“Shit, Shit, Shit,” Jerome was in the biggest crisis of his life. What he first thought of as an easy military achievement, had turned into the biggest disaster in his career. Out of nowhere, he was suddenly being flanked in the rear and all sense of order in his army was lost.

  “Sir Jerome, we’re currently under attack from the rear…” One of his personal knights came to give him a status report. “I can see that you idiot. Who’s doing it? Who’s flanking us?”

  “From what I can see from their banner, it was Imperial Prince Odyssus, Sir.” Report one of his other knights. “Right now, they’re hitting our center left formation.”

  ‘Odyssus!? Why was Odyssus in his rear? Wasn't that brat supposed to be protected by Kaisar?’ Jerome’s mind was racing, he was panicking like never before. Being hit from the rear like this was the worst, the men lost the sense of safety, and without knowing how many enemies were in the rear, turning back and fighting them would be paramount to sending all his men to their deaths. Right now, in his mind, Jerome only has two options, to charge forward or to escape with his right flank.

  “Sir Jerome, we should retreat to the right and escape the battlefield.” his knights’ advised. That was probably the safest option, escape with 5,000 men on the right flank and went to alert Lord Tarren of Odyssus’ ambush. However, this decision will cost him at least 15,000 men. A blunder that will cost him his career, a decision that will make him be remembered as a fool in the eyes of history.

  His other more riskier option was to have his entire army charge forward. For all he knew, there’s only 2,000 of Oliver’s men in front of them. The remaining 6,000 were already gone to God knows where. They could easily take out 2,000 men, and have more than 5,000 men escape far enough from the artillery range.

  “Sound the bugle! Have everybody charge forward!!!” Jerome made his decision. He rather took the risk than taking a decision which guaranteed disgrace.

  “But Sir, there’s Oliver’s men in front of us. If we charged forward, and failed to take them on. We’ll be sandwiched by both Oliver’s and Odyssus’ armies. We are all done for.” Complained his knights.

  “Don’t be a coward!!! If we escape to the right, we are leaving our center and left flank to die! But if we charge together, we escape together! We might even be able to destroy Oliver and regroup to face Odyssus! Forward!!! Forward is our only choice!!!” Jerome tried to convince his knights.

  His knights were still hesitant, unlike Jerome who was thinking of his future career. They’re more concerned in prioritizing Jerome’s life and taking the least risky option. But they have no time to question him. As they were hesitating, the cannon fires were still raining at them. The cannon balls that did not directly kill their men were hitting the trees, felling them and crushing the men beneath them. Time was not on their side, and they decided to trust their general.

  BUUUOOOOONG

  They sounded the bugle, signalling the men to charge forward. Many of the men were confused, but they chose to believe that their commanders knew what they were doing. So Jerome’s men charge, escaping the cannon fires, charging towards their guaranteed death.

  ********

  BUUOOOOOONG

  As soon as the bugled sounded, the roar of ten thousand men could be heard. They all ran forward without a semblance of formation. Running forward, desperately trying to escape the Goddess of the battlefield, little did they know, they were running toward a killzone that was prepared for them by Oliver.

  “Well, well, ain’t thing going well for us. And here I thought they’ll be sensible and escape with their right flank instead. Lucky us, I thought we messed up when we hit their center-left instead of their center.” Odyssus was standing near an unconscious knight. He was about to finish him before the bugle sounded. Everything went according to his and his uncle’s plan.

  Next to him were his escort knights, ‘The Arrows of Odyssus’, or just called ‘Arrows’. They were both his strongest knights and his advisors. Right now, only two of them were standing beside him. The others were spread all over the battlefield, commanding their own units or acting as recons, gathering information.

  “Lord Odyssus, I found their commander's location.” One of the Arrows that were scouting came to Odyssus side to give him information of Jerome’s location. Without needing Odyssus’ confirmation, he showed Jerome’s location to him. “What should we do? Capture or kill?”

  “Hmmmm,” Odyssus enchanted his Hand Cannon, Maidan, with a third circle Fireball Spell, then he fired it towards the general direction of Jerome. With the help of Maidan, his third circle Fireball spell became powerful enough it was as strong as a laser or a fourth circle spell, vaporizing everything in its path. “If he survived that, capture him.”

  “Yes Lord Odyssus.” The Arrow that was reporting to him immediately disappeared to confirm Jerome’s status. Meanwhile, one of his bodyguards and his strongest Arrow, Arno, spoke out. “Aren’t you worried of friendly fire Lord Odyssus?”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Friendly ‘Fire’, heh.” That wordplay fits the ten-years old Odyssus sense of humour. He did realize that it was a serious question and not a pun, “ehem, I only bring our elites, the best of the best in our army. If they cannot survive that, they did not deserve to be one of us.”

  “Harsh, but fair.” Arno accepted that answer. He knew his lord was acting on impulse, but his excuse contained some truth. They were his Lord’s blade, if they were killed by a ten years old’s spell in the first place, they did not deserve to serve alongside him.

  “Well, nevermind that. Arno, Gaspar, I give you permission to go wild. Go and destroy their left and right flanks. Arno you take the left, Gaspar, right.” Arno and Gaspar let out a huge grin, these two were the strongest and the most bloodthirsty among The Arrows. They had been holding back to ensure they could give everything to protect their Lord. Now that the enemy already focused on charging forward, and with their lord’s permission, they can finally let loose.

  Thus Odyssus let loose his mightiest arrows towards Jerome’s flank. Ensuring they were split off from the center and unable to help them from their untimely demise in the traps they were about to charge into.

  The victor for the battle of Ardinne was already decided.

  *******

  According to the records, Lt. General Jerome Havana Culia was killed in the initial ambush by Odyssus’ army. It was not known who made the decision to charge forward, but with hindsight 20/20, we knew that whoever made that decision made the wrong one.

  Oliver already had his men dug a defensive entrenchment in front of Jerome’s army and stationed them. By charging forward, the center of Jerome’s army ended up fighting an unexpected siege battle. With artillery fires and Odyssus behind them, they were caught in a classic hammer and anvil strategy.

  Of course there was still a possibility for their right and left flank to encircle Oliver’s entrenchment instead, considering it was a hastily built entrenchment, it was not particularly wide enough or garrisoned enough to completely box in 20,000 men. However, Odyssus had his men fight in a way that made it easy for Jerome’s left and right flank to escape from the side. As soon as Jerome’s flank realized that charging forward meant fighting Oliver’s entrenchment in the front and Odyssus in the rear, they chose to run to the sides instead, completely abandoning their center. With Jerome already dead, no one can stop them from abandoning their duty.

  The battle of Ardinne ended in The Claudio Riberio’s complete victory. Jerome’s center army of 10,000 was completely obliterated, with at least 7,000 men dead and 3,000 captured. Meanwhile the flanks disappear into the forest, their fates unknown.

  Many historians believe they would either be eaten by beasts or monsters, end up deserting and become bandits, or if they were lucky— captured by patrolling Oliver’s or Odyssus’ men, where they would end up joining their cause or be released back home once the War was over. Either way, those 10,000 men on Jerome’s flank were effectively no longer a factor in the war.

  The worst, or best part of this victory was the fact that Tarren D’Orlan was completely unaware of any of these happening. For all he knew, his rear was secured. He did not know there were 18,000 men threatening his rear.

  The battle of Ardinne was the key to Tarren D’Orlan’s downfall… And Kaisar knew about it even before the battle began.

  Kaisar had full trust in his little brother, and he would reap the reward soon enough.

  ******

  Hair…

  Locks of hair were fluttering in the air. Krieg Burhan holding them in his hand. He knew it was pointless to keep holding them… But he could not let go. He could not let go of what was once his only hope of victory.

  In front of him, stood a small child, with skin blacker than iron, blacker than the robe of the Grim Reaper.

  This was it. This was where he would die.

  He was once a knight, trained in martial arts. He knew that the thing in front of him was covered in something that surpassed [Iron Body]. It might be the mythical [Dragon Claws] where one master dedicated their entire life to perfecting [Iron body] on the tip of their fingers, making them a powerful indestructible weapon capable of destroying mountains, just like a dragon claw. And that thing, has [Dragon Claws] covering his entire body, calling it [Dragon Claws] did it no justice.

  It did not matter, he couldn’t possibly scratch this thing. And he was too heavy and tired to ran away. Krieg Burhan had many regrets … one of them was dying a scum.

  Regulus turned around and faced Krieg.

  That was the first time Krieg saw Regulus’ face, and he saw his pupils, faded gold. Krieg saw that eye color before… Odyssus.

  “Goddamnit. An Imperial Bastard. Just my luck.” Krieg knew Regulus’ identity in an instant. In the entire Azalia continent, only those with Azali’s blood in their veins had golden irises. It finally clicked with him why he was outclassed by a mere kid.

  Nobility were nobles not only because they owned lands, titles, and wealth. It was because centuries of selective marriage allowed their descendants to be more magically gifted compared to commoners. It was more so for royalties, and especially true for the Imperial family, the Azali bloodline. Their line descended from heroes and conquerors marrying other heroes and conquerors. Their bloodline was one of the reasons why a ten-year old Odyssus could destroy a knight who trained for decades like Krieg.

  Krieg could not mire in the unfairness of the world, when he saw Regulus smiling, showing his jet black fanged teeth. Even his teeth were covered in [Dragon Claws] … No, [Dragon Fangs]? It does not matter what Krieg called it anyway, whether Regulus bites him or swiped him with his hand, he’s dead either way.

  Regulus spread his arms wide, asserting his dominance, the same way a Molrret would when faced with bigger predators.

  Krieg raised his axe into an overhead position. He covered them with [Aura] while strengthening his arms, core, and legs. One downward stroke, that’s all the chance he got. When Regulus leapt straight at him, he could land that strike and pinned him to the ground. After that? Who knows. He did not have any other moves after that.

  Regulus leapt.

  But not straight at Krieg — sideways. He learned from his mistake. He hopped left and right, left and right.

  Krieg cursed under his breath, he could no longer time for a downward strike. So he changed his plan…

  … as soon as Regulus was in his range, Krieg swung his axe diagonally, aiming at Regulus’ neck. It was perfect, Regulus couldn’t block it. It hit him dead in the neck…

  … But the axe exploded, shattered into pieces. Some of its shrapnel hit Krieg’s in the face, burrowing inside of him. Before he could feel the pain…

  …Regulus’s right hand swiped at him— tearing him in two. Right in the middle.

  Krieg’s torso fell to the ground. The shock was so much that his body went into seizure, twitching on the ground. In a few seconds, Krieg will die from the shock.

  Before he could die, Regulus stood on top of him. He put one of his legs on his chest, pinning him. Then …

  … His hand grabbed Krieg’s head.

  Regulus ripped Krieg’s head.

  Krieg was still conscious. There was still some blood on his brain.

  The last thing Krieg saw was Regulus' gaping mouth.

  The last thing Krieg heard was…

  CRUNCH