Killing in the name of

“How weak. And you are a Primordial? The top of the food chain? What a joke” Fumes of pride emanate from Julian, resulting in a breathy laugh from Green. Apathetic and aloof, the young boy shrugs and arrogantly moves his hands to show he is unscathed from his attack.

“Is your loyalty to the throne that fragile!?” In an attempt to provoke him, Julian raises his voice and shouts at Green.

Unsuccessfully, the raging hatred of the Primordial becomes focused on the idea of dismantling his body in pieces.

Green then grabs one of the corpses on the ground and throws it towards Julian. The blue eyed boy sidesteps it elegantly and taunts his opponent to try harder. Next, Lorentz turns into a whip of blades, ready to slash at anything that crosses his lash.

The Lorentz holder runs towards Green preparing for an attack. As he launches a whip attack, it is blocked by the clawed metallic hand on its way. Catching one of the blade pieces, Green sends it flying behind him. Flexing his knees, the man with claws leaps to Julian in an attempt to tear his eyes out. As a response, Lorentz commands its blade pieces to gravitate to the handle and perform a particular movement.

Copying the structure of a fan, the blade pieces start to spin clockwise relative to the handle. Without a care in the world, Green traverses through the slaughter machine and reaches its prey, after the droplets of his blood fall upon Julian’s face. Attempting to repel this ferocious lion coming for his head, the CEC agent extends his glove aiming at the threat upon him.

With a sweeping attack, Green successfully cuts Julian’s pinky finger off his hand before being repulsed by a force field, launching him towards the spectators of their battle. A seemingly permanent damage moves the string of the heart of the falling man with joy. Landing on top of the audience, crushing them upon touching them, a scream of agony resonates through the whole building, stopping the ruckus all around Julian.

Seeing as his trembling hand is now bleeding with one finger missing, wrath encourages him to let go of everything and annihilate his opponent. His screaming encourages everyone present to watch the fall of the CEC agent into rampage.

“Kid, calm down! Don’t go further!” Murph shouts from the crowd, making his way to the front row of the spectacle followed by Juliette.

“Breathe, and retreat, there is nothing you can do right now.” trying to reach the boy, words come and go from Murph to stop before their battle escalates to an unstoppable carnage.

In the meantime, surprised by his partner and alleged friend, Juliette is speechless. Through her own way, she tries to calm Julian through their little ritual that they have developed for when anxiety tries to overcome their souls.

Everyone is now watching. Silence in the room is only intervened by Julian’s hectic breathing and the whirring of the cameras recording everything.

“Hahaha…HAHAHAHA” Green’s laugh echoes and reaches Julian, whose pupils dilate at the sight of the primordial monster that took his finger.

“Come here you fucking coward. Your pride is too big to let me go unscathed. I know who you are and what you came for. Complete your mission, Julian! Take over and showcase your greatness to everyone!”

“AGHHH” With a battlecry, Julian re arranges his blade to a whip and starts slashing and dicing without precaution.

Now in front of the fallen Green, he breaks the dam that is his consciousness and floods his body with pure hatred. His shouting is drowned by the sound of flesh being cut. At the sight of slaughter, the people start screaming and running, creating a stampede once again. Pushing each other, those who are left in the way of Julian’s uncontrollable rage are sliced in half by consequence.

The outer walls start to submerge in the floor and let the audience a chance to escape. Security guards flood the parthenon in an attempt to stop Julian’s massacre, thus resulting in his madness being redirected towards anyone that tries to cease him. Dozens of guards are cut with lacerations as Lorentz enters ‘rain_of_blades’ mode. Many of their screams are cut as blood fills their throats.

Diverting his Lorentz to anyone that attempts to come near him, he then starts punching Green -who is lying on the floor- with gravity fields. Grunts of disgust and pain escape the Primordial’s smiling face.

Through his constant coughing, Green spouts out “You are even worse than I ever thought.”

“Shut up. Shut up. SHUT UP!” Raising his voice, Julian’s last words suffered from a crack at the last sentence. Tears are starting to well up in his eyes, creating a reflection of his beating for Green to see. The rush of adrenaline in his system makes it so that the outline of his eyes are red.

With sweat and blood dripping from his body, the non stop pummeling is consuming his stamina. Exhaustion is starting to take a toll on his physical health.

Dozens of civilians lay on the floor, lifeless. The once snow white flooring is now tainted in crimson. There is a cemetery of innocents and the responsible party has not realised it. Pride-fueled tunnel vision makes him blind to his own actions.

Only two individuals remain still. The old man is speechless for his subordinate’s deeds, while the girl beside him is crying ever so slightly as her tears fall down.

In an attempt to recover their partner, she shouts “Julian! Please, please stop!”

The boy is solely focused on Green as an outlet for his pent up insecurities. As such, he only hears a ringing in his ears, obscuring anything else that doesn't serve the purpose of beating to a pulp the body on his sight.

“Julian! Take a look around you!”

Muprh’s last remark doesn’t reach the kid. In a desperate attempt, he draws Maria to shoot at him. Aiming down sights, he decides to fire at Julian's feet to wake him up from his dearanged mental state. Many of the shots are blocked by the whirring blades of Lorentz, until one of them reaches him.

Exhausted, an audible panting is all he can muster. Disabling Lorentz, the pieces of blade fall to the ground, clanking as they reach the floor. He then notices his surroundings. Slowly but surely, he realises his consequences.

Bodies lying lifeless on the floor, blood puddles below these corpses paint a picture of sorrow and despair. He walks sluggishly, a knot on his throat and eyes diverting to every dead person make it clear: a carnage, made possible only by self absorption in his own mind.

The dozens of lives taken make their presence weigh down Julian’s will of living. Dropping down on his knees, his hands automatically cover his mouth as vomiting at his own doings is a natural response from his unconscious.

Without notice, the Imperator’s hologram appears in the middle of the stage and walks towards Julian. With a paper on Its hand, it then amplifies it, relying on a message for the young boy.

No ruler is safe at the sights of the kingslayer

May the vainglory lead you to an unfathomable aftermath

Fumes of pride will grind a skeleton to ash

May the hubris guide you towards unimaginable pain

Surface of the earth damned since his birth

May your god diminish you in a dream

Triumphant in battle, war on the self vanished

May the world remember the jewels on your crown,

Testament of grace diminished to the ground

May the souls you purged forgive your mortal deeds

Yours truly

The Imperator

“Welcome to your true home, the Kingslayer.” In a monotonous, cold tempo for the Imperator’s words, Julian is now inside Laurelya.