Smoke continued to fill the battlefield as guns and cannons fired. They sounded like thunder while releasing their projectiles. Armand and Eris looked down as the charging enemy forces were peppered with lead.

A trail of corpses piled behind the attackers. In the air above, ravens started to gather. The corvids would feast well when this battle was over, even though it was but a skirmish between lords and not a true war.

As the enemies got closer to Armand and Eris' lines, the greatswordsmen moved to the front. The pikemen, meanwhile, held their weapons up. This was done by the men on both sides. Those who had neither pike nor greatsword drew normal-sized swords or prepared to use their arquebus as clubs.

Then, there was a great clash as the lines met. The greatswordsmen pushed down one row of pikes before doing the same to the other, working their way through the ranks. Meanwhile, the pikemen aimed at the unarmored necks of their opponents. Some of the men with just swords tried to crawl under the lines of clashing polearms.

Screams of pain echoed through the battlefield. Blood stained the grass. Wood splintered, and death became the world under the swirling smoke overhead.

As the infantry clashed, the heavy cavalry left Armand and Eris' camp. They moved beyond the infantry lines before splitting up into two groups. One of the divisions kept riding. The other, on the other hand, stopped and turned around.

Drawing their swords, the black reiters charged forth. The enemy pikes, which would normally be a great weapon against cavalry, were turned in the wrong direction to defend their wielders from the horsemen.

The heavy cavalry collided with the back of the enemy infantry lines. Their swords were stained with blood as they swung them.

Pressed from both sides, the enemy infantry broke. Panic flashed through them, and their lines became a desperate scramble to escape. Some surrendered on the spot. Those were captured. Others ran as fast as they could. The cavalry pursued them.

Armand breathed a sigh of relief.

"The infantry clash is just about over," he said. "All that's left is the cavalry."

Eris gave him a smile.

"Don't worry, Armand. Between my hussars and the mercenaries you hired, this is our victory," she stated.

"We haven't won until our enemies are captured or killed," Armand replied.

Eris nodded, realizing that her reassurances would fall on deaf ears.

"Well, Armand's right anyway. I was just trying to make him feel better," she thought.

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Earlier, after Eris blew her trumpet, her hussars started moving. They had hidden far to the side. Behind buildings, in thick fields of crops, even at the edge of forests. These men stayed anywhere they could hide, staying apart so they would not be thought of as a unified force if they were found.

The hussars gathered in formation behind the hasty camp the enemy servants had set up. They stood with lances at the ready and circled around the base. Whenever someone tried to leave it, the hussars charged. While the cavalry never entered the camp, doing that would risk getting stuck in tight quarters unsuited to cavalry, they kept anyone from leaving it.

Then, there was a horn blow from within the enemy camp. Their cavalry charged out of it. This was a force of battered and bloody heavy cavalry, what little remained of it, joined by their hussars. They charged Eris' light cavalry, and a skirmish started.

This was a short-lived engagement.

By the time the injured heavy cavalry could be convinced to join the battlefield, Armand and Eris' black reiters had joined in. While this was only part of their cavalry force, the enemy heavy cavalry had taken the worst of the earlier skirmish by a long shot. And, before this battle, Eris made sure her hussars were wearing heavier armor than they usually would.

While the sound of guns echoed over the enemy camp, it was a brief noise before Armand and Eris' forces overwhelmed their opponents. The enemy heavy cavalry quickly surrendered and their light scattered into the distance.

At that point, the only men still on the battlefield served Eris and Armand. They rested and took their time to recover. With that finished, they marched on the enemy camp.

Surrounded on one side by the cavalry and on the other by the infantry, there was no escape.

Armand and Eris rode forward. Then, Armand called out, shouting into the camp.

"Sir Karl Hapsburg, you've lost this battle," he said.

A voice shouted back.

"He's not here!"

"Where is he?" Armand hollered.

"Charged with the light cavalry! You've either captured him, he's dead, or he's run!"

Armand and Eris shared a look of surprise before riding over to where the enemy cavalry were captured. They looked at each prisoner, one by one.

"None of these men are Sir Karl," Armand grimaced.

Eris turned to a hussar.

"Gather all the dead cavalrymen. Line them up," she ordered.

This order was carried out with incredible swiftness. Armand and Eris examined the corpses, looking at their faces. Frustration welled up within Eris.

"It looks like Sir Karl outsmarted us," Armand said. "Not fully, we won the battle after all, but he escaped."

"I was sure he'd be fighting with the heavy cavalry. But light cavalry? He's a knight," Eris stated.

"You favor light cavalry too. Perhaps it runs in the family?" a joking smirk crossed the Concord's face.

Eris shook her head.

"I favor light cavalry for scouting, raiding, and skirmishing. Everyone knows that heavy cavalry is better for a battle. It's not my fault that most of what I do is scouting and raiding," she said.

Armand sighed.

"No, Eris, that absolutely is your fault," he thought before speaking. "What this means is that Sir Karl was planning on escaping if he lost. Either that or this was a last-minute measure. Seeing as he's your cousin, he probably planned this out ahead of time."

Eris grimaced.

"This means Karl is still a thorn in our side," the girl stated.

Her gaze then turned to the enemy camp. No one in it had dared make a move ever since they were surrounded. A grin crossed Eris' face.

"At least we can remove one set of nuisances," she said.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't make light of what we must do," Armand replied. "But yes, it is time to deal with Baron Radford, Count Ilemus, and Count Hemming."