V1. C5. A Broken Man

As Neo nears the entrance to his home, staring at the claw marks wondering what kind of beast could make such markings he hesitantly walks inside his home, worried about what he would find. Sure enough, what he finds the second he walks through the door is his estate's guards, butchered in the same way as the guards around the city that were unfortunate enough to find themselves in a fight they could not win. Neo, who was normally one to keep a calm demeanor, couldn't help but breathe frantically as he continued walking down the corridors of his once peaceful home. Although he checked every room within his estate to see if there were any survivors, his efforts bore no fruit, as everyone who would've stayed above ground, mainly consisting of guards or maids whose families were within the city were left dead where they stood, blood still flowing and eyes still open showing only the last second of terror before they were massacred.

"Please be safe in the vault, please be safe in the vault," repeated Neo as he finally made his way to the secret door within his estate leading to the vaults below. Due to his non-hesitant attitude towards getting to his family, he failed to realize the supposed secret door leading to the vaults was already slightly open, releasing heat from below.

Neo scanned his surroundings as he walked through the entrance to the vaults and sensed 3 strong elemental auras and a faint aura of an element he couldn't pinpoint, two of the strong auras he recognized immediately, one being his father's space element that he inherited and the fire element of his wife Kay. Wasting no time now after discovering his family had to fight even under the cover of multiple layers and corridors of Divine Lightning Metal, one of the most expensive and durable metals within the whole country, that the vault was made of to protect them, he teleported to the first aura he recognized, his father's, surrounded by a dozen dead men who reeked of the darkness element, now explaining the third aura he sensed.

"Father!" Neo exclaimed after seeing his father lying against a rock, barely breathing and blood seeping out of his chest from 3 slashes,"what happened?!"

His father attempted to look up, eyes glazed over and a look of pain and sorrow. He couldn't look up long enough to fully view his son in front of him, due to the pain, but was able to speak, "Neon… my son, I'm sorry...I'm so sorry," *cough cough* his father has a fit, coughing up blood, "I couldn't stop them, I killed all these men due to my spatial element prowess… but there was someone… no something else… that came down with them, it was too strong, a monster I've… never seen before, it got me and I couldn't get up, you're wife…" *cough* "Ack!" more blood hits the floor.

"Father stop, you need to rest, just stay here, everything's ok. Everything will be ok." Neo said the opposite of what he was thinking as he patted his dad on the shoulder.

"I love you Neon, you are the strongest man I know and will forever stay that way." Neo's father said with a now raspy voice and ragged breathing, as he reached towards his son wanting to touch him. Neo knew what was about to happen and couldn't help but shout while firmly grasping his father's hand, "FATHER! Stay with me!"

"I'm sorry my boy, I just wasn't strong enough, surely... we'll see each other...again." *smack* His father's hand, once holding onto Neo, fell to the ground and would never get up again. In anger and sadness, Neo teleported to his wife's aura instantly, deciding to mourn after accessing the full situation.

*Fwoosh*

A rush of air so hot that it could compare to the sun, within the vault, was the first thing Neo noticed as sweat started to drip down his forehead. "This has to be the strongest attack she's ever done, please be okay." Neo walked closer to where the aura was densest and as he suddenly recognized the fourth source of the once unknown element when he first entered into the secret entrance leading to the vaults.

"Another spacial element? But who?" Neo was puzzled and as he turned into the corridor where he knew his wife must be and stopped in his tracks at what he saw.

Flames draped the walls from what used to be banners, lamp posts dripped metal onto the floor. The claw marks that were at the front entrance of Neo's estate and on his father's chest, were also scattered across the walls, and at the end of the corridor were three bodies. These bodies were all to familiar to Neo, and scared him more than he's ever been in his life.

Walking slowly, thinking to himself "Please be someone else, please…" Neo's eyes started to water as he started to behold the initial scene that took place in the vault that should've protected his family.

The first body he recognized was his mother's, sprawled across the floor, her neck slit horizontally and dripping blood and eyes glazed over. Neo knew that although her cultivation was relatively high, she had no elemental affinity and resorted to pure knowledge in cultivation to make herself known, thus leading to her end.

Tears now flowing down his face, Neo wasn't prepared to continue to the next pair of bodies that were huddled next to each other. He knew who those bodies belonged to, but he didn't want to acknowledge reality, nor accept it. By sheer will alone he walked over to those bodies on the floor, and sure enough, they were the two most important people in his life, Kay and Drago.

Kay was laying on the floor with her once beautiful hair, now burnt in cruel irony splayed out in random directions. As Neo looked down from her singed hair to her face, he noticed tears that surprisingly haven't dried from the extreme heat and the tears he already was shedding came back full force.

"Kay I'm sorry! I couldn't protect you! Don't cry my sweetheart..*sniff* please come back to me…" in agony he wept, and then looked further down and saw her arms that showed signs of third degree burns due to the intensity of her attack, and in her blistered arms was a little boy and also an aura of the all to familiar element, space.

"He released the space element a decade before I did at his age…" Neo mumbled as he knelt down and reached down with both hands and stroked the heads of both his wife and son. "Who did this? Why did they attack my kingdom? Why did they send so many to kill my family?" Neo thought to himself, with tears still rolling down his face, his aura now released to the max once again, "WHYYYYYYYYYYY?!!" echoed throughout the corridors of the vault and even made it outside of his estate for all of his kingdom to hear. Neo with his head now hanging down, hands still holding onto both of his loved ones, mumbled with a hoarse voice, "Why...why...why…"