Manifest War: The Weapons Within

Claudia was stunned by her sudden transportation, having never experienced anything like this before.

“What!? Why am I here!? How!?!” Claudia questioned as she frantically looked around her new surroundings, finding them incredibly familiar and nostalgic. Suddenly, the door opened and in walked her little sister, greeting Claudia with a big smile. Claudia smiled back before saying hello, feeling happy to see her baby sister again. However, this warm moment didn’t last long at all, as the doors to her room blew open.

Faceless men, shrouded in darkness, walked inside; their footsteps sounding incredibly heavy. They approached and violently took hold of Claudia’s sister, placing a burlap bag over her head.

“No! Stop!! Unhand her this instant!!” She yelled and screamed, angry that anyone would dare put their hands on her family. As they dragged the little girl back, Claudia noticed that she couldn’t move from her position and that her cries were completely unheard. She was simply a bystander that had no influence on the situation at all.

The faceless men proceeded to beat the little girl with large hammers, brutally murdering her in terrible fashion. The sound of the actions taking place were incomprehensible as Claudia could hear every squelch and snap.

“BRIDGETTE!!!! NO!! HOW COULD YOU!!!?!?!” Claudia screamed out with horror filled tears. She was absolutely horrified and devastated at the sight of her dead sister, having no words for the atrocity that just occurred in front of her. The faceless men walked out of the room after finishing and closed the door, shutting it incredibly slowly.

Once the lock caught, the scenario stopped and shifted into another, putting Claudia into another familiar location. She looked around with great confusion and wondered how she ended up in this new place.

Claudia's family was all seated at the table. Her father, mother, elder brother, and little sister were enjoying a meal together. Just as Claudia began to calm down from the prior nightmare and felt the comfort of her family, faceless men arrived into the room again.

Her parents looked panicked as they were violently ripped from their chairs and thrown to the ground. Once again, Claudia desperately tried to help, but she could do nothing other than watch everything unfold before her.

The entire family was slaughtered in front of her, blood and flesh flying in every direction as the faceless men used severely unconventional methods to dispatch them. Claudia cried out as she became overcome with incredible grief, terrified by everything that was happening. The scenario ended and curiously, another situation occurred. Claudia was now forever trapped in her mind, witnessing horrible nightmares for the rest of her life.

Claudia’s body dropped to the ground completely lifeless. Her eyes were wide open as drool dripped from her slightly agape mouth. Claudia’s Manifest faded away and the pillars she summoned retreated back into the earth below, no longer having a master's orders to follow. Zalthia stared at her before suddenly stumbling to the ground, unable to stand up.

The eye sockets of the skulls on her scythe glowed a deep black as Zalthia’s head started hurting. She began to witness the brutal killings of the little girl in Claudia’s nightmares, seeing every grizzly detail as though she were there herself. Zalthia couldn’t help but imagine what it would feel like if that little girl was Carmen or Nyanza, unwillingly putting herself into Claudia’s shoes.

“Damn it all.. Why did she have to make me use my Manifest?” She softly muttered under her breath as tears began to well up. The visceral screams of those present in Claudia’s nightmares were absolutely haunting and Zalthia felt terrible for her fallen opponent, fully regretting that the battle turned out this way.

Just as she wiped her eyes, Zalthia sensed a massive surge of Core Energy explode in the distance. The pressure in her chest felt incredibly sinister, causing her to grow worried.

“Whose power is this?? Never felt anything like it.” She wondered as she slowly got to her feet, looking in the direction of the burst of power.

Trevor watched in fear as the eclipse continued to drip black ink all over the ground, making the entire area incredibly dark and slick.

“I’ve never felt Core Energy like this before. It feels p-pure evil!!” Just what is this girl!?” He questioned, slowly backing away from Carmen as she glared deep into his eyes. As he looked on, he noticed that Carmen began to change before his eyes.

Her silver hair had transitioned to a bright white color, her eyes were completely red, socket to socket, and her skin grew significantly more pale. While she still looked like a young girl, Carmen certainly didn’t seem human at that moment. But, despite the impressive nature of her transition, it still seemed rather incomplete visually.

Just as she finished her transformation, the whole battlefield was flattened by absurd levels of gravitational force. The size of Carmen’s new gravity field was simply remarkable, affecting multiple miles worth of land. All soldiers in the surrounding area, the Holy Core Saints, and members of Six got pushed to the ground.

The earth below crumbled and shifted under the immense pressure, unable to withstand the gravity being asserted onto it. Trevor slammed into the ground, face down and completely unable to move an inch. Zalthia, who wasn’t much further away, was also tossed to the dirt and watched as her sister slowly walked towards Trevor.

“What the hell is going on!?! Did she go berserk again?? But, that shouldn’t be possible anymore!” Zalthia thought to herself as she tried to lift her body upwards.

Carmen paused her approach a few meters from Trevor as she lifted two of her fingers, pointing them outwards at him and motioning them inwards slowly. Trevor immediately levitated off of the ground and was put into a standing position. Even though he was now standing, he couldn’t willingly move his body at all.

“What are you doing you stupid girl!?!? Let me go!!” He yelled with an angered expression, upset that he was being absolutely embarrassed by this teenage girl.

Suddenly, his stiff body started to float towards Carmen slowly. She brought him within a couple arms length before stopping his approach. Trevor’s angered frown quickly changed to that of fear as Carmen continued to stare him in the eyes, not breaking contact for even a second.

“L-Look, I’m sorry for hurting your friend. Truly, I am! So please, just let me go!” Trevor said, losing all of his confidence from earlier as he pleaded for his life. Carmen, not saying a single word, curiously raised her open palm again as she aimed it at him.

Carmen slowly began to close her hand as though she were squeezing something. Trevor screamed out in pain as his body started getting crushed by an invisible force. His bones popped and contorted under the pressure, breaking slowly in the most gruesome and disgusting way possible.

“P-PLEASE!!! STOP!!!” He yelled out, hoping against all hope that she would let him go. Carmen paused briefly and then quickly closed her hand, squeezing her fist tightly together.

Trevor exploded in extravagant fashion, flesh and blood splattering in all directions. It was as though Carmen had crushed a handful of grapes, squeezing every ounce of juice out of them. Zalthia, the members of Six, and the other Holy Core Saints looked on in horror as they witnessed Carmen completely eviscerate this man with no remorse. His mangled body of broken bones and limp flesh dropped to the ground, making a sickening squish sound against the solid terrain below.

As everyone laid there in stunned silence, still unable to move from the gravity field, Carmen turned her head slowly towards the remaining Holy Core Saints. The ink that rained down from the sky suddenly raced towards Carmen’s shadow. It began to increase in size and come to life, looking like a massive pool of black ink.

“W-What is she doing now!?!” Cassandra asked, looking over at her comrade.

“I’m not sure, but I don’t like the feeling of this.” Riegard replied, growing more concerned as each second passed. The shadow then quickly darted towards the remaining four Holy Core Saints, splitting off into multiple directions.

The inky shadow snaked around and rushed like a raging river, consuming everything it touched. It was spreading outward at an impressive rate, taking no time at all to reach those present on the battlefield.

“What is that stuff?!?” Asiah questioned, wondering if they should be as concerned as their opponents. Before she got a response from anyone, the ink curiously snaked around her and Vera, showing zero interest in them.

She looked over in confusion, surprised that the ink seemed to have a mind of its own. It continued to go around the other members of Six and Moments later, it reached its target.

Cassandra, Riegard, Byron, and Simone were all covered in a pool of black ink as they laid there on the ground. The Holy Core Saints yelled out in a panic as they noticed that they were sinking into the pool, getting pulled further down into the dark depths. Within a few seconds, their bodies completely disappeared from the ground and their cries could no longer be heard.

The ink receded and dissipated, revealing the earth it was once covering. There wasn’t a single body or trace of the Holy Core Saints left, as though they were never there in the first place. Jordan of Five looked terrified as Carmen’s shadow shrunk back to its normal size, absolutely shocked by what he just witnessed.

“S-She just k-killed five Sapphire Class Vestas like it was nothing… W-what??” He muttered, unable to get his thoughts together. As he continued to look on in shock, Carmen turned around and quickly made her way to Sarah. She lifted her up before leaping into the sky, headed in the direction of their base camp.

As she left the area, the gravity field subsided and the large eclipse consuming the sun disappeared, brightening up the battlefield once again. Zalthia and the other members of Six got to their feet with confused expressions on their faces, not sure of what just happened.

“Commander… What.. What just happened?” Ka-leel asked Zalthia as he dusted off his uniform, still playing back the events in his head.

“I have no idea what that was, but we need to get back to the camp. Quickly!” She replied, grabbing her tattered robes off the ground. However, before they left, Vera noticed someone approaching them from the rear.

Everyone turned around to see Caleb slowly walking towards them, limping with each step. He was still alive from the sudden blow he received, but he certainly did not look good.

“Prince Ravenfell!?” Felicity yelled out as she rushed over, helping him stand before he collapsed to the ground. He gave her a pained moan for a response, not feeling up for any kind of conversation.

“Asiah, let Vera carry him and let’s hurry back to the base.” She nodded and after loading him up, they dashed towards their base, not wasting a single second.