Arpious of the Planes

(Aika POV)

"Alright, we're heading out. Third commander, fourth commander, and fifth commander. You three will be in charge of your own armies until we get to the rendezvous point where Kumo is… So don't go slacking off and manage your army correctly," I say firmly to the three monsters in front of me.

We first have the Third Commander, Richard the Immovable Siren Guardian. The Fourth Commander, Adam, the Child of the Forest. And finally, the Fifth Commander, Aaron, also a Child of the Forest.

"As you wish," They all reply before running back to their armies and immediately directing them where to go.

The second step of the first phase has begun… Let's see if Kumo really is the greatest strategist in our kingdom.

The journey there took the entire day, so we had to destroy the whole town at night. It was a difficult and slightly scary process as not every monster has as good night vision as us higher ranking ones.

Our senses increase every time we evolve, and one of those senses is vision. And what comes with improved vision? An enhanced capability to see in the dark.

"*sigh*... How boring," I mutter as hundreds of skeletons crawl their way out of their flesh, creating a grotesque seen most soldiers couldn't even look at it.

Same… I'm not too fond of it. The sound of bones crunching. The sound of bones rubbing together as they move. The sound of bones being sawed in half… I hate everybody bit of it.

But I need it as it is my power, and I can't escape from it.

"Okay, everybody, get some rest and don't stress. You can sleep as long as you want but make sure to be awake before the sun rises… which means you can probably get like 6-7 hours of sleep," I explain to the soldiers who were clearly exhausted.

*snap*

Snapping my fingers once, a large cloud of black smoke mixed with turquoise lightning exploded from my undead, who suddenly disappeared within the blink of any eye.

…

(Arpious POV)

(Many miles away…)

[Day 92]

"Hmmmmm… I have a bad feeling today," I muttered as soon as I woke up.

…

(Aika POV)

I woke up bright and early in the morning to train.

First, I started with my body. Then I moved on to martial arts. And then finally, I did some sword training which took double the time it took to finish both working out and training my martial arts.

"HUFF HUFF HUFF… HUFF HUFF HUFF… I need food," I mutter before rummaging through the large bags of rations that some soldiers had brought on the way here.

The food seemed to be something close to dried meat. As if you had left it out in the air for quite a while… but we never had this, so I could only assume it came from that kingdom we allied with not too long ago.

Taking a bite out of the dry and almost stale meat, I noticed it was extremely salty. It wasn't something I'd eat in the morning, but it had to do as I had nothing else.

I also couldn't go hunting as we didn't know when a retaliation army would appear.

Another few hours passed, and the sun had fully risen. Every soldier had also woke up and finished breakfast, so all we had to do now was wait for an imposing army to come to us.

"So bored…" I mutter as I lay on top of a wooden watchtower that I reinforced with bones.

But it seems I ate my words as a loud booming came from the distance. It was like giant drakes- no, dragons were running towards us.

A sudden tension was stretched across my army as they got into position. Even the commanders felt a bit of stress as they'd never heard such a large booming sound before.

Suddenly, over the grassy horizon encrusted by a golden sun appeared thousands of massive gray figures who began to tower over us the closer they got.

I didn't even touch their skin, but I knew it was thicker than steel. Their large red eyes were full of rage as they had been settled by soldiers, displaying that they hadn't been tamed.

And finally, the most noticeable features were two large dark red horns protruding from the side of their nose…

Are those antlers? Wait, I think I've seen a monster like this… Oh! Tusks! That's what they're called.

The tusks weaved as if they were antlers and their large floppy ears gave it a stupid yet robust appearance.

"I want them," I mutter, unable to hold my smile.

Immediately, I summoned my undead between the spaces of the monster soldiers I was leading. This wasn't a selfish move but more like insurance as I'm pretty sure the soldiers below me would get trampled by the 25-foot giant monsters.

Just as the three armies below me began to slice at the thousands of monsters who were trampling over them, a small shadow could be seen in the distance.

And after looking upwards, I saw a large… bird? It had the body of what seemed to be a furry tan monster, and it had the tail that Arpious had in her previous evolution.

But strangely, it had two large white and gray wings with the head of a bird… but only the wings had feathers, nothing else.

KAAAAAAAAAAA

The beast shouted before darting towards me, past the entire army.

…

(Griffin Rider POV)

I, the First Commander of the Mounted Army, shall take the head of the necromancer. It is common knowledge that summoners are nowhere near as strong as their summoned beasts, so if I get close enough, I should be able to end this war without much trouble.

"AAAA!" I shout as I raise my massive spear above my head and grip the ends of it as hard as I can.

SHING

I swung down with all my might but was blocked by… A HAND!?

At the very edge where the blade met the wooden handle, a hand was placed on it. The grip by the Amazonian in front of me was so firm that I couldn't even budge it.

"Let go," I hear an icy voice say.

Glancing up, I noticed it came from the necromancer whose eyes almost looked down on me.

RAAAAAA

I yanked the reins on the Griffen upwards, causing it to cry out in pain, but I didn't care. The chill that was sent through my body was unlike any other thing I had felt before, so the yank was almost subconscious.

I even dropped my prized spear, which I received from my king himself.

SHING

But before I could get up any farther, a large longsword stabbed straight through my heart.

Unable to comprehend what happened, I just looked up and down—glancing at the sword and the necromancer before falling off my Griffen.

RAAAAAA

…

(Aika POV)

"Seems we really do have a traitor," I mutter before swiping away the minuscule amount of XP that the human had given me.

SHING

I manipulated my sword with [Partial Death Manipulation], so it also slew the Griffen, who I immediately turned into undead as well.

"Your highness, may I ask why you think we have a traitor?" Aaron asks as he notices the war is about to end…

My undead had utterly mopped the floor.

"*sigh*... I don't want to explain. Think about it," I reply before watching the final moments of the war.

"ORAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" All the soldiers cried out due to their victory.

"Sacrifice," I muttered, causing the rest of the corpses to turn into my undead.

And with one more snap, they disappeared into thin air, leaving just the meat which all the soldiers seemed to be eyeing.

"WE WILL HAVE A FEAST!" I shouted, but suddenly another rumbling could be heard in the distance.

But this time, it was so much louder, bassier, and more threatening than before… It was so loud that it even began to shake my watchtower and made my soldiers tremble.

They were exhausted, but now a far greater and more powerful opponent had appeared.

"So, of course, they would be lathered in despair," I mutter.

…

(Arpious POV)

"Hmmmmm…"

"What's wrong?" Treyni asks as we sit at the table for a late breakfast.

"Hmmmmmm…"

"A-Arpious?" Treyni tries to catch my attention once again.

"Arpious?" Homura tried this time, but after I didn't reply, she stood up from her chair and whacked me in the back of my head.

"O-oh, sorry. Can you say that again," I say after snapping back to reality.

I also had to heal Homura's hand as it seemed as she slapped me, her hand fractured due to my extremely high defense.

"How embarrassing," Homura mutters before Treyni opens her mouth once again.

"You seemed to be worried about something… What's wrong?"

"O-oh, I've just had this horrible feeling since this morning," I respond while swirling my water, almost getting hypnotized by the mini whirlpool.

"It's fine," Homura says.

"Huh?"

"You already suspect it's with Aika, right?"

"Y-yeah,"

"Then you should know that she'll never lose… Even if the entire army is wiped out… She'll never lose… Cause she's an army in itself," Homura says with a smile.