Caelinus frowned and rubbed his chin at the scene before him. Momentum had swung against them, which was a serious problem for the Legion. The Legion’s strength was in its ability to replace losses, and to weave together specialists to become greater than the sum of their parts. But that meant in any tactical setting, the Legion would break if they lost control of the battle’s pace. Once their formation was broken, it became extremely difficult to rebuild it.

Of course, that is why the Empire normally brings more than one legion to the fight. Their response to a situation like this would be to have another legion arrive in formation so the broken legions could fall back and regroup.

And Caelinus did have more than one legion at his disposal. He had his whole army on standby, and many more legions he could throw into the fray. But in his case, there was a serious problem.

He only had one Arcanum legion and one Ianis legion each. Mages were a precious commodity, after all. Their skills were needed in transportation, communication, agriculture, land reclamation, manufacturing...practically every area of life in the Empire and so most of the magically gifted did not choose to risk their lives in the army. So while most individuals could learn a bit of magic with effort, fully fledged battlemages were rare, and full magical legions rarer still, especially up north. The truth was the Northern Court just didn’t need that many. The Eastern Court had to guard against the powerful Empire of the Sun, and the Southern Court needed mages to crew its navies, but the Northern Court was mostly faced with barbarian tribes of lower sophistication, who could be handled by physical weapons and sufficient fortifications. So the North just didn’t train as many magical legions as its counterparts.

Heavy casualties among his only two would be a severe problem in the coming days.

Not to mention that attrition was not a viable tactic for him in this battle. Sure, he could throw legion after legion at the hero and try to wear her down over time, the Empire had done that in the past against overwhelming opponents. But he was not the Empire, not anymore. He was launching a rebellion largely based on his popularity with the troops and their frustrations with the Northern Court’s leadership. So if he started his reign by sacrificing thousands of lives for an uncertain outcome against a single opponent? It would be a Drycinic victory, at best. His troops would mutiny before the Northern Court could even respond.

And…another thought came to his mind as he watched the Legion’s troops suffer under the hero’s barrage.

“But this I swear to you: while I am in command, not one more drop of Legion blood will be shed in vain!”

He made his choice. He turned to one of his troops.

“Sound the retreat. You there, inform Legates Augstalis and Emeritus to preserve their legions as best they can.”

He then turned to one of his messenger mages.

“Send word to Captain Iovinus of the Caelum Eques. He should deploy, and prepare mounts for myself and Magister Vibius.”

Magister Vibius jumped and turned to face him. Caelinus just nodded at him.

“We will end this fight, one way or another, by our own hands.”

Caelinus then rubbed his chin and turned back to the first messenger.

“Send word to Dux Augustalis as well. Tell her we must succeed, at any cost.”

The messenger’s eyes widened but he nodded and moved to relay the message.

NSLICE-00P surveyed the battlefield’s state. The Legion forces were scattered and scrambling for cover, their siege weapons were destroyed, their ritual formations were broken and the Legion had ceased attempts to reform them, and their counterattacks had grown feeble and sporadic. The Legion was no longer acting as an organized force, and parts of it were already retreating. NSLICE-00P calculated they could not present a threat to her defenses at the moment and so moved to terminate her target.

But as she approached the command area her sensors picked up heavy mana signatures on approach. She turned her attention to the skies.

A formation of large flying creatures was approaching from above, with armored soldiers on their backs. They rode upon white horses with large bird wings, and carried shining lances that reflected off the sun. Two more such horses landed near her target, picking up said target and another man before flying up to join the formation. The man drew a large sword and pointed it towards her, shouting with a mana-amplified voice.

“I am Mettius Burrienus Caelinus, the former Magister Utriusque Militiae per Utrad, the defender of the Empire, the commander of the Legions below, and the new Emperor of the North! I will not permit you to slaughter my troops any longer! Let’s settle this fight, here and now!”Royal Road's content has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Hostile commander identified, target prioritized. Proceeding to terminate.”

NSLICE-00P immediately opened fire with a volley of missiles. The Prismatic Bombardment magic circle vanished and a new one appeared facing the formation. The flying knights immediately took evasive action, while several in the rear lifted staves. Magic barriers appeared and blocked the missiles while the knights scattered in all directions. A volley of bolts from Magister Vibius and crossbow-armed knights retaliated. NSLICE-00P rediverted some of her attention and mana to defensive barriers.

You have slain Human (Level 80)!

You have slain Pegasus (Level 73)!