The warning bells rang in Lusia's mind, but before she could even react, a deafening crack split the air. A fiery pain tore through her abdomen. Her armor burst apart as if struck by a hammer, and blood spattered across the stone wall.
One shot—and the mighty Great Knight was down.
She collapsed to her knees, gasping, clutching the wound with trembling hands. The Rose knights stood frozen, their eyes wide with disbelief. None of them had seen the attack. They had only heard the thunderous sound, and suddenly, the feared Great Knight lay writhing in her own blood.
"This… what kind of power is this?" one whispered.
To them, it was nothing short of a miracle. They had braced themselves for a desperate fight, but now their king had revealed a weapon so strange, so devastating, that it had crippled a warrior even they could not hope to touch.
This must be the true power of His Majesty the King.
Lusia, pale and trembling, forced her eyes downward, staring in disbelief at the crimson staining her hands. Her mind reeled. How? How could she, a Great Knight, fall without even seeing her enemy move?
Could it be—was Gavin Ward himself hiding the strength of a legendary Angel Paladin, a warrior said to crush armies with divine might?
But before she could piece together her thoughts, Gavin's voice cut across the battlements. Calm, unshaken, commanding.
"Hang her on the wall."
At his signal, two knights moved forward. They bound Lusia's arms despite her weak struggles and hoisted her onto the wall's outer edge. Suspended there, bleeding yet alive, she became a grim warning.
The message was clear: this is the fate of those who defy their king.
The Rose knights looked up at her unconscious form and then back to Gavin. Their doubts and fears melted away. If even a Great Knight could be humbled, what had they to fear from the Nord army?
Their voices rose together, roaring across the walls.
"Knights of Rose, never regret! Defend Rose City to the death! Defend His Majesty to the death!"
"Swear to live and die with Rose City!"
The morale of the defenders surged like a tidal wave.
---
Suddenly, the long, mournful cry of a war horn echoed across the plain.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" A scout's shout followed, breathless and panicked. "The Nord army is advancing!"
Drums thundered from the enemy camp, rolling like a storm.
The knights of Rose gripped their weapons tightly. Gavin's voice, sharp and unwavering, rang out over them.
"Cut down these savage Nord invaders!"
"The Knights of Rose are invincible!" someone cried back.
"For the King!"
Their shouts grew into a chorus as the enemy banners appeared over the horizon. Siege ladders creaked forward, pushed by thousands of Nord soldiers. Arrows darkened the sky, hissing as they rained down.
But the arrows fell short. The distance was too great, and few reached the top of the city walls. Those that did clattered harmlessly against shields.
By Gavin's order, the American soldiers he had summoned were shielded by the Rose knights' heavy armor and tall steel-bound shields. Not a single casualty.
"Your Majesty, watch out!" cried a knight, leaping forward. He raised a massive shield, tall enough to cover Gavin entirely, blocking the handful of arrows that threatened his king.
Gavin looked at the knight and asked with quiet approval, "What is your name?"
"Your Majesty, I am Rotis," the knight answered nervously, still holding the shield firm.
"Very well, Rotis. When the Nord Kingdom lies in ruins, you will be made a Viscount."
Tears welled in the knight's eyes. He bowed his head deeply. "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
---
Meanwhile, the Nord army unfurled their banners. Their nobles shouted commands, and waves of soldiers surged forward.
"Attack! Attack! The first to scale the wall will earn a thousand gold coins!"
The Nord King, Rag IV, sat proudly on his horse, his voice carrying across the battlefield.
"Take Rose City! Destroy their kingdom! Capture Gavin Ward alive, and I shall execute him with my own hands!"
The Nord troops bellowed in response, their morale surging.
From atop the walls, Gavin raised his arm. "Knights, step back from the battlements. My soldiers will fight now."
The Rose knights hesitated. Their king's command was strange, even reckless. To abandon the walls? To leave the city's defense to these odd strangers in strange uniforms with their wooden-and-metal rods? It sounded like madness.
Yet they trusted their king. And so, reluctantly, they pulled back.
The Nord soldiers noticed immediately.
"Look!" a Nord knight pointed. "They've withdrawn! The walls are manned only by a few strange men without armor. Look at the odd sticks in their hands!"
Even from a thousand meters away, the gleam of rifles could be seen.
Rag IV blinked, confused for a moment. Then he burst out laughing.
"So! Gavin Ward has given up resisting! He thinks surrender will save his neck? Ha! He dreams if he thinks I'll let him live!"
He raised his sword high. "Send in the knights! Scale the walls, open the gates, and let me cut off Gavin Ward's head myself!"
With his order, more than a thousand Nord knights thundered forward. Encased in heavy plate armor, their lances lowered, they charged like an unstoppable tide.
Their sheer strength was terrifying. Even under the crushing weight of steel, they galloped as swiftly as coursing wolves. Dust rose in clouds as the ground trembled beneath their charge.
Rag IV watched with swelling pride. "With these thousand knights, I will crush Rose! Then I will march across the surrounding kingdoms and forge a new empire to rival even the ancient Gutongsi! I, Rag IV, will be its first emperor!"
---
But Gavin's eyes were cold. His hand rose, then fell like a judge's gavel.
"Fire."
At once, four hundred rifles roared.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Semi-automatic M1 Garands spat fire. M1918 automatic rifles rattled. Heavy and light machine guns thundered together in a deafening symphony of destruction.
The air itself shook.
An arrow struck one of the Nord knights in the chest. The shaft splintered uselessly against his armor. He laughed, unfazed. "Fools! Our armor cannot be breached by arrows—"
His words died in his throat.
A burst of gunfire tore through his breastplate like paper. Metal shattered, blood sprayed, and his body crumpled into a broken heap before he could even scream.
One knight fell. Then ten. Then a hundred.
In less than ten seconds, the thousand-strong vanguard was annihilated.
---
The Rose knights flinched as the first gunfire erupted, their helmets ringing with the thunder. The sound echoed painfully in their enclosed steel. Many ripped their helmets off, gasping for breath, ears ringing.
But when they lifted their eyes again, their jaws dropped.
The battlefield below had become a charnel house.
The proud Nord knights, once unstoppable, were now corpses scattered across the field. Blood poured from shattered armor, mingling with broken lances and mangled banners. What had taken decades of training and unimaginable wealth to forge—a thousand elite warriors—was wiped out in the blink of an eye.
The survivors screamed in terror, scrambling back toward their lines.
"Magicians! The walls are filled with magicians!" they howled.
But there were no spells. No fireballs. No lightning. Only the steady, merciless rain of bullets.
A thousand knights. In moments, more than half were dead. The rest were fleeing, broken and terrified.
The Rose knights on the walls were stunned speechless. Then awe flooded their hearts.
Their king had unleashed a power greater than any magic.
---
Down below, Rag IV's pride shattered. His triumphant grin twisted into horror. His knights—the pride of his kingdom, his future empire—were corpses littering the ground.
His scream tore from his throat like a wounded beast. "My knights! My Nord Kingdom's knights! No! Where… where did Rose find such magicians?!"
His voice cracked, raw and desperate, as if blood itself spilled from his heart.
"Your Majesty," a deep voice called from the Nord ranks.
A figure stepped forward, cloaked in black robes. Strange lights shimmered around him as flame elements gathered, swirling like living serpents. The air grew hot, oppressive, filled with crackling power.
"Do not despair. I am here."
The Nord soldiers cheered weakly, clinging to hope.
But Gavin Ward only narrowed his eyes, watching the mage approach.
The age of knights and sorcery was about to collide with the age of steel and fire.
---