Chapter 39: The Sentient Lord

I looked up at the sky. What I saw made my eyes wide as I bare witness a humongous ship that's shaped like a beetle. It was black colored and the sound of its engine can be felt from here. All around them is another batch of ships however, they are far smaller in comparison. They stayed up high in the sky like an armada. The more I look at it the more I tensed. I was not the only one though as I noticed Juha taking a few step backwards from seeing the floating aircrafts.

Witnessing her obviously in shock and fear, I was more than worried for her. I have never seen her like this.

"Juha?"

Hearing my call, it seems that it brought her back from her thoughts. As if a signal had rang through her mind, she unleashed a strong attack that immediately incased both Garka and Horan and deep layers of ice. The ice block is so large that it even covered the two buildings nearby. Looking at their pitiful state, the only thing that made me realize that both of them is still alive is because of the movement of their eyes.

Juha immediately took my hand and dragged me to a random direction. She flew at a high speed that made the surrounding facilities seem like a blur.

"Juha?! Wha-"

"There is no time, my king! You have get out of here!"

"Why?!"

"As of right now, you are still not ready. His strength is far beyond from the likes of the previous sentients you've ever fought. Even I'm no match for him. My King, as of right now, your life is in immediate danger. You need to get out of here as quickly as possible."

"But what about Whity?! What about you?! I can't just leave you here. All of us can make it out of here alive! We just need to figure out how!"

"I'm sorry but as it stands, we can't escape here together. And about Whity...I don't think he can make it. I went to his location as soon as I killed Serbara. The state that he's in...He's barely breathing when I got to him. I'm sure you've already know due to your cameras all around your nest. I'm sorry, my king but we have to leave him."

I looked down in agitation and anger after hearing her statement. She's right and I hate it. When I saw the footage of him laying out in the wrecked facility with blood leaking out of his mouth, I knew that he's in critical condition. His armor have been torn apart and his body had numerous bruises as far as I can tell.

However, that doesn't mean that I'm abandoning him just like that. If there is just even a silver of chance that he can survive, I'll take it. And with my decision made, I stared right at Juha and lay down my order.

"No. We are not leaving him behind. He is my friend, Juha and I refuse to discard him."

Juha is understandably pissed. Her grip on my arm suddenly tightened and I can feel her glare towards me despite the mask covering her face. I met her glare with my own. After a few moments, she finally relented.

"Fine. If that's your wish. What's your plan?"

"Thank you. Now, seeing as none of the ships had landed yet, we can lay low inside a few nearby buildings and approach Whity as stealthy as possible..."

...

As King Jerome and Juha are busy planning their retrieval of their companion, inside the gigantic aircraft, there sit a towering form of a man on an equally gigantic chair. He wore a dark green clothes that is similar to a high ranking military officer. He also has a hat that compliments his clothes that gave him a look of pure power and authority. All around him is a large number of undead that are operating the mechanics of the ship. As he stares towards the screen that showed the state of King Jerome's damaged nest, a man in an outfit similar to Horan and the other two generals walks inside and bowed before him.

"My lord, Garka, Serbara, and Horan have been unable to persuade King Jerome. The ongoing chaos from below was the result of that."

"Hmm. Anything else?"

"My Lord, General Serbara have been found dead on the ruined facility. Her entire body are now nothing but broken shards of ice. Probably caused by Juha."

After that statement, the general immediately got tensed as the man on the chair stood up and stared at him.

"Where is Juha right now?" His deep voice was heard through out the entire room despite him not shouting. All those who heard his voice had visibly tremble in freight. Even the general himself is shaking. Gathering his courage, he was able to answer him with barely enough bravely.

"J-juha is spotted at the north side of the nest. King Jerome is also with her."

"Good, gather the other four generals with you and bring them to me."

"As your will, Sentient Lord."

...

After relaying my plan, we were suddenly alerted by the unknown individual near Juha's back.

"It's been awhile, White Face."

The chilling tone was followed by an attack we were unable to avoid. Both of us was sent to the ground floor with a loud crash. Our bodies can be see buried to the ground underneath the pile of debris. Soon enough, both of us rose up from the ground. I looked at my self and saw that my right arm have been missing. Black blood is slowly pouring out of my severed arm. I looked at Juha and saw that she had suffered her fair share of damage. Two of her wings have been broken and I could see a few missing fingers from her hands. Her mask has half of it missing now. I can now see her mouth except her eyes. It seems that only the lower part is missing. There is also a noticeable line of blood there. So all in all, we look like shit.

Both of us stared at the enemy in front of us. From the looks of it, it's a male undead. He has a long silky black hair and an eyepatch to one of his right eye. He wore clothes that are similar to Horan and Garka.

"Segred."

I heard Juha muttered but I didn't take his eyes off of him. Segred, huh? That must have been this guy's name. A few seconds later, numerous unknown figures had appeared around us. Just looking at the newcomers, I quickly deduced that this guys must be Segred's companions due to their similar clothing. There are total five of them and to make things worse, Horan and Garka also joined into the fray.

"King Jerome, Garka. It would be wise of you both to surrender."

Damn it. Seeing as we're faced with an impossible odds, we had no choice but to comply to their wishes for the time being. Our bodies are too weakened for further combat.

...

Both of us are shoved as we walk towards the descending aircraft. I looked around and saw a wide variety of undead surrounding us. I could see the other generals looking at us from nearby. I stared at Juha and saw her shoulders shaking. Another to note off. From the moment we got captured, I've noticed that she was always shaking like this. It's a bit concerning.

"Juha? Are you alright?"

That seemed to brought her to a stop as she looked towards me. I could see her exposed lips quiver.

"M-my King."

Whatever conversation we're about to do is put to a halt when we a loud sound of foot steps. I looked ahead towards the cause of the noise and what I saw before me made me open my mouth in disbelief. Standing before me is a giant form of a man. He wore clothes that are vastly different from the people surrounding him. But that's not the reason for my reaction. His presence alone had made me nearly loose my footing. I felt like I'm in a room with a being that's out of this world. My knees nearly gave out but I held it in. The other undead nearby had quickly bowed down and so is the generals around us. I stared at him and saw him looking at the shivering Juha.

"Juha."

His voice held no emotion as he speaks to her. Juha flinched when addressed her. Having enough of this, I put myself in front of her and snarled at him. I know that this is just idiotic of me right now but anger sometimes drives me off of logic.

"What do you want from us?"

He still continue to stare at Juha for a moment before finally focusing on me.

"Jerome. From what I gathered, you didn't take my offer. Quite a poor decision you made there and for that, I have no need of you anymore."

He suddenly dashed towards me. I didn't know what happened next but all I could hear is the loud anguish cry of Juha before darkness swallowed me.