Lionel's Point Of View
We pull back instantly, ignoring anyone trying to chase us and merge into the shield formation behind us and get ready for the chaos about to come down like an avalanche.
The glacier begins to roar, like a never ending sound of thunder. It cannot carry its own weight, and begins to crack and pop as it begins to break apart at the base, threatening to crush everyone beneath it. The Headal soldiers run. The glacier might crush those underneath it, but it will also trap anyone stuck on this side with us. They'll have nowhere to retreat, and we will outnumber them drastically. It'll be their demise.
The area in front of us empties in an instant as we watch the glacier that slowly begins to drop... inch by inch. Then... with a jolt the glacier begins to drop. I can hardly hear the screams of the Headal soldiers as it comes down on them... but then stops...
The Celeste Knights reach the ground with the agility of felines and drown in the ranks of the enemy knights.
"Forward!"
I perk up at the sound of my Father's voice. We begin moving forward and double check that our shield formation holds up.
"Enemy count is about five hundred!"
A report flies across the battlefield. Five hundred of them are stuck together with us. The most exhausted five hundred.
With the words a murderous tension spread through the ranks. Many of our men have helped holding this place for about a month. The casualties are beginning to pile up, and people are reaching their limit.
The idea of vengeance tastes too sweet. You can see it in their eyes, the anger and nigh glee at the enemy's situation.
The enemy soldiers turn around. Their path of flight taken away... when backed into a corner, they will fight for their lives with a destructive force you shouldn't mess with. Their eyes, momentarily fill with fear, and then the realization that the only path away is through us: the enemy.
The roar of the glacier falls silent, and the battle is about to turn to a slaughter.
They try to form a line against us, and as they do the sky flashes in bright explosions of magic. The Celeste Knights have placed themselves somewhere inside the mess of enemies. They're outnumbered four to one in there.
"Prepare to strike! We need to reach our allies before they're slaughtered!"
Father's voice bellows from the backline, and I glance to the men at my side. I have no intention of telling them that the crown prince's fiancé is in there.
We step in, and their front line quickly steps in to make sure they have enough room to form their formation as well. Without it they'll be dead.
"Preparing for offense!" I bellow out and take a deep breath. This may be ineffective, but we can hope there isn't enough earth mages among them to prevent it. Gathering the magic in my body for my Faerie, I focus on building the spell. The puzzle like construction takes but a moment, and lines up in my sight like an architecture to be blow off like the arrow on a bow.
The ground trembles for an instant before thick walls of earth burst forth from our front line and at a low angle, bashing against the shields of the enemies that all glow with a shimmer and prevent it from going further. A ramp from one end of the pass to the other has been established. We approach with a height advantage, and for a moment I have a brief view of the Celeste army.
They're covered in blood, and rather than being encircled quietly, they're pushing their encirclement around. The enemy is slipping around in mud, barely able to breathe in the steam from trying to get rid of the water. The few Celeste earth mages appear to be destroying rock walls with everything they have. They'll be exhausted in moments. I catch a glimpse of Lily's guard, and then the shine of metal flying through the battlefield...
A proper encirclement forms, and even from here I can sense the change of mood.
I get up on the rise I made and summon a rain of stones from above. The front soldiers are still spear users. I'll crush every spear I can to prevent them from stopping a charge.
With whines and screams of air the rocks bombard their front line. They shift their attention to getting the rocks away but for a moment, and in that time our billhooks prepare to attack once more.
I note the enemy attention on me. This is the second time I use large scale magic, so they aim their spears at me in an instant and break their lines to charge at me through the bombardment... and behind them rises a tidal wave...
"Prepare for impact!" I bellow out and get into stance. The sky fills with fire, rocks, blasts of wind and water. The air shakes as the water and fire explodes to steam which turns into a whirlwind.
"Walls up!"
There's about four hundred of them, and the glazier should keep the enemy at bay for a while. 'We can use our magic a bit more aggressively', is the last thing I end up thinking as the angled outwards walls appear in front of us. Desperate and shocked screams sound from the other side, and other than a few drops we manage to block the tidal wave. We step up onto the newly made defensive structure and gaze down at the enemy below us... onto to find a good three meter part of their formation washed up against the wall coughing and slipping in the mud as they try to get up again desperately. They see us, and for a moment freeze... thousands of small stone spikes rise from the ground beneath them, leaving a field of death beneath us.
A small group of the blue and silver knights are running right at us the best they can despite visible injuries. They're limping and grasping their unarmored joints. One particular knight has the front part of his late armor ripped to shreds with blood seeping out. Another knight has him half pulled over his shoulder in what would be a meaningless effort if Lily doesn't survive this. He's clearly mortally wounded.
"Allies incoming!"
I gaze over the group as a ramp is made from our wall to the ground where they approach, but Lily isn't among them. No, there's only twenty five or so of them. The rest are still at the source of the tidal wave fighting for their lives. I grit my teeth at their reckless behavior. They just made a path of retreat, they should use it!
"Let me go Darius! I can still fight!" The most heavily injured of the knights scream out angrily at the one half carrying him, half dragging him off the battlefield as they reach us. More than anything I'm impressed with how lively he is despite his wounds.
"Your guts are trying to get out, you need to stay alive," Darius replies calmly though his one arm appears to have limp.
"I need to protect them! Our leader's weapon broke! We can't leave them behind! I'll gladly give my life to see them return home!"
I recall the shining metal from before. I can only think of one person reckless enough to stay behind after that happening... I feel my stomach sink, and then burn. By the god, I know you want to keep them safe obsessively Lily, and that you probably cannot make yourself leave anyone behind, but you have to remember your own life as well! Without a weapon you're a burden!
I grit my teeth and then summon earth armor over my skin again. I'll go pick her up if I have to. I grip my sword tighter and walk down the ramp with my own guys by my side, and to each side earth spikes appear out of the ground as earthen barricades.
In front of us the next line of soldiers form into a line, but at this point I'm going to move them forcefully if I have to, and I count down the seconds until they start focusing magic on us.
Their backlines start shifting rushedly. Screams of fear echo and a great sword glistens in the air for a moment before more screams echo and everything turns into absolute chaos as their backline stumbles away from the encircled Celeste Knights."
Without any semblance of holding back the fear stricken soldiers begin casting magic haphazardly towards the center, where most of it isn't blocked.
"What is going on?!" I heard yelled from the nervous frontline facing us.
"Wolf! Scorog! C-cut though a man!"
Is responded from the backline. I glance over the plate armored guys and imagine someone not just getting through their shields but also the armor. Honestly I can't. If that was doable our tactics would never work. You can use a specific magic to magically enhance your weapon with magic, but it's incredibly difficult, and doesn't work on shields that are imbued with anti-magic components. Usually you only use the incredibly expensive enhancements on shields to reduce the cost, so you could technically cut through the armor with some struggles.
The glacier let's out an eerie howl as the backlines clear up to give us a view of what is going on... and it is different from what I expected. A vague sense of nausea hits me at the sight in front of me. Piles of bodies lay spread on the ground, and the Celeste knights chase down the fleeing enemies like packs of wolves. Their movements are weird... unnatural even. A bloody helmet lays rolled on the ground, a deep dent from what appears to have been the edge of a shield appears to have made it... and it has dented at least a couple centimeters deep. The Celeste knights basically trample their enemy, using enormous strength to knock down the enemy shield arm and make them loose their footing in the mud.
No, even that is fine. My problem is something else. A discarded shield on the ground halfway cut through, and the remnants of half a body grasping it...
Their front line sees this too, and our eyes follow the thunders of magic to a figure rushedly getting on a horse to ride towards the glacier. He appears to spot something and turns the horse in that direction in a full gallop, charging down enemies and allies alike. It's a commander trying to escape, I know that much. He may be aiming there to get away from... wait, the one going by the name of Child of Scorog... wasn't that Lily?
A silvery shape blasts past my view from where the commander had been. It's pace is but a bit faster than the sprinting horse, silver grey and bloody red. It moves low against the ground, sweeping across it like a violent wind. Like a wolf snapping at the horse's heels it closes in, but it's bite is not that of a beast. A silvery shimmer moves through the air, as the hind legs of the horse split from its body. Commander and horse fall into the mud, but while he's still getting up, stumbling awkwardly in his full plate armor, the silvery shape approaches.
He raises his shield, but the ice like sword lowers upon him, sinking through the shield and his armor with a violent screech of metal, cutting deep into his armor and at the least crippling his shoulder for life.
The silvery figure stands still and then looks up. Everything has gone quiet. Steam is coming off of it like a horse in the winter weather, and it's drenched from top to toe in blood. I notice Rover next to me almost step back. I've heard of body enhancement magic as something appearing from countries further away, but I've never seen it in real life until today... but more than that, the unnatural sword worries me more.
"Quarter! Give me quarter!"
The silence is broken by the men in front of us. Compared to the unknown monster behind them, we are familiar. The Celeste knights suddenly stop their slaughter and fall back to Lily's position. The enemy is pressed up against each side of the pass as they try to summon up courage... However, as Father's troops reach us a declaration is made.
No quarter was given.
The Celeste knights began to collapse shortly after we started killing off the remnants. Apparently they were all so high on adrenaline they didn't realize they were exhausted. Multiple of them passed out on their feet the moment danger was no longer present. They were all strength and no endurance.