More days passed. The sun went up and down in the horizon, with every passing the Infected approaching ever closer, slowly, like the gnawing doubts and uncertainties of the cities defenders. Eventually, they were too close. It was time for Alexander’s plans to be put to the test.

Renaud was the third son of a small noble family. In some ways, he had always had everything he could want, but never anything that he truly wanted. His elder brother was the heir, the son that could, diligently learning anything that he was taught and deftly making the connections that could better the family’s standing. His elder sister was perfect, beautiful and intelligent. She had always been bound to marry into a family that could only elevate their status, which she did. Renaud, however, was simply unremarkable. He was by no means stupid or incapable, he was just not great. The family’s tutors had to constantly remind his parents that while he was much slower at learning things compared to his brother and sister, he was by no means worse than the other pupils they had.

Once they realized that any heightened expectations would bring nothing out of the ordinary from Renaud, he was simply relegated to indifference. Did he feel unfortunate for that life? Not really. In fact, he would never forget those words by his sister, full of spite, when he left their home for the Academy in Alleeria: “How I envy you, you are free from this family.” He said nothing in return.

He really didn’t hate his life at all. He just felt frustrated. He just had a lump in his gut, a chip on his shoulder. He never excelled at anything. He never shined among his peers. Even if he was able to enter a prestigious and elite place like Alleeria’s Knight’s Academy, he was merely the worst of the best. Prince Frederick did not even look at him when choosing his Knights. Upon his graduation, he was quickly sent off to Thelema, in a move that was supposed to provoke Alexander. I am so far ahead that I can afford to send you my dregs. Is what Frederick meant. But Renaud didn’t mind, as far as he had the chance, he knew that one day, some day, he might shine as he so rightly deserved.

And now, he had a chance. He was in the first human line of defense against the assault of the Infected. “Shield wall, up!” The commanding Officer’s voice boomed, and Renaud took his huge shield and put it in front of him, forming a wall with his companions’ shields. Behind him was another Knight, with a two-handed Blade, ready to swing once the order was given. Renaud was to stop the Infected’s charge, while his companion was to cut them down swiftly, and then Renaud would defend once again.

Renaud’s hands were trembling. He had never felt regret before in his life. No, that wasn’t true, was it? He had always felt like regret was the thing he felt most strongly in all of his life. Regret for not being good enough, regret for not really trying all those times, regret for not talking to that girl. He thought that all he had known in life was regret. Not now, now he had changed his mind. “Gods, please, Flame, may the Flame have my soul…” What he was feeling now was regret. He took a glance over the shield. The Infected had stopped their walk, they were now charging at Trestia. “Please… Mercy…” As he mumbled, he knew, right now, he was regretting his life choices very much. He didn’t want to be there. He was so very afraid.

“Keep those fucking hands steady man! I want at least the semblance of a fighting chance! Come on!”

It was his companion with the Blade. Renaud’s mind was in such a haze that he did not even remember the man’s name. But it did not matter. The man was terrified as well. Renaud could easily feel that. Funnily enough, that gave him some peace of mind. So he wasn’t the only one. He looked around him and all that he could see were terrified young men like him. He wasn’t the only one. He wasn’t alone. His hands became firmer, and he almost completely stopped trembling.

“They are approaching the first line of defenses! They are about to enter the killing fields!”

The first line was literally a deathtrap. The Infected were about to step in a place full of fragmenting mines, incredibly sharp blades and in vision of turrets with many machine guns that could operate continuously for hours. Renaud couldn’t resist taking a peek once again. A terrifying but fascinating spectacle greeted him.

“Fuck! That’s not possible!”

They were not in anything that resembled a formation, but the Infected moved as one, in almost too orderly fashion. They walked and ran together in a disturbing uniformity. The sound started, and from then on he could barely hear anything but explosion and shots. The first mine flew from the ground, exploding in a thousand little sharp pieces, harming hundreds of Infected. Their reaction was one of two: Those who had only superficial wounds kept on unfazed, while those more heavily wounded simply collapsed to the ground, as if the very concept of life had left them. Those who collapsed became little more than small obstacles for the other Infected. Bullets rained, a contraption, akin to a blender, emerged from the ground and destroyed many Infected. During all this, they did not stop, they showed no pain, they merely advanced, or collapsed, in order to hinder the others’ advance as little as possible. He was so transfixed by this that he almost didn’t see something else.

“How… can this be?”

The Infected didn’t put a single foot in the neighboring zones. Trestia’s automated defenses were divided by zones and the small hope that the city’s defenders had was that if the Infected tried attacking the city on all sides, that perhaps, the Infected would run out of meat before the city ran out of traps and ammunition. Instead, they were all advancing through the zone that Renaud had been tasked to defend. He felt his death was near. His terror came back. All the calm he had gathered before was gone and his hands trembled again. This time he couldn’t hear his companion. He didn’t want to look. He would get an order when the time came anyway. He didn’t want to see, didn’t want to know. But the sound around wouldn’t leave him alone, wouldn’t let him remain oblivious. The explosion from the mines became more infrequent and muffled. The blender’s sharp cutting noises soon became dull and eventually ceased. The only constant was the dull sound of machine guns, sometimes briefly interrupted for a few seconds so that it could cool down some.

Eventually, another sound assaulted Renaud’s ears: The low, constant moan of hundreds, no, thousands of Infected. They were near now, oh so near. Tears and sobs escaped him, he trembled, but Renaud held his position in the Shield Wall. He felt something push from the other side of the shield. It was all he could do to not immediately push back, but the order… he had to wait for his order. If he acted on his own, they would all die right there and then, no, he was resolved to live a few moments more.

“Push!” In response, he conjured more strength than he ever had before in his life and pushed back, then turning his shield so that his companion had a clear swing. “Swing!” many swords swung in unison, killing many Infected. “Reform wall!” The Shield Wall closed again.

All of it happened in a flash, and it was as if it had never happened. The onslaught continued unabated. He pushed back, his companion swung, he put the shield back in place. How many times had it been now? He didn’t bother to count, but it felt like he should be in the hundreds by now. It would be almost boring, if it wasn’t so tense. Sometimes, the Infected seemed to just spill upwards. Until then they had dealt with that, but what about when they didn’t, what if even a single hole appeared in the wall… He was so tired: it must have been hours of this. Would there be no reinforcements, was he truly going to just die?

A hand got through, as if in a dream. Renaud did not cry or anything. The hand pulled the man next to him. Ah, the line is broken now. He thought calmly to himself, as if it did not concern him. He took a few steps back and quickly drew then connected the blade on his hip. His companion swung, and this time Renaud swung with him. Panic had overtaken everyone else by now, but he was strangely calm. Was his companion calm? He hoped so, or else they wouldn’t last very long, and that would be shameful. It was as if he had been drained of all emotion. When he realized, he was back to back with his companion and they were surrounded. He swung, and he swung, and he was scratched and bitten. Pain became a distant memory along with the rest of his life, he merely did his best, while a small, barricaded part of his mind whimpered.

“I don’t want to die…”

No one would know, but up until then, no one but Renaud and his companion had lasted so long while surrounded by Infected.

Panic completely took over the Command Room. Alexander could scarcely believe in what he was seeing right now. It simply did not feel right, it did not feel fair. In front of alexander were the images of his forces being completely overwhelmed by the advancing Infected, like a swarm of ants devouring a tarantula.

“Twenty minutes? The line only held for twenty minutes?”

It was like the Infected were a living intelligent natural disaster. Like they simply could not be stopped by any means. But Alexander would, oh yes, he would, even if it would take something equally ridiculous.

“Start the continuous bombardment.”

There were a few raised eyebrows in the room, but Konstantinos was the only one to voice any kind of opposition.

“With all due respect, commander, our forces in the neighboring zones would also get caught in it.”

It was something that he constantly did, something that Alexander had asked of him and was always grateful for. Alexander always appreciated knowing of any possible critical points of failure or even mere opposition on ethical grounds to his orders. However, that was not the moment for such a thing. He only let a tinge of irritation through in his voice.

“If the enemy’s penetration continues, even the forces in the neighboring zones should start being in danger. Signal for the retreat, but don’t let the bombardment be delayed another second, there is no other way. Trestia may still fall to these things, but today is not that day.”

Everyone nodded and orders started being relayed. Soon, the images of the screen changed. The infected still mostly dominated it, but something new was starting to appear: More, bigger explosions compared to that of the mines used before. One after the other, constant, again and again. They flew like rag dolls, they burned like an animal sacrifice, they did not stop, but neither did the explosions. Many people in the Command Rom could now be seen praying.

“Please! Make it so that it works… Burn our enemies away, oh Flame!”

Alexander did not pray. He did not feel the need to. He always felt that the matters of the spirit belonged to the Flame, but on this world, it was up to men to make their wishes come true. A certain hatred for the enemy’s leader welled up inside of him, not because they were Infected, but because they opposed him.

“Damn you… Took your sweet time, didn’t you? Matriarch or whatever you are, I will make sure that you regret that. The might of this city stands firm, and it will not fall so easily.”

Boom it went, an artillery shot, then another, and another. Hundreds of cannons, concentrating on simply destroying anything that stood in that single breach of the city’s defenses. Every single factory in the city was adapted to either produce pieces for artilleries or ammunition. By Alexander’s estimate, given the stockpile they accumulated due to the Infected taking so long to arrive, the city’s defense should last at least three months, but he feared that the rest of the infrastructure might not last so long under the onslaught and lack of maintenance. He resolved to simply be as costly as possible to his enemy, even if it might prove futile.

Once the sound of explosions started, Captain Lewis furrowed his brow. Things weren't looking too good, it was too soon according to Alexander's plans. Still, not everything was lost and they had contingency plans in place.

“I hope none of you forgot to do their homework! The bombardment has begun and it is our duty to take out any stragglers that get through it. Get to your routes!”

Alexander had the whole of Trestia's outskirts completely evacuated and turned into a last line of defense against the Infected, not that it was any amazing feat, seeing as how from the start it had been home mostly to automated factories, which were still operating. In this last line of defense, squads of Knights were responsible for different areas, while each individual Knight had their own route. It was designed to obfuscate as best as possible any blind spots. Personally, Lewis had his doubts about how effective it would be, but then again, knowing that there was some kind of intelligence behind the Infected changed everything. Those that get through the bombardment might be few in numbers, but if they don't just mindlessly go towards the city's center, where there would be most humans, then they could certainly be quite dangerous.

“Don't worry, I have it all memorized. How about we make a game of it and count how many heads we can get?”

“Counting is all well and good Sam, but don't just get too much into the game that you ruin things and let one through. This is a cooperative game, if we let even one through, everything could be over.”

He hoped he had transmitted the appropriate amount of gravity the situation required. This was not a situation where they could afford to fail. With doubts in his mind but steel in his heart, he followed Alexander's plans. During his ten hour patrol, he found some twenty Infected. Some acted exactly as usual, while others acted in ways he had never seen an Infected do before. He saw one being completely quiet, carefully skulking like a spy might, while another acted like a mute man, putting his hands up in mock surrender, as if him being there was an accident. Lewis, however, wouldn't be tricked so easily. He mercilessly cut down every single one of those Infected that he found. He could only only hope that his men would take the same attitude. Once he was done, another Knight came to relieve him. He might have his doubts, but Alexander's plans did impress him. A perfect, 24 hour vigil with well rested men at all times. It had to hold up.

Once he had recovered from dismounting, changed his clothes and reported on his encounters with the Infected, an officer he did not know approached him.

“Good work out there, Captain Lewis, the Commander would like to see you in his office right now.”

He wondered what would the prince need to talk to him about. Even if he was the second highest ranking officer in Princess Lia's forces, he was pretty middle of the road now that they had merged with Alexander's. He did not dwell on it too much, after all he would soon know.

“Excuse me Commander, it's Captain Richard Lewis, did you call for me, sir?”

He stood outside the door to Alexander's office, waiting for an answer, which quickly came.

“Ah, Lewis, yes, I did call for you, please, come in.”

It was a slightly strained voice, and when the door opened, Lewis could see the face of Alexander, which showed a very tired person, however, it was not the face of someone who was simply struggling and needed to sleep, it was the face of someone who had faced reality and realized that they simply could not afford to sleep. Lewis took a quick glance at the papers on Alexander's desk.

“Are... Are these reports of every Knights encounter with an Infected in the outskirts?”

Things were getting even more impressive.

“I do have to keep up with any adaptations the enemy might have. How far around they are willing to go, if they might have any idea on any the blind spots of our routes... I'd love to talk about this, but the reason I have called you here is mostly unrelated.”

As expected, it might be about the princess.

“I'm listening, Commander!”

He really hoped it wouldn't be something ridiculous like an assassination. Not only did his loyalties still lie with the princess, he also didn't like his chances against Chelsea Williams. Even though the princess said there would be no reason for Alexander to try anything against her, you could never know what a member of the Imperial family was thinking.

“You might not know this, but while the situation right now might be relatively stable, that is only because the Infected haven't really changed their assault. Right now, I have effectively idle forces defending all around the city. Why do I call them idle? Because for these roughly twelve hours that we've had of combat, they have only assaulted one single sector, but I can't afford to not have the other sectors unmanned, at risk of the Infected deciding to envelop the city.”

Lewis tried his best not to show any nervousness in his voice.

“What do you mean, Commander?”

Alexander flashed a dead man's smile.

“I am sure that my defenses are liable to completely crumble at any moment, should there be any kind of unexpected kind of attack by the Infected, which I don't doubt there will eventually be. I have very few reserve forces at any given time, and considering you are the second highest officer in my sister's forces, I would like to discuss retreat plans for her.”

Something short circuited in Lewis' brain, he would probably have wanted to say something else, but he could only say what went through his head.

“What? Why? The princess would never agree!”

There was no surprise in Alexander's face, it seemed like he had anticipated such a response, so he went about calmly explaining.

“Yes, my sister has a strong sense of duty. I wouldn't put it past her to die here in this city, defending it just to satisfy it. Unfortunately for her, I have a different direction I would like her to take. I can see in you face, you're incredulous at how can I so easily give up on the Throne and send my sister on her way. The way I see things, it's very simple. I can't afford to not use any of my forces, since they are who I am most familiar with. I am the only one who can do this, hold this city for any decent amount of time against that kind of force. The Invincible is right now being prepared for a last ditch defense, while the Unbreakable will be prepared to flee the city. She will go, because she can defeat Frederick, I will stay because I can hold this city. It's that simple, are we understood?”

Lewis nodded, but he still mentally patted himself on the back. You really could never know what was going on inside the head of someone from the Imperial family. It had some logic to it, but felt weird, like a decision made on a whim. Still, he shouldn't complain, although he was no coward, he was slightly relieved at the possibility of living through that grim situation.