Chapter ９: Arkos and Stex

3 January 5555
Zen Varum
Barbarian base in the South
[Luke Carlson]

The two masked mages stepped out of the tent, and saw Luke the Skythen slaughtering the barbarians with his beams of light.

"Brutal one isn't he Stex? Appearances can be unfortunately deceiving," Arkos smirked.

"Indeed Arkos, he looks our age. Pretty amazing for someone who isn't a mage," Stex replied.

The two mages advanced slowly towards Luke, scraps and pieces of weapons and metal started levitating around the two mages. This of course, caught Luke's attention. His fists was still flaring with light magic.

"Die Skythen!" screamed Arkos as the metal scraps orbiting around the two mages darted towards Luke.

The attack succeeded in taking Luke by surprise. He sustained several cuts to his body, despite being able to evade most of the projectiles - the most critical one being a piece of iron which pierced directly above his right eye.

"ARGGHH!!!" Luke yelled in pain as he realized should shard had hit his right eye, it would permanently render him blind. He yanked the iron shard off his face, blood oozed out his scar.

"Too easy," smirked Arkos as both the mages continued to advance towards the Skythen.
"Too late for regrets now Skythen, why not use that beam of yours and finish us off?" Stex smirked.

Upon hearing this, Luke fumed with anger, taking a huge leap back. Both his hands glowed immensely, arming himself with a gigantic proportion of Light Beam to be fired at the mages. It'll be such a joy to watch his foes be obliterated in the feeble attempt to challenge the speed of light.

"I told you he's a brutal one. He plans to disintegrate us," voiced Arkos, still grinning in amusement.

As two shots of light beam bolted towards the the two mages, just moments away from meeting their target, they got deflected away, sending stray beams of light flying in all directions.

"What!?" Luke gasped, squinting his eyes to comprehend his error. Mirrors! A huge square mirror formed by four smaller mirrors stood in his way between him and the mages, acting as a shield.

The two mages procceded closer towards the Skythen. More metallic shards accompanied them at every step they took.

"Damn, I can't beat them!" snarled Luke to himself. He fired a blast of light onto the ground, sending filthy chunks of mud and gravel flying everywhere. Dust clouded the mages' vision. At the wave of both hands, his levitational powers pushed him off the ground. In a flash, he took off to the skies before they could fully regroup.

"Get him!!" scowled Stex as the pieces of metal were flung up towards Luke, hoping to impale him before he escapes. But it was too late, Luke had was now a mere speck in the sky.

"Damn," Arkos muttered to himself as the metal pieces rained back onto the ground. Stex silenced in utter disappointment.

Chapter ８: Vengeance

3 January 5555
Zen Varum
Barbarian base in the South
[Luke Carlson]

Ten days preceding the terrible massacre at Oberolis, Luke managed to locate the barbarians' main base.

"It's Carlson!!" shouted a barbarian on sentry duty, and raised his spear as he noticed the Skythen walked closer and closer to the main gates of the barbarian's base. The guard swallowed hard and could feel his knees trembling. He was well aware that the man approaching in his direction was no ordinary Skythen.

A tall lanky barbarian holding a bronze knife stepped outside to check on his comrade. He noticed his comrade was sweating profusely as the menacing looking Skythen continued on his march towards the tent.

"Boss!" screamed the lanky barbarian, also overwhelmed with fear, pointed his blade towards Luke, creating a futile warning gesture.

Luke frowned a little, raised his hand towards his victim and a fired a radiant beam of light at the guard. Within a blink of an eye, the beam easily ate through the man's forehead, dealing instant fatality. The barbarian collapsed onto the ground, smoke emanated from the hole in his head. The other barbarian immediately took off, running into the base.

"Hes back for revenge! That skythen!! Carlson is back!" he screamed, frantically waving his arms to alert everyone else.

A heavily ornamented throne positioned in the centre of the tent was covered with the fur of tiger and wolves. On the throne, sat a huge burly man with strange blue beard.

"He's finally arrived huh?" asked the boss. "Fear not, I've brought reinforcements with me. Arkos! Stex!"

A huge puff of black smoke appear from behind the throne. When the smoke cleared, two masked figures stood before them. Both wearing long-sleeved robes and were fairly built.

"You summoned us, Mr.Bluebeard?" One of the mask figure said.

"Your target has arrived. Destroy him," commanded Bluebeard the Barbarian Warlord.