NO DIFFRENT IN THE DARK

The night was cold and haughty with a bellowing breeze. The moon sat at its peak bathing the frozen scape in its pristine blue light.

Strolling about the freezing land unperturbed by the harsh winds, were men clad in steel armor with the crest of two coiling leviathan branded upon its surface.

Their steel blades glimmered as the moon kissed them softly. Their expressions were still, betraying no emotion.

They marched at a slow pace, their stark white eyes focused solely on the manor a couple of dozen meters ahead.

The eerie part was the abominations that walked beside them, tall and revolting. Multiple limbs, eyes and mouths littered their oddly coloured hides.

The sight was unnatural and deeply disturbing. Yet Sebas barely flicked a brow instead he stared at the chilling sight with a chill of his own.

He was all too used to it after all. So he barely flinched from behind his black mask.

The porky Dean meanwhile spilled out a fright-filled stutter.

"W-why are they all?! What's happening?!!"

He was known to be quite laid back. But now staring at the small force of armoured men that strolled beside towering abominations, all aiming to rip the children behind these walls apart.

The man's distress was only natural.

"Damn it! Get everyone in!"

Sebas yelled while his Captain peered at the courtyard. Miss Betty immediately sprung into action, throwing out orders to secure the building.

The students were already scrambling about hurriedly trying to get to safety.

In the mess of hurried movements Faux quietly slipped out to a dark hallway with his masked companion. His cape then leaked out the same black steam and soon an identical copy of himself was standing right before them.

Faux wordlessly handed it a piece of red paper and the next moment it was gone dashing out the window before bolting towards the forest.

"The Calamity?"

"Yeah. They're in a tight spot, so we'll have to try a bit harder than we planned to…"

Faux replied.

"Those are our men."

Sebas said his head held high as he stared at the approaching horde.

"Find a way to secure the manor I'll hold them off for as long as possible."

Faux said as he turned away from the window.

Sebas nodded valiantly at his Captain. For a moment he had feared his captain would actually order a full-on attack killing even the government agents. 

"Just make it quick before I run out of patience."

Faux said as he disappeared into a corner.

Faux wasn't the type to put information he didn't deem necessary in his head for too long. That was Sebastian's job. 

Right now Faux just entrusted the safety of the entire manor in Sebastian's hand. 

Sebas didn't mind it much, he was all too used to it. 

By the way, it wasn't like his Captain would have ever realized that the orphanage had a security system, a force field of sorts that could be activated in moments like this.

Sebas adjusted his mask as his brain spun piecing together his next course of action.

Meanwhile, Miss Betty and Sir Julian were lost in the crowd as they led the children to all the various mess halls. 

The orphanage guards that lingered around and within the manor hurriedly retreated behind the ancient walls of the orphanage. They barricaded it and then stood guard at strategic positions.

Sebas was currently running about in search of the basement. He had a mental map of the entire orphanage so it didn't prove to be too difficult. 

The lights were barely lit so finding it was a bit tasking.

Soon after descending a bunch of stairs, Sebas was now standing before a dark metal door. It had a complicated security system that Sebas had studied precariously. Unfortunately, he wouldn't get to open it himself, because the door was already opened although slightly. Sebas narrowed his eyes as he gently pushed the door open. 

The room was filled with control panels littered with all sorts of buttons and diodes. The faint light from those buttons was all that illuminated the room.

Upon entering Sebas immediately went blind. He could barely see on bright days, being in a room with only faint sources of light was like throwing him inside a well at night. 

Still, he could instantly tell that he wasn't alone. With as much caution as he could muster, Sebas tried to find the light switch.

As he moved he could hear scurrying footsteps lightly pounding on the metal floor.

'What is this some horror movie!'

The security room was highly secured, no one excluding the Dean knew how to get into it…

So when his hand rubbed off on the dagger that was now sticking out of the light switch. He barely had a reaction having already known that the room had been breached. 

Immediately Sebas pulled out his short sword and raised it horizontally to his chest, he had already begun to activate his spell readying himself for a confrontation. 

Whoever was in here with him was not a friend.

Suddenly he heard the metal floor groan as something ran towards him.

Sebas was quick to react sending his now wooden arm in the direction of the sound. His hand exploded into a flurry of wooden branches leaving no space for the assailant to dodge.

He felt his wooden limbs dig into flesh, and when he was sure whoever it was had was no longer capable of moving, Sebas immediately broke off and brought out a luminous object– a floating seed.

He was well aware of his weakness more than anyone else in fact, Faux had made sure to drill his other senses to their utmost limit. Throwing him into a well was no different than fighting in broad daylight.

That was why he had chosen to remain in the dark because it was more to his advantage than his assailant.

The seed soon hovered above his head suffusing him in a warm circle of light. 

He walked beside his wooden appendage till he was facing the person he had gruesomely impaled. 

"How is this even?!"

Laying at the other end with multiple branches sticking out of her body was the nurse who had greeted both him and his team upon arrival.

Even now she didn't look to be completely dead, but also didn't look completely human. 

She was pale with intimidating fangs lining her lips. Unlike the thralls outside, her eyes were just as they had been only slightly redder. She was still very alive although it didn't look like she could feel much of the pain.

Blood spilt from her lips as Sebas leaned closer. Suddenly he noticed a strange object in her hand, and before he could even discern what it was. She squeezed it and immediately light and heat radiated from behind him.

****

Captain Faux had immediately grabbed onto the knight Sir Julian and a couple more seasoned guards to launch a precise attack on the encroaching thralls.

"So we just kill them?"

Julian asked as he stared at the horde of men and monsters.

"Refrain from un-living our men as best as you can… But protect yourself above all."

Faux answered as he drew his blades. 

Certainly, this would have been easier if he still had his Doves with him.

He hadn't gotten a single status report since he had sent them out, so it was safe to assume they were out of commission.

Hopefully, they weren't dead.

Still, a couple of Retainers and Terrors were no threat to a Paladin. So Faux wasn't too bothered.

"Okay let's move!"

He yelled leaping right into the midst of the mindless thralls. He already had his blade digging into the side of a gaunt creature with six eyes and short limbs.

The frog-like thing died immediately, so Faux was already heading towards his next prey.

Julian meanwhile attacked the armoured men, using the weight of his spear to incapacitate them.

The fight continued as such, although they were outnumbered they still had a couple of things going for them.

The first was Captain Faux and Julian. The two knights were a force to be reckoned with. Especially since most of what they were dealing with were terrors. The most powerful abomination there was a disaster and Faux had long since decapitated it.

The possessed creatures were also inexperienced in actual combat. Their attacks were sluggish only capable of performing short bursts of speed once in a while.

All in all Faux and the defense forces were holding up nicely. Unfortunately, they wouldn't last long. The mundane guards were already getting wounded as more and more thralls spilt from the forest.

'What's taking you so long kid?'

Faux wondered as he drove his blade through the spine of a Dark Terror.

Sebas was one of his most reliable men. And since lives were at stake he was sure the kid would work much faster.

Just then the air seemed to tremble as a deafening boom shook the mountain. When Faux turned he could see a part of the mansion a blaze.