Adventures of the Lightborn Squad

Chapter 5: Demon's Nightmare

He remembers Alucard now.

He remembers how much Alucard loves to talk.

It's almost like he doesn't know how to stop talking. Granger hasn't seen Alucard in the last few months, but that doesn't give Alucard the right to spew out his entire life story or something.

Granger's already heard about how Alucard had come across Harith (the Leonin) living in the Dark Forest and rescued him from demons. And about Tigreal, the large man, who is the Moniyan Captain of Knights. And about Fanny, Tigreal's sister, an adept assassin who is currently accompanying Princess Silvanna back to the Imperial Sanctuary. And also about how Fanny flies with the help of hooks.

Flies? What does that even mean?

It's all a bit confusing for Granger, but, oh well. All he really cares about is that there are demons to hunt.

And whether Princess Silvanna has made it back safely.

***

Silvanna breathes a sigh of relief when she sees the tall tower of the Imperial Sanctuary come into view. They've made it.

Fanny had gone ahead to clear the path, but she doubles back now to make sure she stays with the Princess. The duo run side-by-side.

***

The Imperial Sanctuary is in chaos when they reach. Knights are assembled, horses are readied, young pages run around delivering messages, maidens rush here and there.

They all hail Princess Silvanna as soon as they see her. Fanny had gone ahead to inform them that the kidnapped Princess has been found, and they are all clearly relieved to see the royal family member return.

A few handmaidens run to Silvanna, but she waves them away, simply asking for a change of clothes. She turns to the blade dancer.

"You must go back and help Tigreal. The demons must not breach our defences."

"Affirmative." the younger woman replies as she salutes. Before she leaves though, Silvanna grasps Fanny's left shoulder. Fanny's right hand grasps Silvanna's left shoulder as well, and they stay like that for a second.

"Good luck," Silvanna says, looking into the pair of green eyes. "The Lord of light stands with us."

Fanny nods, and they break apart.

Silvanna turns to see some of the men gathered.

"I want a report of what has happened." She commanded.

***

They thought they could make quick work of these demons. They were wrong.

Granger catches his breath as he reloads. They had vastly underestimated the number of demons here. More and more seemed to be coming, even after they had demolished so many.

Alucard is next to him, his usually coiffed hair messed up, strings of blonde falling on his face. Little Harith was fighting alongside them, until Tigreal instructed the Leonin to go look out from the trees and scout the area.

Alucard slashes the demons, drawing them back. Granger activates his cannon, and is satisfied to hear the howls when the bullets hit their intended targets.

WHOOSH.

Granger has to throw himself to the ground to avoid a grappling hook and a steel line that appeared out of nowhere. Suddenly, a female figure emerges, her twin blades clanging as she passes by.

The bladed warrior whirls her blade, then seems to disappear almost as quickly as she appeared.

"That," Granger hears Alucard's voice on his left, "was Fanny."

Granger sits up, dazed. Fanny emerges from a bush, and joins the fight.

***

HOWL!

The final demon slumps over, dead. Tigreal wipes his brow and turns around to face the others. As he catches his breath, Harith jumps down from a tree.

"Status?" Tigreal asks.

"It's bad," the Leonin's face is worried. "There's a whole Abyssal Army coming our way!"

"We have to retreat," Tigreal says in despair.

"We can still hold them back!" Alucard demands. His determination radiates despite his exhaustion.

"No." Tigreal turns to the demon hunter. "We must head back to the Capital. They must not breach the Imperial Sanctuary. That is our priority right now."

Alucard is loath to agree, but he nods at the captain.

***

Princess Silvanna strides quickly. Her dress swishes at her feet. Odd that her handmaidens had brought her a dress instead of her battle armour, but no matter.

Despair shone from everyone she passed, but Silvanna had no time for despair. She was determined to lead the empire to victory.

During her lessons from the Imperial records, she had learnt of the legend of the Seed of Light. Very little was actually understood about it. All that was known was that it contains immense power.

And it requires great sacrifice.

She was willing to be that sacrifice.

Her footsteps echoed around the Sanctuary.

"With war raging on, our country is on the brink of destruction."

Her voice doesn't shake.

"Please, give me wisdom in our hour of need."

***