled himself away. He landed on his feet and smiled. The orc walked out of the smokescreen. Its armoured boots were damaged but it stood firm.
"That was close..." Oumar laughed as he got to his feet.
"Is he really going to be okay?" Kris asked Asim.
"Yup, that's how Oumar is. Always talkative and free even in battle. It's as though he enjoys the thrill."
"But if you underestimate him because of that," Asim warned, "he will leave you in the dust.
"Now then..." Oumar said with a faint smile. He gripped his staff and began advancing towards the orc. The orc lifted and crossed its maces at shoulder height and waited for Oumar to get close enough. It struck downwards at Oumar, but he jumped above it and yelled 'Extend!'
With incredible speed, the staff struck the orc's scapula. Its eyes rolled back as it coughed out saliva while falling to a knee. Oumar landed and his feet dragged a bit on the ground before he dashed closer to the orc. He gripped the staff and it glowed. He struck at the right kidney, then the left, then the neck of the orc before spinning and striking the head of the orc. It blinked multiple times after the impact. Oumar dragged the staff back then jabbed into its gut. The pain awoke it as it coughed out blood. Before the blood from its mouth could touch the ground, Oumar lifted the staff and struck its jaw forcing it to jam its teeth close breaking a few and splattering blood around. The orc took a few steps back while trying to get its balance. Oumar jumped into the air and kicked it in the face sending it dragging across the ground. Then he landed and rested the staff on his shoulder. The orc staggered to its feet. It spat out blood and walked towards its maces. As it picked it up it looked at Oumar and growled.
"Yeeesh. that looks like it hurts. Are you alright?" Oumar asked with puppy dog eyes and placed his left hand over his mouth.
The Orc burst out its blue energy and concentrated them on its mace. It took a flash step and was suddenly in front of Oumar. Oumar's eyes widened with shock as the orc lifted its mace. It struck down on Oumar, but he deflected it with his staff just in the nick of time. The impact depressed the ground as source energy spread around the town, Dahab. It struck with the second mace, but Oumar still deflected it and this time the source energy that ran across the ground began to leave cracks. The Orc roared and rapidly continued to strike at Oumar who kept deflecting and matching its speed. The ground kept depressing and the running energy kept widening the cracks across the ground. The rising and clashing of energies were heavy. Kris and the others had to lift their hands and shield their eyes from the raging winds and energy mixture being dispersed across Dahab. The collisions went on for a bit then suddenly the orc was pushed out far onto a building by the staff extending from the center of chaos. After the staff shrunk, the orc fell on both knees. It was breathing heavily as sweat, saliva, and blood were dripping from it. It rose its eyes slowly as it could barely see Oumar walking out of the deep depression they created.
It clapped its palms together as it took in a deep breath. Energy began to cahrge up in its palms. It pulled it apart creating a large energy ball. Its veins popped and its body began to vibrate as the energy in the ball got darker. With a loud roar, it shot it at Oumar. Oumar created a blast from his feet and launched himself into the air thereby dodging it. The blast tore across the land and exploded once it got to the water. The explosion caused a large wave of water to drag back onto the land flooding it a bit.
"Wow, that was powerful! You really are full of surprises." Oumar gushed in the air as he was falling slowly from the height.
The orc created another energy ball and increased its power. It shot it at Oumar, who was in mid-air. Oumar calmed himself as the blast was approaching. He gathered energy onto his right hand and caught the energy ball. He pulled it to the side then extended the staff on his left hand instantly at the orc. It struck on its forehead and dragged it across the land. He shrunk the staff, but this time made it pull him closer to the orc and he crashed the blast onto it. The explosion made the others lift their hands to protect themselves from the impact. It also made the debris from the destroyed buildings shred and shift to the edge of the town.
"I don't believe this," Kris muttered to himself.
"These level of battles, just like that of James. Is this what I'll be going through frequently?" He thought to himself and clenched his fists.
"That bastard Oumar. He is having too much fun. Most of Dahab has been destroyed and all this extra trouble will be on me" Asim faced palmed.
As the dust screen began to clear, Oumar could be seen holding his right hand. The armor covering had been blown away and he had some scorch marks on it. He squeezed it a bit as it stung. The Orc on the other hand was down on its back. Only its lower body armor was left, and it had cracks all over it. It turned to its side as it coughed out blood. It began to rise slowly to its feet. Blood gushed from its face as saliva ran down its lips. There were deep critical wounds on its body. It walked forward dragging its feet towards its maces. Oumar did a double take.
"You know... it's the determination for me."
It bent down to pick its maces.
"I've always wondered what exactly it is you demons fight for? What exactly motivates you so much that you are willing to give your life for it." Oumar flicked his right hand in the air.
The demon lifted the maces in the air and began to imbue it with source energy. It looked at Oumar as it could barely see him.
"Not to worry," Oumar smiled. "I'll give you a flashy ending. It's the least I could do to commemorate your efforts."
Blue energy swirled around the maces as the demon closed its eyes to concentrate. The heat and pressure could be felt all over Dahab. Oumar smirked as he dug his staff into the ground a few centimeters in front of him... He crouched his knees and curled his biceps as his armor began glowing and the ground started cracking around him. He widened his eyes and clenched his teeth. With a large roar his armor and energy burst around him. It formed light crystals around him over a five meters radius.
The staff began to glow. The Orc pulled down the two maces and dug its right leg into the ground. It roared at Oumar.
"Hoo... " Oumar smirked as he called back the energy into his hands. As The energy gathered in his hands, a thin layer of his armor formed around his body while a large hand, four times the normal size made out of the energy, formed around his hands. Both glared at each other with insane and intense smiles. The orc crossed its maces overhead to form an 'X' as it launched at Oumar. Oumar widened his stance and stood firmly as the orc got closer. With a thundering roar, the demon struck down splitting the maces from top to side. Oumar rose his hands to receive the attack and as they clashed, the ground on which the impact occurred depressed for three meters. Blue and yellow energy collided and creating a wide shockwave that tore across Dahab. Asim quickly formed a defensive wall made from source energy to tank the impact hurling at them. The combined energy stretched out far and tore through the ocean. A large dust cover and electric sparks could be seen all over Dahab. The electric sparks, the dust cover, the dispersed energy lingered for a few minutes. As they began to settle, Asim could see the demon and Oumar faintly.
"Is it over?" Kris asked.
"Yeah... For the demon that is." Asim smirked.
The dust cleared and Oumar was holding both maces in the air as his body shivered. The energy in his hands was gone and blood was flowing from his hands and dripping onto the floor.
"Hey... you messed up my original plans for a flashy ending. Now I might have to freestyle the next sequence." Oumar, with his body shaking, smiled evilly at the orc.
Despair, followed by deep fear took over the orc's face as it began to shiver. Oumar blasted the maces away. He grabbed his glowing staff with both hands and struck the orc's jaw in an uppercut fashion, breaking its neck in the process and flinging the orc into the air. He shrunk the staff to the size of a needle and placed it at the centre of his hands. The staff began to rotate like a drill as yellow energy gathered around him. He extended it and it moved with incredible speed tearing through the chest of the Orc. He pulled the elongated staff downwards and it dragged from the chest to the base of the abdomen pulling and smashing the orc into the ground. As the orc slammed into the ground, it coughed out blood and its eyes rolled back. Its body began to jerk. Oumar shrunk his staff the extended it towards one of the orc's maces. He tossed it into the air with the staff. He created a blast with his feet lifting him to the height of the thrown mace. He spun his staff around him and hit the mace towards the orc's head. It connected and dug deep into its head. The Orc's hands raised slightly, and its body stopped jerking as it fell back down. Oumar created a blast with his right hand giving himself momentum as he propelled towards the Orc. With the momentum, he stomped on the mace with both his legs and a condescending smirk splattering the head of the demon. His staff stopped glowing and a yellow energy rose from the hole in the demon's chest bringing out its core.
"Extraction complete," Oumar said as he smiled in the direction of Asim.
"You Animal! Look what your going all out has done to Dahab!" Asim yelled out.
"Ahyyaaaa..." Oumar rubbed the back of his head.
"With all that insane fighting, I thought you'd kill it and fail to extract the core. You are our captain now; you should stop acting like a child." Asim scolded as he got closer to Oumar.
"I am sorry... I am sorry... I won't do that again..." Oumar teased as he rubbed his head and laughed. Kamil and Robert joined the two.
"Where have you guys been?" Asim questioned.
"There's no way I'll want to be around Oumar rampaging" Robert retorted.
"Couldn't be me, plus he looked like he had it covered." Kamil chimed.
"Tch... look here." Asim began.
"Hehee... I am hungry! Shall we go and have some roasted lamb. Asim's paying" Oumar cut in as he tapped Asim on the shoulder.
"What! Like hell I will" Asim protested, and the group kept going back and forth about it.
Kris was left in awe as he saw them acting as though nothing had happened. He didn't have any idea of what he wanted to say or do.
"Ughhh... What did I miss?" James' voice sounded in Kris' ears. It snapped Kris back to reality.
"Hey... what happened? You completely ghosted." Kris spoke in a low voice.
"I pulled out more energy than our current level of sync allowed, and it knocked me out."
"The fuck? That's a thing?"
"Apparently. So, what happened with the demon?"
"This yellow source guy just beat that blue sourced demon... On his own!!!"
"Yellow source?" James asked as he took over Kris' right eye to see who it was.
"Oh... captain Oumar of the legion squad. Yeah... that's expected. No one knows how he does it, but one thing I can say, he's a real monster. It was really difficult to win when last we sparred." James uttered to Kris.
"And... you are a red source. Wow..." Kris chuckled in a whisper.
Soon helicopters came to the area and some soldiers including Elizabeth's two bodyguards landed from it. They walked up to Kris and chained him down with source energy.
"Hey... what the fuck?" Kris protested.
"You are under arrest. Don't bother resisting..."