41. A Banner In The Sky

Mud splattered as Nathanial’s metallic boots landed on the battlefield. He felt the tremors crawl through his legs and into his torso. The air reeked of a metallic tang. Screams reached his ears from all sides, suffocating his senses.

Steel clashed against steel with a metallic ring echoing through the front lines. All around him, auras flared into the air like pillars of light holding up the darkness above. And in that moment, as Nathanial stood, he saw men of the second wave release a battle cry and charge headfirst into the gaps of the collapsed Empire lines.

Their blades paved the way for those behind, and soon, Nathanial found himself running straight into the fray. Aura enveloped his body as he surged forward with the momentum of his comrades.

Richard, Fredrick, and the others followed close behind.

Nathanial saw the gap in the Empire’s line. It was like a blistering wound with men on both sides bleeding to seal or claim it.

But Nathanial’s cohort intended to tear it wide open.

As he crossed the threshold of the broken vanguard, the chaotic roar of the battlefield focused on a single point. Before him was an enemy soldier. A foe that could manifest his aura stood before him, but as Nathanial’s gaze locked onto his opponent, his eyes narrowed.

The face smeared with soot and eyes wide with desperate fury lunged through the smoke, aiming his halberd shrouded in crimson aura squarely at Nathanial’s throat.

With a single swing of Nathanial’s longsword, he struck the blade of the halberd and redirected it to the side, sending a shower of sparks into the mud. Nathanial stepped in. His sword glided down the shaft of the weapon as aura flared at the point of contact.

Before the man could move, Nathanial’s sword found its mark. He stared the man straight in the eyes, realizing that the hesitation that once plagued his movements was no longer there.

Blood squirted out the side of the man’s neck as his body slumped forward.

The metallic clang of his armor hitting the mud was as clear as day. The enemy soldier fell to his knees. Gasping for air as scarlet filled his lungs, and before he fell forward, Nathanial grabbed the back of his armor near the neck with his free hand and walked toward the Empire’s men that began to charge him.

His cape fluttered in the searing wind.

With all his might, he hurled the body back into their ranks. The corpse slammed into three men and knocked them back as Nathanial rushed forward.

The aura around his body grew brighter around his forearms. With a brutal horizontal swing, he cleaved through the three auraless men with ease. Their bodies crashed backward into their own rallying comrades.

“Push forward!” Nathanial’s voice erupted from their side.

The Everheart soldiers returned it with a mighty roar, storming forward as Richard cleaved through the Empire’s men, shattering the defensive wedge they tried to form.

The shockwave of the blow stumbled the enemy line, leaving them completely exposed as Fredrick capitalized on the opening. His blade cut into the unarmored gaps of the faltering enemy, targeting necks and joints of the vulnerable men.

Like Nathanial, he worked to clear the path. Driving deeper into the fracture as cracks formed along the Empire’s ranks.

Nathanial continued forward as the Empire’s discipline broke like fragile pieces of glass. This was what they needed. The courage to destroy the once legendary wall of shields. He felt his blood rush with each breath, fueling the unyielding spirit in his body.

The sound of a distant whistle cut through the air and straight toward him. Nathanial’s gaze drifted up at the javelin soaring to claim his life. He stepped aside and caught it mid-air, rolling with the momentum.

Galloping reached him from afar.

Through the clouds of dust and smoke and over the bodies of the fallen were men on horseback, charging to claim their lives.

Nathanial gritted his teeth and returned the javelin, shrouded in an azure aura, back into the heart of the enemy cavalry. The spear buried itself deep into the rider’s flesh, shattering the auraless armor with a force that blew the man off his mount.

Yet it wasn’t enough.

More riders burst through the smoke, trampling on the fallen bodies of friend and foe alike. The sickening crunch of bones entered Nathanial’s ears, followed by the screams of those who failed to move out of the way. Men desperately tried to move out of the way, scattering in all directions. Yet Nathanial only clicked his tongue.

The first wave was pushing further while battling the enemy knights. Powerful strikes sent smoke scattering in all directions as spells and arrows rained down from overhead.

Nathanial needed to break through what remained of the Empire’s forces with the rest of the second wave, but resistance was far stronger than the Seventh expected. The riders drew closer. Nathanial gripped his blade with both hands, prepared to meet the foe head-on.

He slowly exhaled with the first rider a mere five meters away from him, angling his torso downward while swinging his blade, but before it could reach him, a single arrow tore through the air and struck the man in the eye, right through the gaps of his visor.

The single opening was enough, and with an upward slash, he cut down his opponent; a wail freeing itself from the fallen soldier’s lips.

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Nathanial glanced back to see Percy and the other two patrolmen firing shot after shot at the riders. Some fell short, while others dealt a devastating blow as the aura-tipped arrows found new homes in the armor of the Empire’s men.

Fredrick rushed to Nathanial’s side. “There’s too fucking many of them rushing our location!”

Nathanial stared at the battlefield, watching the Everheart soldiers push further into enemy ranks. Only to reach a standstill. “Have we heard from the Sixth?”

“We haven’t heard shit!”

“Then we need to get to their side; they’re probably locked in combat and can’t move.” Nathanial stared toward the center of the battlefield, catching sight of a blue banner standing proudly in the midst of the war. “That’s where we need to go!”

“That’s easier said than done. Even with our numbers, those bastards from the Empire are far more relentless than we thought,” Richard added, wiping the blood from the side of his face.

A nearby spell had blown his helm off, and as Nathanial looked around, he could see the desperation on both sides as they unleashed roaring spells that fought for dominance over the skies. From above, the wyvern riders were battling with powerful shockwaves erupting from each strike of their blades.

Vivid streaks of red and blue painted the canvas of the pitch-black sphere and hardly made a dent in the surface. Yet the few attacks that sliced open a rift leaked out a suffocating pressure that bled onto the battlefield.

The pressure hammered down on Nathanial’s limbs. He felt the weight of his armor and sword growing heavier by the second. Those who couldn’t bear the burden collapsed on the spot, with aura users struggling to keep their heads up high.

What kind of monsters are fighting up there?

Nathanial lifted his head while gritting his teeth.