As time slowly passed for Albel, he continued going about his reckless and violent mannerisms. Every single day was filled with bloodshed of monsters, the theft of their odd gains, and then more slaughter. The soldiers of Airyglyph just never understood the boy as he steadily grew older as the seasons passed, and his mind continued to twist and be tormented. Whenever Albel had to pass the dragon chambers, for a very long time he would skitter on by like a mouse past a sleeping feline. Eventually, Albel would pass by with more confidence, but that certainly didn't mean he stopped loathing the beasts that had caused him to murder his father by failure. His hair grew longer, to the point that Albel simply stopped caring and had it tied back in to two ropes, and bound with a long ribbon to keep it out of the way. His heart was utterly blackened, and Albel had not a single friend in all of Airyglyph, save for Woltar who continued to worry over the young man despite the fact that Albel didn't give a single damn for the man who was growing older and his hair was turning white, and his hands starting to wrinkle and curl.
Not a single man was brave enough to confront Albel, who had developed enough of a reputation of being so wicked that he would even kill a fellow soldier for crossing him. Of course, Albel had done so once before, but that was because Albel was experiencing one of his usual night terrors, and the soldier had merely come in to Albel's room to see why the man was screaming in his slumber. Unfortunately for the soldier, Albel's claws were much sharper than the soldier's throat could withstand, and Albel had been awoken when he was suddenly being splashed with the hot blood gushing from the throat. By now, no one really remembered why Albel cried out in his sleep. They only knew the man that Albel presented at the moment; a vicious, black-hearted man who cared not for anyone but himself. Not a single person would be allowed within arm's length, and anyone who came within that distance literally would find themselves looking down the length of Albel's trademark katana, or even the claws.
Albel, to toughen himself against the winters, now wore nothing but thin and small clothes that showed off the fruit of his labors; his toned muscles and his thin body, which didn't hide his physique from his enemies. Besides, why hide the fact he had muscles from those he was going to kill? They should know immediately who they were dealing with, and what kind of strength he had. His body was weathered to the ice and snow that almost always covered the mountainous terrain of Airyglyph, and his heart was just as cold. Now in his twenties, many girls had tried to be with Albel, but they were driven away to the point that no one tried anymore. Albel was simply a lost cause to the world; he had no one, wanted no one, and that would never change.
With all of the runology needed to keep Albel's prosthetic arm attached, his eyes had completely turned crimson. He was truly Albel the Wicked, and Albel had force his way into the Black Brigade, being nothing more than a carrier at first. He toted the flag, he carried the shields, the buckets of water for the higher soldiers before he was a soldier finally, and then eventually clawed his way up into the ranks to prove that he deserved a seat of power. Damn, it felt good to know you were better than everyone else. As Albel stared down at the solders who were training at the Kirlsa training facility, he gently scratched his chin before he looked to his commanding officer. Albel was forced to wear the heavy black armor still, as he wasn't the commander yet. It was uniform, after all. Recently, the Aquarians had been rising up against Airyglyph, who was trying to push it's way into the more fertile lands. Food was scarce, and the economy was terrible if the people were starving and unable to purchase good food. Training had become more and more intense, the Aquarian spies and soldiers sneaking their way in sometimes and making small raids on the border of Glyphian territory. Now, a full-scale war was nearly in effect.
Within moments, Albel twisted as he heard a distant yell from below and he peeked from over the battlement before a grappling hook flew past his face and scraped against the stone before catching. With a snarl, Albel peeked over to stare down at an Aquarian soldier who was beginning to climb up the rope. As he was about to cut the rope with his katana, an arrow flew past Albel's head and he was forced to duck. With a snarl of anger for such actions, Albel turned to his commanding officer, only to find that the man was downed; an arrow between the eyes. Rolling his eyes in disgust at how this man could possibly have ever lead the soldiers, Albel twisted to the men who were panicking at the sudden attack. "Get in formation, maggots! Alpha formation, barricade the third floor and protect the elevator! Delta, stay here and fight, you fools!" He snarled, and within moments half of his men had disappeared to do his bidding before Albel suddenly raced along the battlements to cut down as many of the ropes as possible, but he wasn't fast enough before soldiers were scrambling over the walls. With a growl, Albel's eyes narrowed and his claws lashed out; a grin pulling at his face as the man let out a horrible scream from the depths of his lungs as one of his eyes were torn out, and the rest of his face was in ribbons from the claws. "Take that, worm!" Albel sneered, shoving the man off of the battlement before a solder attempted to stab Albel from behind, but thankfully the heavy black armor protected Albel. Though, the man was resourceful enough to shove Albel off of the battlements and towards the rest of the brigade, hoping that the fall would kill Albel. It didn't, but it did quite a number on the armor, that just about fell off as Albel sat upright and held his head that felt as though it were spinning. Yanking off the rest of the clunky armor, Albel felt refreshed, not needing to lug around the extra weight. Besides… a real warrior took the blows and ignored them. What didn't kill you made you stronger, right? So all Albel had to do was not get a fatal wound and he would be good to go.
Within moments, the flood of soldiers were pouring in from over the walls and the brigade was fighting for their lives, many of them being new recruits who had yet to know the taste of blood lust. Although Albel had already scrambled back up the wall and found himself a safe spot to look down the side to find the leader, who was doing nothing but sitting on his horse and just laughing about how they seemed to have an advantage by trapping the Black Brigade. With a sneer, Albel jumped down and ran inside, taking the elevator to the second floor. The first floor stop had yet to be constructed, and as Albel exited the elevator, he smirked as he came face to face with a group of soldiers. "You're Albel Nox, aren't you?" One brave man touted, grinning quite gleefully while swinging his mace in a neat circle. "And what if I am…" Albel hissed, his claws gently clacking against one another. "Then the price on your head is MINE!" He roared, and Albel charged as the man swung the mace as hard as he could, trying to aim and land it right on Albel's head, but the much faster man just side-stepped and thrust his katana forward, first stabbing the man in the throat clear-through before a flick of his wrist severed the head and the soldiers stared in disbelief as the head plopped to the ground, blood gushing from the stump of the throat before they came to their senses and charged to encircle the soldier. With a snarl, Albel turned and impaled another man on his sword, twisting and cutting cleanly through another man; both cleaved in two. Albel's claws gleamed, lashing out as well, the aura emanating from Albel as a dark crimson as his blood lust raged and with little effort, the entire team was slaughtered and Albel took off running to get to the stairs. The moment he came upon the stairs, Albel lunged off and raised his katana high over his head, his face twisted into a maniacal expression; eyes wide and a wicked grin pulling the corners of his mouth nearly ear-to-ear. The sword came down upon a hapless soldier who was merely guarding the stairs for any Black Brigade soldiers, and Albel continued on sprinting past the body, even before gravity took both halves to the ground. Albel was going straight for that leader… he didn't care who was in his way, let it be Aquarian men, women, children, or even his own men! No one was going to stop him! As Albel threw open the entrance doors to the Kirlsa facility, ignoring the bodies on the ground that belong to Aquarian soldiers, and his own, and the fact that he himself was covered in blood, he just chuckled as his tongue slid along his upper lip to clean off some of the crimson.
As the Aquarian commander noticed the lone Albel in the doors, he just smirked as a line of his soldiers just moved to stand guard in front of him. "Albel Nox… is it?" He asked, watching as Albel began to walk towards them, the ruby eyes locked only upon the commander, like a starving dog to a hunk of meat. "Albel… the Wicked." The man hissed, smirking as blood dripped from his katana and his claws, and he licked a bit of spray from his face again. "I won't kill you… I'll just give you hell." He snickered, but within an instant, Albel lunged and one of the sword men charged, the sword raised high before they suddenly changed their mind before Albel could react. The soldier slammed his shoulder hard into Albel, knocking him to the ground before the other men hurried to try and grab the Glyphian warrior. Albel though, was not about to be taken alive and would fight to his very last breath. Like a beast, Albel roared and his claws lashed out, grabbing a man by the arm, digging in and yanking hard enough to tear the limb off. The man screamed in agony, but Albel just ignored it and continue, twisting around to get up on his feet before he had his sword at hand again and with ease, dispatched the soldiers, leaving them as nothing more than carcasses for the vultures.
"Don't fight the monsters…. Lest you become a monster yourself." Albel hissed, chuckling before he suddenly slashed his katana at the man from his distance, the pure aura of blood lust manifesting itself as a solid blade that shot across the land before the horse could even react. It let out a blood-curdling scream as the blade cut through one of the legs, immediately causing the beast to collapse before Albel walked up to the fallen commander, his leg caught and snapped under the fallen and writhing beast.
As Albel stood over the man, he reached down and yanked the man's sword away from him to keep him from fighting. "I said I wouldn't kill you… I don't kill weaklings." He hissed, his eyes narrowing in delight as he hovered over the commander and reached out, grabbing him by the throat and yanking him free from the beast before Albel just cut the horse's throat just to shut up it's horrified squealing. The commander was whimpering, staring at Albel in horror. "What the hell… are you?"
Albel's expression calmed only slightly, his eyes somewhat glazed over as he seemed to have little interest in this man, showing nothing but contempt. "I told you… my name is Albel the Wicked." He murmured, and his claws began to dig at the commander's belly, piercing the flesh and the fat as Albel dug before the intestines began to fall out of the wound and the commander was howling in agony and terror. "Tell me everything you know…" He whispered, chuckling softly as he leaned in close to the man's lips to hear what he had to say. "Tell me quickly… and the sooner you do… the sooner I end your suffering."