Chapter 178 - Alienation (2)

As soon as the fire broke out, Henry immediately entered his camp and stopped the spell. He then dismissed the Colt Armor and quickly changed into casual clothes.

“There’s a fire!”

“What are you waiting for! Get moving!”

“Put the fire out!”

All the soldiers were in a panic.

As time passed, their screams only got louder, and more soldiers, awakened by the noise, hurried to put the fire out.

“What’s going on?!”

“There’s a fire! The tent with all the supplies has caught fire!”

“What?!”

Eisen and the thousand-man commanders also woke up because of all the chaos and joined in putting out the fire.

However, it was difficult to extinguish the fire because there was no river or pond nearby.

“The tent is collapsing!”

Thud!

The pillars that were supporting the tent eventually fell down.

They were in big trouble, and now that the pillars had fallen, it was only a matter of time before the fire spread to nearby areas.

“Marquis! If this continues, the fire will spread to the other camps!”

“Everyone back away!”

They were running out of options. There was no water to put out the fire, and there was a limit to how much could be done with just manpower.

Eisen brought his sword and unsheathed it. He then gathered his Aura and spread his sword energy toward the burning tent.

Boom!

Since they couldn’t extinguish the fire through normal means, Eisen intended to eliminate the fire itself with his Aura, which was a rather effective way of going about it.

However, one single swing of his sword wasn’t enough, so he had to release his sword energy several more times. By the time the tent had completely burned down, all the supplies had been destroyed because of Eisen’s sword energy.

“Damn it…!”

Eisen didn’t have a choice. He couldn't slow down putting out the fire just to save some supplies.

After finally putting out the fire, Eisen angrily shouted, “What were the soldiers on night watch doing?!”

Eisen naturally blamed the soldiers on the night watch, who had first spotted the fire. The role of soldiers on night watch was to prevent things like this from happening in the first place.

As a result, Eisen glared at the soldiers and reprimanded them.

“How the hell did the supply tent suddenly catch fire?!”

Eisen released a murderous aura. This disturbance at the crack of dawn had distressed him a lot.

The soldiers on night watch had a hard time responding to Eisen's question because most of them had been dozing off due to exhaustion.

“I saw arrows on fire.”

The one who answered instead of the soldiers was none other than Henry himself.

Henry had deliberately poured water all over himself to make it seem like he had also tried putting out the fire.

Eisen raised one eyebrow and asked, “Arrows on fire?”

“That’s right. I was preparing for tomorrow's strategy meeting and decided to go outside and get some fresh air, then I saw the fiery arrows flying toward the tent.”

“But there were no remnants of arrows that could be found to explain that.”

Since this was none other than Henry, he was able to calm Eisen down and slowly explain the situation.

In a more serious tone, Henry replied, “But this would make sense if it had been a night raid from the Etherwether army.”

“What do you mean?”

“The only people that could’ve shot fiery arrows at this time of night is the Etherwether army or us. Also, I did see fiery arrows, but… Since no traces of arrows have been found, it must’ve been some magic like Fire Arrow.”

“So you’re saying that they must’ve used their spiritual skills?”

“That’s right.”

As soon as Eisen seemed to understand what Henry was trying to say, the latter nodded in satisfaction.

Eisen groaned.

“Hmm…!”

The only ones capable of attacking them in the middle of the night were the Etherwether army. In addition, since there were no traces of arrows, it was likely that the perpetrator had used a spiritual skill. The only other possible explanation was that a wizard was behind this.

After pondering on it, a thick vein popped out on Eisen’s face.

“Alfred, you fucking bastard…!”

‘It worked!’

Eisen was seething as he determined that Henry was right and blamed Alfred for all the chaos.

All that was left now was to incite Eisen a little more.

“What are you going to do now, Marquis?”

“The honorable battle is over. All that’s left is to show that coward what happens when you break the agreement! Order all the soldiers to get ready to attack!”

“Yes, Sir!”

Henry and all the thousand-man commanders answered to Eisen’s command with determination.

This piece of news was soon delivered to all the soldiers, causing everyone in the Shonan army to burn with wrath.

“Etherwether army, you cowardly bastards…!”

“How is this an honorable battle?”

“Are they really that scared of us?”

“Son of a bitch!”

“We’ll be eating at home tomorrow!”

The soldiers had nothing left to eat because all their supplies had burned to ash, so they had no choice but to take revenge and end the Fief War tonight.

Soon, the whole army was mobilized, and the soldiers raised their torches.

“Let’s go!”

They did not blow the horn, nor did they prepare for any other possible raids, because Eisen intended to completely destroy the Etherwether army with an all-out attack.

‘There won’t be any raids.’

Henry was content that things were going according to his plan.

Soon, all three thousand eight hundred soldiers, including the soldiers in charge of the supplies, passed through the Thern plain and reached the outskirts of the camp of the Etherwether army.

“An eye for an eye! Everyone, prepare your fiery arrows!”

“Marquis, I apologize, but all the supplies have been incinerated, so there are no arrows to shoot.”

“Damn it! Then everyone, pull out your swords! We will show no mercy! Behead those cowardly soldiers and bring Alfred to me, alive!”

Eisen only found comfort when he sought greater vengeance. However, as his subordinate had just told him, all the supplies had burned, so all the Shonan army had left were the swords and spears given out to the soldiers when they went to war.

“Charge!” Eisen shouted.

“Ahhhhh!”

Having quietly advanced forward, the soldiers from the Shonan army shouted in unison and finally charged like a herd of buffaloes.

The Etherwether’s night watch soldiers, who had been dozing off, woke up startled.

“H-huh?”

“A raid! There’s a…!”

“D-don’t kill me!”

“Argh!”

The honor between nobles had vanished just like that.

The bloodthirsty Shonan soldiers thrusted their blades into the throats of the enemy, who were begging for their lives. Blinded by revenge, they relentlessly wielded their bloody swords, slashing left and right.

“What’s going on?!”

“It’s the Shonan army! The Shonan army is attacking us, Marquis!”

“What!”

Alfred was just as shocked as the rest of his soldiers.

According to the agreement, night raids were strictly prohibited, so Alfred couldn’t understand why the Shonan army was doing this.

“Eisen, you must have lost your mind!”

Alfred was enraged, and at the same time, he was furious at the thought of dying in vain without being able to leave his legacy behind in the new era that Arthus was about to create.

“Neuer! Sildia!”

- Khuaaaa!

- Khaaaaa!

The bear and the hawk cried out loud in response to the spiritualist’s call. Neuer and Sildia’s rage resonated with that of their owner.

Boom!

“Arghhhh!”

Seeing the two furious high-level spirits, the Shonan soldiers paused for a while.

“Everyone back away!”

When the leader of an army amplified their aggression, the enemy leader was bound to respond accordingly. It was human nature!

In addition, this was not the first time the Shonan soldiers had faced two angry high-level spirits.

In response, Eisen also unsheathed his sword, his face contorted with fury.

“All the thousand-man commanders, get in position!”

“Yes, Sir!”

The confrontation between the two commanders of the Shonan army and two high-level spirits began.

* * *

‘The Shonan army certainly has the upper hand.’

While everybody was fighting for their lives, Henry took a step back and peacefully watched the two armies fight each other.

Although the supply camp had burned down, the Shonan army hadn’t suffered much damage. On the other hand, since the Etherwether army was being attacked for real, it would be difficult to subdue the fighting spirit of the Shonan soldiers.

However, this was not exactly what Henry wanted. Rather, he was hoping that both armies would completely annihilate each other.

Henry prepared for the next phase of his plan.

“Hector.”

“Chirp, chirp!”

A sparrow from nearby answered Henry’s call. The sparrow was none other than Hector.

Swoosh!

The sparrow was enveloped in Aura and it rapidly descended, leaving a trail of blue light in the darkness.

Henry cast a hiding spell on Hector.

“Aghhh!”

“Argh!”

Having cast the hiding spell, the invisible sparrow had turned into a skillful assassin, wandering freely through the darkness.

The Shonan soldiers died left and right without knowing why.

“W-what the hell! Argh!”

The Shonan army was being completely obliterated.

Of course, no one would’ve ever imagined that a sparrow was attacking them in the midst of war.

The fight gradually became more intense.

The commanders of each army were busy keeping each other in check.

When the Shonan army started losing their momentum because of Hector, the Etherwether soldiers finally gathered themselves and launched a counterattack.

‘What a mess.’

Henry continued to observe the fight from a distance, carefully maintaining a delicate balance between the two armies, since his ultimate objective was the total destruction of both forces.

The fight kept going like this for a long time.

Both armies had reached a point where they both had a noticeably smaller number of troops. The ground was covered with corpses.

“Alfred, you…! How dare you make a mockery out of the honorable battle that the emperor granted!”

“Shut up! How dare you speak of the honorable battle with that shameless mouth of yours!”

As the fight continued, more thousand-man commanders perished. Now the only remaining commanders were the heads of each family.

The two family heads didn’t have time to look around their surroundings as they were only focused on each other, both of them blinded by hatred.

‘I should wrap it up soon.’

There were now less than three soldiers remaining in each army.

Henry snapped his finger and cast a spell.

“Agh!”

“Argh!”

Henry slaughtered the remaining soldiers with magic.

At last, only the two family heads were left on the battlefield, and they engaged in a dirty and bloody fight.

“Neuer!”

Thud!

As the bear landed, the ground shook and sharp stone pillars rose from the ground.

However, Eisen was also strong. He constantly wielded his weapon, the Bleakin, and destroyed the stone pillars.

- Khaeeee!

Just then, the wind hawk scratched Eisen’s back, but thanks to the Aura covering his body, he didn’t get hurt. However, as soon as he got distracted by Sildia, Neuer’s stone pillar pierced through his left shoulder.

“Argh!”

Eisen coughed out a handful of blood.

Everyone had died except for Eisen and Alfred.

However, Alfred had two spirits on his side. No matter how strong Eisen was, fighting against two high-level spirits at once was difficult.

“You're done for, Eisen!”

Alfred’s fierce eyes flashed with joy, marking the end of their battle. He swung his sword toward Eisen’s neck, but…

Clank!

“...!”

Henry blocked Alfred’s sword with his Colt Sword.

“Henry!”

“You fucking bastard!”

As the two laid eyes on Henry, contrasting emotions surged within them. Eisen brimmed with joy, while Alfred seethed with rage.

Henry laughed and swung his sword.

“Argh!”

He cut Alfred in a diagonal line.

Gush!

It was a deep cut, and Alfred’s blood sprayed on Henry.

“Good job! Very good job!”

Eisen expressed his joy even though he was covered in his own blood.

Slice!

However, after cutting Alfred, Henry turned around and slashed Eisen in a diagonal line as well.

“Huh…?”

Gush!

His chest felt warm, and as soon as he felt that, he saw his own blood spraying everywhere.

“H-Henry, w-what a-are you doing…?”

“Good job my ass.”

Slice!

Henry swung his sword one more time. He made another diagonal cut on Eisen’s chest, creating a large X.

“H-how could you do this to…!”

However, Eisen didn’t manage to finish his sentence because his heart had stopped beating. His lifeless body fell forward, leaning against the stone pillar that had pierced him.

Watching this, Henry whispered his final goodbyes, “Good work up until now, Eisen.”

Henry's most merciful gesture for Eisen was two swift cuts, leading to a relatively painless death. This was Henry’s way of rewarding Eisen for having been his puppet, and this was also the most forgiveness he could give him.