I examined the footage of the previous 2 battles, trying to come up with a better strategy on how to deal with the soldiers. From what I could see, mages were the biggest issues. Their magic was able to deal much more damage to my units than the normal soldiers. Thinking for a moment, I ordered the Enforcers to relocate some of the Sentinels to the sides of where the army would be marching through.

“Prepare for the next attack,” I told Aurea. She nodded, apparently choosing her stiletto this time. If she weren’t wearing her exo-suit, it would have looked more like a longsword instead of a dagger. My robotic units were already in place, and the Falcons had already killed the scouts sent out ahead of the army. We were simply waiting for them to pass by now. Before long, we heard the sounds of marching coming towards us. The drones were extremely useful, showing me that the enemy were sticking in a tighter formation.

“Fire at the mages.”

At my order, the Sentinels unleashed a barrage of superheated metal at the army. Numerous mages died instantly, their head exploding in a shower of gore. Shouts of alarm rang out, and we charged. I let Aurea take the lead this time, and she did not disappoint. Her spring-loaded arms allowed her stilleto to shear through the shields like a hot knife through butter. Like a spear, Aurea and the Enforcers penetrated through the enemy ranks, killing all those who stood in their way. The Sentinels kept the mages distracted, as any who tried to deal with the new threat would leave themselves vulnerable to the heavy iron bullets. Suddenly, my drones alerted me to a new threat. A group of cavalrymen were approaching, wielding large lances. They were obviously experts, as they not only rode through the forest as if it were an open field, but also kept their lances from being caught on anything.

I once again sounded the retreat. My soldiers and Aurea ran back into the forest, moving as fast as they could. However they were unable to outpace a battle-trained horse. The cavalry were on us now, and several of my robots were skewered on their lances. All of a sudden, one of the cavalrymen and his horse disappeared. A scream echoed through the forest, and the rest of the cavalrymen realized that one of their number was gone.

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“WHERE’S AULUS?” one of them shouted.

“Sir…I’m down here…” a voice called out weakly. I watched as the soldier turned around, only to see the man and his horse skewered on wooden spikes in a pit. “Oh dear gods,” he exclaimed.

“Sir…please don’t leave me…it hurts…” Aulus begged. One of the spikes had gone through his leg, while another had punctured his torso, rupturing his intestines. The horse was already dead, as it had fallen face first into one of the wooden stakes. As the captain was about to respond, an iron bullet smashed into his helmet, throwing him off his horse. The bullet didn’t manage to penetrate, but it would still have caused massive damage. If the man wasn’t dead, he probably had a severe concussion. Seeing their captain struck down by some sort of invisible force, the rest of the cavalrymen panicked. One of them moved out of the way right as one of my Sentinels took a shot, missing the man and hitting a tree, shattering the trunk. This spurned them to retreat, and a few more were taken out by traps before they could rejoin the main army.

Once they had fully retreated, I ordered my robots to end the wounded soldiers suffering. Their cries were silenced one by one, until the forest was silent once again. During the executions, I noticed Aurea was acting strangely. She was completely silent, and every time one of the soldiers died, she clenched her jaw.

“Are you alright?” I asked her worriedly.

“I’m fine. They brought this upon themselves,” she said, but it seemed she was trying to reassure herself rather than me.

“[You should talk to her and make sure she is ok.]”

"Yeah, I'll do that..."