On the plains north of the Castle of Remna stood the Lorope army facing the Djinn army that had just surrendered.

"You want to surrender Vizier Kaljar?" asked Emperor Lustratous. "You want your whole army to surrender?"

Lustratous could not believe his ears that Kaljar had surrendered.

"You heard me once," said Vizier Kaljar. "And I will repeat it. Yes, all my 10,000 troops will surrender."

Kaljar then looked at his army behind him. "Any complains?"

None of his troops protested, save a few who dropped their heads downward in apology.

"What a joke this army of mine," Kaljar complained.

Kaljar did not seem happy about the conclusion of this battle. His heart still burned to avenge his father who died back in the Third-Year-War. But at the same time, this meant that Kaljar would still be alive to look after his daughter Mirya.

"Very well," said Lustratous. "Drop your weapons."

"No," replied Kaljar.

A protest? Why? Lustratous wondered. Who surrenders without dropping their weapons down?

"We agreed to surrender," said Kaljar. "But we did not agree to die. If we drop our weapons you will slaughter us on the spot would not you?"

"You doubt my words Kaljar?" said Lustratous with fiery eyes.

"Yes, your history is filled with lies," replied Kaljar. "But I still believe that you will keep your words on unharming us. You would not risk it."

This is troublesome, Lustratous thought. The Emperor did not mind to break his words and Kaljar was smart enough to catch it.

But keeping the weapons of the surrendered army is dangerous.

"Are they joking?" said general Lamzaz. He wore white armor and stood beside Lustratous. "Do not listen to them, My Emperor. If they do not agree to drop their weapons, we won't accept their surrender."

"Do not worry," said Kaljar. "We know we are weak and outnumbered. We won't harm you if you do not harm us."

Lustratous army began to chatter. Some were with, and other was against Kaljar's demands.

It would bring a great dissatisfaction in his army if Lustratous accepted Kaljar's terms. What should he do?

"Fine," said Lustratous. "You may keep your weapon but on certain conditions. You will drop both your shields and armor and surrender yourselves all the way to my empire northward."

Without their shields and armor, the Djinn army would stand no chance if by any chance they retaliated. The remaining 65,000 soldiers of Lustratous was still in the Lorope Empire, and the Chocked Villages no longer exist to aid them. Thus, sending the Djinns northward to his empire is as if he got rid of their whole army at once.

This is the middle point between Lamzaz's and Kaljar's demands, Lustratous thought.

The Djinn army, however, complained.

"Do not fool with us," said one Djinn soldier.

"I will kick ur arse Lustratous," said another.

Another Djinn soldier spat on the ground while keeping eye contact with Lustratous.

"Lustratous, we would be fools if we agreed to such terms," Lajek said. Despite agreeing to Lustratous initial surrender, Lajek was surprisingly against Lustratous terms. "You will still massacre us."

"See, My Emperor," said general Lamzaz. "They are plotting something. We cannot accept their demands."

I should finish it up with an oath, Lustratous thought.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Kaljar," said Lustratous. "Give me an oath. As the Vizier of the Djinn Kingdom, that if you surrender, your army would never fight mine."

"Yes, you have my word," Kaljar replied. "If you let us keep our armor, swords, and shields, we will surrender northward in your empire."

"So be it," Lustratous said. "The Djinn army will surrender, and they will get to keep all their weapons and equipment."

The Lorope army roared in disagreement.

"SILENCE!" shouted Lustratous at his army. "I trust Vizier Kaljar, despite being my enemy."

It is indeed mysterious on why trust exists between commanders. They both resort to trickery and deception to beat one another, yet somehow trust blooms between them. Even when a commander is well-known for his savageness in war, he still trusts the other commander.

"You have my thanks Emperor Lustratous," said Vizier Kaljar.

"Make way for the Djinn army," shouted Lamzaz.

Lamzaz disliked this outcome but found it his duty to follow the orders of his emperor.

The Lorope army created two empty lines for the Djinn forces to pass through. Then from that, they will walk all the way to the Lorope Empire finish agreed-on surrender terms.

"Lajek, lead the army," said Kaljar. "I will remain at the back... Or perhaps you prefer not to listen to my orders anymore?"

"Not at all," said Lajek. "It is just that when my death is at stake, I tend to ignore the orders of a mediocre commander."

"I see," Kaljar replied as he walked to the last row of his army.

Lustratous and his elite white-armored men laughed at this conversation.

"I have never seen such a messed up army in my life," said Lamzaz.

"Indeed," said another white-armored soldier. "They talk like teenagers."

The Djinn army walked at its usual formation; shield cohort at the front, sword cohort at the middle, and bow cohort at the back.

The Djinn troops were then split into two columns. They walked through the two empty lines that the Lorope army had made for them.

The Lorope forces shouted bitter and harsh cries at the Djinn army as it marched beside them. The Djinn forces responded by keeping their heads low, save for a few who glared at them.

Kaljar also received mockery from the Lorope army like, "Rat," and "Scared cat," but he ignored them.

There are at least many good parts to surrendering, Kaljar thought. You keep your army alive, and you get to see your children.

It took the Djinn army a long while to walk to the very end of the Lorope army. At this point, the Djinn army filled the two empty rows from its beginning it until the end of the line. Lajek stood at the beginning of the Djinn army line, while the very end of it stood Kaljar.

And this is where it happened.

Lajek and Kaljar unsheathed a shortsword hung behind their waists.

"FOR THE DJINN KINGDOM!" both Kaljar and Lajek shouted.

This was the agreed sign to begin the counterattack.

Every Djinn soldier, each one of the 10,000 Djinn soldiers unsheathed the shortsword on their waists and immediately, in the quickest manner they could, stabbed the closest Lorope soldier beside each of them.

In these mere seconds, 9,000 Lorope soldiers got stabbed and fell on the ground. The remaining 1,000 soldiers either dodged or blocked the surprise stab in time.

Kaljar leaped to stab Lustratous, but general Lamzaz blocked it with his sword.

Ignoring the 5,000 Lorope soldiers sieging the southern wall, the Lorope army at the northern wall was composed of 30,000 men. Within these few seconds, the 30,000 men got reduced to 21,000 men.

The 9,000 stabbed Lorope soldiers were either about to die or heavily injured to fight. The remaining Lorope army grew terrified.

"What is the meaning of this Kaljar?" Lustratous shouted. "What about your oath?"

"I sold my oath to protect my kingdom," replied Kaljar as he unsheathed his double-sided axe. "All of us sold our oaths to protect our kingdom."

Lustratous was furious but glad; the Djinn army was still made of steel and fire.

"But you are still outnumbered," said Lamzaz as he tried to stab Kaljar, but Kaljar deflected Lamzaz sword with his axe. The deflection was weighty; Lamzaz almost lost his grip on his sword.

"So what?" said Kaljar as he pulled his second double-sided axe from his back. He entered a double-handed mode.

A Lorope soldier tried to slash Kaljar from behind. But with a single axe swing, Kaljar knocked the slash and bled the soldier's chest.

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"Cohorts, get into formation," shouted Lajek.

Upon hearing the command, most of the Djinn army backed off from the Lorope forces and arranged itself in small groups.

About each hundred Djinn soldier gathered up in a square formation. The shield soldiers were at the front, followed by sword soldiers, and bow soldiers at the back.

About half of the Djinn army was in a formation, while the rest were either trapped fighting solo or in informal groups.

The Lorope army was scattered and in chaos. With about one-third of its forces wounded or dead, the Lorope army tried to fight off the Djinn ambush while tending their wounded soldiers.

The two chief commanders of Lorope Lustratous and Lamzaz were still occupied with the fiery assault of Vizier Kaljar. They could not turn away from Kaljar to command their troops like Lajek.

Kaljar's dual-handed axe swings brought a sharp pain on Lamzaz wrists as he barely blocked them with his sword.

It is as if I am fighting a wild leopard, Lamzaz thought.

Lamzaz had no time to initiate a counterattack. He placed all his attention on keeping up with Kaljar's axe swings and keeping his Emperor away from danger.

A few soldiers tried to attack Kaljar, but he quickly tossed them bleeding with a single axe swing. Soon enough they all backed off except for Lamzaz.

"Mind if I get serious?" Kaljar asked Lamzaz.

Kaljar jumped high enough that he fell in full force with both his axes on Lamzaz.

*Crack*

Kaljar broke Lamzaz sword into two, sliced through his white armor like paper, and cut deep into his chest that blood gushed like a river.

Lamzaz coughed blood and fell unconscious.