CHAPTER 31: THE ALBEZAC FAMILY

"Lishia, look at me!" Luna’s voice was sharp. She grabbed Lishia by the shoulders, forcing the panicked woman to meet her gaze.

"Breathe. I know you’re worried, but you need to tell us what’s happening right now, or we can’t coordinate."

Lishia stared back, her yellow eyes wide with a fear Luna had rarely seen.

She took a deep, shuddering breath, holding it for a moment before letting it out slowly. The frantic energy in her body seemed to settle.

"You’re right," she said, her voice steady now. "I apologize. I lost my composure."

She took a step back, her expression now grim and serious. "The reason I reacted that way... both of you know of the Albezac family, correct?"

Luna and Eunice both gave a single, sharp nod. Neither of them spoke. The name alone was enough to cast a dark shadow over their faces.

"That spell the knight used," Lishia continued, her voice low. "It belongs to them. And it’s an elite-class, large-scale magic."

The words hung in the air, heavy with unspoken meaning. The color drained from Luna’s face.

Beside her, Eunice’s usual mischievous smile was gone and replaced by a hard, cold line. They didn’t need any more explanation. They already understood perfectly why Lishia acted that way.

"I see..." Luna whispered, the single word full of dread. "So that’s what this is."

"Then we’re out of time," Eunice finished, her voice flat and serious. "We need to move. Now."

"You said that I should be the one to go instead of Luna, right?" Eunice asked for confirmation, pulling the reins of her horse and moving it forward.

"Yeah..." Lishia replied, her words low.

"Understood. Take my place instead and give orders for the retreat. I assume that part hasn’t changed, has it?" Eunice asked.

"No, we’re still going for a retreat. We can’t risk losing so much of our soldiers, after all," Lishia replied. She then looked up at Eunice who was now beside her, atop her horse as she fastened her armor.

Lishia’s eyes looked as if she was struggling with something. There was a sense of unease in them, a little hint of hesitation.

"It’s okay. You don’t have to feel guilty about it. I understand," Eunice replied, noticing Lishia’s unease.

"I-I’m sorry... I would’ve come with you but..." Lishia got some words out, forcing them from her mouth. There was a look of regret on her face.

"No, even if you could I wouldn’t have let you come with me. Do you really think we can leave the command post to that idiot?" Eunice said, pointing at Luna.

"Huh? Who’re you calling an idiot? I can handle giving out commands totally fine!" Luna replied, her cheeks puffed.

"Heh, says the woman who got punched in the face by a random guy," Eunice replied, a smirk forming on her face.

"Tha—!" Luna tried to speak but embarrassment held her back.

"Stop now, you two. We don’t have much time," Lishia said, a slight smile on her face as she commanded them.

After all, dealing with these women was no easy task. Indeed it was something only she was capable of doing.

Lishia then let out a breath of relief, calming herself down before looking up at them.

"Both of you, these are my official commands now. Eunice Revoltstar, you are to go to the frontlines and deliver as much damage to the enemy as you possibly can."

"Meanwhile I will call for the retreat of all but one battalion of troops. They are to stay at the frontlines and assist you. Your responsibilities will be to stop the enemy forces from advancing and reduce their numbers."

"Luna Revoltstar, you will stay here with me until I command you to do anything. You have to conserve your strength as much as you can."

"Is that clear?"

"Yes!" Both Eunice and Luna replied in unison.

Lishia then turned her head, looking toward the active battlefield that spread out in front of her.

"Let’s hope we get out of this alive," she mumbled to herself, shifting her gaze toward the skies.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

"Aghh, how many of you motherfuckers are going to bother me?!" Allen said out in frustration, smoke coming out from the barrel of his MP5 while three knights at a distance fell down onto the ground.

He was really running low on bullets so his frustration was understandable.

"Hey you, walk a little faster, will you? I can’t protect you if you’re so far away," Allen said, turning around to look behind himself.

There Heath walked behind him at a distance of about a foot.

"...Understood," he replied, increasing his pace and walking closer to Allen.

"Sigh, this is so troublesome," Allen complained, letting out a tired sigh.

If only it wasn’t for the benefits this can bring me I’ll never have done this, he thought to himself.

My original plan was to get Luna and the others to trust me and not doubt me as a potential enemy spy or shit like that.

That is why I saved those knights from the half-deads in the first place and sent them back so they can tell everyone how the oh-so-great Allen had saved their lives.

But since the casualties here are going so high I can’t really rely completely on them alone. Who knows maybe they dropped dead the moment I left?

Hence that is why I decided to use this...

he glanced at Heath who was walking behind him.

I to be honest don’t give two shits about this war, but if I can extract information from him about how the military here works AND gift him to them as a hostage, well that is two hits with one bullet.

Really the best I can ask for right now!

As Allen was lost in his thoughts yet again and giggling to himself, the area around him slowly began turning chaotic.

Right now, he was moving toward the military outpost of the Preservence knights to hand Heath over to them.

Therefore, he should theoretically be away from the enemy troops and in a relatively safer area.

Yet there was this much movement.

"Fall back! All of you are to fall back! I have orders from Ms. Morrissy that all of us have to retreat!"

The words faintly fell on Allen’s ears. At first, he couldn’t even realize what was going on.

But a few moments later when he saw the knights and mages leave their posts and fall back toward the outpost, he realized that the entire military formation was changing.

"What the heck? Why are they retreating at this point?" he said out loud, confused by the unexpected change of events.

"Is it because of these half-dead zombie shits? I mean, sure they are a little hard to kill with a sword but not worth retreating over."

He was still mumbling to himself when the sun vanished.

One second, the battlefield was burning under the harsh afternoon light. The next, a shadow fell over everything, and a sudden chill hit the air.

It wasn’t a cloud. This was a solid, sharp line of darkness that swallowed the entire battlefield.

The sounds of fighting started to die down. Allen looked around. Soldiers on both sides had stopped, their faces all turned up toward the sky.

He looked up too.

His breath hitched.

Something huge was up there, blotting out the sun. A giant chunk of rock and dirt, just hanging in the air.

It was hard to make out the details of what it was due to the height it was at but because of its sheer size some structure was still visible.

It was a vast, dark shape, a colossal piece of land silhouetted against the blinding light of the sun it was blocking.

It was so high up that it looked like a second, broken moon. His mind struggled to make sense of what he was seeing.

It was like a piece of the world floating in the sky, absolutely defying all the laws of physics Allen was aware of.