“Lord, be merciful to us sinners, and save us for thy mercy's sake. Thou art the great God, who hast made and rulest all things: O, deliver us for thy name's sake. Thou art the great God to be feared above all: O save us, that we may praise Thee. Amen”

  Pastor Daniel prays before the fight. He is among the Cathedraller who will launch an assault on the secondary gate.

  Commanded by Belisari on the right wing and Lily to the left, the Latilian column slowly emerges from their cover. With their voice and sound and silhouettes overshadowed by the ongoing fight on the wall, it took no difficulty to arrive two hundred meters in front of the gate undetected. Upon their arrival, the Latilians see the final challenge they must face before reaching the small gate in front of them:

  “Ouch. Damn.”

  Cursed a regular infantry, upon him accidentally trampling on a sharp rock edge it bites into his skin. The ground in this front favors not soldiers without proper protection in their feet, only those rich nobles with luxurious fine leather shoes can travel over the terrain with ease, which is unfortunate because no one here prepared a good pair of boots except Aurora. Not even the Archprince and the Archduchess, their cheap standard trench boots rippled apart as their legs walk through the stone minefield:

  “When I become king, I swear I will raise the quality of military boots.”-spoken Belisari Flarius with his voice manifesting dissatisfaction. His men will respect that decision.

  “My grandpa once taught me how to make good shoes to walk on terrains. I think I can help with that.”

  “Thank you, Aurora.”

  When they finally reached the flat side of the ground, their legs and boots were battered by the sharp rocks. But, they also have successfully transported three hundred combatants to the obscured side of the fortress. With their objective within sight, the soldiers quickly organize their force. That however didn’t go unnoticed by the men standing at the fortress.

  “And they saw us.”

  By now, the defenders, despite the distraction of the fliers, have noticed the group of unknown intruders assembling at their gate. The first shout of warning came from a slinger guard, probably an officer according to how he dressed, while handling a projectile on his sling and swings:

  “Alert! The Southern gate is being attacked, all available hands man the wall!”

  “Raise your shields!

  The Elestovakian slinger propelled the rock on his sling onto the Latilian formation, to which they blocked it with a standard testudo formation, by moving their shields and (in not a very formal order, their pavises) above heads. As they do that, the decoration on their shields exposed their identities:

  “They…were Latilians! Likely Latilians!”-Loudly said that slinger-”So the rumor about the fall of Voyage and Separ was true. Also it was likely that the ongoing fight on the right wall was orchestrated by their force. Men, this is not a simple raid, this is an invasion, the city is under threat of being captured. Tell the troops to assemble to this front, I deemed they are a bigger threat than the fliers.”

  “But the fliers are on the wall, and actively killed a hundred of our men with just fifty!”

  “Ugh!!! Try to hold them at their place, call the rest over here. We are risking a breach, you know?”

  With the order being given, the Elestovakian soldier had no choice but to rush to the command center to call up troops.

  All the while, the Latilians have formed up their formation and are advancing toward the gate, slowly. The remaining tree obstacles were cleared by axemen at the front when they rolled over them for the behinds to march without delay. As they meanwhile do that, in a calculated display of aggression, the Latilians line deliberately stretched out larger than usual, classically with heavy troops on the front, backed by Marine, regular soldiers, then the archers, deceiving the foes into thinking that the army was bigger than reality. This image concerned the men on the wall, who responded by stepping back while maintaining their sight on the display of force.

  “Lord of Savior; May Thou save us sinners; May Thou graciously open your arms to the men and women who will die on this field, for they to rest peacefully in Thy hands. Amen.”

  Praying Belisari overseeing the wall they must face.

  Steadily, the intruders are now a hundred meters from the south gate, facing little resistance from those inside the wall aside from a few tossed stone pieces. That is because the defenders need time to mobilize available bodies.

  Although the fliers did their best to drain the manpowers, Liston fortress still had reserves. Years after the siege, the Elestovakians had upgraded the fort, allowing them to take up to five thousand troops compared to the previous three thousand, most of them were the infamous slingers and archers from the former County of Flemton. Thanks to them Liston had become a formidable key in the military network. That will cause troubles for the Latilian attackers.

  “They are coming in hordes. Prepare for a ranged attack. Aurora, don’t miss.”

  Over a hundred meters away, a small earthquake-like sound could be heard from the other side of the wall, it was the echo of hundreds of boots of the defenders running, rushing toward their position with their arms-”Draw your arrow”-The plan is to fire immediately when they got their enemies into a clear sight, then retreat, reload and repeat, which is a good tactic when the attackers are at close range as it both provides coverage and firepower.

  That is, if they were the ones who took the initiative. However, the Latilians were the ones to initiate the blood list:

  Bam!

  “Got them!”

  When the first archer arrived on the wall, awaiting the coming Elestovakians was something out of the imagination of their troops and their commanders. Flashing like a summer lightning bolt and followed by a thunderous deafening sound, the wall around the gate exploded and shattered into thousand pieces of debris, bringing with it lives of those who stood on that wall in that unfortunate moment:

  “Was that a cannon!?”-said an injured officer. Regardless whatever it was, the death toll pumped up to four or five dozens in the matter of seconds without even skirmishing. Fire sparkles float on air like fireflies, bringing with them heat and the smell of burned flesh, destruction a cannon cannot achieve. It was something unseen by almost everyone here, almost:

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Was that…Milishilian explosive shells?”

  A former sailor spoke.

  **

  “Nice shots! Reload!”

  Under the protection of the shields, Aurora wasted no time to reload rocket launchers with new ammunition from the inventory, while the army that is protecting her position moves forward, to where their nemesis stood. Their crossbows and bows raise overhead, hiding between the slits on the barriers. Seeing that:

  “Man the wall!”

  In the light of the advance, the defenders trampled their feet on the blazing detonated spots, trying to get their legs in balance while pulling the strings. Incredibly, in spite of the damaging shock, the garrison soldiers pursued fighting with indomitable spirit. This is not according to the plan, Belisari thought they would partially panic at least:

  “I guess they will not surrender after just a single attack. Another!”

  Bam!

  A devastating shockwave of the second blast picks out numerous fighters standing on the wall and throws them away. But:

  “For Emperor Kaval!”

  A courageous spirit kept pushing Elestovakians toward the wall despite the death awaiting them, their number is huge and replacements can fill in the role easily. To make matter even worse, the Elestovakian officers had some ideas to nullify the rocket strikes:

  “Draw back and reorganize. I have a plan! Don’t make yourselves into a group, you will be targeted by that thing. Keep the resistances individually.”

  “Yes sir!.”

  **

  “They got comprehension…”

  “Those puny…curse them…”

  Respectively said Belisari and Lily.

  “I can’t have them on scope to make the shot worth it.”

  Aurora gave up with the rockets after a while.

  Although it was out of any ordinary protocol, the Elestovakians scattered around and decided to shoot while on maneuver, thus disabling the chance for the attackers to utilize their trump weapons of rocket propellers. Without a proper standing point, shots coming from the fortress were deemed ineffective. However, with their plan failed miserably and bolts raining all around their feet, the Latilians slowly lose heart:

  “Stay firm in formation, we cannot let ourselves be exposed to their arrows. Concentrate and march forward! Goddammit those stubborn idiots.”

  That certainly does concern Belisari and Lily, the two that are holding in the frontline of the rank. Think, there must be a way to put more pressure on the opposition at this gate. They just need to harass, not penetrate the gate, but that thing alone is quite hard to do.

  And, at noon, when the sun rose high, heat from the baked stone broke sweat on their faces. They must act quickly before troops crumbled upon panic and heat pressure:

  “They are quite damn stubborn. We need to deal another hit to their will.”

  “A shock…”

  Which is what they need to break the will of the defenders:

  “I am thinking…of a classic frontal assault.”

  Lily suggests her classic tactics. Unexpectedly, Belisari also thinks that it is a great plan. However, contradict to his thinking, he asked to confirm the credibility of the idea:

  “That would be quite risky, they have the high ground and ranged advantage. Also, we don’t have that many heavy armored knights to throw to the line, you know?”

  “Let me lead the fight, I can do it.”

  It seems like their only option is to commence the battle before their troops are exhausted. That is a daring decision, but if they outmatch their foes, the attack would bear fruits. And with Lily in hand, the Latilians could perhaps win a charge?

  “Good idea. Say, how many people can you bring along if we provide you sufficient cover?”-asked the Archprince to his chief, to which the Archduchess considers-”Around sixty.”

  “Then take all of the heavy infantry along, my Marines will help with the shots.”

  “Got it. Give them all to me and protect us properly. By the way…”

  The Archduchess turns around and sees a pastor, Daniel, the man with a cross in his inventory:

  “Lend me that, I will give it back later. Lord of Savior, let I rest by Your grace.”

  “Don’t deliberately do something that might hurt you, Liliya.”

  “You don’t need to ask for that.”

  No more than a second after the goodbye, Lily dashes forward at an inhuman speed-faster than even Angela running-while still carrying her blade with. Subsequently, the heavily armored knights and Cathedraller soldiers followed her.

  “How…the…what are the mad fools doing?”

  Fearlessly, the Latilian heavy charge fiercely on their feet. Witnessing such a dramatic development, the Elestovakians halted their feet and arms in total surprise, trying to figure out what the heck was happening. So for a brief moment, there was no arrow fly, allowing Latilians from the large formation to close in the gap to support their development. It took a while for the Elestovakians to realize the situation and continue the shooting:

  “What are you doing? Shoot them!”

  The archers upon hearing the command immediately began raining down the approachers with volleys of arrows, but their haste backfired and their shots came short. The attackers in contrast did not yield, with their steel shields protecting their head and chest, the troops moved fast to the gate, seemingly impossible to stop. As if something is guiding them, a mascot, a spirit:

  “It’s the knight over there, that woman with black sword is leading the Latilians.”

  “God…she wasn’t…an angel, right?”

  Regardless of the humanoid atmosphere surrounding her heavy and sadistic footsteps, in image, Lily is like a humanoid angel, with her men-half of them with white cloak-as wings following her as she moves. And while her black sword swung by one hand, the other hand held tight:

  “God save us!”

  A silver cross, borrowed from a pastor, is the symbol that is leading the charge. Most of the combatants were Kristians, seeing their light running forward, their spirit overwhelmed the fear. On the other hand, the Elestovakians, trembled upon the new tsunami coming to their gate, some of the men fled. The morale changed tide, quickly than ever:

  “Shoot! Shoot them!”

  An Elestovakian officer shouted, then there was shooting, but from the Latilians ranged soldiers rather than his own:

  “What a fascinating sight.”

  Lily was running, but she still spent some seconds looking up to see the arrows her friends and his troops sent out to protect her contingent. Hundreds of bolts rained upon the archers on the wall, picking out several immediately, while the rest break will. Because of that, the volleys of projectiles from the wall were reduced. The rocky path, despite still rocky and struggling, has been much easier for the knights to travel over.

  “Grrr…Come back here! I curse you cowards…”-An officer of the wall spoke loudly-”Mobilize all troops to this front! The main gate, the second military gate,...wherever there is availables! I will crush them in this very own gate.”

  Smash!

  The attackers had arrived behind the wooden door, numbering sixty elite combatants and the Patriarch of the House of Voyage. As change visible from far away with the banners drift toward the south, the Latilian main army finally dispatched from their hiding place.

  **

  “Alright, time to move.”