RD 5 Ch 25

The fight sparked off in a raging inferno. Circe went straight through Winnie‘s people, doing her best to keep them busy with sudden gusts of wind.

On the other hand, Simone and the Mul Branova moved far more slowly, holding hands and marching towards Winnie directly. I could only assume she intended to encircle Winnie with the same technique she had used against the assassin several weeks ago.

I found myself suddenly without much to do amongst the prisoners, as I used the crowd to my advantage and decided to remain hidden for a moment longer, taking in all the variables at play.

After all, the moment that Winnie set her sights on killing me, would likely be my last. Though after having gained Circe’s trust, my power had increased significantly. I still wasn’t a match for Winnie, at least not until Simone and the Mul Branova could trap her in their formation.

Circe’s elites joined the battle as well, matching Winnie‘s people far better than Simone’s. The Mul Branova were clearly the weakest of the three groups present.

I wasn’t surprised they were the least capable individually. The New Devote class was built for support rather than direct conflict. I was already excited to try and pair them with one of the other groups. It would significantly enhance our total power.

Winnie’s attention seemed to be fixed firmly on Circe for the moment. The members of her sect were diving after Circe while largely ignoring Simone,

Even with two forces against the one, I could already see that Winnie’s sect was gaining a steady advantage. Their icy attacks were steadily slowing down Circe’s elite.  

Circe and Winnie were both losing a few of their warriors throughout the fighting, but Simone’s Mul Branova refused to die. Despite being weaker, between their resistance and the regeneration, they seemed to be faring far better against Winnie‘s people.

I needed to do something, if only they could actually work together. “Simone, support Circe!” I shouted “Your Mul Branova can make Circe’s people tough enough to deal with Winnie’s.”

Simone snapped her head my way, an angry glare on her face for telling her what to do, but she still heard my words. She split up in groups of five to heal Circe’s warriors. “It seems they aren’t strong enough without our help.” Simone huffed then turned back to me. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

So did I. This was going to be a huge risk, if I couldn’t convince Simone and Winnie to unite forces and follow me by the end of this battle, we wouldn’t have nearly the strength to fend off Princess Almeria.

While Simone was shifting the formations of the Mul Branova, the battlefield hit a moment of pause. It was a familiar sight to me. Battles always began like a bonfire, roaring to life at first, catching the loose tinder and scraps of fuel, only to slow and simmer as the flames gnawed on larger logs. Once those caught, however, any fire could become a blaze with enough fuel. The rest of the people would be that fuel.

In this case, the sparking tinder was Circe and Winnie’s duel. Their clash, along with the battles of other elites between both forces, threatened to ignite everything. Yet we could smother it all if we could trap Winnie in one of the Mul Branova’s formations.

I didn’t want this battle to consume too much of our resources.

I had to trust that Simone knew what she was doing, and that Circe wouldn’t give me up. Still, my shouting had caught the attention of several of Winnie’s fighters. They tried to push through Circe’s lines, their focus fixed on me, as though I was a critical enemy officer, whose death would shift the battle.

And while I had certainly grown stronger after my night with Circe, I was still far too weak to take on Winnie’s people by myself. To my luck, one of Circe’s women stepped between me and the sudden surge of enemies.

I blinked, recognizing her. She was the one who had come on to me when I first arrived in Circe’s camp. A bad feeling crept over me as I caught her glance quickly over her shoulder before she sidestepped away.

Winnie’s soldier took the hint, winked at Circe’s woman, and charged straight for me.

I braced myself, checking her stats and skills.

My Soul Gaze hadn’t returned yet, but I still had a decent inspect to use. Her spirit stat was poor, pathetically so. That gave me confidence that she wasn’t able to hide part of her kills. Still, everything else about her screamed danger.

I had no more time to prepare before she was upon me.

Blood Blade slipped from my wrist as I caught her scythe, twisting the weapon away. Blood Hex blossomed between us, and I cursed her with every ounce of my spirit.

My opponent sagged instantly.

I used that heartbeat of weakness to give me space, sweeping my blade through the air between us.

No one was rushing to my aid. They were all occupied. But it didn’t matter, my curse had done its work.

Her next step faltered, staggering under more weight than she expected. “Bastard! Are you afraid to fight me?” she spat, covering herself by firing spikes of ice that sprayed over me.

Her aim was sloppy and I batted aside the only two shards that might have mattered.

“I’m here aren’t I? I thought all of you were so well trained.” I smirked, stepping just inside the reach of her icy scythe only to slip back out the moment her swing began. 

Frustration flared in her gaze as she tried to lengthen the strike by stepping forward. 

That move was all I needed. Crimson Barrier shot out from me, shoving into her. 

Between the sudden shift in weight and her over-extended stance, she staggered, caught entirely off guard. Her attention shifted from her weapon to the simple struggle of staying upright.

With that opening, I dismissed the barrier and stepped in, smashing her scythe aside with every shred of strength I could muster.

Thankfully, it was enough. She had been thrown off balance, her grip faltered, and the weapon clattered to the ground while I pressed my advantage.

I swung Blood Blade back around, aiming for her chest and forcing her to block with her arms if she wanted to protect her heart. She managed to block me but not without losing her arm at the elbow. She stumbled backwards, spinning on her back foot, her heel lashing up toward my head.

I ducked beneath the kick, jabbing a punch at her knee while sweeping my blade one-handed toward her back leg. I only managed to land a blow despite the disparity in our stats because the increased gravity slowed her down and made her upward movements far more telegraphed. She had to brace herself just to counter the extra weight.

I knew Winnie’s style well enough, and her fighters were trained by her. Without their weapon, they always switched to blocking with their arms and throwing heavy strikes with their legs.

That predictability made what she was doing easy to predict if I led her down the right past. I focused on stripping her weapon and forcing her down the line of attack I had already prepared.

Thankfully, my strategy went according to plan. My blade carved deep into her thigh, not severing it outright, but enough to put her out of the fight until someone healed her.

It had been a while since I had to more than brute force my way through a fight and it felt good to know that I could control the flow even against a stronger opponent.

She staggered back on one good leg, dropping to a knee. Her glare burned into me. “Finish me, bastard,” she hissed.

“I don’t think so,” I smirked. “It’s not my intention to kill you or any of Winnie’s people. Instead, I’m going to take over the rest of your group.”

I lifted my gaze to the rest of the battle. With Simone and Circe’s cooperation, it had gone far better than even I imagined. In fact, Simone had begun assisting Circe directly.

Unlike the rest of the Mul Branova, Simone actually had a class that so far seemed fully intended to buff and heal. Meanwhile the Mul Branova fielded something more powerful but basic, a class that could go in many directions. Across all of them were several abilities that were incredibly powerful for survival.

While Simone and Circe’s people were certainly winning, they weren’t actively slaughtering a lot of Winnie’s troops. The Mul Branova were wearing down their opponents rather than decisive victories.

I now understood how Simone had been managing to capture so many of them for me to strip their bloodlines. These formations by the Mul Branova were excellent at wearing down opponents and making them easy prey for the cult to tie up and drag home.

I surveyed the fighting a moment longer, feeling confident the battle was coming to a quick head.

Circe, backed by Simone, had held Winnie off and tied her down long enough for a ring of Mul Branova to encircle the two fighters. Simone shouted for Circe to fall back. 

The sorceress with her specialty in air magic had no problem flying outside the encirclement in the blink of an eye, only to twist and watch as a crimson shell wrapped over Simone and the ring of Mul Branova.

Circe threw her head back in laughter. “Who knew your betrayal would work so well for me?” she called, turning to Simone with a smirk. “If this man can prove he is Lord Bran, then it seems our fighting here was pointless. In fact, we may be on the same side.”

Simone, however, narrowed her eyes at me across the field of battle. “Now I think you have a promise to fulfill,” she said, her tone grave, a warning of what would happen if my promise turned out empty.