"You all know what to do. Exploit what weaknesses you can and hold the line. Hold the line and push. I want them out of our kingdom and back whence they came." I order everyone present. From the lowest of officers to decorated generals and ceremoniously armoured knight grandmasters. All answer the same way, yet different.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" they all say, be it actions alone or with words coming with it. They file on out, leaving me alone in my tent-roofed war room. I don't even bother looking over the plans laid out, it's a simple affair that we cannot comprehend any more than we have. Besides, if I linger here too long, I won't make it to the front.
Our skirmishers are already doing what they can and the monsters are meeting us in force. If I listen carefully to the winds blowing into the tent, I can hear them. Hundreds of roars, many more men screaming in fury or pain. Yet, nothing comes close to the confidence building of a monster falling dead... That has not happened.
I guess that means I am more important to this battle than I realise. Or, maybe luck is not at my side right now and the right reports aren't coming to me. Either way, I leave the tent and leave it all behind. I walk among the mess that is the camp and look around as my steps take me through churned mud and worn dirt.
People are being sorted even now, trained and disciplined are to be kept from the simply passionate. An act of quality control any farmer will be able to grasp. We've got people already packing up the tents and moving supplies away while others are only reinforcing what was brought. Enough is being done for a potential retreat while still being mindful of how long we might last.
It's hard to say, really. Pushing the monsters like this will make falling our troops in and out exhausting and difficult. Who knows how they will react? Do they even get tired like we do? They're living beings, but they're also of a world far beyond what my subjects are used to. What I've become acclimated to.
I suppose this is a moment for me to wake up, to remember where I came from and why I am what I am. A moment for me to put it all to use for the subjects of my kingdom. For those who are already laying down their lives and those that will.
"MAKE WAY FOR HER MAJESTY!" echoes across the lines as I come closer and closer to the front. Soldiers stand aside, every flavour of them watching me as I stride forth. One man starts to drum his spear and another drums his billhook. The inconsistent array of polearms and more all sing, no, they demand. They demand battle and want victory.
Mud squelches under my heels and they drive me down on an awkward angle. Making do for the moment, I find sturdier earth at the front and linger there. My greatsword comes out, its edge shining in the artificial daylight as an unfortunate shadow breaks the view. I narrow my eyes at the Crack in the Sky.
Its blackness has spread out across my kingdom. It has ruined everything. Every village close to the broken mountain is ash and charcoaled timber. Every field is trampled, barely sticking out beyond what little remains of their colour. Even the forest where the Crack in the Sky is doesn't exist anymore. Just a hastily made prison fortress which is still opening up for new prisoners.
"There you are..." I mutter under my breath, finding the disturbance among the monsters. One sticks out, even as the rest of them clearly brim with more magic than is allowed by the kingdom's devices. That is no doubt the earth shaman, their leader. And he's right behind a horde of soldiers of equally evil design.
I turn away from our foe and look to my nearest men, pondering a battle speech. Rallying the men in such a moment is a good thing, but, with how spread out we are. I don't think it's a good thing to do right now. I should lead by example, breaking in where they cannot.
"Hold the lines, follow me when they're vulnerable." I call back to my soldiers, the officers having the catchiest ears of them all. My orders echo through the lines, pockets of devotion mixing and forming as I move on ahead. Every blade comes out. All one-hundred and fifty.
I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and focus on a nearby group of skirmishes. My men are being pushed back. Their limited weight and offensive power not being enough. I raise my blade and let my magic go ahead of me. A cluster of swords and knives shoots for the nearest monster, catching him in his feral feline leap.
The blades cleanly cut through it, but do not kill it. The monster falls along the ground, rolling to a dead stop as its attention is lost for a moment. Two nearby skirmishers leap for the beast, driving their javelins right into the seeping yellow cuts. The monster never rises after it.
"I don't have to kill them, just break them open like I'm fighting a knight...!" I realise, feeling a great weight slip from my shoulders and smack right into the ruined earth. A slight smile comes to my lips, and I rush ahead, sending my blades out like a surgical fan. I can feel contacts being made throughout the many metres ahead.
A group of monsters notice me, their attention twitching them to a halt. One points one of its claws and it howls, the group rushing for me. My weapons come back and they fan across the ground, kicking up dirt and grass as a warning as I steel myself. I figure out which one I want to go for and push ahead, keeping my blades up to force most around me.
My magical senses do their best, and the one opening is exploited. The seemingly mindless beast rushes for me, its claws wide open like its trying to grab me. It avoids my blow, suddenly taking on a new focus. I take more swings and it avoids them with a level of skill unlike anything it was behaving with earlier.
Those eyes never stop looking at me, they never blink. Those yellow, hexagonally patterned things. They never stop. It's unnerving yet also empowering, it makes it so clear. My kingdom has many races, and while this thing stands and could hold a tool, it is no person. No man or mortal.
It's a monster.
"DOWN WITH YOU, VILE BEAST!" I scream, cutting into the beast as I pull my other blades closers. Its back slices open, and my greatsword forces its way down. Yet, even as its life vanishes, the buggish monster refuses to stop. It keeps trying to grab me, drag me down with it. Howling away with those chittering mandibles of its.
My blade slips free with an unhealthy, sickly goop to its edge. My other blades moves about and around, bringing another bug to my attention. The unnatural focus of the last one never comes and I run it through. Driving it right into the ground where I then pull the blade up and out.
A foul noise spreads across the battlefield, and I turn towards the swarm running for us. No, me. They're heading in such bulk for me. Do they know of my importance? Should I fall back to the lines...?
"Halfway." I agree to, stepping back cautiously as the sound of steel shimmers about at my back. The squares are forming and the men are shoulder to shoulder. The lengths of their weapons at the ready.
The air thwips away, and the sun loses the fight to shine the day. A cloud of arrows, bolts and boulders fly on through. Raining down with torrential power that doesn't seem to do much. A poked-out eye here, a tumbled-down bug there. This will be a fight that takes a lot of cuts. Like the field I seem to have found myself in... It will take many rakes of the scythe to achieve anything.
"DO NOT STOP FIRING!" I roar back to the lines with a magic-amplified shout. I twist my attention right back around, meeting the howling horde head-on. They come to me, and I take the first swing, sending most of my hundred and forty-nine out to draw lethal wounds where they can. Few linger to keep my surroundings safe.
If the bugs want me, then I will be the bait to expose them to lines of pikes and follow up axes and spikes. The air screeches with a warning, and I step to the side, a ballista bolt of all things coming from the monster's side of things. They have artillery of their own!? That damn earth shaman!
I can't force my way forwards in situations like this!
"ADVANCE!" I try to roar through all the monsters and their endless noise, but I can't tell if I'm being heard. A claw grabs onto my leg and pulls. I spin around, blade going through the dirt and to the wrist. It comes loose, but the touch lingers on my skin even when only my armour was touched.
My momentum carries me on through several more bugs and I catch myself in another one. Driving the blade on through, I'm forced to call back more blades. Ducking down, I go around and around, letting the blades circle about in a crude manner against a crude foe. Blood continues to rain, and the limbs of many crack open.
"ADVANCE!" echoes from where the lines must be, a force of knights coming ahead as one drives his halberd right into a bug's back. I turn to face the man, and my one-hundred and forty-nine gather back up to slice up the bugs in a single wave. The knight gives a simple nod, and I return the favour.
"MOVE FORWARD AS FAR AS YOU CAN!" I remind the soldiers, uncertain of if they're over-extending themselves. It's hard to tell, but I know full well the reserves are marching in to plug the hole that formed. My blades fly up and then right back down into the duels going on, saving fallen knights where they can. Opening up many wounds for them to exploit.
I leap ahead, driving the bulk of the bugs away and around me. Many try to grab for me again, one even tearing away at my cloak. I rip myself free, smashing a magic-covered fist right into the jawline of another bug. My heavy pants fill out my ears, and the moment of silence is broken by my blades returning.
What a mess... I need them to keep myself from being overwhelmed, but at the same time, I need them to break open bugs. I can't be everywhere at once, and being somewhere too much will only... Huh?
"Retreating?" I let out, blinking as my wonder takes over while my free hand tries to call for harm. It doesn't accomplish much, but it certainly leaves me confused. The cheering suddenly sounds off. Oh...
They're gathering what men they've managed to kidnap!
"CAVALRY!" I call out for, knowing that this is our only option in a moment like this. The order carries on through the men, a hasty formation coming about as many riders and lone kelbalids set out for their brothers. I don't know what's going on, but, looking back, it's an odd sight to see. The bugs haven't been trying to kill anyone if they can help it.
Everyone's being captured and taken to that fortress. All-in-all, too... I've probably only managed to kill a few dozen bugs. Most seem to have got over their wounds and are leaving. Many of which are now sacrificing themselves to delay the cavalry's counterattack.
A heavy sigh breaks open my lips and I look to the sky, going past the infamous Crack. The sun is still in the sky, and quite brightly so. Much to the day is left, and much battle remains. Another sigh opens my mouth, and I throw my sword up, calling my weapons back as I call for everyone's attention.
"MARCH AHEAD! GIVE THE BEASTS LESS ROOM TO RUN ABOUT OUR LANDS!" I roar with all I have, going first and letting them follow my example. The ground is quiet, then it bounces to life as thousands of sabatons, boots and hooves follow along. The stomping grounds of the army, making sure what bugs are dead stay so.