We drove the Blight from our lands, yet we did not finish them. Do not fool yourselves that we already won. Beyond these walls lay the breeding grounds of the Blight. They come in waves, assailing our defenses, never wavering, never relenting.

Hundreds of years have passed, yet they still come. And they will come for the next hundred years, and the next. This war will go on for generations, mark my words. Divest yourselves of any thoughts of peace while you are in these walls.

Our enemies will never rest until they have consumed us.

I will be steadfast in my duty. I will be vigilant every hour of the day.

Let them come in their thousands and tens of thousands. I will be waiting.

While I stand, not one wall of the West System shall fall.

Devastator Knight Sanguinicar Marcus

-the day he became the High Commander General of West System

A shooting pain stabbed at his hand.

“Oooow! What the-!”

Something bit him. He held his hand, it was bleeding slightly.

Small feet thumped hurriedly on the floor.

He was inside a small room, and somebody just ran outside the door. He couldn’t see much because it was night time and the room he was in did not have a light. But there were dim lights outside. They illuminated the person who ran out.

It was a small child.

“Timmy? I don’t I understand. Where in Paximillon’s name am I?” Instinctively, he held his shield over his head and prepared his hammer by his side. What was going on?

He quickly stood up, intent on walking out the door to check if the boy outside was really Timothy.

“Hey there, little boy.”

Trance turned to stone mid-crouch, his eyes widened. All his muscles stiffened in fear, his blood solidified from hearing that voice. The sweet, silky voice. He heard it before.

“Are you looking for something?” the voice continued.

This can’t be happening. Trance clenched his jaw tightly that his teeth began to hurt. He willed himself to gaze once again outside the window. He had to see this. Not knowing the reason why, he just felt an insane amount of urge to stand and look at the person talking.

What was this? A second chance? If so, he was still sticking by his previous choice. He’s not going to go out and save the boy. He couldn’t do anything anyway. If he went out, both of them will die. His puny shield won’t stand a chance, even the army that accompanied him here were mere flies in front of the colossal black giant.

But he wanted to take a look. A clear look at the bastard who attacked the town.

Trance slowly inched his head over the windowsill and peered out.

“My dad,” Timothy screamed at the man standing on top of the monster. “Where’s my dad!”

There he was! The man bore a worn down bulky armor made of metal and dark leather. A thick black fur cape covered his back. His gaunt and sallow head was covered by a black hood. A thin beard, accented with grey covered the lower half of his deathly pale face. His pointed chin stuck out while a sneer played on his face.

He had the expression of a veteran warrior who returned from the bloodiest battlefield and has lost faith in humanity after seeing all the faces of death.

Trance wanted to crouch down and squeeze himself into a corner of the house. He did not care if Paximillon turned back time to give him a chance to be a hero. He’s no hero. If he tried being a hero, he will just end up being a dead one. The barkeep will die, Timothy will die, and he lived. That was the script.

But he couldn’t bend down. All of his muscles felt as if they had been frozen into place. The man was going to see him!

He tried closing his eyes and hoping for the worse but he has even lost control of his eyelids. His eyeballs strained at the figure of the man standing on top of the Blight monster, examining every angle. Both of his eyes honed on a necklace the mysterious man wore.

Trance mustered every ounce of will from his body to fight against the paralysis. Did the man notice his presence and cast a spell on him? Groofshit. This wasn’t supposed to happen! Why did he look?

His head pounded, his eyeballs felt like they were going to pop out of their sockets. The last thing he could remember was the man’s necklace that was shaped into a small silver head.

“Young manaforger, it is not the time for a nap.” A woman’s voice spoke up.

Warmth.

Trance realized he was lying on the carpet. “What happened…?” He was clutching his chest while sweating profusely. His eyesight was hazy and a killer headache tortured him.

A goddess looked down upon him, her platinum hair framing her lovely face.

He suddenly remembered where he was. He pushed off the floor and lost his balance while trying to stand up. Almost crashing into a potted plant, he eventually regained composure and stood up straight.

What an embarrassing sight to show an elegant lady. He felt himself blush as he tried to fix his clothes. Think of something funny and witty to say, he ordered his brain.

His knees suddenly gave way as an intense force pushed him to a kneeling position. Some kind of magic fastened his knees to the floor. Was the beautiful lady before him responsible for this?

She had a playful look on her face that made Trance forget every worry he had. “Well, I wouldn’t expect you to know so I forgive you for not showing respect earlier.”

“I apologize if I have offended you, my lady,” he replied. What is she talking about, Trance asked himself. This noble lady before him was probably a mage of some sort. That might explain why she was in this fortress. Either she’s some sort of magic expert or the military has decided to invite the most beautiful woman in Krysperia to boost the morale of the men guarding the West System. Quite a feisty lady to force him to kneel and glue his knees to the ground. He tried to get up but he ended up just falling over again.

She giggled at Trance’s mishaps, the most beautiful sound Trance had heard in his life. Every bit of pain left his body, even his head seemed lighter. He could have just listened to the sound of her laughter for the rest of his life.

Trance shook his head and said, “My lady’s beauty has me falling over and over. Could I please ask for my lady’s name?”

“Jaguar.”

Grakk it. His knees were still immobile. What did this lady do to him? He tried to get angry at her but a flutter of her long eyelashes evaporated every bit of annoyance inside him. He forgot to get angry at her for making him kneel down; even the hardships he went through in Liftersville seem to be a long distant memory.

“Jaguar?” Trance said. What kind of name was that for a noble lady? Was that a new trend among nobles? He never understood how the elite rich thought.

“Yes. Jaguar.” A large headless metal giant appeared behind her as she spoke. “I am Lord Devastator Knight Jaguar.”

“Bu-bu-but, I thought… Lordship…” Trance stared at the Devastator Knight that appeared. Was that there before? It probably was in the center of the room all along. It felt like it was there but he just didn’t pay attention to it rather than it suddenly appearing before him.

It was a breathtaking sight, the soft features of the lady contrasted with the frightening and imposing figure of the Knight behind her. Did she say she was a Devastator Knight? How could that be…?

“Oh, that!”

Lord…or Lady Jaguar, Trance did not really know how to refer to her, laughed once more. It was as if a string of small bells jingled away all the questions in his head. He then looked at the armor behind her. It was the same person that caught him while he tried to hide in Liftersville to evade the griffon squad from West System. Or was it? He did not know what the other Devastator Knights looked like.

“Devastator Knights are referred to as Lords, traditionally. Male or female, all who wear the armor are called Lords. Do you know why, young forger?”

Trance slowly shook his head. Was this a trick question?

“Isaac Gaomant, the creator of the Devastator Golem Legion, controlled all of them using his mind. It can be said that all of the golems were an extension of him. In his honor, the Devastator Knights are referred to as males,” Jaguar explained. She shrugged her shoulders and went on. “A bit sexist? Yes, I think so…yes. But we won’t have these legendary armors without him.”

Trance did not know what to say. An actual Devastator Knight was in front of him!

Was it because he encountered the Blight? Did she suspect that he was tainted? But the healers have checked him and they said there wasn’t anything wrong with him.

“Forger Trance, I, Lord Jaguar, thank you on behalf of the kingdom for delivering this dire message.”

“What dire message? The Blight?” he asked. “What is the empire doing about it? We have a Blight creature walking around!” Indignation caused his voice to rise. He had a right to be angry. If these people at the West System did their job properly then all of those people in Liftersville wouldn’t have died!

The frown forming on his face was swept away by the sight of her angelic smile. “No, no, no. The Blight is a concern, of course,” she said like she was just discussing the weather. “What’s more terrible is that a creature of the Blight was controlled by the man you saw.”

Trance’s face was struggling between forming a smile and a frown. He feels like he should feel angry, but he feels happy when he sees her face…what should he be feeling again? “Um…that man?”

“It is actually hard to read minds and sift through memories. I do not want to do such a menial task as that. Memories are often changed by one's perception. Trauma and shock can greatly alter what a person remembers.”

Jaguar walked around the room, her long hair fluttered like gossamer wings on her back. She’s explaining something to him, but Trance can’t keep his concentration straight.

“In your case, I doubt if you could describe the person on top of the Blight creature if I asked you about him. You only saw him momentarily, while you were shaking in fear. I know that you mentioned that you saw such a person to the officers who were questioning you. But that is not enough. For me, anyway.

“I share your concern regarding this matter. A Blight in Krysperia! Concern is somewhat an understatement. We should be more concerned that there was someone that appears to have the power to control the Blight.”

Trance was still kneeling on the floor while the fairy-like beauty twirled around the room, explaining nonchalantly to him the crisis the empire was facing. It felt like she was rattling off the latest gossip that she has heard from her circle of noble lady friends.

Gliding over the floor, Jaguar drew near him and bent down, their eyes almost level with each other. “This is a critical piece of information which, I feel, justified my using my power to make you relive the part where you saw him. Illusions to make your mind reconstruct the memory in the most accurate way possible. If I just dove into your mind and picked on that specific memory, doubtless it would be not so precise. Fear gripping your heart, your conscience nagging you while your instinct to survive fights back…”

He was sinking in a stupor. Trance knew it, although he couldn’t do anything about it. Yet, his eyes went wide when Jaguar mentioned what he felt that night.

“Yes, I can feel your emotions as well,” Jaguar said, as if she could read the questions on his mind. She probably could.

Why can’t he feel angry? He should get angry at this person in front of him. She made him go through that night again…What was he getting angry about? It was just there a moment ago, what was he thinking? This woman was doing something to him. He was sure of it. This woman was toying with-

“I am not judging your actions. In fact, I am praising you for surviving. Without you, who would deliver this information to us?” Jaguar said.

Her golden eyes seemed to peer straight into his soul. She looked at him, smiling the sweetest smile he had seen. One coherent thought! He pleaded his brain with all his might. She was the most stunning woman in the entire continent; he’ll bet his most prized shield on that. But it was not her beauty that affects his mind, it was something magic related. She probably did something to him. Wait…he already thought about that.

A slight disappointment showed on her face. She looked like she was waiting for him to ask something. Seeing that he was still struggling to straighten his jumbled mind, she stood up and gracefully walked back to the Devastator Armor that stood in the middle of the room.

“Wha…What,” Trance began to say. He dug his nails into his palms, hoping that the pain would somehow help him snap out of whatever enchantment was afflicting him. “What information?” he finally managed to ask.

Clapping her hands, Jaguar let out an adorable giggle and did a little dance. Trance could not understand why she was so happy that he asked a question.

“The person controlling the Death Sprinkler was a void mage.”

“What?” The surprising information jolted some sense into the otherwise addled mind of Trance.

“Yes! It was a void mage! Funny isn't it? They're exerting so much effort at hiding from us then suddenly they do this? Something is not right.”

Trance was not sure, but she seemed happy…and beautiful. He continued trying to cut his palms with his fingernails, his body tensed up as, one by one, his nails punctured his flesh. Jaguar paid no mind to what he was doing. Was she talking about the abominable void mages?

“A void mage controlling a Death Sprinkler. How did they have the power over the Blight?” There was an out-of-place excitement in the voice of Jaguar. “Marcus is working his men to the bone, finding the breach in the West System, but I doubt there is one. The void mage probably had something to do with it. Those void mages allying themselves with the Blight…this should be fun.”

It was like she was another person altogether. Trance could understand if she wasn’t afraid of a void mage but she sounded like she’s welcoming this calamitous news. He still doesn't understand. The void mages were wiped out hundreds of years ago. Right?

She did a single spin, her long dress that looked like the waves of the ocean spun into thread whirled around her. “You know,” she said, looking at Trance, “those parasites from the Death Sprinkler seek out living things, all kinds. You probably did not see because you were hiding, but those parasites spread out to consume life. Animals, livestock, even vermin. Plants as well. The parasites consumed their lives. But not you.”

Looking up at the ceiling, she placed her finger on her chin and said, “So there must be something special about you. I’m keeping you!”

“What?” It seemed like that was the only thing he could say now.

“I have a curse of sorts. Ordinary people would have their brains turned to mush by simply being around me. The Devastator Armor regulates my power…or curse… and allows me to use it at will. However, you kept some semblance of sanity even in my presence. I can’t even walk around here without my armor since my aura affects everyone. Marcus has graciously built me this room for the times I stay in West System.” Her long slender fingers touched the surface of the Devastator Armor. She burst into particles of light that were absorbed by the armor.

A searing headache attacked Trance as the enchantment of Jaguar was lifted. His feelings and thoughts that were suppressed came running back to him.

“Young forger, you will be part of my retinue. From now on, I am your Lord,” the thought boomed inside Trance’s head.

He keeled over and laid on the floor. “I can’t believe I was using that much stamina just to stay sane.” He decided to have a rest on the floor. Looking up, he saw that he was alone inside the room.

The Devastator Knight was already gone.

The soldiers of Lord Jaguar went inside the room and dragged him out.

A grin formed on his face while the soldiers were carrying him. It looks like his dream was back on track. Someone powerful actually hired him, although the terms of employment are yet to be seen. He originally hoped to be hired as a professional armorer by a noble officer.

This was over and above his dreams.

He was now part of the retinue of Lord Devastator Knight Jaguar.

It was a nice day to be prancing around the wide garden of the villa. Evading sinkholes and quagmire spells while a concentrated fireball was chasing him. Yes, quite a nice day, Aya thought to himself sarcastically. It would not have turned out so bad if he could eat something while doing this. But he had the Dragon’s Heart inside his stomach. It was kind of gross to pile up food on top of it.

A hiding place. That’s what he needs.

“Teacher! I’m running out of mana potions. I’ll just get some inside!” Orvin called out while panting.

Aya stopped dodging and was about to land on the ground when a sinkhole, big enough to swallow him, opened up. He quickly tucked his upper body and knees to do a spectacular front flip, steering away from the hole. A perfectly executed split was his landing pose.

He dipped his finger to the ground below his body while he was still in a split position and grinned at Orvin. “Nice quicksand here. You placed this at the start of battle? You tried to trick me into landing into your sinkhole but that was actually to force me to go to this part with the quicksand.” Both of his feet were on the borders of the quicksand.

“It was worth a try. I spent a couple of hours already but I can’t catch you," Orvin said, grinning.

“That would be very surprising if you catch me. Like catching a dragon. It’s that hard!” Aya waved him off. “I know you’re nearly out of mana now. Bring a bag of mana potions. We need to continue training. Don’t dispel your cindertoads!” The kid was learning to be sneaky, he thought proudly.

Orvin bowed and run back inside the villa. The cindertoads waited for him outside the door. Inviting them inside the large house will just lead to a fire. Aya wanted Orvin to continually use his cindertoads because it will help his body become more familiar with supplying them with mana. As time goes by and his experience piles up, he will need lesser mana to fuel them in the material plane.

There were just four cindertoads, hopping and spewing out smoke rings. Orvin was not able to maintain half a dozen of them while firing off disabling earth spells at the same time.

“Good kid. Really scary talent being able to attract spirits like that. It’s like he’s a beastmaster of elemental spirits!” Aya sat by a bench near the fountain and looked sadly at his empty basket. “I really need to think of a plan to hide this thing. I want space for food in my stomach.”

“Five apologizes, my master.” The demon spirit responded from inside the stomach of Aya.

“It’s fine. I don’t want to leave the Dragon’s Heart inside my room. I also needed to start connecting to the elemental energies of this world again. The Orb of Perdition is gone so I need to make do with just this shard.”

“Is that why master wanted to recover this piece of the Orb of Perdition? Is master preparing for battle?”

Aya laughed a little. “Kind of weird that I’m talking to my stomach. Anyway, I’m not preparing for battle.”

“But master said that master’s spell failed.”

“Honestly, I’m not sure about what happened to my spell. It was the first time I used it. One thing I’m sure of, that thing did not survive our encounter. Not without being injured or partially extinguished, anyway. But I’m not sure about that also. Lots of things I’m not sure about… And I feel quite fine,” Aya said while raising his arms and looking at his body. “It’s not like half of my body disappeared or something. Which is odd. If I did inflict damage on that thing then what the hell did I pay for it?”

“Master is sure that monster damaged it? It is really powerful. But master, even more!”

“Hey, I’m not that powerful. If there’s a hundred of me, I would still have lost. There were just circumstances keeping that monster back from using its full powers.” Aya had given up ordering the demon spirit not to call him master even though Five was not his servant or subordinate. “If that monster actually attacked Krysperium at that time, I would have been forced to implode the mana node.”

The demon spirit let out a slight gasp inside Aya’s stomach. “That would destroy half the continent!” It probably felt that the statement was questioning his master’s plan that he asked to be forgiven.

Aya just shrugged. “If I did nothing then everything would have been consumed. Not just this continent. Obviously I did not want to do that. I would also die if I imploded the mana node. That’s why I charged into their base; less people will die that way. I wanted to end it there. But I’m really not sure if I ended it. Both of my plans involved me dying in the end. Yet, based from what I can see, it seems I did win. And still alive.”

The towering levels of the great capital city Krysperium cast a gigantic shadow over the lower levels. Aya welcomed the shade as he gazed up at the city that he once built. It was more beautiful than ever. He scolded himself once again for failing to think of adding magical waterworks.

“Beautiful isn’t it?”

“Everything master creates is beautiful.”

“An unresponsive answer.” Aya snorted. “Just look at this city. Oh wait. You can’t see if you’re inside me. I don't even know how you can see without eyes. Anyhow, if I did lose, then all of these would be gone. All would have been consumed by the Blight. Browsing through several history books, everything seemed to be fine, relatively, during the time that I have been asleep. So, I guess I won?”

“Of course master, will win. Master is the most awesome master in the world.”

Annoying little demon spirit. Why was he still talking with this thing anyway? He resolved to explain the situation to Five. “I may have won but the fact that I am still alive means that something went wrong with the spell. When I woke up, I was sealed. Many unanswered questions. If I’m still alive then surely that monster is still around; probably sealed up like me. This also means that there is a third party in all of these. Not just me versus the monster. Someone joined the fray, so to speak. I need more answers to be able to better analyse the situation and formulate a plan, if I need one.”

“Five does not know of any information that could be of help to master. Five abundantly apologizes.”

“I didn’t really expect any of you to be left inside a shard of the Orb of Perdition after five hundred years. And my goal in stealing the orb was to use it to find the void mages. Perhaps I will be able to find a connection to Clement when I find the surviving void mages. I’m quite sure that he is still alive, given that he is an Everliving.”

“Five knows of these void ma-”

Aya sensed that Orvin was nearing the door. He shushed the demon spirit and stood up to greet his student who was lugging a huge sack of mana potions. These Dolworth students are rich! They should have asked their school for magical equipment… maybe that’s too much.

The cindertoads followed Orvin while croaking loudly. “Teacher, I’m ready to continue.”

“Then get ready with your fireball. You should learn to control and maneuver it while disabling your target. It’s useless having a powerful spell that can’t hit anything.”

“But why can’t I use walls? Earth walls so that I can catch them in a quagmire. You told me that I should have done that when we fought.”

Aya shook his head. “First, I could have easily busted your walls, if I wanted to. I said just that it would have been a better idea given the situation at that time. Second, the beasts in the competition would also bust down your walls with their natural strength and size. Third, it’s more mana efficient to just poke the battlefield with holes rather than putting up walls, if hindering movement is your goal.”

“Can these quagmires and sinkholes really work against those powerful beasts?” Orvin said, he had a slight frown on his face.

“Of course they would. The beasts used in the competition are all huge and bulky. Most of their high danger ratings are due to massive bodies, giving them massive strength and powerful defences.”

“What if there’s a beast that specializes in speed. There are A-rank beasts that are very small and extremely fast.”

“There won’t be any small beasts. Who the hell would want to watch a palm-sized creature running around that wide arena? And we will choose the large slow one. Quagmire and fireball. Just repeat it until the monster learns its lesson not to mess with you. You will be running around, evading it, the entire time, by the way.”

Orvin shuddered at the thought of a hulking monster chasing him while he only has a single fireball.

“Just think about it. You make a wall; the beast will barrel past through it. It won’t even pause for a second. If you had a quagmire trap, even if it’s just big enough to swallow one foot, the beast will pause for a second to take its feet out.

“So, I’ll just delay the beast for a second…”

“Yes!” Aya said cheerfully. “If it falls it steps on ten of your traps, then that’s ten seconds!”

Orvin slowly nodded.

“Why are you looking down?” Aya patted Orvin’s shoulder. “You’re going up against a high B rank, at least. You didn’t really expect that you could trap them in an earth cage or something? You’ll have to reinforce your earth walls, so on, and so forth…I mean, you’ll just run out of mana trying to contain them.”

“But can I win?” Orvin asked with a sceptical look on his face.

“There’s a possibility of that…Yes, why not?” Aya looked at Orvin being more downcast than ever. This kid was expecting him to work a miracle? He did have something planned, but Orvin needs to work hard. Getting chased around an arena is actually fun. He should welcome this opportunity. “Orvin, you just need to run around, while strategically placing sinkholes or quagmires depending on the situation. Your last trick awhile ago was actually brilliant. It did not work on me, but it will work on those dumb beasts. They have a high danger rating, but they are dumb.”

“Teacher is right,” Orvin said with more resolve on his face. “They won’t use beasts that have high intelligence anyway. Beasts with near human intelligence will just surrender immediately because they know that they have no way of escaping the arena.”

“That is correct. You could also float rocks on the air to use as stepping stones to evade the beast. But that requires more mana. And these powerful beasts can jump high in the air. Quagmires are still the way to go.”

His student nodded while thinking deeply. He turned to his teacher and asked, “So how do I win? Is my fireball enough?”

“Nope.”

“I thought…So I’ll lose? I can’t even do any damage at all?”

Aya picked his nose while grinning at his student. “Of course, you’ll do damage. You just have to summon a named cindertoad!”