"A duel between generals of opposing armies was a practice prominent in the long history of the Al-Shan Empire. Primarily, it was used as a means to raise morale, as soldiers of those times tend to be conscripted peasants rather than professionally trained career soldiers.

Of course, such duels also tend to backfire at times where the enemy proved to be a more capable combatant. It was common to disparage such enemies as merely lucky, or to call them brave, but not wise, to preserve the morale of their own soldiers." - Jian Shang-Zi, Al-Shan military historian, circa 614 FP.

The Imperial army rested for the day in the third gate, from which they could see the entirety of the Caldera at a high vantage point. Many smaller villages dotted the landscape of the caldera, and there were no walled cities in sight. Only a single citadel was built on the island in the middle of the lake that dominated the center of the Caldera.

They also noticed - with the help of spyglasses - a gathering of what looked like militia as it formed up on the shores of the lake, and slowly moved in their direction. Apparently the High Magistrate had decided to fight to the bitter end.

That night the command staff gathered for another meeting. It was a short one. Most of them were in agreement that they came to Tian-Mao to deal with the High Magistrate and his cronies, not to butcher the common people who were just dragged into the mess.

As such, rather than defend the gate - which would have conferred the Imperial army with the high ground and the advantages of a fortification - they had decided to sally out and meet the oncoming army in the field instead.

The ideal result was to shatter the army's cohesion swiftly and rout them, at which point it would be easier to offer mercy for the militia. Everybody present was unanimous that they do not wish to spill more blood than what was necessary in this mission.

So it was that early the next day, the Imperial army marched from the gates, as they headed further into the caldera. Ying Xiao, Rafiqa, and Faizal were at the lead, mounted on their respective horses, while the eighteen thousand men under their lead snaked behind them as they marched in unison.

Around noon, they met the advancing army from Tian-Mao, in the middle of open, uninhabited plains, just as they had planned. A cursory glance told them that the militiamen slightly outnumbered them, maybe twenty five thousand in total, yet they could not match up to proper soldiers in terms of quality.

Many of the conscripted militia wore little more than the clothes they wore in their day to day life, and many of their weapons were just tools and farming implements. Altogether, there were perhaps less than two thousand actual soldiers amongst the enemy army, many of which were dispersed amongst the militia to egg them on as commanders.

Not unexpectedly, two men rode forward ahead of their army, on steeds draped with expensive cloth and armor, wearing elaborately designed suits of mail that would have made Ying Xiao's and Rafiqa's look drab by comparison.

The older man halted first, while the younger pressed forward, and in a loud voice, proclaimed how they were the rightful guardians of the island and would take on any invaders, before he challenged them into a bout of single combat.

Naturally, the Imperial army had learned from their spies who the two men were. The older one was the younger brother of Magistrate Ning, one of High Magistrate Wang's closest supporters, who served as the supreme commander of their private army. The younger was an older grandson of High Magistrate Wang's, who had apparently proven himself capable in military matters.

Ying Xiao was about to stride forward and answer the challenge, but Rafiqa beat her to it. Rafiqa thought it would be uncouth for their general to have to answer to a mere lieutenant of their enemy's and that it would be more appropriate for her to do so.

She rode her horse as she approached the enemy, stated her name with an equally loud voice, and disparaged the enemy as mere rebels against the imperial authority, while her glaive pointed towards her opponent's face.

The man she faced removed the sheath from his own weapon, a polearm with a three-pointed double-sided blade on its head, and whipped his horse as he charged towards her. Rafiqa did the same, as she nudged her trained steed with her legs and charged to take him on.

Their blades clashed with a loud noise. The man was strong, but not so much that Rafiqa couldn't fight him. Their horses turned and started to run parallel to each other as they clashed repeatedly, exchanging strikes with ferocity.

After a while, Rafiqa spotted a chance. She caught her opponent's weapon mid-swing just below where the blade connected to the shaft with her own weapon, then simultaneously yanked it up and towards her.

That threw off the blow aimed at her face, as the blade only clipped the top of her helmet instead and yanked it off her head, while it left her opponent open and unbalanced. Rafiqa had not wasted the chance.

She thrust the other end of her weapon right at her opponent's stomach. The spearhead found a gap between two plates of her opponent's armor and sunk halfway into his gut, which caused the man to bend over himself in pain.

Rafiqa pulled her weapon out, while at the same time she pried her opponent's weapon out of his weakening grip, then slashed with the bladed end of her glaive, as she decapitated her opponent with a smooth strike.

She bent down to gather the head, then raised it with a cry of triumph, before she rode back towards her lines. Ying Xiao passed her along the way, as she gave Rafiqa a gesture of praise for the good work.

Once Rafiqa reached her position in the Imperial lines, she turned and watched. The older general had rode forward himself, and Ying Xiao had chosen to deal with him personally.

The battle between them was even shorter than the one Rafiqa fought. On the first clash, the older enemy general was nearly dismounted by the force of the clash between his heavy glaive and Ying Xiao's halberd.

He had not fared any better in the subsequent clashes, as he could only desperately defend himself against Ying Xiao's much stronger blows. At least until she presented an opening to her left, which her opponent grasped at in desperation.

Then Ying Xiao did something that must have crumbled any morale the enemy had left. She caught her opponent's heavy glaive by the blade with her bare hand, while her other hand thrust her halberd through her opponent's chest.

When she raised the dying general's body on the tip of her halberd - all with one hand - and gave a victory cry, Rafiqa noticed how much of the army shuddered. She exchanged a glance with Faizal who also noticed it and nodded.

Ying Xiao had not missed the opportunity either, as with a forceful move she flung the enemy general's corpse towards his troop as she commanded a charge. Rafiqa and Faizal immediately followed her command, and their troops charged the gathered enemies with deafening warcries.

The militia broke and routed on the spot. No matter how much the actual soldiers amongst them exhorted or threatened them, it was to no avail. A couple of the soldiers moved from threats to violence, which only resulted in the panicked, scared militiamen taking them down.

Meanwhile Ying Xiao spearheaded a charge into the only ones who maintained a semblance of formation on the enemy side, the High Magistrate's loyal soldiers. With her in the lead, the Imperial forces pierced through their enemy formation like a hot knife through butter.

Just as the troops behind her encircled and decimated the survivors of her charge, Ying Xiao shouted that by the Emperor's decree, those who surrendered would not be harmed. That proved to be the last straw which broke the camel's back.

Most of the militiamen laid down their arms and surrendered on the spot. A few others had ran too far away to hear the decree clearly, but Ying Xiao commanded her people to leave them be. Even a few of the High Magistrate's soldiers surrendered.

Those who remained stubborn were butchered to a man.

By the time the dust settled, around two thousand men had died. Most of them were the High Magistrate's loyal troops, some others were unlucky militiamen that had fallen while they escaped and were trampled. The losses to the Imperial army were negligible in contrast.

After they calmed down the militia, assured them that they would indeed not be harmed, and allowed them to return to their villages, Ying Xiao delegated ten thousand troops to Faizal and ordered him to keep the order in the caldera, while at the same time keeping watch for runaways.

Ying Xiao herself, along with Rafiqa and the rest of their troops, marched on towards the High Magistrate's citadel at the center of the lake.