The village as they knew it was being painted red with the macabre brush of death. The innocent lives of those whom Ymir and Rena had lived beside were being cut down by those who had once sworn to protect them. The trained Royal Knights met little resistance in the face of common village folk. You couldn’t even begin to call it resistance -- it was a one-sided massacre.

Seeing the Knight-Captain standing above her parents, Rena’s face twisted with anguish and despair. I have to do something. I have to save them. I have to, but my body won’t move.

Ymir saw the tears streaming down her horrified face and exhaled, his expression transitioning from one of shock to a scowl of disgust at the sons of bitches who caused this. He patted Rena’s head in affirmation and summoned every last dreg of courage within him. He knew he was powerless against the Knights, but couldn’t stand to see the one he loved in that state. “Wait here,” were his last words before dashing into the fray.

Breaking into a full sprint, Ymir charged straight toward Grayford as he stood towering above his adoptive parents. Just as the Knight-Captain’s menacing sword was about to fall unto the petrified couple, the hideous noise of Ymir’s flesh and bone grating against steel armor resonated through the air, followed by a dramatic collision.

“Gyaaah!” Regaining his composure from being tackled to the dirt, “You... insolent... bastard!”

Ymir was trying to push himself up from a knelt-down position, all while fighting the pain of his now-dislocated right shoulder and fractured clavicle. Grinding his teeth in pain and frustration, he glared toward Grayford; his crimson eyes seething with animosity. “Do you... enjoy this? Where the hell do you get off on terrorizing the weak?”

Knight-Captain Grayford broke out in a hubristic cackle as he finished dusting off his gauntlets. “You impertinent brat. In the eyes of the Solatellusian Empire, yours and the lives of everyone else in this shithole village are more insignificant than the rags we use to wipe our ass.” He strutted toward Ymir, grabbed him by the collar of his ragged shirt, and single-handedly raised him into the air. Grayford pulled Ymir in closer, so much so that they were now breathing in the same air particles. “In the same way that you pay no heed to the number of ants that you’ve crushed underfoot, I have no volition to give attention to the half-breed rats and bastard children of these slums.”

Saliva, blood, and every last bit of air from Ymir’s lungs were expelled from his body as he was slammed against the ground; the overwhelming impact caused his eyes to practically burst from their orbits. Still gasping for breath, Grayford stepped onto his chest with his massive, steel sabaton.

It was as a string being pulled from either side with greater and greater force. It was in that moment -- at that very sight of Ymir breathing his last -- that something in Rena’s mind had snapped. The following noise that escaped her lips was somewhere between a wolf howling at the moon and a young girl crying.

Losing herself to her lupine instincts, she ran full hurdle at Grayford -- a trio of Knights attempting to intercept her. In the blink of an eye, she pounced on one Knight, knocking him to the ground and ripping at his throat with her fangs. The remaining pair, now showered with the blood of their comrade, raised their swords to strike the crazed wolf down. Forsaking her human traits, she submitted herself further to the ravenous hunger of her kind. As the swords swept down unto her, she grabbed them by the hilts, stopping the blades from meeting her skull. With her monstrous strength crushing the hands of the two soldiers, she flung each of them like a ragdoll across her body, sending them off in opposite directions.

Without a moment’s notice, she resumed her warpath, sprinting full tilt toward the Knight-Captain.

First, the sound of cloth tearing. Then, the sound of steel piercing flesh and bone.

He spat off to the side and laughed once more. “Ha! The little mutt bitch thought she actually had a chance! This village is entertaining at the very least.”

From under Grayford’s cold boot, Ymir gave witness to the image of an imposing Knight-Captain, and Rena impaled by his blade -- her body suspended over him.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I’m powerless. I’m sorry that I couldn’t save you. I couldn’t do anything..., was what he wanted to say. The only thing to come out of his mouth, however, was the sound of faint wheezing.

“Y...mir...” She reached down toward him with blood dripping down her slender arm, the massive sword embedded in her sternum.

He struggled trying to grab her hand. Most of the bones in his body had long been shattered from his previous attempt toward Grayford. He once more tried to speak, “Re--,” only for a drop of her blood to fall from her fingertip onto his tongue.

Her lifeless body fell from the sword and lay limp beside him.

His pupils dilated as he entered a frenzied state. Time seemed to stop with the precipitous heightening of his senses and a voice resounded within his head -- a voice that he could not control. With the words eating away at his humanity, this unknown, foreboding presence now had complete jurisdiction over his actions. 

Seal of Shadows, First Restraint: Pestilence, the White Horse. Released. 

Though the vessel remained as Ymir, the soul that resided inside had begun to change. He was now something far more malevolent -- something inhuman.

A ghastly hand wrapped around Grayford’s ankle, interrupting his triumphant pose.

Shifting his gaze toward the gripping sensation, “You’re still ali--.” His inquiry had been cut short as he collapsed under his own weight. The plating of his greaves had been dissolved and the ankle that was supporting him had begun to fester with a deep rot.

As if a shadow moving out from under a mountain, Ymir now stood above Grayford. He who once looked so proud and dignified was now writhing pitifully in the dirt. Ymir’s irrepressible murderous intent was nearly drowned out by the nauseating miasma that suddenly secreted from him. From inside this cloud of corruption, a black light began to break through. Flickering beneath his frayed wool garments and trailing down the right hand he now aimed toward the Knight-Captain, his raven-black branding had begun to pulsate balefully.

Almost as though offering an unholy prayer, the words escaped his lips, “Absolute Dominion...” Every pigment of color seemed to be consumed from its surroundings, siphoned into a singularity at the palm of Ymir’s hand. “Necrosis.” In a low bellow, the point of convergence exploded, dying the observable atmosphere with a noxious green hue. All that could be seen was the silhouette of Ymir and his red eyes emitting a burning glow.

“Iron Barrier!” They reactively defended against the onslaught as a shield wall of violet chains was erected around them.

A moment had passed until the pollution subsided, and with it the barrier fell as well.

Ira and Lilith were frozen in awe, feasting their eyes at this vulgar display of power. Neither of them could have guessed in their wildest dreams that this boy, Ymir, had been brutalized by that man a mere moment ago.

There was naught but silence. All signs of life in the vicinity had ceased to exist, save three; the hosts of their souls transitioned into all but withered husks. The denizens of Umbrium and the knights, humans and demi-humans alike were all made equal through death.

“This saves us the trouble of finding him, I suppose.”

Like a spoiled child looking at a new toy through a glass window, Lilith couldn’t take her eyes off of Ymir. “Hey, hey! This guy looks suuuper fun!” Her face warping into a depraved grin, “Can I play with him?”