Four days had passed since the second battle for Coh began.

Four days and we had lost fifty men.

Yna and the others tried comforting me by saying that we had killed thousands of our enemies but the smell of death still haunted me so.

My dark ethereal self hid in the shadows of the forest and from there I watched as my favorite bunch of soldiers, Sah's squad to be specific, skulked eastward.

I looked ahead and saw that their path was surprisingly clear.

Actually, the entire zone was clear.

I floated further north and saw no signs of enemy movement.

This was concerning, but my attention was drawn towards three tall pillars of light to the north.

I knew that those were the Golden Knights and that they were quite far away, but part of me was curious.

I wanted to know how they were dealing with all this.

I wanted to know how they felt about everything and so I floated northward.

The further into the forest, the more broken and twisted everything was.

Space magicians were really scary because someone could take off your head in an instant and the only way to defend yourself would be by being a space magician yourself.

Those maniacs could lift valleys, flatten mountains and create never ending pits.

I didn’t even have to imagine what more they could do to bodies as countless human bodies littered forest floor and the further north I went, the more disfigured the corpses became.

The ones to the south had clearly suffered from stab wounds and the like, but the ones further north were ribbons of flesh and bone that hung from the twisted burnt trees that could be spotted here and there.

I eventually arrived at forest Niki's northern edge and here I found countless soldiers squatted in countess filthy camps.

The once grassy plane was muddy and probably smelly as hell from all the corpses that could be seen scattered about.

I noticed that a large chunk of the human soldiers were wounded and were being tended to, but by the way it looked, medicinal advancements in Lanceberg weren’t the best.

Soldiers with large open wounds slept on makeshift beds that were practically swimming in mud and as for the wounds, they were flimsily wrapper in dirty looking pieces of cloth.

I caught a glimpse of some soldiers fighting over a piece of bread, but my attention returned to the pillars of light at the center of the encampment.

They came from a large tent that was heavily guarded by soldiers who wore actual pieces of metal armor.

I seeped into the tent to find Lunësse and his fellow knights sitting on a bed made of golden silk and they were all… naked.

They all casually slept next to each other while eating various fresh fruit.

It was almost picturesque, but I had other reasons for being here.

“How do you want to die?” Lunësse suddenly asked.

“Pardon?”

One of his men, a younger looking knight asked. Although age meant nothing when it came to these guys.

“We are going to lose this battle. So I was wondering how I would die. Would I be killed and torn to pieces by the treacherous Red Death or would I be cornered, beaten and brutalized by mud crawlers.”

“Surely you jest, sir. If we all corner Red Death, we could kill her in an instant!”

The young knight yelled but Lunësse placed his large hand on the knight's head which was covered in short white hair.

“Do you really believe that?”

“With every fiber of my being.”

Lunësse smiled gently before sighing.

“Your conviction aside, I will not risk that chance of you getting killed and so, after our men have finished nursing the wounded, I will return to Aurenia and report our loss. You and Phea will head to the Ukiwa mountains where you will most likely have to spend the rest of your days in hiding-“

“That is enough!”

The young knight yelled as he sat up.

His eyes were glowing brightly and even the lines on his body were aflame.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Where is this self defeatist attitude coming from? Are we not Doyennefell knights? Those who fought alongside the Golden Prince himself during the battle of Araena. Red Death is nothing but a traitor. I don’t care if she was awarded the rank of Primair, she will fall by our hands.”

The knight said while placing his hand above his smooth and muscular chest.

Lunësse sat up as well before sighing.

“This is not a discussion, Rinka. I do not want our legion to die in this hellhole-“

“Is there a higher honor than dying for Lanceberg?” Rinka asked with a pained expression.

“No, but I think you and Phea still have so much to live for.” Lunësse said.

Rinka opened his mouth to speak but someone barged into the tent before he could.

“Oi, Captain Lunësse! What’s going on out there? Why have all our men withdrawn?” The knight I remembered as Maligo asked.

Rinka and Fea hurriedly slipped into their golden robes, but Lunësse simply sighed.

“Ugh, I don’t care about your lewd triumvirate , I just want us to get into that forest and kill that bitch.” Maligo said with crossed arms.

Lunësse nodded before standing up and walking towards the furious silver knight.

“You want to kill Yna?”

“Of course! She has already killed four Zoiquell knights and for that she deserves to be flayed repeatedly.” Maligo said as Lunësse placed his large arms on his shoulders.

“Do you think that you will do any better than they did?” Lunësse asked.

“We’ll tackle her as a group. I’m willing to kill my pride just to see her bleed.” Maligo said with a scowl.

“Alright. Allow me to explain why our soldiers are retreating.” Lunësse said as he dramatically spreading his arms.

“I wanted to make Yna and her mud crawler allies think that we were fleeing and when their guard reached its lowest, I planned on striking their heart!”

Maligo’s eyes narrowed.

“You golden knights have always been an… underhanded sort. But, seeing as the situation calls for such actions, I think we should sneak into the Expanse and strike their heart from the back-“

“Brilliant!” Lunësse said before offering Maligo his hand.

“Gather your men and head to the Expanse. How should we assist you? Do you want us to fight alongside you on the Expanse, although that would mean that we have to share in the glory of killing red death-“

“I- I think you lot should distract the mud crawlers in the forest. Oh and be careful. They have these strange devices that shoot out lethal dark bolts-“

“Don’t worry. We’ll be ready.” Lunësse said with a gentle smile.

“So… should I ready my soldiers right now?” Maligo asked with eyes that quivered.

“Look at you. Not a week has passed and you are already the fulfilling the role of captain as though it were natural for you. You do not need my permission. Go give that bitch hell.”

Maligo nodded frantically before dashing out of the tent.

Lunësse’s smile then vanished and his golden eyes slowly rose until they faced me.

“We, the Doyennefell knights, surrender. Feel free to come and demand what you will. Although you might want to deal with the group heading towards the Expanse first.” He said.

I panicked and rushed out of the tent before speeding towards my body in the dead of night.

.

..

I shot up, much to everyone’s surprise.

“What’s wrong?” Yna asked.

“The rest of the Zoiquell legion is heading this way via the Expanse as we speak.” I said quickly. My voice full of panic.

“Wait, how do you know that for sure?” Han asked and I explained told him about my adventures in the dark realm. Everyone knew that I could visit the realm freely, but it wasn’t common knowledge that I could peer into the real world from there.

“Oh…” Han sounded.

Everyone looked at me with narrowed eyes but I waved my hands frantically.

“Don’t worry. I can’t do much in that place anyway, also that’s not important. We should handle the Zoiquell right away!” I said as hopped out of my chair.

“And where are you going?” Han asked.

“Err…”

Yna picked me up before placing me back on my chair.

“Remember what you said about leaders being far away from danger? Stay here. I’ll take care of the knights. Do you want me to capture them alive?”

“Will they be hard to contain?” I asked.

“Not if they don’t have limbs. They could also be wells for knowledge and such.” Yna explained.

“Alright, go do what you need to. We’ll meet up with Lunësse after you’re done.”

Yna nodded before leaving the tent.

“I have some things to do in Coh.” Han said before he too left the tent.

This left me with Anda and Calëb, but Calëb was still feeling rather down after the whole thing with Yna and Anda was inspecting various reports.

A moment passed as we sat in silence and it was Calëb who eventually broke the silence.

“Lord Katsíki?”

“Yeah?” I asked.

“I know this may sound strange, especially from the mouth of a Foph, but… how do you deal with stress?”

“Heh?”

“Mmm?”

Anda and I sounded.

Calëb sighed before looking me straight in the eyes. Something she rarely ever did.

“Err… I may not be the right person to ask because all I ever do take thoughts I don’t like is tuck them in the back of my mind. What about you, Anda?” I asked in an attempt to throw Anda into Calëb’s crosshairs.

“Err… talking to someone else, someone you trust, about your problems or stress may not take it away, but at least you’ll have a shoulder to cry on.” Anda said and I gave him a thumbs up after hearing his simple, but effective solution.

“I see… thank you both.” Calëb said before deeply bowing

“Hey, thank Anda. Also, have you been to Eimval yet?” I asked in an attempt to keep our conversation going.

“A few times, yes.” Calëb said.

“Oh? What did you think of the place as an outsider?”

“Mmm… upper Eimval is beautiful and although the lower cities are equally we built, I can’t help but feel like they are tactical nightmares. If anyone ever attacked the cities, everyone would have to flee into lower Eimval, but that’d mean they’d be cornered.” Calëb said while thoughtfully rubbing her chin.

“Ah, that’s the thing my Foph comrade. Anda and I are working on an evacuation system that will be able to take people all the way from Iana to the Ash Wastes where I’m currently setting up a nice little refugee town. Actually, Nira should be on her way to collect her order of supplies.” I said while blankly staring at the roof.

“Mmm… what about you, Anda? What do you think of the Oasis?”

“It’s definitely an interesting place… say, Calëb, why do you people still use breeding pits?”

“I don’t understand your question.” Calëb said with narrowed eyes.

“I mean… such an archaic method of procreation… I also learnt that Foph children aren’t able to meet their parents?”

“That archaic method is all we’ve ever known. Also, the desperate clinging to life is what keeps a warrior from fighting until he dies. Live by the blade and you must very much expect to die by it. Also, the concept of parenthood is a hindrance to us Foph warriors-“

“Then what about your relationship with Shakha?” I asked with a raised brow.

“I…” Calëb tried speaking but no other words left her mouth.

“You know what, don’t worry about it too much. I’m just happy you two are openly discussing various things. You’ve come a long way from being the woman who killed someone in front of me without hesitating, to not doing that.” I said with a gentle smile but for some reason, Anda and Calëb visibly shuddered.

A loud explosion came from outside the tent and Yna entered the tent shortly after.

“Done and done! Let’s go settle things with Lunësse!”