Gary:
"You think they'll be okay?" Carl asked me as we sludged through the sewers.
"They'll be fine. My sister can bench-press a house. As long as she and Sayuri are together there's no way anyone can take them out." I turned my face in disgust, "I'm more concerned if we'll make it. The smell here is literally killing me."
"Just be glad we had another way inside," Carl sighed. "Besides it's not like we're the only ones here." Around us were about two dozen knights. They were part of the elite squad serving directly under the Queen. From Dave's word's, although we were stronger than them, four or five of them could easily match our current strength. It may not sound like much but considering where we began, I'm surprised we were being rated so highly. I guess it was because how strong Dave was compared to us.
A knight approached us, "Excuse me Heroes, we have reached the branching point. From here according to Hero Davios' plan we shall part ways."
"Will you be fine on your own?" Carl asked.
"Do not worry about us. We will do our jobs."
"Of course," Carl opened his bag and handed the knights four large cylinders. I didn't have a perfect grasp on the plan but Dave said they would act as stabilizers for his magic in place of actual magicians.
"Then, I wish you luck Heroes," the Knights bowed towards us and split into four groups before leaving.
"Well…" I began, "I guess it's just us now." I shot a thumbs up to Carl, "Let's not screw up."
"Haaa, please don't pressure me. It won't be funny if we do. Everyone is relying on us," Carl's expression tightened.
"Relax," I slapped him on the shoulder. "Let's just get this over with. I'm tired of being in here."
We headed down our own path away from where the knights had gone. Our position was the most dangerous, directly in the city centre. To make Dave's plan work, outside Sasren's walls the Queen's magicians had created a perimeter. Together with us at the centre and the knight's carrying the stabilizers we were going to create a large scale magic circuit.
It didn't take long to reach our destination. A ladder leading to the city centre and on top of it a thick stone slab. Carl pulled out his pocket watch,
"10 minutes left before we start. Remember only low class magic until we get the signal from the others."
"How far do we need to go exactly?" I asked while stretching.
"The exact point is about 100 meters away but we'll be in the thick of it quickly. Remember a lot of the townsfolk are being held hostage here."
"Great...." my nerves were beginning to show and looking at Carl's pale complexion, so were his.
Time ticked by slowly and then all too soon Carl drew his sword and began to count down. I casted magic to search the area.
"The above is clear."
"Good. Ready in 3, 2 ,1 now!" A burst of light shot upwards and the stone slab above us was cut, leaving a nice hole for us to jump through. Carl quickly disappeared and I followed with my dagger drawn.
It wasn't good. Although I had searched the area before hand, it had been only directly above us. We were surrounded by enemy soldiers. Before they could react I charged forward and took two of them down with a swift blow to the neck. Three more came but I easily took care of them. Even though I was more of a magician, I could still handle myself pretty well, Dave had made sure of that. The enemy soldiers backed away, in awe of my skill. They must have been too afraid to fight me. I looked back. My expression froze, behind me were dozens of soldiers collapsed on the ground and Carl standing above them coolly as if he had been taking a stroll. It was okay… because I was more of a magician anyway.
"Gary we're moving up!" Carl leapt forward and created a path. I ran behind him. If we took too long the hostages would be held against us. Before the Empire's soldiers could organise themselves we needed to get into place. The 100 metre distance was quickly shortened to zero.
"I'm getting started, keep them off me!" I yelled and sat down. As I did flares shot up into the sky signalling the knights successful positioning. Carl ran circles around me keeping the soldiers at bay and then from far above us a tiny speck in the sky began to shine and from it a pillar of light fell straight down upon me. Looks like we were ready.
Alicia:
"Are you sure this will work?" Sayuri asked me.
"Don't you worry," I grinned. "I can bench press a house. There's no way anyone could take us."
"No but…."
"Stop yapping!" The Empire's knight who held the chain attached to our handcuffs growled at us. "You may be the 'Hero' of this worthless land but to us you're nothing more than fodder."
I felt a vein begin to bulge but a quick poke in my back from Sayuri kept me in line. I had to remain calm, right now I was simply the Hero's (Sayuri's) hand maiden. If I hadn't been pretty, if I do say so myself, they would have never let me come with her. I wondered how the others were doing. Carl and Garr should be making their way through the sewers by now and Dave was up flying in the air somewhere. It was kind of unfair how he could do all that even when we're all supposed to be Heroes.
The sound of a large door opening snapped me from my thoughts and we were brought into a large hall. From the look of distaste on Sayuri's face, this was probably the place where she had been brought to last night. This time however she had me as the hostage keeping her in line. A decision that they'd very soon come to regret.
In front of us on a makeshift throne was a fat pig of a human. If someone told me he was actually some kind of grotesque demon I would have easily believed it. On either side of him a magician and knight stood ready for us. Compared to the others in the room they were certainly more dangerous. In total there were probably two dozen of them here and from what Dave said they were their strongest forces, most likely on par with the Queen's personal guard. Although I joked with Sayuri before, if we screwed up, we really weren't getting out of this with minor injuries.
"Welcome back 'Hero'," the pig smiled in a disgusting manner. "You made quite the quick getaway last night but you certainly crawled your way back in a hurry." He licked his lips. "Now we're together again how about we continue where we left off?"
Sayuri's expression was defiant. I felt a tug on my chain and was pulled away from her. A knife was placed at my neck.
The pig continued with a grin, "Now, now, we wouldn't want anything happening to your maid, would we?"
Calm down, stay calm. There was a clock on the back wall, any minute now and the signal would be sent. It was our job to make sure that as many people as possible where dragged into Dave's magic. For that reason Sayuri and I had been tagging people since we were let into the city. Dave's plan would only work on those he could see directly. Most of the Empire's soldiers were outside but the strongest ones were in here. All that was left was for Sayuri to play along.
Her expression turned to anger but slowly she began to undress herself. The pig's eyes grew wide in anticipation. As for me? Screw the plan. The hell I was going to let this happen. Play along yes, but I wasn't going to let my best girl strip in front of these dirty old bastards. Sayuri glanced at me and I let out a fearless smirk. The handcuffs and chains that bound me shattered apart as I put out a small amount of force. The knight who had his knife against my throat was able to gasp in surprise before he was thrown across the room.
Sayuri sighed, "Alicia it was fine, we only had to stall for a minute."
I punched my fists together, "Oh I'll stall alright, by beating them all into a bloody pulp that is!"
The pig stood up, "Seize them! Don't let them escape." We were unarmed and only wearing light clothing but there was no way we'd lose here. Besides I always used my fists anyway and Sayuri, she had already disarmed an oncoming knight and taken his sword. I punched the first knight that came after me. They were taking us too easily and he was sent into the ground and through the floor. The other's seeing what we could do began to gather mana in their bodies. Now that was more like it.
There was a wave of mana beside me and before I could react something hit my side sending me crashing into the wall with a gasp. Ow, ow, ow, I was bleeding. Without proper armour just reinforcing my body wasn't enough. Sayuri's gaze passed over me but that was all, she knew I'd be alright. The way Dave made us train, this was nothing. I'd crush them all!
"Breaker!" I shot out from the wall and straight in front of the Magician who had hit me. He quickly erected a barrier but my fist smashed it apart like fragile glass. He let out a satisfying cough as he flew through the air. His surprised expression was priceless. Dave had told us he would be our greatest threat. That is if he had the chance to properly act.
"As for you," I smiled wickedly and looked at the pig sitting in his throne.
"Eeee!" he scrambled away, "Someone get her!"
A sword swung at me. I barely managed to dodge it and retreated closer to Sayuri. She had a light cut across her arm but was still breathing calmly above the two knights collapsed beside her. Damn, they really were better than I thought. Our advantage of surprise was over and with this many people here…. A sudden light filled the room and I felt an enormous amount of mana grasp at the world around us. As the light faded the room was empty, leaving only Sayuri and I.
Before I could even sit down Sayuri grabbed my arm, "Alicia quick, we need to get to the hostages."
"Right…" I replied tiredly.
Davarious First Born Light of the Autumn Wind:
Plan success. Everyone had performed admirably. Gary and Carl's team were able to help finish constructing the circuit and Sayuri and Alicia managed to nab a lot of the ones inside. I was flying above Sasren, or more appropriately a copy of it that existed inside my reality plane. Within it I had transported two groups, the bulk of the Empire's soldiers and Lisanna's personal army. The hostages were back in the real world and although I would have missed some enemy soldiers, the men we were able to sneak in and Sasren's guards could handle them easily enough. This was my plan to have the lowest casualties. In this plane, Lisanna's army could go all out without repercussions. Of course they'd still put up a fight against us but the Empire's soldiers guarding Sasren's outer wall had been left on the other side, meaning Lisanna had free entry into the city.
I breathed out a tiredly. Constructing a reality plane of this size was much harder than just blowing up the entire city and the toll on me was immense. Even now I couldn't lose concentration or else I'd fry out Gary who was acting as the circuit's core. More than half of my accumulated mana was gone but I should still have plenty to finish this whole ordeal.
Outside the plane Sasren's guards had quickly taken over the outer walls. The confusion of having their soldiers disappear left the Empire's chain of command and moral broken. Most were making a quick retreat back to their ships. The few who were able to retain their senses tried to get to the hostages but the Heroes had taken care of them quickly. Inside the plane… well to put it simply it was a massacre. Lisanna's knights were the best in Rentolt and arguably the strongest single fighting force in the human side. Many of them had been trained in not only the human side but also the demon side from joint exercises. The Empire's elite were too few to keep up and their soldiers began to crumble as their leaders were taken down. It was mere minutes before a full retreat was proclaimed, mostly due to their pig leader's cowardice.
I steadily monitored the outside and inside forces. Right now the Empire had concentrated all their men at the port. The port had defensive structures that could outlast the attack, and using their ships, they could bombard the land with cannons. With this, although the battle would still be our victory, the amount of casualties on our side would increase. Time to initiate step two. Half an hour had passed since the beginning of the operation and my mana had decreased to a third now. I shot out the signal, a vast violet light flashed in and outside the reality plane. Our forces began to reorganise themselves.
This was going to be some effort. I readied myself for the blowback and undid the reality plane, merging the two worlds back together. Small planes were relatively easy, but with so many people to move and place, it got messy. It was impossible to place an object where another existed. For anything manaless the reality plane made it disappear but for people, the merging planes forced any existence in the way to be moved. All that pressure went back to me the caster. The magicians and Gary would ease the burden but I still took the brunt. It felt like a mass of tiny needles stabbing into my skin.
The skies turned blue once more and thousands of Empire soldiers suddenly appeared in the real world right on top of their comrades. Since both parties had holed themselves at the port, the resulting mess of bodies broke their defence immediately.
"This is our chance! Beat the enemy back, show them who we are! Show them the power of Rentolt!" Lisanna yelled out.
A huge roar replied, "Long live the Queen!" Our moral was at an all-time high and the Empire, well they were throwing themselves at their boats in retreat. I took this chance to quickly enter and exit their leading ship and steal some books. When I returned the Empire had left a large chunk of their men behind and had already set sail.
I appeared near the Heroes, "How's it going?"
"Whoa!" Gary jumped back in surprise. "Oh hey Dave. Yeah, it was rough but we managed. Thankfully we were able to make them leave without killing anyone."
"…." I remained silent. Yes in the vicinity of the Heroes no one died. They were all strong enough to overpower the enemy into submission but… it was still a battle. There were hundreds of dead on the Empire's side. The bodies however had been swept away. What the Heroes didn't see couldn't hurt them. Yes, they'd be told about what happened but they didn't need to see the carnage of it.
"Dave you look tired, are you okay?" Sayuri poked around from my side.
"I'm fine," I smiled back. Honestly I was only running at about 10% mana but that was still a lot more than the average magician. "Actually I should be thanking you and Alicia. You two managed to take down that pesky magician near the pig. He could have been a problem later."
"Oh, yeah that guy." Alicia laughed. "Yeah his barrier was pretty strong but nothing compared to yours."
I looked at Carl who had so far remained silent. He was standing still with a pensive expression watching the Empire's boats sail further away. It was small but the grip on his sword was noticeably tense.
Finally he looked at me, "Shouldn't we go after them?"
I shook my head, "Let them leave, we have enough of their soldiers to get information. Anymore fighting will just damage the city." Lisanna was rounding up the last of the stragglers. The port's defences had been taken apart so we couldn't fire at their leaving ships. It seemed they had enough brains to ensure an escape.
"You fools!" the voice came from the ship closest to us. It was the pig. He was quite far but magic had been used to amplify the sound. "You will regret the day that you made an enemy of the Miltis Empire. You could have been part of us but now our armies will come and your people will be enslaved!"
Lisanna stood at the head of her knights, "Come then, bring your armies! We, the people of this continent will never allow you tyrants upon our land. Do so and you'll face the terror of our forces."
"You vile wench!" The pig shouted and from an expensively decorated box beside him drew a black spear with a green tip. The feeling that came off it was not a good one. Just looking at it stirred a sick feeling in my stomach. "Feel the power of this holy and sacred weapon given to me by the Emperor himself. Die!" He threw it, by all means an ordinary spear would have plunged straight down from such a weak throw but instead it flew straight towards Lisanna. My judgement said it would be fine. Yes, that spear was definitely some powerful weapon but Lisanna was more than capable of repelling it, her sword was special in its own right. Then in a sudden burst the spear shot forward but its target changed. It began to careen towards me. I sighed, it must be set to target the most powerful being in the area, which was naturally me. I put up a barrier as it got closer but to my surprise it pierced through. Undeterred I put up several more of greater strength but the effect was the same. I changed my tactic and rose a wall of ice from the sea. As the spear touched it, the wall dispersed into water. That green tip… now it was becoming dangerously close I could feel a very noxious presence to it. This thing was able to disrupt mana, which for me was very bad. Just before it hit me I teleported away, the spear shot past me and should have plunged harmlessly into the wall but instead it spun around back towards me and in a burst shot back. Okay, now I was in trouble. It was way too close for comfort. From my position if I teleported again it would stab Sayuri instead. The best way to counter it would be to bat it away but I couldn't do that. Any magic would be useless. I could try hide myself but then the spear would target someone else. If it was Lisanna she would be fine, but the Heroes might not be able to take the sudden assault. Damn it, the best choice was my worst choice.
The spear came straight at me and with as much force as I could I deflected it slightly, away from my heart. I gasped in pain as it plunged into my shoulder instead. Then it happened. Just as the initial burst of pain began to subside a black mass of dust began to spring out from my wound. Pain assaulted my whole body, even for me it was more than I was used to and to show it, I screamed. My eyes were barely kept open. The faces of the Heroes were pale with shock. It was the right decision to take the blow. Holy weapon my arse, this thing was cursed.
"Varry!" Lisanna was the first to regain her senses and ran towards me. I held up my hand to stop her as I fell to my knee.
Barely audible I managed to say a single word, "Curse." The Heroes came next but Lisanna warded them away.
"It's dangerous! Everyone get back." At her words the Heroes stepped back reluctantly but their eyes didn't move from the sight of me writhing in pain.
I calmed myself down. As part of my training I had been exposed to every known curse on our continent. Which meant I should be able to counter every single one of them. I coughed and black gunk flew from my mouth, splattering on the ground before hissing away. Yep this was a new one. Its structure was foreign and even how it attacked my body was something I'd never experienced. My veins began to expand and blacken visible for everyone to see. The Heroes began to yell something towards me but I couldn't hear anything past the beating in my head.
My body had already began to process to expel the curse but with so little mana left in me it was not doing a good job. I was confident that even if I collapsed now I'd live but then how long would it take for me to come back? A month, a year? No, I didn't have the luxury for the curse to cripple me. My vision darkened to nothing. I guided my remaining mana to find its core, to rewrite it, to destroy it. But my knowledge wasn't enough, no matter where I looked, I couldn't get a hold of the curse. Each time I found a familiar lead it led to a dead end. At this rate my body would force itself to shut down.
My muscles collapsed and I barely felt myself go limp. The pain was too much, even the worse training I had been put through wasn't this bad. Even the time my mother had decided to take over from my father. She pushed me hard but it was fun. This wasn't fun. My vision returned for a brief moment. Lisanna had her back to me but her head was turned back looking at me with a fearful amount of concern. I could see Gilda holding back the Heroes. Sayuri was reaching towards me screaming what looked like my name. Alicia had tears in her eyes. Funny I thought she'd be the last to look like that. Carl was deathly pale and looked like he would collapse. Gary had his hands clenched tightly together but there was a hope in his eyes. Look at you fools, wishing for the Demon Lord to not die. Damn it all if I were to disappoint them.
Just as my sight began to fade again I found it. A small piece that I knew. It had the same structure as the curse those idiots from the Klerical Kingdom used. How curious. Now wasn't the time to muddle it over. Right now I could make a comeback. With the last bits of my energy I was finally able to begin unravelling the curse. With each passing second the vile darkness that leapt from body began to fade and the pain inside began to settle. Finally as the last dredges ebbed away I let out a tired smile, raised my thumb towards the Heroes and lost consciousness.