「Main Hall」

After the announcement, the vast main hall quickly becomes packed when waves upon waves of soldiers arrive in the place. Despite holding a number of men that counts up to a thousand, the soldiers have no problem with breathing space since the castle was built to hold even more. Most people in the main hall are soldiers, but there’re still some auxiliary combatants who heard the announcement, including the castle’s remaining staff, some teachers, and even some cadets who didn’t go home for their vacation.

On the staircase which serves as the intersession between the upper and lower floors, the top brass of this castle’s army can be seen walking down. Leading at the front is a woman clad in gray. She’s wearing a gray robe and a wizard hat. The woman is holding a wooden magic staff decorated with a large amber on its head. While most soldiers haven’t personally met this woman, they subconsciously know she is the one in charge of Melas castle.

Without any demand for formalities, the woman goes straight to the topic at hand the moment she opens her mouth.

“Soldiers! As you have heard from me before, the Dark Line we tried so hard to defend all these years had collapsed! Fighting has already broke out between our forces and our enemy’s. It is no doubt that the greatest war of this century has finally arrived!”

Nilrem pauses. Anxiety begins showing on the faces of the unhelmeted soldiers. However, the well-disciplined soldiers dare not to raise any questions when their superior hasn’t allow them the permission to.

“As of now, a detachment of four thousand men strong is making their way toward this castle, led by the dreaded Black Paladin Origen. Their goal is only one: The capture of Melas - the final wall that stands between the Alliance’s army and the rest of the Demon Realm! If we lost this castle, we will inadvertently allow the tragedies of war to happen on our home’s soil! This castle will become a strong foothold for the Alliance’s army to nitpick our territories one by one. They will take away everything we have, until nothing left is ours!”

Once again, the Headmaster stops. She takes a look around her. The soldiers don’t look so good. They feel lost, and it shows on their face. However, Nilrem doesn’t want to give them any false hope. Only when they are capable to prevail from this hopelessness can the chance to win this battle reveal itself.

“Soldiers, I will be honest. Our numbers are about one thousand and five hundred men at most. We’re understaffed. We don’t have anti-siege weapons. The only thing we can be certain is our supplies for a long siege. But even if our reinforcement will arrive in three days, the enemy surely won’t allow us the leisure to buy time and wait. They will throw at us everything they have until this castle is theirs. We have many to lose, and little to gain.”

Nilrem holds her breath as she raises her voice.

“Even so, even without a glimpse of hope, it IS our duty to stop them here, right at our Realm’s front door! The fighting will be fierce. Your life, and the life of others beside you, will surely lost in battle. You won’t have another chance to see your loved ones again, but you will prolong their lives until the day of your reunion in the afterlife of Arhat. History may not remember your names, but if you succeed, it will absolutely remember your deeds, the deeds made by the brave men and women at Melas castle! Men, women, soldiers, cadets…it does not matter who you are, where you’re from, what race you are. What really, really matters is your own resolve. Tell me your resolve, soldiers! Tell me the resolves of those who will venture through the valley of death!”

Silence follows after the woman finishes her speech. But it does not last long, it’s only there because the soldiers need some time to console themselves, to find within them the will to try, the resolve to fight, and the courage to die.

“I will fight.”

A soldier breaks the silence with his words. Soon after, like a wave of falling dominos, the remaining soldiers also voice their thoughts as they get washed away by the will of the courageous soldiers yelling before them.

“I will fight too!”

“Me too!”

“Me as well!”

“We will fight to our last breath!”

With their resolves inside their hearts, the soldiers hold their prideful fists to the sky. Before long, in front of the woman stands an army that will ready to fight till the last man. What can a leader ask for in a desperate situation like this?

“Very well! Soldiers of the Demon Realm, you have this old woman’s respect. May your life and death serve your purpose! That is all!”

Nilrem shouts. Right after that, the woman turns her gaze to the commanders beside her.

“If you please, gentlemen.”

“Yes, madam!”

The commanders all shout together. Then, each of them takes a different way while announcing the jobs for the soldiers.

“The combatants will follow me! We need all the weapons we have in the armory. After that, those who know how to smith, follow this man to make more weapons and arrows! There’s a working forge near the armory. The remaining soldiers shall follow me, we have some quick fortifications to do!”

“Non-combatants! Please split into two groups. One group will go to the infirmary and get all the medicine it has. The others will follow me to the storehouse, we need to prepare the supplies for the upcoming battle! Await further instructions when you’re done!”

“Those who are good with a Warg shall go with me. We need to do some recon on the enemy, and prepare some traps on the way as well!”

Like ants inside a colony, the moment their tasks are clear, the soldiers start to follow their respective commanders to help fulfill their jobs. Only some remains, most of them are battle mages from the battlefield, but even then those mages don’t get to take it easy when a teacher from Melas called Walpurga also starts leading them for their own jobs.

“Mages! Please follow me to the Magic Arts Department’s main hall. I shall quickly brief you the battle plan made by the Headmaster.”

Before long, the main hall quickly becomes empty again when the hard-working ants leave to do their jobs. But this place isn’t completely empty. The Headmaster is still standing there in the intersession between the stairs, despite all of her commanders are long gone to fulfill their tasks. She isn’t alone, however. In the center of the room, there stands a young man with a black cloak. He is of above average height. He’s wearing a white shirt and a black trouser. He has black eyes and hair, along with a pair of glasses on his face. A cadet from Melas.

“You don’t have any jobs to do, cadet Akuma?”

Says the woman as she starts descending from the stairs. The young cadet looks up to the woman while trying to let his words out.

“I just don’t know what to do…”

“If you can fight, go help the combatants get ready. If you can’t fight, go help the non-combatants prepare the supplies. But if you want to flee, then the coward’s bridge is that way. It is as simple as that.”

When Nilrem finishes speaking, she stands right beside Akuma, in the middle of the main hall, on top of a big decorative circle with a blank space inside.

“I’m not a coward! I won’t run away from this fight!”

Says the young cadet.

“This isn’t a fight, Akuma. This is a war.”

The woman suddenly stares at the young man with a cold gaze, scaring him for a second.

“War has no places for those with doubt. If you really wanted to fight, you wouldn’t ask me what to do from the beginning.”

The young man doesn’t answer. Deep inside, he knows the Headmaster is correct.

Suddenly, the woman in grey taps her staff onto the ground. She taps it thrice, and when she’s done, the platform they’re standing on sinks down underneath. Below the place, there’s a large and dark tunnel that goes deep down to the ground. There’s a spiraling staircase attached to the wall, but using the platform as an elevator makes the whole trip faster and more comfortable.

“This place is…”

The surprised young man speaks. The thought of a hidden downward tunnel right under the main hall never cross his mind before.

“Akuma. Do you know where Deborah is?”

The words from Nilrem’s mouth are not the answer the young man expected.

“I don’t know…I saw her earlier in the main hall. But she was gone after your speech.”

“Hmm…”

The Headmaster seems to have catch on something.

“Did something happen?”

“…”

The young man averts his eyes for a moment.

“We got into a fight.”

“That’s just normal. Being around that girl would eventually net you to a fight or two. So, what did you two fight about?”

The woman speaks from her experience as the young girl’s guardian. She always expect a verbal fight everytime she needs to meet the girl. To the woman, it eventually becomes a normal thing that doesn’t even need to be bothered with.

“…She spoke about her memory lost, and asked me to understand her. But I couldn’t when she keeps putting salt on my wound…”

Says the young man.

“So that girl revealed the truth to you.”

With no noticeable reaction, the woman answers.

“Headmaster. Please tell me…about Deborah’s true identity...about her true self, not someone’s name that you gave to the girl during her memoryless state.”

“If I tell you the truth, what will you do after you know, boy?”

“That’s…”

“Do you think you can help that girl after you know who she truly is?”

“…”

Akuma knows easily throwing the word “Yes” right now won’t be able to convince the woman in front of him, even just a bit. Without any answer, the young man can only stay silent until the elevator’s ride is over. At the bottom of the tunnel, there’s a small hallway leading to an unknown location. Without fear, the woman walks through the place. Part afraid, and part curiosity, the young man also follows behind.

At the end of the journey, the two find themselves on a small platform. There’s a vast space shrouded in darkness in front of them. The normal human eyes can’t catch the tiniest glimpse of what lies ahead. But since he’s standing near a literal witch, the young man expects the witch in grey to perform some sort of spell to illuminate the place.

But the young cadet is soon to be disappointed. All the Headmaster does is just simply pull a switch nearby. Little by little, lines of stone pedestals inside the room start to lit themselves on fire. Slowly, the scenery reveals itself to be a vast and ancient room. This place can easily beat the main hall above it in term of size. The whole place makes Akuma feels like he’s standing at the entrance to an ancient temple.

Soon, as the Headmaster walks toward to the edge of the stone platform, Akuma’s attention is drawn to the center of the room. In the middle of the place, there are pots, lots and lots of ceramic pots, each of them roughly half the size of a man. All of them are located near each other, similar to an infantry formation.

“Headmaster…this is…”

“A small gift from an overprotective father, given to us after his daughter enrolled here. This gift’s purpose is to help us defend this place should the need arise. Well, we’re short-handed right now, so I guess that need is finally here.”

Nilrem holds her staff to the sky. The woman starts chanting. After some seconds, a small light radiates from the amber on top of her staff. However, nothing happens…not yet.

“Arise! Soldiers of Annwn! The day of duty has finally arrived! As your master, I demand you to fulfill your oath of service! Take up your arm, awake from your slumber, and free yourself from your prison!”

One by one, the ceramic pots get smashed from the inside. From what remains of the pots, they stand. With sword in one hand and shield in the other, the pots from before reveal themselves to be the vessels containing one thousand skeletal soldiers. Slowly, the skeletons start rising up. All of them wake up from their long slumber inside the cramped pots. After they’re done assembling the formation, the skeletal soldiers give Nilrem their hollowed looks, awaiting orders. These soldiers now stand ready to face any foes their master demands them to.

“Skeletons…”

Says the young man. While Akuma knows some walking and talking skeletons before, the skeletal soldiers in front of him give him the creeps. The skeletons he knew have this…lively aura around them, like they’re real people, only with bones and a lack of flesh and skins. But the skeletons before him don’t have that kind of aura. They are just a bunch of animated bones that act like medieval robots. They are without souls, without minds, without thoughts, created only to serve the purposes of others. They are the undead that had truly died in both body and soul.

“Soldiers of Annwn. There’s an enemy that threatens the existence of this castle. It’s time for you to serve your purpose. Please gather to the ground above, there are commanders who’re waiting to give you more detailed instructions.”

When the Headmaster finishes her lines, the skeletons start marching in formation. They walk to the platform the two living being are standing on, but the skeletons completely ignore them and just walk back to the tunnel earlier.

“What a bunch of friendly guys.”

To Akuma, the difference between these guys and the skeletons he knows are like the sky and the sea.

“Undead soldiers, created by the necromancers reside in the Necropolis of Annwn. Unlike the Accursed ones, these soldiers have no souls and can only follow simple orders. But since we’re in need of manpower, these skeletal soldiers are enough for us.”

The Headmaster explains.

“This room was built to contain them all?”

Asks Akuma as he takes a look at the now-empty room. The woman has no intention to answer his question…at first. Nilrem turns her back to the young man with the intent to walk away…until something changes her mind. Nilrem once again gives Akuma a gaze and starts to tell the young man something unexpected.

“No. This place…it was used to hold something far…far much worse.”