Lord Korogin rode towards the Ten Dawns and caught Tengon's hateful glare. He could tell what the young man was thinking, but he had no interest in entertaining Tengon. Korogin ordered for first-aid to be applied on the two while simultaneously ordering for all the cavalry to advance. It was a plan very similar to earlier, but this was the best he could do. Hundreds of horses marched ferociously towards the scattered Xingyuu formation.
Their stampede was frightfully heart-pounding, but the Xingyuu soldiers were well-disciplined. Although the Xingyuu Empire loosened their formation, they did not totally open it up. The vanguard remained. Rows of spears pointed forward like a wall of spikes toward the army of horses. The Alzar cavalry gritted their teeth and threw caution to the wind. They knew… that their lives were sacrifices! To pave the road for everyone else, they collected their resolve and hardened their nerves. Without caring, they charged straight into the wall of spears, using their momentum to forcibly break through!
Horses impaled themselves on the spears, releasing horrifying screeches. Blood and body parts were tossed everywhere. The soldiers smiled in the face of death, using their horses' deaths to leap over the barricades. They would unsheathe their swords to cut at the spears or the enemies, before being skewered alive. Their battle spirit only continued to grow stronger until it was shaking the sky! Madness! It was madness that gripped them! If I am going to die anyways, I might as well take as many with me as possible! That suicidal mentality dominated the air, causing the Xingyuu morale to drop rapidly. Though their vanguard was strong, without the support of the other divisions, they were helpless. The cavalry carved their way through with blood!
It happened in the span of a minute or two. It happened so fast that many on the Xingyuu side had not even realized that Torrential Blizzard failed to activate. But their confusion turned into anger. To be tricked like this was humiliating, especially to the various division generals. They immediately ordered for their divisions to reinforce the breaking vanguard. Similarly, Lord Korogin did not waste time. He planned for this very outcome. Almost as soon as the cavalry set off, he ordered for everyone to advance! The two armies were colliding head-on for the final time!
Using the cavalry and archers, the Alzar army was able to scatter the vanguard, but it came at a heavy cost. Nearly all the cavalry was dead, if not badly wounded. In a single move, almost a thousand Alzar soldiers were sacrificed! This was the brutality of war! Lives were no more valuable than dirt! Death was normal! Lord Korogin knew this well. He was extremely cutthroat and vicious, not hesitating to use all his cards. He threw away his sense of morality. The true splendor of the Master of Strategy could be seen here! However, the deaths of the vanguard forces were but a drop in the bucket for the Xingyuu Empire. It did not change the overwhelming dominance that the empire maintained!
Plotting and scheming without enough strength was meaningless. Ten thousand soldiers against more than twenty thousand… Anyone could tell which side would win. The Alzar army pierced past the vanguard, but they were besieged by the divisions on all sides. It was pure chaos! Soldiers hacked and slashed without a care, screams of pain and torment were commonplace, and bodies decorated the battlefield. It was a gruesome, violent, and graphic scene. The roars of the battlefield shot high into the sky, tainting the earth in a vivid crimson red. Tens… Hundreds… Thousands were being slaughtered every waking moment! Kill! Kill! Kill! It was pure insanity!
Gradually though, the Alzar army was being suppressed and pushed back. Lord Korogin smiled bitterly. The outcome was clear for all to see. There was no hope! As the numbers on the Alzar side dwindled, even he was drawn into the battle, his rapier in hand. The Royal Guards tasked with his protection cut away anyone close. Despite that, the number of enemies was simply too great, leaving Sir Winstin to defend Lord Korogin. Although Sir Winstin was one man, he was at the pinnacle of power in the Alzar Kingdom. He was the strongest knight! Unless there was a specific plan to pin him down, the random soldiers could do nothing against him. He effortlessly crushed any threat towards Lord Korogin.
However, Winstin's eyes flickered with sharp light. His Perception Realm was constantly pushed to sense powerful threats. Without hesitation, he spun his glaive around him in an empty direction. Five distinct clinks could be heard as he destroyed the arrows. And yet, a sixth snuck its way through his defenses and grazed his cheek. Lord Korogin was surprised but understood quickly. The arrows carried the iconic design of a green phoenix. They were specially made so that their killing potential was much greater. It was the signature weapon of Cardinal Hui Wai-Wing, the Leader of the Imperial Sentinels!
As the two expected, charging towards them were the Four Cardinals and a dozen Perception Realms. At the front of the pack was Cardinal Hui, his longbow in hand! Their combat strength easily cleaved their way through the battlefield towards Sir Winstin and Lord Korogin! Cardinal Hui snorted and sent another volley of arrows over. His hands were blindingly smooth and fast, such that the next set of arrows blended together with perfect unison. The arrows moved even faster than before, piercing through the air to instantly arrive in front of Sir Winstin. Winstin had seen Hui attack, but his reaction speed was limited. Furthermore, Hui had attacked in such a way that the arrows blurred as one, making it hard to distinguish them.
In that time, the dozen Imperial Sentinels surrounded Lord Korogin and Sir Winstin, leaving the Four Cardinals to deal with the two. Appropriately, Korogin's and Winstin's faces were deathly pale as they recalled a familiar scene. Two years ago, during the Battle of the Millennium, King Harth's unit was also attacked in the same way! Using the Four Cardinals to pin down Sir Winstin, King Harth was successfully captured by the empire! Although Winstin was rescued, King Harth would eventually be executed. This led to the current tragedy in the Alzar Kingdom! In fact, the stories behind Sir Winstin fending off the Four Cardinals stemmed from that very same legendary fight! Unfortunately, the same chain of events was unfolding again right here.