Volume 1: Armageddon Knight

Prologue

The grating sound of teeth gnashing. The horrifying sound of the laughter of the hunt. The dry wind blowing through sandy dunes. An unwelcome atmosphere formed as pawed creatures pursued others whose exoskeletons glistened in the hot sun as they complemented their environment. These four mantis-like beings – one with a weapon, but a completely dismantled exoskeleton - were fleeing from a pack of Gnolls who were out for blood. The weapon in question was a double-ended polearm barely being carried by the creature's four arms, one which was lifelessly dangling. As the chase continued, the pursuers finally caught up and surrounded the mantis-like creatures all the while laughing like the humanoid hyenas that they were. Trapped by the Gnolls, the armed one readied his weapon and started clicking his mandibles as if to communicate to the smaller ones as they hid behind him. He would have been more prepared but the amount of these vermin outnumbering him was far too great. His death was all but certain but he would rather die fighting than lying down. The Gnolls laughed maniacally and gnashed their teeth as they charged at him from all sides. He steeled himself for the inevitable but-

-they simply stopped in their tracks. The mantis-like creature looks around him to see them frozen in place. He continues to look at them as their posture slumps and the grip on their weapons loosens as if they were ready to abandon them. On further inspection, he notices their bodies shivering in the hot desert sun. They were scared, but from what? He then looks at their agape mouths plastered on their faces and their gaze fixated not at him, but above above with eyes like a dog with its tail between its legs. The mantis slowly decided to follow the Gnolls and look up to what they were staring at.

There was a silhouette in the sky. An unexpected being had appeared whose wings flapped in the sky, and whose body looked humanoid enough to seem intelligent. Its presence alone sent a freezing chill down the spines of all present even in the scorching heat of the desert sun.

"Is it a devil? No, this thing is far more dangerous than a devil" the mantis thought while trying to maintain his faltering posture. Finally, the ominous being started to descend and its features slowly cleared up. The moment this thing came into full clarity, his guard finally broke as his arms limped and released the weapon he was holding.

A clatter of clicks started to come out of the mantis' mouth. It was a creature that no one in the desert – or the entire region - would dream of messing with. A being whose presence alone could tip the balance of this world. The being descended like a god to witness the mortal coils. It donned a black plate armor with red accents to its rivets and joints., The design of this armor emanated the meaning of the apocalypse from its covered helmet to its tail and even the wings.

This god-like being landed on the sand and like a spell that activated upon its landing, the Gnolls, which would have dashed away but didn't, or couldn't, shook in fear they could not control any part of their body. It towered above the creatures at a height of 8 feet tall, but finally the mantis noticed, this god had the features of the fiercest creatures in this world - the dragons. Yet this being seemed to be the embodiment of the Armageddon that would lead this world to ruin. The Gnolls who previously were hunting him and the spawnlings with him all had their tails between their legs.

The hyenas at once started to whimper like starved dogs. The god being did not wield a weapon assumedly because it felt no need to do so against such pitiful beings. Its presence alone could have killed if not for holding itself back. It slowly raised its armored arms and pointed to the Gnoll in front of it. Like a dam just barely avoiding spillin over the edge, the Gnoll broke from its trance using the last bit of its strength.

"「Breath of the Reaper」." The bringer of the end finally inhaled and exhaled as if something came out of the holes in its helmet. The mist like presence shot towards the running Gnoll and enveloped it. The eyes of the hyena finally lost its life and like a marionette whose strings were cut, it collapsed into the sand. No wound, no bruise, nothing. Just simply death..

All that was left was just a body. A vessel of flesh and blood with no warmth to it just lay there imprinting itself into the sand. The danger of the Gnolls were no longer a problem, but a far greater problem kept him worrying. The end had been delayed but not prevented - it had only took a more menacing form. This was the end for him and the spawnlings as they hugged tightly to his leg.

"The last of my day... the last of this world..." This was the thought that enveloped his mind. There was no way out of this, one cannot escape the end, the journey of the living has the beginning and the end, and this god-like being was the end itself. Hope was no longer an option, faith could accomplish nothing, nothing but blackness would envelop this world. The creature in front of him shattered all possible ways of continuing.

"If this was the end. Let it be fast." It was the last shred of hope he had for himself and anyone that would cross this thing's path. He could only curse his inability to protect the spawnlings and himself. Maybe if he could have killed the Gnolls this would never have happened but that was only wishful thinking, an impossible dream. This world that he regretted to never see it as it could be would be devoured by destruction.

At that moment-