2 Prologue 02: The tragedy
9720th year on the Continental calendar since the Arrival.
Standing among the blood and dead bodies, a masked man with a black staff raised his head and looked at the enormous army in front of him.
A helpless smile appeared on his face when he turned around and saw that only a few of his men were still standing. The huge army that he spent years creating and training disappeared several days after the start of the battle. His loyal generals, companions, and his woman all died in this battle. Now, he and several groups of other survivors prepared for the last battle with the enemy force with Griffon flags and banners.
His subordinates continued to fight and blasts, spells, and energy techniques traveled through the battlefield.
However, the outcome was already obvious and only sudden marvel could reverse the situation.
Right now, the man, known as the "Space Lord", the last archmage of the Trade Union was preparing such marvel while his silver staff was glowing and releasing unique undulations in the process.
He hated himself for his mistake. If he didn't fall for the enemy trap, they wouldn't be in such condition right now.
All those people died because of him and his confidence.
And, now he was forced to send one unique and mana-consuming space spell at the enemy one after another if he wanted to reach his goal.
The gold masked man, who was now flying above the enemy army. The golden crown with griffons was on his head and a unique-looking earring was attached to his left ear.
He was the reason for many bad things in the life of the Space Lord, and now Theo wanted to kill him more than ever before.
At the same time as he continued poring the enemy with his arsenal of spells, killing thousand in the process, the enemy continued to deal with survivors and sent one new squad at the famous archmage after another.
The battle was fierce. Spells, ballista-like arrows, unique energy techniques, and last stands happening all over the battlefield were sad, but inevitable things here.
Though Union's forces fought like lions, it wasn't enough and with each new passing moment, imperial forces slowly pushed them back.
Even their morale didn't suffer much because of the presence of their Emperor while Union's forces already knew the outcome.
All of them had only one hope left, their archmage - Space Lord that has already saved the Union several times from the Empire.
So, they were ready to sacrifice themselves for the sake of his survival and easily swallowed certain pills that could restore their battle capabilities to the peak in exchange for the imminent death.
It was the only way they could continue resisting and buy some time for the man they respected and adored.
"Space Lord, the battle is over, Union has lost!" cried one of the generals, approaching the black-masked man, "You should escape!"
The masked man ignored him and just continued to look at the distant figure on the throne who forced him into such a precarious situation.
"Not yet!" cried the masked man, "Though we can't change the outcome for us, we can change the outcome for the Griffon Empire!"
Finishing his speech, he threw his mask away, showing a face covered with many scars to the general and others.
Just a glance at his still beautiful but hate-filled eyes told to the general more than any words, and he recognized that glance.
The glance of the man who was going to die.
Even his terrible scars didn't shock him that much as the sole fact that his commander has already given up.
"I see," said the general, releasing an exhausted sigh, "What will we do then?"
His commander smiled before narrowing his eyes and looking at his enemy.
"I will show him and his army what I, Theodor Freinos, the only survivor of Freinos family, the "Space Lord" learned since the battle for my homeland," said the man, starting to gather as much mana as possible.
His words were filled with hate and desire for vengeance that the general shivered when he heard him. Now, he even wanted to look pitifully at the imperial forces that provoked his always calm commander to such a degree.
"Buy me some time,"
The general nodded before looking at a few surviving squads near to him.
"You heard our commander, for the Union," cried the general, swallowing the certain pill before preparing for the inevitable battle.
At the same time as Theo started his last spell, a man on the golden throne finally lost his calm expression as he looked at the ripples that appeared around the enemy archmage.
"Stop him! Don't let him finish this spell!" cried the man, sending his voice across the long line of his army.
Almost immediately, the long line of the imperial forces moved and riders, knights, scouts, mages, Great knights, monsters, griffon knights, and everyone in the army moved out, preparing their attacks at the figure of the yellow-haired man with a glowing staff.
Their numbers were so big that the earth trembled below them as they moved.
Of course, Theo's forces used everything they had to slow down and stop the enemy, but the imperial forces were too numeric, and they continued to move further and further, devastating the last numbers of Theo's forces.
The general that was standing below the flying Theo sighed before looking at the approaching spells and techniques that aimed at Theo.
He threw a last glance at his people before, gripping his sword and jumping in the air.
"Commander, this is the end for me. It was a nice time. Please, revenge the dead!" said the general, before creating huge energy slashes around himself.
"For the Union!" cried the man, sacrificing his own life, and using everything he had to counter the approaching enemy attacks.
Several moments later, the general disappeared, while his energy slashes moved out at the imperial forces.
*Boom*
*Boom*
*Boom*
*Boom*
His last attacks were so strong that it easily stopped all the imperial forces' attacks along the whole line of the front, stopping them in the process, and giving a short period of time needed for Theo.
Almost immediately, Theo finished preparations, and a huge magic incantation appeared around him.
It was so big that even people thousands of meters away from him could see the incantations.
Theo who has just lost another friend clenched his fist before activating incantations that started glowing and releasing mysterious magic ripples shortly after.
Just the appearance of the big incantations visible magic ripples sent shivers to everyone on the battlefield. All of them knew what usually happened after the appearance of such incantations.
Finishing his last preparations, Theo turned and looked at the last men that survived this long battle before sighing and moving his glance at his staff.
His glance was soft and his arm tenderly touched his artifact.
"Sorry, but I have to do it," said the man, intensifying the incantations by releasing something from the staff.
A moment later, the incantation, increased in size, covering the whole battlefield, and moments later, space storms started appearing tearing everything on its way.
They didn't look at the uniform of the opposing forces and just continued to destroy everything on their way.
The more Theo sent his mana to incantations, the stronger the space storms became, and soon even archmages wouldn't have chances to survive there.
Sending his last bits of mana, Theo smiled before using another source, damaging the staff in the process.
At the same time as he continued to sacrifice his last bits of mana and secret reserves, the imperial forces were melting at the rate visible to the eyes. Just several minutes from the start of his spell was enough to get rid of hundreds of thousands of troops that were on the battlefield.
Even a "Restoration emperor" couldn't do anything, and just watched at his slowly disappearing forces behind the shield created by his throne. He knew that even he wouldn't survive in front of such a frightening spell.
Moving his glance, he quickly noticed that the staff in the hands of the "Space Lord" was dimming with each passing moment while the storms continued to get stronger and stronger. His experience and knowledge were enough for him to realize how his enemy created such an attack.
***
Several hours later, a "Restoration emperor" moved through the devasted battlefield with no corpses or other traits of the battling armies. Everything disappeared, leaving only a vast empty surface for the world.
Approaching his opponent, the emperor noticed that the "Space Lord" was kneeling, trying to stand up, using all the forces he had. However, just a glance was enough to see that he was just shallow of his past self. Even his hair and body began showing 1st traits of aging up before the imminent death.
A "Restoration emperor" approached Theo, preparing his sword to finish with his enemy himself.
"It's a pity that you didn't agree to serve me, I can't even imagine what we could have achieved if you were by my side," said the emperor with a cold and calm expression on his face.
The dying Theo only smiled bitterly at the emperor, ignoring his words.
"Anyway, it's my 1st victory, you know it was quite a shame for the emperor to flee from you in our past battles," said the emperor, furrowing his brows, "You know "Space Lord", your arrogance and confidence in your own forces helped me to catch you in this trap. If only you were more cautious, you wouldn't get caught, and wouldn't exchange your own power for 2nd and 4th imperial armies. I wouldn't even imagine what would have happened today if you were in your peak form."
Finishing his speech, the emperor raised Theo's body with one of his hands.
"You have killed more than a million of my loyal retainers directly or indirectly, but this time the luck was on my side, and the history will remember this day as the day of the end of the Ancient rebellion, the Griffon Empire will officially return their lands to the homeland." said the emperor, adjusting his sword, and piercing through Theo's heart.
Theo had no strength left to struggle against him, and could only make a helpless smile, thinking about his life while the cold sword moved through his body, approaching the heart.
A moment later, the emperor returned his sword before turning south, leaving a corpse of the old man in archmage's robe behind on the battlefield. He had many things to do, and couldn't waste his time here looking at the dead body that had nothing valuable in itself.
As the emperor moved further to the south, he didn't know that a small part of the staff survived the last attack, and was now glowing, gathering its last powers around Theo's body.
