First Arc (King of Euphorion) – 59. The Cold Blooded King

Two swords with piercing cold air swung towards General Helias, he resisted Frost's attack, making their swords clash and their eyes met.

"Turning your eyes to someone else in the middle of a fight is rude," said Frost.

General Helias smirked.
"Take it easy, I will end this battle as soon as possible." Then he brushed off Frost's attack and backed away. General Helias took a Signal Fireworks from his blazer and fired it into the sky.

-BUM! Treek-- Treek-- Treek!

The magic fireworks symbolized the lion's head crest of Asteria visible in the sky, a sign to attack. As a General, he was prepared for everything, including preparing the reinforcement if their attacks failed. He already ordered the archers to hide in the forest, once they saw his signal they would attack. But strangely there were no arrows coming out from the forest, instead, another Euphorion troops came out from there and joined the Euphorion troops who surrounded him.

The king who was standing on the gate wall gave him a wicked laugh, General Helias turned his gaze to him angrily.

"General Helias, your reinforcement troops are dead. No one can help you anymore!" said Angel in a cynical tone.

General Helias held his sword tightly, if he had to die in this battle, so be it. For him to die for Asteria was a great honour.
"Angelus Raizel! You were once the pride of Asteria but it turns out you are no more than a traitor!" he shouted angrily.

Angel looked at General Helias sharply, his hands clenched, anger and sadness began to seize his heart.
'You were the one who attacked me first, but you blamed me for defending myself. You betrayed me, but you said I was a traitor ...'

Frost swung his swords in a cross-motion. The piercing cold air coming out from the swords struck towards General Helias.

General Helias tried to dodge it, but Frost's attack managed to injure his arm. In an instant, the cold pierced through his entire body, his whole body trembled with cold, even the sword in his hand also shook violently.
"How dare you mock my king!" said Frost angrily.

This was the first time Frost felt so angry. Although Frost once misunderstood Angel when he overthrew King Xenos, during his reign he worked hard to change Euphorion to what it was now, he even often neglected his own interests. More than that, Angel treated him and other elemental spirits as humans, as his partners not just as shields or war tools. Angel rarely showed his emotions but behind all of that, sometimes Frost caught him stared into the distance with a lonely gaze. Even though he never said anything, Frost could guess all of this had to do with his past. That's why Frost wouldn't forgive those who dare to insult Angel!

Frost dashed towards General Helias and swung both of his swords in turns. General Helias forced his trembling hand to move his sword. While Frost kept swinging his sword repeatedly. General Helias' trembling hands got worse, his strength faded as the coldness kept spreading throughout his body every time he brushed off an attack from Frost. Although the sword did not touch him the sword's coldness was so intense that it froze the air surrounding him.

General Helias' sword was thrown away, Frost swung his sword once again to end his life. And General Helias could only stare at the white sword that swung before him, the sword that would take his life...

But suddenly, Angel appeared before him and resisted Frost's attack with the dark aura from his hand. Frost and General Helias were shocked. Frost quickly lowered his swords, while Angel turned his gaze to General Helias.
"General, be my subordinate. I will spare your life."

General Helias looked at him sharply.
"Never!" he said angrily.

An Evil smirk reappeared on Angel's face.
"Very well... Nice to meet you again, General Helias, " Then he extended his hand to grip General Helias' face and cast Corruption of Mind spell on him. The dark aura coming out of his hand enveloped General Helias' body.

Angel closed his eyes while looking at General Helias' memories as he tried to figure out the reason why Asteria attacked Euphorion and what agreement had been made between Asteria and Zephyrus.

General Helias screamed in pain, his head felt like being stabbed by thousands of needles which were getting more and more painful as Angel's head felt heavier when General Helias' memories moved into his head.

He opened his eyes and released his grip as he gasped breathlessly, while General Helias fell motionless to the ground.
'They attacked Euphorion because they thought I attacked them economically and prepared my troops to get my revenge on Asteria... They sacrificed tens of thousands of my people only based on groundless fears...'

A slight chuckle began to slip out of his mouth when he felt ironic. Five years ago, he was executed by his family, but now they were the one who were afraid of him. Slowly his chuckles turned into evil laughter which grew louder and louder. He could remember when the first time he was sent to the battlefield. He was just twelve-year-old and he could not even hold a sword properly. For years, he had been on the battlefield, risking his life, becoming his uncle's war puppet. He only obeyed, never failed in his duties, even gave up his right to be king. But they paid him by executing him and said he was a rebel, a traitor.
'After what I did for Asteria... Everything is meaningless for them... Even now they won't let me live in peace.' It all sounded like a joke to him, a painful joke...

After witnessing their General collapse, the remaining Asterian troops fled. Gale had just raised his bow to shoot them, but Angel directed his hand towards them. His dark aura enveloped and lifted their bodies one by one, then he clenched his fists slowly. Cracking sounds could be heard from their bodies.

-Kkraakk --- Kkraakk --- Kkraakk...

Blood flowed from their mouths as every bone in their body broke and their organs crushed, their screams of pain echoing into the sky.

Even the Euphorion troops who saw it were also afraid. During his reign, he was a kind king and led Euphorion well. People's fear of him began to disappear little by little but today's battle reminded them that he was a king who possessed dark power and could destroy his enemies without mercy...

He swung his hand aside, throwing the dead Asterian troops before him.

Note:

Corruption of Mind is a top-level magic spell used to read other people's thoughts and erase their memories. This spell requires full concentration to maintain the user's sanity since all the memories of the victim will move to the user.