The Last Crimson King : An Original Story!

Chapter 20 : The Traitor

In the three years since King had disappeared for training with his father, Naomi, Gale, and Alicia had enlisted in the Demon Enforcer's Corp, the name of the union the humans had created when the demons appeared. 

Gale and Alicia quickly scaled the ranks, each eventually earning the rank of general. Naomi, however, had enlisted as a battle medic and had only earned the rank of lieutenant. She had been forced to take a temporary leave due to her several failures to save lives in the battles the Demon Enforcer Corps had fought. 

    She was then accused with treason after several studies showed that Naomi was different from everyone else. Eventually, when she fled from their captivity, Gale, Alicia, and another general named Helen Orthwin had been dispatched to terminate her.

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    Gale swung his sword high above his head before arcing the blade downwards. Naomi, unable to move thanks to the wounds the assassin general Helen had inflicted. She closed her eyes, waiting for the blade to impale her. When the blade didn't and the sound of Alicia and Gale gasping in shock came to her ears, she opened her eyes.

    King stood in between them, having caught Gale's blade with his bare hand. 

"I leave for three years and everything changes?"King said as he pushed Gale back.

"King!?" Gale exclaimed as he was thrown backwards. Alicia narrowed her eyes at King's sudden arrival, a forcefield quickly appearing around him. She meant to entrap him, to prevent him from interrupting their mission.

"King, even if you are an old acquaintance, you cannot interfere with our orders to kill Nao-" Alicia said as King punched her barrier, cracking it and causing her suddenly to cough blood which cut off her sentence.

"Alicia!" Gale exclaimed as he quickly bent down to check on her, to ensure that she was fine. She held a hand up to him, a gesture that suggested that she indeed was fine. Her ability, if broken, would deal backlash damage to her depending on the damage the shield absorbed. She deactivated her barrier around him just after coughing again.

"I've heard enough." King said as his eyes suddenly turned red.

"You... don't know what she is." Alicia said as a dark shadow suddenly rose up from behind King. He scoffed in response, seemingly unaware of the danger behind him. Gale was going to rush forward, to strike down Naomi who had suddenly healed her wounds and regained her strength when King fired a blast of energy at his feet. A warning shot.

"King, behind you! She's-"

"I know full well what she is, but it doesn't matter." King calmly replied as Naomi was about to use her massive claws to kill King. This, however, seemed to elude King's attention.

"King, she's a Demon!" Gale finally shouted as Naomi, now transformed into a large, grasshopper-like black demon swung her bladed arm at King's neck, intending to slice his head off.

"Like I said before," King continued as the blade suddenly stopped. "It doesn't matter what she is."

"It never did."

Naomi suddenly reverted to her human form before tears sprung in her eyes. Alicia and Gale glanced at each other before Gale helped Alicia to her feet.

"Our orders are to kill her." Alicia managed to say before wiping blood away from her mouth and pushing off of Gale. She hated to appear as weak and requiring help.

"She's under my custody." King calmly replied.

"Even if she is, that does not change our orders." Gale followed up as King suddenly unleashed his Crimson Aura, forcing the two to the ground. He merely applied a slight amount of his strength into the air around him in any direction. This would prevent movement of someone whose strength was lower than his own. He and his father had perfected this ability, allowing King to focus the crushing aura in one certain area should he be fighting around civilians to prevent collateral damage. His father had called this the Gravitational Aura.

"If I had wanted to, I'd have broken your barrier and injured you for quite some time, Alicia." King said as he then turned to Gale. "And you, your sword might have been broken had I not held back with my grip earlier."

"So are you saying we owe you?" Gale said as the grip on his sword tightened.

"I'm saying you either detain me as well or kill me if you want to take her. See how that keeps working for you." King said as he suddenly increased the pressure around them, making them both drop like flies.

"Stay down for a moment, will you?" King said as he turned back to face Naomi.

"We have a lot to talk about." King said as he offered his hand to her. She had slumped back onto the stone floor they all stood on before. King suddenly shot his right arm out, his hands grabbing hold of the sudden attacker's arm. Helen Orthwin, the assassin turned general, grunted in effort as she struggled to free her arm from King's grasp.

Helen Orthwin had blonde hair and green eyes, however her eyes and hair could change color at will. In the future, she had normally kept her hair blonde and her eyes blue. She also wore a green battle suit consisting of light armor tinted green, several forearm pads and one shoulder pad on her right side.

King suddenly threw her to the ground before he was forced to dodge Gale's sword swing. Without warning, he activated his ability as he found himself separated from Naomi.

"Crimson Curse." King breathed as he suddenly dashed forward, the familiar red aura enveloping his entire body. Gale activated his time-slow ability, his eyes flashing blue as he quickly turned his body and attempted to slice King's arm off. Anything to stop him from pursuing them, even if only for a moment.
He was shocked when King's eyes suddenly darted at him. King himself twisted his own body, narrowly missing the sword however his right arm received a shallow cut. King suddenly fired a blast of energy at Gale, causing the male to dodge. The blast, however, was aimed for Helen's back as she and Naomi had begun grappling. King's red energy blast exploded, sending Helen flying away from Naomi.

King was suddenly cut in the back by Alicia's rapier. He quickly spun around and landed a kick to her lower rib cage before quickly spinning once more and crushing her into the ground with not only his own weight but his knee. He then quickly leapt from the ground as Gale had swung at him once again. His leap freed Alicia, who coughed violently once more. Gale suddenly charged King, swinging his large broadsword this way and that. King easily dodged every swing, however the speed of the swings were increasing with each slash, each swing coming closer and closer to King.

King eventually pulled away as Helen appeared above him. He quickly shot his right arm into the air once more, however this time he did so in order to make his right arm take the slash instead of his body. Helen's blade, as she twisted in the air, cut deep into King's right arm. After managing to slash King, she quickly retreated to which Gale sprucing forward.

"Enough!" King shouted as the red aura around him suddenly expanded. "Crimson Curse x2!" King suddenly appeared in front of Gale, catching the male off guard and not giving him time to counter with his ability.. He quickly slammed a fist into Gale's stomach before following up with a violent knee to his head.Gale was thrown backwards by this, however King was not finished yet. He quickly launched himself into the sky and fired six energy blasts at Gale before having to dodge Alicia and Helen's sudden charge. Helen, using both of her daggers this time, and Alicia, using her rapier's speed, both continually slashed at King. King suddenly disappeared from their view before landing on the ground below them. He was breathing heavily as the two female generals landed in front of him.

"You saw it too, General?" Helen said to Alicia. She nodded in response.

"He deactivated his ability right after hitting Gale."

"Nonetheless, he is a traitor for going against the orders of the Supreme General."