The battle had started with fifteen thousand Hatha, and nearly all of them had yet to see battle that day. Hagnon marched his troops forward in an orderly line, he could see the Empire's troops had pulled back and were re-organizing into one giant line, but it was too little too late. They now had roughly the same number of soldiers left on both sides, but at least half of the Empire’s troops were exhausted, while the Hatha were simply frustrated that they had been kept on the rear for so long. The cost for this was the front two lines, which had been nearly completely decimated. They picked up the remainders as they marched forward, as Vice General Shuuja ordered the wounded and exhausted to retreat to the rear.
“Sir, I can still fight. Please do not order me to withdraw. ” came a voice from one of them. The Shuuja turned to see a boy, only a few years older than his own child. He had the eyes of someone who had seen hell and come back, and now he was asking to plunge right in again.
“Your left arm is completely useless, soldier. You have done excellently so far and your glory will be noted, but you will only hold us back from here.” he rebuked.
“I am right-handed, commander Shuuja.” came a steely response. Krymenos was no longer thinking, just the previous day the thought of merely talking to the great Hatha commander Shuuja would have seemed a faraway dream, but now he was attempting to change a direct order.
Shuuja had nothing but appreciation for the young boy's spirit. His superiors had left his line stranded and unsupported just to preserve their strength, yet instead of rage or contempt, he was trying to re-enter the fight. Perhaps it was just the rush of war, but it showed that the boy had the makings of a Hatha. “Drop that sword and keep only a shield. Stay in the back of our line, deploy ranged magic wisely if you know how and no matter what, do not get in our way. You will also receive your punishment for this when we return to Paligxulu.” he commanded as he walked forward.
Krymenos held the most proper salute he could muster. Return to Paligxulu? Krymenos was not thinking that far, all he knew was that he could not sit still while others were fighting. He joined the back of the Hatha line and followed his heroes into battle once more.
It was a sight he had seen before, the Empire’s line standing firm as the Ikona marched forward into them. But there was something different this time, the rhythm Krymenos had achieved in his moment of excellence, he could tell it was a feeling every one of the soldiers around him knew deeply. They moved in perfect unison, picked up speed right before clashing with the enemy, and when they made contact immediately pushed back the Imperial line by several paces. Michail had not lied to him, Krymenos quickly realised his presence made no difference to this unit whatsoever. The Hatha made powerful, steady pushes forward, it was like they had never stopped moving, only slowed down.
Krymenos turned to see each member of the line doing with ease what he had needed the blessing of the gods of luck to achieve. One Hatha warrior jumped up from within the back lines and unleashed a fire bolt, scorching 2 Imperial soldiers in one blow. Right as the warrior landed on the ground, his whole column rushed forward with a gust of wind, the enemy bundled over each other as they gave significant ground. But the Hatha did not press their advantage, they raided the opening, took as many easy kills as they could get, and retreated without any losses. This was a completely different battle, this was the Hatha.
Krymenos had the time to look around and observe the line; it was more irregular than expected, with seemingly random gaps along the line. The Umpetha warrior knew the Hatha were too disciplined to mess up a simple line formation, but it made no sense, a sudden gap in the line could be easily exploited by the opponents.
After watching a few seconds longer, the young man saw the gap in his thinking. The opponents tried to exploit one of these openings, just as Krymenos would have, but as soon as they stepped into the space, a salvo of javelins shot through from the Ikonan side. Vice General Shuuja stood proudly with two advanced mages by his side. Their wind propelled javelins had completely punched through the Diaf line, leaving a gaping hole in their formation.
Before the Hatha could take advantage of the situation, a burst of flames hit the advancing Hatha. If it wasn’t for a large defensive upward air current created by the Shuuja the damage could have been catastrophic. Diaf’s advanced fire mage struggled with all his might, but not only did he fail to break past the Vice General's wall, he was completely exposed. A few seconds later, a buffet of arrows had taken him down.
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Krymenos had the time to look around and assess their positions; he was to the left of the line, and could see the Vice General falling back around the centre of the line. His attention was drawn by a flying figure - General Hagnon! The Ikonan General had been fighting on the right side of the line, but now decided to use his flames to fly back to the centre of the line.
While Krymenos was observing, he felt a tremor under his feet. An advanced earth mage was making his move! He turned around to confirm that the caster was an advanced mage from his side, then knelt to the ground and studied the magic as it was being cast. The Umpetha felt the magic move through the ground, it was as if the spell itself lay dormant as it passed through the ground where he stood. As the energy crossed the Hatha line into the Diaf infantry land, it suddenly unleashed itself, pulling the earth up and summoning spikes from the ground in a straight line.
It was a surreal experience for the young soldier. He was surrounded by the zenith of his kingdom's fighting force, and all he could think of was how wide the gap was between them.
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Hagnon Mukuru looked around as he pushed forward, threw a flask of oil at his enemies, and set alight 5 soldiers before sinking back into the shield wall. Things were going smoothly, the Hatha line had pushed the Empire back and inflicted heavy blows in the process. He moved further back to reconvene with his Vice General.
“There are more advanced mages on the right flank than here, but he’s not there.” Hagnon confirmed to the strongest fighter in the Ikona kingdom. “I’ll keep pushing from the centre, anyway it seems like it's giving way faster than the other flanks. You go hunt him down.”
The Vice General nodded and flew into the sky, it made him a target for arrows, but the strong gusts of winds surrounding him diverted them all. He scanned the left portion of the line until he noticed something shimmering in the sky - it was floating water. At last, he had found his prey.
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Krymenos Umpetha was impressed by the cautiously aggressive tactics of the Hatha. They took care never to overcommit or rely too much on the power of their magic yet managed to make visible gains on the front lines. It thus came as a surprise when he saw his Vice General hurtling through the air with another advanced air mage, dive-bombing directly into the back of the enemy's left flank.
The young son of a farmer felt something call him to that area, an invitation to witness something spectacular. He used his earth magic for the first time that day, imitating the rapid mages and skidding along the battlefield to circle around the left flank of both armies lines and directly towards the Vice General's location.
When he reached, he felt a shiver across his spine. The Vice General had pummelled through the last segment of the Diaf line and was now face to face with Sciprio and his assistant mage. There was no infantry to get in the way, just a pair of magicians from each side, ready to fight to the death.
“Abandoning the battlefield so soon, Ikonan?” taunted Sciprio, as he walked backwards, approaching a cart with several barrels placed on it. He had a suspicion as to who his opponent was.
“I will return as soon as I put you in the ground, Sciprio.” was Shuuja's retort, as he pulled out two swords. The other Ikonan air mage revealed multiple belts of smaller throwing knives around his waist and collected a handful of them.
With that brief exchange, the two Ikonans pounced at their target, ignoring Sciprio’s assistant completely. Sciprio stood unfazed, raising his hands as the barrels behind him erupted, letting out the water stored inside them. He shaped the water into tens of sticks and hurled them towards the incoming air mages.
The Shuuja flipped and zoomed along the ground, showing off his acrobatic prowess in dodging the volleys of water sticks. The other mage was less adept, taking hits to the torso and shoulder which dropped him to the ground. Sciprio’s assistant seized the opportunity and launched a fireball at him, but the Ikonan recovered and brushed the fire away with a gust.
Within seconds, the Vice General collapsed onto his enemy, using his wind to give him terrifying agility as his opponent stayed rooted to the spot. The Shuuja spun around Sciprio, lashing out with his swords at a terrifying pace, but his opponent was no amateur. The water mage used a sword and shield to deflect the attacks that were closer to his body, and used water as a barrier to slow the strikes that were harder to block, such that they did nearly no damage at all.
This exchange went on for a minute until Sciprio felt a growing pain in his right knee. The Shuuja smiled as he noticed his opponent wince in pain. Sciprio’s water blocking might have made the cuts more shallow, but a hundred shallow cuts to the same area can be enough to down a powerful foe.
The Diafthoreat Commander was beginning to stumble, but the paranoid look on his face cleared up when he heard a pained scream not far ahead. The Vice General did not need to turn to recognize that the scream signalled his teammates' loss. He instinctively dodged to the right before even turning round, narrowly avoiding the assistant mage's dagger. The assistant placed himself in between the attacker and his master, the Shuuja was outnumbered now.