Herald of Steel

Petretus was Petricuno's favorite son and one who was supposed to succeed him as the leader of the mercenary group after his father's retirement. 

So when the messenger came to him informing him of his son's precarious situation, the first thing Petricuno felt was an intense surge of regret.

But it was not upon hearing his son's predicament.

Instead, it was over the fact that when placing the units in the formation, he had chosen his personal group and even the most elites to be in the position of honor- at the very front, to act as the vanguard. 

The reason back then had of course been so that he could claim credit for defeating Alexander, to be the first units to break the Zanzan lines and gain great wealth and glory for himself. 

Something his men very much appreciated. 

Furthermore, to lead them, he handed the very first echelon units to his son, to help him gain some free credit. while he himself, following Alexander's philosophy stayed at the back to better command the troop,

After all, at that time, in Petricuno's eyes, the battle was already over.

But now, that same decision had come back to bite him.

Since Melodias had launched his ferocious attack, it was only natural that the very front rows bore the greatest brunt of it, and it was not only Petricuno's son that was suffering, but it was also his mercenary group that was taking disproportionate damage, soaking sword hits for the benefit of other groups.

To any mercenary leader that would be unacceptable. 

Petricuno was aware of this mismatch from the very beginning but had been willing to swallow them if it meant getting his most fervent desire fulfilled.

But now that even his son was in danger, the equations changed.

There was no way he could sit still and wait to gather his force, for the time that it would need would doom his progeny to death, and who knew how many of his treasured men.

That was something unacceptable to him.

"Send out the order."

"Those units at the back are to form a rear guard while the front retreats."

"And go tell His Majesty- 'The enemy's attack is too fierce! We cannot hold on. We are pulling back to the camp'."

To save his son's life, thus Petricuno officially gave the order to retreat without a second's thought!

"Yes!" And given the dreadful losses they were suffering, the messenger was more than happy to oblige.

*Trumpet*, *Trumpet*, *Trumpet*

Thus soon such blares began to float around Petricuno's side and knowing what this meant, many rejoiced as they broke rank and ran in all directions.

While others cursed Petricuno for his lack of spirit, 'Darn! We could have won if we had just held on. That coward!'

But given others were abandoning them, even these eager men soon found themselves running for the safety of their camp.

"Charge! Kill!"

"Chase them!"

"The camp! The enemy camp is free! Go.'

"They are running. Brothers come, let us take revenge!"

And naturally, when one side ran, the other side chased- that was the rule of wars during this time.

Thus, almost similar to how a dog would chase a tail, Melodias's men started to chase the fleeing enemy, or for those with a more keen eye, attempted to breach Perseus's camp and loot it.

Now, Petricuno had ordered a rear guard be formed to try and prevent this, to form s protective screen that would give fight to the legionaries in a delaying action that would prevent them from breaking rank and chasing after the other vulnerable escaping units.

But again, Petricuno was thwarted by a variety of reasons.

One was simply because he did not know who to assign that dangerous role.

The mishmash of so many different units from so many other places in his ranks meant that he was not intimately familiar with much of them, and could not effectively delegate.

It had to be known that a rear guard formation was a highly technical formation and was accompanied by much danger, for one needed to face a large number of units and pin them in place, preventing the enemy from dispersing and chasing after one's out of formation, vulnerable men.

Such an effort was usually accomplished by launching an aggressive attack to catch the enemy's attention and making them fear that their lines would snap if they did not defend otherwise.

And as it could be imagined, attacking an outnumbering foe while your own side was dispersing and running for their life was a challenging thing to do indeed.

One needed true discipline to simply not start running with the rest and instead truly believe in one's capabilities of holding on till everyone about retreated to start running.

But that would also now mean these few rear guards units would be at the forefront of the bristling enemy attack, facing an overwhelming number of possibly very angry men.

If the rear guard was unable to disengage properly or the enemy was really tenacious, many of them would die in the process.

Something that might be even more true here, as the rough ground would mean an almost impossible escape for those left behind.

But cruel as it may sound, that really was the point of the rear guard, to sacrifice a smaller part of the army so that the rest could live.

Though that also went to mean that such a task could not be given to anyone, for one needed very well trained men with the zeal and guts to die for their cause to hold these posts.

Petricuno had no shortage of the former- 'well trained men'.

Almost everyone under his command were professional soldiers with a whole lot of experience.

As for the latter- 'men with the zeal and guts to die for their cause', well that was a lot harder to come by.

None of the men under Petricuno were native Tibians and really had no real attachment to the result of the battle.

Sure, they would like to battle, but most were not willing to die for it.

This way- 'What the men had in competency, they made up for by their lack of will and their profound love for life.' 

Thus a rear guard never formed. 

Besides, in reality, Petricuno never really had a chance to form a rear guard.

Because the order had been too sudden.

There was no way a sizable number of the slow phalangites would have been able to come together in that short time.

And if they could have, Petricuno would have already sent them to help relieve his son.

Thus it could even be argued that Petricuno never really wanted to form a rear guard but only gave the order so that official records show that such an order had indeed been issued. 

All so that he could absolve himself of any responsibility and ensure that he had a face to show to Perseus.

'Before the retreat, I ordered a rear guard formation. But the men were too cowardly and ran. I tried my best' Petricuno already had his excuse ready.

The man might have his flaws, but he was no idiot when it came to battlefield politics.

But whatever the reason behind the collapse of Petricuno's wing, be it due to Petricuno's personal incompetence or simply Melodias's attack being too fierce and causing the positions to be overrun, the result was the same.

It was like the floodgates had been torn open and the men on both sides burst into the open field, chasing and running after one another like madmen.

Petricuno's side on the ridge soon devolved into a chaotic swirl of red and blue. 

And with that, the help that Perseus had sought in order to deliver a decisive killing blow to Menes dissipated. 

Laying witness to all this from the back of his army and seeing half his literally shattered, Perseus surprisingly did not despair!

No, such was the nerve and insight of the experienced king.

For in his mind, he thought he could still win!

Because by his calculation, the battle had reached a stalemate.

And how did he come to this ridiculous conclusion you ask?

Well according to him, the enemy had won on his right side but if he could break the enemy on his left and win, the battle might still end up in his favor.

Because remember- a tie would still be a victory for him. 

He was the defender and as long as the enemy could not attack him anymore, even if he lost his army, he would still win. 

"Attack! The enemy has been defeated on your right. He has no more reinforcements! Attack! Their lines are crumbling." 

Hence Perseus, embellishing the truth not just a little bit but literally turning black to white, actually urged his men to fight men harder, 

And because everything that was going on was happening behind these men, in the heat of the battle, these phalangites had no time to turn back to see the actual situation.

Thus instead of feeling downcast, bolstered by their king's words actually started to fight harder, feeling the fight was nearing its end, with victory in sight.

This put Menes's already frayed lines under far more pressure and somehow, in a twisted way, Melodias's victory actually hurt Menes.

And Perseus's wish for a tie appeared to be coming closer and closer to coming true.

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