Ominous clouds filled the sky. The murky smell of filth and dust wafted in the air. Darkness and Gloominess surround the sight as far as one could see.

Argh…

A knight draped in a standard knight outfit is lying down in a pool of blood. A few meters from him lies a shield with Favonius' crest of arms.

Argh…

The knight groans again, the smell of blood and purplish-black filth permeate in his surroundings. The filthy oozing concretion slowly gnaws on his right arm, dying its entirety in purplish black. The vision of the knight blurs, his consciousness slowly fading away.

"EMBRACE ME… EMBRACE THE VOID!!"

An enchanting voice fills his head, pulling his consciousness into the Abyss.

"I…"

Memories slowly fade away from his being as the knight slowly loses his sense of self. The corruption from the filth clings to his arm and spreads across his soldier. The knight slowly closes his eyes, his consciousness falling to the lullaby of the mysterious voice.

"BROTHER!"

Before his consciousness fades completely, a melodious voice rings in his head. A cheerful girl with golden-brown hair embraces him.

"Promise me, brother! You will return home before the Windblume festival."

The knight extends his lifeless hands to reach out to the girl, but the fuzzy memory fades away.

"Void is your true home. Return to its embrace!" The enchanting voice begins to overwhelm, his consciousness. The corruption from the Abyss slowly extends to the right side of his chest.

Grit…

The knight clenches his teeth. An unknown surge of energy burst forth from him. Elemental particles of ice fill the desolate surroundings. A burst of freezing wind envelops him as he mutters to himself.

"Be… be without fear in the face of your enemies.

Be… be brave and upright that God may love thee.

Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death.

Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong,

For this my oath as the pride of Favonius."

A divine voice like a judgment enacts in his mind.

"When a person's ambition reaches a certain strength,

the gods look upon them with favor.

When one's fervent ambition burns brightly,

the gods will cast their gaze upon them."

BOOM…

White lights fill the sight of the knight as the favor of Gods, 'the vision' materializes in front of him. The light from the vision halts the progress of the corruption, but the oozing concretion continues to gnaw at his consciousness.

Clench…

In his last moment of sanity, the knight grabs the vision.

Whoosh…

A gigantic great sword made of ice materializes on top of him.

'Even in my death, I, Sean, won't tarnish the honor of Favonius.'

BANG…

The great sword of ice plunges into the chest of the knight. Slowly, the glow in his eyes fades away. The bright elemental energy present in the vision slowly disperses.

--------------------------

At a distance, in a cave.

BANG…

An extremely tall man with broad shoulders punches the walls of the cave. A small crater forms in the wall of the cave. Blood leaks from his hands, but he pays no heed to it. The nearby knight captain slightly flinches at this fight.

"This damn Abyss!"

The tall man gnashes his teeth in anger. A slight drop of tear leaks from his eyes. He closes his eyes in grief.

The knight captain signals the medic. The medic attends to his injury, but the tall man ignores it. After dressing the wound, he waves his hand to the surrounding knight.

"I need some time, ALONE!" He stresses his words.

The knights disperse leaving behind the lonely tall man.

After vacating the cave, the knights check their supplies and prepare the camping equipment.

"Mack!" One of the knights addresses another knight.

The knight with golden brown hair and a handlebar haircut turns towards the approaching knight.

"Riese!" He addresses the approaching young knight.

Riese stares at the cave with worry.

"Grandmaster… will he… will he be alright?"

Sigh…

Mack sighs and pats Riese's shoulder.

"Grandmaster needs time to calm his emotions. Sean was like a son to him. His loss is a major blow to his heart." Mack assures the rest of the knights.

Being a senior knight and a close aide of the Grandmaster, it was his duty to placate the feelings of his fellow knights. The knights resume their duties. Few of them return to patrol while the remaining few prepare dinner.

Mack leans against a boulder and closes his eyes. He recalls the event that happened during the day.

A few days ago, due to an increase in monster activity, the fourth company of knights responsible for reconnaissance launched a large-scale recon mission. During this time, they spotted a major suspicious ritual of multiple Abyss monsters to the north of the Brightcrown mountains.

Upon further investigation by multiple scouts and patrol squads, the investigation team assigned a threat level of S-Rank to it. Grandmaster Varka personally took the lead and formed an expeditionary team of more than fifty percent workforce of knights of Favonius.

During the expedition, their squad discovered multiple corruption sites polluting the land and spreading the influence of Abyss on nearby flora and fauna. Horde upon hordes of monsters safeguarded the corruption sites. They waged battle against the monsters and cleansed the nearby land of corruption.

At the final corruption spot, the knights spotted a corrupted elemental drake, the juvenile form of a vishap. The corrupted vishap possessed power greater than the knights could manage alone.

So Grandmaster Varka had to step in. He single-handedly battled the monster for an entire night and finally slew it with the swing of his mighty claymore. Before the exhausted knight could celebrate his victory, the heralds of the Abyss ambushed him, revealing it to be a ploy orchestrated by the Abyss.

The Abyss herald sneak attacked an exhausted grandmaster after the previous hefty battle. Sean jumped in and saved the grandmaster from the sneak attack, but he was grievously wounded in the process.

An exhausted Grandmaster battled against five Abyss heralds and slew them all. In a desperate attempt, the heralds activated a magic circle to bury everyone alive. The ground beneath them split apart. Grandmaster Varka and the rest of the knights were able to avoid the fall.

However, the grievously wounded Sean fell into the bottomless pit.

Sigh…

Mack helplessly sighs at the demise of such a young talent. Mack was an orphan raised in the orphanage of Mondstadt. He started his knight training at the age of eight, learned how to wield a claymore by the age of ten, became a squire by the age of thirteen, and joined the Order of Favonius knight as an official knight at the age of sixteen.

His skill with the sword and claymore was second to none since the Grandmaster Varka personally taught him whom the latter considered to be a father figure.

After an hour…

Step… Step…

Heavy footsteps resound across the camp. Grandmaster Varka walks in the direction of Mack.

"Assemble an investigation group to search for the whereabouts of Sean's body. As for the rest of you, pack up; we will depart for Mondstadt."

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Hello, Forgotten Life here. I am the author of Reborn In Naruto as Madara's Grandson. This is my latest work. It will be a slow pace story. There will be 3 chapters per week for now.

Comment down your thoughts and suggestions.