Raizen couldn't help but grin as he thought about how splendid life was after leaving his old village behind. He'd only ever known fights, battle, and survival most of his life in his pursuit of power, but he did have to admit that just sitting back, relaxing, and letting those under him do everything was a wonderful change of pace. If only his foolish brothers and sister could see the way he saw things... then perhaps.
He blinked his eyes as he banished those thoughts. They made their choice, and it was the wrong one. The Yellow Plains Tribe has had a singular powerful ruler for over a century, and the fact that they wanted to change that, to "move the tribe forward," as they said, all but spit on their father's legacy. They also would go on about involving the residents more in certain decisions that was always in their father's and their family's hands since he could remember. It was nonsense. The weak should simply do as they are instructed by their betters, while they keep everyone safe from the dangers around them.
Strength was what truly mattered in this world, and that had become more than apparent the day his mother had died at the hands of a creature within the Dead Lands. Her and his father had been strong, S Rank, and even despite their power, his mother died to a creature even stronger than them while protecting his father with an enchanted item that sent him to a different location that she had placed a matching rune to outside of the Dead Lands.
He would always remember the haunted and dead look in his father's eyes as he talked about frantically finding his way back to where they were, and the only thing he found was the half eaten remains of their mother, with the creature being long gone. He still remembered how she looked before they had burned her body, releasing her ashes for the world to reclaim. The only woman he had ever respected, ever cared about, was gone, and that was also the start of his father teaching him how power and strength were the only things left to strive for.
His father had become colder, and focused solely on becoming stronger, to seek revenge on the creature that took their mother from. His family had been resistant to the changes that took place within their father, but Raizen? He embraced it, and many would say he went even further beyond what their father did, but why wouldn't he? The man he followed and idolized had also perished at the hands of that same beast, but he did succeed at killing it in the end as it died from its wounds. Had his father been even stronger, he would still be here too.
"I will become even greater than anyone else. And when I do, I will rub it in everyone's faces." Raizen thought to himself, a pleased smile on his face as he looked around him.
This village was the best thing to happen to him since leaving his own. His father told him once, "If you want something, you need only take it. No one can stop you if you have the strength to do so." So, the sight of over a dozen beautiful women, waiting on him hand and foot made him giddy with excitement.
The women of the Yellow Plains Tribe were nowhere near as beautiful as these orange furred beauties. He currently had one brushing his hair, one brushing his tail, and a few others trimming his nails while he was fed some of the fruits and berries they had been growing. The woman servicing him with her mouth currently was decent at it, but not the best. Still, it was a far cry better than the no woman doing anything for him that he had in his own village.
He had wanted to create his own home, his own legacy, and a place that was truly his and his alone. He didn't expected to find this place, but he was sure glad he did. Defeating their village chief and taking over had been easy, testament to the Class he had spent years building up and getting to S- Rank. He could admit that some of that was thanks to his brother and his potions, but most of it was his own drive to risk his life, day after day, to achieve greater power through life or death battles in the Dead Lands.
Now, he got to reap those rewards, lavishing like a king as he sat back and let these women pamper him. After so many battles, a man like him deserved a chance to sit back while everyone else did everything. His men were strong enough to take care of the weak creatures around here, which allowed him to truly sit back and bask in his new life.
Raizen reached over and cupped the woman's cheek next to him, the one that was brushing his tail, his second favorite. Delphia was a true beauty, and despite the fact that the most beautiful one had gotten away due to incompetence, she was almost as good, being the woman's mother and all. It was surprising to him that an older woman like her was as beautiful as she was. She also felt wonderful, and he wanted her again. He could only imagine what her daughter, who he found out was named Serena, would have felt like if he had gotten his hands on her.
"I shall have you after this." Raizen said, and while the way she flinched still upset him a bit, he knew she'd not fight it any further. She still had the limp he gave her for refusing and then smacking him the first time.
"Y... yes, Lord Raizen." Delphia said, making him smile.
He then reached up and grabbed the forearm of his favorite woman who was currently brushing his hair. Alina was young, fiesty, and an absolutely a stunning woman. The way she felt in bed was second to none, and he was in a position where he didn't have to settle for just one.
"You too, my dear Alina. I think I would like to take you from behind while you pleasure Delphia with your mouth." Raizen said, and the woman's brushing of his hair became a bit rougher, and he felt her hands shaking, but he knew she also wouldn't refuse. Delphia just looked defeated, and could only weakly nod.
"I... understand... Raizen." She said, and he had to hold back a sigh.
She couldn't even be bothered to pretend to like him. No matter how much he did for her, and how much he had his way with her, she refused to call him her Lord, or even entertain the idea of her being his. That was fine for now, although he'd need to discipline her again if she kept this up. It was his fault she only had half a left ear from the last time he put her in her place, and while it did detract from her beauty a bit, it would be unfair of him to hold that against her.
He released Alina's forearm, and grabbed the woman sucking him off by her hair, and pulled her off roughly, making her whimper in pain.
"You need to get better at that, Nazumi. If you fail to make me release again..." He said, and the woman released a small fear filled noise.
"I'm... sorry my Lord. I'll do better next time." She said, and he couldn't help but grin at her subservience.
"You better... otherwise I'll-" Raizen said, only to be cut off by a crash, followed by shocked screams, and pained cries of what sounded like his men.
He stood immediately, knocking many of the women around him to the ground. They cried out, but he paid them little mind as he quickly put his genitals away, and strode over to the back wall where he kept his large bone greatsword that was made from the bones of the creature that had killed his parents.
"W-what was that?" One of the girls asked with fear, and he growled at her.
"I don't know... I'm going to go and find out, so just keep your mouths shut, and stay here."
The girls shrank back, and he couldn't even be bothered to memorize their voices, so he wasn't sure who was was that spoke. He began walking out of the bedroom of the home when a loud crash sounded from the front room. He raced towards the bedroom door and flung it open. When he looked around the front room, and namely, towards the front door leading outside, his face actually paled.
The front door was smashed open, the wood of the door and frame shattered into thousands of splinters. That wasn't what he was staring at though. He was currently staring at the mangled and very dead body of his friend, Jerrion.
"What in the name of the Framework??" He asked, his body suddenly shaking at the implications of this, and the sight of his closest friend lying dead on the wooden floor.
His face was so mangled and his body so beaten and bloody that he only knew it was him due to the the bracelet he had on his right wrist. It was one that Raizen had given him himself, and it was to help decrease his mana usage as well as decrease the mana cost of his skills. Raizen went over to his friend, his lips curling up in a snarl as rage overtook him. He readied his sword, stepped outside, and...
"No... how???" He asked, as he looked around at the carnage before him.
Scattered around the front of the home he had taken were the corpses, and in many cases, ripped apart remains of the rest of his men. All he could do was stare with wide eyes at the death, destruction, and complete dismantlement of his once loyal men, now nothing more than dead bodies and shredded remains. He clenched his hands tighter around his greatsword.
"WHO DID THIS!?" He shouted, his anger reaching a boiling point as his aura blasted out of him, disturbing the air around him.
"Raizen Razorclaw." A deep, frightening voice said from behind him, and Raizen whipped around, his greatsword swinging in a wide arc to hit... absolutely nothing.
"SHOW YOURSELF!" Raizen roared, although right now he wasn't feeling as confident as his rage wanted him to feel. How did he know his name?
"22 years of age. Definitely old enough to know right from wrong, yet look at what you and your band of cowards have done here." The voice continued, and while it terrified him more than anything ever had before, he was frankly too mad to give it more thought. No matter how much he focused his senses, he couldn't find whoever was speaking, yet they sounded like they were right next to him.
"COWARDS HIDE INSTEAD OF FIGHT!" Raizen shot back, his vision narrowing into slits as he kept scanning.
"So, what do you call a bunch of powerful people who move into a village full of weaker people, enslave them, and take advantage of all of the women in the village? Oh, and lets not forget that building full of all of the village's children I found. Some of them were so fucking starved that they couldn't move. It's a miracle none of them died. So tell me, you fucking asshole, what word best describes you all? I think coward is pretty damn generous." The voice said, yet there was no mockery in his voice. Whoever said this, truly meant every word he said down to his very core.
Anger filled him even more. No one has ever had the gall to talk to him like that. No one speaks to him like that, and no would get away with slaughtering all of his men.
"You don't know who you're messing with." Raizen growled, baring his teeth.
"S- Ranked Feral Warlord. I'm far from impressed, and I don't even know what the fuck that class is." The voice replied, and the confidence in his voice made Raizen begin to worry, but something else bothered him far more.
There was always a chance of running into someone stronger than himself. The necklaces his mother made for him and his siblings was supposed to help with that. From decreased mana cost, increased mana reserves, and even a defensive barrier that would activate around their bodies to protect them from danger, it was not a cheap necklace by any means. However... it also had an effect on it that had, up until now, blocked any inspection related skills. Even if someone were potentially stronger than him... it should still do something.
"WHO ARE YOU, AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?' Raizen screamed, his mind racing, and trickles of fear pouring back into his mind once more.
"I'm your worst nightmare, and I want your life." The voice said from directly behind him, and Raizen whipped around, his greatsword poised to cleave off the speaker's head.
This time, the one that had been taunting him, and spewing his nonsense was there, yet Raizen could only stare in a combination of horror and disbelief. The head would have been lopped clean off of anyone else's body, yet the other people he had met in his life had never stopped his greatsword with their bare hand by grabbing the blade.
"W-what the...?" Raizen shouted in shocked disbelief, and when he went to pull his greatsword back, it wouldn't budge.
Raizen's gaze followed the man's entire form, and for the first time in a very long time, Raizen felt the control of his bladder slipping away from him.
The man was tall, even taller then his own impressive frame. He was wearing a black set of armor that gave his already intimidating build even more menace than he would otherwise have. His hair was tied behind his head, yet Raizen had never once seen such a blinding color of white on anyone's head before. He had been told that some Beastkin had shades of white as their colors, but this was ghostly, almost... not human, despite the man looking very human.
However, the thing that made him feel uneasy, that made him feel like a pathetic worm facing off against a creature stronger than anything in the Dead Lands, were his eyes. They glowed a deep blood red, and the hatred and malice towards Raizen that burned within them made him swallow hard. The anger and killing intent radiating off of this man would have driven him to his knees if he hadn't activated his Warlord's War Cry skill, which increased his stats by a full rank, and even then, something told Raizen that this man could have crushed him already if he wanted to.
Black and white fire was in place of where his scolera should be, and Raizen felt chills and tremors running through his entire being the more he stared at this man.
"Who... are you?" Raizen asked through his trembling voice.
The man didn't answer at first, but rather, he squeezed his hand. The Bone Greatsword made for him from an S Ranked creature, created by his very own brother, who was the village's most talented Blacksmith, shattered like brittle glass. Raizen stared in shock, horror, and disbelief as the weapon that had seen him through so many fights, the weapon that felt like his last connection to his father, broke like a cheaply made children's toy.
"I wanted to know more. I wanted to learn more, but once I actually got into the village, and seen what you fuckers did with my own two eyes, I stopped caring. All of you scum just need to die." The man said, his voice a growl, and the power coming off of him actually freezing Raizen in place.
One simple movement, something that had happened to Raizen plently of times, was all it took. The man simply threw an underhand punch at Raizen's stomach, but the pain was unlike anything Raizen had felt before. The blow sent him flying backwards a good 10 feet, causing him to land flat on his back. When the blow connected, Raizen not only felt several things in his body break, but he also felt many of his internals rupture. Not only that, but that one blow to his gut actually traveled throughout his entire body. There wasn't a single part of him that wasn't in complete and total agony.
Raizen coughed up a generous amount of blood as he tried to move, yet his body wouldn't obey him. He tried using his Beastial Reconstitution skill, yet despite it being S- Rank, the skill was doing nothing. The damage was too great. Footsteps, haunting and final, approached him, and it took all of his willpower just to move his damned eyes.
How did this happen? Who was this? Raizen's life was so good... better than it ever had been before, and he had everything. He had food, shelter, peace and quiet, and could bed a different woman every night for 15 days, more if he got greedy. So... how... and why? A boot landed near his head, jarring him from his now fogging thoughts. The man crouched down in front of Raizen, and he'd never once seen a person look at him with such contempt... like he was worthless... insignificant... nothing.
"Well? Tell me, was it all worth it? Terrorizing innocent people, violating woman weaker than you, starving kids half to death... how do you even live with yourself?" The man said, but then he actually let out a small snort at his own words, "Well, I guess you won't be living with anything anymore."
Raizen, blood in his mouth, bleeding from the inside, spoke in such a raspy voice that you could barely parse through the words.
"I just wanted... to be strong... and have everything I ever wanted... like my father taught me." Raizen wheezed, and this only a got a glare from the man, which both caused Raizen's somehow intact heart to fill with ice.
"Yeah, I heard all about your sob story. A lot of people have them, but what you make of yourself out those tragedies, and the person you choose to shape yourself as, that's all your choice. You chose to be a disgusting piece of shit. Another might makes fucking right type of person. It's sickening. Do you ever even think about the people that you've lost? About what they would think about what you've become? If you were my son and you turned out like this, I would be absolutely ashamed of you. You're basically spitting on your family's name. Your shitty life doesn't give you the right to treat other people like the trash you became. You reap what you sow, and now, the world will be a better place without you in it." The man said, venom in his tone.
Raizen didn't even have the energy to speak anymore, but the words of this man... as angry as they made him, he could do nothing but just think right now, as he couldn't muster any strength to so much as twitch a finger. His mother was a kind woman... one who did care for others, but always put their family first. Fear gripped his heart as the truth of the man's words, for some reason, actually sank in. His mother... would hate him for what he had become. His father too... at least before his mother died. The man afterwards... he was barely even a man most days.
Grief and pain filled Raizen's darkening mind as he realized that this man... this absurdly powerful man... was right. He only had wanted the things that he had never had, and he thought he had it all... but now? He was going to die, he could already feel himself slipping away, so in the end... everything meant nothing. Nothing he did meant anything anymore. He would never be able to achieve his goals, he would never be able to show up his siblings, he would never... never...
The pain, the fear, and the warring thoughts in his mind abruptly ended, as Raizen Razorclaw was no more, his life finally leaving him.
■ ■ ■
The villagers, from the safety of the edge of the conflict, stared in awe, in shock, and dozens of other emotions that no one could decide which ones to feel at the moment. The women inside of the chief's home had all peaked out of the doorway as the fighting began, their hearts and minds unable to comprehend what had just happened.
"A single punch..." Delphia said, almost not being able to believe what just happened.
"Raizen is... he's dead." Alina said, her brain trying to think of more to say, but unable to say anything else, "He's dead... he's dead... he's... dead." She said, as tears filled her eyes, and she dropped to her knees, some of the other woman trying and failing to support her, as most of them were all feeling the same thing.
The tears were ones of relief, joy, and disbelief. In what amounted to less than 5 minutes, their pain, their torment, their suffering... was over. They weren't the only ones, and soon, the entire village was filled with sobs, cheers, and even boisterous shouts of joy as this man, this single man, had ended their torment in what felt like the blink of an eye, given how much cruelty they had endured for so long. Most of them had already seen him, had been saved by him, and at the end, had heard his words. This man had saved them all, and his words sounded like he was truly there to help them.
Delphia broke down into tears as she stumbled outside, and began walking towards the man. This man, who had been absolutely terrifying just moments before, looked at her with kind and gentle eyes. It was pretty jarring, but she didn't care. She dropped to her knees in front of this man, and wept, her forehead pressed to the ground.
"Thank you...thank you so much..." She said through choked sobs, with many of the other women that Raizen had taken, as well as all of the villagers, following suit.
"Um... you're welcome..." The man said, and when Delphia gazed up to look at his face after hearing his tone of voice, she almost couldn't believe it.
This man, who had killed dozens of men, killed a poweful man like Raizen, and had radiated so much power that he felt more unsurpassable than a mountain, had pink cheeks, and was scratching the back of his head nervously. She blinked several times.