Point-of-View: Aries Velenet

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"That concludes my report, your Highness. We’ve withdrawn our scouts since we determined that it was too dangerous to let them remain in the Dead Zone any longer," I remarked, as I finished updating King Landis on the latest developments.

"I see, thank you for the report, Commander...I wish we had more information, but I suppose it’s better than knowing nothing. At the very least, we won’t be completely blindsided when they finally make their move," He sighed in response, slumping back in his throne with a weary, stressed-out look on his face.

Today’s the 10th of Quintilis, 2021. We’ve prepared to the best of our abilities for this upcoming battle, we’ve done everything we possibly can...and now, all that’s left to do is to wait.

Despite our preparations, I can’t help but feel a sense of dread. This is all but certain to be the toughest battle we’ve ever faced, we’re sure to suffer immense casualties, even if we do win.

And that’s a big if, considering the sheer scale of the forces we’re up against. Our fortunes in this battle will heavily depend on Arcadia, and that’s immensely frustrating...I am grateful for any help they provide, of course, but that said, my own powerlessness frustrates me to no end. The fact that I can’t say with any real confidence that I can protect my own nation is a bitter pill to swallow.

Ever since I bore witness to the Arcadia Championship Clash, I’ve been training tirelessly to get stronger, and I only increased my efforts after we learned about the threat of the Vampires.

But it isn’t enough, far from it...I still need to get much stronger, but I don’t have the luxury of time to do so. I know it’s not something I can rush or force, but even so, I-...

"Commander! Your Highness! We have a problem!" A voice suddenly rang out as the doors to the throne room burst open, one of my Knights rushing in with a panicked look on his face.

"Calm yourself, take a breath and explain what’s going on, be clear and concise," I responded as I turned around, my sense of dread welling up inside me.

Don’t tell me...

"F-forgive the abrupt intrusion and my conduct, but it’s an emergency...the Vampires have made their move, they’re invading from the eastern border. The forces we had stationed there have been wiped out, we received a call from the outpost by the border, before it was interrupted. The individual who made the call managed to inform us that there were thousands of Vampires, most of them were Lesser Vampires. And right before the call was interrupted, he managed to relay that most of the Vampire forces were spreading out as they made their way into the nation, with one group heading straight for the Capital," He remarked with a grimace.

"So, it begins...I see, they must intend to attack each of our towns and cities simultaneously, and we likely don’t have much time before the group headed here arrives," Surmised King Landis warily.

"Yeah...I wonder, have they focused all their forces on us? Or maybe...? Hm, either way, we need to contact Arcadia and request backup," I replied as maintained my composure and mulled it over.

"Right, we should-...," Began King Landis, before trailing off as another Knight rushed into the throne room.

"I have an urgent report! We’ve received requests for backup from Zircon, Onyx and Agate, all three nations are being attacked by the Vampires!"

"Damn it...I see, so they’ve opted to target all the nations excluding Arcadia, they likely intend to wipe us all out first and then focus their full attention onto Arcadia. I did consider that possibility, but I assumed that the more likely course of action they would take would be to target Arcadia first," Frowned King Landis.

Yeah, I did too. But it looks like we were wrong, they’ve split up their forces between the other four nations instead.

Most of those forces will be made up of Lesser Vampires, but there are sure to be several dozen Vampires as well...we can’t rule out the possibility that they’ve sent at least one or two Elder Vampires to each of the four targeted nations as well. I-...

"Commander! A horde of Vampires has been spotted outside the Capital, approaching rapidly! They’ll be here any second now!" Exclaimed another Knight, as he entered the castle.

"Already? They move fast," Muttered King Landis with a grimace.

"I’m heading out, I should at least be able to buy some time," I decided, before adding as I glanced at the Knights, "Contact Arcadia and inform them of the situation, request immediate backup."

"Yes, ma’am! Understood!"

"Your Highness, you should take shelter, it isn’t going to be safe," I said to King Landis.

"Very well...be careful out there, Commander. Don’t die," He replied as he stood up.

"I don’t intend to, my King."

I then headed out the throne room, rushing through the castle as fast as I could, doing my best to stay calm...I need to keep a clear head, the smallest mistake could be fatal.

As the entrance came into sight, I put on a burst of speed and hurried out, my heart sinking at the sight before me.

Several plumes of smoke were rising up in the distance all over the city, screams and crashes ringing out from every direction, before I narrowed my eyes as I spotted a pair of Vampires battling against one of my Knights.

"Soul Weapon Ascension: Justice Shards, Tenfold!" I chanted as I shot towards them, before sending my blades shooting out towards the Vampires as they began to overpower the Knight.

As my blades closed in on them, one of them quickly flew up, the other one too slow to react before crying out in pain as my blades skewered his torso before tearing through his body.

He then stiffened up with a sharp gasp as one of my blades sliced through his Core, before he collapsed onto his knees and fell over, slumping against the ground with a thud before I sent the rest of my blades chasing after the other one.

He zipped through the air rapidly, swerving and weaving across to evade my blades, but they were steadily closing the gap, eliciting a yell of pain from him as a couple of my blades plunged into his back.

He whipped his arm across with an enraged roar, firing out a slashing wave of blood towards me. I swiftly gathered several of my blades in front of myself, blocking the attack, which collided against my blades and splattered across them, before several more of my blades pierced into his torso, a loud crack echoing out as one of them struck his core and broke it apart, killing him.

"C-Commander! Thank you, you saved me," The Knight remarked gratefully, as she began to bound over.

"Don’t mention it, this battle is only just getting started, so stay sharp and-...watch out!" I exclaimed as a rapid, dark red projectile came shooting towards her, hitting her back before she could react and blasting her body to pieces, before I quickly gathered more blades in front of myself as another projectile came zipping down towards me.

A fierce explosion erupted as it struck my blades, the force upon impact blowing me back several meters before I fired off pressurized blasts of flames behind myself from my hands and feet to cancel out the momentum.

I then turned my gaze up with a grimace as my feet hit the ground, a bead of sweat running down the side of my face as I met the gaze of a female Vampire hovering on the air above me. Dark red explosive projectiles...based on the information we’ve received from Arcadia, she must be the Elder Vampire Jevera...

"My, a lowly human actually managed to survive one of my attacks?" She scoffed, as she stared down at me disdainfully.

"I’m surprised too, I heard that you Elder Vampires were a cowardly bunch, we surmised that it was unlikely that any of you would actually show up at the front lines," I called back tauntingly.

Well, we were told they were cautious, not cowardly, but since I’m trying to provoke her, I’ll tweak that little detail.

"The hell did you just say to me, livestock?" She responded as her eyes darkened, before gritting her teeth and charging up a pair of swirling, dark red spheres of energy in her hands as she exclaimed furiously, "I’ll fucking tear you to pieces, I will DESTROY YOU!!!"

Hm...uh, yeah, maybe my effort at provoking her worked a little too well...

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