Chapter 127 - 3 Hours till Sunrise

"Good."

The Spirit of Fire: Prominence Alpha said as it moved away from Rynold's left leg. The Spirit's Spirit Fire managed to seal the wound on Rynold's left leg, albeit a little too roughly.

"How can he be so careless?" Lissa wondered as she sat down and put Rynold's head on her lap. It was obvious that the girl had cared for him, much to Leo's dismay.

The Mech Knight, hearing the ridicule that his Master received for risking his life, was a bit upset.

"He's risked a lot to take care of the enemy and, yet, you ridicule him like this?"

"It isn't ridicule, young one," Prominence Alpha, surprisingly, responded. "Your Master had risked his life of his own volition. Therefore, we have no right to ridicule him for his actions as it was of his own choice. We are merely concerned over his condition."

Leo was genuinely surprised.

He couldn't have explained it better himself, but what he didn't expect was that Prominence Alpha was capable of defending someone. Under his impression, the Spirit of Fire could care less about neither him nor Lissa. So, what made Rynold so special?

Now wasn't the time to think about that, though. Leo knew how serious the situation was now that Rynold was out of commission. He knew perfectly well what Rynold's capabilities were. For someone to injure him to this degree was rather unprecedented. And, this was with X around too.

Seeing Leo's rather serious expression, Prominence Alpha could feel the worry coming from the guy.

"He will be fine," Prominence Alpha announced without really specifying to whom, "The Human will just need some rest. His injuries are not anything lethal. He will live."

Leo scoffed at the sound of the Spirit's voice echoing from within the walls of his head. There wasn't much to say apart from that. He didn't know that the message was really meant to comfort him.

"Yeah," Leo nodded as his expression changed to a more worried one, "I'm troubled by what we need to do next. With him out of commission, there's nothing we can do unless we leave him behind... What the hell happened anyway?"

He directed the question towards the Mech Knight that had just now entered the room.

X could barely fit in the door frame without leaving some scuff marks from bumping into it. "Master has fought against a powerful Caster," the Mech Knight responded as he went inside the room. "I only appeared midway through the fight when Master was injured. He left me to fight a young child."

It was a simple analysis of the battle, but it was definitely helpful.

"Wilfred, huh...," Leo nodded as his vision spaced out. The Thunder God Candidate was deep in thought for the first time in a long while. "What sort of magic did he use?" he asked after a brief moment of pause.

"The human child threw sharp rocks at me. A lot of rocks," X responded, oversimplifying everything. "And, when I got close, I suddenly started floating in mid-air. I can't control where I was going too."

It was a brutally simple explanation, but Leo seemed to get the gist of it. Even though he hasn't fought against his own cousin, Leo had experience with numerous types of magic. His experience spoke for himself, essentially.

"That is a problem...," Leo acknowledged the Mech Knight's explanation. "What do we do now, though? Anybody got any ideas?"

The room then became quiet.

Nobody really had any good ideas about what to do moving forward. Leo had experience in combat. Thorough planning had nothing to do in a fight. Even then, his plans often made use of the fact that he was alone. Moving in a group wasn't something he even considered.

The Spirit of Fire: Prominence Alpha was completely silent. It didn't have anything to say about mortal plans and only cared about Rynold's safety.

Lissa, on the other hand, had no experience in anything whatsoever. All the while, X didn't have anything to add. The Mech Knight had gotten used to following the rules of his Master.

"Alright," Leo inevitably broke the silence. He couldn't sit still and wait for a plan to come up out of nowhere. "We wait and defend Rynold until he gets better. Since Wilfred knows that Rynold was able to get out by himself, he might be suspicious of me as well. That is why we wait here."

Leo made a logical, level-headed decision. One that he was sure would give them a higher chance of winning.

Little did he know, though, that Wilfred was going to make his move at dawn.

It was currently a little past 3 a.m.

Would Rynold be able to recover in time for the upcoming battle?

The group collectively decided to bring Rynold down on the Wooden Bed Frame that Rynold had made so the increased recovery rate buff would take effect. Three of them moved to the underground, leaving X behind. The Mech Knight, unfortunately, was too big to fit through the tunnel.

It was the calm before the storm.

Back at the castle...

"Report to the Duke that Wilfred is injured by an unknown assailant! All guards! Check the immediate surroundings and report anything suspicious! Is that understood?!"

"Yes, sir!" the guards shouted in unison.

One of Leo's bodyguards dismissed the lined-up guards after finishing his orders. Normally, he wouldn't have that kind of power. But, seeing as Wilfred has been injured, it became an internal matter.

"Do we still continue the plan?" the other bodyguard asked.

"Yes, we do," the bodyguard that gave the order stood before Wilfred's slow breathing. "Have the army assemble over the hilltop as instructed. I'll watch over Wilfred. It'll take some time for the guards of the castle to report to the Duke, so our timetable is still the same."

"Right," the other bodyguard saluted before leaving.

As the other bodyguard left, the one that stayed behind deeply sighed. Inwardly, he was blaming himself for being incompetent. If he had been with Wilfred a little longer, he would've been able to help Wilfred out during battle.

For a child to be injured to this extent, it was an unnatural sight.

The bodyguard stood silently and stared. With another deep sigh, full of frustration, the guard started to circulate Mana.

Murmuring some chants as the Mana concentrated within the palms of his hands, a magic circle appeared. It let out a low green light as the bodyguard placed his hands gently on the child's body.

As soon as the bodyguard did just that, Wilfred's wounds visibly recovered. The scuff marks on his body were slowly disappearing. The color of Wilfred's face started to return to its original state.

Wilfred has specifically chosen this guy as his bodyguard because he was extremely talented in healing and support magic. It would have been a waste to leave him be in the collective army when he showed talents in supporting others.

The child recovered exponentially. The only thing to do now was to wait for Wilfred to regain consciousness.

The bodyguard stood in silence and looked up. From the room that he was currently in, he could see the battlefield where they had recovered Wilfred's body. The stone pillar was still standing proud. It was a testament to his liege's will and strength.

It was at this moment that the bodyguard had vowed to bring vengeance to whoever did this to Wilfred.

Over a small hilltop, a massive army was assembling. Most of them were soldiers under the Duke's banner. But, in order to fill the ranks, some of them were mercenaries.

From a bird's eye view, the army numbered about two thousand people. They had set up camp there for the night and will attack in just a few hours.

Within the camp, there were some elite soldiers that carried weapons proudly. They were considered elites because they all had access to magic. Spells and skills that increased their power tenfold. From inside one of the tents was the commander of the army. Who, to most people, was addressed differently.

"My Lord," one of the soldiers barged in the tent unannounced, "I bring news from one of Wilfred's bodyguards. Your son has been injured by an unknown assailant. He is currently recovering inside the castle."

"That no-good son of mine," the Duke's tone remained consistent. It showed how much he cared for his only son. "No matter. The plan will still go on. There is nothing that can stop the army."

The Duke casually dismissed the guard that gave the report. Alone in the small tent, the Duke quietly stared at the map of the castle, smiling ominously. He held a small glass orb in his hand that looked rather old. Some would say that it was a relic.

But, the Duke knew the powers of this orb. He knew what it was capable of.

If not for this orb, he wouldn't have started all of this.