As soon as Melchom's troops reached within five miles of the fortress the archers started a volley fire, which I assumed Alastair gave the order for, but I looked up to the wall just to check, and there he was [1].
Once the arrows were within 20 feet of their targets, I saw that an aura of water surrounded it. During the strategy meeting, I recalled them saying something about 'enchanting water arrows' but I wasn't exactly paying attention at the time.
'Hm, interesting strategy.'
While the arrows had whipped out almost half of their front troops there was still a big enough number of them left, and when they were about three miles away another command for a volley fire was given, this time, by me.
During the strategy meeting with my battalion, I asked if anybody could infuse or enchant things with a certain element, and surprisingly a good number of them could, but only a third of them had the element I needed. So through hard work, we were able to produce around 400 arrows infused with the light element.
Most people don't know about this tactic, or about the demon's weakness to the light element, but it was one of the things in the novel that was well-known about the protagonist, he was one of the very few people who could use it.
At the beginning of the war, the demons made sure to take out anyone they could find that used the light element, which was one of the reasons the protag's village was wiped out.
As soon as the volley of arrows we released had hit the enemy, the demons all immediately fell to the ground, while the spirits turned to dust immediately.
"All units, prepare to engage…Now!" I said once they reached two miles away.
Immediately all of the knights in the open field of land brought out their swords and engaged in a battle against the demons, as I was about to retreat into the fortress I heard an annoying comment from a familiar voice.
"Trying to retreat are you? You must be scared after our last fight," the voice jested.
"Huh, well I thought you would have run away after I kicked your ass, Melchom," I teased back.
"HAHAHAHA, you really don't hold back with those remarks do you?" He said while landing on the field about 20 feet away from me.
Dax was right behind him before the first volley fire hit, but I looked back to see him dealing with about five knights, so I ignored him for now.
"Yes, by the way, I noticed your daddy wasn't here, perhaps he got tired of you and decided to let you get yourself killed," I jested with a mischievous smirk on my face.
Melchom scoffed, "My daddy?! You must have gone bonkers, Lieutenant Colonel, it's clear that Dax is my vice-captain," Melchom said while glaring at me.
"Oh? My bad, he was able to handle you so well while you thrashed like a baby on his shoulder so I thought he was your father, but it turns out you're just a big baby."
"Heh, sorry but I won't fall for you're little remarks this time, this 'big baby' has learned a thing or two before our reunion."
Before I commented back I took a glance at the current state of the battle field, our troops still looked evenly matched, and the demons were the only ones to have taken a big loss.
"Is that so? Well then, I suppose instead of using provocation tactics I should just get right into it," I mumbled to myself, but loud enough for him to hear.
"Huh?" Melchom started to say something but before he could I brought out my scythe and lunged toward him.
"Are you finally choosing to fight Lt. Col?!" Melchom said while dodging the swing of my scythe [2].
"Well, I was getting bored of using comments to provoke you so I thought if we fight might as well make it quick right?" I replied while dodging a fireball and then a punch.
I then turned my scythe in my hand and used it like a dagger to take a swipe at his head, which he unfortunately dodged.
"Haaaa, you really are out for my blood huh? Alright, I'll amuse you, so instead of this meaningless chatter why don't we talk through our weapons!" He said grabbing the whip at his side and swinging it toward me.
"Good, I was getting annoyed by your voice," I jested while dodging his wipe by doing an Ariel cartwheel.
During that time he launched a few more fireballs at me, which I was able to block with my scythe. Then I decided to do something I didn't consider, I used my earth divine power and opened up a hole in the ground for a few skeleton soldiers to come out of.
Melchom had a shocked look on his face at first, but then I receded and he nodded his head with a smile, I was confused at first but then I noticed a presence beyond me.
Luckily I turned around in time to see a dagger aiming for my back, I dodged it just before it hit the place I was standing.
"Using dirty tricks now are you?" I yelled at Melchom.
"It's hardly dirty at all, I'm simply using what's at my disposal," Melchom teased while slicing a blade of fire through the air at the skeletons.
As soon as it hit them it dissipated, I was lucky that I had enforced the bones with dead mana. With a smile of triumph on my face I put away my scythe and used the strings attached to them to make them swing their swords a Melchom.
When that command was executed I once again felt a presence near me, but it was too late, before I knew it there was a knife in my back right where my spine was.
"URGH!" I groaned while coughing up a bit of blood and falling to the ground, then the skeletons stopped moving.
"Sorry about that Viscount, but orders are orders," Gale said picking up my chin so I could see him.
"Ugh, you…bastard," I groaned.
As I said that I saw Melchom coming closer to me, with a sword made of fire in his hand.
"Look at how the mighty have fallen, it's a shame we couldn't play longer, but His Majesty wanted us to rap things here quickly," He said in a sarcastically apologetic way.
"Lieutenant Colonel! Are you alright?!" The general started to say and run toward us.
When Gale saw that he was heading right toward us with his rifle in hand, he held my head down and Melchom raised his sword at my neck, but then a terrifying roar echoed through the valley.
Then a giant shadow came above us, confused, everyone lifted their heads toward the sky.
As I did the same thing, just barely managing to get my head out of Gales's grip I saw what caused the roar, it was a dragon. The dragon oozed the aura of death and looked the part too.
The Dragon had black scales its wings had a few holes in them and it had cuff-like bones around the wrists of its talons, it floated above us for a while before landing its gaze on me.
"A…A Dragon!?" one of the knights screamed in panic before quickly being quieted by Dax's great sword.
"Idiot, anger it and it'll kill us all!" Dax lectured everyone within the fortress radius.
'What the hell? This didn't happen in the novel, but then again, Lev wasn't here in the novel either…could he have a connection to this dragon?'
Three minutes passed with the dragon's gaze still on me when it then opened its mouth and readied its fiery breath, that was when I noticed Gale step away from my body and closer to Melchom, perhaps he planned to use him as a shield since fore demons are immune to fire.
The Dragon then immediately let go of his fire and let it rain all along the quiet battlefield, then as it hit us there were screams all around. Alastair then took the opportunity of the chaos the run over to me and check on me.
As soon as he did so he tried to take the dagger out of my back, but I grabbed his wrist and shook my head at his actions. I then glanced back at the sky with a tired gaze, and mine and the dragon's gaze met.
Not even a moment later the dragon turned its body toward us and longed down toward the ground in front of us.
Before we could even move, it reached us, but instead of looking like a dragon, there was, instead, a very pissed-off man grabbing Alastair's collar and lifting him off the ground.
"Did you do this to him?" The man growled at Alastair he then asked him again except yelling this time, "DID YOU STAB THAT DAGGER INTO HIM!?"
"N-No, it didn't, I swear!," He stuttered back at him and then pointed to where Gale and Melchom were standing, "They did it."
The man then glared at the two before pulling his sword out, "I'll fucking kill you two!"
'Just what the hell is happening?!' I thought before blacking out.
***
"Yes, thank you for the help earlier, though I wasn't exactly expecting a dragon to show up," Alastair said with a laugh.
"Haha, yeah, and I'm sorry about earlier i thought you were the one who stabbed him," A deep voice said.
"Ugh…" I groaned while opening my eyes.
"Viscount!"
"My Liege!"
Both of them said at the same time.
"Where am I? And what happened?" I said with my eyes squinted.
"You're in your dorm, I had the medical wing bring in some equipment for you while you rested," Alastair said.
"Alright, and…urgh…what is this splitting pain in my back?"
"Ah! Please don't move, you're wound might open again!" the man with the deep voice said, I recognized him, he was the man that grabbed Alastair's collar earlier.
He had long black hair that had red tips and underneath his hair was tucked into a long ponytail, his eyes were also red like the red in his hair. He had scars on his right cheek going onto his neck, I also noticed he had fangs. He was wearing a tight tank-top turtle neck with a red kimono jacket that showed off his shoulders where I could see scales. He was wearing ripped jeans where I could a few more scars through the rips, and high-heeled boots.
His appearance was familiar, and I tried to jog my memory for his name, but I just couldn't come up with it.
I thought that maybe he was a minor character in the novel that only had a few scenes, but I immediately erased that theory considering I would remember a character like him.
"You are?" I asked him with a cold expression on my face.
"Haaa, the demonic energy in you're body must be messing with your memories…It's me Arwan, you're old friend," Arwan commented.
'So that's who he is… I should act for this one.'
"Right…sorry about that Arwan, you might be right hahaha," I gave out a weak laugh with a smile on my face.
"It's alright," He said blushing, "It's good to see you again, even if it's under these circumstances…"
"Hey Alastair, could you leave us please?" I asked him.
"Of course, enjoy your chat you two!" he said smiling and leaving the room.
"My liege," Arwan said sitting next to me and taking my hand to his lips, "I've missed you, you took so long to come back that I thought I would have to go to ove to the Quare kingdom!"
"Haha! Sorry about that, I was a bit busy with things," I replied with a fake smile.
'I remember now.'
There was a reason why the author named this Empire the "Ender Empire," it was because not only did prominent mages and martial arts masters live here, but also dragons. In the novel there was a small scene where the protagonist had wounded Lev with a poisoned dagger, it was obviously in the Empire but later on, and as soon as the poison started to kick in, Arwan showed up.
In the novel Arwan was a subordinate of Lev's and a good friend of his too, he saved Arwan from a dragon slayer, and in turn, Arwan saved Lev from a priestess of the goddess of light, and in doing so they both became friends.
'This could be bad, not only are Arwan and him old friends, but he is also a dragon with the death attribute so he could easily tell that I'm not the real Lev.'
"Still, you could have at least called me!" Arwan paused, "haaaa, sorry about that I got a little worked up…there is something urgent I need to tell you."
"Hm? What's up?"
"It's about the wound from the dagger, it…it was infused with demonic energy, and I'm afraid your curse…" Arwan trailed off.
"Arwan, spit it out, what about my curse?" I ordered.
"It's better I just show you!" He then grabbed the blanket on top of me and threw it off along with my jacket.
"!" I was startled for a moment before I looked down at the arm Arwan was still holding, where I saw some weird markings coming down from my shoulder halfway to my arm.
"I tried my best to stop anyone else from seeing, which means that I also had to patch you up, I'm sorry," He apologized
"Why are these showing up?" I asked with gritted teeth in a panicked expression.
"It's the demonic energy, it messes with you're curse and makes these marks show up," Arwan confirmed.
"Well, is there a way to get rid of it, without y'know… cutting my arms off and using my divine power to grow them back?"
"Well…There is but, I wouldn't want to force you to do anything," He paused, "I could purify it for you but the only way to do it is through direct physical contact with body on body
…"
***
[1]: A volley fire is a military tactic where a line of soldiers fire their guns, crossbows, or bows at the enemy at the same time.
[2]: An abbreviation for Lieutenant Colonel.