Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter, and providing feed backs.
Special thanks to PaperMania for pointing out that Maximilian Washington ends up coming off too much like a strawman character, which made me decide to add him into this battle.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
Cross posted on AO3, for anyone who prefer that site.
Cold water ran against Sadina's skin, waking her up from her slumber. She sits up from the river and stretches her arms, letting out a contented yawn. Now that she's well rested and fully drunk on her liquid courage, she feels like she can take on the world. And she'll make sure nothing, not even one of the Guardian Beasts, could harm her charge. With springs in her heels and humming a traditional Kyutenrou melody, she leaves the river she falls asleep in and walks towards the small farm village where everyone rallied around to travel with the army.
Her good feeling quickly drains away when she realizes there is no one around the village. All the civilians who farm the land have been sent to live with a couple of hermit south of Trumpet city, because they can be better protected thanks to their undead creatures. And only people who were willing to fight the Spirit Tortoise and its new interloper master remained. But right now, the place has turned into a ghost village with only the howling wind as its residents. No one, nothing is left anywhere. Slowly feeling a panic rising up from the bottom of her stomach, Sadina stomps on the ground, hard. Even if everyone is gone, that dryad has herself rooted into the ground and will be able to answer her questions.
Not too long after, a few roots burst out of the ground. It twists around, forming into a small creature. About the size of a child, much smaller than the towering tree dryad she's used to. And the bearded midget she usually hangs around like a little puppy isn't with her either. "Where is everyone? And why are you so small?"
The little dryad cocks her bulbous 'head' sideways, almost like she's trying to think of the answer. And Sadina waited, seconds... even minutes. When she's about to pull out her spear and hit the creature out of annoyance, the little dryad creature extends out a few branches and begins to draw on the ground. The picture was hard to understand. There's a large blob, and then the dryad draws an arrow from the blob towards a much smaller blob, and a circle hanging above them. She has no idea what the dryad creature is trying to say until she hears the loud roar from the distance over the mountain range.
It's the sound of the Spirit Tortoise, coming all the way from across a province. Why is it suddenly roaring? Then the answer hits her like a falling meteor. The completely deserted village where the fighters should have been gathered. The sudden roar made by the Guardian Beast they are going to fight. And the dryad's small size, reduced intelligence, and the hard to read picture she drew on the ground. The army has already left, probably fighting the Spirit Tortoise and that Mirror Demon at the moment. Even the rooted dryad creature has uprooted most of her body away to go and fight the giant monster.
No... she can't have missed the gathering, and is now left behind. She doesn't care if the world is about to end so long as her charge Raphtalia can still survive. But knowing her charge, the foolish girl had followed the Shield Hero to fight the monster, and put herself in danger at the moment. There's no time left for her to think, she breaks into a run towards the mountain in the far distance, bolts of lightning covering her body to increase her speed. She doesn't know how long it'll take for her to reach the battle, or if she's going to have any strength left if she reaches it before the battle is over. But she can't stand around and do nothing. Not again.
Chapter 51: It's a Trap
King Shannon wasn't too sure what to think when the notorious Rebel Alliance led by the Hammer Hero stopped his group while he was riding to reinforce his Melromarc allies. The summoned hero has long made his distaste towards any nobility clear, and he wasn't too fond of the steppe culture of Isaac, and Siltvelt either. He half expected them to line up their fancy repeater musket, and shoot down him and his light riders. There would be a good chance for the Rebel Alliance to succeed too, since their lack of heavy armor makes them very susceptible to quick firing weapons. Needless to say, neither himself, nor his allies believed the Hammer Hero when he suggested they work together and defeat the Mirror Demon and the Spirit Tortoise. But in the end, the steppe king chose to trust in the summoned hero.
"There wouldn't even be a world left if we allowed this Mirror Demon to win. The nobility of this world have oppressed good people for countless generations. But the Mirror Demon is a complete monster who would detonate a plague bomb in a school for teens and children. Someone like him would be the worst tragedy to happen to all freedom loving people if he is allowed to triumph and enslave the entire world. I am willing to put down my conflict with anyone... the Whip Hero included, as long as we work together to defeat the Mirror Demon." These were the words leaving the Hammer Hero's lips. And the sword king of Isaac chose to believe in the other world hero. And if he ends up being wrong about the Hammer Hero's character... Well, they are already against a demon who can endlessly bring his army from a different world, who is controlling the Guardian Beast who can turn dead people and creatures into its mindless undead servants. A hero and his followers defecting over to the invader isn't going to change much of the battle's outcome. But they would get an important ally if the Hammer Hero was being genuine.
Surprisingly even to King Shannon himself, the Hammer Hero, and his rebels seem to be genuine when it comes to helping against the Mirror Demon. They rode with his mounted archers, Silesse's Pegasus Knights, and Augustria's Black Knights without any complaints. And as they reached the battlefield, they immediately began to use their muskets to pick off targets from a distance. For the pegasus and the black knights, their extra passengers grant them long range strike abilities. And for his Isaacian mounted archers, the repeater musket wielding rebels have surprisingly great synergy with his own men. Not something he would rely on in the future due to the Hammer Hero's ultimate goal, but a reliable ally for them in this upcoming battle.
The group of enemies that's currently trying to surround the heroes clearly didn't expect someone would ride in and flank them. Since they have their backs turned at Shannon's own group. The sword king's allies and their own men quickly formed into an arrow shaped charge formation behind him, heavy armored Augustria black knights stopped conserving their stamina, picked up speed and momentum, going into a full charge to tear a bloody path through their archers behind Shannon. The mounted archers in Shannon's own group follow after them, chasing the enemies like a group of panicked animals and cutting them down with scimitars, and picking off anyone who tries to run with their bow and arrows. The steppe king himself begins to search for the enemy commander, to maximize the effect of their sudden attack.
"I see the other heroes, they are in trouble." The Hammer Hero suddenly speaks behind the sword king. Shannon can feel someone moving behind him, and suddenly his filorial steed is running with an increase in speed. He turns to the left, and sees the Hammer Hero is running away from his own group while throwing his hero weapon away into the distance, and a number of rebels jump off to follow him. The steppe king of Issaac brings his attention back to the front. Giving a ride to the Hammer Hero and his rebels or not, he's leading the charge into enemy formation. The one he is responsible for is his own army.
Suddenly, the shrieking of wounded raptors, filorials and the startled cry of people can be heard alongside the explosion behind him. King Shannon looks back, and sees his own attack formation is disrupted as small, handheld bombs heavily used by the Hammer Hero's rebels begin to fall on them like rain? Have they been betrayed? No, it doesn't make any sense. Which means something else is amiss. The sword king looked up into the sky where the bombs came from, and sure enough. He sees a large mirror hanging over his head. The sky above looks different, as he could see pegasus knights flying in and out of the screen as the bombs come out of them. Foul magic used by the Mirror Demon to redirect his own allies' attack right back onto him? The steppe king narrows his eyes and notices the small occasion of when a bomb hit the mirror's edge by chance, it explodes rather than come through. The edge must be this spell's weakness! Without any more thoughts, he also leaps off his steed and rises into the air.
These miserable, belligerent cretins. Are they so arrogant that they truly don't know how dangerous a world conquering demon legion is? Or are they so greedy and self-serving that they'd rather take the chance to die than give up their own authority? Lord Astaroth grits his teeth. He expected resistance from these foolish and self-centered natives when he arrived in this world. But he is taking more losses by the minute than he originally expected. The moment really becomes dire when he sees modern looking grenades start to fall from those pegasus riders. This world's technology has been stagnant for thousands of years because of the high power ceiling of individuals. So the one who knows how to make it is someone from one of the modern earths, and the one who fits the criteria from his information is... The Hammer Hero?! What's he doing here for? He should be an enemy of this entire world because of his naively declared war on the entire social elite of this world. Even if he helps these other natives repel him, isn't he afraid that he'll only be backstabbed, taken prisoner or killed? The situation doesn't allow Astaroth to think more on the matter. He waves his hand, conjuring another mirror over his cannon formation to protect them from the grenade rain. And he brings up the mirror he uses to communicate with his closest servant. "Eve, we need to speed up our plan. Are you safe?"
"I am well, Master Astaroth. I have enough troops to keep the enemy at bay. But I'm concerned about Fenji's position. He only has a small detachment to slow down the heroes and their retinue. And he's now caught in a very bad spot now our enemy's reinforcements have arrived. We need to pull back, or reinforce them to save our army from the east side." Eve's voice is still mostly calm, but a hint of worry is still leaking out of her syllables. And Astaroth has to admit, this is the most danger he, and his army has ever gotten into.
Loath as he is to admit, it's his own miscalculation that landed his forces in this bad situation. He could have hid on the Spirit Tortoise, letting his enemies break their backs on their own world's Guardian Beast while he kept sending out small detachments of raid parties to hit their badly defended vital points. That would have been the most practical way for him to bring this world down to its knees. But it would take too long, especially considering how self-serving this world's social elites are, and he wasn't sure if he had enough time to destroy them before the eventual arrival of The Burning Legion. So instead, he decided to make an example out of this nation of Melromarc: one of the major superpowers of this world, but unarguably the weakest due to the damage it suffered from both The Great War, and the recent church rebellion. To incentivise the other social elites from this world's surrender and accepting his rule. Or, failing that (the most likely case), to show their weakness and incentivize the commoners who were oppressed by these social elites to defect to his side.
But instead of a quick and clean victory, he's now dragged into the mud of a battle of attrition. Which is a decision he has to make now. Does he want to continue this current battle in spite of the losses he already suffered and is growing by the moment, since he hasn't even sprung his most deadly traps yet. Or if he wants to cut his losses, and go back to build his base of power in the world of Malach? Maybe fully setting the Guardian Beast loose to deal the most damage to all the belligerent fools of this world? And if he wants to go for the lateral option, how much is he willing to bring back with him to the world of Malach?
"Worry not, Eve. We might be encountering setbacks, and we are beset by self-centered fools from all sides. But everything is still going according to plan. But forget about Fengji, and your other sub commanders and lieutenants. He's nothing more than an arrogant idiot who mistaken his ignorance for brilliance. I never considered them fitting servants for the long term. Their only use is to slow down our enemy in open battle-" Astaroth suddenly stops his talk with Eve, as he feels something, or rather, someone hitting the edge of his portal mirror which protects his cannons on the back of the Spirit Tortoise. Someone found out the weakness of his hybrid dimensional hero weapon magic this quickly? But rather than feeling worried, the Mirror Demon nearly laughed at the action. The other side of his portal mirror is hanging in the air. Even if someone managed to correctly discover its weakness, how are they going to hit it hard, or fast enough to destroy it...
Astaroth's smile froze on his face, when he suddenly felt fifty six slashes in the spawn of a second. Each one of the attacks feels like a warhammer strike on his chest. And his portal mirror shatters into countless fragments, losing the protection he created for his cannons and the soldiers who operate them. In the next moment, the Mirror Demon had witnessed the same spectacular display as Faubley's army who failed to invade Siltvelt at the end of The Great War twenty five years ago. And learnt the downside of using explosive weapons. Sure, they allow even a badly trained, level 1 levy to do heavy damage against much higher-leveled foe if they aren't well defended. But they blow up themselves equally well if the enemy manages to detonate them.
Sparks fly, arcane bolts darts around like shooting stars, mist that contains unspeakable ailment in them slowly saturate the space. They are met with, and shatters upon streams of current, blades of winds, and scorching heat that burns away everything and anything harmful. Between the different flashes of magic effect, Kyo's arcane blades clash against the spiked mace wielded by Ludope. The battle between the two masters of magical arts is way beyond the simple clash of weapons, or even spells. For the two of them, magic is an art, something you take a metaphorical brush, and fully realize your own creativity on an empty canvas most people know as the world they live in. And for a brief time, Kyo could forget that he's now technically a prisoner in this new world, or the destruction of his kingdom as he fully immersed himself in this deadly dance with an old acquaintance.
But even as their weapons and especially their mind clashes, Kyo can feel the obvious difference between the Ludope he knew as an army commander, and this spiked ball of grudge- filled hatred standing in front of him. The commanders he knew were more rigid, like an iron ball chained to his sense of duty and his loyalty to the soldiers under his command. This spike and edge wearing creature with bloodshot eyes is a chaotic bomb on the edge of eruption at all time, and nowhere is it more clear in the way he uses his magic, a gust of wind that would paralyze Kyo's body, leading to the stopping of his heart. But it's merely a front to hide the razor sharp arcane spikes that would rip his body to shred. Magic that's messy, without any sense of control or filter constantly assaults Kyo even as he carefully counter each and every thread. Carefully picking out, and organizing the bundled up ball of yarn rather than cutting everything through with a quick knife to conserve his own magic reserves.
"What's that? But my vengeance... very well!" Ludope mutters under his mask, and Kyo could see red in the eyes of the diminutively sized former commander. A fireball gathers in his hand, growing massive in size. And unlike his previous attack, this one is well-controlled, a fast- spinning sphere of pure concentrated mana wrapped inside of flame hot enough to melt down mountains. He tosses the attack out at Kyo, and the Tome Hero has to wave away his two conjured up swords to catch it with both hands. The distance between them is too close to dodge. With a layer of mana coating his hand, Kyo pushes his hand out, slapping away layers and layers of the flare's fire coating before pushing it skyward to redirect the attack to somewhere it would not harm him. Because as a master of the arcane himself, he knew the pure mana core buried inside the fire is much more dangerous once it fully releases.
Just as Kyo thought, once it flies into the sky, the magical sphere suddenly blows up into a small, blue core. It suddenly shrinks down, turning dark and seemingly sucking all the light from it before exploding into another brilliantly white nebula. It's almost like looking up at night, and seeing countless twinkling stars. But Kyo knows how dangerous the attack truly is hiding behind its beauty, and he's glad it didn't let it come into full effect near him. Ludope's lack of control makes his magic dangerously unpredictable, but it also makes their attacks easy to negate when a rival mage knows what to look for and what they are doing. This last attack though... Ludope went back to his usual skill at weaving his magic, forcing Kyo to drop down everything else to defend against it. And just as the Tome Hero of Malach looks back to see if his old acquaintance had recovered some of his broken mind, he is surprised to find the diminished archmage is no longer around. "Where did Ludope go?"
"I saw another one of the Mirror Demon's mirrors while you were busy pushing away that fireball spell for us. Your old friend stepped through." The blue haired leader of the knights immediately answers back. Kyo never bothered to learn the man's name, and he certainly didn't deflect Ludope's attack away for these natives' safety. But he does appreciate the man telling him what happened while he wasn't looking.
"Ludope isn't my friend. He's just someone I practiced my arcane art with. Don't pretend like you know me, damn it!" Kyo snaps at the blue-haired knight leader. The knight immediately puts up his empty hands slightly above his shoulder line, trying to show that he didn't mean anything.
"Sorry if I pried too much into your past. I shouldn't have, since we barely know each other." The blue-haired knight seems to grow more reassured, taking Kyo's silence as some kind of invitation for him to speak, rather than the lack of interest to further communicate. "You are the hero from that other world... Malachite, if I remembered correctly? The one who followed after the Mirror Demon to help us defeat him?"
"Malachite is the name for the people living in my world. The world's name was Malach." Kyo swings his face towards the blue haired knight. He still doesn't want to get too friendly with the fool, but it's really grating his ear to have the name of his world wrong. "If you want to say something, just say it out loud."
"My apologies. I didn't want to offend a revered hero. That's all." The knight nods back to him, seemingly becoming confident by the minute. Kyo doesn't know where his assurance came from, or why he decided to strike a conversation at the moment when the battle is still going on. But he still doesn't care about the native of this world so long as they help him get his revenge on that miserable little two-faced backstabber. So he lets the fool continue. "You knew the Mirror Demon from your own world? What do you think he's planning on sending a strong battlemage to attack us, but immediately call him back?"
"Pfft. You want to know what Astaroth is playing at? He's trying to draw all of you into one of his traps where he'll kill the lot of you without endangering himself. My old acquaintance Ludope was a bait. Likely to make you feel some resistance so you'll be more focused into pushing towards whatever he planned till it's too late for you to escape, or do anything else. The other side is likely fighting someone just like Ludope right now." Kyo narrows his eyes. He can't see what's going on at other places, but he can hazard a guess: Astaroth has let out some more of his attack dogs to provoke a stronger response from the unsuspecting Medea natives. What he hasn't figured out yet is what will be the Mirror Demon's killing move.
Sir Finn's opponent fights like a steel boulder, and he's built like one too. The giant's swing is wield and uncoordinated, making himself trip over every attack as he clumsily lumbers towards Finn. Normally, this would make an easy to dispatch enemy, but not this time for two reasons. First, the strange, fish looking giant's every attack packs a serious punch. Even when he falls, the shockwave alone sends Finn's steed shaking all around. And second... His body is hard as solid steel, where even his neck could withstand Finn's attack. Once again, the giant leaps into the air, and uses his body like a fallen meteorite, forcing Finn to pull his steed away to avoid a direct hit that would smash them both into pastes. "It's already time? Alright, alright."
Finn doesn't know what the giant fish human is mumbling about. But he does see another mirror appear around him, and he rolls into it. Disappearing from the sight and the battlefield. Something's not right. The thought flashes inside Sir Finn's mind brighter than a flare spell at the dead of the night. The fight between him and the giant fish man hasn't come to any conclusion yet. He's too unskilled to cause harm to Finn, and his own attack isn't strong enough to break through his opponent's skin. So why did the Mirror Demon call away his lieutenant... unless they have already stepped into the trap? The prayer knight of Leonister quickly begins to look around him for any evidence, when he sees the pebbles on the ground are shaking...
Sir Finn didn't waste any time as he forced his steed into a forward sprint, even as the ground around him began to tremmer more and more violently, until it began to break apart. A chasm begins to form from right underneath his steed's feet, seemingly connecting to the abyss itself as it swallows his allies whole. His own steed manages to reach the other side just in time to not suffer the same fate, but he can't do anything for his own allies as they disappear into the darkness below. So that's what the Mirror Demon was planning - baiting the Melromarc army into a pitfall trap with his smaller forces. Although to call the deep fissure he carved onto the southern plain of Stormwind, which looks like a gushing wound onto earth itself merely a 'pitfall' really undermines the spectacle. Something that's no doubt only possible to do with his foul, demonic ability.
But the veteran knight has no time to worry, or even lament for his fallen allies. Because right now, he's alone by himself, cut off from the support of his allies and surrounded by thousands of enemies. The blue-armored knight slightly squinted his eyes to look at the henchmen of the Mirror Demon. All of them closing in on him, with greedy smirks or cruel snarls on their faces. No doubt seeing himself, a single man riding atop his steed, an easy target for them to gain glory, and maybe some reward from their demonic master. "Well, this brings back some memories..."
Sir Finn flexes his shoulder, holding the shaft of his Brave Spear in a more comfortable grip and allows his steed to go into a trot to recover from the previous shock. And as his own steed recovers, the two of them suddenly charge right into the enemy formation. Blood begins to splash, as entire columns and rows of trained warriors wearing armor and wielding weapons hit the ground like wheat during harvest season.
Age sixteen, Sir Finn was already on the battlefield of The Great War. Fighting alongside and protecting his master Quan. Falled a dozen Siltvelt commanders in the first year, and stopped the advance of an entire enemy formation by himself. Charging into the Siltvelt soldiers seven times in, and seven times out. The enemy before him looks different this time, but they fall just the same. But just as Sir Finn 's body carries himself through the motion of slaughtering his enemies, his ears pick up the sound of something large and heavy falling down towards the sky. He looks back behind him, and sees the equivalent of a mountain worth of dirt and rocks falling towards the entire Melromarc army. Towards where his young master is. There is an ethereal blue glow in the sky, and it opens up a dark void among the falling debris, clearing up the sky above Melromarc's center group where former King Aultcray resides. But it would have done little to help his own lord.
Sharp wind blew into Lady Louise Warde's face like a hundred knives. And her body is beginning to feel stiff with the long ride on a griffin's back from Faubley to Stormwind. But she endures it silently. Whatever hardship she is currently feeling, her husband who is sitting in front of her is having it much worse. Speaking of which... Jean Jacques turns his head back the best he could, giving her a worried glance. "Are you well, my love? Do you need me to slow down?"
"I can withstand, Jean. Any time we waste resting is more time for the Mirror Demon to kill more defenders of our world." Louise gives her husband a curt shake of her head, as she closes her eyes and tries her best to go back into a meditative trance to better conserve her energy. She hopes General Ironwood isn't too far behind the two of them. As the commander of Faubley's griffin corp, her husband is risking a lot using his sick leave to privately come to Melromarc's aid with her. But it can't be helped. Their pig-like king is too self-serving and vindictive towards his former adopted brother to send aid to Melromarc against the Mirror Demon. And the headmaster... Well, he wouldn't be the headmaster of Faubley's Hero Academy if he isn't against anything and everything the Shield Hero tries to do, or vaguely related to him on principle. She can understand his suspicion to the Shield Hero and his followers to a certain degree because of what the King of Rape did to Lord Kirigaya. But to assume the current Shield Hero (or all lords and ladies from the Order of the Shield, for that matter) because of it? Insanity.
"We shouldn't be too long. It's already been three days since we were tearing across the sky." Jean's voice sounds too reassured. Like he's trying to convince himself rather than trying to convince Louise. But she understands why he has strong trepidation. She might be a powerful meta mage. Someone whose affinity was the essence of mana itself. But meta mages can still be killed, especially without a strong escort. And because her husband Jean Jacques never got the proper clearance to bring the entire Faubley griffin corp he commands over to fight the Mirror Demon, he is the only one here to protect her if something goes wrong. She even had to leave her sworn shield Saito behind just to travel at the fastest speed.
But she'll be damned if she lets other people fight the Mirror Demon and die while she sits back and watches. Not after what that monster did to Faubley's Hero Academy. Even as she closes her eyes and tries to keep herself calm with meditation, she could still recall the images of her students, especially the young ones twisting in agony after they were infected with the plagues his zombies carried. There are simply lines that shouldn't be crossed even during a war, and she'll personally make sure there's hell to pay after what he went after the lives of her students.
"What's THAT?!" The panicking voice of Jean Jacques brings Louise out of her own mind and looks forward behind his back. It's not easy to break her husband's composure and she's half intrigued, half afraid of what he must be witnessing, and the sight didn't disappoint. She sees a mountain's worth of dirt and rocks hovering over the head of an army in the distance, and then dropping as rocks do when they are inexplicably airborne. She could see the mountain-sized, turtle-like Guardian Beast standing over what's no doubt the city of Stormwind. So she knew the army must be the Melromarc host.
"Watch my back, Jean." There's no time to hesitate. Louise needs to act immediately if she wants the chance to save any members of the Melromarc army. So without a single word, she jumps off the saddle of the griffin and fully opens her eyes both physically, and metaphorically. Opening herself to the Endless Ether, become its conduit in their world. Everything around her changes, all taken in a blue hue of various shades as the mana flowing through her body keeps her floating in the air. Pushing herself forward even faster than her husband's griffin could fly. Louise the Zero snaps her finger at the rock hanging over the head of the center formation of Melromarc host. "[Zero Out]."
Louise calls out to the essence of magic outside of her world for aid, and it answers. She can't see it over the distance, but she can feel it. A single dot of blue, no bigger than the tip of a needle a seamstress uses to sew cloth appeared over the head of Melromarc's center formation. A single point of breath where the source of magic itself, The Endless Ether breached through to their world. It rapidly grew, to the size of her balled up fist, her head, bigger than her body, bigger than her husband's griffin steed when he fully spread his wings. For all the Melromarc soldiers who are no doubt looking up at their doom, they would no doubt see a second, blue sun hanging above them if their vision isn't obstructed by the falling debris. As her spell continues to grow in size, it fully tears open a hole from their world to the dark, sunless Void Between Worlds. Sucking, and completely in and completely devouring a large cloud of dirt and rocks that would have killed the Melromarc host coming to fight the Mirror Demon. It would make sure all the fighters in the center of Melromarc army survive.
It would not be enough. Even as the meta mage, or as the avatar of her world. Louise is still a mortal mage who can't stop an entire army, let alone one controlling the Spirit Tortoise by herself. But she'll still have to do what she can for her allies fighting against her enemy. She fully opens her palm this time, pointing to the still rapidly descending clout of earth falling towards the Melromarc host. "[Zero Stream]."
Before her, another blue dot appears in the sky. It rapidly grows in size, until it becomes a portal connecting to the source of magic. Letting out the uncontrollable power into their world like a wave, crashing forward at the falling debris. Taking away a good chunk of them again. But the rest still falls towards the army on the ground in spite of her best effort. Even a meta mage like herself is still a mortal, not a god who can bend the rule of her reality. So Louise knew that the survival of the Melromarc army was now truly down to their own luck. And she can feel her own power dwindle as her body loses its power to levitate in the air and fall towards the ground. She's quickly snatched off the air by Jean's hand and put on the back of his griffin once again. And they begin to turn towards the other direction, flying away from the battle. Louise wants to say something, but her husband speaks before she does. "You did all you can for the Melromarc army, love. Now we need to worry about our own survival."
Still feeling exhausted after firing off two of her most powerful attacks, Louise feels both her arms and legs are filled with lead. So she merely gives her husband a nod, not saying, or doing anything more to contradict him. Jean Jacque de Wardes is a high level wind mage, or else he would not be the captain of Faubley's griffin corps. But he's nowhere near the level of her mother, a mage who can single handedly turn the tide of a battle. And if the Melromarc host they helped suffers the major loss that would lead to their crashing defeat like they expect, the Mirror Demon would no doubt come after them. Now with Melromarc's imminent defeat, The only thing left for Louise to do is to bring the words back to Faubley court. To hopefully push her fellow nobles into rallying their own army and get ready to fight the Mirror Demon before he can do more damage.
Malty's eye feels very sore, yet she seems to have lost the ability to blink. She has only heard the name of Louise the Zero, the strongest meta mage alive on Medea. Never met the most powerful mage in life, or seen her casting a spell. But the destructive power and the pure, arcane blue glow makes it clear that both spells that would have turned the tide of normal battle come from Faubley's meta mage. If she didn't know better, she would have thought this was truly unlimited power. Yet, it still pales compared to the mountain's worth of earth the Mirror Demon somehow throws into the sky and is now falling towards her allies.
"So... this was what the Mirror Demon was planning. The undead army, maybe even his so called 'elite troops' were all a bait to have us commit our own troops for him to destroy in one massive attack. Why didn't he use it from the start? A problem with range? Or maybe he didn't think this kind of attack was needed. Well... it doesn't matter now..." Father's voice feels like it's coming from very far away, bringing her consciousness which was threatening to float into the Void between Worlds back to the land of the living. "He truly played me... all of us this time."
Different colored magic spells fire into the air, or spread around the different battle groups into barriers. But they barely do anything when a small mountain worth of earth is crushing down on them. The sight reminded her when Naofumi (or rather, Bed-Chan) dropped a small hill on House Consevatie men who were pursuing them near the village of Balafon. Except this time, her own allies are the victim. And after a loud boom that's enough to knock Malty off the raptor she's riding on, she fears the worst for all of their allies spread out on the battlefield. Her ears are still ringing, but she can hear her father's grim voice. "Lotheringan, Zellus. Take the royal guards and prepare to escort my daughter off the battlefield."
Malty groggily turns her eyes towards her father. Is he truly thinking about giving up? Granted, anyone with working eyes could see that the tide of the entire battle had quickly turned against them. But her father's own central army has still not yet engaged the enemy. Due to General Anderson's valiant charge, her father's own host has mostly been burning away the corpse the vanguard left behind to make sure the Spirit Tortoise doesn't have the opportunity to raise them up as undead monsters and hit their formation from the rear. And she half expected Father to do something intelligent to turn the battle back in their favor. Not simply... give up like this. Father seems to have felt her gaze, so he turns to look at Malty. "Warfare is one of the most dangerous things one can conduct, Malty. That's way before you consider victory, you must first consider what needs to be done in defeat. We got dragged into this war without choice, but my first priority is the survival of my family."
"It occurred to me that if you truly valued the life of your family, you could always choose to surrender to me willingly, and fight the real threat to all of our worlds: The Burning Legion. But no, you will not choose this most realistic option, will you? Because your own fragile ego as a ruler would not allow it. And now even after losing most of your troops, you still try to resist." Malty turns her face towards the mirror appearing in front of them and has to bite back a snarl. The Mirror Demon Astaroth's smirk seems to have grown much more smug since the last time he communicated with them.
"I think we have already gone over this topic, my lord. You are someone who would use your own force as a bait to force the enemy into a trap to devastate them. As a strategist, I can respect that. But as both a leader or a father, I can't in good conscience allow those I am responsible to become nothing more than pawns you throw away." Father's voice is still calm in spite of everything that has happened so far. Yet, there's clear a sense of desperation underneath that makes Malty realize the severity of the situation.
"Just as I expected. Even in the face of your imminent defeat, you would not accept someone else's superiority over you. And you try to blame your own arrogance, and stupidity on someone else. No matter. That's why I never expected to work with the likes of you. Your crushing defeat shall serve as an example of those who decided to be unhelpful to my goal, and your body and soul will serve as fodders when it comes to fighting The Burning Legion much better than if you were allowed to live. And now, your pitiful resistance shall be crushed by the revived bodies of your- WHAT?!" The smirking face of Astaroth suddenly twists into a surprised yelp, clearly indicating to Malty that something unexpected to him has happened. She looks towards both sides of her father's host, at where their allies were crushed under the mountain worth of dirt and rocks. And she can see figures slowly crawl out of the dirt one by one. At first, Malty wonders if these are the undead creatures Astaroth summoned using the Spirit Tortoise. But then, she noticed how after a brief period of confusion, everyone who clawed their way out of the ground began rearranging themselves into a proper combat formation. She's not an expert on necromancy, and the undead they faced in Silver Fort did seem to possess some tactical knowledge. But they are showing the same discipline as alive, elite soldiers.
"Those are not undead creatures the Spirit Tortoise raised from our fallen allies. These are our allies, still alive and ready to fight." Father explains after squinting his eyes and looking at the now rearranged Melromarc host. It was quite unreal to see most, if not all of their combined army survive being crushed under a small mountain full of dirt. The kind of luck that would require for this to happen is unreal, almost like divine intervention. "This kind of outcome... it's something I haven't even considered. It's like someone has pulled a thread of fate and given us the best, yet most improbable outcome..."
"It's the Avatar of Alaya, Fitoria! She's an earthbound demi-god, and the Hero of Carriages. And I have seen her using esoteric forms with her hero weapon. She must have manipulated probability massively in our favor!" Malty could barely contain her own excitement as she realized that the earthbound demigod's aid to them wasn't only to let them use her realm for troop transport. She might have not stepped onto the battlefield alongside them, but she's willing to use her divine power to help them in their time of need. Yet, even underneath her elation, she knew the Avatar of Alaya must have paid some heavy price for this act. To manipulate so many people's fate on this large of a scale... she can't imagine even an earthbound demigod would walk away like she simply made a finger snap.
The realm of Yggdrasil is basked in the perpetual, serene twilight as always. But at the bottom of the great tree god, dozens of the pale, glowing vines wrapped around the body of Fitoria as she sits by the ground in a meditative position. Behind her, the form of her carriage weapon begins to shift from an elaborated, exotic form that seems to be made of white jade and gilded by gold into a simple looking cart. After a while, the Avatar of Alaya suddenly opens her eyes wide as she vomits blood onto the ground. She looks forward, and sees her friend Metatron walking out of the great trunk of the tree god. The sentient wooden doll's face still lacks the same emotion as a human, yet she is frowning deeply. "I understand why you did it, Alaya. But don't try to do this again. You will expire this body next time."
"Fitoria asked me to do it. She would not allow the world her father sacrificed everything to protect fallen under the reign of some arrogant, otherworld demon king. I leave everything in your hands... for now." The Avatar of Alaya gives Metatron a pained smile before falling backwards onto the ground.
End Note:
In case the description of this chapter wasn't clear enough. The Hammer Hero and his Rebel Alliance have came to help the heroes fighting Astaroth and the Spirit Tortoise. And as my note at the start confessed, originally I didn't have any plan for him and his rebels to be a part of this battle. Papermania's critic on how he came off too much like a strawman made me think over how I can portray him in a more positive light while still not changing him basically being a delusional asshelmet who speak a lots of buzzwords about freedom without understand their meaning. And I decided to stick with the plan of him and his rebels came to fight the Mirror Demon even though he will be technically surrounded by his enemies because he started a war against the entire nobility class of Medea to show that he does want to improve people's lives.
And without spoiling what I have planned later, I will say that him being here actually plays nicely to Astaroth being completely self-serving hedonist.
Speaking of the fucker... in case it's (once again) not clear enough. He would have won this battle. His plan of using his mirror weapon enhanced dimensional magic to move a large chunk of earth from the ground to create a giant fissure (which is actually the enhanced version of how the writer showed off his 'smarts' at the start of the story where he buried an enemy demon lord's army with a... I kid you not. A ten meters wide sink hole) while essentially drop a mountain on Melromarc army would have killed most of them if Fitoria Alaya didn't step in at the last moment to change everyone's fate to have them lucky enough to all survive the attack. And in case anyone wonders... Fitoria Alaya is taken out by use this ability on the massive scale she did, and she won't be back into the story for a long while. So Astaroth didn't accomplish nothing with this final attack.
This honestly is my problem with character like him, who I consider to be the faux smart protagonist. Many of their master plan really aren't that smart or brilliant (probably because the writer aren't as smart as the character they want to portray). Their master plan are often pretty simple and flat out dumb, but they are simply made to look smart by having all of their opponent fall into them anyway.