Darkness Unleashed

In the southwest, Princess Nadia’s group was soaring through the skies.

She looked back to check on the sobbing and weary Human children they had captured, making sure their net wasn’t tearing up. After all, if they fell and died, the Royal Knights wouldn’t have any mercy on Nadia’s forces…and Nadia wouldn’t be able to bear the pain in her own heart.

She sighed and shook her head. “I’m glad that spy warned us about the knights. The only reason they haven’t caught up yet is because we’ve been resting less…”

Behind her, Rashad frowned. “Even so, it won’t be long before they’re on our tail. If we can’t regroup with Amirah and Khalid before they reach us, and they insist on fighting…we may be in for an uphill battle.”

“With the children in danger, I highly doubt they’ll fight us right away. They’ll busy themselves caring for the children, and that’ll allow us to get away, even if only for a bit longer. Once we meet up with our comrades, we’ll be free to continue our journey to Nirvana.”

Not a minute after she said that, one of her men called out to her.

“Lady Nadia, the enemy is approaching!”

Looking back again, Nadia saw a flock of Pegasi with knights riding them. As they were quickly closing the distance, she shouted out an order.

“Descend, now! And make sure the children aren’t hurt!”

She spurred her Wyvern to go down, and her group followed. Before long, they were settled on the ground, with the knights swiftly surrounding them.

Three of them dismounted from their steeds and approached the group. From their silver and gold armor, and from the power Nadia sensed from them, she could tell these three were the Royal Knights.

Their leader, a blonde-haired man, looked up at Nadia and Rashad with eyes that contained a certain fire in them. She could recognize that flame in his gaze…One of hatred and vengeance, feelings that mirrored her own.

“You must be the Demons leading them, correct?” The Human inquired with a cool tone.

Nadia and Rashad hopped down, and the former stepped forward to face the Royal Knight.

“I am the one who commands them.” She said with an unwavering voice. “You speak to Princess Nadia, of the Realm of Demons, the world you call Hell.”

The knight inclined his head. “I am Captain Lucius, of the Human Kingdom’s Royal Knights. Princess Nadia…your reputation precedes you. Your beauty hides the blackest heart known to humanity.”

“Hmph, I could say something similar to you, Captain Lucius. But enough idle chatter, now we get down to business.”

She gestured to the net full of children, who were looking around with mixed expressions of confusion, hope, and fear. Some spoke noisily amongst themselves, excited to see the knights.

“W-we’re saved!”

“I want to go home!”

“M-Mother…I want my mother!”

“Please save us, Royal Knights!”

They whimpered and shrieked as a few wolf-headed Lupins growled at them, forcing them to remain silent.

Lucius put a hand on his sword. “You vile creatures, kidnapping innocent children…I will have your heads for this.”

Nadia narrowed her eyes and raised a hand. “I’d refrain from any rash decisions, Human. If any of you try to attack us, then we’ll slaughter the brats right here. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

Lucius hesitated, then slowly withdrew his hand. “...So what are you suggesting?”

“Let’s strike a deal. We’ll give you the children, and you can take them home. In exchange, we’ll continue our travels, and you stop chasing us.”

“You mean for us to let you keep going to the Radiant Desert, towards the Oasis City.”

“It’s a fair deal, isn’t it? Of course, if you want to keep playing hero and fight us to take these children back, be my guest. But I must warn you, blood will be on your hands.”

Lucius frowned deeply. “...And what if we just come back to chase you again?”

“Then we just repeat this process, quite simple. And you know as well as I do how much it’ll waste both of our times.”

The two stared each other down, a heavy silence between them as the ultimatum was established.

Of course, in Nadia’s mind the answer couldn’t be more clear. For these noble knights, the wellbeing of the innocents was more important than anything else. The only choice was to leave with the children, which would allow Nadia’s forces to move forward.

Then to her surprise, Lucius chuckled and smiled in an eerily calm manner.

“I’ll admit, this plan of yours was fairly sound.” He said while drawing his sword. “But did you really think we, the Royal Knights, would bend to your whims? Ventus, it’s your turn.”

Suddenly, there was a series of cries and shouts, and Nadia looked back to see the Lupins turning to dust, their backs split open by circular blades of air. The other monsters had a brief panic, and Rashad quickly shouted for them to calm down.

The Demon Princess’s eyes widened as she recognized this magic, and she looked towards the other male Royal Knight, whose right hand had a swirling aura around it. This was definitely…the Fourth Cohort Captain!

“How did you charge magic without us noticing?” She growled, summoning her sword.

Ventus glowered at her. “I had it casted just before we caught up to you. That way, I could position it while you were focused on us. Now everyone, let’s save those children!”

“Charge!” Lucius called out, raising his sword. “Levene, their princess is yours!”

The lady beside him smirked and crouched. “I’ve been waiting for this!”

Her body crackled with lightning as she bolted straight for Nadia, who barely summoned her falchion in time to block the strike. From the side, Rashad lunged in for a stab, but Lucius swiftly came up to deflect his blade.

“Your opponent is me!” He declared.

Meanwhile, the monsters and soldiers converged as they began to fight each other.

Wyverns on the ground snapped at the nearest soldiers, forcing them to retreat. In response, the knights flew on their Pegasi to swoop at the Wyvern riders, knocking them off their mounts.

Some monsters drew their bows and aimed at the winged horses, but shrieked as they were blown away by a blast of air from Ventus. A quartet of Kobolds leaped into the fray, bounding towards him with their fangs bared.

They stabbed with their spears, but he dove under while charging magic in his hand. He rolled onto his feet while they turned to him, then did a quick whip around while unleashing his spell.

“Aeroslash.” He muttered.

The canines let out pained yelps as they were split in half by a thin blade of wind, and their bodies turned to ash that scattered through the air.

“Nice one, Ventus!” Lucius called out as he parried a strike.

For his part, he had Rashad on the backfoot. While the Demon was trying to regroup with his princess, Lucius kept him away with speedy maneuvers, forcing him to stay on the defensive.

Rashad grit his teeth as he quickly charged Dark magic in his offhand, gathering black flames in his palm. He infused it into his blade, then swung four swift slashes in an X and a cross. Lucius backed away from the first two, narrowly sidestepped the second, then swung his blade up to meet the last overhead slash. Their swords met in a loud ‘clang’, scattering bits of dark embers.

A small distance away, Nadia was looking left and right as she tried to keep track of Levene, who was zipping all around her like a lightning bolt. The Third Cohort Captain, renowned for her ability to infuse her limbs with Thunder magic to enhance her reflexes. This made her a tricky opponent who was difficult to hit.

Levene lunged in from the front, drawing back her sword for a stab. Nadia responded by slashing at her diagonally, but she disappeared in a streak of electricity. In the next instant, as Nadia stopped her swing, she felt Levene’s sparking presence behind her.

The Demon Princess sidestepped and brought up her sword as fast as she could, while turning to meet her attacker. However, Levene’s blade went under her guard and cut her stomach, which caused her to gasp in pain and stumble back.

Nadia winced and looked at the wound. Black blood dripped down her dress and onto the ground. It reminded her of her failed battle with the Overseer a few weeks ago, and her vision went red with frustration and anger.

No…she couldn’t fail again. Especially with her people counting on her…

In her hand, her blade pulsed with cold, black energy. She heard that booming, almost fatherly voice in her head…Maladeus himself.

“My chosen one…unleash my power!”

Behind the Demon Princess, Levene flashed in with a wicked grin on her face.

“This is the end!” She declared, going for the stab.

Suddenly, demonic power surged out of the falchion, throwing Levene back and causing her to gasp in surprise. She flipped back in midair and landed perfectly on her feet, then crouched more warily as she stared at her enemy.

“What the hell…” She grumbled. “What kind of sword is that?”

Nadia slowly turned to her, red eyes glowing intensely with rage, yet her lips stayed in a firm frown.

“Tyrfing, grant me his strength.” She chanted.

The sword’s dark energy erupted into a column that reached high above the battlefield, causing both sides of the fight to come to a standstill. Everyone around watched the spectacle in shock and confusion, their animosity towards each other forgotten about for the moment.

Nadia looked towards Rashad, who had an expression of worry on his face.

“Rashad, take everyone and meet up with our comrades!” She commanded. “I’ll take care of these measly Humans!”

“But that power-” He tried to say.

“No arguments! The army is in your care until we regroup!”

Her betrothed looked aside at the Royal Knights in confliction, then he reluctantly turned and began running to the nearest Wyvern.

“Everyone, fall back!” He ordered. “Head for the border as planned!”

Lucius snapped out of his stupor and began to give chase. In response, Nadia kicked off the ground, and the air boomed around her as she sped up to get in front of the Second Cohort Captain.

With a guttural shout, she swung horizontally at him, and he raised his sword to block. But Levene came in like a lightning bolt, her sword cloaked in electricity as she swung it down to intercept Nadia’s attack.

Sparks flew as they briefly clashed, but Nadia quickly broke away and distanced herself from the Royal Knights. Behind her, the Wyverns took flight as her forces made their retreat.

Levene huffed and winced a bit, as bits of electricity sparked around her body.

“Damn…she’s a lot more powerful now.” She muttered.

“That sword…it’s comparable to a Sacred Treasure.” Lucius said in a grave tone.

Ventus ran up to join them, and adjusted his glasses as he stared down the shadow-covered Demon Princess.

“We can’t chase their forces with her in our way.” He said with a frown. “But if we can beat her now, they will surely lose all morale.”

Lucius nodded. “Yes, I was thinking the same thing. With all of us together, we can surely-”

“No, there are far more important things than that.” Levene cut in.

She looked towards the scared and shaken children, who were being freed by the soldiers and helped onto the Pegasi. For a moment, her gaze was hesitant, but she quickly put up a resolute frown as she stepped forward to face the enemy, brandishing her sword as she made her declaration.

“Ventus, retreat with your forces and take those children home! Then go back to Lucen and find that spy! As long as they’re active, everyone will be at risk! Lucius, take your soldiers and mine and chase that other Demon!”

Lucius looked at her in concern. “But…you can’t mean to…Your body can’t hold out much longer!”

“You see that vile look in her eyes? We all know she won’t let us through, so let me buy time for you!”

He scowled as he looked between Levene and Nadia, hesitant on letting his comrade fight alone. But she was right…they needed to split up to accomplish their objectives. There was no guarantee if they could kill that Demon Princess, even altogether…

So with a regretful look, he turned and called out to his forces.

“Second Cohort, Third Cohort, regroup with me!”

Ventus gave Levene a more calm nod, then shouted for his own soldiers.

“Fourth Cohort, fall in! We need to retreat with the children!”

As the knights split apart and tried to form up, Nadia became a black blur as she made a dash for Lucius. However, Levene was quick on the uptake, becoming a sparking streak as she moved to get in front of Nadia and slash down at her.

The Demon barely stopped and leaped back in time, the point of the blade a mere centimeter from her nose.

When she landed, she and Levene proceeded to stare each other down, ready for one or the other to make a move. Meanwhile, Levene’s allies made their retreat, splitting up to accomplish their different objectives.

“You’re either brave or foolish, deciding to face me alone.” Nadia said with an edge.

Levene smirked in a show of confidence. “Even if I fail, my friends will succeed. It won’t be long before Lucius catches up to those monsters and slays them himself.”

“Then I’ll have to make short work of you, and kill him myself.”

“Bring it on, Demon bitch.”

The two drew back their swords and poised…then with fierce shouts, they lunged toward each other and swung their swords, the clangs of metal signalling the start of their duel.