The guards were something to behold really, in comparison to the fat and useless ones from in the city these ones had some muscle on their body. They were chatty with one another and even laughing in some regards. They were at ease even in the middle of the night which made saturn somehow a little apprehensive in approaching them. He’d stand there outside of their torchlight. Staring and taking in their numbers. Dozens of them; this was no longer a small operation this was something that was fueling something bigger. He took a few long moments inspecting them; their symbols looked familiar. Some familial house of some…

Saturn’s heart seized when he realized what the symbol he was looking at was from. It was from that woman that had taken his prior iteration and warped them into the being that he is now. His blood ran cold and his understanding of why echo was nervous blossomed into something he wasn’t expecting. Was echo someone that she had summoned too and he was just trying to hide from her? Or was he one that she was trying to bring into the fold by using his family? It explained so much and rather than get mad at his companion he’d squeeze their shoulder in support.

”They won’t be sacrifices like she was don’t worry.”

”Saturn…?”

Saturn looked down to his companion and his smile was earnest and true. The little mindrache’s eyes seemed to tear up and the demi-god would stride forward. Armor warped itself around his body and the spear came to his hand as though called from a thousand thousand miles away. The guards were immediately alerted and many of them steadied their weapons trying to see what approached.

When the light touched the edges of his armor they all seemed to laugh. A single being was coming at them? There was only one that didn’t laugh and he practically recoiled. Saturn reached a hand out; as though grasping hundreds of throats in an instant. Some men staggered, some fell to the ground. The only one that didn’t seem to take any sort of damage was the one that was wary of him. Using his light to banish the tendrils by moving it around too much. It was okay though. The flat of his blade was enough to knock him out and leave him with the writhing ones in the dirt.

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The next group of guards was just as sizeable as the last; they didn’t even hesitate in attacking like the others. Blade after blade made its way towards him and he’d have to spend more time blocking with his spear than absorbing it with his armor or using his shadows. They were skilled to say the least but there was something in him that hated every moment of this, hated that they were allowed to even struggle and that justice wasn’t being dealt to them. He could feel the prying nature of the one from before seeping into him. He wanted to know more about what was going on. Even more so he wanted to make sure a thousand times over that they’d never hurt people like this again.

One after another fell to him, from darkness, from spear, from his clasped fist. Even a few had their bodies flung into the darkness where his magic took hold of them and worked them feet first into the ground up to their shoulders. He wasn’t playing around and wasn’t letting anyone get away. Every single one of them would pay for their crimes even if it took him weeks to make it so. This fight was slowly coming to a head and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be here when it panned out even more so than before.

He wasn’t the most skilled but he had plenty of resources to call on to make it difficult for these people to fight against him. Against someone with actual skill or perhaps a focus he might struggle a little bit more. But these people were practically dime a dozen against someone who had honest power.

He wanted to tell them to give up but it felt too good to put them in their places. He felt that they wouldn’t understand the predicament that he was in or the woes they had inflicted on people that weren’t even related to them. He felt the fear, the anger, the sorrow from echo across the darkness and he’d grind his teeth. The little mindrache was worried sick about his family no doubt.

Saturn didn’t even consider that echo was worried about his friend. Not realizing that every moment he wanted to help but couldn’t; he was concerned for a million other things. But saturn never stopped to think he was one of them. Never thought that their friendship had deepened over the months.

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The next batch was the toughest, heavy armor, large weapons, Training and a certain level of respect for one another and their reflexes. Saturn would be put to the test, slamming them against the ground time and time again. Throwing them from their feet. In one case his spear rang so powerfully against their helmet he thought he’d killed them only to see them stumbling to their feet a few moments later. He had to earnestly fight against every single person here.

One after another they fell to time, to the endurance and power that saturn possessed. His magic came in clutch time and time again. Stopping their swings by entangling their arms. Dragging their weapon down out of their hands. In one case a mage found their mouth and hands bound, drug to the ground and forced to curl up. Saturn was a million places at once and dealing with so much there were a few blows he couldn’t stop. A few people that got a good hit in. Breaking his armor or slapping his hands to stop their motions. But they didn’t seem to get the upper hand on him at all. If anything it seemed to drive the point that saturn wasn’t giving up.

Somewhere deep down, somewhere far below the surface and the identity of a being from before seemed to approve of his actions and the way he was carrying himself. This seemed to resonate with him in a way he never thought would. There was a moment that he felt like he should stop; but the little urges from this being deep down made it difficult. These urges of the magic mixed with his latent nature.

The crackle of power in the air and the dancing of the magic from within earned him a fearful response from the few left. Their armor tearing from the inside. Ripping off of the well trained bodies; giving saturn a good glimpse into where he could strike for maximum effect and the least amount of casualties. Eventually there was just the one left. A woman with a spear and half a helmet. His spear had smote it away just as she had claimed a little bit of his braces. He’d stare at her and realize that he didn’t need to fight fair. There wasn’t a fairness here because of the people they stole. But he gave her a fair fight anyways. Slamming them into the ground three or four times with a single hand and driving their own spear halfway into the dirt next to their head. One portion of his helmet had been broken off and she could see the golden glow from his eye.

”Stay down.”

The shock and fear was enough to make it so and it was likely that she wouldn’t get up for quite some time. The demi-god stood tall and took in his surroundings for another moment…

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