[Chapter Size: 2300 Words.]
Third Person POV
Northern kingdoms.
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The sky still looked quite cloudy the next day, but today it was no longer as calm as the day before. The camp buzzed with nervous energy and increased activity, with soldiers running from one side to the other while their superiors shouted orders and tried to control the chaos. The horses seemed more restless than ever, neighing uneasily and shifting as they were brought to the battlefield's edge.
At that moment, more soldiers moved to the front of the camp, joining the armies. Thousands upon thousands of men were beginning to line up, one side facing the other. That day would go down in the continent's history. On one side, those who sought to delay the advance of the Southern Empire. On the other, those who aimed to conquer the Northern lands.
Once again, a meeting began in the main command tent, where the leaders discussed their final plans to prepare the troops. The atmosphere was tense and chaotic, with shouts echoing here and there, especially now that General Kaelen wanted to take full control of the army.
And although there were disputes about this, no one could deny his strategic skill and his current influence over the army with new significant support. Thorne commanded 20,000 men from Sodden, while the rest of the Temerian army accounted for more than 110,000 soldiers. Thus, out of the 130,000 soldiers fighting for the North, the forces were predominantly composed of Temerian troops.
The mages' chapter also supported Temeria at this time, opting for the most obvious choice. Thorne ultimately lost command, as he lacked sufficient support, and had to hand over command of his men to the General, even though his troops were dissatisfied. The General began formulating his own strategy, making it clear that he would take the front line.
The General's gaze turned toward Tissaia with a more serious tone now. "We're on the eve of war. Could you now tell us a bit about your plan?"
Tissaia finally began to reveal what her mages were preparing. She explained that mages had been positioned in the mountains, working together on a high-level spell. Perhaps they were not as powerful as the 14 original sorcerers of ancient times, but even so, seven of them would be enough to cause significant damage to the enemy. She detailed that the spell was being carefully prepared for the right moment but did not disclose that her mages had been attacked.
Tissaia continued her explanation but kept it brief. Soon, the commanders began to leave the tent, preparing for battle after the General decided how to position each of them.
Vilgefortz returned to his own tent at that moment and found his assistant, Lydia, handling some items he had previously requested.
Upon seeing him, Lydia murmured, turning to him with an animated look. "Master Vilgefortz, you're back."
The man nodded, calm in demeanor. "Yes, the battle is finally about to begin," he replied.
"We need to ensure that Nilfgaard wins the fight, don't we?" Lydia remarked, glancing around cautiously to make sure no one else was listening.
Vilgefortz raised an eyebrow but replied with a slight smile. "Yes, though they have a large number of soldiers, giving them an advantage. Tissaia believes her plan, with the mages at Sodden Hill, will work. But I'd say they're probably all dead by now." He chuckled lightly, clearly unconcerned with what was really happening in the mountains.
However, he knew Nilfgaard had already taken adequate measures to deal with the mages there and even planned to use their own strategy against the Northerners. Vilgefortz just needed to ensure he wasn't caught in the blasts of the conflict in the midst of the Northern army.
"I see," Lydia murmured, looking at him thoughtfully. "And the Uchiha boy? I haven't found him anywhere..." she reported with some disappointment in her voice.
"Yes, he's disappeared," Vilgefortz responded, with some disdain as well. "He could have supported Thorne to keep control of the army, but he's been gone since he left the battle. I've also looked, but I couldn't find him."
"What will we do to find the girl, then?" Lydia asked, referring to Ciri. They believed she must be with someone, somewhere, and knew the Temerian general would now press harder with his leadership of the army to find out where she was, but Madara had disappeared.
"Well, my only hope is that he shows up during the battle. I'll try to grab him and vanish with him from the battlefield," Vilgefortz said.
"I understand. I'll help with whatever you need," Lydia commented, watching Vilgefortz approach.
"Did you do what I asked?" he inquired.
"Yes, it's right here." She pointed to the table, where a special potion rested—a highly potent sedative, strong enough to take down a griffin. Vilgefortz had already planned to use it against Madara.
He looked closely at the potion, satisfied, until his eyes suddenly narrowed. "What are you doing, Lydia?" he asked upon noticing her raising her hand toward him, as if preparing to cast a spell point-blank.
"Do you really think you can be an enemy of a Uchiha? Know that he already plans to kill you," said Lydia's voice, but Vilgefortz immediately realized it wasn't her—she was under someone else's control without him even noticing.
Before he could say anything else, Lydia cast a spell in his direction, her hands beginning to glow. However, Vilgefortz, being an experienced and immensely powerful mage—arguably the strongest—would not be stopped so easily.
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He counterattacked swiftly, using an almost instantaneous spell. He didn't hesitate to hurl Lydia across the room with a powerful strike. The impact was so violent that she was flung aside, her chest taking the blow with enough force to inflict severe injuries. Her eyes appeared vacant, as if she were still under some form of mind control.
As Lydia was neutralized, her body flying backward, several kunai suddenly flew toward Vilgefortz from behind. He quickly raised a magical shield, spinning to deflect the blades, but one managed to pierce through the barrier and strike his leg, eliciting a grunt of pain.
"Behind you." Before he could process the pain or determine the source of the knives—since no one seemed to be there—a calm voice spoke from the other side. It was Madara.
Vilgefortz turned quickly, despite the intense pain in his leg, gritting his teeth as he realized he was being cornered. He saw Madara advancing, his eyes glowing with the power of the Sharingan.
Vilgefortz seemed to know little about the Sharingan, as he looked into it naively. Before he could cast any magic, everything went dark, leaving only two massive red eyes staring at him in the void. He froze in shock as they disappeared into the darkness, and a giant blue hand seized him. He saw an enormous Asura figure gazing down at him, though he had no idea what it was.
'What is this…?' he murmured, struggling to free himself quickly.
While Vilgefortz was trapped in a genjutsu, his movements paralyzed in a crucial instant, Madara wasted no time. He advanced with a hand enveloped in purple lightning, aiming directly for Vilgefortz's heart. The Uchiha had honed his storm-style abilities over recent days, mastering the element further during his training in the forest, away from everyone's sight.
However, Vilgefortz surprised Madara, moving his body at the last moment and breaking free from the genjutsu that had paralyzed him. He narrowly avoided the fatal strike but not entirely. Madara's hand still managed to pierce his body near the heart, in the middle of his chest, sending blood and electricity exploding throughout the area.
"Ahhh!" A scream of pain and agony escaped Vilgefortz's lips. He couldn't believe he had been injured so severely. His chest began to weaken, and blood flowed rapidly. He looked at Madara with anger and, finally, despair, trying to gather the energy for one last attack.
Madara, seeing the situation, kept his composure to act quickly and finish Vilgefortz right then and there. He intended to move his electrified hand toward the mage's heart. Vilgefortz, however, unleashed a desperate spell with all his remaining strength, even as the lightning continued coursing through him. He didn't have time to craft a more complex incantation. In a final moment of despair, a chaotic surge of raw magical energy erupted from Vilgefortz's body, forcing Madara to retreat hastily.
Madara pulled back, flying through the air and taking some damage as well. But before being flung too far, he twisted his body mid-air to face Vilgefortz again, his cheeks puffing as he prepared another attack. In what appeared to be an attempt to kill Vilgefortz outright, he spat a massive blast of fire toward the mage at point-blank range. The flames engulfed Vilgefortz before spreading throughout the area.
All seemed calm on that side of the camp, with no one aware of the events unfolding in the tent, until suddenly, it erupted in flames from all sides. Everyone nearby felt the shockwave and turned, stunned.
The sound of the explosion echoed across the entire camp. Even the soldiers stationed at the front, preparing for battle, turned back in alarm as the flames shot up into the sky and screams emanated from the area. Quickly, several mages began running toward the tent.
"Hey, what's happening over there?"
"That was Vilgefortz's tent!"
"It just exploded! There's no magic in those flames... What's going on?"
Questions spread rapidly as the site became crowded with mages. Tissaia arrived moments later, shouting:
"Extinguish that fire immediately!"
The mages began casting spells, dousing the flames within minutes. As soon as the fire was under control, they started investigating the now-charred ruins of the tent.
"Rector Tissaia, there's a burned body here," murmured one of the mages as she approached and examined it. It was clearly female.
"It must be Lydia... My God, she burned to death!" Tissaia exclaimed, horrified. "What in the world happened to cause this explosion?"
She couldn't hide her shock as her mages continued their investigation. They searched for other bodies but found none, only scattered remnants of destroyed items.
"This..." Tissaia's gaze fell on the scattered items, recognizing the scorched kunai on the ground. She pressed her lips together but chose to remain silent.
In the end, they concluded that the explosion and subsequent fire might have been caused by an accident, given that the area was filled with shattered glass containing volatile chemical substances. Even the mages had to protect themselves from the toxins leaking into the air.
Yennefer observed the scene from a distance with her colleagues until she heard a faint whistling sound. She glanced upward toward a nearby tent but saw nothing. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Without saying a word, she swiftly left the area and headed toward her own tent.
Upon entering, she found Madara sitting calmly, adjusting his shoulder as if he'd just emerged from a fight.
"It was you... You killed him?!" Yennefer asked, stunned as she stared at the boy. It was obvious he was behind the explosion.
"Almost... He escaped at the end," Madara muttered with disdain as he glanced at Yennefer. "Do you have anything that could help me? I need to be ready for the battle, but I ended up breaking my shoulder. I took that guy's attack directly. I just hope I managed to burn a large part of his body."
Madara seemed dissatisfied with letting Vilgefortz escape. Even so, he knew things wouldn't look good for the mage: a leg injured by a kunai, his chest shattered by the lightning strike, and who knows what damage the fire explosion caused before he got away. He could only hope that Vilgefortz would die before managing to recover from his injuries, wherever he had ended up. However, Madara acknowledged that he couldn't underestimate someone like that, who always seemed full of tricks. He knew he would have to wait to see the mage's corpse personally before being certain.
"All right," Yennefer replied as she watched Madara reset his shoulder without showing much concern for the pain. She approached him and attempted to treat him with some magic to ease the damage and promote healing. Additionally, she offered him a potion to aid his recovery.
The incident caused a huge commotion throughout the camp. Many believed it might have been an enemy attack, an attempt to sabotage the leaders. Vilgefortz was an extremely important figure, and many had seen him enter the tent before the explosion. Now, the tent was destroyed, his assistant had become a charred corpse, and there was no sign of the powerful mage, leaving everyone without answers.
The mages investigated the incident and discovered that Lydia's chest had been completely destroyed, likely by a spell. Curiously, it appeared to have been a spell cast by Vilgefortz himself, but the investigation did not progress much further. The imminent battle took precedence, and there was no time to dwell on theories or conduct deeper searches—the fight would happen, with or without Vilgefortz.
In the end, all the armies were ready. The Northerners, though shaken by the incident, were organized. Tissaia, Yennefer, Thorne, and the other leaders stood among the Northern forces, prepared for the decisive battle.
Meanwhile, Madara finally emerged from an isolated part of the camp, now clad in his red armor bearing the Uchiha symbol on the back. He strode toward the army, intending to position himself at the forefront. After all, he would once again be the first to charge at the enemy—facing all 150,000 Nilfgaardians alone.