I suppose I could have been called insane. My speech to Lord Galvin certainly wasn't the speech of a sane man. It certainly helped me, since the Empire underestimated me. At first, that is. They soon learned I wasn’t someone to be underestimated.

Selvar stared at the scene in front of him. “Siege towers, catapults, and thousands of soldiers… there's no way in hell I'm getting into Lesron right now.”

‘Adram told me to pass a message to you when you got to Lesron. He wishes you good luck.’

“The God of Day wishing the Champion of Night good luck? That's a first. I'm guessing my first action should be to shroud this in night but I get the feeling my little shadow manipulation isn't going to cut it here.”

‘Probably not. Using their nightmares will probably be your best bet if you actually plan on attacking them.’

“My thoughts exactly. Let's see how close I can get without being challenged, shall we?”

Selvar began walking towards the army. A fair distance from the start of the sprawling mass of humans, a squad intercepted Selvar. “Halt! State your name and business!”

Selvar looked at the army first, then at the squad’s leader who had stopped him. “Selvar, Champion of the Night. My business? Currently, to destroy this army.” With those words, darkness erupted from behind Selvar once more, his eyes fading entirely to black. The squad immediately charged at him, but Selvar vanished into the shadows, only to appear suddenly behind one of the soldiers, immediately impaling the unfortunate soul with his blade. Reaching into his mind before he died, Selvar pulled the soldier’s nightmare into reality. Darkness swirled besides Selvar, coalescing into the form of a maroon-colored fanged horse with a twisted black horn on its head, with legs jutting out at strange angles.

Selvar pulled his blade out, letting the soldier slump to the ground. The rest of the squad turned to face him and the bizarre creature beside him. Two soldiers immediately broke off from the squad, running away from Selvar. The twisted creature took off after them, leaving Selvar to face the remaining five soldiers. “I don't suppose any of you have some nice nightmares to bring to life?” He said with a maniacal smile, only made more unsettling by the fact that his eyes were pitch black.

Selvar wiped the blood off his blade. There was currently something very similar to a ghoul eating away at the six corpses around him. Selvar set his sights on the largest tent in sight, flying the Andstinian flag. At a wordless command, the nightmarish creatures ran at full speed towards the army. Selvar followed them, merely walking. He was only one man, charging in with the monstrosities would only cause his death.

By the time Selvar reached the part where the army proper begun, about two hundred bodies were littered around the ground, some dead, some dying. Four of the six creatures had died already, but the twisted unicorn and ghoul were still alive. As Selvar walked through, darkness coalesced around those who were on the brink of death, forming even more monstrosities. Commanding these new creatures to sow chaos among the thousands in the sieging army, Selvar took a moment to analyze the sight around him.

Bodies all around, the ground covered in blood. Bones here and there, and the odd severed limb as well. The grotesque bodies of the dead nightmares were nowhere to be seen, as they dissolved into shadows upon death. Selvar did not regret causing this. This was only the beginning, and the atrocities would only increase from here.

While Selvar was considering the carnage he had wrought, a fireball broke through the shroud of night, coming directly towards Selvar. Slipping to the side, the fireball exploded on the ground where Selvar was previously, immolating several nearby bodies instantly. After the explosion, a figure could be seen where the fireball landed.

The figure stood up as the flames decreased in intensity, allowing enough light to reveal the figure’s form. Standing a couple of inches shorter than Selvar, the girl was holding a spear. His clothes were somehow unharmed, and she looked no older than seventeen. With bright blue eyes and blonde hair, she wore mostly red, and had a very lithe body. Selvar recognized the girl by her entrance and weapon. “Leyra Nilsen, the Phoenix. Fancy meeting you here.”

The girl, Leyra, turned to Selvar. “This your doing?”

Selvar nodded. “Selvar, Champion of the Night. You nearly hit me there, you know.”

Leyra started. “Selvar??? I thought you were only capable of manipulating shadows!”

Selvar shrugged. “Yeah, then I got the power of Champion of the Night. Anyway, mind helping me here? I'm pretty sure Adram has no more love for Andstinians than I do.”

Leyra cocked her head. “Adram’s the God of the Day though. I'm pretty sure you're like, his number two enemy right after the God of the Night.”

“Tell that to Adram, he wished me luck. Anyways, mind doing your little meteor thing elsewhere? It interferes with my shadows, Miss Disciple.”

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This time, Leyra shrugged. “Alright. See ya after the crisis.” With that, fire surrounded Leyra and she leapt into the sky, presumably to obliterate Andstine’s soldiers elsewhere.

Selvar sighed and continued making his way towards the tent. Along the way, he created more nightmares from those at the brink of death that he passed, using the ever-increasing numbers of nightmares to clear his path.

Selvar strode into the tent to find a rather-important-looking man in a full suit of steel plate armor, with a rather large greatsword already drawn. “I am Selvar, Champion of the Night. Might I have the pleasure of knowing the name of the man I face?”

“General Hurvik Delg of the Holy Empire of Andstine.” Dalg slammed shut his visor immediately after introducing himself, then stood motionless.

Selvar nodded his head once in acknowledgement. The silver blade in his right hand, knowing a regular sword would be all but useless against platemail, morphed into a rapier. Selvar directed the shadows in the room to cover the ground. Selvar made the first move, rushing Dalg. Aiming for one of his shoulders, Selvar was forced to jump back by the swing of the massive greatsword.

Selvar used the shadows to travel behind Hurvik and stab at the gap between plates at the knee. The General bent his knees though, so the rapier found no way through. Hurvik whirled around with his blade, forcing Selvar to drop to the ground. Using the shadows to escape, Selvar changed the rapier in his hand to that of a large warhammer. If the rapier trying to strike the gaps didn't work, then he'd just make some. Charging at the General, Selvar swung the warhammer horizontally. Before he reached the target, Selvar shadow-walked behind him to smash the warhammer into the right side of Hurvik’s breastplate, cracking it. Immediately stepping back, Selvar dodged the greatsword that whirled out at him.

Once again facing his opponent’s front, Selvar grimaced. “That armor is incredibly tough. It has to weigh what, four hundred pounds or something?”

Hurvik said nothing, instead electing to take a jump, an impressive feat in that armor, and slam his greatsword down on where Selvar was standing. Selvar rolled to the side and began to swing his warhammer, only to have to jump back to avoid the greatsword that changed its trajectory to a diagonal instead of vertical. Melting into the shadows again, Selvar began swinging the warhammer at Hurvik’s back, only to melt back in immediately to reappear in the space he was just in to avoid the spin. Once again slamming the warhammer into Hurvik’s armor, the breastplate cracked even more, showing cracks on all sides.

Selvar morphed his weapon once more, this time into a mace. Now that the armor had been cracked so thoroughly, not as much force would be needed to destroy it. Hurvik once again took the offensive, lunging for Selvar. Selvar met the attack with his mace this time, deflecting the giant blade. Reversing his grip on the mace, Selvar quickly slammed the mace down into the General’s breastplate before melting into the shadows to escape. The cracks had progressed further, but hadn’t yet broken the breastplate entirely.

Hurvik tossed away his greatsword and instead grabbed a sword and shield from the nearby weapon rack. Selvar rushed him, slipping to the side his shield was on and smashing the mace into the breastplate from under the shield. This final blow proved too much for the breastplate and it finally fell apart, leaving the sweat-soaked clothes of the General exposed. Slipping away again via the shadows, Selvar morphed his mace back into a rapier.

Charging the General, Selvar stabbed towards his chest, before twirling his hand so the blade pierced through Delg’s lower right stomach. Pulling his blade out and leaping back, Selvar smiled. This was where he truly excelled.

Several feints, locks, and dodges later, Hurvik’s upper body was riddled with holes he had managed to keep from being fatal. The blood loss had started to catch up with him however, and he was beginning to slow. Selvar’s thrusts slowly got closer and closer, until eventually he finally hit Hurvik’s heart. The General stumbled back and lifted his visor for his final moments. “You have… fought well.” Moments later, the General crumpled to the floor, the light gone from his eyes.

Selvar thumped his right hand onto his chest in a warrior’s salute. “And so have you.” The fight against the General finally won, Selvar stepped outside the tent to survey the results of his nightmare’s attack on the army. Selvar stepped out to see absolute devastation. The only thing untouched was the tent where he had fought Hurvik, but everything else was completely annihilated. There were thousands of bodies, both charred and mutilated, and the earth changed between scorched and blood-covered. Seeing no reason for it to remain, Selvar dispelled the enshroudment of night, letting color return to his eyes. The few remaining nightmares dissolved in the light, leaving only a single tent, Selvar, and Leyra in the area that once held an entire army.

Leyra made her way over to Selvar. “Those creatures of yours are terrifying. They ripped soldiers apart wherever they went, and left blood everywhere. The power of a Champion really is frightening.”

Selvar gazed over the field a bit more. “A couple hours ago there was an army here. Now there's corpses. I personally killed seven of these. That means my abilities annihilated most of an army in just a couple hours.”

“Look at it this way, you broke a siege of an entire city almost on your own. All I did was support your creatures here and there, so really you protected the entire city.” Leyra placed a hand on Selvar’s shoulder. “Come on, let's get you in the city.”

The gates opened as Selvar and Leyra approached them, and a man in chainmail with a sun insignia on his chest rushed out to meet them. “Lady Nilsen! What in the world happened inside that dome?”

“Selvar happened. I've never seen such terrifying power.” Leyra walked forward, past the guard. “Come on Selvar, you must be exhausted from exertion.”

Selvar walked with Leyra, entering Lesron for the first time in about a month. “I don't suppose the library’s open right now?”

“Nope. The librarian’s been up with Lord Kine, coming up with strategies to destroy the army that was camped outside the walls. It'll probably be open tomorrow. Come on, let's go inform Lord Kine of what happened.” Leyra lead Selvar to the palace in the center of Lesron, passing by a few burned down or smashed buildings, likely products of the siege.

‘Selvar. You might be receiving a visit in your dreams tonight. A certain someone wants to speak with you.’

Confused, Selvar responded to the god in his head. “Okay, but who?”

‘Andstine.’