Chapter 18- the rise, the fall and the sacrifice.

12 hours ago, in an alleyway in the markets of the Western Kingdom.

"Stop evil beasts, for I, the great Silver Knight, am here,"

says a small cute gingerhead girl, looks about 12 years of age. There were 2 boys imitating magic beasts, and a girl playing the victim.

The victim screams, "My knight, please save me!"

The boys bend over on all four limbs, roaring, "Rawrrrr... Rawrrr!"

The gingerhead took a stick, swung it at the beasts like a sword.

The girl holding her stick against the breeze, facing the beasts — that evening ended in the knight’s victory. And the kids headed home.

---

At present, on the great wall surrounding the Core, Stark in the centre,

"Listen, soldiers of the Great Wall, here’s the battle plan. We use a 6-way protection array. We are to guard the Core with our life.

The Core's shield is defective, but it still exists. It will block 99 percent of the beasts — our duty is to block the remaining 1 percent."

A soldier in the back said, "So about 1000 beasts?"

"Exactly. The beasts are— Take up your arms, boys!"

The huge beast wave hit against the ancient barrier. The whole wall shook. The Core started to shake.

The beasts start to enter the barrier.

The soldiers stood like a six-sided hexagon, each holding 10 soldiers. Stark and Leo in the centre, commanding them. The rest — 20 guards in the Core forming a second line.

Leo and Stark stand just outside the secondary barrier of the Core, which covers itself.

The beasts approached the hexagonal array. The air smelled of rotting flesh. The soldiers’ armours and swords at the ready — and the next moment:

"Thuddd... Slash... Thud."

The beasts and the guards clash. Flesh and armour collide.

The swords sever limbs of the beasts. The veteran guards slice the beasts like tofu due to their vast experience and strength.

The sky filled with the screams of beasts and the war cries of our guards.

The flying beasts bypassed the outer ring, but as they neared the Core, they were slaughtered by the inner elite guards accompanied by Stark and Leo.

"Good job, soldiers! Stand your ground!" screamed Stark, him being an experienced commander, boosting the soldiers’ morale.

The flying beasts near the Core only to be slashed into pieces by the flaming sword of Leo.

Occasionally, guards were injured. As one fell down, another from the inner ring took his place. The injured guard treated by Leo’s incredible magic medical prowess.

The first wave of beasts ended. After a whole 2 hours, no lives were lost, but all were exhausted — 18 soldiers injured under healing.

All were resting, for this 10-minute break is their hard-earned one.

The crystal ball fired up. Tom appeared in it.

"Leo, there is a problem. The first wave depleted more energy than expected. The Core’s ability to attract the beasts is reduced. The next one won’t be a peaceful fight."

All the soldiers and Stark heard it. They grasped the already impossible situation had taken a turn for the worse.

"So you’re telling the next wave will have more beasts and they may not all come here. They may head to the town."

"Exactly. That’s the problem," said Tom.

"How has the evacuation progressed?" asked Leo.

"It’s 90 percent complete. Hold on for only one more hour at most. The corners are being cleaned," said Tom.

"We will take it on," said Stark.

"Place the crystal on the Core, Leo. We will be able to see you clearly," said Tom.

Leo did the same. In a blink of the eye, the next wave hit.

Soldiers in formation. Leo and Stark in their place.

The second wave started.

The beasts started gathering. The soldiers raised their weapons and stood their ground. The fight started.

After a while, Leo senses something was wrong — 1 out of 10 beasts moved towards the city.

Stark also noticed this.

"Leo, the beasts are going to the city," said Stark.

"I saw..." saying this, Leo turned towards the crystal.

Leo’s eyes constricted. He ran to the crystal, used a mana stone, and fired it up.

Leo appeared on the screen in the Leyline Core Room.

His voice carrying tension, he asked, "Tom, where is Ryan?"

Slowly Ryan appeared.

Ryan replied, "I am here, Leo."

"Ryan, listen well. Hurry to the leyline connecting the Core to the city — hurry up, Ryan!"

Ryan ran fast, gasping for breath, sweating profusely.

He ran like he had never before in his life, not stopping — knowing if he slows now, lives will be lost.

Ryan arrived at the intersection of leylines.

Fired up the crystal, "Leo, I am here," said Ryan.

"Ryan, you still have the ice bead bomb from before?"

"Yes," replied Ryan.

"Now, my friend, break it."

Ryan saw the determination in Leo’s eyes.

Ryan took a bead from his sleeve and threw it into the intersection.

The bead flew from his hand toward the intersection.

The bead touched the ground. The magic leylines froze up.

Leo screamed, "Swing your sword at it, Ryan... DO IT NOWWWWW!"

Hearing this, Ryan unsheathed his sword, swung it at the block of ice.

The sound of the clash was almost deafening.

The fragile ice shattered, shards flying all over the room —

Along with it, the connection between the Core and the city severed.

The once bright city lost all its lights — became a dead city in name and deed.

The Core recovered some power — but still, about 10 beasts escaped.

---

In a place not far from the entrance of leylines, the rats gathering the last of the demons in the city.

The bulky bearded drunkard Leo saw in the tavern was lying against a tree.

One of Ryan’s rats:

"Drunk man! Get on your toes, we need to leave. The beasts have come. The barrier is down. Flee with us if you want to live."

In a grumpy voice, the tall figure spoke,

"This drunkard has no more reason to live. Leave me here and leave."

He tried to convince the drunkard, but nothing seemed to work.

The squad leader called out,

"Rats, it’s high time — let’s move!"

At that moment, a roar was heard. It was nearing the rats and the old man.

Slowly they could hear the beasts come near them — 4 flying wyverns and 6 hell hounds, all from the Forest of Nightmare, filled with rage and hunger.

The guards with the rats started gathering before the people.

The squad leader screamed,

"Soldiers, stand your ground! No life should be lost today."

They started fighting the beasts. Same time, evacuations hastened.

One wyvern escaped from the guard and went near the drunkard.

He saw this, but did nothing. He remembered his past.

8 years ago, his daughter — a knight — went to the Forest of Nightmare to rescue a pair of kids who wandered there due to the guards’ negligence.

He should have been there that day, but he was summoned to the capital, so he left.

When he returned to see his daughter, he could only find the cold corpse — ravaged by beasts — instead.

That day, he lost all his will to live.

He thought, Now maybe I can finally find redemption for not being there for you, my dear Silver Knight...

He faced the beast with no fear, but a relief that it’s all going to end.

At that moment, a stick flew toward the beast, hitting its eyes.

The startled, furious beast turned to the direction the stick came from.

There stood a small figure, with huge courage in front of a beast about 10 times her size — a gingerhead girl stood on a cart.

"You dumb beast! You shall not harm anyone — not in my presence!

I am the Silver Knight. It’s my duty to protect my demons of my kingdom, even if it costs me my life," said the small girl.

Her small hands and feet not showing a hint of fear.

The beast turned and charged toward the girl.

The old man saw this.

He couldn’t help but remember his little Silver Knight.

As he took a second look, the gingerhead looked familiar to him.

He suddenly remembered that figure 8 years ago. She stood next to his daughter’s corpse — it was the child his daughter rescued.

Her life was one his daughter exchanged for her own.

The beast neared the cart. The child jumped aside.

The wyvern crashed into the cart — shattering it to pieces.

Her words reminded the old man — made him realise that the one who died that day was not only his daughter…

It was a knight doing her duty — successfully completing it.

He himself felt a river of emotions together.

He remembered what his duty is.

He remembered the people he served.

He finally remembered who he is.

The beast moved toward the fallen child.

It neared the child — almost a foot away…

"Swish..."

A sharp sound.

The tree near the man has now disappeared — now it was in the air flying across the beast.

The place where the beast’s head was — now only an empty space exists.

The old man remembered. He screamed,

"None shall hurt my demons — not under the watch of the Shield Demon Star bane Bloodsteed, the servant of the Great Demon King Leonardo!"

He uprooted the tree and threw it at the beast — shattering its very head into a paste.

He stood up, went near the girl.

"Thank you, child. Thanks to you, I remember my duty."

"Rest assured, old man, for I am here to protect you!"

said the girl confidently.

Bane couldn’t help but smile.

The nearby soldiers dealt with the other beasts.

One of the older soldiers recognised this man.

His hands trembling in joy, face showing great reverence to the old man before him — that puzzled all the soldiers.

He went near the old man,

"You are back, my lord," said the old soldier, his knees embracing the ground.

The other guards also slowly recognised their old lord who vanished suddenly one day.

"Greetings, Lord!"

They too, unable to contain themselves, knelt.

"What is the situation?" asked Bane.

The old soldier explained the situation in full detail.

"I am heading to the wall," left Bane.

In the wall, the once great formation of 80 guards now dwindled to a mere number of 20, out of which all were injured and tired.

"Leo, we can't take it any longer," said Stark, covered in blood of the beasts and his own.

"Tom, is the evacuation completed?" asked Leo, slicing the head of a hellhound lunging at him.

"It's completed, Leo," said Tom.

Leo said, "Ryan, break the ground, open the sewer, let loose the Orizon fumes."

Ryan did as was instructed. He blasted the area outside the people resting place, the walls burst by using the ice so as to not create an explosion, leaving behind the Orizon fumes to rise.

Leo continued,

"Tom, open the hatch. We are sending the soldiers back."

Tom moved to the console of crystals. He moved them, making them shine in many colours, runes dancing in the air. The door started to open—

But suddenly the light of the crystal dimmed, the doors stuck.

"What happened?" asked Stark.

"Leo, the core is depleted."

Despair appeared on all the remaining soldiers.

"Are we dying here after all?" asked an injured soldier.

Leo's eyes tired, his sword almost left his hand. He felt helpless, maybe all hope is lost.

Suddenly, the crystal lit up.

Reed's face appeared, "Leo, the princess woke up," he said.

On the array of knights, the knights were continuously feeding it their mana. The sound of a familiar armour startled the knights.

They all turned and got on their knees.

They faced a 5-foot figure with her crimson hair reaching till her hips. The figure walked down to the centre of the array, took out her sword from her sheath, raised it to the skies. Black clouds gathered as she struck her sword on the ground—lightning struck her sword, powering up the once dead array to its former glory. Wind blew, her crimson hair dancing in it. The once childish apprentice knight has now grown to a Knight Captain, only second to the Demon Stars and the Demon King himself.

In the walls, the pink glow of the crystal was replaced by a deep blood crimson colour.

The beasts retreated back for an instance.

The dark sky illuminated by the core's radiance.

The path underneath the core opened.

"First, move all the diseased into it," commanded Leo.

The guards never more proud of anyone in their life—for many a time they have seen demons abandon fellow demons to save their skin. But today, they saw a demon respecting, honouring warriors, risking his life.

As the beasts started to recover, the guards moved all the dead guards to the ground.

The guards also started to go down to the leylines.

The beasts neared them.

A wyvern dived towards the core—it was reflected by its shield. It went and crashed left to the core where its connection to the mana source existed. It had successfully damaged the leyline to the core, severing the connection.

There were 6 soldiers, Leo and Stark left on the core. The great amount of beasts were gathering.

Tom streamed all this scene in the core room—the whole kingdom seeing Leo.

The doors closed.

The gang surrounded completely by beast hordes as far as their eyes could see. The barrier finally vanished, but the core had residual mana to maintain the inner barrier. They took refuge there.

Tom said,

"Leo, the barrier will last 2 minutes at most."

"Tom, how can we reconnect it?" asked Leo, his body filled with wounds, his throat dry, eyes almost losing all its vitality.

"Leo, the leylines were made of the Withering Wood—a material with no mana, perfect conduction. It can only be activated by using it.

They went extinct centuries ago.

They don't work with any other material."

Tom, his heart heavy, his eyes tearing up, his throat drying up, his voice trembling,

"I am sorry, Leo. I have no solution."

Stark said,

"Don't worry. Soldiers, today we saved all the demons. Not one is dead. If the price is our lives, then be it so. Let's go out fighting—honourably."

The soldiers all screamed,

"Let's gooooo Captain!"

They got ready to charge.

"Stoppp......"

screamed Leo.

"Fools! There is no honour in running towards death. True honour is surviving, living for the one who gave their life for us—to live both for you and your friend. Your life is what gives meaning to the fallen. So don't you dare dishonour them," said Leo.

Stark replies,

"There is no other way, Leo."

"The gates will open. Get ready to run," said Leo.

He took his flaming sword in his hand, inserted a new mana stone. The beasts still banging their body against the inner barrier.

Under the wall, Bane had arrived. He started climbing the wall.

Leo's hands swung his sword, killed the beasts near the barrier, headed towards the broken circuit—killing all the beasts in his way. His sword swings increasingly, his wounds bleeding him dry, his hands trembling but refusing to give up hold on his sword. He moved forward. He reached the circuit.

It was but a short 3 feet from the core—but it felt like forever.

The beasts started to gather towards Leo.

---

What will happen next? What does Leo plan? Do the gang live? Will they survive?

Stay tuned to find out!

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