IronGuard

CHAPTER 2

The enemy charge breaks through the last shield wall made by the Perion soldiers and the two armies clash against one another and the city wall at the backs of the soldiers. They are still demoralized byy the deaths of the IronGuard Knights who were killed by just one demon. The very same demon still stands there in the middle of the battlefield on top of the dead IronGuard and watches the battle with absolute silence and mystery.

Marcus and his company eagerly await the minions to climb the walls but some still have doubts, none of them have ever faced a real enemy before except for Marcus and Dello.

First Talon Marcus and Dello stand in front and Liana beside Marcus. The others can still feel the tension between the two and wonder if the three best fighters in the company would work together as one but it does not seem that way for Liana.

"I will take the lead and you stay back" She announces with confidence but Marcus and Dello does not approve.

"Dello and I will take the lead while you act as the reserve" Marcus clarifies while looking at the battlefield below. The minions are almost at the wall.

"Reserve?!" She exclaims. "Marcus! I will not let you get the glory today!"

"This is not about glory you damn fool! This is about surviving" Dello advises and the others agree but not Liana who seems to be not hearing words except hers. Dello tries to continue but the minions break through the final line and starts climbing the walls with their claws that can slice through chain mail.

Hundreds of them race towards the top without stopping for a breather, it seems as if their strength is without limits. They easily climb thirty feet of high walls and starts wreaking havoc in the sections of the wall. Marcus' section of the wall is still being climbed but it is only a matter of seconds before Marcus and the company see a minion.

"Don't hold back!" Marcus announces. "Fight Together! Trust one another and hold together"

Marcus' words makes their mark on the minds of each member of the company. After four years of training together, surviving every challenge that Captain Gildas threw at them made them strong with a bond not by blood but by trust and love for one another and there is no one better than to carry that bond than Marcus.

"They are here!" A soldier cries out, warning everyone that the minions have finished climbing the wall.

All of them stare at the edge of the wall waiting for the first minion to show his head, the archers eagerly await for that moment to shoot a barrage of arrows right into their skulls but to their surprise the minions leap into the air and clash with the company causing havoc within the soldiers.

The recruits don't know what to do because the minions are too close, their long swords won't do any good at such close combat but Marcus takes the initiative to move first.

"Everyone! Spread out in groups of five and join with the soldiers! Fight together. Don't let the minions join together" Marcus orders and the recruits follow except for Liana who dashes out of the group and takes on a minion by herself.

"Liana get back here!" Marcus shouts but she doesn't care.

A minion notices her and finishes off a Perion soldier and turns his attention to her. The others watch eagerly the scene unfolding in front of their very eyes. Liana and the minion face off only a few feet away from each other. Liana raises her long sword ready for to attack or defend but against sharp claws and unnatural reflexes of the minions, her chances of winning is already low and surviving the battle is much lower.

In a blink of an eye Liana and the minion clashed with one another but only one sound made an echo, the sound of steel cutting through flesh. She has done it, she killed the minion with one stroke of her blade. As the minion falls the soldiers cheer for her. Liana's skill is undoubtedly one of the best in their company. Impressed as he is, Marcus can't help but feel worried, the momentum of the battle has turned in their favor because of Liana's kill but something still feels wrong for Marcus. He thinks over it and quickly realizes that his company had all broke rank except for Dello, FInn and a few others close to them. The other recruits started fighting the minions individually and paying no attention to what's happening around them, the momentum might be on their side for now but minions are still climbing up the wall.

"Marcus what should we do?" Finn asks nervously, Dello looks at him and sees him shaking uncontrollably and barely hold his sword properly. "What are you looking at Dello!"

"Nothing, I just remembered the time when Captain Gildas told you to hold your piss for a day because you forgot to wake us up because you had to piss" Dello chuckles, the others laugh gently and feels some relief from the tension of the battle.

"Dello, you lead the ones who are here and try to regroup with the others," Marcus looks again at the battle and sees that the soldiers are being pushed back. "support each other. I will go and get Liana, she maybe a proud fool but she is still a chosen captain and she is still one of us" Marcus says and then leaves them.

Dello's group rushes off to help with the fighting and Marcus heads straight for Liana who is fighting another minion at the moment. Marcus stops when a minion blocks his way and he has no choice but to fight. He does not delay and charges straight at the minion with his long sword, the minion dodges his sword point and reach for Marcus' throat with his claws but Marcus already predicted it and uses his elbow to crush the minion's head. The minion drops to the floor and Marcus thrusts his long sword at its belly and it quickly dies.

"Liana, where the hell are you?" Marcus whispers to himself while the battle still rages around him and every second more minions climb up the wall. The horrible sound of battle fills his ears without end but in just a second he hears Liana's struggling voice.

Marcus charge towards the voice dodging every obstacle in his path, he kills two minions that blocks his path with one swing of his sword and after there stood Liana, barely hanging onto her sword facing a big brute minion.

Liana notices him and says, "Nice of you to come but stay back! this is my glory!" she charges the beast but she's too weak now to fight and her feet can't keep up with her determination, she stumbles and falls down completely. Now the beast comes to kill her but of course someone will not let that happen.

Marcus grips his sword tight and charges straight forward hoping to catch the minion off guard but the beast turns to him in instant and swings its huge hand with razor sharp claws and hits Marcus, luckily its hand was the one that hit him not the claws because if so, Marcus would've been cut to pieces. The beast is so strong that Marcus was thrown to the merlon.

Now the minion is coming for him with its claws ready to tear him apart. Liana is rescued by the other noble born recruits, they drag her away from the scene and hoping that the minion will finish Marcus but Liana believes that she couldn't really defeat Marcus if he dies as a hero here. She bursts out of their hold and musters up what little strength she has left to attack the monster but as she gets closer she feels this strange presence and the others around her begin to feel it as well, even the minions. The fighting slowly dies down as the soldiers, recruits and the minions watch the scene unfolding in front of their very eyes.

Liana sees Marcus standing there just a few feet away from the beast minion, his sword gripped tight and his form is firm but what catches her attention is Marcus' eyes, they've changed into a calm, cold and dangerous eyes.

Dello arrives at the scene with most of their company who is still alive and Dello can't believe that his dear friend is still alive when facing such a monster but as he looks closer he too sees Marcus' eyes and secretly laughs.

"Watch closely Liana" He says, "You are about to see why Marcus is the strongest in our company"

The other noble children reacts with disgust in their faces but as for Liana, her hand trembles at the sight of those eyes, eyes she hasn't seen before from Marcus and this presence seems to be coming from him as well.

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*Author's notes

If you have a hard time imagining what the minions look like, I would say that they look like goblins but a bit deformed and with long sharp claws, the beast minion here in this chapter is not exactly a beast like an animal or something just think of it a very muscular deformed goblin and 8 foot tall. Feel free to ask :)