Chapter 53 - Annihilation
Blood scattered everywhere as Zad\'s head rolled on the plains, his face still had the last expression he had before death.
Complete terror!
"Now then, who\'s next?" Lauria asked, turning to the remaining Mercenaries.
The Mercenaries totally lost their will to fight after watching the most powerful get trumped so easily. With only a few of their numbers left, they stood no chance at all.
"She easily took down... A Ruler?!" They mumbled.
No one wants to die... Not even steel-hearted men of the battlefield.
They all dropped their swords and ran away, screaming pathetically. Abandoning their Ruler, Borgos, who merely stood dumbfounded, they fled desperately.
"H-Hey, come back here. Don\'t leave me... You bastards!!!" Borgos yelled.
His legs were shaking and he could not even move. His knees gave out as he collapsed on the floor, unable to move.
"Zad got defeated...? And now it\'s my turn... Shit! shit!! shit!!!" He thought within himself.
Noises of desperation and cries filled the field as the Mercenaries hurried to safety. They hoped, they prayed, they begged as they ran, for the Apostle not to give chase to them and let them go.
Lauria sighed. Of course, she wasn\'t going to do that. She, as the hammer of justice that renders all evil to judgment, had to perform her duty. It also didn\'t help their case that she totally despised heathens.
Phobio and the General watched as the Mercenaries ran for their dear lives and cried like babies. A thought appeared on the General\'s mind whether he and his troops should do the same.
"What\'s taking our reinforcements so long?" Phobio said impatiently.
He was nervous and anxious. He didn\'t want to die.
"She\'s in an entirely different league from Flora," He said, remembering the Apostle he had by his side when fighting Hexarion.
"She... She won\'t come this way will she?" He gulped.
The soldiers were already uneasy and tension grew among them. They contemplated staying or escaping. They picked the latter.
"Uooohhhhh" The Soldiers ran away as well, following the Mercenaries to escape the Fate which awaited them. Together with the mercenaries, they stampeded and made for their escape.
Only the General remained by Phobio\'s side, refusing to leave even though every fiber of his being wanted to.
"I... I can\'t abandon the young prince" He said to himself as cold sweat appeared all over his body.
"Filthy heathens, the lot of them. They\'re a bit much, but I\'ll have to take care of all of them" She sighed.
Her eyes glowed white as she prepared herself to launch a decisive attack to end both soldiers and mercenaries alike.
Suddenly a multitude of swords appeared in the sky. innumerable and unmeasurable blades, suspended in the air.
The fleeing men witnessed this and gasped. Tears fell out of the eyes of some as they saw the sharp edges of uncountable swords.
"You... You can\'t be serious... This is..." They gasped.
They picked up their pace and pushed their legs further to try to escape the endless swords.
"Descend" A voice let out.
In a flash, the swords fell with immeasurable force and rained down upon them.
The blades stabbed, pierced, butchered, sliced up, carved up, impaled, killed, mutilated, and stabbed again...Over five blades pierced a single soldier. Some received as much as fifty blades as each blade overlapped and continuously rendered the bodies into mincemeat. This process was carried out instantly until every single one of the fleeing soldiers and mercenaries was dead.
The sea of corpses brought forth blood which filled the field they were in. The blades stood, as their edges were still in the corpses, with their handles facing the sky. Dust and smoke filled the surrounding area thanks to the sparks caused by the swords and their stirring of the ground.
Phobio felt sick. So many lives... Lost... Just like that.
"Wow, Lady Apostle... That is impressive! What strength. So this is the power of the gods bestowed upon men" Commander Gerund said in awe.
"T-That wasn\'t me..." Lauria\'s voice sounded.
Gerund gazed upon the Apostle and was surprised by what he saw.
Her eyes bulged with shock as she couldn\'t explain what had just occurred. She looked perplexed at the slaughter that had just taken place.
"What could you possibly mean, Miss Apostle you surely..." He ventured to say.
"Who... Who is that?" She said, noticing a silhouette appearing from the smoke caused by the sudden impact of the countless swords upon the earth.
A young man of about 19 years stepped forward. His dark hair and purple eyes were the first to be noticed among his appearances. He had a grin on his face and he walked calmly, with his hands in his pockets and an air of easiness around him.
"W-What is he...?! How can this be...?!" Lauria said, her eyes bulging even further and her face showing slight hints of fear.
"L-Lady Apostle... What do you mean? Is that man..." Gerund asked.
"That is no man!" She interrupted him sharply as she raised her voice.
Gerund immediately kept quiet and withdrew from speaking. He looked at the trembling apostle, he was full of surprise. She never showed any form of hesitation or fear before so this was new to him. She clenched her teeth and glared at the approaching figure.
"How can it be... That I sense no Essence from him?! This is impossible!" She said with trembling.
Like a blank figure in an entire world full of color, an anomaly that shouldn\'t even exist. That was what she saw with her Extrasensory perception. He didn\'t have any Aspect, something everyone and everything possessed.
"That being... Who is he?!"
[My Turn]
I smiled as I casually approached the few survivors of the battle, after decimating the useless ones who retreated.
There\'s Phobio, his general, three Imperial Knights who appear to be of higher ranks than the ones who died, the Ruler in charge of Artia\'s Black Market sector Borgos, and finally, the Apostle.
From my distance I can see the expression the Apostle is making, priceless.
After observing everything thus far, it\'s time for me to join in on the fun. After all... Everything is going according to my plan.
"Time for the final act" I grinned widely.