"HURRAH!"
The Dark Elves and the Warriors cheered loudly whereas the Light Elves, the Beastmen and the humans clicked their tongues bitterly. Although the Dark Elf's side still had fewer men than their side did, Stavros's death was a huge loss. Hovarc's presence could still be felt, but they doubted he would ever return. Added to that, the Dark Elf had Layland, the Demon who defeated a Centaur crazed by Natural Essence.
Their chance of victory was still big but given the development, it wouldn't be surprising if they suddenly became the ones running for their lives. The trump cards they brought with them were already revealed and no longer useful. They still had the Paladins on their side, but it was unknown how well they would fare against Layland. The only thing they could count on was their number.
Swoosh!
A fireball split the air, striking one of the Paladins who thought he was invincible. The fireball melted his armour, prompting him to let out a pathetic shriek that contradicted his ego.
"Master succeeded! My partner never disappoints."
The producer of the fireball, Aurelia, smirked in satisfaction as she looked in the direction where Layland's presence could be felt. Layland's red coat that she wore on top of her red dress made the Luxibrae soldiers think she was Layland's apostle. Because of that, a lot of Paladins came at her. They didn't want to leave anyone close to Layland alive.
She didn't mind that at all because the idiots that had been coming at her couldn't even match her in raw power. Killing them had always been child's play for her. The most thing they could do was annoy her. If not for Layland's request, she would assume her Wyvern form and turn everyone into torches.
"Why does he want me to fight with my human form, though? I thought he liked it more when his allies didn't hold back while fighting. This form is very restricting for the current me," she mused while casually blasting a soldier's head with a flick of her finger. "Well, I am not that smart, so I must stop thinking about it. He must have something planned."
Aurelia's assumption was spot on: Layland did have something planned. She didn't know the plan pertained to her status and it was a good thing. She was an unpredictable individual. It was hard to tell how she would react if she knew Layland was using her in advance. She might just shrug it off or snap at him.
Looking around, Aurelia found Arieda struggling against one of the Light Elves. She felt obliged to help the Dark Elf Princess since she was her Master's friend. She appeared on the offending Light Elf's side in the blink of an eye. She was about to chop the Light Elf's head off when Arieda stopped her.
"No, don't kill him! This guy is not a bad person. He knows he is doing the wrong thing."
The exclamation made Aurelia quirk an eyebrow. Her look perfectly portrayed the look Layland would give Arieda if he was there.
"War doesn't care about your feelings, Princess," Aurelia retorted with a faint scoff.
Before Arieda could respond, she swung her hand at the Light Elf's neck, effortlessly chopping it. Arieda looked at the scene in horror before glaring at her disbelievingly. Sighing lightly, she patted Arieda's head. She did what Layland did whenever he didn't want to bother himself with lecturing a na?ve person.
Arieda wanted to protest, but soon realized what she was doing. Aurelia was right: war was not a place where one could put one's emotions forward. As much as it pained the Light Elf to kill her, he would still kill her given the chance. Her mercy wouldn't bring any good to herself. She would only give him a chance to kill her by trying to "save him."
"You need to be strong to be a good person. Being a good person is tiring. That guy was a weak bastard and so are you. You still don't have the privilege to show mercy upon those who target your life."
Aurelia recalled how her mother's life ended as she said those words. Her mother was weak; therefore, her kindness killed her. It took strength to be kind to others. One shouldn't pity others when one was just as pathetic. This world only gave the strong the privilege to pardon others.
Boom!
An explosion awakened Aurelia from her musing. She turned her head in the direction where the explosion occurred at the same time Arieda did and found a Paladin rushing at Haletha. There was a sword on the ground beside Haletha. The Paladin had thrown in at her and missed which was the reason why everyone could hear an explosion.
Aurelia immediately dashed at Haletha. She could sense the Paladin was going to do something and Haletha didn't seem to realize that. She reached Haletha before the Paladin did. Haletha quirked an eyebrow at Aurelia's decision but didn't question her. It was when the Paladin pulled out a white glowing stick that Haletha widened her eyes.
The glowing stick shattered to pieces and Haletha immediately lost her mobility. Aurelia didn't waste any time as she kicked the sword planted on the ground, sending it to the Paladin's chest. As the sword pierced his chest, he was blasted away by Aurelia's fireball. He rapidly flew at his fellow Paladins and exploded upon reaching them.
As bits of flesh scattered through the air, Aurelia turned to Haletha to see how she was doing. Arieda was already on her side, supporting her powerless mother. Her eyes widened in absolute bafflement. She couldn't understand what happened. Why did her always-powerful mother become a frail woman in the blink of an eye?
"We need to retreat," Aurelia exclaimed. "I am weak right now. I won't be able to defend you much."
"W-What happened to my mother?" Arieda asked weakly.
"That was Freya's Dust. It is said to be originated from the ash of Freya's remains. It blesses the Light Elf but condemns the Dark Elf to death," Haletha explained. Seeing the horrified look Arieda shot her, she elaborated, "Luckily, the amount of Freya's Dust the stick contained was not much. At most, it will only make me powerless for a week."
"Enough with the chit-chat," Aurelia interjected. "It is time for us to—"
BOOM!
Everyone's head whipped to the centre of the battlefield as a two-coloured energy sphere descended the sky. The sphere split into two, turning into a vermilion phoenix and a darkness-covered hawk. Both of the Spirits were injured. Phoebesius' golden blood was leaking out of his wounds meanwhile purple blood was leaking out of Teanosvera's.
To most their existence was mythical. To be able to see them was already a blessing. Therefore, they didn't know what to think seeing the two of them so battered. As Teanosvera retreated to the Dark Elf's side and Phoebesius to the Light Elf's side, the battlefield became silent again. At that moment, everyone was reminded which side was fighting which side.
The war occurred because the closely-related races wanted to settle their differences. No, that would be unjust for the Dark Elf who never had the intention to engage in the worldly affair until they were forced to. The war happened because one of the sides wanted more jurisdiction. To be exact, the leader wanted stronger authority.
Swoosh!
Everyone was awakened from their musings when a soul-crushing terror washed over the battlefield. The Luxibrae soldiers instantly focused their gaze on the 16 feet tall abomination standing beside Teanosvera. The said abomination was entirely covered with a set of black-scaled armour. His burning horns and glowing greatsword added more terror to his appearance.
In his hand, he had the Princess of the Light Elf. The said Princess was unconscious. She was bleeding but fine nonetheless. He didn't care about the Princess at all, so he casually threw her to the back, prompting the horrified Haletha to catch her. His gesture enraged the Light Elf, but none of them dared to say a thing.
"I will have to bury my head in a hole after this, but we have to retreat," a Beastman General whispered to his fellow Generals. "I am not afraid of death, but I don't like useless death. A hundred of us won't still defeat that thing."
Hearing such a statement from a Beastman General was spine-chilling. They were known for their bot-bloodedness and boundless bravery. For one of them to warn the others to know their place meant that the situation was truly hopeless. A Centaur General who had become the de-facto commander of the entire army was about to issue a retreating command when he felt thousands of presence approaching.
He immediately put his hand down and exclaimed, "The backup has come!"
"Hurray!"
The ecstasy of Luxibrae soldiers was palpable. The presence of the backup told everyone on the Dark Elf's side the fight would become significantly harder than before, but none of them fretted. They had Layland on their side. They were confident in his ability. Whether the Dark Elf or Velucan's Alpha Legion thought the same.
A group of Knights suddenly appeared before Layland and knelt as they said, "We are very sorry for our underperformance. The scouting team was nothing more but a decoy. The backup army moved at the same time the main army did. We didn't realize it until we had eliminated the scouting team."
Layland merely waved his hand, prompting the group of Knights to stand up. They immediately got out of Layland's sight and joined the army behind him. Layland's gaze was focused on the azure-haired man with golden armour. Everyone parted to give him a way and even the Centaur respected him.
"I didn't blame Barnabas to die at your hands. Despite the thing that bugged his mind at that time, you still have my compliment."
The Paladin Master, Jacques des Horten had joined the war.
Read 𝓁atest chapters at fr(e)ewebnov𝒆l.com Only