The atmosphere had changed.

I knew that war wasn't some happy thing you could be relaxed in, but still, the difference in attitude was jarring. Bythem's jovial and rambunctious demeanor often washed over the rest of squadron four, lightening the mood a fair bit. The man that stood in front of me; however, was tight lipped and focused.

"Light feet!" Bythem shouts. We instantly start picking up the pace, going from a medium trot to a light jog. I tense my muscles and open my eyes wide. That must mean that the scouts had just encountered the enemy further up ahead.

Twenty thousand soldiers total, there were only twelve thousand in the camp I found myself in; however, that was the main army. There were two smaller armies marching at our flanks that filled in the rest of the numbers.

The plan was simple. After Kaldros was taken, the war progressed, and two other cities fell to Oliviand, Evank and Roanoke. We are currently marching straight towards Evank, fully expecting the opposition to meet us somewhere in the middle. And it looks like the prediction came true. We were on course for a head-on collision.

"Keep your eyes up! This is a perfect location for an early ambush." Lydia shouts from the front. We were currently traveling in a densely packed forest, and it was difficult to see where the other squadrons were through the thick tree trunks. It would be easy to single one of us out and overwhelm us before the rest of the army gets a chance to attack.

Bythem suddenly turns his head and watches as purple trail of smoke rises into the air from a some-what faraway distance.

"Change directions and head for the smoke. Fourteen is under attack. Feather feet!" That was the queue to change from a light jog to a run. As we began to do that, I discretely put a tailwind on the backs of our squadron, small enough that anybody would mistake it for a natural wind.

As we approach the smoke a small look of confusion arises on everyone's face, including Bythem. There wasn't any shouting, no clash of steel, nothing indicative of a fight going on.

Bythem suddenly looks at the sky and taps his ears in a confused manner. Almost immediately however, he calms down and turns back to us.

"Ground feet. Keep as low to the ground and stay as quiet as you can, and react accordingly when the time comes. We will ambush the enemy."

We slow down to a crawl unquestioning his orders, crouching down and keeping as close to the vegetation as we could.

Ten seconds pass, twenty, thirty.

Shouts and clangs of steel erupt from afar. Bythem immediately stands up. "Prepare for engagement! Fly feet!" We began sprinting at full speed. Arriving just in time for the very start of the fight. I stop the tailwind and begin focusing on handling my spear.

"Shield wall, Run in! Run in! Pincer them before they can escape!" Bythem shouted. The frontline speeds up even further and crashes into the enemy force like a tsunami, slamming into the enemy force with the full force of their massive wooden shields before they even had time to register our presence.

I run in a second later and begin stabbing in between the cracks of our shields. A sickening squelch runs through my hands as I hit my first target. Screams rise up from the other side, my body takes over my mind as I stab, stab, and stab relentlessly.

Not a single man nor woman is able to make it past our shields. They are trapped in between us and squadron fourteen, like a fly trying to escape a spider's web, A red haze falls over my vision, I blink for a couple seconds and realize that some blood had splashed into my eye.

I wipe it off and stab one more time only to hit empty air. I look to the side in surprise. The enemy was running away. Bringing a much smaller number with them than which they started.

Bythem runs off to meet with the leader of squadron fourteen.

"How many injured? Any casualties?" He asks.

"None surprisingly, we knew that there was an ambush up ahead, so we were able to react quickly." The squadron leader says.

"Wait, so did you... ?" Bythem's words trail off.

"Yes, it surprised me too, but I heard the voice as well. We were able to set off that distress signal early because of it."

Voice? I recall Bythem looking up to the sky and tapping his ear. I didn't hear anything when that happened though...

The pieces in my mind slowly click together.

Wind. The Tetsudo must specialize in wind! That's why they knew about the ambush long before it happened. The Tetsudo must have replaced all the natural wind in the area with his or her own air. It's over such a massive area as well! They must be extremely powerful. That’s how the Tetsudo could communicate their voice over such a massive distance as well.

Bythem glances over at me as I make this realization. I shake my head, silently telling him I had no part in all of this. He then quickly flicks his head back naturally.

I look back to our squadron, looks like nothing on our side went wrong either. Absolutely everything about this was perfect.

"Back to work everyone! We can't afford to fall behind the rest of the army! Light feet!" Bythem shouts. We quickly scramble back into line and resume our march, leaving behind a mound of enemy corpses.

The dense forest soon clears up into a plain; patches of yellow colored grass could be seen spread across the area, but for the most part, the plain was completely composed of rock and only rock.

"Here we are..." I hear someone next to me murmur. The enemy army was directly opposed to us, sitting snugly on the other side of the plain.

"Uphill huh? This might be a little bit more dangerous than I expected." Bythem says. He wasn't looking at me at the moment, but the weight of his words were obviously directed towards me.

I exhale deeply and readjust my grip on my spear.

"Formation turtle and hold steady, looks like they're readying their bows." Bythem shouts. Instantly I crouch low to the ground as the shield bearers spread out evenly throughout the squadron and form a sort of umbrella made of metal and wood.

"Now what?" I heard someone say.

"We wait. As long as they continue not doing do anything, we'll wait for the rest of army to get situated, and then, we'll charge in." Lydia speaks up.

Bythem nods his head. "Everyone! There's a reason we always have the least casualties out of every squad. Remember that there is no shame in running away, as long as you have done your part, no matter how small. Now lift those damned cheekbones of yours and smile! I have a feeling the gods favored us today."

"AYE SIR!" A roar spreads throughout the squadron, only to immediately grow silent as the sky turns black, all sound is completely drowned by the deafening rush of thousands of feathers arcing through the air. Bythem turns his head around and instantly lifts up the massive shield strapped to his back.

The air begins oscillating violently, Paralyzing waves of fear sweep through my heart and soul, my arms and legs turn cold. This arrow-storm, what the hell is this? There's no way any us will survive this. Overwhelmed by the sheer intensity, I subconsciously take my hand out and point it towards the air, about to burn the entire sky down.

My concentration is broken by a massive distortion cutting the sky in half. Reality, for a brief moment, slides apart, like a chef's knife cutting through a fruit or vegetable. A wind draft the size of an entire city falls from the heavens, splintering and shattering the arrows into the ground before they can cause any damage. I slowly lower my arm as the Tetsudo does his or her work.

Bythem cautiously lowers his shield and takes a deep breath, then a small grin spreads across his face.

"SQUADRONS ONE THROUGH FOURTY..." We turn our heads as a booming voice rings across the land. At the same time a cloud idly drifts over the sun, and casts a shadow over the entire plain.

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My breathing stops, a subtle electricity runs through my body, even my heart seems to pause during this tense moment.

"FLY FEET!!"

I lighten my body, hunch my back down low, my foot drives into the ground, the wind on my back, as I take my first step. The ground shakes as thousands of men and women rush forward all at once.

'Let nobody die, unless it's me.' Bythem's words echo through my mind as I run. As we approach the enemy shield wall, I hold up my pointer finger like a gun, closing one eye as I concentrate on aiming and timing.

Pow.

The second before we collide a good dozen of the enemy soldiers lose their balance and fly into the air as a pocket of air bursts from beneath their feet. The front line shield soldiers take the opportunity to run straight into the hole created, trampling over the fallen soldiers and running the shield-less soldiers over. Soon the gap widens as more of our squadron, including me, fill into it.

Shit! Shit! Shit! I immediately realize my mistake as both armies start flooding into the gap. The enemy army desperately trying to patch up the chink in the shield-wall, the ally army desperately trying to take advantage of the opening. I had inadvertently sandwiching our squadron in the deadliest and most contentious area on the battlefield.

"EDGE BACK! DON'T RUSH TOO FAR IN!" Bythem roars over the clamor, somehow making his voice heard through the entire battlefield. His instructions are followed immediately and the squadron backs off safely, alleviating my fears. However, despite the order, this area had already become a hotspot for fighting. My fingers itch as blows upon blows rain on the shields. Every single one of them could be lethal, every single one of them could break through and cause chaos.

Don't let anyone die. Don't let anyone die. Don't let anyone die. I couldn't bring myself to think of anything else as this thought continuously echoed through my mind.

Why am I hiding my powers in the first place? If I keep up this charade, I'll have as much impact as a regular foot soldier. But... rumors about me have already spread. I'm currently considered a criminal; Bythem reacted positively but there's no way the higher ups will.

I break out of my thoughts as I hear a cry and stumble from a soldier next to me, someone had caught him unprepared and slashed him across the ankles. He stumbles to the ground, completely exposed to the enemy soldiers.

Don't let anyone die. Don't let anyone die. Don't let anyone die. Wind begins swirling around my spear; I take a single step forward. An enemy soldier takes notice of me and preemptively lifts up his sword to parry my blow. I switch up my grip on the spear the last second, now making the motion of throwing it rather than thrusting it. The second the spear leaves my hand, I unleash all my pent up stress and energy. The spear strikes the enemy sword square in the middle, snapping it in half. Without losing any momentum, the spear continues on its journey tearing a hole straight through the enemy's armor, straight through his chest, tearing through flesh and organ and out the back. Then like a skewer, it continues on its warpath, impaling 3 more soldiers before finally stopping.

I hold my hand out as the spear, now tip to toe covered in blood, tears itself out of the corpses floating in midair and returns to me. Shouldn't look too unnatural considering that the Ankudo can do something like this with their blood.

I give the fallen soldier a hand up as the gap she created fills up with our shields. Lydia tears her attention away from the battle for a moment and runs over to us.

She pats the soldier on her back. "You've done enough Lili, I'll take over for now, and as for you-" She looks at me. "Good job, I didn't expect that you knew blood arts. But uhh... Take care not to destroy your spear." I look down to see the metal tip of the spear slightly bent off center, the wood beginning to chip.

Lydia takes the shield off the ground and then fills in the gap, shoving the enemy back in their place. I take up my spear and begin poking at them through the gaps once again. This shield spear combination was only used across select squadrons, it was a highly effective method of both defense and attack, but it was inflexible and needed a skilled leader to function correctly, or else the entire group could all go down at once.

Stab, stab, stab, the fight goes very smoothly as the casualties on the other side begin to rack up, while we stay at zero.

"Careful of the black armored! Prepare to go to formation 1 at any moment!" Bythem yells.

I tense up, from what I heard, the black armored were highly skilled soldiers trained to mess up or break through formations, they wore ultra durable Tamarind armor, characterized by its black hue, easily the strongest known material on this world. They've historically been a pain to deal with, but Bythem has had a pretty good track record of repelling them.

Zona had some mineral deposits of this stuff too; during my time as a prince we were in frequent contention with other nations over possession of this material, I definitely knew that this was nothing to scoff at.

A whoosh sweeps over the battlefield; I turn my head for a brief moment to see a glowing figure in the distance flying into the enemy forces. It takes me a second to realize what it was.

Huh, the Tetsudo is a women then. This was my first thought as I watched the figure sweep through the battlefield unchallenged. Wind sword, a technique I was able to use but was nowhere mastering. An invisible sword made of a highly concentrated amount of tiny blades of wind, the more blades there were the sharper it was. Unseeable, unparryable by physical objects, all you could do is to try to dodge it and hope for the best. A mist of blood begins to form, like an ocean spray, steadily growing redder as she mows the enemy down as if they were blades of grass.

"FORMATION ONE! BLACK ARMORED ARE HERE!" I snap back to the fight at hand. Bythem, the knight, and Lydia rushes forward to the front as three warriors fully armored in black appear from within the enemy line.

Formation one was a separation, as the squadron splits up into multiple groups each with their own designated leader, designed specifically to increase our flexibility dealing with uncertain situations. I follow the knight's group.

"There's three of them?!?! Shit!" Bythem cursed loudly. I grip my spear tightly, increasing the output of my wind significantly, this is going to be a lot harder to get through than the first two fights. Bythem swings his massive shield around like a tree trunk, taking up as much space as he could, preventing the enemy from stepping any closer.

The knight crouches down low and rushes one of the black armored down, she unsheathes her sword and unleashes a series of blunt attacks, from the flat of her blade, to the back of her hilt, to various kicks and punches. She was effortlessly overwhelming the enemy, even going against the Tamarind armor. The rest of us form a rough circle around her, both to box the black armored in, and to protect her from the enemy.

I fight viciously, there was no more shields I could hide behind that allowed me to poke through the gaps. I was only protected by the two soldiers next to me. I clench my teeth as a lightning fast blade falls from above easily with enough speed to completely cut my body in half; I barely manage to react in time and I bring my spear up, the sword embedding itself in the wood. The spear snaps in half as I counterattack and whip my arm straight into the side of his neck, I release an air burst from my hand the second I make contact, popping his neck into an unnatural angle.

One after another, all I hear are screams, metal clashing on wood, metal on metal, and a discernible high pitched squeal every time the Tetsudo swings her sword.

What's going on. Where's Lydia group? Has anyone died? Has anyone died!? I grab a blood-stained sword off the ground, one of the many strewn about. As I continue my fight, stress continuously builds up, from the core of my body, it spreads out, reaching into my legs, arms, fingertips. Soon the sounds of war is drowned out by a sharp continuous ringing in my ears. I feel cold, my brain is beginning to fog up, my hands are shaking fiercely. I apply too much wind to the sword, it slips out of my hand and flies into the distance.

Did someone die? Did I let anyone die? I promised Bythem, I promised, I promised, I could save everyone here, but why? Why can’t I just use a little bit of my fire? Come on, their discovering who you are is not as important as keeping them alive. Three, two, one reveal them now... Three, two, one, start rolling some fire through your body, burn the entire enemy army, save everyone here...

Huh? How do I use fire again? That's s-strange... Haha, I just can't remember the feeling.

An arm suddenly grabs me from behind, I stumble and fall as I'm dragged across the ground. I look up, my eyes glazed over and foggy. It’s the knight that was fighting for us.

"Stay here until you feel ready to fight again." I hear her voice for the first time before she returns to the battle. I shift my legs and accidentally bump into something else lying on the ground. I turn my head and my heart jumps for a second as I see a body on the ground.

I exhale heavily in relief as I realized that it was just the black armored that the knight was fighting. So she beat him huh? I take a look around at the another groups.

Bythem… Bythem roars he jams his massive shield straight into the black-armored’s gut. The black armored gets knocked far into the air, but manages to land on his feet and recover without a problem. I look down at the ground to see if there were any bodies on the ground wearing the Lysterian uniform. So far, it looks like there’s been no deaths in his group.

Lydia’s group seems to be doing fine; they’ve made a very tight-knit formation jabbing at anyone who tries to get close…

Huh? Where’s the third black-armored? Lydia isn’t fighting any of them so where-? My hair stands up on edge. A shadow falls over my head; I look to the sky to see the silhouette of a man covering the sun. I jump away, just narrowly avoiding the tip of his blade falling down from the air.

Did that black-armored just jump over the entire squadron?!? Why is he going after me?! I barely bring my hands up just in time to knock away his second slash that came almost instantaneously after his first one. Third, fourth, fifth, my eyes can’t keep up with his speed. This was an elite soldier by every definition of the word.

I’m going to die. I immediately thought. I have to use my fire. I have to use it! My wind just won’t cut it!

At my peak potential, I take around a seventieth of a second to switch between my two energies. As I start the process, I watch as the black-armored lunges his sword at me. Time was seemingly slowing down to a snails pace, even though there was no way my eyes were good enough to perceive something like this.

Am I dead? Perhaps my spirit was leaving my body preemptively, as if it knew that this was going to be unavoidable, that I would die instantly. My spirit, being separated from the limits of a human body, being able to perceive something like this with such detail. I could see every nook on the blade, the jagged texture, splotches of blood. All as the blade begins slicing through the skin on my chest, like a knife through butter.

The sword in front of me disappears, my hair gets blown back by the smooth whoosh of the wind. I stare listlessly as the body in front of me is sliced in half from the chest down, showering me in blood, cutting through even the Tamarind metal.

The Tetsudo arrives to the scene like a gust of wind. Her once brilliantly reflective and shiny armor was now dulled with the stains of blood. She held her hand out as if she were wielding an imaginary sword, but I could faintly discern the outline of the wind blade as tiny droplets of blood swirled around it. She stares at me through her visor, a single eye contrasting with the rest of her shadowed face.

My arms begin shaking and I drop my shoulders in a combination of shock and relief. Reverting my Tetsu back to wind.

I close my eyes, and let out a big breath.