The next morning, I was already awake and getting ready while Charlotte was still asleep. I walked over to the bed and gently shook her. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes. She looked at me then sat up, rubbing her eyes. I smiled at her then helped her out of bed then she leaned against me.
"It's so early.." Charlotte softly whined and closed her eyes.
"We still have a destination to march to...I wish I could let you sleep in, but we can't.." I said then watched her look up at me.
She wrapped her arms around me and looked into my eyes. "Come on...five minutes won't hurt anyone.."
"I know, but we don't truly have time when the King of Idrisid has my Family Relic. We're lucky he doesn't know how to awaken it." I said then brushed her hair behind her ear.
Charlotte let me go and smiled. "Alright you win..~ Allow me to get ready."
I nodded and walked out the room then left the house. I noticed some of the others were already ready such as Felix, Raven, and Wolfe. Iris and Yukari were still getting ready as Yukari was still slightly handicapped. I walked over to Felix.
"Good morning Your Majesty, are you ready to march to Idrisid and conquer the kingdom?" Felix asked.
"Well there are a few more bases before we get there but yeah I'm more than ready to strike down this Dark Lord and destroy him." I said.
"Estimated time before heading to the city of Idrisid may be another three to four days. No doubt the Idrisidian Army will be more prepared for us. We have to really bring our best." Felix said.
"I know." I nodded.
Iris, Yukari, and Charlotte were finally ready to go and we all hopped on our horses and rode off ahead, continuing to Idrisid. As we traversed we noticed enemy camps and began to take them down. They were low ranking soldiers so they were being dealt with easily by my army. We made another camp for some of our soldiers to stay at and the main group continued ahead.
The second enemy camp drew near and my soldiers were prepared. They began to strike down the enemy and capture the enemy camp and set up there while the main group pushed forward. There were more camps here than there were bases. We decided to take a break and stop at a nearby small village. The village was hidden away from the Idrisidian Army and beyond their control.
The village people allowed us to rest and some even offered us food and water. I looked around and noticed our numbers were shortening. Most of the soldiers have already made camp at the enemy bases or died in the heat of battle.
I heard clashing going on and looked in the direction then noticed a woman attacking Raven. Raven blocked each of her attack then parried her next attack, knocking her broadsword out of her hands.
"We're done here." Raven said as she pointed her sword at the woman's neck.
The woman growled softly and glared at Raven. The woman looked like a Mammalian. She had black hair with a few white highlights, wolf ears and tail, she also had two different colored eyes, one blue and one gray. She wore a black lace corset top with black leather pants and brown thigh high high heeled boots. She also wore black arm sleeves with brown fingerless gloves and a black vintage cloak over her clothing.
I hurried over to the two and separated them. "What is going on here?"
"This mutt here just came out of nowhere and attacked me!" Raven scowled.
"Mutt?! I should just cut out your tongue right now!" The wolf girl said.
"Why did you attack her?" I asked.
"I thought she was one of those Idrisidian bastards who are starting to terrorize the area..! Now that I see you here, you're the God-Emperor of Luceros correct?" The wolf girl asked.
"Yes, I am the God-Emperor." I nodded.
"My name is Midnight. I have been searching high and low for you. I wish to join your ranks! I must get revenge on Idrisid for what they did to me." Midnight said.
"What did they do to you?" I asked.
"They destroyed my home. My children all gone...kidnapped and I can't find them anywhere and I was hoping you could help me find them..!" Midnight said then looked at me with pleading eyes.
"Damn this Dark Lord is more evil than I could ever imagine. Alright, I'll help you find your children and you can join my ranks as long as you agree to get along with everyone." I said.
"I will do what I must to save my children." Midnight said. "I am in your debt, God-Emperor."
"Right." I nodded.
Midnight looked at Raven and bowed. "I'm sorry for attacking you."
Raven sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "It's alright I suppose." Raven sheathed her sword and walked off back to Charlotte.
"So Midnight, what all can you do?" I asked.
"I am an assassin, but I can also shapeshift into my true form which is a wolf. On full moons, I can tap into my 100% Werewolf Form. Right now I'm only semi werewolf. Oh there are times where if I'm angry enough I can tap into my Fenrir Form. When that happens, I'm a lot more fierce and uncontrollable compared to my werewolf counterpart." Midnight explained.
"That's interesting. By the way, how many children do you have? Where's the father?" I asked.
"I have three kids and the no good bastard of a dad left me to myself to tend to the children so I did what I must then Idrisid attacked and raided my home, taking my children and leaving me alone. It's been 2 years and I am still hunting for my kids. Us Canines age differently from humans so they have to be 14 years old by now." Midnight sighed.
"I could help take care of your children when we find them." I said.
"Heh..as if they would like a human after what happened. I appreciate the help, but I'm more than fine on my own with them." Midnight said.
I nodded. "We spent enough time here so let's get moving."
Midnight nodded and followed me. After our break time was over, we all got back on our horses and rode off. We continued to travel to Idrisid and capture more bases so my army could set up their camps while main forces continued ahead.
An entire day passed and we finally made it to the next enemy base. We stopped a distance away from the base. Raven and Wolfe used their binoculars to mark and check to see if there was any big threats in the base. Sareth, Theresa, and Ignas were not in the base but there was another knight there that Raven recognized.
"A knight...silver hair, golden eyes that shines at night, blue and white prince clothing, black gloves. Carries a rapier. Royal Crest on his right hand. That's none other than Prince Francis from the Credia Empire. Credia is one of Idrisid's greatest allies like Centuros is to Luceros. He's also part vampire, so his skills heighten at night." Raven said.
"Yukari, how are you feeling?" I asked.
"In perfect condition, Your Highness." Yukari answered.
"Take out those four watch tower guards and cut the light's power." I said.
Yukari nodded then got off her horse then put on her assassin's mask then rushed off. She unsheathed her tanto then began to quickly scale the wall of the base, avoiding being spotted by the lights and entered the first watch tower.
She covered the woman's mouth then stabbed her. She quickly laid her down and vanished to the next watch tower. She appeared behind a man and covered his mouth then slit his neck open, laying him down in the process. The third watch tower was a bit more difficult since the man had enhanced hearing. Yukari appeared on the roof of the watch tower and performed hand gestures quickly.
'Ninpo Arts: Shimmering Light.' Yukari said in her head then caused a tiny light to appear above the man in the watch tower and exposed his shadow. She began to perform hand gestures quickly once more. 'Ninpo Arts: Shadow Puppetry.'
Her shadow slithered into the watch tower like a snake and infused with the man's shadow, binding him. She swiftly entered the watch tower and killed the man, before he could make a sound. She vanished and moved onto the last watch tower then quickly killed the woman before she could say anything.
"Step one complete..." Yukari said then vanished and appeared on the top of an electrical post. She performed hand gestures once again then clapped her hands together. "Ninpo Arts: Electro Erasure."
An EMP like blast happened around the base and all the lights turned off. The soldiers and Francis looked around to see who did it. Francis heard the soldiers groaning as Yukari began to kill as many soldiers as she could before the sun rose. She disappeared after killing the soldiers around Francis.
"Mission complete. I did as much damage as I could before the sun rose. Francis is still alive and some soldiers were hiding so he still has people to fall back on." Yukari said.
"No worries, we will finish the job. Good work." I said then Yukari nodded. "Army charge forward!"
Our remaining soldiers bellowed and charged forward into the base. Francis noticed my soldiers charging forward then glared and began striking them down one by one. The sun was slowly rising and Francis knew once the sun rose he would be weaker. He bellowed and awakened his full power then began to kill the soldiers quickly.
Raven hopped off her horse then dashed to Francis quickly and bellowed then clashed with him. "Francis von Credia! This time I have the upper hand! I have been hunting you for months, years!"
"Heh heh...Raven Nightmare. The Nightmare Mercenary. We meet again at last, ready to die this time? Last time I was merciful but now I'm ready to kill!" Francis laughed and pushed her backwards.
He rushed forward and swung his sword at Raven quickly. Raven blocked his attacks and parried his next attack, knocking him off balance then she went in for the kill. Francis found his footing and dodged her attack then grabbed her arm and bared his fangs. Charlotte bellowed and kicked Francis on his face, blowing him away. Francis rebounded on his feet and glared at Charlotte.
"Well well if it isn't the useless spoiled bitch of Aevum. You're as stunning as ever." Francis said then spit out blood.
"Don't try to flatter me with your pointless words because the only one who can flatter me is My King! You had your chance, but you messed it up when you joined Idrisid." Charlotte said then pointed her rapier at Francis.
"Ha...I told you I could make you the strongest Queen in the land. The offer still stands." Francis said.
"Pfft! Ohohoho!~" Charlotte laughed. "I've made up my mind to be with God-Emperor Ares."
"God-Emperor..? Heh so the prince isn't dead after all." Francis said.
"Late to the party aren't ya?" Raven glared.
"I don't get told anything since I'm out of the Idrisidian Royal Army. I am just a lower ranking noble in their army, but to take his blood would grant me the power of a god!" Francis said.
"Come and take it then." I said.
"Heh. Next time. The sun is rising and I don't do well in the day time. Count yourself lucky." Francis said then turned into a colony of bats then flew off.
"From my knowledge, the city is only two to three days travel from here. This was the last of their defense." Felix said.
"Good, smooth sailing from here." I said. "We can take a break here."
"So you all failed to kill the God-Emperor huh.." The Dark Lord said.
"They were stronger than usual. We believed it would be an easy win, but as they gain new recruits and begin to get back into the swing of things the more weaker we appear." Sareth said. "That Royal Crest literally made him immune to me."
"I see." The Dark Lord said then looked at the pure white halo crown beside him. "They will be entering the city soon. Hold them off while I find a way to awaken this crown."
"As you wish, Milord." Sareth said then warped away.