"How would I describe the Holy Arcadia Empire of the Lands of Ancients... Lordran. It is the Empire built on Blood, Steel, Faith, Magic and Gunpowder. The Imperials are rather reclusive people; they don't hold much interest in expanding their territory of Westeros and Essos, probably Volantis for their Heresy and Sothoryos were sole exemptions from this rule.
The Empire is a land of endless possibilities; it is a land where one could rise from peasant to status of highest nobility that would put all former Kings of the Seven Kingdoms to shame, but it was also a land where one mistake would see all those possibilities come to a sudden and often very painful end."
Quote by Tywin Lannister from the book "The First Landing".
***
Codex: Laws of Succession of Imperial Nobles
Contrary to the lands of Westeros and Essoss, the Laws of Imperial Sucesses are entirely different.
While the Noble Titles of Barons and Viceroys are passable to the eldest descendants, be they male or female, in the Main Line after passing Imperial Examinations, the Elector Counts are in entirely different situations.
Part of the reason why they are called Elector Counts is that they themselves are to be elected to their position by the House Council after passing the Imperial Examination firstly to ensure that only the best of the best would become the new Elector Counts.
After that, the Elector Count candidate is chosen by votes, where the Elders of the Elector Count House will vote for the new Elector Count. If the previous Elector Count is still alive, he doesn't get a vote unless the vote ends in a draw, then he gets the deciding vote.
This process also applies to the Lord High Magistrate House of Vileblood that controls the City-State of Cainhurst the City of Silver.
While the new Grand Theogenist of the Healing Church is chosen too by voting among Vicars and the Supreme Patriarch and Headmaster of Byrgenwerth is selected by voting and duel.
***
"Chaos Furies are incoming! Prepare the bolters! Wizards prepare the Spells!"
Karl Franz could hear the Elector Count of Sylvania, Vladislaus Draculya-Tepes, shout as thousands of creatures appeared from the sky and started descending on the Skycrown Gate in huge numbers.
The Chaos Furies were fierce creatures with great leathery wings. Their faces have more in common with Dragons or Wyvern than they do with Humans, as they are twisted into snarling visages full of sharp angles and wicked fangs set beneath searching, feral, red eyes.
Since Chaos Furies lack the power and malevolent purpose of serving a particular Ruinous Power, they are among the weakest of the Lesser Daemons, though more than a match for most mortals. They haunt forlorn places, always searching for lone or injured travelers.
Among the forces of the Daemons, they presented the basis of the Air Forces of the Daemons and foul powers.
Meanwhile, on the walls of the Skycrown Gates, the Dwarven Engineers were loading the machines of war called Dwarf Bolt Thrower, which was basically a large version of the crossbow or Scorpio, able to fire very heavy bolts over greater distances.
Dwarf Engineers still vie with each other to invent Bolt Throwers with greater range, loading speed, or accuracy. Practical to a fault, the Dwarfs place more trust in an old, proven Bolt Thrower that has fired reliably for generations.
The Bolt Thrower remains an integral part of the Dwarf arsenal because it can be built and maintained cheaply and is accurate enough to bring down monsters such as Wyverns or Trolls with a well-judged shot.
Across the entire walls of the Skycrown Gate, there were hundreds of the Bolt Throwers, and soon, all of them, in a beautiful symphony of coordinated attack, launched waves of heavy bolts that skewered through the clouds of the Chaos Furies.
The foul Lesser Daemons were torn to shreds by the swarms of the bots, while some of the bolts that didn't hit the Chaos Furies still fell onto the Daemons on the ground, killing some Bloodletters and other kinds of Lesser Daemons instead.
"Battle Wizards attack!"
During the time the Bolt Throwers were being reloaded, the Battle Wizards unleashed their carnage of spells as the entire Tartarus Pass lit in a spectacular performance of various Lores of Magic.
Elemental Spells like those of Lighting or Fire were doing the most significant damage; the Pyromancers of the Chaos Flame Covenant and House Izalith were burning the Daemons to the crips.
And the moment Spells quieted down, the Bolt Throwers fired once again, leaving there no blank time when the Skycrown Gate wasn't shooting something at the enemy. From a distance, though, Karl Franz could see some of the Greater Daemons appearing among the horde.
"Bloodthirsters spotted!"
Soon enough, the enormous Greater Daemons of Chaos God of Blood and Skulls, one of the rulers of the Abyss, appeared in the distance.
"Elector Count Vladislaus, I will take care of them."
Karl Franz stated, receiving a nod from the Elector Count, who could now focus more on the defense of the Skycrown Gate.
"1st Shield Company of Reiksgarde with me!"
The Holy Imperator shouted as he mounted his Griffon Deathclaw and rose high in the air; together with him, 125 members of the Reiksgarde repeated the same action as more than a hundred Griffon Knights rose into the air and flew directly at the several tens of Bloodthirsters.
The Bloodthirster is a massive Daemon with crimson skin that perspires blood. It has the lower legs of a beast, blending the traits of a goat and bull, with the upper body of a man, though covered in thick, curly black hair sodden with gore.
From its back spread two massive leathery wings, not unlike those of a Dragon. Atop its neck is a bestial, tusked, dog-faced head fitted with two bull horns that spread to either side.
The horns and head of this Greater Daemon are decorated with profane symbols of the Blood God, including the Mark of Khorne. Covering its body are plates of brass Chaos Armour bolted directly to its bone and fused to its flesh.
Many Drinkers of Blood also tear the faces of their victims from their skulls to add them to their armor like some perverse purity scroll.
This armor is forged upon the Daemon's flesh by Khorne himself and thereafter becomes a living part of the Daemon's physical form, even while maintaining a brutal intelligence of its own. As such, even the Bloodthirster's armor is wrathful and longs for slaughter.
Most Bloodthirsters wield Daemonic battleaxes known simply as the Axes of Khorne. Said to contain the essence of failed Daemons, these weapons are noted for cutting through flesh and armor with ease.
There were around thirty Bloodthirsters that were at the Greater Daemon Level, and there were even several Daemon Nobles that were comparable to Level 5, which would be left to the Holy Imperator to handle.
Several members of the Reiksgarde, when grouped together, could take down a Bloodthirster with some effort, especially if they were boosted by the Priests of the Healing Church and their weapons contained the Holy Power of the Great Ones that were deathly to the Daemons of Abyss.
Riding on the top of his Griffon Deathclaw, Karl Franz held strong on his weapon, the Holy Artifact of the Great Ones, Longinuslanze Testament, as he aimed directly at the biggest of the Bloodthirsters.
Among the Bloodthirsters, the Chieftains were Daemon Nobles and were Level 5 beings more powerful than ordinary Bloodthirsters. Before the collision happened, the Golden Light of Holy Destruction burst out of the Longinuslanze Testament, blinding all those around him.
Instantly the Golden Light burned down any Daemons in the vicinity; even several unfortunate Greater Daemons were burned to crips as they could even withstand the presence of the Golden Light of Holy Destruction.
"Let you be judged by the will of the Great Ones! For the Lord Gwyn!"
Karl Franz shouted as the Longinuslanze Testament pierced through the skull of one of the Daemon Nobles in a mere moment, killing one of the most powerful Daemons on the battlefield within a matter of moments.
The Reiksgarde Knights followed tightly after the Holy Imperator and started attacking the Greater Daemons Bloodthirsters from their Griffons, flying around the huge Greater Daemons and striking them with their weapons or spells.
One thing that was disadvantageous about them was that they were relatively huge and agility wasn't their strongest side, which was naturally then exploited by the Reiksgarde Knights, which were flying around the huge Bloodthirsters.
They were harassing them, slashing at them with their lances and swords, often casting some sort of Magic Spells at them. Each Knigth of the Reiksgarde was proficient in Magic on the level of an average Battle Wizard who mastered specific lore.
The Reiksgarde were the best of the best; they were truly prime examples of the Holy Arcadia Empire. Just after five minutes, several of the Bloodthirsters were already on the verge of death because they were previously injured by the Golden Light of Holy Destruction.
***
On the Walls
Everything that was happening on the battlefield was observed by the Elector Count Vladislaus Draculya-Tepes, who was commander of the Skycrown Gate.
Now that the Greater Daemons Bloodthristers were taken care of, he could focus on the Lesser Daemons, who had already arrived and were attacking the gate itself.
"Skull Cannons... Reinforce the barrier!"
He shouted at the Wizards and Magicians who were stationed on the Skycrown Gate, who immediately went to work and started reinforcing the barrier surrounding the walls of the Skycrown Gate.
The Skull Cannons of Khorne, also known as Hellforged Bellowers, the Bonegrinders, or the Clinkerfiends, are massive Daemon Engines of Khorne. Legend tells that the Skull Cannons of Khorne were forged in the furnaces at the foot of the Blood God's throne and beaten into shape upon his mighty anvil.
Hundreds of them appeared in the distance among the endless Daemon Horde and started firing flaming projectiles at the walls of the Skycrown Gate. Fortunately, the Skycrown Gate had several layers of defense, including physical ones and magical ones.
"Dammit... there are too many of them... return it to them, aim at the Skull Cannons! Acht, take Division of Silver Knight and reinforce the weak point number Alpha; the Daemons would land there in five minutes."
Jubstacheit Draculya-Tepes, who was standing together with his father on the walls, nodded his head and immediately hopped on his Griffon and flew to another part of the Skycrown Gate.
Delivered a command from his father as the Silver Knights were heading towards the cornermost part of the Skycrown Gate, which was under the heaviest assault of Chaos Furies and other types of flying Daemons.
Soon enough, the Chaos Furies would be picking up other Daemons and dropping them directly at the walls of the Skycrown Gate.
In the same place where Jubstacheit was leading 2,500 Silver Knights, Commander of the 15th Regiment of 11th Legion, numbering 5,000 Soldiers of the Imperial Army.
"Commander Helmut, we got the news that Elector Count has sent reinforcements numbering the entire Division of Silver Knight led by the young lord."
Commander Helmut was clad in his military uniform, as he was personally commanding the Artillery that was targeting the flying Daemons.
The standard armor of the Imperial Soldiers varied; the ordinary soldiers wore a mixture of chainmail, heavy leather made from powerful Magical Creatures and heavy plates; they also wore a face mask attached to their helmets.
Meanwhile, the officers and stronger members of the Imperial Army were wearing heavy planted armor reminiscent of knights, with face facemasks.
Having their entire Division of Silver Knights would be certainly helpful, as their position was most vulnerable against the attack of Daemons right now. Across the Holy Arcadia Empire, there were only two places where Legions of Silver Knights were permanently stationed.
One of them was Skycrown Gate and another was Grand Province of Orleáns, which was defending against the Orks. Naturally, these Legions were constantly rotating, so every Legion got enough combat experience.
"Send them directly to Squad Master of Holy Knights..."
Four minutes later, one minute before the approximate arrival of the Division of the Silver Knights, the Chaos Furies had already started dropping Daemon on the walls of the Skycrown Gate.
Seeing this, Commander Helmut grits his teeth because the Daemons were faster than their reinforcements by one minute, so this would be pretty hard... every single second was crucial in situations like this.
The Daemons that they were dropping here were stronger Bloodletters, and there were more and more of them, and the ordinary soldiers of the Imperial Army were not able to resist against the stronger Bloodletters that were around Level 2 or higher.
But like it was heaven sent from Lady Luck, several tens of Griffons descended from the skies and started tearing apart the Chaos Furies.
Among the Silver Knights, only the Grand Knights could have a Griffon as a mount and among the entire Division of 2,500 Silver Knights, there were around 200 Grand Knights.
"We were lucky this time..."
Commander Helmut sighed in relief because while the soldiers of the Imperial Army were of the peak human condition, but it was not enough in front of Bloodletters, that had greater physical strength.
Fortunately, what the Soldiers of the Imperial Army lacked in strength, speed and physique, they made up for with their skills and abilities, as the Bloodletters were relatively simple when it came to fighting and combat.
Several minutes after the arrival of the Division of Silver Knights, they started pushing back the Chaos Furies entirely. However, the fighting on the walls was still going on, but soon the soldiers of the Imperial Army were reinforced by the Silver Knights.
With the Silver Knights entering the battle, the number of casualties of the Imperial Soldiers started decreasing at a steady rate, as the Silver Knights took the role of combating the Daemons, while the Imperial Army only had a supplementary role.
The Silver Knights, in their heavy armor and weapons, all made by Dwarven hands and inscribed with runes, were like War Gods incarnate as they were cutting through the hordes of Daemon with thunderous speed.
Soon enough, they contained the Daemons on the Skycrown Gate and were steadily pushing them out. Naturally, this didn't come without the losses from the side of the Silver Knights, but they were minuscule compared to the losses that the Daemons were suffering.
Another thing that helped was that, across the entirety of the Skycrown Gate, there were several Priests of the Healing Church who were responsible for healing the injured. Hence, the casualties were much lesser than they would normally be in a fight of these proportions.
***
On the Battlefield
Deeper on the battlefield, the forces of the Reiksgarde, under the leadership of the Holy Imperator, were fighting against the Greater Daemons of Khorne, the Bloodthirsters and also some of the Daemon Nobles that were engaged against the Holy Imperator himself.
Several members of the Reiksgarde have already fallen to the brutal onslaught of the Bloodthirsters, but not without taking with them as many enemies as possible. From the initial 125 Reiksgarde, now something around 80 remained.
Rest were killed in combat, dying valorously for the glory and holiness of the Holy Arcadia Empire and its people. Some of them even took down Greater Daemons themselves on their dying breath.
The moment their masters died, the Griffons would take the corpses of the Imperial Guardians and bring them back to the Anor Londo so that they could have a funeral in the mausoleum in the City of Gods.
An honor reserved for none another.
"Mortals! Die for the glory of the Blood God!"
A deafening roar sounded through the entirety of the battlefield as everyone realized that the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand had arrived. As one of the Daemon Lords under the service of one of the Four Chaos Gods, the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand was an extremely powerful Daemon Lord.
Karl Franz looked at the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand from atop his Griffon Deathclaw and knew that the Daemon Lord was much stronger than he was... much stronger, which made him rethink his strategy when dealing against this monstrosity of an opponent.
''Empowered by the Abyssa and Chaos God himself... what are those Four playing again?'
There was only one thing that would explain what was happening right now in the realms of Ruin: the Abyss. Probably all cosmology would witness the birth of a new God of Chaos, albeit a Minor one, but the God of Chaos nevertheless.
"Retreat! All of you retreat on the walls!"
Karl Franz shouted at the Reiksgarde Kngiths, who obeyed his orders and immediately withdrew from the battlefield, leaving there Karl Franz alone, staring at the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand.
The enormous Bloodthirster was at least twice as big as an ordinary Bloodthirster and looked even angrier and more powerful than the ordinary Bloodthirsters. For several first seconds, both of them started at each other before the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand lunged into the air.
Hacking his enormous waraxe decorated with several skulls and Abyssal runes, Karl Franz controlled his Griffon to dodge the attack as Deathclaw flipped in the air and the Holy Imperator threw the Longinuslanze Testament directly at the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand.
The Longinuslanze Testament enveloped in the Golden Light of Holy Destruction boomed with the Holiness of the Great Ones as it hit the enormous Daemon Lord in his shoulder, as the Daemon roared in pain.
Being hit by one of the Holy Artifacts of the Great Ones was something that was deadly and poisonous to the Daemons of Chaos from the depths of the Abyss.
Even from a distance, he could see golden lines penetrating through the Daemon Lord's entire being as he was corroded by the Holiness of the Great Ones.
***
MC POV
I outstretched my right hand and summoned back the Longinuslanze Testament, which immediately shot towards me and landed in my right hand. One good thing about the Holy Artifacts was that they were pretty sentient, like really...
They had their own spirit and mind and thus I could do with them what I did now.
Still, the battle was going on rather well for now; with the loss of most Greater Daemons and almost all Noble Daemons in this horde, they could only proceed with what they had. Without the more powerful ones or powerful Daemon Engines, they couldn't breach the Skycrown Gate.
From the walls of the Skycrown Gate, the gunner regiments already started shooting and skewering them with bullets. Thousands of Daemons fell with each salvo from the gunners and even more fell when the Artillery was firing.
The battle was going on for a good half an hour, so I needed to stall the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand for approximately 30 minutes until Master Hunter from the Workshop arrived and we could kill him.
I doubted that he would retreat... the ones who followed Khorne were mad because Khorne wasn't just Chaos God of Blood and Skulls, but he was also God of Warriors and Martial Honor; there was nothing more despicable for him than escaping from combat.
If the Daemon Lord did such a deed, then his fate would be much worse than simple death.
In a mere moment, hundreds of small light dots appeared all around me and shot towards the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand at lightning speed. All of them were Arcane Missiles, a lesser Spell of Arcane Magic, the purest and most powerful forms of all Magic.
The Daemon Lord knowing what was coming at him, raised his waraxe and attacked the incoming Arcane Missiles head one, tearing them apart with his precision and speed to the point where only a few of them were able to hit him.
He managed to block the majority of them successfully, but that wasn't something surprising truthfully, because all Greater Daemons of Khorne and those above them were masters in single combat and especially in combating Magicians, Wizards, and other Magic users.
Khorne hated Magic, Magic-Users, and everything related to them because he viewed it as a dishonorable way of combat, only fitting for the cowards, as the real warrior slayed his enemies in cold blood with a sharp blade.
Still, this short time window allowed me to conjure a more powerful spell of Arcane Magic when several tens of Arcane Chains appeared out of nowhere and hacked at the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand in the blink of an eye.
And while the Daemon Lord was rather successful at fending them off from the start, there were too many of them and they were too fast for him, so soon, he was becoming bound by the Arcane Chains that were binding him.
Using the opportunity, he positioned his Holy Artifact Longinuslanze Testament in a jousting position and flew at the Daemon Lord with the fastest speed that Deathclaw could muster from him.
Before they could pierce through the Daemon Lord, the enormous Daemon Lord of Khorne roared as he erupted with crimson light, the power of the Blood Gods himself, breaking from the bindings of the Arcane Chains and with his huge waraxe he blocked the Longinuslanze Testament that collided against his weapon.
I didn't expect the Arcane Chains to hold the Daemon Lord down for a long time; even a few seconds would be good until I delivered my blow, but it seemed that the power with which Khorne blessed the Daemon Lord was nothing to scoff at...
Not wasting a moment, flew away from the enraged Daemon Lord, who entered some sort of blood rage upon breaking from the bindings. Apparently, the power of Khorne was a double-sided thing.
Typically, Chaos Gods and other powerful Daemons were tricky... when they gave power to someone, it always came with a heavy price. Be it at the cost of their very own souls, disgusting mutations, or eternal servitude to the said patron to whom the power belonged in the first place.
There was no free lunch among the Ruinious Power and the Daemons of the Abyss.
Nevertheless the situation, I continued entertaining the Daemon Lord, not allowing him to join the siege of the Skycrown Gate because the Daemon Lord was the sole entity on the battlefield that could breach the Gates themselves.
That would be the catastrophic conclusion, so as long as he was bound to me, fighting, the battle would progress smoothly, as the defenders of the Skycrown Gate could fend off the Daemon horde.
And they were doing rather well because Elector Count Vladislaus Draculya-Tepes was performing splendidly, and I already saw that he released some of his vassals to wreak havoc on the battlefield.
When the forces of Von Carsteins joined the battlefield, they descended from the walls and started slaughtering the Daemons left and right, feeding on their blood, constantly healing from even the most gruesome injuries in a matter of seconds.
And after that, they were as good as new and continued to tear through the hordes of enemies, together with them the Holy Knight of the Healing Church purging their filthy existence from the material plane under the Holy Light of the Great Ones.
Several minutes ago, I disembarked from Deathclaw and allowed my ever-loyal familiar to return to the walls because I activated the Golden Light of Holy Destruction to the maximum, not wanting to injure my familiar accidentally.
I lunged at the Daemon Lord, dodging his incoming strike as he slashed with his waraxe at my head, which I managed to timely dodge, but faster than I could anything else, I realized that I was flying in the air, crashing into the hordes of Daemons.
'That fucking bastard surely kicks hard...'
Standing up, an enormous wave of the Golden Light of Holy Destruction exploded from my body, obliterating all opportunistic Daemons that wanted to attack me, as nothing more than even ash remained from them.
Using the Longinuslanze Testament to support me to stand up, I coughed some of the blood which was golden in color. Daemon Lords that were under Chaos God of Blood and Skulls were masters in combat, approaching the skills of Hunters of the Workshop.
Demogorgon, whom I fought against previously, was one of the Daemon Lords under the Chaos God of Change and Sorcery Tzeench.
Daemons of Tzeechs were known for their weakness in combat; they were not combatants and were not nearly as skilled as even some of the weakest Daemons of the God of Warriors and Martial Honor.
Without giving me a moment of peace, I realized that he was already before me, cracking with crimson lighting and his enormous waraxe approaching my head.
Longinuslanze Testament shot towards the waraxe, shockwave knocking both of us back...
In a split of a moment, I summoned the Warhammer Ghal Maraz and with the dull side of the Ghal Maraz, I struck the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand in the middle of his chest as his armor cracked upon the impact.
After I sent him crashing, I mobilized my energy and rushed at him with both of my weapons brandished and attacking the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand in a new wave of exchanges as the Daemon Lord started suffering more and more injuries.
Naturally, the Golden Light of Holy Destruction that was already within his body started showing its effects as it was corroding his insides and not even the boost from his patron deity was able to extinguish it entirely.
'It seems that after this fight, I need to reconsider the proposal about the reformation of specialized military units...'
Right now, there were many specialized military Units within the Holy Arcadia Empire, whose members are aware all around Level 3... be it the Reiksgarde, Executioner Holy Knights of the Healing Church, Grail Knights, Rune Knights and some others.
Some time ago, there was a proposal in the Imperial Council to merge them all into one coherent organization placed directly under the throne. What would happen if there was a Knight armed with the Old Blood of Reiksgarde and Holy Knights of Church, enhanced with Runes and Arcane Magic and Essence of the Lake.
Approximate results were estimated to be at least Level 4 standardized and with many unique abilities, agelessness and other advantages. It seems that it would be needed... even right now, I could see that the Reiksgarde and Holy Knights were suffering losses...
High losses.
And for the Daemons losses were nothing because while we killed around forty Greater Daemons and I personally slayed five Daemon Nobles, it was nothing... The Abyss was swarming with an endless number of Daemons.
Dodging another wave of ferocious attacks from the Daemon Lord as several Greater Daemons appeared around us, joining the attack on my person, only affirmed my decision.
I blasted them apart with my Golden Light of Holy Destruction, exterminating another several Greater Daemons and even another two Daemon Nobles that appeared out of nowhere, not counting several tens of thousands of Lesser Daemons that were unfortunate to be around.
It seemed that the Imperial Forces needed another wave of reformation...
While Reiksgarde and Holy Knights were strong on their own, it was not enough. While Grail Knights were peerless warriors that were traveling through the Lands of Lordran and killing dangerous Beasts or Magical creatures, there were too few.
While Hunters were the pinnacle of the Imperial spirits and strength, there were only around fifteen of them and they were needed to hunt the most dangerous beings that inhabited the Imperial Lands.
Perhaps, not only Westeros and Essos were coming to the new Age... but Holy Arcadia Empire was too entering the new Age.
***
Some distance from the Skycrown Gate.
A huge convoy of several tens of thousands of soldiers of the 6th Imperial Legion were marching to reinforce the Skycrown Gate defenders under the leadership of the Legion's General Wolfgang Rundstadt.
"Sir, the Skycrown Gate is already in the vicinity."
Because they were not bringing with them any heavy artillery or armored regiment to not slow them down, they managed to reach the Skycrown Gate in record time. General Rundstadt was aware that the Daemon horde that was right now sieging the Skycrown Gate was the biggest in the past two centuries.
Not to mention it was led by a Daemon Lord and Holy Imperator was personally stalling the Daemon Lord on the battlefield.
"Increase the speed; we need to arrive faster!"
Right now, time was an essential thing, but unfortunately, they didn't have much of it because, from the scouts, he found out that the fighting between the defenders and invaders had already been moved to the walls of the Skycrown Gate.
It was only a matter of time until that happened; thus, he adjusted his golden facemask on his armor and ordered the soldiers to march faster. The 6th Imperial Legion was bringing to fold 75,000 fresh soldiers that were only a bit tired from the traveling.
Fortunately enough, because every soldier has digested the lowest level of the Old Blood, which was officially termed as Level 0, while not giving them any superhuman capabilities, it still enhanced their stamina and regeneration capabilities enough.
Coupled with special potions that were created to relieve fatigue and so on, it wasn't much of a problem for the Legions to cross even huge distances without being tired at all...
***
Atop the Skycrown Gate
Elector Count Vladislaus Draculya-Tepes was busy commanding the flow of the battle as the Daemons began sieging the walls...
The good news about the entire ordeal was the fact that without the Greater Daemons, they couldn't really breach the Gates of the Skycrown Gate, or more precisely, without anyone at Level 5, it was nigh impossible.
The bad news was that the Lesser Daemons were right now flooding the entirety of the walls and the number of soldiers was stretched thin.
There were too many of the Lesser Daemons that were being dropped on the walls, or some ingenious ones were even capable of climbing or otherwise arriving at the top of the walls.
But with the addition of the Reiksgarde and Church's Executioners, the tables were turning because they were all the most powerful knights within the Holy Arcadia Empire. When they delved into the depths of the Daemon horde, they were slaughtering them left and right.
"My Lord, there are too many Daemons down there; the Head Wizard is asking for permission to activate the trap."
Suddenly, one of the officers wearing the similar bronze-golden armor of the Imperial Army, contrary to that of the average soldiers, theirs was more heavy plated, like that of knights, but had a similar design and also contained a facemask.
"Give them hell... also, send the order to the dwarven engineers to start arming Griffons with packages..."
Elector Count Vladislaus Draculya-Tepes said with a bloodthirsty grin as he ordered before he hopped on his Griffon and personally joined the battle. As someone who reached Level 5, his physical strength was especially fearsome, able to compete against adult True Dragons in terms of physical power.
His orders were instantly relayed to their receivers as everyone started doing their tasks.
The Battle Wizards started chanting a spell that would soon change the course of the entire battle, while down below the Skycrown Gate's walls, in their camp, dwarves were preparing to load explosives on the Griffons.
This was a tactic that the Holy Imperator came with himself, as Griffons would pick up explosives and drop in on nothing suspecting the enemy. He called this strategy "aerial bombardment", and dwarves loved it immediately when they heard it.
So much so that they were competing for who could create more dangerous bombs and bigger explosions. Soon enough, tens of Griffons picked up the explosion before they soared high in the air, as high as possible to avoid the aftermath of the aerial bombardment.