Lord of The Karmic Armada
Chapter 43: Choices of the Devil, A friend or A Leader

Chapter 43: Choices of the Devil, A friend or A Leader

Within the hidden forest, inside the Dark Elven Tribe forest area, small explosions could be heard occasionally. The place where the underground hall of the Elven tribe was located was quaking from the shockwaves from time to time.

There were ominous screams that could also be heard often, which made the darkness tremble from time to time. Eventually, after a certain point, there was an eerie quietness. If a person were to dare and walk into the underground hall, what they would see could chill them to their spine.

In the silent depth of that hall, 39 dark elves were standing in a wide circular position, making a large circle in the middle. All their eyes were glowing blood red and there was a strange red pattern on their eyes. They were smiling wickedly with mouths wide, yet it looked as if they were forced to show such expression. They gave off the feeling of being more dead than alive because of their unmoving nature.

In the middle of that man-made circle were 2 beings. One was the ever-powerful Tribe Leader Hansel but he was in such a bad state that despite being a pathwalker, a third stage awakened could give him trouble. A little distance away facing him was the First Elder Zolthar who was also possessed now. Hansel had an expression of despair on his face looking at his closest and most trusted friend who was also now in control of the enemy.

Outside of this entire circle where the show was taking place, some distance away was the majestic seat of the Tribe Leader, that is where the perpetrator of this entire scheme was sitting with an arrogant posture akin to a Lord. He had one foot above the other, his chin rested on his hand, and he had a wicked grin on his face that could make anyone’s blood run cold.

Hansel was in utter despair, his only friend had also become possessed just like all the other one’s and he did not know what to do. He was so weak because of the injuries and exhaustion that he could not even overpower his friend anymore. To get to the human now there was only one way, to kill his friend and more of his tribe members whose fates were unknown. Even then he would not be the match of the human, he would simply be killed.

As he was reveling in his despair, the body of his friend trembled again for a moment. Then an all-familiar sinister smile crept on the face of the First Elder.

He said his voice filled with intense amusement, "Am I still unworthy to call your name."

Hansel shuddered and took a few steps back hearing the voice of that hateful human, his mocking gaze, and that sinister smile, how could he mistaken, but then how?

How could the soul of the vile human be inside the body of his friend? He looked towards where the human was supposed to be and he was indeed there, or to be precise his body was there unmoving, eyes closed as if he was sleeping. His despair was replaced by unbridled rage for the umpteenth time. Then the voice of his enemy resounded again,

"Let me give you a choice to rekindle your dwindling hope, now that I am in the body of your dear friend, my level is lower than yours as well the fact that killing me in this body will end me permanently which will in turn free all of the elves from my control, resulting in all of them returning to normal. But for that to happen you will have to take the unfortunate action of killing your dear friend with your own hands." He said loudly.

Seeing Hansel’s expression go from heaven to hell because of his statement he mused internally and added, "Or you can kill every other tribe member fast enough then go and kill my real body which I cannot return to within 1 hour or so from the moment of this possession."

Valtar in the body of the First Elder spread his arms wide, looked straight into the eyes of Hansel, and stated in a tone akin to a thunderclap,

"So, what will you choose Hansel? Will you be the friend who saves his friend sacrificing everything else or will you be the trusted leader who saves his people regardless of the self-sacrifice?"

Just like how a devil offers something to a mortal, something that leads to their eventual downfall, while covering the real choice in gray fog. Valtar left out the third and real choice which he did not say anything about. It was obviously to save himself disregarding everything else.

Hansel gritted his teeth and looked at him in boundless rage, what is this? A game? Their lives, desires, aspirations, and determinations is everything in some sort of game. In the end, was it supposed to end up as a game for this human, he regretted so much for not killing him when he had the chance, and now he was reaping what he sowed. He could not help but think, was this all their lives amounted to?

He cried out to the heavens in his mind yet there was none to answer him, none to save him, only the devil was here to play his game of madness. He closed his eyes, and a few drops of tears fell from his face as he barely muttered, "I’m sorry my friend." He had made his decision, the resolution that he needed to follow through.

It was time to go all out. He commanded the darkness, "My friend, it seems you’re the only one I can rely on till the end." When these words came out of his mouth the darkness stirred and rushed forward inside of Hansel’s body like a tidal wave crashing onto a dam and breaking through. Hansel’s face visibly started aging but his injuries were healing. If he previously looked like a 26-27-year-old, then now he looked more than 40 years old and was aging even more.

At least that is by human standards. However, since they were a race that lived much longer than humans, Hansel had probably sacrificed far more years of his lifespan than the changes visible. He strangely moved his hand as the darkness stopped rushing inside of his body and a hilt of something appeared on his hand, he grabbed onto it. Darkness began to compress from that point, it formed the shape of a long dark whip. Hansel’s eyes were glowing deep blue, and his face which was filled with a myriad of emotions returned to utter indifference and focus.

Valtar thought to himself, ’That chilling indifference, He finally couldn’t hold on anymore and forcefully reactivated the seal.’

’In the end, he still chooses to save his people rather than his own friend.’ Valtar only felt disgusted by such a shitty display of kindness.

Hansel not even wasting a millisecond, with a simple push of the foot dashed forward using his dark step, with a wide motion of his hands he attacked with the dark whip. The whip as if it was alive shot out and stretched at a weird angle aiming itself directly at Valtar’s neck.

Valtar now being much more efficient in combat, somewhat expected such an attack.

He tactfully dodged, and it came after him again. This time, Valtar met the attack with his sword and the whip, as if having a life of its own wrapped around the sword. The sword itself started decaying very slowly as long as the dark whip was wrapped around it.

Valtar instantly let go of the sword, realizing how dangerous the situation had become.

He realized he probably needed to fight without a weapon as it would only get in the way, yet he was not worried. He commanded the system,

’Kill my sense of taste and touch.’

Valtar all this time had his sensory perception skill on, his sense of sight was disabled because he could not see anything in this area in the first place, which in turn enhanced his other senses significantly. Now disabling 2 more senses suddenly ramped up his senses so much that he felt dizzy for a moment. It seems there is a price to pay for overloading your senses which should not happen normally.

He could instinctively feel it because of the sheer amount of information he was receiving, his brain was overloading. Keeping it active for too long would hurt his brain. Thankfully he was now in the First Elders body otherwise he wouldn’t dare take the chance of injuring his own brain.

To be honest it truly felt like his entire worldview changed, the clarity of the surroundings, he could almost touch the sounds with his ears and feel the smells with his nose. Valtar closed his eyelids. Immersing himself totally in his sense, his face turned directly to where Hansel was keeping himself hidden.

Evading the dark whip in an unreal manner he ran towards the Tribe Leader, when he was close enough with a quick motion he picked up a sword that was on the floor and slashed downward in a powerful motion.

Hansel’s whip turned into a sword abruptly and he blocked that attack. Valtar now released his full killing intent and focused it on Hansel. Valtar seeing his sword decaying again after clashing with the tribe leader’s transformed dark sword frowned.

Bang...

They both backed away and Valtar accessed his dark element, though he could barely influence it and manipulate it, he used that minuscule amount of darkness to wrap it around his sword as tightly as possible. Valtar losing his sense of touch did not care about his injuries anymore as he began to fight like a madman. Hansel was also desperately trying to kill his friend. Unfortunately for Hansel, because of his barely left stamina and injured body, it was too hard for him to keep fighting now and even a third stage awakened was pushing his limits despite him being a Pathwalker.

Hansel was getting pushed back constantly. Without him even realizing it, he had come close to the border created by the unmoving possessed ones. Valtar ducked down and avoided the Tribe leader’s attack and with a sweep of his leg, Valtar made his enemy lose balance, then at that exact moment, he punched with his full force right at the stomach wound of the Tribe Leader.

Booooooomm!

Hansel was sent flying right towards one of the possessed ones who were standing in a circular format and...

SWOOSH—SCHLIIICK—SQUELCH!

The sword of that elf in the circle pierced his back as he let out a gut-wrenching scream.

ArghhhhhhhhAhhhhhh...

His indifferent expression cracked unknowingly as he looked at the human who tricked him again, Valtar smiled as he said, "Now, when did I tell you that my puppets could not intervene."

Before the Dark Elven Leader could say anything, Valtar appeared in front of him and made a powerful Horizontal slash and........

"WHOOSH—SLIIICK—THUD!"

The sword cut through the neck of the tribe leader as if it were hot butter and in his last moments he heard the human speak,

"Farewell, Hansel Khanarasa."