Onward We March

"Zoe, come on. We need to go to the meeting." Andrew said kindly with a sad smile on his face. He had been trying to wake his friend up for ten minutes and she didn't seem to budge at all. The knight felt the same as her but he knew that they needed to go if they hoped to see the sun rise tomorrow.

"Nhh... It's been one week already..." The mage muttered while covering her head with her pillow.

"Yes..." Andrew replied while sighing. His friend's face was as terrible as his as deep dark circles ornate their faces. They both struggled to find sleep and live their everyday life since they felt the ominous feeling of dying in the next second. For them, they weren't alive anymore since they gave their lives to someone else.

"I'll get up then..." Zoe grumbled while yawning. She felt even worse than her companion as guilt ravaged her mind at every instant. The feeling of having sold her friends' lives because she was weak and had submitted herself was weighting on her. However, while she didn't want to admit it the advice and exercises that she had received from Jack had already helped her quite a bit during her short training sessions.

She then followed her companion downstairs to join Moringar for the breakfast. The old archer was faring way better than the other two and simply seemed to have accepted his situation. When they had asked him how he did it he simply explained :

"Well... I've gotten used to walk on the thin line separating life and death. Hell, I'm fine with it, anyway we'll all die one day and maybe suddenly no? It doesn't really change anything. I don't like that he has restrained our freedom though but heh, can't do anything 'bout it."

Moringar then shrugged and continued to munch on a slice of black bread with some cheese on it.

"You are awesome, friend. If only I could be like you..." Andrew sighed while chugging down a cup of liquor. Alcohol had been the solution he had found to deal with his anxiety and depression.

"Trust me, you don't want to." The archer replied sourly. His tone held some pain that his friends felt and an uncomfortable silence reigned around them. Zoe then cleared her throat before speaking in order to dispel this uneasiness hanging around them :

"Guys, we'll also have to announce him that Ashley has survived..."

"Oh God I had forgotten about that." Andrew growled before chugging down his second cup. He massaged his temples, trying to make his growing headache a bit less painful.

"How will we... Hum... Present the new?" He then asked while sighing.

"It's not like we had any other choices than being straightforward ya know." Moringar muttered.

"So what? We will go and tell him that this monstrosity he had faith in has been slaughtered by a god damned beastman?" Andrew growled while lowering his head. Their voices were low enough to prevent any uninvited person from hearing their conversation. They hadn't believed it when Richard had told them that Ashley, the one eyed lion, had come back alive with a proof of his monster's extermination.

"Well not really slaughtered... At least he lost his right arm in the process..." Zoe said weakly.

"Yeah, but he still managed to kill it AFTER having lost his arm since he apparently used it as a bait and shield. This means that he's dangerous. Like, really dangerous. Heck I'm sure that this thing would have killed us if we fought it." Andrew retorted before sighing as he accepted his fate. They would have to announce the news like this.

"And this Ashley killed it by baiting it, punching the inside of the Termaragrant's mouth with his arm before cutting it's head in half with his axe... He's more a monster than the thing he killed." Zoe joked cynically. It made her friends grunt dryly as they finished their meal before leaving toward the meeting point.

Laena and Evelyn were already there and training so Andrew's party went toward them while waving. Then, they noticed a black form laying down in the grass near the two girls and saw that it was Jack.

"Hi Laena, hi Evelyn and uh... Hel-hello Jack...?" The knight said while everyone exchanged their salutations. A low growl came from the immortal's throat in response as he rolled around to face his interlocutor.

"Hi..." He muttered in a hoarse voice. Deep black circles colored his face as his tone had gotten quite pale. Small black capillaries coursed on all his body, giving him an otherworldly appearance.

"Wha- what has happened to you?" Zoe asked, surprised and a bit scared by the fact that he seemed to be about to die. She didn't know if they would follow him in the tomb if he did but didn't want to verify at all.

"I'm just... Exhausted. Don't worry... Let's go on the meeting." Jack growled while getting up after some struggles.

Then, they discussed their possibilities and exchanged their information. The immortal's party had been quite surprised to discover that this Ashley was an unexpected threat but they brushed it off quite quickly with the argument that he was still but one man.

However, the menace of the holy knights and the priestesses were real and it forced them to think about many approaches. Jack didn't know about those "gifts" the holy knights were supposed to have but it didn't mean anything good. Divine magic was called like this because it was able to create miracles and things going against the logic of this world.

Assassinations weren't really a good way to go since it would place the whole battalion on alert after having eliminated only a few key targets, rendering the backstab during the main assault nearly useless. Poisoning could be a good idea but again the targets were limited and the risks high. Furthermore, the priestesses were probably able to cure it.

This only left them with the option of striking in the heat of the fight. Then, they would have to choose between an utter extermination which wouldn't leave any witnesses alive or a stealth operation while making themselves be forgotten.

They decided to try to act discretely and if things went south then they would have to make rivers turn red. Jack had also promised them that what he was working on would be enough to create a lot of chaos and casualties in the opponent's ranks.

Unsurprisingly, only Moringar was truly focused on their discussions and plans. This made Jack smiles internally a he felt like he had found a kindred soul. The others were struggling with their own mind as they felt quite bad while actively imagining the slaughter except Evelyn. This was a bittersweet discovery for her teacher as he noticed that the young girl seemed to be motivated but didn't really know anything about battles of this scale.

'Am I turning her into a monster...? Well, I guess yes. She's my pupil after all.' Jack sighed internally.

The meeting continued for a few more dozen minutes before everybody parted again, exhausted mentally for different reasons. For the less motivated this made them realize how close they were from the real deal and for the others they were just tired. Evelyn did her best to understand but had been lost a few times while Moringar felt a headache start after thinking about every possibility. Jack, on the other side, had already a terrible headache so it didn't get any worse.

The undeads he had been creating and controlling were ghouls. These creatures had a particularity that he fully understood thanks to his mana sense : They could eat and digest flesh, turning it into mana to fuel themselves. This allowed him to control a mighty horde without being dried out just because he had to keep them alive.

However, this came with a default : Since their organism still worked and they were standing on the border between death and life they also possessed a consciousness. Unlike skeletons or zombies they still possessed a voracious instinct and their will had to be bonded by Jack's one. It was like he had to always hold the leash which was around their neck, stopping them from rampaging and eating every living being they saw.

This was surprisingly tiring for him even with his iron will.This made him wonder why was it harder than in the past and the only theory which seemed logical was that it relied on his body more than his mind and soul. Compared to his former one which he had honed to perfection his current body looked like a kid's one.

Furthermore, he also had to raise them from fresh corpses at first and had fought against the clock to have a mighty force before the crusade. He had fed them as much as he could during those last days after the meeting and done every preparations possible.

Now was the time to send them in the nature and make them follow the crusade from the next morning.

-

"Have you heard those rumors about this weird hole which appeared in the wall?"

"Oh come on, you know it's a lie."

"No,no. My cousin live near there and saw it today !"

"Tch. That cousin who do lines of rat bone powder in his kitchen every morning? You really trust him?"

"Hey that's mean he's a nice guy !"

"... Who sneeze bricks of disgusting stuff all the time..."

"It's supposed to be a tonic you know, my grandma once sai-"

"You two ! Shut it up now, the holy knights are going to speak !"

All the adventurers were regrouped on the market place where a wooden structure allowed a knight in shiny silvery armor to climb on. Looking at the crowd under him, he nodded before removing his helmet. He seemed to be a giant as his armor was quite massive but his flowing blond long hairs which revealed themselves made the people change their point of view.

He looked more like an angel than a giant as he had an handsome face and silk-like hairs. Behind him were standing Leon and Alikio, the former seemingly quite stressed while the latter seemed bored and annoyed.

'I should have done like Fyorn and blended in the crowd to avoid this...' The priestess thought bitterly.

"First, let me thank you all for coming alongside us in our quest for justice. I am Gabriel, the leader of the holy knights' squad which you will accompany. Behind me are standing Alikio, the high priestess of our Lord Svet and Leon, the apprentice paladin which defeated the heretics who gave out their hideout." His voice was quiet, dignified and yet powerful. The adventurers were quietly listening to him expect two groups of three which were spread through the crowd.

"Today, we will walk toward the evil beings lurking in the darkness to purge them in the mighty light of Svet. Today, we will steel ourselves and become the will of a God. We will become his hand and his sword to dispatch the heretics defiling these holy lands. Today, we will march onward and bath ourselves in His Radiance in order to purify His foes !" Gabriel announced with an inspiring tone.

Apparently, he had indeed managed to inspire the crowd since he incited a mighty collective roar which made the ground vibrate. The adventurers seemed to have been seduced by his charisma and were more than happy to work for Svet. Maybe it allowed them to have a cleaner conscience as they told themselves that they weren't doing this job for the money but for a god or maybe did they simply cheered for Gabriel's speech.

'This... Bad... Fanatics... Mind control...?' Jack's thoughts were fragmented as he pushed his mind to the extreme limit. Listening to the speech while controlling the ghoul had already been an intense effort and unfortunately triggering his mana vision was outside his limits. He could do it but he would maybe loose the control of a few ghouls in the process.

'Not worth... Anyway... THEY. WILL. DIE.' He roared in his mind before turning again his attention toward his army of ghouls. His eyes were empty as he followed the other adventurers toward the city's exit when they finally moved after having listened to some useless instructions. He walked like a zombie, his gaze in the vague and yet a terrifying grin was showing itself on his face.