First Battle

The army assembled rather quickly and within a few moments, they were marching to meet the enemy forces.

Vermeil found herself next to Vance who was leading the charge.

He had already assured her that she would simply be an observer in this battle and that she should use this as an opportunity to get used to real combat.

Despite her body's excellent condition, she felt slightly sick.

She had no idea how she would react to seeing real blood and death for the first time and it was taking everything within her to hold onto her breakfast.

"Enemy ahead!" Vance alerted as he drew his massive sword from his back.

It was then that Vermeil saw these fallen that she'd been hearing so much about.

Leading the opposing army was a giant hairy werewolf covered in inky black fur. It's body was littered with staunch muscles and it stood at a menacing height of around 6'7.

It appeared to be female as the armor it was wearing was rather pronounced around the chest area.

On either side of it were what appeared to be two tiger beastkin, both with unblemished white fur with black stripes.

The army of fallen seemed to be expecting them as the werewolf in front did not show any signs of being unnerved.

"FOR OUR KIN!!"

She roared and ran forward on all fours to meet the human invaders.

Her army was not far behind her, drawing their own weapons and unleashing a proud war cry.

"Stay behind me, Vermeil!" Vance ordered as he held his mighty blade out in front of him.

The human girl immediately obeyed ad she watched in utter fascination as her mentor unleashed the first move of his signature sword art.

"Tidal Blade Art : Whirlpool Tide!"

With a massive downwards swing, Vance sent forth a monstrous swirling tidal wave aimed at the body of the enemy leader.

While the werewolf was briefly surprised, as someone who was also in the venerable realm she would not let one insignificant attack stop her.

With surprisingly nimble movements, she ducked underneath the massive incoming wave and continued her approach forward.

'Pretty fast, huh?' Vance thought.

The werewolf unsheathed her massive black claws and they clashed against Vance's mighty sword.

BANG!

The ground beneath them cracked from the sudden blow exchanged by the two behemoths and Vermeil stumbled backwards from the wind pressure alone.

Vance's men rushed past him and began trading techniques with the fallen warriors.

Soon the once peaceful clearing was abuzz with the sounds of weapons clashing and the air began to fill with a bloody mist.

Everywhere that Vermeil looked bodies were dropping onto the ground and breathing their last.

Contrary to her expectations, she was actually still conscious and had yet to throw up. Her body that was now in the mortal realm was also helping to keep her calm and clearheaded as adrenaline coursed through her blood.

She soon stopped her eyes from wandering all over the battlefield and instead focused them on Vance and the enemy werewolf.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

The saintess of stars was utterly taken aback by what she saw.

Her mentor and the fallen werewolf were exchanging blows at a speed she couldn't even comprehend.

All she could perceive was their insane movement speed and their attacks that were cutting even the wind and earth around them.

But Vermeil noticed that something was off about Vance.

It did not seem like he was trying to kill his opponent, more like he was hoping to tire her out?

Unfortunately, it seemed like the werewolf had caught on to this as well and her bright yellow eyes burned with a powerful rage. "Insignificant human! Are you looking down on me?!"

"What gave me away?" Vance asked as he feigned shock.

"I WILL DINE ON THE MARROW OF YOUR BONES!!" She roared.

She took a giant leap upwards and shot into the air like a cannonball.

"Apostle of Fenris : Death Howl!"

The werewolf opened her fuzzy muzzle wide and unleashed a horrifying howl that caused the ears of all nearby to bleed.

"AWWWOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

A howl imbued with pure malice took the form of a bright red wolf that was snarling at the human below it like it was its greatest enemy.

"Scary.." Vance muttered, yet the smile never left his face as he held up his sword.

Unfortunately it seemed as though this enemy wasn't going to go down easily and he was going to have to be a bit rough.

'I hope I don't kill her on accident, her identity is too high profile for me to simply kill her in the wild like this.'

Vance began to concentrate mana at the tip of his massive sword until a palm sized ball of water formed at the tip.

"Arcane Water : Monsoon."

BOOOOOOMM!

The ball of water exploded and became a geyser that shot clear into the sky and obliterated the werewolf's oncoming attack with ease.

The werewolf queen felt an instinctive sense of danger from the incoming volley of water and she hastily put her furry arms up to defend.

Unfortunately, her effort proved to be moot when the ferocious blast of water slammed into her massive body with the momentum of a freight train.

A yelp of pain escaped from the werewolf's muzzle as her arms immediately felt like they had been broken.

Her body plummeted from the sky and she hit the ground with an audible thud.

When the dust cleared, vance could see that his enemy was not yet down completely and was struggling to get to her feet.

"Guess the rumors about you werewolves are true. You're a lot more sturdy than the average beastmen, aren't you?"

The wolf ground her pointed canines in anger and frustration.

"Princess Keran!"

"Assist the princess!"

"Princess Keran needs our help!"

The fallen army immediately rallied to support their wounded leader but Vance's warriors would capitalize on that momentary distraction.

As Keran watched her comrades and subordinates be cut down right in front of her very eyes, she became filled with an unrelenting regret.

If only she had listened to her mother... then none of these good people would have had to die today.

Vance decided he was ready to call it a day and twirled his blade around before striking Keran on the head with the flat side of the blade.

Her body crumpled up as she fell over unconscious.

"Capture those of high rank! The kingdom will want to hold a public execution for these beasts!" Vance ordered as he placed his foot on top of his defeated enemy.

As his warriors obeyed his command, one lamia mage in the midst of the battle became overwhelmed with fear and terror before she slithered away.

"Don't let her run!"

"Kill that freak!"

"No one gets away!"

As a few of the men left to chase after the fleeing lamia, Vermeil finally approached Vance who was standing triumphantly over his foe without even a drop of sweat on his brow.

When he saw her approaching, he could not resist the urge to gloat just a bit."So what'd you think? I was pretty cool, huh?"

Vermeil stared open mouthed at her mentor.

Only now did she realize she could not even fathom his level of power.

Vermeil smiled in defeat as she finally admitted how impressed she was. "Yea you were pretty... cool..."

The saintess' words gradually trailed off as she stared at the beast on the ground.

What was formerly a large werewolf slowly reverted into a beautiful young girl with long black hair and two furry ears on top of her head.

Her fair and perfect skin could not be hidden even by the mud that was splashed all over her face.

But what stunned Vermeil the most was how human this seemingly young girl looked.

Not only that, everywhere around the battlefield the same thing was happening. The fallen were slowly reverting from their bestial forms and becoming more and more human in appearance.

'What... is this?'