City of Sin

Book 6, 109

A War Of Reality And Illusion(4)

Richard felt like he had split into two people, one watching over the battlefield while constantly shouting commands and the other leading the army to attack the opponent’s weaknesses. However, the enemies seemed infinite, his own movements becoming robotic and numb.

He still had plenty of mana, spending it like the worst of misers as he calculated the usage of every unit. Moonlight was glowing with power, but this power was only its latent enchantment of sharpness. However, he hadn’t ever been given the few moments of respite that would let him recover to full levels. The battle was slowly grinding away at his reserves, and eventually he would be left with nothing.

A strange creature with a blade on its forehead charged towards him, but the only thing he felt was nostalgia for the broodmother’s first creations as he sidestepped it entirely and cut its head apart with the most efficient of strokes. The raptors were like this as well, looking ferocious but possessing pathetic strength.

Behind the creature was a four-armed sorcerer. Even as she was waving her arms around in the middle of a cast, Richard flashed right next to her and cut her arms apart. This species relied on its gestures to channel mana, so this effectively killed it.

Richard continued to move forward, continuing to cut through the endless horde. Sorcerers, demons, mutant creatures, all sorts of enemies were cut apart one by one. Minutes turned into hours as he lost track of all time, only focusing his soldiers on killing those nearby. There were many occasions where the enemy formation cleared up for a moment, but it was only a brief respite before they reorganised and continued their offence.

......

At some point, Richard cut down a horned demon only to find no more enemies in front of them. Moonlight was already raised up to defend against any potential attacks, but the enemy didn’t seem to be regrouping either.

They’d won? He stopped and shook his head, looking further than just the vicinity of his army. The last few enemies were being killed off by his men.

He had less than 300 soldiers remaining, and as he turned to the green light flashing on the horizon he saw Tzu’s ponytail once more. The Skylance swept another hundred enemies to their deaths, her spear forming rainbows as she chased after the stragglers, but there was no one behind her.

He didn’t know how many hours had passed, perhaps it had been days; even his second and third minds had been so focused on the battles that there was no way to keep track. However, what he did know was that he and Tzu had eliminated seven of Iskara’s legions, and from what the demon god had said earlier this was at least a few decades of damage. The distant horde now seemed a little thinner, although it was only taking a single bite out of an apple.

Not daring to think about the enemy’s numbers, he turned back to reorganise his remaining troops. Changing up the composition once more to suit the circumstances, he finally had time to take another look at Tzu.

However, he immediately froze up at the sight. The blood he had assumed to be coming from the enemies was clearly flowing from her hairline, and there were injuries all over her body. It was only then that he realised there was no way to get through the fourth wave of attacks.

“Aunt Tzu!” he shouted.

“Don’t bother me when I’m killing, kid!” Tzu had her spear pointed into the sky, golden lightning flashing forth from it and causing a dozen sorcerers to fall.

Richard disregarded her threats entirely, “I’m taking the front for the next wave.”

Tzu jolted the moment she heard that, turning to gaze at the mob of enemies ahead. Her ponytail swung high in the air as she shook her head, “Fine, I’ll let you have some fun. Don’t die before me!”

“I won’t,” he smiled as he cut down a sorcerer himself, “I still plan to return.”

“Of course you have to,” she brandished her spear to send a number of demons flying, “My tribe is yours now.”

When only a dozen enemies were left on the battlefield, Iskara’s voice sounded once more. He actually started with applause, “How exciting, little whelp! You’ve been such a delight. Your minuscule army dealt six times the damage of that elf over there, even I couldn’t accomplish that. You will be resurrected after death, given the position of general in my army. Under you, my chessboard will be complete!”

“Huh... What kind of rights would a general have?” Richard asked as he swept through the last few enemies. He had no interest in the position, but the troops in this battlefield could still grow fatigued. He needed some time for his surviving mages to recover.

“You will have up to fifty legions subordinate to you, and your life will be tied to mine. So long as I survive, you will as well. You can also choose one of my subordinate planes and declare yourself its ruler, and there are other benefits as well....”

The conversation lasted nearly fifteen minutes, and Richard came to know that every plane Iskara was trying to conquer had a ‘chessboard’ like this one. It was used to erode the plane’s crystal sphere so his conscient could descend upon and possess all life within. He also learned of all the other benefits Iskara offered to those who bound themselves to him willingly.

Eventually, however, Iskara chuckled, “I believe you have rested enough. Your reward for outstanding performance has come to an end.”

The horde started moving once more, and this time the enemy stretched as far as the eye could see. There were eight legions of enemies, nearly three hundred thousand soldiers! There were so many sorcerers dancing in the sky that it was like a huge flock of migrating birds. With such a large number of enemies, it would take Richard years to cut them all down even if they came at him one by one.

“That’s a lot,” he snickered as he came to a stop, watching the tide of enemies rushing over.

Tzu walked over and ruffled his hair, “What, you’re scared?”

Richard chuckled, “Of course not, it’s just that killing them will be a bother.”

“What are you waiting around here for, then? Bothers should be solved as quickly as possible!”

Moonlight lit up in response to her words as Richard smiled, “I’ll be off.”

Tzu nodded, “And I’ll be right behind.”

He sheathed moonlight and picked up a lance on the ground, mounting a warhorse and spurring it into a trot. The rest of his troop entered spear formation and gathered behind him, charging forward in tandem.

Tzu remained where she was, the Skylance tapping the ground while her unruly ponytail flew in the wind. She saw as her nephew’s tiny army charged into the booming black tide with no fear at all.

When the two sides were five hundred metres apart, Richard suddenly bellowed and raised his speed. All his soldiers and mages did the same, and the tiny army charged into Iskara’s enormous force. A strange whistle rang through the sky as a barrage of spells rocked the battlefield. Fireballs and ice spikes sent hundreds of Iskara’s soldiers flying, but the icy winds and blazing fires in return completely drowned out Richard’s own soldiers.

The energy raging was so powerful that the horned demons on the frontlines slowed their footsteps. Their simple minds could not believe anyone would survive this assault. However, a blazing knight charged out from the ice and fire to crash into their shields, sending a dozen of them flying in one go!

Richard’s lance pierced through three horned demons in one go, flinging them away into their kin before grabbing two more. The warhorse under him charged forward fearlessly, trampling nearly a dozen itself, but eventually it gave a sorrowful neigh and crumpled to the ground. It had already been burnt to near-death in the earlier barrage, and it was a miracle for it to have survived this long. His shields had barely even covered himself at the time.

There were only a dozen or so of his soldiers left alive after that storm of death, but even as he landed on the ground Richard continued to charge forward. The horned demons in the surroundings quickly piled up on him, slowing his pace to a crawl, and eventually a number of them just pounced on top of him to hold him down. In the blink of an eye, a mountain of bodies was crushing him into the earth.