A battle lost; the war goes on

Oscar could barely remember the light of Excalibur glowing at the last moment before the impact. He knew he should have melted away, but the moment the sword ignited both plasmas bent and deflected. The beams of light repelled each other with such force Oscar thought he was hit by a bus.

He was covered in stones and dust as he slowly passed out.

While unbeknownst to the crowned Fallen, Oscar’s life support systems started to work while the six-meter-tall monstrosity smiled.

‘The assassin has been dealt with.’ The crowned thought to himself, lowering his scepter.

‘What is it with all the assassins lately, I am a good and righteous king. The rightful king! Why do they resist?’

‘I will not let them get to me that easy! Not this assassin nor the four who came to my kingdom!’ The monster determined. While he walked, he charged his body with the divine spark of lightning bestowed upon him. Eradicating every last road or path that could let another assassin close to him.

He just walked off, stomping in a rage while destroying things. Sending arcs of lightning in every direction to get every last hidden assassin that might lurk in the shadows.

‘This city is mine! No one will take my kingdom from me!’ the crowned thought.

“To me!” He telepathically commanded all his allies in the vicinity.

Walking through the debris with a hand on his singed shoulder. ‘How unsightly.’

The monster looked around for a suitable piece of metal.

By the time they arrived, the crowned already ripped out a huge sign and bent it to the shape of a shoulder guard. It connected to the toga with chains taken from motorcycles and melted together.

They crawled on the walls of destroyed buildings, slowly closing the distance.

Before long the Majesty was surrounded by a hivemind of two hundred and fifty purple eyed minions.

“Where are the assassins now?” the Majesty asked one of the Hivemind telepathically, moving his lips reflexively, resulting in gibberish.

“On the way to the giant tower of iron.” All of them answered through the brain of one of them.

“How are my soldiers?” the monster replied.

“look” they all said, one of them leading the way to a nearby street.

It was beautiful. Ruined buildings with melted stone, burn marks and bones. He only wished he had more bones to decorate the domain with. ‘But with the rate assassins are arriving I just might’ the monster thought with a chuckle.

On the way to see his soldiers the Majesty could see an untouched park on the side of the road.

Pulses of light in his minds eye showed the Majesty the surrounding area around him.

‘How unsightly’ he thought, looking at the trees and plant life in the small pocket of nature in the otherwise brutal landscape of war.

He was almost disgusted with it all, the smell of the air and the banality of it all.

The Majesty reached forward with his scepter and swung at the air, sending sparks of light and heat in all directions, setting the place on fire.

‘Much better’ he thought, walking contently towards his soldiers.

With the pulses of his mind showing the way, navigating was easy. The majesty could hardly remember how he navigated without such comfort in the past. ‘ Surly I am truly blessed’

The sound of screaming interrupted the joy the Majesty felt, anguish and agony filling the air.

He could see with his mind’s eye the group of two hundred and fifty Devourers all watching reverently as five of their brothers fought in imaginary warrior.

All of them were adapting nicely, slowly learning to morph based on other’s failures not just their own.

But the five at the center. They were wailing, crying ,screaming, flailing and moving at ridiculous speeds. Gashes appeared on their body as the invisible enemy hit them again and again, turning in to more and more teeth and mouths.

The Majesty reached out to their mind, if only to understand. Just to see the shadow of the assassins they were fighting.

A huge monster, in his opinion, made of metal rubber and crystals taken from their dead friends. It held a sword and moved like a demon in impossible movements.

Yet the Devourers in front of him survived the fight, but as he now understood the fight was not over for them.

Over and over and over again they fought the same shadow, showing their brothers what they are about to face, growing more arms and weapons with each failed attempt.

Even though the Majesty knew their enemy was currently imaginary, to them, at this moment, it was as real as him.

He could see through his soldiers eyes how they lost and had to run away, he could see how they fought and what they planned to do differently. He could sense their fear of facing such a foe, but he could also almost savor the taste of the sweet flavor of a meal so hard to get.

“I see the soldiers are in good condition” The majesty said to the Hivemind.

“Yes.” the voice of hundreds echoed in his dome.

“I want you lot to go with them. Half of you.” The Majesty said to the Hivemind. “And bring the really tall one with you as well”

The crystal eyed humanoid bowed his head and started to walk towards the thirty-meter-tall Giant in the distance covered in a web of green crystals stemming from his spine.

‘They are good soldiers, my kingdom is in good hands’ he thought as he looked with pride at his soldiers prepare for combat, all of them shifting slowly to match the ones who fought the mental shadow.

‘When I am done with these assassins, I will mount their heads on my crown! And with this, I will grow both in size and power! My kingdom will be everlasting! And there is no one! No one that can stop me! I really am, truly blessed’ the monster thought with a sadistic smile, fingers crackling with lightning