"Oh my." Aya said.
"Haha." I laughed once again, as the three presences got closer to us, these aren't Scythes, but they are not normal mages, and that's when multiple people walked through the teleportation gate underground, maybe fifty to one hundred Alacryans, this is hilarious, they think this is enough for me.
"What? Veer, speak up!" Arthur said once again.
I turned to Arthur in the middle of the street. "There are three Retainers, each one on the outside of the town, waiting for us, it seems they were waiting until this very moment to use mana." They were all separated, not one next to the other, this isn't good, with the troops underground numbering over one hundred. "And soldiers just showed up underground, I sense one hundred and eleven."
"Shit." Arthur said, knowing this wasn't exactly what we wanted, but it was fine with me. "Are they together?" The three of us stood there in the dark town, no one around except the figures standing still in the distance.
"Nope." I answered and shrugged. "I think they are trying to split us up." Sylvie finally jumped out of Arthur's coat. "There are four forces, four of us, we have no choice, unless we want to bring the battle into Ashber." I released the clone spell of Stan and had the blood that made him circle my body.
"No, we don't." Aya said, looking in the direction of one of the mana signatures we sensed. "This is what a Retainer feels like, I don't know why, but I'm shaking, my body is telling me to run away."
"Same." Arthur agreed with her, I was the opposite, my body was telling me to face all of them. "Veer, do you know who is out there? Which Retainers?"
"That's the weird thing." I said, scratching my head. "I only know one of these signatures." The other two though, I had no clue who they were, which means, Cylrit is not here, which is strange.
"Who? It's Jagrette isn't it." I nodded at my brother. "Which way?" I pointed to the east. "I'll take her." I think Aya on Jagrette would be better, we know Arthur can beat Jagrette, but is hurt severely, so why not let Aya take her on, so that Arthur and I can fight these two unknowns.
"We need a plan, are we splitting up, or not?" Aya asked, we both turned to Arthur, he was the one who was supposed to be calling the shots around here anyway.
"Three Retainers, right?" Aya and I nodded, Sylvie was staring up at Arthur as well. "Okay, how would they know there are four of us? They really want to split up Sylvie and me?" Oh shit, I don't know if Arthur knows that Sylvie is Agrona's daughter, he has to by now I am pretty sure, and I don't think Arthur can take on Jagrette by himself.
Ten more, no twenty more, oh shit. "Umm." I said, interrupting Arthur. "Fifty more soldiers just stepped through the gate." I was now staring at the ground; it was literally right below us. "Can I suggest something?"
"Go ahead." Arthur knew about my knowledge, and that I couldn't say it out loud at the moment, so he trusts me.
"Arthur, you have Jagrette, Aya and Sylvie will take on the two other Retainers, I'll take on the soldiers underground." I looked up at them, knowing what I needed to do. "Listen, you don't need to win, you just have to stall."
"Stall?" Aya said, confused on want I meant.
"I mean, you don't need to win on your own, after I take down the soldiers, I'll come back up, and fight with whoever needs my help the most." Killing one hundred and sixty soldiers shouldn't be that hard.
"That's a good plan, Cylrit isn't here?" I shook my head at Arthur, I was just as surprised, but what confused me is that there are three Retainers, it looks like Agrona truly doesn't have faith in one of them to take me down anymore, or just really wants me. "So, who are the other two Retainers?"
"I have no idea." I answered honestly, maybe Bilal and Lyra, but Bilal, I swear was Jagrette's replacement, so it couldn't be him, which only leaves Lyra. "Arthur, I don't have earth magic, so you are going to have to drop me into their cavern."
"I can do that." Arthur spun around slowly, looking into the distance. "Are they still standing still?"
"Yep." I answered, jumping up and down now, getting ready to slaughter all of these soldiers. I am not even going to go into my phase two, I don't think I have to for them.
That's when Benjy came running out of the tavern. "This guy." Arthur drew Dawn's Ballad, but I stopped him.
"Arthur, I killed Benjy and the guy named Stan like twenty minutes ago, he's a clone." Arthur was looking at me in shock, I knew he couldn't sense them, so it was pretty funny to see his face like this. "I need you to do me a favor." I pointed in the direction to the west. "Use the little amount of mana you have and shoot yourself at the Retainer."
"On it." Without hesitation, the Benjy clone launched itself towards the Retainer in the west.
"What are you doing?" Aya tilted her head at me. "Why even send him out there? The Retainer will just destroy the clone."
"No, they won't." I shrugged, staring in the direction Benjy went off towards. "The clone won't fight the Retainer, I just want to see who it is, so we know who to send."
"Ha." Arthur laughed slightly. "You killed Benjy and Stan? When? What did you do with their bodies?"
"He burnt them to ash." Aya answered for me, and that's when the clone disappeared, dissolved down to nothing.
"Alright, hold on." I closed my eyes and went back to the moments right before the clone dissolved to see who the Retainer was. "Who the fuck is that?" I said, seeing the image of the Retainer, they were in black and grey armor from head to toe, stood well over six foot, had horns, not as big as Uto's, but not that small either, red eyes, and it also looked like he had big ass muscles.
"What is it?" Aya asked, worried by the way I spoke.
I turned to Arthur. "I have absolutely no clue who is to the west." This was not Bilal, I know that, so who. "I suggest Sylvie goes in that direction, Aya, you go north." If I am right, Lyra is there. "Unless Aya, you want to take the bulky dude on, he was pretty jacked."
"You saying I can't beat him because I'm small?" She smiled at me, and then cracked her neck. "I'll go north."
"I'll go east." Arthur replied.
Sylvie began to transform into her dragon form right in front of us, and then spoke. "I'll go west."
"And I'll go play underground." I gave a thumbs up to them. "You know, this really isn't going to help with my corrupted beast will, killing all of these soldiers."
"Oh, trust me, I know." Arthur spoke up, waving me off. "But at the moment, you going down there, finishing them off, and then joining us up here, is the best idea we got."
"I agree." Aya said, I think we are overthinking this, what are the odds the soldiers actually come up here and fight with the Retainers against us? I think they are just there, not as a ploy, or distraction, ehh, who cares, I get to slaughter over a hundred people again, just like at the Sand Grotto.
"Veer, deep breathes, control yourself, and your emotions, don't give in to the Serpent's Will, and be yourself, a soldier for Dicathen." Arthur took a step toward me with a smile on his face. "Don't lose yourself, and don't die either."
"Hey, I should be saying that to you, you are the one fighting a Retainer from the start." I sent him a smile as well, and then we hugged each other. "Good luck."
"Good luck." Arthur replied back to me.
"Good luck to the both of you." Aya spoke up as we separated from our hug.
"Good luck, Lance Aya." Arthur sent her a nod.
"Good luck, Aya." I took a step toward her, and we hugged as well. "Don't die on me and be careful."
"I will." We separated, and Aya continued to speak. "Veer, you seem to have a lot of knowledge on our enemy, what should I be looking out for?"
I turned to Arthur, and he nodded his head, so I faced Aya once again. "If I am right, this Retainer uses sound magic, so make sure to reinforce your ears with mana, I suggest using the tree line as your friend, illusion magic will also be useful."
"I see." Aya's body started to build up mana, I could feel it. "Then, I'll be off, let's bring home a victory."
Like she was shot out of a rocket, Aya was gone, heading towards the Retainer in the north. I think she'll be able to hold off against Lyra, I'm not completely sure, I don't know how strong she is, but if I am right, she is Cadell's Retainer, which means she has to be somewhat strong.
The Retainer Sylvie is going to be fighting, worries me, I don't know who he is, but he seems, I don't know, different from the other two. I don't know his powers, and I don't know if Sylvie can take him.
"Sylvie, be careful." I spoke up to the dragon. "I don't know what this Vritra can do, play it smart, and just buy time."
"I will." Sylvie said, I didn't want anything to happen to her, so I need to make sure to deal with the soldiers in the cavern fast. "You play it smart as well, taking on a force that large underground is dangerous."
"Not for me." I suggested, knowing I could handle them. "Arthur, remember, corrosive, and plant magic, don't let her get to trees, she can heal herself if she touches them."
"I remember." Arthur started to manipulate the mana on the ground. "You play it smart down there, don't allow them to hold you down, use your blood magic, and stay calm."
"Drop me." I assured Arthur I was ready, and the ground below me started to shape shift into a hole large enough for me to drop through, and into the cavern where there were soldiers waiting.
I fell through the earth, and then entered the cavern, below me, not in formation, were Alacryan soldiers, not all of them though, some were in tunnels connecting to the cavern. Each one had a set of black armor on, and I could see the teleportation gate, I was this close from being in Alacrya.
"Look!" A solider pointed up at me as I flew above them, standing still in the air.
"Battle formations!" Another soldier shouted, and they came running out of the tunnels, every single one of them, the cavern was gigantic, so it fit them all. I decided to join them on the ground, landing ten yards away from the front row.
"Shields!" A soldier screamed, and shields started to appear in front of the soldiers standing in the front row with their weapons, or magic spells activated. "Stay in formation!"
"It's a kid?!" Another man spoke questioningly. "He's not even wearing armor?"
I looked around at my body, I didn't have any armor on. "Oh shit." I said and held up a hand towards them. "Give me a second, forgot to put it on." They all watched in silence as I pulled my shoulder, leg, and chest armor plates out of my mana ring, and put them on. "Thank you." I then swung my cloak over my body, I was still wearing that shitty ass outfit Arthur gave me to wear as a slave, but it was now hidden under my cloak.
"Wait, it's the Devil, the Lance of Death!" A woman this time screamed out, and the soldiers all began to chatter, Lance of Death? Come on, don't they know that's rude.
"Attack!" A man in the back shouted, probably the leader of the force, and spells began to form in the air, arrows were released, and the battle officially began.
I surrounded myself with wind mana, and shot myself at the front row, disrupted the cores of the mages closest to me, and some of the shields dropped. I conjured two ice blades in both of my hands and got ready to strike.
I appeared before two soldiers, shot the blood that was circling my body through them, killing them instantly, then pulled the blood out of them, and had it join with the little amount I had from before.
"Kill him!" An arrow raced across my face, I dodged, sent the blood into the crowd, killing multiple soldiers, swung one of my ice blades into the ribs of an Alacryan with a spear, then deflected an ax with my other blade.
As the ax wielder pushed down on me, I rolled away, pulling the blood I shot out back to me, and it formed into little spikes, cutting through anyone in the way, the ax wielder was pierced from head to toe with holes as he fell to the ground.
I deflect a spear, then a sword, shot the blood out, killing both of the soldiers, already, around me, and in the distance, twenty soldiers were killed, dead, lying on the floor of the cavern. I raised my left ice sword, blood from the dead flew up into the sky, and I got ready to launch it into the distance.
Multiple arrows rained down on me, I brought up a wall of wind, deflecting some away, however, some managed to get through, I was forced into dodging them physically, and as I did, Alacryans swung and launched other spells at me.
A staff of water passed me, a blade of wind, a ball of fire, nothing could touch me though as I activated "Blood Acceleration" to make me even faster, then threw my left ice blade into the throat of a soldier staring up into the sky at the blood, that I held still in the air.