章 59: A Nightmare Ends
Just as Altair remembered, Maxwell cut down the two guards who had cornered her from behind. They didn't even realize that their allies had been killed when they died. She would like to have described it as he made it look easy but, in reality, killing someone from behind when they are distracted wasn't hard. There wasn't even really a need for skill in such activities.
Altair started to mentally prepare herself for what she would soon be forced to see. She knew that, back then, she was placed in Maxwell's team because her Magic showed a lot of potential for infiltration and spying. Because of her massive Mana capacity, she would be able to conceal herself in the dark and effectively become a ghost at night. She would make the ultimate assassin and spy.
She found it to be a shame that her skill controlling her Magic turned in a different direction, even if the Coalition didn't agree.
She watched as her body followed quickly after Maxwell. The moment they stepped out into the corridor, a boot slammed into Maxwell's side and he was tossed out of view. She heard herself scream and her heart went cold.
A handsome Human man walked past the door, completely uninterested in her cry or presence. He had bright blonde hair and a muscular body and wasn't wearing armor like the men who charged into the room before. Instead, he was wearing blue and white clothing that were designed with a regal appearance in mind. He also had a large blue cloak that reminded someone of an endless and cloudless sky.
Altair remembered him and knew him at the time as well. He was Prince Keaghan. He was a man that was awarded the title Demi-Slayer by the King of Rebanon and, at the time, Crown Prince of the Rebanon Kingdom.
Altair had once dreamt of how wonderful it would have been for him to have found her and treasured her as his love before her traits emerged.
But now, through the eyes of her body, she only felt complete hatred and disgust for the man.
He quickly went out of Altair's sight and she heard a mocking, baritone voice say, "So you're the shadow, huh? I'm not impressed."
She rushed to the door and heard Maxwell's response at the same time, "Altair! RUN!" His shout was filled with an uncharacteristic sense of despair and hope at the same time.
In her mind, Altair shook her head sadly. 'I really can't apologize enough Maxwell. I was really an idiot."
As another wave of guilt washed over her, Altair's body did the exact opposite of what Maxwell ordered. It turned and immediately ran in the direction that Maxwell was in. She was also promptly grabbed by a Royall Army soldier who was standing nearby and carried up off the ground. Her hands restrained behind her back and a knife pulled to her throat.
With that, not even Maxwell could try and escape as she was now held as a hostage. A silent warning of what would happen if he ran.
Keaghan didn't even turn around as he heard the noise of the scuffle behind him. He laughed coldly at Maxwell as he said, "Well, what will you do now, Shadow? This Altair girl's been caught. You gonna play hero?"
One of Maxwell's arms hung limply at his side while his left hand held up his remaining short sword defensively. He narrowed his eyes at Keaghan as his lips formed a line. He didn't speak or even glance in Altair's direction. He was completely focused on the man before him.
Behind him was an empty hallway that went around a corner. He could have easily run away but he stood where he was instead. His defensive stance seemed to provoke Keaghan to attack.
Altair's heart shook at the sight of Maxwell's last stand. She wanted to cry and scream for him to run but she knew it was useless. This had already happened and she had no control over her body. If she did have control she would have pulled all these Humans into her Garden for a Massacre.
'It would be so nice to go back and fix all of this.'
Keaghan held out his right hand to his side and sighed. A Royal Army soldier carried a massive two-handed sword to him and placed it in his grasp. Afterwards, the soldier dashed away and Keaghan did a few testing swings of his weapon while saying, "You know, I am really disappointed in you. I thought I had found someone with a spine in your pitiful little resistance."
He stopped swinging his weapon and held it before him. He then added, "But you're just like all the rest of your species. Doomed to die to my people."
Altair's heart tightened as she saw Keaghan step forward and throw testing blows at Maxwell's defenses. With every hit, Maxwell's body was pushed to this side and that as he tried to parry each blow. It was obvious to everyone present that he could barely block any of the attacks thrown at him with his one hand.
Keaghan clicked his tongue in disappointment before a spike of earth pierced up behind Maxwell. Maxwell nimbly dodged to the side to avoid it but, at the same moment, Keaghan stabbed his sword forward in the direction he dodged in.
If Maxwell had both hands, he could have braced himself against the blow and used it to gain distance.
However, he only had one hand.
He tried to parry the blow like the others but only succeeded it diverting it into the other side of his chest while he was impaled into the wall.
A fire burned in Altair's heart that felt like it was getting crushed.
Her body screamed in desperation and struggled anew in the grasp of the soldier. The soldiers around her only snickered at her as Keaghan pulled his hands off the sword that kept Maxwell's body stuck to the wall.
One look at Maxwell and anyone could tell that he would soon die.
"Your kind is so pathetic," Keaghan remarked dryly as he dusted off his hands, "I don't know why you keep appearing at random but we Humans will put you in the ground."
Altair's body struggled more and more violently and she felt blood on her hands as she tried to pull herself out of the man's gauntlets.
'This was the first time I used it,' Altair thought to herself. She couldn't feel any Mana in her body but she knew that her body was burning most of its Mana in an attempt to make up for her lack of knowledge on what she was trying to do.
The ground in the hallway turned black as a darkness spread out like ink on all sides. All eyes, except Maxwell, looked shocked at the change. They all looked around in panic, trying to discover the source of the Magic.
Altair knew that it was centered on her. She had made this Magic her ultimate weapon eventually. It was a shame that it required Maxwell to die to learn how to do it.
She also knew that it spread out far beyond the fortress itself when she remembered the remnants of the village when it was all over.
In the moment though, Altair felt nothing but hatred, sorrow, fury, and despair. All the emotions rolled into one and slammed themselves around inside her body.
Out of the walls of darkness, inky black creatures of all shapes and sizes crawled out like they were pulling themselves free from graves. They held no pattern to the types that came out and most, if not all, held appearances that seemed completely impossible. It was like they were climbing straight out of someone's worst nightmare.
Keaghan looked at where Maxwell used to be and shouted, "So this is why they call you Shadow?!" Maxwell had been covered up by the inky walls, along with Keaghan's sword. The only people left in the hallway were two dozen Royal Army soldiers, Keaghan, and Altair.
Altair's body continued to cry and call out for Maxwell repeatedly.
Keaghan ordered his him to defend themselves as he took a sword from a nearby soldier. The strange creatures attacked the soldiers without displaying any coordination. However, in the time it took to slay one of them, three more had crawled out of the walls.
The soldier holding Altair dropped her to the ground to defend himself. Altair was obviously incapable of battle right now and there were more dangerous things to deal with.
Altair's body glared at Keaghan as he was fighting against 9 strange shadow creatures at the same time. He didn't appear to be having any problems at all.
The rest of his men weren't faring as well. They were already using their Combat Magic to attack the creatures as they were on the verge of getting overwhelmed from the sheer numbers of them.
Altair herself felt herself mimicking her body's movements as he body reached out on the ground before her gripped a part of the darkness. A dagger formed in her hand out of the darkness, perfectly balanced and with just the right amount of weight.
Altair's body lifted it up and tossed it silently at Keaghan.
Her aim wasn't that good but it didn't matter. Keaghan wasn't wearing armor.
It hit him in the back of the shoulder on his sword arm. He immediately staggered forward a step from the blow and the creatures didn't wait for him to rebalance himself. They descended on him like a horde of ravenous beasts and tore him limb from limb as he screamed while his body quickly became a horrific gory mess.
The rest of Keaghan's men were shaken by this and were overwhelmed shortly after. They, too, were torn apart.
None of the deformed shadow creatures had any weapon's other than their hands and mouths after all.
Once they were all dead, the shadow's dissolved into nothing as if they never existed and the scene became visible to Maxwell.
Altair's body rushed over to him in concern but Altair herself was slightly stunned by the look in Maxwell's eyes when he saw the aftermath of the carnage that she had wrought.
It was like he was looking into the depths of hell. It caused another dagger-like pain to strike her heart.
'He was afraid of me in his final moments?'
He quickly covered it up with a warm smile that didn't reach his eyes for once and placed his only good arm on Altair's shoulder to try and calm her down. But Altair, at the time, was hysteric and blabbering about a dozen different ways she could attempt to save him.
The next words stole the winds out of her sail immediately, "Altair I'm dying and I need you to promise me something."
Altair's body froze as he gave her a serious look. In his eyes was a deep fear that clawed and ripped its way into her heart. Altair's body solemnly nodded and she went silent in anticipation for what he was about to ask.
"I need you to promise me that you will live on and do everything in your power to help our people."
Altair's body nodded again but Maxwell pressed her, "I need to hear you say it. Swear it!"
Altair's body shivered slightly before she heard herself say, "I swear that I will live and do everything I can to help our people."
A gentle smile came to Maxwell's face as everything faded and dissolved into white. The last remnant that was left was the smile on Maxwell's face.
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Harqoua
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