Crimson skies loomed over the world, thick with the scent of blood and the weight of destruction.
A General stood on his mount, absorbing the essence of the moment.
In the distance, he saw men charging using the bodies of their fallen as a path.
He heard the soul-shaking clash of steel and the sounds of hope and despair intertwining to form a wretched melody.
This was war.
He stood at the forefront, spearheading his men to the end.
Closing his eyes, he sighed, the embrace of death reaching for him from a corner, but he was already familiar with it.
Determined, the man gripped his spear harder and tugged on the strap of his beast.
Gritting his teeth, he thrust his weapon forward as he roared.
"My Men! We will move forward! To hell with whatever crosses our path! Our end is in our hands–our end is as we will it to be!"
Like thunder, he bolted towards his adversary, the stomps of his beast shaking the earth beneath him.
"Charge, men! CHARGE!!"
"To hell with whatever crosses our path!" They replied, following their general. "Our end is as we will it to be!"
A chain of screams burst from the general's back, invigorating him.
It was in the midst of these screams he gained hope.
It was in the midst of these screams he died.
- - -
In the dark chamber, a young man suddenly sat upright, revealing golden eyes.
If one looked deeply, they could see the deep red energy deep within it.
Huff… Huff… Huff…
Heavy pants were heard at intervals as Jules grasped his heart as if searching for it.
Despite the darkness, he looked down to his palms as if they were flowing with blood.
But it was merely the stains of blood and mud that were present.
'I...died?'
Jules wondered.
The feeling of his sword flowing through flesh was rich in the mind as was the feeling of being killed.
This mixed with the foreign emotion—fear of dying and the strong urging to see his wife and children.
People he couldn't even imagine.
[You have merged with Grade 3 Heart of Archangel of War.]
[Heart Skill "Crimson Sigil" has been acquired.]
[Heart Skill "Blood Manipulation" has been acquired.]
[The "Noctharis" bloodline within you has been enhanced.]
The beeps of the system attracted Jules's attention, memories of what happened before his mind blanked hit him.
Following those memories were prior ones of the mission.
Thinking back on the mission, Jules found himself lost in thought.
Particularly, he recalled Ryan, a person that was the exact opposite of him.
Ryan was the only son of parents, natives of Noctharis.
With a low-ranked skill he had inherited from his father, Ryan took note of Joel's suspicious activities in the early days of joining their Squad.
This prompted Ryan to hide the true nature of his abilities and slowly grew close with Joel.
His goal was to use the situation to–one way or the other–better his family's condition.
He couldn't tell anyone about this because he now knew what was going on in the shadow of the clan and he didn't know who to trust anymore.
Instead of going through the easier way of joining Joel's betrayal, he had chosen to stay loyal to his clan while making the heir have a level of entitlement to him.
Jules had mixed feelings regarding Ryan's plan though.
He wondered if sacrificing himself was always part of the plan or if Ryan had just underestimated the scheme of Joel and his associate's plan.
Jules thought of a way Ryan could have made the situation better.
'If he had enough power to handle the unexpected, it would have definitely been better…'
Jules sighed, the lingering foreign feeling he felt after waking up was subdued by now.
'That damned heart is that sentient?! It merged with me without a ritual causing me to see memories of the original!
'Still, what kind of memory was that? I died! Damn… I should have expected something crazy from an Archangel!'
Clicking his tongue with the intention of not dwindling on that, he glanced at the system notifications and a smile crept onto his face.
"Now, I wonder if those wretches have enough power to handle what I'm about to bring to the table."
Jules didn't know how long he was knocked out so he didn't have the luxury of being patient.
Using a spark of recovered mana, Jules lit a small flame and used its light to study his body condition.
Some of his cuts were healed with the injury on his shoulder, hand and back slightly healed.
The effects of the paralysis poison seemed to be cleared completely.
'I'm guessing the bloodline and heart worked together to achieve this.' Jules thought, 'It's okay like this, I don't need to harm myself to look convincing.'
'My armor's state also tells tales of battle.'
Jules looked around the chamber, a regret of leaving sinking in. The mana concentration in this place was high—it would have been great for his core cultivation.
Picking up his sword, Jules walked through the tunnels and climbed out the hidden hole.
The night was calm, the sky painted in midnight blue. A delicate crescent moon hung, its cool light basking the earth. Stars scattered all around like glitter on paper.
Jules controlled his features to look like one of displeasure as he walked underneath the shadows of trees.
As he moved, he noticed something.
'My mana perception has increased again…and it seems it applies to my mana control too.'
He didn't notice earlier because he attributed its increase to the sheer amount of mana concentration in the cave.
After walking a bit, Jules saw movements.
Several blurry shadows were moving towards him…fast.
Jules frowned as he turned around to run.
But upon seeing this, a voice yelled.
"Young master, wait!"
Jules didn't listen as he ran.
Alas, the shadows were faster.
Seven people suddenly stopped around Jules, dust rising in the wake of their arrival.
One of the people walked closer, and a brown bearded man came into view.
He wore light armor made with reptilian skin, reflecting its high quality.
A short cape was attached to it with a logo depicting a blade stabbed into a sea creature's head drawn on it.
Jules recognized the squad based on his memories.
"I am the Vice-captain of the Leviathan Squad. We've been searching for you all evening. We're glad to see you're alive." The man said with a friendly smile.
Jules looked around warily.
'At least it's a squad that's very unlikely to be related to those wretches. I wonder if that woman is here. She definitely is…'
"Where's the Captain?" He asked.
"She's on her way here," The bearded-man replied. "We'll meet her on the way back to the clan. Please, come with us."
'Should I assume that since this squad is here, the information regarding the mission didn't damage my reputation much?'
Jules spared the others a short look in the guise of worry, barely seeing their faces but he could feel some of their glare.
'Some of them seem to not like me—I could come up with one or two reasons why. For example, Cid was originally from this team.'
Nodding gently, Jules was led back by the Leviathan Squad.