Men in gray and silver steel marched through a rocky terrain. All adorned in blue and green with the insignia of the Celestine Empire stamped on their chest and fluttering flags.
In the far-off distance, above the soldiers, two men sat on their horses. One of which was a General past his prime with a dense beard watched over them. and the other, an office as bald as an egg. Both braced themselves against the bitter cold.
"How much further now?" an officer asked.
"Another couple of days down this mountain path, then we'll be in Dahlia," The General said.
"Good, I can't stand this cold."
"Don't get too excited. After this we'll be facing demons from the fiery pits of hell."
"GENERAL WILL!!" a soldier shouted.
The soldier approached the two men on a horse, with urgent news. The two men looked over, with curiosity.
"What is it son?" The General asked.
The Soldier immediately saluted. "General Will! We're getting reports from the front! They're saying that the army from the Confederations is approaching! Sir!"
"What???"
Both of the men were befuddled by this report. They turned their attention back to the marching soldiers to find them all now at a standstill.
********
At the front, the soldiers stood firm, with their governing commander standing by as they all watched the Confederate army approach them. The only indicator of their presence being that of their red flag embroidered with the country of Dahlia's symbol.
A cold sweat streaked down the commanders' face as he finally saw the face of the troops that approached them.
Among the soldiers in the confederate army there were men whose skins were pale and gray with gashes and wounds. Some of the men he saw even had missing arms or eyes.
Soon the soldiers in the front would witness this too. Panic started to spread as a singular thought formed in all their minds.
"THOSE MEN ARE NOT OF THE LIVING"
The commander panicked and looked back to the frontline of soldiers. "WHERE'S THE HERALD!?"
The clopping on the rock terrain is heard as the man in question arrives. "Y-yes?"
"C-check on the state of those men, and if you can, find their commanding officer-"
Suddenly an arrow struck the Herald in the neck. The commander could only look back at the approaching army in shock. The army before them started the charge!
"DEFENSIVE FORMATION!!" The Commander ordered.
He quickly fled behind the frontlines as his men brought out their shields and spears, readying for an oncoming assault. They all readied for the now charging army heading their way. But then…
BOOM!!
The commander turned to find the very soldiers under his command being hurled into the sky by some unknown fiery explosion.
"What in God's name?" He can only mutter from the sheer shock of seeing his men being torn. Mere moments later, the surviving men started to get massacred by the undead looking soldier before them.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING MAN!!" the General arrived, scolding his commanding officer, who still looked on, stupefied.
General Will turned to the soldiers behind him. " ENEMY AMBUSH STRAIGHT AHEAD MEN!! DON'T FALTER AND SHOW NO MERCY TO THESE HEATHENS!!"
General Will pushed ahead into the horde of undead soldiers, slicing as many of the undead men as he could from his horse. Inspired by their generals' bravery, All soldiers around him and his commander charged into the horde before them. Cutting, slicing and defending against the horde of savage undead soldiers before them.
A bloody battle of the undead and the living took place as everyone fought fiercely and with determination.
With the inspiring figures of both their General and their commander before them, they fought and pushed back even more fiercely against the undead monsters. their advantage became overwhelming, and their victory became practically assured.
"WE CAN DO THIS MEN! STAND FIRM!" The commander declared.
Suddenly.
BOOM!!
BOOM!!!
Blood and limbs flew through the air as even more explosions sounded, killing more of their men.
"What the hell is happening!!" Will looked around, completely befuddled.
A rumbling sound echoed throughout the mountain. The commander looked up the mountain to find boulders rolling down the mountain. In an instant, the troops along with the commander were trampled and crushed like bugs by these rolling boulders. Their defensive line soon broke under the overwhelming disadvantage the celestine troops were in.
Even more screams echoed as more soldiers got crushed rolling boulders and falling debris. Upon turning back, General Will found that over half of his men were dead.
"This can't be…" the general could only look on in absolute shock.
Some of the soldiers around the General started to panic, some even retreating.
"STAND YOUR GROUND MEN! STAND YOUR GROUND!!" Will yelled.
He tried mustering up what little courage he could from his troops. But it was all for naught as some of the troops retreated from the monster before them, being slaughtered and maimed.
Seeing no other options even the General reluctantly retreated. "FALL BACK! FALL BACK!!"
The General raced through the field of corpses and fleeing soldiers on his horse. His face became more determined. "GEORGE!! READY THE PIPES!! READY THE PIPES!!!!"
Even more explosions followed behind General Will. the heat of the fire pressed behind his back with each explosive force after another. until the explosions couldn't reach him any longer.
"READY THE PIPES!!!!"
Further up the mountain the Officer panicked hearing the new orders. He ordered his men around him to fetch the supplies in question and raced to get their troops into position for a counter offensive. They start opening a barrel full of metal pipes on a wooden stick along with some barrels of gray-looking powder.
The piped sticks were passed around from soldier to soldier. Each one being hastily filled with some powder with white glowing my fragments.
"W-what the hell do we do with this again." a soldier quickly asked.
"IDIOT! Just channel your magic through the handle!" another answered.
"O-oh yeah."
"READY!!!" The Officer stood at the frontline with his hands raised, his face determined to gain the upper hand. And just as the General and most of the other soldiers made it past, the orders were given.
"FIRE!!"
BOOM!!
Again! Another unknown explosion decimated the troops that were equipped with the pipes. One after another, explosions and bangs rang out from small white fragments and fire scattered across the narrow battlefield.
Before they knew it, the undead rampaged through the fire and smoke to the newly horrified troops.
The soldiers that tried to fight back found themselves slowly getting overwhelmed. Even The General couldn't hold out any longer, as his horse was slain, leaving him completely vulnerable. Finally, a swing from the undead soldier with a true aim.
"Stop." a powerful voice ordered.
The general opened his eyes to find that the undead soldier stood frozen, blade at his neck. He looked around to find all the other undead soldiers frozen as well, leaving everyone befuddled.
"So, you are their General," the voice said.
General Will looked into the direction of the voice to find a blue demon in dark gray armor. The demon with black hair and beard before him looked down at him smugly.
A red demon woman was right beside him, looking amused. "That was far too easy, Your Majesty. Are you sure this is the Celestine Empire's army?
The General became instantly shocked upon hearing those words. Azar, seeing that his gaze was upon her, looked down at the general, disappointed with how feeble he looked.
"Surely this is just a mercenary group." Azar said.
The Demon King, Lucius picked up the General from his fallen horse. "Now if they were a mercenary group, they would be wearing these crests. Perhaps that explosive fire ball Lillian taught you was more devastating than we initially thought."
Azar started to play around with the magic, creating another explosive ball within the hands. "Oh, this? The magic is so easy to create. I never would've known that mixing elements could create such a concoction…"
"Unfortunate. And here I thought the Celestine's Empire would put up more of a fight… I guess we should just kill them now." Azar suggested.
Lucius readied his other hand. "Perhaps we should…"
Unknown to either Lucius or Azar, a soldier out of sight was readying a Pipe in his hands. The soldier with a great bloody scar on the right side of his face and ginger hair. He aimed from the side of the demons, being careful not to miss.
The scarred soldier then yelled. "LET GO OF HIM YOU BASTARDS!"
Both Lucius and Azar became alert.
BANG
An invisible projectile landed at Lucius's arm, penetrating the skin and flesh followed by some immense fire magic that shot through the other side of his arm almost hitting Azar.
"YOU DAMN FOOL!!" General Will yelled.
Lucius' arm became half burnt with a huge gash from the attack. This left both Lucius and Azar, completely shocked by this.
"THIS ISN'T ANY ORDINARY DEMON!!"
Lucius's arm instantly started to regenerate itself.
"THIS IS THE KING OF DEMONS!!"
A cold sweat ran down the soldier's face. Before he knew it, Azar was in front of him. She scowled at the man, frightening him into falling on his back. He was suddenly surrounded by the undead soldiers, despite this, his gaze was fixated on the demon women before him.
There's a pause amongst everyone as heavy footsteps approached them. From behind Azar Lucius came, this time dragging the general by the neck with his other hand. Lucius looked at the general with a smile.
"I have no further use for you," he said. Lucius presented the general to the scarred soldier, then squeezed the neck of the general with one hand.
"No!! Stop it!!" The soldier yelped.
Lucius squeezed harder.
"S-stop it please-!!"
POP.
"Oh. So that's what happens when you squeeze hard enough." Lucius laughed as he promptly let go of the dead general's neck, allowing it to fall towards the now terrified soldier. "Now… What's your name?"
The terrified soldier didn't answer. Azar kicked him further to the ground, stamping her feet to his chest. "He asked you a question! Sound off, if you don't want to die!"
"I… I…I-I-I…"
Azar's impatience grew. She glared harshly at the man as she pressed her feet harder onto the man.
"D-D-D-Donovan Mills!!" He screamed, terrified.
The sound of something trickling became evident in the sudden silence. Azar instantly became disgusted as she looked at a puddle forming beneath the soldier. "Ugh. The kid just soiled himself." She backed off letting Lucius handle the rest.
Lucius ignored the pathetic sight. "Two names, Huh… If I remember correctly, in the Celestine Empire, only Nobles are supposed to have two names. A tradition that's been copied by this country to a fault."
Lucius moved in to grab the strange-looking weapon Donovan had used. He examined it with a peaked curiosity. "There's only been three people left to have left scratch, let alone a wound on me."
Lucius pointed the pipe weapon at the soldier. "Congratulations Donovan Mills. You became the fourth person to make me bleed." Lucius gave a wide smile. "I'll have to thank you properly."
The undead soldiers grabbed Donovan, lifting his now limp body.
"Take him to my tent."
"Y-you won't get away with this!" Donovan blurted, by some miracle.
Lucius glanced back at the man as he pinched his own fingers to bleed. He simply smiled at Donovan before letting his blood drop onto the ground before them. A sound rang out like a drop of water entering into a pond, followed by some mysterious force that dispersed itself throughout the area.
Donovan watched in horror as his once dead commanding General rose from the dead. Slowly his other allies rose as well. The soldiers still alive could only cower in fear as their previous friends had now become lifeless husks under a demon's control.
Lucius levitated himself into the sky so that everyone saw him. He spoke directly to the surviving army of the Celestine army.
"You may choose ten among you to return to your country… The rest of you will die." Lucius gracefully floated back to the ground. "You have until morning to choose. if you don't choose you all die. If any of you try to escape, you all die. If you try to retaliate, you will all die."
Turning away from the trapped army, Lucius watched as Donovan got escorted away. "How you all choose doesn't matter to me. That is all."
With his declaration finally done, Lucius took his leave, leaving behind Azar to take charge over the remaining soldiers. She gazed intently at them before turning her attention back to the pipe weapons the soldier's used earlier.
She gave a smile. "Hmm."
********
Lillian and Jala watched over the marching group Confederate army from a hillside. She sat on the edge, swinging her leg back and forth like a child while Jala simply watched her from behind.
"It's so boring just waiting. I'm glad they're finally here!" Lillian sighed.
"It's not long now, in a few moments we'll launch our ambush," Jala said.
Lillian continued to look intently at the marching soldiers until she saw something of interest. "Oh. It looks like one of the three confederate generals are among them."
Jala came in to get a closer look. Lillian pointed to a man with black hair decked in golden armor on a white horse.
"He always did like flaunting his wealth… That Kyrier Man." Lillian muttered.
Lillian got up from where she sat, raising and pointing her arm to the army before them. A powerful explosive fireball manifested itself before Lillian, growing bigger and bigger until it outgrew an entire villager's house.
"I always liked his father better." she said.
"H-hold on Your Majesty-!"
Lillian blasted a powerful explosive fireball at the army, directed at the General. The explosion from the magic echoes through the grassy landscape. A world of smoke and soot created by the explosion quickly evaporated revealing a misty transparent blue dome encasing a large portion of the army.
The soldiers of the confederate army became alert upon Lillian and Jala in the distant cliff side.
"ENEMY ATTACK!!" A confederate soldier yelled.
Lillian looked on with curiosity at the blue dome. "So, this is the strange barrier you and the rest have been talking about."
"Yes, they only seem to appear whenever one of the three generals enter the battlefield."
"Ah. Well, that explains why they're not dead yet." Lillian started to take her leave as she noticed arrows starting to be shot at them.
"No offense your majesty, but we've already been over this many times."
"You mean in those boring war meetings? I barely pay any attention to those in the first place. I let Lucius handle the participation in those," Lillian Pompously said.
Jala just watched on as Lillian continued to trek down the cliff side path. She looked back to find their army starting to attack from behind the confederate army, catching them by surprise.
Jala also turned to watch the confederate army getting overwhelmed only for the blue dome to materialize, keeping their demon troops from getting any closer to the general. It wasn't long before the general abandoned his entire army seeing that the tides of battle were entirely against them.
Lillian watched on in disappointment, as the cowardly general gained more distance from the battle. "What a coward." she said.
"Should we chase after him?" Jala asked.
"No. There's plenty of time to kill him. I'll just rip his head out the next we meet." Lillian seemed bored.
A winged demon quietly approached Lillian from the front with a message for her. She's handed a scroll with a message.
"The Demon King wanted me to give this to you," The messenger said.
With the message delivered the demon messenger made his way back to the sender.
Without hesitation Lillian opened the scroll, reading its contents.
"Any new orders?" Jala asked.
"No. Something else." Lillian immediately burned the message soon after. "Lucius stopped the Celestine Empire's army from entering into the country. According to him, they have some interesting weapons he wants us to see when we regroup… But…"
"Now he wants to flaunt his new pet army throughout the countryside." A hint of annoyance could be heard from Lillian's usual demeanor.
Lillian glanced back over to their demon army, watching once more as it easily overtook the remaining confederate army. "After this we should continue south, I'm sure Lucius will tell us more by the time we reach the City of Baldwin. That is, if it's still around."
********
It's the dead of night, in a campsite populated by demons that are unwinding after a day's battle. Some of the undead enemy soldiers are patrolling the area including a tent that Azar recently entered.
Inside, a handful of an assortment of barrels filled with gray powder and an array of the enemies' weapons include the strange pipe weapons.
Azar opened a vial of blood, pouring it on the ground. She then turned her attention to the Pipe, grabbing from the barrel to examine it.
She found that the iron metal pipe was welded and pressed together on its side. She traced her fingers along the pipe that seamlessly transitioned to the wooden handle that pulsed with magic energy as if it were alive.
From a distance she would've taken this weapon as a poorly designed club, with its simple and crude design. But looking at it now, knowing it's power to rip through even the Demon King's flesh. It presented a new possibility.
Rakon stood tall behind Azar, his look, stern and impatient. "I hope this was important."
"I think I found a simpler solution to your problem, Rakon." Azar turned to reveal the pipe weapon in her hand. "It might be hard to believe but this stick can kill your brother."
Rakon Raised a brow, unsure whether to believe her words.
"Allow me to explain," she said with a smile.
As Azar explained, a maimed body of the barely breathing soldier, Donvan sat, tied down. He looked up as Azar spoke in her native language. His vision was becoming more and more blurred and hazy as he caught a glimpse of Rakon, who he listened intently.
Soon after, Donovan fell unconscious as Rakon smiled, satisfied.