[5000 years later…]
The full moon shone in sight, lighting up the night sky with a soft white glow.
The forest was eerily still—utterly devoid of even the faintest stir from a single blade of grass.
Tonight, like any other, should have echoed with rustling leaves and animal calls—but even the trees didn't dare sway on a night like this.
A night that would change everything for a certain band of mercenaries.
A soft rustling broke the silence, and four teenagers burst out from the shadows of the forest.
They lept over overgrown roots and wove through dense foliage, their uncanny speed the only proof of their attempt to escape unseen pursuers.
Leading the charge from the middle was an unlikely young lad with a well-toned frame, stark red hair, and strange amber eyes. Yet the strangest thing about him wasn't his appearance—it was his name. A name not of these lands.
"Kion. You've got the relic?"
A teenage boy with blonde hair and hazel eyes ran beside him, matching his pace with ease.
"What do you think, Laris?"
Kion lifted the left side of his poncho, revealing a tied leather pouch strapped to his side. Inside, a soft blue glow pulsed faintly.
Laris's eyes widened, the ethereal light reflecting perfectly in his irises.
"Sweet. Another soul core bagged. What level is it, though?"
"I don't know. Don't care," Kion replied, his deep voice calm and certain.
"That much doesn't matter for soulless like us." He added.
Laris gave a curt nod, though the look of curiosity still lingered in his eyes.
Kion was curious, too. Although he couldn't be too excited. They had other things to attend to first.
A stolen soul core from a high ranking house would only bring trouble knocking at his door—or in this case—chasing after him. And Kion knew it wouldn't be long before that happened.
That was why getting back to their hideout was his priority.
"I can tell this one holds a rare spirit soul," Laris said after a moment, "the weapon that this goes into will get some mad abilities."
Theo couldn't believe the blondie's mind was still on that thing.
"We can worry about its domain later," he said.
"For now, we need to get as far away from the kingdom walls as possible. No telling who'll be sent after us."
As he spoke, Kion glanced back, remembering the task he'd assigned earlier.
"Lila, did you sever the soul tether?"
A slender pink-haired girl, previously lagging behind with her nose in a book, caught up to his pace.
"Oh, you worry too much. I did that ages ago. Those rich bastards couldn't track us if they tried."
No sooner had she spoken than a shadow streaked above them, shaking the trees.
It landed ahead and materialized into a girl with black hair and even blacker eyes.
She turned to face them, running backward but keeping a solid five meters ahead.
"Kion's just paranoid we'll get caught," she said with a bored expression. "Even though that's never happened."
"Besides, you lot are too slow. If they were really coming, they'd have caught us already."
Kion was about to respond—when he heard it.
A faint crackle to his left.
"Lila! Watch out!"
He pivoted fast, swinging behind a startled Lila to intercept a lightning arrow aimed at her spine.
CLING!!
The flat side of his longsword caught the arrow's tip, deflecting it into a nearby tree, which burst into flames on impact.
The group froze, stunned.
You really had to jinx us, Girona? Kai thought to himself.
For a moment, there was only silence, but then the unmistakable sound of footsteps on damp soil echoed across the clearing.
Kion's eyes narrowed.
Judging from the trajectory and speed of the arrow, their attacker must've been far away. How had they gotten here so fast?
"Well, well. If It isn't the Sacrilax rats themselves." A stern female voice could be heard, as a tall woman emerged from the underbrush.
She had a bookish look, with gold rimmed spectacles and blue hair tied up in a bun.
What stood out about her was her outfit: she was dressed in blue military attire, with a seal of a phoenix emblazoned on her front pockets.
She held a bolt that sizzled with electricity, a golden longbow slung across her back.
An archer from the Imperial Army.
Kion theorised.
Before any of them could react, she let out a hearty laugh, as if she was savouring their encounter.
"You know, in a way you should all consider yourselves lucky. You spineless thieves will have the privilege to be killed by me, a vice admiral. That's cause for celebration don't you think?"
"She talks too much." Girona said, her tone laced with utter boredom.
Kion turned to her. "Care to do the honours?"
Unexpectedly, Girona smiled.
"This should be fun."
As quick as a blur, she dissipated into a shadowy mass, lunging at the vice admiral with alarming speed.
ZRRPPP!
In one moment, Girona was upon her, katana aimed at her throat with deathly intent, but her blades only met thin air.
Kion couldn't believe his eyes. Girona was their fastest member, and this lady just evaded her without even breaking a sweat.
The Vice Admiral laughed from behind them, causing all of them to turn in alarm.
She held a finger over her mouth, giggling like a little child.
"Was that the best you could do, Girona?"
Girona should have been shocked that the strange lady knew her name, but her face remained stoic and filled with unconcern.
"Keep my name out of your filthy mouth, bitch."
The lady giggled once more.
"Bitch? Well that's rather rude isn't it? But i wouldn't blame you. I hadn't told you my name yet."
The lady widened her stance, and Kion and his group instantly readied their weapons.
"Allow me to give you a proper introduction." The Vice Admiral said.
"My name is Kuvira."
She lunged, zapping in and out of existence with yellow flashes of lightning. She moved too quickly to track, and Kion almost had his head skewered as she unleashed bolts of lightning that shattered Lila's shield, cutting through the air above where they stood.
The group scattered, diving out of the way and landing in different spots. Kuvira now stood at their centre with a grim smirk, eyeing each of them with proud disdain.
"Go on. Try your best." She taunted.
They attacked her in unison—each with deadly intent.
As leader, Kion attacked first, activating his [Fire Blade] skill—a technique that coated his sword in flames and doubled the potency of his strikes.
He slashed and hacked at Kuvira relentlessly.
However, she deflected each blow with the back of her hand in a lazy, almost bored manner. Sparks erupted where his strikes landed, but he didn't seem to be doing any damage.
What is this lady made of?
Kion thought, still pressing the assault.
He had actually expected this. His attacks were merely a distraction—bait to force her into a counter and create an opening for the others to strike.
Lucky for him, she eventually did just that.
However, she had also taken him by surprise.
She deftly sidestepped his follow-up slash, charging her fist with lightning, before delivering a gut-wrenching punch to his abdomen—sending a surge through his body as he was launched backwards.
It was a swift strike that dealt with him easily, but she found no breathing room as his teammates took their chance to strike.
And they were not going to waste it.
Suddenly, Kuvira could not move.
She looked to the left and saw Lila's eyes glowing pink, muttering and chanting words from a radiant spellbook.
The magic held her in place—she couldn't even teleport away.
As she struggled to break from it, a whip chain wrapped around her body, seeping an icy aura into her bones.
Laris' eyes glowed blue as he gritted his teeth, channeling ice through the chain to freeze and restrain her. His efforts, combined with Lila's spell, kept the Vice Admiral locked down.
"Hyahh"
Girona came at her from the left side, her shadow-infused katana aimed straight for Kuvira's throat.
This time, she would not miss.
Or so she thought.
Panic flashed in Kuvira's eyes—and then she screamed.
The first sign was the sharp smell of ozone in the air, a static charge thickening like a storm about to break loose.
Kion had been watching closely, expecting this chaotic shit show of a fight to be over soon. But he was a second too late to shout a warning to his teammates.
BZZRAKK!!
A blinding bolt of lightning tore down from the sky like a divine airstrike, slamming into the grove where they all stood and forming a huge crater in the ground.
None of them could withstand it.
Their bodies, electrocuted and battered, were thrown violently through the trees, crashing down dozens of feet away.
Only Kion remained standing—barely.
He had plunged his sword into the ground, anchoring himself as the energy surged around him. But even that wasn't enough to spare him. His body trembled, bruised and scorched by the force of the strike.
Kuvira laughed again—louder this time, with manic glee.
"Did you lowlifes really think that you stood a chance against me?"
Kion heaved. Of all the foes he had faced, he had never met someone who talked so much.
"Now—" Kuvira continued, an evil glint in her eyes.
"Let me give you a taste of the power of a Mythic-Grade Lightning Mancer."
Lila was the first to die.
She had managed to push her charred body up with her two hands, making momentary eye contact with Kion before her head was severed from the rest of her body.
In a swift motion, Kuvira appeared behind the beheaded corpse, using a foot to lazily push it to the ground.
"This one's pathetic."
Lila's head fell a few centimeters away, her eyes still locked on Kion's as a single tear streamed down her left cheek.
Kion screamed with rage. He forced himself to get up. He forced himself to fight, but his limbs ached. His bones quaked with heavy tremors as his body refused to cooperate.
Girona came next.
Although she was the one who brought the fight to the Vice Admiral.
"You, bitch!" A shadowy mass sped past Kuvira, leaving violet streaks as Girona's katana ripped the air in two.
"I'll kill you!"
SLASH!
SLASH!
The strikes landed true, but Kuvira couldn't look more unbothered.
"On second thought, I should've killed you first."
She held out a hand, and suddenly, Girona's nimble form was stuck in her grip, the Vice Admiral's fingers clamping round her neck.
Kuvira slowly squeezed, and Kion watched as the air was sucked out of Girona's lungs.
"Ooohhhh this one's feisty. I like that. But you need to learn a little respect, young lady."
Girona squirmed, her legs flailing helplessly in the air as blood began to spill from her mouth, nose and eyes.
Strangely enough, amidst the blood and pain, the goth girl still had something to say to her.
"This must be how your dad choked your mum when it was your turn to be born—" she managed.
A storm flashed in Kuvira's eyes.
She squeezed harder. Much, much harder.
Blood splattered everywhere as Girona's eyeballs popped out of their sockets, flying in different directions.
Her limp body dropped to the ground.
"Anyone else" she turned with a smile, Girona's blood staining her teeth and making her look more like a monster than a human.
Hraahhhhh!
Laris came at her, whipchain twirling, and Kuvira looked at his running, crying form almost pathetically.
"Oh, please…"
All it took was a wave of her hand, and a single bolt of lightning zipped past, piercing through his open mouth and bursting through the back of his skull.
"I'm sorry, Kion." Laris solemnly expressed before dropping to the ground, dying where he stood.
Kion lost it.
He felt his world crumble as the closest thing he had to a family was massacred before his very eyes.
An inferno blazed where he crouched, his rage sizzling hot like the flames he was engulfed in.
The Vice Admiral arched an eyebrow.
"This one should be interesting."
Grief overcame Kion as he finally found the strength to stand, his rage boiling over in waves of cascading flames.
He came at her in a flash, flames burning, his longsword leveled at her chest.
Even before he saw the smirk on her face, the glee with which she watched his tirade unfold…
Kion knew he was a dead man.
HRRRKKKK!
A glowing hand burst through his chest.
"Kion, is it? That's a funny name for a soulless prince."
Even as he was dying, Kion could not hide his shock.
How had she—?
Meanwhile, the Vice Admiral brought her mouth to his ear, dropping her voice down to a whisper, as the next words she said made his blood go ice cold.
"It was such an honour to kill you in person, your highness."
She wrenched her arm free of his gut, brandishing a beating fleshy mass that pulsed with blood.
Without hesitation, she crushed its small lifeless form, causing the beating heart to explode blood and gore
Kion dropped, already dying before he hit the ground. Blood drooled from the corner of his lips and down his right nose. There was a gaping hole where his chest should've been.
As the last of his consciousness slowly faded away, his mind swirled with thoughts as it replayed his life's memories.
A young prince.
A fleeing outcast.
A feared mercenary.
Now, a dead man.
Just one more chance.
Kion thought to himself as he slowly lost consciousness. Life had dealt him a rough hand, and he had regretted all his decisions. If only he had been stronger and more decisive, he wouldn't be here, courting his death in a gruesome fashion
One more chance was all he needed. A do-over, and this time, Kion swore that he would crush his enemies where they stood.
Just…one…more. Kion thought again, even though he knew this may have been too much to ask of the universe.
So this is it?
Kion said to himself as darkness consumed him.
All of a sudden, a blinding light enveloped his vision, and Kion suddenly heard a godly voice.
"No, it's not it."