And Now the alliance army makes a move to Regain Feoh from the monsters...Will Reynold and his company partake, will Traysek and his party have an answer to it?
Chapter 56
The Holy Strikeback- part 2
The next day...
Holy camp near Feoh...
There was a huge assembly of forces from many of the other kingdoms; Men from Geofu, knights from Ken, Samurais from Rad, and knights of the Inquisition.
Rey in his new gold armor, wearing a white and gold encrusted cape with a new sword in gold and silver sheath, with a blue handle, walked through the camp, nodding at the number of soldiers there, 'They weren't kidding...Looks like they've gathered a combined force here for this, we just might be able to succeed...'
"Looks like a crusade." Marquel, in a bulkier armor and wielding a halberd, walked alongside Rey, "How many men are here?"
"Hard to say, hundreds...maybe thousands here," Rey pointed, passing by a group of samurai, "Nice to know, we've got the support of Other kingdoms here,"
"Heard that a lot of recruits joined to make a name for themselves." Marquel pointed, "Some will definitely join us after this."
The young commander nodded, "With some luck, hopefully, it would be nice to have even a few samurai in our ranks even...It's always an honor fighting alongside them...Wonder if we'll see the lone shadows too, They might also be here..."
"Weird... there's no Hunter from Ansur... Why's that..." Marquel stated as he looked around, "I thought that they'd try to make a name for themselves during the battle."
"Hmm, Either they don't know or just chose to stay out of it, I don't see the beast races from Geofu either, just the human men, so who knows?" Rey shrugged, as they near the command tent, "And looks like this is it, let's head in," being the first one to enter.
Inside, there were the four knight commanders, an Inquisition knight, an officer of Geofu, a Samurai commander, and Stannos
Reynold Regarded them all with a bow, "I received the letter while on business, I hope we're not late,"
The young officer smiled and said, "Nice to finally meet you, unaffiliated commander, my name is Frowl, newly appointed officer by the hierarchy, I take that you're here to aid in our retaking of the lost city of Feoh."
"Nice to meet you as well, Frowl," Rey smiled back, "And of course, I'd be here for that, City's been conquered long enough, time take it back..." Looking over the map, "So What do we have so far?"
"Up until now, we have more than 100,000 men, some of the best weapons from Geofu, 100 elite archers from Rad, nearly all the soldiers of the First Dawn, and some members of the Silver Axe with their leader in command." Frowl listed, "As for the enemy, we sent some scouts, but no result so far. They must have gotten better security than when the city was in our hands."
"Must be because of the traitors who joined them." one of the old officers mumbled with a hint of disgust.
"And You'd be right to assume that, officer," Rey agreed, "I watched as many defected, it won't be that easy...But," a sly smirk forming, "Because I was in Feoh during my stationing there, I know ways in that have remained unguarded..."
"And I know a lot of secret entrances and cracks in the walls of the city." Marquel added.
Frowl nodded with a smile, "Good, I guess that we'll leave the frontlines to you. Use any force that you see fit and take back the city."
"Kono gaki wa shippai suruda rō... (This kid will fail...)" the samurai mumbled.
"I'll do what we can do there," Rey thought momentarily, " However, we also have major... elements to be concerned of...General Greil, who's remained in Feoh with Olga...Lord Swain, who's also residing there, his birds of prey, and their sword defender whose location is currently unknown...Given how they arrived in the city before, they'll come the same way again... Worst-case scenario...They're already there waiting...if so, we'll need a way to cut them off from one another,"
"Well then, you have free range of our forces, use anything you'd think would help," Frowl stated with a smile.
"Alright, good to know," Reynold nodded, "Anything else before we start?"
"One last thing." Frowl looked serious, "We heard that the Prime Minister took refuge in the city and will, without a doubt, tell those monsters our secrets. You need to get in the city and bring him to us, alive, to be judged and punished for all his crimes."
The young commander raised an eyebrow, "That's...Interesting...I thought he'd be in Ur instead...Not Feoh...Hmm...Very well, I'll have some of the men search for him if he's hiding in the castle, it won't take long to find him," he concurred...
"Well then, that will be all." officer Frowl smiled.
Rey nodded, "Alright, I'm ready whenever you all are,"
In Feoh...
Greil looked at a map showing all the improvements done to the city.
"The walls have all been retouched, the tunnels sealed, improvement of patrols with heavy bow users in some key positions... things might turn for the better." he then narrowed his eyes, "However, the scouts that Niall's men put down, show that the enemy is planning to attack the city... better call for some help in that case..." he then turned and noticed Celestine staring at him from a hidden point, 'What should I do about that...'
She watched him from afar...this had been the third time they had met, and there was still that intimidating air around the famed dark General...Despite him not being a danger, much like Traysek's power, his could also be sensed and it had just as much pressure...
'now this is awkward...' was all that Greil could think of.
"It's rude to stare, you know that, right," Olga said as she walked past the Goddess Reborn.
"My queen, I take that out scouts have returned," Greil stated, relieved to have a conversation with someone else.
"Indeed," Olga nodded, "According to them, the Holy Forces have amassed more than 100,000 men to attack Feoh."
At that, Celestine blinked out of her trance, "Wait what? They're planning to attack with that many? Why? I gave no such order! Whose leading that?"
"We don't know." Olga replied, "However, what we know is that nearly all the kingdoms joined forces in Ur to launch an attack on Feoh."
Celestine furrowed her brow, "Nearly all of them...?" in a shocked tone, shaking it off, "So, which Kingdoms aren't taking part then...? And where are the other shields? I'm certain they know of this..."
"Apparently, Ansur didn't send any Hunter," Olga responded after looking at a piece of paper, "As for Geofu, only the forces of the prime minister are present. Ken, Rad, and Thorn all sent troops to reinforce Ur's garrison."
"Both Princess Prim and I have anticipated this as one of the many possible outcomes." Greil informed the two, "That's why we reinforced and worked on better walls at first, we managed to strengthen them to an incredible point. Capable of withstanding my attacks for three days."
Olga only whistled at that, "Guess that the Masson Guild is worthy of their reputation."
"So you're already prepared for this...whenever they'll strike that is, that's good," Celestine smiled, "But even so...with those numbers..." with a slight sweatbead...
"An incompetent general with superior numbers can't defeat a competent general," Greil stated.
"Looks like someone's confident in his abilities." Olga teased with a grin.
"I did prepare a plan for any possible scenario." Greil replied, "And other plans if those plans were found."
Celestine sighed, standing up, "I see, Well, While you're doing that, I'll contact Claudia, see why this is happening...and if she authorized it...If she did, that's another issue to add to the upcoming meeting,"
"Tough job?" Olga asked in a teasing manner.
"Not that much harder than yours," Celestine shot back, smiling, heading out of the room.
"Now then," Olga turned to Greil, having a serious expression on her face, "Time for you to get their heads. And, push them back to Ur, find Beasley, and bring him alive."
"It will be done." Greil nodded before heading off.
At BlackFeather manor
The main office...
Traysek had a healing spell trained on someone while he had a slight smirk... "And what have we learned from stealing pizza, from an Angry Gravity Tarnished...?" finishing the spell on the Rela.
"I was hungry..." Rela pouted.
"I get that, believe me, that tasted better than I thought it would," He admitted, "But there were more in the box, you did not have to risk that hammerfell-sized knot she gave you..." with a furrowed brow.
At that moment, his calling stone sounded.
He frowned, "Wonder who that could be...?" Answering it, "This is Traysek, who's calling...?"
"Captain, how are you doing?" it was Greil's voice, "I hope that you're not occupied."
"I'm doing fine and no, I'm not busy with anything right now," Traysek frowned, "Why? What's going on...?"
"It would seem that there's an assembly of Holy Forces that wishes to attack Feoh." Greil replied, "Until now, they haven't launched anything besides some scouts that were taken care of."
At that, the Redguard's frown turned serious, "An assembly of them you say...? Interesting...So do you need us geared up and over there, then? or to track them down before they hit the city?"
"We need to discuss it with others first." Greil stated, "As far as we know, none of their scouts have returned, and we keep slaying those who get near."
Traysek nodded, "Alright, I'll make sure the others are brought up and geared up to go, I'll see you in five..." hanging up with a sigh...
"Tough day?" Rela raised an eyebrow.
The Redguard shook his head, "No, it was nothing like that...That was Greil, and they need us all at Feoh... Apparently, our holy friends didn't learn their lesson and kept sending scouts to the city...He thinks since there are frequent spottings, they'll attack...So I need you to tell everyone to gear up and meet in the main hall, we'll leave when everyone's ready..."
"I'll go call them," and Rela teleported away.
Alliance camp, Near Feoh...
Command tent...
Rey and veteran commanders stood over a large map of the city and the area around it, the former moving a piece to the main gate...
"Okay, so here's the battle plan," He began with, "If we're to take the city back, we'll need to draw away their heavy hitters...Now, knowing how the General operates... I'm willing to bet they've built and reinforced the gate all the way around, if so...We'll have to depend on our war machines to draw them out, and take out their defenses from afar..." Rey explained, "The idea is to lure one of the two out, if we lure out General Greil, that'll be good, we'll have to lead him away from city..." a small smile forming "But...if the Sword-defender is the one drawn out instead, that works even better to our advantage..." turning his head to the silver axe commander and samurai commander, "Should that happen, the mages on our side will disable his magic... can I count your armies to keep him boxed in?"
The samurai commander stayed silent and only crossed his arms while nodding.
"Once we learn the location of the prime minister will we move for the castle..." He frowned at the map, "But to do that, one of those two must be led away, for the Sword-defender that's easy...He's got a very vital member on his team, a Mystic healer by the name of Yuriana, Red hair, busty and well armored with a large hammer, I'm sure some of you are familiar..." getting a few nods, "Since she's a frontline healer, spotting her won't be hard...simply subdue and take her to the designated place and he'll follow after..." with a smirk, "As for the General, we'll have to improvise there...Unless we catch the dark queen walking around out there, we won't be able to do the same here..."
"So, where's our entry point?" Marquel asked.
He moved the piece to the northwest where water was seen coming out, "We'll enter from aqueduct there, provided they haven't built over it...which would be stupid, that's where the water flows out from, but through that way, leads to the well system...once we get under that, entering the city will be easy, especially if the forces are drawn to the gates,"
"As much as I lived in Feoh, I bet that they must have changed the layout to have it their way and impose it on the people." Marquel stated with disgust, "If we want to get it done, we'd need to capture someone once inside."
"If we're lucky enough that one is walking around out there, sure," Rey concurred, "For now, stick to plan, any questions? any objections?"
No one said anything or moved.
The young commander smiled, "Alright, let's get started, get your men into position and wait for the signal,"
Feoh castle...
Greil stood in front of a map with Gronik, Traysek, Swain, Olga, and Celestine. All of them saw what had occurred through Del's eyes.
"That... that's interesting..." Greil commented.
"That's...Not the word, I'd use..." Traysek snorted, with his arms folded, "Insulting's" More like it, does he think we're that stupid?"
"I feel like putting him back in his place to the point where he won't try to get back up," Olga stated, unamused.
"That... that's not how the etiquette of war is." Greil pointed as he sweatdropped.
"With the likes of him, you should drop the formalities and jab him hard enough to knock him out," Olga replied.
Traysek slowly nodded, "I agree with that statement...But the main question is," he frowned hard, "Who the hell died and made this clown a commander...?" with a shocked expression.
"Either someone with an incredible level of stupidity..." Swain answered, "Or someone who wishes to manipulate him."
"Or, he proclaimed it himself." Gronik added, "But I doubt that he's that stupid, right?" he then noticed how the others began to look at him, "Right?" he was now worried.
The Redguard smiled sadly, "Oh master G..." shaking his head slowly, confirming it...
"I'm sorry..." Celestine apologized, "But I'm afraid they're right in that assumption..."
Olga shook her head at Celestine, "I wonder if you shouldn't just restart everything from the beginning. Having underlings like that wouldn't help your reputation with the other nations."
"At this point, I'm considering that...Especially with what they're planning to do..." Celestine retorted with.
Traysek slowly nodded in agreement, "Not only that... but they've managed to get other kingdoms involved in this...I saw the other commanders in there too," going into thought, "So what's the counterplan...? From the sounds of it, he doesn't want to deal with both of us, Greil,"
Greil thought hard on that, "I guess that we could, "Go away", but, at the same time, still be here."
"Hmm, it's funny you say that, I was going to suggest something similar," The Dragonborn admitted, "The idiot doesn't realize, is that my company and I are already here in Feoh, he's expecting us to fly in last minute...That IS something we could take advantage of..."
""We" will act accordingly to his plan to make him lower his guard." Greil explained, "Of course, it would be our Mirror Images that would do so, meanwhile, the real us will stay in the city, disguised as the guard he'll run into after his, "Infiltration"."
"Playing on his false bravado eh? Not a bad idea..." Traysek concurred, "He'd think himself winning if we do it right...but what's this "Mirror imaging" you speak of...? I can do that via thu'um already, but something tells me you've got something else in mind..." with a raised eyebrow.
"Mirror Image is a high-level arcane spell that Lady Olga knows," Greil answered, "With it, she'll be able to create perfect copies of us." he then added, "Those copies are equal to us in all the fields, and are extremely durable, only gods can discern between a Mirror Image and the real person. Of course, if there's a problem, the caster can cancel the effect at any moment they desire."
"I see, so they're near-perfect replicas...Could've used that myself a thousand times before," Traysek chuckled, "But it's a brilliant play, I'd say have my crew dress up in those disguises too, but I think leaving them as they are might add to that confusion..."
"Well then, let's get you your twins," Olga cast a spell that created two circles on the ground before summoning copies of Traysek and Greil.
The Redguard gave an approved nod as his doppelganger walked up to him, "My oh my~ Down to the greatest detail," as his copy gave an approving nod back, "Alright then~ That will definitely do for the stand-in, the only question now is..." Raising an eyebrow, "Do we inform Niall? Prim? Possibly Alicia of what's to happen...?"
"We'll send people to tell them of what happened here." Gronik stated, "Still, we have yet to find a way to counter that mind control ability."
Traysek thought on something, "I...May have way, or I should say, two ways we could do that..." he started with, "One, Feoh's got a bell tower, if that priest activates that ability, all I have to do is use a special shout on it and it'll cancel that out...however that might...Ruin the plan...They'll know we're here then...The only other thing I could suggest would be to Call Jenelica, I think she might have the ability to counter it as well, and it would be less of a risk,"
Swain was in deep thought, "I didn't think of testing that..."
"Could it really help?" Olga asked.
Swain nodded and said, "She has a unique power with her voice, she can have a way to undo the mind control."
"Then we'll go with that option, it helps she's already in the city, and given who's behind this, I know she'll invest," Traysek smiled, "If we're lucky enough, Jen's bard power might also protect us from it, one way to find out..." he shrugged, turning to Greil, "For now though, we need to get our hands on guard uniforms, I'll be fine but..." furrowing his brow, "What are you doing about the antlers...?"
"About that... we will also use a spell to look like Dark Elves." Greil replied, "All we need to do is to choose different weapons that they don't know about."
"So this is more a mere armor switch, Okay then, good to know..." The Redguard hummed in agreement, "I'm sure there's something in the barracks we can borrow for this,"
Greil sweatdropped, "Well... we won't need to go there..." and Olga cast a spell on them.
When the light of the spell faded, in place of A Redguard and tauren, stood two dark elves, one of them a blonde young elf with green eyes and short hair, decked out in Yamakhroz guard armor wielding a greatsword... The other dark elf with the same armor had black hair, a single purple highlight, deep purple eyes, and a halberd on his back.
"I feel...different," The blonde elf said, frowning at his voice.
"Our essence is still the same." Greil replied, "We can still use our abilities, but we should leave that hidden and focus on only one element." he then deeply thought, "I think I'll go with Earth, you?"
Traysek hummed at that, checking his appearance in the mirror, "Let's see...Blonde hair, green eyes...Guess I'm going with my least used element, Wind," he smirked.
The goddess nodded with an approving grin, "Even though I can tell who's who, those are very nice disguises~"
Greil thought before adding, "We'd also need different names to hide our identity. For me, I'd go with Fenak."
"Hmm, I'm not all that great with elven names, hmm..." Traysek hummed thought, turning to Swain, "Got any recommendations, boss man?" with a raised eyebrow.
Swain hummed before saying, "I do have some suggestions... Acufro, Emarn, Fucrare, Aggah, Taevro..."
The disguised Redguard nodded, "I'll go with Taevro then, it'll be easier to remember...and pronounce," with a chuckle.
"Well, if anything were to happen to any of us, we must use those names and not our true names." Greil pointed.
"Right, wouldn't want to draw any other unnecessary attention there, good point," Traysek concurred.
Celestine cleared her throat, "Now that we've got this set up, what's to happen to the rest of us here?"
"To be fair, Celestine...Maybe you should stay out of sight as well," getting an eyebrow raise from her, "The fact that the alliance is attacking despite you being here, is already strange enough...Even given who their *Snicker* commander is..." Traysek tried to keep his laughter in for a second, "It still comes off as overly audacious...for an army meant to serve you,"
Swain thought about it, "Now that you mention it... they shouldn't have thought of attacking the city. After all, they could harm Celestine... but doing it while knowing that she's here..." he then turned to Del, "Go back to the estate and have someone investigate the matter."
"Right away, my lord." Del bowed before teleporting away.
"Celestine..." Olga called, "I feel like I should assign a Dark Blade to look over you..."
The goddess reborn smiled at her, "Thank you Olga, but, I'll be fine...Ophilyana is still here, after all, I've seen her skill in her training and I don't think they'll get past her,"
"I still believe we should be vigilant." Olga replied, "You don't know the worst that could happen."
Traysek nodded in agreement, "She has a point, just because their commander's stupid, doesn't mean we know what ALL tactics they'll resort to on their own...And from what Recorder told me about how the last battle went, she and our friend Dargo were ambushed by a platoon of assassins that appeared out of pure light..." he informed "As good as I'm sure your bodyguard is, it couldn't hurt to at least have one or two blades in the dark aiding in that defense..."
"Well...When you put it that way..." Celestine thought over...
At that moment, loud cannon shots and sounds of debris were heard.
"What could it be?" Gronik wondered.
"The attack must have begun." Greil stated, "They're attempting to damage the walls."
"Better wish them luck on that front." Olga chuckled.
Celestine nodded at that, "Then we must make haste," turning back around to Olga, "And as for your offer, Olga, I won't mind if you leave me one or two of your trained assassins during this attack, especially after what he just told me,"
The disguised Redguard grinned, "Okay~ and while that's going on..." turning his head to the duplicates, "You two, go out there and "Go along" with that commander's plans, he'll most likely lead you out of the city..." glancing at the general, "As for you and me, Greil... or I should say... Fenak~ We need to get going, find where the main infantry gathered up, and plan our next move from there,"
"They should be at a garrison near the main gate," Greil stated, "Maybe Niall's also there,"
"Let's hope so, we might be able to pull him in," Traysek concurred, while the sounds of cannon fire echoed against the castle, "For now, let's head to that garrison,"
"Best of luck you two~" Celestine waved off, "And if possible, could you bring that commander to me alive...? I'd like a word,"
Traysek smiled, "Sure~ if it's possible, absolutely~ best of luck to you too~" he winked, before rushing out with Greil...
The duplicates each gave a nod and bow, before making their way out the castle to different exits...
Meanwhile... at the fortress near Feoh...
Volt stood with Kin and Hicks, with a map that had the targetted houses...
"So we've got two targets, where are we starting first, sir?" Hicks asked with an excited tone.
The black dog leader hummed, "We could start with the brothers first since I did a couple of favors for their father, they know me..." he smirked, "And won't see me a threat, but that other lord...Now that one concerns me, but, I have already sent out a small team to check that out for me, should they learn anything they'll let us know by call stone..."
"But it's been too long, right?" Kin narrowed his eyes.
Hicks nodded, "I mean Boss...It's been three hours since we heard anything, I wonder..."
"No...I don't think they got themselves killed, they were only supposed to scout the area, not interact, they should be fine..." Volt said, assured.
"But, what if, they were found?" Kin suggested, "For all we know, they could have been killed the moment they stepped on that village..."
Volt thought on that for a moment, wondering if that had happened, "Hmm...We won't know until either they call us back, or...We find them ourselves, until then...We'll set our sights on the brothers, sure they're big...But they also love their workers...it was a common argument between them and their father...Breaking them down will be easy..." with a smirk, "Let's go," leaving the tent.
Kin raised an eyebrow, "You never liked them, huh?" following him.
"It's not about liking them or not, they had their chance to join us and they refused, we're just... simply showing them the error of that mistake..." Volt grinned.
"Teaching them a lesson, then," Kin smirked.
"In other words, yes," The black dog leader answered, "But, since it's been a while, I'll try rerunning the offer, should they refuse...then we act on it,"
Hicks shrugged with a smirk, "Who knows? We might get to take a trophy back after our visit,"
Kin chuckled, "You're thinking about taking a woman or two, no?"
"Heh, if I'm lucky, I'll go three for three," Hicks laughed, "At this point, I'm almost hoping they refuse this time..."
The three men chuckled darkly as they set out for the Bernadus estate...
To be continued...
Stick around for the conclusion to this attack next chapter, not much to say there... anyway, time for Reviews...
VgnBlackwing: That's a rather vivid description of Aera, but unfortunately...she's a lot smaller than that, but it's easy to imagine so...The energy gives she gives off is like a warmonger's... They'll be more scenes later down the line with her, so keep an eye and you're half right about how this is going to go for Rey...You'll know soon enough ;)