-"Your Majesty."-All commanders of the Elven army called out, accompanied by the metal clinking of soldiers' armor and weapons when they saluted saluting.
I looked at the assembled Sentinels of my Spirit Empire. Eight Elven races standing united. In front, all foot units stood ready for the march, Night Elf archers, High-Elf paladins, Blood-Elf rouges, Darkfallen death knights, and many other formations under one banner of a Tree, Moon, and Stars.
Behind them, all magical divisions redied their spells, druids, mages, warlocks, priests, sorcerers, shamans, as race with affinity to world and spirits, Elves were always great at utilizing mystical forces of all kinds. At the right flank, myriad sabercats waited to pounce at the enemy. On them, most elite Elven soldiers looked at me with reverence.
Lastly, over everyone's heads, Dragonhawks and Hippogryphs flapped their wings to carry their raiders. Closely following those two formations were Demon Hunters, who, despite their relatively small numbers, were the strongest combat force aside from Wardens in the Spirit Empire.
Aside from Sentinels, other Elven forces were also present, but more notably, Dragons and Dracthyr were part of the army. All Dragonflights send some younger Dragons to gain experience, while older ones accompany them from a distance to help when needed, and five Dracthyr Orders wait for orders on the left flank.
-"Your Majesty, we are ready for the attack."-Lunara spoke to me from the side.
Next to her were all Sentinel Generals, Scalecommanders, and representatives of Wood Elves, who were shocked by the force standing here.
~"You know your mission?"
-"Yes. Defeat Rakia, help Lady Artemis, and force out any enemy lying in wait."
~"Good. I deployed some Wardens, but I'll rest will help you in this campaign. If any god acts, have them and Demon Hunters deal with them, but if that is not enough, call Dragon Aspects. They will be able to deal with any god, even a primordial one."
-"Lord Cenarius also expressed his will to lend aid when needed."-Malfurion spoke as he joined the rest of the commanders.-"But, Your Majesty, is it a good idea to deploy over 70% of our forces here? We might be unable to act if anything happens at Martial Meeting that is still taking place."
~"Don't worry about that side. While we still need to have some Elves stationed there, most of the contestants were already eliminated, and due to the nature of the Sect, they had to leave the Sect grounds, so only a small fraction of people still remain there. I also asked Nobu to keep an eye on there, so if any emergency takes place, she will step in."
-"I see."-Malfurion nodded after I resolved his doubts.
~"Artemis and Athena had captured Rakia's capital during Ares and his army's absence. Right now, they are under siege, and their conscripted slaves, who they freed from oppression, won't be able to hold for long. Use that to your advantage. Be sure to destroy the enemy."
-"Yes."-Responded commanders.
~"Soldiers of Spirit Empire, listen to the order."
-"Yes!"-The shout of all the soldiers standing in formations echoed in between the giant trees surrounding us.
~"Attack."
Appearing high in the air, I watched from here as the army of Spirit Empire emerged from the forest and moved toward the Rakia's border wall. The force of over seventy thousand was not something that could be hidden, so they were instantly discovered by the guards on the walls.
Many things could be said about Ares, but one couldn't take away his expertise in war. Despite the loss of contact with his main army and capital in rebellion, he still left border forts fully manned, thinking about the overall situation, not only the crisis in one place.
Sadly, while Rakia's fortifications might be a challenge for any other army, for my Spirit Empire, it was just a small speed bump. Sabercat Huntresses scaled the walls in the time it took guards to draw a bow, striking them before they could shoot. At the same time, Dragons swooped down, making passage for foot soldiers by demolishing parts of the wall.
Dragonhawks and Hippogryphs took their riders and some other soldiers and flew directly to the capital, sending what force they could to relieve pressure from the defenders. Half of the Demon Hunters flew with them, as despite the chances of gods taking action with Artemis and Athena present was low, we still needed to take it into consideration.
After taking over the first border fort, the army split into three. All foot units and most Dragons and Dracthyr continued moving toward the capital. With their speed, they would need twenty hours to reach that city. Even without rest, they couldn't have any delay if they wanted to save slaves in the capital from Ares.
The remaining Dragons and Dracthyr joined with Huntresses split in half and moved along the border wall, clearing encampments of Rakia's army to deny any possible reinforcements in the future. The information of our attack most likely is already flying on some carrier bird, but before it arrives and the response is sent back, we still had the advantage of a surprise attack, one that Sentinel Generals and Scalecommanders planned to use in full.
According to our reconnaissance, Rakia's military is split between cities, border walls and fortresses, and three military installations. The first one was training grounds for recruits, and it was mostly empty due to the invasion, but the remaining two still had some divisions stationed there. Those basses were located near the ends of the border. They were built to provide fast response to any attack, and normally, gods would be in charge of them, but now only some older veterans were left there.
Those forces were not enough to threaten Elven's armies, but they could stage a breakthrough for Ares' army when it was surrounded in the future, so they needed to be dealt with. The two cavalry armies, with their air support, will take nine and seven hours to reach those basses, and with eleven and fourteen more hours needed to reach the capital, they also needed to hurry in order to join for the main battle.
Sending two Foxes to stay with those two armies, I remained over our main force as it marched forward. My job, aside from being a deterrent for gods, is to look for rats whose tails were shown in Orario not long ago. Some splintered forces of Evilus and Ragnarök being my main targets.
Using Divinations on gods was something ill-advised, as let alone alerting them by doing that, receiving a backlash was something one should expect. Even I couldn't carelessly do so. Without ample knowledge about the target, Secrets that cover the actions of those with Divinity are hard to see through.
Uncovering them forcefully by using my Path of Ordination would startle the snake back to its hole and paint me and Hold, by extension, as overbearing tyrants invading one's privacy because of suspicions and misunderstandings. Luckily, using conventional methods to deal with hidden enemies was not a challenge for Loki, Otto, and Marshall Hua, who worked together.
Loki used her connections and plans to put pressure on 'rats' in Orario, and Otto assisted her there by moving some more shady people that Hold had contact with. Marshall Hua worked alongside Lunara, using information from Orario along with her own experience to find the best strategy for the Elven army.
Listening to their discussions and scheming made me happy for being only a figurehead for this operation. Leaving thinking to them, I focused on looking around, leaving the hard work to the experts.
As I was hanging in the air of Astraea's world and adventuring with the Chat Group in Teyvat, in Hold, I was preparing an important event. Thanks to a lot of assistance from people like Ayato, Otto, Welt, Kosma, and Su, Kevin was finally able to prepare for his proposal.
I prepared a ring for him, Ayato and Otto instructed him on what he should say, Welt gave him a crash course on how to improve his appearance, while the hardest task of ensuring that he listened was left for Kosma and Su. This culminated in Kevin today I saw today, and he was a changed man.
Of course, his cold facial expressions didn't change, nor did his outfit. His manner of speaking also remained the same. What did change was his absolute disdain for learning how to act to look better to others. If before he was ignorant, now he become the greatest advocate for being who you are, and in his case, being a stoic ice cube.
-"Yue."-When Kevin walked into my office, he looked at me with eyes overflowing with pity.
~"???"~Seeing his eyes, I had no idea what was going on.
-"I feel you."
~"Can someone translate? Are you nearby, Su?"~I looked at the still-open door.
-"I am, don't worry."-Su entered my office together with Kosma.-"As for translation, I'm not entirely sure, but I think he means that he understands how hard it is for you to act like an emperor."
Kevin nodded, showing that this was what he meant.
~"I see... It's alright. I get used to it for the most part. The only annoying parts are always acting as the face of the Hold, constantly keeping in mind what my actions represent, and never doing anything personally as emperor, sending my Guards to fight for me and other people to act in my name."
Seeing that pity in Kevin's eyes won't disappear, I decided to skip this subject.
~"So, how are your preparations going? Do you have everything planned?"
-"Yes."
As my conversation with Kevin finished, I looked at his two friends.
-"Aside from some small details, everything but one matter is ready. As for that last matter, we came to ask you for help."-Su added.
~"What is it?"
-"We need Mei to show up."
~"So you want me to invite Dr. Mei with some pretext so that she is present when and where you want her to be."
-"Exactly."
~"Sure, I'll help."
-"Thank you."
-"Yue."-Kosma spoke after approaching me.-"Can you help me?"
~"From your seriousness, I imagine it's something important. I'll do what I can. Just tell me what's going on."
-"I want you to revive someone."
~"Hmm? Who will that be?"
-"My friend, Dystopia."
~"I heard of her. She was one of the Fire Moths and a MANTIS. She sacrificed herself during the eighth impact."
-"Yes, It's her. Can you bring her back?"
~"I can, but she will be in the same as Guizhong, confined to Hold for the most part."
-"I know."
~"Good, then I'll revive her, but you'll need to give me a day or two as I can't be fully distracted from what is going on elsewhere."
-"Thank you."
~"No problem, just heads up that I'll be trying to do this without Terminus this time, so I need some more preparations."
-"Is there anything I can help with?"
~"If you can find some items that have a connection to your friend, it would be ideal. Especially if you bring items from different stages of her life such as childhood, etc."
-"I'll find everything I can."
~"Good, then let's meet three days later in the morning."
Kosma nodded, and after a quick goodbye, he left. Kevin and Su also didn't stay much longer, so I quickly found myself 'alone' in my office.
-"Master Yue, here's your tea."
~"Did you learn from Rita to disappear when any guest shows up, Rin?"
-"As a Maid, I can't make problems for my Master, and if I were present openly, some people might feel reserved."
~"It's not like you aren't hearing everything from your hiding space. Not to mention, everyone knows that there are Guards everywhere around me, so the presence of a maid, or 'Maid' as you say it, won't make a difference."
-"That might be, but as long as there is the slightest chance to make problems for Master, I'll still retreat from sight when guests arrive."
~"Ugh, Rita poisoned you."
-"Master Yue, please don't speak behind my back."-Rita appeared carrying some papers.-"Those are documents that need your approval."
~"Great, more work. Let's get this over with. I still wanted to work on some of my projects in the lab."
As I buried myself in the office work, time continued to pass uneventfully.
The first thing that warranted my attention was the Elven army entering into the visual range of Rakia's capital. Under the command of Sentinel Generals and Scalecommanders, all forces below me entered into formations, preparing for the battle. A similar thing was happening on the other side, the difference being that our and their formations were something entirely different.
Ares' army simply took positions that gave them an advantage, formations in the tactical sense. Our formations are derived from Martial formations given to me by Shen Meng. It takes part of every person creating the formation and sharing it to rest, creating an empowering loop capable of allowing the army to face strong enemies.
Those formations became an instant hit among members of Domination. Not even a day after sharing them in Hold's Akasha System, Nobu brought all her Generals to my office and demanded more of them along with specially prepared Simulated Realm to test them.
Formations used by Spirit Empire were jointly developed by Marshall Hua and me with input from all commanders. They are still in the early stages of development, being somewhat unstable and placing too much pressure on those actions as the core of the formation, but we decided to test them in real combat here.
Dragons dominated the air, but because of baristas and other heavy weapons in the enemy camp, our air units needed to be somewhat careful in their attacks. Both cavalry armies were still absent, needing some more time to arrive, so the opening clash would be purely between our main forces.
Within five minutes two armies stood in front of each other, with only a few hundred meters between them. At that distance, mages in our army started casting spells, firing the first barrage at the enemy.
Because of the relative rarity of mages in this world, the sudden all-out spall attack caught the enemies off guard, but they quickly composed themself and rushed forward so as to not be picked off from the distance.
From the air, I could easily see everything that was happening on the battlefield, and while interfering directly would go against the principles of interfering in mortal wars, I still could lend some cover assistance. With runes on my [Wyrd] shimmering I subtly manipulated the world, so that any fatal attack would be off-target enough to save the life of my people.
This was as much as I could do. The rest was in their hands, so after sending them a quiet blessing of the moon, I watched the upcoming battle.