Chapitre 12: The Corruptions Greatest Strength!

Age 1988

Loud banging sounds echoed out in the darkness...

For miles, the only thing that could be seen, was the pitch-black nothingness of the landscape.

That, and the orange lights from the roaring flames...

Seth tried to crawl forward as he gasped out. He reached up placing a hand over the left side of his face which was bleeding at an insane rate! His flesh was melted, and charred. His hair was ripped out, and his eye was missing.

What was once a beautiful and elegant Noble face, was now nothing more than a charred mess.

A shadow of its former self...

'Beauty is everything!'

Those had been the words his mother had said... To him, and his family, beauty truly was all that mattered.

'I want to make this world elegant!'

Seth gasped out as his father's words echoed loudly in his mind...

'Let's make a Beautiful world...'

His sister had been so young and naive...

Seth cried out as more words echoed in his mind, followed shortly by the screaming. The screaming of his family as they were torn apart by those things... His mother's head being cleaved off, his father being ripped in half, and his sister... She suffered the worst being set on fire, and forced to slowly burn to death.

A once beautiful family was truly, and utterly dead.

Seth managed to take another pained step forward as more banging sounds echoed out. The sound of metal, grinding on metal could be heard as the flames grew brighter.

Finally, after a few minutes of slowly crawling away in his own blood, Seth managed to roll over, finally giving up.

That was when he saw them. The 'things' that had caused all of this.

The Automaton's. The metal defenders that served the royal Empire of the Red Nation. They marched forward slowly, their bronze metal shinning and reflecting the flames. Every step they shook made Seth's frown grow larger, as his rage began to boil over.

"Why?" He asked spitting up saliva due to the hole in his lower jaw. "What did my family do to send the Automaton's after us!" He gasped out.

The machines didn't listen, as they had no reason to speak to a target. That wasn't what they were programmed to do after all...

One of them flicked their wrist as a sword clicked out of their arm now giving them a light bronze great sword.

Seth continued to watch them match towards him. He closed his eyes slowly. He waited for the sensation of death. He waited for one of them to set him on fire, maybe rip in half? Or perhaps they would simply impale him with the sword.

But as he waited the only thing he felt was the agonizing pain from his scar.

Seth opened his eyes and watched the machines walk away... Without even glancing at him they had simply turned and left... Leaving him behind...

Alone...

"I will... I will become beautiful again... No matter what."

Age 1991...

"I'm not sure how but we somehow pulled through..." Yang said collapsing. He stared down at his hands in slight disappointment. "I... I was completely useless... Unable to even do anything." He let out a heavy curse as he threw his fist out punching the ground.

"Don't beat yourself up," Anga said calmly. "We did it. We found what we came for." He gestured past his brother and over to the massive orange crystal that stood tall.

"So that's the thing we came all this way here for..." Seth said smiling slightly as he looked at it. "Yes... It is truly beautiful. I could use it to become beautiful-"

"Red Flag!" Hero yelled.

"Here you go..." Zero slowly set up and turned his head to the side. He saw Ken standing in front of him holding his sword out to him. "This is... A lot heavier than my sword." She said blushing slightly. "It also feels different." She reached out placing a finger on the blade but quickly let out a hiss as she pulled her finger back. There was a small mark of crimson on the blade...

"Your stupidity is amazing..." Zero mocked as he reached out. He stopped hesitating as he stared at his weapon. "That is the second time my blade has failed... No. It is the second time that I have failed..." He reached out taking the blade away from Ken. He stared at it for a moment. "Normally our Samurai traditions would dictate that I run myself through with this weapon..."

"What! Why the hell would anyone have a ridiculous rule like that!" Ken questioned in shock.

Zero let a small laugh escape his lips as he fully stood up. "I have failed twice now. And both times I am only alive because an Enforcer saved me. To think... I feel nothing but shame. I'm finding myself like you all. Even... Even after all of it..."

"What! So just because you failed you have to kill yourself?" Ken questioned shaking her head.

"That isn't the sin I have committed," Zero said turning away. 'I am truly a fool... To think... I am actually growing fond of these... Enforcers... If I was seen now by my clan, then they would have surely killed me where I stood.' Zero frowned as he looked at the spot where the monster had been moments ago. "I guess I'm still so weak... I never could match up to you One... I wonder. What happened to you. Are you with my daughter?"

Meanwhile with Hero, the teen was breathing heavily as he stared down at the creature.

Nothing was left now save for a pile of dust, and his clothing... It would seem he was truly gone. It was hard to believe the kind of power that disease gifted such a man.

Hero stared at Maudite as he placed both his hands on the twelve-year-old girl's shoulders. "How, and why, did you come here?" Hero questioned curiously as he raised an eyebrow. "Thanks for saving me by the way. I have got to learn how to use my stretch arm better... Seriously that ends bad so much." He muttered to himself as he shook his head.

"I... I came to save you." Maudite answered. She blushed slightly as she looked away. "Well, not just you of course! I also came in to save Ken... And Kitsune. And the others."

"Here that North..." Cloud said in a slightly annoyed tone. "We're the others..."

"She does realize that Hero is four years older than her right..." Ken said slightly annoyed.

"Oh, what," Irene asked mockingly. "Jealous?"

"Bite me!"

"I... I hate Hero..." Kitsune said giving an eye twitch. "He doesn't even flirt... I wanted Maudite!"

"Still four years younger then you."

"Age is just a number."

"So is a prison sentence."

"Don't worry," Cloud said patting Kitsune on the back. "I'm sure you'll find your special person one day."

"You really think so?"

"No..."

"So..." Anga said quietly. "This is the Corruption..." He reached out placing his hand on the orange crystal as he gave a slight smile. "I can feel it calling to me. Trying to convince me to touch it. However, I won't be swayed." He defiantly pulled his hand away from the crystal. "I refuse to fall victim to it!"

"It really is amazing..." Seth said.

"Red Flag!" Hero called out.

The scared Noble gave a small smile. He could hear whispers coming from it... Telling him things that intrigued him. "I heard that it gave regeneration, but I didn't expect it to be that good... The beast... It was able to regrow entire limbs... All without a scar." He reached over placing a hand on his face as he smirked. "I can finally get rid of-"

"Red Flag!"

"Seth!" Anga hissed out holding his hand up. "I told you! We are not infecting ourselves with the formula." He said eyeing the man up.

Seth frowned. "The research you had stated it was possible for those who are particularly strong Willed, will be able to absorb the Corruption into them gaining the power and keeping themselves-"

"Red-"

"Shut up Hero."

"It said they may be able to!" Anga hissed out. "We shouldn't take the drug ourselves... Rather let it be known to the world... Someone else will solve it, and if it truly can be used to save lives then they will distribute it. We found the grail, but we won't use it-"

"The entire point was for me to use it!" Seth shouted throwing his hands in the air. "I need my beauty back! I don't care about helping the world. I only want my vengence! I want to make the Red Emperor pay! They have betrayed my family! Killed them. Got rid of my Beauty! With this power I could bring it all back!"

"I'm sorry Seth... It's to risky. When I found you at you burnt down Manner, I asked you to join us, to stop an event like that from ever happening again. Not for you to gain more power."

"You bastard..."

Jackson let out a sigh as he turned to the other men in the room who were all fighting amongst themselves. "Well. That's enough excitement for one day." He said casually as he reached into his pocket. He quickly pulled out a Golden Badge. "Anga, Seth, and Yang. By order of the Enforcers, it is my duty to uphold the law. All three of you are under arrest, charged with High Treason against the Nation of Red..." He stated in a serious tone. His face dropped slightly as he frowned at them. "You have my word that I'll do everything I can to try and get all three of you an easy trial..." He said in a slight apologetic way. "Chances are though... You'll still be sent to Nightshade... I'm truly sorry..."

Seth let out a hiss as he frowned. "Then... I wasted all of this time... My family... They won't be avenged... My beauty... I... I..."

"Anga!" Yang yelled out grabbing his brother's shoulder. "What about mom! We don't have time to wait for a cure! We need her to take this now-"

Anga reached up yanking Yang's arm off of him. "I'm sorry... But this wouldn't work. We can't just give it to her how it is. It would turn her into a monster. We need it to be studied. We need it to have a cure."

"You... You bastard!" Yang yelled out in a furious rage. "You weren't ever there! Every day I watched her get worse, and worse, while you researched this! And now what? You're telling me it was all for nothing! You asshole!" Yang slammed his fist into Anga's face knocking him to the floor. He went to take a step forward but was stopped when he felt a blade at his neck.

"If you touch my client again..." Zero said slowly as he eased down on the blade just enough to drop the tiniest amount of blood... "I don't care that you're related to him. I'll kill you."

"The weak Samurai is trying to threaten me..." Yang said shooting Zero a look. "Do you know why we picked you?" He questioned. "Because you were the cheapest. You had no strength or anything particular that we wanted. You were just a worthless-"

"Lie to me again and I'll remove that foolish head from your shoulder."

"That's enough!" Jackson yelled out clapping his hands together and firing out a wave of small harmless electricity. "Everyone clam down!" He announced.

"Don't tell us to calm down!" Seth shouted. "If you never showed up none of this would have happened!"

"If they ever showed up then we would have murdered an entire village on accident!" Anga shouted back.

"Should... Should we do something..." Kitsune asked backing away slowly.

"I... I feel like this is gonna turn out bad." Irene muttered out stepping away. She reached out placing a hand on Ken's shoulder and slowly dragged her away from Zero's side.

"Hey what gives!" Ken questioned.

"Just shut up and stay next to me..." Irene said giving the girl a deadpan stare. "I feel like something bads about to happen and I don't want you in the middle of it all-"

"Oh what so now you're flirting with me-"

Irene chopped Ken over the head causing the fourteen-year-old girl to pout.

"Can we all just stay quiet for one minute..." Zero questioned.

"Oh, what so you can hear the crystal call out to you?" Yang asked mockingly. "You know it calls out to weak people right-"

"Aren't you and your brother hearing it too..." Zero said giving the man a dangerous look.

"What are you-"

"Call me weak one more time..." Zero hissed out. "I've put up with all of you for almost an entire month... No more. It's over! I'm the rank Zero! I am the strongest! I hold the will of the Samuria-"

"What will! Your group is dead! Some will you held mighty Zero!" Yang screamed.

" Enough!" Anga screamed causing his voice to pierce the stone. He let out a small sigh as he bowed his head. "It's over!"

"You're right!" Everyone instantly stopped when they heard that... They slowly turned to see Seth standing right next to the crystal. The man gave a wicked smirk as he placed one hand on his messed up face, and the other hand on the crystal itself. "It is over..."

"No!" Jackson screamed out, right as Seth dragged his hand down the crystal cutting himself with it...