The sound of their swords clashing, Vyvyan’s magic chants and the empress’s roars were intertwined on the battlefield. The neck of the empress’s battle steed got stabbed by the elves’ war flag. The two women engaged in melee combat. The sound of their swords clashing filled the air like explosions. Their eyes were filled with rage. The two women with beautiful faces scrunched their faces up to show their rage, making them look like demons from hell. Elizabeth’s sword strikes were extremely swift, appearing as mere flashes to others. Normal soldiers were cut to pieces after just catching a glimpse of her blade. However, Vyvyan and the empress had already fought many bouts to the death.
During their close quarters fight, Vyvyan didn’t have the chance to focus on casting her spells, so she could only rely on her sword skills to fight against Elizabeth. Elizabeth relied on her time ability to strike as swiftly as she could. Vyvyan’s innate gift was her ability to read minds, and therefore her ability to read ahead a few moves. While both of them appeared equal, Vyvyan knew that she wouldn’t last much longer. Elizabeth who spent most of her years drenched in blood on the battlefield had much superior stamina to herself. Elizabeth wasn’t rushed either. She attacked with everything she had, causing Vyvyan to tire out so much she couldn’t raise her sword for a moment.
When their swords clashed, Vyvyan shouted at Elizabeth: “What is the point of you starting this war?! He won’t acknowledge you as his mother! He has always been by my side. Have you held him once in all these years? You don’t even know how much he weighs.”
Elizabeth glared back with her ice-cold black eyes. She pushed against Vyvyan’s sword to separate from her. She then charged at Vyvyan again and shouted: “You just took advantage of the circumstances and just happened to be by my son’s side. Give me some time, and my son will definitely remember who his real mom is! I gave birth to him! He’s my son!”
“Oh, is that so?! Well, I gave birth to him too. I will never forget the pain and bliss of it!”
“I’m just worried you forgot what the reality is! You’re just a substitute. You’re just a tool whose purpose was to give birth to my son! You think I’m clueless?! You just have to think about it for a bit and it all pieces together. You’re the only one lying to yourself!”
“Shut up!!!”
Vyvyan shouted and then went on the counterattack. She swung her sword like she was insane, slashing at Elizabeth who was defending as she retreated and shouted: “I gave birth to my son. I love him and he loves me. I’m his real mother! I’m his only mother!”
“You’re furious?!”
“What have you done?! You have birth to him and then ran away. You left an infant behind and ran away! What you did was the same thing a prostitute would do! You keep saying that you’re his mother, but have you done anything that qualifies you as a mother? Have you held him before? Have you taken care of him? I was the one who was by his side when he was ill, and I was the one who held him in my arms when he cried! I taught him everything! What about you?! You didn’t do a thing! What gives you the right to claim yourself his mother?!”
Elizabeth’s expression froze up. Her anger caused the corner of her mouth to turn upwards. She roared and kicked Vyvyan who leapt at her away. Vyvyan staggered and Elizabeth quickly followed up, stabbing Vyvyan’s left shoulder with her sword. Vyvyan fought the pain, threw her sword away, grabbed Elizabeth’s sword thrust at her, and then formed a fireball in her right hand which she rammed against Elizabeth’s chest. Elizabeth’s battle armour blew apart. Her skin got burnt and she was bleeding, but it seemed like Elizabeth couldn’t feel anything. She tossed her sword aside, grabbed Vyvyan’s collar and swung her fist at her.
“I won’t let you say that about me! You think I wanted to leave my son behind?! You think I don’t want to be with my son?! He’s my only son! My most beloved son! I had no choice! I couldn’t endanger him by bringing him with me. What do you know?! What do you know about my sufferings these past years?!”
Elizabeth’s tears and blood dripped onto Vyvyan. The corner of Vyvyan’s mouth was bleeding and bruised from Elizabeth’s beating. Vyvyan spat a mouthful of saliva and blood onto Elizabeth’s face, grabbed the dirt on the ground and rubbed it into the wound on Elizabeth’s chest. Elizabeth cried out in pain and retreated. Vyvyan roared and rushed at her, pressed her onto the ground and began to punch her face.
“Your suffering?! What about mine then?! You’re hurt now because your son got stolen away?! He’s my son! You’re the one stealing my son! You think I’m not suffering?! You think I’m not angry?! I raised him! I love him! You want to become my son’s mother when you haven’t done a thing?! You wish!!”
Elizabeth extended her right arm out to block Vyvyan’s punch while she desperately searched for the dagger on her leg with her left hand, and then violently stabbed it into Vyvyan’s thigh. She then twisted the dagger in her flesh in a circular motion causing Vyvyan to cry out before kicking her away.
The two of them panted and stood up, continuing to hold their gaze at each other. They were intent on killing each other even if it were a bare-hands fist fight.
“Aaarrrgghh!!”
At that moment, the humans behind them suddenly cried out. Explosions could be heard and fleeing human soldiers appeared by the empress’s side. Elizabeth reacted surprised. She turned around to see that the area behind her had become a chaotic field of dirt. Vyvyan laughed out loud from behind her and shouted: “Our elven reinforcements have finally arrived. If we include the present soldiers on the battlefield, we outnumber you! You don’t have your cannons any longer, and you don’t have a retreat path. You’ve been completely surr-……”
However, before Vyvyan could finish laughing, deafening explosions suddenly came from behind the humans that were attacked from behind. Explosions continued going off in the forest. At the same time, a big fire seemingly suddenly from behind the humans broke out, engulfing everything. The elven reinforcements coming up from behind the humans were completely blasted away and the sea of flames completely surrounded them. The elves that approached the humans from behind were dead silent. In other words, the humans had set explosives behind them earlier on, blowing up both their own men and the elven reinforcements.
“Castell!! Our men are still in there!”
“Do you want us to get surrounded?! Her majesty is still on the frontlines, so we can’t lose the rear! We have another four platoons that will arrive tonight. We’re only losing cannons and men, but we cannot allow her majesty to get surrounded! Blow them up!”
Castell was faced with the threat of getting surrounded. He decided to make a sacrifice, blowing up their resources and men. The elven reinforcements were completely annihilated, while the main human forces were engaged with the elven forces in battle. The elves lost formation, got surrounded and completely defeated.
Castell was the one who came up with the idea of burying gun powder and then pouring oil on the trees. His plan saved the elites of their army and their empress.
“Beautifully done, Castell! Well done!! Well done!! Hahahahaha!!”
The empress turned her head around, looked at Vyvyan who wore an expression of utter despair and shock. Elizabeth looked up to the sky and laughed while the black blood from the wound on her chest ran down her body and onto the ground like oil. She looked at Vyvyan and laughed: “You didn’t expect that, did you?! You didn’t expect that, did you?! My men are decisive like that. Now what? Now what, huh? You’re surrounded! Where are your ambushes?! Outnumber us? When?! Where?! I have another four platoons that will arrive tonight. I suggest that you refocus all of your remaining energy here and finish the fight. Or are you going to ask your son to defend the city tomorrow?! Haha… Hahahahaha!!”
Vyvyan clenched her teeth and staggered back here. The Valkyries rushed over to support their empress. The empress took in a deep breath and almost fell to her knees. The Valkyries were shocked to find that the wound on the empress’s chest was deep enough to see her bones. A big chunk of her skin had been damaged. Nobody knew where the empress got her determination to continue fighting from.
The humans and elves beat their drums to send out a retreat signal. After the brutal battle, the exhausted elves and humans let out a sigh of relief. The corpses from both sides were piled up like a mountain on the plains. The troops slowly retreated from the battlefield, leaving behind a sad whispering wind and blood-red sunset, which was seen as a ritual for the loyal souls of the fallen soldiers.
“Your majesty! Your majesty!!!”
The empress was assisted back to the camp. She wearily sat down on a chair and removed her battle armour. Castell cried as he knelt before her, tightly holding onto her hand.
“It’s alright, Castell. You did very well today. I’m very pleased.”
The empress shut her eyes and gently continued, “Tomorrow… tomorrow… cough… I’ll… I’ll put you in charge of attacking the city. The four arriving platoons will also be under your command.”
“No problem! The elven imperial capital… The elven imperial capital will definitely fall! Your majesty! Your majesty! I beg you… I beg you, please be alright!”
“I’ll be fine… I… I… I still need to spend time with my son… I can’t be at peace unless my son kneels before me before I die… So I won’t die……”
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