It was many, many years ago.
A village sat near the shore of Seraphim, just a bit over fifty miles from the great wall that was built to protect the continent of the vampires invading.
The village was called Boven, named after a great architect who was the mind behind most of Seraphim's core cities, including the great wall.
Barakiel was born in the healthy and bright village of Boven.
He grew up alongside three siblings.
An older sister, an older brother, and a younger brother.
All four of them were born with pure red hair, and bright orange eyes, despite their parents being particularly normal, both with brown hair and dim green eyes.
The four grew up with a strong natural affinity to mana, with fire being their strongest element.
Their parents, noticing this abnormality, decided they'd do their best to send all four of them to the continent's greatest magic academy settled in Haven, a city run by the Havencrest family, where the top performers had a chance to join into their family.
After his oldest sibling, his sister, Gedrosa, turned twelve, she was sent to Haven to join the academy, where she entered without issue due to her outstanding abilities.
Only a year later, Barakiel's older brother, Fulvus, would've been sent to the academy, before the invasion of vampires took place, that is.
.....
Barakiel was only eight years old when it happened.
He was stuffed into a barrel, forced to watch as his village was slaughtered mercilessly for the sake of nutrients.
He watched as his parents died trying to hide his other siblings.
He watched as his brother and sister were torn apart by vampires.
.....
It took less than an hour for Cain's army to trample through the village, leaving no one but Barakiel alive, as they had never even detected him.
Even to this day, he still never knew how nor why, yet it was the least of his concerns.
Scared, fearing there were vampires lingering, Barakiel hid in the barrel for three days straight, starving, dying of dehydration.
It wasn't until he grew desperate enough that he pulled himself out of the barrel, allowing his instincts to take over as he scavenged for food and water, only to find an abundance left as the vampires had left it all to rot.
Three days however, was not enough to make the food rot.
That was the last bit of grace he was given by the gods above.
.....
Years had passed, Barakiel turned fifteen, and he found himself as a mercenary, working under some no-name bandits just to survive.
He trained relentlessly. Every day new calluses would form on his hands, new burn marks would cover his body, and new scars would turn him into who he is today.
.....
Barakiel lived for another forty years as a mercenary. His body aged slower the stronger he got, a phenomenon the humans still can't explain today for why or how it happens.
He never knew what had happened to his sister, as he was never allowed to enter into the big cities due to his birth as a peasant.
Yet even still, he knew deep within him that she was working hard, that she was possibly thinking of coming back to the village one day to see her family again.
It's what drove him to continue going each and every day.
It wasn't until another month had passed until Barakiel got word of a fleet of ships setting sail to siege Rampiel, in which he joined immediately.
Being a small mercenary leader, he gave those under him an option to come with him or to stay, as this was still something personal for him.
Despite that, every man and woman under him went with, which is when they found themselves at Bagnion.
.....
.....
"You cocky bastard, you'll be sent to an early grave." Falvi seethes, enraged.
"Falvi, do not let your rage get in the way of our plan, we've trained for this." Barakiel states calmly despite his eyes burning with hatred.
Composing himself, Falvi drags his sword from off his back.
"Fourth tier magic, Sword of Faith." Falvi says, dragging two fingers across his blade, slowly covering it in a shining golden hue.
Forming his sword in his hand, Cassiel grins, keeping up the act of confidence, despite a cold sweat dripping down his face.
Both Falvi and Barakiel were just slightly weaker than him, so the two of them teaming up would mean instant death.
Yet even still, he believed he'd have to hold on for reinforcements, which could take hours.
.....
Charging forward, Falvi swings his sword straight down, clashing with Cassiel as he grunts, blocking the attack.
Falvi had grown in strength threefold since they had last fought. Cassiel wouldn't be able to take him lightly this time.
Kicking Falvi away, Cassiel prepared three spheres of mana to be launched at him, only to be forced into a defensive stance as Barakiel instantly followed up with three firebolts, a second tier magic.
Just barely brushing the magic attacks away, Cassiel is given no chance to think before he's forced to jump into the air, dodging a horizontal slash from Falvi.
The battle was tense, not a word was able to be spoken as every thought had to be calculated in fractions of seconds.
Being an easy target in the air, Barakiel began conjuring a huge fireball to be launched at Cassiel, a third tier magic spell.
Noticing this, Cassiel would start to form his blood shield, before being caught off guard by Falvi, who was coming in from under Cassiel.
Choosing to dodge Falvi's sword attack, he was forced soon after to cancel his magic as Falvi would kick off of Cassiel, launching him further into the air, while allowing Falvi to land back on the ground, safe from Barakiel's fireball that was now inches from Cassiel.
With an explosion of fire, Cassiel appears falling out of the sky from the cloud of smoke.
Landing onto the ground with a thud, Cassiel quickly gets back up to parry Falvi's sword away, before sending him backwards with a singular blood sphere.
Sliding on the grass, Falvi stops himself only five feet away after digging his feet into the ground, only to charge right back in, giving Cassiel no time to rest.
In front of him, Falvi was charging in with another attack, and on his right side, Barakiel stood chanting another spell.
'Damnit, this is so irritating.' Cassiel thinks to himself, just barely blocking Falvi's overhead swing.
Pushing Falvi's blade off of his own once again, Cassiel quickly punches his fist into the ground, before blowing it up with mana, causing dirt and small rocks to fly into the air creating a makeshift smoke cloud.
Using this chance, Cassiel darts towards Barakiel, before stopping just three feet away after seeing his sinister grin.
In an instant, a huge wall of flames over five meters in height shoots up, circling around Cassiel and Falvi.
"No more running." Falvi mocks from behind.
"This was your plan? To get us two into a one versus one scenario?" Cassiel questions, mocking their plan.
Laughing, Falvi wipes a tear away.
"That's where you're wrong." Falvi says, stepping through the two foot wide flame barrier unscathed.
"You see, we were lucky enough to find out flame magic has no effect on me." Falvi laughs.
Just then, Cassiel is kicked from behind by Barakiel, being launched into the center of the circle.
Right after, multiple flame spheres are sent from one side, while spheres of light are sent from another.
They were relentless in their attacks, wasting no time before sending more and more towards Cassiel.
Despite the fact they were using up their mana with these unharmful attacks, they were expending Cassiel's stamina slowly but surely
That was their plan; to tire Cassiel out with their magical attacks, before finishing him off after using most of their mana.
This, however, would not work for long, as a hand grabs Barakiel from behind, pulling him back inside the castle without so much of a whisper.