Evil

Out of the Shadows

"Wooh, you're still faster." Charlie appeared a moment later, taking a curious look at the man.

The soldiers seemed to be caught off-guard by our appearance as their lances pointed at us, screaming their heads off for us to identify ourselves.

"I've been sent by Julius to deal with the mess. I did this with the rank 5s a few years back if you recall." I explained dryly before jumping down.

"The Fiend Insurgence Coalition will not treat humans harshly! Surrender now Barshiek clan and we will not destroy this beautiful city!"

"Right back at you," I countered, appearing before him like a phantom. The surprise replaced with ferocity as he swung the weapon towards me. The sword connected with my hand, stopping in mid-air as sweat poured down his body as I saw him struggle to take back his weapon,"Attacking at without even a single greeting. Is that a good way to treat guests?"

"You...Who are you?"

"I could ask the same. But it doesn't really matter, does it? It's a beautiful day outside, can't you see? The skies are clear, animals romping in the forests, people bustling in the streets, wind blowing ever so strong. On days like these, people like you just have to make a mess. And at times like these..."

I raised an open palm into the air, the weak rank 1 to 4s wrapped up in my overpowering mana, raising thousands of them into the skies as several thousand of them rose to the skies, leaving 10 rank 5s, 3 rank 6s, a rank 7 to the side fiend at the front, another rank 7.

Not giving them even a chance to scream before their death, I, with a snap, crushed their throats before subsequently setting their corpses on fire, the strong wind carrying their ashes away.

"I need to clean it up." I lifted the fiend up via the sword he held and sent him crashing head first into the ground, a large crater forming as Charlie appeared beside me,"Showoff."

The other still standing magisters retreated rapidly getting into formation as the man dashed backwards, disbelief in his eyes as I proceeded to bend and snap his sword into two clean pieces," I came here to fight the Barshiek clan. Esteemed rank 8s, I do not wish to battle you."

"Unfortunately, I'm not particularly fond of backing down. I'm even less fond of being looked down on." Charlie giggled as the raw aura of a rank 9 exploded on the battlefield, the rank 6s falling to to their knees helplessly as the pressure was far too overwhelming. The difference of three ranks was one no ordinary magister could overcome.

"Ebony Knaves!" Two inky black figures formed. The figure had jet black droplets dripping down from its body as two white orbs stared at the enemy, a staff of equal colour resting in its left hand. It exuded the might of a rank 7.

From what I learnt, a magister had certain 'paths' allowing them to display more powerful attacks. The tradeoff here was that these attacks would be very specialised. Against light path magisters, abyss path magisters were effective, vice versa. But against fire path magisters, the other two above would not be very effective.

Charlie had already begun down the Puppeteer path, a path where one's true ability shine when shone not in direct combat, but through usage of puppets formed from magic.

As for me, I had my own unique path: Virago. I walked the strength path, one unheard of in this world.

In that little exchange for more power via the reduction of total lives I could have at any given time, I gained two things:

1. The cooldown of La Bestia dropped from 6 months to 3. It could raise my rank by 4 instead of 3 and most importantly, had become an ability instead of an imprint, meaning it could not be stolen from me.

2. An ability named Ruin. An image of what I assumed to be Ouroboros appeared on my palm, on the opposite side of the dragon. It was essentially a more powerful fused version of gluttony and decipher, letting me break down things, view them in a simplified form and absorb them for personal usage.

Ruin glowed as the broken sword pieces in my hand became bits of information. It was akin to a type of vision which allowed me to view things at the atomic level. The sword broken apart into individual pieces. The magic runes strengthening it and giving it the sharpness absorbed by me whilst the metal formed into five far denser and smaller razors.

"Connect." An thread visible only to me connected my fingers to the razors, giving me a ranged option to my attacks. The razors shot out like small scythes of death, moving so fast they seemed invisible as they cut, sliced, penetrated, pierced and stabbed relentlessly whilst mana coated around the razors would stick onto the muscles, skin and bones, holding the body together until—

I snapped my fingers, the threads were severed as the razors disintegrated from being used by me, the rank 5s turning from seemingly alive a for moment before turning into thousands and thousands of square cubes and rectangles, cut like paper. It was my sick little move, purely borne for as an intimidation method. The fear factor was undeniable and in matchups where you might be outmatched, morale would be a variable in deciding the outcome.

The knaves formed battered down on the rank 6s and the rank 7, leaving the leader who faced us.

He charged at me, tapping a rune on his chest which seemed to temporarily boost his rank up to pseudo rank 8. He had thought I wasn't rank 9.

The marks on my hands glowed as I appeared in a instant, my hands closing around his head and—

"Hup!" A fountain of blood spurted out as I pulled out his head alongside a bit of the spine which had broken off. Crushing the skull in my hands, I rushed the rank 7 and crashed into him mercilessly, his body rupturing as the Knave instantly turned its attention to the rank 6s which were already struggling against one of them. That fight ended quickly.

Ruin glowed once more as the blood on my body and clothing separated out. The mana in the blood absorbed, the slop burned to ashes.

"Charlie. Take this and absorb as many mana stones as you can." I removed the Delimiter imprint which allowed me to rank up without restrictions and passed it to her.

"What? Why?"

"Uninvited guests have arrived. I'll deal with them. You focus on breaking through. You'll understand in a moment."

I had several people appearing. At least rank 10.

No matter, now that they had stepped out of the shadows, I would similarly greet them with my trump cards.