Arc 4: What families entail
The sun had risen over Saga, and the world was moving accordingly. Pushing information across the world. Rumors of Musashi and Kioshis death were becoming more real everyday, silencing the hope they had. With their pillar of strength gone, so many had no light. And the others they were supposed to look up to had come complacent in the peace. In the Capital people nailed up boards to protect their homes and shops, but it was the same everywhere else. The currently snowy country was warm with fear, constant battle day in and day out, with Sect in proper clothing or their Walgonian lies. Corrupting everything. Leaving people everywhere, ex knights, civilians, and even those in other nations to become worried.
"Inside now!"
The children that used to worship the many guards and soldiers around were pulled into their homes. Those who attended schooling were pushed out, from the children to the adults. And mass asset freezing, or in better words, the King's unwillingness to act on any previous rules or enforce any law at all, left any high standing member of society as broken and lost as the rest. Then came the many plumes of black and purple fire left behind by Arthur in his constant erosion of what he found "against the sect", or fun to destroy. All of the monuments around the Capital, big or small, were already destroyed by his own hands, the parks burned and the streams boiled away, even the sewer systems cleansed and filled with his flames. As a King Arthur was completely different from the others. Not because of his affiliation with the Sect, but because of his sheer physical ability. The Walgonia family was best to be described as impure Helsings over the course of centuries. Losing their Marks of Providence, incredibly physical ability, and Warriors Spirit, while gaining white hair through their entire life. They were often bigger people without fighting skill, maybe an affinity or two and heavy knowledge in the art, but hardly any real combat experience. He culled the herd. Anybody who attempted to fight back, anybody who protested or spoke against him. All burned. His corrupted flames weren't hot. They didn't act like normal fire. They built, they ate away, they sat and corroded, until only ash was left. He was going to leave Walgonia in that same ash. Even if the Sect's entire purpose was to build upon the broken. A world he could never exist in.
The North had shut itself off. Trying their best to board their walls, to hold their ground, even if it meant losing words with the rest of their country. However it was protocol, to designate and fix. The North had most of the Knights with powerful affinities and Marks, since Musashi, Kioshi, and Gordon resided in the South. Even if the Leader of the Knights was in the South, the second in command, their best Spirit mage, their second best Spirit Arts user, and some of their stronger Demi-humans were all far off.
In Ravoria, the border was heavily guarded. Banning people from entering, killed many refugees trying to take sanctuary, and hunted the rest. The fear of Sect infiltration had everyone no matter the rank worried beyond belief. Of their life, friendships, and jobs. It increased their Demi-human hunts to the Sect hunts Walgonia had in the country land. Pulling apart lives and families without care. Walled off more than ever, fierce and viscous more than ever. A land of people connected by a shared hate. They would never reach a hand. Valatroctius was suffering a similar fate, pushing away any refugees who tried to find safety in the harsh land in hopes to keep things safe. Their king wasn't evil or outright villainous. The Mad King was tired, quiet, always secluded. And so was the country. Stuck in the mud, stuck in the quiet left behind by the Demi-human war. The harsh attack they suffered from the Sect after. However they didn't forebay them from traveling, flooding many survivors not wishing to fight back away in mass. Even flocks of Spirit Beasts were forced to flee from their burned and taken habitats. Like Saga itself was forced back twenty years.
But while hope faded, word of new heroes began to take root. In both good and bad ways. Rebel forces were spawning everywhere. Those with an affinity, a Mark, the power to hold a weapon, and the will to do it continued to pop up. Guilds existed, Militias existed, but due to the actions of powerful Bounty Hunters and Cursed beings, along with the Sect, has left them broken and shattered even before the Sects take over. People picked themselves up as much as they could. The Knights created camps big and small all over in spaces the Sect wouldn't find. Gray Kyojin's actions had spread as well. Word of the Phantom Knight fighting against the Sect. Word of Bounty Hunter grouping up in gangs to fight back and take control of their domains; help managed to come from the darkest of places, as everyone was affected. Criminal organizations cleared out the Sect in their way, hiring whoever they could to help do the job for them.
Like Athens, they were reaching a deadlock. However, Arthur was just awaiting the moment the willpower of Walgonia hit the bottom floor, so he could take control of them all.
"You have much to answer for, and the master isn't happy."
Right now Arthur sat in his throne, wearing his torn black and golden Valatrocitus silk robe, smiling and scratching his patchy facial hair and growing side burns. The room was still collapsing and broken since the fight with Kioshi, along with the rest of the castle, but Athur still sat facing a lone Sect member with a smirk.
Arthur: "Then why isn't he here to tell me himself? He didn't even bother to call me, just sent you huh?"
He was tall, wearing a thick long robe with golden arm plates connecting with chains to a Sect crest on his chest. Which began to glow red as Prometheus himself spoke out.
Prometheus: "Kyojin has been running rampant! You still haven't found their base, you've been wasting time with those damn weapons! We're supposed to be upping our ranks, building our new world! All you've done is perpetuate the chaos!"
Arthur: "I'm not the one controlling most of the Sect! You've got control of the Pillars, all the new bounty hunters joining up, and you want to capture him! It'd be way easier just to kill him! Why do you care so much about that stupid boy!?"
Prometheus: "I DON'T NEED TO EXPLAIN MYSELF TO YOU! LIKE YOU SAID I'M IN CONTROL OF THE PILLARS, AND YOU'RE A PILLAR! SO LISTEN TO ME!"
Arthur: "I'M DOING WHAT YOU WANT! WHEN ALL THE FIGHTERS HAVE BEEN BROKEN, WHEN THE HOPES OF WALGONIA ARE DEAD, THEY'LL BE FORCED INTO THE SECT!"
Prometheus: "AND CREATED AN ARMY OF HOPELESS WARRIORS!? DO YOU WANT RAVIORIA AND VALATROCTIUS TO CRUSH US!?"
The Anarchist standing in the conversation was unmoving, unnerving, almost scared. Not because of Arthur, but because of what his master might do. However he was prepared. He had to be, or his entire purpose would be useless.
Arthur: "You defeated Kioshi didn't you!? All of this started because you crushed Walgonia first! We only have so much time to destroy them before the other countries interfere anyway! Was a long term control of Walgonia really your plan!?"
Prometheus: "NO! BUT LOSING CONTROL SO EASILY, KEEPING CONTROL LIKE THIS, IT'S ALL UNEXCEPTABLE!"
Arthur: "THEN WHY DON'T YOU DO IT!? OR ARE YOU TOO SCARED THAT SOMEBODY WILL COME AND STOP YOU!?"
The anarchist surged in pain, clenching his tight fingers before they began to snap from overwhelming energy. The man screamed, cried, but took the pain. Sounds of crunching and mushing from within his body echoed out before his hands lunged forward like a wild animal. Bursting from his gloves to reveal his tan skin bulging with veins and rapidly turning a pale white. Arthur shook with panic for just a second, before his smirk returned covered in sweat. The anarchist's flesh burned and ravaged, before he stuck his arm with his own growing finger nails. Stabbing into his forearm, before even more disgusting mashes of flesh rung out.
Prometheus: "BECAUSE I HAVE FAR MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO THAN WALK AROUND AND DESTROY EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!"
The anarchists grabbed his white mask before shattering it in his long, lanky, boney hand. Revealing the glowing purple seals across his eyes and lips like make up, his once blond hair now turned dark blue and black, his human ears sharpened and extended, to have completely twisted what used to be in control of their own body into Prometheus.
Arthur: "No, you just order people to go do that."
Prometheus. A Future Pillar of Justice, an Upper Pillar of Anarchy, the leader of it all, and he couldn't be more furious. Old, incredibly wrinkled, with thick bones and sunken skin. Covered entirely in black and blue veins rushing in his anger. Vamperic features all oozing and shining along.
Prometheus: "The Sect are my family. We fight for the same -
Arthur: "DON'T GIVE ME THAT SHIT! YOU MAY FEED THAT GARBAGE TO THE OTHER ANARCHIST, THE OTHER PILLARS, HELL EVEN THE OTHER UPPER PILLARS, BUT I'M NOT STUPID! IF YOUR DREAM REALLY WAS TO HAVE A WORLD WITHOUT HATRED, WITHOUT SOCIETAL RANKINGS!? YOU WOULD HAVE COME OUT HERE ALL IN YOUR TRUE FORMS AND FOUGHT UNTIL YOU COULDN'T ANYMORE! TO SHOW HOW MUCH YOU MEAN IT! TO FIGHT AND WIN! NOT SCRATCH AND RUN AWAY FOR THREE HUNDRED YEARS, OR IS IT FOUR, FIVE HUNDRED AT THIS POINT!?"
Arthur couldn't help but surge with black flames from sheer adrenaline alone, but Prometheus was purely frozen. Until he finally began to laugh and laugh on and on. Leading Arthur through confusion, annoyance, and a flaming fury.
Prometheus: "You understand nothing. Maybe you're smarter than I thought. But you have no ideas, nothing to break through the surface. Until you understand the truth of the World, the Truth of Saga, you'll be as ignorant as all those you slaughter."
Arthur: "You'd really waste a Vessel to tell me I'm wrong? You must be getting really petty."
Prometheus vanished from sight, so Arthur tried to do the same, but found Prometheus' hand already clasped around his neck. Causing his skin to regenerate, to inflame, and to stretch like ooze around his slightly illuminated hand. Merging to become one.
Prometheus: "I could leave you paralized, I could leave you braindead, hell if I tried I might be able to rewire your brain."
Arthur: "Then why didn't you do that to Kioshi? To show off?"
Prometheus: "Because, after everything, in her own mind, she was a Hero. You, however, are far from it. All of your actions serve yourself. They always have. But I'm willing to let it continue for as long as it has to if it continues to get good results. You've been one of if not my most useful Pillar I've ever had Arthur, more than my own Daughter. I won't throw away a son. But please, do not make me do this."
Arthur: "Didn't know you thought of me like that."
Prometheus: "I have, but if you're unwilling to change -
Arthur lost complete control of his body. And for the first time in a long time, I felt a true, unreasonable, uncontrollable fear. Because Prometheus had paralyzed him from the neck down without a flinch.
Prometheus: "I won't hesitate to restart, and crawl away like you said. Are we clear?"
Arthur: "Whatever."
Prometheus: "Good. Now, until this vessel runs out, I'm going to do some work in the capital. Real work."
Prometheus left Arthur to slowly regain control of his body while he took handfuls of Sect groups to speak their truth out to those in their homes. Drawing attention through just being in the vicinity. So Arthur had to get smarter, they all did. Using Walgonias resources to acquire bounty hunters all around. And in Saga, where Ravoria brutalized anyone who wasn't human, Valatroctius was almost a wasteland due to all the beasts and Spirit biomes, and Athens was locked in a war for the last four years, making Walgonia a hotspot for all criminal factions. Yet their prisons were by far the worst. Even compared to the others, their prisons were barren and weak, usually executing or sending away anyone with a unique or powerful skill set unable to be contained by chains and dampening crystals.
Arthur {Kyojin keeps running a muck, he and the others are probably inspired by Musashi and Kioshi's death! Knowing that anime loser, whatever he likes, is always spouting about arcs and stupid plot points! I'll give him a nice story, and a thematic end if I'm lucky. I'll show them the scars those Gods left behind.}
Under the castle, the same dungeon that held Gray, was a dungeon meant to hold war criminals. As old as the days of the Demi-human war. But they had all died out a few years ago. Filling their cells were members of the Sect old and new, political prisoners, weaklings. So Arthur had to really think. To sprawl over maps.
Arthur: "No asylums like Valatroctius, no prison city like Ravoria, no Tartarus like the Southern Islands! But they don't kill all of them like Oni-mas, damn where are all the bounty hunters they fight!? Where are all the people who tried to fight Musashi, Kioshi? One had to have survived right!? One that isn't some baby!"
Burning all the maps and files made the process difficult. But the main problem was the fact he was trying. Not just blindly sending out members of the Sect, not walking around aimlessly while shooting out fire. Instead he went through prison and jail after jail and prison, to find anybody who could be weaponized. To purchase bounty hunters. To acquire whatever they could. Walgonia was the second worst country in the world at powerful magics like seals, just above Athens, and without any magical weaponry or defenses of the other countries. Even if Arthur wanted to use them all he had access to was the majority of Walgonian or Saga Sect members. Only Prometheus knew how to use magnificent seals, but his magic was entirely corrupted, making everything unstable and overly dangerous. While also requiring immense energy to use; it wasn't practical at all. He was reaching a halt that could result in pure chaos.
That was just Walgonia, thrown into that chaos in November. Athens had been pushing through for the last four years, and things were still getting worse. The Gravestone pirates pushed away any Red Arrows in the North West, while Caesar and his Spartans cut through the Warriors patrolling the outer land and small villages. The people within were stuck. Forced to choose between staying in Athens, risking traveling through to leave, only to enter the new and even more dangerous Walgonia. Caesar couldn't help but laugh with glee in the guts of the slaughtered Warriors, stringing them up with a bloody S carved into the wall behind them every time. Along with burning their homes and strongholds, their bodies alive or not, making every second of pain count. Leaving their building wounds upon Athens hold. And without word or contact with the Red Arrows since the tragedy by Solon bay, they gave them back control of their country.
Leo {Things are getting hot, I gotta keep up. Beauregard won't stop, he'll never stop, but I finally feel the end. I need to make sure that end is on our side!}
Like Arthur Leo threw maps around, ordered Red Arrows to go retrieve the others throughout the country, lost himself to the worse. He hadn't put his armor on since his capture, hadn't shaved his face, he hadn't even put his head band on. Wearing a dirty and torn white shirt, black pants, and black boots, every day and every night. Toll couldn't help but keep a somber look on her face, like they never saved him from Bearguard's grasp, but Soku finally began to train. The right way. Not by risking it all every night without any help, throwing her life away. Not by screaming at Julius and throwing all her power into rage. Not by running into a battle she can't keep up with.
Soku: "I'm starting to get the hang of it!"
Since Leo's hug, all Soku could do was break herself. For Rosemary. To save her after all she'd done, after she saved Soku for the second time. To do something on her own without endangering the entire mission. Running along railings in the tall mining tunnels to leap off, flow wind out and in to stay airborne, before crashing into a wooden post again and again. But even if she trained, even if Peter looked on trying to think of new ways to make the glider better while stitching up armor, even if they all were working toward a greater battle, it all felt so stagnant. They were already locked in battle for so long, but it had never felt like this. Loss after loss, and Beauregard only growing with command and brutality, they were forced into the darkness more than ever. Losing Cretan, losing their will, losing Rosemary, Julius, and Edward. They had nothing but the weakness left behind. Fighting toward nothing at all.
Julius simply sat and let the time pass, Beauregard tried his best to write letters for more help, Lincoln somberly observed Edward still struggling to even get close to finding his internal mana, and then there was Rosemary. Out of them all, she was inarguably the most shattered. In the darkness, forced the listen to the torture around the doungion. Forced to take the harsh disgusting gazes of Calgary. Forced to be bound by chains and dampened with crystals. Forced to sit with herself.
Rosemary {Why haven't they just ended this yet. Why can't they just let me rest.}
She didn't want to die. She wanted to be reunited with the others, Gray especially. She wanted to hold his hand, to sleep beside him, to walk through Greenvale again. She wanted to play with Soku and eat Edwards food. To sleep in a real bed. She loved it all. But her rapidly beating heart, the constantly enclosing walls, the unstoppable urge to shake and shake until it all went away, it was beginning to overtake that love. And that she'll always have to fight for it.
"Look at you, as pitiful as I feared."
Soku always thought of Ophelia, Edward always thought of his family, Leo and Bearguard always thought of their shared parents, and Rosemary always saw the Goldenknights. It's just that the GoldenKnights were nothing like the others ghosts. Her mothers words hit like the lashes she used to unleash against her young daughter. Her fathers annoyed grunts felt as cold as they always did. Her inability to move sounded exactly like the unrelenting beratements from every Goldenknight that she wasn't training hard enough. The ghost of an old, tall, skinny golden haired woman and her even taller, massively bulky, iron jawed, leader of the GoldenKnights husband beside her join in on the laughing.
"At least I didn't have to die lookin at yah!"
She had no control. She could only sit with thoughts all her own. While her single cell mate looked on with immense worry. Trying to reach her wrinkled, long, scaly arm toward the shivering girl unable to cry or scream.
"What has happened, child?"
The first kind words she had heard since Soku left, the first real kind words she'd heard from anybody in Athens since she left the Red Arrows. Yet she could hardly hear her, or put in the energy to respond. Simply look up toward the incredibly old Demi-human woman, and say her thanks.
Rosemary: "Thank you for healing me."
She wouldn't answer, but the sight of her Golden hair gave some sort of an answer. Lost, broken, without those close to her. Beating herself harder than Athens ever had. Scratching at her arms in her sleep, biting her lip, hitting the stone floor. Anything she had the power to do she did. Anything she had to get out the anguish she did. Leaving dried spots of blood all around, while her arms and legs sat with scabs and deep wounds.
Rosemary: "But I'm fine, really."
All she could do was sit and lie. Hurt. Decay until nothing is left. Without the strength to get up. Or the strength to get free if she did. Under the tower of Athens, against their best forces in their own home, all at once with her already shattered share; she was within an impossibility, and she had chosen the only option. Exist. Bare the screams of the Goldenknights. The screams of her friends. The horrid cries of Ophelia. And the face of Gray, absolutely horrified to see how badly she'd done. All she could do was apologize, and take the results of her failures. Until the door opened, and Calgary stepped inside.
Calgary: "Come on, let's walk."
Rosemary was pulled along, finally out of the dungeon and in the halls. Parated around like an object, without any ability to fight back. Everything was a haze aside from the chilling chains and painful dampening crystals making her sick.
Calgary: "Still not talking? No questions?"
She had no energy. She could hardly hear him through the deafening shouts of the Goldenknights in her mind. So she finally did something that might help stop it, and spoke out.
Rosemary: "...I want to know how the Goldenknights really went out."
Calgary: "The Sect, you know that."
Rosemary: "NO! I want you to tell me, detail by detail. I need to know how it happened."
Calgary: "So what, you can learn about the Sect? Or so you can hear some gruesome story."
Rosemary: "Neither. I just need to know…I need to know it wasn't my fault. That I couldn't have done anything! That my choice was mine alone, and had no effect! So please, if you're gonna do anything, just tell me!"
Her scratchy screams drew attention from the many warriors walking around, forcing Calgary to pull her aside. Out onto a small court yard with a tree in the center, stories above the ground, filling with snow.
Calgary: "Look. After you left, your Dad and Mom, they were pretty mad. But they didn't want to look for you. They just tried to move on, and I'm pretty sure she kept trying to have kids, but that never worked since you anyway. The others didn't care, you didn't really talk to us, and we moved on. The Sect attacking had nothing to do with you, and till the end, they didn't care."
Rosemary: "...I want to hear it for real."
The Sect of Anarchy went after anyone perpetuating the horrid society. The GoldenKnights, the most powerful militia in Saga, and the most used force of fighters in Walgonia outside of their main units for decades, were right for the killing. They went around destroying rebels, forming city or town states, or other Militias trying to take root. So Judge, their leader and Rosemary's father, and Iris, her mother, went along their day through another campaign to clear out some of the Sects camps in the Ever-Lagoon. The largest Spirit Biome in Walgonia, located in the north, filled with fog and Spirit beasts. In those shadows rose Anarchy. Lazarus moved like a flicker in the darkness, slashing and taking their souls into his large green glowing scythe. Prometheus used their bodies and transformed them into bloody waves, bone spikes and tendrils, anything their body could be used for. Severus' massive and many arms tore through the tents, the earth, and left anyone they didn't erupt screaming out as the venom poured through their veins in an instant. Turning them to stone, freezing them in their panic forever, until the rest of his arms destroyed them like statues. It was a torrent of destruction all around. Facing off against roughly a four thousand soldiers, and about a hundred real Goldenknights with stages. In their vessel bodies, moving forward just as seamlessly as they fought against Kioshi. With far, far more ease.
Pandora stopped their strength from above, floating and flapping her large dark wings while ending all hope for the Goldenknights without having to move a muscle. Judge screamed in fear, Iris ran for her life, and the rest of the Golden Knights succumbed to the fear. Prometheus violently tore and mangled whoever he touched or hit with his widespread attacks, including the massive waves of blood and rubble. Rosemary's distant uncles, aunts, cousins, and any other family member were torn from the inside out by Prometheus. Had their souls ripped out, corrupted, and either turned into pure force for Lazarus to slash out, turned into fuel, or stood to become walking undead soldiers. Mass bodies of the many trying to fight back were lifted and thrown by the hundred scaly arms sent out by Serverus. Anybody who got close was caught and turned to stone in moments from his gaze. Leaving the Golden Knights with nothing to do but run for their lives.
Rosemary: "How many made it."
Calgary: "They had anarchists ready to clear the many people who ran. I managed to make it to your dad and a group of fighters."
Rosemary: "And my mom?"
Iris stood with black eyes, shedding skin, and greenish golden stages erupting out of her body. Taken, and leading an army of Lazaru's soldiers. Lazaurs watched along with Prometheus while Judge pushed into the sixth stage, vanishing to clash against her forearm. They all clashed, easily breaking through their weak bodies, but unable to face the sheer difference in numbers. Judge's fists threw out massive bursts of wind as fast as gunshots, again again again. His limit on stages, but his perfected stage, while Irsa growled in the fifth stage barely keeping up. Calgary stood from afar, looking on as he ran for his life. Pulling back right after Judges fist went through Iris' chest to end her life for good. Until the other soldiers piled atop him.
Calgary: "I ran after that. Left."
Rosemary: "But your scars! It couldn't have ended like that! You're not telling the whole story!"
Calgary: "Look you're lucky I told you at all! Now it's time to do what I want."
Rosemary: "And that is?"
Calgary: "For you to hold my hand."
About a minute later Rosemary was thrown back in her cell, by Calgary, sporting a red Rosemary hand shaped mark across his face. Slumping back down into the somber darkness beside her cellmate.
"You seem more chipper than usual."
Rosemary: "It's just…I feel like I really did something."
With the knowledge of how it went down, she understood the Sect had been working toward dismembering and taking Walgonia for the past few years. She understood their fighting styles, she understood their abilities, and she understood what Pandora's ability really was. By context clues, she put it all together with all she already knew from witnessing their battle with Kioshi. To formulate something, to factualize something. Instead of just sitting and trying not to cry.
She was trying so hard to be a hero, everybody was, no matter the side they were on. With Lincoln vanishing, Kioshi and Musashi dying, and the other Gods of War fading with age. Virgil was the only God of War with his whereabouts unknown, and they'd been like that for over twenty years. Leaving Saga with a hole where their strength used to be. Now, they all had the chance to shine. Returning back to what Walgonia was like before the Gods of War. Where heroes existed everywhere, instead of needing to rely on mentally unsure Gods.
Gray: "Man I really have to stop waking up like this, I'm starting to lose count."
The man trying his best to be a book hero had finally awoken. Wearing the only piece of armor he had left, his chest plate, and his Leviathan clothing. While the rest of him was draped in thick bandages. Leaving him trying not to scream and cry from the impossible pain flowing through him. The penalties of him trying to be a hero. When his vision finally came back to him he saw the medical tent he laid within. Listening to the groans, shouts, and cries of the many injured knights around him. The smell wasn't any better, being the last straw for Gray to try and stand. However he stopped and shouted in pain the moment he went to push himself up with his right hand. Falling back on his bed I'm in tears while holding onto the thick cast covering the arm.
Gray: "Ow ow ow it burns it burns!"
Without the adrenaline or fear from battle he was left a teary eyed, almost puking, squeaking mess. Causing a younger nurse to run over and grab hold of his arm, activating the Mark on her arm to silence his body's feelings. He almost instantly vomited from the strange feeling. All of his worries, anger, pain, forced down into his gut along with the burning pain. Leaving him tired, groggy, and almost in a drunken state.
Gray: "What do you do?"
"Calm down, you were taken by Chris and the others after the battle I'm Bruge. I heard you did awesome! I also heard about undead creatures! Quite the sceptical right?"
Her words felt a bit strange. Causing him to realize every time he seemed happy or tried to poke into a knight's history, it forced that knight to relive the awful pain like it was yesterday. In Gray's case it was just yesterday. The gruesome undead knights and Sect ripping through each other. Markers constant knives, Connas massive slashes, Reds constant Black Elixir. The fear was so fresh he could taste it, like he was still fighting even now.
Gray: "Yeah…it was. Where is Chris? I need to talk to him before I head out."
"You can't leave now, not in this state! Just because the Spirits heal you doesn't mean you get off scott free every time you get healed. Constant healing magic really strains the OD, and I can tell your OD is really stressed out. Your bones will get chipped away, become misshapen, weaken to the point of being unusable."
Panic instantly overworked whatever pain was left along with the loopiness.
Gray: "WHAT!? I WONT BE ABLE TO USE MY ARMS!? I LOVE MY ARMS!"
"Listen to me! Constant breaking! Most people can only break their arms a few times before some serious damage. With magical healing, and your own Spirit connection, and proper time for it to settle, you'll be fine. However forcing yourself through battle over and over to be broken again and again, will leave you unable to fight at all. You understand? Just breathe for a few days."
Gray: "Days! I can't even wait for hours! I need to go find Chris and talk to him."
Gray tried to stand, almost falling instantly, pushed past the young woman speaking to him and bolted toward the tent's exit. Before coming to a halt the second he saw all the commotion outside.
Gray: "Where am I?"
The nurse stopped running, breathing heavily behind him while snapping his fingers to get his attention. Only to pull out a strand of hair as punishment when he turned his head.
"You're in one of the biggest groups of united knights in Walgonia!"
They were within a low level Spirit swamp, placing tents all across the different levels of earth spiraling around. Using the fog, the tall trees, the marsh, and the many hills as cover. Within were hundreds of knights packed all together. Training, wounded, prepping gear, with more still arriving. Many Demi-humans and humans spoke and laughed together, all together like a family again after Arthur separated them. Some were guards, some were soldiers, knights, Elite Knights, ex knights, trainees, new rebels, and even bounty hunters trying to join the fight.
"The north might have some of the strongest in the country, but we aren't all too weak! We've got the best Stone Mage, Fire Mage, and Archer in the Knights! And with Chris we've got one of Walgonia's top strategists!"
Gray: "What about the strongest Knight? Who would that be, aside from Ryo and Gordon."
"Ummmm, well it's kinda hard to say a single name. A bunch of people have a bunch of different powers that make them good at specific things. It's rare for somebody to come around who's simply great at fighting, in Walgonia at least. If you weren't a Helsing, Goldenwind, or Scholar, you were basically a no name. But to answer your question…with the North shut off, for the south it's honestly probably one of those kids who passed the Knight exam. If they're still alive."
If Gray was one of Walgonia's strongest, not the best or second best at anything, but strong enough to fight against most things, then all he could feel was a sense of impending doom. Musashi and Kioshi created pillars too high to reach toward. The Southern Islands, Gaia, and Oni-mas were all filled with powerful individuals. Not led by one or two great people. Like Athens, Saga had been trapped in that same feeling of statius. Ryo, Musashi, and Kioshi managed to hold the world on their shoulders for twenty years. Now that burn fell far to those below, forcing them to begin putting in real effort to lift it back up. Walgonia was a pressure cooker, and depending on how the war turned out, it may create the next era of Heroes to protect the land. They just had to come out of the woodworks.
Gray: "Well I hope they're doing okay then."
"Be careful alright, I gotta get back to work but Chris is down the path and in the biggest tent. He'll be happy to see you awake, he was worried sick about you!"
She waved goodbye, leaving Gray to get lost in the flooding Knights. Taller, shorter, and all much more muscular and scared compared to Gray. Withered from months of hardship. He walked down a short path, past tents big and large, looking toward feet to avoid any eye contact. However, anybody who spotted him managed to pat his shoulder and cheer him on, turning his face red as he quickly stepped away from the building crowd. Before finally rushing into the tent, almost falling flat on the dirt floor from the surging pain. Only to stand straight up like nothing had happened as anxiety took him over, staring on at Chris and some others sitting and drinking around a fire.
Chris: "Hey man! It's good to see you up, as quick as I figured!"
Gray: "Hey - What happened!?"
Chris stumbled away from his small group on a new crutch, as his right leg was completely bandaged up. Even his armor was gone, just sporting a light tan sweater, blue pants, and short cuffed brown boots. Smiling like nothing was wrong at all, trying his best to calm to seemingly always worried and hyper Gray.
Chris: "I got scratched by one of those zombies, it corroded a bit but I made it out fine, but sadly I can't join the next fight. But we finally made it to our destination! There's a few camps like this around, but only a handful, and we fought our way here! If it wasn't for you, I don't think we woulda ever made it, so thank you. Really. You're really a Hero."
Chris' words slashed against Gray's chest. It felt like he was joking. Lying so he could laugh the moment Gray left. Looked down on him. Was keeping something from him. Gray Kyojin, a Hero? Gray Kyojin, doing something good? Gray Kyojin, not failing completely? Why not save it for his dreams. Why not save it for yourself. Why did he say that, how could he say that. It triggered something deep within that was best described as a revolting anger.
Gray: "Thanks. But I'm no hero."
"Who even are you!?"
That was way more like it. But still, even after trying so hard to hold his big mouth back, he still spoke without thinking.
Gray: "I could ask you the same thing."
And he instantly regretted it. But the man walked right up, face to face, and laughed before punching his shoulder.
Lanner: "Lanner! Best swordsmen in the Knights!"
"Don't lie to the kid!"
Lanner was just shorter than Gray, in his early twenties, with shaggy black hair and patchy chin hair. Dawning the blue armor of the Elite Knights, with two large broad swords on his back. The Elities armor was similar to the Dragon Stone armor of the Warriors in Athens; the plated armor managed to cover most of their body, but instead of smaller plates of armor underneath, they wore thick dark chainmail. However his gear was withered, the blue chipping away, the chainmail rusting, and an old light blue scarf around his neck. But behind them was the rest of Chris' own group. Arthur had one, Musashi had one, and Gray had one. An entire world united big and small, making him happy to find people just like him. The good somehow reformed through chaos, echoing for the old and knew, bringing everybody out of the woodworks who would have either stabbed the others eye out before into the fray together.
Like the Demi-humans both bringing and being brought in by humans into homes and safety, saved like the people they were, even if it took the world crumbling around them to make them slowly start realizing if they hadn't already. That they all were Walgonians, no matter the Chaos. And while Athens was physically stronger, Ravoria magically stronger, Valatroctius more technologically advanced, Walgonia was strong because of their unity. The Demi-human war was ended by Musashi and his friends, the biggest battle in the war was waged by the Gods of War, and Saga was founded because people coming together from all around the country fought the darkness away. Founding three of the four current countries today; they always managed to find the light, no matter how distant or horrific it was.
Chris: "Sorry I shoulda introduced you to my friends! I met them all through my time in the Knights, I'm happy I get to finally show off after all the saving you keep doing."
From youngest to oldest, Lanner. The Elite Knight with the most potential with the blade, taking on all the Swordsmen in the knights around Southern Walgonia, besting them in pure swordsmen ship every time. A year older, Carlos, a small squeaking owl Demi-human covered in brown feathers. Large swirling yellow eyes, a beak trying to muster a smile without fear, and cloaked his armor with a torn Walgonian flag. The best archer in the Knights, sporting a large long bow on her back and a short bow by his waist.
Carlos: "...Nice to -
But the largest of the group brushed past, almost crushing him with the large mace swinging behind her. Bulky, tall, her eye brows burnt off from a previous battle, and always smiling.The best Earth Mage in the knights. She put her spikey brown hair into a bun, had a large and powerful Earth Magic crystal on the end of her Mace, and began to shake Gray over and over for information.
Gabby: "Nice to meet yah! So you met Kioshi and Musashi right! What was their secret!? How did they get that strong huh!?"
"Can you all stop yappin!"
The last friend, the woman who tried to silence Lanner before, and the most aggravated looking of the bunch. Venyet, in her thirties with pushed up short spikey black hair, wearing a thick torn black sweater under her armor. The best Flame Mage in the Knights, somebody completely unwilling to become a Scholar for the greatest mage in the world. Using a long powerful staff with a red orb shaped crystal, constantly swirling with orange lines within.
Venyet: "So you passed the Knight exams, crazy."
Gray: "Oooh so cool."
Again his big mouth forced his hands over such a mouth, but all she did was chuckle and take a large swig of her flask.
Gray: "So uh, I guess I gotta say bye."
Chris: "What! You're leaving before the biggest mission yet!?"
Chris stumbled forward before almost instantly slamming against the dirt floor, only for Gabby to lift him right up over her shoulder.
Gray: "I have to make it to Athens with my friends! I don't wanna waste anymore time, not like I don't like fighting and helping, but I got a lot of Walgonia missions!"
Chris: "Yeah but don't you wanna stop those guns you called me? We have one of the people you defeated chained up. Bruge was a hot spot for those guns to be distributed from, but they got them from somewhere nearby. Chances are the same place we're going."
Gray: "Well…then maybe I jumped the gun. Show me to the chained up dude."
"Without saying hi?"
The voice sounded propper, almost British for some reason, triggering Gray to look down and find he missed an Elite Knight. A three foot Cloud Rabbit Demi-human, old, and sporting a wide short blade on his back with a handle a foot taller than his head. While the blade itself was a stub.
"Muthers the name!"
Gray: "What are you the strongest of?"
Muther: "Nothin! I'm one of the first Demi-human of my size range in the Knights though, took me years of protesting, but I got in! Can't believe it was forty years ago now."
The eighty year old man looked just that, full of wrinkles and fading hair, his eyes closed, and his mouth filled with missing teeth.
Gray: "Sorry, hi! And bye I guess!"
Lanner: "I wanna keep watch! She's got corrupted mana so those dampening crystals might fail, and I'll get a good fight! Oh and to save people too."
Gray was quickly taken out by Lanner from the tent, pushed out into the bustling crowd of the many soldiers and knights gearing up. Gray tried to give Chris some room, but Gabby just continued to hold him as they stepped through the thick sloshing mud. Gray shrugged with pain through every step, while Lanner leapt toward the trees trying to spot anything to fight, or to call out for help for. However he was continually pushed away by the archers, Spirit Knights, and Spirit Mages trying to do the same thing.
Gray: "Who'd you end up capturing?"
Chris: "The burnt Demi-human, the one with corrupted mana."
Gray: "Corrupted mana? I figured she used magic, she didn't seem corrupted."
Chris: "Mh, well when we checked her OD it felt corrupted."
Thumps rained through the land, not just from the many many people, but also from the massive Demi-human behind them. Stepping through the crowd like a gorilla, drinking out of a barrel of licker with a straw made of leaves.
Gray: "What's that guy!?"
Chris: "Oh Walter?"
A massive, dark green, alligator Demi-human. Many feet long, incredibly strong, covered in scars, and wearing old broken armor strapped across his wide frame.
Chris: " Dudes a Veteran of Walgonia, in his sixties. Strongest Knight in Walgonia, physically anyway. And probably durability wise too. That being said, if a few strong people or strong knights group up against anyone the odds would drop massively in their favor no matter who they were. But he dropped out after some Ravorian soldiers did some really rough things with him near the end of the war. He's a nice dude but don't stress him out, he's got major PTSD. He might eat your head off. Triggers his Demi-human traits."
Gray: "What does that mean?"
Gray didn't know if he literally meant his Demi-human traits, or he was just being racist, but Chris instantly began to wave his hands to clear the confusion.
Chris: "No no no not like that! He's a High Tier Spirit Beast Demi-human, and RipperDiles are known for being almost feral when they smell food. Sometimes things like that can bleed through, sadly we've lost out on who knows how much strength because Walgonia wouldn't accept them, their species, or their powers. But don't tell any nobles I said that."
Gabby: "Stop talkin bros! We gotta remember the mission!"
They walked down a newly and poorly built bit of stone stairs, stepping into a lair of nasty water and toward long looming trees handing down into the water. Guarded, chained, and alone as the only prisoner of war, was Red. Opening her eyes the moment she sniffed Gray, staring right over her.
Gray: "Sup."
Red: "...Kyojin. Here to kill me?"
Gray: "I don't wanna kill you! I wasn't in Bruge and I don't know. I just want to talk, so I can stop those weapons. Their brutalizing people, even the Sect. Arthur is pushing out faulty weapons that'll only be refined for bigger war! That goes against everything the Sect is for, isn't it!?"
Red: "You think I'll help you just because you spit out some kind words!"
Red mustered up a loogie of venom that went flying through the air, managing to sizzle even the Spirit mana on its way toward Gray's face. Lanner swiftly appeared with his blade to block such spit, using a focused layer of mana to hold and swing away.
Gray: "Cool you parried -
But Lanner instantly went to stab his wide, thin long sword through Red's leg without hesitation. Forcing Gray to lunge into him and force him into the nasty mud-like water.
Lanner: "What are you doin!?"
Gray: "You need to calm down! We're trying to talk to her, not brutalize her!"
Lanner: "Why do you care! She's Sect! And even if she wasn't she won't speak unless we make her! She's not some random person, she's a potential Pillar of Anarchy for Spirits sake!"
Chris tried his best to nudge off Gabby's shoulder but she wouldn't budge, stopping the many others slowly crowding around with a glance. To understand Gray. To see how it unfolded. And because she saw the look on Red's face as Gray fought, with his life and rank on the line, for her safety.
Gray: "It doesn't matter if she's Sect! She's a person dammit! If you really want to learn something then just let me talk to her please! I'm not the best, but I'm technically a Spirit Knight! Taught by Ryo Hollis himself! If you need to hold her captive then do it, but you can't just rip her to shreds, especially with a smile on your face like some crazy dude!"
Lanner: "Are you seriously calling me crazy!?"
Gray: "Are you seriously not listening to a thing I just said!? You got all hostile for no reason!"
Lanner: "YOU PUSHED ME!"
Lanner flung upward, holding Gray in the air with a single arm before slamming his already injured body against the floor. That's when Gabby finally went to stop it, but Gray was faster, kicking as hard as he could while mana oozed out, right into Lanner's groin.
Gray: "Oooh -
Everybody froze for a second. Watching as Lanner's face churned and widened, giving Gray the chance to pull his leg out from under him and stand with his foot over Lanner's throat.
Gray: "Stop it!"
Lanner: "That was dirty! If you wanna do this then -
Gray: "NO! I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT! JUST GO OFF SOMEWHERE!"
Gray shoved Lanner aside with a groan, trying to wipe the mud away before crouching beside the chained Red with a tired smirk.
Gray: "Please. We want to save the people there. If we can stop Arthur, we can stop this corrosion of the Sect. "
Red was incredibly resistant. In a panic induced, almost trance like rage. An absolute denial. The chains and manadampening crystals forced her to see Ravoria all over again. Chasing her through the woods, taking her friends and family. Holding her at the stake to be burned and forgotten. Once again against wood by chain, surrounded by people who want her, need her dead.
Gray: "I don't care about blood. All I want to do is stop it from shedding. I want to save Walgonia, the right way. So help us, just this once."
Red's soul screamed against it. But her body, horrifically burned and left a disgusting mess, never made Gray waver for a second. Looking into her black eye like he would anybody, no, like he would anybody who really needed help. So she roared past her broken teeth and morals, just this once.
Red: "Guren. Those weapons are being made in Guren. Two Pillars guard it, and an unknown amount of Potential Pillars. NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Gray would, but he wanted to check something first; he placed his palm over her chest. Pulling Spirit mana in and out, both of his hand and body, to try and sense her OD somehow.
Gray {I swear she didn't have corrupted mana, if she did I would have seen something at least, unless those undead were -
But his eyes widened instantly, triggering Red to start laughing like she was a madman.
Gray: "HER OD ISN'T CORRUPTED! IT'S A CURSED SEAl, A TRACKER!"