Chereads / The Empire of Arcadia / Chapter 12 - Pride and Honor

Chapter 12 - Pride and Honor

"Lui-eya." Astrian calls out to her as she leaves.

"Hm?" She looks back at him.

"Are all elite divisions ready?" He asks, looking at the war map.

"Yes, why?"

"Can you bring half of them to Tei'hi and the other half to me?"

"Why? What are you planning, boy?"

"I've sent spies all over the place, they told me that Sator and the king of the north's combined troops totaled to 140,000 men. Even if we're technologically superior, we cannot defeat them that easily."

"Then what do you have planned?" She asks, approaching the war map.

Astrian starts drawing up arrows, splitting behind Sator's forces and the north king's. "Go tell the general to hold the line with his soldiers here," he points at a small valley near Arcadia, "have elite divisions 1 to 5 assist them. I'll be taking the rest of the divisions and cutting Sator and the King's supply lines and t-"

"Wait," Lui-eya interrupted him, "Just keep it short, what do you want to accomplish."

"I want to end it now."

"Already?"

"The deal with Sator was sketchy at best, and now she's marching her entire army down to us. If we aren't ending it here, then we're never ending it at all."

"Hm, alright then. I'll see you there." She leaves.

"And so will I." He closes the door and fixes up his plans.

18:20

The sun starts setting on the horizon as Astrian's regiment turned north and started capturing the villages left by Sator and the King. It wasn't long before the entire army was routed and running back towards the main forces.

Tei'hi and his 1,250 troops see from the distance the glimmering of a thousand spears reflecting the setting sun. It is almost blinding. "SHIELD'S UP!" He commanded loudly. And it was a good call, as a few seconds later the first barrage of arrows blot out the sun.

The arrows fell, and in one instance, so did a few dozen soldiers. And then, their army charged, but Tei'hi's stood their ground. And the two armies clashed, with the elite witch-soldiers, they are protected while raining fire at the same time. But they cannot hold under the intense mass of the army for long.

18:30

In a few short minutes, all villages are captured and all supply lines subdued. It was time to commence operation: "CLOSING SPHERE"

Immediately, all the raid bombing divisions headed east towards the valley. And there they see the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of men swarming towards a tiny crack. At one end they see Tei'hi's army and Lui-eya assisting the frontlines. At the other end they see Sator sitting on a throne carried by her soldiers.

They flew by her and dropped their bombs on the mass of people. A thousand more died on the initial blasts as the full force of the raiding army dropped their entire arsenal. It was then that the 2,000 witch soldiers along with 250 elite soldiers rushed from behind. It was time for the slaughter that came late.

18:35

In short 5 minutes, both sides of the Arcadian army charged using their entire force. Slaughtering any man they see. There were absolutely no survivors as the soldiers crashed down towards the middle. They inched closer to Sator who was carrying the corpse of the northern king.

She had already killed him earlier as per preemptive celebrations.

The witch-soldiers tanked the attacks at them as the elite soldiers bombarded the enemy army with all kinds of magic, from fire to ice to lightning. The raid bombers threw additional bombs as well as supporting grenades down to the ground to maximum effect.

18:45

They're under the foot of Luca Sator, who, in a short minute yelled. Her explosion ringing the ears of countless soldiers as they all drop dead, their bodies and heads exploding causing a chain reaction of death and violence.

Amidst the chaos, the elite soldier Marcus, who carried the ability to reverse time, realized that they are on top of a leyline. And, in a short minute. He finds himself back in time.

18:44

Ignoring every enemy in his way, Marcus ran straight towards Luca, he cut a line that which Tei'hi could cross and yelled at him, "GENERAL! WE HAVE TO DO IT NOW!" Both of them ran towards Luca, cutting down every enemy in their path.

They saw her as she is about to mess everything up, Tei'hi jumped up and with the might of his axe, slashed down on Luca, cutting off her right arm. But, as luck would have it, things don't always go to plan.

Luca's left arm touched Tei'hi's chest as she activated her magic, a long beam of fire and death escaped from her fingertips, cutting a hole in Tei'hi's chest, "AHGGGGGGGGG!!" He screamed as he lifts up his axe and in one single slash, destroys the smug smirk off of Luca's face. As her body screamed for one final time.

Sator was dead, and her family was at peace.

18:45

Marcus could not do anything for he had exhausted the Leyline. He could only catch the general lightly as he fell down the mountain of corpses on the ground, being one among them. Astrian came down his chariot as he slides over to the silent corpse of Tei'hi and started sobbing.

Lui-eya arrived looking pitifully at his corpse, Astrian looked at him with tears falling down his face, he snapped towards Lui-eya, still drowning in tears, he asked her, "Can't you heal him!?"

Lui-eya looked down, "I don't think there's anything I could do to the dead, child."

"I see." He looks back at Tei'hi who treated him as his son in the past few months. His only hope for a family, and the only man who saw his capabilities. He was gone.

His soldiers came in and surrounded his corpse and saluted. It was silent now in the valleys of Arcadia.