Chapter 3

  Docking at the base, it wasn’t quite taken over yet but was currently under siege. As soon as the ship stopped, soldiers flooded off in a hurry to support the others at the base. Getting off the ship, there was an all too familiar scent… the scent of a battlefield.

  Smoke was everywhere, thick and suffocating, stinging my eyes and clogging my lungs with the stench of charred flesh. Bloodcurdling screams filled the air; shrieks of agony, raw and desperate, echoing across the battlefield like a chorus of the damned. The ground beneath me was slick with blood and littered with severed limbs, torn banners, and the lifeless eyes of those who had already fallen.

  The clanking of armor and weapons was deafening as soldiers rushed past, their boots splashing through pools of crimson, some slipping on the slick entrails strewn across the earth. I stood frozen, my breath caught in my throat as the horrific familiarity of the scene crashed over me. My death flashed through my mind—the warmth of my own blood spilling from my gut, the fading light.

  “Snap out of it, boy!” The gruff voice snapped me back to the present.

  I clenched my jaw, forcing the memory away, and charged toward the front lines. As I pushed forward, the wounded were dragged back, their bodies broken beyond recognition. One man clutched his own intestines in trembling hands, his face twisted in shock as if he couldn’t comprehend that he was already dead. Another let out ragged, wheezing gasps, half his jaw missing, his exposed teeth clattering as he tried to scream.

  Some men didn’t make a sound at all, their hollow, glazed eyes staring into nothing as mages hurriedly carried them away. Others begged, some for mercy, some for death, reaching out with mangled fingers as the tide of war continued to swallow them whole. I swallowed hard, my stomach twisting, but there was no time to stop. The front line was ahead, and hell was still raging.

  Once I got close to the front lines, I was able to see the enemy. I had never seen anything like it before; instead of people, it was strange creatures. Some were small and green, looking to be the weakest, while others were bigger.

  When I was younger, I read a lot of books on this world and the beings that inhabited it. I found out that there were dragons, demons, elves, mages, and monsters. The monsters that were here were similar to the ones I had seen in the books: goblins, trolls, orcs, ogres, hellhounds, and many more.

  The enemies were all those I had read about in the books, even though I thought none of it was real. I was stunned again but knew that I had to continue pushing into the fight. I readied my sword and charged into battle. I swung my sword at my first foe, not expecting it to glide through so easily. I continued to the next enemy, cutting them down. My sword cut through the monsters like butter; I didn’t know if it was because of my swordsmanship, the sword quality, or both. Marching forward, I cut down everything in my path. As I got further, the monsters started to get stronger, and it was no longer as easy to cut through them.

  When the other soldiers saw me marching forward so easily, their crushed morale rose instantly. “How is such a young man pushing through so easily? Are they weaker than we thought?” some soldiers questioned.

  “Let’s go, men, follow the young master’s lead!” the Commander of the Reinhardt knights commanded.

  Following my lead, the knights pushed the attackers back. Not realizing that the monsters were retreating, I continued attacking, locked into the combat and not realizing that the Commander was yelling at me.

  “Master!” I couldn’t quite hear the words. “Young master, they are retreating.” I finally understood what the Knight Commander was saying.

  I stopped and watched as the monsters ran from me. Covered in blood, I walked back to the base. The soldiers made a path for me as I walked back with the Reinhardt knights behind me. I heard the soldiers of the other nations murmuring as we walked through.

  The next day, the mages that had been sent were busy using their magic to rebuild the base while the knights were busy collecting all the supplies we had. I went to the Commanders' room. “So where are we going to hit next?” a commander from the Aran kingdom asked.

  “We will be invading their territory. There is a base here and here,” a commander from Kizar said, pointing at the map on the table. “We will be attacking two places at once: one will be their right stronghold and the other their middle stronghold on the frontlines.”

  “The Reinhardt Knights will take the middle stronghold with my lead. We may need a few mages but should be able to easily take it,” I said when approaching the table.

  “Who let a child in here?” the Kizar Commander, Andreas, said, stepping closer to me. Growing closer, he looked as if he was going to attempt to force me out of the room.

  Drawing his sword, Alexander, the Reinhardt Knight Commander, said, “Lay a hand on our young master and you will lose it.”

  Andreas immediately backed away, wary of the strongest knight on the continent. “Y-young master? What is the Young Master of the Reinhardt kingdom doing here?” Andreas asked in a shaky voice.

  “That is not something you need to know about. He is here and you will not touch him; he has the same position as me,” Alexander spoke sternly and commandingly. “We will go by his plan and follow his lead.”

  Leaving, we heard the murmurs of the other commanders talking about what had just happened. We were ready for battle by the time all the others had awoken. The soldiers had already learned about what happened last night. We marched out, again hearing the murmurs of others. “People gossip way too much,” I thought. “How long until we arrive at the stronghold, Alexander?”

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  “It isn’t too far; it will take around an hour with all the knights we have, my prince.”

  We approached at sundown, in silence, in an attempt to administer a sneak attack. The stronghold had tall walls all around it with two big doors. There were many buildings inside, with one main building most likely holding the Leader of this fortress. A few of us climbed up the walls while the others hid behind anything they could find. We knew this place would be well defended; it would be best to take out as many monsters as we could in silence. Taking out the enemies on the wall slowly and dropping the bodies off on the other side, we worked our way around the base. A few of us were also sent to open the gates. Just as we were about to completely clear the wall, the alarm went off. The whole base was alerted to an enemy attack.

  Now that the element of surprise was lost, all the knights began rushing into the base. Instantly, a quiet night turned into a night of yelling, sword clanging, and death. Although our knights were well trained, we were sure to lose a few in this battle. While the knights rushed in, those who came up the wall with me ran to the main building to try to defeat their leader.

  Our information described their leader as a strong male demon of the higher species. The demon was most likely a minotaur. The Demons have ranks similar to humans, first there is the regular soldier, then the Captains, Commanders, followed by the 7 demons and three most powerful being the Right and Left hand and the Demon King. The demons are also split into tiers, low, middle and high tier demons. The minotaur is still a low-middle tier demon despite being a captain. The Demons on the outside of the forest tend to be lower tier than the ones further in. Most demon Captains are high low tier and low middle tier demons with commanders being middle and low high tier. There is little information on the 7 demons, Right and Left, and Demon King.

  Approaching the main building, the sounds of the battle around us begin to fade and all I begin to hear is the sound of my own heartbeat pounding like a drum. As we walked through the stone corridors, our shadows danced on the walls, cast by flickering torches. The atmosphere was heavy with a scent of blood and decay, lingering everywhere you might step. As we cautiously adventure further into the building, a dark figure with glowing ember eyes appears in the distance.

  “They brought a child here to deal with me?! Do they not know who I am? I am the great demon, Alacar.” The demon shouts.

  “I have come to end you regardless of who you are. Alexander, he is mine.” I say as I ready my sword.

  “Fool, you think you can defeat me alone? If what you want is death, then so be it.” Said Alacar, with a sarcastic laugh.

  We both charge forward, and, in a flash, the sound of battle once again explodes. With swift, but subtle and powerful attacks, my attack meets his. He swings low, I meet his weapon. I realize through this battle that I am already much stronger than I was before. Parrying each attack came with ease, almost an unconscious response. With the continuation of the fight, I begin to sense that have a part of me that I am not yet using. I try to harness this but as I start to lose focus, Alacar slashes at me, wounding my right side. I hadn’t realized it at the time, due to the adrenaline, and the focus of attempting to harness this unknown feeling... unknown power. The power begins to boil, I swing my sword, and from the pointed tip a purple dragon exploded from my sword and started to hurl itself at the demon. As the attack approaches Alacar, he attempts to block it with his own weapon, the purple dragon cuts right through him, from the shoulder to the waist. He drops to the floor with me exhausted from using the unknown power. The blood begins to pool and without me realizing it, my wounded waist heals with the touch of his blood.

  Alexander and the other soldiers stood, frozen in shock from what they had just seen. They had no idea what had just happened or how I had done it, I don’t exactly know either. A minotaur is usually a harder opponent for newer knights, despite this the battle still ended rather quickly.

  Having finished off the captain of the base, we continued to kill off the remaining soldiers in control of the Captain. The battle that should’ve lasted all night had only continued until midnight. Following our victory, we sent news to HQ and asked about our next move.

  With time to rest all the knights quickly fell asleep, a few knights were posted up on guard with some shifts. I stayed inside meditating and gathering mana. Nearing the 3rd star I knew there was a massive difference already. Stopping my meditation for a short time I commanded Alexander, “Make sure no one disturbs me until I come out.”

  “Sir” Alexander said Bowing.

  I close my eyes and continue my meditation. My surroundings being barren with little life in the land, despite this there was still plenty of mana. Perhaps it is because the demons use Dark Mana or Death mana instead of life mana (the mana humans use and accumulate). Taking full advantage of this, I began gathering and purifying the mana. “Gather both” A voice echoed throughout my head. I didn’t know if I would actually be able to gather dark mana too but considering there is an exorbitant amount around me, I figured I might give it a try. I gathered the life and dark mana into one spot and attempted to use the flame of the Pheonix to clear out the murky mana. Only after doing so did I realize that the mana had then became pure. The pure mana was much stronger than regular mana, after I looked into my core I realized that I had reached the 3rd star, completely jumping over the 2nd star. The average 12 year old is only at the 1st star maybe the 2nd.

  Leaving the room a knight runs into me, “Sir! We have news that the other groups have also take their base but the one to the west is currently under attack!”

  After taking a second to think, “I will take 20 knights with me as reinforcements. We will be leaving as soon as they are ready. Commander, you will stay here.”

  “Sir.” They all said leaving.

  As the light shone, piercing the horizon, the fort came into view, its silhouette stark against the sun. It once again became thick with the sound of steel and guttural roars echoing throughout the valley. Drawing closer, the ground began to tremble slightly, vibrating with ferocity of the ongoing battle ahead of us.

  Even hours after the battle had started, the waves of demons had yet to cease. Thier continuous onslaught driving the defender of the fort weary, slowly losing moral.

  Nearing closer, the chaos of battle began to envelope us. The walls were stained with blood; we steeled ourselves and charged into the fray. We pushed through cutting down everything we could. Limbs and blood lay across the field; we continue to add to it. Our will strong and our swords sharp, piercing through the enemy, we charged on. With the enemy number thinning quickly, the defenders began to support us. We cut through everything in sight with blood splattering and spraying. The demons are not hard to cut through but I am quickly tiring out.

  With the battle nearing it’s end, I begin to walk back to the fort, stepping over the bodies that lay throughout. Not far from the fort, a wind blade magical attack comes flying at me and cuts through me. I begin to think “Is this how it end again?”