Chapter 41 - A Legacy forged by death [2]

"I'm leaving Eira in your care," He carefully placed the babe within her arms. "Listen up silver guardians, I'm happy I met you – time has come for me to change back to who I truly am. I should have said this before, but, I, Staxius Haggard, I'm the next god of death." As he spoke, everyone slowly regained conscience, "Fenrir, I want you to protect them, Millicent, take this." He threw away the dragon crest, the sign of being noble. "I relinquish my claim over the Haggard name, from today forth; I name Viola Haggard as the new head of the family. Please, Millicent, use the power of my crest to reclaim your place as the ruler of Dorchester; fulfill my quest that I may not complete for I haven't the strength to go on any longer. I've given you all that I possess, time has come for me to leave, goodbye."

"Undrar, in the car, I've left my guild-card, there's like ten-thousand gold stored in there, use it however you wish, I've entrusted you with my daughter as well as my family." He spoke telepathically.

"BUT MASTER," Adelana spoke out, "No need to stop me, if you're ever troubled, contact

Thunderstain on my behalf, they'll help." *Death Element activate,*

"…" She tried speaking but was dumbfounded by the strength being released. "Adelana, I entrust

you with my heart, or what is left of it," The faint glimmer of love and compassion vanished, Staxius Haggard was gone; the cold-blooded killer was brought forth from the deepest part of the abyss.

And just like that, he disappeared.

"Mast…." Adelana tried following him but was stopped by Undrar who shed tears. "Adelana, that man isn't your master; the one you knew as the caring master is gone. This is who he truly is, my spell got broken; I tried making him human but ultimately, the dark-arts is too much for I to

suppressed any longer – his grown stronger."

"What do you mean?" She asked confused.

"No matter," Undrar replied. "Here I thought making him save Eira would make him became a better leader. I guess my endeavor was slightly accomplished. He made good allies and friends, all I can hope for is that he will return safe and sound."

"No emotions, nothing, I'm back to how I use to be, the silver guardians, Fenrir, Millicent, Undrar

and lastly my beloved daughter, Eira, I apologize for breaking our vow. But if my dream is coming to reality then, I have no chance in hell to come out on top here."

"Your highness, something or rather someone is approaching," Theodore sensed it; Staxius was on his way.

"What do you mean something is approaching." Right before her eyes, Alyson disappeared from the wall on which she was being held. Her wounds completely healed by a potion, a strong gust of wind followed shortly after. He arrived, held in arms as if she were a princess, Alyson smiled. Her expression changed when she noticed Staxius's gaze, blank.

"I hope I made it in time," He spoke monotonously, *Snap,* She vanished, her presence was gone. "How dare you… WHERE IS MY TOY," the princess screamed.

"Where are my manners; your so-called toy has been teleported to her sisters who await her return eagerly."

"Nonsense; no one has the ability to teleport people, it's simply impossible."

"Well, I just did," He smirked. Alyson wasn't exactly teleported but concealed using a high tier spell taught by Undrar. Hearing him speak, she got the clue and soon left to rejoin the rest.

"Once again, I apologize, proper introductions are in order, my name is Staxius."

"…STAXIUS," She yelled. "IMPOSSIBLE." The moonlight finally revealed his face, "… how are you alive." Her stance faulted. "I k-killed y-you."

"I beg to differ, for as you see, I'm very much breathing and living, on another note, was it you who conjured that fireball?"

"What fireball… Oh, yes, that was me, I had to exterminate those pesky commoners."

"Pesky you say," His tone changed from friendly to deadly serious. "I'll have no remorse killing you."

"Mind your tongue," Theodore compelled to safeguard his master's honor charged forward once again. "Pathetic,"

*Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, from when you were born and till you die, I, the god of death, hold in

my hands the strings which binds you to this world, by my authority, I order thy chains to be severed, spell, Tactus Interitus.*

With a snap of the fingers, Theodore died mid-strike. His lifeless body filled with momentum hit the wall behind, skull cracked open, he halted. You could see the brain and blood splattered.

*Tactus Interitus,* incantation after incantation; the princess stood. "Ha-ha," She laughed.

"I've been blessed with immortality, Staxius, you can't kill me that easily, after all, the countless children whose lives are at my beckoning; serve as my countless lifelines. Each time you snap your finger, one of their souls dies, and let me tell you, killing all of them will prove a fruitless attempt as it will take about two days to fully kill them."

"Who the hell is this, I sense so much power coming from her. Wait… her magical element isn't normal, is it… her life chains, they – are so dense it's bigger than Undrar herself and she's a demi-god."

"Well if killing you isn't an option then," *Dark Arts activate, mana cancellation,*

*Poof,* The spell didn't work, her magical protection overpowered him. "Well then, *Poof,* Smoke bombs once more; he changed his fighting style to hand to hand combat as opposed to fighting one on one as mages. *Clap,* The airship reappeared; Theodore piloted it. "Enjoy my little present, you're an idiot." For the first time in his life – Staxius was overpowered as well as outplayed. *Summoning element, activate, Arise, my fierce servant, HYDRA.* In front of him, a massive beast

materialized; bearing six dragon heads, with the tail ending with a snake-head. Each face had different colors, it roared, the ground trembled.

"Farewell, my dear Staxius, mother was wrong about you being the strongest mage in Hidros; that title is officially mine, *With the blessings bestowed onto me by Emes the god of destruction, I, princess Gallienne offer up my right eye as tribute for a curse so strong even a god may cower

before me. I CURSE STAXIUS TO FOREVER LOSE HIS IMMORTALITY." A purple light manifested; the

right eye disappeared – she screamed in agony. Said light engulfed Staxius who soon after fell onto his knees, the blessing of immortality from the death reaper vanished. "You've been outsmarted,

Staxius," She left.

"My heart, it burns, the blessing… it's truly gone." He sighed. A quick glance at the enormous foe standing before him, Staxius laughed. "That dream truly was a premonition. Alright ugly, let's dance."

"This is my last fight, it was written from the start, goodbye everyone."

*Death Element ACTIVATE: Unleash Aura x5, Daemonum Gladio, Undrar's blessing, Shadow step.*

*Spell, Augment mana output x10*

It was now time to fight without holding back, dark-arts wasn't going to help in this situation. Using all the spell he learned up to now, with a massive pool of dark, concentrated mana, Staxius decided to put everything on the line. The demonic blade fully manifested, it fed off his aura as well as blood. A huge cloud arose from his body, you could see it from miles afar. With the sun rising again, his party who rested at Krigi noticed, or rather felt it. Their master's mana was draining fast, the blood contract broke. The writing on his chest, burst fiercer than ever, the cloud soon surrounded him once more and created a spiritual conduit as well as armor. He took in every vile and disgusting emotion from around Dorchester; it was like a magnet attracting evil. Even the Hydra's aura was being attracted. The pentagram on his palm began growing like veins, black in color, it crawled till it joined up with his eyes and went throughout his body.

The fight began, swing after swing; he jumped from left to right aiming for its head. However, the beast's protection was more than he could pierce, even at full power, making a dent in that beast's armor was useless. Despite that, he continued to attack relentlessly, the mana pool was being exhausted. The fight had only lasted five minutes. While in mid-air, he sensed something, a nostalgic feeling, a quick glance behind, *BAM,* The instant his guard lowered, the beast conjured a fireball which blasted him almost at supersonic speed into the ground. With a fireball spell of his own, he managed to negate some of the damage and propelled himself further back. The beast roared once more, menacingly.

"WHAT THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU DOING HERE," He screamed seeing the silver guardians and Fenrir getting off the pickup truck.

"WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU, IDIOT," Adelana shouted, "WE DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE," Undrar spoke as well.

"IDIOTS, YOU'LL GET IN MY WAY – This beast is too much for you to handle, I've given you my legacy, please, this is an order from your master, LEAVE THIS INSTANT." A tear rolled down his cheeks, using shadow-step, he rushed the beast once more. *Poof, poof, poof,* Three smoke bombs soon surrounded the car, unwillingly his party retreated. "Idiots I swear," He fought off the beast's spells directed at the car, slice after slice, mana drained even further. *Snap,* Undrar cast a concealment spell and they vanished.

"Man, even with my evolved death element, I can't put a scratch on this beast. If this is how much power that princess holds, then we are in a world of pain… I just got an idea, this isn't like mythology, slicing his head and burning it won't be how I defeat this."

*Dark arts activate* "If Fenrir turned into a human; then this beast is no different."

*As the one whom you're contracted to, I order thy to reveal this beast's weakness and how to exploit it. Dark Arts, Sense personality.*

[Victim: Zrekuz, age unknown]

[Personality: Unknown]

[Prediction: Unknown]

[Weakness: Heart and Mana supply]

[Best Approach: Unknown]

"It's heart," He thought while dodging and fighting subconsciously, the years of fighting beside his father's side awaken his muscle memory. "My strength is draining, this demonic blade has nearly sucked out all my blood, I feel light-headed; my mana is nearly depleted." For a small instant, everything went into slow-motion, a red cross appeared on the beast's underbelly. "SCREW IT,

*Unleash Aura x10* His hair turned from brown to white and then to crimson red, the remainder of his blood changed into mana, *Spell, Augment Mana output x15*

"I call this, limit breaker," he smiled.

*Fwoop,* Like a rocket, he vanished, behind him, the ground on which he stood broke, sword in

hand – he pierced the beast's armor at last. All the concentrated mana the sword had consumed as well as blood got released at once, the belly lit as it grew and then, *BAM* An explosion ruptured the beast's inner organs, blood splattered everywhere.

"Mortal… I thank you for releasing me from this curse, however, as per my master's order, the one who shall slay me must die as well. You fought bravely, but this is the curse of Medusa, you shall be petrified in a cage made from crystal." Hearing those last words, Staxius sighed, "That girl, she outsmarted me once again, even if I had defeated her beast, I'd still die. What a battle…" His now

broken-down body was sent flying thanks to the explosion. As fate would have it, he landed near his

comrades who stared at him.

The curse began to activate, his feet slowly froze, "T-thank you f-for t-traveling with me," Everyone surrounded him, they all smiled as tears shed, Undrar held Eira just above his head. The curse reached his h.i.p.s, "E-Eira… y-you f-father is p-proud t-to have d-died protecting y-you," The crystal was now crawling up his stomach. Tears began to form around Eira's eyes, "Pa-pa, I wuv y-you," She spoke her first sentence, "Papa loves you too." His eyes lit up with hope and the curse soon imprisoned him, it took effect, not even a demi-god could have broken it. He died with a smile on his face, Staxius Haggard after losing immortality, never got the chance to overthrow Dorchester. He failed at protecting his village, and in the end, the words from the god of death resounded deep within, "Every death reaper bares the curse of misfortune, we can never be truly happy."

"Lord Death, you're wrong, I've lived a fulfilling life, I made friends, allies and a daughter who I

cherish deeply, please if you hear me, watch over them…"