Isekai: The Eight Soul Fragments

"Drax, I never thought you'd cook up something insane as a deck like that." Remuel was scratching his head in frustration as he couldn't practically understand Draxus' intentions. "Well in the end, this is pretty much my masterpiece. You're pretty much the first wall I have to go through with this deck." "That makes sense, I guess you want to use this against Richard huh?" The two of them had finished their three games with Draxus winning 2-1. They are now discussing on what Draxus could do to further improve what he had built. "Richard is way too difficult of an opponent, he's the expert in TCGs man... Anyways, it seems that your escort is here, I'll go fly around the countries and land once you've finished on the first country." Draxus then leapt out of the window and flew straight to the [Hall of Sentinels]. 'Well, all I can say is that we're going to be a black company for a bit." Remuel uttered some of his grievances as he smiled in an exhausted manner.

"So our first trip is going to be Polytopia huh?" "Yep, I honestly wanna deal with those money-driven bozos as soon as I can. All I need to do is heavily train them until they can manage their combat at least a bit better. Drax will move around after I finish to enhance and improve their weapons and equipment, and Arlesk going over after Draxus to deal with their discipline. A well-rounded idea overall, but with this tight of a timeline, we're going to speedrun as much as we can." Remuel and Victorina made preparations and finally left after a few hours, with Bethany, Noelle, and Lynx seeing them off.

On their arrival to Aquila, they were immediately greeted by the Head Senator who had been expecting their arrival.

"I'm glad you've finally come for the strengthening of my army Archon Remuel, and for us to be getting the priority... Is it perhaps of the discipline records?" "Yeah, it's really bad no matter how I try to read it." "I figured, but you're not really the most suited person for that correct?" "That's Arlesk's job, he'll be coming here after Draxus when he improves the equipment after I train your army." "Ah, so all Archons are on the move... Nevertheless, we're grateful of your willingness to strengthen the armies here." The two were conversing about Polytopia's army as they walked, Victorina then interjected as she described the purpose of strengthening the armies. "It appears that the Emperor has glimpsed towards the future, it was fated that another massive invasion will happen in a few months." "A few months... So you want everyone to be strengthened and get used to their new training before the invasion. Is there an exact date?" "We do not know, Serkyrio might announce it on the end-of-month meetings before the invasion so the training would continue up until the actual battle." "I see, then we must make haste then."

Remuel and Victorina were now faced with a giant army in front of them, the commanders were somewhat skeptical as Remuel had decided to leave the opening training to Victorina. They have yet to witness Remuel and Victorina's abilities, since the only person that they have seen in combat were Serkyrio during the first invasion, and Arlesk who had dueled and dominated their former Hero. They could assume that Remuel's power is equal to Arlesk, but they couldn't just think of Victorina as a powerful being as she was only introduced as a researcher of the [Dimensional Laboratory] and Remuel's fiancé.

"Just as I said, I don't think you understand any of the army tactics or power. Unless you're paying us we could potentially train harder for you." "What kind of trashy thinking is that? Just because your country is a powerhouse of commerce doesn't mean you could just announce that you're hired mercenaries instead of a proper army. Or maybe perhaps all of you are just a commissionable army that an enemy country can just pay you out to commit betrayal? Such scummy behavior can't even be backed up by how weak you all look."

Needless to say the atmosphere wasn't good. Both the Head Senator and Remuel were at a loss on what to do or say. However, with both of them not backing down, Remuel has somewhat lost his patience and clapped his hands together loudly to catch everyone's attention.

"Alright both of you, how about this. If you really doubt my fiancé's capabilities, then how about you and the army you command will face her. I'm sure since you all think you can handle yourselves, you won't lose to just one single mage right?" Immediate provocation. Since Remuel doesn't want to waste time, he decided to place something on the table as he was already sure that he won't lose it.

"This is one of my divine relics. [Scale of Equity]. It's currently registered with my blood but what it does it that you can tip the scales to one side or the other. If it tips on the right, you will be strengthened depending on the amount of beings within the area while weakening them. Or you could tip it to the left to strengthen your army greatly while weakening your body. It's a true [Warrior] or [General] artifact. If you win against Victorina, I will hand this over to you." The proposition was too attractive, and Victorina followed up further as her confidence was up along with Remuel.

"There, now it should be an easy win for you three right? It would be very embarrassing if all of you lost against a single mage and researcher." She taunted them which somewhat irritated the commanders. The army also considered how they thought that some members of Preeliance are arrogant. Being arrogant themselves and always need an incentive before acting, they decided to transfer to a large open field near the border of Aquila.

"Alright, presiding over this, your army has pretty much prepared themselves in formation, you may start anytime." Remuel gave instructions to the army as he started to communicate telepathically to Victorina. "Teach them a lesson." Remuel was smiling as he received a telepathic response from Victorina. "No need to remind me, I'll make them kneel down." Remuel left the army to observe from a distance.

To make it fair according to the commanders, Victorina was given a one hundred meter distance to begin casting her spells. And what was only shown to them after the battle began was multiple staves materializing behind Victorina. The commanders realized what was about to happen as the purple lunar-esque staff was starting to glow without being held by Victorina. Purple bolts were starting to materialize in a large number as they all scattered and started flying to converge towards the commander who was rushing the distance. He barely dodged the purple bolts which allowed it to hit the army behind him. They were injured and unable to move after receiving the bolts which surprised the commander. But before he could recover and try to close the distance, tornadoes started to materialize from within the army and scattered everyone, ruining the formation in that moment. The commander then realized that with Victorina still not moving from her position, that she's actually among the stronger members as she was pretty much known as the fiancé of the Archon Phoenix, who was known for extreme abilities of balance, equivalence, and rebirth. The commander now held the impression that with her use of varied elements without much expense, he saw her as somewhat of the Elemental and Leyline Catalyst.