"Well then, no wonder the halls were empty, i'm guessing the king ordered all of you here?" I mocked, arriving in front of two tall, gold-lined marble doors.
"Hmm, it's more like he told me to guard these doors and the person inside, and I took these guards with me in the process," A man in a butler uniform said, opening his arms toward soldiers clad in full armor, not a speck of visible flesh.
The man had eggplant-colored hair, sharp green eyes that seemed as if they glowed with malicious intent, and pale skin that almost looked like that of a deadman. He wore a suit with a dark blue button-up acting as a base against his eyes, paired with black pants and a black tail coat, the outfit was put together with a purple-dyed leather corset, and a grimoire attached to his hip with a sort of strap pouch.
"And you are?" I said mockingly, a smile on my face matching my tone, and tilting my head slightly.
"Hmph, since your poor life will end here, i suppose i can spare you my name," The man said with pride, putting his hand over his heart in a "high and mighty" manner, "My name is Kyros Greer! I am a Marquiss and the closest advisor to the King!"
'I feel like I've heard that first part before, meh, I probably have,"
"... That's it? I thought you would have something more to say, y'know, being like a special boss and all," I shrugged, putting on a look of disappointment.
"Ug! Why you- Haaa, you're not worth my time," Kryos claimed, palming his face, then he extended his hand and gave out an order, "You lot! Kill this man and take his head! It shall be a gift to his Majesty, a gesture of my allegiance."
"A gesture of your allegiance, eh? But I thought you were already allied with the King of this country?" I jested, summoning my scythe as the "knights" drew their swords towards me.
"Pfft, I'm surprised you haven't noticed, considering that both of our attributes and the similarity in our energies! I'm a lich, but unfortunately, I'm not a part of the demon king's army, so I devised this plan to prove myself to him so that I would be given a chance to work on his counsel!" Kyros admitted impulsive.
"Oh! So all of this is essentially you're fault, well that gives me a good enough reason to kill you then!" I smiled maliciously, before swinging my scythe at the incoming knights.
The knights were all coming towards me all at once, so it was easy for me to swing my scythe and cut straight through the first wave of them. But as I killed each one and killed the next group, they just kept on reviving.
'Hm, they are probably zombies, which means kyros must be his reanimation ability.'
Unlike us necromancers, liches could control the undead like puppets, raising them from the dead over and over again until their bodies were completely destroyed. So I could cut off their limbs as I pleased, but they would still come back to attack until it's just a torso.
However, there was one downside to this ability of a lich. It took apart of their conscientiousness, meaning that the amount of soldiers that Kyros was controlling was making his body unconscious.
'I could get closer before he realizes it, take him by surprise, and take him out…he might notice but it's worth a shot!'
Instead of attacking the zombie knights, I began to dodge them and weave my way through the crowd, miraculously avoiding getting a limb cut off or getting slashed in the back by a sword.
A zombie came straight at me, raising his sword over his head and swinging down to cut me in half, but I dodged in time and cut him in two, disconnecting his legs from his torso, which left him crawling.
"Ugh! Gross!" I exclaimed, quickly avoiding looking at the thing.
I was able to continue to duck and weave through the crowding zombies, attacking when I had to, but soon I came to the end of the herd and emerged in front of Kyros. Then I jumped up into the air, swinging my scythe towards him.
Unfortunately, before I could cut him down, his unmoving body jolted from its slumped-down state and dodged the swing of my blade, missing him by a hair.
He then infused some sort of dark energy into his fist, and before I could twist out of the way, he slammed his palm right into my gut, knocking me back, into the hoard of zombie knights.
I couldn't get away in time to run away from the zombies grabbing both of my arms and standing me up to look Kyros in the face, who stoped right in front of me, a smug smirk spreading across his pale face.
"Y'know, you've given the Demon army a lot of trouble," He said, grabbing my chin and then swatting my head away, "You really know how to make someones blood boil!"
Kyros then kicked me in the gut, making he cough of some saliva and spit out. Then he grabbed my face again to make me look at him, just to punch me in the face.
'Damn…this wasn't in the novel…i knew i should've had Victor and Arwan come with me!'
Instead of continuing to beat me, Kyros turned around to pinch his face and sigh, then turned right back to me with a tired and annoyed expression.
"Why aren't you fighting back?" He asked, ticked off at my obedience, "Are you some sort of masochist? Are you getting a kick out of this? Huh?"
"Pfft- HAHAHAHAHA! Me? A masochist? You've got to be out of your goddamn mind if you really think that," I said coldly, "The only reason why i'm not fighting back is because it wouldn't make a difference, i'm at a very obvious disadvantage, it'd only end up worse for me if i did."
"..." Kyros just stood there and started at me for a while, "...You're more amusing than i thought you'd be! How about this, i spare you and in turn you decide to join my side, i'll make sure to put in a good word to the demon king for you, how about that?"
"You must be a goddamn moron if you think i'd ever agree to that!" I exclaimed, then i head butted him right in the face, a mischevious smirk planted on my face, "Sorry, but i'm trying to retire as fast as possible, and that means that i also have to get rid of your little demon army as fast as possible!"
"URGH!" Kyros groaned, holding his face and cracking his neck, "MADMAN, the fuck is wrong with you!?" He shouted before punching me in the face and kicking me over and over again.
'Fuck, this body isn't as adept to pain as i thought it was!...no worries, just a bit more and he'll drop his guard, then i can land my hit!"
Then, as he started to slow down on his punches and kicks, he walked back and looked down at me, who was now on the ground, breathing heavy. Kyros was also out of breath, i could tell he wasn't very physically fit, he had little muscle and didn't have any blades on him, signifying that he used more magic that physical combat.
"Damn, how annoying you are," He mumbled, then raised his hand towards my face and created a magic circle pointed at me, "Any last words?"
"...just one," I replied, looking him directly in the eyes, "Dumbass."
Seeing his face contort in anger made me chuckle, he really wasn't attractive to me in anyway, but he was most certainly amusing. His reactions were so readable and exactly what i thought they would be. Which was why i called him dumb.
The last thing i saw before my vision went black, was his angry face and a ball of black, flame-like energy coming towards me, before feeling intense pain in my torso and falling unconscious.
***
"Apologies, but I can't let you harm my leader like that," Almos said, continuing to pull on Olivers arm with his mana chains.
"Ugh! Stupid brat! Unhand me this instant!" Oliver shouted at him, struggling in the chains' grasp and flailing his arm.
"Ho? But how can I "unhand" you when i'm not even touching you?" Almos poked, scoffing at the idiot tyrant infront of him, "Commander, can you move?"
"MMm, yes, just a moment," Andronica said, slowly pulling herself out of the rumble from the pillar she was leaning against, "Thank you for the help Almos."
"Don't mention it, i'm just doing my job and helping out a fellow knight," Almos said, smiling at her and then turning his head with a cold expression on back to Oliver.
"AGHHH! YOU FILTHY REVOLUTIONARIES!" The tyrant shouted in anger, thrashing around.
"You can yell and struggle all you want, but it's not going to make a difference," Andronica commented coldly, walking over to pick up her sword that she dropped.
"hehe…HHAAHAHAHA, You fools! Do you really think these measly chains will hold me back?!" Oliver yelled like a madman, his face turning pink from anger, but holding a malicious smile.
"Haaa, looks like that idiots finally lost it," Andronica sighed, shaking her head.
"Finally? Oh please, he's been losing it ever since he got on the throne," Almos replied, a look of "Seriously?" on his face.
"True dat brother, true dat."
Just as Almos was about to walk over to Oliver and chain him up with actual reinforced chains, his enemy had other plans.
The tyrant, Oliver, had one last hurrah. He drew energy from his sword, and caused some sort of corrupt energy to be launched from himself, which broke Almos' mana chains and almost knocked the duo back.
"What the? Demonic energy!?" Almos exclaimed, being caught off guard.
"Ug! It's coming from his sword!" Andronica shouted, drawing her sword from her sheath and running toward Oliver.
"You can try all you want but little mice like you won't be able to stop me! HAHAHAHA," He exclaimed, laughing meniacly while meeting Andronicas blade with his own.
Adronica skid back, getting into a battle ready stance and running towards Oliver again, this time infusing her sword with her aura and flames. This time she used flames that can purify things like demonic energy, something unique to her and her bloodline.
"You bastard!" She exclaimed, clashing blades with Oliver once more. Finally being able to push him back, she could tell he was starting to get sluggish.
Being a King, Oliver didn't have as much on-feild battle experience as Andronica did, considering she used to be a commander of a knight order for the kingdom, and was know the general for the revolutionary army.
Meaning that Oliver was weaker than her, whether it be physically or technique-wise. She was indeed winning, but then Oliver drew more power from his blade, causing Andronica to fly back.
Luckily, Almos caught her with his magic, "Here, i'll cast some support magic on you," He said, putting a magic circle on her back and infusing it with magic.
"Thank you, but i don't think i'll need it, all i have to do is endure his attacks. Soon he won't have enough energy to even swing his sword, no matter how much power he draws from it," she pointed out how his hair was turning white, and his hands were turning wreankily.
"You don't mean!?" Almos exclaimed, knowing what she was getting at.
"Yup, whoever gave him the sword placed a curse on it, knowing he'd use it like this," Andronica pointed out. Then she stood up and walked towards Oliver, getting ready to attack him again.
Oliver yelled a battle cry and lunged at Andronica, who was waiting and ready to receive his blow. Once he swung his sword at her, she blocked it and immediately responded with a kick to the stomach.
When she did that, Oliver drew more power from his sword to heal himself, but his body got more wrinkly and he was started to breath heavy.
He infused some of his sword aura into his sword and swung it in an arc towards the fire nymph slowly walking towards him, but she just cut it in half. Desperate to win, and still clutching his stomach, he ran towards Andronica, while drawing even more power from his sword and intending for this to be the final hit against her.
But before he could follow through with his swing, he tripped over his own feet and dropped his sword. Andronica then infused even more of her purifying flames and broke the sword with her own, causing the demonic energy to go back to whoever infused it in the sword.
"Wow, didn't think the sword would go this far," Adronica scoffed, looking down at the now old man body of her former greatest enemy.
"Wha- What happened to me!?" Oliver exclaimed, looking down at his old wrinkled hands.
"Pfft- HAHAHAHAHA! Your an old man now! That fucking hilarious!" Almos laughed, clutching his stomach.
"Come on Almos, its not fun to laugh at the elderly!" Andronica chuckled.
Just as the two were chaining the now old tyrant up, Victor came running into the throne room, Arwan chasing after him.
Victor was out of breath and stopped running, placing his hands in his knees and breathing heavy, then looked up towards the duo, who tilted their heads at him.
"Victor and Arwan? What's the matter, why are you two so out of breath?" Andronica asked, worried and stoped helping Almos chain Oliver up to go and walk towards them.
"It…It's My Lord…" Victor expressed, pausing to catch his breath before putting a hand on his hip and standing himself up, "I think he's in trouble!"