A&O Volume 2: The Long March South – Chapter 57: Battle Of The Barrah Plains (Part 3)
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In the middle of the massive cavalry battle, the Signatari Cavalrymen were now locked for the fight of their lives as they had greatly underestimated the number and strength of their foes as they fought along the snow-filled Barrah Plains. The snow being kicked up from the horses and centaurs moving around shrouded the entire field they were in, in a white fog that hid the true fighting within its covers. In the midst of this massive melee, Gallahad was busy trying to stay alive after the melee began. He was atop his horse as he swung his sword at the enemy cavalryman to his right, watching in horror as his sword bounced off the thick plate armor of his enemy and before he could react, he found himself on the ground a moment later. 

Now, Gallahad was fighting for his life after he was thrown off his horse by an enemy cavalryman. He groaned as he clutched the right side of his torso which was bleeding slightly due to a cut from the enemy that had knocked him off. His eyes were frantically looking around as the sounds of horses, centaurs, and men moving and clashing with one another made it nearly impossible for him to hear his opponent sneaking up behind him. 

{!} 

He turned his head and saw a centaur soldier charging at him, Gallahad raised his sword in an attempt to block the incoming attack and while he was able to block the sword slash and then replied with a slash of his own that struck an exposed gap on the leg armor of the centaur soldier, making the enemy reel in pain as he recoiled but before Gallahad could capitalize on the opportunity and unleash a follow-up stab through the armored underbelly of the enemy, the centaur recovered faster than he anticipated and struck him with another sword slash that Gallahad managed to barely block as the force of the attack threw him back much to his shock since the blow was far stronger than he expected, his body crashing down into the snow leaving him grunting and wheezing as he tried to reorient himself. As he stood back up, he saw another opponent, this one dismounted, charging at him with a sword. The Black Knight was able to dodge the first few slashes before picking up his discarded sword which was now broken in half and then thrusting the shattered blade at his enemy. His attack was able to lodge itself into the armor and force his foe to stagger back but before he could even do anything, he whipped his head around and saw another enemy rush him from atop a horse. He steeled himself as he saw the tip of the spear raised and readied to grab it so that he could throw off the rider and save his skin. 

{!} 

Unfortunately for the Black Knight, the spear thrust came far faster than he expected and he felt the steel tip punch through his chest plate and sink into his ribcage, causing him to gasp as he felt himself get lifted off his feet and dangling in the air. Gallahad's eyes went wide as he grasped onto the spear's shaft with his quickly draining energy as he was carried off the ground and flung a few meters away, blood pouring out of the large gaping hole in his chest that rose up and down slowly as his life drained away from his eyes that were constantly looking around him to see the fighting not going their way. 

'No...it can't be...Myria' He thought of his wife as he lost everything and died then and there.  

Meanwhile, General Raddis who led the 1st Imperial Cavalry Corp was cleaving through the enemy before him. The moment he charged into the fray, he downed two soldiers with two quick slashes of his swords that cleaved the enemy riders in two. Now in the midst of the massive melee, the centaur general was busy cutting down Signatari Cavalrymen who were either still on their horses or had fallen off and onto the ground as easy targets. At one point during the fighting, he saw a group of Signatari Cavalrymen huddled around in a circle and charged at them, he swatted away their swords with his own slashes that sent their weapons flying before he raised his body up and then trampled on the poor soldier closest to him before dealing with the rest. 

All across the melee, the sounds of battle, the roars of voices and the clashing of steel filled the air as Signatari Cavalrymen were being cut down by a numerically superior and actually superior foe as they were fighting a force much stronger than they had anticipated. One unfortunate cavalryman was able to plunge his spear into the armor of a centaur he passed, but instead of seeing the centaur go down or even his weapon punching through the enemy's armor, his spear broke and stuck to the enemy, ripped from his grip. As the poor soul turned around, his eyes went wide as the same centaur moved in and killed him on the spot with a slash across his chest that spurted out blood as he fell off his steed. 

Elsewhere in the melee, one Imperial Cavalryman was thrown off his horse after a trio of spears impaled him from the front and sent him crashing onto the ground. The imperial cavalryman was able to get back on his feet and felt the healing crystals embedded into the interior of his armor begin their work and as he stood back up, another enemy was galloping straight at him. The soldier let out a roar of defiance as he raised his sword and the moment the two clashed, the Signatari's spear embedded itself into the top of the cavalryman's helmet but broke off at the tip while the sword of said cavalryman was able to plunge into the Signatari's abdomen before slicing through and killing him, sending his body tumbling off the horse while the Imperial Cavalryman fell to one knee as he pulled the spear head out of his helmet, laughing lightly as he was glad it didn't go through the piece of armor. 

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As the cavalry battle was ongoing, the dual monarchs and their respective armies were now in position. They were ready to appear and send a wave of dread down the embattled forces of the Dukedom's Army and begin the final phase of the fighting that was about to unfold the moment they dropped their cloaking magic. 

{Ready Ophie?} Amelia asked via telepathy 

[Let's do it my darling] Ophelia answered 

{!}

At the same time, the two of them dropped their cloaking magic and appeared right where they stood. There was no going back now. 

"All soldiers! Forward! March!" 

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A/N: Map for representation, hope it helps!

With the cavalry battle drawing most of his attention, Sir Matthews felt that there was something horrid still waiting in store for his army as it was slowly becoming clear to him that they may not actually win this fight and be forced to run. He looked down at the teleportation scroll resting in the satchel and as he looked back out at the battle, he felt more and more justified to pull it out and get his ass to safety. 

{!} 

Suddenly, as he turned his head to the far left, he saw another army suddenly appear out of thin air. 

"What the fuck?! There are more of them!?" He shouted in disbelief as he saw the army appear before his eyes 

{!} 

Then, another army appeared to the far south and he felt his heart drop as he realized what the fuck he just stumbled into. A shot of cold fear made its way up his spine as he frantically turned to a nearby orderly. 

"Order the main army to disengage all forces and form up into smaller lines! I want one line to face our south and another one to form up and face our west! Now!" He bellowed

"Wha?" 

"Now!" Matthews repeated 

{!} 

As the orderly blew his horn and coordinated with other officers who brought over the orders to the soldiers in the midst of the fighting, Sir Matthews was sweating bullets as he sat atop his horse, the half-mask he was wearing building up the sweat in his forehead as he tried to make sense of it all. 

"They lured us into a fucking trap...that must be it" He muttered to himself as he saw his forces break from fighting the army to their front and shift away to fight the other two approaching armies. 

In the fighting directly in front of him, out of the original 200,000 Signatari Soldiers engaged in the massive fight, over 10 to 12,000 were either injured or dead and dying. They had to cycle out several groups of soldiers who were all wounded and being tended to by the mages and support forces behind the fighting and when they heard the horns being blown and the officers moving to give them their new orders, 60,000 soldiers and support were scrapped up from this supposed 'reserve' and sent to stop the incoming threats from the west and south. They marched past the ongoing cavalry fight and moved to engage the enemy forces that now appeared before them, shivers of fear going down their spines as this day was not going as it should have. 

It was now around 5:15 PM and the light across the battlefield was slowly but surely fading as the winter sun was moving to set but it still had enough light to light up the entire battlefield. 

'It's fine, all we have to do is wait for dark and then we can slip away-'

{!} 

As if reading his very thoughts, the two armies approaching him suddenly shot bright balls of light into the air that lit up the entire battlefield in their radiant glow. His eyes went wide in shock and awe as he could not comprehend what the hell he was looking at. 

"Order all forces to engage now! If we do not do it now then there is no chance of escape for any of us!" Matthews bellowed as he looked at the nearest orderly who moved over to the officers who blew their horns and moved to dispatch the orders from their commander. 

At the acknowledgment of those orders, the two lines of Signatari that broke off from the main group let out cries of war as they brought down their spears forward and moved into charging position as they faced down their still marching foe that neared ever closer. 

"Come on boys! We can take em!" A Signatari Captain yelled at the front of the formation as he raised his sword and shield 

"They are nothing more than ungodly heathens! They will die in droves before us!" Another shouted as he steadied his spear while walking 

The cries of these brave Signatari were bold to their credit, but unknowingly the last words of men who were marching to their doom. Albeit while shouting and going down swinging. 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

The first Signatari line to engage with the new foes was the line charging straight toward Ophelia and her 2nd Army. They formed an arrowhead formation as they charged straight at her force with confidence despite some of them still recovering from their injuries. The Signatari line let out a chorus of roars as they moved right at the foes, in front of the rank-and-file spear-wielding Signatari were Signatari officers wielding swords and shields while behind the lines were a small group of support mages, archers and light crossbowmen firing away with spells, bolts and arrows at the formation. 

"V formation now!" Ophelia commanded her army through the magic crystal communicator on her collar 

Her troops immediately followed the order and formed a 'V' formation that allowed the enemy force to charge straight into an open center. The Signatari forces continued charging, thinking that the enemy was retreating when in fact they were encircling them. The Imperial Soldiers allowed the Signatari forces to overextend and once the entire arrowhead was engaged, the rearmost soldiers of the 2nd Army quickly moved and finished the encirclement, trapping the entire Signatari force from all sides much to their surprise. 

"They're trapping us in!" A Signatari soldier cried out 

"It was a trap!" Another added before being skewered through the chest by a spear of an Imperial Soldier 

"Charge!" General Korab shouted as he raised his weapon and moved in, followed by the rest of the 2nd Army doing the same

Colonel Shael was the first into the fray, her officer's sword cleaving through two Signatari Initiates who tried to block her attacks but failed to match her speed. Then the rest of the army began cutting down Signatari left and right. There was one dragonkin soldier who was able to pick up a poor Signatari Sentinel by the throat and lift him up into the sky, while he screamed the dragonkin soldier's tail skewered the man through the abdomen before throwing the body away, letting it crash onto the snowy ground and ending the man's life. Another Signatari was unfortunate enough to die at the hands of a boar beastkin soldier who landed a massive swing attack with his halberd that slammed onto the shield the Signatari soldier carried, the shield buckled then broke before his eyes and before he could do anything, the boar beastkin soldier backhanded him onto the ground and finished him with another attack with the halberd head that plunged into his back, spurting blood out as he died.

While the 2nd Army began massacring the encircled and trapped Signatari soldiers, Ophelia was busy cleaning up the support elements of this Signatari line. She dashed forward, her personal bastard sword [Judgement Maker] brandished in her right hand, the length of the blade crackling with crimson energy as she closed in on her first enemy. 

The first enemy she saw was a Signatari Mage dressed in a set of red robes over his silver plate armor, the black mask on his face betraying the fear in his eyes as he saw Ophelia closing in

"Die Heretic! <Lightning Bolt>" The mage shouted as he fired off a bolt of lightning bolt from his wooden staff in his hand towards the approaching woman

The raven-haired empress effortlessly dodged the lightning bolt and replied with a quick horizontal slash from her sword that cleaved the mage in two, cutting him right where his upper and lower body met. She didn't stop there even as the upper half crashed onto the snowy ground and continued cleaning up the support soldiers now in her view. The next trio of soldiers in her path was a pair of light crossbowmen who fired their weapons but missed by a wide mark while the third was an officer in charge of protecting them, charging forward with his sword and shield to meet the charging foe. 

Ophelia didn't stop as she let loose another slash that punched right through the Signatari officer's shield and through his body before she closed in and on the two light crossbowmen. She flung a fireball at the rearmost soldier who turned to ash once the fireball struck him before quickly knocking out the crossbow out of the hands of the closest soldier and then grabbing him by the throat and slamming him into the ground, killing him in the process. 

Meanwhile, down south, Amelia and her 3rd Army were continuing their march northward and saw that the Signatari Line meant to stop them had chosen to just stand and form a defensive formation, baiting them to come and charge them down. Unfortunately for the Signatari forces, that was what Amelia and her force intended to do.

"Form Line!" She commanded through her magic crystal communicator and the army behind her followed through as they were marching

They swiftly and efficiently moved from the 4 columns following behind the blonde empress into a single cohesive line that marched in rhythm and practice. The forefront of the line were soldiers carrying tower shields and swords while Imperial Soldiers wielding halberds and spears were behind them, pointing their weapons toward the enemy, shouting battle cries as they moved forward. 

"Let's get them!" One arachnia soldier shouted as she held up her twin tower shields and twin bastard swords 

"For the empire!" Another added as he steadied his halberd tip 

Amelia herself was at the forefront of the line, her personal and ornately decorated twin daggers [Corrupter] and [Purifier] at the ready as she looked at the formation of enemy forces just waiting for them. 

"Open fire!" General Rohm shouted as he flew into the air to fire his own [Fireball] spell 

{!} 

The entire Signatari line buckled as the soldiers of the 3rd Army surged forward while firing away magical projectiles, from fireballs to lightning streams, earth spikes, and ice shards. The Signatari at the front with their shields barely held on as numerous comrades died as the barrage struck, ripping apart soldiers left and right as their shields tried to stay off their deaths. One unfortunate Signatari Ensign died as an earth spike burst forth from the ground beneath him, punching into his abdomen and making him cough up blood into his mask before an ice shard slammed into his skull, killing him instantly. 

Another Signatari Captain died as a trio of fireballs struck him despite him raising up his shield to defend himself, the blast of the first fireball turned his shield into nothing but slag that coated his arm and left him open to a second fireball that struck his chest plate dead center, burning through the armor and deep into his flesh that made him scream in pain before a third struck his face, killing him instantly and making him collapsing on the spot. 

"Charge!" Amelia ordered as the barrage neared its end, dashing forward faster than the rest of the army anticipated 

"Come on lads! Don't let the Empress herself have all the fun! Let's get them!" Colonel Mohc added as he raised his sword and charged as well  

As the 3rd Army followed behind her, Amelia leaped into the air and landed a flying kick on the first Signatari she saw, breaking the shield he held up to stop her before following it up with another kick that smacked the enemy soldier in the face and sent him flying into the rear. The moment she landed, Amelia cut down two other Signatari who were on either side of her with a quick 360-degree turn with her daggers that ripped into their armor and flesh all the same. Before the bodies even hit the ground, she was already on the move to kill another who was directly in front of her, Holy Magic coursing through her entire body as she let loose. 

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Once his forces were engaging the enemy and seeing how the entire battle was seemingly shifting against them. Sir Matthews decided that it was time for him to get the fuck out of dodge. 

"All of you, I want you all to move forward and further coordinate with our forces! We can still win this! I will stay here and keep an eye to see what else we can do" He told the group of orderlies and communication officers who stood around him

They followed his orders and soon it was just him alone as the rest of the army was fighting for its life. He took a deep breath as he then looked down and petted his horse. 

"I am sorry everyone...but I think I have to go now" He mumbled to himself as he brought out the teleportation scroll from the rider's satchel and unfolded it 

Unfolding the parchment, he saw the set of inscriptions that required verbal activation, and once he spoke the activation word, the inscriptions on the parchment began to shape and shift around as a blue light slowly began to envelop him

{!} 

Just then, the roars of thousands of wyverns and the same roar of the Divine Beast he had come to find filled the air and his eyes turned to the darkened sky in horror as he saw the wyverns and the Divine Beast descend upon the battlefield. 

"Holy FUCK!" He shouted as he saw the mass of aerial death appear like angels of death from on high 

"Come on, come on, come on, FUC-" Matthews mumbled as he looked down at the scroll before looking up and seeing a wyvern descend upon him, firing off a blast of fire breath aimed right at him 

As the teleportation scroll activated, Sir Matthews was hit with a wave of intense heat as he felt the spell activate. That was the last thing he felt before falling unconscious.

A/N: Wooo! Another chapter!

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