“People who only plan the attack but not the retreat are idiots or overconfident, or more likely than not, both. To do so would be the same as creating a building with a way in but no way out. Sure, all is good if the enemy routs and opens the way for you, but what if that doesn’t happen?” - Marzban Suleiman D’zar of the Aqwa Sultanate, circa 102 VA.

Alycea couldn’t help but smile a bit while she fought against the enemy soldiers while covering the formation’s left flank with her platoon. Her people had grown in the past year, and not just in size and strength. Their cooperation also became more seamless, their understanding of each other allowing them to cover each other’s weaknesses without words needing to be exchanged.

Her group had also welcomed some new members in the past year as the younger members of the group that centered themselves around her had come of age, as Samir and Shireen – both of them children of Fatimah from the Nightstalkers, a year apart in age – showed, the siblings dashing in and out of their formation like shadows, reaping lives as they struck.

Irma and Macen held the frontlines as usual with their massive tower shields in hand, the two large-bodied shieldbearers forming the core of the platoon’s defenses, as they shifted their position to cover for those that tired out under the constant fighting. The two therian youths had grown noticeably in the past year, now even larger than they were before, and even more powerful to boot.

Roven often hung out behind the two powerhouses, as he’d swiftly strike from behind the cover they provided with his pole-flail, only to withdraw to safety once more afterwards. In fact, these days Roven handled more of the tactical commanding of the platoon than Alycea did, slipping comfortably into the role of her second in command and tactician. It was something the slim youth proved to be quite capable at, even if he wasn’t the best fighter in the platoon by any means.

With Roven handling the platoon’s small-scale tactics, it freed Alycea to command on a larger scale, although like all the other platoon leaders, she did so while fighting alongside her platoon members. Her own glaive flashed and struck as if it was a living serpent, often taking down enemies by surprise due to the unexpected flexibility of the weapon’s shaft. She rarely stayed in one location for long, though, but instead flitted from one place to another, lending a hand where it was needed and giving out commands where required.

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As for the battle lines itself, they held out just fine for the most part. Ciel and Leece led one side of the front, the twins fighting at the front in tandem as usual. Their cooperation with one another was uncanny that it generally caught their opponents off guard, as was their habit of switching targets almost at will with each other. It was probably par for the course for identical twins like them, though Alycea didn’t exactly have another pair to compare the half-elven twins to.

On the other side, Kev did his best to hold the line, fortunately aided by his friends from the basic training. Larissa, Boris, and Skuljd were by Kev’s side of the battlefield and helped their old friend since they were all better fighters but worse leaders than him. Perhaps given a couple decades more experience the human youth might end up being another platoon leader for the Free Lances, Alycea thought.

Her platoon held the left flank of the mercenary formation while the second strike platoon reorganized and shifted behind them, moving towards the back of the formation. All three strike platoons then led the charge on the way out of the enemy formation, while Alycea and Erycea’s platoons held the flanks, along with Alvaro’s and Astrid’s platoon who defended their rear.

At the sides, Alycea’s platoon arguably had an easier fight, as they had one of the archer platoons – likely Alva’s judging from the lack of massive, powerful arrows that went through several people before they halted – providing them with ranged support. They also constantly remained on the move, which made it difficult for their foes to sustain pressure at any one point of their formation.

In contrast, those leading the charge back out simply demolished the enemies in their way as it was their specialty to lead the charge to begin with. The enemy soldiers that managed to regroup behind the mercenaries after they broke into the enemy formation simply had too little time and too few people to even stand a chance against a full headlong charge by all three strike platoons at the same time.

As the mercenaries beat a fighting withdrawal, the side that faced the most pressure were Alvaro’s and Astrid’s platoons at the rearguard, as they had to fight while withdrawing, which made things harder, all while somehow trying to keep pace with the main bulk of the mercenary formation. Reinhardt’s own platoon was right behind them and would occasionally help them out when some enemies managed to slip through, but the main bulk of the defense was still laid in the hands of the two platoons at the back.

Of the two, Alvaro’s had an easier time as his troops were all formerly of the Warforged, trained from childhood for the purpose of warfare and drilled to the point that their formation was second nature to them. The main body of the troops fought while moving backwards without showing any awkwardness, while the Blademasters amongst them would slide in and out of the formation to take care of problem spots whenever and wherever they might be needed.

Across from them, however, Astrid’s platoon faced more trouble, her troops less trained and disciplined compared to the former Warforged, though they gave their best effort regardless. Fighting while retreating at the same time made it difficult to maintain their formation, and while they had trained for it before, there was a difference between performing the feat in training and actually pulling it off during a live battle.