Chapter 2 – Through Blood and Dirt and Bone

The pike wall in front of him was getting closer and closer with each step of Togan’s horse. He could hear the thunderous sounds of hooves hitting the ground, Falcons were just behind him.

Small splits appeared in the pike wall — some of the pikemen were breaking their formation to let red armored people pass them. Crimson Knights. Just like they thought, there were about twenty Crimson Knights on the front line, readying themselves to stop their charge.

“Deitor!” Togan yelled without looking at his back. He knew Deitor was close enough to hear him. “I’ll not summon Tal’garath now! Crimsons are too scattered! Try to gather them together!”

Before he could finish his words, Crimson Knights all raised their hands towards the charging Falcons, and their hands started to glow in translucent yellow light. These lights turned into small orbs quickly, getting brighter each second.

“I got them!” Deitor shouted. “Keep going!”

Crimson Knights all threw the glowy orbs in a synchronized manner — the orbs turned into rays of light on the way, advancing like furious lightning bolts. Togan slowed down, letting Deitor pass him, while Deitor raised his palm. Before the rays could hit the Kel’daras army, his hand glowed for a brief second, and an enormous shield of half-transparent and yellow light sprawled out of his palm, protecting the army behind him like a castle wall. Orbs of light hit the wall of light, exploding loudly. These orbs the Knights threw were pure, compressed Elder Energy, and those explosions could’ve killed hundreds of soldiers had they hit the army.

“Thanks!” Shouted Togan, taking the lead again. Crimson Knights were preparing another barrage of orbs, but Togan had other plans. He tapped into his elder energy and shaped it to cover his horse. Then he slowly started to transform the elder energy into kinetic energy, and his horse started to go faster and faster. The distance between him and the pike wall was decreasing rapidly. His horse was so fast that it was roaring in pain — its body couldn’t bear the speed it was moving. Alas, Togan didn’t have the luxury to pity his horse, as he drove it right into the pike wall. Thanks to his absurd speed, Togan had reached the enemy before the Knights could finish their orb attack. Before he could hit the pike wall, he jumped on his stirrup to stand on top of the saddle. He knew he couldn’t balance himself with this much speed, so just before the horse hit the wall of soldiers and got impaled by the pikes he immediately jumped again on the saddle and transformed some of his elder energy into more kinetic energy to give his jump some height.

Before he reached his maximum height, he opened his hand and concentrated his energy on his palm, shaping it like a small javelin. The yellow light became brighter and took the form of a javelin, which he immediately threw at one of the Crimson Knights below him. Javelin found the open spot on the armor and pierced the man’s neck, killing him on the spot. The light javelin disappeared in the span of a heartbeat after he died, causing his neck to squirt blood.

Togan, on the other hand, wasn’t even watching the guy. After he reached his maximum height, he focused his energy below his feet and shaped it into a small foothold, then used the shiny little platform of light to push himself further above. He then created another foothold behind his other foot, then another and for every foothold he created, the others behind him were disappearing. He climbed the air for a few more seconds, and investigated the formation of Runodar’s army, trying to locate Ledon’s location. He didn’t have to look too much, as there was a circle-shaped formation of Crimson Knights in the middle of the army, with a single man standing in the middle of the circle.

Archers were shooting at Togan, but at his height, gravity was slowing the arrows drastically, which made it child’s play to dodge them. He stopped creating more footholds and started to quickly descend to the army below. Although Falcons were engaged with the enemy on the front lines, Togan was quite far from them, and that was exactly why all the soldiers below him were Runodar soldiers. Every single one of them had already raised their spears, swords, halberds, or whatever weapon they carried towards Togan, waiting for him to fall to his death.

“You’re not the only ones able to use compression,” Togan murmured and extended his palm to create a yellow orb just like the Crimson Knights did a few moments ago. He first transfused immense amounts of elder energy into his palm, then shaped it as a sphere. He then transferred more energy into the orb, but he shaped it to be smaller than it initially was, making the orb much denser and brighter. This compact energy was going to explode as soon as it was released, so he threw it at the soldiers below him. He covered his body with a thin layer of elder energy to protect himself from the blast, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for the regular soldiers below him. The explosion killed dozens of soldiers instantly — limbs, bones, and black volcanic mud was scattered in the air.

To slow his fall, Togan transformed his kinetic energy into sound energy, which caused a small sonic explosion that caused even more dust to fill the air. He was covered in blood and mud, mutilated bodies covering below his feet as he gracefully landed. Screams of agony were echoing around him — the explosion had probably injured a lot of people around the site of impact, although he couldn’t see them due to the dust cloud. Killing people and hearing their screams were always painful even when they were your enemy, but he had learned a long time ago to close his heart to his conscience during the battle, so he drew his sword without hesitation.

He rushed inside the cloud of dust and slashed everyone on his way before they could even comprehend what just had happened. He was as graceful and as delicate as a ballet dancer, not making any unnecessary moves. Even if people could see him coming, they could not react in time. After slaughtering his way through the rest of the battalion, he was finally in the clearing where Ledon’s squad was. Twenty Crimson Knights stood in a circle, with Ledon standing in the middle, directly looking at Togan. The distance between each Knight was quite large, and Togan decided to use this to his advantage. He looked at the nearest Knight, and focused for a brief second, transforming his elder energy into kinetic energy. In the blink of an eye, he was already behind the Knight, his head already cut off from his body. The other Knights were bewildered, not because of this move, but most probably because they realized who their opponent was. None of them could dare to attack Togan.

Togan looked at Ledon, who was in full crimson armor just like the other Knights. His visor was closed, so Togan couldn’t even see the man’s eyes. The Crimson Knights were afraid of Togan right now, but there was no doubt that they would attack him as soon as he attacked Ledon, so Togan decided to wait for Deitor and his squad to arrive. However, there was something wrong. Why was Ledon not using any compression orbs? Surely he could throw quite a few of them when Togan was on his way, but Togan didn’t see any orbs flying towards the Kel’daras army.

“Lord Togan Teremon!” said Ledon of Atraketh with a distant Runnic accent. His voice was muffled because of his helmet. “The strongest Falcon to ever live as they say! Minister of Warfare of Kel’daras! I’m honored you decided to personally visit me.”

“You want to have a conversation in the middle of the battle? Sure, I’ll humor you.” This was quite convenient for Togan, as he was waiting for the Falcons anyway.

“You may be strong, but it seems you’re not as smart as people claim, considering that you’re planning to fight me and nineteen Crimson Knights alone.”

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Togan looked over his shoulder and waited for a moment to make his next line cooler. Maybe they were right about him being a show-off. “Don’t worry,” he said and turned his gaze back to Ledon. “I’ll not be alone.”

As soon as he finished his sentence, Deitor, Larena, and the other nine Falcons arrived at the clearing. The enemy battalion behind them was still present and they were still battling, but none of them dared to raise their weapons against Artists, so they just let them go to the clearing, where the Crimson Knights could engage them.

“My man,” said Deitor, slowly walking towards Togan. “You’re too fast.”

“No,” Togan replied. “I just moved smarter.”

It was impossible to read Ledon’s face with his helmet, but Togan could see in his body language that he was starting to feel a bit restless. Still, to give credit where it’s due, Ledon’s voice was as confident as before, with not even a sliver of worry or concern. “Don’t you think it is stupid to leave the Crimson Knights on the front line and come directly to here?”

“Who said we left them?” Togan closed his eyes for a moment and focused. Can you hear me, Tal’garath? Your time has come, go nuts.

The ground beneath the battlefield trembled, and a massive explosion of rocks and dirt occurred on the front lines, raining pebbles and dust everywhere. A giant shape emerged from the ground, vaguely resembling a large lizard. It was bigger than two elephants combined, its skin covered in brown rocks. In fact, it almost looked like the creature was made out of rocks. Two long and sharp horns grew out of his forehead, making the creature’s head look like a demon.

“Tal’garath,” said Togan, looking back at Ledon. “My spirit animal. Though she doesn’t like to be called that.”

“A dragon!” One of the soldiers shouted in terror.

“She’s not a dragon!” Togan shouted back, without even looking. “She doesn’t even have wings for fucks sake! Anyway, we both know what will happen now. Shall we start, Mr. Ledon?”

It was now easier to read Ledon’s body language. He looked like he could run at any moment, although to his credit again, he drew his sword and charged towards Togan. Togan dodged, and as soon as both engaged, a dome of translucent light rose around them, confining both of them. Togan saw that it was Larena herself putting up the dome.

“Be quick!” She shouted. “I don’t know how long I can keep this up.”

“I will!” Togan didn’t stop for a moment and attacked back. Meanwhile, all the Crimson Knights around were engaged with the Falcons, while Tal’garath was stalling the Knights on the front line.

Togan used the same fast charge he used against that Crimson Knight a few moments ago, but Ledon was as quick as him and he easily blocked with his sword. Then he attacked like a wild flurry, forcing Togan to only defend and not attack at all. His moves were nothing like the Ledon of Atraketh he fought years ago. Deitor was right, he had underestimated his enemy.

Ledon was constantly moving faster than Togan’s decapitating attack at the Knight earlier, which made it quite hard to defend against him. Still, Togan knew Ledon wouldn’t be able to maintain this speed for much longer. Kinetic energy required so much elder energy during the transformation that even a veteran Artist could run out of elder energy in a matter of seconds with excessive use.

But for some reason, this guy could maintain that speed for a long time. Something was not right.

Togan wanted to hurry, the Falcons outside the dome were outnumbered and they were having a hard time against the Crimsons, but he couldn’t do anything against the insane speed of this guy. He even managed to land some blows on Togan, injuring him slightly. If he wasn’t soul-linked to Tal-garath, which made his skin as hard as stone, he would’ve already died.

He managed to find a single opening after around a minute, though, when Ledon first started to show some effects of exhaustion. Togan infused his sword with elder energy and thrusted it into Ledon’s neck. Ledon dodged at the last second, but the glowy sword got his helmet on the side, cutting it like paper. Togan moved back and put some distance between them, but his eyes widened as he watched Ledon’s helmet fall to the ground. The guy’s face was lacerated and covered in blood. The arrogant smile on his face made him look like a psychopath, his teeth painted with blood.

This guy wasn’t Ledon of Atraketh.

Only then, Togan had the chance to look outside the dome. Big explosions were happening across the battlefield, sending hundreds of soldiers flying. Ledon’s compression. He’s out there somewhere. Fuck!

“You fell right into the trap we prepared for you!” Ledon, or whoever this was, was ecstatically laughing. “We fed your scouts wrong information and you didn’t even suspect a thing!”

Everything made sense now. There weren’t any big compression attacks because they were deliberately waiting to lure Togan first. Now that he was stuck fighting this guy, the real Ledon could freely slaughter the Kel’daras army. You were right, Deitor.

Togan turned to Larena. “Larena, low—“

But before he could say anything, the guy attacked him again. Togan tried to shout again, but the guy didn’t even give him a chance to talk. “I only need to keep you away from the battle, Togan Teremon! I’m Vante Reiz, maybe you’ve heard me as the Master of Kinetics in the Atraketh army. I might be the only guy who has any chance to defeat you one-on-one!”

He was probably right. Togan was a jack-of-all-trades. It would be wrong to say “master of none,” because he had mastered a lot of Elder Art techniques, but he wasn’t even close to being the best in any of them. This Vante Reiz guy, on the other hand, was way better than him in using kinetic energy. Kinetics was always the most dangerous Elder Art because no matter how strong one might be, they couldn’t block attacks they couldn’t see. That was exactly what was happening right now with Togan and Vante Reiz. He had to use his everything to keep up with this guy, and even then, he could only block or dodge his attacks. He couldn’t even find a chance to yell at Larena to lower the dome, potentially getting help from other Falcons.

“Watch it, Teremon! Watch as everything you worked so hard to build crumble before your eyes!”

If he died here, it was over for Kel'daras. For five minutes, Togan dodged the vicious assaults of Vante Reiz. For five minutes, he endured the pain of getting sliced by Vante's sword. For five minutes, he tried to find a gap in his opponent's defenses. He did find that gap when Vante's abnormal speed gave up eventually, and Togan took the opportunity, slashing Vante's throat in a single move. However, five minutes was too long of a time for Ledon to rampage the battlefield.

***

It was midnight, and the battle was over.

The only things lighting the battlefield were lanterns of the medical teams searching for anyone still alive in the carnage.

Togan was sitting in the dark among the corpses, all by himself. He was covered in blood head-to-toe, which had long coagulated, making him look like a cracked stone surface. It was impossible to tell that he had white hair before the battle.

He closed his old friend’s still-open eyes with his trembling hands. “You were right, Deitor. I underestimated them. You were right. I’m sorry.”

He sat there for a little while longer, watching the starry night sky. Stars were so calm, not affected by the bloodbath at all. Whatever happened here today, they did not care. Togan knitted his brows, anger swelling up inside him. Whatever happened here, those on the mainland did not care either. People who are titled “lords'' or “ministers” were sleeping soundly right now in their king-sized beds with half a dozen hookers, surrounded by the safety of their castle walls. All those shameless bastards were going to blame him for this.

“You should rest.” Larena’s voice filled his ears. He did not realize her approach, even with the shiny lantern in her hand. She had doffed her armor and was only wearing a basic shirt she didn’t bother to button up. There was a bloodied bandage wrapped around her belly.

“So should you. How’s your wound?”

“I had worse.” She put down the lantern in her hand and sat beside him. “Want to hear the report?”

Togan shook his head. He didn’t want to hear it. They had won the battle, but the price was too heavy.

“How many?” He just asked. “How many are left?”

Larena sighed. “Less than a thousand. Eighteen left from the 7th corps of the Falcons, six of them heavily injured. For the Artists…” She looked at Deitor’s lifeless body. “Well, you know it already. Razkal’s in serious condition. You should probably see him in case he…”

“See him and what?” Togan frowned. “Tell him that I led all of his friends to their deaths?”

“This wasn’t your fault, please don’t blame yourself.”

“I don’t.” Togan stood up, raising his voice. “Trust me, I don’t! Could I save more people? Sure! But they couldn’t win this battle without me, Larena! Those incompetent bastards couldn’t do shit against Runodar if it wasn’t for me and the Falcons! How many people will die because of King Astus’s stupid dreams of conquest? How many more times do I need to look a child in the eye and say that their father is dead? I’m not going to take this anymore, Larena. I won’t. I will change this rotten country, I swear it. If I can’t, then…”

Larena looked at Togan with worrying eyes. “Then what?”

“Then I will burn it to the ground.”