“When on a battlefield, status often meant little, as at best it would make the enemy capture you alive for ransom. That only applied for battles where the two sides had only fought for profits or maybe silly notions like honor, though.

In a real battle where both sides hated each other’s guts, all status would do is to place a target on your head, and you can be sure that your enemies would be all too happy to collect it, without your body, that is.” - Gregorius Aurelius Secundus, Famed general and later Second Emperor of the First Elmaiya Empire.

“Charge! No Quarters!” shouted the young Duchess from atop her black mare as she led the cavalry charge from the very front. Due to the speed of their steeds, the cavalry - with Soledad’s smaller group of riders behind them - struck the Bostvan flank first, as the faster strikeforce of Reinhardt’s mercenaries followed them moments later, with the rest of the infantry a bit further behind.

From high atop the walls of Fort Kuzi, archers from both the Jonkver army, the Dvergarder army, and the Free Lances rained arrows into the midst of the Bostvan forces. Dwarven marksmen part of the Hellraisers also showed themselves for the first time along the ramparts, and they rained down bolt after bolt from their repeating crossbows with horrifying results.

The marksmen naturally avoided the areas which were under attack by their own forces, and concentrated their fire deeper in, to prevent the Bostvans from reinforcing said areas. Their suddenly intensified fire caused many soldiers to panic, and helped pave the way for the counter-offensive from their own forces.

Reinhardt and his mercenaries struck the Bostvan forces further westwards to where the cavalry charged the enemies. This time, they fought in a most standard formation, their warriors interspersed between their shieldbearers, who worked together and fought in a rhythmic way. Those with the shields focused on the defenses, which freed up the warriors to kill their way through the enemy forces, and the mercenaries worked together almost like clockwork after years of training together.

Reinhardt himself led the left flank of the mercenaries, while Mischka brought up the middle and Grünhildr the right. He used the spike on the rear end of his weapon’s shaft to pierce through the belly of a Bostvan soldier, ignoring the spears aimed at him as Zyd beside him bashed them down with his cudgel or blocked them with his tower shield.

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A kick shoved the Bostvan soldier back with her entrails training from her stomach wound, before Reinhardt brought the mace head of his weapon down and crushed the skull of another enemy soldier. The hard leather helmet given to the soldier just shattered like brittle twigs underneath his powerful strike, and the man flopped backward with the top half of his head mostly pulverized and an eye lolling out from its socket.

To Zyd’s other side was Karenina, who used her spike-capped cudgel with skill as she pushed back one soldier before she gave a couple quick stabs into the gaps of his armor. Another Bostvan soldier tried to get her from the side, but Zyd swatted the man aside and into the one Karenina had sent reeling just now. She then put both of them down for good with a quick flick of her hand, as two throwing knives embedded themselves accurately into the soldiers’ throats.

On the other hand, Elfriede further to Reinhardt’s left needed no assistance from the shieldbearers near her. She was like a fish in the water with her new weapons, as they cleaved the hard leather armor that was issued to the Bostvans as if they were wet paper. That naturally freed up the shieldbearers who were supposed to watch out for her to take care of others instead.

Elfriede cleaved through the neck of one Bostvan soldier only for the one next in line to barely block her blade with his sword. Her mithril-edged blade carved a chip into the steel sword, but had not cut through, and the soldier had just breathed in relief when Elfriede pulled her weapon back all of a sudden. On its way back, the scythe-like extension high on her blade struck the soldier’s neck from behind and severed his spine with minimal resistance.

The blade in her other hand tangled with another soldier’s sword, as she had caught the sword’s blade between the crescent-like extension of the hand guard and the body of her own blade. She kept the weapon bound to hers as she pushed it aside, leaving the enemy soldier open. Then, before he could react, the sharp dagger on the pommel of her weapon plunged through his skull from the side, and she pulled it out as she kicked the corpse away.

Unlike the Free Lances, who plunged directly into the enemy forces, the Janissaries remained further back. Their troops were exclusively light infantry by military categorization, and they kept to the edges of the battle.

They specialized in skirmishing and harassment, and showed it. Thrown javelins and axes were chased by a rain of accurately fired arrows, as their archers were trained for firing on the move. They would pause only briefly to aim and release their arrows, before they moved once more behind the infantry lines that kept them safe.

When the forces from Fort Kuzi and the rest of the Dvergarder troops hit the Bostvan lines, their resistance crumbled as their soldiers began to rout. Such a situation forced their higher ranking commanders to lead from closer to the front as they tried to regain control of the deteriorating situation.

Several people from the rear of the army rode forward, their fancy clothes and gleaming armor practically screaming out their identities as commanders. Perhaps it was because Salicia had remained silent so far that they were emboldened to come forward, perhaps they had no other choice considering the circumstances.

It was a moot point in the end, as unbeknownst to them, that was exactly what Reinhardt and the young Duchess had awaited all along.