The army comprised half of heavy mounted knights armed with lances were having a tough time traversing the muddy in the rough terrain of Elfacre as they made their way towards the castle of the fief to besiege it.

"Have you heard the rumors of this Overlord?" One soldier asks.

"No. What rumors?" A spear wielding soldier asks.

"That he is able to wield the darkness as its ally? Most of the armies out there are scared to face him at night and look where we are." The spear wielder said waving a hoof to the dark landscape.

"That is ridicules…sun's coming up." The other says as a few soldiers and mounted knight looked to the east to see a tiny glimpse of a rising sun.

"Well, that's part of the fear forgotten." The soldier said.

"Wait? What is that?" An archer says focusing his eyes looking forward.

"What do you see?" A knight asks riding up beside the archer.

"There. The horizon." The archer says pointing toward a high hill to the north.

The knight squinted his eyes as he strained them to make out a banner. "Inform prince Achilles, the enemy has been spotted!"

A nearby messenger runs off toward the back of the line where the prince was riding a large warbeast quite comfortably. "My prince. The enemy is upon us. They are approaching now on the front lines."

"The fools. This is where we fight the best." Achilles says with an arrogant smirk.

"They are approaching a few thousand strong. Shall we charge and fight?" The messenger asks.

"Let us move a little closer and conserve our energy. It will be a long day of killing." Achilles says excitedly.

"Cornwall army sighted." A messenger says to Sky sitting on a chair in full armor, waiting.

"All units will assume their positions." Sky instructs, not moving.

"Yes, sir." The messenger said running off to relay the message.

"So you have finally come." Sky says as he sees the army starting to get up from eating their hearty meal and non-alcoholic beverages and starts grabbing their equipment.

"Sir, any new orders that need to be put out?" An officer nearby asks.

"Not until I see what the fool does." Sky says watching as the specs start to get closer and more numerous until an hour later, everyone could make out them clearly.

"Now the front lines, make them charge and have the heavies ready to move up behind them." Achilles said taking a sip of his wine.

"Ah, so charging your light infantry forward first, huh? Can I get a precise count of this wave?" Sky asks watching carefully.

"Three thousand strong on the front lines. The small force behind them is a thousand archers. We can't effectively make out the forces behind them." An officer says looking through a telescope.

"It's all heavy knights. Have half of our warriors prepare to charge when the spear unit has them pinned and seven hundred light salamanders to flank the archers once the light infantry is pinned as well." Sky instructs.

"Yes, sir." Two officers say running off to prepare their forces.

"Now let us see. How do you respond?" Sky asks as he watches the second line load their weapons.

Achilles frowns as he watches the enemy's forces move about. "Well, this is stupid. He is moving the forces and separating them. What an idiot." He said refilling his wine cup before he heard a chorus of twangs of something and looks to the field again and sees some of his infantry move around and go down. "What?! There are no archers with him!"

"What was that?! It was like a wall of arrows. Do they have a magic unit?" A spear wielding soldier asks stunned as he was forced forward by the others still standing after that volley.

"I think that was a success, but they fly straight, not in an arch." Sky says observing as the light infantry kept charging as the second line looks to be winding up their weapons.

"Maybe that is their true purpose. The tension held on the string is steady." A nearby officer says waiting with the archers near them.

"And that means their piercing power is also increased…they might be able to even pierce plate armor." Sky says thinking aloud as soon the second line loaded their weapons again and unleashed another volley into the charging enemy. "Though they lack rate of fire." Sky observed.

"Do you want us to get closer?" The officer asks.

"No. The formation will remain as it is. In fact, tell the warriors and the salamanders that after they finish with their targets, retreat back to their positions." Sky instructs.

The light infantry of Cornwall suffers four volleys in total before engaging the spear unit, but doing so had lost a good third of their force by then.

"I knew I shouldn't have archers with me. They are useless!" Achilles yells out as he paces.

"Sir, the enemy has deployed some sort of…knight and they are charging our archers." A knight says.

"Then leave them and send up the three thousand knights to take them out now!" The prince orders.

"Yes, my prince." The knight says before running to initiate the order as the Prince bites his hoof as the enemy archers kept firing over their spear unit's heads as they were kneeling as they fought, exposing his light infantry to their fire and then the light infantry heard it. The battle cry of the enemy warriors as they flanked them.

"We are surrounded!" A soldier calls.

Hearing this, order and discipline started to break down as ponies started to desperately try to fight their out as this happened, not one noticed their archers being routed.

"We have to move and find a better flanking position to fire from." One archer yells.

"We can't! They will just catch us and ahhh!" One scream as a salamander expelled at him engulfing him in flames.

"Just run!" He yells and runs off in a random direction.

"Signal the light salamanders to get back in position now." Sky orders.

"Sir." The officer says before running off to his group.

"With this, your archers were taken out without making any good contribution and soon your light infantry will be massacred or routed beyond your ability to rally." Sky says watching as there was movement in the other army.

Over the hill, Sky sees a large group of heavily armored soldiers running at them with lances raised as he sighs. "Three thousand." Sky said to himself before turning raising a hoof. "Oh well." He said launching a dark shadow ball that flew into the sky and exploded in strains of shadows against the morning sun.

"That is the signal. All salamander riders, attack! Crush their cavalry!" An officer call and soon the salamanders start a charge to meet their target.

"All units, finish the other targets and then give support to the salamander riders!" Sky orders getting up and heading for his salamander, Celebrimbor.

"Yes, sir!" The soldiers and riders nearby call as they rode and ran off.

"Take command here." Sky says mounting Celebrimbor.

"Yes, sir." An officer left behind said as he watches the battlefield.

"Men, it is time let's go join the rest!" Sky calls to his personal guard as he raised his sword and was met by a cheer for his one thousand personal guards and charged to the right of the formation and swing out from it.

"What is…what are they doing?!" A heavy knight calls out as he looks to the side to see the formation engaged by ponies and griffons riding monsters breathing fire.

"Captain, the other side!" Another knight points out.

"What?!" The knight asks looking to the other side and sees another group of forces running at them with soldiers that looked like they didn't have anything on them as a weapon. "What are they thinking?! Hoof to hoof?"

"Sire, our left flank. Another group of those creatures." A knight says before being shot in the head by an arrow, completely piercing his steel plate helmet and killing him instantly.

The knight looks to the left and sees a large group of the fire-breathing creatures running at them. "What was the prince thinking?"

"Spear wielders, charge forward. Show these barbarians what happens when you come to pillage our homelands!" Sky calls before leading the charge on Celebrimbor. The front lines hearing this, stood up and charged, taking the fight to the pinned knights as the archers started to move back.

"We have to retreat!" The knight calls trying to run.

"We are too boxed in." The captain says knowing the greatest weakness of their heavy cavalry was the lack of maneuverability in tight quarters and speed.

"Finish them!" Sky calls smirking charging forward.

"What are they doing? Why aren't they scattering these stupid barbarians!" Achilles yells throwing his wine glass onto the ground shattering it.

"My prince, we are being slaughtered. We need to retreat." A nearby officer advises as he bows.

"Silence!" Achilles yells before stabbing him with a spear.

"My prince?!" Everyone else calls them as the soldier falls dead.

"Attack and kill the barbarians!" He calls as Sky breaks through the center of the three thousand knight formation and they start charging the prince's one thousand guards.

"Pitiful." Sky scoffs seeing the guards form a line. "Break!" He calls and the riders with him separate as the archers stand their ground and take aim before firing as Sky and the riders go in from the sides.

"Break off into three groups. Hit their back and sides simultaneously. Don't let their leader run!" Sky orders.

"Yes, sir!" They all called back as they charged forward and some broke off to cut off the escape path.

Sky and his soldiers kept hacking away from their positions as the archers kept firing their weapons and keeping them pin without engaging them in melee. "Don't kill the barbarian prince. I want him alive!" Sky calls as another knight of Cornwall fall to his sword.

"Sir!" They call as they chop or strike down their own.

"You bastard! How dare you disrespect me!" A voice call and all the salamander riders attention turned to the source.

Sky sighs as he sees the prince looking pissed off. "What a…hmm…proper word…brute." Sky finishes as he makes Celebrimbor walk over toward him.

"And who are you to speak to me as such?!" Achilles yells, pointing his spear towards the sky.

"I am the overlord of these land." Sky says before Celebrimbor lifted a claw and crushed a soldier underneath it.

"Then choke on your own blood!" The prince calls. "Attack him!"

"Capture him!" Sky orders and soon the salamanders started breathing fire and started roasting the knights in their armor.

The prince looked shocked before turning to run and stops as he sees the creatures behind him just waiting as they stare at him. "Crap."

The rider lets out a battle cry and swings his greatsword that Achilles barely blocks, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Don't kill." Sky says riding Celebrimbor as she walks up to them and slams her claw down onto Achilles, pinning him and unable to move. "I would like to make an example out of him. At least I don't have to waste magic on this fool or potions."

"This is adequate." The professor says as she looks around the room and then outside to where the former prince was held dangling by a rope as the citizens kept throwing rotten fruit at him. "You should have killed him."

"I needed the populace calm. Let them take out their anger at somepony else." Sky said stretching.

"I see. Are you ready to begin?" She asks moving to her small pile of books and tries to find a specific one.

"I am, but let's finish it by sunset. The populace from all over the fiefs of Gaul I rule will be coming to judge him right now. I am thinking they will move to burn him at the stake for his crimes." Sky says.

"Then we shall speed this along. I know of one way for males specifically." She said before taking off her cloak and places it on the table and moves to him as she holds up a book. "Do this simple one for me." She instructs opening the book to a simple shadow spell of a tendril. Sky raises an eyebrow and makes a tendril appear behind him. "Good." She says as she makes one of her own. "Now strike mine." She says and the tendrils start to attack each other before she turns around and looks over her shoulder at him. "Mount me."

"Sorry, but not going that far." Sky says.

"Then you won't learn fast enough. I am able to split my mind into many sides. You, however, lack the discipline and mindset for it. You want to learn this, then try to deal with one side of the mind with pleasure while at the same time, attacking the same thing giving pleasure." She explains staring at him.

"I think you underestimate my skills a bit." Sky says.

"I know you have aced high scores in the school, but that is not enough. Scores and style from the final will not explain it all for you nor will it give you the excuse that you can do everything." She said finally turning to him.

"No, I mean I can feel the shadow of the mare you have listening in on us from the other room." Sky says.

"Zora. Come in." The professor says watching Sky.

"Will you ever stop making other stallions mount you, mother?" Sky hears and looks behind him to stop and stare at the sight of the small light blue coated mare.

"No. And it is one of the ways I taught your father." She said shrugging.

"Though this is the first ever to sense me." Zora says.

Sky tilts his head at that. "Sense huh? What is blocking you?"

"Yes, you see. Mother keeps me hidden with her shadow magic." Zora says.

Sky raises an eyebrow to the mare. "I see."

"Mother, since he sensed me, should I be allowed to start teaching him the magic Archmage Luna instructed me to?" Zora asks.

"You're the teacher?" Sky asks looking to her.

"Luna sent both of us to teach you. I am to continue your tutelage on shadow magic and Zora is to teach you some ice magic." The professor says.

Sky blinks. "How long did she say I have to be taught?"

"She didn't say how long." Zora says.

"Guess then until she arrives." Sky guesses himself as he looks between the two.

"I think it will be more like till we find your abilities and training satisfactory and mother, no sleeping with him." Zora says sternly.

"I'm the one placing the curriculum. I dictate what goes on." She says watching Sky.

"You forget our ranks mother." Zora says smirking.

"And I'm your mother. My word trumps all." She said looking to her.

"And as a professor in the school, I trump you." Zora says.

"But I can still order you around if you keep acting like a spoiled brat." She retorts.

"And I can report you if I think you are misconducting yourself." Zora says as the two glared at each other.

Sky sighs as he rubs his head between the two. "Why do I feel like I got in the middle of something bad?"

"For crimes against the ponies, griffons, and dogs of Gaul, we hereby sentence you to death by burning at the stake." A mayor of a village says as many started lighting torches.

"I curse you all! You don't even deserve all this!" Achilles yells as he was tied to a stake with a large amount of wood piled around him.

Sky watches from the tower and watched as the citizens set Achilles ablaze.

"Are you okay Overlord?" Burning asks walking up to him.

"I am fine. I am letting the citizen pass judgment on him. This will be a sign of things to come." Sky says petting Burning.

Burning purrs under his touch. "What do you have of me, my lord?"

"Tell me, what is the news from the front?" Sky asks.

"Dijon and Tours have surrendered without a fight and are blockading their borders letting nothing cross the borders, leaving Tiny Diamond fiefdom. Dijon has also sent us a tribute of gold and Tours has pledged troops." Burning informs.

"I see. Send them a copy of our laws." Sky informs.

Burning nods. "Yes, sir."

"And now we wait." Sky says.

Word traveled quickly over the next few months as one of Cornwall's invincible elite armies had been crushed and their butcher prince was executed by the people of the fief by burning at the stake. The highest punishment the knights would allow. Sensing weakness, many houses started to invade their fiefs and soon Cornwall was no more. Sky's army started to become more renowned as tales of them never sacking or razing any lands they invade trickled down south as more of Gaul started to see that fighting them may not be the best course of action as the Strike Terrors launched a naval invasion of Fief of the Nine Docks and had conquered it, then aiding their ally of the Lilac fiefdom in their war against the fief of a thousand gates and the Reims fief helping them conquer them both.