"What's happening at Gatefront Town?"
On the western lakeshore of Liurnia of the Lakes, Kercius stood in silence.
His thick, powerful arms were crossed over his chest, his gaze dark and fixed on the brightly lit town in the distance. The night wind whispered past, stirring a faint rustle, while the Torch beside him flared and danced, casting sharp light across his grim profile.
The night was unusually calm. No enemy had arrived as expected, yet the horn of war had already been sounded.
Nearly a thousand Caria soldiers poured into Gatefront Town like a flood, blades raised as they clashed head-on with the town's defenders. Shouts of battle and the screech of metal rang through the night, the sudden violence tearing through what had once been a quiet, peaceful settlement.
The Cuckoo garrison and the academy Sorcerers were jolted awake and rushed to join the fight against the Caria forces.
And yet, as the leader of the Cuckoos, he knew nothing at all about what was happening. He didn't understand why Gatefront Town was facing such a massive invasion, much less how he was supposed to step in and command this chaotic battlefield.
According to the original plan, matters like this were meant to unfold only after the Cuckoos had secured their footing in this land.
When two sides tear into each other, both inevitably suffer. With the Caria people stirring trouble as well, a badly weakened Magic Academy would have no strength left to concern itself with the Cuckoos.
Unfortunately, the brutal battle over the royal domain had completely crushed Kercius's intention of launching a direct assault on Caria Manor.
Now the situation was impossible to predict. This was hardly the ideal moment to let Gatefront Town fall, but the town so close at hand was simply too tempting to ignore.
"Maybe… this really is a rare opportunity. Gatefront Town is rich land, after all."
Kercius murmured to himself, quietly weighing how to respond to this tangled situation.
From the moment the war began, the slight curve at the corner of his lips had never faded. To him, this invasion was nothing short of a blessing.
As for the casualties among his comrades?
Sorry about that. Once that ambition-filled heart began pounding wildly in his chest, any sense of brotherhood had already been cast aside, reduced to something tedious and worthless.
Kercius's eyes flickered as he watched the wavering Torch. A mobilization order soon issued from the tent.
"Just as Nolan predicted. The Cuckoo really is a thankless viper. Even at a moment like this, all he cares about is squeezing out personal gain."
A long sigh drifted slowly through the air above the distant royal lands.
Raziel's tall figure emerged atop the city walls, his once handsome face now heavy with concern.
"Bols, Frodo, Baggins. The Village of the Albinaurics should be ready by now. How is the troop assembly going? This battle is critical. Failure is not an option."
As he spoke, Raziel tapped the crenellations beside him without realizing it.
"Messengers have already been sent," Bols replied with a nod. "When do we move?"
Behind him stood two Troll Knights. They were not honored Carian Knights, but their strength was no less formidable.
The two mountain trolls remained silent. That much was expected, and yet it still felt unexpected.
By all rights, a large-scale frontal clash like this should not have happened for another year or two.
Only then would the Cuckoo have struggled to contain a Caria strengthened by its gains on Testu's Island.
Clop, clop, clop...
From the distance came the urgent, heavy thunder of hooves, breaking the stillness of the night.
Looking out, cavalry and soldiers stood in neat formation. Azure banners fluttered gently in the breeze, their reflections mirrored in the eyes of the Carian Knight, igniting his fighting spirit in an instant.
An army of a thousand. Since the Liurnia of the Lakes civil war, he had never fought a campaign this well supplied.
Thinking back on those years of hardship and relentless fighting, he had never once commanded such abundant manpower or resources.
Come to think of it, Her Highness the Princess really didn't seem particularly skilled at ruling the realm. Perhaps he should find a way to keep Nolan here to help her.
Granting him nothing more than a knightly honor clearly wouldn't be enough. It would be hard to hold on to a young man so gifted and driven.
And from their daily interactions, it was obvious that even after earning the title of Dark Moon Knight, Nolan might stand in Caria, but his heart still belonged to the Haligtree.
So how could his ties to Caria be strengthened?
"Now doesn't seem like the time to be thinking about that."
The Carian Knight swept aside his heavy cloak, revealing gleaming silver armor beneath and a deep blue battle robe. He rested a hand on the knight's sword at his waist and lifted his gaze to meet the moon hanging high above.
...
Beneath that same moon, using the vast darkness as cover, Nolan and Sellen fought with mounting ferocity on the bridge at Gatefront Town.
The battle had not gone on for long before the corpses of the Cuckoos were strewn across the entire span, lying in disarray as blood soaked into the stone underfoot.
The reason for such a horrific scene lay overhead.
A pitch-black nebula, speckled with starlight, loomed across the sky.
Brilliant meteors poured down like a violent storm. Even the Cuckoos' massive greatshields, raised high, were powerless against such devastating force.
Sellen swung her staff, unleashing a legendary sorcery.
Starfall!
Nolan vanished in a blur, his Promised Claymore carving a cold arc through the air.
Clang!
Where the blade passed, it was as if the night itself had been torn open, leaving behind a narrow streak of icy light that shot straight toward the knight ahead.
The strike was far too fast.
So fast that the knight never had a chance to react.
Pfft!!
The sword light punched straight through the knight's heavy armor and into his body. A crimson mist burst outward in an instant.
The knight was split cleanly in two. Amid a shrill scream, a blurred figure farther back was sent flying by the force of the blow.
Nolan saw waves of blood bloom in the air.
That figure spun helplessly, like a boulder out of control, before crashing into the distant ground with a thunderous impact, dust billowing skyward.
Battle sorcerers trained their bodies until their muscles were as hard as stone. Scholars of the academy, full of their own pride, had always dismissed such pursuits as crude and barbaric.
Without a word, he swung his Carian Greatsword. Ripples of magic spread rapidly outward, centered on the glintstone set within it.
Thops's Barrier!
Cannon of Haima!
Boom!
A blinding flash lit up the lake, like a piercing call to charge. In that moment, both sides, already coiled and ready, were fully engulfed by the flames of battle.
"Kill them all! Leave none alive!"
"Take down these rebels! The Academy will reward you personally!"
In an instant, the battlefield erupted in thunderous roars, the authority behind those commands carrying unmistakable weight.
Countless Cuckoo glintstones, along with razor-sharp arrows and bolts, tore through the air, shrieking as they flew toward their targets.