A kingdom is run not solely by its king, but through the advice of its ministers and trusted generals, warriors, and aides. In this case, the man at the top of Re-Estize was none other than its aging king who had yet to even appoint his successor. Then again, it wasn't like he planned on dying anytime soon with all the political mistakes he had to correct from his predecessors.
It is the duty of those in power to protect their people.
His name was Ramposa the Third, ruler of Re-Estize for over thirty years. A crown was adorned over his head, and his graying shoulder-length hair still carried a faint blond luster. However, the years have taken their toll. He looked emaciated, his limbs shriveling into twigs hidden only by the royal tunic, robe, and mantle he wore to fill in for his aging features. Nonetheless, strength remained in his eyes along with the wisdom to see beyond the aristocracy's narrow view of their positions.
A kingdom promoted upon corruption was doomed to failure the moment a single decisive blow was given. Who to trust, and doubting where the loyalty of one's subjects lie were the bane of prior rulership.
Ramposa would not make that mistake, his rule, far more open-minded than his forefathers.
Glancing at his side, Ramposa hummed when a knock echoed in his palace's halls and a certain man walked in and bowed before the throne.
"Do you have something to report, Gazeff?" Ramposa inquired.
Gazeff was a trusted man directly beneath the king, promoted not for his bloodline, but through his capability and earnest character. Ramposa quite appreciated this aspect of Gazeff and his stalwart personality and demeanor.
"Yes, your majesty," Gazeff saluted, a firm hand thumping over his chest as he took a knee.
"Enough with formalities. There's no need to put on a show when there's no one else here," Ramposa snorted in good faith, but Gazeff maintained the proper decorum, helplessly sighing and shaking his head.
The mood Gazeff had been trying to present was a solemn one, but with Ramposa's remark, he couldn't quite carry that momentum anymore and just decided to forsake it. He eased his outlook, and though his etiquette remained unchanged, his demeanor indeed grew less formal.
"Go on then, Gazeff." Ramposa insisted, waving a thin hand in a gesture of good faith. "What matters trouble you in order to see me privately before the official morning court?"
"There may be truth in the letter sent by a Demon warning of an intended attack on the capital." Gazeff said directly, never one to beat around the bush around crucial matters.
"It's no wonder you didn't bring this up during morning court," Ramposa hummed before clicking his tongue. "The aristocratic factions would never believe it, but the letter also can't be ruled out as a ploy by destabilizing powers either."
Ramposa had sound reasoning. He hadn't been playing this game of thrones and politics for over thirty years for nothing. Wisdom came with every thought and action. No, it was easier to say that wisdom came with a lack of impulsive action and-.
"I encountered one," Gazeff interrupted Ramposa's thought process, causing the King to blink.
"Hmm?" Ramposa ran a hand through his long beard and mustache, unsure of what Gazeff was implying here until Gazeff all but shoved it in his face.
"A Demon," Gazeff said bluntly, features grim and arms crossing in front of him. "I was having dinner with an old friend and his associates when a woman's scream alerted us to trouble in the alleys. It was there that my friend and his associates apprehended and defeated the Demon."
Ramposa's features sharpened, his bearing shifting as he straightened his posture and sat up. "There's a corpse?" He probed.
"There is a corpse." Gazeff answered without missing a beat. Uncrossing his arms, Gazeff fiddled with something he was carrying a slung sac that Ramposa only now began paying attention to.
Soon the answer was revealed.
Gazeff took out a claw cut off from the demon, pieces of dried blood and dried flesh hardened over the keratin, oozing with a foul energy.
Ramposa's expression changed the moment he laid eyes upon it, all thoughts and political schemes leaving him. Monsters were common in the world, but normal claws and fangs wouldn't have such taint attached to them even in death. The foul stench of rot and decay permeated from it, along with ash white spots from extinguished flames.
"We must prepare to defend the capital in the case of an attack." Gazeff cautioned in all seriousness, putting away the claw while Ramposa wondered what the rest of the Demon's body looked like. No matter, Gazeff continued on. "If the capital were to be a battlefield, I will ask that you allow me to vacate you to a safer location before the duration of the week."
How thorough.
Rompasa couldn't help but appreciate the fact that Gazeff didn't exhibit a trace of ulterior motives. This was why the king trusted the man so much. In a political world where every action may have different meanings, it had only been in his childhood when Ramposa had ever felt genuine concern from others for his well being.
The old king's features softened despite the direness of what he was learning. Even still, it didn't change the direction of his thoughts.
"Very well," Ramposa agreed.
The aristocratic faction was going to throw another fit with him deciding on something without their input again, but by this stage Ramposa was all but used to it. He carried through with his decision.
"Gazeff, I grant you power to carry out preparations for the capital's defense."
The words echoed.
The capital of Re-Estize has had a storm of activity in recent days. They were subtle movements that didn't alert anyone not in the know such as civilians, but they weren't lost to those with discerning insight either. There was an unseen tension, and in the case with Re-Estize's aristocracy, schadenfreude and derision from lack of belief.
Brain languidly eyed several troops of patrolling knights and adventurer teams making rounds along the streets. Many were yawning and joking with each other, likely doubtful of what was to come, the ignorant bastards.
Nothing had been said to the general public yet, but Brain knew exactly why such rapid, though half-hearted, mobilization was underway.
"-What do you think, Brain?"
"Huh?"
An unintelligible noise escaped Brain's mouth before he remembered that he wasn't currently dining over a bar table in a capital restaurant alone. His attention shifted towards Musashi and Sasaki, one pounding a fist on the table and staring him down for an answer, and the other gracefully glancing his way from the corner of his eye.
Evidently, Brain hadn't been paying attention to what they were talking about. Fortunately, Musashi was a bit too impatient and pressed him for an answer, jolting his memory.
"A sword that cuts through the void, or one that represents infinity?"
The question was posed with Musashi hinting at Brain with her brows while keeping a thumb over the pommel of her short sword. Sweat beaded over Brain's forehead, knowing that his swordsmanship was far too inferior to even compare to either of the two swordsmen in his company.
Still, Brain didn't know if Musashi was genuinely asking for his opinion or threatening him. The charming smile on her face belied her simmering competitive spirit over the topic.
Honestly, Brain would have been happy with learning either of the two sword forms rather than caring which one was better. Recalling how this all started when he just asked for some sword pointers, and then realized both Sasaki and Musashi had differing views, Brain resisted the urge to sigh. Then it grew worse at the realization that if Brain asked to learn pointers from one swordsman over the other, it could imply that he felt that the other's sword style was lacking.
No! The one who was lacking was him!
It was impossible for him to ask for pointers for both sword styles at the same time, otherwise he may not even glean anything useful from counter intuitive lessons. One said to strike with a heavy sword, the other advocated for supremacy in technique. Because of not wanting to offend either of them, Brain had tragically been putting it off.
Swallowing, Brain looked from an eager Musashi, to a tranquil Sasaki, and wanted to cradle his face in his hands in defeat. He did so, but his silence was taken the wrong way when Sasaki ended up nodding at his efforts not to be beguiled or led astray by Musashi.
"Mr. Unglaus, I understand," Sasaki quietly placed his drink down, the cup clinking on the countertop. "You need not answer so long as you know that infinity lies in your heart."
A tick mark immediately formed over Musashi's brow, her neck snapping her head in Sasaki's direction with indignation.
"Put your sword where your mouth is, pretty boy!" she hollered, jabbing a finger at Sasaki's chest.
"I told you." Sasaki sighed, gently pinching Musashi's finger and moving it off of him. "If I did, you wouldn't be speaking."
Sasaki promptly stuffed a pastry bun into Musashi's mouth to stop her from retorting.
She chewed furiously and swallowed, but by the time she was done, Sasaki was already gesturing at her to grab something on the other end of the table.
"Pass over the rice crackers, my tea's going cold."
("You know those are just crackers right? What even is a rice cracker?") Brain's interjection was ignored.
"Hn." Musashi grunted in resignation but still conceded, passing the crackers and saying thank you when Sasaki returned the favor and poured her a drink to accompany her meal. She beamed, grinning at some thought only she knew about pretty boys and sake while downing the alcohol.
Brain's mouth twitched, still kind of confused about why Musashi insisted on using a saucer to drink rather than a cup or mug? Compared to Sasaki's grace and poise, she was the picture of boorish, sitting on a chair with her legs up and garments in disarray.
Still, did these two really get along with each other, or did they hate each other with all their bickering and provocations? It was hard to tell.
He was just glad the two focused back on each other rather than on him.
Sighing in momentary relief, Brain found his mind wandering again. What he knew was that any time today, the capital would be up in flames if that letter Gazeff spoke about had any credibility. Did they really have the leisure to just enjoy a meal while a Demon planned a sacking of the capital? Moreover, it wasn't as if he didn't tell Sasaki and Musashi about what may come to pass.
The answer came at noon.
With noon came whispers of the apocalypse.
Like ancient tales of old, the clear skies suddenly gave way to murky dark clouds, casting a looming shadow before towering walls of infernal flames surrounded the entire capital. From the flames walked out demons and monstrosities, each climbing over top each other in a bid to slaughter.
In a single moment, everything had changed. The adventurer teams and patrolling guards that hadn't been taking the mobilization orders seriously suddenly paled while the nobility still within the capital shuddered in disbelief.
The screams that echoed throughout the entire enclosed capital came next, causing chills to travel down Brain's back.
A single demon had been able to subdue him in his last encounter, and now there were hundreds of them! He would have been laughing in despair and cowardice if it wasn't for the actions of the two in front of him.
Both Musashi and Sasaki stilled, their sheathed swords clanking as they drew them into their grasp, their meal left forgotten as they stood up and walked out to the mainstreet.
Brain stiffly followed along until Musashi's shout struck his soul.
"Brain, listen well!" Musashi huffed, staring at the group of demons rapidly approaching and surrounding everyone cowering on the capital streets.
"The power of the void is to cut through the very origin!"
Not to be outshone, Sasaki flourished his drawn sword, light glinting off the length of the steel.
"Mr. Unglaus, the strength of infinity is in its myriad forms," Sasaki lectured. "...one strike carrying the weight of many to surmount the odds."
This was crazy.
Brain was no fool. He could discern Sasaki and Musashi's intentions already.
Both swordsmen stood side-by-side, inadvertently giving Brain a courage he didn't know that he had.
Whatever.
"Y-Yeah," Brain muttered, getting into a drawing stance with his own sword.
Life or death.
Today was a good day to die.
Three swordsmen advanced.
Life in the kingdom's capital was different than what Chris and Charlotte had expected ever since they took up Gazeff's invitation to enroll in its knight academy. Sure Gazeff had warned them that the academy would be a place where the children of nobles attended, and that they may face discrimination as low-borns, but that wasn't anything new to the twins.
If there was anything that life in the slums of E-Rantel had taught them, it was that sometimes humans were worse trash than any monster. Although Gazeff had told them that the King had established rules in the academy to limit the bias aristocratic children had over students attending the academy through merits or potential, neither Chris or Charlotte were really convinced.
In the end, it didn't really matter as they didn't come to the knight's academy to make friends, but to make a name for themselves to show that the students of Father Cu aren't pushovers. They would make their teacher proud.
Right away, their talents and experiences growing up in the slums made their tenacity inexplicably shine through. No teacher spectating their performance on enrollment day could fault them for anything besides maybe etiquette. Those who disliked Gazeff and who hoped to fail the students he recommended for training were bound to fail.
The moment their spearmanship was to be assessed, and one of the aristocratic teachers took it upon herself to beat them down in a spar, the teacher would get more than bargained for.
Charlotte's features were cold, knowing full well from their training with Papa Cu that both she and her brother could hunt giant wild monsters on their own. Unfortunately, this wasn't something that was common knowledge. The moment the teacher in charge of the assessment revealed not a trace of vigilance, the 'spar' was already over.
Whispers and low mutters by the teaching faculty accompanied Charlotte and Chris throughout the assessment, and begrudgingly, they were grudgingly accepted into the academy. This was mostly due to Gazeff's recommendation, and the few teachers who actually had good morals.
The twins were set to start in the academy in the next few days, but couldn't have possibly expected to have been caught up in the sudden attack on the capital of Re-Estize.
"Run!"
Charlotte's eyes widened as she felt her brother grab her by the wrist and begin pulling on her in the direction of the alleys. Ordinarily, most with common sense would run towards the open street where the other people were to have strength in numbers, but Chris and Charlotte felt more secure in the winding paths of the backstreets.
Behind them, groups of demons began pouring into the main street, the echoing of screams and gurgling blood reverberating through the air.
Chris tightened his grip on Charlotte's wrist, his vigilance rising by the second as he searched for a place they could take shelter, but found none. The entire capital was encircled by some sort of infernal flame, containing everything within, so it wasn't as if they could just escape either.
Units of Royal Guards soon appeared in an attempt to quell the tide of demons, but their panicked features were enough indication of how long they would last. Morale was falling rapidly, and even responding adventurer teams had apparently holded up in some building to discuss 'strategy.'
Charlotte watched as Chris finally let go of her wrist and gestured for her to ready her spear rather than try to run or hide and further.
It didn't take long for Charlotte to understand why.
Behind them was the main street infested with demons, and ahead of them leading to the next street over, were also demons. Stuck within the alleys between main streets, there was no avoiding confrontation or hiding.
All that the twins could trust was the teaching imparted to them through their spears.
"We can't die here," Charlotte swallowed, pressing her back against her brother's, each sibling defending their blind spots.
"Right," Chris muttered back, entering a low stance with his spear.
From all around, the demons finished their massacre on the main streets, and began permeating into the alleys. It was just as Chris and Charlotte had feared. There was no way out unless they could force their way out. Even then, with no clear destination for safety, and their limited stamina as children, their instincts were warning them that they were likely to die here.
The two hardened their hearts as the first few demons wandered in on them. There were less than a dozen, and the encounter was entirely coincidental. However, the twins knew that more would come, attracted by the sound of steel.
Not wasting a moment, the two children thrust their spears forward, runic marking engraved on the shaft flaring to life.
Anti-Demonic.
"Our spear guards the gateway to the shadows," Chris whispered one of the first things Cu had told them before imparting his spearmanship. He waved in and out of a demon's range, using his size to his advantage.
"Our spear will not falter against the demonic," Charlotte continued with a shaky breath, finding resolution in the words while blood splattered from a cut she made into a demon's side.
"And to die," Chris gripped his spear tighter, hands growing clammy.
"Is to die a warrior's death in duty and honour." Charlotte gritted her teeth.
The two were entirely in sync. When one attacked, the other retreated to cover the other's flank in a dance between life and death. A single mistake, and their human bodies would perish under the strike of a serrated claw or jetting hellfires.
Even still, bruises and cuts were inevitable from blunt impacts and scrapes from being thrown off of the ground. It was tragic. The two weren't even adults, and could do little to really kill the enemy. It was a miracle in itself that they were lasting this long. Then came a single mistake.
Fatigued, Charlotte was unable to match her brother's pace to cover his flank, and a claw tore into her brother's back.
"NOOOO!" Charlotte stabbed forward, kicking the attacking demon back as it staggered.
Hurriedly, she ran to her brother's side and supported him before he could fall. Blood seeped out of the wound that must have struck a nerve on her brother's left arm as it fell limp.
"Charlotte, run away," Chris gasped out, keeping his spear firmly held in his one good arm.
Charlotte shook her head, her grip on the shaft of her spear so tight that her knuckles were white. "We'll have to apologize to papa Cu. Our spears…just couldn't reach."
"..." Chris wordlessly agreed, knowing that he really wouldn't be able to convince his sister to save herself now. They may as well honor their teacher's words and fight till the end.
Even if their spears couldn't reach the goal, and their lives were coming to an end, the memory of that man in blue remained clear.
Suddenly, a glowing rune of an ash tree shone with a dim blue light, catching both twins off guard. Neither knew where it had come from or what it did, but the moment it appeared, it planted itself in the ground in front of them and formed an unseen barrier that separated the two from the attacking demons. Then, as if the shadows themselves were being pinched up into a flowing curtain, a passage began to appear in the chaos.
A doorway emerged accompanied by the reverberating sound of high-heeled steps. It opened between them and the demons, revealing a masked purple haired woman gradually stepping out of it. The clacking of her heeled combat boots continued to echo over the tiled ground as she assessed the situation before her.
She wore a purple veil over her hair, and her form was accentuated by a tight-fitting lavender combat suit with tinted pauldrons and silk-like fabrics.
"Demons?" She muttered without a change in expression, her piercing red eyes the exact same hue as Cu's.
More than anything, Chris and Charlotte were focused solely on the weapon carried in the woman's grip.
T-That spear!
A red motiffed spear.
The woman glanced at a stunned Chirs and Charlotte, grunted, and then focused her attention on the surrounding demons.
"Keep your eyes open."
By the time Chris and Charlotte realized that the woman was speaking to them, it was as if Cu himself was before them. It wasn't the demeanor or the presence that inspired such a reaction, but the vague familiarity in the woman's form, actions, and ability.
"A true warrior needs only to see it once."
For a moment, Chris and Charlotte couldn't process what was going on until the woman moved.
[The Rune Witch's Spearmanship]
Within the blink of an eye, it was as if all the demons previously surrounding them were obliterated. A shower of flesh and blood splattered over the area, mottling the alleyway with patches of red that seeped into the pavement. From the woman, a heavy aura of power of anti-demonic properties emanated from her. Perhaps it was because of this that the demons on the mainroad who noticed her involuntarily began to retreat as if in recognition.
The woman flourished her spear to clean it of the blood that stained it, before surveying the light of the inferno she could sense enshrouding the capital. The foulness of death and decay she could sense reminded her all too much of the environment in the Land of Shadows.
Her crimson eyes narrowed.
These beings did not belong here in the land of the living.
Duty would bid her forward, but relation, whether acknowledged or not, would hold her back.
"D-Do you know Father Cu?" The one who gathered her courage to ask was none other than Charlotte.
The woman froze, her steps slowing to a crawl as her gaze focused on the twins in deep thought. However after a moment of hesitation, she eventually eased her expression and gestured towards them.
"Keep close to me."
The witch had come to a decision.
"Unweaned apprentices have no place on this battlefield."
The situation was going to shit. Everything was in shambles from hastily made fortifications and careless positioning. Although there were internal warnings of an attack on the capital, it was only now that the skeptics were beginning to realize Gazeff wasn't exaggerating about the potential scale.
He had warned them, and insisted to the point of even evacuating the king. None truly listened even when presented with proof of a demon's corpse. It was a mistake of a preconception brought upon by the corpse of the demon itself. They thought the demons were weak considering that it had been killed by just two swordsmen rather than the Royal Guard or a famous adventure team. And that was the problem. These two 'swordsmen' weren't just ordinary swordsmen, but individuals who Brain stressed stood on two extremes in the way of the sword.
Only the Golden Princess Renner expressed some support to Gazeff, but a majority sided with the notion of over exaggeration.
This was the chain of events that led to a half-hearted mobilization of personnel to defend the capital.
"This can't go on for much longer. There are too many," a woman spoke grimly, a hefty ax cleaving a demon in two by the waist. On her person was a full body suit of plated red armor, rivets and overlaying pieces at the joints for mobility.
Around her was an entire group composed of only women.
They were the Blue Rose, one of only two Adamantite Adventurer Teams in the Re-Estize Kingdom. The other, Red Drop, operated on the northern end of the kingdom and wasn't currently present.
Without the prior certainty of an ongoing attack, Blue Rose's presence in the capital was considered enough for preparations by the Nobles of Re-Estize. Gazeff had disagreed, but his intuition alone wasn't enough to move the hearts of the aristocracy let alone to carry the persuasiveness to mobilize Red Drop on a whim. It didn't help that the prince sided with the nobility in an attempt to garner favor from the faction and stabilize future support for the throne.
Blue Rose consisted of five active members each with their own niche roles.
Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra was the commander and a balanced all rounder.
Gagaran was the front line warrior.
Tina and Tia were the twin rogue thieves.
And Evil Eye was the Magic Caster and the oldest of the group.
As it stood, Lakyus was the de facto leader of the team, but she still confided with her group members before making decisions which is why they could all be so outspoken with each other.
"The streets are overrun, and we're getting pushed back further and further into the capital," Gagaran said. She was the one in the red armor, and stood several heads taller than her next shortest part member. "At thai rate, we won't last."
"Good news."
Blue Rose focused on Tina and Tia who just arrived back from scouting. Both had their hair tied up into a ponytail, and wore form-fitting trousers over mesh stockings, vested jackets, and a light cowl they kept around their necks like a half-mask.
"Oh finally," Gagaran smiled, resting her ax over her shoulder while Lakyus and Evil Eye maintained a perimeter to keep the demons from flanking them.
"Out with it," Lakyus said, huffing in her sleek full body armor. This armor wasn't ordinary in the least and was actually part of a special set that can only be worn by pure maidens. Around her, several floating golden swords shot out and struck any demons that approached the team.
"We don't know how to explain it, but a whole section of the capital's main street was just cleared out of all demons infesting it. We can use it to access the better fortified inner districts of the capital and join up with the other adventurer teams," Tina reported.
"Someone killed them all?" Evil Eye came striding over wearing a red cloak and a metal mask over her entire face. A magic barrier was maintained in her hands for a final semblance of protection if the attacking demons bypassed Lakyus's watch.
"No," Tia said. "They ran."
"They what?" Lakyus asked dumbfounded.
"It seemed as if they were scared of something in the nearby alleys," Tia continued.
Silence came after that, none of Blue Rose able to determine just what could scare an army of demons this large. In any case, it mattered little for their current predicament. The main road cleared or not, it meant nothing if they couldn't reach it.
"Evil Eye, how's your mana?" Lakyus began making calculations. "Mine's at barely half."
"I'll manage," Evil Eye grunted. "And if I don't, I'm not that weak."
Gagaran laughed. "You sure you'd be fine without your magic? You don't look like it," she ribbed good naturedly.
Evil Eye scowled. Out of everyone, she was the tiniest in the group, barely taller than an average child.
"No use arguing. Let's go while we still have our strength." Lakyus cut in, donning her helm and wielding Kilineiram the Demonic Sword. "Tina, Tia, lead the way."
The twins nodded, raising their daggers before darting forward and around the demons while the team trailed behind them in a piercer formation. Gagaran was at the front while Evil Eye and Lakyus ran on either side of her.
They were making good progress, but an unexpected surge of magic energy stopped the group in their tracks, Evil Eye shuddering from the sheer enormity of it. What sort of level of Tier Magic was this?
Blue Rose paused in apprehension as a blur formed in the sky above them, flowers beginning to bloom along the ground. Raising an arm to cover her eyes, Lakyus squinted at the almost ethereal-like air that suddenly became of their surroundings.
Then, the blur expanded and a breathtakingly handsome man walked out on a bed of flowers. By his robes and sheer magic aura, it was clear what profession he possessed. Behind him, the expanded blur appeared to be a portal revealing what looked like the architecture of the Baharuth Empire on the other side.
W-Who?
The question blared in the minds of Blue Rose, but they didn't have the time to question anything else. The white-robed Magic Caster winked at them, then smacked the butt of his staff on the ground.
Light bloomed as three other figures were thrown through the portal.
"Team Darkness!"
A resonant voice echoed.
"Move out!"
Thanks for reading, and thanks to my newest patrons: J.G. and Yomuashi!
Next update: Birth of a Legend V2
P a treon. com (slash) Parcasious
Book links:
Fatedlegacydark. ca
The Lonely Peak
New Book: Out on Amazon (Remove dash on link)
Survivor's Log Reflection: Amazon.c-om/dp/B08VDDGN7Z?