Realms of Magic: Demon Invasion

34. Battle of Toulon-Prelude

"This is the latest plan of the enemy, which we procured from Irvine." Princess Suzuran says as a huge map is rolled on the table.

"We can see that their left flank is made up by four million demon troops led by Lord Abel. Their right consists of two million demons and one million undead, with Lady Caitlyn and Lord Eugene spearheading it. As with their centre, well, their centre..."

"Lady Jessica is to singlehandedly penetrate our defences," Princess Suzuran sheepishly says.

"They are underestimating us!" a big, burly man shouts in anger. He raises his fist upwards. "Put my men there; we'll have her head!" Red smoke pours out of his body.

"She is perfectly capable of doing so if not properly opposed," Madam Fron intervenes, "should this intel be correct, Fort Mantua and Kut must be protected from attacks from any direction; land, air, or underground."

"Hmph. Strength is useless against her. Place my men there. Let's see if she can face poison!" a slender woman mocks. A poisoned needle appears on her hand.

"What?!" the burly man shouts as he furiously slams his fist on the table. "Are you mocking my men?!"

"Come and try, you-"

"Enough!" Madam Fron releases her aura (which is even stronger than before), silencing everyone. "All we are supposed to do is to halt their invasion. To do that, we must work together!"

"None of us is strong enough to oppose seven million men and five Lords at once. We are already being outnumbered one to fourteen. Disunity will certainly spell doom for us."

Now all is silent.

"I agree," the old Sultan speaks up. "Nothing will change. The barrier magicians will erect barriers protecting Kut and Fort Mantua. Fronica Moonray... I trust the centre to you. All others will be allocated to our left or right wing. Meeting dismissed."

The mercenaries all stand up, either in silence or muffled huffs. As Mr Charles doesn't follow them, I don't.

"Fronica Moonray, what do you say about our chances?" Princess Suzuran asks. Madam Fron, who for some reason stays seated, stares at her grimly.

"The chief of the problems we face is Lady Jessica's personal involvement. Her offence and defence are impeccable, although her mobility and speed aren't top notch. Lord Luke might be a military genius, but he isn't scared of fighting directly if things go south. Lord Abel and his necromancers mean any undead we cut down can be revived easily. They have seven million men. To be honest, Princess Suzuran, our chances are slim."

Princess Suzuran sighs unhappily. "How about the Alliance? Friends, how can your nations assist in this battle?" Sultan Rakh asks.

"Irvine can only spare the Twelfth Imperial Guard Division, the Thirteenth Imperial Guard Division, and me. Our army is still assembling," Mr Charles answers.

The Thirteenth? They exist?

An Erwingian elf continues, "King Wilhelm has ordered Sir Surya and Dame Luna to bring all forces to block an impending invasion on our northern coast by a vampire-demon army. None can be sent."

"Francia has mobilised troops. However, this army is still far from Toulon."

A bunch of diplomats from smaller nations speak up. I can sum their speech as, "No, we don't have any men.".

"We'll have to make do with what we have," Princess Suzuran remarks, "we planned to divide our half a million men into three, but it seems like it will have to change."

"250,000 troops on the left and the same number on the right." Princess Suzuran decides.

Sultan Rakh is quick to dismiss the meeting entirely. Janissaries, the officers of Al-Azhar's army, are issuing redeployment orders. Cannons are manned and patrol boats are sent.

"You will meet the Thirteenth now," Mr Charles says.

"They're new, aren't they?" Aelita asks.

"Just graduated a week ago."

Al-Azhar has set up temporary bases for their army and the mercenaries. We enter one of the smaller bases.

Remi, Agatha, and Joe are waiting there with their magenta ribbons. "Hey!" They all wave hands.

"They're the Thirteenth?" Madam Fron's voice freezes the warm base.

"I thought we agreed not to do this, Charles," she sharply notes.

"We have no choice. Manpower is running dangerously low."

"What? We're not supposed to be Guards or something?" Agatha asks confusedly.

Madam Fron stares at her for a while before sighing. "Well, I did want to recruit the three of you, but decided against it for reasons that are... not exactly correlative to your skills."

"In other words, me being an arrogant bastard," Remi remarks.

"I can't say that's wrong," Madam Fron admits.

"Still," she says, smiling, "I guess you can't be too bad. Funding for the Imperial Guards does get cut off a lot."

"Although so, don't you think it's kind of risky to put them in frontline, Charles? They're fresh, aren't they?" Madam Fron asks. "And here I am, not even sure if the Twelfth should ne dragged into this."

"Again, Queen Seira wouldn't let me bring anyone but them," Mr Charles tirelessly replies.

"... By this point I'm tired of insulting her. Look, all six of you," she says as her eyeballs roll, "don't die."

"Let's go, Charles. We still need to inspect the defenses."

Joe and Agatha take a jug of lemonade from a shelf. "I never thought you would become Imperial Guards." I take a big sip of the lemonade.

"We were being trained when the skirmish against the mermaids happened," Remi explains.

"So how's the situation back home?" John asks, his eyes locked on Joe.

"Eh, you know, a political chaos," Joe answers, "bunch of protests every day."

"No, I mean..."

Boom!

Not this again!