[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Northern kingdoms.
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...
"Are you just going to stay there, spying on me?" Madara asked while his eyes remained on the flames burning through the area.
From among the trees, more than 20 meters away, someone emerged—none other than Morenn, reappearing once again. It seemed she had been freed while Madara resumed his conversation with the leader of the Dryads.
"You controlled me..." she commented, looking at him accusingly.
"Yes... just as you truly thought you could harm Ciri, my princess. Trust me, it was very close—I almost killed you when you threatened her," Madara replied, deactivating the Sharingan.
"If I had known what kind of monster you are... I would never have done such a thing... I saw how you dealt with those Witchers killing Dryads... you treated them like insects and crushed them easily. I met a Witcher once... the one who took Ciri from this place... and I know how strong they are. But seeing someone kill 13 of them... I never wanted to meet someone like you." She gave a brief speech, though Madara barely listened—he needed to return.
"Whatever. I'm leaving," Madara said, looking at the last bodies of the Witchers, defeated and dismembered at the end, while spitting fire on them to burn them to ashes.
"Don't worry, my mother won't do anything to your friend... we know the threat you represent... though I don't know exactly what you showed my mother," she commented.
"Eithné is your mother? That explains why she seemed so comfortable saving you," Madara remarked before beginning to walk away, either unaware of or not recalling this fact.
"You read my mind, didn't you?" She couldn't help but ask.
"Only important things... like the Brokilon challenge to enter the sanctuary," he replied.
"I..." She tried to speak again, but Madara simply leaped into the trees, moving quickly toward Duén Canell, unwilling to waste any more time here.
"..." Morenn could do nothing but watch him leave.
Madara arrived at the location moments later, where they were waiting for news, having heard explosions in the forest. He passed by the Dryads and went directly to Ciri. "It's time for us to leave," he said.
"Yes?" Ciri was surprised by his arrival but nodded, a bit confused.
"You're here... did you find those responsible for the death of the Dryads?" Eithné approached, seeking answers.
"You'll find the burned bodies of 13 Witchers from the School of the Cat near a small destroyed area where I fought them. They're all dead. Even so, I left some clones to watch the forest, and I believe you should check if there are any more intruders left," Madara said, heading over to Cirilla.
"13 Witchers...?" Eithné murmured, somewhat astonished, though upon reflection, she realized she shouldn't have been surprised that this boy had killed so many Witchers within 10 minutes since leaving. After all, she believed he was some kind of god or demon.
"Anyway, you're leaving..." Eithné observed as he approached the girl, picking her up in his arms.
"Our business here is finished, Dryad... we won't meet again for a few years, but remember that one day I'll come back seeking a favor that your people owe me, remember that," he said. Madara wasn't going to forcibly place anyone in his debt, but considering what Eithné had tried to do to him, it was the least he felt he had to demand.
"Are we going north?" she asked from his arms as he nodded, leaping between the houses and trees of Duén Canell, with the Dryads merely watching them from the ground while he moved at high speed, heading out of the area and advancing toward the eastern part of the forest before continuing to Temeria.
The dryads could only watch them leave, disappearing into the forest beyond Duén Canell, heading east.
The queen of Brokilon merely sighed at this sight before turning her attention back to the other Dryads. "Attention, everyone. I want the entire forest searched to ensure there are no more intruders and to see who was killed by the witchers, immediately!" she exclaimed as they began to move, unable to do anything else.
Some time later, her daughter finally arrived, along with the other Dryads who had scoured the forest and who had encountered Madara before the battle with the dryads.
"You are here, along with... I see you've found the Witchers..." she said in a somber tone, noticing the two dead bodies with them while the Dryads mourned their fallen companions.
"Yes, I watched the fight with that human or whatever he is... He dealt with the Witchers as if they were nothing..." she murmured, still replaying in her mind how Madara mocked his enemies while killing them. She had never seen a Witcher scared, but she saw it in the eyes of the last one.
Eithné nodded, not very surprised by this. "I imagined as much... Having that boy in this forest was not pleasant at all, but we can't do anything and deny things as they are... It's a pity we've lost some of our own. We must mourn their deaths after we've dealt with any other intruders..." she said, resuming her leadership of her people.
Whether Madara knew the way to their capital or not mattered no longer to Eithné. She only hoped that when he came to collect the debt, he wouldn't demand more than she could give. Thus, things returned to normal in Brokilon, with Eithné always remembering the power that could destroy her entire home, something she would recall for the rest of her life.
Meanwhile, the Nilfgaardian army was moving through Cintra, devastating the entire area, finally arriving at the battle near Sodden, with the borders already in their sights.
King Thorne was having a severe headache at that moment, in addition to moving most of his army to the north, where a greater concentration of enemies was located. Various key figures of his army were dying, being assassinated by a group of infiltrators in his land, while all his search parties were being eliminated.
"Three more Witchers from the School of the Cat, my lord. That's what we've identified..." his knight reported in the main tent, which had a map of the kingdom in the middle of all his war counselors. Intelligence began searching for who had done this, and it didn't take long after eliminating one of them to gather their information.
"Damned be they..." Thorne muttered. Several barons and dukes from his army had been killed. They were very skilled in ambushes. This was becoming quite dire for his army. If things continued at this rate, they would be crushed without resistance by the main Nilfgaardian army when it arrived. And it wasn't far off, just a few weeks away. It was a surprise that Emhyr was involved with the Witchers, using them to his advantage—even though it was just four who had entered here, they were causing significant chaos.
But fortunately, at that moment, the tent's entrance opened, and a messenger entered quickly, expressing urgent news. "Great Majesty Thorne, I bring news from the north," he said, while Thorne raised his head to him.
"And what is it?" Thorne asked.
"Temeria is bringing a large army to us, over fifty thousand men to aid in the battle!" he informed, causing Thorne to raise an eyebrow.
"Is this serious?" he asked.
"Yes. Not only that, but the Brotherhood of Sorcerers is also coming here. Names like Vilgefortz of Roggeveen, Tissaia de Vries, Hen Gedymdeith, and Artaud Terranova—they will all be here to join us!" the messenger informed, while Thorne felt both satisfied and relieved. Though he still had to deal with the Witchers from the School of the Cat, at least there was finally some good news after these past months of war.
His gaze went to the battlefield, where pieces represented both armies fighting in the south and advancing from the west toward them. His eyes turned to Cintra, wondering what remained of it, while he still remembered the boy who approached him many years ago and helped him conquer his father's throne.
Thorne wondered where he was, after all, for from what he had heard, the boy fought against thousands of men alone, proving himself a warrior above all others.
What Thorne didn't know was that fate would soon bring the two together again, though not in the way Thorne expected. Little did he realize that while he struggled to deal with three Witchers, Madara had just finished off more than thirteen with ease in the north.
Meanwhile, to the northeast, Geralt continued traveling behind the convoy of mages, attempting to disrupt the Nilfgaardians by surprise.
At the same time, they continued advancing through the hills of Sodden. Tissaia, who was accompanying them, had to leave, after all, she had been summoned by the king of Temeria. Without drawing attention, she returned to the capital and held another meeting with all the allied mages, with the exception of her fellow sorceresses, who continued traveling.
Everyone had decided to head south and fight on behalf of Sodden to halt Nilfgaard's advance against the north, as it was beginning to pose a threat to the other kingdoms like Redania, Lyria, Verden, Aedirn, and even Temeria itself. Kovir seemed to be the only neutral kingdom in the north, while Kaedwen and other smaller kingdoms were focused on stopping Nilfgaard.
Thus, the king of Temeria gave the order, and fifty thousand men began advancing south, along with mages from various kingdoms in support of the north. As they began marching south, the mages started appearing in Sodden, seeking their king to update him on the situation. The Temerian army didn't follow the mages' convoy route but instead took the traditional path, for moving an army was no easy feat, and they approached the southern kingdom's border.
Returning to Cintra, a certain group was deciding what to do. "Aren't we heading north?" someone asked about him.
"Not yet... perhaps we should watch this war forming in the west, it seems interesting..." another said.
"We'll leave the boy for later," a second added.
"What a disappointment... hunting him would be better than watching these weak humans fight." He gestured to where they were.
There were at least fifty bodies on the ground, all wearing the black armor of Nilfgaard. They had stopped after seeing this convoy and then killed them for the food they were carrying. It took them less than a minute to kill fifty men, who had no chance to react once two of the group launched at them.
"Let's go. This will be interesting; I love wars," another said.
"I still think it's a waste of time. I'm more interested in the boy."
"The boy can wait. We still have time for that. So, let's head west to watch this war, then we'll deal with the boy."
"Do you think there could be more from the clan out there? After all, this one shouldn't exist..."
"Well, it seems that when the clan massacre happened, some of them survived, perhaps even more. But it doesn't matter now. We'll look into it after we deal with the child. But first, we go west..." their leader spoke, and the others simply nodded. Even those dissatisfied with this direction could do nothing, and they followed the rest of the group.
One of them moved at this moment. "This makes me think of the old days. It's been a long time since I've faced anyone using this kind of weapon in a mortal fight..." He said, at the end, holding the kunai he had found in one of the battlefields. He spun it quickly, demonstrating considerable skill in using it, just like Madara.