Chapter 13 Confrontation of Friends and Allies

 

King and Jax’s group arrive at the battlefield to see the chaos that was left there,

“What happened here.”

Astrid looked down from the dragon with a little worry in her voice.

“I never saw that much destruction before even the whole kingdom that was wiped out. This is a hellscape, who has that much power,” Jax questioned.

“What side do you think did this?” Sophia asked everyone.

“It has to be the hero from the Silver Swordsmen, why would anyone use this much power for a small army, It must have been thousands of men if they were to use that much power. Should we investigate the gate of hell,” Astrid asked for a vote.

"I’m in,” King agreed,

and so did the rest of them. The dragon landed on a flat surface next to the edge of the pits of hell. Everyone gets off the huge dragon to stretch and get to look at the crater,

“Do you think this power could beat Ash,” Sophia feared.

“From the markings of the ground, it seems to be an all-element magic spell. You Astrid have the greatest ability in lightning but it looked like this lightning could top yours in skill and mass.”

King butts into the conversation, “Yeah but Ash could easily pull this off.”

Jax added to the conversation, “Yeah Ash could do this but what about the other elements, have you seen him use any of them before. Yeah, we saw him use his fire and lightning spells but to use earth and wind all at the same time is impossible for one person.”

Meanwhile, the group was talking at the hellscape and the two reapers went down to the barracks to wake up Ash.

“Ash, get up, I think your friends are here,” Fang shakes Ash trying to wake him up.

“What, what happened.”

Ash, still very weak from the use of his powers, slowly sat up and gave them orders,

“Hold them off until I am ready.”

“Yes sir,”

the two dash out the barracks with helmets on and weapons at the ready. Ash puts his sword in his abyss storage or they would know something is off,

“Now it's time I change my face and voice.”

Ash used all of the magic he had left in him to change his face and voice. He put on his helmet and made sure the clothes given to him didn’t look like his old clothes. He pulled a weapon from his abyss storage, dart with metal chains attached to it. The dart has a red outline with a silver middle. Ash walked out of the barracks door to see the two reapers fighting Creed and Grim while the others watched with excitement.

He wondered if this was somehow his fault for them acting like this, he put his hand on his face with embarrassment.

“Now it's time to meet these totally random strangers and shoo them away.”

He walked towards the group to where Astrid and the others could see him,

“Stop right there.”

Astrid shouts warning Ash who has his identity hidden to halt.

Astrid whispered to King, “Does his aura feel familiar to you,”

“I was going to ask you the same question.”

Both grew suspicious of this hidden character,

“Fang, Six stop fighting,”

Ash called to them with his brother's voice. The two retreated back to Ash’s side,

“Who are you people, and what is your business with this war.”

King with his sword jumps with an overhand swing, Ash propels his rope dart hitting King in the shoulder. He swings King around until finally reaching great speed slamming King in the ground making a crater with his body.

“I guess you are trying to size me up, right.”

King made a crooked smile, Jax walked over to help him get out of the crater,

“We come to join the war,” Sophia blurted out.

Ash already knew this was going to be a handful, “Well I can’t let you do that.”

Astrid bashed into the conversation, “Why not, it's just a war right, we can help anyone we want to.”

Jax entered the chat with perception, “We are just getting information on someone's whereabouts but if you can’t help us I guess we can just go to the other side.”

Ash under his breath, “I wonder who that can be.”

He shouted back at them, “It's against the rules of this war, anyone who is not a part of this war can not lend help to any side.”

Ash started getting dizzy from the lack of rest but snapped out of it when Fang pointed out,

“Look A- Rich it's the reapers, they came back from the siege.”

The group turned around to see all one thousand soldiers there coming back with their heads high with the other reapers messing with each other. Ash sent the two reapers to warn them what is going on,

“Alright now with all of that out of the way I would like you to kindly leave.”

Creed stopped Ash from walking back into the barracks,

“Wait, you have a similar aura, who are you?”

Ash sighed, he took off his helmet revealing Rich’s face,

“I am Rich, one of Hade's sons.”

Sophia squeaked out, “Is Ash okay!”

Ash let a little smile come out then immediately stopped it, “He is with my father talking about something but yeah he is fine. So you must be his friends he talked so much about, I wouldn’t want you guys to get hurt so please leave.”

The group talks it out while Sarah keeps an eye out for the others that left.

“Hey Rich, they were victorious in the siege of the stronghold,”

Ella shouted out to Ash who was running on fumes.

“That's great to hear, okay friends of Ash you need to stay out of this war. I really don’t want to be on bad terms with him right now.”

Astrid, enraged by Ash’s words speaks out, “If you don’t want to get on his bad side then help us get to him!”

Ash shouts back, “If you go to where he is you will die, now leave it alone. I can’t help until this war is over so just wait out this war.”

Ash looks at Astrid hoping his words will get through to her.

Thinking in his head, "Please Astrid, just go."

The army marches to the bridge forming a wall behind Ash with their bodies.

“Let's go, this is not our war even if I wanted to join in, he needs to finish this war so he can help,”

King said, shocking everyone even making Ash stumble back but it was probably from the lack of energy he has left in his body.

“I agree with King with this one, we can come back when this war blows over,” Jax on King’s side.

“Like hell, I'll stop, we need to go now, or else we can’t stop him from making a deal with Hades. If I have to fight his brother then so be it,”

Astrid rushes in with her sword ready to cut down Ash. Fang jumps in with her daggers blocking the blade from making contact with Ash’s shoulder,

“If you hurt him then you will have to take on a whole army. Reapers surround her,”

The six reapers surrounded her with Nicolas in front of Ash as a bodyguard. Ash drops to one knee, he quickly puts his helmet on before his magic wears off. His voice is still Rich’s but not for long,

“I need you to go before things get bloody,”

the stalemate between the two groups felt like it would last forever until someone spoke up,

“Please Astrid, we need to back off, he said he will help us, isn’t that enough.”

Sophia pleaded her case to Astrid, she saw the distress on Sophia’s face. The worry got to Astrid, she holstered her weapon to which everyone eased up,

“Does Ash’s siblings like him anyway,”

King questioned Ash who was barely keeping it together.

“Well I do care for him and his big sister loves him the most but she is on a mission and can’t help.”

Ash knows Rich isn't on the best terms with him so he wants to wrap up the family tree before they start asking about the others.

“You guys need to leave before I am accused of using outside help,” Ash tried to hurry them on their way.

“Wait a moment, who made that giant pit filled with different elements being used,”

King asked before Ash could get all of them packing.

Ash rolled his eyes in annoyance, “It was me now go before the gods intervene.”

Before he could finish making them go on their merry way a great voice thundered from the sky,

“YOU SHALL NOT GET IN THE WAY OF THIS WAR,”

Hades spoke to Ash with a little flame spirit,

“Ash, listen to me, Zeus is trying to change the rules because he is losing. You need to take care of them or just incapacitate them so he won’t have an excuse to bend the rules.”

Ash Roars back at the voice in the sky,

“DON’T EVEN TRY IT ZEUS! I WILL TAKE CARE OF THEM!”

Ash then began to command his forces to surround the group and pulled their blades readying them to strike.

“NOW SOLDIERS, fight to capture not kill.”

Ash targeted Jax with his rope dart, swinging it in circle movements making Jax dodge constantly with backflips and dodges. Ash tried to get to talking distance but Jax was backing up faster than Ash was swinging.

“Jax, listen to me, it's me Ash I need you to surrender, or else my plans are going to be ruined.”

Jax was caught off guard by his name being called out even though no one revealed his name,

“If that is you, Ash who is the best friend of Sophia,”

Jax tried to move closer to Ash so no one would hear their conversation.

“It's Isabel now hurry you need to take a hit from my dart so it looks real.”

Jax gave a nod of agreement purposely getting in the way of the dart hitting him square in the chest.

“NOW FRY,”

Ash discharges a bolt of electricity through the chains electrocuting Jax. He falls to the ground looking like he is beaten, Ash thinks about how to put them down without hurting them or giving away his identity,

“I could use a wind water cage spell on King but that will put me in a dangerous state,”

Ash gave it some thought about it then came to a conclusion,

“King needs to be brought down while the others can hold off Astrid, Sophia, and the others will have to be caught in the trap too. Damn it how could I stretch myself so thin,”

Ash puts his plan into motion, he throws four darts on the ground making a square around Grim, Creed, and Sarah. With a quick throw hitting King in the thigh, he drags him using his body as a weapon, swinging King at the brothers and Sarah. Grim catches King with his chest and knocks him off his feet,

“RAGING WATERY TORNADO LEVEL four!”

A dark red tornado filled with blood-red water eats the four before they could realize what was happening. Ash hits the ground unable to catch himself due to exhaustion,

“Ash!”

Ella calls out, making Astrid halt her barrage of lightning bolts,

“WHY DID YOU CALL HIS NAME!”

Fang slashes Astrid in the back injuring her with a big gash in her back. Ella rushes to Ash who passes out in the dirt face down, unresponsive to Ella’s call, her rush to his aid was interrupted with Sophia in the way holding a blade to Ash’s throat,

“Come any closer and he dies.”

Ella stops her advance towards them,

“Look you don’t want to do that. Just surrender and your friends will be safe.”

Sophia grips her weapons tightly trying to figure out what would be the best option. Ash regains consciousness to where a blade is to his throat and Sophia has an anxious look on her face,

“Sophia is that you,”

Ash mumbles, falling in and out of consciousness.

“Is that you Ash?”

Sophia asked but while she focused on Ash, Fang got the upper hand on her and restrained her with her blood spells,

“Blood rope level three.”

The rope made out of blood wrapped her arms up making her drop her weapon.

“Is that everyone,”

Ella checked with everyone to see if they suffered losses while Fang tied the others and put them in a cell. The others that were in the trap tried to bust out of the trap but their spells were useless. Nicolas carried off Ash with a smile, Astrid was taken to the infirmary to heal her wounds while Ash was put in the barracks in his separate room. Ash’s trap lasts two days upon the success of the spell, the spell can be canceled if the user wants it.

“The Silver Swordsmen suffered thirteen injuries from the battle plus Ash will need a lot of sleep from his battle with the Iron Legion and his allies. That is all I have to report, oh wait and that pit over there was made by Ash who went all out. He said he wanted to show us his power so we won’t question him about his skill and it worked for me but I don’t know about Ella,”

Fang reported to Nicolas who was taking command while Ash recovered.

“Well Six has a name now, it fits her personality, now about Ash’s allies, when will the elf wake up.”

Ella joined the conversation with information,

“She will wake up in a day or so and be filled with rage. It will take all six reapers to take her down and that is just her alone we still have to consider the little girl and the guy named Jax who was defeated by Ash.”

Nicolas took all this information in and started to plan while giving the two a warning,

“I will warn you only once, watch what you say from now on or you will blow Ash’s cover you understand.”

“Yes sir,”

the two said before walking out of the tent that was put up at the end of the bridge. Nicolas sighed a great sigh before getting to work on the next plan to win the war. Two days passed in a flash, the six reapers were away when Ash woke from his coma-like state. He sat up observing his surroundings trying to figure out where he was. A soldier walks into the room to guard it, he sees Ash then burst out the door. Ash hears him call out to Nicolas,

“He is awake sir,”

“Good I will go right away.”

Nicolas entered the room to see Ash already sitting in a chair brandishing his weapon,

“Well look who is up,”

Ash gives a little smile before asking,

“Are my friends okay?”

Nicolas got nervous when he answered,

“The little one is fine, just a few scratches but sir the elf suffered a slash to the back and is recovering.”

Ash stopped Nicolas from speaking,

“Wait, what happened to her, is she okay.”

Nicolas tried calming down Ash,

“Yes yes she is okay, she will make a full recovery but when she wakes up and she will, she will want answers. I am guessing she will not be calm about it, especially with the power at her disposal, everyone would want to use that power as much as possible, I know I would.”

Ash took a deep breath calming himself,

“I think it's time to reveal myself to them even though it's going to be hard to convince them to stay out of this war. Okay, time to visit my hot-headed elf,”

Ash pushes open the door in the clothes he wore before coming to the battlefield. His blindfold now has rips and tears with a tattered overcoat, Ash arrived at the infirmary hoping Astrid didn’t cause any trouble for the doctors,

“Astrid you better not have hurt the people who are helping you.”

He lifts the tent flap to see Astrid up and out of bed getting her gear on and pushing the doctors away while doing it.

“Is that any way to treat the people that took care of you?”

Astrid jolted at the sound of his voice,

“Ash is that you,”

she tackled him with a big hug knocking him down. She grunted with pain after tackling him,

“Ow ow ow that hurt.”

After she got her bearings and hugged Ash tightly,

“How did you get here!”

Ash forcibly exhaled getting ready to explain what he had been doing when he disappeared,

“Now Astrid this is going to sound crazy but I was Rich.”

Astrid exclaimed, “WHAT!”

“Now hear me out. I know it's shocking but I did this to do a mission and I can’t have any of you guys interfere with this.”

Astrid forced Ash to listen,

“Ash why can’t we help you, didn’t I say I will be there to help with these decisions and make sure you don’t lose yourself again.”

Ash reassured her, “Yes I know but I have to do this alone, it’s for Isabel. It's part of the deal I made, if I win this war, Isabel will be brought back to life. The rules are no outside help or else the deal is off.”

Astrid is filled with emotions while Ash is holding her in his arms,

“You were doing all of this for her alone without help while trying to stop us. How have you stayed calm all this time.”

Ash pushes out his words, “I have the thought of seeing Isabel’s smile again. All of us being happy adventuring, I would even give up killing the gods if that meant having all of us be together. I will bring her back I promise,”

“Bring her back to us,”

she took a breath before continuing,

“I will tell the others to not interfere with your plans. Who else knows that you are Rich,”

Ash and Astrid got up from the ground after their embrace.

“Well Jax knows and maybe Sophia, it is kind of foggy because I was drained of my stamina from one of the spells I used.”

“Do you mean that hellscape was one spell and it was yours?”

“Yeah it was mine but I could only use that move once because of how much of a toll it takes on your body to use so many elements at once. I could teach you a three-element spell or a two-element spell when I get back,”

Astrid accepted the offer with a loving hug, “We can spend a day by ourselves learning from each other and maybe do something else.” “I will think about that when I am fighting,” he smiled warmly, making Astrid instinctively smile back. Ash walked out of the tent to meet Nicolas at command, Fang, Ella, Brick, Tessa, Stone, and Tracker all joined Ash,

“So what’s the plan hero,”  Tessa asked.

“Well the plan is to use brute force against them and I will use some of my forbidden spells if that means finishing this war.”

Ella commented, “Well alright oh by the way my name is Ella, Fang gave me that name and I like it.”

Ash chuckled, “Well okay Ella, you guys will take down the second fort then leave the castle to me.”

“I am starting to like your way of thinking Ash,” Brick respected Ash a little more.

“What will I do Ash, I am not the best when it comes to taking on swarms of soldiers,” Tracker pointed out.

“You will get me an opening to the castle when the time comes, I want to save as much energy as I can. Now Fang, Tessa, Stone, Brick, I need you to be on the front lines giving it your all. That means Fang you might have to lose control to handle that many but it will probably be fun for you. I am certain they put most of their forces there as a wall to protect the castle.”

Everyone agreed to the plan before even going to Nicolas, they arrived at the tent where Nicolas was giving orders to soldiers.

“Ah Ash glad you're here, everyone is ready to move out on your command.”

“Good but I want to give a speech before going into battle if that’s okay with you.”

“I will roundup all the soldiers so you can make your speech,”

Nicolas left the tent while the others talked except for Ash who was lost in his thoughts,

“Umm Ash, could you tell us why you joined this war, we know the hero makes some sort of deal with the god they are fighting for.”

Ash saw everyone's eyes patiently waiting for an answer which made Ash take a sharp breath before giving his answer,

“I joined this war to get back someone I failed to protect.”

Ella said her opine, “If you are going through hell and back to save this person then they must mean a lot to you.”

“She is, she means a lot to all of my friends and I will do anything to get her back,”

Brick lightened the mood, “Well let's win this war and bring her back, right!”

Everyone did a little cheer with Ash waiting for Nicolas to give the signal.

“Ash it’s time for your speech,”

Nicolas opens the tent flap after taking a minute to prepare the soldiers,

“Sounds good.”

Ash walks out with all the reapers in tow, everyone lined up behind Ash with Nicolas beside him,

“Now all of you loyal soldiers who fought with me what do you do this for,”

the soldiers were dumbfounded with the question but some of them answered him with “I do it for the thrill of the fight” some others say “I can’t just leave this life behind after all the time I spent with these people.”

“Good to know that all of you feel that way. I have to say sorry because this fight will be the biggest battle you ever faced and I will not be able to protect all of you,”

Ash let his answer sink in before finishing,

“But this will protect you.”

He opened his black abyss storage pulling out a decorative blade that was emanating a black pulse,

“This blade is for pledges, if you were to pledge to me, you all will be able to use my fire at level four, it's a pure red flame that burns every and all enemies. So will you all become my army!”

Being able to use a level four spell as a regular human is rare; there were only four people who reached that level of power before and two out of the four were killed by that power.

Ash thought to himself, “Of course there are spells that are level five humans can use but they are not element powers which are the most powerful, like summoning is easy but even then there's some summons that is element based. It is really rare to even see humans use level three but a whole army using level four all at once, they could take a kingdom in a night if they wanted to.”

Everyone seemed bewildered, even the reapers,

“Could you even do that, I thought only gods could do that,” Nicolas questioned.

“Anyone who is powerful can do it and yeah I can do it but if someone who is weak were to do it, it would kill them.”

All of the soldiers made up their minds with little thought,

“So what will it be then,”

every soldier shouted, “We pledge our lives to you”

without hesitation,

“Good, now pass this blade around and keep your swords in hand,”

Ash turned around to the reapers to hear what they wanted to say.

Fang talked first, “Will you want to take us too,”

the reapers looked at Ash hoping for a yes,

“So all of you want to pledge your lives to me too.”

They all kneeled down,

“Please rise there is no need for that, just act how you would normally act. For you seven, I will need to do something else if you are going to become the commanders of my army. How about two-element spells at level four,”

All of the reaper's faces glowed up,

“How strong are you,” Tessa asked.

“I am stronger than all of the gods and I will prove it to them. Now, I will need all of your weapons for this,”

Ash had them place their weapons on the ground forming a circle and performed his ritual,

“These seven who will give their lives for me has pledged to me, now they will pledge their very soul to me making them my commanders,”

The weapons started glowing yellow so did all of the soldier’s weapons.

“Now all of you are my soldiers who will fight to destroy anyone who crosses our path!”

Everyone cheered in unison making a huge roar,

“Good I see everyone is in a good mood now about your elements, all of you have the fire element and the other element is to your choosing.”

Brick suggested, “Instead of a new element of power, can you help me create a new spell.”

The thought of having a unique move only you can use has popped into everyone's minds,

“I want my own move too,”

Fang and the rest of the reapers swarmed Ash asking for his help.

“I have a better idea, how about an ultimate move that requires all of you to use. The power of this spell will be able to change the whole outcome of a war.”

“How would such a spell work,”

Everyone wanted to ask questions on how it worked,

“What will the element be for this ultimate move,” Nicolas asked.

“Well, you see this power is whatever element you want it to be.”

Everyone was shocked by his answer to the question,

“But how can a spell change to any kind of element,” Ella is borderline screaming from excitement.

“It's more simple than you think, it's the power of friendship.”

Everyone stood in silence hoping he was lying,

“I am just joking, friendship will get you nowhere. The truth is power is everything and how you use it changes the element. Your emotions are the key, like fire is for anger while water is calmness but some elements require morality, holy spells like holy arrow can only be used if you fight for a sense of justice while abyss or dark magic is people who lack justice or did an unspeakable crime that can’t be forgiven like my brother in that trap over there who burned a whole empire to the ground.”

“What about lightning, what emotion is that,”

Fang and Ella were the most eager to know what controlled lighting Ash and Astrid use.

“That is ruled by fear,”

the others accepted the answer but Ella and Fang kept questioning Ash,

“But I saw your lighting, how could you be afraid with your power.”

Ash looked at all of his soldiers who were cheering and having a good time,

“Fear can be for different things, I was never afraid for my life but for others, the people I care about, losing someone is my greatest fear and it happened more than once already. Emotion empowers your spells but it is reckless to rely on them, the more you're full of the one emotion the more it powers it but makes dangerous side effects.”

The reapers stood there looking at all of their comrades enjoying themselves even though it may be their last battle,

“I would never trade this for anything,” Nicolas hopped down to have fun with the soldiers.

“You guys should enjoy it while it lasts,” Ash advised the reapers.

“What about you Ash, are you going to join in with on fun."

 “No go ahead without me, I need to take care of a few things,”

Ash excused himself to take care of the others. The blindfolded man walks to the spiral water wind tornado,

“RELEASE,”

Ash shouts out making the blood-red tornado dissipate,

“It’s been a while guys and lady, what have you been up to.”

King was laying on the floor dying from starvation while the others looked bored out of their minds.

“Is that really you Ash, how did you get here,”

King got on his feet, relieved to see Ash again. The three brothers squeezed Ash with a hug,

“Please guys let go, I don’t want to die this way.”

The three let go of their death grip letting Ash breathe again,

“Ash, these two want to say sorry for what happened with the whole Mount Olympus thing.”

King shoved the two forward to where Ash lifted Grim off his feet,

“I want to kill you so bad,”

Ash takes a breath-holding his tears back, his eyes turn a dark red,

“You don’t know how bad I want to snap your bird neck but I can’t, you are my stupid brother that puts me through hell but I can’t, even if you took a person I held dear to me. But I can beat you till you are at death's door.”

Ash slammed Grim into the ground followed by a punch to the lower abdomen making Grim fold like a chair.

“Now You Sarah I know you didn’t have anything to do with the death of Isabel but I feel like you contributed to it somehow so what do you have to say for yourself.”

Sarah had her tail between her legs with her ears down,

“I am so sorry for what I did, I will take any punishment you give me, just, can you please heal my little friend.”

She pulled her little familiar from her bag, the little fire fox’s flame was dangerously low, close to smoldering.

“You should have researched your familiar, this one needs a fire source to live, or else she will die out. Here, this will keep her going,”

Ash summoned a fire spirit to comfort her fox.

“This little guy needs familiars to live and your fox needs the spirit to live so it's a perfect circle.”

The baby spirit cuddles with the fox, warming it up making the fox’s flames burst with power. She hugs her familiar while the fox licks her causing little burns on her cheek,

“Thank you Ash for helping me even when I caused problems for you, I am ready for my punishment.”

Ash picks up Grim from the ground and tosses him at her,

“There is your punishment, keep him out of trouble and you too Creed or we are going to have a little match, got it,”

Creed nods his head while Sarah tells Ash,

“I rather die,”

Ash with haste, “That can be arranged if you like.”

In which Sarah quickly replied, “On second thought he will be fine.”

“Good,”

King asks again, “So Ash you still haven’t told me how and why you are here.”

“It’s part of my deal with Hades to get Isabel back, the thing is, I can’t have you interfere with this war, the deal is void if you do.”

He pulls her soul out of his lockbox,

“This is her soul, I will destroy the Iron Legion and get her back so all of you, sit back and watch the show.”

“Well if that is part of the deal then I can’t go against it and put Isabel in jeopardy, come on you three let's go see if the others are okay,”

Creed and the others left but King waited for a little to tell Ash with his back facing him,

“Kill them all if that means getting her back, even if families are there, do it, or else you will never see her again.”

King flew off to go see Sophia,

“Don’t you worry, there will be nothing left when I am done.”

#

“Alright, ready to try your new move reapers!” Ash voiced his command.

“So we use our emotions to change the element right,”

“Right, all of you need to be thinking of the same emotion, let's try hate or anger. Think of something that makes you angry like losing a friend because you were too weak.”

Everyone had their thoughts in their head, it all showed on their face, the pain, the loss, the hatred for the weak.

“What are you thinking about Fang, what is making you mad,”

“My family getting killed just because we are vampires even when we didn’t kill anybody.”

“Good, feel it, how about you Ella, what is making you heat up,”

Ella shouts out, “Being betrayed by my king, they said I was no longer needed and that I am a danger to them so they tried to kill me!”

“Excellent feel it, charge that spell with it, Brick you are next, what pisses you off,”

the spell started forming, a red circle appeared under their feet.

“I lost to you, a scrawny hero while I was training and building up my muscles my whole life.”

“Next you Tessa, what enrages you,”

she pushes out her words with force, “My people are extinct, I am the last of my race.”

The reapers all had their arms straight out with their hand open pointing in the direction of the fort,

“How about you Tracker what ticks you off.”

He bellows out, “I will never get to know who my parents are!”

In the middle of the magic circle, a ball of pure red fire starts to form,

“Now Nicolas how about you, what keeps you going,”

Nicolas keeps one hand raised while reaching into his armor for a necklace with the name Raymond carved into it,

“What keeps me going is fighting to get revenge for my son!”

“Good, all of you, NOW RELEASE IT!”

All at once the reapers push forward sending the ball of fire at the fort setting it ablaze.

“Amazing job everyone, get ready to finish this with volleys of fire spells. Nicolas gets the soldiers ready for an attack,”

''Understood sir.”

He rushes off with Tracker by his side,

“How did it feel to launch such a powerful attack.”

Fang laughs, still out of breath, “It feels amazing, like we can take on anyone now.”

Ash chuckles, “Well I don’t know about that. Are you reapers ready for battle,”

Ella and the others answer with confidence, “Hell yeah we are!”

“Good because this will be the battle for the ages,”

Nicolas comes marching with the army following behind.

“Everyone line up. We are going to burn that fort to the ground,”

everyone forms a line holding their arms out in front of them.

“This spell is called flame which is a basic fire spell but for you guys and gals this spell will be enhanced by my power now everyone say flame level four when I say fire. One, two, three, FIRE,”

everyone roared out,  “Flame level four,”

launching a huge volume of fire blasts that covered the sky.

“EVERYONE CHARGE!” Ash yelled out,

sending all into battle except Tracker who stayed to escort Ash to the castle.

“Let us go finish this war shall we,”

Tracker pointed the way, the two head to the castle without stopping. 

 

Meanwhile, at the bridge, Jax is up and eating his meal with a smile while the others are starving,

“Come on Jax, you and Astrid are the only ones that know how to cook and Astrid looks like she wants to kill us. You are the nice one here right come on,”

Jax puts down his fork, “Go fetch me ingredients from that town, I think it's called The Town of Euphrosyne. Good luck,”

Jax got up and walked into the barracks to go see Sophia after giving the three a quest to go find food.

“I am starving,” Sarah uttered out with a stomach rumbling.

Creed suggests, “We can go eat when we get to the town then pick up ingredients for later,”

Grim’s face lit up, “You're a genius, let's go before we die from starvation.”

The three ventured out while Astrid and the rest enjoyed their meal with entertainment.

“Look at the beautiful lights,”

King pointed to the fire covering the sky,

“It looks pretty,”

Sophia looked in amazement. Astrid tries to beat the fire by telling Sophia,

“Just you wait, the final event is almost here. Ash is the best at showing a good light show.”

Everyone agreed on that, “Yup Ash is the king of flashy moves,”

Jax added while handing everyone plates filled with food, “Here is the second course and with that so is Ash’s second step of his plan.”

“I want to join so badly but Ash told us no but I have to fight someone. How about you two Astrid and Sophia, do you want to spar while we wait. I can teach you one of my moves if you want to Sophia,”

Sophia accepted with a grin while Astrid also accepted but with more of a serious smile, “I will gladly take your offer and use this time to get my revenge on you for all those insults you threw at me.”

“Alright, both of you, fists only, I want to see if you can handle hand-on-hand combat.”

Sophia stayed back while Astrid advanced first, she led with a straight right punch that King dodge making her stumble. He kicked her in the back, knocking her to the floor. Sophia did a switch kick to King’s jaw but before the blow could land King dodged back, Sophia hopped back then rushed in with a flurry of leg kicks,

“Didn’t I say hand to hand.”

While King was distracted by Sophia, Astrid came from behind with a dropkick which pushed King into Sophia’s spinning heel kick. The dazed King stumbled back to where Sophia and Astrid rushed him with a sweep kick and a roundhouse kick, completely sending King through the rubble. The two girls fist bump each other,

“Good job you two but if you want a real challenge you will have to fight me or Ash, the two of us are better when it comes to hand-to-hand combat.”

Sophia lends a hand to King helping him out of the rubble he was stuck in,

“Wow you two sure like using kicks, ow you win this little spar,” King held his jaw with pain in his expressions.

“Sophia, I am very proud of you, Ash would be too if he saw how you handled yourself.”

Sophia thanked him with a hug,

“Aww, where did the big bad King go, you are just a big softy,” Astrid made fun of him.

King smirked, “I deserve that but Sophia I think it’s time to learn a new move. What do you think Jax,”

Jax thought about it then asked Astrid who was teasing Sophia,

“I don’t know if she is ready,” 

“Come on guys I can handle it, please,” Sophia pleaded.

King patted her head, “We are just having fun with you, what move would you like to learn,”

Sophia asked King, “Some move that has fire with it like Ash.”

King suggested, “I may not be amazing with hand to hand but I got the perfect move,”

King summoned flame from the palm of his hand. He then surrounded his feet and hands with fire,

“This will be called flame armor spell level one.”

The flame took the form of a pair of fiery gloves and boots.

“Woah that looks awesome,” Sophia beamed with excitement.

“Anything you kick or punch will be burned the same goes for blocking too. You will need to focus so you can do this right, you need to summon fire from your hands first.”

She focuses on her palm, igniting a flame that is green,

“That is level two fire, one-upping me ehh, only a certain amount of people can even summon flame of level one even more so for level two. I can only get to three myself but there are many different routes a fire spell can go, I like using them as blades but it is a double-edged sword.”

Sophia took all of that information in and created armor made out of the flame, it scared her at first thinking she somehow messed up the spell but it began forming into boots then moved all the way up to the top of her head,

“I did it, I thought of making a full suit and it worked.”

“I am so proud of you Sophia, we all are proud of you,” Astrid filled with pride to have her under her wing.

“Guys I know it’s great that she learned her move but there seems to be something going on,

” Jax pointed out the two elemental Lions towering over the kingdom.

“That seems to be Ash’s familiar’s true size,” the lions were fighting, one was Ash’s lion while the other was a red lion but wasn’t as big as his, there were multiple familiars fighting by its side.

 

 

 

#

 

 

 

The three left the town to see the chaos that took place at the castle,

“Of course he would be the hero of the opposing side.” Creed rubbed his eyes in stress.

“Who is the enemy hero, do you know them,” Sarah asked with a little fright seeing the enormous lions.

“It’s Ash’s twin brother, Sin, he and his brother are different in many ways but not in looks. Sin is a twisted merciless killer, the brother King wants Ash to be. If he keeps losing people he cares about he will turn into a cold emotionless killing machine too.”

The three rush back to the rest of the group, while on their way to the others Sarah asks another question,

“Why does Ash care so much about you two that he will refrain from killing you even though you took someone dear from him.”

Creed's shoulder bumps Grim telling him to explain, “Fine alright I'll explain but you owe me got that.”

Creed’s smile was more of a rub in your face kind of smile.

“He won’t kill us because we took the two who were dying from some fight that took place at a kingdom somewhere, well they were on death’s door and we had a house for the two of us. We let them rest there and fed them, when they got comfortable enough we went to places together, adventures together. That was before his eyes were, well I wouldn’t say enhanced but more powerful. Hades took him back and experimented on him and his brothers and sisters, so, me, Creed, and King went to rescue him. I pulled a few favors and got Hermes to take us to Hade's castle. We managed to get to the torture chambers to see piles of corpses in the corner, books filled with notes on a table beside tools that had been covered in blood. Ash and his siblings were strapped to tables with pieces of each sibling missing, Ash was going to get his eyes removed but Hades' spell worked so he just kept testing on them. While Ash’s twin had his back opened up with wings of a demon attached to him.”

Sarah had a face of disgust and anger forming, “How could he do that to his own children, that bastard!”

Grim continued, “What I was saying was the others were missing parts, Ash’s oldest sibling Rose, had her ears cut and modified to hear almost anything. She had two experiments done on her. She lost her hand and it was replaced with a metal hand that had magic infused with it to make it move at will. Rich had his vocal cords torn out and replaced with a different voice, Sin lost his mind from the pain while the others were mentally and physically fatigued. We managed to get the restraints off but Sin tried to kill us, screaming for Hades so we had to leave him behind. When we raced for the exits where Hermes was waiting, Ash started freaking out from the pain searing into his eyes causing him to shoot lightning all around him hitting Hades who gave chase. King had Rich on his back while Creed had Rose and I had Ash on mine, we managed to get away with Hermes' help. After all that happened, you would think Sin will develop some kind of hate for us.”

They arrive at the group to tell the crew,

“That got to be Sin right, King,”

King nodded, “This is going to get out of hand if we stay but if we go, Isabel’s life is forfeit. SHIT,”

King blasts off a fire spell at the ground, Jax tells the only reasonable answer,

“We have to stay and not intervene, we can’t jeopardize Isabel at any cost.”

Astrid and Sophia were confused about the name that was being tossed around,

“Hey guys, can you tell who this Sin guy is,” Astrid interrupted their back and forth conversion.

“Creed your turn, I am done telling that tale,”

Creed took Astrid and Sophia a little ways away from the group to explain.

“Hey Grim,”

“Yeah Sarah,”

“How did you know that was Ash that you rescued back then and not Sin you took instead.”

The words rang through the air stopping the whole conversation between King and Jax,

“Wait what, what are you talking about, of course, that was him it had to be him. He knew who I was,”

“Yeah, but how did you know he just didn’t tell Sin about you three, how long did it take you to get there.”

“It took us four weeks to get set up and go there,” his words sent pulses through everyone.

“So we will never really be certain if one is killed,”

Jax stops this theory short, “You must never speak of this to Astrid or Sophia, it might cause unrest among the group.”

The four all agreed to keep this dangerous theory a secret, the four could hear Astrid gasping at the horrors the brothers and sister of Ash had to go through. While Sophia was horrified by the way Creed explained it in great detail.

“What was so important to Hades that he needed to experiment on his kids.”

King whispered loud enough for Jax to hear, “Do you think Astrid will get the same idea about Ash not being Ash,”

Jax came to the conclusion, “She will be more focused on the pain and anger they must feel than thinking Ash is not Ash.”

King nods and walks away to go train to keep his mind off things.

Grim comes to Jax with his question, “What will we do with the Ash we know if he is actually Sin.”

“We do nothing, you know this Ash now, not the cold-blooded killer he is now.”

Grim was in a conflict with himself, either make amends with the old Ash or just let him be. The group was in disarray from the new knowledge they received. The group was split down the middle in taking sides, Astrid, Sophia, and Jax were on the side of the new Ash while King, Grim, and Creed wanted to comfort the old Ash. Sarah was in between not knowing who will be the better Ash or how he could benefit her in some way. 

#

Two hours earlier, “What should I get Isabel as a welcoming gift for her return to life. Maybe a bow or take her to a hot spring, but enough about that I need to focus on the task at hand.”

Ash burst into the castle reaching the metal doors, Ash put his hand against one of the doors melting it in an instant.

“Now let's see who my opponent will be,”

forty soldiers come rushing towards him. Ash dodges left grabbing the arm of a soldier and headbutts him breaking the soldier’s nose, he then uses wind magic,

“HURRICANE LEVEL ONE,”

the powerful gust of wind takes all of the soldiers' feet out from under them. The spell starts to rip off the part of roofs, after the spell has ended all of the soldiers were either unconscious or too badly hurt to continue to fight.

“Stay down, you are all beaten, if you try to get back up I'll have no other choice but to kill you.”

Ash hops on the badly damaged rooftops to get more of a view of the main castle,

“The entrance looks hardly guarded, it must be a trap set for me. Hmm, I guess I'll set a trap too,”

Ash charged a ball of lightning in the palm of his hand then tossed it at the feet of the two guards stationed at the front entrance.

“You should run while you have the chance,”

Ash hopped down from the building onto the ground. The guards tried to open the doors but it wouldn’t budge, the ball of lightning sent a current of electricity into the two soldiers frying them on the inside killing the brain.

“Well I warn them but it wasn't their fault, it’s the people in control who are at fault here.”

Ash was going to blast the door open but he heard a rumbling,

“Oh shoot,”

Ash rolled out of the way just before an explosion erupted tearing the wooden doors into splinters.

“You should have knocked, Sin. I might have used all of my power.”

The voice echoed through Ash’s ears,

“But how, I thought you died.”

“Oh I died alright but it looks like someone was enjoying being me while I suffered being you.”

Sin stretched his wings outwards while Ash was stuck to the ground from shock,

“Grim and the others told me you were dead,”

“Well brother, they lied to you obviously, telling you I died in the torture chamber probably. So you are Ash now, you ruined my reputation and I ruined yours.”

Sin flew towards Ash barely missing him, cutting Ash’s arm when he passed by.

“Come on brother what are you waiting for, I will kill you but will you have what it takes to kill me, how about I tell your little friends who you really are.”

Ash got on his feet feeling forced to fight him, “You leave me no choice Sin, I can’t, after all, I had to do to get here, I can’t let you jeopardize it now.”

Ash unsheathes his katana revealing the blade that is darker than a black hole. Ash lifts his fingers up in a taunting motion enraging Sin making him charge at Ash, Ash spins left just dodging Sin’s bladed wings and with a quick slash to the back Sin smashes to the ground, “Give up Sin I win,”

Sin puts a hole in the ground, “THAT IS NOT MY NAME DAMN IT, YOU TOOK MY NAME!”

Sin curls his hands into fists to push himself up to his feet,

“FINE asshole let's do this. Aku came forth,”

a purple summoning circle covered the whole castle. A red lion smashed through the castle the size of a titan,

“So if that is your prized familiar then you underestimate me, Vex, show him your might!”

A black circle appeared outside of the kingdom and expanded around the whole kingdom surrounding it. A black lion climbed out of the circle smashing giant buildings like it was a toy.

Sin grunted angrily, “GRRR, everyone take that lion down!”

Hundreds of flying familiars emerged from the purple summoning circle,

“Sorry Sin for what happened to you, but I can’t let you tell anyone my secret.”

Ash rushes forward with sword in hand swinging at Sin with three swift strikes, Sin uses his wings to deflect the strikes, while they are fighting they are having an argument,

“Do you even know what the gods are fighting for you idiot,”

Sin twirled with his wings open hitting Ash’s katana out of his hands,

“It doesn't matter what they are fighting for, I need to win to get back a friend and I will do anything to get her back.”

Sin backs off to ask him a question, “Why are you risking everything just to save one person,”

Ash fights back his tears and dashes forward with his fist at the ready, “I am doing this because it reminds me of you, how we left you behind by yourself, alone just to suffer and never live a life of happiness.”

Sin smacked Ash making him tumble backward, “Yeah but you did leave me behind and for that, you die!”

Sin sped to Ash with wings ready to strike,

“Fine if you don’t want to stop then I will end it here, I am sorry brother.”

Ash hopped on his hands then pushed off the floor sending him over Sin, Ash grabs Sin’s right-wing and rips it off,

“YOU BASTARD,”

Sin spins with his left-wing but Ash ducks avoiding it and punches Sin in the jaw. Dazed Sin shouts to Ash,

“If you don’t think what the gods are fighting for is important then you are way wrong! Sin, you took my name and made a name for yourself which angered a lot of gods but some wanted you to have glory and fame. This whole war is a decision to kill you or let you live! Hades is on the side of having you killed and you are signing your own death sentence. Brother, if you care about me and my feelings, surrender, just let me win this war, and you are saved.”

“Sorry Ash yes I took your name but I took it, for you, to remember you by and I can’t surrender anymore. I can’t lose any more of my friends and family.”

Sin charges Ash, “YOU LOST ME THEN ASH,”

Ash leans back avoiding Sin’s left wing then ducking his head. Ash catches Sin’s fist twisting it making him drop to his knees then he goes behind him putting his left hand on Sin’s chin and his right hand on the back of Sin’s head,

“I love you brother,”

Ash snaps Sin’s neck making his body drop to the ground lifeless, motionless. His actions immediately come into realization, Ash stands over his body regretting the decision, he screams at the sky,

“DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU ALL,”

Ash cries out dropping to his knees, putting his head to the ground covering his face with his hands. Sin’s familiars turn to stone dropping to the ground and breaking to pieces. Ash’s eyes turn from yellow to red to blue in seconds, a horn echoes in the sky. Ash shaking with sadness, tears rolling down his face,

“Brother, I take your name to remember you by,” Ash sniffles trying to keep himself together but failing.

“I-I will send you to a place of happiness where you will never suffer again, y-you can see our brothers and sisters who are waiting for you.”

Ash sits up after an hour of laying in the same position,

“Rest brother,”

Ash sets Sin’s body on fire, turning him to ash and blowing in the wind set free from pain at last.

“Brother I will not fail you anymore, I will kill him for all of us.”