109 Battle Royal

It was utter chaos, at least for the enemy's side. But that's what happens when you're an arrogant fairy who doesn't prepare for the unexpected.

I sensed a shade of my former captain, Rosalind Roselle, in the two-thousand-man pixie commander, who, as he watched invading forces break through the meager defenses he'd placed behind himself, looked like he was turning paler and paler by the minute.

Behind me, Edo and Shanks had caused a storm of hurt on the fairy soldiers who just couldn't manage to stop their unstoppable onslaught.

I heard the smashing of bones which I knew instinctively was caused by the slamming of Shanks' war hammer. I also heard the familiar whirring sound—like that of a helicopter's blades coming to life—and I knew without a doubt that Edo was twirling his glaive around, something he loved to do when steeped in enemies.

Although I kept my focus forward, I understood that my two tanks were doing their job well as the forces in front of me were thinning out more and more. Meaning the enemies on this side of the oasis had obviously been distracted by Edo's and Shanks' performance that they were drawn over to try and stop them.

However, this didn't mean there was zero resistance before me.  

A kobold warrior, its mouth hanging open to reveal sharp canines and copious amounts of drool, charged at me with a kite shield raised forward in one hand and a khopesh sword on the other.

\"Like a bolt of lightning, carve away all defenses with a single glistening blade,\" I whispered as I met his charge.

It was the mantra I'd been using the last few months whenever I needed to quickly activate Augmentare. I made it up after I figured out that a chant was the best way to make the skill work for me.

I still couldn't manage to keep it active for more than a few seconds at a time, but that didn't stop me from using those precious few seconds to my advantage.

Case in point, I swung my falchion—coated in the devastating aura of a lightning elemental—forward with lightning speed toward the kobold's shield. The falchion's shadowblade sank into the enemy's steel shield, penetrating past it and into the arm holding onto it. Then it continued its sweeping arc all the way to the other side, ensuring that both shield and arm were severed.

Understandably, the kobold screamed in surprise and pain, but what it should have done was send its khopesh slashing forward to deflect my follow-up attack.

A simple twist of my wrist and my shadowblade reversed course. It continued its momentum in a sideward slash that bit deep into the exposed abdomen of my target.

Blood and guts spilled out of the kobold by the time I finished my cross slash combo and the lightning coating wrapped around the shadowblade disappeared back into the ether.

From what I understand, not many viseres or fairies could call on spirits of air that were able to harness the awesome power of lightning, which might mean that I was awesome too.

This thought raced across my mind as I dodged the spear thrust of a second kobold warrior. I ducked underneath him and hurried onward, not bothering to turn around to counter as I just heard a familiar berserker's roar right behind me.

There was a second kobold scream, and I knew Luca's attack was successful.

\"Don't stop! Keep going!\" I ordered.

We needed to get to that dumbfounded pixie commander before Al Sheridan did.

To my far left, I heard Varda's chant almost like an echo in the wind.

\"Spirits of earth, to this offering of stones please descend and awaken to me as my stone friend,\" she chanted.

Then I heard the sound of something heavy coming to life, and I was reassured that my plan was going smoothly so far.

An elf appeared on my left with daggers in both hands. Behind him, a malevolent shadow was screeching toward him, her own katana rising out of the darkness wrapped around her.

I flipped the elf with the Fayne's version of the finger which in human terms would be a reverse peace sign before ignoring it completely.

There was no need to worry as the dark shadow, which was Enna Blackthorn, was already within reach of slitting that elf's throat.

I pressed on with Luca right behind me. Two elves and a kobold were in our way. Then they were gone as if they were nothing more than road kill on the path of a much larger stone golem than I'd ever seen Varda summon before.

My eyes were wide with surprise as I watch this massive creature, which was nearly twenty-feet-tall, lumber toward the kobolds that were clustered together to my immediate right.

A giggling Varda was seated on the shoulder of her stone golem. She turned toward me and pointed toward her stone golem while mouthing, \"My spell's gotten so much stronger, Commander!\"

I spared her a thumbs up before continuing my dash forward.

This small diversion caused Luca to get ahead of me which was just as well as there was a line of defenders between us and the commander in his turquoise robe on his bright green swifthart.

Boom!

A second explosion rocked me from behind, the wind pressure passing right through my back and nearly causing me to stumble.

\"A little too close, Shanks!\" I yelled into the sky.

Luca reached our opponents first. His broadsword's shadowblade swept forward in what I often described as the reaper's scythe swinging down on unlucky fools who were never aware that my brother's gift tripled his strength, giving him what was arguably a giant's power — assuming one believed the legends that giants once roamed the Fayne too.

Luca's one slash swept away the line of defenders like he was some legendary hero in a Dynasty Warriors game using his Musou power on the mobs before him.

This was the chink in the armor that I needed to breeze past the defensive line.

I left Luca there to deal with the enemies. I wasn't worried for my brother though as I was sure Pike would be flying to his side soon enough. Those two were ridiculously clingy in a battlefield which would have made me barf if I wasn't similarly attached to Aura at the hip.

Speaking of Aura, she was probably going to get mad at me again for not bringing her along on this dangerous mission. But that was the thing; I didn't want her doing something too reckless because she was such an important figure in the clan. Plus, I could only trust her to lead the unit when I wasn't around to do it. Everyone respected her. Sure, Azuma was the better commander, but there are more than a few veterans among the Foolhardies who hadn't forgotten that he was once our most dangerous opponent.

While all these little things were popping up in the non-battle focused part of my mind, the part of me that was absorbed in the fight readied itself for that critical moment that would determine my victory, not just against a two-thousand-man enemy Commander, but also against my fellow young commander and arguably my biggest rival among the young commanders of the clan.

So imagine my frustration when I saw Al Sheridan and his swifthart breaking through the encirclement of defenders to the right of me.

\"Shit!\" I huffed as I increased my pace even more.

Ten feet between me and the boss, and although he was further behind, there was no doubt Al would reach him at nearly the same time. Stupid swiftharts could bridge short distances with a single long leap of their powerful hindquarters after all.

\"Like a bolt of lightning, carve away all defences with a single glistening blade,\" I whispered.

Then I leapt forward with my falchion raised high. I aimed directly for the side of the enemy commander who looked disbelievingly between me and Al Sheridan who also had his glaive pointed forward.

I swung my falchion sideways. Al Sheridan thrust his spear forward.

Predictably, the pixie commander spread his wings to dodge our attacks which both I and Al expected. So, it really was no surprise when we both threw daggers toward him at nearly the same time. It was even less surprising when both our daggers hit each of his wings.

I'd taken Al's position into account and reasoned he would go after the left wing while I struck the right wing. No doubt he thought the same thing too.

\"You know this is my win, right?\" I hit him first,\" Al commented.

The enemy commander's swifthart panicked and ran away, clearing the space between me and Al.

\"The deal was whoever took his head, first,\" I reminded him. \"And you're blind. I obviously hit him first.\"

We watched the pixie scream in pain while desperately trying to keep afloat despite his wounded wings. This proved unsuccessful and he plummeted to the ground just outside the circle of white stones that separated the mana pool's secret garden from the rest of the world.

But I couldn't spare a second to survey my surroundings. I only knew I had to get the enemy commander in time before Al did.

It turned out both Al and I were the losers for as we scrambled toward the fallen foe a shadow appeared in the sky above it.

I looked up just in time to watch Verania Folkor zooming down toward the enemy, her reaper's scythe slashing forward in an arc.

A second of disbelief, my breathing turned ragged at the sight. Then, without any fanfare, she cut off his head.