My Hermes System

"And as I was saying, the Vanir have been known as a friend to all of the races..."

In a palace, completely immaculate and seemingly peaceful, Charles was currently kneeling-- in front of him was Latanya, seated on a throne that could probably fit 10 more of her.

"...We would forever be grateful to your kind if you helped us in this endeavor."

"But doesn't your group see every other race as an enemy?"

It wasn't Latanya that responded to Charles's pleas, but the woman beside her-- Andrea's mother, one of the feathers of Azrael, Skylar.

"I do not see why you want us as an ally," Skylar muttered, "Your group reminds me of the Circle at the end of its life-- insecure. And if I remember, one of you massacred almost half of the Vanir hundreds of years ago."

"We weren't here yet when that happened," Charles could not help but take in a gulp. If he was right, then she was talking about his mother, Charlotte, "You are a peaceful race, and I know what I am asking you will stray you from that path… but if you truly wish eternal peace then--"

"Master Van!?"

"Latanya?"

Before Charles could finish his words, Latanya, who had only been smirking and keeping quiet on her throne, suddenly stood up from her seat, garnering the attention of everyone in the throne room; alerting the guards as they quickly pointed their weapons at Charles.

"Master… Van?"

The very reason that Charles had been coming back to Vanaheim was to prevent Latanya from joining Van's group; but now, as he was trying his best to gain an alliance with them… their queen utters the very name that he was preventing her from saying.

"What is wrong, Latanya? Why are you saying his name?"

"I can feel him," Latanya then muttered, "I know this feeling, I have received it from him once. He…

...is angry."

***

"Mr… Evans?"

Hilda quickly let go of the doorknob as she felt all of her hair stood up on its ends. Just earlier, when she discovered that Sigrid was molested by the students, her heart and mind were on-- completely filled with guilt and anger.

Guilt because this happened in her college, and anger because of the fact. But those emotions were completely overpowered by the heavy pressure that slowly clouded the entire office; slowly sipping into her body.

Hilda was by no means weak, she wouldn't be where she is right now if she was. She could stand toe to toe with some of the Aesir in the Palace, but of course, she has her limits. And the pressure she was feeling right now, she had felt only once in her life; when she met with King Odin.

That was the moment in her life that she discovered why he ruled the 9 Realms; able to shake her entire body to the core just by breathing and looking at her. But still, she managed to keep her calm when she met him, because as spectacular a meeting that was, it was only a casual one.

And now, looking at Van, who had been standing still for quite a while now, she finally realized why Athena spoke with such honorifics around him-- he is strong, perhaps even at the same level as the top dogs of the Palace.

And with her being the only other person in the room, minus the unconscious Sigrid, it felt like she was being suffocated, as the only person receiving the colossal pressure was her.

"Mr. Evans?" Headmistress Hilda slowly and carefully tried to approach Van, but as she took her 3rd step, everything in the room fell quiet; even her breaths were not audible. A sort of distortion was starting to build up around Van, emerging from him as his somewhat long hair started to rise, pulling itself back to fully reveal his face.

"That's…" Hilda could only hold her breath as she saw the color of Van's eyes, which were completely red. There were also veins popping out of his skin, his muscles disgustingly wriggling as they seemed to contract tighter and tighter by the second.

"Gr…"

"!!!"

Hilda quickly put up a stance as Van finally moved from his spot, although very slowly. However, as soon as Van looked at her, any confidence and bravado that still remained inside her completely faded, replaced by an almost crippling fear as Van's blood-red eyes stared at her.

The [Rage of Hercules] -- one of Van's skills that he had only ever used once, and involuntarily at that. Back when he last used it, he almost obliterated and completely wiped out Latanya's existence as he lost his mind due to its side effects.

But this time, even though his appearance could be considered furious, feral even; he didn't attack Hilda. Van had already thought of it once, but [Gift of Dionysus] truly did make him immune to any influence that controlled his mind; in this case, it prevented him from turning into a berserker.

But perhaps even more so because of the fact, Van was able to feel every bit of the rage that was threatening to explode inside of him. Earlier, his mind had slightly shut down as soon as he realized what happened to Sigrid-- the memory of his own father molesting him replayed in his mind over and over again.

And as he heard and saw Sigrid's helpless tears, his anger surpassed its peak.

"Headmistress Hilda."

Although Van had only whispered, the fury in his words echoed throughout the entire room, almost piercing Hilda's ears.

"I am going to kill your students," Van muttered as red streaks of lightning slowly slithered from his eyes.

"N… no," Hilda shook her head as she covered the door, "They deserve punishment, and I will give it to them, but to kill them now will just be an execu--"

"I wasn't asking for your permission."

"That's--"

"!!!"

An extremely deafening thunder exploded throughout the air as the entire floor of Hilda's office cracked; it was then followed by another one, this time causing the wall beside the office door to explode as a streak of red lightning went through it.

"S… shit," Hilda could not help but curse as she quickly rushed out of her office, trying to chase Van to the training field; but considering the difference in their speed, she knew it was hopeless.

"Athena!" The only thing she could do was scream in frustration, "Just who did you bring inside my college!?"

***

"Just… just how long are we going to drag Sir Baug?"

"Don't talk… just pull!"

"Why is he so heavy, and why isn't he awake yet!?"

"D… do you think he is dead?"

"..."

At the practice field, the students that were pulling Baug by his neck stopped on their tracks as the thought of him dying crossed their minds.

"...Sir Baug?" One of them then slowly and carefully approached Baug, "Are you--"

"!!!"

And as soon as he separated from the rest, the others suddenly felt a strong pull from the chain attached to their waists, causing all of them to fall to the ground.

"What the fuck, man!?" Haf, the leader of their group, could not help but yell as he quickly stood up, "What are you do-- Skidi? Where did that guy go?"

Haf then blinked his eyes a couple of times as the student that was supposed to check on Baug was no longer to be found; the chain that was attached to his waist, shattered and split.

"Was it fun?"

"Who's there!?"

Haf and his friends then quickly looked to the side as a voice whispered into their ears, and as soon as their eyes met the owner of the voice, their butts once again made contact with the ground.

"Y… you!?"

Van was slowly approaching them, his eyes completely red, the veins on his skin completely showing themselves as they throb. However, even more than that, their eyes were fixated on the thing he was holding, or rather, who he was holding.

Van was dragging someone by the chin, and with how the rest of his head was loosely flailing around… his skull was already completely shattered.

"Did… did you kill him!?"

"Yes," Van answered without any hesitation as he nonchalantly dropped the body he was holding, "And I will also kill all of you."

"You're no--"

And before Haf could finish his sentence, Van suddenly appeared right in front of him. He quickly crawled back to get away from him, however, to his surprise, Van just suddenly disappeared from his spot.

But before he could even feel relief, a shrilling scream pierced his ears. And once again, before he could even turn his head to whoever it was that let out the scream, another one resounded in the air.

The only thing that Haf could do was curl into a ball as another one echoed through his ear, partnered by the sound of flesh tearing and bones breaking. "S... shit," he stuttered as he tried to cover his ears... but when he did so, the only thing he felt was a warm sensation flowing and trailing into his ears.

"W... what?" He then quickly turned to look at his hands, only to find out that they were no longer there. "E... eh? Eh!? Kh... No!"

He screamed in pain, crawling on the ground as his mouth soon uttered words of desperation, "S… someone, help… please help me!"

"No one will help you."

"E... eek!"

Haf quickly rolled on the ground to get away from the voice that was approaching him, but as soon as he did so, he felt someone blocking his back.

"How does it feel to be helpless?"

"S... stay away from me!"

"How does it feel to know that no matter how much you scream and resist, that what is going to happen to you will happen?"

"W... what did I--"

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Gah!"

Haf then once again screamed in pain as Van stomped on his foot, completely crushing it, "If you don't stop screaming I will cut off your tongue!"

"N... no, please no," tears started to fall endlessly from Haf's eyes as he looked straight into Van's blood-red eyes, "Please... someone... help me."

"..." Van then returned Haf's stares, before letting out a short but deep breath, "You're going to die now."

"N--"

Van then grabbed Haf's face, before pinning his head to the ground. Haf wanted to pull Van's hand away, but how could he? His hands were no more. The only thing he could do was let out a whimper as he felt his head being slowly crushed; to hear the crackles as his skull slowly surrender from the pressure.

"Mr. Evans, please don't!"

However, before his head could splatter all over the ground, Haf heard the voice of the Headmistress, allowing his hope to flourish-- but that was it; after that, was complete silence.

"No."