The Ashwolf Clan outnumbered his forces three-to-one. Large amounts of Ein poured out from the seventy members of the Ashwolf Clan, rumbling above into a chaotic storm. Their ferocious expressions were on display for Oscar and his forces to see. However, none of their blood-curdling expressions affected them.
Staring back, Oscar nodded in approval at his forces, who remained stoic with nerves of steel. It was well worth it to switch to Demon occasionally to intimidate them and condition them to stand firm against such cold indifference and malice. As the Ashwolf forces neared, Oscar clapped his hands together and shouted, "Everyone!"
All of his twenty-five men stared at him.
"Remember, we are stronger. Middle Knight Exalts, you know our jobs." Oscar received many nods from Desmond and the others. He pointed at the encroaching army and ordered, "Ranged attacks fire!"
At his orders, many spells of various elements and grades flew by his head, and the winds picked up by them hitting his back and ruffling his hair. The target of their ranged barrage wasn't the stampeding army but the ground they were about to step on. Soot, ash, and dirt erupted and tossed into dirty clouds that didn't settle until the Ashwolf Clan responded with various wind spells to blow them away.
Avril acted before the clouds completely parted, her scroll anima unfurling to the shining word in the first section. She stuck her staff into the ground, and her Ein imploded through the ground, sprouting into large roots. The Ein boost from the staff flowed into the roots, enlarging them into the thickness of the trunks of great oaks. Her spell devastated the ground as the roots sprouted and dug into the ground in waves and arches.
"To the right!" Oscar stretched his right arm out, and the troops, except for Knight Exalts, rushed to the right. "The rest of us charge!" Oscar charged, riding Erden into battle. Avril and the others couldn't match Erden's strides and beastly rush, yet followed a step behind. At the very front, Oscar kept his gaze fixated on his targets, the old man next to Arc, who gave him the strongest feeling, and another Middle Knight Exalt.
He left Arc to Desmond, who wanted to settle their past feud. As a leader, he had to accommodate his subordinate's feelings and goals as long as it didn't disrupt the whole plan and cohesion of the group. Desmond had long earned Oscar's faith in his strength, having grown tremendously in the past month.
Avril's roots only briefly hindered the Ashwolf Clan, but it was enough. Oscar arrived right before the old man as the thick wooden roots were burned, chopped, and broken, finally allowing the Ashwolf Clan to see through. The moment was now! Erden enlarged his antlers coated in Eirin and spread them out, reaching the old man and the other.
Surprise contorted the old man's wrinkles. The weight of Ein from the two Middle Knight Exalts bore on Erden's antlers, transmitted to Oscar. These two were stronger than the vile men from Rockfell town. Drawing a deep breath, he and Erden lifted and pushed the two through the mass of Ashwolf forces.
On an empty plain between the Ashwolf gates and the army mass behind him, Oscar chuckled and unmounted Erden. He put away the smile quickly and forced down the feeling of success at separating these two from the rest. The battle was far from over. It was just starting.
"Not bad. You are worthy of being the new leader of Desmond's former gang." The old man stared at Oscar with wary eyes, his hands bruised and torn from blocking Erden's rampaging antlers. The other Middle Knight Exalt stepped to rush but was held back by the old man. "I am Fenu Ashwolf, former Clan Head and Grand Elder. Where has a man as strong as yourself come from?"
"Are you willing to negotiate a surrender?" Oscar clenched his buckler. He sensed no traps or hint of movement from Fenu and the other. "If you say the word, Arc will lay his weapons down, no?"
"In the savage land that is the Burning Valley of the mess that is Shattirma, there is nothing to talk about or discuss. Only the stronger one will rule." Fenu unleashed the full power of his Ein, as did the other.
"I see. That does make it simpler." Oscar straightened his back and stepped forward with Erden. "If you wish to test my strength, then feel free to do so. However, you should make your decision before too many of you fall. My people are quite eager despite telling them not to overdo it. I'd prefer if we don't have too much bad blood for better cooperation."
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"We may be equal in Middle Knight Exalts, but we outnumber you in Lower Knights and the rest. You think you can beat us with your paltry numbers?!" The other man shouted, a flush of red anger filling his face.
"Enough! This man is stronger than we know. Be careful and coordinate with me." Fenu prepared for battle.
Oscar glanced back at the raging battle, seeing it was well underway. He wished the best for Avril, Desmond, and the rest. A nervous sweat dripped down his cheek. Please be alright. He charged across the field of ash and soot, melding his anima into Erden. His role ended here.
…….
Avril watched Oscar and Erden push the two Middle Knight Exalts away from the rest of the battlefield. For a brief moment, their gazes met, and Avril turned to do her task. They had four Lower Knight Exalts, whereas the opposing side had six Lower Knight Exalts. Running in her butler clothes, given by Sevon, her master, Avril reached the enemy Lower Knight Exalts with the others.
Her Prinstyct shone within her golden irises. She reassured herself that she could handle it. Oscar and Sevon told her many times the advantage of Reis was the shock factor and surprise when it's used. She lacked the information about these three, but it shouldn't matter.
Sticking her staff into the ground, Avril summoned another wave of entangling roots, not empowered by her scroll anima. Her enemies struggled with the entangled roots for a moment before they summoned their animas and brandished their weapons. Avril poured Reis into her feet and sped toward the rightmost one.
Her heart ached. Avril clenched her teeth to bear it. The pain was there when she first learned it from Sevon, but it worsened as she progressed. Forcing herself through the discomfort, Avril spun and swung her staff, Reis pouring into it easily. Oscar had forged it with the Reis forging he mentioned before.
The Lower Knight Exalt unleashed an arsenal of lightning, a field of electricity exploding from his body. Avril acted fast as wooden hands merged and multiplied from the ground under her feet. They ripped and splintered apart from the lightning. However, the path was shown.
The splinters and wooden scraps pricking her face felt like nothing. She refused to back down again or be swayed. The enemy faced her with their lightning-infused gauntlets, followed by their wolf anima, brandishing lightning fangs and claws. They flashed with thunderous steps, reaching her.
Avril smiled. She was grateful for them speeding up the process while the others dealt with her constantly encroaching roots. Bark wrapped around her hands and staff. She forced the staff onto the enemy's gauntlets, the lightning burning the wood off her staff and flowing to her hands. He used a strange spell that allowed his limbs to burst with lightning, increasing his speed and power.
Grateful for his addition of Reis, Avril followed Sevon's training to a tee, allowing her body to go limp and soft, imagining herself as a liquid rather than flesh and muscle. The Reis rippled through her body, and she spun several times, landing a bark-covered kick onto the wolf's jaws, clamping its mouth shut. Her scroll anima unfurled to a second section. Avril felt the surge empower her attack, the tips of her toes splitting the wolf's head in two.
'Only a Grade Five. Too bad you're not like Oscar.' Avril clenched her fist, coughed out blood from the use of Reis, and slammed the man's head onto the floor. The moment of pain from the wolf anima's injuries was the moment for her to settle this. She huffed in pain from her heart thumping and turned to the other two. One already rushed out and bombarded her location with raging tornadoes. Covering herself in an armor of wood, Avril breathed in and relaxed.
'Pretend I'm like water. Flow and disperse.' Tossed around by the tornadoes, Avril's wooden armor was scraped into chips and pieces. She flowed along with the winds, Reis continually flowing between her to lessen the damage. Within the winds, a strange eel swam, sped by the currents. Avril tried to swing her staff at it, but it evaded, slithered around to her face, and released a burst of slicing winds from its scales.
'Your flexibility and adaptability are impressive. If Oscar is like a mountain and raging inferno, you are closer to a feather or a water droplet. Use this technique to become like a feather and never let yourself be cut again.' Sevon's words echoed in her mind.
Oscar told her how he could dodge powerful blows by spinning and deflecting. This technique went a step above. Avril twirled as the blades of wind were about to cut into her clothes and part her flesh, a strange dance within the raging tornadoes. Rather than being controlled by the currents, she was its master, twisting and stretching her body to dodge the blades.
'There you are.' Avril noticed the second Lower Knight Exalt charge through the winds with his mace anima, an opening made for him to reach her. She blocked with her staff, and her scroll unfurled to its final section. The Ein boost reached the gem Oscar put on its tip. She smiled in thanks to Oscar. She pointed the gem toward the man's face. The gem shone, and a powerful shockwave of Ein assaulted her enemy's face.
A wooden hand grabbed the man and clenched him in her grasp, slamming him to the floor. Two down. Avril stared at the last one, the wind user. Although she exhausted so much to defeat the first two, she only needed to hold back this one. Her role here was almost done. It remained to Desmond and the others to finish the battle.