Twenty minutes went by faster than anyone could comprehend. Everyone made their way to Leviere’s throne room without any problems, and that is including the 20 hour sleep scheduled elf. The number of people in the throne room is more than ten times the amount of people at the council room earlier in the day. The set leaders stood in a horizontal line in front of the king with their backs straight and eyes confidently staring at the king. Along with them were Faith, Parker and Sean – people that have never been in a situation like this and were shaking in their boots.
Behind each set leader was a general holding a gonfalon flag with their corresponding letters and Leviere’s symbol in tiny print below it. Behind Faith (of all her friends) was the set general for Knarr. He was carrying a flag similar to the others, but had the name of the village rather than a single letter.
Having her stand in the front along with the other extremely important people made her want to die. Just the other day she was publicly banished! She didn’t feel right in the slightest to be where she was, but she smiled.
To the sides of the throne room there were squares of armored soldiers in rows of eight, each row facing towards the throne. Bigger versions of the general flags were in the very center of each square to represent which set they belonged to. From a view they seemed stone-faced, but there was tension in their expressions. They were scared out of their minds.
Every set was accounted for, so they began their meeting.
It started off as a light hearted greeting from OJ to everyone else, followed by an announcement on the condition of Team Hydra. He felt obligated to let everyone know ahead of time just in case anyone were to ask, but Sean grew suspicious of him. Something about OJ’s behavior was disturbing him, something he couldn’t put his finger on. OJ stood in the middle of the bunch as he spoke, and as soon as he finished he walked back to the horizontal line of allies.
Everyone was looking straight at King Didus as he looked at them eye-to-eye and hands behind his back.
King Didus: [The first wave is near. You will all be teleported to your locations shortly.]
Faith felt her heart tense up as the King spoke in his deep toned voice, just like he did when she first met him. Ironically, they’re in the same room and having her leave the capital – only this time it was on her own accord. Didus’ voice echoed silently in the large hall.
King Didus: [Does anyone else have something to say?]
The room remained silent. Faith turned to Sean and Parker hoping they were just as nervous as she was, but they looked confident with their backs straight and eyes still. She turned back to King Didus and watched him walk away.
His footsteps echoed around the room as he made his way to his throne. The same two maids from the kitchen were standing beside his throne, quickly preparing it right before he took a seat.
King Didus: [Okay. There are a couple of minutes remaining before the first wave begins. Before you leave, I’d like to say a few words.]
He straightened his back and stared down at the soldiers and high ranking officials in front of him.
King Didus: [Needless to say, today is a day we’ve all been dreading, however, our countless hours of training have amounted to this very moment!]
The soldiers on the sidelines all of a sudden stomped their feet in harmony, scaring Faith in the process.
King Didus: [We will not let the Demon Lord’s tyranny take over our kingdom!]
Another stomp from the crowd.
King Didus: [Do not let your kingdom down! Show that Demon Lord that he is messing with the wrong kingdom!]
The flags in the center of each set were raised.
King Didus: [Leviere WILL win this war!]
Every soldier shouted out of the top of their lungs and vibrated the atmosphere of the throne room. The shouting sent pulses to Faith’s chest, pulses that were reminiscent of a bass boosted drum.
A blue magic circle formed below the soles of everybody within the throne room. The circles emitted a bright blue light that engulfed those standing on them. The light quickly grew brighter, blinding everyone and forcing their eyes shut.
As their eyes were shut, they could feel an atmospheric change crawl around their skin. A soft breeze blew their hair that was nonexistent before. Faith slowly opened her eyes only to see the sky turning in on itself. Dim red clouds spiraling in on themselves and forming a wormhole to another dimension. The hole above the clouds was beaming a bright crimson light that encompassed the entire village.
Parker found Faith laying on her backside against the corrupted sand and helped her up. The two of them stared up at the death sky as Sean, Ruby, and Abrianna gathered around.
Parker: [We’re fucked.]
Faith took a large breath before agreeing with him.
The general that was previously holding their group flag ran up to Ruby and requested some instructions. As the two spoke to one another, Faith felt a growing presence or feeling that they were being watched. She would glance both directions to try and catch them, but she was getting no luck.
Paladin OJ: [They told us this location was unlikely to be attacked.]
He chuckled with a shake of his head.
Paladin OJ: [So that was a fucking lie.]
Faith turned around and frantically stared at a pillar for a nearby building. The feeling that they were being watched was nothing but suspicion, but she couldn’t get her mind off of it. Ruby quickly came to notice her but decided not to act.
Abrianna: [I get the feeling that the others don’t have a wave to worry about.]
Paladin OJ: [We don’t have time for that.]
He called all of the soldiers to huddle together.
Paladin OJ: [We need to cover all areas of this village. Thankfully, traveling back and forth shouldn’t be much of a problem.]
He turned to the general.
Paladin OJ: [Do you have a plan?]
Set Knarr General: [Half of the soldiers of this set will cover the eastern entrance. To our knowledge, it lacks the most in resources, so we doubt any ultras would bother attacking there.]
A good portion of the Knarr soldiers nodded and ran off towards the eastern entrance.
Faith’s attention diverted from the pillar to the nearly three dozen soldiers storming off.
General: [To the North we’ll have the Sorceress and Queen, along with twelve of the set soldiers.]
Faith’s attention turned to the general.
General: [They’re insanely powerful individuals, so I put them up with the most loaded area.]
Faith confused: [You want me to defend North with Ruby?]
General: [Is there a problem?]
Faith slowly shook her head.
General: [Good.]
Another set of soldiers began making their way northward while leaving Faith and Ruby behind. The two took a moment to follow along.
General: [West will be the Elf and the Wizard, along with ten soldiers.]
He purposely left out the reasoning to his demand and continued on with the last group. They ran northwest without another question.
General: [Staying south will be the Paladin and Druid.]
Parker snuck a glance at OJ as his class was being named. He grew anxious of being left alone with someone he didn’t know, but then remembered that he is also one of the lost. That helped him grow a little more relaxed, but he remained tense.
Paladin OJ: [We get no soldiers?]
General: [I assumed you brought one of your own.]
OJ chuckled.
General: [I’ll be taking the remaining with me towards the center. From there we'll proceed with Procedure 007. Best of luck to you three.]
The General along with ten other soldiers ran northward.
Parker confused: [You brought a guard of your own?]
OJ stared Parker down before denying him. The Druid decided not to ask any further questions.
Moments after equipping his staff, Parker felt an enormous pulse of magic energy coming from the sky. The pulse was strong enough to give him a minor headache. He slouched down and grunted with a hand on his head. He raised his head agitated and saw a crystallized dome in the middle of encompassing the entire village. As soon as the dome completely covered Knarr, it shattered into thousands of shards that fell to the ground like rain drops.
Parker: [HOLY SHIT!]
Parker dropped to his knees and covered his head as the shards came crashing down. Scared for his life, he shook and quivered. OJ watched him like he was a crazy man. The shards passed through them like they didn’t exist and stuck to the ground, creating a red shine like a reflection from the sky. Parker stared at the red floor as he stood up and looked back up at the sky.
0:00:02
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*
Zack and his set were teleported to the front of Leviere’s southern gates, and were confused by how anticlimactic the change in scenery was. As the timer was counting down the last few seconds, the clouds in the sky began parting and creating a wide barrier around the entire capital city. The sky turned a light blue and the light from the suns beamed onto the city like god rays.
Zack furrowed his forehead in confusion as he looked around the sky, and his set followed after. Unsure of what to do, Zack sent a couple mages to create the dome. He continued to send soldiers around the city even though he was unsure of what was going to happen. All of his set members were hesitant to follow his orders, but eventually did after they noticed his confusion.
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Paladin Zack: [What the hell is going on?]
0:00:02
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*
Sophia and her set were teleported to the center of Rosemary, where a mildly decorated well was built. Sophia did a head count before raising her head to see a small spiral in the clouds. Unlike the one at Knarr, this spiral only covered a small diameter above the well. Though frightening with its beaming red ray of light, Sophia felt like something was off.
In the map shot shown by Ali in the conference room, the spiral was much larger. Was there something she needed to be worried about? Sophia quickly glanced around the well to see if anything might have changed in the city, but everything was exactly as it was from Ali's display.
There wasn’t an external change that could shorten the spiral's diameter, so it had to have been the demon lord's doing. The Royal Knight quickly enforced her set to make the dome before the timer hit zero. In a hurry, four wizards formed a square around the well. With their wands pointing to the sky, they began chanting a spell in English.
Their wands shot a beaming crystallized light into the sky and created the same dorm that Parker saw. The dome shattered into pieces that scattered all over the city. Now reflecting the sky light, Sophia stared at the sky and waited for the timer to hit zero.
0:00:02
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*
Royal Knight Ali: [Alright everyone! Get into positions!]
Soldiers: [Sir!]
As soon as Set C arrived at the village, Holland, they were immediately commanded to disperse into factions. Without taking a single look at the sky above them, they began to get ready for the first wave. Procedure 007 was enacted almost instantaneously, soldiers got to positions faster than one can read the alphabet, and confidence bursted in Ali’s eyes.
As soon as he looked at the sky, however, all that confidence flew out the window.
With a sky resembling the moody, cloud-filled atmosphere of a rainy day, Ali felt like he was being played like a fiddle. Unlike what he saw prior on the world map, the red sky seemed unthreatening – weak. What was once a large whirlwind hole in the sky was now a few parted red clouds emitting a dim crimson light onto the center of the village.
The few soldiers that were around Ali walked up to him in confusion. A few of them had the same reaction, while others treated it as being fortunate.
Ali opened the group chat to see if others were in the same situation, but no one had sent anything.
RK Ali: [Looks like we’re the only ones in this situation, men.]
A few soldiers looked his way.
Soldier 1: [Does this mean we have it easy?]
Ali closed his group chat and sighed.
RK Ali: [That might as well become the case.]
A few soldiers cheered in the back.
RK Ali: [Don’t treat it as a joke, though. We don’t know what might be coming from that portal.]
0:00:02
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The earth quaked the moment the timer hit zero. Nearly everyone lost their balance and fell to the ground. If it weren’t for Procedure 007, the buildings would have collapsed and created a mess. The light from the spirals started beaming and growing brighter with every passing second.
Around the capitol city, the quakes were hardly noticeable and the sky remained clear. The quakes at Rosemary were powerful. Sophia and a few other soldiers had to support those that lost their ground, as well as keep an eye on the sky portal, which was the same case with Holland. The quakes at Knarr, on the other hand, were earth splitting.
Randomly during the earthquake, sections of Knarr village would split apart creating enormous fissures that dug deep into Tietus’ layers. These fissures started from the center of the village and went off in four separate paths in the shape of the letter ‘X’. Several soldiers ended up falling down these cracks, and only a few were saved.
Faith nearly tripped down into one of the cracks, and was saved by Ruby before she got out of reach. A basic telekinetic ability wrapped Faith in a light purple aura as it brought her back to her feet. The beaming red lights made keeping their eyes wide open a chore, so with squinting eyes they had to keep themselves and their teammates safe.
Everyone else at Knarr was in a similar situation. Keeping their composure was no easy task, even for those with years of military experience. As the ground shook and threw everyone off balance, OJ stared up at the bright red clouds with his eyes wide open. He waited aggressively for the first demon to come falling from the sky, and to his surprise, over two dozen cyclopses came crashing down.
WARNING
- The first wave has begun -
A dozen cyclopses landed at the northern side of Knarr, shaking the earth and creating a field of dust. Faith stood beside Ruby as the cyclopses crashed. They lost sight of the other magi-knights that were assigned to them and grew anxious of what was to come.
Ruby casted a powerful wind spell to blow the dust away. Faith watched as her clothes flowed with the gust and the 40 feet tall cyclopses were revealed. Her and Ruby stared up at the sky scraping cyclopses with excitement in their eyes. They grinned at one another before dashing straight towards the feet of the giants.
As Faith approached the moldy foot of the giant, she swept her arm forward forcing the ground beneath the foot to spike up, piercing through the cyclops’ sole and creating a pathway for Ruby to walk up. Blood was spewing from the foot like a fountain. As Ruby used Faith’s spike to get up the cyclops’ foot, Faith decided to summon her blue Phoenix and fly towards the cyclops’ single eye.
Ruby noticed Faith was pushing the cyclops she had her sights on, and decided to go for another. Eight other cyclopses were free for the taking, with the others being occupied by groups of magi-knights. Ruby caught sight of a cyclops approaching Faith’s Phoenix with it’s eye wide open in fear. She lowered her body and tapped the ground spike with her left hand. Suddenly, the spike shot forward like a bullet towards the frightened cyclops with Ruby on it. She was as surprised as everyone else when they saw a large needle made of earth darting towards the eye of the cyclops. To make things more exciting, Ruby stood on the spike like a surfboard riding the waves, and laughed out of the top of her lungs.
The spike was heading towards the single eye of the cyclops. Right as the spike reached, Ruby jumped off and dived straight to the ground. The spike dug a hole straight through the cyclops’ head without losing velocity, and knocked it off its feet.
The remaining soldiers watched as the cyclops came crashing down, and did their best to avoid being crushed. It’s bright blood spewed all over the place, creating large pools and leaving a nauseating scent.
Faith: [Nice job!]
Ruby turned midair and saw the cheerful sorceress sitting atop her Phoenix. She threw her a thumbs up before splashing into the pool of blood.
Faith continued flying to the head of the cyclops. Once there, she noticed tears forming in it’s single eye. There was a mix of emotions playing in her heart. A monster was crying at the sight of its comrade. Was she supposed to feel sympathetic? With a blank glare, she let out her right hand in the form of a finger gun. Aiming directly into the cyclops’ large pupil, she began charging a ball made of dark purple matter. Black gushes were coming out of thin air and forming together at the tip of her index-finger. It grew in size by the second. By the time it was the size of a gumball,
Faith: [Bang.]
The ball shot into the cyclops’ pupil, and instantly sprouted into dozens of pitch-black spikes cutting through the cyclops’ skull and skin from the inside. No traces of blood nor bone remained, all burned the moment they came into contact with the spikes.
Faith stared blankly as it went down. Her vision slowly blurred and the next thing she knew, the Phoenix disappeared into the air and she went crashing to the ground.
Her body was frozen but her mind was active. She could see everything, feel everything, and began panicking. Ruby noticed Faith’s lifeless body crashing down, and ordered a few Magi-knights to cushion her fall. They created an aura around Faith’s body similar to the glow around the village.
She crashed into a rough patch of land, throwing clouds of dust in the air and denting the ground. Ruby got up and rushed over to Faith. Her body was covered in blood, but she washed it off on the way with a quick water spell.
Once she arrived, she saw Faith laying lifeless with a dull glare. Ruby couldn’t help herself but to laugh.
Ruby: [You outdid yourself!]
She pulled out a mana potion and spilled it on Faith. The sorceress came back into commission after a few drops.
Ruby: [What the fuck were you thinking?]
The magi-knights that helped her made their way to the two of them.
Faith sat up and looked around.
The cyclops that Faith killed fell into the crack in the ground, and a few others managed to die along with it. The other groups of magi-knights were holding their own against the cyclopses and left four extra cyclopses for the taking.
Faith: [Is this it for the first wave?]
Ruby: [I guess so.]
Ruby turned to Faith.
Ruby: [Drink up and don’t use any attacks that take a lot of your mana.]
Faith nodded and pulled a large mana potion out of her inventory.
Ruby: [Using magic is so much fun!]
Ruby let out a hand to which Faith grabbed firmly onto and used as support to stand up. She had a small amount of mana left in her, but nothing she couldn’t deal with.
Faith smiling: [At least someone understands.]
The both of them stood side by side, looking forward at the four cyclopses glooming in front of them.
Ruby made a nervous smile and Faith grinned like a maniac. She threw the empty mana bottle onto the ground and listened to it shatter into hundreds of shards.
Faith eccentrically: [THIS BATTLE IS OURS!]
*
To the west side of the village, Sean and Abrianna, along with their soldiers, were struggling to take out a single cyclops. Unlike the north, they were blessed with a single cyclops to take out, but were struggling to do so. Breathless and losing hope, Abrianna turned to the north to see how things were going, and giggled to herself when she noticed the drop in cyclops numbers.
Abrianna surprised: [They… already killed more than half of… their cyclopses.]
Magi-Knight 1: [We have our own battle to worry about.]
The cyclops roared, shaking the ground they were on.
Abri: [Our attacks aren’t doing any damage to it!]
Sean shot a bolt of lightning directly at the giant’s stomach, and got no reaction.
Abri: [How the hell are we supposed to beat it?!]
Sean: [I’ve got an idea.]
Sean stepped back from the battle and spoke to Abri and the magi-knight standing with her.
Sean: [What kind of magic do you have?]
Abri: [Wind and healing!]
Sean: [Okay…]
He turned to the cyclops and fell into deep thought. Abrianna patiently watched as several soldiers fell to the hands of the roaring monster.
Sean: [Can you make a healing shield?]
His sudden question surprised her.
Abri: [Yeah, but it drains a lot of my mana really quickly. Elves aren’t really well known for their mana bank.]
Sean shut his eyes and pointed the tip of his wand to his nose.
Abri: [I can only keep it up for a minute.]
Sean: [That isn’t useful.]
The magi-knight overheard their conversation and thought he could be of some help. He adjusted his metallic helmet and spoke up.
Magi-Knight 1: [I can supply you with mana potions!]
A cyan light appeared at the tip of Sean’s wand, and a sudden breeze began spiraling around him. A magic circle appeared above his hat and slowly caressed its way down his body, like a scan from head to toe. Once the scan finished, Sean’s body began to dimly glow like a star in the night sky.
Sean: [Please do.]
The magi-Knight handed Abrianna a few bottles of mana potions.
Sean: [Keep the spell on me at all times.]
Abri: [Right!]
She threw her hands forward and formed a diamond with her hands around Sean’s glowing body. Along with the dim cyan aura, a light green appeared in the mix. Any scratches or injuries on his body magically pathed themselves up. He looked at Abrianna before dashing forward at unbelievable speeds and leaving a cloud of dust behind.
Abri lost track of him through the dust. She silently casted a wind spell to blow them away, and immediately caught sight of him already near the cyclops’ toes. She recasted the healing shield and attempted to keep Sean within her diamond.
His surprising speed was hard to keep up with. She would occasionally lose him and quickly try to reconnect their link. Since her hands were occupied, she asked the magi-knight to force one down her throat. At first, the knight blushed but quickly adjusted himself and popped a potion open.
As Sean climbed the cyclops and jumped above it’s head, he began to lose large amounts of mana. He raised his wand to the sky and created an enormous magic circle in the color of flames. The magi-knights watching from below shot a boost spell his way, making the circle increase in size. The cyclops watched as Sean’s magic circle grew by the second and a tiny human mocking him right below it.
Sean: [Quả cầu lửa!]
A gigantic ball of fire came through the portal at an insane speed. Like a meteor crashing towards Earth, the cyclops stood bewildered as a world-ending meteor crashed into his face and threw him down to the ground.
Standing beneath the fireball was insanely hot. Had it not been for Abri’s constant healing, Sean’s skin would have burned off his muscle and the intense swiftness could’ve left him immobile for a few days. However, the massive amounts of mana he drained caused him to pass out and sent him crashing to the ground.
Like what happened in the north, several magi-knights summoned a protective barrier around Sean’s body that cushioned his crash. Abrianna walked up to his unconscious body and smiled. They had defeated their one and only cyclops.
The western battle came to an end.