With the Knights waiting outside the gates, resting their horses while preparing themselves for the Sword Sisters scouting report, Peter and Anderson dismounted their mounts and ran into the settlement to see the damage that had been done.

The scene at Mazen was horrific, and for Peter who had only recently seen his first dead human, it was almost overwhelming.

Piles of body parts lay scattered with no discernible pattern; it was almost as if these people had been ripped to pieces by hyenas rather than had met their end at the hands of man.

Each and every piece of corpse was mangled in some way, and all the victims had been stripped of clothing.

The amount of blood inside nearly 350 people was staggering, and it was hard to get a sense of it until you saw it spilled all out.

Everything that hadn’t been burnt or looted was died in a crimson brown, and the smell of copper was inescapable.

With his new memory, this was a scene he would never forget.

With his new memory, this was a scene whose details would never fade with time.

Retching every now and then at a scene that was too unreal to be real, Peter’s eyes began to water, but not falling to the ground or to his knees, he shambled around following behind the priest – who besides making the sign of the cross – recited a prayer.

Peter, while following from behind, only heard pieces of it.

“… we humbly beseech You to strengthen us … drive far from us all snares of the great enemy … may Your holy angels dwell with us and guard us … may Your blessing be always upon us.”

After walking around for a few minutes Anderson fell to his knees, muttered some words that even Peter couldn’t make out despite the fact that now his full attention was on the priest, and finally kissing the crucifix he had around his neck, he stood up, turned to Peter, and said: “It is a gruesome thing, our task.

But as our enemies are held captive in the hold of the great enemy, in the captive of demons from Hell, we must stay strong for the flock.”

Then, walking over to Peter, Anderson put his hand on his shoulder and continued to say while nodding his head: “The first time I saw such things, I was around your age. Though it was a vampire, and I can be considered lucky to not have had to face the truth so soon, you Peter don’t have that luxury.”

Then shaking his head, Anderson swung his arm sideways, and continued on: “What made this massacre was not monsters, not feral beasts, or pixies, or vampires, or even the demon.

It was man.”

About to ask what he knew, Anderson cut Peter off, and then repeated himself: “Aye, you need to accept that.

It. Was. Man.”

After saying that, Anderson took Peter around for several minutes to look at the piles of corpses and explained that although it looked like a disordered butchers table, every single scrap of flesh was deliberately placed.

“It’s all one degree or another off of the demonic rituals that our Church has documented in the past.” Anderson had started to explain, but then shaking his head, he added: “There’s no doubt that the demons these heathens worship will be different than the ones we knew of from Earth.”

Then, turning back to Peter, he said with a hard smile: “Aye, but God’s light will banish them all the same. Now, Lord Ivankov, we can’t keep the men waiting.

You know what you have to do, and you must lead them from the front.”

Looking around, Peter asked solemnly: “What about the people here?” indicating to the mutilated corpses.

Nodding his head to that, Anderson said clearly: “After we provide them with justice by executing their murders, we will return, collect the appropriate pieces, and give them the Christian burials that they deserve.”

Hearing this, Peter nodded himself, and turning around he walked quickly back to the group of Knights.

When a Knight asked him how it was inside Mazen, Peter didn’t hide the truth and said loudly: “It was a massacre. The heathen marauders have chopped up our fellow believers and offered them up in a dark sacrifice to whatever wicked gods they worship.”

When he said this, gasps and whispers started to permeate the group of Knights.

After all, despite Calradia being a war-torn continent, the worship of demons was simply not tolerated by any faction. Not even the barbaric Nords would allow blood sacrifices.

And for the Vaegir people who were naturally Orthodox?

That kind of thing was reserved for scary bedtime stories, stories they were taught from a young age to hate and distrust.

Still speaking for the group of Knights, the man who had first asked Peter said sternly: “Lord Ivankov, if our people lay here as sacrifices, we must immediately provide them with proper burials and perform the necessary rites!”

To this comment, Anderson stayed silent, and Peter in a huff said even louder than before: “We will first see that justice is done for them here on Earth!

After that, we will return!

We will return and give them exactly what they deserve so nobody will question our devotion, not only to God in Heaven, but also to each other!”

Hearing this, the Knights were once again astonished by the words of this Nobleman who they had come to serve, and in a fit of supplication they saluted one by one and shouted almost in unison: “Order Us, Lord Ivankov!”

Then, almost as if it was divine providence, a group of horses could be heard coming from the north and seeing it to be the Sword Sisters who were charging their way, Peter roared: “Mount Up!”

Doing so, and then riding towards the women, the news was just what Peter wanted to hear.

“Lord Ivankov, we found their long ships!”

The march to the river was done at lightning speed, even though the horses had only gotten some 20 minutes of rest, they carried their riders to a canter that could almost be called a gallop.

Approaching the river there was only a small decline which was no doubt formed by past floods, but the incline from the shore was just enough for Peter to get a very good look at the long ships as soon as he crested the top of the ‘hill’.

Quickly counting 7 long ships that were shaped like dragons, he was at first immediately anxious because 1 had set sail!

But that anxiousness soon turned to righteous fury when he saw that there were 5 charcoal-like human figures who stood on smoldering pyres.

In just the seconds it took him to see this, a line of Knights had formed behind him, and when they saw the sight, their hearts hardened.

From behind Peter, Anderson still kept quiet, and didn’t say a word.

“Soldiers of Rivacheg!” Called out Peter, who at this point was not thinking about the tactic of being quiet before launching an attack.

“Draw your swords!

We shall not falter; we shall not yield!

Tonight, we stand as the living embodiment of justice, and these devil worshiping raiders shall know the full force of our resolve!!

Charge! Charge!! Charge!!!"

On the 2nd ‘Charge!!’ Peter had already started galloping away, and his voice carried over to not only the Knights and Sword Sisters behind him, but across the entire beach.

Though at first stunned by the appearance of armored Calvary, the Aesling Marauders were fierce warriors themselves, and not knowing the danger heading their way, they almost laughed at the foolish rider who acted as the ‘tip of the spear’.

Having a ‘spear’ formation was great in theory, in practice though, finding an insane lunatic willing to be the so-called ‘tip of the spear’ was easier said than done.

Not even the zealous worshipers of Chaos wished to throw their lives away!

Out of the remaining 200 Aesling’s on or around the beach, only a couple dozen were favored enough to realize what they were seeing, and while the eager marauders began to form a shield wall, they individually slunk towards the rear and nearer the ships.

One of these Aesling who did not recognize the danger was the ornately armored leader of the expedition, a chaotic warrior who had never lost a direct battle.

Of course, Peter didn’t know or care about that.

Charging headlong into a quickly developing shield wall, he slightly slowed down, reached for his hip, and grabbed 3 Heavy Throwing Axes.

1-2-3 he threw the weapons with all his might, and in a split second he urged the horse to continue.

Only a couple dozens of yards away, he pulled the battle axe off his back, and Peter saw in exact detail when the Aesling’s flew back when his axes hit their shields.

He saw when others took their place in the wall, reading themselves in the process, then he saw their absolute confusion when he jumped off the horse.

Leading the Cavalry charge on foot, Peter let out one final Warcry before….

*BOOOM!*

Ducking under an extended spear, he delivered a frontal kick on a demon worshipers’ shield.

That kick, in all aspects, resembled a high-speed car crash.

Being empowered by both the [Super Soldier Serum] and [Mount and Blade] System, Peters body had left the bounds of what was humanly possible, and his kick not only blasted the marauder and his fellows backwards – it directly tore the shield bearers arm off!

Not satisfied with this, with the Knights only breaths behind him, Peter grabbed his Great Axe and swinging right and left he decimated the shocked Aesling’s nearest to him.

And as soon as that was done…

*BOOOM!*

*BOOOM!*

*BOOOM!*

*BOOOM!*

*BOOOM!*

Charging headlong into the shaken shield wall, the horses neighed and some Knights were directly killed, but for the majority of Knights who survived the charge quickly discarded their lances and, grabbing their Bardiche’s, they held their horses reins by their teeth as they swung from side to side.

This kind of fighting was fierce and direct.

Many Knights lost their mounts and those strong enough to get up from the falls were forced to fight in a giant melee.

The Sword Sisters, not being directly a part of the Cavalry charge, were somewhat more organized and using their crossbows took well-timed shots, saving many lives in the process.

Still fully armored, and always ready to fight, the giant Norscan used a large mace and swinging down he crushed the head of one of the armored Cavalrymen attacking one after another, he roared and spoke in a bestial language when he saw the shadow Shaman who had raided with him for years being assaulted by a man nearly as large as himself.

In that area papers flew everywhere, and when he was about to assist his closest confidant, he himself was cut off by another – the same warrior who had led the suicidal ‘tip of the spear’ charge.

“You live?” said he.

But Peter couldn’t understand, and even if he could understand the 7ft tall, armored giant, he wouldn’t have cared to listen.

Lifting up his already badly chipped Great Axe, Peter moved in with a speed impossible for the eyes of a normal man to follow.

Compared to when he fought the Orc Boss, Peter had even more of an understanding of his physical prowess, and knew that in terms of pure physicality, not even Father Anderson could match him.

After all, it was Father Anderson who was teaching Peter to properly fight in the first place!

So, although the armored raider reacted to Peters first attack, the raider moved slowly to Peters eyes.

Cutting from one side and then to the other, the armored raider barely kept up with his defense, but was never on the attack.

Walking in circles around his foe as he attacked, Peter put more and more force behind his strikes until both the Great Axe – and the armored raiders arm – could take no more.

*DING*

*UHH?!*

The raider, who was naturally no stranger to pain, felt his arm buckle in several places, and in his surprised moment, could no longer react.

Decisively throwing the axes handle at the armored raider, Peter swooped in close, tackling the devil worshiper to the ground.

And using his immense strength to rip the raiders helmet off, he was met by a scared face and brutal looking sneer.

But what good would that do?

Punching the marauder once-twice-a third time with an armored fist, the sneering Aesling’s face turned into a dirty puddle of blood, and in the span of barely a heartbeat, Peter got to his feet and threw the man directly in the air.

With the 2 leaders delt with, the few remaining Aesling’s fell into confusion.

Not being the warband of some great ‘Everchosen’ the idea of fighting to the bitter death had never entered their minds.

Unfortunately for them, when they tried to flee the Sword Sisters were there.

The entire battle took no more than 25 minutes in total, and the Aesling’s who tried to run to the ships had been killed.

Only 1 ship had gotten away, and even though Peter didn’t see it, he knew in his heart that his people were on that boat.

Stopping his Knights from directly executing the few prisoners of war, while the battles clean up was going on – even before he sorted out the Loot – he ordered a band of Sword Sisters to return to Rivacheg and bring over their Dwarven guest.

Even though he didn’t speak the foul language of these devil worshipers, Peter was sure that their guest would.

And once he found out where these heathens lived, he would stop at nothing to get his people back.

As he had said before, as long as his people were innocent, there was no price was too large when it came to defending them.

Mazen would be rebuilt with double the effort, and the Aesling would regret what had happened here today.

Whether their foul demonic gods liked it or not.