𝒮𝒾𝓍𝓉𝒽
"The Legend of the Five Ancients"

"It was said that when the battle to end all battles was fought. The earth quivered. The seas churned. Thunder roared. As if the world itself was torn asunder."

"The ultimate battle for supremacy. For dominance."

"A true show of power."

The Five Ancients were truly a force to be reckoned with. It was said that with their might, not one monster was enough to oppose them.

The five, set about the land, cleansing the world of the corruption that plagued it for so long. 

Their conquest shaped lands and razed mountains. It emptied seas and burned whole forests. Each battle was far more dangerous than the last. Each monster was far deadlier than its predecessor. 

And with time, the monsters were vanquished. All except one. 

They battled monsters big and small. Minor and powerful. But none were as tough and ferocious as their final opponent. The apex of all monsters. It's one true ruler. Its king.

On a ledge overlooking a massive crater showed five individuals. They observed the area below them with a surveying eye. Making sure to note any possible dangers that could be lurking. 

To the normal eye, they seemed to be normal people. Overlooking the area for a nice view. But they were anything but normal. 

Power radiated from them in choking amounts. The epitome of the elements of the world.

"Anyone have sights on our opponent?" Asked the Ancient of Fire.

The four surveyed the area, noting any potential advantages that they could use, and any potential disadvantages that could be used against them.

"Negative," replied the Monarch of the seas.

The five primordials seemed to share a look.

It was now or never.

The Herald of Flames stretched his back, an inferno of flames manifesting behind him. As the fire calmed, a pair of blazing hot wings sprouted from his back, the fire burning brighter than ever before.

The Monarch of the Seas dropped her hands to her side. Water enveloped the whole of her arms, reaching from her shoulder down to her hand. The water manifested and shaping into deadly sharp claws that could cut anything in its path.

The Master of Lightning grabbed the sparking mask from her hip and donned it. Almost immediately her form was struck with a surge of power. The eyes of the mask glowed with a fierce purple, the markings and engravings of the mask glowing luminescent with the innate power of the wielder.

The Matriarch of the Skies snapped her fingers, a ring of coalesced wind forming at her back. The wind was violent and gnashing, waiting to break free from its bonds. The wind eventually calmed, turning into a visible ring of power that levitated behind her.

The five nodded amongst each other, sharing a look that spoke more than words ever could.

The herald of flames dove straight down, eager for battle.

The monarch of the seas followed, using her claws and latching onto the edge and sliding down to the crater.

The master of lightning zipped through at lightning speeds, leaving behind her a trail of sparking electricity.

"Well..." The overlord of the earth spoke, turning to the matriarch of the skies.

He held his hand out, the ring on his hand turning to liquid gold and forming into a spear of pure gold. It glinted with power and elegance. A weapon fit for a deity.

"Time to go to work."

The two jumped down the crater, ready to face the toughest monster they'd ever face.

The two landed right beside their fellow Ancients. Each one had a look of pure seriousness on their faces. This was the most important fight they would ever have. They could not slip up now.

"So where's our guy?" Ignis asked, looking around the area, trying to find where the monster was.

The rest were silent, trying to figure out where their final target was.

The five walked forward, cautious with their steps. For all they knew, it might've been hiding, waiting for the moment to strike.

"So you're the ones who killed my commanders," boomed a deep voice.

Ignis jumped, looking around in confusion.

"It talks?!" He whisper yelling, looking around in confusion.

Levina scoffed. "Certainly a first."

"I am most surprised that you managed to defeat my generals. Truly a remarkable show of power," the voice resonated throughout the crater.

"Who would've thought anyone had the power to best them on this planet," the voice let out a low and dangerous chuckle.

Black miasma leaked from the earth and manifested itself, spinning and morphing into a vague silhouette of a man.

The five stepped back in defense, looking at the vague shadowy figure of the monster in anxious anticipation.

"Truly an achievement that deserves commending," the silhouette said, clapping his hands in response.

The five were silent, staring down the silhouette in front of them. 

They couldn't let down their guards. If they do, it might be the end of them all.

"And now we're here," he spread out his arms.

"And let me guess, you're here to kill me?" 

The five were silent.

"And what makes you think you can do that?" The shadowy figure walked around the five, "Did killing my generals bring you a false sense of hope? Of confidence?"

"What makes you think that you can kill me," he disappeared, "the first monster."

The five looked around, trying to track where he was. It was the first time they saw a monster that could talk, and they were thoroughly surprised by it.

"Tell me, do you have what it takes to purge me from this land?"

Black smoke and miasma appeared again from the ground, swirling up and forming back into the figure.

"Question is do you have the power to kill me?" The figure crossed his shadowy arms in anticipation.

"I've survived far more calamities than you've realized. What makes you think this would be any different?" 

The figure paced around the four, acting as if nothing was wrong.

"You see, Chaos feared my power, and banished me to this world," he explained, "but it seems he sent someone else to do the dirty work."

"How do you know Chaos?" Celeste asked, breaking the silence.

"Oh, isn't it obvious?" 

"Hon, you see, I was a primordial too."

They tensed. They knew the story. They all did. The story of the primordial turned corrupt. The primordial filled with so much hatred that it transformed him. Turned him into something that would feed off of negativity. He turned into something that fully embodied what he was inside. A being of hatred and miasma.

The primordial turned demon.

"So you're-"

"Azonath? Right in the flesh."

"But," the shadow sighed, "it doesn't matter now." 

It beckoned them forward in a sense of bravado. "Let us show the world a fight it'll never forget."

And with that, the battle commenced.

Azonath surged forward with blinding speed and power unrivaled, intending to incapacitate one of them right off the bat. Fortunately for the five, their senses were far from average. 

They dodged the bullet-like dash that was Azonath and weaved to the side, barely avoiding the attack.

But that was no cause for celebration. For the primordial turned monster would be relentless.

He moved with speed and experience, moving through the terrain like it was the back of his hand, placing one foot after the other and masterfully navigating the rough and hostile terrain.

The five were sent on the back foot, looking around in caution to try and avoid getting killed.

Ignis immediately leaped in the air, narrowly avoiding a dangerous close blade that came spinning in his direction.

He stayed in the air, preparing his bow and trying to lock onto his target.

Azonath weaved through the battlefield, occasionally disappearing, his form seeping into the ground and reappearing wherever he saw fit.

He appeared behind Levina, raising his fist as the form of his hand morphed with corruption and transformed into a huge cleaver. 

She turned around, taking a step back as her body crackled with lightning. Her mask glowed a deadly purple as it unleashed a beam of electricity towards the former primordial. 

He scoffed, looking at the beam and catching it with both of his hands.

The beam tried to push through, trying to overpower the primordial turned demon.

Yet when he exerted more of his power, the purple beam turned a deep shade of red and violet. 

He turned back to Levina and hurled it right back at her.

She readied her heel and prepared herself to dodge.

Miasma stuck onto her foot, locking her in her place preventing her from moving out of the way.

Neptis widened her eyes and leaped from her spot, stepping in front of Levina and slashing the beam straight in half with her claws.

The beam was split in two, pulverizing the ground around them.

Neptis readied her claws for a counterattack and surged forward, attacking the monster king head-on.

Her slashes were fast and ferocious, her claws creating ripples of water in the air. A riptide of danger.

She was as relentless and ferocious as she was fast, sending slash after slash like a machine. Yet the king of the monsters dodged and weaved expertly, weaving through the attacks so professionally and avoiding them with such elegance that it would make anyone think twice. 

He ducked, avoiding an overhead slash, and recoiled his hand, a ball of dark corruption gathering at his palms.

He readied himself, preparing to unleash a shockwave of an attack.

But right before he could unleash a bomb of an attack, he was pushed back and right off of his feet by a powerful gust of wind.

The gust of wind separated the two, preventing the primordial-turned-monster from doing any substantial damage to Neptis.

He gritted his teeth and locked onto Neptis, clutching his hands and hurling it towards her.

But right before the ball of corruption hit her, powerful gusts of wind stopped it right in its tracks, compressing it into a tiny ball of black power.

He gritted his teeth and prepared for another of his counterattacks.

He could feel his eyes widen as he dodged out of the way, barely avoiding a golden glinting spear that barely missed him. A few seconds later, he would've been impaled right on the spot.

"Heh," he scoffed.

Percy went in the offensive, clutching his signature golden spear that rematerialized in his hand and surging forward.

The Overlord of the Earth thrust his spear at the shadow, causing him to move out of the way.

Percy twirled his spear and with elegance and perfection, he moved from the thrust and right back onto another slash, giving his opponent no time to recuperate.

The shadow dodged and weaved, evading the attacks masterfully.

The two were locked in an awe-inspiring duel, with no one seeming to gain the upper hand.

The shadow launched himself into the air and raised his hand. Corruption and miasma promulgated from his palm and morphed into a large cleaver.

Percy gritted his teeth and clutched his spear, blocking the attack with the middle of his weapon.

The two struggled, trying to overpower the other.

"Impressive," the figure seemed to say.

Percy balled his fist and willed the earth to do his bidding.

A wall of earth erupted from the ground below him and launched him straight into the air. Right into the sights of Ignis.

The Ancient of Fire steadied his aim and released the arrow he'd been charging up for a while. All he needed was the perfect shot.

And with a twang of a fiery bowstring, he let loose.

From the ground, you could see a straight line of fire and smoke dart across the sky and onto the target.

The arrow hit, creating an inferno of fire and flames. A violent blazing explosion erupting in the sky, engulfing the former primordial in unbearable heat.

The five watched the inferno in anxious anticipation, their guards still up.

The inferno started shrinking and shrinking, the fire and flames growing smaller and smaller until all that was left was the silhouette of Azonath.

He absorbed the inferno, coalescing it into his body, albeit in painful agony, and released it all in a booming shockwave of power.

Percy readied himself and balled his fist, a golden barrier of light surrounding him and his friends, shielding them from the shockwave that shook the land and seas.

"That was quite the show you put on there," he said, slowly descending back down onto the ground.

"Your teamwork is not to be underestimated, I can respect that," he added, nodding his head in agreement.

"Truly formidable opponents. A worthy adversary."

"But someone's dying today," he said, "and it ain't going to be me."

His form disappeared in a sludge of black goo, causing the five Ancients to look around with their guards up.

"Where is he," growled Neptis, trying to find the blasted monster.

The ground shook and rumbled beneath them, tipping them off their balance.

Black tendrils of corruption erupted from the ground, circling each other and forming a cocoon that towered over all of them.

All five of them took a collective step back, seeing the cocoon slowly grow and grow as each second passed.

The towering black cocoon became more defined, and more identifiable.

It got its shape. A towering behemoth of unimaginable power. A giant of immense strength.

And with a boom that shook the ground beneath them, the monster was born. His true form was unleashed.

He was a towering colossus of a giant, with tendrils for arms and two pairs of bat-like wings that radiated corruption.

His form towered over the clouds, looking down on the five like they were insects.

His face, if you could call it that, was a giant head with a big mouth that reached from cheek to cheek. 

Accompanying it were multiple sets of serrated teeth that seemed like they could take a chunk out of the tallest mountains.

His eyes shone with a dark red and purple, radiating power beyond comprehension.

His stomach, or what looked like it, was a mouth that split horizontally and spewed dangerous venom. 

Along with the bat-like wings attached to his back were multiple sets of deadly tentacles that could lash out at anyone who got close. 

Along his body were multiple eyes that each looked like it had a mind of its own, occasionally moving separately from the two eyes he had on his so-called head.

He was a demon.

A true monster.

"What the fuck," Neptis could hear herself say, staring up at the amalgamation of horrors that towered over them.

"I-" Celeste tried to say.

"That's..." Ignis could hear his voice fade away.

They all watched the sky, looking at the immense figure of the first monster. 

Percy steeled himself and moved forward.

"This is no time for despair."

"We have not come this far, to fail now."

Percy clutched his spear and stared at the towering monstrosity in front of him.

"What's the plan?" Celeste asked beside him. The three turned towards him, steeling themselves from their stupor.

"I have an idea. But we need to lock him in place."

"I can trap him where he stands, but I need him distracted for a time," stated Percy.

The five looked at each other, steeling their nerves and summoning the courage within them.

"Establish peace by combat."

"Cleanse wickedness through murder."

The five shared a look and nodded.

"To battle, we devote our being."

Ignis launched into the air with his wings, creating a spiral of smoke in his wake.

He clutched his bow and fired volley after volley of arrows.

Fire and smoke filled the sky, an inferno of flames descending upon Azonath.

The towering demon looked at the incoming valley of arrows and coiled his wings.

He flapped his wings with such force that it sent Ignis flying back, causing him to shake his head in confusion.

The simple flap of the wings was enough to extinguish his volley of flaming arrows.

Azonath raised his hulk of hand and slammed it down towards Ignis in full force, fully intending to crush him right where he stood.

The primordial of fire widened his eyes and immediately went to work.

His wings expanded in a flurry of flames, growing in size that rivaled even Azonath's. 

His wings crossed between themselves, blocking the giant hand right in its wake.

The force of the collision caused the earth to quake.

The two struggled as corruption battled fire.

Ignis grunted, willing his wings to wrap around the hand and holding them in its place.

Right below them, a blur of blue zipped through the air at frightening speeds and hurled itself onto Ignis.

The hand of Azonath was sliced clean off, a ripple of water cutting through the air and slicing the appendage clean off.

The hand fell back to the earth, rupturing the land below it with the impact.

Even with the missing hand, Azonath didn't seem to mind, nor feel it.

Neptis zoomed forward, climbing through the giant's body and pelting it with slash after slash, hitting eye after eye that littered the giant's body.

But to Azonath, Neptis seemed but an insect in the grand scheme of things.

The tentacles at his back crept forward, finally spotting the blur of blue that traveled up Azonath's towering body.

The tendrils surged forward, trying to slash at the speedy Neptis. Yet she dodged and weaved, trying her best to avoid the attacks.

Violent gusts of wind came out of nowhere, slashing the tentacles clean off and providing Neptis some much-needed comfort.

Celeste floated above the battlefield, conjuring up the most violent winds and storms she's ever had to muster.

Violent gales and raging whirlwinds appeared beside Azonath, incinerating every tendril that dared pop up, shredding the pieces of corruption to bits.

But even with all their combined power, Azonath seemed to be unfazed.

The tentacles regrew. The tendrils rematerialized. All the damage seemed to be for naught.

"This is pointless. Your combined strength doesn't faze me one bit," his voice boomed through the area.

"Give up now. No point in delaying the inevitable."

As the four Ancients battled Azonath, Percy stood at the ledge of the crater, channeling all his power as he observed the battlefield.

His eyes glowed a bright gold, extending his hands out and clutching them.

The ground quaked and shook. The earth below Azonath himself cracked open and split apart to Percy's will.

From the cracks of the earth came stone hands that lined themselves with gold.

The stone hands grabbed onto the feet of the giant, locking him in his place.

"You really think this is going to stop me?" Azonath seemed to chide, the tendrils turning downwards and slashing at the stone hands.

Each slash took a chunk from the earthen hands, intending to free Azonath from the grasp of the earth.

The clouds seemed to darken, the sky turning a violent purple.

The eyes and engravings on Levina's mask glowed like never before, filling her with power.

Her hands cackled with power and electricity, raising it in the air and bringing it down in one powerful blow.

A thunderbolt of unimaginable strength erupted from the clouds and struck Azonath right in the head, causing a monstrous roar.

The thunderbolt was so powerful that it caused the ground to rupture. It caused the trees to crack. The animals scutter away in fright.

The rest of the Ancients took this as their queue.

Ignis recovered from his daze and channeled his power.

The fiery wings detached from his back, the flames growing and growing and turning into a huge flaming phoenix.

The phoenix flew towards Azonath, breathing forth flames so hot that it melted minerals.

Neptis' eyes turned a deep blue, her water claws glowing in response. 

A huge wave of water flooded the whole crater, bathing the area in a tsunami.

The tsunami shaped itself into a pair of giant water hands that grabbed hold of Azonath's forearms, preventing him from swatting the phoenix away like a bug.

Celeste grabbed the floating ring from her back and took a deep breath, channeling her power onto it.

She clutched the ring and threw it, the coalesced wind ring growing and growing the further and further it traveled.

The wind ring enveloped itself onto Azonath's body, wrapping itself like what a snake would its prey. She clutched her hands and tightened the grip it had on him, effectively rendering his wings and tentacles useless.

Percy steadied his breathing, the stone hands now fully grabbing onto the giant's feet, locking him in place.

"This only delays the inevitable," his laughter boomed throughout the area.

Percy gritted his teeth, balling his hands into a fist and channeling his power.

He raised his hands in the air as the world itself seemed to quake and shake.

Multiple stone pillars rose from the ground through the earthquake, each one having the same golden symbol engraved on it. Percy's symbol.

The pillars rose, and rose, and rose, even matching the height of the towering demon.

From the ground, the columns of gold and stone looked like a straight mountain.

"Oh? And what may this be? A new trick up your sleeve?" He mocked.

He clenched his fist, the stone towers booming with a golden light. Radiating power and elegance.

"It's a protection sigil," the Overlord of the Earth's voice boomed, his eyes now glowing bright gold. 

His golden hands shone like never before, like a glinting hope in the dreary future.

"Oh? You don't expect these seals to protect you from me now, do you?" He chuckled like he was dealing with a naive child.

Behind him, the sky turned different shades of gold and yellow. The whole sky seemed to glow with his color. The once blue and lively sky was now filled with magnificent and regal hues of gold and orange. 

It was like the sky itself enacted his fury.

"I shall have my retribution."

Word Count
3542
Words

A/N 

Roughly halfway done with the book!

Shorter than most of my books but eh, I think thirteen chapters is good enough. Considering that each chapter has more than 3k words.

Chapter 7 and onwards is where shit starts to get interesting. So I'm looking forward to uploading those.

Anyhow, hope you guys enjoyed chapter. I'll be back again next week with another one, same time, same day.