Chapter 48: Destroy The Bridge

 

Things have been very tense as of late. Despite their victories over the Alliance, it did very little to slow their invasion of Kingdom soil. Tens of thousands more demons left to die as the Ak'hims scrambled to save as many citizens as they could. The atmosphere in the camp turned grim and everyone was starting to get frustrated, impatient. 

The way that humans tore into their territory, it was as if they were there to kill all of them. The Ak'hims were starting to think the worst. That the war will never end. That if they lose, literally everyone will die.

Even Klauna, the one who was renowned for her patience and her uncaring attitude can be seen quite agitated about the matter. Her burst of anger was more frequently seen as of late. Something had happened to cause her to be this way. The soldiers had assumed that perhaps it was that time of the month for her. Harbin, on the other hand, thought differently. She thought that maybe the weight of her decisions, all those that she left to die was starting to get to her. 

Understandable. Klauna is a person just like everyone else. As much as they like to think that Klauna was this perfect one-man army with no emotions and this cold hard logical tactician, it wasn't true, she has her own flaws. Although appearing cold and distant, she has emotions and was not immune to decreasing morale. Harbin could be seen never leaving her side during these times, the happy and cheerful smile she had, replaced with a grim outlook and fear of their future.

Currently, the armies were setting camp in a small abandoned town near a great chasm. The chasm is so large that it split the lands into two, separating the east and west side of the Kingdom. The raging river at the bottom of the gorge only served to make the chasm bigger and deeper as time went by. Big was pretty much an understatement to describe the chasm. One can basically place one hundred dragons in it and it will still not be enough to fill the chasm.

To accompany such a big front of nature was a construction that was just as big as it— a passageway between the east and the west side. A construct wide enough to fit several carriages side by side. It would then take those carriages about ten minutes to completely cross the chasm.

The Grand Bridge.

The First Demon Lord and his engineers had built a grand bridge over the chasm, connecting the two separated land. Legend says that he made a deal with the Supremes— gods, to make such a construct possible. Historians debated whether this was true or if the feat was thanks to the engineers of the time. Nonetheless, the bridge was a very ancient and culturally important bridge to the Ak'hims. It was pretty much a national treasure.

Without this bridge, one would have to make an insane trek over to the north or south to get to the other side. The bridge was without a doubt a valuable strategic location. One that both sides are sure to contest over. The problem was how will the Ak'hims with their lack of numbers and resources, protect the bridge?

"Blow the bridge," Klauna said to the room. The officers of the Second, Third and Seventh army were in it.

"Of course…" Harbin muttered to herself after listening to those words. Don't need to protect the bridge if there is no bridge. If the Ak'hims can't have the bridge then no one can. It was a very Klauna thing to do. 

Aberanis has his eyes wide at her response.  "Are… Are you bloody serious about this?

"Of course she's serious about it. When was the last time we did not blow something up? It's our motto at this point," Parash replied.

"I know that… It's just, I thought this would be the one thing you know…" Aberanis replied, still a little bit shocked at her decision.

It wasn't just him either, complicated expressions could be seen all over the room. There weren't many Ak’hims that have not traverse through this bridge at least once during their lifetimes. It was that important. To blow up the bridge only meant that they were THAT desperate. 

The bridge was nigh irreplaceable at this point, and even if a new bridge could be built, it would take them a great undertaking of resource and effort. It also meant that Klauna thinks that the Ak'hims will never use the grand bridge ever again in the future. The plan implied that it was worthless to them after this point. Such a decision could impact the morale of the soldiers even further. And not just the soldiers either, the citizens as well.

Yet, Klauna stood firm in her decision. "We need all the time we can get. Destroy this bridge and we get a few more weeks to evacuate the civilians further."

"You know what this means right? If we destroy this bridge, it also means that we are dooming the thousands of civilians that have yet to be evacuated from the east," Kazakiel brought forth his concerns on the matter.

Klauna stared at the numerous markers on the map. Various towns and civilian caravans that were still making their way west. To safety. 

"...if they aren't on this side of the country at this point, then they are pretty much doomed already. There is no way in hell that the humans will let any of us pass the bridge once they claim it." 

"Even still… how do we explain this to the men? There are bound to be some objections. This isn't like the other times. We are actively abandoning them..." Aberanis called out his concerns.

"Tell them it is on me. That I forced you all to do it. I'll take the downfall on this matter."

The room was silent. No objection to her decision, no agreement either. One vote to zero. Klauna nodded and began explaining her plan to the officers. The room could be seen as usual, somewhat amazed, yet apprehensive at her plan. It was unorthodox, to say the least, but they know her style very well at this point to say anything back.

Harbin only stared at Klauna with worried expressions and shoulders slumped.  She was very concerned about Klauna's condition. Though there was nothing she could do about it.

 

* * * * *

 

Klauna stood at the edge of the east side of the bridge. Using the bridge was tens of thousands of civilians making their way across. She could see caravans upon caravans filled to the brim with Ak'hims and their belongings. The Ak'hims that were there had lifeless eyes and were moving as if they had no purpose. The sight almost brought Harbin to tears.

It was at this moment that Cera came by to give her report. "General Klauna, evacuations are almost complete, this is the last batch. We will be ready to blow the bridge in ten minutes."

"Thanks for the hard work, Cera," Harbin said to her.

Klauna didn't respond, only nodded at her before looking eastwards. Suddenly, the sight of inferno and smoke could be seen in the distance. It was soon followed by the strong winds from the blast and the roaring sounds of explosions. It was the traps that the Second and Third Army laid to delay the Alliance.

"Just in time. Cera, get everyone to prepare themselves. Follow the plan, we'll hold the bridge until the Second and Third Army gets to the other side. Then we will lure as many of them as we can before blowing up the bridge," Klauna gave her orders.

"Roger!" Cera saluted before running off.

"Harbin, I need a favour from you." 

Giving off a determined look, Harbin stood strong and gave Klauna a salute, waiting for her orders.

"... I need you to gather all the Analysts and prepare the 'Force Multiplicator'."

"...are you sure this will work, Lord Klauna? The spell hasn’t been fined tuned yet. We don't know what will actually happen," Harbin replied. 

Klauna ruffled Harbin's head. "There won't be a better time to test it than now. You'll be the main coordinator of the spell. I'm counting on you, Harbin.”

"... Roger that. I won't let you down, Lord Klauna," Harbin said as she immediately sprinted off to the west as well.

"I know you won't," Klaunna muttered in silence as she too got into position. She stood in the middle of the bridge— the Spear and Banner Indominatus raised high for all to see.

Soon enough, Cera and Kazakiel arrived with their elites and got into formation behind Klauna. They then drew out their weapons and waited on standby.

Across from them, one could see more infernos and explosions popping up over in the distance. Soon they saw a big group of Cunnings and Saboteurs running towards the bridge from the hills and the forest. It was the bulk of the Second and Third army who were sent there to delay the Alliance approach. They made their way swiftly past Klauna's forces at the middle of the bridge. 

The last group to pass the bridge brought with them a few human squads who ran ahead to chase them. They were swiftly killed by Klauna and her forces.

Soon, more and more Alliance soldiers came out from the woods. They poured in from almost every direction and were running towards one area in particular: The Grand Bridge. Their presence led to the sounding of a large horn from the Ak'him's side.

The horn then invited a large number of magical ordinance from the air to land on the Alliance soldiers that were charging towards the bridge. Although blown apart to pieces, there were some that managed to get past and assault the forces on the bridge.

They were also, subsequently handled by Klauna and her forces. No alliance soldiers were getting through the bridge alive.

The status quo remained until the bulk of the Alliance soldiers arrived. This included their magic corp which immediately set up interception spells to counter the artillery barrage made by the Ak'hims. With their arrival, came the arrival of an ominous shroud which prevents Succours from flying.

The enemies then formed up into proper formations before charging the bridge in an attempt to get rid of the small annoying forces at the middle of the bridge. Their main aim was to cross to the other side and secure the bridge. Victory would be theirs at that point. 

Klauna and her group of elites held well, but they were slowly being pushed back by the equally desperate Alliance soldiers. The situation was made worse when a certain group of Heroes arrived at the scene. It was the Prince and his companions. The greatest Warriors of the Alliance.

Klauna, Cera, and Kazakiel clashed with these heroes and proved themselves to be of equal fighting strength. Though Cera and Kazakiel were only helping on technicality.  The big battle was between Klauna and the Heroes who were specifically aiming for her. The others were just buying time and separating the other demons from reaching Klauna's side.

"Finally, the demon with the mighty banner. You will pay for your sins today!" A priestess, the Prince's lover and aide yelled to Klauna.

"..." Klauna didn't reply to them as she wasn't in the mood for idle conversation during a fight. Instead, she concentrated fully on avoiding their attacks and finding openings to strike them down.

"...my brother… I'll kill you!" One of the Prince's companions, an Elven Princess yelled out in rage as she shot a large arrow condensed with magic towards Klauna. It was, of course, deflected easily by her.

The Heroes never stopped mocking her, yelling out in anger and throwing insults at her.  Some of them even mentioned things that Klauna didn't understand. It wasn't a plot or ploy to anger her or to catch her off guard or anything. It was simply pure uncontrollable hatred for her and her existence.

However, one word did catch Klauna off guard. During one of her mighty clashes against the human Prince where he took the time to lash out in anger. "My father, my uncle, my teacher… Don't you have anything to say, you murderer?!"

The word ‘murderer’ made Klauna pause. It was a short pause, but enough for the prince to push her back. If it wasn't for her impenetrable force field, Klauna would have gotten injured.

The Prince caught up on this before proceeding to talk more stuff at Klauna, in hopes of getting more reactions like that. "I will avenge them, you bloody murderer!"

It was unfortunate for him that Klauna was not one to make the same mistake twice. In his poor decision to shout out at her, Klauna managed to close the gap and blew him away. 

It was at this moment that good news came for the demons.

"Lord Klauna, the spell is ready!" Harbin's yell could be heard from the tiny notebook within Klauna's pocket.

"Let it rip!" Klauna responded.

Harbin replied with a roger before starting to chant. A choir of chants was then heard through the grimoire.

The Heroes heard the chanting as well and was scrambling in order to prevent it from finishing. It was a futile attempt as they did not understand where the source of the chanting was coming from. Attacking Klauna yielded zero results as she maintained a perfect defence all the way through.

The chant grew louder and louder until only one voice remained. Harbin's voice, the coordinator of the mass spell. "The strength of hundreds into one. Witness the culmination of our strength! FORCE MULTIPLICATOR!"

The skies split apart and a stream of light flew right onto Klauna's location. The small notebook within Klauna's pocket glowed, the red light so bright it was visible from the outside. The stream of light as if guided by the notebook then landed on Klauna, giving off a deafening roar.

The stream soon dispersed and what was left was Klauna glowing red just like the notebook within her pocket. She then let out a burst— the biggest burst that one has ever seen. Magical power seeped out of her pores uncontrollably. Strands of dark reddish fumes burst out of her. The winds raged with her as the focal point and the air felt heavy. The ominous winds were also blasted away, replaced with Klauna's sheer display of magical power. Or rather, the culmination of magical powers from hundreds of Analysts into one avatar.

With a single swing of Indominatus, a large crescent wave filled the entire bridge, sending the Alliance soldiers flying and tumbling. Some even fell to the depths below.

Cera and Kazakiel called for their soldiers to retreat from the bridge. The final phase of the plan was at hand. They had very little time left. The grade eight grand spell Force Multiplicator, although strong, only lasts a short while. This was their one and only chance to retreat.

This was also noticed by the Heroes and the Alliance soldiers who double down on their assault. More men poured in onto the bridge in an attempt to fight brute force with brute force. In a way, the plan worked. Klauna was forced to stay there and delay the enemies in order to buy time for her subordinates to escape. 

Klauna launched wave after wave of devastating strikes that decimated entire battalions of enemies, but more kept pouring in. The Heroes were annoyingly resistant to her attacks as well, constantly surviving and disrupting her patterns.

After a long struggle, the burst finally ran out and Klauna was left alone on the bridge, taking deep breaths to calm her breathing down. The Prince saw this moment to strike and lunged straight at Klauna.

The attack proved ineffectual as the blade struck some sort of wall— a red translucent hexagonal field that surrounded Klauna like a suit of full body armour. She then stood there, no fear in her eyes. It's like she knew that the people there could not harm her no matter how hard they tried.

"Move forward men! Claim the bridge! We'll hold her down!" The Prince yelled out to his other men. They then started charging towards the other end of the bridge. Victory was pretty much theirs at this point.

Klauna let out a scoff at his decision. It was heard by the other Heroes as well.

"What are you laughing at, murderer? Your soldiers and generals have abandoned you. This is over!" The Elven Princess said as she shot an arrow towards Klauna. It bounced off harmlessly over the hexagonal force field.

"Medica, Lina, you Succours, I'm counting on you. Blackmask, Balestra. Blow the bridge. That's an order," Klauna said to the notebook. She then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

The Prince heard her words loud and clear. He then realised the mistake he had made. A big look of regret was on his face.

However, it was too late at that point. Before he could even move, the ground beneath shook and the sound of explosions was heard. Cracks started to appear beneath the bridge before the bridge broke into pieces. Every single one of them fell down into the chasm below.

This included Klauna who has her eyes closed the entire time. She could feel her hair ruffling as the winds passed by her ears. She stayed in that position for what felt like minutes before her body was yanked up by an external force.

"I got her! Lord Lina! Order the retreat!"

"Got it. You lots bring her to safety now you hear me?! Any injuries and you talk to me," Lina's voice was heard as well.

Klauna opened her eyes to see Medica carrying her by the arms. Klauna took this moment to look around and saw a few hundred Succours in the air, looking for a specific person. Their search was over when a flare from Lina’s location was launched. It was then followed by a horn, the Ak'him signal to retreat. Presumably rung by Lina, as well. Klauna then looked below only to see thousands of Alliance soldiers falling to their doom. Including the group of Heroes who stared at her with disgust and anger.

'Murderer huh…' Klauna thought to herself.

Those that survived that day spoke of a demon with a mighty banner that fought an entire army alone.