In a location far away from John, Goddard punched a soldier in golden armour in the face. His black mittens started vibrating just before he struck, creating a strange screeching sound as it went through his opponent’s face without much resistance.

Goddard listened to his surroundings, discovering that the troops on his site were quickly losing ground. Screams tore through the air as dozens of lives were extinguished in a matter of seconds, joining the hundreds of corpses scattered on the blood-soaked plains as a golden flood unceasingly pressed forward. There were thousands of soldiers battling here, and even valiant warriors like Goddard were in danger at all times.

They were in the Scarlet Plains, the most sought after region in the territory of humanity. Located in the middle of the Human Triangle, it was even more fertile than the Frumenti Plains, making it a prime target for any and all of the three Rulers.

He was in but one of many battles that were fought here every year, and Goddard was slowly starting to wonder why they even bothered anymore. In his opinion, the amount of lives lost in every battle far outstripped the potential worth of this region in terms of profitability. Not that anyone would be able to hold it for long, anyway.

As far as he knew, no one had been able to hold this territory for more than a few months. Hence the name Scarlet Plains, for the amount of blood that had soaked the ground should have coloured it scarlet long ago.

He heard a few small, sharp objects that were willed to the brim with aether rapidly approach his position from overhead, causing him to quickly pull his fist out and use his recently deceased opponents body as a shield.

Numerous thuds impacted the corpse on top of Goddard. He sent a quick prayer towards Alessandra, hoping that none would pierce his cover and dent his armour. Fortunately, he didn’t have to worry about someone else attacking him whilst searching for cover since everyone else in his region was doing their very best to avoid the arrows in any way possible. Who would have thought that the frontline being so scattered would help him out so much this time.

When Goddard couldn’t hear any incoming projectiles anymore, he hurriedly threw the corpse away. He stood up and readied his buckler. Judging by the screams and groans in his surroundings, quite a few people had fallen in this salve.

Quickly backpedalling before the Frumenti could recover, Goddard fell back to join the rest of the Ardensian army that was trying to regroup after the catastrophic attack on their flank. This battle had been anything but favourable until now, and he hoped that general Monroe had a plan. Preferably one that involved them getting out alive.

“TAKE FORMATION!” the banner bearer, a good friend of Goddard’s called Hanks shouted, waving the flag with an erupting volcano on it in the air. His voice pierced through the whole area, enabling every single one of the Ardensian soldiers to receive their orders.

Goddard gulped, seeing that the golden flood composed of Frumenti had started moving once again. He gripped his buckler tighter, the familiar rush of aether washing any distracting emotions away. All that remained was a sea of cold indifference.

“RAISE YOUR SHIELDS!”

Goddard grunted as the hail of fire and ice resumed raining down around him once again. The small metallic buckler attached to his left arm started vibrating as it erected a forcefield that directed any and all attacks away, causing the area in front of him to turn into a muddy mess.

He started to radiate a blinding white light as he pushed his halberd forwards, its fiery tip easily breaking through any resistance as the shaft extended forwards in a milky white explosion of light. He impaled a few of the front most most attackers, shortening the halberd soon afterwards as a fierce melee broke out.

The people around him were doing their best to resist, shooting and swinging and stabbing devastating attacks at their approaching enemies. Many on both sides fell in the veritable flood of attacks, causing a never-ending cacophony of ear-piercing screams to rip through the air. Nevertheless, both sides continued charging whilst ignoring their causalities.

Pulling his halberd back, he flattened the helmet of another soldier that had gotten too close with his buckler. An ice bullet bounced off his ridiculously thick armour, ricocheting into the leg of a soldier standing next to him.

Goddard swung his halberd in a wide arc, unleashing a torrent of fire that forced another group of Frumenti back. Noting that only a few had fallen from that attack, he frowned. It seemed like he had encountered a bunch of particularly tenacious ones. The enemy had probably noticed that their troops weren’t advancing and sent reinforcements.

His heart sunk as he heard his army slowly being forced back as the men and women he had fought with for decades were falling like flies. Gritting his teeth, Goddard gripped his halberd with both hands and stopped his fiery assault. Swinging it sideways, the axe blade on the long wooden shaft slammed a golden warrior into the blood soaked ground.

He didn’t bother to finish that unfortunate soul off, knowing that others would deal the finishing blow for him.

Goddard rammed the butt of his halberd into the helmet of a warrior approaching him from the side, the sharpened metallic end piercing through it. He swung the squirming man into the approaching crowd, hoping to gain a few precious seconds whilst the attackers were catching their brother-in-arms.

The battle had begun a whole hour ago, but they hadn’t launched a single counterattack yet. The only orders they had received were to hold out until another battalion could help them out.

Needless to say, their prospects were grim at best. If he had to be honest with himself, Goddard didn’t even know didn’t even know whether general Monroe was still alive. There was no way that he wouldn’t be able to recognize the banner of the infamous Golden Demon, a figure comparable to Monroe in terms of strength, imprinted on the armours of the warriors he had slain.

He gripped his halberd tighter and stepped forward into the golden flood approaching him. Goddard swung his halberd in wide arcs as soon as they came into his reach, twirling it left and right as he cut down men and women left and right. His swings became faster and faster, until he turned into a vortex of death that turned anything coming in its range into mincemeat.

Aether pumped through Goddard’s body like furious flood waves. His aether channels were expanding slightly from the strain he was putting them under, and he mentally counted the amount of aether that was draining out of his reserves. At the rate he was going with, he still had around an hour left.

‘More than enough to fuck those golden shitheads up,’ he concluded.

Goddard smashed, hacked and swept his way deep into the enemy lines, never stopping his relentless advance. He ignored the screams and screeches of his falling enemies as he watched out for any hidden enemies that may approach him from the sides.

By then, a small gold-red ring of corpses had formed in his wake. He danced around it, always in search for new enemies to slay in order to get the most out of the limited amount of time he had.

Behind him, the rest of his troop was gathering with him as the spearhead. They unhesitatingly advanced step by step, killing off the weakened or dying enemies that he didn’t immediately kill.

The axe blade on his halberd sliced through armour like a hot knife through butter, bisecting enemies with a disgusting sound that resembled a screech. It did that multiple times in a second, creating a constant screech that many described as a banshee scream.

A vibration travelled up his arms as his halberd was deflected off a shield. He pulled it back, eyeing the new aggressor that had appeared in the midst of his enemies.

A golden helmet in the shape of a bird beak in the heat of the midday sun, reflecting light in a way that could blind unless one used their aether senses just like the rest of the golden armour covering the towering man’s body. He was even taller than Goddard, standing at seven feet tall, and the plain tower shield and mace in his hands were just as oversized as the giant in front of him.

“What a coincidence. I’d never have imagined that I’d meet the Impregnable Wall today,” spat Goddard out as he further increased his aether output.

The soldiers automatically created a free area around the two famous and valiant warriors, afraid of the effects of butting into this duel. Although they could have chosen to take one of them down by sheer numbers, no one wanted to find out how many people would lose their lives in the attempt.

Goddard lifted his halberd until its tip was around the same height as his chest, stabbing out with all his strength before his opponent could even open his mouth.

It was, once again, deflected by a massive shield that quickly advanced with its wielder towards him. Goddard pulled back, shifted his grip and swung the blunt side at the giant, who swiftly ducked under the hasty swing.

The Wall lifted his mace, slamming it into Goddard’s chest armour.

He grunted as the massive shock forced him to take a step back, but then grinned under the cover of his helmet. ‘Gotcha!’ thought as he sent aether into his gauntlets to let them vibrate.

He sprinted forward and pulled his mace out of his core, slamming it directly slamming it into the Wall’s helmet. It dented with a small creak, but immediately started repairing itself again. Goddard gripped it with both hands, unleashing a barrage of blows infused with enough aether to blind the giant’s sensitive senses. The bird beak became disfigured as it dented in more and more places, but Goddard wasn’t able to hear anything from the massive figure in front of him aside from its eerily calm melody that resembled a still volcano.

Without any indication of having been hurt by the heavy blows, the Wall tackled Goddard. When they slammed into the bloody and muddy ground, he started barraging Goddard with a series of heavy blows, each powerful enough to rattle his brain.

Goddard shot a gust of air from the back of his head, shooting his head into the giant’s chest, where he spat a flame directly at the slits in his helmet.

Then, having gained some breathing room as his enemy was hesitating slightly due to being blinded. he clad himself in a fiery armour, grasping hold of his enemy’s hands.

“FUCK! YOU!” Goddard cursed, spittle flying on the inside of his completely sealed off helmet.

His heart was pumping wildly, even when his arms were pushed back by the Wall’s seemingly endless strength. His opponent unleashed a fiery stream of air and flames onto his torso and helmet, which started to erode his flame cladding.

Heat started to permeate Goddard’s armour. He felt it gnawing at his skin, slowly cooking him from the inside.

It was a familiar feeling since he often sparred with Ophelia, but the fact that his enemy didn’t have any intentions of sparing him if the heat got too much for him only served to motivate him to redouble his efforts.

With a massive push of aether, he ripped his arms free and shoved the giant off him. His channels creaked and groaned under the stress, enough to send waves of searing pain through Goddard’s body. Groggily checking his reserves, he grimly noted that his action had wasted a tenth of his remaining aether as he scrambled to stand up before his foe did.

Then he kicked at his struggling enemy, knocking him down once again. The Wall, however, simply pushed itself up with a gargantuan gust of wind, rocketing towards him in the process.

Goddard ducked under his attack, slamming his elbow into the flying giant as he crashed into the Ardensian ranks. Wasting no time, he turned around, only to see the Wall bursting the head of one of his comrades like a watermelon.

Goddard threw his halberd like a javelin at his hastily moving enemy. Under his careful control, the halberd accelerated in mid-air, managing to lodge itself into the giant’s arm, penetrating the thick armour.

Using his connection, he commanded the halberd to return to him before his enemy had a chance to grab it and retrieved his mace, smashing it into the giant’s wounded arm before his foe could recover, shooting a burst of flames into the open wound as well just to be sure.

A mace slammed into his helmet, strong enough to make the world spin.

He heard a creaking sound as the metal around his head dented until it was pressed against his cheek. He staggered back unsteadily, putting his shield up to block any further attacks. When Goddard moved his neck, he felt a small stinging pain.

Lightning fast strikes with the weight of mountains behind them caused him to stagger back time and time again as he counted the amount of time he would need until his helmet was repaired. Aether was rapidly flowing out of his core in a bout to keep him alive, but his reserves were slowly being depleted. He wanted to find a chance to retaliate, but the Wall seemed to have become enraged by his attacks.

Just as Goddard wanted to avoid a corpse behind him, a shield bash forced him back. He tripped over it, but used a gust of air to stabilize himself before he fell.

The mace crashed into his chest with a wild screech, in the end still forcing him kiss the ground. The fall knocked some air out of Goddard’s lungs, but he ignored that as he raised his shield once again.

His shield was slammed aside by another tremendous force, and he felt his brain rattle once more as another blow hit his helmet. Goddard crossed his hands in front of himself, unleashing as much fire as he could onto the giant.

He needed time to recover. His eyes were ringing from the sheer aether behind the giant’s blows. He wasn’t sure how long his opponent could stay like that, but it was unlikely to be long enough to finish him off. Probably. Hopefully.

He reinforced the flames with air, aiming it at where he guessed the Wall’s helmet to be. It gave him some time, enough to grab his opponent’s facemask and burn it with the hottest flames in his core, directly into the slits for the eyes.

The barrage of attacks stopped as the giant instinctively puts its gauntlets to its face, its shield and mace dropping to the ground with loud clangs.

This was the chance Goddard had waited for. He strained his tired muscles and channels, aether pumping through his body like a furious flood wave.

The giant was roughly shoved off of him. He summoned his halberd, which flew into his hands. Taking a step back, he started slamming his halberd down on his fallen foe. The sounds of metal screeching and parting echoed through the scream filled air as he worked his way through the Wall’s armour that was even thicker than his.

He had just managed to crack the other’s armour when the surrounding Frumenti stirred.

“Sir Wall! We shall rescue you!” a group of soldiers styled similarly to the Wall shouted as they rushed over.

Goddard frowned. The voice sounded young. It seemed like they were from the Golden Gate, just like the Wall himself. He didn’t like killing young people, but he would extinguish their lives nonetheless if they tried to hinder him from doing what he had to.

He brandished his halberd in front of him when the rest of the Frumenti started closing in on him, too. His Ardensian soldiers also came closer and closer, limiting his range of attacks since he didn’t want to risk friendly fire.

Before he could get one last strike in, the Wall managed to launch himself to the approaching golden flood with a powerful gust of air.

“ALESSANDRA DAMMIT!” Goddard screamed as he ran in pursuit, felling several Frumenti in the process, but he wasn’t fast enough.

The soldiers in front of them were like a viscous mass of flesh and blood; no matter how many he cut down, he wasn’t able to reach his goal. He screamed wild curses in rage, the dreams of a hefty reward having slipped from his fingers.

Soon after, he even saw the Wall’s equipment fly past him, causing him to fly into another fit of rage.

Once he checked his aether reserves, though, he reluctantly pulled back. There was barely anything left and it wasn’t worth it if he lost his life in a fit of rage.

Gritting his teeth, he pulled back into his own ranks, grumpily lowering his aether output. As soon as the amount lessened, he could immediately feel the pain in his whole body intensify, especially in the neck and head region. Plus, he probably incurred a few minor burns when the giant had eroded his flame cladding.

“COME ON LADS AND LASSES!” Hanks shouted as the chaotic battle once more embroiled that area.

Goddard retreated even further, fully intent on restoring his reserves bit by bit. He didn’t know why, but he had a faint inkling that this was going to be a long day. Perhaps longer than he would have liked to be.