Too One-Sided
Xiv knew from the very beginning how much of a disadvantage the frontlines had against the walls before them. He kept hearing a certain hymn emanating from the top of the walls that seemed to increase, not only the physical capabilities of their enemies, but also their morale. Although he found the hymn to be exceptionally invigorating, it neither harmed nor improved his performance.
They quickly found out the walls had the ability to repair themselves remotely, or someone was doing the repairs with Meiyal Arts. Xiv was sure those people responsible would be hiding from sight in order to perform the repairs without the risk of getting killed.
Some enemies phased through walls, performing Meiyal Arts that caught a number of his comrades unaware. They were gone by the time reinforcements arrived.
Their flying army were no safer. They clashed with an army of knights on their own mounts. They couldn’t afford new recruits to handle these animals with enough competence to fight in the air, so the numbers between the two armies seemed to be on par with each other.
Xiv even saw a particular individual flying without a mount and was using lightning-based Meiyal Arts.
Thankfully—if one could consider that—because of the sheer number of soldiers they had, they were able to approach the walls. The soldiers in front faced flame dropped from the edges of the colossal barrier, burning them to death. Even so, it didn’t stop the army’s advance.
The Vyndivalian breaching towers made their approach. The army employed giants to defend these towers, swatting away rocks and meiyal missiles from the cannons and catapults above the ramparts. Some giants died for it, but such were the importance of their towers.
Sadly, the giants were also not intelligent enough to deflect them away from their smaller comrades, but what was important was to drive the towers closer to the walls. Xiv and his soldiers were already on top of one of these—their assigned one in the far west—that surreptitiously made the most progress without getting noticed by the bombardment of their enemies.
“This isn’t going to be pretty,” he muttered to himself. The tower shook as it took a beating of Meiyal Arts. But they were spotted too late, and the tower was sturdy enough to endure these flimsy attempts at repelling them.
As the tower connected with the upper walls, the gates opened and dug deep hooks with the floor. The sides of the tower also dug deep into the walls, jamming a firm grip upon the ledge. Immediately, soldiers on the ground funneled into the tower, desperate to reach the top.
Xiv and the rest of the Vyndivalian army charged the Iristan soldiers like a tidal wave. Traps did little to stop them. They were the first to make solid ground, but it was enough of a catalyst, enough chaos to break their enemy’s formation, as more and more towers began connecting with the walls.
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Everything was going their way in exchange for hundreds of thousands of men.
A huge shockwave threw the frontlines into the air, its crashing force demolishing a nearby tower yet to make a connection. From there, Xiv saw the most astonishing view he’d ever beheld his whole life. Time slowed down and the scenery zoomed in his eyes.
A woman in trance with a vibrant, wavy, red hair and purple eyes riddled by scarlet, air-suspended meiyal marks stood alone before the whole Vyndivalian infantry. The hymn of power resonated from her, and the dense amount of meiyal swirling around her made her frilly clothes and hair float as if underwater. There was something about this woman, her stoic presence rendering everyone unable to move.
It was there that Xiv’s heart began to fail him. His experience in the Nightmare Lands made him well aware of the vast powers of meiyal and from this strange woman, disregarding the beauty and elegance she possessed, had pressure far more terrible than he had experienced back then.
The swirling meiyal turned bright red.
“Get back!” he yelled desperately to his comrades.
It was too late.
“Diferenfra,” uttered the woman.
A high-pitched screech echoed, deafening the war hymn, and a blast of flame rushed the Vyndivalian army. It disintegrated everyone to ashes with a force tantamount to that of a twister.
His absurd resistance to meiyal allowed Xiv to survive the flames, but his body was no match to the force of gust as he, and the ashes of his companions, were blown away. In a desperate will to survive—or what may have been sheer luck—his hands found the ledge and his fingers clenched it for dear life.
It was too much.
Never mind the death of the whole platoon that came with him from the tower, even their armors were melted and evaporated, their resistance to Meiyal Arts rendered insignificant to this sheer display of power. He knew he survived, but even if it was because of his resistance, he knew it was nothing less but a miracle.
He looked up. The summoned flame turned into a bird-like creature and dove at the army on the fields. He could only imagine what fate met the soldiers down there.
Up in the sky, the engagement between the flying armies were still there. For some reason, he could no longer find that unique individual hurling lightning attacks, but there was far less fighting in the air now anyway. It was too chaotic to determine who was who.
“This is turning out to be hopeless.” Xiv strategically hid himself from the remains of the Iristan soldiers that remained untouched by the consuming fire. He may be the only Vyndivalian still on this wall. He had no idea about Dystro’s situation on the eastern side, but he wished them to be better.
“I just need to catch my breath a bit.”
Xiv planned to wait a while until the woman turned her attention somewhere else. He could take on the Iristan soldiers, but he would not even dream of attempting to stand toe to toe against anyone like her.
After a while, Xiv grabbed his weapons, unsheathing the blades and letting the hammers dangle from the chains. Determination filled him as he Donned his Forged armor.
“This may be my best chance.”
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