Second Arc (His Art of War) - 14. The Dead Forest

Second Arc (His Art of War) – 14. The Dead Forest

After a few hours of travel, they arrived at the Northern border of Euphorion.

Angel swung the reins around his hand and pulled it to stop his horse. Frost and Flare stopped their horses beside him. Then he raised his clenched fist, ordered the troops behind them to stop. The forest was filled with dead trees with black soil and surrounded by an evil atmosphere that was seen not far from them. Everyone called it the Dead Forest since no one ever came out alive after entering the forest.

He got off his horse and walked a few steps forward before stopping and staring at it. He could remember when he passed through the forest after Ilex executed him on a cliff near the Whitedevil Rose field. He walked into the forest while carrying Nightmare in his right hand and his broken Loyalty in his left hand mindlessly. His white uniform was full of blood, and so was his whole body. At that time he was no better than undead, the dark Crystal's power controlled his mind and heart. His body was covered by a thick dark aura. He did not hesitate to kill everything or everyone that got in his way. 'Kill' was the only word that kept repeating in his head. His mind was filled with all his bad memories.

All the monsters that tried to attack him died without being able to touch him. He simply destroyed them with his dark aura, soaking the forest ground with the monsters' blood. After leaving the forest he tried to regain his remaining consciousness, restore his sanity, restore his humanity.

He took a deep breath before extending his hand towards the forest. He closed his eyes as he felt the flow of evil atmosphere in the forest and let the dark crystal inside him absorb it. Slowly the darkness that covered the forest entered him, he could feel the pain pressing his chest and the words 'kill' started replaying in his head as the dark crystal inside him getting stronger and trying to take control of him. The crystal voice resounded in his head.

'Angelus Raizel... Have you decided to take revenge?'

'This has nothing to do with my revenge. I did it for Euphorion! I only did my duty !'

A burst of evil laughter rang out in his head.

'Making your duty an excuse to take revenge? Amazing! Angelus Raizel, you are truly extraordinary!'

'Shut up! It all started because of you! Now shut up!'

A burst of evil laughter returned.

'Remember Angelus Raizel! You have accepted me as a part of you! You and I are the same!'

He ignored the crystal's voice as he concentrated on suppressing the waves of emotions that tried to control him, silencing the dark crystal inside him.

Everyone could only look at him in amazement as the evil atmosphere that covered the forest disappeared, absorbed by the dark crystal in his body. He opened his eyes, his eyes turned piercing cold. He turned around, Frost and Flare noticed a drastic change in him. Even his horse also looked scared and tried to escape when he approached it. Its animal instincts said he was dangerous.

His dark aura was clearly visible around him, the atmosphere around him became cold and frightening. He touched his horse and slowly flowed his dark aura to manipulate it with Devil Puppet spells.

The horse slowly lost consciousness like a puppet who obeyed all his orders and he jumped on it. Frost averted his gaze at Angel.

"Your Majesty, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he answered.

"We must get through this forest before sunset," he continued while kicking his horse side to move forward.

"I understand," Frost answered as he waved his hand forward, ordering the troops behind them to advance.

*Glossary

Devil puppet is a top-level spell used to manipulate people or other animals.