When the war started the waters made way for a pathway between the mainland and the island of demons.
On the mainland were armies of man while on the island were the armies of asuras.
Waiting.
After the seas had been separated Ikaros pointed his sword towards the mainland and yelled " Attack" to which every demon present there roared loudly. And ran towards the battlefield.
Despite the narrow pathway it was impressively 3km in length. And the breadth of the pathway was almost 7-10 km.
The measuring of the pathway was very inconsistent due to the depression of the ground. But a small estimate could be made over it.
The armies of humans were astounded when the sea split even they regained their senses and marched towards the battlefield.
The infantry was the first to take the march in the battlefield.
The ground was itself made up of the sea bed home to various creatures which lived inside the bed. Were soon trampled upon.
Both the armies of man and the Asura found the ground somewhat uneasy to walk on but still they marched.
From the infantry there was one group that stood out the most.
The Aether Order.
The Aether Order led by prince Tyler of the Kingdom of
Swordsmen.
His army consisted of mana swordsmen with a strength of over 3000. Ten times more than the Spartans who had the land of Greece from the Persians.
And all of these men were seasoned mana sword men with proper experience in their art.
They used both swordsmanship techniques and mana at their disposal. But despite their use of mana. It is very limited for a swordsman to be called a mana swordsman.
The title depends on kingdom to kingdom.
For a small kingdom it would be enough for knights just to fire a fireball at a target and destroy it without chanting a single time.
While for kingdoms of much bigger scale their requirements are much more stricter. Demanding more qualities from the knight.
And the kingdom that Prince Tyler belonged to had that most strict requirement for being considered a mana swordman.
There would be rigorous physical tests, then there would be exams on magic which was split into two different halves.
One is mana theory which requires one to explain the different properties of mana as well as how mana can be used for different applications.
As well as the mechanism of how mana and a spell works.
Mana theory is considered to be important by the kingdom because they belive that if they understand the depth of mana then they would be able to progress further than they have ever dreamed.
Which the other half is practical application. Where once again the applicants will be tested on their abilities such as
Amount of mana stored inside the body, amount of mana which could be released.
Type of elemental magic used.
Strength of the magic
Speed of Conjuring a projectile or a structure.
As well as mock battles with another applicant and one with an instructor.
And finally both of these are mixed into one format where the applicant has to fight another applicant while using both swordsmanship and mana at the same time.
The percentage of one passing such exam would be below 1 %
And passing such exams would be an honor to a knight.
And it would bring prestige to their family.
And they would be honored with the title of mana swordsman.
In the case of both Jay and McElroy. They obtain their titles through the guild which pulled some strings for them.
Because the guild master believed that they were more than qualified for their title. Which was proved time and time again.
And this is the reason the guild master looks favorably at both of them.
But even from them there is an elite army selected by the Prince Tyler who has practiced mana swordmanship from his childhood and was even called genius by everyone.
Would lead an elite corps of mana swordman which was known by everyone as the Aether Order.
And this order marched into the battlefield full of bloodthirsty Asruas.
And despite their status and skills and strength. They were immediately fallen prey one by one to the strong asuras.
This error was made due to a lapse of judjement as Prince Tyler considered their intelligence to that of a Monster.
Prince Tyler himself killed around 30 demons but the others were struggling and lacking behind. Squads would be wiped out in order for a single demon to be bought to its knees and be killed.
To support their attack arrows were shot by the arrow launcher at an incredible rate and was aimed at middle to back rank. But the asuras just thoughts then out as if they were nothing.
While the mages prepared their spells by pooling in mana either from the surroundings or from within their bodies.
And made a combined attack and struck the army.
As for comparison Jay would need such cheap tactics. As he would simply be enough to employs attacks on a grand scale. But to counter this the situation rarely permit Jay to go all out.
Such as either it is blocked by his mentality towards other and his opponents or a situation where it's really not a good idea to do so.
What about this situation can Jay go all out.?
Answer : No.
Reason :
There are allies on the battlefield who might get hurt.
The combined attack of the mages struck the asuras and some of them fell. But the asuras still continued to march.
The total number of asuras which marched to the mainland was 10000.
And the number of demons which have fallen were around :
9912.
Meanwhile the casualties of the Aether order were increasing.
From the 3000 units present. Prince Tyler had lost more than he thought.
He lost around 665 men in midst of their attack.
This is a huge loss which caused Prince Tyler to flinch.
Total number of units present in the Aether Order :
2335.
Pressured by his men and unable to take a conscious decision. Prince Tyler ordered his men to fall back to prevent more casualties. As attacks from the ages and the arrows continues to pierce the army of 10000 asuras.
With the Aether Order retreating the asuras felt motivated. And they continued their march towards the mainland.
With even more determination.
When Prince Tyler and the order retreated to the mainland they were immediately begun to criticize him. On his actions.
Prince Tyler had deployed his men without orders.
And had suffered major losses.
Nora :
There were no orders for you to be deployed.
Prince :
There had to be someone to take the stand.
King :
And look how much it has cost you Prince Tyler.
King :
You are the crown prince of your kingdom, you should keep a calm head when making decisions. After all all the lives are dependent on your decision.
Azuma :
He is a kid after all. If he won't make mistakes then who will.
Azumas impulsive presence took over the entire conversation.
Azuma :
Watch and learn prince. How we hunt demons.
Saying that Azuma and his men alongside other demon hunter families dived into action.
And he was correct the tide of battle started to shift onto their side.
Their experience helped them to undo the damage and regain the ground that they had lost.
But even they weren't without their own set of casualties.
In this entire affair Azuma had alone cut down more than 30 demons.
But his eyes darted around the entire battlefield as if they were searching for someone.
Azuma had been searching for the both of them. Jay and
McElroy but they weren't anywhere on the battlefield
Where are they and what are they doing.
This question roamed inside his mind.