"What is this? Oh God, help us!" A middle-aged guy cried as a bourdon bell fell from the collapsing watch tower. During this, he bent his back and hugged a girl, as tall as his knees. "Papa, I'm afraid." she said, her tear-filled eyes pierced her father's heart as he hugged her.
"Don't be afraid, my love. Papa's gonna sa-" But the bourdon bell didn't give the man enough time as it hit the ground and smashed them both into minced meat.
A handsome young man beheld it all as he grit his teeth and tightened his grip on his blood-red halberd, his dejected face filled with anguish. But he couldn't linger long in pain. "Save the royal family!" He yelled at the nearby soldiers.
"Yes, captain!" They answered uniformly and moved except for one. "Captain, please, come with us." Pleaded the one that remained. The young captain eyed daggers at the soldier before hollering. "Do what I said, goddamnit."
The soldier hesitated but still remained, even after witnessing the sheer anger of his superior. The halberd-wielding captain saw that this wouldn't work, so he took another measure as he fell to his knees and begged in a wavering voice "Please…go."
Seeing that, the soldier couldn't stop his sobs as he wept and ran towards the imperial castle. Meanwhile, the remaining youth was looking at the soldier when he heard "Ah! The captain's house is on fire."
The aforementioned captain jerked his head, only to see that his house was indeed engulfed in flames. In the next instance, he bolted towards like lightning. His eyes widened when he saw a woman trapped within the burning building, shouting for help.
The distance was but a few meters between him and the house. His heart was beating fast when he was about to clear away the rubble and flames. "Honey, I'm here. Where is ou-"
"Gyaaah, aah! Huh?" Tufail blinked as he came to before shaking his head as looked around to check his whereabouts.
Meanwhile, the short city captain was confused. Ten soldiers were doing their best against this drunk, yet they still couldn't make him budge. "Hold that son of a bitch, I'll shoot him." He yapped as he took out his pistol before coming closer and pointing it at Tufail's temple.
"Could you answer a question of mine? Consider it my last wish." Tufail asked, his previous drunken demeanour gone like it was never there.
The city captain flinched. "What's up with this drunken bastard, is he wrong in the head?" He thought. "I should kill him, but... what could he possibly do with this many soldiers holding him down and a pistol aimed at his head."
After a pondering, he replied. "What's the question?"
"Why don't you have compassion for these fellow humans. These girls had lives and dreams too. Why are you the same as them?"
The short fat man was puzzled. "What the fuck are you yapping about? I am the City Captain and they all warm the City Lord's bed. They should be honoured to have that priv-" Before he could even finish, a clean swing swept through, capable of cutting the air itself, decapitating every soldier who held him down as well as the city captain.
The girls cried out at the sight of the spraying blood. However, before any of them could look at it any longer, the blood disappeared into thin air. Some noticed that all of it, enough to fill a small pool, was sucked into the strange weapon wrapped in black cloth.
"Shit... Now, I've done it..." mumbled Tufail Tigor before the ground started to quake as Claret, the blood-red halberd, vibrated fiercely. The vibrations released a mysterious powerful shockwave, knocking away everyone. However, the earthquake soon faded as everyone fell to the ground, unconscious while the halberd's black cloth fell away, finally revealing it in full.
A 5-foot-length blood-red shaft with strange words engraved on it while on its head was an axe-blade with an elongated apical spike on the top and a beak on the side. The whole head added an additional foot for a total of 6 feet in length.
The top part was black with some rust-like blood patches. The long black cloth, attached beneath the head of the halberd, fluttered as Tufail stared at Claret. "Sigh, I suppose this marks the beginning of a new era…"
While his eyes were stuck on his halberd, something slammed down a few meters away from him, prompting him to look in its direction. There, he saw a human corpse with a hole in his chest. "Is he the City Lord?" He inquired.
"Yes." Replied Maron, his golden gloves dripping blood. Tufail smiled before looking at the unconscious girl who had asked for his help. "Nicely done, Maron…."
A slim man was sitting on a thorny throne, made from a myriad of bones. "This earthquake... I have a bad feeling about it." He mumbled.
A blackish figure was cleaning his broadsword which gave off an ominous aura, before he heard some footsteps getting closer. "Master, there was a sudden earthquake which demolished many buildings…"
The man didn't reply immediately before he raised his head slowly. "Did I order you to come?" The man flinched. "This... I ap-apologise, master." He uttered before quickly vanishing from his master's sight. The blackish figure that remained grabbed his sword's hilt and raised it high, whispering. "Soon, you will see a lot of blood."
Numerous bells rang as priests ran amok everywhere. At the Holy Church, on the holy mountain where only the Grand Bishops were allowed, a man sat meditating in the lotus position, wearing a white robe. His closely shut eyes opened suddenly. "This is impossible, he should be dead..." There was a grave impression on that man's face.
Far from the continent, on an island, surrounded by a vast sea, there was a castle.
"Tsunami, it's a tsunami!" a pirate yelled.
"We'll all die, inform the commanders."
Amidst the chaos, a lovely-looking frozen hand stretched out from the castle's window.
"Total Freeze." a melodious voice escaped and the gigantic waves, capable of engulfing the entire island, froze in an instant.
"Tropy..." the melodious voice uttered a name before a man with an indistinct and blurry appearance showed up in the room. "I am here, Madam."
The lady looked at the frozen tides as she stated. "We are going to the continent." The blurry figure twitched for a moment before replying. "As you wish, I'll prepare the fleet."
In front of a big man stood a gigantic 100-meter-long table, full of different types of food. His size could be compared with a 3-story-building.
A bandit ran inside. "Boss, the earthqua-" his voice halted before he could finish. Numerous houses destroyed by the earthquake, yet he found no sign of it in this room. Not even a single drop of wine had spilled from any of the jugs.
The giant man took a whole roasted pig and gulped it down, before he said. "This was just a natural calamity, don't disturb my feast, get lost." A thundering voice was released by the giant man, causing the bandit to run outside.