Leading the Beast Soldiers, Theoreme rode hard toward his objective: Count Alius. It was only to be expected that Elena, the enemy’s most formidable warrior, would move to intercept them.
Her appearance was gallant, noble, and breathtakingly beautiful. Even the mutated soldiers following in his wake couldn't help but be mesmerized by her presence. That flower blooming in full splendor upon the battlefield was indeed worthy of her title as the Princess General.
(No. Her beauty is precisely because she is a flower of the battlefield, just as her alias suggests,) Theoreme mused.
He quickly cast the thought aside, raising his sword to shout a command to his men who were still staring at her.
"I shall handle the Princess General! The rest of you, ignore us and go for Count Alius! Siance, command is yours!"
Normally, it was a poor decision for a general to abandon his post to engage in single combat. However, it was a simple fact that he was the only one capable of matching Elena. He had briefly considered using the Beast Soldiers to stall her, but based on his knowledge of her prowess, she would make short work of ten or twenty. To truly pin her down with numbers, he would likely have to commit all fifty of his elite troops. That would leave him without enough men to finish off Alius. Thus, he chose to take the burden of suppressing the Princess General upon himself.
Fortunately, he had no reason to worry about the logistics of the charge with his lieutenant, Siance, at the helm.
Despite his confidence, Siance hesitated as she rode alongside him.
"It is unavoidable that Lord Theoreme must deal with her, but what about the other one?"
Siance’s gaze was fixed on Ara, who rode at Elena’s side gripping a massive axe. In the middle of this exhausting fray, the knight showed no signs of fatigue; thanks to the effects of her Power Axe, she remained perfectly poised to protect her master.
"...Ara, I see. So she is still in the knight order."
They had received word from Vel Sails—the traitor who had abandoned Elena's Escort Knight Order to join their ranks—that he had claimed the life of Kyuste Brashin. However, they had also heard he had failed to finish off Ara, who was Elena's trusted subordinate.
Theoreme glanced at the knight and made a split-second decision.
"We cannot leave the Beast Soldiers without a field commander. Leave five soldiers behind to pin her down."
"Understood."
Though she secretly wished to stay by Theoreme's side to ensure his safety, Siance suppressed her feelings and barked orders to the soldiers behind them.
"You five! Deal with the woman with the giant battle axe. Do not attempt to fight her head-on; she possesses strength far beyond that of a normal human. Simply focus on stalling her until we have taken the head of Count Alius!"
The designated Beast Soldiers nodded. Having cast aside their humanity in exchange for raw power, they felt a sting of pride at being told to simply "stall" a single woman. However, they respected Siance's sharp tactical mind too much to argue.
The units collided.
"Hah!"
With a sharp cry, Elena lashed out with her Whip-sword. Infused with her magic power, the blade shifted from its longsword state to its whip state, curving through the air to thrust its sword tip toward Theoreme's chest. Elena knew as well as he did that only she could stop the enemy general. By mutual necessity, the battle became an isolated duel.
"Not likely!"
Theoreme swung his blade to parry the winding sword tip, bringing them face-to-face at close-range.
"As beautiful as ever, Princess General. They say every beautiful flower has its thorns."
"Then perhaps you'd care for a taste?"
Even as they exchanged barbs, neither missed a beat. They slashed, parried, thrust, and evaded with practiced ease. The Princess General and the Flash—two legendary figures who had clashed many times before as representatives of the warring Kingdom of Mireana and the Bestia Empire. They knew each other's styles well, and in this encounter, the advantage leaned toward Elena.
She had expended a vast amount of energy using her Dragon Language Magic against the initial waves of Beast Soldiers, but the Ritual of Inheritance had permanently enhanced her physical ability. She could still move with the same vigor as if she were at her peak. Miscalculating her level of exhaustion, Theoreme fought with excessive caution, which inadvertently gave Elena the chance to slowly recover her stamina.
"Hyaaaaaah!"
While the generals locked blades, Ara roared as she swung her Power Axe in a massive horizontal slash. To be hit by that weapon was to be utterly pulverized. Recognizing the danger, her five opponents focused entirely on dodging.
"I see why Lord Siance insisted five of us were necessary," one carapace-covered soldier muttered, breaking into a cold sweat. Even with his natural armor, he knew his body would shatter if that blade connected.
"But against five, your swings are too wide!" a bear Beast Soldier shouted, closing in on her after a missed strike.
"It's a trap!" the female scale Beast Soldier screamed, but it was too late.
Before the bear-man could react, the butt end part of the Power Axe was thrust directly at his face.
"Gyahii!"
The metal cap punched through his eye and deep into his brain. Though the resilience of a Beast Soldier kept him from dying instantly, Ara gave the handle a violent twist, scrambling his mind. The creature let out a hideous shriek and collapsed, dead before he hit the ground.
"You fool! Lord Siance said focus on stalling!" the scale-woman snapped. The remaining soldiers moved to surround Ara, intent on playing it safe, when suddenly—
"...Eh?"
"What... what is this?"
Two soldiers—one with the lower body of an antelope and another who was a lizard centaur—gasped. Their comrades looked on in confusion until they saw the tree roots bursting through the two soldiers' chests.
Emerging from the shadows was a monster with four eyes and a charred, melting face. Gnarled tree roots erupted from his left shoulder, snaking into his allies. He wore a sickening, twisted grin.
"Ke, kehi... Ara, isn't it? It's... it's been a long time, hasn't it? Have you been well? I've been s-searching for you. I didn't think you'd be here. Kehi."
The man’s face was a ruin, yet Ara recognized him instantly. They had served together for years in the escort knights.
"Vel! You... how dare you show your face before Lady Elena!"
Vel let out a manic, twitching laugh at her fury.
"Kehi... glad to see you're still lively. Look at m-me... this form. Because I failed to kill you, I was made an experimental test subject. And now... look at the power I've gained!"
At his command, the two dead soldiers began to move again, despite the light of life having long since left their eyes.
"Tch! What have you done to them?!"
Ara parried the centaur’s spear with her axe and took off the other soldier's arm with a follow-up strike. Even with its limb severed, the corpse showed no pain, swinging its remaining claws at her.
"Who knows? But if I had to say... they're a-already dead. Kehi!"
A look of pure, unadulterated pleasure danced in all four of Vel's eyes as he desecrated his own allies.
"You! Stop this!" the scale Beast Soldier yelled. She grabbed Vel's shoulder, trying to force him to look at her.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"
"Gyah!"
A fresh root shot from Vel’s shoulder, piercing the eye of the scale-woman and threading through her body. She died with a muffled scream, and moments later, she too began to shamble toward Ara like a macabre doll.
"Damn it... you're insane!" the beetle Beast Soldier spat. He was the only one of the original five left alive, and he glared at Vel with pure hatred. He didn't dare attack, knowing he would simply become the next puppet.
"Vel!" Ara’s voice trembled with rage.
They were her enemies, and she likely would have killed them herself. But to kill them for sport and then use their corpses as puppets was an atrocity she could never forgive.
"Kehi! Kehihihi!"
Mocking her, Vel unleashed his puppets. They lacked the finesse they had in life, but as dead things, they moved with a suicidal recklessness that forced Ara into a desperate defensive struggle.
While these duels raged, the surrounding fields were a slaughterhouse. Soldiers, knights, and adventurers worked in desperate wave attacks just to trade blows with single Beast Soldiers. The most brutal fighting centered around the supreme commander, Count Alius.
"Hold the line! If we fall back, Lord Alius dies! If he falls, we lose the war! Stand your ground!"
Alius's personal knights screamed their lungs out, meeting the imperial charge head-on. But under Siance's command, the Beast Soldiers fought with a terrifying, calculated synergy.
"Damn it! I won't... I won't let you through!"
A massive knight braced himself behind a metal shield as tall as he was. But a soldier with mantis arms slipped around his guard and brought his blades down.
The mantis's strikes bypassed the plates, severing the man's arms at the elbow joints. No matter how thick his full plate mail was, the joints remained vulnerable.
"Gyaaaaaaaah!"
As the knight stood there screaming, the mantis swung again. A second later, the knight's head was gone, his headless torso gushing blood as he slumped into the mud. Another man immediately stepped into the gap, desperate to buy a few more seconds for reinforcements to arrive.
Nearby, an adventurer fought a clawed soldier. He had the advantage in reach, but he was forced into a frantic defense. As he parried a strike, he lunged back with a shout—just as the soldier’s neck extended two meters in a flash, its fangs snapping shut where his throat had been a moment ago.
One by one, the kingdom's defenders were being systematically dismantled. Seeing a breach in the formation, Siance threw in her reserves to widen the gap. Ten minutes felt like hours to the exhausted defenders.
Just as hope was about to vanish...
Boom!
A shadow plummeted from the heavens, the impact blowing away five Beast Soldiers in a massive shockwave.
"...Well, it seems I've arrived just in time."
The creature that had scattered the enemy was Seto. Rei leapt from its back, leveling his Death Scythe as his voice echoed with unnatural clarity across the blood-soaked field.