Sovereign's Tourney: Part 1

From the clouds, rays of sunlight leaked through. They kissed the ground gently with its warmth. They illuminated the path forward in the darkness. They guided us towards victory.

It was dawn; the start of the Sovereign’s Tourney.

“Oculi et aures Dei terras perscrutentur!"

My vision expanded, immersed in a purplish aura. I had a bird's-eye view of the entire battlefield from every soldier’s point of view. Everyone was in position. There was no more time to waste.

“Execute Operation Ragnarok! May god bless us on the battlefield!” My voice echoed into everyone’s mind, an ability I learnt using observational magic.

Two squadrons of troops rushed through the empty battlefield. They were our scouts. Their purpose was to observe and relay information on the battlefield while providing an early pincer attack to the enemy. This was phase 1 of Operation Ragnarok.

Unlike normal wars, the enemy’s location was unknown before the battle. That meant that each side had to scour the battlefield before they could make their first move. We had a rough idea where Aethelheim and Ashenfall’s locations were from the map on the continent, but troops could easily be placed in a different location. That’s what we did after all.

Each scout squad was made up of 10 members: 5 physical attackers and 5 magic attackers. It was balanced for all forms of combat and could easily switch between offence and defence on the fly.

“Status update,” I commanded.

“No sign of enemies, sir. Just flat ground,” the leader of the first squad relayed.

“Same here. We’ll keep searching.” Squad two’s leader said the same.

No Man’s Land was primarily flat ground. It was good for visibility but terrible for hiding your own troops. Secret attacks were almost impossible here. At least, in theory.

“Understood. Continue the search.”

The entire plan was dependent on us finding the enemy first. I wished I could use my observational magic, but it couldn’t reach far enough. I had to depend on the scouts.

But my wish was granted in less than a minute.

“Kurokawa, sir! I’ve got eyes on a bogey!”

My heart rate sped up much further than the speed limit. I was thankful but incredibly worried. Finding the enemy was the easiest part of the plan. But this was too easy. Even with their speed boosted by wind magic, the enemy was found in less than 10 minutes. Something was wrong.

I focused on the squad captain’s point of view. Through his eyes, I saw a man plated with silver from top to bottom. His build was massive, almost 7 feet. The man was a being of pure muscle, though he did not show even a shred of skin. Even his face was covered with a tightly sealed mask.

The mysterious man was alone. He didn’t even have a weapon. I wondered what plan they had until I recalled the words of Mr Arakawa.

‘A man who donned a suit of silver armour floated in the sky and slaughtered everyone around me.’

“Mr Arakawa, he’s here,” I informed Mr Arakawa telepathically.

He was stationed along with the main forces. From my vision, I could see his face had bleached. One of our predictions had come true. Aethelheim had two strategies in the past: either a full-scale attack or a full-scale defence.

They had chosen to attack.

“Kurokawa! Tell them to retreat! That man’s unstoppable!” Mr Arakawa shouted like never before. His voice was wavering and vibrated with fear.

I relayed the order to the squad captain. I told them to hide themselves with invisibility magic and observe his next move. In the meantime, like we had planned, I contacted Riku. It was his time to shine.

“Riku, are you ready? I’ll tell you the coordinates.”

“Roger.” Riku’s playfulness was gone. He was dead serious.

He was right behind the front lines along with the archers. They formed a line of ranged infantry. I gave the exact direction the suited man was standing. Even if he was bait, we had to make the first move.

“Sagitta flammarum penetrans!”

As Riku said those otherworldly words, flames erupted from his arrow in a beautiful flower shape. Unlike most flame magic, it wasn’t wild. He had tamed his arrow to follow his bidding. The flower bloomed from the metal tip, transforming the arrow into a phoenix.

“Fire!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Whip!. The flaming phoenix flew at the speed of light. Its line of sight was directly at the masked entity. An afterimage of flames soared in the purple sunrise. My eyes could barely keep track of its beautiful flight.

The knight could not even react. Once the arrow’s beak grazed his armour, the area was engulfed in flames, melting the granite floor. A booming noise erupted on contact. Riku’s arrow put modern bombs to shame.

There was no way that man survived. It was impossible.

But the impossible was regular during war.

My eyes could barely make out the figure in the midst of the smoke. His silver sheen had not been affected at all. Though the ground around him had been destroyed, the silver devil was unharmed. Even his stance was the same.

“It didn’t work!” I screamed in shock.

“What?! How?! That was one of my strongest attacks!” Riku was dumbfounded.

The terror didn’t end there. Through the chimney of smoke, thousands of arrows flew in the sky. They whizzed through the sky at the speed of sound from above. It was as though the heavens were against us.

Aethelheim had begun its counterattack. Phase 2 had begun.

“Build the trenches now!”

The frontline mages got to their duty. Using earth magic, lines were dug into the ground. Each line was approximately 6 feet, just enough to dodge the incoming assault of arrows. Just as planned, the arrows landed a hair’s breadth away from our forces. The first defensive tactic was a success.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Vibrations grew stronger and stronger from the ground. Sounds of boots stomping the ground reverberated all over No Man’s Land. Hundreds of silver-clad soldiers ran past the suited behemoth. The main force had begun its foray into our territory.

“Chiyo! Prepare the fog!”

“Undersood!” Chiyo raised her staff above her. It refracted the rays of the sun spotlighted on her.

“Celate sodales nostros nebula excaecationis!”

In a split second, our entire half of the area was shrouded in thick mist. One could not even see their own limbs. The perfect setup for a counterattack.

“Yari-men! Charge!”

Samurai, donned in thick armour, hopped from the trenches and dashed forward with spears in hand. Their blades easily pierced through the enemy’s defence. Aethelheim’s forces had no clue what was happening in the fog. Only my eyes could see through and guide Aogiri to victory, no matter the obstacle.

The first altercation was a success, but we had to remain wary. This advantage would not last long.

The fog became a pot filled with overflowing blood. Soldiers of Aogiri and Aethelheim cut and tore each other apart. Though both sides were human, our greed and pride would never let peace between nations exist. It was a dog-eat-dog world.

I awaited Aethelheim’s next move, observing as much of the battlefield for clues as possible. But nothing seemed astray. There was no way that this was all they were capable of.

It didn’t take long for them to prove me wrong.

Another object came flying from above. It lacked the sleekness of an arrow but moved just as fast. It wasn’t as aerodynamic as a bullet, but it looked just as dense. Its pure black colour stood out against the morning sky, and it wasn’t alone. Hundreds of them fell from above.

They had cannons.

“Take cover, men! One hit from a cannonball and you’ll be torn to pieces!”

But it was too late. Soldiers were blown up by the ball of pure steel. Soft human flesh never stood a chance against a hunk of metal. Our mages tried to slow down the onslaught of canonfire with wind magic, but the damage had been done.

“Aki! Send my squad now! I can’t let them get away with this!” Yukino commanded with fury. Hearing screams of terror, but being unable to do anything, must have angered her deeply.

“Wait! You’re our trump card. We can’t reveal you yet.” I calmly tried to persuade her. But even I could barely hold back my anger.

She winced with anger. I had no choice. Using her this early was basically calling defeat.

“Kurokawa, it’s time. Bring out the cavalry,” commanded Mr Kurokawa. His previous fear had almost dissipated. The calm and cool strategist had returned.

“Understood. Mr Hide, surround the perimeter and push!”

I could hear the galloping horses in my consciousness. Hundreds of soldiers went around the cloud of mist and rushed forward. Thanks to the arrows and cannonballs, we had a rough idea where the Aethelheim troops were stationed. It was time for a surprise attack.

“Archery squad! Half of you attack the centre of the fog! The rest return fire immediately! Don’t give them even a chance to think ahead!”

With Riku’s arrow leading the charge, thousands of arrows flew through the air. At the same time, the cavalry charged towards Aethelheim’s core troops. It was checkmate. There was no way to counterattack both the air and the ground forces at the same time.

“Sir, I’ve got bad news!” Mr Hide spoke up.

“Tell me!”

“There’s a huge dome blocking our path! We can’t get through!”

A dome?! What on earth?! Creating large structures with earth magic took considerable amounts of mana. How could they create a dome big enough to protect their forces in such a short time?

“Wait, Mr Hide. Let me observe the surroundings.”

As Mr Hide was there, I could use my magic to observe the dome. There was no entrance in all 360 degrees of the structure. It was fully sealed with solid rock. However, the top remained open for enemy ranged fire. They had transitioned their strategy to complete defence.

“It’s useless. The wall’s too sturdy to break down, and the top is being bombarded with arrows. There’s no opening to take advantage of.”

It was foolproof. Unless we focused all of our attacks directly on the structure, there was no way to destroy it. We couldn’t lose control over the centre battlefield as well. Our side had been caught in a stalemate instead.

“Tsk. Tsk. Have you forgotten my speciality in magic, sir?” Mr Hide spoke while playfully clicking his tongue.

Of course, I hadn’t forgotten it. It was super strength. Wait. There was no way he was planning to do that, right?”

“My strength at max power should be able to shatter the wall. I’m sure of it.” Mr Hide was confident in his plan.

But there were too many risks. What if they were waiting for this to happen? I couldn’t allow him to waste his life here like this.

“It’s too risky. A counterattack is sure to happen right after you open it. Forget it, I’ll think of something else.”

“You know just as much as I do that there’s no other way. Only my strength can cause damage to it; no one else’s. The more we prolong this, the more people die.”

“But Mr Hide! You’ll…” I couldn’t even finish what I wanted to say. It hurt just to think about it.

“Don’t bring emotion into war, kiddo. If it’s my time, then that’s it. I don’t regret a single moment till this moment, especially training with you.”

Memories of when we first met flashed through my eyes. That was just the beginning of our friendship. We went jogging every day, and he helped me train my muscles and endurance for Yukino’s sword training. Mr Hide was one of my closest friends. I couldn’t even think of my life without him.

“Mr Hide!!” I screamed into deaf ears.

“Aki Kurokawa! Soldiers! I'd better not see you soon in hell! Glory to Aogiri!” Mr Hide’s war cry shook the Earth.

“Da mihi vires ut cum deis pugnem!”

Orange aura permeated from Mr Hide’s entire body. His muscles became denser and denser. He got off the horse and tore through the first layer of rock with just his fingers. As he screamed in pain, he continued to tear open the structure.

Grkkk! Mr Hide was a one-man army. His brute strength single-handedly cracked the shell. It wasn’t long before he tore through the last barrier, throwing each piece out of the way. I couldn’t believe it. Mr Hide did it!

Shing!

Time stopped for a millennium. The sound of that slash was deafening, like a sonic boom. Its source was from the crack in the dome. I focused on the gaping hole created by Mr Hide. Through the crack stood a single woman wearing a clear white dress with light pieces of shining armour on her chest, shoulders and arms. She donned similarly coloured boots. A silver helmet covered her eyes. In her arms was a sword barely thicker than a katana. A gush of wind blew, making her silver hair flow.

In front of her was Mr Hide, his body split in two.