In the lush and green plains located in between the countries of Gemmera and Volen, two armies were assembled with innumerable amounts of tents stretched till the horizon.
Inbetween those tents, countless contraptions were stationed such as a gaint crossbow or a catapult which was quite advanced in nature or some battering rams to breach the walls or enemy lines.
In numbers, Volen had the high ground with approximately 700 thousand soldiers which itself made the whole population of Gemmera, but due to the need of protecting other territories form any back stabbers while they are busy with war, they had to leave 200 thousand behind.
Making the total population participating in the war 500k which was still a considerable amount of numbers compared to Gemmera's only 400 thousand soldiers. And due to them being shielded by two mountain ranges from two directions and having a port in another, their burden of guarding these posts was much lighter.
Therefore the one and only post that was cleared of any physical barrier was the plain of Adriff itself where they would battle, therefore, Gemmera could send almost it's whole army leaving some experienced soldiers mixed with reserved soldiers to guard the other outposts as precaution.
So, Volen had 500k soldiers while Gemmera had 300k soldiers. If asked from the perspective of a third person who would win, he would confidently say that Volen will win, and he would be right.
Disregarding the pure melee soldiers, Volen also has a higher concentration of Mages than Gemmera, again taking the first spot in comparison.
Then, you may ask, How has Volen not declared war yet if they have such a large disparity in strength on their favour?
The simple answer would be, Victor and Carlos. While it was understandable that Carlos was loyal to the kingdom and would fight for it, there may be a question of why Victor was a problem to them.
It was because even if Victor was indeed branded a traitor, Volen knew he hated the people in Gemmera, not Gemmera itself, so if the country itself was threatened of its history then he will surely take sides.
Logically, it was a perfect opportunity for Volen to strike since Victor is now dead, dealing with Carlos will be a matter of how they do it. But there was another problem, another aggressive kingdom potentially taking this opportunity to attack Volen from behind.
Volen might not have launched a total war but just a probing battle might have occured normally, but now since The High Councils was controlled into this, thus the war is happening.
Even with all these restrictions, everyone knew who would win.
Even both the side's army knew who would win this war, but both sides had a certain thought in the back of their minds. That was, If That Demon Lord Joins then the tables might turn.
In this hope, the army of Gemmera firmly resolved their wills to hold on till his arrival.
After what Bael did to save them from the monster Infestation, the populace has a faith in him that he will save them again.
If it was true or not, only Bael knows.
-----
In the Throne Room of Deudenia.
Inside this grand hall, the Guardians gathered with Bael seated at the throne.
"My Lord, I have just received message that a messenger from Gemmera has arrived at New Orion and asks for an audience with you." Adrigal, the Gaurdian incharge of monitoring the Noble's territory Bael gained which was now named New Orion, said.
"Tell them to inform the Messenger that I know everything and not to worry about anything. And to send a message to the King that help will arrive when they need it the most."
"Understood."
With that Adrigal quickly went a little away from the line up of guardians to Message her subordinates stationed at the mansion in New Orion.
"Um um, Lord Bael. Why would we wait till they need our help the most?"
A curious Adriana asked.
"My Lord, allow me to explain your grand plans for you."
Before Bael could reply, Rhombus asked in a worshipping tone, as if it would be his greatest virtue to recite his Master's Grand plans.
"Hn. You may Rhombus."
"Thank You My Lord. So Adriana, basically Lord Bael wants World Domination right?"
"Yes?"
"Then, we need to assimilate all of the kingdoms to ourselves."
Rhombus continued like a teacher teaching and Adriana responded to his short questions like an obedient student while the rest of the Guardians including Bael himself listened to what Rhombus was gonna say.
"Right."
"But Lord Bael wants to do something more interesting so he chose to not use direct war, and play by the rules. By which, in this war, he wants to first weaken both sides and at the last moment sweep in to take all the glory, while also gaining the favour of Gemmera so that the Populace will accept his Rule more willingly."
"Oh! What about Volen's populace?"
"Since it was Volen, who instigated this war, by the rules of war, the winning side has all the rights in a diplomacy and here, Gemmera will be too weak to hold any say, so we, Deudenia, will be the highest voice in the Negotiations. Making it so that both the kingdoms will have to listen to us, willing or not."
"Ohh! I see! Did Lord Bael think this far? As expected of Lord Bael!"
Clapping her hands as if finally understanding a concept taught by her teacher, Adriana complemented Bael as if she was breathing.
"That's not all, Lord Bael has though much further ahead then even I can imagine, I only said what was Infinitly small in comparison to his Grand Plans."
Rhombus said, pushing his non-existent glasses up his nose-bridge.
'Damn, I didn't even think this far ahead. I just wanted to delay my arrival so that the populace will like me more and be more flexible to my rule which he did mention, but not the negotiation thing which...is quite good.'
[Good thing you let Rhombus answer for you huh.]
'Yeah...wait, was that Sarcasm Gabriel?'
[It was your Imagination.]
'...'
"Good job on explaining my plans Rhombus."
"You are wasting your praises on me my Lord, I only said what was obvious. I don't have the capacity to think millennia ahead my Lord."
Rhombus replied bowing his head deeply.
'Why am I having a sense of Deja Vu?'
"Umu, but still, you should learn to accept my Praises, it is quite precious you know?"
"Then , I shall graciously accept it My Lord."
"Umu."
-------
In the Plains.
It was now sundown. The sun has finally set in the horizon and night will soon settle in.
There was an unanimous pact between the two sides that they will battle in broad daylight so, the war was scheduled to happen tomorrow.
But you could be never safe with a kingdom with a dark history right before you, so Gemmera was still alert at night. Squads of patrols strolled occasionally all around the camps, ensuring that no incident occurs.
Meanwhile, inside the largest tent in the Camps, signifying the importance of the status of whoever might reside in it.
A meeting was being held inside the tent, with The Court mage Carlos, the King George , Chief Commander Gowlard and OutPost General Howard along with several generals of different divisions.
All were standing around a round table with a map of the field on it. Various amounts of small figurines like toy soldiers, tents and barriers were spread on the map showing the real life formation of both the army in the Plains.
"The War will be happening on the plains so there is no chance of using any natural formations like boulders or forest trees to our advantage."
The General, Howard started the discussion.
"Our manpower is almost half that of Volen's with them having 200k more soldiers the us.
They completely outnumber us."
One of the division Generals stated.
"How about bombarding the enemy with powerful magic? We have Sir Carlos and his Magic Squads right?"
Another General who by his demeanor looked of noble descent spoke.
"Don't be stupid Sir Griffin. While we may have Sir Carlos with us, it doesn't negate the fact that Volen has far more Mages than us so that Idea might completely turn on us."
Gowlard spoke, completely disregarding the difference in their Political Status.
"Hmph, do as you wish."
"Sigh, what about the news?"
George audibly sighed out, showing how tiered of this farce he was. He asked Carlos for the one good news he had been wishing for.
"Um...the messenger we sent returned with a message that Lord Bael knows of our situation and by his words- 'help will be sent when you need it the most.' he said."
"Cheh! As expected of a Demon Lord, always tricky to deal with. He clearly wants to deplete our manpower so that he can take the easy win."
Another one of the Generals present spat in disdain. Clearly showing his hatred for the Demon Lord.
By his statement, an uproar occurred with everyone discussing how they will deal with this situation.
George silently raised his hands to which Gowlard quickly raised his voice and spoke.
"Everyone be Quite!", effectively shutting the blabbering mouths close.
"I know that we have no other choice than to rely on a Demon Lord, but please take this into consideration that the very same Demon Lord you speak against is the one who saved us from the Infestation. Thus, let us put some faith in him and hold on."
George announced, deep inside feeling guilty of the state his kingdom had become.
During his grandfather and then his father's rule, Gemmera was one of the most prosperous nation in the area, every kingdom wanted to be it's trade partner and no nation wanted to earn it's ire.
So there was no meaningless wars on resources because the rest of the kingdoms will side with Gemmera in order to gain more favours, but from the moment he came in power, it seemed as if subtly but quite quickly all this prosperous and peaceful state was slipping from his hands.
The rise of bandits, the recent monster Infestation then this war was a clear sign his reign might end soon.
And he was quite on point, because a very powerful Predator had set it's eyes on his nation first to satiate it's hunger.
"Waiting on potential help will not do good for us, let us come up with some preliminary strategy to slow down the Enemies."
Gowlard stated.
With that another round of furious but productive discussion went on the entire night.
The brightly shining moon hung high in the sky as another meeting was being held inside the tents of Volen's side.
"Is this really wise, Lady Silby?"
A mage asked as a group of Mages, Sigul and another Councillor along with the Army General were sitting around a round table.
Silby as the Attack magic Division head, was sent to administer the War. While Sigul as the summoning director considered this war as the best opportunity to use the dead bodies to summon more demons and also assist in the war.
While the third and final councillor on the battlefield was the Defence Director Ol'r.
"Silence! Who told you that you have any right to question our decisions? Be quiet and follow our orders." Silby instantly spat, venom in her voice as if it itself was capable of melting the poor mage.
"Yes Ofcourse My Lady." Trembling in fear of getting killed, the mage quickly shut himself up.
"Any news of the Demon Lord's arrival?"
Sigul asked.
"None. It seems this So called demon Lord is a coward, He-!" As another mage was going to continue his mockery, he along with all the people present inside the tent sensed a deep, primordial fear zaping through their spinal cords as a cold chill passed their spines.
"What was that?!"
"Yo!" Just as everyone was looking here and there to find the source of the strange as fearful feeling, they heard a Jovial tone entering the tent.
"Gil.." Recognising the person, Sigul greeted him.
"Yo, I was just looking if you guys need anything, it seems You guys are all. Never see ya later!"
"What...was he talking about?" One of the mage said, sweat dripping down his forehead along with the rest as they unconsciously wiped their forehead to see a pool of cold sweat forming on their palms.
What they didn't know was that, Darkseid had heard what the mage was saying and immediately controlled Gil to come towards the Tent as he released a fraction of his Despair Aura.
'No one disrespects my Lord, even if that person will likely go in the Forbidden Room.'
Thought Darkseid darkly as he hid in the Darkness of the shadow watching, as his Dark Lord's plans comming along quite nicely.
------
Next Morning.
The plains was filled with humans neatly assembled on either side with a roughly made log barrier scattered horizontally.
Each human equipped with iron plated armour to the brim. Swords, polearms or hammers tightly gripped in their hands. Cavalry stationed at the back strained their hold on the reigns.
Behind them was countless contraptions placed in strategic order. And behind all these was the Important people leading this war.
On the side of Gemmera. George, Carlos and his mage squad along with Gowlard stood under a canopy tent, spectating the war.
"Blow the horns." George ordered Gowlard while looking at the enemy's army ahead.
*Boooo*
Simultaneous to the order given, a thunderous blowing of a goat horn was heard, instantly another ominous sounding blast of horn was heard from the opposite side, officially commencing the war.
"Chaaaaarge!!!"
"For Gemmera!!"
"For our Loved Onesss!!"
With a powerful war cry from the division Generals followed by a chorus of chants, Gemmera's foot soilders charged forth.
"Goooo!" "Leave no Survivors!!"
Volen's army chanted as they also charged forth. Within seconds both sides collided, the first line of infantry clashing with great momentum, disrupting the formation and both sides getting mixed in.
From then on a messy battle was being fought from either sides as a soldier of Gemmera tried to take on 3 soldiers of Volen each to quickly lessen the numbers.
While some managed to do such a feat, the majority still failed to barely manage more than 2 at a time. Still, by statistics, Volen's army was decreasing twice as much as Gemmera's.
"Start the Contraptions."
George gave another order as Gowlard nodded to his aid standing beside him. The aid quickly pulled a small horn from his waist as he blew on it. A slightly pitchy but loud horn was heard soon followed by the sounds of gears turning.
From a distance, the Contraptions such as Catapults holding spiked iron balls with certain powder inside them started to operate as the army of the machine pulled back and the next second it was released throwing the ball up in the air.
The spiked ball landed right in the middle of the backlines of the infantry where the soldiers of Gemmera was yet to penetrate, as soon as it touched the ground, a booming blast occurred throwing bodies and soil up in the air effectively clearing a chunk of enemy numbers.
Like these, hundreds of such spikey iron balls of Explosion was flung in the air with precision, landing and exploding on the enemy's sides.
Seeing the destruction before them, Silby nodded to her mage apprentice who quickly blasted a yellow spark up in the sky.
Soon countless magic circles formed above the Volen army's lines as fireballs and Icicles formed on these formations quickly blasting towards the army of Gemmera.
The spells hit the catapults and the soldiers destroying the machines or killing the infantry.
Seeing the scene, Gowlard frowned slightly.
Those machines were a pain to construct and took at most two whole week each to make and assemble. Just because the resources needed were expensive, especially the balls.
The balls were made of three layers with a hollow inside, the first layer held a thin sheet of wooden ball, encased in brass casing and then the iron layer added for extra dexterity and longevity.
The core was made of a magical fuse that on the force made by the balls colliding with the ground ignited the gunpowder inside which made it explode, throwing metal and wood shards around the radius.
Gemmera had a limited number of experienced mages in this department thus the production of such cores were limited to a few hundreds per year.
Looking at the sight of the catapults burning with occasional explosions occuring due to the reserve Iron Shells/balls prematurely blasting due to the spell's exploding force, Gowlard felt a slight pain in his heart at the loss of finance and resources.
"Carlos." George, with a calm but stern exterior called out. Prompting Carlos to fire a purple flare in the sky.
With this as the signal, Carlos and his mage squad sparsely spread all around the army carved up a large shield which blocked the incoming enemy spells but letting in the enemy's soldiers.
With the pause in the Explosions another round of mellee fights started, now with lesser catapults, the mass killing was lessened but there was another machine still intact.
With the sound of grears turning and screeching sound, the long string in this machine was pulled back. A large iron tipped arrow which could be mistaken for a polearms was slowly placed.
The next moment, a whistle was heard as the large arrows got launched and neared the mage lines of Volen.
With widened eyes, the Councilor incharge of Defence magic, O'lr quickly shouted.
"Charge the formation with your magic!! Quick!!"
Immediately, the mages started a large formation that started to form into a translucent shield that encompassed the whole army, effectively blocking the Arrows and also launching additional attack spells towards the enemy lines.
*Sigh* "Thank God." Sighed O'lr as he saw that no damage was done on their side.
Being the Head of Defence magic who was present in the battlefield, news of him being unable to block 'simple' enemy attacks will be a hard hit on his reputation.
-----
From bird's eye view, the landscape was slowly turning into a true battlefield. The Lush grass dyed in red with the blood of the humans while the ground was scarred with holes created by the explosions.
Sounds of metals hitting with metal and loud grunts of soldiers as they fought was heard all over the area.
While difficult to spot, but with time, Gemmera was tilting towards the loosing side as their numbers dwindled. It wasn't to say that Volen was doing much better, but because of the numerical advantage and the higher mage ratio compared to Gemmera's, it was obvious who will win in this drawn out war.
The only hope for Gemmera now was the Infamous Demon Lord to come and save them. But..where is he?
★★★★★★