As the soldiers of Spade marched forward through their own lands, they were hindered again and again with sudden ambushes and boobytraps. Not a single time any of Markus's soldiers reveal themselves.
Arrow fire came suddenly with flaming barrels of oil being thrown. Markus created blood monsters that attacked the front of the army as the black company raided their rear and instead of even stealing their supplies, burnt them all down.
The black company was fighting guerilla warfare on the enemy's land and was winning.
For three days the black company harassed the enemy and did not even let them sleep with the mayor doing his best to keep the morale of his soldiers high.
As the third day turned into night the black company was led by Markus into a dead end with no place to run to.
The soldiers were eager and started to believe in their victory. They had for the three entire days bashed the enemy and were able to cut them into half their strength. The enemy was weak and tired while the black company had rotated their men and were in full strength.
"Commander Markus, what are your commands now," one of the soldiers asked enthusiastically.
"We will fight them here. Here in this dead-end, we will finally destroy them and then march to the capital," Markus told to them all.
The soldiers looked mortified. They looked around and realized they had no escape route or a chance to withdraw. Their only solution was to fight their way out.
The soldiers started to protest the commands and wished to flee away.
The yelling and protesting stopped as they saw that Mayor Borges had arrived at their location and had cut off their escape route, just as Markus had planned.
The soldiers felt defeated and some of them fell on their knees. Markus then walked forward as he was going to face the enemy himself.
"Listen here, men. We are outnumbered five to one. For us to win this battle I just give one simple task to every single one of you. Every soldier will kill at least five enemies. When you have done that, you may retire from battle. If every single one of you does this I guarantee you will live and will be able to enjoy the spoils of the entire capital city," Markus proclaimed.
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The soldiers looked unconvinced. Markus then cut his palm and formed a shuriken made from his blood.
He then threw it at the enemy force and cut many of the enemy soldiers before it was stopped by a hand made from dirt.
It was mayor Borger who once again used his divine power to shield his men.
"I am here also fighting alongside you. If all of you die, so do I. So why won't we die together?"
The soldiers felt a large urge of loyalty and reason. As Markus charged at the enemy so did his men.
The soldiers of the Spade nation were tired and demoralized because of the constant harassing and ambushes. When they saw the enemy charging at them they did their best to conjure up their motivation.
"Remember men of Spade. We fight for our homes and families. SO FIGHT LIKE IT!" mayor Burgos yelled.
The men felt motivated and attacked the black company's soldiers with a newfound spirit. The last-ditch battle had started.
The men on both sides fought with grim determination, but Markus's soldiers were still superior. Years being the outcasts and living in the hellish prison system of the empire had bred them into animals. They didn't fight with finesse or with better technique but just with pure determination, they were able to kill more enemies. A soldier might have bashed a man's head with a rock or gouged the eyes out. In a sense, if it worked it worked.
One soldier of the black company was able to kill at least three or four soldiers of the spade state, but that was not enough. The soldiers of Spade were still winning with just their numbers alone.
Markus then started to create his blood monsters from the blood of the enemy soldiers and his own soldiers. They started to balance the battle but were soon destroyed when hands made from dirt attacked them and squeezed them so hard they exploded.
These hands had seven fingers and walked or crawled with them. They had large emerald eyes on the back of their hands that searched out any unlucky victim they could find.
Markus saw that the one destroying his creations and controlling these clay hands was mayor Burgos.
The two commanders of the armies faced each other.
"I vowed to protect my kingdom. My people. For that, you must die, but even if you were not against my people, killing a monster as you would be still just," Mayor Burgos said eyeing Markus.
"Because I kill citizens?"
"That too, but because you smell like the winds of pandora. All you people who smell like you are a plague on the universe and have to be buried deep under the ground. Today I will be your gravedigger."
Hands made of earth started to charge at the prince. He tried to stop them by cutting the hands with razor-sharp flying blades of blood. As they hit, the hands just reformed and kept coming at him.