Ancient Imperial Calendar Year 1813
The rivalry between the Kislavein and Pleyciys Dynasties began with the battle that cursed the Kerbel Forest.
In this battle, the 13th Lord of the Kislavein Dynasty, II Arlous Kislavein, and the 19th Lord of the Pleyciys Dynasty, II Garbilon Pleyciys, were unaware that they were starting a rivalry that would last for centuries.
II Garbilon Pleyciys, along with hundreds of thousands of people in this battle, would be transformed into a monster as a result of a curse cast by II Arlous to win the war.
102 years after the Battle of Kerbel, Osiris returned from exile, ascended the throne as the 22nd Lord of the Kislavein Dynasty, gathered all his forces, and conquered Pleven, the seat of the Pleyciys Dynasty.
After the conquest, Osiris married Helenna Kislavein, his daughter, to III Krusya Pleyciys, the 28th Lord of the Pleyciys Dynasty.
With this marriage, the Pleyciys Dynasty officially recognized Kislavein supremacy.
For centuries, the Kislavein and Pleyciys Dynasties competed in every field: economic, political, military, even in the size of their family trees. But this rivalry would soon end.
The centuries-long rivalry would conclude with the final battle between Ricardo Kislavein, Heir to the Kislavein Dynasty, and Wilheim Pleyciys, the 71st Lord of the Pleyciys Dynasty.
Ricardo was advancing relentlessly with his army of sixty legions. Thanks to the intense work of his Curse-applicators, the Kislavein soldiers marched day and night without rest.
A few months later, the army reached Raven Pass. Ricardo saw soldiers fighting on the walls. He gave a mental command to his spirits through a telepathy spell.
"Find out how many soldiers are on the walls."
Within seconds, the spirits calculated the number of soldiers on the walls.
"Master Ricardo, there are over a thousand enemy soldiers on the walls. The Kislavein forces are about to be defeated."
Ricardo had arrived just minutes before Raven Pass would fall.
The soldiers on the walls of Raven Pass, who had fought for the Kislavein Dynasty to their last drop of blood, shouted with enthusiasm when they saw the Kislavein banners.
"REINFORCEMENTS ARE HERE!"
These cries both renewed the fighting spirit of the demoralized soldiers and terrified the enemy units behind the walls.
Ricardo raised his sword.
"ATTACK!"
With the attack order, the Kislavein soldiers charged towards the walls with all their might, their minds focused on a single thought: to drown their enemies in blood.
Ricardo and his friends—Marco, Marilin, Luna, Heinricht, Jack, Jacop, Benjen, Jonas, and Osiris—leaped meters high in a single bound.
Ricardo filled his sword with Aura and with a single swing, the Dark Blood-Red Aura took the form of a crescent, slicing through only the enemy soldiers.
With this move, Ricardo slaughtered the thousand rebels on the walls.
Those on the walls looked at Ricardo with admiring eyes. He had performed the most difficult move of Aura Shaping Technique.
Shaped Aura could tear everyone in its path to pieces, but those who mastered the Aura Shaping Technique could target only specific individuals.
Ricardo looked down from the walls and saw hundreds of thousands of rebels. This was a perfect opportunity to test his power.
"No one interfere," Ricardo commanded, his voice clear and absolute.
His friends wanted to object to this order, but the Western Lands had a strict and clear hierarchy; an order from a superior could not be questioned.
Ricardo raised his hand. A pure white beam of light filled his hand, then shot towards the enemies like an angry volcano.
Ricardo spewed the Light Element like fire to the left and right. The Light Element alone killed thirty thousand rebel soldiers.
Ricardo jumped down from the walls. As he advanced with slow steps, the rebels retreated in fear.
Ricardo quickened his pace. The rebels thought fear was pointless; there was only one man against them, while they were an army exceeding a hundred thousand.
The rebels attacked Ricardo, both terrified and shouting war cries.
Ricardo plunged into the enemy forces like lightning. In one hand was the sword made by the blacksmith Jaxenguard, in the other was an Aura Blade he had shaped from his Aura.
With every swing of his swords, he cut down dozens of men. As the rebels surrounded him, he shaped his Aura into crescents and hurled them left and right to clear space, tearing hundreds of soldiers to pieces.
Ricardo killed ten thousand soldiers before his physical sword broke. When it shattered, he created two Aura Blades ten meters long and three meters thick. Spinning at light speed, Ricardo killed 1,200 soldiers with a single rotation.
When Ricardo grew tired of close combat, he used a wind spell to launch himself twenty meters into the air. He spread his arms wide, creating hundreds of massive fireballs.
"Drown in the fire of your rebellion, you treacherous bastards."
Ricardo hurled hundreds of fireballs at his enemies, burning more than ten thousand rebel soldiers to death in agony.
Ricardo raised one hand to the sky. The heavens darkened, a violent storm began, and countless lightning bolts striking the earth turned the rebels to ash.
As the rebel forces began to flee in terror and horror, a single person rode his horse onto the battlefield. The rebel soldiers knelt and bowed their heads respectfully upon seeing him.
"It's been many years, hasn't it, brother-in-law?" said Ricardo, a false anger in his voice.
"Let's talk on the ground, my dear brother-in-law," said Wilheim.
"We have nothing to talk about, brother-in-law. I will have my revenge for my sister."
Hearing Ricardo's false vow of revenge, Wilheim smiled.
"We are the same, you and I. We pretend to love relatives we dislike for politics. Me, my father and my wife; you, your sister."
Ricardo burst into laughter.
"Hahahahaha! You're right, brother-in-law. I only saw my sister at the wedding. I never spoke to her once, not as a child nor at any other time."
Ricardo descended from the sky to the ground. He advanced towards Wilheim with slow steps, shaped his Aura, and formed a sword.
"Well then, brother-in-law, tell me, why did you kill my sister? It wasn't for your father's revenge, since you didn't love him."
Wilheim drew his sword and prepared for the duel.
"You are right, brother-in-law. I don't love my father, my wife, or even my son, not one bit. But this thing called Politics can force a person to sleep even with a bear."
"And who is the 'bear' in this situation? Surely not my sister?"
"Hahaha! Of course not, Ricardo. The bear here is the Bear of the North. Or rather, the Wolves of the North, the Turvigs. Jarl III Kayra Khan made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
Ricardo asked curiously: "What did he offer?Though it's somewhat obvious."
Wilheim smiled, spread his arms wide, and explained in an enthusiastic voice: "They would give us all the Western Lands!Hahaha, can you believe it? I would be the Sovereign of the West! I would be the one who destroyed the thousand-year Kislavein Dynasty! Everything was perfect: my timing, Orsman's Eastern Campaign, your entry into the Kerbel Forest, and the reinforcements from the north. Everything was in my favor, but—"
Wilheim's voice took on an angry tone. "You...you... you... you... you... YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!"
Ricardo, having lost all interest, prepared to attack. "There's no need for further talk,Wilheim."
Wilheim took his position for the attack. His eyes were like those of a hunter locked on its prey. "You're right,Ricardo. Let's end this centuries-old rivalry."
Time seemed to stop for the spectators, and then, in the blink of an eye, Wilheim and Ricardo had switched places. Then, hundreds of cuts opened all over Wilheim's body. He fell to his knees and collapsed to the ground.
"Tell me before you die. Did you kill my sister just to start the rebellion?"
Wilheim was on the verge of death; his body was growing cold, his eyes dimming. "Y...yes...the f-first blood... had... to... be... sh-shed..."
Wilheim Pleyciys, the 71st Lord of the Pleyciys Dynasty, closed his eyes for the last time on June 29, 1813.
Ricardo fixed his eyes on the rebels, then on the Kislavein soldiers behind him, waiting for the order to attack.
"KILL THEM ALL!"
"AS YOU COMMAND, DYNASTY HEIR!"
Not a single rebel survived that day.