"Pitiful humans… no matter how much you run and defect and form forces against us, it's already too late" the Emperor said talking to himself, however it wasn't the usual emperor, he has been taken over.
"Just a little bit and we will be able to manifest ourselves physically on this world, for now just make do with those fragile human bodies, but remember, if they die you will also lose your chance for our physical birth on this land"
He wasn't talking to people, rather he was telepathically sending the message to the soldiers who charged and chased the defectors, these were knights who got possessed by the dark elves, in order for them to physically manifest on the continent their first goal was to turn the continent into their land, so they needed to conquer every nation that stood on it first, using the bodies of their soldiers.
…
"Hahahaha! Die human! Die!" a dark elf inside a knights body said as he slashed another knight who stayed behind to stall time for the escape, however with the enemy's improved physique he was quickly defeated and in a thud blood flowed on the ground. He was stumped by the cavalry that continued the chase.
"They're getting away brothers, lets show them our magic!" a group of fifty knights moved closer to each other on their horses, and on their back a large transparent dark silhouette of a dark elf wielding a sword threw its weapon which flew and stuck the ground ahead of the defectors, which made them stop on their tracks in shock.
"HAHA! Look at that brothers! Those fragile humans are scared! Let's turn them to shreds right away!" the knights were not saying a word to one another but they were so organized as if they telepathically communicated with each other, this was because of the dark elves within them.
The knights assembled became controlled by the hidden enemy. The fifty knights spearheaded the pursuit followed by an enormous number of forces assembled by the other lords of the empire, numbering up to 20,000 in total.
…
When the sword struck to the ground, luckily no one was hit, Gideon knew that they had to escape at all cost.
"Run! Run! Run towards our allies!" He declared and raised his wand, another phoenix appeared, it flew towards the group of knights who made the silhouette when they gather together.
However the phoenix didn't hurt the silhouette and it only passed through it as if there was originally nothing.
"How could this be? This magic is... " Gideon shouted within his heart, he looked at one of his men and said, "Quickly, tell the princess and the queen about this!" they could almost see the castle as they were running.
The man that he spoke to turned into a raven and left his armor on the ground, it flew to the castle hurriedly, another one followed but he turned into a sea eagle instead, both went to different directions.
…
When the raven went back, on its feet was a letter, "Are these? Instructions? What the hell? Are they using us as bait in these times?"
Gideon didn't feel good about the suggestion as to running to a certain area as the instruction lacked specific details.
The sea eagle went back with a letter on its feet, this time it was from the princess herself, "Please trust the queen" it said.
Gideon clenched his fists and shouted, "Follow me!" and went north east, following the instruction on the paper.
His men followed him without complain, in a hours of running they could finally see the wall, they could finally see hope, believing the viscount was right, finally they are safe.
As they rejoiced of seeing a part of Ethareri's wall, suddenly another large sword flew through the men in one platoon, beheading and cutting the fragile humans on its way. Gideon saw this happen, the valiant knights who followed him being killed in such a manner, there's no way he would forgive the one who did this. "If we remained there we would have been a tool for those maniacs" he thought as he gritted his teeth in anger.
"Everyone! Quickly take anyone who survived and-" Netland ordered, but most of them were already dead, scattered parts of the body were found.
Some of the knights separated and went to the smoke, they took the survivors with them on their horses and rode back with Gideon. They could finally see the location the letter told them to go, it was a few kilometers near the tall wall of Ethareri.
"There are flying huge swords to us you know! They're still coming at us despite being on another country's border, and that magic they made when they gathered together, it's not just the king who went insane!" he shouted on his mind, "Will this really work princess?"
When they reached the location Gideon declared, "We will stop here!"
Everyone got crazy hearing his declaration.
"What's the meaning of this?"
"Are we going to die?"
"Why the hell are we staying here! We should go inside those gates!"
GIdeon could only close his eyes on the comments of the civilians, however he already relayed the instruction to his soldiers and the other nobles, they knew the instructions and have gave their full trust to their princess.
"Please, princess" Gideon closed his eyes as he heard the cavalry's horses closing on them, while they stopped, the civilians started to panic, they went out of their carriages and scattered.
"I couldn't blame them for doing that" he thought as he saw the civilians running for their lives while they stood their ground and braced for the battle, knights took out their swords, those who knew magic started their incantations.
The force coming at them was four times larger than them, they gritted their teeth as they waited for the enemy.
As if answering to the trust, Ethatheri's gate opened and an old man in golden armor rode in a horse and went to them.
"Sorry for the delay, I am Erneis the queen's chief knight, I know you must be scared but leave this to us for now" he mounted his horse and stood his ground facing the direction of the knights incoming.
In a few moments they could finally see the knights that were pursuing them, Gideon's men gritted their teeth seeing their bloodstained armor, some of them even brought the severed heads of their comrades.
"What are you planning to do Sir Erneis? These crazy men are closing in!" Gideon anxiously asked.
"It's not me who will be doing things, I'm just here for an insurance"
"Just you? Where are your knights?"
"I'm afraid that the man who put me to the task told me that I myself is enough"
"Man?" Gideon exclaimed, "I don't think this old man would follow anyone except the queen" he thought, "Was there a change in leadership?"
But these thoughts didn't last very long as the knights were coming closer and closer.
"It's time" Erneis muttered that Gideon could hear it.
Arrow flew from the battlements to the pursuing knights, however they were able to easily dodge it by changing their direction for a bit.
"Where are your archers shooting at?" it was Hawken who exclaimed seeing the arrows fired were easily dodged, as if they were playing around, "What the hell are you trying to do?! Your archers suck! Is this what you mean by "leave it to us"?" he was starting to panic while he held his greatsword.
However Erneis only responded him with vague words, "I also don't know, but I'm sure Your Highness Andrei wouldn't let you die" he turned around lightly to the panicking noble.
When Erneis saw that the conditions were met he made a deep long breath and shouted.
"Everyone cover your ears!!!!" Erneis shouted as he chanted his protection spell.
"Clipeum, the shield of light will protect me!" He scooped both hands from the ground upward and a large invisible bluish shield appeared in front of them.
As he did this a series of large deafening explosions was heard accompanied with high speed little whistles coming from all directions.