The Path of the Broken Man By Rediotic
{This is my first chapter-style fanfiction, as I am still relatively new to the site. Any criticism is welcome and I hope you enjoy my tragedy els fanfic! This whole story will be mostly for Raven, but this chapter will explain it all first with all the characters. (Excluding Lu/Ciel) THEY ARE ALL WEARING PROMO GEAR, in some parts of the story, the biggest change in clothes they'll get is either a cloak or a colour change.}
Elsword- Lord Knight
Aisha- Elemental Master
Rena- Night Watcher
Raven- Reckless Fist
Eve- Code Empress
Chung- Iron Princess/Paladin
Ara- Little Specter (For Now)
Elesis- Grand Master
Add- Lunatic Psyker
Chapter 1 – The Tragedy Plays
"Master Ran, it seems the red haired brat's group has made it to the Shadow Master's lair." Victor said.
"I can see that clearly. Instead of waiting patiently for them to get here, I might as well go down there and snuff them out before they become a threat." Ran replied, as he stood up from his throne. He then laughed a little, as the ground around him started to glow in a purple, demonic circle. He was going to teleport to them soon.
Meanwhile, The elgang had made it to the boss room, ((Excluding Add + Elesis in the "gang" since they're technically not part of it.)) and marveled at the huge size of the room.
As they looked around, they saw the demons they had fought earlier start to make their way towards them. By the huge amount of minions that were coming plus the Shadow Master, who stood in the center of the room, staring at them, They would be overwhelmed quickly.
"Why don't we split up in two and one half fights the boss while the other fights the rest?" Elsword asked.
"We can't take any chances with the Shadow Master here, as we've never seen him fight and he might be more powerful than one half of us. So I suggest we stay here. Let's just stay together and defend from all sides." Raven replied, standing close to Rena.
They all readied their weapons and went in a stance where everyone's back was against each other's and they were in a tight circle. Just as the demons got to the big doors of the room, the elgang saw a flash of red, and a giant claymore.
"S-Sis!?" Elsword stuttered, shocked.
"Go! I'll take care of these demons while you guys fight the Shadow Master!" Elesis yelled, as she charged towards the demons. The doors closed in on them, and Elsword could only see her smooth, slender back and her claymore starting to glow, as she was activating her Sword of Victory.
Add himself had stayed hidden, as he watched from the ceiling of the room, keeping his eyes on the boss and the group, but mainly his eyes were locked on Eve. He thought of ways he could take her during the fight, as they would all be distracted by the boss. Though he couldn't formulate a solid plan yet, so he waited, standing on top of his floating dynamos.
A quick moment passed, and the elgang suddenly rushed forward, with their weapons raised. The Shadow Master was overwhelmed by the combined forces of the group, and forced to stoic itself to ward them off. It suddenly chanted some incomprehensible words and shadow balls started to fall down to the room.
Raven was the most surprised as he looked around. The Shadow Master had seemingly stopped and had its hands raised in the air as it chanted. What were the purpose of these..? Then he realized it could be its trump card. Yet he realized too late as the shadow orbs exploded all around them, catching all of them in the explosion and sending them into different parts of the room.
Raven stood up, gritting his teeth as they all got up after him and fought with a renewed effort, with Aisha starting off with her Cyclone to distract it, followed up by Elsword's Impact Smasher to stun it a little, which eve carries on by using Assault Spear, which missed it enough to only cause a graze, until it explodes and sends the Shadow Master back, weakened as Rena, Chung, Ara and Raven finished it off by simultaneously using their skills at it; Rena with Trapping Arrow, Chung with Land Demolisher, Ara with Specter of Storm and Raven with Valkyrie's Javelin. After combining such powerful skills like that, the Shadow Master went down, and disappeared, defeated.
The whole gang cheered, as the fight was much tougher than they thought.
"That took us by surprise, let's just get back to Hamel first. We need to get stronger fast." Raven said, feeling the effects of exhaustion kick in after the adrenaline started to run off.
"We are one step closer to freeing my brother, Aren!" Ara exclaimed happily as the group nodded in agreement, walking to the exit where Elesis was still fighting.
"Already celebrating, I see?" A voice said, laughing afterwards.
Raven was the first to turn as he and the gang saw the purple, armor-clad, demonic being that was Ara's sister, Ran. Their eyes all widened and tried and immediately tried to attack but were too late. Ran smirked and parried the first few slashes that came from Elsword and Raven, quickly using his speed against the two by cutting deep gashes into their torsos, then surrounding himself with black fire to force the rest of the group to stay back, finishing them off with a burst of dark energy coming up from the ground like geysers, taking them all by surprise. The intense pain pierced into them, as they all fell like ragdolls to the ground.
Ara looked at Ran through her blurry vision, pain still clouding it. She was immensely shocked at his actions, and she felt that she needed to remind him, that Aren was still there. And so gathering up all her strength again, she was the first to stand up, and she ran at him.
"Aren, it's me, Ara!" Ara yelled desperately as she was ran towards him.
Ran looked at her with a confused face, stopping her by grabbing her by the throat and lifting her up.
"Don't talk like you know me, lowly spirit vessel. I don't know who you are, and I don't need to." Ran uttered those cold words, which rocked Ara to the core, her face transfixed in utter disbelief. He then started to squeeze on her throat, which forced Raven to stand up, as he couldn't watch no longer. The others were still trying their best to get up, but couldn't yet. It was all left for him to save Ara.
"LET GO OF HER!" Raven screamed, as he roared, leaping at Ran with his arm, performing Limit Crusher. The attack had so much force it blasted away and rose dust around the three of them. When the dust had cleared, Raven was shocked. His hand had been stopped, as it was against the sharp point of Ran's blade.
"You all have potential. I really do must kill you all before you become a threat." He muttered, as he let go of Ara, still dumbfounded and slashed at Raven fiercely.
Raven could barely parry the first few slashes, but he lost more of the feeling in his sword arm the more times their swords clashed, as Ran was using his inhuman strength to numb Raven's arm. Within the next few slashes, Ran disarmed Raven, slashing him twice creating two more big gashes in his torso, and sending him flying back with a fist coated in black flames. Raven didn't get up.
The others were finally to get up now as well, and Ran cursed softly. The ants were starting to gather again, so he had to get some help with stomping them. Victor appeared by his side, towering over the gang and the Ran himself.
"Kill them all." Ran breathed out, as he brushed some dust that got on him off.
Victor eagerly nodded and charged forward, as the others got ready. Aisha pushed him back with Blizzard Shower as Elsword charged forward, lathed in the blue Aura of Vitality as he activated Armageddon Blade, the huge aura sword extending and cutting deeply into Victor's knee, forcing him down to one knee.
Rena then charged forward, calling upon the power of Karma, blasting several geysers of wind at Victor, sending him flying and smashing him against the wall. The group faced Ran again, expecting him to attack but he was sat upon a throne he had summoned, smiling.
"You shouldn't have left your eyes upon him." He warned, his lazy smile growing.
Eve, the first to look back into the spot where Victor had been smashed into and saw that he wasn't there anymore, but instead was in the air, as he had leaped. He then smashed in the clearing in the middle of the group, roaring immediately after he made contact with the ground. They all had seen him too late to dodge as the impact launched them into the air, and they all dropped to the ground like ragdolls once more against the sheer force of Victor's renewed Dynamic Entry.
Elsword was the first to get up, and so was Aisha as the two urged the others to run out a separate passage from the one they entered.
"But, what about you two!?" Chung defiantly screeched out.
"Go, we'll be back soon. We'll buy you time. Just get Ara and Raven out of here, as they're the most injured." Elsword and Aisha both replied simultaneously.
As Ara and Raven were slumped onto Oberon and Ophelia's backs, Raven started to stir, looking around in a blurry haze. He could see Eve, Rena, Chung running with them along with Ara on Ophelia. He also spotted a moving purple figure with white hair floating up high above them, and not knowing it was Add, he dismissed it.
"They better come back…I just hope they don't get themselves captured or killed." Rena said uneasily, as the atmosphere worsened.
For Eve, she was already in dire straits as she struggled to keep up with the group, taking the most damage from Ran's geyser attack and Victor's Dynamic Entry. That was one of the main reasons Add trailed them above. It was his chance to get her, finally. Who cares about the others, he just needed the codes in her head.
Raven recovered enough to move on his own, as he did with the group, the effects of the damage showing. He was lagging slightly behind all of them, and his vest had huge cuts in them, and were soaked in red.
They were nearing the exit, as they started to cross a bridge over gushing rivers spiraling downwards. All of them were growing more confident in the thought of being able to escape, as they were so close.
Then the roar came.
Raven had finally caught up, when Victor smashed down onto the bridge once more, cracking the bridge and starting to make it break slowly.
Where was Elsword and Aisha? Their eyes all widened in shock when they saw Victor's fists and arms drenched in crimson blood. And they all knew it wasn't his.
Victor grinned and smashed into the bridge again, causing it to break and snap. The remaining gang, too busy to fight for their lives to mourn, sprinted as fast as they could to the end of the bridge. But it was too late for some, as the cracks reached where Chung, Rena and Eve were, the bridge parts under them collapsing.
Chung fell down, screaming in despair as he fell and disappeared under the raging waters. Eve fell as well, with Ophelia and Oberon disappearing as they had reached their time limits, dropping Ara's limp body to the edge. Eve was sure to hit the water like Chung did but a purple blur took her and she disappeared.
Rena on the other hand, had managed to grip onto the edge, and Raven would've logically went after her to pick her up as she would lose her grip soon. But Ara had been dropped on the bridge and rolled towards the edge, on the verge of falling, and she wouldn't be able to grab onto the ledge as she was still in heavy shock. Unable to do anything.
Raven couldn't pick who to save. He didn't have much time to think about it as the bridge was already growing even more fragile under them. He gritted his teeth and started to go to Rena, but she stopped him.
"No, no….get Ara, save her instead…" Rena screamed, her voice cracking.
Raven failed to blink back the bitter tears as he followed what she said and ran to Ara, picking her up. He would try to grab her as well but he could see it was too late.
"Raven, go….I love y—" She breathed out, as her hands betrayed her and she let go, tears flowing out of her as her face tried to put up a smile, then vanished under the raging waters.
Raven's heart felt like when he lost Seris, though much worse now. He could've mourned more but he had to keep running, as he safely ran to the end of the bridge, getting to the exit.
Victor could no longer cross through to them, as the bridge that was spanning over a humungous gap that even he couldn't leap past. Ran, on the other hand only saw the last of Raven still passed out and thought he would've bled out, and he saw the bridge collapse before teleporting back to his Halls, convinced they were all dead.
When Raven met up with Elesis and the Red Knights after a long walk with Ara still in his arms, he could see the despair and the rage cloud her face. Though why she didn't blame him, he didn't know. All he knew, was that he was a coward. And being a coward was what led to all his friends, his lover dying before him.
There you go, first chapter done! Sorry if it's too long, I tried to keep it under 2500 words! Any constructive criticism is enjoyed, and I hope you enjoyed it!