Omega Wars Chronicles

Chapter 71: Feelings And Duty

  In the ruins of Keigra, a brown haired, slightly chubby Graundar man with a single arm was holding up the collar of a Keigra soldier with green glowing patterns on his armour in fury as his irises glowed.
   "My son! Where is he?! Where is my son?!" The chubby Graundar questioned.
   "I-i don't know!" The soldier replied fearfully.
   "Sir, we are going to have to ask you to put him down." A masculine voice said.
   The chubby Graundar turns back and sees a group of Keigra soldiers equipped with glowing crossbow.
   "And what if i don't want to put him down? What are you gonna do?" The chubby Graundar asked.
   The Keigra soldier who stood in front with glowing red patterns around his armour, looked back at the other soldiers and gave a head sign for them to lower their weapons to which they obeyed. As soon as the soldiers had lowered their weapons, the Keigra soldier in front looked back at the chubby Graundar and sighed.
   "It is obvious our weapons can't do anything to you." The red patterned soldier said, "My men just acted out of fear and instinct. Plus, you could easily kill us all here if you wanted to. But, i will have to ask you kindly to put him down, or do you want me to say please?
   We are doing the best we can in this situation."
    "Best you can?" The chubby Graundar asked, "My son is missing; he is an attendant of the Tall order pilgrim academy and he is missing."
   "Sir, i understand how you feel but the situation-"
   "No, you don't understand how i feel." The chubby Graundar cuts in, "If you did, you won't be telling me you are doing the best you can."
   "Actually, i do. Better than you think." The soldier replied, "I lost my wife and children because of the attack."
   A flashback takes place as a couple of soldiers uncovered the piles and rubbles on the ground and the eyes of the red patterned soldier widened as he sights the corpse of a black haired woman along with two black haired boys and a black haired girl beside the woman.
   "One of my deceased children happened to be a baby boy my wife conceived five days ago." The soldier said after the remembrance, "The fourth born…"
    The red patterned soldier takes off his helmet, showing his face to be that of a short black haired man with a black beard and a large scar across his face.
   "I wanted to believe it was all a dream… A nightmare, and i still want to believe." The soldier said, "Some of the soldiers here have children and loved ones they lost because of the attack. Some of us continued our duty…. Some were too heartbroken to continue.
    One of my comrades lost her mind when she found her husband and her five children dead."
   "So i do understand how you feel." The soldier said with a scowl, "You feel frightened. Scared. Worried that your son could be dead and you should feel like that but please consider others and what they could be going through at this moment."
   The chubby Graundar stared at the red patterned soldier for a while and gentle placed the soldier he was holding back on the ground.
    "Thank you." The red patterned soldier said, "With this act of yours, you've shown more that those from the higher clans can be reasoned and associated with by those from the lower clans."
   The red patterned soldier bowed his head and turned his back to walk away.
   "Wait." The chubby Graundar said, prompting the red patterned soldier to halt, "Your family… They would be proud of you."
    "Your son would be proud of you too." The soldier replied.
   The soldier resumes walking away and the chubby Graundar faced the ground with an expression filled with shame. Elsewhere, Cifer was watching the actions taking place in Keigra from  a multi-oval screen.
   "Hmm… The humans in Keigra are currently disarrayed." Cifer said within himself.
   "But not just the ones in Keigra but the ones also in other lower ranked tribes, too." Cifer said within himself as he was watching humans wailing in pain for their dead while being surrounded in flames, "The attack of the hivelings successfully affected the other tribes. In other words, the hivelings have finally gotten what they wanted: their pound of flesh.
  This event will never be forgotten in Agaroth's history; that is…"
  "If Agaroth continues to exist." Cifer said inwardly with a smirk.
  'The higher ranked humans in Keigra, though they were not affected by the attack but their children being missing has driven them into a state of panic and fury.'
   At that moment, a Ripar woman was holding a man by his shoulders as her irises were glowing.
    "DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, DAMN YOU! I'M LOOKING FOR MY FOUR CHILDREN!!!!" The Ripar mother said.
   "But their reactions are understandable." Cifer said inwardly, "After all, how many would stay calm if their children are missing in a situation like this? Even chief Tenya and Ezgord are in search of their own and Tenya is trying her hardest to stay calm for the safety of others.  
   This is amusing. It is a good thing i decided to assist Balog in this, but with the situation of Keigra, things could get better if i added some…"
    " 'Entertainment'." Cifer said within with a smile, "I'm sure Balog and the master wouldn't mind."
   Meanwhile in the red leafed forest, four male Ripars were panting and staring at Xarafi, who happened to be paying attention to her fingernails on her left hand with a bored expression.
    "What's with her?" The 1st Ripar male asked, "Other hivelings we managed to bring down were taking blows and moving on like nothing ever happened but her, she is on a different level."
   "Didn't you sense her power?" The 2nd Ripar male asked, "Of course she is!"
   "Regardless, we need to bring her down!" The 3rd Ripar male said.
   "But how?!" The 4th Ripar male asked, "How can we bring her down?!"
   "We'll think of something." The 4th Ripar male replied, "Even if she is different, she can still be defeated."
   "Sorry for interrupting your delusions but you said something earlier about bringing down hivelings that could take hits and continue like nothing happened." Xarafi said while still paying attention to her fingernails with a bored expression, "You were referring to Rhoch clan, weren't you? 
    Revenge isn't really my style but if you did kill a couple of 'my' clan members…"
    In a flash, Xarafi stood back to back with the 3rd Ripar male and swiftly turns to behead with a swipe of her hand, which left the other male Ripars in shock.
  "Then i would have no choice but to act." Xarafi said with a bored expression as she gazed down at the corpse of the Ripar she had killed.
   The 1st Ripar male charged towards her to punch her from behind but Xarafi easily stopped his fist without looking and crushed it, thus making him scream in agony and drop on his knees; the scream of the Ripar was cut short with a knee to his face by Xarafi that sent him violently rolling towards a tree and fall face-flat on the ground.
   The 3rd Ripar attempts to attack Xarafi but she intercepts with a kick to his diaphragm that caved her footmark and made blood spill out of his mouth; the 3rd Ripar hit his back on a tree and sat on the ground dead.  Xarafi turns her attention to the last Ripar out of the four who happened to be the 2nd Ripar, which left him startled and Xarafi advanced towards him at high speed to punch him but the 2nd Ripar evades with a back handspring and dashed with his aura to strike Xarafi with a powerful straight kick that pierced her belly.
     For a moment, Xarafi stared at the 2nd Ripar and gazed down at his leg in her belly while blood trickled down on the right side of her mouth.
    "Oh…" Xarafi said.
   "Heh. Timing 'does' beat speed." The 2nd Ripar said with a smug smile.
   The 2nd Ripar became shocked as he made an attempt to pull out his leg from her but it wouldn't come out.
   "Huh… What the…?!" The 2nd Ripar said as he made several unsuccessful struggles to pull his leg out, "My leg…! It's stuck!!"
   "You seem to be in a 'tight' position." Xarafi said as she used her left hand to hold the Ripar's leg, "What are the words you humans say to each other when one is in trouble? Let me…"
  "Lend you a hand!" Xarafi said as she quickly used her right hand to cut off the Ripar's leg.
   The 2nd Ripar screamed in agony and fell on the ground while holding his leg and as the 2nd Ripar managed to open his eyes, he sees Xarafi standing above him with his remaining leg in her left hand and her belly healed.
   "Her belly… It's healed?" The 2nd Ripar asked inwardly in disbelief.
   Xarafi immediately crushed the head of the 2nd Ripar with a powerful punch that broke the ground. After Xarafi had killed the Ripar, Xarafi stared down at him with her indifferent expression.
  "You should have aimed for the head, human." Xarafi said.
  While Xarafi was still staring down at the human she had killed, the 3rd Ripar (who was supposedly dead) opened his eyes and with the remaining strength he could muster, he created a blue concentrated orb on his hand and fired it at Xarafi but Xarafi stretched out her palm without looking (again) and the orb quickly scattered as soon as contact was made.
    The Ripar was struck with disbelief and at that moment, Xarafi turns her attention to the him and raised one hand to create the same blue concentrated orb he fired at her but on an enormous scale, increasing the shock of the 2nd Ripar.
    "What the f**k…?"
   Xarafi casually threw the orb at Ripar and the Ripar screamed in terror as the attack approached him with a blinding speed and created a massive explosion and a strong wind that moved through numerous corners of the red leafed forest.
   "Xarafi of the hiveling race: one of the best fighters in the Rhoch clan and she, just like a few has been considered as one who will become a future clan leader." Balog said inwardly while watching from his screen, "Among the clans in the hiveling race, i found the Rhoch clan to be the most annoying in combat. Like the Ticc clan, they don't have the defences other hiveling clans have, but they stand out in endurance and self healing.
    Though they are not unkillable but to take down an average Rhoch member can drive an average warrior to madness, not to talk of one who is far above average like Xarafi and from the information i've gotten, not only does she possess amazing physical combat skills, she also has the danger sense: a rare ability in her clan that allows one to detect and react to an incoming attack when you're not looking.
    Her kan of 'Restructure' allows her to destroy any non physical attack she makes contact with and create a larger and more powerful version of it.  With everything shown to me about her, i find it hard to believe she even has rivals in her clan, but there is no doubt her skills are suited to bring down a lot of humans in this game."
   Back at the red leafed forest, Xarafi was indifferently staring at the ruined environment she created and sighed with closed eyes.
   "Boring." Xarafi said.
  Xarafi turns her back and walks away with crossed arms and during the time she was walking, Xarafi had a quick recollection of her past as little Xarafi was standing in the midst of adult hivelings at the time they were discussing about her.
  "This girl is remarkable."
  "She is one of the best young fighters we have in this clan."
  "Indeed, she is. People like her come once in a lifetime."
   "A rare gem."
   Another recollection takes place as little Xarafi was standing in front of her parents who at that time were staring down at her with a smile.
   "That's our daughter!" Xarafi's mother said, "The pride of our lives, Xarafi."
   "Yeah. To think a member of our family will be acknowledged as a warrior is astounding." The father said, "Our own daughter is going to be one of the heroes that will avenge the hiveling race and wreak havoc on those vile human!"
   "And when you come back home, we are going to throw a feast for you!" Xarafi's mother said.
   "My little girl, Xarafi." The father said.
   After the recollection, Xarafi was standing in one spot and staring at the sky with her arms still crossed.
   "How boring." Xarafi said inwardly.
  "Xarafi!" A feminine voice called.
  Xarafi glanced back and sees the person to be Camina.
   "What?" Xarafi said.
   "Come on, don't be like that!" Camina said as she reached Xarafi's while smiling with closed eyes.
   "I'm bored out of my mind." Xarafi replied.
   "Well you always carry an expression of indifference, so it is hard to tell when you are bored or not." Camina said.
   "Camina, aren't you tired of this?" Xarafi asked, which made Camina to stare at her with a raised eyebrow, "This war? Our purpose for fighting? I get what the humans did to our predecessors was unacceptable but should vengeance be the sole purpose of our existence?"
   "I'm not sure. I mean, the humans almost took everything away from us and if it wasn't for Rora, none of us would have existed." Camina said, "She united what she could find of our predecessors and evolved them into the race we are now, except for the shadow ants, those freaks didn't need her help. So if Rora feels our sole purpose is only for vengeance, then who are we to complain? We just have to fulfill our duty."
   "Yes, duty." Xarafi said.
  "Speaking of duty, there are still some humans left to get rid of in this pocket realm and we need to finish up before the sand runs out." Camina said with a smile.
  "And that's another thing that is boring me." Xarafi said, "We were told there were extremely strong humans of our age but the humans i've taken down were so weak."
   "Well, that Stormwind boy wasn't weak (which by the way, i hope i don't get to face him) and maybe the reason they all seem weak is because they are small fishes and we are yet to take down the big ones." Camina said.
   "Let's hope so, because if this goes on, i'm going to lose my mind." Xarafi said.
    As the two were walking and discussing, Camina and Xarafi paused as they heard strange sounds, which made the two to glance at the direction and sight a bloodied Ripar male (the one Xarafi took down with a knee out of the four she faced) struggling to stand on his feet while using a tree for assistance.
   "Oh. I forgot about him." Xarafi said.
   "Do you want to finish him off?" Camina asked.
   "No. I'm too bored to even bother." Xarafi replied.
   "Ok." Camina said.
   Camina swiftly fired a fireball from her fingertips towards the Ripar that ended up resulting in an explosion and leaving nothing left of him.
   "There. Finished him off for you." Camina said with a smile, "Now let's continue."
   Camina and Xarafi continued walking away while a burnt finger descends on the ground on where the male Ripar was killed.