The Amber Sword

And they even fought the Seventh Swordsman Brigade. To them, survival was all that mattered, not some chivalrous code of fighting till death. And that instinct turned them into raging battle machines.

And chasing after them were spears of light that devastated the army.

Sir Malocher, Captain of the Seventh Swordsman Brigade, never expected that the princess and her subordinates would have such an overwhelming force.

Not only did they locate Rodu’s army, but they also eliminated them easily.

Sir Malocher’s face went pale as the princess’ forces charged at him. What should I do now? He did not have any experience fighting a war, and could only look at his subordinates for help.

Amidst the heavy rain, a young man wearing the White Lion Armor raised his sword. He stood wordlessly like a statue, the sweat trickling down from his forehead to his cheeks.

“We’ve been found!”

“How?”

“We shouldn’t be thinking about that right now.”

He lifted his head, Let’s change the game then.

Glaring trails of thunder flashed across the skies...

Leider Dulo’s POV

“Balta, you have a good student.” Leider Dulo said as he received the command from the messenger.

Balta shook his head. “The princess is not cunning like her master Oberewei, and Makarov is not as decisive as she is either – meaning there must be an unknown commander amongst them. The Coast Guards have low combat effectiveness, so it seems like Owen is planning to use his overwhelming numbers to defeat the princess.”

“Just like what we did back in Lohns.” the other old man looked towards the direction of the port. He could only see the grey rooftops there. “Like a hunk of meat being ground to smithereens, Auoine’s final drops of blood are being squeezed out..”

“Archbishop, we are not insulting you.” Leider looked at the guest beside him.

The man just smiled. “We made mistakes in the past as well. While tt’s not something we should ignore, the war is coming and I don’t wish to create misunderstandings due to our pasts.”

The old man simply looked at him without saying anything.

“Old Leader...” Balta felt restless.

“Balta, you’re the leader now,” Leider said. “Don’t worry, I won’t punish Owen for this. Victory is the first priority in a war, and he has a good plan; overwhelming the enemy is a strategy as well.”

“The princess might have a hard time now... On this battlefield, the people of Aouine are the victims. And they’re so outstanding too. What a pity...”

Brendel’s POV

The sky was turning bright.

But the war was still trapped in as many shades of darkness as before.

Brendel received a message that the Coast Guards would be changing their battle tactics.

This isn’t a good move from our opponents, especially since their intentions were so obvious. Brendel smirked. The leader of the Coast Guards wants to have a dogfight with me.

Brendel was on the verge of erupting in laughter.

He remembered the wars he fought back in the game: fighting with the armies of Kirrlutz, the countless battles with Madara, and even his clashes with the Miirna.

Unlike those enemies, the Coast Guards were nothing but trash.

And he looked back at his allies.

The Big Three of Aouine: Rouka, Enrique, and Freya – a future Sword Saint, the future Master Strategist, and the future War Goddess. Not only that, there was Bennett, someone who led the Youth Police to fight and win against the One-Eyed Dragon Tagus, and lastly, Mok, the future leader of the Royal Cavalry.

Aouine’s future heroes and rising stars were surrounding him, the same stars who had struggled to save Aouine from its dark history. Although Aouine fell in the end, they were still heroes of great valor.

This time, the enemy was asking for trouble.

The enemies would never have thought that in the coming century when the players joined in the fray, the wars would undergo a drastic change. That would be a dark time where the flames of battle scorched the lands, but also one driven by hopes, geniuses, and innumerable crazy ideas.

And the tactics and stereotypes had changed drastically since then.

“Rouka, Enrique, Freya, Bennett, Mok, they are trying to delay us by fighting us in the streets.” Brendel looked towards the battlefield and laughed. “They want to turn this into a bloody mill. I believe all of you didn’t slack off during the strategy class?”

Mok looked at him with a cold expression. Brendel’s words were accurate, but weren’t particularly impressive. I could have done much better than him. [TL: what a loser LOL.]

Bennett was the only one quiet. Brendel’s change is really too drastic. He’s changed so much since escaping Bucce. Although I hate to admit this, but he’s no longer the son of the miller that I should look down on anymore.

Even though they were not on bad terms anymore, it did not mean that Bennett liked him.

Among the four of them, only Rouka Van Elvis smiled without a care. He had blonde hair neatly kept in a pony-tail and was wearing the Royal Cavalry Academy’s black uniform. He had the look of a timid newbie on the battlefield. At the same time, he was calm and collected amidst the chaos.

Rouka was the eldest child of the Elvis family, his father being the noble governing the fief of Elvis. The family had never produced any geniuses before, but Rouka was the one who finally broke the mold.

Back in the game’s history, when Rouka managed to play Duke Seifer like a fiddle, his tactics and gentle personality earned him the nickname ‘the sheathed blade’. Once the blade was unsheathed, it was unstoppable.

However, Rouka died of sickness during the war with the north and could not join the second War of the Black Roses.

His death was considered one of the most unfortunate incidents of Aouine.

Certainly, Brendel would not let this incident happen again. He gathered all these youngsters to his side to prevent tragic accidents in this war, just like Enrique’s death to a stray arrow.

But without going through hell, how could they become fine warriors?

Brendel knew this well, and all he could do was to protect them.

“My Lord, this is not good news. There are more Coast Guards than us, and they have geographical advantage. If they are adamant about fighting us in the streets, I don’t think it will be easy to handle.” Enrique said as he rode on his black horse.

He sounds just like Carglise. I remember that the two were so close they could have become sworn brothers. But why did Carglise sound so dull and quiet in the future? The decline of the Kingdom and Rouka’s death must have impacted him greatly. Brendel thought with a bit of pity.

“I don’t think so.” He smiled. “I forgot that I’m here to teach you guys. Hah. In reality, it’s easy to break the Coast Guards just like we did to Rodu.”

“You lie,” Mok concluded immediately.

“Haha, I’m not too sure about that.” Brendel laughed. “Mok, let’s make a bet. If I succeed, you owe me a favor. How does it sound?“

Mok looked at him. “What’s the favor?”

“Be my direct subordinate. How’s that?” Brendel snickered in his mind. Having the Iron Faced leader be my direct subordinate? What a joke. I still remember the troubles he caused me back in the game.

Brendel was a vengeful person indeed.

Failure? I never even considered that an option.

Mok fell silent. He knew that Brendel would not bet without confidence in his victory. But as they say, youth were the boldest, so he accepted the wager. “What if you lose?“

“I’ll be your adjutant general.”

“Mok.” Freya could not help but warn him, as she knew Brendel too well.

However, he only looked at her and replied, “Don’t worry Freya, I won’t trouble him too much.”

“I’m scared it will be the other way round...” The future War Goddess was speechless.

“Okay then, the bet has been made.” Brendel smiled. “Come here, I’ll tell you how to fight this war.”

Freya’s worries turned into reality as Brendel started to speak.

In the next moment, the soldiers of the Royal Cavalry Academy moved in the direction of his sword. Looking down from above, they seemed like an endless number of swords flying along the streets.

It all happened in an instant.

In the darkness, the White Lion Legion’s officers were sweating buckets.

Countless scouts were moving in the alleys and streets all around them. The information they collected quickly dissolved the ambiguity of the situation.

The White Lion Legion’s military command panicked.

“How did they do it?”

“They are crazy!”

“Dear Marsha, this is impossible!”

Everyone was shocked.

In front of the Evergreen Plaza was a dense business area. The panicked soldiers under Rodu were running in all directions at their allies’ camps.

But unknown to the Rodu’s soldiers and White Lion Legion, the young knights of the Royal Cavalry Academy were carrying out their operations behind them. They formed small squads to hunt enemy soldiers down and then disassembled before forming groups and flanking the Coast Guards.

The result could only be described as a nightmare for the Coast Guards. It was something they had never encountered before. Enemies could appear anywhere and ambush them anytime.

The Coast Guards hurriedly formed their defensive line. It was based on the manual provided by the White Lion Legion. But to Brendel, it might as well have been nothing.

The princess’s attack was like flowing water: constantly changing and unpredictable.

The free-flowing assault completely reversed the tides of war.

“Just how do they command their troops?”

“Transmission Crystals?? Impossible! Any form of magic communication should be disrupted in this large battlefield. Listen carefully for their communications! Even Buga’s personal mage couldn’t do something like this!” Forst growled at his adjutant general.

The man looked pale, not able to give an exact reply.

Forst knew that his anger would not change the situation and he looked up stiffly towards the map hung in the center of the tent.

The red lines indicated the Coast Guards’ defensive lines. They were so bulky most would find them laughable.

But they formed an absolute defense.

Even an army as powerful as Kirrlutz’s would not find any better defensive formation. Sure, it looked stupid, but-

It was impeccable.

Every piece of the defense was so flawlessly placed, as it was the product of generations of refinements. Like facing a titan, going up against it would only lead to two outcomes: kill it, or be utterly destroyed.

It was just like a perfectly engineered meat grinder, a self-destructing bomb that attacked not only the enemies but their allies as well.

The White Lion Legion had planned this bloody battle meticulously, all in order to defeat the princess.

But they did not expect the enemy’s next move.

They had scattered like sand and penetrated into the titan’s body.

In just a split second, the humongous and unwieldy formation had become its own worst enemy.

Their supposedly impenetrable defense was broken in the blink of the eye, and they still didn’t know how the enemy had done it.

They would never understand the reasoning behind the enemy’s actions. Logically, splitting up was suicidal for any army.

However, Brendel refuted that common knowledge.

They did not understand, just like how people did not understand the importance of information in wars when the radio was invented back in his previous world.

But it was not Brendel’s own efforts.

This battle model had been revised and implemented by other players. They were far more experienced at executing it than him.

But it was more than enough for Brendel.

A young man raised his hands and looked at the Wind Spirit Spider on it. He then tied a note onto it and let it vanish into the rain.

He turned his head to look at the man. His heart was pounding heavily.

No one here, besides “him”, understood just how important this battle was.

It was so important that, despite how brief it was, it left a mark in history.

Forst retracted his gaze as he realized his mistake. He looked at his attendees, the youngsters of the White Lion Legion, their faces covered in disbelief.

“Sir, how did they do that?” Someone asked.

“That’s not important.” Forst was disappointed and stopped their discussion. He secretly wished that the future White Lion Legion could be calmer and more flexible than he was. “The reality is that the Coast Guards are losing, just like Rodu did”

The youngsters shifted nervously.

“Well, seems that you guys understand the situation now.” Forst nodded. “According to the plan, it’s time for the Kingdom’s main army to bare their fangs.”

Everyone looked solemn.

“Send this to Owen. Ask him to return to his own position.”

“Franz, I want to see your soldiers at the stated position in time.”

“Kaien, wear your cloak and get yourself ready.”

“For Aouine!” All of them shouted in sync. Everyone stood upright and left after bowing towards their leader.

A young man crossed their paths and walked in after they left.

“Sir, an army is approaching our flank.”

There was silence

“That should be Callun’s position. Who is it?”

The young man hesitated awkwardly.

“Answer me,” Forst asked him solemnly.

“It’s the White Lion’s battle flag sir.”

Forst expression changed.

“Which squad’s?!” He quickly asked in an angry tone. “Who took action without

my command?”

“It’s...”

“Who?”

“It’s... the White Lion Battalion.”

“The Battalion?” Forst froze. Was there such a squad in the White Lion Legion?

Wait... There was. But after King Erik passed away, this squad dissolved as well to honor his death. But...

Forst’s expression changed.