Penitent

Michael stood at the front of the Gemini column with Davi to his right, and Pyotr to his left. He bit the inside of his cheek and began to heal it to make the most of Fort Healer and Wound Man as he looked at the enemy arrayed against him. The Burndan troops were not what he'd expected. He'd been hearing of the Burndan conquests since he was still training in Stent. They were a force that had conquered two neighboring countries and was now looking to add a third. Over the last couple of days he'd heard from Cantalian troops that had described them as powerful, unyielding, and seemingly able to react to anything they threw at them. In his mind Michael had begun to imagine some kind of massive army, dressed in blackened armor and wielding wickedly curved swords. Instead what he saw across the no-man's-land was a column of armored infantry wielding spears and shields much like many others he'd seen. Their armor looked much the same as what the Cantalian's were wearing, but a bit heavier, and just like them they had several smaller groups of elite knights. The only major differences between the two groups was that the Cantalian's had a number of very lightly armored men clutching blow-guns, and the Burndans had cavalry.

The Gemini column was taking up the leftmost flank of the Cantalian forces, with the Breakers supporting the right column, and mercenary cavalry hidden in a small patch of forest beyond them. The Burndan forces wouldn't be expecting any because Cantalia didn't use horses in warfare due to how much of their territory was swamp, but Michael wasn't sure of how much it would help. The respective forces weren't evenly matched, with the Burndan force seemingly larger, but the Cantalians were well prepared to retreat back into the swamp if they needed to. They only needed to do significant enough damage that the Burndan forces wouldn't be able to establish a solid foothold.

A mote of light rose up from the Burndan lines and exploded into a puff of green. As it did so their cavalry line began to charge toward them. The Cantalian and mercenary forces didn't march to meet them, instead all placing their pike and spears in preparation to meet the charge. Michael had taken a spear himself, and raised it as he started to pray.

"Seras grant me and those who stand with me your protection."

"Nykas grant me the guile to outwit my foes."

"Bruntus grant me the unfaltering will to push forward."

"Veras harden my heart to do what is needed"

"Durand, I devote this battle to you."

Many of those around him were muttering their own prayers to the gods he'd introduced them to. As he finished, the thundering charge of the enemy's horses had nearly reached them.

A gunshot went off, dropping one of the horses before it reached them and it collapsed. Its rider however, did not fall with it. He leapt from the saddle as his horse fell and launched himself for the front lines with his long cavalry spear in front of him. He skewered the Gemini mercenary in front of him as he landed and quickly turned to deflect the blow of another.

Michael was so surprised by the man's quick reaction that he was caught off guard when a different rider reached him. He raised his shield and spear and was knocked back by the horses's powerful stride into Suraj who stood behind him and helped him to maintain his footing by pushing with his shield along with all of the other men and women behind him. He stabbed at the horse's rider, but the man surprised him with a quick deflection before stabbing his own spear toward him. Michael took the blow in the center of his shield, but was surprised when the blow felt nearly as powerful as the horse's had.

Michael changed tactics and when the horse reared up in surprise from a nearby blast of fire he drove his spear into its chest, hot blood spraying across him and his armor. Thrown off balance, Davi scored a strike on the rider's leg and when he fell Pyotr crushed his helmet with a firm stomp.

Michael was already starting to heal the front line, mending dozens of injuries. They'd even had a few deaths as the enemy cavalry was far more accurate at striking hearts and heads than any riders in previous battles he'd been in.

As the cavalry retreated to prepare for more passes, the enemy infantry had closed the distance. They were moving much more quickly than he had expected and when they reached them they hit like a tidal wave. Michael caught a spear strike on his shield that felt like a hammerblow and threw out a stab of his own, managing a lucky hit on the man's throat bringing him down. Michael could feel a fire in his chest as he drew blood. The enemy was strong, but for some reason that just seemed to make the fire burn brighter. He could hear a roar of joy in his ears as Durand expressed his satisfaction.

Michael pushed forward, managing a shallow wound, then a deeper one with his spear that dropped another opponent. A man to his right was bisected as Tai gave up on his spear and drew his sword for the first time. To his left, Pyotr was using his enhanced kicks to knock away shields then following up with devastating slashes. Davi was fighting like a man possessed, bashing shields with his own to knock even these stronger opponents back before following up with unrelenting attacks.

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Soon the lines began to dissolve and rather than a back and forth it became a whirlwind of chaos. For most organized armies, this would be a negative, but for the loose collection of mercenaries that was Gemini, it was the equivalent of forcing someone to sink to your level. Clara and Ollie were throwing out spells left and right. Fireballs, bolts of lightning, barriers to protect allies, creating patches of mud to tangle up horses, not a moment went by that they weren't channeling raw magic. Suraj's battle-axe fell with such force that he was cracking shields and cutting through armor as if it was paper. Michael didn't see Marcus, but every thirty seconds a random head would explode nearby and he'd know he was keeping busy. Tai and Finn stuck together, Tai's sword a blur as he carved through multiple opponents at a time, his brother covering for his reckless style with an ironclad defense, and sending out strikes of his club for any who dared to think he was a weak target himself. Lys and Trina stuck together along with a core of other light combatants. They rushed in with dramatic feints and flourishes, covering their opponents in dozens of wounds before fading back into a less active part of the battlefield. Trina in particular managed a spectacular feint that allowed her to disarm a spearman before Lys followed up with a stab he was unable to defend against.

Michael couldn't channel holy fire against anything but creatures from rifts. Even without that advantage though he was a force. He never stopped moving. He lost his spear in a man's chest, and quickly blocked a blow and drew his sword, cutting another man down. His durability and protection made him feel untouchable. He healed a deep cut to Suraj's side and the sight of him doing so drew the enemy's attention. An arrow exploded before it could hit his hip and three men moved to attack him at once. He channeled magicka to create shields that protected his vital points as he met them. The first managed to parry his sword before he shattered his skull with the edge of his shield. The second was surprised when his spear was stopped by a shield spell in front of Michael's throat and Michael ran him through, pivoting to use his body as a shield as the third one tried to take advantage of his turned back. Michael kicked the dead man off his sword onto his attacker, then drove his sword into the man's chest as he was on his back foot.

"Rally!" yelled Tai, his voice carrying across the battlefield. Michael moved toward the others, cutting his way through an enemy soldier that was distracted by Pyotr. The enemy grunts seemed to somehow be the same level of strength as a Stent or Tusinian sergeant, and the cavalry had seemed even stronger than that. If this fight had been when he'd first gotten to the front in Stent he would've died ten times over.

As their group began to coalesce again, he saw Trina and Lys start to be cut off as a number of Burndan knights began to push over from the center of the column. Trina and Lys tried to keep them back with a number of well coordinated blows, but then Trina got hit.

Michael could see the knight's sword break through her buckler as she tried to deflect the blow, and then the splash of crimson as he carved deep into her chest. For a moment, he saw his daughter Laura.

"NO!" He roared as he began to rush toward her. He cut down a soldier that was overwhelmed by his fury. A knight moved to intercept him and when their swords met they both shattered in a hail of steel fragments. Michael didn't hesitate to pull his mace from his side, pushing the man back with his shield as he did so before smashing the mace into him with so much force his helmet was forced halfway down into his chestplate.

He reached Lys, who was furiously defending Trina, her sword dancing as he'd never seen it before to keep two knights at bay. He raised his hand, finding that Trina was already trying to heal her own wounds before he got there. As he healed her he joined Lys. He identified the soldier that had nearly killed Trina by the number of marks on his armor.

~My siblings want to rein in your strength. To keep it to only use in the most righteous of causes. I want your power to be used freely~

With those words the healing power he was channeling through his mace hand lit it and it burst into holy golden flames. The knights in front of them stepped back in surprise, not sure of what they were seeing. Michael raised the mace over his head and stepped toward them. The man that had cut Trina down tried to bring his shield to bear, but when the mace came down, there was no stopping it. The shield caved in and the man's body was crumpled and immolated in holy flames.

A salvo of bullets hit Michael a moment later, some managing to pierce his armor and embed themselves in his chest, stomach, and leg. He stumbled for a moment and the other knight moved toward him. When the nearest of them reached him he transferred the pain he was feeling to him, causing the man to stumble. He slammed his mace upward into the man's face, knocking him backward into the other as he burst into flames. He could hear Durand's joyful laughter ringing in his ears as the fire in his chest burned as brightly as the one that had engulfed his mace.

He healed himself and kept the knights back with powerful strikes as he fell back, trying to find the rest of Gemini in the chaos. He activated his Eyes of Love and saw all the threads between himself and his friends. He guided the other diviners as well as a few other Gemini and Cantalian soldiers back to the core of the column, keeping them safe and alive as he moved.

Just as they reached the others, the enemy knights charged along with a large group of infantry. Suddenly a number of small narrow needles slammed into the charge as if they were bullets, somehow piercing the enemy armor. They stumbled and then started to fall. Some writhed on the ground or tore at their faces behind their helmets, while others simply ceased moving. He looked to see the Cantalian's holding blowdarts falling further back into the column to reload.

Only a few of the men were left, and one of the knights raised a hand. A small black orb flew upward and exploded in the air above them.

Michael could feel a very sudden shift. The soldiers in front of him had already felt dangerous, but very suddenly they were radiating power that Michael had only felt from the nobility in the past.

Michael stepped forward to meet them.