Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

"So?" I said. "What are you going to do now?" I just spoke frankly. 

More than half of the army was dead and the general was gone. 

This kid was in charge. 

Was he going to take charge and try to attack me? Highly unlikely. 

They could have always run away in the midst of the chaos, which they didn't. 

That meant these people had something else on their minds. 

Or maybe they were just too scared to run?

Highly plausible.

But now came the question on what the hell I was going to do with them.

'Would you like to consume the rest of the army? The mana can be stored and used to fight the emperor.' The spirit, sure was eager. 

I only used this since I had to protect the people below. Not because I wanted to get instantly strong or something. And definitely not because I wanted to cause mass genocide. 

'NO thanks.'

"We, we surrender!" The kid begged at my feet. 

The rest of the soldiers followed suit pretty swiftly. 

Again, very coordinated. 

'Are demons seriously, supposed to be like this?'

I had my doubts. But, after seeing so much, it was hard to imagine these shaking people to be as demonic as I thought they were. 

Then again, humans were also pretty evil. We fought for power, for land and for women. 

We weren't saints either. 

Everyone had their own shit to deal with. 

The stuff I'd witnessed was perhaps just a bad outcome of some terrible circumstance? It was certainly possible. 

But the otherwise was also possible. 

"Do we have facilities to keep four thousand soldiers here?" I asked Neira. 

And these people had to eat too. 

"Not really. That spell of- Yours, you can kill them outright, right?"

The little kid and the soldiers near us shrieked and started shaking even more. Their armors made clattering noises. 

Given the fact that the people below already starved for a good few days in case something went wrong, it was pretty much impossible to keep these people captive. 

Letting them run wild was also a bad option. As who knew what they'd do next. 

"Pretty much, but I don't intend to do that." Oh, wait, "Hey, where was this army headed?"

They looked slightly relieved. 

He looked up. "The battlefront in front of Dorkann my lord."

The soldiers also eased up a bit more. It was almost as though they'd taken for granted that I was going to set them free?

"And where's that?" 

I pulled out a map from my ring and spread it in front of the kid. Prompting him to point. 

As much as he was surprised about the origins of the map, he was more concerned about his life- at least that's what the fidgeting suggested. 

"Here my lord."

He pointed next to Dwaram. A wasteland of sorts, nothing grew there. 

But the place was connected with all three continents. Though there was a rather long river separating Galbatia and Alfeime, it sufficed to say, the river wasn't enough to stop what was about to go down there. 

"How big is the army of the demons and the other races?"

"We are four hundred thousand strong, sir. The enemy is one hundred and thirty combined."

Basically, a battle of over half a million people.

Wait combined? "So, everyone has united? The humans, the dwarves and elves and even the demi-humans?"

"We're not certain about the dwarves but the rest have united under elves, my lord." This guy was all over the place. He kept on shuffling between lord and sir, and he was awfully squirmy. I was definitely glad he wasn't peeing his pants though. 

'Then, won't it be a massive war?'

And if that general guy blew up there, all armies would have suffered heavy casualties. 

It was still shocking that people actually agreed to fight unitedly. 

"Who's leading their armies?"

"The Arch Duchess, lady Lianne of the high elves."

'Wait, Lia?' She was alright?

I didn't know why- okay, I did know why but I was really glad for a change. My heart wasn't beating anymore, but my chest was awfully warm and I could feel my lips curling up, forming a smile. 

But she was leading?

"And when will it begin?"

"Exactly two weeks from now, sir."

"Then that means, the army isn't gathered yet, right?"

"No, sir. But they should be gathered in less than two weeks."

Which meant we still had time before the war. 

"And the emperor, where is he?"

"Back at the capital sir."

"Then who's leading your armies?"

"The five lords, sir. The Monarchs."

Which meant, the emperor would be pretty much defenseless, right now. 

"I see. Makes sense." I grinned. "And I'm assuming there won't be many soldiers at the capital, right now?"

"That is correct." He still shook but looked at me. "Are you really? Are you really Daarc Green, lord of the elves?"

'Why do people keep calling me that?'

"Who am I, is not important right now."

'But why would the emperor start a war and not see it with his own eyes?'

The emperor wanted to have fun.

He wanted the world to burn, so he could have fun. 

Fun.

'Then why…'

Why did he need to start this war when he didn't even bother showing up?

He could have just killed for fun like always.

The guy had tremendous amounts of strength and he could go basically anywhere.

Then why?

'And he took Alisa's core too…'

Judging by that tone of his, it sufficed to say, he was collecting cores?

And now this war….

Something didn't add up. 

The emperor was strong. 

Too strong. And yet, he needed cores. 

He wasn't leading his armies either. 

There was something missing. 

Something I was forgetting. 

Mana. Power. Cores.

Wait!

The darkness! "Hey, what are the mana capacity of a typical soldier compared to a typical villager or a normal guy?"

I asked the question to both the kid and Neira. 

"I suppose the solider would have a few times higher capacity." Neira paused. "We train quite a lot after all."

"Even if one cannot use magic-" The boy started. "The capacity should increase with training."

Then.

The strong would gather at one place- in this war. 

'He wants to consume the world battlefield?'

That was the most logical answer. After all, he was also collecting the cores. So it was totally possible he was collecting huge amounts of mana to do something. 

Maybe the emperor wasn't going to do that. 

Or maybe he was after just that. 

Maybe he had something better- or rather, worse in mind. 

"How far is the battlefield from here?"

"Two weeks. We'd have to cross the north side of the desert."

It'd take two weeks to reach the capital by traveling west. While two weeks to reach the battlefield by traveling north. 

And the war would start in two weeks. 

The timing couldn't be worse. 

And if I happened to be wrong, we'd be traveling for a whole month. 

Damn!

'But you'd be able to save lives.'

Why was a malicious spirit concerned about saving lives?

I seriously started doubting the actual intents of this spirit. But she was right. If I go to the battlefield, a lot of pointless death could be avoided. 

And I couldn't just let go of this army. I couldn't just make them stay captive here. And I certainly couldn't just consume them and call it a day either. 

'In the end, it's your decision.' And the spirit's offhand comments weren't helping. 

The worst thing you could say to an indecisive man is that the decision was his. There was a reason why he was indecisive, okay!

I took a deep breath and revaluated things. 

The emperor started this war. 

The humans and the rest banded together to counter. 

But the emperor was still back in the capital while the monarchs are leading the war. 

"Something just doesn't add up," I said, sweat pouring.

They just stayed quiet. No one really knew what to say. 

If I left now for the capital and found out that the emperor wasn't there, I'd just be wasting time and he'd probably have massacred the army on the battlefield by the time I made a return trip. 

The monarchs weren't easy either, and demons, in general, were much stronger than typical humans. Meaning, this was pretty much a one-sided war. 

While if I left for the battlefield now, then even if the emperor was back in the capital, I'd eventually be able to get to him, while helping the army not lose countless. 

'But would my addition really have that much of an effect?'

Yeah, I was certainly strong right now. I could just use my powers and consume the demons but- but that would make me no different from the emperor and-

I groaned, sighed, and stomped the ground. "Damn it!"

But- a decision had to be made.

And it had to be made right now. 

'Lianne is there.'

Everyone I cared about was dead. 

They died for me. 

And it was possible she was going to die in this war too. 

It was time I made a decision. 'There's no going back.'

No regrets. 

"Alright, guys." I addressed the whole crowd, screaming a bit loudly. "LISTEN UP! WE'RE GOING TO THE BATTLEFIELD JUST LIKE YOU PLANNED! WE'RE MEETING UP WITH THE REST OF THE ARMY!"

"Wait, what?" Neira said, visibly confused. 

The soldiers were also confused. 

"BUT FEAR NOT! WE'RE NOT GOING TO WAR. WE'RE NOT GOING TO KILL AND WE'RE NOT GOING TO BE KILLED. WE'RE GOING TO END THIS AND WE'LL BE VICTORIOUS!" I again smiled. 'The hell am I saying?' "YOU'VE SEEN MY STRENGTH. DO YOU DOUBT ME? DO YOU DOUBT MY POWERS? ANYONE!"

No one said a word.

I wanted to cringe at my own monologue, but oh well. 

"GOOD. WE'RE MARCHING JUST PAST THE AFTERNOON, REST WELL BEFORE THAT."

Meanwhile- "You-" I pointed at the kid. "You're second in charge now. Keep everyone in line till I get back."

I still had some stuff to deal with back in the town. 

"Sir!" He gave me a salute and just accepted it like it was no big deal. 

The fact that these guys were so ready to blindly follow and accept my lead was both troubling and reassuring. 

But the decision was mine and there was no room for regret.