28.

"What?! I thought that reinforcements would only come till next day?!" A powerhouse being attacked by three of my commanders shouted. His partner died because of the sudden interference of two commanders from the side of the Duke.

"Hehe, looks like Lord Duke's plan worked." Dale said while Charles chuckled.

"Of course. The enemies are fools. They were so sure of their victory that they didn't even check the forests for any threat, now they'll have to pay the price." Charles said as he launched another aura blade towards the enemy powerhouse.

With Charles and Dale breaking the deadlock between the enemy powerhouse and Blackwood commanders, they soon regained the upperhand. The soldiers seeing their commanders winning, lit the tiny flame left in their hearts. Hope was reignited and their morale was raised through the roof. The Sword-shield vanguards stood their ground as they raised their shields to block the enemy assault. Even if they were struck by enemy swords, before they fall in battle, they would bring one, no, three more soldiers down with them.

The archers beside them released their arrows furiously, not caring if their ammunition run out. When their arrows run out, they would ran in front, take out their short sword, pick up the shield and help the vanguard out. They did their best to survive the war. They didn't care about glory anymore, if their help can make them survive for much longer, then they would gladly do it.

It was a total clown fiesta, where, if the soldiers got knocked down, they would grab a handful of dirt and hurl it towards the enemy soldiers. They would even target the enemy's groin just to win. The enemy cursed about their current predicament and would shout about how dirty their enemies play but the soldiers care none for it. They wanted to survive for as long as they can, if they didn't, then it must be fated that they will die down in this place.

The thought of dying scared them which bolstered their survival instincts. Adrenaline kicked inside their body and helped them overpower the soldiers.

The supporting mages behind them did their best to cast enhancement magic to the allied soldiers even if they drained themselves out. The offensive mages also did their work by firing spells in a crowded enemy area.

Looking at the fighting below, I was surprised. I thought that they wouldn't let go of a soldier's honor but looking at them using dirty tricks that they know of to gain any kind of advantage, I was happy.

'It seems that their determination to live to enjoy the fruits of their hard work is far more greater than their thoughts of dying.' I thought as I brandished my spear to clear the remaining enemy vanguard troops atop of the walls.

"Sword shield warriors! Block the stairway and don't let any enemy get past you! Archers! Rain hell on enemy soldiers! Mages! Do your worst and hit them with the spells in your arsenals! Be careful not to hit your allies, they too wanted to survive this stupid war that the west has brought us!" I shouted and I was about to go down when another laser beam was seen but this time, it didn't come from our side, it came from the enemy army's camp. The laser beam wasn't targeted towards our direction and I can't help but worry for Uncle Wilhelm.

'Uncle Wilhelm, come out of that place alive or I'll have to drag you out of hell myself. A person I know lives there.' I thought as I shook my thoughts and focused on the task at hand and that was to slay all the invaders.

Now that the enemy soldiers were closed off with the help of the cavalry composed of the Royal Guards and the regiment of my elite soldiers, its time to wrap them up.

*

{A few months before the war}

We were planning on what we should do about the invasion, most of the commanders said that we should stand our ground and wait for reinforcement and it gained many approval from other commanders but I shook my head.

"You're all throwing the initiative away. With that kind of mindset, we won't be able to last long against a siege from the enemies." I said and the commanders were silent at my words.

"Then what do you propose Lord Duke?" Ayze asked me.

"We will still hold our ground but not to wait for the allied reinforcements, in fact, we will use the news of reinforcements as baits. My goal is to wipe out all the enemy invaders and show them our power." I said and the commanders were shocked at my words.

"How could we do it, Lord Duke? We are seriously outnumbered and they will surely attack us with their full force. They will intend to finish the siege before nightfall. If they managed to occupy this land, it will be hard to retake it with just simple reinforcements." Dale said with a slight doubt on his face. Many commanders shared the same sentiment but when I laid down my plan to pincer them and trap them inside my territory, not allowing one to escape, they were shocked and full of doubts as well.

"We're already outnumbered and you still want to cut down our numbers? Will we be able to last until that point, Lord Duke?" Charles asked me this time.

"Have you no faith towards the soldiers you trained yourselves? If you are truly competent commanders, you won't doubt that your soldiers are strong and even proclaim that your regiment is the strongest." My words shook them to the core as they reluctantly accepted my plan.

Their pride as a commander didn't make then shy away from responsibilities and they continued training their soldiers to proclaim that their regiment did the most in the war. No one wanted to be worst so they became much harsher in their training but the results showed that, although they can't compare to the truly elite soldiers, their soldiers will best those soldiers from other's territory. They even colluded with other commanders to have some mock training to train them for any kind of situation.

*

The results of their hardwork now showed their results in front of the enemy's main army. Outnumbered? F*ck you, we were beaten so hard by the elite soldiers even if they were smaller in number, they didn't even wear the armor they were so proud of and we were beaten to the point that bruises filled our faces.

We archers are only good at range attacks? Screw you! Have you been stabbed by wooden lances so hard that breathing is the most hardest thing you could do?! Have you been surrounded by shields and been bashed by them so hard that your head felt like it caved in and made you stupid?

As for us mages? Have you experienced the feeling of helplessness? Having your spells destroyed before it was even casted? Have you experienced being the sparring partner of the Duke himself? Because we've never seen a magic barrier being broken right in front of us by a child who's age was younger than us by 10 years or more.

All regiments experienced hardships and now fighting the enemies in front of them were not scary anymore. It was like child's play in their minds. They faced their weakness and improved themselves to face any kind of situation and gain the upper hand.

"MEN!! TIME TO WRAP THIS WAR!!" I roared at the top of my lungs. My childish voice was funny but it contained a kind of charisma that made my soldiers' blood boil.

"TIME TO WRAP THIS UP!!" A soldier shouted and many soldiers followed him by shouting the same thing. The soldiers hacked at their foes, shoot them with their arrows, and blasted them with spells, they wanted to finally wrap this war up.

I joined the fray as I ran down the stairs and helped them slay the enemies. Our army commanders have finished breaking the deadlock among the powerhouses but some of the powerhouses were quick on the uptake and immediately fled away with all sorts of spells they could muster. Chasing the powerhouses away, the army commanders joined us in wrapping up the enemies.

It took us 3 hours to slay the main army. The surviving soldiers could not believe that they've won and shouted their hearts out.

The warcry served as the end of the war that would be dubbed in the future as the {One Day War}.

===========================

I've been reading the novel Amber Sword to learn more about noble politics and Imma say, I'm not quite disappointed but what made me sigh is the freaking long wars dammit. Its like you got a trap card, I got a trap card, hey coincidentally I have a trap card for your trap card, kind of thing.

Its a long cycle that made me skip the war chapters and it made me want to finish the Western Coalition war arc and didn't want to do a long cycle of trap cards BS. I said that I will finish this in 4 chaps or maybe 5 but reading Amber sword's war made me want to finish it in 2 and move on.