Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

There were no guards around, so it didn't take much effort to go up. 

The few that were getting up, were too frightened to try to put up a fight. 

Though the stairs themselves were still a drag.

Climbing down was always easy, but climbing up wasn't. 

When we got to the top though, things happened. 

I did expect something similar but I didn't think it'd be this bad. 

That being, there was a small army of sorts here. 

"The lord and his men…" Neira mumbled as she turned back. "We should use the sewers and-"

Yeah, we just came out of that smelly hell-hole, I definitely wasn't going to go down another one. 

I was definitely content with just getting rid of this army than to go through the sewers. 

I too, had standards, okay!

"So basically, the lord and all his men are here?"

"Yes, but-"

I gave her mother back to her and casually walked forward. 

Ah, it was good to smell the fresh air! 

I wasn't breathing though.

It was a small army, maybe two-three hundred people?

There was a crowd behind them and judging by the executioners in the background, they were probably here to publicly behead Neira's mother. 

I guess it was all about the timing. 

There were knights, archers, and even mages mixed in. I didn't underestimate them. But they were no match for me. 

And I certainly didn't want to go into the sewers. 

"You there! Bow you, imbecile. Don't you see you're in front of your lord!" One of the men shouted. 

The lord- guy was large- like hippo-sized large with a small head. He was in a chariot and about eight men were holding the chariot up: nude men. 

"Unfortunately, I'm not from around here."

But the question did remain, what was a lord doing here with his full army just to behead one woman….

"Half breed," The Lord spoke. "I permit you to stand before me." His voice was deep, the head though, almost made me want to chuckle. 

Permit me?

Really?

"How noble."

He snorted. "You are an adventurer, correct? I will give you ten times, nay, one hundred times the amount they promised you if you give up now and come join my army. We'll invade and loot the cities of men and you'll dine in their blood."

Loot the cities of men with a mere three hundred men?

Really?

What was he smoking?

"A very generous offer." I smiled. 

Neira's face turned slightly dark as she looked down. 

Meanwhile, the lord's face brightened. "It's nice to see that you possess such good intellect."

"Yes, very nice."

I sheathed my sword. 

I could hear a lot of chuckles coming from the crowd. There was also plenty of typical demons just behind the army. I guess they all came here to see the fun execution. 'Then I better show them a fun time?'

They were probably going to betray me and kill me later on. And even if they weren't, this deal- yeah, I wasn't that type. 

There was a crossbow and arrows in my ring. At the time, I had a terrible time with it since I only had one arm. 

But now. 

I pulled out the crossbow and some arrows in an instant, and shot. 

I was fast, too fast, so fast they didn't have time to do anything. 

Thud!

An ear fell on the ground, followed by a splash of blood. The lord's blood. 

He held his head, looked at his blood, unable to believe what just happened. And screamed. "Kill HIM!"

I had to give him some credit too. The guy didn't scream or cry in pain. He was just plain angry and he wanted me dead. 

I grinned. "Just stay here, I'll deal with them."

"Are you sure!?"

"Plenty."

My crossbow wasn't necessary anymore, so I just switched to the new sword. The crossbow was just for getting my point across them. 

A warning. 

This sword was kind of blunt, but with just a bit of Imbuition, it cut through everything like butter. Okay, maybe not that nice, but still. 

"What are you doing, kill him already. Mages!" The lord was kind of just struggling to give out orders. Some healers were healing him.

Fireballs, water balls, jolts of lighting, and all that were headed my way. 

I mostly dodged them. ""Enshrined embellishment of yonder commands thou 'oh heathen! Suppress!"" 

The few spells that were coming this way shrank. 

A bit of my mana depleted. 

Looks like I could shrink the spells with my current level of mastery. 

But that was good enough-for now.

'But this won't be enough in the future.' 

'Focus!'

Just because I was dealing with amateurs didn't mean I could let my guard down. 

My main target was the lord, so I just sped towards him. 

The few soldiers that stood in my way were now on the ground, rolling around. 

Almost everyone just kept their distance. 

Arrows every now and then came my way, but this army was far too inorganized to be actually called an army. 

And somehow, it felt like they didn't want to attack me. 

"Capture the girl!" The lord commanded. 

Some soldiers were going after the girl and her mother. Neira could defend herself but- but I'd promised. 

Instead of running towards them, I shot a holy ball. The soldiers were blinded for a second. 'Time for you to show up. Encase everything in darkness.'

"As you command!" The spirit manifested and darkness descended, blinding everyone. 

The darkness covered this whole area and engulfed everything: not quite damaging anyone. 

I'd actually spoken with the spirit before about what it could do. 

This was just one of the things. 

Since the soldiers were blinded with light, just plain darkness rendered them immobile. And it was good enough for Neira to defend themselves. 

Now. 

I dodged. 

I fought. 

I reached. 

The men holding the lord's chariot tried to defend but-

All the nude men were on the ground, and the lord's head was next to my sword. It happened in an instant. 

I was fast. Drinking blood yesterday was had made my physical capabilities shoot through the roof. And with the sun blocked, I could move much more freely too. 

Meaning, I was too fast for these people to respond. 

The darkness cleared. 

"Now, I want you to be obedient." My sword gently pressed against his neck, not cutting through. "Otherwise-" I grinned. 

He sweated, breathed rapidly. "Lay down your weapons.." He was out of breath but his speech was still flawless.