The Twenty-Sixth Act: The Great War Begins I

The knights and their squires fled beneath the woods. To these inexperienced Viero soldiers, the scene was practically the end of the world descending upon them all. A deep, personal terror rose from the bottom of their hearts, as if the Fear Spirits were pouncing straight at them. They were isolated and helpless, and would soon die without even a grave. The private soldiers trembled like leaves, utterly lacking the courage to resist. They threw down their weapons and scattered in panic, screaming as they fled. In the blink of an eye, they completely collapsed.

The Fear Spirits' sharp claws were like hooks hanging in midair. They swept over the soldiers' heads, struck a knight on horseback, and tore him bodily from the saddle. The knight let out a miserable scream. With a wet tearing sound, his intestines and spine were ripped out of his lower body, and half his blood-soaked corpse was flung into the air before falling back down. Shreds of organs and foul blood sprayed across the ground. Only then did the Fear Spirit release another piercing howl before bursting from the forest and soaring high into the sky.

Count Jacques, supreme commander of Viero's Army, watched the scene with a pale face. Thirty or forty Fear Spirits spread wings several meters wide and drove the fleeing squires and knights into the forest from above. Many of the knights were not killed by the undead at all, but smashed into trees until their brains burst, or trampled to death by their comrades. The squires who lost their way in the panic fared even worse. Once they were knocked to the ground, death was almost certain. The sight of one or two thousand people being herded into the dense forest like ducks was both pitiful and absurd. If