Dyce sat, glaring with frustration. He considered the situation, his fists clenched as he thought of the last few minutes. The second battalion of Graus-toke was assaulting through the fourth battalion, the one where Jorish was stationed. It was a hopeless fight in every metric, yet they had to get victory in it. He felt anger seep up into him as he thought of the other piece of news he had heard they weren’t going to reinforce their allied forces yet, they were going to wait for more reinforcements.

Dyce understood why they did that, but that didn’t make him any less angry about it. They had to finish this war as soon as possible, before the Witch could get an even bigger foothold, yet many of those higher-ups were playing their own games. He turned as he looked at the members of his squad, 50 odd men and women standing around him, waiting for his words. Dyce saw frustration in their eyes, yet it wasn’t the only emotion. He saw anger, hesitation, and fear.

He understood them, they wanted to make a difference in the war, they didn’t want to be insignificant. Yet they didn’t want to throw away their lives, their futures. No matter how lifeless a man would be, in face of certain doom, almost everyone would turn into themselves, their survival their utmost goal.

Dyce walked around as his squad watched him, tapping his spear frustratingly, as Royce followed behind him. Moments later a man approached Dyce, getting closer as he whispered into his ears.

“A Candidate??” Dyce exclaimed loudly, the leader of the opposition was a candidate? They had to assist them, Jorish felt his fists tighten even further in rage. He turned to the messenger to ask him, yet he only shook his head before departing. Dyce’s eyes darkened in understanding, they were ordered to wait, and they weren’t going to change their mind about it.

Dyce’s steps echoed even louder, he knew he had to do something, yet he was but a practitioner, he would help, but neither he nor his men would truly change anything. And he was not a man to send them to a mission for nothing.

But it was not for nothing.

Dyce smiled as he thought about how he almost fell into the same trap he pushed his squad away from, his eyes shining with determination, filled with a gleam of insanity. He released a soft gust of Energy around him gathering his resolve as he turned towards his squad.

“Men, I am sure you have heard of the situation on the front.”

He saw as many nodded, their expressions shifting slightly, he knew of all their frustration and fear.

Yet, that didn’t matter.

He stood, looking at his men one by one, his gaze freezing upon each for a few moments before moving along.

“What are we doing?” he asked, his voice shaking the souls of his men. He felt the frustration in his voice as he continued.

“Why do we stand here?”

Some of his men opened their mouths, wanting to reply. Yet they stood there, wordless. Royce looked at him with conflicted feelings as Dyce continued.

“I have heard from many that they felt insignificant. That is why.”

“Because many were cowards. It is true that some were simply unfortunate, yet most were cowards.” Dyce could see as many turned their faces, shame penetrating deep into their bones.

“Victory can only be bought with blood, if a man’s death can save two, he should be fighting tooth and nail to save a third as his soul leaves his lifeless body.”

“Our people trusted us, left us to save them, We took the burden to go here and fight. Yet we leave them so.” Dyce’s cold gaze glanced over everyone as the grip on his spear tightened.

“I do not care for what people will think, nor what our leadership decides about waiting now. I know we have to act, and I will. If you want to stay, you should. If you follow me, you will be punished most likely, your achievement nullified even, but I never fought for those.”

“I fought to make a change, to save our brothers and sisters back home. I fight for freedom. Let us change history.”

Dyce turned, walking forward with loud steps, he didn’t bother looking backwards as he marched on. Yet a smile gradually reappeared on his face as the sounds of footsteps echoed behind him. He didn’t need to look back to know that all his men were there, ready to fight. Ready to change history.

Ready to die.

Gradually, Dyce picked up pace, running faster and faster as his men followed. Within a few minutes Dyce started noticing the back of the enemy forces, as he had bet they didn’t expect an attack, knowing that the higher ups wouldn’t act impulsively when they had the numerical advantage. Yet, they weren’t expecting insanity, and madness was what Dyce brought

“FIGHT …”

Dyce shouted as he jumped in, his spear running through an enemy soldier who tried to react upon noticing them, moving in panic.

“AND BE REMEMBERED!”

Dyce ran through, pushing through enemies without stopping, he rushed in, his spear swinging left and right as he ran forward, accumulating cuts and stab wounds as he cut enemies down, rushing without care for his own safety, just focusing on advancing and nothing else. He glanced to the side, seeing his men fighting, killing, and dying. Many fell, yet everyone else didn’t bother giving them a glance, they just pushed through. No longer did they hold fear or hesitation.

There was victory, and only victory.

Dyce brows furrowed as he saw enemies start to react, creating a barricade deeper forward to stop their assault. Dyce’s grip hardened as he lunged forward, using all his Energy with his weapon as he shouted.

“BREAK THEIR LINES!”

Dyce’s spear forced his enemies apart, as his men took the chance, running over the broken barricade as they pushed even further. Dyce noticed the lack of practitioners, sweat burning through his skin. Were we too late. He prayed to be wrong. Finally, the sea of enemies started to become less dense as they finally arrived, having broken through the endless enemy lines with almost half their squad dead. As soon as the scene cleared, Dyce shook as he saw Jorish’s familiar golden markings, almost unrecognizable as countless cuts and gunshot wounds spread around his body, he noticed the practitioners pushing towards him and his companions who were all heavily injured, moments away from reaching them.

Dyce foot stomped on the ground as he switched the grip on his spear, gathering all his force as he pulled his hand back before throwing his spear with all remaining Energy. He prayed as it flew the sky, blasting through the wind, thundering as it headed into Jorish’s position. A moment later, it collided between Jorish and the candidates sending the scene into chaos as the scene was overthrown by sand and dust.

Dyce accelerated before jumping in, reaching Jorish’s position as he grabbed his spear in the midst of chaos, just to see Jorish’s smile as he muttered.

“Justice has arrived.”