The Girl Raised by the Death God Holds the Sword of Darkness in Her Arms - Volume 2 - Chapter 6.2

II

Rosenmarie divided her army into small units and had them spread out through the ravine, choosing their positions to utilize the uneven terrain and bring the enemy in to engage them at close quarters. Paul’s strategy was built on a series of hit-and-run attacks using units based around longbow archers. He knew they were unlikely to fare well in straight combat. As the battle progressed, however, it deviated from both commanders’ plans, and the more time passed, the more it began to look like outright chaos. The primary agent of this chaos was the impenetrable mist that often settled in the Carnac Ravine. It poured in over the cliffs on the second day of battle, resulting in a rash of encounter battles throughout the gorge as the two armies lost all visibility.

“Th-The enemy! They’re right in front of us!”

“Fall back and repair ranks!”

Rushing footsteps. Ragged breathing. Shouting. Screams. Disordered clanging rang out as swords clashed, and arrows flew randomly in all directions. With each volley, soldiers fell to the ground like flowers in frost, their bodies settling into the mud. The hours went by, and the corpses piled up. In some cases, both sides lost more than nine for every ten of their soldiers. Encounter battles had delivered utter pandemonium.

In the thick of it all, Major Mills Bohmenberk looked down to where an enemy unit sat resting on the other side of the river. Major Mills and his battalion of two thousand infantry were tasked with sneaking around to attack the Seventh Legion from behind. The mist made it impossible to accurately assess the number of soldiers in the unit before him now, but he put them at a few hundred. They didn’t seem to have noticed him yet.

This mist has ended up being rather fortuitous. We’re supposed to be operating covertly, so I really ought to ignore them, but with those numbers we should be able to take them out in a single blow. A good chance to get morale up... He stopped short, his eye catching on one figure. Wait, isn’t that Death God Olivia?! The words almost came bursting out loud, he was so taken aback. He clamped his mouth tightly shut.

The soldier across the river wore black armor embellished with the death god’s crest, and her long hair was silver, a shade rarely seen in the empire. What was more, in her hand, wrapped in dark mist, was an ebony blade. He’d heard whispers that it drank human blood, and he more than half believed them. These days, there wasn’t a soldier in the Crimson Knights who didn’t know Death God Olivia. Without stopping to think, Major Mills gave the order to move on, but his aide, Raymond, hurried up to him.

“Major, calm down and think!” Raymond said.

“I’m perfectly calm, thank you very much. Have you forgotten our orders? I can’t justify the risk of losing soldiers for no good purpose in a battle with the death god. We all know what happened to Colonel Vollmer.”

“Yes, ser, I understand that, but listen—they haven’t noticed us at all. Even a death god can’t fight off a surprise attack against a force as large as ours. If we kill her, it will be a massive boost to the morale of the entire army. And the greatest share of the glory will be yours, ser.”

Glory. The mellifluous echo of the word sang through his ears, and he felt his heart beat faster. Why had he volunteered for this critical mission in the first place? Naturally, to distinguish himself through glorious feats of heroism, and grow his own renown.

Mills looked back at the death god. Raymond was right. She gave no sign of noticing them. Seeing her there, exposed, Mills’s ambition tugged at him. As the second son of the House of Bohmenberk, he had no claim on the family lands. He knew that this was the way of the world, but it still rankled that his far inferior older brother would inherit everything simply by luck of being born first. He once entertained the idea of assassinating his brother, but reluctantly set the scheme aside as too risky.

Here on the battlefield was where he had to find glory and make his name. Then one day, when his renown had spread to every corner of the empire, he would make his brother kneel before him. That was Mills’s greatest desire in life.

“We won’t get such a chance again, ser,” Raymond insisted. “Please, make the right decision here.”

Mills was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was soft and beguiling like the whisper of a courtesan.

“You’re right, Raymond. Forget my last order and get the troops ready to charge.” Taking care not to raise a sound, he drew his sword. As soon as word came back that preparations were complete, he took several deep breaths, slowly and deliberately raised his left hand into the air—then brought it down hard.

“Chaaaarge!” he bellowed. The battalion surged forward, seeming to flow down the slope.

A one-eyed man shouted in alarm. “An ambush?!” he cried.

“All of you, fall back!” came Olivia’s panicked command. “There’s too many of them!” The enemy army began to retreat back into the mountains.

Looks like we gave them a real shock, Mills thought. In their hurry to escape, the soldiers had left bags of supplies on the ground, and some had even cast aside their swords. How they intended to protect themselves without swords, he didn’t know. It was almost embarrassing to think that this was the death god and her soldiers who had terrorized the imperial army. Their disorder now was painful to watch. Mills knew victory was within his grasp.

“Even a god of death has to flee when she’s outnumbered!” he shouted, roaring with laughter. “We won’t let her, though! Across the river and after them!”

“Yes, ser!” his soldiers shouted back. They plunged dauntless into the water, sending up great clouds of spray. As he’d thought, the water was shallow, and the riverbed was clearly visible. The river itself was relatively narrow, and wouldn’t hinder their advance.

We’ll be upon them in no time, Mills thought, then immediately realized he had misjudged.

From the river there was a terrified yell. Another panicked soldier called, “My feet are slipping! I can’t sta—!”

The water only came up to their thighs at its deepest point. Yet as Mills watched, he saw one soldier after another swept away around him. He could tell now, as he stood in the water, that if his attention slipped even for a moment, the river would take him.

He heard Olivia’s voice from the far bank. When did she come back? He wondered. “Wow, it worked just like you said, Gauss!” She sounded smug as she addressed the one-eyed soldier.

“What did I tell you? The Benum River is deceptively deadly,” he replied. “The bottom is coated in algae, so it’s easy to lose your footing, and the flow in the center is treacherously swift. Anyone who knows this river well knows you don’t try to cross it on foot unless you’ve got a death wish. When I was a kid, we used to dare each other to go in. I almost drowned more times than I can remember.”

“You don’t say! But they look kind of like they’re having fun, don’t they?” Olivia replied. “Hey, what if I went and dipped my toes in? Can I?”

“I have to strongly advise against that, Captain. Given it’s you, I doubt you’d have any problems, but I don’t want Lieutenant Claudia chewing me out afterwards.”

“Oh...” Olivia replied. “Well, okay. I won’t then. Did you know Claudia turns into a Yaksha sometimes?”

As the two chatted away, archers came dashing down from the hills. There was no trace of the panic and disorder from earlier. Now, they arranged themselves in ordered ranks and raised their bows, ready to fire. At a glance, Mills guessed there must be over a thousand of them. At last, he saw the trap they had set for him.

“Damn...Damn it all!” he bellowed.

From the riverbank, Olivia called out, “It’s time, everyone! Do your best, okay?”

“Yes, ser!”

She lowered her arm, and a great mass of arrows came hurtling towards Mills and his soldiers. Immersed in the water and fighting against the rapid current, there was no way for the helpless soldiers to evade. They fell, peppered with arrow shafts. The river water around them turned red with their blood. From behind him, Mills heard a shrill voice. He turned to see a young soldier holding their helmet. They ran their hands through their hair, looking half mad.

“This humiliating mess is all your fault! You call yourself a Crimson Knight? For shame!” they cried. An older soldier came up and pinned the crazed youth’s arms behind their back, before they were both struck by arrows and swept away downstream.

“Major Mills!” shouted Raymond.

“I hear you,” he said through clenched teeth. “As much as I hate to say it, we need to retreat, then regroup. We can’t fight like this. They’ll massacre us.” A moment later, however, he realized that even this was too optimistic. The riverbank he had come from was now full of royal soldiers.

He saw a woman clad in bright silver armor give a rousing cry. “All units, prepare to shoot!”

“Damn it! They don’t mean to let even one fish escape their net, then?”

This new army must have been concealed in the mist. The realization came to him now that in his obsession with crossing the river, he had let his guard down. But it was too late now to regret what his blind lust for glory had wrought.

Olivia held up a finger and said, with the air of a schoolteacher, “This is what I like to call ‘Stuck between a unicorn and a giant grizzly bear.’”

In response, Mills only growled through gritted teeth.

“Right, so um, how do you want to do this?” Olivia asked. “If you surrender, we won’t kill you.”

“Surrender? Surrender?!” Raymond, gasping for breath, had reached the other bank. “The Crimson Knights don’t know the meaning of the word!” he cried. With a furious battle cry he swung his sword at Olivia’s head. She turned slightly to evade the blow, then struck out so fast Mills didn’t even see her blade. Blood spurted from Raymond’s headless torso, before he slowly crumpled to the ground.

“Okay, let’s try that again,” Olivia said, flicking her sword to get the blood off. “If you surrender, we’ll let you live. I want to know where I can find your supreme commander.”

Mills let out a bark of laughter. No matter what happened now, surrender was out of the question. If he surrendered, he’d never be able to show his face in Rosenmarie’s presence again.

Hell, that’s already true, he thought. I never thought all my dreams would come to an end like this... More than half of his battalion were dead. His original mission of carrying out a surprise attack was now totally out of the question. All he could hope for now was to take the death god with him when he died. I’m not afraid to die. I’d rather die than be looked down on by my wretch of a brother. He pictured Franz, slovenly and obese. Shaking his head to rid himself of the image, he forced a smile, trying to psych himself up. “Weren’t you listening?” he snarled. “I will never disgrace the honor of the Crimson Knights! We know no surrender!” He reached the bank. Just as Raymond had done, he swung his sword at the crown of Olivia’s head—but it was a feint. He stepped his right foot back, then stabbed forward with all his strength. Olivia didn’t move. At the last moment, just as the tip of his sword reached the breastplate of her armor, she twisted halfway around then struck down at his back with unbelievable force. Mills’s upper half went flying, spewing entrails before coming to rest on the ground.

Olivia sighed, then said, “Look, I’ll ask one more time. Where is your commander? They’re too good at hide-and-seek; I can’t find them anywhere.”

“Fool...never...tell you...”

“You’re the commanding officer here, right? So you must know.”

“Captain, he’s not going to be able to answer you in that state,” Gauss said, looking exasperated.

“Oh, true,” she said. “In that case, we might as well kill the rest of these guys. They won’t be any help to us, and we need to find new prey.” Olivia sheathed her sword, then reached for her mini ballista.

“Gauss Osmyer, with you every step of the way, Captain,” Gauss said with a fierce grin. He turned back to the remainder of the Crimson Knights, lazily nocking his next arrow.

“N-No, sto—!”

“Bye-bye!” Without mercy, Olivia sent an arrow shooting through the heart of the last surviving member of the Crimson Knights. The river before them was plugged with red armor and blood. “Isn’t that beautiful?” she said. “It’s like they laid down a red carpet for us.” As the soldiers around her erupted in cheers of victory, Olivia smiled sweetly.

The Third Day of Battle on the Eastern Side of the Carnac Ravine

After their spectacular victory over Mills’s battalion, the Independent Cavalry Regiment went looking for new prey to sink its fangs into. A new target soon presented itself.

“What’s that? You found the death god?” Major General Listenburk, commander of four thousand soldiers, stared wide-eyed at the scout who brought him the news. The death god, according to the reports, had raised her banners and was marching towards the mountain pass just beyond Listenburk’s position. She led a force of around three thousand soldiers.

“You’re sure it’s her?” Listenburk pressed.

“Yes, ser. I saw her with my own eyes—a girl in ebony-black armor at the head of the formation. She had silver hair too. Assuming the other reports were accurate, I’m quite sure it was her,” said the scout confidently.

Listenburk nodded good-naturedly, then said, “Very good. Keep me informed of her movements.”

“Yes, ser!” said the scout, then left.

“What do you think?” Listenburk said, addressing his aide, Hayner, who stood at his side.

“There aren’t a lot of girls in ebony-black armor with silver hair running around,” Hayner replied. “The scout is right. It must be the death god. Who knows what she’ll do if she’s left to her own devices?”

Listenburk folded his arms, thinking through the situation. After a few skirmishes with the Seventh Legion, he no longer believed they were a real threat. They were well trained and disciplined, but objectively several levels below the martial polish of the Crimson Knights. The death god’s unit seemed to be another beast entirely, however. In just two months, they had torn through the empire’s forces in the north. They had even brought down Vollmer and his Crimson Knights. Listenburk had to agree with Hayner—leaving them unchecked was far too dangerous.

I know Lady Rosenmarie was looking forward to meeting the death god, but we really can’t allow her to take such a risk. After a few victories, Listenburk’s soldiers were in high spirits. He also had the advantage of numbers. From a certain point of view, their meeting the death god here might turn out to be a stroke of good luck. They were in an ideal position to challenge her.

“All right,” he said. “We’re moving out to engage the death god. I swear on my honor as a Crimson Knight, I’ll have their heads!”

“Yes, ser!” barked Hayner.

Listenburk’s soldiers came to the pass two hours later, and got their first look at the royal army. A stir ran through the ranks, and Listenburk frowned.

They’re already in formation? It’s almost like they were expecting us... he thought. The point that bothered him most, however, was that the royal soldiers had positioned themselves with their backs to a cliff. It was like they were begging him to charge in and push them off.

“What are they thinking?” Hayner said, echoing Listenburk’s own confused thoughts. “Do they want to go plummeting to their deaths? Their commander must be insane.”

“Are they trying a burn-your-bridges strategy? The fools. I clearly thought too highly of them,” Listenburk said, disgusted. The point of burning your bridges was to force your soldiers to fight on to the last with no hope of surrender. At the end of the day, however, the only advantage it provided was psychological. He had to assume they’d despaired in the face of his superior force. His emotions upon seeing a commander actually utilize such a tactic went beyond shock to utter contempt.

“What are your orders, ser?”

“The obvious. Have the soldiers spread out on both sides, bring the enemy into midrange, then riddle them with arrows. Send the death god and the rest of the rabble into the abyss.”

“Yes ser!” Hayner gave the order, and his soldiers loosed a volley of arrows. In response, the death god’s soldiers raised their shields wrapping the whole force in a layer of steel. The arrows bounced off uselessly. The soldiers moved cleanly and efficiently, almost like they’d seen the attack coming. Listenburk accepted that arrows would do no good against a rock-solid defense like that. Not only that, but the enemy were now shooting their own arrows back through chinks in the shield wall, and his soldiers were falling. He had to change his strategy, or his losses would only grow.

“My lord, we’re not making any progress,” said Hayner.

“I can see that,” Listenburk snapped. “A clever trick they pulled. Transition to attacking with spears. Keep them surrounded on this side. We’ll push them off the edge.”

“Yes, ser!” Hayner shouted another set of orders, and another group of soldiers advanced, spears at the ready.

“They’re doing just what you said they would,” Claudia observed, and Ashton gave her a small smile. Allowing the enemy scouts to find them had worked like a charm to draw the Crimson Knights out. Now, after witnessing the Independent Cavalry Regiment’s impregnable defenses, the Knights had abandoned ranged attacks, and were coming at them with spears. Chances were, they meant to force the Independent Cavalry Regiment back to the edge of the cliff to try and literally push them off.

“Yes, everything’s going according to plan so far. Next, it’s up to you two to cut through their vanguard, just like we discussed.”

“Oh, don’t you worry,” said Claudia, chuckling. “I can’t wait to get out there and show them what we’re made of.”

“I’ll do my best too, Ashton,” said Olivia. Seeing Claudia’s fearless grin and Olivia’s pearly white smile, Ashton couldn’t help but smile back. The person he’d been before could never have smiled in a place like this. It wasn’t just that he had the other two here beside him. He himself had grown accustomed to battle. Whether that was a good thing or not, he couldn’t say. The history of humanity, Ashton thought, could just as soon be called the history of warfare. So long as humans continued to exist, war would never be over. War was what made them human. Swept up in it all, all Ashton could do was try to keep the people close to him alive. He spent every drop of mental energy he had on it.

“Then let’s begin,” Ashton said. At his order, the soldiers shifted smoothly into a half-cross formation.

“Charge the enemy’s center!” Claudia bellowed. The Independent Cavalry Regiment began to charge forward. The Crimson Knights were caught off guard by the sudden assault, but Claudia and Olivia gave the Knights no time to collect themselves. They fought as one, standing back-to-back to cover one another’s blind spots as they went whirling through the enemy forces, swords flashing. Every last soldier who stood in their way soon found themselves lying face down in the dirt. Blood sprayed wildly around them as they moved across the battlefield, and the enemy’s center began to break.

Escorted by a unit of bodyguards, Ashton gripped his sword and did his best to keep up.

“Now!” Claudia shouted, seeing a point in the enemy formation on the verge of collapse.

Olivia crouched down low, then they were treated to a repeat performance of the move she’d used against the unicorn. A moment later, there was an explosion of blood like a geyser from the Crimson Knights in their way as every one of them dropped. Olivia didn’t stop there. She leapt down from its back and cut through the Knights who tried to head her off, moving too quickly for the eye to follow. At last, the enemy’s center split apart.

“Ashton!” Olivia called, spinning around. Ashton raised the trumpet in his other hand and blew. With tight efficiency, the Independent Cavalry Regiment shifted into a fan formation. The soldiers on the front line raised their shields in an impassable wall, while those in the back nocked their arrows and waited to shoot.

“Time to move into the final stage! All troops, drive the enemy back!” Claudia cried, her clear voice ringing out across the blood-soaked mountain pass.

The tables had turned. Before they could work out what had happened, Listenburk’s soldiers found themselves cornered. Fending off the incessant volleys of enemy arrows, they were driven back towards the edge of the cliff. Listenburk bitterly regretted that they didn’t have their enemy’s shields. After the brilliant performance he had just witnessed, it finally dawned upon him that he had played right into their hands.

“Damn you all! That first formation was just a ploy, was it? Oh, I bet you’re pleased with that bit of cleverness...” he ranted.

“My lord!” Hayner shouted, his voice shrill. “If this goes on, we’re going to be pushed over the edge of the cliff!” He kept glancing behind them, as though checking the distance to the edge. Listenburk laughed savagely.

“Let’s take a leaf out of their book, then!” he snarled. “Get the soldiers into a half-cross formation and break through their center! Then drive them back to the edge!”

“Right away, ser!” Hayner said. He gave the order, and the Crimson Knights moved into the new formation. It wasn’t enough, though.

“Now!” shouted a young man, some kind of officer. “Archers, release the flaming arrows!” High above Listenburk’s head, a great cloud of burning arrows rose into the air, then came raining down. The soldiers who saw it cried out in alarm.

“My lord!” Hayner gasped. All the blood had gone from his face.

“Hold fast!” Listenburk bellowed, sending spittle flying. “Fire alone is no danger! Keep calm!” The Knights came to their senses, using their shields and swords to bat away the flaming arrows. Listenburk was totally unprepared for what happened next, however. As the arrows landed, the ground beneath his soldiers’ feet burst into roaring flames. It was impossible. Mere flaming arrows couldn’t set the land itself ablaze. Listenburk had lived through hundreds of battles, but he had never seen anything like this.

“It’s burning! How is it burning?!” shrieked Hayner. Listenburk forced down his own panic. Thinking clearly at last, he caught the hint of a pungent odor and understood.

That stench... Ah. They coated the ground with oil. The realization came too late to do him any good, however. After the rash move of grouping all his soldiers together, there was no place for them to run from the fire as it spread. His attempt to use the royal army’s strategy against them had merely led him into a cruel and ingeniously concealed trap. He saw one soldier slowly swallowed up by the blaze, while another, shrouded in flames, staggered right off the edge of the cliff. The pass was now a burning hellscape. The screams of dying soldiers echoed through the mountains.

Listenburk chuckled softly.

“My...My lord?” Hayner said, looking at him uneasily. Listenburk paid him no attention.

“Brilliant,” he said. “Whoever planned this saw through my every move. Enemy or not, you have to acknowledge the brill—” Listenburk never got to finish his compliment. An arrow pierced his throat, bringing his life to an abrupt end.

“My lord!” Hayner cried. He and a number of other soldiers rushed to Listenburk’s side. Another volley of arrows rained down, and they too dropped to the ground, dead.

Claudia gazed out across the sea of flames.

“The Crimson Knights have lost all organization, ser. It’s probably safe to assume that their commander and anyone else important is already dead. We can declare victory.”

Olivia nodded, returning the ballista to her back. “Looks like it,” she said. “Still, don’t relax just yet. A rat in a corner will bite a cat, you know. I’ll squash them first, though.” Almost all the Crimson Knights were dead, having either succumbed to the flames or plunged off the cliff, perhaps seeking the embrace of the river. Those who remained no longer showed any discipline. They either attacked in desperation, or stood paralyzed by indecision, making themselves easy targets.

“But we still don’t know where their supreme commander is!” Olivia groaned. The plan had been to take the commander of this unit prisoner and get the information out of them, but it seemed they’d gone and died in the battle. It was unfortunate, but thanks to Ashton’s battle plan, the Independent Cavalry Regiment had come out mostly unscathed. They had reduced the Crimson Knight’s forces, and that alone was a favorable outcome. Olivia knew it was unwise to be greedy. That was as true on the battlefield as it was with tasty food and sweets.

“Captain, we spotted another enemy force on the other side of the pass—” Gauss broke off, looking around at the flaming carnage and unable to find any words. “Things got crazy up here, huh...” That he was here meant the scouts must have returned safely.

“Good job! Thanks,” Olivia said. “Okay, once we’ve killed the rest of them, we’ll have a break and eat something. After that we need to find our next prey. Oh, Ashton!” she said, looking at Ashton. “Can you make me a sandwich? And make sure you put lots of mustard and meat in!”

“Why do I always have to do it?” he grumbled. “I’m bone-tired, I’ll have you know...” He did look exhausted

“Because the food you make me, Ashton, just makes me burst with energy!” Olivia said, grinning and flexing her biceps.

“When are you not bursting with energy?” Ashton replied, but he was smiling openly. “But you are the commander, after all. I’m not about to disobey an order...”

Claudia watched him, the corners of her mouth twitching.

The atmosphere as they ate was so peaceful it was hard to believe they were in the middle of a war.

When they finished, Olivia said, “We’d better get going, then.” The Independent Cavalry Regiment left the piles of charred corpses and plumes of black smoke that still trailed up into the sky behind, and set off in search of new prey.