Chereads / MANBEAST / Chapter 28 - Chapter 27: On The Cusp Of Victory 

Chapter 28 - Chapter 27: On The Cusp Of Victory 

First General's Tent, Medinan Encampment, Outskirts Of Nestra...520 B.C...

 Lycidas awoke with purpose when dawn found its way upon them. His men were ready as well knowing all too well that he'd been still enraged about the incident with the lesser boys the previous night. He gave the order that they were to train until he announced to leave the encampment once he'd been sure they would follow his orders without deviating from them in the slightest. His mind traveled back to his family in Medina and how close they had come to being overrun via the plans of Tenius the Vile if it were not for the brave fisherman who had reached the castle and reported the treachery at the risk of their own lives. He wasn't too thrilled about his own younger warriors as a handful had taken it upon themselves to partake in the tainted spoils of the accursed encampment of the enemy foolish in their greed and lust for glory to the point of nearly putting the entire campaign at risk for their folly. The foolish lads paid the ultimate price however being stricken via the poison meant to kill them due to the cunning of their enemies and they expired as agony ripped through them.

The men were more focused and ready than ever before intending to make up for allowing such a folly to nearly put an end to them as the strict reigns of the commanding officers were increasingly tightened to prevent further folly while they waged war against their enemies. The bodies of the dead were burned and their names were forgotten aside from the cautionary tale of fools that deserved their fate for the future warriors to come. Lycidas made it clear to his men that they were to fight as a single unit on the field of battle or they would perish like the fools they had already forgotten.

There was a great deal riding on this campaign and everyone had already spent three months away from their families, there was no need to have to endure another grueling trial if they were so close to victory and it only spurred the man to charge into battle all the more ready to return home and share the stories of their latest conquest. It was a well-known fact that Lycidas was the fiercest warrior they had and the boldest. Being a Prince of Medina he was expected to take on a more diplomatic role in life, but the ferocity in him would not yield and he was soon taking up the blade as his father had long ago.

It was this seemingly otherworldly ferocity that led the charge as Lycidas and his men ventured forth leaving behind their encampment to advance once more upon the enemy who had been cut off at the knees.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Open Field, Outskirts Of Nestra....

Drums of war sounded and matched the marching of the men and the pounding of their hearts as the anticipation mounted for who would prevail in this ultimate contest of who had the greater kingdom The Warriors of Medina soon caught up to their quarry and the clashing of steel began again as it had weeks prior. Lycidas slaughtered quite a few charging soldiers fool enough to stand against him ripping through their soft bodies via his silver blade. The spray of blood and the screams of the men being impaled to death as the blade drove through their vital organs and severed major arteries filled the air rallying everyone around them to fight as their collective lives depended upon it.

The sound of battle had been like a kind of music to the ears of the Second Prince of Medina as he slaughtered even more of the traitors that sided with the false king and Kinslayer, Tenius The Vile. The lethal Prince moved with ease amid the battle field swiftly felling any enemy in his midst even if they attempted to retreat. He had no patience for cowardice or traitors as he continued to drop a significant amount of bodies in the wake of his attempt to reach the traitorous generals themselves.

All around him steel clashed with steel and men shouted at the top of their lungs, either via the intense nature of battle or the result of being wounded and on the verge of a painful long slow death. Flames began to litter the battlefield once more as cowards attempted to slow his advancement via flaming arrows and molten projectiles.

Lycidas rolled his eyes at the repeat of the previous attempts to stop his advancement and how just like before they failed miserably. His keen dark eyes were fixated upon his target, the main conspirator and supporter of the Kinslayer who had been swiftly dealt with beforehand. Alecto Galtius was a swine if ever Lycidas had seen one more swine than his elder brother back in Medina which was saying a good deal due to their shared Roman heritage.

The coppery scent of blood seemed to only intensify the need for combat within Lycidas as he felled soldier after soldier dropping them all in a pile of bodies ripe for decay and picking up vultures as he made his way through the ranks taking on the larger men armed via powerful shields. The formations they used were no match for his speed and cunning as he leaped into battle forcing them backward due to the heavy gear and slaughtered just enough of them in his wake to break their ranks and push past them.

Speed came naturally to him as if he'd been on a hunt and aiming to catch up to his chosen prey. His keen dark eyes spotted the cowardly Alecto and he took down half a dozen of his soldiers to get closer to him. He was making good time and progress before an untimely ax caught him along one of the pectoral muscles of his exposed chest and the wielder attempted to celebrate in triumph. This enraged Lycidas as the coward believed himself to be so powerful because he threw an ax at another warrior instead of driving it into his chest with his own bare hands.

Driven by his rage that became unyielding in that moment as his blood was spilled and his wound ached, Lycidas charged the fool ramming his blade into his chest as a means of showing him how his childish ax-throwing should have been done to get the maximum effect before opening his mouth to boast during combat.

The axman died a slow and agonizing death as Lycidas had elected to allow him to bleed out like the coward he was instead of giving him an honorable quick death in the wake of his idiocy coming back to haunt him.

Alecto had been unmanned by the time Lycidas appeared hoping over the makeshift barricade covered in blood belonging to him and his fallen victims. The wound from the ax still dripped blood across his muscular chest and only added to his heightened sense of battle. Alecto was always a sniveling coward but up close he had grown ghostly pale and trembled in his robes while wetting himself as Lycidas drew his blade high into the air.

The coward saw his chance and plunged a small golden dagger into the abdomen of the Second Prince of Median which did little, but aggravate him as he forcefully impaled Alecto with his silver blade ramming it into his gut as he screamed in both shock and agony while his blood stained his white robes and dripped into the dust below them.

Alecto could see the wolfish grin on the blood-splattered face of Lycidas as visions of horror came to him in his final moments. His expression was filled with untold terror not because he was dying but because of what he saw at the moment of his death. The monster that would terrorize the very lands he'd been defending and the bodies that would line up in rows of piles in the wake of his bloody and brutal conquests.

"M-Monster." was the last word out of Alecto's cowardly lips before his thin frame slumped on the end of Lycidas' blade and his blood oozed like fine wine along the silver frame glistening for all to see as the second prince of Medina kicked him off the blade and raised it high into the air signaling yet another hard-fought victory.

The eruption of cheers from his men as they finished the slaughter of the remaining traitors and celebrated their newly won war filled the air as each and everyone turned their thoughts toward their return home. The brutal three-month campaign that kept them away from their beloved Median was finally at an end. King Milkus Of Nestra was finally avenged and Lycidas was once more victorious in his exploits.