Evolution begins with an ant colony

The grounds of Imperia Magna were littered with the bodies of fallen knights, most of them wearing emotionless expressions, hinting that they instantly met their end due to a very powerful attack.

"Hold the line! Don’t give in! We’ll tire them out with our numbers," Aron’s voice echoed, instructing the knights to try their best to hold back the intruders. Inwardly, he mused, "We are fighting a losing battle.

I’m telling them to hold on, but I don’t think anything we throw at these two will actually end up wearing them out." He paused, then glanced at the knights around him, and added, "Most of the knights seem to be starting to lose morale. I can’t blame them. Nothing is working." He gritted his teeth at the end. Find your next adventure on NovelBin.Côm

"Honestly Leona, we should get this thing over with. It’s starting to drag on forever. Who knows how many knights are in that castle? We’ve been instantly putting down any that stood in our way, but it feels like they just keep coming," Oliver mumbled, his impatience practically felt from his rather nonchalant tone.

Saying so, he continued to shoot multiple devastating arrow shots at the knights, shattering their shields and armor, and sending them falling to the ground since he had decided to target their heads now.

"You’re right. I guess we should speed things up," Leona said, glancing over at Oliver. She then added, "Stop shooting for a moment." Leona then sheathed her katana. "I’ll clear a path for us." She said in a cold commanding tone.

Oliver listened to her, gazing at Leona’s glowing yellow eyes. She leaned forward, putting her left hand on the sheath and her right on the hilt of the katana. Oliver, seeing that, could already tell what Leona was up to. "That’s the spirit, Leona. Don’t show them any mercy." @@novelbin@@

Aron and the other knights were confused and curious as to why Leona and Oliver suddenly stopped their attacks. "Are they finally worn out?" Aron mused as he narrowed his gaze at Leona and Oliver. "They stopped their attacks, so that must be it. This is our chance!" Sharing glances with the other knights, Aron finally yelled, "Charge! Finish them off!"

The knights let out a massive battle cry, all of them then proceeding to charge at Leona and Oliver, misunderstanding their sudden pause to mean that they were exhausted.

"Look at all these idiots. Are they that desperate to die?" Oliver then glanced back at Leona as he added, "Well, that’s that. How long are you just gonna stand there? They are getting closer, you know."

"I know. I can see them. No need to state the obvious, Mr. genius," Leona said as she narrowed her gaze at the approaching knights. Oliver then glanced back at the approaching knights as he mumbled, "Okay then, I’ll let you do your thing."

In that moment, Leona breathed in then breathed out while she closed her eyes. Inwardly, she mused, "I want to put an end to all of them as quickly as possible, but I also have to hold back my strength so I don’t destroy the city."

Leona then tightened her grip on her katana as her leg muscles tensed and the ground beneath her feet began to crack because of all the force she was applying to it.

Suddenly, she opened her glowing yellow eyes. Out of nowhere, she propelled herself forward with massive force that left a crater where she once stood. A massive dust cloud billowed into the air. In that split second, she cut down all the knights with shields that were in front of their formation and then proceeded to make her way through the knights.

She was moving so fast that time appeared to have come to a standstill.

She sliced and stabbed the knights repitidly untill she finally emerged on the other side of the knights, as she did they appeard to all have been frosen in place, she then let out a sigh as she slowly sheathed her katena as she closed her eyes, the moment her katana was sheathed, blood sprayed into the air as the knights all fell to the floor some decapitated, sliced in half or stabbed, blood pooling all over the street.

Leona, now finished with her swift dispatching of the knights, turned around to call out to Oliver to join her on the other side. "Alright, Oliver, you—" Suddenly, she felt an arm grabbing her right leg, causing her to glance towards the ground to find out what had suddenly grabbed her.

Her eyes fell on Aron. He had been split in half from the waist down, and he had crawled towards Leona, leaving a trail of blood that clearly hinted at his struggle.

Suddenly, he mumbled, his voice barely audible, but due to Leona’s heightened senses, she could hear him clearly.

"Why are you—" He coughed up blood, trying to catch his breath, panting heavily. He then added, "doing this, I’m sure our nation... hasn’t offended any... of our neighbors. So... why are you people out for blood..." He finally coughed out another massive gush of blood, his pupils dilated as he died due to excessive bleeding.

Leona, hearing his words, became frozen. The expression he had on his face right after he died hinted at the fact that he truly didn’t understand what was going on, the cause for the sudden hostility. Leona continued to glance at his body until her eyes fell on a locket that was beside him.

She slowly crouched down, simply opening it, and glanced at a picture of a happy family: Aron with his wife and daughter. Although she remained silent, something started to eat away at her inside.

Oliver, not wanting to be stained by the blood of all the fallen knights, proceeded to leap over all their corpses, landing on the other side beside Leona. He then mumbled, "Alright, Leona, let’s go." Oliver noticed Leona didn’t respond to him, causing him to glance over at her and ask, "What’s up with the sudden pause? You seem out of it."

Leona suddenly rose to her feet, turning to face the castle gates in the distance, now left unguarded. She continued on her way while she mumbled, "Oliver, no more killing," in a low tone.

"Huh?" Oliver couldn’t help but mumble in disbelief and confusion. "What’s up with you, Leona? You seem to be having mood swings all over the place. Now you are suddenly saying we shouldn’t kill anyone. How exactly will we make our way through if there are any more enemies?"

"We’ll knock them out with our fists," Leona suddenly yelled, catching Oliver off guard. He then mumbled, further confused, "What the heck? Knock them out? Aren’t we basically sparing them?"

"And is there anything wrong with that?" Leona said as she finally stood before the massive gates that led to the other sections of the city where the royal castle and the other important buildings were.

Oliver, sensing the slight seriousness in her tone, chose to mumble, "I guess not." His voice held a hint of uncertainty, as if he was trying to grasp the sudden shift in Leona’s approach. Inwardly Oliver mused, "What’s up with her, she’s been giving of the vibe that she doesn’t want to actually hurt anyone. That can’t be good, she’s a Guardian. She can’t go soft now."