Chapter 23
A Glimpse of a Warrior
Shia drew Mana and took a stance. The knight could feel that Shia was like Barret. He takes a defensive stance. He thought of how to approach him. Shia looks for an opening. All Fillan could do was watch. Barret was hurting from his injury. The knight draws Mana. He attacks first.
Shia sees his attack and blocks. The blade strike was heavy and pushed him back. Shia regains composure and swings his sword. The knight dodges and goes for another strike, but Shia has two swords. He swings the other one but misses.
The knight was pushed back. Barret manages to heal a bit and gets up. Fillan readies to attack, but Shia tells him not to. Barret stands in his way. Fillan tells Barret to move. The knight attacks Shia. Shia dodges and blocks the enemy attacks.
He takes an offensive stance. The knight draws Mana, and the sword glows. He swings downward, and Shia goes for the block. He feels the danger and steps back. His blade breaks and falls to the floor. The knight figured they were still novices.
"I thought you were a dangerous monster, but that was a simple misjudgment on my part. You have some skills, I give you that, but you are just a beginner. I was cautious, but knowing this, I won't hold back."
The knight drew more Mana. He took out several red crystals. He then activates one of them. He swings his sword, and a fireball is thrown. Shia dodges and then sees more. Barret gets in front of him and pulls up a shield. The fireball hits and explodes. Fillan ran to them.
The knight sees Fillan and attacks him. Fillan feels his presence and dodges. He then attacks but misses. The knight was not worried about Fillan after the attack. He goes for another attack—Fillan dodges and attacks. Fillan lands a hit but does no damage.
The knight swung his sword and was about to hit Fillan. Barret emerges out of the smoke to block him. The knight's sword hits Barret's shield. Shia also comes out and attacks. He sees an opening and tries to land a hit. The knight steps back.
Fillan sees an opening and goes for another attack. The knight sees him and kicks him back. Fillan blocks but gets thrown back. Barret stops him from hitting the ground. Fillan coughs out blood. Shia looks at Fillan.
King John was getting new reports that they were steadily making progress. He sees that the demons are being pushed back. He saw the demon knights making it hard for them. King John signals Haddison to attack the demon knights.
General Musashi thinks about what to do. He was looking at certain battles. He also looks at the cavalry splitting his forces. He began to go over what they had. He knew they were outmatched.
"The enemy has over four thousand trained soldiers. The umbra Caligati make most of our forces, but they are weak. There are about two thousand train soldiers here. The children don't make much, and they are still new. The reinforcements should have been here."
General Musashi tells one of his captains to send word to the mages in the tower. He orders them to start self-struck. The orders reach them, and they command the goblins. A soldier sees a goblin and goes to attack. The goblin jumps on him and explodes.
Several other goblins begin to explode. This shakes the battlefield. Cortez orders his troops to get back. King John sees all the explosions from where he is. He asks for a report. Cortez strikes fast to save some soldiers. He sees more soldiers that need help.
"Bestias, you have no honor. I need to help my men…."
Cortez draws Mana and activates a spell. A black fog forms a wipe. Cortez uses his wipe and the goblin creatures. Some get close, but Cortez uses his sword to stab them. He uses his rapier with precision. The soldiers thank him.
Back to Fillan and the rest. Shia was injured but held his swords. Barret had lost his shield. It was cut in half. Fillan struggled to stay up. He hears the explosions and looks around the battlefield. He sees the other children being surrounded.
They looked afraid and confused. Some groups have already lost their leaders. They were keeping the enemy back by using an earth wall. The knight was getting frustrated because he couldn't finish them off. He tells them to retreat.
Shia refuses to do so. Barret was breathing heavily. Fillan had thoughts of being told he was useless. He was getting mad at himself. He snaps out of it when Shia yells. Barret was sent flying back. Shia attacks the knight. Fillan takes a deep breath.
The knight dodges all of Shia's attacks. He activates a wind spell and blasts Shia away. Shia rolls on the ground. Fillan runs at the knight. The knight knew Fillan could not use magic or Mana. He stood there and took the hit.
The knight punches Fillan and then stabs him. Fillan moved from getting hit in a vital spot. He again drops to the ground. Shia got angry and drew more Mana. His helmet comes off to reveal his face. The knight is surprised to see a child's face. He then sees his horn.
"I heard stories when I was young. Demons play tricks on humans. The horns are a sign of demons. You may look like a child, but I see through you."
The knight tells Shia that he won't miss him again. Barret was standing up. Fillan could see them. They were determined. He tries to get up. He felt weak and was bleeding. Fillan began to think of the other kids from the orphanage.
Shia attacks, and the knight parries. Barret runs to him and attacks with his sword. The knight dodges and strikes. Barret had closed his eyes. When he opened them, he saw the knight on the ground. Fillan lands on top of him.
Shia was surprised by what he saw. He saw Fillan get up and run to the enemy. He then used some grab technic to throw the knight down. The knight pushes Fillan off. Fillan takes a stance no one knows. He had no weapon. The knight didn't know what had happened.
The knight was starting to get tired. He attacks Fillan. Shia gets in front of him to block. The knight dodges him and attacks Barret. Barret gets ready to block then the knight senses danger. Fillan swung a sword and almost decapitated the knight.
The knight was surprised that he dodged. He knew Fillan didn't use magic to enhance the sword, but his senses warned him. Fillan took another weird stance. He attacks the knight. The knight feels danger and dodges. His defensive spell was ending. Fillan attacks the gap in the armor.
Shia and Barret didn't know what to do. The knight dodges and steps back. His blocking was quickly pushed aside. General Musashi was watching all this. He felt some sense of strength coming from Fillan. Unknown to them, Fillan had passed out from blood loss.
Fillan was in his mind in a dark place. He felt like he was dying. His brain began to pulse, and he heard voices. The voices sounded weird to him. Fillan was then in the white room. He looks around. There were strange things this time.
Fillan was in a hospital-looking room. Over the comms, he hears people talking. They were asking for some, but Fillan could not hear their name. He then listened to a female voice. She laughed and cried. A male voice was then heard. He also laughs.
"Fillan, you amaze me. One day I will show how cool your big brother can be."
Fillan gets knocked by an explosion. He finds himself on a battlefield he has never seen before. He sees someone running toward him wearing unfamiliar armor. The person gets to him. He grabs Fillan and lifts him.
"Soldier, get up; this is no time to lie around."
Fillan looked at himself, and he was wearing strange military clothes. He sees a metal person running toward them. The other soldier lifts a weapon and fires. Fillan gets turned around, and he is with his group.
Shia was happily sharing his candy with Barret. Fearty was looking grumpy but hanging with them. They look at him and smile. Fillan wakes up and sees Barret and Shia on the ground. The knight was breathing heavily.
Fillan picks up a sword and walks over to them. The knight had stepped back to catch his breath. Fillan tells Shia and Barret to help the others. Shia was confused because he began to act like he always does. Barret gets up and wants to fight with him. Fillan, in a calm manner, orders him to help the others.
The knight sees an opening and attacks. Fillan quickly gets in front of him and attacks. Their blades clash, but the knight gets pushed back. The knight's hand was shaking. Fillan tells them to go. Shia refuses, but Fillan says to them he would be all right.
"All I need to do is stall him; helping the others is crucial to winning this battle."
The knight mock Fillan. He attacks, but Fillan easily dodges. He swings his sword and hits the knight. The knight feels mighty blows hitting him. He gets mad because Fillan was easily holding him back.
Fillan again orders them to go. Fillan takes a step and sprints toward the knight. Fillan attacks with strange combinations of sword swings. The knight blocks and dodges the attacks. Shia heals himself and Barret. Barret was surprised he could do that.
The knight got mad and drew Mana. He began to insult them. Fillan was calm. The knight attacks but cannot land a single hit. Fillan moved much quicker than the knight. He even reacted to changes in the knight's attacks. The knight thinks of what to do.
"He must be doing something only demons can do. I need to finish this and get back to attacking. I'm getting tired, and that's not good."
The knight takes out another crystal. This one was white. He drew Mana, and the crystal activated. The knight attacks Fillan again. Fillan dodges, but the knight moves strangely. He then cuts Fillan's armor. Fillan defense.
Fillan gets attacked again and looks at the knight closely. He figured something about his attacks. The knight's attacks were changing faster with no friction. Fillan wanted to confirm. He attacks the knight. He swung his sword and the knight blocks.
When Fillan feels the contact, he tries to punch him. The knight sees his attack and moves out of the way. Fillan thought he caught him off guard. The knight did something to his armor. Fillan figured it out. The knight made his armor lighter.
The other children were about to lose their defensive position. Barret draws Mana and activates an earth spell. He reinforces the earth wall they had. Shia attacks the enemy soldiers around them. He takes some out. The rest of the enemy regroups.
Shia asks for help to defend. Barret stands next to him. Some children were scared—a group stance with them. The knight saw his allies get killed. He looks at Fillan and blames him. Fillan relaxes for a bit.
"I need to take him out now. Just one hit is all I need."
Fillan takes off in a full sprint. The knight waits to attack. Fillan slides and picks up a rock. He gets up and throws it at the knight. The knight dodges, causing him to move. Fillan gets close and jumps, ready to strike. The knight prepared to block.
He then feels something hit his helmet. It makes him flinch. He moves his head to see Fillan. Fillan swung his sword. The knight saw he was in trouble. He drew mana, and his body glows. The knight manages to move his head out of the way.
He then attacks Fillan. Fillan saw the knight swing his sword. He aims for his chest. Fillan could not move and knew he would die. He closes his eyes and apologies to Barret and Shia. He also apologizes to General Musashi and Fearty.
"You know that they are your family. We are your family too. I hope when we are free, we can all meet."
Fillan's body began to glow, and he emitted electricity. Fillan heard the voice of the female from before. He also heard the voice of Sister Adolpha, who told him to live a happy life and cherish all who supported him. This gave him the courage to fight to live.
Fillan hears Shia yell at him to fight. He also heard Barret roar. Fillan opens his eyes and attacks. The knight thought he had won. Suddenly he felt something hit him upward. Fillan kneed him in the chin. The knight gets sent flying back.
Fillan lands on the ground. The knight got up and was feeling dizzy. Fillan attacks and the knight sees him and tries to block him. Fillan stops in front of him. The knight swings his sword, but Fillan dodges and cuts the knight's arm. The knight tries to punch him.
Fillan looks around the battlefield. Fillan spins and cuts the knight's back. The knight drops to his knees. Fillan quickly slices the knight's head. He stood next to him, emitting electricity. Shia and Barret were shocked.
"The enemy has the upper hand by keeping us separated. General Musashi is trying to regroup our forces by sacrificing some dark troops. We need to stop their cavalry unit."
Fillan sees that the others need help. He began to run towards them. He gets there fast and blocks an enemy. The enemy soldiers group up and get in a defensive formation. Fillan asks Barret to shake the ground. Barret slams his sword on the floor.
A shockwave has the enemy stumble. Fillan then tells Shia to attack. Shia runs up to the front soldiers and attacks. The enemy soldiers put up their shields. Fillan ran behind Shia and jumped over them. They became distracted that Shia managed to break through their defenses.
Fillan moves faster than some soldiers and quickly kills them. He cuts the enemy down. Some of the other children also attacked and killed their opponents. While they catch their breath, Fillan begins to order them.
"The enemy is trying to keep us separated. Our forces need regrouping. Their cavalry unit is making it hard to regroup with some units. We are going to stop them."
The other kids question his plan. Fillan showed some fierce aura, and they quieted down. Shia stood with him and asked what to do. Fillan needs to get ahold of general Musashi. Fearty suddenly shows up from a hole underground.
Fearty began to question Fillan and the rest of the children. He told them they were dumb for advancing and attacking. Fillan interrupts him and tells him to go to General Musashi and have him send archers. Fearty gets mad at Fillan.
Fillan gives him a death stare, and Fearty goes back underground. Fearty had a tunnel that reached the fort. Fillan orders Barret and other earth magic users to create a tall wall. Fearty reaches the fort and asks to see General Musashi.
A soldier brings Fearty to General Musashi. General Musashi tells him to speak. Fearty, frightened, tells him what Fillan asks for. General Musashi thinks about his request. He was about to deny him when he saw a colossal earth wall sprout.
General Musashi thinks about Fillan's plan. He orders the elf children to go and follow Fillan's orders. He also sent some adult demons. The archers quickly get ready to move. Fillan tells Barret and some defensive soldiers to hold the enemy.
Over on the human side, King John sees the wall emerge. He thinks about what the enemy is going to do. He looks at the fighting and sees that the demons are slowly regrouping. Haddison and her cavalry unit were keeping the demons from strengthening their defense.
King John didn't want surprises, so he ordered an attack on the wall. General Musashi saw the enemy change direction. He has the dark troll creatures intercept the enemy. The archers ran as fast as they could to get to the wall. General Musashi also launches another boulder, and goblins emerge.
Once the archers reach the wall, Fillan tells them what to do. He has some go to the top and has them rain arrows on the enemy. He wants them to attract the cavalry unit. The archers began to shoot arrows. King John's forces were now being attacked from two sides.
King John sees his troops begin to defend themselves from the archers. He orders the mages to use any spell to stop the arrows from hitting their allies. Fillan notices this and has some archers use arrows to counter the attacks. King John could still hear the explosions on the battlefield.
King John saw that some troops were beginning to get caught off from their squads. He makes a choice and signals it to Haddison. Haddison sees and looks at the wall. She orders her troops to attack. Fillan sees Haddison's cavalry gathering for an attack.
Fillan tells the archer to focus on the cavalry unit. He had them hold until they were within range. Haddison and the Amazonian troops drew Mana. Haddison sees Fillan give the order. The archers release Mana-filled arrows. Haddison sees the arrows glow.
"Defensive spells, raise your shields."
The cavalry unit raises their shields and enhances them with magic. Fillan tells Barret to jump down with him. He also tells the archers to fire another wave when the cavalry is down. The archers were wondering what he meant.
"Barret, I want you to draw Mana and focus it on your hands. I want you to use earth magic and open cracks when we hit the ground."
Barret nods and waits for Fillan to signal. Barret was already tired, and Fillan noticed. Haddison and the Amazonian get hit by the first wave of arrows. Some arrows pierce the shields but don't hit them. The horses were also protected.
Fillan takes a bow and arrow. He draws Mana and pours it into the arrow tip. He aims and fires. The arrow lands on the ground in front of Haddison. It shines and releases wind magic. Haddison and her forces run through it. Dust is blown all around.
Once through, Haddison sees two soldiers falling from the wall. They hit the ground and caused an earthquake. The ground splits, forcing the cavalry to fall. Haddison realizes this and tries to halt her attack, but it is too late.
The horses fall and bring down their rider. Haddison quickly gets up and asses their circumstances. She tries to regroup her soldiers when suddenly they get hit by arrows raining down on them.
Haddison hears the cries of her soldiers. She got mad and began to charge the enemy. She stops when she hears a boulder land near her troops. Goblin creatures emerge and run toward the fallen soldiers.
The others, still on horses, try to defend themselves, but explosions kill some. Haddison forgets about attacking and focuses on saving her forces. She drew Mana and began taking out as many goblins as possible.
General Musashi was pleased with the outcome. He orders soldiers to take more supplies to them. Now General Musashi thinks about how to make his enemy retreat. He looks over to where Fillan and the rest of the children are.
Fillan and Barret go back to the top of the wall. The children celebrate, but Fillan tells them to keep firing. He sees that the enemy forces are falling apart. Shia was resting but got up and asked Fillan for orders. He tells him to heal some of the others.
Fearty again came out from wherever he was and wasn't too happy with Fillan gaining all the praise. He saw wounded enemy soldiers heading back to their side. Fillan was giving out orders. He thought about what to do next.
Fearty goes over to Fillan and begins to talk about how he got his message across the battlefield. Fillan was ignoring him. Fillan tells Fearty to continue telling the others where to shoot. Fearty was going to complain, but Fillan disappeared.
King John saw Haddison's forces beaten and on the defense. He again looks around the battlefield. King John knew his forces had lost. He sees the injured and thinks about what to do. It had been hours since they entered the battle. King John makes up his mind.
An injured soldier was asking to meet him. King John tells his guards to let him through. The soldier stumbles to see him. He falls, and a soldier goes over to help him. When the soldier helps the injured soldier up, a sudden burst of electricity is released.
The injured soldier leaps and attacks King John. The soldier tries to stab King John. He was caught by surprise that his reaction was slow. The attacking soldier thrusts a knife and is close to King John. The guards were also late to react.
A sudden burst of light surrounds King John. The soldier gets hit by a force field which sends him back. The soldier hits the ground and loses his helmet. King John and the rest of the soldiers are shocked to see a boy. King John looks at him and notices his appearance.
The boy was a wolf beast man. Fillan had infiltrated the enemy side and tried to assassinate King John. The guards surrounded Fillan. Fillan knew he had failed and ran away. He used his quickness to escape. King John was still stunned by what had happened.
On the battlefield, word reached Cortez that the King was attacked. He looked over and saw the chaos it caused. Cortez drew Mana and used his whip. It became a spiked mace. King John has snapped out of it and looks at his soldiers.
King John saw that this shook his troops. His mind was set. He looks at the battlefield. He stares at the enemy fort standing strong. King John orders his troops to retreat. Some soldiers became confused, and others wanted to continue.
King John told them they were not ready to take on the enemy forces. He orders a complete retreat. Signals were sent, and the human army began to retreat. The demon army followed, but they got orders to stop the pursuit.
Many dead human soldiers remained on the battlefield. King John looked as if the enemy showed them mercy. It made him angry. The humans return to their camp. Many injuries were being treated. King John met with his remaining captains and generals.
King John tells them that they will return to the kingdom. Cortez was angry and covered in bruises. Haddison was also injured. Some of the captains didn't want to retreat. They suggest that they heal and attack another day. King John could not go with their suggestion.
"Our forces suffer many casualties. The enemy was much tougher than I previously thought. I made this army to stop them from finishing the fort, but as you saw, it was too late. I wish not to end the lives of our citizens."
The captains settle down. Cortez agreed with King John about retreating. Haddison also agreed. It was settled; King John would withdraw his forces and return to the defeated kingdom. He has his troops heal up and stay on guard in case the enemy attacks.
Over at the fort, General Musashi is also having his troops heal. The goblins and troll creatures were scattered and waiting. After some time, General Musashi congratulated his forces. They began to cheer their victory.
The children cried over their fallen friends but also felt relief that they survived. General Musashi was still on top of the fort wall. He gets reports of the injured and dead. After some more time passes, he leaves and heads to the field.
"It pains me to see so many good warriors dead. I shall give them the honor of burial."
General Musashi draws Mana. He places his hand on the ground. An enormous magic circle appears, and the environment becomes sand. The bodies of all the dead are sunken into the ground. The battlefield is now a sandy wasteland.
Several days later and Fillan woke up on a medical bed. He looks around and sees other demon soldiers healing. A medic comes to see him and asks him how he feels. Fillan was confused and asked about the battle. The medic smiles and tells him they won.
After some checkups, he was able to go. Fillan was given new clothes to wear. He left the medical building and was surprised by what he was seeing. The fort was packed with soldiers, and supplies were being moved.
Fillan asks where General Musashi is. A soldier tells him, and Fillan goes to see him. General Musashi was in his quarters going over some paperwork. He feels a presence and sees Fillan. Some of the older soldiers see Fillan and cheer for his recovery.
"Ah, Fillan, your time could not be more perfect. I need you to go and prepare to leave."
Fillan needed clarification about what was going on. General Musashi told him that he would explain more later. Fillan thought about it and asked him if he would get kicked out of the demon army.
"I know this is sudden, but you have much to learn. I will teach you so you may master your talent."