Chapter 30

A large ball of fire suddenly flew through the air and Marisa and her friends had to fling themselves to the ground to dodge it and avoid getting fried. The ball of fire exploded and set grass, bushes, flowers and trees behind those girls on fire instead.

Marisa-caught off guard and losing focus-released Granite from his watery prison. He gasped and wheezed for air and Assyrian helped him breathe again. Assyrian was concerned and worried about Granite's wellbeing and there were tears in his eyes as he realized that Granite was going to be fine now.

Elijah stepped into view with Arya by his side. Elijah's hands were blazing with fire and fire creeped up his arms to his elbows and burned off his sleeves.

Marisa, enraged that someone had the nerve to dare to attack her so brazenly like throwing a ball of fire at her, turned to attack Elijah. She summoned a powerful jet of water and aimed it at Elijah. Elijah summoned even more fire, his red eyes glowing and smoke coming off his body, and he countered the jet of water with a large stream of red-golden flames from his hand. 

Water and fire met and an explosion of steam filled the air. It was like a sudden fog had overtaken the gardens as Arya couldn't see anything at all.

A sudden blast of wind appeared from nowhere and blew away all the steam.

Arya frowned. It was Marisa and her friends again. Not the people she ever wanted to see again in her life.

That boy…she recognized him as the boy who could turn his skin to stone. He was one of the people who fought with Ezekiel when he sparred in the Royal Academy.

Arya saw Assyrian helping that boy sit up and rubbing his back and comforting him.

Looks like Assyrian isn't an asshole like Marisa is, Arya thought.

Marisa was giving Elijah a death stare and Elijah returned the favor, his hands still on fire as small flames danced in the palms of his hands.

"A royal guard dare to attack a princess?!! I'll have you stripped of your title and thrown into the royal prison with a snap of my fingers!"

Elijah didn't waver or show any signs of fear. Instead, he seemed calm and collected as the fire died out in his hands and he bowed towards Marisa.

"Apologies, princess, but the boy's life was in danger and I had to save him. I meant to throw the ball of fire over your head and give you a big scare so you'll release the boy."

But Elijah's tone told Arya that Elijah had meant to aim that giant ball of fire at her. Arya loved Elijah even more now.

Marisa huffed and crossed her arms.

"Well, guard, you should know that I'm not a forgiving person but I'll let this go just for once since I rather like you. You will be competing in Royalstrial, hmm? I'll gladly accept you as my betrothed."

Arya gagged. She fiddled with the knife in her pocket and wondered if she could somehow throw it at that bitch and kill her without her or her cronies noticing.

She was now making goo-goo eyes at poor Elijah, eyeing his body and face like a pervert.

Arya's hands twitchted. She wondered if she should just yank the bitch off her feet and strangle her to near death so Elijah could maintain his innocence.

Elijah showed superhuman levels of self-control as he didn't react or show any sign of disgust at the princess's bad flirting.

He made another bow and put on a show of looking sorry.

"Sorry, your highness, but I'm not interested in marriage or marrying anyone at this moment. Please excuse me for my insolence."

Marisa looked disappointed but strangely, not angry.

She gave one last glance at the Assyrian and his poor friend who was recovering from a near death experience.

Her eyes focused on Arya and she smiled. This time, the smile seems genuine and warm.

"Little girl, don't get in my way since I kinda like you. You're so adorable."

She left with her trio of girls following after her.

…

Arya frowned.

"She's crazy, Eli. Crazy. I think she likes you by the way."

Elijah planted his hands on his hips and looked up at the sky as if he cursed the fates for his bad luck.

"Yes, I can tell. And no, I would much rather remain single than marry that water bitch."

Assyrian laughed.

"Elijah? A royal guard, right? Why don't you become my followers? You are powerful and you have a strong spirit. You'll fit in perfectly with the rest."

Elijah bowed and looked apologetic.

"Sorry, my prince, but I already have a princess."

Assyrian looked at Arya.

"Oh, her. Hello, little one. I'm Assyrian and it's nice to meet you."

He gave her a small wave.

Arya returned the greeting cautiously with a small wave.

"No need to be shy, little one. I won't bite, you know."

He helped Granite back onto his feet and walked over to Arya. Elijah stood at attention like the good bodyguard he was.

"You're short. I mean, you look like a little kid."

"I do not!! Besides, Assyrian, I'll grow."

"Yeah, whatever you say. Brother Ezekiel is busy with handling the corruption of the Royal Academy to come spar with me anymore."

Arya raised an eyebrow.

"He spars with you?"

Assyrian turned to give Arya a curious look.

"Yeah, he does."

Arya never sparred with Ezekiel before. She was rather upset he didn't.

"Well…it's nice to meet you. I'm Arya and is he going to be fine?"

Arya pointed at Granite.

Granite bowed towards Arya. Looks like he had no trouble accepting Arya as a member of the royal family.

"I'm fine, my princess, thank you for your concern. I'm Granite Boldone, the youngest son of the Boldone Family. It's a pleasure to meet you, the Emerald Princess."

"Emerald Princess?"

"Yes, your eyes. They're so beautiful and shine so brightly like emeralds so people start to call you the Emerald Princess."

Makes sense.

"Well, it's nice to meet you too, Granite. Are you going to be competing in Royalstiral?"

Granite shook his head.

"I already have a girlfriend. I don't need anyone else but one of my older brothers will be competing for either Freya's or Marisa's hand in marriage. I hope it's not Maris."

Granite's tanned skin and dark gold eyes seemed to glow in the afternoon sun while his sandy blonde hair reflected the sunlight.

The air was suddenly filled with screaming and growling. Servants were running and fleeing from something. 

That something was a horde of zombies brusted could suddenly be seen running towards them.

…

The Demon King decided to send in some small fires in first to severely weaken and trie out those humans first before he sent in his strongest soldiers and generals to invade the human kingdom. Forget waiting for the humans to kill off each other in a succession war!! He already had his mana core restored and he was back to full power. He spent years in hiding, waiting. 

He will succeed this time.

A portal opening up to the human world could be seen in this massive cave and hoards of zombies, goblins, trolls, devil wolves and other weaker and low-level monsters were walking through it and off into the human world on the orders of their master.

Better not give the humans any time to prepare, I'll rather catch them off guard and unprepared to fight, he thought.

He mused over his defeat centuries ago. Never again. He would not underestimate the power of those humans anymore. 

He smiled.

He has grown stronger now. More powerful.

As long as he loved, his army was immortal.

They could be killed, hacked to pieces, destroyed again and again, killed many times over, but they would resurrect themselves, come back to life again.

He already spent months destroying their supplies and other war supplies. Those humans may be strong but could they last long without food or water. Such were the weaknesses and limitations of the human race.

They couldn't fight an immortal army forever.

…

As the zombies charged at them, everyone prepared for battle.

Elijah's hands lit up on fire. Granite turned his skin to stone. Sparks of lightning hissed to life in Assyrian's hands. Arya balled up her fists and got herself ready to fight.

Arya's back kick sent a zombie flying through the air and the force behind that kick was enough to create a massive hole in the wall of the garden. The zombie was buried underneath a pile of rubble and Arya took out two three zombies by lifting them up several feet into the air and slamming them so hard into the ground that their bones snapped and the bodies crumpled and turned into mush from the extreme force.

A powerful blast of fire from Elijah set a good number of zombies on fire while bolts of lightning from Asstyrian reduced the zombies to ashes.

Granite threw a punch at a zombie that got too close to him and the zombie went plowing into a small hoard of zombies and knocking them down like bowling pins.

That wasn't the end.

More and more zombies appear from nowhere.

Arya used her telekinesis to crush several of them flat into zombie pancakes, heads crushed in and bones completely broken. A zombie got too close to Elijah while he was busy turning zombies into undead piles of ashes. Red-hot flames burned and heated up the air as Elijah lobbed balls of fire at zombies and continued to take out a great number of zombies at a time.

Arya yanked that zombie off his feet with her telekinesis and threw him so hard against the ground that his bones could be heard breaking and snapped and he left a giant hole in the ground from the impact of the slam.

Elijah quickly took in what was going on and he thanked Arya with a nod of his head before going back to lob giant balls of fire at zombies that reduced a good number of zombies and the surrounding vegetation into ashes.

He summoned a small flame to dance and flicker in his hands before he flickered his other hand. 

The small flame in the palm of his hand suddenly went flying out in a huge fan of flames in an outward direction from Elijah and towards the zombie hoard. Arya could feel the heat of the flames peeling off layers of her skin and cooking her alive. The grass was black and burned and a small forest fire had started in the background where Elijah's fire set some trees ablaze.

Zombies all turned into roasted zombie ashes. Elijah was a powerful fire user and Arya knew that what people said about his fire abilities did not do him any justice because he was so powerful that all the stories about him were downplaying his fire skills.

Granite sidekick sent a zombie reeling backwards and a good punch in the face took out a zombie. He looked like a living statue with his entire skin turned into stone. But he moved fast and agility for someone who was as muscular as he was and managed to land powerful and damaging blows on the zombies. His kicks and punches are reinforced by his stone skin like a set of armor.

Assyrian was busy raining down bolts of lightning from the sky on the zombies. He threw balls of condensed lightning that shocked and electrocuted the zombies.

Lightning crackled and hissed in the air as Assyrian continued his onslaught of massacring zombies.

Arya raced around, she was much faster than the zombies who were fast but not as fast as her, and she kicked, punched and took out the zombies in a flash.

All around them, the sounds of screaming and fighting could be heard.

On this day, everything would change for the worse.

War had come to the kingdom and there was no more time for petty squabbles for power or divisions between the nobles coming to an end.

Terror and malicious powers have started to overrun the kingdom.

Divided we all fall, United we stand and fight.

This was only the beginning of the war.