1 CHAPTER 1- PILOT

Pant Pant Pant, the sound of breathing, ricocheted across a dark room.

"You....we will stop you." a man spoke as he sat on his knees, the life in his eyes, diminishing as he bled from his ankles and wrists.

"You always say that, and yet. Here you are, dying at my feet once more." a shadowy figured replied, standing over him with piercing red eyes.

"Don't get too cocky, I haven't died yet." the man held up his head with a forced smirk.

The shadowy figure moves closer to the dying man, placing his hand on his head.

"That can be arranged." as he proceeds to crush the mans skill, then ripping it from his body.

"What now?" a giant daunting figure appeared from behind.

"This changes nothing." he replies

"It's quite sad really. This rounds had soo much potential." a female voice spoke sharply, her eyes resting lustfully on the bodies of now 11 individuals, of all shapes and sizes.

21 YEARS LATER

"Gasp! Pant Pant Pant"

A boy falls out of bed, grasping at his right eye as he tries to contain his panic. He then slowly picks himself off the ground and stands silently as he stares off into space. After letting out a sigh as sweat drips from his face, he covers his right eye with his dark black hair, reaches for his utility belt and straps it around his waist. He then left his tent and saw that the bonfire was still ablaze although everyone had gone to sleep in their tents. He then looked up to the cloudless sky and stared at the glowing moon. He sat at the top of a boulder that was in front of the camp, concealing them from outside forces, and looked down on a nearby enemy camp.

"Can't sleep huh?" A man came up from behind and sat next to the boy.

"....."

"Well it's no surprise there, this whole world is a devilish dream. War, poverty and corruption. All in one." The man continued. "Yeah. I wonder when all of this will end. After this war? Or the next? Or the one after that?" The boy spoke. "I've been fighting many battles for as long as i could remember, taking many lives and seeing just as many being lost on our side."

"You'll never know. This time tomorrow, we will attack the enemy camp. By the looks of things, they seem to have over 20,000 soldiers down there." The man estimated. "50,000 soldiers, including the king himself and an "Arcane knight", that's who's on our side." "An Arcane Knight?" The boy wondered. "Yup, a knight blessed by the Gods and given power and abilities beyond that of a normal human. It's said they have power equivalent to that of an army of 50,000 men. It's been a while since I've seen one in action." He looked at the boy.

'An Arcane knight, and the King himself. Just to raid an enemy base? '

"What exactly are we looking for in the enemy camp?" The boy turned to the man and asked. "I'm not sure myself, but it must be important for an Arcane knight much less, the king himself to come." The man replied before getting up and starting to walk back to his tent. "You should get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow." he entered his tent, leaving to boy outside. "Something important huh?" he continued to look down on the enemy camp.

The Next Day

"Everyone up!" "Huh?" The mumbled before getting up and walking out of his tent but he could only see everyone in a rush, running from tent to tent and preparing their gear. He could hear it, amongst the sound of scrambling adults, he could hear something coming in the distance. "The Army is here!" The boy went back into his tent and put on his gear, a light and dirty metal chest plate, arm guards, Leg guards, gloves, a utility belt, his basket of arrows and his wooden black bow. The Archers then stood as a group in front of their camp as the reinforcements got closer. At the front of the Archer squad, the man that the boy talked to the night before, to the right; the boy and to the left; another Archer. The reinforcements then stopped in front of the Archers, to the front; a warrior dressed in golden armor with a female chest plate and crimson hair flowing out of a golden helmet, riding a brown horse with a massive sword resting at its side.

"Hey isn't that the Princess."

"Yeah what's she doing here?"

To the left of her, another warrior, wearing a silver armor set and to the right a warrior with golden armor as well, though this one had a peculiar symbol on his chest plate.

The head of the army then took off her helmet, revealing her esteemed beauty. The group of archers promptly bow at her reveal, all except the boy who was lost in the sauce.

'Hmm? The Princess.'

The boy came to realize.

The princess turns her attention to the unruly boy who gave off the presence of one that was above her.

"Bow." Sitting high and looking down at him she begins to assert the authority of royalty, to no avail it didn't make him move an inch. The warrior to her left seeing the royal authority being disregarded jumps off her horse and takes off her helmet, revealing a girl with short blue hair with a sharp and angry expression. She then swiftly moves closer to the boy, drawing her sword and placing it at his neck. Even this could not even make him flinch.

"You are in the presence of the princess!" The warrior shouts.

"Calm yourself Akane. You'll only end up doing our enemy's job for them." The princess says ordering the warrior to sheath her sword.

"Yes your majesty." She instantly replies sheathing her sword.

The man, standing at the front of the of the archer squad quickly apologizes on the boys behalf greets the princess.

"I'm sorry your majesty. He's a bit different from the rest of us."

"I see that your usual guardian, Miss Akane has accompanied you, but....I don't recall your name." He says staring sharply at the warrior in silver armor.

The head of the archers puts on a courteous smile as he spoke to the princess then turned to Akane, then to the warrior to the right whom was still seated on his horse. This mysterious man lathered in silver, takes off his helmet, revealing a pale skinned man with white hair.

"My name is Ulceier Von Heimer. I am the Arcane knight sent by the king himself." The man held his head as if he had more presence than the princess. As his eyes came across the boy, he saw that he was in thought.

'A fraud.'

"Of course, my apologies." The head of the Archers apologized. "You are the head of this unit correct?" The princess asked. "Yes, I am Orion Waltz. Commander of the third unit." "Then you should learn to keep your underlings in check. We wouldn't want any of your men to die of an unnecessary death." The princess said as she turned to the boy. "His armor, it's not one that an Archer should use, what are you trying to do get yourself killed? Ulceier said to the boy. "What is your name?" The princess asked the boy as she hopped off of her horse.

"Jacob Kusonagi." "I'll make sure that your name is carved into a tombstone." The princess replied.

"Princess Alcia, when are we going to raid the enemy base?" Orion asked the princess. "At night fall, we will take advantage of the night and ambush their forces from each direction."

'This isn't right.'

"You filthy Archer, got something on your mind huh?" Akane mumbled as she proceeded to draw he sword but the princess stopped her, noticing Jacobs questionable expression. "What is it that you wish to say?" The princess asked. "It's an ambush." "Yes it is, thank you for reminding me. Everyon-" the princess mocked Jacob before she tried to give out an order. "No you misunderstood me. We are walking straight into an ambush." "Jacob?" Orion became confused. "Elaborate." The princess became interested.

"We have been at this post for 4 days and nights, I've been keeping an eye in the enemy camp in all that time. There has been no movement and no suspicious behavior amongst their forces." He shared his thoughts.

"You've been Keeping an eye on the enemy camp.... that's two miles away?" Ulceier says while mocking him.

"How can you?"

"I have good eyes." Jacob says in a sly manner. "Aside from that, the enemy forces are not receiving any information or orders from their kingdom, they're just sitting there each day doing nothing."

"I see. So you think that the enemy knows that we're coming and that they already have a plan on how to exterminate us?" The princess listened to Jacob.

'Why am I listening to this fool?'

"No, I'm saying that the enemy is not our enemy, our allies are." "What?" Orion wondered as everyone became distorted and whispers echoed throughout the archers and reinforcements.

"Don't be ridiculous. I should shut you up right now." Akane said before she continued to draw her sword but the princess stopped her as she stared into Jacobs eyes and saw how serious he was.

"What makes you think our allies are our enemies?"

"Do you know which Kingdom's camp we are about to ambush?" he asked the princess.

"It's...." "You don't actually know do you and which kingdom sends an entire army just to sit in the middle of nowhere? Before you arrived here we heard news that an Arcane knight and the King himself would come but instead, the princess next in line for the throne, her guardian, an army of over 50,000 soldiers and an "Arcane knight"." Jacob expressed his suspicions. "Ugh!?" The Arcane knight Ulceier exclaimed before getting off of his horse. "But since you don't seem aware of this abnormality, I presume that you are the intended target, Princess Alc-" He deduced before receiving a punch to his face by Ulceier, sending him flat on his ass but Jacob got up and shrugged it off. "How dare you soil the name of an Arcane Knight, the symbol on my armor should be proof enough." he argued. "A mere symbol does not determine whether you are an Arcane knight or not." Jacob stared into the eyes of Ulceier. "That's it! You're an assassin aren't you!? The armor you wear, the blades by your side, you aren't an Archer, you're an enemy and as such....I must kill you right now!" The Arcane knight blabbed as he drew his sword and prepared to attack Jacob.

"Sheathe your weapon! If you are indeed an enemy then you will be executed before the people of the Kingdom of Altia." The princess stopped the Knights' attack and ordered Jacob to be tied up.

"Everyone else. Prepare yourselves for battle, we attack at nightfall." The princess ordered as everyone disbanded and set up camp.

Later That Night

Everyone is active, suiting up and preparing for battle as the princess sat down and meditated while Jacob was tied up and left in a corner, stripped of his armor and weapons, away from the main forces.

"..."

"You know, you shouldn't be around an enemy assassin." Jacob said to the shadow behind him.

"Still as sharp as ever", Orion appears from behind.

"So cut the crap jacob I know you're not an assassin, I've known you since you were a kid heck I've known your parents since before then and I trust your judgement." Orion said as he came out of the shadows.

"Protect her Orion, she doesn't know the meaning of war." Jacob says looking at the princess.

"Do it yourself." Orion replied before dropping Jacobs armor, blades, bow and arrows.

"Shouldn't you have placed them closer to me?"

"As if your couldn't get out of some rope yourself."

"I wonder if I'll finally get to see you use your bow again." Orion said before he walked away and joined up with the other Archers but Jacob just sat there and stared at his gear.

"Everyone! Our mission is to decimate the enemy forces and retrieve the assets!" The princess shouted as she sat atop her horse and drew a sword, leaving her own sword resting in its sleeve at the side of the horse.

"We will divide our forces into 4. From the North, I will lead 12,500 of our forces. From the south, Arcane knight Ulceier will lead 10,000. From the west, Akane will lead 10,000 as well and from the east a force of 17,500 soldier and the Archers will split up and cover us from the rear. Does everyone understand!?" The princess shouted for confirmation. "Yes!" The soldiers screamed. "Fan out! We will eat at the enemy's forces and meet at the middle, on my signal all archers light your arrows and aim for the outer tents, leave the main base, there is a possibility that the assets are in there.." The princess continued before the troops advanced over the hill and separated.

After the troops separated and surrounded the enemy base, they began their operation. "What's the report on the enemy forces?" The princess asked a soldier as she sat atop her horse. "No movement in the enemy base."

"We'll attack now. Fire the signal." The princess ordered before a soldier started a fire and burned oil before black smoke rose to the night sky. Then, a number of soldier from the North, East and West groups marked their helmets with a cross. "That's the signal! Archers! Light em up!" Orion shouted before all archer drowned their arrow heads in oil and lit them before firing them into the sky. "For Altia!" The princess released a battle cry after putting on her helmet and charged towards the enemy base. "For Altia!" All the soldiers shouted before they followed behind her.

"It's them!" An enemy soldier shouted as he saw the princess's forces charging towards them and balls of fire flying through the sky. "Look out!" The soldier screamed as the flaming arrows rained down upon them. "Ahhh!" the princesses forces charged onto the camp and started cutting down everyone they saw. The princess pushed through everyone and headed straight for the main base. In the West, Akane's group, she charged through the enemy forces and sliced down everyone she saw. Then she stopped and realized something. The enemy was not attacking.

'What's going on here?'

Akane wondered before getting off of her horse and checked the tents around her, inside of each tent, she found nothing but beds, no weapons, no armor, just beds. "Hey miss guardian." A fellow soldier with a cross on his helmet called for her as he entered the tent she was in. "What do you think you are doing soldier?" Akane asked the soldier before four others came in behind him drawing their swords. After a few second, Akane shot out of the tent and saw what was a battle between their own forces. Those with crosses on their helmets attacking the others and killing them.

'Damn it! Princess. That damn archer was right. It's a trap! Then that means...'

Akane thought as she began to worry, she then ran towards the main enemy tent at the center of the camp.

Meanwhile, outside of the camp, the archers are waiting on the main forces to finish their mission. Then, Orion, the leader of the Archer squad started noticing that some of the archers were gone.

'Hmm?'

Walking around the boulders he came upon the dead bodies of his fellow archers. "Wha-!? This is-" he became distorted before he heard the sound of flesh being impaled. He then looked down and saw a sword sticking out of his chest spitting up blood before the blade was pulled out, dropping him to his knees. He turned around and saw several archers with crosses on their arms. "How could you....betray the princess. How could you betray me" You bastards!" 

"Betray the princess? Hahaha! We don't serve that bitch! All hail Prince Amenadiel, future ruler of Altia-!" the soldier laughed before all of them felt pain a sharp pain, their heads separating from their bodies in a mere instant.

"Wha-?" Orion wondered as he saw the bodies of his men drop to the ground. "I didn't think things would get this bad, the archers as well huh." A voice said as two blades were placed back in their sleeves. "I-" Orion mumbled before he fell back but someone caught him. "Jacob...."

"I'm here." 

"I can't believe I'm going to die without seeing you use your bow once again....Jacob Kusonagi. Ha....Give em hell." Orion smiled before he passed away. Closing Orion's eyes and resting him down on the ground, Jacob got up and walked over to the cliff. After reaching into his under shirt, he pulled out a necklace with a crystal pendant, latching onto it, his expression dimmed.

Meanwhile, the princess finally arrived at the main tent and hopped off of her horse. Then as she entered the main tent her eyes opened wide, there was nothing. The tent was completely empty.

'What's going on here?'

The princess wondered before she heard terrible screams coming from outside of the tent. She looked outside and saw her own soldiers slaughtering each other. "I see that you're the first to get here. Of course, you are the princess after all." A voice from inside of the tent said, it was "Arcane Knight" Ulceier, covered in the blood of the princess's men. "Sir Ulceier? What's going on here." "I hate to admit it but, that brat was right. I'm no Arcane knight, I'm just a humble follower." Ulceier said as he ripped away a piece of thin plastic from his forehead, revealing a carving in the shape of a cross. "My brother!?" The princess deduced as her brother always wore a robe with a giant cross down the middle and has a golden cross on his forehead.

"All that gold for your pretty little head. I have to admit, I' going to enjoy this." "But why?"

"Why do you think? He wants to be the next ruler of Altia. You're the oldest so obviously you're next in line, that is....if you return alive." Ulceier explained before drawing his sword. "Princess!" Akane came running through the side of the tent and clashed swords with Ulceier. "Ahh! Ms. Guardian. I see you made it. The more the merrier!" Ulceier shouted before adding strength to his swing and pushing Akane into the ground. "That's enough!" The princess shouted after drawing her sword from the horse's side.

"Aah! What's this?" A blade illuminates the darkness of the night sky.

"The Divine blade Altia, the divine weapon, created from the very essence of the Sun. That does not belong to you!" Ulceier turned his attention to the princess as she held a massive red, white and black sword in her hands. "It doesn't matter whether you have that sword or not!" Ulceier jumped towards the princess.

"Princess!" Akane shouted as she ran after Ulceier. "Ahh!" the princess cried before swinging the blade downwards but Ulceier hit the swords side with his own, sending the swords trajectory to the right, leaving her wide open as the sword became stuck in the ground. "Ugh!?" "Even with this destructive weapon, if you can't wield it properly, then you're basically nothing more than a helpless little girl!" Ulceier shouted as he brought up his sword towards the princess. The sound of flesh being sliced and blood dropping to the floor echoed. "Hmmm? You again, this is starting to become a trend." Ulceier mumbled as he saw Akane in front of him, she was cut by Ulceier's sword from her stomach up to her shoulder but her armor was not strong enough to prevent the sword from penetrating. "Akane!" The princess screamed. "Oh well. Next is you-!" Ulceier shouted before Jacob appeared in front of his face, staring into his eyes. "Ugh!?" Ulceier exclaimed before Jacob drew his blades and swung them diagonally, creating an 'X'. Ulceier then started to step back and check his body, but he wasn't hurt. "It's you." the princess noticed his, as she clenched on to Akane.

"Hmm? Isn't that Altia?" Jacob wondered as he saw the giant sword stuck in the ground. "Ha! Hahahahaha!" Ulceier started to laughed maniacally. Ulceier's armor cracked before completely falling apart and a massive wound appeared on his body. "But, how!?" "That feeling you are experiencing right now. I'm going to multiply it by a thousand." Jacob said before he shelved his blades and grabbed his black bow from his back and pulled one of the arrows from the basket. Then the wind started to pick up and flow through the tent.

'The wind?'

The princess wondered, Akane, still conscious in her arms, starts to see a blue aura surrounding Jacob. "Before, I said that an Arcane Knight cannot be determined by a mere symbol?" Jacob said to Ulceier before his hair started to flow upwards, revealing his closed right eye with a vertical scar over it. "It was a lie." Jacob opened his right eye before it glowed a blue color and in the center of his eye rested the symbol '♐'. "Arcus...First Form:....."Jacob chanted before his black bow's design began to change as his pendant glowed. He then drew an arrow made of pure energy and fired it upwards, sending it out of the tent and into the night sky.

'Orion, this is for you.'

"...Scatter: Divine Rain!" He finished as the arrow turned into light and split apart before raining down on everything outside of the tent. Completely destroying the land and everything on it. Then, there was silence. "Huh?" Ulceier ran out of the tent and as soon as he made it outside his eyes opened wide. All he saw was complete destruction. The ground around them was a massive crater, only the tent stood on a pillar of earth.

"How could this be?" He dropped to his knees shivering in disbelief.

"Now then, Mr. 'Arcane knight.' It's time for your divine punishment."

"Huh? NO!" Jacob said before Ulceier turned around and saw him holding the Divine Sword Altia, swinging the sword downwards and parting the land and ocean alike.

END OF CHAPTER