A battle broke out in the damp and bloodied cave. The soldiers, servants of the Church of Visions, against the horde of swarming ants from the underground kingdom of ants. The clinking of metals echoed through the cave.
"Damn ants!" the swordmen swung their swords. Each swing sliced through the ants' body, spurting out green blood, tainting their white shields and faces.
"Hey! Keep the shieldwall straight!" the halberdiers thrusted their halberds. Each thrust pierced the ants' flesh and pushed them away.
"Ignem ruptis!" the magicians chanted their magic. A burst of flame came out of their hands miraculously, flowing through the air, burning many ants to a crisp.
"Men! Don't let them get through!" Clasius shouted, his voice commanding and the loudest in the cave.
Then he turned around, looking at Hubert, Ron, and the slave, his jawline sharp, his distrinctive blond brows, and his stare stern.
"Now, tell me, where are the others? This mine shouldn't have this little amount of slaves," he questioned, his voice authoritative, dull, and low pitched.
Cough
"The ants cap-captured them…" the slave replied, his voice trembling upon the pressuring gaze Clasius showed.
"Tsk! Weak guards! Can't even guard these slaves from mere ants!" Clasius muttered, looking at the dozen bodies of guards laying on the ground lifeless, their metal armor failed against the powerful jaws of the ants.
"Don't blame them, Clasius, they did what they could and now the Goddess' embrace are upon them. Though it is a shame to have failed to this point," Kira said, her red eyes gazed at the corpses, then at Hubert and Ron.
"How about both of you? The slaves above told me that two people followed the guards down," Kira questioned. Her attention glanced at Hubert's sword, its glint hidden by the ant's green blood.
"Beside…" she walked to the ant that met its demise by Hubert's sword.
With her index finger, she poked the hole in the ant's head, its flesh gripped her finger, blood rushed onto her finger. She then placed her finger in front of her eyes, the fresh and watery blood on it.
"You are the one that killed this, right?" She said with a curious tone, biting her lips.
"Nonsense! How could such weakling kill that ant?!" Clasius refuted. His eyes peering down on Hubert's weak, thin and lightly malnourished muscle.
"…" Ron stared back at the two of them, his eyes lazily looked.
"If… If you're curious, heal this man and I'll tell you," Hubert told, his voice demanding.
"What? This slave dares!" Clasius gripped his sword and raised it over his head, ready to split Hubert's skill in two.
"Stop, Clasius," Kira commanded, her gaze curious as she wiped her stained finger with a white cloth.
"Tsk!" Clasius clicked his finger and dropped his sword.
Then she walked over to Hubert, each of her step silence and a smile painted on her face. She kneeled down and grabbed Hubert's by his face with her just-now tainted hand. A faint blush appeared on her face.
"Hmm, young and interesting," Kira muttered.
Hubert shook his face to the side, escaping and releasing his face from Kira's grip.
"And presumptuous," Clasius added, his hand still clenching his wide bladed great sword.
"Perhaps… I could heal him, but…" Kira stopped her phrase.
Cough!
The slave coughed again, with each cough, the green liquid that spurred out onto his hand increased gradually. His face significantly paler than when Ron and Hubert got to him and his eyes progressively wearier.
"But what? He's dying over here! What more is there to do?" Hubert yelled, his voice became increasingly agitated.
"But I chose not to!" Kira said before covering her mouth with her hand and bursting into a sinister laughter filled with enjoyment from the spectacle.
"Wha-what?" Hubert looked at her, his heart betrayed and his eyes widened in confusion.
"Why…" he muttered.
"Sick woman," Clasius murmured.
"No need to worry, young man… I ex-expected it to be thi-this way, tha-thank you," his weakened voice whispered to Hubert.
"Bu-but… Don't give up! Let's search for help above," Hubert rushed, dropping his sword and grabbing the slave's hand.
"No need… I-I'm tired, let me lie do-down," the man said. Hubert's shaky face reflected in his blank eyes.
The man laid down his head, his gaze looked up to the cave boring ceiling, his hands placed on his side. Green liquid leaked out of his eyehole and his gasp for air filled with hardship.
"Go-goddess… Is tha-t yo-you?" the old slave muttered.
Then his body became lifeless, his black eyes like an endless abyss.
"No… No… Why…?" Hubert talked under his breath.
"…" Ron's blankly stared at Hubert.
"Such is life… Such is life," Clasius said.
"Aha-ha-ha, a good spectacle I must say, I never expected to be this entertained when I came here." Kira exclaimed, her lungs gasping for air after her excited laughter.
"Sh-she could have…" Hubert's head directed down, he looked at the lifeless man in front of him. Tears welled and leaked out of his trembling eyes and landed on the soulless cheek.
In the end, he failed, he failed again and again. He did all he could, he tried and begged. Yet no one helped and no one cared.
"Uagh!" a soldier groaned, their sturdy shieldwall rammed by the tough armor-like skin, the swordsmen and halberdiers thrown backward into the line of mages.
"Clog it! Clog the hole!" a magician shouted.
"What do you mean clog it?! You think it's that easy huh?" another yelled back, his voice filled with frustration as he looked back at the magician.
"N-no! In front of you!" the magician warned.
"What?" The man turned around, his sight welcomed by the jaws of an ant in front of him.
Snap
His armor disappointed him, his neck amputated and his head flew upward, away from his body. His gaze different from the soulless slave. Not that of a peaceful blank stare, but frustrated, exhausted and shocked eyes.
"Kira, get ready to fight," Clasius gripped his sword.
There, a humongous ant stood, each of his legs thick as a wine bottle, his eyes as wide and big as a buckler and its antennae half the size of a human height. Its body thrice the size of its fellow ants.
"Of course," Kira smirked. Out of nowhere, she pulled out a long chain that flew through the air like a crawling snake. Attached to the end of the chain, a giant, spiked metal ball.
The two walked, passing over Hubert as he mourned over the death of the slave and Ron, who accompanied him.
---
Meanwhile, in the bishop's office.
"It has started…" the bishop said, his voice softer and weaker than before. He stared far onto the sea of trees out of his window.
"Yes, as Henry predicted," Anna responded, sitting on a cushioned red sofa, sipping through her cup of tea.
"Clasius and Kira,"
Cough
The bishop coughed, his hand covered his mouth, once again revealing the spur of green liquid out of his mouth.
"This posion… Annoying," he muttered to himself, his voice dull akin to a bored man.
"Will you be fine? Bishop?" Anna asked, a smile on her bright expression.
"Yes, yes… Tristan still needs me, I won't die that easily," the bishop responded to Anna.
"Good," Anna replied.
The bishop looked at the display above his office seat. A long display, where there sat a long lance, made by the finest wood colored white, covered by carvings of gold and embedded by a bright red crystal where the pole met the blade.
"Clasius and Kira… Will they succeed?" the bishop asked.
"Don't worry, I sent Henry to help them too," Anna said.
---
Thud
His step created a slight cloud of dust behind him and his landing produced a light thud as he arrived in the cave. His lean body clothed by his usual suit, a rapier in its scabbard on his waist and his graying moustache recently trimmed.
His eyes scanned the battlefield and the surrounding as the sound of fighting and clinking of metals echoed throughout the cave. Then he noticed Hubert and Ron and the still slave.
"It was all for nothing… I rushed down here, I killed the ant, yet I couldn't save a single people," Hubert said to himself, his voice hoarse as tears continued streaming downward from his face.
Henry approached and kneeled down. His hand, covered by a white glove, extended and closed the slave's open eyes.
"Rest in the embrace of the Goddess," Henry's eyes closed as he prayed. Present in his voice, empathy.
Hubert wiped the tears off his face with the short sleeve of his shirt, then he looked up.
"Coachman…" He said. He remembered seeing Henry, on that unforgetful and eventful day when the priestess visited them, bringing a brief respite from their work.
"Greetings," Henry greeted.
"Th-thank you," Hubert said, grateful of the action Henry did, especially to the slave that he failed to save.
"The priestess especially told me to keep anybody safe and to guarantee those who died to achieve peacefulness," Henry said, smiling toward them.
"I'm sorry for my impudent behavior, but it seemed like the situation are more diring than I thought. It's safer for the two of you to be above than here,"
He then stood up and walked pass them.
Schwing
A high pitched shriek came out as he pulled his thin and sharpened rapier out of its scabbard.