System Change

Before long, Derek could see a group marching in the night. He moved off the road and into the tree line to scout them out. After a few minutes of watching, Silvi landed on his shoulder and they watched together.

‘We’re sure it’s them?’ He knew that the odds of somebody else traveling in the night with such a large group were basically nil, but he asked anyway.

‘Mhm.’ Silvi answered. ‘I’ve never seen the people, but the guards were complaining about the City Lord forcing them to travel through the night.’

Derek nodded. He looked up at the sky. There were only a couple of hours left until daybreak. Currently, he was deciding whether to attack now or wait until morning. There was no need for him and Silvi to ambush the group. He was sure of that.

If they waited until morning, they could attack in a big clearing, and it would be hard for anybody to sneak away. Plus, it was easier to lose sight of them at night. After calculating the City Lord’s army’s marching speed, it would be a little after dusk when they marched on the clearing. Once they made it to the clearing, there was nothing but open land until they arrived at Wilmette.

‘Let’s wait until daybreak, then we’ll take them out. I count about 300 regular guards in front, plus some elite guards protecting the back. We’ll attack once to begin with. Let the guards who run or don’t fight back live. Do what you want with the others. Well, everything except eating them, we don’t eat humans.’ He told Silvi about his plan.

‘Got it.’ She replied.

‘If Malcolm runs, cut him off and keep him from escaping.’

‘Kay.’

With that, Derek and Silvi stalked the small army through the night, thinking of various plans and contingencies. It wouldn’t do just to assassinate Malcolm and Clay. They were going to make a show of power. Any soldiers who survived would spread rumors about what happens when you mess with Derek and his people.

Time gradually passed, and soon the sun began to rise. The army advanced out of the forested roads and into the open. They were on the home stretch.

Derek and Silvi hid in the woods and waited for them to get far enough out that it would take some time to escape back into the forest. When the army was around a mile out, Derek acted.

He rushed past the army and stopped in front. He would hit them head on. It may not be smart, but it would make a statement.

The soldiers halted as they saw the duo standing in front of them. Some guards stared wide eyed in recognition while others stared in confusion.

“Get out of the w…” One soldier up front stepped forward and began to speak, but another grabbed him by the shoulder and shook his head. He then whispered something into the first soldier’s ear. Which made the man turn pale and hurriedly step back into place.

“What’s going on? Why are we stopped?” A voice all too familiar to Derek called out from the back of the troops.

Hushed whispers sounded throughout the army until they reached the ears of the City Lord.

“What are you scared of? There are over 300 of you, and only one of him.” The voice rang out again.

Derek decided that it was finally time to speak up. With some power in his voice, so everyone could hear him, he said, “You can all rest assured, I won’t harm you if you just give the City Lord and his son up. However, if you take up arms against me, it will be the last thing you do in this life.”

His booming voice fell over the army, causing some to flinch and even more to fidget anxiously. Unfortunately, none stepped aside. This caused Derek to wonder about the contracts and oaths the guards were under. Still, he gave them a chance.

Derek stepped forward.

“Attack! Kill him. It will all be over once he’s dead. Whoever brings me his head will be rewarded by my father!” Malcolm screamed from the back.

Derek shook his head. In the end, it was greed that won out. The hesitant soldiers firmed their resolve and drew their weapons.

“Go.” Derek said one word, but it signaled the end.

The small weight on his shoulder disappeared. Derek stared into the army, the army that failed to charge.

A small white and purple light flashed throughout the crowd. Blood and gore exploded into the air, covering guard after guard. Soon, the white and purple flash became a red and purple flash, as Silvi’s fur became covered in the gore.

Derek stared in amazement at the destruction and confusion his beast companion caused. He was especially impressed at her skill in using all her abilities in tandem. Of course, Silvi didn’t have many abilities, but it was still impressive.

Every time she hit a soldier, it was a critical hit with no chance of survival. Every guard who drew a sword or cast a spell was her target.

Silvi would fly through the air, horn first. Every person she hit would have their head exploded or chest pierced through, leaving no chance at recovery. When her momentum slowed, or she ran out of enemies in a straight line, she would vanish.

From there, she would appear on the ground or on top of one of the soldiers. She would kick off from there, sending her flying back through the air like a rocket. It was pure mayhem.

Derek watched as notification after notification appeared in the corner of his vision. He pulled them up and dismissed them as they came.

The army held for much longer than Derek would have liked. He had expected the guards to break and run after just a few moments of Silvi’s indiscriminate slaughter. He realized his mistake too late.

Derek knew of Silvi’s strength, others did not. What others saw was a cute bunny wearing a purple cloak and a nose ring. So, when Silvi flew forward, it didn’t intimidate them, it caused mass confusion.

Derek also underestimated Silvi’s ability to kill. Dozens of soldiers were dead before others even realized. Technically, it was their fault for standing in such straight lines. Straight line formations were not good strategies to use against a projectile with extreme piercing potential, like Silvi.

Every now and then, a flash of lightning would streak out from Silvi’s horn when she ran out of momentum, but there were still guards in front of her. It was when the guards began seeing her seamlessly cast magic that they snapped out of their stupor.

More and more soldiers began looking around the battlefield, seeing their former comrades laying headless in pools of their own blood. Well over a hundred soldiers were dead before the first ran. But, when the first broke, the rest were sure to follow.

And follow they did. Of course, there were still some soldiers who were stubborn, and some who were just downright loyal to the City Lord. That was something Derek couldn’t understand based on his meetings with the man.

Silvi obviously remembered Derek’s plan, as she made no move to go after any soldier who tried to escape. Realizing this, more soldiers turned tail and ran.

In the distance, Derek could now see Malcolm, as there were no longer mass amounts of soldiers standing in between the two. Only him and his personal guards were left.

Derek watched as his fierce figure gradually paled, and his face went from anger to confusion to extreme fright. While Malcolm Torith viewed the gory scene in fright, Captain Herrett was shaking his lowered head.

On the man’s face wasn’t fright or defeat, just acceptance. Derek knew that Captain Herrett had no love for Malcolm Torith. He was most likely a man in an unfortunate situation. Derek could only shake his head at the man’s predicament. The other guards were one thing. They had all perked up after hearing about getting a reward for killing Derek, but Herrett only smiled bitterly and shook his head.

Around the time Derek was thinking about Captain Herrett and the situation he found himself in, the City Lord turned and gave some orders to his personal guards. Derek was still watching them as he saw them all turn away and take off in the opposite direction.

Of course, it was already too late for them to even try to escape. Their only chance would have been at the beginning of the chaos Silvi had created.

‘The City Lord is trying to escape.’ Derek sent to Silvi.

‘Got it.’ He heard back.

With that reply, Silvi vanished from in front of a frightened soldier and appeared behind the army, in front of the escaping City Lord and his people.

Derek slowly walked forward, through the battlefield littered with bodies, blood, and guts. The few guards who had yet to flee or had not yet been slaughtered by Silvi took him coming into their range as an opportunity to end the battle and receive a great reward.

If they could deal with Derek, his companion would lose most of its powers and it would be easy to take down. Everyone knew how the companion contract worked. Unfortunately, they were wrong, very wrong.

The nine remaining guards signaled to one another and attacked all at once. Derek let the blades fall on his body, catching the one that threatened to pierce his eye. With a clang, the blades bounced off his newly improved body. Unfortunately, the sharp edges still cut into his clothing.

Derek channeled the void and, very quickly, hit each guard in the head with his palm. Unlike Silvi’s bloody killing, Derek’s killing with the void was relatively bloodless and graceful. Well, other than the occasional blood dripping out of the corpse’s nose or ears.

With no remaining ordinary guards or soldiers, Derek continued walking forward. A little over 70 guards had chosen to escape the battle after seeing the carnage and destruction. It wasn’t as many as he had hoped for, but at least some still had the sense to run.

Looking ahead, the frightened City Lord had stopped in front of Silvi. The group turned back around to run away from her, and Derek smiled. Using Void Shift, Derek moved forward and appeared in front of the group out of nowhere.

The City Lord stopped at the sudden appearance of Derek.

Suddenly, the weight on Derek’s shoulder increased, and a blood soaked Silvi appeared.

Derek reached over and cast Cleaning. Silvi was soon back to her original appearance as a majestic silver and purple Void Rabbit.

Derek looked over at the City Lord and smiled. “Don’t you just love the Cleaning skill?”

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