'I'm so hungry...'
Vigil thought to himself while walking.
It's been about a week since he dreamt of the lesson Professor Shtil gave about Truth, and currently around him was the same old dull scenery that he's been looking at since his home was destroyed.
Nothing new, nothing special, and just plain boring.
Although, it was still much better than getting in a fight to the death.
However...
'Maybe I should've just taken an arm or a leg while I was still on that battlefield...'
At this point, Vigil was getting desperate.
A young, growing boy going more than a full week without food was hard. So hard, in fact, that he was even considering eating other people.
Taking the last pouch of water that was strapped to his belt, Vigil undid its top and drank just enough to keep a few sips left.
But that wasn't going to help much considering that at this point, he might die of starvation before he does thirst.
A few hours later, Vigil came across something that made his eyes light up.
Another field of corpses.
But, unlike the massacre that was the first battlefield, this one was slightly different.
For starters, there were multiple different kinds of armor. Some were plate with engravings on them, others looked like a weirdly hard cloth with multiple pouches attached to the chest.
But not only were there different kinds of armor, but the people were different too.
Some of the bodies had horns protruding from their heads, some with elongated ears, some with wings, and some that didn't even look human. More like an animal.
However, there was one similarity between the two, once battlefields.
It was one hell of a gory place.
But, as of right now, Vigil paid it no mind. On the contrary, he didn't even notice anything different about the bodies when he got to them.
After all, the only thing on his mind at this moment was food.
So, when he finally got to the first few corpses spread all over the place, he started to look through them in hopes of finding some food.
And if he didn't... well, the boy has never found people to look as appetizing as they do right now.
'...I'll check ten for food before I start digging in.'
Thinking that to himself, he started to check ten bodies at random for some form of sustenance.
The first one?
A dud.
Second one?
Water, but no food.
He kept checking the various corpses one by one only to find water on some and nothing on others.
Then he got to number eight.
While checking the body, he found a small pouch.
It wasn't heavy, but it also wasn't light enough for there to be nothing in it.
So, he took the pouch off the body and opened it. What he found inside was something that made him pause for a moment.
Proceeding to take off his helmet, Vigil reached his hand inside the pouch. He then grabbed one of the long sticks inside and brought it to his nose.
The smell alone was enough to make his mouth drool.
Bringing the stick to his mouth, he wasted no time and immediately chomped down on it.
What hit him next was the taste of something he hadn't had in a while.
Meat.
More specifically, it was a type of jerky. Although he didn't know what kind it was, he didn't care.
Food was food at the end of the day.
After finishing the first pouch of jerky, Vigil picked up his helmet and went back on the hunt for more pouches.
Within the span of three hours, Vigil had found himself plenty of water pouches and enough bags of food to keep him alive for at least a week or two.
While he was looking for more food, he finally noticed the wide variety of differences in each and every corpse.
'Woah... Professor Shtil did say something about different races every now and then, but I never knew that some of them could look so different from humans...'
He thought, looking down at the bodies while snacking on a piece of jerky.
However, Vigil didn't have much time to dwell on it. As he was soon broken out of his thoughts when he heard something that sent a shiver down his spine.
Footsteps.
Not just one or two, no. It was enough to sound like the roar of thunder.
Looking ahead of his current position, Vigil saw a giant mob of people. Hundreds of them, all marching as one.
He then turned his head to the right and saw the same scene he already had not five seconds ago.
Quickly looking around for a place to hide, Vigil found a tree stump that was half unearthed and rushed straight towards it.
While doing so, he couldn't help but think to himself.
'Just my luck... I'm about to get caught up in a live battle this time.'
By the time he finished his thoughts, he had already made it to his objective, the stump.
Quickly moving to the opposite end of it, Vigil ducked down for a few moments and then slowly peeked his head above it. Just enough for him to see what was going on.
***
*Yawn*
"Mmh, that feels good."
A woman said while stretching her arms in the air.
"Captain, how can you be so relaxed right now? There is literally a mob of angry bastards no more than a few thousand feet ahead of us foaming at the mouth at the mere thought of killing everyone here."
The woman's subordinate said with a weary frown on his face.
He was wearing a similar attire to what she was. A steel breastplate with steel forearm and shin guards. While the parts of the arms and legs that weren't protected by steel, used leather as protection instead, with the rest of the torso being protected by chainmail. A great attire for someone that needs to be swift on their feet.
However, unlike the man who wore earmuffs with a backward facing brimmed hat, the woman wore a dark, worn tricorne sitting atop her head with a keffiyeh covering the bottom half of her face.
There were other subtle differences in attire with all of the soldiers trailing the pair.
For example, some people wore steel helmets while others didn't even bother to have something covering their head. Some wore more steel armor and some less.
Not only were there discrepancies in the soldiers' apparel, but there were also differences in their choice of weapons too.
While the captain had a slim rapier attached to the right side of her belt, the man had a long, heavy, and intricate looking weapon slung over his left shoulder.
"Meh, no point in worrying about all of the little things that happen in life. If you do, then there will be no time to enjoy anything."
The captain said in response to her subordinate's previous question.
"Little things? Little things?! What the hell do you mean by little things?! We could all die today!"
Hearing her subordinate talk back, the captain kept her eyes front and said:
"You're right Orphus, we could all die today. But if you keep talking to me like that, then I'll make sure that you will die today. Got that?"
After hearing those words come out of his captain's mouth, Orphus couldn't help but stare at the sky, as if asking a question to the gods themselves.
'Why did I get assigned to be this lunatic's subordinate?'
Although, his thoughts were cut short. As out the corner of his eye, he caught the captain stop moving.
As if clockwork, he stopped in his tracks as well, then proceeded to close his hand into a fist and bring it up to the side of his head. Signaling the rest of the soldiers marching behind the pair, to stop.
Standing a few hundred feet away from the captain and her subordinates, was a tall man standing at about 6'5" (~195 cm) wearing full plate armor.
Where there were openings in the armor, one could see chainmail links underneath. Making it so that even if someone could precisely target the gaps in his defenses , there wouldn't be much to worry about.
A soft green cape covered the man's back. Imprinted on it was the Filt Kingdom's national emblem, a hand tightly gripping a crown of thorns.
Lastly, adorning his head was a great helm with a crown of thorns attached to the top.
In the man's right hand was the hilt of his weapon, a great sword standing at an even larger height than the man himself with the blade resting on his shoulder.
After standing still for a few moments, as if to assess his enemy, the man took his weapon off of his shoulder and stabbed it into the ground.
He then proceeded to take off his great helm, showing a young man no older than being in his early twenties.
When the man spoke, it was as if thunder was raging throughout the whole area.
"Graham Federacy I presume? My name is Karlstein Heth, captain of the Filt Kingdom's 63rd standing brigade."
He announced himself, as if he wasn't speaking to people that he would soon try and kill.
Then he continued.
"I do not wish for there to be any unnecessary deaths on either of our sides today. So, I propose a duel. Me against an opponent of your choosing. Whoever wins gets the other side's people as prisoners of war. No unneeded bloodshed. How does that sound?"
After taking a few moments to think, the captain stepped forward and spoke. Her voice not being outdone by the man's own.
"I am the captain of this unit, Eliza Mentin... And I humbly accept your offer."
In response to hearing Eliza's words, Karlstein smirked, then put his helmet back on.
He then proceeded to walk towards Eliza, but not before he pulled his great sword out from the ground and put it back on his shoulder.
Looking down at the ground for a moment, Eliza saw a cylindrical shaped brass colored object lying close to her feet, then picked it up.
After doing so, she also began walking in the man's direction until they were no more than ten feet away from one another.
Holding the cylindrical shaped object in between her thumb and middle finger, Eliza spoke.
"I'll throw this in the air. When it lands, we start. Sound good?"
Karlstein nodded in response.
Seeing this, the captain then proceeded to flip the object into the air.
While the object was still in the air, she unsheathed her rapier with her left hand and entered a neutral stance. After that, with her right hand, she gripped the handle of something attached to the back of her belt.
Karlstein wasn't inactive at the time either. The second he saw Eliza flip the object in the air, he positioned himself close to the ground with his legs in a way so that he could charge at his opponent at any moment.
*Tink*
The second the object hit the ground, Karlstein charged with his weapon still resting on his shoulder.
By the time he got just a few feet away from Eliza, his great sword was launched in the air using only his right arm. While his left was positioned close to the ground.
When Eliza saw him go for a swing she acted quickly, twisting her body to the left to avoid the vertical strike, while also launching her rapier at one of the slits in his great helm.
In response, Karlstein, with his left hand, gripped the ground and yanked himself towards it, in order to dodge her attack. At the same time, he paused his initial swing mid air and changed the way in which the blade was facing by ninety degrees.
He then pushed himself off the ground with his left hand while swinging his blade horizontally with his right. Intending to cleave Eliza in two.
Seeing the new attack coming for her midsection, Eliza backstepped until she was out of the attack's range.
Or so she thought.
After Karlstein had finished his swing, Eliza felt a stinging sensation on her gut but promptly chose to ignore it.
Although it was a small cut, in a battle like this one, those things can add up over time, slowly deteriorating the person's body.
Not only that, but that small cut told Eliza something very important about her opponent.
He could cut through her chainmail like butter, so she would have to stop playing around in order to end this fight as quickly as possible and be extra careful while doing it.
After his horizontal slash, Karlstein charged at Eliza with his left shoulder facing in her direction.
Seeing the reckless charge, Eliza threw another counter attack.
Thrusting her rapier forward, she aimed for a slit in his helmet once more.
Seeing her counter attack being aimed at his head once again, Karlstein bent forward a small amount and slightly turned his head in the opposite direction. Just enough for the blade of Eliza's rapier to hit the side of his helmet and slide off.
Leaving only a scratch.
He then gripped the hilt of his sword even tighter than he already was, intending to throw an upward slash aimed right at Eliza's torso.
However, the dodge he executed before came at a price. That being, that he was unable to fully see his opponent.
Although, because it was just for a split second, he decided to not think about it, that it was of no consequence.
But that's where he was wrong.
*Click*
Because, by the time that he tried to look at her again, what met him was the inside of a tube pointed directly at his left eye.
The last thing that Karlstein saw was Eliza using the thumb of her right hand to pull something back and the cylinder of the object she was holding spun. Then, with her index finger, she closed it tightly around the handle of the weapon she had taken out from behind her back.
With the sound of a small explosion being the last thing he heard, Karlstein's life had come to an end.
Looking at her opponent's corpse, Eliza couldn't help but think:
'The way he fought... was that the first time he'd seen a gun before? No. I'm sure that someone as strong as him would know what one was, even if he had come from a backwater country...'
"...Hah, welp. Your inexperience was your downfall, Karlstein. War has taken you, now rest."
After taking a moment to give her opponent some parting words, she sheathed her rapier and holstered her gun, a revolver.
Just as Eliza was about to look up in order to speak to the Filt Kingdoms forces, she saw a glint out of the corner of her eye that caught her attention.
About a hundred meters away, she saw what looked to be a helmet peeking over a slightly unearthed tree stump, with the sun reflecting off of it.
But, what caught her attention wasn't the slight glint from the sun reflecting off of it. After all, there were plenty of helmets from fallen soldiers doing the same thing.
No, what caught her eye was the fact that the helmet behind the stump moved the second she looked up.
Squinting her eyes and tilting her head to the side a little bit, Eliza couldn't help but whisper to herself.
"What the hell-"
Before she could finish her sentence, the sound of a small explosion in the distance cut her off.
Looking to her left to see where the sound had originated from, Eliza saw Orphus with his weapon no longer slung over his shoulder.
Instead, it was now in his hands with one of his eyes peering through the scope, that comfortably sat on top of his heavy bolt action rifle.
When she turned back to see what he was firing at, Eliza saw a man with his sword unsheathed, heading in her direction.
Or at least that's what she would've seen, if it wasn't for the fact that the man was no longer running and was instead falling to the ground now. This was due to the tragic loss of the head that was once sitting atop the soldiers' shoulders, blown clean off because of Orphus's prior action.
From behind, Eliza could hear Orphus screaming at her.
"Captain! These rat bastards aren't keeping to their side of the bargain! Get your head in the game and let's just clear them all out!"
After hearing this, Eliza brandished her weapons once more and got prepared for another fight.
But while doing so, the sight that had grabbed her attention a mere moment ago, caught her eye once more.
However, this time, instead of it just being a helmet poking out from the other side of a stump, she saw a person. One with a short stature, wearing haggard clothes that couldn't even properly fit them.
Almost as though the person had scavenged them from somewhere.
As of now, the person that was once hiding was currently running in the opposite direction from the two armies that were soon to clash, all the while dragging a sword that seemed much too big for someone of that build to properly wield.
'...Don't tell me-!'
By the time her thoughts could settle, the deadly fight between the two opposing forces had begun.
A few hours later, Captain Eliza could be seen standing over a corpse with the tip of her rapier lodged in its neck.
All around her, the same scene was unfolding.
People were stabbing or shooting corpses to make sure that they were actually dead and not just playing the part.
During this time, the captain couldn't help but look at the half unearthed stump once more.
The memory alone of what she saw saddened her.
"Hey captain! Mind explaining to me what that was back there?"
A few meters away, Eliza could hear Orphus calling out to her.
After hearing his question, she decided to answer with a question of her own.
"What do you mean?"
She asked, still looking at the stump.
"After you defeated that Karlstein guy you just froze up. I know that you act all aloof and whatnot, but even then you'd never let your mind wander at a time like that. So tell me what's up. What happened?"
Listening to the explanation of his earlier posed question, Eliza took a second to think about it, then responded.
"...I could be wrong, but I think I saw a child of war earlier..."
Hearing the words that came out of his captain's mouth made Orphus freeze for a moment.
"Are you sure it couldn't have just been a dwarf? I mean even if it wasn't a dwarf it could've just been someone short."
"...Their limbs were too long for them to be a dwarf. And about them just being short, I highly doubt that's the case. Afterall, they were about this tall and dragged a weapon that seemed much too big for them to properly wield, behind them."
She said as she held her hand slightly above her waist.
Considering the fact that Eliza was about 5'11" (~180cm), Orphus thought that the person she saw was about 4'4" (~132cm).
In short-
"It was most likely a child of war..."
Orphus whispered under his breath.
After a few more moments of standing there, Eliza turned around and started to walk away.
"Welcome to War Field, kid. May you find your way."
***
A small explosion rang out across the barren wasteland, traveling far enough to reach Vigil's ears, even though he was a few ways away from the fight between the leaders of the two groups.
'What was that...? Did that man just get killed? But how... and by what?'
Vigil had witnessed the entire encounter. Starting from when the man took off his helmet and announced himself to his enemies, all the way till now, when he died.
Although the battle between the two was quite short by all standards, to Vigil it couldn't just be considered 'short'.
To him, it was instantaneous.
One second they were standing still and in the next the man in full plate armor fell to the ground, presumably dead.
He wasn't even able to see how the man died. All that he knew was that the second he heard that small explosion go off, the man had started to fall like a puppet with all of its strings cut.
However, Vigil was unable to keep on thinking about the scene he had just witnessed.
After all, the woman that had just killed that man was now looking directly at him, or at least that's what he thought.
As soon as he saw her looking in his direction, Vigil ducked his head back down so that the stump he was hiding behind could block her view of him.
'Oh no... What do I do!? I was seen-! Wait, maybe they might be friendly... No, what am I talking about! I just saw her kill a man! Not only that, but the first time I tried to be friendly with someone I almost died!'
Taking a few moments to think through his limited amount of options, Vigil had come to a conclusion on what to do.
'Alright, I'll-'
*Bang*
Cutting off his thoughts was the sound of another explosion, one much louder than the previous one.
After hearing it, Vigil couldn't help but let curiosity take over his actions. He is just a kid after all, they are easily swayed by their curiosity.
As Vigil slowly peeked his head over the stump once more, he could see the two opposing forces now charging at one another, ready to kill the other side in cold blood.
After seeing this, Vigil picked up all of his things and ran off into the opposite direction.
While running, he couldn't help but think to himself.
'...Didn't the two sides come to a deal?! Whoever wins, the other side must surrender… No, I knew that people couldn't be trusted in this place. The psychopathic lot...'
With that, Vigil ran until his legs gave out.
By the time they did, his mind had given out too, forcing him into a deep sleep.