With Airi and Nanael now becoming more than capable of working together, they decided to keep watch from the skies to see if there are signs of enemy activity near or within the camp. Airi spots a female soldier holding a gun in her hand and attempting to get out of the camp with it.
"Nanael, there is a spy attempting to steal a weapon."
"All right, I will warn the others. You stop the spy from leaving." Nanael flies off to Nathan.
"You won't get away." Airi summons a few of her lesser spirits and captures the soldier.
"What is this? Let me go!" The soldier screamed.
Air landed in front of her. "You didn't think we would notice a traitor among the camp did you?"
"You're no better yourself going against your former Master after what she did to revive you."
"I probably wouldn't have left her if she didn't try to have me and Menace killed. Come on, we will see what your punishment is." Airi then drags her prisoner back into the camp.
When Nathan was alerted, he immediately rushed to find out whom the traitor was.
"A soldier of the Swamp Witch, disguised as one of ours to spy and steal. Let me tell you that you are the biggest disappointment I have ever come across in this camp."
"It doesn't matter. I've seen almost all of your camp and I got to tell you, I expected more numbers than this. All of you will soon fall before her even if you take me out."
Nathan turns to Claudette, who also rushes out after finding out about the situation. "It looks like we have our first prisoner of war. Have Risty interrogate her to see if she has any valuable information about the Swamp Witch and her forces.
"Understood." Claudette had her soldiers drag the prisoner away after returning the stolen weapon.
Nathan then turns to everyone else. "Have more security measures taken in case there are more enemy spies within the camp. We will not allow them to jeopardize our chances of winning this war."
"Yes sir!" The soldiers agreed to keep watch as they return to their positions.
The efforts of Nanael and Airi also caught Nathan's attention.
"Very good you two. I'm impressed with how well you two are able to work together. Keep it up and our chances of ending the war early will increase."
Airi and Nanael both looked at each other and smiled briefly before continuing their patrol.
Airi turns to Nathan. "Make sure not to leave us out when there is anything important okay?"
"I'll make sure that everybody is informed on what is needed, but you also have to do the same like you did earlier. Anyway, like I said, keep it up."
"Okay." Nanael flies off with Airi following behind.
Back in the swamp, Melona informed the Swamp Witch about the informants capture and she did not take the news too well.
"It appears that the land dwellers are getting smarter, especially with two of my traitors helping them. It seems as though they will provide a challenge after all, despite their smaller numbers. Nonetheless, they will never be able to overwhelm my army if that is the best they can do."
"The informant's capture could cause a high change in their security, making it harder for us to find out what they are exactly planning, while the advantage goes to them with our informant, Airi, and Menace giving them our information." Melona responded.
"It doesn't matter, because the more people stay within the camp, the less I have to deal with against their main forces. Melona, gather my forces, we have to move out quickly before too much information is given to them."
"Understood." Melona had the soldiers march to await further orders, but shows concern about fighting her former friends and wonders whether her loyalty to the Swamp Witch is worth this war.
"I don't know if I can bring myself to kill them." Melona whispers to herself, but nonetheless, follows the army under the witch's orders.
Back in the camp, Nathan decides to have training done with Echidna. After he finds getting a drink from a nearby river, Nathan hands over a spare sword to Echidna.
"What is this Nathan?" Echidna asked.
"You are the only one who I haven't defeated yet at both of our full strength, I want to see how much I can do against you."
Echidna smiles as she takes out her own sword. "I guess it is better to be more prepared for the war. Very well, I accept your challenge."
After Nathan draws his own sword, both him and Echidna charged at each other until their swords clash.
"Your grip on the sword has improved, but let's see if you have learned enough to dodge this."
Echidna attempts to disarm Nathan, but did not let go. Nonetheless, Echidna waves off his sword and attempts to sweep his legs using her own. Nathan responded to the attack by jumping and swings his sword from above, which Echidna is able to block.
"Your reflexes have also gotten much better. This will be an interesting fight after all."
"You can only get better as long as you keep trying, which is what I did." Nathan responded.
"I expected this much from you, but whether you've improved enough to defeat me is still in question. Let us continue to find out."
Echidna got out of the defensive position and jumps back a certain distance from Nathan. She then attempts another charge at Nathan, this time trying to hit fast multiple strikes with her sword, making Nathan desperate as he tries to block each strike.
As Nathan keeps blocking her strikes, he begins to examine the attack movements for a possible counter.
"There has got to be a way for me to get out of this." Nathan thought to himself.
He soon sees that in order for Echidna to continue this attack, she has to keep herself moving forward. Nathan uses this by dodging the last strike and moves for a strike towards Echidna. Echidna realizes that Nathan is attempting to strike a counter move and took out her shield to block Nathan's strike after he waves off her sword. Before she can use Keltan to strike, Nathan jumps back a certain distance from Echidna, similar to what she did earlier.
"Okay, I've got to admit, that counter was very impressive. I didn't expect anyone to figure it out so quickly."
"You were the one who trained me, of course I would know some of your moves."
"You got me there. Come on, I want to have more fun."
Their battle got more intense as they attempt to outdo each other using speed and agility rather than strength. Despite Echidna's much longer experience in combat, several factors during Nathan's journey in the Continent allows him to keep up with her skills as if he had several hundred years of training as well.
"I had fought many men before, but none pose as much of a challenge as you." Echidna blocks another one of Nathan's strikes.
"You are the only one, along with the Swamp Witch, I ever lost a fair fight against so compliments to you as well." Nathan also blocks Echidna's strike.
Unknown to them, both Alleyne and Nowa are watching the battle from the trees.
"Amazing, I had no idea Nathan could be this strong to keep up with Echidna in a fight." Nowa becomes excited as she watches.
"He defeated me earlier in a practice battle when you were busy gathering arrows for the rest of the elves. It is no surprise that he would be able to keep up with Echidna. Still though, I am impressed with what the boy has learned in such a short time. The counter against Echidna's multiple strikes is impressive. 94 points on Nathan's part for his ability to analyze his opponents weakness and taking advantage of it. Echidna, with her ability to immediately switch from offense to defense is also impressive. 92 points for her." Alleyne remarked.
"With those two on the same side, we can guarantee that we will not make it easy for the Swamp Witch to win."
"That is quite an understatement since Nathan currently leads the whole army with his battle strategies, including the use of new weapons that were brought to us by him. Without Nathan, our chances to prepare against the Swamp Witch will be very low, so I am glad that he is here."
Nowa becomes a little curious and briefly turns her attention away from the battle. "Instructor, I have never seen you care for another like that other than me. What exactly did he do to make you soft towards him?"
Alleyne immediately blushes at Nowa's question. "That information is only for me to know Nowa. All I can tell you is that maybe I might have learned a lesson from him after our first fight you witness."
"And what lesson is that?"
Alleyne looks up and smiles. "The lesson to trust others even if others don't. He was the only person I know who trusted my decision to leave my tribe to fight alongside you and the only human I have ever trusted this much to tell of my intentions. It's because of him that some of our former enemies are now fighting alongside us. In case the battle does not turn to our favor, the importance of him of being here is enough for me to protect him to make sure that he can fight to protect others. Nowa, you would be able to learn a lesson as well if you are the one who gets to fight him."
"Instructor, I think that is more than enough of a reason. Basically in other words, you like him."
Alleyne becomes flustered and strongly denies showing strong affection towards Nathan. "You already know that a relationship between the humans and elves is forbidden Nowa and there is no way that could happen because of it."
"That forbidden relationship is the reason why I was born since I am a half elf. I did notice that you have become incredibly soft towards him so there is no denying it now." Nowa continues to tease.
Alleyne becomes angry. "Keep this up and you will be punished by me."
Nowa becomes fearful of Alleyne's threat. "AHH! I am sorry Instructor, I will stop talking about it!"
With that out of the way, Alleyne and Nowa turns their attention back to the battle.
As Nathan and Echidna continue clashing swords, neither one of them shows signs of holding back or fatigue as they continue to fight the same way as the beginning.
"Neither one of us is able to land a direct blow so maybe it is time for me to give it all I got. Prepare yourself Echidna."
"If you are planning to do a final charge, then you must be a full to think I am going to fall for that."
"We shall see." Nathan faces his sword towards Echidna and lunges. Analyzing his aim, he charges towards Echidna at full speed. Echidna thought he had him figure out and tosses his sword outside with his own.
"I've got you right where I want you."
Echidna realized too late that tossing his sword was actually a part of his plan to leave her arm out. Nathan grabs Echidna's arm to prevent her from striking her sword and kicks Keltan to her abdomen to prevent her from striking and grabbing her other arm. Nathan then head butts her, causing her to become slightly disoriented, allowing Nathan to strike with a 540 crescent kick, knocking her into the water.
"Looks like I win this one." Nathan said as he watches Echidna get out of the water.
"That was a cheap shot using your head you know." Echidna still holds on to her head in pain.
"There are no rules when you are directly fighting someone in war. You can only do what you can to take down your enemy, especially if the enemy tries to destroy you."
"Fair enough. That was quite a kick back there. What do you call that technique?"
"The one I did is called the 540 crescent kick, which some people call the tornado kick. It is a common move in Taekwondo, a type of martial arts of a certain country in my world with a long history behind it."
"Seems like your world teaches some unique fighting styles don't they?"
"Yes, but as a price, you don't get as much sword training since guns replaced them as the main weapon in warfare."
"Makes me glad I am not going to your world anytime soon."
"Unfortunately, that is your problem Echidna. You rely on mostly using your sword and shield that you forgot how to use your body as a weapon. You have great speed and agility and no doubt that you know basic concept, but you can do more with your body than that."
"It seems like I have something new to learn then. Anyway, I have to get back to the camp. I will see you there." Echidna then walks away.
Alleyne and Nowa looked at each other with slight confusion after the battle. "So Instructor, what do you think?"
"I agree with Echidna that it was cheap for Nathan to use his head as a weapon to catch her off guard, but it is unique and quite effective. This is the first time I saw someone defeated like that, let alone Echidna. 89 points."
"Well, for me, this was probably the greatest fight I've ever seen, especially seeing Echidna lose a fight for the first time. I agree with you, he really does make an impact here. I hope he can continue this once the war starts."
"Don't worry. Once the battle begins, we will be giving it our all. Let's go back Nowa. I heard that some of the horses are already being delivered for battle."
Both Alleyne and Nowa then heads back to the camp. By the time they got back, more than 2,000 horses were already delivered as they plan to charge in the front to overpower their enemies using inertial mass and to protect the rest of the main forces running on foot.
Meanwhile, Nathan is back into the center again with other army leaders discussing plans for the war.
"We know that the enemies won't just come back to the plains after they retreated back to the forest so here is what we will do. Since the elves know the area so well, we could outflank them by having them fire arrows to enemy troops forcing them back to the field to allow the other traps to activate before we make our charge."
Alleyne agrees with the plan, but is also cautious about it. "It is an effective strategy, but the elven army numbers up to only several thousand. In order for the plan to work, we cannot be seen."
"I am well aware of that and that is what we will use to our advantage as well. If the elves conceal themselves completely, the opposing army will think that they are fighting a larger force than we really are, making it more effective to make them retreat back to the plains once we call them to fire."
"Good, our battle strategy is getting more effective. With the war nearing, we must have every position covered. Do we have enough arrows for this plan?" Claudette asked.
"More than 60,000 have been made in total. We already had more than 40,000 made when we first got here." Elina replied.
"That will be more than enough. Now my only concern is whether it will work."
"It should since they would have nowhere else to go since the forest is their only alternative, but guns will also be distributed to half of the elves trained for it in case there are those that are willing to go deeper, along with the sword training the elves already received." Nathan assured.
Claudette then turns to Airi. "You used to be a servant to the Swamp Witch. Are you sure that we can trust you?"
Airi then becomes serious. "Yes. I have served my Master for quite sometime only to find out that she purposely sent me away to be killed out of my human body. I want to repent my mistakes I have made while serving under her by helping you win the war."
"If that is the case, how many lesser spirits will you be able to summon?" Leina asked.
"If I used all of my energy, I should be able to summon more than 500 to aid you in battle, but I myself cannot continue and will have to retreat to get more life energy before returning."
"Just remember that the Swamp Witch still outnumbers us so we still can't let our guard down." Menace warned.
"The more difficult it is, the more interesting the battle gets." Risty replied.
"I have resurrected more of my servants to aid you, but that is all I can do for the army besides combat."
"That's okay. What you did was improved our numbers and help along with the plan." Airi smiled.
Before the meeting is dismissed, Nanael and Setra suddenly came barging in a panic.
"The Swamp Witch is coming! The Swamp Witch is coming!" Setra screamed.
Everybody is put on high alert upon hearing the news.
"The Swamp Witch is already making her move?" Nathan asked.
"Yes! I used a little of my holy milk to create a temporary barrier. Hurry up and get everyone to position!"
"Right, Airi summon the spirits, Nanael, you help assist the spirits in combat unless called, Risty, distribute the horses, Leina and Elina, get your own troops gathered outside the wall and meet in the frontline, Menace and Tomoe, you do the same, Alleyne and Nowa, you two get the elves to both sides of the forest, Echidna, order the lieutenant to distribute the guns to the elves, I will gather the gunners to the stonewall above and outside for defense, Claudette, you are with me to assist our troops' position. Are you all ready? Good, now go!" Nathan ordered as everyone scrambles to fulfill their assigned jobs.
Nathan turns to Setra. "What is the situation?"
"Very high numbers, about 60,000 heading your way."
"Help assist anyway you can Setra."
"Understood." Setra then flies off.
"Where is the army of Gainos when you need them?" Nathan whispers to himself.
Not too far from the traps set up some distance away from the camp, the barrier wears off, allowing the Swamp Witch and her forces to move as they approach closer to the camp.