"We shall take a fair battle of wit in our Shalese style, blondie."

She snaps her finger, speaking.

Her room turns dark, every furniture sinking into the floor, replaced by the emptiness.

Then, the large platform formed by golden light illuminated in the air.

"Surprised, blondie?"

She smirks.

That's. The rumor of the game worthy of a ruler, the game used to decide one fate, used as a child plaything?

I facepalmed, thinking about the situation.

This girl, I'll teach you a lesson soon enough.

"Okay, time to explain the rule."

She walks to the other end of the platform.

"The rule of Regiis pugna is simple."

She raises her hand upward, making a raising gesture.

The small figure started to materialize on her side of the platform.

"These call the 'unit.' each one of them has a role."

She points at the small group of ten soldiers holding a spear.

"There are eight 'units.' in total, each made of t

10 individuals."

"Without their leader, they are weak, but their number made up for it."

She then move one of the four into the front of one 'unit.', transforming them into a shielder.

"This is the general of impeccable defense. He makes 'unit.' followed under his leads become a defensive line of defense. Any attack is futile against them."

She then takes another and place beside the general of impeccable defense.

"Destroyer of being, the great mage of destruction, absorbs her follower, turning them into the power of destruction."

"The more she consumes, the powerful magic she can perform."

"Then, the glorious gladiator of the never-ending battle. He doubles the strength of 'unit.' Making them a formidable force to face with."

"And this is the last leader, the hawk-eyed hunter. She transforms 'unit.' into an archer, making them more vulnerable to the attack, but traded with ranged support."

"The game will be play in turn."

"Each turn, two actions can perform, either you attack or standby."

"If you're choosing for an attack, moving the 'unit.' forward one step, if the path is blocked, a battle occurs."

"Or if the friendly 'unit.' is battling around in one step vicinity, a joint attack can be performed, overwhelming the opponent with a sheer number."

"A result will be you, to decide, whether win or not, it depends on your wit and tact."

"A special rule regarding the general of impeccable defense and mage of destruction, both of them are a special unit that changes the face of a battle."

"Shielder double their number in defense, so you'll need over twenty 'soldiers' to initiate a battle with this 'unit.'"

"The mage of destruction power depends on how many ally 'unit' she consumed."

"You can call for her powerful magic strike only in a battle once. Can occur every two turns."

"And placing the leader, you can perform once every turn, but moving them to other 'unit' take two turns before the change can make."

"Then, about the standby."

"Choosing this consumed one action, making the chosen 'unit' on guard, giving them the ability to avoid a battle if needed."

"This action is quite powerful if used correctly, so, blondie, show me what you have in mind?"

She glances up at me for a moment.

"This platform will act as a vast battlefield for our army. Some step has their effect on our 'unit' both good and bad."

"From a fiery wasteland of a desert to a heaven reached mountain range."

"Afraid yet?"

"The winning condition is, to wipe all of the opponent's 'unit'"

She snaps her finger once again, making all the 'units' disappeared.

"If you want to ask something about this game, ask me now."

She speaks, waving her hand arrogantly.

The game of Regiis pugna is nothing strange for me. I've played it a lot against Duke Winsor, and he won every time.

***Flashback***

"Why are you using such dirty tactic, duke?"

I yelled as the duke laugh so hard, struggling to breathe in the air.

"Haha, Second prince, In a battle, the victor is the one who tells the story. No matter how much you need to dive down, victory is all that matters."

"That kind of victory, archived by a dirty the method, is not acceptable."

I yell.

"Well, that depends on what victory means to you, Second prince."

The duke shrug.

"What's victory mean to me?"

The duke nod.

"As for I, victory is but a moment of relief. the fight is no more."

***End***

Know your reason for fighting, shape the meaning of victory.

I look at her, smirking.

"You're going to get your butt kicked, princess."

Her face flushes, widen her eyes.

"H-How rude! You're going down as early as the game start, blondie!"

She's stomping her feet, pointing at me.

"Hmph! There should be no mercy for the like of you."

The first plan succeeded, making her furious.

She's but a child who is easily overwhelmed by a slight mockery and insult.

She snaps her finger, and the platform glows bright yellow as the 'units' slowly emerge from the ground.

"Let's see who gonna get his butt kicked."

"I shall start first."

She declares as she's placing the gladiator on one of her ' units.'

She then takes the second action, moving the gladiator's army toward my 'unit' in the middle.

Hmmm, From what I see on the platform, the area in the middle is the Red sun canyon, suitable for a joint attack.

Her 'unit' is still two steps away from meeting mine so, there is some time to prepare.

I place the hawk-eyed hunter on my 'unit' in the middle, then move the unit on the left forward.

Dayne seems to notice my plan, so she 'standby' the gladiator and move a unit in the rightmost one step.

On my left, her 'unit' is approaching. The terrain is the Northern plain, places that best for any battle.

So she aims to force me to fight her in the Northern plain and left the gladiator right at my doorstep? That will not happen.

I move the 'unit' by the right of the archer two steps forward, leaving one step left before an encouter.

Dayne's turn. She's calling the mage of destruction to the 'unit' in her leftmost. And move the 'unit' into the Northern plain.

I 'standby' the unit closed to her gladiator and proceed to call the general of impeccable defense to my left, defending the Northern plain.

"Tsk! What a sly play. Are you afraid to get your butt kicked that bad?"

She speaks, moving the gladiator forward, commencing a battle.

The entire room then changed to Red sun canyon. Her army was approaching me from the other side with the lead of the gladiator.

I smirk.

"Retreat."

With the effect of 'standby.' I choose to avoid the battle and moving back my 'unit' one step.

There's something she doesn't explain in the rule, the power of the 'standby' action does not only make your unit aware of the situation, and makes them move back one step.

But there is one major function for this action. It's to draw your enemy along with your 'unit.'

After successfully avoided the battle, I used my counteraction to draw the gladiator toward me one step, leaving me a single action to use for the next turn.

"What's the trickery you've just used?"

She surprised so badly her eyes almost popping out.

My turn. It's time to end the gladiator's career.

I commence a battle on the gladiator.

Now, it's three on one battle, an unwinnable fight.

The archer stands hindmost, covered by the soldier from both sides.

She got no choice but to fight.

"Arggg!"

She groans in anger.

"Everyone, standby!'

I was roleplaying as one of the soldiers, ordering them.

"Let's them come into our trap!"

As expected, Dayne's army charges through the canyon without any care in the world.

"Archer, ready!"

As they're passing the tightest gap of the canyon, I ordered.

"Fire!"

Under the leadership of the hawk-eyed hunter, every archer releases a hail of arrow high into the sky, falling onto the marching force of the gladiator.

"Arg!"

Sound of men groaning in pain echo through the canyon.

"Charge!"

The gladiator commanded his remaining men.

"Hmpf! Even sustained heavy losses, and still charging with bravery to your death, how admirable."

I said.

"Soldiers! Don't let them get close. Defeat them."

As my order, all of my soldiers charge toward the thin force of the gladiator.

The fight doesn't last long, as the gladiator army quickly falls from overwhelming forces.

My 'units' sustained some loses from the battle.

However, In this battle, I am the victor.