Three blows...

The soldiers stopped running after Zephyr and turned around towards the sound of the horn, before running in that direction.

"What the..?" Zephyr let his axe down, looking as the soldiers left the place. And not only them, but all the soldiers in the battlefield. Despite being attacked by the white cloaks, they didn't even try to protect themselves anymore, running towards the sound of the horn.

Zephyr ran after them, but quickly changed his mind, as he saw an army marching towards them. All of the previously disorganized soldiers, dying like flies at the hands of the white cloaks, were now organized into an army, marching forward towards them.

There were many more than he thought at first... Hundreds, if not thousands of soldiers all marching.

Two blows...

Zephyr's head tilted towards the sky, as the darkness of the night got lit up by a rain of hundreds of flaming arrows.

"All of the captives have been found! Retreat!" one of the white cloaks shouts. At the sound, all the white cloaks turn back around and rush back into the forest. It doesn't take long for Zephyr to do the same, running as quickly as he could in the opposite direction.

As they run, the rain of flaming arrows falls all around, as the screams of the ones hit by them engulf the air. Zephyr looks to his right, seeing a white cloak running in the same direction, but suddenly, a war spear reaches the man, impaling him to a tree and killing him on the spot.

Zephyr looks back in horror. Passing by his soldiers, through the flames, it was him... The white orc, Uhl...

The orc's eyes were looking straight at him. He felt his heart stopping for an instant, tightening the grip on his axe.

He sees a soldier handing him another war spear. It was too late. He had him in view. The only thing he could do now was to face it and try to dodge the projectile, because if he turned around to run, he would surely suffer the same fate as the white cloak from before.

Here it comes... The orc brought his hand backwards, looking straight at him.

'It seems I misjudged. There was no way I could dodge this...'

Zephyr's body was frozen, as all he could do was wait for the split second in which the spear would shatter his skull. He didn't even have time to process when the projectile was thrown, as the spear was already in front of his iris. But with the corner of his eye, he made up a shape... A long and thin blade of steel...

Zephyr fell on the ground, as the spear was deflected from its trajectory by the sword, barely missing him by a hair. When he finally came back to his senses, he looked up in front of him. It was the red hair from before...

"Commander Rainer!" one of the white cloaks shouted towards the red hair.

"Retreat! I'll take care of Uhl." Rainer spoke, raising his sword, without a doubt of uncertainty in his voice. Then, he turned his head towards Zephyr.

"We wouldn't want the treaty to be stopped because of the likes of them. I won't let you die here. Now go!"

Zephyr looked at him confused, not understanding what he was speaking about when he mentioned the treaty. But he nodded nonetheless. There was no time to waste, as the army was marching towards them. He got back up on his feet and ran, looking once back as the white cloak stood between them and the army, his sword starting to glow a faint orange color.

"Don't worry. Rainer is incredibly strong." another white cloak speaks, seeing Zephyr constantly turning his head back as they were running. "He won't lose."

Zephyr nods, turning his head back forward. The most important thing now was to get out alive... And with Ili...

He took a last glance back...

Rainer's sword was raised in the air, holding it with both hands. Going from the bottom of the sword to the top, from dark red to orange, yellow and finally white, the sword was engulfed in the striking glows, growing increasingly more blinding. Finally, the sword was fully white...

"Eclipse!"

On the other side, in front of his army, Uhl was casting a spell as well. In front of his hand, a dark purple sphere was growing, cracking the space around him like a cobweb.

"Arga'dherion"

Rainer hit his sword into the ground. The ground began to shatter, as the orc cracked the sphere.

The night sky was illuminated by an incredibly powerful white light, shattering the ground from Rainer's sword towards the army. The light was too powerful to see anything past a few meters, but the faint forms of dark cracks could be seen corrupting the light, growing like a dark tree from where the white orc was.

Finally, Zephyr made it too far away to see anything else but the white light reflecting in the sky. He turned his head away from it, focusing on his mission at hand... to search for Ililith.

He continued to run away through the forest, looking through the burning camp, trying to find her.

"Ililith! Ili!" Zephyr kept screaming, looking around the flames. After searching for some time, he finally found her...

At the entrance of a small cave, where the soldiers were keeping anything of value that they stole. She was searching through the pile of objects there, trying to find her sword. All around the place, there were at least 40 unconscious soldiers with broken bones, their armours bent, shields broken and swords shattered, all on the ground.

"Ili..." Zephyr started, approaching her slowly.

"Yey! Found it!" Ili beamed happily, pulling a white sword from the pile, hugging it with both her arms. "Oh, hey Zephyr!"

"Did you... do this?" he asked, looking around at all the unconscious soldiers.

"Oh? Oh yeah. Don't worry, they're still alive though! They'll just be out for a while." she said happily, not seeming bothered in the least. She got up, sheathing back her sword at her hilt, and arranging the belt slightly. "Alright! Let's go help with the wounded!" 

She started moving carelessly towards the direction of the battle.

"That's not a good idea, Ili." Zephyr muttered, catching her arm. "There's..." he tried to speak, before being interrupted by her.

"Oh, yeah. The army. Don't worry. Most of them ran away. The battle's over." She said calmly, gesturing for him to follow her.

"What? You can tell that?"

"Oh yeah. Just some simple perception magic. I can tell where they went by their mana, and most of the soldiers are running away now, scattering in the forest. Let's go!"

As Zephyr and Ililith returned to the battlefield, they were met with a daunting sight—a massive crack in the earth, stretching for kilometers, as if a giant hand carved a deep scar across the land. Bodies of soldiers lay scattered along its edges, those who hadn’t escaped the blast’s radius.

At the start of the crack, looking over at the horizon, was Rainer. His sword back in its sheath, fuming with white smoke slightly.

Gradually, more white cloaks started to come as well at the spot, looking over the edge.

"Our mission here is over. Let's go." Rainer spoke calmly, letting out a soft sigh.

"Commander... The white orc and the rest of the Black Hounds?" a white cloak spoke quietly, close to Rainer's ear.

"Leave them. They managed to escape, no point in going after them now. Let's go back." he commanded, looking one last time over the horizon, at the destruction he created. Then, he turned back around, walking towards the two travelers, stopping in front of them. He looked at Ili quietly, making a nod.

"Your friend needs some medical attention." Rainer replied, looking at Zephyr's wounded body.

“I’m alright, thanks.” Zephyr responded dismissively, not liking to be victimized. But before he could react, he felt something behind him, as the pain subsided. Zephyr got startled as he turned around and saw a white cloak using healing magic on him, a kind that seemed to go through the whole body at once.

“What the... Where did you come from?” But feeling all the pain disappear, he relaxed. He could tell that the white cloak had a whole other level of healing magic, as in a few seconds, all of his wounds got closed and healed, and the white cloak left. “Wha... Hey, thanks!” Zephyr shouted, not expecting the healer to leave just like that.

"No worries. Take it as an act of goodwill on our part, for the treaty," said Rainer, preparing to leave.

Zephyr looked at him, as if waiting for an explanation. But when he didn't get it, he decided to ask himself. "You've said it before too. What treaty are you talking about?"

Rainer looked at Zephyr, but realized that that was a genuine question. "The treaty that gives kalzraaks citizenship in the Iron Gates Kingdom. Don't you know about it? It's been in preparation for a few months now, and after many peace talks, it's finally been approved by both the king and the council of the Iron Gates, and the information was made public. The treaty will be signed in a little over a week in Björn.”

"I don't quite follow you... You're telling me that kalzraaks will be allowed to just walk through any city, and do whatever?" Zephyr asked, baffled by the new information.

"Yeah, pretty much." Rainer responded calmly. "And you can take off those half broken fake horns you have. They aren't really fooling anybody."

At those words, Zephyr's face went pale, touching the top of his horns. He hadn't realized until then, but the fake animal horns he had over his real, kalzraak ones, had broken, probably at some point in the battle. At the very least, his appearance as a kalzraak didn't provoke any reaction from the other white cloaks or their leader, thanks to the treaty. With a defeated sigh, Zephyr took the horns in his hands and shattered them, letting the pieces fall to the ground, leaving only his real horns in their place.

"I see..." he finally responded to Rainer's words, accepting the new truth.

Soldiers continued walking around. Looking back, a few of the girls from before could be seen helped by the soldiers, with towels wrapped around their bodies, some having their wounds treated with healing magic, others wrapped in bandages. After giving a few more commands, Rainer turned back towards the two.

“So, where are you guys from?” he asked. “I don’t recall seeing any of you around the city.”

“We’re travelers,” Ili responded. “We mostly go wherever we see, and we ran into this camp by accident. I suppose you know the rest. We’re really grateful for your help!” She bowed her head respectfully, showing her gratitude.

“Don’t worry, we only did our duty.” Rainer smiled. “Say, do you have a place you want to go to now? If not, you could tag along with us. We’re going back to the city.”

Ili looked at Zephyr, seeing if he had anything against that. But seeing that he was alright with the idea, she nodded happily.

“Alright,” Rainer said with a welcoming smile. He turned to his other soldiers, organizing them.

After not too long, everything was ready, and they were finally able to leave. And so, the groups left the mercenary camp, going back towards the main path, and towards the city of Feinhdall.