“I am your desolated despair.”

The black-coated titanium blade slashed through the moist air. The projectile had the force and destructive power of a typhoon, blowing away the bats as they fluttered desperately to remain in mid-air. Tree trunks in its path had a clean slice on them as they detached from the trees and collapsed. The gale was itself a deadly razor, slicing everything in its path mercilessly.

The weakened bat lost control of it’s left wing as the knife grazed through it. It fluttered helplessly and landed flat on the muddy soil. The icy knife continued with its trajectory despite meeting its target.

The soldier stared down at the trapped bat with emotionless eyes.

“You’re a hard bat to catch,” he muttered under his breath. He walked towards the fallen vampire. With the entire forest silent, when even the crickets dared not make a squeak, each step he took made an eerie soft slushing sound. “Nonetheless, this ends now.”

Shadows crept into the white of his eyes as his pupils hollowed out, leaving only unpolished black stones. He was standing next to the grounded bat, reading fear from its eyes. In those eyes, he saw his own ghostly reflection.

A magic circle emerged under the fallen bat. The blood-red crest illuminated intensely. As Nyx stared at the fallen bat, he noticed a sudden change in the atmosphere.

“Tricked!” he exclaimed. He drew out throwing knife the size of a dart and waited. The sudden change in the bat’s behaviour cautioned Nyx. A moment later, a horde of bats fled away in unison, desperately flapping their wings to escape.

As the plains cleared, only one winged animal was left lying on the dried soil. The heat from the magic circle had burnt up all the moisture, leaving an imprint of the vampire’s emblem. Nyx kept his eyes on it till it drew its final breath. It died so naturally, like an squashed insect resigning to its death sentence.

“Tchhh…” he scoffed, “slimy little coward.”

The teenaged princess stood motionlessly at the gates of Camp Orion, awaiting the return of the troopers. In particular, she was impatiently waiting for one individual whom she never had the chance to thank ever since the Harbour Incident.

Throngs of men trudged into the main gates of Camp Orion, so she had a hard time identifying him among the muddied and injured soldiers. The last of the soldiers returned, and yet there was still no sign of him.

“Sergeant Clarkson!” Wang Xin exclaimed from afar. The young sergeant turned his back and bowed down, “yes, Ma’am? Anything I can do for you?”

“I was wondering if Captain Nyx has returned.”

“You’re looking for Sir? He’s still not back yet. He went to retrieve his blade after the fight with Phantasm. Don’t worry, he’ll be back soon, I suppose.”

As Clarkson finished his sentence, the lean young man in black entered the camp boundaries.

The soldiers nearby stood at attention and saluted the man, who seemed no older than them.

“Good evening, Sir!”

“Evening. At ease,” the officer returned the salute and replied wearily.

“Captain Nyx!” she announced, “there’s a debrief in ten minutes! Meeting tent.”

The worn-out soldier gave a polite smile and nodded. “Candherick, our own debrief will commence at twenty-three hundred hours. Make the arrangements.”

Clarkson saluted his officer-in-command and left for the lodging quarters while Nyx headed straight for the Ops tent.

Wang Xin would have been exceedingly annoyed. Every young bachelor in the Kingdom would pay with their lives just to have a minute’s worth of idle chat with one of the most ravishing beauties in the world. Yet Nyx did not even stop and look at her. It would have made any royal princess mad. If not for the fact that…

Her dejected expression disappeared, replaced by a commanding sternness.

This is war.

The phrase that Wang Xin reminded herself every night before she slept. She turned her back and headed for the Kingdom’s assigned quarters.

The commanders surrounded the circular table while their second-in-command stood behind. A holographic map lit up the table.

“Deadend Coast, we’re going to take control of it tomorrow, at noon,” Urbs suggested.

“I don’t see the need to break camp here,” Wang Xin retorted as she traced the route to Deadend Coast on the hologram, “we can simply send a team there. We can’t go any further. It’s called ‘Deadend Coast’ for a reason.”

Husker made eye-contact with Urbs, before replying the Kingdom’s princess. “You misunderstand, Commander Wang,” Husker said as he pointed to a nearby landmass, “Deadend Coast is the only way to get to Oclia’s secret naval fortress.”

“After the war commenced and Deadend Coast was captured by Phantasm, the naval fortress went stealth mode, transmitting us information regarding the movements of Phantasm. This time round, we need our naval forces functional on this side of the map. We need to secure Deadend Coast as soon as possible,” Urbs added.

Captain Nyx sat silently in his chair, deep in thought.

“Now that Phantasm has lost footing in this region, it’s the best time to strike. Overlord Jee’angzsh has been taken care of, I presume?” Lieutenant Colonel Footes queried.

All eyes shifted towards to Nyx.

Nyx looked up. “No. That coward escaped.”

“How’s that possible? We saw the satellite images.”

“Sacrificial soul transfer. My knife pierced through the bat. That, I am certain. But before he drew his last breath, he conjured a magical crest. I’m guessing that he has the power to abandon his frail body and possess another bat. But this is merely a hypothesis. We need to confirm this with ORACLE,” Nyx explained.

The whole tent turned silent. It was a silent acceptance of his explanation. They trusted the new commander’s ability and insight. It was the highest form of strength, when words were no longer necessary to credit him.

“What makes you think he escaped, Captain Nyx?” Wang Xin asked Nyx as they walked out of the tent after the meeting concluded.

Nyx turned to look at her.

“Err… I mean… You’re strong. There’s a really high chance you killed him there and then…” she stuttered, trying to her best not to show her anxiety.

“I have a feeling. And call me Ezra. Everyone calls me that. I still can’t get used to people calling me ‘Captain’.”

“Like an intuition, Ezra?”

“Maybe,” Nyx commented. He looked up at the night sky before muttering, “I know beasts like him. They can survive because they’ve gone through hell.”

“Sorry… I didn’t catch you. What did you say?”

“It’s nothing…” Nyx shrugged it off, “I’ll see you tomorrow then, Commander Wang.”

“Call me Xin,” she murmured. But before she could vocalise her words, he had already disappeared.

Wang Xin popped her head into the largest tent in the Kingdom’s assigned quarters.

“Di, you there?” she asked, in a rarely used gentle tone.

“Yeah, I’m just trying to decrypt the last bits of data obtained from Opolla,” came the reply.

Wang Xin frowned. On some nights, Wang Xin still have nightmares about that raid. Some times, one did not have to be on premises to be traumatised. For the princess, it was the guilt she had to deal with if she lost her younger brother there and then. That feeling of helplessness which pained her, to know that she was powerless in preventing such a frightening event from occurring, and the inability to do something about it.

Compared to Ezra Nyx, she was a feeble seedling requiring protection because of her ineptness. Her thoughts often drifted to mysterious Nyx, who always seemed to have a dark aura surrounding him, preventing others from getting near him.

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah sure, Jie. What’s up?”

Wang Xin entered the spacious tent. For the heir of the Kingdom, the accommodation was considered modest. She sat on a nearby chair and crossed her legs. “Tomorrow we’ll heading into another war zone… Do you want to update Pa¹?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be having a secured call with him later on. Wanna join in?”

“Mmm…” Wang Xin responded. Her thoughts seemed to be somewhere else.

Wang Xia read her mind. “Anything else, Jie?”

His sister hesitated. She opened her mouth and mouthed, “I’m…”

“It’s about tomorrow, isn’t it? The thought of us dying there scares you…”

Wang Xin nodded and said as she trembled, “I’m ashamed of myself… I’m supposed to be commanding an entire legion. I signed up for this fight to protect our nation. But… but… I’m scared… I’m scared I’ll lose you and the rest…”

The clicking of the keyboard stopped. Wang Xia looked up and straight into Wang Xin’s glistering eyes. It’s perfectly normal, he thought to himself. After all, she was just teenage girl. To be exposed to war at such a young age…

His train of thought was interrupted abruptly.

Neither am I in the position to say this… I’m just a teenage boy younger than Jie… He thought.

Needing to say something to comfort his emotional sister, he broke the silence, “don’t worry, we’re strong. Remember the reason why we joined the war. And…”

Wang Xin felt reassured. She gained back her composure. Her brother was growing up to become a worthy king. She completed his sentence, “And if all else fails, there is Captain Nyx…”

Like the army of Oclia residing in the same camp as them, they had utter faith in Nyx’s fearsome abilities. Wang Xia owed his life to him, and Wang Xin felt indebted to him because he prevented her worst nightmare from actualising.

They knew that he was stronger than that. After all those fights they witness him in, he never once discharged his radiance.

He was that strong.