Through Warrior Eyes:
In a hidden location which was used as the headquarters of the Venatori, the leaders had gathered and had called someone to meet them. The location was one of the old Temples to the Old Gods of the Dragon Faction and this one was the large temple of Dumat, the God of Silence. The Elder One was there along with Livius, Gordian, Calpernia, Duhaime and Samson. They had called Servis over so he could give his report. Servis told them about his victory over Crowler but some members weren't as happy.
"You beat one of the members of the group that are hunting us and you didn't turn him into a power jewel!" Livius hissed "Do you know what you have done?"
"I was following my orders!" Servis snapped "I was told to find them since they were getting close to our relic hunting and Lucanus believes that we are getting close to finding the final Old God card. If they had found us them our mission would have been in trouble. Beside my duel disk is not equipped to turn people into crystals. I was told to scare them and make sure they stay away. And I was able to scare them with my duel because this Crowler is a very skilled duellist."
The Elder One looked at him "Never mind that now" he hissed "We've got other things to worry about." He turned to Duhaime "How are you allies doing hunting in the forest?"
Duhaime looked at him "The Freemen are still trying to enter the old ruins that we've found however they have ran into a problem. It seems that some of that girl's friends have arrived in the Forest. They've already taken out Costeau and now some members are starting to question us about our motives."
The Elder One shook his head "We cannot allow that. Send someone over to ensure they stay in line."
Samson nodded "I've send Carroll over to make sure they keep loyal to us" he stated
"Good" The Elder One nodded and then he turned to Gordian "Have you found any idea on where the girl is?" he demanded
Gordian smirked "Yes, my agents have found the girl and she is currently at Redcliffe. Now all we need to do it attack the city and we'll have the girl"
Samson shook his head "I don't think that will be necessary" he stated "Denam has reported that the Warrior Faction will be making a move on Redcliffe soon. The war has been in a stalemate and now the Warrior Faction plans to break that by taking Redcliffe and then moving onto Andoral's Reach. I can have Denam capture the girl at Redcliffe; he is one of my best men"
"Do it" The Elder One ordered "And now I will like to speak with Livius alone" everyone except the Elder One and Livius left the room and the Elder One turned to Livius "How go your plans to take control of them?" he asked
"They are going well" Livius stated "We may have 4 of the Old Gods but so far, you only have 2 of them. Calpernia and Samson have the other two. Samson is already mostly being controlled by you but Calpernia is more difficult and she's more loyal to herself than to you. But once we have control of her, her card will be yours"
"Good" The Elder One sneered "But make sure that this remains secret, if she finds out then we'll lose one of our cards"
"I'll make sure that she doesn't find out" Livius stated and then he too left the room.
...
In a large camp in the middle of a large field, there were many tents set up and people dressed in armour marching around. Several were in practice duels with duel disks activated and some looked determined while others looked scared but it was unclear who or what they were scared of.
Standing by an area where one of these duels were taking place was a tall muscular bald headed man with a thick grey bear. He was glaring at everyone who walked past him and they looked at him in fear. His armour was also thicker than the others so he was clearly a much higher rank. Just then, one of the defeated duellists was thrown back and groaned as he hit the floor. The man walked over to him and dragged him roughly to his feet "You better improve your skills slacker" he snapped "The Warrior Faction does not tolerate slackers or people who fall behind. When you fight for us, you must believe in it and any weak links will get severally punished. He showed his duel disk where a bright light started glowing.
"Yes Commander Alrik!" the man whimpered in fear "I will improve"
Alrik snorted "You see, you've just proven that you are weak by whimpering" he held up his duel disk.
"No, Alrik, please no!" the man begged and then the light engulfed him and the fallen duellist vanished and a small crystal was ejected from the duel disk.
Alrik turned to the others "Now that you've all seen what happens to the weak, I want you all to improve. Because if you don't, then you'll suffer the same fate as this weakling" the man all nodded in fear "Now get back to training, in a few days, we'll be marching!"
The men nodded and left while Alrik turned around and walked away until he was stopped by another man. This man also wore heavier armour than the other soldiers but it was not as decorative as Alrik's was. This man also had thick ginger hair and a thick ginger beard "Ser Alrik" the man stated "Commander Meredith wants to see us."
Alrik nodded "Alright Ser Karras" he stated "Let's go" both he and Karras walked over to the largest tent in the camp where they saw their commander standing in front of a table.
Commander Meredith stared at her top two commanders as they entered the tent "I asked the two of you to be here so that we can plan our move against Redcliffe"
Alrik looked at Meredith "You know I will follow you anywhere commander" he stated "But we've attacked Redcliffe several times before and we've always failed, how are we going to succeed this time?"
Meredith smirked "This time we're going to send everything against Redcliffe, I've ordered Cullen and all the other hunters we have back here so they can join us. Cullen is a skilled duellist and we will need him on this. Rylock has also reported that Teagan has sent a small scouting force out of the town, we will capture them and then we will use our new interrogation trick to see if there is any other way into the fortress instead of the main gate."
"I like this plan" Karras stated "But there is one thing I am worried about, if we send everyone we have against Redcliff, it will leave our home vulnerable against those traitor warriors led by Thrask. They may be small in number but they are well trained."
Meredith sneered at that name "Thrask doesn't have nearly enough warriors to do much damage. Every member of the Warrior Faction has been trained to fight and they can hold off Thrask's small force. Even if they were lucky, we'll just returned and take them out just like we'll do to the Spellcasters"
Karras didn't say anything but looked at Meredith "So once we take Redcliffe, what do we do next?" he asked
Meredith looked at the map "After we've taken Redcliffe, we'll march on towards the Spellcaster territory and towards the fortress of Andoral's Reach. That guards the gateway into spellcaster territory, it may be a ruin but it will be well defended and I bet Fiona will have sent everyone she has towards that fortress. Once we beat them and capture that fortress, then we'll have access to Spellcaster Territory. Then all we need we need to do to take their capital of Cumberland and the rest of their territory shall fall. This war has gone on for some time now. Now it is time to start the beginning of the end of the war. Once we take Redcliffe then we will start the end of this war and we'll march into Spellcaster Territory and they'll soon submit to us and then this world will finally have peace."
Alrik looked at Meredith "Understood commander" he stated
Meredith looked at her second on command "You have your orders Alrik, start preparing the men to march."
Alrik nodded "Understood commander" he stated and then he left the tent to start gathering the men.
…
In the Brecilian forest far away from the Warrior Camp, there was a small fortress where the Freemen had made their camp. General Maliphant along with Ser Auguste were meeting in order to discuss their plans.
"General Samson is sending one of his top men here to see how we are doing!" Maliphant snapped "He means to make sure we stay in line with them"
"I admit, I'm starting to doubt our helpers now" Auguste stated "They promised us that they would help us establish our own kingdom but instead all they've done is use us for their plots."
"I think it's time for us to break our ties" Maliphant stated "I'm going back to the old manor house in order to barricade it." He then looked at Auguste "I want you to go over to that lodge and keep an eye out for this Carroll, we mustn't let them destroy us, I've worked so hard for this, and I will not let it all fall apart now."
"Understood commander" Auguste stated "I'll take a few men and see if they come close" Auguste then left leaving Maliphant alone who sighed and leaned against the wall.
"I sure hope that I don't regret this" he said to himself "I once fought for the Warrior Faction but I never could achieve anything thanks to Alrik. But now I can become someone important and I'll show those Warrior fools what I can do."
Unknown to him, someone was watching outside and before Maliphant could see who it was, the person quickly turned and left leaving no trace that he was here.
…
At the refugee camp led by Fairbanks, Aristide Amell along with Jaden, Alexis, Chazz and Avexis all waited for Theorn to return. He had gone ahead to scout out the area and see if they could find a way out of this forest.
"I don't like the idea of leaving these people behind" Jaden stated "They're going to be vulnerable to these Freemen."
"I don't like it either but we haven't got time" Aristide stated "If we don't find the others and get out of here then we might end up being trapped here."
"Maybe we can thin out this Freemen leadership" Chazz suggested "That way these people might have a better chance, we've already taken out Costeau so why don't we take out another high ranking member"
"That might work but we'll have to be careful that we don't fall into a trap" Aristide stated
It was then that they saw a figure walking along the small cliff that went towards the camp and soon Theorn came into view "Well I managed to get a look at the Freemen and now I know what they're doing now" he stated
"So what are the Freemen doing?" Jaden asked
"Well they are in league with the Venatori" Theorn claimed "They mentioned someone called Samson, I remember him being one of the higher ranked members of the Venatori, and he leads the Warriors known as the Red Templars. I met him when we first encountered the Venatori after he kidnapped Neria just after our test duels in the first year."
"Yeah I remember him as well" Aristide stated "He's not someone we want to mess around with"
Theorn then added "But there are cracks developing between the Freemen and Venatori and it seems the Freemen are beginning to cut ties with the Venatori. They're sending a man called Carroll over here."
"Well maybe the Freemen will destroy itself" Chazz suggested but Alexis shook her head.
"The Venatori will just take direct control over this area" she claimed
Aristide then looked at Theorn "Did they say where they are going?" he asked
Theorn nodded "Maliphant is going to an old manor House while Auguste is going to an old Lodge" he stated
Fairbanks overhead them "That manor is not far from the mine where you rescued those people" he stated "And that Lodge is further away but if we can get into that Manor then we may be safe as we'll have s more guarded place."
Aristide then knew what to do "Well I've decided what we're doing." He said "We'll help Fairbanks capture this Manor and then after that, we're leaving so we can find the others."
They all nodded and soon they began to get ready to start their new mission.
…
Along the road, a massive force made of members of the Warrior Faction marched along the road as they marched towards their destination. Instead of being a small force, nearly every Warrior Duellist from the Warrior Faction had been gathered for their big push towards Redcliffe and then towards the Spellcaster territory. Ser Alrik along with Ser Karras and Ser Rylock road together on their horses, because they were higher ranks, they didn't need to walk on foot like many soldiers.
"I can't wait for us to get to Redcliffe" Karras sneered "Soon we'll be one step further in cleansing this world of spellcaster corruption."
"I also hope that our traitor Evangeline is there" Rylock sneered "I have unfinished business with her."
"Remember you two, our mission is to capture the castle and recover the stolen cards that were stolen from Meredith" Alrik added "Those cards are needed so Meredith can bring peace."
It was then that another Warrior Faction member rode up to them on his horse. This member had blond hair, it was Cullen, the Warrior Faction member who had defeated Neria "I just hope that we have a plan for this" he stated
Alrik glared at Cullen "Are you question our leader?" he spat
Cullen glared back "I am loyal to Commander Meredith" he hissed "And I will help on this mission to end the Spellcaster threat, I may not have been born in the Warrior Territory but I've seen what these Spellcasters do. I just rather we have a plan rather than just attack blindly, Redcliffe is one of the most defendable castles in the Bufferlands and it won't be easy capturing it. Many have tried just like we did and many have failed just like we did."
"We plan to find a secret entrance into the castle" Rylock stated "An old castle like that will have some kind of a secret passageway to sneak into the castle. All we have to do is find it."
Karras then stopped as he head rustling in the bushes "Did you hear that?" he asked and everyone stopped and Alrik held his arm to order the army to stop marching and soon the rustling was heard again.
"We're not alone here" Cullen stated "We are in the Water Faction territory so they must be scouting us."
"Find them" Alrik ordered "We cannot allow them to report us; our march must remain a secret."
The four of them got off their horses and began looking around the bushes. Then just as they got there, they saw several figures run out of the bushes "After them!" Alrik snapped "They must not inform Redcliffe that we're here." Cullen, Rylock, Karras and Alrik quickly got their horses and ran after them. They quickly managed to catch up to them and saw four individuals who had been fleeing. The leader of them looked at the others.
"You guys go!" he ordered "I'll hold them off"
"Are you sure Tomas?" one other member asked
"Don't argue, just go!" Tomas snapped and the other three ran off.
Alrik shook his head "That was pointless" he stated "You're only duelling me in the end." He looked at Karras, Cullen and Rylock "Take care of those three, I take this guys out."
"As you Command Alrik" Karras stated and then the carried on chasing the others while Alrik got off his horse.
"Do you know who I am?" Alrik asked
Tomas nodded "Evangeline told us about you Alrik" he hissed "She said that you were the worst of all the Warriors since you don't care who gets in your way."
Alrik smirked "What she thinks of me won't matter" he sneered "Soon Redcliffe will be under our control"
Tomas smirked "Not when we have the help of a great Dragon Duellist"
That caught Alrik off guard, he had heard about a Dragon Duellist back at Kirkwall but he didn't believe it but right now he had more important things to worry about and so he activated his duel disk which was followed by Tomas.
"DUEL!"
Alrik: 8000
Tomas: 8000
"I'll go first" Alrik sneered as he drew his sixth card "And I'll start by summoning Noble Knight Gawayn in attack mode" a golden armoured knight appeared on the field (Level 4 Attack 1900 Defence 500) "Then I will equip him with Noble Arms Caliburn in attack mode which gives him an extra 500 attack points." the warrior was given a new sword which glowed (NKG Attack 1900-2400) "And once per turn thanks to Caliburn, I gain 500 life points so I will take my reward and end my turn" the sword sent golden particles which were absorbed by Alrik.
Alrik: 8500
Tomas: 8000
Tomas drew his card "First of all I will play the field spell a Legendary Ocean" the field changed into a large underwater sunken city "Now all Water monsters gain 200 attack points and lose 1 level. So now I summon Abyss Soldier in attack mode" a large purple aqua monster appeared on the field wielding a trident (Level 4 Attack 1800 Defence 1300) "And now I will activate his effect, now by discarding one water monster in my hand, I can return 1 card to your hand, so by discarding Atlantian Attack Squid, your Gawayn returns to your hand" the spirit of a squid like monster appeared and then swooped through Gawayn and the Knight vanished and the sword shattered. "But my Squid will be back thanks to Monster Reborn" the Squid appeared on the field (Level 3 Attack 1400 Defence 0) "Thanks to a Legendary Ocean, my monsters gain 200 attack points but since I control an Aqua monster, my squid gains an additional 800" Both monsters glowed as they gained more attack points (AS Attack 1800-2000) (AAS Attack 1400-2400) "And now both my monsters will attack you directly." Abyss soldier charged forward and stabbed Alrik through the chest with his trident.
Alrik: 6500
Tomas: 8000
"And now my Atlantian Attack Squid will follow" Tomas added and then the Squid shot through Alrik.
Alrik: 4100
Tomas: 8000
"You're not going so well for high up you are" Tomas mocked "For the second in command of the Warrior faction, I've already taken out half you attack points in your first turn. I end my turn"
Alrik narrowed his eyes "You just got lucky!" he growled "I'll show you what I can do, first I play Foolish Burial so now I can discard 1 card in my deck to the grave so now I'll send my Noble Knight Artorigus to the grave. And now I will summon Lady of the Lake in attack mode" a lady with blond hair wearing a light purple dress appeared on the field (Level 1 Attack 200 Defence 1800)
"An Aqua monster?" Tomas questioned "I thought you Warrior Faction types always used Warriors"
"Are deck have other monsters in them if need be!" Alrik growled "And now that I have normal summoned her, I can special summon a Noble Knight normal monster so now Artorigus returns." A heavily armoured warrior with a large sword appeared on the field (Level 4 Attack 1800 Defence 1800). "And I still have a few cards I can use so I can now summon again since I play the spell card Double Summon so now I summon Noble Knight Medraut in attack mode" a ginger haired warrior appeared on the field (Level 4 Attack 1700 Defence 1000). "And there is more, my Lady of the Lake is a tuner monster."
Tomas gasped at that "Uh oh, I can see what's coming"
"You should" Alrik sneered "I tune Lady of the Lake with Medraut" the Lady turned into a ring which surrounded Medraut and the monster formed 4 lights and a large beam shot through them. "I Synchro summon Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn in attack mode" a dark haired warrior in black armour and two swords appeared on the field (Level 5 Attack 2100 Defence 900). "Since he was Synchro summoned, I can equip a Noble Arms card to him from my deck so I equip Noble Arms Gallatin to him which gives him an extra 1000 attack points." One of the swords was replaced with a new shining sword (IKOHL Attack 2100-3100). "And now my Ignoble Knight will attack your Abyss Soldier" the Ignoble knight swung his swords and cut the soldier to pieces.
Alrik: 4100
Tomas: 6900
"And since you lost your other monster, your Attack squid loses some of his gained attack points" Alrik sneered as the Squid's power faded (AAS Attack 2400-1600) "And now my Artorigus will attack your Squid." The Warrior slashed the squid and destroyed him.
Alrik: 4100
Tomas: 6700
"And now I will end my turn" Alrik finished "You've just lost your field advantage, you may still have more life points but you're low on cards in your hand and I have two good monsters on my field. Also since my Ignoble attacked, I can add a Noble Knight or Nobles Arms card from my deck to my hand so now I'll add Noble Arms Defese to my hand"
Tomas looked at Alrik "Well then I guess I'll just have to boast my defence" he stated as he drew his card "First I play the spell card Pot of Greed which allows me to draw two extra cards. Then I summon Atlantean Heavy Infantry in defence mode" a scaly underwater monster equipped with two large shields appeared on the field and knelt behind the shields (Level 2 Attack 0 Defence 1600) "And since he's on the field, I can summon another level 4 or lower sea serpent monster from my hand again. So I also summon Atlantean Marksman in defence mode" a green scaly creature armed with a harpoon gun appeared on the field (Level 3 Attack 1400 Defence 0). Then I'll finish by throwing one card facedown."
Alrik narrowed his eyes at Tomas "My draw!" he hissed
Tomas smirked "If you're thinking of destroying my monsters then you can forget it this turn" he stated "I play my facedown card, Aegis of the Ocean Dragon Lords, now until the End Phase, all my level 3 or lower Water monsters cannot be destroyed by battle or by card effect"
Alrik growled "Well I've got something else to use instead" he hissed "Every turn my Ignoble loses 200 attack points thanks to the sword" the sword began to lose power (IKOHL Attack 3100-2900). "But now I'll use the card I got from my Ignoble's effect, Noble Arms Defese." The other sword in Ignoble's hands changed into a larger sword. "This sword doesn't increase my monsters attack but it does however allow him to deal piercing damage." Tomas gasped at that as now it meant that he would take serious damage when that Ignoble attacked his Marksman. "But now I'll also play the spell card Stop Defence which switches your Heavy Infantry to attack mode" the Shield holding sea monster stood up "And now my Ignoble will attack that Marksman" the Ignoble Knight swung both his swords which sent shockwaves that made Tomas groan in pain.
Alrik: 4100
Tomas: 4000
"And now my Artorigus will attack that Heavy infantry" Alrik added and then the Knight slashed the defence warrior but while the monster survived, Tomas was thrown back.
Alrik: 4100
Tomas: 2400
"And now I will end my turn by throwing one card facedown" Alrik finished "You may as well give up, you'll never win."
Tomas groaned and narrowed his eyes at Alrik "I'll never give up!" he spat "Unlike you, if I lose then I lose everything and as long as I have a chance to win then I'll do it. And I have that chance thanks to Card of Sanctity so now we both draw until we hold 6 cards" Alrik and Tomas drew until they held 6 cards in their hands "Then I sacrifice my Marksman so I can summon Poseidra the Atlantean Dragon in attack mode." A large dragon like monster with a trident on its tail appeared on the field (Level 7 Attack 2800 Defence 1600)
"Wait, that's level 7 so it requires 2 sacrifices."Alrik protested
Tomas smirked "Did you forget my Legendary Ocean, all monsters in my hand decrease by 1 level so she is actually level 6." He stated "But thanks to my Heavy Infantry, I can summon another Level 4 or lower Sea Serpent so I summon Atlantean Dragoons in attack mode" a knight riding two fierce seahorses appeared on the field (Level 4 Attack 1800 Defence 0). "And now I will also equip my Heavy Infantry with the spell card Atlantean trident with increases his attack points by 1000" The Heavy Infantry took hold of a large golden trident as his attack points increased (AHI Attack 200-1200). "And my Dragoons allows every level 3 or lower Sea serpent to attack you directly and thanks to my Legendary Ocean, my Dragoons is level 4 so attack him" the sea horses charged forward and the knight pierced Alrik with his spear.
Alrik: 2100
Tomas: 2400
"That will be followed by Heavy Infantry's attack" Tomas added and the Heavy Infantry threw his trident which knocked Alrik back.
Alrik: 900
Tomas: 2400
"And finally my Poseidra will attack that Artorigus which will end this duel" Tomas added and the dragon sent out a breath of blue water but then Alrik had a trap ready.
"I play my facedown card" Alrik countered "The trap card shift which switches your attack to my Ignoble instead so I survive this duel." The water blast struck Ignoble instead
Alrik: 800
Tomas: 2400
Tomas sighed that he had failed to defeat Alrik this turn "I will end my turn" Tomas finished 'now if I can survive this turn, I can finish him on my next turn'
Alrik smirked "That was your last chance to win this duel" he sneered "You won't have a next turn as I'm ending this duel this round. First I banish my Noble Knights Gawayn and Medraut from my graveyard which allows me to special summon Noble Knight Eacher in attack mode" the two Noble Knights were removed from Alrik's graveyard and Alrik placed them in his pocket and then a darker knight with a flaming torch appeared on the field (Level 5 Attack 1600 Defence 2000). "And then I summon Noble Knight Borz in attack mode" a muscular knight with a large chalice appeared on the field (Level 4 Attack 1700 Defence 900). "And then I equip him with Noble Arms Arfeudutyr, this is pretty much useless but it allows me to activate Borz's effect which increases his level by 1 to level 5 and turn him into a Dark Attribute monster." Borz became more powerful (Level 4-5). "You've already seen my Synchro summon, but now I'll show you my other summoning method"
Tomas gasped in horror when he realised what he was talking about.
"I overlay my two Level 5 Noble Knights in order to build the Overlay network." Alrik stated as the two Noble Knights formed who black balls which were sucked into a black portal "Sacred King of the order of Knights, come and lead your followers to victory, I XYZ summon Sacred Noble Knight of King Artorigus in attack mode" a knight wearing fancy armour and wielding two large swords appeared on the field (Rank 5 Attack 2200 Defence 2200) "And now I'll activate his ability which allows me to equip 3 Noble Arms cards in my graveyard to him, so I equip Defese, Caliburn and Gallatin to him which gives him an extra 1500 attack points" Three swords were added to the Sacred Knight's armour (SNKOKA Attack 2200-3700). "And I'll also play the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon which destroys you Atlantian trident equip spell" the typhoon blew the trident from Heavy Infantry's hands and he lost some of his attack boast. (AHI Attack 1200-200).
Tomas gasped in horror as he knew what was coming. He had tried and he had failed to defeat Alrik but at least he went down fighting.
Alrik smirked "It's over Tomas, this duel and your life are gone!" he shouted "Now Sacred Knight, destroy his Heavy Infantry and the rest of his life points" Sacred Knight powered his sword and then he charged at the Heavy Infantry and slashed him, the defeated monster glowed before exploding and blowing Tomas back who screamed.
Alrik: 800 (Winner)
Tomas: 0000
Tomas flew onto his back and the Alrik walked up to him "I'm sure you know what is about to happen now." He stated "Since I defeated you, I get to take you as a prize just like all the others I defeated."
Tomas glared at him "I may have been defeated but we haven't lost yet" he hissed "The Warrior Faction will never dominate this world, there will be those who resist you and Redcliffe will stand strong."
Alrik laughed "My comrades will have already taken care of your friends" he stated "And you will join those who I have defeated before" he held his duel disk and then there was a bright glow and when it faded, Tomas was gone and a small crystal flew into Alrik's hands. Alrik could see a small version of Tomas in the crystal. Alrik laughed and place the crystal in a pouch along with the other ones he had.
Alrik quickly returned to the rest of the army and soon, he was joined by Cullen, Rylock and Karras "So, how did you three do?" he asked
"We did well" Karras stated and handed Alrik 3 more crystals with Tomas' friends sealed inside "Redcliffe won't get that warning"
"Plus we learnt something that will help us" Cullen added "There is a secret exit out of the castle. Near an old windmill is a secret passage that allows people to get out of the castle. However it requires a special key that only Teagan has."
Alrik smirked "Then all we need to do is block that exit and they're have no way out" he stated "Now let's carry on and I hope we don't have any more interruptions."
Chapter End:
Notes: I'm sorry for the long wait but I had a lot of University work to do plus I was also working on my new story. The next chapter will take a while again plus I still have some University work to do plus I've also decided to get started on my next chapter of Rise of the Divines which I haven't done since December so the next chapter will take a while but I hope to get it done. This chapter I decided to do from the Warrior Factions point of view so Alrik is actually a bad guy in this story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.