Chapter 26: Flanking Manoeuvres

 

The battle with the Ak'hims and the Alliance raged on. It was pure chaos as the demons plough through the humans. Large magic artillery shells flew above the skies. The ground erupted and blood spilt within the cracked soil. Small scale explosions occurred as the leaders of the armies clash in a deadly duel.

The demon army, despite their low numbers, when compared to the alliance, proved to be rather effective. The Demon Lord, Sylendri and her upper echelons were out on the battlefield themselves, tearing apart the humans and their allies. With a single swing and a defiant roar, tens of humans were sent flying into the air.

Sylendri herself was a powerful figure in the battle. She single-handedly destroyed divisions after divisions with her overwhelming power.

Within the chaos was Harbin's battalion laying bombardment shells under the cover of the other shells, timing the strikes to coincide with the other Ak'hims bombardment. Her orders were simple, bombard the enemies without getting their position found out. She was to stop bombarding immediately once things got too risky. Her position was of utmost importance for the latter plan of Klauna's plan.

With heavy heart and uncertainty, Harbin ordered the soldiers under her to launch the strikes at a certain target: the Alliance army that was approaching to flank the Ak'hims on the east side. She must prevent as many enemies from breaking through.

Far away on the west side of the battlefield were Klauna and Cera, together with the battalions under them. They were protecting the flanks against the humans on this side. Their goal was to hold these positions for as long as possible.

Flanks are one of the most important parts of these kinds of large scale battles. If the Alliance can breach through these two positions then the enemies will be able to surround the demons in a concave. Which meant more of the demon army can get hit by more humans. It will only mean that the humans will win faster.

Klauna's thought pattern was that if the demons were going to die anyway, they might as well die taking out as many humans as possible. Her objective was to prolong the battle as long as possible, to kill as many people as she could on the Alliance side. Her main goal was that the Alliance count their losses and end the war in a stalemate— ending this nonsense bloodshed.

“Arghhhh!” A man screamed incoherently as he was cut down by a demon.

Cera immediately swung her sword in another direction and cut another human in half. She then dodged to the side in order to avoid an attack. Using her momentum, she stepped on the ground and in a dash proceeded to cut the attacker in half as well. 

Having cleared out the enemy in her immediate area, she then took this time to catch her breath. Once caught, she observed the battlefield. Her battalion was fighting against a human battalion. They were equal in numbers to them so it was an easy victory.

It was easy because of a few reasons. One reason being is because demons are simply more powerful than humans, physical and magical wise. This was further compounded by the fact that the troops from the Seventh Army gathered here on this day were hardened veterans, trained for years and forged by months of battles and losses. They will not be defeated so easily here.

*Boom!

However, the other reason that they were winning the small skirmish was none other than the figure that Cera was observing at this moment. Klauna who easily jumped high into the air and, like a meteor, fell back down, causing huge explosions and craters to form on the ground, disrupting the enemy's formation.

Diving deep into enemy lines, the humans have no other choice but to focus on her. But Klauna only gave them a swift death. With each swing of the Warrior Spear Indominatus, large shockwaves appeared and blast the humans away. It was done with such grace and skill as well. Immediately after a strike, it will be followed up with another strike. 

It was just as strong as Lionel's mighty strikes. But unlike his, the strikes made by Klauna were so beautifully weaved into each other that it left her with no opening.

It was unending as well. Once the area around her was cleared from humans, she would jump into the air and land an enormous crater on another group of enemies. She kept going like this for what feels like forever, never taking a moment to gather her breath. The banner of the Seventh Army waved all over the battlefield.

Her assault only ended when the humans managed to launch an anti-air ball towards her as she leapt into the air. Even then, she easily dodged the ball and landed safely back under the cover of her own men. Seeing that Klauna has finally landed back to the ground, Cera took this time to reach Klauna. She was soon proven hard to reach as Klauna immediately charged forward to the humans, leaving Cera to chase her phantom.

Every strike she did cleaved through the humans as if she was a butcher cutting meat. Her momentum finally stopped when someone managed to deflect her strike. An opening was made and another human jumped in immediately to strike her down.

"General Klauna!" Cera shouted at her as she tried to make her way there.

Her worries were pointless though. Klauna easily dodged the strike before decapitating both the humans in one quick swing of her spear. Klauna then turned around to face Cera who was just barely outside her reach, looking at Klauna with her jaws drop.

"What's wrong?" Klauna asked Cera. Her back facing the enemies as if she didn't care at all.

"...no nothing. Just that things are going well as per plan," Cera said as she finished moving to Klauna's side.

"Agreed. Though, we can probably take on more of them. Get the others to re-consolidate, we might strike at the enemy's flank instead, but make sure we have our retreat route secured," Klauna said before turning around and swinging her spear at a group of humans who thought they could strike her when she wasn't looking at them.

A large and violent shock wave appeared and blew the humans back. They flung in the air like ragdolls before landing harshly on the ground. They ceased to move after that, presumably dead.

Cera just watched in awe as she saw the woman that she only knew as a drunkard easily dispatching the enemies in front of her. 

"What's wrong? We are still on the battlefield. It's dangerous to lose concentration like that. It's very unlike you," Klauna said as she moved closer to inspect if Cera had sustained any injuries. The rest of the battalion covered the two from any approaching humans.

"... I didn't really give it much thought before… but you are pretty strong," Cera said. 

"Hmm… Yeah, I guess I am," Klauna replied as she continued to check Cera’s condition, not really caring about what she was saying.

Cera was one of the stronger ones in the whole army. But Klauna's strength totally eclipsed her. It wasn't that Cera was weak or anything. She’s been training her whole life under the best of people and actively honed her skill to no end. 

It's just that Klauna was too strong. 

Cera wasn't surprised about it either. The signs were there. Lord Lionel saying that she's beaten him in a duel, the fact that she could do a solo artillery act and single-handedly kill the enemy general and his companions at Fort Kron and then there was also the most recent of events where she took the full brunt of the Demon Lord without a single scratch on her.

"How… Are you so strong? I never heard of an Analyst that is this strong. Ah! I don't mean to insult you of course,” Cera retracted her words in a flustered state.

"... It's just the difference of experience.” Klauna said without much care as she finished checking on Cera. 

“Come on, we have things to do. Don’t lag behind now." Klauna said before rushing towards the front again.

"Affirmative…” Cera replied softly.

She let out a quiet sigh before slapping her cheeks in order to bring her mind back into the mood again. She then proceeded to tell the rest of her officers to relay Klauna's new orders— to flank the enemy instead.

The two battalions pushed onwards with caution. Picking and taking fights at their leisure. Making sure not to overextend and keeping their escape path well secured. Not hard to do when they have a literal killing machine mowing down the enemies.

Bit by bit, more and more humans started paying attention to the small group of Ak'hims that were slaying hundreds of soldiers at their flank. At first, they just sent a small army of about two thousand men to deal with it, thinking it wasn't a big deal. An army was enough to deal with their numbers after all.

An army that the veterans of the Seventh Army chew through by forming a defensive line and letting the Analysts mages and Rogues to bombard them. They would also find that Klauna was no easy prey to take down. Focus too much on her, and they leave themselves open to attacks from Cera and the others. Ignoring her only meant that she was allowed to zip through the battlefield as she pleases.

When it came to their knowledge that an army wasn't enough, the Alliance sent another three— this time with elites of their own, great duelists and warriors of the Alliance. They charged and tried to surround the much smaller forces of the Seventh Army. Klauna tried to punish them, but their numbers were too great. When the first few of the Seventh Army started dying from Elven snipers, she decided that enough was enough and called a retreat.

The banner of the Seventh Army raised high as Klauna prepared herself for a big strike— conceptually at least. It looked all fancy with all the swirling and twirling. It was just for show though. Her aim was to attract attention to her instead of her soldiers. 

The enemies launched all sorts of assault and range attacks on her to prevent her 'finishing' her skill. But it was all easily dodged by Klauma who zips around the battlefield. Any attacks that do hit her were prevented by a hexagonal shield that permeated from her body.

Once she deemed that enough time had passed, she launched an attack on the ground which caused a small cloud of dust to form, allowing her to escape. Klauna quickly rejoined her soldiers as they travelled westward towards their pre-planned retreat route. 

An area with very tall grass. 

Balestra and his group of Rogues dashed as they shot a bunch of arrows at the enemies that were chasing after them. However, the enemies were relentless and chased the Seventh Army all the way into the tall grassy fields. Having the terrain on their side, Balestra and the rogues ‘vanished’ into the surroundings before regrouping with Klauna. 

The plan was that tall grass could cover their movement as they retreat. Klauna’s banner would signal the others where her position was. It was a rather smart plan with one small tiny flaw in it...

The enemies could see the banner moving within the tall grassy fields as well.

It was a blunder indeed, a flaw that Klauna didn’t have a solution for. A huge bulk of the Alliance army then gave chase to the Seventh Army, the banner as their beacon. Klauna had hoped that the Ak’hims under her would be faster and would be able to outrun the enemies. But it seemed that the humans weren’t as slow as she first thought. The fatigue that the Seventh Army had built up also didn’t help.

Her choices were to either drop the banner and leave whatever left of the army that hasn’t regrouped with her to fend for themselves or continue running like this and eventually get chased down by the Alliance. Her choice was obvious of course. There was no way she could leave her men to die like that.

And so the Seventh Army kept running and running deeper into the fields. And get caught they did, surrounded by three armies worth of humans and elves. The human elites were the first to catch up with the banner. With a swift dash forward, they charged right at the banner wielder with might and righteousness at their side...

Only to see that the banner was being carried by a large boar who immediately ran away from them. The Seventh Army was nowhere to be found. Huge dumbfounded looks could be seen on the human’s face.

*Boom! *Boom! *Boom! 

Suddenly, several large inferno pillars appeared all over the fields. It was then followed by the shrieking screams of men. Figuring out that it was a trap, the leaders of the army then ordered the men to quickly get out of the field only for more and more pillars to appear. Pillars of fire.

It hasn’t been raining as of late in the Plains of Fate. The grass there was sure to be dry. The torrent of infernos caused an unnatural fire that engulfed the entire field and all the alliance soldiers in it.

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“They… really fell for it…” Cera muttered as she hears the deafening scream of humans and elves being burned alive.

“I feel bad for them though…” Poi commented.

“Better them dead than us I guess,” Balestra gave out a comment as well.

In actuality, the whole army had safely retreated to the tree lines and was watching over the fields from above the small hill. Klauna was not an idiot and neither were her soldiers. They did not need a beacon to rally over, only a direction. 

It was easy to tell her soldiers to run away from the sun, it was still early morning after all. They will eventually get out of the tall grassy fields although separated. Not really a problem, it was simply a matter of time to regroup.

“Save your sympathies, they were not afraid to kill us. We shouldn’t be afraid to do the same as well. Poi, give word to Yuupiecca, we will move out to his position as soon as we regroup completely. Tell Kazakiel to proceed with phase two of the plan,” Klauna gave her orders as she arrived in the area from the fields. On her shoulders was a man.

“Roger!” Poi replied before starting to talk into the pocketbook.

Klauna took this time to softly lay the man down onto the ground. It was one of her soldiers, a Warrior. However, it was too late for him now. He had breathed his last breath during the earlier fight. Klauna took a moment to remember his face before looking away.

“Bury him. Now.” She ordered with a commanding tone.

The only true blunder she made during the fight was that she didn’t call the retreat fast enough.

 

Battle of Fate Result so far:

Ak'hims.           : 10193 Dead.   20147 Soldiers remaining. 
Seventh Army : 26 Dead.         1552 Soldiers remaining. 
Alliance            : 26747 Dead.   72143 Soldiers remaining.