A loud crack echoed through the battlefield as the red layer of shield the Border Army formed shattered like glass. On the other side, the female general fell back off her force. Several men moved to help her, but she pushed them to the side.

“Go! Don’t let them form a Formation again!”

Her arms were twisted in an unnatural position, but she didn't care. Instead, she was staring at the disappearing shield. It was an opportunity to good to be wasted.

Almost immediately, men from both sides switched their runes to enhance their own weapons, whether it was their fortitude or damage.

And then the fighting began.

The first line of Moon cavalry smashed into the first line of Sun shields. Immediately, half the cavalry found themselves impaled by pikes. The runed weapons pierced their runed armors with the help of inertia. But the wounds didn't stop the calvaries. Even as they died, their bodies and horses kept on going forward before literally smashing into the shields.

The shields held. Their runes were so bright they looked like they were going to go off. But the men holding the shields weren’t so lucky as they were pushed off their feet. Before they could regain control, the second line of cavalry ran in.

“For the Emperor!”

As the Sun pikes took the lives of these horsemen, the pikes they were carrying also landed on the Sun shields. Some even went through the gaps in the shields and pinned down men behind.

And then the third wave came in. This time, the shields didn't hold. The runes on them exploded. Dropping the destroyed armament, the men in the first line drew their blades and tried to bring another foe to hell with them. They were completely stuck in the front with no way to get to safety. The second line of the men with the shields wouldn’t risk the entire battle to break lines and let their brothers pass. Rarely, a few horsemen found their horse legs cut by these Sun soldiers, but in most cases the men were just straight up butchered.

When the cavalry struck, Adam was still on the wrong side of the walls. While the Voyagers on the Moon side subtly got to the back and avoided the initial meat grinder, the rogue Voyager had no intention of watching others die while doing nothing. Plus, there wasn’t really much commanding to do. The Sun soldiers needed to hold their ground and the Moon soldiers needed to storm the field. It was a no brainer.

Drawing his double edged sword, he quickly dismounted. Fighting on foot was better than fighting clumsily mounted.

As the Moon cavalry attempted to overrun the Sun lines, a squad of men charged toward Adam’s location. The horsemen weren’t sure what type of idiot would be stupid enough to stand in front of the shields and try to face the charge of thousands almost alone, but they didn't care. They could almost see the idiot’s head flying through the air before hitting the ground.

The first Moon soldier’s cavalry aimed his pike at Adam. Just before the pike could make contact, Adam leaped to the side, dodging the strike. If he was a second too slow, he would be impaled already.

The Moon soldier’s eyes went wide open as he tried to dodge to the side, but it was too late. Adam waved his sword and knocked the man off his mount. The slash itself didn't kill the man, thanks to his runed armor, but before the man could get back up, one of his comrades failed to stop his horse in time to have it step on that fallen man.

It was a mess. The man’s armor and chest were both crushed in. Blood and pieces of guts oozed out of his nostrils and mouth. It was a tough way to go.

Before the second soldier could regret his mistake, Adam jammed his sword into the man’s armor. The runes stopped the weapon for half a second before breaking and allowing the double edged sword full entry.

A third man and a fourth man came up in time to see their two brothers hit the ground in less than two seconds. They kept on charging, only to get cut apart as soon as they reach Adam. It was almost as if they were offering themselves up.

The guards behind Adam took care of a few enemy riders as well.

But as Adam looked up from the battle around him, he realized the situations weren’t going that well. The two lines of shields were gone, and the pikemen were trying to fend off the cavalry on their own. The Moon cavalry really weren’t afraid to die. The bodies of horses and riders have already covered the battlefield, but the cavalry were still swarming forward fearlessly. Their war cries could be heard from a mile away.

“Death to the foe of the Emperor!”

Gradually, the Moon forces were blasting a hole through the Border Army.

Adam’s eyes twitched when he saw several figures that obviously weren’t Moon soldiers taking part in the fighting as well.

One of the Voyagers lit up a dozen Sun soldiers with two balls of flames from his hands. Even the runes couldn’t keep the armors and bodies from melting. Screams covered the field. The scene was so terrifying that dozens of men around the burning couldn’t help but move to the side.

Half a dozen Moon cavalry took the chance and made their way inside the defenses. Border Army reserves quickly plugged the hole and dissected the cavalry, but it was a terrible sign.

Ares charged into the ranks and sliced four men into two. He kicked another man so hard he slammed into two of his comrades and knocked them over. As the three men struggled to get up, Ares helped solve their problem with a single strike from his axe.

Jean used both her Voyager Rifle and her Voyager Blade. She pushed the blade of one Sun soldier to the side and emptied three shots into the man’s chest. In front of her, two men exchanged a glance before acting. One man grabbed onto her neck from behind while the other charged at her from the front. Jean waved her blade and jammed it into the belly of the man behind him. As the man screamed, she fired a couple of rounds into the man in front.

Even with half his intestines lost, the Border Army soldier still kept his grip on Jean. Finally, the girl decided to do the things directly and just rip the arms off that man and proceed crush his head with her feet.

Another Voyager literally froze up five Sun soldiers in front of him.

Yet another summoned a dozen magical creatures and laid ruin to a full squad of men.

“What the hell is that?”

“Get him!”

A squad of Sun swordsmen watched as one of the Voyagers transformed into a giant beast with dozens of tentacles. They charged forward with their shields up, only to be snatched by the tentacles. The Voyager slammed the swordsmen on the ground repeatedly until all of them were reduced to mixed meat.

...

The intervention of the Voyagers was enough to change the tide of battle. Without the combined strength of the Formations, small groups of Sun soldiers didn't stand a chance against the Voyagers.

Then again, the direct damage wasn’t the problem. There were only 35 Voyagers, and even if each one of them could kill 100 soldiers, it would only be 3,500 out of 50,000.

But the real impact the Voyagers had was on the morale of the defenders. The men of the Border Army weren’t afraid to die. They were willing to be stabbed to death or cut apart for the cause. But the way the Voyagers killed was just too supernatural. When a man sees his comrades get burnt alive or frozen to death or sucked dry or be struck down by an attack that came out of nowhere, he would subconsciously turn and flee.

It wasn’t a matter of courage or cowardice. It was just human nature.

Cutting the legs off another horse and sending the horseman falling to the ground, likely to his death, Adam took out a communication device from his watch.

The other end was held by the general in command of the archers.

Throughout the battle, the 3,000 archers have been kept on hold. Why? For this exact reason.

“Are all the targets marked?”

On the other side, the general has had a group of observers with him. These observers were given a strange device that Adam called binoculars that allowed them to see exceptionally far. Throughout the battle, they have been observing the Voyagers and marking out their locations.

“I have marked out 28 of them. I don’t know if they’re all.”

“It’s enough. Take them out.”

“Copy that.” The general nodded and turned to his men and barked the orders.

Even before the battle began, Adam knew killing the common foot soldiers of the Empire of the Moon would be pointless. He needed to take down the Voyagers to truly keep this world safe. This was why he kept the archers waiting even in the darkest moments.

It was a trap, and hopefully, it will soon pay off.

Immediately, all 3,000 men went into action. Archers formed phalanxes while those with crossbows had it tougher. They had to climb onto higher positions, whether they were previously built towers or trees. Within moments, all the ranged attackers were in place.

“Ready!”

The crossbowers made sure their weapons were loaded. The archers aimed their bows into the sky. Before this, they have underwent multiple rounds of training so they knew what strength the arrows were fired at at what angle would land where. The officers in front of each phalanx were given the individual locations they were firing at, which they told all the archers.

“Fire!”

The archers unleashed. Immediately, thousands of arrows followed a beautiful curve away from the bows, over the head of the Sun soldiers, and landed in the Moon ranks. Crossbows did a more direct job as they simply punched their way toward their target, ripping through anything in their way.

“Damn it!” Ares screamed as arrows landed all around him in a carpet bombing fashion. His Voyager armor screeched as the orange crystal was turned to its full power. He waved his axe around and deflected multiple arrows, but a few of the shots made their way through his defenses and hit his armor. The runes gave enough boost to the arrows to help them pierce the armor.

The orange crystal powering the armor evaporated.

Ares knew he needed to get out of here at once. A tap on his watch sent a device into the air, which he grabbed onto and initiated. It created a circular dome around him. The runed arrows fell down and were repelled to the side.

Ares rushed back, knocking over multiple Moon cavalry in the process. But just as he was about to get to safety, something went through his shield and hit him in the ankle so hard he fell over.

His deflector shield generator fell out of his hand. Ares reached out for it. He estimated he would still have a few seconds before the next round of arrows land. But just as he was about to get the generator, an invisible force pushed the item to the side...and way out of his reach.

The round of arrows fell, as expected. Desperate, he reached over and grabbed onto a Moon cavalry and raised him over his head.

“Hey, what the…ahh!” The man screamed and struggled, but it was no use.

The rain of arrows pierced the cavalry. The runes were enough to force them past the man’s armor and body and still have enough power to hurt Ares.

When the smoke cleared and Ares dropped the porcupine of a meat shield, he was already wounded. Several arrows pinned him down to the ground. Thanks to his physical fortitude, none of them got into fatal positions. As long as he was given the time to heal, he would be back on his feet in no time.

A figure moved up to him. Another round of arrows were effortlessly deflected by that figure. Ares looked and saw it was Cassandra. Her telekenesis kept both of them alive in this arrow rain.

“Cassandra.” Ares couldn’t help but feel a smile on his face. It was a smile of relief. “Thank god you’re here. The locals are a bit more powerful than we thought, it seems.” He was a little embarrassed. Most of the Voyagers, including him, saw the locals as inferior and weak. To be hurt, and almost killed, by the locals was just a disgrace.

Cassandra tilted her head. The next second, Ares felt the arrows in his body shaking. One of the arrows that went a few inches into his chest was suddenly pushed deeper into the body. It went through his heart before he could put up any kind of resistance.

Ares looked at Cassandra in disbelief. He knew Voyagers could be cut throats, but why she would do something like this in a battle in which they were already losing was anyone’s guess. Doesn’t she know killing him would only make it easier for the Empire of the Sun forces to overwhelm their position?

Cassandra had no intention of answering that. All she did was send that arrow in and out of Ares a few more times. When Ares’s lifeless body finally hit the ground, the tall girl snatched his watch and departed.

Ares has went through 2 missions. In his recruit mission, he was thrown into an ancient world where deities from legends existed. One of them was the Greek god of war, Ares. Voyager Ares served god Ares for twenty years and helped lead his army to conquer the supporters of other gods. In the end, god Ares became the only deity in the world, and Voyager Ares was rewarded greatly. His axe was just one of the rewards.

In his second mission, Ares was tasked with forcing a world to submit to the Protectors. He, alongside the other Voyagers on the task, led an army and went across the world, slaughtering anyone in his way. In the end, when blood stained the seven seas red, conquest was accomplished. Ares was hailed as a god. He spent three more years in that world, living as a god among men, before leaving.

Coming into his third mission, and an optional one, Ares didn't think much of it. All he wanted to do was lay low and be a brute and get this mission done. He needed the extra gold. If he wanted, he could provide quite a few ideas in destabilizing civilizations and empires,. This was literally how he rose up. But he didn't. He underestimated this world and the integrity of his so called teammates.

And then he got backstabbed and killed in the middle of a battle. There was no flower. There was no glorious sacrifice. Just a quick and discreet death for a past god.

Voyagers are powerful. Just the fact that they survived a handful of missions means that they are talented, skilled, and mighty. They have made worlds bend at their will.

At the same time, Voyagers are also fragile. Nearly all the Voyagers in the City of the Voyagers are as talented and as tricky as everyone else. A single mistake, a single moment of hesitation, can lead to failure and death.

Ares was a good Voyager, but he made a mistake, and now he has paid the price.