Chapter 25: Freed from the Tiger's Claws

The enemy swarmed the encampment as Soren tried his best to save himself and his men.

From every imaginable angle, the archsage saw a threat heading his way. Yet, somehow there seemed to be few veterans around him. Those who were still at camp, such as Nepheene or even Oscar (as Lucia wanted someone reliable to also be around to protect Soren in case the plan did go wrong), were too busy fending off quite a few foes on their own. Thus, he found himself blasting away at enemy troops alone.

Lucia... He couldn't spot her in the chaos. Knowing her, she'd come running towards him, hacking down enemy soldiers to reach him. Together, they could perform combination attacks upon enemy units, but since Lucia was nowhere to be found, Soren had to watch his own back.

Soren watched Astrid pop out from her tent and feather a soldier that was headed for Oscar, before rushing to his side on foot. She was not a sniper in the strictest sense of the term, but a silver knight was well versed in archery regardless, and thus she could hold her own even though she was on the ground.

Unsurprisingly, Oscar lifted her onto his saddle, and found himself able to attack enemies normally without being affected by the shift in weight, and thus Astrid found her own shots to be far more accurate, and devastating as a result. Together they took down anyone who tried to get close.

Soren could just stare at the couple and shake his head. Watching them made him miss Lucia more.

But it seemed that the enemy wouldn't let him take a break. Three gold knights came charging from behind him, and with a sigh Soren raised a hand in their direction and yelled "Gale," sending them flying from that green hurricane. It was funny how Tornado required more training in the arts of Wind magic, but it made sense since Tornado concentrated more power upon a smaller number of foes. Gale, like Smack, was based on Elwind, but Gale required much less energy than Smack and could strike a wave of targets. Soren decided to save Smack for more troublesome foes. (1.)

More units started to pour in: Marshals, Seraph Knights, even Marksman, and the soldiers stationed with Soren did what they could to stay alive.

Soren continued to twirl about, blasting foes until he saw a Tornado slam through enemy lines, and Dalia rode forth.

"I finally found you. Get on, quickly. We have no time to waste." She spoke sternly.

"General? Did you find Lucia? Whatever happened to the others?" Soren asked eagerly.

"I found no one, other than Sir Oscar and Dame Astrid over there." Dalia pointed her thumb in their direction. "Finding you was already a miracle. We have to get out of here, otherwise we'll be overwhelmed. There just aren't enough of us to prevail. Several of our finest soldiers are down already."

"We cannot leave now... There are too many soldiers who will die if we leave immediately. It is a fool's move either tactically or morally for us to abandon them."

"You were more of a fool for letting us get into this situation." Dalia scoffed. "But enough of that. Master Soren, we have to leave: NOW."

Soren gulped. There was no arguing with her, was there?

It was at that moment that Lucia sprang her ambush, and the countless regiments of soldiers that she kept hidden emerged and surrounded the enemies who were trying to get rid of their main camp.

Upon seeing the sheer number of allied soldiers that came up from behind their foes, Dalia laughed. "Looking for Lucia? Well, there's your answer."

"The thing is..." Soren gulped, showing her that he actually could feel worried. "Will we be skewered on an edge of a lance before she reaches us?"

"You're not that weak, are you, Soren?" Dalia chuckled.

For a moment, Soren paused, then smiled. "True. It'll take them forever to get rid of one of us, let alone together. We should make it a priority to save our trapped forces and maintain our morale, since it's pretty clear that the tables have turned."

"That we shall." Dalia nodded as she reared her mare. Soren quickly held onto her waist as Dalia plunged them forth towards the bulk of their weary army.

The hours passed, and the Confederate army frantically cut a path through Coalition lines to flee back to Telgam's gate.

At the same time, the Coalition's remaining forces hurried to Lucia's main camp, taking whatever they could from the camp Soren had established initially. Sanaki was furious at Soren, no doubt, while Elincia was speechless and Tibarn was completely silent.

"Why do we have you as a strategist if you'll just get our men killed?" Sanaki hissed.

Soren glanced hopefully at Sigrun for support, but all she and Tanith could do was give him cold stares. Tanith even had a vein bulging out of her forehead in spite of her calm coolness, and Soren began to feel quite nervous.

Though Dalia was friendly with him on the battlefield, she too just gave him a glare. Tauroneo and Titania did not look amused either, and Soren began to sweat.

He glanced at Lucia, who refused to look at him.

"Er... I made a major strategic error when I placed my camp there. I greatly underestimated the enemy's morale and tactical sense. Their supposed gambit nearly jeopardized our operation, and I ask that you take consideration of my earlier successes and not demote me just yet." Soren muttered, staring at Sanaki with pleading eyes.

Elincia, who knew exactly what Soren was capable of, seemed eager to bend and vote for the continuation of Soren being in charge of their operations, while Tibarn seemed to merely consider it. He needed at least two out of the three rulers to approve of his post, since Skrimir probably couldn't understand half of what was going on and Daein had no equivalent member to speak of, as Tauroneo was technically Soren's subordinate and Dalia was a relatively new recruit.

"It is because of your earlier successes that I am appalled that you would even consider such a stupid move. I should have Tanith twist your arm a few hundred times for being such an incredible idiot. Because of that decision, countless brave soldiers of ours are dead, dead because they trusted you with their lives! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have you flogged this very minute!"

"Empress! We've gotten this far because of him, to exec..." Elincia stammered, but was quickly cut off.

"I didn't say 'kill him,' for I'm not suicidal, but I did say flog him. Though he should be dead for the number of casualties he caused, intense pain is a fair enough compromise that would whack him back to his senses." Sanaki crossed her arms.

"Permission to speak freely, ma'am..." Dalia began, but Sanaki had already nodded before she completed her sentence.

"... I fully agree with that flogging, and I think we should add a few punches to the face for good measure."

Soren glanced at Titania, for if Ashera had any mercy she would have the other major officers object to Dalia's cruel proposal, but Titania and Tauroneo merely nodded. "By military law, such a blunder deserves a demotion to boot." Tauroneo added.

Soren was just about ready to get on his knees and beg Lucia to stand up for him...

But at that moment he just laughed. That would be a spineless move. "Very well. I understand that I deserve a just punishment for what I did back there." His face grew more solemn. "Those brave men are dead because of me... But if I were to be removed of command now, their deaths would be in vain. Lucia is no doubt an excellent strategist, but I fear that her track record is insufficient for this particular mission."

"What?" Lucia glared at him in shock.

"Sorry, Lucia." Soren smiled embarrassingly, but his face reverted to a stern expression. "But I already have a plan in place to take Telgam. Empress, if you allow me to make up for that horrible failure and retake the citadel, the casualties we have suffered will not have been in vain and our mission will be fulfilled. Let my future deeds make up for what I did today. If you still wish to punish me in the aftermath, I will not object for my mission will have been complete."

Dalia blinked. Surely Soren wasn't bragging. He'd gotten them this far, and she trusted that he'd succeed here too. "As a longtime veteran, I think that's fair." She muttered.

Titania nodded. "I can vouch for him. Soren does not break his word, and if he does an execution would be in order."

Lucia staggered, startled by Titania's frankness, while Soren suddenly shivered as though he was hit by a blizzard.

Tauroneo just turned to Sanaki, to see how she would respond, while Elincia clasped her hands together with joy. Tibarn just shrugged his shoulders.

"He is our best strategist, and he's our best bet for taking Telgam." He mumbled.

Sanaki sighed. "Very well. You'd better take the city with as few losses as possible. Your performance will determine the punishment you will receive... After all, I don't want Lucia to be devastated enough to become unable to fulfill her duties as well. If I had to execute you I'd be losing two strategists with one stroke."

Lucia just blushed, speechless at that declaration, while Soren also looked away in embarrassment.

1. For the new weapons I have invented, I will be releasing a new Weapon chart towards the end of the fic.

But basically, Gale has an A ranking. Tornado has a S ranking. Elwind has a D ranking. All of these are what one would expect, no? Smack, like Cymbeline, is a special tome. Smack can only be used by Soren.

Also, I remember in an earlier chapter that Bastian used Rexcalibur against a bunch of ravens. Though Bastian is still that powerful, he's annoying enough for Soren to leave as a stationed tank in West Daein (AKA any attempt to take Coalition territory by Izuka will fail with Bastian in front of them.)

When it comes to damage radius (splash damage), Gale has the highest radius (hurricane, go figure), Rexcalibur (massive wind storm, though not as fast or wide as a hurricane) is second, Smack is third (since it's basically a wind cannon, though it could potentially kill more targets than both Gale or Rexcalibur), Elwind (smaller, weaker Smack) is fourth, and the others are practically moot when it comes to hitting number of targets.

Arcwind is basically a weaker, much narrower version of Rexcalibur with significantly shorter range, making Elwind more effective than it at killing lots of stuff at once. Tornado is just as it sounds, a Tornado. It has relatively limited range but deals huge damage to whatever it hits.

Sorry for the short chappy, folks. Just wanted to get this Arc over with before I can begin the main siege of Telgam and beyond Arc. Expect more Lucia tactics and more cutscenes with more characters.

And, oh yes, Ilyana is not dead. She's just, er, still in enemy hands.