Crimson in Red: Tainted Ascendant

The rain poured in torrents, falling mercilessly on the blonde haired man dressed in all black.The gravestone stood before him loomingly and on it was carved 'Piers Oda' with a quote below 'A hero in the hearts of many'. The man slowly placed a bouquet of yellow roses on the resting place of his once living friend. 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒚𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔? He himself did not know the answer to that.

What made one a hero and the other a villain? Most would give out controversial answers...but the solution was always 'circumstance'. Both fight for what they believe to be right. Both use violence. Only their goals differ. A hero's deeds are remembered for a while..then forgotten. A villain will always be cursed generation after generation, hence becomes immortal even after death. One only truly dies after being forgotten.

The man feared that he would forget his friend sooner. A sense of dread filled his being as he faced up at the sky, letting the heavy drops of rain hit his exhausted face. Even though Piers was dead, the man couldn't help but blame his friend for leaving him behind. Or was it the other way round?

Was it God? The angel of death? Shit. Or maybe even himself? His head throbbed under the downpour. By then, all the mourners had left except for the loyal Lloyd Hammings. To be precise, except for the Crimson seer of Ise Order, his alter identity.

Ise Order; an organisation formed approximately 5,000 years ago by a mythical seer named Edna B. (No one knew her other name since it was so long ago)which protects the human society against oblivious evil, reapers. These are beings that are born from the consequences of evil human actions which corrupts one's humanity, sinning. The members of Ise Order are mainly categorized into two: (Minority)Priests and (majority)seers. They possess inhumane strength and abilities and some wield blessed weapons to use in the purification of Reapers. Reapers devour human souls and when they reach a certain number of souls they evolve to become more powerful reapers.

Lloyd Hammings had been part of Ise Order for as long as he could remember. Despite being a twenty seven year old man he did not have a family yet and his mother pressured him a lot to find his other half. Lloyd did not care much since he was busy most of the time and had his friend accompany him everywhere he went. But Piers was no longer around. His death was not classified as 'KIA' but the reason was due to an unknown cause which was a mystery even to Lloyd. Something seemed very peculiar about all this..it was like there was a blank gap in Lloyd's memory where some information was erased intentionally to hide the reason of his friend's death..or was it all just wishful thinking? Strangely enough, Lloyd did not feel the need to uncover the mystery behind his death nor did he feel angry enough to find the killer (Incase Piers was murdered). Even he was surprised at his own feelings.

𝙍𝙞𝙣𝙜! 𝙍𝙞𝙣𝙜! His mobile phone cut his chain of thoughts abruptly. A call from the head priest, he sighed. Today was his day off yet Ise Order couldn't stop bothering him. 'Ahem, what do you need right now Jean?'. He felt a wave of frustration coarse through him as he listened to the instructions. The Crimson seer could not brush off the call even on his day off since Ise Order had an unbreakable rule binding all seers...

As the blonde haired man stood in the rain before the grave, a pair of magenta eyes watched from afar, at the gate of the cemetery. The figure stood under a transparent umbrella, shielding his young handsome face from the rain. His tongue smeared moisture along his lips as his long silverish hair swayed in a quick gust of wind. An upward sinister curl formed on his face as he turned to exit the graveyard.

Lloyd cut off the call and stood motionlessly, staring at the dark grey clouds. "I can't catch a break." His destination was Paris, where an influencer had caused some problems. As Lloyd came out of the cemetery, a frustrated face was evident from the crease lines on his forehead. He had gotten into his seer attire, a dull crimson leather suit matching with a scarlet scarf wrapping the lower part of his face. The city of Paris would taste the wrath of the Crimson seer.

Crimson screamed as he cut through multiple reapers, disintegratinng them to mere ashes with each slash of his blessed scythe. He just wanted to go home... And he did, two hours later.

For some reason, Lloyd usually entered his house through his bedroom window located near the roof. He stealthily got inside and headed for the living room, where his girlfriend was. The door to the living room was closed halfway.. something else he was not used to. Lloyd's hand reached to the knob of the door, eager to meet his girlfriend.

What he was about to witness would forever shatter his conscience...and in the process affect the decisions he would later on make at the cost of other's lives..You see, Ise Order had an unbreakable rule binding all seers...and that rule was "Always remain pure, no matter the circumstances."

But what made one a hero and the other a villain?