"It's too hot in here..."

Said a soldier clad in metallic armor.

"We might die from the heat here before we could even fight the enemy."

These soldiers talking to each other are part of one of the strongest country on the continent, the Empire.

...

"Why aren't we moving?"

Asked a man on top of his horse as he look at the soldiers in front of him. This man is the top general of the army of the Empire that is currently on the territory of a certain Kingdom that it wants to subdue.

"Sir, it seems that we reach a stalemate again!"

Answered by a man on his left.

"Again? Hmp!"

As they fight the army of the Kingdom, they have experienced multiple stalemates to which no side would give up even an inch of space for the other side.

"Hmp! Even with their crafty leader, it's already over for them. Just struggle all you want but there's no way they would be able to defeat this army."

It would be normal to think that it's not possible for them to be defeated at this battle.

After all, the number of the empire's troops reaches twice the size of their enemy.

Though it is indeed true that a good strategy might be able to defeat their army.

Surrounding this battlefield were two forests that the enemy could use to hide their soldiers.

If they were able to surround them or attack their flanks using an ambush force coming from the forest, their enemy might be able to beat them but.

The general already addressed this problem which is why their formation is in such a way that the enemy soldiers that might have hidden in the said forest would have to take time to even go and attack the Empire soldier's formation that it would be useless to even call them an ambush troop anymore.

And being a military country, the leader is sure that in normal combat. His troops wouldn't lose.

Their formation was tight, a tight rectangular formation. But although it is packed, the soldiers were drilled in a way where they are flexible enough to react to a flanking maneuver from the enemy.

Plus, their Cavalry is guarding them from the side. Though the Empire's cavalry is known to be not the best part of their army and is weaker than their counterpart that is from the Kingdom, the general solved that problem by using them defensively instead.

Since they are just used in a way to defend their flanks, they only need to request from the main army if they have a problem defending from enemy cavalry.

So for the general, even with tactics that the enemy might possibly use. The only hope for the enemy to beat him and his army is through a miracle.

"Once their most elite troops are done, their entire formation would collapse. Victory is ours."

As the man assures their victory. The man on his left replied in agreement.

"Yes Sir!"

As he agree with his superior, he suddenly thought of one of their most important objectives in the battle.

"But what about their leader sir?"

"Hmp! What about him? I only have to not kill him right? I don't know why her Highness is so fixated on him even though he's only a commoner."

"Sir! What if someone heard you! You'll be beheaded."

"I'm only stating facts! Anyway, what's the situation of our flanks."

"Sir, there's still little news coming from our Caval... Hey, move it!"

"Maybe they are still defending. Hmmm.. aren't the formations too close to each other? What's happening?"

In the distance, a man riding on a horse suddenly came from the sides going in the direction of the general.

"Who are you?"

"Sir, I am the messenger sent from the left flank."

"Was the Cavalry able to repel the enemy?"

The normal question that the general should have asked here is if the cavalry was able to defeat the enemy cavalry. But even he is not foolish enough to think that their defensive cavalry is going to win against their enemy.

"Sir... They lost... It seems that they are routed."

"What!!! How did this happen?"

But even though he didn't try to put too much expectation, he was still shocked by the fact that the news this messenger gave him was even worse than what he expected.

"Sir.. we saw our Cavalry chasing the enemy and the next thing that we saw is that the enemy Cavalry is already moving to the north."

It should have been normal for the general to be angry at the situation as he have done early on but contrary to that, he was calm as he try to predict the next move of the enemy.

"North? Are they planning to raid our camps? No, a flanking maneuver perhaps?"

In the mind of the general, he is thinking of such things.

"Sir, I also have different news for you."

"What?"

"Our flank on the left is engaged with the enemy. We're on a deadlock currently Sir! Our General awaits for your further advice."

Because of the gaps left by the cavalry as they chase for the enemy cavalry. The enemy Infantry was able to take the chance and attack their sides.

"Those kingdom lots shouldn't be able to defeat them that easily-"

But even this is on the expectation of the general. Their plan after all is to make the enemy submit by focusing on the center of the enemy.

"Sir! Sir!"

Suddenly, another rider is coming but this time from the right.

"Are you a messenger from the other flank? What's your business?

"Sir, we are getting attacked from the sides. We can still hold off but our general wants to know your opinion on this."

"Wait? What about the Cavalry?"

What he's asking is the cavalry that should have been defending their infantry on the flanks that somehow isn't reported by the rider like they don't even exist to begin with.

There's also the shocking message earlier from the messenger that one of their cavalries is already defeated by the enemy.

"The cavalry sir is still dealing with the enemy cavalry, sir."

Although this messenger has said that, in reality, their cavalry has already been defeated by the enemy through the use of an ambush force hiding close to the forest.

While the two armies of cavalry are fighting, the Kingdom's cavalry feints a retreat, leading them close to the forest where an ambush force is waiting.

But since they are quite far from the main battlefield, there's no way for them to know this.

"At least they were able to do their job, unlike the other side...

You two, say to your general to stick with the plan."

""Yes Sir""

"But Sir. What about the cavalry that is going to the north?"

"If they attack the rear, they just have to deal with them on their own. We can't help them anymore. We can't just retreat now that we're getting close to defeating them. The camp on the other hand should be okay."

Before the fight, the general considered their camp being raided by the enemy all to more than they are on the enemy territory and through the Kingdom's superior cavalry so he left a number of troops to defend it.

The attack on the rear on the other hand though is another case. What the general didn't know is that the enemy general is really going for their rear. But even if the general did address the situation, it's not like there's something that he can do.

The only way to address such an attack, after all, is to either focus on them or retreat which is impossible for the general to do as in his mind. They are already close to winning.

...

Unbeknownst to the empire soldiers, they are already getting surrounded on all sides.

It's quite weird to think that army twice the size of their enemy is getting surrounded.

The reason for it is simple yet complex to explain. It's their formation.

The formation of the kingdom soldiers is that of a straight line with cavalry on the flanks. While the formation of the empire is that of the kingdom but because they are more numerous, the empire was able to form more lines than the kingdom.

Although the empire has more numbers, they were still wary of being flanked by the enemy coming from the forest.

They are after all the aggressor in this battle thus the kingdom might have prepared ambush troops in the forest.

The empire could indeed have just sent their soldiers there in the forest but they were also wary of traps which would just add unnecessary loss for them so they didn't go for it.

There's also the Kingdom's cavalry which is stronger and more numerous than their own.

Thus they opted for this rectangular formation that is formed from stacking up the lines of infantry which is like a fortress with the cavalry still on the flanks.

Because of this, their line is shorter than that of the Kingdom but because of their cavalry guarding their sides. It cannot be easily attacked from the sides.

Going to the battle.

The strategy of the empire was to break the enemy center using their own while making most of their flanks protect their center.

With this formation of the empire, any ambushers coming from the forest would take time to get to them thus countering them should be easy for the empire.

The cavalry which might pose a threat to them is also countered by this formation because of the fact that if they tried to assault any of the sides, the empire's troops could just surround them using their more maneuverable troops.

This should have been a perfect strategy but apparently, the general of the kingdom have already read their moves.

"With this, it's impossible for us to lose. Finally! I can finally be free from this hell."

Said a guy watching as the battle unfold on a map that his subordinates are mapping for him.

"Honestly, if they can't map this to me like this. I won't even understand what's happening."

Currently, the battle was in the position where the empire soldiers is already being surrounded by the kingdom's troops.

Only the backside of the empire is left unopposed which is what the leader of the kingdom's troop has already ordered his cavalry to attack.

Once his cavalry attack their back, the empire's army would now be sandwiched on all sides.

...

"You're saying that we're already surrounded from all sides?"

"Yes Sir!"

A report came to the General of the Empire's army that they are already surrounded by the Kingdom's army.

The reporter though knowing that he's about to bring bad news to his general is now nervous and scared of what the general might do to him even though the reporter didn't even do anything.

It's just that his instinct is telling him that something might indeed happen to him.

It's more like the aura of the general that is making him scared.

"What about their front? Are we breaking through already? Didn't we break the stalemate already?"

"About that... Sir. We reached another stalemate again."

Currently, the Reporter already feels like he's having a heart attack from the pressure his general is releasing but of course, he has to continue since he also knows that if they lose here, he could also die from being killed by the kingdom's soldiers which surrounds them from all sides as he speaks.

"What!?"

The general is now facing a problem that might lose the empire this battle. And not just a simple loss at that, their army might even get annihilated.

He did predict the possibility of being surrounded from all sides. After all, they already lost one of their cavalry troops while the other one is still without contact.

But, he also knows that getting surrounded from all sides is not yet over for him. He knows the capability of his army.

His troops are not all elite indeed, but with the way his troops are trained with the new military doctrine that they have.

Defending a flanking maneuver from the enemy can still be dealt with without losing much of their morale since part of their new tactics is to combat such a threat.

Also, they have a plan. Their main strategy going in this battle is to push on the enemy center, to defeat the enemy's elite army.

If they won and broke through the middle, he is sure that the surrounding enemy troops would lose morale and he could even send a detachment force to capture the leader of the enemy thus making things faster.

If that succeeds, the battle would already be decided.

With the defeat of the enemy center, they would also escape their current cornered situation.

"Relay my orders to everyone. Find me the best weak point in the enemy position they could find and report it to me."

Why he ordered finding an enemy weak spot is not really for them to abuse and attack.

Yes, he did indeed considered that. But even with their superior battle doctrine and training, he's not that confident enough that his troops would be able to pull that complex maneuver in the middle of a battle which in the eyes of the soldiers is already a losing battle.

Defending is one thing but attacking is another factor. Although empire's troop is more maneuverable, they are still being surrounded.

Most of the Empire's troops are already so close to each other that relaying orders would confuse them.

Thus a plan such as attacking that would need a better coordination is almost impossible.

Why the Empire's troops are not even breaking already is only because of two things. One is that most soldiers are still thinking about the plan which is to break through the center and two, which is that they don't really have a way to escape which will come back to number one which if turned successful, their lifeline of winning and living could still be secured in the now losing battle. So to say, most soldiers are relying on the success of the plan.

This is all the things that hold the Empire's morale for now. But if they indeed find that weak point, the general is already sure that many of the soldiers would focus on saving their own life.

Thus with that order, the general of the empire is thinking of other things which can be used for a possible retreat.

Although he is almost sure of his win with the center already being pushed for the second time. He's no fool as to celebrate a still ongoing battle.

Now that he received the news that a stalemate with the enemy elite force has been reached again, the thought of him not getting careless is further reinforced.

Even though he is thinking that it might just be the enemy's last struggle. An elite force is still an elite force.

"If this center doesn't break, I'll need to at least find some way for my soldiers to retreat. Sadly, if that happened. I can't, won't be able to lead them to battle again."

"Gen.. general Black.."

"What?"

"Our center is being pushed back by the enemy!"

"What?!"