Chapter 25: Wanton Slaughter and Retreat

The Luminous soldiers awoke to the sounds of thunderous explosions, and tormented screams. The soldiers rushed out of their makeshift beds, and darted out of their tents, with no armor and any weapon they could get their hands on, only to behold a truly macabre site!

Their eyes stung, and their throats charred with the heavy smog of smoke and ash, that was loaded with the unnerving stench of burning flesh, which replaced the cool and refreshing night breeze.

Their ears rung with the desperate pleas of aid, and the booming sound of crashing tents that crackled like blazing embers, which replaced the once serene and quiet plains. But that was only the beginning of their infernal ordeal!

Before they could get their wits about them, the earth began to loudly rumble, as thousands of black shadowy beings began to flood the camp. This gave the Luminous soldiers the impression of insidious devils, here to sow discord and death in the fertile lands of men!

The unprepared Luminous soldiers were helpless against the deluge of merciless massacre caused by the Eclipse soldiers, as their flesh was mangled under a hail of spears, and swords.

The reason for this is simple; it's because unlike the Luminous soldiers who were born, raised, trained, and almost always fought in large open moderate climate fields, the Eclipse soldiers grew up in the unforgiving desert.

And battles in the desert, which was their forte, often caused large dust clouds to form, which always hindered visibility, and breathing, because of this the current battlefield was completely dominated by the Eclipse Empire. But nothing was permanent.

Half an hour after the beginning of the attack, the Vanar brothers, who were ordered by Georgios to defeat the enemy, finally arrived with nearly 20,000 reinforcements.

As soon as they saw the level of carnage inflicted upon their countrymen, they were infuriated to such a degree that it reached beyond the realm of what words could describe.

Heinrich immediately roared furiously, as he raised his great sword above his head "Kill those southern dogs!" The Luminous soldiers cheered loudly as they began to rush chaotically to avenge their fallen brothers in arms!

Although Luthor was similarly enraged by the spectacle before him, he wasn't consumed by his emotions like his younger brother and the rest of the soldiers. So he immediately began ordering loudly "Hold! Hold your formation! Anyone who attacks recklessly will be punished!

Officers control your men, and form a shield wall! We will advance slowly to avoid any further casualties." The officers immediately complied with his order, which caused an angry scowl to appear on Heinrich's face, which Luthor saw.

So he quickly put his large hand on his shoulder and said "Anger and passion are powerful weapons my brother, but it will only lead you to your death if you let it control you." Hearing this Heinrich nodded somberly as he said gratefully "Thank you brother."

Within a minute, order was restored and the Luminous army began to slowly attack the Eclipse soldiers. Because of their tight and powerful formation they started to push their enemies back, and the dominance of the Eclipse army began to very quickly crumble.

Georgios and Hamilcar stared intensely at each other before Hamilcar finally broke the awkward silence, by saying "It's been a while Georgios."

"Indeed it has. I didn't expect for us to meet so early on in this battle." Georgios replied.

Hamilcar nodded and said "Indeed. But I'm afraid that I can't let you harm these men. By the way Georgios, how did you discover our plan so fast?"

"Instinct." Georgios replied honestly.

Hamilcar's eyes went wide hearing this as he said "Instinct? You? What happened to the always logical and cautious Georgios, who only ever listened to his mind?"

"He's still here, but a lot changes in a thousand years." Georgios replied solemnly.

Hamilcar smiles slightly and says calmly to Horus and his men "Let's go."

Horus and his men all showed shocked expressions at this turn of events, but they didn't dare to delay any longer, and they quickly ran to Hamilcar's side like frightened children.

Seeing this Georgios showed a disbelieving expression as he said "That's it? What happened to the battle addict Hamilcar?"

Hamilcar shows a mysterious smile and says "He's still here, but a lot changes in a thousand years."

Hearing his own words returned to him, Georgios shows an amused smile, but Hamilcar continues by saying with a wild, and blood thirsty smile "Unless you want to fight right now?"

Hearing this Georgios quickly shakes his head, as he thought 'If we fight right now, the camp will be reduced to rubble. If I will fight him, I will do it far from anywhere near the army.'

Seeing this Hamilcar shows a disappointed expression as he says "Shame." Then he turned around and left, along with Horus and the fifty palace guard. As they were leaving Hamilcar infused a tiny amount of his power into his voice and began to whistle!

Hamilcar's whistle reverberated across the entire plains, signaling the retreat of the Eclipse forces!