A New Dawn 62 Confirmation

Putting all those thoughts in the back of her head, she wondered how much damage she could inflict before having to stop definitely. It was in her best interest to weaken the Massalia Kingdom, but not to make it so miserable that even the rest of the nations could invade it. For the moment, their goal was to conquer the entire world, as they did in countless previous planets. For that, the best was not to destroy beliefs and customs, but to only have full control over the sovereign.

If the populace wasn't even aware of their presence, it was even better, in most cases. However, this time, they will have to make some adjustments in person, meaning that they will appear in the open. So, no blood sacrifices involving thousands of beings or trail of slaves ready to be eaten. Well, that last part will be a little hard, but they will target things that will be quickly forgotten, like criminals or murderers. And if they could have enough magicians to control those peons for a moment, they will understand how good it is to join the Demonic Empire, or at least, a pale copy of it.

Piercing her hand, she let her dark blood drop on the ground while she incanted an invocation. She didn't want to infuse a soul in this particular undead since it will only serve as a deterrent. If it died while preventing people from interrupting her reading, it was fine. A rotten hand left the black pond on the ground and pushed out the main body. In a similar fashion as a lich, the dead warrior had a sort of mummified and bloodied flesh all around its body. At the same time, it was totally naked, and without any weapons, but as tall as Kardel, the duvodiad.

As for the lack of equipment, Leilade manipulated the surroundings to gather enough metal for that. The sword was extremely thin, like the shield and the armor, but she reinforced it to not crumble at the first strike. Now, a giant, in complete armor and with a terrifying face was standing still, in front of the door. "Kill every human that entered this room, if they attack from afar, kill them too." She then left it and began her descent into the lower floors, destroying every obstacle she met until she reached her destination.

A dozen of kilometers away, in a calm and peaceful manor, an hyppogryph suddenly crashed into the inner garden, or training grounds. Both the rider and the mount were visibly scared of something, making the ongoing duel stop at once. None of the duellists said anything, letting the sole witness in charge. The strong man looked at the sudden visitor, and especially at his small emblem clearly representing from where he came.

"Academy, the Academy. What is happening?" The knight that was thrown out of his saddle, didn't even properly salute before quickly telling all he knew. "DEAD! Sir, sorry, they are all dead! … They … I don't know, magus Meridil told me to ask you to enter the Academy, NOW!" The man was stuttering a little while saying this, but the emotions contained in his voice were easily perceptible.

However, that wasn't the most shocking thing. It was the fact that a magus asked someone from the army to breach the perimeter of the Academy and trample the centuries of independence they enjoyed. It was made to let magicians feel freer and not constrained by the orders of the king, and in truth, they never really encountered any threat capable of destroying the Academy. All the traitors and dark magicians were taken care of by the Academy itself, not even having to report it to the king.

"How many invaders?" Amdir grabbed the shoulders of the knight and tried to calm him a little bit. From the Academy, on an hyppogryph, it would take less than a few minutes to reach the manor of the Gwendhir family. Calming a bit, the knight grabbed the son of the Sword Saint and looked at him directly in the eyes. "ONE! SHE IS ALONE! THE DARK GOD!"

At this mention, Muirnë shivered and fell on her knees. She knew very well of who he was talking about since she was the one that met that thing first. Seeing her daughter in such a state, Idhrenil didn't even wait for another second. His last child was still in the Academy and in a blink of an eye, he was already gone. Amdir approached his sister and tried to appease her. "Don't worry, father will take care of everything. I will not let anything happened to him or Istuienn."

That jolted back the living soul, and she looked with horror at the confidence he was displaying. Did a single word of what she said about that monster was remembered? Even her father would have met his match when facing the darkness. "DON'T FIGHT HER! PLEASE, I AM BEGGING YOU! DON'T FIGHT HER!" She was clinging on the clothes of Amdir, not letting even move. He didn't expect such a reaction from her and thought that she will be glad that this threat would end that soon.

"Muirnë, Muirnë, stop. Listen to me, do you not trust your own father?" What he received was not the expected nod, but his sister violently shaking her head. But he couldn't convince her without wasting more time, so profiting of a moment when her grip was a little loose, he dashed toward his room to equip himself. Leaving the scared knight and Muirnë in the same room.

Because none of those men were even listening to her, she will have to do it herself. Otherwise, more will die. Climbing on the hyppogryph, she easily calmed it and made it fly away, leaving a baffled man still on the ground. When both the Sword Saint and his son returned to hear more explanations, all he could tell was that his daughter took his mount while grumbling some curses.

Even if she never entered the magic school, she still knew where it was located. Losing a bit of time to find the stables, she was welcomed by three magus that were protecting an orb. One was a woman totally messed up, her clothes a little torn and blood on her face. The other two were only some paranoiac old men because they were looking everywhere, fearing something.

"Who are … Sword Saint, where is he? You're his daughter, right?" The woman that was in charge immediately questioned Muirnë, not even letting her descend from her mount. "He is coming shortly after; I was just the first to be ready. Now, tell me where she is?" Sarah was surprised, who was that she, the monster or her sister? Probably the monster, even if being qualified as a she was weird, considering her inhuman nature.

"We heard someone screaming in the library, right before we left. But we can't come back, not with this." She pointed at the orb, still in the arms of Arthar. "So, please, can you at least prevent people from approaching that thing. They don't know what is awaiting them, and will probably investigate, out of curiosity. If that is really happening and they angered Leilade, the Academy will be totally destroyed."

"Leilade?" It was the first time that Muirnë heard that name, and she wondered who it was. Hearing the surprised voice of the princess, the magus was a little bit perplexed, before understanding everything. "Ah, sorry. It was the name that the creature gave herself, I thought that she used the same name when you encountered it. It was a little girl, with black hair and eyes darker than the deepest hole?"

Shuddering at the description, Muinrë nodded her head. "Yes, so she called herself Leilade. When my father arrives, in a minute or so, tell him to not enter immediately the library. Give me a few minutes. She has a bigger plan that we don't see yet, but she won't kill people that doesn't displease her."

Departing immediately, the princess was incapable of seeing the shocked face of the magus. From her point of view and her personal experience, it was true, but to a woman that just lost so many friends in such a gruesome way, to speak like that was hurtful. It only reinforced her shame and regrets for not listening to the advice of Alexander Arastil, thinking that they could deal with such a monster by themselves.

Not even slowing down inside the greenhouse, the valiant girl arrived between the two buildings and then realized she had no idea where the library was. "Kill that thing, it injured Leon." "It is insensible to my magic, we can't bea AAAAARGH" "NO, [Fireball]" "RUN AWAY!"

While one side was awfully quiet, the other had a massive group of magicians surrounding it. In the middle, a gigantic warrior was standing still and getting attack from all side. His armor was burned, frozen, broken or even melted, but the monster was still moving at an incredible speed. Each magician that threw a spell had his body cut in half or some deep injuries, deadly even. That was caused by the fact that one man tried to enter the library, only to be violently beheaded without any warning.

Soon after, the fight was moved to a more open field, where the mass of mages thought they had a chance. But they were incapable of even harming the undead, and the latter was harvesting lives after lives, like the Grim Reaper. None of the men or women fighting realized what was happening, because they were mad, out of fear, out of hate, out of love. Only a few escaped, while most were still fighting.

"STOP! I SAID STOP!" The first order was dismissed, but the second one was infused with the strange power that was granted to her after her encounter with the dark god, or Leilade. That made everyone that was casting a spell stunned, dismissing entirely the magic that was condensed. After this, the bloodthirsty giant that was raising his sword stop too, and then, slowly walked back into the library.

Seeing this, for some, far too close since the undead brushed a few mages, everyone realized the obvious. This thing was programmed to attack in retaliation, and if Muirnë hadn't put an end at this madness, they would have all killed themselves. The princess in a white armor still followed the creation of Leilade back to its original post and finally found the library. Entering after him, she saw the latter turned around and begin to attack her, his sword slashing down toward her own.

But, for whatever reasons, just before the two swords clashed, the giant stopped itself and sheathe his weapon. Even if she was extremely perplexed by that sight, the young girl didn't forget her initial objective and searched for her acquaintance. Using her speed, she quickly found the hole in the wall, where a door once stood. Descending stairs after stairs, in the deepest part of the Academy where all the secrets were hidden, she finally saw the familiar silhouette of a girl staring at a wall.

On it, were both described and drawn the different events of the Age of Darkness, where the seven gods fell on this world. But instead of continuing to walk to see the rest, Leilade was standing still in front of one peculiar tale. Muirnë had a hard time hearing the calm voice of Leilade, but she still managed to get the latest part.

"… true, isn't Viscount? Otherwise, they wouldn't have been suppressed. What was told as just a loud roar was the very thing that saved them, how ironic. To be proud of your own power when in reality, you were merely protected… someone is here?" Turning around, Leilade gazed at the white armor and the hollow princess.

Her usually calm behavior was visibly flustered, worried about something that Muirnë still didn't understand. But as she wondered what could possibly make someone that powerful scared, she saw the little kid in front of her draining more blood from her hand. Conjuring some dark incantations, Leilade disappeared in a blink of an eye, only leaving a weird symbol on the ground. In the end, only a dumbfounded woman was still present, alone in the dark, as all the lights around her were fading.

Chapter end