Clasping his dry lips. Marcus rubbed his eyes.
A look around had him confused. "Where am I?"
He remembered sleeping in his bed, with all the other kids.
"Your awake"
The affirmative tone shook him out of his daze, looking straight at a man with silver hair.
"Hello Marcus" said Ezra. "I kidnapped you from the orphanage, and you're not going back"
Marcus just stared, even more confused now.
Who was this guy? Where was he?
"I'm Ezra. Fourth prince of Niton"
His skin tingled, 'Prince?'
"I see enormous potential in you. So, from now henceforth, I am going to be training you"
Marcus just blanked out at this point, the confusion had hit its max.
---------------
The previous day
----------------
"This beast tide is a distraction for something else"
All the grandmasters stared down Raven with a 'you think we don't know that' gaze.
"They're going after grandmasters, there must be a reason"
"But if we launch an attack, we might fall right into a trap"
"Hmm" the grandmasters were deep in thought.
After two hours of disseminating information, they still didn't have a concrete plan…until now.
"Why don't we make them come to us?" Fredrick asked.
"How do you suppose we do that?"
"We take action. Eradicating the beast tides"
"Hmm"
They all made strange faces, such work was usually relegated to lower rank individuals.
But thinking further, it was planned to work, or at least catch their attention.
Taking glances, they nodded.
"Then we've agreed"
After that, they disseminated positions among themselves.
Such was why Deneris appeared to kill B ranks beasts.
-------------
At present.
-------------
The beast tide calamity was unofficially over.
With grandmasters intervening, most of the beast had already been vanquished.
Now, forces were simply on standby, awaiting any surprises from the enemy.
With the status of grandmasters, they had access to the best items Lexon had to offer.
As such, the grandmasters had an artifact that allowed them to communicate with one another.
With dawn underway, the grandmasters awaited the inevitable response of the demon worshippers, having killed most of the B and A rank beasts, detaining a few.
Then it came.
BOOM!
An earth-shaking attack.
But instead of Niton…
"NO!" Mervida shouted.
It erupted in Iris.
The scale was enough to have a city evaporate-which was what most likely happened.
The grandmasters didn't need to communicate, everyone could see it.
Mervida wailed, her people were dying, she left the stop she was assigned and was about to fly off when Deneris arrived in front of her.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"We cannot let you go" he replied coldly.
"What?!"
"You're already weakened. Going there would mean death, there's no other way around it"
"You don't tell me what to do"
Deneris clicked his tongue. He couldn't help but muse over the enemy's strategy.
Like they'd killed the beasts, those bastards paid them back by slaughtering the masses.
Their plan to trap them was countered.
With Iris, Itrevezar and Solace without defenders, what would happen next was predictable.
"Oakbear's body was taken. Those demon worshippers are doing something with our bodies-and you want to go and hand yours over to them?"
"What would you have me do? Watch while my people die?"
"No"
A voice came from the communication artifact.
It was the Emperor.
"We move as one"
The others were surprised.
"Jebas, Deneris, Getraham, and I will head there to deal with it"
"Fredrick, Raven and you Mervida, are to stay behind to deal with any surprise attacks"
"I don't take orders" she growled.
"You've been weakened, you'll only be a drag in battle"
Such words stung, but the Mervida couldn't argue, it was the truth.
Others felt annoyed that the Emperor was ordering them about, but since the plan suited most, they didn't argue.
Especially since the Emperor was in the attacking group; while they mused that he had ulterior motives, things were better this way.
Quickly, the Emperor wore his battle armour, it had been repaired and even upgraded since his battle in Avilla.
The Grandmasters assembled, and sped to Iris.
Demons were common enemies of humans, and likewise, were demon worshippers.
Then, another resounding attack came off, this time in Itrevezar, soon after, it happened in Quartez.
As the Grandmaster stopped, wondering what decision to take, the Emperor gave a decisive command. "Ignore it, splitting up is tantamount to suicide, we head for Iris"
No matter who fought, people would die, but having grandmasters die because of ordinary people was a move beyond stupid. The other way around? That was quick thinking.
Besides, the only reason he aimed for Iris was because he had planned to absorb Iris and take Mervida under his banner.
Although, whether or not she'd be able to overcome the poison in her veins gave a lot of uncertainty.
After all, he'd used seven years to clear it out.
Thinking about now, the enemies were smart to poison him in advance. He had the mana stones to thank for being able to recover.
More importantly, revenge was overdue.
'No one poisons me and goes free'
They flew to Iris, every Nitonian caught a glimpse of them.
Among them were demon worshippers.
Being only an adept, this demon worshipper was not at all suspected.
Moreover, at the moment, he was deep in a beast region.
Taking out a communication scroll, he wrote to those on the receiving end.
________
The message was passed around, and once it reached the grandmaster stationed at Itrevezar and Quartez that the grandmasters had ignored him, the attacks intensified.
Itrevezar trembled again and again, each time signalling the death of thousands, but the Emperor didn't bat an eye.
________
In a cave lit with torches, the leader lay bare chested, his black hair falling below his shoulders.
In front of him stood a pool of calm blood contained by a round block of stone akin to a well, at the center of this pool stood a pole like pillar with a multitude of marks carved upon it.
Last but not least was the small red jewel impaled on it.
The leader felt endless satisfaction simply looking at it.
From the space ring in his arm fell three corpses.
A closer look would have you easily identify them.
For they were corpses of grandmasters!
One was Gaga, the others were Oakbear and the King of Itrevezar.
The leader stared at them like the slab of meat they'd become, and slowly, dropped them in the pool one by one.
Touching the pool's surface, the pool bubbled like it was frying something and then the body began melting like ice, up until the bones were grounded to dust.
The leader raised his hands while watching this scene.
Done, the pool settled. When suddenly, the pillar lit up, specifically, the carved signs on it lit up, and the light moved like water, connecting from one symbol to the next and until it connected to the ruby, to which the light was sucked in.
Seconds later, the ruby shone, but dimmed soon after.
Nevertheless, it was brighter than before.
The leader sighed, dropping his hands.
He'd lost count of how many were sacrificed to nourish the item, they had grown beyond a million. Still, it was not enough.
Of course, most of those millions were ordinary people-else they wouldn't have survived for this long.
Still, master ranks had been plentiful, but still, the barrier was still too strong.
He calmed.
Besides, the current plan was made to hasten the process, so he was worried.
It was already beyond half way, once the plan was set in place, they would have succeeded.
'Onto the next task'
__________
Now, he sat on his throne with his skull mask on, while his subordinates sat around him.
"I received a prophecy from our lord"
The subordinate's eyes lit up.
"What did it say?"
"It spoke of imminent danger and our possible destruction"
Their expressions took a turn around and unease spread.
The leader raised his palm to shut them up.
"But with the lord's help, we pinpointed the source of this prophecy"
"That means-
"Yes, I have been assigned a duty to eradicate whoever it may be, and have been given a gift to do so"
The subordinates were surprised, the leader hadn't stepped out for as long as they'd known him.
"To make sure of our success, four, no, that would be disrespectful to the lord, all of you will follow me. While I deem it unnecessary since the source has been confirmed to a master at the early stage. But we must ensure that the threat is snared and killed"
A chilly silence took place as they stared intensely, awaiting the leader's next words.
"Before that, how are preparations?"
"Numer and Crea are almost done planting the pillars"
The leaders nodded, "They will not be following then. And the requirements?"
"Approaching completion as we speak, the grandmasters are working on it at the moment"
The leader stayed silent, before speaking. "Then, we head out at once, the sooner the source is destroyed, the better. We cannot fail!"
_________
After two hours of massive destruction, the citizens of Itrevezar, Itrevezians, were on the verge of insanity.
Too many had lost their relatives, no, that they were alive was a blessing at this point.
It was similarly so, for the citizens of Quartez, Quartiz.
A few master ranks rose up to occasion, but were effortlessly killed, wiping out any thought of rebelling.
Then, the grandmasters, demons they were as they stayed in the sky, spoke in booming tones.
"You will be given a chance for survival. Accept it or die"
Then, they flew across the kingdom, dumping vials in each city, well those that remained.
The vials broke to release a black smoke.
Upon inhaling this substance, the brain instinctively rejected it, disallowing entry.
The person had to willingly accept it, even though they knew not of what it was.
Under the circumstances, you'd be sure that thousands upon thousands accepted it.
Upon doing so, they collapse.
