Lucius's legions marched slowly, maintaining square formations.
Thousands of Roman legionaries upheld military discipline as they slowly approached Septimus's army.
Lucius ordered a dozen riders to approach Septimus's army with the purpose of demanding their surrender or an explanation.
For Lucius, regardless of the outcome of the battle, the consequences for Rome would be a weakening of its military power.
As they approached within 150 meters, Lucius's riders were met with crossbow bolts.
Upon learning of the riders' deaths, Lucius lost all hope of avoiding a direct confrontation.
Lucius's legions advanced to within 500 meters of Septimus's army.
Some soldiers in Lucius's army began to sweat because of the imminent battle.
On the walls of the city of Capua, all the nobles and the prefect of the city watched as the red tide slowly approached the black tide.
At 150 meters, Septimus's army began firing thousands of crossbow bolts at Lucius's army.
The bolts fell like a torrential rain upon Lucius's legionaries.
Lucius's legionaries suffered few losses at first and later raised their shields; as a result, the damage from the bolts was greatly minimized.
Septimus frowned slightly but understood that the current crossbows did not have enough lethality to cause great losses to heavy infantry.
The crossbow bolts only inflicted wounds and the deaths of fewer than 100 unfortunate soldiers.
At 30 meters, Lucius's Roman legions stopped abruptly and drew their javelins.
At Septimus's command, all the legionaries in black armor raised their shields.
Thousands of javelins, like a black rain, began to fall upon the shields. The impact of thousands of javelins caused several deaths, with some soldiers pinned to the ground.
Septimus's shields were made of very resistant materials, but the large number of javelins caused the formations to become disordered and created blind spots where the javelins were able to cause great damage.
After receiving the volley of javelins, the clone legionaries skillfully drew their own javelins and, with synchronized movements, hurled them at Lucius's army.
The thousands of javelins caused hundreds of deaths among the Roman legionaries and thousands of wounded.
The javelins pierced the shields, causing severe injuries to the Roman army.
The Roman formation turned into a chaos of screams and laments; the centurions began shouting at the top of their lungs to maintain the order of the formation.
Before the Roman formation could stabilize, with a sharp sound Septimus's army launched another volley of javelins.
The second volley of javelins caused more damage than the first, and hundreds of soldiers died unprepared.
The battlefield filled with cries of sorrow and pain, with the air impregnated with the smell of blood.
The legion commanders took command along with their retinues to maintain the order of the formation.
The javelins of Septimus's army were made with better iron and penetrated the Roman shields more effectively, creating a disparity of equipment between the two armies.
Before the Roman formation could stabilize, Septimus's army began to move slowly, taking the initiative.
The soldiers in black armor performed the typical Roman testudo formation with rotating ranks.
The testudo formation applied a system of rotating ranks, where the first line fought and, when exhausted, fell back to be replaced by the second, allowing them to maintain constant pressure and preserve the cohesion of the formation.
The advantage of the formation allowed the soldiers to avoid exhaustion from constant fighting.
The first soldiers in black armor advanced slowly and steadily while stabbing the Roman soldiers wounded by javelins.
The Roman commanders, upon observing the situation, quickly abandoned the soldiers in the front ranks who had been most affected by the javelins.
The Roman formation quickly stabilized, and the centurions gave orders to maintain formation and wait for Septimus's army.
With two volleys of javelins, the initiative on the battlefield was taken by Septimus.
The soldiers with weapons advanced quickly and soon made contact with the Roman army.
The confrontation quickly became brutal, and the soldiers of both sides engaged in intense combat.
To Septimus's surprise, the clone soldiers only held a slight advantage over the Roman soldiers in combat skills.
After a brief analysis, Septimus realized the reason.
The combat skills of the clone soldiers had been trained inside the underground arena and in the ludus as gladiators.
The clone soldiers possessed individual combat skills that could only be used effectively in smaller battlefields where there was more space to maneuver and move.
It was Septimus's first great battle where he applied Roman formations against an enemy almost on equal terms.
The battle with the admiral of Campania had been easily won by taking advantage of the walls of the decapitating city and the arrogance of the admiral of Campania's army.
Septimus frowned slightly but quickly relaxed. The advantage of the clone army was its incredible adaptability.
While the clone soldiers faced a bloody battle, their skills and experience in large battlefields increased, raising their chances of survival.
All the clones would become experienced legionaries on the battlefield. True seasoned soldiers.
As the bloody battle developed, the Roman centurions in the front line realized a shocking situation.
The short swords of Septimus's army were of better quality compared to the weapons used by the Roman legionaries.
The short swords used by the soldiers in black armor could break the weapons and shields of the Roman soldiers more easily.
The black armor of Septimus's army was also more resistant compared to Roman armor.
The Roman legion commanders could only order the centurions to increase the rotation time of the soldiers to minimize casualties.
The casualties of the Roman army were reduced after the Roman army changed its tactics.
The confrontation between the two armies turned into a battle of attrition.
Septimus's soldiers only had a minimal advantage in skill, but their advantage in military equipment was superior to the Roman army.
On the other hand, the Roman army had a large number of soldiers.
Septimus was confident he could defeat the Roman army led by the consul Lucius.
The clone soldiers had a shared will and maintained an unbreakable fighting spirit.
The Roman army could only defeat Septimus if it managed to kill all the clone soldiers—an objective difficult for the Roman army led by Lucius to achieve.
The soldiers in black armor were relentless in their combat techniques.
At the beginning, killing a single soldier in black armor required the death of two Roman soldiers, or sometimes only one, but later it required three or four Roman soldiers.
The Roman commanders did not give importance to the exchange of casualties.
It was common in Roman formations to keep veteran soldiers in the last ranks and novices in the front ranks.
Only Julius Caesar broke the common Roman tactic and almost always placed his most veteran legionaries in the front ranks.
Facing newly recruited legionaries against veteran legionaries in order to exhaust them, and as a consequence be annihilated by rested experienced legionaries, was a common tactic in the Roman civil wars.
On the other hand, Julius Caesar changed the approach by confronting his experienced legionaries against the novice legionaries of his enemies.
Julius Caesar took advantage of the momentum of veteran legionaries to increase the morale of his army. He knew that when the enemy's casualties exceeded an estimated number, the enemy army would collapse.