Battle Against Undead
The Lich cursed her luck and prepared to move. But before she could, Maximillian was already on her. The flaming lance tore through her magical defenses and cut right into her chest. The Lich was torn off her feet and impaled on the lance. The flames of the ignis scorched her flesh. The horse began to slow down.
Eliza roared in anger and agony. She concentrated her remaining demonic energy and unleashed a final attack. A massive explosion of demonic energy staggered the entire group. The horse buckled under the weight and energy of the attack, throwing everyone onto the ground. The lance of ice shattered once again, and the flames that surrounded the horse and her two riders weakened dramatically. This freed Eliza, who was nevertheless sent tumbling across the ground. Maximillian and the horse collapsed onto a heap on the ground, but Sothra and Gelna managed to help Charlotte jump up off the horse before that happened.
As the Lich tried to stand up, Charlotte controlled her fall trajectory with the aid of her sylph. She then plunged her sword, wreathed in her igniz's flames, right into the Lich's skull. All this happened in one smooth motion. No stuntman on earth could replicate that move.
The Lich screeched an unholy screech as the attack instantly burnt though her skull and into her brain. Charlotte then lets out a war cry of her own and pushes the blade down, cutting through her skull and into her shoulder. The attack was brutal, bloody and effective.
Yet Eliza wasn't done. She pushed Charlotte back with a powerful shove. The Gothian collapsed onto her back, as her final attack used up all of her strength and mana.
"You have won this match," Eliza hissed angrily, "but I will be back."
She then released the skeletons under her command, causing them to collapse. This restored considerable energy, allowing her to conjure a portal behind herself and escape.
"Shit," Maximillian cursed as he staggered to his feet, "that was a bad fall. Charlotte! I'm coming for you!"
The Lescatians quickly moved to their aid. Marise in particular helped Charlotte to her feet.
"God damn," Maximillian cursed, "that was one hell of a fight. You all okay?"
"The Lescatie Royal Guard remained strong in your absence," Marise said, "a bunch of zombies and skeletons aren't enough to stop us."
Maximillian looked to his horse, which also managed to stand up. It trotted over to the group.
"One hell of a display," Marise complimented, "you didn't learn that in Lescatie, did you?"
"Lescatie is fairly infantry centric," Maximillian replied, "and only some knights get horses. Even most heroes are foot soldiers. In Khrizno, cavalry plays a much more prominent role. All the kingdoms of High Gothia favor mobile, hard-hitting cavalry units."
"Princess," a knight said, "what do we do now?"
"I need to send a message back to Lescatie," Marise said, "do we have any more pigeons?"
All the soldiers shook their heads.
"Damn it," Marise said, "I need to tell them that we fought a Lich and took a sound beating before winning. I don't think we saw the last of that Lich. I don't think she's the only one either. Theres probably other powerful monsters here. Lescatie must mobilize to deal with these threats."
"And what army do you have?" asked Maximillian, "How many soldiers loyal to the crown do you have at your disposal?"
Silence fell over the group, because the answer was both self-evident and not very encouraging.
"Let me heal you first," Marise offered, "then we will send a message back to the capital. We're expecting a major invasion."
Charlotte's sylph and igniz appeared out of the air, surprising everyone.
"I have an idea," Maximillian said, "I can get Charlotte to send the sylph back to Lescatie. With some evidence that her message is true."
Marise took a ring of her finger without hesitation and offered it to Maximillian, "Give this to that wind spirit of yours. Take it back to the capital and tell the king that the armies of demons are on the move."
Maximillian then pulled out a notebook. A Lescatie mage used his magic to burn a warning about imminent monster invasions on Lescatie onto a page, which Maximillian then tore off. The man gave the paper and the ring to Sothra.
"Take this to the king," Maximillian said, "warn Lescatie."
Sothra nodded before disappearing into a burst of vaguely visible wind and flew back with incredible speed, heading for the Lescatie castle.
The group then prepared for the journey back. Marise used her healing magic on Maximillian and Charlotte, seeing as they bore the brunt of the Lich's attacks. The horse also got some of the treatment. After all, it suffered quite a fall.
Druella got a nasty surprise when Eliza had to be carried back to the camp ground. The event caused quite a stir, because anything that can injure such a powerful Lich is a force to be reckoned with.
"What in the-Eliza?" Druella stammered when she saw the mauled body of Eliza.
"Ugh," Eliza groaned as she tried to gather the energy to heal herself, "I underestimated the Lescatians. I was not expecting them to send in a Noscrim."
"Which Noscrim?" asked Druella, "The heroine?"
Eliza shook her head, "The elder one, who defected to the Gothians ten years ago. He returned with an elemental contractor who controls a sylph and ignis."
Several other high-ranking monsters arrived, and lent their demonic energy to Eliza. Her wounds began to heal visibly, though they were so horrible that they will take time. The conversation continued.
"So," Druella said, "the Gothians, huh. I was not expecting them to send in reinforcements. I thought they were largely corrupted."
"Some of their lands remain anti-monster,"
"Okay," Druella sighed, "it's a real pain in the ass that the anti-monster Gothians are closer to Lescatie. Are they gonna be a threat? Could they return to Lescatie and warn them of our invasion? Or worse, bring in reinforcements from Khrizno?"
"Lescatie could be warned," said Hinata, "but not much can be done. The Lescatie monarchy has very few soldiers, and that little publicity stunt they pulled pissed off the Order officials. They stand on the brink of a civil war. The majority of Lescatie's forces are stationed in other nations as mercenaries to foreign monarchs, particularly to the southern Gaulberian nations. It will take time for them to be recalled to Lescatie. Weeks, or even months. Human armies are slow to mobilize."
"So," Eliza said, "no need for the change in plan. Corrupt the most powerful heroes of Lescatie and the senior officers. The rank and file won't stand a chance against monsterized heroes. Especially the Ice Flower heroines. And by the time the Order manages to raise an army to retake Lescatie, we'd have monsterized the capital city, if not the entire kingdom. And when that happens, there's no forcing us out. Lescatie will be ours."
Back in Lescatie, recruitment continued. While most of the willing recruits were commoners and peasants, there were quite a few gentries and nobles. Some were seeking to restore lost glory and honor, while others were looking for a change in their boring lives. Younger siblings tired of being eclipsed by their elders were also common.
This was pleasing to Astramille. Deep down, he believed that most of them wouldn't make the cut. The average peasant was poor in health and educational attainment, thanks to Lescatie's military industrial complex and massive government/clerical corruption. Even the noble and gentry class people who signed up seemed ignorant to Astramille. Doubtlessly, the Order would have taken anyone with even the slightest aptitude for military or civil service.
Of all the people he met and came to know, Astramille only regarded Mimil and Noscrim to be his intellectual and educational peers. And among them, only Noscrim managed to outsmart him, even if only briefly.
He paused for a second. Is this why he wanted to take down Noscrim? Because he made himself appear weaker than the royal family and set Astramille on a collision course with Aeris, one that nearly got him killed? Astramille shook his head. Sure, being outsmarted by a medieval priest was certainly an insult, especially since Astramille had the out-of-universe knowledge advantage. He knew about Noscrim and his dirty maneuvers, and still managed to underestimate the damned priest.
But Astramille couldn't leave the priest alone to his douchebaggery. Like it or not, the king deciding to practically declare war against the entire Lescatie Order despite not having any significant military support is suicidal. Astramille did convey to the king that he should stand up to the Order, but how he interpreted that as openly making borderline heretical moves against most of Lescatie's military and government was beyond the earthling. Maybe Castor WAS going senile. Or he was desperate to make himself relevant again. Regardless, such sentiments made him an unreliable ally.
Astramille wondered whether he will have to make a deal with Noscrim and his flunkies behind the king's back, or negotiate some kind of settlement between the two parties. Worse, he may have to lean on the fairies to get things sorted out. With Druella gnawing at Lescatie's doorsteps, the last thing Astramille wanted was a civil war between the clergy and the monarchy. Especially when the clergy was probably going to win. It was strange for him to care about Lescatie, but Astramille knew that if Lescatie fell, there was no doubt that he was going to be the scapegoat. The Order capital will make him known all throughout the Order controlled territories and put a price on his heretical head. Even non-Order nations may be tempted to hand him over. The truth will be the first casualty in the Hunt for Archheretic Astramille. That means Astramille would have to either rely on Stella and her other fairy friends or defect to the monsters. He knew too little about the former to trust them, and probably had too much bad blood with the latter. Astramille did injure a werewolf and pissed off Sasha's monster orphans, after all. That little dragon was particularly butthurt over his mere existence, something he was not a stranger to.
The earthling sighed. Why did this isekai story have to make life difficult for him? It could have been a generic power fantasy where get gets absurd powers and a harem of hot women. But nope, all he got were consequences. Princess Aeris almost burning him to death with her magic really hammered in the fact that acting up would bring death.
Just then another figure walked up to them. It was draped in a cloak that covered it completely, but spoke with a female voice.
"Is this the place for the recruitment?" she asked.
"Um," said Astramille, unable to ascertain what this new character wanted, "are you expressing interest in joining up?"
"You are Astramille, the soulless, right?" asked the figure.
Something inside Astramille's head screamed out at him. He jumped to the side off his stool while flipping the table upwards.
He was lucky he did, because the stranger suddenly lashed out with a dagger that was concealed within her left sleeve. Astramille was fast enough that the table deflected the dagger thrust upwards. The nearby people scatter in panic, shouting in alarm.
At the same time, Astramille stepped back rapidly. But the concealed figure charged forward, attacking with a long, pointed sword.
"Damn," she muttered, "this is harder than I imagined."
Mimil called out in alarm while she summoned her wand. As she prepared to cast a spell, the figure tossed her dagger at Mimil. Before Mimil could do anything, the weapon planted itself in her right shoulder. The girl cried out in pain and fell back.
"Damn you!" Tasogare swore as she pulled out some talismans.
The figure then made a slashing with her sword, forcing the exorcist to dodge. She then turned her attention back to Astramille, who was trying to pull Mimil to safety.
As she prepared her next attack, Astramille quicky stood up and picked up the stool he was sitting on and pointed the legs at the killer. He looked like a lion tamer, but Tasogare and Bukinchi could see in his stance that he has received some martial arts training in the past.
Surprisingly, Astramille went on the attack. He shoved the chair forward, hoping to catch the blade of the assassin between its legs. The assassin darts to the right and thrust forward with her sword. Astramille was expecting a block or parry, so it was too late for him to respond. Astramille pushed the chair at towards the right and manage to deflect the blow. Yet the blade still cut a long gash along the sleeve of the plague doctor outfit.
"Damn you, bastard!" Mimil shouted as she cast healing magic on her injured arm, "Just you wait."
Tasogare rejoined the attack. She muttered a spell and tossed a talisman at the assassin. The Assassin was caught off guard. Gold colored lightning erupted from the talisman, hitting the assassin. Her cloak caught fire from the attack. The assassin tossed the cloak towards Tasogare before returning to attack Astramille. Astramille managed to see that she had long black hair and red eyes before having to counterattack.
Just who the hell is this guy? How is he not afraid of me? Did my blade not slice into his arm?
These were the questions swirling in the assassin's head as she continued to fight the soulless man.
Is it because he has no soul? Is that why he seems to fear nothing, not even the Lescatie Inquisition?
The fact that Astramille didn't bleed didn't faze her. She had annihilated many people before the soulless man, and none of them bled. She had accepted that her blade had magical properties. But to see her opponent not even flinch under her attacks was alarming.
She pressed her attacks, but Astramille didn't hesitate. The man swung and thrust the chair as if to trap her blade between the legs of the stool. Meanwhile, he tried to close in the distance. The assassin didn't know why, but instinctively felt the pressure from his attacks mount. The man dropped the stool and then switched over to hand-to-hand combat. It was a risky move, almost suicidal, but the rapid punches and kicks forced her onto the defensive. Swinging her sword has become far more difficult, and it because easier for Astramille do block her at the arm than at the sword. But this also meant that nobody could step in to help him.
There! The Assassin thought.
As Astramille closed in for another attempt at grabbing her throat, the assassin charged forward instead of backwards. Surprise appeared on the soulless man's face as she drove the blade straight through his chest and out his back. Yet as a last measure, Astramille flips the stool with his foot and grabs it with his right arm. Alarmed, the assassin tried to pull back, but the man grabbed her sword arm, his fingers sinking in around her elbow joint.
"What in the world!?" the assassin exclaimed, "Who the hell are you?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Astramille lets out a Sly Marbo scream and brings the chair down on the assassin's head.
The chair broke from the impact, sending splinters everywhere. The last thing the assassin saw before her world went dark was the man pulling the sword out of himself.
Yo guys, sorry for the late updates. I had the first 1300 words down easily, but the next parts were difficult. I originally had Eliza explain Gothian kingdoms in greater detail, but I decided to add that later. This chapter has seen major changes.
You know, this story has been going on since 2017. So much as changed, and I hope my writing skills improved since the early days of this fic. This is why I am contemplating restarting it, with proper world building and characterizations. Or rather, minor retcons to earlier chapters of the story. This story will be kept on here and still be continuously updated.
Also, the floods in Brisbane, Queensland knocked out my power and internet for a few days. This story would have come sooner.
Finally, I have some questions to ask and I would appreciate people replying. How did you come across this story? What made you click on it? What do you like about it? What do you dislike about it? What would you like to see more of in the future?