Lucas was well aware that Count George was stalling for time. It was painfully obvious, and he could have easily refused the Duel of Nobles.
However, he accepted because he was waiting for the enemy's forces to fully cluster together. By letting them assemble, he could wipe them all out in one fell swoop, avoiding a tedious chase across the wasteland to hunt down scattered knights—which would only delay his subsequent invasion plans.
Tramp, tramp, tramp...
Lucas rode his horse toward the noble. They came to a halt about ten meters apart. The opponent held a long knight's lance, its sharp iron tip leveled directly at Lucas's chest.
"Dismount and surrender quietly to avoid the pain of a beating," The nobleman said coldly.
"Let's begin," Lucas replied with a lazy wave of his hand. In a one-on-one fight, he truly feared no one.
"Hmph! Arrogant!" Enraged, the nobleman decided to teach Lucas a harsh lesson. He squeezed his legs against the horse's flanks and charged, leveled lance in hand.
Ten meters, nine meters, eight...
High in the sky, Rhea flapped her wings, looking down at Lucas with a deep furrow in her brow. Five meters left, and Lucas hadn't even drawn his sword. What was he thinking? She pulled the recurve bow from her back, nocking an arrow and aiming downward. If Lucas didn't draw his blade in the next second, she would shoot the nobleman herself. The night before they left, Amelia had begged her to protect Lucas. Though it annoyed her, she had begrudgingly agreed in exchange for the food and shelter he provided for her tribe.
Four meters, three meters…
Lucas could feel the wind generated by the charging warhorse. His right hand settled on the hilt of his sword, and his eyes narrowed.
Two meters, one meter...
Clang!!!
The crisp ring of steel echoed across the plain. A flash of white light sliced through the air. The nobleman's horse galloped past Lucas.
Thud!
After the horse had carried him only a few more meters, the nobleman clutched his throat and tumbled from the saddle. His body convulsed twice before he breathed his last.
"I didn't really want to do that," Lucas murmured. He flicked the blood from his sword, slowly sheathed the blade, and returned to his usual lazy posture.
"That..." Rhea stared with wide eyes, first at the corpse and then at the nonchalant Lucas. "Amelia... he has this kind of strength? And he needs my protection?" She muttered to herself, sheepishly lowering her bow. She hadn't even seen the motion of his draw. Even if she had been the one facing that strike, she doubted she could have dodged it.
"The City Lord is mighty!!!" Aiden roared, hoisting his sword high.
"The City Lord is mighty!!!" The soldiers shouted in unison, their morale surging.
"Dammit! How is this possible?" George stared in disbelief. Lucas had won with a single strike.
"Lord George, what do we do now?" Louis asked, trembling.
"Attack! Capture Lucas!" George screamed. He knew that to win now, they had to take the head of the enemy. Their morale was shattered, and he couldn't give the knights time to dwell on the loss.
"CHARGE!!!"
The knight order spurred their horses forward, rushing toward Lucas in a disorganized mass. Some knights hadn't even processed the duel's end before they were swept up in the momentum of the charge.
"Charge! Kill them!" Aiden had been prepared. He led the counter-charge, acting as the tip of the spear as the heavy cavalry followed him in a tight wedge.
The war officially ignited.
The light cavalry moved faster, circling around the flanks. Using their repeating military crossbows, they rained bolts upon the vanguard of the knight order. Dozens fell instantly, and the momentum of George's charge withered away before it even met the main line.
"Fire!" Elisa commanded from her vantage point.
Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!
The crossbowmen in the rear released their triggers. A volley of bolts arched through the sky, plunging into the center of the knight order's formation.
"Lord, watch out!" The Chief Knight shouted, raising his shield over George's head.
Clang! Clang! Thud!
"Aaargh!"
"My eyes! Help me—"
A single volley of crossbow fire brought down over a hundred knights.
"Kill!"
Aiden's cavalry thundered past Lucas, crashing violently into the chaotic ranks of the knights. Swords swung in wide arcs, carving through flesh. Behind them, the infantry followed.
Squelch!
The greatswords, wielded by the powerful beastkin and trained soldiers, sliced through the knights' inferior pig-iron armor as if it were parchment.
Lucas sat on his horse, watching the knights being trampled and cut down. He shook his head. "The gap is too large. This isn't a battle; it's a massacre."
Compared to his soldiers, the knight order was inferior in every metric. The physical stamina of the knights couldn't match soldiers who trained daily and were fed meat regularly, and their equipment was laughable in comparison to Sedona City's steel. With the added presence of specially trained beastkin, the knights were doomed from the start.
"Sigh..." Lucas let out a breath, though he wasn't sure why he was sighing. He turned his horse back toward the shed. He had hoped for a proper challenge to blood his recruits, but the knight order had crumbled upon the first contact.
"Master, are you hurt?" Mina rushed over to take the reins, her eyes scanning him so intensely she practically looked like she wanted to pat him down for injuries.
"I'm fine." Lucas dismounted and sat back down in the shed to finish his tea, staring off into the distant sky.
The battle ended swiftly. Over half of the thousand-plus knights were dead or wounded; the rest were taken prisoner. Even George and Louis were captured.
"Move! Keep your mouth shut!" Aiden, drenched in blood and looking ferocious, marched the two nobles toward Lucas.
"Kneel!"
Thud! Louis dropped to his knees instantly.
"Hmph! I am Count!" George shouted, his hair a tangled mess.
"You—" Aiden's face darkened, and he raised a foot to kick the old man.
"Take them away. Have the medics treat the wounded immediately," Lucas waved a hand. He didn't want to deal with them just yet.
"Yes, my lord!" Aiden saluted and hauled them off.
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