「Central War Room - Before the gathering」
When the woman cladded in grey steps foot into the room, she is greeted by salutes from the commanders and intelligence officers inside. Not bothering herself with the formality, the Headmaster keeps her pace and approaches the strategic map in the middle of the room. The staff resume their work when they are done with the formality.
"How bad is the situation right now?"
The woman asks. The strategic map already laid out on the table is a detailed one. There are several black and white stone tokens placed across the map. A line of tokens form the backbone of the Dark Line, but they're currently in conflict with the opposite lines made of white tokens. Far at the east of the map, there stands a single black token defending Melas castle. However, in front of it, there is one big white token that somehow finds its way through the chaotic defense line and is slowly, but surely, approaching the castle.
"The whole frontier is in disarray right now. We already requested back up from the rear, but it'll take them several days until they can assemble an army and mobilize to Melas castle."
As a commander finishes his report, the woman closes her eyes and sighes.
"I was warned of the attack through the crystal communication device, but the frontier's device was destroyed before I can hear the full story. Gentlemen, please give me a quick explanation on how our grand defensive line we built for ten years suddenly collapsed in a day."
The commanders fall silent. According to military regulations, when there is a battle, the full authority is given to the highest ranking commander from the army, even though there's already someone in charge of the local area. However, Nilrem Erramun is an exception. Her authority as the castle's master exceeds even the military commanders, due to her experiences, her services in the past, the importance of this place, and the woman being favored by most members of the Seven Pillars. In front of such pure political power, the commanders can't help but listen to the witch's orders.
Before the woman's patience runs out, a commander finally gives her what she wants to hear.
"This morning, a legion from the central army was raided when they were in the middle of preparation for the annual winter defense exercise. The raid party's leader was confirmed to be a human male Hero. When their formation was broken, a detachment from the enemy's own central army began their surprise breakthrough. They breached through the defense line, and marched deep inside our land."
"Why didn't the remaining legions intercept this detachment?"
Nilrem asks, her stern tone certainly doesn't help ease the seriousness of the current situation.
"They couldn't react in time, madam."
Says another commander. He continues.
"The estimated number of this detachment was roughly five thousand men, they brought along with them four disassembled trebuchets, pulled by stone golems. They kept their size small enough not to alert our remaining armies. Also, there were signs of this attack being an spontaneous one from a rouge unit. The enemy's remaining armies didn't go for rescue when the rouge unit was surrounded by the central legion's remaining regiments. However, the enemy took advantage of the confusion, and launched a total offensive on all fronts when they saw their chance. This led to the whole chaotic mess our army is facing right now. The fighting is still going on as we speak."
Nilrem sighs. Trying not to laugh out loud about how a bunch of demons defending the realm being played around like a damn fiddle, the witch continues to think of a solution. Seeing how close the attacking detachment is on the map, there's no mistaking it, this castle is their main objective – thinks Nilrem.
"A whole defense line of 150000 men, thrown into confusion by a 5000 men unit. It's been a while since the last time I'm this amused."
The commanders can only do nothing but look at the smile on the wicked witch's lips.
"Is there any information on the attacking unit's leader?"
Says the witch. Her attention is still focused on the map.
"Yes, madam. The enemy's leader was confirmed to be 「Origen, the Black Paladin」."
"Origen…A paladin from Luminis, and a Lutumian at that. Well, if it's him, then it's no doubt their surprise attack would work wonders."
All of the people in the room know how dreadful an enemy a Paladin of Luminis is. This kingdom of Light has no standing army. Their only military force is a small group of powerful and fanatical believers, simply dubbed the Paladins. These zealots must prove themselves to be a master of war and faith in order to join the ranks of Lielos's warriors. They were armed with powerful weapons, and were given signature armors that bear symbol of the white cross. Even when few in number, they still brought fear to their enemies as much as they sung praises to their god of light.
Suddenly, from the war room's window, an eagle flies into the room. It is no ordinary eagle. This creature is a moving set of grey clay, molded to the shape of an eagle. A homunculus made by alchemists for special tasks, such as carrying messages.
A soldier approaches the eagle. With a simple touch, the clay eagle suddenly breaks itself into tiny bits. In the core of the homunculus, there's a piece of paper with strange writings. It's probably codified information. When they get a hold of the paper, it doesn't take long for the intelligence officers to crack the code.
"We have an update on the current situation, madam!"
After they're done, a soldier approaches the witch and starts his report.
"The enemy unit had successfully evaded the last guard fort. The scouts also reported that the enemy's numbers had been reduced to about 4000 men as of now. The estimated time until they arrive is a day. They will be here by tomorrow morning!"
The commanders and soldiers can only do nothing but look at each other in despair. It'll take at least three days until their reinforcement arrives. While they're literally inside a castle built to withstand sieges, they know they don't have enough manpower to defend the place from an attacking unit of 4000 men, led by a dreaded Paladin on top of that.
"Madam, the report also said they still have some reserve soldiers at the surrounding guard forts. They offered to join us for the defense of this castle."
Says the reporting soldier.
"Tell them to wait and offer support for our armies if they retreat. They don't have enough manpower to successfully pull off a pincer attack on the enemy anway, and the war from the frontier will soon reach them regardless. Not to mention with the enemy's current marching speed, it's already too late for them to get to us in time."
"Yes, madam."
When their order arrives, the soldiers quickly write a coded message to their comrades on the frontier. After it's done, a soldier puts a piece of paper to the center of the broken clay eagle. He touches its body, and suddenly, the smashed pieces of the eagle starts reassembling itself to its former shape before flying away, carrying along the coded message inside its core.
"Commanders, what's the estimated number of our own fighting force?"
The witch once again glares at the commanders as she starts giving questions.
"We have a thousand soldiers waiting for their departure, combine with the five hundred men from the castle's guards and we have at most one thousand and five hundred able-bodied soldiers…"
To siege a castle, one need an army twice the numbers of the defending force in order to gain an edge. The reverse is also true, an army with half the numbers of the attacking force can be enough to hold a fortified castle. But the commanders aren't that optimistic, their men barely reach the required number to defend this huge castle. While there's only one bridge leading to the West side of this continent, fortified a deep valley separating the places, it's only a matter of time until the castle's gate is breached and the castle falls to the hand of their enemy.
"Those numbers are enough."
Says the witch. The commanders can't rise their voice. Deep inside, they feel awkward being bossed around by a witch who's only have a say in this room thanks to being the lord of the castle.
Suddenly, the witch turns her gaze to the commanders as if she knows what they're thinking.
"I believe you gentlemen won't have any objection about me being in charge of this operation?"
Asks the witch.
"With all due respect, madam, we were trained for warfare and taught to master the art of warfare. Warfare is our life and purpose. You don't have to directly involve into this siege, madam. Please let us do our job to defend this castle. A headmaster should only concern about the education of her students, rather than meddling in the affair of soldiers."
The conversation gathers the attention from all the personnel inside the room. They all await the answer from the woman in grey. With a subtle laugh, the woman answers.
"Commander. Were you here the last time this castle was besieged?"
"Err…no, madam. That was hundreds of years ago. I wasn't even born yet."
Says the commander.
"I was there the last time this castle fell. It was hellish, like a nightmare than I couldn't wake up from. I don't live to this day just to watch the same tragedy unfolds again. This castle is one of Dargoth's last remaining legacy, it's inconceivable to let it fall again to human's hands. I am Nilrem Erramun, Lord of Melas Castle, and I won't sit by and let my home be taken away. Do you still have any objections, commanders?"
"No madam, we will not have any objections. Please give us your orders."
The commanders and the soldiers bowe in recognition of Nilrem's authority. Without any change of reactions, the woman starts making a battle plan alongside her subordinates.
------------------
「Main Hall」
After the announcement, the vast main hall quickly becomes packed when waves upon waves of soldiers arrive in the place. Despite holding a number of men that counts up to a thousand, the soldiers have no problem with breathing space since the castle was built to hold even more. Most people in the main hall are soldiers, but there're still some auxiliary combatants who heard the announcement, including the castle's remaining staff, some teachers, and even some cadets who didn't go home for their vacation.
On the staircase which serves as the intersession between the upper and lower floors, the top brass of this castle's army can be seen walking down. Leading at the front is a woman clad in gray. She's wearing a gray robe and a wizard hat. The woman is holding a wooden magic staff decorated with a large amber on its head. While most soldiers haven't personally met this woman, they subconsciously know she is the one in charge of Melas castle.
Without any demand for formalities, the woman goes straight to the topic at hand the moment she opens her mouth.
"Soldiers! As you have heard from me before, the Dark Line we tried so hard to defend all these years had collapsed! Fighting has already broke out between our forces and our enemy's. It is no doubt that the greatest war of this century has finally arrived!"
Nilrem pauses. Anxiety begins showing on the faces of the unhelmeted soldiers. However, the well-disciplined soldiers dare not to raise any questions when their superior hasn't allow them the permission to.
"As of now, a detachment of four thousand men strong is making their way toward this castle, led by the dreaded Black Paladin Origen. Their goal is only one: The capture of Melas - the final wall that stands between the Alliance's army and the rest of the Demon Realm! If we lost this castle, we will inadvertently allow the tragedies of war to happen on our home's soil! This castle will become a strong foothold for the Alliance's army to nitpick our territories one by one. They will take away everything we have, until nothing left is ours!"
Once again, the Headmaster stops. She takes a look around her. The soldiers don't look so good. They feel lost, and it shows on their face. However, Nilrem doesn't want to give them any false hope. Only when they are capable to prevail from this hopelessness can the chance to win this battle reveal itself.
"Soldiers, I will be honest. Our numbers are about one thousand and five hundred men at most. We're understaffed. We don't have anti-siege weapons. The only thing we can be certain is our supplies for a long siege. But even if our reinforcement will arrive in three days, the enemy surely won't allow us the leisure to buy time and wait. They will throw at us everything they have until this castle is theirs. We have many to lose, and little to gain."
Nilrem holds her breath as she raises her voice.
"Even so, even without a glimpse of hope, it IS our duty to stop them here, right at our Realm's front door! The fighting will be fierce. Your life, and the life of others beside you, will surely lost in battle. You won't have another chance to see your loved ones again, but you will prolong their lives until the day of your reunion in the afterlife of Arhat. History may not remember your names, but if you succeed, it will absolutely remember your deeds, the deeds made by the brave men and women at Melas castle! Men, women, soldiers, cadets…it does not matter who you are, where you're from, what race you are. What really, really matters is your own resolve. Tell me your resolve, soldiers! Tell me the resolves of those who will venture through the valley of death!"
Silence follows after the woman finishes her speech. But it does not last long, it's only there because the soldiers need some time to console themselves, to find within them the will to try, the resolve to fight, and the courage to die.
"I will fight."
A soldier breaks the silence with his words. Soon after, like a wave of falling dominos, the remaining soldiers also voice their thoughts as they get washed away by the will of the courageous soldiers yelling before them.
"I will fight too!"
"Me too!"
"Me as well!"
"We will fight to our last breath!"
With their resolves inside their hearts, the soldiers hold their prideful fists to the sky. Before long, in front of the woman stands an army that will ready to fight till the last man. What can a leader ask for in a desperate situation like this?
"Very well! Soldiers of the Demon Realm, you have this old woman's respect. May your life and death serve your purpose! That is all!"
Nilrem shouts. Right after that, the woman turns her gaze to the commanders beside her.
"If you please, gentlemen."
"Yes, madam!"
The commanders all shout together. Then, each of them takes a different way while announcing the jobs for the soldiers.
"The combatants will follow me! We need all the weapons we have in the armory. After that, those who know how to smith, follow this man to make more weapons and arrows! There's a working forge near the armory. The remaining soldiers shall follow me, we have some quick fortifications to do!"
"Non-combatants! Please split into two groups. One group will go to the infirmary and get all the medicine it has. The others will follow me to the storehouse, we need to prepare the supplies for the upcoming battle! Await further instructions when you're done!"
"Those who are good with a Warg shall go with me. We need to do some recon on the enemy, and prepare some traps on the way as well!"
Like ants inside a colony, the moment their tasks are clear, the soldiers start to follow their respective commanders to help fulfill their jobs. Only some remains, most of them are battle mages from the battlefield, but even then those mages don't get to take it easy when a teacher from Melas called Walpurga also starts leading them for their own jobs.
"Mages! Please follow me to the Magic Arts Department's main hall. I shall quickly brief you the battle plan made by the Headmaster."
Before long, the main hall quickly becomes empty again when the hard-working ants leave to do their jobs. But this place isn't completely empty. The Headmaster is still standing there in the intersession between the stairs, despite all of her commanders are long gone to fulfill their tasks. She isn't alone, however. In the center of the room, there stands a young man with a black cloak. He is of above average height. He's wearing a white shirt and a black trouser. He has black eyes and hair, along with a pair of glasses on his face. A cadet from Melas.
"You don't have any jobs to do, cadet Akuma?"
Says the woman as she starts descending from the stairs. The young cadet looks up to the woman while trying to let his words out.
"I just don't know what to do…"
"If you can fight, go help the combatants get ready. If you can't fight, go help the non-combatants prepare the supplies. But if you want to flee, then the coward's bridge is that way. It is as simple as that."
When Nilrem finishes speaking, she stands right beside Akuma, in the middle of the main hall, on top of a big decorative circle with a blank space inside.
"I'm not a coward! I won't run away from this fight!"
Says the young cadet.
"This isn't a fight, Akuma. This is a war."
The woman suddenly stares at the young man with a cold gaze, scaring him for a second.
"War has no places for those with doubt. If you really wanted to fight, you wouldn't ask me what to do from the beginning."
The young man doesn't answer. Deep inside, he knows the Headmaster is correct.
Suddenly, the woman in grey taps her staff onto the ground. She taps it thrice, and when she's done, the platform they're standing on sinks down underneath. Below the place, there's a large and dark tunnel that goes deep down to the ground. There's a spiraling staircase attached to the wall, but using the platform as an elevator makes the whole trip faster and more comfortable.
"This place is…"
The surprised young man speaks. The thought of a hidden downward tunnel right under the main hall never cross his mind before.
"Akuma. Do you know where Deborah is?"
The words from Nilrem's mouth are not the answer the young man expected.
"I don't know…I saw her earlier in the main hall. But she was gone after your speech."
"Hmm…"
The Headmaster seems to have catch on something.
"Did something happen?"
"…"
The young man averts his eyes for a moment.
"We got into a fight."
"That's just normal. Being around that girl would eventually net you to a fight or two. So, what did you two fight about?"
The woman speaks from her experience as the young girl's guardian. She always expect a verbal fight everytime she needs to meet the girl. To the woman, it eventually becomes a normal thing that doesn't even need to be bothered with.
"…She spoke about her memory lost, and asked me to understand her. But I couldn't when she keeps putting salt on my wound…"
Says the young man.
"So that girl revealed the truth to you."
With no noticeable reaction, the woman answers.
"Headmaster. Please tell me…about Deborah's true identity...about her true self, not someone's name that you gave to the girl during her memoryless state."
"If I tell you the truth, what will you do after you know, boy?"
"That's…"
"Do you think you can help that girl after you know who she truly is?"
"…"
Akuma knows easily throwing the word "Yes" right now won't be able to convince the woman in front of him, even just a bit. Without any answer, the young man can only stay silent until the elevator's ride is over. At the bottom of the tunnel, there's a small hallway leading to an unknown location. Without fear, the woman walks through the place. Part afraid, and part curiosity, the young man also follows behind.
At the end of the journey, the two find themselves on a small platform. There's a vast space shrouded in darkness in front of them. The normal human eyes can't catch the tiniest glimpse of what lies ahead. But since he's standing near a literal witch, the young man expects the witch in grey to perform some sort of spell to illuminate the place.
But the young cadet is soon to be disappointed. All the Headmaster does is just simply pull a switch nearby. Little by little, lines of stone pedestals inside the room start to lit themselves on fire. Slowly, the scenery reveals itself to be a vast and ancient room. This place can easily beat the main hall above it in term of size. The whole place makes Akuma feels like he's standing at the entrance to an ancient temple.
Soon, as the Headmaster walks toward to the edge of the stone platform, Akuma's attention is drawn to the center of the room. In the middle of the place, there are pots, lots and lots of ceramic pots, each of them roughly half the size of a man. All of them are located near each other, similar to an infantry formation.
"Headmaster…this is…"
"A small gift from an overprotective father, given to us after his daughter enrolled here. This gift's purpose is to help us defend this place should the need arise. Well, we're short-handed right now, so I guess that need is finally here."
Nilrem holds her staff to the sky. The woman starts chanting. After some seconds, a small light radiates from the amber on top of her staff. However, nothing happens…not yet.
"Arise! Soldiers of Annwn! The day of duty has finally arrived! As your master, I demand you to fulfill your oath of service! Take up your arm, awake from your slumber, and free yourself from your prison!"
One by one, the ceramic pots get smashed from the inside. From what remains of the pots, they stand. With sword in one hand and shield in the other, the pots from before reveal themselves to be the vessels containing one thousand skeletal soldiers. Slowly, the skeletons start rising up. All of them wake up from their long slumber inside the cramped pots. After they're done assembling the formation, the skeletal soldiers give Nilrem their hollowed looks, awaiting orders. These soldiers now stand ready to face any foes their master demands them to.
"Skeletons…"
Says the young man. While Akuma knows some walking and talking skeletons before, the skeletal soldiers in front of him give him the creeps. The skeletons he knew have this…lively aura around them, like they're real people, only with bones and a lack of flesh and skins. But the skeletons before him don't have that kind of aura. They are just a bunch of animated bones that act like medieval robots. They are without souls, without minds, without thoughts, created only to serve the purposes of others. They are the undead that had truly died in both body and soul.
"Soldiers of Annwn. There's an enemy that threatens the existence of this castle. It's time for you to serve your purpose. Please gather to the ground above, there are commanders who're waiting to give you more detailed instructions."
When the Headmaster finishes her lines, the skeletons start marching in formation. They walk to the platform the two living being are standing on, but the skeletons completely ignore them and just walk back to the tunnel earlier.
"What a bunch of friendly guys."
To Akuma, the difference between these guys and the skeletons he knows are like the sky and the sea.
"Undead soldiers, created by the necromancers reside in the Necropolis of Annwn. Unlike the Accursed ones, these soldiers have no souls and can only follow simple orders. But since we're in need of manpower, these skeletal soldiers are enough for us."
The Headmaster explains.
"This room was built to contain them all?"
Asks Akuma as he takes a look at the now-empty room. The woman has no intention to answer his question…at first. Nilrem turns her back to the young man with the intent to walk away…until something changes her mind. Nilrem once again gives Akuma a gaze and starts to tell the young man something unexpected.
"No. This place…it was used to hold something far…far much worse."
-----------------
「West Bridge – Next Morning」
Morning arrives at the end of the day-long preparation from the soldiers of Melas. The snowing temporary stops and withdraws to the background. If it doesn't, how else can today's main actors take the stage? The castle gates from the West and East are already shut tight, but most of the battle however will occur mainly at the West side of the Melas, due to being the bridge that connects to the West side of this continent, the direction the humans came from.
And so, the demon soldiers gather near the West gate to defend the castle. On top of the castle walls, lines and lines of soldiers are already lined up in formation. Standing beside the common devilmen of the Demon Realm are the skeletal soldiers of Annwn – a secret backup force summoned by the castle's lord to take part in battle. While the soldiers aren't exactly pleasant with the sudden participation of the undead, right now, they have no rights to complain when the situation is too dire to be picky about helps.
On the walls directly on top of the West gate, the top brass of the castle can be seen watching the scenery ahead of them, one of them being Nilrem Erramun.
"Damn trees, should have cut all of them when we had a chance."
Says a commander. Ahead of them in the West is a dead forest obscuring their view of their enemy. The only path that connects the rest of the West and this castle is a large stone bridge, built on top of a deep valley. If the commanders can keep the attacking enemy forces concentrated on the bridge, maybe victory will not be just a mere fantasy.
"Madam, I still have some objection to your battle plan. You spread our forces too thin while we should concentrate them all at the walls near the gate! And you also didn't place the mages on the castle walls when we're really in need of firepower right now!"
A commander approaches Nilrem and voiced his opinion. The battle plan made by the Headmaster wasn't something the commanders expected. In her plan, instead of concentrating all their forces to solely defend the West Gate, Nilrem evenly spread most of the manpower to the North-West, West and South-West walls, essentially all the West side of the castle's walls from North to South, even though the bridge solely connects to the West side. She also placed a small amount of men at the South-East and North-East as well, with North-East being the place with the least manpower to defend due to this place have a literal forest behind the walls. On another side of the troops placement, the woman ordered the devilmen and skeletal soldiers to stand guard on the walls, but not the mages, even though having mages on the walls will greatly increase their offensive power to hit the enemy.
"While soldiers are essential, the mages are more indispensable, Commander. It's easy to replace a soldier, but you can't quickly replace a mage. Our hands are tied here, I can't risk what little manpower we have."
The woman answers. You may give someone a sword and call him a soldier, but you can't just give a guy a staff and declare him a mage. An untrained man can fight as long as he can swing a sword, the same can't be said about an untrained magic user.
"But…!"
"Commander, you shouldn't follow the standard battle doctrine to a tee like that. Humans have the penchant to do unexpected actions. They are known to be clever, afterall. Blindly doing something just because it's the standard tactic will surely bring doom to us all."
While the commander looks like he still have some words to say, he holds back, knowing he shouldn't disobey his superior. The commander backs down and walks to his comrades to await further orders.
When the little discussion is done, another witch interjects in after ascending the stairs led to the walls. There's a sleeping black cat on the witch's right hand.
"The preparation is done, Headmaster."
When she hears the words, the Headmaster steps down to see the ground inside the castle. Near the entrance to the castle, there is a group of soldiers holding a big, black coffin. They put it on the ground after they're done, and another group – this time mainly consists of mages – starts approaching the coffin and stands guard.
"Good work, Walpurga. And have you located that girl's location?"
"Little Ferdelin here saw the girl walking toward the North-East area. While I still have doubt, I think we can leave that place to her."
"…for the time being."
The Headmaster answers. She seems anxious, even when she already have everything under control. But Nilrem is no fortune teller, she can't predict the things that will happen when the battle unfolds.
"Let's hope that we can make it through this battle."
An attacking force of four thousand and four trebuchet, against a defense force of two thousand and five hundred, with only castle walls as their ally. Even though numbers and weapons may make a difference in war, there's usually no telling of how a battle may end, and who will prove victorious in the end.
"Enemy sighted!"
Suddenly, a soldier shouts. The attention of the whole army starts to point to the west.
On the other side of the bridge, there are no sight of the enemy army due to the obscuring forest, but there is a person standing near the west side of the bridge. He is a rather old human, but his tall physique doesn't give him the vibes of a weak elderly. His long hair is already turned white and is covering his eyes and part of his face. It is only matched by his equally long white beard. The old man is wearing a brown robe. He's also holding an old tome strapped to his waist with a leather cord.
The soldiers of Melas are already on their guard. The archers have their bows loaded, with arrows point right at the old man in brown robes, but they haven't shoot yet, not until they have the orders to.
"Orders, madam!"
The commander in charge of the archery squads shouts. Unexpectedly, the following words from the Headmaster isn't something that strays from the standard protocol like the commanders around her expect her to, like the words "Wait and let's see".
"Shoot him. At this point, we have no need for negotiation."
"Y…yes! Archers, shoot at will!"
As ordered, the archers released the hold of their bows. A wave of arrows starts racing to end the old man's life. But of course, the old man won't stand here just to get himself skewered by a rain of arrows. He opens his tome, and suddenly, the pages inside start flying out. They band together, and form a shield to protect their master from the upcoming arrows. Even though they are just papers, the paper shield prove impervious to the iron arrows. None of the arrows make it to their mark. The archers don't stop, of course, they start shooting another wave, but before the third wave can be made, the Headmaster orders the archers to stop wasting more arrows.
When the old man is done with his preparation, the paper shields scramble aside to let the old man do his work. His hands are radiating some sort of brown light. Suddenly, the old man punches the ground with his hands. A small part of the ground is destroyed by the impact. This leaves one to wonder what sort of man this elder is. But that is just the start of his ploy.
His punch makes a wave to the ground, like the waves of the sea. It goes deep into the valley below. And then, it starts. The earth around starts surging into large pillars, aiming at the castle walls like thrusting spears. The earth pillars pierce through the walls and send flying the men who have the bad luck of standing near there. Almost all the walls at the castle's west side have been attacked by the earth pillars. But it doesn't stop there.
"So this is why they didn't start the battle with the trebuchets."
Says the Headmaster as she realized the true purpose of the pillars: They are made to serve as alternative bridges leading to the castle walls. If the demons' positions weren't stretched thin, their whole army would have been in shamble right now trying to fill up the broken holes in their defense.
"Class Six spell, 「Earth Surge」. They brought some good mages."
The woman's praise is soon overwhelmed by the war cries of her enemy. Out of the nearby forest, the enemy's foot soldiers start coming out, waves upon waves. Climbing on the newly built earth bridges, all of them make their way to the castle walls, with the capture of this castle as their only one purpose in mind. But on the other side, the defensive force have also get themselves ready. With swords on their hands, shields in the others, the brave men and women of Melas move out to defend this place to the last of their breath.
"So it begins, the siege of Melas."
Mumbles the Headmaster as the bloodshed enters its prologue.
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「North-East Area – Some hours later」
In contrary to the busy Westward areas, the battle has yet to reach the North-East ward. Due to the unimportance of the place, the castle walls near Darkwood are guarded by just a few skeletal soldiers of Annwn, with numbers only about a hundred. It's a fitting role this small group can perform, since unlike the common soldiers, these skeletons won't complain being forced to defend an unimportant place (Then again, its importance is debatable). As soulless beings, they can only do what they were told to do, and they were told to defend this place.
But let's say that they have a soul for one second, would they complain when the battle doesn't reach their place? If they do have a soul, they will probably shut up by now, since the battle has finally come to them.
In the dark shadow of the valley below, men upon men are climbing on the walls with their specialized climbing tools. Due to the limited equipment, even with some devilmen captains around to direct the battle, the skeletal soldiers can only do nothing but watch the enemies climb on the wall. But maybe…it is wiser to wait, because when the first enemies reach the top, they are met with fierce resistance from the skeletal soldiers. Each men that successfully make their way on top quickly have their life ended by a sword slash from the skeletons. Corpses of men start dropping down to the dark valley as the skeletons do their job. With the walls on their sides, the skeletons surely have the advantage. It will be foolish to continue like this, but the enemy's soldiers know how much advantage this place can contribute to their cause if they are to succeed.
-Mages, give us some support!
As the soldiers let out their cries of help, the human mages climbing after them begin to start their job, even when they're still hanging on the castle walls. With some fireballs and ice magic, the mages quickly clear some area above to let their men safely board the wall. It is wise of them to bring along some mages, since these skeletal soldiers are weak to the mystical force of magic.
When they have their foothold, the full force of the secret raid party can finally board the walls and turn the tide of battle. The newly awakened skeletons can't fare well against the might of experienced soldiers and mages. It doesn't take long until the undead are pushed back, allowing the raid party to have the chance to approach the forest.
-Hurry up soldiers! We need to quickly infiltrate the castle from this side!
The raiding soldiers don't even bother to finish all of the skeletons. With their full force, the soldiers quickly run through the forest. After ten minutes or so, the hundred men strong raid party finally find a way out of the forest. The area map they brought along probably helps. The question is how did they have something like that to begin with?
-This side's gate is that way.
Says one helmeted soldier as he points out to the castle's inner gate. But before they can make their entrance to the castle, they are tailed by the remaining skeletal soldiers, still hell bent on fulfilling their duty.
-Some of you go open the gate! The remaining ones will intercept the enemy!
As ordered, a group of ten departs from the raid party to open the inner gate. Without the advantage of the castle walls, when on even ground, the skeletons find themselves torn apart by the full might of the human soldiers. The soldiers quickly dispatch the remaining enemies. Only one gate stands before them and the castle of Melas. Should they complete their mission, today's battle will surely be remembered as the fastest siege in history.
BOOM!
But of course, the demons of Melas won't allow their names be tainted in the history book just like that.
From the direction of the gate, there is a loud explosion. As the soldiers' gazes are drawn to the gate, they find their comrades running away from that place, while their bodies are on fire.
-Arghhhhhhh!
Scream the ill-fated soldiers. They try rolling on the ground to put out the fire, but that only prove to be futile attempts. No matter how many times they roll, no matter how thick the snow is on the ground, the fire burning away their flesh can't be extinguished. When their strength run out, the burning soldiers stop moving as life escapes from their bodies. Yet, the fire on their corpses doesn't stop, not until all of them are returned to mere ashes.
-Who…who did this!?
Yell a soldier. The whole raid party is on guard as they hear footsteps at the gate's direction. From inside the castle, a girl wearing black robe slowly walks out. A tall girl with long red hair and eyes. She's wearing a black cloak – the signature uniform of Melas's cadets. The moment their eyes meet, the helmeted soldiers know that this girl is the mage who killed their comrades. Fighting a fire mage may not be easy, but this isn't the first time the soldiers fight a mage. They have the strength, the skills and the experience. The soldiers know they can win. It's just a girl, how hard can it be to kill one fire-using mage girl?
Little do they know that the girl before them simply isn't just a mere fire mage.
-None shall pass!
The girl shouts. And thus, the strongest fire mage finally takes the stage.