The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

After one month of continuous research, Zaos and the others learned a few things… Apparently, the ability that the demons had to take over other people's bodies was something known… But they lost that ability when the demon god died. Another thing that they learned was the fact that most of the demons only used dark magic, like firing spheres or bolts made of darkness. While the demon god could do that, he had a much more fearsome ability to control the elements freely. Instead of incantations, he made projectiles in all shapes and sizes with his elemental manipulation.

Zaos imagined how useful that ability could be… he could easily make shields and swords out of ice if he could do the same. Nevertheless, over the course of the last month, Zaos gained the trust of Dalyor… to some extent. To the point where he recovered his gear and even was told where Milliendra was… he was in Vezar, very close to Noemi's home. While it was the safest island in the country, Zaos wanted to reunite with Milliendra right at that moment. Even though Drannor was with her, Zaos didn't know if he could fight demons, even with the king's sword. He changed his mind when he heard the power of the weapon.

"That sword can heal the wielder by draining the blood of the enemies?" Zaos asked, visibly surprised.

"He also can enhance his strength by forcefully making his body absorb the extra blood when he is completely healed," Dalyor explained. "So, the more he fights without getting wounded, the stronger he gets."

That was a pretty fearsome ability, perhaps even stronger than Guardian's Heart since it only increased his focus and recovered his mana. Still, both swords worked well, considering their fighting styles. Nevertheless, with that ability, Drannor could face several demons and defeat them. Considering his battle senses, he shouldn't get hit by the bloodthirsty demons.

Now that they knew where Milliendra and the kids were and that they were safe, Zaos asked his spies to look for lesser demons infiltrated in human society. The worst thing that could happen once the war starts is the humans getting stabbed in the back by demons disguised as humans… they also could spread chaos and misinformation to decrease the difficulty even more.

"Zaos… can't we just take all the scrolls with us and then head to where Milliendra is?" Aleni asked.

"We could, but we also would end up alerting others," Zaos said. "After that, it will only be a matter of time before the demons realize where Millie is. Dalyor told me that weird reports are starting to come from the north… soldiers are seeing weird creatures flying there."

"Do you think the demons finally joined the followers of the demon god?" Aleni asked.

"My guess is that some of them were taken by the demons… strong dark emotions are necessary for a vessel to become appropriate for them, and their desire for revenge is more than enough," Zaos said. "Still, something seems off…"

  Zaos thought that all the followers of the demon god could become vessels of the demons. Still, then he recalled Fyran… the old man sure seemed calm regarding the others, and he had no desire for revenge, to the point where he even decided to leave away from their main base. Meanwhile, the others of his tribe became even more thirstier for revenge and fight, was, was another change due to the return of the demon god? Since demons have extra power due to their hatred, maybe the hatred is also what increased the power of the followers of the demon god… there were too many questions answered. That was Zaos wanted to research more, even though he also wanted to see Milliendra again.

"Maybe you should go ahead and look after her," Zaos said. "Who knows if Drannor will be able to keep his sanity if he keeps Milliendra calling me Daddy…"

"Do you think he might be possessed?" Aleni asked.

"I don't think so… those swords must have absorbed a lot of demon blood over the years. Demons must feel awfully close to them," Zaos said. "Still, now that I think about it, Darkaun managed to get hit several times, and aside from the pain caused by the wounds, he didn't look particularly annoyed by the blade itself."

  It would be nice if those two swords had some anti-demon properties, but that would be too much since the demons were only humans taken by dark thoughts and corrupted mana. Regardless, Zaos looked for Dalyor and the others to ask Aleni to go where Milliendra was. Still, then he found the other group looking very troubled.

"What is wrong?" Zaos asked. 

"... We found another mention of the demon god's powers," Dalyor hesitated. "It seems that when the first wielders of the legendary swords finally managed to hold their own against the demon god for the first time, he got enraged and… drained all the energy of everything around him. Even his allies didn't escape, only the wielders of the Legendary weapons… and they saw dozens of thousand corpses around them."

"So, he can drain mana without touching others… that is troublesome," Zaos said. "Still, to think that even his allies would die instantly…"

"That is not everything… he obtained massive power from absorbing the mana of dozens of thousands of people and demons…" Dalyor said. "He used all that power to crush the two heroes. Thanks to their weapons, they survived… but the demon god destroyed the eastern side of the central continent… making it divide into hundreds of islands."

  Zaos frowned when he heard that… doesn't that mean that Vezar has that kind of geography due to a single attack of the demon god? That was insane… with two or three attacks of that level, he probably could destroy the world. While Zaos imagined that, a messenger appeared and then delivered a letter to Dalyor.

"The island… is under attack," Dalyor said.

When Zaos heard that, he bit his lips, but then he realized that the place was under attack and instead had been attacked. Drannor and the guards of the island were fighting the demons, and considering that the letter takes one week to travel that whole distance, he assumed that Drannor still was holding them back.

"Find Nakin, tell him to go back to our base and make everyone prepare for war," Zaos said. "They will March north while we go to Vezar."

"Ok," Aleni said and then disappeared.

Zaos slapped his face to calm down. He had to make the right moves since he couldn't afford to make a mistake now. He only heard where Milliendra was two weeks ago. Even if he had left the capital and headed toward her at that time, he wouldn't have the chance to prevent the attack… but if he had been there, the demons would have had fewer chances of succeeding. That kind of thought wasn't something that he needed right now, but he couldn't help it.

"Deliver the message! The golden spears and the bloody knights are to prepare to leave the capital at sunrise tomorrow," Drian shouted. "The other groups of guards and mercenaries also need to… no, we can't leave the kingdom unprotected, and we can't cross the ocean with so many soldiers. Only those two units will come with us."

"We need to mobilize all our spies and send them to the North," Laiex said. "If they succeed in capturing Milliendra, it is the only place they will hide, and it will be nearly impossible to find them."

Fortunately, Zaos wasn't the only one who had to give orders, so things began to move while he was confused and didn't know what to do. Still, why did things always have to take a terrible turn every single time things started to work well? It seemed almost programmed, and Zaos felt that way since that happened too many times…

"She will be fine, Zaos," Nyana said. "They need her, right? They can't harm her."

"Yes… Zaos said and then took a deep breath," Zaos said. "Still, if something happens like someone close to Milliendra dies… she might blame herself, and maybe she will be possessed. If that happens, then summoning the demon god will be something simple for his followers."

"They sure are resilient… they don't fear death since they experienced it so much," Cohnal said while the group was leaving the library. "Still, their obedience is insane… they died once because of the demon god, after all."

That was true… Considering the many times he talked with the demons, Zaos knew that they had absolute faith in their leader, but they never mentioned that incident. Even so, some of the demons were supposed to feel hesitant since it always could happen again.

"We will leave immediately," Dalyor said. "Nyana, Cohnal, and Melisse will guide the two armies tomorrow morning toward the East. We will make sure to organize everything once we reach the port town for the armies to sail to Vezar."

Weirdly enough, Drian and Laiex didn't even try to stop Dalyor, that was an important situation, and his heart probably wouldn't last for long out of anxiety if he stayed behind and waited for the news. While Dalyor invited them to use his special carriage, Aleni and Zaos used Moody since he could move faster when Zaos enhanced his body. Much to his surprise, though, the carriage could keep up with them… when Zaos asked how Dalyor told to think that it was a magic item that decreased the weight of the entire vehicle.

Along the way, Zaos and the others got so tense that even when they stopped at camp, they didn't talk. Still, when they stopped in some cities and towns, they made sure to pass messages to their bases in order to adjust some things. Dalyor gave the order for the people in Ashiris kingdom to speed up the production of the crystal swords, and Zaos told his mercenaries to increase the stock or poison whole they travel toward the north. The crystal swords and the poison were the best things they could use to decrease the difference in power between demons and ordinary soldiers.

What else could Zaos do? He began to wish that he had developed some magic tool that would show him where Milliendra was at all times. Still, just like Zaos had no idea how that came to mind, he had no idea how to produce such effect… he could only hope that Milliendra and the other kids would endure the attacks for the next three weeks… in the end, the trip was supposed to take four weeks, but since they used magic and magic tools and the best ships were already waiting for them in the port, the duration decreased by half.

Despite that, everyone felt like those days were ten times longer due to the anxiety. Zaos couldn't bring himself to eat anything. Despite that, he forced himself to eat since he couldn't afford to reach the destination in a weakened state. There was always a chance that Drannor still would be protecting Millienda, after all. Unfortunately, when they reached the main island, everyone imagined the worst… the volcano erupted. A good part of the island had been destroyed due to the tremors and the magma. It was hard to believe, at least for normal people, that demons had such power, but Zaos accepted it as a matter of fact. Almost the whole port had been destroyed, but the whole fleet of all the families that lived in there had sunk in the ocean… the demons were smart enough to attack those in order not to deal with pursuers. However, they didn't do that at the time since some of them were still headed toward the Sairus kingdom. Nevertheless, when the ship got close enough, Zaos put Aleni in his arms and then jumped to the ocean and then used Thunder Armor to reach the place where Milliendra was supposed to be.