Staring up at a starless night sky and gazing at the bright crescent moon hanging above with a pair of golden eyes never seen before, a man clad in white and gold accented armour sat atop a mountain of corpses in the middle of a river of blood bathed in the moonlight shining down from above.
Hidden deep within his eyes was an emptiness that couldn't be described by words as he cast his gaze around.
On all sides, there were all sorts of weapons pointed towards him, from bladed weapons like swords, to daggers, and spears, with some wielding blunt weapons like hammers, staves and gauntlets. The man looked down at his hands blood stained hands, and stared at the blood dripping down his palms and chuckled.
His chuckle grew louder, and louder and even louder till it became a hearty laugh, but it didn't stop there. His laugh grew louder and louder and louder still, becoming more and more disturbing with each passing second, bordering on insane. The man's expression twisted disturbingly as a manic smile spread across his face.
The longer he laughed, the more uncomfortable those stood around him became, soon they grew impatient and took a few steps closer, but it didn't take long before they would stop as the man's laughter instantly ceased as if it had never begun, and a wave of dread spread forth from his body.
The immense pressure pressed down on those surrounding him, and the simple act of breathing became difficult. The man's golden eyes flashed, and the wave grew stronger, pressing down harder and forcing the people to their knees. The sight of those who had bared their fangs at him grovelling on their knees thrilled the man, and his manic smile returned.
The man raised his hand, and within it, a golden energy manifested as a head-sized ball. He grabbed it, and the ball morphed, changing its shape rapidly as if being moulded by an invisible force. The golden force stretched and stretched till the shape of a sword was formed. He gripped the hilt and looked over the man directly in front of him with an apathetic gaze.
With slow and purposeful steps, he began forward and descended the mountain of corpses below. With every step came the sound of bones breaking, flesh and blood squelching beneath his feet. He soon reached the ground, and the moment his foot landed on the pavement below, the aura he emitted grew even more intense and forced the people flat on the ground. Slowly, he made his way forward and brandished the blade of his hand, placing its edge against the neck of one of the men.
Looking with disdain upon the grovelling man, he crouched low and with a voice reminiscent of pure evil and terror, he whispered in his ear.
"Where is your wretched master, you mangy mutt?"
A flood of fear and terror overtook the grovelling man's body and he struggled to get a glimpse of the man, no, the murderer, the monster who threatened to take his life at any moment. The man watched him resist his control and struggle to move even a finger, but after a few minutes, he got bored and drove the blade into his neck. In an instant, the blade pierced his neck, cut through his bone, and severed his throat, and a gush of blood came spewing out to join the river below.
The man released his grip on the hilt, and the sword dissipated.
He turned to the rest of the men struggling to rise to their feet, spread his arms out, and continued his manic smile. His eyes changed from a brilliant golden hue to a deep crimson as they fell on them. In his hands, two orbs of energy manifested and morphed into blades. In the next second, hr took a step forward and the pressure holding the men down vanished.
They immediately got to their feet and picked up their weapons, ready to defend themselves, but when they turned to the man, he had vanished. They frantically searched for him but to no avail.
"Spread out and search! He couldn't have gotten far," one yelled in command.
The rest, upon hearing his instructions, immediately split and began their search. They scoured the vicinity but found nothing. The man looking to be the leader clicked his tongue in frustration but continued his search. The men separated and spread their range of search, moving farther and farther apart but making sure to be aware of one another's position, as if planning to find and instantly surround him.
Little did they know, this was to be their biggest mistake.
The man suddenly appeared by the mountain of corpses and set his eyes on the leader, moving with what was best described as inhuman speed, he closed the distance of a few dozen meters in the space of seconds. The moment the leader laid eyes on his manic smile, his body moved on instinct, and he pulled on his weapon, a spear with all his strength, but before he could complete the movement, he felt a warm sensation around his neck. In the next second, he felt his gaze involuntarily slip away till the crimson-eyed man's feet were all he could see.
in the next second, even those were gone, and what he saw were the heads of his men and their bodies slumping to the ground one by one. He felt totally helpless before the monstrous power of the man wreaking havoc, but there was nothing at all he could do to stop it, at least not while dead.
The man stood with the head of one of his victims in his blood-soaked hand and stared off into the distance. Suddenly, his gaze shifted from the carnage he had just caused, and he fixed his gaze on his side. His manic grin only seemed to grow larger, longer, more... terrifying. His heart began beating madly, and his body flooded with adrenaline in anticipation of the incoming clash.
He threw the head to the side and dismissed the blade, bracing himself. In the next second, he raised his palms forward, and something collided with him. The force of the impact alone caused a massive shockwave, then a boom echoed for miles as a wave of air swept over the same distance and kicking up a cloud of dust.
He struggled in place against the force pushing him back and held his ground as his manic smile only widened. The man opened his mouth wide and a ball of energy manifested within. In the next second, the energy condensed and shot forward in a beam that cut through the cloud and pushed something back dozens of meters. When the object reached nearly a distance of a dozen miles away, the beam dissipated, but the man didn't relax.
Getting into a ready stance, at the tips of his ten fingers, smaller balls of the golden energy manifested and pulsed with power and at the same time, dozens of those same balls of energy manifested around him. Almost at the same time as they appeared, they morphed into various weapons, long swords, daggers, spears, halberds, claymores, tomahawks and much, much more. The man looked in the direction his beam shot towards and drew his hands back. In one fluid motion, he took a heavy step forward and slung his arms forward; following that movement, the weapons hovering around him shot forward with nearly inconceivable speed.
They cut through the cloud of dust in seconds, but by the time the man expected the sounds of screams to echo, what followed were the sounds of metal striking metal. The man's manic expression faded and was replaced by a sneer as he clicked his tongue and glanced back at the building behind him. He stared at it for a few seconds as his expression darkened for a moment before he quickly turned back. Taking a deep breath, his already golden eyes pulsed with power as every muscle in his body tensed, he crouched down low and braced himself before using a burst of energy to propel himself upwards.
In an instant, he cleared the now subsiding cloud of dust and laid eyes on his attacker. It was a burly man clad in silver armour and wielding a great sword larger than his own body as he swung with ease and parried every blade that came flying towards him. The gold-eyed man began losing momentum, but in the next instant, he summoned a platform of golden energy in the air and placed his feet against it, he crouched down once more. And this time, using even more energy, he pushed against it and shot forwards once more. The force of his leap shattered the platform, and a boom could be heard for miles.
Cutting the distance between them to nothing, he raised his hands and grabbed the burly man's chest plate, dragged and spun him round before sending him crashing back down to the earth from whence he came. The man somersaulted in the air and landed on his feet, looking up, his eyes widened, and he instinctively raised his blade above his head to deflect an incoming sword strike.
Then again, and again, and again.... and again. The man relentlessly swung his golden blade, giving his opponent no time to even think to counter. For a while, they were locked in an unbreakable stalemate, attacking, blocking, parrying and repeating until the burly man pushed himself past his limits. His eyes began glowing white, and along with them, a halo appeared and hovered above his head. A strange energy soon began enveloping his body, and his movements became faster, stronger and even more precise, yet they still lacked the power required to turn the tides completely in his favour.
The burly man suddenly felt the ground below tremble violently and from it, a massive spike broke through the pavement and emerged below him nearly impaling him in the chest, but he was barely able to dodge and in that brief moment of distraction the golden eyed man focused all his power as he swivelled on his heel to deliver a devastating strike to him. With incredible speed, his body flew back, collided and bounced off the body of the spike.
Without giving him a moments rest, he grabbed the hilt of his sword and the blade exploded with power. He pulled with all the strength in his arms, and the blade cut through the air and collided with the spike, severing it at the point of impact. The burly man, though, had ducked out of the way at the last second and leapt to the side in search of reprieve, but the golden-eyed man didn't stop there.
He pushed forward against the ground and swung his blade once more. This time, their blades collided and sparks flew in the air as they didn't bounce off, but the golden blade cut through the metal like butter. The destroyed weapon was instantly engulfed in a white light and began breaking apart till there was nothing left. With nothing left to defend himself, the golden-eyed man focused even more power into the blade of his weapon, raised it above his head and brought it crashing down. Its edge struck the burly man's armour and, like with his weapon, cut through like a hot knife through butter and severed his torso into two.
The blood gushed out like a fountain and covered his entire body as he watched the life leave his eyes.
Breathing heavily and wiping the blood from his face, he suddenly heard the sound of a child crying. He turned his back on the fresh corpses and strolled towards the building behind him. Dismissing his weapon, he stepped into the building, and the armour he wore also vanished into wisps of light that fell into him, revealing the damaged and torn black gambeson beneath.
He walked forward and past even more corpses and blood-stained walls till he reached the deepest part of the room and stood in front of a door. He stood there in silence as his heart sank, as in front of that door was a sight that sent his mind spiralling. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, wearing nothing but a blood-stained black dress, was a beautiful white haired woman. Her violet eyes lacked focus and lustre as she stared blankly at the floor below.
The man crouched down and raised her head, staring into her lifeless eyes, his heart sank even deeper. Her chest had been pierced clean through by what seemed to be a sword, and all the blood in her poured out and onto the floor, forming a pool that surrounded her. A well of emotions threatened to overflow, but before they reached the brim, he forced himself to be calm. He couldn't afford to let them cloud his judgment, not now.
The sound of crying echoed from behind her and spurred him into action.
He lifted and moved her gently to the side and opened a door behind her. He found himself in what looked to be a nursery, in one corner of the place was a cradle. The sound of crying only grew louder, and he quickly walked up to it, reached in for the child within, but hesitated. His hands were stained with blood, so he first used the blankets and bedding within to cover the child before lifting it out.
He snuggled it in his arms as he rocked from side to side. Slowly, the child calmed and its crying stopped, looking up, its tear filled golden eyes were obstructed by its beautiful snow white hair. He pushed the hair to the side and stared into its eyes as a smile, not the manic and sadistic smile he was used to giving, but a genuine and loving smile, crept onto his face.
"My son," he said, placing his forehead against his son's. "I am sorry for doing this to you, but it seems I will not be able to raise and give you the love and care you deserve."
Oblivious to whatever the man before him was saying or who he even was, the child giggled and pulled at his father's jet black hair. The man wanted nothing more than to stay in that moment forever, to stay with his family forever, but he knew there was nothing he could do about what was to come.
And as if rubbing salt into an open wound, he heard the sound of lightning crackling and felt a tremor beneath his feet.
"Those bastards are here!"