The final and likely most intense battle in the Bestir Empire’s civil war.
Gurgast swung both his battleaxes on the front lines, slicing through any punitive force soldiers that stood in his way.
Despite his age, he showed no signs of fatigue as he rampaged through the enemy with the force of a storm.
「Hey hey! What’s wrong, what’s wrong!? Aren’t you the punitive force!? How can you not deal with a single old man like me!」
As he shouted, Gurgast cut through another soldiers with his battleaxe, leather armour and all.
His cuts weren’t clean like Rei’s attacks, rather Gurgasts attacks would literally chop the enemy soldiers to pieces.
「General, general! Saying thing like ‘I’m an old man’ isn’t going to convince anyone who sees you right now!」
One of Gurgast’s subordinates responded as they brandished their own halberd.
「Gahahahahahah, you’re absolutely right! If the general is an old man, then I wonder how many real monsters there truly are in the world!」
Another of Gurgast’s subordinates, who had been listening in, laughed out loud as their curved sword sliced off a soldier’s head.
An overwhelming slaughter was unfolding around them during this time.
……However, unlike most situations, the slaughter was being inflicted on the side with more soldiers.
The punitive force had the superior numbers and were also coordinating with each other properly.
And yet they were still on the losing end of the exchange.
They weren’t just being slowly pushed back either, they were being one-sidedly crushed.
It was as if they had become the prey in a hunt.
「Why, why are we getting pushed back so hard!? They’re not even fighting together, they’re just doing whatever they want……so why!?」
「That’s because you lot are just too weak!」
Gurgast cut the screaming soldier in half with a single strike from his right battleaxe.
Despite the soldier being a citizen of the Bestir Empire, Gurgast showed no hesitation.
His mouth even curved up slightly as he looked around and saw his subordinates enjoying the battle in their own way.
At first glace he appeared to be more like a bandit leader, and that wasn’t entirely wrong.
Gurgast’s unit was made up of soldiers who had never considered fighting together with others, preferring to fight their own battles.
The minimum level of restraint they had was to not attack those who surrendered and become prisoners.
……As for the punitive force soldiers who tried to take advantage of that to pretend to surrender before secretly attacking, they were quickly killed with their heads or bodies split apart.
「Hey hey, put your all into this! Your all! I don’t need anyone who has their spirit beaten back by their enemies!」
With a shout……or rather a shout better described as a roar, Gurgast’s battleaxe swung out again, knocking aside the long sword which a soldier tried to use to block before his second battleaxe crushed their head.
「Boss, we’ve split from Vihera-sama and the others. Should we wait?」
「It doesn’t matter. Vihera will meet back up with us soon. ……And more importantly, don’t call me boss! I’m not a bandit!」
Perhaps due to his excitement from the battle, Gurgast spoke Vihera’s name without any titles, despite being a former retainer.
One strike deflected the tip of a cavalry’s lance while a second strike cut through the horse’s leg.
As the rider tried to regain their balance after falling to the ground, Gurgast simply crushed their neck.
「Hmph, there’s no way for a cavalry charge to be effective in such a messy environment.」
He spat out as he looked for his next prey.
「I would like to stop you there. I wouldn’t be able to apologise to Prince Kabajid if we were to lose any more of our forces.」
A figure appeared as they spoke.
His body was covered in leather armour that didn’t restrict his movement.
The leather armour wasn’t made from ordinary monsters, but from a high ranking monster’s hide.
The sword in their hand wasn’t an ordinary long sword, but a magic sword.
It was clear that they weren’t just an ordinary soldier but a well known person.
The figure seemed familiar to Gurgast, who thought for a moment……before recognising who it was.
「Was your name, Bratta?」
As a skilled fighter among the First Prince’s faction, Bratta was well known for his confidence in battle.
The main reason why Gurgast hadn’t recognised him immediately was because he had mostly spent his time holed up in his own territory after Vihera ran away from the Bestir Empire.
As an eccentric person himself, Gurgast hadn’t gone to the Imperial Capital since.
He simply sought battle within his own territory.
……As a side effect of this, Gurgast’s Obrisin County became the target of bandits hoping to test their skills for a while, before eventually becoming one of the safest territories in the Bestir EMpire.
Gurgast himself, while a battle maniac, didn’t enjoy challenging weaker opponents to battle. He wasn’t someone fond of luxury either, so the taxes in his territory were comparatively lower than the territories of other nobles.
What his love of combat did result in was an increase in blacksmiths and shops who dealt in weapons and armour, which all received a fair amount of subsidies for them to do business.
This all led to a territory that was comfortable to live in and for people to gather, which was why Mercurio and Theorem had made it their original base of operations for the civil war.
「Yes, I know your name without you even needing to say it. You’re famous after all. ……But, just because you’re famous doesn’t mean you can go around decimating our forces, that would be a problem.」
Bratta pointed the tip of his sword towards Gurgast.
At the same time, a thin layer of water started to cover the blade.
「A magic sword that can control water, huh? Troublesome, but……that is all it is!」
No wanting to waste any more time, Gurgast charged forward with both battleaxes in hand.
「UOOOOOOH-!」
With a roar, Gurgast swung the battleaxe in his right hand.
Bratta blocked the attack with his magic sword as the water where the weapons clashed slid past Gurgast’s weapon and towards his body……
「Fuu-!」
But, before the water could reach him, Gurgast swung his arm out with a determined shout, scattering the water.
「Tch-, well done!」
「You think you can do anything to me with such a sloppy attack!?」
Gurgast swung his right and left battleaxes, one after the other, slightly staggering their timings to make them harder to avoid.
While Bratta had a magic sword, it wasn’t at the level where he could clash against a battleaxe head on……let alone continuously.
In fact, maybe due to its ability to control water, his magic sword was a lot weaker compared to other magic swords.
Of course, as a magic sword, it was still sturdier then ordinary long swords.
「Take this!」
With a shout, Bratta thrust out his sword.
His attack was so fast that all Gurgast could do was to try to deflect it with his axes.
However……that moment of deflection was what Bratta was aiming for.
「Just as I predicted!」
Water gathered at the tip of his magic sword, forming into a ball.
With the ball of water gathered at it’s tip, Bratta’s weapon would be better described as a mace made from water rather than a sword.
Reaching the conclusion that his long sword, which focused on speed and skill, was at a disadvantage against dual battleaxes, Bratta decided to use the mass of water as a weapon itself.
His weapon, or rather mass on a stick at this point, considering the 1m diameter ball of water at the end of his sword, swung down towards Gurgast.
A ball of water that big would normally be quite heavy and hard to swing.
However, Bratta’s magic sword had the ability to control water.
That was why he was able to still swing his sword around without any difficulty.
If his attack had hit, even a seasoned warrior like Gurgast would have taken significant injury.
……Yes. If it had hit.
「You think such basic attack will work on me!?」
Gurgast roared angrily as he swung both his battleaxes.
His attacks, made with impeccable speed and timing, destroyed the ball of water as it swung towards him……and at that moment, Gurgast saw a smile form on Bratta’s lips.
Unfortunately for Bratta, while Gurgast could see his smile, he failed to see the smile on Gurgast’s face.
Both of them considered this exchange of attacks to merely be a warm up before the real attack, but whether both sides knew this or not had minimal impact on the final outcome.
「HAAAAAAAAAAH-!」
「UOOOOOOOOOOH-!」
Both men gave shouts filled with fighting spirit as they unleashed their finishing blows……
「……I was…….was……overwhelmed? I abandoned my friends and fled pathetically when facing Crimson……I got this weapon to become much stronger……」
「You lost because you sought strength in other things. Know that your strength is yours alone.」
Gurgast muttered as both his battleaxes cut into Bratta’s left and right shoulders.
As for Bratta’s magic sword, it stopped just short of reaching Gurgast’s neck.
It was just an instant……just a split second, but that difference was enough to decided the battle.
「Da……mn……it……」
Reaching his limit, Bratta bare got those words out of his mouth before collapsing to the ground.
Gurgast gave a snort as he watched Bratta’s magic sword fall to the ground before speaking.
「Hmph, that’s because you relied too much on your magic sword rather than improving your own strength. ……Hey, take this guy to the rear and treat him. I’m taking him prisoner.」
「Oh, boss. You didn’t kill him?」
「He has a lot of weaknesses, but he was still quite impressive. ……Also, stop calling me ‘boss’.」
Putting down his right battleaxe, Gurgast took out some potions from a pouch he had before pouring it randomly over the unconscious Bratta.
「It’s rare for you to rate someone so highly, boss.」
「It’s just your imagination. He’s got some talent. With some more experience, he’ll be able to go toe-to-toe with me. ……Also, I told you to stop calling me ‘boss’.」
Gurgast replied with a slightly annoyed expression, but his subordinate didn’t seem to care.
「I understand. I’ll have him sent to the rear right away boss!」
「……Ah, whatever. Just take him away.」
Perhaps realising there was no point scolding his subordinate any further, Gurgast gave a sigh before picking his battleaxe back up.
His subordinate picked up Bratta at the same time before swiftly leaving.
「Seriously. ……But, well……that was quite the good fight.」
Though still a little annoyed that his subordinate continued to call him ‘boss’, a fierce smile formed on Gurgast’s lips as he thought about the first fulfilling fight he’d had in a while.
Looking around, the battle was still raging and he gripped his battleaxes tighter in his excitement.
「Now then……you’ll have to fight with me a bit longer to calm this excitement!」
With that shout, Gurgast charged towards the nearest punitive force soldier, slashing at them.
The soldier, who had been trying to sneak attack some of Gurgast’s subordinates, who were fighting nearby, instinctively thrust their spear out due to their overwhelming fear of death.
In terms of taking advantage of an enemy’s defenses, spears were a good weapon, considering their range and ability to be thrust out.
But……against someone wielding battleaxes in both hands and with a wicked smile on their lips, a spear was no match.
No, rather, a more skilled soldier might have been able to do something.
However, they wouldn’t still be a soldier at that point and they probably wouldn’t have been able to handle Gurgast in the end either.
「You dare to do something as dirty as sneak attacking us!?」
With an angry shout, Gurgast’s battleaxes split the soldier diagonally in half as the strong smell of blood spread out.
……Naturally, the strong smell of blood was only to be expected, considering how fierce the fighting was on this battlefield.
With Bratta, one of the punitive force’s strongest fighters, defeated and taken prisoner, the battle started to swing heavily in Mercurio’s favour.