The southern battlefield was chaos.
Unlike the victories led by Llandra and Nyxian, this front was losing ground.
Slowly.
Relentlessly.
The Imperial army here had been built for one purpose.
Break through.
Heavy infantry in reinforced armor marched forward behind massive tower shields. Long spears bristled between the gaps, while mages in the rear rained fire and stone over the front lines.
They moved like a steel tide.
And the United Kingdom forces were bending beneath it.
At the center of the battlefield stood Aurabelle.
Blue hair streamed behind her.
Her enchanted bikini-style armor shimmered with protective barriers crafted by Merriweather.
In her hands rested her oversized war hammer.
A weapon nearly as large as she was.
She spun once.
Leapt.
And came crashing down.
BOOM!
The earth exploded.
A dozen soldiers were launched into the air.
Bunny landed in a crouch and immediately sprang forward again.
That was her greatest strength.
Momentum.
Every leap.
Every strike.
Every impact.
Built more power.
And Bunny was already terrifying.
She bounded into the heart of the enemy formation.
Her hammer blurred.
A left swing crushed shields.
A backhand strike shattered armor.
A downward smash cracked the ground.
Then she spun.
The head of her hammer became a vortex of fire and lightning.
A tornado erupted outward.
Flaming winds hurled soldiers through the air while arcs of electricity danced from body to body.
Bunny laughed with wild joy.
"Who's next?!"
To the troops watching, she looked less like a warrior and more like a natural disaster in pigtails.
But for every line Bunny broke…
Three more advanced.
The Empire had numbers.
And discipline.
Even with Bunny wreaking havoc, the United Kingdom lines were steadily pushed backward.
Wolfkin skirmishers were forced to retreat.
Dwarven defenders dug in desperately.
Fairy mages exhausted their mana reserves trying to keep up.
The Imperial vanguard advanced step by bloody step.
From the rear, Zephrial stood at the center of the support formation.
Her white robes shimmered.
Her green hair flowed around her radiant face.
She looked delicate.
Almost fragile.
Until she raised her staff, Sanctaris.
Golden light spread across the battlefield.
Wounded soldiers straightened.
Broken bones mended.
Cuts sealed.
Fatigue washed away.
Zee's healing was so potent that troops who should have been carried from the field returned to battle within seconds.
"By the gods," one soldier whispered. "She really is a saint."
Then the enemy broke through.
A wedge of Imperial heavy infantry punched through the right flank and surged directly toward the healers.
Panic erupted.
"Protect Lady Zephrial!"
Several soldiers rushed to intercept.
They were too late.
An armored captain barreled forward with his war hammer raised high.
Zee looked up.
Calm.
Focused.
Her eyes glowed.
She thrust out one hand.
A barrier the size of a castle gate materialized.
Then it launched forward.
The captain was struck with the force of a battering ram.
His armor caved inward.
He flew thirty feet and crashed into the soldiers behind him.
The battlefield froze.
Zee blinked.
"Oh."
Another soldier charged.
She punched.
An invisible wall smashed into him.
He folded around it and hit the ground unconscious.
Then another.
And another.
Within moments, the supposedly harmless healer had turned the breakthrough into a pile of broken bodies.
The United Kingdom soldiers stared.
One Minotaur let out a stunned laugh.
"Remind me never to anger the cute one."
Even Zee looked surprised.
Her healing magic had always been extraordinary.
But she had forgotten something.
Two years of sharing iPoints with Jax had enhanced every part of her.
Not just her mana.
Her strength.
Her durability.
Her barriers.
Everything.
She wasn't merely a healer anymore.
She was a force of nature.
Still, the front continued to bend.
Bunny leapt back to the command line, chest heaving.
Her face was flushed with exertion.
"We're getting pushed too far!"
Zee nodded.
"They're almost to the marker."
Bunny looked behind them.
The ground where they had first engaged.
The place Jax had insisted they defend.
Then abandon.
Then lure the enemy across.
The trap.
Bunny grinned.
"Perfect."
The Imperial general rode forward, sensing victory.
"Their lines are collapsing!"
His officers cheered.
"Advance!"
"Break them!"
"Drive them into the city!"
The Empire surged.
Thousands of soldiers rushed forward, crossing the exact ground Jax had prepared days before.
Mana had been woven into the earth.
Hidden.
Dormant.
Waiting.
Zee raised Sanctaris.
Her voice carried across the battlefield.
"Now."
The world erupted.
The earth split apart.
Massive fissures opened beneath the advancing army.
Entire platoons vanished into newly formed trenches.
Other sections liquefied into magical quicksand.
Heavily armored soldiers sank screaming as they struggled in vain.
Then the vines came.
Thick, thorn-covered tendrils burst from beneath the ground.
They wrapped around legs, torsos, and arms.
Some were dragged underground.
Others were impaled where they stood.
The front line disintegrated in seconds.
Bunny soared into the air.
Mana gathered around her hammer.
She brought it down with everything she had.
"EARTHBREAKER!"
The impact sent a shockwave across the battlefield.
Already unstable ground collapsed completely.
Hundreds of Imperial soldiers were swallowed.
Others were launched skyward.
Then Bunny spun, releasing another tornado infused with fire and lightning.
The survivors were engulfed.
The Imperial commanders watched in horror.
"What is this?!"
"A prepared battlefield!"
"We're losing the vanguard!"
"Pull back!"
One general slammed his fist against his saddle.
"If we continue, we'll lose our entire frontline!"
The decision came quickly.
Retreat.
Withdraw.
Regroup and move toward Solmere.
Again.
Exactly as Jax intended.
The order spread.
Imperial horns sounded.
Their forces disengaged.
The surviving soldiers turned and began marching away.
The United Kingdom troops stared for a moment in disbelief.
Then cheers erupted.
They had held.
They had survived.
They had driven the Empire back.
Bunny landed beside Zee.
Her armor was cracked.
Her hair was a mess.
She leaned on her hammer and grinned.
"Did you see me?"
Zee smiled softly.
"I think everyone saw you."
Bunny pointed at the heap of armored soldiers Zee had flattened.
"Did you see you?"
Zee blushed.
"I may have underestimated myself."
Bunny threw an arm around her shoulders.
"You punched a man so hard he changed religions."
Zee covered her mouth as she laughed.
All across the battlefield, soldiers chanted their names.
"Bunny!"
"Lady Zephrial!"
"The Vixens!"
Even hardened veterans stared at them with awe.
The cheerful bunny girl and the shy healer had become legends before their eyes.
Bunny looked south.
Toward Solmere.
Toward Jax.
Her smile softened.
"We did our part."
Zee followed her gaze.
"Now it's his turn."
Far away, three Imperial armies were converging.
Driven from the north.
Driven from the west.
Driven from the south.
All marching toward the same destination.
The city of Solmere.
The trap within the trap.
And Jax Darquebane was waiting.