The sun was in the middle of the sky as the demi humans ran mounted on their beasts. A group of about forty half wolf men, riding on the backs of some kind of horse creature. They were advancing toward the city on the frontier of the Nation of Los.
This squad of raiders had already passed the frontier and killed the soldiers stationed there. Having a group of forty defeat over a hundred soldiers was not an easy feat, but these people were the strongest of the Wild Fang tribe, a tribe specialized in mounted combat. Without suffering a single casualty, they killed the soldiers quickly and continued their path toward the city. They were going to take human slaves.
Like many tribes that live in the wild, the Wild Fang also needed protection and resources. Unfortunately, recent battles against beasts and other tribes caused them to lose a lot of men. Without people, you can’t fight for food or defend your territory. This predicament would snowball into a bigger problem that could end up with the tribe being destroyed. The only thing they could do to reverse this situation was to make a fast profit. Selling slaves to the demi human council was the obvious choice.
The Demi Human Council was the biggest nation formed almost entirely of demi humans. The only regular humans there were used as slaves. The council came together after the Nation of Los decimated the demi human population about 80 years ago. Hundreds of tribes were purged as vengeance for the oppression that demi humans subjected to humans for hundreds of years. They called it repayment for all the suffering they caused, but to the demi humans that never attacked humans or used them as slaves, it was an unforgivable act.
As a result of the purge, the Nation of Los gained a lot of territory and grew even bigger and stronger. The purge that had lasted 20 years ended after the founder and leader, Los The Holy, passed away. His dream of creating a safe place for humans without fear of being tormented and enslaved by demi humans came to fruition. The whole country cried that day.
The demi humans wanted vengeance, but Los's companions were still alive. They were strong too; they could defend the country in case of any attack. Some tribes were dumb enough to try to retake their territory but ended up dying. The ten smartest and strongest tribes banded together. Putting their differences aside, they created a council and founded their own nation. The hatred and thirst for revenge against Los never vanished, and they proclaimed that all humans that dared cross their territory would be enslaved for the rest of their lives.
80 years had passed since then, and now a tribe in desperate need of money and power was raiding the nation of Los to sell humans as slaves to the council. This was actually very common, so much so that the soldiers stationed were trained to take their own lives and the lives of their companions to prevent them from being taken as slaves. That’s why no raider attack ever bothered to try to capture a soldier alive; instead they aimed straight for the city where civilians lived.
But the soldiers were also trained to send a message using magic; in case they couldn’t repel the attack, the Capital could send reinforcements. Right now, the center of command in the Capital was frantically putting a force of combatants to send with teleportation magic.
"Hurry! How many soldiers do we have to send right away!" Asked one of the captains.
"200 of the red order, 100 of the yellow order. 20 of the purple order and 10 of the white order. We are calling them all into the preparation room." A soldier answered with the exact number of people available in the building.
"What, we don’t have any members of the blue and only 10 of the white order? These bastards killed a combined force of one hundred red and purple members. We need magic to deal with them or we are going to suffer too many casualties."
"No, they may reach the city before we can prepare all the soldiers. They're going to capture a few dozen civilians and then retreat before we can send the reinforcements." The message indicated they were riding a species of horse that was bred specifically for running long distances in the shortest amount of time. The clock was ticking. The captain couldn’t think of an effective way to save the civilians in time...
"C-Captain, Lord Dante of the Black Order is here!"
"What!?" He looked at the entrance as the man entered without a care in the world.
"I heard the announcement for all the soldiers available to go and reunite in the preparation room. I came to see the situation. It looks like they won’t be ready before the raiders reach the city. I can go there and deal with them alone.
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"Lord Dante, are you sure? We need at least 15 minutes to prepare the rest of the soldiers. You will be fighting alone for all that time."
"all that time? You say that I can’t kill forty people in less than 15 minutes?" Dante looked at the Captain with his white eyes. The contrast with his black hair gave him a beautiful appearance. Some people may call it a feminine look, but an experienced fighter like this captain could tell those eyes were ready to kill after insulting him.
"No, Lord Dante, please go to the teleportation chamber as soon as you have your equipment ready."
Dante walked toward a soldier standing guard at the door. The young man was nervous as the hand of Dante touched his sword, resting on his hilt. He pulled out and turned toward the captain. "I've got a weapon. I’m ready." There was not even a single trace of arrogance in his voice. Dante spoke the truth. This sword was the only thing he needed.
After reaching the teleportation chamber, the mages prepared the coordinates to send him right in front of the city. The mana swirled in the room and the mages sent Dante to fight alone.
"Chief, there is someone in the front!" One of the half wolf men spoke to their leader.
At the front of the pack was a man wearing civilian clothes and holding a simple sword. Upon closer inspection, he had white eyes and a dark stone hanging from a necklace. That stone and those white eyes could only mean one thing. "That man is Dante, the puppet of the Black Order!"
As soon as their Chief screamed those words, everyone else took out their weapons, but it was too late. The sword was already piercing the skull of one of the raiders. Dante was already on top of them, with a swift motion he removed the blade away from the skull and slashed the head of the men at his right side.
The rest of the demi humans tried to attack him and launched arrows at him. Dante used the bodies as a shield and dashed quickly toward the archers.
How can this guy be faster than the horses? The chief thought as he ordered the mages in his group to attack him with everything. "BURN HIM. WE NEED TO KILL THIS BASTARD OR ALL OF US ARE GOING TO DIE!"
The archers laid their bows down and surrounded Dante. They couldn’t get too close as he was cutting through them like a knife cutting cheese. A group of people raised their hands and launched an attack on Dante.
"[Fireball]!" Eight balls of fire were launched towards their opponent. Their allies were also in the way, but they were willing to die to block the exit and take down a member of the Black Order with them.
The fire engulfed them all. There was no way he could have escaped that inferno. A flash cut through the smoke and landed in the chest of a mage. His body fell off the horse as the image of the sword embedded in his chest caused fear in everyone else.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Dante jumped out of the smoke, doing acrobatics, and ran toward the remaining mages. The panic was taking over their hearts, so they launched another volley of fireballs at him.
"You can hit me if your attacks are uncoordinated." The fireballs were exploding at different times, creating pockets of space. Dante moved through these pockets, dodging the explosions. The movements weren’t those of a normal human, they were like those of a puppet. Dante's body moved like invisible strings were guiding him to safety, dodging with the minimum movement required.
Using those same movements, Dante grabbed the sword and cut through the rest of the mages. The scariest thing about him was how his expression didn’t change. Dante kept the same look on his face during the whole battle; it was like he was possessed, or he didn't have any feelings. A marionette following someone else's commands.
"Puppet is an appropriate name for you!" The chief ran at Dante with his horse and hit him on the back with his great sword. Dante managed to block it without a problem.
"Activate [Wild tooth]!" The great sword began to glow, and slashes appeared in all directions.
"A magic weapon..." Dante took his sword with both hands for the first time in the fight. He blocked dozens of slashes that were aimed at him.
CLANK, CLANK, CLANK Dante and the Chief exchange over a hundred strikes in a few seconds. However, the fact was that the chief was the one who had to activate the ability of his magic sword, and Dante was keeping up, wearing the same unexpressive face.
"NOT YET! [Wolf fangs]" The mouth of a giant wolf appeared behind the Chief. The ghostly head aimed his fangs at Dante and began to chomp. Still, the Chief wasn’t content with using magic alone. He also activated a special ability. "[Hurricane strikes]!" His strikes became even faster. A storm of strikes and a pair of intangible fangs try to kill Dante.
Not even the boy chosen by heaven could withstand this ferocious attack with a simple sword. His fine clothes were cut as he dodged the fangs. It was only for a second. No one else but the half wolf Chief saw it. Dante smiled as he spoke.
"[Light sword]" The simple metal sword got covered in a radiant light so bright that it blinded everyone except the Chief. He continued to strike with everything he had...
One cut from Dante and the weapon, along with the Chief, were destroyed. The blazing light cut everything in his path. Dante stood over the body and said words to himself with a disappointed tone. "So, you aren’t him after all."
The remaining demi humans couldn’t believe it. They tried to run back, run away for their lives as fast as they could. Dante caught them all and killed them with his light sword. It didn't take him even 10 minutes.
Dante stood in the middle of the bloody field. Not even the horses were spared. He looked up in the sky at the sun watching over him and spoke with a melancholic tone. "I want to meet you soon. Where are you? It's only been a few months, but you still haven’t attacked, or maybe you're destroying some other place?"
A couple of months back, Dante felt a presence, a dark evil presence extending from the land as he just woke up, but only silence since then. He had never experienced anything like that before. He wanted to see this person, fight him, and kill him. But fate wouldn’t let this reunion happen yet.
"Tell me. What does it mean to be truly evil?"