CHAPTER 6.5: DARKNESS FALLS ON CHERSEA

Kuro’s men were ecstatic when they saw the missing cavalry of Winters finally made their way towards their enemies, cutting the Imperial legionnaires like grass from behind. Finally assured of victory, they get to have their well-deserved rests after that close battle and let the defenders of the town of Gebrei run after the stragglers in their stead.

Griffyth, Kuro, and Stephan met Winters himself, who was also searching for them.

“Sir Kuro!” greeted Winters and Kashca, who were riding the same horse, “We apologize for the late arrival.”

“It’s all good, Winters!” Kuro answered him, “You don’t know how glad we are seeing you here.”

“Aside from the fact that we lost a lot of good men, it’s all fine, really…Winters,” Griffyth’s voice was rife with sarcasm.

“Sorry for your loss Griff!” the cavalry captain told him, “However, we also lost a lot of men to the west.”

“It’s all good, Winters,” Kuro reassured him.

However, Winters was still tense, “No, it’s not yet good, Sir Kuro! We lost a lot of men defending ourselves from a group of legionnaires coming here. I guess those Imperials got way too stressed out from the battles and went crazy!”

“Hold on!” Griffyth, who was a former legionnaire, asked, “What do you mean by that? Our training was tough, and we don’t break easily!”

“I think you should worry about the fact that there’s another group of legionnaires coming towards us,” Kuro surveyed the battlefield and the marching prisoners, “We should retreat to the Holy Palatial Gardens.”

“Retreat?” Griffyth protested, “But I thought we’re going off to Huirot to relieve our allies there?”

“I don’t know Griff,” Winters told him, “I’d like to recommend going there, however, my men are scared to go west. These legionnaires I’m telling you about looked like they came from a battle—carrying god-awful wounds, and their armors looked battered. It goes even strange when they would not attack us with their swords…rather, they’d try to bite and tore us apart. We lost a lot of men that way.”

“Sir Kuro…” Kashca suddenly spoke up, “Are you alright?”

The group turned their attention to their commander.

Kuro was pale and his body shivered, “Rabid? Crazy? Bite and tearing apart? Is it even possible?”

“Huh? Do you know something about this, Sir Kuro?” Stephan asked him.

“Winters, tell me what they looked like.”

“Sir Kuro…all I could say is that they’re abnormal. Their eyes were emotionless, yet bloodshot. And it’s as if they don’t get tired from running and chasing our men. We only escaped them because some of my commands sacrificed themselves as the rear guard.”

“Griffyth…how’re the men? Could they hurry and run?”

“Er…well, we got a lot of wounded, so we have to rest for a while.”

“Move them away from here. Let’s evacuate this place as soon as possible.”

“Huh? Can’t we just—”

“Just do what I say!” Kuro snapped, which startled Griffyth, Kashca, and Winters.

“!!!”

However, their shock was superseded by an even bigger surprise when they began hearing terrible screams coming from inside the town of Gebrei, as well as the surrounding areas. As if that wasn’t enough, the men noticed that the sky was getting dimmer, much to everyone’s horror.

“What’s happening?” alarmed, Kashca asked.

“The sky is getting black!” Stephan pointed to the sun, “The light is being eaten by darkness!”

“Is that…an eclipse?” Kuro couldn’t believe his eyes. He was frozen on his spot.

“A what?”

“Fuck!” Winters shivered, “They’re coming!” Without a second’s delay, he prodded his horse to gallop towards the east, calling out, “Everyone, run for your lives!”

Kuro, initially dumbfounded by Winters’ reaction, soon realized the reason for the commotion.

“N-No fucking way…this couldn’t be happening! This is another world!”

“What?” Griffyth, equally flabbergasted, asked him. Kuro then pointed to a corpse, being devoured by a legionnaire with injuries that normally should’ve killed him. His eyes were glowing yellow, yet it was bloodshot and emotionless. Amidst the dim surroundings, it was a horrifying sight. Kashca was so shocked that she threw up.

“!!!”

The legionnaire then turned, hissed, and then ran towards them. The blood and guts flying from his mouth, as well as the sight of his mangled arms were enough to paralyze Griffyth and Kashca in fear.

“Move!”

Fortunately, Kuro tackled them both and got them out of harm’s way. Then, without a second’s waste, he bashed the legionnaire’s head with his matchlock’s butt. Almost everyone froze at the carnage, for it was the first time Chersea saw a zombie.

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“Run back! Don’t hesitate, damn it!” Kuro shouted, “Don’t let them bite or overwhelm you!”

Although exhausted, Kuro and his men ran for their lives as the sight of thousands of the glowing eyes of the undead illuminated the darkness of the field. They aimed to reach the relative safety of the east, where Maddie and the light still existed.

Griffyth, Kashca, Stephan, and Kuro could only watch helplessly as the injured and those too tired to run was torn apart and eaten before their very eyes. Kuro was panicking, for he knew what would happen to them once they got caught by those creatures.

It is a different feeling when he is watching those things in the movies before, compared to the real ones.

“Don’t let up!” Kuro cried out desperately, a shout not only meant for the others but for himself as well. For he could feel that his legs were about to give up from all the running and fighting that he did.

“Aaaaaaagggghhhhh!!! Heeeeelllllppp!!!”

The helpless and desperate screams of those who got caught in the undead’s wave were like a nightmare to their ears. They wished they could just make themselves deaf, but if they covered their ears, not only it would tire them more, it would also make them harder to run.

“Fuck! What are these guys doing?” Griffyth suddenly turned and drew his sword, “Let me at them! I’ll kill them all!”

“Stop that, Griff!” Kuro pulled him back, with Stephan and Kashca’s help, “You can’t defeat them easily!”

“Come on now, Griff!” it was Stephan who helped him up, “You don’t want to die now, being torn apart and eaten like that, do you?”

Griffyth then came to his senses, especially when Stephan shook and slapped him. Kuro and Kashca were protecting their group, fighting that undead that came to them first.

“Kashca! Hit their heads!” Kuro told her, “Don’t let it bite you!”

Kashca did as she was told. She made quick work of the Imperial undead attacking her. However, it was a different matter when it was her former comrades that she was forced to fight.

“Kashca!”

“!!!”

The girl hesitated when she saw the faces of her friends in the mercenary company. Kuro was quick to push her out of harm’s way.

“Don’t space out or hesitate when fighting them! These aren’t alive anymore!” Kuro pulled her up, “Come on! Griff’s back to himself, let’s run!”

“Oh? I didn’t know you’re trying to leave in such a hurry! You should’ve said so because I could have sent you these guys earlier!”

“!!!”

Kuro and the others halted in their tracks when they noticed the undead hordes stopped chasing them. From its midst, they saw someone’s floating silhouette. No one moved, nevertheless, after witnessing the death of many of their comrades, they were mad. Especially Kuro, for the speaker sounded so familiar to him…the Saint of the Flame.

“S-Seirna!”

“In the flesh…” she mockingly bowed before Kuro, “I’ve heard great things about you, Fist of the North Lands, and I’ve come bearing a gift to you; these undead! How do you like them?”

“You’re friends with that lunatic, Kuro?” Griffyth asked, drawing his sword once again.

“Oh, how rude, Griffyth of Elebor…the halfling former prince of the Elebor elves. I never thought you’ve gone so low as to become a mercenary—”

“Leave them out of our quarrel, Seirna!” Kuro cut her statement, “You and I still have things to settle!”

“Oh? Is this about that weak Golden Sword of Heaven…hmm…I forgot her name. Does she even exist?”

“You!” Kuro was shaking in rage, “I’ll fucking kill you!”

Seirna, as if to provoke him further, removed her floating spell and touched the ground, “Come at me then, if you think you could beat this…”

Much to everyone’s shock, the corpses of those that died on the battlefield—even those of long ago—rose once again and began running towards them. The undead’s glowing eyes looked terrible in the dark, and so were the sounds of its croaks and hisses.

“Witness my power, Fist of the North Lands, the power over life and death!” Seirna laughed, “This is my punishment to that wretched Madelaine Rubinforth’s grave sin of going against the will of the almighty god, Lord Gaius! However, as I am a merciful Saint, I might forgive you for going against Him…only if you bow to me and swear faithfulness—”

A loud bang tore through the air as Seirna was interrupted in her sentence.

“If that’s the will of your god—turning these people into undead, by all means…” Kuro fixed the bayonet on his smoking matchlock, “Your god sucked!”

“S-Such blasphemous human!” The Saint of the Flame didn’t hide her anger, “How dare you!”

“Are you sure that’s okay, Kuro? You’re pissing off that lunatic!”

“Here they come again!” Kashca was panicking, “Let’s run!”

At once, every able-bodied person wasted no time in running. The undead resumed its charge once again, and those who were caught in the wave were torn apart or eaten alive.

However…

“Kuro, what are you doing?”

While most of the surviving humans ran east, Kuro went the opposite direction…towards Seirna, lifting his matchlock with the bayonet while in his blind rage.

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**Madelaine**

There was great consternation at the defensive walls of the Holy Palatial Gardens, when we saw the growing darkness from the distance, towards the direction of Huirot and Gebrei in Savoy. The paladins with me, as well as their squires and other levies from the villages in my territory, couldn’t help but fear what they were witnessing, for it was their first time to see such a horrible sight. I could feel their concerns too…

And, same as them, I was worried as well. If I remember, Kuro, with the coalition army, was fighting in that region.

“…”

“Maddie…” Lily said nothing other than my name, but I could see within her that she wanted to help Kuro. However, it was Kuro himself who told us to stay put, until the opportunity comes to send reinforcements. He didn’t want me to fight until the last minute…

“Let’s wait a bit more…” I told Lily, “I promised to trust Kuro this time.”

“Yes…”

But just in case we needed to move, I already donned my armor and equipped my weapons.

After all, the women of Nerfes never surrender. They fight and die.

“!!!”

Something then caught my attention. It was a red-haired man, with a wind spell to his feet, gliding in our direction. He seemed dirty and exhausted; despite that, he kept on going, though his mana was about to give out from his continuous use of magic to his feet.

“Maddie!” Lily cried out, “That’s one of Kuro’s men!”

With no time to waste, I flew to meet him halfway, and he almost collapsed in my arms. Good thing the man could still support himself with his weapon, for he looked heavy.

“Y-Your Ho…Holiness!” the man said, “I’m…Tarasca.”

“Please stay calm, I’ll heal you!”

At once I chanted a spell that cured his light injuries and immediately restored his stamina. And then, I gave his water through my magic.

“Thank you, Your Holiness,” he told me.

“Tarasca, is it?”

“Yes, Your Holiness, and I’m from Sir Kuro’s army.”

“How are things going?”

“Your Holiness, please hurry,” Tarasca pleaded, “They need help, right now.”

I never wasted time. I quickly chanted a teleportation spell to Gebrei. Only then when I arrived I realized I forgot to bring my army with me…

“…”

Maddie, don’t be stupid. Please think before you act.

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**Kuro**

I don’t know, but at the moment, my vision seemed focused only on Seirna. I was aware of the hordes of undead surrounding me, however, my goal was to kill the Saint of the Flame…

…even if I die here!

I swung the butt of my matchlock down, intending to crush her head, but she parried my attack with her hands. Seirna never let her guard down, for she quickly uttered a spell to counter me. Luckily, I drew my dagger in time and interrupted her chant as she evaded my melee.

“Nice move, Fist of the North Lands!” she commented, “And to think, only three seasons ago, you’re a pathetic, goody-two-shoes fellow!”

“I’m never good!” I replied as I thrust my dagger to her, “I only try to be one!”

“Heh! Just like that stupid saint!” Seirna laughed mockingly, “She’s always saying ‘peace’ but the more she does what she thinks is good, the nearer humanity comes to its demise!”

“What do you know about her dreams?”

“Well, what do you know about Lord Gauis’ will?”

“!!!” Seirna used an underhanded attack that caught me off-guard, and so my matchlock was separated from my hand. I tried to fight her with my dagger, but her zombies restrained me…though they never attempted to bite me.

“I won’t let them eat you…just yet,” she gently caressed my face, as if saying that she had the power over my life, “I’ll try to convince you to come to my side the second time, for I want to have your talents in keeping this world in a good working order…”

“What are you saying?”

“Come on, Kuro. I’m doing this for humanity’s benefit,” Seirna explained, “You could only read the history, but I was there when the Human-Demon War happened, and it was terrible.”

I only let Seirna speak, for I was looking for my chance to escape.

“You won’t be able to escape, so don’t even try it,” she read my mind, “Moving on, with so many deaths among the humans in that war, Lord Gaius wanted to destroy the demons…”

“Then why didn’t he do it?”

“That accursed hero, Cassandra David, thwarted him!”

Cassandra David. That human hero…I’ve encountered her name for quite some time now. From the looks of it, she had a great role in the history of this world…

“Oh, you do not know how much harm she did to Chersea!” Seirna added, “Yet, you support her ideals, through that Saint, Madelaine Ann Rubinforth!”

“Well, what you did to this undead around us is proof that you’re someone I don’t want to work with.”

“Really? You’re too stubborn, Kuro. I only did this to help humanity, through wars, you know. You’ve seen it yourself as well; the technologies in your world, most of them were brought forth by conflicts,” Seirna explained, “Can’t you understand that? The more conflicts this world has, the greater its potential to grow will be!”

“But what about the lives that you killed?” hearing her say it like that caused the anger I bottled up within me to explode, “Are you saying that they deserve to die for human species?”

Seirna didn’t answer that question of mine. Instead, much to my shock, I saw her eyes filled with sadness, “Look, Kuro, I only wanted to do Lord Gaius’ will for humankind, and that is, for them to prosper. I don’t intend to become a murderer…”

“Then why you—”

“But, if it becomes my reason to exist, then I don’t mind becoming one. Do you even know, Kuro, that the demons could do an even more detestable curse than this undead of mine? I saw it with my own two eyes! Almost half of humanity back then was slaughtered because of their own undead curse!”

“And you’re trying to repeat it? What made you better than them?”

“I am better than them! Consider this undead as training for humanity in their upcoming war against the demons,” Seirna added, “It’s not a matter of ‘if’, but of ‘when’. And Madelaine has rendered your race weak and tolerant. But I’m telling you, the world isn’t as forgiving as she wanted to make it become!”

“Not only do you want to make war on a peaceful race, but you also wanted to cause the destruction of another by cursing them!”

“If the humans didn’t even escape something like this, then men do not deserve the will of Lord Gaius!”

“You and your god are both crazy, Seirna!”

“Who isn’t?” she countered, “Anyway, as much as I wanted you to join me, it’s a pity that in the end, you’d rather remain naïve and stupid.”

“Well…” I smirked, “Don’t you know? I swore my faithfulness to that lonely Nerfes girl that loved me even when I got nothing and I’m at my worst. Love makes people stupid, indeed!”

“You’ll definitely regret this—”

“!!!”

At that point, just as when Seirna was about to order her undead hordes to kill me, a bright light suddenly shone and temporarily blinded me. I couldn’t make out of the Saint of the Flame and her creatures, but I felt that their grip loosened, and I heard a scream.

A few seconds later, the light disappeared. However, in front of me was the beautiful, silver-haired girl with silvery-blue eyes, her sword drawn and she was dressed in a shining silver armor…

“Maddie!”

“Thank goodness I came right on time!” she smiled, “I heard that line of yours and well…I love you too!”

Wait, that’s your concern?

“How dare you show your face to me, Madelaine Rubinforth?” it was Seirna, enraged but could not get near her, “You’re a traitor to Lord Gaius!”

“I’m a traitor to no one, Seirna,” Maddie answered her, “Just like you, I wanted what’s best for humanity, though not through your ways!”

“Aaaaarrrrgggghhh!!!” Seirna wasted no time in drawing her sword and attacking Maddie. However, the Human Saint closely parried her attack.

“Come, Kuro, let’s escape from here!” Maddie took my hand and uttered the teleportation spell. At once, the dark surroundings became white, and we disappeared to safety.