Ruler Vol 3 Chapter 10
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Author: Anit666
Editor: Weasalopes
【Sam’s POV】
The arrival of the Demon King was rather apparent for she was the only one coming at us from the opposite direction. The moment this news spread on the battlefield, the soldiers immediately took up their arms and got into a battle stance. The archers behind nocked their arrows, the mages prepared their staff to cast the magic spells at a moment’s notice, the knights brandished their swords and steeled their hearts for the upcoming slaughter. The dragon riders got in a battle ready stance, prepared to move their dragons in the blink of an eye.
The commanders riled up their blood to fight the Commandments, while we, the Hero’s party stood at the front, ready to receive the Demon King. As one might expect, Liera was standing with us.
As expected, the Demon King came upon us in 5 minutes. The dragon floated over us for some time, and then dove straight to the ground a few metres ahead of us. But just before it could hit the ground, it flapped its wings and positioned itself to land gently, so as not to cause any inconvenience to its master.
Clouds of dust rose as the dragon landed, and its claws dug into the ground. The dragon was black in colour, with a beautiful horn adorning its forehead.
Regina got off its back, followed by the five people that were riding with her. She gently caressed the dragon, and it then took off from the ground and started hovering above us, glaring down at the regiment of the dragon riders.
The dragon was obviously much stronger than a normal dragon, and some of the dragons on our side even got intimidated by it. The air was heavy with tension. Everyone was waiting for the first move that would signal the start of this war.
Regina, donned in a crimson red shiny full body armour with only the visor opened, was the first to begin the conversation.
“Hey Samuel, fancy meeting you here.”
I was thinking what she would say, but this is what she started with. So, this is her response, huh.
“Well, I’m here to just settle a small skirmish with a puny demon.”
“With an entire army?”
She asked while making a confused expression. Her acting is quite good, I’ll admit. She might even win the Oscar back on earth.
“They are just here to observe and learn.”
“I see.”
She made a blatant show of understanding while displaying an amicable smile.
“Let’s drop these farces now, I’m pretty bored of them. How about we proceed to the topic at hand: The Holy War?”
Regina smiled, her eyes asking me to continue.
“Let us first start with the standard protocol before we begin this skirmish. I’ll ask you once: surrender, and we’ll let your species live.”
“And what about me and the Commandments?”
“You will be executed, of course. Which might consequently lead the demons to be treated as slaves of mankind, but they’ll live nonetheless.”
Annoyance flashed in her eyes, but she didn’t lose her cool.
“I refuse. In fact, I’ll extend to you a much better offer- I’m not a brute after all. Join me, and I’ll let you and your friends live.”
“What’ll happen to the humans and elves?”
“They’ll be simply annihilated. But you couldn’t care less for that, now, could you?”
Is it that apparent?
Perhaps noticing the surprise in my eyes, as she couldn’t see my face because of the mask I was wearing, she continued.
“You see, I have watched you work, come to understand your motivation. The lives of the soldiers counting on you to win this war don’t even matter to you. You’d in fact kill them yourself if it turned out to be beneficial. All you want is to save your friends.”
An almost accurate character sketch. This was the time when one of my friends would come forward and scream that Regina was lying and knew nothing about me, but thankfully, they knew better. I would be pretty troubled if they fell to such blatant attempts of aggravation. I guess Chloe had grown a lot.
“I’m not sure what you see me as, but I’m pretty sure that I’m not what you are describing me as. I’m a normal fellow, who cares for the people around him.”
Regina simply scoffed at me.
“Well, keeping that aside, I can’t see your army. Don’t tell me you plan to fight with just the people here.”
“That’s of no concern to you.”
She smiled mischievously while answering that. Well, this was not in the scenario I had prepared.
Fuck.
“Anyway, you don’t plan on surrendering.”
She asked me.
“Of course not.”
“I have my commandments with me, you know.”
“I have a Liera on my side.”
For the first time, Regina looked at Liera. She looked at her from head to toe, as if measuring her worth as a soldier.
“Hmph, you also have some good pawns. But I have my demon army with me, one that’ll easily crush yours.”
Making empty threats, is she? For now, almost everything is following the script, save for the absence of her army.
……..
Ok I’ll admit that’s a pretty big issue. What the fuck is she thinking now? According to our script-
Ah well, doesn’t matter. Mundane details can be improvised later.
“I have a Shiggurath.”
My strongest firepower. Now what will you do, Regina?
“What?!”
However, the one who exclaimed in disbelief was Liera.
“Please shut up for a moment, Liera. We’ll discuss this later.”
Liera obediently shut up, partly because she was too shocked at this new revelation and partly because she knew the seriousness of the topic being discussed. But she still glared at me with piercing eyes, as if declaring that she would kill me after all of this is over.
“Is that so?”
Regina playfully grinned like a kid who was waiting for others to find out about the prank she had played.
“I also happen to have a trump card.”
A trump card?
“Bahamut.”
She called someone’s name. The man that was till now standing behind her and acting as if whatever happening here was a pain for him, stepped forward. He had black long hair that reached the middle of his back, his skin was tanned and his eyes were crimson. He looked over all of us for a moment, and his eyes locked with Shiggurath’s. He glared at her, then simply shook his head with a small disappointed sigh.
Shiggurath, on the other hand, seemed shocked beyond what I thought possible. She was trying to say something, but words weren’t coming out of her mouth.
The next instant, a raging tornado suddenly formed around him, almost blowing away all of us. We quickly moved backwards and braced ourselves for what was about to come.
“What the fuck is that?!”
Chloe screamed in horror. Can I scream as well?
The tornado soon touched the sky, and expanded to become humongous. The sky was coloured with black clouds, and lightning crackled and deafening thunder echoed. The soldiers behind me were scared as well. The shivering of their legs caused their armours to rattle, which I could pick up only because more than a 100 thousand soldiers were shivering at once. Well, not all of them, technically speaking, but most of them did.
Soon, a deep thundering roar bellowed from inside the tornado.
“RAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”
The roar drove fear into everyone on the battlefield. Regina standing beside the tornado, who strangely enough was not being affected by it, roared madly in laughter.
“Lay your eyes upon this, Samuel! This, is my trump card! Shall we begin this war now, huh?!”
I, and everyone else for that fact, could hear her voice despite the thunders. Was it magic?
“Bahamut….. ah, I see. No wonder I thought this name seemed familiar.”
I managed to catch Jack’s mumble. I looked at him, and found that for once, he was serious, with annoyance apparent in his eyes. He noticed my gaze and warned me.
“It’s time for us to get serious, Hayden. Or this would be the end of us.”
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