"General, they are about to break through!" an officer reported in a panicked voice.
"Just focus on the flying ants first," Gareth Brent, the Great General of the Hellan Kingdom, ordered. Although everyone around him was panicking, he alone had a calm expression on his face.
Such was the willpower of the man who stood at the top of the military forces of the Hellan Kingdom. His eyes glanced at the gate that was on the verge of collapse, before shifting his attention to the three-meter long ants that numbered in the thousands.
Several ants had crawled over the fortress walls, causing the defenders to engage them in a life and death battle.
"Archers and Magicians, eliminate the flying insects," Gareth said in a tone that snapped everyone from their panicked daze. "It doesn't matter if they break through the gates."
Gareth unsheathed the sword in his scabbard and raised it high. "For the Glory of the Hellan Kingdom! Kill!"
""Kill!""
The melee fighters, redoubled their efforts as they slayed the ants that were climbing their fortress walls. The archers and magicians no longer hesitated and rained their attacks on the flying ants that were attacking them from the skies.
Five minutes later, a loud explosion reverberated amidst the shouts and cries in the battlefield. The soldiers from the Anaesha Dynasty came storming inside the fortress. The first wave of invaders hadn't even taken twenty steps inside the fortress before all of their heads were separated from their bodies.
Fountains of blood erupted as the beheaded corpses fell down on the ground, painting their surroundings red with their blood.
A man, wearing a black robe, stood at the main entrance of the fortress, holding a silver sword in his hand.
"Welcome to Windsor Fortress," Aramis Bran Caliburn, the Sword Saint of the Hellan Kingdom, said with a smile. "Please, enjoy your stay, because this is the place where you are going to be buried."
Aramis casually waved his sword and the bodies of hundreds of soldiers were split in two. Those who managed to survive the attack screamed in terror as they ran back out of the fortress.
Unfortunately for them, Aramis had no intention of letting them go. He let out another sword strike to end the lives of the fleeting men, however, a powerful blow stopped his attack from reaching his targets.
"Don't you have any shame, Aramis?" A gray-haired man materialized out of thin air and stood facing the Sword Saint of the Hellan Kingdom. "You've broken the unwritten rule. Saints aren't supposed to cut down those below the Mithril Ranks during times of war. Aren't you afraid of the consequences of your actions?"
Aramis chuckled as if what the man told him was a funny joke. He then pointed his sword at the gray-haired man and sneered.
"Consequences? Unwritten rules? Don't make me laugh, Emeric," Aramis said in disdain. "Two Dynasties attacking a single Kingdom, without even a declaration of war, and you tell me about rules?"
Emeric grinned and unsheathed his sword, "You're right. There's no point in talking about rules at this point in time."
Suddenly, the two Sword Saints vanished from where they stood. A resounding clash that sent shockwaves across the battlefield made the invaders, and defenders alike brace themselves from the impact.
"Aren't you afraid that you'd be killing your own men if we fight inside this fortress?" Emeric said after gaining some distance away from his opponent. His right hand, that was holding the sword, felt numb from the initial clash he had with Aramis.
It had been a long time since the two of them had crossed swords and, from his initial probing, Emeric immediately realized that Aramis had increased his cultivation and was already a level stronger than him!
"I'm not afraid," Aramis replied. "The moment the brave men of Hellan stepped inside this fortress, they were all prepared to die. From the lowest soldier, to the Highest General, they will fight to the death to defend our kingdom."
"What about you? Aren't you afraid to die?" Emeric sneered.
Amaris snorted, "I can't die even if I want to."
Aramis once again raised his sword as his eyes glowed blood red. James had given him a nickname, Salamander, not because he hated him, but because Aramis was one pesky opponent that even the Overlord of Lont found annoying.
Aramis took a step forward and immediately appeared four meters away from Emeric. He thrust his sword forward, fearlessly and didn't care about the fact that the other Sword Saint of the Aenasha Dynasty had already snuck up behind him.
Emeric expertly parried the blow and prepared a counterattack. A sneer appeared on his face as he saw the blade of his partner pierce through Aramis' chest, while Emeric's own sword pierced through Aramis' head.
The two Sword Saints exchanged a look and smiled. They knew that Aramis was strong, but if they created the perfect trap for him, even a Sword Saint would die, or at least suffer a serious injury in the process.
Emeric was about to pull his sword out from his opponent's head when his eyes widened in shock.
"Ru-Arkh!" Emeric wasn't able to finish his words before the hand holding his sword was cut off from his body. His comrade didn't fare any better as a silver sword pierced through his chest.
"Y-You! How?!" the Sword Saint that had stabbed Aramis from behind asked as he fell on his knees.
Aramis didn't give him an answer, instead, the silver sword moved like a blur and separated his head from his body. Until the moment of his death, the Sword Saint still didn't realize how Aramis was able to escape their perfectly timed attack that destroyed both of his heart, and brain, at the same time.
Emeric didn't wait to see his partner's demise because he had already retreated from the battlefield. He decisively left the moment his hand was cut off, and focused his attention on his movement technique.
"Too bad, one got away," Aramis sighed as he stepped on the head of the Sword Saint, who had stabbed him in the back, and turned it into meat paste.
He didn't stop there and breathed flames from his mouth to incinerate the dead body under his feet. As he burned the corpse into ashes, the gaping holes in his chest and head slowly regenerated.
A minute later, Aramis was back to his usual self, with the exception of a bloodstain on his forehead, and chest.
Aramis then looked on top of the ramparts where the Great General of the Hellan Kingdom stood. Gareth gave him a brief nod before shifting his attention back to the battlefield.
Both of them had roles to play and the war had just begun. The Anaesha Dynasty had three Sword Saints. One was dead, another had lost his dominant hand, and the third was somewhere else.
Aramis regretted that he wasn't able to dispose of Emeric because the latter had hastily retreated, while using his companion as cannon fodder to buy him some time to escape.
'It's fine, this will give us a little more time,' Aramis thought as he stepped forward.
A bugle horn sounded in the distance and the army of the Anaesha Dynasty made a hasty retreat. The defenders watched them go with hate-filled eyes, but they didn't dare to pursue them.
They knew that their enemies would be back and, when that happened, another grueling battle would take place.
There was a reason why James hated Aramis, and that was not just because the latter had fallen in love with the same woman as him. No, James hated Aramis because he was one of the few people that he couldn't kill within the entirety of the Southern Continent.
Why? It was because the Salamander of the Hellan Kingdom was nearly immortal. Even if one were to turn his body into meat paste, he would still rise and haunt you like a ghost out for vengeance.
Not many people knew this. Their opponents only thought that he had a very strong regenerative ability that made him very hard to kill. That's why Emeric and his partner had targeted his heart and brain at the same time, in order to kill him instantly.
Alas, they didn't know anything about the curse that was placed on Amaris' body.
A curse that was placed on him by the woman he loved. The same woman that James married many years ago. The woman that had brought the two greatest men in the Hellan Kingdom to their knees and made them spill rivers of blood in her name.
She was none other than Erza Anwen Aoife. The undying witch that hailed from the Zelan Dynasty.