In a magical world where the strong devour the weak...
Where powerful kings mix their wine with the blood of weaker kings...
Where the weak serve the strong in exchange for their lives and thrones...
Three kings of weak kingdoms gather...
Bali Kamna, the eighth queen of the Kingdom of Komi, a wind-element knight with a medium magical power, level "54"...
Rikan Floto, the fourth king of the Kingdom of Miraland, guardian warrior of the earth element with a magic power close to medium, level "46"...
Malikor Valdyk, the ninth king of the Kingdom of Eldoria, a water-element mage with a medium magic power, level "51"...
Leading 100 fighters, 15 archers, and only 5 healers. Against a group of 7 bandits and mercenaries whose magical power levels range between 40 and 60.
To the strong kingdoms, they are just a bunch of weak fools, but not in the eyes of these three kingdoms.
The three kings stood in a vast, empty desert field, under the scorching sun, as a desperate tune echoed from the birds soaring above.
The outcome was already known without much thought, yet these three gathered all the strength they had, and here they were, standing before a real threat to their kingdoms, especially Eldoria, which had been reduced to ash, with a people who only supported their failed and submissive king in his decision to die.
Queen Bali raised her sword as a signal to prepare. She looked to the right at Rekan and the healers, then to the left at Malikor, the mages and 10 of the soldiers. She then lowered her sword and cried out in a desperate scream that spread fear instead of courage in the hearts of the soldiers
"Charge!"
The water and wind mages led by Malikor began to prepare fire and water orbs, while the healers under Rekan started chanting healing spells. Meanwhile, the knight Bali charged forward with her horse and 90 fighters directly toward the mercenaries.
Among the mercenaries was a powerful mage named Deli, with a magic level of 60. He use shadow magic, which allowed him to disappear, restrain his enemies' powers, and summon around 30 shadow soldiers at a medium magic level, with varied elements and ranks.
Deli raised his palms high, his eyes glowing purple, and suddenly, 30 humanoid shadows emerged from nowhere and charged toward Bali and her army.
Malikor's group launched the fire and water orbs toward the mercenaries, but they were weak, desperate attacks. Either they missed their targets or were easily deflected by the magical archer among the mercenaries, Yusal, whose magic level was 56. He possessed a type of magical arrow that, when it hits a magical wave, forms a shield that absorbs the energy and then explodes.
On another front, Bali's vanguard clashed with the shadow army. The sounds of swords and the screams of pain rose from her soldiers, though many were healed by the healers behind them, but that didn't stop some from dying.
Bali tried to push through toward the mercenary mages, but the shadow army blocked her path. She retreated slightly, then charged her sword with her magical energy. She swung it at the shadow army, unleashing an invisible wave that knocked some of the shadows to the ground, creating a gap in their lines.
She galloped through it toward the mercenaries. One shadow tried to intercept her, but she decapitated it and continued forward.
Kalfa and Romin, fire-element mercenary mages—one with level 52 and the other 48—launched fireballs at her, aiming to slow her down, but she dodged them easily. As she leapt toward Kalfa to behead him, Yusal fired a magical arrow that split into three and struck her horse, sending her and the horse crashing to the ground away from Kalfa.
As she looked at her horse, it exploded from Yusal's arrows. The sight enraged the knight, causing grains of sand to swirl around her in a circle.
Suddenly, she was stabbed in the stomach with a cursed magical dagger that absorbed all her current magical energy and left her with a permanent curse locking her magic at level 0.
The dagger was pulled out of Bali, who stood in shock, blood spilling from her mouth, then collapsed to the ground bleeding. The attacker revealed himself—it was Deli, using invisibility magic.
One soldier saw Bali's body lying on the ground and screamed, "Bali has fallen! Commander Bali has fallen!" Upon hearing that, panic spread through the rest of the soldiers, and some began retreating toward Floto.
When one fleeing soldier informed Rekan, he was consumed with rage. He bit his finger, and his size, along with his axe, increased until he was the size of a ten-story building—a giant compared to normal humans. Without hesitation, he charged toward Deli, roaring furiously as his axe glinted under the burning sun.
Deli pulled back all of his shadow soldiers and, along with the magical energy he had absorbed from Bali's body, summoned a shadow giant equal in size to Floto.
Malikor watched the scene in horror and disbelief, while the healers gathered behind him after healing the remaining 36 soldiers out of the original 90.
The sand whipped around violently under the stomps of the two giants. Floto screamed, his eyes glowing with rage, as he slammed his axe into the desert ground, causing massive, sharp rocks to erupt and impale the shadow giant, pinning it in place.
Without delay, Floto swung his axe, but the shadow caught it with its hand and punched Floto in the face. Floto staggered from the blow, giving the shadow a chance to shatter the rocky restraints.
Meanwhile, behind the shadow giant, Malikor and the mages and healers reached Bali's bleeding body. Her face was pale, her body cold and weak.
The mercenary mages Kalfa, Romin, Danta, and Clair launched fire and wind-element spells, but Malikor summoned a water barrier to block them as the healers desperately tried to save Bali.
Malikor stepped out from the water shield and faced Romin. Romin launched dancing fire waves at the aged Malikor, who barely dodged them until he tripped.
Romin mocked, "What's wrong, old man Malikor? Hurt your ankle? I'm no healer, but I can stop the pain forever, you know?" as a fireball hovered above his hand.
Malikor looked at him, then suddenly raised his hand like a gun and shot a thin stream of water that pierced Romin's heart and exploded it from within due to the water pressure.
Romin's eyes rolled back, and blood gushed from his mouth, nose, and eyes before he collapsed dead. Kalfa saw it happen, but just as he tried to launch a fireball at Malikor, he was crushed under the foot of the shadow giant still battling Floto.
Malikor felt the ground tremble beneath him. He looked up and found himself between two giants—one raging blindly, the other a cold, emotionless shadow.
He returned to the magical orb and found that the healers had exhausted most of their energy, only managing to slow Bali's bleeding for one minute.
One of the healers said fearfully, "Lady Bali was stabbed with a cursed dagger. This kind of wound can only be treated by natural stitching."
Malikor sighed in despair as he looked at Bali's pale face. Then, with a serious expression, he said, "Take Bali to the capital. My sons are there—they will take care for her. The mages will accompany you in case of aerial attacks, and the remaining soldiers will protect you."
Everyone looked at Malikor in surprise and confusion.
"What about you, Lord Malikor?" asked one of the mages as the earth trembled from the battle outside the water barrier.
Malikor smiled with pride and said, "This battle is mine. This land is my kingdom. Everyone who lives in it is under my protection. I wasn't the king my people wished for, but I hope this will restore some of my honor, protect my family's name, and—most importantly—give peace to my conscience."
A soft cough from Bali interrupted him.
"I will remove the barrier, and you must go. Take the soldiers with you to receive more treatment at the capital. As for my soldiers, they all died—they were on the front lines with Bali," said Malikor, pointing at the soldiers before turning his back and adding with confidence, "Now go. Don't look back."
Floto was launching a barrage of punches at the shadow giant, who crossed its arms defensively after breaking Floto's axe.
Yusal fired explosive magical arrows at Floto's face, one of which struck his eye and exploded, causing him to scream in pain as blood streamed between his fingers.
The shadow giant took the opportunity to kick Floto in the stomach, knocking him down hard and causing a massive tremor. It then grabbed Floto by the hair and began smashing his head into the rocks he had created earlier, making his forehead bleed.
Floto's mind wavered between consciousness and darkness, but he regained control and, with a snap of his fingers, summoned a thick, solid cone of rock from beneath the sand that pierced the shadow giant's stomach and lifted it into the sky.
At that moment, the young female mage among the mercenaries, Yara Tomura—mage of the void and slashes—gathered all her power into a single bright cutting wave and sent it straight toward Floto's giant neck.
But due to the high magical energy, the slash veered off course and instead severed Floto's right arm.
His massive arm fell to the ground, causing a heavy flow of blood to gush from his shoulder like rain, and his screams echoed as he clutched the stump. He weakened, and his size slowly shrank back to normal. He lay on the ground, barely breathing, unconscious.
Malikor watched in shock, then rushed to Floto, removed his robe, and tightly wrapped it around Floto's bleeding shoulder.
He looked up at the enemies, finding them standing at a distance, mocking him—except for Deli, who was missing.
Without hesitation, Malikor fired a high water orb into the sky, causing the clouds to gather and pour down rain. Through the rain, he could spot Deli using invisibility, as the raindrops couldn't pass through him—he was very close.
Malikor immediately summoned a spherical water shield around himself and Floto, chanting, "No entry," which blocked Deli's cursed dagger attack and knocked the weapon from his hand.
Malikor stood, his teeth clenched, eyes piercing through Deli. He pulled a scroll from his pocket, one that made Deli visibly afraid and retreat.
he sighed and opened the scroll. It was written in an ancient language, impervious to water or tearing—it was a forbidden magical scroll.
These scrolls were banned after a global treaty signed by all seven kingdoms five centuries ago. They contain ancient chants that temporarily boost the reader's magic to level 99.
Dantha, Clair, Yara, and Yusal joined the scene, and the three, excluding Yara, began trying to break Malikor's impenetrable shield.
Malikor placed his hand over the scroll, his eyes glowing blue as he recited:
"To every wave comes an end, to every lake suffers its drought, to every cloud threatened by vanishing, to every fire threatened by its enemy, the water is not ignorant, and its wielder knows… knows that it shall erase every previous wave, and shall create another lake upon its mother's grave, and shall anger every innocent cloud to unleash its thunder upon our enemies as water does to the fire's fury… Rain of the End."
As soon as Malikor uttered these words, Deli raised his hand to the sky, casting a purple glow that summoned another shadow giant behind him, which shielded Deli and Yara with its body from the acidic rain that dissolved everything beneath it.
The rest of their comrades screamed as they watched their skin melt and fall like candle wax.
Deli exhaled calmly and said coldly before vanishing with the shadow, "I look forward to meeting your son in the future, brother."
The bodies of Deli's followers turned to piles of desperate bones. The acidic rain ceased. The scroll burned to ash. Malikor fell beside Floto, blood pouring endlessly from every part of his body.
To be continued...