“Sometimes the only way to do things properly is to take care of it on your own.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

Aideen noticed the enemy troop movement from afar.

She was not particularly surprised that the enemy chose to make a sally on her side, as her group probably looked the least threatening out of the forces that had stormed the four gates of Gor-Seinnon. Aideen was together with Celia, Kino, Veria, and Yliz, but neither Celia nor Kino had fought yet, as they were observing the heavy infantry at work. Veria was further in the back, while Yliz and her assassins were naturally out of sight as well.

In contrast, she imagined that Mimia, Èirynn, and their children were making quite an entrance by the southern gate, what with Haon, Dó, Trì, and Ceathair being around them. Similarly, Calais was accompanying Baruk through the western gate, and the Ptolodeccan infantry commander likely commanded his men better than Aideen would by far.

As for the north gate, the way Leah and her Fourth Division of the Wings of Night led the charge should be more than enough of a spectacle to make everybody realize that the crusaders on that side were beyond fucked. The elite cavalry force might not be able to display their best performance in the streets of a city, but their charge cleared the main street and forced the crusaders to separate and head into smaller roads and alleys, where they were easily isolated and picked off by the infantry and horde of skeletons that followed behind the cavalry.

What caught Aideen’s attention the most was how a group of mounted knights in particularly nice looking armor led the charge towards the eastern gate where she was. Armor wouldn’t look nice after a long battle, no matter the craftsmanship. The only reason someone would have their armor look that nice after a siege that lasted multiple days meant that they likely seldom fought, or had servants to properly clean up their armor after they do.

Probably both, which indicated a noble or person of importance of some sort.

Not that Aideen would have given a damn.

She didn’t really want to admit it, but deep inside her heart, she still held quite a bit of hatred for the nation that had been calling itself Vitalica for the past couple of centuries. The same nation that the rebels had stolen from her family just after her father passed away so many years ago. The same nation that chased her and many others off to find refuge in the Lichdom.

The same nation that twisted her grandfather’s teachings to suit their own ambitions and desires and used it as a disgusting justification to commit atrocities in the name of a deity that never called for it. The same people who raised their later generations into genocidal fanatics like the ones she met so far, though fortunately it wasn’t as pervasive as she had feared it would be… yet.

Needless to say, Aideen had zero qualms about helping take that nation and its people down a peg or three when she had the opportunity.

With a quiet command, her undead steed stepped ahead of the infantry line. The infantrymen behind her had prepared for anti-cavalry combat, and carried long spears with large hooks behind the spearhead on top of their favored mace-axe hybrid weapons. With how Aideen stood in front of the infantry's spear wall, she would naturally attract the enemy’s attention first.

All the better, since that would distract the enemy cavalry from their charge and let the infantrymen behind her do their work with less risk.

One flick of her thumb and the blades on one end of her staff set themselves in place, turning her staff into a polearm. It was what she favored for fighting on horseback, as using her weapon in its three-sectioned form was rather difficult to do from such a position. She then calmly commanded her steed to move forward, first at a calm trot, then in a speedy gallop.

It might have sounded suicidal to charge into a group of knights on her own, but Aideen had the advantage of not being able to die, after all.

On the other hand, her enemies were quite definitely still mortal and had to worry about pesky things like getting stabbed.

As she closed towards the ranks of the galloping knights, two knights – also clad in nice armor – shifted from the side to cover the one knight in the nicest looking armor with the most decorations that Aideen already pegged as the leader of the group. The fact that whoever that was had others serving as bodyguards only confirmed her guess, and she maintained her course.

Aideen crossed the two knights’ path as the sound of weapons striking flesh – followed by a scream of pain – sounded. Her weapon’s blade, now in the form of a dagger-axe halberd, slammed into the chest of the knight on her right, the weight of her swing allowing her weapon to blow through her opponent’s attempt at defense and directly unhorsed him in the same blow, though with how the entire length of her weapon’s pick-like blade went into his chest, she doubted the man was still alive at that point.

At the same time, the other knight used the opening she presented while making the blow to land a debilitating cut into her side. The knight’s sword sliced through her flesh unimpeded, the blade cleaving through one of her lungs and out her back, yet barely any blood – save the drops that clung to the knight’s blade – was shed.

The wound closed itself behind the knight’s sword before it could bleed out, Aideen’s magic restoring her body as fast as the knight could injure her.

Moments later, their respective steeds brought Aideen and the surviving knight galloping past one another, and she made use of the chance to head straight towards her original target, leaving the flabbergasted knight behind her for the infantry line to handle.