I spurred my horse forward. "Charr!" I yelled as I stirred the reins up, the horse galloping forwards towards the main forte. I personally had no care towards the screams of heroes who were fighting (and failing against) the Emblans, as I could revive them every once in a while.

However, I personally was more concerned about the citizens inside...meh, with the Emblains focusing on my own heroes, they would be fine. While they definitely had the ability to feel pain...it really didn't matter in this case, as they could die for all I cared, being able to be revived by my own will.

Glancing at my 4 loyal cavaliers, they all awaited orders. While I was capable of combat, they could perform far better than I could, though luckily for me, they also provided the buffs to keep me capable of at least helping out.

They consisted of Eldigan, Elise, Cecilia, and Camus. While Xander was certainly a fair choice, his low speed and Eldigan's overall higher damage output did not do him many favors, especially when Camus could fulfill his role better at times.

Goading my horse to a stop, I straightened myself to get a clear view of what was happening. Veronica...apparently she was actually quite a decent strategist when she put her mind to it, without Xander and Bruno to constantly pamper her.

"Sir, what do we do?" Eldigan asked me. "Shall we rush them?" I shook my head. "Nay. I have another plan for this. We wait." Cecilia protested, "But sir, they will die if this keeps going dow-"

"That is exactly the point, Cecilia. I intend them to all die." "But sir, if we go in now, we may be able to save the-" I shook my head. "Nay. If we rush in now, the tide will be extremely hard to turn."

I watched as my own forces were slaughtered by the Emblans. There were cries of "Summoner, we need you" and "Why are we so incompetent without the summoner" and "we're Dr. Watson and he's Sherlock Holmes!"

Noticing that they were down to the last forces, I nodded. "Alright, let's go." Galloping towards the side of the army, I used one of the oldest tricks in the book: to flank them.

"Oh, summoner...I've completely decimated your forces. Have you come to join them?" Veronica spoke, preparing to blast me with magic. I considered retaliating, but then realized that I was inherently at a disadvantage with my offensive skills and my blue color as well. Even with the +24 damage boost, it wouldn't make much of a difference if I attacked her.

"Of course not. Have they all died?" as if on cue, Veronica blasted Reinhardt into dust. "There we go." Holding up Briedabilik, I prepared to unleash my army...right on top of hers.

Veronica screamed, "Get that blasted summoner!" Multituide of axe cavaliers charged, only to be trampled by a furious Eldigan. "Yield of Perish!" he yelled, as he took down an axe cavalier.

Another charged towards me, only to be taken out by a bunch of ravens along with a staff's attack. Eldigan then activated Growing Light. "No mercy!" he yelled, as the enemies around him suffered damage.

Veronica had a glare on her face, as she charged Ellvengar. "Just die already." she snarled, and blasted Cecilia with magic. The mage knight knelt down, gasping. "Milord...I..."

"You did well." I replied to her emotionlessly as she faded away. Sensing that it had reloaded its lot of stamina potions, I pulled the trigger. A portal appearing at the top of everyone, Veronica made sure to use this chance to charge another bolt of her tome.

"NO MERCY!" Eldigan roared as he slammed his sword into the side of Xander's and Veronica's mount, the horse rearing up in pain. Xander retaliated by swinging Siegfried, only for Camus to block the strike and swing on his horse, knocking Xander off.

Xander flew from his saddle, onto the grass. Pushing her back, he kept Veronica on the horse, allowing her to still receive buffs from the lance cavaliers...until they were attacked by Elise, then speared through by Camus.

"Hya!" I yelled as I cast blarblade once more, this time onto a bunch of red armors who were approaching. With the portal finally forming itself, I moved back a bit to brace for the impact.

"Now!" I yelled as the army fell on Veronica, creating immense disruption throughout the ranks of her army. I looked at Veronica, trying to rally her troops back with shrill yells.

I kicked my horse, signaling it to walk off. She was no longer a threat by now. Her troops were disrupted and surprised by such a stunt. The thing was...would I get anything out of this?


The answer was no. As I went to Feh the owl, I checked her for any presents from the king or queen, or some nobles for saving the main fort. None. I headed to the fountain, where it would spout out often insignificant presents for hard-done achievements. Still no.

I sighed. "Seriously..." "Hey, Summoner Fenris!" I turned towards the voice. It was Lute. "Would you mind playing a game of chess with me? I must prove that my intellect is superior."

I nodded. "Alright. Very well, but chess doesn't exactly regard for intellect..." a few minutes later, I was checkmated. "WHY?! It's only been 5 minutes!" "Hahahaaaa! I suppose I am superior after all."

"Well...chess doesn't exactly mean you have superior intellect." I pointed out. "Want an explanation?" I said, hoping that she wouldn't say yes. The explanation had been given to me by my brother, and I didn't want to memorize that or say that 5 minute-run-on sentence.

"I understand, inferior one." Lute said. "But...I am still the superior chess-player." she added. I rolled my eyes. "Quit rubbing it in." "And the better mage." "I know!" I growled.

Even though she was rather annoying at times, she was still a good talker. She would often talk with me, snark-fight me, and such things like that. While I had summoner supported her, sometimes I would still threaten to take it off, resulting her in being less superior than she was now.

I personally would not do so, but then...how did she know whether if I would or not? She didn't. So while I sometimes did it for jokes and laughs, it was still an action that had never been completed.

Walking over to the library, I took a book of magic. Flipping through the pages, I realized how similar to coding it was. Oftentimes, the basics were needed to complete even more actions and attacks. It was like coding, another language of its own.


11/19/17, Kyren's perspective

Stepping through the fiery portal, I pulled my white cloak on. It was time. Two days ago, my army had been crushed by the dragon. However, according to its words, it wouldn't be available for a century or so.

Was it lying? Maybe, maybe not. Heading out of the room, I looked down to see the army of Muspell training. Even though the majority of the eternal flames was crushed, there still was a sort of advantage to it.

If the media described the entire situation as a massacre to the civilians, then there would definitely be an uproar towards the Niflhems. In fact...there were sounds of weapons being sharpened. They usually weren't this loud...unless...

Looking out of the castle walls, I noticed that the streets were a bit more dense than usual. Oh...I was correct, then. People were lined up in certain areas...war bonds, I suppose?

The propaganda had worked...even without my supervision. In fact, it would be better for me to not interfere...I didn't trust myself to not fall to the temptation of using methods that were far too ambitious.

"Sir! You are tasked to head to the City Square!" I nodded, and rushed to the town square where the council and the military officials were sitting, along with the mass public.

As hours went on, more and more numbers swarmed into the square to hear the words of the king himself. I sat on a chair, my arms crossed. Noticing that Laevatein was close by, I decided to have a word with her.

"Have the scouts detected the location of the Niflhems?" Laevatein nodded. "Yes...from where I last heard of the scouts, they were in an icy valley." I nodded. "They would be fools to put their last stand there. When we get to that valley, head north, where it is cold. It would be most probable for them to be at that location."

"Understood. I will spread the word." Laevatein monotoned back. I added, "On a second thought...where is Loki?" "Oh...she's going to ...Embla or something. I'm not keen on the details, but she seems to be going there for quite a while."

A portal opened, and Loki stepped back in, sitting besides me. I spread my hair out of my face. "Do you have no modesty, Loki? We have an audience of millions, and you still wear that attire?"

"Jormungandr, you are not any better either. Look at your cloak and mask, and reconsider your judgement." "Tch. At least nobody has a glimpse of my assets." "Is it because they're small?" "You can go check and see in the bed if you desire the answer so much."

Naturally, I was met with a slap. I considered giving retribution, but I probably wouldn't put a scratch on her. I felt a crunch as Helbindi sat down. "So...Helbindi, how's your weapon?"

"Eh, it's freaking good. I can beat their a**es pretty well with this. Makes me job easier." he said. "By the way...how's my sister going? How is her medical situation?"

Checking the files in my briefcase, I gave him a small smile. "Nothing big has happened. She's fine." He responded with a sigh of relief. I chuckled at this. Helbindi was a rough-and-tough warrior, having great combative skills, and strict when it came to training.

"I can tell you're a rather nice guy on the inside...not that you'd ever admit it." "Shut up. You've got the wrong idea. The only reason why I still support her with my income is that my mom made me do so."

Hugging myself, I rubbed my palms. "Tsundere as always." Laegjarn sat down, and urged Laevatein to move to the nearby empty seat. "I need to talk to him after this." she said to her sister.

"Onee-san, how has it been going? How has your weapon been?" Laegjarn ruffled her sister's hair. "It's been quite useful, Laevatein. How about yours?" "Well...I should have learnt how to ride a horse, or fly something."

"Well...you do know that we still have ways of empowering our infantry allies, though they're significantly harder to use." "I know, I know...it's just that they're so annoying at times. Say, what is father going to preach to the populace?"

Laegjarn looked at her sister for a second before replying. "I don't know...but it's probably something inspiring." she sighed. "The public is currently enraged with the Niflems...I suppose that he will serve to fan the heat. "

Surtr stepped onto the podium, and then cleared his throat, the magicians already have used magic to amplify his voice. While this was hardly ever used, if one could summon winds and gigantic pillars of flame with just magic, then such a little thing as amplifying sound was trivial.

(work on the speech part later, get to the battle and stuff)

"My friends and people, today we stand here with fire in our hearts. I acknowledge the fact that a few thousand have died a few days ago, and I agree that they must be avenged. However, let us not lose track of who we are just for revenge."

He cleared his throat, and then continued. "A man once said to me that technically, we didn't matter. We are just a tiny little dot in the gigantic universe, something insignificant. He said that nobody exists for a purpose, and nobody belongs anywhere."

The crowd listened on in silence as Surtr spoke with the most brutal honesty I had ever seen in my life. "The universe is cruel. It doesn't care about us any one bit. Nobody is born special. We all are tiny beings living in a gigantic universe that regards us as nothing; it doesn't even have even a semblance of regard for us. Even if we conquer Niflhem, it'll just be conquering one realm out of the thousands that exist."

The audience looked on him in stunned silence at him. Even I was taken aback as well. Surtr was not someone who struck me as nihilistic. "Who are we? An honorable warrior kingdom? The most powerful realm in the universe? To think such things like that is foolish. Ignorance is a severe weakness that has plagued us for millennium to come, as we know little of other realms."

He took a moment to pause and look at the crowd, to see if they understood what he meant. I marveled at this. While a leader's inner qualities were certainly important, his or her appearance was something that must be taken seriously as well. The reason I hardly let anyone see me practicing my fighting skills or outright fight in battle was because if one of their leaders was a weakling, then troops could possibly lose morale.

However, Surtr did not have that issue. He was large and in charge, and the presence of a strong leader strengthened the morale of the populace as well. "Many have died for nothing, for no purpose. Contrary to what many may think, there is no purpose to us. We will all die in the end, making this all in a way, meaningless."

However, with these words...it wouldn't be a long time until the crowd started to throw tomatoes. I grit my teeth...say something inspiring before everything goes to hell...

"However, in spite of this, I refuse to accept that our efforts were all meant for naught. Did they die for no purpose at all? I refuse to believe that. Just because we were never born with a purpose, does not mean we cannot find a purpose for ourselves."

People besides me nodded, as the crowd murmured at his words, the tumult slowly quieting down as Surtr continued on. "This universe, these worlds...are imperfect. I have heard of many who say that to bring peace, one must change something from inside. however...this is very tedious, and at best will be a hollow victory."

He raised his arms. "What meaning is in a victory if we have sacrificed too many? Nothing! Which is why...we must do this. This is why, we cannot use peaceful measures to bring peace, but rather, make our measures as civil as possible. Retain your honor while fighting!" he roared to the audience.

"I understand that many of you may desire vengeance, but think of our comrades. They gave the Niflhems a chance to surrender, and never once did they wrongly kill the weak nor attack one who had no weapons."

As the audience murmured, obviously over this sort of logic, Surtr continued. "While one may say that this is honor before reason, I digress. Honor is reason at times. If in battle we act as uncivilized beasts...then we shall never gain mutual respect while they reign under us. Whatever you too, do not antagonize the enemy. They are sentient beings like us. It is just...that we must do what we must do."

"If we fight...then we fight with honor, with respect towards the opposition. We are a proud warrior race, and thus, revel in this! Vengance...is a poison in both a literal and metaphorical sense. If we give into it...we are no better, no, worse than wild beasts. Therefore...I implore you, do what our dead brothers would have wanted you to do."

"Finally, I understand that some may see the dreams of conquest to be meaningless. However, is it? In a way, it is the very essence of humanity. In our life, we have different stages of change all the time. People change. We're meant to change! Even if our existence was brought to this place without meaning, we can still change ourselves to have meaning. A static world is far too boring, harmful to the very essence. Therefore...will you join me or not, brothers and sisters of our glorious kingdom?"

"YES!" the entirety of the others yelled, as the heroes approved of it as well. I let out a sigh. Turns out...this wasn't too bad. It could have been a bit better, but it had completed its


Heading to the stables, I looked at the wyvern that I had ordered. It was as big as Cyclonus, having a height of 7 feet even when it wasn't upright, and a wingspan of 20 feet. Looking at it straight in the eyes, I looked at its muzzle.

"You don't need such a thing." I said as I removed it, to be met with yells of caution...and a faceful of wyvern fire. I stared at it, my armor protecting me from the heat. "Nice try."

Looking at myself, I was a slight bit alarmed to find my silver daggers already melting. Well...at least Rahab and Leviathan were still intact. Climbing upon it, I was met with a jerk of its back.

I clung onto the reins while I put my feet into the stirrups, my time on Cyclonus helping me greatly in taming this beast. The beast thrashed and blew fire, but there was no way that it could force its rider off.

"Scratch its back! Scratch back of the neck, the nape!" I heard one of the soldiers yell. I nodded in gratitude, and then started to scratch it. The wyvern stopped thrashing, starting to calm down.

Stepping down, I put my hands on its head. Quite naturally, it roared in retaliation, and opened its jaws before a soldier slapped the muzzle on once more. I placed a hand on its now closed mouth.

"You're a vicious one. I rather like you." It retaliated by trying to headbutt me, only for me to sidestep the blow. "You're not as vicious as they say. I thought you would be even better."

It roared out of its muzzle, and struggled against the chains, trying to reach me, standing by at the corner of its room. I raised an eyebrow. "Oh?...so you wish to be my servant so much?"

Apparently this only served to fan its rage, and with a surge of energy, it ripped the chains off, much to my own shock. However...instead of just simply lunging, it swiped the chains at me, the hooks at the end gleaming.

I was only saved by a dexterous soldier who pulled me to the side. "Sir, this wyvern is not suita-" "Silence. I want this beast. It has shown me both strength and intelligence." The wyvern roared, and jumped into the air, only to be tackled by 4 other wyverns.

As strong as the wyvern was, it was no match for such a large group of wyverns, even if all of them were physically weaker than it. I looked down on it. "You'll make a great friend. But...you must be a steed before you can be a friend."

Placing my foot on its back, I hopped onto it again. "I will make sure that this beast will learn to accept me as its rider. If it wants to be stubborn, I shall show it what true stubbornness is."


Walking into the council, I wondered why I was beckoned to come over once more. The horrors of it...I had to use old English to communicate whenever a large number of dignified nobles were around. To my slight surprise, this time, only the highest of the military were summoned, as opposed to the other noblemen that had often came.

"Father, what is't yond thee has't taken us here for?" Laegjarn asked. "I wisheth to bewray to thee something yond shall increaseth our chances of vict'ry. The legendary sacred sealeth of legend, Muspellflame." Gasps across the room resounded, while I cursed myself for forgetting to check the Muspellian tomes of legends. Only I had no knowledge of it.

"Thy eminence, may thee bid me the history of this sacred sealeth of legend?" I asked. Surtr frowned at me as if he thought I was a monkey, then he laughed. "Oh, fartuous me. I forgot yond thou art not originally of our state. Very well!"

He cleared his throat, and held up the sacred seal, shaped as a badge. "This. is a sacred sealeth yond gives one the highest defenses in which anybody couldst ever imagineth. However. only one can has't t, and those unworthy art thus did burn to death by its flames." Surtr said.

I raised my eyebrow for a millisecond before putting it down to hide any potential sign of accidental disrespect. "Sire, thee already has't Sinmara. The burden of another legendary relic may-" "I knoweth. But. this is a risketh yond i am willing to taketh. Thee taketh risks oft, thee not?!"

"True..." I murmured, though I still had a slight unwillingness for him to take it. I wondered if I could convince him. Surely that wasn't impossible, but would it be worth it?

"Gah...RAAAAAGGHHHH!" Surtr roared in pain as he put the seal on his chest, leaving the rest of the room to only stare. I wondered if I should be doing something, but I wasn't about to risk such pain like that as well.

A bright, anime-cliche light filled the room, consuming Surtr. As soon as it disappeared, I rubbed my eyes to take a good look at him. Around him was a sort of aura...another thing for the king to lord over the others, not that I had a problem with it.

A sort of fire burnt in his eyes...something that caught my interest. He hadn't had that before...I do remember that he had red eyes, but what really alarmed me was that the whites of his eyes were no longer white. They were burning with the same fiery aura as his pupils were.

"Hahahahaaa! Witness the power of Muspell, and its legacy!" Surtr roared in a rather hammy fashion. I stood up. "Sire, we shalt maketh haste. The armies art did prepare, divisions organized. Anon the only thing hath left for thee to doth is to leadeth the chargeth."

"Very well! we shalt crusheth these foolish nilfhems! leaveth nay traceth of their armies hath left!" I raised an eyebrow, but shrugged it off. I doubted that they would surrender anyway.

Later, I watched as the squads and the armies marched out of the kingdom, on the disobedient wyvern I had named Scourge. Scourge let out a burst of flame towards me, only for me to simply shrug it off as it was no big deal.

It tried to rush off, only for it to be restrained by chains, tied to two other wyverns. The wyverns growled at it, and Scourge snarled back. Resting a hand on its head, it started to thrash at my touch, only for the other two wyverns to restrain him even tighter.

Laevatein lead the infantry troops, as I called her out. "Laevatein...head to the north with Helbindi, and scout them. While our flying forces may have the best mobility, your infantry forces have a much better chance of sneaking around them without them noticing."

"Understood." she relayed, as the infantry troops started to move. I thought of Surtr...the Nilfhems' main act would most likely be to escort the queen as fast as the could, if they realized that they were outnumbered.

As they were moving north...they probably had something important over there...otherwise that area was too cold for the Muspellians. As powerful as Surtr was, there was still only one of Surtr and one Muspellflame. So...if I put him in the main Northern path, he could cut off their escape, and force them to take a detour, giving my flying forces the time to block out whichever path they were taking.

Setting myself off Scourge, I instructed the two wyvern knights who were my bodyguards to take care of it. Within seconds, there were already growls and shrieks as I walked towards Surtr's tent.

"Your majesty..." I said as I proposed the plan. Surtr looked at it. "HOW DARE YOU!" he roared, with a fury that I hadn't expected. "ARE YOU SUGGESTING THAT SOME WILL BE SPARED FROM MY WRATH?!"

"Well...some may want to run." I timidly replied. "Most will be killed by you...hopefully all. However...it's just a backup plan." I felt his gaze upon me, almost like it was burning right into my skin, a feeling that I had not felt for long.

"...very well. Then I hope that there is no need for this backup plan." Surtr grumbled threateningly as he turned back. My eyes narrowing, I wondered what had happened? Was he in a bad mood? Most likely, but why?

Ignoring these thoughts, I got on Scourge once more, preparing my daggers. Laegjarn, who was primarily in charge of the air forces, raised Níu, as a sign to all of the others that it was time to head out. This time, I decided to leave the commanding to her. If Surtr was so angry with my method, then it would be best to keep low, so in case of a possible mishap occurred, I wouldn't have my head taken off.

"Hide behind the mountain, near the valley. On my mark, we charge them." she ordered, as the entire fleet began to fly, keeping the altitude low in order to not accidentally alert anybody.

As the fleet kept getting closer to the mountains, I saw something that irked me for a tingling moment. "Nilfhem scouts..." I growled, as they pointed at us frantically. Then an axe was brought down on their heads, with satisfying thwacks.

Helbindi stood over their defeated forms, and then made a hand motion to verify that everything was clear. As the flying troops stayed low, Laegjarn climbed up to see what was the current situation of the enemy.

The nilfhems had set up a camp in the middle of the valley...strategically, it was a rather versatile spot. The valley had numerous routes to escape, so the main objective was to predict what kind of path would they try to take, and second, to counter any escape routes.

There were several huge divisions in play: the armored division, consisting of armor units led by Surtr. While in the past they used to be extremely slow, the availability of a newly forged spell called armor march had undermined that problem to an extent, though this would end up having to distribute the fortify armor spells and hone armor spells as well as goad and ward armor spells in a different pattern than before. However, this time, Surtr didn't lead them in this case. Instead, they were lead by Loki, as Surtr had been escorted by 4 knights with armor buffs to head to his designated position far away, using Surtr's innate armor march skill to navigate easily.

The flying division was mainly lead by Laegjarn, full of hardened and ferocious warriors. The reason why they were so effective was due to their overall good speed coupled by their buffs, along with many of them having movement skills that made escape relatively easy. A flying tome user was one of the biggest terrors one could find on the battlefield if with his or her teammates, due to the infamous blade tomes.

For the infantry division, it was lead by Helbindi. As infantry units had less access to powerful spells that their mounted counterparts could provide, Helbindi's weapon was undoubtedly a welcome sight for any troops with him. While he did have important skills such as infantry pulse and infantry-only skills like wrath, the main weapon of the infantry troops was their sneakiness. Very easily could they hide without having to worry about mounts, or overbearing armor.

As for the mounted units, they were largely self-sufficient, with their commanding figure being a lance paladin named Svaðilfari. Sporting pure silver hair, as well as the traditional golden armor of Muspell, his entire form was covered in light armor, though it didn't cover his face. Having a darker complexion, a height of 188 cm, as well as a lean yet muscular physique, it was clear that he was a hardened warrior. He was unique in the sense that he didn't have a personal weapon, only using a slaying lance+, but relied on rare and valuable skills that he had taken much time and practice to master, such as Distant counter, chill defense, speed smoke, aether, and using flashing blade 3 as his sacred seal. I hadn't seen him much in battle, but he was nothing to look down upon if he was the commanding figure.

For the heroes division, while normally it would be led by me...the dratted wyvern named Scourge required itself to be chained to other wyverns while having its master sitting on its back. While normally it would not be a problem to chain it to two flying wyverns in my own division, neither Michalis nor Valter were at their full potential to rein it in along with Minerva's wyvern, nor were the pegasi strong enough to restrain it. So now, the heroes were led by Laevatein. As there was no class division, tactics buffs were used to their fullest potential, allowing Laevatein to use...Laevatein to its full potential.

Returning to my train of thought, I looked at their place. Strategically...it would be best if I sent Surtr to the path near the river. If they were to escape... they needed to have some resource of water, and I doubted that pure snow would be enough to replace water. Furthermore, the river unusually, flowed North opposed to the usual south. So...the ideal path to escape. So therefore, Surtr should go over there in order to block their route.

I looked down. One of my main concerns were the Niflhem civilians, and my unwillingness for them to be caught in the crossfire. So...what was the best way to engage without unnecessary casualties?

Svaðilfari ran out with a larger number of calvarymen, the number topping nearly ten thousand, or so it seemed. Through Loki's illusionary magic, the numbers of the forces were bloated to make it seem like that there was a force of overwhelmingly powerful troops.

In this case, what would the Nilfhems think? They couldn't outrun the calvary forces, as not every single one of them was mounted nor suited to escape the speed of horses, and they couldn't risk the civilians' lives.

Therefore, the best option would be for the Niflhem army to engage the calvary forces, separating the civilians from the Muspellian troops. And as I predicted, their choice was to engage.

However...there was a tiny flaw that I hadn't failed to notice. While it seemed like there were many cavaliers, the total number was only six hundred at most, and the Niflhems' forces at least the number of one thousand and five hundred strong.

Therefore, it wouldn't be long till they started to see through the facade and regain morale. Laegjarn yelled at her troops to fly, and the winged beasts started to carry the armored knights towards the enemy. While the enemy was engaged and starting to overwhelm the calvary, the flyers would drop the armored knights onto the Niflhem army, creating huge disorientation within their ranks.

With the knights wreaking havoc with their high weight and tough defenses, I reined in Scourge as Laegjarn took advantage of the disorientation and lead. While my daggers were meant to be purely supportive, Scourge was not at all supportive in any way.

"Release the chains. Let him have some fun." I ordered the two wyvern knights, who hesitated for a second. "What is it? Do you not trust that this is a clear victory?" I glared at the two of them.

Nodding, they released the chains. I held my twin daggers tightly, as Scourge leapt into the air, shrieking at the enemy before pouncing on a pegasus knight. The rider separated from its steed, and crashed to the ground with a wyvern on top of it.

Scourge roared, and started to burn and tear at the soldier, but I could tell quite clearly that as soon as the rider had hit the ground, he or she had instantly died due to the shock. "Now Scourge...break their ranks, now." I commanded, pointing at a squadron of soldiers who hadn't submitted to the severe disorientation.

Roaring in his blind fury, Scourge leapt at the huddling soldiers. As I took a closer look, I was left with a slight thought of worry. They were in the Roman formation known as the Tetsudo, which was Latin for tortoise. While they were by no means fast with such a formation, Scourge preferred to overpower his opponents with sheer force, and I had second thoughts about letting him engage.

Before Scourge could jump, a bloodcurdling shriek was heard, as even the half-wild wyvern itself paused. From what I could see...men on both sides were actually parting to let someone come through. No...not someone, two people.

Svaðilfari's stallion galloped in, rearing in the air for a full 10 seconds before coming down with a heavy stomp, while the rider itself twirled his lance with intense dexterity with only one hand, to the point that it would be more believable that it was spinning due to an external force rather than his own hand. As if to answer him, a princely figure in royal Niflhem garb landed a few yards away from her, in front of him, catching the sword that he had thrown up into the air during his jump, and ending with a diagonal slash.

As soon as I saw the prince, I felt chills down my spine. He had tried to kill me before, and it was only by my own wits and luck that I had managed to escape alive. If he decided to target me once more, I did not know even with more soldiers to fend him off, would I be safe.

"Who is the rider who presides ere me, Prince Hrid of Niflhem?" Hrid's voice rang out throughout the area, loud and clear to every soldier watching. Svaðilfari answered while stopping the lance to point at the prince, "Tis I, Sir Svaðilfari of Muspell. Prince Hrid of Niflhem... I dare thee to a duel. Thee knoweth very well what thy name could beest spoken of if 't be true thee doth not accept. Better to kicketh the bucket with thy honor than to liveth with shame, is t not true? "

Hrid answered in an equally rich voice, "I concur, Sir Svaðilfari. at which hour I wast young, I dreamt of being a knight. While a knight I may not beest, a knight's morals I shalt uphold. I accept thy dare, Sir Svaðilfari. I only expect one of us to leaveth this battlefield alive." he twirled his lance. "Cometh at me, knight of Muspell! if 't be true death is what thee wilt bringeth, then knoweth that I am not afraid! "

Svaðilfari dismounted, to which I was first struck with confusion, then I understood. They were knights, and therefore, they upheld their own morals. Initially I had thought the act of getting off his horse, and thus being unable to receive any of the spells such as goad calvary and ward calvary would put him at a disadvantage. However...this was just an act to make his battle with the prince far more interesting as well as fair. After all...what worth is a fight if it's not enjoyable?

Hrid charged towards the lancer, swinging his sword with deadly precision. Dodiging the first strike, Svaðilfari blocked the second strike with his slaying lance, and then sprung back, using his powerful legs to propel himself backwards. However, Hrid, being a combat pragmatist, charged forward, not intending to give his opponent the time to recover from his own mistake.

Svaðilfari was not at any means unprepared. The two came to blows once more, their weapons clashing and sending out beautiful sounds in the air, sharp yet accurate enough to possibly cut a petal into two. Their blades flashing so fast that my own eyes had trouble keeping up, Hrid stepped back, before releasing a multitude of icicles.

Apparently this was the magic of Niflhems...it indeed was skilled of him to be so deadly in the ways of the sword, yet still have the capacity of advanced magic such as this...he truly was of royal blood.

Svaðilfari however, countered it with blasts of flame coming out from his fingers. I raised my eyebrows slightly. If I was correct, then he had just used his own life energy to create a bolt of fire to counter the icicles that Hrid had used to attack him. It was not something that one could easily master, and even when mastered, it shouldn't be trifled with.

Hrid looked at his newly-found rival. "Well well...it hath been long since I has't hath found one whom hath stoodeth in mine presence for such an amount of time." "Forsooth, I didst not expect less from the prince of Nifl himself." was Svaðilfari's reply before attacking once more, this time even faster than before.

Currently, their movements were nigh-indescribable. For a moment I had thought that they were simply standing and glaring at each other, but in actuality, they were striking at each other as well as defending with so much precision and speed that it was almost impossible to tell by first glance.

Once they jumped back to take ground, it became much easier to tell. For a few moments, Svaðilfari was on the offensive, with Hrid defending with his sword, and then a few moments later Hrid was pushing the other back.

Jumping into the air, Svaðilfari came down onto his opponent like an eagle, and began to jab repeatedly at the other furiously. Hrid found himself cornered, but then found a spot that Svaðilfari's speedy tactics would inevitably concur.

With the right timing, Hrid stopped dodging, and landed a heavy blow on the slaying lance, stunning Svaðilfari for a good time, and giving himself to recover from the little cuts that he had suffered. "You're quite the skilled lancer. You have my praise."

"And you have my thanks. However...such respect is not enough to prevent our clash!" "Indeed." the two charged at each other once more, fighting on for a good 5 minutes, before a trumpet resounded.

Hrid looked up. "It seems that I am needed elsewhere. It has been quite the enjoyment in our clash, Sir Svaðilfari." "As to you, Prince Hrid." I looked as Hrid warped away. A captain ran up to me.

"Sir Jormungandr, what do we do?" "Svaðilfari will lead the majority of the troops. Meanwhile, I want a squad of 10 flyers to come with me. And chain this wyvern up once more." "Yes sir."

Flying with 10 airborne knights by my side, I drew Rahab and Leviathan. "Make haste." I commanded, as all of them charged at the soldiers protecting the royal family. Following Hrid's trail, I had these ten to hunt the royal family down.

The enemy soldiers aimed their weapons towards the flying knights, and I spurred Scourge forward, determined to stay by their sides. After all...does a leader deserve to lead if he or she does not face the same dangers as his or her followers? Also...my weapons had powerful effects that made up for their absolute lack of damage.

"Code Formation: Spiked Barrier!" I yelled, before the wyvern knights then held their weapons out, jabbing repeatedly at the charging soldiers as they hid behind their armor and shields.

I couldn't resist a smirk of satisfaction as the knights, huddled close together, jabbed repeatedly at the right times, impaling and taking out any soldier foolish enough to charge into the fray. Twirling Rahab and Leviathan in both of my hands, I pointed Rahab at the royal family, speaking in a refined tone that I reserved for public meetings with nobility. "Thee shalt falleth hither."

A figure on a horse drew a familiar-looking tome. "Methinks not, mask'd knight." As she activated her tome, I prepared to yell the name of my armor, until the action of one of my troops stopped my from doing so.

A pegasus knight galloped in front of the blast, intending to take the full brunt of the spell. I nearly told her to stop, until I saw her special skill: Aegis. The pegasus knight withstanding the blow, two wyvern knights sped at the princess, stabbing at Gunnthra.

Luckily for her, her mare reared, shielding the blows, but even then, the princess fell off with a heavy thud. The two wyvern knights retreated, only to be struck down by a lance-wielding figure. "My family, allow me to handle these scoundrels." the figure spoke to the rest. I pointed Leviathan at her. "Who is't art thou who is't dareth to standeth in mine own presence?"

"Thou mayest refer to me as fjorm, princess of Niflhem." Fjorm drew her legendary lance. "Cometh anon, i am not afraid! shalt we square?!" "forsooth, a square t shalt beest. thou mayest refer to me as Princess Laegjarn of Muspellhiem! I am thy opponent!" a voice rang out as Princess Laegjarn landed in front of my forces, and swung Níu.

"Hark! Aren't thee the wench who hath fallen prey to mine lance? Thy words amuseth me to nay endeth!" "Verily, verily! sadly, thee underestimate mine own art! Prepareth to beest bested!"

The two women glared at each other, before charging in with their battle cries.


Omake:

Surtr: "And by this sealeth, none shalt beest able to conquer me in combat! Generic loud anime screameth!"

Laegjarn: "father, thy power is overflowing. I sendeth mine own happiest regards to thee."

Laevatein: "As doth I."

Laegjarn: "However...is th're a reasoneth wherefore we're speaking in such a plaited matter?"

Jormungandr: "Tis a fair pointeth. Wherefore art we doing such a thing?"

Helbindi: "Alas yond! t sounds merit, so alloweth's keepeth doing t! (It sounds cool, so let's keep doing it!)"

Loki: "Forsooth!"

Jormungandr: "thee people shalt beest the reasoneth for mine own death!"


Anyway...sh*t, it's been a month since I've posted. Maybe even more...

But anyway, I'm back, after internships as well as medical issues that I will not disclose.

The summer was pretty hard for me, being so busy during it, but I reassure you all that I'll be back on schedule, writing the next chapter out.