[Months ago; Gruumsh Gate; the Battle of Three Kingdoms]
The battle would be situated at the mouth of a canyon, situated directly between the Vrean capital and the rest of Vrea.
The Sun Guard of Vrea were the greatest knights the Kingdom had. During their invasion, the Krodians had annihilated all other ordinary troops at the country's disposal.
The war drums beat a slow and steady song, meaning the battle was near. General Aquillus summoned the Officers and squad leaders alike, and soldiers packed the war tent. Once the clinking of armor had ceased, they all stood at attention, awaiting their general.
Despite being packed, other than the drums, it was silent.
"At ease." They all relaxed slightly but remained tense.
The aging General rubbed his eyes with his hand, staring down at the strategic map in the center of the room. There were four blue flags, showing the four ten thousand strong divisions of the Sun Guard. On the other side of the map was a mess of red flags stretching to the edges.
Standing in that room was like calmly sitting on the beach as a tsunami loomed over ahead, threatening certain death.
General Aquillus looked up at them and sighed heavily.
"The Adal are not coming, those cowards. They're leaving us to die."
All the men knew what the General felt. Hopelessness. He had to send forty thousand men and women to their deaths, and he would undoubtedly be one of them. He looked down at the oak table before him, his grey hair falling on his face before wiping it away and addressing his soldiers. The strength of the Sun Guard of Vrea may be mythical, but this was just ridiculous.
He took a deep breath, rubbing his fingers on the corners of his gleaming armor. He looked every man and woman in the eyes.
"Listen, and listen well. The Krodians may appear like mighty dragons, but the dragon not in its home turf is weaker than the snake that lives there! Never before have the Vrean Sun Guard faced defeat, nor will we ever! We must carry on the legacy of our forefathers and never betray the Flame! Send a hundred men to the Netherworld, and we will live on forever! Keep in your mind those who you put down your lives for! Hold the line and protect the glory of the Flame, for all else means certain death for our homeland! Be not afraid, for we are the brave, and the brave put their fears behind them and move forward, sometimes to death, but always to victory!"
The soldiers roared with approval at his words, their blood boiling.
"We may all die this day, friends, but we will be sending many souls to the netherworld!" General Aquillus roared.
The Vreans roared again, their fists raised.
"For the Flame!" He shouted.
"For the Flame!" They repeated.
"Now! Down to business!"
The gloomy atmosphere was gone, and the soldiers set to their work of planning the possible avenues of victory. They were few and near impossible, but the warriors were undeterred.
The General sighed and saw his brothers and sisters in arms ready themselves for war. They had no archers nor cavalry, only infantry, and war mages. Each soldier was able to use mana, at the very least able to boost their abilities to a superhuman level. Those talented enough got promotions or became war mages. There were many legends amongst their rank, but that was millennia ago.
General Aquillus had lived for centuries. The mana coursing through his veins had prolonged his life. For too long, he thought. He wiped his hand over his tired eyes. His speech had been to motivate the troops. It might work for the younger indoctrinated soldiers, but he had seen enough blood and war to know that the Flame cared for only one thing: conquest. Over time, such speeches would have a lesser effect. After all, words were but wind. Seeing was believing.
The Sun Guard trained only those they could arm, and forty thousand was their maximum. It was a pathetic number by any measure, but it was the best they could do. The shortage of weapons and food ensured that the Vreans were doomed in any prolonged conflict. This was likely by design, for the other kingdoms feared Vrea.
Between securing the borders from the Lovecraftian horrors that prowled Annwn and the Outerlands, and constant economic warfare for centuries, Vrea was a shadow of what it once was.
General Aquillus could only pray that the soldiers beneath his command were up to the task and that their strength would not fail them in their time of need.
...
The sun warriors marched to battle in massive formations, their steps perfectly in sync as the war drums beat. Though they were few, the Sun Guard had never been bested in battle, and their legendary feats spanned time immemorial.
There was the First Emperor, Zeno the Conqueror, the mythical Vrean soldier who freed the land of the Eldritch Lords and united the Four Kingdoms of Vrea, Krodia, Qutary, and Adal. The other Great Kingdoms were not so lucky.
Then came Azey the Destroyer, who led the first Great Hunt, ensuring human dominion over all of Vrea. He slaughtered the monsters as if they were ordinary men, and they say blood rained for years as his genocide went unfettered across the land.
There was Beowulf the Honorable, Aegis the Indestructible; it is even said the Lord of the Netherworld, Asmodeus was a Vrean. Some stories tell that Death himself quakes when the Vrean warriors send millions to his lands before visiting him themselves.
The golden warriors who looked like angels to the people of Vrea loomed like the Sword of Damocles over the other kingdoms. Over time, the Kingdom of Vrea became complacent, and they believed their soldiers immortal, their power unsurpassable.
They were right for a while.
While not immortal, their warriors were the most capable military power Annwn had ever witnessed, and their sheer might was unquestionable. Their number, however, dwindled.
The average lifespan of a human is not very long, 60 years at most in these uncertain times. The average man blessed with mana could live twice as long, and his lifespan increased the more power he accrued. While the sun knights were long-lived, and its generals akin to gods in the eyes of mortals, no man can stand the test of eons.
Man is merely mortal, and as time passed, the world changed. Great Kingdoms fell like trees, but that wasn't Vrea's problem. Gone were the days of never-ending warfare, and Vrea was no longer a warrior state. More common monsters came down from the Andrean Mountains but were quickly pressed into slavery.
The kingdoms plotted against Vrea and overthrew them. They did anything to ensure the Vreans could never return to their former stature, crippling their economy, destroying their food stores, plaguing the fields, and even funding revolutions.
All for this day.
Deep within the Krodian lines, a tall, wire-thin man stood with his hands clasped behind his back. His greying hair was cut short, contrasting with the extravagant black armor, deep as the black of night and the cosmos.
A pair of sharp black eyes gazed across his black-clad soldiers, across the valley, and at the golden warriors across from them, shining like angels.
His eyes furrowed. Despite having such an overwhelming advantage, he still couldn't help but fear those angels of death. When he blinked, he could still see the hellfire, the carnage they brought to their enemies centuries ago, all for their god, the Undying Flame.
A soldier approached.
"My Lord, the Sun Guard have begun to march. Our forces stand ready to meet them in battle."
Lord Belmore stared at the golden armor of the sun warriors, the golden cloaks that they wore. His gaze dragged on their magnificent weapons, the glaives and pikes they used to such horrifying effect. He gazed at their armor, the full-headed mask-helms that concealed their identity. It was rumored they had women in their forces, but such things were unconfirmed, nor did it matter with the mana they wielded. Their armor gave no clues as to their identities, and it made them all the more terrifying as he could seemingly feel forty thousand gazes on him all at once.
'They number a mere fraction of our forces... get yourself together! We even have the Adal to seal their fate!' Despite his anxiety, his face remained impassive.
"You have checked their numbers?" He asked the soldier.
"Yes, my Lord. They number exactly forty thousand and twenty-three, and their numbers have not changed since we began our surveillance in Vrea itself."
"Good... very well then. Is Gilgamesh ready? Tell him not to ingest the blood until I give him the word. We will use their god against them."
"He is, my Lord. Though, he asks if his clothing will change with him, or if he will be naked."
Lord Belmore's eye twitch. "That idiot... it's magical, of course, it'll change with him! How stupid a question. Though, I shouldn't be surprised."
Belmore's eyes shot towards the battlefield once more as a thundering roar pierced the battlefield.
The soldier trembled as he asked in fear, "My Lord, what was that?!"
Lord Belmore's face was grim. "That, infantryman, was the Sun Guard."
The war cries of the sun knights sounded once again. Like a dragon, their many voices merged into one and were amplified by the magic in their bodies as they challenged the very heavens, and the heavens trembled.
Belmore shuddered as he remembered once more. He quickly turned to the soldier once more.
"Notify the generals that they have my permission to crush the enemy. Leave none alive."
"Yes, my Lord!"
...
The golden warriors marched steadily towards the horde before them. As they neared the mouth of the canyon, they finally glimpsed the sheer mass of their enemy. The Sun Guard could fit only a thousand in a five-person deep formation, the rest hidden in the canyon's curves.
Behind the formation stood a massive armored individual. Through magic and manaforging, his stature stood slightly over 3 meters tall (10ft). His armor was contoured to his heavily muscled body, and his golden cloak held the red insignia that marked him the commander of these one thousand men.
A solar scout rushed up to him, one of the few remnants left of the defeated Golden Army.
"Captain Zhao! A report from Arius, they've taken the cliffs above and await further instruction!"
Captain Zhao's family had been from the Qutary Kingdom. However, he was born and bred for war by the Vrean Sun Guard.
He nodded at the scout. "Excellent, inform him of General Aquillus' plan. I will hold off for as long as possible."
He continued his march, every movement exuding strength and vigor, the massive glaive on his back a foreboding promise to the enemy.
The formation stopped a hundred meters from the mouth of the canyon, enough to force the enemy to squeeze into the canyon and shelter the Sun Guard from most large projectiles.
Of course, that only applied to trebuchets and phoenix plume, the signature weapon of the Krodians. In short, it was a meteoric projectile accelerated by the Krodian's strange magic and thrown with such force it left a fiery trail in its wake.
Soon, the Sun that the Vrea treasured so dearly was blotted out by millions of arrows.
"By the Flame! War Mages! Erect an Avicus Barrier!" Captain Zhao roared, rushing to the middle of his formation to support the troops.
Several mages clad in long golden robes spread evenly throughout the formation began moving their hands so fast they looked like a blur and spoke in a deep, guttural tongue. Blue magical energy rose from their hands, and as one, they thrust their palms to the sky, forming a square shield of pure mana. If it weren't for the arrows, they would've looked like a bunch of priests praising the Sun God.
Captain Zhao was satisfied with the results. Not all the mages had been required, but the arrows didn't stop coming, and now the enemy was closing in.
"Damn... they hope to cripple our mages by forcing them to spend all their mana on protecting us!" Captain Zhao mumbled.
"Auxiliary Mages! Reserve your mana for holding the barrier! We must not let it fall!" In another time, Captain Zhao would've had them attempt to clear the archers, but there were too many, and it would've drained them before the enemy was out of arrows.
He readied his spear as the enemy foot soldiers rushed towards the formation.