Chereads / DxD : Emiya Shirou / Chapter 53 - DxD : A New Hero : Chapter 53

Chapter 53 - DxD : A New Hero : Chapter 53

Within a few beats of my heart, order had already been restored within the ranks of the Fallen and discipline had been reestablished. And it did not stop there. 

The instant it was clear that their men had calmed, several senior among them took command over several squads and had them surround the still lingering cloud that hide the Devil. 

...

Once again the night was pushed back as spears of lights flickered to life in their hands, forming rings within rings of light as they circled the fading cloud. As ranks behind ranks of Fallen aimed their weapons to where their enemy lay hidden, all ready to attack the moment they caught sight of the Devil.

The flapping of wings caught my attention, drawing my eyes upwards to their source. There in the skies above the quickly settling cloud, hovered scores of Fallen blocking any means of escape from the air.

They too had their spears out, ready to take advantage of any opportunity to take down the Devil or block any attack that may come their way. 

I noticed how they hovered unusually close to ground and understood that this was how they intended to prevent the red-head from firing another bomb. It was clear that if he tried to fire another with the Fallen this close that he, along with the other Devils on the ground, would get caught up in the blast.

It was as I looked at this unusual formation that I remembered one of my lessons with Griselda on the history of the Great War. At the time I had just turned thirteen and was still in the middle of my training as an exorcist, having been handpicked by Griselda herself to become her student along with Irina and Dulio.

I remembered wondering why Heaven had sent the low ranking Angels into battle during the Great War. What difference could they make in a war when compared the strength of an Archangel or Seraphs? What could they possibly do against the Maous or Ultimate-Class Devils? Would it not have been better to have remained in Heaven where they would be safe and out of the way?

I still remember her answer vividly.

"Xenovia," She told me, "while it is true that battlefields of the Great War were filled by existences that could only be described as monsters, even by the standards of the Supernatural. 

That those monsters roamed between the battlefields of the war in their hundreds, and even the least among their numbers had the power to slaughter the average Angel and Devil one after the other by the thousands. 

That did not mean that they could not be fought back and certainty it do not mean that they could not be killed.

"Look at us, if the strong would always prevail over the weak than we humans will never stand a chance against even the weakest among the Devils or Fallen, Holy Swords or not. Yet that is obviously not the case. We who are physically weaker than any of the other races in the Three Factions are capable of fighting back. And how do we do it?

"By playing our strength against their weakness. By choosing when, where and how we fight. By using strategy, tactics and deceptions we, the weak, can fight back and overcome the strong. Remember Xenovia that in this world there are times that the strong fall before the weak. 

That who is truly 'weak' or 'strong' is not determined by the power they wield but by who remains standing victorious at the battle's end.

"Now tell me, what is the biggest advantage that a lesser Angel have over a High-Class or even an Ultimate-Class Devil?"

I though on it a while before I came up with the obvious answer, "Numbers. There are many more lesser Angels than higher ones."

She nodded in approval, "That's right. They had their strength in numbers, and they ruthlessly exploited that single advantage time and time again. They would gather by the hundreds or thousands and rain down their spears of light onto their enemies form afar when they could.

"And when they were unable to fight at a safe distance, when the enemy would come charging in, they would stand shoulder to shoulder and greet their enemy with a wall of spears. Kokabiel's Forces were famed for doing this."

"The Fallen?" I asked surprised.

"He was not always a Fallen. Once he was an Angel that stood on the side of Heaven and was among the greatest Generals in God's army. Back then his troops were held in high esteemed by all of Heaven despite being made up entirely of lower and mid-ranked Angels. 

And they earned that esteem by having the highest kill count of High-Class and Ultimate-Class Devils without the aid of any High-Ranked Angels. They achieved this with nothing but simple tactics and teamwork.

"When their enemies would not allow them to fight them from afar, when time came for them to fight their enemies head on, they did so behind a wall of spears forged through the strength of their numbers tempered by discipline and fortitude.

"They would stand shoulder to shoulder, organization their numbers into rectangular rows. They would then conjure spears of light that was far longer than the ones they would usually employ, and while it made them far more cumbersome in close combat it give them a far greater reach in return.

"They also made the spears far denser, infusing it with much more of their magic than usual. This made them heavier which prevented them from being thrown but gave them the ability to defect or disperse any spells they touched. And while a single one could not stop a high-ranked spell, a half dozen working together might, especially against Devil Magic.

"The front ranks of the Angels would stand shoulder to shoulder and face their enemy as one, using their spears to attack or hold back the attack enemy while the rank behind them will thrust their spears in between the front rank, filling any gaps that existed and combined with the spears in the front, will present a wall of deadly spear points to the attacking Devil.

"Those further behind them, when not ready to replace and help any injured comrades, would fire their spears overhead, either to bring down enemies that try to fly above them or rain their spears on the heads of the enemies before them."

"But," I interrupted her, "isn't that basically a Phalanx?"

"That is exactly what it is." Griselda confirmed, "What was most unusual of Kokabiel's troop's method of fighting was that it was clearly inspired by human warfare. Kokabiel has been famed for his fascination with mankind, and many speculated that he mimicked most of his military strategies from the Ancient Greeks and Romans."

And that was exactly what I was seeing before me. A Phalanx, a wall crafted from spears. Devils, both mighty and weak, found their death on the end of those spear tips.

They had slaughtered their enemies by the thousand with this method and I was about to witness as they once again brought it to bear against the new enemy that stands before them and just as the countless before him had done, they shall make him fall as well.

Even to me, someone whose only experience in large-scale warfare was within the walls of a classroom, their strategy was obvious.

Last time they were caught off-guard and unprepared, and they had paid dearly for it. It was clear that they were not about to make the same mistake again. Just like me they had seen both the Devil's speed and his wide range destructive spells and recognized them as the threats they were, and have quickly taken steps to neutralize both his advantages.

This time they will greet Serafall's Queen with a wall of spears, encircle and entrap him in its unforgiving embrace. They will leave no gap in their ranks, no weakness that can be exploited and allow no attack to slip by their gruad. 

He will be confined on the other side of their spears, where his speed will do him no good. And his explosive swords will not work here, not with the enemies this close to him. 

The cloud he had hidden himself in was barely a dozen meters wide, and even if you included the two yard gaps between its edge and the Fallen front rank, any attack strong enough to harm them will harm him in turn.

Next they will slowly close in on him step by step, shrinking what little space he had until he finds himself surrounded in all direction by their spears, where a single step down any path would cause him to fall upon their lethal tips, all the while the Fallen in the air will fire down carefully aimed attacks whenever he let his guard down or tried to attack.

It is then that he will be forced to either fly into the air where he will be venerable from attacks from all directions or remain on the ground and be skewered upon their spears. Either choice will lead to his doom.

And now the ancient Host of Fallen stood, patiently waiting for the already dissipating cloud to completely fade and reveal him to their sights so that they may come bearing down on him and drag him to his end.

If they attacked too soon they would have risked harming their own men or kick up more dust for the Devil to hide in. He had already proven himself capable of shielding himself and others from barrages of spears but it was unlikely he was capable of defending himself while simultaneously attacking.

So they waited for the perfect time to act, which was quickly approaching. Already the cloud was fading and in a few more seconds it will be gone completely, leaving the Devil nowhere to hide.

It should have been a flawless strategy, simple in both plan and execution. There was no reason to believe it will not work like it had a thousand times in the past but for some reason I could bring myself to believe that.

I did not know why but something within me, a deep subconscious instinct, told me that the Fallen had already committed a serious blunder. A fatal error that will cost them both their victory and their lives. They had decided to stand and fight but that was a mistake...

They should have ran.