Arthmin dashed forward with a speed that the eye could barely catch, weaving through the village alleys. This scene carried something that gnawed at his heart with pain; seeing the residents of his village and many of their corpses scattered on the ground. He noticed the sky was strange, unlike anything he had seen before, and there were also creatures that instilled terror in his heart, yet from their sheer oddity...
When he reached the entrance of this village, the leaders of the eight tribes stepped forward before him and spoke: "Have you finally finished the period you requested? Are you still convinced by the illusion of purity? Your sudden rise, along with this foolish tribe of yours, was not pleasing to us. We are a history that has extended for thousands of years."
The eldest among them on this continent, and the worst of them all, Rafael Al Marshall, declared: "Let us say, Arthmin, that we will consider granting you freedom, and we will compensate you, and we will drop all the charges placed upon you. But hand over to us in exchange... we want the soul from the Six Keys level, the model of the Lord of the Underworld."
He smiled. "Have you ever heard of a sword that does not wound? I am that sword; I draw blood but I do not wound." These honeyed words emerged from the depths of the earth, as if he had not weighed them, as if their meaning was not clear to him, but they were enough to restore his resolve after what he had witnessed.
The battle began between the ruling tribe leaders on this continent. The village of Efruwolf belonged to the Everguard tribe, the ninth family in this sequence.
Rafael repeated: "Will you surrender or shall we deal with the other method? You yourself know that this will not truly satisfy you. I know you are a talent who managed to rise to our level in a short time, but crossing the boundaries does not justify it."
Without warning, Arthmin paid no heed and charged into battle against the enemy soldiers. He moved like a ferocious beast, fighting and aiding the soldiers, and this instilled courage and hope in them, so they continued fighting alongside him.
After that, the eight leaders launched at the same time to end this matter. Arthmin was shocked by their simultaneous assault, but without any hesitation he drew his sword in the fastest time and tried to block their strikes. He received blows, blocked some, and dodged others.
And here it appears to us, as many say, that numbers always triumph over courage. This primitive concept was now a firmly rooted idea in Arthmin's mind, but despite all this...
The fact that he did not want anyone to sense their fleeing son and give the soldiers time to gather their courage was enough to make him a fool.
So, is this truly what it means to be a stubborn fool? Indeed, for the first time I think this is a beautiful compliment to express what stirs in the mind of one who cannot explain himself with words.
As the battle progressed, Arthmin was helping the soldiers, and at that very moment he was fighting eight other people on a completely different level; no one expected such power, even talent itself could not create this.
The leader of Blariker village, William Water Lim, spoke: "Truly, this is a monster in every sense of the word. Now you have given us every reason to annihilate you." Indeed, the eight leaders decided on one final strike, and the others prepared, each taking their form and reinforcing their bodies with aura.
The appearance suggested that the coming strike was unlike any previous one. The only channel left in his head was unable to do anything, but he was thinking of something else that was manifesting in this battle.
Arthmin raised his hands and placed them on either side of his face, then clapped them together and said: "Absolute Oath of Shenjian."
Everyone looked with a collective voice and uttered: "How dare you use a forbidden technique that was restricted in the Great War? Do you realize that you have sentenced yourself to death? You have gone mad."
The eight moved in a single strike. At that moment, Arthmin was gathering his aura into his sword, and as soon as that strike met, it caused a collision that generated a wave of winds across the entire village level.
And with the clearing of the fog curtains, that dark scene appeared; Arthmin's chest was torn from the flesh, but his entire body was intact except for the chest. As for the other leaders, they had suffered severe physical and spiritual injuries, but they were not of such grave damage.
Arthmin laughed a mad laugh that did not match his being. Then he spoke while looking at them one after another: "Even if I end, this principle will always be: one person dies and another is born. The will of today fades, so tomorrow the same burning will shall be born. This is enough to make the difference, and it will create the next era at the hands of one who... and this is what will decide in the final moment."
Arthmin gripped his only remaining companion, his sword, and plunged it into the ground while holding it. Arthmin's body stiffened from that forbidden technique, and he could no longer move.
Then he fell and took his final rest. He died standing. That scene was enough to instill terror in the opposing side. Those who remained from the residents of Everguard village on the standing leader's body, one of the soldiers smiled: "At least he got that honorable death." Tears and pain continued in everyone who witnessed this scene before them...
"Damn it, my vision is blurred, my energy is almost depleted, I must endure more..." Then he moved away as far as possible. And here Violet reaches her limits; the ground falls from the sky until it drops into the desert, but she was clinging to the rest of her power to prevent the child from colliding.
She screamed with all her voice from the pain. The wounds of war and the depletion of her spiritual energy had driven her toward destruction: "Damn it, will I break my promise?"
She noticed something strange; it looked like an illusory rift hiding something. She entered that cave.
With every step she took, a memory came to her mind: "Is this truly what one sees on the edge of death? It does not seem as terrifying as they say. This promise, and also this humiliating death, no one knows you... it really seems as painful as they claim."
Yes, and upon Violet's arrival, she realized that this place was a spatial rift leading beyond the mountain. She saw green plains, and there appeared to be a city hundreds of meters ahead.
She uttered: "At least I saw this beauty before my death. I apologize... I hope someone finds you."
And when Violet slowly closed her eyes, truly this life cannot be predicted...
She looked... and her eyes falling, an old man in front of her said: "Oh my God, what brought a woman and a child here?"