Book 8, Chapter 11 (1/2)

Civil War

Richard wanted to defeat the armies of all three empires! It was a simple strategy in theory, but anyone who heard it could only call him insane. How was one noble to stand up to such combined might?

One of his generals gulped and asked hesitantly, “Your Grace… Would that be alright? They still haven’t started or even declared their attack; if we send out our troops, won’t we be giving them the perfect excuse?”

“To attack us?” Richard chuckled, “They’d do that regardless.”

Over the next few days, Richard locked himself in his laboratory and never left. However, tens to even hundreds of orders were given out every day, some going to the soldiers around Blackrose while others were sent to his various planes. Exactly five days later, the portals in the castle all lit up for his followers to pass through one by one, each possessing an imposing aura. Senma, Asiris, Tiramisu… outside of Olar and Gangdor, basically everyone had showed up.

Behind these followers were an endless stream of warriors, those from Faelor coming in the greatest count. The tall, muscular winter soldiers were especially adept at drawing attention, taking the limelight from the arrowbeasts who were just as powerful. Other drones had joined as well, with the humanoids being the weakest of the lot and still a powerful troop that was rare in Norland.

Most important was the numbers; the long line of soldiers stunned even some of Richard’s generals; all major nobles hid their core battle power in their private planes, but for it to reach this quality and quantity was unusual at best.

Once all the soldiers were out, Richard showed himself as well. Taking a glance at the gathered troops, he summoned the unicorn and rode it down the hill. His followers immediately tagged along, with the rune knights, regular knights, and footsoldiers all getting into formation right behind. In only minutes, an army of a hundred thousand was following Richard northwards.

……

The troops of the Sacred Alliance got wind of Richard setting out before his soldiers were even in formation. Duke Turing immediately called an emergency meeting to discuss strategy, a full hundred people squeezed into his command tent with some of them forced to stand. This was despite a limit of two people per family joining in; almost everybody had found some reason or the other to bring extras along for the pure status.

“He actually dares to attack us?”

“He’s out of his mind!”

“We should take him head on!”

The tent grew chaotic, many considering Richard’s initiative an unacceptable provocation. The nobles were all furious, almost having forgotten the power and aggression of the Archerons when and even before they owned a floating island.

Duke Turing knitted his brows together, realising it was all hot air. Those screaming right now didn’t possess the ability or resources to do anything meaningful, and there weren’t any strategies being suggested either. They were all just venting their feelings with hollow words. However, he couldn’t just dismiss them either. This was a very loose alliance, and those who had brought their troops could just as well leave at any time. He was the commander, but he didn’t possess absolute control over everyone.

The Duke turned to a middle-aged mage and asked softly, “What do you think, Mister Cassius?”

Cassius wasn’t very high in level, not even a grand mage yet, but Duke Turing was still extremely respectful to him. The man pointed at the nobles and smiled, “Look at them, the situation has already come to this. Can we still not fight this battle? Do you really believe we stand a chance to lose?”

Hearing this, Duke Turing’s tightly knitted bows finally relaxed. There were more than 150,000 soldiers gathered here by the Sacred Alliance, with twelve full squads of rune knights backing them. Although most of the soldiers were from lesser families and not elites, the numbers were more than enough to make up for that gap. Meanwhile, they had far more saints than Richard as well. If they didn’t dare to take the challenge despite these advantages, it would be a joke.

Turing suddenly realised he had actually been scared of Richard’s undefeated legend, but looking at Cassius once more, his confidence grew immediately. He had recruited the mage more than a year ago; despite being personally weak, only level 15, this was someone with unparalleled leadership and management abilities that was an asset to any family. In only a few months, Cassius had broken a years-long stalemate in a private plane and defeated the two strongest empires there to conquer the entire plane. The Duke trusted him greatly.

Still, he had to make sure to give the man a warning, “Richard isn’t an easy opponent.”