Sitting near a tree that had been burned a few years ago by thunder, a knight with a skull helmet was grinding his sword, unaffected by the ongoing frenzy. Looking at her weapon a few times, she returned to grinding it after noticing a few duller parts on it. This small island of peace was only perturbed after the arrival of a few other knights of Kirov. Raising her head at the newcomers, the knight did not have to wait for long before they explained why they came here.

"Team Leader, there are some ... unfortunate news about Martin." Stiffening a bit after hearing the name of her son, she only stopped doing what she was doing. Preferring to announce the news as quickly as they could, the other knights looked like they were pitying her a bit. "I am sorry, but he was part of the army that was destroyed near Archet. He had followed the gener ... I mean, the Hero Avirus."

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Contrarily to what they expected, instead of crying, being angry or anything like that, the woman only began to laugh. Startled by that, they thought the sorrow had made her go mad, something they could partially understand. Why only partially? Because she was a knight of the order of Kirov. Every member of each families composing the Order was used to losing someone they held dear, for they were the last defender against the abomination that their former country had become.

"HAHAHAHA! And I thought it was something new. You guys are already days late. It's fine, you don't have to worry about me, my Martin is fine, besides being just a soldier." Standing up, she patted the shoulder of one of the still confused knights. Picking up the letter from their very hands, she began to read it while nodding her head a bit. In the end, she created a small flame in her right hand, destroying it completely.

"Now, instead of worrying for me, you should worry about the attack that will arrive soon. Go wake everyone up. Pschiiiiit, go, go, I am fine." Using her hand to get rid of the pesky subordinates that cared about her mental state, she sighed after they were gone. Picking up the short message she kept in one of her pockets, she read it again. Seeing the elegant writing of her brother, he was informing her that her son had miraculously escaped the ma.s.sacre near the city of Archet.

Even now, she could hardly believe that something that claimed the lives of more than 50 thousands of good soldiers did not manage to kill her son. The only other survivor was Avirus, that only died later, after facing the Dark G.o.ds. But even if she was still in disbelief, she trusted her brother that he would never lie to her. Even if he already had white hair, it did not mean he was senile. Besides the fact that he left the Order and became a tea merchant. Still lost in her thoughts, she did not notice the black spot in the sky that was different from those nightmares on wings. Neither did the other soldiers running around.

Gazing at the erratic movements of those humans, she wondered what was happening. Only after getting closer did she understood that the undead of Pankow were trying once more to attack Avenio. Because she hadn't seen any of them yet, she stopped going forward and searched for a place to have a good view of the incoming battle. After flying downward to hide inside a tree, she found a good branch to sit and relax. Not that she had a real body with real needs. But the habits of possessing a corporeal body were hard to lose in a few days.

DONG DONG DONG

The loud bells of the little town resonated, to warn all the civilians to hide as soon as possible. A few travelers that were in the vicinity, whether they were adventurers or something else either rushed toward the sound or flee in panic. After all, if the city was to fall, they would be trapped, but it did meant nothing could hunt them in the vast plains. But the very noisy sound did not only affected the local humans. Those birds that were beginning to retreat in front of Leilade suddenly returned to their positions, circling above the fresh meat that was moving on its two legs.

The next minutes, she could see the ramparts getting filled to the brink by soldiers. The only gate to enter as located at the opposite of the river, in the North. That way, the only thing the undead would be able to see was a tall wall with no opening whatsoever. There was barely less than 100 meters between the sh.o.r.e and the stones that composed those ramparts. Seeing this, Leilade couldn't help but lower her expectations by a notch. Between the vast immensity of the plains without any soldiers in sight and the obvious trap, whatever was trying to leave Pankow did not think about just walking around it.

A very familiar sound began to grow, warning the humans about the incoming attack. A few faces that were on the wall began to sigh in relief, as it was not as threatening as first expected. Merely a few thousands of skeletons, nothing else in sight. Even more fortunate, the undead did not seem to have any weapons, being the lowest of the lowest. Even if the numbers between the two forces were more or less the same, it was clear to see who would win in the end.

Farther away in the horizon, a dark horse was calmly eating the putrid gra.s.s, with the remnants of flesh it still had on his head. Bones could be seen on some parts, as the rotten muscles were sometimes twitching, under a heavy armor all over its body. His rider could not be described as any better, wearing an outfit strangely similar to someone of the knights of Kirov. After giving a glance to the skeletons that will probably die without killing anyone, the unknown living dead departed.

Only a few people managed to notice the black dot that disappeared quickly, mainly the few knights that were on the ramparts and Leilade. Clenching her fist, the female leader nodded at one of her subordinate, that began to immediately leave to inform the Order about that discovery. Across the centuries, those lone riders had been spotted multiple times, only to have both their ident.i.ty and their goal unknown. But if they were rarely seen before, at least four had been spotted in the last months.

Not bothered to even look at how the skeletons were crushed while trying to climb the ramparts, Leilade began to leave her tree and look forward to meet that strange undead. Unexpectedly, her sudden appearance made the fighting humans completely baffled for a second, everyone wondering what she was doing. That small carelessness almost cost the life of a new recruit, but besides that incident, nothing else happened. The only ones that were not relieved to see the black soul leaving were the knights of Kirov when they noticed she was aiming at the place where the black dot was.

Catching up quickly to the half-rotten horse, she found out the rider was not alone anymore. Three of them were patiently waiting on a barren hill, which seemed to have been scorched by a fire recently. Descending from the sky like an angel of death, their first reaction after noticing her was to draw out their swords. Not feeling bothered at being threatened like that, she did not know which one to interrogate first.

"Who are you?" Turning her back to the three undead knights, she looked at the one that was coming from behind her. He did not seem to be any different from those that were menacing her with their swords, but at least, he talked. With a horrible voice actually, like, seriously, his throat sounded like it had been crushed under something very heavy. The guttural sounds produced by that thing she could call throat were hardly understandable.

"Leilade Octavius. And you?" The moment she p.r.o.nounced her name, she felt that a sword was attacking her. However, that did not prevent from finis.h.i.+ng what she was saying, as the weapon that should have cut her body in half had disappeared. The undead knight was starring at what was still left in his hand, mainly just the handle of his sword. Wiggling a bit, shadows began to leak from her ethereal form, prompting the remaining bystanders to slowly retreat with their horses.

"No one. We don't have names anymore. You are fooling the grou ... are floating in the air of the Kingdom of Pankow. Express the reason for your presence in our kingdom or you will be considered as an intruder. And will meet your appropriate end." Even if the two swords that were pointing at her had returned to their scabbards, it did not mean that she was considered as a guest. And as much as she wanted to know how they expected to kill her, she wouldn't waste time and mana for nothing.

"I wanted to ask you a question. Have you ever seen this?" She began to create the image of an orb that could be considered as quite big compared to her. Since she had confirmed the presence of Candaith here, that would mean she had a chance to get back one orb of the Ancients. And from whatever she understood inside the library of the Academy of Magic in Ma.s.salia, there was one seen here in the Kingdom of Pankow. However, as much as she examined carefully the reactions of those undead, none even stiffened a bit.

"No. Now, begone." Cursing the ability of the undead to not display any feelings, it was not really good for her to worsen her relations with those undead. Probing a bit the defenses of their souls, she met, as she expected, a strong resistance. By the fact that those undead knights were strong to start with, they also had centuries to strengthen their will, even if it seemed they had forgotten who they were. Knowing she couldn't control one before he could react, she left them and returned toward the river.

The group of riders starred at the black soul that was getting smaller and smaller. Afterward, they began to inspect their surroundings, searching for anything unusual. Even after a few minutes, and after finding nothing at all, they still left the place without a word. Riding for a few kilometers and repeating the same search, they had to acknowledge the fact that the soul they just met did not do anything to them.

"Is she from the Vampire Coast?" The one with the missing blade on his sword began to shake his head after hearing the guess of his peer. "No, she came from the North. From Avenio. Recently, one of the humans I grabbed said that the Dark G.o.ds had returned. She probably is one of them."

"Whatever she is, she knows about the Artifact. We have to warn Him. Let's just hope she won't be as hard to deal with than those bloodsuckers. Even if it is highly unlikely." Following this discussion, they all split up to warn each of their brothers and sisters spread across the kingdom. Standing still for a few seconds as the others were leaving, one undead knight touched the part where his sword had disappeared. It was not a clean cut, and he could see no pattern in what cut his weapon. Putting it back, he couldn't help but murmur the two words he learned as his horse was running. "Leilade Octavius."