Chapter 57 - 13 The War Begins Part 2

"Damn, this place is really fuċkɨnġ cold"

When I had first entered the castle by blowing a hole in the side of the wall I was not expecting to find that every surface in this place was covered in ice. I was currently standing in a hallway surrounded by half a dozen puppets that I had easily cut to pieces seconds ago. I had just entered the castle when they had tried to surround me, sadly for them it only took a few seconds for me to take them all down.

"Why the hell is this place covered in ice anyway?"

I couldn't help but growl in annoyance as I place my hand upon a nearby ice covered wall, as soon as I did this black flames spread from my hands and melted a large section of the ice. However, what I wasn't expecting was that as soon as I decided to remove my hand from the wall something very strange would happen. When my hand left the wall the ice seemed to glow slightly before quickly covering the wall once again but this time it was much thicker then before.

"Okay, yeah this is definitely being caused by some kind of unknown skill. It would seem that this mission is going to be far more interesting then I had previously thought it was going to be" I said out loud as I turned and started walking down the hallway.

I could still hear the sounds of fighting outside, however, most of it was being block by the stone walls and massive amount of magical ice. Also while I was searching around the castle I began to think about the plan that we had come up with for this little invasion of ours. The first part of the plan had gone rather quickly and with out a hitch, we didn't even take a single casualty taking the Junkyard.

After that I had taken charge of the second invasion group that's job it was to take this whole area. As for the first group it was under the command of both Mika and Fuyuko, they were now probably marching towards their mission destination. The other strategists or commanders if you could call them that had taken command of the several different teams that made up the third group, they were currently setting up defenses in key locations on the borders to push back any sort of reinforcements or counterattack.

For my part of this grand plan I had to quickly take this castle, the town and the surrounding areas before then sending some of my forces to reinforce the third group's defensive positions. I will then have to go and help the first group with taking their objective.

As for my battle plan it was rather simple really, I had come up with it after several stupid ideas that were way too complicated for something like this. This was my first time leading an army after all so you can't be surprised that some of my plans were stupid.

I had split my little army that had about two hundred individuals in to two separate teams. The first and largest team made up of all the Golems, Centipedes and most of the living armours would attack the castle head on. The second team that was led by a certain dragon headed individual would go through the underground tunnels and swim up from the sea so that they could attack from the docks.

(I'm just glad that I remembered to hand out a large number of my healing potions beforehand. Thanks to those the numbers of casualties that we will suffer should be kept to a bȧrė minimum)

(Actually now that I think about it I have enough magical and non-magical items in the abyss to equip a somewhat large sized army. Well at least I know that I will have equipment to give to the slaves when we free the-)

"Interesting.... how very, interesting!" My thoughts were suddenly cut off when a strange yet happy male sounding voice spoke from seemingly everywhere.

"Hurry up and have your fun so that we can get this over with already" a second male voice that sounded empty and hollow said.

"Hey! How could you say such a thing with a straight face, after all true entertainment is an art of the greatest measure, it can not be rushed if it is to be perfect. Besides look at the massive party our guest is having for us outside, it would be the greatest insult to her to not enjoy it to the fullest extent"

I didn't know which way the voices were coming from as they seemed to almost echo out of the walls themselves, however, I could now sense a very large presence that was coming from a room not far away from me. Not really having any other options right now I started moving in that direction while listening to the two idiots.

"Oh it seems that our guest has decided to come and visit us, how very delightful. Unfortunately it would seem that some of our more curious underlings wish to meet her before us. Oh what a shame, I was so hoping to meet her soon but it can't be helped now can it" the happy voice said with what sounded like a sad yet amused tone.

(What does he mean by tha-oh) I stopped my thoughts as I turned the corner.

In front of me was a long and wide hallway and at the end of it was a large number of Cultist and Puppets that were all looking directly at me. However, about half way down the hallway was a set of two doors that were surprisingly not covered in ice, also they probably lead to the place were the presence that I was sencing was coming from.

(I could fight them all head on, however, that would take up more time then is really necessary to deal with a group of idiots..... or I could go ahead with plan B) I thought to myself with a some what evil smile as I quickly moved over to the doors in a blink of an eye.

"Have fun you lot!" I yelled as I reached into my cloak and threw something on to the ground in front of them before then quickly stepping through the doors and closing them behind me.

The Cultist and Puppets seemed almost confused and slightly hesitant for a second as they looked at the cute object that was currently looking back at them with small yet wide eyes. Seconds later I heard something that almost made me pity them, I heard several sudden and frantic screams of terror that were suddenly drowned out by a very loud terrifying roar that caused the whole castle to shake.

(Well..... at least Poe is having some fun)

"...WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" The once happy sounding voice yelled in genuine surprise.

"Fuck you that's what" I said as I glanced around the room that I had found myself in.

"Oh your a feisty one, aren't you" the voice said with an amused chuckle.

"And your not the Bishop, are you?" I said because I could sense that this person was far stronger then the Bishop that I had battled previously.

"Errrm, what? Of course I'm not a Bishop, the Bishop that used to be here was killed after failing to capture you"

"Well if that's the case then who are yo-no.... no you know what, I don't care. I don't care who or what you are because in the end it really doesn't matter now does it, after all your going to die soon anyway"

"Haha.... hahahahaHAHAHAHAHA, how very entertaining"

Before I could even fully react several large ice spikes shot out of the ground towards me. Reacting quickly I jumped in to the air with a back flip dodging them.

(Damn it, why did it have to be ice) I cursed internally knowing full well that I probably won't be able to use Flame body here.

"What! No evil monologue? Isn't it every villain's personal wet dream to talk about their evil plan in full length while insulting the hero?" I asked while looking around trying to find my opponent.

"Oh my god your right! How stupid of me, well then let me begin at the star-"

"Stop talking already and kill her" the other voice said sounding slightly annoyed.

"Oh be quiet you. Can you believe that I have to live with that guy, he's so depressing" the happy voice said as more spikes shot up from underneath my feet.

(Crap!)

I was able to once again dodge out of the way but one of the spikes was able to pierce through my leg leaving a large gash. Thankfully it healed but it did make me stumble a little when landing back on my feet. This continued for a while, he would make dozens of ice spikes and I would dodge them while trying to locate him.

(Fine then fuċk it, if his skill allows him to control ice then I'll just have to melt it all and turn it in to steam) I thought as black flames erupted from all over my body and spread across the ground.

"Hahaha, now that's a great fuċkɨnġ idea, let see who has the strongest element shall we"

As he continued to talk the room got colder and colder, also as if it was responding to his growing excitement more and more ice shot out of the ground towards me. Of course said ice was met with an equally large if not larger wall of black flames that grew ever larger the more annoyed I became.

This continued for a while as each side created more of their respected element that they use to push against their enemies side. After some time the room had drastically changed, it now looked far more chaotic then what it used to look like. His side of the room was filled with an absurd amount of ice, also it was so cold that small ice crystals had started to form from the air it's self. My side was the complete and utter opposite of his side of the room, it was filled with a massive black flame that devoured everything it touched and even the air seem to boil around it.

(If this battle continues to keep up like this the whole room will eventually fill up with steam and if that happens it will be even harder for me to find this bloody guy.... wait a minute, could that work?)

Coming to a realisation I quickly activated my Soul sight skill and glanced around the room. It only took me a split second to notice the familiar shape of a soul that was currently hovering inside the ice that covered the far right wall.

"SHIT! That fuċkɨnġ hurt" the voice yelled as the Crimson lightning collided with the wall.

"...Well that's what I would've said if I was actually capable of feeling pain anymore, hahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA"

I watched as the laughing figure stepped out from within side the wall. Their body was strange and eye-catching to say the least, after all it was split right down the middle. The left side was a dark blue that was almost black and the right side was light blue that was very close to being white. Their body looked all most like a porcelain mannequin, however, it had long razor sharp serrated sickle like claws for fingers. Also of note was their face, the left side looked like one of those sad frowning comedy masks while the right side looked like a very happy yet creepy comedy mask.

However, the most eye-catching thing about them was the ice that looked to be almost orbiting around their body. The ice that surrounded them seem to be in a constant state of shifting and changing while rippling like a liquid.

"It's nice to finally meet you in person my dear guest, hahahaha. Let's have a lot of fun together shall we" the right side of their face said without moving their mouth at all, they then smiled even wider to the point that it looked almost painful.

"Just hurry up and kill them already, this little game of yours has been going on long enough" the left side said with a hollow look in it's eye.

"Well..... this just got much more interesting"