Herald of Steel



Mithriditus sounding the retreat with his meager bare voice only managed to travel around the confines of his vicinity.

He would have liked to use a bugle but since he did not have one, he could only use his god-given gift, the idea behind such a tactic being that others would hear Mithriditus and then pass it along from comrade to comrade until the whole army knew of the order.

This was of course not the best way to do this, and while a far better way that this existed in Perseus's hand, he did not blow his horn in fear of the men holding the lines breaking and running away after hearing it.

Instead, in a move that went against all fibers of his body, Perseus, already dressed in regular armor decided to serendipitously exit the battlefield seeing the battle was lost, taking only a makeshift team of bodyguards with him on horseback.

While close to 15,000 of his men were left behind to fend for themselves.

For someone like Perseus who commanded great respect among his troops, they never even imagined being stabbed in the back like that.

This would have been something unimaginable to think the hero King would do even a few hours ago!

And even Perseus himself could not believe he had actually done something so disgraceful

'Oh, if I had not let greed get the better of me!'

'Oh if I had decided to come with all 35,000 of my troops!'

'Oh, if I had ordered the manor to be evacuated sooner!'

'Oh if I had spotted that hill pass earlier!'

So while he escaped, galloping down the paved, stone-cement road, his heart was filled with bitterness over all the mistakes he had done in hindsight.

But there was no pill to cure regret, and life did not have buts and ifs,

Whatever Perseus did, it had consequences and the man would have to live with it, whether he liked it or not.

Though the consequence for him this time were truly dire, with around 15,000 to 20,000 likely lost, including many, many veteran officers, but with no gold or significant booty to show for it all.

And couple this with the personal tragedy of Leosydas's deteriorating health, which was surely about to get worse with his rapid run down the hill, even though they had put him on a cart, Perseus knew he would have a hard time keeping his throne stable after this.

All the goodwill he had gathered defending Tibias from Amenheraft was about to turn to smoke.

So it was only natural for him to feel a scalding heartache.

While back at the manor, as Perseus rode like the wind, trying to put as much distance as possible between him and his leftover troops, it took a while for Perseus's departure to be known, especially because Theony was disguising as him.

So the soldiers always thought their king was with them.

But a while later some began to have doubts about the situation on the battlefield.

For though the peasant soldiers might not be the sharpest tool in the bunch, they were not dumb rocks either.

At some point, some of the quicker ones began to notice some of their commanders were nowhere to be seen for a while, and the rear was surprisingly quiet.

While others even turned around to see a few of their allies running down the opposite side of the hill.

These were the mercenaries, whose keen eyes had immediately noticed Perseus leaving, and reading the winds had decided to follow him closely, their total numbering around 4,000.

But even all this did not completely break the lines, only sprout doubts in some of the soldiers.

And it took till Melodias forcefully breaking a part of the line which was no longer bear the constant attacks that Tibias's whole defense shattered.

It was as if the destruction of one part of the army had created a crack in a pane of glass, one which once produced, required only the slightest touch to propagate throughout the whole structure, and ultimately break it into a thousand pieces, or in this case fifteen thousand (15,000) pieces.

"Arrghhh"

"Hahahhaa"

And as Tibias's lines broke, the Zanzan soldiers rushed forward, eager to deliver the killing blows and take back their lands.

"Run!"

"We have lost!"

"Make for the hills! Make for the hills!"

Many such shouts would be heard as the Tibian scattered to try their best to save each's skin.

They ran in any direction they could, while others held their spears up and thrust them toward the sky, the ultimate signal of surrender for any phalanx unit.

"We surrender! We surrender!"

"Don't kill! Don't kill!"

They could be heard pleading.

And the Zanzan soldiers for their part mostly accepted their surrender instead of butchering them, rounding them up by the hundreds.

These prisoners of war were firstly told to shed all their weapons and armor, and then made to sit down or even lay prone on the muddy ground, while most of the Zanzan infantry concentrated on trying to kill any soldiers that were trying to escape, chasing them all over the hills and even the surrounding woods.

It was a chaotic scene, where all semblance of order had broken down, the once neat rows of disciplined soldiers nowhere to be found, only to be replaced only by a macabre game of cat and mouse.

A game where an armed cat equipped with a sword tried to stab all the mice scampering around.

And though this ferocious creature of 30,000 men managed to catch many preys, many also managed to slip into the surrounding overgrowth, as the uneven hills gave the much lighter phalangite without their shields or spears a much-needed speed advantage compared to the fully clad legionary.

So this deadly play went on for quite a while, as the Zanzan defenders tried to round up the stragglers.

While the higher-ups only made their way up the hill after everything calmed down a bit and the compound was secured.

"Cam…My lady, we did it! Hahaha," And the instant Menes steeped up the hill, he produced a grin that was difficult to hide even through the helmet.

While Cambyses was much more composed, producing an acknowledging nod and saying, "Yes. Thank Gaia," as she then reminded,

"While capturing the enemy, all remember to start looking for survivors among the wounded."

Saying which the girl decided to take a tour of the premises, intending to view the destruction for herself.

And she was not disappointed.

The carnage around here was truly well and thorough.

The gardens and the beautifully manicured flowers and flower bushes were all tramped to the ground under the footsteps of tens of thousands of men, completely mixing the greeny into the soil to the point all that was left was only a dull brown.

The outside kitchen used to hold outside parties and barbeques was smashed, dead bodies of men, women and children were littered all around and the prisoners were placed buddled up in groups all around.

Cambyses had a hard believing the scenery in front of her and the one in her memory was less than one day old.

But that was certainly not the most striking piece of destruction.

No!

For the centerpiece of it all, had to be of course the manor, which was a smoldering wreck.

As Cambyses gazed upon it, she found she could even now see some of the parts burning, with lashes of flames flicking out into the sky, emanating heat to all sides, while its insides turned into a blackened char of ash and soot with almost nothing of value left to salvage.

Even its stone walls and foundations, though still stood intact without collapsing, showed clear signs of damage as many parts were charred matt back and at some places were even deformed, as the mortar between the stones crystallized in the heat and cracked.

Cambyses understood that if she wanted to live here, she would probably have to build her house again from scratch.

And this was such a pity given she quite the house, both in its style and grandeur, but also in its view.

Depending on which room you were in, one would be able to see the boundless Mad Sea or its golden sandy beaches, the expansive mountains and its lush vegetation, and in rare instances, even some small springs tricking past the hills.

And of course, there was the complete view of the entire city which the manor majestically overlooked, like an ever-watchful guardian keeping its eyes on its people.

In fact, Cambyses's favorite thing to do every day after waking up was to go to the balcony and look over the city, gazing down at the people wandering about.

Seeing so, sometimes she would feel great satisfaction, like a mother seeing her child grow up right before her eyes, feeling immensely proud of seeing the city develop from its destitute state to a thriving city center in just a year.

While at other times she would also feel a great rush of power knowing all the people down there were hers to command.

It was a majestic feeling.

But seeing it now, in its current state, Cambyses was not sure when she would be able to feel like that again.

And her only solace was taking comfort in the knowledge that she would at least have the chance to some time in the future.

Because for all the damaged Zanzan took, it was still in her hands.

She had managed to save Zanzan.