Veximus wore a look of dread behind his gruesome knight's helm... His eyes darting at the countless opposing civilians filling the grand plaza directly outside of the massive fortress that stood at the heart of Seh Jenah...
His sword rested firmly in the ground as he held the form of a guard, looking onward without words as he could only doubt their arrogant king's decision making...
However, there was nothing that Veximus could do, as he was bound by blood to that pathetic excuse for a king...
All the Vex of Seh Jenah wanted in life... Was to grow in terms of strength... Or at least that's how it was on the surface...
Terrible memories flashed in Vex's mind for only that of a second... The sight of his father's headless corpse before the king of this very kingdom...
He had every reason to appose the king... But what were the odds that he of all Paladins would be stationed in his own town... Under the rule of the king who beheaded the most noble of generals within his ranks...
Vex nearly spat at the thought before remembering a helm stood between his face and the ground.
Then the mindless ringing in his ears was quickly replaced by the roars of the protesting crowd.
Vex sighed.
"Silence!" He sword began to lift from the ground, shattering the elevated platform in devastating cracks that backed away the entire front of the civilian crowd.
Vex meanwhile, stood unshaken... Easily repairing the platform with the help of an artifact that was bound to another Paladin's catalyst... Such a trinket came in quite the handy...
He gazed down at the poorly repaired crack within the sternum-section of his armor.
"Heh..." He recalled on his battle with Unity with satisfaction.
Suddenly... A soldier stepped forward in the crowd...
'He's unmarked.' Vex instantly noticed, preparing himself for worst case-scenario.
"GET BACK!" He screamed, dashing forward and shattering the entire front section of the Capital building with his immense speed while throwing his blade in-between the closest civilians and the soldier in an rapid hurry...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
In a visceral sight... Vex watched only a few meters away unable to act as the unmarked soldier erupted with shrapnel and explosives, knocking away his sword and demolishing the plaza around them in a devastating blast...
At the very last second before the impact happened... Vex had seen gold within the soldier's eyes... Telling him only one thing...
"Tch." Vex hissed-the explosion before him devouring him and launching back towards the inner wall of the kingdom, slamming into it with horrible force.
Following the sound of ringing and what could only be described as earthquakes... Vex heard the trotting of soldier's boots... All of which completely unmarked...
The head of the squad spoke up, something that was completely stranger to The Vex of Seh Jenah.
"The king's orders! You are unpermitted to aid the Civilians as they are a threat to the throne! Paladin Veximus! You of all people should know where you stand!" The soldier barked, hurrying towards the atrocity taking place in the plaza, and leaving Vex with a dumbfounded expression behind his cracked helmet.
Only seconds after... Did he feel that horrible pain radiate up and down his spine, sending his body into a paralyzed shock.
"GAH!" He groaned, grabbing and squeezing the back of his neck viciously as his body crumbled to the ground.
...
Chase swayed his head back and forth at the edge of the field.
Although his breathing was ragged and his body stung in every place... Along with the already passive agony that was his corruption-He strangely had quite a bit of energy after only having an hour or two of actual sleep.
Gemini, who was crouched behind a tree nearby wore quite the nervous look. Which didn't do at all for Chase.
"Look alive!" He yelled, throwing a fireball only inches away from Gemini's foot.
Gemini of course, flinched and threw himself out of the way, which brought a joyful smirk to Chase's face.
"Can we not?" He asked, frantically stomping out the fire near his contraptions.
"It's all gonna get blown up anyway!" Chase shrugged with a carefree smile, while swinging his body back and forth with his palm lazily resting against the jagged pommel of Apocalypse.
Equan yawned from up in the trees, his boots continuously clattering against the branch he tiredly laid upon.
"Nah I get what you're saying..." He muttered, picking at his tooth with a small needle made of pure lightning.
"What could Volaris have possibly told you...?" Chase asked, worried that his friend had lost his mind.
Equan shifted to a bitter expression before his eyes widened upon darting towards the city.
"I'll be damned..." Chase chuckled, his knuckles whitening upon Apocalypse.
Through the forest... The sight of countless gilded soldiers appeared beyond the thick trees...
'Chase! You guys need to go! Abort! They brought everyone!' Luna panicked in his ears, causing his head to instantly ache.
Chase; however, stood speechless... And more than that... Thoughtless... He was completely shocked by Phillip's decision... To the point where his mouth could only hang agape with saliva leaking from its grinning corners...
Equan stretched his arms with another yawn, a mischievous smile forming at the corners of his scarred lips.
His blue eyes brimmed as static energy began to surge along his skin.
'Chase! I'm serious... After your last two fights... If you take a battle like this... You could die...' She calmed herself, urging Chase to come to his senses...
However...
He couldn't explain it...
Something...
Was screaming at him... Telling him to charge in like a headless chicken...
'Has Vex rubbed off on me?' He thought internally, before remembering all of the people he had faced to this point.
All of which having had some sort of obsession with chasing power or the hunger to devour another's...
'Why are you being like this!?' Luna screamed, pleading with Chase to convince his comrades to turn back and flee.
'Chase! You won't get another second chance... You can't play with your life like this is some sort of game... You could die.'
"Luna... Each and every one of my bones are aching for this fight... I don't know what it is... But I can feel that I'm close... I'm truly close to figuring something out... I just need... To fight..." He finished, adjusting the straps of his makeshift leather tunic.
The pale-haired king outstretched his gilded shoulder-length gauntlets...
"A little much, no?" Equan asked, cocking an eyebrow at the arrogant punk drowning in his own gold.
"I've despised your family for quite the time... Stray!" Phillip threw the insult out with a surprising amount of hatred in his voice.
"It's always something with you people!" Chase shot back, glancing anxiously at the sheer amount of soldiers still protruding from the forest.
The ranks were formed with more than just armed guards... Golems of all sizes slowly devoured the trees, knocking down everything and anyone in their path...
Chase even spotted the three musketeers of Veximus laughing amongst themselves in the frontline.
"Hey!" Lizzy called up the tree at a now standing Equan.
"We never got to finish!" She continued, her armor clearly upgraded and heavily improved... Along with several searing hot saws sticking out of her skin in multiple places.
"You right." Equan grinned before leaping off the tree with a bolt of lightning following in his wake...
However, instead of charging into the fight and starting immediately, he hurled himself towards another clearing closer towards the city.
Of course, Lizzy grinned menacingly and instantly dashed after him with little hesitation.
This left Phillip with a grotesque and unpleased twitch in his fake smile.
Chase quickly shot a glance at Gemini, giving him naught but a single wink.
The demi-dwarf took a deep and shaky breath, looking down at his mechanical masterpiece with doubt laced in his eyes.
His hand shot towards a button on top of the machine, sending several ear-ringing explosions throughout the ground below Phillip's soldiers.
Chase grinned, launching forward with a sudden burst of speed and spinning Apocalypse feverishly as he locked right onto Phillip.
...
Several Hours prior...
Griffin's hands shook against the scabbard of his rapier, watching as so many things began to happen at once...
Flames erupted from the crater, while Callahan himself presented his immense might to all within Seh Jenah who stood present.
This sort of event was unprecedented... And therefor, the rightful heir of Seh Jenah had no response other than to stand frozen while his allies and friends risked their lives against the odds for his kingdom... While he himself did nothing...
However, it was only then that a devastating dread filled his veins, and a new star appeared in the sky above...
Griffin's mouth hung open while tears began to unknowingly fall from his eyes.
Veximus landed with a horrifying explosion that shook the entire city, but it was the blood on his sword that caused Griffin's heart to stop...
"Our majesty had a task for me..." Even from that far, Griffin could hear the words... And as his knees buckled underneath him and his boots tripped over each other, even still... He pushed and shoved his way out of the crowd and towards the heart of the kingdom...
...
After nearly an hour of feverish sprinting with only the sounds of explosions ringing throughout the background of his cherished city... Griffin stumbled upon a trail of blood that led into a series of alleyways...
The horror he felt hurriedly dashing through his once familiar home... Now stained as if he could not even find his way out, as if he were in a nightmare and paralyzed to eternally search for something that he did not want to find...
But alas...
The corpse of Juliet hung from chains impaled into a dead end stone wall that Griffin could not recognize.
He fell to his knees...
His golden violin that sat gracefully upon his back... Slamming against the ground before a deafening scream echoed throughout the unfamiliar alley...