Criminal X : Epitome Of Evil

A ritual was being performed at the Crucible.

All the soldiers that had been slain today were being eaten by the red markings on the ground. The Corpses were disappearing.

Malvador vomited something out of his mouth and when all the corpses vanished and Malvador's vomit almost ended, Pablo finally saw what came out from the Vampire King's mouth for all this time.

They were hearts.

The hearts of the soldiers that he was killing and devouring since the start of the war.

And now that Pablo put his mind into it, he remembered that he was only swallowing those hearts, he wasn't chewing them. Now Pablo figured that he didn't eat hearts for strength, he was storing them for this very moment.

But what would come out of all this? What was this ritual about if not to summon the Dragon King that had vowed that he would surely come out in future. If not now, then when El'Dorado would make his appearance?

Andrezj and Cupid, however, knew what was up. But Cupid was stricken with fear so she wasn't speaking and Andrezj only said that everyone should prepare for the worst. Also, Andrezj had made himself visible to Pablo that only conveyed that the matter was serious.

Andrezj had already covered Sera with some type of transparent dome and now he waited like the rest of the people.

Pablo held Colt and now he also believed whatever the ritual was, it came to an end.

Malvador puked the last heart out and it went inside the red symbols like other hearts.

The Vampire king stayed in the air and the robed Elf went fanatic.

He chanted something to the top of his lungs and the more he chanted the brighter the symbols turned.

Pablo and the soldiers wiped the sweat from their faces and waited.

Harlia calmed down her urge to jump in the air and drag Malvador down as her heart told her to remain in one place at the moment. If she moved now, she would regret it.

The robed Elf reached the height of loudness and the red light reached the height of the brightness. It was night but the amount of light gave the impression that it wasn't night at all.

"It's coming, Pablo. Be ready. You have done this before. Do it again." Andrezj spoke.

Pablo quivered his brows as he had no idea what the male Angel meant.

He opened his mouth to ask about it but…

RUMBLE!

The Crucible shook.

The walls around the battlefield folded like paper and fell down.

The ashes mixed with each other as if they weren't before.

Everyone found it difficult to stay on the ground, they tried their best to maintain their balance and Pablo still believed that El'Dorado was coming. No one else could make the Ashen Crucible shake like a paper. It has to be the Dragon King. The big mighty dragon King coming back to take his revenge from the Gods.

While keeping his feet on the ground, Pablo's eyes fell on Andrezj again and the angel's words came to his mind again.

You have done this before, do it again.

Pablo would like to believe that Andrezj knew what was going on and if he said that Pablo had done it before it meant that it was something that Pablo had seen. So it couldn't be the Dragon King after all.

Then what the fuck was it? Pablo had no time and intentions to go back to the past and use his mind to figure out the answer as his brian was already working overtime for the past eleven hours since the start of this fucking war.

Therefore, he decided to keep his ears and eyes open and waited for whatever shit that was coming. He had already wished the War to look like hell and he had no idea his wish would be taken so seriously.

While managing himself, Pablo looked at the soldiers behind him and they were having problems standing straight. And Pablo knew that if they fell once, they won't stand up again as their exhaustion won't allow them.

He had to do something.

And he did.

"Hold your ground, soldiers. Get past this and you shall become immortal. Don't die. And if death is certain, then make sure to take some Elves with you. We have already come too far, if we stop now, everything would be meaningless. Do you want your life to be meaningless? Do you want to die just because the land beneath is dancing?

No! You don't want that. I don't want that. Fuck the land. Fuck Malvador. Fuck the Elves. Fuck rest. Fuck sleep. Fuck everything and win this fucking war as you all have already suffered enough. I shall make sure to protect all of you. Just hold your fucking ground and I shall give you the whole goddamn skyy!!"

"YES!"

"YES!"

"YES!"

The soldiers successfully found their strength again as they focused only on staying on the ground. They shall not fall. They will not fall.

Seeing the soldiers were fine now, he paid attention to himself and ran his mind, unwillingly, to think what could be the cause of this earthquake.

The robed Elf had stopped shouting his chants as now he stood with his palms joined against each other. As if he was praying. And not only him, the other Elves, even their King had joined their palms and closed their eyes.

Pablo had no idea what was going on as Malvador was still in the air and even this guy didn't have his arms spread anymore. He also joined his palms and closed his eyes.

All these people were praying for something as their lips moved, inaudible to everyone.

Pablo would have thrown his Colt at Olorin to kill him but Colt was vibrating harder than usual. As if it had a soul and it wanted to leave the body.

Pablo couldn't throw Colt and keep his footing steady at the same time.

He could only wait for the dance to end and for the love of all that is holy… the rumbling finally stopped.

THUD!

Malvador landed back on the Crucible. His palms still joined.

The red light disappeared.

The symbols, the ritual, both gone.

Nothing was amiss. Nothing was strange. Nothing wa—

BURST!

The center of the Crucible burst open.

Someone, no, Something came out of it.

It hung in the sky.

Everyone saw it.

Pablo saw it.

He didn't know what it was.

All he knew was this one simple thing…

It Wasn't Human.