Chapter 1
It was too late for the grand duke, Arda fravas had already cast its spell to instantly kill him. All the royal family, except king Dorian, looked in horror as their life-long friend was destined to die. Carmon screamed knowing she was soon to witness her father’s death right before her eyes. Hikaru kept his back against the wall watching silently, too nervous to make any noise or movement. The three remaining swordsmen dared not look away, uncertain of what the consequences were too come of the ancient summoning’s attack.
“RAZIEL!!!!!!” Christian called out terrified for his mentor, “Dad stop it!” he pleaded running to his father’s side and pulling at his arm.
“It’s too late.” Dorian replied in a cold tone.
The young prince watched as darkness surround the grand duke’s entire being. Raziel brought his forearms up and looked at his arms and hands, witnessing the shroud of darkness cloaking over him. He had seen this attack preformed before and had known there was no avoiding its dangers at this point.
The darkness had blackened and was at its worse, then slowly began to lighten up and fade away completely. Everyone stood staring and confused, especially king Dorian.
“But, but how did you survive the effects of ‘judgment’? What trickery is this, huh!? Did Arda fravas truly find you to be innocent?” Dorian asked in shock, looking at both Raziel and Arda fravas.
Instead of withering away like other victims before him, Raziel remained where he stood, healthy and unaffected. Raziel wondered if Arda fravas saw him to be innocent or if the armor protected him from certain death, either way, he was truly thankful.
“It’s the power of the armor of Kamisama. It protected him, like from before in the forest of darkness.” Rufus said quietly to himself and the other two swordsmen.
In the chaos outside the ballroom Wade had run through the hallway and was stuck in the swarm of panicking guests, but noticed a familiar guard from earlier. He fought his way through the madness and reached the guard.
He grabbed his arm, “Hey soldier, the crazy lady from before, where is she?” Wade asked.
“Huh?” the guard responded as if stunned by the commotion.
“Listen to me! The woman from earlier, where is she now?” Wade pleaded.
“The woman from earlier?” he questioned for a second, “Oh, she’s in holding.” he finally answered.
“Where?!” Wade demand.
“Down the hall, last door on the right.” the guard answered.
Wade quickly ran from the soldier and down the hall to the holding room. He burst through the door and startled Amanda who was cuffed to a seat.
“Wade?! What’s going on out there? Why is everyone screaming?” Amanda asked nervously.
“No time, let’s go.” he said grabbing her arm and noticing she was restrained.
“I can’t, I’m cuffed thanks to you! I’m gonna die cause you ain’t I?” she began whining and tearing up.
Wade looked around and saw no keys in sight to free her, “Lemme think, lemme think.”
The swordsman’s mind raced with many thoughts. He looked down at the floor thinking of what to do, the chair was bolted to the ground, she was cuffed to the chair, and the keys where somewhere in the massive castle. As he placed his hands on the sides of his head he noticed the hilt of his legendary sword on the side of his waist.
He lifted his head quickly and grabbed the hilt of his sword, “Move to the side!” he ordered.
Amanda saw him grab the swords handle, “Wait! What’re you about to do!?” she worried.
The blonde spikey haired swordsman withdrew his sword. The blade once again was immediately covered in a thick coat of ice and emitted an icy cold frost.
“Whoa.” Amanda respond in surprise then moved to her side.
Wade sliced with his sword and transformed the handcuffs and seat completely into water forcing Amanda to fall to the floor in a puddle of cold water.
“AH!” she screamed in surprise, “How did you do that? What just happened?” she asked.
“No time now, we gotta go!” Wade answered back quickly while sheathing his sword.
He grabbed Amanda’s hand and pulled her up. The two ran over to the door to look outside first before rushing out of the castle with the rest of the frantic guests.
Back in the ballroom an eerie moment of silence blanketed the room. A friendship over twenty years had just been killed with the king’s failed attempt to instantly kill the grand duke through the usage of his summoning. King Dorian angrily stood at the top of the steps looking down upon Raziel wondering where the situation would go from now.
The young prince was breathing nervously due to the adrenaline coursing through his body. This tragic moment was becoming increasingly worse by the second. The prince wondered how the two friends could happily eat at the dinner table the night before and now be pitted against each other to such an extreme circumstance. Alisha sat next to her mother holding her hand tightly and scared. The young princess was on the verge of tears from the horrific display before her.
Natalia stood up from her seat, “That’s enough Dorian, this entire thing has been blown way out of proportion.” she said trying to ease the moment.
Raziel stood in front of his selfish friend, “You son of a bitch. You tried to kill me twice now.” he calmly stated, but slowly increasing his voice with rage, “After everything I’ve given you! Everything I’ve done for you and THIS is how you treat ME!? The ONE time I want something, and for your own good and you try to kill me!” Raziel angrily complained.
The skilled warrior yelled and threw his arms to his sides as if preparing to grapple. Raziel began running towards Dorian for the attack causing Alisha to scream.
Dorian was surprised and scared. He had never been on the receiving end of Raziel’s fury before. The king would be a fool not to fear the skilled warrior’s rage and had hoped to never experience such an unsettling moment.
“Arda fravas! Stop him!” Dorian ordered.
The towering summoning threw one punch with three of its arms slamming into the ground around the grand duke. Raziel dodged the three attacks, despite the grand duke being a bulky man, he was very quick and light on his feet when need be. The summoning used its fourth arm to slice at Raziel with its forearm. The grand duke’s humanly instinct was to try and protect himself, so he stopped in his tracks and braced for the attack while blocking with his own two forearms.
Arda fravas’ slice connected and slammed into the grand duke’s opposing forearms. The attack did not force Raziel to waver in the slightest in fact he felt no opposition at all.
“Crush him Arda fravas!” Dorian ordered.
“Raziel!” Christian called out reaching his arm out wanting to assist his closest friend in some way.
The great summoning picked its other three arms from the ground where it cracked the floor and slammed each arm into the grand duke’s blocking forearms. Arda fravas’ face was emotionless and cold, it attacked its original owner without hesitation. Even though the grand duke was not budging from the onslaught of attacks from the summoning, he was in fact creating a crater in the tile floor. Raziel noticed he was unaffected by any of the summoning’s physical attacks so he jumped out of the created hole in the floor and forced the monster back while doing so.
“You’re gonna get yours Dorian!” Raziel threatened.
The king panicked while the summoning regained his levitating balance.
In fear, the king realized how to stop the grand duke, “Arda fravas! Judgment!” he demanded again.
The summoning noticed the king’s intent and prepared the attack on its new target.
“Carmon!” Christian called out in surprise.
“Dorian stop this at once!” Natalia pleaded.
Raziel stopped charging at the king after hearing everyone’s concern and a fearful scream from his daughter. The grand duke looked back and witnessed his child being cloaked in the darkness of Arda fravas’ ‘judgment’ attack.
“NNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Raziel immediately charged full speed towards the summoning.
“Raziel stop or I’ll order him to finish the attack!” Dorian threatened.
The grand duke ran and leapt high into the air and reared his arm back for a full forced punch directed towards the summoning. He yelled angrily while flying through the air. The summoning prepared to finish the attack to guarantee the murder of the warrior’s daughter.
The queen’s eyes teared up for the welfare of the young girl, “Stop this madness!” she pleaded to her husband.
The prince watched Carmon become engulfed in the darkness. In such a small amount of time the prince remembered countless memories shared with the brunette. Even the dangers shared through their most recent endeavor.
“Carmon!” Christian called out. The prince ran from his father’s side and rushed over to the aid of the innocent girl.
“Christian!” Dorian called trying to grab the boy’s arm and keep him by his side, but the prince jerked his arm away from his father’s grasp.
The prince ran over and held the weakening girl who became limp in his arms. The darkness that covered her began to engulf the young royal as well. Right before the summoning could finish the murderous attack Raziel punched the monster in the chest, throwing the levitating creature to the back of the room as if weightless and breaking support beams inside the fancy room. Hikaru, who pinned himself against the back wall of the room, averted his head from the summoning which crashed through the wall close to him. The ambassador slowly opened his eyes to see rubble crumbling apart and preparing to crush him. Hikaru opened his eyes in surprise, he tripped and fell to the floor, but recovered quickly and leapt out of the way. Cement and marble slammed into the ground where he stood. The ambassador cowered in the corner of the ballroom nervously with his arms over his head for protection.
After Arda fravas had been slammed through the wall its ‘judgment’ attack was incomplete and the darkness of its move had disappeared from around Carmon and Christian. The two teens slowly relaxed their tense muscles and opened their eyes.
“We’re alive.” Carmon quietly stated.
“Yeah.” Christian smiled slightly.
Raziel ran over to the aid of the two teens and kneeled down by them both, “Are you okay?” he asked his daughter.
Carmon nod with a small smile causing the grand duke to smile back. He looked over at Christian who nodded as well assuring his safety too.
“HEY!!!!!” Vincent called out in a panic.
The silver haired teen ran as fast he could to prevent eminent danger, but was not quick enough. Wraith noticed what had gained the orphan’s attention after he had started running and hurried after him to help.
Queen Natalia had braced her footing so she would not have fallen from the impact of the summoning crashing through the ballroom’s thick wall. She heard the warnings of the silver haired youth and looked behind herself. A giant marble support pillar had been broken and began crumbling. The huge structure leaned over and fell towards the direction of the seated princess. Alisha had closed her eyes once the summoning was attacked by Raziel, but opened them after hearing the faint warnings of others over the breaking stone. She looked and noticed a massive shadow cast upon her. Alisha looked up and saw the marble pillar falling to crush her completely.
King Dorian turned and looked back, “No!” he worried.
Queen Natalia jumped and pushed Alisha and her chair over causing her to fall off of the stage. The chair smashed against the princess’ leg causing her to bleed. The sound of the massive structure smashing onto the ground and a shrill scream of her mother would forever haunt the young princess. Alisha looked up and instantly began crying uncontrollably at the sight of her loving mother pinned under the marble pillar.
“MAMAAAAA!!!!!!!” Alisha screamed.
Alisha crawled over to her dying mother in disbelief of this harsh reality. The young girl was blinded by her own tears. Alisha laid beside her mother and held her hand.
Natalia kissed her baby on the side of her face, “I love you baby…” she struggled to speak, “…always. .and forever…you know that right?” she asked looking at her daughter in the eyes.
Alisha shed tears over her mother and nodded her head, “Uh-hu.” She struggled to answer.
Vincent and Wraith rushed over behind Alisha and were startled to see the queen underneath the pillar. The queen’s body went limp quickly and Alisha began crying uncontrollably. Wraith rushed over and picked her up away from the queen’s limp body. Alisha struggled and screamed out of the indescribable pain.
Vincent noticed the queen slightly open her eyes and look at the two boys, “Hey.” he said drawing attention to her.
Wraith and Vincent both looked at the passing mother and witnessed her last request to them, in a faint utterance Natalia spoke softly, “Protect…my babies.”
The two teens slowly nodded and agreed to the queen’s final request as she closed her eyes and laid quiet and peacefully.
King Dorian rushed around the pillar and witnessed his wife underneath the stone.
“Natalia?! NATALIA!” he called out with fear.
He rushed by her side and held her limp head in his hand. He began to weep for the loss of his love.
“No. Why her? WHY!” he questioned out loud.
Raziel and Christian both stood back up from kneeling beside Carmon, “Mom?” the prince asked.
“Natalia?” Raziel spoke under his breath with concern.
The grand duke slowly began to walk up the steps to see what had happened. The prince began to follow, but Raziel ordered Christian to stay back and the prince obeyed and remained beside Carmon in fear and disbelief.
Raziel walked around the pillar slowly and noticed Alisha sobbing uncontrollably. He then turned and saw Dorian beside his late wife’s body. A tear began to form in the warrior’s eye for Natalia. At that moment the massive Arda fravas violently burst through the ballroom wall again nearly crushing the two swordsmen and princess with debris. A large chunk of stone flew and slammed against the grand duke and crumbled upon hitting him.
He turned and looked at the princess and two swordsmen, “Get her outta here!” he yelled.
Wraith, who was still carrying Alisha, obeyed and ran out of a side exit door. Vincent followed, but looked back once more before continuing through the door and helping rescue the princess from danger.
Dorian grined his teeth and looked up at Raziel with murder in his eyes, “KILL HIM!” he demanded.
Arda fravas tilted its levitating body and angled the burning sphere of intense fire underneath it towards Raziel. Suddenly it summoned what appeared to be burning asteroids that shot from the flaming ball.
“Comets!?” Raziel shouted and braced for the attack.
Arda fravas’ ‘meteor shower’ attack destroyed Raziel’s surroundings, “Get outta here!” Raziel warned.
Rufus turned and began running to exit the room, but turned and noticed the two remaining teenagers watching in paralysis. Rufus hurried over to them as fast he could and grabbed their arms, “Let’s go!” he insisted.
The two were pulled along with Rufus, Carmon looked back before leaving the room and noticing her father surrounded by flaming asteroids destroying the area where he stood.
Raziel peeked open his eyes and noticed that the kids were removed from the area. The grand duke was surprised once the ground collapsed and he fell through the floor into another room. Raziel fell and landed on his back, but felt no pain or force from the impact.
“Finish it!” Dorian ordered.
Arda fravas flew over the hole created in the floor and fired off an extreme stream of fire that filled up the entire room below instantly incinerating everything inside. Raziel’s eyes had widened as the blinding light flew from the flaming ball. King Dorian stood from his wife’s body and walked over to grab his staff.
“Burn in hell for what you’ve done here today, old friend.” he said with extreme hatred.
Suddenly sixteen feet away from behind Dorian, Raziel jumped through the ground from the floor beneath causing debris and seats to fly about.
Dorian turned quickly to face his foe, “You’ll pay for what you did to me!” he warned.
“You tried to kill me AND my daughter!” Raziel defended.
“You killed Natalia!” Dorian yelled back.
“She died because of your own doing!” Raziel reminded.
“Ahhhh!!!!” Dorian pointed his staff and cast a focused beam of light that hit the grand duke, but did nothing. “That armor.” he stated.
Arda fravas hovered near and summoned five flaming spheres that were cast from its burning lower half. The fire balls circulated around Raziel and began picking up speed in their rotation. He looked around wondering what the effects of this attack would be. The fire balls spun at such high speed that they created a fire tornado around the grand duke to burn him alive. Then each ball closed in simultaneously and collided into Raziel creating a massive explosion.
Raziel ran from out of the center of the terrible explosion and jumped into the air to punch Arda fravas again. He punched it into the ground and caused the monster and himself to fall into the scorched room below. The ground began to crumble around the hole and huge blocks of marble and cement fell around and on them. The surface near king Dorian began to give away. He panicked and turned to run to safety, but was not quick enough. However, he did manage to grab hold of the precipice the broken floor provided.
He felt intense heat and looked below and noticed Arda fravas’ ball of fire directly underneath him. He clung to the side of the crumbling floor tighter. Dorian threw his staff up onto the floor and struggled to lift himself to safety. He reached upward, but the ground had broken apart further and nearly dropped him into the ball of fire.
Raziel punched holes into the holy summoning’s chest, each punch broke through the surface of the creature without effort. The massive summoning threw punch after punch against Raziel which was wasted effort. The grand duke was immune to harm and determined to give it. Arda fravas’ actual body appeared to be a blue colored stone of some kind, cracking and crumbling with each blow. The grand duke relentlessly destroyed the chest of the ancient summoning.
Dorian looked down below once more then regained his resolve and climbed to the top of the floor and back to safety. He took a moment to get his breath back, then reached over and grabbed his staff. The king walked over to the side of the broken floor and looked down and the grand duke, pointed his staff, and fired off another beam of light at him. Dorian missed and accidentally hit Arda fravas in the chest, Raziel took notice and looked up at king Dorian above them.
Arda fravas ceased its attacks for the moment and lift the grand duke with its massive arms and threw him across the burning room. In the process, Raziel grabbed hold of Arda fravas’ fingers and broke off several as he was thrown. Raziel slammed a massive dent into the wall causing fragments to break away. He jumped from the damaged wall without hesitation and charged towards Arda fravas. The summoning levitated from the ground and used it’s ‘judgment’ attack on Raziel once more while activating its ‘meteor shower’ attack.
Flaming asteroids exploded around the room destroying the area completely. Rocks shattered against the charging grand duke who bulldozed through the rain of fiery stone completely unharmed. His body had become shrouded in the ‘judgment’s’ darkness again. Raziel jumped into Arda fravas’ deadly ball of fire connected to the lower half of its body. Within that very instant intense light shined through cracks all over Arda fravas’ body. Raziel jumped through the back of the holy summoning’s neck and landed on to the floor above. Arda fravas’ entire being began to quiver violently until exploding into complete obliteration. Fragments of the mystical summoning flew about while magical sparkling dust glistened in the flames light.
King Dorian backed up from the side of the hole once Arda fravas had exploded, “You killed it, you bastard!” he yelled furiously.
Dorian tried striking at Raziel with his staff, but Raziel blocked his attacks and prevented him from attacking with it further.
“You selfish bastard, all of this is your own fault. I tried to help you, but you’ve changed.” he declared while yanking the king’s staff out of his hands.
Raziel crushed the stone at the end of his staff that cast out the light attacks then snapped his staff in half easily. The grand duke threw the broken pieces of the staff into the burning pit, courtesy of the defeated summoning.
“You ungrateful traitorous swine!” Dorain insulted.
The king punched Raziel in the face as hard as he could and broke his hand in doing so, “Ahhhhh!” he called out in surprise.
Raziel brushed the king using only his forearm and launched him twelve feet away from where he stood. The king slammed against damaged rows of seats and yelled in sharp pain as he landed. He remained laying on his back.
Raziel slowly walked over to king Dorian, “How could you do this? After everything…” the grand duke questioned, but was cut off by the injured king.
“You don’t even know what it’s been like. How hard it is to be me.” he started to explain exhaustedly. “I’m the king, but everyone used to look at you first and me second. You were the big hero all the time. So, I changed a story here and there to make myself look better. You did everything by yourself. No summonings, no special weapons, just you. You don’t know what it’s like to be vulnerable. You were my closest friend, but you didn’t understand me.” Dorian struggled to explain.
Raziel stood above Dorian, “I tried helping you and teaching you to fight better, but you’ve always been selfish I guess. I just can’t believe it’s taken me this long to finally see that now.” Raziel explained with disgust. “You’ve always wanted everything just handed to you, like you’re entitled or something.”
Raziel stopped once he noticed blood pooling in the side of king Dorian’s mouth, “You’ve been wounded.” Raziel stated.
“There’s something in my back.” Dorian explained while laying perfectly still.
The grand duke kneeled beside the king as he slowly bled out, “I never meant for any of this to happen. You have to believe me.” Raziel pleaded.
The king motioned for Raziel to come closer so the grand duke leaned inward.
“Now I know… where your weakness is… in that armor.” Dorian fought to explain.
“Hm?” Raziel wondered.
The king had a sharp jagged fragment of marble in his hand that rest beside his body and clutched in firmly, “YOUR EYES!” he shouted and swiftly stabbed the jagged stone directly into Raziel’s eye!
The marble broke against the surface of the grand duke’s eyeball leaving him completely unharmed, but in the gut instinct of the grand duke his natural reaction was to attack back and so he did. Raziel’s reflexes caused him to punch a hole through the chest of the injured king, killing him in a matter of mere seconds. The grand duke stopped after doing so and thought about what he had done. He slowly removed his arm from the chest cavity of his late friend and stood before his body. The blood did not cling to the holy armor and immediately dripped off onto the floor.
Raziel stepped backward a couple of steps and looked around the room and the tragedy that had just occurred. The grand duke noticed Hikaru curled up in the corner of the room looking back at him fearfully. Raziel sat down and placed his arms on his knees and held his head in sorrow. Law enforcement and fire fighters charged into the room from different sides. Raziel did not budge as they stormed in.
Outside the castle Rufus stood with Christian, Carmon, and many by standers. They stood by watching the media circus eat up the tragedy while emergency dispatch teams rushed inside. Carmon jilted Rufus’ hand and broke free. She feared for the safety of her father and ran away, retreating back inside the castle to him. Rufus noticed that the prince was weak and feeling faint, fearing something may have been wrong with him he looked around, but didn’t notice Vincent or Wraith with the princess.
“Maybe they took her off in one of these ambulances.” he figured, “Hang in there man.” he asked the faintish prince.
Christian looked up once more and watched the hysteria from what was his home before blacking out.
“I NEED AN AMBULANCE!” Rufus yelled out.
Paramedics rushed over to the ill prince’s side and checked his vitals.
“What happened?” the paramedic questioned.
“I dunno, he just passed out.” Rufus explained.
The group carted Christian into the ambulance and allowed Rufus to ride along inside the back with him. The ambulanced wasted no time firing up the siren and speeding off towards the hospital.
