A/N: Had someone crying out for a request so here we are, a test run~!
Every review truly does help, large or small, any bit of feedback is better than nothing at all.
As ever, I own no quotes, references, themes or memes. Not a wit or one. They're tributes, one and all.
I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time.
Time and feedback will determine if this should become a story. Simple as that.
In other words...everything is up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know~!
Obvious Teaser is obvious yohohoho...
"To be fair, your first mistake was your choice of target.
Your second, was thinking this would work.
And your third...
~?
Wrong Blond
Kill the blond.
Such was the command.
Find the blond, kill him, and in doing so slay his soul.
In the same instant they are conspirator would free herself of her accursed flesh and defy destiny.
It was a good plan, a simple plan, just the sort that should work; striking in the dead of night when the demigods were sound asleep, all but dead to the world.
Soon, there's would be a far more permanent end.
They found the blond easily enough, Godwyn was within his chambers as they knew he would be.
He stood before a window, gazing out upon the moonless sky, back to them.
He did not move when they eased the door open.
He did not move as they drew their daggers.
He did not move.
A spiraling sphere of pure blue light came crashing down from the heavens smashed into the Vanguard and tore them apart.
Three died an instant, and in the explosion that followed, a score more found themselves injured and unable to move
Alecto, the ringleader, paused.
This was not Godwyn the Golden.
To be fair, his hair and eyes were of a similar shade, so one might be forgiven for thinking it was, he, but no upon closer inspection, they were two different. This one had whiskered cheeks and his hair, though long like Marika's firstborn, was a wild, spiky mess, tumbling down his shoulders not unlike that of his old mentor.
Turning to face them fully revealed a singular Rune fragment burning bright in his chest. Not a piece of Destined Dearh, but rather the antithesis of it.
Life.
Whiskered cheeks dimpled in a small smile; one that didn't quite reach those blazing blue eyes.
"Terribly sorry, but my big brother isn't here. I'm afraid he's gone gone out for a romantic evening with his wife. Shall I take a message?"
He was mocking them, talking down to them, treating them as though they weren't a threat!
The gall.
Alecto bridled. "Cheeky brat!"
No matter! One blond would do as well as another!
"Brat, am I?" a blonde brow rose, bemused. "That's rather rude, don'tcha think. I've been on my best behavior. I'll have you know...but what's this?"
Pausing, He looked past them.
"Those knives," He glanced at their twisted daggers, thumbing his chin, as though they were no more and harmless sticks, "I recognize that handiwork. This is Ranni's doing, isn't it? Silly silly girl. I told her I would handle that Empyrean business for her, but no, she just had to panic and go through with that ritual of hers...
Shaking his head, He rolled his shoulders and shrugged.
"Little sisters!" He bemoaned to the skies. "Always so willful, so proud, so stubborn...honestly, she and Malenia are gona be the death of me one of these days...and if not them, then Radahn and the rest... honestly, being a big brother can be such a burden...but enough about me...
He smiled a little little, raised his right hand and beckoned unto them.
"You came to kill a god, didn't you? I'm no Godwyn, but one blond is good as another, ya know. Care to try your luck?"
No one moved. They knew the stories.
This man was not so easily trifled with. She dare not even speak His name, for fear of giving His power over them.
For if Godwyn was the Golden, that shining firstborn son, then his brother was of Silver; and unlike His elder brother, He possessed a silver tongue.
She had heard the stories. This man -monster!- Could talk His way out of any situation, convince you to do whatever He wished. With but a whisper, He could turn allies into enemies, adversaries into lovers, friends against friends, ally against ally.
Rumor had it He's even spoken to the Greater Will itself and convinced it to do His bidding.
Hogwash!
Still, even the grandest tales some small kernel of truth...
What was the old saying? First is the worst second is the best? It was an old rhyme, something children often mumbled in their youth...
.
..
... but in this case, it rang true.
Still, He did not have his daggers on this night, and His allies were nowhere to be seen. He was alone. Vulnerable.
Even demigods feared Destined Death.
Didn't they?
Perhaps sensing her fear, His grin grew. "What's wrong? You're not the first to try and take my head, and you certainly won't be the last. So what's stopping you? Where's your sense of adventure? I'm standing right here before you, unarmed, and unarmored. You won't get another chance like this, ya know. This is a prime opportunity~!"
Something was off.
Why wasn't He trying to talk them down? Surely, with His power, He could've turned them against one another by now. And yet He had not. Why was that?
Something was very wrong.
Alecto inched forward.
Something was terribly, horribly, wrong.
But what choice did she have? She and her companions had come far and sacrificed much to reach this night. They could not return empty-handed. No, they dare not, for the price of failure was far worse than death.
"Funny thing about this land," He chuckled again the sound of low discordant note. "you would think death is to have all-be all, greatest power in the world...but it isn't."
What was He playing at? Trying to stall for time? Give His allies a chance to reach Him? Unacceptable. Alecto looked to her daughter, Tiche and nodded once.
There was no need for words between them.
Her daughter knew what to do.
She lunged at the false god.
The golden godling flowed backward, effortlessly evading the first thrust of her knife, slapped aside a second by striking her wrist, seized her arm, and broke it without a sound.
Tiche reeled with a wordless cry, and as she did He reappeared behind her.
"Nothing personal, kid. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
So speaking, He caught her face with eerie grace, seized her by the head, twisted and-
CRUNCH.
Her neck snapped like so much dry kindling, leaving their their body to collapse in a mangled heap at his feet.
The others hesitated, made wary by the sight.
He considered the corpse with a keen eye.
"You know, this is a great chance to test out that new spell I've been working on...
After all, where there is death, so must there be life.
For instance...!"
He looked to the fallen corpse of their comrade intently.
"Arise."
The corpse of Tiche twisted, shuddered, burst into blue and black light.
In a matter of moments, her body was nowhere to be seen; all that remained was a spectral figure, standing tall and proud beside her new master.
As Alecto looked on aghast, her former comrade turned and knelt before the whiskered warrior, this smiling blond, who had yet to move from His seat.
"Well!" He whistled aloud, "Would you look at that? It does work on your kind after all. Good to know. I wonder if there's an upper limit to how many of you I can convert...
His glowing gaze slid back to the lot of them, narrowing with half-lidded intent.
"Let's find out."
Alecto shrank back.
The blond launched himself at her.
A/N: Hoooo boy...
Solo Leveling tribute is obvious, and I own nothing.
And so the Night of Black Knives begins and ends very differently...
Obvious tributes are obvious and I own nothiiiing~!
I'll let you guess whether this scene itself was meant for By the Flame, Runt of the Litter, or something else. Would you like this to see this scene fully realized? Do let me know~!
No previews this time. I'm exhausted. Aaaand there we go. As ever, reviews keep me alive. Without them, I cannot write.
So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...Review...Would You Kindly? It would mean the world to me.
Hope you enjoyed this, and may your day be filled with lots of luck!
Warm regards,
~Nz.