It was the middle of the night. The common folk had returned to their homes after a day of taking care of the fields or forging weapons in the fire. They were having dinner with their families or drinking with friends in a tavern. At the same time that those peaceful moments were happening, in the castle of the lord, a horrendous party was about to begin.
The people were arriving, nobles from different parts of the Kingdom. The most sick and degenerate people in the nation, reunited as guests of the most depraved man. One by one, they exited their luxurious carriages and were received by butlers and mercenaries. The party was below the mansion. Following the corridors, they arrived at the salon.
There were about 30 guests. Several butlers and slaves were delivering food and drinks. They were talking about their riches and the anticipation of tonight's spectacle.
Clink…Clink… The sound of glass caught everyone's attention; a man with black hair was calling everyone to listen. "Esteemed guests, it is an honor to have all of you attend our lord's party. For those that don't know me, I'm Rak, the chief of security. Please take a moment to listen to the word of our lord." At his side was a small blond man with a beautiful smile.
"Thank you, Rak. My dear guest, thank you once again for joining me on this night of celebration. We all have suffered, suffered because the King still refuses to accept our way of life" Ennis's expression was one of pain and regret. "The kingdom has a long history of slavery, and King Gabriel Lothar the III chose to erase all of it. Everyone with a brain knows that men aren't created equally. No, we are not the same as a farmer who works all day in his field. It is not because we have a family name, or riches, or even a superior intellect."
"The true reason is our quality as a person. We were born with higher quality than the poor folks. Quality is not granted by blood but by the angels. Why haven't the angels struck us down if our desires are as bad as the King and the other nobles believe? There's a simple answer, because we are correct."
"Let's celebrate my persecuted companions. For the day when the fool King steps down and our beautiful kingdom regains its glory." He raised his glass of wine, and everyone else followed with a loud cheer.
The sounds of the crowd move to the arena where the games will begin. The first one was the beggar's race. Ten slaves would run over burning charcoal, and the first one would get to live. Of course, if that was everything, the race would be boring, so the slaves got their tendons cut, making them incapable of running.
The poor slaves were all forced to crawl into the hot charcoal for their lives. All of this under the gaze and laughter of the nobles. This was just the beginning; more sadistic games await them. Without anyone noticing him, Ennis disappeared along with Rak.
Both were walking deeper into the stone labyrinth. This party was enough to entertain the others, but Ennis was beyond simple games like those. Yes, even my quality is better than those simple fools. I want more than simple pain. I desire complete control of the creatures I like. That's the difference between them and me. Ennis mocked his guests before retreating into his personal arena. "Tell me you found some worthwhile entertainment, Rak?"
"Please Master, you know it's impossible to find something that can take on Grul. My men managed to find some wild animals and a Hydra, so maybe if we threw them all together, the fight would be more interesting"
"Ahh so nothing new then?... Use one of the acid peacocks from my collection"
"Are you sure, Master, you only have two?"
"The female already laid eggs, so it doesn't matter. I want to have fun tonight." He pushed the door open and saw a clown woman juggling balls of various colors. Her hair was red, and her face was covered with a laughing mask.
The woman made a pirouette and caught all the balls on her forehead. "Welcome! Welcome! Master, the true show is almost ready to begin, but before that, a trick. Pick a card, any card, and I will guess it." The woman displayed a deck of cards, and Ennis took one at random. "Mmm, let me think... is your card the castle?"
"Correct. How did you guess?"
"Because I changed the whole deck into the same card. Ahaha, did you like it?"
"Oh haha, Alice I can always count on you to brighten my day."
"Oh, Master don´t say that, you´re making my heart go BADUM-BADUM. I´m going to fall for you again… Wait did I just confess my feelings again ahahahaha." Ennis just laughed at Alice silly attitude.
Rak served his master a glass of fine wine and announced that the show was ready to begin.
While the party continued below the mansion, on the outskirts, hidden in the forest, a group of 30 soldiers were ready to attack. The leader was in front of the rest, ready to announce the beginning of their raid. At his side, the promised boy, Silver, was standing ready for the battle.
"Soldiers We have managed to assemble a group of loyal knights. Tonight we're exposing the crimes of Ennis Elwin Damos. We managed to get information that he's throwing a party for his allies tonight. We're going to enter the mansion and arrest everyone inside. Expect resistance; there is almost a 100% chance that they will fight and try to escape away to some other country."
"Our priority is saving all the people captured, catching Ennis comes second. As such, I'll lead the attack to find the people. Sergeant Silver will be in charge of finding and capturing Ennis. Any questions?"
"NO CAPTAIN!" All the soldiers answered at the same time. They were prepared for the fight that was about to begin.
"Then let's go, soldiers!" Captain Cadoc raised his sword and led the charge in front of the mansion.
The guards in front were surprised to see the soldiers coming out of the forest. They quickly took their weapons and sounded the alarm.
"This is the army of the king, surrender without a fight!"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING HERE, WE DIDN´T GET ANY REPORT" One of the mercenaries attacked with his lance, but as soon as he was within reach, Cadoc sliced his head with one swing of his sword.
"If they intend to fight, don't hesitate!" The assault on the mansion began.
The echoes of battle sounded through the forest. In the lower part of the mansion, tunnels stretch inside the earth. There were many passages to leave in case of an emergency. Thanatos and his group were waiting for the signal in front of one of those passages. Neo was concentrating, and suddenly she opened her eyes.
"They began to fight just now. The battle is close to the entrance" She said with security.
"Okay, then we need to begin to move. Let's go over the plan one last time" Thanatos explained. "Neo, Eric, and Lia will free all the slaves they find. There is a room underground where most of the cages are. You should go there first. After freeing the slaves, you guys will escort them back here, where Castess is waiting with some carriages to take them back to the forest."
"Adel, you will go with them and take anything of interest or value you find. If you happen to find Ennis's office, that will be amazing."
"I´ll try with everything I got Master"
"I'm going to take another route to prevent Ennis from escaping. I will destroy all the tunnels I'll find on my way to try to lead him into this path to increase the chances of capturing him."
"Go take a potion of healing before we begin." Thanatos laid out the plan, and everyone was ready. Lia got close to him to talk one last time.
"You look good in that outfit." He smiled as he looked at her armor once again. Lia was wearing a leather armor she made for herself. It was black with some tinges of blue. Everyone agreed that since she was going to help with the mission, she needed to wear additional protection instead of her normal dress. She wasn't strong enough to handle a sword, so instead a knife was her weapon.
"Thanks, I wanted to try to make something more defensive but I didn't have any magical cloth."
"Don't worry after this I will buy you all the magical cloth you could wish for"
"You're taking a lot of work again. Don't try to fight alone. You only need to close the exits and then we can fight all of us together."
"I know. Please be careful. Leave the fighting to them. They will protect you if anything happens. Just focus on guiding the slaves back here."
"I'll do that but..." Lia began to blush. "But before we go… Can I... you…" She got so nervous that the words couldn't leave her mouth. Thanatos didn't understand why she was nervous.
"N-Nerve mind, we need to begin the plan. The slaves need our help. I-I´ll see you later, okay." Lia ran back to Neo, leaving him confused.
Can I kiss you? I can't say that. Definitely can´t ask him like that. Lia wanted to have her first kiss with him as a sign of good luck, but the timing was too awkward, so she kept quiet. While she was running back, Neo screamed.
"YOU CAN KISS ALREADY AND BE DONE WITH IT!"
"S-SHUT UP NEO" Lia protested. After hearing that, Thanatos realized what Lia wanted to say, and he blushed too.
"A-Adel, come on, follow me to the other entrance…" Leaving the others behind, the two of them reached the other tunnel.
In front there were bodies. Adel had carried them here on his master's orders. They were the bodies of the mercenaries killed in the forest, including the pink demon Sully.
"Why did you bring these bodies, Master? Couldn't you resurrect them before?" He asked.
"Because I'm going to try something new right now." He showed Adel the black book. "There is a spell here that can invoke a strong undead. I tried to use it before, but I didn't have enough mana. But there is another way to necromancy. Using real bodies reduces the mana cost of a spell."
"Is that why you brought them here? Still, why not do it in our base?"
"Because there is a chance I would not be able to control this creature. I want you to destroy this exit with me inside so the undead won't try to attack you."
"If it is that dangerous, I'll fight with you-"
"Adel, I'm leaving Lia's safety in your hands, and in Eric's and Neo's too, okay." He trusted him and gave a smile.
"Ok Master…" Adel accepted his master's request and collapsed the stone wall.
With the exit blocked, Thanatos was in complete darkness with the bodies. He didn't have any problems seeing in the dark. He took out the book and began to channel his mana. He read the glyphs and used the spell [Summon Death Knight].
The mana swirled around Sully's body and consumed it along with the rest of the mercenaries. They began to form a mass of darkness that took the shape of a knight. A knight covered in black armor.
Thanatos expended a lot of mana. He would probably be able to use one more spell for the rest of the fight. But if this undead was as strong as he read in the book, then he could complete the plan much more quickly. He took a step back, preparing to run if the knight was uncontrollable.
The Death Knight stood still, waiting for his command. It worked. Thanatos smiled and gave his orders.
"Block all the exits you find. You can kill anyone who tries to stop you."