“Contrary to most stories and popular belief, combat mages are far from the world-ending army of ones that they are often portrayed as. For the most part a combat mage served as a tactical weapon and force multiplier in battles, using their magical gifts to change situations and create chances otherwise unavailable for the taking.

They create options, rather than the be-all end-all solutions who devastate armies single handedly like most epics and tales say. In fact, the vast majority of combat mages, be they archmages or not, are just dangerous, powerful individuals, and little more than that. They are usually just as easily killable as you or me. Trust me on this, kid. I’ve put a bunch in the grave myself.” - Salicia Adenauer, the Silent Reaper, circa 6 FP.

Reinhardt managed glimpses of what lay ahead from the transparent visors built into some of the shields that covered their front, and could tell that the few infantrymen who worked the siege engines had braced themselves to form a spear wall, with the butts of their spears fixed against the ground.

Behind them the two earth mages that had been creating munitions for the siege engines also began to cast against the onrushing shield wall headed their way. One of them, the woman, hurled spears of rock against the shieldbearers, to little effect, as her projectiles merely shattered or bounced off the solid metal shields they carried, the impact barely an obstacle to their charge.

The other mage was smarter and manipulated the ground below, to create potholes and steps instead. It worked better as a few of the less watchful mercenaries stumbled on those obstacles, with several twisting their ankles or worse from the fall. Sadly, the mage could not see behind the shield wall, and thus had not noticed that the people wielding the massive shields were similarly far larger than normal.

He had made the potholes and steps of a size that would have stumbled most humans, but they were sadly a size or three too small to bother the shieldbearers much. Niko’s foot struck one of the earthen protrusions and just crushed it without more than a slight stumble to his gait, while Yuri’s trunk-like leg stepped directly on one of the potholes and crushed it beneath him, resulting in a wider, far more noticeable hole where the pothole used to be.

Similarly, the spearwall made by the Bostvan infantrymen failed to cause a pause against the charging shieldbearers. Their spears either snapped in half or were pushed deep into the ground instead, with nearly half of the infantrymen who held those spears roughly shoved aside by the shieldbearers. The other half had reacted fast enough to jump back before they were swatted away like flies, and drew their swords.

Almost like clockwork, the shield wall split from the middle as the elites behind it rushed out, Reinhardt himself in the lead. He led most of the troops to tackle the remaining infantrymen, while the shieldbearers pivoted and headed for the siege engines, their greater strength and heavy weapons better suited to dismantle those contraptions.

While they did so, Elfriede led a small group of ten straight for the two mages and their squad of bodyguards, with their lethal intent obvious. Reinhardt gave her a nod as she passed by while he struck at a Bostvan soldier with his polemace. The soldier tried to parry Reinhardt’s blow with his sword, but the only result was a broken sword, while the spiked mace itself landed and crushed the soldier’s right shoulder and neck in the same blow.

On Elfriede’s side, most of her group of ten tangled with the squad of sixteen that were likely bodyguards for the mages. Karenina took the chance to hurl a throwing knife right into one soldier’s eye, even as she blocked another’s sword with the long club in her right hand. The sword’s metal blade made a slight chip on the hard wooden club, but failed to do more.

Then Nina brought her other hand to the club and twisted, nearly wrenching the sword from her opponent’s hand. She struck the man on the chin with the butt end of her club, which dazed him for a moment, long enough for her to swing the wooden club hard against the side of his helmet and send him to the ground, half unconscious. Before the man could regain his bearings, Nina stabbed through his throat with the spike on the metal cap that covered the end of her club.

Another Bostvan soldier was just about to take the fallen one’s place when he was stopped cold by Kari, who had stepped in and used the sword breaker - a dagger with a thick metal prong to “catch” a sword’s blade - in her left hand to guide his sword away, while she stabbed the short sword in her other hand deep into his gut, then pulled it out and stabbed him through the neck for good measure.

To their side, Cassie tangled with a man who was likely the commander of the bodyguards, judging from his slightly fancier outfit and better armor. She had not cared much about it though, as the hammers she wielded rained blows on said armor relentlessly. One of her blows caught the man’s hand at a good angle and likely crushed the bones of his palm, causing him to drop his sword, and she finished him off shortly after with a hammer blow to the forehead.

Most of the other soldiers were either dead or disabled, as the mercenaries under Reinhardt put them down rapidly. Meanwhile, the shieldbearers had directly wrecked a couple of the trebuchets by then, before some of them got an idea and doused the further ones with the oil used for the rocks, then set the whole contraption on fire. Five of the trebuchets burned, while another four were dismantled into broken pieces, the last three being assailed by the heavy weapons of the shieldbearers.

Further to their east, the rest of the Free Lances had mostly decimated one archer square and engaged another two in close, one-sided combat, while some of the soldiers from the frontlines tried to turn back to aid their back lines but were still a distance away. The mercenaries also kept themselves to the west and south, so that the archers could not shoot at them without risking friendly fire.

While everyone else fought their respective fights, Elfriede tangled with the two mages by the trebuchets. The two mages tried to keep away, as one of them manipulated the soil they stood on to carry them further from her, but she ran faster than the mage could escape.

The female mage formed spiky orbs of compacted earth and flung them towards Elfriede, but she avoided them with ease. Even when the orbs came from her side or behind she either got out of the way without a hitch in her step, or simply sliced them down with her blades. When the magically compacted earth touched the enchanted adamant portion of her blade, they crumbled, as the anti-magic enchantment broke the bonds that kept them compacted.

When the other mage tried to make her stumble by messing with her footing, he found that Elfriede avoided every pitfall or obstacle with ease despite how she never even glanced down. Neither of them knew that her magical senses noticed their every attempt as soon as they made it.

Finally she got close enough to lunge at them, and in their panic, the two mages reacted separately. The man erected a shield of earth before himself, while the woman conjured dozens of needles of hardened stones and hurled it at Elfriede.

Elfriede noticed the needles, and weaved her body to avoid some even as her two blades cut down others. Some she avoided so closely that they left slight cuts on her skin or her gambeson, but not a single one struck home. Then she struck back, the blade in her right hand swinging through the earthen shield as if it was not there, and across the woman’s face.

The male mage looked utterly baffled as the earthen shield he raised crumbled while his female compatriot screamed as she clutched her eyes - both of which were cut through by the tip of Elfriede’s blade - with both hands. He was so busy with trying to keep them away and creating obstacles that he had not noticed how Elfriede’s blades were enchanted for anti-magic as well.

Neither mage managed to react before Elfriede continued her spin and lashed out with her left-hand blade. This time the blade took both mages by the neck, and the keen mithril edge parted flesh and bone as easily as a hot knife through butter. Two heads and two arms slices in the middle of the forearm tumbled to the ground, and Elfriede quickly stored both heads and removed the storages both mages carried before she left.