The three armies headed towards their designated battlefields. The Royal Knights and the knight order of Duke Esmertia’s family marched further west towards the Emerald Harbor and the territories of the besieged nobles.

They were close enough to the army of Marquis Fairisles who were supporting both the Princes in defending the territories that were a part of Ocean’s Foundation.

Duke Esmertia who watched it couldn’t help but click his tongue, he knew his grandson was a fool but to be foolish enough to trust and rely on an enemy was something he couldn’t forgive. If he had known Carlos would have been such a sorry sight, he would have pressed Katherine for another son or hell, supported Colette. The girl was smarter than her brother and more likely to have received the family’s cunning traits.

The two armies marched parallel to each other until they parted at the fork that led Duke Esmertia’s side deeper into the West while the other side branched towards the Northwest.

Duke Esmertia looked once at Eric and then at the Queen of Mordino who was riding together with him. He felt a strange insecurity when he watched them ride side by side. The Queen was a powerful woman so, if she ended up choosing Eric as her consort then there wasn’t any way of touching Eric. He would instantly become the King of not only Sestia but also of Mordino.

But that was of course, if the Queen had any intention of making him her King, Duke Esmertia had seen ambitious women in his life so, he knew, women were the kind of species who when weak would warm up a man’s bed but when they were powerful, they would set fire to the man’s world.

The thought made a small smile appear on the Duke’s face. If that were the case then, he was looking forward to what she would do with Eric. If she chose him then he could have Katherine convince the King to arrange an engagement and send Eric off as the Queen’s consort or concubine as there was no way such a woman would accept to hand the power to a man when she singlehandedly looked after her kingdom.

Whatever it was, Duke Esmertia put these thoughts for the future as he had to first take care of the matter at hands before he took care of Eric and Ocean’s side once and for all.

Carlos watched as Duke Esmertia’s army veered off on the other side before turning his head ahead watching Eric riding alongside Miera- the Queen of Mordino. Even a blind man could have seen that the two were besotted with each other. The lesser dragon and guard of Eric trailed right behind them.

"So, he really had been supporting Eric all along." Carlos muttered under his breath.

"Don’t be disheartened, I am with you." Ruel reassured him.

Carlos felt a little good and then recalled Nyx’s face. When he had stepped out of the general waiting room, he had seen her standing there along with a few other ladies including Young Duke Rune’s fiance and even a young lady from Castermere.

Nyx approached him quickly, her face pale as sheet as she asked him, "What’s going on?"

Carlos held her trembling hands in his. They were icy cold, so he squeezed them gently with his large warm ones.

"Don’t worry, there is a little problem and as the Prince, I have to help."

Nyx didn’t look reassured and Carlos cupped the side of her face, brushing his thumb over her cheekbone.

"You trust me, don’t you?"

She nodded and he smiled, "Then rest assured. I’ll be back soon."

Nyx’s lower lips quivered but she inhaled deeply, closing her eyes and when she reopened her eyes, they carried that hollow gaze again.

Carlos pressed his lips in a firm line watching that look. He hated it.

"Stay here, this place is the safest." He said and she nodded again.

Carlos stared at her for a long while wishing he didn’t have to go but he could feel Eric and his guard along with the Queen waiting for him.

"I’ll have to go now." Carlos said, slowly releasing her hands.

Nyx didn’t move her eyes from him, as if she wanted to engrave the sight of him in her memory.

Carlos smiled before he stepped back and then walked over to Eric and others.

Nyx’s eyes momentarily met with Eric’s. He gave her a polite smile which she couldn’t return but he didn’t seem to mind as he turned and then walked away with everyone else. Nyx kept watching Carlos’s back until he was gone and then she walked back with the young lady of Castermere, Lysanne back to their assigned booth.

The sound of the horse hooves hitting the ground was almost deafening for Drac who kept a steady pace at Eric’s left side. He hadn’t expected to have someone worry about him, but unexpectedly enough Lysanne had approached him when he had stepped out of the general waiting room. Watching her coming, Eric gave him a smirk and a nudge to go close to her while he stood back with Miera.

"What’s this? Your guard has a lover?" He heard Miera ask Eric.

Eric chuckled, "It’s a work in progress. I am going to tell Master about this soon,"

Drac ignored them talking behind him as he looked down at Lysanne who stared up at him with her eyebrows knotted and forehead creased.

"What was that? Is everything all right?" She asked.

Drac didn’t know how to reassure her but he simply said, "It’s nothing, Master has everything planned out."

Lysanne tilted her head a bit, "Master?"

"Marquis Ocean Ryujin." Drac answered and Lysanne’s lips rounded in an "o."

She then asked, "Shall I come along?"

Drac shook his head, "We all are more than enough. Stay here, this place is the safest."

Lysanne frowned again, "What do you mean safest? Is there-"

Before she could finish, Drac reached out and placed his hand over her shoulder making her pause.

"Everything will be fine, so just stay put here." He spoke, squeezing her shoulder just a little.

Lysanne didn’t press but simply nodded and he removed his hand only for her to look at him and say, "Come back safely."

Drac remained silent for a moment before he said, "I will."

Coming back to present, he focused on the issue at hand. They were close to the civilization and the reason they knew that was because of the smoke billowing in the air.

Drac’s eyes drifted to the sky where he noticed the clouds moving unusually fast as if they were being summoned.

"Eyes up! I see something!" Zach called from up front and Drac turned his gaze back ahead to see some figures huddling ahead at the same staggering pace.

The once thriving town of west now lay in ruins with some parts of it burning and the undead crawling around growling and dripping drooling and blood from their open mouths.

The sound of the hooves caught their attention and before the army could make sense of what they saw, they were already charging right to the erratic crowd.

The knights were unsettled as they had never seen such a thing before, Eric took lead along with Miri and Drac without any hesitation.

"Don’t panic! Kill as many as you can and don’t let them bite you!" Eric’s loud order rang throughout the people followed by the loud thunder clap in the sky.

The sky had darkened above them before they knew it and the dense clouds crackled with minor friction. The drizzle soon followed and the walking undead screamed as if in agony.

Eric took charge, his blade already ablaze with his fire mana sliced through the bodies of the undead as he rode his horse right through them.

"Clear up the area, we have to set up a medical camp for the survivors!" Eric’s order once again rang through and the men got to it.

They had brought along a few physicians and some personnel who were actually students of Oasis Foundation medical school to rescue the survivors. Carlos hung back in the placement protecting these people who weren’t combatants with a few dozen knights along with Sir Hopkins.

Some of the knights dismounted and started engaging these undead, the momentary hesitation had vanished completely now.

Just as they were busy with that they started hearing the sounds of cries and calls for help.

"H-Help!"

"We’re here!"

The knights quickly rushed over grabbing the people who were hiding and the ones who were trapped underneath the rubble.

Carlos was quick to get his knights to form a tent to bring the survivors over. The physicians got to work quickly while Carlos watched.

He couldn’t take charge since there were three people in lead. His task was to make sure the survivors were safely led to the medical camp and keep up as they cleared the territories of the undead.

Carlos hadn’t argued about his part being small, if he outshone himself here then the dark forces who had summoned Ruel might try to do something and it would be worse than Ocean exorcising Ruel.

The further they went through the towns, Eric realised two things. First was that the rain was constant, as if the huge storm clouds had gathered all over Sestia. He could sense the mana in the rain so, he had an idea of who might have caused it but he couldn’t understand why. And the other thing that kept nagging at him was how these undead were moving fast and screaming. He could faintly make out a few words as they staggered around, still attacking the knights as if they didn’t want to buy their bodies were being forced against their will.

Eric raised his sword at one little undead boy who crawled from the rubble like an insect and grabbed a hold of his horse’s front leg making the horse kick him away.

The boy was thrown away but even after landing in a gruesome way he got up on his all fours before glaring at Eric with tears and blood streaming down his eyes.

Eric froze for a moment as he watched the child’s mouth trembling and blood flowing from his wounds.

He was so out of it for a moment that he didn’t even realise that the boy had lunged right at him baring his teeth. But a sand wall instantly rose before him and a blade glinted before Eric’s eyes and the boy’s body was sliced through.

Eric blinked and heard Miri shouting at him, "Eric, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?!"

Eric blinked back to his senses, finding his hands trembling as thoughts ran rampant in his mind.

He looked at Miri and her eyes widened, he didn’t know what expression he was making but in an instant Miri swung her large saber slicing another undead that was headed for Eric and grabbed his hand.

"What’s gotten into you?!" She hissed, her eyes running through him to see if he had somehow ended up getting bitten or something but there was no signs of any injury.

"Miri..." He spoke in a trembling voice, "these people...are alive."

Miri paused hearing that and couldn’t help but purse her lips, she had noticed that too but it hadn’t made her freeze.

Soon enough, they had ended up clearing the territory of Count Zachary Erkens and set up a medical camp.

It had taken a few hours doing all that through the rain. Miri took Eric’s hand while the other knights were grabbing a quick bite to eat. They didn’t know how long it would take so, they had better eat when they had a chance.

Miri dragged Eric away, Drac who noticed it followed along to stand at a distance in case he is needed. The two walked closer to the medical camp but still at some distance and Miri stopped turning to Eric.

"What were you saying?" She asked.

Eric couldn’t meet her eyes, "D-Didn’t you notice it? Those undead...they all seemed to have their senses but it was clear that they couldn’t control their bodies...Miri if we could try and help them then..."

Miri listened to him as he tried to wrack his brain for some solution to help the people and her eyes softened at his compassionate side. It was a part of the reason why she loved him.

"Eric," she started, "they couldn’t be helped."

Eric shook his head, "No! This rain...I’m sure its fused with Master’s mana. If we let the undead get drenched enough they coukd recover their consciousness."

"We can’t do it, Eric. These undead may still have some consciousness but they still will be attacking and we will have casualities on our hands if we let them live."

Eric appeared even more firm as he said, "Then we try to contain them! If they are bound, their movements would be restricted."

Miri pursed her lips but before she could open her mouth, a third voice popped up.

"Nothing will be effective."

The couple turned to see Carlos standing there, his one hand was resting on the hilt of his sword which hadn’t been unsheathed yet and the other in the pocket of his trousers.

"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but I was taking a break when I heard you." Carlos spoke as he approached them.

"Why do you say that without even trying?!" Eric demanded.

Carlos or rather Ruel who had ended up listening into their conversation and found it absurd. He was a learned person and in his time he had gained information about various techniques of the dark forces.

"Because it’s useless." Carlos spoke sounding nonchalant, "the undead are dead bodies who are reanimated by a dark spell. They might have gained some consciousness but it doesn’t mean that they have any chance of healing...unless they were directly healed..."

Eric’s eyes widened and Carlos sighed, "I understand that gives you hope but look around you. The state these undead are in, they are all under a curse and it’s nearly impossible to save every one of them. Even if you tried to bind them, they curse had amplified their bodily limits since they don’t feel pain. They will keep attacking as long as they can move. So, all the endeavours to save them are useless."

Eric was still unable to give up as he said, "But you mentioned that if they are directly healed then there is a chance!"

Ruel observed the desperation in the young man’s face, he knew Eric was chosen specifically by the Dragon to be the King. But even after having a lot of attributes, he seemed to lack one thing. The ability to let go of something that couldn’t be saved. It was the most heaviest responsibility since if he was ready to sacrifice without trying everything it will keep gnawing at his conscience and if he kept sacrificing people then he will go numb.

"Listen boy," Ruel said, "It’s hard, but you will have to go through it. You have to realise that you can’t save everybody. There will be sacrifices...even your Master knows it."

Miri’s eyebrows twitched hearing the patronizing tone that Carlos used, it almost felt as if he had stood in this position at one time and had made this tough decision but Eric didn’t seem to notice it as he held his head in his hands.

Carlos watched him with hollow eyes before his gaze fell on Miri, Miri felt her hackles rising as she noticed the black mist swirling in those red orbs. It wasn’t the young Prince talking, it was the spirit.

He didn’t say anything to her but simply gave one last look to Eric before he turned and walked away.

Miri placed her hand over Eric’s shoulder watching Carlos’s retreating back and even Drac who stood atop the partially crumbled building’s roof watched Carlos.