15 Ch 14: Ancient Entities (II)

Lucius found only the records of the religion's teachings and history on the first book. The second book focused on their troubles and hardship.

After the religion fought off the rebellion of multiple kingdoms and empires did the new problems emerged. Eight formidable and godly beings were born. A mummified corpse, an undead alchemist, a living shadow, a golem of ice and snow, a vengeful spectre, a spirit of the forest, a king amongst demons, and a ruler of bones.

Lucius had already guessed that the ruler of bones was a skeleton king of the pantheon. He read more and more about the 'Ruler of Bones' and found out that an army followed him. The skeleton left no traces of life on those that were on his path. Only death is left behind its army's trail.

Naturally the religion needed to stop or eradicate the threat. They have hunted its army down and waged war on it. However, the results were shocking. Their crusades of living beings were meaningless against an army of dead soldiers and monsters. The religion had plenty of strong knights, templars, and paladins, however, the 'ruler of bones' need no food, water, and rest. The religion would always lose in a war of attrition. They couldn't launch a full scale attack without risk since the army of the dead was numbered in the millions. Seeing the numbers of their opponent, they chose weaken them by forcing the enemy to a war of attrition. Unfortunately that did not end well. They hoped that their leader, the 'ruler of bones', would feel fatigue from overusing it's mana core. All skeletons have a bead inside them called a 'mana core', this functions as it's heart. Mana is processed inside it to be used as strings by the consciousness of the skeleton to control it's body. For a necromancer, summoning a skeleton and repairing said skeleton from damage and or death would taken them an excess amount of mana. Yet the skeleton king would raise them back to life without being hindered.

At the end, the church only had one other way. They sent their strongest paladin, the sword saint. A sword practitioner who have reached the peak of swordsmanship and achieve the state of 'becoming one with the sword'.

The battle between the 'ruler of bones', Rex Fidelium, and the sword saint, Gladius Patet, had left a mark on the world. However, Gladius had emerged victorious and sent the 'Ruler of Bones' into eternal rest.

Lucius was baffled that the religion had been able to record all this in stone tablets. He wondered if someone planned to record their history and teachings in case of a catastrophe or a calamity that may have erased them. Whatever it may have been, Lucius was eternally grateful to whoever had written and deciphered the history of the religion.

'Rex Fidelium... Was that the skeleton i saw back then? No, it must've been. An army of undead against an army of knights wouldn't have been a common occurrence, right?' Lucius asked himself. He found out that the skeleton, Rex Fidelium, had a connection to his dreams. All he needed now was to find any traces of him or her. The question was, could he find it? He found the two books in a library that had imported them from across the continent beyond the Perlas Ocean. It was only through extremely luck that he found them.

'Finding a needle in a hay stack. Never in a million years would i have thought to be in this type of predicament. This would've been easy if google search existed.' Lucius inwardly complained.

The sun was beginning to set and the carriage was near a city. The coachman had already informed Lucius and Lucia that they would be resting inside the city. It was too dangerous to move in the middle of the night that was miles away a city.

****

Lucius awoke to find a dense fog in front of him. It surprised him to the point of nearly cursing out loud.

"Where... am i?" He question himself.

He needed a landmark in order to identify his location. However, a blood curdling scream was heard. A man in full plate armour was flung across his view through the fog in an insane speed.

'The f-' His thoughts were cut short when a roar of something unnatural entered his ears. A large beast with chunks of flesh missing from it's body strode pass Lucius and headed to the direction of the man that got flung.

It was only then did the fog started to dissipate. Sounds of metal clashing against each other, heavy footsteps, and roars and screams entered his ears. He was in a middle of a war. Skeletons that were armoured and armed were clashing against men in plated armour and swords. Liches were moving their hands and casting their spells which bombarded the battlefield. Large undead creatures such as giants, dragons, and skeletal beings, were fighting off gigantic golems made of an unknown material. Men and women in robes were casting magic and healing the wounded non stop, and two beings were clashing blades on top of a hill.

The battle gruesome. Lucius was petrified to witness war right in front of him. The screams of dying men and the roars of monsters had filled the air with dread and fear. The sight if dead bodies and shattered weapons abd armour had littered the grounds. And Lucius himself had his foot nearly submerged in blood of the fallen knights. An explosion from besides him had woken him up from his petrifies state.

He turned and looked besides him to find a man fall from the explosion. His arm was obliterated yet he picked up his weapon and charged straight towards an undead creature. A skeleton in armoured gazed at him and raised it's sword. The man was ready to block the strike, however, when the skeleton slashed down, the man had no strength left to stop the strike resulting in him being cut in two.

Lucius took a step back with a pale complexion. He had witnessed people dying in front of him, but he had never seen the brutality of war. It was truly a new experience for him. A ghastly shriek came from a ghoul behind Lucius which made him flinch and turn around rapidly. It had launched itself towards the nearest living entity in quick succession.

The more he looked around the more Lucius became confused and terrified. Why was he here? What purpose did his presence have? Beyond his line of sight, where the people in robes stood casting their spell, was a wall of shields. Spearmen stabbed the approaching undead and the knights that had shields were blocking the undead from entering their formation. The people in robes protected them from the liches' bombardment while healing their people and casting magic against the undead. Fear was undoubtedly written in all their face. Their chances of survival was slim and nearly nonexistent yet they fought hard with all their might.

A man from the shield wall had his shield grabbed by a ghoul and pull out of the wall. Those besides him tried to grab him back but was a step too late. The ghouls and skeletons had stabbed, sliced, and ripped him limb from limb. Fortunately the people did not lose any morale. They regret the death of their companion, however, they all must consider their own situation first. Before the gap on the shield wall was breached, a new knight had replaced the old one.

Lucius turned away and tried to run away. However, a flash of light caught his eyes. Two beings were fighting on top of a hill.

'They...' He knew who both of them were. The very first vision he saw upon entering his new world. He stared at them in awe and forgot the gruesome battle behind him.

*Clang*

The 'Ruler of bones' had stood at 2 meters stall with it's greatsword which was 1.5 meters longs and 3 inches wide. He swung it with great speed and momentum that it was hardly believable to think it weighed over 4 kilograms. Its opponent however was not bothered of its unprecedented strength. He merely dodged, parried, or on rare occasions, blocked. Whenever their swords met, a shockwave would be created. The man was smaller than the 'Ruler of Bones' yet his strength was equal to the large skeleton.

Lucius didn't understand what was happening. He was merely captivated by the fight between the 'Ruler of Bones' and 'Sword Saint'. Deep inside him he knew that he wouldn't be able to understand their skills and techniques, however, a small fire inside him began to burn brightly.

"ENOUGH!" The 'Ruler of Bones' Screamed. Its eyes which had a light green flame burning within, began to enlarge. Its body was beginning to become encased in bony plates and its sword was being burned by its green flames.

The 'Sword Saint' paused before brandishing his sword. A pure white light began to shine upon his body before turning itself into a bright golden flame that covered his sword.

"This will be where one us finally dies, Gladius. Are you ready to face death?" The 'Ruler of Bones' questioned Gladius with an arrogant voice.

"My lord will be the one to decide whether i die or live today. Your immortality is futile and meaningless in front of me, Rex. I can severe your root and fate with a single slash." Gladius raised and pointed his sword straight at Rex with an indifferent tone.

Their fight was yet to truly begin. Thier swords, which was covered with their sword auras, began to clash once more.