Bro, I'm not an Undead!

"We do not have anymore men to spare! They are all drained of will and strength! Pushing them out there will accomplish nothing, Your Majesty!" Rayn bellowed with a hard face.

His jade eyes pricked the furious and frightened King's face, causing him to back away with his contradictory thoughts.

King Edricus then huffed and slammed the table in their midst angrily.

The small models on it that he, Rayn and a few Commanders were using to plan out their next course of action leapt down and fell to the floor as a result.

"You're naive, Rayn! A delusional fool!" the King hissed.

Rayn sighed.

"Your Majesty, I cannot allow for anyone else who doesn't want to fight to join in. It's a waste of our strength. Our nation is still just beginning to grow and it will be millennia before it develops the kind of power that Maqi has now. Let's save our armies," he said while leaning forward with his hands anchoring over the table.

King Edricus scoffed.

"Is that right? You've never had to sound this noble with me Rayn. Is it because your body enjoys the might of a god now? I know exactly what you are," he said while pointing at the Royal Knight. "The only reason you were ever born was to fight and you enjoy it above all else. Even now, you make excuses yet your only desire is to have another bleeding battle that almost tears at the very foundations of this world!"

The Commanders gulped and decided to step back.

This wasn't about the war anymore. It was growing personal.

Rayn gave a piercing glare at the King, shocked that he would bring up such a thing when they had more important matters to discuss.

"Is this how you speak to the man who has been fighting legions that no mortal army can contend with for you, my King?" Rayn asked with a calm voice.

"Yes. It is. The will of the Deities disguises you as a hero but in the beginning, you were mine and mine alone. I will not have you burn for a lost cause, even you find thrill in it. Let the forsaken armies of Pelian perish instead," King Edricus declared.

"Your Majesty..." one of the Commanders began with a pale face, completely bewildered by the words of his King.

What was King Edricus saying?

"Be quiet!"

The other Commanders shivered in rage.

They had always known that their king was petty, ruthless and possessive.

He was an unfeeling bastard who saw only benefits in keeping himself alive and he always resisted death somehow for so many years even before he found Rayn.

He had felt nothing when his wife had three miscarriages.

He had not felt anything after hearing that his only son had perished after facing off against one of the Unions of Fulgardt at the Tattered Serpent's Throat.

And now, he did not care if the entire nation burned.

He would rather keep Rayn by his side as he always had.

Such a fiend for a King!

One of the Commanders bellowed and unsheathed his sword, a murderous glare in his eyes.

If it had come to this...

King Edricus turned to him with a look of shock and rage.

"You would dare?!" he roared with split flying from his mouth.

"I would!" the Commander yelled with a darting wave of his mana.

From the window, a small black bird flapped its wings and settled on the window sill, watching the events happening curiously without drawing attention.

Rayn turned to the Commander who intended on killing Edricus but said nothing.

The tension spun madly.

No one knew what was going to happen.

Would this Commander truly set his blade against the King?

Would Rayn intervene?

The other Commanders decided to say nothing as well and stay out of it. They secretly support their fellow Commander but it was best not to join him.

"You would turn against each other at a time like?" a voice suddenly intruded on the tense scenario.

Everyone turned to find a man wrapped in a dark cloak standing a distance from them.

...!

This man's entry was incredibly suspicious and so was the air around him.

The bird by the window turned its head and blinked a few times before flapping its wings and flying away.

"Who are you?" Rayn asked with narrowed eyes.

This sudden entrant sized up Rayn and snorted.

So this was the one...

A look of hesitation then flashed in his eyes but it vanished when he spoke a reply.

"I would have wanted to declare my disappointment with what I'm seeing but I don't have the luxury of comments or time. Listen to me and listen to me very carefully," the man said.

"I can help you kill Fulgardt and his Chosen."

...!

"What?" King Edricus voiced his disbelief. "How would yo—"

"Silence! While you quarrel among yourselves, Fulgardt is about to enter a Realm of strength that will make it nigh impossible for you to defeat him, do you understand?! If you waste anymore time, the world as you know it is over so just listen!" the man in the cloak cut off the King with a furious, insecurity-ridden bellow.

"Very well then. What can you share?" Rayn stepped forward calmly.

The cloaked man sighed and grit his teeth hiddenly.

From his cloak he pulled out a gold and white cylindrical artefact which he threw at Rayn.

The Royal Knight caught it and examined its surface carefully.

"This is...?"

"A Transcendent grade artefact. It's one of the things you're going to need," the man explained. "Find three volunteers at the Incandescent Stage for this object and recruit at least two more people to become vessels for the Deities. You alone are not enough for this. But with two more vessels backing you up... yes. It should be enough. He's weakened right now."

The Commanders looked at each in confusion wondering if they were missing something.

The only one among them to accept all this without showing suspicion was Rayn.

His eyes flashed with a sharp light that made it clear that he was assessing the validity of this.

The artefact he was holding was indeed Transcendent grade and this man didn't seem to have any malicious intent as far as his abnormal sight could tell.

But more than that was needed in these times.

The Royal Knight walked closer to the cloaked man who didn't budge or show fear.

"You seem so sure that we will trust you," Rayn said.

"You have to."

"And if we don't?"

The man smiled hollowly.

"Then the world YOU made will become a desolate field of black and white. Haha. Even I don't understand what he intends to do anymore," the cloaked man said with hints of exasperation and sorrow.

Rayn frowned.

It was obvious that this man had some kind of inside information but the more he talked, the more he realised that his thinking was too shallow.

"You.... you're one of his Chosen aren't you?"

"Hehe. That I am," the cloaked man admitted.

...!

The King and the Commanders were appalled, the latter drawing their swords in wariness.

The man in the cloak wasn't fazed.

In fact, he disregarded the atmosphere and stared straight into Rayn's eyes as if seeing salvation in them.

"I'm sure Quintess knows but since I might be dying in the next few days, I might as well register my man as whatever the world decides I died as," he said.

"My name is Quilforg."