"Your majesty! They're getting closer!" A soldier reported as he bowed in front of the throne, his face was pale yet he remained calm, for showing weakness wasn't something a soldier of Vollachia should show.
"Traps, mines, poison, has nothing worked!?" The emperor, Vincent Vollachia, a young man with black hair and eyes, with an iron will and immense power shouted in anger.
He was wondering his next moves, for each and every plan he conjured was a complete failure, he set up traps, sent the most powerful troops, tried poison, threatened his soldiers, tried to have them betray him, yet nothing worked, his plans were all seen through.
"No, your majesty, nothing seems to stop this monster!" The soldier answered, the capital was now panicked, for the ground was shaking, and the blue lighting announced their arrival.
"Prepare the cannon! Aim for the Pleiades!" Vincent shouted his order, as in the distance, he could see the powerful army approaching.
Their shouts filled the air, their will was absolute, and their might was known to every single person, and not only them, a group from Chaosflame, the armies for countess Dracoy and various fighters joined the fight, all of them under the child of war.
The army stopped before meeting their enemies, and they let out the warcry, a sign of their upcoming defeat, as a blue lighting was already fighting with his troops.
"Alright boss, we're here." Idra commented as he looked at the capital, the walls right in front of them, Subaru stood with pride, his eyes filled with anger and the will of everyone there, as if the flame of war took shape.
"Yes, we're finally at the last battle, alright, is everyone ready?" Subaru asked with a powerful voice, everyone nodded.
"When you're ready boss." "This is our moment!" "Let's finish this!" All of Pleiades shouted with confidence, ready to face their last great battle.
"Alright, everyone!" Subaru shouted and got everyone's attention.
"WE ARE THE STRONGEST!"
"THE STRONGEST! THE STRONGEST! THE STRONGEST!"
"WE ARE INVINCIBLE!"
"INVINCIBLE! INVINCIBLE! INVINCIBLE!"
"OH, INEVITABLE FATE."
As they shouted their chant, a white light appeared from the Crystal Palace, the light then shot and flew towards them, directly at Subaru, and a few instants later, the Pleiades were destroyed.
"THE STRONGEST! THE STRONGEST! THE STRONGEST!"
Subaru looked around, realizing what just happened, and what obstacle remained between him, and his good ending.
"EVERYONE, DISPERSE!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, and Pleiades followed his order, everyone dispersed in various directions, he ran towards his enemies.
Subaru got away as much as possible, he knew how valuable these few seconds were, and he counted them too.
He looked at the light, and as before, it flew towards where he was, the Pleiades already covered a hundred meters from the start, but before they could get away, the fire was shot, and the explosion wiped out the army.
"THE STRONGEST! THE STRONGEST! THE STRONGEST!"
'Thirty seconds, the explosion has a range too great to dodge, the center is directed here.' Subaru thought he then decided his next moves.
"Retreat back! Everyone!" Subaru gave his order, no one in Pleiades could defend themselves from the shot, so he decided to retreat.
Everyone ran backwards, while Subaru remained where he was, deciding to test this weapon, he noticed that it was probably magical in nature, and he had a spell just for that, he waited as his troops were already a few hundred meters away.
"Absolute cancel." Subaru spoke and he remained firm, waiting for the attack, and soon enough it arrived, and he was destroyed.
"THE STRONGEST! THE STRONGEST! THE STRONGEST!"
'The projectile is pure mana, or absolute cancel would have nullified the spell.' Subaru decided his next approach, and looked at Idra.
"Idra, launch me towards the Palace!" Subaru ordered as he casted murak on himself.
"Let's go, boss!" Idra took him in one hand, with his full strength he launched him in the air, Subaru flew at incredible speeds, not bound by gravity, and the light appeared once again, he prepared, but the projectile passed below him, and it exploded on impact once more, covering everyone in the explosion.
"THE STRONGEST!"
Subaru tried, again and again, he tried adjusting the aim, creating a wall of flames with his sword, and having someone else deflect the hit, but nothing worked.
"THE STRONGEST!"
He died, more and more, death piled up, both his and of his companions, the light destroyed them all, despair is the only thing in sight, yet.
"THE STRONGEST!"
How could he give up, with so many following him, how could despair take hold of such a powerful flame that lies within him, how could he not be consumed by the flames of his fallen comrades, who died while shouting to walk forward.
"THE STRONGEST!"
Natsuki Subaru, he arrived in this world sometime ago, he was a young adult at first, then he met Olbart, and was turned into a child, from then he faced many hardships.
"THE STRONGEST!"
He ran away from the evil of this world, yet he couldn't run, he met Regulus Corneas, and defeated him after many tries, he gained the respect of many, who suffered under the empire, he decided to fight, and from his greed, the child shared his will to everyone, almost like a flame, which became so great that none would have stopped it.
"THE STRONGEST!"
Even Subaru, with this flame in his heart, simply could not surrender, his old self might have cowered in fear, even at first, when he turned into a child, he did not have enough strength to walk this far.
"THE STRONGEST!"
He hated death, dying was truly painful, the feeling of emptiness was something that could not be described, it emptied Subaru each time, and each time he returned the flame filled up that feeling of emptiness.
"THE STRONGEST!"
Subaru died, over and over, each time with a different plan, he lost count of his deaths, while this wasn't the first time in happened, it was one of the worse, he already exceeded Regulus in deaths, but he knew that this would be the last time he faces death like this, for only that cannon was separating him from victory.
"THE STRONGEST!"
'Nothing has worked this far, I still have to try 'reality break', but I can never hit the projectile, it's a one in a million throw, and dying that many times is the definition of insanity.'
"THE STRONGEST!"
'If only I could adjust mid-air, wings would be useful now, or like a plane.'
"THE STRONGEST!"
'! A plane, right, that might work.'
As Subaru thought of his new plan, he took the yang sword in hand.
"WE ARE INVINCIBLE!" As he shouted the warcry, he impaled himself with the sword, surprising everyone.
"INVINCIBLE!"
The sword instead of turning him ablaze started to dissipate, and the particles went towards Subaru.
"INVINCIBLE!"
As soon as those touched him, he was set ablaze, a bright light surrounded him, of orange glow, and took shape around him.
"INVINCIBLE!"
Subaru separated himself from gravity, and jumped towards the capital, the fire completely engulfed him, yet it didn't burn him, and it took the shape of wings, as it propelled him forward, perfectly as the cannon gave off a powerful light.
Subaru flew towards it, he held his hand forward, as he was perfectly between the Pleiades and Lupugana, he held his hand forward, slightly towards the sky, directly at the sun.
"Reality break." All were silent, admiring the flaming being in the sky, with wings of flame, yet with eyes of darkness, his voice was powerful, yet calm, his appearance fearsome.
The magic from the castle flew out, a powerful hit that even the witch of envy cannot sustain, and this boy stood firm taking it on with one hand, as in the other he held the yang sword, sign of royalty.
The explosion was heard, it shocked the heavens and earth. The boy, while blocking it, was engulfed in the explosion, which went mainly towards the sky, and silence covered the battlefield, waiting for the boy.
"Oh, inevitable fate."
"BRING IT ON! BRING IT ON! BRING IT ON!"
Their shouts already announced their victory, the boy pointed his sword at the capital, and the charge of Pleiades started, the imperial soldiers in front already surrendered.
"That's the boss to ya, worthy of standing next to the leading actor!" Cecilus commented as he defeated hundreds of soldiers, he was already at the door of the capital.
The dragons in the sky started their battle, the pleiades found hardly any resistance, as Subaru led them from above, on the other side, Yorna and Priscilla began the fight too, as they saw the explosion.
"I must admit it, for a fool he's achieving more than ever I could." Priscilla smiled as she looked upon the explosion, they too were joined by many rebels, the city was surrounded entirely, but many of them tried to connect with the child of war upon witnessing his display of power.
"He is quite special, the yang magic surrounding his troops is already proof of that." Yorna answered as she began the attack, the focus was on the Pleiades, as their might was not to be ignored.
"We cannot be locked down upon, my people! Let's show this empire what we're capable of!" Yorna shouted as her fighters gave a war cry as answer, the battle begun on all sides, the soldiers of the empire outside the walls were destroyed, as the march of Pleiades brought war to the gates of the city.
As the assault began, the emperor sat down on the throne, he saw the eyes of the child of war, he hated this boy, who was reuniting Vollachia under his stars, he hated how he was fighting with very few losses, and how he tried to achieve peace with war.
"Your majesty, you should escape." Chisha suggested as the Pleiades were at one of the pinnacles, where Goz was waiting for them, yet the emperor knew that he would hardly manage to hold them off for long, their hoped were in the cannon, which was used to fight against the witch of envy, and this boy blocked it.
"Then what? I cannot take back the empire, the people support the child of war, neither can I defeat them in a fight, I've tried poison, or sent traitors, neither worked, and his men are stronger than the divine generals." Vincent spoke to Chisha as he sat on the throne, he looked at the fight, accepting his defeat, but then.
"Second round! Overgrown lizard!" Subaru shouted as a white dragon descended from the skies, the cloud dragon Mezoreia, with the other flying dragons beside him.
"Ahh! Finally a fight worthy of the leading actor! Boss! Set my stage!" Cecilus smiled as Subaru saw him from above.
"Sure thing! Balleroy, help Seshi in the fight! Serena! Take care of the other dragons! Pleiades, show them our wrath!" Subaru ordered as Cecilus jumped in the air, he unsheathed his blades, as the blue lighting ascended to the skies, clouds and lighting crashed.
The dragon let out his divine breath, Cecilus was engulfed in it, but with a slash of his sword, the white fire was scattered, and Cecilus prepared his blades again, the dragon moved one of his claws, aiming at the boy, which was met by a red blade.
The claw and blade met, the impact shocked the heavens, Cecilus moved his right arm and with his other blade slashed towards the dragon, which blocked the blow with his other claws, then he pushed Cecilus towards the ground.
"Boss! This is a stage worthy of the leading actor, it's finally my time to shine!" Cecilus shouted as he was grasped mid-air, a flaming boy with wings of fire.
"It sure is, but having to go in and out will be boring, guess I'll have to throw you back!" Subaru spun around himself at high speeds, by propelling himself with fire sideways, he launched Cecilus back into battle.
The two clashed again, with Cecilus managing to land a hit this time, Subaru then looked around, below him were the pleiades, laying waste to the Vollachian army, around him the dragons and dragon riders were fighting, with the riders being the most powerful, Cecilus fought with Balleroy at his side.
"Subaru, do you like the might of the dragon riders?" Serena flew next to him and smiled, Subaru admired the coordination between dragons and riders, fighting as one.
"You're a big help, thanks!" Subaru gave her a thumbs up, making her giggle with a hand over her mouth.
"Look out!" Serena shouted as a dragon tried to bite Subaru's head off, he then flew upwards, and with his better mobility he flew on its back, then he held the yang sword in hand, and pierced the dragon.
"Don't worry, I feel like I can do anything!" Subaru smiled as the dragon fell to the ground, he then flew downward at the western pinnacle, where his troops were about to engage with Goz Ralphone, Subaru went in front of them.
There stood a tall man clad in gold, with redish hair and a scar in his face, he had a calm expression, but the dangerous aura coming off of him was enough to scare most.
"So you're the famous child of war, I see why so many would stay under your command." Goz commended the boy in front of him, he had a great number of soldiers behind him, and the two stood in front of each other.
"Thanks for your words, uhhh, Idra, who's this guy again?" Subaru shouted as he turned around, surprising the general as he remained silent.
"Goz Ralphone, boss! One of the divine generals!" Idra shouted from behind him, Subaru gave him a thumbs up and turned around, facing the imposing man in front of him, the height difference was making this seem like a painting, as the golden armor shined for the flames of the child of war.
"Let me ask you a question, child of war, why do you rebel against our emperor?" Goz asked while ignoring his disrespectful attitude, he let down his weapon.
"I'm more rebelling against the empire and its ideology, but I might punch the emperor in the face." Subaru gave a malicious smile, as he spoke these words, Goz immediately stood on guard.
"I'll strike you down before you get to him!" Goz attacked the adversary in front of him, with a swift hit he moved his hammer down on Subaru, the impact rose dust in the air and the noise was powerful.
"If you wish to strike lord Subaru down…" A deep voice raised from the smoke, then a warhammer appeared from it, aiming at Goz's chest.
"You'll have to kill us first!" Another voice rang out as Goz blocked the hammer with his weapon, he then pushed it aside and launched a tattooed man away, while in front of him stood a four armed man with a shield.
"Your will is admirable, you must be elites of the pleiades, to even stop my hit." Goz gave a small smile at his adversaries, the two immediately were on guard, ready to fight with all their might.
"We are normal members of Pleiades, no fighting prowess whatsoever, each one of us is around the same strength." Gustav replied with a polite tone, Goz froze for a second, realizing the true might of pleiades.
"I see, we won't win this fight, but we'll take down as many as we can!" Goz shouted as he pointed his arm forward, the moment before Subaru did the same and shouted.
"Pleiades! Don't kill them, destroy their fighting spirit!" Subaru ordered first, as Goz smiled with confusion, the pleiades were all on guard.
"'To not kill? You do realize that a bloodless war is foolish, your wish is truly childish." Goz looked at the boy with serious eyes, yet amused by his wish.
"I know better than anyone else, but that doesn't mean I can't save as many people as I can." Subaru's flame vanished as he spoke, his expression showed all of his regret and pain, yet it held hope, Goz remained speechless at his will, Vollachia, the land of wolves, conquered by such a weakling?
"Then I'll show you how foolish that dream is!" Goz shouted as he let out his anger, Subaru lept in the air, dodging his powerful blow, the earth shook and broke beneath the giant hammer.
The pleiades began their charge, sword clashed, dust rose, and the battle cries were louder than ever, and yet, the soldiers of the empire were utterly defeated in less than a minute, the same could not be said for Goz.
"You rebels shall meet your end!" He shouted loudly, trying to lower their morale, yet, all of the pleiades fought with all their might, all ready to die, yet not planning to, they charged with all their might, coordinating their attacks.
"Keep up the pressure! Balleroy, give them cover!" Subaru shouted as Goz killed one of his men, Subaru saw his friends get murdered by this menace, and charged forward from the sky.
"Don't risk it! Pleiades, dragon riders, back me up!" Subaru shouted his orders, and immediately everyone except very few left them alone, completely ignoring the divine general and moving forward.
"You wish to take me on? I accept your challenge, child of war!" Goz pointed his hammer towards Subaru, the two remained still for a second, and then they charged forward, Subaru flew towards him with a blast propelling him forward.
Goz started with a slash downward, which was dodged swiftly by Subaru with his fire, then the slash was followed up by another one, this time sideways, Subaru dodged downward and slided towards Goz, who brought down his hammer, almost crushing him.
A flash of light, bright and powerful, struck the powerful hammer knocking it aside, Subaru took this opportunity and charged towards his golden adversary, Subaru held his weapon forward, jumped towards the chest, and was knocked aside by a hand bigger than his head.
"You have much to learn, boy." Goz spoke in a low tone as he blocked another flash of light, Subaru rolled on the ground 5 times, as he slowly got up and spat some blood.
"The hell! Wasn't for the sword I would have died!" Subaru shouted as he slowly got up, he held his weapon forward once more, he clashed again, with his sword he tried to slide the giant hammer aside while flying, and with Balleroy's help he forced Goz to weaken his blows.
Goz followed up with a punch, which was dodged by Subaru with his flames, making it seem like he jumped in the air, Goz jumped back, yet, there was Weilz waiting for him, Goz deflected another blow, a knife then appeared from behind his knee, cutting in the joints of his armor.
"Damn you!" Goz shouted as he tried to bring down his hammer on Hiain, yet another flash of light deflected it, and the lizard man rolled away.
"Good job guys!" Subaru shouted with a smile, the group stood up and got ready to fight, Goz looked at his injuries, the hit on his leg was quite problematic.
The three held their weapons forward, with Hiain retreating and a gladiator taking his place, the group took a step forward.
"Not so fast." A deep smooth voice spoke, as the sound of clashing metal was heard, there, a black wolf man in a gray kimono, blocked with a golden kiseru a kunai, and with his hand he stopped a knife.
"You saw through this old man, uh?" "Ya bastards! How did ya know of our surprise!?" Two small figures appeared from behind them, Subaru looked forward, as his back was covered by Halibel.
"It's quite obvious, you know, to cut the head first!" Subaru shouted while charging forward, he met blades with Goz once again, as Halibel looked at the two, one was an old man with an evil glint in his eyes, while the other was a small demi human with brown fur, a hyena man, covered in weapons.
"You two, if you want to get to the boss, you'll have to go through me." Halibel held his weapon as he looked down on the two warriors, his deadly aura worthy of the strongest of Kararagi.
"A wolf man in Vollachia, you are full of surprises, child of war." Goz looked at his adversaries with a surprised look, the group started again their fight.