The darkness of night enshrouded all things in sight and a silent cry disappeared with a whimper.

A freedom formerly held was rather stagnant. With blood dripping from his head thus drenching his hair, a young boy caught sight of a defying event while contemplating his fate.

His gaze turned cold and unmoving.

The subject of his gaze, that being the horrid monster standing with its head held up high. In its monstrous hand, it clenched tightly to the blood ridden body of a woman. Thereafter, it took out its thick tongue, a gaping hole opened from the mouth and it enveloped the woman’s body.

The boy caught entrapped, saw to it that the woman passed through and was entirely enveloped by it, she was devoured.

When lowering its jaw, something snapped. Blatant as it were, the deceased woman was decapitated even while void of life. And her head rolled over the barren land, devastated.

“…”

Panting with a rather calmed tone, the wounded boy made looked towards anywhere, but there. He slowly advanced across a street stained with the tone of deep red due to endless streams of blood, which darkened. The overall stench of mangled corpses was overwhelming but that was not the most unpleasant experience of all.

With a full moon illuminating the way, something was apparent. As a reality of an impending death loomed and finally settled, the only thing in front of him was the giant face of a monster.

As if amused, that horrid thing proceeded to stretch an arm towards cowering prey, with a smiling expression. And fear enveloped the boy to the point of silencing his voice. As such, no cries spilled forth.

However!!! Before ever reaching contact, it was in this moment, the monster’s head fell from its body, rolling onto the earth steadily.

Suddenly, a silent figure covered in red, appeared before him from thin air.

That person touched his forehead with their finger, gently.

***

Within a second, almost to milliseconds, they were atop a cliff to the north of the village.

“Stay here.”

When the figure then spoke, it disappeared as fast as it appeared before. And behind him, was a group of these unknown individuals, clad in armor of a red shade with a small number of the villagers and at the end of that concentration of people, a massive shadow loomed over, generated by a metallic structure floating in the air.

“Are you… injured?” With the next words uttered to him, the boy’s gaze shifted.

***

A mass slaughter of a remote village at the outskirts of the nation was always the norm in these war times, and the village hidden in the forest of giant trees named “Ivory,” was the latest to fall to the Abyss. With it being outside the protection of the Knights even though clearly it was a place still under their watch, a considerable distance was evident.

However, a surprise attack from enemy forces will always cause an imminent retaliation.

The larger the population was, the larger the number of Legions located to the land. If a Abyss horde appeared, all its units could be exterminated within minutes to the sighting, but a sighting of a Abyss horde has never be witnessed, that is in cities or towns closer to the hustle and bustle.

But a village not quite as adapt with technologies as other underlying areas, though suitable communication could be achieved if danger lurked. Still, a call urging for help and assistance with enemies of a demon-like nature, would reach the Legions comprised of Knights instantaneously but having gotten that message, the Knights would take a considerable amount of time before ever reaching.

The distance was clear to both sides even when proceeding with haste. Nevertheless the Knights would come.

***

Landing abruptly to the earth, the Master of the Legion of Shadow came crashing forth the battlefield with glowing crimson eyes and unsheathed a pair of swords from their individual sheaths. The pair of swords was immediately coated by dark flames that flared and wavered ceaselessly but a moment later, then the blades were stained of an energy of a shade of purple.

Apparent as it were, she landed at the center of all of it. The largest concentration of Abyss, lay in wait. Unlike previous Abyss, these ones were of a smaller size, though they utilized their superior numbers for an additional advantage. With the eyes of a predator sizing up prey, Isui proceeded to move her gaze from one soldier to the next.

As soon as those horrid creatures noticed her presence, they began to throw themselves at the Knight.

Still, it was futile!

Without notice or even grasping her movements, Isui swiftly maneuvered past three soldiers which stepped up in front first, cleanly slicing their necks entirely and decapitated them.

Three down, more to go!

With both swords tightly gripped, she kicked the ground and charged forward.

Another two pounced at the exact time to intercept the enemy as they reared ugly heads at her.

From a glance, these types of Abyss soldiers’ were distinctively “born” with claws riddled for disemboweling and mangling. Thankfully her armor was of sturdy feature, able to ward off and withstand the sharpness of those claws as her movements from swaying from left to right made the enemies’ attack futile.

Suddenly, a surge of raw power and unmatched speed was released in quick succession from her leg, thrusting for the knee joint of a soldier to the left. “Kheek!” The Abyss yelped, quickly beginning to heal at a miniscule rate.

An approaching slash from the Abyss to the right managed to graze her. However that was not the case as an afterimage was the only thing it grasped. Quicker reflexes prompted Isui to evade but to also launch a counterattack, when it eventually lost momentum.

As predicted, that one fatal flaw in approach caused an opening to appear. Noticing this, Isui’s foot met the soldier’s chin, when strangely, the trees began to spin around the soldier’s line of sight. It shot up into the air!

Misfortune followed as the onslaught still continued. With one huge leap, a sword clashed with its neck, slicing entirely. In that same instance, the gathered momentum was further held on.

Isui furiously spun down to the earth, decapitating the knee injured soldier beneath, ultimately created flames wheels in the air.

“…”

After a light landing, her eyes gawked at the remaining number that seemed to surround her from each direction. Not in a panicked state, Isui sharpened her focus on each of their movement.

As they approached, time began to whither. Isui crouched down, swaying from each direction with swift movements of the feet, each time silent in approach.

Speed was relative.

Even when met with overwhelming enemies, she fought without being inflicted injuries to note of. As such, the agitated Abyss plunged into a state of shock and panic, causing a more desirable effect for the Knight. Their pale faces which saw death looming a distance away, had the single intention of focusing. Right now, additional soldiers stepped forward.

Regardless of strength and speed, they noticed that their numbers were far more superior. Perhaps if all jumped in at the exact moment, then that could overwhelm the enemy.

Concluding that she would not await for a counterattack, another soldier met an untimely end with the confrontation pressing to the final stage.

When following the rule of gravity, the decapitated bodies fell to the ground with a thud.

“…”

Weaving between each soldier, red blood splattered out profusely with every successful strike.

The Knight’s sword embedded into another soldier’s neck. No scream for help or signs of anguish came forth and the other sword, impaled into another soldier from the chin, exiting horizontally out the cranium of the skull.

The slicing of flesh followed once more and she added to the body count.

Agile movements complimented by her fighting style. Twenty of the surrounding enemies had already fallen. Standing no chance, not even the sliver of hope grasped them and they finally understood this.

However amongst a remaining few, one boasted a larger physique and cried furiously, “Roar!” With a determined gaze, it threw the far smaller ones into the air in front and then, grabbed another two in order to guard itself, ultimately creating a diversion. The current objective: “create a blind spot in order to hamper the enemy’s vision with the first launch but also protect me as I neared closer.”

For an unsightly creature, that plan was above average for its kind, though the execution was poor since the diversion was far less an obstacle in her way. That line of thought was insidious.

After coming in close distance, her frightening quick reflexes allowed for a deadly response.

A flash of light appeared in tenths of a second. A single motion from her quickdraw generated a blinding slash, searing hot in wake that a mark of black flames coated the air in front.

Having dealt a lethal strike, the aftermath was clear. The last remnants of the large soldier and whatever support it used, was burned into sheer nothingness, completely incinerated upon activation of the attack.