Humanity's Hero Of Despair

The carriage ride is extremely bumpy as we near the Grand Duchy of Pedgas.

Many of our magic knights are on horseback as they prepare for any confrontation. They wear magic armor on with enchanted swords and shields out. There aren't just a few of them. Hundreds flank our carriages on either side. Ivy holds onto my arm.

The bumping is becoming worse.

Leena and Matteo sit across from us as they hold onto the carriage for dear life. Our carriage is located directly behind the carriage in the center of the formation. The carriage in front of us has King Grey and the Emperor inside of it as it remains the safest place to be in case of conflict.

I look out on the right side of our carriage to catch a glimpse of the front of our formation. Zephyr. Since he is the General of the Tarondar Military, he is on horseback leading all the magic knights forward. I send a silent prayer to him as he is in a very dangerous position within the magic knight formation. He is a great leader. Sometimes I forget he has it in his genes.

I look out of our carriage on the left side now. I see my sister leading the other half of the formation on horseback. She wears stunning black armor which is enhanced with dark magic to consume most spells that try to harm her. She has her wand in her hand to prepare for fighting.

We soon see the walls of the Grand Duchy come into view.

As we get closer, we see numerous archers on the walls. Magic archers. I grit my teeth as I pull out my wand and cast a protective shield over us. Even if the carriage itself has magic defenses, we can never be too careful. Turns out I am right.

Arrows of fire and ice rain down upon us from the sky as we approach the main gate of the Grand Duchy. Our magic knights put up their shields as the arrows fly down upon all of us, catching a few of us off guard. Several horses scream as they fall down.

A few magic knights got shot off their horses as flames from the arrows lick the grass.

After losing some more magic knights, we eventually reach the Grand Duchy walls and immediately lay siege. We got partial control on top of the walls.

We start pushing the magic archers of Pedgas back as they easily fall to our swordsmen.

We see the gates of the Grand Duchy explode in flames as King Grey releases his fire magic from his carriage. I look in awe as his fire phoenix causes some magic archers to fly into the air. The phoenix reminds me of Ignis. Like father like son, right?

Our forces enter Pedgas and we come face to face with the Grand Duke's magic knight army. If it was just the Emperor's forces versus the Grand Duke's, it may have been more even. However, Grand Duke Pedgas did not account for King Grey's forces.

Slam!

Our magic knights roar a large battle cry as the clash of steel and spells fill the landscape. I get out of the carriage first and make sure to clear a path so Ivy can get out safely. I become a whirlwind of death as I use both my wands to take out wave after wave of the Pedgas magic knights.

Dark and light magic swirl through the air at deadly speeds which scare many of the magic knights.

Our elite force of magic knights, along with the Emperor, King Grey, and my friends make it to the Pedgas Castle. We force our way inside as the castle guards try to stop us. We eventually make it down to the basement. The basement doors burst open.

Grand Duke Pedgas is sitting in the corner laughing. The entire basement is filled with Eradicator-marked artifacts and things. A dragon symbol could be seen on the Grand Duke's neck. It didn't take long for his own castle guards to stand down to us as they realize how insane he has gotten.

Perhaps they were just waiting for a moment like this.

The elite castle guards tried to still protect the Grand Duke out of pure loyalty, but the Emperor and King Grey easily took care of them. We approach the Grand Duke. Immediately, he is bound in magic chains that he can't even break. He wrestles with it as he tries to use his magic to break free.

He just ends up laughing more like a maniac. This is the true Grand Duke Pedgas.

"We have all the evidence we need from when we took the Elemental Sphere of Earth and now in terms of convicting you to federal prison in any of our nations. You are going to be serving a life sentence for betraying humanity and siding with them. Becoming corrupt by the Eradicators."

Grand Duke Pedgas just laughs in response, which is scarier than simple words.

King Grey tries to interrogate him and the same result occurs. The Emperor orders his magic knights to scout the entire Pedgas Castle for any resources or information that may be useful. The Emperor turns toward me and tells me that we are going to be using the taken-over Pedgas Castle as our home base for a couple of days or less.

"You fools, they are coming."

The Grand Duke says to us with a smirk, which startles all of us. The Emperor and King Grey try to interrogate him more, but it doesn't work. We head back up from the basement as the magic knights take care of things. The fighting above ground has stopped as our forces have overwhelmingly defeated the Pedgas forces just by sheer numbers alone.

All my friends remain safe, except Zephyr, who is alive and fine but is partially injured. The healing mages are making sure he will be alright.

Our forces help gather with each other and heal each other. It takes some time, but eventually all of us have made our home in the Pedgas Castle. The sun looks like it is going to set soon. Our forces are eating dinner in several different rooms within the Pedgas Castle because the meal room isn't big enough. That's a shocker.

Ivy and I finish our meal early. I take her to the rooftop.

Sunsets are beautiful, you know?