Heroes

In the recently occupied city of Windcoast, Count Buroom who was now formally referred to as general, was in the city lords' manor was now, with a relaxed and pleased expression, reading the reports of the recent skirmishes of the nearby strongholds that were built to protect strategic points of the highways that lead to the continents cities.

He was using the desk that used to belong to this cities lord to look at the documents with his personal retainer, Roland, who stood besides him.

After shuffling the papers on his desk for a bit and then putting it down on one corner he spoke,

"What place was that fort called again thats closest to those mountainous region that blocks off a direct route to the human capital? Oh, and what news is there regarding the invasion ? " (Buroom)

He asked as he hummed a delighted tune.

"The name of the place is Fort Treadlog General. From the information gathered from our well informed slaves, its a place that doesnt yield much gain but is a place where public order is well kept. And regarding the invasion of the Fort, I would say they have already engaged the forces." (Roland)

Listening to his personal retainers words with closed eyes as he entrusted the chair with his back, the General muttered 'I see, I see' whie keeping his pleased expression.

"By the way, what of the rebel forces that were captured yesterday for trying to disrupt the excecution of the cities territorial lords family?" (Buroom)

"Ah, we have already enslaved all of them General, and now they are now all yours to command sir." (Roland)

He informed the General of the situation as a similar pleased expression the same as the generals appeared on his face.

"Ooh! That was quick! As I thought, the newly implemented enslavement crest works wonders! As expected of the Buroom family, we produce the best in enslavement magic. Our history of generation and generations of being leading experts of enslavements isnt just for show.!" (Buroom)

In a maniacal tone, the count/general guffawed.

-------------

Fort Treadlog, just one of the fortresses in between the town the two stayed in and Windcoast city.

It was a fortress with 20 metre high stone walls that towered over the surrounding forest trees so one couldn’t help but notice it.

Though it was usually peaceful within the settlement, it was now in chaos.

Cannon fire kept going off from atop the walls and ground.

Cannons that spewed out round lead artillery at the other side.

100 cannons above and also below, fire after fire filled the top and bottom of the fortress walls with smoke from the reaction of black gunpowder.

Normally this amount of firepower would have long decimated the opposition if it was only blood and flesh on the other side but contrary to what these cannons were for, the enemy they faced was but, it stood, no they stood four metres, a body of metal, steam coming from the rectangular funnel on its back, wheels for legs, for its arms they were replaced with weapons, on the right had a muzzled piece that was continuously spouting out oil that was alight, on its left was a 2 metre long cuboid barrel firing artillery.

They advanced row after row numbering only 50.

They received numerous hits from the fortress cannons but as if the cannon rounds were only insects in its path that hit them, they advanced forward inching in closer and closer. They had no effect on these steel coffins, only making minor dents here and there.

Every time these giant steel coffins shot back with their own weapon (Left arm cannon) at the fortress, either pieces of the walls scattered or pieces of human bodies scattered.

Dragon riders swept down at the giant steel coffin desperately trying to harm the enemy but to no avail.

The Thick metal armour they had was too strong for the attacks of both dragon and rider.

The dragon, as if it was a cock in a cock fight, frantically used its huge claws on the metal coffin but it just looked like a bird trying to move an immovable statue.

It wasnt only one dragon but there were multiple dragons with riders on top trying to do the same.

Just like the first dragon, there was no effect at all.

At the forefrunt of the advancing coffins, a downed dragon rider was on the grass pulling towards the direction of the fort trying to excape from a steel coffing that moved forward with a noise that sounded like the noise produced form a roller coaster ascending a cart.

Grunts with occasional coughs of blood resounded from the face plate of the rider.

The rider knew that either going the other way or heading to the fort wouldnt make a difference in the eventual killing of the rider, but still, the rider wanted to die in the place he was born in. He resolved himself to at least that.

But fate was cruel.

The steel coffin had already advanced to just a few meters away from the crawling soldier.

The crawling rider realising that the sound coming from his rear meant that it was too late, made a last effort of silently chanting a spell under his breath.

After having clenched the hand that materialised magic with the other hand onto his chest with his back to the steel coffin, he spun around with quick desperation and launched the magic onto the enemy infront of him.

An orange flame in the shape and size of a cannonball was flung towards the coffin, hitting the hatch of the enemy.

There was a burst of sound like a modern day grenade and the shockwave of one.

A flash of orange blinded the rider as he closed his eyes.

The rider expected that the attack made little difference judging from all the attacks that his allies had launched against them but refrained from being depressed as he thought that he at least hit it back once more.

The rider bracing himself for the eventual end kept his eyes closed.

But no end came as he heard the cry of a lion from the sky.

"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Opening his eyes, he saw a pile of steel that was the remains of the steel coffins that seemed indestructible just moments ago.

It had big holes here and there that seemed to have been caused by melting.

The edges of the holes that continued though to the back of the remains of the steel coffin glowed orange as if to make a cylinder.

As the rider came out of his shock, shadows that appeared above of the forts own shadow.

They quickly zoomed forward to the the enemy as more and more cries of lions were heard.

The identity of the mysterious shadows were revealed in the form of a lion with wings.

With a body the width and size of a truck, and a wing span 1.5 times of their body length, Gryphons swarmed the skies approximately 50 metres above ground floor.

From atop the gryphons, countless attacks showered the enemy.

An icicle the size of a tree materialised and went fort to impale the enemy crushing the steel coffin into scrap metal and mutilating the person inside beyond recognition. The creaking of the metal was blocked out with the countless sounds of destruction.

Bright pillars of fire centered on a steel coffin barraged with high intensity flame reducing it into cast metal.

On top of a gryphon that was flying by, arrows that was reinforced with magic were homing on the hatch of a steel coffin making sounds of 'plink! plink! plink!' as it gradually ate away at it.

Out of the range where friendly fire wouldnt reach, gryphons dragged the enemies on the ground floor as they were quite heavy to lift off completely and other gryphons pierced the steel coffins with their beaks like chicken pecking at food on the floor.

From a purple circle that materialised above a group of steel coffin out came purple birds in flocks as they exploded on the group. As more purple birds came, the purple circle shrunk as if it was paint was being used up.

While the battle was still on going, four gryphons zoomed towards the back of the enemy line.

In unison the four gryphons flew by close to the ground and dropped four humanoid figures when they reached 10 meters above ground.

They landed without any harm, something that normal humans couldn’t do normally without having any broken bones.

From the right, a black knight with full plate armour with a 3 meter long sword with a width the size of a human’s hip. On his back was shield with what looked like the scales of a black dragon. It seemed to move like it was alive shivering in what could be described as excitement.

Next to him was a cleric in white armour consisting of light cloth armour underneath some light metal armour. She had a poleaxe on one hand and a kite shield on the other.

Next to her was a mage in a dark green hooded trench coat with pointed shoulder guards and a staff with cylindrical gems on top of each other that emitted a bright light. From the portions of the body, one could clearly see it was a male.

Next was Brawler in a brown cloth tank top with arm sleeves and leg what looked like a monk’s leg clothing. She had a metal gauntlet on both hands that looked too heavy for her glass hour figure.

When the four saw what their enemy was, they thought in unison a foreign word from this world, ‘mechs’.

Seeing the so called mechs starting to retreat and encountering the four figures, they decided to attack with everything they had.

Artillery and fire from the enemy shot forward to the four but before they could reach, the staff of the mage emitted magic that shot forward towards the ground and raised it to form a curve wall around the four blocking the attacks of the mechs.

Such timing and speed.

It stopped the attack of the mechs for a bit maybe due to shock at the power of the enemy but the four did not let this opening go as they began to retaliate.

The mage in dark green, plunging the end of his staff to the ground, he casted his magic targeting 12 of the mechs.

The targeted mechs began to slow as they slowly began to lose traction from the ground.

Slowly, the 12 mechs began to ascend meter after meter into the air until they reached around the height of 200 meters.

When they reached the height of around 200 meters, they began to drop.

When they reached the ground, sounds as if a modern cannon was shot resounded.

Smoke surrounded the crash sites of the 12 and when it cleared, something similar to what a car crusher makes was there.

Due to the rotation of the planet, the mechs did not land on the same spot from before they were lifted.

This prevented the mechs from hitting their allies but this also presented an opportunity for the 2 women to attack as they wouldn’t have to worry about falling mechs crushing them.

Both brawler and priestess jumped forward high up in the air easily reaching a peak height of 20 meters as they landed in front of the mechs.

In front of a mech that looked like tank that’s bipedal, one wouldn’t hesitate to run away, but the brawler would not do that.

Crouching for a second, the girl adopted a punching form with her right arm curled onto her armpit.

She was still several meters apart from the mech to be in range of punching the mech is what most would think.

But after that brief posture adjustment, the girl disappeared and reappeared in front of the mech with her right hand inside the mech making creaking and crunching noises.

The girl felt warm flesh similar to that of a humans and a warm liquid that smelt like iron. The girl new she had killed someone but her face showed no regret as anger had taken over.

It was the same with the other girl, she attacked her weapon that wedged itself through the mech armour as blood sprayed from the opening.

She did it with a face of hateful scorn as she kept swinging her weapon with one hand that left other mechs in a similar state.

In a moment’s time, all the mechs around the area were destroyed.

Seeing that the enemy force was no longer there, the people from the fort readied themselves to cheer but was stopped as they saw more mechs coming from the forest where the enemy first came out off.

This time they numbered 200 as they began firing from the front of the forest.

The knight in black armour with a 3 meter sword faced the enemy as cannon fire closed in on him.

The mage next to him prepared to use magic but was stopped with the knights raising one hand to the mage.

Following what the knight motioned, the mage stopped the gathering of magic to his staff.

Seeing the mage comply with his request, he took out his black scale shield.

Holding it in front of him, the scales moved on the shield stopped any movement, suddenly a white aura manifested from the gaps in the scales.

In a short second, the white aura intensified as it took an ethereal form of an oriental dragon wrapping around the two.

‘Graaaaaaaaa!’

Screamed the dragon at the enemy.

The artillery fire that seemed to slowly crawl its way to the two was blocked and deflected when they touched dragon wrapped around the two.

The barrage of enemy fire lasted for only a minute as they realised it had no effect on the dragon.

They decided to advance forward thinking that they could break it from close range but then from the gaps of the dragon, an intense blue light was emitted.

This didn’t stop the advance of the mechs as they kept getting closer and closer.

Though slow compared to a horse carriage, they were faster compared to mobile cannons.

This gave the knight in black enough time.

The dragon suddenly started to disappear as it faded back into the shield of the knight that was seemingly put on to his back again.

There, the knight stood with an intensely glowing blue sword with only one hand as he made a pose as if to slice horizontally from left to right.

He did not disappoint as he exactly did that.

The intense light was launched off from the sword in a crescent shape towards the mechs.

But, soon after only a second of travelling 5 meters it disappeared.

A dud? Is something some would say.

It was not a dud.

Just a few moments after the intense blue light in the shape of a crescent disappeared, as if a tsunami had happened, an invisible force struck the mechs and the trees behind them.

Creaking of metal and wood joined in unison as they faced the invisible force.

But, eventually the greater force won in only a matter of seconds as mechs and trees were uprooted from the ground into the air.

There was no need to question who released such power as everyone in the surroundings stared at the perpetrator. The knight in black.

----

Among the rubble of the battlefield, a man in a boiler suit was groaning as he crawled away from the opened hatch of the mech unit he piloted.

He had a pale complexion, crimson eyes with silver hair, and traits of the vampire race.

He groaned as he pushed aside the rubble that consisted of dirt and metal parts of his mech.

Disoriented, he tried crawling away from the wreckage but met with the sight of a wasteland.

Wreckages similar to this one scattered here and there.

When one looked from above, you could see the ground was gouged in the form of a curve that stretched along the part where the forest line used to be.

He remembered seeing a blue light suddenly disappearing and then seconds after the surroundings became blurry.

He grounded his teeth at the thought of falling to such a lowly race as he tried to contain the anger inside of him.

He had enough control over himself to prevent catching attention.

After containing himself, he thought ‘its not over yet! Your only pets who needs to die for biting back at your masters! You will all regret not being obedient and just staying still to die by our hand! Hahahaha- huh!?’

As he thought to himself with a grin plastered on his face, he failed to notice the knight in black armour behind him.

The pilot froze with a stupid expression as he saw the face of the knight filled with scorn.

Seconds passed as the pilot finally managed to speak.

“You! What are you looking at?! What, are you planning on killing me?! Oh that’s right, you don’t know how to speak vampire tongue, ha! How pointless, of course you don’t know-“(Pilot)

“Don’t be so ready to assume I can’t speak your language”

The pilot’s mouth was agape as he was dumbfounded as to how he understood him and that he spoke in his native tongue.

Though sometimes the mouth movements from the words he produced didn’t match up like subtitles in a movie or anime, the pilot finally found out the identity of why someone from the human continent whom they hadn’t had contact with for so long could speak in their tongue in such a way.

“A hero huh? That’s why…. To think you humans have done the same as us…. Should I call it a coinci-“(Pilot)

At mentioning that they did the same as they have, the knight in black expressed a shocked face.

“What?! You will tell me everything there is about that or I will kill you right here painfully!”

He grabbed the pilot with one hand and raised him into the air.

The pilot was shocked for a bit from being suddenly interrupted and hoisted but after a second, he sported a smirk as he stabbed a syringe into his leg.

The knight seeing this realised what it was he injected to himself as he released the pilot dropping him onto the ground.

“Ha! As if I would do that! Hahahahaha” (Pilot)

He said as he began to cackle.

“This for the count! Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!” (Pilot)

He shouted as his body began to darken then turn to ash.

The knight staring at this with wide eyes tried to contemplate about what the pilot said.

But,

“Oi Hiro!”

From behind him came a voice.

The knight turned around to find the mage in dark green with two others, both female, one a brawler and the other a cleric.

The knight responded.

“I told you not to call me that. Call me by my full name.”

The mage in green responded,

“But Hachiro’s too long, and doesn’t Hiro sound like hero? Right, Hero?”

That’s right, it was the four of the group summoned from the other world.

Different from the start where they were happy go lucky, they now had a more serious atmosphere even though they were still joking around like so.