“General Isla, there’s been some movement among the enemy. It’s unclear what’s going on, but I think they’re getting ready to do something.”

The lightly-armored thirty-three-year-old brunette frowned. “I guess this is it, then. Big clash on the field, I suppose. Better than fighting in the streets. Inform my brother that—”

“General!” another soldier called out urgently. “A dragonrider just teleported in!”

“What?!” Isla spun around, spotting the approaching drake coming from just above the center of town, heading straight for her outpost on the hill. Two people were atop the beast, a red-and-purple-haired man and a blue-haired woman. Ready your bows, but don’t shoot! Mages, stand by for orders!”

They came from town and apparently teleported to town, rather than from the enemy side, Isla thought. They might be on our side. Then again, they might not. Isla gripped her sword in one hand and her staff in the other. Best be prepared for anything.

When the drake got close to the outpost, it spiraled down, landing not far from her tent. The man and woman dismounted, and she noticed that while they wore neither armor nor uniform, they both had sashes with the royal insignia on them across their chests. Some of the tension left her, but not all of it. It could be a trick, she thought.

“Are you General Isla?” The man asked.

“That’s right. Identify yourself. This is a Landsgrace army encampment.”

“My name is Rai Flamme, the Thunderflame, Archmage and Sword Saint. This is Mizieya Swiftblade, a mercenary who also happens to be my betrothed. I’m not a mercenary, so I won’t say I was hired, but rather I offered my services, free of charge, to His Majesty. We’re here at his behest to assist in the upcoming battle.”

“The King sent you? Why have I never heard of ‘The Thunderflame’ before?”

“This will be my first time fighting in the war. I am a sixth circle mage and sixth tier combat artist, however. My partner, also a sixth circle mage and sixth tier combat artist, has gone to the other battlefield – or rather, I teleported her there. What is the situation, General?”

“To my knowledge, Teleportation is a fifth circle spell, and I doubt someone of that strength would lie about actually being sixth circle, so I will take you at your word. You have arrived at a good time; it seems as though the enemy is about to make a move. I was just about to tell my brother, General Isling, and lead our army to the field to keep the battle away from the town.”

“What exactly are the numbers?”

Our side has approximately fifteen hundred troops. Theirs has nearly four and a half thousand. They’ve mixed their conscripts with their soldiers so that it’s harder to identify the threats. We know they have at least one general, a mage.”

“I’ll deal with the mage general myself. If any other general appears, I’ll handle them as well.” Rai approached, handing a string bracelet with a single bead on it to Isla. She took it, looking at it curiously. “This is a communication device. It will allow you to contact me. If you need me to go to any specific part of the battlefield to render aid, just let me know. Mizieya will serve as a combat healer for you; she’s already used a significant portion of her spells, but she’s also a third-tier swordswoman, so she can serve as a guard for your healers.”

“Are you certain you can handle enemy generals?”

“I have a trick for dealing with enemy mages, and my spell selection is focused on dealing damage, primarily. I’m also a good swordsman. I can handle it.”

“Very well, then. Will you be riding your drake into battle?”

“No. She’s not a fighter, and I’d be afraid to lose her. She’ll remain her at the outpost. Don’t worry, I can fly.”

Isla turned to the original messenger. “Tell my brother to get ready to move out!”

“Yes, General!”

-x-

The Republic pegasus rider touched down. “Looks like they saw us getting ready and decided to head to the field first,” she reported to the red-and-gold-robed elven woman. “I guess they wanted to make sure that we weren’t able to get close to the town? Seems like a stupid move, as it lets us attack them from a distance first.”

“Hm. Well, we’ll have to make the most of it, won’t we? Those utter fools,” the general replied. “The superiority of the Republic will be made clear in this battle. Toka!”

“I hear you, Leika,” a voice replied from the pendant the general wore. “We going to go meet the enemy?”

“Yes. Your archers need to be ready to shoot at anything that flies first, and anything else second.”

“Understood.”

“So, it’s time, is it?” the hide-and-fur-wearing man standing nearby said, cracking his knuckles. “I’ll get my mercenaries – and their beasts – ready.”

“And I’ll help out as well,” the unarmed and unarmored half-elf wearing loose robes designed for fighting in said with a smirk. “I am, after all, here at the request of one of the Senators.”

General Leika nodded curtly. With four Champions, including herself, there was no way they would lose to the outnumbered enemy.

The mystical pugilist remained by her side as the army stirred into motion, the fur-wearing beast master/spirit mage moving to place his mercenaries throughout the throng of conscripts and soldiers. Within the half hour, both armies were headed for the rolling plain between them. When the front lines were still a couple thousand feet from one another – too far even for arrow volleys – she spotted a solitary figure flying ahead toward the center from the other army. Her eyes narrowed. It was a mage armed with a sword, but other than that she couldn’t make out any details. The figure halted in the center of the field, where the two armies would clash if they continued at their current pace, then disappeared. It took her a moment to realize he had teleported all the way to her front lines, standing midair at a height of perhaps a hundred feet. From her own position nearly five hundred feet back, she could see that he was scanning her army.

Toki’s magnified voice shouted, “Archers! Bring him down!”

Hundreds of arrows filled the air. When the cloud of wooden shafts cleared, the flying mage was unharmed.

“Typical,” the general said. “But his arrow protection is probably gone by now. Toka! Another volley!”

The mage vanished. Leika looked around frantically trying to spot him. She turned around and found him on the other side of her army, closer to her location. “Mages!” She shouted, her voice magically magnified, just as Toka’s had been. “He’s behind! All capable, Fireball!” As she gave the command, she cast it herself, and three dozen fireballs exploded on his location in a cacophony of conflagrations. When the flames cleared, the mage was once again completely unharmed.

Then he vanished again. She looked around quickly to see where he had gone, but didn’t spot him anywhere.

Without warning, lightning burst into existence all around her, coursing through her and dozens of others in the vicinity. Shortly before the mage appeared, she had cast extremely potent elemental energy protection spells on herself, shielding herself from both fire and lightning, the two most common elemental energy types used in offensive spells. On average, they should have protected her from the effects of five or six fireballs (for fire) or five or six full-powered lightning bolts (for lightning) before exhausting their power. In other words, for the first few attacks, she should have been completely immune.

Stolen novel; please report.

Instead, that single spell wiped out her protection from lightning entirely and significantly injured her. She looked around; the only person still standing besides her in a circular area centered on her with a radius of roughly three dozen feet was that mystic pugilist. Everyone else was dead.

And the mage was still nowhere in sight.

“What…? How…?”

“The Scholar… damn.”

The general whirled on the pugilist. “You know who that mage is?!”

“Yes, I believe so. Urgh, that really hurt. I had no idea that he was this strong.” The pugilist slammed his fists together and was surrounded by a white light. When the light faded, he looked unharmed. “That takes way too much energy to heal…”

Leika pulled out a potion and chugged it, fully healing herself as well.

“Who is he?”

“You can call me the Thunderflame,” a man’s voice said from somewhere in the air in front of her. It wasn’t magically augmented, so based on the volume, she guessed the mage was somewhere around fifty feet away – barely audible despite the speaker projecting, thanks to the ambient noise of marching soldiers. “Surrender, and your life will be spared.”

“Surrender?! You must be out of your mind!”

“Very well. Overcharged Star-Enhanced Spell: Greater Mana Drain!”

“GAH!” Leika clutched at her chest as the mana in her mana heart rampaged and hemorrhaged.

“I wonder how many spells you’ll have left when you finally manage to get it under control?”

“Well that’s terrifying,” the pugilist said. “But you can’t kill me. I’m a member of Eternity – a Champion.”

“Then I’ll just thrash you.”

A massive hole appeared through the pugilist’s torso, flames and lightning dancing along the edges.

“Cough! Cough!”

Fists slammed together, and the hole disappeared in seconds and flesh, bone, and organs regrew, but there was still a huge bloody circle remaining on both front and back.

“Well, that was a bit more effective than I expected. Let’s do it again.”

“What?! Cough! Wait, no, I –”

Both of the pugilist’s legs went flying off, causing him to crash into the ground.

Leika, still struggling with her mana heart, could only stare in horror.

“Let’s use some nonlethal magic. Chain Lightning.”

Lightning arced from a seemingly empty spot to the fallen pugilist, then from him to her. Even knowing from his words that the mage wasn’t going for the kill, the pain was still incredible, and it ruined her concentration.

Several seconds passed, and then she heard the mage’s voice from next to the pugilist. “And for good measure…” There was a flash of violet lightning that surged through the fist-fighter.

The mage flickered into visibility a few seconds later, standing right in front of her. “Crackling Ray.”

Three beams of lightning struck her, and for a brief instant, all she knew was pain. And then she knew no more.

-x-

Flying above the battlefield, Rai hurled Fireballs, Lightning Surges, Flameshock Flowers, Flaming Waves, Lightning Waves, and Thunderflame Waves at the enemy forces, using star energy to stay invisible and to enhance some of his spells, enlarging them. By the time he had run out of all his mana for third circle and higher spells, he had taken out approximately one third of the enemy army, including both the beast master and Champion archer. At that point, the armies clashed, and it didn’t take much to shatter the morale of the remaining three thousand as Generals Isla and Isling took to the front lines along with all their most skilled soldiers, with their elite mages right behind, slinging Fireballs into the enemy forces just prior to the clash. Instead of pulling back, Rai landed in the midst of the enemy and started fighting with his sword.

The slaves broke and ran first, cutting the numbers in half and making the battle more even, but with Rai and the generals uncontested by other Champions, it quickly became obvious which side was going to win. The free conscripts folded next, throwing down their weapons and dropping to the ground, with surviving mercenaries doing the same. The soldiers then surrendered as well.

It was only after the total surrender that Rai revealed to the twin generals that he hadn’t killed anyone with his magic, only his sword. That still meant he had taken well over a hundred lives, but the nearly thousand and a half he had felled with magic were still alive – most of them essentially in comas, and many of them would likely die from dehydration before waking up from their comas unless they were treated, but there was a balance between holding back and going all out that he had striven to achieve… and likely failed at.

This did mean that they were able to capture all of the enemy Champions, which was of incredible value to the war effort.

Rai met up with Mizeiya for a well-earned rest.

-x-

Death incarnate.

That was what the conscripts and soldiers saw as Isa, in her human guise and giant-sized, cut her bloody way across the battlefield, every swing of her halberd cutting someone – or an entire group – apart. More than half a dozen times a thrust sent a lance of blood shooting through the army, sending all struck screaming to their deaths; twice it led to a line of people impaled on weapon aura. When struck, she counterattacked. When blood was drawn, it splashed onto the attacker, burning them, in addition to building blood armor – and most of the time, even attacks that hit did no damage at all. More than a dozen times, she breathed dragonfire, often enhanced by star energy.

For six and a half minutes after her first attack, she tore through the enemy, an unstoppable force of destruction. For a single warrior to brutally tear apart over six hundred and fifty foes – almost fifteen percent of the entire enemy army – on her own was utterly terrifying. When her Berserk Mode finally wore off after those six and a half minutes, she fought on through her fatigue, casting Flickerform assist her in dodging attacks while she was recovering. Even without actually resting, she was able to recover her strength. It was only when she faced actual Champions that she was suffered any significant injury, but the enemy Berserker and Mage/Lancer hybrid that challenged her were split in half in single strikes, and she immediately healed herself once they were dead.

When the conscripts and soldiers realized that she wasn’t slowing down despite no longer being in Berserk Mode and being out of qi for combat arts and out of mana for dragonfire, they broke. By the time her Giant Form finally wore off, twelve minutes after she cast it, she had killed more than a thousand people. Once the Kingdom generals had felled the remaining two enemy Champions as well, the remaining Republic army members either fled or surrendered, utterly terrified of “Lady Death.”

“I think it’s safe to say that you carried us to victory,” General Lando, a cavalryman in his late thirties, said once they were back at camp. “Isa Bloodscale… to think I doubted your word that you were of Legendary tier. To be honest, I always thought the tales of heroes going against a thousand men and emerging victorious were too fanciful to be real. You emerged practically unscathed after felling more than a fifth of the enemy forces on your own. If you don’t mind my asking… what is your real race? The mage who teleported you here mentioned that you had hidden it under the illusion of a human to avoid causing a panic amongst your allies.”

“I’m a saurian – you know, the human-sized reptilian race.”

“Hence the second name. I see. Well, Lady Death, I for one am glad to have you on our side.”

Isa smiled. “Well, Landsgrace is technically where my tribe is located, even if it’s not officially part of the kingdom. And more importantly, Landsgrace is the homeland of that mage who teleported me here, with whom I am sworn partners.”

“If he’s anything like as powerful as you, I’m sure his assistance at the other battlefield has guaranteed our victory there as well.”

“I’m certain of it.”

“What will the two of you do now?”

“I suppose that depends on how the enemy responds to their crushing defeat. But we will likely remain in reserve for when we’re needed. My partner Rai wants to build his manor on the land he just bought, after all. He’ll likely be married as soon as the house is done.”

“He is betrothed, then?”

“Yes, to the woman who was with him.”

Lando nodded. “Good. Those who seek great power without attachments to others can easily lose their way.”

Isa chuckled.

-x-

King Xavier Landsgrace rubbed his temples.

“And these reports have been verified? Archmage Rai really took out four Champions and a third of the enemy forces on his own? Grand Warrior Isa really killed two Champions and a thousand troops on her own?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“That level of power… I think that this may have been about them making a point.”

“Your Majesty?”

“We have witnessed the birth of Legends. And Legends rarely swear allegiance to a Crown unless they started off as knights. This was their way of announcing their might… to friend and foe alike.”

“Are you suggesting that they will act against you?”

“No. I’m suggesting that they should be treated with caution, and not dismissed as a mere commoner and monster. You are dismissed.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Once the Captain of the Knights had left, the King turned to his Royal Advisor.

“Suggestions?” he said.

“They should be granted titles – non-hereditary ones. If I recall, there is actually a suitable title for the saurian, intended to be used to elevate a foreigner residing in Landsgrace who has proven their worth as an ally: Friend of the Kingdom. Socially, it’s equivalent to low-ranking nobility, but without the ability to take taxes from others. In practical terms, she would be addressed as Lady Isa, but referred to as ‘Friend Isa.’ This particular title hasn’t been used in quite some time, but historically, it saw considerable use.

“As for Rai Flamme, there used to be a title granted to Royal Court Mages if they were previously commoners called Magelord. Considering the fact that there haven’t been any Royal Court Mages taken from the commoner class in several centuries, most people have forgotten about it, but I feel it would be appropriate for him. He would be addressed as Magelord Rai.”

“Hm. There is merit to your suggestion. I will think on it.”