Initially, everything was black.

Then, the first light appeared, and the frozen water droplets fell towards the river and sea, and the silent creature opened its eyes. 94670778 seconds flew by in the timer, the hands of the world turned 2248 years, 4 months, 6 days and 13 hours, the sun rose and the moon set, the hourglass was silent, the cry of a newborn was heard by the tomb, all history has become history, all is happening now.

"The servants have lost four thousand men, the captain of the legion. The lightly armoured, bloodied scout fell from his horse with a thud and struggled to his feet to report the battle to his commander.

The Legion Commander, who sat on the back of a tall four-legged horseman, raised his eyelids nonchalantly, and his fingers flicked a peeled grape from a delicate porcelain plate, watching the crystal clear green fruit roll around on the plate, "Four thousand, report to me when you lose six thousand." With a lazy wave of his hand, he motioned for the soldiers to stand back, and the scout bowed deeply to the commander who stood tall above him, his hands on his chest and fading into the crowd.

"That...... Lieutenant of the baggage?" the Legion Commander hooked his fingers. An officer riding an earth-walking dragon immediately appeared beside him and took off his helmet: "The ladder and battering ram are ready, the south gate and the north gate are each equipped with twenty-two heavy trebuchets and one hundred and four bed crossbows, the ghoul sappers have dug five hundred and fifty yards, the siege tower can be built in fifteen minutes, the legion captain." ”

Avraim, the Legion Elder of the Raven Legion, one of the four elite units of the Zavi Empire, the Grand Lord of the Southern Colonies, and the Hereditary Second Count of the Empire, sighed softly, waved his hand to the lieutenant, and turned to the red-robed mage beside him: "It seems that you have no chance to make a move, old friend." There is no decent resistance in the Redstone Fort, and the rate of attrition of the servants is half as slow as I expected, please tell Lord Zarouch that the First Central Army can withdraw from the Red Earth Plain and continue its march south, the Redstone Fort and Queen St. Boren are the trophies of my Raven Corps, I can't wait to taste Her Majesty's taste, hum hum ......"

The red-robed magician looked at the battlefield with a blank face, "That's not up to me. Lord Zarouch's instructions were to wipe out the city by sunset, as long as the Raven Legion could not breach the gates of the Redstone Keep, the Battle Spellcaster would cast the siege magic 'Anvil of Destruction of Razi' to wipe out the city once and for all. ”

Forty-four-year-old Eflahim raised an eyebrow: "Sunset, it's still four hours before dusk, let me spice up this boring game." Bring our poet over,—— don't forget his ukulele. ”

The crowd dispersed, and the old bard was brought before the Legion Commander by the knight, the white feathers of the old man's felt hat stained with blood and no longer stiff, but the strings of the Dudra in his bosom were unstained, reflecting the midday sun. "Sing a hymn, bard of Saint-Bollen. The Legion Commander looked down at the tiny civilians, "adding a beautiful footnote to my victory." ”

The old man replied tremblingly: "I will have only one narrative poem, my lord, all the bards of Saint-Bolen will have only one narrative poem, my lord, it is the first poem, and the last tribute, and it will never end as long as Saint-Bolen exists." ”

The red-robed mage said with great interest: "I have heard that the 446,000-line epic poem "Sila Sagas" tells the history of the main god Shira performing miracles in the red soil plains and helping the local inhabitants to establish the kingdom of St. Borun. Over the years, bards have continued to add new chapters to the epic. ”

"Is that so?" the Legion Commander sat up straight and looked at the battlefield, "then please pick any chapter and start singing, poet." Before the sun sets, the Redstone Castle will fall, the history of St. Borun will end in my hands, and you, you will have the honor of being the completer of the "Sila Sagas", and today, this over-the-top epic will be put to rest by me and you. ”

The bard bowed his head and picked up the ukulele with trembling hands, and the moment his shriveled fingers touched the strings, his trembling magically vanished, and the clear chords flowed through the jungle of honor guards and spears, and the old man opened his blood-crusted lips and began to chant the ancient psalms:

"The Creator created the world and created the seven main gods;

The Lord God Shirah is his Spirit, his flesh, his servant and his lover;

His little daughter, his pride, messenger of words and paintings;

The moonlit heavenly rose, the profound and loving garland elf.

Her brother, protector of war and blacksmiths, god of fire, Razi the wrath;

Jealous of the love of mankind for the Lord God Shira, he lifted up the hammer of flame and sent down calamity;

The sea boils, the mountains melt, and the war of the seven gods destroys the world;

The Creator was finally enraged, and he raised his cane, which could summon thunderclouds and torrential rain, and divided the world into four continents, separating east, south, west, and north forever. ”

The bard's song spread throughout the army, and Afraim's ears moved slightly, and he nodded appreciatively. He waved his right hand, and the baggage lieutenant of the Raven Regiment and the commanders of the dragoon battalion, the equipment infantry battalion, the heavy infantry battalion, the longbow battalion, and the spear throwing battalion immediately appeared in front of him, "The rules are still the same, take the Red Stone Fort within an hour, allow you to slaughter the city, be careful not to hurt Her Majesty's face, her head needs to appear on the gate of the Red Stone Fort, this is my only advice." The Legion Commander's gaze swept over the battle-hardened officers, each with their armor covered in blood and deep arrow marks, "End a six-year war, end one of the oldest kingdoms in the Western Continent, end an era." - Is there anything more honorable than this, the creator of the new Zavi Empire, the greedy executioner, my old fellows?" he pointed to his eyes.

"No, Your Excellency the Legion Commander!" shouted the officers in unison, "clanging" as they buckled up the knight's helmet and visor, and drew their swords and spears. Just as Moses split the Red Sea, where the commander's right hand pointed, the Zawi soldiers neatly separated from the left and right, revealing the red earth that had been trampled by tens of thousands of pairs of military boots as solid as granite, and Ephraim crossed the distance of three thousand yards without hindrance, casting it to the other side where the sun was shining, and on the boundless red soil plain, stood an incomparably tall crimson castle, a monument to the history of the St. Borun dynasty for two thousand years, and the highest achievement of architectural civilization in the Western Continent, the Red Stone Fort.

"Attack!"

The Legion Commander crushed the grapes in his palm.

The sound of war drums shook the earth, the black and oppressive formation of the raven corps suddenly bloomed like flowers, the cavalry team attacked in a roundabout way, under the cover of the shield infantry, the equipment infantry pushed the heavy battering ram slowly, and the light infantry carried the ladder and ran forward through the corpses of the Zavi servants, "Bang! With the loud sound of the cowhide breaking, the huge trebuchet threw the five-hundred-pound boulder into the air, and the stone spun and fell with a terrifying scream, and the soldiers of St. Bouron on the city wall raised their heads in horror, only to be pierced violently by the crossbow arrows fired from the heavy bed crossbow, and nailed to the red sandstone wall bricks with a "bang!"

The torrent of Zawi's soldiers rushed past the bard, and the old man's figure was like a dead leaf trembling in the wind, but the verses of the Shirasaga continued to play:

"His wrath caused the world to change shape, and there were impassable mountains around it, and in the center of it formed an impenetrable ocean;

Four holy rivers divide the four continents, and only the gods can look at each other;

Sheila and Razi, the supreme brothers and sisters in the Western Continent, can no longer descend into the world to tell humanity;

The devout believers of the Red Plains have finally learned to look up.

The fire of civilization was lit by an ancient king named Casfield;

But the daughter of a farmer named Wenger, who listened to the words of the Lord God day and night, and carried a dog, a pitchfork, and a basket of dried cakes, established the glory of St. Bouron in the heart of the earth;

'Build up the wall, in the promised land where the sweet spring flows,' said Shira;

- 'Whoever lays the first brick will be the king of the laterite plains.' Build a castle of red stone, 300 feet high and 2,000 yards wide, and worship the heavenly spirits, which are like heavenly palaces. ”

"Put!"

One hundred and four heavy crossbow bolts poured into the sky, obscuring the sunlight for a moment. A hundred yards in front of the heavy bed crossbow, two thousand Zawi longbowmen were shooting an overwhelming array of rockets in three rotations, and a rain of fire like locusts landed on the Red Stone Fort, unable to shake the solid sandstone bricks, but in an instant the tents, baggage, equipment, and clothing of the guards were swept into flames.

The figures screamed in the fireball, and the rolling stones and boiling oil on the walls were temporarily thinned, and taking advantage of this opportunity, the infantry quickly erected two 250-foot-high wooden siege towers, and the siege towers carrying rams, gangplanks, and fifty archers immediately rained down on the 180-foot-high walls.

"Zizi ......" purple thunder and lightning suddenly descended on the Zavi infantry group, the electric snake flew between the steel and the ** like life, countless heavy infantry fell to the ground heavily, and every gap in the helmet spewed scorching black smoke. At the same time, a boulder thrown by a heavy trebuchet was lifted by the wrestlers on the ramparts, and they struggled to throw it at the siege tower, and as soon as the arrows of the Zawi archers left the bowstring, the boulder covered their entire field ......of vision, and the wooden siege tower that had been hit by the heavy blow broke off from the middle, staggered, and finally fell in the center of the siege force, splashing a blood-colored wave.

"The pagan of Razi, King Zawi, also submitted to the first steps of the Red Stone Castle and promised peace to the farmer's daughter for three hundred years;

'There are innumerable executioners in the blood of the butcher's son', and the Lord God Shelah worries for the believers in heaven;

But the queen inherited the gift of love and beauty from Sylla, and used culture and art to shape the golden Saint-Bourne;

God bless Wenger, the best queen, the people of the Red Plains.

But on that windless and moonless night six years ago, Zawi's dragon reduced the small city of Sandostan to ashes;

The vassal states turned against each other, the border garrison of the First Guard of the Holy Blessing was defeated in a battle, the stormy St. Bourne, the fragmented northeastern border;

Year after year of fighting, the barren fields grew lush wild strawberries, and with the watering of blood, the fruits appeared extraordinarily bright;

God bless St. Bouren!Let the invaders' earth-walking dragoons face the farmer's pitchforks, and find themselves in a dilemma of tactics and faith. ”

The bard's eyes widened as he spat out the desolate syllables of Zawi's invaders, and the Redstone Castle began to burn, and a large number of rockets flew over the walls, igniting the city's buildings, turning the majestic old castle into a purgatory's furnace.

"Whoosh!" Countless golden bands of light crossed over the old man's head, it was the golden earth dragoon with wings on his back, the elite of the Zavi Empire's elite. "Assault!" Guided by a dragon knight in black steel armor, the Golden Land Dragoon flapped its wings and flew into the sky, darling through the rain of arrows of the guards, like a golden carp swimming upstreams in a flood.

The mighty wrestler on the city wall roared wildly, took off his shirt, and showed his rock-solid muscles, he picked up one boulder after another and threw it at the Zawi people, "Bang!" A five-hundred-pound boulder struck the Golden Earth Dragon, and the half-dragon mount, which could fly for a short time, crashed to the ground with a wail, smashing a dozen soldiers into a pulp along with his master.

"Shoot!" the black-armored knight shouted again, and the dragoons flying in the air threw their spears in unison, fifteen flying spears pierced through the body of the wrestler from different angles, and the blood on his body erupted from thirty wounds in an instant, and the fierce general with his eyes wide open and undefeated turned into a heroic soul on the execution rack. The purple lightning that had wiped out large swaths of Zavi's soldiers was gone, and the black-armored knight's spear shot into the narrow window of a lookout, harvesting the lives of the mages hiding inside. The Golden Earth Dragon, unable to keep flying any longer, flapped its wings and landed to the ground, "Bang, Bang, Bang!" The light infantry, who had stepped on the layers of the corpses of the servants, put the hook at the top of the ladder on the wall, and began to climb the 180-foot-high wall.

"The flames of war burned every corner of the Western Continent, and statues of Razi, the god of war and blacksmiths, were erected everywhere;

At this time, the Lord God chose to be silent, Sheila no longer gave the farmer's son the guidance of wisdom, and Wenger III bravely clenched his spear;

'I knew that day would come,' the queen dispersed the inhabitants of the Red Rock Castle and led three thousand guards to stand on the heights of the Heavenly Castle......"

At this point, the old bard had no strength to compose the next verse, and he fell to his knees panting, his cloudy eyes reflecting the outline of the burning Red Stone Castle.

It wasn't meant to be a close fight. With 100,000 well-equipped soldiers of the Raven Legion, plus 150,000 soldiers of the First Central Army staring at them from afar, the defense system composed of 3,000 members of the Queen's Guard who refused to leave at Redstone Fort was nothing more than a soap bubble that could burst at the slightest touch.

"Bang!" With a loud bang, the battering ram slammed into the fifty-foot-high heavy gate with rolling logs and arrows, and the triple gate latch and the hundreds of St. Bouron soldiers behind the gate fought desperately to withstand the attack, but the riot ensued inside the city.

The ground suddenly trembled strangely, and then the floor tiles and red earth poured into the sky like a fountain, and a large hole thirty feet wide suddenly appeared on the inner side ......of the city wall, completely swallowing dozens of guards, and with the screams flying out of the hole, there were also severed limbs and stumps with vicious bite marks. Countless pairs of blood-red eyes appeared at the bottom of the dark cave, and the ghoul sappers kept in captivity by the Raven Corps dug directly into the city with their sharp claws, launching a surprise attack.

There was confusion in the defenders, and the second swing of the battering ram completely broke down a gate, which crushed dozens of St. Borun soldiers underneath, and before they could push the planks open, the dragoons galloped through the door heavily, their sharp spears taking the lives of every rebel in their path.

On the skyline, the Redstone Fort was reflected in a black silhouette by the blazing flames, and a torrent of gray mixed with golden points of light was pouring into the city gates, and it was a cavalry team led by the Golden Land Dragonrider. "It took only forty minutes, old friend, and if the servant corps of prisoners and slaves had been able to support it a little longer, it would have taken even less. The Legion Commander seemed dissatisfied, leaning back in his seat and shaking his head slightly.

"No, I'm already impressed. The red-robed mage said expressionlessly.

"As for you, my poet friend, have you figured out what the closing sentence of 'Sila Sagas' is? Afraim looked down at the bard who was on his knees.

“...... You can't destroy the glory of Saint-Boran......" The old poet gritted his teeth, and just half a sentence was spoken, when a large hand appeared on his temple, and with a crisp "snap", the captain crumpled the old man's head into pieces like a grape. "That's enough, it's already rhyming, haven't you noticed?" he shook his brain, ignored the beast behind him, and walked straight for the burning castle.

"What are you going to do now, Ephraim Efram?" the red-robed mage asked.

"Enjoy the victory. The Legion Commander waved his hand.

The red-robed mage narrowed his eyes as he watched the man slowly walk towards the purgatory of blood and fire in the warm sunlight of a spring afternoon, and couldn't help but remind: "Don't forget the secret decree of Emperor Jerizavitan......!

"A good day has just begun. Commander Zawi walked briskly forward, not looking back.