Suddenly one of the skeletons, Blue, sprinted at the palisade wall.


    To the surprise of the archers, it didn’t try to push open the gate or hack a hole into the wood - instead, its ws dug into the wall, and before anyone realised what was happening it had climbed up the wall nearly as quickly as it had run towards it.


    Jay gave it only one order: attack whoever attacks you.


    He decided to subjugate the vige, having them bend their knees to him until he was finished with them.


    Liny and his thugs were shocked, but now the skeleton was close and they thought they would have a better chance of hitting it with their inurate arrows.


    An arrow flew at Blue, bouncing harmlessly through its ribcage. This provocation gave Blue the green light to attack, and it did so without hesitation.


    Blue raised its sword, sprinting along the wooden tform.


    A few archers had their fists up in defence, but Blue dashed right past them while their lives shed before their eyes.


    Blue had a target, and everyone else was ignored.


    One of Liny’s thugs realised he wouldn’t have enough time to fire another arrow.


    He dropped the bow and brandished a wooden club wrapped with bands of iron wrapped at the end.


    With a wide swing at Blue, he tried to knock him off the wall.


    *Shroong~*


    The iron part of the club shed against the bone sword, grinding across the de as it was deflected upwards.


    Blue dipped below the club and brought its sword around, shing across the thugs chest.


    The club dropped to the ground as his eyes widened.


    He didn’t understand what happened - why did his hand suddenly drop the club? Why did the skeleton stop its attack?


    Suddenly his shirt was stained, a red line appeared from his shoulder to his opposite hip.


    He dropped to his weak knees as blood began to flow out of his chest like a river.


    The thug behind watched as he fell off the wall, his body lifelessly dropped to the ground.


    However, before he could do anything, a stinging pain filled his throat.


    He couldn’t breathe.


    Looking down, half of a white sword was embedded into his neck.


    Two green hollow eyes gazed at him from the darkness of a human skull; they seemed to be filled with both wonder and disdain.


    He fell down clutching his neck to no use and joined the dead thug on the ground in a pool of blood.


    Liny was next in line.


    “N- no no, stop! Please! I’ll do anything just don’t!-”


    *Shring~*


    A sh of the white de and suddenly his arm was gone.


    “I-”


    It took Liny a moment to realise what happened, as he looked at the stump squirting blood everywhere, his arm on the ground.


    “...Gh- Gaaah! Help!” he screamed, turning around and grasping at the cor of hisst thug, “Not like this… anything but...”


    His arms fell to the side, and he passed out covered in his own blood while Blue remained watching curiously, as if learning about human anatomy.


    Liny’s body went limp.


    Thest personal guard of Liny’s tried to flee, but it was the stupidest thing he could have done.


    A sword bore right into his back before he could even jump off the wall, perishing as quickly as all the others.


    Before anyone realised, Blue had climbed their wall and in four men - and none of them could do anything about it.


    Landen watched the whole thing, clenching his hands. It was all he could do.


    “Don’t. Don’t do anything.”


    Landen said to his archers, some of which were pulling back their bows which were pointed at Blue.


    Blue weed the threat, gazing right back at them while raising its sword, hoping they would fuck around and find out. It was ready to learn more about human anatomy, it just needed them to attack first.


    The archers paused, not releasing their arrows but not releasing the tension in their bows.


    “Lower your weapons. We’re at his mercy,” Landen said again.


    Some of them couldn’t bring themselves to do it. Before their eyes was some kind of apparition of a nightmare staring at them.


    “Now!” Landen said more sternly.


    ? Finally, they each took a moment and slowly lowered them against their most base instincts.


    Blue seemed disappointed as it simrly lowered its sword.


    Suddenly, it turned to look over the wall along the side of the vige.


    Landen followed its eyeline and clenched his jaw from the stress.


    “No… not now…”


    A small band of men, each wearing light armour with wooden shields and spiked clubs were marching around the wall. They were Landen’s men, most likely responding to the gate being sealed shut.


    They had armed themselves and exited another gate; normally this would be their counter attack, but this was no normal situation.


    Landen looked back at Blue who had already jumped over the wall,nding on the ground and springing off towards them.


    Landen considered jumping too but knew he would risk hurting himself, and in this cliff crucible of empty forests, being injured was as good as being dead.


    He also knew attacking Blue would only add him to the monster’s kill list.


    The group of men would be too far away to hear him yelling.


    Landen’s heart sank, he was sure that this single skeleton was about to y all of them by itself.


    The skeletons seemed like they were made for battle, they had unflinching hesitation and brutal killing efficiency while the vigers were all slowly starving, bing skeletons themselves. They would only have a few minutes of unfocused energy before they would have to rest, if they could keep up at all - while the skeleton would keep going mercilessly.


    Looking around, Landen felt hopeless as he was about to watch his fellow vigers walking to their deaths, and he was powerless to stop them.


    All his archers at his side had simr looks on their faces: The look of no hope.


    As he watched, his eyes wandered back to Jay.


    Jay seemed rxed and even bored; he hadpletely ignored the pleas for mercy from Liny, but Jay was his only chance to stop the rampaging skeleton.


    “Sir! Please, stop the skeleton!”


    “Me? Are you talking to me? Aren’t you busy having a little argument? Surely I take second priority to your little fight?” Jay teased, an amused smile on his face.


    Jay was still annoyed that he had to wait so long for them to give him the fear and respect he deserved, though he had since shattered their illusion of safety they had felt behind their arrows and their palisade wall. Only now did Landen realise that wasting Jay’s time alone was a serious provocation.


    “I am sorry for not recognising your authority! We are at your mercy, so please, forgive us!” Landen lowered his head in shame, surprised at what he was even saying.


    “Hmm…” Jay thought for a moment, his eyes squinting at Landen, “Lay down your weapons, open the gate, and I will spare your men.”


    Landen immediately climbed down the wall and removed the brace across the back of the gate, opening it.


    “Lay down your bows!” he yelled to the men on the walls.


    All of them ced them down nearby - but close enough so that they could grab them in a moment’s notice. If Jay suddenly attacked, they would not be going down without a fight.


    “Good.” Jay nodded, and the skeleton suddenly stopped.


    (Blue,e back.)


    The group of men that Blue was dashing towards hadn’t even noticed the skeleton; neither did they noticed how close they came to death.


    Landen quickly ran through the gate and along the side of the wall to his shield warriors, and soon began talking and arguing with them.


    In the meantime, Jay decided to free the bone-locked jaws of his captives.


    After their jaws were free and they could talk, none of them said a word. They feared what Jay could do.


    “Go on.” Jay pointed to the open gate, yet none of them moved.


    Something was different about the prisoners, something was wrong with them. They looked at Jay as if he were theirmander.


    Jay felt ufortable with their nces, so decided to walk through the gate himself, leaving them lying on the ground as his skeletons guarded him.


    The archers on top of the wall wanted to hold their bows ready, but none of them dared to touch their own weapons, much less aim them at him.


    After seeing how easily his skeleton had climbed the wall and killed four men before their eyes, Jay was now strolling through their gate with five of these walking bringers of death.


    Jay began to analyse their little vige as he made it inside.


    “Hmm, not too bad.” Jay thought, looking around at their wooden houses while ignoring the shocked and shivering faces of the vigers there.