WARNING: Depictions of extreme violence and cruelty is present in this chapter. Reader’s discretion is advised.

             "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

        - George Santayana-

The combat training area was a bit crowded when Deimos arrived. It seems word has spread about their Duel. The murmuring stopped when they noticed Deimos has arrived. He scans the area to find the Condor household present. Acxus is mentoring young Drusus but it is comical as he can barely fit in his training armor.

“In real battle, you do not have the luxury to study every opponent that is why you must hone your perception on their weight, speed, strength and range. You must do this in a split second lest your head roll.” Acxus advised Drusus who is panting like a rode down pig “Now, try again.”

Drusus summoned all of his energy to attack Acxus using a basic attack pattern of slash-pivot-stab. His movements are not bad but his weight is hindering the effectiveness of the movement.  Acxus sidestep the moment Drusus pivoted causing him to tumble down.

“Use the right movement at the right moment!” 

Meanwhile, Hektor is giving Hermesia pointers in how to best attack a larger opponent along with the two lunkheads, Marcus and Crassus. Hermesia seems out of it, staring at Drusus with hate instead of listening to Hektor. Hermesia, Crassus, and Marcus are members of what Deimos calls the Young Libertines, privileged idiotic aristocrats. They are mostly known for their orgies and drug-fueled parties.

The worst of them is their de facto leader, Asakami. The Bruxa. Vampire Queen.

Once, Asakami was spurned by a pretty boy who was recently married.

Asakami smiled and said “I understand, you love your wife and she loves you” and went their separate ways. The wife vanished without a trace in their home. The husband frantically searched for his beloved but to no avail. A few days later, the lad received an untraceable holovideo. In the holovideo, there is a woman in the middle of a giant white bed surrounded by dozens of rough men.

It is the wife of the offending husband.

“Please do not this, have mercy.” The holovideo zoomed in her face, filled with tears and terror. At the cue of someone off-screen, they began manhandling her, she resisted kicking and screaming, then the visuals cuts-off but the audio remained.

“Please let me go, I beg you! God save me!” The woman screamed but no God is there to hear her prayers. The screams of crying and begging mixed with the hungry grunts and maniacal laughter in the background of the blackness.

“Shut up, you bitch!” One of the beasts said. An inordinate amount of time passed until visual is back, zooming in on the bloodstain on the white sheet. The poor young lad hanged himself that night.

In the end, nobody was able to prove who are the culprits but they know damn well who ordered it, maybe even participated in depravity. Deimos looks at the two brutes wondering if they are involved in that incident.

Deimos can also see the king at the balcony observing the morning training. Anglius always enjoys display of martial skill.  Marcus and Crassus stop their training to confront Deimos.

"Heh, we thought you would never show." Crassus says as they surround Deimos.  He was about to move past them when he felt a chill.

"Petulant cousins, please restrain yourselves." An ethereal voice enters the stage. Crassus and Marcus looked behind Deimos and their faces turned pale with fear.

Deimos turns to see the approaching figure.

The Angel Blade.

Ashegrim Numidicia.

If Angels really do exist, Ashegrim would be the perfect example. Deimos thinks. Her body is slender save for the muscles, long thick lashes on the Arch Knight’s milk-colored eyes, snow-white skin, and silky silver hair that drapes on the shoulders. In medical terms, it is called albinism.

Deimos has seen her carve through Knights faster than a hummingbird in the wind during the Uprising, her white FelineArmor drenched in her enemies’ blood. No blade has ever reached her yet. Ashegrim was the one who almost slew Vulcar the Mammoth. Acxus once said that even he cannot measure the true strength of the Angel Blade.

What is she doing here? Deimos thought. Ashegrim rarely shows her face in public.

"I am here as the Arbiter. Shall we get started?" Ashegrim says in a voice so low it is almost a whisper. But when she speaks, everyone listens. Deimos tries to decipher her motives but found it difficult to read past the deadpan face.

"Yes, we can get started." The two brutes are nowhere to be seen. It seems they fled the second they saw her. 

As they should.  Deimos thought. The Animus between their elder brother Asakami and Ashegrim is known throughout the kingdom.

“You see, Deimos boy, it is not enough for your enemies to surrender. You must completely crush their will and give them reminders that we do not tolerate rebels. Mercy will only serve to embolden them and bring more destruction.” Asakami said to Deimos, who was green as a summer grass and served as an observer.

Asakami has made his reputation as a devious field commander during the Uprising, his unorthodox tactics baffled his enemies and his psychological warfare broke their minds. His favorite tool is the Jubokku, the most inhumane criminals he personally recruited, trained them like elite Knights, and molded them into a terrifying weapon.

“Any commander of worth has her own direct force to command. A regular army might prove to be inflexible to your whims and plots, a lesson I learned early on. I choose the outcasts of society as they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by serving me. Thus, they are loyal to me alone. You would do well to remember this, Deimos boy.” The Bruxa advised when Deimos asked why he chose such immoral men.

Their specialty is breaking down the enemy using barbaric acts. During a campaign, Deimos overheard that some of Asakami’s men captured the pregnant wife of a capable enemy commander.

“Even if you kill me, I will never give up my husband to you dirty thugs.” The stalwart woman refused to give up information about her husband. The Jubokku enraged by her resistance, gang raped her repeatedly and afterwards sliced her belly open to rip out the fetus to the horror of the mother. Deimos threw up when he heard about the gruesome act.

The neighboring army commander Ashegrim caught a wind of this atrocity and hunted down the Jubokku squad responsible. She found them but was caught in a trap set by Asakami. With only a small retinue of her Knights, Ashegrim was outnumbered three to one.

“Greetings, Ashegrim. Why are you here?” 

“To bring those men to justice.” 

“Justice? We are at war. There is no justice here, only might.” The Bruxa bared his teeth. 

“Hand them over, Asakami.”  

“Kill them all except Ashegrim.” Asakami ordered his men as Deimos watched from a distance.

 Asakami expected to massacre her meager force with ease but instead his men began falling like harvest wheat and Ashegrim is the scythe. Asakami tasted what true terror feels like as he sees the Angel Blade shattered his force. Asakami fled like a whipped dog, humiliated for the first time in his life. He left his men at the mercy of the Angel.

“Rabid dogs need to be put down.” Ashegrim said as she found the culprits, killing all of them except for the squad leader who was put on trial and then hanged. Asakami, the leader of the Jubokku, got away with a ‘stern’ warning. The Arbiter cited the Serpent's contributions to the war effort claiming his methods are effective in saving the lives of loyalist soldiers from further bloodshed and that his men acted independently. In reality, Asakami made these people rich through the spoils of war.

The Angel Blade incredulous at outcome of the trial stormed out, glaring at everyone in the room with cold eyes.

"Make room for the duelists." Ashegrim says and the crowd empty the combat area in a second. 

Hermesia steps forward. Her red hair has been tucked into a bun to fit in the helm. Ashegrim calls them forward and proceeded with the ceremony.

"Duelists, you already know the rules. Protect yourselves at all times and always follow my instructions. This will be a clean duel that honors the King and the Kingdom." Ashegrim says "Since Hermesia issued the challenge, Deimos will choose the Duel System."

"Domination."