Blood-covered sword.

"Man! The day has finally come! We will end this war once and for all!" Khazad said as he rode his horse. "God has sent us a message that we will be victorious! Fear not! Your sacrifice for the empire will not be forgotten, your bravery will lead us to victory!" Khazad said as he lifted his sword. "Children of Eurel Empire, charge!" Khazad yelled as he rode his horse into the battlefield.

All the knights screamed as they raised their weapons and followed Khazad to the battlefield.

The battle lasted for 3 days until the Laustasia's knights decided to retreat to the city because they lost so many lives on the battlefield. Knowing how the Laustasia's knights were respectable people, they won't burn the city and murder the townspeople just because they couldn't win the war, Khazad didn't let the opportunity to slip away, he ordered all the knights to chase them into the city.

The knights of Valtris had no problem with the order that Khazad gave but the royal knights on the other hand were dumbfounded by that order. They were exhausted and had no stamina left to go to another war not to mention they were afraid that Laustasia's knights had prepared traps around the city that could overturn the situation.

Khazad knew how naive and ignorant the prince was and he suggested something to him that made him look at the situation and thought that he could do something that the people would remember him as a brave prince. He walked toward the royal knights who were resting after 3 days of war nonstop.

"My knights! We must stay strong and we cannot let this opportunity slip away!" Siegfried said and copied Khazad's words. "So many knights of Valtris have sacrificed their lives for months! Are you not ashamed as a royal knight to show how little your resolve is? We must use this opportunity to show them that we can do better than them!" he continued and made the knights of Valtris despise him for thinking that they weren't as good as the royal knights.

Since the royal knights despise the knight of Valtris or to be precise the man who led them, they took that words seriously. Ares stood there and looked at Catherina didn't buy the prince's words because it was dirty to see the prince use the things they hate to encourage them. Ares decided to approach Catherina the royal knights looked at him weirdly, he offered his hand to Catherina with a gentle smile on his face.

"Let's end the war, Dame Catherina, we must work together at least until we win the war then we can go our separate ways," Ares said as he opened his hand.

Catherina scoffed and smirked then grabbed Ares's hand without hesitation. "To think I would fall for such a word is unbelievable even for myself," she said as she stood up.

"Was it because of my words, or was it because of me?" Ares asked as he smiled.

"Don't put yourself too high, Ares Trasven, you might fall and hurt yourself," Catherina said while she smiled.

Khazad and Hidar looked at Ares then they lead the knights of Valtris to the city.

Ares rode his horse and followed them from behind leaving the royal knights to prepare.

They entered the city and started to fight the Laustasia's knights that were exhausted from the battle. Even though Khazad and his army were surrounded by enemies, they didn't flatter and showed the enemy how fearless they were enough to affect the enemy's morale.

The battle lasted for a whole day and both sides had lost a lot of their men, but none of them were backing off and kept fighting until their death. The townspeople were hiding underground and prayed to gods and goddesses that the war would end because they were running out of food and had nothing to fill their stomachs.

Ares fought dozens of knights in a dark alleyway and killed all of them without a problem. He looked at the sky and the sun was about to rise, he decide to go to where Lazarus and Siegfried were. It was time for him to proceed with his plan to save Catherina from losing her hand in the battle.

The Laustasia's knights were hiding as they watched Siegfried, Lazarus, and Catherina on the road.

"That's Prince Siegfried and the guy next to him should be the priest, right?" One of the knights asked.

"This is our only chance! If we can kill the prince and that priest, we can consider this war our win!" The other knight said.

They started to think of a plan to kill them both,

They removed their armors and weapons from their body, they pretended to be one of the townspeople and hid their dagger on their back. They then proceed with their plan and ran toward Siegfried.

"Prince Siegfried! Thank you for coming and protecting the city! Our prayers are answered!" The knight said.

Siegfried smiled as he looked down at them on his horse. "Don't be afraid! We will win this war and we will send the enemy back to where they belong!"

The pretending knights were on their knees and praised the prince while Lazarus just watched them with a smile on his face. Catherina who was busy protecting Siegfried from the knights looked back and saw the suspicious townspeople that were on their knees. She saw a glimpse of a dagger on their backs and before she could warn Siegfried, they already made a move but fortunately, both Lazarus and Sigfried managed to dodge them. Unfortunately, the knight stabbed Siegfried's horse and the horse collapsed to the side and made Siegfried hit the ground with the horse on top of his body.

"Prince Siegfried!" Catherina screamed.

Catherina ran toward Siegfried and ignored her surroundings, and suddenly a knight from her left was ready to swing his sword at her hands but Ares appeared out of nowhere and pushed the knight before he could chop off Catherina's hand. The knight managed to scratch Catherina's hand with his sword, Catherina pulled her hands and dropped her sword. Another knight appeared and stabbed Catherina's back but fortunately, her armor protected her enough so the sword didn't make a deep cut into her back.

Ares looked at her and immediately swung his sword at the knight that tried to push his sword deeper into Catherina's back. He saved her at the last second, Catherina looked at Ares with a smile on her face.

"Thank you for saving me," Catherina said.

Ares nodded and immediately ran to save Siegfried and Lazarus since Catherina couldn't do much.

Ares killed three of the knights by stabbing them in the heart, he then looked at Lazarus and pointed at Catherina. "She's wounded, can you take care of her for me?" he asked.

Lazarus looked at Catherina who staggered as she stood up. "Leave it to me, I can treat her wound in the church since it's nearby," he said then ran toward Catherina and carried her on his shoulder.

Ares ran and helped Siegfried free himself from the horse, Siegfried was shaken by the fact he almost died. The royal knights approached him and immediately protected him from the enemy, and since his job was done, Ares went to the church and protect those two from the Laustasia's knights.

After hours of restless battle, the sun rose and the Laustasia's knights decided to retreat and left the city for good. Ares could finally rest and fell on his back as he stared at the dark blue sky after knowing the war is finally over.

Lazarus treated Catherina's wounds on her hand and on her back, they weren't that serious so it was easy for Lazarus to treat them. He then heard the screams and cheers from outside the church, he decided to check what was going on. When he came out of the church he saw Siegfried lift his sword as he looked at the knights in front of him.

"The Eurel Empire will protect all the people who are loyal to her!" Siegfried said and the knights cheered with huge smiles on their faces.

Lazarus felt like he had seen this scenario before, he then looked at the blood-covered sword in Siegfried's hand and it reminded him of the vision he saw. He looked back and realized he was in the church because he had to treat Catherina's wounds. Banners of the Eurel Empire were all around the city and the knights from the Lustasia were all laying on the ground dead. Lazarus was terrified and amazed at the same time that the vision he saw really came true and it gave him chills down his spine.

"What's wrong? You never thought your dreams really came true?" Ares asked as he sat down and leaned on the wall.

Lazarus turned around and saw Ares looking at him with one eye open. "This is..." he said.

"Don't worry, you will get used to it..." Ares said as he stood up and patted Lazarus's shoulder.