Chapter 22

Pure unadulterated fear, that was what was going on in the minds of the fifty thousand soldiers that had been camping for the past seven days...

It all began with several thousands of them getting sick, those that were infected screamed in agony, it felt like their bodies were on fire... but that wasn't it! Everytime they moved even a single muscle, it would hurt as if they were getting torn to shreds.

None could sleep, the screams of their comrades were just too loud...

Food and water was aplenty, atleast they had that.

They were tricked from the very beginning! How foolish they were to actually be taunted by the prince...

Some broke down, many others were crying...

Something didn't let them escape, it was as if they were going in circles but never knew where to start from!

Sophia too was quite stressed but doing far better than her soldiers whom were at their lowest.

And just like that, several days passed...

Two more days! That was it... but didn't they have to fight against the prince's army?!

"I can't do this anymore!" Hollered one soldier and started bashing his head against a tree, several of his colleagues rushed to him and dragged him back from his attempt in suicide...

-●-●-●-

"This is what lack of sleep does to an army!" Marcus mumbled to himself.

"These guys are truly the worst... weak and lazy!" A woman mentioned in a cold voice.

"But his highness has already taught us what to do in situations like these already..." he heard a voice from the back.

"Yeah... he truly is the greatest man I've ever seen!" Marcus muttered in daze as a smug smile was plastered on his face.

'I'm honoured to serve under him...' he thought and turned back to his people and nodded, they had mischievous grins and disappeared into the darkness..

-●-●-●-

The army was asleep, finally! They closed their eyes with happy smiles, somehow the disease was contained and cured mysteriously...

Just as they were about to step into dreamland the soldiers heard loud thunderous roars from all around them.

The irritation from not being able to sleep properly got to them as they charged into the forest with a rage filled shout!

Yet... those that went into the forest never came back...

"W-W-WHAT IS THIS PLACE?!" A young soldier wailed and took out his sword, he then turned his sword at his chest and turned to the crowd and then plunged it into his heart as the onlookers stared at him in shock.

The soldier died as the closest person who was standing next to him laughed maniacally...

"This... this is punishment! This is what we get for not taking him seriously..." He said with a terrified expression.

The others gulped, it can't be wrong right?

"I think this is a weeding process... only the ones who survive in this goddamned forest are taken!" he shouted hysterically as the other gulped.

-●-●-●-

"Hmm... now what will they do?" Marcus voiced out and looked at the army curiously.

'They would either kill each other or unite and do something... both are wrong answers because all we need to do is mentally strain them!' He mused.

"Let's go to base" He ordered his group, who then disappeared from the forest.

-●-●-●-

Alexis was coldly staring at the army given to him, they were shivering, trembling and stared at him with terror in their eyes.

"You couldn't even survive in a forest for two weeks! Fifty thousand men couldn't survive for two weeks! Pathetic! What the hell on Terra were you doing in the Imperial training camps!?" He asked them.

"Th-The forest is cursed!" One of the soldiers shouted.

"Yeah, that forest is cursed!" Soon they started complaining...

"I can assure that the forest is normal, you insects couldn't even survive in a normal forest and now have the guts to say that it's cursed?!" Alexis chuckled darkly.

"Everyone who complained... will be executed!" He declared and turned to soldiers who moved away from the group which complained.

"Kill them!" Alexis ordered.

"..."

"Anyone who doesn't obey my orders will be executed by me..." He mumbled and released his mana.

Within seconds, the soldiers took out their swords and hacked at their surrounded comrades who screamed and pleaded while some fought back...

'Now there is around forty five thousand!' Alexis smiled.

"The reason why you were given to me was truly because you were all horrible performers in your respective armies... infact, your high performing comrades are probably even laughing at you!" He said in a loud voice so that even the soldiers in the back would hear him.

They clenched their fists in anger...

"I personally don't think you all are horrible soldiers BUT are rather absolute trash in my eyes... If you want to prove me wrong, take my hand and join my forces! If you want to prove to your Generals that they made a mistake in discarding you all so easily, take my hand! If you want to make a name for yourself, take my hand! One thing will be assured if you join me, and that is... No man will be left behind!" He shouted and used his hands, gesturing and shouting as if he were a great leader full of charisma...

"Those who leave now however... will be kicked out of the army and are banned from joining the forces ever again!" He stated.

Alexis wasn't joking when he said this, he would kill all the soldiers that quit... he doesn't want anyone leaking information to the Empire as of now!

The soldiers gulped...

"But first, let me demonstrate you just how good my special force is! There will be a mock battle and it will start... NOW!" He said excitedly as a thousand soldiers marched from within the forest and stopped behind Alexis.

"In times of war, you have no time to rest... if you want to prove and dedicate yourselves to me, then you will have to taste a battle first hand! Good luck and remember! If you die, it just means that you are weak!" He reminded them and sat on a tree top.

"Now, I will explain the scenario... The Imperial forces are on an expedition against an enemy nation, after two weeks of exploring a dense jungle which is supposedly a shortcut to the enemy capital, the army exits the forest only to be ambushed immediately by the enemy forces..." Alexis narrated.

"Trash, you may go back to the forest and plan a defense strategy while my army will be hidden for a while..."

"The battle will commence as soon as a flare like this!" Alexis said and demonstrated a ball of mana in his hand that was shot up into the sky and exploded into countless light particles.

"Woah..." the soldiers looked at the sky in awe.

"Half of the army is required to leave the forest and enter the frontlines, if not... you will be executed after the mock battle!" Alexis warned them.

"Now go... I'll come back in exactly one hour" Alexis then disappeared in a blinding flash of light.

-●-●-●-

"General, what do you think?" A middle aged soldier asked Sophia who was in deep thinking.

"Gather our troops, we already know it's an ambush but we don't know the tactics of the enemy... our soldiers are already so tired, we are literally supposed to lose!" She sighed and massaged her forehead.

"We only have an hour of planning, the soldiers are horrible... why did my father give me an army like this?" She asked nobody in particular and wiped the tears forming on her eyes...

"*sigh* General, we don't know what will happen... but! I believe that this is a blessing disguised as a curse..." The middle aged man said with a small encouraging smile.

"Hopefully it is... inform the captains, tell them that they are to order the soldiers to keep their shields up, something doesn't feel right... they won't kill us... right?" She asked the man who shrugged.

"Whether they die or not, it is the crown prince we are talking about, I think he wouldn't care if our soldiers died or not, he probably only wants the best of the best!" The man mused and continued.

"I feel that there is a storm brewing in the capital and we might be right in the middle of it all!" He said solemnly as Sophia sighed.

"Enough of this talk... tell our men to be prepared for anything and not break formation when going out!" She shouted at the man who nodded and left to inform the captains...

-●-●-●-

"Attack from inside the forest?" Marcus questioned Alexis who nodded.

"They already know that we will attack them from the outside, but they as soldiers need to be prepared for any scenario! Sometimes the information is wrong, especially when it came from the General of the enemy team!" Alexis chuckled as Marcus was shocked...

"Sir, I don't think they will like that!" Marcus voiced out his opinion as Alexis snorted.

"So what? I don't care whether they like it or not, in the end, their only goal is to serve me and me only!" He replied and stood up.

"Marcus, prepare the forces!" Alexis ordered Marcus who nodded and left immediately.

-●-●-●-

With a blinding flash of light in the sky, the mock battles had begun...

Twenty five thousand soldiers rushed out of the forest cautiously, they were in several Testudo formations.

Sophia glanced at the soldiers who were getting further and further away and sighed, hopefully Alexis doesn't kill her...

A sudden scream brought her back to reality as she looked around, including the twenty five thousand soldiers that were sent out.

There was chaos and confusion in the General's army, nobody knew how they came but everybody knew that they showed no mercy...

Quick deadly attacks tore through Sophia's army that was too surprised to even hold against the ambushing force.

"Come back!" A captain shouted at the force sent out...

Within a matter of minutes, the entire army was in disarray.

-●-●-●-

Marcus looked at the scene with cold eyes and made a signal to his colleagues who were on top of a few trees, these trees had been installed with weaponry similar to hwachas...

"Fire!" He shouted as hundreds upon hundreds of iron arrows were shot at the entire army.

-●-●-●-

The screams of the expeditionary army made the General's army lose their concentration as they turned to see their comrades on the ground with metal arrows going through them...

'Does he plan on killing us?' This thought went through all the soldiers alive and healthy.

"Concentrate the forces into the clearing!" Sophia ordered as she and her army went towards the expeditionary army.

-●-●-●-

'What is she doing?' Alexis was curious and observed Sophia who was bringing her army out into the open... which in his opinion was quite stupid... she is risking the lives of her troops and losing the cover of the trees!

"Oh? I see..." He realised what she was doing and gave her weird look.

By sending her troops into the firing range of the enemies, she would join the expedition army and defend with their shields which would act like a 360° Testudo formation...

"But this... you can stay cooped up in a formation only for so long... in situations where you are confused and not sure of what to do, you need to retreat..." He mumbled and shook his head.

'This sort of damage was something even I haven't expected...' He thought.

He then shot out a mana flare from his hand, effectively stopping all activity.

-●-●-●-

"I must say... that was pathetic!" Alexis commented as he carefully walked across the dead bodies of the soldiers given to him...

The army stayed silently, still shocked at what had happened.

"You... YOU BASTARD!" The soldiers shouted, tears freely falling down their eyes as they looked at the bodies of their once alive comrades...

"Are you angry?" Alexis asked them as the army stayed quiet, they were glaring at him.

"Well... whatever, Firstly, I would like to let you all know that none of this would have happened if you actually took this very seriously! Now do you know how horrible you all are? This is what would happen if you fought in an actual battlefield!" Alexis stated coldly as he amplified his voice with mana.

"This was supposed to be a mock battle and yet thousands of your comrades are dead! Wake up from whatever dream you are in! This is the reality of your progress... absolute trash! My soldiers were numbered at a thousand but they crippled a force forty five times bigger than theirs!" Alexis reprimanded them as the soldiers looked around...

His speech was working on them...

"Today, you may cry to heart's content for the loss of your friends... but from tomorrow onwards, you will train and train until you can prevent something like this from ever happening again! You joined the army to fight, not to fool around! I'm giving you an opportunity of a lifetime... whether you will take it or leave it, is completely upto you all!"

"And if you think this was tough, you have no idea what my soldiers had gone through..." He ended his speech.

Many of the army was openly crying, they realised what happened... ofcourse not all of then felt this way and hatefully glared at Alexis, but many of them had determined expressions on their faces...

"Clean this mess up!" He ordered them.

"SIR, YES SIR!" These soldiers that had been listening intently to everything he had said were angry at him, but they also knew that the sacrifices of their friends had woken them up...

It wasn't a nice thing to think about but they were grateful that Alexis killed their friends but also hated him at the same time!

-●-●-●-

"Marcus, make sure to properly train them okay?" He asked his unofficial right hand man gently.

"Ofcourse! I'll make them the best army in the world!" Marcus grinned at him as Sophia walked in.

"Your highness..." She looked at him with a complicated gaze.

"I'll be taking my leave then!" Marcus said and walked out.

"What is it Sophia?" He asked the woman infront of.

"Will you train me?" She asked him bashfully.

"Later, I need to get home now..." Alexis said and disappeared...

Sophia sighed and remembered his words last night after the mock battle. Alexis had talked to all the soldiers of her army and had explained them everything wrong, he had succeeded in making them change their opinion of him even if it was a little...