Commander Gideon Cruz greeted the morning with two eyebags holding his eyes in their place. The cold wind biting into his skin and bones kept him awake, though it wasn’t as effective as the dread of war, which boosted the adrenaline cruising within him from vein to vein.

It was yet another day he had to protect the Aethel Kingdom from the rebels.

And now he was more distressed than ever.

A few days back, a messenger had carried a message conveying the outcome on the west battlefield. It had ended with their army’s defeat–a severe one, on top of that, that even explaining it had caused the messenger to throw up. Seeing that kind of reaction, Gideon didn’t deny that the sight of it must have resembled that of a massacre–a literal definition of hell.

Gideon couldn’t begin to imagine that hellish landscape. His goal now was to prevent the same happening in this land he was protecting.

“Damn it,” he cursed under his breath.

His short brown hair blew away. Irritated, he pulled his hair back, and after a while, he sighed.

As he cursed the fate befalling him, one soldier came to him. He was a regular foot soldier, wearing a grey-colored helmet which hid most of his hair.

“Commander, the preparations are done. We can move at any time,” he said.

“Great work.”

The morning began, and the day started.

Turning around, he saw his army had already been divided into smaller units–3 in the frontline and the rest in the backline. There was a path in the middle which he walked through. Each one of his steps kicked off the dust to the side. He kept walking forward between the waves of soldiers. Everyone had their eyes set on their commander.

Gideon took this chance to glance at his subordinates. Their faces, many expressions that differed from one another. Yet, the looks in their eyes shared one common desire–the wish to live.

And as the commander, their souls were in his hands.

Defeat was not an option.

“Soldiers, lend me your ears!”

Gideon’s voice echoed throughout his army. His commanding tone reverberated in their ears, demanding undivided attention. He still pressed forward. One row after another he passed while also gazing into their eyes one by one. Even in this sea of humans, he stood out.

After a few more steps, he took a deep breath and shouted it out loud in one go.

“Today will be the day we put an end to this battle!” He stretched his arm and pointed far into the distance. “Remember that our enemy is Eghwin Norton, the son of Eghmudd Norton! Look how far they have fallen. Conspiring against the kingdom’s destruction for the sake of the Third Crown Prince’s selfishness, there’s nothing as evil as that!”

The more he spoke, the louder his men got. They cheered for him–no, cheering for the Aethel Kingdom itself.

“For Aethel Kingdom!”

“For Aethel Kingdom!”

“Just follow my lead! There’s no doubt that my strategy and all of your wits will lead us to victory!”

Everyone threw their first into the air. Although exhausted, their commander’s speech resonated with all of them, and this burst of energy swelled tremendously. Like an ongoing ripple, they trampled the ground with their feet and struck the air with their voices.

A fight for honor, the honor of being part of Aethel Kingdom.

“FOR AETHEL KINGDOM!”

“FOR AETHEL KINGDOM!”

With the sword in his right hand, he pointed its tip towards the enemy.

“Charge!”

Upon his command, the 3 units in the front row moved at the same time, passing him who still had his feet holding onto the ground. The advance of 3,000 shook the ground. One by one, foot soldiers entered the battleground only their weapons and souls.

Being on the defensive side for most of the war had granted him one advantage: an element of surprise.

Gideon wanted to flip the board this time.

Rather than being passive, he forced his army to be active.

And that came to fruition with this sudden attack he had launched towards his enemy.

But….

“Huh?”

He furrowed his eyebrows. From where he stood, he noticed a cloud of dust in the distance. The tremor beneath their feet intensified, as if the sky itself would fall. Squinting his eyes, he saw what caused it.

The other army was also on the move.

Approaching Gideon’s headquarters were 2 units–left and right wings. Among them were foot soldiers and cavalry. In terms of numbers, Gideon knew he had an advantage. There’s no way the enemy’s commander didn’t realize this either. He reached one conclusion.

“So you plan on ending it today too, Eghwin?” Gideon muttered. From where he stood, he knew no one could hear him. But he had feelings that one person in that army was also thinking the same thing. Excitement and fear thumped his heart, though it was the former that he let control his body. “That’s fine with me. Let’s see who is the better commander between the two of us!”

His fingers curled into a fist.

Both armies were meters away from the collisions. Noticing that, Gideon shot a flare towards the sky, leaving a trail of smoke which dissipated along the way. It exploded, and specks of fire burst in several directions.

For a moment, Eghwin’s soldiers got distracted. Afraid it might be an attack, some of them slowed down their marching. But nothing came or fell from it. Instead, it was the sound of the enemy’s footsteps that had changed. Still thunderous yet more rhythmic, the soldiers gazed to their front to see their enemies doing a sudden maneuver amidst their advance.

“W-what?!” They all shouted in unison.

Gideon’s frontline, made of 3 independent units, broke into even smaller units. While maneuvering across the terrain, the first unit joined the left wing and the second unit joined the right wing. And in the middle were his elite fighters, 15 Luminants tasked to hold the middle section of the enemy’s army alongside their Luminants.

In a single movement, Gideon managed to strengthen his army by a sudden re-positioning his enemy couldn’t have taken an account and prevented the enemy from moving past his defenses.

Not to mention the trump card he still had under his sleeve.

The battle had just truly begun.

And the biggest battle in this starting act of the war would be the fight between the Luminants in his and the enemy’s ranks.

One must pay attention to their eyes.

More accurately, the color of their irises.

As the soldiers ran, each Luminant’s iris changed color–all from their natural color into grey hue in different shades from one another. As that happened, their steps became faster, their bodies became sturdier, and their strikes became stronger.

It was one of two Luminant’s forms–Sigil.

Some soldiers approached one of the Luminants, and they found it was a mistake within a second. With one push, the Luminants could throw them to the side. The other Luminants were doing the same as their target this time was the enemy’s Luminants.

Activating Sigil imbued Luminants with physical enhancement. The clearer the color grey was, the stronger the enhancements that they got. No foot soldiers in the field could withstand their power. Be it strength or speed, intuition or reflex, Luminants excelled at them.

Both armies’ Luminants met in the middle, drowned in the sea of infantry. The smell of blood permeated the air, though so far, no soldiers had succumbed to death yet. Then again, it was just a matter of time.

Gideon witnessed all of it with keen eyes. The situation on the battlefield had developed according to the image he had in his head. But the stalemate wasn’t enough. Unless he won on behalf of the Aethel Kingdom, he couldn’t stop defending his ground.

He breathed in and out.

“Look at them! Look at the backs of our comrades who are risking their lives now! We must honor their backs by taking the head of the enemy commander right now!”

The gears in his head turned again. He played the strategy he had concocted since yesterday once again in his head.

Gideon’s strategy was quite simple. The 3 units in front would face the enemies head on, with his army’s Luminants tasked to stop the enemy’s Luminants. Stalemate it might be, but his real main attack came after. The last unit that worked under his direct order would be waiting on the other side. When the moment arose, he would launch a joint pincer attack with his 2 reserved units–4th and 5th–directly towards the enemy’s HQ.

Blinking a few times, he finally saw it–the path towards Eghwin. He raised his arm. The sword in his hand called out to the sun, which basked its edge in its light.

“Prepare to move, my men! The victory is within our reach. Don’t miss this chance!”

But….

“–Enemy from behind!”

One of Gideon’s soldiers behind him shouted. His 3 reserved units that were on standby looked behind, both confused and distraught by the sudden attack. After all, it would be nearly impossible for an army to slip behind them, not to mention the detection Artifacts they had planted beforehand.

There, they saw not an army, not a unit, but a single man clad in a black hoodie and mask. The young man stood like a living shadow, undisturbed even in the face of thousands of soldiers lining up with hands close to their weapons.

Just a single young man.

The view stunned them. They didn’t even know whether he was an enemy, so none of them attacked yet. It was only one second of distraction, but for the young man–for Enfir–it was enough.

The first person to notice the slight shift in the air was Gideon.

“Get–”

Before he could say anything further, Enfir’s eyes glowed and his irises changed color–not to the color of grey, however.

It was orange, like burning sand dust or the glowing orb above them all, the hue was bright, demanding attention. Only after showing his eyes that everyone knew the grave danger they were in.

“Everyone, make a line of defense in front of our commander!”

Gideon’s subordinates placed themselves before their commander. They were stepping into the gap between their commander and this mysterious intruder. Like a shield, they braced themselves for the upcoming attack.

Of course, Enfir didn’t intend to wait.

Still as silent as the shadow beneath him, he pushed his palm on the ground. Near his fingers, pebbles and dust jumped up and down, a slight tremor which gradually turned into an unavoidable one. Everyone felt this rumbling, anticipating the danger that this invader had brought with him.

But anticipation alone couldn’t withstand what was coming. All of a sudden, pillars made of earth belted towards the enemy’s rank. They expanded and elongated, stretching in the confinement of air towards their enemy.

Gideon and his unit had steeled their hearts for this upcoming attack. Less than a second away, they came into contact with Enfir’s earth pillars, throwing Gideon’s unit off balance. The force knocked some of them out, and those who had luck needed to hold their grounds from the relentless attack.

Whereas Sigil being a Luminant’s first form, Lumen is their second form–the power to control elementals.

And Enfir possessed one of seven–Terra, the ability to control earth.

His earth pillars were spread out, covering a large area for many soldiers who could only defend. Alongside those soldiers was their commander, swinging his sword at the incoming projectiles and blocking them. Swinging at the right time, he parried each earth pillar coming towards his direction. But compared to anyone else, Gideon understood best that he couldn’t withstand this for any longer. One pillar carried such weight and momentum, enough to push the commander in each hit.

Slowly but surely, his arms began to tremble. Even his armor could only protect so much.

Eventually, several pillars slipped past their lines of defense. One of them scraped against Gideon’s shoulder plates, leaving a shallow injury. But the numbing sensation he felt at that instant left him no room to block the incoming pillar.

The sight horrified his soldiers. They pressed forward with more force, but Enfir’s relentless assault made it harder to push through. It almost felt like a moving forest, blocking and hindering them in every step they took.

One pillar slipped past their defenses. It cruised against the wind, and in a second, it would reach Gideon.

That was when a strong gust of wind blew the pillar away. Enfir’s left eye twitched. His attack failed to reach its target. And as if that weren’t the end, a condensed, high-pressure wind burst in his direction. He had to dodge several steps to the side.

“Looks like I will save the day again!”

From Gideon’s side, one girl walked forward, revealing herself as the person who had just stopped Enfir’s fatal attack. She smiled arrogantly as her eyes shone in a faint green hue, a contrast to Enfir’s eyes.

“I’m still waiting for that promotion, Commander.”