Bard and Audun rode with their armies, targeting the unsuspecting enemies. But, the collective movement of 60.000 human beings made a lot of noise. Someone had to notice. Some of the soldiers in the rear turned around one by one after hearing the incoming army.
"Enemi-" Just as one of them tried to warn his fellow soldiers, an arrow killed him. Then the one next to him, and the next one and…until at least 30 people died. Anyone that turned their head, found themselves lying on the ground next. Bard made sure to leave some for Audun, who reached the enemies first. His halberd in his hand, infused with QI, Audun started decimating the enemies. Each swing of his weapon claimed dozens of lives. The soldiers conscripted into his army shouted as they followed their leader's charge.
Bard didn't like to be the one losing in the kill count, so he started charging his weapon as well. His bow shone in a blue-ish aura that intensified more and more. Just as he was about to release the arrow, the aura mixed with it. Like lightning, the arrow killed anyone it made contact with. As soon as it hit the ground, it created a big explosion claiming even more lives. The two armies that planned to use a pincer attack on Hayato ended up being the victim to one themselves.
"Retreat!" As the armies held no chance at coming out on top, they chose to retreat and cut their losses. Some of the leaders used flags as a way to communicate, and the soldiers of the first army started marching backward. The other two armies escaped to the side as they bore with Bard and Audun's attacks on their rear.
"Where do you think you're going?" Two figures appeared in front of the escaping armies. One for each army. The soldiers at the very front didn't stop as they tried to kill the two figures. However, a flying slash claimed the lives of a whole row of soldiers. More and more people started dying at the hands of the two figures, Ed and Gobuta.
"Is THIS all you have, Blood sect?" As he continued his massacre, Ed flew up and looked towards the area where the commanders of the Blood sect army would be at. He provoked them more and more as their soldiers were mercilessly killed as they escaped.
The three central armies continued to retreat until no one pursued them anymore. Noticing this, the armies on the side broke off their engagement against Leonard and Dean and retreated as well. The coalition army felt proud at their accomplishment and shouted in victory. It was still an hour or so before sunset, but the soldiers felt like an eternity.
Although they were the winners in this first day, they lost many soldiers as well. Many other soldiers remained behind in the battlefield, looking for the bodies of their comrades. Those found were stored in a spatial ring to preserve their bodies.
By night, provisions were passed around for the soldiers to eat. It was much better than normal provisions, but it wasn't the best. The injured soldiers were transported and classed according to their injury. Suika, Merry, Alicia, and some others proficient at using Healing magic spread around to do some healing. Those with the most severe injuries were healed by Suika's Hatsu.
People cleaned themselves up from blood, and the higher-ups met at Arthur's tent.
"The enemies lost around 150-200k soldiers. It's a big number considering our disadvantage. We'll continue to press them this way." Arthur gave a general review of the first day. He chose not to disclose how many soldiers they lost and focused on the enemy losses.
After finishing with Arthur, Ed and the others left the place and headed towards their own tents. But, before Ed could leave, he was stopped by Emilia and the others.
"What's wrong with you today? It's not how you usually act." Emilia asked him and he could see the worry in the eyes of his comrades. They referred to the way he provoked Blood sect in a weird way during their retreat.
"It's just to raise morale, don't worry." Ed dismissed their worries and left, leaving them confused about his attitude.
The second day started, and they could see that Blood sect improved their armies. More and more Heavenly Establishment soldiers filled their ranks. Hayato and the others couldn't score as many kills as they did yesterday and lost more. But, they didn't lose morale as Ed and Hayato managed to kill many of the leading figures in the enemy lines. Ed continued on provoking Blood sect while killing the soldiers.
By night, the soldiers were healed again by Suika and the others, and they couldn't feel more grateful. Another meeting was held in Arthur's tent, but this time no one asked Ed about his actions.
People went to sleep and some watched out for surprise attacks. However, unbeknownst to any of them, a small force arrived near Avalon. Their leader was Immortal Establishment level 2, and most of his followers were at Heavenly Establishment. They smiled as they rode, targeting the gates of Avalon city.
The third day of the war started and the Blood army cheered loud. Ed looked towards them and squinted his eyes, as he could feel many strong people at the front of the army. The commanders of Blood sect had shown themselves. Still, Ed didn't think the supreme commander was present, as he couldn't feel as big of an aura as what should be his. The strongest he could feel was Immortal Establishment level 4 standing in front of the central army.
"The Blood sect army knew they couldn't keep losing to us, so they sent their strongest!" Hayato organized the army and did a little pep-talk.
"However, no matter who they send, we will decimate them all!" The two armies rode towards each other, and the Blood sect army seemed more bloodthirsty than usual. Before the two leaders could clash, Ed appeared between them and engaged the enemy. Hayato seemed reluctant for an instant, but rode away, leaving the enemy to Ed.
"So you're the little sh*t that's been playing around the army?" The man noticed Ed's appearance and some of his veins bulged out.
"No. I'm the one who will murder everyone in your army."
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The Blood army got a second wind after their commanders joined them. What felt like fighting a single soldier, switched to fighting a single giant organism connected by its head, the commander. The commanders of the coalition army needed to work even harder than before. They needed to worry about the commanders and about their soldiers' morale.
Hayato stopped charging in, and instead, switched into strategy. He split the army this time into five 20.000 or so men battalions under the lead of him, Bard, Audun, Eric, and Griffin. After Ed got locked into combat with the strongest commander, they retreated back to study the change in the enemy lines. Both sides did the same thing. After splitting his army, Hayato led the charge with his central army charging first. Then the right and left wings followed. As the enemy focused first on him, they didn't react in time to the other four armies' synced charge.
At least it seemed that way. It was, in fact, a bait, to get the commanders locked in combat at the front. The enemy commanders started killing them from behind. They could have succeeded, if not for the existence of Gobuta and Raikou who instantly killed two weak enemy commanders. The others noticed this and killed as many people as they could before retreating.
Ed and the enemy commander were locked in aerial combat. Neither one of them holding the advantage over the other. Each time they crossed weapons, they caused shockwaves similar to thunder sending both of them dozens of meters farther each time. After a couple of minutes of combat, they ended up on the right battlefield.
"Edward…" Emilia noticed him and frowned. She was worried about him and his behavior lately, but she couldn't spare him much thought as she was locked into combat. The right and left armies had it worse compared to the central one. In the first two days, they needed to fight monsters mostly, so they could manage. But on the third day, the soldiers of Blood sect switched, and now it was a mix of Beastmen and Oni.
Emilia was worried about Ellie at first, seeing as how she needed to fight her own kin. However, she didn't need to worry as Ellie could see the big picture. A certain Oni female blocked Emilia's path while saying, "Remember me?"
Emilia didn't care about this, but she did remember the face. It was the Oni that fought against her in the tournament back in the academy. She also remembered how troublesome her barrier was.
"I don't have the time for you." Emilia unsheathed her white rapier that reflected the light of the sun. In one gentle thrust, a glacier emerged out of nowhere, trapping the Oni girl, her barrier, and dozens of soldiers behind her. Emilia didn't want to use this a lot, as there was a risk of hurting her own allies.
"Oooooh!" The soldiers cheered as they saw how Leonard managed to best one of the enemy commanders. He was hurt in the process, as the enemy had a higher cultivation, but Alicia supported him by using Healing magic. The left army was going through a similar process where they managed to kill many of the stronger foes. But still, everyone had an uneasy feeling in their hearts.
Ed told them that the enemies would have many Immortal Establishment fighters. But, they only encountered a handful of them. They were all worried about when the true assault by their enemies will start.
They also worried about Ed himself, as they could no longer see him due to how far he and his enemy traveled.
"Kuh!" Emilia noticed how Ellie got blown away by someone. She had dismounted, as she needed to since she fought barehanded. She looked towards the one who sent her flying, and it was a Beastman as well.
"You traitor. Look at you, the only beastmen in this army of humans. You bring shame to the nobles of our kingdom." The beastman had two pointy, grey wolf ears and seemed to be in his late twenties.
"I'm not a traitor, your royal family is. The fact that you would side with these murderers brings shame to our whole race, not just our kingdom." Ellie didn't take his words lying down. Instead, she retaliated as she looked at Emilia.
Emilia understood that Ellie needed help and didn't need a second confirmation. She descended from her horse and joined her friend. The two of them started fighting against the man, who seemed to be a prince of the beastmen kingdom.
Similar to Ellie, he seemed to have an enormous physical power, and on top of that, he could use magic. The three of them flew high as they could fight freely in the sky. The man was at Immortal Establishment level 1. Similar to Snake whom they fought back in Scale kingdom. Back there they needed to fight with so many people, but now the two of them felt like they could take him on. From the start of the war, they felt their cultivation increasing abnormally.
"You annoying fly!" The prince seemed to be fed up with Emilia, as she blocked his attacks with ice blocks every time. He switched his focus to her, which proved to be a mistake. Emilia conjured over twenty fire spears and manipulated them with her QI. The prince didn't struggle with them, as he used his own QI to disperse them. But, he forgot about Ellie, who appeared at his right side, hitting him with her full power.
The prince lurched as he felt the pain go through his whole body. He flew even higher and brandished his claws. He swiped with both his hands a couple of times, sending tens of flying slashes. They couldn't be blocked with Emilia's ice glaciers alone, causing both her and Ellie to get injured. But, they didn't remain injured for long as they brought out Ed's potions and drank them.
The fight resumed, and the prince seemed to be losing as each second passed.
"Wait! If you kill me! Your whole family back in the kingdom will be executed!" The prince seemed to beg for his life, as he knew what would happen to him.
"Don't worry. After we win this war, I'll go back there and kill your whole treacherous family." Ellie approached his beaten and battered body.
"Do you really believe that you can win?!" The prince seemed to panic more and more as she approached him.
Just as she was close enough, he brought out a round ball. It was the same ball the man who attacked Scale two years ago used to teleport. But, before the prince could activate it, his hand froze along with the ball.
"We won against you, didn't we?" Emilia told him as she froze his whole body. Ellie then proceeded to shatter it and his body.
Just as the two of them tried to enjoy their victory, they noticed something. Ed's monsters were nowhere to be seen. Just as they tried to search for them, they saw two figures coming from the distance.
Their hearts beat faster and the two of them could feel as if they were bleeding. The two figures flew above the armies and stopped above the central one.
"Is this all you have?!" The Immortal Establishment level 4 commander returned with a lifeless body in right hand, as his left one had disappeared.
"EDWARD!!" As his allies saw his body, they screamed as tears filled their eyes.
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