On the East Wall of Last Bastion stood the proud son of the León de Asturias… facing the most difficult battle of his life. He was surrounded, and his chances of victory were slim. One wrong move and probably everything would end.

  “Damn it! I didn’t want to have to use this, but it leaves me no other choice.”

  Hernán prepared his ultimate attack, his last card against his enemy, and bet his life on it.

  “Checkmate.”

  “What!? This cannot be possible, with all the effort I put in…”

  Hernán stared at the board with a bitter expression.

  “Effort? My lord lost his queen in the first three moves.”

  The old captain burst into laughter.

  “Well, chess has never really been my strong point.”

  Hernán stood up from the chair, a little frustrated. Memories of his youth surfaced in his mind.

  “Aaaah… I remember those days when everything was simpler. In my youth, all I had to do was compete in jousts.”

  “I still remember when my father discovered his son was a mage.”

  “Yes, I remember that too, my lord. That day, your father was really angry.”

  “Yes… I still remember his words, he told me:”

  “EVEN IF THE GOD OF LIGHTNING ORDERS ME IN PERSON, I REFUSE TO LET A SON OF MINE WEAR A ROBE!”

  Hernán looked at his armor. At first glance, it looked like a common and ordinary plate armor; however; it was made of much lighter materials that allowed him greater mobility, besides magical crystals in the skirt area of the breastplate, which deployed an anti-spell magical barrier.

  “Then I told him something like:”

  “Father, I am not a simple mage. I am a Geomancer.”

  “Ha… the look on his face was pure horror.”

  “As if I had just cast a necromancer’s spell.”

  Memories of that time flooded back.

  “You’re even using his same weird words, boy. Very well, this is enough. From now on, you will train in swordsmanship and riding.”

  “Of course, not that it bothered me. I loved fighting with swords and riding like any other noble. But compared to my magic, I’m terrible with a blade.”

  “I wonder how Midas is doing… That guy just walks through life cutting people down and throwing equally deadly bolts of lightning. I don’t know if I prefer to fight him face to face or at a distance.”

  Hernán’s gaze turned to one of the Skutari passing nearby.

  “Eh, you, soldier, come. Come closer.”

  The Skutari soldier approached Hernán, attentive to the orders the general would give him.

  “Soldier, what is your name?”

  “Giorgios, my lord.”

  “Very well, Jorge.”

  The soldier shot him a dark look.

  “Tell us a little about Midas. Of course, we already know that he would be the next Hegemon, but no such transfer ever took place.”

  “My lord, I’m afraid you are mistaken. There is no such thing as a transfer of title. The Hegemon is the Hegemon, even if another Hegemon is alive.”

  “Very well, stop, stop, don’t say more, I’m getting confused.”

  The old captain, who was paying attention to the conversation, stepped in to clarify.

  “My general, he means that, unlike our kingdom, where when the king dies, the heir is the one who takes the position, a Hegemon is one from the moment they are born and shares power with the other Hegemon.”

  “What? But what happens if the Hegemons have differences between them? No… wait, stop. I don’t intend to keep talking about politics.”

  “I almost forgot what really had me intrigued.”

  “What I wanted to ask is… why is Midas so good at using both sword and magic?”

  “Hmmm… I know little about that, my lord. I am only a simple soldier who had the fortune to escape when the continent was destroyed. However, I heard that Strategos Midas was born with a natural affinity with ether, which made his body adapt quickly to magic. Besides, he was trained since childhood by his mother, one of the best generals of the whole Lightning Empire. Not to mention that his father, the late Hegemon, was the strongest warrior of all.”

  Hernán saw how the soldier spoke and spoke about his beloved commander, and a pinch of envy invaded him.

  “Will my soldiers also speak like that about me behind my back?”

  “Very well, stop, we already understood. General Midas has blue blood, doesn’t shit, and learned to talk the day after he was born.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “What? General? Really? I did not know that.”

  The Skutari looked at him, astonished.

  “Damn, this guy is really thinking that what I said may be true.”

  “Forget it.”

  -KABOOOOOOOOM-

  A powerful explosion shook the ground, followed by strong tremors.

  “Shit! What the hell is going on?”

  Hernán, still surprised by the fierce explosion and the tremors, looked for signs of enemies outside the wall.

  “MY LORD, LOOK AT THE CITY!”

  At that moment, Hernán’s eyes finally understood what was happening. Many holes formed in the southeast area of último Bastión, where the civilians were housed.

  “CONTACT THE MAGES, INFORM ARIEL, AND ASK FOR ORDERS!”

  “Damn, as much as I want to go, I can’t leave the wall unprotected.”

  “MY LORD, ENEMY FORCES APPROACHING FROM THE EAST! THEY FINALLY APPEARED!”

  Hernán turned his gaze to the area, and there he saw an army. But it differed from the waves the void sent, no…

  “Those guys are formed like a damn professional army.”

  “Yes, my lord. From here, I can see banners and swordsmen formations, but their armors are far from any army I know.”

  “Not to mention that any army would die on the outskirts, where the void is.”

  Added Hernán. The situation seemed extremely strange to them, but Hernán remained firm.

  “One thing is clear: if they are out there, then they are our enemies. Tell all soldiers to prepare.”

  At that moment, a black figure, a small dot in the army, left the formation and advanced at an incredible speed. He stopped a few thousand meters from the wall.

  “What the hell is that guy doing…?”

  Something in Hernán’s mind went on alert. This could be nothing good for them.

  Then Hernán saw him more clearly: the black figure that stopped in front of the walls seemed to be a knight. He carried an imposing heavy armor, bathed in dark energy that made it impossible to perceive the exquisite patterns that could be vaguely distinguished on it.

  The figure raised his sword with both hands and let his power manifest. It was aura energy, the clearest way to differentiate a warrior: born from ether and sheer will.

  Hernán’s eyes opened wide.

  “ether level 8… semi-transcendent rank warrior…”

  “Oh, God of Lightning, we’re screwed. And on top of that, I had to be the first to encounter that monster.”

  Fear filled Hernán’s mind and slowly seeped into his heart. And when it finally reached him, he found his fierce will.

  “ALL WHO CAN, RETREAT TO THE SOUTH WALL! I WILL STOP HIM!”

  “MY LORD!”

  At that moment, Hernán’s body moved and channeled geomantic magic into his body. He would hold nothing back.

  “Even if he surpasses me by two full ranks, don’t think I’ll let you pass the wall easily.”

  Hernán separated pieces of the wall into fragments and joined them to his body, forming a second defensive layer shaped like a humanoid shell around him. Which allowed him good mobility. The armor was completely closed, preventing him from seeing outside; however, Hernán could still know what was happening thanks to his geolocation.

  The warrior, seeing that an enemy came out of the wall, stopped and lowered his sword, waiting for the mage who dared to face him.

  Hernán, floating on a stone he had lifted from the ground and, with his arms crossed, stood above him.

  The warrior turned his gaze to him. None of his features could be perceived; however, his voice could still be heard.

  Hernán, now that he was closer, could see the army he had behind: a myriad of beings he had never seen in his life. There were beings with four eyes, others with four limbs, and some combined both. Some seemed over two meters tall, and others were as small as children.

  “Mage, tell me your name.”

  “My name is Hernán, prince of the Reino del León de Asturias and son of León.”

  “Hahaha… a prince, I see. Well, prince, prepare yourself. Let’s see how many attacks you can take.”

  At that moment, the warrior disappeared from Hernán’s sight. However, he didn’t stay still: he quickly threw a punch towards his back, and his fist clashed against the warrior’s fierce armor. However, it didn’t make a dent.

  “How did you know I would appear behind you? Do you have some premonition ability or something like that?”

  The warrior spoke to him, puzzled.

  “No… just for some reason I felt you wanted to do that.”

  “Well, I suppose after some years without having good fights, one ends up becoming predictable.”

  “You like using fists despite being a mage, huh? I like your style.”

  The warrior’s words had a mocking touch in them.

  “How about I try too?”

  The warrior directed a fierce kick to Hernán’s abdomen.

  Hernán’s stone armor cracked, as did his body armor, and was sent crashing to the ground.

  “Mmmm… I thought that would split you in half. What a surprise, you’re good.”

  “This guy is mocking me… damn it, I think I broke some organs. Very well, close combat is not an option.”

  “Let’s see if you keep laughing after this.”

  Hernán lifted giant rocks from the ground, which he shot at incredible speed towards his opponent.

  The warrior simply struck one of them, shattering it into pieces. Then another. And when the last came, he stopped it with his hands and threw it back at Hernán with much greater speed than the one Hernán had used to send it.

  Hernán used his geomancy and split the stone in two, letting it pass around him.

  And then he raised stone stakes all over the area where the warrior was, trying to impale him.

  But the warrior, as if he had anticipated the attack, jumped to an incredible height and started running towards Hernán.

  “Fuck!”

  Hernán didn’t stay still and started retreating. However, he clearly lost in speed against the warrior.

  In his escape, Hernán quickly built the upper part of a stone golem to stop the warrior’s advance.

  However, this was not even a distraction for the fierce warrior, who drew his sword and split the newly formed golem as if it were butter.

  “Almost everyone has escaped from the wall… I just have to hold a few more seconds.”

  “I’m tiring of this cat-and-mouse game. Come here already.”

  The warrior increased his speed even more and, just as he was about to reach Hernán, a wall rose in front of him.

  He simply kept walking, and the wall collapsed offering no resistance. At that moment, Hernán launched himself at the warrior in a reckless and brave way at the same time.

  The warrior was briefly surprised, but then let out a slight laugh.

  He let his hands guide his sword and made a clean slash that divided Hernán’s body diagonally. However, not a drop of blood gushed from the corpse: the only thing that came out was fragments of earth and stone.

  “Smart boy… You preferred to escape once your friends got to safety. Yes, I can respect that. I will not chase you, but this is the day when this miserable wall falls.”

  The warrior stopped and stood again in front of the wall. However, this time he didn’t hold back and let the power surge again.

  A dark aura of energy furiously ascended upwards, and the warrior lowered the sword. And when he did, the ancient and impregnable wall, which had resisted years against the onslaughts of the void, was obliterated.

  The giant wall collapsed, creating an opening for the creatures to pour through.

  However, the warrior did not advance. He stopped along with his army, watching in the distance as the city was destroyed.