A Chaotic Knight At The Cemetery

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 22, Post Number 538

-Outside the gate to Silent Cemetery, midnight-

Landing ten meters from the gate of Silent Cemetery on the back of Winged Lion, Leona dismounted the Winged Lion and dispelled him. She looked up at the full moon in the cloudless night sky, then faced forward and began to walk towards the cemetery gate. She stopped two meters short of the gate to Silent Cemetery and took a deep breath. It had been quite some time since she had last come to this place, but she was not here for a trip down Memory Lane. She was here on behalf of the Order of Lightbringers.

Leona had been hired by the Order to search the cemetery for any signs of necromancer activity. They had received reports that there was elevated undead activity in the cemetery, but all their Knights and Clerics were busy fighting a cult named Zupazu's Executioners, so they could spare no one to help her conduct the search. The Order suspected that the necromancers might either be members of Zupazu's Executioners or hired helpers of the cult, but at the moment they had no concrete proof of any connection between the two groups.

Leona had two objectives. Her primary objective was to find the necromancers and stop their sinister activities. Her secondary objective was to find any evidence connecting them to Zupazu's Executioners, but if she could not find any the Order would gladly settle for the necromancers being stopped for good. Leona was authorized to kill them if she had to... not that she had a problem with that. Some of them would undoubtedly try to get the fame boost that came with killing a current Wizard Saint, but Leona was not going to let that happen.

Wearing her green, white, and gold outfit with backpack of supplies on her back and Argent Gloves on her hands, Leona carried her Silver Longsword on her left hip and Ses Revanche in her right boot. She had left her Ranger Laser Rifle back at Silver Wolf Guild Hall since she needed to get to the cemetery as quickly as possible and she needed to travel light. She doubted that she would need it since she had plenty of long-range spells to use.

Leona walked to the cemetery gate and opened it with her left hand, then stepped inside and closed the gate behind her.

-Inside Silent Cemetery-

Leona turned around and made sure that the gate was firmly shut so that none of the undead got out while she was busy exploring. Once she was sure that the gate was securely closed she turned around and faced the familiar cemetery path looming in front of her. She expected a horde of zombies to be waiting on her, but to her surprise there was only one zombie waiting on her. A very old female zombie in an old black funeral dress standing in the middle of the path raised its arms and moaned at the Wizard Saint before shambling towards her with its arms outstretched.

Having faced zombies many times before, Leona was not afraid of them. She simply raised her right hand and pointed her right index finger at the zombie's head. She channeled silver magic into her fingertip and waited until a marble-sized ball of magic formed, then fired the Wind Bullet at the zombie's head. It hit the target and the zombie's head exploded, causing the headless corpse to crumple to the ground.

Leona lowered her right hand and looked around her for any more zombies that might have risen during the "fight" with the female zombie, but all the graves in the immediate area remained undisturbed. Taking that as a sign that the dead were still resting in their graves, Leona began walking forward and passed by the dead zombie she had just dispatched. Once she reached the branch in the path she looked left, then she looked right.

Which way should she go to find the necromancers?

Rather than darting off in a random direction, Leona used her brain and remembered the clue given to her by the Order of Lightbringers in the job notice.

There was elevated undead activity in the cemetery, so she should look for signs of said activity and go in the direction she found it.

Leona first looked into the left section and did not see any open burial vaults, any open graves, anything to suggest more zombie activity than usual. Leona then looked right and noticed nine zombies shuffling about in the section to her right. While that was not conclusive evidence that necromancers had passed through that way, it was certainly something worth checking out. Leona turned right and walked into the next section of Silent Cemetery.

-In the next section of Silent Cemetery-

Leona walked through the gate and saw that the nine zombies staggering about were oblivious to her presence. She looked forward and saw that the glowing lanterns were still on positioned on top of tombstones at twenty-five meter intervals, providing some much-needed light to make navigating the cemetery a little bit easier. Leona looked for the nearest zombie and spotted it standing down the row of tombstones five meters to her right. It spotted her at roughly the same time she saw it and raised its arms, then moaned before advancing on her.

Leona stood her ground and raised her right index finger, preparing a Wind Bullet. She aimed and fired it at the zombie's head, killing it when its head exploded from the force of the Wind Bullet. The headless zombie crumpled to the ground, but it had already sounded the alarm. The remaining eight zombies had spotted her and were shambling towards her with their arms raised and their mouths open.

Undaunted by the sight of the walking corpses, Leona stood her ground and prepared to eliminate this batch of zombies before they could get within striking distance.

[Post Word Count: 986]
[Total Word Count: 986/11,000]

Raising her right hand and pointing her right index finger at the head of the leader of the oncoming horde, Leona prepared a Wind Bullet spell. Once it was ready she aimed and fired it at the leader's head, killing it instantly when its head exploded. It fell to the ground and the remaining eight continued to shamble towards her. The Wizard Saint estimated that the horde was roughly fifteen meters away, so she had time to take out a few more of them with distance spells before they got within melee range... or at least that was the plan before she heard barking from some distance behind her!

Knowing that a pack of zombie dogs was on the way, Leona had to finish this fight so that she did not get caught between a pack of zombie dogs and a horde of zombies. Taking a moment to activate her Gale Force ability for a boost in spell power, Leona then cast a Wind Blast spell with her right hand, knocking all eight zombies on their backs and to the ground. She then drew her Silver Longsword and hurried over to the downed zombies before they could get back to their feet. When she reached the back of the group she stopped a short distance away from the nearest zombie, took her weapon in a two-handed grip, and turned it blade-down, then drove the blade through its skull within while avoiding thrashing hands reaching out for her ankles.

Leona killed three of the downed zombies in that fashion before the rest got back to their feet. She used a two-handed right-to-left diagonal swing to cut through the skull of one before it could turn around completely, but the remaining four zombies turned around and faced Leona. Undaunted, the Wizard Saint took one step back and rammed the sword through the forehead of the closest zombie. As it went down the three survivors began to reach for her, but she easily evaded that with a jump backwards.

Leona bent down and drew Ses Revanche, then stepped forward and slugged a female zombie in the face with a left-handed Mach Straight that caved its face in for an instant kill. It fell down and a male zombie in a brown burial suit lunged for her. Leona sidestepped to the left and its momentum carried it past her; it sprawled forward and landed on its face while the other male zombie, a zombie wearing a black three-piece suit, reached for her. Leona ducked under the grab attempt and did a half-step around to its left side, then forcefully thrust forward at the left temple with Ses Revanche, stabbing it through that vital spot for an instant kill.

Leaving the knife in the skull of the dead zombie, Leona turned and faced the last zombie, which was still trying to get up. She hurriedly got close to it, squared her feet with its head, and raised her right leg above her head while channeling magic into her right foot. Once the Sky Hammer spell was ready she brought down the heel of her right foot onto the back of the zombie's head in a magically enhanced axe kick, caving it in and causing the Wizard Saint's stomach to turn when she heard the unmistakable CRUNCH.

Leona silently removed the heel of her foot from the back of its head and quickly looked for a patch of grass on which to clean off the back of her right boot. She did so and then retrieved her Silver Longsword and Ses Revanche. She wiped their blades on the grass and cleaned them up before putting them back in their rightful places. She looked back to the section of cemetery she had just left behind and spotted something moving in the distance. Remembering that she had heard zombie dogs barking earlier, Leona quickly prepared for their arrival.

Within a minute six of them had come into view and were closing in fast. Leona stood her ground and prepared an Air Burst spell using both of her hands. When they got within ten meters of her she thrust both hands outward and fired a cone of wind at the charging pack.  She hit them all with the Air Burst and knocked them back, buying her a bit of breathing room to prepare another spell. Unfortunately for her Wind Strike Magic did not have very many crowd control options; she could use either Storm Impact or Silver Tempest, but both spells ran the risk of damaging her surroundings, especially since they were powered up by her Gale Force ability.

Not wanting to run the risk of damaging any part of Silent Cemetery with either crowd control spell, Leona would just have to deal with the zombie dogs the hard way. She prepared an Air Pressure spell with her right hand and cast it at the head of the first dog to get back to its feet, killing it instantly when its head exploded from the force of the spell. Five more dogs remained.

The five got back to their feet and rushed at Leona as a pack. The Wizard Saint decided to fall back to the next part of the cemetery to get some space to think and she began to run for the open gate approximately 150 meters from her current position. Leona was faster than her undead pursuers and had reached the gate with a good seventy-meter gap and was about to run through when she spotted a huge horde of forty-plus zombies standing on the path roughly twelve meters front of her!

"Damn it!" Leona cursed her luck and quickly turned around to face the zombie dogs that were closing in on her. Trapped between the zombie dogs and a horde of zombies in the next section that were shambling towards her, the Wizard Saint made a snap decision. She would deal with the dogs first since their speed made them the greater threat, but she would need to make it fast because the zombies to her right were heading for her as fast as they could go.

[Post Word Count: 1,022]
[Total Word Count: 2,008/11,000]

Trapped between a pack of five zombie dogs and a horde of forty-plus zombies shambling in her direction, Leona looked at the zombies to gauge how close they were to her, then faced forward.

Taking a quiet breath to steady her nerves, Leona raised her left hand and pointed it towards the dogs, then used a Wind Blast spell. The spell connected and all five were knocked back, giving her enough time to prepare, aim, and fire a Wind Bullet spell at the head of the dog leading the pack. The small silver marble connected and the dog's head exploded. The remaining four dogs rallied and began charging at Leona again.

Leona prepared, aimed, and cast an Air Burst spell that knocked the quartet back for a moment and Leona followed up with an Air Pressure spell that hit one of the dogs in the head with explosive results. Three dogs were left, but Leona had more than undead Dobermans to contend with. To her right were forty-plus zombies and a quick glance showed that they were roughly eight meters away at this point.

The Wizard Saint drew her Silver Longsword with her right hand and faced the three dogs, who had regained their footing and were now running at Leona. Leona ran to the left and began weaving among the tombstones while running towards the section entrance to lure the Dobermans away from the zombies so that she could divide and conquer instead of having to fight both groups at once. The dogs were doing their best to keep up with the blonde, but she was faster and more agile than they were and she soon managed to put a little distance between her and them.

After weaving through the tombstones Leona reached the midpoint of the area and then did a hard turn right, running towards the main path to string out the pack a little more. By the time the undead Dobermans could get on the path Leona had already turned around to face them and had a clear line of sight on her four-legged pursuers. The Wizard Saint stood her ground and watched as one of the dogs charged ahead of its packmates.

It barked at her as it closed in and Leona raised her sword. It jumped at her and Leona stabbed it through the chest with a two-handed thrust, causing it to yelp in pain and fall dead to the ground just in front of her. She let go of the sword as the second incoming dog barked before leaping at her with its open jaws aimed directly at her throat.

Leona sidestepped the dog and it flew past her. She quickly turned to face it and rushed to attack it before it could recover. However, it spun around right when Leona stopped to attack, so she quickly drew back her right foot and kicked it in the face as hard as she could. The kick hit it so hard it yelped and tumbled backwards a meter before coming to a stop. She did not have time to finish it off before the third and final Doberman joined the fray with a bark and a leaping attack.

Leona spun around and quickly dodged the attack with a sidestep, then turned to face the Doberman as it landed on all four feet. She prepared and fired a Gale Cannon spell at its head just as the dog whipped its body around to face her again. The basketball-size ball of wind hit it in the head and killed the dog instantly. Now there was one left. She heard moaning coming from behind her and knew that the zombies were shambling out of the section of cemetery she had found them in.

The Wizard Saint spun around, hurried over to the dog she had killed with her Silver Longsword, and pulled the weapon out. She then faced the last Doberman, which was now running towards her. She held her sword in a two-handed grip and waited until just the right moment, then swung at it with a downward two-handed chop when it started to jump at her. The sword caught it in the head before it could get airborne and got lodged in its skull, but not before cutting deeply into its face.

Leona held onto the sword and the dog fell to the ground with its jaws still open. She removed the blade from the dog's head, then stabbed the downed Doberman in the head to be certain of a kill. If it was not dead when she had chopped it in the face, it had died when the blade plunged into its skull.

With the dogs dead, Leona turned to face the zombies, which were shambling towards her at a slow pace. If she had brought her laser rifle she could have safely picked them off from this distance since they were well over 70 meters away from her. But she had not brought it, so she did not have that option. However, there was another option available to Leona.

Why not let a Summon do the work for her?

Leona knew just the summon to use and raised her hands to the sky while channeling magic into them.

"TEMPEST AVIAN!" Leona called out. The metallic owl descended in the center of a tornado and landed in front of her.

"What do you need?" Tempest Avian asked Leona.

"I need you to attack those zombies from the sky with Steel Flechettes. Aim for the head!" Leona instructed the rotund metallic owl.

"As you wish." Tempest Avian replied. He flapped his wings and flew straight up into the air above Leona, then flapped his wings again and fired a spread of steel flechettes at the approaching zombies. Some of the projectiles found their mark and six of the zombies went down with fatal head injuries, but the rest kept shuffling towards Leona. Thankfully she had put enough distance between them and her where she could afford to let Tempest Avian do most of the "fighting" against them. She could order him to fire his Steel Flechettes at the heads of the zombies to whittle down the horde to a more manageable level before she had to fight them herself.

If Leona was lucky Tempest Avian could kill them all without her having to lift a finger.

[Post Word Count: 1,060]
[Total Word Count: 3,068/11,000]

-Six minutes later-

Six minutes after it started the "fight" between Leona and the zombies was over. Most of the zombies lay dead on the ground with fatal head wounds from Tempest Avian's Steel Flechettes, but a few had managed to avoid his attacks. Leona easily took care of them with her long-distance spells... the zombies she had killed were missing their heads.

None of them had managed to get within ten meters of the Wizard Saint before being struck down by either the flying Summon or by her spells. Now that that threat had been taken care of she could proceed deeper into Silent Cemetery to look for the necromancers. Before Leona moved on she took a brief break.

Tempest Avian landed to Leona's right and looked at her. Leona looked at him.

"Well done, Tempest Avian." Leona complimented her Summon for a job well done.

"Thank you, Mistress." Tempest Avian thanked Leona for the praise. The Wizard Saint looked forward at the dead zombies, who were all lying perfectly still on the ground. She then looked at the metallic owl.

"I'll need you to follow me through the cemetery and be my air support." Leona informed Tempest Avian. The metallic owl nodded.

"Of course, Mistress." He replied laconically. He then flapped his wings and took off straight up into the air, maintaining a position three meters above Leona. The Wizard Saint began to walk down the path towards the next section of cemetery, leaving a trail of dead zombie Dobermans and dead zombies to mark where she had been.

-In the next section of the cemetery-

Having cleared the zombies out of the area, Leona walked into a gated section of the cemetery that featured several mausoleums along both sides of the area. Down the middle ran a path and about 100 meters away was an open gate flanked by statues of angels with their arms outstretched. Leona walked down the path while listening out for trouble and watching the mausoleums for any signs of their inhabitants coming out for a late-night snack, but she did not encounter any trouble as she walked down the path and past the closed mausoleums.

Leona stopped a meter short of the angel statues and looked at them. They were made out of granite and had calm looks on their faces. Their arms were stretched out towards her as if inviting her into their embrace. Leona looked at the statues for a moment and was oddly entranced by them.

She had never seen anything like them before.

In fact she was so entranced by them that she had missed Tempest Avian calling out to her!

"Are you OK, Mistress?" Tempest Avian asked from above and to her right. A startled Leona looked up and to her right and spotted the metallic owl flapping his wings.

"I'm fine. It's just that I've never seen these statues before." Leona informed Tempest Avian before taking a deep breath to calm down again. The metallic owl looked at her skeptically for a moment as if silently doubting her claim that she was fine, then let the matter drop.

"Very well then. I will return to higher altitude and await your command." Tempest Avian replied and ascended again, leaving Leona to walk through the gate that led into the next section of Silent Cemetery. The Wizard Saint eventually tore her eyes away from the statues and walked between them to go through the open gate.

-In the next section of Silent Cemetery-

Leona walked through the open gate and stopped inside a large gated section of cemetery dotted with mausoleums, but that was not the most interesting feature of the area. A large angel statue made out of granite had its face and arms raised towards the sky was the most prominent feature of the area. Ignoring the urge to look at it, Leona instead looked around for zombies, zombie Dobermans, necromancers, or anything else that could pose a threat to her. Aside from the large statue and the mausoleums there was nothing out of the ordinary here.

Leona frowned. She had just wasted a good deal of time and effort getting here and she had gone to the wrong place. If she missed her chance to stop the necromancers because she had went to the wrong part of the cemetery she was going to be livid. That failure would also make the Order of Lightbringers question her competence.

Leona frowned deeper. If she hurried she could get back to the entrance to Silent Cemetery and take the left path this time. She would have to cover a lot of ground quickly, but she could move fast when she put her mind to it. She had also cleared the path back to the entrance, so it would take less time to get back to where she had started than it did to get here. She had better get going.

Leona put her Silver Longsword away, turned around, and started running back to the entrance to Silent Cemetery while Tempest Avian flew a short distance overhead.

-At the entrance to Silent Cemetery, ten minutes later-

Leona paused on the branch of the path and took a moment to stretch her legs. Tempest Avian landed just to her right and flexed his wings. Once she was finished stretching her legs Leona looked down the path ahead of her for threats. She did not see any at the moment, so she turned to Tempest Avian and spoke.

"I'm going to go down the path ahead of us. I'll need your help to take care of any threats I come across." Leona informed him. Tempest Avian nodded.

"Of course, Mistress." Tempest Avian replied. Leona heard barking coming from further up the path and turned to face it. She spotted shadows moving in the distance, but she had trouble telling exactly how many there were due to the distance. She turned back to the summon.

"I hear zombie Dobermans. Get ready!" Leona alerted Tempest Avian to the incoming threat and pointed towards the shadows with the index finger of her left hand.

"Say no more, Mistress. I will help you deal with them." Tempest Avian said and took off straight up, then maintained altitude at three meters above the Wizard Saint while Leona prepared for another fight with more of the cemetery's zombie Dobermans.

[Post Word Count: 1,062]
[Total Word Count: 4,130/11,000]

Within seconds of Tempest Avian declaring his intent to help the dogs came into view.

"NOW, TEMPEST AVIAN! USE YOUR STEEL FLECHETTES!" Leona ordered her summon as the pack of six zombie Dobermans charged at Leona, getting to within twenty meters of her. A few seconds passed and the pack closed to within fifteen meters before a rain of flechettes landed in the middle of the pack, killing two outright with flechettes to the head and wounding two more with hits to the back. The other two emerged unharmed and continued to close in on the Wizard Saint.

Leona raised her left index finger and prepared a Wind Bullet spell, then aimed for the head of the closer of the two dogs. Once her aim was steady she fired the small silver marble of wind and hit the target in the head, killing it instantly when its head exploded. The other continued to run at Leona as she prepared an Air Pressure spell with her left hand. Once it was ready she cast the spell at the dog's head when it was five meters away, but it jumped to the right just before the spell hit and continued to charge until it reached melee range.

Leona saw it prepare to pounce and got ready to perform a Tornado Kick. She initiated the kick right as the Doberman leaped at her. Leona's right foot connected with the side of the dog's head and sent it spinning to the left, where it landed on the ground and lay motionless. She was not sure if she had killed it or not, but she had other concerns. The two wounded dogs had recovered and were now racing towards the Wizard Saint; they had closed to within five meters and she could not prepare a spell in time.

Leona quickly drew her Silver Longsword and waited until they leaped at her, then performed a one-handed right-to-left horizontal slash. She decapitated both of them in one well-timed swing and their headless bodies landed at her feet. Leona walked past them and over to the dog she had kicked, which was still laying motionless. She carefully approached it and turned her sword upside-down, then stabbed it through the skull with the blade using both hands to power the stab. She then planted her right foot on its head and pulled the sword out, then wiped the blood off on a patch of grass.

Tempest Avian landed at Leona's right.

"Well done, Mistress!" Tempest Avian congratulated Leona on making quick work of the zombie Dobermans.

"Thanks. And thanks for breaking up the pack for me." Leona thanked Tempest Avian for the compliment.

"It is no problem, Mistress." The metallic owl replied. Leona looked forward and did not see any more approaching shadows... yet. She turned back to her summon, who wordlessly went airborne. Once he was up in the air Leona began to move forward into the left part of the cemetery.

-In the next section of the cemetery, the left path-

Leona walked into the section and noticed that it was a straight path with a lot of lanterns hanging from hooks to provide illumination. There were also a lot of above-ground burial vaults and crypts that could house zombies waiting to emerge at any moment. She walked slowly and carefully while looking around for any zombies who might be on the prowl while Tempest Avian flew overhead ready to rain Steel Flechettes down on anything that might threaten Leona.

-Deeper in Silent Cemetery, forty-five minutes later-

Leona had pressed deeper into Silent Cemetery and had not encountered any more enemies since that pack of zombie Dobermans she had dispatched almost an hour ago. Normally the cemetery would have a lot of zombies roaming the area. Leona had expected a lot of them to be roaming the cemetery after reading in the job notice that she was to expect elevated zombie activity. The Wizard Saint stopped to take a brief break and to look for zombies before pressing onward.

She was standing in a part of the cemetery that was a lot like the entrance area. It had two areas with tombstones and a central path that had a branching path at the end. The path extended for 100 meters and there were glowing orange lanterns placed on the tops of tombstones at 25-meter intervals.

Leona calmly walked down the path while keeping an eye out for trouble while Tempest Avian flew three meters overhead. So far everything was quiet, but there was no guarantee that things would stay that way for long. She wondered where the necromancers were... or if there were any necromancers in the cemetery to begin with.

Maybe the Order of Lightbringers had been given bad information.

Leona thought about the situation a little and reached a conclusion.

Maybe that possibility was why she had been sent here.

She did not like being sent on wild goose chases, but at least if the Order's information turned out to be bad Leona would have only wasted her time. She was just one person as opposed to an entire group of Order Knights or Clerics being sent here to investigate only to come up with nothing. According to the job notice, those Knights and Clerics were badly needed elsewhere and they could not afford to be sent on wild goose chases. That was why Leona had been sent to Silent Cemetery by herself.

In light of that fact, Leona could handle being sent on an errand that may or may not be a waste of time.

Leona began walking until she reached the thirty-meter mark, then paused again and looked around her. None of the graves had been disturbed. She had not heard zombies moaning or zombie dogs barking in the distance. Her past experience here told her that something was off about this situation.

Leona resumed walking until she reached the end of the path without incident. There she had to make a decision that would determine whether she found the necromancers or not.

Did she go left or did she go right?

The Wizard Saint looked down both paths to see which one had more zombies. The left path had only a quintet of zombies, but the right path was loaded with zombies. Leona counted around fifty walking corpses blocking the path, if not more. Perhaps that was the one she needed to take... after she had dealt with the zombies, of course.

[Post Word Count: 1,080]
[Total Word Count: 5,210/11,000]

-Silent Cemetery, fifteen minutes later-

It had taken Leona and Tempest Avian around fifteen minutes to kill all of the zombies in the large horde that had barred the way, but now they were all dead on the ground and Leona was none the worse for wear. Tempest Avian had done most of the work with his Steel Flechettes ability, but Leona had picked off a few that had managed to evade the rain of death from above. Most of the zombies had been picked off at a distance of thirty-five meters, but a few had managed to reach twenty meters before being struck down because there were so many that Tempest Avian could not kill them all. Leona had taken care of them with her long-range spells. Now the way was clear for the Wizard Saint to proceed deeper into Silent Cemetery.

The Wizard Saint was pretty sure that they were all dead, but a lingering doubt in the back of her mind compelled Leona to the long way around just to be certain that she would not be grabbed by the ankle and bitten. She walked among the tombstones on the right side of the path and around the corpses while Tempest Avian flew three meters overhead. Once the pair were around the corpses they proceeded down the path towards another wide open space with a large angel statue, but something felt off about the area. For one thing, she felt a powerful magic signature coming from the area.

Maybe it was the gathering of necromancers she was here to find.

She would have no way of knowing until she entered that part of the cemetery. But before she moved on, she would turn back and stab every last zombie in the head with her sword to be absolutely certain that they were all dead. If things got bad and Leona needed to fall back she did not want to be running into a patch of zombies who might not be dead. The chore was going to eat time that she might not have, but it had to be done.

Leona took a deep breath and turned back to face the zombies she and Tempest Avian had dispatched, then walked towards them to begin the work of making sure that they were all dead. Tempest Avian silently watched for trouble while Leona began the grim chore.

-Silent Cemetery, ten minutes later-

Roughly ten minutes after Leona had started her grim chore she had finished it. A few of the zombies were missing their heads from where her spells had caused them to explode on contact, but most of the zombies had their heads intact. They were the ones she had stabbed. Now that she knew that all the fallen zombies were really dead she could move on. Leona wiped her Silver Longsword on the nearest patch of grass and turned around, then began to walk towards the next section of cemetery with Tempest Avian following at three meters overhead.

-The next section of Silent Cemetery, seven minutes later-

Leona had passed through to the next section without incident and looked around her. The large space was the same as the one she had visited on the right side of the cemetery, but this one had an additional section that was accessible by a gate to the left. The gate was wide open and she saw some humanoid figures in the distance, but for all she knew they might be more zombies. Leona turned left and began to walk through the cemetery, looking at the gate as the shadows got closer.

They were moving awfully fast for zombies. They might not even be zombies at all, but Leona could not be sure until she made contact with them. Leona slowed her pace and cautiously approached the open gate while holding her sword at the ready. Roughly a minute later some black-robed figures emerged from the gate and rushed at Leona, but strangely enough they were not looking for a fight.

"THE RITUAL FAILED! WE CAN'T CONTROL HIM!" A man in a jet-black robe shouted as he ran past Leona without even looking at her. Two more robed figures followed after the first.

"HE'S SLAUGHTERING EVERYONE!" Another man shouted. Leona heard screaming in the distance. Two more people ran by her without giving her a second glance. Leona saw thirteen more human figures running towards her and watched as a larger, armored figure with a sword and shield pursued them.

Four of the figures turned to try and fight the armored figure with shortswords and with spells, but the latter easily cut them diagonally in half with one swing of his sword for each person. The four robed men had delayed the armored figure a grand total of fourteen seconds. Leona involuntarily took a step back as the last of the robed people fled without even turning to fight her. Then five of them looked back at her and suddenly stopped running, then formed themselves in a semicircle about five meters from the Wizard Saint.

"A Wizard Saint, huh? She'll be a worthy sacrifice to our patron!" One of the robed figures said to his fellows. Leona turned to face them

"If we can take her back and sacrifice her, we might be able to salvage something out of this failure!" Another chimed in. Leona gripped her Silver Longsword and prepared to fight the men, but as it turned out, she would not have to. The armored figure appeared a short distance from her in a blur of black and yellow light and startled three of the men into fleeing, but two of them stood their ground and tried to engage the mystery figure.

He slashed one diagonally in half at the right shoulder and the remaining man backed away and raised his hands to cast a spell when his opponent darted forward and blinked out of existence. Moments later the armored figure reappeared behind the robed man and the latter fell in half; he had been cut in half at the waist.

The armored figure turned around and faced Leona. His red eyes met her green eyes and he hefted his weapon to a ready position. He was wearing black and yellow armor and had long red hair flowing from his helmet. He carried a curved sword and a black and yellow shield in his left hand.

"You may be a woman, but that won't stop me from striking you down!" He declared, pointing his curved sword at her for emphasis. Leona blinked.

Did he think she was a necromancer too?

"Wait a minute! I'm not with them!" Leona protested. The armored figure was having none of it. He blinked out of existence and Leona recalled what had happened the last time he did that. Leona quickly ducked and avoiding being cut in half at the waist as the man reappeared just behind her.

Leona quickly used a Zephyr Dash to put five meters between him and her and reappeared. The man made eye contact and gave her a small smile.

"You're a lot quicker on your feet than those necromancers were. This should be a good fight." He complimented her on her quick feet and quick thinking. Leona looked at his determined face and knew that there was no talking the stranger down. She would have to fight him and get him to listen to her through force.

The Armored Figure:

[Post Word Count: 1,240]
[Total Word Count: 6,450/11,000]

Leona turned and faced the armored figure as the latter charged at her without using the "flash step." Leona thought quickly and raised her left hand, casting a Wind Blast spell that caused him to stagger back for a moment. She took advantage of that moment to follow up with a Wind Bullet aimed at his chest, but he saw the small silver marble coming and quickly raised his shield. It shimmered with black and yellow energy and stopped the Wind Bullet without any trouble.

"You'll have to do better than that!" He chided Leona and lowered his shield, which had stopped shimmering. Leona frowned. She had to get past that shield somehow if she wanted to really hurt him with her magic.

He blinked out of existence and Leona readied herself for another attempt to bisect her at the waist. She waited until the last possible moment, then ducked under the slash. She narrowly avoided it and spun around to face him. When he turned to face her she ran towards him, then stopped and performed a Backflip Kick aimed at his chin. The man was unable to dodge the sudden Backflip Kick and caught her right foot under his chin, causing him to groan and stagger back a few steps.

Leona recovered from the kick and moved in to press the attack, but he quickly recovered and swung at her with a one-handed power chop that stopped her in her tracks. He raised his sword again and used a diagonal one-handed chop aimed at her right shoulder, but Leona raised her Silver Longsword to meet the enemy's sword and stopped it in midair. Undeterred by the sudden block, he drew his sword back and thrust the blade into the sky. A pulse of blood-red energy emanated from his position and expanded in a crimson dome that caught Leona off-guard with its speed and hit her.

She was pushed back two meters and had been momentarily thrown off balance, but she had worse things to worry about. The armored figure ran at her and closed the gap within seconds; Leona had barely regained her balance when he lunged at her with his sword aimed at her midsection. She quickly spun to the left and avoided the lunge, then tried to retaliate with a Gale Cannon spell aimed at his back. She had just raised her left hand to charge it when he spun around and saw her aiming a spell at him.

He blinked out of existence and Leona lowered her hand. She ducked under the incoming attack and avoided it, then spun around to face him and jumped into the air. At the top of her jump she quickly descended at a diagonal angle with her right foot extended towards his unarmored face. A silver aura formed around her and moments later she connected with her Meteor Jump Kick just as he looked up to find her. Taking the kick to the right cheek, he groaned and staggered back while spinning right, nearly dropping his sword and shield but keeping his grip on them.

As Leona landed on her feet from the successful kick he stood up straight and chuckled. He then faced her again.

"I haven't had a fight like this in quite some time. Centuries, if I remember correctly. Tell me, Woman. What's your name?" The armored figure asked her. Leona was not sure if the question was a trick to get her to let down her guard, but she decided to answer him.

"Leona." Leona answered laconically, not letting her guard down for a single moment.

"Leona? That's a strange name." He said to her. Leona let the remark pass without comment and saw the man prepare to attack again. Leona looked at him and made a few observations.

He was wearing full armor that covered everything except for his face. Hitting him in the face with her Meteor Jump Kick had worked, but she doubted that she could hit him with it a second time because now that he had seen the kick he would likely be expecting it. If she could hit him in the face with a spell, her sword, or other attack, she could definitely hurt him.

Speaking of spells, her magic had worked against him without having to aim for the face, but the trouble was getting a spell past that shield of his. Earlier he had effortlessly blocked a Wind Bullet aimed at his chest with it. She needed to take that shield out of play, but that was easier said than done.

Leona had to put her analysis of the man on hold because he charged at her with his sword and swung at her in a downward power chop. She sidestepped it with a step to the left and he lashed out with a right-handed backhand aimed at her face. She ducked under that attack and then ducked under a one-handed horizontal slash aimed at her neck. Leona easily avoided the blow and jumped back to put some space between them, then tried to think of a way to retaliate as he moved towards her for another series of attacks.

[Post Word Count: 864]
[Total Word Count: 7,284/11,000]

Leona tried to think of something she could do to slow the man down and give herself either a chance to attack or a chance to put some distance between him and her, but he was not going to give her that opportunity. Within seconds he closed in and lunged at her with his sword aimed at her midsection. She spun left to avoid the attack and watched him stop on a dime, then do a quarter-turn to face her and charge again. The Wizard Saint did not anticipate him being able to stop so quickly and was caught flat-footed.

He stopped within arm's reach of her and brought his sword down in a one-handed power chop. Leona raised her sword in a two-handed grip to stop his blade in midair and succeeded, but he was so strong that the defensive move was barely enough to stop his sword. While their blades were locked uncomfortably close to her head she felt a kick to her left knee. It really hurt, but she maintained the blade lock because if she gave in to the pain she was dead.

Leona took the hit and tried to think of a way to retaliate, but it was a bad idea to kick someone wearing full metal armor. She was trying to think of another way to break the blade lock when the man broke it for her by stepping back and lifting his sword up. When she saw the blood-red energy begin to pulse she recognized what he was going to do and raised her left hand to cast a Wind Blast. She cast the spell just in time to stagger him before he could cast the crimson dome, but he was not staggered for long. Leona took advantage of the brief respite to close with him and try for another Backflip Kick.

When she got close Leona jumped up and performed the Backflip Kick, catching him under the chin a second time and causing him to groan and stagger back. After she recovered from the Backflip Kick Leona could not believe that that trick had worked again, but she had better not celebrate just yet. She still had a fight to win.

Leona crouched down and channeled magic into her body, then performed a Zephyr Charge aimed at the man. The man had just recovered from being staggered when the Wizard Saint slammed into him at the end of her "flash step" and sent him flying backwards about three meters. He landed on the ground and bounced twice before stopping, but he did not let go of either his sword or his shield. Before Leona could get to him he quickly recovered from the Zephyr Charge, standing up and facing her.

Leona paused one-and-a-half meters from him.

"That was quite a move, Leona. You tried to knock me down so that you could disarm me, but a true knight never lets go of his arms!" The man complimented Leona for the attempt to disarm him before informing her that a "true knight" never let go of his arms. Seeing that her attempt to get an opening to take away his shield had failed, Leona remained calm and tried to think of another way.

"You were a knight when you were alive?" Leona asked him to buy herself a bit of time to think. He nodded.

"Yes. Many centuries ago I was a knight. I lived for battle and cared for little else." He replied as the wind picked up and blew his long red hair about, a coincidence that lent his story a little extra credibility by giving him a martial bearing from another age. Leona was not sure if that red hair was his real hair or just a part of his helmet, but that was nothing she needed to dwell on. Instead she focused on the fact that he was once a knight.

"Do you have a name?" Leona asked him. He shook his head. He then made eye contact with the Wizard Saint and tilted his head a little to the left.

"I had a name once, but I don't remember what it was. It's been so long since I was last among the living. I'm sure that everyone who knew me has died by now." He added in a slightly sad tone of voice. Leona found herself relaxing more than she should have. He could be telling her a great big lie to try and lure her into letting her guard down before he tried to kill her again, but she could not help but be interested in his story.

"OK. Do you remember anything about your past at all? Any of your friends? Any enemies of yours?" Leona asked the knight. He shook his head again.

"No. I've forgotten all of their names. My friends, my enemies... even my own name." He said. Hearing him speak of enemies reminded Leona of how he had went after those robed men from earlier.

"You seemed to really have it out for those robed guys. You called them necromancers. Do you have a particular grudge against necromancers?" Leona asked him. He frowned deeply and his red eyes seemed to glow for a brief moment.

"I hate their kind more than anything else." He said bluntly. Leona saw that he was being serious, so she decided to pursue that topic... carefully.

"I heard those men shouting about a ritual that had failed. What did they mean?" Leona asked him.

"They brought me back to use me as a weapon." He replied bluntly.

"They revived me with the intent of bringing me under their control and then turning me loose on their enemies, but they couldn't control me." He added with a tone of pride. His testimony explained why the robed men were panicking and shouting about a "failed ritual." She still had questions for the knight, but she was not sure how long he was willing to continue talking to her before he resumed the fight.

[Post Word Count: 1,004]
[Total Word Count: 8,288/11,000]

Leona faced the knight and tried to think of another question for him. She had learned that he was a knight from several centuries ago and that due to the passage of time he had forgotten his own name. She had also learned that he absolutely hated necromancers and mere moments after revival he had went after the necromancers who had raised him from the dead. Now she was trying to learn something else about the man standing a short distance from her.

"You've been a tough fight so far, Leona. I haven't had a fight like this in centuries. Even though my revival was at the hands of people I loathe, I'm glad that my first real fight is with you." The knight said to her with a complimentary tone. Leona was still not sure if he was being sincere or not, but every second he was talking to her was a second he was not trying to kill her. Deciding to talk to him while he was still in a talking mood, Leona quickly thought of a question she could ask to keep the conversation going.

"If I may ask, how did you die?" Leona asked the knight. He made eye contact with her and had a facial expression that said "don't test me!" Not wanting to show weakness at this critical point, Leona kept a calm face and maintained eye contact until the knight closed his eyes and took a deep breath before his facial expression changed to a calmer one.

"I didn't die on the field of battle. I died of illness." The knight admitted like he was telling her one of his most shameful secrets. Leona maintained eye contact and did not say a word. From his words and his tone of voice she gathered that he had wanted to die on the field of battle, not of old age or of illness.

"I remember becoming violently ill out of nowhere. It happened only a day after I killed a circle of necromancers who were trying to raise an army of the dead for their nefarious purposes. Once I started coughing I couldn't stop... I kept coughing until I started coughing up blood and eventually grew too weak to move. After that it was only a matter of time until I died from the illness. After thirteen days I died in a bed while facing the ceiling." The knight explained, his voice still full of shame. Leona thought over what she had just been told and had a hypothesis.

"Do you think that one of the necromancers cursed you before you killed him?" Leona asked the knight. He shook his head.

"No, I don't think so. I killed them too quickly for them to have time to cast any curses on me. Most of them were too busy trying to run to cast any spells, let alone curses." He answered. Leona blinked. If he had not been cursed, why had he caught an illness that caused him to cough up blood and weaken until he died?

Leona thought a little bit further while the knight looked at her with an unchanging face. Her thoughts were interrupted by another thought.

"You said that those robed men you slaughtered were necromancers, right?" Leona asked the knight. He nodded.

"Yes. Why?" The knight asked her warily and tightened his grip on his sword, likely because he thought that she sympathized with the necromancers. Leona frowned.

"I'm here to investigate their activity and stop them. But it looks like you did the work for me already. At least when it came to stopping them, anyway." Leona answered his question. The knight looked at her with an expression of curiosity.

"Investigate them? What do you mean?" He asked her. Leona could tell that he was not playing dumb with her. She decided to tell him a little bit about what brought her here in an effort to assure him that she was not an ally of the necromancers.

"I came here to find out whether rumors of their activity were true or not." Leona informed him without telling her the identity of her client. She suspected that the Order of Lightbringers was the "enemy" the necromancers had summoned the knight to use against, but she could not confirm that until she could gather evidence from the bodies of the robed men. However, judging from how the knight had killed them, gathering evidence that was not soaked in blood and thus rendered illegible or otherwise useless to the Order might be difficult. While she would still be able to complete the mission by stopping the robed men, she wanted to have something to take back to her clients to prove that there had been necromancer activity in Silent Cemetery.

"Hmm... maybe you should check the site where I was resurrected, but I wouldn't count on finding anything useful. I cut my way through those necromancers to get here and there's a lot of blood." The knight suggested to her. Having nothing else to go on, Leona decided to do just that.

"OK." Leona answered laconically. Before moving into the section of cemetery where the knight was resurrected she needed to ask her summon something. She telepathically asked Tempest Avian if he had spotted any trouble approaching her location and he replied in the negative. She immediately told him to stay airborne and continue watching for danger while she looked for evidence that pointed to the necromancers being part of or hired by Zupazu's Executioners.

After doing that she turned to walk towards the passage where the knight had carved a path through some of the robed men on his way to her. She took five steps when she stopped and turned to the tall armored figure. She had an idea.

"Would you like to call a truce between us for the time being?" Leona asked the knight. It was a stupid thing to ask someone who had been trying to kill her only minutes ago, but he had not tried to kill her for several minutes now. He also seemed to have a measure of respect for her. Maybe they could work out a truce that would last at least until her search for evidence was complete.

[Post Word Count: 1,046]
[Total Word Count: 9,334/11,000]

When Leona made her offer of a truce the tall knight blinked. His facial expression was one of puzzlement. Apparently no one had ever offered a truce before... or he did not know what the word meant. She was not sure which one it was, but she would try to see if she could negotiate a truce with him so that she could go look for evidence without the knight trying to kill her.

The knight maintained eye contact with her as he thought over the offer. Leona got the feeling that he might not go for it. He might want to finish their duel here and now instead of waiting until another time, which made sense from a practical point of view. If one had an advantage it made sense to finish a fight while one still had the upper hand. Letting the opponent go might mean that they would come back later with better weapons, better training, or some other item to make the next duel a more challenging one.

"Hmm... so you're offering me a truce so that you can collect evidence on that group of necromancers I killed?" The knight asked Leona.

"Yeah." Leona answered without using any extra verbiage. A cold wind blew and moved her hair about as she maintained eye contact with the knight. She was not sure if he was going to go for it or not. While he held an advantage due to his armor and shield, she had landed a few hits on his face, so he was not invulnerable. However, she doubted that he would fall for the tricks she had used to fight him to the current stalemate.

The wind blew again and moved the knight's red hair about. Leona maintained eye contact as he thought his decision through. After what seemed like an eternity he finally spoke to her.

"All right. We have a truce." The knight told her. Leona slowly exhaled. She had won a modest diplomatic victory, but she had only delayed the inevitable. She would eventually have to finish her duel with him and the next time they clashed it might be at the least convenient time for her.

"All right." Leona replied. She put away her Silver Longsword and walked over to the men the knight had dispatched before their duel. Leona searched their robes and came up with nothing. She turned away from them and walked over towards the passage the knight had slaughtered his way through. The knight followed behind her.

-In the next section of cemetery-

Having searched the bodies in the passage, Leona was unable to find any sort of evidence linking the necromancers to Zupazu's Executioners. Her last hope was the section of cemetery she had just walked into. It was a replica of the one on the other side of the cemetery except for a few key details.

The first detail was that there was a black-colored book with an ornate cover lying on the ground next to one of the bodies. The second was that there were a lot of robed bodies lying around. The third was that there was a small mausoleum with thirteen more robed bodies lying around it in a circle, but these were positioned like they had been deliberately placed instead of having fallen in battle. They might have even been sacrificed to bring the knight back.

Leona turned her attention to the book, which looked to be of some importance because it was the only one she was seeing in this section of cemetery. She walked over to the book and bent down to pick it up when she felt a strong surge of power knock her flat onto her back. Leona landed on her back and looked at the night sky for several moments before she got back on her feet and walked towards the book again.

This time she was not going to reach for it bare-handed. Having a sudden idea, Leona walked a short distance to the left and found the body of a dead necromancer. She drew her Silver Longsword, cut off a large section of robe that would be just big enough to bundle the book in, and put away her sword. She then walked over to the book with the robe covering her hands. Leona bent down and carefully reached for it, expecting another jolt of power to send her sprawling onto her back again. She put her covered hands on the book and wrapped the cloth around it, then picked it up and slowly stood up straight.

Nothing bad happened to her this time.

"One of their tomes of foul magic. You'd do well to burn it as soon as you can." The knight advised Leona to burn the book as fast as humanly possible.

"I'd like to, but this book is the only evidence I have of the necromancers. I need to take it to my client." Leona informed him that as much as she would like to comply with his wish she could not because she needed the book intact. The knight frowned.

"Very well, but I'm not responsible for what happens should the wrong people get their hands on that... that book." The knight warned Leona. Leona kept quiet as she put the book under her left arm and began searching the other dead necromancers for clues before she ventured to Holy Castle to give the Order the tome she had just found.

Having found no further evidence and feeling pretty sure that she was not going to find any on the dead men, Leona set out for Holy Castle with the knight following behind her. It was going to be a long walk to Holy Castle because she doubted that the knight could fit on Winged Lion's back. She had better get going now if she wanted to make it to Holy Castle before tomorrow night.

[Post Word Count: 986]
[Total Word Count: 10,320/11,000]

-Outside Holy Castle, eight hours later-

After a long but uneventful walk Leona and the knight arrived outside Holy Castle just as the sun was coming up. Leona paused a moment to catch her breath while the knight looked in awe at the castle itself. Once she had taken a minute or two to catch her breath the Wizard Saint started to approach the doors to the castle but they opened before she could even take three steps forward. Out stepped Order Cleric Amanda.

"Hello, Wizard Saint. I take it that your mission to Silent Cemetery was successful?" Amanda asked Leona. The Wizard Saint took a deep breath.

"Partially. I wasn't able to kill all of the necromancers I found, but I was able to find this book near one of the dead necromancers. You guys might want to take a look at this." Leona said. She brought the cloth-covered book out from under her left arm and took it in both hands, then presented it to the green-clad cleric. Amanda reached out and took it, then moved the cloth aside to get a glimpse of the book. The blonde cleric laid eyes on it for only a second before she frowned deeply.

"This is a tome of necromancy. I can tell by the dark energy radiating from it." Amanda announced. Leona had not felt anything while the book was closed, but now that it was open she felt the dark energy surrounding the book. Amanda carefully opened the book and began to slowly thumb through it. Her facial expression changed from a stoic one to one of disgust.

"This book is a collection of foul rituals that no human should ever perform. The rituals contained in it are unspeakable." Amanda informed Leona and briefly showed her what she meant. Leona dared to take a look and soon wished that she had not. She glimpsed a detailed drawing of a dissected human body and saw notations that marked the locations of organs.  On another page was an overly detailed drawing of the proper placement of a human sacrifice on a sacrificial altar. The Wizard Saint remained silent while the book was slammed shut and was silently grateful she did not have to see any more of its contents.

"I'll take this to Father Morris right away. You did well to claim this tome from those necromancers. Even if we can't prove a connection to Zupazu's Executioners and some of the necromancers managed to escape justice, just getting rid of this book will make the world a slightly safer place." Amanda informed her before spinning on her heels and disappearing back into the castle. Leona and the knight waited outside for the cleric to return. After a few minutes she returned along with Father Morris.

"Hello, Wizard Saint! Amanda told me that during your mission you found a tome of necromancy in Silent Cemetery!" Father Morris greeted her like the pair were old friends.

"Yes, Father Morris. I wasn't able to kill all of the necromancers. Five or ten of them got away, but most of them had been killed by the knight behind me. He helped me find the book of necromancy." Leona replied. Father Morris and Amanda looked at the knight and then at Leona. They clearly wanted an explanation as to how he had joined her.

"The knight was resurrected by the necromancers. From what I saw they sacrificed thirteen of their own people to bring him back to life, but once they raised him from the dead they couldn't control him. He cut his way through them until he met me. We dueled for awhile until we reached a truce." Leona informed him how he came to help her. Father Morris and Amanda eyed him warily while the knight watched them closely. Leona was worried that the Order mages might try and banish him since one of their missions was to destroy the undead. After a tense silence Father Morris spoke.

"You certainly have a strange ally, Wizard Saint. While I can't say that his origin makes me comfortable, as long as he doesn't harm the innocent we'll tolerate his existence. I hope that you can trust him." Father Morris said diplomatically. Leona wasted no time in defending the knight.

"He's the reason why all but five or ten of the necromancers in the cemetery were dead by the time I found him. He's the reason why I was able to secure that book to bring to you." Leona informed the Order mages that the knight was the reason her mission had succeeded. Doing so might have made her look weak because she admitted that she had basically lucked out by getting an unexpected ally to do all the hard work instead of her having "earned" the success by fighting the necromancers herself and taking the tome from their cold, dead hands. She did not care too much.

"I see. Well, regardless of how you obtained that book I'm glad that you did, Wizard Saint. You see, we have reason to believe that the book is connected to Zupazu's Executioners. It's written in a language that shows up on a lot of documents of theirs that we've captured over the past several months. We'll know for certain once we've carefully analyzed it." Father Morris informed her.

"I'm glad that this mission wasn't for nothing. When those necromancers got away I was afraid that any evidence of a connection to the cult had been lost with them." Leona replied. Father Morris smiled.

"Thank you for your hard work, Wizard Saint. We'll get to analyzing the book right away. We'll need your help in the days ahead, so remain available if you can." Father Morris said to her. With that he and Amanda turned and headed back into Holy Castle. When they went inside the doors shut behind them. Leona and the knight faced one another.

"Well, now that that's over with, did you want to go somewhere to continue our duel?" Leona asked the knight. She was willing to honor the truce she had made with him, which was set to last only until she had obtained evidence of the demon cult's connection to the necromancers. The knight made eye contact with her and shook his head.

"Not today. You've been through a lot and it won't do to fight you when you aren't at your best." The knight declined the offer.

"We'll fight again another day, Leona. For now I'd like to see more of the world. It seems like it's changed a lot since I died." The knight told her. Leona smiled a little.

"All right. You can travel with me until you're ready for your duel." Leona made an offer of her own. The knight gave a small smile of his own.

"I'd like that." He said. Together the two turned around and Leona took the lead to guide him back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall. Leona had completed a mission and had made an unlikely ally. It had been a good day for the Wizard Saint.

[Post Word Count: 1,182]
[Total Word Count: 11,502/11,000]