Deek’s horse veered to the side, and mine followed.

“They’re going to battle side by side on horseback!” Celeste cried out.

With the two armies racing toward each other, the leaders suddenly veered to the side, riding alongside each other as they slowly merged. We got closer together. Thirty feet. Twenty feet. Ten feet. We were riding right next to each other.

“Hyaa!” Deek snapped his reigns, and the horse began to speed up.

Laughing, I kicked and increased my speed as well. The momentum of the armies, which had already been reserved, slowed a bit as everyone stared in confusion. Both leaders were riding out of the battle, seemingly ignoring each other. No, they weren’t ignoring each other, they were riding together. Did they expect the girls to fight without them? Then, a specific order exploded in their mind. It was the last order both had given them.

“Follow me. Do as I do.”

“Turn!” Lydia bellowed out.

“Follow them!”

Celeste’s melodic voice boomed with the help of her wind magic, making sure it reached every ear. The confused army started to turn, but as their eyes fell on a target, a burst of understanding flowed through them.

Morale was an interesting thing. It could flip on a dime, and sometimes the lowest lows would generate the greatest highs. An unwilling army being forced to fight their own allies had reached an all-time low. Suddenly, the battle was flipped on its head, and instead of fighting friends, a clear foe was presented before them. As the armies merged, forces that were fighting against each other a moment before were now fighting side by side.

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They also came to another realization. They knew each other intimately. For weeks, their leaders had stressed that they learned everything about their opponents. They knew their weaknesses, and they had concentrated on making the other army’s weaknesses their strengths. The two sides complemented each other perfectly, and with the guidance of the girls now riding alongside each other, the army seemed to snap together like clockwork. Two incomplete armies had suddenly formed a whole.

Directly in front of them was an enemy army. They didn’t know how it had gotten there. They didn’t know when it appeared. However, the darkness and evil of this army radiated from it. There wasn’t a single familiar face among them. This was the Demon Lord Aberis’s army. There were monsters and demonic knights, and they all looked shocked. Just as suddenly as they had appeared before their charging army, the charging army had suddenly appeared in front of them.

While the demonic army was filled with confusion over what just happened, Deek’s army wasn’t confused at all. Follow him. Do as he does. Trust him. That led them to this moment, facing an enemy they could all agree on. Their excitement surged, and their speed amplified. Their excitement, their bloodlust, and their excitement grew more and more.

“Th-that’s the gorge!” Lydia called out as they approached the enemy army in a flood.

“How… how is that possible?” Terra shouted. “It’s nearly a half a day away!”

“Space…” Astria’s eyes widened. “We’re in bent space! When Xin closed up the dungeon, she rearranged it. It stretches under our feet now. He did like Calypso did, making it horizontal instead of vertical. Then, Deedee used the dungeon to compress space, causing this surprise attack! This… this was his plan all along!”