A human soldier kneeled on the ground, his gaze was down on the ground, struggling to catch his breath, each inhale was a desperate attempt to draw in air.
As he forced himself to look up, the scene before him was a nightmare.
The world had dissolved into chaos, everything lay in ruins, reduced to debris. Lifeless bodies were scattered across the battlefield, their still forms stark against the blood-spattered earth. Blood pooled and smeared in grim patterns, painting a scene of destruction and despair.
Once-proud Royal Castle lay in rubble, and rivers that once flowed clear now ran red with blood.
The soldier kneeling was a young boy, his face was covered by severe injuries and smeared with dust. Deep wounds and cuts etched a grim tapestry across his face.
With great effort, he lifted his head up to the sky where dark clouds were roaring violently, and something even darker was gathering at one single point in the sky, pulsing with terrifying energy.
Lightning crackled around it, casting eerie flashes of light over the destruction. The ground beneath shook violently, the air heavy with the stench of smoke and blood. It felt like the world was holding its breath, teetering on the edge of a new disaster.
The young soldier slowly lowered his head glancing on his body to find both of his arm's were missing, appearing to have been severed in the war, deep bleeding wounds marred his flesh, blood continuously oozing from them. He wore a tattered uniform, caked with dust.
"That's how I'll die," the young warrior whispered through his suffering, his voice trembling with agony.
A faint smile spread across his face. "I just hope… I hope my sacrifice means something. I hope I've truly fulfilled my oath to sacrifice my life protecting the Minamoto kingdom."
Suddenly, his eyes widened in horror. He quickly turned his head sharply to the left, where at some distance he saw a group of four terrifying, muscular and dark-skinned orcs charging forward, brandishing rusted swords with menacing intent.
As the young soldier followed their path, his eyes widened further in terror. The orcs were charging toward a young woman kneeling on the ground. Her once-royal attire was now filthy and torn, revealing deep wounds beneath. She was clutching something tightly to her chest.
The young soldier's eyes widened in fury. Overcome with rage, he let out a desperate, anguished scream, shaking his head in denial. He tried to stand on his feet, Yet his body refused to obey. His legs, grievously injured and devoid of strength, betrayed him as he struggled to move, his efforts to stand up were futile.
The young soldier's eyes were locked on the advancing orcs closing in on the young woman.
"Don't you dare come any closer!" The young soldier roared out loud, his voice trembling with raw anger.
"Stay the hell away from the queeeen!" he screamed his lungs out, his fury underscoring that the young woman was the Queen of Minamoto.
The young soldier's eyes darted frantically across the battlefield, desperately looking for anything that could stop the orcs from reaching the Queen.
Amidst the chaos, he spotted one of his fellow soldier struggling to rise by using his pinned sword on the ground as a feeble support. His blood was gushing from his deep facial wounds, staining the ground beneath him, his battered body shook violently with each agonizing attempt to stand. He was wearing an armband which had a four-winged dragon logo on it.
(Each Kingdom has its own unique logo. The logo of Minamoto Kingdom features a four-winged dragon)
"Soooldier!" The young soldier's voice erupted in a raw, bone-chilling scream,
The struggling soldier, driven with fierce determination, met the young soldier's gaze with shared determination to protect the queen.
"Protect our Queen with your life!"
The young soldier roared out loud, his voice burning with raw anger.
"This is our final duty! our last stand! give your life to protect her! not a single breath of theirs should reach her! Let them know what it means to face true Loyaaalltyyy!!!"
His words struck like lightning, igniting a fire in the hearts of that wounded soldier.
The struggling soldier stood with fierce anger, his face contorted with rage, eyes burning with fury as he fixed his gaze on those advancing orcs.
With fierce intensity, he wrenched his swords from the ground.
"Guardians of Minamotoooooo!" He roared, his voice a raw, scorching surge of fury.
The nearby fallen soldier, wearing the same four-winged armband, barely clinging to life, slowly opened their eyes and slightly lifted their heads up.
"Protect our Queen! Shield her with your bodies! be the wall that guards her!" that standing soldier screamed, his voice a burst of fury.
Driven by the soldier's desperate cry, the battered Minamoto warriors—nearly half-dead, summoned the last of their strength, and with immense effort, they fought to their feet, their willpower ignited as they all stood with their bodies still shivering with pain.
With his face etched with fierce fury, that wounded soldier let out a furious roar before charging towards those groups of orcs.
Seeing his reckless bravery, the rest of the standing soldiers roared in unison and followed that soldier's path.
With some warriors clutching swords, while others kept charging with nothing but their fierce, unyielding rage.
Their raw, anguished screams shattering the air, reverberating through the ruins of the Kingdom.
Above them, the sky was writhing flames, intensifying with a menacing fury that matched the soldiers' unwavering bravery and loyalty. Each step they took, each cry they made, was proof of their unbreakable determination to guard the Queen, no matter the cost.
As the orcs closed in on the Queen they raised their swords poised to take her life. But in an instant, Minamoto soldiers sprang into action, with few soldiers hurling themselves at the orcs, their swords clanging against the orcs with a deafening clang, forcing them to stagger and retreat.
Meanwhile A few fearless unarmed soldiers threw themselves into the heart of death, allowing those orcs' swords to pierce through their bodies becoming human shields.
Determined to protect the Queen, soldiers grappled with the orc's shoulder and wrench them away from the Queen with frantic desperation.
The battlefield erupted into a brutal war between those orcs and human soldiers, every of their movement and scream echoing through the ruins
The young queen, gravely injured, moves back as it was revealed that she was clutching four little children close to her chest.
The eldest, a five-year-old, while the other three were just two years old, their tiny bodies trembling with fear.
The queen, barely clinging to life, glanced down at the four children and managed a faint smile.
"Hiroto, Ukichi, Uzin, Kageru…"
Her voice, though weak yet carried a calm tone as she whispered,
"You must survive. I won't let you die."
Her eyes, filled with both sorrow and pain, locked onto each child as she continued, "For the sake of humanity, you have to live and protect this world."
She then gently rested her trembling hand on top of the head of the five-year-old.
"Ukichi," she murmured softly, her voice laced with both warmth and plea, "You are their older brother. You must take care of them."
Ukichi's tearful eyes remained fixed on her, his face smeared with dust, his expressions a blend of anguish and confusion. With his voice quivering with raw fear and uncertainty, he began.
"But... Your Highness…"
The young queen nodded with a warm, reassuring smile, But just then, a sword drove cruelly through her abdomen, the blade piercing her from the back and emerging grotesquely from the front.
Blood erupted in a horrifying spray, splattering all across the faces of the four childrens.
The eldest, Ukichi, was frozen in terror, his face drenched with blood of the queen as he watched the Queen in stunned silence.
His heartbeat raced violently, and as he glanced behind the queen he saw an terrifying orc responsible for that deadly strike, its malevolent grin twisted amid the carnage.
The orc, with a swift, brutal motion, wrenched the sword out from the Queen's abdomen who winced in agony, blood gushing from her mouth as she writhed in pain.
Overcome with anger Ukichi let out a scream of despair before attempting to charge at that orc, but the Queen's trembling hand grasped his shoulder, holding him back with a desperate grip.
As Ukichi looked at her, he saw her eyes clenched shut in intense suffering and determination.
Her lips murmuring desperately, the words barely escaping as if she were uttering a spell in a whisper.
A delicate magical circle flickered in her palm before shattering into nothing. But the Queen didn't stop trying. Each time the circle began to form, it shattered into a cascade of failing sparks.
She kept trying again and again but the magic kept collapsing. Her body trembled violently with the effort, every ounce of her strength poured into maintaining the spell.
With a sinister smile that orc raised his sword high, aiming for the Queen's neck.
Ukichi seemed paralyzed, frozen in terror, staring at the orc.
The orc swung its sword toward the Queen but, In a flash, that young armless soldier lunged from behind the orc, sinking his teeth into Its neck with a fury and rage that could not be contained.
The orc writhed in pain, its sword slipping from its grasp. In a desperate reflex the orc drove its large, pointed claws into the young soldier's face, causing a scream to burst from his throat, only to be stifled as his teeth were driven in that orc's neck.
The intensity of his silent agony grew as the young warrior dragged the orc backward, both of them collapsing to the ground, with the young soldier landing beneath the orc, locking his legs around its body, refusing to let it escape.
The orc's scream filled with raw pain,m echoed sharply, and it pressed its claws deeper into the young soldier's face, squeezing mercilessly but the young soldier's determination was blazing beyond belief.
The orc's and that young warrior's screams kept echoing in the air with a chorus of agony.
Eventually, both stopped moving, their screams fading as life got drained from them.
Orc's neck and the young warrior's face were crushed beyond recognition, their motionless bodies a stark sign of their deaths.
Ukichi's eyes remained locked on the Queen, whose own eyes remained closed with tears, as she kept murmuring with intense focus.
The magic in her palm pulsed, growing stronger and stronger until a small, glowing blue circle materialized in her palm.
With a satisfied smile, the Queen opened her eyes and met Ukichi's gaze.
"Always look after your brothers," she said, her voice trembling with emotion.
Ukichi gazed at her, tears streaming down his face as he fought to hold back his sobs. Despite the storm of emotions raging inside him, a fierce, unwavering resolve lit up Ukichi's eyes. With a firm, determined nod, he silently vowed to honour her words.
The young Queen then shifted her gaze to one of the two-year-old boys with fiery red hair and eyes.
Gazing at that child, the Queen gently brushed her trembling hand across his soft cheek. Tears streamed down her face. Yet a faint, tender smile managed to break through.
With blood on his face the red-haired boy kept his eyes locked on her, his eyes wide and filled with tears, trying to grasp the deep. Unspoken love and pain reflecting in her faint smile.
In an instant, dark smoke began to billow from the Queen's back and from the lifeless bodies around her, including those four children.
The ominous tendrils of smoke twisted and coiled upwards, spiralling toward a single, ominous point in the sky, as if drawn by some unseen force.
With a surge of fierce determination, the Queen sprang to her feet and thrust her both hands ahead at the four children.
"Wrath of Tojikawa, Portal of Legacy!"
Her voice reverberated with commanding intensity.
Instantly, a small, radiant circle shot towards them, rapidly expanding until it engulfed the children within its protective light.
As the shimmering barrier surrounded them, a faint smile of relief touched the Queen's lips, her expression softening with the fleeting sight of their safety.
A peaceful smile was gracing the Queen's lips as she poured the last of her magic into strengthening the shield. With her final breath, she staggered before collapsing backwards to the ground, her sacrifice fulfilled.
The three children erupted into sobs, while tears streamed down Ukichi's face as he stared at the fallen Queen with stunned wide eyes.
Suddenly, a deafening explosion shattered the sky, filling the air with a blinding flash and a thunderous roar.
Ukichi, the eldest, desperately held his three brothers tightly in his arms.
The sky erupted in a catastrophic blaze, tearing through the landscape with merciless force. Mountains and structures crumbled to dust, and the earth shattered into darbis, swallowing everything in its path.
As the destructive force drew closer the childrens, Ukichi let out a scream of terror mingling with the roar of the explosion, The Queen's magical shield began to shrink smaller, its protective light flickering weakly.
Ukichi's terrified scream was getting swallowed by the growing roar of the blast. and as the explosion reached them, the shield shrinked completely, disappearing with childrens in a flash.
The force of the explosion obliterated everything in its path, and the world was plunged into darkness, consumed by the devastation.