??????? ????? ?? ???? ???? ?????The emperor took half of the emergency forces provided by Rara, and immediately headed out to the shortest route towards the capital which was Mizar Settlement, when they got inside seeing that it wasn"t yet affected, they immediately gathered additional forces, their forces rose up to 30,000. The emperor immediately gave instructions to his aides.
"Give me any light armor and a greatsword, one with a magic stone so I could cast spells. Have warriors change into lances and swords, and archers switch to crossbows!" his eyes flashed with anger. The aides immediately raised their flag scattered to gather what the Emperor needed and to spread the command.
"If we take this long, the capital might be at risk," personally seeing how easily the evil force possessed a body and the strength it showed, the emperor decided that he needed to stop them as possible.
They rode further into the second gate, and when they pa.s.sed through it, the middle cla.s.ses" houses and town showed up, it was peaceful, yet there was something eerie, there weren"t people in the plaza, nor the shops, it was supposed to be a city bustling with life because most shopping districts were there, but not a soul was there.
"What? What the h.e.l.l is happening? No one"s here? Where did they all go? What"s going on?" Hadethious and his men started slowing down. "Everyone be cautious! We don"t know anything about the enemy! Maintain position!"
Every one of them scanned left and right to see if there were people, while not breaking their formation when suddenly a knight screamed.
"Your highness! There"s a man in front! It"s Ipzahr your highness! With another person!" his voice was shaking.
Ipzahr the strongest caster of Kydus appeared in front of them, together with him was a man who wore a white robe and had a white beard, he was Ethareri"s prime minister who came to Kydus to recuperate, not only because they had the best healers, it was also his intentions to improve their ties.
Their eyes had a hint of red within it, and they both had unnaturally happy smiles.
"Ipzahr! Where are my subjects?" The emperor shouted towards the man that was just casually standing, suspicious of him.
But the man didn"t respond, instead, he raised his staff.
[ ????- ℎ??? ]
Immediately a large energy ball about the size of a carriage appeared at the top of him, it looked like purple fire being enveloped by a dark circle. As soon as it appeared he pointed his staff towards the emperor and the fireball followed the trajectory.
Hadethius couldn"t believe his eyes on what he saw, "Have you also been possessed Ipzahr! I"m disappointed in you! You the most powerful caster in the empire!" He exclaimed as he reached for his great sword at his back, he channeled his mana to it and slashed it to the air towards the ball horizontally, when he did this, a blue crescent emerged from it and it clashed at the ball, instantly the ball broke into two pieces and disappeared but the force it produced was enough to make a huge explosion of air on the two sides.
As if it wasn"t enough, the possessed Ipzhar cast another spell in the language Hadethius wasn"t familiar.
[??ℎ???- ??? ℎ?̂?]
With this chant, possessed men gradually emerged from the houses and the supposed to be empty shops, they were men from different cla.s.ses, they either were n.o.bles or commoners clothes, what made them look the same was the menacing look at their faces.
With them they dragged along living people tied like pigs; children, elderly and pulled them by the hair, they were screaming for help when they saw the emperor and his knights, but the crazed laughed and did gestures as if provoking the emperor.
"What the h.e.l.l did you do to my subjects!" The emperor"s rage cannot be quelled anymore he raised his greatsword to the air and gripped it strongly.
As he did this the possessed men together with their hostage s.h.i.+elds slowly went towards them and his knights to try and sneak a kill.
"Casters! Gather all magic in the air and send it to me! Warriors and archers defend me!" with this command, the knights that were capable of magic put their sword in front of them channeled their mana to it, the archers aimed their crossbows at the possessed men, trying to avoid getting the hostage on their sights, the warriors took their stance as they protected for their emperor so he could chant his spell. No one was able to make a move due to the hostages.
[ Omnia enim unum, by the strength given by people to the strongest]
"Ejection of Mana!" The emperor"s hand and sword glowed with gold specs of light, as if strengthening him more, he quickly unsaddled, stepped forward and disappeared, the crazed men tried to block his path by using living people as s.h.i.+elds were confused, in the blink of the eye, the emperor was at their backs and killed them from behind. It was so fast for the human eye.
When the possessed men dropped like flies, the emperor temporarily decelerated to give his next instruction, "Get the hostages quickly!" He swung his hand to the right, with this his cape fluttered showing his silver light-weight armor, which was a great pair together with his silver hair and beard. He looked mighty and strong.
He turned around to look at the possessed Ipzahr who was only meters away from him, "you fiend, I don"t know why you chose our kingdom, but this is what I can say! You made the wrong choice! Even if you used the body of my old friend I won"t think twice of taking off his head, because if it is that what saves people, it would be what Ipzahr would want, he will never submit to that kind of humiliation!" He then pointed the greatsword to him, and with a blink of an eye he was behind the possessed Ipzahr.
"Take this!" He swung his greatsword at high speed towards the neck of the body of his old friend.
But, it didn"t happen as expected, "Huh? What the h.e.l.l happened? What happened to my strength?" he suddenly felt that his body was heavy and he dropped to the ground with a thud.
"Is this the secret to your strength?" The possessed Ipzahr talked to him and pointed at his knights who were killing each other, the old man with the white robe and beard was also there killing the casters one by one with a rapier.
"I knew your tricks beforehand, human! HAHAHA! Whenever I reside in a human"s body I can easily collect their memories! You"ve just lead yourself into a trap! I let you go for entertainment but you came back to me so soon, are you that willing to die? HAHAHA," his voice was the same Ipzahr but it had a woman"s echo with it. "For a mongrel like you, your battle power is impressive, even without having much mana, but you are too naive, or is it just your old age showing?"
"YOU!!!!" He shouted and tried to stand up, "Huh? I can"t move my body" he tried even a single movement but his body didn"t move an inch.
"HAHAHA" the possessed Ipzhar laughed hysterically, "Now! Feast your eyes as my underlings kill your beloved people one by one! At the front seat!" He held the emperor"s sleeve and dragged him to where he could see the ma.s.sacre of his knights clearly, his knights who saw him were calling for his help as they get slashed into pieces.
"No!!! No!!! Stop it!!!" he pleaded.
But the enemy only laughed and laughed that he became like a rabid dog, "How do you feel? Tell me? Hey? HAHAHA you were so confident earlier. How does it feel to have hope taken away from you the moment you got it? Look at your men, cleaaaaaarly at their faces! HAHAHAHA! They"re asking for your help emperor! You"ve got to help them! HAHAHA
Don"t worry you"ll be joining them soon! And I will display your body at the front gates for the humans in this world to see!
The ritual is complete! And without any additional sacrifices, your forces there will be mine in no time! And we will keep multiplying using all the humans in the country! This country will be the stepping stone to our conquest! "
Preoccupied in ecstasy, the possessed Ipzahr didn"t notice what would come next, .
"You… " a golden aura oozed from the emperor"s body symbolizing his will, "I"ll take you down with me!" The emperor then opened his mouth towards the possessed Ipzahrs feet and bit it with a strong force that it bled.
"Huh???" the possessed Ipzahr looked down, "What the h.e.l.l are you doing human?" he stomped the emperor"s face many times and got a look at the bite, his face immediately became angry.
"Poison?! And a potent one at that…" the emperor couldn"t answer but gave a small smile as he murmured, "you"re the one who"s a naive kid, hahaha!
Even if you survive it I"m sure my children will kill you and avenge me! Even if they can"t, humanity will! Humanity will not yield to ugly creatures like you who only know how to kill!
You don"t have a heart!
And you don"t know how to comprehend someone else!
So you will die! I"m sure of it! You and your kin will disappear!"
"Tch, there"s no choice then," He took a knife and stuck it to the emperor"s heart.
"Guhh," the emperor immediately bled, knowing that he was about to lose his life, he thought happy memories of his wife and children. "My children, my wife, I"m sorry" the last image on his mind was when he gave a gift to his youngest daughter Rara on her birthday the young kid"s smile was so precious that when he told the stories about his adventure she seemed like she was having fun herself, it was Hadethius" favorite memory, being in with his family, and having fun with his children.
...
"Tch, the poison can"t be cured by magic, I have no choice but to transfer to his body immediately, I wanted to make him suffer through," the high priestess dark-elf inside Ipzahrs body didn"t have a choice but to transfer herself to the old man"s body as she couldn"t move the body anymore.
Unlike her kin that needed sacrifices in order to manifest themselves, now that she is on Midgard, Runzulu the high-priestess can transfer her soul to any dead body, without her soul disappearing, it was why she was entrusted on the invasion even when she wasn"t the strongest dark-elf, it was her gift to be the bridge of the two worlds, Midgard and Svartalvheim.
??????? ????? ?????????? ??? ?????? ???? ??????
Michaela, the four chief knights, and the other lords Hawken and Netland, stand together with the 15,000 troops stationed at Mizar settlement, as they guarded the gate where the enemies will be pouring from. They gradually heard the footsteps of the 60,000 enemies that they will face.
Geraldine temporarily takes command of both gun carriers and demolition battalions as they take defensive positions. They hide in the roofs and the second-floor buildings with fortification.
Layla Savoy with some female soldiers readies a field hospital in the outskirts, together with the injured knights from the last battle.
Andrei, Claire, Rara, Gideon Savoy and Erneis lights a torch inside the escape path the emperor used.