The battle lines on the left and right wings had shifted in favor of the Mercurio Army, and as those conflicts neared their conclusion... the Central Front Line was similarly tilting heavily toward the Mercurio Army's side.
"Haaah!"
With a spirited cry, Vihera unleashed her strikes.
The claws extending from her gauntlets via magic power effortlessly sheared through the blade of an enemy soldier’s longsword. Before the stunned soldier could even comprehend what had happened, her palm touched his armor. In the next instant, he lost consciousness as the Magic Impact Palm sent a shockwave vibrating through his internal organs.
"Wh-Solbos was taken down just like that!?"
A soldier watching the fight shouted reflexively.
It seemed the soldier Vihera had just incapacitated was a relatively famous individual.
However, Vihera’s strength was already a matter of public record. Since he had appeared before her and challenged her to a duel, there was no doubt he had been a man confident in his own prowess. Nevertheless...
"Hyah-hah! A woman! And a damn fine one, too!"
Enticed by Vihera’s beauty and an outfit seemingly tailored to stoke a man’s basest desires, there were more than a few who charged at her recklessly.
"I have no need for people like you," she muttered.
She sidestepped a longsword strike aimed at her arm, pressed her palm against the man’s leather armor, and unleashed a Magic Impact Palm.
"Guboh... wh-wha ith thith...?"
Blood erupted from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. The man’s life ended without him ever understanding what had occurred.
He had received the same technique as the soldier from before, but the outcomes were night and day. One simply lay on the spot, unconscious. The other was dead, blood spouting from every orifice on his face.
Because the two of them had collapsed onto the ground side-by-side, the surrounding soldiers felt an even deeper sense of dread toward Vihera.
"Now then... who else would like to dance with me? I'm happy to be your partner, if you'd like."
She directed a provocative sidelong glance at the surrounding soldiers, but there was no way anyone who had witnessed the previous exchange would take the bait.
"Oh, how disappointing. In that case, decide for yourselves whether to surrender or retreat. Your chances of survival are certainly higher than if you attack me, you know?"
At Vihera's words, several men exchanged glances with their comrades and fled the area.
However, most of the soldiers remained, clutching their weapons and agonizing over their next move, seemingly unable to bring themselves to abandon the field.
"Lady Vihera, it is time... at this rate, Gurgast will advance too far and risk being focused by the enemy. While Gurgast himself might manage, he still has soldiers under his command. We shouldn't recklessly exhaust our military strength here."
At Tiull Bugle's words, Vihera directed her gaze quite far ahead of her current position.
There, just as Tiull Bugle had said, Gurgast was rampaging to his heart's content alongside his subordinates. Despite his reckless nature, the fact that he was pushing forward while tearing through the main force of the Subjugation Army meant his breakthrough power was nothing short of phenomenal.
Watching the carnage, Vihera allowed a small smile to surface.
"Even in a great war to decide the fate of the realm, Gurgast remains amusingly unchanged. He always insists on going his own way, but I think he could try to be a bit more cooperative."
Though Vihera ended her sentence by calling him a troublesome man, her expression held no harshness. Knowing Gurgast's personality, it had been easy for her to imagine that he would move like this on the battlefield; in fact, she felt he wouldn't be Gurgast if he didn't act this way.
"For Gurgast, this is likely his last chance to run wild in this civil war. Honestly, I can't quite understand that level of battle mania... Order the archers to fire arrows in the direction of Gurgast's advance."
"Understood!"
After quickly relaying the order to his subordinates, Tiull Bugle turned his gaze back to Vihera.
His silent look asked what their next move was. Understanding the unspoken question, Vihera lightly brushed back her hair before speaking.
"What we need to do is already decided, isn't it? We no longer need to worry about the right wing or the left wing. In that case, all that's left is for us to break straight through the enemy lines and capture Big Brother Cabajid and Big Brother Schuls. If others reach the enemy main camp first by mistake, they might take their lives instead of capturing them."
"...Do you think so? His Highness Cabajid aside, I have heard that His Highness Schuls is quite a capable fighter."
"That's true. It's certain that Big Brother Schuls has quite high personal skill. However, that is strictly within the realm of an ordinary person. To put it in a way you'd understand, he could reach Rank C as an adventurer, but he would never cross the wall to Rank B."
"I see. It seems there are many with that level of power on this battlefield as well."
Tiull Bugle nodded, satisfied with Vihera's explanation.
Tiull Bugle himself was devoted to Vihera and served as Gurgast's support, but his own personal strength was not particularly high. Of course, as a member of the former Second Princess Faction, he possessed a certain level of strength, though her definition of "certain level" was admittedly skewed compared to the standards of other factions.
"Well then, shall we get going? If we dawdle too much here, Rei might end up coming here as reinforcements."
"Surely, no matter what, he couldn't be that fast..."
It's impossible. Tiull Bugle was about to say those words, but when he realized the gaze Vihera was directing at him was dead serious, he fell silent.
"You mustn't underestimate Rei's power. You've seen Rei's strength many times before, haven't you, Tiull?"
"...In spite of that, he seemed to take quite a while to start moving."
"Well, there were various reasons for that."
She had heard from Digma that Rei had been fighting Noise, and looking at his level of fatigue, she couldn't dismiss it as a lie. However, the reason she didn't mention Noise by name was that she didn't want the surrounding soldiers to know that the legendary hero was on this battlefield.
The name "Noise" carried that much weight and gravity within the Bestia Empire.
If it were said that Noise had fought Rei and that Rei had won... if asked if everyone would believe it, Vihera would say no. At best, she estimated that about half might believe it. As such, she felt it was better to continue fighting as they had been, rather than causing unrest among the soldiers by bringing up Noise's name here.
Though the possibility of the Subjugation Army's side speaking Noise's name was certainly not zero.
"Now then, shall we go...?"
Suddenly, a familiar figure flickered into her sight for a moment, and she tilted her head. That person was someone who was supposed to be infiltrating the Subjugation Army... and at the same time, someone she had heard from Rei was under brainwashing.
Vihera directed her gaze toward the man who had appeared dazed before her eyes—Rhodos—and hesitated for a moment on how to react.
As he approached with unsteady, drifting steps, Rhodos was, strangely enough, not being recognized by the surrounding soldiers. Vihera judged that he was an enemy since he was brainwashed, but from what she could see, he didn't appear to be attacking the Mercurio Army's soldiers; he was simply walking.
"...It's Rhodos, right? What happened?"
"Lady Vihera?"
Tiull Bugle, who was nearby, asked curiously when Vihera suddenly spoke, but she didn't answer. Instead, she called out to the space where Rhodos stood... a place where Tiull Bugle could see no one.
"Uu... aa..."
A groan escaped Rhodos's mouth. Upon hearing that voice, Tiull Bugle finally succeeded in recognizing the youth.
"He is, if I recall..."
"Yes, you noticed? He's Rei's acquaintance, Rhodos... The only son of Elk, who holds the alias of Axe of the Thunder God and is an A-Rank adventurer in the Kingdom of Mireana."
"I have heard about that. If I remember correctly, he went to infiltrate the other side but ended up in a semi-brainwashed state. It was said he can absorb flames created with magic power and even possesses a constant recovery effect."
Information from when Rei had fought him previously was naturally known to those holding a certain rank within the Mercurio Army. It was only natural. Setting aside the fact that he was spying on the First Prince Faction, the current Rhodos was in a state where he had completely lost his sanity.
As such, he would undoubtedly bare his fangs even at allies. That much was clear from the reports that he had attacked Rei.
...Though there were those, like Theoreme, who wondered if it was related to the fact that Rhodos harbored a strong complex toward Rei.
"I don't know how he's managed to become so hard to notice, but if he attacks, we'll have no choice but to respond."
He was someone she had traveled with, even if only briefly, and someone she had been on relatively good terms with. The strength that Vihera valued wasn't much to speak of in him, but she had still felt a sense of friendship toward him.
Rhodos had desired love rather than friendship, but unfortunately for him, Vihera's affection was directed solely toward Rei. The fact that Rhodos had been inclined to join the First Prince Faction likely had something to do with that as well.
"Uuu... aaah..."
Vihera spoke to Rhodos as he approached, letting out groans that didn't even sound like proper speech.
"Rhodos, do you recognize me? Or do you not? If you do, please stop right there for a moment."
It was likely useless. She had spoken with that thought in mind, but to Vihera's complete surprise, Rhodos stopped in his tracks immediately.
"Do you... understand me?"
"Uu... aa..."
With a slow nod, Rhodos definitely acknowledged Vihera's words, causing Tiull Bugle to speak up in excitement.
"Lady Vihera's charm even works on those in such a state!"
"Oh, honestly..."
To Tiull Bugle, who was devoted to Vihera, the fact that her charm was effective on Rhodos—who appeared to have no self-awareness—was a miracle worth celebrating.
Vihera let out a weary sigh at Tiull Bugle, who was shouting with a face full of joy. However, she immediately judged that now was not the time to be dealing with him and called out to Rhodos once more.
"Whose side are you on now? I heard that you were semi-brainwashed by Big Brother Cabajid, but seeing you now, can I assume that has worn off?"
"Uu, aa..."
Vihera internally held her head at Rhodos, who offered nothing but incoherent groans regardless of what she asked. He wasn't hostile toward them, but he wasn't siding with them either. She wondered what she was supposed to do with someone like this.
"...Tiull, what do you think we should do?"
"Let's see. He doesn't seem to have any intention of being hostile toward us, but we can't exactly take someone who was once brainwashed into the main camp... For now, how about we take him to the prisoner area? We can leave the decision on what to do with him specifically to Rei."
For a moment, Rei's face crossed Vihera's mind. On the surface, Rei didn't seem to particularly care about Rhodos, but in reality, he was quite concerned. Vihera understood Rei well enough to know that.
If such a Rei were to see Rhodos, wouldn't he be saddened? She thought that as well, but it was also a fact that in order to return Rhodos to the Kingdom of Mireana, Rei would eventually have to be informed.
(Besides, Rei might be a little sad... but even so, he'll likely just end up saying that this was the path Rhodos chose for himself.)
Visualizing Rei in her mind, she made her decision immediately and spoke.
"Tiull, arrange for Rhodos to be delivered to the rearguard. However, do not forget to disarm him, including any magic items. As for his treatment... until I speak with Rei, we'll consider him a prisoner for now. But it's also a fact that he provided us with several pieces of valuable information. Make sure to treat him with the utmost courtesy."
"Yes, I understand."
Tiull Bugle nodded immediately and approached Rhodos. However, Rhodos himself showed no sign of noticing Tiull Bugle at all, merely keeping his gaze fixed on Vihera.
Then, the moment Tiull Bugle's hand touched him... Rhodos's consciousness vanished instantly, and he crumpled to the ground.
"..."
That must have been unexpected. Tiull Bugle simply stared blankly at Rhodos as the boy fell toward him. Eventually, he came to his senses and called over his subordinates to arrange for the magic items to be removed and for the prisoner to be transported to the rear.
While they were occupied with that, fighting continued all around them, but the Mercurio Army led by Vihera had already wiped out the local Subjugation Army forces, and the battle was shifting further toward the front lines.
"I'll leave Rhodos to you, then."
Vihera said this to Tiull Bugle's subordinates before heading back to the front lines to resume the battle.