On a large podium in the middle of a wide arena stood a tall and slender man, he was shirtless and his long white hair flowed behind his back… his piercing red eyes, perfect abdominal muscles, and his extremely handsome facial features were his most prominent aspects. This was naturally Caesar.Caesar was currently observing the ongoing battle in section "A" between groups 3 and 4… Group 3 was led by a talented knight named Tom while group 4 was led by Alleria, a talented elven magician.
The knights were pushing the elves back not because of strategy but because of Tom"s natural charisma. The elves were nothing to scoff at but Alleria"s tactics could not match Tom"s natural instincts.
Caesar nodded his head approvingly and wrote a checkmark by Tom"s name, "this man will become a talented a war general… while Alleria has the makings of a tactical general" he murmured under his breath and shifted his attention towards the other sections.
Section B was engaged in a brutal battle between two groups of knights, one of the sides carried shields while the other didn"t. Because of this, the side that carried shields didn"t lose their front line as fast and easily defeated their enemy.
Caesar nodded his head once again and made a check mark next to the name Bison… The other two sections had nothing special going on so Caesar just waited until the next battle transpired.
After about 15 minutes the battles finally wrapped up and the next groups engaged, Caesar was extremely disappointed in the next bundle of groups and wrote an X by every commander"s name.
Similar things happened for about 1 more hour before finally, the groups were halved and the 24 groups that won were lined up in front of Caesar while the losers were gnashing their teeth on the sidelines.
*clap*
Caesar applauded and curled his lips, "The winners naturally deserve rewards, right?" Caesar asked curiously
The 25 commands and groups below him started to shake with excitement, their eyes gleamed with greed.
Suddenly Caesar displayed a crestfallen expression… "Alas, there are too few rewards for this many people… we need to lower it" He said in a sorrowful tone.
The groups below all gulped audibly and looked at Caesar anxiously, "the marshall has something planned for us…" they all thought to themselves.
Caesar dropped his facade and directed the groups below him, "I want all of you to form into two battalions, each filled with 12 groups. Each battalion will have 12 commanders and one supreme commander.
Caesar paused for a second and continued
"You will elect your own commanders and supreme commanders, I will give you 1 hour to accomplish this task… If it is not completed by the deadline I will personally select your commanders and supreme commanders at random" Caesar roared and sat down on his chair.
The groups below him started to look at each other and shrug their shoulders, immediately some commanders started to take control of the situation.
"I, TOD AM RECRUITING GROUPS WITH SHIELD BEARERS!" Tod roared loudly.
Some of the elven groups started to band together while many of the knight groups started to band together as well.
Although their combination was a perfect blend, whether or not their tactics and personalities matched up was the main issue.
After about 45 minutes the two groups formed… Caesar stood up and studied the two, one of the groups had a majority of elves, they had a small number of shield bearers in the front but plenty of magicians and spearmen.
The other group was full of only knights, they had many shield bearers, swordsman, and spearmen.
"I a.s.sume all of you have already chosen your commanders?" Caesar asked loudly.
All of the troops within the groups nodded in response, seeing this Caesar raised his hands "I order both supreme commanders to step forward" he roared
From the side of the knights came a slightly tall and muscular man, he had an eyepatch over his left eye and carried a large battle axe… this was naturally Tod.
"I greet the marshall" Tod called out respectively.
From the side of the elves came a slender and handsome man, he had long golden hair tied into a ponytail and deep green eyes.
"My name is Sylvian, I greet the marshall" He cuffed his hands and bowed respectively.
"Good, I want both you to name your battalions" Caesar ordered from the podium.
Both Tod and Sylvian carried thoughtful expressions and stroked their chins, after a few seconds Tod roared out.
"I wish for my battalion to be called the blood knights" Tod roared out with laughter.
"I wish for my battalion to be called the night-rangers," Sylvian said elegantly
This moment would be recorded in history as the beginning of two of the most feared forces in the world… but that"s for another day.
Caesar nodded his head in acceptance and wrote both of the names down on his piece of paper after he wrote down their battalion names he gestured to both ends of the arena.
"Blood knights on the left while night-rangers on the right" Caesar ordered
Both groups moved accordingly and prepared themselves, Caesar, then gave them their next set of orders.
"I will permit all of you to trade for a new weapon if you want, there will also be some different rules for this next battle" Caesar exclaimed out from his podium
Members of both groups went to trade their broken wooden swords or shields after hearing Caesar"s words, once they traded their weapon they lined back up and waited for Caesar"s next orders.
Once all of them lined up Caesar cleared his throat.
"Ahem, all of the former rules still apply… but this time, you must follow orders no matter what, whether you are one of the 12 commanders or the men below the 12 commanders. Disobeying orders is strictly prohibited, do you understand?" Caesar thundered from the podium causing all of the blood knights and night-rangers to nod their head gravely.
*snap*
Caesar snapped his fingers loudly and signaled for the battle to start, "there is no time limit and you may do anything that is within the jurisdiction of the rules… BEGIN!"
The blood knights were much bigger and held much more physical strength than the night-rangers, however, the night-rangers boasted much more dexterity and maneuverability.
Sylvian turned towards his troops, "fighting them head-on is a mistake, let them come to us… we need to use our speed to our advantage" He said quietly enough so that the blood knights didn"t hear him.
The elves all nodded their heads in understanding and shifted their attention to what the blood knights were doing.
Tod walked to the front of his knights and laughed loudly, "they are going to use their speed to their advantage… but that won"t work on me!" he roared in laughed and raised his sword forward.
"MARCH!!" he roared to the troops behind him
The blood knights all carried wry smiles on their faces as they followed Tod and marched towards the night-rangers.
Sylvian furrowed his brows, "Magicians, get to the front and use wind magic to slow them down" he ordered.
The women magicians all nodded and walked to the front lines, they raised their hands and chanted their spells.
"Yu"yin grant us your blessing" the women all whispered under their breath and a huge gust of wind was created.
It roared towards the blood knights and pushed them back a few steps, Tod shrugged the wind off and glanced behind him… "move through it, we will not falter to this meager wind!"
"Hmph, I want the flame magicians to burn a few pieces of wood and blow the smoke in their direction, I also want some of the male elves to kick up the dirt to blast in their direction.
"Yes, sir!" The elves all nodded their heads and went straight to work… The male elves started to quickly kick up dirt while others picked up some pieces of wood and hay to burn.
Large amounts of smoke and dirt started to flow towards the blood knights alongside the heavy gusts of wind. The blood knights vision was impaired and a few of them were coughing wildly.
Tod gnashed his teeth, "those d.a.m.n magicians are far more useful than I thought they would be" he thought inwardly
Tod bellowed from the front, "don"t worry, we can make it out of this!" he roared
The blood knights slowly marched forward one at a time, some of them started to pa.s.s out while others started to tire out completely.
The mages blasting the wind were also tired, more and more sweat trickled down their faces the longer they maintained the wind.
Sylvian nodded his head in appreciation seeing the dire circ.u.mstances of the blood knights, his lips curled as he turned around towards the elven males.
"I want all spear-men to sneak around the blood knights while their vision is currently impaired" Slyvian ordered
The night-rangers all nodded their heads and the spearmen started to climb the wooden arena gates to circle around to the other side.
Caesar stroke his chin watching this scene, "Although Tod is extremely charismatic, his rash personality will certainly cost him" he mused to himself
About five minutes later the wind magicians finally ran out of energy and the heavy winds stopped, the blood knights were in a mess and they could finally take a breath of fresh air.
Tod raised his eyes and saw the elves looking straight at him, he glanced behind him and ordered… "their magicians are out of juice, let"s go!!"
"Yes sir!" the blood knights roared back.
Sylvian smiled and waved his hand, the many elven swordsmen rushed to the front lines and prepared for impact.
Suddenly the rushing blood knights felt their feet sink into the ground by a few inches, Seeing this Tod squinted his eyes in displeasure… "quicksand?" he muttered out.
As they moved closer and closer Sylvian"s smile grew wider, suddenly he waved his hands and the night-rangers rushed forward.
The shield bearers apart of the blood knights rushed to the front to brace for impact.
"OOOHHHH"
Suddenly loud roaring came from behind the blood knights, the entire elven spearman platoon was charging at them from behind.
*CRASH*
The elves at the front and behind collided at the same time disrupting the Blood knights formation excellently.
"Checkmate" Sylvian whispered.
Caesar on top of the podium wrote down the name Sylvian on his notebook and nodded his head
"he has talent, however, sending the spearmen to flank instead of the swordsmen is foolish… if by chance Tod realized there was quicksand and ordered a retreat the elves would have been the ones to suffer" Caesar mused to himself while watching the battlefield.
Caesar stashed the piece of paper in his right pant pocket and started to step down from the podium, "I guess that concludes this practice, I have already found 10 candidates" He whispered under his breath.
Caesar didn"t need to watch the rest of the battle to know the outcome, Tod"s rashness had caused him the battle while Sylvian"s cunning tactics had won him the battle.