Hyousuke led the charge, yelling at the top of his lungs as he crashed into the first man he saw. Hyousuke slashed and stabbed, taking attacks on his stoneskin as he slaughtered any man in his path. Shi's army also took its toll, the charge had been unexpected and the invaders were out of formation because of the reaper summon so the charge killed many.
The battle turned into an all-out melee, with Shi's army killing more than their fair share. After the first few minutes though, the tide started shifting as the sheer numbers of the invaders started overpowering the element of surprise Shi's army had.
Every one of Shi's men had to deal with three opponents at once, which was too much and the invaders started to slaughter Shi's men. Seeing this, Hyousuke erected a large stone wall where the fight was happening and ordered a retreat.
The wall stalled the invaders for long enough for Shi's army to retreat to the gates, but not long enough to close them. The invaders charged, but Shi's army was prepared and the initial line of men charged straight into the spears of Shi's second line, killing themselves. The next line was quickly cut down by Shi's front line, either stabbed or slashed by the line's swords.
The battle continued, with men dying on both sides. The invaders couldn't triple-team each person because of the confined space but Shi's men were still tiring while the invaders had a seemingly endless amount of fresh men.
The invaders slowly forced Shi's men back, killing them line by line and forcing those left to slowly retreat or die as well. Hyousuke was ahead of the men, killing all those foolish enough to come close to him. Throughout the fight, he had taken a couple of hits where his stoneskin had broken in his shoulder and his side.
Soon, even Hyousuke was slowly forced back by the press of men. Screams suddenly burst out from the back of the invaders. The smell of burning hair and flesh filled the air as the invaders turned around, disregarding the defenders entirely.
"Close the gates!" Hyousuke heard a familiar voice yell from the midst of the invaders. Hyousuke complied and after the gate was shut he headed to the ramparts to see what was happening.
Shi was in the middle of the army, dodging around every attack while slashing the arms of those who tried to attack him. Amazingly, he didn't look like he was using any kind of magic.
Shi rushed towards the back of the army who was about to break into the castle and brought a column of flame down on the back of the army. Screams burst out as he yelled out to whatever defenders were still left "Close the gates!"
After hearing the gates close Shi activated stoneskin and closed his eyes. Shi extended his mana all around him, letting it feel out his surroundings. Shi had learned while regaining his strength that his mana was linked to his mind in a way he hadn't realized before.
By letting his mana cover an area like a fog, Shi could know everything that went on in that area. However, Shi had to close his eyes while doing this or all the information would disorient him and do more harm than good.
His mana sight also wasn't as clear as his improved vision, but with it he could see 360 degrees around him. Shi waded into the mass of men, eyes closed and mana out. As men tried to attack him, Shi smoothly dodged and slashed at them in return, hitting tendons and arteries.
Men fell all around Shi, and he kept killing them with only his karambit, getting a better feel for the mana sense as the fight went on. Shi made fewer and fewer mistakes as the fight went on, with him receiving a few strikes to his stoneskin early in the fight but now dodging everything.
Shi ducked under a swipe and dived to the side of another soldier's chop, throwing a kunai into each of the soldier's throats as he did. Shi stabbed up and to his back left, taking a soldier's throat out.
Shi grabbed the wrist of another soldier, pulling down hard and then jumping up to put a knee in the soldier's face, smashing his skull in even though Shi wasn't using war cry. Shi kept a hold on the man's wrist, using it as he rolled to pick the man up in a fireman's carry and turning the man towards another soldier's sword.
Shi dropped the man, which wrenched the sword out of the soldier's hand as the man fell to the ground. Shi slit his throat and moved on. Shi kept on like this for some time, before realizing that he wasn't gaining any more progress with his mana sight.
Shi put himself in zero gravity before floating up and summoning a ball of lava the size of a hill and dropping it on the army, leaving the outskirts of the army untouched. As the men died, those on the outskirts fled back north as fast as they could.
Shi absorbed all of the mana in the lava, making it disappear. He then floated himself over to the ramparts, landing next to Hyousuke and Daisan. "How're you guys holding up?" Shi asked brightly.
"We're doing great, it's all butterflies and rainbows here," Hyousuke said sarcastically. "Oh, don't be like that," Shi said, "We just beat an army from one of the most powerful families in this country that was ten times our size and we only lost around a quarter of our men. I'd say this is the greatest victory in the history of Japan."
"Maybe," Hyousuke said, "But you were awfully late to the party weren't you?" Shi grinned, "I had to beat all of their generals at once, without any summons, and while saving enough mana to recover quickly enough to single-handedly win the battle, so I feel like I did fine in my job, as did you in yours." Shi said, smiling.
"Fair enough," Hyousuke said, giving Shi a tired smile in return. They exchanged nods and Hyousuke stumbled towards the castle for some rest. Shi talked with Daisan a bit then went down and congratulated the mage trio on their defense from the mages.
Formalities done, Shi returned to the castle to sleep, after all that fighting, he was dead tired.