The work on the trial was progressing smoothly. Both my avatar outside and inside my world cooperated to set everything up. I also asked some people from Hold to assist me and take major roles in the city in the upcoming trial.
The setting for the trial was the following: the city was struck by calamity that created monsters and cut it off from the outside. The mayor tried to break the siege but failed, and his status is unknown. In his absence, three fractions control the city: Nobility, Military, and Officials.
Officials were led by the mayor's daughter, who will be played by Riveria. She will be in charge of those who govern the city and will have the greatest support of the people. The Military will also be loyal to her but will not approve of a young girl being in charge, and thus, she will have to clash with their leader.
The Military will control all soldiers, laws, and rations for the city. I will be acting as the leader of this fraction with Acheron and Baiheng, who also wanted to play, as my deputies. I had to be part of the world to control the flow of time, so I decided to play with others not to be bored.
The last fraction will be the Nobility, which will be led by the duo of Otto and Kallen. They wanted to have a honeymoon before the marriage, same as I had, to strengthen the feelings between them. Otto will fit the image of a scheming noble perfectly, while Kallen will act as his counterpart, a representation of 'noblesse oblige'.
Thanks to us taking charge of the three fractions, it would be easy to portray an atmosphere of three fractions working together but not agreeing on the methods and issues that needed to be solved.
To make the battle more realistic, all Generals of Hold will control the monsters. When Nobu heard what I was working on during one of our evening meals, she almost jumped at me with stary eyes and asked to be included. She proposed to give the possibility to train our generals against me in the trial, and I agreed as this would make it more interesting.
Though I was no military leader, I learned a lot from Nobu, Ling, and other generals of Domination, and in Nobu's words: 'I was a perfect illustration of knowing both yourself and enemy'.
Due to the ease of gaining knowledge and my ability to see through all plans and schemes, even if I lacked what genius commanders would have, fighting the armies I commanded was never easy, as one had to hide his strategies even from themselves.
Nobu and her Generals, as well as Riveria and Otto with Kallen, won't be present for the test as they couldn't make time on such short notice, so I will control monsters while the defense will be left to the rest. After agreeing to a two-day grace period, we all entered the Simulated Realm.
-"I can't feel the difference between here and outside. To think this is all false world..."-Hao Yu spoke while looking around the city.
-"Even my dreams can't be so real."-Shen Meng spoke, proud of the Simulated Realm that she also helped to create.
-"That's why I want to have access to it. In addition to time dilation, this is the perfect place to train."-Soaring Feather spoke after arranging tasks for her people.
As three of them were talking about the Simulated Realm, I was with my Guards.
-"This time, I will regain my advantage, Yue."
~"Ling, our score is 26-27 in my favor."
-"Nah, it's 26-26."
~"That one war game might have ended in a draw, but as the defending side, a draw is my victory."
-"Draw is a draw. It doesn't count."
-"You two..."
-"Leave them alone, Dusk. No need to waste words."
As Ling and I were engaged in a 'discussion', Maiev and Tyrande approached me.
-"Your Majesty, what are we to do?"
~"As I said before, Ling will be the overall commander of the defense, so you will have to defer to her, but as my Guard and partner, she has the right to stand in that position. I hope you don't mind that."
-"No, we understand the situation. Lady Ling, please take care of us."
-"Don't worry, I'll make sure we are victorious in the end."
-"Master."
~"What is it, Jingliu?"
-"Do we have any tasks or missions to achieve?"
~"There is no need for that. Just focus on the main purpose of defending the city."~I turned to Acheron and Baiheng, who were also present.~"I hope you two will also help in the city."
-"Sure, no problem."
Acheron simply nodded.
~"Then I'll be going to take care of the monsters. Good luck."
-"You too."
Teleporting out of the city, I started preparing the offensive.
When the grace period ended, I started the attacks. As I had full knowledge of what was going on inside, I didn't need to perform any probing attacks and could focus on breaking the defense. Sending the cannon fodder to put some pressure on the defenders, I started to plan more precise operations.
Their defense plan was simple but optimal. The Elves acted as main guards, stationing on permanent positions with rotations, always manning the walls, while Cultivators acted as reserve, called to places that needed reinforcement. My Guards, with some other elites, were divided into strike groups to deal with major threats.
Despite all of that, I identified two weak points. The first was their lack of carpenters capable of repairing the walls to their original state, only filling the holes with earth magic. Another was their dependence on Elves as the first line of defense. As their Emperor, I know both the strong points and weaknesses of their soldiers and those will be things I will target.
Having this in mind, I formulated a three pronged strategy. First, I will continue putting, and raising with time, the pressure on the defense with continuous attacks from small fries monsters. Second, I will organize highly concentrated attacks that will try to damage the walls and structures. Third, I will corrupt the surroundings and slowly deplete the amount of mana and essence in the environment.
And this is how things started. For the first three weeks, nothing major happened, and everyone got used to the environment. Today, the first targeted attack will happen, so I am amassing the forces. One leading the attack will be Kiana, the Herrscher of Void.
~"You ready?"
-"Yes! I can't wait for the fight."
~"Good. Listen to my plan. Try to draw out their strike groups, but don't confront them head-on. Keep them occupied with your portals. To create chaos, send the monsters I showed you behind the walls, which will take some force from the walls, and the rest of the wave will have an easier job. Remember, try to cause as much destruction and losses as you can. Don't focus on stronger targets."
-"Sir! Yes, Sir!"-Kiana saluted me exaggeratedly.
~"If you feel that they are about to defeat you, go in and detonate your power near the wall."
-"I don't like how you plan my death, but sure. Can I go?"
~"Go."
Kiana directly teleported into the air and started to rush toward the city. Giving the mental command for monsters to start, soon the earth started shaking from the stomps rushing to attack. Remaining here to accidentally not interfere in the battle, I watched how it would play out.
Due to the stampede not being quiet, defenders quickly entered the high alert, calling for forces from inside the city. Before the first monster could even approach, they were ready to greet them.
The moment the first wave entered their range, countless magic attacks and arrows flew toward the monsters, quickly reducing their numbers. This was also the moment Kiana appeared and shielded the monsters by sending those attacks back toward the walls.
In response, a shield was created to defend walls from the reflected attacks while the strike groups rushed into the fight. Luckily, Kiana listened to my plan and started to create portals to send those strike groups away and teleported prepared by me monsters into the city.
This achieved the result I wished, causing chaos and forcing defenders to divide their forces. Sending another wave to attack, I watched how Kiana played around with the elites of three Cultivation Sects while avoiding my Guards in the process.
If I were to pick someone who can win the game of tag, it would certainly be her if I were not to include those who can control the time or shatter the space. Sadly, my Guards possessed people like that, and soon Kiana found herself cornered by Sakura, Shenhe, and Jingliu, who froze time while Acheron broke the space where she tried to run to.
In the end, Kiana tried to teleport into the city to detonate but was stopped by Ling, who predicted the spatial coordinates of her portal and waited to execute her on the walls. The monsters also failed to do any meaningful damage, but at least the losses inflicted were not that bad, as around 4% of defenders were eliminated. Adding losses inflicted before, 6% of the people who entered had been eliminated.
Kinaa reappeared next to me, pouting in displeasure.
-"Yue, your Guards bullied me! Do something."
~"You..."
-"Kiana, behave yourself."-Mei, Herrscher of Thunder, walked from the building where I lived for the past three weeks.
-"I wanted to do better..."
~"You did well."~I approached her and patted her head.~"You just had a poor match against my Guards."
-"Mmh."-Kiana narrowed her eyes, accepting my patting like a cat would.
-"Don't spoil her too much, Yue."
~"Pot calling the kettle black?"
-"Ugh. Still..."
~"I know, I know. Let's get back."
-"Right! Food is ready. Everyone else is waiting for you two."
-"Food!"-Kiana passed two of us and ran inside.
Mei and I shook our heads and followed her.
Inside, I sat down and looked at all Herrschers around the table. Two Meis, Bronyas, Kianas, and Rin, Seele, Hua, Sirin, Galina, Agata, and Avrora. Only Elysia was missing, but she was busy, so I didn't call her here. Wondering why Terminus picked only girls for her power, I started to eat.
-"How did it go?"-Asked another Kiana, Herrscher of Finality.
-"I couldn't do much. Yue's Guards were chasing me, and Ling predicted my movements."
-"I trained with Ling a few times. Her abilities of space are so good that I sometimes wonder if she is not a hidden Herrscher."-Sirin spoke about her own experience.
-"Well, they are the strongest people in Hold."-Avrora agreed with her 'older sister' opinion.
-"Yue is strongest, but if you don't count expectations like him, then I must agree."-Mei, Herrscher of Origin, corrected them.
-"Yue doesn't count. I don't think anyone can compare to him."-Agata tried to back her two 'sisters'.
~"There are many who are equal or stronger than I."
-"Bronya doesn't agree with the 'many' part, but the rest of that sentence is correct."-Bronya, Herrscher of Truth, corrected me.
-"When will you stop with your humility, Yue?"-Hua asked me, annoyed with my attitude.
~"I hope never. The idea of becoming like those Cultivators makes my skin crawl."
-"While I also think that humility is a virtue, I also think you should have less of it."-Mei, Herrscher of Origin agreed with Hua.
~"I'll try, but I don't feel such a need."
-"Better tell us your next plans."-Kiana, Herrscher of Finality, spoke impatiently.
~"For now, we will continue attacking like today every three to five days when the monsters gather. Each of you will have a chance to go, and slowly, we will increase the difficulty. We will keep that up until we reduce their numbers below 50%."
-"Looking at the progress, Bronya thinks it will take at least three months to achieve that."-Bronya, Herrscher of Sentience, analyzed the situation.
~"You are too optimistic. Their current losses of 6% are mostly from three Sects. Not even a hundred Elves were eliminated, and there are a total of a hundred thousand of them here. If we can eliminate 50% in the next eight months, it will be a great success."
-"We just have to do what we can."-Spoke Seele reassuringly.
-"Yes, Master Yue, we will win."-Agreed Rin.-"I want to show my sister that I'm not weak."
~"Nobody thinks you are, Rin. She is just worried about you, as the older sisters do."
The time continued to pass quickly. I was getting closer and closer to the Herrschers, while the atmosphere in the city was more and more quiet. While I can't say that nothing interesting happened in the time skip, none of the situations that took place had a major impact on the overall situation. Only the gradual accumulation of losses started making the difference.
My predictions proved inaccurate, as we needed only a few days short of seven months to eliminate 50% of the defenders, thanks to a kamikaze attack of Galina, who was teleported onto the walls by Sirin. She killed over 5% of the total forces by detonating herself the moment the last wave began.
This earned her the first spot in the contest we decided to have, thus earning the reward we had agreed to before, the one wish from me. She asked me to have a date with her and her sisters later, and after all present shamelessly declaring themselves as her sisters, I had to agree.
After that short episode, we started to prepare for our final attacks. Right now, the first two walls had been already breached once, and the first one was totally abandoned, so only the inner wall had yet to fall. The second, or middle, wall was recaptured, but due to the excessive damage it sustained, it was not a major problem to breach.
I planned to end it with one swift move, so I created five armies with their own tasks. The first one was led by Kiana, Herrscher of Void, and Sirin. Their job was to send monsters inside to disrupt the defender's lines.
The second one was led by Mei, Herrscher of Thunder, and Bronya, Herrscher of Sentience. They are going to attack from the east, where the gate of the middle wall was already breached once.
The third army will be led by Avrora and Agata. They will attack from the north to split the defenders.
The fourth army will be special, as it will consist of only Mei, Herrscher of Origin, Kiana, Herrscher of Finality, Bronya, Herrscher of Truth, and Hua. They will not be assisted by monsters, and their job is to deal with the remains of the strike groups, meaning take care of my Guards.
The Fifth army will be led by Rin, Galina, and Seele. They are to wreak havoc on the defending forces after the walls are breached by the first three armies. Their job is to make sure that even if we don't succeed this time, the losses they will incur will make it impossible to defend from the next such attack.
I also prepared a surprise, but that will have to wait for an appropriate occasion to use. Right now, I was standing on the first wall, looking at the Elves and remaining Cultivators scrambling on the middle wall. I noticed Ling amid the defenders. She looked at me and mouthed in a way that I would see it.
~" 'We will survive', huh? Let's put that to the test. Go."
Following my words, monsters roared and rushed at the defenders, beginning the next battle.