Chapter 9: Chaos Unleashed

Nameless stirs in her bed, next to her sister.

Today was a long day. She had to deal with that useless, worthless person who is in charge of the realm.

Hopefully, she won’t have to see her soon. The very thought of her makes her blood boil in rage. She is eagerly awaiting the rise of the morning. She and her sister did finish packing right before they went to bed.

These thoughts wash away the filth she had to deal with earlier. She falls back to sleep.

A short time later, she can hear a loud scream.

This wakes her up, as well as her sister, who is sleeping next to her. Groggy, she mumbles.

“Mmmgh...what was that noise? It came from inside the village. It couldn’t be though, right?” She rubs her face gently, yawning. The village is surrounded by a rudimentary detection system.

If only they had more money, then they could have bought some of the automated artillery equipment, like the weapon systems that surround the outskirts of the city, Lunace, and set it up around the outskirts of the village. Alas, Divine flash grumbles as she wakes up. The blue haired girl laments their lack of wealth.

Their village just barely got by with their trades and some of her sister’s “backdoor” dealings.

She turned a blind eye, but she knew. She knew the kind of illegal things she did to earn money for them. She was not proud of it, but she did not scold her for her actions, either. It was necessary for their survival.

She stands up, getting off the bed. Nameless is awake, also groggily looking at her confused. She speaks slowly. “Mmm, it is unusually loud. Everyone is usually asleep, except for the night guards. I wonder.” She also stands up, walking barefoot. She walks towards the window, near the front door of the house. And then.

Nameless can see it. Her sleepy demeanor vanishes, quickly replaced with one filled with alertness. She hears sounds that she shouldn’t be hearing, nightmarish screams from her neighbor.

Outside of her home, she can see Maggie running away. Running away from some person clad in jet black and red armor. Wielding a giant sword that is nearly bigger than herself. Behind her, the corpses of the night guard lay on the ground.

They had failed to stop this intruder. Not only that, but they were also mutilated in the process.

Nameless sees a large number of bodies, decapitated gruesomely.

The killer had toyed with their lives till the very end. She looks back towards the dark clad person, who is slowly walking towards her neighbor.

Her mind switches gears. There is no time to wait any longer, she must act quickly.

She quickly grabs her shoes. Her blade. She hurriedly rushes towards the front door, kicking it open.

This sends the door flying from its hinges. She then begins running towards the dark, armor-clad person, slowly gaining on Maggie.

Maggie, bruised, bleeding, and scared, is limping away. It looks like the trespasser cut the tendons on her left leg, making it difficult for her to walk.

Blood oozes out of her leg. Her arms. Her once beautiful face is covered in a large gash on the right side of her face. She tries to run, but falls down, stumbling onto the ground.

A sinister voice laughs at her misery.

“The more you struggle, the more I will enjoy this. The more I will enjoy your slow, pitiful death. You, who only exist to die, for the sake of my cause.” She smashes her huge, six-foot great sword into the ground, dragging it along the ground behind her. The murderer is clearly enjoying every second of this. A red sphere of energy forms in her left open hand. She hurls it at Maggie, causing it to collide into her stomach and explode.

The small explosion causes her to be sent hurtling into the air and spin, landing on her back with a thickening thud.

Maggie screams in agony as more of her bones have been broken. She continues screaming, after she catches her breath from the impact, cursing the person in front of her as she lies there in agonizing pain.

“Fuck you, asshole! What did I even do to deserve this, you murderer!!” She wants to continue insulting her, but she coughs up blood.

Maggie is but a normal human, after all.

Whoever is in front of her is far different from her. Easily slaughtering her friends, her family, within the span of several minutes. People she had known her entire life. A life of forty years.

The dark knight in front of her clearly is not a human at all. Some kind of red aura flows around them, something...chaotic? As she stares, she can see Nameless running behind her. She is preparing a sword strike.

The person, who seems to be a woman, based on her voice, is already aware of her presence. Maggie realizes this right as Nameless jumps in the air, trying to warn her.

“Nam! Watch out!”

“Wha—?” Nameless tries to reply but she has no time. A large, armored boot is heading for her open stomach. The woman in the dark armor, despite wearing heavy dark armor and having a giant sword in one hand, turns at inhuman speed.

The dark knight performs a powerful 180-degree spin kick, smashing into the stomach of Nameless. Having no time to defend, she takes the full brunt of the kick, getting sent through air, smashing straight through the stone wall of another person’s house. The impact destroys the wall completely, making her become buried under a stack of stones.

Somehow, miraculously, Nameless did not die from such a strike. She impressively rises out of the rubble, only with a minor bruise on her stomach. The armored woman looks curiously, laughing more.

“It wouldn’t be as fun if you died from that, Nameless!” She drops her sword and walks over to Maggie. She grabs her with her right hand, choking the little life she had left out of her.

Nameless drags herself forward, walking towards them.

“Let her go.”

“I don’t think you are in the position to bargain. Are you?” She merely squeezes harder on Maggie’s neck, further increasing the pressure. They can both see the color in her face slowly draining. Nameless grinds her teeth together, seething with rage. She wanted to do something but couldn’t risk Maggie dying.

Her foster mother. The only one the girl ever called Mom.

Feelings of anger build inside of Nameless. Rage spills out of her uncontrollably.

“I told you to let her go! Who are you, you fucking piece of shit!?! Slaughtering my family like they are animals...” As she says this, she can smell fire. Someone else has set flame to the village. This warrior is not alone.

Fucking great, she thinks. “Where is my sister,” Nameless wonders. She can see something speeding in the corner of her eye.

Divine flash is attempting to fight off the other invaders, to little success.

There are countless...machines? Draped in similar black armor, as the attacker standing in front of Nameless. She furiously kicks one of them in the sternum, but her leg is grabbed. She gets picked up and thrown. Getting thrown into the food storage room. Which is also caught aflame.

She turns back around quickly. She does not see the other villagers.

“What did you do?! Where are they!” She yells only to be greeted by a venomous laugh

“Don’t worry, I didn’t kill the children or granny. Yet. The rest, well...” Using the hand she is holding Maggie, she increases the pressure of her right hand then simply.

And without time for Nameless to react.

Crushes her windpipe, instantly killing her.

Nameless merely stares at her for a moment in complete disbelief.

She did not have time to do anything.

“I never said I wasn’t going to kill this one! Stupid!” She cackles.

Nameless unleashes a bellowing rage. She assumes a battle stance, moving quickly. Nam grabs her longsword with both hands, attempting a horizontal slash. The woman in armour easily anticipates it, defending with her left arm guard.

“Oooh I like, I like. Nice reaction. Not very skillful, though.” She repels the blade completely, then performs a series of unarmed strikes. Each strike is aimed at the joints in Nameless arms. The impacts weaken her stance, letting the dark knight sneak in a powerful palm strike, aiming for her chin. The fist clean strikes her face, sending Nam stuttering backwards from the force of the impact. The woman does not let up. She throws the dead corpse away from her, then begins dashing towards her at high speed.

Energy forms in her right hand. She lounges at Nameless, her right hand forming into a fist.

Nameless, instinctively, leans to the side and dodges into a nearby pile of hay, just barely avoiding the death blow. The energy releases from the fist, whizzing by her face. The sphere collides with another nearby wall, exploding violently when it hits it. It sends stones and debris everywhere, making Nameless’ hair gust up from the wind blast.

“I, the Chaos Knight, do not need my sword to defeat you.” She moves nearly as fast as the divine flash, appearing in front of her. She looks down pitifully at her outmatched opponent, who is breathing heavily.

She was not used to fighting such a powerful foe.

“You, who lacks courage, who lacks determination and definitely lacks skill. Only thing you aren’t lacking in is natural potential.” Nameless gets up, moving backwards away from her, spitting out blood.

“You aren’t the first person to tell me something like that. You fucker.” The hate flows from her eyes, it rages in her veins.

She can start to feel something, something unnatural build inside of her.

The desire to kill this woman is strong. So strong, it makes her feel. Something

Something different. She wants this desire to consume her.

A murderous red aura surrounds her, similar to the one that is around the Chaos knight.

The Chaos knight smiles. She can sense it, her feelings, her desires. The desire to commit something pure, yet devious.

The yearning of revolution from this world’s order.

The longing to fall into Chaos.

So, the Chaos Knight goads her on further.

“Yes. You can feel it, can’t you? You can feel something flowing through you, something fueled by your hatred of me.” She smirks.

Nameless can only see the bottom half of her face, the rest is obscured by her helmet.

The smile almost looks familiar somehow. Like someone she knows. But that does not matter.

Making this one pay is all that matters in her mind.

A red aura surrounds her. Some kind of star shaped symbol appears under her feet, rotating menacingly.

Something that symbolizes the pure chaos in her mind at this moment.

And yet for some reason, Nameless feels that the star is resonating with her. Something about it is calling her spirit.

Her eyes glow red, empowered by a power she has never felt before.

The power of evolution. Though she is not aware of it, she can feel it.

The Chaos knight, enthralled, continues spurring her onwards. All she needed was one more step.

“Fall into Madness, oh beautiful Nameless! Embrace the Chaos in your heart, no your very soul...I can feel it. Feel your spirit longing for it.”

Before Nameless can respond. A blur smashes into the Chaos Knight’s helmet. Caught off guard, she gets sent skidding backwards a couple of feet away. The blur then flashes, then appears in front of Nameless. Divine flash, covered in cuts and bruises, has come to her sister’s aid.

“Why the hell are you listening to her! She is literally committing murder in front of our very eyes! Don’t let your rage consume your reason, my sister!” She spins, backhanding Nameless across the face. This seems to have calmed her down. For the moment.

The red aura vanished just as soon as it had come over her. Sense has been returned to Nameless.

“I...I don’t know. I was enraged when she murdered Maggie, then it felt like my mind was slipping. Like I was sinking into the sea. With a murky bottom.” She shakes her head, perplexed. How did this woman, she just met mere minutes ago, have such sway over her mind? And better yet, how did she know her name?

She does not have time to think about such things. Instead, she walks up to her sister, who is putting on a brave face at the moment.

Nameless can tell. She is actually scared shitless, at the moment.

And honestly, Nameless herself was too. These people are too strong and too skilled

More skilled than anyone she has met in her entire life.

They were lucky to still be alive.

The Chaos Knight scowls, her opportunity to convert Nameless ruined.

She merely sighs, then shrugs. She raises her left hand. Her giant greatsword teleports back into her hand.

“What will you two do? Face me? Fighting you two wouldn’t be much of a challenge... But I don’t mind.” She waits patiently, awaiting their answer.

The two sisters, now calmer and more focused on their enemy, look at each other. They look at the village, burning into ash. Flames are enclosing on them.

As well as dozens of humanoid machines, all approaching them quickly.

Ones that are nearly as strong as this knight, who hasn’t even broken a sweat.

They can hear the sound of dozens of mechanical limbs marching over towards them. Some of them have the blood of the guards they killed on them. The rest of the other village members, who weren’t kidnapped, were quickly killed in their sleep. As the pair can see dozens of bodies being gathered in the middle of the village, by a few of them.

Gathered into a huge pit of flesh. It looks like three of the machines were about to burn them.

“What do we do, sis?” Nameless asks her but she already knows the answer.

There is really only one answer.

“This village. It was our home. Our family. Our life. But...we can’t waste our lives here. Nam, it’s not worth the effort to fight them, despite how you feel at the moment. Our friends would want us to cherish our lives, rather than to sacrifice them in vain.” She stares at the Chaos Knight.

“I want to know one thing. Why didn’t you kill us, if you could so easily kill everyone else here?” The Chaos Knight chuckles.

“It is just more fun that way. For me. And for you two.” Divine flash’s eyes narrow but she can tell. She won’t get anything else useful out of her by talking to her.

Luckily for them, she packed all of their stuff they needed quickly into their portable storage cubes. Before things escalated to this point. She looks towards her sister.

Without even speaking, she chops her on the back of the neck, knocking her out. Divine Flash then lifts her sister’s body onto her back. The Chaos knight is thrilled by her tactical decision.

“Oh! The smart one! You are going to run away, aren’t you?” The Chaos Knight praises her quick decision making. She, however, is not as enthusiastic.

“You know. I think I’m faster than you.” She kneels down, preparing her body to move. The Chaos knight does the same.

“Try me. Let’s see who really is faster.”

The wind blows.

Two bodies vanish, with a large audible flash.

Divine Flash vanishes, reappearing on top of a smoldering house. The Chaos knight appears behind her, swinging heavily with her giant blade.

Divine flash moves instantly, landing on top of her right shoulder; the Chaos knight only hits air, missing completely with her swing.

Divine flash digs deep, bouncing off her shoulder, vanishing into the air again.

Two more flashes can be seen.

The teenager, carrying the body of her sister, has gained a little distance and has landed on top of another house.

The Chaos knight, this time, teleports in front of her, throwing her giant sword point blank at divine flash, who is still holding onto her sister.

Flash.

Divine flash, with ease, merely lands on top of the huge flying hunk of metal, spins it in the air, and redirects the sword back at the Chaos knight. The Chaos knight quickly runs forward, grabbing her sword, midair, before it pierces her lower abdomen, barely stopping herself from falling off the building as she catches her sword.

Divine Flash has jumped into the air and dive kicks straight into the top of her skull.

The impact from the kick ripples through the barely standing building, causing it to collapse completely.

The Chaos Knight falls into rubble, dust obscuring her vision.

The Divine Flash truly lives up to her name. No one else can truly match her speed. Well, anyone she knows, anyway.

She performs three flashes, furthering the distance between the two of them. She is close to the outskirts of the village.

“You may be stronger than me. But I am faster. Far faster than you’ll ever be.” She proudly claims. She is sweating, she is exerting herself. But not excessively.

She has been training herself and her body quite a bit more than her sister was training her swordsmanship.

Something that saved both of their lives, today.

Turning around, she holds tightly onto her sister. She begins running away from the village. The Chaos knight simply can’t catch up with her.

Nor does she want to.

The envoy of Chaos was thoroughly entertained by their performance.

“I’ll see you later. Budding warriors of the stars...I’ll have to play with you longer, the next time I see you two.”

She gets out of the rubble, wiping the blood off of her face.

This village. This slaughter. This battle.

This was the starting point. This is what will set them on their journey, she thinks to herself. She looks forward to meeting them again.

The Chaos knight gathers her steel machine knights, then walks away from the burning husk of the former village, now burning into ash. Large plumes of smoke rise to the sky as they leave numerous corpses to rot on their way out.