Chapter 13: Aerial Ambush

Marcus was sleeping soundly in his tent, after another night of sadistic pleasure, when he was woken suddenly by a loud crashing sound, followed by the agonizing screams of his dying men! But that horrific sound was shadowed by what he heard next!

He heard a roar so monstrous, he believed that an ancient beast had awoken from it's deep slumber!

Scrambling out of bed, he ran out of his tent so fast he forgot that he was still naked! But what he saw made him question whether he was still sleeping or not.

He saw an iron demon, that dashed across the battlefield leaving his men as mutilated corpses so grotesque he wondered whether they were even human a few seconds ago!

But that was only the start of his nightmare. Since soon enough thousands of knights riding man eating horses began to attack his helpless soldiers as well. And after that, tens of thousands of powerful martial artists, led by a wraith like man also began to mercilessly butcher them!

Suddenly his right hand man, who was named Titus, came running and panting before him, and asked in a panic "My lord! My lord, our men are being massacred, what do we do?" But Marcus said nothing as he kept staring at the hellish sight before him.

"My lord? MY LORD! MY LORD, PLEASE ANSWER ME!" Titus screamed loudly trying to break Marcus out of his trance. But he didn't respond at all!

So Titus did the only thing he could think of, and punched Marcus as hard as he could in the face!

Breaking out of his trance like state, Marcus didn't bother with the strike Titus gave him, and ordered "Prepare the Gryphon Knights, immediately. This battle is hopeless, we must escape with as little damage as possible!"

"Yes, my lord." Titus quickly saluted and scurried to ready the knights, while Marcus ran inside his tent to wear his armor. As he struggled with his heavy and glamorous breastplate, he thought of the only way to salvage the situation. 'The Eclipse Empire actually sent Hamilcar Seth against us?

Damn it! This war will be hard to be won now! The only thing I can do is to escape with the Gryphon Knights and regroup with the reinforcements, that way we would still have an edge against them in the peace talks.'

After he finished putting on his armor he left his tent and burned it, to make sure that no secret information could be taken by the Eclipse Empire. After that he rode his Gryphon and flew into the air followed by nearly two thousand Gryphon Knights.

Before he escaped, he decided to take a look at the battle field, and scout the enemy forces, and what he saw horrified him. The first thing he noticed was the mercilessness of the Eclipse Empire's soldiers! They spared no one. Everything before them was destroyed with no remorse.

It made his little act of impaling those children look like a harmless prank! And this made him think 'We really woke the sleeping monster this time!'

But he quickly slapped himself to remove those thoughts and said to himself quietly "No, I can't think like this. It's not over yet!

The Luminous Empire shall be the victor of this war, even if the ancient beast, known as the Eclipse Empire woke up!" And then he began to scout the enemy forces, so that he could make appropriate plans for the future. It was then that he heard one of his men shout "My lord.

Wind Blades, Lightning Lances, Water Whips, Stone Bullets, Ice Spears... All kinds of attacks were launched at the unsuspecting Gryphon Knights, causing horrendous casualties to them!

Marcus seeing the sight before him paled! He was looking at thousands of battle mages ready to kill them! Wasting no time he yelled at the top of his lungs "AMBUSH! Retreat!

Run! Run for your lives!" But before they could successfully do so Marcus saw a few battle mages release a signal, and all he could think at that moment was 'What now?!'

As soon as the signal was released thousands of loud thunderous roars filled the battlefield. The time for the Chimera Knights to regain their lost honor had finally arrived! And the first thing they did was to encircle the poor Gryphon Knights. Marcus seeing this loudly said "Damn it!

Damn it! Quickly with me men, we'll fight our way out!" And as he was rallying his men as a last ditch effort to survive and break through the encirclement, he heard something that shattered all his hopes of escape.

"You're not going anywhere Marcus." A powerful and domineering voice echoed across the skies bringing the previously chaotic battle to a complete stop!

Marcus stiffly turning his head, looked up and saw a man riding a large black Chimera, wearing intimidating black armor, and holding a large black lance that gleamed threatingly in the moonlight.

"S-S-S-Sodarus?!" Marcus said stutteringly, fear obvious on his face as he thought 'Hamilcar AND Sodarus?! Oh Gods, please I beg of you to release me from this accursed nightmare!'

"You have been given a great privilege Marcus. Our emperor wishes to speak with you, so I suggest you surrender peacefully." Sodarus said emotionlessly, as he stared at him with a gaze that promised torture and death if he dared reject.

Marcus seeing that he had no chance of escaping anymore, turned to Titus and told him to find a way to escape and deliver the news of what happened here, so that the Luminous Empire could prepare for the inevitable onslaught of the Eclipse Empire.

Before Titus could say anything, Marcus flew up to face Sodarus and said haughtily "I'm afraid I don't have any interest in meeting the son of some prostitute. If he wishes to meet with me, he should kneel and offer his women to me, to show me his sincerity, and maybe then I will consider it!

HAHAHAHA."

Hearing this all the Chimera Knights, and battle mages became furious at the insults that were directed at their great emperor, who brought them this glorious victory. Only Sodarus didn't show an angry expression.

Instead he showed one of dark and twisted amusement, as he sadistically replied "I thank you Marcus. His majesty asked me to bring you to him with as little damage done to you as possible, but now you have given me an excuse to cripple you, before I present you to him!"

Marcus visibly flinched upon hearing this, but before he could say anything else Sodarus was upon him like a starving beast, ruthlessly attacking him, as the rest of the Gryphon Knights were slaughtered around him in a dreadful dance of blood and gore!

Seeing this I smile lightly and say calmly to Abraham "This's over. Send a message to the capital of our victory. And also have the 50,000 men that were on standby begin their march here to reinforce us. This war is just beginning."