Since how far I was in the back, I couldn’t see what was happening on the frontline, I could only rely on my ears.

First, I heard clashes and screams, then I saw full armoured warriors jump over the first line with inhuman leaps and land on the magic swordsmen behind them. It seems this was a suicide attack, after all, they left some warriors behind to keep the lancers occupied while the main force jumped over them and tried to reach the supplies.

Stronger humans could stay without food and water for longer since they could use ki instead of calories and to regenerate the damage done by dehydration for a while, but since most of our soldiers weren’t as strong, we would have to fall back momentarily and wait for more supplies to arrive. It seemed Zaven wanted to gain time.

Most of the warriors just crushed the poor guys under them and then started carving their road by swinging their weapons, but some of them were sniped mid-air by our best archers or were overwhelmed by the numbers before managing to regroup.

Still, a good number of them managed to form a crude formation and cut through the magic swordsmen like that, arriving at the warriors protecting the archers and magicians.

We lost quite a few soldiers, but now the enemies seemed about half of how they started. considering their warriors were of much higher quality than ours, this trade was in our favour.

I heard the voice of the high priest.

“Rear, retreat slowly while defending, you archer keep an arrow knocked in case they jump, front, wear them down from behind!”

The situation was bad for them, they were surrounded and more paladins were coming from the rest of the army.

They didn’t seem to care though.

“We’re almost there, cut the pigs to pieces! Glory to Zaven!”

“Ooooooohhhhhhh!”

They couldn’t jump since it would be suicidal to do it in front of the archers and the magicians, so they just charged at the warriors.

Our warriors were taken aback by their fierceness and started retreating more than they should have, arriving right in front of the archers.

But then, a warrior with a giant, shining two-handed sword and eye-catching armour jumped in front of the enemy, it was a high-paladin.

“Keep it together! Esha is with us, Horus is guiding us, don’t be afraid!”

The priests and high priest’s blessing shone upon the high-paladin and the warriors started to push back the enemy, squeezing them in our army’s pinch.

The enemies started to lose more and more units, but after a small initial loss of ground, they restarted to advance towards the supply.

Ours started to accompany them by retreating, wearing them down more and more. The lances and spells poked at them from behind and our front fought fiercely whit swords, while supported by the magicians.

Now just a few enemies were remaining, even the ones that initially kept the front line occupied either died or fled.

I saw a messenger whisper something to the high priest, and then, he ordered :

“Magicians and archers, take refuge behind the carriages!”

He then whispered something to some messengers and sent them to the clerics commanding the warriors in front of us. After that, he watched us and said:

“Heroes, you'll finish them, take position in front of the carriages.”

We hastily took position with Mark on our front, Oliver in the back, and me in the centre. Erian wouldn't fight, but the high priest and some priests took position behind us to make up for it. Alua and some other archers and magic swordsmen also took position near them to avoid any accident.

The warriors in front of us started to retreat even faster, and the side in front of us started to get thinner, more and more soldiers were shifting to the sides, and the enemies started tearing through that thin line.

I was ready for my debut on the stage of War, I felt excited, blood was pumping through my veins like never before. I had been watching people dying in front of me and I didn't bat an eye, I knew it was a pointless death for the people of both sides, but since I knew I couldn't do anything, I didn't think too much about it and focused about what I was about to gain.

In front of me, there were powerful warriors worn down by the battle, and they were about to become my exp, I smiled in anticipation.

I checked the others to see if they seemed ready.

Mark seemed ready and focused, but Oliver was trembling and his face was drenched in cold sweat. Well, he was in the backline so he wasn't in danger and Alua would probably do his part if he didn't shoot, so it wasn't too bad.

The soldiers then broke their formation and only the paladins and two high-paladins remained to hold the line between us and them.

Now there were only about twenty Zaven's warriors, some remained behind to keep the paladins occupied, while the others just run past them, there was still some open space between us and them so the magicians and the best archers released a huge wave of attacks that swept through them, killing many warriors. Only about five tattered warriors managed to arrive at us.

There were two warriors with swords and shields, one with a huge greatsword, wearing the helmet of a Zaven's captain, and two magic swordsmen.

They charged at us with the shield bearers in the front line, the magic swordsmen threw a Fire Javelin at Oliver and a Wind Scythe at me, but I avoided it and Oliver was protected by the priests.

A huge projection picturing us appeared upon us, then the high-priest shouted:

“The unholy Zavenians arrived at the supplies, but the goddess's heroes are there to protect us, watch them as they display the will of the goddess to you!”

'They put up quite a show uh.'

I was very tempted to go full-on hellflame mode and start spouting profanities, but then I might accidentally be hit in my head by an unfortunate arrow, so I decided not to.

The priests' blessings enveloped our bodies, I felt magic circulating much better inside me, but I also felt some itch due to my high demonic affinity.

I started throwing fireballs at them, and Mark threw a few Light Arrows before bracing himself for the clash, while Oliver also started shooting arrows with tears in his eyes.

Now only the best archers and magicians could shoot without risking hitting us, but thanks to their support a shield-bearer and a magic swordsman fell before arriving at us, and in the mayhem, it was difficult to understand who hit them.

The enemies were going towards Mark, I expected them to ignore us and aim for the carriages, but they seemed to want to fight us.

Mark them shouted:

“We'll use the usual strategy, I tank, you attack!”

Arrows were continuing to hit them with precision, they had little chance to win, and even if they did, killing us was probably a bad move.

Heroes were also revered in the alliance as compatriots of Claire, the hero of humanity, and there was also a risk of turning us into martyrs like how happened with Jane. In history, there were occasions where killing a hero worked out, but it was usually when they already got themselves a bad reputation, we were quite young and we just arrived, their people probably only thought of us as poor children brainwashed by the evil empire.

The captain stood in front of Mark at a certain distance, while the magic swordsman started circling around Mark while the tank turned around, guarding the captain's back.

If their objective were the supplies there was only one reason why they would do this.

“Mark, don't turn around!”

I shouted as fast as I could and, instead of running towards the magic swordsman, I created a tray of smoke towards Mark's shadow and used Shadow Leap to appear behind him while looking towards the carriages, and as I predicted, the magic swordsman was already in front of me. The enemies stalled for a few instants.

“They wanted to take you hostage!”

I heard the captain curse.

They wanted to make me chase the magic swordsman, who would have leaped towards mark's back to make him turn around, at that point our snipers would have killed him, but the captain would have taken Mark hostage and walked towards the supplies while the tank protected his back.

The tank then used Flash Leap towards Oliver, but as Oliver shot an arrow, trying to hit him during the leap, another arrow shot at the same moment hit him in the leg and knocked him to the ground right in front of Oliver.

The captain then said:

“Plan c.”

They attacked us, they couldn't arrive at the carriages anymore, we wouldn't let them, the most they could do now was to humiliate us as much as they could before dying.

Of course, I had no intention to let them do it, it would lower our value in the eyes of the officials, and mine was already low enough. And also, of course, being humiliated in public was a terrible sin I couldn't commit.

The enemy attacked me, but I couldn't let Mark's back uncovered, so I had to block.

His slash didn't have the strength I expected though, he was probably wounded. Still, he was faster than me, I couldn't find an opening to counterattack.

As I kept blocking I infused fire ki in my brain to enhance my multitasking and placed a fire mine behind him while continuing to block his attacks, he managed to scratch me a couple of times, but it didn't matter.

Then, as I blocked, I enhanced my arms with a great quantity of fire ki to obtain an explosive strength for a few moments. I pushed our interwoven blades towards him with sheer strength and made him retreat by a few steps.

Then flames appeared behind him, about to explode. If the mine exploded, it would have hurt both, but he would have absorbed most of it, and I had plenty of healers on my side.

He then disengaged in a hurry and jumped in the air, he risked being hit by an arrow, but what better humiliation than letting the hero be hit by his same spell?

I smiled, the flames that exploded dissolved in black smoke, leaving behind the mine to which I removed the stealth effect, still to be triggered. Actually, I thought he wouldn't fall for it, but I guessed he was tired after the battle.

I moved the mine to the place he would land, and while he was in the air, Oliver turned his eyes away from the man on his feet, still to be finished, and shot an arrow towards the flying swordsman, piercing his stomach.

He was trying to cover himself with dark mana to protect himself from the explosion, but the arrow disrupted his focus and he landed badly and without protection. The mine exploded right in his face.

After the flames died down he was still on his feet, his spiritual body was leaking magic from everywhere, but he was scraping every bit of ki to support his legs. He was holding his sword, pointing it at his heart.

“Long live Zaven!”

I had no intention to let my exp get away like this though. I shot a Dark bullet into his right hand, he tried to stab himself, but didn't pierce himself deep enough.

He looked at me with pure hatred.

“Curse you.”

I should have finished him with my sword to save mana, but when I was about to do it, my steps became heavier.

I sighed, then pointed my wand to his head and shot a Dark Bullet.

He fell to the ground face on, I looked at his sorry corpse for a few instants, then looked away and focused my mind on Mark's fight.

The captain had several new arrows stuck in his body, but he was still keeping Mark on the defensive, he didn't seem able to break it though. I didn't want to steal the spotlight from our frontman, but I guessed I could help out a bit.

I launched an illusory Dark Bullet to his back, but he seemed to be paying attention to the mana inside it and didn't dodge, continuing the offensive.

I then just continued, implicitly telling him I wanted to mix in a real one, sooner or later. Now he had to also pay attention to me, and his offensive weakened.

He then once threw a strike slightly off, and that was everything that Mark needed. He deviated the sword with his shield and then pushed his shield towards him, throwing him off balance. I then shot a real Dark bullet and he tried to dodge to make me hit Mark, but Mark didn't let him. He swung his sword and forced him to take the bullet.

The captain blocked mark and was hit by my bullet in the left of his pelvis. His left leg gave out and he fell to his knees.

He tried an all-out last-ditch attack with a thrust, but Mark was now used to my all-out strategies in our spars and was ready. Instead of trying to finish him right away he prepared himself, dodged the thrust, and then enhanced his body with all the light ki he could muster, and cut the captain's hands in one swing.

He then pointed his sword at the captain's neck but didn't finish him. His hands were shaking and his eyes were wide open, he probably just realized the scale of what he was about to do. I walked beside him.

“Mark, you need to do it, it's the strength you need to protect us, power requires sacrifices.”

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

The captain didn't let this occasion go by.

“What's up brat? You can't even give me the death of a warrior?”

I couldn't help but respect this guy, he was trying to accomplish his goal as much as possible with everything he had until the end, it was a pity he had to die. But I knew it was to avoid things like this that he needed to die.

Mark opened his eyes and held his sword with a determined gaze, he then swung it and sent the captain's head flying.

“It had to be done.”

He said.

“Exactly, considering he was willing to participate in a suicide mission he died the moment the war was declared.”

“Right.”

I then looked at Oliver, he was bent on the ground, puking. The corpse of the shield-bearer lay near him, with an arrow in her head, her hairs, now out of her helmet, were getting tainted by the blood on the ground.

The projection wasn't broadcasting him though, it was focused on me and Mark. Well, I guess his reaction was the normal one.

The high priest then shouted:

“The enemy was defeated! Thanks to Esha's blessing we escaped the danger and obtained an overwhelming victory. The heroes also managed to defeat their leader, which means Esha's blessing is with us, and Horus's guidance is pushing us in the right direction, as always. Now let us clean up this battlefield, give a burial to our valiant dead comrades, and then camp nearby for the night.”

The soldiers shouted with enthusiasm, elated for the victory, I guess we could rest now.

I looked at the high priest and saw that the commander was now beside him.

He was busy giving orders to the other officials, but his aide was currently doing nothing. Nothing but staring at me.

He smiled and nodded at me, then looked away and started paying attention to the commander.

I also looked away and walked away while asking myself what he wanted from me, I guessed I had to pay attention to him now.