Manifest War: The Weapons Within

As Azhane stared down at the city below, she slowly held out her right arm. Her Manifest, The Grasp of Nihility, materialized and glistened in the moon’s rays. Azhane then lowered her arm and brought it close to her chest, clenching her fist tightly.

Suddenly, twelve ethereal swords of various shapes and sizes spawned out of the void and began orbiting around her in a counterclockwise manner. They glowed a deep purple and their intricate details matched that of her Manifest’s, insinuating that they were all part of the same weapon. Once her preparations were complete, Azhane softly whispered to herself.

“Good riddance…” Then, in an instant, she vanished out of the sky and appeared in the city below. The area was eerily quiet until the silence was erased by loud commotions happening within the homes of the Boundless citizens.

Like a woman possessed, Azhane proceeded to go from house to house with blinding speed, killing and erasing every Boundless citizen she saw. Her ethereal blades swiped through entire buildings with zero resistance, causing immediate devastation. She also summoned forth multiple blackhole orbs from her fingers, flinging them in every direction with violent precision.

She forced herself into a home belonging to a family of four. They had just finished dinner and were simply enjoying each other’s company. The father stood up from the table, shocked by her sudden appearance, until one of Azhane’s blades sliced him cleanly in half.

Black colored blood flew everywhere and drenched the family in gruesome fashion, raining down like a geyser of warm tar.

Before the others could even react, the mother was stabbed in all directions by multiple ethereal blades, dispatching her in mere seconds. At that same moment, Azhane aimed her palm at the two children and a small black orb fired at them, expanding rapidly and absorbing the kids. They were erased from existence instantly, not a single trace was left behind.

That particular assault took all of eight seconds before she teleported to the next home, not wanting to waste any time disposing of her next prey. The rate at which Azhane was killing these civilians was absolutely unfathomable, blinking in and out of homes with rapid succession.

She slaughtered thousands within mere minutes and showed no signs of slowing down. Many desperately pleaded for their lives, but their cries fell on deaf ears as she didn’t show an ounce of mercy.

A few Boundless attempted to fight back, summoning forth their Manifests and charging towards their silver haired foe. However, the retaliation was entirely pointless. Before they even got a chance to make a substantial move, Azhane’s blades reacted on their own and immediately sliced them into pieces.

The civilians that witnessed these atrocities were frozen with fear as they watched their comrades get reduced to minced meat, dying faster than they could even blink.

Azhane didn’t even need to lift a finger as her Manifest handled all the heavy lifting, laying waste to everything she glanced at. She simply floated forward as terrifying chaos occurred all around her.

As a few buildings fell and collapsed from her assault, she teleported and found herself inside of what looked like a nursery filled with children. She scanned her emotionless eyes over the group of shivering and terrified kids, making note of how many were present. Azhane eventually fixed her gaze upon the lone adult in the room. Verali was crouched in front of the group with her arms spread out, shooting a sharp toothed scowl in Azhane’s direction as she tried to protect them.

Verali (11,550rlvl) quickly stood and summoned forth her Manifest, a dark green pike adorned with runic symbols and small bones. With a fierce burst of Core Energy and a mighty battle cry, Verali leapt towards Azhane with all her power fully exerted. Before she even got remotely close, multiple ethereal blades cleaved Verali from every direction.

The sheer amount of slices occurring in such a short time frame seemed nigh impossible and yet, Azhane’s blades were defying all logic. Within seconds, Verali exploded into a million perfect pieces, looking like a pale colored mist.

The children in the room screamed and cried at the sight, beyond frightened by this red eyed demon floating in front of them. However, their screams were silenced almost immediately as Azhane aimed her palm at them. Multiple black orbs scattered across the room and consumed every last child present in the building, not leaving a single trace behind. Her swords then blasted through the walls and support structures, causing the building to fall in on itself in extravagant fashion.

After finishing her rounds along the suburban area of the Boundless city, she teleported back into the sky above. She aimed her hand at another part of the city and summoned forth a massive black hole-like orb. It violently pulsed as she fired it off from her palm, shooting it towards the city below. Once it connected, that entire area of the Boundless establishment got swallowed and consumed by the expanding orb, draping it in a haunting darkness.

Once the orb finished expanding, a loud warping sound occurred as the black hole rapidly shrunk and dissipated. The only thing that was left in that portion of the city was a perfectly clean and empty crater. Thousands were eliminated in mere moments from this one attack, not a soul left behind.

More screams could be heard as the whole city plunged into absolute mayhem and Azhane noticed some Boundless civilians trying to flee the area. She pointed her finger at them and another small orb formed in front of it. Azhane blasted it towards the hundreds of people running for their lives and once it impacted the ground, the orb rapidly expanded.

The black hole consumed every single person in sight, erasing them all from existence. Women, children, men, soldiers, and the elderly were annihilated without a second thought. The orb quickly shrunk and left behind yet another large crater, showing that even the ground wasn’t safe from the brutal onslaught.

Azhane then fixed her gaze back towards the city below and with a sharp snap of her fingers, all twelve ethereal blades returned to her side immediately. She slowly raised her hand and pointed downwards, silently commanding them to take aim at their next target, the downtown center.

The swords stopped orbiting around her and quickly plunged down towards the littered streets, whistling through the air like thin arrows. With blinding speed, they sliced and destroyed everything that came into their sight, not missing a single building or individual.

She watched as stores exploded and people got chopped up, their pale skins getting stained with black blood. The swords wreaked absolute havoc all throughout the city with surgical precision and tempo, causing massive casualties in impossibly record times.

A single minute went by and the entire city turned completely silent, not a sound from anything could be heard. Her swords returned and elegantly continued their orbit around her, signaling that they had completed their task.

All 9,857 of the revived Boundless civilians were killed and eliminated from this world. Even though their involvement in everything so far was negligent, Azhane did not care one ounce. To her, these were insects that needed to be exterminated and punished for their actions toward her family.

Azhane continued to show no emotion towards the atrocity she just committed. She felt nothing as her fiery red eyes bared down on the death and destruction below. Moments later, she averted her paralyzing gaze to the large palace at the center of the city. Azhane glared at it before teleporting inside, feeling ready to continue on to her final target.

In the upper floors of the Boundless palace, Carmen awoke to the sound of explosions and the floor shaking violently. She slowly sat up and looked around, wondering what was going on.

“What is that sound??” She questioned, trying to make sense of the fairly inaudible destruction happening outside of the building. She walked over to the window and immediately felt disappointed.

“Gah, why is this thing frosted over?? I can’t see anything at all.” She complained, irritated that the window couldn’t be used. The ground shook again and she almost lost her footing by the intense force. She braced herself against her bed and started heading towards the door, stepping forward slowly.

“Is there a fight going on or something? I’ve gotta get out of here!” Carmen tried to open the door up, pulling the handle vigorously, but It was completely sealed shut. The door didn’t budge an inch from her strained attempts and after several failed tries she looked down at the silver cuff on her ankle with a slight scowl.

“Ugh! This is not the time to have my powers blocked!” She yelled, annoyed that she couldn’t just gravity manipulate the door away.

She looked around her room once again and saw the bell she often used to call for a maid. She rushed over and rang it rigorously, hoping a maid or Homura would open the door. Several moments went by but no one came. She tried a few more times, but once again, no one heeded the call.

Carmen tossed the bell across the room in an annoyed fit as she sat down on her bed, trying to think of a plan to get out. The building continued to shake and she began to grow more worried by the minute, feeling incredibly trapped at that moment.

Further down inside the throne room, Briddle was furious and confused by what was occurring in his city. Despite many contact attempts, he could not reach anyone outside of the palace.

“What is going on!? Will somebody please give me some answers!!” He yelled out in a rage, ordering his soldiers to disperse and figure out the issue. Trion, Lovi, and Karris remained by his side to provide protection should he need it.

“It seems as though our numbers have diminished greatly. My logs indicate massive casualties.” Karris replied while looking at a glowing tablet that showed names disappearing from a list. This log was a constantly updating archive of every Boundless they had revived, but for whatever reason, the pages were emptying at an impossibly rapid pace.

“What!? What do you mean by mass casualties? HOW?!” Briddle questioned as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist tightly. Before Karris could respond to him, they noticed that the loud commotion outside stopped and the ground no longer shook.

Karris looked down at his notebook and complete shock came over him as every page was now empty, besides those that were present in the throne room. Just as he decided to speak up, Briddle stood from his throne and saw Homura making her way through the entrance. She was holding her belly and looking scared as she rushed over towards the steps.

“Ah, my love! Please, come to me. We will keep you safe.” She nodded and quickened her pace, reaching out her hand just before she got to the steps. Briddle assisted her upwards, bringing her body close to his as she got up the final step.

“What is going on? It sounds like absolute chaos outside.” She questioned, not understanding the current situation.

“I’m not sure, I can sense a great power circulating in the city, but no one has given me any concrete reports just yet. I’m about to go see for myself.” Briddle gently replied, trying to keep his mistress calm. However, in that same instance, his eyes went wide with absolute terror.

As Homura stood directly in front of him, warm blood splashed onto his face. They both glanced down and saw a long ethereal blade piercing Homura straight through the stomach. It stopped half way and settled there as Homura spat up an ungodly amount of black colored blood.

The blade sliced upwards slightly as it ejected itself, making a gruesome noise before exiting her flesh. Homura’s eyes glazed over and she dropped to her knees before tumbling down the long flight of steps.

Briddle couldn’t believe what he just saw as he witnessed his lover’s body fall to the ground. Black blood raced down as Homura settled at the foot of the steps, her eyes now completely dilated. The severe amount of blood loss and her lack of movement indicated that she was no longer living.

Before he could even begin to grieve his loss, the others and him heard the ominous clicking of heels approaching. Each step grew louder and louder, echoing from the darkness beyond the throne room’s entrance. As they looked closer, the group noticed a single vivid red eye glowing and staring back at them. Everyone waited with baited breath until it disappeared completely from view.