Battle Before the Town:
Maximus used his magic to form a bird familiar to fly over the horde in the distance to get a head count. Aqua noticed what he had done and wondered how he could have done so without knowing how to perform such a task. Maximus used his magic to see through the eyes of the familiar and saw the horde was far large than before. He exited out of the familiar and kept it flying over head to survey the forthcoming battle. Turning round about he noticed no one was preparing for the conflict at all.
"Are they seriously just going to stand here and watch and not prepare for what's coming?" He wondered to himself and approached the guy with the Mohawk. "You," He said to get his attention. "Gather some people and go into the town to round up all the men and young men who able to wield a spear and sword." He instructed.
"What, why should we listen to you?" Mohawk inquired.
"Because I know how to fight against a horde during my time living on my world and it's obvious no one else is doing anything about this at all. So, if you want to live from this encounter, I suggest you follow all my orders." Maximus barked at him.
Mohawk quickly nodded his head and began sprinting with all haste.
Maximus turned to Kazuma and Megumin. "You two grab some people and start drawing water from the river in town with all haste." He ordered.
"Right." Megumin responded and before Kazuma could say anything she took hold of his sleeve to drag him along.
"Aqua," He turned to her.
"Yes." She responded.
"Time to prove to me you are a Goddess, when the water gets here, I need you to bless it so it will have Holy Properties." He said to her.
"That will be easy for a Goddess such as I." She said in a boastful way.
"She better be right about this." He said to himself.
"Darkness," He said turning to her and she looked at him. "I need you to grab some of the others to quickly find as much equipment for this battle as possible. Bring swords, shields, and spears here."
Darkness nodded and sprinted with several people to the blacksmith and within the marketplace to gather what was needed.
Maximus turned to others within the large party.
"I need all of those who can cast spells at the rear, anyone who can wield a sword, spear, and shield to take their place out in front, now!" He ordered.
"But, most of us aren't even the right class for those weapons." An adventurer protested.
"You are now, unless you wish to be undead fodder feel free to run after them and die out there." Maximus shot back.
"I brought the first batch of water!" Kazuma shouted.
"Good, Aqua, start blessing it and once done spread it upon the field before us about fifty yards out." Maximus instructed and turned around. "I need someone who can cast or create wall spells."
"I can Maximus, I used to be an adventurer." Wiz said rushing towards him.
"Wait, are you someone else I know?" He inquired.
Wiz had a confused look on her face.
"He died last night and lost his memories of meeting everyone and living here!" Aqua quickly informed her.
"That's terrible, we can discuss this later, I may have something that can help him." She said to her and turned to Maximus. "My name is Wiz and I can cast an ice wall." She informed him.
"My name is Maximus, but you already knew that. The ice wall is better than fire anyway. I need you to form a pair of walls to funnel them right to us and surround the entire town in case they should try to flank us. Not to mention try and get into the town." He instructed.
"Right. Cursed Ice Prison." She shouted to cast her spell.
The next moment two walls of ice formed in a V shape in front of the whole group and began to encircle the town.
"Aqua, I need you to bless the ice walls as well." He instructed her.
She quickly nodded her head as the first batch of water was being dumped on the ground before them.
Moments later, Mohawk returned with a host of men and at the same time Darkness arrived with several people carrying weapons and others were pushing multiple carts of equipment.
"We got the next batch of water here for you." Megumin informed him.
"All of you who are chosen to be at the front grab a shield, sword, and a spear. Douse the blades and shields with the water once it is blessed." Maximus instructed and walked up to the front of everyone. "Listen up, I need two lines of Pikemen form in between the open gap of these ice walls now. The second line form in between the men on the first line, pikes forward." He ordered further.
The men from the town and several of the adventurers formed ranks. Maximus stood behind them noticing the Undead were beginning to move at a quicker pace.
"They are seriously riled up about something." He barely whispered.
"I have finished with blessing the ice, what should I do now?" She inquired.
"Continue to bless the water as it arrives, also, do you know powerful spells that can aid us when we get overrun.?" He inquired.
"I can use Turn Undead to defeat them with ease." She said as she was blessing the next batch of water.
"Anything else that might be useful for the Pikemen?" He inquired further.
"I can boost their stats for a while with several ability boost spells too. Oh, and if any of them die, I can easily cast Resurrection to bring them back to life." She finished remembering all her spells.
"Wait, you can revive people?" Maximus asked feeling surprised.
"Yeah, for a high-level Goddess such as I, it would be easy to do that." She informed him.
"Are you serious, we could have avoided him losing his memories if you used that on him earlier!" Kazuma shouted at her.
Aqua began to feel bad and tears quickly form. "I am sorry okay I was too wrapped up in the moment with my feelings towards him and forgot about it!"
"Enough, we'll worry about this another time, right now we need to focus on them!" Maximus interrupted the two. "Front line takes a knee and everyone raise and lock your shield close together as though you are preventing air to slip through." He ordered and turned to his left. "Darkness, you lead the rest of those with swords, if they break through the lines; cut them down before they can cause too much havoc."
"Uh, right." She said with little confidence and Maximus took notice.
"I wonder what's with her, she had no joy in her voice just now, I hope this doesn't come back to bite us." He said to himself.
"They're starting to run towards us faster." One of the men shouted.
"Gentlemen, hold steady!" Maximus Shouted.
The Undead began to close the distance at a faster pace and soon they entered the funneled passage to them. Several of them brushed up against the ice and others started to climb it. The moment each of them touched the walls, they immediately burst into flames. The moment the others were about fifty yards away, the first of them burst into flames as well. The blue fire engulfed them immediately when they touched the ground that was drenched with the holy water Aqua blessed.
"Wow, you really are a Goddess after all." Maximus said and Aqua heard him.
"I told you so." She replied to him giggling.
"Are you sure it's not because she's an Arch-Priestess?" Megumin said feeling a little embarrassed that someone might hear.
"But I am a Goddess!" Aqua protested.
Maximus turned to the group of casters.
"If any of you can cast fireballs, launch them deeper into the horde to slow down their advance." He said to them and they began casting their spells.
Maximus raised his left hand and used his magic to summon materials from the ground to create a bow and an arrow. He focused his aura into the arrow and it began to have a while glow to it.
"How did he do that?" Aqua whispered out in amazement.
He aimed his bow at an angle in the air and let loose the single arrow.
"Multiply thousand-fold." He whispered.
As the arrow flew over the horde, it instantly multiplied into a thousand arrows that flocked across the sky and rained down upon the horde. Each arrow transferred the Holy Element within it and each corpse slowly became lifeless.
"How are you able to do that?" Aqua asked him.
"Simple, once I learned of my heritage back home, I was able to discover I can use Holy Magic more effectively than normal Mages on my home world. From there I can concentrate it into anything to give it Holy Properties." He explained and let loose another arrow.
She noticed with that one it did not multiply and when it struck an Undead body it exploded. The explosion sent holy debris all around it and cut down many of the bodies within the horde.
"At this rate, we may not have to clash against them" Megumin said as she noticed their numbers were dwindling.
The next moment the horde stopped in its tracks and soon a rumbling sound rippled through the earth. Everyone looked around to see what could cause the commotion. Soon after a horn sounded off and Maximus used his familiar to survey their enemy. Using its eyes, he saw a mighty dust cloud driving through the Undead.
"Can't tell what it is barreling towards us, but I better not take any chances." He said to himself and caused his familiar to dive bomb on top of the massive object.
The moment it found its mark, an explosion occurred and the massive object was revealed. It was a giant siege tower being pulled on its side by a number of Undead Oxen. Some of the debris managed to land conveniently close to and in between the two armies. Several of the Undead realized this and began to throw more of the debris closer together until it was enough for them to pass over.
Maximus took notice what they were doing and tried his best to let loose several multitudes of Holy Arrows upon them. After several times, he noticed their numbers seem to increase since his familiar's dive bomb maneuver.
"Where are they getting these numerous bodies from?" He wondered to himself. "Aqua, get ready to cast Turn Undead on my mark."
She stood next to him ready at a moment's notice.
The Undead began to sprint through the debris field and once they were close Maximus turned to her.
"Cast it upon the ones behind them!" He ordered.
"Turn Undead!" She shouted.
The next moment a large circle appeared below them and soon their bodies were disintegrated. Maximus took hold of a bucket of Holy Water and threw it in the air. He raised and balled up his left fist causing the waters to instantly boil into a vapor of fog. The next wave of Undead charged forth and once they began to inhale the moisture, their bodies began to burn from within.
He quickly created another pair of bird familiars and set them loose into the sky. He could see there was still a great host of Undead left and they were beginning to sprint towards them, seemingly all at once. Aqua quickly blessed another batch of water and Maximus used his magic to have several buckets emptied out. The water twisted its way to the opening between the two armies and splashed upon the ground. He caused another bucket to empty and made another vapor cloud form.
"That will keep them out for a little longer while I find out who is in control of this Undead Army." He said.
He entered the mind of the familiars flying over head and began to once again survey the battlefield. He noticed their numbers dwindled to half of what they were at the start of the battle. He looked around and still saw no sign of commanders or at least a singular person who could be controlling the horde.
Aqua used another Turn Undead spell and noticed Maximus was still in his state of using the familiar. Soon there was nothing left but silence and when the Holy Fog cleared, they all beheld the rest of the horde waiting at the far end.
"Let's go after them, their numbers are manageable." One of the adventurers shouted as several others agreed.
Darkness saw Maximus' state and couldn't help herself at wanting to join them.
"Yes, let us charge forth!" She shouted with joy and led the charge.
"Wait Darkness, don't leave!" Kazuma shouted to get her attention, but it was too late.
Nearly half of the men, who were a mixture of Pikemen and those with swords, ran towards their enemy. Maximus saw this within his familiar's vision and quickly exited out.
"What is she doing, Maximus never gave the command to charge?" Aqua wondered to herself.
"That idiot, she's going to get people killed for this." Maximus said with anger in his tone.
The group ran into the small amount of Undead, cutting them down as they made their way into the horde. Maximus saw to his disbelief Darkness was missing every single foe that crossed her path. At the same time, she was on the receiving end of strikes from her foes. A part of her was feeling embarrassed, as though she had forgotten about how poor her accuracy was.
"Am I seeing things or is she unable to hit any of her targets that passes by?" Maximus wondered to himself.
Moments later, the men who had charged with her were starting to be overwhelmed and cut down by the vast number of Undead. Darkness continued forward not looking back, enjoying the thrill of taking multiple hits and still continue on. She was smiling with a discomforting expression on her face, she never noticed what was happening behind her.
Maximus jumped up in the air, charged up an attack within himself, and landed near the majority of the men who were on the verge of being cut down.
"Heaven's Blaze!" Maximus shouted out loud.
The moment hit the ground with his feet a wave of blue fire and lightning burst forth, engulfing the Undead to ash. He motioned his hands and the attack soon formed into a giant blue fire serpent with lightning jolting around it. He waved his hands across him and it slithered around to purge the rest of their foes.
Darkness saw the attack and wanted to be struck by it and ran for it. The moment she was about to touch it, the attack instantly dissipated.
"Oh, if only I were to be engulfed by such an attack like that. The joys of feeling the burning sensation overwhelm me. Tell me, whose attack was that and why did you let it stop?" She demanded with crazed excitement.
The next moment she turned round about and saw the majority of men she led into the heart of the horde laying on the ground, dead. The few who remained were being treated by Maximus. His healing magic was interesting to those who were watching it. They saw the skin on both sides of the cut move around as though someone was stitching them back together.
"Hey Darkness, what are you doing?" Aqua inquired of her.
Darkness was kneeling down praying for the souls who lives were lost today.
"I am simply saying a prayer for the men who had died in battle." She responded.
Maximus was a short distance away and heard her explaining about a handful of individuals she knew. He continued on healing the last of the injured as he was feeling furious of her actions.
Once everyone was healed of their wounds, Maximus turned to Darkness and approached her. His face was overflowing with anger and she hadn't noticed his approach yet as she finished. The moment he was in arms distance and before anyone could say a word, Maximus struck her across the face.
"Do you realize what you have done!" His voice was on the verge of shouting. "Look around you, see what your stupid actions have resulted for your inability to contain your senseless urge to experience pain in unimaginable ways. You selfish peacock, you have no right to call yourself a Knight or a Crusader for that matter."
"I fail to see what the problem is, we did win the battle did we not?" Darkness shot back before he could go on.
"That's not the point!" He snapped at her and Aqua flinched hearing his familiar anger echoing from his voice as Darkness did not quiver. "You charged straight into the teeth of that horde and nearly got yourself killed along with the men you were leading. If you were half the Knight you claimed to be, you would have realized the tactic I was employing was to keep everyone safe. Holy Ice Walls, Holy Water splashed onto the ground to make it fatal for those Undead to step on, and Holy Vapor from the waters that would have been breathed into and fall onto the flesh of them would have kept everyone safe. However, your stupidity put us at risk, you are lucky I was here in the first place to take the lead!" He raised his voice and waked away.
Darkness saw the results of her actions and surprisingly during his rant to her, she did not feel a little excited. She sat there in silence looking over at the dead and began to cry.
"You know, I could cast resurrection on the fallen to bring them back to life." Aqua said to him after catching up to walk at his side.
"As much as that sounds like a good idea, no, she needs to be responsible for her actions and not have some way to escape that inevitable backlash she would get. Whether it be from their relatives or someone else. Although, it is likely I will be on the receiving end of it since I was the one who was taking control of our forces. Either way, do not give her that release." He instructed her.
"But,"
"But nothing," He snapped back before Aqua could go on. "What if it was the five of us on some quest and I was unconscious. What if she decided to indulge on her Masochist ways then and there and gets herself killed or worse, one of you?" He said as he was feeling a little concerned underneath his anger.
Aqua took notice at the same concerned look in his eyes he once had for her. "There it is again, that same look from before." She said to herself.
Later on, everyone was within the Guild Hall celebrating the victory's end. Many people were cheering away as though the battle never happened. Maximus was sitting calmly as the others were drinking and living up the night. He could not help but wonder if the men, majority of whom were adventurers, even had families or loved ones in town as not a single person went up to berate Darkness for her actions.
"Maybe people know she would enjoy the bashing and decided to not bother her. Still, it would have been preferable to see it happen, just so she knows the seriousness of life in general. Oh well, might as well leave it at that and enjoy the night." Maximus thought to himself.
Later that night, after helping Aqua to their stables and laid her down upon the makeshift bed, he sat there wondering about their situation. About them not being able to find a place of their own, although he now thought there would be some after the deaths of a few adventurers. He also thought about their relationship and wondered how they grew towards each other.
"Maximus are you okay?" She inquired with a tired gaze after noticing he was still up.
"Huh, oh yeah, I am alright. I was just thinking about something." He replied.
"About what?" She asked yawning.
"It's nothing too important, you should get back to sleep." He said.
"Only if you join me, it's getting a little chilly again." She said.
Maximus grinned a little. "Maybe this is how we were growing towards one another or at least one of many, who knows how much. The two of us seeking comfort in an uncomfortable situation. I will say she has some kind of charm about her. The way she acts is almost like an immature person or maybe a spoiled teen I guess would best describe it." He paused his thought and laid next to her.
He moved down to be beside and gently pressed against her and move the blankets over the two of them. She grinned a little more feeling as though he was little by little growing back to her before going to sleep.
"From the stories she and Kazuma told me, she is completely helpless when it comes to adventuring. Someone who needs a lot of oversight from one who could complete her. However, after seeing her repair my coat she may have talents that reside elsewhere to consider. Well, I should get some sleep, I have got a few things to do in the next few days." He said to himself and went to sleep.
