System's POV

Chapter 1177: Praelium Fati [Part 1]

“Give up, Roen,” Prince Aurelion said. “This battle is over.”

The Guard Captain of the Artemian Royal Guard found himself surrounded on all sides.

On this side of the battlefield, Camazotz, Erasmus, Norton, Azoh’Dar, Prince Aurelion, Princess Fiora, and the Dragonkin had already secured victory. All that remained was the Guard Captain, making his last stand.

“I’d rather die than surrender to the likes of you!” Roen roared in anger.

“Go ahead,” Erasmus said in a teasing tone. “I’m sure Norton here would love to have you on board.”

Norton gave his comrade a pitiful glance, fully knowing that even in death, he would not be able to escape his fate.

Perhaps understanding that he truly had nowhere to run or hide, Roen’s expression became grim.

The Guard Captain glanced at the battle taking place above, and from what he could see, both the Artemian King and Cranky were fighting using everything in their arsenal.

But with the Artemian Army at its last legs, King Astrion might finally stop holding back and involve everyone on the battlefield, killing both enemies and allies alike.

Just as Roen was thinking about how he could get away from his predicament, he sensed someone sneak behind his back.

“Bad move, punk,” Camazotz said to the already weakened Archon.

With a smack on the head, two powerful slaps, and a calf kick, the Artemian Guard Captain finally collapsed.

Camazotz then grabbed Roen and flew away, as if afraid that Erasmus might try to steal the Archon from his grasp.

Prince Aurelion and Princess Fiora, who were responsible for exhausting Roen to his limits, couldn’t help but feel that all their efforts were suddenly taken advantage of by others.

“He really just took him…” Princess Fiora muttered, still catching her breath from the fight.

Prince Aurelion’s brows furrowed, his golden eyes following the black silhouette in the sky. “We weaken the enemy, then he reaps the reward. Shameless.”

The Lord of Death chuckled after seeing Camazotz’s action, finding it very amusing.

“Look at the bright side,” Erasmus said after seeing the look on the faces of his allies. “At least you’re still alive, yes? But even if you die, rest assured, I will bring you back to life. Nothing in the world will stop me from collecting strong subordinates.”

Seeing Erasmus’s greedy look as if he couldn’t wait for Prince Aurelion and Princess Fiora to die unnerved the two Dragonkins.

“By the way, Commander Dravon died. Did you reanimate him?” Prince Aurelion asked.

“I did.” Erasmus nodded. “But Norton here proved to be a truly powerful adversary, so I had no choice but to sacrifice the brave Dragonkin Commander. Thanks to his sacrifice, we defeated an Archon.”

Erasmus smiled faintly before raising a hand.

In the distance, a dragon’s roar spread across the battlefield.

Prince Aurelion and Princess Fiora watched with grim faces as a Rank 8 Dragon Sovereign landed beside Erasmus and lowered its head, as if paying allegiance to its new Master.

“I apologize for this, but since we are allies, I thought that wasting his body goes against my policies,” Erasmus said as he jumped on top of the Undead Dragon, who was much stronger than the Wyvern King, Vannaroth, whom Erasmus had sacrificed earlier.

“…”

“…”

Prince Aurelion and Princess Fiora had much to say, but they decided to just hold their tongue. They didn’t want to offend the Lord of Death, whose Undead Army was still growing with each passing minute.

“If this were an ordinary war, we would have won it already,” Erasmus said softly. “But things can still change depending on the outcome of that battle in the sky.”

Azoh’Dar, Prince Aurelion, and Princess Fiora nodded in agreement.

Norton simply crossed his arms over his chest and looked at his King, whom he wished to emerge victorious in the battle.

Thirteen, who was also paying attention to the battle in the sky, momentarily glanced at the battlefield from on top of Rocky’s head.

Right now, they had the advantage, and the Wanderers were fighting like there was no tomorrow.

The morale of the Artemian Army had already hit rock bottom, but the teenage boy still felt uneasy.

His instincts as a System understood that it would be hard for Cranky to defy his fate so easily.

One of the main reasons why Cranky felt so close to Zion was really simple.

The Honey Badger was a Cannon Fodder.

However, its fate had changed during the battle against the Ancient Eight-Headed Serpent, a Majin King.

Following fate’s will, Cranky should have died back then. But he survived because Zion had gone all out and unleashed the power of the Monkey King.

So right now, the outcome of this battle would truly decide Cranky’s fate, and it might allow him to “change” his role from a Cannon Fodder to something else.

Thirteen was there to ensure that the Honey Badger would be able to defy his fate.

Cranky’s success would mean the System of Cannon Fodders could succeed as well, for destiny’s threads had brought them together.

King Astrion distanced himself from his opponent and looked at the battlefield with a calm expression on his face.

Seeing that his army had lost its Pillars, the Artemian King’s gaze sharpened.

A faint ripple of power spread out across the battlefield, which was felt by Thirteen and the other High-Ranking fighters of the Allied Army.

Then and there, dozens of silver orbs the size of a small marble were discharged from King Astrion’s armor.

These silver orbs then grew in size to that of a volleyball that spun around King Astrion like miniature moons.

“Everyone, scatter!” Thirteen ordered through his communicator because he was familiar with the silver orbs that were currently hovering in the sky.

As a System, he also had something similar, which was known to their kind as FANGS.

(A/N: F.A.N.G. = Floating Autonomous Neural Guns.)

Just as Thirteen gave the order, a booming thunderclap reached his ears as the dozens of silver orbs unleashed a beam of light strong enough to seriously injure a Rank 9 Sovereign!

The world seemed to have come to a standstill as Thirteen saw the beams streak across the sky, heading to those who were familiar to him.

Erica, Sherry, Princess Aracelle, Shana, Mikhail, Shasha, Colbert, and many more of Thirteen’s important people were in their line of sight.

Thirteen then forced his Soul Core and his brain to go overdrive, desperate to come up with a way to prevent the death of the people whom he held sacred in his heart.