Welcome to this Before Friday Thursday, where the song will unfortunately come to an end.
Enjoy!
All shall Fade…
Mercury POV
Mercury snorted as he heard the Alagaësians loudly cheer at their leader's speech. They had so much confidence, so much courage and so much pride in wanting to defend their homeland. It would be amusing to grind down that confidence down into nothing, to turn the courage into pure unblemished terror and to make them curse their pride for bringing them here.
"My lord, the men are waiting for you", Ezekiel, one of his dökkálfar advisors, said.
"I know", Mercury answered from atop his armoured horse, "I just want them to quiet down first".
It took a while, but eventually, the forces on the other side of the grass plains quieted down, and when they finally did, Mercury drew his sword from its scabbard and rode out in front of his men to show the Alagaësians just why it was that his armies had been able to conquer most of the world, with the rest of it being protectorates of the Alliance, which to Mercury was just members that did not get to have a say in Alliance politics, but still paid the same tribute as other members. It was funny how it was always the very small countries that were fiercely independent, although they were willing to submit as a protectorate immediately.
"Soldiers of the Silver Wave Alliance!", Mercury said in an unamplified voice as he lifted his sword high above his head, "I am not known for being afraid to tell you the hard truth in times like these, so trust me when I tell you that if it had been anyone else that stood in our place today, they would have trembled at the sight before them.
And yet, despite of the seemingly overwhelming odds, I have full confidence in our victory here today! You want to know why that is? It is because time and time again, I have asked each and every one of you to help me accomplish what others deemed impossible, to stand strong where others would have wavered!
It is because I know that each time that I ask the impossible of you, you, as the proud and mighty soldiers that you are, shrug off the mantle of fear and redefine what is possible. And you know what? Today's battle is not an impossible battle, so it should be a walk in the park for you!
Now, for the Siege of Rushno and all the impossible battles that have been since then, I bid you stand strong and remember that after today, this war will be over!"
As Mercury finished his speech, the silent mantra of the First Sword began. It was a tradition of the First Sword that before any important battle, they would bang their weapons against their shields 26 times to represent the 26 days that the original members held out under impossible conditions during the Siege of Rushno.
Though the other two Swords never usually performed this mantra, they quickly found the rhythm and joined in as well. It had to be a terrifying sight for the Alagaësians to see as this professional army moved with one mind, as they all simultaneously stopped after the 26th bang.
After it had all stopped, Mercury returned to his command-tower, from which he would direct the battle from here on out. The heavy steel-plate armour was cumbersome to move around in, though he managed to do it with the same grace and speed that he had once done in his old leather armour.
It truly was a paradox that now, when he was at his strongest and was the closest to being invincible that he had ever been, he had to protect his body that much more with heavy steel plates. Still, it could not be helped, as he had to make sure that he never again suffered any wounds of importance. It could quickly become problematic for him if he did.
Once Mercury had finally returned to his command-tower, along with the rest of his advisors, the battle could officially begin.
"Give them a volley", Mercury said to Ezekiel, the advisor in charge of his artillery, and soon enough, death began to rain down upon the enemy from Mercury's onagers with their superior range.
As expected, Evandar chose to try and push his own artillery forward in his centre to counter the bombardment, while the ones at his flanks rolled out to try and begin bombardment of Mercury's flanks. Human archery divisions and what looked like the entire elven force quickly piled out in between the enemy onagers and advanced ahead of them.
"Tell all crossbow Decans to advance and return fire, but to focus on the human archers", Mercury calmly instructed from the safety of his command-tower, before he turned to Ezekiel and calmly said, "they do not seem to have thought much about our cannons, so have the cannons wait until the enemy siege engines are in effective range before asking for permission to fire, and instruct the onagers to keep firing on the enemy ones".
"Yes, my lord", the two advisors spoke simultaneously and began to carry out their orders, as Mercury continued to watch the battle proceed.
Half of the elves seemed to be more interested in using their stored up energy to safeguard their onagers from any possible threats to them than actually shooting any arrows, which meant that most of his onagers never actually hit any of the enemy ones.
To waste so much energy on such trivial matters, Mercury mused with a smirk tugging at his lips, if things remain as they are right now, then the human archers will be decimated, the elves will lose most of their strength on trying to keep the onagers alive and therefore be unable to ward against my crossbow units. It is such a shame that the enemy onagers will soon be in range.
"The cannon crews report that the enemy have reached effective range", Ezekiel reported calmly, "they await your permission to open fire".
It would be the first time in recorded history that cannons would actually be used in a real battle, as Mercury had purposely made sure to stall the development of any such technology until recently. His decision to stall the development of such weapons had less to do with any moral reasons that one might have and more to do with entirely other reasons.
One such reason was that although Mercury did not like to admit it, he did actually feel quite comfortable in waging war in the way that he always had been, and if he had introduced guns to this world sooner, then he would have had to fight battles in an entirely different way than he had in the past.
There was after all, no telling whether such weapons would spread beyond the Alliance's borders, and if that happened, then it could quickly turn messy. Another reason for his decision to stall the production of such weapons was that if everyone had access to guns, then he would have no longer been able to put down rebellions as easily as he had been in the past, as the training and discipline of his soldiers would come to mean much less with guns around.
By waiting until now to allow research into cannons to be conducted, Mercury had ensured that the only cannons currently in existence were those at his flanks, which were still very much considered experimental units by the Tribunal and the rest of the military structure, but after today, Mercury was sure that production of cannons would quickly escalate exponentially.
In the end, it would not matter, as Mercury would have already enacted his final plan before the cannons could ever become a real threat to his usual way of waging war.
"Fire", Mercury uttered the word that would irrevocably change warfare.
As the first salvo was released, the customary plume of smoke arose from his flanks, and although the cannons were currently far from being pinpoint accurate, some cannonballs still hit home as they smashed everything in their path.
A collective gasp could almost be heard from the enemy army as they all, even the archers and onager crews, stopped whatever it was that they were doing and watched in a stupor. Since Mercury had prioritized a continuous fire over one large strike, the cannons took turns to fire while the others reloaded, so before enough time had passed to let the enemy recollect, another salvo was released.
The second salvo was better aimed than the first one had been, and already, Mercury could see many of the onager crews abandoning their machines in favour of fleeing from his cannons. It was actually rather amusing to Mercury that they did that, as his cannons were hardly any more effective than his onagers would have been, but he knew that the strength of gunpowder weaponry, for now at least, would be firmly stuck in their psychological effect, rather than their material effect.
After the third salvo was over, almost all of the onager crews on the flanks had already fled, and those that had not already soon did so too, despite them leaving behind an almost untouched collection of onagers that would still have been able to do much damage if they were in play.
"Have the cannons target the centre", Mercury instructed and watched as a fourth salvo was released into the centre to grizzly effect, as the cannonballs cut through all that stood in their path.
The enemy archers would no doubt have routed if Mercury had been allowed to continue to fire into their ranks, but Evandar finally seemed to pull himself together as he ordered a full retreat of his forward forces in order to avoid an actual rout.
"Tell the skirmish line to fall back again", Mercury instructed as the enemy's skirmish line withdrew.
"But, my lord, they could still inflict more enemy casualties", the advisor, which was responsible for the crossbow Decans, objected.
"The enemy will soon close to melee, and I do not want them in the middle of that", Mercury argued, "do it".
"I understand, my lord", the advisor said obediently.
Shortly after that, many things happened all at once that all seemed to require Mercury's immediate attention. The dragon riders took to the air with roars of challenge, the Surdan cavalry began to charge across the plains and reports were streaming in of enemy mages trying to find and destroy the mages responsible for his units' wards.
"Have the cannons switch to canister shots and target the cavalry, tell the battlemages to not engage in mental combat unless absolutely necessary and inform the Knight-Wings to launch", Mercury barked out his orders in near lightning speed, "have the main force of the Artaxian cavalry charge the enemy after they reach the minimum safe distance for the cannons, while the Nubian cavalry is to circle around the enemy and charge into them from the rear".
The Artaxian cavalry was famous throughout the entire Alliance for being the heaviest and most hard-hitting cavalry in existence, which was the result of a combination of having bred their horses for this exact purpose for the past eight centuries and then their riders' belief that stated that dying on the battlefield against a heathen enemy was a sure-cut way of getting into their version of heaven, which made all the riders utterly fearless in battle.
Mercury personally did not like their belief in such things, but he was more than willing to utilize it, as just because he had a personal dislike for religion in general, he still found strongly religious people to be excellent allies. That is, if they could be controlled.
The Nubian cavalry on the other hand was far simpler, as it was simply cavalry imported from the desert province that had been bred for speed and speed alone. They could actually win against the Artaxian cavalry if it ever came down to it, but only by utilizing their superior speed and the horseback-archery lessons that any Nubian child was taught from the moment that they could sit on a horse, but for today, they were simply equipped with lances and were simply meant to smash into the enemy's rear again and again until they eventually broke and routed.
Screeches split the air as his Knight-Wings finally revealed themselves to the enemy, with their leathery wings, sharp talons and their armoured mage riders.
Shortly after their empire had fallen, Mercury had gathered all of the ra'zac and lethrblaka together and had in very direct terms given them an ultimatum; find another source of food or face extinction, and suddenly, most of the lethrblaka race had discovered that fish tasted quite alright as well.
There had of course been minor incidents in the start, where a lethrblaka or a ra'zac would lose control and eat a human, but whenever that happened, the guilty party was sentenced to death and the rest of the race continued on living, until the point eventually came where the new generation of ra'zac' saw the eating of humans as something utterly distasteful, and not just a desire that they had to forego.
Once that point had been reached, which had admittedly taken quite a few decades, Mercury's future plans were finally able to be set into motion and the Knight-Wing program had been started, though under a different name at the time.
Despite their progress in adapting to the new society, the humans of Damocles had still feared and mistrusted the ra'zac and their parents, so on top of the quite generous pay that he already offered to those that volunteered to try and partner with the lethrblaka willing to serve in the program, Mercury had also had to offer them knighthood on top of that, which meant a small tax cut, exemption from a few minor laws and a few other rights.
That had been when the program had gained its name and why the new units had been dubbed Knight-Wings, but unlike the dragon riders and their bond with their dragons, the Knight-Wing pairs had had to build that level of trust and loyalty to one another by themselves in the old-fashioned way, which took considerable time and effort on both' part.
In the end though, it had all been worth the effort, as Mercury had lost track of how many engagements that he had won thanks to having aerial superiority and the massive psychological effects that came with it, and now they would begin the ultimate test of their training.
I expected that you might react this way, Evandar, Mercury mused darkly as he watched Evandar abandon any thought of the cannons and instead have all of his dragon riders target the Knight-Wings instead, with the lethrblaka in front of you, you will focus on them and nothing else, paving the road for my ultimate victory.
As his Knight-Wings clashed with the enemy dragon riders in mid-air, Mercury knew that his force would do well despite their inferior numbers, as his Knight-Wings had been trained to always work together in tandem with another Knight-Wing, and unlike the dragon riders that had grown complacent in their dragons' superiority, the Knight-Wings were trained to actually use tactics to overcome superior numbers and strength.
"Extend the line 500 metres to both sides", Mercury looked away from the carnage in the air to direct his ground battle.
"But, my lord, our line cannot hope to hold if the enemy charges us", one of his advisors warned.
"I know that; do it anyway", Mercury overruled him, "has the enemy cavalry routed yet?"
"Not yet, sir, but my men report that it will not be long", another advisor answered.
"Good, tell the men that I want an outwards going crescent moon formation with the cannons at the tips, where they will fire on the enemy flanks and draw them towards their centre", Mercury ordered, "make sure that the arms are long enough apart for the enemy to be able to get in between them".
The same advisor that objected earlier was just about to do so again, which Mercury could fully understand, as he had only released his battleplans on a need to know basis to keep them as secret as possible, which was key in them actually working, and that particular advisor had not needed to know, so he did not, but despite this lack of knowledge, the advisor still managed to keep his tongue this time.
"My lord, are you deliberately trying to get them to melee with us?", the nervous advisor questioned after bombardment had been recommenced of the enemy flanks, "because I would strongly advise against that course of action. According to my reports and my own estimations, closing to melee with some of these people would inflict heavy, if not catastrophic casualties on our side".
"I know", Mercury responded with a shrug, "and yet that is exactly the course of action that I intend to take. You see, Lord Lorraine, there is no way that we can win this fight by fighting as we usually do, as the enemy simply outnumbers and in some cases outclasses us so much that we would run out of ammunition before we would stand a chance of winning over them in a melee combat".
It was true, Mercury had known going in that no matter how much better his artillery and skirmisher troops were, it would not be enough to outweigh the sheer number advantage that the enemy had, although he could likely have won the war anyway if he had turned this battle into a drawn out fight-and-flight battle, where his troops would constantly nib at the enemy and then retreat, but without ever engaging them for real, and by constantly being a step in front of the enemy behemoth.
Why will they not charge?, Mercury mused as his forced continued to annoy the enemy but without really causing significant damage to them, though the enemy cavalry had routed at this point, has he really managed to convince them not to charge, even while under fire and without the possibility of returning it?
Just as Mercury finished these thoughts, the enemy slowly began to move. The urgalgra race was the first to charge ahead, but the humans were a close second, while the dwarves came in third and a seemingly reluctant elven force charged after them into what looked most of all like an arrow that went straight in between the arms of his crescent moon and was headed towards his weakened centre, which would certainly not be able to hold back such a force.
"Tell the Knight-Wings to pull out immediately!", Mercury shouted, before he turned to his representative from the SEC and darkly said, "do it".
As the dragon riders watched the Knight-Wings seemingly rout to find safety along Mercury's ground troops, they chose to cheer at their victory and stay circling above their allied forces, which were still charging with furious cries of war and cheers at the riders' victory.
The main body of the enemy's force was now placed directly in the centre between the forces furthest to Mercury's front and his rear, as well as between those to either side, and the dragon riders were flying just above them at that specific time.
"You might want to hold onto something", Mercury announced as he grabbed the wooden railing of his command-tower, and just a moment after he had done so, a cataclysmic event tore shook the ground and made the tower quake in its reinforced foundations, though it managed to hold firm.
The very ground underneath the enemy exploded upwards in a furious roar of flames and debris that were blown upwards and crashed into the unsuspecting dragon riders. It was an astonishing sight to see, and if Mercury had to liken it to something, he would liken it to a volcano suddenly erupting in a blast that tore everything with it.
It was not such a thing however, as it was merely the result of the SEC being ordered to excavate the ground underneath where the enemy had been, in order to store countless barrels of the explosive salt that Mercury had only now given them the formula to make, so that they could make the necessary quantities.
"Gods above and below", Ezekiel murmured astonished as he watched the debris of the explosion slowly stop its ascent and begin to fall down just a short distance from where Mercury had stationed his troops.
"Tell the cavalry to ride down any reserves that they might still have, and have the ground forces begin to encircle the crater", Mercury tore everyone out of their stupor by saying, "oh, and make sure that the Knight-Wings take care of any dragon riders that might still be alive".
"Once at, I mean, my once, uhh, at once, my lord", one of his advisors stumbled over his words as he came out of his stupor, quickly followed by the rest of his command staff.
"This battle is now over", Mercury announced as he turned around to leave the command-tower, "I leave the clean-up of it in your hands. I expect a detailed report from each of the heads of the branches on my desk by the beginning of next week".
"Yes, thank you, my lord", came a chorus of voices from behind Mercury as he left.
The dragon riders and all those that could have possible hoped to challenge me have now been vanquished, he mused as he cast one look back towards the dust cloud that surrounded the crater where the enemy main force had once been, from this moment on, Albion belongs to me, and I am now one step closer to reaching my final goal.
So...that was the end of the grand army...
In a related matter, I have never before wished for background music to be available between the lines as I have right now. Specifically, I would like for The Master by Nakagawa Koutarou to be played right at the end, as it has the right feeling of...imperialistic dread.