Humanity's Hero Of Despair

Justus comes stumbling into the room, his torn suit stained with blood and smears of dirt.

He is alive, but he doesn't look in great condition.

Since Justus and my sister are alive, that proves the defeat of the Elite Keeper Leader and Elite Keepers.

The sky turns clouds into black over the Tarondar Palace. The war going on down below is so much more than what we experienced up here in our floating fortress. If the academy is like a lion, then the Tarondar Palace is like the jungle itself.

"For those who can continue to fight, please follow me. My Vice-Captain down below relayed a message that they need backup. The last phase of the fight is about to begin. We need everyone who can make it to help us defeat the Eradicator King of Tarondar!" My sister walks around the room with an expression that could kill anything in its way.

She comes back toward me and places her hand on my heart. Suddenly, my body feels lighter with more energy. Did she just restore some of my mana?

"How did you do that?"

"You can do anything that you can imagine, brother. You will understand soon enough. The magic will only respond though if you figure it out yourself," she says to me until my magic is fully restored.

It is time to take back Tarondar from the Eradicators once and for all.

We all follow my sister out of the room. Our footsteps sound like war drums across the now barren battlefield. The students who can fight the other Eradicators in the royal capital follow us. The rest, who are too exhausted or injured, assist each other with bandages and healing.

Forty-five. That is how many of us can assist the HLH down below. It isn't a huge amount of people, but it is better than nothing. Nobody speaks to each other as we near the airfield. Luckily, we find some wind mages who can transport us back to the ground.

We all land safely on the far end of Mistfall, away from Stonelight and away from the violence.

Even from this far, the sounds of screams and fighting are ten times louder than they were up at the academy. Thousands of HLH members are fighting Eradicators in the woods of Mistfall and the buildings of Stonelight. This is an actual war. The fight at Keeper Academy was just a simple battle. My sister leads the group slowly to some location. My feet pick up speed as I catch up to her.

"What do we do now?"

"You see, the palace over there? That is where we go. I will assist the Shadow Squadron in taking out the Keeper King," my sister says, pointing to the barely visible royal palace through the trees of the forest.

"Take the HRC with you and dispatch any other Eradicators around the area of the palace once we get there. First, we have to make it to Stonelight without fighting too much to conserve our energy."

My head nods in response.

The message quickly gets relayed down the ranks of our group. It is ninja time. The surrounding fighting causes many trees to burn with fire and smoke blocking the area. Combined with the mist from Mistfall, the landscape becomes very hard to navigate.

Luckily, we have my sister with us, who knows exactly how to get there.

We silently navigate between various ongoing fights, making no sound with our footsteps. All of us are very cautious about not being caught. We don't want to end up like our friends lying dead on the ground on the floating fortress of Keeper Academy.

Before we knew it, we make it through Mistfall and arrive at Stonelight.

The backdrop of Stonelight contains black smoke and bright orange flames. Darkness and sparks of violence shroud the once blue sky. If you see what is going on in the city, you would never think that a couple of weeks earlier you would go out with a pretty girl to the farmer's market surrounded by cheerful people.

There is nothing cheerful now about it.

As we get closer to the Tarondar Palace, we can hear the fighting getting louder. Every so often, it feels like an actual earthquake is shaking the world. Brilliant purple and yellow light encase the entire palace every few seconds. The power radiating from it is unlike anything I have ever seen before in my life.

We reach the Tarondar Palace gates.

"Once you enter the gates, everyone should split up and support the HLH members in removing the remaining Eradicators who are stationed here. I will go on ahead to assist the Shadow Squadron in taking down the Keeper King. Stick in teams of at least three and stay alive!" she shouts out loud to everyone over the sounds of war.

She turns toward me while holding my wrist.

"Stay alive, Nico. If the fighting isn't over in around ten minutes, join us. For now, help your friends!" she finishes saying while rushing through the entrance. She disappears behind the palace doors without a trace. It is up to Leena, Ivy, Zephyr, Neve, Matteo, the HRC, and me now to make sure nobody interferes with the main fight within the palace.

Zephyr and Matteo quickly spring into action as they find an Eradicator who spots them on the other side of the Palace courtyard. Their deadly spells of flames and wind quickly put the Eradicator at a disadvantage. Before I knew it, they toss and knock out those Eradicators.

Ivy and Neve are helping other HRC members protect themselves by using barriers of ice and earth walls. Leena launches fire spells everywhere at the Eradicators, which sets the courtyard and palace walls ablaze.

Since my mana is still limited, I stick to using very low level spells and assisting others in their fights. My magic amount is enough to use the Murderous Intent spell to make Eradicators fight each other. The sight is gruesome, but the spell remains effective.

We continue fighting like this together as a team, defeating Eradicators one by one. Every now and then, we suffer a loss among the HRC members or one of the HLH members. We are winning the war, but not without casualties. Ivy even gets injured by being slashed by a lightning attack.

Luckily, I manage to flash bang Ivy's attacker and elbow him in the face.

I kicked him in the crotch for good measure.

Unlike the Keeper Principal, these Eradicators are a lot less powerful.

Oh shoot. It has been well over ten minutes.

"I have to go check on my sister!" I shout out loud to everyone as I run into the Tarondar Palace, which is by now looking like it is going to fall at any moment. Shadow Squadron members are fighting other more powerful Eradicators as I run past them. As I pass them, the thought of helping them crosses my mind. My sister is more important, though.

The doors slam against the walls as I charge into the throne room of the Tarondar Palace. The sight I see is of my sister glowing with an intense aura of purple, yellow, blue, red, etc. just like I did in my fight against the Keeper Principal.

The Shadow Squadron members surround my sister protectively. Dead Eradicators lay around the room. The Keeper King is on the floor. My sister raises her wand up to his face.

"Eleventh Affinity Magic, Elemental Retribution!"