Steel and Mana

Matilda stood on her palace's highest tower, looking towards the northern gates of her city, seeing the arriving army led by her sons. If not for the circumstances, she would have felt proud that they had managed to work together for the first time in their lives. More than that, they had even achieved unity, collecting an army and properly besieging the city.

"You even stopped panicking..." she mumbled, leaning against the railings. Sighing with dejection, she let go of her last hope that a battle could be averted.

She wished that when her three idiots realized the gates were closed, soldiers were standing on the walls, and ballistae were ready at the battlements, they would recognize it wouldn't be as simple as walking into the city. Yet, she couldn't see any erratic movements or bad decisions. Instead, they began setting up the trebuchets, readying for their siege.

Around a thousand soldiers were manning the walls inside the city, ready to defend their Countess, and she was sure that no reinforcements would come to their aid. All the other nobles under her rule were either with her sons, hoping for a slice of the pie, or were playing the waiting game. However, Pion's last report was that they shouldn't worry, just hold out for a little; everything would be resolved by noon.

From her vantage point, she tried searching for the Avalonian soldiers on the walls, but she was too far away to pick them out, even if they were taller than any of her people and dressed in black, awe-inspiring armor. What she didn't know was that Pion had just turned away from her tower to look at the army in front of them, standing with his men on the left side of the north-facing battlements.

"Major!" Polo spoke, also wearing his own armor tailored to his height and a 'backpack,' as the group's radio officer. "I received a transmission from General Oleg; they are finally in range! The army is arriving in under an hour!"

"Good." Pion nodded, his fingers playing on the hilt of his sword as he looked at his dozen comrades. "We will wait until the initial fire subsides. Then we will go and meet with our brothers in the midst of it!"

"OORAH!" the others shouted, stomping their feet, drawing the attention of many other soldiers around them. They could not fathom what they were being fed to be this battle-ready in such a desperate situation.

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"We will aim here." Reus, the first son of Matilda, pointed at the map of his home city, "The wall here has been weak for eighty years, once partially collapsing in a rainstorm that washed out the old mortar. It has only been fixed but has not been rebuilt. Hit it a few times, and we are in!"

"Then we can take this route." Bastian, the third son, continued, pointing at a path for the commanders present. "It leads you to the Church of Six. Under it, there is a hidden passage for us to take from the castle. We just need to traverse it, and we conquered the city!"

It was such an easy and sure-fire plan that all three felt confident in pulling it off, even managing to drag Vash Tobrok into their early celebration. He could already see that the city would be conquered before night, and a new chapter would be opened up in his and his family's lives. Finally, they would stop being the Black Lands, the region of filth and misery.

When their army finally began the assault, the trebuchets were the first to fire, flinging massive boulders towards the walls they pointed at. The first few shots went way over, crashing into houses behind it and crushing multiple homes. Luckily, they were emptied out as most civilians moved to the inner city to escape as far as possible. To the defender's misfortune, the enemy was out of their range, letting them take free shots at the wall, and they could do nothing but pray that they would keep missing.

"Wait... What's that? In the distance?!" One soldier shouted, and true enough, looking, squinting, it was as if the distant treeline was moving in the autumn sunshine. It was still far away, but whatever it was had a vague human silhouette... "Is it...? No, that can be..." But, soon, they would learn that their eyes weren't deceiving them.

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"We are in range!" Kalash exclaimed, his mech's booming voice echoing far and wide as he stopped ahead of their army which was taking up a wedge shape. Their cavalry was beginning to spread to the side, and they were tasked with pursuing and catching any forces that were trying to escape when the battle started.

"Artillery!" Oleg said firmly, speaking into his radio piece, "Fire at will!"

Given their Markers, soldiers were already looking through their lenses, using their rangefinder-like devices to send back the magical signals to the howitzers. The ten death engines were stopped 3 kilometers away, guarded by 300 regular soldiers who were experiencing cannon fire for the first time in their lives. For the rest, it was like the distant sound of thunder as multiple streaks of fire spells flew through the sky, glowing orange and crimson before changing direction and falling down on the sieging army like whistling meteors.

The impact was worse than what anyone thought possible. People, both on the walls and in Avalon's army, could see as bodies were thrown into the air, torn apart as massive mists of blood erupted and then consumed by the ensuing fire. Sitting in the Lion, Kalash could see it even better, zooming in on the impacts, seeing as hundreds were killed with one barrage, throwing the entire enemy line into disarray.

"We march!" He shouted, realizing that if the howitzers could continue, they would eliminate all the enemies before they had a chance to do anything themselves.

"Roger." Oleg agreed, watching as the Lion sped up, beginning to run, reaching its top speed, followed by the thousand Avalonian soldiers. "Artillery, fire another salvo before stopping. We are moving in!"

The next volley came down just like the first, decimating the trebuchets while also causing the death of hundreds of soldiers in a flash and injuring who knows how many. While fire rained from the sky, causing utter chaos, multiple leading figures within the army wanted to abandon all reason, hoping to escape. The fact that the fire came from the heavens itself made many think the Gods were here to punish them for rebelling.

It was then that they turned around and noticed the massive walking, no, running monster heading towards them, looking like a giant, armored knight.

"Gods... show mercy!" Vash Tobrok cried out on his knees, looking at the Lion approaching their backlines.

The moment the first explosions rang out, his horse buckled, throwing him off its back. He finally realized what his son had gone through, yet it was too late to change anything. Nobody could stop the chaos amongst the soldiers, everybody wanting to get away before brimstones came down from the skies again. As for the three brothers? He didn't know. They were in different parts of the army, all three basking in the glory of leading their own troops. As for alive or not? He no longer cared. All was over anyway.

When the Lion's horn sounded, blaring like an angry roar, Vash's eyes finally rolled up to his skull as the baron fainted, collapsing for good with bloody foam gathering in his mouth. Maybe it was better that way because his mind managed to miss something that broke others' psyche the next moment.

As Kalash slowed down, the cannons on its shoulders and arms turned, taking aim before opening fire. Two bright streaks flew over the army's head, hitting their sides, massacring those who tried to flee, sending not only torn bodies tens of meters high but also the ground below them before it rained back down, creating deep craters. Yet, what came out of its arms was even worse because pure flames rained down instead of explosions, dozing the remaining siege engines in pure fire, melting iron and human bodies alike.

"Shit, this flamethrower thing is more effective than Sasha said that it would be..." Kalash cursed, quickly stopping the spell while seeing that a sea of pikemen simply evaporated before his very eyes or how heavily armored knights became one with their armor and shields. "My dear girl, my son really ruined your innocence, ahahaha!" While thinking, he opened a channel to the squad leaders of the Avalonian army who were running behind him, finally catching up and arriving, weapons drawn, looking like a uniformed wave of black monsters. "Follow the plans! Split up and search for the figureheads; kill anyone else!"

"Lion, do you copy?" Echoed Oleg's voice inside the cockpit of the Lion, making him acknowledge it with one thought.

"Copy."

"Pion just contacted us. They captured one of the three."

"Hahaha! That boy is gunning for your seat, isn't he?"

"He will be a great replacement if it ever comes to that." Oleg chuckled, "I'm sending in the regular army. They will take those who surrender into custody; you can continue mopping up the rest."

"On it. Damn..." Kalash answered with a chuckle, "This was not even a battle. This was like flipping the table on a kid!"

"They started it." Oleg expressed calmly before both of them fell silent, smiling while down below Kalash, people were throwing away their weapons and their armor. They were doing everything to fall to their knees, begging for mercy, lying amongst the torn bodies of their superiors just so the incarnation of Gods would show mercy to them.

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Standing on the wall, Pion was putting on his helmet, pulling down his visor just in time when the first volley of artillery fire arrived. They were not surprised at all, unlike the other defenders, screaming and shouting, calling out the Gods by name as they pointed at the memory they would never be able to forget. Thanks to that, none of them saw as Pion and his men threw ropes over, sliding down from the walls, sprinting towards the enemy lines.

As the explosions rang out the second time, they could hear the warhorn of the Lion. By then, they were already targeting one side of the enemy formation, following their leader's guidance. Maybe it was their luck or Pion's acute senses, but amongst the panicked horses, in the midst of a decimated cavalry unit, he noticed Maximillian, the second son of Matilda. Luckily for the man, Pion memorized their faces from their portraits in the palace, pointing them out to his men.

"There! The one who was just thrown off his horse, wearing the torn green cape!"

That one line was enough to make his men spread out, cutting off all escape routes, not that the confused, scared, and crying man would be able to evade them at all. Some of the soldiers responsible for protecting Maximillian, at least, were still coherent enough to act, noticing the incoming, black armored soldiers heading towards them at lightning speed.

One of them managed to raise his crossbow and fire a shot, but the bolt broke apart when it hit one of them's chests. This only made the Avalonian soldier flinch before he got close enough to cleave him in half with one swing of his blade.

"Broke." The soldier grunted once as half of his sword was gone, shattered when he cut through armor and flesh alike. Without thinking, he threw his useless hilt away and pulled off his enemy's weapon from its dead body, continuing his advancement without pause.

While he was rearming himself, another heavily armored guard of Maximillian was trying to attack the most petite figure amongst them. Still, Polo quickly dodged him, using his sword to precisely copy what he was taught in the academy. His blade slid right past the seam where the helmet met with the armor on the soldier's torso, entering his neck and killing him in one go. It was his first actual kill, yet it didn't stop him at all, his adrenaline pumping his heart as he turned his head, seeing his next enemy through his helmet's visor. At that moment, Polo was thinking of nothing else but completing their mission.

"Help! Help! Mom! Help!" Cried Maximillian, panic-stricken, already soiling himself in multiple ways when Pion arrived, punching him on the chin and catching his falling, unconscious body with one hand.

"Target aquired. Retreat towards the Lion! We are cutting through!" He shouted into his helmet's magic formation that transmitted his voice to his squadmates, who were like beasts themselves, killing armored soldiers with one swing of their weapons. They were constantly forced to switch weapons and pick them off the dead as they couldn't withstand their powers unleashed, breaking them left and right along with their enemies' bodies.

"I'm contacting the General." Polo answered, carrying the long-range communication backpack, "Another mission completed!"

"Don't relax yet!" Pion answered, but he couldn't help but smile deep inside. " Unlike them, we don't count our victories ahead of time. We are the best that Avalon can produce; we must act like it! Charge through!"

"OORAAH!"

That one shout, like a unified roar, was enough to open a road before them, as anybody who witnessed what they were capable of wanted nothing to do with them. What everyone valued the most in the end were their lives, a currency that was worthless in a battle like this.