Chapter 4: Survival is the Only Requirement

“Ah.” Elanor stared at her foot. She’d been walking for hours to the point the sun was starting to rise.

She had picked her way through the dense forest and over boulders, making her way down south to what would hopefully be a human encampment.

The bandages on her feet were covered in mud and had taken quite the beating that in a moment of carelessness she had slipped on the wet stones of a creek and there, in the water, was a thin trail of red floating off of her foot.

“F*ck.”

Elanor didn’t waste a second, her steady pace through the forest suddenly turned into a dead sprint, not even bothering to try and rebandage her foot, it was already too late. Blood had been drawn.

There was a reason she had to escape without leaving a trail of carnage let alone a drop of blood. Demons were hunters, wild in various ways to the point some humans called them animals, beasts.

She was certainly going to be hunted like one the moment they caught the scent of her blood.

If they didn’t know she had escaped then they were going to know very, very soon.

How many leagues had she already crossed? Elanor hadn’t allowed herself a moment of rest since her escape.

She had continued to pick her way across the rough land for the entire night and then some. Only recently had she started to see signs of battle, meaning she was getting close, though she was still inside demon territory.

The sounds of animals were starting to die off, meaning the demons had taken notice.

Her lungs were starting to hurt—her throat painfully dry and her feet were numb by this point. How long had she been running?

They were hunting her, Elanor knew it and she tried to stay focused, keep her senses sharp because she couldn’t afford to get dragged back. Her wariness saved her life and she ducked, almost getting her head lobbed off by a sword, but the sight of pale silver armor made her knees weak with relief.

That pale silver color was distinct, and demons wouldn’t use it out of pride. It was Strirus armor. She made it.

“!!! The Holy Maiden—?! You’re supposed to be with the 12th division!” Gasped the soldier who had almost managed to behead her, but Elanor couldn’t find it in herself to be upset when the man was such a joyous sight to her.

“It was wiped out—the demons tried to capture me alive—I escaped. I need you to take me to the leader of your base—which division am I talking to?” Elanor panted, explaining as fast as she could and the man snapped to attention, quickly urging her along towards the direction of the camp.

“37th, led by General Moore. This way, it isn’t far, only a league. If you were captured, then no doubt you’re being pursued—how did you manage to survive?”

“I’m very stubborn.”

The soldier gave her a disbelieving look but didn’t question her further, just hurrying her along to the camp. No doubt to inform the general about the impending attack and the destruction of the 12th division. It wasn’t something to take lightly.

Their arrival was met with a rather loud reaction, all the soldiers pausing to take in the sight of the Holy Maiden led into the base in muddied, ash covered clothes and still shoeless.

The implications of her arrival had the base whipped up into a frenzy, especially since she wasn’t with her convoy.

As the Holy Maiden she was not supposed to travel alone, she was supposed to travel with a team—though they were more like her guards.

To arrive alone meant something was wrong.

“Where’s the general?” The soldier she was with asked, and they were quickly led to the main tent and Elanor withheld a groan at the familiar face.

She was hoping it was a different General Moore, it wasn’t a rare name after all but no, she hadn’t had any luck recently. He must’ve changed divisions too.

“So, my men were right, the Holy Maiden has arrived at our camp.” General Moore was a man with a face like a bulldog, a bit gruff and smushed, and he was definitely not a happy man.

They had some history which was why Elanor didn’t like him, but she wouldn’t have liked him on principal with how he viewed this war. He was one of the people in the kingdom who thought demons were monsters and heretics that needed to be wiped out, by any means necessary.

He was vicious, unrelenting, and a self-centered son of a b*tch who looked down on most people.

The problem was he wasn’t incompetent and was a halfway decent tactician which meant he kept his position of general and had managed to keep himself alive for the past decade despite the war.

“General,” Elanor greeted tensely, holding back a frown.

“Report.” He ignored her, instead turning to his soldier.

“Sir! I spotted the Holy Maiden 10 minutes ago, thinking she was a demon before confirming her identity and quickly returning to camp. From what I’ve gathered the demons attempted to capture her live, but she escaped. I believe we’ll be met with their forces in an attempt to regain her and cripple our defenses.”

“Hmm, yes, that’s a ploy they’d attempt, the degenerate cowards,” he sneered. “Dismissed. Ready the men, I want our army ready to meet them head on.”

“General, I have to implore you to pull back.” Elanor broke in. This was what she hated about him. He was always too ready to fight. “We’re too deep into demon territory, especially with the 12th division having been taken out along with my convoy. We won’t be able to request help if the demons attack—and they kept me alive, they’re certainly going to try to attack.”

“Then let them try. Do you know how much we’ve lost trying to gain ground against these beasts? We cannot give up an inch!”

“We’ve already given up hundreds though! Hundreds of lives—thousands of lives—and this war still isn’t over!” Elanor wanted to protest more but she wasn’t allowed to.

The crack of flesh, the bright sting of pain against her cheek from being hit, it wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling.

Seems he had more than one reason to dismiss his men in preparation for the fight. It wouldn’t do to have the soldiers see their leader ‘disciplining’ her.

“Then we will lay down our lives if need be, you are the Holy Maiden! Pull yourself together! You are a symbol; the people must not know you’re so sacrilegious and doubting of their strength.”

“I’m being realistic,” she gritted out, enough though those weren’t the words she wanted to say.

Why wasn’t HE laying down his life then? Why was he still alive if he thought sacrificing the living for this war was necessary?

Elanor knew why she couldn’t sacrifice hers; she was not so ignorant about herself and her beliefs that she’d deny that she was unwilling to die for the kingdom. Fight, maybe, but not die for it.

She knew a lot of the soldiers thought about glory and rewards, truly believed that they were giving up their lives for a just cause. Some had no choice when they were drafted, but they were convinced this was the right thing to do.

The reason they gained ground was because humans would lay their lives down for a battle, demons wouldn’t dare put their lives on the line for anything less than winning the war.

A battle of resources and endurance—and Elanor hated how they were only pulling ahead because of the sacrifices the kingdom was making. That people were being sacrificed.

Was that war? Frankly she didn’t care and wasn’t allowed to care, they had made it very clear that she was no general to move the soldiers nor allowed to argue.

She herself was useful but just another soldier in the long run. That’s why she was supposed to kill herself upon capture. She was replaceable.

Someone sounded the war horn and Elanor took a breath, pushing down the sick feeling in her stomach along with the dread.

“Get into formation!”

“Holy Maiden, to the rear guard!”

“I’m going,” muttered Elanor, making her way to her position.

“Move it!”

“I’m going!” She snapped, walking a bit faster, grinding her teeth and bawling her fists. She was exhausted, she was p*ssed, she wanted to scream, especially at General Moore’s idiocy.

Once more she had a job to do even if she knew the outcome.

Hypocritical—egotistical-! B*st*rd!

Elanor wanted to do more but at the moment, all she could do was stick to her plan and try to stay alive.

The demons met them in a familiar manner. Even being in the rear guard felt no different from being with the midrange spell casters, they were still just sharpshooting the demons of the sky.

Moore was not a bad general, his formations and attacks seemed to do damage, but just like before HE appeared on the battlefield and turned the tide. Worse, he was furious at her little escape stunt.

This time though, Elanor was prepared for him and met him head on with her own magic, not an attack but a barrier, blocking his fire storm.

“Retreat! RETREAT!” The order which should’ve been given long before the battle began finally met her ears and they tried to pull back.

Her barrier had barely done anything, and the hundreds of soldiers barely went into the double digits. It wasn’t nearly enough, but with this there was no way they’d be able to get everyone.

The demons weren’t focusing on the retreating soldiers though, no, the target had always been known.

Elanor was exhausted, barely able to stand, worse off than the last time to the point she couldn’t even fight back as the General of Pride flew towards her and in rage, grabbed her by her head and slammed her into the ground.

Black spots immediately danced in her vision and if Elanor didn’t have a concussion she’d be surprised.

The 12th and 37th vanguards had been taken out, the Holy Maiden captured and alive in the hands of the demon army.

However, this time the kingdom would know that she was alive, and they’d have no choice but to pull back to strengthen the hold on their own territories. They’d be down a Holy Maiden—and it was an unspoken secret that she wouldn’t lay down her life for the kingdom.

Elanor couldn’t help but smile, she wished she could’ve escaped but this…she could work with this. The Holy Maiden was still alive, so it wasn’t over yet.

“What are you smiling for?” Snarled the General, raising her head off the ground and slamming her back down without hesitation or restraint.

Ah. She might have to correct her previous statement. The kingdom would believe she was alive. However, if the General of Pride didn’t kill her for wounding his namesake, then he was surely going to make her go through hell for it.

Oh well, what was the Holy Maiden if not a prisoner to the title she bore? The only thing Elanor needed to do was survive so let the General of Pride rage. As long as she didn’t die…she’d manage.

Somehow.