Vazir took the guard with him to his private chamber which was adjacent to the town hall.
Vazir's chamber was similar to Kaz'er's; however, it was relatively smaller and he had no blanket to cover himself with. The lantern was barely lighting up anything.
There he was briefed over everything that transpird; it sure as hell took a while as the guard couldn't stop trembling and stuttering recalling the events.
"Sigh...the hell is going on?" Said Vazir, as he massaged his temples out of frustration.
This..thing.. whatever it was, definitely is not something they had encountered before.
'I immediately need to report this to Kaz'er.' he said to himself in urgency.
"You can leave, go home to your wife and kids. They are lucky to not have been deprived of a husband and a father." Spoke Vazir as he pushed open the door of his chamber and stepped out.
He decided to break the news to the guard's family before heading to the town hall.
'Why do I have to do this?' he asked himself.
He headed towards the outskirts of the village, near the forest.
'The house left to the village's entrance; that's his house.' repeating the address of the deceased guard's house.
He was standing outside the door and was about to knock, but then he stopped.
He heard creaking noises coming from inside; and.... incoherent voices of a man and a woman.
'For God's sake, your husband just died and you're playing around with another man.' he complained in his head.
"Ah wait-wrong house..." he said, slapping himself on his cheek, which turned red.
Perhaps he was just trying to hide the embarrassment.
He approached another house, the correct one this time. As he leaned closer to the door, he heard the noise of a baby crying and it was accompanied by a woman speaking.
"It is alright litte one, daddy is going to be back any minute now." The woman said.
The baby's cry was replaced with a joyful giggle; this melted Vazir's heart. 'Why?.. why do I have to do this job?' he screamed in his head.
'I am one of the councilmen, these are our people. If not me, then who will do it?' he took deep breaths and steeled his resolve.
Finally managing to muster up the courage, he knocked on the door.
"Ah, that must be him!" He heard the woman's voice full of anticipation as she approached the door.
When she opened the door, well..she was disappointed but surprised to say the least.
"M-mr. Vazir, what pleasure do we owe you?" She asked as she respectfully bowed.
"Are you...expecting someone?" He asked her, not bothering to answer her initial question.
The woman was perplexed; she replied hesitantly, feeling ominous from the way Vazir was acting, "Yes..my husband,he works as the watch man, he should be home any minute now."
Vazir averted his gaze "He won't be coming." He said looking at the ground; his voice was carrying a mixture of emotions.
"Huh?.. is he working a double shift tonight?..." she asked, her chest tightening as that eerie feeling kept intensifying.
"No..he is dead....somewhile ago." Vazir said, with a soft voice.
If the woman wasn't standing close to him, she wouldn't have been able to hear him.
Before Vazir could even say anything, the woman fell on her knees.
She looked devastated, her pupils were devoid of any light or life. Seeing this, Vazir felt a strong sting in his heart.
"W-where is... his body?" asked the woman, already tearing up.
"We will bring it from the forest tomorrow and give him a proper burial." He replied and turned on his heel; not wanting to spend another second here.
The woman was still on her knees crying and shouting "why". Her child, thinking of this as some queue, starting crying in synchronization.
With the, now widowed wife and fatherless child, the night also wept. This was a mysterious death in the village, and they didn't had any of those in a while.
This wasn't of any natural cause; if Vazir's guess is right, the hollows are already dwelling in the forest. They have become sitting ducks at this point.
But hollows aren't attacking, that could mean there is a strong hollow here.
Maybe the weaker one's are following it's orders or...there is only one hollow; he hoped it wasn't the former.
The low level hollows were nothing but mindless beats craving destruction. For them to not attack only meant a more stronger hollow was overseeing them. This only added onto Vazir's suspicions.
Because, that single hollow would need to be as strong as or even stronger than an 'Elite' ranked human, for it to be able to control the weaker mindless beasts.
'Our village is doomed if that's the case.' he admitted regretfully.
He increased his pace as he walked towards the town hall; on his way there, he decided to take the guard with him.
He collected the guard from his house before going to the town hall. The town hall was very big in comparison to the other infrastructure here.
The tal hall was quite massive. There was a waiting lobby, and a door by the reception, which opened into a hall. The hall was littered with doors on it's left and right hand side.
These doors lead to different rooms; rooms for different purposes. For example, one of the doors led to a dinning room, one of them led to the council gathering office, which had a large circular table in the center of the room.
Kaz'er's room was at the back end of the hall. Vazir approached his room, and he left the guard at the reception since he can't come in without a permission from Kaz'er himself.
Vazir knocked on the door, and waited a few seconds before it was opened. Kaz'er stood in the door frame with clear signs of fatigue on his face.
But before he could say anything, Vazir spoke "The guard has something they would like to report."
Ka'zer was surprised to say the least 'At this hour?' he questioned in his head. But, he knew Vazir wasn't the one to disrupt his sleep for no reason.
He signaled Vazir to lead him, and started following two steps behind him.
After somewhile they reached the reception where they saw the guard, who was still a bit shaken by the whole ordeal.
Kaz'er sat down and asked him to reiterate the whole incident.
After the guard explained everything for the second time, still trembling while recounting the experience, Kaz'er went into a deep state of contemplation.
"Sigh...this is not good." Kaz'er said as he let out a defeated sigh.
The room was embraced by a palpable silence.
Kaz'er told the guard to leave, and ordered Vazir to assemble the council.
Vazir nodded and went to collect the counsilmen.
The situation was becoming increasingly dreadful.
....
In the depths of the forest
A few silhouettes could be seen surrounding a figure; the weren't really standing, rather, they were kneeling.
Who were they kneeling to? A teenage boy with raven black hair tied in a top half bun. His ree crimson eyes were embodied boredom and nutriality.
Yes, this was Valour-the prince of hollows.
Valour's gaze swept across the crowd-seeing through the sham.
"Why did you divide yourself? Stand a whole, 'Martial'." He said to the figure, assertively.
The figures started fusing with each other.
After they mereged, a tall creature of about 15 feet stood in front of Valour.
The figure was slender, it had grey skin, a bulb like head, and with a black orb embedded in the middle of it.
It's claws were each 6 inches each, and he had 4 of these on both hands.
"Remember: do whatever you would If I wasn't here. I am only here to observe." Said Valour, looking at the beast.
Martial just nodded and disappeared from the scene like he was never there to begin with.
Some hollows could teleport, albeit the one's over a certain rank and of a certain class.
There were 7 Hollow ranks, which corresponded to the 7 Human ranks.
The Hollow ranks were as the following: Vermin, Beastial, Martial, Monarch, Duke , Abyssl and lastly Overlord.
It is said that the hollow king is the only one of the 'Overlord rank', which was believed to be even 4 times stronger than an 'Apex' ranked human who had a domain.
Generally, holllws were stronger than the humans of the same rank; albeit, the disparity was different for each rank.
For example, a 'Martial' was similar in strength to an 'Elite'. Either of these could have an edge over the other depending on many factors.
Hollows don't have abilities similar to humans. Their abilities were based on the nature of hollow energy; some hollows were an exception and had abilities somehowat similar to humans.
The hollows also were divided into classes, each class predetermined the abilities they could possibly have.
The class are the following: fighter, berserker, assassin, and tank.
Each of these distinct classes unlock abilities only limited to their class as they increase their major rank.
Once every major rank breakthrough, they unlocked a new ability. There was nothing like aspects or sub-ranks.
Hollows also didn't possess a core, and they didn't need atmospheric hollow energy to execute moves.
They can also release hollow energy in the atmosphere, and then use it to power their attacks.
Albeit hollow energy could only be released by a hollow ranked 'Martial' or higher. That too wasn't of any significant amount.
Only hollows ranked 'Abyss' could release significant amounts of hollow energy. And the number of hollows at 'Abyss' rank could be counted on one hand.
This is to be noted: these 'Abyss' ranked hollows were twice as strong than the strongest humans.
Similar in strength to the highest ranked Celestials.
'Monarch' ranks and above were reserved for the hollows who had some leadership role in the army.
Soldiers themselves, weren't stronger than 'Martial' rank.
So a small-medium sized rift can't spew monsters with the strength of a 'Monarch' or higher.
Hollow was essentially corruption. These beings had given themselves up, sold their souls, having nothing but a hollow deep within.
Anyways, the presence of a 'Martial' ranked hollow was a result of Valour's teleportation.
He caused a portal to open when he arrived here. Or perhaps, it was her mother trying to spice things up.
"Remember, Valour, consider this as an espionage and training." These were her words to Valour.
'Great thinking mother, I thought we were supposed to be discreet about it.' Valour said complained in his head.
.....
In the council hall
"We should notify 'The Belmouth family' immediately." suggested Haul.
"They will not do shit. As a matter of fact, they might kill us all. For some bullshit conspiracy or attempting to disrupt the peace or some horse shit!" Vazir snapped.
Everyone knew how much he hated the Belmouth family. After all, this family was notorious for not giving a damn about the weak.
And his hatred was not unfounded. No one had heard from the Union for a century now. Were they even alive? If yes, then why are they allowing them to be ruled by such tyrants?
They say the Union appointed the 4 great families as governers. This only makes the more guilty in Vazir's opinion.
"All in favour of seeking aid, raise their hands." Kaz'er said.
To kaz'er's surprise, and Vazir's dismay, everyone but them raised their hands.
"You buffoons, have you forgotten what they previously-...!" Vazir was cut off by Kaz'er raising his hand.
"We have two choices: 1) We can either send a letter to the capital, like we always have been. But, we know what happens everytime. 2) We inform the nearest border control squad by sending a scout party; they should be able to dispose of the hollow even if it was 'Martial' ranked." Kaz'er said composed, trying to put up a front.
To absolutely to no one's surprise, everyone chose the second option.
Kaz'er let out a defeated sigh and exhaled deeply.
"Then it is decided, we will send a scout party first thing at dawn." Kaz,er said, and a brief moment of silence followed them.
Vazir raised his hand, wanting to say something. Although he was still pissed off, he forgot to address something of extreme importance.
Kaz'er nodded, signaling him to go ahead and speak.
"I would like to invite the councilmen and the tribal leader to attend the funeral of the fallen guard." He spoke in a solemn tone.
The rest of the councilmen nodded in response, sharing their mutual empathy.
The reason Kaz'er knew the hollow couldn't be of a rank higher than 'Martial' is because of the Celestials.
They left humans with an artifact; it prevented the formation of any rifts containing beast over the 'Duke' rank.
Also if a rift of 'Monarch' or 'Duke' hollows were ro open, the Union would be rushing their asses over here to fight it.
Unlike Vazir, Kaz'er believed the Union is still alive. These people were the epitome of strength. In a world of magic and power, immorality seemed in grasp.
Another reason for his optimism was: The Union has no reason to make themselves public. This continent has been at peace for decades, there was no need for them to come out.
However, a rift opening for a Martial rank or lower, wouldn't particularly alarm the Union-unless they were paying meticulous attention to that area.
And how would they know? Due to the sudden influx of hollow energy. Although, anything below 'Abyss' rank couldn't release significant amounts of hollow energy, it doesn't mean the lower ranks from 'Monarch' to 'Duke' wouldn't release enough hollow energy to be picked up by the Union.
Rifts have teirs : 1-6
1-2: contained monsters from Vermin to Martial rank. The latter (2) contained a single 'Martial' ranked hollow leading a dozen Vermin ranked hollows.
2-4: these rifts included hollows from the ranks of 'Martial' to 'Monarch'. Only teir 4 rifts had a 'Monarch' guiding an army of 'Martial' ranked hollows.(Army=12)
4-5: contained only a single 'Duke' ranked hollow, this rift opening would cause 2 'Apex' ranked Humans to rush their ass over. Albeit, a single 'Apex' with a domain unlocked could deal with it. It would take 2 'Apex' ranked humans without a domain to deal with it.
6-7: Well, these rift contain a single 'Abyss' ranked hollow accompanied by a 'Duke' ranked hollow. This would take take 3 'Apex" ranked humans with domains to deal with.
An 'Abyss' is 4 times stronger than an 'Apex' ranked human without a domain and two times stronger than a 'Apex' with a domain.
Such a rift opening would result in catastrophic damage to the human continent.
....
P.s
Hope y'all liked the chapter, sorry if the story seems a little slow. I am going to give this disclaimer: If you are expecting an overpowered face slapping shit fest then you're at the wrong place.
I've made the power system with the intention to eventually scale the main cast. As you've already figured out, the disparity between ranks is very notable.
I have made the Hollows and Celestials stronger than Humans, albeit I kept the gap somewhat fair, by limiting the number of Hollows and Celestials ranked 'Abyss' or whatever I would call the highest rank for the Celestials(excluding the rank reserved for the kings of these respective races.)
I will be keeping 10 Humans with SSS+ ability and 8 of them will have domains. I will be limiting the number of Abyss ranked Hollows or the highest ranked Celestials to 5. These creatures will be twice as strong as the highest ranked Humans with domains.
Meaning it would take 2 of these humans to beat a single Abyss ranked Hollow or the highest ranked Celestial.
The power systems are more nuanced and things may defer in some fights; but, for the most part, this is where the humans rank.
I didn't want to make them completely weak or obsolete in the latter parts of the story.
Sorry for those who were expecting the MC to solo everyone; although he might, near the end of the novel, but I have planned out how to make it fair for the good guys.
For those wondering, no MC is not a good guy. He is a hollow, more so specifically the prince of Hollows.
I won't spoil the rest, watch as the story unfolds. I promise not to disappoint when It comes to the ruthlessness of the MC.
And yes there will be a love story, but it's not going to happen anytime soon, the MC has no feelings. Will he ever truly have them? Or will the love story be nothing but a game of chess for him to aid him in his mission.
Wait to find out, sorry for the long ass Author's notice .