In between both simulated sides, Kain and Alexis waited patiently. Both could see and sense everything in the area and seeing as how this simulated scenario was limited in scope and size to a single battlefield, they didn’t need to worry about either force running away. Of course, if either side, or even both sides, chose to try and run, then it was more than likely that Zero Noir, who was still handling the minutia of the emulated reality, would force them to go all-in.

As it happened, neither side did try and bail. In fact, in an action that made both Kain and Alexis rather cross, neither side chose to simply ride around them and attempt to form a tenuous temporary truce with the other. Given how they had reduced 1,000 men to scattered bits and pieces in under a minute, the smart thing to do would have been to try and work together for the sake of survival.

But noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! These idiots wanted to avoid tainting their religious purity by working with the heathens, heretics, and infidels of the other side! Fucking morons, the lot of them! However, there was one slight upside, and that was that both sides, Christian and Muslim alike, were trying to wait out their opposition. And while that opposition now included Kain and Alexis, the force that they were actually trying to wait out was their opposing religious foe.

Zero Noir had outdone himself with this simulation, as even the armies' own supplies had been fully modeled and prepared. This meant that, given enough time, both sides would run out of both food and drink, at which point they would have little choice but to either run forward and into the waiting embrace of death or simply surrender. The two armies also likely assumed that Kain and Alexis didn’t have any food or drink of their own, but this could not have been further from the truth.

First off, Kain had a super-human biology that was augmented by his absurd power. He could eat and drink, and he could sleep and breathe, but that didn’t mean that he needed to. He was, by this point, merely going through the motions out of habit more than anything else. Plus, even though he didn’t need to eat, drink, sleep or breathe, that didn’t mean that he didn’t find enjoyment in chowing down on some good food or letting himself fall into dreamland.

Alexis, on the other hand, was an undead. Breathing, sleeping, and both eating and drinking were, to her, also quite unnecessary. While most normal vampires would need to feed or keep out of the sun, she was the first vampire. She was, therefore, unbound by the same limitations as her lesser kin. That did not mean that she couldn’t find the same enjoyment in eating and the like as Kain did, but it did mean that she had different tastes.

Kain was, essentially, mostly an omnivore. Alexis, on the other hand, was an obligate carnivore. And guess what? She could draw the blood from the slain all around her! Sure, it wasn’t nearly as good as the ‘red wine’ from her beloved, but damn if it wasn’t an exercise in intimidation. If both armies and their commanders wanted to wait out the dark monarchs that stood watch in the middle of the battlefield, then they would have to wait for centuries. Or, at least until both got too bored and simply tore them all to shreds.

…

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A man in a mask stood before a gathering of others. Words were exchanged between them, and some of those words were strong and violent, but the masked King refused to back down. He, at least, could see the writing on the wall, and he, at least, could feel the sheer force of malice that rolled off of the two giants that stood between his holy army and their mortal enemies.

As much as he hated to admit it, those two devils were far more dangerous than the Saracens. Only a fool could not see that, and apparently he was surrounded by fools. Perhaps their belief in the righteousness of their cause was too blinding. Perhaps they did not see that the only way to win against both the two devils and the Saracens was to play this ‘game’ in a different way than they had done up till now.

He despised this thought of his as well. He loathed the idea that he had been forced to propose and fight for, and he felt humiliated by the fact that it was really the only viable option. Several hundred good, noble, God-fearing men from their side alone had been shredded so quickly, and it had only been by the grace of Christ Himself that they had pulled back fast enough to avoid losing more.

He would need to play this carefully, and hope to all the Saints and to the One True God of all that the filthy and barbaric Saracen infidels would be willing to throw their devil-worshiping lives away to help those who were truly noble survive. To throw away so many of Christ’s own to fight such monsters would result in the Saracens descending upon them and gutting them all.

To expect such mongrels to show mercy would be like expecting the devil himself to love God Almighty! No, they would have to bleed first, and only once both enemies had been bled to a certain n degree could Christ’s champions fully commit and bring glory to the Messiah’s name.

…

Meanwhile, another group was having similar thoughts. Arguments against the proposed course of action were made, but a future legend would not hear them. He had been allowed to lead this force by the grace of their almighty God, and therefore he was able to decide what actions needed to be taken.

He knew full well that to fight the two monsters that stood in the way of his army of holy warriors would mean that his forces would be heavily depleted in the event of victory and defeat alike. Even if they won, and by Allah they would, their numbers would be so low that the infidels that worshipped that false God of theirs would descend upon them and wipe them out to the last.

To expect mercy from those European bastards would be the height of foolishness. They were barbarians, who knew nothing of true morality! They would gladly let the truly good and moral servants of merciful Allah die in their millions if it meant that they could pick up the scraps like the vultures that they were.

No, they would make a deal with them, for now, and they would let those servants of that false messiah walk into oblivion, allowing the truly faithful to the One True God come in and save the day. Any of those infidels who survived would either join the true faith, or they would die. That was the only mercy that such savages could expect.

…

Meanwhile, back in the no man’s land.

“They really hate each other, don’t they?”

“Sadly, they both trust each other only as far as they can throw them. Likewise, they both intend to let the other bleed to death before claiming the victory for themselves. They don’t see that there is no victory for either of them, even if they work together.”

“But they will be more fun to play with if they do work together, no?”

“But, my dear, based on what you are hearing and seeing, do you honestly expect them to work together at all?”

“No. Not by a long shot.”