As the cheering died down, both armies had their one—and possibly only—moment to gather their wits. Peron used his telepathic link to delegate tasks to the units within the army. Somnus overheard some of those orders, but he quickly cut the link. He did not care. He had no intention of helping Gram in this battle, no matter what. Pillars, Heralds, G.o.ds, no matter what or who showed up, Gram was on its own. In this battle, his people would either fight like the humanity of his own time—cornered and on the brink of ruin—or they would die trying. Only once they earned their right to be favored by Somnus would he lead them beyond this dead-end of a future. It was as he said: "Bring me the Gateway, and I will bring you the future."Peron seemed to understand that; He was a clever man whose talents have been under-used since the day he was born. If he were the commander at Solus Hill, when Somnus defeated Arsalan"s armies, would things have gone differently? Still, Peron"s grey eyes were like steel; They were eyes that stared into the abyss of death countless times and have come to know the familiar portents of imminent destruction.
Of all his subjects, including s.h.i.+non and Kaiza, Somnus liked Peron the most. He wasn"t a Herald, or a being closely tied to the divinities. He wasn"t even a High Priest of Somnus—possibly not even a follower. Yet Duke Peron was the most reliable and talented among all of them. Peron, at this time, symbolized all the greatest virtues of the humanity Somnus fought in his own world: Relentlessness, resourcefulness, resolve… righteousness.
Somnus closed his eyes. The constant ring of rifles filled his hearing to capacity, the heavy metal booms pounding like a racehorse"s heart. Who could silence such a sound? Like this, Somnus could imagine the plains of Mars before him, with the ruins of Tharsis smoldering in the corner of his eyes. Overhead, the transient light of fusion bombs would twinkle like stars, as ma.s.sive s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+ps jousted in orbit with nuclear-tipped lances. There was no greater beauty in the world, Somnus thought, than the things an ent.i.ty driven to the end of reason is capable of doing to keep its virtue. How ironic it must be then, when the things these ent.i.ties commit destroy the virtue of others. What a mad world it is! And so beautiful in its endless cruelty. In the face of such cruelty, only when everyone is a victim can the world truly be "right." What was "Progress" in such a world?
Somnus opened his eyes. How was this world different from that one? Only a creature as conceited as thinking meat can claim that a day belongs only to them. However, Somnus was not interested in reason; He wanted to see their madness once more. How would Peron bring that prophecy true? How would he force the Heavens to obey his will, and not only make just this one day his, but all of them?
The enemy reacted quickly. It took only several seconds for the cavalry to pull back and thick, black plumes of smoke to settle on the battlefield. The smoke not only covered the cavalry"s retreat but also blocked line of sight to the entirety of the enemy"s frontline.
These were Seraph"s tactics. Somnus knew that without a shred of a doubt in his mind. Humanity of this world should not have a need to invent smoke as cover, because they had no concept of mobility warfare or fire superiority. In response, the Deathbringers fired wildly into the smoke, s.h.i.+fting their fire towards the center of the enemy"s frontline, even though they had no idea whether they were wasting mana or finding purchase with their bullets.
Somnus could not see through the smoke, but he guessed that it wasn"t there to conceal the enemy"s position. The enemy was not a small or mobile force that could make use of such cover and concealment.
Peron seemed to realize that as well; and not only that, but he also realized that his own force was tiny, in comparison, and mobile. If he couldn"t see the enemy, they shouldn"t be able to see him either—not without magic at least.
In unison, the Gram forces began to move. The Deathbringers moved counter-clockwise, towards the enemy"s left flank, but keeping the distance open. The Ashborn Knights slashed their swords through the air and opened what appeared like rifts into nothingness into which they stepped the moment they fully opened.
More smoke appeared on the battlefield, but this time it was not the Empire"s doing. It was Gram"s mages. They were specialists in area denial, except they were used to denying it through offensive spells.
The Deathbringers reached their new position after several silent minutes and observed the smoke without firing their weapons.
"They are concealing their barriers in the smoke," Peron told Somnus, perhaps sensing his curiosity. "They are also using transportation spells to move their troops around."
Somnus nodded. He mistakenly a.s.sumed that the enemy force was immobile, and although he considered the factor of magic, he did not think moving that many troops effectively was a viable option. Somnus could not think of a way to accomplish such a thing with his own abilities. Perhaps that is exactly why he didn"t consider it; it was an inefficient method.
"I have never fought anyone like this, before," Peron said, remarking on the enemy"s tactics. "It is quite a shock. Their commander is very gifted."
"You have made one mistake, Peron," Somnus said.
"I have, my Liege?"
"You a.s.sume that you are the only one fighting desperately here," Somnus explained.
Peron"s eyes widened when he heard the words.
"The Empire is not just a b.u.mp on the road towards your objective," Somnus said. "They are fighting desperately to maintain their own way of life. They know what will happen if they fall here."
Peron licked his lips and then swallowed.
"Maybe the enemy commander is gifted, but he is also cornered, just like you. Behind him stands all he is sworn to protect, and all I swear you to ruin. Keep that in mind."
"Yes, my Liege. Thank you." Peron bowed to Somnus.
A moment afterwards, the Deathbringers pulled back and formed a circle formation. The formation wasn"t something Somnus taught them, but it must"ve been something they came up by themselves. For this situation, it may have been the right one. If the enemy wasn"t where they expected them to be, then it was reasonable to a.s.sume that they were already surrounded.
"Contact right!" Somnus heard one of the Deathbringers shout, with his enhanced perception.
This a.s.sumption proved itself true when enemy cavalry charged through the smoke. They came from the four o"clock position, if the twelve o"clock was considered to be towards the enemy"s center. That by itself proved that the range of the enemy"s mobility was vastly greater than expected, as the Deathbringers were attacked from their rear right flank. It was not inconceivable to a.s.sume that another charge was approaching from the opposite side.
The Deathbringers reacted swiftly to the contact; The rear of their formations spread out to the sides, opening their circle, as the front laid down heavy fire on the approaching hors.e.m.e.n. The front continuously retreated from the enemy, while the rear position itself into a reverse wedge formation.
However, the fire was not as effective as before. The enemy hors.e.m.e.n had their armor magically reinforced, and the projectiles bounced off of them, sending tracer fire high into the sky. Not all of the projectiles were deflected, but still, the charge was not slowed down. Even the horses were armored, and the animals feared neither smoke nor fire—the two psychological advantages of rifles.
The way the Deathbringers reacted to contact was very reminiscent of modern warfare fire and maneuver tactics. The front of the formation provided the initial base of fire for the rest of the formation to get into position to provide the cover for the front to move. How the Deathbringers came up with the idea was a mystery. Somnus never had the time to teach them the principles of modern warfare, only the basics of operating the rifle.
It was clear to Somnus why the enemy prioritized destroying the Deathbringers. In the initial salvo, the Deathbringers were clearly the inferior element of the army, compared to the Particles. But exactly because there were only two of them—Photon and Baryon—the enemy decided to leave them for last and deal with the more immediate, if lesser, threat.
This was a mistake, but the enemy could afford to make many of them because of their sheer numbers. One thing Somnus taught the Deathbringers, in terms of tactics, was to always aim to kill the force multipliers first; Mages, priests, lieutenants, couriers and anyone who improved the efficiency of a unit. In the world of numbers and tables of organization, Deathbringers were an ordinary unit; They had no ability to affect the battlefield beyond their reach. Even though it was this reach that the enemy feared the most, they had no spells to use, no defenses, and their synergy with other, ordinary units, was abysmal. The Deathbringers could not fire into an enemy, like archers could, if friendlies were engaged in melee.
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The Particles were different. Their mere presence inspired fear, while the Deathbringers only projected their intimidation when they were in range to fire and only intimidating those they were aiming at. More than fear, the Particles offered a whole suite of battlefield affecting magics, from s.h.i.+elds and barriers to devastating spells. Furthermore, the Particles had a synergy with the Deathbringers that had not yet become clear. There was a reason Somnus initially only brought the Deathbringers and the Particles with him. With those two, he could topple the Empire and it did not matter what the Empire had in reserve to defend itself with.
But things changed since the day he set out on this warpath. The Deathbringers had become even more efficient at living up to their name; the Particles evolved into something even more terrifying; and Somnus now also had the Ashborn Knights at his disposal.
Rifts of ash appeared above the charging knights, and figures shrouded in ash descended from the rifts upon the ranks of the cavalry. The Ashborn Knights slashed the abyssal blades through the air, sending crescent moons of black energy down upon the enemy, slaying dozens.
As the Ashborn Knights touched the ground and disappeared into the blob of Gram and Empire soldiers, the Deathbringers did not cease firing. Deathbringers weren"t supposed to fire on the enemy if ordinary friendly units were engaged in the melee, but the Ashborn Knights were not ordinary units.
Somnus could barely see that deep into the enemy formation, but he noticed the few times a stray bullet struck the ashen shroud of an Ashborn Knight. The shroud absorbed the bullet, unraveling its magical and physical properties, and turning them into ash. The bullets were not the only thing subjected to this ruinous power; Everything the shrouds touched underwent the same process, be it dirt, horse or man.
The shrouds were not a uniform sphere around the Ashborn Knights; They moved in intelligent ways, forming scythe-like limbs that cut down a few soldiers and horses at a time. To the Ashborn Knights, their shrouds were not merely s.h.i.+elds, but deadly weapons and life-saving devices. More than once, Somnus saw the Ashborn Knights turn into ash and reappearing in any spot within their long and prevalent shroud. They used this method to not only avoid damage, but to attack several enemies, dozens of meters apart, nearly simultaneously.
But the enemy did not care. What did it matter losing a few hundred soldiers in a unit that numbered nearly four thousand? The cavalry continued charging towards the Deathbringers, as another cavalry unit broke through from the smoke, as expected, from the opposite side. It was a pincer maneuver that the Deathbringers had no way of escaping, unless they somehow possessed a skill like the rifts the Ashborn Knights had.