Alexander The Great Mage

Chapter 111 - Spirits

"PRINCESS ALEYRIA! I HAVE COME TO YOUR RESCUE!" Roared Regis Darkbane, Devil King of Darkbane Kingdom. "ARISE MY MINIONS! ARISE AND LAY WASTE TO THE ENEMY!"

At his command, undead spirits of all those who had died in the area suddenly shimmered into being. Howling and wailing madly, they charged towards the mechas.

"Ah, I guess the battle is over." Blackfire said casually.

"What do you mean, over?! And why can't I send him back?" Aleyria demanded in a shrill voice. "That is definitely not part of the plan!"

"Plans are merely plans. It is unreasonable for you to expect that mere plans can withstand the harshness of reality intact and unmodified. You need to respond to this variable and turn the situation even more to your advantage." Blackfire chided Aleyria gently.

"Turn the situation around to our advantage? There are only 2 options. Either they come to us and we destroy them at a place of our own choosing to our great advantage like this place… Or we bring the fight to them where THEY are at an advantage!" Aleyria glared at Blackfire.

Blackfire laughed and pointed to the mechas. "With Regis Darkbane around, what makes you think that they would be at an advantage even in their Starship?"

Aleyria turned around and looked at the battlefield. Indeed the battle was definitely over. Like, literally over. The mechas weren't moving at all.

"What is this? Why are the souls of these giant monsters so small?" Regis Darkbane cried out.

"OH! These giants are merely armor! What an excellent idea! Making MASSIVE armor! I shall incorporate this revolutionary idea into my army at once! At once!" Regis Darkbane shouted with great excitement.

"GO FORTH! MY MINIONS! ATTACK THE OTHER ARMORED WARRIORS OF THE ENEMY!" Regis Darkbane bellowed at his 'minions'.

Immediately, the mechas turned around and began to charge towards their former comrades.

"Hey… That's really convenient." Isabella said in surprise. "Can he do that infinitely?"

"As much as the location allows. In ancient lands with billions dead, Devil Kings are virtually invincible." Blackfire explained. "Thank goodness they are very much bound by the constraints of a lower realm. They and their minions are not able to survive for long in our realms. If it were any other way, our Universe will definitely fall into their hands."

"How long can he stay here?" Aleyria asked. "Now that he has messed up our plans, we need to shed all pretenses and mount a full scale attack on the enemy. We will need you, Lord Blackfire, and him, and everything you all have to offer to repel the invaders."

Blackfire began to fly forward and indicated that the girls should follow him.

"He can stay in this realm for many hours, maybe even a day or two. It depends on his strength. The stronger the devil, the stronger the suppression effect our realm has on his body, and the less time he can stay in this world. As a Devil King, it would be great if he can stay for an entire day." Blackfire explained.

"In that case, we will launch a full attack on the enemy's Starship today. We must drive them away from our world!" Aleyria said firmly.

"My thoughts exactly." Blackfire replied.

"King Regis!" Aleyria called out.

"My beautiful Princess Aleyria! How may I be of service to you?!" Regis Darkbane shouted.

"All out attack on the enemy. Search and destroy!" Aleyria gave a simple but vicious command.

Regis's smile grew wider at those words. "HAHAHAHA! Those are the exact words that I've been waiting to hear from you! AS YOU COMMAND, BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS!"

Regis lifted his head up and howled. A fearsome bolt of black lightning suddenly struck out from the portal with explosive strength. It was met with an equally fearsome bolt of red lightning that erupted from Regis Darkbane's body.

CRACKK!! BOOM!!!!

The collision immediately caused a massive explosion that sent some sort of weird and chilly energy flying out in all directions for many, many kilometers.

"Unholy Insurrection." Blackfire said grimly. "This King Regis is ridiculously strong. I doubt he could stay for an entire day. The pressure this world is exerting on him must be incredible."

Aleyria stared at the weird and chilly energy which quickly disappeared into the ground. It was eerily similar to the powers of the Scions of Perses.

"Yes." Blackfire replied when Aleyria pointed that similarity out to him. "The only difference is the weird and chilly energy does not affect corpses at all. They only affect the spirits. This is because denizens of the lower realms mostly take on spiritual form. The energy you are feeling is actually spiritual energy. It is something totally different from the energy which is cultivated by our realm. However, even though they are spirits, they can still impact us and can be impacted by our powers as well, albeit at a vastly reduced effectivness."

Very soon, translucent wisps began to rise up silently from the ground. They quickly flew off into the battlefield in never ending waves.

"GO MY MINIONS! TAKE OVER ALL OF THE ARMORED WARRIORS HERE! AND THEN GO FIND THEIR KING AND TAKE HIM AS WELL!" King Regis shouted while pointing at the mechas which were emerging from the swirling black mess caused by his Darkbane Arcanists.

"The battle here is over. Those spirits are virtually unkillable and irresistible for the Symphonians who foolishly believe technology to be the pinnacle of power." Blackfire shook his head. "Let us go and see if Alexander needs our help."

"Yes, let's do that!" Aleyria said, feeling rather excited that she would be able to fight alongside Alexander once more.

"Isabella and Caerose, would you please take over the defense of the City?" Aleyria asked them.

"As you wish, O mighty Princess." Isabella bowed very formally.

Aleyria chuckled.

"Sure. Take care of yourself." Caerose said agreeably. She had no interest in going anywhere closer to the enemy than where she already was. She didn't want anything to happen that could reveal her identity.

"King Regis, would you like to come with us while your minions clean up?" Aleyria called out to him once more.

"Why, OF COURSE my dear beautiful Princess! I shall be your loyalest follower! The best! The strongest! The most effective! The- Ah yes, let's go!" Regis Darkbane cut short his embellishments hastily as he suddenly made eye contact with Blackfire.

Aleyria and Blackfire quickly flew up with Regis following them from behind. Along the way, they saw Flamewing and the girls retreating from the battle slightly.

"Mistress!" The girls cried out in near unison.

"Hey girls." Aleyria smiled warmly at them.

"The enemy is in absolute disarray! Some sort of translucent beings are taking over the army!" Kan-Dari shouted excitedly.

Aleyria laughed. "Yes, do not worry about them. They are our reinforcements. You're done with your special training?"

"Yes Mistress. And Liz'An powered up!" Shira immediately updated Aleyria with all the juiciest details of the time they spent fighting, like a little child reporting to her mother what she did at school.

"That's great! But let's continue later. Blackfire and I are going on ahead to help Alexander." Aleyria said. "Flamewing, do you know where he is right now?"

"He has just finished taking care of the giant mechas. He should be on his way to sneak into the enemy's Starship. He wants to "cut off the head of the snake." That's why he sent us down to support you guys." Flamewing asked curiously.

"Ah! So those armored warriors are called mechas! I see. What a fitting name." Regis Darkbane remarked.

"And who is this weirdo? Why do I sense that he has very weird powers?" Flamewing asked again. Before Aleyria could say anything though…

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Regis Darkbane, The King of the Darkbane Kingdom within the Bloodthirsty Dark Realm. I, under the explicit instruction of the most beautiful Princess Aleyria, have commanded my minions to take care of the main mecha army. They should be joining us in our next mission very shortly!" Regis announced with flourish.

Flamewing glanced at Aleyria who could only nod helplessly.

"Let us go and defeat this powerful enemy who dares to trouble the most beautiful princess of all the Universe and Realms! My sword thirsts for their blood! My fists hunger for their flesh!" Regis declared.

"Uh, let's go. He won't stop until we go. Flamewing, would you like to come with us? The girls can make their own way back to base. It should be safe now." Aleyria asked.

"Absolutely!" Flamewing said happily.

"Alright! I will go ahead first to clear the way! Only the best treatment for the most beautiful princess!" Regis Darkbane announced chivalrously before rushing away in great hurry to do just that.

"Sigh. At least we don't have to listen to him talk the entire way." Flamewing said while shaking her head.

Everybody chuckled.

And with that, they sped off into space.

*-*-*-*-*-*

"Prince Jolto. I believe those are spirits. We have to leave. We are not equipped to handle spirits." Barako said firmly as they watched in horror at the scene before them. Thousands of their own mechas were attacking them while innumerable translucent wisps were dashing into all the defending mechas and quickly causing them to turn around to attack the rest of the army.

Battalions three through nine were quickly crumbling.

"Let's go." Prince Jolto grimly decided. "Battalions one, two and ten, on me."

Prince Jolto and his six bodyguards quickly took to the sky and retreated at full speed. Battalions one, two and ten tried to do the same, but because they were positioned in front, most of them couldn't make it.

At the end, only a single company from Battalion ten made it out. The rest were caught in the huge inglorious mess below.

"Faster!" Barako urged Prince Jolto.

Startled, Prince Jolto turned back reflexively. To his great horror, the translucent wisps were flying after them, and they were definitely not much slower than the escaping mechas!