"The Judge, The Judge has arrived!" Suddenly shouts of joy could be heard from the soldiers as they all lined up in front of the castle. The giant gate was opened as a lone rider slowly approached it, even though the rider rode slowly and it took some time for him to arrive, no voices of protest could be heard as the soldiers lined up perfectly in order to welcome the man.
He was alone, the kingdom hadn't sent any further reinforcements to the fortification, the reason for that was simple, there was no need. There was no nothing that normal soldiers could do when faced with top combatants, even when there were thousands of them. The only thing that soldiers could do was wipe their necks and pray for a swift death.
Even if there were over ten thousand soldiers going against one top combatant that hadn't gone through the first evolution, they would fail at killing him. The reason for that was simple, not only were top combatants many times stronger than normal soldiers, but they could also take a lot more damage and move many times faster. Even if the numbers were overwhelming, a top combatant could simply run away and there was almost nothing that soldiers could do to stop him.
When it came to first evolution combatants however the discrepancy was even larger. A first evolution combatant was as strong as a 10 000 men army and even when faced against such numbers they would be able to come out victorious, barely victorious and wounded, but victorious.
In such a small place as the gorge, there would be less room for maneuvering and dodging attacks, thanks to that soldiers had a greater chance of inflicting wounds on top combatants, but the same could be said for the top combatants as well. Thanks to the relatively small area, top combatants could easily kill a large number of soldiers with a single attack.
Of course, this was all true when it came to normal soldiers, when faced with elite troops the battle would run differently as elite troops were much stronger compared to normal ones.
The rider finally came in front of the gate and was visible to all. The black horse he rode on slowly walked toward the soldiers without showing a hint of fear. A long white robe fell on both sides of the horse as the man on top of it looked at the castle, his face was covered by a white and black mask. The left side was white while the right one was black, each had multiple golden lines that crossed each other's path in the middle of the mask. There were no further decorations on the mask, there was only a small opening for where the mouth was in order to allow the person that wore it to breathe easier and two holes that allowed the man to see.
The white robe was covering a black armor that the man wore while his two hands had gloves on. Contrary to the mask, the left hand had a black glove while the right one had a white glove. The leather pants the man wore were made from some weird white leather that didn't look like it was simply painted over while the man's black combat boots seemed sturdy and a bit old.
Reign, Lieara and the others were all standing in front of the main castle door as they waited for the man to get closer to them. Hints of nervousness could be seen in the eyes of Lieara, Ilas and Dain as they stared at the figure in front of them.
The Judge had become known as one of the kingdom's two strongest fighters below the first evolution at relatively the same time as Lico and their fame was almost as large as that of first evolution combatants. Even though Reign was as powerful as them if not even stronger, he was someone that had just arrived on this planet, and as such none of them had the same admiration for him as they did for the other two that had fought multiple times and saved the lives of many.
The Judge arrived near them and dismounted his horse before walking toward them. Each step he took produced some kind of mystical feeling, and the three could see space itself warping around the Judge. For Reign however something like this was similar to a parlor trick and had no effect, the Judge quickly saw that and focused his gaze on Reign for a while.
"Sir Reign, I presume?" A robotic voice could suddenly be heard from the mask, one of the things that the Judge was known for was his mysterious identity, not only were his body and face always covered, but his voice as well was never the same. Each time he showed himself to the public he would have a slightly different mask on and his voice would sound a bit different.
It was thanks to this that the chance of finding who he is was almost equal to zero. It was evident that the man had gone through great trouble in order to keep his identity a secret.
"Yes, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, Judge." Reign said with a smile before extending his hand in order to shake the man's. The Judge looked at his hand for a moment before extending his own and shaking Reign's. Upon seeing that the others all had a weird expression on their face, the Judge hated touching other people and would rarely even interact with others, it was mostly thanks to Reign's great strength that something like this would happen.
"Ahh, I have to apologize for being late." Suddenly Raigon's voice was heard behind Reign and the others. They all looked back, only to find a well-dressed Raigon behind them. Raigon wore a golden robe that almost touched the ground, two white gloves covered his hands while his face was half-covered by a mask that was seemingly broken in the middle.
"Ummm, I, ugh…" The three higher-ups of the castle were stunned after seeing Raigon's appearance, one should know that the young man never cared for formality and was usually dressed in simple clothes. This time however he not only wore the most luxurious clothing he had, but he also put on gloves and half a mask, even an idiot would be able to see that he was making fun of the Judge.
"You're still the same as ever, Raigon." The Judge spoke after glancing at Raigon for a short period of time. His words quickly calmed everybody down, it was obvious that the two knew each other, and perhaps Raigon even knew the true identity of the Judge, something that barely anybody in the kingdom knew.
"Well of course, what, I can't mock your annoying ceremonial outfit anymore?" Raigon smiled widely as he stared at the man in front of him who simply shook his head before sighing.
"Do whatever you want, I don't really care." The Judge said before looking at Reign, "I have heard much about your strength, I'm glad we have finally managed to get another powerful person, I will see you on the battlefield."
The Judge simply walked into the castle after finishing his sentence, he didn't even give Reign a chance to speak. For some, this might seem like an arrogant move, but Reign could see that the Judge was simply the kind of person that didn't speak much and let his actions do most of the talking.
Even though the other three were almost completely ignored by the Judge, they still quickly went after him in order to check if there was anything he needed. One could say that the three were complete and utter fanboys and a fangirl of the man. Even the usually stoic and serious Ilas was acting completely different than usual.
"Not his biggest fan I assume?" Reign asked Raigon who was looking at the back of the Judge.
"It's not that, he's a good guy, I just hate the way he acts sometimes, and plus, me acting this way made the tension ease a bit, not to mention that all the soldiers love the guy, after seeing that I and him actually know each other, they will have even more respect for me." Raigon smiled at Reign as he spoke, even when he mentioned that he hates the way the Judge acted, there was no malicious thought behind his words.
"Well, I guess we should all get ready, the enemy should arrive soon right?" Reign asked Raigon who simply nodded his head. They had heard from the spies that were busy following the enemy that they were only about an hour away from the fortification.
"Yes, I'll do my preparations, I will see you later." Raigon's seemingly lax face disappeared as seriousness overtook it.
As Reign went inside the castle he quickly spoke to Aethion.
'Hey, I'm not going crazy right, that man, I couldn't, I don't know what, but I simply couldn't get a feel of it'
"You're right, I felt the same Reign," Aethion spoke with a grave voice
'That man, he doesn't have a soul."
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦