"You know your orders, Julia and Marcus, go ahead, separate the horde into two groups and protect the people from the other hostiles" I heard Her Excellency, Augusta, order.
We were taking cover just behind a hill, watching the savages advance across the grasslands in the distance.
"Felix and Aurora, along with Valeria and Valentina, will support Julia and Marcus. I want you to surround the area and eliminate the hostiles from the outside in" It was a well-thought-out strategy. She left the kindest and most accessible people to deal with the prisoners and the children we were freeing.
"Once this is done, I want you to form a line to defend yourselves against any reprisals. Call your colleagues if necessary" she finished, reviewing her orders. "The rest of you, join me. We'll do almost the same thing".
Now she called us, taking me out of my reflective thoughts for a moment.
"We will attack in a V formation from the front, Avidius," Upon hearing my name I immediately stood at attention, looking into her eyes, "Claudius and Cornelia, you will attack with me from the front, we will make as much trouble as we can, so that they cannot form up properly".
I watched her carefully, while she said her orders with confidence, resolute, without showing the slightest doubt again.
But now that I knew the reason for her previous indecision, shame had been eating away at me.
She hadn't hesitated out of weakness, as my mind had led me to believe a few hours ago, as the nobles' comments had whispered in my ear again, even though they weren't here.
And then, the realization had hit me like a hammer when she called out our number.
'There are fifteen of us' she had said, only fifteen people against about six thousand, you didn't have to be an intellectual to realize that there was a serious chance of dying.
'And I just wanted us to attack' I thought, without thinking about the consequences, without thinking about a strategy that would give us an advantage, and above all.
'I hadn't thought about the lives of my fellow gladiators' I clenched my fist in rage at myself, for how wrong I was, where my thoughts had gone.
They had been the same as theirs, all those nobles and some gladiators from their houses.
They said that she didn't deserve to be our Ephor, that she was weak, when there was no one who could face her in the arena in all of Septimont.
They were all wrong, 'I was wrong'.
Her concern had been for our lives, which we ourselves had placed in her hands, with almost sacred vows for our people, and I had once again thought the same thing that had been said about her in Septimont.
'But I won't have any more doubts about her' I decided, because after risking her life for us, she deserved nothing less than our complete trust.
'Because she is, from now on, our Queen of Heroes'.
"Come on, warriors, when they pass through those hills we will attack" I heard her say as we followed her to the Griffexs, and we didn't have to wait too long, in half an hour they were already crossing the hills.
"Let us show them our strength, our courage, and our righteous anger, for Septimont, in the name of our heroes eternal! Hyaaaa!" she shouted as she began to rise, with us following her.
'No, Your Excellency, we will do it in your name' I thought as I followed her in the air.
We flew towards them, as soon as they saw us, they started their panicked screams and then their arrows, something we already took into account.
We advanced until we passed them, then turned to face them head-on. The sudden halt of their first lines caused them to collide with those that followed them, leaving them momentarily stopped, right where we wanted them.
"For Septimont!" Her Excellency shouted, crashing into the riders, raising a great cloud of dust and grass, along with her Griffex and her greatsword, which she separated into smaller swords so that they could stab more of the wild riders.
My landing was softer, though no less destructive, now that I felt more complete. Since our arrival, my power over the spectrum, photons, had skyrocketed. I didn't believe I was even remotely at the level of Her Excellence, but I had surpassed my previous self by being able to handle almost twice as much energy.
With my spear illuminated and filled with energy, I shot it towards those a little further away from Her Excellency, so that chaos continues to spread among them.
I got off my Griffex, Corvus, called my spear, which appeared in my hand and let Corvus fight while I went to join Claudius and Cornelia, so that we could support Her Excellency, who was moving like a storm.
Despite my newfound confidence in my strength, I could barely follow her with my eyes, 'though I could definitely see more than before'.
She would vanish with the sound of lightning, only to reappear where one of the magnetized swords had formed her greatsword, and she would slash, then spin again to scatter them across the field, and repeat.
It was a massacre, there was no other way to put it into words, none of them could stand up to us.
'Especially since they can't get around us' I thought as I saw the others blocking the way for those trying to climb the hills.
Gaius and Julius, on our left, and Titus, Vanessa, and Lucius, on our right.
Any attempt to mount was shot down.
'They haven't appeared yet…' I thought as I looked back at the horde, as I separated a rider from his mount by spearing him.
The supposed leaders of these savages had not been found, according to Claudius, their most notable characteristics had been the length of their hair, longer than any he had observed among the savages.
"…well, it's just a matter of time now…" I didn't think any halfway competent leader would stay hidden in this situation.
And so it was. About twenty minutes later, they arrived, forcing their people to split up and opening a path for them. Upon reaching the front of their people, their 'leader' began shouting in their 'language'.
"Maegi! Anha! Yer! Lajat!" He let out a coarse, guttural sound, his face displaying unbridled anger.
His intention was more than clear. If his curved "sword" pointed toward us meant anything, it was more specifically in the direction of Her Excellency.
I was about to advance, when Her Excellency's broadsword connected again and pinned it to the ground.
My gaze met hers, and I understood that she intended to face him alone.
I nodded in response and took a step back to observe the surroundings, the savages had been left behind for the moment, but they didn't seem defeated.
Despite their losses, which were numerous, several hundred if I counted them, still…, their spirit had not fallen, they were apprehensive, probably because of our abilities, although that was my guess, but they remained 'spirited'.
But what he was seeing, as soon as his leader finished speaking, resembled the shouts of the fanatics in the Colosseum. When the great Agon was celebrated, they began to shout in support of their leader and raised their curved swords with varied emotions.
'A warrior people, eh? Although much more brutal than us' I thought when I saw them. Their behavior was too similar to ours to ignore.
Her Excellency Augusta had not moved since she buried her sword in the ground, just waiting for the rider to move, and he did.
"Aaaahhh!" the savage cried, gripping the sides of his mount and beginning to gallop toward Her Excellency.
She held firm until the rider approached within four meters.
With a fluid movement, she pulled the broadsword from the ground and positioned it at her side, then held it with both hands and made the cut when the rider was almost on top of her.
Slash!
The sound of the air being cut was barely heard when the head and body of the mount fell to the ground.
Then the cry of the rider, who fell several meters back, due to the force of Her Excellence.
"Aaaaarrrggg….Arrggg!" the rider screamed, as some entrails came out of his stomach along with a large amount of blood.
It was a predictable result from any point of view, neither had shown great physical abilities to even be a threat, and their martial skills were not very polished either, they were average among trained people.
Then Her Excellency approached the dying rider to put him out of his misery.
A sign of respect from one warrior to another.
'Although I don't think he deserves it' I thought. Their monstrous actions had left me with little empathy for them.
'Hmm?' I tore my gaze away from Her Excellency at the sound of galloping.
They were the group that had accompanied the leader, and they were about to attack Her Excellency.
"Qoi Qoyi!" they shouted, as they approached on their mounts with their curved swords raised.
"Your Excellency!" I shouted as I readied my spear, but I had barely moved when Her Excellency acted.
"Fools, but faithful" I heard her say, her voice so powerful it drowned out the noise.
"Well done, but this ends here!" She then raised her sword and with a slash, unleashed the small swords around the riders, revealing her Thunderflare Dominion, a greatsword, with a hilt with a sun motif similar to Her Excellency's crown.
But it was the 'blade' that made it special, a red and gold electric current that kept the pieces of magnetized steel together along the 'blade' of the sword.
This caused it to fluctuate slightly in length, which was about three meters.
Her Excellency was also unchanged, her normal long red-orange hair now shone brightly alongside her crown, with golden rays and stars adorning her shining hair. Perhaps I couldn't see her eyes at this moment, but I knew they too were shining like a rainbow, and then she moved, with the rays adorning her wake.
And in an instant, it was over.
The seven riders who had been charging at her until a moment ago were now falling to the ground, cut into pieces, along with their mounts.
And at the end, facing the rest of this horde of savages and captives, stood Her Excellency, Augusta, still shining, her Thunderflare Dominion held in one hand at her side.
And at that moment, before my eyes and those of my fellow gladiators, the horde of savages began to kneel in submission, with one word being repeated countless times.
"Khaleesi!".