"There are probably 30 of them. From what I can see only several of them are not using close combat weapons." then he looked at chief. "We have around 15-17 men capable of fighting. We may have a small chance if enemy's men are not experienced in fighting." Chief nodded, wanting to answer him but he got interrupted by another of his men, Filas. He was skinny young boy who had spent most of his time reading books. His knowledge overcame everyone else in the village, but his fighting skills were terrible.

"Those are not humans, except the bald leader." Others looked at him with shocked face.

"What do you mean by that? If they are not humans then what are they?" they were curious. Filas started to explain it as he carefully stared at beings outside the walls.

"They are called black knights. They are summoned beings, mostly used as the most basic soldiers of demon lords." he continued with his explanation. "They fulfill every order they get. I read that their power and number depend on individual demon lord's powers." Others didn't feel much smarter than they were before his monologue.

"So, do they have any weaknesses?" asked Bolak. Filas looked worried.

"Their bodies are similar to humans, so attacking them normally should work. But they have enormous amount of stamina. And the biggest weakness is their summoner."

"So will they disappear when the summoner dies?"

"Indeed. But I can't really tell if that guy in the middle could summon all of them alone. Chief sighed.

"Well thank you Filas but now you should go and evacuate with others. You know how bad you are at fighting." Filas's expression changed from being worried to being angry.

"I won't run away! I will defend my village and my family even if it costs my life!"

"Sorry kid, but I would not be able to look in your mother's eyes if I allowed this." But Filas didn't give up.

"Please, let me stay here and fight or I will regret running away for the rest of my life." Chief sighed again and looked at Bolak, his eyes were asking for help. He didn't do what chief expected though.

"If the kid wants to fight then you should not stop him." Chief was surprised.

"C'mon brother, I expected you to be on my side, we can't let h-..."

"The leader is moving!" a shout interrupted their dialogue. Everyone looked to see what was going on. The bald leader was slowly walking towards the gate.

"You made your choice. You shall die as pathetic cattle now." Everyone could hear his deep voice. He walked to the gate and put his palm on the wood, as he loudly casted a spell. "~Burst!~". The gate exploded, creating an entrance into the village. The black knights begun to ran inside with their weapons ready to kill. Chief could see his men panicking.

"Everyone! To the gate! We need to buy some time for our women and children! Even if we should die here today!" he shouted and immediately ran down from the walls to stop the intruders. He could hear his men shouting in agreement as they followed him to the battle.

*

Tia could hear loud bang coming from the gate's direction. *What is going on?* she thought as she went to the door. But she got startled when the door quickly opened in front of her. It was her brother, Seph, who stood there with his sword in his hand. "Oh G.o.d you scared me, what's come over you?"

"Listen, there is not much time to explain, but there are enemies outside our village and we need to get out. Where is our mother?" Tia was shocked when she heard it.

"She went to visit Filas's mother and get some herbs from her." she said with confused voice, her heart was beating fast, she still couldn't believe it. "Is that real? Are we really under an attack?" Her snake tattoo begun to throb. It felt like if was going to jump off her belly.

"There's no time for that, we need to get to our mother, now!" Seph grabbed her hand and started to drag her behind him, as he quickly left the house. Screaming could be heard, coming from the gate's direction. And dense black smoke was appearing above the first houses. "They got into the town." announced shocked Seph. "Maybe I should join the fight..."

"No! The chief will take care of it, we will need you here. Me and our mother.." said sobbing Tia. They were quickly getting closer to Filas's house.

*

The chief stabbed the enemy in front of him. "That's second one!" He said to his brother who was fighting by his side.

"I hope you are not getting tired already!" he responded as he blocked incoming attack from above. Chief looked around. He saw Rando and Filas side by side not that far from them. But they were getting cornered by incoming enemies.

"We need to help them!" but his way got blocked by two black knights. Two men came to help him, outnumbering the enemy in front of them. The first black knight attacked, hitting the wooden part of old scythe that one man was holding. He succesfuly blocked it and counterattacked the black knight, but the old rusty scythe couldn't get through the armor. The man got scared.

"Don't tell me I can't hurt it?" he begun to panic. The black knight attacked again, it was heavy slash from above. The man tried to block it, but the sword cut the wood in half and hit the man in his face. He was dead immediately.

"Roth!" the second man shouted as he charged towards the enemy, wanting to avenge his fallen friend. He actually wounded the enemy but he would die if it wasn't for the chief, who blocked the attack from the second black knight. "Die!" The man shouted and dealt the final blow to his enemy. Then he stabbed the second black knight from behind, helping the chief.

"Thank you, but it's not over yet!" He wanted to help his men not far from him, but he heard scream that made his blood freeze. It was Filas's voice. He turned around and saw something that made his heart stop. Rando was standing in front of Filas, his body was pierced by two swords. He saved that boy from certain death. Before he exhaled his last breath, he turned to Filas.

"Run away! Don't make me die for nothing, you stupid boy!" then he fell on the ground because he got stabbed again. Filas was crying, but he did what Rando told him to. He ran out as fast as he could, dodging an attack and disappearing behind the burning house. Chief didn't believe it. His best friend.. died? Rage took over him as he started headlessly attacking enemies around him. If he didn't lose his concentration, he would notice the bald leader stepping inside the village through the hole he made. He was slowly walking towards Bolak. The chief's brother noticed him and attacked him after he killed one black knight. The bald man dodged his attack and laughed.

"Weaklings like you are just waste of my time!" "Wind Blades!". He casted a spell. Air in front of him formed into invisible blades that crashed into Bolak's body at really high speed. It cut off his arm and badly wounded the rest of his body. He fell on the ground, bleeding fast.

"It's.. over... I'm.. sorry.. brother." he said with pain in his voice, he accepted his death. He looked at the man who casted the spell. He was slowly walking towards him.

"Goodbye, worm". Then he cut his throat with one quick slash. Chief saw it. He saw his brother die. His brain didn't accept what just happened. He dropped his sword and begun to laugh as he fell on his knees. The things he saw made him go insane. Even the swords and spears of black knights that pierced his body didn't stop him laughing. And then he died.

*

Filas's house was on fire. There were two black knights standing in front of it. There were also two dead bodies behind them. Tia cried out when she recognized her mother being one of them. "Mom! No!" she begun to cry. Seph charged towards the enemy. His attack from the right side got blocked, but he immediately attacked again from the left side followed by quick stab. He seriously wounded the first enemy, who could no longer fight.

"~Fireball!~" shouted Tia as she pointed her arm on the second enemy. Small fireball materialized from her hand and hit the enemy, but it was too weak to hurt him.

"Stay back! Your magic is too weak, don't fight!" her brother shouted at her, as he killed the second black knight. Tia didn't answer and when she saw both of the enemies dead, she ran to the dead body of her mother and hugged her.

"No! No! Mom!" she was crying even more, Seph came behind her and put his arm on her shoulder.

"She's at better place now. There is nothing we can do." Tia looked at him, her expression was both angry and sad.

"Why? Why is this happening?"

"Because of you." said unfamiliar voice behind their back. They quickly turned around just to see the bald leader and several black knights behind them. Seph grabbed his sword harder, getting ready to fight.

"What do you mean by that?" Tia asked him with hateful look.

"Oh you already know what I meant. I was sent by the great Demon Lord Kale to bring him the girl with Lord Arachne's curse. He wants to own Serpentra." he said with evil smile at his face. Seph was confused and sick of this stranger.

"I don't know what you are talking about, but I won't let you touch my sister." He charged the bald man in front of him. He drew his black sword that looked more like a saber and blocked it.

"Brother protecting his defenseless sister, how cute." he then attacked Seph with several fast attacks but only the last one cut him a little. Seph waved with his sword from above. The bald guy expected it to be an attack so he tried to cover it, however Seph kicked him in the stomach and changed the direction of the attack. It cut the enemy in his left hip, but it wasn't serious enough to kill him. He cried out. "You worm! How dare you to cause me pain!" He pointed his arm at him. "~Wind Spear!~" It happened fast and Seph didn't even feel it. Wind that was as sharp as blade pierced Seph's body, creating a big hole in his stomach. He fell on his knees, coughing blood. "You will pay for what you did!" said the bald leader who was really angry. "I will make you suffer!" he wanted to attack him, but he got interrupted. Some stranger with a fox mask landed in front of him.

"Sorry, I'm late" he said to Seph. Tia's brother saw him and said. "It's... you..from the.. forest".

"Indeed. You fought well, now its my turn." then he looked at the bald man.

"You don't look like someone from this village." he said to the stranger with fox mask.

"You are right, I'm not from here."

"I have no reason to fight with you, get out of my way so I can get that girl and leave." he said with angry voice.

"Sorry, but I will have to refuse. I've actually come because of her."

"Then die!" the bald man shouted and attacked him with his saber. Tia didn't really understand what happened, but it looked like the stranger drew his sword and in the blink of an eye appeared behind the enemy. "What? How?" said the leader of black knights when he saw his own body. His head fell on the ground, followed by the rest of him. The black knights that were standing there didn't disappear, but they froze. It looked like their order got cancelled. They weren't dangerous in this condition at all.

"Thank.. you" said Seph when he saw him killing the enemy. The stranger waved with his sword to clean the red glowing blade from the blood. Tia ran to her brother and hugged him. "Tia.. please.. get out of here and... live .." he didn't finish his sentence because he died due to the blood loss. Tia screamed. The stranger came to her.

"Sorry but I have to do this." he said as he touched her forehead. "~Sleep~". The spell made her instantly fall asleep. He threw her over his shoulder and headed out to the exit of the village. He walked around dead bodies of villagers. He didn't see anyone survive the attack.