The battlefield was eerily silent, an army stood a few metres ahead of a medium sized fortress waiting eagerly.
"Troops!, Ready your swords and prepare to defend our great country homeland!" A short grey haired old man shouted down from atop his fortress, the man wore a fine steel plated armor with a long red silk cape on.
Bellow around 15,000 troops, mostly consisting of poorly armed peasants and regular infantry from the castle garrison, stood ready for certain death. It was already clear without a word that these conscripts were merely cannon fodder, their only purpose was to buy enough time with their lives for reinforcements to arrive.
Among the conscripted peasants was two young lads, barely old enough to be able to properly hold a sword, stood side by side amongst the crowd of giants on the frontline. They had ragged clothes and poor footwear, each holding a sickle they had brought from their village.
"Sam, I want to go home" the smaller of the duo whispered in a quiver and looked at the boy beside him, while looking up at the boy all he saw was his dark brown hair and the pale skin on his neck as the taller boy didn't even glance down toward the smaller and continued to gaze lifelessly at the fields ahead, already accepting his fate.
"Men hear me!, the Castiffon Army is almost upon us!, it is time to show your gratitude to our Great Helios Kingdom! As Lord of this fortress and on behalf of the royal family I, Fredrick Von Hailif, order that you do not let a single one of those dogs reach the wall!" The older man shouted down from atop his fortress wall.
A few hundred metres away just over the hilltops tens of thousands of silhouettes began to become more and more clear. It was the Castiffon main army, filled with trained warriors and mages, this was what awaited the peasants. Outnumbered and with a skill gap so incomparable it was almost insulting, that was exactly what the hardened warriors thought as they approached the peasant mob. They began to come closer and closer until they were just enough in range for their mages to begin raining down fireballs upon the defenceless troops. As the first spells rained down the battle began, although it was nothing more than a slaughter, the defenders were quickly forced onto the offense if they wanted to survive. "Stand your ground! Do not break the line!" Despite Duke Hailif's desperate cries for obedience, the peasants and garrisoned men began to charge in a last ditch effort to survive.
They moved as fast as they could but being so close together and unable to dodge the incoming balls of fire, many were wiped out before even reaching the enemy lines. The two young boys ran as fast as they could being practically carried in the crowd, as they reached the enemies the peasants began swinging wildly and almost in an instant many more were cut down, cleaved out of the way by the warriors before them, many witch trained in mana and cultivated their Ki. Their bodies gave of a slight glow and their arms moved so fast that it was impossible for the farmers to be able to even process. Sam and the younger boy were quickly separated and he was now fighting for his life, only being able to run and poorly defend against the incoming strikes. Ducking and diving through many small massacres he could not tell what blood was his or from those around him. He sustained many small injuries from being caught in between flurries of attacks and falling over.
Sam eventually found himself among a few garrison men who had managed to injure and surround a couple of warriors, although injured the warriors still gave the 12 men surrounding them a hard time. One of the men signalled for Sam to join their encirclement, not wanting to be alone he agreed and joined the group, they now began to make sly attacks on the warriors and eventually they took them both down after one man pierced one of the warriors through the leg, then Sam and two other men rush and hacked away at the warrior's upper body. As Sam hacked away the feeling and sight of the mans maimed upper body and unrecognisable face seethed into his mind. He was shook to his core but without time to think he rushed again to repeat the deplorable act on the next warrior.
As others began to organise themselves into groups and attack together the one sided battle was slowly evening out, however that was only the first wave and the defenders knew that they wouldn't be able to hold against another attack as they still even now only barely managed to slightly even their odds of survival. Even still they kept their resolve to fight and defend their homes, many knew that their villages would be burnt to the ground as punishment for the Kingdoms defiance, they were mere slaves punished for their masters actions and they were all aware of it. The battle raged one and much blood was spilled, the 15,000 in little less than an hour was not only 3,000 strong. They were no warriors, they were exhausted and far past their limits. It was when all hope was lost that they heard the drums of the main Helios Army, The men that appeared from behind them were like angles, highly experienced martial artists and mages, clad in clean, shiny armour. Finally they had held on long enough, they were saved surely this was a blessing from the gods, Sam's head was filled with many racing thought, those of his family he'd be able to return to, his sisters, brothers, mother and friends. He'd finally be able to return home, a thought he'd have never even dreamt of a few days prior, but now it was a dream come true. His mind instantly focused back on the battle before him as a large sword landed on the man next to him, he snapped back to reality and as the warrior struggled to pull his sword from deep within the mans body, Sam swung his sickle as hard as he could with the little strength he had left and as it got stuck in the warriors stomach, he yanked the sickle as hard as he could and the warriors stomach tore open as his insides were exposed and hung out. Although he had just made a great achievement, Sam didn't have time or energy to think about that and quickly searched around looking for something, someone. The boy he had lost during the initial charge, another boy from the same village, at the time Sam pretended not to notice the boy as he was certain that they would die but now he had to find the boy, he couldn't bare to face his parents knowing he abandoned their son.
The more he looked around and saw nothing but bodies and fighting Sam realised that the angles that had come to save them hadn't moved, they merely watched on like statues, he also saw the second was beginning to make their move. Most likely to cut down the rabble and begin the main battle, as they approached he again thought in his mind that his countrymen would not abandon him, and he was right. As the second wave was almost upon the rabble they stopped looking up at the sky before desperately spreading. In disbelief Sam looked up in the direction of the Helios and saw the sky light up in thousands of balls of fire, the barrage they encountered at the beginning of their first battle could not pale in comparison. A look of disbelief was on many of the defenders faces, although many soon accepted their fate as their faces turned more dejected. "Hah, that's right, were nothing more that pawns." Sam mumbled with a sorrowful smirk slightly biting into his bottom lip. As the flames rained down exploding and decimating the terrain Sam felt an insufferable burning sensation along with sharp pain down his spine and a suffocating, tight churn from inside his stomach. The pain was extreme as it was short and in a few moments his vision faded and he could no longed feel, hear, nor see. Not a single thought went through his head but 'Why?'