48th of Baratus, 3000
3716 days to the Cataclysm

The clouds over the Parvan empire disjoined for the setting sun to paint the sky in a soft shade of crimson. The wind blew delicately through the trees, rustling their leaves in the most mellifluous of cadences. And as the melody of the singing birds effortlessly eased its way into that of the katydids, a truly harmonious ambience swept. But once the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, the curtains would drop on the theater of nature and the city lights would dim, melting the empty buildings into the darkness of the starless night.

This was when the citizens would return to their homes after an honest day of work, sleep off their exhaustion, and repeat this cycle the following morning. That's how life was in Parvus;

Simple.

The empire refused to be under the rule of Vasilias, freeing them from their politics. Their military was bare-bones, only tending to minor squabbles within the empire. They didn't seek immense wealth or power. They were content with the little they had, and that's how they maintained peace.

However, they had no idea that this night would be the last time they felt peace. This was the night when Armina decided to make a move.

She walked through the darkness of the city with Zach by her side until she reached a modest house. She rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer.

Less than a minute later, the door opened to reveal the most revolting man she had ever laid her eyes on. He was tall and muscular with grotesque tawny hair that matched his eyes. His teeth and nails were a shade of black that put the darkness of the city to shame. The complexion of his skin was patchy at best, almost as if it was unable to decide whether to be grey or white.

Armina was taken aback by his appearance for a moment but quickly shook off the surprise.

"Are you Frank Adniraz?" she asked.

"Yes, I am," he replied.

"I am Armina Lionclaw, and this is my subordinate Zachariah Lionclaw. We've com-"

"Wait," interrupted Frank. "It's cold and dark outside; you should come in."

Armina was surprised by his cordial nature. The rumors about him seemed to be more fiction than fact.

"Yes, thank you," she replied.

Frank signaled the two to follow him to the living room. He seated them both on a sofa and sat across from them.

"Yes, you were saying?" he asked.

"Yeah so. I'm sure you know of the dissolution of the peace treaty?" she said.

"Yes, it was all over the news. Can't miss an event like that."

"I can imagine. Anyways, the dissolution means that there are no more laws between empires anymore. Waging war is no longer a crime. The only reason the world hasn't spiraled into chaos for all these years is because the treaty states that the Vasilian military will prosecute anyone who breaks the treaty. Now that it's gone, we can do whatever we want. On top of that, Zark challenged the world to overthrow him, and now everybody wants to sit at the Vasilian throne."

"Yes, I know all of this. But why should it concern me? Parvus has done no wrong to any empire. Our resources are scarce, overthrowing our government is useless."

At that moment, Armina knew Frank wasn't someone to be trifled with. Usually, her ability to subjugate people to her will would break any average person by now, but Frank seemed unfazed. She had to think of something else to recruit him, fast. But then, it struck her.

"Listen, Fra- can I call you Frank?"

"Yes, you may. No need to be so formal," he laughed.

"I know you've been through a lot. Just a few minutes with you and I already know the rumors about you couldn't be further from the truth, yet, you were ill-treated. You were shunned by society just because of the way you look. I am here to allow you to get back at all those who wronged you. Join me. Together we will overthrow Parvus and slowly make our way to the Vasilian throne where nobody will dare mistreat you again."

Frank laughed out loud and said;

"That's very sweet of you to get me justice. However, I must refuse your offer."

"Don't you seek vengeance?" Armina asked, confused.

"Truth be told, there was a time when I'd dream of swimming in the blood of all those who wronged me. Like, it wasn't my fault that some underground scientists kidnapped me and chose me to be their lab rat? The wanted to make me a perfect being but messed up my appearance instead. Then when I returned, the entire empire treated me like it was my fault. They would make up rumors that I kill and rape people for fun. They isolated me. I was so angry at the time because, in all actuality, I don't have it in me to do things like that. So even when I got angry, I still couldn't hurt anyone. So I decided that was it. I decided to end my life until a woman who had never met me before, saved me. A woman who knew all the rumors about me stopped me and convinced me that life is only beautiful because of the uncertainty of its end. She convinced me to cast out all hatred and fill myself with love. Now that woman is my wife, and I'd do anything to protect her, anything. Waging war against the world puts her in jeopardy, right? You know what, you should meet my wife. She's a Lionclaw too, Victoria Lionclaw."

"No, that won't be nec-," Armina tried to say, but Frank already hopped out of his seat and hurried inside. She sunk back into her sofa and sighed.

"He's not stubborn; he's just some nice guy or something, my abilities don't even work on him," she said.

"I guess we leave then, right?" replied Zach.

"Well, I want to see his wife. We Lionclaws are rare now; it would be nice to see someone else who shares our ancestry."

Zach nodded, and both of them waited for a few minutes until Frank came back into the living room with his wife.

She was one of the most beautiful women Armina had ever seen. Her short blonde hair seemed to be the work of a heavenly goldsmith. The brown complexion of her skin was far superior to the beauty of Kanis. However, it was her eyes that really stood out. Her big, grey eyes that were more expressive than the language they spoke.

"I see we Lionclaws didn't lose our striking good looks even after all these years, eh?" chuckled Armina as she got up and extended her hand towards Victoria.

"Why thank you! That's so sweet of you. I must say, you're beautiful as well!" replied Victoria, shaking Armina's hand.

The moment their hands made contact, Victoria felt a shock that coursed through her veins, it was almost as if Armina had taken over her mind. She looked up at her and started to sweat profusely.

"Yo-You're-" she managed to say before she was violently interrupted by her husband.

In an instant, Frank grabbed Armina by her face and slammed it into the floor, flattening her head. Blood sprayed all over Frank and the fleshy insides of her skull seeped out of the crevices.

Victoria fell back screaming while Zach quickly hopped back. Flakes of gold started to form and spiral around him as he took a battle position.

"Gold, eh? You're a flashy motherfucker, aren't ya?" said Frank in a terrifying voice.

"So I see the rumors about you were true after all. What happened to not being able to kill anyone?" replied Zach calmly.

"Firstly, NO! The rumors about me are not true. Secondly, what the fuck was your boss doing with my wife, eh? My wife was scared shitless, and I told you I'd do anything for her."

"You have a fair point. So we can do this in two ways," said Zach, unfurling large wings of gold that broke through the roof of the house. "We can end this right here, or take this fight somewhere else; you don't want your wife getting caught in the crossfire, right?"

Frank scoffed and unfurled wings of lightning. Both of them flew out of the house and faced off in the sky.

"What makes you think you can beat me right after I crushed your boss's skull like it was nothing?" mocked Frank.

"If you really think she is dead, you have no idea what you're up against," replied Zach.

"What do you mean, I think? Her brains are all over my house, and you think she will come back to life?"

"Yeah actually he does mean that, Frank," said a woman from behind him.

Frank turned around and was surprised to see Armina floating in the air with a pair of silver wings.

"Did you just- Did you just- Did you just come back to life?" Frank managed to ask.

"Something like that," replied Armina. "Anyways, I'm here to call a truce. I'm sorry. Can we forget this and move on?"

"As long as I never see your faces here again," scoffed Frank

"You won't."

"Good," said Frank.

He gave the two one last menacing look and flew back down to his house.

Zach approached Armina and asked;

"How was he able to kill you so easily? Did you let him kill you on purpose?"

"Yeah I did," replied Armina 

"Why?"

"There will come a time when he will be filled with hatred once more, and when that time comes, he will need allies. He just saw me come back to life, and I already told him I'm down to wreck this world. He will definitely seek me out,"

"That is very wise, My Lord. But what do you mean by filling himself with hatred once more?"

"I'll tell you everything on the way back. I took in all of Victoria's memories when I shook hands with her, and I got to know some revealing things, you see."

***********************************************************************************************No more chapters about villains for a while now, next chapter we return to the main squad with Chapter 19 - Black Ops/The Mystery of the Eight-Pointed Star (Haven't decided the name yet).

The following arc is going to be a detective arc, so if you like that genre, I really hope you like what I have in mind.

Also, What do you think is the deal with Armina? How does she seem to come back to life everytime? And go ahead and theorize what 'revealing things' Armina found in Victoria's memories.

Until Next time, Shirozou Signing out