"RAAGH!"
A sword flashed as Vice Captain Hillary shook off the blood clinging to the blade in vain, the blood of several barbarians, this fox skin wearing one being the newest, stained the blade rusty red.
'Where have these barbarians all come from?'
Even after slaying two dozens of them, in the distance, Vice Captain Hillary could still spy a dozen more causing havoc in the distance, the bodies of recruits caught off guard leaking life blood.
And seeing the devastation of fire raging all across the training camp, it seemed as if there were hundreds of these Barbarians currently raiding this place.
It just wasn't possible to sneak past the Border with these numbers without anyone noticing.
It would take a miracle on the level of a Grand mage to pull off, and even then, any half decent mage without a stick up their arse could detect the magic waves.
And if an Archmage pulled it off without any knowing.... it would honestly just be easier to cloak themself and bomb the camp with destruction type magic, no need for the stealth.
So how?
Looking around, the Vice Captain's head snapped to the side as he instinctively swung his blade at the place where the should be corpse lay.
"RAGUrgle !"
'That... shouldn't be possible.'
Thinking in shock, despite the mental shock that the vice captain had just received, his body reacted to the training it had received, instinctively initiating a half slash that should've been a mortal wound to a mortal foe.
Whoever this was, wasn't a mortal foe.
Snapping back to his senses and kicking the should be corpse off of his sword, the fox skin cap that covered his enemies face flew upwards revealing a face that the Vice Captain never expected to see.
"JohN!?"
Watching the corpse fall to the ground before moments before it attempted to begin rising up as if a sword hadn't just nearly sliced him in half, Vice Captain Hillary was at a loss for words.
Cutting down the once familiar looking face, Vice Captain Hillary stared at the man who he once thought as an acquaintance.
Holding the blade in his hands, the Vice Captain turned to the cliff as a flare made of blue fire covered the night sky.
Being particularly eye catching, Hillary bowed briefly to the still moving corpse and walked towards the cliff face.
He may still be confused, but the world was still on fire and Barbarians were still fighting all around him, best to get his wits in a place where things should be safe.
---
Everything being on fire was... an understandable statement to have said in these times.
Even with one functioning eye that didn't pulse with pain every so often as it was filled with red, Ren could see that everything was on fire.
With the Barbarians still wielding torches as they rabidly struck at everything that moved, even their fellow comrades, Ren had no confidence that he would be able to survive the dozen something barbarians roaming around.
Especially with this limp leg of his and a missing half of his vision.
Thankfully the tents were rather close together or he wouldn't have been able to hide for so long.
Waiting for the Barbarians ahead of him to move on, Ren saw from the corner of his eye a familiar face.
'Bell!? He's alive!?'
Wanting to run over there immediately despite the fact that the Barbarians would notice him almost immediately, Ren suppressed that urge as more and more barbarians gathered around him.
'If I go out now, I'll probably die.'
'And if he's survived for this long with traitors around, then the others are probably alive to right?' Wondering hopefully, Ren blinked at the sight of a blinding blue flare filling the sky and attracting all the attention.
Turning back to look at where Bell was, Ren found that he had disappeared.
He no doubt went to the place where the blue flare had come from.
Being one of the many signals that the Captain had ingrained into their brains over the course of the many weeks, it was a signal to gather together.
'But with all these Barbarians in the camp, that might be a bit hard.'
Since even the Barbarians had eyes on their foreheads, unless the thing on their shoulders was useless, they would go to where the blue flare had come from.
'And no doubt try to kill everyone who was going there.'
Biting his lip as Ren put more of his weight onto the spear he used as a crutch, Ren grunted as he stepped towards the place where the blue light came from.
Even if the blue flare could lead to his demise, Ren had little confidence in surviving the night while missing an eye and feeling nothing in his leg.
With how much blood currently spilled from his body, Ren was pretty sure that he would seem to be an easy meal for whatever made their home out there in the forest.
'So unless I want to die, I should probably head to somewhere where I can get some help.'
Ren gulped his saliva as his fingers shook violently, the heat of the flaming tents buffeting his body as he limped forwards.
'And just like Bell, I hope everyone's safe.'
And didn't have missing eyes or limp legs of a matter of course.
That instructor could die again and again for all he cared.
'...'
'When I said that he could die again and again, I didn't expect to see it happen before my very eyes.'
Blinking in astonishment at the sight of a bloodied soldier getting up from the ground despite the pain they should've felt from their dangling and broken arm, the Soldier roared before they were beheaded with a swift swing of an axe
'Can he actually die over and over again?'
Now doubting if the Traitor Scar Lip could in fact come back to life despite the spear in their gut and skull, the Vice Captain who had just cut off the soldiers head grimaced.
'That reminds me, I forgot about the shovel I brought with me.'
It would've been a lot more useful than these series of broken spears he had brought.
But random thoughts to distract himself from the pain aside, Ren tried to open his mouth and shout out his existence to the Vice Captain only to swiftly close it as a familiar face made an appearance.
One that was more mouth than face.
Mouth now stained with so much blood and skin tainted with so much ash to the point that it was an entirely different color palette from when Ren had seen it under the moonlight, Ren flinched as the shrill sound of a whistle echoed in his ears.
Then it ran.
"Ren? Is that you?"
Ren flinched, putting more weight on his right foot before grimacing with surprise.
Hurriedly pulling out half a spear head for self defence, Ren widened his eyes in surprise at the soot covered face that had greeted him. "Gary?! What are you doing here?!"
Gary Porker huffed a sigh of annoyance, his hand holding a wood cutting axe soaked in ashen blood.
"Doing the same as you, trying to get somewhere safe." A critical eye appraised Ren's appearance. "And by the looks of it, you really need it."
Ren blinked blankly before his hand hurriedly grabbed at Gary's shoulder, pulling him down with a hiss.
"Get down you idiot! Can't you see that big freaking fox thing?!"
"That's a fox?"
"Unbelievable I know but-"
"But!" Gary raised a finger. "It's dead."
"Of course it's dead! We'll be dead- What did you just say?"
Silently pointing his finger behind him, Ren widened his eyes in surprise at the sight of the Two mouthed fox being lacerated from all sides by a flurry of swords from two knights who had appeared at some point.
Appearing like white streaks in the surrounding blaze of grey and red, several sharp shrieks whistled through the air briefly before the fox keeled over. Dead.
'...'
"Also, the Knights over there are gathering all the survivors over here."
Gesturing behind him, Ren saw that a collection of bloody and battered but hopeful soldiers much older than himself walking their way, weapons coated in blood the same way their bodies were.
Soaked.
That was slightly unnerving, but Ren wasn't in any better condition.
"Anyways" Gary picked Ren up by the sides and lifted him up onto his feet. "Do you know what happened to the others?"
"Uh... Bell last I saw was still fine and dandy." Ren scanned Gary with a once over. "Better than you and me I think."
"Cool, cool, Osso last I saw was beating up a Barbarian with the chef and I don't know where Lint went."
"You don't know where your brother is?"
Gary grinned and slapped his back, nearly sending him falling over.
"Yep."
"How are you still so calm if your brother might be dead?"
"That's the secret." Gary's smile widened as he ran his finger along the edge of the Axe, an Edge, that was chipped in several places due to excessive force damaging it. "I'm not."
Looking into his eyes and noticing that they weren't smiling like his eyes said they were, Ren nodded his head while using the Spear as a crutch.
"Anyways, can you help me? I broke my foot earlier and now it hurts to walk."
"Yep!" Grin returning to its previous state, Ren looped his arms over the big boy's shoulder as the Knights returned with the Vice captain.
"Any stories to tell while we walk?"
"I'm half blind now?"
"Yeah, that's a good point actually, Doctor! Another one here!"
---
'...'
He blinked.
The Grey Haired recruit blinked with his one working eye.
Then he got up.
Looking around it was... dark to say the least.
Not to dark that it was impossible to see, but it was definitely difficult.
"Ugh!"
Feeling a sharp tingle crawl up his spine, Ren lifted the blanket that someone had covered him with and looked at his leg.
Now covered in bandages, a splint made of wood was forcefully holding the foot in place.
In addition to that, when Ren felt his face, a series of bandages were covering the left side of his face, the sharp pain that had been pulsing every so often now rendered into a soft pulse of pain.
'Who did this for me?'
Recalling the vague memories half covered in Red, Ren realized that he had fainted a few moments after Gary had called for a doctor.
So if he was waking up here with a bandage covering half of his face and a splint in his leg, this meant that wherever he was he was safe.
Lying down on the hard ground again, a loud screech that could cause even the dead to wake echoed through the cavern causing his eyes to snap right back open.
Cold sweat drenching his recently dried back, Ren snapped to attention as he stared at the place where the shriek had come from.
'I'm going to regret going over there aren't I?'
---
"Hoo..."
Letting out a slow breath of relief, the tension holding the blade in his hands loosened as the last of the injured survivors finally reached the top of the stairs.
Thankfully the cave that Harken chose to make his home in wasn't so small that it couldn't accommodate all of the survivors that the Knights had brought along with them.
A feeling of regret welled up in his chest as he looked down at the numerous camps currently set ablaze.
'It's just a pity that a lot of them didn't make it.'
With how many were caught off guard by the suddenness of the Barbarians invasion, it was safe to say that 80% of them had all died.
Especially with how they didn't know Traitors were hiding their fangs until it was to late.
"Vice Captain"
"Yes Sir Knight?"
Hearing the voice of a person he had gotten familiar with in the course of the short walk here that felt much to long due to tension, the Knight gestured to the darkness of the cave behind.
"The Captain wants you, I've come to take your place as guard."
The Knight patted his shoulder.
"Don't worry, those Barbarians won't be able to do anything here."
A rueful laugh left the Knight's mouth as he gestured at the path heading up to the cave that was no more than three men along.
Even someone unversed in combat could tell it would be incredibly difficult for anyone to attack through the path with a good guard.
'It's not what I'm worried about.'
Glancing back at the burning bodies walking along the tents in skins of a fox, bat and wolf, the man stole one last look before walking into the cold cave lit up by not so numerous torches.
The Light leaking in from the outside that was as bright as the sun during the day time was enough for them.
Feeling his mood plummet some more somewhat, the Vice Captain eventually happened across the Captain whose hands were placed on a table with a smoldering look directed to the Heiress sat across from it.
"-me to abandon the protection of everyone here for a chance?!"
Harken slammed his fist into the table with a thud as Lorelai calmly replied.
"I'm only saying this logically Captain Harken, using the sum total of all our mana and only optimizing it for light would allow my Father to notice that something is wrong here."
"And you!" An accusatory finger pointed at the Heiress causing the Knight standing besides her to nearly draw their sword.
"You are ignoring the fact that to do this we would have to assign enough manpower to guard us while we cast the magic which would drain us dry and make us easy picking to the Barbarians who would no doubt notice this!"
"And your problem is?"
"We'll be leaving all the people here to die! For a chance that may not even be true-!?"
"Captain Harken." Hillary placed a hand on the Captain's shoulder, roughly understanding how things came to be. "You called?"
Blinking in confusion, Captain Harken who seemed to have realised how foolish he currently looked forcefully reined in his emotions and sat back down and spoke to the Heiress with barely concealed emotions.
"Even if we were to go along with your plan, isn't your goal to eventually have the army on your side for the eventual Successor ceremony? Can you really do that if everyone you want on your side dies?"
The Heiress furrowed her brows at the thought as the Vice Captain stepped back and assessed the situation
'My friend might be to energetic about this situation, but I get where he's coming from.'
In summary, the Heiress wants the two of them to combine their Summer Magic into a super large Flare magic that would be visible even to the Baron several dozens of kilometers away.
This, in essence would drain the two mages dry of all their magic, making them easy pickings for all of the Barbarians that would no doubt convene at the incredibly bright sight.
And seeing as there were as many as three types of Barbarians in different pelts, aside from the Bat and the Fox aberrations that had been slain, the Wolf aberration was still unaccounted for.
And since an aberration required three knights at the minimum to slay, only one knight would be able to stay behind and guard the cave in the off chance that the Barbarians decided to attack.
And since Barbarians were known for never doing anything without the command of their Totem God who they still hadn't seen, if the leader ordered an attack...
Hillary closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh.
It all made sense now why the Captain was reacting so violently and angrily.
He was remembering that day that he had disobeyed orders and abandoned his post for a chance.
A day where those he had abandoned had died from a monster that had appeared soon after he went for the chance.
A day where the chance he was looking for came true at the cost of the lives he was supposed to protect
A Day that Captain Harken still had nightmares about to this day.
'A day of the death of the children he was supposed to protect.'
It was unavoidable honestly
Since the Golden Golem was nothing more than a lumbering siege weapon, no amount of magic would've been able to protect the people inside from its many fists.
'But he won't think that way.' Hillary stared at his friend. 'He always assumes that if he was there, he would've been able to stop the Golden Golem from killing all those-'
Hillary's eye snapped out of his memories and to the liquid falling down onto his friends head.
Snapping to the ceiling where it came from, the cave ceiling broke apart into stony fragments as something lunged downwards.
He ran
Dashing at his friend and leader abandoning his sword in the process as the cave above him collapsed in on itself, he raised his hands.
Both hands pushing at the Mage Captain's side, Harken rolled along the ground, growling in anger briefly before cutting off abruptly.
The Vice Captain had a small idea of why.
Hands trembling as he felt his chest, and feeling his worst fears be confirmed, Hillary looked at his Captain who looked like he was in shock and raised a hidden dagger kept at his bosom.
"Captain. That day when the Golden Golem appeared it wasn't your fault, it was that Damned Sun temple that's at fault Kuk!" Blood burst out of his mouth
"And this time." Vice Captain Hillary glared at the spiked tongue connected to the giant Aberrant wolf hanging from the ceiling as spat a glob of blood.
"It's mine."
Slashing at the wolf suddenly, in mere moments, the sound of bones crunching and a pained howl soared through the air.
---
Guard's Log: Night Watch
- Event 81: Near the end of the Watch, Grandmother Ommo, was found wandering the streets calling for her Grandson Osso.
Despite telling her of his voluntary recruitment to the army, Grandmother Ommo forgot.
Request to put an escort on Grandmother Ommo for the night time, can be used to substitute patrol schedule. [Denied]
Reason? {We are severely understaffed Night Captain Sarlo, we cannot be assigning escorts to low value targets. Upper command suggests sending her to be taken care of close relatives and/ or friends.}
- Event 82: During normal patrol times on the wall which had been interrupted by encounter with grandmother Ommo, smuggling group discovered on walls.
When confronted they ran leading to a chase through the city.
One of their slower members was caught and was revealed to be Halsey.
Requesting execution of Halsey by next Satur. [𝙰̶𝚙̶𝚙̶𝚛̶𝚘̶𝚟̶𝚎̶𝚍̶][Denied]
+++
Tree that still has no clue about the schedule