Lying on the ground, the Nameless King admired the stellar beauty. His eyes shone even brighter as he witnessed the beautiful sight.
'Wow! How beautiful this is! When I observe this, I forget all my problems.'
The Nameless King observed for a moment longer before rising, his body sore. He looked at the destroyed village and the body of his adversary, and a smile touched his lips without him realizing it.
Then, he turned and continued his journey.
Kotei watched the giant move away. He had lost the battle, a part of his population, and his soldiers. From that defeat, an uncontrollable desire for power and bloodshed arose.
He coughed up blood as he stared at the giant, his vision growing increasingly blurred.
'I will have my revenge. I will kill as many of your kind as it takes. I will even accept an inferior race, and train and polish them to achieve this vengeance.'
Before passing out, Kotei bit his lip until blood flowed.
After a while, Regina arrived at her county in a noble carriage. When she arrived, she didn't see her husband.
Her daughter looked for him but didn't find him, until she received news of his departure for battle. Upon receiving the news, she arranged for her daughter to be cared for and headed to the battle location in the carriage.
Arriving there, she saw the marks of the battle—soldiers still between life and death, others crawling on the blood-soaked ground, amidst groans and pleas for death and life. Seeing this, Regina grew more and more distressed about her husband's situation.
As she reached the spot, she put her hand to her mouth and spoke with a trembling voice:
"Ko... Kotei?!" Her eyes immediately filled with tears. "No, this... this cannot be true. It cannot be!" Finally, she screamed and fell to her knees on the bloody ground, which stained her luxurious dress. Heavy tears fell, mixing with the blood on the ground.
The coachman went towards his master while his mistress wept. He put his hand on the neck of the Elf lying on the ground, and when he felt a heartbeat, he realized his master was still alive.
He sighed in relief that his lord was still living.
The coachman picked up his master's body, which was dirty and reeking of pure blood, and carried him to the carriage. Regina hadn't quite understood, her makeup smudged and mixed with her tears.
He placed the body inside the carriage and formally asked his mistress to enter the transport.
"Mistress Regina!"
"Yes, Darian?"
Darian looked at Regina with a beautiful smile. "There is no need to cry, Sir Kotei is alive." With a gentle smile, the coachman spoke.
The weight in her heart and the tears felt light as a feather.
Regina started to get up, but immediately felt her body weaken. Darian helped her and guided her to the carriage so she could be with her husband.
On the way, Darian looked at the soldiers with pity.
'Giants! Are they all like this?! So powerful that they cause this much damage?!' Darian sighed. He looked back and saw Regina tending to her lord.
'Thank goodness! Knowing Sir Kotei, he will not let this go unpunished. He will crave revenge and power. I just hope he doesn't lose himself on this path he has decided... to walk.'
They headed towards the mansion.
Meanwhile, the Nameless King walked through the magical Elven forest, admiring the place. The forest was beautiful, full of animals, with a different shade of green; the trees glowed.
'Fascinating!'
It seemed as if not a single drop of blood had ever been spilled in that forest. The Nameless King continued walking, looking around at the beautiful location.
Even being an Elven forest, the trees were large because they stored mana. The trees also served for alchemy for the Elves; their trunks depended on the element they carried, along with the tone of their leaves, which remained green but mixed with the element's color.
After a few days, the Nameless King's sword was dripping blood once again. After destroying another village, the Nameless King just walked with a lifeless gaze; not even the beauty of the Elven forests could save him from that look anymore.
'That battle against that pointy-eared being was the best one in this place.' He turned his head and looked back. A wind came, making his clothes and hair move.
'I will return... I want to return.'
The Nameless King decided to reverse his path. In a few days, he arrived where he had carried out his first massacre. The blood had already dried on the ground. Crows and vultures were devouring the soldiers' bodies. A stench of rotten flesh had taken over the region.
With an innate expression, the Nameless King was unfazed, continuing his path. Upon reaching the islands, before leaving, he looked one last time at the chaos he had created with joy and amusement.
And then he departed, leaving the continent with a jump that made the ground tremble.
After the giant left the continent, Kotei woke up startled in bed.
Sweaty and mixed with nausea and dizziness, his chest ached like a needle piercing it. He put his hand on his chest.
Regina slept beside him, holding his hand. A grateful smile appeared on his face despite being pale and weak and feeling his stomach churn.
'It was better than being dead.'
Still, the pain intensified in his chest. It went from a needle making small holes to a knife being plunged into his chest multiple times.
'Could it be my Mana Core?!'
Yes, it was Kotei's Mana Core that was changing from dark-clear to gray-clear. The process was painful with every core evolution, which is why some Elves don't even evolve their core, but for Kotei, who had begun to desire power, this was nothing.
After a while, he started biting his blanket to prevent screaming; he also groaned in pain. The bed was already soaked with sweat. His biting grew more intense every second until he tore a part; he quickly bit the other part of the blanket.
Suddenly, the pain vanished, even with a strange sensation and feeling somewhat uncomfortable in his own body.
He felt his strength increasing, along with his mana quantity and magical strength. Even though he was uncomfortable, Kotei felt...
'Incredible! Is this the difference between a dark-clear core mage and a gray-clear core mage?! How absurd!'
His eyes shone along with the relief that the pain had passed. He felt the pleasure of gaining power entering his mind.
He let go of her hand, and even though he felt a little unwell, he picked up Regina, who was sleeping, and carried her to another bed in the room where they were. He carefully placed her down, then said goodbye with a kiss on Regina's forehead and headed to the corridor.
Kotei was going to the training room to test his enhanced powers and perhaps new spells.
On the way, Kotei hadn't seen any of his servants or even his daughter. As he walked down a dark corridor, he used a spell to illuminate the corridor.
As he walked, Kotei clenched his teeth with hatred, realizing that even with this evolution, it wasn't enough for what he wanted. His eyes were full of hatred and thirst for blood.
He walked down the dark corridor until he reached the training room, which was all illuminated by sunlight. He placed his hand on the wall that detects the type of magic and the core level. Thus, beginning his training.
On the other hand, the Nameless King arrived at the location like a meteor. In front of him, he saw an undead giant, who attacked him.
The Nameless King, without wasting time, brandished his sword, making a clean cut, splitting the giant in half, and then crushing the undead giant's head.
With his sword drawn, he walked through the dead forest with a murderous intention and a cold, superior gaze. After a while, three more undead giants appeared, who were quickly silenced without any difficulty.
After a few more fights, he reached the King of Death, who was waiting for him, seated on his throne made of corpses, with an arrogant look, guiding his hand for the zombie giants to advance.
The Nameless King, his sword dripping blood, brandished it against the enemies in front of him. Cutting off heads, chests, and stomachs, he quickly reached the throne, swinging the sword horizontally.
The bodies were still falling behind the giant, the King of Death still with a neutral expression, laughed.
His eyes widening in surprise, he did not hesitate and continued the charge.
But suddenly, he felt something touching and crushing his face and pushing his body backward as if it were nothing.
Thrown backward, falling and rolling on the blood-soaked ground. The Nameless King raised his head with an excited smile while a warm fluid ran from his nose.
Holding his sword tightly, he quickly stood up and advanced without any strategy.
The King of Death looked at the giant with a look of contempt and murmured in an arrogant tone:
"Pathetic."
Saying this, the King of Death grabbed him by the collar and lifted the Nameless King effortlessly.
In the air, the Nameless King's eyes widened, and his mouth opened before being pressed down.
The King of Death pressed the being in his arm against the ground, the blood splattering and staining the face of the Death God's most talented disciple.
"I told you, didn't I?!" The King of Death said with an arrogant smile.
He interpreted the silence as an answer.
"At least you accomplished the mission I gave you in such a short time! But because of your impatience, your strength only increased a little."
The disciple of Death raised his adversary. "Do you see how different our strengths are?!"
"Y-yes." The Nameless King said, almost breathless.
With the other arm, the King of Death began to beat him, while speaking:
"You are nothing more than raw talent without real effort and training. Even though real battles can replace training, they can leave these raw talents like flowers that try to blossom and cannot, because." He brought his face closer to the Nameless King, his eyes wide open.
"They need a gardener to prune, and because this flower was pruned so many times by different gardeners, it failed to blossom." He held the last punch. "You already know the answer!"
He punched him one last time and then dropped him like a sack of garbage. On the ground, his whole body trembled, his strength was at its limit.
Then he quickly stood up, screaming, running even though his muscles tried to stop him.
As he ran, various flashes of his previous battles invaded his mind, where he had won all the fights.
But the King of Death simply appeared with his leg extended horizontally and kicked the Nameless King in the belly.
Which threw him against the dead trees. He spat blood, while more red liquid ran down his head, and warm fluid came out of his legs.
Supported by the dead trees, roots pierced his back, branches penetrated his thighs and arms.
His vision blurred and gradually faded to darkness. For the first time, the Nameless King tasted the bitter taste in his mouth, a tightness in his chest, and a slight touch of frustration until darkness overcame his vision.
The King of Death sat back on his throne while observing the pools of blood on the floor.
'I don't want to clean this up, and I'm still a little dirty with the blood of that... that rough diamond that needs to be polished.' He closed his eyes and sighed in frustration.
'I'll do it tomorrow!'
The King of Death opened his eyes and looked up out of boredom.
'It's getting dark, so I'll sleep. He should survive, after all, he defeated Cobel, even though he was only playing in that fight.'
Darkness was consuming the sunlight when the Elven soldier with his elegant blue and gold attire spoke about the destination.
Luis was incredulous about this; after all, how would the King of the Humans accept them going to seek shelter on the Elven continent?! They would be treated as slaves.
Luis, full of hatred, gnashed his teeth, clenched his fist, and held back the voice that wanted to escape.
Then he murmured as he sat down on the boat after this news.
The people were surprised by this news. The sad and heavy mood turned into resentment, hatred, disappointment, and sadness. With all this mixed, the atmosphere on the ship, along with the night, became heavy as an iron bar.
Next to Luis, a melancholic boy not much different from most people, yet he had just lost everything he loved. He looked at the despair and fear along with other negative feelings.
'Why all this despair just because they are becoming Elven slaves?! After all, even if we make friends, families, and children. We will lose everything!'
Noah held back tears and swallowed hard.
'Because of my incompetence, my parents died protecting me.' A tear, even as he held it back as much as he could, slid down his face. Flashes consumed the poor boy's mind.
The houses collapsing and being consumed by fire and almost crushing him if it weren't for his mother who sacrificed herself and was consumed by the fire. He only heard her screams of pain as he screamed for his mother.
His father pushed him onto the ship and was trapped in the ruined city.
Huddled, the feeling of uselessness came, the taste of being the cause of his parents' death came to his palate.
This taste remained until the ship arrived at the Elven continent, in Baron Kotei's county.
Upon arrival, the humans only saw ashes of burned bodies. The soldiers almost always averted their eyes. Until they heard footsteps.
It was an elegant man, who came with open arms and a smile on his face.
"Welcome to our continent and our county." He greeted the humans and finished by speaking his name with a malicious smile.
"My name is Kotei."