chapter 17

James: Surely that is interesting. What might her name be?

Eleanor: Dark Lady Hecate.

James: Interesting. And what might her element be.

Eleanor: Darkness.

James: So we are here to talk about how to kill a demon lady.

Queen: Yes.

James: And the military family is the best idea that had come to the mind of the person who has had a lot of experience in having eliminated the threat of rogue ladies over the years before she became the queen.

The knights drew their sword. The queen held her hand.

Queen: No. They were the ones who gave me the information and also asked me to be able to attend this meeting.

James: I think I can handle this alone.

Queen: Interesting. Are you saying you are ready to accept the mission and also the oncoming all wars under your name without the help of any of the military family or the generals? Do you really want to be a war time general?

James knew he did not want this. But the matter was really simple. He had to get the problem singlehandedly as he needed to escape. There was high chance that Agni had used flare to show she was of darkness. He needed to get this mission alone so that he can make sure there is no problem, at least not for some time. But if it was someone other than Agni, he will have to take care of the ongoing wars himself. Even though the responsibility was high, it was better than having to give away your troops or to have your glory taken away. It was really the better option.

James: Yes.

Queen: You do know right that such a declaration would give me power over you to give you missions and other jobs.

James: I am ready to serve you.

Lady Stonewood: We did not agree to this. General Everly was promised a part in the battle.

James: I can take care of this myself.

James stressed out the point with knocking his hands on the table on each word.

Lady Rookwood: It is true. He is really capable and there is no need for any of the other families interfering.

Lady Stonewood: You are just supporting him because he is your anointed blade.

Lady Merrywood: We all do that Cecily. But Remember Selena, James will have to do this as General griffin. He will not be allowed to accept any help from anyone else.

Lady Rookwood: Its Lady Selena and General Griffin.

Queen: I don't see if there is any matter of discussion needed. The rules state what needed to be done at these cases simply. James has accepted to be a war time general than a commander general and will lead all the battles himself. He has the right to decide if he needs the help from any other family or not, he can even demand it from you.

Everly: Do you remember the last time we played chess James? The offer is still up. You just need to ask for help now in front of everyone and I will.

James: It is true General Everly. But I would like to summon the automats and see how they work for once. The conditions fit nicely and I do not need to endanger any other life.

Eleanor: The command to send them back is Leave me be.

James: These are just statements.

Queen: True: But are you sure you need to use the ultimate move of the general now itself. Just because you are allowed to do it as many times as you want would not mean you should do it for every single time.

James: True. But I have to at least use it once right.

Queen: You hold the power to kill the whole population this queendom. Why would you want to unleash it once?

James: How much do you know about the army, my queen?

Queen: I was one the general dragon.

James: True. But the present army griffin is mainly well at mainland wars. They are all about strategy and strength of the group. But the Dark ladies will be full about magic and summons. The army will be nothing but fodder.

Queen: True. Then why did start recruiting new people and make the army up to thirty thousand members.

James: The patterns of the goblin wars. Every time the number increases and the previous time it was fifty thousand enemies we faced.

Queen: Did you know that the goblins wared every four years and were repelled all the time the same way? The problem is your recruiting is causing many members of the dragon army to quit and join the griffin army themselves.

James: It makes it easy for me. And if you want them to be fit and ready, maybe you should choose a general.

Queen: The reason I did not have any general was because I liked warfare. Every time a Dark lady appeared the dragon army marched with me to the lady's castle and I would defeat each one piece by piece.

The eyes of the queen shone with radiance. The wars she has fought and the victories she had achieved was really known to the new generation. The enjoyment was clearly visible on her face when she remembered the screaming faces of the defeated ladies.

James: My queen, I just hope that you can trust me this one and let me mobilise the metal army. I need it for once. And just because the goblins did not arrive, does not mean that they are already gone for good. They might appear out of the blue and attack the fort while the griffin army is in the north west region.

Queen: General. You have been given authority to wage wars as you feel fit. You may go and war against the lady. I just want her to be dead. No mercy, whoever she might be.

James: Yes Queen.

James stood from the chair and bowed to the queen.

Queen: Are you leaving right now?

James: I never waste any time for unnecessary things.

Queen: You may leave. Tell me one final thing. Did you actually kill the fire dragon all by yourself?

James looked into the eyes of the queen for the first time. The queen looked into the eyes of the general for the first time too. They locked into each other's eyes. They knew they both were hunters. Both fighting to live one more day.

James: Why? Yes, did l kill the dragon all be myself.

James left the room without saying any further words. All looked at the man who had such greatness in him. The queen stared at the man and unknowingly licked her lips.

James had been riding for two days until he reached the visible castle. He looked at the dark castle. He looked at from afar and then went near. He called out for Agni's name but she did not appear. Many monsters began approaching her until a lady came and stopped them with a command word.

Hecate: If it is that you are interested in summoning you elemental, that is not going to work.

James knew that he was wrong. He knew that if he acknowledged Agni, it would be hi own establishment that would be destroyed by the army. But he never the possibility of another dark lady. No. Her aura was that of the demon lady.

James: Are you the Dark Lady Hecate?

Hecate laughed out loud sinisterly.

Hecate: You have an affinity for the darkness yourself right. I am the Demon Lady Hecate.

James: Sorry. Wrong address. I will come by later.

Hecate: I am Hecate. It's just that the queen always calls anyone who opposes her as dark lady.

James smiled serenely and then said without breaking a sweat.

James: This is your final warning. Otherwise the General griffin of the queendom of Fenrir shall wage war against you.

Hecate: And who are you?

James: I am just an envoy.

Hecate: Then your corpse shall be my answer.

Demonic aura began spreading around him. He looked at the lady in front of him. James laughed as the aura did nothing to him. Hecate began sending demons against him and James released the fire that was burning deep inside his heart.

Hecate: You are not an ordinary envoy. I can see the crest of the general on you.

James: How about this. I shall give you three days to align all the demons you have in a row and even get prepared. I shall give you a proper battle.

Hecate: Your army does well in mainland warfare. What make you think I shall even leave my castle?

James: Do you really think your castle is impregnable.

Hecate: Yes:

James: I can see darkness and its particles. My soldiers will be released all together and all the demons you have shall be flanked. There will be no way you will survive this.

Hecate: What makes you say so?

James: There is a reason there has not been many dark ladies alive in the past. The army always wins at last.

Hecate: I shall give you three days. I am letting you leave.

James: I have just one request.

Hecate: Yes:

James: Fight like a demon lady.

James turned back and walked out of the castle. After some time, he climbed his horse and rode on further. The problem was thee availability of a huge land. He found what was nearly straight land, though there were areas where the land was uneven and had minor hills. He remembered what was said by the queen. Ordinary soldiers should not know the existence of the real griffin army. That was already solved. The calling of the army was little more than summoning. It was calling a being that was already in the lands. Like calling a dog.

James touched his crest and raided both his hands high. His right fingers touching the left hand. He spoke out the words of incantation.

James: Urubus sen mea akkine.

James looked at himself in wonder at the change in words. He did not understand how what he meant had changed. James waited for some time until the ground rumbled and there came metal soldiers like men but the size of a bul. Their left arms had crossbows and their right arm held a sword. James waited for another hour or two until all the fifty thousand was aligned and ready. All the automates were black in colour except the one in front, whom had red colour. The red coloured bot approached James and bowed to him.

Chibbi: My name is Chibbi. I am the commander of this division.

James: You can speak.

Chibbi: We can all speak.

James: I had heard that you all were under the ground.

Chibbi: It is true that we were asleep but we all have thoughts and are connected by a single thought process.

James: There is only one commander for you all.

Chibbi: Yes. You can easily give orders to me while I give to the. You can also directly order them.

James: Interesting.

Chibbi: Interesting.

James: Can you fight right now?

Chibbi: Yes ser.

James: I shall lead you to a castle. Kill anyone and everything that appears in sight. Leave the lady of the house alive.

Chibbi: We can finish her ourselves.

James: True. But I would like to have conversation with her.

Chibbi: Yes sir.

James: Its ser.

Chibbi: Yes sir.

James: Final question. Do what you hear and see get recoded.

Chibbi: We get new memories and new personalities in each summons by a new general.

James: The thing I am asking is will you tell anyone else like the queen if she asks you what I had done.

Chibbi: I don't get the meaning sir.

James: Direct order. Turn around.

All the soldier including Chibbi turned around. James looked to see if anyone was looking at him. James called Agni in his mind and there appeared Agni out of thin flames.

James: Why did you not come when I called you the previous time?

Agni: Anti-Summoning field.

James: Are you telling that your fire walking skills are part of summoning magic?

Agni: Yes.

James: Is that demon lady under your control or was she summoned by you?

Agni: No.

James: I am going to war against her.

Agni: Should I get onto your body, after all I have already bound with you.

James: I do not remember forming a contract.

Agni: We did. But the contact was of affection. You like me for my power while I like you for your benevolence. I accepted you as my lord.

James: So, if you enter my body and do not interfere with me, we will be able to talk all the time and also there will be no problem with the summoning.

Agni: Yes.

James sighed. He was getting frustrated by the pace the things were going. The pressure on him was quite high. So what if he knew that he was going to come out alive and even win this if he had to suffer through every single second. The unrest caused by knowing that he was going to have immense power but he has to live until then without them was quite high.

James: Agni. I am sorry but I want you to return to the castle and continue being evasive. Use glamor to cover the castle.

Agni looked at James and nodded yes. She then vanished into thin air. James commanded the army to be ready and mounted the horse.

James: Let's go.

James rode forwards really fast on the horse. Even then the armies were able to catch up with him He really felt like a general now, feeling the whole army besides him. He knew he had given three days to get prepared but which fool will wait till then when the army is already ready. James approached the castle and saw that the army of demons were already ready. Countless demons were seen even before they reached the castle. It seemed as if their strategy was to wait till the general was near the castle and then close in. James stopped in the fear of losing any single soldier to see that demons were killed by his soldiers as though they were mincemeat. The arrows even returned back after it had hit the target.

James went onwards with the army and entered the castle. On his path he saw many demons lying on the sides and killed every single one of them with fire. In times he even used his sword. The sword that was gifted to him by the princess. Suddenly the castle was blown apart. James was thrown away and so did his soldiers. They all regrouped onwards to the general. A giant centipede had appeared from the ground and the castle was broken. James gave a war cry and advanced further when suddenly he understood the truth. He was standing on the ground. He suddenly started looking everywhere to find his horse. He saw the reigns of his horse being eaten by a demon. Anger flared inside James. He called onto darkness and crushed the heart of the demon. The fell down to the ground. James looked back to see that the centipede was already killed.

James just stood there in the ground. The army was too powerful that his help was needed at all. Whenever a demon or a lower level monster came near him, he killed them telekinetically by crushing their hearts. James was looking at the castle when there appeared another explosion.

James: Not another centipede.

James thought. James looked to see a globe of light shining in the air radiating purple radiance. The soldiers were trying to approach the radiance but were not able to. James looked closely to the light. It was not a radiance. It was a barrier.

James commanded the army to stand back and clean up the mess. He knew that this was the final move of the dark lady, or the demon lady. The sacrificial barrier requiring to have all the mana stored in the body to be given for exchange of the shield of same power. The more the attacks on the barrier, the stronger it became. The soldiers were killing the left-over demons. James approached the barrier and tested it with applying energy. He was not able to budge the barrier at all. James knew the principle behind the barrier.

The barrier was easily destroyable from the inside but the principal was simple. I anyone is able to provide more than twice the energy of the shield, it broke down. But James knew the lady was collecting energy from a long period of time. James knew it was easier to break from the inside. James concentrated all his energy onto one point of the shield. He applied exactly twice the energy and there appeared a hole. James slowly walked inside the barrier.

The inside was beautiful. There was nothing of utter importance except a beautiful lady sitting on the ground having accepted her fate. The sadness in the situation was true, but the beaty behind her conviction was the highest. James looked to see that he was able to see everything properly. The barrier did not produce any limit to vision to the people outside. James went and sat next to Hecate.

James: Are you angry at me?

Hecate had a tear drop from her eyes. She kept looking straight without turning back.

James: You might not have known of the metal army right.

Hecate: I did know of the metal army. I just thought it was a myth. Never should have announced myself to the world so easily.

James: I was going to do the same thing. I need to find a way to kill the army.

Hecate smiled through the sobs hearing this.

Hecate: I knew you were going to attack me right then.

James: I knew you knew it.

Hecate: Are you interested in being a demon lady, or for you a demon lord.

James: More like a dark lord.

Hecate: What is your name?

James: James Rookwood.

Hecate: You dark name. The name of the dark lord has some powers. It is unique to each lord.

James: I don't know. Dark Lord James Cynnity, Dark Lord Of Cynnity. There appeared a dark light in front of the chest of James.

Hecate: You are accepted as a dark lord. Humans won't be able to tell it, not even the queen or the most powerful mages but beast will and so will the demons be able to too.

James: I had just joked now.

Hecate: What is the meaning of Cynnity.

James: I just made the word from cynicism to appear interesting as a joke. I do not want my dark name to be Cynnity.

Hecate: James, embrace your name. I can understand by hearing it that it is a powerful name.

James: True. Why did you become a demon lady?

Hecate: Why did you do it though you are now hiding behind the general post?

James: Freedom and mainly power. But I wanted to know why you announced it to the world.

Hecate: I didn't. The queen has her own way of detecting the castle. By the way your fire castle is really good.

James: You noticed.

Hecate: I knew I was going to lose to you before itself. Handling a Lordess does take a lot of skill.

James: You did fail. You are now going too lose your life over freedom.

Hecate: Wouldn't you give it away.

James: My main goal of life is to keep on living.

Hecate: Nice. Just a heads up. Every few years the goblin king sends the extra people to their south that is to our borders to conquer it. He is growing more and more stronger. He has been breeding orcs, ogres and even other beasts. The only person a goblin king bows to is a dark lord.

James: How do you know it?

Hecate: Fenrir isn't the only human settlement. I come from a very far away place. I was powerless in my kingdom, that's why I came here.

James: The sky is beautiful.

Hecate: Not everyone involved in the dark arts can enjoy the noon sun.

James: The world is too beautiful for its people.

Hecate: James. Knowing your kingdom, a final warning. Do not hate women. There are some good women too like there are bad men.

James smiled into the air. Hecate was not able to see the smile but knew he had done so. She smiled herself. James put away the sword that was given to him by the princess and accessed the spear from his extradimensional space where he had stored it. James looked at it and showed it to the demon lady.

James: I used this spear to kill the dragon singlehandedly.

Hecate: The spear had live dragon blood on it. It is one of the most powerful weapons you have. Let me tell you a secret. Why do you think the dark lords rather dark ladies in this part build their castle on these hills?

James: Because it is independent from the queendom.

Hecate: Because of the forest. There are many live and terrible beasts besides dragons and they are in the deeper parts which are directly accessible through the mountains. You can make a new weapon from these materials.

James: True.

James took back the spear and held it hardly against his skin. The flow of fire energy was quite high in the spear.

Hecate: I want you to accept my ring.

James: Why?

Hecate: It does not have any curse in it. It is a ring that can only be worn by someone to whom it was given to by the predecessor.

James: True. But I am not interested in relying on objects, especially the ones I cannot reproduce myself.

Hecate: This ring has been worn by countless mage lords of different times, passed on from enemy to enemy and friend to friend. This ring only contains the wishes of all those dark lords. To find true freedom. When you face a doubt just look at this ring. It will remind you my words.

James: The ring has no magic on it.

Hecate: The only power it has is anti-magic essence. It will never be able to be destroyed.

James accepted the ring and wore it on his left hand. The ring shone for once and returned to its ordinary state. James and Hecate stared into the sky as it turned dusk. The interlink between day and night. The time of rise of the darkness and the countless lights. The true meaning of magic, multitude of directions, the dimensions interlinking to form souls and spirits that enter the body. The body a entanglement of its own sort.

James: Good night.

James suddenly stood and lifted his spear to the air and stoke it to the heart of the demon lady. Blood began dripping through the end of the spear. The barrier was removed and the soldiers were seen standing in order. Hecate whispered the last words of her life.

Hecate: Good night.

James looked into the sky with the spear ploughed into her heart.

James: Your body shall not be eaten by any beast. Your body shall not be taken as a trophy by any woman. Sleep Hecate, daughter of the night. Be one with the fire of Hades.

James pulled into the fire he had within him and released it into the spear. The body slowly dissolved as the energy spread to the end parts of the body. Nothing was left in the end except the spear dripped in dried blood, the spear of blood. James held himself on the spear that killed a demon lady. He looked at his troops and spoke to the commander.

James: Let me be.