His legs simmered in pain when he burrowed his axe into the head of a Pillager, all the while straddling the halting Ravanger. Lifting and shoving the furiously bleeding Pillager away, the boy turned around and yanked the reins, the leather steering the cerulean mastodon abomination away from the cathedral walls. But the beast was immediately aware of its new master, thrashing around to whip the ancient human off its back. The boy kept a firm grip however. His concern was the zombies, exploiting the Ravager and its tumultuous uncooperativeness to bash and sweep zombies asunder.

Urgh, like a horse, the boy grunted. A horse with a bad attitude.

But just when he made a leftward jerk and the beast leaned, an explosion rippled from the left. His nostrils barely caught a whiff of caustic smoke and charcoal, the shockwave knocking him off the Ravager and onto the pavement. The hind legs almost smooshed his right arm had he not been rolling a few paces away. Only when his back thumped against a pair of legs that he grabbed the shoe of the zombified scholar towering over him. It was only a few centimetres from smashing his face until he twisted the ankle and thrusted its leg away. It accidentally kicked another zombie in the crotch before its foot landed on the ground, and it stumbled onto its comrade, not realising its foot had been broken.

The boy swiftly rolled and stood up, weaving under the arms of another zombie and then leaning his head rightward, his hands grabbing the left blotted arm of another zombie. Then he tripped and shoved the zombie onto its knees, twisting the arm into a familiar L shaped angle, not enough to inflict serious harm, but enough for the boy to knee the zombie in the chin and yank him onto his feet, smacking away a pair of other zombies in the process. He promptly spun him around however, the helpless zombie stumbling in circles at the mercy of the boy. After a few times around, the boy relinquished his grip, letting the zombie flop into his comrades, allowing the boy to grab the incoming left wrist of a zombie. But he momentarily let the zombie take a few steps away until the boy jerked and flipped the zombie backwards, its legs flying in the air and accidentally smacking two of its comrades across the face.

Munetsuki kotegashi, the boy mused at his handiwork. What a ritualistic way to say turn and transform.

With the zombie having landed head first, the boy lifted the corpse and used it to shield himself from an incoming arrow. A frantic Pillager atop the Ravager caught the boy his attention, who dropped his crossbow thereafter and grabbed the reins. But then, an arrow punched into the back of the boy. An annoyed grunt vibrated in his throat when he gritted his teeth, prompting him to spin and turn to hurl the corpse at the skeleton, who stepped aside and leaped from the shoulder of a pair of zombies. He fired another arrow while midair, but the boy simply sidestepped, grabbing and spinning around one of the zombies and shoving it into the skeleton just when it landed and fired another arrow. It missed them, but it did nail the other zombie in the chest. Argh, the zombie gargled and turned its wrath to the skeleton. But the skeleton was aware of this and climbed a lamppost. The boy was faster however courtesy of the zombie he flung earlier, using it as a biological stepping stone to leap and yank the skeleton off the pole midway. Yanking the arrow from his back, the boy lodged it into its ribs, the duo promptly landing on their backs thereafter, with the skeleton losing his bow before he swiftly jumped to his feet. He was quick to yank his arrow from himself and stab the other albeit vengeful zombie in the throat and headbutt it to pry away its grimy hands. But it allowed the boy to slam his shovel into its skull, knocking the skeleton unconscious.

With his stone shovel shattered however, the boy was about toss the useless shaft aside until he saw a dozen zombies being flung around, courtesy of the incoming Ravager. Quickly acquiring the fallen bow and some arrows, the boy shot one arrow into the air, its velocity feeble compared to the second high speed arrow he fired afterwards. The Pillager atop clearly dodged the faster arrow, but the other one dug into his left eye socket. He didnt die however, not when he yanked the reins and turned the beast rightward. A moment later, the Ravager crashed into a corner cafe, the four storey building collapsing onto it and large plume of dust erupting from within.

The boy stood for a long moment, coldly marvelling the wreckage in silence before he serenely strolled over. But halfway through the smoke and plaster, there was a clatter beneath his shoe, then something entered his consciousness. He didnt check, he simply ventured onward, where he saw the dead Ravager buried to its horns. To its right was its master, who had his legs stuck under a pile of wooden rafters.

Veni, vidi, vici, the boy frigidly quoted and conjured the Pillager banner in his right hand. Long live the Empire.

The Pillager looked at him with wide venomous eyes, but the boy nonchalantly crumbled and chucked the banner onto him. He stared at him with a blank look, a few pieces of wood and glass crumbling around for a moment. The Warlord looked up before suddenly trying to push the rubble away. The boy expected this, casually kicking the wood back onto him, where the floors above collapsed and crashed onto the Warlord. Nothing but mangled bloodied cerulean flesh underneath thereafter. Then the boy turned, seeing a few Pillagers drop their weapons and flee.

War is over, the boy sighed. Now lets bury the dead. Properly this time.