Chapter 55 – Lloyd vs. Hertzel

Third person POV

 Back at the village, the Langton soldiers are sadistic about killing the Undead animals. That is, until, a poisoned arrow was shot on one of the arms of the soldiers, piercing through the knight's armor and causing that soldier to scream in pain. His comrades were surprised to see him getting shot by it, and at a distance, Hale was the one who fired the arrow.

 "Gotcha!" she said.

Then, Zeke, Sati, Xerxes, and two cavalry divisions charge toward the distracted and disoriented soldiers, taking them down brutally.

Meanwhile, Zane and his cannon division started to fire their new cannons at the enemies from a hill in close proximity to the village.

Those soldiers were obliterated in just seconds, destroying their metal armor and some of their supply lines and horses.

Some of the Langton soldiers tried to use their metal and wooden shields, but they were useless to the penetrating power of the cannonballs.

 In one scene, when they saw Lloyd being alone on the battlefield, a group of Langton knights charged at him to kill him. But, Lloyd notices that and uses his necromancy to summon the Undead from beneath the ground to grab the group on their feet and legs. It did the trick, and the knights were screaming in terror and pain before they were ripped apart by them.

Upon seeing what Wooda had responded to, Hertzel was shocked to see such an offense. "W-What is this?"

At the same time, Hertzel's party doesn't know what to do in the midst of the chaos. But, prior to the raid, they hatched a plan to ditch Hertzel out because of his arrogant and superior nature and attitude towards them and run away from Langton. So now, they pretended to do nothing and just hid as much as they could. But then, Lloyd found them hiding inside a hut. "Hello there," he greeted them with a dark tone of his voice as his face was masked.

Hertzel's party was terrified of him.

 "W-Who are you?"

 "Please don't hurt us."

 "We mean no harm here."

 "It's okay," Lloyd assured them, "I won't hurt any of you."

The party was stunned at his words, and Lloyd turned to one of his Undead animal soldiers and told him to protect the party from the fight, before leaving to continue on fighting.

His soldier did so and went into the hut, closing the door to protect the party.

 Back at Hertzel, Hertzel was still in shock at Wooda's retaliation attack. One of Langton's soldiers tried to ask him for more backup when he was shot by an arrow in the back of his neck, killing him instantly. Hertzel was horrified by it, and then, Lloyd confronted him.

 "Hi there," he greeted him with the same dark tone of his voice, before readying his sword in combat.

When Hertzel looks at him, he readied his sword in response.

 "Who are you?" he asked while narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

 "I am known as the Necromancer, Hertzel-san."

 "H-How did you know my name?"

 "Of course, I do."

Lloyd then started to approach him. "What you were doing to my country, huh?"

 "We're doing this because it's our way to hunt them." Hertzel scoffed as he used his Fire magic to shroud his sword with flames of magic. "Isn't it obvious?"

 "How offensive and brutal it was," Lloyd retorted back. "This lowland isn't a scattered, disorganized group of tribes anymore…"

Hertzel couldn't believe it.

 "…it's now an official country," Lloyd continued on as he pointed his sword at his own older, half-brother, "and raiding and attacking it without a valid reason is considered an act of war."

Hertzel was upset. "I don't believe it. I never heard of such a country before."

 "Oh?" replied Lloyd back as he shrouded his sword with necromancy magic. "Have you ever heard from Kalelis?"

Hertzel was a bit puzzled. "What?"

 "Kalelis is now my country's trading partner, you know."

Hertzel was even more upset by it and ended the chit-chatting by lunging towards Lloyd with his flame-infused sword. "I'll kill you!"

Lloyd then clashes his sword with Hertzel's, and a fight ensues.

They clashed a few times, displaying their fighting prowess.

Hertzel fires fire magic at Lloyd, but Lloyd managed to block it with his Necromancy Barrier, which was an A-ranked ability.

 "What the…?" Hertzel couldn't believe it.

But Lloyd was careful not to inflict him with too much damage.

So, Hertzel tries to break the barrier with his barrages of fire magic.

It didn't work, and Lloyd retaliated with his Undead Summon.

Then, the deceased Undead animals sprung from the ground beneath the hero and grabbed him in the legs.

Hertzel was terrified and tries to get out, but he couldn't. "Let me go!"

Disabling his magic barrier, Lloyd responded, "Nope, unless you stop this chaotic nonsense."

 "Never! I'll never recognize this country as an existing country!"

Lloyd was even more upset behind his mask.

But then, Zeke came to the scene and punched Hertzel in the face in anger. "Take that!"

The deceased Undead animals let go of Hertzel and went back to the ground.

Hertzel then fell to the ground with a punch on his face.

 "Thanks, Zeke-san," Lloyd said to Zeke.

 "Anytime, master." Zeke bowed a bit.

They then both looked at the arrogant hero, who was getting up from Zeke's attack.

 "You two…" he said to them coldly.

But, Lloyd pointed his sword at him. "Give it up."

 "No, I won't, bastards."

By now, the fight was going to an end, with the Langton soldiers losing to Wooda's army.

As Hertzel gets up, his party came to the scene with their Undead animal soldier escort.

 "Are you going to kill him?"

 "No," Lloyd responded as he puts his sword down, before putting it back in its scabbard. "I won't do that to him."

Zeke nodded.

When he saw his party, Hertzel was upset at them for leaving him in the battle. "You useless sluts! What you guys were doing all this time, huh?"

But Zeke tells him to shut up.

 "Yeah, it wasn't their fault," Lloyd added.

 "Who the hell are you?" Hertzel looked at Lloyd.

 "I'm glad you asked that. That will be…"

Lloyd then took off his mask, revealing himself to his older brother and childhood friends.

Hertzel and his party are very shocked to see that it was him all along.

 "You…"

 "Nate-kun?"

 "Yeah, it's me, guys." Lloyd folded his arms in response.

Hertzel was furious that he was behind the counterattack all along.