With the end of the war of words, Vihera and Pelfiel returned to their respective armies.
Then, the two of them led their soldiers led their troops to face the other.
It was an unthinkable idea that that royalty, Vihera, would fight on the front lines.
However, Vihera had already run away from the Bestir Empire.
As far as she was concerned, she insisted on standing on the front lines.
Naturally, both Mercurio and Frizione were worried for here and opposed her decision, but were ultimately unable to dissuade her.
The extent to which Vihera was able to lead her subordinates had already been proven in battles up to this point.
And……right next to Vihera were also a group of soldiers belonging to three nobles.
Needless to say, they were the ones who had joined in hopes of betraying Mercurio later down the line.
After being accused of plotting betrayal by Rei, they had been pardoned by Mercurio on the condition they would fight in the vanguard in their next battle, but in the end no such battle had taken place.
The battle for the camp had been a surprise attack by the punitive force, so they hadn’t been in a position to take the ‘front line’ so to speak.
As a result, they were forced to fight in the vanguard in what was the final battle of the civil war.
「Damn it, damn it! Why did this happen!」
「T-This, this……is all because I followed your words!」
「Seriously. ……But we don’t have the time to talk about that now. We have to think about how we can survive this battle.」
「No, how about just charging straight into the enemy and then joining them?」
「Don’t be stupid! The archers are aiming at our backs! If we try to do anything like that, we’ll have arrows raining on us from behind! In addition, we haven’t told His Highness Kabajid that we would join them here, right? If we try to go over to them in this situation, they’ll definitely attack us!」
Behind the three nobles, one of Theorem’s subordinates led a unit to take their positions.
Their focus wasn’t on the punitive force, but the three nobles.
In other words, their role was as a supervisory force.
If they tried to run away or made any suspicious moves, they would find arrows from the supervisory force raining down on them.
As such, the three nobles had no choice but to do what they had been told to do.
And so……the destined moment finally arrived.
「All soldiers, advance!」
As voices echoed all around, the last and biggest battle of the Bestir Empire civil war began.
The first to advance were naturally the vanguard.
With weapons in hand, they moved forwards to defeat the opposing vanguard.
Of course, this included the soldiers under the three nobles who had been found out before they were able to betray Mercurio.
The three nobles had been placed at positions that would wear their forces down, forcing them to fight desperately to survive.
In such a situation, it would be impossible to betray Mercurio while desperately controlling their own soldiers to fight against the punitive force.
「Heh. They’re doing better than I though.」
Vihera, who was in the left wing of Mercurio’s army, along with Gurgast and his subordinates, muttered in admiration as she charged towards the punitive force.
After the battle began, their role was to plunge into the enemy army from horseback. That said, Vihera was no longer on horseback, having dismounted to fight.
Considering Vihera’s original combat style revolved around close quarters combat, it was only natural considering the reach of her attacks.
In comparison, Gurgast swung his battle axes from horseback as he cut through the soldiers of the punitive force.
「Seriously. Vihera-sama aside, it would be a relief if Gurgast could think a little more than just charging forward. ……Don’t hold back on your support! Gurgast aside, do not let Vihera-sama suffer any injuries!」
While slightly annoyed by his fellow comrade, Tilleyle gave orders to the archers he led.
Most of the arrows they shot were fired in the direction of Vihera’s advance with only a few arrows falling towards Gurgast’s direction.
「Yeah, it’s annoying! I don’t need any support from you!」
Although he complained about the lack of support from behind, Gurgast’s battle axes remained unstoppable.
Slamming his weapons into a soldier, because of the poor quality armour they were wearing, the armour was easily destroyed and the body inside crushed to pieces.
Gurgast’s soldiers fought based on their own instincts.
They had little to consider with regards to working together to begin with, the more skilled among them would push forward as they pleased.
It was a united force had seemed to have no unity internally and it was probably due to Gurgast’s ability that he was able to lead them.
It was a unity not forced by organisation but by instinct.
On the right wing, the White Rose Knights led the cavalry charge towards the punitive force.
Because they were all mounted, their mobility was no less than that of Vihera’s on the left wing.
However, while Vihera only considered her horse to be a vehicle to get to the enemy faster, jumping off as soon as she arrived, the White Rose Knights were all mounted combatants.
Of course, like when Rei had encountered Widele initially, their skills on the ground were still high, but their true potential was when they took advantage of the high mobility of their horses.
This was most evident in the battle between Frizion’s army and troops led by Bratta, who had tried to stop their escape from the Imperial Capital.
The White Rose Knights’ abilities were fully displayed in this battle.
「Forward! We will show the punitive force the strength of those who follow Her Highness Frizione!」
At the words of the captain of the First Unit, the White Rose Knights plunged into the enemy lines.
The infantry who made up the vanguard of the punitive force held up spears to prevent the White Rose Knights’ charge.
It might have been sufficient against ordinary cavalry, but the White Rose Knights weren’t ordinary cavalry.
Arrows and magic were fired from the rear by the Fifth and Sixth Units, breaking the infantry formation just before they collided with the First Unit.
「W-What? Are they serious? A support attack just before their own forces come in contact with the enemy……if they’re not careful, won’t they hurt their allies as well?」
One of the mercenaries who was following the First and Fourth Units of the White Rose Knights muttered in disbelief.
The reason was obvious. There would normally be a high chance of hitting your allies in such a situation.
However, the White Rose Knights were skilled enough that they were able to do such a thing without worrying about being hit from the back.
The fighters behind them all sighed in admiration of the knights that served directly under Her Highness Frizione.
Center, right wing, left wing. Mercurio’s army currently held the advantage in all of these battlefields.
In the mean time.
「Well then, let’s go Set.」
「Gurururu~!」
Rei called out to Set as he watched Mercurio’s army vanguard make contact, specifically the White Rose Knights.
「If we do well, this war should be over within a few hours. It’s true that the other side has probably prepared something for me……but can they make do just with magic items that absorb flames?」
Rei mumbled to himself as he got on Set’s back.
As if waiting for that, Set ran several steps before taking off into the sky.
As he flapped his wings, Set flew faster and higher.
Cheers could be heard from Mercurio’s army and screams from the punitive force.
Even though Rei was in Mercurio’s army, it was only natural for the punitive force, with tens of thousands of soldiers engaged in battle, to keep an eye out for Set’s presence, considering the countless times they had suffered losses due to Rei.
It had become common place among the punitive force to report it first if they saw any enemy flying over them than to deal with it later.
「Here he comes, it’s Crimson! Don’t let him fly freely through the sky! I want to shoot him down!」
At those words, countless arrows were fired at once. This was followed by rocks from catapults.
Although not as numerous as arrows, the punitive force and prepared a large number of catapults, so quite a number of rocks were lobbed towards Set.
Seeing that, Set flapped his wings to evade, flying even higher.
Mercurio’s army suffered some injuries from the arrows and rocks that didn’t hit Set, but most were avoided or defended against by holding up shields.
It was hard to block rocks with shields, so there was no choice but to avoid those.
In any case, despite the efforts taken to stop him, Set flapped his wings as he rose into the sky.
His altitude was about 150m.
Considering Set usually flew 100m above ground, he was already 50% higher than usual.
At that height, rocks from catapults couldn’t hit him and very few arrow would reach that height.
The few arrows that did reach that height weren’t hard for Set to avoid either, having lost most of their power.
Set flew freely through the sky as he flapped his wings.
Set might appear pea sized from the ground at that height, but those watching him couldn’t help but feel irritation.
To be exact, rather than irritation, they felt terror.
Only one man in the punitive force spoke as if it couldn’t be helped.
「I see. It’s certainly hard to deal with if they’re that high up. Well then, I guess I’ll head out.」
「You’re heading out?」
At the main camp of the punitive force……the man asked Noiz.
「Yeah. If things continue like this, there’s a chance that this place will be targeted directly. Besides, I want to see how much stronger he’s become in this short period of time.」
As he muttered out loud, he looked around for something to throw before landing his eyes on a spear held by a soldier.
He had heard that Rei was good at throwing spears.
(It might be interesting to use his special attack against him as the first attack……)
Just as he was thinking of playing this prank and was about to speak.
Countless objects fell from the sky towards the ground.
Noiz’s incredible vision captured what the objects were immediately.
Rocks. They were rocks about the size of human heads.
A large number of such rocks were being dropped from the sky as they poured down on the largest contingent of the punitive force.
Some people immediately raised their shields, but there was no way to defend against rocks dropped from such a height with just shields.
Some people who held their shields up had their arms broken and heads crushed.
As the rocks fell towards where people were gathered, it didn’t give many of them time to avoid, crushing many.
「Tch, that’s troublesome. Hey, lend me your spear.」
The soldier was stunned by the scene before him, but as an elite guard, he quickly came to his senses as he handed his spear over to Noiz.
This was the main headquarters of the punitive force, where Kabajid, Shurus, and the nobles who served them were.
Even Rei could understand that as he dropped several more rocks towards that position.
This was merely a preemptive attack using the rocks he had obtained from previously destroying multiple catapults.
The rocks didn’t quite fall like rain……but they were still quite numerous as they fell towards the rear of the punitive force.
The damage it caused was enormous as it took the lives of many soldiers, knights, and commanders.
Of course, Kabajid and Shurus’ location was naturally well defended as a mage used wind magic to stop the falling rocks.
In addition, since Rei and Set were 150m up in the air, the accuracy of the rocks wasn’t great.
Even if the rocks were each about the size of a human head, each rock was slightly different in shape.
There was also the effect of wind as the rocks fell.
Taking all that into account, you could imagine what the accuracy of the falling rocks was like.
And……
「Since I’m here, there’s no way I’ll let you continue doing this!」
With the spear from a nearby guard in his hands, Noiz pointed it towards Set, flying above him……and threw it as hard as he could.
The only reason he didn’t use Overlord’s Armour when doing so was because he thought it would be boring if he defeated them with a single blow.
In any case, the spear thrown by Noiz flew through the sky straight towards SEt.