Outside the minor stronghold of Sol, near the collapsed gigantic gate structure of the stronghold, a small force of warriors dressed in grand armours were slowly making their way into the ruined settlement.
Most of the warriors were dressed in silver heavy armours that glistened under the reflective light of the silver moon.
Ahead of the warriors a muscular man with a fierce temperament and confident look was leading them. The man, unlike the others was donning a luxurious golden armour with silver parts on it, his eyes had a golden radiance in them, he possessed a thick red beard that added a fierce charm to his looks and his hair also of red color was styled into dreadlocks. Besides the man there was also another outstanding warrior who stood out from the rest of the crew.
Even though the word warrior was not the right word to describe this man.
A young man who appeared to be in his mid twenties was donning long white robes that had intricate designs on them.
The young man had golden eyes, long blonde hair and was accompanied by a peaceful and serene presence.
This man and the other muscular soldier were Dawn paladins, high ranking hunters of the Dawn army.
The robust man with red dreadlocks was a veteran hunter of the temple of Dawn, called Sigar, the blonde haired young man with the less imposing figure and serene holy presence was a high seer of the temple, with the name Ivor.
Once the Dawn forces were about to enter the fallen stronghold, they suddenly felt the ground quaking.
Before they could ponder over this earthquake that had appeared all of a sudden, they suddenly heard a loud piercing caw and an enraged dominating roar that echoed throughout the stronghold sorroundings.
Upon hearing these sounds, the valiant warriors of Dawn who were clad in luxurious silver armours, suddenly began to pass out one by one until there were only ten members left among the warriors.
At this point the blonde haired man in white robes suddenly spoke,
"Sigar, did you feel that,..that caw...?
Sigar who was staring at the passed out warriors then gritted his teeth in frustration,
"Yah l felt it, that annoying caw and that unpleasant presence, there is no mistaking it, its that rat of the Night temple".
The blonde haired man looked over at Sigar and showed a calm smile, turning his gaze to the unconscious soldiers and the barely awake ones, he said,
"And that roar, there something deep and profound about it, l have an inkling that its a high ranking fallen with a profound amount of corruption, probably higher than the gothlic stage, maybe something at the dracul class stage.
At this moment the seer was silent for a moment before continuing, while pointing his index finger at the half conscious warriors,
"At this point, this is no longer a battle, they can participate in, l suggest that they stay here while the two of us advances. As for their protection, l will leave one of my familiars to protect them, so their safety will be guaranteed"
Seeing that his comrade had made sufficient preparations for the the soldier's safety, Sigar did not have any objections about the matter.
He too felt that whatever was happening inside the fallen stronghold was a battle that consisted of a force that might be even stronger than him.
Right now the hope of saving other humans had ruthlessly diminished, judging by the scope of the battle raging inside there was no hope for any normal human to survive.
After the high seer Ivor was done summoning his familiar and ensuring absolute safety for their underlyings, the two men then proceeded to head into the stronghold.
Since they were no longer held back by the other hunters who were weaker than them, the two men entered the stronghold smoothly with a well maintained fast pace.
Although on the way, they encountered some fallens, they were not a threat and relatively weak compared to their power.
After minutes of traveling, the company of two soon reached the source of the massive battle that was shaking the entire stronghold.
Ahead of them, just a couple of meters away, a tall skeletal silhouette was clashing in an intense fight against a tall dark corvine bird with glistening dark feathers.
Looking at the two creatures a deep scowl appeared on both of the two men's faces.
They recognized the dark corvine bird as a contracted creature, that belonged to the famous Raven Shadow of the Night temple.
They also felt the tremendous pressure that was being emitted by the tall skeleton, speculating it to be a fallen that might be close to the dracul class stage, a force that they were both not confident in defeating.
While they were observing the battle they soon noticed another figures in near the battlefield.
One was a slender man with pitch black drowzy eyes and curly brown hair. The man was radiating a fierce presence and judging by his appearance he appeared to have powers of a dreamwalker or something similar.
They recognized him as another saint of the Night, probably another infamous Shadow of the temple who they couldn't pinpoint.
Aside from the slender man there were multiple figures that layed unconscious on the ground, some already dead while others were desperately clinging to the last grasp of life they had left.
These were probably the underlings of the Night temple probably, Elite hunters, which was strong force that surpassed even their own force that they came with.
While they observing the battlefield's surroundings they soon noticed a strange figure that stood out of place.
The figure was a young dark haired boy, clad in dark tattered clothes and smeared in fresh looking blood.
The morbid looking boy appeared to be young, very young probably in his teen age and behind him there was a swirling gray fog that seemed to be seeping and spreading from within his body.
Once they saw this boy the two men were startled and terrified at the same time.
They knew what that gray fog symbolized, what it represented and what threat it possessed. This gray fog was the fog of death, a fog of corruption that was possessed by cursed bearers.
"It seems that we may have more trouble than we originally thought", spoke calmly the blonde haired seer.
His tone was calm, same as his demeanor as if he wasn't worried about the forces ahead of him.
The burly dawn paladin of the Dawn temple, released a cold sneer at the seer's comment.
"So what? Just because there other rats mixed in the equation, do you think l will cower in fear of their presence.
Be it the cursed boy, the rats from the Night or that fallen dracul, l will face them all with the valiance of dawn and purify them with its holy light.
The high seer at this point smiled warmly at Sigar,
."Well said, you possess quite an admirable faith.
Anyway you are right as long as we are in the sunshine of dawn, then we have nothing to be scared of"
At this moment the high seer suddenly said to Sigar,
"l am about to pray to the goddess, don't let anyone disturb me"
Sigar, confidently replied with an excited expression,
"Don't worry as long as l draw breath, nothing will disturb you"
The seer nodded towards him, and began to pray in a foreign and sacred tongue.
It was exactly at this moment that the two generals of the Shadow guard who had been attentively observing the raging battle, suddenly notice the appearance of the two newcomers.
The pale white skinned Victor also seemed to notice this two figures after feeling the sudden disturbance in his surroundings.
The prayer that the seer was chanting seemed to invoke a strange powerful presence in the surrounding region.
This presence was so powerful that even the two titans who were clashing were momentarily distracted.
A deep scowl appeared on the middle aged general Morris's face and with a panicked expression he suddenly turned to his deputy,
"Genrick! You need to stop that man, at all cost"
Genrick didn't need to be told twice, once he heard the general's words, he suddenly acted.
Moving with startling speed, he suddenly crossed the few meters that distanced him from the two warriors of Dawn.
Drawing his short swords, the slender man launged at the blonde haired priest.
At the same time, the darkness in Genrick eyes seemed to deepen and a pitch black dark mist seemingly spread from within his body affecting and distorting the space around him.
A hazy and surreal dreamlike appearance seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere.
This was to stop the other party from interfering with his attack.
Sigar who was standing guard near the high seer Ivor, suddenly felt a drowzy feeling affect him and his eyes suddenly closed as he was subjected into a dream.
Just when Genrick's blades were about to reach the high seer, he was suddenly intercepted by another figure.
At first Genrick had thought that it was the burly golden armored warrior who might have broken through his dream but he soon found out that, it was another person, or in a more precise way, it was a familiar.
Ahead of him, there was a figure draped with vermilion flames that formed a red orange cloak on his body.
The figure's body was covered with orange flames from his hair to his feet and in his hand he was holding a burning saber that kindled with orange flames.
This was an powerful familiar that had been presummoned by the high seer, just incase his companion faced an adversary that could bypass his defense.
Once his attack had failed, Genrick swiftly retreated from the figure, landing a few meters away from it.
Sigar who had been trapped inside a dream, suddenly woke up and glaringly stared at the slender hunter.
Behind him, the high seer who had been chanting for a while had suddenly finished his prayer, invoking a divine presence to descend on the stronghold.
Early rays of dawn light suddenly illuminated the entire stronghold, dispersing the shadows and darkness that infested this place.
The fallens that infested this stronghold began to wail in agony, once they were exposed by the sunlight.
The tall corvine bird had been flying majestically in mid air, suddenly dispersed into a torrent of feathers which then later dissolved into dark mist that vaporized in air.
General Raven Morris who had the appearance of a middle age man with white hair, suddenly began scream in agony.
His wrinkled skin began to peel off and a sizzling sound began to resound as his skin turned red from the sign of burning. As his skin burned, wisp of dark mist would vaporize in the air.
After forty seconds of wailing in agony, the wrinkled skin on the general's face had peeled off and burned and now was replaced by a new youthful pale white skin, his short gray white hair had withered off and in a matter of seconds he had suddenly grew another hair, which was milky white in color and shoulder length long in height.