A few days after Alexis and Alistaira had left to attempt to conquer Anglond, Kain had gathered his forces along the only road that connected the nation of Teutonia with the occupied lands of the former Francusian Kingdom. This road was wide, but the ground on either side was separated from the path by ditches on either side which were designed to protect the road from flooding.
This meant that in order to fight a proper battle, one would need to use a set of small bridges that connected the twenty-lane highway to the farms and pastures beyond the ditch. To make matters worse for the attackers, the farms and pastures were divided by large hedgerows that blocked rapid cavalry movements and closed the avenues of attack into bottlenecks.
Deploying traps along the pathway, Kain intended to use this chokepoint as a means to keep the highly trained armies of the Teutonia Knightly Junta from using their knights to their fullest. If he could force the rank-and-file of the Knightly Junta to bunch up in the front, then the famed knights of Teutonia would have to backtrack several kilometers in order to get past the wall of bodies that would have blocked their way. With his Fel Bats acting as aerial reconnaissance, there was no way that the Knightly Junta with their flashy uniforms and brilliant banners would be able to escape the eyes of Kain’s air force.
Kain waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
Then, two weeks after Alexis and Alistaira left, the invasion finally came.
The forces of Teutonia were spotted marching along the old dirt road, the only problem was that their numbers were too few to be called anything other than a minor expeditionary force. Not even twenty units strong and having no cavalry at all, the detachment of pickelhaube-wearing spearmen was spotted marching down the trade-artery like they owned the place. Kain was seriously taken aback and insulted by the fact that they sent such a small and insignificant force to try and make him leave. And yet, despite their small number, something seemed to give him a feeling of dread.
Kain had a feeling that something was not right and sent his Fel Bats to scour the border to determine if something was off. He wouldn’t need them to deal with this numerically inferior foe anyways, and it was better to be safe than to be sorry. His Fel Bats flew off to patrol the full border between the Darksol Empire and the Teutonia Knightly Junta, and Kain hoped his fears would prove to be false. He committed a full army to the process of defeating the infantry that goose-stepped down the path and sent the rest of his four armies back towards the Gallows Woods. It was these paranoid actions that would save him a ton of grief.
As the forces of Kain got within eyesight of the spearmen, the Teutonian infantry lowered their spears, raised their shields and prepared to meet the oncoming tide of undead. They knew that their purpose was to buy time and focus the full attention of the undead upon themselves. They knew that their chances of going home were slim to none. They knew that they were woefully outnumbered, and that retreat was not an option.
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And yet they held their ground, knowing full well that every second they delayed the undead was a second that the true invasion force had to try and push through the Gallows Woods. As their Leader had said to them, “Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make. This act is necessary to preserve our nation and our purity.” They all agreed with their Leader and they prepared to hold to the last man.
The undead spearmen advanced towards them with deathly silence and thrusting spear tips. As the two sides finally met, their spears began a match to see who could be beaten first. As the Skeletons had no flesh, they had the upper hand in regard to survivability and numbers, but the spearmen of the Junta had the advantage in training. Due to these factors and others the poking match was far less one-sided than it had been in other theatres of war. The precision thrusts from the Junta infantry was enough to destroy some skeletons, but there was always another one to take its place.
This battle had become one of attrition. Would the undead outlast the stamina of the living or would the living destroy enough undead to render their offensive capabilities impotent? The meat/bone grinder churned onwards and slowly the living were being pushed to the limits of their endurance. Instead of the undead taking higher losses, the living were now taking the majority of losses.
After a solid hour of battle, the Junta’s spearmen were unconsciously taking steps backwards and letting thoughts of cowardice enter their minds. Half an hour later, the rear of their formation was now under attack as well, as Skeleton Swordsmen had made their way behind them and had begun to hack away at their exposed flank.
Despite the now completely hopeless situation that they were now in, many of them still held on and used the last bits of their stamina to try and take down as many undead as they could. One by one the brave and courageous men of Teutonia fell before the might of Kain’s war machine until only a handful remained. As the half-dozen men cowered in a circle, the undead they were facing stopped attacking and began to part and make way for a colossus of a man.
“I am not sure whether I should be thankful or insulted that you sent such a paltry force to try and deceive me. But, seeing as I know what is going on and have sent the rest of my forces to halt your real invasion, I guess I should really feel insulted, now shouldn’t I? Did your top brass truly think that by sending half an army along the road I would commit everything I had to destroying you? Don’t make me laugh.”
Before them stood a figure only spoken of in legends and hushed whispers; a gargantuan man who towered above even his own creations and had muscles the dream of any soldier. Covered in a robe/ plate-mail hybrid that was colored as black as his heart, his presence alone dictated that the rumors were indeed true.
The Abominable King had returned, the myth had been made real. If they could somehow survive and make it back to the high command, even the fact that they had deserted their duties would likely be forgiven. The Luminas Confederacy HAD to know that the greatest monster that had ever existed was now once again threatening to destroy the planet. As the men who remained tried to gather the courage necessary to beg for mercy and the ability to return home, the monster of a man vanished from sight.
Time had slowed down considerably for Kain, and with a few well-placed punches the heads of the survivors exploded like a egg in a microwave. There would be no mercy for those who threatened him in any way. The fact that time had slowed to a crawl meant that they either intended to strike out at him immediately or that they intended to tell their nation about his existence. He would let the Confederacy find out about him, but only when HE was ready. Until then, that secret would have to be taken to the grave.