Eirian hacked her way through every attacker that came her way. The soldiers of the Crimson Army fought to her left and right, and they managed to hold out for another day and night.
Eirian took to kicking the bodies of dead tribesmen into piles, wary of making a wall that would eventually favor the tribes instead of her own forces, to try and keep the fighting space clear.
They'd ended up in a stalemate of sorts. Eirian and her forces wouldn't move, but the tribes didn't stop coming, and it had turned into a battle of attrition.
Which meant, Eirian thought grimly as the second sunrise began, that eventually it wouldn't be in their favor. The victor in attrition was the one who could put more forces on the field and withstand the whittling away.
Even if help was on the way, it was still a full day away, and Wayland had recognized fresh troops among the tribes, pointing out the specific facial tattoos of the Bandri.
It put to rest any further speculation that Beng Shai was involved.
Eirian, exhausted and sweatier than she ever remembered being before, was a few minutes away from tossing her armor just to let her body breathe. She was beyond chaffing in some areas, where she knew the skin had already been rubbed raw, and everyone else was in the same boat. Armor wasn't meant to be worn nonstop for days in the heat, and they'd lost their fair share of comrades to heatstroke in the midst of fighting.
Ardain and Eirian's magic were desperate to let loose, but Eirian had resisted thus far, hoping the tribes would grow tired and retreat, but it seemed this was the time that they'd finally started to evolve with their tactics.
How thrilling to be present at the moment of change, she thought sarcastically, as Vitali and Wayland fought their way to her side.
Eirian hadn't left the front line in nearly a day, and her four sub-commanders appeared as disappeared as they kept the lines organized around her. Tanning had been with them, but Eirian had told him to focus on what was happening behind the battle, as he seemed to have the kind of mind necessary to keep the medical, supply, and defense going seamlessly.
Wen Chunhan kept disappearing for stretches and then reappearing, but he didn't look nearly as bad off as Vitali and Wayland, and Eirian's suspicions were building.
There was, of course, the chance that he was simply like that, that he could maintain his appearance and had better stamina than the rest of them, but Eirian was no slouch. She was still going strong, stuffing her face with hard bread every few hours, but her hair was stained red with blood, and there was vomit from a dying man on one of her legs, and shit all over her boots from the release of the dead bodies they'd been fighting through. Her face was covered in crystallized salt from her dried sweat, and that knot in between her shoulders was much worse than the day before.
She missed Chenzhou and Mingzhe and Finn, and god knew where Yuze was, out trying to figure out the organization of the tribes, but she didn't know if he was still alive or he'd been hurt in the chaos, and she couldn't send anyone after him because she couldn't spare a single body.
She was rapidly coming to the conclusion that she needed to do something drastic to break the attack, but she'd been so hopeful that she could hold off a little bit longer.
The tribes didn't know much about magic, and Eirian wasn't sure how it would go if they saw hers.
Vitali must have been thinking along the same lines, because she made her way to Eirian's side with a frown. "We might need to consider a more aggressive strategy." Vitali wiped a fresh smear of blood off her face. "If they have the forces to keep this going, staying on the defensive will not end in our favor."
"Going on the offensive with weary soldiers is not ideal," Wayland warned.
Fortunately, they didn't necessarily need those soldiers to go on the offensive.
Eirian had wanted to save her magic for if things became more dire, but perhaps the better path was to take a chance and try to ensure they never even risked that.
But she did love to use her magic, and even if she didn't belong to this world originally, even if she wasn't from the Camelia, they were both hers now.
"Stand back."
And regardless of everything else, she wasn't going to let anyone take them from her now.
Her magic started to ripple as Vitali and Wayland backed away, and the other soldiers followed suit, despite their confusion.
The tribesmen followed at first, encouraged by the retreat, but they faultered when Eirian's magic manifested into flames and then grew and grew and kept growing, reaching out in vicious tendrils that turned everything they touched to ash.
Eirian pushed more of her magic out, letting the flames grow and grow until the tribesmen began to flee screaming, and the bodies that had hindered the fighting since the battle began were carried away by the flame-created winds.
The crackling roar of Eirian's fire drowned out everything else, even the cries of surprise from those standing right behind her and Ardain, who hadn't shut up since the battle started.
The flames ripped through the attacking tribesmen, killing thousands as it spread across the battlefield and the hills, chasing the tribesmen all the way back to the haphazard camp they'd established.
Eirian fed it until it reached their camp and then slowly reigned it back in, trying to preserve some of her strength even though she could already feel the gnawing hunger.
Silence fell over the battlefield as the flames faded, and Eirian watched the wind carry away the last of the ash and smoke. The fire hadn't killed all of the attacking tribesmen, but it had gotten a third of their entire force.
The soldiers of the Camelia were as wide-eyed as the surviving tribesmen as they stared at one another across the burnt field.
"Impressive." Vitali breathed, sounding more awed than anything else. Next to her, Wayland looked terrified, the more appropriate response.
Wayland swallowed. "Yes…can you do it again?"
Eirian looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You think I'll need to do it again?" She glanced at the frozen survivors of their enemy. "They look too scared to move."
Wayland shifted, "Some people try to destroy what they fear."
Vitali stiffened. "Like religious zealots." Her face twisted as she cursed, and Eirian felt like doing the same.
She hadn't considered that the tribesmen might be more determined to destroy her after seeing her magic, but as she watched the survivors slowly gather, the wide whites of their eyes and their shaking hands, she realized Wayland was likely right.
They were terrified, but Eirian was now a monster to be destroyed at all costs.
"Well," Vitali said cheerfully, "At least you thinned them out."
~ tbc