“Be ready, my soldiers.”

As the sun rises high above the highest peak of the valley, the Latilian Marine Corp stretches its humble number of 50 soldiers along a thin line trying to cover the distance between each end of the valley, thus maximizing the coverage of their weapons on the field, or, if the defenders intend to charge toward them, they can do a perform maneuver to flank the Elestovakian.

Accompanying the Marines are double the amount of infantry skirmishers, with the task of providing extra protection for their ranged infantry in case of a melee clash. They were primarily armed with short blades for thrust and shields for coverage, but some were also equipped with pikes for close ranged harassment.

The combined formation is under the command of Archprince Belisari to the left, and formerly Countess, madam Justiniana on the right.

On the other side of the battlefield, the rallied Elestovakian troops have been dispatched to their defensive key points around the fortress. Traditionally the crossbowmen should be sent on top of watchtowers to effectively increase their range and anti air capability. However, due to rush decisions, most ranged troops were instead scrambled along the wall.

Meanwhile, Elestovakian melee units assemble in various locations of the settlement, blocking roads with their shield walls and pikes, a solid way to counter cavalry charges. The infamous Winged Husaria, feared by even the Nosfeturans on the battlefield, needed to be dealt with with cautiousness.

Nonetheless, the defenders of fort Separ have had themselves a considerable amount of protection in just ten minutes. The architect of this defense is no one other than Lord Martin himself, who is overseeing the battlefield from the height of the fortress, watching carefully as the Latilians make their moves.

Over the sky, Latilian fliers are scouting the area, but they cannot descend to a proper altitude for air raid, due to the presence of crossbowmen and anti air armaments. However, their increasing number is something needed to be concerned about.

“The situation is somewhat emergent.”-speaks Martin to his advisors-”We have two scenarios: Voyage has fallen, and the Latilian army is here to break this fortress and secure the city.”

This is the more dire one, as for the other:

“Or, Voyage has not yet fallen, but they chose to go around the city and clear the surrounding area before launching a total assault on Voyage. Though I would say this scenario is slim chance, very slim, as travelling by Voyage is the only way to reach here.”

As their commander draws his view upon the situation, the others nod their head. There can’t be anything in between. And while they really pray for this to be the latter scenario, their hearts are not comforted by the lie of their minds, it is better to assume that the worst situation happened, better to overrate the enemy than to take them lightly.

Now, let’s uncover the plan of the defenders.

The fortress is home of 1600 troops, over ten times the size of the Latilian line, which is far more than enough to penetrate it in no time. But, if that is really the size of the Latilian line. Martin guessed that the commander on the other side had set up an ambush to blow his army if they ever stepped out of the fortification. The Latilian Marines are about 400 meters away, beyond the reach of their crossbows. That 400 meters is far more than enough for a flank development:

“How should we intercept them?”-an advisor speaks out his question-”I’ve had all melee infantry gathered behind the gate, a small team flashy dash out might decimate the threat quick enough, then they will retreat.”

“For that I propose five hundred troops, a balanced number for both supremacy and maneuverability. I will take command and strike at their heart.”

It was a decent idea, but Martin turns it down-”What if we did not manage to deal them a quick blow, but being stalled into a scaled battle?”

What Martin said needs to be considered. Even with overwhelming power, a large force can still be stuck into a lengthy fight against a small team. And given the situation that an ambush might be waiting for them, their 500 men army might be at risk of being dragged into a long clash, be flanked and destroyed entirely.

“As much as I want the Latilians to be vanished, I don’t want to throw soldiers’ lives into a gamble. I’d rather stand in this fort and wait for their next move.”

“What about ranged skirmishing?”-another person suggests-”Crossbowmen can attack from far away, avoiding the possibility of a sudden flank.”

While Ganeoese crossbows outmatched their Elestovakian counterparts, the Elestovakians have the number advantages. It is not a bad idea when considering the risk of enemies’ development maneuvers, but:

“That would leave the air vulnerable.”

The heavy anti air crossbows can only partly cover the fort, not the entire of it. The absence of crossbowmen and archers allows flier’s air raid.

So, both ideas are unsuitable.

“I appreciate your work, but we are not the ones who are controlling the battle, they are. Taking the initial move will result in heavy casualties, I don’t like seeing it.”

The Latilian army’s real number is unknown, they have to proceed with careful plans.

“By now, assemble the shielded swordsmen into formations-”

Bam!

Suddenly, a deafening lightning echo comes from the other end of the fortress, alerting every defender Elestovakian about a devastating attack.

“Huh? What?”

Being thrown into a state of half-scared half-clueless about what was happening, Martin’s legs quickly rushed to the site-“What was noise?”-He said. There he saw the leftover of an explosion over what once was one of their heavy anti air crossbows. The asset is nothing more than a burning wooden frame now, as its bowstring is burned and reloader expelled somewhere far from their place.

Speaking of moving, the Latilians are doing exactly that.

**

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“Final adjustment. Ready!”

Behind the Latilian formation, eight rocket launchers, each aiming at an individual heavy crossbow system, are fully loaded with their ammunition and are ready to fire, except for one that was exhausted. By destroying the crossbow assets, fliers corps may now descend to combat altitude:

“But do them slowly, one by one, okay?”

“Eh!? Why though!?”

Aurora, the little girl who was calculating the ballistic paths of the rockets, was confused by Belisari’s order. Normally, an attacking army wishes to decimate the enemy defense before the battle. In this case however, the Prince ordered her to restrain the annihilation:

“Well, you see…”

If the Latilians went all out right away, after the heavy anti-air components were removed, the Elestovakians would have no reason to get out of their fort. They will hold the fortress as long as the walls are still standing, with their light yet numerous crossbowmen to desperately guard the air. The situation could be turned into a waiting game if their plan is executed too quickly.

If they harass them one by one, that would be a different story.

“...seeing their assets being destroyed, one by one”-Belisari explains-”The commander of that fort will try to neutralize the threat to prevent any equipment losses by sending out his or her army to confront us. This plan is to test the patience of whoever is standing in that fortress watching us right now.”

Both ways result in the loss of Elestovakian equipment, but what they are doing right now strikes into the physiology of the defenders, rather than actual strength.

Take a bottle of expensive fine wine for example, if you accidentally slip it from your hand and break it, well, there is nothing you can do but to accept.

But if someone is slowly drinking it away from you, you would try to save the remaining wine.

Which is what Belisari is doing right now, just instead of drink, it was weapons. In addition, The prince ordered all of his fliers to take off, threatening the garrisoned men with risk of an aerial raid, placing even more pressure upon the Elestovakians line.

“Launch!”

The third system blew up in front of their eyes. The sound of the blast can be heard across the fortress and the surrounding area:

“Aha! Here they are.”

Far away where it can only be seen from here by scope, Belisari saw as a formation of Elestovakian troops went out of the fortress. Just as intended.

“Dammit”-Martin mumbles-”Men, be ready.”

“Alright Aurora”-The Prince speaks to his War Doctor-”You can stop now, save those ammunition for later, we will take over from this point.”

Receiving signal from the prince and the former countess mercenary from both sides, the formation of the Latilians begins to form barricades. The shielded troops raise their barriers firmly on their left hands, while holding swords parallel to the ground, enabling thrust attacks. Behind the line, the Marines slit their loaded matchlocks in between the gap, patiently waiting until the foes are within their firing range.

The other side responds to the Latilian movements, by placing their heavy infantry on the front and the flanks as they approach their enemies. Most of their ranged infantry was left to guard the fort, so they seriously lacked long range units. Nevertheless, they have better numbers. Basically, this will be the gamble between quantities and qualities.

“Now!”

Very quickly after the line was formed, the Elestovakians collided against the Latilians, and they swung their blades, hoping to end the battle fast before the attackers could pull out a flank ambush. The Latilians meanwhile, very disciplined, held the weight of the line well. With their policy of conserving the number, they slowly step back, one, two, three…

“Fire!”

After a while, the Latilian Marines discharged their matchlocks into the Elestovakians. The bullets did no major damage, but was enough to make the infantry struggle, slowing down the pushing speed and even reversed it in some locations along the line. With that, the Elestovakian formation was distorted, not too dramatic, but ample to break their discipline by giving them false information and hope.

“Hold my position a bit, I shall be back.”

“Please do it quick, ma’am”

“It will take less than a minute.”

Seizing the opportunity given, Justiniana, tasked by Belisari earlier, turns around and runs away from the line. The Ganeoese hag shoots an arrow tied with red ribbon from her loaded crossbow to the rear of the army, signaling the plan to be executed.

The arrow, being released from its chamber, flies high, carving a red line on its trajectory path.

“Look!”

When Justiniana returns to the line to reclaim the control of her wing, an Elestovakian soldier shouts and points his finger toward a nearby hill, dragging the attention of many of his fellow comrades.

Over there, there is a parade of two hundred Imperial banners. Each of the banners are held by an “Elestovakian” soldier, and they are actively marching down toward the rear of the Latilian line. Was that…help? Rumors started to spread among the Elestovakians.

“Voyage is sending help, they are coming.”

“The city hadn’t yet collapsed, I knew it. This contingent is just to hold off us. His Grace must’ve detected their wicked trick and sent out his army to relieve us.”

“Alright! Fight them fearlessly, gentlemen, we are going to meet our comrade in Voyage soon. Let them be envious of our glory.”

And, another thing:

“Which means…there is no encirclement? This is the best the Latilians could pull out against us? They must be kidding me!”

Lord Martin says as he is still in disbelief. Unfortunately, those soldiers under his command, those glory seeking men, can’t help but break their formation and take down their foes on their own, hoping to strike down one or two. Their morale is extremely high and likely they are not going to listen to their commander. They did very well to be fair.

“They are losing ground! Keep pressing them, comrades!”

Slowly, the Latilian line, unable to cope with the weight, bent with the pressure of the mighty force, turning into an inverted crescent shape, with the two sides being pressed down the most, while the center, where Belisari scrambled to, stayed firm. To everyone except Martin, this must be a poor decision made by the commander of the opposite side, as when the Latilian flanks route, they will turn around and encircle the center.

Little did they know, it was the plan of the Latilian Archprince all along.

Lily and her cavalry, settling around the woods, were waiting for that moment. Extinguish the light on her cigarette, Lily mumbles:

“Set them ablaze.”

The Archduchess raises her smoke flare high above her head, then, using all of her might, Lily catapults it into the air, to the plainview of the Latilians on the hill. Seeing the flare trailing smoke, the flag bearers ignite their banners on fire. All in sight of the Elestovakians, who, just a moment earlier, had hope of victory and glory:

“What is going on!?”-they all said in confusion, some even stopped fighting, they were then being hacked to pieces by Latilian steels. The tide had turned, or was the tide on their side in the first place for it to be turned?

“Why are they burning the banners- oh…”

From the sides of the valley, multiple smaller Latilian units show up with their true flags, and the cavalry directly aim at the Elestovakian flanks. The Archduchess personally rides on her horse to lead the cavalry charge. The Latilian line, which was about to break, was reinforced with fresh troops led by Sir Gerald coming from the rear.

It’s over. Martin was correct, but he was not able to prevent his army from falling into a trap.

Far away, the remaining ranged infantry can do nothing but watch in desperation, they are too far and little in number to provide relief. Martin…can’t be angry at them for them to decide not to intervene, it was his fault for his incompetent, that led the army to this failure.

“Lord grant me mercy.”

Well, there is nothing more for him to do but to pray.