Ezekiel woke up looking at clear blue skies, realizing that this felt somewhat familiar to him. He felt something touching his left shoulder, and he looked over to find that Aqua's head was resting quietly on his shoulder. Ezekiel's face turned a bright red, as he would've never expected to find himself in a situation like this. He quietly looked around and saw that the others were also rather close to him as well. None of them were as close as Aqua was, but Rina was sleeping close to Ezekiel's right shoulder, Mia was sleeping close to where Ezekiel's feet were, and Kairi was sleeping close to Ezekiel's head. In a way, it almost seemed like they had them trapped. Suko was sleeping somewhat far away from everyone else, suddenly turning in his sleep. Ezekiel felt that he couldn't move unless he moved Aqua's head, so he lightly poked her head, waking her up. Aqua rubbed her eyes, then realized that she was laying on Ezekiel. Instantly, she removed her head from Ezekiel's left shoulder and blushed extremely hard, stammering, "I-I-I'm sorry, Ezekiel! I, uh... uh, I didn't mean to fall a-asleep on you!" Ezekiel chuckled, still blushing himself a little bit, saying, "It's alright! Don't worry about it." Then, a voice said, "Um, am I interrupting something?" Ezekiel and Aqua turned in the direction of the voice, realizing that it was Victoria, standing there in her maid outfit. Oh yeah, Lionel did say that he would send Victoria out here to meet with us, thought Ezekiel.
Ezekiel and Aqua quickly stood up, a bit embarrassed about what happened just now. The commotion woke up the others, and soon, everyone was fully awake. Before they all got down to business, Ezekiel decided to make everyone some pancakes, especially since Victoria had never had any of Ezekiel's cooking before. Ezekiel made the pancakes pretty quickly, and as Ezekiel predicted, Victoria was hooked on his pancakes. Victoria exclaimed, "It's good! It's light and fluffy! I've never had anything like it!" Ezekiel chuckled, saying, "I got some other food that you can try once this whole war business is over. But anyway, why are you here?" Victoria finished her pancake before saying, "I've come to give you last-minute information. Lionel has informed me that the Freedom Legion will attack this castle tomorrow and kidnap the king, forcing a surrender?" Ezekiel shrugged, saying, "Yeah, that's basically the gist of it." Victoria then said, "I see. I'll need to do my part then as well. A small number of human army soldiers have been stationed in the castle, so we may have the advantage in numbers." Ezekiel then said, "Didn't you say that there was a general here as well?" Victoria looked at him in a confused manner, saying, "No. I never said that." Ezekiel scratched his head, swearing to himself that he heard her say that there was a general in the castle at one point in time. Victoria shrugged, then continued by saying, "The king's throne room is heavily guarded, and the guards have been ordered not to leave it while the king is present at any given time. It'll be hard, but I believe I might be able to get them to leave if I can convince them that attackers are close to the throne room." Ezekiel then said, "Oh, you mean to cause a distraction! That would help tremendously!" Victoria then said, "It shall be done then. Now, about the layout of the castle." Victoria picked up a nearby stick and began drawing in the dirt. Victoria drew a general map of the castle, explaining as she drew. She included standard guard posts and ways to get to the throne room on the map, and even included the tunnel underneath the wall in the map. Soon, everyone began discussing the plan in greater detail.
Once they were finished discussing what to do and everyone agreed on the general plan to follow, Ezekiel quickly recapped, saying, "Once the Freedom Legion draws some of the human army away from the castle, we finish digging out our hole underneath the castle. Then, we take the path to the king's throne room that we agreed on. While this is happening, Victoria will provide a distraction for us, giving us time to quickly kidnap the king and get him out of the castle. We drag him through the tunnel we built, and once we've got the king in Freedom Legion's hands, we force a surrender, ending this war." Ezekiel scratched his head, saying, "It sounds good on paper, but we need to be ready in case shit goes south. I can pack some Greek molotovs and my spyglass, but that may not be enough. I'd like to avoid having the entire army inside the castle come down on us, so we just need to be extremely careful and hope we can follow out the plan flawlessly." Everyone nodded in agreement, and Victoria then said, "I'll take my leave and will prepare for tomorrow, then. I don't want anyone getting suspicious of me." Everyone said their goodbyes before Victoria departed back to the castle, leaving the others to do final preparations for the battle tomorrow.
Ezekiel couldn't think of much else to prepare, as they had already done what they needed to do. One last thought did appear in his mind, though. He quickly went to grab the battery and drag it down to the river. However, he realized that the river was in an open area and not surrounded by a forest, so Ezekiel decided to pull the battery back into the forest for now and began charging it by using his magic to create electricity. This tired him out a lot, as the battery needed a lot of juice in it, but soon, he fully charged the battery. Ezekiel then hid the battery in some nearby bushes, as he felt the battery on its own near the river would stand out too much if anyone saw it. Ezekiel then went back to the small campsite, saying, "I'm gonna go grab some bags of salt. They'll be vital to one of our traps." Everyone acknowledged that, and Ezekiel took the cart into a nearby town.
Ezekiel was about to enter through the gates of the town until two guards stopped him. Ezekiel, unsure of what to do, asked, "Is there a problem?" One of the guards said, "By order of King Ziam himself, it is our righteous duty to collect payment for entering this town. Please provide 1 silver coin for entrance into the town. Otherwise, we will have to turn you away." 1 silver coin just for entrance into a city? King Ziam must be off his fucking rocker if he taxes people like that, thought Ezekiel. Deciding not to get into a fight over it, Ezekiel gave the guard 1 silver coin, and the guards let him through. Once inside the town walls, Ezekiel looked around and saw that it was a rather nice town, but was it nice enough to have to pay 1 silver coin just to enter? Most definitely not. Ezekiel could see the clear class divide in this town, with a road quite literally dividing the rich and the poor. Also, Ezekiel noticed right away that there were no demi-humans in this town, or any other race besides humans for that matter inside of this town. Ezekiel didn't have to think too hard as to why that could be, but seeing this only confirmed that he was fighting for the right thing in this little war. Ezekiel couldn't stand this town much longer, so he quickly searched for a shop selling salt by the bag. He was able to find one, bought 5 bags worth of salt and loaded them up on his cart, then made his way back to the camp.
Ezekiel finally made it back to the camp. When Ezekiel arrived, Suko immediately asked, "Were you followed?" Ezekiel shook his head, although he didn't check and also didn't have a reason to be followed. Suko then said, "Good. It might just be me, but I've been feeling a bit on edge." Ezekiel then said, "I hear you. I've sort of been on edge with this whole thing, too." Suko then went to calm himself down, and Ezekiel hid the bags of salt with the battery. Now, I think we're fully ready, thought Ezekiel.
A few hours later, the entire force of the Freedom Legion came to the small camp that Ezekiel and the others had made. Looking at it now, Ezekiel could easily tell that the number of soldiers went up a lot over these past couple of months since joining. While the Freedom Legion was setting up their own camp, Bear and Tokuda met up with Ezekiel, and Ezekiel told them the plan. After hearing it, Bear then said, "It sounds easy enough, little bro! A quick in-and-out operation!" Tokuda then said, "Remember, I'll make King Ziam cooperate if he doesn't want to be." Ezekiel then said, "Hopefully it all goes well, but be prepared for anything. You never know what will happen." Ezekiel dismissed the two of them and met with Lionel to also tell him the plan. After hearing it, Lionel simply said, "I trust you enough to get the job done over there, so trust us to get the job done over here as well." Leonardo was also part of the conversation, as he said, "I'll make sure the testudo formation you told me about is put to good use over here, my friend! You don't have to worry about a thing!" Ezekiel smiled, feeling somewhat relieved about being reassured.
After a couple hours, the temporary campsite was finished, and Lionel then gathered all of the soldiers and told them the plan, followed by a speech to motivate the troops and remind them of why they're fighting. Also, a warning was issued to the soldiers that stated that they should not enter the forest. Thanks to the warnings of the people who set traps in the forest, no one wanted to wander into the forest by mistake. After that, the soldiers were dismissed, left to their own devices until the attack began tomorrow. Ezekiel's party did the same, doing their own thing until tomorrow's attack.
Ezekiel was sitting by himself next to a small campfire, staring at the small flames that came from it. He wasn't really thinking about anything in particular, but he wanted to try to clear his head for tomorrow's attack. Out of nowhere, however, Ezekiel was approached by Lionel, who sat down next to Ezekiel with two mugs of beer. Lionel extended his arm out to Ezekiel, offering him a mug of beer, but Ezekiel politely turned him down, saying, "Thank you, but I don't drink." Lionel then shrugged, saying, "More for me, I suppose." Lionel downed one mug of beer rather quickly, looked at the campfire, then said, "You know, it's quite crazy to think about how this operation has gotten to where it has in the time that it did. About two months ago, we were scraping by, with barely anyone to fight back against the human army. Now, we're on the verge of possibly ending this small-scale war and making the world right again." Lionel chuckled to himself, then said, "It truly is hard to believe we started all of this from one dream. 5 years ago, I saw Tokuda working by himself to the point of exhaustion, doing what he thought was right. I thought it crazy that the human hero of the Humanity War was working to help the demi-humans. He had no support, no allies, yet he kept pushing himself to make the Red Bear's dream a reality. Of course, I had no idea about it at the time, and I was sort of like the others, thinking that his efforts were in vain." Lionel then looked at Ezekiel and said, "But I saw something that the others didn't. When I looked at Tokuda doing what he could against the human army just by himself, I felt a spark of hope. A spark of hope that inspired me to want to support him, to help him in a battle that seemed to be already lost." Lionel then glanced all around, saying, "What was thought to be impossible by many now turned into a possible reality that we can take hold of. All of this wouldn't be here without the efforts of those supporting us." Lionel scratched his head, saying, "I guess what I'm trying to say is, thank you for your help. You helped get that spark of hope going again when the people around me seemed to have lost it. Thank you for helping us turn something thought to be impossible into something possible. Your nation of science has been much help to us over these past couple of months, and I'm glad to have such valuable allies working alongside us." Lionel extended out his hand and said, "Whatever we may find at the end of tomorrow's battle, just know that it was an honor working with you, and I'll never forget how you helped contribute to our cause." Ezekiel chuckled, saying, "I'm just doing what I think I was meant to do. Turning the impossible into possible by understanding why is the nature of science. You don't have to thank me, either. I'm simply just one kid, and I know for damn sure that I couldn't have done it alone." Ezekiel then quickly grasped Lionel's hand in a firm handshake. Ezekiel realized that Lionel's hand was surprisingly clean, and Lionel smiled and said, "I tried out that thing you called 'soap,' and it works wonders!" Ezekiel laughed, let go of Lionel's hand, and said, "I'm glad it's working out for you. Stay alive and I'll show you more wonders of science." Lionel grinned, saying, "You stay alive to show me it, and we got a deal." With that, Lionel quickly down the second mug of beer and was about to leave when Ezekiel asked, "What's the plan after we get the king to surrender?" Lionel then thought for a moment, then said, "Maybe get the king to convince the emperor or maybe the humans on the Council of Elders to change the laws for equality among all races? I'm honestly not sure yet, but we'll cross that bridge once we get to it. For now, it's one step at a time, my friend." With that, Lionel then walked off to check on the troops. I always pegged him as the bossy, more uptight type. Seems like I might've been wrong about that, thought Ezekiel, as he chuckled to himself.
The rest of the night was filled with higher spirits, as the soldiers were trying to have a good time before tomorrow's attack. Alcohol was limited, but plenty of food and other supplies were supplied by Thelisia. Thelisia even gave some of the troops a speech that raised their spirits even higher, as being motivated by someone cute can really change attitudes from bad to great. The tension in the air from before seemed to dissolve, and some soldiers even forgot that they were attacking tomorrow. However, this was seen as a good thing since the soldiers wouldn't too tense before tomorrow's attack.
Soon, everything began to quiet down, as everyone began to feel tired after a good night. Some guards were posted to watch for any possible enemy attacks, but everyone else was able to get to sleep rather easily. Ezekiel was a little tired, but he wanted to do a bit of research on his enemy before falling asleep. He opened his Book of Knowledge and flipped to the section about politics and soon came across the name of King Ziam, the commander currently in charge of the human army. King Ziam seemed to have quite a shady past, as there have been suspicions cast onto him that he murdered those next in line to claim the throne which he currently sits in. He was also an acting commander during the Humanity War, so Ezekiel realized that they were facing someone with actual battle experience. However, Ezekiel wasn't too worried, as his unconventional methods such as guerilla warfare have been winning them battle after battle since the human army wasn't used to fighting that way. He was also sure that King Ziam himself hasn't actually seen the guerilla tactics used, so Ezekiel was pretty confident in himself that his strategy would trump whatever King Ziam threw at them. After reading up on King Ziam a little more, Ezekiel felt rather confident that he was going about this the right way. Ezekiel closed his Book of Knowledge and went to sleep rather quickly.
The next day, Ezekiel woke up, realizing that they were supposed to attack today. He saw that Lionel had already begun lining up the troops, preparing for battle. The others in Ezekiel's party were also either just waking up or had been up and been preparing for the battle. Ezekiel decided to get ready for it as well, and it didn't take him long to get ready. While preparing, he noticed that there was still a slight bit of tension in the air, but the night before helped relieve most of it. Besides, taking on the human army and hatching a plan like this one is sure to make some people nervous and having them pray that it turns out okay. Once everyone was ready, Lionel made his final speech and went over the plan one last time with the help of Thelisia's motivational skills. Once he got the troops motivated, it was time to officially begin the attack on the castle. Lionel told Ezekiel, "Shoot some magic stuff at the walls there, just enough to get their attention." Without hesitation, Ezekiel summoned a rather large fireball and hurled it at the castle walls. Other magic users like Kairi, Aqua, and Mia followed suit, using whatever magic they could to alert the castle of their presence. Soon, a loud bell that sounded similar to a large church bell could be heard ringing from inside the castle. Lionel shouted at Ezekiel, saying, "Go now! We can hold them off! Get the king and get out of there as soon as you can!" Ezekiel shouted back, saying, "Got it!" With the castle defenses now on the way to put down the Freedom Legion army, Ezekiel and his party went the long way through the forest to avoid the traps and the approaching human army soldiers.
Lionel drew his sword then quietly said to himself, "Godspeed, Ezekiel. This battle will determine what happens to the future of the world." Lionel saw the approaching human army, but the Freedom Legion did not have the advantage of numbers. The human army soldiers were well-equipped, much better equipped than anything the Freedom Legion could get their hands on. There was also a burly man at the very front of the human army, riding on a horse. The man had heavy battle armor on from head to toe, carrying a giant battle axe. The giant man took off his helmet, revealing himself to be Barron, the general of the Northern Human Army. Barron smiled coldly at the Freedom Legion, who stood motionless on the hill. The human army approached the river, crossed it, then they made their way into the forest. Lionel wondered why Victoria's intel was so off, but his thoughts were cut short when he saw the human army begin going into the forest, and when he heard one of the traps going off, Lionel pointed his sword at the human army and shouted, "CHARGE!"126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLM4zxpfWD
