38
38- ROUND ONE
They marched at midnight.
The path followed the edge of the forest out into open fields of drying grass and winding rivers. The planes were vast, rows upon rows of bridle, brown hay filled with critters as far as the eye can see. To their right platoons combined into companies, which dominoed all the way up to an entire corp division. Hundreds of thousands of men came up to line beside them to march. Their platoon was at the bottom of the line, or top, depending on your perspective.
But the clear power difference between them and the unit over was immense.
They were but lambs to the slaughter.
Osiris soothed his mana.
"Almost. Be patient. I promised, didn't I?"
At the front, Osiris stood beside Hakim with Haldir at the back. They were short staffed again, and the reality was that Haldir would lose Osiris once the fight started. They all agreed Haldir would be best suited as support in the back.
Well, Osiris agreed to it.
Hakim said nothing as the boy talked to himself.
A lot of his soldiers were in their own heads at the moment. The fear was pungent as it wafted through the air, carrying it deeper into the valley.
By twilight they arrived to face the Howling Woods.
Their unit was stationed where they were solely responsible for clogging the Coyote Cove. It was a long stretch of dirt between two mountains that led right into the Howling Woods. Osiris looked in wonder at a very clear border between the forest and the tundra. Where the two met, a thick layer of ice sat against lush, green grass. Osiris could see the ice melting into the grass and grass constantly freezing and dying as the two sides fought over the land.
The biomes in this world were crazy.
"What the hell is that?!"
Will watched his platoon start to unsettle.
"Enough. That is just the Prince."
"The Prince…"
The soldiers looked towards the seventeenth platoon. Platoon Sergeant Will also glanced that way. There were only a few miles between the units, each lining up like little sardines. The fact that they could feel that child's aura from here was... If he remembers correctly, that boy's aura only felt like a kitten's claw before.
But now…
Will settled his men down.
"Why did the higher ups make everyone learn about your brother? Are they scared someone might mistake him for an enemy or something?"
Darwin didn't even want to respond to the obvious question.
A royal who hasn't had their introduction party is fighting in a war where no one knows who they are or what they look like. That's dangerous when royalty is supposed to be treated as a high priority.
Darwin still wonders how his Mother got that boy at the front.
"I believe it is to warn everyone about his leak."
"Do they think a little kid is going to distract us? I doubt we'd be able to even feel his mana among the beastmen."
Darwin agreed, but… There was always a but when it came to his brother.
The bodies began to line up.
The mood was solemn. Everyone stood and stared at the ground, some gritting their teeth, others cried, there was only one person who was the complete opposite of the crowd. Hakim watched the boy jump in place, fire feet hopping back and forth as the boy hyped himself up.
He could see it starting to get to his men.
Osiris was none the wiser, mind looking past the trees and into the thicket where light could not reach. He was excited. So much of his effort was about to bear fruit. He could almost taste it. His mana was purring, searching.
They both made a decision that morning.
He was going to try and end this fight today.
He wasn't doing it to end the war, on the contrary, he wanted to prove to himself that he could do it whenever he wanted to. He had to. If he could prove this then for the rest of the war he can focus on growing.
He needed to know all his work meant something.
Even if that meaning was just for himself.
He punched his fists together a few times, mouth steaming with heavy, muggy air. It fell out of his mouth like a fog rounding over a curb.
"Will you stop! We're all about to die and you're just goofing around!"
A broken, shrill voice broke the silence.
Osiris didn't stop, instead he laughed, shrill and boisterous. The sound of child's laughter filled the canyon eerily as the sun peeked over the horizon.
"Don't you get it!"
Osiris threw himself wide, leaving one foot to balance as motioned towards the land.
The sun flooded through, hitting the Prince and giving him an orange, eerily stark glow.
"We're always about to die."
The boy filled his lungs with air, pushing his chest out.
"It doesn't matter if it's today, or tomorrow. If I'm eating or if I'm sleeping. If I'm driving-" A few confused faces. "-or if I'm playing."
Osiris' face went blank.
"We will all die someday."
He smiled before turning back to face the forest edge.
Sunnie let her tears fall as she glared at the ground. She couldn't even be mad that he was a royal either. She looked towards the trees. He was here too. He was with them, ready to die for a country that doesn't even want them. Sunnie wiped her tears.
"Kid's right," A body user, twenty six female, set off her aura and started to power up. "If we're all going to die, might as well take some of them with us!"
"She's right!"
Another powered up, then another. Soon the entire platoon was trying to pep themselves up for battle. Osiris's smile turned devious as he dropped the full weight of his ego upon them. The first drop is always rough, but after the initial fear passed the soldiers roared. The Prince's power, and the knowledge that he is not their enemy, kicked those who were hesitant to join in. Soon the entire platoon could be heard from miles away.
"What do you think they're doing Sergeant Fran?"
Fran pursed her lips as another wave of commotion made it's way down the line. It was only one unit causing the scene, and it was always the last unit. Pigs to the slaughter, they always squeal before they die like the maggots they are.
"Leave it. They're just commoners."
"But isn't the Prince down there?"
"A bastard might as well be the same thing."
Osiris could feel it.
They were coming.