“Now.” Absio Sapon, commander of the ambush forces, gave the order to his troops.

Absio was a close relative to Duke Marcus Sapon, but despite his proud lineage and martial prowess, Absio abandoned the Sapon House over his distaste for the Duke’s marriage and began working for Salamein’s trade guild. However, Marcus ordered him to return, and a proud, bronze-feathered served as his mount. Plain armor, with only the barest hint of Saponian heraldry, covered the man’s body. Unlike the other knights, the captain had no cape on his shoulders; he gave his comrades an encouraging smile before putting on his helmet. Throughout the raid, he rode toward the target bareheaded; his spear moved with dazzling speed, weaving patterns before his dark-skinned face, a rare and exquisite sight among the fair Saponians, smashing away any bullets before they could so much as mark his magnificent moustache or skin. Begrudgingly, Kaleria was forced to acknowledge his skill; the man was no fool who would disregard his own safety for the sake of bravado. This was a man who survived a bout against Ubion and eluded all of the Duke’s attempts to dispose of him.

Absio commanded a small force of eighty knights. During the attack on the Reclamation Army, he led his troops along the forest, killing any scout parties of the Reclaimers. Their goal was to destroy the steel behemoths of the enemy, giant machines hidden behind enemy lines. According to what Iterna officials told them and what prisoners revealed, these were the mobile supply bases. Sort of moving castles.

Even a single machine dwarfed the attacking force as it approached the edge of the forest, crushing the few defenders in its path. Earlier, the enemy had used something called mines, which had left many hawgrs limping. But in their arrogance, the invaders had sped too fast for their minions to lay a minefield. After several more seconds, and they will be out of the forest in the open field and close enough for Duke Marcus to wield his power. The enemy only had a few military units present; they were poorly positioned. Convinced that the massive armor of the machines would withstand any onslaught, the enemy grew bold, and the ambush drew away many of the defenders.

Kaleria was forced to admit that they had every reason to be arrogant. Her thunder spear sliced through the enemy’s armor with ease, leaving one man split in two as she pulled her long spear free. Kaleria aimed her weapon at the nearest behemoth on the horizon and unleashed a bolt of lightning. The streak of energy struck the armor, leaving not even a black mark on an armor plate bigger than a town’s gates.

“Don’t waste your time on the behemoths,” Absio shouted to Kaleria. “Concentrate on killing. Marcus will take care of the enem…” His yell was cut short as one of the enemy tanks rolled into the forest, crushing trees under its treads. The main guns fired, two large shells hit right in the center of the knights’ formation, killing three and tearing several hawgrs apart. Some beasts panicked and leapt into the air, falling easy prey to the behemoths’ massive batteries. Streaks of light left them, connecting with the flying hawgrs, and they became black dots in the air, disappearing as if they had never existed.

Doom! Doom! Doom! The behemoths thundered, filling the battlefield with a cacophony from some hidden drums. Kaleria did not know what it meant; the sounds were so different from the warning sirens used by the other invaders. Rather than alerting the defenders, it seemed to whip them into a frenzy, and the formerly faint-hearted soldiers cried out, closing ranks.

“Disperse!” Absio roared. He briefly glanced at the enemy tank, and a wall of fire rose from underneath enemy tracks, lifting the machine upward, before the armor at the bottom of the tank gave way and the inferno entered the insides of the machine, burning the crew alive and exploding the ammunition. “We are almost there!”

“And this is where you will stop,” several smug voices said in perfect unison. Kaleria looked up and saw many chains falling on the knights from the branches of the trees above. As if possessed by inhuman intelligence, the chains’ hooks struck on vulnerable joints in the knights’ armor, slipping between plates, reaching for flesh and biting deep. Several knights were torn from their steeds and lifted into the air, caught in a cruel spider web of chains. Their bodies twitched as they drew their last breaths.

“So much for the so-called illustrious knights of Sapon. Predictable savages, the lot of you.” Kaleria saw eight identical humans above her. They were short in height, sitting or standing on branches with chains in their hands. One of them flicked his hand, and a hook flew forward faster than an arrow, ripping off the head of another knight, just as the hook on his other chain pierced through a hawgr’s eye, pulling out the brain. “Torturer, current second-in-command of the glorious First Army, the one who brought both Ospon and Angor to heel, graces you slaver filth with my presence. Bow and tremble, for I will take everything from you.”

“Which one of you exactly is Torturer?” Absio demanded to know as his troops halted due to a sudden attack.

“Me,” jeered the people above, a host of identical twins. “Now do me a favor and...” The last words went unheard as a torrent of fire tore through the trees above, burning every Torturer in sight and opening the view to the bright sky.

“Good to know, and farewell,” Absio said, turning his steed to resume the charge.

A hook flew from the depths of the forest, grabbed Absio’s shoulder pad, and threw the knight to the ground. It tried to drag the man away, but Kaleria cleaved the chain in two and felt an air strike her in the chest, moving and saving her and her steed from another hook. Even here, amidst the foes, the Duke watched over his people.

“Where are you going? This dance has just begun!” several voices laughed, and six more Torturers stepped from under the trees.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

A knight aimed her thunder spear at the enemies, but with unnatural speed, one of the identical Torturers gored the knight with a hook, tearing the chest plate of the knight with ease. Kaleria charged at the nearest enemy, swinging her spear in a wide arc and wielding her weapon like a blade. Lightning ran through the tip of her spear, endowing it with the power to slice through trees. As her blade closed on a Torturer, the man jumped, only to be caught by her hawgr. When the claw touched the skin, the man vanished before her very eyes with a “pop” sound.

“Useless, useless, useless! I am unstoppable!” The remaining enemies laughed simultaneously, and their chains struck forward, killing and mutilating the knights. Another Sapon soldier reached one of his wicked foes, but the man split into two identical copies before the knight’s surprised eyes. The knight’s spear struck the empty space where the enemy’s heart had been, and hooks from two enemies reached the knight’s helmet, piercing it and taking the head apart.

“Suffer slavers! Your pain makes me stronger!” the enemies taunted, as a Kaleria sliced through a chain before it could kill an ally.

Her fellow knight was left with a steel hook stuck in her belly—nothing serious by the standards of abnormals—so Kaleria turned to the remaining laughing enemies, just in time to block a hook aimed at her eye. The short man nimbly dodged the hawgr’s claws and jumped on the beast’s head, looking into the eyes of Kaleria as he attacked with his chains.

“You know, I had great plans for you. But now it is too late; I have a far easier target in mind.” Kaleria released the wind in her shield, blowing away the chains and Torturer and thrust with the spear, piercing the bastard in the air. The skewered body disappeared in the air, and another hook appeared to her left, ripping across her left side, tearing part of her armor and some flesh from her body. “Now all I have to do is clean the plate to prepare a new dish!” Flame licked the man away as Marcus used his power, looking through Absio’s eyes. But as the copies of Torturer before him disappeared in flames, more charged from behind the trees.

“In memory of every knight, of every commoner whose deaths thou caused; for the despoliation thou wrought by thou unwashed hordes, I, Kaleria Sapon, swear this to thee.” She beat aside two hooks and exploded a laughing face with a lightning bolt. “I shall see thou disgraced, panicked, and in pain before you die. Mine duchy shall be your grave, fiend.”

“Don’t get cocky with me, bitch!” Hooks flashed once more, forcing both the hawgr and the knight to step into deep defense, weaving swipes of great clawed paws and careful thrusts of the spear to block the onslaught of death that sought to claim Kaleria and the wounded knight beside her. “I am Torturer the Chainbreaker! Liberator of the thousands, the Terror stalking the streets, the Man who survived and ended far better men than you’ll ever be!”

“That may be so.” Kaleria’s spear slipped past the hooks, and the Torturer’s copy grinned. But she remembered his tricks and swung the blade left and right, vanquishing two of the splitting copies. “The legacy of others may outshine mine; I care not for such trifles. But mine duty demands me to see thou erased from our realm and avenge all those thou have harmed.”

“Ignore him!” The knight commander shouted, and the ground opened, swallowing several opponents in front of Kaleria. “To the behemoths, charge! We have to take them out!”

Kaleria began to charge, but suddenly a flame struck the knights near her, searing their armor and leaving a burn mark on the open flesh on her left side. The giant lizard leapt forward, with Antoniado on top of it, clad in his crimson armor and holding a solid black shield in one hand. His flaming sword unleashed another burst of flame, taking the life of a knight and setting a hawgr ablaze.

“Please join me in another bout, my fair lady; I beg this of thee!” Antoniado shouted, saluting mockingly at Kaleria.

His smirk turned to a scowl of pain as Kaleria shot lightning from the thunder spear, aiming to kill him. The lizard spat a thick lump of slime that faced the lightning bolt in midair, exploding the projectile, but a small amount of energy passed through and struck Antoniado’s helmet, burning through the armor and leaving a burn mark on his right cheek. Antoniado slashed at Kaleria with his sword, and the lizard leapt forward, wrestling with the hawgr. Her opponent’s cut sliced away the blade of her spear, and she barely had time to reach for the wind sword, facing the onslaught of fire with a torrent of wind.

“I have a confession to make, fair lady,” Antoniado said and followed his words with another slash. She used both the wind from her shield and a sword to disperse the flame and deflect the blade. Kaleria slashed with her sword, but Antoniado took the attack on his black shield. “I’m getting really frustrated with getting hurt every time we face each other. Such an unhealthy relationship must end!” The shield unleashed a wave of force that nearly knocked Kaleria from her steed. With her balance broken, Antoniado aimed a thrust at her neck, only to curse and retreat as Kaleria spat a steel needle at him. Sapon used everything she could to win. Even if it meant adopting the tactics of lesser houses. A long time ago, Lucretia explained to Kaleria exactly how to pull off this trick.

The two young girls had the time of their lives, thinning out metal spoons and shoving them down their throats in secret from their guardians. And then they had the scare of their lives when Kaleria nearly choked on the metal and Lucretia punched the other girl in the stomach, causing her to spit the metal back out. One scare didn’t deter Kaleria, and after long and grueling practice, she mastered the skill to some degree. The knight of Sapon was not confident enough in her abilities to use actual poison needles, or to keep more than one needle in her throat. But as Antoniado recoiled in fear and watched her warily, her trick may have just saved her life.

Kaleria slashed forward with her sword, leaving a deep gash in her enemy’s breastplate, but failed to break through it. Antoniado’s helm crashed into her head, blinding her for a moment as he sheathed his sword and drew a dagger from his belt. Their steeds momentarily disengaged, unable to overpower each other. The lizard spat acid, and Kaleria deflected it with wind. Antoniado used the moment to throw the dagger at Kaleria. The weapon split into eight pieces in the air, but the hawgr swapped them all away with his paw, receiving only tiny wounds on the mighty paw. Just before opponents could clash with each other again, an explosion thundered near the steel behemoths, and Kaleria and Antoniado both stopped.

He was wide open; a single blade thrust would’ve ended the shivering, damned traitor. But she trembled, too, like a young nightcat before an experienced hunter. What she felt was difficult to explain. To her, it was as if a great bottomless pit had opened somewhere on the battlefield, sucking in every dream and emotion, leaving a void in the gaping hole. Something had descended on the battlefield. Straight from the realm of the gods.