"Eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind"
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Somewhere on the mainland of the earth in the central section of the six nations, stood a war ravaged nation with workers in white suits cleaning up the corpse littered streets and oceans.
Buildings both completely destroyed or barely standing with sorcerers working tirelessly to rebuild the damage caused by the battle that cemented itself in history.
Just five days after the war the supreme generals, along with the representatives of the royal sorcerer families returned after meeting with the foreigners on the boarder between the mainland and the old earth.
But the sick civilians who were affected by the Malediction noticed something off about them. Especially when they refused to answer questions about the foreign people's plea for peace.
Down below, in the lowest second to lowest level of the nation's top prison for sorcerers, a woman sat on her knees in the darkness of the room. Her eyes covered with a blind fold that had white ink on it, reading:
"Flower Branch"
At the center of the room, a bright white light illuminated the indifferent figure of a man who was sitting in a small circle of dead flowers, and staring off into the distance with scarlet eyes and a face with dried blood staining his cheeks.
The woman cleared her throat before her voice echoed throughout the prison.
"Saint Kahal."
Kahal's eyes darted forward, as though he hadn't been aware of her presence at first. And then he spoke in a raspy voice.
"Kalah."
A bitter smile tugged at the corner of kalah's lips when she heard her brother's voice, as she gave him a look of both pity and maybe a little bit of somberness.
This had been their first meet since Kahal had been appointed to the rank of supreme general. But it didn't surprise her that two children of war would meet again in prison.
In this moment, a part of her wanted to be a little petty and tell him how stupid it was to fight for sorcerers… but she set her personal feelings aside, and told him about the meeting between the supreme generals and the foreigners.
Kahal listened to every word, and his expression flattened with each word about how Caelirach deliberately provoked the foreigners into violence, how the foreigners begged for mercy, and how a woman who was with child was suffering from symptoms of Kahal's malediction.
As well as the supernatural powers the foreigner by the name of Airu possessed.
"Those who've returned alive have suffered damage to their nerves as well as destroyed skeletal structures, and no longer have access to their sorcery."
Hearing these words, Kahal thought back to his battle against Malum, and how difficult it was to finish him off.
And after a moment of silence, he asked:
"What happened after this Airu showed up?"
Kalah closed her eyes, and began recounting the battle that ensued after the abrupt ending of the pleas for peace.
***
Airu glanced down at elder Kael, who looked up at him with tear stained eyes. Airu scoffed and then focused his attention onto the blindfolded representative of the Kuronami family, and said:
"You there… I want you to document everything you're about to hear. And tell your civilians, that their generals chose to oppress us, and we're simply retaliating."
The blindfolded representative gulped.
Straining to move his shaken hand to brush ink across the scroll, he focused his ears on every detail of his surroundings, and soon after…
The battle that would etch itself into forgotten history would break out.
***
Before he could react, Airu found himself blown back through the tall trees of the dark uninhabited forest. He wasn't sure whether or not that his newfound power would be enough to destroy the frightening power possessed by the supreme generals…
But the situation was much more important than his sudden uncertainty.
He stood in the middle of the dark forest. His eyes darting around for any sight of the four generals that pushed him back with the sheer force of their spiritual energy.
Then suddenly in the sky, the graceful General Kojiro appeared. His milky, hooded eyes stared right at the foreigner below him.
After a few seconds of silent thought, an ink brush manifested between his fingers. Which he would then use to paint across the surface of the sky…
Airu began to prepare himself to intercept the general's attempt at using his sorcery, but was immediately paralyzed.
He suddenly felt intense pain in his body. Pain that made even the slightest bit of pressure on his skin send waves of unbearable pain through his body.
Straining his bleeding eyes to look behind him, he noticed General Masayoshi crouching behind him, with the tip of his Tachi blade piercing his solar plexus.
'General Masayoshi…'
The former supreme general of the southern nation, General Masayoshi. Before learning how the foreigners killed their own souls without dying, his original sorcery allowed him to pour his spirit energy into his Tachi and stimulate their nervous system intensely…
To the point that their bodies, as well as his own would momentarily alter their body tissues.
General Masayoshi shouted.
"Asami! Now!"
Meanwhile, General Asami had hidden herself in the dark corners of the island. And once she heard her ally's shout, she gripped the blade of her katana and ran her palm along the sharp side…
Drawing a thick string of blood, as her hair lunged forward from all directions until it encased Airu's body. Assisting General masayoshi's sorcery, and tearing through Airu's muscle fibers.
Airu gritted his teeth. Feeling as though he was being put through a shredder. But then something happened that caught General Masayoshi and Asami's eyes.
Dozens of black tendrils sprouted from Airu's body, and went up in the sky. And his fresh would heal. His body had began repairing itself…
Something never seen before in normal sorcery with the exception of Hell's king and spirit king kesean.
'What devilry?'
Then suddenly, the air around the entire island shifted into a static effect. And the smell of the air was something too sweet, that made General Masayoshi instinctively hold his breath.
Airu looked over his shoulder, and said calmly:
"Have you ever tasted a power beyond the realm of normal sorcery or demon arts?… if not, then this is it…"
In the next second, a wave of a black grainy substance shot up from Airu's body and into the air. Forming the image of a figure with its legs and arms spread. Its mask like face resembled the appearance of the spirit of death.
General Masayoshi's eye went wide. He suddenly felt his heart pound against his chest at the familiar sight of this ancient entity.
He then shouted toward his airborne comrade.
"Kojiro! Hurry the hell up with that power of yours!"
General Kojiro scoffed, and did just that. Once the spirit of death manifested in the air, so too did the graceful general finish painting…
And his painting had manifested itself into the world around him. Ascending from the ocean until it towered over the island itself, was a giant ink colored skeleton.
The skeleton, independently of its master's will, brought its arm down and slammed its fist onto the island with enough force to wipe out an entire nation.
For several moments, no one could see through the blanket of dust and mist that covered the island.
General Masayoshi could no longer feel the form of the foreigner in his grasp, and leaped back. Twisting and turning his body in every direction with his Tachi raised defensively.
Then suddenly…
Black fissures formed along the skeleton's hand and branched their way up through its body.
General Kojiro stumbled back, and sensed as the skeleton did the same. With ink colored bones raining down onto the island, Airu's mauled body emerged.
But his flesh, muscle fibers and broken bones were quickly regenerating.
He looked up at the sight of the skeleton's destruction and said:
"You sorcerers truly are monsters."
The physical manifestation of the spirit of death grew in size above him. Staring down at the generals, while the static effect in the air intensified.
Nature around them began aging rapidly in response. Leaves burned, trees withered… it was all too much for the world's strongest sorcerers to comprehend.
Airu extended his hand, so too did the spirit of death. They both raised their index fingers to the sky, and at the same time the towering skeleton began crumbling.
No one could believe what they'd seen. One man of an unknown race almost effortlessly rivaling the power of four supreme generals.
From the shore of the island, the grand elder even readied himself to step into the battle until the ground began to shake violently.
Generals Asami, Masayoshi, and Kojiro all suddenly felt their souls being shaken. Sending painful reverberations through their bodies that seemed to even affect the island itself.
In the next second, their bodies erupted from the inside. Specifically their souls…
Just like that, all of the supreme generals were defeated in combat by these foreigners.
***
After some time, Airu dragged the unconscious and mauled bodies of the four generals back to the place of the meeting.
Dropping them all onto the table and in front of elder Caelirach, who looked at him with gritted teeth.
No words could come to mind, other than the parting words Airu left for him.
"Now that you've witnessed our potential to destroy you and your military, then you'd be a wise leader to keep off our land and rebuild our nation…"
"And do under stand that this is no longer a plea for peace… but the stepping stone to a better future."
Soon after, elder caelirach along with the representatives of the royal families returned to the mainland of the world, and gathered the higher ups keeping the six nations in place together to discuss their next course of action against these foreigners.
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Continued in chapter 125: A Better Future
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