The knights who had landed on Arvis on their own kept arriving at the camp in dribs and drabs during the night.

By dawn, in addition to Brombelt and Mishiff, only Jexter and Rubius were missing from the roll call.

When it was light enough, the lookouts noticed that the city was already in turmoil. White smoke was rising in the distance, in the northeastern districts. Jossolt believed that whatever the cause of the tumult this was the opportunity he was waiting for to launch the attack.

A front line composed of Marzela, Bellum, Morront and Jossolt took care of breaking down the gate at the entrance, while Lyndabel, Alvira and Ectivia covered their advance. Viryl and Ollante flew over the walls and annihilated the guards posted behind the battlements. Melfis remained in the second line to support the common soldiers marching behind the ranks of knights, Lorana stayed behind.

Aside from a few sentries at the entrance, the crusaders found no resistance in the city of Eularvia. The residents who lived there were warriors on leave, non-combatant personnel, and a large number of servants, and the Infidels remained locked in their homes, knowing that their day of judgment had come.

And they tried to hide with good reason, for the empty streets spoke volumes of their sins.

In a few months, the Infidels had transformed the respectable town of a humble island of fishermen into a den of lust and infamy. The town’s church had been converted into a blasphemous temple devoted to the god of Ashalmek, the southwestern quarter had been turned into an open-air brothel and all the women of Eularvia had been locked up inside, the highest-ranking Suljukian officials had taken over the homes of the wealthy citizens. The old people, children and cripples had been ghettoized in the poor district of the city, made up of hovels and worm-eaten shacks, and had been left there to starve.

The nine knights advanced to the central square of Eularvia, and there they found themselves faced with a scene that made their blood run cold.

The protagonist was Rubius, surrounded by a trail of decapitated corpses scattered chaotically along the streets and by a large number of demolished and smoking palaces. The knights immediately understood that he had been the source of their diversion.

Rubius had carefully arranged all the severed heads in front of the bronze statue of Lazul in the center of the square, depicted with his arms raised to the sky in the sacred gesture of the Lazulian Cross, and was now having fun kicking them like footballs, trying to make them pass over the simulacrum. He must not have been a great striker, since the Messiah's limbs and head were covered in brains and reddish pulp.

Seeing his allies arrive, Rubius muttered, “the fun is already over.”

No one dared to express how sacrilegious the act he was committing was. Lyndabel seethed with rage, and Viryl immediately turned to her, hoping that she would not think of doing something crazy. Fortunately, Lyndabel remained in her place.

Only Jossolt stepped forward and ordered, “End this perverse pastime. We must conquer Arvis as soon as possible, and we need you too.”

Rubius muttered something else in a thin voice, but eventually turned his back on the row of decapitated heads and joined his companions.

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Once Rubius was recovered, Jossolt instructed the soldiers to flush out the infidels hiding in the houses and to give first aid to the citizens.

Then the group of knights continued to march. Once past the eastern gate of Eularvia, which led to the promontory where the bastion captured by the Infidels stood, the real battle began.

The Infidels had placed three lines of wooden barricades and ditches in front of the walls of their fort, had built a large number of war machines, such as trebuchets and ballistae, and were defended by about a hundred Ferenkelt.

As impressive as the enemy numbers were, the combined efforts of ten knights, three of whom were of high rank, were more than enough to hold their own. Arrows bounced off the ethereal armors, bludgers were deflected by spells of superior telekinesis, palisades were swept away one after another. The ditches proved more of a problem for the enemy soldiers who beat a retreat than for the knights, who easily jumped them. Even the countless Ferenkelts were mercilessly mowed down by an incessant barrage of offensive magic.

Once past the first enemy lines, Jossolt activated his Homing Crystal to request the start of the bombardment from the sea. As the first cannon shots began to crumble the rear walls of the fortress and send large blocks of stone tumbling down into the precipice to the sea, Bellum went under the ramparts and tore apart the access gate with the spell “Demolishing Fist”.

Once the breach was opened, the ten knights infiltrated the inner courtyard of the keep, and faced the strongest Ferenkelts of the enemy troops. Three Silk Fur Lynxes, two Reaper Mantises, a Hundred-Mouthed Scolopendra.

After the Ferenkelts, they faced the elite Suljukian warriors, who had barricaded themselves in the donjon. Despite the technological superiority of the knights, the last act of the battle was the most hectic. The physical qualities of the Suljukians were superhuman and they proved to be skilled fighters, even in tight spaces. Their bodies tolerated fire and lightning, and no matter how much they were hit and mutilated, they never seemed to fall. After a few minutes of apparent stalemate, Jossolt and Alvira decided that it was counterproductive to try to contain themselves so as not to cause damage to the structure, and unleashed some of their higher-level spells. The bastion was practically razed to the ground, and the leaders of the Ashalmazite army were buried under the rubble.

By three in the afternoon, hostilities had ceased.

As for complete control over the island, however, the matter was quite different. Although the crusaders had routed most of the enemy forces on their way to Eularvia, there were still pockets of resistance in the forests that covered the island. Given the geopolitical interests of the League, it was unthinkable to leave for Surelekem before having stabilized the situation.

It took two days of excruciating reconnaissance before the knights were certain that they had defeated every single Ferenkelt on the island. During the operations, Jexter's body was found. He had been hanged in the fishing village where he had landed. How this could have happened remained a mystery.

Once the reconquest was over, Jossolt and the League general held a meeting with the islanders. They explained that the council of prefects of the Kelleric Confederation had agreed to cede the island of Arvis to the League of Free Communes, so that they could use it to build a colony. The inhabitants would be free to continue with their activities and their centuries-old traditions, but the new masters would build a market and a logistics center, they would strengthen one of the three ports and they would take care of the defense of the island.

Part of the crusader contingent would detach itself to remain and guard the island, awaiting the League's support fleet.

Although Alvira had offered to remain in Arvis, Lorana, Mishiff and one hundred and fifty common soldiers were chosen. The chosen ones tore the piece of cloth with the symbol of the Lazulian Cross from the shoulder pads of their uniforms and handed it to those who would continue their expedition to Surelekem in a solemn ceremony.

On the eighth day of Tetrestes, after a little well-earned rest, the crusaders were ready to set sail on the boats that had come to pick them up. On the dock of the small port on the north of the island, the townspeople had gathered and everyone was waving to greet their rescuers.

Elidea and the other women that Viryl, Lyndabel and Melfis had saved from the Suljukian camp were there too. As the oarsmen’s strokes carried them out to sea, Viryl took one last look at the girls’ distant faces. They looked happy.