Alexander The Great Mage

"These bastards sure are tough as nails." Vladir snarled in frustration as he hurled another fireball towards the line of Wyvern-mounted mages slowly advancing on their position.

BOOM! Another fireball spit out by a ferocious looking man atop a large red Wyvern met his fireball in mid air and they exploded in a fiery display of fire energy.

"It's hopeless. We are Scions of Perses, for God's sake! Our strengths lie in military strategy and battle tactics, not… this blasted fight with hundreds of crazy mages atop Wyverns!" Vladir shouted in exasperation.

"Then why don't you shut the hell up and use that 'strength' of yours to think of a way for us to emerge from this situation victorious?" Caerose remarked scathingly.

"Enough." Barathos said. He pointed a finger at a large black Wyvern. A dark beam rippling with death and electrical energy shot out from his finger with astounding speed towards it.

BOOM!

The dark beam hit a barrier, yet again, and failed to do its lethal job on the Wyvern.

"Chip away at their forces. Once we raise an undead mage and Wyvern, more will slowly follow." Barathos commanded once more.

He was an extremely powerful Scion of Perses, second only to the Lich King himself. And during the times that the Lich King did not have explicit orders, he would be the one in charge.

The Scions of Zegaro and Perses attacked once more, sending out powerful streaks of magical energy towards the Royal Dragon Battalion.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!

Those magical energy smashed into the energy shields erected by two hundred Wyverns and Mages. Although many cracked and disappeared under the onslaught, the remainder held and they managed to repulse the Scions' attack. Within seconds, the destroyed shields were remade.

They were officially in an impasse.

Earlier, the Royal Dragon Battalion had immediately mobilized once they detected the brief explosion of magical energy from the skies which led to Princess Aleyria's capture. However, even then, they did not manage to stop the Scions from grabbing many ministers and other important people in Rin.

Individually, the Scions were too fast and too powerful. The Royal Battalion only had a chance of winning if they group together. That was, of course, if the Lich King remained uninvolved.

It was strange, but up till that point, the Lich King had not done a single thing nor uttered a single word. He simply sat on Alexander's throne and stared emotionlessly at the people they had captured.

Although they were all mages, some were even powerful red robes, before the Lich King and the Scions, they were powerless. They had no choice but to obediently follow the instructions of the invaders which had been extremely simple so far.

Sit down and keep silent. We will kill anyone who disobeys.

BOOM! They had immediately killed a Red Robed Minister, just to get their message across.

After that, the prisoners had remained extremely silent and still.

And fought down all urges to tremble and flinch as the Lich King began staring at them.

"We need you to intervene in this battle, My Liege." Caerose whispered softly to the Lich King.

Although Caerose was a Scion of Zegaro as well, she did not want to use her powers on the many corpses and skeletons that were sure to be around as that would result in the creation of a weak undead. It would be better if the Lich King was the one who did the summoning as the undead created would be enhanced in strength.

The Lich King casually waved his hand, and a mighty specter crawled out of the corpse of the Red Robe Minister who was killed earlier.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." A deep growl escaped from the specter's hideous face. The specter glowed red, the same shade of the Lich King's hollow eyes.

Caerose looked at the specter calmly, knowing that it was a mere pittance compared to what the Lich King was actually capable of. For some reason, he seemed to be unwilling to commit fully to this mission at this point.

Caerose was a decisive woman, and seeing the Lich King's reluctance to commit, she decided that she would take action. She bowed, turned around and left the courtroom with the specter.

Standing upon the highest battlement of the Royal Palace, Caerose closed her eyes and released her power.

A wave of darkness swept out from her and plunged into the ground.

There you are. Caerose whispered to herself.

The ground began to tremble. Softly, and imperceptibly at first, but growing stronger each second until it became a full blown mini-earthquake.

CRASH!!!!!!!!!

A giant skeletal monster with fearsome wings and spiked head burst out of the ground within the Royal Palace, causing many buildings and a large portion of the perimeter walls to collapse.

GRAAAAAHHHHH!!!

The monster gave a powerful roar. It was a magnificent looking undead monster. Although it was shaped like one, it was much larger than the Wyverns, at least eighty meters tall. Cold blue undead energy covered the monster, giving it a chilling blue glow.

The legendary beast that slaughtered its way into the area, only to be taken down by the bravery of the heroine - Rin.

Baleful eyes glowed a fearsome blue as it surveyed the land which it once dominated.

GRAHHHH!!!!!

It spread its bony wings and unleashed a beam of ice energy into the sky! It leapt up and flew towards Caerose, its mistress.

Caerose pointed at the undead monster and said to the specter next to her. "That's your ride. Go."

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

The specter howled in response and shot straight to the skeletal monster. It was an eerie pairing. The specter glowed red with the Lich King's power while the skeletal monster glowed blue with Caerose's power.

Battalion Commander Justin paled slightly at the sight. He raised his hand and chopped downwards in a rapid motion. His battalion responded immediately.

Massive fireballs and powerful bolts of lightning shot out from both the mages and their Wyverns, raining down on the specter and monster.

BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!

GRAAAAAAHHHH!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Both undeads roared out their defiance as massive black shields began to appear before them, blocking the attacks from the Royal Dragon Battalion.

Caerose glanced at her fellow Scions in surprise. She had not expected them to take action.

"You're the only Scion of Zegaro apart from that blasted Lich King, we need you and your blasted undead, don't get too happy." growled Vladir.

Caerose rolled her eyes at him.

"Well done, Caerose." Barathos praised. "Let it loose!"

"Attack." She commanded the undead duo.

GRAAAAHHH!! WOOOOO!!!

The two immediately charged towards the line of Wyverns that was arrayed neatly before the Royal Palace.

However, the Wyverns suddenly took to the skies, dispersed and launched more attacks at the undead duo from all directions.

WOOOOO!!! The specter howled and disappeared from atop the monster.

"ALBERT! BEHIND YOU!!" Battalion Commander Justin roared out at his 2nd in charge. But it was too late.

The specter stabbed Albert with both hands and killed him instantly.

"NOOO!!" Battalion Commander Justin howled in anguish. He immediately fired off more firedballs, this time at five times compression. They were smaller than normal fireballs, but packed five times more power.

WHOOSH!!

BOOM!! BOOM!! The fireballs, along with several lightning bolts and wind blades, ripped apart the black shield that had appeared to protect the specter and continued to smash into the specter.

However, Albert's dead body suddenly glowed blue and took the spells meant for the specter.

BOOMM!!

Albert's body exploded and disappeared.

WOOOOOOOO!!! The specter howled once more and stabbed his hands down into the Wyvern's head.

GRaaahhh…

The Wyvern moaned lightly before beginning to spiral down listlessly.

However, within seconds, his eyes glowed blue as well, and he gave out a ghastly roar.

GRAAOOOOOO!!!

This was the power of Scions of Zegaro. As the battle heated up, they become more and more powerful as the number of their undead soldiers continued to grow.

Battalion Commander Justin was faced with a difficult choice. Should they clump together and face the undead monster's mighty attacks head on with their shields? Or should they disperse, but open themselves up to be sniped off one by one by the enemy?

Graaahhhh…

Another moan sounded from somewhere to behind him.

He whipped his head around and saw another pair of mage and Wyvern dead, ambushed from beneath by the Scions.

Graaahhhh….

Another pair.

Grahhhhh... Another pair.

Now that they were up in the sky and dispersed, they did not have the power to resist the combined attacks of the Scions.

The Scions were having a field day taking them down one by one.

It was a disaster!

"Retreat!" Battalion Commander Justin roared out.

Immediately, the Royal Dragon Battalion obeyed and swiftly left the battleground, where four of their number now stood guard as undead specters and monsters.

*-*-*-*-*

"That went well." Ryker said to Caerose with a smile as Caerose emerged from the battlement she was in earlier.

Caerose nodded and smiled back at Ryker. Among all the Scions of Perses, Ryker was the least offensive to her and they had a comfortable relationship with each other. Not to the point of being friends, of course. Caerose had no friends and needed none. But at least they were not out and out enemies locked into a team by the Lich King, as she was with Vladir.

"I guess it's time to move on to phase two of our plan. Vladir's favorite. Interrogation." Caerose said dryly.

Ryker laughed and said, "What do you mean move on to phase two? It has already started! I saw Vladir run into the courtroom like a child running into the amusement park."

Caerose shook her head and sighed. She hated this part. But she was the bad guy now, and it had to happen.

"I'm going to rest in one of their rooms. Call me if anything happens." Caerose said.

Ryker nodded.

And for a time, mournful wails and painful shrieks were the only sounds that could be heard from the Royal Palace of Rin-Turah.