章 18: Arrival and a Warm Welcome
As the sun rose slowly from the endless horizon signaling the start of a new day, the army was already marching at full speed toward the Melting Mist Plains. There were two reasons for us to leave so early; the first was to keep up the show that we were in a hurry to fight and win before our supplies ended, and the second was that we wanted to get there before our adversaries, and that was absolutely critical for our battle plan.
We finally reached our destination as the sun set four days later. The Melting Mist Plains were just flat grass fields that were constantly under a cover of extremely heavy fog, that would only lift for an hour everyday when the sun reached it's zenith and melted the mist away, hence the name.
As the men quickly began to construct the camp that we would call home for the coming days, I sent out hundreds of elite soldiers to scout every inch of the plains, in search of any sign of our enemies. And as expected the scouts reported that they didn't find anything, and upon hearing this I couldn't help but flash a small satisfied smile, and turn to my generals and say "Immediately begin the second step of the plan."
"Understood, sire." They said as they saluted, and without further ado they rushed to complete their tasks.
The men originally believed that they could finally rest after days of constant marching, but to their horror and displeasure, the second they finished setting up the last few tents, they were ordered to begin fortifying the camp by digging a moat, and constructing a palisade. Although they were dissatisfied with the orders, they were not some random peasants that were dragged from their farmlands and thrown into the bowls of war, they were the cream of the crop of the Eclipse Empire's military talent, The Eclipse Emperor's Personal Army!
For three days after we first arrived, the men worked tirelessly on the defenses around the camp, and setting up the Basilisk Cannons. Although the men didn't understand why I was having them prepare a siege weapon as powerful as the Basilisk Cannons in an open field with no city around for miles, they still faithfully performed their duty, with no worry since our enemies were yet to arrive. But all that changed on the fifth day.
As I was having breakfast, after training my martial arts since the sunrise, a man from outside the tent said urgently "My liege, a report has arrived from the scouts, may I come in?"
"Enter." I said as I calmly continued eating.
The man entered and immediately bowed and said in a panicked voice "Please forgive me for disturbing your breakfast, sire!"
"It's fine. Now tell me the report." I told the kneeling man.
He stood up as relief washed over him and said dutifully "The scouts have spotted the enemy nearing the plains from the north, and they will be here in less than an hour!" Although he tried to keep his voice as calm and composed as possible, he failed and leaked a tiny bit of the anxiety he held in his heart.
When I heard the report I couldn't stop the murderous look that appeared in my pitch black eyes, but I quickly schooled my expression, and said tranquilly yet authoritatively "Order my generals to assemble in my tent immediately. It's rude to not welcome our guests without a proper greeting."
Chills ran up the man's spine as he listened to the order, shocked by the calmness and decisiveness of his young emperor, when he himself a man in his early thirties couldn't control his fear and anxiety when fighting such a powerful enemy. And slowly his emperor's small build and face, that still held some of it's childish features, became the embodiment of an ancient and majestic mountain in his eyes! Suddenly all his fears and worries vanished, as if they were terrified of the confident and proud aura of the man before him, and all he could think at that moment was 'The rumors of his majesty's charisma and character truly do not do him justice!'
"...Soldier?" I called out to the man, seeing him rooted in his place staring at me.
As if broken from a trance the man quickly bowed in apology, and sped to complete my orders.
Within five minutes all the men arrived, and quickly took their seats. Although a few of the men had a worried look on their faces, the majority had confident or relaxed expressions, which greatly pleased me.
"Good morning men. I assume that all of you received the scouts report of our enemies immanent arrival, correct?" I said seriously.
"Yes, sire." The men replied unanimously.
"But they sure made us wait. I almost thought that they were too cowardly to face us." Hasdrubal said jokingly, which eased the nerves of those that were still apprehensive about facing such a mighty enemy, and earned him a few laughs from the gathered men.
"It was expected, since Great General Georgios is an extremely cautious defensive commander, and his preferred style of warfare is slow and methodical. He probably moved his army only when all 120,000 of his soldiers have gathered, and then he must have moved slowly and stayed away from any risky roads, fearing an unexpected ambush. He isn't called Iron Wall Georgios for nothing." Hamilcar said after the laughter died down.
Seeing this I seriously say "We are facing a formidable and extremely competent opponent." And then I looked at two people and said malevolently "General Sodarus, General Hasdrubal please go and welcome our guests properly." I obviously wasn't going to idly stand by and allow my enemy to build their camp like an idiot.
Hearing my order Sodarus showed a monstrous smile and said "Of course sire, I will fill the sky with hundreds of beautiful fireworks in their honor."
While Hasdrubal flashed a beast like smile that nearly rivaled Sodarus in savagery and said "And I will roll out the red carpet before them, my liege."
Hearing their interesting word choice we all showed amused and excited smiles, as we were left expectant for their coming spectacle.
Less than an hour later the Luminous army finally reached their destination, and similar to us they began building their camp as soon as they arrived, but unlike us they were interrupted by a sound so loud they thought for a second that a raging river was heading their way! And before they could decipher what that unsettling sound was, 3,000 Diomedes Knights charged out of the fog like vengeful spirits and decimated all that stood before them.
The Luminous Empire's men were suddenly gazing at a truly nightmarish scene, that seemed to have crawled out of the depths of the Seventh Hell! The Diomedes War Horses and their riders showed no mercy, everything that stood in front of their charge was trampled under their hooves, shredded by the knights aura coated weapons, or eviscerated by the horses fang filled mouths! But all of this was only the appetizer for what was to come!?
Hasdrubal stood in the middle of the carnage, emotionlessly staring at the massacre around him. He wore a black helmet that protected his head, but didn't cover his handsome face, and pitch black armor that was engraved with several images of many terrifying snarling beasts, showing their fangs ferociously, giving him the appearance of a demon general that has led his ruthless legions to bring ruin to the world of men!
As Hasdrubal looked at the Diomedes Knights cut through the enemy like a hot knife through butter, he furrowed his brows thinking 'Wasn't this General Georgios supposed to be some insanely experienced and cautious enemy that never did anything without taking into consideration every possibility? Why are his men so unprepared? I don't like this.'
But he was suddenly awakened from his thoughts when he heard a loud trumpet sound from his left and right, and he saw several Luminous soldiers blowing trumpets, and he furrowed his brows when he saw that it was a signal, and in less than a minute thousands of fully armed and armored men, that were at least at the second level of martial arts quickly began surrounding the Diomedes Knights!
Seeing this Hasdrubal revealed a grim expression and thought 'So that's why we were able to push them so far with virtually no resistance. The bastard sacrificed almost a thousand of his soldiers so that he could bait us in, then trap and eliminate us in one fell swoop!'
But then he flashed a wide predatory grin and said "That was a clever and bold scheme, you cunning bastard... Sadly for you though, our emperor is far more devious and ruthless than you." And immediately afterward he whistled loudly while infusing his aura with it, causing the sound of the ongoing battle to be overshadowed for a split second.
Hearing the deafening sound, the Diomedes Knights showed sadistic grins, understanding the meaning behind that sound. Meanwhile the Luminous soldiers felt a sinking feeling as they heard it, especially when they saw the expressions of their enemies, but they quickly ignored it, since they had to focus on their mission. But little did they know that that sound was the herald of their death!
After the sound of Hasdrubal's whistle died down there was an earie silence, before the ground began to slightly shake, and quickly it began to furiously quake, as suddenly the sound of an enraged ocean drowned the terrified men, who were forced to gaze helplessly as the once serene white wall that obstructed their vision collapsed, and was replaced by a black wall of cold steel, and savage beasts!
Suddenly the trap Georgios carefully prepared, and paid nearly a thousand men to execute, became a crucible of spilled blood, mangled flesh, and primordial fear as the Diomedes Knights once again proved their infamous reputation as the harbingers of chaos and madness!
And to add insult to injury, Sodarus chose that exact moment to reveal himself and his knights. Almost instantly after that the battle was bathed in scarlet fire, melting steel and flesh alike, ingulfing the area in the revolting stench of burned corpses!
In the future when the Luminous soldiers that were present here were asked to describe this battle, they would all reply with only five words "It was Hell on earth."
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