Ok, so I dont think i ever really told people the size of the cave where Sear "lives." It is basically a 500km by 500km cave that had huge rough pillars that connect the floor to the ceiling. Think this only magnitudes bigger:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwigzJTS57fNAhWGWT4KHRSDAcAQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fsciencetech%2Farticle-2441450%2FEr-Wang-Dong-cave-China-huge-weather-system.html&psig=AFQjCNFK6utiBf1Ujg6q_En8doxqKH5zDg&ust=1466553461119810

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2441450/Er-Wang-Dong-cave-China-huge-weather-system.html

And yes i actually did research.

And btw, the "Royal Knights" described in this chapter are not what you think. They are more of soldiers for merchants than nobles. True noble knights have much more power and might appear later in the series.

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Chapter 15-Preparing For Battle

“Father Simons, we have arrived at the edge of the crevice. Do you wish for us to begin constructing a way down?” Father Simons looked at the Priest in front of him. Somehow other than any other Father, he was the one selected to lead the Crusade. Behind him he had over 100 Priests and Clerics with about 500 Paladins or Royal Knights. Along with that he had about 100 Mages of different types.

“Before we do so, allow the men to rest. We will begin 3 after dawn.” The priest walked away while Father Simons just sighed, worried about what was to occur.

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The morning after, Simons awoke to the noise of stone being moved. When he left his tent he found that the Earth Mages were already creating a ramp that went down the side of the crevice.

It was about 50 meters wide and allowed carriages to be brought along it. Along with that, he could see several Paladins praying to the gods. Every time one finished, a white light would shine upon them giving them the Holy Blessing, allowing them to be more resistant to every other type of magic.

All around him saw an army preparing for war. He wondered, what could 1 man do that would require these many people to go against him. Suddenly a group of Knights and Air Mages came up to him.

“Father, we request that you allow us to venture down the ravine early to scout out the area. We will report the moment we see anything.” The leader of this small group seemed better equipped than the rest.

While the other Knights had steel and iron armor and weapons, his armor was made with silver, gold, and basilisk scales. His sword and shield had holy runes engraved onto them and the sword’s hilt had golden threads going along it.

“Hmmm, I guess a little scouting wouldn’t be bad. But, you must be back within 2 hours. If not, we will not attempt to find you.” He was hesitant in allowing to go, but he realized that it would be a smart idea.

“We will not disappoint, Father.” The group walked off, leaving Father Simons to do his daily prayers.

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POV CHANGE

A week had passed since Sear made his commanders, and he was quite surprised with how effective they had been so far.

Heer had managed to successfully teach the Flashings to use basic Wind Magic, but they were quite slow with cultivating dark magic. Hunk on the other hand, had managed to perfectly teach his minions Earth Magic. While they could do the same attacks as Hunk, there was a large difference in its strength.

Meanwhile, Sear had been continuing to increase the size of his Dark Mana Orb. It was now 3 centimeters in diameter, and Sear could tell without a doubt that having it near him made him stronger and helped him get his mana back faster.

Surprised with how effective this was, he began to create Orbs for the other magics, but they were still much too small. The biggest one he had been able to make, an Air Magic one, was only 3 millimeters in diameter.

Another thing he didn’t notice before is that a faint mist came off of the orbs, allowing him to tell which Magic they were from without having to peer at it endlessly.

Creating these orbs had allowed him to increase his magic’s strength, and he could tell that his attacks with the other magics were almost double what they were before. The one thing that he was worried about was the pounding of feet echoing off of the cavern’s ceiling.

Many of the people said that it reminded them of the pounding of an incoming army. Not only that, but Sear could feel magic coming from the entrance to the cavern. It felt alien, almost as if it was the exact opposite of his. Not wanting to be unprepared, he summoned 30 more Flashings and about 70 more Guardians.

Along with that he created a human sized skeleton that was able to use magic. He called them Bone Mages, and created 5 for each magic other than holy and dark.

In total, he had 2 army commanders, over 100 melee soldiers, and around 25 Mages. All he would need now was some kind of Skeleton archers, but he left that for later. Happy with what he had done, he decided to continue increasing the orb sizes.

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“Massster, I dissscovered intruderss and managed to incapasssitate them all. What sshould I do with them now?” Looking over, he found Heer. He knew that they would come, but surprised at how soon it was.

“How many were there?” He needed to find out how many people he would go up against, because he doubted that they would send in their whole force from the get go, and lose that fast.

“There are 7 warriorsss and 5 magessssss.” Sear still couldn’t get over how annoying Heer’s voice was.

“Let them live for now. I will go down to see them in a few hours. Make sure to keep 10 Flashings and 10 Guardians around them at all times.” He didn’t want them to have a possibility of escaping and reporting back to the main army.

A few minutes later he made his way down the stairs to the crew. Once he arrived, he found a pile of staffs and armor piled in a corner. On the other side of the room, behind 4 inch bone bars, was a group of 12 men.

Each looked heavily worn out by the bags under their eyes and the number of relentless slashes on their skin. Each one had to have at least 20 cuts along their body. Once they saw him though, they perked up.

“Ahh, another human finally!” One of the stronger men spoke. “You need to help us, these skeletons are infesting this cavern. We think that a powerful dark mage created this. Please help us escape so we can lead you to safety.”

The man looked extremely happy and hopeful as he scanned Sear. Then suddenly, he came to a stop upon Sear’s head. “That… that crown. It’s made of bones. And… the skeletons don’t attack you. But how….” Sear smirked upon seeing the group open their eyes in understanding.

They were looking at the dark mage himself.

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POV CHANGE

7 hours had passed and still the scouting group hadn’t returned. Father Simons began to worry at the mage’s potential. To be able to wipe out 12 trained men. The only other reason they could have not returned from is getting lost, but considering that each Knight is trained in cartography he doubted it.

Looking at the ramp once again, he saw that the mages had made considerable progress. Not only had they added a railing to the edge so that men wouldn’t fall off, but they were also around half way down.

Before him he took in everything he saw. To his left he had groups of Knights practicing against each other, to his left he had hundreds of mages working together to create large spells and barriers, and behind him he had members of the Holy Order praying. He was suddenly extremely discouraged. For some odd reason he felt like they wouldn’t even be able to come close to the Dark Mage’s power.

Instead of worrying though, he went up to the Lieutenant of the Knights. “How are the men?” The Lieutenant looked back surprised at hearing a sudden voice from behind him.

“You really know how to sneak up on people don’t you?” The Lieutenant spoke sarcastically.

“With old age comes slow moving. And with slow moving comes silent moving.” The two shared a quick laugh before getting back to serious talk.

“The men are well. Very few seem to be worried, and most are quite excited for what is to come. They only think of the riches that might come from this.” He sneered while saying that.

“Well that is good to know. Hopefully they perform well.” With that father Simons walked over to the mages to see what they were doing. When he arrived he saw a shimmering wall of mana. It was rainbow colored, and he realized that all the mages were coming together to form one barrier with all their energy, making it much stronger than any other.

He walked over to Sir Eer, the strongest and most well-known battle mage in all of Gruflumlor. “So how are the mages?” The wizard turned around and seemed happy with Father Simon’s presence.

“They are well. I am having them finish the last of their team based spells before they prepare to journey down. I suspect that we will move at dawn?” Father Simons simply nodded.

“I suspect that they will be ready by dawn. They may even be able to get a bit more practice before we begin to go. Also, how did the scouting go?” Father Simon’s face dipped at the though.

“They have not come back. I fear that they have been captured or killed. Hopefully this man won’t be as strong as we think he is.” Forcing a smile, he looked at Sir Eer once more and walked away.

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“Men! We have traveled for weeks to reach the Great Ravine! You have all been selected to help in the hunting of a dark mage! This might be one of the strongest men you will even face in your life.”

“Though many of you may be worried, remember, he is only one and we are many! With enough will even the weakest can rise to the top!” Turning to face the ramp he continued.

“Now let us march onto this mage’s territory!” All around him men cheered and cried out as they began to follow him down the ramp to their destination.

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POV CHANGE

With the torturing over, Sear walked back into the town hall. Around him people moved back, and he realized that those blood-curling screams were probably heard throughout a large portion of the village.

But he had gained some nice information from them. He was apparently being hunted by a “Holy Order.” They had set up camp above the ravine and were planning to come down to face him in a matter of days, if not hours.

They had at least 500 people, and Sear realized that he would need many more men for this battle. Using his Earth Magic, Sear sensed the trembling in the ground and smiled.

The main group was here.