With snow slowly falling everyone held their breath when The Slicer hit Rich. His unmoving body was towering over all and without hesitation, Rich continued the fight.

The Slicer knew that she was in danger. Rich’s right hand was already moving and was about to grab her hand and the sword was already moving towards her head. She tried to get away, but Rich was fast enough that he was able to grab her sleeve.

Even if Rich was currently wielding his two-handed sword in one hand Vivienne was certain that it could still kill her. Using her mana slice she was able to cut off her sleeve hem and free herself. Vivienne tried to get away but just couldn't even with her boosted speed Rich was still keeping up.

Rich had needed to use his haste ability otherwise his speed just wasn't enough to keep up but right now he was pushing her back. Being pushed back and only narrowly escaping deadly strikes, Vivienne stopped holding back and started to push more mana into her body enhancement spell, but that meant she was on a tight timer until she was out of mana.

Rich responded by activating his last stand once again overpowering The Slicer. He was basically a bonfire of energy that was constantly snuffing out any mana Vivienne had time to cast. Rich started to get closer, and his blade started to connect leaving wounds on Vivienne's body.

The Slicer was getting desperate when finally, a healing spell hit her starting to heal and refresh her. Rich and Vivienne had been moving fast between the space of both armies. Their battle now reached back near Vivienne's army. This provided a chance for Vivienne's last party member to cast her own spells to heal Vivienne.

Rich, having learned Vivienne's responses and actions from the last minute of all-out fighting started to use his experience to force certain actions out of Vivienne so he could control where the fighting happens.

Before Vivienne knew what was happening, she was forced to escape Rich’s blade into the ranks of her loyal soldiers. Because of Vivienne's enhanced strength, her soldiers were crushed to death by her passing and Rich left an even bigger trail of death as he continued to pursue. She was angered by that but every time she tried to do the same to bring Rich close to his own army somehow, they ended up back at her for more of her soldiers to die.

Vivienne came to a startling realization. Rich was somehow guiding her, but that moment gave Rich an opportunity. Vivienne had to watch as her last friend whom she had known for 20 years was cut in half by Rich’s sword. Her mind broke when she realized she had lost everything for this chance of revenge. She started to cast a spell she swore never to use. Rich was already rushing back to engage but it was too late.

Rich had been cautious of her magic the entire time and he saw the look on her face and knew that this wasn’t going to be pretty. He was able to stop just in time and jump out of the way as a torrent of flames flew past him.

This wasn’t a normal flame. It was mana fire and would consume anything as long as it had enough mana to keep burning and Vivienne wasn’t going to stop supplying it. She was using her hands as a guide while a constant torrent of flame was coming from her hands.

The flames were so hot that even the spell's structure couldn't keep her hands completely safe. Slowly Vivienne's hands were starting to go black, but she didn’t mind and kept following Rich trying to burn him out of existence.

Rich wasn't sure if he could survive this fire, but he also saw this as an opportunity. He kept dodging and running away from the flame by the smallest of margins, but he was able to once again guide Vivienne into her own army.

Rich had expected people to start running but it seems that her loyal soldiers were willing to die and used every opportunity to strike at him when he ran past. Rich, however, also didn’t miss the opportunity. His sword constantly flashed out killing a lot of soldiers during his retreat.

Vivienne finally figure out what was happening and before Rich could escape she changed the spell structure pumping almost all of her remaining mana into it causing an explosion to expand from her. The fire expanded explosively covering a large area which Rich wasn't able to escape from.

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Just before the flame hit Rich poured all of his energy and core energy to boost his defensive abilities. The flame explosion only lasted for a few moments but even then, his defences failed in multiple locations leaving burnt flesh behind. A normal man would’ve passed out from the pain but to everyone's surprise, Rich was still on his feet.

Vivienne didn’t notice this while she was cackling madly. She herself was also badly burned and only madness was still keeping her on her feet. The pure joy she felt knowing she won slowly started to bring her back from her madness.

Vivienne felt a disturbance and opened her eyes. What she saw was Rich whose armour was black and even missing in some spots, but those cold eyes were so close now. Vivienne's world crashed but even now her instincts tried to save her. Vivienne tried to cast a mana shield, but she didn’t have enough to activate the spell. The next moment everything went black.

After the attack, Rich fell to one knee. He was almost out of energy, but his body was wrecked. The lack of energy stopped his haste ability which caused another backlash making him even more disorientated. Rich knew he had to keep himself awake. If he didn’t, he would be dead.

Vivienne's loyal soldiers cried out in anger after seeing their leader die. They commanded the army to charge so they could kill Rich and then his entire army. Before they reached Rich, they saw him drink a healing potion and then struggle to use some sort of movement ability which kept him just out of range. Rich collapsed after every use of his movement ability, but he forced himself to keep going so he could keep ahead of the closing fighters.

Eventually, he no longer collapsed after using his movement ability and soon was able to put distance between himself and his pursuers. People waited to pick him up and rushed him behind the defences.

Arrows and spells were already flying overhead trying to slow down the enemy who were rushing towards them but there were too many to stop.

With the health potion quickly working to fix Rich’s body he was able to activate his army boosts. The soldiers defending the bridge and who were in direct combat received a heavy defensive bonus while everyone else received a strong attacking bonus. He also used his commander’s ability to give orders to the few strongest first-rank fighters they had.

Their job was not to defend the bridge but instead, they had already crossed the river proceeding to sneak closer to the back lines of Vivienne's army. When they finally received their orders, they burst out and started to kill the loyal soldiers of Vivienne's army who were driving the forced soldiers forward.

The loyal soldiers were no match for the strength of the United Freeholds' strongest fighters. The forced soldiers quickly figured out that they weren't being whipped or shouted at to move forward. Turning around, they found their captors being slaughtered.

They understood what was happening and many had already started to run away or notify others of what was happening but before they ran too far away everyone once again heard that powerful yet terrifying voice.

“Forced conscript of Vivienne army. If you turn on your former masters and help us kill them, you will be welcomed into the United Freeholds. You will have a place to sleep and live. Make your choice but know that this offer expires after the battle.”

Almost all who had run started to slow down but some still ran never looking back. The ones who stopped eventually turned around and saw their fellow conscripts start to fight the loyal soldiers. Some made the decision quickly and immediately started to run towards the fighting, but others took a few moments longer but eventually, all who had stopped rushed back into the fight.

At first, they didn't have any commanders but slowly as their resolve hardened, they gained access to General Rich’s command ability. With that, they were able to firm up their lines and start to truly threaten the loyal soldiers. Soon they had powerful commanders who fought by their side as the people who first kill their masters now supported them during this fight.

The loyalists found themselves surrounded. They weren’t able to push past the bridge, but they couldn’t retreat as they were severely outnumbered by the conscripts. Slowly they had less and less space to fight and some even fell into the river to be swept away by the current. Some took the plunge voluntarily knowing that their heavy armour would pull them down to the bottom but at least it would be a more peaceful death than being crushed between two armies and grind to death.

It took almost an hour before the loyalist soldiers were all killed. While United Freeholds soldiers had received quite a few injuries none had died. The conscripts had lost a lot of people but when they saw the United Freehold soldiers rush to help their wounded, they felt hope. They had chosen to fight but none of them knew exactly what that chance entailed but they at least believed that it would be better than their previous destiny.

With that, the massacre of the bridge was over and United Freeholds once again emerged victorious. While Rich wasn't completely satisfied with how the fight started between him and Vivienne, in the end, everything still went how he had hoped. The march back took longer as they had a lot of new citizens to take back but after they cleaned up the battlefield, they had a lot of loot and wagons full of food and one full of treasure.