Chapter 135 - Civil War - 7 (Bridge Captured & Patrick’s movements)
The charge happened as soon as Bolt gave the order. Everyone used their top speed to get to the gate and climb it swiftly. They were led by Bolt, one of the first soldiers to stand on top of the gate and unleash his flurry of strikes while landing on the ground.
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"The enemy is climbing the gate. Prepare the defence formation." ordered the knight after noticing Bolt on top of the gate.
The guards could see as those dark-clothed men climbed the gate that stood proud at 20 meters like it was nothing, which made them nervous.
"Don't be nervous. We are outnumbering them by much. There are only 20 who climbed the gates. Fight brothers!" said the knight rallying his men
The guards took up their weapons, from cold weapons to firearms, and started unleashing their attacks at Bolt and a small part of officers, who used their weapons to deflect those attacks.
"Hah, such a pathetic attempt at stopping us. Don't you think, boss?" commented an officer who stood next to Bolt, with some annoyance for being targeted by one attack.
"Focus on the job. I don't want to see you morons getting killed by some pathetic guard." replied Bolt while looking sharply at the knight giving orders to his men.
Following that, Bolt jumped from the bridge, and with a successful landing that created a dust wave, he rushed toward the knight.
The knight drew his sword and moved to block Bolt from his advances. He used a basic sword strike that had Bolt's expression shift a bit in surprise.
Nevertheless, he still followed up with his strike that pushed the knight some steps back. Staring calmly at him, he kept his advantage and began unleashing a barrage of strikes that put the knight deep in his defence.
"Not bad, but you will not be able to stop our advance. Everything is futile." said Bolt in a cold tone while delivering another blow, barely blocked by the knight.
"Hmph, while you are indeed strong, I will be able to hold you back enough for my men to take out your own. We hold the numerical advantage in this fight."
When hearing that, Bolt laughed, looking disdainfully at this knight, and with a kick that took him by surprise, he sent the knight to the ground.
However, just as he got sent to the ground, he got up on his feet and wiped the blood he had around his mouth.
"Tell me, knight, can you see the situation around yourself? Do you hold the numerical advantage? Check it now with the opening of the gate."
"OPEN THE GATE!" yelled Bolt toward his men, opening the mechanism for the gates.
Quickly the gate began raising on its own, which alerted all the guards fighting the officers. They could see a sizable army formed by 3000 people, fronted by a woman with white hair and a cold expression.
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Sofiya, who was standing by, reading the soldiers for the charge after the gate was opened, heard Bolt's orders along with the mechanism of the gate being activated, turned to her men, and gave the following order.
"Once the gates open, surround them and pressure them to submission. Viktos, you tell them to surrender since it would be easier die them to hear it from you."
"Understood, my lady." replied Viktos, the young guard, while nodding his head from where he was.
"Good. Get ready, boys. Strike back only if you are attacked."
"Yes, Lady Sofiya!" called out the soldiers in unison, grasping their weapons tightly.
Sofiya also grasped her rapier, and once the gate opened, she stormed her way inside the garrison among the first of the soldiers.
She noticed one guard looking with murderous intent at her, charging at her, and with a cold smile, she used her speed to arrive at him, appearing like a banshee.
"You should keep your intentions to yourself." reminded Sofiya while delivering a piercing thrust right at the man's heart.
Looking left and right, she noticed Bolt talking something with the knight she tried to eliminate using her rifle and the officers who were climbing the gate first, fighting the guards, pushing them hard.
Viktos, who also arrived at the battlefield, noticed how easily Sofiya took one guard's life and gulped hard. He got to the center of the battlefield that began getting bloodier and roared with everything he got.
"Brothers, stop this fight! You fight for a lost cause, a bunch of lies spit by the nobles sitting at the Palace. Don't lose your lives for nothing!"
The guards engaged in the fight heard Viktos familiar voice, even the knight who seemed to have a discussion with Bolt while exchanging blows.
"That's Viktos, the leader of the first gate. Don't tell me he betrayed us and changed sides?!" called out a guard defending the blows of one Black Army soldier.
"I doubt he is stupid to do such a thing. But we can't stop fighting without Lord Frederick's command.
Hearing such comments made Sofiya look coldly around herself, and from nowhere, she decided to move for the knight. Along the way, two guards appeared in front of her, calling her out with confidence.
"Your advance will end here, woman. That is the fight of Lord Frederick and the leader of the peasants. You will have to face us."
She scoffed at those two soldiers, and using some peculiar footstep with her rapier drawn, she got right in front of them and did a charging thrust that held a significant moment.
It seemed a sure kill, but those two guards that looked identical to each other used their swords in a synchronized way, in doing so, barely blocking her strike.
"Mhmm, brother, this woman hits so hard, as if she is Lord Merth who serves as Duke Lacilet head bodyguard."
"I can feel it, brother. We have to hold on until Lord Frederick wins." replied one twin to another.
"Such foolish thoughts, let me see how long you can hold me here." said Sofiya while looking at the twins with cold indifference.
She got fast to them using her superior speed, and with a combination of thrusts and strikes, those two brothers began showing cracks in their defence.
Their faces showed a pained expression after Sofiya managed to pierce their flesh and also dodge their countering strikes like some ballerina. She appeared in front of them with such movements and evasions, looking coldly in their eyes. Later she followed up with a leg strike in their stomach, planting them on the ground.
Only after sending those two on the ground and creating herself an open path did she advanced toward the knight Frederick and Bolt, who were still fighting.
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Not long after, Sofiya started her advance on those two. They could be seen trading blows and also talked. Frederick's expression held some conflicting emotions, but he still keep up with Bolt, who said to him after clashing swords.
"Your men are slowly dying. You heard that Viktos' declaration and could also see his men alive. We are not here to fight you simple guards to death. Instead, our goal is to apprehend the traitorous nobles who schemed against the Vermilion House."
"I still can't believe you, someone serving that criminal Blood, the Scourge of Kaysang. Tell me something that makes sense to me."
As Frederick said that, his eyes turned to his close aides, who stopped the white-haired woman from approaching him and Bolt.
"Your clock is ticking, knight. Don't look at me like this, I achieved my goal ahead of time, but my Dutchess seems to be fired up and wants to prove herself to her fiance, His Highness Vlad." said Bolt while unleashing a stronger sword strike that pushed Frederick some steps back, but without affecting his sword guard at all.
"Dutchess? Prince? Explain yourself. Don't talk in riddles and say what you want to say."
"Sigh, you guys sure were fooled by the nobles and their stories. That white-haired woman fighting the twins is Dutchess Selentes of Selentine Dutchy that Lacilet and his allies destroyed some days after the Crimson Massacre. At the same time, the Prince who we the Black Army serve is the sole heir left by Crown Prince Lucius before dying. That criminal, you guys, fear so much called Blood, is exactly His Royal Highness."
"No way, you are lying! Do you want to tell me that we noble knights who did the oath to protect the Royal Family are fighting against the person we were supposed to defend?"
"These are exactly your own words. A reason why I've been telling you to stop this meaningless fight. The one called Viktos is alive. My soldiers are also fighting your guards without pushing themselves to their limits to give you this chance. However, we also have our limits that you shouldn't test, quoting my lady, "We'll rather kill thousands than have millions lose their lives."
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Quickly as Bolt said that, he heard the noise made by bodies dropping violently on the ground, and seconds later feeling a strong wind blowing past him and the presence of someone standing close.
"If you value your life, surrender. This is your last chance, I will give you, lost citizens of Kaysang." spoke Sofiya with a calm tone, each of those words while her rapier was touching Frederick's throat, taking both Bolt and the knight by the sudden appearance of this.
"My Lady, why do you make things hard for me. You know that a knight fights his battle to the death."
"So you want to die?" asked Sofiya staring directly into Frederick's black eyes.
The knight's head was in a real dilemma from all the new information he heard, he turned his eyes to Sofiya and Bolt, and after a long 15 seconds, he said."
"Fine, I will surrender. You, soldier, were right about the nobles. It has been about 15 minutes since I've sent the signal for reinforcement and there is no sign of them even coming."
Then from where he was, Frederick roared to the skies.
"GUARDS, STOP FIGHTING! WE BROTHERS WILL NOT LOSE OUR LIVES TODAY FOR NOTHING! I, YOUR LORD, COMMAND YOU TO STOP FIGHTING."
The guards stopped exchanging blows with the Black Army soldiers and quickly turned their heads at Frederick, freed from Sofiya's death grasp. They stopped, but their confusion remained. Some of their adrenaline was still fresh in their body, and they looked at the soldiers who took some steps back, leaving them alone.
"TRAITORS. You swore an oath to protect the bridge gate and serve His Grace Lacilet. What you are doing right now is a betrayal to our cause!" cried out some zealots believing in Lacilet, who still chose to fight to the death.
Sofiya saw this and told the soldiers who were about to intercept those zealots. "Kill or incapacitate them."
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The atmosphere the soldiers gave intensified, and after some minutes, the battlefield was filled with screams of pain and agony, until these nightmarish cries slowly died down accompanied by the sound of bodies dropping on the ground.
'Sigh, only a small portion of them was incapacitated. The rest of them got killed. Those people sure are ruthless to act so quickly and take those fools down.' thought Frederick while seeing the soldiers display of power.
'They could decimate my men so easily, yet they played it down until they convinced me of the fakeness the nobles showed. I still don't know the full story, but I hope they will fill me in as soon as possible.'
'Where is that woman going? Don't tell me she is scaling the gates, but why?'
While Sofiya moved toward the gate, she turned to Bolt and only sent him a specific order. "Reorganize the soldiers. We only have to siege the fortress before we can enter Wisdom Palace. Those bastards should have got enough time to prepare for their defense, so we shouldn't force our hand and wait for Admiral Patrick Cochrane to come to assist us with the fortress siege. Hmm, there should also be a chance for the nobles on our side to arrive just in time for the siege and Flex's Company to get inside Sagletius from the Noble District.'
"Don't worry, my lady. I got this victory in my hands, ahem, our hands." replied Bolt, after he saw Sofiya's expression looking at him intensely.
Nodding her head, she began climbing the bridge's tall gate, and after taking her dial snail, she called out her marksman battalion.
"Olmon, you can advance. We took over the bridge, however, don't bring everyone with you. Leave two companies to patrol around Sol, assuring the citizen's safety from any parasite daring to enter inside."
"My Lady, are you fine? I could only watch the fight from the first gate and how the second gate was opened, but the rest I didn't have a clear sight to check." asked the officer, a bit worried.
"What could have happened to me, officer? I didn't even show everything I can do against these guards, who are more like fodder. Start your procedure officer, chop, chop. We don't have time to waste in wars. Everything has to be precise like how a clock mechanism works."
"Yes, my lady. In 5 minutes we will also arrive. Do we have higher ground there?"
"Open your telescope and look at the bridge's last gate." replied Sofiya to the officer's question.
Olmon, who was standing on top of the highest building close to the bridge, put down the dial snail close to him and used his rifle telescope to scout the bridge until his vision settled down on a distant white-haired woman who seemed to look at him directly in his eyes from where she was.
"That's perfect, my lady. We can improve our vision if we stand on the towers, it might look tricky to climb it, but it is not something we the Black Army marksman can't achieve."
The officer could hear a soft laugh from the snail that had some facial features belonging to Sofiya, along with the transmission end.
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After ending that call, Sofiya used her sniper from a seated position and began looking at the large Wisdom Palace, checking all of the windows she had view with the hope of finding Vlad, but that process didn't bore fruits.
Moving her sight, she began checking on the fortress walls and the heart of the kingdom itself, as it began getting filled with people wearing armors that didn't match in color or model.
"Tsk, this siege will be hard. I need to think of ways to make it inside without alerting them and slowly dispose of them, lowering their fighting power. It would be risky, so I might have to talk it out with Bolt and see his opinion since it is unknown what the situation old Patrick faces right now."
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As Sofiya was thinking of ways to enter the fortress and how Patrick was faring, Bolt, surrounded by some officers, Frederick and Viktos, called someone using the dial snail.
The snail was calling for quite a while, making the atmosphere a bit awkward around those guys until the call was picked up. What followed after the pick up was the sound of a great explosion and the roars of cheer from people accompanied by their cries of victory.
"IT IS A BULLSEYE, LORD ADMIRAL! Those fuckers ship got blown from one single cannonball from [The Sea Judge].
"I've seen it, kid. Now go back to your station and steer the ship. We still got some idiots looking to fight us on the sea. BE SURE TO HAVE EYES EVEN ON YOUR ASS, SO YOU DON'T MISS THEM! GOT IT?"
"YES, POPS!"
"Good, now piss off, I have to talk with someone." said Patrick while looking at the enemy ships being sunk while being set ablaze, a phenomenal sight for an old sea dog like himself, who had wine and salt in his veins.
With the dial snail in his hand, after sending Lagos off to take the command of the fleets, he asked with a satisfied tone.
"Kid, I think I will come quite soon toward Sagletius. Still, this depends on how many ships will appear in the Regimus Sea. I decimated about half of their fleet, so their morale should be as low as a bottomless hole. So how is your side fairing, took over the bridge?"
"That's right, old man. Now we are slowing down a bit because we are waiting for you and the nobles to arrive and enforce us in the final push on the fortress. Keep your stories for another day. We got enough to share between us until we drop down." replied Bolt, sounding close to how Patrick talked, like a pirate.
"Hehe, kid, I don't understand why you joined that brat army. You would be a right fit as my right hand or left hand inside my navy."
"Don't bother, old man. I don't regret turning away from the pirate life, even though my boss told me I could go like the others and join your fleets. I learned a lot from him, more than I could have asked."
"Hmph, are you jabbing me by chance, subtitle saying that I couldn't train you like that crazy kid?"
"Maybe." laughed Bolt, accompanied by Patrick, who noticed some sailor doing a dumb maneuver with the cannons.
"You little shit, this is how I taught you to use the cannons? Someone remember that brat. I will give him special training after the war."
The sailors laughed like crazy guys, while the one who messed up around the cannon had a pale expression, saying to the others to not go all out on him.
"Brat, I don't know when I will be in Sagletius. It might be longer than I expected or even faster, it all depends on those noble idiots. However, keep your snail close to you. I will call once I am on my way. Sounds good?"
"It is perfect, old man." replied Bolt in a confident tone, leaving Patrick, who was looking at the sea, calmly, to all of a sudden giving an evil grin.
"Little Bolt, I will close the call. Keep in mind what I told you, don't rush like a retard to the fortress walls. It will make others laugh at you."
