Reaper of the Martial World

Book 3: Chapter 9: Tactics

Dyon flew in the sky, almost as though he was one man against the world. His troops became nothing but a backdrop. However… his tall back, his unmatched confidence, the grin on his face made the hearts of his army light on fire. There was no longer doubt in their hearts that this was a leader worth following.

Commander Draven stared at the man with a white and black wing, his veins popping in anger. It was one thing for a prestigious commander of the Earth Gate to look down on him like this, but this was a boy of not even sixteen years of age. A boy no one knew. ‘You have a lot of nerve.’

Ri looked up at Dyon’s back a smile blooming on her face as faint snow flakes began raining down around her, her hair fluttering gently in response.

Dyon’s demonic will bloomed, the sky seemingly reddening in agitation as his arm cocked back.

“first act… first stage demon emperor’s will: perfection…”

Commander Draven’s eyes sharpened, ‘Body enhancing technique!’

Dyon’s skin reddened as blood raged through him. The javelin’s flames left an uncomfortable heat on everyone below, but suddenly, something changed.

The wind and flames merged, a tornado of fierce reds and yellows bathing Dyon’s arms in an endless blaze. But, that wasn’t all. It began to drip with a bloody aura, demonic sovereign will etching patterns of a black red into the already domineering pillar.

“What is he doing… That’s too much for one attack…”

The campaign heads were beginning to feel real threat. The amount of wills Dyon was melding into one attack completely surpassed their expectations. But, the majority of the problem lied in the fact they had no idea what he wanted to use this attack for. Was he trying to take out Commander Draven in one shot? Did he really underestimate them that severely?

Airic brows furrowed, “Just another brute.”

But suddenly, all thoughts froze as Dyon’s arm careened forward, his torso rotating so quickly that the javelin disappeared from his hand in an instant.

It tore through the air, rings of displaced space booming into existence as though the sky itself was shattering.

Commander Draven’s eyes widened, his heart palpitating in agitation. The demonic will dripping off of the spear of flames, the killing intent aimed for no one else but himself, it was as though for but that instant, he couldn’t move.

The scaled elephant beneath him seemed to feel his master’s agitation, causing a raging roar to resound from its mouth, piercing toward the rapidly approaching tempest of flames.

“MEN, HEAR ME NOW!” Commander Draven’s voice raised to its highest peak, “RAISE THE GROUND.”

Maybe if Commander Draven could see anything other than a blazing light headed right for him he would have seen Dyon’s smirk in response to his words… Maybe if he had seen it, he would know that his call was futile.

Unfortunately for the Phantus, he hadn’t. So, as they did before every battle, the tens of thousands of troops on the ground circulated their earth will, tapping into the deep reserves of the ground to elevate their piece of land. It was something they did all of the time, it gave them the perfect charging momentum. What could give an army more of an advantage than charging downwards from high ground?

Suddenly, something completely unexpected happened. Dyon’s javelin shot directly past the tilted head of Commander Draven! ‘As if I would be frozen into not moving. Do I look like a rookie to you?!’

BOOM!

The javelin pierced into the ground, sending shockwaves through the earth.

The Phantus army dispersed as screams of pain and horror grasped the lives of their men… But, to them, it was meaningless.

Vidar’s lips twisted in disdain, “All of that to take out a handful of men? They haven’t even lost ten from that one attack.”

It was suddenly clear to everyone that Dyon’s attack looked flashy, but it was exceedingly weak. He had missed directly into a patch of running meridian formation warriors, and yet took at most five lives. Even more astonishingly, the ground seemed to be barely affected! Even the javelin had disappeared from existence, the abyssal core making it up had already flashed back into Dyon’s fading Weapon’s Hall Manifestation as he touched down on the array beside Ri.

The brows of the campaign leaders furrowed. It looked like they wouldn’t be able to avoid fighting today.

Voron looked at this scene calmly before looking to his brother, Ace. “Prepare the troops. Let him die first then we can clean up this mess.”

Ace nodded, a smirk coloring his features.

Dyon couldn’t be bothered with the thoughts of others, he instead took a deep breath, ‘Even with all that preparation, it took a lot out of me… We have ten minutes…’

Raising his hands into the sky, an intricate array formed with crystal will began to appear.

Golden lights shimmered and the diamond like array twinkled in the air.

But, the Phantus clan didn’t seem intent on waiting for Dyon. They approached rapidly. From a kilometer to eight hundred meters. From eight hundred meters to five hundred.

Suddenly, Dyon whispered, using his communication array to directly communicate with the Vice Commanders.

Demon General Gaylia immediately stood out from the backmost middle company. “READY!”

Arios flashed toward the third middle company to stand beside Demon General Maalshiira as her voice also boomed. “READY!”

The crystal formation above Dyon continued to expand again and again. It seemed that for every meter the Phantus approached, Dyon added another ten to his array.

And then, something inexplicable happened.

Two of Dyon’s center companies all simultaneously raised their hands as Ri’s faith seed bloomed, her blue-silver tails whipping out from.

The eyes of the campaign heads widened in shock, “Faith seed!”

Dyon smiled at Ri, “Ready?”

Ri nodded, “Ready.” Her voice had a demonic and seductive edge to it, giving Dyon all the motivation he needed for his crystal array to bloom to five hundred meters!

Dyon looked off into the distance, “NOW!”

All sound was blotted out as though the sight that graced everyone was the thing worth sensing.

A raging tempest of wind and fire will accelerated from the companies below Dyon, immediately charging into his crystal array… His crystal amplification array!

The cold and hot wind tunneled their way into the sky, immediately causing a swirl of dark clouds to form. The atmosphere shifted, the sky darkening. A massive cumulonimbus covering the sun in an endless black.

The booming of thunder tore through the battle field as the cloud seemed to rumble to life, endless sheets of water pouring down it and coating the lands almost instantly.

But, the Phantus didn’t seem to care. What was a weather change to them? But, what they didn’t notice was that their beasts were being coated with the relentlessly pouring rain. There was no escaping it.

“Ri. Delia. Vice Commander Ithirae.”

No other words were needed. The foremost company of 100-men and the two women stepped up.

Delia’s hazel eyes ice over into a cold blue, her hair turning a blinding shade of white as she lifted her hands up to Dyon’s amplification array.

Ri’s muscles flexed, massive beams of ice will forming at the tips of each and every one of her tails.

Then, a blaze of blue shot from them, amplifying into massive pillar of light before charging into the rolling thunder clouds.

Suddenly, Commander Draven realized something was wrong. Since the time he had issued the command to raise the ground, less than half a minute had passed, and yet, that was too long for nothing to have happened.

However, before he could call out again, the temperature rapidly dropped…

Looking up into the sky, Commander Draven shivered…

It was snowing.

Everyone was stunned. Snow? What was the point of that?

Suddenly, Airic realized something, ‘The land… It’s not elevating even though the Phantus commander called for it?’ Confusion covered his features until his eyes widened, ‘THE JAVELIN!?’

The Phantus were beginning to panic. They were less than five hundred yards from clashing with the Earth gate army, but, their momentum was being slowly crushed.

Not only was their footing being ruined by the ice piling on the ground, their scaled elephants were noticeably slowing!

Commander Draven roared in anger, “You damned beast! Move!”

But, there was no response. The usually rowdy and vicious scaled elephant had lost its fire. The water that had coated its skin was slowly icing over, and although that wasn’t enough to encase it in ice, something else entirely different was happening.

The charge of the elephants slowed…

Four hundred meters….

Three hundred and fifty meters…

Three hundred meters…

And suddenly, ten of them stopped, collapsing to the ground. Their breathing was nearly non-existent, their robust scales covered in a sheet of thin ice.

The last of them, Commander Draven’s pride and joy, let out a sound that resembled nothing more than a whimper.

Its foot lifted in a final act of defiance, but, the cold was too much.

BOOM!

And just like that, the mighty scaled elephants fell into a deep hibernating sleep.

Everything was silent.

The Phantus God Clan didn’t know what to do. Their Commander and Vice commanders had lost their beasts, they couldn’t elevate the ground to gain a topical advantage, and now they were ten thousand against hundreds of thousands.

Commander Draven shook violently, standing on the head of his collapsed beast, ‘Not like this. I refuse!’

All eyes were drawn to the young man standing in the sky beside of woman of unmatched beauty.

His battle changpao seemed untainted even by the falling snow, but there was not a drop of surprise on his face. It was clear that to him, there was no doubt in success.

In all these years the Martial world had ignored a glaring weakness of the Phantus. In fact, the weakness was never exposed only because the beasts usually played a defensive role near the gate entrance of the opposing universe. This meant that the weather they experienced was stable.

Although Dyon didn’t know what tricks they had used to make it here unscathed with such large beasts, he had analyzed each god clan he might face in this campaign. The weaknesses of each were firmly etched into his mind, whether they were aware of them or not. And the Phantus, could not escape the cold-blooded nature of their beasts.

Warm-blooded creatures were special. They had the ability to use food as an energy source for heat, resulting in a constant body temperature. However, cold-blooded creatures relied on the environment around them to dictate their internal temperature… Which meant, as long as it was cold enough, they would begin to hibernate.

Dyon’s voice resounded in the ears of his Vice Commanders, not giving the Phantus any time to regroup, “Reform!”

The checkered formation immediately reappeared, the three companies remaining in the middle while 50-man platoons arranged around them.

“Flanked attack variation.”

The rumbling of moving troops snapped everyone out of their stupor. They were suddenly very much aware that this wasn’t over.

Commander Draven looked up, apprehensive about the situation. But, a flame of anger suddenly raged in his heart when he noticed only a thousand men were charging. And, from his vantage point on the ground, the formation looked as ordinary as could be.

“Men!” Commander Draven’s enraged voice boomed through the battle field, “They dare to look down on us like this. Attacking with a mere thousand. Crush them!”

A furious blaze was lit in the heart of the Phantus warriors. To only attack them with a thousand? Even when they could have attacked with more? This was nothing less than a slap in the face.

Commander Draven smirked, ‘You are too young. Your little tricks are clever, but you know nothing of the art of battle. You form drones out of your men, while I take into account the heart of mine. You won’t win if your army has no morale.”

Draven watched happily as Dyon stood in the air as though he was king. But, to everyone else, Dyon was too naïve.

However, how long would that really last?… Dyon’s voice boomed, laced with a compelling power that seemed to stifle even the rumbling of the battle field.

“Demon Generals. Remind them who you are.”

A blood lust seemed to begin dripping from the skies.

The white snow suddenly felt like it was a rain of blood.

The killing intent became palpable, the air solidifying with a demonic aura. And then… The chant began.

“Darkness prevails over all

The blood seeps into the ground”

Two hundred meters…

“The strong slay the weak and stand tall

While the unfortunate are silenced”

One hundred fifty meters…

“The sage of the demon empire is supreme

Unmatched and unprecedented

Unchallenged and without flaw

Immortal and esteemed”

One hundred meters.

“He leaves his legacy for only those as evil as he

Only those as ruthless and heartless

Cast away your humanity for strength.”

The Phantus were trembling, having forgotten about the weapons in their hands.

All they saw was a sea of blood, an Asura of unprecedented evil looming over them.

“Drench the soil in the blood of your enemies

Plant the seed of your life within it

Welcome. Sage of the Demon Empire.”

And then there was nothing. The clash took place in an instant. The demon generals tore through everything in their path.

The formation was almost overkill.

The three center companies lured the Phantus into a false sense that this formation was no different than any other, leading the unorganized masses of the Phantus into charging in blindly in an attempt to salvage their courage. But, it was futile.

The middle three companies were nothing but a ploy. They were already the most tired after putting everything into creating the storm clouds, so it was more than believable that they’d be the easiest to beat… But, that was exactly the point.

Dyon’s army seemed to collapse inwards, the three companies giving way. The two front companies peeling to the front, while the one further in the back peeled backwards. But, then, Dyon gave the penultimate order, standing in the skies domineeringly.

This formation had four possible alterations. The first, was conceal. The second, was reform. And the third, was extend. And the fourth…

“COLLAPSE!”

Suddenly, the pixelated ‘U’ shape of the formation changed.

The three center companies, having lured the Phantus to the center vanished from their sight.

The six platoons of either side collapsed in on themselves. In their checkered formation, three platoons had maintained the integrity of the sides while the center companies lured the Phantus in. However, with the command, the checkered platoons fell back, immediately being replaced by three fresh platoons on either side.

At the same time, the two platoons that had remained at the back surged forward. Being well rested, they pushed to maintain the back line in the absence of the three companies who had disappeared.

Seamlessly and without blemish, the Phantus were trapped and flanked from all sides being relentlessly attacked from four fronts.

The Phantus ten-thousand-man army was whittled down to almost nothing. Their morale was low, their beasts were down, in fact, in the hours it took for this to take place, they hadn’t even noticed that they could once again elevate the land beneath their feet.

They had been played…

Commander Draven raged watching his comrades fall one after another. But, there was little he could do.

The ice that coated the ground was horrible for footing, and yet it seemed as though everyone in Dyon’s army had defensive formations to use for traction.

Then Commander Draven thought he could use his overwhelming strength to raise the morale of his troops again, but, the white-haired demon generals simply toyed with him. He was nothing before them.

He could only run again and again, in the end using his men as shields in his last bid for survival.

After losing half his men, Commander Draven had had the thought of escape, maybe his pride just wasn’t worth it… but then Dyon from his high perch said dreaded words that resounded in his psyche even as he stood bloodied with less than a thousand of his men left.

“Defense Variation 1. Turtle shell.”

Flashes ran through the entirety of Dyon’s army as each of them took out tens of defensive array plates. The air was filled with shimmering gold as dome after dome of defensive formations completely surrounded the Phantus.

The Phantus were filled with endless despair. Although they could work to destroy these arrays, Dyon’s army seemed to have an endless supply. But, the worst part was that they seemed to be fitted with special weapons that could be launched without effecting the defensive array.

Looking down at the massacre, Ri asked Dyon about it and received a smiled in response, “I call them spatial spear grenades. They’re essentially array spears fitted with time sensitive spatial transference arrays. It allows the spears to pass right through the defensive formation before materializing to attack the enemy.”

Airic watched this scene with his heart trembling, ‘This… This is what I wanted! This is it! The true art of war!’

The campaign heads almost couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Regardless of the fact that Commander Draven wasn’t the best the Phantus had to offer, he was without a doubt in the top 3 campaign leaders they had. And, his strength had already stepped into the essence gathering stage! Just who were those white-haired freaks Dyon called demon generals?!

In the end, Commander Draven and his commanders became painfully aware that Dyon’s army was toying with them.

The checkered formation allowed tired soldiers to switch out and fresh ones to come in. The back and front lines constantly alternated as well, and yet, it was all done without a hitch.

Commander Draven could only watch helplessly as his scaled elephants were being constantly rained down upon with ice will. Although the storm had stopped, one of the companies that had sneaked in behind the Phantus while allowing them to penetrate had left the battle to ensure the elephants didn’t wake up!

No one knew how Dyon communicated these things so smoothly. It was as though he was speaking into the ear of every single one of his soldiers! How could the campaign heads and the Phantus know how exactly right that assumption was?

Commander Draven suddenly realized that there was no reason for him to still be alive. He was the only remaining life blood of his army, why hadn’t they targeted him?! And then is suddenly dawned on him… ‘They want to capture me… They’ve realized there’s something odd about how we brought the scaled elephants here!’

However, despite realizing this, there was little Commander Draven could do. Even when he charged in with no regard for his life, knowing they wouldn’t kill him, he was stopped immediately by the overwhelming demon generals.

“YOU COWARD!” Commander Draven screamed into the air, slowly losing his mind, “What kind of man hides behind his army while they war! Why should anyone follow you!?”

Dyon turned his gaze from his leisurely talk with Ri, “To his knees.” Dyon said faintly.

Commander Draven was immediately cut down, the tendons in his leg sliced apart with no regard. He could only stare blankly into the air as his ten vice commanders were laid face down beside him, their faces buried into the muddy ground despite their best efforts to wiggle free. In the end, only the eleven of them remained.

“You’re an idiot and you claim to be a better leader than I am?

You charge here relying on only a single strategy and have no back up plan and yet you’re a better leader than I am?

You boast that you’re a real man, yet you rely on beasts to make up for your numbers disadvantage and yet you claim I’m the coward?

You had no thoughts of retreat until half your army was gone, and yet you used your own men as shields before you realized we were keeping you alive, and yet you still claim I’m the coward?”

Dyon’s words were like sharp swords, piercing in the heart of the commander of the Phantus again and again.

“You were too prideful. Assuming you were above everything when really you only deserve to kneel before me.”

Suddenly, Dyon looked up into the distance, “Take notes. When you decide you show yourself. I’ll crush you just the same.”

With that, Dyon commanded his army to hand the prisoners to campaign head Akash.

Dyon touched down from the sky, holding Ri’s hand with a smile on his face. Akash could only shake her head bitterly, “I didn’t earn these prisoners Dyon, you should take credit for the information we get from them.”

Dyon grinned, “What do you mean commander? I came here under you, so all of the work I do is under the Elvin Kingdom name. In fact, I placed all the merits of today’s battle under my little feu glace’s name. I want you to know that I am here for the Elvin Kingdom too, I remember the promise I made very well. It may have been to Primrose at the time… But, wasn’t Primrose acting princess?”

Akash and Ri were stunned, “You idiot, why’d you put it under my name? How’d you even do that?”

Dyon shrugged, “Manipulating master level formations like these are easy. For some reason, I can’t seem to change the rating system on a whim, most likely because it’s linked to an even stronger array acting as a check and balance, but, something like changing the name the points go to is easy.

If I wanted, I could put all of the points we earn under a single name. It’s a bit of a loophole.”

Ri sighed, “You still shouldn’t have done it.”

Dyon shook his head, “Without you, my plan would have never worked. Your ice will sealed everything.”

Ri flicked Dyon’s forehead, “Don’t lie to me.”

Dyon sighed, “Lowering the temperature of water is exceedingly difficult because it has a very high relative specific heat.”

Seeing their confusion, Dyon continued.

“Specific heat is just a measurement of how much energy it takes for a certain amount of an object to raise its temperature by a set amount. Essentially, water has a high specific heat meaning it takes a relatively high amount of energy to raise its temperature. Conversely, this also means that it has to lose more energy to cool down.

While normal ice will would have been effective, the ice will powered by your faith seed seems to be different… The purity path of your ice will made it so that we used a lot less energy than necessary because it was much more sustainable away from your body.

In order to force the scaled elephants to sleep, we needed more than just pumping them with ice. For one, in order to do that, we’d have to let them get too close, which would result in some losses. Also, it would take more time as well. The fact they were coated with water before the temperature dropped made the cold all the more piercing to them.”

Ri’s eyes shone listening to Dyon. She still didn’t completely by that she made or broke Dyon’s plans, but, Dyon was at the very least telling the truth.

Suddenly, Akash thought of something, “Um, Dyon?”

“Yes?” Dyon responded, looking up from Ri.

“When you were speaking to Commander Draven, it seemed you also addressed someone else?”

Dyon’s eyes sharpened at this question, “There’s something odd going on here. This seemed like a test run rather than a real attack, but that’s not the main issue. The question of how they traversed the gate with those massive beasts is a preeminent one.

But, what I do know, is that there was someone watching this entire battle take place. Someone who didn’t seem to care whether the Phantus lived or died…”

Akash’s brows furrowed, “Who?”

“My best guess?…” Dyon looked off into the distance, a pensive look playing his features. “Their innate aurora wielders.”