The battle is the most chaotic one the world has seen, the World’s One Army was attacked from both ends, causing confusion in one end as to what was going on. Only to then be caught up in their own situation when the Castle’s defense began pouring out to defend their home. And they do not hold back. The many varieties of the King’s forces have been unleashed. Monsters and beasts alike rush into the center of the Army. The combined strategy of an unorganized force which consisted of the monster and beasts, followed by the demihumans who supported them with organized efforts proved to be a challenge for most of the soldiers.

The Champion of Light had to fall back on relying on the generals that lead their own factions to lead portions of the army to communicate with one another on their conditions and what they were going up against to prevent even more casualties from occurring. Once the situation was stable, the generals ordered a few of their men to be a special squad to accompany the Champion to go be the vanguard and pursue the King of Darkness.

The Champion and his group break through the main gate and bypass the flood of enemies that come from inside.

To cut his way through, the Champion relayed an ancient chant that bathes his blade with an unnatural aura of light that grows in size and breaks the flow of enemies into two halves, allowing him and the others to reach the inside of the castle.

This was the first in their history that anyone ever stepped inside the Castle of Darkness. Many tales described what it was like, but none could confidently declare themselves to be the truth. As his squad looked about in terrifying awe, the Champion was not impressed. He reaffirms their attention to the goal and they carefully skulk through the various halls.

Few enemies were inside the castle to challenge their progression, which made it much smoother than they thought. Just as the Champion was giving praise to the idea, they were ambushed once more.

Two stronger variations of the King's enemies have confronted them, about ½ bigger than the average man. They roared in intimidation and began swinging their poorly constructed weapons at the group of the Champion and Co. Many dodged, but few had such delay in their attempt that limbs of theirs suffered a hit and became paralysised from that moment on.

Some of the knights retaliated with attacks of their own from casting magic at their faces or stabbing their polished blades deep into their flesh. The Champion swooped in to save the struck knights and moved them further to not suffer anymore injuries. But even with that fraction of time taken from the Champion was enough to make things worse for them all.

The roar was no mere intimidation tactic, but a call of arms. The ground rumbled and three more began lining up in the hall from the entryway heading their way, the Champion could see.

He relies on the ancient chant phrase once more, but delays the activation key word until the perfect moment.

Just as they reached him and the first one was in mid-motion to swing his arms up into the air and down for a slam, his attack was triggered. The elongated blade of light shoots outwards as he points and blows through the three demihumans, with the third just barely having the tip stick out from its back. It halts their movement and when he pulls his weapon back, he tilts it upwards, delivering even more damage to their body. As the light fades, the bodies limb against one another, lifeless.

He turned to see how his soldiers were doing, but it wasn't good.

He finished in time to see that the last knight was barely able to deliver the final blow on the remaining demihuman. The wide corridor they were in was layered with burnt ash, wet blood, mixed with dry blood from the flames. And the knights were scattered about. Some clearly gone from the mortal world, and others look like they are begging for an end. There weren't just two demihumans anymore, but a few more. An opened doorway from the wall was exposed, suggesting that was where they came out of.

As he rushes to help the final knight, they gesture at him to continue on and collapse. He whispers a small prayer for them all to find peace and begins to enter the secret doorway.

The hall was narrow, uncomfortable, and dark. He can barely see if there was even more ground to step on ahead of him. And as he feared, he didn't have any more and stepped off the edge accidently. He tried piercing the wall with his blade to halt his fall, but the stones were too tightly mixed to break through.

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Then, he fell into a large chamber that was barely dimmed. A pile of some rubble managed to break his fall and he only suffered a bruise on his thighs and back.

Collecting himself, he attempts to look around, but his eyes are still adjusting to the level of darkness he is in. Holding his weapon out, he chanta a different phrase than before and the end of his blade contained a small orb of pure light.

It grew more and more strongly. That was when it was revealed that he wasn't alone. Something large and covered in fur was stalking at the corner, their yellow eyes fixated on him.

He recognized it. "So, this is your room, I take it. I was wondering if we would meet again before I kill your master." He only responded with a growl, but the Champion could sense that it was familiar with him.

The two have crossed paths before. This was one of the King’s most dangerous assets within his forces. It was a beast infused with dark magic. Back before such regulations prevented inhumane experiments to be done. The beast escaped and went on a rampage through the region it was taken to. By the time the champion was called in to stop it, it had already destroyed and killed 4 towns. Before delivering the final blow, The King forces went to retrieve the beast. And ever since then, the beast has sporadically popped in other places around the world to attack and then disappear before the champion could properly end it.

When the champion points his sword at the beast, the beast in turn would bear his fangs. An old familiar dance would begin. The champion charges forth with his sword positioned and ready to be swung. The beast roared and awkwardly charged back at him. Once they were close to collusion, the champion swung his sword, but the beast in its awkward posing jumps to the side to have the attack miss.

The beast then retaliates with a tackle which sends the champion flying into the wall. The attack knocked the wind out of him and he stumbled into the floor, trying to catch his breath. As he tried to grab his dropped sword, the beast smartly shoved it from his reach with a single paw swipe.

"I should have taken that advice by heart." He mutters to himself as he realizes he has been cornered by the beast.

The beast takes its time inching closer to the champion. It recognized the knight as the one who has repeatedly fought against it whenever it had the privilege of exacting its revenge on the people it experimented on. Finally, it will take care of the problem and after devouring him, it would be free to destroy that nation. It couldn’t think any further beyond sinking its teeth into that man’s flesh. It wasn’t fed yet. But it was patient, and now patience is being rewarded.

“Devour me, and I’ll just eat my way out from the inside.” The Champion promises as he stares down the opened mouth with rows of teeth creeping closer.

Just as the beast was in mid-pounce, something immediately shot out with a blinding light that even made the champion wince from it. He shields his eyes and hears something, likely the beast, colliding into the wall like he did. But he didn’t hear the thud of the body. Once his eyes adjusted to the steady light that’s remaining in the room, he sees someone wearing a flowing dress standing about in the center.

“I find it funny that the so-called damsel in distress has to save her hero like this, don’t you?” The voice carried within a tone of amusement.

The champion scrambles off the floor and properly kneels with his sword poking the floor, “Your majesty.” He responds.

It was his queen. The Queen of light, she was already here. He wondered how much time had been wasted if she was capable of reaching the castle. But he couldn't deny seeing her was pleasing to his eyes and heart. Aside from her sun dress, she was also wearing her new readjusted armor pieces crafted from ritual armor that was previously given to her. Before, it was merely cosmetic. Now it was secured with magical

She gestures to him to be at ease as she carefully walks over to the spot where the beast would have been after being struck by her attack.

There was no body there as he thought. Just a burn mark on the wall and some black ash on the floor. The Queen’s magic was nothing short of the most powerfulest in the world. Only ones that come close would be the King of Darkness and the Ancient Red Mage.

“I appreciate the save, your grace, but why are you here? We agreed that you would stay at the castle.”

“I did not agree to it. I simply walked away from the conversation and let you have the final word.”

“But-”

“It’s fine. Leave it at that, I am already here. So let us see that this tool of the King is stopped.”

The champion wanted to rebut, but he couldn’t argue with her that it was indeed too late. They were both at the heart of the enemy’s territory. And the mere fact that he was struggling with a lackey of the king. “Very well. But I insist you stay behind me when we go into battle with the enemy.”

“So I can watch you fall on your behind again, if you say so.” She teases as he uses her magic to dissolve a portion of a wall to reveal, yet another pathway inside the castle.

His face flushes red from embarrassment and walks out of the room, with the queen casually following behind, illuminating the way. The two ventured through the castle with little resistance as they confined themselves through only the hidden paths until they had reached the throne room. There, they cross paths with the two generals.