Battle of the Vanguard
> “I am the spear of my soldiers, the sword of my knights. I am the arrow of my archers, and to my nation, I am the light.” ~Royal Knight Princess Kristel Irista
The white sun broke dawn, filling the darkness with a shine that reflected on armors.
“Soldiers of Irista Nation!” Kristel’s voice resounded all over the Vanguard and through the Flat Lands with the help of an echo Meiyal Art. “The time to protect our nation has come!”
Roars from all over the stronghold caused the very air to tremor. The morale of every knight washed away the fear from the overwhelming numbers of their enemies.
“Soldiers of Vyndival!” She increased the effective range of her echo Meiyal Art, a way to display her prowess to the opposing soldiers. “Return to your kingdom! You will never take what is ours!”
The opposing masses roared in response, in a manner the same as that of her army. Both sides were ready to fight and prepared to die for their motherland.
“So be it! Come at your own demise and we will show you what we are capable of! For Irista!”
“We are the sword of our nation!” The war cry of every Iristan knight resounded through the air once again.
The signal to charge flashed in the skies and the screeching roars of war grew louder as the Vyndival army commenced the invasion.
“Adviser Kento, I leave you and the elders with the command of our defenses,” Kristel turned to the leaders of Cross Irista and her attendants. “Make use of Sky Vision and a network hub. Adjust our strategies and alert for incoming flanks.”
“Already on it,” said her uncle. The elders in the throne room had just finished the ritual for the Sky Vision, allowing them to survey the war from above. With five Virtuoso serving as pillars for the Meiyal Art along with a few more practitioners, they should be able to survey the entire Flat Lands.
Pairing this with a network hub similar to that of the High Palace Network, they could easily take reports and issue orders, virtually making their small army able to adapt to any given situation on the fly.
“Master Midan, be on the lookout for any exploits and make sure your people are in position for emergency repairs.”
“Done, m’lass.”
“Frill, you’re in charge of our artillery, keep as many of those invaders at bay as you can. Don’t forget your hymnic Meiyal Arts.”
Frill expressed a concerned look, but gave a firm nod.
“Liona, join Smyl and Ashtine to the skies, bombard them from above and secure our flanks.”
“Right away.” Liona followed the twins and flew. The Sky Knights mounted their yumas, and the maid merely floated with her Meiyal Art. Sparks of lightning ran through her legs.
“Everyone else, we’re breaking through as planned.”
It was the only solution if they were to have a chance in defeating the seemingly infinite numbers of their enemies. Their goal was simple: eliminate the leader. While the walls kept the Vyndival army at bay, Kristel and her group planned to circle around the ranges of Mount Rindea and flank them from the rear. This also allowed them to take care of any threat that could breach the walls, like a monster or a giant traversing the mountain range.
With a vigorous morale, Kristel turned and headed towards the eastern wall with Lor, Flimeth, Venry, and two other guard knights while the other six Guard Knights of Cross Irista went the opposite direction.
“We’re going to move as fast as we can.”
They activated their meiyal marks almost in synchronized fashion and leaped down to the mountain depths. The walls were built high, but the height didn’t cause any problems for their landing.
To complement on their covert operation, Kristel made sure everyone used camouflage not only on their current wear, but also on their meiyal marks to hide the activated light. They couldn’t afford to have a simple mistake jeopardize the whole plan.
Unfortunately, no Meiyal Art could turn anyone completely invisible. The only person Kristel knew capable of such a feat was too young to be in war. It was a Blessing from the world itself, not something anyone could replicate.
They dashed through the terrain with speeds comparable to a hunting yuma, if not faster. Leaping from tree to tree was nothing but child’s play.
Kristel and her companions’ enhanced eyesight allowed them to see each other and ahead despite the darkness caused by the thicket that allowed for very little sunlight to pass through. She stopped on one of the branches after they had traversed a quarter of the mountain range, well over an hour into the war. Her company hid their presences while waiting for her commands.
Screams of death and roars of explosions filled the entire Flat Lands, echoes reaching over Mount Rindea. Flashes of fire, lightning, and other elements crashed at waves of Vyndivalian soldiers who all ran through them like madmen. She did her best to ignore them.
The Princess narrowed her eyes and focused ahead.
A small battalion of covert Vyndivalian troops trod the shade a few hundred paces away from them. They carried with them huge, ball-like containers. Breaching bombs were the easy conclusion, but she had no way of confirming from a distance.
Whether they were able to predict the rising of the Vanguard, or had planned to use them for something else was irrelevant now. All that mattered was to prevent those peculiar objects from reaching the walls.
The Royal Knight Princess raised a fist: a signal to attack. Then she lifted her index finger indicating a stealthy approach. Finally, she drew a circle that issued an order to create a perimeter. She didn’t need to confirm if all her followers received the signals.
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Kristel began her approach, using the branches for height advantage. She waved her right arm to the side and summoned a meiyal weapon. It featured a short blade as long as her arm with a hilt fit enough for both her hands. The summoning only lasted for a split second as if she merely pulled it out of thin air.
She leaped high from the trees, contemplating for another second. She could easily wipe out the enemies in a single stroke with the amount of meiyal she could summon, but that would certainly attract more attention than needed.
Kristel began her descent. Some enemies finally noticed her, warning the others in a panic. Four blurs ran across the army and heads flew away from their bodies. Arrows started to rain from behind the Princess, missing her only by inches and barraging those beneath her. Lor’s marksmanship had yet to disappoint.
Kristel landed on an unfortunate enemy soldier and, with a quick motion of her blade, decapitated him. She swayed sideways to avoid the gushing blood and dashed towards her next target.
One by one, she eliminated her enemies without hesitation as she made her way towards their cargo while keeping a keen eye around her surroundings. Three Guard Knights sped around the area, keeping a perimeter and making sure no one from the enemies could escape. Lor maintained his ranged attacks, forming arrows of meiyal to—
A loud clanging sound echoed from beside Kristel.
Flimeth had parried an incoming attack. “You’re still not minding your surroundings, Princess?” she said as she riposted.
Kristel chuckled sarcastically. “That’s what you’re there for, isn’t it, Miss Guard Knight?” They leaned on each other’s backs, staring down against the approaching soldiers. “Keep an eye on these things. They might be some kind of bomb. We don’t want anyone setting them off right now.”
“Roger that.” Flimeth broke formation to circle around the other side of the cargo.
Kristel spared a quick breath, observing the unorganized enemy soldiers trying to circle around her. Seven approached her, eyes in unfocused agony. Only until she had a clear look at their faces did Vyndival’s desperate act dawned on her.
“You’re no soldiers,” she said, referring to all but one of the enemies around her.
Silence. But the faint change in their faces, turning from desperation to fragile defiance, plucked a sensitive nerve somewhere in her head.
“Are these bombs?”
“We don’t have to answer to you, wench!” said the one who looked more than a common folk forced to arms. But he didn’t have to insult her.
“He called you a wench.”
Kristel didn’t mind the insult, nor the manic curve her lips were forming and the widening of her eyes as blood boiled with excitement.
“You would allow a mere soldier to vandalize your royal blood?”
The Princess lowered her form, her legs bending low enough to look as if she was crouching. She raised her short blade across her face and switched it in reverse grip. She looked like a cat—no, a small vork—that would pounce at any moment. The meiyal around her swirled in a calm but dangerous manner.
Her pressure was too subtle that one of the conscripted men roared and charged recklessly, raising a claymore high for a huge blow. He could barely maintain balance.
Kristel jumped on him with speed faster than a blur. Her free hand found his shoulder plate and used it to pivot around in midair as she plunged the blade down his defenseless neck. She leaped back to the ground, returning to her crouching form while the soldier fell like crumbling stones.
No one else dared approach.
Kristel leaned even lower that she had to use her free hand to keep her balance. She looked more and more like a vork. The Princess knew about her small stature and developed her fighting technique to take advantage of it. Decreasing her already small size even further not only prepared her legs for quick movement, it also exuded an intimidation factor inversely influenced by her poise.
Six enemies faced the Princess, but none of them moved a muscle. Neither were they able to react when she vanished. In the next instant, the closest soldier fell to the ground with five stabs on his body and one on his neck.
The remaining soldiers were flustered by the fallen soldier. They flailed and yelled curses, not knowing from where the next strike will come. Kristel didn’t disappear. She simply moved too fast for them to follow.
Kristel lunged at the furthest soldier and stabbed his knee. The soldier screamed in agony and retaliated. She dodged a panic strike and followed with a pirouette, slashing his legs, waist, abdomen, and shoulders. She ended his pain with a leaping strike over the soldier’s temple and shoving him to the ground as she followed through.
The Princess quickly leaped to the side, leaving her sword and an afterimage Meiyal Art that was stabbed by another soldier. The afterimage had a concrete feel and reaction to it that it left the soldier a second too late to react on the incoming counterattack.
Kristel raised her hand near the soldier’s face and snapped her fingers, creating a sudden burst of light. It took an instant to summon another blade as she rushed the remaining three conscripted men and dispatched them with a flurry of rapid stabs and quick movement.
By the time the blinded soldier regained his sight, Kristel was standing in front of him using one of the fallen recruit’s ripped clothes, wiping the blade off the blood. Not that any of it mattered once the blade dematerialized.
“This time, you’re going to answer my questions, soldier,” she said as the rest of her company gathered around the suspicious cargo. “What are these?”
“You might as well kill me now—”
Kristel sliced off the soldier’s right arm in a sudden motion that it took him moments to realize it. Shock silenced his screams.
“I left a meiyal signature on the wound. As long as it persists, I can reattach your limbs...and cut them off again. Or do you want me to test it somewhere else?” Kristel pointed her blade between the soldier’s legs. “I’m open to experiments, you know.”
The soldier glared at her like a cornered animal, red spiky hairs ready to stab at her. “It’s a bomb,” he admitted. “It contains highly condensed amounts of meiyal harvested from the Nightmare Lands. Force from one of these can wipe out an entire city.”
There were five of these bombs.
“I see.” Kristel wasn’t inclined to believe anything she heard from the enemy, but it was better to be sure. She turned to her comrades, three of them were mildly injured. “Bring the bombs on the closest peak, we’ll have to confirm this information and secure a way to disarm it or detonate it in the Nightmare Lands.
“Ending this war comes first, make sure no one else finds out about them. Venry, you’re to guard these bombs, you two will report this back to uncle Kento, treat your injuries along the way. We can’t turn our M.O.B.I.L.E.s on just yet. Lor, Flimeth, we’ll continue as planned.”
The three Guard Knights bowed and proceeded to escort the bombs.
Kristel sighed and reattached the Vyndivalian’s arm, much to her reluctance. “Thank you for your cooperation, soldier. Next time, you may want to think about your words before you speak them.”
She made sure the soldier had no more weapons and performed a binding Meiyal Art, imprisoning the soldier in pure meiyal.
“You’ll remain here for the rest of the war. It will release you when the fighting ends. Survive without food or water for that long and you will have earned your freedom.”
“This is not over!” The soldier screamed from inside the prison. “I’d rather die in battle than be rid of my honor!”
“Shut up! Dying for this isn’t honorable! Dying here isn’t honorable! Nothing in this war is honorable!” Kristel shouted, her patience running thin. “Your kingdom runs in a blind sense of faith and funnels her sons and daughters to their deaths. And you have the nerve to speak of honor? For what, Vyndival? Don’t make me laugh. Your life is more valuable than a senseless belief of nothing. I would have willingly supported your kingdom, if not for this nonsense your leaders have in mind.”
The soldier remained silent but his breathing was clear.
“Take this moment to think it through, and what you will do with your life from now on.”
“Why?” The spiky haired soldier started. “Why let me live! The rest of my people, they weren’t as trained as I am!”
The Princess couldn’t form a clear answer. Only that they were at war, death always followed, and she couldn’t be assured her words or strength could dissuade them away from King Urzic’s influence.
Kristel turned, leaving the soldier unanswered. Her friends quick to follow.
“I’ll end this war quickly.”
“For that, you require power.”
“Shut up,” she muttered to herself.
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