The Eclipsed Order

Chapter 58: Chapter 58: The Kingdom’s First Encounter with the Eclipse

The battlefield gradually fell silent.

The final waves of undead had been destroyed, leaving only scattered remains across the ruined ground. Smoke and dust still lingered in the air, but the overwhelming pressure that had filled the battlefield earlier had finally disappeared.

Andrea lowered her sword and looked across the battlefield.

"This should be enough."

She turned toward the Eclipse members stationed nearby.

"Everyone, return."

The members immediately lowered their heads.

"Understood."

One after another, they disappeared from the battlefield, slipping into the surrounding darkness without leaving behind anything that could reveal where they had gone.

Andrea remained behind.

She was about to leave when a voice stopped her.

"Wait."

She turned her head.

The knight captain stood several meters away, his armor covered in dust and blood from the battle.

Andrea looked at him without saying anything.

The captain hesitated.

"J-just who are you...?"

Andrea’s expression remained calm.

"Is helping still not enough?"

"No."

The captain immediately shook his head.

"Forgive me. That’s not what I meant."

He lowered his sword and took a breath.

"Thank you for helping us. If you and your people hadn’t appeared, we would have been wiped out."

Andrea glanced toward the battlefield.

"Is that all?"

The captain hesitated.

"Please."

Andrea looked back at him.

"Just tell me your name."

For the first time, Andrea’s expression changed slightly.

The name she had been given was not merely a name.

It had been given to her by the Great Eclipse himself.

And she carried it with pride.

"Andrea."

The captain repeated it quietly.

"Andrea..."

He lowered his head.

"Lady Andrea, thank you for saving us, and for protecting the people of this kingdom."

He bowed deeply.

Andrea watched him for a moment before answering.

"It’s nothing."

Her voice remained calm.

"We were only following orders."

The captain slowly raised his head.

"The orders?"

Andrea said nothing.

She simply looked toward the distant battlefield one last time.

Then she stepped forward.

The ground beneath her feet cracked slightly.

BOOM!

Her figure shot upward.

The captain’s eyes widened as Andrea disappeared into the sky, her black cloak fluttering behind her before vanishing into the darkness.

He remained standing there.

"The orders..."

His gaze followed the empty sky.

"Whose orders?"

No answer came.

Around him, the surviving knights were beginning to regroup, tending to their wounded and gathering the remains of their fallen comrades.

The captain slowly turned toward them.

His expression remained complicated.

They had survived the calamity.

But instead of the kingdom’s strongest knights being the ones to save them, an unknown organization had appeared from the shadows and completely changed the battlefield.

The captain looked toward the direction where Andrea had disappeared.

"And what exactly is the Eclipse...?"

The question remained unanswered.

The reinforcement force finally arrived at the western territory.

Several large groups of knights rode through the damaged roads, their banners moving in the wind as they approached the battlefield where the original forces had sent their emergency request.

They had expected chaos.

They had expected thousands of undead.

They had expected to find their fellow knights desperately holding the line against a calamity that had already overwhelmed the region.

Instead, they found silence.

The battlefield was still covered in the remains of destroyed undead, broken weapons, damaged armor, and deep marks carved into the earth.

But there was no undead army.

No overwhelming enemy force.

Only the aftermath of a battle that had clearly been far more violent than the number of surviving creatures suggested.

One of the arriving knights stared across the battlefield.

"Where are the undead?"

A knight beside him looked equally confused.

"There are no signs of an active army."

"Then what happened here?"

The reinforcement commander immediately ordered his men to establish a temporary camp and begin searching the area.

"Check the wounded first. Then find the commanding officers who were involved in the battle."

"Yes, Commander."

The knights quickly moved through the battlefield.

It didn’t take long before they began finding survivors.

The wounded were being treated.

The dead were being gathered.

And the surviving knights were already attempting to reorganize themselves.

The reinforcement commander frowned.

"This doesn’t make sense."

A nearby knight shook his head.

"It seems the main force survived."

"Survived?"

The commander looked toward the ruined battlefield.

"Against an undead army of that size?"

Nobody answered.

---

Several hours later, inside the temporary command tent, the senior knights and commanders had gathered around a large table.

Maps covered the surface.

Reports had been placed beside them.

The situation had already been explained to the arriving forces, but the more they heard, the less understandable it became.

At the head of the table sat the captain who had commanded the original defense.

Several other high-ranking knights sat nearby, listening carefully.

The reinforcement commander looked at him.

"Start from the beginning."

The captain nodded.

"The undead army appeared in overwhelming numbers. We initially estimated several thousand, but the number continued increasing as more creatures emerged from the surrounding territory."

Several knights exchanged serious looks.

"We attempted to contain them, but our formation began collapsing. Their numbers were simply too great, and several sections of the defensive line were close to being completely overrun."

He paused.

"Then the Eclipse appeared."

The room became quiet.

"The Eclipse?"

"Yes."

The captain nodded.

"They appeared suddenly during the battle. At first, we believed they were simply another group of reinforcements, but their strength was far beyond anything our knights could match."

One of the commanders frowned.

"How many?"

"We don’t know the exact number."

The captain looked toward the map.

"There were several groups spread across the battlefield."

"They’re wearing black attire with strange symbol and their bodies were mostly concealed, including their faces. They didn’t display any kingdom insignia."

The intelligence officer sitting near the end of the table leaned forward.

"Could they be the same people connected to the disappearances of the bandits and smugglers?"

The captain looked toward him.

"That was my first thought as well."

The officer continued.

"We’ve received several reports of an unknown group wearing similar clothing appearing around criminal operations that were destroyed throughout the kingdom."

"Then this may be the first time we’ve seen them operate on this scale."

The captain nodded.

"Possibly."

He paused before continuing.

"However, what happened on the battlefield was beyond anything described in those earlier reports."

The commander folded his arms.

The captain took a breath.

"There was a woman who identified herself as Andrea."

Several people looked toward him.

"Andrea?"

"Yes."

He nodded.

"She appeared to be extremely young. Based on her voice and appearance, I would estimate she was perhaps fourteen or fifteen years old."

A few knights exchanged doubtful glances.

"You’re saying a girl that young fought against the undead?"

"Not only fought."

The captain’s expression became serious.

"She destroyed them."

He pointed toward one of the marked areas on the map.

"There were several hundred undead advancing toward our position. But that Andrea raised her sword once and released an attack powerful enough to erase the entire formation."

One of the commanders stared at him.

"Several hundred?"

"Yes."

"In one attack?"

The captain nodded.

"The force of the attack carved a massive cut into the ground behind them."

Silence filled the tent.

The captain continued.

"She appeared to be a magical swordsman, but her power was far beyond what I’ve seen from anyone of that rank. And she wasn’t the only one."

He looked toward the other officers.

"There were at least three other individuals whose strength appeared to be comparable."

"Three?"

"Yes. One wielded an enormous amount of crimson energy and another possessed a level of destructive power comparable to Andrea’s."

He paused.

"And there were five more."

The captain nodded slowly.

"Then the reports may indeed be connected."

He looked down at the table.

"The five fought together. Their weapons were unusual, but their coordination was exceptional. Every one of them was capable of destroying undead without being pushed back, even when surrounded."

One of the senior knights frowned.

"How strong were they individually?"

"I couldn’t determine their exact level."

The captain hesitated.

"But every one of them was strong enough that I wouldn’t want to fight them alone."

The room became even quieter.

The reinforcement commander looked toward the intelligence officer.

"And you’re saying these people may also be responsible for the criminal organizations disappearing?"

"We cannot confirm it yet."

"But the clothing matches?"

"According to the captain’s description, yes."

The captain nodded.

"Their attire was almost completely black and concealed most of their bodies. Their faces were hidden."

The intelligence officer slowly leaned back.

"Then there’s a strong possibility."

The captain looked toward the others.

"But there’s something else."

Everyone turned toward him.

"I couldn’t confirm it, but judging from their voices and movements, many of them appeared to be young."

The commander frowned.

"Young?"

"Yes."

The captain’s expression became increasingly troubled.

"Andrea in particular sounded no older than fourteen or fifteen. The others didn’t sound much older."

Several senior knights exchanged looks.

A young girl capable of destroying hundreds of undead with a single attack.

Five other young people fighting with enough strength to overwhelm entire groups.

And an unknown organization operating throughout the kingdom without anyone knowing who commanded them.

The captain slowly exhaled.

"For someone that young to possess that level of power..."

He shook his head.

"Just what are they?"

The intelligence officer looked down at the reports.

"If they are the same organization responsible for the previous incidents, then we’ve been dealing with something much larger than we realized."

The reinforcement commander frowned.

"Are they hostile?"

The captain shook his head.

"No."

"They didn’t attack us and they protected us."

He paused.

"If the Eclipse hadn’t intervened, the original force would probably have been destroyed."

The commander leaned back.

The captain nodded.

"One of them even told me they were only following orders."

"Whose orders?"

"I don’t know."

The room fell silent.

The commander looked around the table.

"Then for now, we don’t treat them as enemies."

The intelligence officer nodded.

"But we shouldn’t consider them allies either."

"Agreed."

"Eclipse."

He quietly repeated it.

"For now, let’s hope they’re not our enemy."

Outside the tent, the knights continued treating the wounded and rebuilding their formations.

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