Chapter 352 - The First
Several decades ago, when the kingdom of Avancia was in the midst of a crisis from a war waged by the neighboring kingdoms, the king almost lost all hope.
The kingdom was slowly getting smaller in size due to border conflicts. Avancia was in between the three kingdoms of Gaius, Kronus, and Triton. The here kingdoms believed that Avancia was becoming a threat to them, considering it was the capital for magic in all of the realm.
From three directions of Northwest, West, and Southwest, the kingdoms are planning to attack. They want to seize the power Avancia had for themselves. With their confidence in themselves, the three kingdoms were even planning to challenge the Five Palaces.
King Lionel Alorde, the grandfather of King Leopold, sought to find capable Adventurers who could stop or at least hold the kingdoms from taking over. He was looking for guilds in all of the land, trying to send the best men to protect their kingdom.
Avancia was a powerful kingdom, but the other kingdoms were a century advanced with their technology. It wasn't long before when the king of Kronus visited Avancia in a flying ship that wasn't pulled by beasts.
With him were wagons who moved by themselves, and devices similar to a screen. The king of Kronus said that they dropped off the Adventurers from their plans considering their technology were more reliable than Adventurers.
The other king showed King Lionel a blueprint that shows a gigantic machine that looked like a human and was capable of massive destruction. The machine made King Lionel panic. He, along with his gentry discussed the threat right after the king of Kronus left.
It was then that he felt the eeire feeling of the three kingdoms' plans. But by the time he received the report from his spy, it was too late.
Triton decided to launch the first attack to make Avancia crumble. Their army twice the size of the Avancia Royal Guards marched across the borders, easily passing through the gates and the small number of guards there.
Apart from their men, the kingdom carried their technology with them. Flying ships, automated cars, giant weapons capable of blasting an entire wall like nothing, those were the factors of Triton's apparent win.
King Lionel could only fall back to his throne after listening to the reports of his spies. No one expected Triton to attack them like this. They broke the treaty of peace amongst the kingdoms, fully knowing that no Avancia will run after them after their attack.
All was lost in the eyes of the king and his people. The oldest kingdom in the west and what was supposed to be the most powerful, was going to be annihilated.
That was until four bright figures appeared in the sky. Green, blue, yellow, and white beams struck from the figures, destroying the large machineries of the army.
"Sire!" Meanwhile inside the Solaguer Castle, a man ran across the throne room, kneeling in front of King Lionel and handing him a scroll. "Sire, a response from four people."
"What response?" King Lionel took the scroll without a second thought, opening it and reading what's inside. "To our king, we are people from different guilds who saw it fitting to return the service the kingdom has given us by defending it. We can not assure a victory against other kingdoms, but we will hold them off so you can have time to gather forces."
The king looked at the man and tilted his head in confusion, "To whom did this letter came from, Nile?"
"T-The ones who finishes the Campaigns in days, sire," Nile replied. "Four guilds are capable of doing so. These four were the leaders of those Campaigns."
Four massively terrifying auras burst from outside. The king threw the scroll to the side and went out to the balcony. He watched as four bright lights in the skies rained their powers down on the army below.
"This is majestic," King Lionel gasped. "These people are easily defeating them. How can this happen?"
"They are the first to max out all their skills, sire," Nile said with a bright smile. "They are capable of completing Campaigns a fraction of time a regular team does, an army like this is probably nothing to them."
"We're saved," the king fell to his knees with tears steaming from his face. "Nile, we are saved!"
After Triton's attack, Gaius and Kronus surrendered. Their kings were banished and another replaced them. There was also a title added from Avancia in each kingdoms. The title is meant to plant a man in the kingdoms so an incident like this would never happen again.
The title was the Second King, and they have the same level of authority as the king. Although the Second King would seek approval for Avancia before they could act, in terms of influence and power, they equalize the kings.
The four figures that defeated Triton's army was recognized by the kingdom. They were known to become the Legendary Crusaders, and they birthed the start of guilds with low in numbers. The Crusaders were made Guardians and their guild disbanded.
Two decades later, Pentos was created. It was said that it was the new dawn arrived in Avancia, a new group of powerful Adventurers comparable to the Crusaders have emerged.
Although Pentos achieved greater things than the Crusaders, the latter was still regarded as the beacon of Avancia's power. Without them, the kingdom would've already perished. They were the first to hold the torch and now they are passing it to a new generation.
And right now, in a blink of an eye, four sharp tentacles shot from the Armageddon. No one expected for it to happen, but the tentacles hit the Crusaders on different parts of their bodies.
"Impossible," Zeus said as he watched the tentacle piercing his stomach. "That speed… no one can match that speed."
The man coughed blood, as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. The others weren't in a better state either. Haley had a large hole on the side of her stomach, Miria on her hip, while the fourth tentacle pierced Platt's shoulder.
The world held their breath as the ring from Haley's spell vanished, reversing the spell put on the Crusaders and returning them to their original age. They watched the four being detached from the tentacles before the Armageddon threw them away.
"We're all gonna die," Johnson fell to his knees. "If Zeus can't beat that thing along with the other Crusaders, then we're not going to make it."
The Armageddon shook its body and roared with a loud scream that fully destroyed the island the stadium was on.. The island crumbled, falling to the ground piece by piece.