At the north of the damaged Castle of Remna, Vizier Kaljar was surrounded by the metallic sounds of sword and shield of both his allies and enemies. Below him was one of his fallen enemies named general Lamzaz. His blood kept on flowing after the Vizier dug his two axes deep into his chest.

"You lost your general quickly Lustratous," said Vizier Kaljar to Emperor Lustratous. "Perhaps you will lose your army quickly as well?"

The whole siege formed a chain of unexpected events to Emperor Lustratous. While his plan to topple the Castle of Remna worked flawlessly, Lustratous did not expect Kaljar to break his surrender oath. That is, by ordering all his 10,000 men to stab the Lorope enemy in one go.

Lustratous knew that he will be mocked by every nation and by his own people for trusting an enemy's false oath.

"An oathbreaker should keep his mouth shut," said Lustratous to Kaljar. "Elites, surround Kaljar and kill him!"

There were six soldiers clad in white armor who stood beside Emperor Lustratous. They were called The Six Elites. The group was created by Lustratous five years ago. He handpicked them as the best men in his entire 100,000 soldiers.

Whenever one of the six died, another had to replace him so that they always remained as The Six Elites. And since then, many soldiers, especially those at the top of the Lorope military pyramid trained harder to enter this group. The prestige of being part of The Six Elites was at another level. Thus, it raised the morale of the entire Lorope army with ease.

Now that Lamzaz, a general and one of The Six Elites, had fallen under the hands of Kaljar, the group temporarily became The Five Elites.

Upon hearing Lustratous' call, The Elites stopped fighting the Djinn soldiers and surrounded Vizier Kaljar. But they were only four, one of the Elites was missing.

One had a giant mace, another had a spear that doubled his length, a third had two shields, and the fourth had a typical sword.

"Where is Manu?" Lustratous asked the four Elites.

"We could not find him," said the mace Elite named Lurt.

"Very well," said Lustratous. "The four of you should be more than enough to kill Kaljar."

This would be quite a dangerous fight to Kaljar. While he beat an Elite one on one, beating four of them at once seemed nearly impossible.

"Finally... A decent fight," said Vizier Kaljar while kicking the unconscious Lamzaz on the floor. "This one was not decent--"

Before Kaljar could finish his talk, he noticed a large mace heading his way and was about to break his skull apart. Kaljar stepped backward, and the mace made a wild noise once it hit the ground.

He is quick, Kaljar thought.

Upon stepping backward, a long spear was aimed at Kaljar's head. Kaljar reclined his head back in time, but the spear grazed his left cheek.

The sword Elite then tried to slash him, but Kaljar dodged it by leaping to the spear Elite and swung his two axes at him. But the fourth Elite with the two shields blocked his attack.

This is growing troublesome, Kaljar thought.

Kaljar had no time to breathe; another large mace came dropping at his head. Kaljar blocked it, but before he could start a counterattack the sword Elite thrust at him. This forced Kaljar to block the sword Elite and the mace Elite attacks simultaneously with his two axes. Kaljar hands were fully occupied.

"Do not forget about me," said the two-shield Elite behind Kaljar. He forced Kaljar to the ground with a massive push from his shields.

Kaljar's back bled from the shields' attack.

"Very well," said Kaljar as he stood up from the floor. "I will have to get serious."

Looks like I got into some deep trouble, Kaljar thought.

"This is good," said the satisfied Lustratous after he saw Kaljar bleeding. "I shall head back to the army. Make sure you kill him, if you don't, I will kill each one of you."

Lustratous rode his horse and galloped deep into the battle shouting, "Cohorts, get into formation!"

Thus far the Djinn army made impressive progress. The small cohort groups that Lajek commanded had swallowed the lonely Lorope parties and sliced them one after the other.

The usual tactic Lajek followed is that once the Djinn shield cohorts circle the Lorope enemy. They make a safe route for the sword and bow cohorts to start their full assault. Thus they fell as easy preys for either of the two attacks.

Laiban, a former villager of the deceased Chocked Villages, had defeated three irregular Lorope groups with his cohort formation.

"Oh this is steamy," shouted Laiban in excitement on how the battle had unfolded thus far.

About a day ago, Vizier Kaljar and Lajek had told the whole army about an "act."

That is, if by any chance the enemy forced them to surrender, Lajek would surrender alone first. Then after a fist fight, Kaljar would the surrender all the Djinn army. After that, the two commanders gave each of the 10,000 Djinn soldiers with a shortsword. They told the army to use it to stab the enemy at an agreed-on sign. Thus, when Laiban followed the "Surrender & Stab" tactic and saw how successful it was, he almost teared up.

I am working under two amazing commanders, Laiban thought.

With Lajek commanding the small cohort groups the Lorope forces declined from 21,000 to 16,000. Omit, the Djinn forces dropped from the original 10,000 to 9,000.

The lorope army suffered a greater loss in manpower. But the total manpower still favored the Lorope army.

Suddenly, orders from the Lorope cohort leaders were heard all over the battlefield.

Lorope started to arrange itself. Not in many small cohort groups like what Lajek did, but in a single large block composed of their whole army. These were based on Lustratous orders to regroup the scattered Lorope forces. The Lorope army retreated temporarily from the Djinn forces and began to form a single large formation.

Upon realizing that, Lajek countered with the same. "Cohort leaders, group up!" shouted Lajek.

Where is this Vizier of mine now? Lajek thought. I hope he is not alone.

Each of the two armies grouped up in a single large formation. Those that have not regrouped like Vizier Kaljar will be in a dangerous position of getting swept by the concentrated masses of enemies.

Blood and sweat ticked from the shoulders and chest of Vizier of Kaljar.

"This Vizier is quite stubborn is not he?" said the mace Elite named Lurt.

"I hope he dies already," said the spear Elite named Rajar.

"My hands are numb," said the two shields Elite named Ritra.

"Can't we finish this already?" said the sword Elite named Ivra.

The four Elites grew weary fighting Vizier Kaljar who did not seem to be giving up. Emperor Lustratous had already ordered the Elites to kill him no matter what happens. So they cannot leave their current positions until they kill Vizier Kaljar. And if by any chance they could not kill Kaljar, Lustratous would instead kill them.

The battle seems to be getting worse after every second, thought Vizier Kaljar. I have to kill at least one of the Elites to regroup with the army.

Vizier Kaljar was not also sure how capable Lajek would be in leading the army at such an outnumbered position. Lajek was bright and sharp. But he may not be sharp enough to pierce Lustratous age-hardened strategies.

Kaljar had to swiftly return to his army and lead it.

I will have to go all-in, Kaljar thought. Even if I lose a limb or two, or get severely injured, I have to go back to my army.

Kaljar screamed from the bottom of his lungs. He signaled that he is not holding anything back, not even to his own injuries. Thus entering what he loves to call as a berserker mode.

The intensity of Kaljar's scream raised the heartbeats and shivered the bodies of the four Elites. They felt that Kaljar's next move is going to be destructive.

Kaljar jumped at the spear Elite named Rajar. He launched a barrage of attacks at Rajar who called at the rest of the Elites for support. Though suddenly, Kaljar turned his body in a circle and used this momentum to initiate two heavy swings with his two axes at once.

Rajak's spear could not handle the speed nor the heavy weight of the axes. Thus, the axes dug deep into Rajak's right waist and tossed him a few feet away from the other Elites.

Rajak groaned in pain and could no longer stand.

Meanwhile, the shield Elite Ritra, the mace Elite Lurt, and the sword Elite Ivra launched a simultaneous attack on three angles at Kaljar. Kaljar had no way to dodge the three attacks at once, they locked him up.

Each of these three attacks were fatal. The mace aimed at his head would crack his skull. The sword pointed at his chest would pierce his life. And the shields aimed at his back would force him to the ground, and make him easy prey for the other two Elites.

"Mirya," said Kaljar in a desperate whisper, her name powered him up.

Kaljar twisted his whole body and jumped. He spun his body like a whirlwind and parried all the three attacks with his axes and forced the three Elites to back away. The mace Elite Lurt tripped on his feet, and that was what Kaljar was waiting for.

Kaljar threw an axe while in midair at Lurt's head like an arrow. Lurt noticed the axe heading his way but his mace was too heavy to react in time. He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes hoping for a miracle while the axe cracked his skull and drilled into his forehead.

Lurt fell dead on a bloodied ground with Kaljar's axe stuck inside his forehead.

Kaljar screamed a victory war cry, while the remaining two Elites froze in fear.