Magnum turned left from the grey brick road a few hours ago. It was a dirt road. It slowed his progress to the south but it was a shortcut to the next town. He actually likes the dirt road, he's putting more effort into pulling, another training.

All main roads are made of the same bricks, starting from the capital in the east, Corone. It goes to the farthest towns in the north, south, and west. A testament to the former might of Cresanya.

Magnum looked at his map figuring out where he was. He followed it but there was no sign of any town. He couldn't ask the few infected humans walking passed him. He’s seeing more of them frequently the deeper he is in the south. He must be close to wherever they were going. There were times that he thought of tying his wagon to some of them. He'll sleep and then wake up in front of the grand demon but he’s not that confident yet.

"The town should be here!" he said scratching his head.

The nearest town also has a tall bell tower, it should be visible now over the trees but Magnum was not seeing it. A burnt smell also floated around, it comes and goes. He knew he was near but the thick forest isn't giving a hint.

The road forked, this wasn't on his map. Strange that infected humans were nowhere to be seen now. They went fewer and fewer as he trudged the dirt road. Magnum went to the right, he always chose right in these kinds of situations.

A shiny thing caught his attention from the distance. It was moving. It was a man, squire to be exact, in blue and white garments walking along the road.

“Hmm. I don’t like this,” Magnum said.

The squire looked back when he heard Magnum's wagon. He waved his hand as Magnum came close.

"Hi!" the squire said. "Can you help me, Sir? I was left behind by my party and I can't run anymore," the squire said gasping and holding his side.

"Hmm," Magnum grunted. "You mean you need a ride?"

"Yes Sir! Please!"

"Hop on," Magnum said looking straight on the road.

The squire jumped inside the wagon and Magnum pulled. The additional weight didn't bother him, another training.

"Where are you going Sir?" the squire said gawking at him, especially at his right arm.

"The nearest town," Magnum said.

"Hintuwan Town? That's where my party is! This is fate! May I know your name Sir?" the squire said curiously looking around the wagon checking out the instruments hanging on the walls.

"The name is Magnum. And don't touch anything there."

The squire pulled his hands, "Yes of course!"

Magnum didn't like the word "party" in all of its meaning. In this case, if there are squires, there are knights, and he doesn't like knights. The road forked again and Magnum went right. The squire nodded confirming that Magnum chose correctly. Yes, Magnum’s instincts are usually right.

A tall stone monument stood at the right side of the road, a Dambanah, monument placed by the Vicari faith as guides. Guide for knights, Vicars, and the people. It also meant that a town was near.

"Mister! I need to pray here please!" The squire said. He jumped down and knelt at the Dambanah. The statues of the three great Vicari: Brance, Sichael, and Kris stood tall in front of him. In robes showing blank faces, they held the three symbols of the Vicari faith; Sichael held the sword, Brance held the book and Kris held the lamp. Each represents the three main forces of the faith; the Knights, the Keepers, and the Vicars.

On the right of the statue is a stone slab where the Call of the Gods was written, tasks given by the Gods to humankind ages ago. It said, Discover, Create, Capture. The faith explained that it means discover new lands, create new things and capture spirit beasts. The tasks were simple but time made it difficult. Thousands of men in thousands of years accomplished the feat. The world has been mapped, things are no longer new and all spirit beasts have been captured. No one was able to accomplish all three in thousands of years.

Magnum waited. The squire looked at him and smiled, "Will you not join me, Mister?"

Magnum did not hear him.

"Will you not join me?" the squire asked again.

"Be quick or I’ll leave you," a stern reply.

The squire's smile was gone when he faced back the Dambanah. His eyes narrowed and he looked at his own right arm, to his "Oath". A white and golden patch on his wrist with three silver dots moving up his arm, it twinkled whenever near the Dambanah or any sacred sites. It was a symbol of promise to fulfill the Call of Gods, a sign of allegiance to the Vicari faith, and to the nation: Magnum doesn't have it.

The squire stood and smiled again at Magnum. He glanced at Magnum's right arm to confirm his findings then jumped back to the wagon. They continued.

"Where are you from Sir Magnum?" the squire said.

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“Sir Magnum? This guy is insulting me!”

"The north?" the squire said.

Magnum’s suspicion was confirmed, this squire was bad news but more bad news came. The ground trembled distracting Magnum on his thoughts on how to lose the squire. He stopped pulling. It felt like a huge explosion.

"Ah! I missed it!" the squire said looking over the trees.

"A demon!" Magnum said seeing something dark move behind the trees. He ran, pulling the wagon with him.

"Whoa! Whoa!" the squire held on to the wagon. It was a wild ride.

Magnum felt more vibrations from the ground. He ran further and started to see more squires gathered on the road. They created a barricade made from the destroyed town. They wore the same garments as his passenger. More bad news. A bunch of archers, two squads lined up behind the barricade, trying to shoot with light arrows, but most of them were missing.

Magnum left his wagon and ran further. A luxurious caravan was parked behind the crowd of squires. He climbed over it and finally found the town of Hintuwan, the bell tower destroyed and the town burning.

Several huge demons bigger than a horse; three boars and three wolves were rounding up a knight and four squires.

“Come Holy Light!” the knight shouted to the heavens.

They were stunned as if they were waiting for something to arrive.

“What’s happening?” one of the squires said.

“The Pillar isn’t responding! Rally to me!” The Knight said and the squire moved closer to the knight protecting each other's back from the fierce infected.

“Another useless knight,” Magnum said and then jumped over the barricade from the caravan. Some squires gasped when they saw Magnum leaped over but none of them had the courage to follow.

The demons looked a lot bigger inside the town. Magnum stood beside a house and threw one marble at the feet of one wolf. The explosion destroyed the legs of the wolf and caught the attention of the others. One wolf and three boars followed him as he ran away.

The first to get close to him was one of the boars and he hit it with his gunblade and blasted its head off. The others turned cautious after he dispatched one. They followed Magnum at a safe distance until he got trapped in a dead end. He threw some marbles at their feet but they were unscathed. Their scales were thicker now as they absorbed some dust from the downed boar.

Magnum jumped to the window beside him to escape. One of the boars rushed the wall and broke it along with the window where jumped in. Magnum threw some more of his bombs just to distract the demons and jumped to another window to escape.

He ran as fast as he could and the demons lost him but the screams he heard from the squires made him stop.

“They couldn’t handle it?”

He hid behind a wall of a house. He tried to hear if anything was following him. There was none so he started to climb. At the roof, he saw the three demons trying to find him. He then saw the knight and three squires dead on the spot where he left them. Magnum shook his head.

The two demons that he left with the knight, a wolf and a boar were now trying to destroy the barricade while the squires ran away terrified. However, there was one squire hiding behind a box near the barricade inside the town, a survivor from the party with the knight earlier.

“Why are you still here? All your friends have left. Ran away now while they are distracted!” Magnum whispered to himself.

The three demons saw him now as he stood up on the roof and they immediately ran towards him. They came from different directions. The first to get near was the one boar from the left. Magnum jumped to the next roof to get closer but the wolf also jumped on the roof to meet him. Magnum was surprised and slipped on the roof sliding down. The wolf jumped on him but it missed. Magnum fell standing up and waited for the wolf to follow him. It didn’t drop from the top but appeared on his right.

“Got you!” Magnum caught its head with a big swing and blew it off. He gave it another explosion to kill off the plague that started coming out from its neck.

Magnum felt weak tremblings and the wall behind him exploded. Stones flew hitting him on his back and legs as the head of a boar went through. Magnum threw three marbles into his big mouth and ducked. It splattered its meat due to the explosions.

He stood up and climbed again on the roof. The next boar ran to him ramming the house where he was standing. He jumped to another house and the boar followed, ramming everything in its way. The other two demons heard and started running towards him from the town center.

“Let’s finish you quickly,” he said.

He ran back to the previous house he jumped from and attacked the back of the boar as it rammed the next house. Killing it immediately.

Magnum watched the wolf and the boar ran towards him, the last two demons. He waited for them to get closer. He put his hand on his small bag to get some marbles.

“Oh no!”

He ran out of bombs. He ran away and climbed again. The wolf followed him on the roof while the boar destroyed the wall of the house he was standing on.

“I don’t like this!” he said as the house crumbled down. He jumped out, rolled to the ground and ran as fast he could. He couldn’t shake the wolf hunting him from the roof while the boar was smashing everything in its path while running after him.

A bell sounded. Three loud gongs. It distracted the wolf and the wolf ran to the source of sound.

“That squire! Does he want to die?”

With only one opponent, Magnum ran out to the boar and dismissed it as fast as he could. He then ran to the bell. There was the squire, standing against the wolf holding his shield. The shield was peculiar. It was covered with sparkling white cloth. The squire wasn’t holding any weapon. Magnum ran towards the wolf but it was still one street away.

The wolf ran around and jumped on the squire but the squire met the wolf with a shield charge banging its head and putting the monster on the ground. The wolf stood up and attacked with its claws. The squire evaded masterfully and he picked up a sword from the knight lying on the ground. It still has some small sparks of light on it.

Magnum arrived at the scene.

This wolf is bigger than the rest and he was able to push it back?

Magnum swung his gunblade on the wolf’s back. Its thick skin fell exposing its weakness.

“We can do this!” the squire said.

“I can do this,” Magnum said.

The wolf faced Magnum and the squire took this chance to cut the rear limbs but the squire failed to cut it off. It needed more light.

Magnum stepped back his right foot and then it stepped forward as he swung his gunblade again. Before he hit the head of the wolf, he timed a big explosion from the back of his gunblade for a stronger force. The skull of the wolf broke as he hit it. He triggered his gunblade again for another explosion to shatter its head and it did. The wolf fell.

The squire knelt. Silent, as if praying. Magnum on the other hand approached the demon that he killed and took the dead dust from its body.

The squire stood up and approached his dead comrades. He knelt and prayed by their side. However, another squire came running from out of nowhere. It was the squire that rode Magnum’s wagon earlier.

“I am Lordred, a High Squire! Surrender oathless!” the squire said.