The Sword and The Shadow

Battle of the Fort (2)

"In the name of the sacred light!" Alissanda yelled with his greatsword, Lunaminous in hand. He let his impetus surge out nonstop and the corpses near him groaned threateningly after sensing the sacred aura he gave out. However, not one of them dared to charge.

In a few short seconds, his body let out an intense glow filled with holy energy. Leguna had complained quite often about his Host of Radiance. In his own words, he said that while that ability would be perfect to use as a magic street lamp, it was too bad it could only be used on days with sunlight.

After activating Host of Radiance, Alissanda transformed into an undying god of war in the eyes of the warrior. He raised Lunaminous up high and roared, parting the sword into two weapons. One of them glowed bright all over and let out a warm and gentle moonlight-white glow. The light it gave off along with Alissanda made it a beacon of light on the battlefield. The other sword looked completely dark like the cloudiest of nights.

This was one of the abilities of Hocke's divine weapon, Lunaminous. Legend went that the alchemist that formed Lunaminous had harnessed the power of moonlight for the process. As the brightest source of light during the night, the moon seemed to have two conflicting qualities. On one hand, it could illuminate the night sky clearly, and on the other, it could hide and blend into the night without giving off any light at all.

As such, Lunaminous could also embody those aspects of the moon. The one held in Alissanda's right hand symbolized the light side of the moon and was called Brilliance of the Moon. The one in his left, on the other hand, was the dark aspect of the moon, called Dark Side of the moon. The two swords weighed the same and were the same size as their main form, Lunaminous. Strictly speaking, they were greatswords, but that was also the hardest part of wielding it. To use the sword to its fullest potential, one had to be able to fight and react quickly enough by wielding one two-handed greatsword in each hand. Currently, there were few warriors in the empire that could achieve that feat.

Alissanda twirled the swords around and charged into the sea of corpses towards a mutant in the rear.

It was almost fifteen meters in height and could be considered gigantic even among the other mutants. As the undead couldn't use magic or impetus, their size was used as a measure for their power. The size of that mutant allowed it to face off against high-order warriors.

A general-class mutant, huh? Alissanda thought.

In the past few months, the humans made their own ranking system for the corpses of the Tide of Death. They were sorted into commoner class, warrior class, captain class, general class and ruler class. Commoner-class corpses were the most commonplace, being reanimated corpses of normal peasants. They moved slowly and clumsily and had little mental activity apart from their hatred for the living. Basically, a brave adult male would be able to take out two to three of them unarmed. But they were terrifying because of their sheer numbers.

Warrior-class corpses, as their name suggests, were reanimated corpses of former warriors that experienced countless battles. Their fighting skills had become an instinct, almost muscle memory, and they were retained to some degree after their deaths. They were far more agile than commoner-class corpses and even had a basic level of thought. A human would require at least 2nd-stratum impetus and some training and skills to take on a warrior-class corpse.

Captain-class corpses referred to mutants around four to five meters in height. While they were slow, their huge size and immense strength were terrifying, not to mention their immense vitality. It would take four to five mid-order warriors to take them out safely.

General-class mutants, on the other hand, were those that could face off against the expert human fighters.

The last class of corpse, the ruler class, was rather rare and could take on saint-realm fighters. There had only been one instance of encountering such a corpse reported. The division that ran into it was almost completely wiped out and according to the survivors, it took the form of a long-extinct being -- a bone dragon.

Alissanda doubted he'd be able to take on an undead creature like the bone dragon if he really ran into one. fortunately, he was merely facing a rather huge general-class mutant undead. He had faced off and defeated at least a dozen of those before.

"Agh!" He jumped into the air and landed onto the gigantic mutant's head. Letting his impetus surge, he caused Brilliance of the Moon to grow exponentially into a gigantic sword of light that was four to five meters in length. He swung the sword horizontally and cut off the head of the monster by the neck. Then, he thrust Dark Side of the Moon into its skin. A few seconds later, the violently struggling corpse seemed to zone out.

He abandoned the dark sword in the corpse and jumped off the corpse into the air, before sending even more impetus of the purest concentration into his sword of light. The necromantic energy the sword of shadow was absorbing seemed to resonate with the light energy in the sword of light, causing the sword of shadow to expand and pierce through the body of the mutant.

"Light-shadow-splitting Slash!" he yelled as he swung Brilliance of the Moon down with all the power he could muster.

The ten-plus-meter giant was bisected in an instance from the cutting of the two swords. The long and sharp extended energy blade of the sword also struck the corpses in the distance, devastating them.

Alissanda landed lightly on the ground and summoned the sword of shadow using its counterpart in his hand. After killing the mutant almost instantly by releasing almost all his energy, even he wouldn't be able to take it despite having Host of Radiance continuously rejuvenating him. He tried to catch a breather, and fortunately, the corpses around him didn't dare to approach due to the sacred aura that surrounded him.

"Wahoo!" a female magus cheered from the walls, "This second prince is far more interesting than that Geoffrey! I wonder how he tastes in bed…"

"Teacher, please pay attention…" There were two blonde girls dressed in the robes of Second Magic Academy. The taller one's face was pale as she stuttered, "W-we… we should fight too."

"Oh, sure, Innie," the magus, Angelista, yawned and said, "I know our mission is to help Alissanda defend Fort Kesta, but I believe there are a few things I have to stress first before we start. Before Annelotte left, she got me to look after you two, Innie and Sasha. Well, that also includes that mix-blood that licks Pyro's stinking fee-- I mean, sings Pyro's praises up there in the tower. So, if you want to live to see your precious Leguna again, make sure to not run around without my permission. There's no winning in this battle and I'll take you away with the transference spell once those meat shields can't take it any longer. I don't want to have any trouble finding you later, so stick close, understood?"

She gave it more thought and added, "Oh, by the way, you other students are free to go wherever you like and fight the undead. I won't stop you, since your lives aren't worth anything anyway. But if any of you wants to escape, just kneel and bark like a dog before licking my shoe. If I'm in a good mood, I might consider taking you away as well."

"Understood, Madam Angelista," Sasha replied, her face pale from the frightening sight before her.

Big Bro Leguna… Innilis began to worry upon hearing about him. She didn't know where he and Annelotte had gone, but she knew they were certainly facing a challenge far more dangerous than she was.

"Alright, that kid Leguna and your Sis Annie will be fine. Let us start work!" Angelista said as she walked along, "Then again, all we have to do is to show face. It's not that we're going to win anyway and most others here are going to die. Not to mention, your poor empire didn't even give me a single copper as payment! The seven houses of Darklight paid me really well, you know! Yet, the amazing Queen Angelista here is working for you lowly humans? I almost forgot I'm a dignified dark elf after spending so much time with you lot!"

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