Capítulo 78: Final Battle (Part 1)

"Squad leader," a soldier said as he stood in line with the other squad members. Since war accelerated one's growth, over the ten months, Doevm's men had grown to be on par with the guards of the Virility household. They stood in a perfect line, ready for battle. "Sir, I don't like the feeling of this battlefield."

"I agree," another said. "Hopi and Frey are gone along with their squads. The enemy is low on numbers but that has never happened before. I feel like this is a trap. On top of that, why are we going to engage the enemy captain? Shouldn't Marcus be responsible for that?" Hopi had long since broken through to the red life essence level and proven himself, he had gotten his own squad.

"Shut up and follow my lead," Doevm growled and his men fell silent. "You will be pushed in this battle but no matter how grim it may get; you need to keep fighting. Battles are never simple when looking at the whole picture, but when you look at yourselves and your own roles, it becomes one thing: Fight. That is all you need to do, fight." Doevm finished up his speech when they got to the destined clearing with the rest of the other squad leaders.

Marcus stood in the middle, staring at the enemies lined up on the other side. They were fewer in number, but that was all an illusion. If one counted the ten squads that were waiting underground, the Acrin soldiers would be outnumbered by at least a hundred men.

"This is your last chance." The enemy captain's voice echoed in the clearing. "Surrender and you will live. If you fight, you will die."

Marcus sneered: "Brave words for someone who's outnumbered. You're just a substitute captain, aren't you? You damned fishy."

The enemy captain sighed, trying to suppress a smile and failing: "So be it. Men, tear them to pieces." He drew his sword and pointed at Marcus, "Charge!" The two sides collided like waves of the sea. Curses and screams rang through the air. While the enemy captain had charged straight at Marcus, Doevm moved to intercept him. "Kid, you've just signed your death warrant." Around the captain came twenty-five of his men. "My men are more experienced than yours. Just let me through."

Doevm shrugged: "Too afraid to fight a kid. I see how it is." His spear blurred as red life essence escaped him. The enemy captain smiled as his life essence was released: a blue cloud. Doevm cursed as he dove under the man's blade.

"Say that again!" The enemy captain and Doevm engaged in a flurry of parries. Their soldiers made a circle for them and cheered on their leaders while fighting each other. The sword curved as it whistled through the air, aiming to cut the tip off Doevm's spear.

Doevm had to adjust into an underhand stance. He knew was only delaying his own defeat if he kept this up even though they had only exchanged a single blow. Each blocked attack sent shivers down his arms and put strain on his muscles. While his enemy's life essence was thin, it was still a stage higher than his own.

Eventually, the old spear that Wade had gifted Doevm broke. The captain swung straight through it. A line of blood and agony ripped across Doevm's chest as he pulled out his dagger and throwing knives. "Getting a little tired, are we?" The enemy captain taunted. "In the end, you're just a kid." Deep wounds and gashes appeared on Doevm's limbs as he weaved out of the combination attack. He kept running back, doing his best to put as much distance between him and the captain and arrived near the tree he had marked earlier.

His wrist creaked every time it bent the dagger to deflect the might of the sword. His fingers were losing strength, making his weapon shake. He flipped back, but the captain didn't charge in.

Instead, the captain raised his sword into the air: "Now, you will regret ever crossing me! Rise my soldiers!"

The ground shook as the might of ten enemy squads poured onto the battlefield inside of the Acrin formations. They cut down any unaware soldier and made their way towards Marcus. The soil was littered with guts and corpses. Everyone looked at Marcus, who was observing the battle from the back and giving out orders. He seemed to be calm, as if this didn't faze him.

"You," the captain pointed at Doevm, who was barely holding onto his dagger. "You've insulted me, a formal knight, by challenging me. You even had a smile across your face while you did it. While stupid, it was brave. I respect that. Do you have any last words?" He swung.

Doevm's dagger was knocked away as another cut went across his arms. He stumbled and picked himself up. He held up his middle finger, raising it as high as he could. His breathing slowed as a smile crept across his face: "Now!"

A magic circle as big as the field appeared in the sky, blocking out most of the sunlight. The ground shook as people dragged themselves out of the earth. Unlike the squads that had been waiting underground, these people had been buried in a grave so shallow that they could dig themselves out by standing up.

Frey and his squad rose from the ground, cutting down anyone in the vicinity. Over the past ten months Frey learned how to use his shield effectively and taught his squad everything he knew. All of them held tower shields and short spears as they trampled anyone in their path.

Hopi lead his squad in taking out an enemy squad in an instant. While new, they learned how to move the fastest out of everyone. While the enemy was engaged with Frey, Hopi and his squad took them down from behind.

"What is this?" The enemy captain looked around. "You only have two squads to counter my ten? What kind of a jo-" He coughed up blood and looked down at the spear poking through his chest.

"Three," Wade said as he drew his spear back and wiped the dirt off himself. The captain staggered back, clutching at his chest.

"Y-You didn't act honorably." He fell to a knee, propping himself up with a sword.

"Nope," Doevm pulled a spare spear out of his spatial ring and decapitated the man. "Who said I had to?"

Wade's temporary squad rose up and helped Doevm's men take out the rest of the captain's men. After wiping them out, Wade patted Doevm on the shoulder: "Doevm, you were right. We didn't need a hole, but only to put a layer of dirt on ourselves. It's like we were an army of the Undead, rising from the ground."

"Little help?" Oliver's muffled voice came from a wide tube embedded in the ground. Doevm reached through the dirt and helped the former apprentice war monk out of the ground. Oliver coughed twice. "That was ridiculous, just waiting there for hours until the battle started. If anything fell down my tube, I had to swallow it! I was so afraid I would suffocate or be trampled to death before the fight even begun. I thought I would have been trampled to death! What was the point of me summoning that large but useless magic circle in the sky?"

"It's a bluff," Doevm looked up at the magic circle in the sky. "You might know that it's useless, but the enemy doesn't. They think we just summoned Undead. While it may not be as much of a surprise as ten squads rising from the ground, the shock will cause fear, an emotion amplified by the death of their captain. Without him, their formations will crumble."

"But how did you know the captain would arrive at my spot?" Wade asked. "He could have just stayed behind."

Doevm smiled: "I pegged him for the arrogant type since I heard of this plan. Only someone whose extremely arrogant would try something this risky." He sat down and let Oliver heal him while his and Wade's squad finished off the enemies close to them.

"The arrogant type will always want to participate in the battle, to crush the enemy themselves. Also, we've been fighting him for ten months. It's easier to predict him when I've spent so much time fighting against him. I just lured him back here."

"Alright I get it," Wade waved his hands. When he turned around, the enemy was retreating with their dead captain in tow. Without someone to command them, and with no one to take the captain's place, there was no reason to fight.

Hopi and Frey neared Doevm with their squads following them. Blood covered them, but not their own. "Doevm, I heard this was your idea," Hopi said. "Who did that magic circle? You don't have magic so it must have been…" He looked at Oliver, who pulled his hood over his face. Hopi and Frey looked to each other.

"Thank you, Oliver," they said in unison.

Oliver waved his hands. "No, I didn't do anything. It was-" When he turned to Doevm and Wade, he found that they had already left. "All Doevm," He mumbled.

"But that was awesome." Frey said. "When that magic circle popped up, you should have seen the enemy's faces. They nearly pissed themselves. If it wasn't for you distracting everyone, we wouldn't have had such an easy time wiping the enemy out. Give yourself some credit."

Oliver scratched the back of his head. "I guess I did do something." He tried to walk off but he was surrounded by other soldiers, who thanked him and pat him on the back.

Oliver went around and healed as much people as he could, which took away nearly half his mana. There were only fifty or so casualties, with most of them being people caught up in the enemy's ambush. Since Doevm's signal happened seconds after the enemy emerged, the casualties were minimized. Of those fifty, only ten lived. He healed them fast with plenty of mana to spare.

'I guess Doevm isn't that bad,' he thought. 'He didn't try to take credit. He's not proclaiming himself as great. He just wants to do his own thing and doesn't try to drag others into his mess.' He decided to apologize when they next saw each other. The sounds of battle faded as the two sides diverged. Almost everyone of the Acrin soldiers wore smiles.

'They're so different,' he thought. 'In the medical wing they would be begging for life or saying their last words. Since I've never really left that place, I never saw the soldiers outside of it. They are laughing even though some of their friends were killed. What are these people?'

'Ashtehar, why would you go against these people? Why would you betray them so that you can go after one person? Is it because you need to preserve the public's view of our sect? I don't understand why any of this was necessary. Doevm wasn't even evil. How can we proclaim to be good when we do such evil things?' This time, there was no voice to stop his thoughts. 'I can never go back to that place. After this war, I want to go home. I'm done with this lie.'

As the army regrouped, looted the corpses, and buried the dead, a messenger informed Doevm, Frey, Hopi, Wade, and Oliver to report to Marcus. "I guess it's a report for the battle," Doevm shrugged, however when he looked around, no other squad leaders were getting the same notice. Curious, he hurried with the others to meet up with Marcus.

"Thank you for your good work today," Marcus greeted the squad leaders from under the shade of a tree on the edge of a clearing and handed them each slips of paper. "These are your rewards for a job well done, congratulations." When Doevm opened his and Frey's letters, they both said the same thing: "Recommendation for promotion to captain". At the bottom was Marcus's signature. The ink was still wet.

While the others got different rewards, they weren't small. Hopi and Wade were given a couple thousand gold. Oliver was given a notice that he was clear of all crimes he committed under Ashtehar. He hugged it and slipped it under his white robe.

"I-I don't know what to say," Frey said. "Thank you, sir, for everything." He bowed along with the four beside him.

"Don't mention it," Marcus shrugged. "Just remember, while you did become captains, you still need to fight for your place in the academy. Nobles will come after you, the teachers will probably be paid off, and most importantly-" He stopped. His eyes grew wide as he staggered to the side, then fell down. An icicle pierced right between his eyes.

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