With the liberation finding their second wind and rushing full steam ahead to take the castle, Marcus followed Marek right to the front lines. Where they began securing the opening in the first barrier Marcus and Roxene had created with their combined attack.
Luckily, as much as the kingdom’s blowing up their own city had been meant to heavily damage and disorganize the liberation, it had also done the same to many of their troops.
Very few people were actually privy to this plan, and the defenders of the castle watching this were stunned themselves.
This led to a very lackluster response, as the liberation began invading the castle’s grounds through the hole in the outer barrier that Marcus and Roxene had made.
Eventually though, as the liberation poured in by the thousands, the castle’s defenders got back into their positions and began fighting back.
Of course, of the around forty thousand fighters left for the kingdom, plenty of them were beginning to question their loyalty. With some even throwing down their weapons and refusing to fight.
Still, the commanders that were loyal to the king would cut down any dissenters and force the other troops into line.
It was fight or die..
Though it was not long before the hundreds of thousand of troops of the liberation had surrounded the castle, and even with the best defensible position in the kingdom, the resolve of each party was vastly different.
Only the most loyal of people still wanted to fight for the king after seeing him blow up the entire capital city other than the castle. While the liberation was channeling all of their rage into fighting with everything they had.
‘Hm, I do not see Cibor, or Armand.’ Marek thought as he scanned the area from up above.
In fact, the only one of the remaining four great knights he could currently see was Ziemia, who seemed to be fighting with everything she had to defend the castle that was currently under bombardment, as the liberation’s forces tired to break through the powerful barrier around it.
Yet it was not long before one of the men in question was spotted, and Marek saw Armand flying at an incredible speed.
Except he was not moving to join the battle, but was instead flying away, abandoning his position.
He was not going to sacrifice his life in what he now realized was a pointless battle and had opted to preserve his own life.
‘No one go after him. If Armand wishes to flee let him. Just stay vigilant in case this is a trick and he plans to double back around.’ Marek sent out to the liberation leaders.
They had very few people that could actually contend with Armand, and if one of their biggest threats wanted to flee, then why should they worry about a powerful piece taking itself out of the battle.
Soon Lyra, Mrazivy, and Verona joined up with Marek and Marcus who were waiting for Cibor to make his appearance.
However, the strongest man in the kingdom seemed to have no plan to come out during the siege of the castle.
Eventually after around three days, the near impenetrable barrier around the castle began to falter as it simply ran out of fuel and slowly began to break apart.
Cheers of victory began to resound through the liberation as they were now just a final step away from winning over the kingdom.
All that was left was to capture and execute the king along with his supporters who were left inside castle.
“Let us go. Now Cibor will have to face us if he wants to stop us from taking the king.” Marek said before taking off towards the castle.
Following behind him, Marcus and the others flew right for the castle’s main entrance that was already being overrun by the liberation’s troops.
At the same time, the other leaders charged towards the castle, with Francis and five others heading straight for Ziemia who had so far been helming the defense of the castle.
Once inside the castle, Marcus and his group led by Marek, made a beeline for the throne room, where it was likely the king would be.
It was the most defensible position and would have the best magics in place to stop invaders.
Yet along the way resistance was abysmal from the castle’s defenders, many of which simply threw down their weapons and surrendered, having lost faith in the king when he blew up the city.
“Looks like you are on your way to the throne room. Mind if I join you. “Argus said landing next to Marek as they were about to enter the castle proper.
Nodding his head, Marek agreed, since at this point it was likely that they would find both Cibor and the second ranked great knight protecting the king.
“Hm, this is not exactly how I expected this to go down.” Marek said as they advanced through the castle.
So far, they had not run into any soldiers or defenders, having their path impeded only by magical defenses which with their levels they were able to force their way through.
In fact, the only people they were able to find were cowering servants, who had holed themselves in whatever room had been closest when the liberation had broken through.
It was almost eerie the lack of resistance that they found, and at some point, Marcus had to ask, “Do you think that the king fled? Maybe he emptied out whatever he could from the treasury and took Cibor and the second ranked great knight through some sort of secret passage.”
Yet Marek shook his head and said, “I do not believe that the king would flee. He is a proud man and would probably die before giving up his position. Though it is possible that the second ranked great knight may have decided to prioritize his safety over anything else and restrained him before fleeing.”
“Yes, that is possible, but we do have people on the look out for that possibility. Also, they could not warp out of here now, since Tesia’s tower is disrupting any sort of long-range teleportation.” Argus said, adding on to Marek’s speculation.
Still even if the king had fled, it would not make too much of a difference, and in some way would be better since it minimized the possible losses that might be incurred in a final fight.
However, as they passed into a large room that would normally be used to hold grand meetings and had actually been where Lyra’s parents were tried and found guilty of treason. A sole figure stood against the doors that would lead towards the king.
Blocking their path, Cibor stood with a grim expression on his face, no longer having his normal confident expression.
“So, you have finally made it this far. Unfortunately, I cannot let you go any further. Rosly is just beyond these doors in front of the throne room, so we can either all fight in here or you can split up however you like. I do not care either way.” Cibor said in an almost defeated way.
Smiling and walking forward, Argus continued moving towards the doors that Cibor was guarding, and said, “I will take on the second rank great knight myself. You can fight everyone else here Cibor.”
Nodding his head and walking out of the way, Cibor allowed Marek to pass as he stared intently at everyone else.
“Very well. Shall we get started on the battle to decide the fate of the kingdom.” Cibor said as he took a battle stance. Ready for the final showdown.
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