Steel and Mana

Chapter 173 – 3000 vs 300

"Are you sure about this, Commander?" Polo asked, standing with multiple other company leaders within Pion's tent, listening to his instructions.

"I am 99% sure that they are preparing for an invasion." He nodded, "From what I can tell, by counting the number of times their soldiers skirted by our borders, it is evident that they are ready to move their troops. We will hold our ground and let none of them gain any land. Got it?"

"Yes!" The others saluted, some of the troop leaders smiling, holding their helmets under their arms. "It is finally time to show we were not trained and fed for our pretty eyes."

"That is true." Pion chuckled. "Polo, your job is to go with the other scouts and tell the other outposts to burn all the crossing points. We will leave only this bridge standing and give them this as the sole option to try to come through."

"Yes, Sir!" He saluted, and although he wanted to stay and be part of the main conflict, he was now a soldier, and he knew that refusing orders was the straight way to be kicked out of the army. Even if Pion looked at him as a member of his family, he knew that he wouldn't hesitate to do so.

"Good. Baron Elliot's forces will guard the rest of the border, patrolling day and night, while our main force will converge here. They should be good enough to catch anybody who tries to slip by. Any questions?"

"Will we use the Lion?" One of the soldiers asked, making the others lean in, wanting to hear Pion's answer as soon as it left his mouth.

"No. For now, this is a border dispute between barons. No need to alert the royal family because of it. If the Lion walks through the borders, we shall be ready to face a real army, not some peasants dressed up as warriors."

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"They burned all of them?" Levy asked, arms crossed, listening to the morning reports of his soldiers.

"Yes, general! We checked all of them; any crossing we had were demolished, and there were hundreds of soldiers stationed at the other side. They appeared overnight, patrolling everywhere!"

"What type of soldiers? Armored ones?"

"No, they look like regular troops."

"Those must be the baron's forces. Mhm. Just as I guessed, they are only putting up a front at the main bridge leading into their territory. We will go through there!"

"General?" His men asked, unsure if that was a good idea. Those fully armored knights looked way too dangerous.

"Think. We have the numbers advantage. If we can push them out and away, their morale will be shattered with one battle, and we can do whatever we want. Don't forget to send out the news that we are doing this to ensure all those refugees are treated like humans! They are now citizens of Ishillia, even if their eyes are slanted in the wrong direction. We will go in to uphold justice and punish the nobles if they are massacring Her Majesty's subjects."

While Levy Tobrok was preparing his forces to push through, his father finally received the letter from the Zimmermann family, signed and stamped by Matilda herself. At first, he expected support and some orders on how to deal with the issue, but instead, it was a warning to do nothing and wait for her arrival.

"She is coming here?" He sat up straight, rereading the letter and feeling a bit apprehensive. Why would she do that? He would have understood if one of her sons had been sent down; it had happened before, but Matilda Zimmerman herself? That only happened once before, right when she got named the leader of her family.

He immediately called for his aides, asking them to prepare for the welcoming of the countess, preparing their best dishes, rooms, and anything that would be up to the standard of somebody with the title of Earl. While slightly panicking, he was scribbling in a hurry, sending word to his son to stop whatever he was planning; he only hoped that it wasn't too late.

But it was.

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In the early morning, three hundred fully armored warriors from Avalon were standing ready and in battle-ready formations at their end of the broad, stone bridge. The front row had people with massive, two-handed tower shields, while their comrades, right behind them, held onto long, iron pikes, read to impale anything that came their way. It was their first time using one of their battle tactics that they only memorized before, called a phalanx. But, right now, in the midst of it all, there was no Avalonian soldier who didn't feel excited and confident in their victory. No matter how many enemies were amassing at the other side of the bridge, they only knew one thing: They would hold their ground, and they would hold it until their last breath.

On the other bank of the river, Levy was placing his soldiers strategically, knowing that to break through, he would need to push open their front gates, so to speak. For this, he already decided to use his troops in rotation, whittling down the enemy's energies and stamina, using his number's advantage. It was the safest method, one that he was utterly confident in. At first, he wanted to use his cavalry, but seeing the heavy shields and the sea of pikes, he knew that would be suicide, and he wasn't about to lose his well-trained, valuable troops over simple conscripts.

His other fear was more simple, the bridge itself. But, no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't see a scenario where they could damage it and make it collapse under his troops. Of course, at first, he tried to appeal to them, sending over multiple messengers, giving them chances to give up and open the border for a rightful inspection, but they didn't receive any answers besides cold stares and a resounding 'HOORAH' from the fighters behind their shields.

"Let's let the rain fall down on them!" Levy chuckled while his aid blew his horn, signaling their bowmen to start the attack.

A moment later, thousands of arrows were shot into the sky, and although many fell short or into the river, some overshot their targets. Still, hundreds did reach the Avalonian lines.

"Do you guys hear something?" The captain of the phalanx asked, making his comrades chuckle, answering in a firm no.

"It's just rain, captain, nothing serious."

"Mhm, thought so!"

It really only felt like rain because the moment the horn sounded, they changed their pikes into shields, covering themselves while the arrows simply bounced off of them, barely making any dent or chip in their defenses. Standing in his position, Pion watched as some arrows were coming towards him, and although there was a tinge of fear in his heart at that moment, he quickly discarded it, trusting his Sovereign. Without moving, he let the whistling arrow hit his armor, watching it break apart, unable to penetrate the demonic scales he was wearing.

"I experienced worse punches in training." He scoffed, feeling even more confident than at the start of the conflict.

Seeing how it was ineffective, Levy couldn't help but furrow his brows, feeling a bit apprehensive all of a sudden, but there was no way he would back down. With a few more ineffective volleys, he raised his hand, and new horns were blown, sending his men forward.

When he gave his signal, and the first wave began marching, it showed very quickly that the conscripted, regular people with old chainmail garbs, wooden shields if they were lucky or just a spear if they were not, meant nothing before the iron wall they were bashing their heads against. A dozen soldiers were impaled like tofu when they got close enough, with the defending soldiers stabbing out, their weapons piercing the wooden shields, splintering their chainmail, and impaling their bodies with ease.

Soon, it was the wails and painful screams of men that echoed everywhere as the massive soldiers flung them off their spears like wet sponges right into the river that began turning red from the bodies piling up in it way too quickly. Even if some reached the end and managed to strike against the shield bearers, their weapons broke, and the skin between their fingers splintered open. No matter where they looked, there was no gap between their lines, and they could only see cold, sinister, glowing eyes looking back at them from little holes before multiple spears slid forward, splitting multiple poor bastards' heads right open, spilling grey matter everywhere.

"Signal for the second wave to prepare for march!" Levy ordered, sitting on his horse, watching from not that far away, expecting something like this, knowing that it would take a few tries to tire the enemy out… but he was sure of his tactic. He had the manpower. It had to work!

"Commander, should we fire upon them?" One of the Avalonian soldiers asked, standing atop their battlements between Pion and one of the Dragonfire Cannons. "We could demolish the bridge while they are on it."

"No, the bridge must remain intact." He answered swiftly. "It is an integral part of the infrastructure; we can't bother rebuilding it and waste resources. Aim towards their backside! Target their cavalry, and the better-armored sods, hiding behind these poor peasants. This is a waste of precious lives that could serve Avalon… Thinking about that alone makes me angry."

"Sir, yes, sir!" He saluted, shouting his orders, watching Pion stand unflinching when the cannons finally came to life, roaring like angry dragons.

The sudden thunder was something that made Levy freeze up on his horse, and even the animal didn't realize what was happening at first. Did Levy know the concept of canons? Yes. He had heard of magical weapons of mass destruction used by the wealthiest of dukes and the Imperial Army, but he had never once seen or heard of one going off. They were not in a state where it would be possible, yet… they were being fired upon by them? Suddenly, he felt cold sweat trickle down his spine just when his horse finally buckled, throwing him off its back.

"General!" His men shouted, but they were fighting to control their own steeds, witnessing utter chaos and carnage ensuing before their eyes.

Only four cannons were present, not even those they were using against the more massive beasts, but their minor variants, only capable of taking in two CCs as ammunition. Yet the destruction they were dishing out was something that already broke the enemy's lines. The first explosions landed directly in Levy's main force, those thousand soldiers who were trained professionals thought to be the ones who would break through the weakened enemy defenses… yet instead, it was their bodies that were broken apart. Many were split into multiple pieces, mixing with the innards of their horses, blood, guts, and smashed bones littering the ground, along with the desperate moans of those unlucky ones who survived the initial explosion and were now burning alive. The smell of burning flesh, the stench of it melting together with their armor, quickly spread through the battlefield, reaching Levy's nostrils. Then came the second volley, not giving them any time to process what was happening, being just as devastating as the first one…

"Aim at the middle." Pion ordered with one raise of his hand, and the third attack landed amongst the bulk of the gathering army, killing multiple dozens at one impact while seriously injuring twice as many.

"The Lion alone could decimate them." The cannon operator beside him mumbled, his voice filled with awe while they were dealing out the shocking part.

"That it would. Even if they are armored, these people's beliefs are less than those of beasts. They had already given up. Stop the cannons for now, and let them cool down! Look at these sorry bastards…" Pion said with a shrug, his voice filled with disappointment and contempt, watching the panicking enemy lines, people throwing down their weapons, wanting to run away, surrendering or jumping straight into the bloody, corpse-filled river.

"Should we attack?" Came another question, shouting from down below, from the captain of the central phalanx.

"No!" Pion hollered back. "Keep formation; our orders are to guard our land! Let them try again if they want to take it, but we are not going over to them!"

"Like they would have the balls." The captain snorted. "We barely even got the chance to exercise our muscles!" He grunted, making the rest of the soldiers laugh around him as they looked at the carnage on the other side, pitying those who decided to go against Avalon and their Sovereign.