Guardian Angel

Many years ago, in Ulyshia's Capital city. Narrator A.

Since the end of the Armani-Ulyshian war and the resulting annexation of Ulyshia by the Arman Empire, nationalist groups had shown up demanding Ulyshian independence. One such group was known as the Knights of Ulyshia and was especially dangerous due to their members consisting of many ex-Ulyshian soldiers. In the years following the war, this group had made a name for itself through guerilla tactics that targeted Armani outposts and took over small villages throughout the nation. Soon enough, a large portion of the native Ulyshian population was in favor of the far-right nationalist demands of the Knights of Ulyshia up until the Darklight Castle Incident, which abruptly brought an end to the group.

Around five years after the founding of the Knights of Ulyshia, they had become so strong that they began terrorist attacks on the Capital city, which culminated in an attack on Darklight Castle, the home of the King of Ulyshia. On that day, Darklight Castle was surrounded by hordes of angry Ulyshians, all demanding independence. At the front of the gate, the leader of the Knights gave his speech to the angry crowd.

"The King of Ulyshia has betrayed this great nation. What was once a proud, independent, Protestant nation has now become a puppet to a foreign empire that has forced its native population to become subservient to an invading class of settlers. Now, our nation has been forced to become a puppet state to the Pope, and our Protestant churches have been burned down in favor of new Catholic churches. We will not stand for this insult. WE WILL FIGHT BACK!!!! GLORY TO THE ULYSHIAN EMPIRE!!!!!"

"GLORY TO THE ULYSHIAN EMPIRE!!!!! GLORY TO THE ETERNAL NIGHT!!!!! GLORY TO THE UNENDING BLIZZARDS!!!!!" The crowd was now screaming. But, before the mob could pass through the gate, they were stopped by a most unusual sight. Before them sat a beautiful white-haired woman wearing an elegant white robe. She was carrying a flaming sword that matched her red eyes, and, most peculiarly, she was floating in the air with two large angel wings.

"Thou shalt not step any further. If the castle of the great King of Ulyshia is to be disturbed, then I will use lethal force to protect His Majesty. This is your only warning: LEAVE NOW!!!" The crowd, screaming in rage only seconds ago, was now dead silent in the face of the angel before them. The only sounds present now were the winter winds and the snow falling onto the ground. This woman was known only as the Guardian of Ulyshia and had frequently shown up to quell any rebellion ever since the Arman Empire annexed Ulyshia. Suddenly, the crowd was spurred back into rage by the words of their leader.

"WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL THE KING OF ULYSHIA IS DEAD, AND OUR EMPIRE IS RESTORED TO ITS FORMER GLORY!!!! ALL HAIL THE DARK LORD!!!!" The crowd before him, which extended several blocks and comprised thousands of people, now charged through the gate, where the angel was standing in the yard which led to the entrance of Darklight Castle. The angel waited for the crowd to get closer to her, just inches in front of her before she swung her sword, and a burst of fire that lit up the entire city shot through it. In mere seconds, the crowd of thousands was burnt to ash, with no survivors out of the nearly ten thousand that were in attendance that day.

"My work here is done. The King of Ulyshia shall never fall so long as I am his guardian." Said the angel before she flew back into the night sky, disappearing into the blizzard that had begun to take form. 

Mal Light City, Ulyshia, present day. One hundred miles away from the capital of Ulyshia. 

Mal Light City was one of the biggest cities in all of Ulyshia, save for the capital, of course. Its size and importance to the nation made it a perfect place to look for a missing puppy that went off its leash. Green Grasshopper had spent the last few hours checking the city, looking for Black Viper. The intel he had been given was lacking, to say the least, as the only real lead the Libra Empire had on him was that he was somewhere in Ulyshia, but with no idea where. Ulyshia was one of the largest countries on the entire continent, coming in at around the size of three Texases stacked on top of one another. But by this point, Green Grasshopper had decided to temporarily halt his search for Viper and take a lunch break.

Walking into a McDonald's, the cashier gasped in shock upon seeing the face of one of the Libra Empire's top generals. "Oh my! Is that Green Grasshopper?" She said excitedly, "Well, what can I get for you?" Even in a nation that was now a part of the Arman Empire in all but name, Green Grasshopper was still seen as something of a celebrity due to his iconic appearance, his mysterious demeanor, and his track record of heroic actions that made him seem like a hero to everyone on Jupiter. As Green made his way to the cashier, he made his order.

"I'd like three of everything, please. I apologize for the inconvenience of my order, so here's a check for five hundred thousand dollars." Pulling out a slip of paper from his belt, Green signed a check for that exact amount of money and handed it to the cashier, who relayed the ridiculous order to the dismay of the workers in the kitchen.

"Who the fuck orders this much food?" asked the unfortunate worker who had spent the last ten minutes now making the general's order, "This is enough to feed ten people." Looking back at the empty dining area, he could see Green sitting on the biggest table, waiting for his order. After around twenty minutes, four workers approached him, each carrying multiple trays filled with food. "Here is your order, sir," said the worker before returning to duty in the kitchen. Looking back at him, they could see Green removing the mouthpiece from his helmet and eating his meals.

The way Green Grasshopper ate was utterly unlike anything one would expect from a man of his status; he was gorging on food like he would die if he didn't cram as much food as possible into his mouth. Tray after tray of food was being forced down his throat in rapid succession, making it seem like he would explode from all the food he was eating. Soon, as if he were eating a small candy bar from a gas station, all the food he had ordered was gone, and he sat back up to leave the establishment.

When Green Grasshopper was out of the establishment, he kneeled against a bush and projectile vomited all over the leaves. This was a common occurrence for him, as the poison he had been subjected to as a kid had caused him only to receive minuscule amounts of energy from food, forcing him to eat copious amounts of food every day and purge it out. Finishing his business, Green sat down on the pavement to catch his breath but was interrupted by a voice. "Such a sorry state for someone who calls themself a 'hero' to find themselves in. Such a pity. It almost makes me feel bad for you if you weren't a pathetic man." Looking to his back, Green could see the image of Villa, the eighth general of the Armani Empire. She looked down at him with her long, pink hair, high heels, and the expensive designer handbook she had come to this city to purchase.

"What do you want, Villa? I'm not in the mood nor have enough time to deal with you."

"Oh, but I am very much in the mood to deal with you, Grasshopper. You see, I've been told about your little secrets."

"Is that so? Well, then, tell me what you've been told. To be honest, I'm surprised they even let a little girl, who only got her position through nepotism, use such valuable resources of the Arman Empire."

"Save your insults for later." Villa was getting increasingly upset at him, especially with the insults toward her position, "I've been informed that the suit isn't for show. That suit is the key to your power and life source. The suit gives you all of your power while the helmet keeps you alive so you don't suffocate from the air."

"And what exactly are you trying to get at, Villa? I'm certain a child like you has better things to do with her time than bothering an on-duty general like myself. I highly suggest you leave now." 

"But that's the thing. If you don't have that fancy little suit of yours, you're just a useless little cripple."

"So what you're saying is that because I need this suit, I'm suddenly your inferior?"

Villa smirked, an evil look on her face and in her eyes, "What I'm saying is, you were always inferior to me. As a man, you're my inferior. As a member of the Libra Empire, you're my inferior. And as a cripple who needs a suit to stay alive, you're my inferior. If I take that suit from you, you're nothing to me."

Green Grasshopper calmly stood up, brushed the dust off his lap, put the mouthpiece to his helmet back on, lit up the eyes on his suit to a bright orange, and said, "Well, good luck with that. You're gonna need it."

Before Villa could react, she was sent flying through the air by a punch from Green. In the middle of Mal Light City lies a large glass dome, like a giant gumball machine. Villa was sent flying through this dome, smashing the glass on one side before breaking the glass on the other. As soon as she burst through the other side of the dome, Green flew behind her as if teleporting and kicked her in the chest, sending her crashing down into the ground. Regaining her composure, Villa began looking around her and forming a plan of attack. "If I can just get one hit in, I can destroy his suit with my ability and win this fight." Immediately, Villa summoned a group of slaves to surround her and protect her. Green Grasshopper, however, rushed through the entire crowd of blindfolded men and karate-chopped them in the neck, leaving them paralyzed. He was so fast that he had paralyzed the whole crowd of three hundred within a fraction of a millisecond. Sensing his opportunity to strike, he sent his fist barreling through Villa's stomach but was stopped when he realized he was attacking a fake.

Looking up, he could see the real Villa on the roof of a surrounding building, laughing at him, "What's wrong? Trying to hit the air? Well, why don't I give you something real to touch?" From her arms came out hundreds of chains which were moving at the speed of light. From every direction, Green Grasshopper was surrounded as every single chain at her disposal was moving in to strike him. Jumping forward, Green pushed his way through the minuscule opening between a dozen chains, landing on the snowy ground where another hundred chains were already coming at him in his direction. With a backflip, he dodged thirty chains trying to strike him in his legs, and he used his arms to push himself up from the ground in mid-air so he could avoid another set of chains aiming for his head. Running forward, he slid down with his knees and dodged more chains, jumping up as soon as he was clear so he could avoid the attack aimed at his neck. Within seconds, he was effortlessly weaving hundreds of thousands of attacks coming at him at light speed, not letting a single chain hit him anywhere. As soon as there was an opening for him, he pulled out an energy sword from his belt and masterfully swung it around him at impossible speeds, turning every single one of her chains into tiny bits.

"Playtime is over, Villa. I've got business to attend to."

Green Grasshopper brought both of his hands together and transformed them into a massive sniper rifle that could turn anything it touched into mincemeat. But that wasn't everything; as Desert Eagles popped out his knees, machine guns burst from his shoulders, his mouth turned into a minigun, and his eyes became tiny cylinders to let out lasers from. In an instant, every single gun at his disposal shot out impossibly fast bursts of blue energy coming straight at Villa. Dozens upon dozens of laser beams flew in Villa's direction, following her as she tried to fly away. Despite her movements surpassing the speed of light, the tracking beams were hot on her trail, and each hit her in rapid succession before she knew it. With each beam hitting her, Villa collapsed to the ground, blood spurting out of her mouth as she crashed into a wall. Within seconds, Green Grasshopper was right in front of her as she stood there, unable to move.

"Well, playing with a kid like you was certainly fun, but I must be on my way. When Helena comes to visit you to dispose of you for your failings, tell her that Green Grasshopper defeated you. Tell her that right before she atomizes you."

As a last-ditch effort, Villa decided to use her trump card: instant control. Instant control was a technique she could only use a few times a day, and it allowed her to take control of anybody instantly. Extending a finger towards him, she shot out a chain that followed him and pierced through his heart. "You're mine, now. Kneel before me, worm!" She said, but instead of doing as she said and following her orders, he stood up proud and tall. She could not force him to do anything, no matter what she did or ordered. He stood before her, unphased by her words or the chain grabbing him by the heart. "What is happening? Why isn't my ability working?"

"Because your ability only works on those who are afraid of you. You can't take control of me because I see you for what you are. You are nothing more than a little girl desperately trying to get her way. You force others beneath you because you know you are ultimately powerless to do anything. You are nothing compared to the fourth general under the great King of Humanity." Taking hold of the chain at his heart, Green Grasshopper yanked it out of him and ignored the blood pouring out of his wound. "Let me make one thing clear: If you ever try to interfere in my duties again, I will kill you, and there will be nothing you can do about it." Summoning his motorcycle, the Hero of Libra, Green Grasshopper, drove into the night, returning to his mission of finding Black Viper.

Ulyshia City. POV: Yuzan Hellfire

This was supposed to be a regular job, or at least it was up until I found myself facing a little girl and her brother. Outside the castle in the freezing snow, I stared down the two targets with Dracula at my side. I motioned to Dracula to use his book, and he did so, scrolling through the dozens of pages filled with the Phoenix marks of his fallen comrades. Dracula was not born with a Phoenix mark, so he had to rely on his strength as a Vampire and the spells he had borrowed from other Phoenixes. Finding the right spell, he chanted, "Mercury, RELEASE," and out from the pages came a torrent of mercury that took the shape of a horned demon. The demon stretched out his arms and coiled them around the two criminals, holding them in place. I was not in the best of moods, so we attempted to end this as quickly as possible, with Dracula and me rushing toward the trapped targets, jumping in the air and dropkicking them with all our force. I even let out a blade from my heels to stab that annoying little twerp in the heart. But that didn't seem to do the trick, as the blade broke in contact with her skin.

Shrugging off my attack, the brat winked and screamed, "Loli BEAMUUUUU," which shot out two blasts of energy from her eye that sent Dracula and me flying, crashing into the snow. Before the two of us could even get up, Ololi had already broken free and rushed toward us, beating us while we were still down. She kicked Dracula in the balls while he was getting up and then did a frontflip so she could send her foot crashing down on the back of his neck. As for me, she grabbed me by the neck and suplexed me into the ground before she threw me into a concrete wall. From my back, I shot out a spring of metal that launched me in her direction, turning my hand into a hammer as Dracula got back up and prepared to fire off a burst of flames from his fingertips. She ducked under the torrent of fire, and I got hit by it instead. With my armor nearly melting, I fell into the snow again.

Before Dracula could fire off another attack, Ololi's brother appeared behind him and punched him in the spine. This was bad news. We were getting our asses kicked and needed to do something about it. Still reeling from the punch at his spine, Dracula turned around to face the brother, turning into a flock of bats that moved behind him before he turned back into his Vampire form. Grabbing the brother by the neck, he jumped in the air before slamming back down into the ground, leaving a crater in his wake. I tried to get back up, but Ololi appeared behind me, with her mocking voice, "Where do you think you're going?" Taking hold of my neck, she twisted it around until my face was to my back like an owl. This was not an ideal situation to be in, as my world turned into darkness, and my body fell to the ground, dead.

To a regular person, this would be where the story would end, but I was not a regular person. Looking around me in my dark void, I could see at my feet a screen that was giving me a view of Dracula's fight between Ololi and her brother. He was certainly putting up a good fight but was vastly outnumbered as the brother was cloning himself and his sister. No matter how many clones he mowed down with his magic, they just kept multiplying until there were thousands of them. To counter the number disadvantage, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number to Necromancer.

"Necromancer, I need you to send in as many zombies as possible to my location. You got that? I need them as soon as possible!" In no time flat, a bunch of coffins had appeared around the graveyard they were now fighting in, each opening up to let the walking corpses out. Seeing the zombies, I highly doubted they would have pulled up a good fight, as they were lower-class zombies that Necromancer only brought back from death so he could have a more significant number of undead minions.

Putting my hand to my head, I groaned, "He's gonna lose this fight, no doubt about that." And my hypothesis proved true when I heard the zombies muttering "GRAINS" instead of "BRAINS." Did that dumbass Necromancer seriously think that an army of vegetarian zombies was going to do anything? Even with the horde pulling out and eating sticks of celery that increased their muscle mass tenfold, they were nothing more than distractions as the army of kids and suspiciously affectionate brothers mowed them down. But, if the zombies did one useful thing, they did provide a decent enough distraction for Dracula to get his bearings straight.

With the zombie horde gone, the clones looked up and saw that Dracula was flying in the air with his cloak extended out like bat wings, and on every inch of his cloak was a magical, glowing pentagram ready to be used. All thirty pentagrams were shooting out a different spell, with shots of mercury, bursts of elemental attacks, portals that summoned magical familiars to mow down the crowd, and illusionary spells that made some clones freeze in their tracks. The attacks utterly destroyed some of the clones while others launched their counterattacks. Flying into the air, the Ololi clones yelled, "Super Loli Magical Girl Imouto-san Japaneezy attack form," and went into the elaborate transformation sequences that made them all look like Barbie dolls. Surrounding him, they all let out bursts of magic that covered Dracula, and he was hit by more than a hundred of her beams.

Dracula fell to the ground after sustaining those attacks, but before Ololi could leave, she was met by a fist to the back of the neck. Screaming in rage, he yelled, "This fight may be unwinnable, but I can at least ensure you pay for killing Lord Yuzan," and went into a battle with the Ololi, who might have been a clone. I didn't want to see this any further and looked away, hearing the sounds of Dracula getting his ass kicked by the infinitely multiplying clones of Ololi and her brother.

In retrospect, going after Ololi without a solid plan was a terrible idea. She could multiply infinitely with her brother, and her strength was nothing to scoff at either, easily able to beat me down to leave just one opponent. Once I was out of the picture, Dracula was left fighting an unwinnable battle against a group of powerful Phoenixes with unbeatable numbers. Sure, he could have taken on the two by himself, but hundreds of each would wear him down quickly. I should have brought SIN with me instead. He would have ended this instantly, but I can't keep calling him when he needs to stay undercover.

"Such a sorry sight for the Great Yuzan. Getting beaten down by a little girl is certainly embarrassing."

"Who said that?" Looking around, I was met with nothing but more darkness. Who could have spoken to me when there was nothing in this dark void?

Turning around, I was greeted by two eyes and a mouth, which appeared floating mid-air from the darkness. "Just look at you. You're a shadow of the former Yuzan. The Yuzan I see before me now is but a pale imitation."

"And what do you know about me? You're just a floating pair of eyes. Who the hell even are you?"

Hearing my questions, the floating face laughed as his eyes turned a shade of yellow, "Me? I'm the person inside that Phoenix mark of yours. Every Phoenix mark is sentient in its own way and has a spirit inhabiting it. You can call me The Devil. I'm not THE Devil, but I am A Devil."

"And what does a demon from Hell want from me? Unless it's to sentence me to eternal damnation."

The Devil before me laughed again and told me he was a "Big fan" of my "Works," whatever that meant. I was getting annoyed at this maniac and rushed forward to grab him by his stupid neck, but he vanished and reappeared before me. "Let's not get too hasty, now. I've still got a lot to talk about."

"CAN'T YOU JUST LET A GUY DIE IN PEACE?!?! I'M NOT IN THE MOOD TO DEAL WITH YOU!"

"Ahh, there's that anger that the Great Yuzan is known for." Anger? What was this beast talking about? I rarely felt any anger. The only anger I ever felt was toward Helena, and that was more an outlier than anything. "You're trying to deny your emotions, but we both know how emotional you can get. I know what you're going to say to me in response, 'I'm not a man of emotion. I'm a man of logic and reasoning.' But let's face it: you're more emotional than you give yourself credit for."

"And how exactly is this important in any way? I'm dead, aren't I?" I stomped my foot in irritation. I was irritated that this laughing clown was postponing my death and sentencing by God. "I should be down in Hell by now. My emotions are irrelevant to anything, especially my death."

The beast laughed again. He laughed as if I were some comedian telling him a funny joke. I asked him what was so funny, and he smiled, showing me his sharp fangs, "You're not dead yet, my friend." What the hell was this idiot talking about? My neck was twisted a full 180 degrees! My body was lifeless as it lay on the snow! If I weren't dead from this, then nothing would kill me. "And your emotions aren't irrelevant to anything. They are what give you power."

"How can something as useless as feeling give me power?"

"It is better to show you since you can only learn through experience, it seems. Look down at your feet and see what that Ololi girl is doing to your body."

Looking down, I was met with the sight of Ololi spitting on my body. She had long since beaten Dracula to a bloody pulp, his unconscious body lying down on the snow. But that was not important now, as I could see Ololi mocking me in my death. She was far too much of a coward to mock me in life, so she instead decided to mock my corpse.

"So much for the Dark Lord!" She laughed, "You were nothing more than a disgusting little shadow rat!" SHADOW RAT?! This bitch had just called me a racial slur! As she kicked and spat on my body, I started feeling something I had been holding back since I broke out of that prison: rage. How she laughed at me reminded me of how Helena used to laugh. Whenever I would do anything, and Helena was around to see it, she would always chastise me, even if it were the most minor of problems.

I can still hear her voice as clearly as if she were with me right now. She'd mock me for needing my sister's help to do anything, she'd mock me for being too weak for her standards, and she'd mock me for even the most minor of mistakes in my academic life. It was never enough for her. But there was one memory about Helena that had always stuck with me, even years later—the memory of when she had become my adoptive mother.

I can remember it clearly. I was about six years old, still reeling from the death of my real mother. My adoptive sister had saved me from an active warzone. Without her, I would have been long dead, killed by the horrifying Helena the Void. For a few days after she adopted me, she stayed close by my side as if I were her second half. She introduced me to her family, a bunch of wealthy nobles who were nice enough, though I only really cared about her. Although I rarely felt any compassion toward other people, something about that woman made her an exception, and I'm not entirely sure what it was even to this day. It felt to me as if she were a goddess. As if she had descended from heaven to save me from death personally. These peculiar qualities made me respect her as an idol, which was a rare achievement for someone to accomplish. But after a few days had passed, she was suddenly called to duty and had to leave me alone for a few hours. She told me to stay in my room until she returned and left to attend to her duties as a princess. Being the rebellious kid I was, I left my room as soon as she left the castle.

The castle she had lived in was luxurious beyond dreams. The whole place made Buckingham Palace look like a dirty outhouse and was three times larger. The castle stretched so far into the air that it functioned as a skyscraper and housed over three thousand people inside, primarily housekeepers. It was undoubtedly the perfect place for The God to make his headquarters, the home of the Great Igson the Blaze. All around me, I could see gems lining the walls and floor. Gold was sprinkled everywhere, expensive paintings on the walls, and maids and butlers to keep the place in shape. As I explored the place, I was met with a couple of my family members. In one of the swimming pools, there was one of my new cousins, a peculiar fellow who referred to himself only as "The Magician," who was trying to beat his record of holding his breath. After around ten minutes, he returned to the surface and greeted me with a smile.

"You must be the new cousin I've been hearing about. I know it may seem a little confusing to settle into, but I was also adopted into this family. So if you need help, I'll be there for you." Drying himself off, the man grabbed his signature magician's hat and put it on his head. Out from another door came a beautiful middle-aged woman with a thick French accent and a serious look. But that serious look was quickly replaced by pure adoration when she saw me.

"AW, look at you!!" She said in her French accent before she lunged toward me and grabbed hold of my cheeks, pulling at them. It was at this point when I got a better look at her; she was a demihuman, particularly that of a Kitsune, with fox ears at the top of her head and a large, fluffy tail at her back, her long, brown hair flowed past her waist, and her sharp claws felt unusually gentle at my face. "Oh, where are my manners? I haven't introduced myself. I'm Fan Mei, wife of Igson the Blaze. But you can call me Auntie!" Winking at me, she asked Magician to meet her somewhere, and they both said goodbye to me as they left the room. Those two were undoubtedly strange people, but it was to be expected from my new extended family.

I explored the castle more, looking at just some of the hundreds of elegant rooms. Even the rooms of the servants were unbelievably elegant. But my curious exploration was cut short when a chill ran through my spine, which froze me where I stood. Looking behind me, I was met by the horrifying face of none other than Helena the Void. 

If "Don't fuck with me" had a face, then that face would be Helena. Her eyes were colder than the harshest winters in Ulyshia, the crescent moon-shaped scar on her left cheek made her look threatening, and her military outfit was covered in so many metals that a magnet could spell her untimely demise. She presented herself in such a serious way that she looked ready to kill at any moment, as if the mere thought of her smiling was as unbelievable as Satan, THE Devil, Lucifer Stardust himself, entering a church and praying to God. What especially stood out about Helena was not her outfit, not her fashionable hat, which was adorned with the metal of Arman's greatest hero, not her scars, not her face, which made her look like she was constantly pissed off at everything, nor even the hints of muscle at her arms and waist which made her look like she could kill me in one punch, but the air around her. To me and everyone else, it seemed as if there was a pitch-black void of darkness that followed her around everywhere she went and screamed out one word: Death.

I sat on the ground, having long since fallen on my ass out of fear of the woman who had killed my birth mother. For what felt like hours, she just stood there, looking down at me as if she were ready to kill me but wanted to see me cower in fear before she went and did it. I felt my heart nearly jump out of my chest when I saw her take a step forward, and at that moment, I was certain I was going to die. But she instead knelt in front of me and patted me on the head. "You're lucky, you know that? It's not every day that someone I've ordered to be killed just walks away like nothing happened. There's something special about you, kid!" I said nothing, the only thing coming out of my mouth being labored breaths of fear. I asked her what she was doing here, and she said, "I'm allowed to visit this place whenever I want. Igson and his wife don't want the trouble of fighting me, so they just let me do whatever I want. You'll see a lot of me from now on, kid." This was unthinkable to me. How could someone as strong as Igson not want to fight her? Surely, he could defeat her in battle, right?

Out of fear for my safety, I instinctively threw a punch to her face, but she stared at my fist, and I was suddenly unable to move an inch. "Bad idea, kid. Let me show you what an Armani general does to unruly children." Suddenly, my hand was twisted gruesomely, blood pouring out of it as every bone was broken. Ignoring my screams of pain, she put a finger to my chin and lifted my face to meet her eyes. "I'm sorry about killing your mom, kid, but orders are orders. But since I'm so kind, I'll be your replacement mom. So I expect you to treat your new mother with the utmost respect, got that?"

I told her she was crazy. That there was no way I'd allow a psycho like her to be my new mother. What I heard next was utterly unbelievable: she giggled. She giggled, completely betraying her serious look, which she kept even as she berated me. Standing back up to look down upon me, she folded her hands at her chest. "Do you honestly believe a pathetic, weak little thing like you can ever hope to stand up against me? YOU'RE the crazy one for even thinking that. But that's what I like about you. You're crazy, just like me." Waving goodbye, Helena vanished into the air as if she were a ghost, leaving me on the ground all beat up and bloody. When she returned, my sister asked me what had happened to me, even though she could tell that Helena had done it. I was too scared to tell her anything.

And that is how Helena forced herself into becoming my new mother. She would appear before me every day and find something new to scold me for. In all my years of knowing her, I never felt even an ounce of compassion from her cold, dead soul. There was only one emotion I felt when she was with me: Helplessness.

Helplessness

Looking at Ololi berating my corpse, I felt helpless. I felt that same sense of helplessness that I always felt around Helena. But this helplessness gave rise to a new emotion: rage. I felt angry at this twerp for how she insulted me, the same way I hated Helena for how she always acted like she was better than me. And it was at that moment that I realized something: For my whole life, I've felt nothing but anger.

I was angry that my mother was killed, angry that Helena killed my mother, angry that she thought she could be a replacement for the mother she had taken from me, angry that she always treated me like shit no matter what achievements I made or what I had grown in, angry that she had lied to me and manipulated me into joining her death squad, angry that she had forced me to kill my fellow man for nothing but her own personal gain, and angry that she saw me as nothing more than an expendable puppet despite claiming to see me as her own son. But above all else, I was angry at one thing.

There was one thing Helena did to me that I could never forget, no matter how many years passed.

The one thing Helena had done that could never be forgiven.

The one thing Helena did that made me swear to kill her, even if I had to kill everyone else on the planet to do so.

The one thing Helena did that had driven me to survive in that hellish prison, even without any food or water.

The one thing Helena did that had led me to murder all of the guards at that stupid fucking ball she was attending. I killed her stupid bodyguards with my own hands, ripped their heads off, threw them at her feet, and watched in orgasmic glee as the stupid look on her face was replaced with fear. I still remember how good I felt seeing all of those Royals, my adoptive family included, look at me in pure fear as I was covered in the blood of dozens of people. That feeling was better than ejaculating. It felt so good because I knew I had finally forced Helena to feel something, to look at me with something other than contempt and displeasure. I still remember when that stupid bitch Fan Mei looked at me and said, "Yuzan, why? Why did you do this?"

It should have been painfully obvious why I did it. Even to a complete fucking idiot. Even to the blind. Even to the braindead. If anyone saw what I had seen, they would have done precisely what I did. I killed those bodyguards, ripped their heads off, punched that look on Helena's face off of her, launched her into the rainy night, and stabbed her in the heart, almost killing her on national television because of what she did.

That unforgivable sin. What she did which cannot be forgiven. Ever.

When Helena sent my entire world crashing down and drained all the life and joy from it. When she crashed it into an endless abyss, into the void that she got her name from.

When Helena killed my sister right in front of me.

She killed that loving beacon of light, that kind, angelic woman who hated violence and wanted nothing more than to cover the world in pretty flowers and put an end to all violence. When my beloved, kind sister, Lily, was killed instead of a heartless, evil, cruel abomination like myself. At that moment, I felt nothing but pure hatred in my heart. I felt hatred not only for Helena but for myself for putting Lily in a position that got her killed for my sake.

And with that hatred, I rose from the snowy ground and twisted my head back to where it was supposed to be. As Ololi looked at me, she screamed out in fear. "WHAT THE FUCK?!?! HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!!!"

I laughed at that stupid little bitch. This stupid fucking twerp that was a complete nuisance to me. "You're gonna have to try harder than that to kill me," I said before I grabbed hold of her face and crushed it in my palm. Unfortunately, that was not the real Ololi and a horde of her and her brother surrounded me. But there was something different about my powers today. It felt like I was gaining power from the darkness itself, and my power had grown a hundredfold. Looking around at the metal gates of the cemetery, it felt as if I was in complete control of it. And sure enough, I put my hand forward, and the gate came crashing toward me, absorbing it into my skin so I could transform more freely. This was gonna be fun.

Transforming my hands into two miniguns, I let out a constant stream of fiery death as the Ololi clones around me were turning into mincemeat. There was one clone that I felt particularly mad at, so I pointed both guns at her, walked toward her as the guns were tearing her apart, and smiled in glee as I watched her get torn into tiny little bits and pieces. "Don't you dare touch my sister," said one of the brother's clones.

"Don't worry, buddy. I'm not 'touching' your sister. I'm only trying to smash her head against the pavement." Laughing manically, I pointed my guns at the crowd of clones of Ololi's brother. If I killed enough clones, I would eventually find the real one. Soon enough, as I was mowing down clone after clone, I spotted in the crowd Ololi's brother, who was letting clones of himself and his sister jump out of him. "I FOUND YOU!!!"

Jumping up into the air, I tanked through the dumbass "LOLI BEAMUUU" and "ONII-CHAN BLASTUUU" that was hitting me and came crashing into the brother. Crawling to his knees and begging for mercy like a little bitch, he attempted to appeal to the nonexistent kindness in my soul. I was tired of his annoying fucking voice, so I brought my hand to his throat, pulled out his esophagus, and shoved it down his throat as his eyes went bloodshot red, the life drained from his face, and all of his clones save for Ololi's vanished into nothingness.

"ONII-CHAN. NOOOOOO." Came the harpy again, "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!!!"

"Then why don't you try it? Go ahead, make me pay for killing that brother of yours." Holding my hands out in a cross formation, I awaited her move. Soon, clone after clone after clone after clone after clone of brightly colored Ololis surrounded me and pointed their magic wands at me. Bracing for impact, I covered myself in layer after layer of armor, which was now ten times as strong from my rage. As expected, the thousands of beams crashing down on me did nothing, not even destroying two of my layers of armor. "Now it's my turn," I said before flying into the air at one thousand times the speed of light.

As I made my way through the clones, I twisted their necks and pulled out their heads as payback. After killing all the clones in the air, I made my way to the clones on the ground. Jumping down, I spotted the real Ololi. "You meanie head! You'll pay for this!" She said before I ran up to her and punched her so hard her head came clean off of her shoulders, along with her spine, both of which splattered across the wall.

Suddenly, her head was back on its shoulders, with one of the hundreds of clones dying in her stead. "See? It's pointless to fight me. I'll just keep healing through it." I looked down at her. I Looked down at this petulant child trying to boast in front of the 6 foot 11 inches tall behemoth of death that stood before her. I gave her a light smirk and told her I was gonna test just how strong her regeneration was. "What do you mean test my regenera-AUGH." Her stupid fucking voice was cut off by me chokeholding her and forcing her to the ground.

"I said, LET'S TEST OUT HOW STRONG THAT REGENERATION OF YOURS IS!!!!!" Bringing my foot up in front of her face, I slammed it down on her head, splitting it like a watermelon. Before the clones could even reach me, I was smashing her head against the concrete with my boot at supersonic speeds. She could barely even react before her life was brought to an abrupt end by my boot before being brought back to suffer the same fate again. Hundreds upon hundreds of times, she died, having her head smashed into mush before growing back again. I was smashing her head in while laughing like a complete maniac. I was laughing so hard and loud that I swear everyone else in the city could hear me.

When she was down to her last life, I paused to hear what she was saying under her labored breaths. Bending down, I put my ear to her mouth and asked her what she was trying to say. She pathetically tried to beg me for her life. "Spare you? Now, why would little ol' me do that? I'm having fun here. Too much fun for me to stop." Getting back up, I brought my boot back down on her face, this time stomping it at average speed. Slowly, I watched as her face went from bruised to bleeding to smashed into her skull to complete mush to a stain on the concrete. Looking down at my kill, I spat on her now nonexistent head, calling her a "pathetic piece of shit" while I did it. That's two targets down. Only ten to go. 

Walking over to the unconscious Dracula, I checked his vitals to see that he was still alive, and then I called for X to return him to the hideout. "Make sure you kick Necromancer's ass," I told him before he disappeared into the shadows. Now very pissed off and very tired, I decided that I needed a drink to calm my head.

On one corner of Ulyshia, there is this excellent bar called the "Dark Lord's Conquest" that is very cheap on Sundays, which it was. Remembering the date, I groaned, realizing I had work tomorrow. Sitting at the bar at almost four in the afternoon, I asked the bartender for the strongest liquor available. The bartender, however, told me he was out of top-shelf liquor, saying the blonde woman next to me had taken it all. As the bartender handed me a regular beer, I looked at the woman beside me angrily. "You know, I would have liked to have some of that liquor you're hogging over there." Looking back at me, I could see in her eyes that she wasn't even drunk. How could a woman who had just hogged all the top-quality liquor not even be drunk?

"Sorry, but I didn't see your name on it, so it's mine." I angrily stood up before her, and she did the same. I realized something peculiar at that moment: we were both the same height. We were the exact same height, down to the inch, the centimeter, and the millimeter. We were both precisely six foot eleven inches tall, two-hundred and ten point eighty-two centimeters. Getting a better look at this woman, I could see that she was stunningly hot. She had long, blonde hair tied in a ponytail that extended past her knees, she was wearing a beautiful red dress that made her look gorgeous and complimented her blood-red lipstick, and her face was sharp and authoritative. Her tits weren't half bad, either. As we stared at each other, we realized something.

"Hey, aren't you Tobias Rieper? That guy who works at the cubicle beside me at work?"

"And aren't you Dorothea? The woman who says and does nothing at work?" Realizing we were co-workers and not wanting this drama to reach work, we decided to share our drinks. She challenged me to a drinking competition before I could even take a sip.

"I bet a kid like you couldn't even handle a soft drink," she said, laughing maniacally while she did. Not wanting to be outdone by her, I grabbed a bottle of Vodka and chugged it in mere seconds. Phoenixes naturally have insanely high alcohol tolerance, so our drinking game extended well into the night. That's right, we were in that bar from around four p.m. to midnight, drinking all the while. It had gotten to the point where the two of us were so drunk that we were hanging on to each other, barely able to walk as we crashed into the snow over and over again. My vision was getting blurry, and I eventually blacked out from all the alcohol in my system.

Although I usually hated going to sleep, this time was different. Instead of being greeted by the same memories from my past, my night was occupied by a comfortable haze, as if I was floating in the air. For once in my life, I woke up comfortably, not screaming or sweating. But something was off about this morning, which was apparent even as hungover as I was. I wasn't in my apartment, and I wasn't in my room. Trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes, I looked down at my hands and saw something peculiar. I saw, on my hands, traces of lipstick that had been rubbed off from my face. Looking down, I saw that there were not only hickeys on my neck and lipstick marks all over my stomach but that I was completely naked. Looking at the marks, I noticed something that stopped my heart: they were the same shade of red as Dorothea's lipstick.

Looking to my side, I was met with my worst fear: Dorothea, a woman I hated, was sleeping in her bed beside me, completely and utterly naked.