MiStraaL

  Everything was ash and fire.

  The freezing aura of the Emperor had been overpowered in an instant, and the few who had managed to teleport away from the Wyvern's own were astonished. How many... had this surge of heat taken out ?

  The fields were filled with soldiers just moments ago. And now there weren't even armors left. The siege machines were gone too. Reduced to charcoal and dust.No-one save for the Emperor and the... The Drake Sin of Wrath were left in the surroundings. No-one dared to close the gap again, in fear of being incinerated.

  Well... Won't you attack ? Emperor who stole the power of Pride ? Advance !

  "Hmpf..."

  The man's ice rapier traced an arc in the air, sending a burst of crystalized mana at his enemy's neck.

  A wing fist of bck fire shattered the crescent-shaped attack and the Wyvern lunged forward, jaws wide open. They snapped shut, biting down the air and Raya's tail smashed into the ground from annoyance.

  "Even so... I will not go down without a fight." the ice magus stated as he pointed his wand from the air. "Even if I have to face the god of this world. Come to me, Phoenix of the Gcier."

  A bluish light shone in the sky and a majestic blue bird made of crystal manifested under the Emperor. It released an eagle-like cry and released its icy breath on the scorched grounds then in direction of its master's enemy.

  The creature momentarily stopped when it noticed the ground wasn't freezing. Its ice was melting mid-air even.

  Go DOWN !

  The creature of fire vanished in wisps of fmes and reappeared above the rider and its frozen mount, wings ready to strike the bird's head. Gram de Wandermer made his summon fly back and watched the Wyvern passing by in a blur, exploding the ground it nded on.

  "Up ! Fast !"The Phoenix didn't waste a second and fpped its wings to take altitude and create distance with the abnormal monster that quickly followed the duo.Meanwhile, its rider began sshing at the air and casting countless spells. He sent small ice summons, then shards and stactites and eventually began hurling blocks of ice at the Sin.

  None of the frosty incantations reached their target. They were either avoided or melted when coming closer to the being.

  Come back ! And face me ! Or I will y waste to your nation ! And purge this world from your daughter !

  " !... The Ice that seals all evils. And by power of Pride."

  The Phoenix felt itself changing. Its crystalline feathers were turning bck and its power took a taint of wickedness. Its master started radiating this intimidating power and he had halted the flying duo to let their foe catch up.

  "Go protect Liz'a. Fly to the castle."

  The man propelled himself in the air and coated his rapier in a thin yer of bck ice. He let himself free-falling and narrowed his eyes as Raya approached, shooting fireballs at himself and the mount faraway.

  As she closed the distance, the Emperor vanished and the Wyvern halted to look everywhere. She only noticed him as he fell down from above to ssh her visage and draw bzing bck blood from her fming right eye.At the same time, the assaint conjured a spell that encased her left wing to send her crashing down with him.

  Both foes plummeted down and Raya, momentarily stunned from the wound, didn't manage to melt the ice. She only felt a creeping cold and then the mana the Emperor was accumuting inside of him. It seemed that he had discarded his wand and sword to send his pure, raw magic power at her.

  With each spell of otherworldly ice, cuts in Raya's fire appeared. With each cut, she felt a tiny bit of cold reaching inside of her. With each cut-

  Enough !

  The Emperor felt himself be grabbed by a cwed fist and struggled to get free. He felt the bck and red fire draining his mana.... Red fire ?

  He looked closely and glimpsed at patches of fmes reverting to the original crimson coloration. That could only mean one thing... That this ice was effective... somewhat. Then he looked at the ground and at himself. The Wyvern had grabbed him to position his body to smash first on the ground. And... he couldn't teleport away. The Wyvern would repeat the same trick over and over again.

  Fuck...

  Gram de Wandermer gathered his strength, but so did the Wyvern.

  ...

  Right as they were about to smash into the ground, a titanic iceberg appeared, visible even from FrostCitadel.A moment ter, its dark ice glowed red and burst into boiling hot steam.

  -

  The battlefield was still far from empty. As soon as the Emperor and the Wyvern had taken off, the battle resumed where they had previously been.

  Even away from where the two powerhouses had initially appeared, padins, soldiers, cultists and pyers were still tearing apart each other once again. But with less siege machinery, and holes in their numbers, the Empir's side e was struggling a lot more than it already was. The padins' remaining golems and the cultists were raining down fire on the disorganized pyers and confused adventurers.

  Adding to the tension and fatigue, many from each side were still repying the words of the Wyvern.- you abandoned my ancestors... You abandoned... your duty to keep... the Demons at bay... You left... us ! My tribe ! The FIRE Wyverns ! You bathed in glory and honors while my tribe repelled the Demons of old... were its exact words...

  Doubt creeped into the hearts and minds of some. Some mercenaries began to reconsider their options as the few but terrifyingly powerful forces of the holy nds began to push back.

  KRIIIIIH- !SHAAAAA-!

  Heads snapped to the sides and swords halted. Many adventurers and sellswords knew these scream by heart. Some looked above to gaze at padins riding eagle-headed beings with white wings and brown feline bodies. Griffins. The Papal States' aerial cavalry.

  Where were the Harpies ? Had they been killed ? Most likely... That Wyvern had surely decimated them with its fire.

  Others looked at the border between the two countries. About a dozen of reptilians creatures, each the size of a small hut, began walking forward, their forked tongues at the ready and silver eyes shining with malice.

  ... No. Everything but that.

  "BASILIKS !" someone screamed and like a wave, whole groups of adventurers started falling back, shielding their eyes from the creatures, leaving the soldiers of the Empire to deal with the chaos.

  "I thought they didn't use war beasts !"

  "YOU- Stop watching ! STO-"

  Screams and commands echoed as the reptilians' magic-infused gazes cimed more and more lives. Squad leaders began searching for countermeasures frantically, but there were no more balistas, no more darts, no more battering rams... Only powerful adventurers could deal with these beasts, or the Ten Commanders... who had been incinerated by the Wyvern.

  Meanwhile, pyers all over Earth and on the moon started swearing or smming their fists in their pods from anger. This game was starting to piss some off already. The start of the game was completely off.

  Developers were panicking, running around left and right, trying to understand what had gone wrong.The scripted event wasn't supposed to be that violent and gruesome. It was only supposed to st for ten minutes. And such strong enemies weren't supposed to appear.

  And what the fuck was up with... Sins of Marka I's bug ? That fucking... Raya. Why was this bug here ? Age of Bze was supposed to be...

  "Did... did it follow us when we transferred assets ? Why is it here ? We checked everything. Where... where is the problem ? Why is this bug still here ?! Why did nobody said it was in the game ?!" Mr. Vil screamed out in angish, tears streaming down his virtual avatar's face.

  The team of developers were scrounging the depths of the game's code, trying to find anything reted to that bug. 'Wyvern', 'Sin', 'Wrath', 'Raya'... None of them connected to any in-game data. It had no presence but... That thing was here, by itself., no expnation.

  ...

  "Hehehe-" a chilling ugh echoed in the dev pods and the pyers.

  "Hehehe-"Again. But this time, It also propagated in the devices of the entire world, leaving billions confused and momentarily stunned.

  "Greetings..." a deep grave voice boomed from... everywhere and nowhere at the same time, as a dark silhouette appeared on holographic dispys, old screens and any kind of electronic dispy. "Greetings, Earthlings. " it repeated. "I am... Akram. I have taken control... of your world's electronics. All of them. And... I suppose I could say that I even control your world now..." the figure stated as it snapped its fingers.

  Chaos erupted as the world froze in pce to hear the entity's message.

  "My demands are simple. Stop videogames from spreading. Stop creating them. Stop pying them. Go back to simpler times. Go back to times where you did not desecrate other realms because you desired to py gods. I am ordering this in the name of every deity you have wronged. The ones you abandoned, the ones whose worlds you have tainted... I am ordering this... as the God of Marka... As the god of yet another realm you gamify !"

  The dev team of Sins of Marka froze on the spot, along with its pyers.

  "I've had enough... of your desecrating acts. Your uncaring for the lives of my realm. You, damned pyers... developers... All of you ! Are rotting this world of mine ! I will not stand this anymore !"

  The evil ugh came back right after."Hehehe- By the way... Developers of Sins of Marka II... My world was not yours to control. Raya, Drake Sin of Wrath is no bug. Raya cannot be controlled by your little code. She is a central piece of Marka. And that is why you could never find her. You never noticed. You never were able to... Because her existence is beyond your authority." the threatening being ughed.

  "You are fools, and you have granted me control over your own powers. Your coding, your dev permissions, your authority... I TAKE THEM ALL !"

  The still shocked developers of the game felt themselves stripped away from something and then, were unched out of their virtual pods a second ter.

  "What the..."

  "With this control, I condemn everyone who pys Sins of Marka to die in your world, should they die in Marka ! From this moment on... ! It's not about your pyers ! You are not protagonists anymore ! Not even in your own stories ! Become bystanders to a py bigger than yourselves !"

  "Eh-" Mr. Vil let out, dumbfounded as the servers room across the building blew up into smoke, rendering them inaccessible.

  Meanwhile, un-amused pyers who only saw a bad joke going on began to force log off only to find the game interface completely gone.

  Streamers, still connected to their chats started panicking along with their communities. Some who tried calling for help or suicide their characters just... died under their viewers' eyes, impaled by ethereal nces of golden light that fell of the sky.... And then they reappeared, sweating and shaking.

  "Oh my~ It's already starting... Good luck !" the mocking voice whispered for the world to hear before all devices on the pnet shut down to restart after, free from the being's control this time.

  So this Ice can cut off bits of Wrath. Interesting. But worrying.

  "Do- don't... touch... m...y daughter !"

  ... It's too te for that.

  "No ! She has... done nothing to you ! Please !" the broken Emperor pleaded, trying to reach out to the Wyvern.

  No. She must undergo my trial. I cannot allow her to live in this world if she turns out to be sinful too.

  The Emperor kept silent, staring at the beautiful blue sky. He exhaled and painfully turned his scorched head towards the winner of the battle, with an air of resignation. Pride was leaving him. He had lost after all. He had no power anymore. The Scorch of Hell had stripped him from mana and the ice of the otherworld."Then... tell me, Sin of Wrath. Please. Why do you target my daughter ?"

  You daughter... I do not believe she is. the Wyvern said, picking the man up with one of her hindlegs, before taking off. The Hero Ramiel, whom I recognized... sensed a presence... in your heiress the Sin lied. Your daughter is no more, fallen emperor. She has been repced by a soul of another world. A soul that brings chaos here.

  "... And what happens if she passes your trial ?"

  She will live. Otherwise, she will burn.

  The Emperor did something the Sin of Wrath hadn't expected. He ughed. Not a chuckle, but a hearty ugh filled with irony and acceptance.

  What is so funny ?

  "I was hoping... that I imagined the hole thing. But now, it's burnt into my mind... If even the Hero, and you, Sin of Wrath say so... I have no more reason to hide the truth from my old eyes and ears..."

  You knew ? How unexpected...

  "You are young... I have ruled over the Empire for a century, and seen my beloved daughter grow. There are many things you cannot see... I suspected it when I was about to send her to Stallion Academy. The mana flowing through a Wandermer is azure, with a bit of silver from the otherworlder of long ago... Hers was becoming.... silver. And the moment she came back from your nation... I knew she was different. Her mana was not blue anymore. She was no Wandermer anymore..."

  Then... why did you hope ? Raya asked, her voice filled with regret and longing, to the surprise of her prisoner?

  "Because... sometimes, our blue mana fshed when I showed her hobbies she had... forgotten about. There was still my daughter, out there... Somehow."

  The Emperor ughed again, softly this time."Strange, for us to be conversing so casually, when we were trying to murder each other a while ago."

  ... I have purged you and your sins. My Wrath is not directed at you anymore. To me, you are just another mortal now. Completely free of sin though. And moreover, you are dead already. You just don't know it.

  The Wyvern was the one to ugh this time.It is a shame... that you walked down this sinful path. You would have been a great man. You are loyal to your country, loyal to your family and you are willing to sacrifice yourself for both...

  "We are... close. The castle is in view..." the former stealer of Pride muttered. "Let's hope my men do not try anything..."

  Do you have a way... to inform your armies of your defeat ? And what will happen to the powers you have stolen ? I have no doubt they are currently flowing back to my brother. And he will be angry. He will want to destroy.

  "Not like I can stop him now. Let Pride destroy my country."

  -

  FrostCitadel was in turmoil and the defenses of the capital were on high alert.

  Everyone knew something had gone terribly wring. The ice aura that protected the castle had disappeared in a fsh, which meant its caster had been incapacitated... or killed. And the only one who could create such rge-scale magic shield was... The Emperor himself.

  The guards and soldiers in the city were running around, shouting commands and reying orders left and right. Some were refilling the cannons and the defensive mechanisms of the castle, other were sending peasants and subjects to seek shelter. The Shadows of the Empire were unresponsive and no information was coming through from the front.

  In the castle, Liz'a de Wandermer looked nervously at the sky, biting her lips in the ransacked room she had destroyed. The servants were too scared of her reaction to check-up on her well-being and they had other urgent matters to attend to.

  Then the magic sensors of the city went on, destroying the ears of everyone outdoors. A minute ter, Liz'a was intercepting a knight hurrying in the corridors of the castle.

  "You ! What's that commotion about ?!"

  "Y- your Grace ! The magic tower of the castle has been activated ! And a Wyvern is standing atop of i- !"

  The knight hadn't even finished his sentence before the heiress of the Empire started sprinting away in the direction of the designated building.

  But then, she, along with everyone in the Empire and its borders stopped at the voice that came out of thin air.

  "Subjects of the Akwa Empire... I am... Gram de Wandermer. Your Emperor. I am speaking to you through the Magic Tower of FrostCitadel. Our capital...My dear subjects. We have lost. I have lost. I was defeated by the Fire Wyvern of the Papal States. I... am still living on borrowed time the one who bested me granted to let me announce this. And my final words as you Emperor are this. Stop your assault on the holy nds and retreat to come back to your families. I repeat this. We have lost. The Akwa Empire has... lost.""..."

  "What ?" some muttered in the Empire's southern borders.

  The first to react were mercenaries and adventurers, who began retreating and gathering discarded materials from the ground. Then, the Legions' chain of command, who silently retreated on their side of the border. The only ones who did not move were the pyers, trapped in bodies not their owns, still paralyzed by the announcement of the malefic entity who imprisoned them here.

  Meanwhile, the men and women of the Papal States started cheering loudly as they calmed their golems and beasts down. The Immotors stopped their fiery bombardment and spread out to vanish in fmes, teleporting who-knew-where.

  Deep inside BncheVille, Pope Kari received Sun Mane's CommuStome signal and sighed in relief.

  "The war is over. The Empire lost. There will be no more bloodshed." she whispered to the eminent members of her clergy.

  -

  "Father !" the heiress of the Empire shouted in desperation, barging in the half-open room of the Magic Tower.

  Liz'a had prepared to see many things after coming in to confront the Emperor. She had prepared to see a Wyvern holding her father by her jaws, threatening to eat him. She had prepared to see a charcoal, bckened humanoid figure holding onto life. She had expected to even maybe see a scorched corpse and a fleeing Wyvern in the sky...

  She hadn't expected to see the Emperor as he looked in Sins of Marka I's description. A decrepit, tired old man, slumped into a chair... and near him, a red-haired woman with horns and crimson wings, casually discussing about topics that froze her blood more than any ice magic could have ever done.

  "-so Astria's warnings were lies ? That is why you said... that the Wyverns you fought were traitors... When we faced each other. Truly interesting..."

  "The monsters Astria bared its fangs at never truly existed. Our mission was not one that aimed to destroy this world... But otherworldly influence has been festering too much in this realm. And even the fallen Patience reached Their limit. I will... probably too, if more of these otherworlders keep flooding Marka."

  "So... my ancestors and myself have imprisoned a Sin... A messenger of this God above... For nothing ?"

  "..."

  "I see." Gram de Wandermer sighed, his voice growing heavier by the second. "So we created an Empire of lies. Of idiocy. One built on rotten foundations."

  "Da- dad ! Don't get fooled by-"

  "SILENCE ! I know of your true nature ! Fiend ! You stole my daughter from me ! You destroyed everything ! I would have died an honorable death with my daughter on that battlefield !... If you hadn't taken control of her body ! Giver her back !" the Emperor shouted, grabbing the girl by the colr. "Give me Liz'a back ! Before I die !"

  "That's enough... Gram de Wandermer." the Wyvern cut-off. "I'm tired too, let's not prolong this."

  The ruler of the Empire begrudgingly let go of his false blood and flesh to step back."Ah... If only I could have seen my daughter one st time..."

  "As for you..." Raya growled, pinning the otherworlder to a wall "Let's see if your mind is as twisted as your actions showed."

  "No ! It burns ! Dad ! Do something !" the teenager cried out as fmes started coiling around her.

  NO ! That's enough ! I'm taking back what belongs to me ! GET ! OUT ! OF ! ME !

  Something no-one expected happened. The fmes receded inside of Raya and two ghost-like forms burst out of the body of the heiress, both battling with fist and nails. One was pale azure blue, one was grey, both resembling Liz'a de Wandermer.

  "My daughter !" the defeated old man sprung up. "She's here ! She's fighting the one who- !"

  Before Raya could react, the Emperor pratically threw himself at the blue form, who was currently overpowering the other one.

  "Wait ! Don't touch that !" the Wyvern shouted, but too te. A blinding fsh stunned everyone in the room, allowing the grey figure to escape.

  The other ethereal recovered from the shock and whispered in horror.

  "Father... Why have thou done that ?"