A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Djibouti was but a small country and, so far, it was the only place the Humanitas Sangh had occupied, since invading Africa from Jemen. Once, this would have been considered good news, but it also meant the armies of Enkare Nkai didn't have much of a choice in where they fought the invaders now.

Last time, when Erik and the others interfered, their armies had already marched deep into Ethiopia before being routed. Along the way, they'd destroyed tens of villages, killing anyone who was too slow to evacuate.

But now, they had the chance to cut them off from the source.

After the entire army had prepared itself at record speed, it started a force march towards Djibouti. To speed things along, the more numerous second-rankers carried all the first-rankers in their arms. Surprisingly, it was a lot less awkward than might have been expected.

Everyone knew the stakes of what was going to happen, and their minds were very much on other things. The Arcanists among them did feel a little useless like this, but that just made them want to fight even harder.

Using the new communication sigils provided by Elora, several scouts were constantly reporting on the enemy position.

After Edda, or Lilith, as she now called herself, had recovered from her ordeal, Djibouti city immediately started preparing for war. It took them a little longer than Naeku's people, but they'd streamed out of Djibouti city in massive numbers.

According to the scouts, their enemy fielded at least one and a half million troops in total, but Erik and his allies never expected to have an advantage of numbers… In the end, they were only a small kingdom when compared to the half a continent that was presumed to be entirely occupied by their foe.

Fortunately, it was then that the Humanitas Sangh really started slowing down compared to Erik's army. Unlike Enkare Nkai, the former hunters had far more Arcanists than Runebound, which meant they couldn't force march in the same way. Instead, they were limited by their slowest first-ranked Arcanist, who was faster than a regular mortal, but not by much.

Thanks to that advantage and their scouts' information on the enemy's location, it wasn't long before the armies faced each other. However, Erik's main strategists, Elora and Naeku, could do little in terms of positioning and location. In the end, most of Djibouti was a ruthless, scorching desert, with one square mile looking about the same as any other.

Still, they found a place that would give them a slight advantage and planned to intercept the enemy there.

With no ability to rapidly change position, or at least not one they were willing to use here, the Humanitas Sangh's army was forced to engage in a place of their enemy's choosing, despite having noticed their approach early on.

It was no wonder then that, at some point, they simply decided to wait in place, preparing themselves, while their opponent positioned themselves.

Under the coordination of Naeku and her nature sense, it took less than half an hour for the entire million-strong army to position themself on the desert sands of Djibouti, with their leaders in front of them.

It was an eerie sight: two and a half million people silently shifting positions, lining up in front of each other, with a few hundred-meter divide between them, glaring at the other side with every passing second.

Tension filled the air. No unnecessary words were spoken, but everyone looked across the no-man's land at their enemy with a great many different emotions. Some showed greed, others bloodlust, confidence, fear, or a combination of them.

Only the enemy's branded Runebound were truly silent and indifferent, their eyes dull, waiting for orders. Explore stories at My Virtual Library Empire

Finally, the troops were ready. Just as in the forest battle, Naeku's warriors were far better organized than the loose, even chaotic groups of branded Runebound across from them. These truly were just cannon fodder, intended to keep other Runebound busy, while the massive number of powerful Arcanists in the backline attempts to decimate the enemy with magical artillery.

It as a simple tactic, but also an effective one.

Once again, Naeku managed to cover cover the entire battlefield with her nature sense. In her shield hand, she held a sigil stone, an upgrade from the previous radio, which she could use to give orders to hundreds of commanders, spread across their massive army.

Now that the difference in formations and equipment had been balanced, it was up to Naeku and her people's cohesion to make up the difference in numbers between their armies. Assuming, of course, that the third rankers wouldn't decide that battle before then…

In the end, the armies weren't actually there to win the war. No, the hunter army was there to pillage, destroy, kill, and enslave, while Enkare Nkai's army was there to stop them.

After all, while Erik and his allies were fighting the enemy's third rankers, they couldn't also stop the Humanitas Sangh's army from marching further inland, wreaking destruction wherever they went. Even if they then defeated the leaders, a lot of damage would already have been done.

And the way their armies were setup reflected that reality, because rather than right in front of their armies, the leaders were off to the side, confronting each other.

"Well, this is certainly not ideal…" Erik grumbled, his eyes locked on the enemy leaders. As usual, Erik was armed and armoured, his hammer resting casually on his shoulder, held in place by his right wrist. It had now been about half a day since his battle with Ankhur, which had been barely enough time to recover aetherium and restore his armour.

Around him stood Ankhur; Enkai; Naeku; Leila, Ankhur's sister; Amina and Nadia, Ankhur's wives, and finally, Runa. The latter had insisted on fighting, despite still having a week of recovery to go, with Erik helpless to deny her. Erik's wives were nowhere to be found for n0w.

"No, it's not," Ankhur responded gravely, cautiously watching the movements of their opponents. "But it's what we'll have to deal with. No matter what, today we make our last stand. Our people have orders to flee if they don't hear from us in time, so the best we can do for them is fight to the last."

Beside him, Enkai nodded grimly. "Till here, and no further, big brother."

Feeling the mood, Erik could only nod along, even if he had no intension of dying here today. He'd fight with all he had, and do anything he could to secure the win, but this wasn't a hill he was prepared to die on, certainly not with his wives. Even if he couldn't manage to kill Edda, he'd surely find a way to do it later.

The reason for their mood was that across from them stood a furious Lilith, who not only radiated destructive power, but was also surrounded by a grand total of four other third rankers…