The King's Game - Blackbarrow Arc (Part 1)

Chapter 18: The Blackbarrow Slaughter & The Rise of a New Power

The Blackbarrow guards faced off against the enraged Stain, they threw all their men at him, only for him to slaughter them with his bare hands. This event eventually became known as the Blackbarrow Slaughter. As Stain swept through the streets of Blackbarrow he found it strange that he encountered no citizens. The more he ventured and slaughtered the guards, the more he realised something was wrong.

Stain eventually ended up in front of Garnet's castle. He was drenched in blood and guts much like the streets of Blackbarrow. He drew his swords to slice the door down, but before he could, the door slowly creaked open. Stain had not heard any footsteps or sensed any presence near the door of the castle, nor could he understand why Garnet would have left the door unlocked when clearly Stain had come for him. Stain sheathed his swords and entered the castle with extreme caution. Once he was inside, the door slammed shut behind him.

"Who is there? Show yourself and face me!" Stain shouted as his voice echoed in the massive hall.

Stain stood and waited for a response, but after coming to the conclusion that nobody was there he proceeded up the stairs. As Stain walked through the hallways, he noticed two things. The first thing he noticed was that there were no guards, he couldn't sense any presences, nor could he hear any movement or breathing. The second thing he realised only came much later, Stain had not realised it sooner due to the fact that his body was covered in the guts and blood of the Blackbarrow guards he had slaughtered, but there was a stench of rotting flesh and it only grew stronger the further Stain went inside the castle. When Stain reached Garnet's quarters, he found Garnet behind his desk with a goblet of wine.

"Take a seat. Wine?" Garnet asked without even looking at Stain as he filled two goblets with wine.

Stain hesitated to take a seat and his eyes begun to survey the room. Garnet let him look around the room until Stain's eyes returned to him.

"There are no guards, I sent them all to deal with you and seeing that you are here tells me they all failed and they dead. Not that surprising now that I get a good look at you; what a monstrosity you are. Creation of Royland's I presume?", Garnet said as he motioned for Stain to take a seat and slid a goblet to him, "Don't worry it's not poisoned."

Stain sat down and took a massive gulp of the wine, it was quite frankly the best wine he had ever drank in his entire life, "To answer your question, no I'm not a creation of Royland's. I was merely trained for krosts by my masters; this body is the result of said training."

"That is quite impressive, to dedicate so many krosts of your life to obtain such a powerful form. No feat any normal human could obtain."

"No; it came with a lot of sacrifices.", Stain traced a finger over his chest, "Too many sacrifices."

"You know it's a real shame, you don't quite look like the type that's in it for the money so I won't even insult you by trying to buy you over."

"Will you go quietly with me to Royland?" Stain asked as he stood up.

"I suppose that is a good idea, there is no way I would be able to take you on, however since you haven't seemed to notice it yet there is something I wish to show you."

Stain eyed Garnet suspiciously, yet Garnet simply ignored him and started walking. Stain followed Garnet out of the room and down the stairs until they came to a locked room. The stench was overwhelming, that even bathed in blood and guts, Stain could clearly smell it. Garnet unlocked the door and entered the room, with Stain following a few steps behind. Garnet had led Stain into a massive dungeon, and massive was not even a fitting description for its sheer size. The room just kept stretching out to the point that even the torches were consumed by the darkness.