The large provincial capital, with its population of 61,057 and guard regiment of 20,350 drawn from each of its cities—Galela, Meridia, and Crertin—lay in slumber. Solid brick walls clung tightly around the city, their height just inches shorter than the gate itself, flanked by two strong towers on each side. All of it stood at forty feet.
A half-moon sat amongst the stars, shining its light upon the capital gate. It was quiet; only a few guards were doing their rounds across the gate wall.
One captain stood on the front gate, smoking with a churchwarden pipe that bore a wooden dragon's head carved into its end. He stood 6ft feet tall, a human male with short blond hair and deep black eyes. His features were soft despite his old age, and a beauty mark sat upon his chin.
The man gazed off into the distance, slowly blowing out puffs of smoke as he leaned against the wall. He wore sandals, black wool pants, and a black long-sleeved tunic that opened in a deep V down to his bare chest.
He sighed. "Today feels like trouble, but I can't put my smoke on it."
Twiddling the pipe between his fingers and looking off toward the horizon, his eyes scanned the grassland. He then grabbed the pipe firmly, muttering, "I better get back, so if something does happen this night, I'm not at the frontlines for it."
He took one last inhale, the dragon head glowing with flames.
"Captain Prospero!"
Two women guardsmen, fully clad in armor, approached and stood at a distance. As he exhaled the smoke, he turned around slowly.
Pushing off the wall, he walked toward them. His tunic hung loose as he moved, shifting to reveal glimpses of his toned abs and body.
The one who saluted blushed slightly, her eyes darting all over the place, trying not to look. The other didn't salute but instead shyly twirled her hair.
His expression was straight. "Let me guess—volunteers?"
"Yes sir, Gallantry Order!" the one in salute spoke. The other remained quiet.
He started to walk to the edge of the wall. "Your service is appreciated, soldiers. Most wouldn't think of doing this job. Keep it up—you're doing great already."
"Thank you, Captain! You too!"
His dark eyes flickered toward the other guardswoman. Her face quickly turned red, her eyes avoidant.
He nodded at her, his body dissipating into a cloud of smoke.
An echo vibrated through the atmosphere: Stay safe…
The saluting one slowly turned to the still-flustered one, her mouth widening as she grabbed her shoulders and shook her, squealing in excitement over who they'd just met.
"GEM, WE JUST MET CAPTAIN PROSPERO!!!"
Gem was still in her own head, recovering from her flustered state as she was shaken violently by her best friend.
Then words slipped out of her mouth. "I wonder why he was here at this time, by himself."
Her friend stopped shaking her and looked at the view beyond the gate. "Maybe something bad's going to happen? I mean, we did hear that echo."
She turned her head back to Gem.
Gem's face was now completely sober, her gaze focused, lips pursed. "You serious, Ruby?"
They both looked at each other in puzzled silence…
In unison they both said, "NOPE!"
As they both giggled—Gem going back to her flustered state and Ruby shaking her violently while laughing—something smashed into the gates, destroying the whole thing in one go.
They both jumped to the side, dodging the debris as the gate was taken out. A large mass of dust and debris came crashing down on parts of the city, flattening buildings and structures alike.
They both stood up, their mouths wide in shock, their legs at the literal edge of the now-crumbled wall.
Two pairs of dark blue orbs with white centers shone brightly through the dust.
Ruby, stabilizing Gem on the wall, crawled to the other side to get a closer look. It started roaring loudly, blowing all the dust away and revealing its giant skeletal form.
She was frightened as her eyes darted downward, seeing multiple skeletal horsemen riding into the town.
"Look up, Ruby!"
She looked up, seeing a large ball of shadows descending on the city. Then it dispersed itself, sending wisps everywhere.
Some came toward them. Ruby, scared, shielded herself, but as she looked back—"No… Gem."
Gem was covered by all of them, her body left as a husk.
Ruby tried to get up and run as they left Gem and chased her, but they caught her, clinging to her.
"No!"
Ruby tried to push through. "I still wanted to do so much!"
But they sapped her dry. In the blink of an eye, she was dead.
The city was already being terrorized. People were now running around, fleeing for their lives, being impaled and trampled by chaotic bonewalkers on thrall horses. Thralls themselves roamed the streets, aided by the shadow wisps that always disoriented and weakened opponents so the thralls could catch up and kill them. Bonewalkers also raged in the battle as the main fighting force.
The Skull Lord began rampaging around the city's gates.
Augustus, upon his own loyal steed made of complete reinforced bone, its crimson-purple eyes gleaming forward as its mane flowed wildly, emerged from a small residue of the dust. Bone walker Two and the Wraith Skeleton walked behind from both sides.
"You two know the plan. Kill as many of them as you can." Augustus voice cut through the city's carnage, cold and calculated, as both undead reacted to it. The big bone walker lunged forward, his steps pounding on the ground, and the wraith skeleton dashed forward, disappearing and reappearing crouched on the big bone walker's shoulder.
Arceus, his steed, still walked calmly through the city's thoroughfare. Augustus's blue hollow sockets dimmed as he looked around, seeing many souls. Then he stumbled upon one large one at the top of the capital's grand castle.
"There. That's the strongest presence—must be the warden."
Augustus said this as his sockets glowed a brighter blue again. Arceus, in response, bounded forward and leaped all the way up to the castle's peak, then curved and rammed into the wall.
Crashing through it, he sent the warden reeling into a desk.
An old robed man behind the now-destroyed desk panicked and yelled at the warden, "What are you doing groveling? You must get up and fight it!" He pointed.
The warden scratched his head, trying to get up, grumbling, "Fine... you pompous little whatever!"
The old man ran to the door.
As he did, Augustus sat on Arceus, unbothered.
Soft gold mana circulated around the warden's greedy hands. A grin struck his face as he shouted, "COME ON THEN, UNDEAD PEST!" His tone was full of condescending anger.
Arceus blitzed toward him at immense speed.
"HUH!" He gasped, placing a light gold transparent barrier around himself.
Rearing its head down under the warden, then throwing it back, Arceus hit the warden up through the ceiling.
In the air, the shallow warden's golden robe glittered as he floated, his face twisted in annoyance. A green bolt of flame flew at him, but he weaved past it, then flew to where Augustus had made his entrance.
But as soon as he got in front of it, Arceus was already lunging, hitting the warden away before he could do anything.
"Why is he hitting me!!"
He screamed as he flew diagonally downward toward something worse. Arceus neighed, signaling the Skull Lord as he looked toward the warden, whirling his hand toward him.
The warden smirked.
Many chains of mana in a light gold hue bound the Skull Lord's bleak skeletal arm, restricting him.
As the warden took a breather, he muttered, "Nice try." His breath only lasted a second more. As he tried to reposition in the air, the Skull Lord's other arm came down on him full force, slamming him down to the ground.
Gasping in shock as he was embedded in the ground, his mana barrier shifted around him. But he swiftly burst out of the ground as the Skull Lord tried to take a slow stomp on him. Managing to fly out of the way, he continued to fly in the other direction, only to get hit back by Arceus ramming him again.
Stopping himself dead in the middle, he floated slightly off the ground, looking around himself. "I am surrounded, huh? No matter!"
Both the Skull Lord on one side and Augustus and Arceus on the other—they were both quite a distance from him.
As they both lunged at him, spreading his arms out, he yelled, "Gold dust!"
Sprouting from his hands came a thick dark golden mist. They both stopped in their tracks, shielding themselves as the mist expanded over them, surrounding the area.
Both undead looked around for the warden, confused, but they couldn't find him—he had disappeared completely. Augustus couldn't pinpoint the warden either.
All they could see were sparkles of gold in the shrouding mist. Subsequently, the shallow warden started to appear around them, but every time they tried to strike at him, he phased into golden dust.
Until finally, golden roots sprang from the ground, binding both of them up and restraining their movement.
A loud voice then boomed. "Golden Domino Mine!"
In response, yellow runes underneath both glowed and exploded. The explosion chained with the sparkles in the golden mist, which all got ignited as it exploded, creating a domino-like effect.
The blast itself was a firework-like spectacle—with each domino it shined, lighting up the city, the mist rapidly eaten up by the chain.
As the dark gold mist slowly dissipated, large craters were present along with billows of smoke coming out of them.
The Warden, now high in the sky, his robe glittering with gold, surveyed both his enemies' concealed condition.
"That should've shown them," he muttered confidently.
"That should've shown them," he muttered confidently.
Suddenly, the Skull Lord's smoke parted—a chain heading the warden's way.
The warden's face twisted in surprise, but his barrier was already up. Once it hit the barrier, he jutted his hand toward it, which redirected the chain to the ground.
The warden's smirk faltered as he felt a chilling breeze wash over him. He looked over to Augustus's spot and saw nothing but a large crater…
"Where did he go?!" he shouted, looking around frantically until Augustus appeared above him. He was about to jut his hand to redirect from his barrier.
Instead, Augustus enveloped his lance in a transparent dark shadow that coiled to the tip.
The warden's face twisted at this.
The lance thrust through from the top side of the barrier, instantly eating a gap through the mana barrier on contact and sending a slice across his chest.
The warden's face twisted even further in anger, but before he could react properly, the Skull Lord appeared with overwhelming speed, already swinging his hand at him.
The Skull Lord slammed his fist at the warden, cracking his barrier slightly as the warden was hurled across the capital.
Arceus, at the time, jumped into the Skull Lord's other palm, getting hurled with the same might toward him.
The warden eventually caught himself on the other side of the capital near its wall. He only had a split second as the undead horseman's steed flew toward him, crimson mana surging furiously around them both like a cloak of red lightning around its body.
Clashing with the warden, gritting his teeth—"No, get away!" he screamed through his grinding teeth as he persistently struggled against the raw force and power being pressured against him. He tried to keep up with his barrier and push back all at the same time, but it was futile as the barrier just faltered under the immense pressure.
"DAMN IT, GOING TO BREAK!" he said through his teeth.
It was on its last strands until something swung at Arceus's face, knocking both of them back across the capital toward the other side of its walls.
Then, holding the shallow warden by the shoulder with only his two fingers, dangling him over the wall, was the Obsidian Warden—no shirt, his skin dark brown, muscles vibrating with power. His frame was big and wide, his nose was stout, his smile was broad and confident, his eyes charcoal. The shallow warden looked up, his face turning sour in annoyance.
Obsidian's black hair was wavy and coiled. He held a large dark iron war hammer. The man only had leather pants on. He was seven feet tall.
"About time you showed up, Obsidian! Deal with these fools! Can't you believe the council tried to make me fight them?"
"Okay, okay, shut it. I only came out here because you guys were making too much damn noise!"
He threw the shallow warden onto the wall. He landed on his back, grunting. "My body is starting to ache."
"Get some rest, you money-grubbing old thing."
"We are not that far apart in age. Technically, you're older than me with the amount of time you have left to live." He scoffed pompously.
Obsidian just grumbled in annoyance, looking at the distance as the Skull Lord wound up his chain.
"Also, Obsidian..."
The shallow warden lay face-first into the solid floor.
"What?" Obsidian looked to the side.
"I am glad people think you're scummier than me."
He started to shift his body on the stone floor.
"HUH? Who said that!"
"I know people."
"I don't care! When we're finished here, you're going to show me exactly who said that!"
The shallow warden closed his eyes, snuggling with the cold concrete. "Suit yourself, you libertine mess."
A chain flew toward Obsidian. He hit it away again.
"Stop calling me THAT!"
The shallow warden sighed, shifting his body on the stone again, trying to find a more comfortable spot. "I am way too old for this."
Obsidian, now fuming with anger, his muscles contracting and relaxing rapidly as his rage boiled, lunged.
"That all you got, you heap of grave scrap?" he taunted, unimpressed.
The Skull Lord tried to punch him, but he stopped it with two of his fingers, then embedded them both inside his skeletal fist.
Then, lifting and swinging him around, pounding him down to the ground, he finally twisted his arm out of its skeletal socket and cascaded it onto the building, unbothered.
Obsidian pommel-struck the Skull Lord so hard it embedded his head into the ground.
Turning around slowly, he saw Augustus going full speed on Arceus with his lance, charging at him. He waited for the strike, bracing by tensing his body.
As it hit his stomach, it didn't make a dent.
Obsidian raised an eyebrow. "That's it?" He relaxed his body. "Thought there would be more for that one."
Augustus's eyes flared up. He tried desperately to make an effective strike, slashing him, but nothing made a dent—Obsidian's muscles didn't even tense. They just remained relaxed.
Having had enough, he smacked Augustus away with his hand effortlessly, then pommel-struck Arceus on his head.
But he withstood it.
Seeing this, his eyes widened. "Tough, aren't you, horse? Maybe even tougher than that skeletal tyrant over there." Snarky in his tone, he nodded back to the Skull Lord, completely submerged into the ground, battered.
He raised his war hammer off Arceus's head.
Spectral steam came out of Arceus's nose, defiant in his stance, though weak—he wobbled, his bone slowly crumbling now after that one move.
Suddenly, as Obsidian was about to strike, chains bound his arms, and the Skull Lord roared, slamming him with his last arm from above.
Obsidian smirked. He flexed his muscles, breaking and dispersing the spectral chains outward. As for the Skull Lord's hand, which was stopped by his head—he couldn't slam him. It was like trying to squish a brick as a normal person.
Then he turned the face of his hammer toward the Skull Lord, sending him flying away—out of the provincial capital entirely and through the way the Skull Lord had burst in. The force itself created a pillar-like crater.
Arceus couldn't do a single thing as the hammer came straight for him, sending him across the capital, hitting the bottom of the castle.
"Alright, that's that! Who's next?!"
Augustus appeared, both his eyes still the same color, greenish flame forming in one hand while the other held his lance.
"Brave horseman… what will you do now without your humble steed?"
Augustus didn't move or say a word. He just coldly stared.
A chain rustled from behind, but Obsidian's ears twitched. As he turned around, a chain traveled toward him. He flipped his hammer, twirling it around, and slammed it in between a gap in the chain, then stuck his hammer into the ground, trapping the chain's movement.
"Ha! Think you're—"
But he was interrupted as the Skull Lord appeared in front of him, trying to bash him, only for him to grab the fist just like before.
"You can't overpower me, you giant bone rattler."
He stopped it, but then a greenish flame burned Obsidian's body as it entered into him, burning his soul. He roared out loud in pain, holding his chest as he let go of the Skull Lord. The pain jolted in him like a severe heart attack you can feel all over your body. This moment of stagger was all the Skull Lord needed.
As he swung his fist, finally connecting with the Obsidian Warden's body, the force sent him far, crashing into a structure.
Obsidian tried to get up, his face intense, eyeing Augustus from a distance charging another green flame bolt.
"THAT STUPID BAG OF BONES! YOU WILL PAY!"
He raged.
As the Skull Lord smashed down on him, still recovering, he held against the attack. Then he lost sight of Augustus. "Where—" Only for another bolt to enter his body.
His body started to spasm as the Skull Lord crushed him, then swung him in the air, pounding him on the ground multiple times with his one arm and throwing him into another building. They would repeat this constantly. He would constantly be staggered by the soul flame bolt, and the Skull Lord would continue to smash, slam, and crush him.
He was helpless.
Landing on his feet, falling to his knees, blood dripping from his mouth, his body bruised. His whole being throbbed with lasting pain.
Even with all this peril, he smirked. "If I am going to die, I better go out fighting!"
His power surged, muscles tensed, then mana started to flare around him. As he blitzed up to the Skull Lord's face and with one punch, he shattered it—the Skull Lord's whole head caved in first, then shattered completely.
His eyes darted, searching for Augustus, but instead Arceus came down with his hooves. He blocked in time. The force pushed him to the ground, cracking it beneath the force.
He blocked as he was pressed down.
Augustus jumped above, charging a large soul flame bolt, the greenish flame swirling in his hand like a fireball, toward him and Arceus.
Chains swirled around, paralyzing him.
"Dammit, didn't want to push power from my soul again as it drains it even more… well, whatever. I will persist till the end!"
Then one lance of yellow pierced Augustus's head. His spell stalled in the air as many others—then many yellow mana-like spikes—protruded from his body, contorting it. His spell dissipated.
Then at this same moment, he broke through with the bulk of his muscles, then with both arms crushed Arceus's head with his palms, squishing and crushing bones between them.
Arceus's body flopped.
Augustus, on the other hand, fell from the sky, tumbling on top of a building, then slowly stood up, his body completely tattered.
Augustus looked forward on top of a building.
The Skull Lord and Arceus were incapacitated, but he couldn't do anything.
Both wardens appeared.
Shallow flew above as Obsidian stood triumphant. There were a few feet of distance between them.
"So what's your story, tragic horseman? Ahaha! Regale us with your tale before we put you in the grave permanently!"
Obsidian laughed heartily.
Augustus spoke, his voice petty. "I am the Necromancer, and I ended your fellow warden Galerius despite the odds of him being the strongest of this region. What makes you think you can defeat me!"
Obsidian's face turned serious.
Shallow then spoke, his face serious also. "How are you the Necromancer, and what do you mean you killed the Wind Warden?"
"There's no way you did…"
Obsidian muttered.
Shallow spoke in thought, hand on his chin, looking up. "I mean, Galerius did leave early and never came back…"
Obsidian put his hand on his chin too, pondering. "Yeah, he did. But if that's true and we just defeated him… easily."
Shallow then added, "Along with that skull tyrant thing, that means…"
"I am the strongest!" Obsidian chimed in.
Shallow looked baffled at this revelation and protested. "No way! I am the strongest! You needed my help!"
As they continued to argue, Augustus just looked down at the ground, his head dropping low.
I am so weak.
His thoughts drifted off silently into the night as this bittersweet reality festered in his mind under the now-full moon's reflective gaze.
Alana, watching every part of the raid from above the capital, seeing all the losses, spoke. "Well, Zero, what will you do now… will you flee forever or come pick up these remnants of shattered glass?"