Chapter 42: Another Meeting Yet Again

A few weeks had passed since the mass dwarven slaughter. Once they had escorted the civilians to a city far away from the battle zone, the First and Seventh army retreated to a small village only known as Dragonsmourne. Although called a small village in name, its actual size was rather huge. 

It is also a valuable strategic location and chokepoint that one must go through before they could advance further into demon territory. Much like Prasyufa, any attempts to bypass Dragonsmourne will only leave the attackers in a bad spot. Bypassing Dragonsmourne meant that they would get cut off from the soldiers from the village.

Once they arrived in Dragonsmourne, they quickly settled in and started fortifying the place; transforming it into their new base of operations. A messenger was sent to the other armies and they soon regrouped at the village as well. It wasn't just the armies either, various Familias and their private army, the remainder of the reserve army and even Ak'him mercenaries joined them at Dragonsmourne. It seemed that the fall of Prashyufa had spread all across the Kingdom and had caused quite an uproar.

Inside a rather large open-air room were the generals of the remaining seven armies of the Northern Demon Kingdom and the representatives of the other groups. They were all gathered there alongside every single one of their officers. The room itself wasn't anything special, but it offered a nice view of the outside. The corners of the room were also filled with decorations like dragon skulls and totems. Other than the soldiers, one could see various Ak'hims wearing traditional dresses serving drinks and waiting in standby just outside the room.

Additionally, it was also the home village of Leida and Samiyadare. Many if not all of the Dragonicias hail from this village— a village whose main residents are those of the Dragonicia Crest. There was also the fact that Leida was the leader of her crest, which explains why she was sitting down on the largest chair and being personally served by her retainers.

Interestingly, Klauna had the smallest seat of all the generals in the room. It's that way not because the people in the village hated Analysts. No, it was simply because Leida wanted to get back at her for her foul play in their duel. Not that it matters, Klauna wasn't even sitting down. She just stood there, her hands on top of the large table, looking at the map of the area with a serious expression.

Klauna's presence alone sparked both great interest and great detest among the Ak'hims that were gathered there. Interest from the mercenaries and reserve army who saw an Analyst being both a General and wielding a great relic. Detest from the Familias who despise Analysts.

The Familias, composed of mostly nobles and strong influential people, wanted to challenge the Analyst. Though their bad intentions were put to an end when rumours of Klauna beating Leida in a duel spread among everyone in the village. This meant that Klauna was technically the strongest Ak'him in the whole continent. Much to Leida's dismay who knew that Klauna cheated.

There was one silver lining to all of this, in that the Seventh Army have found themselves some new recruits. A bunch of Analysts, Warriors and about a few hundred Succours who wished to join the Seventh Army. Analysts from the reserves who were inspired by Harbin and Klauna. Warriors who owed Lionel a debt and wish to repay him. Succours from Lina's Familia who were loyal followers of hers— the fact that she lost her wings has not dampened their loyalty at all.

With all the new recruits, the Seventh Army was now two thousand soldiers strong. 

"To think they will push out this far… These numbers…" one of the officers said out in the meeting.

"They are killing everyone as well. Soldiers or civilians be damned," another officer said.

"How can you continue to let them do this? Aren't you soldiers supposed to defend the kingdom?!" A big shot from a Familia yelled out. 

"Silence you foul heathens. Can't you see? Our efforts of evacuation are being met to their best capabilities! If you are not here to provide constructive feedback then you are free to do what you see fit; out in the heat of battle," Saladis snapped at the ignorant Familias.

"..." The Familia representatives went quiet at her scolding.

As Saladis says, Prashyufa aside, the evacuation of the cities to the north and south aren't doing so well, but they were met to the best of the Ak'hims' capabilities. Soldiers upon soldiers from the Alliance poured into their territories and started claiming every land for themselves. It seemed that they were in a rush to claim land for their own country. 

Every single Ak'him, regardless if they are soldiers or not, were being slayed by the Alliance. Despite their best efforts, the remaining armies cannot contest such numbers. Tens of thousands of demons died in the hand of the Alliance who were still pushing at this exact moment.

"Yeah, we are outnumbered at all fronts. It's going to be hard to contest against the enemies," Aberanis spoke out.

"If numbers are what we lack, then what about recruiting militias? We can do a mass recruit," Cera gave out her thoughts about the matter.

"Ssssupplement our forces with militiasssss? That may be a viable plaaaannnn, If we recruit enough, we can match their numbersssss…” Shieska, the Lamia general, offered her opinion on the matter.

The idea started gaining traction around the table, with many in agreement to it. That momentum was stopped when Klauna who had been quiet the whole time spoke out against it. “Motion denied. A bunch of untrained army at this point might as well be no different than the fools at Prashyufa. It will only eat into our precious resources that will be better utilized to continue the campaign in other forms or ways.” 

“I am in agreement with Lord General the Seventh. Time and resources are something that we cannot spare at this point. Numbers on paper do not equate strength,” Saladis backed Klauna up.

“Understood, General Klauna,” Cera nodded at Klauna’s explanation.

“If that’s the case then what do we do, Analyst?!” A Familia representative shouted.

Though it wasn’t Klauna who responded. It was Aberanis, the general of the second army. “Maybe… if we split up each army to meet with each of their armies instead? We can hold all the positions and form a battle line. We are Ak’hims after all, we should be able to win against a superiorly numbered foe.” 

“As long as we play safe and retreat as necessary right?” Kazakiel challenged Aberanis.

“Yes, of course. We can’t afford to lose more than what we can afford,” Aberanis replied.

“I don’t think we will be defeated by mere humans, rock collectors and gardeners,” Parash said, supporting the second general.

Once again, the idea started gaining traction around the table with many of the people inside discussing the plan and how to go about it. Once again, it was halted by Klauna who spoke:

“Rejected. It’s a stupid decision to fight outnumbered. Always was, always will. It may work out in the beginning when we are fighting farmers with sticks, but now? Why exactly do you think that this is a good idea? It never worked out ever since their counteroffensive. The Battle of Fate and what is happening right now is proof enough that it doesn’t. If we go with this, we will only meet defeat.”

“Aren’t you being a little too pretentious here? To say we will lose befor—”

“We will lose. If we can win by doing so, then we would have won the war six months ago. Our conditions there were similar. I’ll even say it was much easier then, we aren’t outnumbered ten to one like we are now,” Klauna replied with a stern voice, silencing Aberanis’ argument.

“Arghh! All you do is say no. If you are so smart then tell us your plan then, Analyst!” One of the Familia’s representatives had enough and yelled at Klauna.

Klauna stared back at the map of the Kingdom. She then started pointing at positions within the map. “... the enemies are in the same situation as us. They are splitting their forces to cover as much ground as they could. I expect each detachment to range from five thousand to ten thousand troops.” 

“...so?”

“I suggest we split our total forces into two; each eight thousand to nine thousand wide. The rest will remain in Dragonsmourne to cover our flanks or prevent the enemy from cutting deeper. That way we can easily match the enemy’s number. With enough luck, we can outnumber them, netting us easy victories. Move fast enough and we can take on multiple detachments and save as many people as we can,” Klauna gave out her idea.

“That’s! If we do that then we won’t be able to contest all the areas! That is contrary to our objectives!” Aberanis the second general argued back.

“We simply have to pick and prioritize which area to contest and evacuate. We can’t save everyone,” Klauna said back, her voice was cold.

“You are telling us to abandon our people?! To ask them to fend for themselves?” Aberanis shouted back.

“Absurd! What kind of idea is that?!”
“Yeah. We are soldiers. How can we abandon our people!”
“Choose and prioritise? That’s no plan!”

Various officers and representatives started yelling back as well. It was then followed by an uproar, with people demanding that Klauna be stripped of her rank for even just saying that.

*BAM!

The entire room was silenced when Klauna slammed the table with her fist in a rare bout of anger. The large rounded table cracked and gave way to her powerful strike. “Then would you rather have us lose all of our armies instead?! All of us are going to die then!”

Her yell echoed across the room. One could even hear it from the outside. Everyone in the room went silent; not because they were afraid of her or shocked at her sudden voice. But rather, it was because some sort of unknown pressure was on them. The people in the room could be seen visibly confused. She wasn’t letting out any aura, and yet they felt the air heavy as if crushing them. Even the retainers outside the room could be seen shivering in fear.

The few people that were not affected by this unknown pressure remained silent, some of them murmuring to each other.. Leida, Aberanis, Parash, Cera, Kazakiel, Saladis, some mercenaries, and the other generals could be seen not affected by it. Harbin was affected by it though, but she somehow managed to stay composed despite all of it.

“If you all have a better plan then I’m ready to hear it. Else you are all just barking meaningless words. If you aren’t satisfied then the door is that way,” Klauna berated them, pointing at the entrance of the room.

Cera had often wondered why she could not talk back to Klauna during the meeting at Fort Kron. But now she understood why. For some reason, after she had awakened, she was able to see the true extent of people’s power. With these very eyes, she could see that Klauna was indeed letting out a burst. It was invisible to others, but Cera could see it very clearly now for some reason. She could also see a similar aura on the other generals, invisible ones.

Leida was the first person to speak up in the situation. She let out a sigh before standing up from her chair. “Don’t be like that Ticah. You are scaring the weaklings,” Leida said with an expressionless face, her arms folded and her head held high.

“Then, Liliel. Does the strong have anything to say?” Klauna said back, locking her eyes onto Leida.

Eye contact which soon broke as Leida turned away to face Aberanis and Parash. “She’s right. We can’t save everyone. I agree with her plan.”

“I… cannot accept this Leida. To do this,” Parash replied, lips curved into a frown.

“Someone has to make the hard choices, right?” Leida said, momentarily peaking her eye at Klauna. “You can blame it on me, my love. I am the whole reason we got into this mess in the first place. All because I did not confront Sylendri when I could. Their deaths are on my hands.”

Leida then turned around to stare back at Klauna. “Their deaths will be on your hand as well. We are partners in crime now,” Leida’s playful and mischievous smile was nowhere to be found. On her face was the look of displeasure and sadness.  

Klauna only kept quiet at the matter. Leida was right. There was indeed blood in her hands.  But better their blood than the blood of the ones she cares about.