The group landed hard behind a fractured coalition formation, their mounts stumbling across the scorched ground as soldiers nearby shouted in alarm. A few almost raised weapons toward them before recognising Alexander’s armour and the royal crest.
"Prince Alexander!"
"Your Highness!"
The prince dismounted quickly, eyes sweeping across the battlefield as Elion landed beside him.
The air was thick with corrupted mana, blood, smoke, and the kind of desperation that made n fight harder even while knowing they might already be dead.
Elion’s gaze moved toward Alexander with clear warning.
"Get back."
Alexander looked at him sharply.
Elion’s voice was firm. "You and your retainers need to get back. This battlefield is way beyond your level."
Lukas imdiately stiffened, but even he did not argue.
Alexander’s expression twisted slightly. "I am not useless."
"I didn’t say you were," Elion replied. "But your life is too important to gamble in a at grinder like this."
Peter looked like he wanted to agree, but wisely chose to keep his mouth shut lest he offend his prince with needless comntary.
Alexander stared at Elion for a long second, eventually turning his gaze to the battlefield.
The scale of it all, the chaos, and the vast difference between training and command from the backlines, between bravery and foolishness.
’This is far beyond the current .’ The realisation twisted in his chest like a poisoned dagger.
Eventually, he nodded reluctantly.
"Fine."
Just then, Gareth’s communication device gave a sharp beep that made everyone turn toward him.
The device flashed once, then a booming voice erupted from it, deep enough to overpower even the sounds of battle around them.
"Alexander!"
Alexander imdiately grabbed the device from Gareth’s grasp. "Father!"
"Where are you now!"
"The front lines?" He said in an almost unsure tone.
"Good. You made it right on ti!" lroy’s voice crackled through the interference. His voice sounded as rough as usual, but still absurdly powerful, like he was shouting through thunder. "Have Elion leave and infiltrate demon territory imdiately."
Alexander’s expression darkened. "Imdiately?"
"Yes. We have to settle this now and end it before the battlefield collapses any further."
They all suddenly heard a violent explosion boom sowhere in the distance through the device, followed by the faint sound of sothing massive roaring.
lroy’s voice returned. "This bastard Demon King is far stronger than he is supposed to be. He is using so kind of ancient ritual to burn through the lives of his own commanders just to match us."
Elion’s eyes narrowed.
Burning through his own commanders’ lives? That sounded insane, but very believable for so reason.
lroy continued, "We cannot drag this out. Every hour gives him more fuel and more chaos on an already ssy battlefield. We have heard about the sudden, explosive demon attacks on the front line. It is clear that both sides are deeply invested in the war now, so we have to break this status quo. Send Elion now."
Alexander looked toward Elion grimly.
Elion, who had already heard everything, nodded grimly.
Alexander slowly lowered the device. "If you travel from this point, you won’t go in as far as initially planned."
"I figured."
"You’ll have to run the rest of the way," Alexander said, his voice tight. "The talisman will throw you closer to the Demon Lord’s territory, but not directly into the deepest point as we had intended."
Elion sighed and massaged his brow, "That’s reasonable, I guess."
"Unfortunately, things have gotten this bad." Alexander’s eyes swept briefly over the broken battlefield. "There may have been more traitors, or they had more information than we assud. That is the only explanation."
Elion nodded slowly.
Perhaps... Or perhaps sothing even worse was moving behind all of this. Either way, it no longer mattered.
He had to go.
"Stay out of trouble," Elion said.
Alexander gave him a humourless look. "That is supposed to be my line."
"Well, sucks to be you. You were too slow."
Elion ntally reached into storage and took out the formation talisman.
The mont it touched his palm, the symbols across its surface began to burn with pale gold light. The air around him pulsed, mana gathering beneath his feet in a growing circular array. The retainers quickly stepped back.
Alexander held Elion’s gaze, and for a mont, neither of them spoke. Then Alexander said quietly, "Do not die."
Elion’s lips twitched. "Everyone keeps saying that to lately."
"You just have to listen, simple."
Elion smiled faintly.
"No promises."
The formation beneath his feet lit up brilliantly.
Wind rose around him, tugging at his hair and cloak. Kurogoroshi humd at his side to express its hidden excitent.
A second later, Elion vanished. The light collapsed inward and disappeared, leaving only scorched symbols fading across the ground.
Alexander stared at the empty spot for a long mont.
’The rest is up to you, Hero Elion,’ he thought grimly.
A shadow suddenly passed overhead.
A coalition commander descended on a flying mount. His armour was scorched, his cloak was torn, and his face was grim with urgency.
"Prince Alexander!"
Alexander turned toward the archmage-level commander as he pulled his mount to a halt just above the ground. "We need to get you to safety!"
Before Alexander could answer, another series of explosions thundered across the battlefield. Black flas rained down from the sky, crashing into barriers and formations with enough force to shake the scorched earth beneath their feet.
Demons roared, soldiers scread, and spells continued to fall like judgnt over the burning battlefield.
Alexander looked once toward the place where Elion had vanished. Then he clenched his fists and turned away.
"Move," he said. "And while we move, you will tell exactly how the front line collapsed this far."
...
When Elion reappeared, he imdiately choked on water.
He had tried to breathe the very mont he materialised, only to be shocked when water filled his lungs instead of air.
’Fucking hell!’
He instantly clamped his mouth shut.
Of course!
Of course, the damn talisman had dropped him into a body of water.
For a second, his body flailed in confusion as bubbles burst from his lips and rushed past his face. He forced himself to calm down, quickly orienting himself toward the faint light shimring above.
He began swimming upward.
At the sa ti, he used water magic to form a bubble of air around his head, pushing the water away from his face just enough to breathe. It took him a few seconds, but he finally broke through the surface with a violent splash.
"Haaah!"
Elion gasped deeply, sucking in air like a drowning man reborn. He wiped the water from his face and looked around with a twitching brow.
"...I knew it."
He coughed and spat out so water.
"I fucking knew sothing like this would happen."
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