*****

A man opened his eyes suddenly from his deep slumber. He jerked his body up and moved himself to the corner of his bed while panting and breathing heavily. His sleepwear was soaking wet and tear-like sweat formed on his forehead.

I-I must report to the King!

He got up immediately on his feet, walking wobbly to take his pure silver vestment neatly folded on a nearby desk and quickly went out of his room.

The night in the castle was not bright, and handheld lanterns were used to brighten the darkness. But there were also lots of magic blue crystal fixture on the wall to light up paths along corridors. Additionally, security in the castle was extremely tight, even a fly could probably be crucified by the various protection spells cast on the outer castle. To increase the safety of the Royal family, night guards were always patrolled the castle.

The man increased his speed walking, down a long corridor in the direction of the King’s private study room. He knew that even at this wee hour, the King was a fine King to place his endless work and the concern of his citizen first before sleep came after.

He came across various imperial guards along the corridor which was looking suspiciously at him. The imperial guards were highly trained elites and were given the toughest training to meet the standard of the best. Because they served as a protector of the King, no failure and mistakes were tolerated. To ensure the safety of the King, several imperial guards were to follow the King wherever He goes.

“Halt! Identify yourself.”

“I am Priest Hemart, I request an immediate audience with His Majesty!”

“Priest Hemart, His Majesty is occupied. Why don’t you come back tomorrow?”

The imperial guards deny him straight because they were suspecting him to have an ulterior motive. Truly, which sane person would come in the middle of the night to request an audience?

“Who is it?

The husky voice came from the inside. Immediately, the imperial guards and Priest Hemart knelt down as if the King was before them.

“It’s Priest Hemart, Your majesty.”

“Your Majesty! I-I bring you urgent news!”

“Very well, let him in.”

“Yes! Your majesty.”

The guards stood up and glared at priest Hemart before opening the door for him to enter. The door creaked open and Priest Hemart entered the King’s study room that filled with mountains of papers and book shelves. Immediately, he walked to the location before the King and prostrated on the ground, paying respect to his sovereignty.

“Hemart, what news of urgency must bring you here in the middle of the night.”

“Your Majesty!, Our years of hard work has been destroyed!”

The King was surprised and frowned upon hearing the news, but he was not furious, after all, it’s no use crying over spilled milk. He set aside his documents and asked.

“And what's left over the summoned one?"

“100 of them, my king. Hidden away in the basement.”

“And who might be our enemy this time?”

Priest Hemart could not answer. He too wanted to know who the enemy was.

It took The Kingdom 10 years in order to acquire the book titled “Secrets of necromancy” from a bunch of heretic organization who worshiped death. The book was a high level forbidden dark magic in this world due to the nature of the spell that exploits the living death. And to obtain it, many had sacrificed. And among the many, fellow magicians weigh the most.

Once the Kingdom got their hands on the book, the King approved of a program to secretly research it and magician researchers were tasked to diligently study it.

At first, the thousands of spells in the books were not understood at all, due to the complexity of the spell. But after numerous of meticulous analysis, they found that among the thousands of necromancy spell only one they could figure out.

“Create high tier undead”

As the name implied, using the spell creates high tier undead and negative energy was the fuel of the spell.

`

But the magicians in the Kingdom were not trained to be a necromancer and had no way of utilizing it. Thus, after several proposed ideas, all that came was a fruitful little angel statue that collects the negative energy produced by the death buried in the cemetery. And immediately, a cemetery was constructed beside the slum as a means of showering mercy to the people of the slum.

Yet, a problem arises when there was too much death; undead began crawling out the land. So, a suppression spell was required to keep the energy in check. It was placed along with the statue in the middle of the cemetery to absorb yet suppress the energy. The only way to cease the spell was to destroy the statue. And the one responsible for casting the strong suppression spell was no other than Priest Hemart.

In the beginning, Priest Hemart opted out to be involved in the program as it goes against his faith of using the dead. But once the information had been passed on to him, the only way to go out of the picture was death. In a way, he was forced to.

*****

The city was in a state of emergency, news spread like wildfire that an undead Legion was about to launch an assault on the Kingdom and preparation were made in order to resist them.

Soldiers were mobilized urgently to fortify the Eastern walls, but it took hours to move thousands of soldiers into one location. Therefore, only selected units were deployed to the Eastern walls.

Fortunately, the assault was in midnight and the citizens were either asleep or stayed in their homes. Naturally, the awaken citizens knew about the development outside and deeply put their utmost trust on the Soldiers. They do not question nor was answer needed.

A few distances away from the tall walls, a large tent was immediately constructed as a temporary war room for this situation. Inside the tent, General Hartwig and commanders from various units came together for an exchange of Intel on the situation.

“So with the use of detection magic, my mages were able to identify the numbers of them. But... There’s one problem...”

“Carry on!”

“Yes. The result shows that the primary of the Legion centered on skeleton warriors which numbered at least 4000. There are Mages and archers sighted. And here’s the problem, there is a group of cavalry-like undead which we have not seen nor have data on them and assuming they were in the same league as undead commander-

“They could pose a terrible threat to us ...Huh...”

“Y-es. It is as you say.”

“And? Any idea who’s leading them?”

Curiosity filled the tent as General Hartwig asked the question. In general, the existence of necromancy was unusual, that say, mingle with death was punishable in the Kingdom.

“Well, about that… There are two unknown being that is leading so I have assumed them to be the mastermind of this crisis.”

“Unknowns huh…”

Unknowns were a major headache for them. Without any Intel on the enemy, the movement of the soldiers would be limited. They must rack their brains and think of a suitable solution.

“Any suggestions commanders?”

“What about, I challenge them to a duel?”

“Don’t you know the gravity of this situation?!”

General Hartwig turned to look at the one who utter such absurdity.

Lord Bernar...huh.

Unfortunately for him, he was the third son of Duke Andoe and being the third son, Bernar was unable to inherit any of the Duke’s possessions. Through the recommendation of his father, he was brought to his position as a commander of a unit. However, that was also meant that he was cast aside. Naturally, as a commander who parachuted out of recommendation was looked down upon by his fellow mates and soldiers since he had no real power to utilize. But General Hartwig acknowledged Bernar for he had the qualities of being an outstanding leader due his desire to fight for the best and his determinations outsmart any of the commanders' present in the tent.

But that was also a weakness for him, which could cause his downfall. His desire for achievements and recognition was unimaginable, using lots of filthy means just to get noticed by the higher-ups. General Hartwig feared that Bernar might even betray his closest mate for that.

Pity …. Such a pity.

General Hartwig sighed inwardly.

“No, we must prepare to make a move before the enemy does. All units on standby! prepare for my orders!”

“Hah!”

“But general! They’re under-.”

“ Bernar!!, Is my order not clear?.”

“Y-yes.”

General Hartwig stayed in the tent as he held the highest authority. His duty was to assert the situation and gave the command when an unexpected situation arises. The various commanders went back to their respective units, and to make necessary arrangement in order to response sudden orders by General Hartwig and Bernar was the last to walk out of the tent.

These people! They’re looking down on me! Damn it! I’ll show you what I’m made of!

*****

The core of the undead Legion was the skeleton warriors. They were positioned in front of the Legion marching with the centaur's knight. Strangely, the undead commanders were situated behind the formation with skeleton archers and mages. And leading the Legion were Rufus and Gir. They marched the Legion and came to a halt distances away from the gates.

“Surrender, mortal, all who defied the great one, will die.”

Rufus amplified his voice, in order to allow the soldiers to listen. The loud voice resounded across the Eastern walls and the soldiers ceased what they were doing, listened to the arrogant proclamation. Likewise, General Hartwig and the commanders were not spared.

“As expected, somebody must be the mastermind.”

“General?”

“Go, Mages and archers to be on top of the walls.”

“Hah!”

A unit of 25 mages and 1000 archers were stationed along the path on the top walls. Because mages were rare and could turn the tide of wars, they were an important asset to a Kingdom. However, not many people could be a magician; rather, magicians in this world were inborn with magic affinity. Naturally, the Kingdom highly nurtures those eventual magicians, providing the finest study of magician’s skills and the first class facilities. Therefore, to allow the magician to battle and die was a waste of resources. But this situation calls for the use of magic due to the size of the enemy.

While mobilization was taking place, the sounds of gates suddenly opened garnered the attention of the soldiers. Because there were orders given to tightly shut the gates, the soldiers were thrown into confusion.

Slowly, a man with silver armor and a large bizarre sword holstered by his waist rode an elegant white horse and darted out of the city.

“What the hell happened here?!”

“General ! I-it Lord Bernar!”

“That FOOL!”

“General! Shall we-“

“No! Leave him be! Prepare to engage the enemy!”

“Yes!”

Bernar continued to gallop the horse and ceased distances before the undead Legion.

"I am a younger son of Duke Androu, Bernar and I challenge you to a duel! If you lose, return to your grave and never come back, or perhaps you could become my pet and obey me!"

Even when faced with two monsters and a Legion of the undead, Bernar’s composure was never broken. His arrogant smirked was broadly widened as he issued the challenge.

"Annoying pest."

“Rufus, I’ll go.”

Rufus was about to lift his staff to chant, but Gir intervened. He took a glance at Gir for a moment, noticing his mischievous broad-grinned and resigned.

"Fine, finish it quick."

Acknowledged with a nod, he walked out of the Legion.

“I accept your challenge, foolish one.”

An insult was hurled onto Bernar, baiting him to come at him. He truly thinks that the challenge was a fool. It doesn’t make any sense. For a puny human to challenge a gigantic unknown creature that span at least 1.7meter in height and led thousands of undead, He should be afraid, he should have fled from such an encounter. Yet this fool in front proved otherwise.

A fool indeed.

And such insult thoroughly assaulted the thirsty Bernar as he contorted in rage. His eyes were reddening as anger surge into him; he gritted his teeth and gave a stare that could kill.

Foolish one?! He dares call me a fool? He is looking down on me! Damn it! I will kill you! I will rip you into pieces! I will show you who the fool is! Nobody, nobody will look down on me!

Bernar could not swallow the insult by his enemy. He clenched his hands into a fist and slowly reaching for his sword holstered by his waist. Gir smirked broadly, realizing the change in Bernar.

“Come”

The final provocation led Bernar to unsheathe his long sword and gallop the horse, charging at him. The sword was moving down onto Gir, but Gir avoided the blow and sidestepped, evading the charge of the horse. In quick response, Bernar executed a roundabout turn, maneuvered the horse facing his enemy. Once more, He kicked onto the back of the horse and charged at Gir.

“heh? Is this really all you got? Come down and fight me, fool.”

With a taunt, the charge was avoided as Gir swung his hammer sideways, violently smacked it into the belly of the horse. The horse blew backward and so does Bernar. He flew several meters through the air; hit the ground and tumbling head over heels several times before coming to a halt.

Due to his high-quality armour, Bernar had not sustained much damage aside from bruises on his body. He wobbly rose to his feet using his sword as a support and quickly took a sword stance.

In the meantime, Gir was distracted for a moment because, in the direction of the Legion, a purplish aura was seeping out. And he wondered why…

With the given opportunity, Bernar ran at top speed and swept his sword across Gir. The blow should have cut through Gir, but the armour he wore protected him from harm. Of course, even if Gir was bare skin, such a weak weapon was unable to cut a high tier summoned creature.

“I-impossible!”

Gir turned to look at the mosquito and laughed coldly.

“Sneaky little bastard ain’t you”

The arrogant smirk awhile ago was gone. His sword was proven to be the finest and could cut almost anything, yet not a cut was on his enemy’s exotic armour. He stood in a cold sweat and was unable to move.

Seconds later, the sledgehammer was turned in reverse and pulled back. The next moment, the steel sphere on the hammer was smacked heavily onto Bernar. The impact had caused Bernar to cough out blood and brought him to his knee while holding his stomach. This time, he had suffered several internal injuries due to the heavy blow.

Gir wanted to end this quick, he swung his hammer up high and brought it down, intended to end his miserable life. But the sharp spikes ceased in front of Bernar’s face as he heard a pathetic voice.

“*cough* P-please, s-spare me!”

Gir looked coldly toward Bernar. He was visibly trembling. Blood was dripping out from his mouth and his armor was dented deeply. A pathetic sight. The intention to kill was gone. Sparing him was not a problem as there were no orders given to kill. For summoned creatures, orders from their master’s were absolute; no creatures could defy their master. And if there weren’t any orders on such task, the judgment should go to the individual.

Tsk, Coward…

Gir was a warrior and being a warrior, dying honorably on the battlefield should be proud of. He believed that a true warrior hones his skills, fight on the battlefield and die on the battlefield. A warrior shall never beg for mercy. Begging for mercy in the warrior’s circle was frowned upon and he looked down on such people.

He frowned and turned to walk away. And When Bernar saw him returned his hammer and walked away, he grinned broadly.

Stupid, I will survive and I will get my revenge!

But the movement of Gir was stopped suddenly.

And coward shall live in shame.

Gir turned on the heeled, faced the coward and smiled.

A face of disgust appeared on Bernar’s as he saw the evil grin on Gir’s face. But it was soon replaced with horror as Gir was lifting his hammer up high in the air. Suddenly, the scene before him was delayed like the time had slow down; Gir’s hammer was sinking bit by bit.

No ! I couldn’t die right now! I have yet to be recognized!

Abundance thoughts flew into Bernar. He still has goals to achieve; he will never allow fate to take his life. He was determined to live.

Bernar struggled and tried to avoid. He was able to leap a few distances and lay flat on the ground. Soon, the hammer slammed onto the ground, releasing a thunderous impact like the sound of an explosion causing much debris to fly in a different direction and dust to gust up. The smoke and dust blocked Bernar’s vision. But that was not important as he knew he had avoided death. He felt relief and burst out laughing.

Hahaha, fool, he missed.

But not for long as he realized something was wrong.

Eh?

He couldn’t feel his right arm. Yet he knew it was still intact. But the moment he turned and looked at it, he was frightened to death. An opened wound with exposed red flesh and blood spurted out endlessly which formed a pool of blood beneath his right arm.

Apparently, until the last moment to dodge, the sharp spikes on the hammer managed to land a hit, latching onto his arm. His turning force pulled the spike and tore his arm in half.

Soon, his brain registered the gruesome scene and unbearable pain surged through his right arm.

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! MY ARM!“

He held onto his right arm with its left and screamed in agony. His voiced echoed across the top walls and despite the dust due to the impact made them difficult to see, they knew who that voice belonged to.

Gir watched as Bernar rolled on the ground, perhaps hoping to ease the intolerable pain. He approached him with a vicious grin and squatted onto his level. He stopped Bernard’s movement by grabbing his head and moving it near him. A sentence was whispered into Bernar’s ear. Tears flew down endlessly and terror struck him as his life was in Gir’s hand.

“P-please, h-have mercy”

Bernar was wailing and sobbing like a baby as tears and mucus were constantly dripping on his face. Unsuspecting of what was going on; Gir shifted his hand onto Bernar’s severally damaged arm and gripped it tightly before pulling it out forcefully. His right arm disconnected from his shoulder with a sound of snap.

“haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”

That night was the loudest howl the soldiers ever heard coming from a human being that felt like a dying beast. Just like that, Bernar passed out in pain and the loss of blood would put his life in danger. But Gir does not care as he threw the right arm away and returned to the Legion

A few moments later, the gates swung open, five armed soldiers on horseback carried a flag behind them, which represented ceased fire in wartime, galloped through the fallen debris to retrieve the fallen Bernar. Upon arrival, they were unimpressive by the scene before them. Bernar was heavily injured. The soldiers felt pity towards him, yet at the same time, this was what he deserved for the foolish action he committed. They gently carried him onto the horseback and marched fast away into the city while looking back from time to time, still wary of movements made by the undead.

In the mean time, when Gir returned to the Legion, Rufus was in a bad mood.

“Gir, you wasted too much time. Master is watching.”

“Right.…”

Gir was somewhat guilty of the fact that time was wasted. He returned beside Rufus and remained still.

“Then, let us begin.”

*****

The gates of the city were opened and five soldiers came back with Bernar unconscious.

“Bring him to the medical unit! Hurry”

Even though Bernar had gone against the order, he was still a citizen of Occerissa and importantly a son of a duke. They could not watch him die as it would be troublesome to deal with a Duke of a Kingdom.

On the top of the walls of the walkway, the commander of a mage unit turned to survey the Legion. Due to the moonlight that gleamed onto the battlefield, vision was not a problem.

All of the sudden, he felt extremely uncomfortable, the reason was the purplish aura began seeping out of the being’s body.

What is that….. A spell?

The converge surges of purplish aura gradually surrounded the being. He spread his arms apart and a thick concentrated energy began to form on both his palm. Slowly manifested in front of him was a giant dark floating lance which could challenge the tall walls.

“Mages! Mana Shield, NOW!”

Without wasting time, the commander ordered the 25 mages to quickly erect a shield. The mages do as they were told as they began chanting. Immediately, a thin but wide layer of Mana shield was manifested, covering and protecting soldiers and the gates. With the numbers of mages, the layer of a thin shield was increased by several folds and thus a thick layer of Mana shield was erected.

“Creation magic: Dark Lance”

A loud sound resounded across the battlefield. The spell was fired at the gates. It emitted an ear-splitting sound that suppressed the speed of light and rapidly arrived at the gates.

But the Mana shield erected halted the lance in placed, preventing it from penetrating.

Once it clashed, the shield erected was proven insufficient as the impact caused several fissures on the shield. The mages persevered on reinforcing the shield, causing their Mana to deplete faster. But all the efforts devoted were futile as the shield was too weak to withstand.

The commander cursed in his mind, if this carried on, the whole of mage unit and archers were to be wiped out, Likewise, if the shield was to collapse, the Kingdom would be vulnerable and the undead would advance their assault hence threatening the life of thousands.

“Archers! Fall back immediately!”

A cruel decision was made to abandon the 25mages to save the 1000 soldiers. And to evacuate required extra time. Regrettably, the lance was making its way fast and does not provide them ample time.

One by one, the mages began to fall on their knees due to exhaustion. As a result, the shield was weakened and cracks were increasing dramatically. Soon after, the spell pushed through the last layer of the shield and in an instant, it slowly reduced turning into particles and vanished into thin air. Without any hindered, Dark Lance violently slammed into the firm, sturdy walls and penetrated the gates.

“Now go, my slaves bring glory to my master!”

*****