Despair

*Clank* *Squelch* *Clank*

The Bone Army continued its long march towards Reis Village. The group was nearly to the long awaited destination with little time left.

Jyron stood at the front of the army with Teron next to him. He had done his best to keep Balion's existance a secret. Balion could very well be his saving grace if anything unexpected is to occur.

Jyron's reasoning was he had the threat of The Necromancer and any human warriors too powerful for him to handle.

His knowledge doesn't extend to the power levels of everyone he meets. It's best to be cautious unnecessarily than fatally careless.

'Finally!' Jyron was ecstatic to see the tree line.

He had been hungry to test his power en masse ever since he first stared using Bone Spear.

"Form a circle around the village and cut away any escapees. After five minutes march on the town. Teron, with me." With all the time in the word Jyron had dominated every undead he could. With his conservative approach to the forest he had lost no skeletons and planned to continue his streak.

"Forward!" With Jyron's command the Skeletal Troop marched on the unfortunate village.

Jyron along with Teron and two skeletons marched on the front gate.

Every step towards the village sealed the fate of the village even more. With each second Jyron went unnoticed was another second the humans lost to prepare.

Suddenly Jyron became a shadow as dark as pure darkness.

He moved as fast as a horse moving full speed and quickly found a shadow to tuck away in.

The village itself was poorly defended. On the opposite side of the forest farmland reigned supreme. There were massive, impenetrable stone walls but wooden logs positioned to maybe keep out the wind.

'Pathetic. Who would build a town so poorly defended this close to the undead?' Jyron was happy that his job would be easier but was at the same time disappointed by the humans arrogance.

It didn't take long for a loud horn to blow.

"It's the undead! An attack from the undead!" A young man screamed as loud as his throat allowed.

An arrogant looking young man with black hair approached the wall. He wore armour that has clearly been through some combat. This man was no novice.

"Worry not! The undead are simple creatures! They at most have one sentient undead. Even that single undead would be poorly equipped."

The twelve soldiers present at the front wall all regained some level of confidence in the mans words.

It would take a keen eye to notice the trembling in the young mans hand.

Despite his fear, his little trick worked. With renewed confidence the soldiers shouted a war chant.

"Hurrah!" Only nine of soldiers joined in while three others said a prayer.

"Oh goddess Clementine! Goddess of life and death, please help us rest these defiled souls and return them to your judgement!" One many muttered under his breath with a righteous light in his eyes. The other two prayed to any god who would listen.

Jyron moved about and made his way to the back gate: the only other way out of the village.

Soldiers amalgamated at the gate.

'Go to the back gate.' Jyron sent a mental command to his undead. Because of his role as lord of them, he could send mental commands to them.

Through experimentation during the long march to Rais, Jyron learned that using a mental command causes a strain on his conscious. Perhaps because he is weak, mental commands cause pain to assault Jyron's head.

Saying a command on the other hand, causes no mental strain. Which is why Jyron prefers to use commands aloud.

'Let's begin.' Jyron didn't wait any longer before spreading despair.

Jyron decided he would start by attacking the front gate rather than the back. The back gate already had a surplus of skeletons so Jyron had no need to go help.

He didn't want to lose Teron even though he was certain of his ability. Well, At least hit ability to escape.

'Bone spear!' Jyron focused on the magic and began to use the spell. A black and sickly green light was summoned at Jyron's hand. He grasped the air and began pulling. A spear formed in his hand that came to an astounding meter and a half.

With inhuman force, Jyron shot the spear straight at one of the unlucky guardsmen.

"Ahh..." the yelp was silent. The spear was lodged into the man's back and coming through his stomach. All the air in his lungs was pushed out in one stab of the bone spear. The man quickly fell, and with him so did his comrades confidence.

"A mage!" One guard yelled, taking all the attention from the now dead body to Jyron.

"Seven of you stay, you four four follow me!" The valiant and courages man who spoke was the same who first inspired courage in the soldiers.

The men turned and ran towards me.

'Bone spear!' 'Bone spear' Jyron launched projectile after projectile to no avail.

'Death bolt.' Jyron had a plan. The four men circled Jyron and warily stared at the black ball forming in his hand.

Jyron ran towards one of the swordsman. Due to Jyron being a spell caster the men separated instead of staying clumped together.

The other three men ran towards Jyron but it was too late.

The man swung his sword with great force. Unfortunately, Jyron caught the sword in his hand.

A crack appeared where the sword hit, but due to the angle it hit, little damage was done.

Jyron shoved his hand into the man's arm.

"Ahh!" The man began screaming as his skin began to rot under his armour. A disgusting odor began to waft and the rot soon spread from the arm up to the shoulder.

Jyron leapt away from the man just as one of the swordsman got to him.

One of soldiers charged forward, seeing no spell he thought it was an opportune time.

Jyron transformed into shadow and the man ran through him.

Jyron became real again behind the man and quickly grabbed him by the head.

One of the swordsman hit Jyron, mocking a rib out.

Jyron squeezed down on the mans head.

"Agh! Help me!" The man screamed but soon his skull was crushed by the skeletons unbelievable strength.

"You fucker!" The remaining two soldiers charged forth.

Jyron quickly turned into a shadow once more and created distance between him and the men.

'Conjure skeleton!' The ground infront of Jyron turned grey. A skeleton raised its hand from the dirt and crawled out.

As the skeleton was crawling out one of the men charged Jyron.

"You bastard!" The man swung down with great force.

The other one wasn't far behind him.

Jyron punched the blade to re-direct it. His fist shattered.

'Fuck! Hurry up.' Jyron looked backed to his skeleton to see it in combat with the other swordsman. The man who had dark hair.

'Bone spear!' Seeing how his Skeleton wouldn't be able to help him, Jyron summoned another spear to fight.

The man slashed left and right, but Jyron evaded.

"I'll kill you!" The man was furious. Jyron decided to use this.

"Your comrades are disgusted by you! I slaughtered them and here you are! Failing to kill a simple skeleton! Hahaha your pathetic." The man got even more upset by this.

"Ahhh!" He yelled out before rushing Jyron once more.

Jyron waited for the man to strike. When the sword came he simply stepped out of the way and let the mana force work against him. The man fell forward and Jyron simply stabbed him.

The spear went through the sides of the man, causing him to vomit and collapse.

"God…" the dark haired man looked on in agony at his dead comrade.

The skeleton Jyron summoned was a couple of bones.

The man slowly walked towards Jyron in a stance that gave away his skill.

'This man is no novice with the sword.' Jyron was immediately wary of the warrior.

The man walked forward and quickly began his downpour of sword strikes. Jyron had summoned another bone spear and attempted to defend. But Jyron was a mage, not a warrior.

'This is bad…' the bone spear broke, and the sword came through and smashed Jyron in the chest, shattering his ribs.

Jyron plummeted to the floor.

"Disgusting undead! I'll send you back to the grave for your transgressions. May the gods save you!" The dark haired man raised his sword and fired downwards. Before the man could reach Jyron a pale white hand popped out of his stomach.

Surprise was the first emotion that appeared on his face, then anger, and finally regret.

The sword fell from his hands and onto Jyron.

The hand left the mana stomach. The man fell and a hunched over Balion could be seen.

"My lord." Balion immediatly offered a hand to his master.

"Good job Balion. You can eat any corpses you want. Set the bones in a pile for me to raise."

Jyron summons Balion forth when he first thought things might go wrong.

"Yes my lord." A gluttonous look appeared on Balion's face as he began licking his blood-covered hand.

'Skeletal restoration.' A purple light began to shine, slowly building back the bone that was lost.

[System Message.]

"Oh?" Jyron was suprised by a sudden message from the system.