Mars gave a sigh, this was only the 114th time Kim had asked the very same question and just like clockwork the captain responded

"we're there when we're there Kim"

Mars looked over at the oldest dark knight that was wearing earplugs and suddenly got very envious before he gave yet another sigh and petted Victoria on the head as he closed his eyes, they had been flying for about 3 days in the sleek dark as night sky carriage that reminded Mars of an early stealth fighter jet, suddenly Mars' eyes snapped open again as he quickly turned to look out the window

"what is it Mars?"

"....incoming!"

*BANG*

something suddenly hit the sky carriage before it suddenly went into a smooth dive

"hold on to something we're going down!"

"kyaaa!"

Kim was the only one that seemed to be having fun as she screamed like a small girl on a rollercoaster meanwhile the sky carriage rapidly descended, Mars quickly activated his [Energy: absorb s.h.i.+eld] as Victoria jumped into his shadow before suddenly the sky carriage began hitting the trees and then finally hit the ground with a loud bang

'....never want to do that again'

even though Mars was protected by his absorb s.h.i.+eld he still felt a little groggy as he looked around the inside of the sky carriage, the first on he spotted was Kim that lay in front of him on the table, Mars shock her a couple of times before she woke up

"ah my head hurts!"

"hold still for a second"

Mars quickly healed her with 100 energy units before he looked around for the other 2 dark knights and quickly found them on top of each other in on the floor of the sky carriage and healed them too before he tried to open the door to the outside but was unable to as the frame of the sky carriage had warped in the crash

"well I tried the nice way..."

Mars then kicked the door open and crawled out the wreck of the sky carriage before he looked around, the land around him was bare with a few trees here and there and the rocky ground he was walking on was covered with frost, in the distance was a mountain range but this was not what Mars was looking for, after looking around for a few seconds Mars spotted a belista maned by a group of rough looking men, some of which was heading towards him but they were still some 2 kilometers away

"what are you looking for?"

Mars turned his head and saw Kim also had crawled out of the wreck

"our attackers"

"they are bad guys right?"

Mars gave a nod

"of course they are"

"then I can stab them right?"

"sure be my guest, they are over there"

Mars pointed in the direction of the rough looking men and no sooner then he pointed did Kim start sprinting in the direction of the group with her claws ready

"Victoria do you mind keeping an eye on her, you know make sure she doesn't get hurt?"

Victoria jumped out of Mars' shadow and began running the same way Kim did, Mars gave a sigh and walked over to check on the driver but found he had been directly hit by the ballista and was dead, then he pulled the other 2 out of the wreck and started a campfire with the bits of trees the sky carriage had knocked over when it crashed, soon the captain woke up

"Mars...? where is this?"

"the northern wilderness, the sky carriage is over there"

"I see we crashed... wait where is Kim?"

"she's dealing with the bad guys that shot us down along with Victoria"

the captain gave a nod and began shaking the last dark knight awake

"wake up"

"hmm...? captain?"

"help me sift through the wreck"

"yes"

the 2 dark knights got to work meanwhile Mars sat and looked into the fire until a few minutes later when Kim returned, her claws was covered in blood and she had a few bloodstains on her clothes but she, as always wore a child-like smile on her face

"I'm back!"

"...welcome back"

"oh Kim you're back"

at this point in time the captain and the other dark knight returned from sifting through the wreck, they both carried some supplies along with their armor over to the campfire, when Kim saw the captain she did a salute

"I have neutralized the attackers"

"good job Kim, did you interrogate one for them?"

"err... nope!"

the captain gave a sigh before he spoke

"so now we have no idea if they were bandits or hired thugs"

"not necessarily... Victoria did you get anything?"

"I found... this"

Victoria opened a shadow were a leather sack appeared out of, Mars walked over and picked up the sack and opened it

"bingo"

"what is it?"

Mars threw the sack on the ground as it spilled out with coins, most of them silver but a few of them was golden, Mars gave a nod and concluded

"they weren't bandits"

"...I see, in that case let's head to a nearby town and find a way to inform the king"

"not so fast captain.... why don't we head to our detestation anyways?"

the captain gave a frown

"you want to head to Bellmoral?"

Mars gave a nod and explained

"I'm a one man army remember? plus now we have proof Bellmoral is rebelling so it's best not to waste time"

"I see..."

the captain fell into deep thought and it was not until a few moments later he looked at Mars and spoke again

"are you sure you can handle whatever they will throw at you?"

Mars gave a nod

"I won't die even if they kill me anyways"

"I see... well in that case we head towards Bellmoral"

In Bellmoral at the lord's fort the frail mage sat and meditated in his room until he once more was interrupted by a telepathic message and opened his eyes

"they shot it down but the dark knights survived? and now they are heading here?"

a trace of anger flashed in the frail mage's eyes before he began cursing

"useless pieces of s.h.i.+t, we paid them so well and they couldn't even do their d.a.m.n job properly!"

after cursing the frail mage calmed down and rose to his feet and walked out of his room, a few minutes later he arrived at the lord's office and walked in without knocking

"lord there has been a problem... the thugs we hired have failed, the dark knights are heading here on foot"

the lord continued working on his paperwork without looking up at the frail mage and for some time both of them said nothing until finally the lord spoke

"send out the 1st army, tell them to kill anyone wearing dark armor south of the town"

the frail mage's eyes widened slightly before he hurriedly spoke

"the entire 1st army? is that really necessary?"

a cold light shone in the lord's eyes before he looked up at the frail mage and said

"We have made our choice, now we must follow it to the bitter end"

"....I see, I'll relay your orders at once"

the frail mage gave a slight bow before he turned and walked out of the room, then he followed the hallways until he arrived at a large courtyard where a large group of soldiers was training then he walked over to the one that was overseeing the training

"general"

"oh if it isn't mage Simon, have you come to join our training?"

"no I bring orders from the lord, the 1st army is to head out and kill a small squad of dark knights that have crash landed a few days south of here"

"....I see, orders received the 1st army will now head out, stop training and line up!"

as the general yelled the figures that were undergoing harsh training all stopped and quickly lined up in front of the general in two rows each consisting of 50 men

""""""we await your orders general!""""""

just as the general was about to give his orders the frail mage took himself to the head while a look of immense pain flashed on his face

"mage Simon what's wrong?"

"they shot down my surveillance golem..! I'll leave you here general"

"I see, have a good rest mage Simon"

"I f.u.c.king knew it!"

Mars had just fired a fire lance spell into the air and now he stood next to the charred remains of what looked like a metal bird with a single huge eye

"what is it Mars?"

Mars picked up a stick and poked at the golem a few times while he studied the formation runes on the body of the golem

"it's a surveillance golem, its been watching us for sometime now, most likely the enemy know our every move form before I shot this down"

"I see... so we should expect some resistance?"

Mars gave a nod

"yeah I think so"