"Just a bit more... Come on, dear Warmarshal's of Deagoth... Just a bit more." Mark urged quietly, as he saw that Verruca and Stephanie were edging their way to his front lines.
"Did your undead set up my trap, as I advised?" Mark questioned Jacob, as he already knew the answer. He only asked to keep Jacob in the loop and give him a sense of command.
"Yes. Such a strange contraption... Will it really work?" Jacob answered.
"If it doesn't just use it as cover. Waste not; want not, as the saying goes." Mark commented.
As he watched his last wave of bombers explode. Their deaths would pave the way for them to engage Jakahn and his machine.
"FORWARD!" Verruca yelled loudly, as she rushed to the front, with her Warbreakers, now that the bombers subsided. The Warbreaker's charged up the hill towards their enemies. The terrain was formed into a small valley, as the hill they charged was in the middle, making it hard to flank this position.
Stephanie rotated to the back of the army, now that she had exhausted almost all her power. She began to draw more into her, through her cultivation. It was a slow process for her.
Mark looked to his left and see the warriors of the late Mossvale were entrenched by Jakahn. They would be no further help for a period of time.
"Finally." Mark nodded with a satisfied voice, as he watched Verruca charge.
One of Mark's honor guards watched and waited when he saw the Deagoth army charge again.
"They're almost here! Set it off!" A Jakahn Officer yelled in a whisper to Mark's Honor Guard.
"Not yet..."
"They are almost on us! What are you waiting for!!!"
"For the word." The Honor Guard replied, paying no attention to the Officer.
[Do it.] Mark mentally messaged.
"GET DOWN OR DIE!" The Honor Guard shouted as loud as he could to Jakahn. They were already prepared for this, as they were told earlier, and they all ducked to the ground.
The charging Warbreakers and Spellslingers thought this was a provocation, and charged harder as if pumped with stimulants.
"Clink!" A mechanical sound emitted, with the rapid during of gears ground. If one looked beside the Honor Guard, they would see a massive boulder fell into a deep gorge dug into the ground.
A long-jagged arm of the Trap slung out from the device, and slammed into the charging Deagoth army, sweeping them to the side, along with Verruca. The unlucky Warbreakers were impaled by the spikes of the Arm. This device looked like a spear trap, but on a massive scale.
A hundred troops were knocked into the distance. Even the Armor of some of the Warbreakers' chest piece armors cracked, as they fell some distance away, and no longer stirred.
The Warriors of Jakahn leap from the ground and went to pull the arm of spears back to reload the trap, as they completed this, the rock that fell into the deep dug hole was slowly lifted back up.
Verruca got to a knee and looked at the trap being reloaded, as the warriors behind her charged up.
Verruca shouted loudly at her Warbreakers, "FOOLS, DON'T JUST CHARGE INTO THAT THING!" Verruca's sing-song voice took a turn to a rough and malice voice.
But this was the style of the Warbreakers... Charge... Break the front ranks... It took the second wave being knocked into true death for the ones behind verruca to listen, and a stalemate occurred.
"CHAOSHOOD! WE NEED ARCANE ARTILLERY!" Verruca turned her head to shout, as she held her left side, she discarded her shield, as it was cracked and threatened to break in half from the impact of that spear trap.
Hearing Verruca's command, Stephanie gritted her teeth.
"Generals! Heed my call!" Stephanie called out, as her three Generals of the Spellslingers army came to her.
Quickly a formation was set, and the ritual began. Purple chromatic and glittering lines of power swirled through the four of them, as the incantation was spoken, "Arcane influence is the sever the heart, but Chaos reigns in the beginning! Through the daughter of Nyx! ZANNAHE!!! LET US RETURN TO THE BEGINNING!"
The power formed and rose high in the dark skies of the Underworld, as the power formed five primordial purple meteors. With a snap, each one turned solid, as if real, and extruded a sliver of the power of the beginning rocks formed in the void.
With black sweat beads on her brow, Stephanie flicked her wrist, as the five five and a half meters long meteors came crashing down on the armies of Jakahn and their infernal spear trap.
"BOOM!"
"BOOM!!"
"BOOM!!!"
"BOOM!!!!"
"BOOM!!!!!"
Five earth-shaking sounds reverberated, as the ground trembled from the impact. Screams issued out, and the sounds of frantic movement were heard. All the warriors of Jakahn were breaking ranks to escape, like rats fleeing a sinking ship, but their efforts were in vain. Only a blur was seen, as the Mark's Honor Guard escaped just at the last moments. The infernal spear trap and the warriors of Jakahn guarding the hill valley passage were broken and half-burnt bodies, with purple flames dancing on their corpses.
"CHARGE AGAIN!" Verruca yelled out to her stationed warriors.
"Heh." Mark gave a light laugh. He watched as his Honor Guard that retreated in the face of the attacking meteors returned.
"HALT!" As the Honor Guard waved his hand, creating a purple arcane shield wall, that temporarily stopped the charging Warbreakers.
"ROLL OUT TO YOUR MOTHER, IF YOU WANT SOMEONE TO STOP!" Verruca was swinging her Morning Star Flail, as she yelled.
"I would love too, but I think you are forgetting your purpose... Look at your precious city." The Honor Guard spoke blandly.
Verruca, Stephanie, and many of the Warbreakers looked behind them to see a raging fire in Zitergall.
"FUCK!" Verruca didn't know how Jakahn passed her to attack the City. What good was fighting, if the objective was lost!
Verruca glared, at the Honor Guard before issuing her orders, "WARBREAKERS RETREAT BACK TO ZITERGALL! PROTECT THE OBJECTIVE!"
"HOOOO AAAAAH" The Warbreakers turned to charge back to the City in the distance. Their loyalty to their Warmarshal was unquestionable.
[Fuck! I've lost half of my army, and the City is in flames! Fucking patriarch, you had one job!] Verruca cursed in her mind.
Verruca turned to follow her army, as she decided to bring up the rear with Stephanie, to cover the retreat.
"HAHAHAH!" Laughter was heard from behind.
"Do you think you can just come and go as you please?! This land you stand on is Jakahn's! The border is there, but you thought you could just kill your way in? HAHAHA! Leave your unlife behind!" General Lee jumped from behind and came crashing down on Verruca.
Verruca's instincts dictated her to dodge, and she rolled out of the way, as she picked up a fallen Warbreaker's shield from the ground.
She lifted the shield, as she spun her Morning Star.
"General Lee... So, we finally meet on the battlefield. I see you are tired of hiding behind your troops and pretty little toys." Verruca spat.
Stephanie was about to turn her steed to aid Verruca, when she heard Verruca reply, "FOLLOW THE TROOPS! THEY MUST BE LED TO DEFEND ZITERGALL!"
Stephanie hesitated but for only a moment, before she rushed to catch up to the army, leaving Verruca behind.
Mark stood on his hilltop, "At last, she is alone... How... Predictable." Mark laughed.
"This is the final outcome? Do you think General Lee can defeat Warmarshal Verruca?" Jacob asked. He didn't have faith if it was just General Lee... Maybe both him and Russell could... But just him?
"No. General Lee can't stop Warmarshal Verruca. I had wanted her separated earlier if the opportunity was there but alas... But this is what I expected. We just need to keep her for just a few minutes. Let's wait for her fellow Warmarshal to make it back to Zitergall... General Russell will pull out of Zitergall, after a bit of a small struggle. Ha!"
"I don't follow..." Jacob didn't understand exactly why this was a good plan.
"General Jacob... Let me ask you a question... Do you know much about the Southeastern Undead Trading Company?" Mark asked unexpectedly.
"A bit... They have a lot of merchants that flow into Jakahn, but they have already done business in Deagoth, and export and import. If I'm not mistaken, your merchant band does a lot of business with them... Why???"
"Well, let's just say that they have a large HQ here in Zitergall... Buying up the trade goods here directly, before export. Good business... In fact, all the major cities' of Deagoth has a branch of the Southeastern Undead Trading Company. But I plan to 'Have-A-Blast' with them just as soon as Warmarshal Chaoshood takes back the city, and the Good Warmarshal Verruca returns. HAhAaHAHAhahaHAH" Mark began to cackle out of character in front of Jacob... As Jacob didn't understand the reference.
"HAVE A BLAST!!! I can't wait!" Mark slowed his laugh, until a chuckle, as he watched in anticipation of the duel with Verruca and Lee.