Misra frowned at the news. “Well… That's not to be unexpected… There is only so much we can do with the resources and time given to us…”

“I also highly doubt we would have ever been able to create your vaunted Fandorain walls, no matter how much time we had.” Van commented.

“What now?” Avalyn asked.

Cerina sighed. “Well… This wasn’t entirely unexpected… Though it was a bit too soon for our liking…”

Misra nodded. “Right. Let’s set it off then.”

--- Zariel ---

Zariel was just thinking this was going a bit too easily when a series of explosions rocked her troop column in a massive detonation of illusionary fire. Sending several dozens of her soldiers flying out of the arena and straight into the benches. Those who would normally be severely wounded by the explosion had their shielding constricted on the parts of their body that would have been crippled, making it harder for those taken by the blast to move their arms or legs.

“Well… This is interesting…” She thought, though she was not entirely surprised or concerned by the sudden destruction. “I had a feeling they may have pulled something like this… It didn’t make sense for their wooden walls not to be reinforced otherwise… They must have figured that they couldn’t stop me from simply smashing my way through with the weight of my soldiers…”

She put a temporary halt to the advance and sent some more of her imps out to scout out the area. She then rearranged her column to send out all the skeletons and other expandable units further up front and had them simply start tearing apart anything that got in the way. It made their march towards the enemy main camp slower, but it was preferable to losing actual decent soldiers to bombs.

After that, she called her main imp and told her to tell her second-in-command to start applying a bit more pressure on her side of things. Along with the warning of the possibilities of more mines to be careful of. Once that was done she had her remaining troops spread out and check the side buildings and anything else that might hide hidden troops or explosives. With one final command to her imps to tell her if they pick up on any shady movements from their enemy and to sabotage where they can.

And with that, she pressed the advance once more.

“I do hope this wasn’t all they have to show me… I want to experience more things… Learn more things… Overcome even greater odds… It won’t do if I simply roll them over…” her mind went to that match between Van and Aldina. “I really want to know what else you can show me…”

--- Van ---

More explosions were heard in the distance, but they were not as effective as they used to be. The army from the woods was slowly smashing through all their roadblocks and gates, while the one from the north was simply blasting through all the walls in a straight line.

Van was now outside alongside Luna and the two were doing their best with a few other students in trying to shoot down as many of the annoying imps as possible. Everytime they made a hit, an imp would be whisked away back into the enemy benches

Thankfully they had the home advantage. Since each base had a summoning circle, they could summon their reserves and throw them right into battle within the minute. While their enemy had to funnel their reinforcements all the way from the top of the hills and the depths of the forest bases. And since summoning reserves was cheaper than mercenaries, this meant that they might have the advantage due to the simple fact that they had more troops to begin with.

The only downside was the number of students they lost at the beginning. If they were more experienced, they would have made sure to keep the students as far away from the front line as possible. The problem with that is, when a student gets a kill, they get a point for the team to spend. This was to help encourage students to fight upfront and not just hide behind their army.

Not that it mattered right now…

Misra began ordering her guards upfront. “Alright! This is no different than training! You’ve spent your whole lives for a battle like this, a battle to finally test your skills and dedication! Do not worry about injury, only worry about victory! This is our chance to show these bloodsuckers the might of the Fandorainen royal guard! Prepare for battle! Get in position!”

The Fandorians roared their approval and began to fight. The heavy guard started taking a line formation towards the wall up to their north that was slowly being hit by a battering ram. The slayers took positions beside them to protect their flanks for when battle began. The light mages from the order took positions from behind. And cat girl rangers with bows and arrows and a few daggers around their belt stood in front of them.

Van ordered Kella to take command of their own troops and have them help Misra fend off the incoming attack. He then turned to Karmine and Ashina to further commands.

“I know you want to fight, but we need you two to go to our south and stall for as long as possible. Your hit-and-run tactics and skills at close quarters would be immensely more useful in preventing ourselves from being sandwiched from two sides. And I believe we have enough strong personnel on this side of things.” Looking over to the heavily armed and armored Fandorain soldiers that gave off an air of veterancy.

Karmine sighed with disappointment. “Yeah… You're right…” She then gave him an easy going smile. “Oh well… At least we have an entire front all to ourselves, right Ashina?” Giving her friend a knowing smile.

Ashina smiled back. “I can’t wait to put what I learned to use…”

The two girls then left with a small portion of the troops and headed out to intercept the enemy advance to their south. Allowing Van and the others to focus on the north.

“Van… Are we going to lose?” Luna asked beside him.

He gave it some thought before nodding. “Most probably yes… I simply can’t think of a way to get out of this predicament. Militarily speaking… Were fucked.”

The two watched around in silence for a moment as students and soldiers alike rushed around to get any last-minute preparations done.

As time went by, most of the students began to congregate around them. There was no way out afterall, they were surrounded. So this was probably going to be their final stand.

A few minutes later, the enemy army from the north broke through the wall and began to pour into the main base. Only to be met with a hail of arrows and ballista that were bought at the last minute.

Undeterred, the expandable skeletons and zombies began to rush the opening, some being ordered to expand the impromptu entryway as wide as they could make it. Only for one last explosion to send them all flying around in pieces.

Then Zariel’s main army began its advance. They gave a battle cry as they charged through the gap in the wall, only to be met with a counter cry of defiance. The cat girl rangers began firing off volleys of arrows as the light mages started their chants to weaken beings of darkness and create shields of light to defend from counter-arrow fire.

The heavy guards stood their ground and watched as dozens of enemy combatants were struck down in front of them. Only to be whisked away.

Eventually, though, the more experienced and trained soldiers of Zariel began to march forward, shields up, with better armor and equipment to help defend themselves. Countermagic was then used to blast the shields of light with spears of darkness, creating a fascinating light show of conflicting raw power. From under it all, a dozen or so shadowy beings began to slither through the darkness underfoot.

But the Fandorain’s were prepared for that and the mages began to crack the earth with tendrils of light.

Then the two sides clashed.

But the royal guard stood firm. Outnumbered as they were. The enemy was no match for them. They thrusted with spears, sliced with swords and bashed with shields as the slayers on their flanks moved with grace and precision, killing the enemy in single strokes or jabs.

Van and the other students were mesmerized by the fighting capabilities of the Fandorain military. Some students even showed fear towards their allies, wondering what it must be like to face such a bulwark of sheer defense and precision like that of a killing machine.

This gave him time to peer and try to find the enemy commander over all the fighting, trying to search her out. Once he did, he found her riding a large shadowy tiger, watching from afar with a slight frown on her face.

And for good reason, her troops were being depleted at a rapid pace. The second they got past the killing field in the gap in the wall, they had to run a small distance towards another wall, but this time one that could fight back.

With a quick order, she sent out her battering rams and told her skeletons carrying them to smash through the shield wall. But all it served was for them to die pointlessly in the crossfire. She then tried to send more shadowy beings through the ground, with similar results…

With a bigger frown now she took out a map and consulted it for a bit before putting it away. She then had a portion of her army waiting in line to run the gap to move to the side and start creating more openings. With hatchets and axes, they began chopping the walls nearby to create more openings. With a command, she moved her troops back and into defensive positions.

A few minutes of tense silence passed by as everyone began to wonder what she was up to. Only to be taken aback when several large catapults began slowly being pushed forward from the hillside to the front line.

“Well… This is bad…” Van thought. “Looks like she’s planning to switch roles with us. If she can’t get to us, we’ll have to get her… Is that what she’s thinking?”

Zariel then had the catapults start firing endlessly. And not far behind them was a small train of wagons filled to the brim with arrows.

Soon, Van’s position was being hailed by arrow and catapult fire. With the enemy soldiers setting fire to portions of the wall while others continued to hack it apart creating more openings.

Points wise, arrows and catapult ammo was very cheap. It didn’t do much to the shields of light the mages were producing. But it did mean they had to constantly keep it up at all times.

But this didn’t mean Van and the others were standing still. They also used their points to purchase more ballista and began firing back at the enemy with everything they had. They tried to create a new series of ditches and walls. But the enemy fire was too constant and the mages couldn’t shield everything or everyone at the same time.

Thankfully though, the constant annoying imps finally seemed to have petered out. Either that or they were recalled since the constant back and forth of arrow fire was too dangerous to let them fly.

Just then a cheer was heard from their south and they got a message that Tabitha had struck the enemy from behind dealing massive damage and sniping multiple students before running back to hide in the woods. Where she began hit-and-run tactics to snipe any reinforcements coming to join the battle. Forcing the enemy commander there to delay her advance even further and spread out her troops to help defend her rear.

When news of that spread, it gave a nice moral boost to everyone and helped give them the determination to fight harder and for longer.

“I wonder how she will react to this…” Van wondered as he used his aura to watch Zariel. To his surprise she remained calm, her eyes calculating.

Also to his surprise were two arrows flying directly at her. Unbeknownst to him, Avalyn and Astrid took out their bows and fired at the enemy commander upon finding her. He was amazed by how gracefully the arrows flew through the air, and awed by how unnervingly they seemed to fly directly at her.

Even Zariel seemed surprised, lifting up her spear to swat the arrows away. Only to be rocked back by the explosion the two arrows emitted upon destruction. Leaving her dazed, but unhurt.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Two more arrows were fired, followed by another two, and another two. Over and over again until Zariel was forced to start running around on her steed to avoid all the attacks. Demoralizing her soldiers as they watched with dread as each time their leader came close to death.

“So these are the vaunted bowmanship skills of the Fandorains…” Van looked on with awe.

But it seemed that Zariel had enough of this game and summoned dozens of imps once more. And just in time as well, or her soldiers finally had created several more openings in the wall for them to breach through.

With an order, she commanded her imps to carry bombs and drop them upon her enemies, before preparing her soldiers for an all-out attack. She then casually had her own mages create a shield of darkness around her and proceeded to march forward with her army.