Swordmeister of Rome

<…Is this his memory?>

Sian mumbled as he watched the flashbacks flooding his mind. It was the power that came from the Exar that flowed through him from the heart. Sian did not reject the flow he was now reading through each memory.

Nekra.

The genius warrior of the mighty Kal-Guls.

Nekra was a proud Kal-Gul who feared nothing and he was proud of the fact that he was a mighty Kal-Gul warrior. However, he had one issue.

<Chrona>

Ruler of the Great Forest.

The one that stood on top of all the powerful things in the Great Forest.

Nekra could not accept the truth. Even if it was that strong, it was only a Six-Horned. Six-Horned Harijans were very powerful beings, but there were plenty of Kal-Guls who could manage to beat such monsters. His High Warrior status was also given to him after he beat up a Six-Horned Harijan.

Therefore, Nekra did not like the fact that the other Kal-Guls were avoiding Chrona.

He decided to visit the monster to try to kill it. In fact, he had trained in all three ways of Sorma that made him powerful.

Nekra realized it after running across Chrona.

It was the same Six-Horned, but it was much powerful being.

Chrona was at the stage just before getting the seventh horn and was not even close for Nekra to dare to fight it.

Chrona seemed interested in Nekra who was shocked and sent its thought to Nekra.

<Good, I was looking for someone useful like you.>

The monster was communicating with him.

<Why, is that surprising? It looks like you wish to become stronger. Is it not?>

<!!!>

Everyone in the Great Forest wanted to become strong. Nekra thought this in his head and sent it to Chrona. Chrona laughed and spoke.

<Hahaha… I'll give you power. But nothing in this world is free.>

At that moment, Chrona swallowed Nekra at once.

<UGH!>

<You will see… everything change when you wake up.>

When he did wake up, there was no Chrona. Nekra felt something had changed from within. His heart was now replaced with one of Chrona's six hearts. Nekra was dazed at such enormous power. The second was the weapon. His sword was nowhere to be found and he instead had a stick that was made from Chrona's razor-sharp teeth. Nekra named it <Karnine>. Third… he knew what he had done. He should not have approached Chrona.

He realized why Chrona gave him such power.

Before <Dragona> went to prepare to become Seven-Horned, <Chrona> also went to reproduce. It was its instinct. Chrona would prepare itself to become a Seven-Horn once it was done reproducing and would be busy fighting against the Seven-Horned Dragona.

That was why Chrona forced Nekra to take care of her baby.

Nekra wasn't allowed to die anymore. It had to protect Chrona's baby.

<You are my protector. You cannot disobey.>

Nekra fell into despair. He had earned great power, but he was now a slave.

<It's interesting,> Sian thought. So Nekra's immortality wasn't because of his Kal-Gul power.

Sian then realized the owner of the scales he was wearing. He also managed to find out the hidden power behind <Karnine>.

<So the husk's owner was Dragona… and there's Chrona…>

Sian was surprised that there were more than one of those monsters, but he believed he didn't need to worry about those monsters. If they wanted to destroy the world, the world would have been left in ruins already.

Sian then focused on the next memory.

A few thousand years passed.

Nekra had grown stronger, but he felt depressed.

<Barrier… I can't get through it…>

He was so happy when he reached the barrier a few hundred years ago. After hundreds of years of training, however, he realized that this was the limit.

Fortunately, his job to protect <Chrona> wasn't too hard. The Kal-Gul had grown into a powerful group so no Harijans dared to come close.

Then the incident broke out.

<Great Warrior! The humans are coming!>

<They must have gone mad.>

Nekra was dumbfounded. He knew about the humans and the existence of the place called the Empire. He didn't care about them, but they were walking right toward them.

<We may have been too quiet. Wipe them out.>

The results were shocking. They weren't the same weaklings he knew from before. There were strong warriors and their magic was very powerful. What was the most troubling was the Emperor, the one who called himself the son of God.

<Con-Rad.>

He was real. He was only 300 years old, but he could equally fight with Nekra who had been empowered by Chrona.

As Nekra was busy dealing with Con-Rad, the war dragged on. As Nekra stayed behind to stop Con-Rad from jumping into the fight, he felt something shooting out from the north.

<What is…>

It was too late when he realized what it was. Over thousands of miles into the Great Forest came a powerful violet-colored ray. That was Nekra's final memory of the war.

When he woke up, he saw his body regenerating and he saw a powerful monster standing above him that he had not seen in the past thousands of years.

<Didn't I tell you to protect my baby well?>

<Chrona…>

Nekra realized what the ray was. It was Chrona who was mad that her baby had been harmed during the war.

Nekra then felt he could not feel any connections with his people.

<What happened…>

Before Nekra could organize his thoughts, Chrona ordered with rage.

<The few who harmed my baby have run out to Liona's territory. I can't go there… but you can. Go kill all of them and never return until you do.>

Nekra began heading south and he realized what had happened. Ruins after ruins… the Empire was done for.

<Everyone died…>

Nekra spoke hollowly. Chrona's rage destroyed the entire Empire, the people, and the Kal-Guls.

Nekra was enraged and filled with emptiness. He also felt bitter that he could not disobey Chrona's order as he was ordered to seek revenge.

<You bastard… I will do as you say for now. But I won't be your dog for too long.>

Nekra walked down south, to the territory of Liona.