"I would like to express my gratitude to all of you for gracing me with such gifts, performances, and, most importantly, your presence. I understand you are doing this because it is my first birthday after the great war, as I did not receive any of this during my birthday on the battlefield," he said.
The crowd burst into laughter as they realized it was impossible to hold a birthday party on the battlefield.
After the crowd settled down, he continued, "Unlike most of the generals present here, I was just a lowly commoner—a child who had to beg for a morsel of bread to fill my stomach for the day. But today, I stand before the great king of the Lux kingdom and his compatriots as the Hero of the kingdom. Let's raise our cups and thank the mysterious hands of fate." He raised his cup, followed by the other leaders and the crowd as a whole.
"CHEERS!" they all said in unison, chunked down their wine, before continuing their merry-making.
"Master, sit back and relax; we have more surprises awaiting you," William said with a smile as he raised his cup to Francesco.
"Bring it on. Hahaha," Francesco laughed heartily as he drank, expecting more surprises.
He sensed a powerful magical energy surrounding the mansion but dismissed it, attributing it to the surprises promised by his only student.
Outside, white-robed men, the kingdom's strongest mages, chanted and expended significant energy to erect a barrier. Meticulously erected poles with intricate light element designs stood around the estate. Positioned mages chanted as magic circles enveloped the poles, gradually raising a barrier that enveloped the entire estate.
"Bring the artifact!" shouted an elderly mage in similar white robes. In response, men clad in black armor pushed a large altar toward him, featuring the image of their sun at its center, dimly adding luminance to the surroundings.
Four more mages joined him, pouring their mana into it. The image gained body as it rose, merging with the barrier. The barrier absorbed it, reacting by exuding brightness that surpassed even that of the sun.
The brilliance was so intense that I had to narrow my eyes that day.
The mages who had performed the ritual turned to dust, sacrificing their lives for the sake of their country.
"Huh, what's that?"
"Is the sun descending?"
"That's too bright."
"..."
"..."
Murmurs filled the room as they were all blinded by the intense light.
"Is this the surprise? Well, I am surprised, but can you tone it down a little?" Francesco said, also blinded. To his dismay, there was no response, and the bright light showed no sign of dimming.
"Hey, can you guys hear me?" he shouted, but once again, there was no response.
" AH!! " He screamed as he felt a sharp pain in his back, followed by the warm sensation of his blood trickling staining his robes.
" An ambush, " He thought to himself as he regulated his mana, trying to conjure his undead army, but to his surprise, his mana was not responding to his will.
" What?! " He exclaimed, " The light must be responsible," He thought as he dodged an attack to his heart.
He was now as blind as a bat and could not control his mana to call out his formidable army but he did not panic as he did not get the title of greatest hero in the continent by relying on his necromancy alone.
Dodging the attack, he threw a punch in its direction, breaking the sturdy armor and hitting the undefended body of the assailant.
Believing he made contact, he attempted to grab the assailant but swiftly withdrew his hand, sensing an attack to his back.
"Who are you? Do you know what you are doing? The entire army of the Lux Kingdom is here..." he shouted, trying to buy time to regain control of his mana.
" ARGH!! " He screamed again as swift but shallow slashes were made all over his body.
" We got this in the bag, it seems we might win without losing anyone... I guess that witch was just a quack " William thought to himself as he watched the battle from a safe side, the enchanted goggles he wore allowing him to see despite the bright light.
He saw the battle progress in their favor as his men bruised and cut Francesco who seemed like a sitting duck waiting for its demise.
" What's that, " William thought as he felt a fluctuation in the mana in the air followed by a huge turbulence, the ground shook, breaking the grand hall's floor, causing anyone standing on it to fall into the dark basement.
"Huh, this is better," Francesco exclaimed, satisfied that his plan had worked.
While they cut and beat him, he strategically refrained from counterattacking. Maneuvering the little control of his mana, he broke the hall grounds, allowing himself to fall into the dark basement. It was dimly lit, slowly increasing in brilliance as the light of the barrier crept in, moving much slower than usual due to the basement's saturation with dark mana, its polar opposite.
"Now let's see your faces," Francesco exclaimed as he opened his eyes.
In front of him lay the corpses of all the people present, including the king. Panicked, he quickly rushed to the king's side. The king was bleeding profusely, his heartbeat stopped, and his body slowly lost its warmth.
"Cough!!!... Cough!!!... Mas...ter, Cough!!!, Cough!!!" William's voice reverberated in the basement.
Francesco turned towards him, his pitch-black eyes, an effect of his dark arts, reflected the image of his only student lying in his own blood. William's left leg was cleanly cut off, his right eye gouged out, and his right hand held the spear sticking out of his body.
Francesco rushed over, his calm demeanor completely collapsed at the sight of his student and the rest of the corpses in his room.
The corpses like William, seemed to have been massacred by assassins, limbs littered the grounds, hands peering through the rubble, their eyes filled with horror of their unknown demise.
"Don't talk; I will heal you," Francesco said as a green energy enveloped his hand. Placing it on William's chest, he tried to stabilize his heartbeat before removing the spear.
As he did this, William, supposedly dying, smiled maniacally. "We got him."
Francesco was completely distracted, busily trying to heal his only student, his full concentration on him, unaware of the shadows moving rapidly toward him.
"Mas...ter, res... serve your... *Cough!! Cough!!!*" William struggled to speak as he was supposedly choked by his own blood.
Francesco, who looked at his student painfully, said, "Don't speak; I will..."
He was cut mid-sentence as his battle instincts kicked in, instantly ducking to escape a dagger aimed at his neck.
He, in turn, stopped healing William, picked up a nearby sword, and parried another attack aimed at his neck, his head still not turned away from William.
He finally turned as he felt the number of assailants increase behind him.
His gaze met the dark goggles of his assailants clad in hooded black robes, you know, those worn by assassins and those seeking to hide their identity.
Ten figures stood before him, all armed with daggers, hesitating despite outnumbering him ten to one.
Francesco's eyes filled with rage as he looked at the small fries who dared to ruin his party and wound his student, worse yet, they even killed the king.
He was too filled with rage to think if he had thought carefully about it that day he would not have met his end. That is good news for me as Ossa became the god of death because of his death so I guess it wasn't all that bad.
Had he considered it, he would have realized that such a small fry couldn't kill the soldiers of Flagrare and Flamma, as they were veterans who had fought against the general of the demon army.
Francesco, still filled with rage, pointed his finger at one of the assailants, their head exploding into a bloody mist.
The next one rushed towards him, teeth gritted, knowing he would die but choosing to fight rather than run. The other eight joined him as they charged towards the furious Francesco.
"You filth don't deserve to die peacefully..." Francesco muttered, his voice choked by anger, gritting his teeth in frustration.
He wanted to move, break their limbs, gouge their eyes, cut off their tongue, torment them, push their souls out of their bodies, and boil them in lava. He wanted to move, but if he did, William, his supposedly injured and on the verge of dying student, might be hit.
The student, believed to be on the verge of death, slowly stood up, his wounds miraculously healed.
As Francesco faced the assailants, unmoving from his spot, William crept closer, armed with a short dagger intricately decorated with light elemental patterns. He literally backstabbed his master.
"Argh!!!" The unsuspecting Francesco screamed in pain, slowly turning to look at the culprit.
He turned, his black eyes meeting the equally black eyes of his student, who was perfectly fine and had a dagger to his back.
Whether by shock, disbelief or just a simple delay in counterattacking, he just asked, "Why?"
Responding with a wicked, maniacal smile, William pushed the dagger in, a crackling sound reverberating through the room as Francesco's vertebral column was broken.
The sudden push and rush of pain finally caused him to counterattack, bursting out a torrent of dark mana, pushing William and the remaining assailant back.
The torrential burst of dark energy, darker than the blackest abyss, gently fell to the ground, spreading it and slowly turning into a pitch-black carpet, one that looked like the abyss itself.
Skeletal hands bounced the light from the magic barrier as they slowly climbed out of the black abyss, from skeleton foot soldiers to mighty bone dragons to the powerful lich, numbering in thousands.
They continued to climb out, their sheer numbers collapsing the mansion to make room.
"How is he still able to do that," William thought to himself, standing safely on the other side of the barrier. He had teleported as soon as he was hit with the torrential dark mana.
"He should be weakened by the barrier; don't fret... Gather your forces and attack him," Lux Kingdom's great king shouted as he mounted a snow-white horse, clad in light golden armor, himself and the horse.
"Yes, Your Highness... For the glory of our kingdom," William shouted as he mounted his horse, a black stallion clad in the same armor as he was.
Soldiers numbering in hundreds roared as they followed him into the barrier.
The other generals present also commanded their armies as they rushed into the light barrier, armed to attack their hero.
In all, they numbered a total of 12,640 soldiers, all armed and ready to attack one man, not counting the mages who stood outside the barrier, ready to assist the army.
Meanwhile, the injured Francesco lay on a makeshift bed of bones, his commander, the lich, tending to his wounds but failing miserably as in the light every magic it tried to use will just dissipated.
"Why..."
"What is going on..."
"How"
"Is this a dream..."
"A nightmare maybe"
"..."
"..."
"..."
Francesco's thoughts raced, unwilling to accept the reality of the matter.
Just think about it. You are one loved and revered by all, and all of a sudden, they attack you and when you also think about it, you have not given them a reason to. How would you feel about it?
Confused
Shocked
Surprised
'Shockprised'
Betrayed
Vengeful
A mix of emotions that would be enough to make you mad.
That was how Francesco felt, and the more he thought about it, the more he saw that this whole party was a disguise to prepare for his death, a disguise to annihilate him.
"So they were all in on this... Everything I have done, *Cough!! Cough!!!*, for you," Francesco exclaimed as he saw the army of more than ten thousand soldiers rushing towards him.
He tried to look beyond the light barrier that had dimmed considerably due to the dark energy of his army, numbering in the thousands. His army was once more than a thousand, almost reaching half a million when he was in his best condition. Due to the light and his injuries, he was only able to summon about a thousand, and even that was done involuntarily.
"WHY?" Francesco shouted at the top of his lungs, causing him to cough violently, blood spraying his bone bed.
"WHY?!, YOU ASK . .. WHY?! ... LOOK FOR YOURSELF, AN ARMY NEEDS TO FIGHT ONE PERSON ... " the king's voice echoed in the light barrier.
"YOU BETRAY ME BECAUSE YOU FEAR ME?!!!"
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