With enemy cavalry bearing down on their position, Duke Gundenvarg would issue an order that had the surrounding artillerymen and his lord, Adrian Maldenberg stunned. "Stand down and surrender, there is no point in further loss of our men!" Jasper Gundenvarg bellowed.
The artillerymen who were from the Dukedom of Gundenvarg instantly complied with their lord's command. Adrian was bewildered at such an open act of cowardice and ordered the artillerymen to all load and fire their cannons. Out of the 275 cannon crews, only 200 complied. The 75 under Gundervarg all stood down and backed away and prepared to be taken prisoner.
It was clear why Duke Gundenvarg stood his men down. Adrian and himself had argued too much about firing on their own men to properly prepare themselves for the enemy cavalry bearing down on them. The artillerymen rushed to prepare and load canister shots into their cannons. With a sense of urgency, they had little room for error as they were about to get swamped by enemy horsemen.
With most cannons ready Adrian screamed, "Fire at will!" Canister shots sprayed out and annihilated the first few ranks of the Luxenberg cavalry, but it was not enough. Following the trail of slain comrades and their mounts, the next wave of Luxenberg cavalry began to run through the defenceless artillerymen.
They could not fend off the Luxenberg cavalry. Sabres and lances tore apart the fleeing Maldenberg artillerymen. Adrian's face grew pale, maybe Duke Gundenvarg was wise in his decision to avert the slaughter of his men. This was a thought that could not be dwelled on for long, Adrian's life was in immediate danger.
Their position was overrun by cavalry and Adrian only had a small bodyguard. They could not easily break through or sneak away. Adrian was aware that his failure was already a momentous blow to his father's war effort but if he were to be captured then Grand Duke Maldenberg would have to rethink his entire strategy now that his only son was captured and half his army was destroyed.
As Adrian and his bodyguards began to figure out how to escape their artillerymen were being slaughtered. Artillerymen had no real experience in melee combat, especially in dealing with mounted enemies. Disadvantaged already, it did not help that almost a third of their comrades had surrendered and their commander was looking for a way to escape the hellish situation.
Dismembered corpses and screaming wounded men were now beginning to pile on each other. Victor's cavalry were efficient in the art of killing. With the swing of their sabres or the thrust of their lances men would grimace or collapse at the action. Before long many of the still surviving artillerymen began to surrender. While they surrendered, Adrian was subsequently apprehended shortly after, his effort to escape was useless.
With the rear secured, all that remained was the Maldenberg soldiers who persisted in fighting to the bitter end. One man in particular, who was unrelenting in his ferocity was Duke Lothar Braun. Each swing of his sabre would strike down a Luxenberg soldier.
But his efforts were not enough, whilst he was being a nuisance for Luxenberg infantry, his own troops were being slaughtered. When the reinforcing infantry from 5th Corps arrived, his men were quickly overrun and could not withstand the shift in momentum.
True to his nature, Duke Braun fought on even when his nearby troops were dying or surrendering. Infantrymen of Luxenberg would charge and thrust their bayonets towards him but Braun was easily able to evade the attacks and counter with a deadly slash.
A nearby cavalryman of Luxenberg charged towards Braun but he simply stepped out of the way and threw the rider from his horse. With a quick thrust of his sabre, the cavalryman was quickly killed due to the blade piercing his heart. Duke Braun was fighting like he was possessed, his movements were erratic and unpredictable.
It was getting to the point where even some of the Luxenberg soldiers were afraid to approach him. Duke Lothar Braun was single-handedly why some resistance was left in the Maldenberg soldiers. The right flank was the only active battlefront because the other front secured surrenders from the broken soldiers.
Bodies continued to drop as Duke Braun continued his dance of death. His orange uniform was now drenched in the blood of dozens and his decorated sabre was stained crimson red. Braun's effort was valiant, he held firm in the face of overwhelming odds. The few remaining men he had stood with him in his defiance and battled further.
Slowly the remaining Maldenberg soldiers were cut down one by one, Braun was all that remained. A raging passion burned supernova in his eyes, he had never experienced such a heart-racing almost erotic-like sensation. Braun was entranced in the adrenaline of battle and he craved more.
Fully surrounded by infantrymen of Luxenberg, Duke Braun could not contain his excitement and charged forward. His grunts were borderline creepy as he continued to take the lives of his enemy. Victor and Marshal Soult who were spectating through spyglasses could only gawk at the madman who was artistically and erratically cutting down soldiers. Victor could only give him a moniker worthy of his deeds, the Duke of Death.
Minutes passed and the dancing Duke of Death had not faltered or exhausted himself. Reinforcements from other battlefronts had come to squash the last bit of resistance but when they arrived, they were greeted by the gruesome scene of a madman revelling in the outrageous amount of death.
With all the soldiers sharing glances and nods they all ran into the fray hoping to overwhelm the Duke of Death. Even though he had been ripping through the ranks of the Luxenberg soldiers, Braun could not withstand the unnecessarily large wave of men. He found himself being stuck with multiple bayonets.
His thigh, shoulder, ribs, foot and neck were all pierced by Luxenberg bayonets. The colour in his orange eyes began to fade and blood squirted out from all of his wounds. The Duke of Death had killed almost 200 soldiers alone as well as an enemy general.
Although the Luxenberg army had won a great victory, it was diminished due to the near-legendary feat of Duke Lothar Braun.