"What?!" Axer leaped from his seat and grabbed Nycholas by the shoulders. "What did you say?"
"Sire, it's true; everyone there is dead! The weekly merchant caravan arrived there to discover the ground ruptured and broken! They rushed here as fast as possible to report the findings, but it still took them hours to make it."
"It's the Disciples." Axer's face darkened as he clenched his fist. "Only they commit destruction at this level."
Dunstan and Royce had also gotten up, putting down their wine and grabbing their weapons as they emanated chilling bloodlust.
"It doesn't matter how far they've gone; I'll still chase them regardless!" Dunstan growled as he slung his war hammer across his back.
"This can't go on, my lord! We need to relentlessly track and eliminate them once and for all." Royce slammed a fist against his chest. "I will not allow them to spill any more innocent blood, not as long as I, Royce Ainsleys, live in this world!"
"I agree, sire. Even if they've already left the sight, we can track them regardless with the help of mages!" Even Nycholas, the most cynical of his knights, agreed.
"My lord and sir knights, I ask that you remain cautious. These are the Disciples we are speaking of, not a ragtag group of bandits. Forgetting that no knight has ever been able to catch them, the fact remains that they've eradicated a town with a population in the several thousands while also successfully escaping." Mr. Casalus stood up with a dark expression. "This can only mean one thing: the Disciples contain a few very powerful members with terrifying escape abilities."
"There is nothing else we can do, Town Chief. We've already come to this conclusion in the past, but regardless, we still need to pursue them." Axer understood Mr. Casalus's concern, but he had no other option. They had to follow the leads they had and pursue them. Axer was quite confident in the ability of him and his knights, but he still wanted to be cautious. Despite that, the situation didn't allow him that luxury. Every second they wasted meant more victims of the Disciples.
"Despite knowing we're nearby, they still committed such an atrocity! They're spitting on our pride!" Axer snarled. "I won't rest until their blood stains my blade."
"Then I shall go with you, my lord. I, too, am a knight, and my blood boils when I see innocent lives lost to heinous criminals." Mr. Casalus grit his teeth as he clenched his fist.
"Father!" Indu jumped up and yelled, looking at Mr. Casalus with fearful, worrying eyes. "It's too dangerous; you can't go!"
"I have a duty as the Town Chief, but I also have my duty as a knight. Because of my political duties, I'm unable to go into the far reaches of the world to uphold justice. If I can't even apprehend criminals in my own backyard, there is no use for me to keep my title as Sir Ambrose!"
"They're the Disciples! Father, you're already in your fifties; your vitality isn't what it used to be! You said yourself that the Disciples are most likely few in number but individually powerful! How can you still go like this!" Indu desperately grabbed Mr. Casalus's arms, trying to dissuade him. "I know you're a knight, but...but...." Indu seemed like she wanted to say something, but she instead looked at Axer's group and swallowed before speaking.
"My lord, sir knights, I ask that you reconsider this as well. I understand the need for revenge, but you mustn't discard your lives like this!"
"Young lady, I understand your concern, but we've made up our minds." Royce declared.
"But...but..."
"Indu..." Mr. Casalus slowly and gently hugged his daughter. "Take care of Aniya and the house for me. I'll return in a few days, so don't worry."
"I'll protect your father, Indu. And even if it doesn't seem like it because of your father's age, he's every bit as powerful as a Lunar Knight. I personally witnessed him slaughter a gang of over 200 goblins. You needn't worry for his safety." Axer chimed in to assuage Indu's worries.
Indu glanced at him over her father's shoulder, a mix of fear, apprehension, and tension in her eyes. Axer's heart sank. I need to apologize to her.
"Indu-"
"Father..." However, Indu's head sank into Mr. Casalus's shoulder, ignoring him. She's still angry. Damn it, why did I have to make that expression back then? God, whenever I think of those bastards, I want to tear them to pieces! Not only did those bastards mutilate my beloved, they're the reason she thinks I'm disgusted with her. Fuck! I shouldn't have killed them so easily back then.
Axer's rage from learning of Braedon Town's fall fed on his boiling rage when he saw Indu's scar. His hands trembled so badly that he clenched them into a fist. When I get back, I'll give you the apology you deserve.
Axer swiftly turned and beckoned his knights.
"Summon everyone! We set off now!"
...
Merely an hour later, Axer leapt off his trusty steed to survey the terrible destruction before his eyes. The ground was cracked and raised like the spikes of an armored creature. Even though the stack happened hours ago, the nauseating musk of violence remained in the air. He could see traces of blood and fire seeping from between the cracks of the broken ground and bits of fine rubble, but for the most part, nothing was there.
"It was The Disciples." Axer grit his teeth. No one but The Disciples committed atrocities on this level.
"Were the bodies crushed?" He turned and questioned Nycholas, who was descending from his horse.
"I'm not certain, sure. The merchant took one look at the scene and fled." He shook his head. "We must search for survivors."
"There's no need." Axer frowned. "The Disciples never leave any survivors."
"Search for clues! Report anything suspicious to me without leaving a single detail." He ordered his knights in a booming voice, and they dispersed across the wreckage. They left their horses tied to makeshift poles as the ground was quite sharp and painful to horse hooves on top of the ground being too uneven to traverse on.
As he climbed the hilly wreckage sight, the charred dirt and fine bits of stone ground beneath Axer's boots. The setting sun bathed the sky in a soft, dying orange glow. Glaive in one hand and a plume of fire in the other, Axer scoured the premise with his subordinates.
"My lord, I'm picking up unnatural levels of mana. If I'm not wrong, I believe it's the source of this devastation." A mage wearing a white robe embroidered with the emblem of the Lunar Knights wobbled and staggered over to Axer. He pulled his hood down, revealing the face of a handsome, thirty-something-old man with a finely shaved beard and shoulder-length hair – the typical appearance of a mage.
"What direction is it in?"
"That way, sir!" The mage, Camdyn, pointed in a direction northwest of Axer.
Axer bent his knees, glaive furled back in a charging position and jumped. He leapt over ten meters into the air, landing upon a small hill that crumbled instantly from the force of his jump. He repeated it severely times until he reached his destination. Thanks to his unique ability, Axer identified the irregularity Camdyn was referring to.
"Light mana?"
Miniscule specks of white, orange, and brown – light, fire, and earth – mana covered the village, with browner than the other two because of the upheaved ground. The amount of mana depended on the amount of its physical counterpart existing in that area of the environment.
But the crater before Axer was cluttered with light mana – more accurately, it was forced into the crater. There was only one type of mage that could cause this phenomenon.
"A dark-type mage." He frowned. Dark-type mages worked opposite to light mages – they erased light but also used it to create horrific illusions that eroded the mind. By erasing it in one area, light mana from other areas would flood, overcrowding the area for a period of time before dispersing back to equilibrium.
Although Axer wasn't familiar with the process of becoming a mage, he knew that it involved taking in vast amounts of a specific element of mana to create a manacore within their body. It was also why mages could see mana while others couldn't.
Of course, I'm a special case.
"Sire! We've found something!" Nycholas called over from a different hill, and Axer leaped there, landing with a boom. There, he saw Nycholas crouched over something. When he looked over his shoulder, Axer snarled.
"Those bastards."
It was a severed hand, its finger pointed at the mountains. From its smooth appearance and small size, it belonged to a young child. Its severed end was gruesome. Although the leakage of blood had stopped, a gory puddle lay behind it, the flesh jagged and uneven as if ripped off.
"This is utter provocation, my lord!" Royce yelled. The other knights also arrived, and when they saw the gruesome appendage, their faces twisted in rage, horror, and sadness. They too began demanding vengeance, but other's held different opinions.
"My lord, there is no doubt in my mind that this is a trap. If we go, we'll be walking right into their hands." Mr. Casalus frowned. His clenched fists trembled by his side.
"I don't care if this is a trap; I'll squash them like bugs regardless!" Dunstan yelled. The knights cheered in agreement.
"I'm afraid I agree with Dunstan, Mr. Casalus," Axer said. This may be our only chance to know our foes.
"Of course, Mr. Casalus, you are not obligated to go with us. I understand that you have the town...and your family." He said after a pause.
"Ha! I am not one to cower away from battle!" Mr. Casalus's light, silver armor gleamed from the dying rays of light under the dusk sky. He secured his helmet – an open-face helmet with an opening shaped like the letter [Y] – and patted the sword on his hip.
"I am as eager, if not more, to spill the blood of the criminals who committed this atrocity, sir. If you wish to continue forward, then I will not disobey your order."
The tips of Axer's lips curled into a small smile. If only he wasn't Ambrose Town's Town Chief...and my future father-in-law, then I would have absolutely recruited to be a part of the Lunar Knights.
But then Axer frowned. I can't let him get hurt. Just from how vehemently Indu had tried to stop her father from going on this expedition, Axer knew how much she loved him. He refused to allow sadness to mar her beloved face.
"Are we in agreement?" Axer yelled loud enough for the knights to hear. Everyone cheered in the affirmative, and then he commanded them.
"Then let us spill The Disciples' blood!"
...
Deep within the mountain path, the one most commonly used by merchants and travelers strode Axer and his knights atop their horses. They clipped and clopped against the ground with a rhythm that matched the hymn of a war-torn battlefield, eager to spill blood. The tree tops had been cut specifically to only allow specific amounts of shade and sunlight to penetrate through during the day. But under the night sky, the moon's radiance shone like a beacon for its namesake's knights.
"Sire, I smell Shadowfiends." Nycholas sniffed the air through the slit of his helmet.
"You're a bit late, Nycholas."
CRAAAACK!
From the shadows emerged dozens of lanky, humanoid creatures with skins seemingly made of shadows. Having no eyes, their dual-tipped tongues made up for their lack of sight with extreme smell, much like a snake. Their razor-sharp, white teeth glimmered like a beacon in the night.
"Let me handle them, captain," Dunstan smirked and casually drew his war hammer.
"It's 'my lord,'" Royce rolled his eyes as he muttered under his breath, but Dunstan couldn't hear him.
He squeezed the handle, and arrow-like engravings on it lit up with a fiery-orange color.
"Die!" Dunstan roared as he slammed the hammer to the ground. Roaring lines of fire surged forward, engulfing the Shadowfiends in a scorching blaze. Their pained screams filled the silent night, not a single one unaffected by his attack.
In no time, they all turned to primordial ash, their remnants scattering in the gentle breeze.
Dunstan held his hammer out. The lingering fire mana surged back into the hammer bees returning to their hive. No other knights, not even Dunstan himself, could see it, but Axer could. Dunstan could tell how much mana was stored in the hammer by its weight, so he didn't need Axer's ability to see mana without a manacore.
"All done." He slung his hammer on us back and clapped his hands together, wiping them off of the Shadowfiends' black blood.
Axer merely nodded in acknowledgment and proceeded forward, uncaring of the ash staining his beloved steed's hooves.
"Let us proceed."
It wasn't long before they came across a valley. It seemed to yawn open before them, a great gaping maw threatening to swallow and devour anything that entered it. The rocky mountain walls were like sharp teeth that would grind their prey to paste. It was empty, devoid of anything but raw soil and rock. A chilly silence emanated in the air, but it was broken by horrific, nightmarish screams.
"Help me....!"
"Mother....!"
"No.....!"
"Leave...!"
"Don't hurt him...!"
The screams pierced through the night, their shrill notes carrying in the wind. Their blood-curdling wails carried death and misery, begging for mercy, pleading for their life. A horror like no other, the owners of the lamentations appeared.
The earth shuddered and split open as dozens of shadowy, ethereal figures rose from the soil. Their blackened forms stood out even under the night sky, and their eyes glowed a menacing shade of crimson, boring into the very souls of those who dared to look into them. Their twisted limbs flailed about wildly as they shrieked and howled, hungering for the life of any living beings unfortunate enough to cross their path.
"Wraiths!"