General Payton stood on the auditorium roof, his body restrained by rusted shackles that dug into his skin. Dark bags hung heavily under his eyes, and he struggled to stand straight, appearing malnourished, sickly pale, and dangerously thin. It seemed as though even the slightest breeze could send him tumbling to the ground.
The wretched man surveyed the sea of people before him. Over ten thousand had gathered to witness his public execution, turning the spectacle into a Caesarian Triumph. Payton had imagined inspiring such crowds in his dreams, but now, after weeks without sleep, he wondered if it was a nightmare.
Eighty feet below him, the emperor stood on a platform with a cold expression, surveying the sea of people with a bold stare. "Do you seek justice for the futures this villain has stolen from your friends and families?"
The once-good-natured crowd had transformed into savage beasts, snarling and snapping at the restrained man. The bloodlust emanating from them was beyond description.
"Then justice shall be served," Kaze declared. "But a simple death cannot satisfy your thirst for vengeance. Allow me to explain where this man has been and the fate of those who harm our loved ones."
With a wave of his hand, the emperor enveloped the children in a cool white aura. "They should not hear this," he smirked, eliciting wild cheers from the Immortals and soldiers.
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—August 7th, 2032—
Bang! Bang! Bang….
"Guuhhh…." General Payton groaned, pulling his bloody forehead up from the floor. "Kill me…."
BOOOOM!
"GAH!" a man snarled. "You son of a bitch! I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you, Payton!"
"I wish you could…." the ex-general coughed, spitting blood. He was naked, shivering in a glass prison cell surrounded by three glass walls.
He was in one of the central cells of a bright white, six-cell prison room with glass walls. Since the walls were glass, the occupants in the other five cells could always see his naked body, bereft of his penis and testicles.
A soldier tried to use a slash attack to shatter the walls and kill the general, but it bounced back, cutting halfway through his wrist and leaving it hanging. He, too, was stark naked and freezing in the open, so everyone fell silent, watching him shake.
"I won't let her take it…." the man gulped, shaking.
Click!
Haunting footsteps from boots with metal bottoms clacked into the room, creating a traumatizing click every time they touched the ground.
"Please, Ms. Skye…." General Payton begged. "Please kill me."
Evalyn pulled a bottle of whiskey from a spatial ring before him.
CRaaACK!
The blonde smiled when she heard the satisfying crack from the seal of the whiskey bottle. It made the ex-general's brain go haywire as she took a deep swig, exhaling in pleasure. "I won't deny my people the satisfaction of watching you die," she spoke with a sinister smile. "So if you want to leave earlier, ask your cellmates to try smarter, not harder."
"No!" General Payton screamed, feeling his head healing with a cooling blue light. "I'll accept the execution, but please make them stop!"
Splish-splish-splish-splash!
The sound of her pouring the whiskey on the floor made his pupils dilate, becoming the size of dimes. "Stop!" he snarled. "STOP! This is cruel! Cruel! INHUMANE!"
Evalyn ignored him and waved her hand, healing the other soldier's half-severed hand. "I've healed your hand, but that means your time is up tomorrow," she warned. "So I suggest you find a smarter way of killing your general by the time I return."
"No, please, General Skye," the man stuttered. "It's impossible. Whatever you did to this glass, it's unbreakable. Everyone has tried every technique imaginable in the last two weeks, and no one has even scratched it. We're trying to kill him, ma'am, but…."
CRACK!
The soldiers' eyes widened when the blonde punched the wall, creating spiderweb cracks in the glass.
"It's breakable, Sam," Evalyn smirked. "If you look hard enough, you'll decipher the trick behind this—"
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"—glass," she smiled. "I doubt you're intelligent enough to figure it out, but I assure you it's possible. So I suggest you try to figure it out because it's your turn tomorrow if you can't."
"I-I'll do my best," Sam gulped, his eyes twisted with insanity.
"No…." General Payton scrambled, pounding on the glass. "Please make it stop! STOP! PLEASE!"
But the blonde ignored his pleas as she walked out the door, leaving the scent of whiskey lingering in the air.
Click!
"There's a fracture now!" Sam yelled. "It's possible to break through the glass with that. She gave us a weak point. It's our chance tonight! SLASH ATTACK!"
"PLEASE, NO!" General Payton yelled.
BOOOM!
"Did it work?" another asked, walking up to the glass. "Holy shit, it worked! There's a small chip in it!"
"This is it!" another yelled. "We can finally break out!"
"FUCKING CHEATERS!" someone in another cell yelled. "I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE HELPED THEM!"
"N-Not again…." General Payton stammered, covering his ears. "Please, just let me sleep! Just for an hour!"
"SHUT UP, PAYTON!" Sam snarled. "Ed, give it a crack. Stop listening to the haters and swine."
BOOOM! Boom! Boom, boom, BOOOOOM!
Evalyn listened with a humorless expression on the other side, devoid of sadistic pleasure. "Threaten to deprive these people of their testicles without proof and give them a little hope, and they'll smash that glass as if it were a conditioning exercise," she scoffed. "Animals."
General Skye pushed her back off the wall and walked up the stairs. "As long as that man looks like he went through hell when the Immortals see him, that's all that matters," she said. "If it can save my soldiers, I'll do far worse."
═─┈─═─┈─═
"General Payton hasn't slept for a month. I bet he thinks this is all a bad dream," Kaze smirked. "But it's not a dream. Your general will not tolerate anyone touching your family!"
A wave of shocked excitement spread through the crowd in a chain reaction, electrifying the area and leaving everyone stunned in disbelief. Once Larkin cheered, the entire area burst into wild battle cries.
Kaze released the white aura on the children, allowing them to listen to the crowd in confusion and wonderment. "He has received punishment; now it's time to reap his soul," he announced. "Anyone who wishes to take vengeance upon this man, lend me your blood."
Confusion spread through the crowd until Evalyn summoned a crystalline dagger and cut her hand. "Take mine first," she said. "Don't heal it completely."
The emperor smiled and twisted his wrist, creating a small black hole of blood, spinning wildly like a drill bit above him. Her blood flowed through it momentarily before he flicked his wrist, and her hand illuminated gold, cutting off the stream.
Before him was a vortex of blood, churning and creating various weapons like Evalyn's ice sculptures, captivating the audience. "Lend me your blood, and your blood shall reap his life," Kaze declared. "My people will heal anyone's wound after the letting."
"I'll do it!" Denzel yelled, creating a tiny Guided Arrow and using it to puncture his palm. "Take as much as you need! I didn't even know what that sick freak did to y'all until General Skye showed up—now, I'd kill him myself if you let me."
Countless Lainwright soldiers followed suit instantly, piercing their hands and wrists with arrows, stunning the Immortals.
"Yo, Immortals! Wake the fuck up, yo!" Larkin shouted. "I'm not gonna say that hatred's a competition or nothin'—but hatin' this man is a god damn muthafuckin' competition!"
To his mother's horror, he used a slash attack to cut his wrist open, eliciting battle cries, and the Immortals did the same.
General Payton watched the gruesome scene in a haze, feeling like it was all a bad dream as thousands started slashing their wrists and piercing their hands, letting blood flow freely.
"I'll answer your call," Kaze said, giving everyone an ominous smile as he waved his hand to the center of the crowd, and the blood ball rose above them, collecting countless liters of blood-flowing streams and moving to the atmosphere.
"OhhhhhHHHHhhhHH!" the crowd yelled when the blood cyclone switched from a random churning ball into the form of a phoenix, flapping its wings slowly.
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom Countless more joined in, realizing it wasn't a simple grotesque effort.
As people cut their bodies, the Immortals went around healing one another with Minor Healing, helping the Lainwright soldiers without thinking about it. It was simply communal, bringing people together.
As the phoenix grew, it transformed into a majestic Chinese dragon, soaring through the air with its mouth agape.
The crowd erupted in ecstatic cheers, marveling at the stunning display of skill before them. With each passing moment, the dragon grew in size and power, fuelled by the fervent enthusiasm of the spectators.
The pressure to participate in the ritual intensified, and soon, even the hesitant ones were swept up in the frenzy. The dragon captured the blood of each individual in the audience, no matter how small as if it was fueling its strength.
Kaze's voice rose above the din, silencing the crowd. "Your people, my people—we despise you," he declared, turning to face General Payton. "We will ensure that your actions are known for all eternity, so that you may forever be remembered as the most reviled person in all five planes."
The audience erupted in cheers once more, their voices filled with unbridled rage and hatred.
"Pray that there is no afterlife where you can witness your legacy," the emperor declared in a cold, unfeeling voice. "For there will be no redemption for your sins."
"P-Please!" General Payton yelled, feeling like he was speaking underwater. "I'm innocent! This is all just your narrative."
A chorus of vitriolic jeering met the man's words, spewing venom and hatred.
Kaze lifted his hand and spoke with finality. "For your transgressions against my kin; for the iniquities that you have wrought; and for the depravity you represent, I stand before you as the voice of the dead and the hand of your victims."
"N-No…." General Payton pleaded, seeing the dragon's jaws open wide.
"To reap vengeance for their sorrow and give closure to their pain," Kaze declared. "I will fulfill the desires of those who seek shelter, hear their cries, and save them. For your crimes and indiscretions, and for the sake of timeless justice, I pray you never rest again."
The general's scream filled the air as the dragon shot forward, its jaws wide open, to reap vengeance upon him.
CRAaaCK!
A loud crack echoed through the town square, signaling the end of General Payton's legacy. The crowd erupted in triumphant cheers, proclaiming that their thirst for justice was quenched and marking the beginning of Immortal Skye's rise to power. There would be a long road before the various groups cheered and bonded as true allies as they did at that moment, but that journey would start tomorrow when the competition began.
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