”Empress! They have breached the inside of the fort!”
“How?” The Empress demanded. She looked at the invading beasts again. They were beaten back by waves of arrows. “How is that even possible?”
“They got in from the back and opened a portal.” General Keys walked up. Both his armor and his blade were stained red by blood. Some of them belonged to the beasts. Others didn't.
The Empress paused for a second before raising her blade.
“Empress Guard! With me!”
She walked off the wall. All the Empress Guards followed her. The opening they left was quickly filled up by further reinforcement.
Inside the fort, a swarm of beasts has popped out of the portal. Some of the most terrifying monsters were leading the charge. Time and time again the defenders formed Formation, and time and time against the Formations were broken. Karina strolled across the battlefield with the lightning sword of hers. Whenever an effort was made to put up an organized defense, she would charge forward and simply fry the defenders.
The general at the inner wall was fighting at the front. He has already decapitated five beasts. He has just put his blade into the sixth when a lieutenant ran to him. His face covered in blood.
“General! We are being overran here! We need to pull back!”
“Pull back? Pull back to where?” The general deflected the claws of a seventh beast. “They have taken the inner gate! There is nowhere to go to!”
“The walls!” The lieutenant said something that made the general pause. Not before slicing off the head of the seventh beast, of course.
“What do you mean?”
“We can use ropes to climb off the wall! If we can get away from the fort, we can find a ride and run back to the capital…”
He never finished because the general beheaded him with one swift strike. As the men looked at him in shock, the general picked up the severed head and raised it into the air.
“Anyone that speaks of retreating will suffer the same fate as he did! We are ordered to hold the wall, and we will! For the Empress!”
“But the Empress has gone off the wall! I saw it!” A bold man cried out. He really wasn’t afraid of death. “She wants to run! She wants to run away when we fight and die for her! What’s the point?”
The general was obviously furious, but before he could put down the discontent, he suddenly heard something from the side.
Turning around, he saw something that made him want to cry.
A distance away, 3,000 cavalries in plain red armor charged forward. Their lances aimed forward, forming a forest of death. The armors and weapons were shining bright as the runes were fully activated. Leading the charge was a certain young woman in gold and red armor.
Karine saw the attack, but there was nothing she could do. Druid controls the beasts, not her. She wasn’t going to try to take the blunt of the attack either. All she did was silently move to the rear of the beast army.
The Empress Guards smashed into the horde. Countless beasts were impaled or stepped on.
The Empress kept on leading the charge. She was carrying a lance, and she was damn good at it. A single swipe with her lance sent two beasts onto the ground, injured. Well, in the face of an army of cavalries, on the ground and injured meant dead.
A modified beast leaped forward, aiming to knock the Empress down her mount. At this velocity, it was impossible for the riders to stop, even for their own Empress. If the Empress was down, then she’s done. If the Empress falls, then so does the fortress.
The Empress was taken by surprise, but she was decisive. She waved her lance forward and intercepted the beast in midair. The weapon pierced its armor, but when the Empress tried to pull it back, she failed. Not wasting time, the Empress simply dropped the lance and drew her sword and kept going.
To be honest, she was terrified inside. After all, not everyone was Jean Turner or Violet. But she knew she couldn’t show fear. The morale of all the Sun forces in the fort was tied on her. If she falls back, her men would do so too.
At this moment, her fear didn't matter. Her tiredness didn't matter.
She was the Empress, and she had a duty to carry out.
Karina watched as the army of beasts were pushed back to near the portal. Thousands were killed. Reinforcement poured out of the portal, only to add to the bodies on the ground. The Empress Guards were unstoppable. Were there casualties? Yes. But did that stop the Sun forces? No.
Even aside from the Empress Guards, the other Sun forces charged forward. Their confidence was renewed. Beast after beast was dissected. Archers came to reinforce from the inner wall as well as they rained down arrows on the intruders.
Karine turned and glanced at the inner gate and realized Sun forces were gradually taking that back. If the gate was shut and the Sun forces surround her, she might actually be killed. Druid wouldn’t be happy if she retreated, but so what? They were allies. She wasn’t his underling.
Making up her mind, Karina charged at the gate. Dozens of Sun soldiers that tried to stop her were electrocuted. She quickly went through the door and got out of the slaughterhouse.
Karine got away, but the beast army didn't. When Druid realized it wasn’t working and stopped sending in units through the portal, it was already too late. Thousands of beasts have went through, and unfortunately, the portal was a one way ticket.
It was a very rough day for the beasts inside the fort. The arrows from the walls meant that hundreds of beasts were executed before they could even reach an enemy. The beasts in the front were sliced through as the Empress Guards tirelessly pushed forward. The Empress has received a scratch to the stomach. The armor took most of the hit, but the remaining damage was still enough to leave quite a scar.
At least she wouldn’t be wearing a bikini anytime soon, not that it was what was going across the Empress’s head as she continued fighting and sliced her way through at least half a dozen more enemies.
When the smoke cleared, 5,000 beasts laid dead in the middle of the fort.
As a price, 3,000 Sun soldiers and 400 Empress Guards perished. Among the casualties was the general in charge of the inner wall.
The Empress sat down at a corner of the wall.
It has been five days since the beasts breached the inner wall.
It has been five days since she closed her eyes.
After the infiltration tactic was slammed into the ground, Druid changed his battle plan. He kept on launching attacks to force the defenders to respond with arrows and logs that did little damage. Even worse, he made sure the defenders couldn’t get even a second to sleep. Everytime the defenders tried to devote a small portion of the forces to hold the wall and give the rest time to sleep, Druid would change the partial attack to a full scale assault. The last time he did that almost took the fort. Hundreds of Empress Guards gave their lives to take the field back.
What poured salt on the wound was that Karina remained between the Immortal Fort and the rest of the empire. She intercepted any convoy heading toward the fort. The Empire of the Sun didn't have the forces to go after her. Eventually, resources became scarce for the Immortal Fort.
Food and water were not the problem. The Immortal Fort had enough food and water to sustain all the forces for a year. The problem was everything else. Arrows and gasoline have ran out yesterday. Logs and stones ran out today. Medicine were completely exhausted two days ago.
Groans came in all around the Empress. Without proper medical treatment, the wounded were practically left to die. Every groan made the Empress hurt inside, but there was nothing she could do. Sure, she could go to them and give them words of courage, but it would only be a few hours before the courage run dry and the pain returns.
Plus, even the Empress herself was exhausted and in pain. She refused the medic’s secret suggestion to keep some medical supply for herself. As a result, the dozen wounds she sustained through the days of battle were starting to wear her down. She wasn’t afraid of pain, but even she had to admit days of pain have made her weak.
General Flores walked to her. He looked terrible. His left arm was completely gone. Yesterday, the Voyager that could spew acid stormed the wall. He sent dozens of defenders screaming and melting before Flores intervened. It was a brutal battle, but it ended with Flores repelling the Voyager off the wall at the price of his left arm.
“Your grace.” General Flores was about to salute when the Empress stopped her.
“Sit down.” She said, trying to appear as strong as possible. “Don’t say no. Sit down.”
The general sat down.
“Your grace, I know you are not going to like what I’m about to say.”
The Empress immediately knew what was going on.
“If you are trying to convince me to leave, don’t.”
“Your grace! The fort is going to fall within two days, if not one. We have lost half our men. The rest have more wounded than not. We are out of supplies...the fact is we can’t hold the fortress!”
“I’m not leaving!”
“The Empress Guards have 1,500 riders left. They can escort you back to Crown’s City, where you can organize a resistance.”
“General…”
“Forgive me, your grace, but you cannot die!” Flores was determined. “If you die, the Empire will be without a leader! Who will rally the forces against these invaders? You must live on!” He paused. “That is the decision of General Keys as well. You are the Empress! You can’t die! You...you have a duty to fulfill.”
The Empress sighed. Her voice was no longer as loud, but she was equally determined as she spoke quietly.
“As long as there is a chance of holding the fort, I will not be leaving. Adam is at the Border Army right now. If we can buy enough time for him to take down the Empire of the Moon and reinforce here...”
“With all due respect, your grace.” Flores was less optimistic. “We haven’t heard anything about Adam for days. Even if he has somehow defeated the Empire of the Sun, with less forces, and marches his remaining forces here, what can he do? There are enough beasts here to wipe out us and the Border Army combined. Plus, these so called Voyagers...didn't Adam say there are more of them helping the Empire of the Moon than here? How much more difficult, then, will it be for him?”
The Empress closed her eyes and leaned back. She didn't know. She really didn't know. For a moment she just wanted to let go of everything and take a nap, but she knew she couldn’t. Even now, she could hear the growls of the beasts as they prepare for another assault.
“The walls will hold.” The Empress finally decided. “As for me… before I came here, I have written a will. My trusted advisors will announce it to everyone if I am to be killed here. It will...it will give the throne of the Empire to Adam.”
“Adam? But...he’s an outsider. What right does he have to rule us?”
“He is an outside, but his will to repel these Voyagers is as great as that of ours, if not more. He will do everything he can to protect this empire.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, your grace, how can you be so sure?”
“I saw it…” The Empress paused. “ever since I was young, my father has trained me to tell if people are telling the truth or not. As far as I could tell, I have never been wrong. Adam wants to kill the Voyagers, and that is the truth. He can be trusted.”
Flores remained quiet. He was still skeptical, but he decided to trust his Empress.
Suddenly, a low voice came at the wall.
“Incoming…”
As all the guards that could do so got up, the Empress glanced down at her hands. They were shaking like crazy. Biting her lips, she gradually drew her sword. It wasn’t the one she took to the fort. That one has went over the wall with a beast two days ago. This one was just a normal Sun sword.
She turned to Flores.
“Ready for another battle, my general?”
Flores took a deep breath as he stood up and drew his blade with his only arm.
“Always, your grace.”
