Kazuki is running through the woods at a high pace trying to lure more soldiers away from Lennox who's trying to head to the river Ajax fell in.
"Your incompetence cost a life."
"Silence! he's not dead." Kazuki whispers to himself.
"It would be easier if you just bludgeoned them all now."
"No! I wont hear anymore of your nonsense!" Kazuki shouts at himself as a couple bullets whiz by.
"He's behind that tree! Start a continuous barrage now!" One of the soldiers shout and upon command they all begin to fire.
"監視員の権限: 解散します." Kazuki whispers and the three dozen men surrounding the area fall into their own shadows to an even further location this time.
As Kazuki tries to run back he instantly is hit with a violent headache and dizziness.
" Dammit I've reached overdraw." Kazuki thinks to himself before spitting out blood.
As Lennox is running through the woods to find Ajax he Erik suddenly drops down with a bland lifeless expression on his face.
"Great just my luck." Lennox mutters to himself.
" " Man will achieve what he strives for" Is what my father use to tell me, so I wanna why is it that no matter what I do it seems in the end...I cant save her?" Erik mutters to himself in frustration and begins to grab and tug his own hair in frustration.
"Ok listen son Im not interested in waiting for you to be done with your mental breakdown, get out of my way or stand up and fight." Lennox says transforming his cybernetic arm into a blade.
"Ahh where are my manners?" Erik says looking up before throwing one of his blades at Lennox. Lennox simply parries the blade and Erik instantly closes the distance neither able to cut the other with their blade in their exchanges, both men start to go for kicks and punches to slow the other down and go for a finishing blow.
Erik is able eventually cut off Lennox's cybernetic arm and starts to aim for the killing blow, surprisingly though Lennox begins to fight with more ferocity coming forward despite him losing his arm. Erik eventually grabs the other blade he threw and attempts to thrust both blades into Lennox, but Lennox perfectly times the pivot grabs Erik's right arm and dislocates it.
Erik then drops to the ground groaning in pain and Lennox mounts him and begins to rain down hammerfists with his remaining arm.
"Platinum art: Nerve death."
Erik places his hand on Lennox's chest and releases an electrical surge that momentarily paralyses Lennox. Erik takes advantage by headbutting Lennox. Lennox attempts to get up but his entire body feels stiff and his vision is fuzzy, he stands up on wobbly legs and instantly feels a sudden sharp pain in his chest... he looks down and sees Erik's blade stabbed into him.
" I'm sorry Kaelen." Lennox quietly utters before coughing a large amount of blood and dropping to the ground.
" Now you can rot in hell alongside him old man." Erik says before Lennox's lifeless corpse as he then pulls his blade out of him and walks off. he arrives upon the location of the earlier battle and notices Aliyah twitching on the floor, to not take chances he walks over and attempts to stab his blade into her.
" Do that and your brother faces the same fate."
Erik looks up and sees a pale Kazuki holding his Katana at Clive's knocked out body.
"don't make me laugh you washed up prick, you know what I might aswell kill you now since you look spent." As Erik says that he attempts to activate his augment but is hit with a sudden headache and dizziness.
"you've gotta be kidding me now of all times?" Erik thinks to himself swallowing back the blood he nearly coughed up to avoid showing weakness to Kazuki.
" Hostage exchange tomorrow morning at my home, ask him to guide you once he wakes up.. see you then." Erik says before throwing down a teleportation crystal and dissappearing with Aliyah.
Meanwhile...
Ajax slowly opens his eyes and slightly turns his head to the side looking at the sky noticing its dawn, he turns over groaning and sits up. He notices the hole in his shirt and remembers his wound checking through the shirt he notices the wound healed.
Ajax slowly gets up and notices he's washed up on his home town. he walks into the town hoping to see it flourishing with life but there lies an eerie silence on the town. As he walks deeper into the town he begins to notices a dreadful smell, the smell of rotting meat.
Ajax notices practically all of the doors to each home open and walks into one of them, he instantly is repulsed further by the smell of rotting flesh and vomits just outside the house. Knowing the source of the smell is enough learn what happened.
after a few moments an old man appears around the corner and is shocked to see this young man sitting on the floor alone.
" My goodness aren't you that fighter that's from these parts? Solomon was it? Where have ya been?" the old man asks jogging over to Ajax.
"Its Ajax, when.... when did all this happen?" He asks standing up with a tired expression.
"It was one of Ragnar's vile children.... that good for nothing bastard came in here and mercilessly slaughtered everyone men, women, and children alike...me and a couple others were able to hide. Some of those who survived left the country and the others... they felt they lost everything and ended themselves not too long after." the old man says holding back tears. Ajax looks at the old man in shock as the old man drops to his knees.
"My grandchildren.... I- I promised their parents... I promised." the old man begins to breaks down in tears as he buries his face in his arms.
Ajax speechless walks by the old man and across the corner seeing nearly a dozen rows of bodies the old man was busy burying. Ajax spends the next twenty minutes looking at each grave to see if he can find his mother and uncles grave, he notices two separate graves next to each other a couple meters away from the rest and is relived knowing Lennox buried both of their bodies upon arrival.
Ajax walks back into his families home and digs through drawers looking for seeds his mother used to plant trees around the area of the town. He brings the seed to his mother and uncles grave, and buries it in the tiny gap between both their graves and walks off.
He enters back into the family home and into Kaelen's room to search for old weapons he must've had, Ajax rummages through their closet and finds a dusty axe and a pair of rusty gauntlets. As he's about to walk off he sees a small black box that looks like it's made of marble. Ajax lifts it up and presses the white button on top of it, causing the the top to slide off revealing an old radiopod.
"All that for this Kaelen? you do too much sometimes." he mutter to himself slightly smiling he presses the red button on the Radiopod and static starts to play before a distant voice slowly comes in.... his fathers voice.
" One..... one..... alright it seems stable, hello son... I'm assuming that Kaelen gave you this on your eighteenth birthday and that you are the only one currently listening to this. I created this recording so in my absence you may receive my guidance, some new developments have occured and my death is nearing. I cannot tell you why since those who threaten me may go after you and your mother soon.. I really wish I could've spent more time with you two... and I hope you know that I love you and I know you'll grow into a fine man one day.... my little flame. Now to get straight into it... just a few moments ago I gave you a secondary augment, you currently have a fever due to your embedded healing augment stablizing it.. your mothers currently attending to you. So now upon your eighteenth birthday it'll activate or god forbid it has activated in the wake of your death and you have been reanimated... I'm going to teach you how to wield this ability and effectively use it son... lets get started."
Meanwhile...
Kazuki walks through the capital of Aurellia walking ahead of Kazuki who holds a shuriken on his neck. everyone in the capital stares in fear, the state soldiers not attacking due to already being commanded by Erik to stand down.
" I'm still surprised you're stupid enough to go along with my brother's plan, and now you're in some serious trouble..... this new mercy upon your enemies bullshit you doing is now walking you to your death." Clive exclaims smugly, Kazuki simply just ignores him.
"LENNOX!" Aliyah shouts out as she notices she's tied to a pole outside a large mansion, just before her sits Erik who's staring down upon the massive view of the city before him.
" Where is Lennox....Ajax what have you done with them?" Aliyah exclaims trying to get out of the pole she's tied on.
"Oh that old fella is gone.... and your little friend...ha I wish I knew." Erik says bluntly before standing up. Aliyah closes her eyes to hold back tears and takes a breather to compose herself.
" Look at you.... tryna hold back tears as if you've lost something.. you animals...you goddamn lowlife trash have made my mother suffer longer then she needed to. So now this what's going to happen.. I'm going to fry alive that Yukimura in front of you.. and then I'm gonna carve out your eyes and sell them to your friend over there's father.. don't mind getting myself a hefty reward for killing the last dark elf." Erik says kneeling before Aliyah.
"You can throw out whatever empty threats you have... we both know you can't beat Kazuki." Aliyah says staring down Erik.
" True but this ain't a one on one and your friend is in for a little surprise." Erik says before tying a small cloth around Aliyah's mouth.
Kazuki finally arrives with Clive and he stands at the large staircase just outside the large mansion. a guard runs up to Erik to inform him and he walks with Aliyah to them and they stand a few meters directly infront of eachother.
" Listen Kazuki we both know you ain't gonna kill you my brother.. I call the shots here... send over my brother first while I walk towards you with the girl." Erik says with his left hand up.
Kazuki lets Clive go and he dashes towards his brothers side as Erik slowly begins to walk forward holding Aliyah by her hood.
"dammit if only the sun hadnt fully risen I could've used a shadowman." Kazuki thinks to himself. Erik finally walks close enough to Kazuki and he throws Aliyah at Kazuki. instantly realising theres a sniper way in the distance due to a white flash within a mere second he uses his shuriken to cut off the rope tying Aliyah both hands. Kazuki then throws Aliyah to the side and he gets shot through the neck.
Erik pulls out one of his blades and attempts to finish off Kazuki. Aliyah quickly throws a spinning back kick at Erik's head driving him back, Clive attempts to attack Aliyah, she simply grabs his hand and breaks it, she then snaps his knee backward with one kick and then snaps his neck instantly killing him.
" CLIVE!" Erik shouts out in shock seeing his brother's lifeless body drop to the ground, he lunges at her tryna take her head off with one slash but then misses as she narrowly jumps back.
Electricity begins to crackle around Erik as the ground begins to shake, his arms start to turn extremely vascular as bursts of electricity around him slowly get bigger and bigger.
"Aliyah get behind me now!" Kazuki shouts while grabbing his throat trying to stop more blood from pouring out.
" Final Art: Thunder cyclone."
A large destructive burst of energy shockwaves out as Erik stabs his blades into the ground. causing the entire estate the hill is on to be destroyed instantly. The hill the mansion lies on begins to crumble as the shockwave practically annihilates everything in its path.
Aliyah opens her eyes and notices herself and Kazuki floating in what appears to be a black abyss, suddenly the darkness fades away as they both are back in the real world and Aliyah looks around noticing the enormous crater they both lie in.
" Aliyah give me my sword and leave immediately." Kazuki mutters as he keeps his hand on his throat while trying to stand up. Aliyah notices his sword nearby picks it up and walks infront of Kazuki.
"No please Aliyah just go." Kazuki mutters while struggling to get up.
"No.....keep pressure on that wound." She says as she gets into a fighting stance with Kazuki's katana.
Erik stands on a large piece of rubble directly infront of them with Dominic assembling his assault rifle.
" You keep your hands off that Yukimura he's mine." Dominic growls as he aims his rifle at Kazuki.
Suddenly an axe flies in and nearly stabs into Dominic who simply ricochets it back by smacking it with his rifle, it flings back directly above Erik and it lands in the hands of Ajax who slams the axe down on Erik who narrowly blocks it with his blades.
Erik then jumps out of the rubble and smiles.
" Ha so you were stupid enough to come to me? You could've ran off when you had the chance Ajax, in all honesty thank you." Erik says gleefully as Ajax without another word lunges at Erik.
Dominic attempts to aim his rifle at Ajax but suddenly Aliyah knees him in the side of the head causing him to fall from the top of the rubble. he instantly regains his composure and begins to fire at Aliyah who narrowly parries the bullets but is eventually caught with two bullets in the shoulder and leg as she dives behind a boulder.
" We both know you ain't as skilled with the blade as that friend of yours writhing on the floor, give it up little girl." Dominic starts to approach the boulder she's hiding behind.
" You overused it as a kid Aliyah, from now on use it for one minute or less, and only in dire situations you got that little miss?" Lennox says to a younger Aliyah who nods in response. Aliyah closes her eyes and activates the Chrono Mirage.
Dominic attempts to fire at the boulder but Aliyah is able to kick away the gun before he can aim and she then slashes at his hip.
"five..... six... seven.... eight." she counts in her head as she attempts to make quick work of Dominic.
Dominic tries to once more shot Aliyah but she instantly dives below the gun before he can even place his finger on the trigger, she slices off the muzzle of the gun and Dominic jumps back in frustration and pulls out his combat knife.
"thirteen.....fourteen....fifteen....sixteen....seventeen..."
Dominic begins to rush at Aliyah with ease she dodges all of the swipes with his blade and cuts at his limbs and tendons accurately targetting parts which restrict his movement.
" YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Dominic screams out in frustration and bum rushes Aliyah, who simply slashes upwards deeply cutting his chest and then sending out a flurry of slashes that split Dominics upper body into mince meat. Aliyah then closes her eyes and controls her breathing to deactivate her augment.
meanwhile....
Ajax and Erik are engaged in a back and fourth fight exchanging blows in quick flurries. Eventually Ajax gets pushed on the backfoot and Erik causes a small thunderwave by stabbing his blades into the ground.
" If you face an enemy in battle with more destructive power than you Ajax.... and remember this comes down to last resort where you are incapable of matching them.....sacrifice a select amount of years of your life to keep up."
"Final art: Soul wager."
Ajax's flame goes from red to blue and he suddenly is able to match the destructive power of Erik. They go back and fourth once more with Ajax able to slowly start being able to push Erik back.
The battle rages on though with no sign of Erik wavering even though he's getting overpowered. Ajax begins to try and think of a new strategy mid fight and concocts a new plan since he realises Erik's destructive capabilities in a battle of attrition beat his and it's not like he can use Soul wager twice. Ajax chooses to go on the back foot and focus on defending.
"Final art: Thunder Cyclone."
Erik once more activates this destructive ability sending out another devastating explosion destroying everything in its path. Ajax though is able to narrowly escape spending most of his energy and now attempting to conserve his augment for one move.
Erik realises hes nearing his limit begins to fight Ajax without his augment to find one insta kill move.
Ajax simply defends as Erik walks him down tryna finish him off with every stroke of his blade. eventually he slashes at Ajax's chest cutting him and begins to press him more. Ajax is able to step back and time a spinning back elbow which wobbles Erik, Ajax then simply stands there waiting for Erik to press him further.
" Don't worry I'll wait for you to recover it's not like your mother's life ain't on the line." Ajax says taunting Erik who scowls and rushes Ajax in anger, Ajax throws out a sloppy front kick which Erik sidesteps and proceeds side kick Ajax. He readies his blade.
" Platinum Art: Thunder spear."
Erik thursts his blade through Ajax's chest as he instantly closes the distance with his lightning fast speed. Ajax coughs up blood as Erik pants in fatigue completely spent from all the energy he's expended.
" Man will achieve what he strives for...." Erik says chuckling to himself, he feels Ajax hands tightly grip his hands as Ajax rocks his head back.
" Funny... I was gonna say something like that." Ajax instantly blasts Erik's head with a beam of fire from his mouth, disintegrating every piece of flesh off of Erik's head who's lifeless body slumps to the ground.
Ajax rips Erik's blade out of his body blood pooling out of his chest which suddenly begins to ignite as fire and instantly cauterises the wound in his chest.
"what a day." Ajax mutters to himself as he spits at Erik's dead body and walks off. Aliyah approaches Ajax and hugs him.
"ow ow my chest is still sore." Ajax says grunting as Aliyah steps back and apologises.
"Where's Lennox and Kazuki?"
"I tied up Kazuki's neck to stop the bleeding and Lennox....back at the forrest he..." Aliyah says looking down tryna hold back tears as Ajax closes his eyes in frustration.
"I'm gonna head out to Zephyr.... a survivor of the attack on my village told me the man who killed my mother might be there... looks like this crystal Lennox offered me still holds a use." Ajax says pulling the teleportation crystal out of his pocket.
" How long will you be gone for?"
"Who knows.."
"...."
" Take care of yourself I hope I can see you and Kazuki soon..... one day." Ajax throws down the crystal and teleports away leaving Aliyah standing there.
"Why.... did you have to leave me too..." she whispered to herself.
meanwhile.....
"sir you awake?"
"whew I think that was the best nap I've had yet." Elliot says climbing out of his cryogenic tube he stretches with a pop echoing from his back.
"Alright fill me in on what I missed Eris."
In Zephyr....
"Please I beg of you Mrs Yukimura.... he just killed Ragnar's son... I didnt know he was capable of this... please I'll do anything..... please protect me.." Fontaine says on his knees with tears in his eyes.
"beg like a dog more.. and then maybe Ill consider it.." a woman wearing full black says sitting on a chair made of bones.
ARC 1: WRATH OF THE KING CONCLUDED
To be continued...