章 13: Aerial Ambush
Marcus was sleeping soundly in his tent, after another night of sadistic pleasure, when he was woken suddenly by a loud crashing sound, followed by the agonizing screams of his dying men! But that horrific sound was shadowed by what he heard next! He heard a roar so monstrous, he believed that an ancient beast had awoken from it's deep slumber!
Scrambling out of bed, he ran out of his tent so fast he forgot that he was still naked! But what he saw made him question whether he was still sleeping or not. He saw an iron demon, that dashed across the battlefield leaving his men as mutilated corpses so grotesque he wondered whether they were even human a few seconds ago!
But that was only the start of his nightmare. Since soon enough thousands of knights riding man eating horses began to attack his helpless soldiers as well. And after that, tens of thousands of powerful martial artists, led by a wraith like man also began to mercilessly butcher them!
Suddenly his right hand man, who was named Titus, came running and panting before him, and asked in a panic "My lord! My lord, our men are being massacred, what do we do?" But Marcus said nothing as he kept staring at the hellish sight before him.
"My lord? MY LORD! MY LORD, PLEASE ANSWER ME!" Titus screamed loudly trying to break Marcus out of his trance. But he didn't respond at all! So Titus did the only thing he could think of, and punched Marcus as hard as he could in the face!
Breaking out of his trance like state, Marcus didn't bother with the strike Titus gave him, and ordered "Prepare the Gryphon Knights, immediately. This battle is hopeless, we must escape with as little damage as possible!"
"Yes, my lord." Titus quickly saluted and scurried to ready the knights, while Marcus ran inside his tent to wear his armor. As he struggled with his heavy and glamorous breastplate, he thought of the only way to salvage the situation. 'The Eclipse Empire actually sent Hamilcar Seth against us? Damn it! This war will be hard to be won now! The only thing I can do is to escape with the Gryphon Knights and regroup with the reinforcements, that way we would still have an edge against them in the peace talks.'
After he finished putting on his armor he left his tent and burned it, to make sure that no secret information could be taken by the Eclipse Empire. After that he rode his Gryphon and flew into the air followed by nearly two thousand Gryphon Knights.
Before he escaped, he decided to take a look at the battle field, and scout the enemy forces, and what he saw horrified him. The first thing he noticed was the mercilessness of the Eclipse Empire's soldiers! They spared no one. Everything before them was destroyed with no remorse. It made his little act of impaling those children look like a harmless prank! And this made him think 'We really woke the sleeping monster this time!'
But he quickly slapped himself to remove those thoughts and said to himself quietly "No, I can't think like this. It's not over yet! The Luminous Empire shall be the victor of this war, even if the ancient beast, known as the Eclipse Empire woke up!" And then he began to scout the enemy forces, so that he could make appropriate plans for the future. It was then that he heard one of his men shout "My lord. Chimera Knights are approaching us!"
Marcus quickly turned his head to look in the direction the man pointed, and he was very confused, because he only saw a hundred or so knights approaching them slowly. This went against everything he knew! Since not only are they attacking with a hundred men, against his two thousand, but they are also not fighting like the Chimera Knights usually do! Gryphons are larger and stronger, while Chimeras are smaller, but are much faster, and can breathe fire from their heads, and use poison with their snake tails. That's why the Gryphon Knights always struggled against them, since they would always use their speed to avoid clashing with them head on, and simply harass them using their flames and poison. And this uneased him greatly!
But just staying still wouldn't achieve anything, so he ordered two hundred Gryphon Knights to kill them, and these men rushed at them with no fear! After all they butchered the Chimera Knights the last time, and so, full of confidence of an easy victory they attacked.
The Gryphon Knights quickly closed the gap between them and the Chimera Knights, and were ready to use their Gryphon's larger size and strength to crush them, but as they were just a few meters away, the Chimera Knights suddenly ducked their heads and something no one expected happened, magic spells were launched from behind the Chimera Knights!
Marcus shocked by this, looked closely, and saw that behind the knights was a second person riding! 'That's why they are flying slowly, it's because they are carrying extra weight! And how did they figure out that the armor we made isn't resistant to all the elements?' He thought in disbelief. Little did he know that the new emperor of the Eclipse Empire, that he dismissed so easily last time, would know their new armor's weakness from his previous life!
With that single attack almost half of the Gryphon Knights were killed! But the mages weren't done yet, and launched another round of spells, and almost killed them all. It was then that the Chimera Knights encircled the remaining ones and used their weapons and claws to rip them to pieces.
Seeing this scene the rest of the Gryphon Knights were shocked stiff from fear, but the Chimera Knights weren't done yet, and they began to fly around them and attack them at range with magic, and when Marcus would send some to attack them, the Chimera Knights simply retreated and massacred them.
Marcus seeing that he wouldn't be able to kill them, ordered his knights to retreat, but the Chimera Knights were relentless. They chased them and kept picking them off without any pity or mercy. Marcus seeing that his men were being one-sidedly killed by only a hundred men, felt unbelievably angry and humiliated. So he ordered loudly "Damn it! Everyone turn around and kill them quickly."
Obeying his orders they turned around and attacked them together, which made the Chimera Knights flash a mocking smile, and fly away at just the right speed for them to make the Gryphon Knights feel like they're catching them. And Marcus also noticed this, but what other choice does he have? If he doesn't kill them here, they would keep chasing him and cause devastating amount of damage to his Gryphon Knights.
The Chimera Knights retreated to some nearby hills, and once they reached those hills, they dove to them. The Gryphon Knights believing they finally cornered them chased them furiously, wanting vengeance! Even though Marcus got a bad feeling from those hills, he ignored it, and rushed to kill those damn flies and finally leave this place. But as soon as they flew close enough to those hills, the sky lit up by hundreds of magic spells! Wind Blades, Lightning Lances, Water Whips, Stone Bullets, Ice Spears... All kinds of attacks were launched at the unsuspecting Gryphon Knights, causing horrendous casualties to them!
Marcus seeing the sight before him paled! He was looking at thousands of battle mages ready to kill them! Wasting no time he yelled at the top of his lungs "AMBUSH! Retreat! Run! Run for your lives!" But before they could successfully do so Marcus saw a few battle mages release a signal, and all he could think at that moment was 'What now?!'
As soon as the signal was released thousands of loud thunderous roars filled the battlefield. The time for the Chimera Knights to regain their lost honor had finally arrived! And the first thing they did was to encircle the poor Gryphon Knights. Marcus seeing this loudly said "Damn it! Damn it! Quickly with me men, we'll fight our way out!" And as he was rallying his men as a last ditch effort to survive and break through the encirclement, he heard something that shattered all his hopes of escape.
"You're not going anywhere Marcus." A powerful and domineering voice echoed across the skies bringing the previously chaotic battle to a complete stop!
Marcus stiffly turning his head, looked up and saw a man riding a large black Chimera, wearing intimidating black armor, and holding a large black lance that gleamed threatingly in the moonlight.
"S-S-S-Sodarus?!" Marcus said stutteringly, fear obvious on his face as he thought 'Hamilcar AND Sodarus?! Oh Gods, please I beg of you to release me from this accursed nightmare!'
"You have been given a great privilege Marcus. Our emperor wishes to speak with you, so I suggest you surrender peacefully." Sodarus said emotionlessly, as he stared at him with a gaze that promised torture and death if he dared reject.
Marcus seeing that he had no chance of escaping anymore, turned to Titus and told him to find a way to escape and deliver the news of what happened here, so that the Luminous Empire could prepare for the inevitable onslaught of the Eclipse Empire.
Before Titus could say anything, Marcus flew up to face Sodarus and said haughtily "I'm afraid I don't have any interest in meeting the son of some prostitute. If he wishes to meet with me, he should kneel and offer his women to me, to show me his sincerity, and maybe then I will consider it! HAHAHAHA."
Hearing this all the Chimera Knights, and battle mages became furious at the insults that were directed at their great emperor, who brought them this glorious victory. Only Sodarus didn't show an angry expression. Instead he showed one of dark and twisted amusement, as he sadistically replied "I thank you Marcus. His majesty asked me to bring you to him with as little damage done to you as possible, but now you have given me an excuse to cripple you, before I present you to him!"
Marcus visibly flinched upon hearing this, but before he could say anything else Sodarus was upon him like a starving beast, ruthlessly attacking him, as the rest of the Gryphon Knights were slaughtered around him in a dreadful dance of blood and gore!
Seeing this I smile lightly and say calmly to Abraham "This's over. Send a message to the capital of our victory. And also have the 50,000 men that were on standby begin their march here to reinforce us. This war is just beginning."
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