Zero arrived to find the town already under siege, its defences breached and crumbling.
As he rushed through the entrance, he saw the streets littered with corpses of every kind—though notably few were his own troops. Explosions echoed through the air, followed by screams of terror and pain.
Zero phantom dashed from rooftop to rooftop, trying to assess the current situation below.
"Drogna, what's happening?" he called out as he leaped between buildings, catching glimpses of fierce fighting in the streets below.
Drogna violently shook her body, urgently making a loud screech in his ear.
"Okay, we need to find him quickly," Zero muttered, making a sign towards Drogna with his fingers as he paused on a building's edge.
Drogna let out a sharp call, then started to sniff the air and directing him with a tilt of her head toward a specific area.
Zero immediately phantom dashed in that direction, with it leaping from rooftop to rooftop. When he reached the area, he looked down and saw two of his own bone walkers locked in combat with two enemy soldiers. One skeleton wielded a bow, positioned behind another that fought with a chipped spear, their weapons clashing against their opponents' blades.
He dropped down into the shadows beside a damaged house to avoid drawing attention, focusing on finding the drogger. There, he found the frightened creature lying motionless and carefully lifted it. As soon as it saw him, it started to sweat as Drogna came out of his shoulder and began to scold it, making sharp but quiet, visceral gestures—waving its small scaly hands at the trembling drogger.
Zero glanced back at the fight, studying the bone walkers' appearances more closely.
"Wait, are these the same bone walkers from the-"
Against one soldier stood determined and ready in front of the others and the other two soldiers who stood behind him one with a confident expression and a short sword and the other with a man bun and two daggers.
All with light armour on.
Soldier one – sword, light armour
Sergeant one – confident and one short sword, light armour.
Sergeant two – Man bun and two dagger, light armour.
Bone walker one – bow and arrows
Bone walker two – chipped spear.
Soldier, one charged in roaring "ahhhh" sword raised
"Wait soldier!" sergeant two alert trying to rush in.
"Let him." Sergeant One held him back.
Sergent two looked at him annoyed lowering his weapons.
An arrow flew and hit him in the head.
Killing him on impact.
"Now that we have him out the way lets charge!" sergeant One said arrogantly
Sergent two grumbled but complied and rushed in with Sergeant One..
As both Droggers continue to fight.
"Quiet" zero whispers intrigued while concealing himself in the shadows.
They both stop instantly..
More arrows are shot.
Bone walker two, charges in on both.
He thrust at sergeant one
Sergeant one easily weaves past it.
But bone walker two repositions his grip, turns to same side and swings his weapon directly.
At sergeant one, forcing him to block.
"Move! You damn skeleton!" the sergeant roars
As their weapons stay locked in a clash.
Sergent two, tries to slash bone walker two with his daggers.
But is intercepted by arrows flying his way, forcing him to jump back.
Bone walker one, now aiming for him.
*Dammit I need to shake this skeleton off, so I can help Keno*
Bone Walker One shoots but misses as Sergeant Two zigzags like a snake toward him.
Bone Walker One tries to track him with his weapon.
Suddenly—too late. Sergeant Two lunges, appearing above Bone Walker One.
But Bone Walker Two with his weapon forcefully pushes Sergeant One's weapon back, breaking the clash, then whirls around to face the other sergeant. Simultaneously, Bone Walker One aims at Sergeant One
Sergeant One, seeing this, scrambles back immediately.
*wait he's coming for me?! Dammit! * he thinks startled
Bone Walker Two repositions his grip and follows with an upward slash of his spear, forcing the sergeant to deflect the strike and leap back again.
*I can't even get close! * Sergeant two thinks to himself
Bonewalker Two begins to hold sergeant two off as, bone Walker One shoots his arrow.
Sergeant, One struggles to block it. But Bone Walker One doesn't relent—he keeps firing arrows as he runs toward Sergeant One.
Sergeant, One struggles to deflect another, but then he's hit with two arrows in the chest simultaneously.
"Why are these skeletons so annoying!" Sergeant One groans.
He tries to rush forward, but the Bone Walker pelts him with another arrow, making him stumble back. Then Bone Walker one starts circling him while peppering his body with arrows. The sergeant tries to rush again, but he gets hit and stumbles back. Bone walker one continues to slowly close with each rotation around the circle.
Sergeant One, now weak, drops his weapon. Bone Walker, One kicks it away.
As the sergeant falls to his knees, Bone Walker One closes in behind him and presses the arrowhead against the back of his head.
"All that… gone? So quick?" he says falteringly
Then the bone walker fires.
Killing him.
Sergeant, One falls to the ground. Blood flows from all his orifices.
Sergeant Two, still engaged with Bone Walker Two, saw this. "KENO!"
He ignored the Bone Walker and ran straight toward his fallen comrade, but Bone Walker Two blocked his way with his spear, swiping at him.
He flipped over it, then threw a dagger toward the Bone Walker's head.
It stuck deep in his forehead, staggering the Bone Walker for a moment
The raging sergeant kept rushing forward.
Then, just before he reached Keno, Bone Walker One jumped back over Keno's body, creating distance. Mid-air, he fired an arrow toward the sergeant, but mana flickered around Sergeant Two for a second, deflecting the arrow. At the same time, he threw his dagger, sending it straight into the middle of the Bone Walker's head.
Bone Walker One fell back against the wall, cracking his skull against it, and slumped down.
The sergeant stopped and dropped to his knees beside Keno, cradling his body and weeping.
"I'm so sorry, Keno…"
He kept weeping.
"I promise to carry on everything yo—"
A blade sliced horizontally through his neck.
His head slid off his shoulders.
A cold presence loomed behind him.
Bone Walker Two stood there, blue eyes igniting coldly, Keno's short sword in his hand.
Blood dripped from it.
As the sergeant's head fell.
Bone Walker One stood up.
Clapping started.
"Hahaha, well done, you two! Good show!"
"Now come and kneel."
Bone Walker One gets up, pulling the dagger from his skull. Bone Walker Two drops his weapon. They both kneel.
"Now let's first see what really happened here."
He touches their heads and closes his eyes, reading their minds.
Bone Walker Two climbed the wall while Bone Walker One shot the guards on the wall. Then Bone Walker Two stealthily got to the door and opened it up.
"Wow? That's impressive and interesting. You guys are abnormally smart for just some random void spirits… usually I have to give you guys specific instructions for different situations. Even Skull Lord, who has the collective brain power of three souls (literally), needs to be aimed like a siege weapon."
"In this raid, the only order I gave was for you to continue your assault until I arrived, but you two improvised…"
Zero smirks.
"I'll be keeping a close eye on you two from now on..."
"Now lets see, I've got something for you two to do. You are now being given authority." Zero continued
Necrotic energy licks around them, restoring them to full by mending them completely."
"I want you two to round up this raid. This creature will act as your guide—just follow it."
He sets the drogger down in front of them.
"Can't really explain much else, I've got to go. But first—"
Zero leaves, seeking out and mercilessly killing the E-rank captains that were left, and the D-rank commander. All four lieutenants and one captain had already died due to the overwhelming numbers.
He then makes a small magic circle and leaves.