Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Richard von Petra was fully dressed in his battle armor. They were planning a massive push against Alorek today. Their forces for the assault numbered nearly fifty-thousand. All of them were veterans of the war at this point.

His plans of incorporating Marked Ones into the individual core of the army versus having a shield wall of them at the vanguard proved unpopular at first, but ultimately effective. Those that had powerful skills were able to use them without the impediment of other Marked Ones using their abilities at the same time right next to them.

Magic and Mark usage shared one thing and that was if the power's collided with a similar power of an opposite element, then they would cancel out. When the disorganized Marked Ones fought side by side, this happened with simultaneous mark activations of opposing natures from their allies, greatly reducing the effectiveness of the attack.

With the users now spread out, the powerful ones stood out and were much more helpful in battling their opponents. Arcadios still seethed over the decision and absolutely refused to allow any Marked Ones to work with the forces under his command.

Since Richard was in charge of the front, the could force him to follow orders. However, Arcadios was under the direct command of the king and was simply on loan to Richard for the duration of the war. Even though it had been four years since Lucius' rampage and subsequent silencing, Richard still wanted to be careful when interacting with the crown.

For this battle, he brought himself to the field. He made sure to spar with his men to keep his sword arm from getting rusty, but this battle was going to be a deciding factor for the outcome of the war. Apparently their allies had some sort of plan cooking up and there was a risk of Alorek sacrificing their lines against the human army to stop Eroa's attack.

Whatever they had planned was allegedly going to be big. How big? Richard didn't know.

The moment the sun's rays first erupted from the horizon, he nodded to queue the signal for the start of battle. A low hum of a bugle blew across the battlefield and soon the rhythmic beat of marching feet created a dull roar in Richard's ears.

His heart was beating heavily, excited for battle. While atop a horse, he held the reins with one hand while pointing his other at the battlefield.

"Mage Group Blue, target the area I signal with a barrage. Archer group Blue hold ten and follow-up!" His voice echoed across the army lines. He rode his horse through the gaps in the marching groups. "[Lux: Flare – Blue]"

He cast a simple flare spell colored blue over the heads of a group of enemy infantry nearly a thousand feet. It was a long range ask for their archers, but with their longbows they should be able to reach it without Arts.

"Other groups! Same orders, follow your signals!

"[Lux: Flare – Red], [Lux: Flare – Green]"

Richard sent out several different colors of flares indicating requested targets for each of the ranged units to hit. First the mage groups would launce a series of spells, then after a ten-count, the Archer groups would launch a swarm of arrows.

The enemy forces had similar tactics prepared and Richard did his best to dodge stray arrows that may have struck him, including casting the occasional barrier with his light magic.

When Richard made it half way to the front lines he launched a massive, orange flare straight into the sky, signaling a full charge. Alorek met their charge with one of their own and the two armies clashed.

Steel met steel and spell met spell as both sides clashed. They were equal in size and strength, though beastmen did have a slight edge in physical strength. Human forces compensated for this discrepancy by being better at magic.

Separating the infantry from the magical and archery units were Shield Arts users and Light Magic users who could cast barrier spells or arts to protect their ranged groups from the enemies groups. Since their magic was stronger, they could block more spells from the enemies while also breaking more of their barriers. Check out m_vl_em_p_yr stories

It was a few minutes after the initial charge that Richard felt it. A rumble from the ground started to shake the landscape. He felt a pressure from the enemy's army and saw a fellow Master Rank fighter sitting atop a steed of his own. His left hand was held outwards and emitted a bright glow.

"Damn! Earth Magic users, brace the ground below!"

The enemy had fielded a terrifying Marked One. He was a general in their army that possessed the Mark of Tremors and was also a Master Rank Earth Magic user. He was a very bad enemy to have around. His only downside was that his ability was less effective in the desert… but they weren't in the desert right now.

"All Archer units concentrate on target at my signal! [Lux: Flare – Violet]."

Thousands of arrows launched at once towards the marked one, but he created an Earth Wall to shield himself with ease.

"Non-Earth Mages, on my signal! [Lux: Flare – Green]"

Hundreds of piercing spells launched simultaneously from every school of magic, save Earth Magic. The enemy mage's Earth Wall began to be torn apart by the barrage.

"Archers! Arts! [Lux: Flare – Violet]!"

He signaled a second round of arrows. This round was enhanced by the Arts.

""[Bow Arts: Pierce]""

""[Bow Arts: Multi-shot]""

The sea of arrows was many times larger and now glowed like a golden wall of light as they fell onto the enemy mage. Richard smiled grimly as the tremoring earth seemed to stop and the enemy twitched as hundreds of arrows pierced his body.

Master Rankers were strong, but even a dragon can be killed by enough ants.

"One down, only tens of thousands to go…" Richard muttered while striking down a beasman that broke through the lines.

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