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.....
The cold, stone floor gave off a burning sensation to Cassiel's rough skin.
Moonlight shined down upon his slumbering body from above, through the cracks in the broken roof.
His soul felt as though it were on fire as his body did its best to circulate Barakiel's blood, whilst fighting to tame Falvi's mana.
Drifting through his unconscious mind, Cassiel was drowning in a sea of thoughts.
'What if I was stronger?'
'What if I trained harder?'
'What if... I never allowed Falvi to leave that day for my own selfish gain.'
He grew sick of his own conscience.
He wanted to hurl, to throw up his guts, to just simply die.
Albus, his best friend, was gone forever, and it was due to his own lack of judgement.
He screamed without a voice for hours.
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.....
The castle walls bounced with an echo as the entrance doors slammed open.
Footsteps ranging near the dozen stampeded inside, trampling over the dead bodies of Falvi's soldiers, splashing through the blood they spilt for their race, snapping spears under the weight of their feet.
It was the Kislev, Elysia, and Mihr, alongside the Sanguine Blades.
Roaming down the hall at their top speeds, it wasn't long before Kislev and Elysia, who led them, would stop suddenly.
Without a word, they stared at Cassiel, who crouched down kneeling next to Albus' dead body, palming his face with one hand, as the other laid upon his dead friend's shoulder.
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.....
A week had passed.
Cassiel sat at the edge of his bed, locked away in his room for the entire week, in complete solitude and darkness.
Kislev and Elysia struggled to keep their acts together as they did their best to help around Rampiel with basic tasks.
Mihr, never getting the chance to befriend Albus, didn't take his death to heart. He trained with the Sanguine Blades.
Aurei Antiacus grew a deep sorrow in his heart, as he was quite fond of Albus after their heartfelt duel in Anvilius months ago. Yet even still, trained the next generation of warriors alongside the other three men he had brought out from isolation training.
The Sanguine Blades all had different reactions. Thern was discomforted by Albus' death, but didn't allow it to affect him in a major way. Pam wasn't bothered by it, as she had seen many comrades die already. Yuon and Esk both took a minor hit by it, yet even that was gone within the week.
However, through all of them combined, including Cassiel, there was one person who took this information the hardest.
Ophelia, The Bright Arrow.
She sobbed uncontrollably for the first three days. During the remaining four, she sat in her new house all alone. She never left, never answered the door, and never made a sound. She was depressed, and took her anger out on hating Cassiel for that moment in time.
During the week, word was spread about what had happened, and over half of the continent went silent for the first few days after hearing of the incident.
Despite killing two of the strongest warriors from Seraphim, not one person had felt as though their battle was a victory.
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.....
After that desperate, painful week, two years would pass.
.....
Rampiel's cities were all rebuilt, and along with it, new defenses were being made.
A wall now covered across the land facing towards Seraphim, which would help them gather themselves in case of another invasion taking place.
Anvilius was flourishing as it was put to work, mass producing weapons and armor for the sake of their race, as all previous equipment were worn out and of terrible quality.
Armatia was rebuilt into a huge training facility instead of a city.
There, the Four Stars trained different legions to be prepared for war. The Four Stars; Aurei Antiacus, Charadon Colchis, Estion El, and Iax Ichar, were the four pillars of Rampiel, as their strength far surpassed all of the royals, with the exception of Cassiel, of course.
Elysia took it upon herself to step up to train and lead a group of assassins, aiming to rebuild her destroyed family.
Kislev, not being a leader, decided to spend most of his days training with Mihr, growing their strength, while expanding Mihr's magic capability.
Mihr, training with Kislev, grew exponentially in his physical prowess. His magical abilities, however, came with a fault. Although extremely strong, he was only capable of using the tier one blood magic, Blood Sphere.
Thern and Pam, over the course of two years, had grown close, and it wasn't long before they started dating. They trained almost daily together, with that, their synergy had grown as well.
Yuon and Esk had also trained daily, however, they were unable to grow as fast as the others, leaving them to be only as strong as the royals were two years ago.
Ophelia, despite having the title of Bright Arrow, had grown even gloomier over the discourse of two years.
She had barely left her house, rarely talked to anyone, and had practically shut herself off from everyone.
Daein had continued leading Rampiel under the guise of Cassiel's stand in, as he had disappeared into the cold mountains that Aurei had trained in during the second week after Albus' death.
.....
Despite some fallouts, Rampiel's population had grown over twofold, the soldiers in training were gaining strength faster than ever before recorded, and the cities overall were flourishing.
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On the other side of things, however, Seraphim had also been preparing.
After Rael and the priestess had returned from their excursion to Rampiel, the two quickly had their overall hierarchy in the army abolished.
Soldiers in the army were forced to retake a test, this time however, being ever the more strict.
Students from training academies would now need to make an even stricter cut to be implemented into taking the army test.
Royal families would be forced to hold tournaments in their own families, kicking out any warriors who fell below a certain threshold.
Strategists were given steep deadlines on planning.
And cities were forced to prepare for lockdowns in case of the vampires returning to their land.
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With all this taking place, however, a new king was to be announced after Rael decided to step down, not seeing himself fit as he was more suited for war in the physical state.
After a great upset, a king whom no one knew prior had sat on the golden throne of Seraphim's capital.
Luke Hold, a commoner whose eyes held a deeper hue of blue than the depths of the oceans surrounding them.
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Another month would pass, and finally, a man with long, white hair, draping down to the back of his knees, would walk through the gates of Kotor without a sound of protest.
Walking through the city, he'd find his way to the castle as a crowd of civilians followed silently, entranced by the red aura emanating off from him.
Opening the doors with a slow creak, Elysia and Kislev, who were discussing with Daein at the throne, would turn slowly, shaken to the core, tearing up at the mere sight of the man.
Stepping closer, Daein would quickly remove himself from the throne, before standing to the side of it as the man would sit down.
"Daein... have me a cape made." His cold voice would ring out.
"Of course, Cassiel, my king."
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.....
As the sun drowned in the night sky to allow the moon to rise.
As the parents of both continents laid their children to rest.
As the soldiers all around prepared for their next chapter.
As the royals strategized their next moves.
As Andy's dead body walked out of the crypt.
The old world would soon see its end.