Áz - The Battlefield

Prologue - First Battlefield of Sin

As soon as he realized where he was and could see what this was all about, the Thieves Lord noticed that his chances of getting out of that "battlefield" alive were almost nil, whatever that might be. who had brought all the Lords to that place had only said one thing... 

"Only the next Sin-keepers would leave that place alive."

— Gods... What have we done to deserve this? — he asked himself, looking at all that stopped after having left the forest where he was before.

In the skies, a fireball with a human silhouette inside it fell towards a wave of water moved by an old man with a long white beard causing huge clouds of steam to rise to the heavens, in the center of the city that was on fire, where it was not seen. no more signs of normal human life, huge pillars of crystals came out of the ground growing as if they wanted to devour someone and soon after something they cut those crystals as hard as jewels to the top.

❖✴❖

❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖✴❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖

❖✴❖

— Yes, But... Why did you do that?!!! We could try!!!... We could try to get to the other way!!! Because?!!! — Anguished the vampire asked as he tried to pull his friend's hand.

— S-Sorry... — Twisting, he, the Thieves Lord, tried to answer. — But…you know, even if…there was another way, the rest of us…would die…to fulfill it.’

The Blood Lord, hearing his words, looked down, clenching his hands and clenching his teeth, his helplessness before those words indicated that it was probably true, he himself was trying to come up with a plan and it was possible to end up dying when executing it. When they saw the Sun and Moon Lords sacrificing themselves to overcome Gluttony's appetite limit, the Blood Lord himself had resigned himself to putting his all to the test in one last attempt, but before he had a chance to implement his plan. the Thieves Lord had done what determined his authority, stole the Authority of Gluttony, and now he had to face the consequences.

It could already be considered to have a lot of strength that he didn't go crazy and out of control with that power at the moment it stole him but everyone who was still standing knew, he was almost being devoured by the power of sin and if that happened they would be next.

— Go on… Vampire. It was less than a day... But it was good... Trying to survive, together... In spite of all the bastards. Haa...Haa... — He sought to continue the Thief Lord while bleeding from his ears, eyes and nose. — And one more to go...

With such words the Blood Lord turned his gaze to him, against any words he could say and despite the deplorable state that the young man before him found himself all he could see was a smile. Maybe it hurt more to be able to force that smile than to curse whoever it was that threw all the lords in the middle of this shit but even so, before his end, he smiled as if he was happy at the same time that the blood started to flow by the left corner of your mouth.

— Ha-ha!

Seeing that, the Blood Lord couldn't help but laugh dryly at that idiot, idiot who sacrificed himself for them, even though among all of them he was perhaps the one who wanted to live the most.

— I'm not going to say 'see you on the other side'. I probably won't get there anytime soon. — Completed the Blood Lord by raising his sword made of blood and pointing towards the chest of the one who in less than a day, now noticing, had become his friend.

— Hehe... — Along with him the Thief Lord laughed at the two of them as he spoke.— You... You must be over a hundred years old... But... You look like a child... Wanting to cry now…

Silence was around them, of course they weren't alone as other surviving lords waited in silence behind the Lord of the Blood, silence was maintained by respect for the one in front of them, respect for the one who took a lifetime of stealing and cheating and did an action not in keeping with their way of living, but still respectable and that some of them themselves, if placed against the wall in his position, they might not have the courage to make such a sacrifice.

— I... I'm going to kill you... — The Blood Lord said with conviction what he was going to do, even if it wasn't the first time he'd killed someone.

— And I... I'm going to... Die... — He replied, closing his eyes as his skin half tanned from the sun appeared, his veins pulsing in black as if they were after something and the blood that flowed turned black too.

Voosh!!!

It didn't take ten seconds, in the end he didn't feel anything, the pain that numbed his body when holding that sin prevented him from feeling any pain. The blade that pierced his heart dissolved into blood inside his body, spreading to every point he could.

— Thanks. — With a smile the Lord of Thieves in his last strength gave him a hug.

— Goodbye. My friend... — Said the Blood Lord answering his hug, holding tight as he gritted his teeth.

After this the Thief Lord's body that had lost its strength exploded in blood and pieces of flesh, from his pale white face to his dirty dark clothes the blood spilled out, yet he still didn't clean the blood from himself.

— Why did he do that?... It didn't need to have blown his body up. — The Beauty Lord asked.

There were still six of them standing, along with the one smeared with blood in front of them were the Lords of Beauty, Snow, Weapons, Lies and Assassins respectively. These were the ones who could call themselves the lucky ones, if there was anyone else alive, apart from two others who weren't in this same place right now, they had no way of knowing about anyone else.

— He needed... If he didn't, the Lord of the Dead would resurrect him as an undead. — At this moment where any more dead is one less ally, what he has done can be considered a release for one dead in this place. — He replied in a few moments then to the Snow Lord in a melancholy look. 

— Everything is fine. — The Blood Lord continued the conversation. — As Lord of Thieves, I assure you he didn't want to have his body stolen by the power of the dead. With that at least he had the luck that almost no one had...

No one had the courage to look at that scene, this was not just due to what happened now, everyone was tired, really tired of everything. The Snow Lord trembled upon hearing that, her lover was not so lucky and what happened to her body, this no one wanted to comment on, yet she had no right to blame the Blood Lord for saying that.

— We have to go! The Sleep Lord won't last long. — Commented the Lord of Assassins with a strong and indifferent voice.

The Assassin Lord's words reminded them of the inevitable truth, everyone was still standing because the Sleep Lord was suppressing Sloth's power, but he wouldn't last long.

— Let's go...— Tired, answered the Blood Lord, answering more to himself than to the others.

Everyone ran into the forest in the direction where they could feel the power of the Sloth, the Lord of Assassins took charge of carrying the Lord of Lies whose was not as fast as the others. Two minutes later they arrived, powers of lords clashed in that place, even suppressed they still felt sluggish and tired, not wanting to move at all but still advancing, what they saw in that early moonlit night were what seemed to be a child lying in the fetal position as if nothing in the world could get in the way and in front of it, another man seemed to be sleeping standing up.

It would be simple to say that it was just that, because in front of someone at the level of at least one master something else could be seen. A dark magical aura came out of the child's body spreading in all directions and dissolved into the air as if it had never been there, such was the Sloth Authority that reached them too and made them feel in that state. However, the man who slept standing up was pulling everything that spread towards him as if it were a whirlpool and even then he couldn't do everything.

— You are here. — Sensing them, the Sleep Lord commented in his 'sleepwalking' state. — My sister has done all she can, yet I still can't overcome this Sin...

— Still you must have found a way, Sleep. Tell me what you and History managed to do? — Asked the Lord of Arms, even without any of his weapons with him since they had all been destroyed.

— Yes, we got something. She created an end to the History of Sloth, although it cost her a lot... — The Sleep Lord replied in a slow and indifferent voice saying what should be done. — Lords of Weapons and Lord of Blood, you must kill him together somehow. That's what she got—

— Fine. — Said the Lord of Arms.

Everyone gave them some space, except the Sleep Lord due to his work. Even if in their visions the Lord of Sloth looked like a child that wouldn't stop them from fulfilling their goals, there was no child in front of them, just an enemy to be eliminated so they could live.

— Huuu... Haaa… — Positioned, the Lord of Arms breathed heavily.

As a Lord of Weapons, although his main ways of fighting were dependent on his weapons, that didn't mean that without them he was powerless, in the end his greatest weapon was himself. His clearly visible injured muscles trembled as he built magic into every part of his body, then his body glowed in a cyan aura that concentrated on his fist and in a second his silhouette disappeared from its position, reappearing in the free-falling skies whose an open fist like an ax blade in a few seconds implanted itself in the Sloth's body.

BOOOMMMM!!!

Any common master and many lords would die with that fist, but despite sinking the impact site tens of meters his target barely had a scratch, even so he kept attacking, needed an opening and so close it wouldn't last seconds, the Lord of Arms he could feel his muscles wanting to stop working, his mind was getting slower and his thoughts were already tainted by the urge to stop and give in to such a feeling. Why did he need to keep attacking? Wouldn't it be simpler if he stopped and rested? He had already fought a lot, even if he didn't, it didn't matter, in fact nothing mattered, he just had to stop this nonsense...

— DON'T STOP NOW! From somewhere the Sleep Lord's voice came to his mind. — REST… Rest after knocking some more.

As if by reflex his body that was stopping its attacks and falling had regained strength due to such interference, it wouldn't last more than a few seconds but that might be enough, he just needed to implant a wound, a single wound...

— HAAAAAAA !!! LET'S LIVE! YOU BASTARD! DIE! — As a scream at the last of his strength his attacks in sequence had already sunk the Sloth's body by 50 meters and even then they continued to attack, a cyan hammer-like punch with his left hand, an ax cut with his right hand . It might seem random but everything he did made sense, just a single point... He needed to hurt him to succeed.

BOOOMMM!!!

With one last crash his body stopped responding to any stimulus like a statue and started to fall to the side, it looked like he had lost against the Sloth's power and that was true, but only for him alone. His right fist that fell to the side along with his body held a drop of blood, a single drop of blood that wasn't his fall to the ground leaving his fist.

Voosh!

A small needle flew towards Sloth and passed by the side of his hand, piercing that drop of blood that fell and arrived at the site of Sloth's wound. Alone that needle that was made of the Blood Lord's blood would not have any effect, but... No one can protect themselves against themselves in all possible ways, many would not even remember to fear themselves and so Sloth possesses a human body common that it was something that held blood, was a weakness of her own.

There was no sound of anything but everyone's faint breathing, it was their only chance and the blood needle had done its silent work. The Sloth's downfall could be perceived little by little due to the black aura that came out of his body was depleted in a few seconds, the Blood Lord's power had made his body collapse from the inside and all his functions, whether magical or ordinary, had stopped responding.

— It's over… — Said the Blood Lord, falling to his knees.

Many of them propped up wherever they could, the Beauty Lord had gone to help the Weapon Lord trying to wake him up. It could take longer he was still alive, his heart had started beating again at the Sloth's death, if it took a little longer his body might never move again, no one cared about that now, what mattered was that they were alive.

Everything was coming to an end, but the price was high for such an end to battle. The "war", whatever it was, always brought more sadness and helplessness to those left alive, feelings of loneliness, pity, melancholy, anger, hate, as well as relief at being alive, even if that relief wasn't what in the mind of many was even what made them indirectly able to feel everyone else.

The smell of blood emanating from the air as well as the huge pools of blood on the ground formed in several places, if one were to fly at this moment and take a look from above, ignoring all the destruction implanted there, it would form a beautiful red ink drawing in rose form, this was something the Blood Lord was doing in his rest, the dead of this battlefield should be honored, many were betrayed, killed before they even noticed, many could not rest in peace due to the Lord of the Dead, many... Suffered, yet all of them should be honored, for this was the most they could do for them.

— It's over...

It didn't seem real anymore, if someone asked them if all that had been real or not, in the minds of some it would be nothing more than a nightmare.

— We must leave here, our end is not to stop here. — Said the calm voice of a woman coming from somewhere.

Many knew her so even tired they got up, those who didn't end up following what the others did, it was not wise to ignore the words of the one who could interfere in the very history of the planet.

— Sister... You came back. — The Sleep Lord told him to never come out of his sleepwalking state.

— Of course... But that only happened because they managed to kill the Sloth. — replied the woman whose appearance out of nowhere was the only one with an immutable and clean appearance around.

How had she come back from the dead if she sacrificed her own body to stop a sin? That they wouldn't even ask, the Lord of Stories' power was a strange and constantly changing thing.

While she arrived the Lord of Beauty along with the help of the Lord of Lies had finally managed to wake up the Lord of Weapons who was coughing trying to breathe, his lungs had stopped too and his breathing was so low that upon waking up his body desperately needed air.

— Where should we go?— Asked the Assassin Lord, not very enthusiastic about the idea.

— Forward, but first… We have something to finish here. — Completed the Lord of Stories.

— What would that be? asked the Blood Lord sitting on the floor.

The question everyone wanted to know, what should they still be doing here? Hours ago the Lord of Stories had told them that it would all be over if the Sins were defeated and killed, it would be their best chance, and now there was still something to be done in this place.

Unfortunately or fortunately the answer didn't come through her, in the sky above them a huge black circle had formed, there were 11 points in it, 7 in its circumference. Inside it was also a square with 4 black dots symmetrically scattered at its four corners. As a whole the figure formed by the circle and the square took up as much of the battlefield sky as possible and slowly rotated as if indicating something.

— What the fuck is this now?!!! — Asked the Lord of Arms angrily.

— Another enemy? — Also said the Snow Lord with a cold expression.

Many prepared for what could be a possible battle but the explanation reached them through another means.

— That…— She aimed to explain to the Lord of Stories, whose answer she didn't even know the answer to until seconds after that black thing appeared, but halfway through she gave up talking.

After turning some more time and holding their attention each point of the circular figure launched itself like a black beam in various directions, at which point the black circle disappeared leaving only the square. Some had been stopped from moving, one of the seven black beams went in another direction and the remaining six went towards them.

They didn't make any sound, but the speed that each beam came, even if they moved, they couldn't do anything against them, the first one that got to them hit the Blood Lord's body disappearing soon after, another went against the Sleep Lord doing the same, after that the Lords of Beauty, Lies, Weapons, Assassins, Stories... All these had the same fate.

— YOU... Are you fine?— Asking the Snow Lord almost in a shout showed her concern, which was rare in her case.

— I… I feel weird. — Answered the Blood Lord touching his chest that was where the black beam had entered his body, yes he had already felt that. — But for now it doesn't seem to have done any harm.

— I feel the same. I don't know what it is but there is no problem other than knowing that it has entered our bodies. —- Completed the Lord of Assassins touching his arms and shoulders.

Those who hadn't been hit had no way of checking what they were saying as they still couldn't get out of the place, however the problem in the sky wouldn't wait for their opinion on the matter, the square also fell apart while the remaining four points flew in different directions , three went in separate directions and one came in the same direction towards them.

Intuitively they understood, only the Snow Lord was left without anything having happened to her yet. On an impulse the Blood Lord tried to touch a beam that was heading towards the Snow Lord who was a few meters behind him, his arm couldn't touch this beam that passed through him as if it didn't exist and reached her as well.

— Snow?!!! — Called the Lord of Assassins to see if she was all right.

It wasn't as different as it was on the others' occasion, but a black mark had formed on his forehead, a teardrop-shaped mark. She herself had felt the mark form more with a burning sensation on her skin, yet, as if the mark was supposed to always be there, the sensation was gone after a few seconds.

It was still night, but as all Lords had at least a little better vision than usual and saw the mark as dark as black, at the same time on each of them a mark was also forming. There appeared a crown, a woman, a tongue, a jewel, a stain, a cloud, whose in total seven marks were made on each of them.

— That…— Someone spoke as if representing everyone.

No more words were needed to represent her thoughts, this time they didn't need any explanation from the Lord of Stories. Intuitively they found that they had received the Authority of a Sin, after they had killed all seven of them intuitively most of them came to the conclusion that they had all received it, who had each of the seven there received one of the seven authorities.

Their answer was correct, it was only half correct.

— That I didn't know... For some reason I only knew that something would happen. But history didn't give me information about that, just as I didn't know how we got here before I found myself in this place. — Commented the Lord of Stories seconds later as everyone calmed down.

— Sister. I feel... Stronger... And this Authority... — Asked the Sleep Lord, surprising what he received.

— It seems that not even the Lord of History itself has the answer to everything, does it? — Somewhat sarcastically commented on the Lord of Arms. — Well, while that annoying woman probably knows, I won't say what authority I received despite the mark. Just looking at some should know more. I don't care about it. — He finished, he declared coldly as he crossed his arms.

—We have to get out of here. — He said indifferently to the Snow Lord. — I don't want to spend another minute in this place.

— Yeah... I hope that whichever direction we go will be more beautiful than here. — Complemented the Lord of Beauty.

— Wait... — He asked the Lord of Stories to stop.

Everyone was starting to leave, but her words were never empty words so everyone stopped waiting for her answer.

— It's not just the seven of us alive here. Ignoring the Lord of the Dead... And certain things I can't understand, there is still someone alive. — She completed calmly looking to the right as if observing something far away.

No one was really paying attention to the environment, at the moment it all came to them, even though it was considered idiotic no one else had the energy to mount any guard against danger, it could be a fatal moment where they could be killed, luckily she didn't say it was an enemy .

The Blood Lord focused on the blood splattered on the battlefield using it as a means of detection and about ten kilometers away, in something like a huge pool of blood in a crater, he could "hear" a heart beating.

— It can't be... This guy...— Ignoring any possible question from the others who were waiting for his answer about him, he just answered. — Follow me!

At a speed equal to the speed of sound he disappeared through the forest heading towards the beating heart, instinctively everyone followed and for what seemed like twenty seconds later they had come face to face with a huge crater, something like a meteor had been dragged horizontally across the ground for miles and after a while, at the end they could see a huge hole.

— Hahahaha! This guy is alive! I don't believe! — Even with his body still weak, the Lord of Arms laughed frantically as if he found something absurd.

In the midst of a pool of blood inside the hole the body of a man lay, with a large hole in his belly and with every muscle in his arms and legs worn and torn, in the vision this would be nothing more than a poor dead man, yet the The truth about who he was was far from it.

— Thank the gods... He's alive! — Half exalted, said the Lord of Beauty.

The Blood Lord and the Ice Lord had already rushed to help him, although there was no Lord with healing-based powers these two would have to serve to help, that Lord's heart was beating weakly, confused and slowly his tenacity to stay alive could be considered impressive.

A little joy spread through them, the half-dead man they found was a sign of hope in their minds since when the slaughter began, he alone was what ensured, in large part, that these few Lords could live after the battle was over. . He had fought and fought harder than anyone in a way that should be crowned by Áz for his feat practically impossible for any known Lord to perform.

❖✴❖

❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖✴❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖

❖✴❖

Hours later, hundreds of kilometers from where they had been before all 8 Lords were resting on the smooth cut top of a mountain, whose Lord of Arms performed such a feat of leaving her there for sheer pleasure, the privileged view from the top of it it showed the horizon whose dawn was slowly arriving, it represented many things in the mind of each of them involving past, present and future. Around a fire were the seven of them sitting and lying down, the only one sleeping was the man who was being healed until a few hours ago, moments after the Blood Lord began to accelerate his natural healing process through the Blood Lord. woke up suddenly, at the time even being in that state in his eyes you could see an unshakable willpower, good thing he was quick to understand that everything was over if not an unnecessary battle could start, now he faithfully rested while his body recovered .

On the other hand, the six awake weren't talking much, for starters due to their Authority the Lord of Lies didn't speak unnecessarily, and the Lord of Sleep... Well, this one was also sleeping and wouldn't mind that, for the remaining five some sort of silent agreement had been made indirectly, no one would speak of their losses or their deeds, whether it was these cruel doubters or anything that led to disagreement, only they were left so if they fought what would be left? Áz was probably in chaos due to all the Lords suddenly disappearing, if the kingdoms of the various continents were in internal disputes it would not be an exaggeration to say that the war would occur more than usual, at least that was not their problem for now.

— I thought there were only Seven Sins. There are eight of us here, not counting the damn Lord of the Dead. — He started the conversation with the Lord of Assassins lying on his side.

— These are the main, Assassin, these are the seven main ones. There have always been more, or so the ancient Books of A'Kalem say. — Answered the Blood Lord sitting with his arms on his knee.

— The Lord of the Destiny and Order... I thought his books were a legend lost in time. — Commented the Lord of Arms cross-legged on a stone.

— If they were... Maybe we wouldn't be here. — replied the Lord of Beauty.

— What matters now is that each of us got one of those shits, so what? In two hundred years are they going to take a thousand lords, throw them somewhere with us in the middle and let everyone try to kill us like we did those monsters? — Ironically, the Lord of Arms imposed his theory. — I may not be the best scholar, but there shouldn't be that many vacancies for Lord of Sin.

— Eleven. — He spoke out of nowhere to the Lord of Stories, sticking a stick in the fire.. — I only have information on nine, but I know there are two or three more, two more would be a certainty and three more... I don't even know...

— Looks like you have something else to say History, don't stop, if you have fun saying say it soon. — Clearly looking at their conflicting expressions, the Snow Lord intervened, expecting something.

Looking at her the Lord of Stories consented and looking calmly at each of them in turn continued.

— We are entering a new era, time must be reset, what happened to us was day zero... Today is the first day of the new era. — She replied. — Why, my Authority only encompasses the history of Áz, what is intervening from outside. I have no information, it is not usually written in the history of the planet interference from outside.

— So you're saying some shit outside of Áz wanted to throw a party with suicidal warrior ants giving out 'awards' at the end? Where are we such ants? — With his voice seeming and active, the Lord of Arms reached this conclusion.

— It doesn't matter now, even as Lords we are too weak against the Titans and Dragons of Áz themselves, imagine what nothing is known against. — She replied. — The Age has changed, we were the harbingers of its change, now it's up to us to let the Age of Sin grow.

— This isn't the end, this isn't the end, is that what you mean? — he asked the Assassin Lord.

He silently nodded to the Lord of Stories, a sigh could be heard from the Lord of Arms displeasure but he didn't comment further.

— I want to spread the story of each one of you. I don't know how long each of us will live... But this work must be done by me. Until the end of each of us I'll be leaving the world, they'll need the truth. — She completed when finished.

It was kind of ironic to say that the world needed the truth in front of the Lord of Lies, but he wouldn't disagree or accept anything just keeping silent so he wouldn't have to lie.

— Something's coming… — Said the Blood Lord looking at the horizon.

— Wait. What? Who will need the truth? — Interrupting, he asked the Snow Lord.

— No one here must know… yet. -— Replied the Lord of Stories and then looked at the horizon in the direction indicated by the Lord of the Blood.

Climbing the mountain the silhouette of a person could be seen, it was a woman, she was looking towards them and her steps, her body or her violet eyes did not indicate that she would face them. Everyone was a little relaxed to notice this but they still wouldn't just ignore his presence, the Blood Lord stood up and looking at that woman dressed in white whose face was covered by a hood of the same color, he had a strange feeling when see her. It was as if… as if they weren't meant to meet, as if he shouldn't be facing her and vice versa.

Everyone who watched her had the same feeling as he did, yet this was no reason to do anything against her until she wanted to.

— What do you want with us? — You must not be a normal person to have come this far. He asked straight to the point.

About twenty meters away from him the woman in white had stopped when she heard his words, her violet eyes indicating her origin but her presence indicating something else.

— Is it a… Lord too?  How are you alive? Wait… You look like you've just arrived… — He asked the Snow Lord shortly after.

— You won, thank Goodness. — With a clear relief in his eyes and in a low way he commented to that woman calmly. — When I noticed so many of the sins gathered, I thought the world was lost, yet... You became the new ones. Could you please die? — She asked sympathetically.

That seemed absurd, the Lord of Weapons was already going to get up to give her a beating regardless of her condition or whatever, however before anything the Blood Lord continued.

— Why would we need to die? We fought so hard to live, we lost so much to be here! We were all probably scared of the same so we didn't give up, even if we were in the midst of the madness of that rampant killing. Why ask us this?!!!! — He asked also clearly annoyed.

— So you value life. I don't understand. You, you. As a Lord... As a vampire... As the Pride, I don't see you with that much pride, so why? Why did you earn yourself that Authority? — She kept asking him until she stopped a few seconds, in her sight clearly no one had the answer to such a question. — So… you don't know. So it shouldn't have happened.

— What shouldn't have happened?' This battle? — He asked the Snow Lord.

— I understood...

— I understood...

At the same time, the Lord of Stories and that woman replied, they looked at each other for a moment and soon after an overwhelming pressure began to be exhaled from above them, whatever continent they were on if there was anyone else in this expanse of horizon seen by them, they would probably feel it too.

The tyranny of those who ruled over everything and everyone, Dragons would fear him and the ancient Titans would hide from him, the sky was covered as that "cloud" of tens of kilometers crossed the skies rising to their battle silently, but the wind that spread before from his presence emitted the sounds that his enormous mouth did not exhale.

A white light appeared in the skies in the direction where that huge existence was rising, it was a confrontation with no possibility of being understood by them.

The glow of light was the last thing they saw that day.

— Nothing makes sense to me anymore… — In shock, the Blood Lord commented, paralyzed by that as his vision faded with the glow of light. — Gods... don't abandon us...