It was noon. With the sunlight and acolytes releasing fire-elemental spells, the air was extremely hot, and unbearable to average humans. The weakest and injured soldiers were on the brink of death, breathing in the 50+°C environment with great difficulty, suffering from both internal and external burnings. Some agonized on the ground, unable to move away, others were trying to escape from this hellish battlefield, though many were on the ground, fainting from the pain. Obviously, they wouldn't survive this ordeal.
Yet, something strange had just happened.
The Viscount Philipp, after unleashing a deadly elbow strike to his opponent, fell on his knee. His body was a mess. Blood was flowing everywhere, and his torso had been pierced by many holes. His muscles were swollen from over-exertion, and his bones were filled with fractures after receiving so many impacts. There was no doubt that Viscount Philipp's injuries would take years to be healed even if he used high-grade resources, and the sequels would probably slow his future growth significantly.
Yet, Viscount Philipp wasn't thinking about a possible recovery or his future. He was just thinking about the situation he had fallen in. He was exhausted, unable to lift a finger, in front of a murderous Raging Fire Bear of advanced cultivation, which seemed to be brimming with lethal killing intent.
Yet, five seconds passed in this situation, and his enemy Allan Gambit was still not attacking him.
'Is he dying?', he thought, full of hope.
As soon as these words crossed his mind, Allan Gambit's fell on the ground. It was miraculous sight, as if some kind of divine beings had heard his prayers. Yet, it didn't seem like the sound of an organic body coming into contact with soil. It was more similar to a block of ice crashing onto the floor.
This time, Philipp had no doubt upon seing Allan Gambit's body shatter in pieces. This time, he was dead. This time, he wouldn't rise up again!
It was the result of 'Ice Curse', probably one the most frightening curse in the acolyte realm. Unless you possessed the Fire Heart Dragon Elixir, then receiving this curse meant death, unless you had some heaven-defying treasure or a unique constitution.
There was only one person capable of using this curse in the world at the moment: Ice Elder, Lily Thornfield. All the three internal circle spells guarded by the family were incomparably hard to master.
The Vitriolic sphere spell required tremendous amount of knowledge and a near-perfect comprehension of acidic interactions with water elemental particles, as well as an extremely complex spell matrix, thus making the process of learning the spell so hard that most wouldn't achieve it in a lifetime of study.
Only geniuses or persevering old men could learn this spell. Drodosis tried to learn the spell, but his studies were stuck at 78% in the estimated bar of progress simulated by his biochip. He was obviously lacking high-grade knowledge and experience, most of which he couldn't find in libraries, or in his database. In slightly more than 9 months, he only made it to 78%, and he had both an acidic pool to help him, a unique treasure he spent a thousand magic crystals on, as well as notes from the past elders who mastered the spell, not to mention his biochip constantly guiding him and clearing blurred notions with synthesized explanations.
The Water Dragon Shapeshifting spell was harsh as well. Although the comprehension required was high, it was nothing compared to what was required to learn the Vitriolic Sphere Spell. The difficulty of the Water Dragon Shapeshifting spell lied in the bloodline purity requirement. To reach this threshold, one would have to consume hundreds of bloodline purifying elixirs, as well as blood stones to strengthen and awaken the bloodline itself, should it not meet the requirement yet. The whole process would generally cost over 20 000 magic crystals, something that very few acolytes could afford to pay.
As for the mighty Ice Curse, it required an extremely high affinity with Ice. It was a simple requirement, but it was also incredibly difficult to match. Only one out of a thousand Thornfield Family members would have the affinity required, and then, he or she would have to reach the advanced acolyte realm, something that happened unfortunately too rarely. The forgotten Ice Curse Spell had resurfaced in this era, and its first target was Allan Gambit, a core elder within the Gambit Adept Family: A worthy target indeed.
The Ice Curse spell was simple. After consuming the enemy's bloodline, it would freeze the target's heart, slowly but surely and within ten seconds, the ice elemental particles would spread all over the enemy's body, corrupting muscles, skin tissues and ultimately, the bones themselves. Without muscles or bones to support one's body, falling is inevitable, and the shock from the impact would shatter the whole structure, ultimately killing the enemy. Even if the target didn't fall, the mere corruption of elemental particles would suffice to end one's life.
The Ice Elder had gotten her hands on 18 vials, specifically stolen and gathered over time by Drodosis' father. The man had not just spent time in the Gambit Family to earn their trust and stop a war from bursting. He also presented himself as a healer and scholar, which was perhaps one of the reason he hadn't been suspected of being a spy. Over a decade, he managed to gather a fraction of bloodline essence of 18 elders, most of them being of intermediate cultivation, but among them, there were 3 advanced acolytes as well, one of them being Allan Gambit.
Now that Allan Gambit was nothing but pile of icy shards, the effects of his spiritual Roar vanished, leaving his subordinates with a huge backlash. From a 20% bonus in attributes, the backlash was now reducing their attributes by 10%.
Suddenly, dozens of acolytes appeared out of nowhere.
'Mass Shadow invisibility spell'.
This was the first appearance of the Shadow Order, who had concealed themselves as well as forces from the Thornfield Family.
Dozens of Shadow Bolts crashed onto the Gambit Family Members, bounding them to the ground, shackling their movements. Following these Crowd Control Spells, Icy Spears as well as acidic spears would cripple or even kill them. The surprise attack had reduced the Gambit acolytes' number by 30, although most of them were of beginner rank.
Among these water and shadow-elemental waves of spells, there was an exceptional wind-elemental elder who was rampaging and killing several acolytes per minute: Elder Windcaller.
Elder Windcaller was originally an outsider, but he befriended Elder Water Dragon himself, and built a trustworthy relationship based on hundreds of battlefields' worth of experience.
Elder Windcaller didn't master any flashy spell like anyone would expect, but his fighting prowess was several times higher than anyone on this battlefield, matching Elder Hugo's fighting prowess, an advanced apprentice.
Elder Windcaller had focused his whole life and studies to improve the Wind Blade spell, which relied on the condensation of wind elemental particles into a blade that would slash multiple enemies.
Lightning-fast wind blades were circling around the battlefield, searching for a target, slashing it then continuing to wander in the sky again. It was very unconventional, as wind blades usually travelled in a straight line trajectory, before hitting the target and vanishing.
Elder Windcaller was constantly supplying mana to these wind blades, which acted similarly to drones, killing whoever he set his eyes to. The control required to pull off this trick was monstrous, and there were very few ways to survive the overwhelming assault of 50-points-of-damage wind blades without numerous shield spells or defensive artefacts. Every minute that passed, the wind blades would cripple or kill several Gambit acolytes.
In the meantime, the shadow acolytes and the Gambit acolytes were fighting to the death. The orders were simple: Kill or be killed.
The Shadow Acolytes were mostly beginner acolytes who were captured in the Huntingwood's fall, and thus turned into Thornfield's forces through various soul contracts. In normal times, no one would voluntarily accept to be enslave – which is a condition for most of soul contracts – but since their home was crushed, they had nowhere to return, thus making the decision 'easier'. Their loyalty was thus undeniable. Should they show a thought of betrayal towards the Thornfield family, the soul contract's backlash would cause massive headaches.
Among these shadow acolytes, a few intermediate powerhouses stood out. They were Huntingwood elders who accepted their defeat and moved forward. There were 4 intermediate elders as well as an advanced powerhouse.
All five of them were hidden in the dark uniform of the Shadow faction, and their faces were shrouded in a dark mist which seemed to be unbelievably toxic to normal humans.
Acolytes who had affinities with the shadow and death elements were different from conventional acolytes, because they didn't use mana, but instead, negative energy. It amplified their spells with a dangerous mist corroding their enemy lifespan, thus making their fighting prowess superior to other acolytes of equal rank. However, there were no free meals in this world.
In exchange for a superior firepower, these acolytes were unfortunately suffering from side effects – mainly losses of physique. However, the more an acolyte meditated and used these spells, the denser the mist would corrode their body, ultimately turning them into some kind of undead, uncapable of emotions, losing senses of taste, and their soul would also become tainted with negative energy, causing them to feel a constant hole of emptiness in their heart, more often than not causing depression and madness.
Of course, methods to prevent such grave cases from happening exist, but most of them are precious elixirs, medicinal baths, or divine cultivation technique that the Shadow acolytes had usually no way to get their hands on. However, the Huntingwood family had developed plenty of mental techniques and breathing techniques allowing them to limit the physical and mental side effects to some extent.
These methods were time-consumind and expensive, thus slowing down their growth rate, but at least, they could be considered 'human', an exception considering that most of shadow element acolytes ultimately turn into necromancers, or liches, should they ever turn into adepts.
Neither alive, nor dead, these beings were freaks that spread like a plague, rampaging wherever they went, massacring living beings by thousands. These 'beings' were worse than demons, and were the main enemies of the Silver Union.
And this battlefield was an opportunity for the Shadow Order Acolytes to prove they didn't work hard for nothing. Each one of these acolytes had a deep history behind them, struggles to stay sane and healthier. These experiences had forged their bodies and mind. They had been trained to kill, and the battlefield was akin to a playground to them.
These huge bears were strong, but compared to the scheming Thornfield apprentices who were versatile enough to defend against their spells and escape their curses, the bears were akin to giant piles of muscles.
The shadow acolytes were the perfect counter to the bloodline acolytes after all.
The Raging Fire Bears' defence was not light, by all means. However, it was considering you fought them with physical attacks, or spells that would come into contact with their skins. After all, the Raging Fire Bears' hide could absorb 20 to 300 points of damage, depending on the purity of their bloodline and their cultivation. However, the shadow acolytes were cursemancers. They could ignore these defence and instead focus their spells on curses that would weaken the bears and slowly drain their lifespan!
However, these curses were child play when compared to the five elders' barrage of curses:
First things first, the curse they most often cast was called Shadow Corrosion, which basically condensed a mist made of shadow elemental particles in the enemies' lungs, crippling their stamina, and dealing tremendous damage to their internal organs. Unless they over 20 points of physique, they would die in a matter of minutes, if not in a few seconds. Beside the acolytes who had trained their bodies to such extents, only the intermediate Raging Fire Bears could stay alive, burning their bloodline power to ignite these shadow elemental particles.
However, these elders could also occasionally cast another curse, called Wail of Agony, which was a profound soul attack that would mess the enemy's spirit. This spell was lethal enough to turn beginner acolytes into vegetables, or interrupt the intermediate acolyte's shapeshifting cast. Without their shapeshifting form, the Gambit Acolytes were nothing but mortals with above average physique.
Of course, the battlefield was not one-sided. Although the Shadow Acolytes were stronger individually and could ignore the bears' defences, they were similarly helpless when a Gambit Acolyte charged towards them. The Shadow elemental particles, similar to the Wind and Fire elemental particles, could not be condensed into strong defences. The fire element was the most destructive one, but flames couldn't defend against a spear. Similarly, air could deviate attacks to some extents, but it couldn't compare to a wall of water. As for shadow elemental particles, they could not even condense into something else than a mist! Unless one had adept mastery over these elemental particles, defence spells of these three elements were either extremely rare spells on par with the three Thornfield's internal circle spells, or vastly inferior.
This lack of defence is what allowed the Thornfield family to crush the Huntingwood family after all.
Though, the Gambit Acolytes' offensive means were now limited to physical attacks.
Any fire breath spell would be instantly nullified by Water Elemental spells from the Thornfield acolytes: Ice spear, Aqua Wall, Aqua Bolts, Aqua Shackles, Aqua Spear or even the mighty Aqua Prison spell that only a handful of acolytes could cast, would seal their enemy from oxygen by condensing water around them, thus asphyxiating them to death, and preventing them from blowing flames.
After Allan Gambit's fall, the Gambit faction's defeat was only a matter of time. Exhausted from the previous battle against soldiers and knights, the Gambit Acolytes were not only suffering from a backlash from the Spiritual Roar, they also had to deal with acolytes, less numerous but stronger individually, with special techniques weakening them and slowly killing them off.
The Fallen Valley Battle didn't even last for forty minutes. Yet, the blood coming from soldiers and acolytes had formed a sea of blood, a frightening scene for whoever stepped into the battlefield.
The Fallen Valley Battle had ended into a victory for the Thornfield Family. 140 Gambit Acolytes lost their lives, including the Core Elder Allan Gambit. 60 Beginner Acolytes from the Gambit Family were successfully captured, strong forces that would be turned into labour force in the future. The hatred between the two families were so deep that absorbing their powers into a faction like the Shadow Order was unconceivable.
However, it was far from being a flawless victory. Viscount Philipp was on the brink of death. The odds of his survival were bleak. 32 Shadow Order Acolytes (mostly beginner acolytes) lost their lives in the battle, a huge blow to the Shadow Order, since their numbers were now down to 33, including Elder Shadow, most of them being injured or crippled. 31 Thornfield Family Members, mainly beginner apprentices, were gravely injured, and 621 soldiers lost their lives, with 8 of them being novice knights. The rest of soldiers were crippled, or gravely injured, with only a few lucky ones with nothing but light wounds.
It was only a matter of time before the Dawins Household would disband. This meant that the territory would become instable, plagued with bandits and ambitious merchants. Moreover, there were very few knights with enough strength and skills to match Viscount Philipp's achievements.
Viscount Philipp had been a wall preventing invaders from invading the Thornfield territory. Without him, then the barbarian tribes within the mountains would take advantage of this momentary weakness and cause tremendous chaos in these lands, something that would once again cause huge amount of innocent casualties.
This battlefield had been a massive blow to both families. The Gambit Family, as a bloodline Adept Family with a longer history, naturally had more acolytes to spare.
Although the Thornfield's casualties were small in comparison, most of the acolytes who participated in the Fallen Valley battle were exhausted and injured. Hence, the Gambit Family might have gotten the upper hand in this war thanks to this battle.
In a room, in the Gambit Family's den -- a majestic cavern filled with ornamental beast bones, paintings and huge amount of treasures – three pseudo adepts were grinning. They were sitting next to each other, looking at an orb of vision, a rare artefact that allowed them to witness the whole battlefield from a distance.
"Brother, you're a genius. They've lost their trump card, the Huntingwood acolytes can't participate in battles anymore. Without their curses, there is no way the Thornfield rats can rival our strong forces, not to mention we are stronger individually, and more numerous."
"Don't underestimate their elders. They possess two pseudo-adepts, one of them capable of shapeshifting into a water dragon. Even if we combine our strength, we will not be able to deal with this supreme elder of theirs."
"The old man is still in his prime, and according to my spies, he has recovered from his battle against Grand Knight Tyler Anderson."
"This is why I spent 10 000 magic crystals on this array."
"What? This is a fortune! We could have hired another pseudo-adept with so many magic crystals!"
"It is a one-time-use array that can ban their elder into another plane. Only by completing 100 difficult and time-consuming trials, would he be able to return to Alphen. Although this array was originally created as a form of test, it will allow us to win this war!"
The Gambit Family indeed had devilish plans. The war was only beginning.