Chapter 5
A guard, alarmed by the sudden ruckus stormed in the cell, leaving his colleague behind. The instant he set foot in the run he was pushed against the floor by an unbearable strength. The whole city felt the savage killing intent deep in its bones at this moment.
Struggling to lift his head, the guard saw a vision that struck him with utter fear. The pentacle rumored unbreakable was shattered all over the place. In the center of the room, among the falling debris, a figure was in all fours. Covered of scars from head to toe, it had two arms seemingly covered by a dark matter that denied the existence of colors themselves. It was wearing ragged pants and its torso was naked, fully exposing the remains of over ten years of torture.
Red eyes with black whites filled with deep hatred were staring at the floor. Red light lines were running in from his eyes to his neck. And, last but not least, two wings were growing from the middle of its back. Full of feathers like a bird, they were of a filthy white. Three eyes similar to the ones on its head on each of the wings were starring fixedly at him. But the most dreading thing wasn’t all of this. It was the six bands of grey matter looking like a mummy’s that were giving the most crushing aura he ever felt. He was sure, if he was to touch it with his finger, his existence would be erased in less than a heartbeat.
The monster, because it wasn’t possible that it was human, slowly stood up and raise its head. The next moment it disappeared and struck the chest of the guard barely standing up with an incredible momentum, grinding his organs to mush. The man died after a few seconds of unbearable pain. He witnessed the thing, the former “tank” getting out of its cell with a grin as wide as its hatred but wasn’t able to do anything about it. The last thing he saw was an ominous greatsword of over 175 centimeters appearing out of thin air and finding its way toward the thing’s left hand.
A single long and narrow corridor was everything Kyle saw after getting out of his cell. He started walking through the empty passage. He wasn’t aware of the waves of mana going out of his body each second that were destroying the walls and floor wherever he was putting his foot. His greatsword, far too long for this narrow passage, was dragged behind Kyle, its tip scratching the floor.
Kyle quickly climbed the stairs at the end of the corridor and discovered another underground floor. Similar to the previous one, it differed by the presence of cells, they were all full with slaves and some, with reinforced steel door were housing others pentacles that were giving off a similar but a lot less ominous aura than the one he destroyed.
The slaves, because the basement was full of starving slaves flew in the corners of their cells to avoid the dreadful presence approaching. A guard courageously charged at Kyle. The later swung horizontally his left arm and his sword cut through the abdomen of the poor guard, and the walls too, shattering and spreading little shards of stone everywhere and hurting all the men, guards or slaves, that were standing.
Spreading his weird strips, Kyle launched them at the stunned guards, cutting them like paper. He then crossed the corridor with a satisfied grin and climbed another flight of stairs.
**
Fearing for his life, the guard that was earlier drenched in cold sweat took his prisoner, a white girl with strange red streaks in her cheeks and ran out of the cell in the first floor of the basement.
But he was already too late.
His breath stuck in his throat when he saw the thing glaring at him, no, his slave, with incredibly wide opened eyes. The next moment, the world turned red.
**
When Kyle got up the stairs he made a few steps in the empty floor but felt something familiar. The next moment, a strange couple got of a cell. One was a bulky looking guard with a sword obviously of better quality than the other guards’ and a girl, in her late teens, around 160 centimeters tall, she was skinny, too skinny and her skin as white as a bone bore similar scars as Kyle’s. The filth in her hair wasn’t able to completely conceal its pure white color. Her eyes were big and a red mark like streams of blood, or tears, tainted her cheeks. Even with these changes, Kyle recognized her, and she recognized him too. She was Yukina. Her eyes widened in surprise and Kyle’s body froze.
The guard, smelling an opportunity to get out of this pinch unscathed drew his sword and placed it against her neck. “One more step and I cut her neck like I pick flowers!” He even grinned, convinced of his good fortune. A wave of pure killing intent hit him like a tsunami, and his hand wavered, biting a bit of white skin.
Suddenly, the captain, because he was one, felt a sharp burning pain at his flank. His thoughts grew hazy as he realized he was dying, filled with indignation, he pulled his sharp sword in a last act of “bravery”.
A red fountain sprang in slow motion and splatted everywhere. The instant some drops of blood splatted on Kyle’s cheek, something snapped.
His sight blurred in red, the ocean of hatred that he was barely controlling up until now turned in a complete universe. He screamed, a low and rumbling rattle grew higher and higher and became an ear-shattering high-pitched scream.
A sudden surge of mana, the biggest ever felt in the continent, filled to the brim with unbearable sadness and hatred as deep as the abyss.
*****
Everyone in the Academy was silent, anxiously watching the city and the waves of mana that were emanating. Mr. Palareff finally opened his mouth. “These waves contain more mana than what a hero can produce in one year.” His voice was trembling but not only with fear. The old archmage was excited by the being that was releasing them.
Farah then realized that the mana waves were the same as the strange mana stone’s. Her interrogations grew thicker and thicker, not knowing what it meant, or, to be exact, not wanting to draw any conclusions.
Suddenly, a mana wave huge enough to affect their mind, their sights exploded with white and black. They heard an ear-shattering roar followed by a soudwave coming from an explosion.
When they were finally able to see normally, the entire red light district was erased from existence and a beast, -or a monster?- was seen flying away in direction of the dwarven mountains.
Lyann smirked, his breathing rough. “This, I never felt as threatened as just now. This beast or whatever it is is a real monster. My Battle Instinct was ringing like crazy, like if he wanted me to avoid this thing at all costs.” Everyone looked, astonished, at the fearless giant that just spoke.
Saryn Thrun, one of the otherworlders, shuddered and said. “It was strange, like if it was both a monster and… a human. His mana waves were really unique.” Her gift granted her a better comprehension of the magic of this world and thus allowed her to state this kind of things much faster than a normal mage. The other otherworlders and the professors stared at her and were forced to admit this possibility. As disturbing as it was.
*****
Somewhere, in a grey space with a giant shining orb at the center, a man spoke with a voice filled to the brim with power. “So someone with the power and will needed appeared.”
A woman’s voice, equally powerful but more gentle. “I wonder how he will grow.”
*****
In another part of the universe, the Administrator, supreme being of the world chuckled to himself. “I knew he was outstanding but not at this point.”
