Leon had to stifle laughter as he and his people got into position. The levies had reached their ambush point first, and the giants had helped them into their assigned boulders. Once Leon and the rest of the leadership followed suit, the giants submerged themselves into the wet earth of the forest and waited.

There were some concerns that what they were doing could be seen by the mages following them, but Leon had brainstormed a ward to scatter magic senses the night before and had the giants create and bury hundreds of long stones inscribed with the enchantment on the southern end of the ambush grove. Any magic senses projected from the southern side of the grove would be scattered upon reaching that enchanted stone boundary line. The stones ‘lines’ had even been layered, so not even passing the first few stones would allow their enemies to use their magic senses to locate them.

And so, Leon and his unit concealed themselves in as much peace as they could with thousands of Octavian troops on their tail. They had a good head start, but it wasn’t much given how strong the mages following them were.

As they waited, Leon felt Valeria slide up next to him. He momentarily tensed up, remembering how strange her behavior had been recently. He instinctively feared that she might try to make an attempt on his life, but he forced himself to remain calm and placed his trust in his armor and the fact that she hadn’t made any moves yet, despite having ample opportunity. Fortunately, Valeria continued that pattern, and a moment later, the boulders cracked open, revealing hundreds of dead Octavian troops, and thousands more motionless from surprise and rising terror as the giants rose from the earth.

Leon didn’t bother ordering the charge. Instead, he opened up with a bright bolt of golden lightning, its accompanying clap of thunder echoing through the entire forest and illuminating the immediate surroundings.

The next several minutes were a blur of intense violence, with almost a dozen falling to Leon’s blade alone. In the confusion and surprise of the ambush, the Octavian forces stood no chance, especially as the giants emerged from the ground from among their ranks. Perhaps they might’ve been able to rally against Leon’s forces, but with the giants quite literally below their feet, they stood no chance.

Once the vanguard had been dealt with, Leon’s people quickly returned to their assigned boulders. Leon noted that many of the weaker levies had to be treated quite roughly by their knights in order to comply with the plan and to not loot the fallen, but he was gratified to see them moving in something that approached order.

“Everyone good?” Leon asked as their boulder was sealed back up by Lapis and the rest of the giants sank back into the ground.

“Good to go!” Alix cheerfully replied, the blood that covered her armor and weapons creating a strange dissonance with her upbeat attitude.

Alcander, fired up as much as if not more than Alix, was the next to respond. “You even need to ask?!” he practically shouted, his abundant energy and enthusiasm almost overwhelming despite his status as only a third-tier mage.

Anzu was next, and the young griffin nuzzled up to Leon in a show of health and affection, though this also had the added effect of smearing much of the blood that covered his white fur and feathers over Leon’s black armor.

The Barons seemed to be fine, but they waited for Marcus to respond next.

“I’m fine,” the young nobleman responded to Leon.

“As am I,” Valeria said, both her and Marcus significantly more subdued than those previous.

The Barons confirmed their statuses next—none had been hurt in the brief fight.

“Good to see everyone came out all right,” Leon said. “The next fight will be bigger. They’re coming in with more discipline and organization. Ready yourselves, this one’s going to be the proper fight!”

Once that was acknowledged, silence descended upon the boulder. They couldn’t see out, but Leon and the Barons were all strong enough to use their magic senses. Generally, magic senses had a difficult time penetrating solid matter, but if enough magic power was put into their projection, the relatively thin boulder could be seen through. This would shorten the range, but their enemy was coming to them, so they didn’t need to see far.

Everyone else both in the boulder and in the rest of the unit had to make do with feeling the rumbling of the earth that signaled the approach of more than ten thousand Octavian troops, enough to outnumber them four times over at least. What had just happened was only the appetizer, this would be the main course.

Leon felt the earth quake as the giants hidden below began to tear and rend the ground beneath the feet of the Octavian warriors, and with his magic senses, he could see those warriors rising into the air, held aloft by the spikes that impaled them, or fall, vanishing into the pits that opened at their feet.

In an instant, hundreds died, but more importantly, their lines were disrupted. Only a moment later, the boulder once more cracked open like an egg, and Leon and his people spilled out into the dark forest. Their enemy was before them, and Leon wasted no time shouting, “CHARGE!” as his killing intent spiked.

With sword in hand and comrades at his side, Leon sprinted forward. The Octavian lines weren’t far, perhaps a hundred feet or so—might as well have been nothing with his lighting magic flowing through his body. He targeted one of the most ostentatiously dressed knights, stabbing forward with all of his strength and weight behind the blade. This was the most important moment, the opening of the battle; he had to use everything he had if he wanted to fully take advantage of the element of surprise.

The knight barely had time to react, but he just managed to raise his blade and deflect Leon’s sword enough to glance off of his plate armor. But the Adamant metal backed by Leon’s power meant that this wasn’t enough; bright golden sparks of lightning burst from the blade with deafening cracks of thunder, sending the knight reeling as Leon’s lightning coursed through his weapon and sword arm.

The knight dropped his weapon, but as Leon closed in for the kill, he noticed that the few exposed bits of the knight’s skin were hardening into stone.

‘Not good enough…’ Leon thought, admonishing both himself and his opponent. In one fluid movement, he raised his blade and brought it down on the knight’s shoulder, biting deep into the tiny gap between his pauldron and neck, slicing clean through the stone skin and sending a jet of blood flying through the air.

Leon’s blade sank through the knight’s collarbone and highest rib but was stopped before digging in too deeply into his lung. But that was enough, and Leon sent what felt like an entire thunderstorm flowing through the blade and into the knight.

The knight’s body seized up, what little of his face that could be seen through his full-face helmet locked in an expression of pain and anger and lightning surged throughout his body.

Leon felt a brief attempt by the knight to counter his magic, but he was just too slow. His earth magic rose from his heart to try and block the surging lightning, but it was too little too late. The knight had simply been too slow. Leon’s lightning hit this earth magic, was held for a moment, then broke through to the knight’s heart and utterly ravaged his soul realm.

The knight fell limp, and Leon slowly pulled his blade from the knight’s shoulder and took the briefest of seconds to glance around at what everyone else was doing.

Similar scenes had just played out across the battlefield. The giants had emerged from the ground and were rampaging throughout the forest, killing almost indiscriminately. The most powerful Octavian mages had been closer to the front, leaving the back ranks of their force to the mercy of the giants, something which they seemed to have none of; with rocky fist, foot, and spike, the giants tore through the back ranks of the Octavian warriors.

Leon’s human contingent was performing admirably, too, cutting down the stunned Octavian warriors like frenzied beasts, riding high on their successful ambush despite the cautious approach of their enemy. Meanwhile, Valeria, Alix, Alcander, Anzu, and the Barons were tearing into the enemy as much as they were able. They were all magically weaker than Leon, and so concentrated more on the weaker members of the Octavian forces. Marcus, however, kept to himself in the back, picking off vulnerable targets with his bow, sending a bolt of competitiveness surging through Leon’s mind.

But he wasn’t able to switch weapons, for in the brief moment that he spent checking up on his people and surveying the battlefield, he felt a sharp pulse of killing intent wash over him, and he instinctively fell into a defensive stance and raised his blade to block.

His sword got into position just in time, stopping another sword mere inches from the face of his helmet. The force of the strike was tremendous, but Leon managed to absorb it enough that he only had to take a single step back.

“YOU!!” shouted the wielder of the blade, whom Leon quickly recognized as the water mage he’d fought against in the previous battle. He sounded furious and wore an expression to match, but Leon stood firm as the water mage pushed against their locked blades.

And then Leon shifted his weight, disentangled his blade from the water mage’s, and hurled himself to the side just in time to avoid a jet of water bursting out of the ground beneath him. The jet of water carried so much power within it that Leon was certain if he were hit by it, his armor would’ve been penetrated in a few places, especially in his more vulnerable undercarriage.

“I think we ought to have a rematch, don’t you?” the water mage asked, his expression morphing into one of glee and satisfaction, though still carrying a trace of anger.

If he were honest, Leon barely recognized the man—their duel had been next to meaningless to him, as was the water mage himself. Leon didn’t even know the water mage’s name, nor was he curious to learn it. Deciding to screw with the guy a bit, though, Leon replied, “Rematch? Who are you?”

The water mage’s expression froze in surprise, which was exactly what Leon wanted. With his body sparking with lightning, he lunged forward, clearing the space between them before the water mage could blink and raised his blade as if he was preparing an overhead strike. The water mage reacted quickly, instinctively raising his own sword to block the expected attack, but instead of bringing his sword down, Leon tapped his foot into the wet, swampy mud they were fighting in. A blast of lightning exploded from his leg, countless arcs of lightning reaching up to lick at the water mage’s exposed midsection.

Much of Leon’s lightning was blocked by the water mage’s heavy armor, but what few bits of his armor that had been left shiny and grey after their last fight was left blackened and charred. A few arcs of Leon’s lightning managed to avoid being blocked and ravaged the water mage’s body until he was able to circulate his magic power and fight it all off.

The water mage managed to survive Leon’s unexpected assault, but the shockwave of the lightning still blasted the two about a dozen feet apart and showered the surroundings in dirt and mud. Fortunately, as was commonly the case when two high-tiered mages fought, those weaker than they were had given the two plenty of room to duel. No one wanted to be collateral damage in such a fight, no matter how restricted and claustrophobic the rest of the battlefield was.

Leon, not willing to give up the initiative, quickly closed the distance between them in a single leap, aiming a stab at the water mage’s heart.

Reacting as quickly as he was able, the water mage conjured icy armor around his scaled armor, causing Leon’s sword to bite deep, but not quite get through his armor.

But Leon then rendered most of that effort obsolete when, with barely more than a thought, he switched from lightning to fire. He took his non-dominant hand off of his sword, moved it an inch, and enveloped the water mage in orange-hot fire.

The water mage screamed in pain as Leon wound up for one more strike. Without missing a beat, Leon switched from fire to lightning so that he wouldn’t lose too much speed, and then lunged at the water mage once more. His blade moved faster than the mortal eye could see, cracking through what little remained of the water mage’s armor and skewering him upon it.

Leon pushed lightning into the body of his foe, letting it surge through his chest and into the water mage’s heart, where, in a feeling that was now growing familiar, he felt the water mage’s soul realm be annihilated.

The water mage collapsed, his body still burning, and go still. His aura dissipated in mere moments, leaving nothing but a lifeless corpse behind. Leon didn’t even know his name, considering him relatively insignificant despite his sixth-tier power.

Leon had won, but he spared only the time he needed to make sure that his opponent was dead before turning back to the battle. Two sixth-tier mages had fallen by his hand, but there were still thousands of Octavian warriors that needed to follow suit.