The Mechanical Era

Heinrich sat in his office thinking. He had already settled the day's disputes, checked the kingdom's finances, and took even practiced a bit of magic. The only thing that came to his mind was the wall, along with it the cement powder, which lingered in him for days.

Heinrich was not sure what to do. On one hand, the stonemasons of the guilds were strongly advising against the purchase of cement, as the risk would be too high. On the other hand, his assistant minister made a good point, but was it worth the risk to attempt to humiliate the Maybale family when his coffers are on the line?

Deciding he needs to relax a bit, he got up from his chair and walked over to the balcony of the palace. It gave him a nice view of the city that rightfully belong to him. Most homes were made of wood and hay, with a little bit of stone. For a city like Albersterg, grinding stones are too expensive for the business owners of the city.

The view reminded him of old memories, of a time when he was much younger and more naïve, but a time to be more excited about, when his parents were still alive and well. Where he had a little more time to be himself. Times that unfortunately came to a quick end.

"Good times."

He heads back inside to his office. Being split on the issue, he decided to procrastinate on it. It was then that a knock on the door was heard. It was the knight commander, Charles Robles."

"What brings you here Knight commander?"

"Your majesty, A giant pierrevol was spotted near the city. I have come to inform you of that it had been taken care of. Though we have suffered a few losses."

"What is the big deal then?"

"This particular encounter had only had one giant pierrevol. No support."

Heinrich's heart stops. Normally demons won't commit to such tactics to take them down. Why risk a powerful demon? To test out their strengths? Unless...

"Tell me what happened," he asked.

...

The fight was not going well. Several knights lay dead. A giant stone golem tall as 8 people stacked together, stood only walking distance of the city. Magic spells were fired by the ones with swords while others fired arrows cast with magic from their bows. Several large explosions and cracks were made, and though large chunks of stone fell apart, it was only a matter of seconds before it regenerated itself with its mana stone shielded in its core.

Normally, a pierrevol would not be such trouble, but as the name 'vol' suggests, it contained a violet mana crystal as its core, the most powerful of them all. They can know by looking at its oozing purple eyes. Though it won't mean that the stone itself will be stronger, only that it regenerated faster.

The remaining knights, who had burses and cuts all over their body, depleted all of their energy reserves, and the few potions which glow blue and tasted of rust that reinstated their health was exhausted too. Yet, they still kept on fighting, to protect the city and their families at all costs.

They avoided the pierrevol's attacks. It threw large boulders that were sliced by the knight's enchanted blade. In the distance, the sound of horses was heard. All turned around and smiled at the sight.

On top of a black horse. was a man with blonde hair rocking a sick back haircut, hazel brown eyes, and a goatee, clad in his enchanted suit of iron armor to come to their rescue. Behind him were more knights and healers to relieve the remaining knights.

He jumped down to the ground and started with a powerful fireball that threw the beast backward and nearly melted the area hit. The healers quickly covered up the wounds and healed them on the spot. The other knights distracted the pierrevol. As soon as it left an opening, the archers drew their bows once again, and Heinrich fired another spell, this time an explosion spell.

Small stones went flying all over. The blast chipped away the protection, and the archers fired their glowing yellow arrows charged up with holy magic. As soon as it hit the crystal, it began to crack and then fall apart. Without the mana crystal, as its core, the demon could no longer stand and fell to the ground. The battle was already over, and they have won.

The knight commander looked around the battlefield, searching for other demons that should have been with the pierrevol. Yet nothing was to be found. He went over to ask the knights who fought it to question them about all the details.

"What happened?"

"Two knights spotted the pierrevol about 3 miles away from here. They fired up a flare to warn us and we arrived to relieve them. We only saw the pierrevol."

"Who are the knights who spotted it first?" the knight pointed at the corpses.

"Oh god. Alright, take these injured knights back to the city, and someone informs the families that they lost their family members. I need to go inform his majesty of what happened."

...

"That was what happened your majesty."

Heinrich stayed silent. Thinking of what it all meant. Normally incidents like this are a sign of a coming demonic wave. The chance depends on how strong it is. If it was a bunch of weak demons popping up, then the chance was low, but a powerful demon coming up? That means the chances are much higher.

He opened his drawer and looks at the reports of demonic activity for the last 5 months. There has been a noticeable increase in their activity in terms of numbers and aggressiveness. Compound this with the incident earlier, Heinrich suspected that a wave is on the horizon.

He leaned back on his chair and sighed. If there IS an early demonic wave, he is going to have to build the wall a lot faster, to build up his defense to protect himself, his family, and his wealth. He would also have to inform Villania and the other cities of this incident.

He took a piece of paper and a quill and started writing two letters. After he was finished, he handed it to the knight commander.

"Give this to the assistant minister. Tell him that I want this first letter to be sent over to Villania."

"And the other one your majesty?"

"Send that over to Hoverdam. It would appear that I am going to have to take a risk."