"HEY! Capture those three!" The guards shouted as Victor, Arwan, and I ran past them.
The three of us had entered the palace through one of the courtyards and were currently making our way to the dungeons, we were following the map of the Castle that the General had given us.
She had one leading to the Throne room, while we had one leading to the dungeons, to release the prisoners and look for someone under her instructions.
"THERE THEY ARE!" More guards from behind us shouted. We were running through the halls, using the shortest route to the dungeons.
Typically the shortest route would be the most guarded, but not in this situation. Since Vendetta went ahead of us, most of the guards went over to her side of the palace to protect the king, while only a few were left over here.
We soon reached the doors to the dungeon, and oddly enough there weren't any guards in front of them, we didn't stop because of that though, we marched right on through and ran down the stairs to the lowest level marked on the map. There were certain areas on the map that were marked down, and those held our allies who hadn't been executed yet.
As we entered the doors to the last level, what we saw was a long hallway, both walls lined with doors. The doors were made of iron with only a small rectangle with iron bars in them, to make light show through into the cells from the torches on the walls.
"My Lord, over here," Victor said in a hushed voice, motioning me over to him and pointing at a pair of large iron doors.
"Hm, ignore that for now, we need to be focusing on freeing our allies," I ordered, turning back to the door nearest to me after hearing a groan come from it.
As I walked closer to try and take a peek into that cell, I was startled by a pair of hands suddenly grabbing the bars. Then a head peeked through, I immediately remembered a description of one of the more important people Vendetta wanted me to remember.
***
"URGH!" A man groaned, being cut on the arm from his attacker's sword. He skidded back, a few feet away from them.
"Give up, mercenary," Vendetta advised coldly, emphasizing on the mercenary part.
"HA! Sorry, but I've been paid too much to do that, and I have a lot more for me coming!" The man exclaimed, raising his spear and lunging at Vendetta, who simply dodged him and hit him in the gut with the hilt of her sword.
The man groaned again and fell to his knees, throwing up a bit of saliva. He put his hand on the ground to support himself while he clutched his stomach, looked down, and coughed up more fluids.
The man had dark purple hair that looked almost black and brown eyes, his skin was tan and defined with muscles. He was about three inches taller than Vendetta, fitting his martial arts and weapons techniques. He wore a fully leather outfit but was made out of a more stretchy leather so he could move around easier in it, it was also enchanted with a fortify spell so that he didn't need to wear armor. He instead wore a half cape with a hood attached and a mask, as well as cross earrings and combat boots.
"I'll only say this once more, surrender now and I'll try my best to be gentle with you, I may even have some mercy left when it comes to be your turn," She threatened, stepping closer to him and lifting his chin with her sword.
"I, Vincent Nightshade, wasn't trained to surrender," The man groaned, glaring at her with eyes full of bloodlust.
"Fine, if that's how you want it," Vendetta said, turning around and walking past Vetle, "Knock him out and tie him up."
"Understood."
***
"Excuse me, are you perhaps Almos Ezana?" I asked, walking closer to the man peering through the bars. He looked to be in his early twenties, which made me wonder about the age of the youngest person in the Revolutionary Army.
"Yes, I am. May I ask, did General Vendetta send you lot here?" He asked a sorrowful look on his face at the mention of her name.
"You're correct, we're allies from the Quare Kingdom. My name is Lev Andraste, and the two knights with me are Victor Gwyneira and Arwan," I said, pointing to the two of them in order, "We were tasked with freeing you guys down here."
"I see…but how? You won't be able to open the doors without the keys, they are magic-proof and are enchanted to make any attack on them bounce back," Almos said, putting his hands to his side.
"No need to worry, I nabbed the keys from one of the guards on the way here. I'm guessing he was about to go back to his post," Victor shrugged and handed me the keys.
"Hmp, good job. Give me just a moment, there are keys for what I'm guessing are designed for each floor's door," I commented, going through the keys and trying them one by one, till the door finally opened.
I wasn't able to get a good look at his features while he was in a cell due to there being practically no light in there, but once he was out I admit that I was a little taken aback at his features. He was indeed a handsome young man, as said by Vetle when describing him.
Almos had shoulder-length light green hair that was kept in a ponytail, coupled with emerald green eyes that seemed to glow against his dark skin, it fit his toned muscles. Which was adorned with tribal markings and scars, those scars avoiding his marks, probably battle manners from his culture.
He was wearing a cream-colored button-up with a black turtle neck underneath and white cloth on his wrists under leather and iron armor, he wore black pants with dark brown leather and iron knee guards, and brown combat boots. His waist was a dark brown leather pouch attached to his waist on the left side, and on his right was a sheathed dagger that had a chain and lock on it.
'Damn, if I went for younger men I'd be drooling!'
"Thank you for freeing me, but it will take too long to unlock everyone's cell individually like that," Almos claimed, motioning for the keys, which I passed over and he "unlocked" his dagger.
"Hm, do you know of a spell to copy the shape of objects as an aura?" Arwan asked and Almos nodded, "Great, then we can use that."
"Heh, that was exactly what I was thinking!" Almos replied with a smile. He then concentrated his mana around the key, creating a magic circle that then produced multiple mana keys and unlocked each door simultaneously.
The people who came out of the cells looked similar to him, with dark skin and tribal markings, but there were those who looked closer to Vendetta and Conlaed with red-orange hair of fire nymphs.
"Your orders, vice-commander?" One of them said, stepping forward and saluting to Almos.
"Listen to these men and go to the floors of the dungeon that they instruct you to, then help free your comrades and get your weapons!" He ordered, strict in his voice but pursing his lips.
"Understood!" The men replied in unison, then turned towards me where I showed them the map of the dungeons and relayed the same orders Vendetta gave me, then Almos gave three of them a different key to the armory of each floor our allies were held in.
"Oh yeah, Almos, why didn't they take your weapons?" Victor questioned, suspicious of our newfound ally. He put his hand on the hilt of his sabre, in a way to show Almos he was on edge.
"Mmm, others can't exactly touch my dagger unless I give them authorization to. You see, it's a spirit dagger so it can only be wielded or touched by its contractor unless the contractor gives someone else special permission to. So they put a spirit lock on it instead and took away my magic bombs," Almos explained, showing the empty pouch.
"Alright, my apologies. I just wanted to make sure we could trust you if you know what I mean," Victor replied, removing his hand from his hilt.
"Hehe, no worries, I get how you feel, especially considering you and your master are in a foreign kingdom, and as an enemy to its ruler," Almos said, offering understanding.
"Oi, you two done?" Arwan called out to them from the stairway up, standing in front of me, "we're going to the next level, so hurry up."
"Ahem, apologies M'Lord, I got caught up in our 'Conversation,'" Victor responded, ignoring Arwan and walking up the stairs, staying right behind me, Arwan and Almos followed.
***
"OLIVER GOD DAMN VICKERMANNN!" Vendetta yells in rage, bursting through the doors of the throne room of Idalia castle. Today was the day she planned to end the war, here she would defeat the tyrannical king, Oliver Vickerman, and rescue her Juliet.
"Y-Yes hello, Andronica Drusus! I've been waiting for your arrival since you invaded my palace!" King Oliver stutred, trying to act tough through his fear, but failing miserably.
Standing up on the alleviate platform where the throne was, was the Tyrannical king of Peril, Oliver Vickerman. A younger king, but a very idiotic and dumb one.
He had black hair with steaks of gray in it from what is presumed to be caused by stress, it is adorned by a golden laurel wreath crown, sparkling against his unfocused brown eyes. He wore a long tunic that was loose around his legs, he paired it with a green fabric he used as a sort of shawl, strewn around his shoulder, arms, and waist. He paired that with a gold belt that held his sword sheath, golden sandals, and numerous golden jewelry to show off his wealth.
"HA! Don't even try to act tough, King. I know you well enough to know that you fear me, your fear is even the reason for this whole ordeal!" Vendetta, or formally known as Andronica, exclaimed.
Andronica walked over to the bottom of the platform, putting her hand on the hilt of her sword to instill more fear into her enemy.
"If you take one more step closer I'll tell them to kill her, so if you ever want to see your dearest Devika again, I suggest you do as I say!" Oliver commanded, taking out a communicator device from his pocket.
"You can go ahead and give the order, but it won't fulfilled." Vendetta replied coldly, now drawing her sword and walking up the stairs of the platform, "My men are already deployed, taking down every guard you have, and battling your "advisor" as we speak."
"Urg! I see…so you already know that I've posted him there…I guess I'll have to believe you then," Oliver acknowledged, finally drawing his sword and pointing it at Andronica, "I suppose I'll have to take care of you myself then!"
"Then come at me," She spread her arms, trying to provoke him, "Let's see what our tyrant king can do, show me how you managed to kill off all of your siblings!"
Oliver infused his aura into his sword, and Andronica did the same. Then they ran up the steps to each other, clashing their blades, Androncia jumping backward off the steps followed by Oliver.
They kept meeting blades for a while until Andronica launched a fireball at Oliver, who used his aura and cut it in two, making them hit the walls behind him, just barely missing the marble pillars.
Andronica was annoyed at how long it had taken her to get this far in the war. She yearned to see her lover once more, her lover, Devika, was the whole reason she left the Peril Kingdoms knight ranks to begin with.
She not only blamed Oliver, the one who imprisoned her lover, but also herself. For not being able to protect her, for not being able to rescue her before Oliver "took advantage" of her, to not being able to release her from her prison herself.
Her longing soon turned to rage, pointed at the cause of it all, and especially at herself. She hated the tyrant king, herself, and this kingdom. She wanted so desperately for it all to end, but she even more so wanted to see her lover.
Not being able to hold her rage back any longer, she decided she would let the chains around her anger go. Her body soon burst into flames, her hair flickering like a large flame making warmth in a house from the fireplace, her arms being enveloped in an aura like fire, making a crackling-like sound against her armor. Her sword blazing from the heat of the fire running across its blade.
Raising her sword, she planned for this to be her final strike, to finally end all of the pain and suffering she and her lover had to go through. But the result wasn't what she had hoped.
Instead of lighting the king on fire and cutting him in two straight down the middle, her sword and flames bounced off, surprising her.
A giant grin soon formed on Oliver's face, causing maniacal laughter to burst from his mouth.
"You fool! Did you really think I'd challenge my own ex-commander, without being prepared!?" He continued to mock her with laughter, only angering her more, "Unfortunately for you, I'm not as dumb as I seem! I've long since been thinking of ways to defeat you and gain full rulership of Peril!"
The manic tyrant drew his sword in an arc towards Andronica, who blocked it just in time. Then using a sudden burst of unknown energy, he blew her into the polar behind her, knocking her immobile for a few moments, just long enough to deal a final blow.
"Thanks to this newfound power of mine, I can make myself practically invincible! No attacks will be able to harm me, not even if you light me on fire and I am unable to put it out, i won't even be in pain!" He exclaimed, raising his sword he uttered the words meant as a last farewell to the tired general, "Sorry, but it seems even your last hurrah will be in vain."
But before he could even get his blade anywhere near her, someone stopped it with chains made of mana, and swung his arm back, almost twisting it out of its socket.
"Apologies, but I can't let you harm my leader like that," Almos said.