ONTO STONEWALL

Morning came.

Evelyn and her knights mounted their horses and promptly set out for Stonewall as planned.

On their way there, Evelyn performed a spell.

[Bara Arts, Silent Voice]

"Attention, all knights! Attention, all knights! This is your commander speaking!"

Evelyn's voice was suddenly heard within the mind of every soldiers following her.

Silent Voice was a magic spell that allows one to communicate telepathically with another person via harmless mana transfer.

Since the knights could not utilize mana as well as Evelyn, the only way they could reply was through their regular voice instead mentally.

Evelyn had arranged the spell so that she could hear everything her knights spoke back to her through their own voice.

"We are currently heading to our main objective, Stonewall. According to the town chief, there were 22 gargoyles in the area. The weather is clear, no changes to the terrain so far. We'll proceed to Stonewall and carry out our strategy as planned."

Evelyn raised the Lucerna for all the soldiers following her to see.

"In the name of our Lord Einsof, we will vanquish the demons and free Stonewall from evil. May Einsof be with us!"

"YES, MY LADY!"

The band of knights galloped through the forest, edging closer and closer to Stonewall.

After a while, they could make out Stonewall ahead of them.

"Approaching the town. All knights, prepare to assume formation."

Suddenly a horrifying shriek was heard from Stonewall.

The scary sound threw some of the soldiers into panic, making them instinctively pulled the reins of their horses to stop advancing.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"IT'S THE DEMONS!"

"THE GARGOYLES!"

The sudden burst of panic threw the whole party into a frenzy.

The whole band stopped in the middle of the road. The horses jumped around as their riders were scared. Screams were let out as the situation had turned for the worst.

Evelyn was not happy with this sight. She tried to calm them down.

"Steel your heart, my knights! Do not show your fear! We must not let the gargoyles to-"

A loud shriek suddenly interrupted Evelyn.

She turned her head and saw two winged creatures flying towards them.

"(The gargoyles! They're here! The scream attracted them!)"

The Leonardo knights were terrified even more as they saw the demons rushing to them with their beastly claws and fangs.

Evelyn sighed at this pathetic state of her army.

She raised her magic staff toward the gargoyles and casted a spell.

[Bara Arts, Magic Bind]

The two gargoyles coming at them were suddenly wrapped in ropes of light. Causing the two creatures to fell to the ground in front of the knights, completely immobilized.

The soldiers turned quiet at the sight of this. They were petrified. Both from the sight of the demons so near to them and how Evelyn effortlessly incapacitated the creatures.

Evelyn tapped the base of the Lucerna to the ground and casted another magic spell.

[Bara Arts, Wall of Sound]

A translucent barrier in the form of a box was formed around Evelyn, her knights, and the two gargoyles. It prevented any sound from escaping the barrier, allowing them to converse freely without alerting the rest of the demons in the area.

She then went over to her horrified soldiers.

"PATHETIC!" shouted Evelyn. "I've told you that a display of fear will attract gargoyles from their hunting ground. How the gargoyles would shriek to induce display of fear from their prey. But you still did not put enough effort to wall your heart with courage!"

The Leonardo soldiers could only watch their commander in silence. They had no excuse for their misbehavior.

Evelyn sighed at their state.

"The first thing you need to have to fight a demon is not weapon. Nor armor. Nor magic."

Evelyn pointed to her heart.

"It is courage. You need to have courage first before you begin your battle against demons. Without courage, there's no way you will win!"

The Chosen One then pointed the Lucerna to one of the gargoyles' eyes.

"Like I said before, the weakness of a gargoyle is in their eye. If you strike their eye--"

 [Bara Arts, Fire Lance]

The Lucerna glowed up and shot a fire projectile through the gargoyle's eyes, creating a see-through hole on its head. The creature let out a brief shriek and went silent as a rock.

Evelyn disabled the magic bind spell on that gargoyle. It remained motionless even when it was already freed..

The gargoyle was defeated.

"—then you'll strike the gargoyle's core, rendering them into a mere slab of rock. Killing them instantly."

Seeing how their commander just slayed a gargoyle, the soldiers' fear began to fade.

Evelyn then pointed her magic staff to the other gargoyle. But instead of killing it, Evelyn levitated the creature to the air.

She looked to one of the knights all the way in the back of the crowd.

"You over there! Ready your arrow and shoot the gargoyle right in the eye!" ordered Evelyn.

The noble lady's voice was so stern and commanding that the soldier did not dare to question her and followed her instruction immediately.

He grabbed his bow and arrow and aimed toward the gargoyle's eye.

The soldier pulled the string of his bow as hard as he could.

He held his breath and let his aim stabilized.

The knight then let go of his breath as well as the string, letting the arrow to fly to the floating gargoyle, all the way through its eye. Killing it instantly.

Evelyn deactivated her spell and the gargoyle fell to the ground. It remained motionless like its fellow creature earlier.

All the other soldiers were amazed by how they just killed two gargoyles without any casualty.

They all then looked to the one who made it possible: Evelyn Leonardo.

"I'm telling you this for the last time: Have courage. Put your trust in me as your leader. And I promise you, we'll emerge victorious."