"Indeterminant. Risa Saheed. The hero of the Ruthobold Kingdom has now been defeated, as you can see. May I head to the city of Repan where the 4th legion is currently fighting?", Troy asked.
Oscar nodded in agreement.
"Fine by me."
With a nod, Troy turned to leave.
He decided that he should find out for himself.
Before spilling his knowledge to the Indeterminant, who he was not sure whether he could trust or not, he would confront Oraguth himself.
Did the monsters he had collaborated with plan this far ahead?
'We are merely using you for our own benefit. I hope you are aware of this.'
The words of Oraguth played in the mind of Troy.
'Is this what he meant by that?'
He would find out the truth.
And if he had played right into the cards of those beings of chaos, he would have to go against the very hand which fed him.
Troy didn't want to do such a thing, but realizing the magnitude of the situation, he came to this conclusion.
He had been a puppet.
He had played a part in this wicked scheme. By hiding his motives and experiences, he had betrayed humanity, perusing what he believed was justice.
The men who had been harmed by Brutus followed him, and welcomed Oraguth among their rankings.
Even if he was a monster, they did not doubt him nor his masters.
However, faced with the death of a hero, and the consequences thereof, Troy understood well.
'Something irreversible may have just been done...'
The Indeterminant too played a part in this irreversible action, however Troy felt that the Indeterminant was not as grand a figure as he was made out to be.
He was a figure who acted like he had a plan and a desire to save humanity from evil, however Troy knew one thing for sure.
He could never compare to the plotting, scheming, overarching figures of the antiheroes.
Therefore, Troy headed to Repan, where Oraguth was carrying out a 'plan'.
Troy knew not of what this plan was, however he intended to put a stop to it.
'Just as the Indeterminant may have brought a monster into this world.... I may have done the same thing. And I must take responsibility.'
----
'Ah!! Shit! He's already gone.'
Oscar remembered something as soon as Troy had left, which put a damper in his own plans.
'If he goes and sees what's happening within the 4th legion, then he will likely take care of it himself!! There is no way he will simply overlook their actions..... tch....'
Oscar paced back and forth with a worried expression, causing Risa to look at him with concern.
"What are you doing?", she asked.
"Ah.... I'm just worried. What should we do next? I suppose....."
All of a sudden a lightning bulb struck in the mind of Oscar, and once more he held back a horrible grin.
'Wait wait wait..... this is even better, isn't it?'
Turning to the woman, he pointed into the distance.
"We should go check up on Darius and the 2nd legion. After that, we will head back to check on how the 4th legion is doing. Now that the hero is dead, we will be able to peacefully take the rest of the Kingdom, with little to no resistance. From there, your duty will have been completed and the Emperor will continue to send supplies to your nation until the end of the drought."
"I see. Then, let's go."
Oscar and Risa zipped off, headed towards the city of Vena.
'Heh heh.... you know, that message recently was a lifesaver. I never realized it, but if the heroes had gathered together and united, they would have obtained an insane ability.... one that would prove to be a major obstacle.'
Closing his eyes in thought, Oscar recalled the ability.
[Power of Friendship]
'If they became that overpowered, then I wouldn't have been able to kill them.... even knowing their names. That would be very troublesome, as I would have to share my harem between two other men.'
Nodding to himself in satisfaction, Oscar looked forward.
'But more importantly, the situation keeps getting better and better. I sent the 4th legion to go and capture women and children so that I could show up and save the day in front of this obstinate woman who seems bent on not falling for me.... but now it's even better. I can frame the hero of the Empire as working with them, and get rid of two birds with one stone. Hahaha!!! This is great!!! There isn't a decent human being in the world who wouldn't fall head over heels for me after seeing me do something so heroic- and I gain all the captured women as a bonus.'
----
Ryan stood now at the head of 3500 knights, headed to the city of Vena.
Kyle Ruthobold had used his ability [Courageous Battle Cry] in order to increase the strength of his followers, both those under the command of Ryan and Mackayla, by an entire tier.
Right now due to this ability, the men were of the upper 4th tier in strength on average, and they rushed to the scene of the city before them.
These 7000 knights split between 2 groups represented the entire military strength of the Kingdom.
Knight's from all over the nation had gathered. With some corrupt knights who had been stripped from their titles aside, there were no more reinforcements to be had.
To put things simply, failure was not allowable.
"Let us charge, men!!!! We must free the city of Vena from the control of the Empire!!!", Ryan shouted, raising his sword in a cry.
This cry was met with the cheers of many, and the speed at which the group advanced increased.
Soon enough, the city came into view.
"There it is!!!! Let us move!!!"
----
"Legion Commander Darius, Sir! A unit has appeared from the West, and our estimates put them at around 3 to 4 thousand men! Should we engage or fall back?"
The bearded man nodded as he stood up from his seat in a temporary tent which had been set up shortly after the capture of the town of Vena.
"Has the hero been spotted among them?"
"Actually, we just received an indication from the Indeterminant's party that the hero is currently engaged with his group, and that there is no need to concern ourselves with him!"
Darius nodded.
"It seems that the only possible obstacle to this campaign is being taken care of as we speak. Then, there should be no issue with engaging them at full force. Split the units into five groups of 2000 men and attack from all directions."
"Understood!"
Darius stood up, headed out to the field where his men would battle.
As a man of war, he understood tactics and strategy- however the introduction of a piece which held great power over all others was something that troubled every strategist.
Now that the hero had been occupied with the Indeterminant's own powerful pieces, he held no concern with taking on the standard soldiers who fought for the Kingdom.
He held the numerical advantage, and so long as he didn't make any grave mistakes, he would easily be able to pull off a victory here.
The only issue was to do so in a manner that minimized casualties.
Darius made his way to the front, to see many of his soldiers lined up outside the village in the units which he had ordered them to form.
Standing behind his men, Darius looked into the distance to see a number of men on horses, riding towards his legion.
'Cavalry, eh? So they are trying to use an elite force to overcome the difference in numbers. I see. This might not be such an easy victory after all.'
"Prepare the barricades."
Darius thrust a hand forward, and immediately a number of wooden spikes were raised to prevent a head on charge.
"This will slow down their momentum. Soldiers of the Empire! Grab your spears and prepare to force the men off their horses! If needed, attack the horses themselves!!!"
The voice of Darius boomed through the rankings of the men, and these orders were carried further to all soldiers present by messengers who acted as a telephone line.
Immediately, spears were prepared and held at the front, ready to strike.
However, even at these defensive maneuvers, the horsemen did not slow down in the slightest.
Darius watched with confusion, and rubbed his eyes in wonder.
'Are they... speeding up?'
They were not slowing themselves, but charging even faster.
'This.... must be a bluff. There is no way speeding up will get them anywhere. They will ram right into the wooden spikes, and be penetrated by the spears of the men.... their leader cannot be so foolish and inexperienced as to not realize that much.'
However, what happened next made Darius drop his jaw in shock.
The horses leapt into the air, multiple feet above the barricades, landing on top of a number of men, crushing them underneath.
And the momentum did not stop there.
The men on horseback swung their swords down, slicing off the heads of many and continuing to trample any in their path.
In this single initial charge, at least 300 legionnaires were immediately killed, and the charge did not stop.
The horsemen followed behind their comrades, leading a charge into the depths of the legion after hurdling the fences.
'Impossible!!! The movements of those horses.... that jumping height.... it's something I've never seen in my life! I've never seen a steed that could jump even 8 feet into the air.... and yet each and every one of them are surmounting the 10 foot spears!?'
The front ranks had turned to chaos. The spearmen desperately fought, striking at the heads of the horses when they were unable to pinpoint the men sitting on them, however for every horseman who was taken down, 5 more men were trampled or sliced to bits.
"Forward!!!! We have been given the blessing of the hero, and so these men are no match for us!! Do not fear their numbers!!!"
The man who was likely commanding them raised his sword as a number of horsemen passed him with cheers of victory.
"Yeah!!!"
"Get out of our lands, Empire invaders!!!"
The men on the flanks had begun closing in on the horsemen at this point, who continued pressing forward with their own momentum.
"Do not stop!!! We will take the head of their Commander!!!!"
"We cannot let them reach the Legion Commander!!! Close in on them!!!"
Blood was splattered. Men were torn to pieces and stomped to death, and others were dragged off their horses and stabbed repeatedly until their eyes showed no signs of life.
'Why are they so powerful? Each and every one of them is far stronger than what I would anticipate.... were the Knights of the Kingdom always this strong? No... the man I fought just earlier was trained well, but he was nothing special. Perhaps these are the elites of the Kingdom then..... but for all of these men to hold such strength and raw power.... it is unnatural.'
Darius began to catch on that something was up, but he did not understand what exactly was the cause of their increased strength.
The battle raged and the men continued to press forward, and little by little the rankings of both sides were whittled down.
At this point, around 500 men on the side of the Kingdom had fallen, while around 2500 men on the side of the Empire had fallen.
'At this rate we will be wiped out.... I must do something.', Darius thought as he rushed forward himself.
"Men!!! Draw back and allow a path for them to me!! Then close in on them and crush them!!!", Darrius shouted, though not loud enough for the knights of the Kingdom far off to hear.
However, it was at that moment that a mechanical female voice played in the minds of every person in the world.
[Notice: One of the four heroes has died]
At this strange and lifeless voice, devoid of any emotion aside from simply displaying the information to all, time itself seemed to come to a stand still.
Darius viewed everything in slow motion, though this was only due to the adrenaline flowing through his veins as he heard these words.
'Which.... which hero was it? Which hero has died?', he wondered.
Time seemed to resume and the men obeyed the orders of Darius, pulling back and allowing the horsemen to rush forward along the clear path.
'They've fallen for the trap....', Darius thought as he held out his own sword, prepared to exchange a blow with the man who led the force, who was eyeing him.
And then, as if the warriors were the red sea collapsing on the Egyptians, the horsemen who rushed through the open path were engulfed.
The man who led the horsemen fought off a number of attackers before making it to Darius, swinging his sword down on him from above.
But Darius stood firm.
Not budging from his spot and countering the blow with raw strength, his feet dug into the ground at the momentum of a horseman who slammed into him.
Encountered with this resistance, the man was flung off his horse, and Darius quickly thrusted forward, piercing the chest of the man who now lay on the ground.
"Blergh!!"
Looking up, Darius saw now that there were similar scenes all across the landscape.
The men on horseback who held an unnatural amount of power were now falling like flies to the soldiers of the Empire, engulfed completely in the attack.
Approximately 6000 legionnaires remained. With barely any further casualties, they had easily swatted out the attacking forces.
"How?"
Darius looked down at the man below him, who choked out these words with the splatter of blood.
"We.... blergh..... were given the strength of the hero..... and yet.... blergh.... it... somehow..... how? How did he die?"
The man's eyes went cold, and Darius looked down on him with heavy heart.
'So that is what happened....'
Stepping forth, Darius heard the cries of victory throughout his rankings.
Many of his men had died. Far more than expected.
Yet as soon as the hero who had been strengthening them had been defeated, the difference in numbers was too much for the knights of the Kingdom to handle.
They invaded too deep while they were strengthened, however that strength suddenly disappeared.
With such a surprise, it could only benefit the Legion of the Empire.
'This battle was almost a grave miscalculation on my part..... but what of the 4th legion? Were they saved in the same manner? Or were they wiped out before they could realize....'
Darius looked to the South where Repan was located, grimacing.
'To be completely honest, I wouldn't mind if they were all wiped out by the Kingdom.'
----
The city of Repan had been reduced to ashes and rubble.
The men of the city had been slaughtered, without a single survivor.
The women and children, taken into custody.
What once stood as the jailhouse for the city had now been repurposed to contain the hostages.
Many men stood outside the town, standing by with sinister grins and horrible expressions.
At their front, stood a sly man with the eyes of a snake and the tongue of a creep.
"My men!!!! We have taken this town for all it is worth!! We have scrapped their coffers, captured their women and children, and slain their men. The spoils of war are now ours, and ours alone to keep. We will keep a unit of 500 men stationed here to.... defend the spoils, and we move onward!! Onward to the next village!!! For this is war! There are many more spoils than just this to be had, and currently the Indeterminant is locked in battle with the hero according to a recently received message."
Standing forward and pointing into the horizon, the man grinned with a horrible lust.
"I am sure that you are all beaming with excitement to witness what other spoils await us."
The men chuckled to themselves. Having kidnapped a large number of women and children, they would be able to have their fun at a later time and then sell them off as slaves within the black market.
However, as the man who stood at their head turned around, he saw something in the horizon.
A unit of warriors, riding on horseback.
At their head was a woman, and they were far off in the distance, rushing towards the city while kicking up dust behind them.
"It would seem though.... that there is an enemy to take care of first! Men!!! Prepare for battle!!!! Incapacitate any women and slaughter all the men!!!!"
"Yes, Legion Commander!!!!"
The men formed a V formation, prepared to intercept the group as they marched forth.
The two forces approached one another with haste, neither side willing to retreat.
However, as the Knight's in the distance drew closer, their march slowed ever so slightly.
'Haha..... so they have noticed.'
Larios stood behind his men as they rushed forth, the destroyed town at his back.
'It works every time. The moment you show 'noble warriors' a scene of destruction, their blows become soft and their minds become feeble. Aside from a particular few who are filled with a righteous rage, it works like a charm.'
----
Mackayla rode forth, her men at her back, shouting out cheers in support.
"We will protect our people!!!"
"We will defend them from the invaders!!!!"
As they progressed along the plains, such things were shouted to boost the morale of the men.
It was then that a Legion of men came into view.
The bronze glistening of the armor as the sun reflected it's rays informed all the knights of the Kingdom of the large force which was assembled in the distance.
"We go forth to engage them!!!", Mackayla shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Yeah!!!!"
The men gained a spring in their step, filled with motivation to defeat the enemy before them.
The horses increased their speed, which was already heightened due to the blessing which Kyle had given them and the men.
However, it was shortly after they traveled along the landscape that the scene just beyond the legion also came into view.
The scene of a destroyed and razed village.
The destruction of a town, and the smoke which covered the surrounding skies.
There were no screams that could be heard from this distance, as the knights were too far away to hear any, however their eyes widened as they saw the smoke in the air and the decimation of the town.
Mackayla felt her heart writhe within her chest, and her limbs went numb for a moment as she realized just what had happened here.
'The.... town.....'
Her hands began to tremble, and at this she gripped her sword tightly, thinning her eyes in preparation for battle.
The men around her now had expressions of gloom and terror as they came upon the same realization she had.
All had been lost.
They were too late.
Mackayla knew that she had to say something to reinstill the spirits of the men, however the words did not come out.
There was nothing she could say to ease the fears in the hearts of the men when faced with this scene.
Even so, she had to do something.
'I..... have to say something....'
Mackayla almost dropped her sword in her weakness, but she gripped it even tighter.
Forcing the words out of her mouth, she shouted out.
"We..... must avenge the lost lives!!!!!!!"