Paladins and Prisoners. (Final)(Final)

Lindon was a former elven soldier and now the title of former demon army conscript was also added to him.

A few hours after Lucifer and his group left, the barrack was attacked by a magical white light.

It shone over the barracks for a few seconds and disappeared instantly but after it faded away many of the demon soldiers who were in contact with the white light disappeared into the light, leaving no remains.

After Lindon gained his vision he saw many men wearing scapular over their body which is fully covered in armor marching into the barracks.

(A/N: Scapular is robe-like clothing that is worn by priests.)

They blindly started killing the blinded demons that were previously outside the magical light.

These men reminded Lindon of paladins but for someone who is well versed in religion, they looked like a group of armored men pretending to be paladins.

These fake paladins smashed opened the barrack gates using siege rams and after they were in they started killing the remaining demon soldiers and burnt the barracks.

While everything burnt in front of him, Lindon regretted the choices he made in the past. He always suspected that there were human spies inside the barracks but he never had enough evidence to approach them.

If he had searched for spies inside the barracks rather than starting a revolution he might have been a part of this.

Lindon saw few men, he suspected were spies, meeting with the men in armors. The paladins handed them a heavy leather pouch and a scroll of parchment. Clearly rewards for their services.

He started walking towards the gates trying his best to suppress the regret he was feeling.

Before he could reach the gates a man in full armor stopped him. "Where do you think you're going?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" ... "I am leaving this godforsaken place so that I can return to my motherland," Lindon answered the paladin.

"You will do no such thing."

"What?" Lindon raised his brow.

"We have been ordered to take everyone inside the barracks as prisoners."

"What the hell do you mean?" Lindon was furious, "Who ordered you to do that?"

"The order was given from the high priest of the temple of seven lights." The man smirked behind his helm.

"The temple of seven lights?"

Lindon was confused, he tried to recall any religion named the seven lights but failed to recall one.

"I never heard of it and I don't care. Now step aside I am leaving." Lindon glared at the paladin and strode forward.

He stopped his steps when he saw a few more paladins appear behind the first one.

"We can't let you leave. Our orders were clear that we are to capture any non-human as prisoners."

The paladins began to subdue him and started tying his hands.

"Unhand me you mother fucker." He cursed at the paladins who ignored him and continued their work.

The first paladin came closer to him and placed a crusade dagger on his cheek. He pushed the blade into his flesh making a small cut in his face.

"Just stay quiet or else." The paladin threatened.

Lindon saw the look in his eyes. It was full of malice Lindon somehow knew that the person before him wanted him to fight back. The killing intent in his eyes was clear as day.

…

"Ooooff." Lindon moaned when he landed inside the floor of a cage.

Lindon stood up straight and noticed a few people around him. Everyone inside the cage was an elf and had wound all over their body.

He didn't recognize anyone meaning that no one here was from the barracks.

The cage was built into a cart and it started moving. The caged jerked when one of its wheels passed over a stone.

Lindon lost his balance and fell on his butt. He wasn't hurt since he landed on another person.

"Sorry about that." He apologized to the man he fell on.

The man did not answer him, Lindon took a closer look and found that the man before him was dead. Apparently, his tongue was cut off and from the looks of it, he died from over bleeding.

He looked around and saw that everyone inside the cage had lifeless eyes. They were all thin and appeared malnourished.

'They must have been inside the cage for a few weeks,' he deduced after looking at the stains on the floor and their body.

Lindon looked around the cage and saw an elven girl. He watched her closely and saw noticed that she had heterochromia, a trait only reserved for the powerful nobles of elven society.

He moved closer to the girl while maintaining his balance inside the shaking cart and sat next to her. The elven girl scooted to her sides giving Lindon appropriate sitting space.

The woman upon closer look appeared like a teenager but in human years she would be around 35 however in elven years she was still a juvenile.

Lidon covered his mouth with his hand and spoke with the voice only the girl could hear him.

"Hello there, my name is Lindon. What's yours?"

The girl looked around in confusion asking herself if Lindon was talking to her.

"My name is Noel." The girl replied in a soft low voice.

"I don't want to be rude but are you some sort of noble in the elven kingdom?"

Noel shivered and glared at Lindon, "How did you Kn-?" She stopped while distancing herself from him.

"Your eyes," Lindon said while pointing his own eyes.

The girl unconsciously covered one of her eyes with her hand, "You better not tell anyone about this." she threatened.

"I won't I promise but you'll have to help me."

"How?" She asked while tilting her head.

"Can you use any high tier magic?"

The girl thought for a while and spoke, "I can use gale burst."

"Gale burst huh?" ... "Are there any offensive spells that you can use?" He asked.

"I can't tell you that." She glared at him.

"Okay I understand, I won't ask force you to answer but can you answer me some other questions."

Noel signaled him to continue.

"Can you tell me what is a daughter of noble doing inside this cage? Because last time I checked humans and elves were in good terms with each other."

She turned to her side and ground her teeth before muttering, "A few months back humans attacked our kingdom and captured many of our people." ... "I was sent on the mission to free all the captured elves."

"I guess it didn't go well?" She glared at him at that remark.

"We were captured the moment we entered the human kingdom." She punched the floor with a frustrated look on her face.

"Somebody ratted you out," Lindon said with a genuine surprise.

Noel nodded in response and continued, "They always hated me. It must have been my stepmother who did that."

Lindon remained silent respecting Noel. He did not speak until Noel broke the silence.

"Tell me about your self? Where did you come from?" She asked him.

"Well, I used to be a soldier you see."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but since I was a Youdh, I never got promoted."

"That's-" she avoided any eye contact and scratched her head.

"It's alright, I have already excepted my reality."

"I guess I should apologize for the nobles."

"You don't need to that, it isn't your fault." He comforted her.

"Thank you." Noel bowed before him.

"By the way, do you know some elves that can use strong magic?" Lindon asked changing the topic of conversation.

"There were few who came with me, I bet they can use high tier spells."

"Wow! that would be great if you can contact them," Lindon scratched his face with an embarrassed smile and said, "You see I am planning on escaping from here and if you help me you can come with me."

"Escaping?" She voiced her genuine surprise. She covered her mouth when she noticed that her voice was too loud. She looked around and saw no one reacted to her, "How are you planning to do that?"

"I will tell you everything when the time is right," He said while pointing at the humans covered in armor, "but right now all I can say is that I need mages for my plan. Can you introduce them to me?"

She thought for a while and answered, "When it starts to get dark these humans place all the cages next to each other in a group, if we are lucky then our cage will the placed next to my companions. If that happens then I can talk to them about your plan."

"Thank you that would be great," he said while holding her hand which made her blush.

Lindon pretended to think for a while and asked, "Can you describe their looks to me?"

Noel raised her brows and replied, "I can but how is that going to help you."

"Don't worry I have some skills that will make sure that our cage is placed next to theirs. All I need is their description and if you can add some unique characteristics that would be a great help too."

...

...

...

"My lord you should leave me here and travel on your own." Surge spoke from the shoulders of Lucifer.

"Just shut up and stay still."

In the previous battle, he was paralyzed when he tried to save Lucifer from a spell.

Lucifer stopped when he saw a small river.

It was the river that divided the forest into two sections, it could also be said that it acted as a border between the holy kingdom and the rest of the world.

Lucifer placed Surge below a tree's shade and walked into the water. He drank from the river until he was full. He cupped his hands and washed his face.

Lucifer stared at his own reflection and saw a pathetic image. His hairs were messy and his horns longer than last time. He recalled what happened and felt a great sense of shame.

Lucifer was a demon and what happened to him during the fight was called a demonic rage. For a demon to go into a demonic rage is considered a taboo and shameful.

In a demonic rage, a demon loses all their senses and their minds become blank. It is said that those who go into a demonic rage are inexperienced warriors who can't control their emotions. It is mostly frowned upon by demons who have honed their skills since demonic rage is something that only primitive demons did.

In modern-day it would be equivalent to use bronze tools instead of industrial steel tools. Both are more or less equally effective but one would always judge if a mechanic used primitive tools to fix their car.

"Cough, cough." Lucifer turned towards Surge when he heard him coughing.

He quickly rushed towards him and placed his hands behind his head.

" Are you alright?" Lucifer asked him.

"I am cough* cough* not so sure." Surge answered him between his coughs.

"Don't worry you will be fine." He said while placing his head gently to the tree.

"I am sorry My lord but I don't think that's true." Surge said while turning his head towards his hands.

It didn't look like it but Surge was trying to lift his hand. When he failed he was reminded of how useless he had become.

"Don't say that?" Lucifer yelled at him. "We can still do something if we reach the demon kingdom."

"I and glad that you are worried about me but my time has come." He shifted his eyes towards the sky and continued, "I don't know what that light did to me but I am sure we both know I won't survive for long."

"Didn't I say it already you'll be fine if we reach demon kingdom."

"Please My lord be reasonable and leave me here. You can head faster if you travel alone."

"I can't do that," Lucifer shouted.

"Why is that?"

"I don't think you heard but that Human." He spoke with pure malice, "He said that demons don't have friends and he said that I should stop pretending to be nice when I share the same blood as-."

"It doesn't matter who demons were in the past." Surge growled before he could complete his sentence. "What matters now is that the demon kingdom needs its king and as such it is your responsibility to be there,"

"Don't say stupid things."

"My lord is the one who is speaking stupid things. As a king, you have the responsibility towards the kingdom and for that, you have to return to them. 'My services are not to the king nor to the people who live but to the country that I call home.'" Surge quoted the famous sentence from the pledge that every soldier takes when they join the demon king's army.

"That is a soldier's resolute but as a king, I serve the people, 'A kingdom is when people are.' A kingdom with anyone living in it is the same as ruins."

"Which is exactly why you need to return. You need to lead them and protect them from the danger we faced today. Without you, the nation would perish."

"How can you say that? How can you tell that I will be able to do that? It should have been obvious that I shouldn't have attacked the holy kingdom without any support but I still did. I always blamed others that they were going lazy but when I look at myself I find myself to be the one who has failed to improve."

"My king." He said in a soft tone, "I know it is hard for you, if things are considered then you are still a child. I pity that our country has to rely on a child but remember this, my king, as a king, you will make mistakes and many people will die but you cannot lose hope. Your father told me something about you when you were still a child. He said to me, "Surge, my son is the greatest demon that the world has ever seen, I believe that he has the power to unite the world but he doubts his capabilities, I wish he could only see what I see in him." and your father was right. I can also see you in the same light as your father did."

"What if you both are wrong and I was just a failure from the beginning?"

"I can never doubt the words of a king and when I saw you giving a speech to the conscripts at that moment I saw what your father saw in you all those years. I don't want to brag but I have never been wrong in things like this." He gave Lucifer a heartful smile and lifted his hands and placed it on his shoulder.

"I understand." Lucifer resolved himself and wiped his tears. "Commander Surge you have served the army well and your tales of bravery will be passed down from generation to generation."

"Thank you, My Lord, I am grateful for your generosity." He took something from his pocket and handed it to Lucifer, "This is a ring of disguise," He said, "this is what most of our spies use to infiltrate into human nations. Use this to cross the country borders and try your best to find a way back to the demon kingdom."

"Thank you Surge." He held his hand.

"Now go and the first thing you should do is get rid of your clothes. Humans don't go around wearing lavishing clothes such as yours, find a regular piece of clothes for yourself."

"I will take my leave," Lucifer said while leaving Surge behind. He did not turn back because he knew he would not be able to comply with Surge's request if he did.

"Be victorious." Surge said in a soft voice preventing any misfortunes from hearing his words.