"ATTACK!!!!" Frisena commanded the army, and the soldiers of the alliance started rushing forward.
Our numbers are four times larger than the dark republic's, so this battle will be much simpler than we imagined. And the best part was, most of their soldiers have darkness origin, so fighting them isn't that difficult if we know how to counter them.
And while the battle between foot soldiers was happening, our elite squad went straight to the gates. Led by the second prince himself, Nathan took point and charged at the front gates on his own.
"Don't let him through!!!" The soldiers of the dark republic stood right in front of the gate to stop the prince from approaching.
But,
BAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sadly for them… there's a reason why Nathan is the one charging instead of me.
Out of all the members within the alliance, he has the largest explosive power. When it comes to burning and destroying things, he is the champion. As such, he will always be the first to destroy things so that we can punch through.
After he did his job, it's our turn to kill all the strays.
"Push forward!" I shouted, and our small group of twenty five started rushing to the front gate.
Within this squad, there's the five academy students and the vice headmaster. Aside from us, there's ten earth knights, five Valkarian soldiers, and three Fiordall knights. A total of twenty five elites.
And with this group, we were the first to step foot inside the capital. After slaying the guards by the gate, we all followed Nathan and ran straight to the castle at the center of the city.
"It's… very far!" Nathan complained after running for a while, and Jonah angrily slapped him on the shoulder as he ran past.
"We all have to save our strength! We can't rely on Nyssa to keep carrying us with her wind origin!" Jonah argued as he ran past Nathan.
"Hmm, hmm!!" The silent girl only loudly hummed as she ran past, and Nathan let out a sigh.
"Fine! I'll run, I'll run!"
And so, our trip to the tall castle at the center of the city continued. The city has now been abandoned by all the citizens, so it's just a ghost town. I do keep an eye out for potential ambushes, but so far our path has been empty.
After running for fifteen minutes, we finally arrived in front of the said castle. Seeing the dark colored bricks beautifying the castle, I whistled from how gothic it looks.
"This is my style for real." I said while staring at the architecture, and Nathan angrily whined.
"Come on, we have no time to be looking at walls!"
PRAANNGGG!!!!!!
With a single swipe of his large sword, Jonah destroyed the front gate to the castle. He stepped foot into the castle's territory, and so did everybody else. And after the last foot had arrived, our surroundings immediately changed.
VWUNGG!!!!!
The world turned darker, and the castle turned blood red. The ground that was previously snowing has changed into red flowers, completely changing the reality that we know it.
"W-What is this!?" Lily panickingly asked, but Miss Hilda studied the skies.
"This is the ability of the darkness origin… but used at a large scale. Normally you can only create illusions such as these in a small room. Not the entire world." The vice headmaster explained, and I turned my gaze back to the city buildings behind us.
"The city buildings looked… normal." I said after studying the building, and it seems like only the castle has changed.
Now, the castle is much taller than before. It looks like the center part is the most important part because it reaches so high into the skies. Everyone decided together that we should approach this carefully, and we all went to the entrance together.
Arriving at the door, Nathan and Jonah carefully pushed the door at the same time. The two counted to three and started pushing, revealing the inside of the castle.
Immediately, our eyes were shocked beyond comprehension. Inside the castle, a single man was found hanging from the ceilings, and his face looked unrecognizable due to the beating.
We all tried guessing who this person might be, but seeing just how fancy his outfit was, Nyssa had a guess.
"The president." Nyssa said after studying the attires, and Jonah nodded in agreement.
"Yeah… Looks like we came here for nothing." Jonah said as he stepped closer to the dead president, and it really looks like his face was beaten up so bad that it's barely a face anymore.
Everyone walked closer to see the corpse, but I just kept my eyes on our surroundings. And whilst doing so, a voice was heard aloud.
"Oh, but you did not come here for nothing."
The violent and loud echoing voice was heard inside our heads, and everyone covered their ears from the sudden loud voice. We all looked around to find the source, but it seems like the owner of the voice is talking to us in our heads.
"Who are you!?" Nathan shouted to the ceilings, and the voice simply laughed.
"Hahaha! The young boy of that damned village has grown up. Oh, how I've missed looking at your face." The voice spoke once more, but this time purposely targeting Nathan.
"… You are…"
"That's right! Allow me to introduce myself.
The Harbinger of Conquest. I am 'Light' and 'Darkness', and I am the first to be awakened. I am… Zero."
The voice introduced himself, and everyone quickly realized his identity. This voice is the real President Zero… or rather, just 'Zero'. The real president is dead hanging in the middle of the room.
"Why…? Why would you target such a peaceful village!?" Nathan shouted to the voice, and the voice only laughed.
"Why, you ask? Hmm, I wonder why. I guess… because your village has a lot of strong people? And I was just reawakened at the time, so I wanted to test out my abilities on some strong people?" The voice answered Nathan gladly, but that answer was too difficult to process.
"You mean… you killed everyone…"
"As a sport!" The voice happily completes Nathan's words, and the last surviving child cannot feel more enraged.
"Where are you…? Show yourself so I can kiss you in the face…" Nathan's voice trembled, and even though his words are joking, but the things he is about to commit might not be well controlled.
Everyone realized the heat emitting from Nathan's body, and they all hurriedly stepped away from him. However, I walked closer to him and stood right next to him. I patted him in the shoulder, and he turned his red eyes towards me.
This guy… he looks like he is about to go on a killing spree.
"We'll kill him together. Don't go off on your own." I said to Nathan, and he just gritted his teeth.
"I know." He answered coldly, but it doesn't sound like he truly understood. It seems like I must keep a close eye on him.
"Looks like everyone is too excited! In that case, let the final showdown of the dark republic…
Begin!"