Blade of The End

The sunset over the battlefield casting an orange glow that bathed the air in warmth and painted the sky in vivid shades of red and orange. But amidst the beauty of the sunset lay a gruesome sight. The ground was littered with corpses, their blood seeping into the earth and staining it red. It had been a fierce battle between two armies, one with a million soldiers and the other with just one. The lone warrior stood victorious, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. His sword was stained red with the blood of his enemies, and he leaned heavily on it as he surveyed the c*****e around him. The bodies of his enemies lay piled up around him, forming a mountain of the dead. As he sat on top of the pile, gazing at the sunset in silence, a warrior among the millions lay there in the pile, who seemed almost dead himself muttered, "Please, I don't want to die." "Isn't it astonishing?" the man asked the warrior while looking at the sunset. "Death," he continued. "The sheer inevitability of it. Most people panic in the face of death, but it's always better to embrace it." The man turned to the dying warrior. "You'll find peace in its embrace," he said, looking him in the eyes. "What use is peace to a dead man?" the warrior replied. "Still a dead man regardless," the man said, turning back to look at the sunset. "So why not one with a peaceful death?" he continued, as the dimmed sunrays hit his eyes. He let out a deep sigh as he leaned on his sword, watching the sky turn from red to orange to pink and purple. He was exhausted, but he couldn't bring himself to move as he sat there, still on top of the piled-up dead bodies, alone, taking in the last moments of warmth before the night set in. "Listen, boy, death is an inevitability that none can escape, remember this when the time comes." Azrael woke up with a start, his heart pounding in his chest. He was drenched in sweat, and his sheets were tangled around him. He sat up in bed, trying to catch his breath. It was well past midnight at Ryzels Academy's dormitory. The gentle night breeze blew through the academy, rustling the leaves and filling the air with the soothing sound of nature. The sky was illuminated by a beautiful array of stars and the moon, casting a soft glow over the campus. In one room, dimly lit by the moonlight, Azrael lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. This had become a routine for him in the past few weeks. He couldn't seem to get any rest, and even when he did manage to fall asleep, he was plagued by the same nightmare. He couldn't recall the details of the dreams, but the fear he felt was still very real. With a sigh, Azrael got out of bed and walked to the washroom. He splashed some water on his face and tried to push back his black hair, but it fell right back in his face as soon as he removed his hands. He looked at himself in the mirror, barely able to make out the grey in his eyes through his mildly damp hair. He let out another sigh and went to grab his sword, which he kept beside his bed before leaving his room for the training hall. Each dormitory at ryzel academy had a large training hall for its students with platforms for duels and all the equipment needed for their training—the sound of Azrael's sword hitting the training dummy left subtle echoes lingering across the hall. This was how his night always went recently. He was always in the hall swinging his swords trying to make each swing better than the last and he did. With each swing, his movement and rhythm looked even more perfect, with lesser effort and greater power his sword flowed effortlessly thus accurately delivering every attack. In terms of sword skill Azrael was truly unmatched in the academy, and one might dare say he could be on par with Ryzles top ten students if he possessed ki but he didn't, and there's only so far just skills could take him. People with ki had ridiculously amplified power, attributes and techniques but that didn't mean Azrael was weak he ranked 164 out of five hundred students despite not having or being able to influence any sort of ki. This was because Azrael had trained his body way beyond the normal human level, being able to match his opponent's speed and power just a little along with his unrivalled sword skills he was able to overpower a great number of students in the academy, but his limitations were clear. He was now covered in sweat, he had been training for hours now, slowly sunlight was starting to creep into the hall and birds chirping could be heard around the academy, it was morning. "Huh?, its already morning," Azrael said while sheathing his sword 'crap, I have class this morning' he thought as he headed out of the hall When Azrael got to his room, he quickly washed up and put on the Ryzel Academy's uniform and headed for his first class of the morning. As he walked through the academy he kept thinking about the nightmare he kept having and why he couldn't remember them. He walked into the class and it was already filled with students, the class was quite big likewise other classes in the academy, it had a small podium where the teacher gave lectures with rows of seats that elevated higher as they extended backwards while facing the teachers podium in a semi-circular manner, it could be described as half of a very small arena compact in a room. Azrael walked up to the back where he always sat and brought out a note while waiting for the teacher, the class had around twenty students who were all conversing with one another. "Ugh so noisy," Azrael said to himself as he yawned 'I haven't slept properly for weeks now, is this okay? , maybe I should see the schools physician, but I don't feel as tired as I should considering I haven't slept in so long and I'm still always energetic enough to train—' "Good morning," the teacher said as she walked into the class "my name is miss serian and ill be your instructor for level one 'war education' " she said while writing her name on the board 'Is that a new teacher? if she isn't I would've seen her around even though she teaches a different year' he thought to himself Azrael had just become a second year a couple of weeks back and this was his first class with miss serian. "I look forward to teaching you all," she said as she turned around after writing her name on the board, "now the formalities are done, let's get straight to it" she continued "Today I'll tell you all a story about —demons, gods and war".