An authoritative soprano issued orders as Claud and Lily hurried past to the recruiting station they had signed up at a few days ago, before making their way to the city walls. The clerk at the recruiting station had directed them there after a brief query; rather than getting in the way of professional soldiers in the arts of infantry combat, mercenaries and travelling folders would be better used when placed on a wall and told to fire arrows ceaselessly.
"Only aim at the rear of the enemy troop!" The soldier briefing everyone on the battlements pointed at the moving mass of black. "Don't hit friendlies; when it turns chaotic, lower your bows and listen to instructions! Anyone who doesn't will not be awarded contributions!"
"I can use mana!" someone shouted.
"Then use it to make your arrows hit harder," the soldier replied, before pulling out a bunch of bows. "If you want to join the fray, only do it under a few conditions — when a rout on either side occurs, or when there's no visible infantry formation! To join the fray physically, start from the flank and pressure them there."
"I think not," Lily whispered to Claud.
"We'll just keep shooting arrows first," Claud agreed. "If anything happens or if the Duchess' army can't hang on, cover for me."
Lily nodded. "Of course. Come on, let's pick an arrow and start shooting."
Under the cover of night, even with the weak light of the Moons burning down on the world, no one could accurately discern if their arrow shots had actually hit or not. Therefore, contributions for this impromptu mission were given based on attendance and compliance to instructions. As a result, due to these lax standards, the thousand-odd bows that had been provided vanished in an instant.
As the shadowy mass of enemies drifted closer to the city, the soldier pulled out a conical item and spoke into it. "Everyone, into your positions! Bows up, and notch!"
The same shout echoed through the city walls as the other soldiers helping to direct the volunteers yelled the same thing. Joining the others as they spaced themselves out evenly across the walls, Claud nocked an arrow to the bow in his hands, and then eyed the approaching army.
"Pull!" the soldier shouted. "Aim at the back! Breath in!"
Everyone's chest puffed up, and Claud began to infuse mana into his arrow. To his right, Lily did the same, and throughout the wall, the blue glow of mana seemed to contend against the weak light of the Crescent Moons.
Arrows tore through the sky, but without waiting to see the result, the soldier drew a deep breath again, and then shouted, "Release! Bows up! Notch! Pull! Aim at the back! Breath in!"
Arrows fell like rain, and those empowered with mana illuminated the vast sea of shadows as they smashed into the ground and blew up. The bombardment continued to smash onto the shadowy troops as they charged towards the defence lines that Duchess Lacuna had painstakingly built up, and after releasing one last volley of arrows, the soldier ordered them to lower their bows and wait.
The shadows had arrived at the defence line, spreading out to do battle with the soldiers stationed there. Thanks to the effort of massed archers — although Claud had seen more than one-third of the arrows missing — the army of humanoid shadows had been cut down to a shadow of its original size, thereby proving that tactics and basic strategy still had their place in warfare.
"Still, isn't this a bit too easy?" Claud muttered. "It feels like the shadows didn't have much of a choice but to charge at us."
"Probably because the Moons were out earlier than intended." Lily pointed at the round dome that had blocked off Quies Dukedom. "That dome is smoking, dissolving under the moonlight. But that giant wall that seems to isolate the Voidum Sovereignty isn't. Maybe that's why the shadowy fellows here were forced to assault the city; their home was burning up."
"Then retreat into Voidum," Claud replied.
"You assume they can." Lily turned around and leaned on the battlements, before lowering her voice to a whisper. "But we never did find out if the Moon Emissary could pass through the barrier, right?"
"True." Claud stared at the dissipating dome of darkness. At this rate, the Quies Dukedom, which had been forcefully occupied by the shadows, would be freed or whatever once more. It was good news to the people here, but to the two of them…
"So, this place is the battleground between the Moons and the great Dark." Lily took a deep breath. "I don't know what to think about it. And what of the gods? What is the Trial of Aeons?"
"You ask questions I cannot—"
"Everyone!" the soldier shouted. "Once more, into your positions. Bows up! Notch!"
Claud directed his eyes to the battlefield once more, where another gigantic mass of shadows had emerged from the dome in the horizon. "That was way too easy, wasn't it?"
"The enemy's called the great Dark for a reason," Lily replied, notching an arrow to her bow. "Still, you'd think that they would have thrown all these troops at us together, right?"
"Ye—incoming!"
Black streaks arced through the sky, their origin the rear of the shadowy mass.
"Don't worry!" the soldier bellowed, his colleagues shouting the same thing at the same time. "The city has defences! Follow my instructions and fire only on command!"
Azure screens of light appeared between the battlements and the city's exterior, and the black streaks — which were both faster and more accurate than their arrows — splashed onto the barriers.
"Pull!" the soldier shouted. "Aim at the enemy archers! Breath in! Release!"
The barriers vanished as the last shout split the air, and arrows sliced through the night. Plunging into the contingent of enemy archers or whatever they were, the soldier continued to bark out commands. The regular, systematic way in which they released arrows and barriers appeared to block out the enemy's retaliation was impressive, and Claud made a mental note to follow up on queries regarding this method.
Before he knew it, the second wave of attackers had either died to arrows or were utterly annihilated by the defenders holding the line. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to take a break; as the last shadow crumpled over at the defence lines, another bunch of shadows appeared. This time, however, Claud could spot a bunch of extra-large shadows, which reminded him of—
"Mounted infantry?" Lily muttered, her words tinged with surprise.
"Y-yeah."
The soldier looked at the extra-fast shadows, and then shook his head. Barking out the same sets of orders, everyone atop the battlements loosed their arrows at the rear of the enemy soldiers again. This time, however, barriers of darkness had appeared, intercepting their shots. As Claud took in the sight, a bad feeling welled up in him.
The forces of the great Dark were watching…and learning.
"From now on," said the soldier, "listen to me exclusively. We will be suppressing the enemy with continuous fire, rather than a single volley. Their barriers cannot be as sturdy as ours; they will soon break."
He swept his gaze around Claud's length of the wall. "Don't worry. Just listen to my individual command."
Blue screens of light faced off against their dark counterparts, with a few of them winking out individually at any one given moment. Since both sides couldn't fire through the barriers, the city's way of ensuring a continuous hail of fire meant that the enemy archers — or what passed as archers anyway — couldn't even fire a shot.
While this was by no means an ideal situation, Claud could vaguely tell that there had been a change in goals; they, the archers, now had to place their attention on preventing the enemy from firing, rather than causing attrition.
As that thought coursed through his mind, something changed at the battlements below. Duchess Lacuna's troops had broken away from the shieldwall formation they had been used earlier. The screens of light that had protected them from ranged attacks had vanished, and small groups of soldiers scattered into the battlefield.
"Crossbowmen!" Lily drew a deep breath. "Crossbows are harder to make, but anyone can use them with high accuracy!"
The shadowy army's defences were directed upwards, to guard against the archers on the walls, but now…
Soldiers wielding crossbows nibbled away at the front of the enemy troops. They would close in, fire a direct shot at their targets, and then retreat to a safe distance to reload. Within ten minutes, the entire infantry line had been cut down, and the crossbowmen scattered as the enemy archers gained the leeway to directly fire on them.
Regular infantry, bearing huge shields, charged at the remaining shadows and routed them directly.
"Fourth wave?" Claud muttered. "Or no?"
"Even if there's a fourth wave, from how efficiently Duchess Lacuna's forces cut the enemy down, I don't think there'll be an issue. Rather…" Lily pointed at the troops below. "I think they're going to take this chance to counterattack now. Fight their way into the Quies Dukedom and force out the invaders."
Claud watched the duchess as her troops took up formation once more. As they headed towards the black dome, towards the boundary that divided Quies from Lacuna, the two of them exchanged glances.
"What should we do?" Claud looked up at the Moons.
Lily looked back at him, a helpless look on her face. "Maybe we should at least be ready to help if something goes wrong."
Claud took a deep breath. "Alright."
Watching the soldier as he dismissed every volunteer with sincere thanks, Claud stifled the ominous feeling that an apparent Chromatic Lord would make an appearance tonight, before activating Presence Nullification to conceal their presence.
The night was still long, after all.