The Kingdom of Scavia #3

The symphony of chaos unfolded around them, blood, screams and agony could be felt and heard by all. Individual parties fought for their own safety, soldiers rallying with friends and their commanding officers, adventurers protecting their comrades– all were too preoccupied with themselves that they forgot about the civilians under their watch.

“Soldiers! Adventurers! Rally behind me!”

That was then until a voice called to them, the voice calming their fears and steadying their hearts. The enemy themselves were slowed down in distraction of him, and the whole battle focused on the center, a blonde young man not older than eighteen.

His charisma was almost tangible, light practically bending behind him— he practically shone amidst their darkness. He jumped atop an overturned carriage, a simple longsword in hand.

“Join forces! Don't overwhelm them with your numbers! Fight together!” The boy said, deflecting arrows headed in his direction. “Together, we can win!”

In that instant, their worries were washed away like dirt under a cold stream, and their might and resolve hardened like steel. Soldiers and Adventurers regained their sanity, banding together in one cohesive unit.

“Yeah! We can do this!”

“Follow the Hero’s lead!”

“Hurrahhh!”

[ Passive Skill: [ Charismatic Leadership ] successfully influenced the wayward warriors. ] [They will now follow your command for the duration of the Battle. ] [ Passive Skill: [ Unbending Will ] has calmed your mind. ] [ You will temporarily not feel fear. ]

“Holy shit! It worked!” Ayama grinned, leaning back to dodge a sword slash. “So that’s how my skills work!”

While he spoke, a man had climbed up to the carriage to smite him down, but Ayama was not concerned, the adrenaline coursing through his blood. “Protect the civilians in the center and help the wounded! Form a defensive line!”

At his commands, the fighters on his side started to work together miraculously, their synergy multiplying with each other. Not soon after, the fighters began to push back the large number of bandits.

The bandit lunged at Ayama again, his sword slashing vertically this time. Ayama stepped to the left side of the carriage, letting the bandit come closer; and with his left arm he swung outward with all of his strength.

Bam!

And upon impact, the bandit was flung away from the caravan, and into the surrounding shrubbery with great force.

[ You have slain a Human! ] [ You have leveled up! ] [ Level 73 -> Lvl 74 ]

“Y-You can level up b-by k-killing humans?” Ayama gasped, awakened abruptly from his adrenaline-fueled stupor. “I-I killed that man?”

Ayama looked around him, the immediate landscape stained in red and drying blood. Underneath the feet of the battling warriors behenath Ayama, were corpses from bandits, adventurers, civilians and soldiers. Reality struck Ayama, and he finally realized that this was a battle between humans. It's kill-or-be-killed now.

“Is this what Akiro must’ve felt, w-when he—” Amidst the mind-boggling realization, Ayama failed to notice another bandit climbing the fallen carriage. “Damn it! There’s no end to them!”

Brandishing his sword, Ayama assumed an upper-guard stance, with the blade pointed down at the climbing man; but before he could stand atop the carriage, a dagger came flying– striking him in the head.

Thunk!

“What are you doing up there!?” The daggers owner demanded from behind, in the direction of the leading carriages.

Ayama turned to the voice, “We need to launch a counter-attack!” Akiro yelled, running for him. He was wearing the armor they had purchased in the black market.

The sprinting assassin ran for his current position, all of his weapons strapped to his person, the long scythe over his shoulder, and a large bag on his other hand.

“The rest are faring well enough!” Akiro said, tossing the bag on the ground, the metal contents inside clanking. Ayama opened his mouth to respond, but the answer was interrupted by a blazing ball of heat coming his way.

“Incoming!” A soldier yelled, gathering the attention of the surrounding fighters. A ball of fire the size of a carriage, was descending towards Ayama’s position.

“Aahhckkk!” The Hero thought, diving down to the ground from the carriage. The orb of flaming magic power collided with the overturned carriage, exploding it with a mighty sound, scattering it into fragments of flaming parts; and throwing the surrounding people away.

Boom!

Akiro opened his eyes groggily, a sharp ringing in his eardrums momentarily overpowering any sound. He was on the ground, the hard surface pressing against his back. “F-Fu-ck– That hurt— They had magicians!”

“A-Akiro!” Ayama sputtered in the corner of his eye, “Get up! You have to get up!” He yelled, his sword locked against three others.

Akiro blinked, rolling over and pushing himself up from the ground with his arms. He looks forward, his scythe just a reach away from his hand. Akiro grabs the weapon tightly, getting up from the soil; and the sight he sees enrages him.

His peers were safely behind barriers of magic, behind them were combatants and civilians.

“Damn you, cowards!! We’re dying out here!” He thought as he looked away from them, “You cowards!” Akiro spat, glaring at them. “Cowards, the lot of you!”

Haruto flinches at the insult, his shaking hands gripping his unstained sword and shield. They had established a protective perimeter, ensuring the safety of many wounded and non-combatants.

Shigeko had been administering life-saving spells on the more life-threatening cases, while Rei and Tsukiko had been patching up the others. Rei herself was preoccupied with disinfecting wounds and treating the wounded with pain-killers of her own creation.

Mitsuko had erected the large barrier protecting them, but with the scale of it, the man required was burdened by the other mages, who supplied the spell with their magic power; and the fighters were all assisting in transporting whoever came in.

Normally, you could say that they were doing their part; but in light of the current situation, they should be out there, fighting with the common soldiers to turn the battle in their favor. So Akiro was right, they were cowards, despite many wanting to deny it.

“Agghh–” Ayama gritts, growling as he struggles to push back three large men. “Why are there so many of them!? I thought they were just bandits!”

At that thought, many more began to pour from the tree-line, joining into the fray, with magicians lining behind them. To make matters worse, the enemy’s reinforcements were wearing full suits of samurai armor; and slowly, the fighting line was slowly getting pushed back because of the disparity of equipment.

“Ayama! Get out of the way!!” Akiro called, spitting out the blood in his mouth as he assumed a stance.

Without objection, Ayama pushed back with all his strength, throwing the men back, before rolling backwards on the ground; Akiro then firmly held the scythe with both his hands, stepping back with his right foot, putting his left foot forward to turn his body sideways.

Akrio twisted his body back as he inched forward with his left foot. The gathered momentum of his whole body was gathered at the blade of his weapon, and when he swung it toward the gathering mass of enemies. It had been a second, but the extraordinary speed of the attack lacked when compared to the range.

“[ Moonlight Execution-Style: Waxing Crescent ]!”

The centripetal force generated by the strike caused the scythe to shift in Akiro’s grip, his hands transferring to the other end against the speartip, the friction of the shaft tearing his skin and calluses; but in exchange, the thin, pale-blue mana blade that arced from his position felled the opposing men like wheat.

Shiiinnng!

So in one clean strike, a group of soldiers were cut down, falling appart in clean, diagonal halves.

[You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!] [You have slain a human!]

[You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up! ] [ Lvl 73 -> 80 ]

[ Name: Akiro Hiroto / Age 18 / Job: Assassin / Sub Job: Gunman ] [ Lvl 80 ]

Ayama saw the flooding windows, as it was the result of being ‘partied’ with Akiro; and because they were both in a party, he shared the experience with him.

[ Lvl 74 -> 80 ] [ Name: Ayama Nobu / Age: 18 / Job: Hero / Sub Job: Craftsman ] [ Lvl 80 ]

It happened too quickly, the battlefield halting just for a minute to absorb what just had happened. Enemy and Ally alike standing in fear or in awe, as the tide of the battle had changed in just one move– in a merciless display of power.

“M-Monster!” Ayama heard someone scream, someone wailed from the amassed force.

He looked down at the lifeless corpses to find a survivor, his legs cut from underneath him. He must have been at the furthest from the group, for the attack only cutting both his upper legs.

Ayama would be lying if he wasn’t off-put by his best friend’s violent display, but compared to what he saw atop the sandworm, it couldn’t compare; so apprehensive, Ayama made a split-second decision to capitalize on the enemy’s broken fighting spirit.

“N-Now is the time to attack! Charge through while the enemy is in disarray!” He yelled loudly, pointing his sword at the mages gathered by the treeline. “Attack! Soldiers of EarlsHide! Don’t hesitate when the enemy is weak!”

“He’s right!” Ayama heard an adventurer concur, “For our comrades! For our Friends! Our brothers!”

“Get them!”

“Avenge them!”

In horror, the mages retreated, running away frantically with fear as groups of the remaining soldiers charged at them with murderous intent. Ayama however did not pursue them immediately, and instead, he sheathed his sword and walked over to Akiro.

“Hey, you alright?” Ayama asked, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “You pushed yourself too hard back there.”

“M-Maybe—” Akiro panted as he slouched, putting his scythe on the ground, leaning on his hands as he rested on them on the staff. “B-But something— is not right here… How can bandits be this well-equipped? Something isn’t right here.”

“Damn it, there were real soldiers mixed in with bandits. There is no feasible reason as to why there would be that many mages, otherwise.” Ayama nodded grimly, recalling the day’s events and reaching the same conclusion, “Something is amiss here. This situation is worse than we originally thought.”

“Y-yeah–” Akiro groaned, forcing himself up, “That’s why I– We can’t stop here. The mastermind is close, I can feel it.” He said, looking briefly at the sun, which had been getting considerably cooler. “If we give up now, he will get away under the cover of night.”
“We can’t let that happen.” Ayama frowned at the possible thought, “We need to go after him!--” He said, starting to walk forward, but was stopped by Akiro’s firm hand.

“Do that after you suit up, moron!” He slapped him back half-heartedly, “You’ve been fighting all day without armor. You suit up first and only until then will you give chase.”

Ayama sighed, looking at himself, all covered in cuts and scrapes. He turned to the assassin, who started to carry on. “What will you do?”

“Get the villain responsible for all of this.” He replied simply, turning to the left, where Olivia and Kaiser were still fighting, “Go support Kaiser and Olivia-sensei. The remaining soldiers can deal with the mages.”

“Got it.”

Night had fallen, and a great distance away from the trail, atop a hill in the distance with an eagle-eye view of the battle, “W-What will we do now, Sir!?” An assistant wailed, “Our elite dispatch team was killed! Our images too are scattered about!” he explained.

“Retreat! What else should we do?! We must inform our King about the strength of these otherworlders!” The leader said.

The assistant panicked as he stared at the man in charge of the whole operation, frantically saddling up his own horse. “Mathias, sir, the Emperor will not be pleased about our failure!”

“Even so, this information is much more valuable than our lives ever could be.” Mathias nodded grimly “We need to report on the strength of the Earl-Scavian Alliance’s summoned Heroes. The Empire must know about them! They must know about: the ‘Reaper!’”

Mathias readied his horse, loading the satchels with valuable information, but when he was about to mount his steed, a cold voice spoke aloud.

“I assume that you’re the one responsible for all of this.”

“A-Ahh!” Mathias yelped, drawing his sword. He turned around, but instead of his sword meeting his opponent, his forehead touched something. "W-Wait!!

Pressed against his head was an unfamiliar weapon. The ‘Reaper’ held it against his head, his blood-stained hands wrapped around a grip, his index finger holding against a trigger. The moon illuminated the cloaked figure holding the silver-weapon, shining against the shining steel.

Bang!

The echo exploded, the heavy metal slide kicking back considerably.

[ You have slain a human! ] [You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up! ] [ Lvl 80 -> 87]

"Hm, he was quite high-leveled."

Kaiser was outright confused as to why the battle suddenly turned in their favor. The well-lead ambush party suddenly started to go from panic, then into ruin. Night had fallen on the group, and there were still bandits desperately fighting. Fortunately for the Knight and the mage, the other heroes had joined them earlier. Sebastian finally made his way over to them after glosing over the wounded.

"Is it me or is it getting easier?" Haruto just huffed, both in wonder and celebration. "We can do this guys!"

“Maybe.” Maki replied, throwing a gust of wind past his head.

Kaiser smiled at Haruto. The boy practically idolized him and learned from him obsessively, practically becoming a mini-kaiser. He felt like a proud parent.

ping!

An arrow was pulverized into fragments by a wind spell. "If you have the leisure to daydream, then you have the time to block that!" Olivia quipped, throwing a gust of wind at an approaching bandit.

Olivia followed his gaze to Haruto and Maki fighting side by side, it was as if she was looking at a mirror. "Oh..." she blushed.

"I see you two lovebirds are thinking about children, but please, now is neither the time nor place." Sebastian teased as he passed by the two blushing adults, a wave of magic closing their flesh-wounds.

"S-Shut it!" Olivia huffed, earning a chuckle from Kaiser.

"She's right, let's not think of that now. we have a battle at hand." The knight replied, “Now let’s wrap this up.”