The atmosphere where the soldiers of Sablestone was dead silent as they all had a robotic feel to them. They lacked any form of emotion beneath their masks as they mounted once more onto the Crowmwoods.
And just like that, the best of the Sablestone's forces died not in battle but their veil of humanity came to pass which was now replaced with silent and lethal androids controlling them back at the Island.
The sights of Cromwoods could be seen pouring into Miragestia however as if in complete silence, they never seemed to interact with each other. Doing their part as if some dark hand was controlling it all in the shadows.
They went on a butchering spree, killing off any potential threats in the kingdom as Kellan made his way along with some other men towards the royal castle.
*Meanwhile In Sablestone*
Sevyn was lying peacefully in her bed as the vial of black gooey slime was clutched in her hands. She inspected it before letting it out. She saw it move about aimlessly before sensing that she was present.
Latching onto her hand, she felt a cool sensation beneath her skin before the slime sunk deep into her skin. At first she was a bit scared however knowing that her life was already in Andrew's hands, she calmed down right after.
She could feel her eyes getting groggy, barely keeping them open, she fell asleep in her. Opening her eyes she found herself suspended in a black and murky abyss which seemed to have no way out.
She felt cool and awake as she saw the slime slowly make its way towards her. "At first I wanted to install a chip in your head however I think you're capable enough of fending off by yourself."
Hearing Andrew's voice wasn't something that was new to her as she felt the slime slowly coat her body. "But for your soldiers, the chip will have to be installed. For a proper control over those drones that is."
She knew what those clothes would do to her soldiers but seeing that Sablestone would greatly benefit from the ordeal, she went along with it. She knew what she was doing was beyond inhumane.
But she was even more certain that Andrew wasn't a saint nor was he trying to come off as one. "To think that you would commit such an act without second thought, I really underestimated you."
"Anything to serve you, my lord." Her response echoed in the abyss to which a light laughter soon followed. "Then this should help you. As for the pain, it won't last long."
As soon as she heard that, she felt a faint mind numbing pain in her brain to which she persevered through. 'For the sake of my lords and for the future of Sablestone …' She mused to herself as the pain slowly increased overtime.
*In Aewdwen*
"My king, it would seem that we lack any form of communication with the spies we had planted in Miragestia." A sharp and firm voice echoed through a small room.
In it were a few individuals who held high positions in the ranking of Aewdwen with Leopold seated comfortably in his seat. "Have you sent any eyes over there?"
Leopold asked as his back was facing those present in the room. A strange silence engulfed the room which forced him to turn around and look at his subjects.
"Well what is it?! Are you all mute or something?!" A visible expression of irritation was visible on his face. "My lord, we have however there were slight complications..."
Leopold was rather startled as he heard this. "What do you mean complications?" His tone growing all the more agitated. "It would seem that the tier three spies we sent over suffered grave injuries as their mana disc cores were corrupted."
"Corrupted? How?" His voice seemed to calm slightly as he heard this. 'For them to be corrupted that would mean that they ran into a demon. or a certain part is infected with corrupted mana but that is highly unlikely.'
"Your majesty. They were corrupted from an unknown source which has made them to slowly degrade their tier ranking. Some of them are in the first tier as we speak however what is rather baffling is that it is not a demonic corruption."
"We're not in the demonic barren wastelands. Have you interrogated them properly?!" The room went dead before an answer could be delivered. "We had your majesty and they mused that they gained corruption without their awareness."
"This type of corruption lacks any wary demonic tint making it all the more troublesome to deal with-"
"Cough-Cough-"
Rennick, the general who was deep in his analogy burst into a sporadic burst of coughs. All eyes landed on him and Rennick could tell. "Are you okay, Rennick?" Galen asked with a hint of suspicion in his tone.
"Yes, it would seem that I have caught a bit of a cold." Galen for the head of the noble representative had a keen eye and could clearly tell that something was off.
It wasn't just him alone who glanced at him with suspicion. Leopold cast a barrier encumbering his figure, separating it from theirs. "It would seem that you have contracted it as well my friend."
Torin mused as he saw this. "What? No, that was just a slight sneeze. Must have been the dust I had collected down at the fields-"
*Cough-Cough*
His coughs however persisted getting worse and worse. "Do you know what you have done, Rennick?" Leopold mused as he glanced Rennick's figure which was still encased in his barrier.
*Thud*
Rennick fell to the ground as he felt a warm sensation trickle down his lips. Glancing at it, he realized that it was blood coming from his nose to which he pulled out a piece of cloth to wipe it off however the blood didn't stop.
His entire figure was sweating buckets as he tried to gauge what was wrong with his body however after probing himself, he couldn't identify the cause. "It would seem that you encountered the corruption. Your ranking is already starting to decline."
Leopold added as he sensed that Rennick's mana disc core was slowly fracturing ever more. What surprised him was that even he couldn't sense it however he could monitor the effects.
'For something like this to come out of the blue, either those elves are up to something. Or maybe the demonic Queen has decided to launch the war sooner than expected.' Leopold mused with a faint sense of unease clawed him.
Elves were known to be curious creatures, at times surpassing human limit at times thus they had both orthodox and unorthodox means of going about it.
And it was because of this that they had been able to manufacture many cures and elixirs treating many illnesses however what else they had unearthed went under the water.
'Either way, this is a clear sign that things will only grow less peaceful overall and with my general sick, this will no doubt affect my military.' He fell into deep thought before a worry he hadn't thought off rushed into his head.
'Wait?! What if I'm infected?' Even he couldn't sense it, only read the signs and monitor it better than everyone else. He didn't know how the virus was spread.
'Is it through direct contact? Aerial means or through vectors?' He knew that he needed to solve this disease and fast as possible or it could prove a threat to not only his position but the fate of Aewdwen as well.
"You served me well, Rennick." He mused before waving his hand in a casual stance, crushing Rennick to death. Rennick was a tier six expert on the second array however despite his high tier, his death came rather quick at the hands of a tier seven expert.
They were the paragon of the world, a being that was revered and feared by all. They were usually at the top of it all, commanding nations beneath their feet, standing with a proud and domineering stance.
Rennick's body couldn't be salvaged with how he met his demise, atomized by flames beyond recognition till there was no body to bury. Rennick didn't seem conflicted or upset as he knew how much of a threat the corruption was.
"I want low tier experts to handle the site and check up with Miragestia." Leopold mused as he dismissed those present in the room. None of them wasted their time as they took their leave.
Leopold swung back with his back facing the door as he picked up a glass wine before swirling it around. 'Maybe Ignatius is up to something after realizing that he was slowly losing power?'
It wasn't uncommon to hear people making deals with demons to rise to power, such was a common occurrence to hear. However demons with their slippery sides, they were hard to negotiate and form alliances with due to their treachery.
'Sablestone however seems to be growing a little out of hand however with their proximity to the shores, they will be the first line of defense for the rest of the kingdoms.'
'But with those two individuals, they will no doubt help out Sevyn.' He glanced at his glass before taking a light sip. 'What is up with them? What is the point of falling kingdoms if you have no plan of ruling them?'
His brain couldn't understand their logic. So far Aurorise and Rien had both fallen at their hands and yet they portrayed no form of interest with them, leaving them to rot and wither away.
Aurorise was a complete ghost town, every one was dead under the guise of eternal slumber as their bodies showed signs of breathing however they never woke up.
The culprit was never identified as Ashley wasn't at the time present when it unfolded however matters concerning Rien was a completely different matter.
Given that there were no survivors, it was hard to tell what had caused the actual death of those who were left. The entire city in contrast was bathed in blood unlike Aurorise which was dead silent.
'Luckily those two chose to go back to Sablestone before they preyed on any other kingdom. If any more were to fall then us humans would fall at a disadvantage to both the demons and the elves.'
'The resources of both Rien and Aurorise doesn't seem to interest Sevyn as she is planning to auction them during her meeting a month from now.' Leopold mused as he already deduced that there was nothing valuable to extract.
'Sure the land along with the property being put out is insane however isn't it a slap to the royal family that survived?' A small chuckle escaped his lips. Zarina's body was never found in Aurorise indicating that she escaped or she made her end in the wild.
'As for Rien's royal family, they're nestled up in Quillara. With the resources that they have, it should suffice them for some time however that does make them prey to other parties in the shadows.'
As for whether he contracted the disease or not, he didn't bother stressing himself out with it.
…
*On The Outskirts Of Quillara*
Two nightmarish beasts could be seen coming to a stop before they vanished back into the foliage and two beautiful ladies could be seen walk out. One of them with short pink hair and a small frame, a callous attitude about her while the other had a calm and calculating gaze.
It was no doubt Arabella and Lirien and it wasn't long before they were halted by the guards outside. It wasn't just them who were there as a long trail was evident in front of them.
They recognized that some of them were civilians of Rien who had left ahead of time before Lirien unleashed her rampage with the Felirs. 'So they didn't die out to nature.'
She was filled in by Arabella what had actually taken place at Rien a couple of days prior. Without much of a care, the two made their way to the start of the line.
"Hey?! What do you think you're doing?!" The person behind them asked as they saw this. The guards were rather taken aback as they saw this, wondering who these two ladies were.