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“I’m glad you returned fast,” Igna said to Yui, “-now then, let’s focus the attention on the map, how long until the motherships reach Hidros?”

“I’d say a few days,” narrowed éclair, “-if we intercept then on the Vigrant Island, there may be hope yet.”

“Vigrant Island,” thought Igna scanning the map voraciously, ‘-it’s a good place to protect from attacks northward, alas, Vigrant island is home to other smaller isles, each drifting further north. Krestonian army could very easily land on the top most island and march way south, cross the waters during low tides is but a simple task.’

“Master?”

“Vigrant Island,” he glanced at Minerva, “-was the naval army dispatched?”

“Yes,” she nodded, “-I gave orders for an advance force to mobilize, scouting party should arrive later today. Fighting on the sea is a whole different type of warfare, I doubt the enemy and their escort to venture directly, might do a circle around and hit Dorchester from Alphian water, which completely undermines a potential outpost on the Vigrant archipelago.”

.....

*Tap, tap, tap,* the door rang, “-message,” cried an intelligence officer, “-Dorchester’s marching into Kreston.”

“Dorchester’s attacking?” they blinked, Minerva immediately drew on the Hidrosian map, scanned and pointed at Arda, “-have forces dispatched and make their way to Krigi. Capturing one of the trading outposts should pressure them,” without a moment’s hesitation, general of Hidros made way to the intelligence officer, “-war is upon us,” she said before reaching the doorway, “-majesty, I expect great things. éclair, take command and conquer Vigrant Island, Starix – take a small team of intelligence officers and move to the border,” quick and decisive, no doubt in her words or action – the council was more than a little enamored at her show of competence.

Council room emptied save Igna and Medusa, the king reflected on the current military affairs, ‘-it’s come to war, finally,’ he stood, ‘-something I can look towards.’

Up north, on the already stressful borders -reinforcement units of tanks and supply trucks arrived to aid border patrol. The unjustified invasion of Kreston, by which Dorchester used the influence of the papacy to achieve, was much a subject of discussion across the various influential families. Neighboring villages left said area, opting for a safer trip south.

Geographically speaking, Oxshield, the center most province of the continent of Hidros – the place where Rosespire and Rotherham make their home, had a massive advantage. They shared borders with each of the other provinces, an advantage that could also turn into a complete downfall of the province. A united Oxshield has the ability to send and ask for reinforcement from the other allied provinces. Similarly, the other provinces could ask for reinforcement from the central province. Currently, Dorchester showed their malice towards Oxshield, and Kreston remained more or less neutral – the duke was most astonished on hearing a battle breaking loose.

Minerva, else, Athena waited patiently at her desk – her want of leaping into battle quelled by the overwhelming number of unanswered reports and fragments of intercepted intel. She and her team, assembled but a few hours later after the emergency council, were hard at work. One glanced at the map sufficed, she understood terrain and the difficulty involved in leading a hastily assembled Regiment of 4,356 soldiers under Brigadier General Erano Dunslav, who stood before her little bit then a few hours later, into battle.

“General Minerva,” he saluted, “-I hasted from border patrols.”

“Brigadier General,” she sternly stared at her subordinate, “-tales of your quick wittedness in face of danger has been proven time and time again,” a story told by the medals of honors, “-times nigh. Have your forces move northeast; you will reinforce the Krestonian defense until further orders.”

“Question,”

“Go ahead.”

“What of the method, am I free to act as I see fit?”

“Lives of four thousand is in thy hands, I expect nothing less from their leader.”

“Understood,” he nodded, “-if you would excuse me.”

Erano’s regiment wasn’t known to be overly strong nor resistant, close aid to her, Starix, wondered why the general saw fit to send a relatively smaller unit compared to the estimated ten-thousand Dorchestian soldiers. Hadn’t been an hour – tenseness in the general’s office reached suffocating proportions, “-general!” cried Starix, “-you must see this.”

“What?”

“Look,” he pointed, “-Brigadier General Erano’s ordered his regiment to take the train to Kreston.”

She smiled, throwing her arms on the hips, and nodded joyously, “-I was right, smart men like him are gems for our army.”

“He’s a smart man,” without hesitation, “-SSY, Kreston, and Rosespire’s transit are to be evacuated, the trains will carry military personnel.” Minerva watched with a; ‘-you can do that?’ face.

Serene of the Blood-king’s faction shortly made her way to Arda, there, she met with Queen Courtney and asked for her majesty to join the battle. She refused and pointed the finger at the independent vampiric clan. Quick on her feet, instead of an army, Serene asked for permission to march an army all the way from Oxshield to the Northwestern border shared by Arda and Dorchester. The Queen agreed on the condition her people not be dragged into the following battle.

Serene’s low-cut dress was quite the attraction, ‘-and Arda doesn’t want to fight,’ she exhaled and exited the castle, soon to stand at the foot of the ancient tree. ‘-Can’t exactly go home empty handed, the capture of Krigi was left to the King’s discretion,’ she reached into her bag and pulled a strange mirror, a few flicks followed in a loud flash, “-Noctis’s Hallow,” read across the interface, and would one know – there stood before her, manors of the clan leaders. While Serene handled affairs in Arda, Igna sat in his office, Tania’s confused visage told of the sudden arrival, an inkling to speak showed in mild taps of her fingers, she veered many times, same old movement, from couch to the desk and back.

“There,” a long call ended, the king breathed a sigh and glanced, “-hello.”

“Bad time, I guess?”

“Not really,” he toggled a few monitors, “-you’re here as an ambassador?”

“Yeah, Marinda can’t help in the war effort right this moment.”

“I know, don’t stress,” another call interjected, “-Asmodeus and Kul, drop by the office.”

Tania kept her observation – Prince of Hell and Demonlord made their appearance, “-I appreciate the fast response.”

“No problem, master, tell us.”

“Asmodeus and Kul, we need to firm our relations with Easel Run Gard. Wracia Empire would not support the crusade lest there’s something in it for them. Maicite,” he narrowed, “-Asmodeus, Kul, and Yui take the next flight to Easel Run Gard – have Yui raise an army of undead and station them at our mines. Reinforce the area, we never know what will happen, the best thing is to be prepared,” nothing else followed, and the duo soon met with Yui and were off. Leaving Igna pondering as to his next move.

Days passed – the competency of éclair’s leadership was brought to the forefront. He stood beside a few familiar faces, namely; Alta and Midne, “-glad you could make it,” wind swept Hidros’ naval flee.

“Long as I’m of help. What’s the plan?”

“We’re going to use magical schematics to lay the foundation of a fortress on the middle island of the archipelagoes. We’ll station the other ships behind and wait for their move. General Minerva conveniently left out the part of how rough the sea could get at this time of year.”

“Breath of fresh air,” gasped Midne, “-going to battle,” she beamed, “-my blood’s pumping.”

“I wouldn’t be so excited. Hidros hasn’t exactly invested much in the ways of naval warfare. The ships we own were partly engineered by Cobalt Unit, and modifications were made by our own team, compared to the air force, the ships do not have the Hidrosian workmanship. Well, it’s nothing major.” A black outline straddled over the horizon, dawn was shy a few minutes, “-we’re here,” said éclair, crew outback scurried along the deck, the captain ordered for the ships to anchor down in formation a few nautical miles away. Soldiers were dispatched on smaller boats to scout the area.

First order was the settling of a base of operation, communication to the Vigrant archipelagos was a tedious task on the reason of its lack of structure. And so, the operation began. First scouts touched shore a few minutes later, dropping onto the damp sand and an untamed jungle. The advanced unit of fifty soldiers skillfully made their way into the island to secure an area. Once scanned, a secondary unit was dispatched – this time, containing combat engineers and medics – they would be in charge of establishing communication with the fleet. *Bang, bang, bang,* shots were fired – an ambush laid waste to the incoming secondary unit – lack of knowledge of the area proved fatal, first blood is drawn, the battle of Vigrant began at full force.

“It’s too silent,” narrowed éclair, “-where’s the helicopter carrier?”

“At the back,” returned an officer.

“Have them take to the skies, I have a bad feeling about this,” he narrowed through the bridge windows. éclair’s premonition was right on, for when the helicopter circled over the island – there was naught left of the advance unit, a streak of white peered through orangish sunrise and *boom,* a burst of fire, the helicopter was hit which soon crashed and burnt into a ball of flame. What Hidros’ force didn’t realize then was that the Wracia Empire had already made a stronghold on the archipelago.

Date 15th of February, the battle of Vigrant went strong although at the expense of powerful attack helicopters, prized inventions from Midas. The increasingly losing battle had Minerva in disarray, the battle was being fought on two sides – Kreston and reinforcement from Erano’s unit held strong on the border, latter of the two was led by an exemplary leader – he forsook the idea of strength in numbers, instead, pushing for more agile and evolving warfare, they’d conducted night raids, targeted supply lines and skillfully used Kreston’s limited naval arsenal to limit Dorchester’s freedom.

Reports rained on Igna’s desk, “-Kreston’s using new artillery and anti-air weaponry; we’ve lost five helicopters in the span of a week, and no progress has been made. What’s Minerva thinking?”

*Tap, tap,* “-enter.”

“Majesty, might I have a moment?”

“Please, come on in,” he offered, “-tell me, general, I heard the war’s going badly on Vigrant archipelago.”

“Soldiers are dropping like flies – one thing’s confirmed, Hidros isn’t suitably trained for naval warfare. It was strange how the ambush worked, the soldiers found this,” she slid a familiar item, “-a teleportation capsule.”

*Urgent Call,* “-speak.”

“General, the battle of Kreston is nearing its end – most of the enemy forces have retreated. I have reason to believe the invasion was a scheme, there’s a greater ploy at play.”

“VIGRANT ARCHIPELAGOS!”

“Pardon?”

“I have to go,” she stormed out, realization suddenly hit, the battle wasn’t for Kreston, no, it was for the full control of the archipelagos. Athena, the goddess of warfare, was outsmarted as if taking candy from a baby, “-I was bested, but how?”

A letter arrived at Igna’s table, “-to the gracious King Igna, or should I say, inheritor of the god of death. It’s with great pleasure that I write this letter, my name’s Ares, God of War and General of the holy Krestonian Army. The holy crusade isn’t a battle of the mortal realm, no, sadly, your offenses to the heavens have forced many of the leading deities to put into action a rebuttal of the disrespect we’ve suffered. Lord Lixbin and Lucifer send their regards. Do send my warmest of regards to Athena, a rejected goddess unworthy of being hailed as a general. ‘Twould be wise for his majesty to take the battle in his own hand. Devil, thee must pay – Draebala shrieks in anticipation, I’m proud of how it turned. So long, majesty.”