[Chapter Size: 1800 Words.]
Third Person POV
Northern kingdoms.
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Madara approached a different group where he would lead them through the forest to guide them in a rear attack on the enemy exercise.
"Hm?!" The noble commanders, some of whom had not participated in the main meeting, had been called at the last moment for a different type of task. They were a little surprised when they heard about this and began to gather in a separate corner of the main army.
Calanthe went to the location with Madara accompanying her, and she gathered in a tent as before to talk to everyone at the same time. Madara recognized some of them, like Lord Hugkil himself and his eldest son among them. These nobles, like the others, were surprised to see the boy there; some looked at him favorably, like the head of the Hugkil family himself.
"Well, let's begin. I am here to tell you that you will be the key factor in winning this war..." Calanthe commented in a calm tone while everyone looked a little surprised by this.
"What do you mean by that, my queen...?" they asked as Calanthe began to explain the whole situation.
"So that's why those men were cutting the forest...?" a noble asked. Calanthe did not elaborate much on this, and she asked no one to speak openly about what they were doing, so only rumors were circulating. Meanwhile, it had only started a few days ago, and there was barely time for everyone to really know what that team was doing in the forest.
"Yes, we cleared the path, but that's not enough. After all, there is a vast forest on the other side that you need to be guided through," she said, and everyone looked at Madara at that moment. "And as you guessed, this boy will lead you through the open forest. We will catch those idiots from Angren," she said.
Although some were dissatisfied with this, no one openly disagreed about a child leading them. After all, Calanthe had chosen a group that Madara had benefited over the years with his actions.
"I want you to prepare at this moment," she requested as everyone nodded.
Madara finally decided to speak. "Organize your troops in the northern part of the camp. I will be waiting for you there," Madara calmly said and began to leave, and with no choice, the men there did the same, organizing their soldiers.
Both armies began to gather on the eastern side, while they kept organizing a line over the next few hours as the enemy leader began to notice something strange in Cintra's formation.
"How strange... Is Cintra not putting all its army against us?" the general murmured.
"Isn't that good, my lord?" a counselor said.
"Nothing is that easy..." the general rationally said. When something is too easy, he must be suspicious. "I want you to be alert to everything that will happen in this war. I do not want to be surprised by a large number of men on the flanks," he requested immediately and waited for the war to finally happen with the men making the final preparations.
Meanwhile, Madara was looking at the group of several soldiers to the north of the camp, as they left the camp without alerting the other army with the tents blocking the view and the forest right after.
He mounted his own horse and decided to speak to everyone. "Is everyone ready?" Even with his childish voice, the men he led nodded, while the soldiers looked confused about this, talking about a child leading them.
"Well, let's begin. Follow me," Madara said and kicked his horse, as he began to trot north.
"It looks like they started..." Eist observed the group leaving behind the camp while standing beside the queen.
"The boy has never disappointed me. I hope he doesn't do so now," Calanthe commented.
"You know that by the end of the day, Angren will be running back to their kingdom," Eist said as he looked at the sunny sky, a good day for a great victory against the enemies in his opinion.
The tension began to take over the battlefield, but Cintra's army was the most tense now with their reduced numbers. After all, it did not take long to see that the enemies were 30% larger in number in this fight, but they trusted the words of their queen, believing that they would emerge victorious from there.
"Start organizing your positions!!" Calanthe shouted to the other leaders below her.
The war drums of Cintra echoed as they indicated which positions the soldiers should take, and Angren was not far behind as their sounds resonated from the other side of the open field, signaling the advance of the enemy army. Calanthe, mounted on her horse in a high position, watched the approach of the enemy with firm eyes.
"Hold the line," she ordered, her firm and authoritative voice echoing across the field. "They have the numbers, but we have the courage."
The Angren army approached closer and closer, with their general also mounted, looking confidently but suspiciously, constantly scanning the sides as he noticed a third of Cintra's army was missing.
When the two armies were just a few meters apart, Eist raised his sword. "Infantry, advance!"
Cintra's soldiers advanced, breaking into a run across the field with spears, swords, and shields, ready for impact. The initial clash happened a moment later as shields collided, echoing the sound of metal across the field. It was brutal, with spears breaking and shields clashing. Cintra's front line held firm against the charge of Angren's soldiers. The place soon became a stage of the sound of steel against steel, war cries, and the thud of bodies colliding filling the air.
Cintra's soldiers fought fiercely, initially pushing the Angren invaders back, and Calanthe nodded with satisfaction at this. From atop her horse, observing the battle, she saw that it was time to give new orders and nodded to her husband, who raised his sword beside her.
"Now, archers!" Eist shouted.
Cintra's archers, lined up behind the infantry, raised their bows. "Fire!" Eist commanded.
A rain of arrows cut through the air, falling upon Angren's advancing lines. Cries of pain and surprise echoed as the arrows found their targets. The same could be said of Angren when their general ordered their archers to do the same, as a rain of arrows began to claim the lives of Cintra's soldiers.
Arrows continued to be launched for a while, as soldiers kept dying on both sides. Calanthe had indifferent eyes towards this, for this was war, and there was no time to mourn the bloodshed of her citizens until she saw an opportunity and did not hesitate. "Cavalry, advance!"
Cintra's cavalry, led by Eist and the queen herself, charged across the plain, hitting Angren's front line with a devastating impact.
"For Cintra!" Calanthe shouted in a loud tone.
"Cavalry, don't fall behind!!" the general shouted as well, and his mounted soldiers advanced together.
The hand-to-hand combat intensified, with swords and spears clashing, war cries, and the clang of steel filling the air. Now also with the sounds of horse hooves as both Cintra's and the enemy's cavalry clashed and crushed the soldiers below them.
"For Cintra!" the cavalry shouted while the enemies also responded, "For Angren."
The enemy general stood there, watching the battle as everything turned into chaos and a bloodbath, with screams and metal colliding. "We are winning, but why is Calanthe being more aggressive than in all our previous fights...?" He couldn't help but suspect.
Meanwhile, Madara was galloping through the forest, with a group behind him following at the same speed. He barely rode horses but that didn't stop him from learning and getting very good while staying in Cintra's castle. The sound of battle simply rendered them invisible to the enemy's ears as they ran through the side of the forest, following the devastated woods and the cleared path. It didn't take long for them to see a more open forest, finally emerging from the back of Angren's army, but this was only half the way. Madara led them through this place with the intention of not getting lost.
There were no enemy scouts here, as they only focused on the flanks of the fights, never imagining that the enemies would attack them from behind. He quickly followed the route his clones had given him while preparing to emerge in the open area without facing another dense forest. Soon the sunlight appeared in front of them, finally emerging from the forest with the battle happening ahead in the distance.
"Come on, follow me and prepare for battle!!" Madara exclaimed, already gearing up to attack alongside them as he led them into the fight.
"You heard the boy!! The boy is in front of us, and shall we be cowards and not follow him?!" Lord Hugkil exclaimed as his soldiers and eldest son followed him.
The general was seeing Angren finally pushing Cintra back when he heard a new sound, his gaze falling to the sides. It was the sound of thousands of horses.
"My lord!!!! They are coming from behind, circling around our camp!!" a scout exclaimed.
The general quickly turned his face and widened his eyes when he saw the multitude of a new cavalry appearing from behind.
"Enemy attack!! Prepare, I want a shield wall!!" he exclaimed immediately, quite nervous, as a part of his army still with him quickly began to organize.
"How did they do this..." he muttered, unable to understand how they ended up in this situation. The scene became even stranger when he saw a child trotting in front of all the other men, advancing on his horse.
Madara continued as he approached the rear of those soldiers until he was the first to reach the shield line. But his horse didn't collide with them; at the last moment, it simply jumped higher than any horse, with Madara doing this after placing it under his Sharingan. He passed the shield line and was among the enemy soldiers, advancing without anyone stopping him. He had only one objective: the armored man at the highest point. He wanted to end the command to weaken Angren even further.
The general saw this and drew his sword. He saw only a strange child and intended to give him a quick death. He advanced before his allies could react, but as soon as they reached each other, the boy simply moved his sword faster and removed his head while still on the horse.
The next moment, the soldiers who followed Madara from Cintra clashed with the shields, and chaos began at the rear of the army as Angren was totally surrounded on both sides, with Cintra starting to gain morale as they saw what was happening there.