[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV
Northern kingdoms.
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...
A few days had passed while Madara and Ciri continued their journey southeast of Temeria.
He was still training the girl, stopping every day to train and try to awaken and enhance her unique powers.
One day, Madara stopped at a distance, watching a large movement ahead of them.
"Is that the Temerian army heading south?" Ciri asked in surprise, from within his arms.
"It's not the entire army... they should already be concentrating in Sodden by now..." Madara said, looking in that direction. There were thousands of soldiers, undoubtedly reinforcements for the war.
"I think this could be a good opportunity to find out what's going on," Madara murmured as Ciri looked at him.
"Are you thinking of going there?" she asked as he nodded.
"Yes... it's an opportunity to investigate the status quo," he said as he began moving again.
They were at least 300 meters from the group marching south, getting closer without being detected by the sentries and scouts, always keeping an eye on the march.
"We'll wait until they camp," Minato said, following through the forest, hidden, while he found a place to keep Ciri safe with a clone.
"You will stay here and keep training. I will return shortly." Madara said, as Ciri nodded without comment, watching him disappear the next moment, leaping through the trees using chakra to run along the sides.
Madara's clone followed, setting up the camp after Madara left the equipment from a scroll. The clone stayed on watch while Ciri went into the trees to practice her throwing skills.
Madara continued silently, catching up with the army's march, which finally began to stop as the afternoon ended and they started setting up their tents in a clearing they had found. He lay in wait, watching them settle in among the trees.
Hours passed until the sky turned dark, with no moon—perfect for him. He then decided to act, quickly moving through the camp, heading towards the largest tent in the center like a breeze, with no one suspecting an intruder among them.
At that moment in the main tent, a meeting was taking place between the general of that small army and his commanders.
"We should position our forces directly in Sodden, but we could also try to go around the hills and catch the Nilfgaardian army from the north..." one man suggested, pointing to the map, drawing the route while others listened.
"I don't think that's the right move. We'd be at the mercy of the Nilfgaardian army. If they decide to attack, we'd be cornered. We would only be able to flee, and it's not safe to attack from the north alone. We should join the rest of the army..." the man in the center of the group said, and they all looked at each other before nodding in agreement.
"What about the situation south of here?" someone asked.
"We can't see that. It would be better to go directly and regroup with the main army," the man said.
"General Eric is right," another commander commented, and they began discussing other points soon after, while no one noticed Madara's presence in the shadows of that tent, listening calmly to all the military matters being discussed like a perfect spy, even the mage there did not sense him. However, none of their discussions seemed of much importance to Madara, as he had no intention of fighting with either army.
It was only after everyone began leaving the tent, with only the general remaining, that Madara decided to step out of the shadows, picking up a metal goblet and letting it fall in front of the general.
The general heard the sound beside him, and when he looked, he saw feet in front of the goblet. He quickly raised his head to see Madara, with red eyes, before falling into a genjutsu, his eyes opening wide and freezing in the next moment.
"Guards!" the general called, as a few men passed by the entrance of the tent, waiting for orders. The man stood there alone, appearing to look at them with a stern expression, as if everything was fine. "From now on, do not let anyone enter. I don't want to be interrupted at this moment, under any circumstances!" he ordered, and the men returned to their posts, obeying the general's final command.
"Well, let's begin," Madara commented as he stepped out from behind the general. The man, still under the effects of the genjutsu, began to pass on all the information Madara requested. The clash between Sodden allied with Temeria, along with the mages' conspiracy against Nilfgaard, was about to begin.
The general knew the names of the key mages, some of which made Madara raise an eyebrow in surprise, like Vilgefortz of Roggeveen himself, someone he believed to be an ally of Nilfgaard, perhaps an infiltrator.
The first clash between tens of thousands of men would happen soon. Nilfgaard had the initial advantage, but now, with the addition of Temeria and its army, they might face more problems than anticipated.
The general also knew about the mages in Sodden preparing a surprise attack, advancing through the high terrains called the Sodden Hills, which would devastate a large portion of the Nilfgaardian army if successful. But Madara knew that most of the mages would be killed, likely by an informant described as Vilgefortz himself.
However, something else caught Madara's attention: the general mentioned receiving a letter from his superiors two days ago, ordering him to investigate one of the passes to Sodden from the south. Scouts and soldiers sent to investigate had begun to disappear, except for a few who reported encountering a creature that split into multiple parts and had a black body, capable of firing lightning and flames, decimating dozens of them in seconds. The general had orders to eliminate the creature, but he planned to make up an excuse, claiming to have lost too many men and couldn't complete the task. He needed bodies and names and would wait for the war to begin since there would be plenty then.
Madara frowned. "No monster should be able to emit fire and lightning... Could it be a mage's creation?" he murmured, still trying to understand what it meant as his interest grew. Additionally, another person had been summoned on the other side of the Temerian army, along with the mage council, and a familiar name appeared in the general's reports. A sorceress Madara easily recognized had been called to investigate.
"And to think you're here..." he couldn't help but comment, wondering if he would encounter the magic of purple eyes and black hair.
Releasing the general, Madara already knew what he needed. Quickly, he left the tent, causing the general to blink a moment later, not understanding what had just happened as his memories of seeing Madara had been erased.
Madara returned to the camp moments later, where Ciri was eating, and his clones were scattered around, keeping watch.
"You're back!" she murmured as Madara approached. "Here, I made this for you." She handed him a stew of vegetables and dried meat.
He was surprised she hadn't let the clone cook the meal, but he accepted it nonetheless.
"Did you find what you needed?" she asked, as Madara nodded.
"Where are we going now?" she continued.
"South. I want to check on something," Madara calmly mentioned the detour.
That night, they simply ate and went to rest. The next day, Madara was running through the forest again, passing by the army and continuing onward.
Meanwhile, in an area full of craters and part of the forest destroyed, a portal opened nearby at that moment. A woman, dressed impeccably in an outfit that matched her hair perfectly, stepped out, surveying the scene before her.
Other portals appeared, and more mages emerged at that moment.
"What do we have here... is this Nilfgaard's secret weapon to prevent Temeria from coming through the north?" one of the mages asked.
"It's full of corpses..." Beyond the craters of destruction, there were pieces of soldiers scattered everywhere.
"I'm not sure this can be Nilfgaardian..." the woman commented, pointing at a group of dead bodies with Nilfgaard's banner, probably scouts... something was stopping both sides from passing through here.
"Who the hell would do this...?" a young mage murmured.
The woman did not answer and began to move her delicate hands through the air, as a magical glow attempted to uncover what had happened there and who had caused such destruction.
This continued for a while, until someone appeared, walking across the terrain and catching the attention of all the mages as this person came closer, stepping into view, ready for the stranger.
"What do we have here?" a voice from this strange man was heard.
"Who are you?" everyone asked, not recognizing the stranger, making them frown.
"Just a traveler looking for some entertainment, since this war is taking too long to start. So, I decided to have some fun with anyone who shows up here..." the man replied, while the sorcerers watched him seriously.
"You still haven't answered me..." the sorceress of the group spoke with a stern tone.
"Well, what else can I say? All I care about is killing and money. I hope you have the latter because you're all going to die quickly here," he said with disdain.
In the next moment, a bolt of lightning shot towards him, hitting him hard and sending him flying several meters back. The electrical discharge, conjured by the female sorceress, would have killed any human being.
"You should have gotten more information from him..." one of the mages said, dissatisfied with the sorceress's action.
"Wait... he's alive!" another said, with a grim look.
However, in the next instant, the man stood up. "Damn... you destroyed one of my hearts..." his voice was grumpy as he stood again. "Well, it doesn't matter... after all, I have three hearts to take here..." he said, his body unharmed, as he looked at all three of them as if they were his prey.
"He survived..." the youngest mage murmured.
"Haha, that was a nice hit," the man mocked, with everyone still watching him, now seeing his appearance more clearly. He looked less and less human, with his body appearing to be stitched together.
He then entered the fight, raising both hands. "Anyway, let's get started, mages. I hope you do better than that because you won't kill me..." he said and quickly began moving his fingers, forming seals. The sorceress's eyes widened in shock, and in the next moment, an enormous explosion began to erupt in the middle of the forest, with flames filling it like an inferno.
Meanwhile, Madara heard the commotion. He narrowed his eyes and advanced, activating his Sharingan, and was stunned.
"Something wrong, Madara?" Ciri looked at him, surprised by his expression. It wasn't a shock, after all. He could see something he never expected to see in this world—chakra. The explosion in the distance had been caused by chakra, according to his Sharingan, and it had to be a fire jutsu.