A friendly visit?

The news hit like a shockwave, sweeping through the barracks, and igniting panic and fear among the battle slaves. Their faces were filled with pure, unfiltered terror. The words 'slave battle' had always sent shivers down spines, but now they were faced with a deadly purge in three days. Everyone knew that 'weeding out the weak' meant one thing—death. This wasn't a test of endurance but a massacre in the guise of a tournament.

Meanwhile, deep underground in the dark, damp cell beneath the palace, the atmosphere felt worlds apart. Shadows flickered from a single torch outside the barred cell, casting long, eerie shapes across the floor. The prisoner, a knight stripped of all dignity, sat alone, his back pressed against the cold, rough stone wall. His body was a canvas of horror—skin scorched and blistered, the raw burns crisscrossing his muscular torso, each wound an open testament to his suffering. His face remained emotionless as he listened to the guards gossiping, their voices cutting through the silence like knives.

Above him, several floors higher and oblivious to the knight's plight, Omen sat down at his desk, his movements fluid but purposeful as he opened a textbook on water manipulation that he had borrowed some time ago. The pages were worn, the edges frayed, but the intricate diagrams and detailed notes within were invaluable. Every battleslave studied under one ability, But Omen was unique. He wasn't bound by just one attribute. Multiple abilities coursed through him, and even though time was a luxury he never had, he used every spare second to study. Now, when others might have rested or slept, he devoted it to expanding his knowledge and mastering more abilities.

His progress in soul manipulation was already at phase five—unsurprising, since it was his main attribute, the one that felt most natural to him. Water and electricity manipulation had advanced to phase six, while fire and fog manipulation were sitting comfortably at phase seven. The rest of his abilities had climbed even further, but most were at phase eight or nine. There were three abilities he craved more than any others: teleportation, flight, and time manipulation. Each of them eluded him. His luck hadn't been great these past few days, and the frustration of their absence gnawed at him, even as he continued to grow stronger in other areas. His advancement was rapid still, but unlike the other battleslaves, Omen had goals that extended far beyond survival or power alone.

The environment around him had grown harsher. A few days ago, the staff had become stricter. The battleslaves were being driven to their limits, forced to work harder than ever before. The impending war echoed through the halls, and the sense of urgency had become palpable. Captains and lieutenants had begun personally training disciples, hand-picking those they believed had potential. Most of Omen's classmates were already under the mentorship of one officer or another, their progress carefully monitored and guided by experienced warriors.

But Omen stood apart. He wasn't sociable, didn't engage with the others long enough to give anyone a chance to recruit him. Instead, he kept to himself, undertaking missions on his own or self-studying whenever possible. He would disappear for days at a time, only to return to the classroom and advance into another phase as if it were nothing. His talent was terrifying. It shook the core of the battleslave seniors, many of whom took months—sometimes years—to achieve the same advancements Omen mastered in mere weeks.

He was still silently reading when a knock sounded on his door. He paused knowing fully well he wasn't acquainted with anyone.

"Who's there?"

The person didn't respond so Omen turned to face the door. The metal door suddenly smashed open and if not for his [precognition] skill he would have been beheaded. He dodged the door as it smashed violently through the small window creating a massive hole in the wall.

Wasting no time Omen leaped out of the broken wall and with [tree walker] ability pivoted on his foot and raced upwards to the roof, and just in time as a violent chaos energy blasted right through and further expanding the wall. Omen hadn't yet seen his attacker but he knew facing him would be dangerous.

"Do you realize you're in the second brigade battle slave dormitories, you could be terminated for this!" Omen bellowed as his attack slowly revealed himself…or herself.

Omen was shocked nonetheless, and a sudden intense fear gripped his heart, because his attacker was one which he knew. He was clad in dark robe and had long black hair, his cold dark gaze peered up at him and Omen shivered in dread, it was an acolyte. It was…the overseer.

"To say I am proud you survived is quite the understatement", his cold face shifted into a dark smile "Tell me son of chaos, how did you survive?"

Omen remained silent and without wasting another second he lept off the roof falling more than ten metres to the ground. With all his enhanced physical attributes, there was no way he could get injured.

But just as he landed, his bones cracked and he fell face-first on the grass. He tried standing up in shock but felt a devastating weight holding down his body. A figure slowly walked towards him, at first he thought it was the Overseer but the body despite wearing a similar dark robe was feminine.

"It's good to see you again Omen", he forcefully raised his eyes to see his latest attacker and his eyes widened further in shock, "Oh, you do remember me"

Of course he remembered, this was the same acolyte that had sold him the armor that helped him out during the ocean purge. He assumed she was a non combatant and just took care of the purgers in the artificial dimension, but now he was dreadfully wrong.

"How did you find me?", Omen said as he tried to stall for time. The officials should have been sprawling in by now with all the ensuing chaos, why weren't they here now?

As if reading his thoughts the beautiful acolyte replied in an innocent voice "Oh, don't worry, this is just a simple dream spell. We wanted to confirm if you were still alive and lo and behold you are". As she sid that the Overseer who had been watching them from the collapsed wall jumped down and approached them.

"Do you have his location now Celia?", he asked simply as he stared down at Omen who remained unmoving on the ground.

"well it's complicated, he's in a kingdom of sorts" she then turned around "And from the look of things, it's still one right here on Aeltherion"

"Good"The Overseer smiled as he stared down at Omen one more time and smiled cruelly, and with that he stomped his foot and smashed Omen's skull into the round with his foot.

Omens stood up immediately in fear as he quickly turned to the door. But unlike his dream the door remained shut. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat down ominously.

"Seems like I have to speed up my plans", he said to himself. This was the most terrifying wake-up call he could experience right now and Omen suddenly felt very pressured. He had no allies right now that could defend him and once the acolytes came and he was still a slave there was no way he could defend himself. "let's start phase two then"

….

Richard was humming to himself as he quietly pumpuosly walked through the hallway. Two guards followed him from behind, their sheated sword by their waist. Two battle slaves saw him coming and immediatelt tried to change directions.

"Hey you!", Richard bellowed. It was impossible for him to not harass such lesser beings like them "Come here, the both of you"

The slaves knew who he was, not daring to refuse his order they scampered to his felt and knelt down grovelling at his feet.

"I'm deeply sorry my lord, If I had known you were coming through I wouldn't have dared coming your way, forgive me for my stupidity, I beg of you", one of them quickly pleaded with tears in his eyes.

The second boy seeing what his friend was doing knelt down as well, but for some reason he didn't utter a word. This infuriated Richard as he kicked the boy's face.

"Are you mute boy?!", Richard pommeled his face again to the round in anger "Can't you see what your fellow bastard is doing?". He pommeled the boy into the ground one more time and this time he exacted too much force as his boot struck the boy's temple, knocking him unconscious.

"Tsk, such weaklings!", Richard muttered, he was already bored and continued his stroll.

"Blergh!", Richard coughed of a large amount of blood. He felt something moving in his cheek, it was as if it just appeared out of nowhere. The boy screamed as he tried to claw the insidious thing out of his face. The guards noticing the bizarre scene rushed to prevent him from harming himself. They forced his hand from further damaging his face, and one of them turned and detained the last battleslave.

"What did you do?!", the man bellowed at the frightened slave who only shivered in fear.

"I did nothing sir, I beg of you-", he was slapped across the face so violently that a tooth came flyin out "When the Geeral hears of this, nothing would save you".

More guards rushed into the hallway and some dragged the detained boy down into the cells while the other group helped the General's son into his room as they requested fo medical aid. The entire palace erupted in chaos. There had never been a revolt such as this in history, a slave daring to attack the fifth general's son directly. If before they were treated as slaves, now they ere treated as mees livestock.

While everything happened, Omen simply smiled to himself. "So it worked afterall", he was quite pleased with himself. He had sparred with Richard once and infected him with the [willed death ink], it was an ability he stole from one of the sea creatures during the ocean purge and he had used it only once when facing the girl with [instant regeneration] during the first purge.

The original owner of this ability was capable of implementing its will into the corporeal dark energy so Omen had infected him during the spar by punching him in the face. He only need to draw a bit closer to activate the will. While General Arthur would be tied down by his dying son, Omen would continue his other plans. He needed to be free within the week lest the entity would take his body.