It was now morning.

One days length away from the nearest human territory that was recently retaken, the group of heroes riding on their gryphon's were pacing through a forest that bordered an open field.

They did not fly using the gryphon's as to avoid being spotted and also because Honoka's gryphon, Fae, was injured on the wings making it unable to fly.

The sunlight shined on the dew that formed on the surface of the surrounding foliage, sometimes making it sparkle.

It would be thought of as a peaceful scenery if it wasn’t for the haggard group that squeezed their way through the trees.

They were moving non stop since they escaped from their assailants last night.

To reduce the chance of being seen, they would go through tight areas where the gryphons barely fit and went through inefficient pathways to throw off their pursuers.

When they found a densely covered area from sight, Hachiro,

“Let’s rest here. I’m sure we’ve thrown them off our tails.” (Hachiro)

suggested to res.

The two who were behind him agreed.

Then….

“?! Oi! Above!” (Arata)

Above them, flying through the skies, dragons and gryphons who were at the front were heading towards the direction of enemy territory,

----

Near a cascade, a campfire spread light to its surroundings where four people could be seen.

They were the previous four sent by the colonel to subjugate the heroes but failed.

The siblings who attacked Honoka were sleeping on the floor with the warmth of the campfire.

The other two, the vampire mage and sniper, who were on guard duty, were not far from them.

“Lieutenant Swig. Come here.”

From inside the trees came a shout that belonged to someone the two were familiar with.

Swig was the wand wielder's name and when he heard the voice of his commanding officer,

“Yes, colonel!”

He did as he was told and went into the trees disappearing from the sight of his companion, the female sniper.

Lightly jogging through the trees, he paced towards the colonels voice.

When he passed beside one of the trees,

‘Crack!’

Something hit his neck, crushing it and breaking the vertebrae.

‘Thud’

The sound of a lifeless body was heard by no one, except the one that caused him state.

From behind the tree where the soldier was attacked, a hooded entity emerged and moved silently away from the body, disappearing into the direction of the camp.

Not far away from the area, the body of the colonel submerged in a stream lay lifeless.

----

At the camp.

The female sniper was adding wood to the fire that made snapping sounds nearby the sleeping twins.

After she finished, she went back to her post.

She failed to notice the hooded figure that approached the twins and knelt down besides them.

'Snap! Snap!'

At separate times, the figure twisted both of their head that made two soft snapping sounds.

The two separate soft snaps was heard by the female sniper but she figured it was just the firewood crackling that made the noise.

A minute after that,

the female sniper was left in a similar state with the other two lifeless bodies of the twins.

----

At the River Village, the same time the female sniper died.

“Gu?! -Ack!!!!!!!!”

In the river village called Logrest where the vanguard’s battalion were ambushed by the count, a scream was heard from the biggest house there in a room that most likely belonged to the previous village head.

It came from the woman who was now gasping in the air in heavy breaths as she clutched her neck.

On top of the king sized bed, her eyes were wide open as sweat profusely trickled down her face like a river.

“Brigadier General?! Are you okay?! Please answer, or were coming in!”

There was no answer, only the gasping for air was heard.

Outside the bedroom, two silver haired soldiers flung open the door to see the woman in her sleeping gown trying her best to breath.

“Brigadier General, are you okay?!”

“You- ‘GASP’, ge- ‘GASP,’ get Gene- ‘GASP’ GET THE GENERAL! -kuh?!”

Feeling an intense headache, she tried to suppress herself from shouting by grabbing and pulling on her hair.

The soldiers displayed worried and confused faces.

A moment later, probably unable to take it, she passed out on the bed.

There was a pause from the two soldiers.

But,

“Get a medic! We need to inform the General!”

----

“She is not injured, but it seems that she is in a coma. It might have been a backlash from the use of her powers. ‘Spirit Seize’ correct General? I heard that when the host is killed, there is a backlash to the user”

The person examining the unconscious body of the one who was referred to as Brigadier General.

'Spirit Seize' was a unique magic that can allow the user to take over the recently dead body of another.

Apart from the backlash mentioned, an additional drawback was that the user was vulnerable to attacks on her original body as the users consciousness was in the host body.

"That's........unlikely. It's true that there 'was' a backlash when the host dies, but she's mastered this power to the point where it was as simple as breathing for her. A side effect like this hasn't occurred for decades even when the host died" (Buroom)

The host body that the Brigadier General was using was the recently deceased sniper.

A long silence ensued.

A silence that the count broke.

"This means someone has slain the Brigadier General's host huh? Ha! Maybe those heroes weren't such a pushover after all." (Buroom)

Due to the Brigadier General being unable to report the scene where she saw the dead bodies of the twins before her host died, the count thought that her host was their only casualty.

"One casualty doesn't matter. Eventually the others are going to dispose of those scattering rats, so enough of this trifle. We're about to receive more reinforcements from my territory. 100,000 in total due in a week. Roland. The nobles from my territory and nobles outside who have invested, along with those looking to invest in this war are also traveling with the reinforcements. Because I can't leave my post, I am going to need you to give them a warm welcome until I am able to leave my post." (Buroom)

"Very well sir. I will depart tonight." (Roland)

"Good. I have to recover my mana for deploying 'Lightning Empress'. I expect that there is going to be another wave coming in a few days." (Buroom)

‘Lightning Empress’.

A lightning attack that boast immense range and power.

Because it requires a huge amount of mana, it can only be used once a day.

It was this magic that was used to attack the vanguard battalion led by Hachiro and the others.

----

Midday.

The suns rays were blocked by the white and massive clouds in the sky.

The wind's were gentle, making the atmosphere of the surrounds of the river village look peaceful.

The grassland in front of the river village that was empty yesterday was now occupied by rows and rows of mech units accompanied with infantry.

In total, they numbered two thousand with 200 being mech units, the rest were infantry.

Behind the river village was another grassland.

The figure of the count could be seen there.

On his hand was something like a long staff, covered by silk like fabric that had the insignia of the counts territory embroidered on.

Unwrapping it, he carefully pulled out the object inside, a staff.

About a meter in length, the staff of pure crystal sparkled in the sun light.

With both hands grabbing near one end, the count concentrated.

A moment later, the sound of static electricity permeated the surroundings.

He stayed like that for an hour, occasionally opening his eyes and closing them.

After an hour more, sweat was visible on the counts face.

Squinting, he fought to not pass out as he was clamping his jaws shut.

This was a part of the preparation ‘Lightning Empress’ required.

Though slow, it was a magic that was the ‘Buroom’ household’s trump card.

Afterwards, he flew back to the river village to rest.