Unending Army

“Damn, there’s no end to them!”

Marilyn’s sword rose and fell countless times, yet her enemies continued to swarm around her, filling the gaps her blade had opened. Similarly, Medrauta was suffering from the same problem: despite being empowered by Viviane’s Crest, the silver-haired knight wasn’t exactly making much headway either. The seemingly unending wave of hostile soldiers perplexed not only Medrauta, but seasoned veterans like Marilyn and her knights as well. Never before had they witnessed a single formation with so many troops even when they fought against the massive armies of Kaslavna.

“It almost doesn’t feel like we’re fighting against...” Medrauta’s voice trailed off, her eyes widening as she stared at the corpse of the man she’d just slain.

There was nothing gruesome about the sight before her, but it still stunned her to no end. In fact, the knight even allowed the tip of her sword to drop in shock, opening herself up to an attack that skated off the surface of her glowing silver armor. The force jolted her back into action, causing her to dispatch the soldier who’d just attacked her with a quick jab of her blade.

“...They’re homunculi. Half of these men are homunculi!” Marilyn shouted. “I never thought I’d see one again, but here they are in droves! Damn!”

Sure enough, the bodies that she and Medrauta had just laid waste to dissolved into a mixture of clay and crimson liquid that seeped into the earth. A more detailed inspection revealed human soldiers mixed into the fray, but it appeared as though the center mass of Bastiche’s army primarily consisted of homunculi. That alone explained how he had so many troops to throw at the baron’s army during their march to the castle.

Not only were homunculi extremely expensive to create, but doing so required knowledge of dark magic and an exorbitant amount of unknown materials. As artificial lifeforms that possessed no souls, their mere existence was considered an affront to Aluvsha's very divinity; however, it wasn’t this that angered Marilyn and the knights who fought by her side so greatly.

He sacrificed men and women in battle just to preserve his fucking army of homunculi!? Marilyn grit her teeth in anger, riding the wave of rage that rushed through her body and drawing strength from it as she annihilated an enormous group of soldiers clustered around her, striking with such zeal and ferocity that not even the seemingly infinite flood of homunculus troops could instantly fill the the void she had created in their formation. Indeed, the very reason behind the anger that unshackled her newfound strength was not the creation nor existence of these homunculi, but rather the fact that Bastiche had chosen to field flesh-and-blood soldiers against them during the march.

He had thrown away the lives of his people all for the sake of preserving the impressive numbers of his homunculus garrison. People who had families and friends, hopes and dreams. People who were merely seeking to fulfill their duties and go home at the end of the day. The very thought drove Marilyn to madness, and she allowed the flow of combat to fully consume her. Now that she knew her blade cut not flesh but clay, there remained not even a single morsel of remorse in her body.

However, it wasn’t just the baron’s forces who were surprised by this development. Thanks to the dark magic that glamoured their appearance, it was practically impossible to tell the difference between a human and a homunculus unless one was familiar with the latter or until they became injured. The knights and soldiers who once fought faithfully for the acting duke now exchanged glances that bore a mixture of surprise, horror, and confusion.

Much like Sir Michael of Helfried fief, the knights of Revelo fief had either witnessed Bastiche’s heroic confrontation with the witch or heard stories of the encounter. Their faith in the acting duke had been stronger than ever, and they saw Baron Dietrich as nothing more than an upstart, but with this new development, they had no choice but to question Bastiche’s legitimacy and his true allegiance.

In fact, several knights and soldiers fighting for Revelo fief had already begun turning against their former allies, whirling around and cutting down the homunculi that surrounded them. Sensing their hostility, the artificial lifeforms soon responded in kind, casting the battlefield into a special kind of chaos that was only possible thanks to the sudden shift in loyalties. While the defection was largely localized in clusters, that was bound to change as a group of knights and soldiers began cutting their way toward Marilyn’s unit.

“Dame Marilyn!” A knight shouted as he drew near the cadre of knights who decimated the homunculi around them in a crazed frenzy. “I am Jakob of Revelo fief! I and those who follow me wish to join your righteous cause!”

Seeing as the senior knight continued cleaving through her enemies without response, Jakob repeated his words once more, earning yet another bout of fruitless silence accompanied by the sounds of metal shearing through clay flesh and the splattering of crimson liquid originating from dubious origins. Of Marilyn and her entire group, none were lucid save Medrauta.

“Dame Marilyn has shut out everything aside from combat!” Medrauta shouted to Jakob. “You will defer to me with any arrangements!”

Normally, the silver-haired knight would never dare take command in such an overt manner while in the presence of multiple senior knights, but Marilyn and her cohorts had descended into a battle-fueled trance that Medrauta could only describe as a “berserker rage.” She doubted that the senior knight could comprehend anything outside of violence, much less make informed decisions and issue orders. Besides, the situation was highly irregular already with their opponents being homunculi, forcing Medrauta to adapt and take some liberties. If she were to be reprimanded later, then so be it.

“Understood!” Jakob responded as he cut through another swathe of homunculi to reach Medrauta’s position, fighting the swarm of artificial soldiers alongside the silver-haired knight. It was only now that he was close to Medrauta that he noticed her youthful features, causing a frown to touch his face. “Hold on, aren’t you a little too young to be an officer?”

Medrauta shot the man a pained look as she dispatched several homunculi with quick swipes of her blade. As artificial lifeforms who lived solely to serve their creator’s design, the homunculi spared no concern for their own safety, making them incredibly easy targets to take down despite their tenacity. “Are you serious, Sir Jakob!? My age is hardly the concern here!”

“You may be right, but I still cannot—”

“Medrauta!” Viviane’s voice cut through the din of battle easily as the noblewoman amplified it using her ki. She urged her mount forward, pushing through the sea of soldiers and homunculi to reach Medrauta’s position. As the artificial troops cared nothing for their own lives, Viviane’s warhorse trampled through them with an almost sickening ease. “We have an emergency!”

“Viviane!? What are you doing here on the front lines!?” Medrauta shouted. In a fit of panic and worry, the knight summoned all her strength and whirled her sword around her body in several rapid strokes, clearing the area around herself and allowing the baron’s men to fill the void in an effort to create a temporary safe haven for Viviane and her mount.

“Like I said, it’s an emergency! You can’t see from your angle, but a ton of reinforcements just came out of the castle! They’ll join the main unit within a minute and everyone here will be overwhelmed!”

Medrauta blinked, staring up at her lady. It wasn’t as if she doubted Viviane’s words, but the knight could hardly believe that there were still more homunculi despite the enormous amount they’d already slain. Of course, there was a chance that they were human soldiers like the ones who made up the front line when battle first began, but those men had long deserted or turned on their former allies after realizing their true nature.

Viviane extended a hand as she watched the shock grow on her knight’s face, inviting Medrauta to witness the scene for herself. Of course, Medrauta obliged, taking Viviane’s hand and hefting herself up onto the horse. As she stared at the castle, she could see not just a simple battalion of homunculi advancing toward their position, but at least two legions marching to join the fray.

The very sight sent a shiver down Medrauta’s spine.

“Sorry, what did you say, miss!?” Jakob turned, looking up at Viviane. The onslaught that Medrauta had unleashed seconds ago allowed him a brief moment of respite, leaving the other knights and soldiers to hold back the tide of homunculi. “There’re more!?”

Viviane nodded, her worried gaze serving as more than enough proof for Jakob. The color drained from the knight’s face, his shoulders sagging as he shook his head in disbelief.

“There’s no way we can win... Everyone’s exhausted already, and there’s still more...?” Jakob’s grip on his sword seemed to loosen, almost as if he were ready to lay down his arms and surrender to whatever dark forces Bastiche had sided with. He forced a humorless laugh. “We’re all dead...”

As much as Medrauta and Viviane wanted to deny Jakob’s words and tell him that victory was just across the horizon, they couldn’t. Against those numbers, it didn’t matter how powerful or skilled they were. It was just a matter of time before they were overwhelmed, even if every knight serving Revelo fief defected. Of course, the situation might change should the nobles all move to the front line and bestow their Crests upon the knights, but Medrauta and Viviane both knew that the baron would sooner order a retreat than risk his life and the lives of his circle.

As a noble who prioritized statesmanship, the baron was a noncombatant and had never truly seen the battlefield nor commanded forces in battle. Even during the war against Kaslavna, he had only given his requisite amount of troops to the emperor and participated in a few war room discussions, but nothing else outside of that.

Medrauta and Viviane both bore bitter expressions as they were forced to accept Jakob’s words, casting one last frustrated glance to the castle before preparing to signal a retreat. After all, it was technically within Viviane’s authority to command even the baron’s forces in a pressing situation like this one.

“Falter not!” An unfamiliar voice broke through the clamor of battle, shattering the air of despair that Jakob had resigned himself to. Viviane and Medrauta turned to face the source of the unfamiliar voice, meeting eyes with a knight whose eyes still burned with furious determination.

“I am Dame Isadora, knight of Lord Fenley!” The newcomer announced as she burst into the somewhat entrenched position that Medrauta had managed to construct. “You mustn’t give up even against such unfathomable odds! There is a path to victory, and I shall show it to you!”

Both Medrauta and Viviane stared at Isadora, thoroughly confused. The two of them had just been about to suggest a retreat with Medrauta descending back onto the battlefield to forcefully pull Marilyn out of the fighting. The fact that there might still be a chance to win against such enormous numbers hadn’t even occurred to them.

“Why should we trust you?” Medrauta asked. It was a foolish question when they were about to suffer defeat anyway, but they could at least guarantee their survival if they chose to retreat now.

“Because I give you my oath with Aluvsha as my witness!” Isadora said as she took the blade of her sword to her palm, making an incision deep enough to draw blood and splatter it across the ground before Medrauta. “Let me stake the whole of my honor upon the veracity of my words!”

Medrauta blinked, not expecting such a grand gesture right from the start. Breaking such an oath as a knight would result not only in the stripping of one’s rank, but the loss of one’s title entirely. With so many other knights and soldiers to bear witness, Medrauta had no choice but to grant Isadora a chance to speak.

“Lord Fenley was a part of Duke Revelo’s inner circle.” Isadora explained. “Now, he serves the acting duke faithfully, and with such zeal that he does not even listen to my counsel. In fact, several days ago, I witnessed them descend into the depths of the castle with great secrecy. Not a single person was allowed to follow them save for Dame Ritya, the acting duke’s knight.”

“And you did not think this suspicious at all?” Medrauta frowned.

“Of course I did. I wished to consult my lord on the matter, but he would not hear my pleas. Thus, I was forced to deploy in this ridiculous war against my wishes and I could not rightly turn against my lord nor the acting duke without justification.”

“...In other words, you were just waiting for something like this to happen.”

Isadora nodded. “That’s right.”

“...I have a lot of things to say about that, but I don’t have time to question your decisions or why you did not see fit to inform your peers about your suspicions.” Medrauta sighed. “Very well, Dame Isadora. How shall we achieve victory against such hopeless odds?”

“Slay the creator and the homunculi will follow them into death. Their lives are bound to the mana of their creator, and I am almost certain the acting duke is the one responsible for all these soldiers here.”

“With Bastiche hiding behind his clay dolls and walls, it’ll be tough to kill him, much less find him. I’m guessing you know a secret entrance into the castle?”

“Yes. You may ask Dame Marilyn if you doubt me. She is far more familiar with the castle’s layout than I, but this is an entrance that is easily accessible. While you ride toward it with your lord, we shall fend off the homunculi as best we can and hope that you can slay the acting duke before we are all defeated.”

“...That’s a risky plan. Can’t say I like it, honestly.”

Isadora nodded glumly. “But it is our best chance of victory.”

Medrauta and Viviane exchanged a glance before both women let out a sigh, resigning themselves to the haphazard plan that Isadora had crafted. “Very well. Point us to the location of this entrance and we shall see this through.”

“Ah! Yes, of course! But first, where is your lord?”

Medrauta grinned, holding up her hand intertwined with Viviane’s. Though the plan was a dangerous one, Medrauta didn’t feel as though they would fail. After all...

“My lady is here.”