Saying goodbye.

Two years had passed since Ares became Knight of Valtris, he trained every day even though Hidar said that he was the best knight in Eurel Empire. Ares didn't flatter and kept training as long as he breathe, all Valtris's knights were jealous of his talent and despised his hard work. He was famous amongst the knights until they stayed away from him since he became Hidar's favorite knight.

Ares sat down and leaned his sword on the box next to him, he wiped his sweats and stared at the orange sky. That scenery reminded him of the day when the Holy Temple and the newly appointed Saint announced a prophecy. The saint's name was Lazarus Hallewell, he was a priest that made the Eurel Empire win the war.

Lazarus was the only priest that encouraged the people of the Eurel Empire with his visions. Every single one of his visions was in fact true that it was terrifying at first. Because of his ability to foresee the future, the Emperor of the Eurel Empire, Karise Morenai acknowledged him and brought him to the Holy Temple where he spent all his life learning and sharpening his spirituality that ended up making him the Saint.

As he became the Saint, his revelations came more frequently and all of them came true. One that surprised the whole empire was when he said about Alexandria's existence would bring chaos and the fall of the Eurel Empire, that was when they called it a prophecy.

Since the Saint status was vacant for decades, his appearance made the people of the Eurel Empire have high hope for the empire. His status was so high and people called him a divine being, people believed him without questioning the reason why. Ares who had lived dozens of times over and over never saw the fall nor the chaos of the Eurel Empire, he didn't know if it was true or not since in all his past lives Alexandria was killed or dead after that revelation.

Ares was too occupied with the past and the thought of his plan in this life that he just realized it was already nighttime and there was nobody else but him on the training ground.

Ares stood up and grabbed his sword, he looked at the moon and sighed. "Tomorrow is the day already, huh?" Ares said under his breath then walked to the barracks to sleep.

The sounds of footsteps running around the barracks woke Ares up, he immediately get off of his bed and got out of his room. He saw five knights banging on each door to wake everyone up, Ares took a deep breath and went back to his room to prepare.

Ares could hear the knights telling the others to wake up because Khazad summoned all the knights of Valtris. He didn't bother and wore his attire so casually then wore his full plate armor.

A knight banged on his door. "Hey! Wake up! Lord Khazad summoned all the knights to the castle!"

Ares opened the door and the knight was surprised that Ares was already in his armor. "I will head there now," Ares replied and then walked past the knight who looked at him with disbelief.

Ares hurried went to the castle and he saw Hidar was talking with Khazad, they both didn't look so concerned about the situation at all. Khazad then looked at Ares who was running toward them, he smirked as he scoffed then Hidar turned around and looked at Ares.

"He sure is a discipline knight for his age," Khazad said to Hidar.

"Yes, my lord, he's the best knight amongst the knights of the Eurel Empire," Hidar replied proudly.

Ares stood in front of them and bowed his head. "Greetings, my lord, commander Hidar."

Both of them nodded and then a minute later the rest of the knights came and immediately stood in line. The sun wasn't even visible yet and the cold wind struck everyone's bone, they were all so confused about why Khazad and Hidar summoned them early in the morning.

"We don't have time for a small talk, let me tell you what's happening right now on the south of Eurel Empire," Khazad said. "The Laustasia kingdom attacked the Straederham city as we speak, they are in need of our assistance since we are the fast response force that his majesty requested and we are going to the Straederham city as he requested," Khazad continued as he put his hands on his back.

Everyone murmured and felt a bit concerned knowing the Laustasia kingdom attacked the empire. Not because of the attack itself but who was the one who attacked the empire. The Laustasia kingdom was the strongest kingdom that could be compared to Eurel Empire in military aspects. The legend about Laustasia as the birth of heroes was not just a legend because they did have people with extraordinary talents that could be said they were on the same level as Ares.

"Knights!" Hidar shouted. "We are going to depart when the sun is visible so prepare all the necessary things for yourself! We are going to have a very long journey!" Hidar continued. "You're all dismissed!" Hidar said as he looked at all the knights.

Everyone left and got their equipment while Ares was standing there with everything he needed on his back.

Hidar furrowed his forehead and looked at Ares. "You don't have anything to prepare, Ares?" He asked.

"I have everything I need in this bag, commander," Ares replied as he patted the bag.

"You have come prepared? That's amazing," Hidar said.

"For the lord to summon us early in the morning, I have a hunch that it must be related to something emergency. I came prepared because it's better than not bringing anything with me even if it's just nothing." Ares explained.

Both Khazad and Hidar smiled and nodded in agreement.

"My lord..." Ares said as he approached Khazad.

"What is it, Ares?" Khazad stared at him.

"May I see the young lady? I want to say my goodbye to her if by chance I won't be able to come back," Ares replied.

Khazad furrowed his forehead. "You do know what time is it now? She should be sleeping right now, but if you want to then you can go ahead and meet her. You can wake her up, I don't care but you have to come back here as soon as possible." Khazad said.

Ares bowed. "Yes, my lord, thank you."

Ares immediately left and went to the mansion to see Alexandria.

He entered the mansion and it was so quiet since the maids and the servants were asleep. He walked up the stairs and stood in front of Alexandria's room, he quietly opened the door and saw Alexandria was asleep on her bed. Ares quietly walked to her bed and grabbed something from the bag, it was a letter and he put it on the desk next to her bed.

Ares looked at Alexandria for one last time and he decided to leave the room.

"Why are you in my room?" Alexandria asked as she glared at Ares that tried to leave the room quietly.

Ares turned around and looked at Alexandria who glared at him with hatred. "My lady, I will go to war," Ares explained but Alexandria didn't even react to it. "I might not be able to come back, but I will try my best to get back after the war is over," Ares continued.

"What makes you think I would care about your leaving or your life? I hope you die and never come back." Alexandria said as she kept glaring at him with a serious expression.

Ares slightly smiled. "I know, but I promise my lady that I will come back to your side and I will fulfill that promise once I'm back," Ares explained. "I left a letter on the desk, my lady, I hope you want to read it and understand why I'm doing this,' Ares continued as he bowed his head. "I will leave my lady be and I'm sorry for bothering your resting time," Ares said as he kept bowing his head down.

Ares left and closed the door in front of him.

Alexandria stared at the letter on the desk and decided to get up to check the letter. She looked at it for a while and grabbed it to tear it in half but she stopped as soon as she tore it apart halfway. She was so pissed but at the same time, she wanted to see what was written in the letter. She then threw it to the floor and jumped to her bed to calm herself down.

Ares went back to the castle and everyone had gathered, he immediately walked into the line with the others.

"Knight of Valtris! It's time to depart, and once we leave the manor, there's no going back!" Hidar said. "I hope you don't have any unfinished business because we won't be back for a while or we won't be coming back at all." Hidar continued.

Ares and the knights of Valtris nodded with understanding and rode their horses to Straederham city.