The glimmering ambience of moonlight crept through ancient cuts between the curtain fabrics. Everybody else was asleep, their snores filling the air with quiet tension. There you stood, equipped for combat, looking down at a sleeping tanuki in a soft slumber. A smile crept along your face as you admired her beauty for one last time. Your lips approached hers and gently planted a kiss onto them before vanishing in a spiral of blue lights.

The light-blue streaks of lasers shot through the curtains and refracted through the glass until they bounced around outside. Then, without warning, they shot upward and danced with the stars and raced against the moonlight itself. To many, the lights could've been a fallen star, or maybe a meteor shower. Perhaps an anomaly of light? A sign from the cosmos? A gift from God? However, no matter the theories and debates that took place the next morning of what this strange apparition was exactly, none would succeed. For the truth was that this glamours spectacle of majesty and power was, in fact, a figure very few know of now, but ALL will know very, very soon.

The lasers twirled through the air and spun around clouds, pacing and pushing forth across the night sky. The phantom lines of magical prowess that stained the night sky would be held as a reminder of what was to come. The streaks flew across aimlessly until a beacon of corruption came into view. A castle wider than many cities, and a city wider than many countries. A capital larger than thousands of kingdoms, and streets that held more wickedness than the armies of Hell.

Those blue-streaks correlated together, just outside the gates. The fluorescent webbing wrapped and tangled together to form a figure. Broad but agile. Tall yet undetectable. Tough yet charming. The blue light was washed away and was replaced by a hulking mass of black. The darkness floated across the stone road into the city, bringing with it a scent of destruction. Its hollow head looked down at the supposed night watch. All were lying down on the floor with splashes of red on them. The strong stench of alcohol wafted into the darkness' nostrils, which made it cough and sneer in disgust.

"Tch. Pathetic drunks" it mumbled. The black mass drifted onward, creeping along across the abandoned city streets with ease. It saw all the worse kinds of sin uprear its ugly head. Shadows whispering in black market dealings. The rattle of slave chains. Zombies flirting with young girls with slurred speeches. Demi-Humans beaten and taken advantage of. A red glow from the hulking darkness made a rambling fool twist violently into pitch-black spectres, who all moved to rid the streets of this plague.

The colossal shadow swiftly made its way along the streets in an increasingly timely manner. All it needed was to chose one road, for they all eventually made their way to the castle gates. Its movements were soft as it approached the gates. The guards this time, however, were on full alert, and no bottles of wine or tankards of ale were in sight. However, the cheer and bustle of a royal banquet could be overheard through thick stone walls, and the taste of roasting meats was salivating on the creature's tongue. It slowly made its way towards the doors of the castle, and pushed them open with outstretched arms.

The smiles and music and festivities were cut short by the sound of the doors creaking open. The royal dining hall, where hundreds of guests mingled and gorged and drank themselves away, was disrupted by a broad black figure, possibly male, walking coldly along the centre of the room.

"Halt!" cried out a guard, who stuck out his halberd at the figure. Before the others knights could rush over, though, the figure flicked his hand to the side and with a flash of blue, the guard was tossed aside and crashed into a table full of roasted pork and beef.

"What nonsense is this!" cried out the King, gripping his goblet of wine with anger and his teeth blaring bloody murder. The figure looked towards the second-floor balcony to see the King jerking like a wild dog. Beside him, it saw a familiar red-headed princess and a blonde 'Hero' gripping his spear in anticipation of confrontation.

Suddenly, the Spear Hero crashed down in front of the figure and pointed his spear at it. "Do not come any closer, you foul fiend, or else you shall bid your malevolent life goodb-

"Please, do not speak so heroicly, or even royally for that matter. You have no right to speak in such a manner. In fact, none of you do." boomed out the figure

"Oh? And what gives you such a right to decide that?" barked the King, his eyes rabid. The figure made a small noise. almost like a small laugh, and raised its left arm. However, instead of flesh and blood and bone, the audience was met with finely melted meteorite steel and dragon scales shaped into an imitation of flesh and blood and bone. The knuckles on the metallic hand shined an array of queer colours, and in its light, they all saw eyes that screamed death and a smile that crept an icy-cold touch upon their spines.

"My status as Gilada's heir gives me the right to uphold that judgement" the creature said with an eerie voice

"No...it can't be..." remarked the King "Who...Who even are you?!"

"Sir Motoyasu! I'm scared!" cried out Malty, holding onto the Spear Hero's arm

"Do not worry Myne, I shall smite down this evil being" he spoke confidently, before spinning his head towards you and rushing you with murderous intent "Meteor Thrust!"

Another laugh escaped the figure. Before the spear could make contact, Motoyasu flashed blue and was shot upwards with a violent gust of wind. As soon as his body was smacked up against the ceiling he ricocheted back down again. And again he was slammed hard against the stone surface, breaking pieces of his armour. And again he ricocheted. And again and again and again. He was a pinball, as soon as a piece of bone was shattered or his armour was fragmented he would be connected to another surface. The figure chuckled as he saw Motoyasu's broken body float into the air, before thrusting him down to earth one last time.

"You get what you deserve. Pedo" mumbled the figure eerily as Motoyasu coughed up blood

"Sir Motoyasu!" screamed Myne, who had ran over to try and heal the many, many wounds across the Spear Hero's body.

"Guards! Seize him at once!" Ordered the King. The figure casually looked around to see a coalition of guards encircle him. Some had halberds, others had spears. Most had swords. And all were trembling in fear at the dark aura bleeding off the demon in front of them.

"Do any of you truly wish to fight me?" asked the spectre. Their heads still held firm, their hands still shook white with fear. But their eyes...their eyes were all the figure needed to know.

"How DARE YOU!" roared the King "How DARE YOU come into MY castle. MY party, and attack MY guest! I SHALL PUT YOU TO DEATH!" in his anger, the King launched his goblet across the hall, painting his knights in a new coat of berry-scented violet.

"Strike me down then"

"Huh? W-WHAT??"

"Oh, my apologies. It seems that I misunderstood when you said that YOU will put me to death. I guess you were referring to one of your pawns here."

"Why I-I DON'T HAVE TO PROVE ANYTHING TO SUCH AN EVIL AS YOURSELF! GUARDS! KILL HIM!"

"Ah, it does seem that your known for your bravery, Aultcray Melromarc the 32nd" the figure joked with a small chuckle. The King's face was red with anger; blaring smoke from his nostrils. He grabbed a sword from a nearby knight and marched downward to meet the mysterious foe

"No my liege you can't!"

"Father! Wait!"

"Hmm, so you can actually do something for yourself. And here I was thinking you had to order one of your servants to fornicate with your-"

"ENOUGH! I shall NOT STAND HERE WHILE YOU INSULT MY STATUS. PREPARE TO BE SMITTEN DOWN, FIEND!"

The room uproared in support of the King. He took a stance that seemed to either imitate or mock that of one of his knights. The figure chuckled again and a red light was cast around him "Oh, don't worry about my health. It's yours I feel more concerned for"

The King gritted his teeth "Enough chatter. Prepare to be-"

Before he finished his sentence, Aultcray widened his eyes in a mix of interest, wonder and fear as he saw all the guests and guards around him fall to the ground into piles of...playing cards?

"Don't worry, they are all very much alive, and this won't hurt them in the slightest. It's just a counter-measure to snuff out any external support from this fight" told the spectre with an unnoticeable smirk. It walked, no, floated over to a pile of cards and picked up an untouched sword "You wanted a fair fight, no? Well then, here I am" it said with sleek, black, outstretched arms and dangling a sword in its right palm.

"(Damn it! He...Damn it! I...am I going to die? No...I am a King! I cannot die! No Aultcray don't think so foolishly. But he's right open...)"

"What's the matter Aultcray? Are you scared? Hmm, no wonder your wife likes to leave you. She probably is scouring for a husband that can probably satisfy some needs you leave out" taunted the figure with a menacing laugh.

"DON'T TALK ABOUT HER YOU DISGUSTING DEVIL!" screamed Melromarc in bloody murder as he charged and stabbed the sword through the figure's heart. Except...it didn't go through. A blue circle appeared where its chest should be, and Aultcray could see with his very eyes that the sword had somehow travelled behind his black-clad attacker. His face went pale, and as his body crumbled in terror he slowly raised his head up to meet the eyes of this immortal demon. He saw nothing. Darkness.

Until a red aura illuminated its dead eyes

Until an old, satanic skull replaced its silent face

Until the fear dragged out Aultcray's soul

Until he was thrown violently back towards a wall between two staircases

The playing cards slowly morphed back into the soft sacks of flesh they once were. Conveniently, they all still had their clothes on. They all heard and saw the fight that took place, but many were paralysed in fear and despite all the panicked orders received from their brains, their bodies refused to move. The figure cast their expressions aside and looked down to see noticeable damage on its metallic left arm.

"Father!" Screamed Malty, who rushed to his side

"Hmm, just as I suspected."

The King coughed up blood and stared into the figure's once-again blank-black face. "What...are...you?"

The figure made a small chuckling noise before its head was consumed with a flash of red. When the light died down, a young, human face stared back down at the injured King.

"It's..you..."

"Yes, it is I, (Yn) (Ln). Remember me? I was the one you put into that tank...that...simualtion. Remember when you woke me up, and how you pretended to care about my wellbeing? Remember the lies you told me? About the Shield Hero and his party?" you spat with venom in your voice

"Lies!" Cried Malty "How dare you come into His Majesty's home, attack his guests, His Majesty himself and then dare to call him a liar??"

Your eyes flashed over towards the angsty redhead before a tint of purple sparked in your iris'. A sort of spark, almost like lightning but purple in colour, struck one of your left knuckles from the sky, causing a mass exodus of stone and wood around you. A majority of the castle's roof was decimated, and the surrounding furniture and walls were obliterated into rubble. The cold night air slithered around the skin of the banquet guests, and their hairs jumped in surprise. You stroked your left arm. It felt...loose. Your eyes glared at the moping redhead before you.

"Don't EVER call me a liar, you good-for-nothing Whore" you chastised "And YOU" you bellowed, marching closer towards Aultcray " You are a snivelling child spreading false ideals. You may call yourself a leader, yet you order others to do the work you cannot carry. You call yourself a mortal, yet you act as though you are immortal. You may sit upon that throne of gold as a King, but all you are is a false idol atop a throne of lies. Do not call yourself the King of this nation if you intend to cast aside half of its people all because they have ears or a tail. Do not ever try and hunt me or my party down, or my wrath will echo back to the world you summoned me from"

You got up and started to walk away, your cape twirling with elegance. Splinters of wood and carved pebbles were crunched and cast aside underneath your boots as your footsteps imitated through the midnight air.

"I'll...get you...for this" coughed the King "I'll hunt down...everybody...you love *cough* The...devil of the...shield. His fat bird...and...that...

that...

filthy...

disgusting...

damned

Demi-hum-

Before he finished his sentence, the King felt a force shove at his neck. Malty was flown up the stairs by the sheer speed. Once again, a bright red aura surrounded you, and your face turned into an anthology of horrors

"Listen closely, Aultcray Melromarc XXXII. Keep in mind I could reduce you to ash at any point while I'm out saving this world from the waves. I don't care how many soldiers you send to kill me. I don't care how many heroes you hire to stop me. I don't care how many heavens or hells you conjure to defeat me. I will wipe them all out without a second thought. But if.you.EVER try to come after my friends, especially the demi-human, then I shall personally place everybody responsible into an eternal hellscape that will be stripped of any mercy. And I will take great personal joy in torturing you for eons and eons. The only reason I haven't done such an act, even after the INEXCUSABLE words that came out of your filthy mouth, is for Melty's sake" you lift him up by the neck and look into his timid eyes one last time, before tossing him to the ground with a violent thud.

As the King groaned and moaned in pain, you once again began your walk across the hall. In your right hand, you cast a fire spell which you infused with the energy of the Power stone. You released your palm out and watched as the walls of the hall were painted a warm orange-red glow. Cries of terror rang out, and smoke soon filled the sky as banners were burnt to a crisp and shards of glass were melted molten. However, a strange sensation pricked your hand. When you looked down at your open palm, it was torched a charred black, and the back of your hand saw raw, third-degree burns stained red. You eyes were alarmed. This pain, this...experience had never happened before. "I have to get back to Melty" you mumble as you reform yourself back into blue lasers and fly across a waking sky.

Beams of the morning sunlight hit your face as you finally reformed back into a viewable human figure. You walked along into the Van Reichnott house, only to discover a collection of chaos coming from Naofumi and Van Reichnott.

"(Yn)! Where were you?" asked an alarmed Naofumi

"I had to run an errand. What's happened? Why are you all so worked up?"

"Melty. She's been taken away. And we can't find Raphtalia anywhere, but my best guess is she's probably gone after Melty alone" said Naofumi grimly

"Wait What?! Melty's been kidnapped. By who?" you stammer alarmed

"By the cruellest, most vile and sinful creature ever to walk these lands."

Idol Rabier

(Authors Notes)

So...3 weeks. I know I know but before you attack me remember I am horrible at scheduling (and just incredibly lazy). However, I've currently hit a bit of a writer's block at the moment, so I'm just really trying to break through that mentality. The next chapter could either be a sort of one-off chapter exploring the relationship between (Yn) and Raphtalia more or be a direct continuation of this chapter. As I said, I'm really stuck for ideas. Also, I kinda need to revise more. So expect further delays or perhaps even a complete hiatus on all my books until exam season is over. Sorry I had to do this to you everyone, but life just sucks I guess.

I'd also like to give a shoutout to Best Girl for winning Best Girl in the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. However, of course never forget the philosophy that ALL Best Girls are, in fact, Best Girl.

Until next time everybody ✌