Deon was a former paladin who was raised to the status of a bishop for his unwavering faith in the gods. He was the only bishop that was allowed to wear armor and walk through the central church with his holy sword. Like the black scriptures, he wore dark armor, the only difference being his had a golden cross on his chest armor and outline. He was still relatively young, in his late twenties, but he was already battle-hardened after taking part in multiple subjugations and occasional wars with the barbarians and non-believers. Today, he faced his greatest trial yet, the war against the rising demon threat. On his white horse, he was surrounded by one hundred black scriptures and three hundred white scriptures.

On this day, he was not alone. The empire army was seven hundred strong with three sword masters. The allied kingdom sent five hundred soldiers with two sword masters. They combined to create the biggest army in written history of one thousand six hundred. These monsters did not stand a chance.

“Bishop Deon, they are asking for you.” Deon looked down at one of the clergies and nodded. He dismounted and made his way as they all made a path for him. After walking for some time, he was finally at the very back where the tents were set up. He made his way to the biggest one as he pulled back the flaps and entered. Inside, seven people in different colored armors were staring at a map laid out on the table.

“Bishop Deon, it is good to have you here; we wanted your thoughts on the upcoming attack.”

“Of course, General Boniface, what do you need?” Deon joined them and stared at the map.

“The scout that managed to come back alive said that they have built a wall covering the entire area.”

“They are not the stupid monsters you are used to,” Deon spoke as he turned to Boniface, another sword master from the empire.

“My mages and siege weapons can easily destroy the walls.” A husky voice could be heard as Deon turned towards the man with rough hair. He was from the Kingdom of Altemis, who were part of the coalition and known for their mages.

“I agree, this might not be an issue, though we need to be careful of the demons Azazel and Adeline. They are both very strong, though they may not be a match for six sword masters.” A smoother voice spoke. He was a young adviser for King Edward Valentine from the Kingdom of Valentine.

“We still need to remain cautious. We might win, but I prefer minimal losses.” A firm voice countered. He was from the Kingdom of Angelo from the coalition. Everyone nodded to that. Deon scanned the seven figures in front of them, with one of them in the dark corner just watching. That man was none other than the emperor’s trusted adviser.

“You mentioned that Bishop Florence would be attacking from behind. Do you think he will be successful?” Boniface raised his head.

“He’s a mere distraction, so I doubt he will do anything of note.” Deon’s answer was blunt.

“I see.” Boniface answered, but a loud horn pierced their ears as they all ran outside, thinking it was an attack.

“I, Queen Melora of Credoa, seek an audience with one of your representatives.” Melora’s voice could be heard as the group stared at each other.

“I heard whispers, but it seems Melora has defected to the monsters’ side,” Deon spoke as he spat out to the side in disgust.

“I will go and see what she wants; it better be a formal surrender. She must answer for her crimes,” Boniface spoke with a quiet anger as he reached for the nearest horse.

“I will join you. As a representative from the holy kingdom, I too want to know the reason for such a betrayal,” Deon spoke as he approached Boniface, who was on top of the horse.

“Fine, but I will be the one to talk.” Boniface agreed as Deon mounted the horse. With a shout, the army departed, and they both raced down the opening. In no time, they were at the entrance leading to the Iron Wall.

At the large gates, Melora could be seen wearing a black and red dress with her purple cape, sitting drinking some tea, free of care, with an empty seat across her. This sight infuriated Boniface, who knew of what she did. Deon misunderstood the anger as they dismounted and angrily marched towards her.

“What do you want, you wench?” Boniface did not waste time with the insults.

“That is not the type of language a knight should be using. Take a seat.” Melora spoke as she pointed to the chair. Boniface reluctantly sat as Deon stood behind him with one hand on his holy sword, the one on his chest where his necklace resided, which was an artifact.

“Speak, what do you want?”

“I just want to avoid the inevitable and unnecessary bloodbath.”

“Then return the iron wall and turn yourself in for your crimes.”

“Will you turn yourselves in for using undead on my people?” Melora spoke as she took a sip of her tea. Deon’s eyes darted to Boniface after hearing the allegations.

“You think I will fall for such allegations? Look at yourself; you now have horns and fangs. You are no different from the monsters.”

“Do believe me, I am really trying to save lives,” Melora spoke once more. Deon followed her every movement as he felt something was amiss.

“You are wasting our time. We will not entertain anything short of a full surrender.”

“I see, so you and your army will come marching in, kill everyone, and burn the forest.”

“Yes, we should have done this earlier. At least we have that understanding,” Boniface spoke with confidence as Deon tried to stop him.

“Good.” Melora spoke with a smile as a green light flashed, then everything turned into a green field. Large trees and growth appeared, separating the army into large chunks. Deon turned towards Melora, who seemingly disappeared.

“We need to return now. This level of illusion could only be done by a dragon or a high-level magician. I don’t want to think both.” Deon warned as they both got on the horse and raced back. Did they want to pull me or just him? Either way, they were both easily tricked.

The horse instinctively stopped in front of the large, dense trees. They tried to usher the horse, but it reared, throwing both of them to the ground, then ran the opposite way towards the wall. Deon cursed as he unsheathed his sword and entered the dense forest. He touched one of the trees, and it felt real. He started to cut his way through as they finally met a group of soldiers, almost fifty, all skewed by iron spikes while some of them were cut in half. The scene was harrowing. One of the men, missing a leg and an arm, could be seen laying on a tree, barely alive. They hurried to his side as he weakly looked up.

“Osca…” The man uttered his last words as he passed.

“What is the man talking about?” Deon asked as he looked at Boniface, who had a frown.

“Oscar was one of our commanders and a sword master. Like Melora, he defected to the monsters,” Boniface spoke as he got up. Deon remained quiet as they moved across the thick forest; the sound of fighting could be heard. They started to cut down frantically and finally saw a group of trolls fighting a group of scriptures. They had armor and decent weapons which were giving them the edge. Boniface quickly raised his sword and dashed towards the trolls. He made short work of them as some ran deep into the forest, frustrating him.

“We need to find and kill that dragon.” Deon spoke as the surviving scriptures healed themselves.

“We can’t face a dragon in our state. We should look for others and regroup,” Boniface answered. Unbeknownst to everyone, Azazel was hovering right on top of them in his green armor with a bright smile while holding his visor.