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–––Lacus’ viewpoint

“It’s started. huh.”

I muttered to myself, frowning as a cold chill assaulted my body. We were about to fight against the holy knights, specifically trained to fight demons, so they had launched a large area holy spell as greeting. That would likely debilitate weaker demons and monsters. Still, I was intent on getting this victory.

While holy magic was effective against monsters and demons, it was not all mighty. It had plenty of weaknesses, otherwise demons would have been cleansed from the world already.

The biggest downside of such large scale spells was that they consumed an immense amount of mana. When two armies collided like this, it essentially depleted the mana of the caster. All holy knights could use some amount of holy magic, some more others less, but usually they always had priests offering support from a distance, allowing the holy knights to fight like regular knights. But that also meant that the majority of them could not use any healing magic. We just had to take out a few key members and it would be our victory, since their ability to heal endlessly like zombies would be gone.

Another downside was its duration. While holy magic consumed a large amount of mana, its effects did not last very long. Usually half an hour was enough for it to be over. That was why they would always be forced to end fights quickly. They could hold off on the holy magic if they were hiding inside a fortification, but here in the open they had no choice but to start with it. That was perfect for a trap.

Just thinking of it made me chuckle. My servant noticed that and looked at me puzzled, so I decided to take authority again to mask that over.

“Is everything ready?”
“Yes! Everything is in order, just give the word and we’ll move forward.”
“I see. Go ahead then.”
“Understood!”

My servant ran off after that, passing the message onto various scouts who headed to spread the message on horse. I did not wait for any messages back, instead flying high into the air to watch the two armies below.

My army was sectioned into two groups, a frontline and rear guard. Put simply, I had the monsters I could use as disposable pawns in front, and behind were all the demon soldiers. They were all highly trained and wearing high quality equipment, but I had too few of them. I probably only had a fourth of the number of soldiers compared to the holy knights. While I was confident we could win this battle if we fought head on, that would leave me with even less men to take over the rest of the country, so I wanted to avoid having to use them.

The holy knights’ formation looked like an arrow, advancing with tremendous vigor. Monsters usually act on instinct, usually seeing humans as prey and attacking indiscriminately. But they were also easily scared. Facing the holy knights charging at them had activated those instincts, leaving them terrified and restless to escape. That was pretty much how senseless monsters acted, always overconfident to attack, but quick on their feet the moment something went against them. That made using monsters in battle even trickier.

Usually there was a way to incorporate monsters into an army so they fought alongside demons, and I could have done this here as well, but that was not my plan. I did not intend to use the monsters as anything more than a distraction. Seeing that my plan was working brought a smile to my face again.

–––Freya’s viewpoint

Something was wrong, the enemy’s movements were too suspicious. I kept worrying and feeling dubious as I fought in the frontline with the other holy knights. The situation at the capital was also in my mind, but I had to make sure we won this battle quickly too. The strongest knights were with me, smashing through the enemy frontlines. I had expected a stronger army, but… it was too late to rethink our strategy now. If we stopped now, the knights following behind us would bunch up awkwardly, making fighting hard and also impeding a retreat.

“Don’t falter now! We’re almost at the heart of their army! Once we destroy that we’ll win!”
“Lady Freya!”

I tried to motivate the knights to keep going, but then those on the sides raised their voices, surprised.

“Is that a… wall?”

A large wall had appeared out of nowhere between the monsters and the demons, even though there had been nothing there before. That wall started to cause chaos, as monsters attempted to flee but were stopped by it. Some had tried to go around it, but could not find a way. By that logic, we would also have nowhere to go…

“Oh no! Everyone stop! Retreat immediately!”
“Lady Freya?!”
“Hurry! Or do you want to die here?!”

I quickly realized the enemy’s plan, so I first told our army to stop so we could turn around more easily. If I did not say anything and we were stopped by the wall, those behind us would continue getting closer, making a retreat more clumsy. Right after telling them to stop, I gave the order to retreat. We needed to get away from here if we wanted to survive.

“…No! Turn left! Everyone follow me!”

I needed to get everyone out as soon as possible, there was no time to be confused. It was a bit of a gamble, and we were still organizing our formation when loud explosions rang all around us.