“Sir, I recommend not to withdraw all men from the main gate. This might just be a feign attack.”

  “Of course, I didn’t say we all leave. Most of us will go, but some must stay here. If they detect any trouble, they will come to alert us about the situation, so no worry about the city being inflated in total surprise, clear?”

  “Ah, I got it, sir.”

  The Elestovakians on the Western gate hastily abandon their guards to come and aid their allies.

  **

  “The situation is, the Elestovakians have withdrawn most of their force stationed around the West gate, probably to deploy in the south or the north. Regardless of where they are being directed to, we are going.”

  While fighting has been going on at the right section and the southern front of the wall of Liston, other tactical developments have been occurring elsewhere all around

  For example, Angela had ordered her freehand combatants to return to base, rearm and commence bombardments upon locations across the Northern district of the city, noticeably the town hall and the entrances to the tunnels. The bombing resulted in a significant reduction in the deployment speed of the defenders and thus, aiding their allies indirectly, a great success.

  In a different manner, the Latilian regular cavalry also showed up in the Eastern section of the city’s perimeter, with the intention of putting pressure upon this area. However, they suffered some losses as the aggressive Elestovakians in desperation utilized their heavy anti air crossbow system against them. In the end, while sustaining casualties out of the original plan, the Elestovakians eventually did deploy more men to this wall for defense, a (kind of) success.

  Regardless of them, and the already going on combats, the main show is still in the beginning stage.

  “Step quietly.”

  From the direction facing the rising boiling sun, half of the main Latilian army, led by Gerald, which had been taking cover beneath the elevation of the earth to avoid detection, had suddenly sprung up from their hiding spots and marched quietly to Liston’s main gate on the West.

  “Boy, do you see any winged man?”

  “Not yet, sir.”

  The elder knight is waiting for something.

  With the noisy and exhausting ongoing clashes all around, it was quite easy to march four thousand men to the West gate undetected by the men that were concentrated in fighting. However, as for stationary guards, they can’t hide themselves from them. An entire army is too large of a figure to camouflage to the gate. They will be detected by eyes, then the Liston defenders will alert their men in arms to confront them.

  But if that happens, the plan to sneakily bypass Liston’s main gate will fail. So what on earth will the Latilians do to execute the plan?

  Well, the answer comes from the sky:

  “Warning! A contingent of fifty fliers is attacking the West gate!”

  From the north, four dozen pairs of wings emerged from behind the hill the city leaned onto. At first, when the gate guards saw them, they mistook the Aeropostalis with birds due to vague vision. But, as silhouettes of their motionless wings grow bigger and the fire on tailing them glow in bright yellow as they directed their aim at the West gate, it was clear that they were fliers, no other creature fly like that:

  “Huh!? Weren’t they supposed to be dealt with by the troops on the right section?”

  Upon seeing a new threat from the sky, one man out of many in the West gate section can’t help but utter the question. That was true for the fifty fliers that were fighting under Angela’s command to defend their turret up north. They are still fighting, desperately against waves after waves of Elestovakians trying to push them away from the position. There is no way they can deploy raids on the West gate now.

  However, that is if there is only one flier contingent, because the other half, the second prong that the former librarian commander separated from the main team earlier, consisted from many airborne light swordsmen, had stealthily waited for the right moment when the mobilization of guards from the West to the South makes the defense thinner, before conducting attack:

  “Clever…”

  Anyhow, out of any previous expectation and observation, the Aeropostalis Latilians dropped an air strike upon the Western section of the wall, particularly around the gate. The Elestovakians tried to pull their bowstrings, but it was too late. The bombardiers splitted into two groups, tossing specialized crafted grenades on the turrets side by side the entrance as they flew over their tips. Moment after the grenades made contact with the brickwall, they detonated:

  Bang!Bam!

  The blasts punished the walls harshly, tearing holes on the towers to allow intense blaze to flood in. The men inside, unable to cope with the boiling heat, or in fear of seeing their comrades injured by the blasts, ran outside:

  “Targets in sight. Decrease the altitude and get your razors ready!”

  But the moment they stepped out of their hiding places, they were met with melee flier combatants flying right close to them with their sharp blades on hands, who hacked their bodies to bits:

  “Agh! My…throat-”

  “Dammit-”

  A stream of gruesome blood follows the trace of the steel blades. All Elestovakians soldiers standing at the West gate were either killed, or heavily injured and immobilized by the devastating razor strikes.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Target clear, Valya squadron ready for landing.”

  After a few flybys to make sure the position was clean, the fliers landed gently on the wall, reaching out for the lever that controls the grand West gate:

  “Secure my right hand with barricades and broken bricks or something that can be used for blocking personnel. I entrust that wing to you all. The rest secure the control room, from there we will control the gate to make it open.”

  Flip!

  With a violent pull, the Airborne commander unlocked the Listone Western Gate.

  The doors haven’t yet opened, but it is ready to be breached at any second, and that second is coming when the main Latilian Army finally arrived upon seeing their airmen successfully conducted the swift attack. Their feet rammed onto rock, splashing deep into stone, creating clouds of debris and noise sounded like thunder. In front of the formation is Sir Gerald de Payens in his full armor suit, hands carrying something resembled a bludgeon, but long like a huge sword:

  “Aye, finally got a use for it, though a bit heavy.”

  In fact, much heavier than most greatswords, and slightly overwhelmed Lily’s blade. Despite that, unlike the sword of the Archduchess, which can perform horizontal slash with its sharp fullere, a bit blunt strike with the duller forte and pierce damage with its pointy tip, Gerald’s weapon only focuses on dealing destructive blunt hits. Nevertheless, it was blunt that the weapon excels more than anything ever seen:

  “What a fine piece of weapon, I declare its name is Conquista.”

  By this time, the Latilian Army is too close to keep it quiet, they became too loud, thus alerted the Elestovakians, who are now realized that they were tricked when they saw the flag of the Latilians coming to their towers:

  “Does that mean all of the other attacks were just feign?”

  “I deemed that’s true, officer.”

  The clash on the right sector, the assault on the Southern gate, the cavalry line,...none was the main prong. The main gate was what Belisari and Lily aimed at from the beginning. Even if the Elestovakian main contingents immediately rush back now, it will be impossible to halt the inflation:

  “Let hell break loose!”

  Said the commander of the Airborne Corp, then he ordered the gate to be opened.

  “Charge!”

  Just seconds after the wooden doors were removed from their sight, the Latilian Army flooded into the city like an unstoppable force. Gerald and the heavy knights first, followed closely by the less protected skirmishers and Marines, the cavalry ride behind to clear the remainders. It’s now that Liston must fall.

  “Hyag!”

  “What the heck, why was the gate opened!? Stay back!”

  When the Latilian entered Liston, some armored guards arrived on the scene just in time to confront and buy time for their allies. In response to the movement of the enemies, Gerald throws his weapon up high, with his right hand grip on the handle. The knight launches himself toward the group of soldiers that are assembling the line, and releases the blade. As gravity pulls the entire weight of Conquista down, its kinetic damage was unstopped by the armor:

  Klenk! “Agh!!!”

  Muttering the man before his death, the hard blunt fall broke the skull of the guard and killed him without delay. His blood sprayed out of the helmet, bleeding the armor red.

  “Ugh…stay back!”

  “Don’t think you can do it. Hyag!!”

  Seeing the death of their brother in arms, the rest panicky form a line. However, before they could do that, the knight reacted by wielding the sword swiftly horizontally, throwing the men out of the line. Their bodies smashed into walls, plus the already staggering blunt hit, left many injured. Witnessing such horrifying sight, the soldiers drop their weapons:

  “Aye…I surrender…please don’t kill me.”

  “Wise choice.”

  Gerald plunks Conquista from the mushy mess of armors and body parts.

  From the tip of the dead edge, blood painted the bludgeon in crimson.

  **

  “What do you mean when you said the West gate was penetrated?”

  As news of a new attack spread between ranks of the Elestovakian defenders, chaos broke. Firstly, the Latilian Marines came to the Northern sector and together with the fliers pressed the guards from both sides, resulting in heavy casualties before the Elestovakians could withdraw from place.

  After securing the entire sector, they quickly ran to the Eastern wall via the underground corridor and overwhelmed the defense there, giving chance for the cavalry to come close to the wall to harass without the worry of being shot at by heavy crossbows. The combined force then rampaged around the perimeters, taking down turret after turret with shots from horsemen and blades from the infantry. It took a while, but the Eastern sector of the city has completely collapsed in formation.

  Now, in Liston, only the South is standing. Nonetheless, the Latilians are charging toward this sector sooner or later. Not to mention that they are also facing a spearhead of the Latilian army, which had successfully sent a small group of sixty to the gate where they are trying to break through:

  “We were tricked, we were bamboozled” Smash! “Dear God who the hell planned their tactics!?”

  In anger, an Elestovakian high-ranking officer questioned, though he knew no one under his command knew the answer. Thus, he switches the question:

  “How many men do we have left?”

  “We might’ve lost 5%, but you likely can only control the Southern contingent. Other groups were scattered in resistant pockets, but we cannot rescue them, nor order them to try to reconnect with us.”

  “Goddammit. Can this get any worse?”

  Bam!

  “Speaking of the devil…”

  A platoon of Latilian light infantry has just broken the defense around the South gate, allowing their awaiting heavily armed comrades to go to action.

  Klenk! Thump!

  “Sir...”

  As echoes of clashing swords and maces could be heard all the way outside to the turret, one reality came to the mind of the people in that room: They’ve lost Liston to the Latilians.

  “Can we flee?”-suggested a soldier, but the idea was dismissed right away:

  “We were surrounded from every side. Also, even if we make it, where could we go?”

  The closest major human settlement is Voyage, which is one trip downhill. Not to mention that the city was no longer on their side:

  “So…we surrender?”

  The sound of wielding blades is closer and closer. Yet, in that dissonance, the sigh of the officer can still be heard of clearly:

  “I deemed that the only option we have if we still want to live. Wave the white flag, we will surrender. I hope their commander is benevolent to us.”