Tempest of War

Chapter 4: The Message

Dark spears collided with holy halberds across a battlefield. The bayou provided little vision for those opposing Slayn. With the Palace of Radiance reduced to rubble, the army of Surgeros was put at a great disadvantage, for they could not draw power directly from their homeland. The artificial eclipse of Slayn was still active; thus, empowering the Slaynian army significantly. The Slaynian soldiers, in their shadow iron armor, were traveling at the speed of darkness; they were darting around, overwhelming individual holy knights one by one. Many were felled.
"We must make ground my warriors! Do not let the Palace's destruction plague your mind and fill you with false hopes! We will win this battle!" Lord Eucliffe, using his superior combat skills and his holy sword Purifier, was prevailing over the group of Slaynian soldiers around him. With one fell swoop of his holy sword, the soldiers burned into nothingness. A few more holy warriors fell nearby, and the group of dark ones darted over with their spears in hand and began to assault Lord Eucliffe. The holy lord repeated the result from the last group, and that group of dark soldiers burned into nothingness.
"This is not working. Kagura!" Lord Eucliffe called for the woman in gold armor who finished slaying the group of soldiers fighting her.
"My lord. This battle is a lost cause. What should we do?" Worry poisoned her voice as she gazed upon holy warriors falling around them. Kagura was Lord Eucliffe's main general, yet she was about to be assigned anew.
"Kagura, you need to warn the flame emperor about this atrocity. His castle may be the Weapon's next target. You need to be a runner today." Lord Eucliffe shielded her from another group of Slaynian warriors and burned them to nothingness. The hisses of the dark ones rung in their ears.
"My lord, what will become of you?" Kagura had fear in her voice for once. She watched him slay a few more soldiers then he turned to face her. He looked her right in the eyes.
"I will be just fine. We may lose many in this battle, but victory will be upon us. Now go. Warn them!" He parried a blow from a shadow behemoth, and he pushed it back, leaving an opening for Kagura to run through the onslaught. With grace and swiftness, she stormed through the crossfire and clashing of weaponry into the brush. She followed the main path to the Great Divide. The Great Divide was the central point of all the main roads, each respectively connecting the kingdoms together. Without hesitation, she sprinted down the path deemed for Char. The ash clouds and mighty flames tossed around in the air on the horizon. All of a sudden, she froze. Her feet were not responding. This was another one of the Slaynian's abilities. If shadows and people follow close together in motion, if one stops so does the other. A low cackle made ravens and crows fly overhead. A hooded figure stepped out and obscured the horizon; it was a Shade. Shades were the most elite of all Slaynian warriors; moreover, they possess many skills but were often unarmed.
"Why can't I move?" Kagura thought while was sweating from the tension and fear she was feeling. The Shade rose both of its arms and released her but it begun an assault. Several concentrated shots of lunar energy were propelled in her direction. The Shade wanted to fight honorably. Kagura quickly darted around all of the shots of energy and rammed her fist through the Shade's torso. A hissy laugh accompanied the hit; her fist had phased through the unholy thing's body. Kagura felt the bitter cold of the thing's body and vaulted backwards before it could attack again. The Shade rose its arms again and several bolts of pitch black lightning rained down onto Kagura. Kagura deflected them with her Holy Archenemy Sword. The Shade was not surprised by this tactic; then it repeated the first attack but in a more complex pattern, making it nearly impossible to dodge. Kagura was struck a few times. Her armor was cracked and shards of it broke off due to the impacts. The Shade just laughed at her current state.
"The Flame Emperor will know what you and your master have done. Out of my way! Archenemy!" She rapidly paces through the next volley of lunar blasts and impales the Shade with her holy sword. The Shade tries to pry it out of its body, but it inevitably fails and burns into nothingness. Kagura rests for a minute and endures the cold; then she gets back on her feet and sprints down the path uninterrupted for two hours. Finally, the bitter coldness had stopped eating away at her nerves as the heat of Char warmed her up.
"Who am I kidding? These flames are too intense for me to traverse." She fell to her knees in what was a defeat. Footsteps could be heard from a close distance.
"What happened to you?" The voice was so familiar. The same authoritative voice that she heard at the Parthenon. It was the flame emperor himself.
"Your lordship...the Palace of Radiance has fallen...Lord Eucliffe is in danger...we all are.." She was weak and exhausted from her long journey to the Flame Emperor's domain. Her labored breath gave the impression of wounds behind her voice. Emperor Dragneel carried her to the castle and put a seal on her that shields her from the intense heat. Afterwards, Emperor Dragneel's servants gave her a nice comfortable space in his throne room, so she could enlighten him on what the commotion is about.
"I want to know everything. Take your time in your explanation." Emperor Dragneel said with a low concerning voice.  Kagura took a minute to settle down; then she started recalling all of the the horrors she witnessed.
"By the Dragons...." Emperor Igneel was not shocked of the attack, but the timing of it was not expected.  He stood up and his eyes beamed a bright orange.  His fist was clenched tightly in a bitter rage.
"Mobilize the Eternal Flame squadron.  Aid Lord Eucliffe's warriors. We will end this before it starts." The Flame Emperor's guards alerted the armies at the Smoldering Barracks nearby.  Emperor Dragneel then sat at his throne impatiently waiting status reports from his armies.  His wife, Lucy Heartfilia, came out to calm him down about an hour later.  Kagura would not know the condition of her lord for a while.  Emperor Dragneel sent a runner to every other kingdom; however.........