King of Mean

*Flash* *CRAAAAAAAAACK-BOOOOOM*

Before anyone could notice, the dark clouds in the sky turned into a storm. Lightning and thunder began to echo right over the red army and the clan of Elwin.

Although he is a calm person in almost all situations, he cannot contain his anger at his brother's betrayal.

He wouldn't be so upset if Rennyn had done something bad just for him, but trying to sacrifice their sisters and his mom is something Elwin cannot forgive.

As anger takes control of his body, the voices in his head begin to scream. [Kill, kill, KILL!!! You must kill him... NOW!! It can't be solved without blood...]

Black smoke starts to come out of Elwin's eyes, which start to change from red to pure black while dark energies run through his body, along with his ice mana.

He furiously gazes at Rennyn as he talks to Avourel, the middle-aged summer elf who is holding his brother. "Don't get into it!"

"You don't want to do it, boy." Avourel honestly responds. He knows that Rennyn can easily kill Elwin even though he is also talented, as their age and power difference have always been quite significant.

Seeing that there is no point in talking to the middle-aged elf, Elwin looks at his leader. "Valyra, let us do it alone."

Valyra understands Elwin's feelings; she knows how much he loves his mother and sisters, so she knows that she needs them to have him.

She also believes in Elwin's strength and talent, she considers him the best elf, but she also understands the age difference between him and Rennyn. Ten years ago, Rennyn was already the youngest adult to reach the fifth cycle of Ice while Elwin was a young boy still in the first cycle of Ice, and few knew that he was also in the second cycle of Darkness, which means he was supposed to be much weaker than his brother.

So, she looks at Elwin with a sad expression. "Why do you want to fight him right now? Do you want him to kill you? I thought you were smarter..."

"This is not something you decide!" Elwin shouts.

Valyra shakes her head. "I have control over the situation; I can kill your family and people here and now. So, you will listen to me!"

Again, Elwin realizes that talk will have no effect as there is no reason for others to listen to him; unless he could offer something in return.

"What if we make a deal?" Elwin asks.

Valyra has a bad feeling. She doesn't want to be manipulated by Elwin, but she also prefers to take him without having to kill his people, which would certainly make him hate her for a long time.

"I'm listening." She speaks while making a doubtful expression.

Meanwhile, Rennyn tries to get rid of Avourel, but even someone from the early stages of the sixth cycle could not get rid of that powerful middle-aged summer sage elf.

The former winter elven clan, those other thousand people, are even more confused as fear controls their minds. After so many years imprisoned in that cave, they now come up against a powerful summer elves army while the princes of their clan are in a terrible situation.

Part of them wants that Tasar, Elwin's father and true leader of the clan does something, while another part of them already sees Rennyn as their real leader. But nobody has a final opinion about Elwin as he was always a mysterious and silent person who only interacted with his main family members.

Many people among them think Elwin is a cursed person and are afraid or sorry for him, while some are angry with him and think he was guilty of the fall of the Winter Elven Clan.

But Elwin's family doesn't think so. Tasar desperately tries to find a solution to keep his children's lives, although he would obviously suffer less from losing Elwin's than the death of his super-talented first son.

Allynna looks at Galarel with a concerned expression. She is just a concubine, while Rennyn and Fara's mother is Tasar's real wife. So she knows that if her sons fight, everyone will be on Rennyn's side and not Elwin's.

She doesn't want the death of anyone of her people, but if Allynna has to choose between all of them and her children, she will surely do what a good mother must do.

Galarel thinks the same way, but she already didn't like Allynna, Elwin, and Ilyana, because somehow she knows how Renynn was jealous of Elwin's look and his relationship with his mother and sisters. Even Fara seems to like Elwin more than Rennyn and is very concerned about him, as is Ilyana.

While everyone is paying attention to Elwin, he tells his offer to Valyra. "Let me deal with him, and if I lose the fight, I will go with you willingly."

"NOO!!" Four female voices shout from within the group of winter elves.

The first voice is from Elwin's mother, Allyanna, who clearly does not want to see her son hurt and taken away from her. The other voices are from Ilyana and Fara, who also do not accept losing Elwin, while the fourth voice is that of a mysterious young girl with long white hair covering her face.

Elwin can't help but feel good because the people he loves so much also care about him. Still, he doesn't turn around and ignores their words while waiting for Valyra's answer.

Valyra shakes her head. "I don't want to marry your cold corpse... I want you like that, this perfect way you are."

He looks at Rennyn, trying to get rid of Avourel, and feels the anger again taking over his mind. The voices in his head scream for him to kill his brother and everyone in the red army. His hands beg him to destroy Rennyn and Valyra while his mouth craves for the blood of everyone who poses any threat to his loved ones.

"If you think I'm going to lose the fight, you can send the woman behind you to save me," Elwin speaks, leaving everyone there confused.

His people do not understand who is the woman he is talking about, while even the red army is confused about that.

[Is he talking about Lady Valyra's assistant?] Many of the summer elves wonder about that as they look at the mysterious red-hooded woman on a horse behind Valyra's unicorn.

It is not possible to see the face of that mysterious hooded woman, and they only know that she is a woman due to the silhouette of her body and the fact that Valyra had said to them don't mess with her new assistant.

But those who managed to look near her hood were able to see pieces of silver clothing and even a mystical silver glow, which made them regret being curious.

Valyra and the mysterious woman are also confused, not about her identity but about how Elwin knows about her even though he is hundreds of meters away from them, and those dark clouds covering the sun do not help the visibility while making the summer elves feels bad.

"Hmmm..." Ignoring the fact that Elwin knew about the mysterious woman, a fact said to him by the voices in his mind, Valyra thinks about his words and how his plan could work for her.

She looks back, and her expression goes from dominant to friendly. Without her having to say anything, the mysterious woman nods, and that is enough for Valyra to smile, which, added to her beauty, melts the hearts of all the male elves in her army.

Valyra again looks at Elwin with a thoughtful expression. "What if you win the fight?"

Elwin forces himself to make a sarcastic smile. "Do you think I can really beat him? Fighting Rennyn is begging all my people to hate me, let alone kill him, which is my intention... My life would end if I succeeded."

"..." Everyone is silent as the winter elves begin to wonder which side Elwin is on, and the red army feels sorry, angry, and jealous of him at the same time.

Valyra looks into Elwin's eyes. "Answer my question."

Elwin thinks for a second before speaking honestly. "After I kill my brother, I will cut off Auvorel's head before I kill all your soldiers. I'll leave you last, and maybe I'll kiss you before I disembowel you."

"..." Again, everyone is silent while the lightning and thunder make the whole scene more sinister. Even the people of Elwin are shocked by his words, let alone the soldiers of the red army, who now very much want to kill him for being so disrespectful to their beautiful lady while she wants to marry him.

"Deal," Valyra replies, which also surprises everyone. She still has a bad feeling about that fight, but she knows that she can't really force Elwin to love her. To get his affection, she must also support him.

She looks at Avourel and nods. But the middle-aged elf seems hesitant to release Rennyn. His tired eyes seem to beg Valyra not to do that, but he can't really go against the orders of the princess of the sun, the leader of all Summer Elves.

As Avourel releases Rennyn, Valyra looks at him with a provocative smile. "Rennyn... if you win the fight without hunting his handsome face, I will also take you with me. While Elwin will be my husband and will fuck me every night, you can be my dog and watch us from the corner of our bedroom."

Valyra's words cut more than the sharpest sword and pierce Rennyn's heart like a deadly arrow, making his anger and jealousy for Elwin reach the highest levels.

He is able to not imagine that scene, which leaves him with an awful taste in his mouth and soul.

Rennyn spits on the ground as he quickly moves away from Avourel. Then he looks at Valyra with an upset expression. "I'm going to kill him before anyone interferes with that."

So, before Valyra was able to say anything, Rennyn turns into an ice spike and flies towards Elwin at super speed, shocking everyone there but his brother.

"Sixth cycle of Ice!!!" Many people of both groups think out loud.

[Was he holding back his power all this time?] They conclude.

In that second, while Rennyn, in the form of an ice spike, flies towards Elwin, Valyra is afraid for the first time in a long time.

She fears that due to Rennyn surprisingly already being in the sixth cycle of Ice, he will be able to kill Elwin before the mysterious woman can stop him.

Everything happens so fast that there is no time for any action, and everyone can only observe Elwin's tragic end.

Below those dark clouds, between flashes of lightning and thunder, Elwin watches Rennyn flying towards him. That scene passes on Elwin's eyes in slow motion while he enjoys the silence between the whispers in his mind.

For everyone else, the scene takes place in a second, but for Elwin, it seems like several seconds while he looks up and sees a bolt of black lightning runs across the sky.

That dark bold then descends towards him while he extends his hand up.

The moment Rennyn is two meters from Elwin, the dark bold connects to Elwin's hand, and he quickly brings it down forward.

A flash of black energy runs through Elwin's body as Rennyn finally reaches him.

While the tip of the ice spike is just a few centimeters from Elwin's chest, his dark bold is just a few centimeters from the ice spike.

All people can see are the dark and bluish-white lights connecting as lightning strikes the brothers at the battlefield's center.

Then they touch each other, creating a bright explosion that momentarily blinds everyone under the sound of thunder.