As Leon slowly made his way throughout the castle yet again, he decided to test out a skill he hadn't used yet. Sneaking up on a guard carrying a large shield, he grabbed his neck and activated Skill Steal. As the name states, the skill steals the highest level skill the person has. Looking at his status plate, he noticed the new skill called "guardian" had popped up. This gave Leon an idea, any skills he currently didn't have or any that he wanted, he could get while raiding the castle.
Going from room to room, killing and stealing. With every skill he stole, he got a glimpse into the memories of the one he stole them from. Some were fathers, others had no one to rely on. He his behind the dilapidated and aged pillars, waiting for the guards to leave. Sensing the chance, he quickly sprinted to the door and pushed it open silently.
As he entered the chambers, he silently slid next to the kings bed and just stared at him. Questions raced through his mind. Why did it come to this? Why was he doing this for people he considered strangers? What would Rebecca and the others think about what he was doing? That last questions brought back memories of the night this all started, anger bubbling up from deep within his soul.
Drawing a knife, he quickly covered the kings mouth. As the king woke up from his coma like sleep, he stared at Leon with absolute terror. Leon wanted to ask him some questions before he killed this failure of a king.
"I am going to ask you some questions." Leon said, in a cold and quiet voice. "You will answer them, or else i will kill you, slowly."
The king started to sweat profusely, as he shook his head in agreement. Seeing the king in agreement, Leon started asking his questions.
"These are going to be yes or no questions. Shake your head accordingly. Understood?" Leon asked staring at king, so intently that it seemed he was watching his soul.
"Do you understand why i am here?"
The king shook his head no. Tears forming in his eyes.
"The tears in your eyes are telling me your lying, moving on. Did you know i have more authority in this world than that of a disciple?"
The kings eyes widened with surprise and the tears rolled down his cheeks. He slowly shook his head no.
"Was it the church who placed the bounty on my head?"
The king hurriedly nodded in agreement.
"Do you understand that they are attempting to start a war?"
The kings breathing became erratic and he shook his head no.
"Well then, that's all i wanted to know from you. If you have any useful information, i might spare your life." Leon spoke in a voice completely devoid of emotion.
The king stood up from his bed, and walked over to his bookshelf on the far side of his room.
"These are from the church." the king said, still crying in fear. "They were orders from a disciple to put a large bounty on your head in hopes of getting you here."
Leon stared at the stack of papers the king had just handed him. They were threats, saying they would bankrupt the capital if action wasn't taken. One page, however, looked to be information about a transfer.
"This one says they transferred a body. Who's body?" Leon asked, handing the document to the king.
"It was the hero Lou's body. They said, since they were disciples of Skabelse the creation god, his body was property of the church."
Leon's eyes widened at the implication. It didn't make any sense to him. Why take the body of the dead hero? What was the church up to? All Leon knew was that he had to get out of the capital before tomorrow, since that was when the entirety of the church was supposed to show up.
As the king kneeled in front of Leon, he begged for his life. To Leon though, those were just hollow pleas from a king in a nation of lies. In a movement so fast it couldn't be seen by the naked eye, Leon plunged his knife in the kings throat.
Through the gurgles and tears the king ask. "Why?"
Leon stared at the king, watching the light slowly fade from his eyes. "This is for the ones i have lost."
As he was making his way back out of the castle, he heard a blood curdling scream. It seemed that the queen or one of the mistresses had discovered the kings body, dead on the floor. With that, Leon decided he need to increase the pace of his escape.
Running through the streets and back alleys, Leon finally made it back to the inn with the other heroes, Yuki and the little girl he had adopted earlier that night. Walking into the room, he found Yuki curled up in the arms on the little girl, who was now wearing a little red outfit. Lexia, Anna and Ivan were standing in the middle of the room waiting for Leon to return.
Seeing him walk in, they started to pack their things. As she was shoving her things in her bag, Lexia remembered they came up with a name for the little girl.
"Oh, yeah. How does Mira sound?" She asked Leon
"It sounds like a great name. I'm sorry for putting you on the spot like that, i really appreciate it." He replied, smiling at her.
He slowly walked over and picked up both Mira and Yuki in his arms as they all headed out the door. As they walked through the streets, Leon told them about the documents he found in the kings chambers. He went into further detail, explaining that the church had Lou's body and were doing something with it.
"They are going to be showing up sometime tomorrow, so we need to get as far away from the capital as possible. The last thing we need right now is unnecessary fighting." He said as he looked at the little girl and puppy in his arms. While he may have lost his wives and future child, it seems as if life is helping him heal.
As the group made their way to the gate, they could see and orange tint to the sky in the distance. The church had been early to arrive to the capital, and the time for the group was dwindling at an incredible pace. The group hurried outside the walls of the capital, just as the panic started to set in.
Now that the kingdom knew the king had died, the bounty on Leon's head skyrocketed. It seemed the church had changed the price on his head from 25 gold coins if captured alive, to 150 gold coins if brought back dead. Now everywhere they looked, there ware people fighting in the hopes of finding Leon. Nobody questioned why, they only saw the money.
It had been three days since they left the capital and the farther they got from it, the harder it became to avoid fights. As the third night arrived, Leon stared at mina, then looked towards the heroes. Taking a deep breath, he asked them to do him a massive favor.
"The next time we come towards a town, i need you guys to take Mina and Yuki and stay there for a while."
The group looked at him in complete shock. They didn't know if he was afraid or if he was just trying to protect everyone, but he made it very clear what he wanted. As they all were about to raise their objections, Mina beat them to it.
"Please don't leave me. Everybody has left me so far, but you were the only person who saved me." As she spoke, tears started forming in her eyes.
Leon didn't know how to react to this. He was never really good with kids, but he knew he should never make one cry.
"Don't worry, little one." He said, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "I don't plan on staying gone forever. I just want them to make sure you stay safe until all this is over. I promise i will come back to you."
Mina, still crying, looked up at Leon with pleading eyes that still had a glint of hope in them. She looked down at the mark on his arm, tracing it with one finger. She then took a deep breathe, looked Leon straight in his eyes and told him. "If you break your promise, i will never forgive you."
Leon smirked, pulling her into a hug. He could hear whimpering next to him. It seemed as if, once again, Yuki had understood what the situation was and chose the same path as Leon. Every time one of the heroes got close to her, she would growl and bite at them.
Sighing, he walked over and picked up Yuki. Looking at this puppy that hadn't really grown much in the few months they had been together, he smiled as he realized she would never leave his side. He put her down as she yelped with satisfaction.
Mina walked sadly over to the heroes, who were still just staring at the scene that was unfolding in front of them. Lexia took her in her arms, smiled then asked Leon what was next.
"What are you going to do now? where will you go?" she asked trying not to cry at the emotional scene.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. I will probably investigate the church and try to figure out what they have planned." Leon said, looking at the fire in between them all. "All i know, is that the church is causing a war and i want to know why."
As he picked up his bag, Yuki jumped in it before he tossed it over his back. He waved goodbye to them and slowly made his way forward, slowly disappearing in the darkness. Walking away, he could hear Mina shouting with all her might.
"Come back safe. Remember, you promised. Thank you for helping me. Goodbye, dad."
It was at that moment, Leon realized that he had accidentally started his own family. Smiling at his softness, he whispered to himself.
"goodbye, little one."
Two weeks after departing from the heroes, Leon finds himself in front of a giant mountain. At the summit lies a massive building, big enough to see from the bottom. He had stopped for the night, before climbing the mountain. As he lay there sleeping, Yuki by his side, he starts feeling something weird and oddly familiar.
"Leon?" He heard a voice call out to him. "Leon, i need to tell you something incredibly important." A small woman appeared in his dream.
"My name is Raphia, goddess of premonition. I was one of the gods to aid Krieg in the fight for the heavenly realm. I need you to know something, its about that mark on your arm." The woman said, pointing at Leon's arm.
"Krieg didn't get the chance to tell you this, but you are very important to the survival of this world. That mark on your arm has a name, 'Mark of the Damned'. There are four of them in total, they would be equivalent to the four horseman of the apocalypse in your old world."
Leon could feel his arm getting warm as the goddess spoke.
"Yours is war, Minas is famine and there are two more somewhere in this world. You need to get those together, either as allies or you take them by force. It is the only way to stop the insanity going on in the world and in the heavenly realm. So please, help us."
Leon suddenly woke up, sweat covering his body. He didn't know what that goddess meant by "insanity" but he was sure that he needed to get back to Mina as soon as possible. Standing up, he decided to speed up his investigation so that he could get back to everyone as fast as possible. So he quickly packed up, tossed Yuki in his bag, and headed up the mountain towards the building.
After another day and a half, Leon was staring face to face with a massive set of doors. Engraved upon the doors was the image of a god and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Skabelse the creation god. The image caused a shiver to run down Leon's spine, not of fear but of disgust.
As he pushed open the massive doors, Leon feared what awaited him inside. However, the building was seemingly empty. As he walked around this church like building, he could see a single door on one of the side walls. If he was going to find anything, then it must be behind that door. He quickly ran to the door and pushed it open, but what he saw confused him.
Inside the singular room, he found woman standing behind what looked like an alchemy table. Noticing Leon, she started throwing questions at him.
"Oh, a human? How did you get in here? Actually who or what are you." She said as she started scrambling for the right thing to say. Finally, she took a deep breath and looked at Leon.
"My name is Angelica. I am an alchemist, who might you be." She asked in a curious tone.
"The names Leon, what is an alchemist doing all the way up here?"
"Well i was cursed when i was a child, so they banished me to this mountain church. That would have been, id say, three hundred years go now."
Leon's jaw dropped as she told him her age. There were few races in this world that could live that long, but even fewer that could actually be an alchemist.
"Not to be rude," Leon said, staring at Angelica. "But what exactly are you? You don't have the elves pointy ears, and you wouldn't be active right now if you were a vampire."
"Oh, i can see how that would be confusing. I am a dragonoid." She said, spreading her wings from her back.
"Wait just a second." Leon said, a dazed look covering his face. "Dragonoids are supposed to be extinct and legendary creatures. How and why are you locked up in this building?"
As she walked over to him, Leon noticed a green mark in the shape of a wilted flower on her arm. In a soft and surprised voice he muttered.
"Pestilence."
Angelica's eyes grew wide as the shock of his knowledge rattled her brain.
"How? How do you know that? Only a scarce few people know about that. Your not a high member of the church and your not dead, so how do you know about this mark?" She asked, slowly becoming upset at the confusion of everything.
Leon slowly pulled up his sleeve, revealing his own mark. As she stared at his, he told her what he knew.
"I know about it, because i have one of the other marks. I even talked to a goddess while asleep on the base of this mountain. She told me to gather the others, in an attempt to stop some 'insane' plan." Speaking in a calm and soft voice, he continued. "I even adopted a little girl with one of the other marks."
"Wait, you adopted a child with one of these marks?!" Angelica exclaimed, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You must be incredibly powerful, then! But why would you want to gather us? We're more of a curse than a blessing-at least, that's how the church sees us."
Leon looked her in the eyes, his expression serious. "Because i believe we can change that narrative. The world is falling apart, and the church is manipulating everything from the shadows. If we come together, we might stand a chance at fixing things."
Angelica's expression softened as she considered his words. "Your right. It's not just about us anymore. The church has caused enough suffering. If we unite, we could potentially overturn their influence."
Leon nodded, feeling a sense of urgency. "We have to move quickly. The church was already looking for me, but now they will be looking for you as well. We need to regroup with the others."
She took a deep breath, her resolve strengthening. "Let's go. I have been hiding here for far to long. We must be careful though, the church has eyes practically everywhere."
As Leon and Angelica began formulating a plan, Yuki poked her out of his bag, sensing the tension in the room. Leon reached down to pet her gently, grounding himself. "First, we need to get off this mountain and back to a town where we can regroup."
Angelica nodded in agreement. "If we can get to the nearest village, i have a few contacts that could be of use to us."
With that, they made their way back through the church, Leon leading the way. As they exited, he could fell the weight of the world pressing down on him. The responsibility of gathering the four marks and confronting the church felt daunting, but her knew he couldn't do it alone.
Once outside, they navigated the shadows of the mountain, keeping low and avoiding patrols. As they approached the village, Leon felt a sense of hope dwelling in his chest. This was a new beginning-a chance to reshape this world.
Upon entering the village, they quickly found shelter in an inn. Leon explained the situation to Angelica's contacts, who were wary but agreed to help him. They needed to move quickly, and the villagers were eager to assist in any way they could.
As the sun set, casting a golden hue over the village, Leon gathered everyone in a small meeting room. Angelica stood beside him, her presence commanding attention. "Listen, everyone. Leon and i have come to a critical realization. The church is not a religious organization; they are a political force that seeks to control us all. We need to band together to stop them."
The murmurs in the room grew louder as villagers exchanged glances. Leon raised his hand to quiet them. "I understand your fears, but we cant let them dictate our lives any longer. We have the power to change our own fate."
One of the villagers, an older man with gray hair, stood up. "And what do you propose we do? they have resources, weapons, and the king on their side."
Leon's gaze hardened. "We take the fight to them. I know for a fact, they don't have the king under their thumb anymore. We just need to collect strong warriors and create a coalition strong enough to challenge the church. If we stand together, they will not be able to ignore us."
Angelica chimed in, "Leon, here, killed the king. As some of you know, he is the one called 'The Walking Cataclysm'. With his help, and the help of strong adventurers willing to take their lives back, we will be able to stand up to the church."
The room erupted in discussions, with some villagers voicing their concerns while others expressed their eagerness to fight back. Leon listened intently, knowing that every voice mattered in this desperate time.
As the meeting concluded, Leon felt a renewed sense of purpose. They would fight for their freedom, for the freedom of their families, and for the possibility of a world where they could live without fear.
And as they formulated their plans, a small spark of hope ignited within him. He was no longer just "The Walking Cataclysm." He was Leon Smith, a father, an ally, and a force to be reckoned with. together, they would rise against the darkness that threatened to consume them all.