Given the brutal display by Innes, the Mantoan that were split off opted to climb over corpses and attack the main army from the side instead of facing the giant. Uthid, though, were not deterred even if every one met the same fate as the first. Sometimes, two would come at the same time in which case Innes would deal with one while a group of the other elite fighters would take the other. Meanwhile, the ranged section on the ground in front of the wall continued to pick off the occasional Mantoan that tried to stray from the main force.
About an hour into the battle, Emory had made her way towards the center of the opposing army. Once she got there, she formed whips made of Arcane magik and began swinging them around violently. Because they were made of magik, they could shoot out twenty or thirty feet and slice through the enemy like a sharp sword. And since she could control one with a single finger, ten iridescent vines swished through the air with killing intent. The next move she made was switching her stance to the open fist which would allow her to target multiple enemies simultaneously. To finish the stance, she began spinning her body around like a cyclone while continuing to wave her fingers, slicing through enemy after enemy. As a result, a dome made from all the slashing area extended fifty feet away and turned the field into a magik blender.
By leaving the main force, Emory had created a two-pronged situation. On one hand, because of its size and destructive power, she was killing enemies by the dozens without endangering her allies. On the other, the edges of the opposing force could easily go around and onto the main army. Overall, the smaller number of enemies favored the humans since they didn't have the strength to brutally overwhelm the Apleem like Emory did. The worst part was that, because the Uthid were taller and could see farther ahead, the ones in the back just went around Emory's hurricane.
Suddenly, Jask alerted the four leaders that the other force had begun to move. Innes and Nephenee quickly split off to lead the third of the human army that was defending the opposite side. Seeing them move, half of the ranged unit headed back into the base and climbed the ramparts on the other side of the base. As soon as the enemy got in range, they began raining down bolts of magik just like the first group had. Unfortunately, this attacking group had a higher percentage of Uthid than the first army did. So, by the time the two forces engaged, less enemies had been picked off than in the original offensive.
After Emory had been spinning for nearly thirty minutes, she stopped to survey the field. In truth, she had burned up the majority of her stamina and needed a moment to recenter herself as well. The first thing she noticed were the piles of corpses surrounding her, not even complete bodies anymore but rather limbs and appendages strewn across the field. Flying up above the conflict, she could see three quarters of a million Apleem still behind the divide she had created with her whip sphere and maybe a hundred thousand between the outpost and the sphere. She couldn't see to the other side of the outpost but guessed there were roughly five hundred thousand fighting over there. However, what she could see were the tens of thousands of human bodies strewn across the battlefield. Her blood boiled from the sight of all her fallen comrades, and a surge of magik coursed through her veins.
With one hand outstretched towards the smaller force, a ball of magik formed that looked like a spherical diamond. In an instant, the orb grew to the size of a beach ball, causing the army behind the indention to stop immediately. The next moment a hundred thousand tiny rays of pure magik burst from the ball and went straight through the heads of every one of the Apleem's heads and killed them instantly. Clarine looked up in amazement after seeing the hole through the enemy's head. This wasn't just the Arcane sphere, she thought to herself; this was Obliterate, the fifth level general magik spell that took decades to master. Even the last Aurelias girls, Cassandra and Roselin, were almost thirty when they mastered the spell. And here was Emory, not even twenty, casting it not at a single target but a hundred thousand of them.
Emory dropped to the ground on one knee, panting and with blood dripping out of her nose. She wiped her face and glared at the seven hundred fifty thousand enemy troops frozen in their tracks. As the enemy bodies began to collapse behind her, the army in front of her began to slowly retreat while the sound of a million bugs buzzed in the air. The humans released a collective sigh of relief while hundreds fell to the ground in exhaustion. Once the Apleem had retreated a thousand feet, groups of healers and ranged personnel rushed onto the field and began treating the injured. Pulling herself up, Emory walked towards Clarine who was giving orders to the army around her.
"How are you doing?" Emory wheezed when she reached Clarine, "It's nearly sundown; we held them off all day."
Clarine nodded, "We did well, Lady Supreme. By my estimates, we only lost five to eight percent of our forces while they lost nearly fifty percent of theirs. This is at least as good as our first war with the Mantoan alone."
"Still, over a million of them remain on the planet," Emory frowned, "Surely, they'll just retreat and regroup at their own outpost. And who knows how long until they get reinforcements. I don't know; it just seems like we didn't make any good progress today for what it cost us."
"Lady Supreme, forgive my bluntness, but you must be patient. We didn't drive the Mantoan from the Sol System in one battle. War isn't a sprint; it's a marathon," Clarine tried to explain.
"I know, I know. That's what everyone keeps saying," Emory pouted, "I'll help the healers for the time being. Please send Innes and Nephenee to see me when they get back." Clarine nodded and bowed slightly before turning away to help direct the army back to the outpost. Emory flew ten feet into the air to see all the healers in this part of the battlefield.
Around two hundred thousand soldiers had lost their lives, but another five hundred thousand were injured to some degree. Many more were psychologically scarred because most of these troops had joined after the last war. That meant, like Emory, these people were new to waging war. Luckily, only a small fraction of the injured were maimed in such a way that they wouldn't be able to fight again.
Once Emory located all the healing casters in this area, she released threads of magik that attached to each of them. She gently infused her magik into their bodies. This allowed them to heal bigger injuries or more people. With her incredible reserves, Emory barely noticed the strain on her mana pool despite the hundreds of healers she had attached herself to. While she was being used as a battery, she closed her eyes and channeled her magik.
It took until sundown for the rest of the army to rejoin the main force. They looked a little worse than the main army because, even though they had fought for less time, the Apleem they had engaged were predominantly Uthid. Out of the million or so soldiers that had protected the far side, roughly nine hundred thousand came back. Innes and Nephenee were at the front of the army, followed by the injured which appeared to number a couple thousand. Unfortunately, that meant most of the injured people on the other battlefield succumbed to their injuries.
As Innes and Nephenee approached Emory, Clarine saw them arrive and rushed over to join them. "Good job, you two," Clarine comforted them, "You survived your first real battle."
Innes sighed, "I thought I knew what war was like, but this? I wasn't prepared for this."
"I know how you two feel," Emory sympathized, "But there's no rest for the weary. From the files Athos and Bramimond left, the Apleem have a type of night vision. That's not a big problem for the Elandrian since Arcane Sight is also a type of night vision. But humans can't see in the dark."
"You're right. During the first war with the Mantoan, we lost most of our people at night," Clarine added.
"All standard issue gear has built in lights now, so the night shouldn't affect us as much as it did then," Innes countered, "If we stick to just defending the outpost, we should be okay until tomorrow."
Nephenee nodded, "All that's left is to decide who's on the first watch."
"Jask, send a message to the troops that saw the least amount of combat to take the first watch," Emory ordered, "As far as the four of us go, why don't you three rest while I take the first watch?"
"Are you sure, Lady Supreme? You must be exhausted after all the work you did," Clarine said with concern in her voice. It would be wrong of her to bring it up, but she had clearly seen blood trickle from her nose, indicating the first stage of magik poisoning.
"I'll be fine," Emory replied with conviction, "Besides, I'd feel better if all three of you stayed together until light returns."
Nephenee conceded, "If you insist. I know better than to try and persuade you otherwise. But don't overexert yourself. Remember, you can't take the magik poisoning medicine again for a few weeks."
"Don't worry about that," Emory smiled, "I won't need to use that much magik against these Apleem." The other three nodded with varying amounts of trust in Emory's statement. She had become more powerful since her visit with Selena, yet no one knew how strong she actually was.
As the army finished entering the outpost again, Clarine, Innes, and Nephenee followed the bigger crowd towards the barracks and the ship. Since she would be on first watch, Emory headed for the Command Center to monitor the scanners. Because they were on the planet surface, the FOB had domestic sensors that could easily track their movements and current location. Emory poured herself a cup of coffee and brought up images of the Apleem outpost on the monitors.
The Apleem FOB was about fifteen miles north of the human one in a muddy area near the mouth of a river. Any combat that took place near the base would be difficult for the humans due to the terrain which had little impact on the Apleem. Humans needed solid ground while the Apleem's pointed insectoid legs allowed them to easily pass through most landscapes. Unfortunately, the back of their base touched the edge of a large lake, and there wasn't enough room for an amphibious assault. Ten massive towers jutted a few hundred feet into the sky, one from each of the dreadnoughts that had landed. While the ships had clearly been repurposed, it seemed less temporary than Emory had expected. This meant the towers couldn't easily be turned back into ships; with the carriers all gone as well, it seemed that the Apleem were stuck on this planet much like most of the humans.
In Emory's mind, this all added up to one unnerving conclusion: there would be no negotiating with this enemy. What surprised Emory the most was the lack of defensive fortifications the Apleem had set up around the base. In fact, besides the muddy clay delta they had landed on, there were no other walls, trenches, or anything that would stop an invading force from walking directly into their area. Of course, they could have invisible walls or shields, Emory mused, since their technology was a bit more advanced than humanity's.