“The world is dying, and it’s all because of him!”

With emerald eyes blazing as the sun at dusk, the worn-out Asha stood up from the ground with her hands clenched tightly in anger. Great chaos surrounded her—raging flames, suffocating smoke, and piles of rubble from the destroyed houses in the village and burnt trees in the forest. Along with it, were many fallen comrades who sacrificed their lives in the dreadful war against an enemy they never expected to have—the Fallen Hero who once loved and protected them.

Asha stared firmly into the distance—up toward the sky where a tall man wearing dark armor made from the finest dragon scales hovered in the air and looked down at everyone. He had long, silvery white hair and a pair of beautiful vermillion eyes. Yet his gaze was cold, scorning humanity with great disgust. Though he had a visage of incomparable beauty and otherworldly divinity, great evil and destruction enveloped his heart. Yes—he was the embodiment of death itself wreaking massive havoc!

With one stomp on the ground, Asha enveloped her body with her water spirit’s power, changing her battledress into an elegantly beautiful asymmetrical one covered in forget-me-not flowers. The skirt of the dress was short on the front, extending up to her knees, and long at the back, flowing up to her ankles. Her rosy feet wore gladiator sandals adorned with the same blue flowers. On the second stomp of her foot, she lunged forward into a great jump and flew straight to the enemy. Her golden hair danced with the wind and her bluish aura fluttered around her.

“You’ll pay for this, Calcifer!” she shouted as she conjured a gigantic ball of water infused with a high voltage of lightning from her hands. With great strength, she threw it toward the enemy.

Calcifer on the other hand, didn’t even flinch at the sight of such destructive powers. Instead, without as much movement as raising his left arm that held his obsidian longsword, he swiftly cut it into two, bursting the gigantic water magic and flooding the nearby burning forest, washing it off of its flames. Even the lightning it contained didn’t cause a single scratch on him.

“How did he—” Asha blurted out in surprise. She knew he was strong from all the reports she heard about him, but to witness him make light of her highly advanced magic spell was too much for her.

Calcifer’s chilling gaze fixed itself on Asha. He had finally found his next target, and once he did, he wouldn't stop until he had killed her.

In the blink of an eye, Calcifer was gone from Asha’s sight. And by the next blink, he was in front of her with sword risen, ready to strike her dead.

CLANK!

As Calcifer tried to slice Asha into pieces, a red-haired man with golden eyes holding a blazing claymore interrupted his sword.

“Alex!” Asha called out to him.

“Asha, are you alright?”

“Yes, thank you,” she nodded. “Be careful—he’s extremely strong!”

“Great! That’s just how I like it,” Alex smirked. Then, looking at the intimidating man in front of him, he continued, “Calcifer, remember this—” his deep rage and fury seethed through his voice, “This is the day you’ll pay for all the crimes you committed, and all the innocent lives you took!”

With a full-force swing, Alex managed to knock back the enemy and threw him hundreds of meters away from them. Calcifer easily managed to stop the impact but with not much as a second, Alex was already in front of him, ready to strike again.

However, Calcifer was far stronger and faster. He immediately parried Alex’s pre-emptive strike.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Their swords clashed with each other over and over, trying to overpower the other. Asha lifted her hands to conjure magic and help Alex in the fight, but it became difficult to aim due to the sheer speed of their fight. They were both too fast to the point that it was hard to follow their every blow. Suspended in the skies, they fought with all their might. 

Only… was it truly all their might?

For Alex, that might be said true, since he held his sword with both his hands to put more strength and control in it. He also made sure to continuously supply the claymore with his flame magic to significantly increase its power. But as for Calcifer—oh no. He merely used his left hand while he fought, and never had he used any form of magic at all!

The difference in their strength and skills was enormous. Even someone with no knowledge of sword fighting could easily tell who had the upper hand. Alex remained on the offensive but his attacks barely exhausted Calcifer. He was just there—blocking, dodging, or attacking—not even shedding a drop of sweat. He was indeed a prodigy and the title of the “Greatest Swordsman of All Time” suited him perfectly.

Calcifer thought he would be getting a good fight with Alex only to find himself losing interest with each second that passed.

“This… is boring,” his lips uttered in a deep and terrifyingly cold voice.

And so, he decided to finish the fight quickly. When Alex lunged at him once again, he tightened his grasp on his longsword, and with a single swoop, Alex could be found flying speedily away from Calcifer, hitting a line of tall towers and houses behind him which caused them to collapse. All of their debris fell over the poor man, adding more to the damage his body just suffered greatly from Calcifer’s attack.

“Ugh…” he groaned and spat blood from his mouth.

“Alex!” another woman who was near the scene, shouted in worry. She had long, wavy hair in the hues of the clear morning sky and siren-like amethyst eyes. She was tending to the wounded knights at that time, healing them with her holy powers. With her angelic face distorted in panic, she quickly ran towards Alex.

Before the woman could get any closer, Calcifer was already in front of him. He raised his sword once more, ready to impale Alex to his death. Seeing what was happening, the woman immediately cast strong protection magic on Alex. A golden spherical barrier suddenly appeared and covered him all around like a shield.

Interrupted once more, Calcifer’s eyebrows furrowed. Without a second thought, he rushed toward the annoying woman to kill her.

“Kerensa!” Asha shouted to the woman as she flashed to the scene. 

On one hand, Asha cast a “water barrier” to protect the woman, and on the other, she conjured a rapier made of solidified water to block Calcifer’s attack. 

“Stay back!” Asha urged her. “Go to Alex and heal him.”

Kerensa nodded and ran off to the wounded Alex.

Asha then dispelled the water barrier and used her free hand to hold her rapier firmly. And so, it was Asha versus Calcifer once more.

“Ahhh!” she yelled as she boosted her body with magic, making her bluish aura more apparent. She tried to power up her physical strength and speed even more, in an attempt to equal Calcifer’s caliber.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

As Asha and Calcifer’s swords were held in a clash, their faces drew closer and their eyes locked into each other, both bearing tremendous hatred towards one another.

Asha’s emerald eyes glared insults at her foe. She couldn’t understand why someone who once loved the planet now sought to destroy it. Looking at those vermillion eyes, she could see nothing but his cold bloodlust and loathe for humanity.

As their gazes pierced each other, an unexpected wave of tears fell from their eyes.

"What the—" Asha blurted out. "Are you crying?"

Seeing those teardrops trickle down his cheeks where they shouldn’t belong, Asha felt confounded. She couldn’t understand why he was suddenly crying in the middle of their fight. Was it a trick? A mere show for her to lower her guard? But then… why was she also shedding tears of her own?

A sudden burst of emotions came flooding into her heart, torturing her with indescribable pain.

"Ugh," Asha groaned and breathed heavily. "It hurts… so much."

The swords that clashed against each other had no choice but to let go as they both fell to the ground, clamping down on their chests, trying to appease the torment they were feeling.

Asha's heart was wrenched for unknown reasons. She looked in front of her, thinking it was a curse from the enemy, but no—Calcifer was suffering as well.

Then, a voice called out to her—a deep and gentle, yet somewhat familiar voice.

"Asha."

"What is happening?" she mumbled as her head began to ache terribly.

"Asha."

"Who… are you?"

Alas, a blinding light shone upon them.

And thus was the scene of the “Great War” against the evil villain who sought to destroy the planet. How did it come to this? It all started with one, fateful encounter.