A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

While the third-ranked battle inside Erik's dome experienced many changes and turnarounds, the battle between armies just outside the barrier had its own twists and turns.

At first, the Humanitas Sangh appeared to have the upper hand. Not only did they have one and a half fighters for every one of the Enkarians, but their massive number of powerful, well-trained Arcanists rained death and destruction on the battlefield like never before.

Several large formations depicting large creatures, warriors, or weapons littered the invaders' backline, showing their skill in sigil craft.

On the other hand, the Enkarian Arcanists were outnumbered and outgunned. Whatever surprise the hunters may have felt at the fact that these beast-lovers suddenly had access to formations was largely diminished by their limited effectiveness.

The formations Elora had helped them create were powerful, for sure, but the sad reality was that it simply took more than a few weeks of training for someone to become properly proficient in their use, and that was all they had.

Even after Ankhur agreed to their demands, Elora still needed to teach them the required knowledge and start creating the sigils before formation stones slowly became available for training.

All in all, the Enkarian formations were only mildly effective against their opponent's superior firepower. Still, they did something. Large explosions rocked the battlefield as they crashed against turtle shells and shields, protecting those behind and below them, but many attacks destroyed the defences on the first hit and still did some damage to the defenders.

The Humanitas Sangh's first reaction to Enkare Nkai's improved defences was to switch their target to those Arcanists in an effort to dismantle their defences, but that plan was quickly abandoned because it took too long.

It was far easier for the Enkarian Arcanists to defend their own formation than it was to project their power forward and defend the Runebound. As soon as the hunters noticed this, they stopped trying to take out the back line and instead focused their fire on hard-to-defend Runebound Enkarians… which proved very effective.

That, combined with their numerical disadvantage, was costing the Enkarians a lot of Runebound warriors, making it seem like they were on the losing end. But that situation didn't last long.

The Enkarian Runebound were extremely well-trained, powerful, and disciplined. Not to mention well-armed and armoured, thanks to the efforts of Erik and the Enkarian blacksmiths, who he'd taught some runesmith techniques.

At the same time, Naeku used her nature sense to survey the battlefield and sigil stones to give orders, making the Enkarian front line incredibly orderly and effective.

The Humanitas Sangh, on the other hand, didn't make any attempts at controlling their branded Runebound, assuming they even could. No, they simply pointed at the enemy, kicked their poor, dominated fighters in the arse, and sent them to their deaths.

They were cannon fodder meant to keep the enemy Runebound at bay just long enough for their superior magic artillery to destroy any who opposed them.

Thus, even while still taking heavy losses from Arcanist spells, the Enkarians were absolutely destroying the branded Runebound.

During the fighting, Erik's allies were all gathered around Naeku, protecting each other but mostly protecting Naeku. The werepanther was armed and armoured but far too distracted to actually fight.

When Erik first encountered her, she was commanding a far smaller army, which still allowed her to fight while commanding it. However, now her natural sense couldn't even extend from one end to the other of this massive battlefield, which stretched tens of kilometres in either direction.

Of course, considering their supernatural powers and strength, such distances were far less intimidating than they were before the awakening, but she still had to run around constantly, gathering enough data to fry the brain of a mortal, even while constantly thinking of strategies and responses.

But it worked. Naeku's impressive display of intelligence and tactical acumen gave these powerful, disciplined, well-armed fighters so many advantages that it was impossible not to absolutely destroy the chaotic horde of poor wretches the enemy threw at them.

And, this time, they had no reason to hold back.

When Erik met them, they were not trying to kill all the enemy Runebound because they also acted as a meat shield against the enemy Arcanists. When they were gone, the true bombardment would start, and last time they were hoping for reinforcement.

This time, however, no reinforcements would come. They would annihilate the branded Runebound, then charge the Arcanists under the protection of their own because it was simply impossible to flank the hunters in this terrain and with their capabilities.

Or… was it?

Finally, the last branded Runebound fell, and bloodthirsty cheers ran across the battlefield. But this was an expected victory, and most knew the battle was far from over.

"Charge!" Naeku screamed at everyone who would hear her, echoed by every commander she'd appointed to relay her orders. "Charge for Enkare Nkai! Charge for the people back home! Charge for the freedom of your homeland! Charge! Charge until either they die, or we die, because they've left us no other choice!"

Amplified by powerful Runebound lungs and runic power, her voice carried far and was met with enthusiastic, bloodthirsty roaring before the previously disciplined lines completely fell apart.

Suddenly, several hundred thousand Enkarian warriors stepped over the bodies of fallen enemies and comrades, charging for the enemy's backline in orderly, loosely formatted chaos.

The enemy Arcanists immediately intensified their bombardment, to the point that the Enkarians would have long since been turned into a lake of blood if it hadn't been for the Arcanist formations and armour keeping them safe.

They ran across the approximately two-hundred-meter (~218 yards) divide between their armies, a distance that now seemed so far, leaving their fallen comrades in the sand behind them, knowing they couldn't stop. Knowing those same dead comrades wouldn't want them to.

Nearly 700.000 Runebound were charging at a million Arcanists, but everyone knew it would become a slaughter among the Arcanists if only the Runebound could close the distance. And, so far, it seemed like they would. They fell by the thousands, among explosions, tornadoes, and massive magical arrows, but they didn't stop.

Yet, Naeku grew concerned. Her nature sense could easily reach the enemy Arcanists, but they didn't seem worried about the army of bloodthirsty melee fighters about to plunge into their spell caster ranks. They even seemed smug, even self-satisfied.

Suddenly, the reason why appeared. When the Runebound were over half the way there, the frontline of Arcanists all kneeled down on the ground and took sigil stones out of the folds of their robes.

Slamming them down on the desert ground, they erected a massive, shimmering barrier across their army line…