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Cover Art: GWBrex
Chapter 74
It wasn't his first combat, but it could, in a sense, be called his first war. It felt different to what they'd done in Mistral, and even the naval battle in Menagerie. Those had been distant affairs, with him using magic in both cases to take down structures like walls and ships. His duel with Willow Schnee had been somewhat orderly, or at least less chaotic. He'd thought he had a good idea of what it would be like from that, but he was wrong. Those were small skirmishes at best, with isolated pockets of fighting. Nothing like this.
Jaune gripped Adam's sword in two hands and swept down toward a soldier who looked exhausted. The man blocked weakly with his shield, drenched with sweat, and gasping for air. There was no counterattack, no effort put into fighting back, only in preserving his own life. Why the man hadn't been allowed to fall back, Jaune didn't know, but the ranks behind him weren't giving him any room to back off, and Jaune couldn't give him any.
There were bodies pressing in on every side, holding the soldier in place and preventing him from going sideways or back, and Jaune couldn't let him go forward and break their line. He swung down, feinted, and brought Adam's sword back for a stab under the left side of the shield as it rose. He felt the sword sink into something and heard the man's breath rattle. He dropped, more like he was giving into his exhaustion than from pain. He might have lived if it wasn't for another, fresher figure immediately being forced onto the dying man, boots crunching him underfoot.
It wasn't even intentional. His new foe was simply pushed there by the mass of bodies and left with two choices – kill or be killed. The man screamed in combined fury and fear, stabbing wildly at Jaune with an arming sword. Jaune parried as best he could, but he didn't have much room either. Adam's sword was a big thing that required a lot of elbow movement, and the faunus were pressed in close on his left and right, limiting his space. He just about got the stabbing sword away from his stomach, but it still clipped his side, grating off his aura. The man yanked it back and stabbed again, knowing his only hope was to kill fast and forego any defence.
Even if that worked, it wouldn't have saved him. Everyone here knew the only way they'd be safe was if they killed their enemy faster, but there were more reserves on both sides. Even if they killed their foe, a new one would step up, and soon they'd run out of stamina and start to slow down, until a fresher enemy dispatched them like Jaune had the first. It was such a hopeless and grim affair in which every single person in the front few ranks knew they were going to die. There was just no real way for them to be drawn out of combat with how quickly the church's organisation had crumbled. The church simply didn't know how to fight a war in which their Chosen didn't immediately dominate the battlefield and send their enemy into disarray.
Why would they? It hadn't happened for thousands of years. It wasn't supposed to be possible.
Jaune exchanged blows with his foe for a minute or two, an eternity in a battle, choosing not to take some early opportunities to end the man's life. He'd only be replaced by someone fresher, and as the man slowed his attacks, it gave Jaune a chance to catch his breath as well. The drums echoed behind them, signalling that the initial defenders had fallen back to the second line. It would be time for them to back off as well, in which case this man might actually have some breathing room to back away and get some rest.
Such was the thought until the faunus on Jaune's right, seeing an opportunity, jabbed at Jaune's foe without warning. The soldier had been more focused on him and didn't see the thrust coming from his left until the spear tip lodged in his throat, catching him beneath his helmet and above his breastplate, where thick, padded leather hadn't quite provided enough protection. He gurgled, surprised, before he crumpled to his knees.
The faunus flashed Jaune a grin, and he replied with a quiet "nice work", not really feeling all that happy at all but knowing it had been meant well. They were battle brothers for now, shoulder to shoulder, and it was his responsibility to look after them as it was for them to cover him. This was no duel. There were no rules. If you saw a chance to kill the man engaged with the partner to your left while they were distracted, you took it.
His next opponent, pushed forward by the mass, clearly didn't want to be there. A boy of no more than 18 winters, drawn up as levy, handed a long shield and bringing with him an axe from home. A hatchet, more like. He leaned back from Jaune's bloodstained figure and brought his shield up to hide away, obscuring his vision entirely. It was a poor move. The faunus on Jaune's left saw his chance and stabbed his sword down into the boy's leg, and the boy screamed and brought his shield down to try and push the weapon out, leaving himself completely open to a spear from the right punching into his eye and killing him. Seconds. The boy had come here, no doubt terrified, and had died within seconds. The pile of bodies, three high, provided a moment of reprieve as his new foe couldn't easily stand upon them.
"Focus!" barked Ozma. "This is Salem's doing! Focus or you will die as well!"
A horn sounded behind them, and the line froze. Jaune clenched his teeth and stabbed suddenly to his right, catching the opponent of the faunus there in the neck and tearing out his windpipe. With his opponent still struggling to reach him, Jaune roared and brought Adam's sword up and round, cutting into the enemy to his left. He'd returned the favour and freed up the faunus who had killed his enemies before.
These people… even if he didn't hate them, even if he pitied them, he had to think of them as enemies for now. There was no other way. The faunus to his left and right were probably thinking the same awful thoughts he was. Maybe they all were. Jaune took a step back, raised his voice and shouted, "Back to the next line! Stay in order!"
This was the dangerous part. The enemy could see what was happening, and their commanders knew this was a chance to catch them out. Jaune heard a woman, likely a Chosen, screaming, "Push! Take them now! Cut them down!"
It was tempting to throw a wall of fire toward her, but that would expose him and cost them the whole battle. Jaune took a single step back instead, making sure he didn't go further than his allies could and stretch the line. They stepped down off the raised barricades they'd made, which meant the enemy had to step up, momentarily taking the high ground and putting them two whole feet above their heads.
"DOWN!" screamed Taiyang from behind them. "FIRE!"
Jaune's knee hit the ground at the same time bowstrings twanged behind them. A hail of arrows buzzed overhead, taking their enemy right in the chests, and knocking them back off the barricades, or at least making them stumble if they survived it. Jaune turned and broke, running back to their next line as their archers did their best to make climbing their first barricade a health hazard.
Firing an arrow straight wasn't as simple as it looked, that much Jaune knew, and he wasn't surprised to see some sticking out his own allies, or when one whizzed close by his ear. Luckily, they had aura to protect them, so the few incidences of friendly fire probably didn't kill anyone. There would have been more deaths if they had to turn their backs on the enemy and run back to their second battleline.
There, they found the faunus they'd relieved catching their breath, kneeling on the edge as archers stood behind and unleashed hell on the enemy. Occasionally, a fireball or streak of lightning would be thrown in among that, but they were sporadic. There were few here like him, Ruby or Ren who could really afford to keep using that much aura. Most of them were much better served using it to protect themselves.
"Glad to see you made it," said Taiyang, holding out a hand and dragging Jaune up the next barricade. He was surprised by how sore and tired he already felt. It couldn't have been that long a fight. "Their confusion won't last. Give them a few seconds and they'll start climbing the barricade with a proper shield formation again."
"Where is Adam-?"
"Far right flank. He's got Pyrrha and Weiss with him, and they're using magic but making it look like him. Any average soldier seeing that is going to think he's you."
"Then why haven't they taken the bait?"
"They may have. Moving a few thousand men around isn't a quick or easy thing. It takes time. If they've taken the bait and are moving the bulk of their forces here, then we won't know that until they're committed. It could take up to a full hour."
An hour. Sixty minutes. That felt like such a ridiculous length of time for a battle like this, though Jaune could tell they'd entered a lull now. The enemy weren't coming charging over the barricade, and their own archers had stopped firing due to a lack of targets.
"Looks like we've got a moment," said Taiyang. "Can't blame them. I'd call a pause after taking the first barricade too. It's obvious we've got another line, and they don't want to go stumbling into it like idiots."
"What will they do?"
"Gather the wounded, clear out the dead, resupply and give their soldiers a few minutes to catch their breath." Taiyang crouched and sat on the edge of the barricade, feet off the edge. Jaune mimicked him, too tired to argue. "It's good for us as well. Better for us, in fact. We've less numbers so our side has to fight harder. We're far more tired than they are."
"I'm surprised they don't press on because of that."
"It's because fatigue isn't the only thing tha decides the battle. It's morale. The church would rather take the victory of overcoming our first line and give their troops a break to regain some morale than push on and have the whole flank rout." He nodded to the right. "And this buys into their plan anyway. As long as they keep an eye on Adam and think he's you, this is more time for them to shift the bulk of their forces here and smash through our lines."
"Fine." Jaune let out a breath. "Let them come. Is Ruby safe?"
Taiyang smiled. "Aye. I managed to convince her she could do better safely behind the lines throwing her magic around. Yang is with her, keeping an eye on and protecting her. I should thank you for that," he said. "If you hadn't taught her to use magic, she'd have wanted to get stuck in. The tribe might not think much of risking its children – the strong survive – but I know Summer would never forgive me if I let anything happen to Ruby."
"I'm glad I could help."
"You've done more than that." Taiyang clapped Jaune on the shoulder and stood. "Take this moment to catch your breath. Lulls like this never last long. I'm going to go speak with the ones that held the first line. They'll be the new reservists and they need to know when to strike. We'll have your back the moment the church commits."
"Let's just hope Sienna can hold her line as well."
"Aye. Let's hope so."
/-/
It was closer to thirty minutes of rest they got. Time enough to catch their breath and even eat a short meal. Time for wounds to be patched up as well as arrows brought forth from supplies. It was time both sides used well, but time the church probably felt they got more out of. The main battle was continuing on Sienna's side, and the odds there were in the church's favour, so they must have felt they could prod the faunus into an impatient assault.
Or, more morbidly, perhaps they felt hanging back would invite them to use more magic and expend their aura, weakening them at the cost of hundreds of dead levied civilians. Perhaps someone in the enemy lines thought that trade worth it, and, on a purely strategic level, it probably would have been. They genuinely believed he was a monster looking to bring about the end of the world, after all. Why not make sacrifices to stop that?
Helpfully, they signalled the commencement of hostilities with the beat of drums and the blare of horns. It was probably something they didn't have much choice over, the alternative being to send hundreds of messengers about to whisper into thousands of ears. It wasn't like they wouldn't have noticed when the first climbed over the barricades anyway. Jaune made sure his hood was in place and brandished Adam's sword, standing tall atop his own raised earth as the first soldiers crested their side, shields up in front of them.
They didn't make for a tight shield wall this time, having learned that lesson before, but they'd put some thought into it. They were in a loose formation, but several ranks deep, and arrayed in a pattern that meant no arrows would find their way through. They marched forward about fifteen metres and then stopped, creating cover for more to come behind and fill in the gaps. Then, they held still, standing there as minutes ticked by.
"What are they doing?" asked the faunus to Jaune's left. "Do you think they're waiting for something?"
"They're destroying the barricade," said another. "It's slowing them down, so they're breaking it to pieces. Using these ones for cover. Listen, you can hear the logs being chopped at. Once it's down, they'll have an easier time advancing."
Now that he mentioned it, Jaune could hear it. The thunk, thunk, thunk rising over the distant sounds of battle. It felt wasteful, but he supposed that anyone having to clamber over it would expose themselves to archers, so the wasted time was probably worth it from their point of view. It would also mean their push could hit the lines harder and wouldn't need to scramble over a three-foot barricade en route.
It didn't take them long either way, and then they were moving again, approaching in their loose formation. They didn't bother charging into the line anymore, knowing it was pointless. Their battleplan now was to grind them down in a war of attrition. Or at least, that's how they presented it. Jaune noticed the heads in the distance. There were many more than there had been before. Adam has convinced them he was the Dark Lord, and he was going crazy on the far right. Jaune's current position to the left, closer to Sienna's side of the battle, made it the best spot to break through, loop around, and crush Sienna's flank.
The church would gladly leave the Dark Lord to win one tiny fraction of the battle if they could rout everyone else. Robbed of allies and his army, they could hunt him down. Their goal might not even be to kill him here, though they'd take the chance, but to drive the faunus back and take away his army.
It was because of that fact that he wasn't surprised when horns blew in wild succession and, suddenly, a roar rose up. The front lines charged, but behind them charged many more, at least a thousand men, the church's professional soldiers backed up by Chosen, rising up from behind the destroyed barricades and rushing forward.
Jaune took a step back and let another faunus take his gap. He turned, throwing up a small burst of fire into the sky to signal the reserves. Taiyang would see it, as would Ruby and all those in the back with bows and magic to spare. The signal was simple – fire in this direction. As the lines met, and the fighting began, a much larger force approached, prepared to hit the lines like a sledgehammer and burst through.
"Are you ready?" asked Jaune.
"I am ready," said Ozma. "It will be disorienting. There is a reason I only used this on you once before, and when I was in complete control. Even then, I was driven mad by Salem's presence. This is a dangerous magic."
"Good." Jaune felt his aura swirl around him. It glowed a visible orange, curling like wisps of flame. The Chosen might have sensed something, but they couldn't stop this now, and the faunus army was using aura en masse. To the Chosen's senses, their whole line shone with aura.
It was a smokescreen.
He looked back and saw Taiyang racing in with his reservists. A much smaller force than the church's, but each with aura, all fresh. And the enemy were about to be very surprised indeed. Jaune took a deep breath, looked to Taiyang, and nodded. Then he stepped up onto a raised platform and looked at the enemy army. His aura twisted in an unfamiliar motion by Ozma, reaching out with what felt like a tendril buried deep within his spine.
"Prepare!"
The world flickered.
There was no better way to describe it. All light dimmed and then returned brighter than ever, and his senses were assaulted on every side. Jaune appeared among the charging enemy and felt his mind overload as sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste crashed back into his body. He'd skipped maybe 50 feet at most, but that distance was still enough for him to feel disoriented.
And it was no less a shock for the soldiers he had appeared in the midst of, who turned to him in shock. A woman before him froze, her bright green eyes widening to comical proportions as the aura fell off him in waves.
"The Dark Lord!" she shrieked, as Jaune's hood slid back from the sudden transportation. "He's he-"
Jaune's aura unleashed.
It burst out from him as flame and heat, exploding out in one great, cataclysmic blast that incinerated those closest to him and burnt those behind. Those lucky enough to survive were thrown back with horrific force, sent crashing into their allies, and causing a chain reaction that knocked every man and woman within a huge radius of him to the ground. As he stood, breathing heavily, aura conspicuously low, he looked about to find himself the centre of an almost perfect circle of destruction.
A hundred dead at least, and in a fraction of a second. Many more wounded, and twice that number thrown to the ground and stunned. Vulnerable. The charge halted, as everyone turned to stare in awe and fear. And that was the moment Taiyang crashed into them, the faunus line bulging and bursting outward, striking their charging foes with a devastating counterattack.
"For the Dark Lord!" yelled someone, and the chant was taken up. "Drive them back! Kill them all!"
Their attack would only work if the enemy was in complete disarray.
So Jaune lunged forward, even though he'd spent so much on that one attack. He dashed ahead, twisted, and flared his arm out, throwing a thick wall of fire out that spread toward the stunned enemy, washing over them, and making them scream. He cast out his left hand and summoned a great burst of wind that knocked ten men from their feet, twirled like a dancer and summoned his aura as he did, throwing out a bolt of lightning that chained across numerous bodies, killing ten in a fraction of a second.
And, like he'd pretended to be confident for his allies, he pretended to be something far worse to his enemies. It was his job. Jaune's voice crackled and boomed as Ozma used magic to alter it, to make it sound out like rolling thunder.
"I will reap your souls! Perish, mortals. You have been brought to ruin. All of you shall die here!"
Panic spread. Men dropped their arms and fled, while women, Chosen, trembled but rushed in. They were braver, or maybe more indoctrinated. One of them screamed "DIE MONSTER" and swung a sword toward his head.
He caught it on Adam's and pulsed aura into the metal, making it vibrate wildly until it weakened and shattered. His sword cut through, struck her aura, and he poured fire down the blade to drain it. In reality, it was a war and a half to drain it and break though, but to those watching it must have looked like he beheaded a Chosen with one swing.
That was when Taiyang's force hit them. The faunus crashed into their lines and threw away any thought of defence, trusting their aura to keep them alive as they heaved huge weapons that split shields and crumpled armour. It was a mad and reckless method of fighting that would have left many of them dead without their aura. As it was, they shrugged off attacks and kept going, seemingly immortal, and focusing all their attention on cutting the enemy down.
Adam had said they needed to kill four people each, and they cut down six, seven, eight. It was like a scythe through wheat, and the fireballs raining down from above and exploding among the now-packed enemy forces made it worse. The church's reserves had come in such numbers to break through, and they were tightly packed now, unable to spread out. Every fireball that landed did so among ten men at least, tearing chunks out the enemy army.
Panic spread faster than the fire did. The assault that was meant to break the back of their lines was being crushed, and even though victory was well and truly within their grasp, the church's forces faltered. The average person there had been told this would be the final push, that this would be the moment of victory, and it wasn't.
Rather than understand that they could blunt the charge and hold for a long, grinding war that they would surely win, the levied civilians instead took one look at the devastation, and at him, and decided they were doomed.
Salem's own machinations worked against her. He was but one man, and low on aura, vulnerable, but she had demonised him. He wasn't a man but a dark god. He was evil incarnate. He was an unstoppable and immortal agent of chaos that would lay waste to the world. In her efforts to make the world hate him, she had made them fear him, and they trembled with terror, convinced that he could do what he'd just done a hundred times over.
The levy broke first.
The soldiers were better trained, and capable of recognising the potential in a battle, but they couldn't withstand the force of so many of their own in wild flight. The church's professional army made up only a core of their full one. Most of it was levied and hastily trained civilian volunteers. They were forced back by their own fleeing allies and forced to either cut down their own civilians or give ground with them.
And while Salem might have been evil, these were men and women who believed themselves just. They couldn't slaughter their own people to restore order. They never would. Instead, a new horn sounded, frantic and shrill, signalling a retreat. The levy routed, utterly exposing their backs to flee, while the soldiers did their best to back up with shields forward, protecting their own cowardly allies as they went.
The retreat might only have been meant for their small section, but there was no way for everyone to know that. The horn blast spread, more sounding up and down, and suddenly it was a full rout, with only the Chosen left behind, screaming – in the name of the Goddess – for them to hold their ground and return to the battle.
"Chase them!" howled Taiyang. "Run them down! Drive them from the battlefield! Don't let them regroup!"
The smaller faunus force broke the line and chased after them. It might have been dangerous, and there was always the chance the enemy would regroup, but it was unlikely. They'd need the levy to find their nerve to stand a chance, and they were just regular folk. Menagerie's army hounded them from the forest, howling and shouting to keep them afraid, and scattering the less disciplined warriors into the hills.
The trained army held together and banded in tight, prepared to sell their lives. They were quickly surrounded and forced into a circular formation, a tight-knit ring of steel and shields as they held their ground.
"Surrender!" shouted Jaune. "Surrender and I promise your lives will be spared!"
There was silence for a while, and then a grizzled and older man in armour stepped out, holding his empty hands to his sides. "I would discuss terms for my men," he said, his face saying he held little hope. "Speak with me, Dark Lord. Spare my men."
A parlay? Now? The main battle was still raging for crying out loud.
"There will be time. Send half your forces to flank the other army but keep enough to deal with these. The enemy will buckle once they realise their flank is defeated. It would take longer to kill them then it will to talk with this man."
Jaune relayed the order to Taiyang, and stabbed Adam's sword into the dirt. It didn't fit his scabbard. Equally unarmed, though far more dangerous for it, Jaune walked out toward the armoured veteran. "I am here. Tell your men to lay down their weapons and surrender, and I promise them a ship and supplies to sail away from here in peace – though, were I you, I'd not sail back to Vale. I've heard your Goddess has been less than forgiving of failure of late."
The man grimaced. "If she demands my head for cowardice then I shall rest my neck upon the block myself. But I will not see my brave companions slaughtered when the battle is lost. You have won. We accept that." He gritted his teeth. "But I will need assurances you will not simply kill us all."
"What assurances could I give that you would accept?"
"I… do not know…"
Jaune sighed. "Then that's a problem, isn't it? What is my word to you when I'm branded an insane monster who wants the destruction of all life? What could I possibly say that the church's agents wouldn't deem false promise?"
The man hesitated. "You are more capable of rational speech than I expected."
"More capable of a strategic battle plan as well by the looks of it," said Jaune, nodding to their shattered army. "Just imagine, if the Goddess had told you that I wasn't truly insane, you might have expected trickery. I wonder how many more of your men would be alive for it. Go." Jaune waved his hand. "Take my word or don't. We will give you the chance to leave, mount your steeds and flee. You have a camp on the west of Mistral. Return there, board your ships and sail home – or wherever you wish to."
"What is to stop us mounting up and re-joining the battle?" asked the soldier.
"Common sense, good sir. That, and the knowledge that we would slaughter both you and any survivors we capture from the main battle because we'd know we couldn't trust them." The man tensed. "We will take many more captives before this is done. You can either show your honour and convince me I can get away with sparing them, or you can stay loyal to your goddess, join the battle, and show me that the only good captive is a dead one." Jaune nodded to his men. "Your choice will decide the fates of far more than them, so be sure to think on that when you reach your horses."
Jaune moved away from the stunned man. "Let them go but keep an eye on them." His voice carried, and the worried soldiers ready to die didn't seem to know what to make of it. His people did. They backed away, creating an opening for the soldiers to leave through. "To our allies!" roared Jaune. "Break the attack and send them back. This is our victory – the first of many!"
"The Goddess will not let this stand," warned the commander.
Smiling grimly, Jaune replied, "I know."
Next Chapter: 20th August
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