Declaration of War

The armies walked in sync for a day before setting camp. They had one more day to prepare for the invading army, and then the war would start. Ed chose not to teleport such a huge number of people, as it would have sapped all his KI without leaving a single drop.

Soldiers started preparing tents where they could rest, while all the important figures set their own huge tent. Inside of it, all of those with a significant cultivation level stood inside. Arthur was chosen as the supreme commander of the coalition army, while the other kings acted as the respective generals of their armies. Currently, the distribution of army forces was being discussed.

"All the kings will have to wait with me in here. The commanders will need to lead the armies and will have the help of two lieutenants. The armies will be split into three, with the main one having 100.000 soldiers, and two more with 50.000 each. Hayato, as most of the soldiers in the main army will be from your kingdom, you'll be the commander. Leonard and Dean, you two will take care of the right and left armies respectively."

Arthur started delegating roles according to the knowledge he had. Dean referred to the general of Scale kingdom, and he seemed eager to prove himself after his blunder. Hayato, although young, seemed capable of leading such a huge army. Of course, he wouldn't need to do it alone. Arthur started delegating lieutenants to help the commanders of the armies.

Bard and Audun joined Hayato's army as his two lieutenants. Their experience with war proved to be valuable and would plug any holes Hayato's inexperience could create. Edmund and the general of Avalez joined Leonard. Titan and Kaebor's generals joined Dean. Some of the younger generations were split up over the three armies. Ellie, Alicia, and Emilia joined Leonard, Leon and Liz went to Dean's, and Charlie, Griffin, and Eric were put under Hayato's command. No one commented about working under Hayato who seemed too young to lead an army. Their supreme commander let out his thoughts and they would not refute them.

However, even if they respected Arthur's decisions, one thing remained inexplicable to them. Ed and his monsters, arguably the ones that could change the whole flow of the war, didn't join any of the armies. Arthur noticed this and commented immediately.

"Ed and his companions would remain as an independent unit. They are given the right to join any army at any time to provide support." No one seemed to understand the reason behind this. Only the ones that spoke to Ed back in Avalon looked different. As if they couldn't accept what Ed would do.

"That is all. We will discuss things further the next morning, for now, get some rest." Arthur dismissed everyone, and instead of resting he started reviewing things even further. Which army needed the most war horses, which ones would need weapons, so on and so forth. Blood didn't plan on exhausting their entire forces in this war. They came to this continent with the intention of conquering it. So, they needed to preserve their strength to fight some of the remaining kingdoms. Defeating the coalition army would be 80% of their job done, but they couldn't forget about the 20% that remained.

"I guess this is the end for us hahaha!" Among the group of soldiers, many were talking to pass time. Some stayed in a state of meditation, some looked at the sky, and some slept. They did not have much hope of winning this war.

"You've always wanted to die in a blaze of glory in the wilderness instead of inside a house, surrounded by walls." A man, seemingly the friend of the first one, answered him. The two of them looked like polar opposites. The first one was fat and big, while the second one looked weak and skinny.

"That's right! There is nothing better in dying in the freedom of the wild. Being confined inside a house and dying without even looking at the sky is a shame!"

The group of soldiers kept talking amongst themselves. Though they were nervous, afraid, and hopeless, not one of them had the idea of deserting.

"I'll have to rely on you two, Sieg, Raikou." Inside his own tent, Ed set up a dimension and discussed his plans once again with his companions. None of them said anything. They only nodded and moved on.

Nighttime caught up with them, and even though 200.000 stayed in the same area, one could hear crickets. People struggled to sleep, but they needed to so they could prepare for tomorrow.

Morning came, and the commanders introduced themselves to the armies. The armies got deployed the way Arthur decided and they stood still, waiting for the enemy. One figure stood in front of all the armies and army commanders.

Ed activated his En and sent it in one straight line. By concentrating his En this way, he managed to extend its reach to thousands of meters. He maintained for a couple of hours until he finally picked up on something. He turned around and nodded, not knowing if anyone even saw him. But, they did. The army commanders and kings back at their camp understood that this meant the enemy had appeared.

"The enemies have come!" Leonard and Dean shouted, and were followed by Hayato. The soldiers couldn't see the enemies, but they felt the change in the atmosphere.

Soon enough, a giant cloud of dust appeared on the horizon. After a little bit of time passed, they could hear the footsteps of the giant army. The footsteps seemed like thunder striking in the ears of the soldiers. Their hearts beat harder, and they could feel their body heat increase. Once they started seeing the army, they felt like they saw a black sea. The human soldiers covered the entire wasteland where they came from. Beasts started howling and soldiers started shouting. Faced with this, the armies of the coalition started trembling. Those with a weak will couldn't keep themselves together, but those strong enough seemed right at home.

The enemy army stopped and spanned the entire area in front of Ed. It looked like they were split into five gigantic armies of 200.000 humans and monsters. Each one of their armies totaled the entirety of the coalition.

One horseman detached himself from the enemy army and approached Ed. Once he stood face to face with him, he started speaking.

"Surrender, or die." The man pointed his spear at Ed as if threatening him.

"We refuse," said Ed.

"Then die." The man tried to impale Ed with his spear, but he couldn't move his arm. His whole body couldn't move, and his point of view started dropping. Once he stopped, he gazed at Ed from below and didn't understand what happened.

In fact, it was rather simple. Ed understood what the man would do, and acted before he did. Before the man could move, Ed sent a flying slash, decapitating both the man and his horse.

Ed walked over to the head of the man and impaled it with his own spear. He raised the head very high, causing the armies behind him to shout in victory.

This was Ed's declaration of war.