[Hidden Title]

""YES, SIR!""

At the call of Furio the archers in the inner circle lifted their bows and aimed, the little girls included.

*BUZZ*BUZZ*BUZZ*

210 were shot. The enemies lifted their shields, however, only the fastest ones were able to survive.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! Who came up with this strategy!? It's so shameless!" Shouted Titio.

"Actually, it's quite amazing. Using their only advantage that we can't attack them from behind to their favor… since when did Felio have someone like this?" Pondered Excelio.

"This is not looking good. Nearly 1000 of our men have fallen while they had lost only 100-something men. The ratio of dead is 1 per 10!" said Rufo.

"It's seems that we can't stay still anymore," said Excelio while lifting his sword.

............

On the other side, Felio and Leonardo were looking the battlefield with ecstatic expressions.

"It's working great!" exclaimed Leonardo.

"For the moment at least… but don't forget," said Felio while looking at the other side, "they haven't take action yet."

Suddenly, Felio's eyes focused on someone.

"He's coming!"

A tall man with brown hair and a silver armor walked quietly to the battlefield. His sword had a silver handle and the blade was rusty. It's obvious that the sword had seen a lot of battles. Alfonso, who was looking from above saw the man, or to be more specific, saw the sword.

"Interesting," he mused, "that man is using a Spatha, an ancient roman weapon. It's a powerful weapon when it comes to one on one battles!"

The Spatha sword was the successor of the Gladius sword in the Roman army in the 1st century. The transition between both swords also reflected the transition between military strategies in the Roman Empire. It was obvious they had to adapt to the combat style of their enemy, the barbarians.

"It's a shame that this sword was the one that saw the fall of the empire," chuckled Alfonso.

"Anyway… that man…. He's dangerous," thought Alfonso.

Excelio walked into the battlefield slowly and his aura seemed to change.

"Is this what people call… battle aura?" asked Alfonso to Artemis.

"Yes, that man has killed before and not a small amount," confirmed Artemis.

"Leonardo," said Felio.

"Don't say anymore Your Majesty," said Leonardo. He grabbed his swords and walked towards the battlefield.

Both men walked slowly. Leonardo had two swords on hand while Excelio only had one.

"Dual swords?" asked Alfonso.

"Yeah…. Leonardo is a master in dual swords. My father was the one who taught him. He and I were both taught by my late father back when we were young. It was his personal style…. I wasn't skilled with both swords, however, he was. In fact, he defeat my father before he graduated," said Felio to the flower.

Alfonso nodded and looked at both men.

"Leonardo, step back. You are not my match," said Excelio coldly.

"We will see about that," said Leonardo.

Excelio made a small sigh before lifting his sword. Leonardo bent his knees slightly.

""HAAAAA!"" Both men ran with all their might towards the other and Excelio jumped while Leonardo lifted both swords to intercept!

*CLANK*CLANK*

The sound of metal colliding resounded in the battlefield!

Leonardo quickly made a kick motion towards Excelio's stomach. Excelio didn't let him and bent his body evading the kick. With both hands grabbing the sword he made a rotation and used the centrifugal force to empower his attack!

Leonardo felt the imminent danger, however, due to the position of his body he only could use one sword to defend while putting all his force into his left arm to pierce the other's foot.

*CLANG!*

When both swords collided, Leonardo felt his arm turn numb. He let go of the sword and fell down. Due to this, the sword that was aiming at Excelio's foot didn't reach its target and the sword pierced the ground.

"Damn," Leonardo thought while grabbing his left arm.

"I told you. You aren't at my level." Excelio kicked the sword of Leonardo aside and walked towards Leonardo. He lifted his own sword and prepared to do the finishing touch.

*BUZZ*

"What?!" Excelio felt something aiming at him and tried to evade, but it was too late. The arrow pierced his hand!

"AHHH!" Excelio grabbed his hand in pain and let go of his sword.

Leonardo didn't hesitate and grabbed his sword and, with two swords in hand, he made a cross attack towards the back of Excelio. Excelio felt the danger and jumped forward to evade the blades. He grit his teeth and grabbed his sword with both hands despite the intense pain in his hand and prepared to attack. However, he felt something coming to him again, but this time, he was prepared. He lifted his sword and intercept the arrow.

*PANG*

With the back of his blade he deviated the arrow. He rotated his body and thence intercepted the swords of Leonardo once again.

*CLANG*

Like this, Excelio was in a dangerous position: evading both arrows and sword attacks. Despite this, he only received a certain amount of damage every now and then.

"That archer is aiming at my vulnerable spots every single attack! How??" Excelio panicked as his body started to feel more and more heavy.

"THAT FUCKING ARCHER!" shouted Titio.

"Mmmm…. Indeed, at this rate, Excelio will get killed," chuckled Alberto.

Titio looked at Alberto with hate, however, Alberto didn't seem to mined.

"What do you want?" asked Titio.

"That's more like it!" Said Alberto with a happy expression.

Alberto lifted 2 fingers.

"20% of Arcadia's income," said Alberto.

"YOU!!" Titio bellowed.

He had an indignant face however, after seeing his son once last time, he bite his lips hard.

"Deal!"

"Hehe, I knew you were a smart man Titio!" said Alberto laughing.

Alberto looked above and made a small smile.

"Well, it's time to have some fun."

............

Alfonso looked at Excelio with his red pupils, he used Mark of the Hunter as soon at the battle with Leonardo started.

"That guy is powerful. He is evading arrows and swords. I would love to have him on my side," thought Alfonso.

Alfonso was preparing to shoot one more arrow when he suddenly felt something. His face became pale and he started sweating. He even felt that he couldn't breathe. He grabbed his chest and looked at the battlefield. There, he saw a bald muscular man looking at him with a big smile.

"What…."

"Alfonso, I will go. That man is dangerous," said Artemis while touching Alfonso's back. Alfonso suddenly felt the heavy feeling disappearing.

"What… what happen?" asked weakly Alfonso.

"That man used his presence to challenge your spirit. Even this far way, he could kill someone who hadn't been in the battlefield like you. Only people like Heracles or Odysseus could do something like that!" said Artemis.

"Artemis… this is an order: Protect Felio. Do not let him die. I will be fine," said Alfonso.

"But…"

"I will be fine, now go."

Artemis hesitated for a moment before nodding and promptly disappearing.