Chapter 4: Dark Viper
“Kiyara, Dementius, I mentioned that something is amiss.” Glacier said as she approached the duo from her hut. Dementius nodded and turned his attention to the younger Half-Siren. “When Lucas and Markus returned home, they told me that everyone in the city was running back into their houses. A rumor has been flying around that one of Iblisan’s lieutenants is coming to Qurrentine today.”
Almost instantly, Dark Viper flashed inside Dementius’s mind. Out of all the lieutenants that Iblisan had, Dark Viper was the most powerful and loyal of his followers. He was a traitor to his people, the Salvagers, and the instigator of the holocaust that destroyed the Six Exiles’ former homes. The last battle Dementius had with his ex-comrade-in-arms was probably the most memorable experience he had with him. He remembered the Dark Energies surging around his left arm, the stoic look on his face and the fighting style that earned him his nickname. He remembered Dark Viper leaping around and sinking his magically summoned fangs into Dementius’s neck, hoping to kill him but alas, was not enough.
However, what traumatized Dementius the most of that memory was how close he was to suffering from Magical Overflow. He allowed his anger to boost his power and almost submit to his jealousy of Dark Viper’s successful life, although such jealousy was no longer justifiable considering the husk of a man Dark Viper has become. If it weren’t for the soft consoling of his friend and secret crush, Glacier Highland, he would probably end up like Dark Viper, a victim of his own powers.
“I’m going to assume that Dark Viper has found us. We need to prepare for his arrival.” Dementius said. Kiyara’s brow lowered out of confusion. She asked, “How would you know that the lieutenant was Dark Viper?” “I know him just as much as Glacier. He always gets the job done, even if it takes years. I knew that he would find us somehow. Let us prepare for his arrival.” Dementius answered.
Kiyara nodded and ran into the hut, attempting to warn Alinda, Raydon and Lilian of Dark Viper’s seeming arrival. As she left Dementius’s sights, he turned to Glacier, who was rubbing her left elbow with a worried expression. She appeared to be deep in thought as her eyes were staring at the ground without blinking. Dementius knew what was going through her mind and tried to calm her down, “You’re not looking forward to meeting Dark Viper again aren’t you.”
Glacier shook her head and heaved a heavy sigh. She replied, “He killed Blaze and he is coming to end us all. I am not afraid of dying if that’s what you’re asking, but I fear that he might harm my children. Out of all times, he just had to arrive after Jaden woke up from her Proving. Some life I have.” Infuriated, Glacier trudged back into the hut as Dementius watched. He remembered that fury in her eyes, the same that he saw when Glacier fought with Dark Viper. He knew that she was not going down without a fight and made a silent promise to her.
“He will not get them like he got Blaze. I promise you that.”
The dark clouds opened up, making way as a massive dreadnaught descended from the skies. The familiar appearance of the vessel struck fear into the hearts of Salvagers hiding within Qurrentine. They knew what was coming, the very horror of a man who single-handedly destroyed cities and defeated the loyal followers of the late King Raymundo. Fearing for their lives, everyone ran into their homes while the ship landed onto an open area near the city’s outskirts. The ship’s docking ramp lowered as lights from within the ship poured into the opening.
A man with a sword held in the Reverse Grip fighting style walked out the ramp, darkened by the light behind him. Following him was a platoon of humans, armed with rifles and a katana sheathed as emergency weapons. The man marched into the light and his identity was revealed by the surrounding light. The grey hooded sweatshirt, the hood covering half of the man’s glowing green eyes, was the immediate indication that the man was the traitor to all Salvagers: Dark Viper.
Viper and his men marched into the city, his left arm surging with Dark Lightning while his sword glowed red. The fearful people of Qurrentine watched as the lieutenant walked past their homes, apparently having a mission which did not involve slaughtering innocents, something which he was known for. Dark Viper’s march, however, came to a halt when an angry human stood in his way and began rambling about his wrongdoings in the past. Viper’s glowing eyes simply stared as the man continued his lecture. His patience did not last long.
He pushed his fingers into the man’s abdomen, causing a stinging pain to surge from where his fingers hit. The man wondered how his fingers could cause pain and looked down as he saw blood trickling from the fingers. Viper’s nails, replaced with claws, made five bloody wounds and to finish him off, Viper summoned Dark Energies into his fingers and electrocuted the man where he stood. Other people nearby, including Viper’s own soldiers, watched with awe at the sight as the charred remains fall to the ground as Viper watched.
He shook his hands as blood splattered out of his claws before dismissing them, returning his nails back to normal. No such expression was shown on his face and Viper simply stepped over the corpse before gesturing his men to follow. Few now know Viper’s wrath and would not dare to stand in his way in the future.
“Mom, what’s going on? Why are you all preparing for battle?” Jaden asked as she and her brothers stared at their mother with awe. “Dark Viper’s coming. You three need to hide from him.” Glacier explained. “Hide? He killed our father. We want to kill that bastard ourselves.” Markus retorted. However, Glacier bellowed, “No! He’s too powerful for three apprentices to defeat. You three must hide.” Jaden insisted, “No mom! I agree with Markus. I am not going to hide while he takes you away like he did with dad!” “Jaden please!” Glacier exclaimed as she held her daughter’s shoulders tight. Jaden’s shock froze her as she watched her mother’s furious eyes within a finger’s length. Her mother was clearly serious about hiding.
Glacier heaved a heavy sigh, her expression changing from anger to sadness. She brought her head down and whispered an apology to her children. She began to make sobbing noises, her arms shaking with it, while Jaden attempted to calm her down by caressing her shoulder. Jaden only managed, “Mom.” while her brothers watched silently. Glacier brought her head back up, revealing her face wet with her tears while her eyes were welled up. The pitiful sight gave a feeling of guilt within Jaden as she felt that she was the one who made her mother sad.
Despite the spasm, Glacier choked, “I’ve…lost my husband, my home, my family, my former life and…the last thing that I want to lose now…is you three. I don’t care if Dark Viper’s going to take my life away; I’ve already resented this world! Please…I know I am probably going to die confronting your father’s murderer…so please do one last request before I confront him. I will never die in peace…knowing that you three will suffer.” Jaden knew what her mother was talking about, although she never understood why Glacier was not willing to hide with them. She nodded while Markus said, “Alright. We’ll try to hide.” Glacier smiled through her sadness and said, “Thank you. Stay here while I get prepared. Lucas. Look after your brother and sister for me. If I never come back…” “I know what to do mom.” Lucas interrupted. Glacier nodded and left the room, preparing herself for the confrontation of her life.
“I know mom is just trying to keep us safe but, why is it that she and the rest were so willing to stay and fight instead of escaping? I mean, aren’t there many transport ship docks around here.” Markus asked. Lucas replied, “Seems to me that their issue with Dark Viper is more personal than we know. Now let us keep our voice down. We don’t want to be getting Dark Viper’s attention.” Jaden remained silent, worried about her mother’s well-being and mental state. She was also fearful of what the future has in store for her should her mother not survive the encounter.
Dementius and company stood outside their hut, weapons in hand and ready for anything. Using his Magical Energies, Dementius sensed for Dark Viper’s heartbeat, hoping to sense him should he be around the area. While he was indulged in the spell, the others made use of their sight to look out for anything. Soon enough, battle ensued.
Alinda caught sight of a few soldiers, bearing the insignia of Iblisan’s followers on their uniforms. The soldiers ran in and began to open fire upon the Six Exiles. She brought up her shield in time to protect herself from the bullets while Kiyara rushed in, relying on her powers to effectively dodge the wave of lead. With a huge leap, Kiyara landed upon the soldiers and began slashing the group. A bullet hit the ground close to Lilian and she turned around to see yet another group of soldiers running in. She opened fire upon the group with her dual pistols while Raydon deflected back hostile fire with his greatsword. Amidst the chaos, Dementius continued to sense for Dark Viper with Glacier covering his flank and deflecting enemy fire if possible.
Kiyara continued to pressurize one group of the soldiers while Lilian shredded much of the other group with waves of gunfire. Raydon eventually began to cut through the soldiers like weed while Alinda and Glacier continued to provide support for Dementius. Eventually, the soldiers were all but utterly wiped out and Raydon commented, “So much for the terrifying army of Iblisan’s. That’s way too easy.”
As the exiles attempt to regroup, a gasp from Dementius caught Glacier’s attention. She patted his shoulder and asked, “What is it? Where’s Viper?” Dementius turned to look at Glacier, revealing with worried expression. She somehow knew that no good news is going to be heard. He then turned to the hut and exclaimed, “He’s inside!”
“Jaden! Where are you going?” Lucas shouted as Jaden bolted for the door. She turned to Lucas and said, “I’m just going to get my katana. I don’t know where it is but I want it just in case we need to fight.” “Make it quick Jaden. All that shooting and screaming coming from the outside makes me nervous.” Lucas told her. She nodded with a peculiar smile and left their room to find her katana.
She went to the living room and began scanning the room for her katana. Though large enough to be seen from afar, it is capable of blending with the surrounding. Hence, Jaden took her time to be thorough with her search, going so far as to use her illuminating blue glowing eyes as a flashlight. She checked around the dark corners and the tables and sofas, but her sword was nowhere to be seen. Covering her eyes once again, she then decided to check the backyard but she caught sight of her sword leaning on the wall next to the door leading to the backyard. Filled with glee, she picked it up and rubbed the blade briefly; reminiscing the time her mother presented her the sword that once belonged to her father.
As she turned to return to her room, she recoiled as a man standing right behind her startled her. She observed the man and didn’t remember seeing him before. He was noticeably short for a man, only slightly higher than her. He wore a hooded sweatshirt and the hood covered much of his glowing green eyes. His black fringe added to the coverage and his sword, held in the Reverse Grip with a red glow, invoked an amount of fear to Jaden’s heart. His stoic face added to the fear and his barely moving body sent chill up her spine. Somehow, she knew that whoever this man was, he was powerful.
“Who are you? How did you get in here?” Jaden requested. However, instead of answering, the man moved closer to her, his glowing eyes enlarging. Jaden backed away until she felt the wall behind her and as she was attempting to reach for the nearby door, the man thrust a hand into her neck. He tightened his grip around her neck; strangling her while Jaden struggled to pull his hand off. The man then raised her off the ground, his hand still gripped around her neck while Jaden continued to struggle. She attempted to kick him but her weakening strength did little to hurt him. In a final attempt to free herself, she pulled out her blindfold. The intensifying brightness coming out of her eyes blinded the man, forcing him to release her. She dropped to the ground and took in heavy breaths. She ran past the man while wearing back her blindfold. She watched as the man recovered and slowly turned to her with the same look on his face.
Lucas and Markus walked out of their room, complaining about noises they heard while they were inside. They turned left to see Jaden, already in her Reverse Grip fighting stance and backed away as they turned right to see an armed, hooded man standing near the backyard entrance. They stood by Jaden’s side and Markus asked, “Who’s that guy?” Jaden replied, “I don’t know but he tried to kill me.” Knowing that the man’s not going to be friendly, Lucas unsheathed his greatsword while Markus summoned a ball of flame. They did little to intimidate the man as a grin slowly formed on his face. Dark Energies surged from his left hand and the trio stepped backward to prepare to flee should the need arose.
The Six Exiles ran to the hut, hoping to reach Dark Viper in time before he could harm the triplets. Alinda was just about to reach the door when suddenly; a massive explosion destroyed the house and sent her flying away. She landed next to Glacier, who quickly helped her back onto her feet while the others turned to where their hut once was. As the dust haze cleared out and the wooden debris fell, they saw the very man whom they were expecting to meet: Dark Viper. Glacier’s eyes began to wander about, looking for her sons and daughter. She then caught sight of Markus and Lucas, lying on the floor and groaning in pain. Jaden, however, was nowhere to be seen. She turned back to Dark Viper, who was standing very still amongst the ruins, and a renewed anger formed within her.
“Dark Viper. What have you done with the triplets?” Dementius demanded. Dark Viper trudged through the ruins, walking right past Markus and Lucas. He then answered, “Ah yes. Typical of you Dementius. Caring little for the lives of cannon fodder while worrying so much for the young. Why do they matter to you? Their lives are insignificant and I will gladly deal with them later.”
“If you dare to hurt any of them…”
“Getting angry I see. Not worried about Magical Overflow?”
“Like you? Yeah right. You are so weak to have fallen for the very powers you commanded.”
“True but look at what I accomplished. But, enough of this. For now, I have a direct order from Iblisan: To destroy you all.” The Six Exiles moved closer to Dementius and he retorted, “Unlike before, you don’t have your master to back you up. We stand united against you!” Viper glared at each of them before he taunted.
“Bring it on.”
At a speed comparable with light, Viper rushed towards Raydon and hit him hard on his face, knocking him onto the ground. Turning quickly to Lilian, who was next to Raydon, he kicked her abdomen and surged her briefly with Dark Lightning. Kiyara rushed in and attempted to slash him but he parried the strike and used his summoned claws to puncture five wounds into her side. Alinda ran towards him but before she could reach him, he summoned forth five red tentacles from his left hand, wrapping Alinda, squeezing her and tossing her away. With the same tentacles, he attempted to whip Dementius with it but he dodged it. The tentacles, however, hit Glacier, who happened to be behind Dementius.
As he turned to see Glacier hurt by the attack, anger began to boil within and he used his Dark Energies to send out a wave of electricity at Viper. To counter, Viper dismissed his Dark Tentacles and used his own Dark Energy to attack. A power struggle occurred and the ground trembled as the two powerful force fought against each other. Dementius struggled to maintain his spell while Viper barely flinched.
Before the struggle could ensue in a victory, Raydon stood up and swung his greatsword at Viper. He canceled the spell and parried that attack, surprising Raydon as a katana successfully parried a greatsword’s attack. Dementius's body went limp, fully drained of his energies. He rammed Raydon and stabbed his katana through his chest. Raydon screamed as blood poured out of his wound. Viper pulled out his katana and Raydon fell to the ground. Dementius could not help but watched, barely able to save his friend from the killing blow.
Lilian, stricken by the sight of her best friend dying, cried out his name and the overwhelming anger made her determined to fight despite the pain she was suffering from. She quickly stood up and began shooting at Viper out of pure hatred, crying out with remorse. Viper dropped on all four limbs, adopting the Crawler fighting style with his Reverse Gripped sword still in hand. Leaping about the area, he dodged all of Lilian’s frenzied shots and after seeing an opening, he pounced on Lilian, pinning her while the impact disarmed her. Summoning his claws on both his hands, he began stabbing Lilian’s body relentlessly while she screams in pain. She struggled to push Viper off her but the pain weakened her. When Lilian eventually went limp, Viper ceased his assault and got off her, leaving her to die.
Dementius looked away, unwilling to see Lilian massacred by Viper. In doing so, he caught sight of Lucas and Markus, who were both attempting to get up after waking from unconsciousness. He looked back at Viper, who was engaging in a duel with Kiyara, and used the opportunity to help out Markus and Lucas.
“Markus. Lucas. Are you two alright?” he asked. Lucas replied, “I think so. I’m still hurting though.” “Where’s Jaden?” Markus asked. Lucas, who suddenly became worried, shouted, “Jaden! Where are you?” Viper turned to Lucas upon hearing his bellows. Not willing to let anyone escape, he dashed towards Lucas, marginally evading one of Kiyara’s attacks. In a frantic attempt to protect the duo, Dementius stood between them and Viper. He summoned a force field, causing Viper to collide with the invisible wall and knocking him onto the ground.
“Markus! Lucas! Get out of here, now!” Dementius exclaimed. Markus complied almost immediately and attempted to run while pulling Lucas. However, he pulled back his arm and retorted, “But what about Jaden? I can’t leave her behind!” “There’s no time! Get out now!” Dementius bellowed. “Come on Lucas!” Markus shouted as he attempted to pull Lucas again. Lucas did not fight back again and complied with Dementius’s order.
Dementius watched as the two ran as far away as they could. He was relieved that at least two of them made it out alive, although he was hoping for Jaden’s survival. As he turned back to Viper, he saw Viper charging his sword with Dark Energy while Kiyara was lying on the ground behind him with a large wound on her stomach. Viper pierced his Magic-infused sword through the force field and the blade punctured through Dementius’s abdomen.
Dementius’s pained scream struck Markus’s ears, causing him to stop and turn to look at what happened. He watched as Dementius fell to the ground while blood spurted out of his wound. “Master!” he shouted while Lucas attempted to pull him. The sight was burned into Markus’s memories and as the anger began to boil within, he vowed to avenge his fallen Master.
“Five down…just one to go. And, to think that the last one would be sweet old Glacier herself.” Viper said as he turned around to see Glacier, who just recovered from a previous attack. Held on her arms were her dual swords and she glared at the man who just murdered her friends.
“Viper. You have done so much sin under Iblisan’s influence. I was hoping that you will be forgiven…but this…is the final straw.”
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