Ancient Imperial Calendar Year 1806
A year had passed since the Battle of Çubuk Plain, and the small-scale clashes on the borders had given way to large-scale battles.
II Herlman Rodwel had won the first major victory for the Kislavein Dynasty and, as a reward, had taken the lands of the Minor Dynasties that had been massacred by the Ashbrum Lords.
On the other hand, the Dynasty Lord IV Orsman had appointed II Herlman as the second commander of the larger armies.
On May 6, 1806, 150,000 soldiers under the command of Talonis Kislavein laid siege to Lazeric Castle, known as the jugular vein of the Ashbrums.
On the 11th day of the siege, 200,000 soldiers under the command of Marco Ashbrum had come to rescue Lazeric.
Seeing the enemy armies, Talonis did not panic; calmly but quickly, he lifted the siege, withdrew his armies a few kilometers away from the city, and took up a battle position.
"Alright, come on, you Ashbrum bastards."
Talonis's calmness had made Marco, the commander of the enemy armies, nervous.
"What's with this calmness? We caught them in such a position?"
Marco waited instead of attacking, in case it was a trap.
The next day, at dawn on May 26, the fastest Kislavein cavalry of Talonis's second-in-command, Herlman Rodwel, tried to provoke the enemy with hit-and-run attacks, but Marco ordered his own fastest cavalry to attack.
"Cavalry, attack, but do not approach their camp."
Upon this order, the Ashbrum cavalry attacked and began fighting the Kislavein cavalry.
Herlman and his soldiers were cutting the Ashbrums like they were cutting apples.
Herlman was enjoying himself and laughing.
"Hahaha, die, Ashbrum bastards, hahahaha!"
However, Herlman was so caught up in the battle that he did not realize he was being surrounded.
The Ashbrums had surrounded the Kislavein cavalry and were beginning to slaughter the Kislavein soldiers.
Herlman reacted quickly, broke through the Ashbrum lines with a charge, and retreated to the Kislavein camp. He was out of breath.
"Haa... haa... that was close."
At that moment, Talonis came to Herlman and punched him hard.
Herlman lost his balance and fell off his horse. He looked at his commander Talonis in furious rage.
Talonis looked down on Herlman in a condescending tone.
"Didn't I tell you to just provoke them and not get carried away, Herlman? We lost hundreds of our elite cavalry because of you. You will pay the price for this, rest assured."
Herlman was angry but held himself back.
Although there was a rivalry between him and Talonis, this time Talonis was right, so he admitted his mistake.
"You are right, Commander. I will not disobey your orders again, and I will accept my punishment."
These words satisfied Talonis, but Talonis wanted to stroke his pride even further.
"Just because you are aware of your mistake doesn't mean you won't be punished, Herlman. I will report this mistake to our Lord, but for old times' sake, I will give you another chance. This time, attack with a large force; they won't attack."
Herlman was aware of Talonis's intention.
"You bastard, you will use this opportunity to have the enemy kill me." He sighed, but instead of running from battle, Herlman stood up and turned to his soldiers.
"Our commander has given us a suicide attack order. Follow me."
Talonis was shocked. Before he could even react to the words "suicide attack," ten battalions attacked after Herlman.
Seeing this, Marco Ashbrum sent 15 battalions of soldiers. The two armies began to fight on the field.
While the battle seemed to be in the Kislavein's favor, the Ashbrums began to gradually retreat.
Herlman tried to chase the enemy and kill as many as he could, just as he had done on Çubuk Plain, but he was not aware that he had entered the range of the Ashbrum mages.
The Ashbrum mages rained fireballs and lightning down on the Kislaveins; earth mages bent the earth to split Kislavein soldiers in half; water mages drowned the soldiers.
Herlman wrapped his body with his aura to reverse the situation, gathered his mana to his feet, increased his speed, and charged at the mage battalions at full speed while ordering his soldiers to retreat.
Herlman cut all the Ashbrum warriors he encountered into pieces with his giant axe. He ignored the arrows fired by the archers because they could not penetrate his thick aura armor, and finally attacked the mage battalion that was his target.
"Of course it's easy to cast spells and attack from a distance. NOW LET'S SEE YOU DO THE SAME FROM UP CLOSE, YOU BASTARDS!"
Herlman slaughtered several battalions of mages in minutes.
Marco, who could no longer ignore the situation, shaped a powerful and magnificent sword with his golden aura and then attacked Herlman.
"I will not let you slaughter any more of my soldiers, Herlman. You killed my cousin on Çubuk Plain. Today, I will take my revenge."
Herlman looked at the young but talented warrior in front of him as if he was going to eat him, sizing up his opponent. His insides trembled; he felt like he was about to enter a duel to the death.
"My axe has not touched the sword of a powerful person for a long time. Fight me, child of Ashbrum."
Marco attacked Herlman with his aura sword. Marco was surprised that Herlman could keep up with him despite his huge weapon.
"How can he keep up with me while using such a large axe?"
Herlman enjoyed the surprised look on Marco's face. Herlman always enjoyed surprising his opponents.
"Did you find it that strange, Ashbrum brat? I have fought with weapons bigger than my height since I learned to walk. You will die here."
After these words, Marco pulled himself together. He couldn't die here; his lover, whom he had promised to marry, was waiting for him.
He transferred his mana to his arms, feet, and legs, increasing his speed. He transferred mana to his eyes and brain, increasing his vision and reaction time.
Herlman began to struggle against Marco, who had suddenly accelerated and sharpened his senses. He felt the breath of death on his neck.
Marco transferred even more aura to his aura sword. So much intense aura gathered in the sword that as a result of Marco swinging his sword at full speed, Herlman's chest was split open by Marco's sword. Blood suddenly began to gush from his body, painting the grass red.
Herlman thought he had to say his last words.
"You fought well, Marco Ashbrum. You fought well."
Marco felt that he respected his opponent. He increased his strength, shouldered Herlman, wanting to bury him according to Kislavein traditions. He ordered his squire to take Herlman's broken axe.
On the Kislavein side, anger had grown like an avalanche; the soldiers were shouting for vengeance.
Talonis was relieved to be free of his rival, but he had lost control of his army.
At that moment, he understood that he had almost no influence left over the army. But he could not lose this war. If he brought defeat to the Dynasty, he would be executed; he could not face the spirits of his ancestors. He immediately began giving orders to fix the situation.
"Warriors, mages, we cannot leave the blood of Sub-Commander Herlman on the ground. Prepare for battle. First to fifth legions, follow me. Sixth to tenth legions, attack the right wing. Eleventh to fifteenth legions, attack the left wing. Follow the orders of the superior officers to the letter. This victory will be ours. The spirits of our ancestors are with us."
The soldiers obeyed the orders to the letter.
The Ashbrums held their positions and waited for the enemy to come to them, but this time, before they could enter the range of the Ashbrum mages, the Kislavein mages rained death upon the Ashbrum army from a slightly greater distance.
They killed hundreds of battalions of Ashbrum soldiers in a little over ten minutes.
Seeing this, Marco thought that defending their positions was pointless and gave the order for an all-out attack.
As they attacked, the Ashbrum mages struck the Kislavein soldiers with their magic. When the mages' battle was over, it was the warriors' turn.
When the two armies engaged in hand-to-hand combat, blood ran cold.
The commanders of the two armies maintained order, preventing their soldiers from falling into a battle frenzy and losing control, while using tactics to win the battle.
Hours had passed. Both sides were suffering heavy losses but were making no progress; neither side had any intention of retreating.
When Marco realized that this war had reached a stalemate, he ordered his aide to kill the commander of the Kislavein army in order to force the other side to retreat.
His aide, Brian Ashbrum, sent three shadow spirits to find the Kislavein commander, Talonis.
Brian watched the battlefield through the eyes of the spirits using his spirit vision from a safe area.
Finally, he found Talonis. He climbed to a high place. He shaped his aura into a bow and arrow.
Then, he transferred mana to his eyes. He concentrated. He waited patiently. He released his arrow.
The arrow that flew from the bow pierced Talonis's chest. Then, Brian strengthened his voice with his mana.
"TALONIS IS DEAD! TALONIS IS DEAD!"
Hearing these shouts, the Kislavein warriors believed it was a deception. But when Brian used his earth magic to raise Talonis's body to a height where everyone could see it, the Kislavein warriors, instead of fleeing in fear, became even angrier and intensified their attacks uncontrollably.
While Marco did not know what to do, he noticed the gaps, breaches, and fractures in the Kislavein ranks and ordered his cavalry to advance toward these gaps.
The cavalry entered the scattered ranks of the Kislavein soldiers and disrupted their formation even further. However, the Kislavein cavalry, being on the flanks, could not intervene in time.
The Ashbrum archers also forced the Kislavein cavalry to retreat. The Kislavein archers were useless due to their unfavorable position.
As the hours passed, it became clear that the Ashbrums would be victorious.
Marco realized it was time to make the finishing move and gave the order to his warriors.
"Brave warriors of Ashbrum, ATTACK!"
When the order for an all-out attack came, the Ashbrums began to repel the Kislavein warriors.
Although the Kislavein Warriors did not want to shame the Spirits of their Ancestors, their resistance was pointless, and they all began to flee.
In this battle, the Ashbrums lost 55,000 soldiers and the Kislaveins lost 123,000.
The battle ended with an Ashbrum victory.
The year 1806 witnessed many great battles such as Lazeric, but the decisive battle would ultimately conclude with the Battle of Magusa Harbor.