Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria - Volume 12 - Chapter 5

ACT 5 

To explain this miraculous act better, let us rewind the clock somewhat. 

“Linnea, are those preparations I asked for finished yet?!” 

Yuuto strode through the palace halls particularly briskly, calling out his question to Linnea without even looking back. 

Dauwe Castle, the key defensive point he’d been relying on, had fallen. 

He couldn’t afford to waste even a precious few seconds by walking to his destination at a normal pace. 

“Yes! They were able to prepare a sufficient number of them in time.” 

“I see. What about weapons and armor?” 

“Those have already been prepared as well, as you ordered.” 

“Good. The soldiers should start arriving sometime tomorrow morning.” 

“In that case, allow me to call in everyone from the kitchens and have them prepare meals now. Food that can be carried while traveling is preferable, right?” 

“Absolutely.” 

“Understood. Please leave everything else to me.” 

Linnea responded to Yuuto’s every question promptly and satisfactorily. It was actually a pretty great feeling. 

Once she was fully awake, she really was, by far, the most outstanding of his officers when it came to this sort of thing. 

The plan this time was going to be a bit of a wild and risky one, and the reason he could put it together was in large part thanks to her. 

Even if Yuuto himself came up with a clever concept to begin with, figuring out how to make it work on a concrete level, and working out the necessary details needed to put it in motion were just as important. Without that, it might as well just be a bunch of haphazard scribbles on scrap paper. 

Yuuto abruptly stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Linnea. 

He stared deeply into Linnea’s eyes, which looked up at him in puzzlement at his sudden halt. 

“Thank you for everything, Linnea. I’ll be going now.” 

“...Of course. I wish you good fortune in battle.” 

Linnea wished him farewell, her words clearly filled with more emotion than she could express, and bowed deeply to him. 

With her well wishes a wind at his back, Yuuto once more set out walking for the palace entrance. 

Just as he reached the gate separating the palace grounds from the city proper, he spotted a familiar face. 

“Mitsuki?” 

“Don’t you ‘Mitsuki?’ me! You just got back from a war, and you’re really going to turn right back around and head out again without even seeing your wife’s face?! What’s with that?!” 

“Urk.” 

His wife’s angry look dug into him. Yuuto’s expression had been resolute and stern until a second ago, but now he winced and flinched back from her. 

“I have Felicia to thank for being considerate enough to tell me that you were here. You could at least let me wish you goodbye.” 

“...Sorry.” 

Yuuto looked guiltily down at his feet, scratching the back of his head. 

“It’s just that I get really agitated whenever I’m about to go off to war, and I didn’t really like the idea of you seeing me when I’m... scary, like that. Especially now that you’ve got our kid inside you.” 

“As it so happens, that kid just told me a minute ago that it wants to see its father off, with a kick.” 

“Wha... it’s already kicking?!” 

Yuuto reflexively placed a hand on Mitsuki’s belly. 

“Well, not that frequently yet, but... Oh.” 

“Oh!” 

It was just for an instant, but Yuuto’s hand had felt the force of a tiny, tiny impact. 

“That was a kick. That was a kick just now, right?” 

“Hee hee. It looks like your baby can recognize its father.” 

“I see. So it can tell... Babies are amazing.” 

If he’d stopped to think about it rationally, it couldn’t have been anything more than a coincidence. But even so, Yuuto felt as if his yet-unseen child was speaking to him, seeing him off. 

There was no greater encouragement in the world for him. 

The following day— 

Yuuto could be seen striding the halls of the patriarch’s palace in the capital city of the Claw Clan, far away from Gimlé. 

It was a distance that would take at least fifteen days to travel on foot even by the very shortest estimation, so by the standards of this era, this situation defied all common sense. However, Gimlé and the other major cities of the Steel Clan were already connected by a network of post stations with fresh horses to facilitate rapid transport of messengers. Yuuto had begun setting up that system between himself and his allies since back when he was still patriarch of the Wolf Clan. 

Even travel over this distance was now possible by using the stations and riding nonstop for a full day and night, with no issues to speak of. 

“Ggh...!” 

Or rather, no issues to speak of except for one in particular: saddle sores. 

“I apologize, Big Brother. Did that hurt?” 

Kneeling down between his legs, Felicia looked up at him with teary eyes full of concern. 

She was applying an ointment to the inside of his legs that was supposed to work well on saddle sores. 

The sores being, well, where they were, he’d needed to take off his pants, and though he’d stubbornly told her, “It’s fine, I can apply it myself!” a dozen times in the past, at this point, it almost felt meaningless to put up resistance anymore. 

That said, Yuuto’s and Felicia’s relative positions and his current state of undress meant Yuuto couldn’t entirely shake the feeling they were doing something indecent. 

Plus, there was the dignity and standing of the reginarch to think about. Yuuto could only pray that until she was done applying the treatment, no one would enter this room and walk in on them like this. 

Of course, the idea that someone in the Steel Clan would even consider entering the living quarters of the reginarch without permission was— 

“Waaaah! Father, Faaatheeeer!” 

—absolutely worth considering. 

There was one person who would, at least. A young, free-spirited child who acted on her whims and went where she pleased, paying no mind to the unspoken expectations of other people. 

Her name was Albertina, and she was a girl of around twelve or thirteen years old with hair in an adorable side ponytail. 

Despite her innocent appearance, she was an Einherjar of the rune Hræsvelgr, Provoker of Winds, and when it came to lightning-fast agility, there was no one in the Steel Clan who could outclass her. 

Her rune gave her the power to create and control winds in the immediate air around her, and her combat style utilized that in order to allow her to move and maneuver with the speed of a whirlwind. Even Sigrún, the clan’s strongest warrior and inheritor of the title Mánagarmr, which served as proof of that strength, considered her a fighter with incredible potential... 

“Uwaaah! Uuugh...!” 

...Or at least, that was the reputation she had garnered, but the child sobbing and crying huge tears in front of Yuuto right now didn’t seem to live up to any of those claims whatsoever. 

“What’s wrong? Was Kris picking on you again?” 

Albertina’s younger twin sister, Kristina, was a devilish little girl whose only true enjoyment in life was teasing and tormenting her beloved sister Albertina. 

Yuuto had thought that had been the cause of Albertina’s tears this time too, but Albertina shook her head no. 

“Uuugh... It was the people in the palace, they, they were talking, and I heard them. Uuuugh, they said I was worthless and everyone would be better off if I wasn’t around, that way Kris could be the next Claw Clan patriarch without any trouble!” 

“Ngh.” 

Yuuto’s expression darkened. 

He’d assumed that the cause of this outburst would probably be something suitably childish and silly, but what she was describing wasn’t exactly a trivial conversation that he could just dismiss. 

“Nngh... Am, am I really worthless? Would it really be better for, for Kris if I wasn’t around?” 

“No, that’s absolutely not true!” Yuuto shot back firmly, unable to stand hearing her talk like that about herself any longer. 

Yuuto knew very well that for Kristina, Albertina was the most important thing in her life. 

“Listen. I know that Kris is thankful from the bottom of her heart that you’re around.” 

“R-Really?” 

“Yeah, really!” 

Kristina told her share of lies and half-truths, and she enjoyed teasing people, and it was often hard to tell what she truly felt or thought. But even so, Yuuto could be sure he wasn’t mistaken in this. 

Upon hearing Yuuto’s words, Albertina’s face seemed to blossom with joy once more... but that joy was short-lived. 

“B-But, I’m not smart at all compared to Kris, and I don’t really do anything that helps you out, Father...” 

She went right back to tearing into herself. 

This was quite out of the ordinary for Albertina. 

It was like she’d completely lost any confidence in herself. There must have been some more really unpleasant things in that conversation she’d overheard. 

“You help me out plenty, though.” 

Yuuto wasn’t just saying that to her to be nice. He really did believe it sincerely. 

At the very least, her sunny, carefree, cheerful attitude was something that often healed Yuuto’s heart. It was the same for his wife Mitsuki, and for the young servant girl Ephelia, who Yuuto treated like an adopted little sister. 

It was true that Kristina earned glory within the clan by pulling in all sorts of useful intelligence—information that was far more valuable than gold—and Albertina couldn’t do anything like that. But thanks to her own abilities, Albertina could easily apprehend spies or bandits that occasionally snuck into the palace grounds. And during wartime, she could use her incredible agility to carry messages between different parts of the army at incredible speed, which meant that she was indeed contributing to Yuuto and the Steel Clan. 

However... 

“You don’t have to say nice things just to make me feel better! I know more than anybody else that I’m stupid and no good for anything at all!” 

It was like she couldn’t let herself believe him. 

At this rate, it didn’t matter how much Yuuto argued, he wasn’t going to have much chance of convincing her. 

Yuuto pondered for a while over how to best approach this problem, when suddenly he hit on an idea. 

“...Hm. Then, how about this? In this upcoming battle, you just have to get results that prove your worth, and force the people who said those things about you to shut up.” 

“Huh? B-But, I can’t...” 

“Heh heh, you can, and I’ve got something that’ll help, something that’s just perfect for you. Felicia, bring me my pack, please.” 

Yuuto turned to his adjutant and gestured to the back of the room. 

In the back was a very large backpack. It was filled with things Yuuto had brought back from the modern era when he was summoned to Yggdrasil for the second time. 

Among them were quite a few items that should come in handy during this current conflict and in the upcoming battle. 

Yuuto took the pack from Felicia and right away began rummaging through its contents until he found one item in particular. 

“Here.” 

He handed it to Albertina. 

It was a cylindrical object, made of metal that shined with a dull luster. Both its shape and design were completely out of place for this era. 

“What is this?” 

“A weapon. And out of everybody in the Steel Clan, you’re probably the one best suited to use it.” 

“Huh? But I don’t even know how to use it. I don’t even know what it is.” 

“Oh it’s simple. You just push this part here. Oh, but don’t push it right now, though!” 

“Father, might I ask that you refrain from handing such dangerous items to my dear sister?” 

Suddenly, another voice came from behind Yuuto, one that bore a strong resemblance to Albertina’s. 

Yuuto knew who it was even without turning around to see. 

“How long have you been there, Kris?” 

“How long? Perhaps as far back as when Al came in here sobbing.” 

Kristina smiled. Yuuto could feel himself tensing up. 

Yuuto was now the most powerful conquering lord of the lands of western Yggdrasil, in both name and fact, but even he felt a terrible chill at that smile. 

“K-Kris? You’re kind of scary right now.” 

Albertina had completely stopped crying by now, but she was shivering a bit as she addressed her twin sister. 

“Oh? But I am no different from usual.” 

That’s a lie, Yuuto thought, but he kept it to himself. 

Kristina was a girl who normally maintained a neutral expression and didn’t show her true feelings on her face. She wasn’t showing it visibly right now, but it was clear to Yuuto that she was in a dangerous mood right now. 

She was furious. 

Knowing her sister had been belittled and driven to tears had made her angrier than Yuuto had ever seen her before. 

Kristina made it her personal hobby to tease and torment her sister herself, but in spite of that, she didn’t forgive anyone else for making a fool of Albertina. 

She was also a master of gathering information. She’d likely have the people who hurt Albertina’s feelings identified and tracked down within the day. 

After that, who was to say what sort of revenge she might exact upon them... 

Yuuto almost found himself feeling sorry for the poor saps that earned her ire, but then he remembered again that they’d hurt a pure and innocent girl like Albertina. 

He decided that maybe it was better after all if they got taught a lesson for what they did. 

“...Hey, just don’t go too hard on them, okay?” 

“Oh, whatever could you be talking about?” 

Kristina feigned complete ignorance. 

In other words, at least in regards to this incident, she was going to go very hard on them. 

“More importantly, what’s the current situation?” 

Deciding that it was wisest not to involve himself in that matter any further, Yuuto changed the subject. 

A wise man keeps away from danger, as the saying went. 

And besides, this was what he needed to talk about with Kristina anyway. 

The use of carrier pigeons to send messages was an outstanding improvement in communication speed by the previous standards of this era, but it required physically having pigeons nesting in strategic locations, so they couldn’t be used whenever one wished. Their use was limited to truly urgent communications. 

In the end, the best way to receive large amounts of information with as little time lag as possible was to physically get closer to the source. 

That was precisely why Yuuto had personally been in such a hurry to travel here, to the point where he even left his army behind to get here as soon as possible. 

This time, his enemy far outclassed him in size. 

He wasn’t going to be able to win against them by simply fighting haphazardly. 

He who controls information controls the battle. 

Thanks to his experiences up to this point, Yuuto knew that all too well.

Meanwhile... 

“Y’know, I’ve been an army man since the days when Lord Fárbauti was patriarch of the Wolf Clan, and this is a first for me. What a strange way to conduct a march.” 

“Hah, what are you saying, old man? Ever since Lord Yuuto came to power, it’s been nothing but one ‘first’ after another, hasn’t it?” 

“I mean, yeah, that’s true enough.” 

“Well, hey, it’s not like I don’t get what you mean, though. I certainly never imagined there’d come a day I got orders to head off towards the front line without a single weapon in hand.” 

Soldiers in the Steel Clan Army rank and file chatted amongst one another as they moved in formation down the road. 

They were all walking with light, unburdened steps. 

One could say that was only natural, however, since not one of them was wearing or carrying weapons, armor, or provisions of any kind—all things that soldiers would usually be carrying during a more traditional march. 

This not only allowed them to walk at a faster pace, but reduced their rate of fatigue, making it possible for them to march for more hours in a day. 

Of course, they couldn’t very well go into battle without any weapons, but that wasn’t of any concern, because... 

“We’re supposed to be getting our weapons and the like when we reach the Claw Clan, right?” 

“Yeah. Everyone’s saying that apparently they were being shipped up there in secret since before the campaign against the Lightning Clan even got started, right? Which means Lord Yuuto knew all this would happen even back then.” 

“Damn, that’s Lord Yuuto for you.” 

Such was the procedure currently in place. 

Moving a large number of soldiers at once would draw the attention of surrounding nations and put them on alert, so during the period between Yuuto’s wedding ceremony and the beginning of the Lightning Clan campaign, Yuuto had arranged for small splinter groups to transport the supplies bit by bit. 

At first, Yuuto’s intention had been to move the advance supplies into the Ash Clan capital, Víðríðr. However, the Ash Clan patriarch Douglas had shown hesitation after the issuing of the imperial subjugation order, and taking into consideration that he might waver in his loyalty, Yuuto had changed the destination to the Claw Clan instead. 

Now that Dauwe Castle had fallen, and even Víðríðr itself faced possible capture by the enemy, that early change in plans had turned out to be an unexpectedly fortuitous one. 

Incidentally, the contents of the shipments were all listed as wheat on public records—explained as paying back the Claw Clan for the food supplies they contributed during the shortage crisis back in the summer. This disguise was just one more precaution against the possible discovery of his plan. 

The great strategist Sun Tzu stated in his writings that it was best of all to procure supplies locally—in the region where the battle would take place, or along the way. 

There was also the historical example of Napoleon Bonaparte, who was able to move his army across long distances at great speeds, which he accomplished through his practice of acquiring supplies locally. 

Of course, relying too much on local procurement could be dangerous, as there was the risk that actual numbers could fall short of estimates, leaving the army short on supplies. However, in this case, Yuuto’s troops would be moving through allied territory, and the person in charge of organizing logistics and support was none other than Linnea, an expert in that field. 

There would be no problems at all on the supply front. 

“Oh, that reminds me, did you get to ride in one of the carriages yet?” 

“Yeah, I did!” 

“It was like getting a taste of how the upper crust lives, huh?” 

“I actually got a little queasy from the ride.” 

This was another part of the plan, one more factor in increasing the speed of the march. 

In this era in history, riding atop chariots and horse-drawn carriages was permissible only for a chosen upper-class, those of high birth or rank. 

Riding a vehicle was a visible mark of status, and conferring the privilege to military officers was used as a way of reinforcing their authority. 

Letting ordinary soldiers ride in carriages would be completely out of the question, going by normal values. 

However, Yuuto’s thinking wasn’t held back by those fixed customs. 

To Yuuto, vehicles were something the common masses used. Cars, trains, airplanes... all of them were something anybody and everybody could ride normally. 

Thanks to heavy production of the armor-plated wagons intended for use in the Wagon Wall tactic, there were a bunch of wagon carriages on hand. There was no way he wouldn’t make use of them here. 

He didn’t have so many of them that he could put the whole army on wheels, of course, but he could put groups of soldiers on the carriages in shifts, reducing their fatigue by a whole lot. That is, he could move his army while simultaneously allowing his troops to rest. 

And, after the sun set... 

The sides of the road were brightly lit by countless torches. 

They were being held by local residents, who had gathered along the road from the surrounding villages. 

“Everyone, do your best!” 

“Hang in there!” 

“We’re all rooting for you!” 

High-pitched cheers poured out from both sides of the road. 

The truth was that all of these people were paid to be there, though. 

The Múspell Special Forces had made use of their high mobility as a cavalry unit and had ridden ahead of the rest of the army column, stopping at villages along the travel route, and they’d offered decent amounts of coin to every young woman they could find, enlisting them to play this role. 

The Múspell Special Forces was the most well-known and celebrated part of the Steel Clan’s military, and their commander was a woman too, so they enjoyed a great deal of popularity and trust from the populace. 

No one balked at the request. In fact, they were all happy to help out. 

“Here’s some fresh bread. Make sure you eat it, okay?” 

“And here’s some water.” 

“Here’s some meat, too. You’ll need your strength.” 

They were even personally handing food to the soldiers, food that they could eat while they walked. 

Men are, on the whole, very simple creatures. 

They can’t bring themselves to look feeble or pathetic in front of women. 

They want to show off; to look strong and impressive. 

Though the Steel Clan soldiers had been taking breaks along the way, they were still worn out from the strenuous routine of walking from morning ’til night each day—but now this encouragement saw them reinvigorated to great effect. 

It was a plan that combined the act of securing food supplies from the local area with a boost to soldier morale, killing two birds with one stone. In the Sengoku period, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had used a similar strategy during a lightning-fast forced march known as the “Great Chugoku Return March,” and Yuuto had taken that famous example and tweaked it to fit his own purposes. 

Yuuto didn’t fight battles he couldn’t win. That was his policy. 

The reason he’d chosen to go ahead with a plan as risky as this one—using a campaign against the Lightning Clan as bait to lure in his enemies—was precisely because he’d arranged for these particular preparations well in advance of that. 

Taking into consideration the reputation of Dauwe Castle as an impregnable fortress, originally his calculations projected that he would arrive with plenty of time to spare. 

And so, as a result of all that planning, the Steel Clan Army successfully conducted what would have ordinarily been at least a twenty-day forced march in the span of only seven days, and with almost no losses from exhaustion or desertion along the way.

“I know it was a tough march, but you all endured it well! Let me express thanks from the bottom of my heart. Great work, men!” 

Yuuto raised his voice to call out to the ten thousand elite soldiers gathered before him, now that they had finally reached the area near the border between Claw Clan and Ash Clan territory. 

The faces of his men were awash with pride upon hearing his words. 

Naturally, they too were aware of just how much effort they had put into what they’d accomplished. 

Their lord, the reginarch, had noticed that and was giving them proper recognition for it. They had every reason to be happy. 

“When Dauwe Castle fell, there was a point where I prepared myself for the possibility we might lose Víðríðr as well. But, thanks to all of you, we’ve made it in time to stop that! Víðríðr yet fights on!” 

“Yeeeaaahhh!” 

A chorus of cheers shook the very air. 

A long labor that ends in futility leaves a person even more exhausted in their despondence. But the sense of accomplishment that comes from success can make a person forget their fatigue, and even charge their body and spirit with renewed strength. 

Yuuto paused for a moment, waiting for the cheers to die down, then continued. 

“Now, everyone, take up your weapons! Our foes are great in number indeed, but we have nothing to fear from them! In all the realm, there is only one army with soldiers so strong and resilient, they crossed from Vanaheimr to Bifröst in only seven days! We are that army! Isn’t that right?!” 

“Yeeeaaahhh! Sieg Iárn! Sieg Iárn!” 

The morale of the Steel Clan soldiers soared, and their cries of “Sieg Iárn”—“Glory to the Steel Clan”—spoke to the great pride they felt in themselves and their nation. 

When a person overcomes a very difficult obstacle, it becomes the foundation for great personal confidence. 

The words of the reginarch of the Steel Clan rang true to his men. 

Indeed, where else in the world could one find an army that had accomplished something so incredible? 

They were the only ones who had done it. 

They couldn’t possibly be defeated here. 

The Steel Clan soldiers were completely convinced of that now. 

“Now, let us go forth and save Víðríðr! All troops... advance—!”

The Anti-Steel Clan Alliance Army was filled with the most profoundly accomplished generals selected from each clan’s respective forces. 

And right now, the group of people gathered here in the headquarters inside the main formation were the greatest still from among those, all fearsomely talented and experienced veterans whose names were well known among the nations of their respective regions. 

The news that the main body of the Steel Clan Army had arrived made even them shudder. 

“I-Is that really true?!” 

The first to open his mouth was the Cloud Clan patriarch, Gerhard. 

He appeared to be considerably shocked. 

It only made sense that he would be, though. 

The Cloud Clan was a nation of nomads who roamed the lands of eastern Miðgarðr. They were capable of overland travel at a pace the peoples of settled agricultural societies could not match. 

However, even for them, racing the whole distance from Lightning Clan territory to here in such a short span of time was completely impossible under any circumstances. 

“I am terribly sorry to inform you that it is, in fact, the truth.” 

The imperial priest Alexis responded, looking utterly ashamed and seeming to have to force himself to speak. 

These words were coming from the man who had been telling them the position and movements of the enemy’s armed cavalry unit with perfect accuracy up until now. There was no one present who would doubt the reliability of this information coming from him. 

“Rrrrghh, but then why was Lord Hárbarth not able to notice them until they were this close?! Isn’t he supposed to be able to see everything?!” 

That charged question came from Sígismund, the Fang Clan patriarch. 

Ordinarily, the idea of someone having such complete perception of everything would be the stranger one. However, based on the results everyone had seen thus far, it was a reasonable question. 

“I would ask you not to have unreasonable expectations. Even Lord Hárbarth is only human. It’s not as if he can be watching a multitude of different places at once.” 

“So in other wooords, does that mean he can only see one location at a tiiime?” 

Bára posed the question normally, acting as if she was just asking for a small clarification. 

Alexis winced for a second, and his expression grew very tense. 

All of the people gathered here were only temporary allies. Once they’d defeated the Steel Clan, their relationships would return to what they had been before. 

It was reasonable to consider that any of them might wage war with the Spear Clan in the future. 

In particular, the Sword Clan was the Spear Clan’s fiercest political enemy, and had been fighting with them behind the scenes for control over the imperial government. 

For Alexis, letting slip to them details about his master’s power—specifically, its limitations—was nothing short of a terrible gaffe. 

“Ah, that is, er...” 

Alexis scrambled to find an excuse to refute Bára’s guess with, but he couldn’t come up with anything suitable. 

Effectively, it amounted to a confession that she was correct. 

“Hm, I see. So then, because he was focused on observing the area around Víðríðr, he ended up missing the chance to observe the Steel Clan Army.” 

Fagrahvél summarized things in a calm tone, her hands clasped thoughtfully together in front of her chin. 

Alexis’ expression grew increasingly pained, like he’d swallowed a bug, but Fagrahvél felt no obligation to hold back on account of his feelings. 

“Well, I cannot fault Lord Hárbarth for that. Not one of us could have predicted that the Steel Clan forces would reach us this quickly. The focus of this war was on Víðríðr, where actual fighting is still going on right now. Directing his observations there was not only the natural choice; under ordinary circumstances, it would absolutely be the correct one.” 

“That’s truuue. At this poooint we just have to accept that they’re already heeere. I would say the problem to consider now iiis... how we should deal with theeem.” 

“Yes. I am sure our capture of the city is imminent, though. If we can follow through with that now, I would prefer to do so...” 

Trailing off, Fagrahvél turned to look toward the city of Víðríðr. 

“Sieg Reginarch! Sieg Reginarch!” 

Even without straining one’s ears, the voices of the people zealously praising their lord could be heard echoing across the distance. 

Despite the fact that their city was completely surrounded and cut off, they somehow seemed to have learned that the Steel Clan’s main force had arrived to rescue them. 

“I think that miiight be a difficult task nooow. The city’s soldieeers have completely regained their energyyy.” 

“...Indeed.” 

Fagrahvél exhaled sharply, seeming somewhat impressed, and then nodded. 

In a prolonged siege, there was often no telling how long the defending side would have to hold out under heavy lockdown. 

Those conditions would make it much easier to break their spirits. 

However, if they knew that all they had to do was hold out for half a day longer, then one could be sure they’d accomplish that by resisting until that moment with every ounce of strength they could summon. 

It was no easy task to break that spirit through pure force alone. 

Indeed, if such a thing were possible, there was only one way to accomplish it now... 

“What about the power of your rune? If you used it like you did at Dauwe, would that change things?” 

Sígismund addressed the question to Fagrahvél carefully, with eyes that seemed to be searching for information from her response. 

The Fang Clan and Sword Clan shared a border. Though one might call such actions a bit premature in this situation, this was a bit of preparation on his part for the future, after the defeat of the Steel Clan. 

It was certainly opportunistic, which was fitting, for he was the ruler of a nation, after all. 

“It is certainly true that if I use my rune, we can take Víðríðr. However, its power drains an excessive amount of energy with each use. If I use it now, you can be sure I will not be able to use it during the crucial battle with the Steel Clan Army.” 

Fagrahvél made no attempt to hide her own weakness, readily revealing it to all of them right then and there. 

Bára couldn’t keep from rolling her eyes in exasperation, but she knew that this was just the kind of person Fagrahvél was. 

The order from the þjóðann Sigrdrífa was to subjugate the Steel Clan, and Fagrahvél would carry out that order. 

Right now, there was surely nothing else in her mind. 

Fagrahvél was always honest, always serious in her efforts, and always refused to engage in pretense. 

And that’s exactly why I have to stay by her side and support her, Bára thought to herself with a little chuckle. 

“As your strategiiist, I would like to offer that rather than prepare for the battle heeere, I think it would be better to launch our attack against them nooow.” 

“What do you mean?” Sígismund asked, pressure behind his glare. 

He had probably still wanted to get a little more information about Fagrahvél’s power. 

“It is true that, even for meee, the Steel Clan Army arriving here was unexpecteeed. Howeveeer, if they traveled here as fast as they diiid, that also means they would have to be exhausted from the maaarch.” 

“Mm, yes, that is only reasonable to assume.” Fagrahvél agreed, nodding. 

“Rather than allowing them a chance to reeest, I suggest we should strike at them now while they’re still weeeary.” 

“That makes perfect sense. I’m inclined to take her advice here. Are there any objections to that?” 

Fagrahvél glanced left and right at the faces of the gathered generals. 

Once again, it was Sígismund who spoke up. 

“What about Víðríðr? If we ignore them, they could end up catching us in a pincer.” 

“If we leave about five thousand soldiers to keep them occupied, I don’t belieeeeve they will be a probleeem.” 

“In that case, I’ll take on that role.” 

The Cloud Clan patriarch Gerhard raised his hand. 

“That masked man, Hveðrungr... He and I have a bit of a history. I think now’s a good time to finally show him who’s the real top dog of Miðgarðr.” 

“I believe the task will be safe in your hands,” Fagrahvél said. “Lord Sígismund, are you fine with that arrangement as well?” 

“...Sure.” 

“Are there any other objections? ...It would seem not.” 

With that confirmation, Fagrahvél stood up. 

Throwing out one hand, she declared in a loud voice, “We shall now move our forces to strike the Steel Clan Army! This will be our most crucial battle. I’m counting on all of you to fight valiantly with everything you have!”

“A mass of soldiers has been spotted approaching from directly ahead! Estimated to number approximately ten thousand! They’re thought to be the main body of the Steel Clan Army!” 

“So, just as Alexis’ information said. Ten thousand...” 

Ignoring the messenger’s hoarse shouting, Fagrahvél mulled over the meaning of the information without opening her eyes. 

In terms of sheer troop numbers, the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance still had an overwhelming advantage. 

However, their foes, the Steel Clan, had a long history of triumphing over armies with numbers superior to theirs. The Hoof Clan, the Lightning Clan, the Panther Clan... They had expanded their power and influence through victories that overturned such disadvantages. 

They were by no means an enemy that could be taken lightly. 

Inhale... exhale. Inhale... exhale. 

Fagrahvél focused on her breathing, calming her mind. 

She was entrusted with the lives of her soldiers. She needed to maintain a calm mind, or she risked allowing a winnable battle to be lost. 

Whether the coming battle ended in victory or defeat would be decided by the orders she gave as the commander of this army. 

“All right, let’s begin according to plan. Deploy troops in the bird formation!” 

Moments later, the armies of the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance and Steel Clan came together and engaged on the fields just east of the city of Víðríðr. 

The side that gained the initial momentum was the Steel Clan. 

“It’s just like how it was with those cavalry fighteeers. They’re shooting arrows that can reach us from outside our own raaange. They are just so annoyiiiing.” 

“Indeed they are,” Fagrahvél agreed, glowering. 

There was nothing they could really do about it, but even still, being attacked in this way, having no meaningful counter available to them, and only being able to grit their teeth as their men were mowed down was quite the unpleasant experience. 

“However, that’s something we’ve already accounted for. Continue the advance!” 

If they could close the distance and begin close-range combat, the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance would have the advantage by a massive fifteen thousand men. 

They would be able to turn things in their favor then... 

...At least, that’s what should have happened, but as Fagrahvél’s troops endured the one-sided attacks, and the two armies at last reached within range for melee combat, it was again the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance troops that found themselves being pushed back. 

“I see nooow. By using those absurdly long spears together with that tightly packed formatiooon, they can still deal one-sided damage without allowing their opponents to get clooose. That’s really cleveeer.” 

Bára nodded to herself, impressed. 

It was the Macedonian phalanx longspear formation, which Yuuto had derived from his study of military history. While it was true that during Yuuto’s wars with the Lightning Clan and the Panther Clan it hadn’t been as effective, it was still a tactic from over a thousand years in the future compared to this era. Those weapons and close-knit formations were revolutionary on the battlefields here. 

By contrast, the soldiers of the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance were still mostly outfitted with bronze weapons and armor, and they weren’t trained to fight as part of a tight, coordinated formation. Once in melee, their soldiers instead each fought individually as they saw fit. 

Regardless of any superiority in numbers, the difference in combat power alone between the two sides was plain to see. 

“I see. That is powerful. But, with how long and unwieldy those spears are, they’ll surely have trouble turning and changing directions.” 

In just a few brief moments of observation, Fagrahvél had analyzed both the strengths and weaknesses of her enemy’s tactics. 

Fagrahvél’s abilities were, naturally, hardly limited to the power she wielded through Gjallarhorn. She was extremely capable as a commander, as her quick observations had proven. 

She immediately moved to give her next command. 

“All right, sound the gongs and signal the right and left wings to begin their attack!” 

The “bird formation”—it was a novel formation Bára had devised, which utilized the strength of a large army. 

The army was split into three groups, with fifteen thousand in the center, and five thousand each in “wing” formations out on the left and right, angled like the sides of a triangle pointing backwards. 

The left and right wings were to carefully move into position without being noticed, and then quietly wait for the enemy forces to advance past them and engage with the soldiers in the center group. 

Then, while the enemy was being held in place, the left and right wings would move into action and attack from behind, descending upon their left and right rear flanks, trapping them so they could be easily wiped out. 

As the left and right groups closed in to attack, their trajectories gave off the appearance of a bird flapping its wings, hence the name of this particular formation. 

Thanks to Hárbarth’s “sight,” Bára could get constant, detailed information on the exact position and route of her foes, which is what made it possible for her to split up and utilize an army of such immense scale so effectively. It was, in a word, a strategy that guaranteed victory. 

In later eras of history, there were examples of tactics using similar formations, such as Takenaka Hanbei’s “Ambush From Ten Sides,” and the Fisher and Bandit tactic that was devised and expertly used by Shimazu Yoshihisa and the Shimazu clan, which controlled the Satsuma region. However, it could certainly be said to be an extremely advanced and novel tactic by the standards of Yggdrasil’s era. 

However, unfortunately for Bára, the foe she was up against far outclassed even that kind of incredible wit. 

Thanks to Bömburr, the vice captain of the Múspell Special Forces, the Steel Clan’s patriarch Suoh-Yuuto had already received a report informing him of the fact that the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance had some method of knowing the precise position and movements of their enemies. 

He’d already guessed that they would set up an ambush for his forces using that information, just as they had against the Independent Cavalry Regiment. 

And, more than anything, Yuuto was a man with knowledge of military strategies from far into the future. 

He’d already prepared solid countermeasures. 

As Bára continued contemplating her options, the low rumble of the Steel Clan’s wagons could be heard far in the distance, along with a large number of loud bangs. Those, in particular, were an unusual sound here in Yggdrasil. 

“A-A message just came in from the left wing! The enemy has assembled groups of wagons in circles, forming a wall with the carriages! They’re also using some sort of witchcraft that throws out fire and makes a terrible noise! W-We can’t get close to them!” 

“There’s a similar report coming in from the right wing!” 

“Ohhh, so they’re using that thiiing...” Bára groaned, furrowing her brow. 

“I assume it’s that weapon the horseback fighters used the night you first fought them—the one that forced aside the road barriers.” Fagrahvél added bitterly. 

It was one strange and unknown weapon after another with these foes, as if they were putting on an exhibition. 

And what’s more, each of them was powerful in its own right. 

“We can’t halt the enemy’s momentum! A-At this rate, we’re going to...!” The panicked messenger trailed off, unable to bring himself to finish his sentence. 

While this very conversation was going on, they were pushing farther and farther into the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance’s central formation. 

The power behind that forward charge was terrifying. 

The elite fighters of the Sword Clan couldn’t even slow them down. 

At the rate things were going, it would only be a matter of time before they cut their way through to the commander’s formation. 

“Th-The bird formation was a flawless tactiiic, but they defeated it so easilyyy...” 

“Even with such a stark difference in numbers, we can hardly put up any resistance...” 

The strength of their foe was so overwhelming that even Fagrahvél and Bára felt the urge to throw up their hands in incredulity. 

It was akin to a fight between an adult and a small child. 

No, it was perhaps even more pitiful than that. They had attacked from three sides, after all. 

And, even if three small children tried together to attack a grown man, it still wouldn’t make for much of a contest. 

It didn’t matter if they could pinpoint their enemy’s movements, and it didn’t matter if they came up with a clever tactic to use—winning would still be impossible. 

The difference in strength between them was too great. 

A child couldn’t defeat an adult bare-handed. 

Not without something like a bladed weapon—not without something to even the odds. 

“Master, I really didn’t want you to have to use your power when you still haven’t fully heeealed,” Bára said, regret clear in her voice. “But I’m afraid it looks like we don’t have that luxury anymooore.” 

Fagrahvél nodded. “Yes, I know that!” 

So this was the power of the Black One. 

The things the prophecy spoke of seemed all that much more believable in light of the events currently unfolding. 

Indeed, with this much power, there was no doubt he could conquer all of Yggdrasil. 

“I cannot allow him to destroy the empire! Her Highness... I will protect her!” 

She let out an almost-guttural rallying cry as she summoned all of the power she could possibly muster. 

“Hear me, soldiers of the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance Army! Hear me, and answer my call to war! Gjallarhorn!”

“It’s going well... so far.” 

Yuuto muttered to himself as he looked out at the current state of the battle. 

At this moment in time, it looked like everything had gotten done that needed to be, and the results were all turning out fine. 

The imperial subjugation order against the Steel Clan had turned all of its surrounding neighbors against it overnight, and after dividing up his military to defend against threats on multiple other fronts, Yuuto was now having to take on a combined army formed from the alliance of five powerful clans, using only what he had left over. 

Even Yuuto had been shaking with fear in the lead-up to this battle. 

But once things had finally gotten going, the foes he was up against felt like little more than pests in terms of the resistance they offered. 

This was exactly what the phrase “beating someone hands-down” referred to. 

“When things go this well, it almost feels anticlimactic, doesn’t it?” Felicia remarked. It seemed she’d gotten the same impression. 

Thinking back, it had been more than two years now since Yuuto came to power as a clan patriarch. In that time, he’d continuously thought up and designed new weapons and tactics, implementing them into his army and strengthening his military power. 

Against the Steel Clan, which fought with such advanced, novel, and logically sound tactics and equipment, there was simply no reason that an army from this era still fighting with bronze weapons and chariots as their most advanced technology could ever hope to compare. 

One could say the results of such a conflict should only be obvious, but— 

“I’d be happy if this did turn out to be an easy win for us, but I’d say the odds are nine out of ten that it’s not going to work out like that.” 

Yuuto didn’t relax his guard in the slightest. 

With a stern expression, Felicia nodded in agreement. 

“Soldiers that lack any fear of death and ignore their wounds, every one of them fighting with the fierce strength of the greatest warrior... or like members of an army of the living dead. That is what still worries you, yes?” 

“Right. Our opponent hasn’t shown their whole hand just yet.” 

As part of the information gathering he’d done leading up to his arrival, he’d gone through reports of what happened during the battle at Dauwe Castle, and also during the battles the Independent Cavalry Regiment had fought afterwards. 

He was sure there was no way this fight would end without incident. 

“...!” Yuuto tensed. “The air just changed.” 

Felicia nodded slowly and seriously. “...Yes, you are right. It did indeed change just now.” 

They weren’t talking about something as simple as a change in the direction of the wind. 

It was more as if the energy that permeated the air of the battlefield—the killing intent and fighting spirit of the combatants, things of that nature—had changed, swelling up and becoming much heavier. 

“Still, I am impressed that you could perceive that, Big Brother. Due to my proficiency in galdr and seiðr magics, I am sensitive to such changes in energy, but... please forgive my rudeness, Big Brother, but seeing as you are not an Einherjar, I did not think you would be able to sense something like this.” 

“Huh? I felt it pretty clearly, though. It was like... all of a sudden all my hair stood on end, almost like goosebumps.” 

People of a certain level of skill in a particular field are known to develop a certain “intuition” or gut feeling that sometimes comes into play. 

It is far more significant than mere guesswork based on emotion. 

Such “intuition” is a function of that person’s experience. 

In Yuuto’s case, despite his young age, he had accumulated a vast amount of battlefield experience. 

Perhaps it was also partially because of the latent potential he already held, but that experience had allowed him to sense a subtle change in the atmosphere that an ordinary person could not have picked up on. 

“Send a warning to the front line telling them not to let down their guards. Tell them the real fight begins now!” 

It would be only moments later that Yuuto’s “intuition” would be shown to have been right on the mark.

Meanwhile, on the front lines... 

“Hah! These guys are barely putting up a fight!” 

“Yeah, but you know, didn’t it used to be like this back in the beginning, too?” 

“Huh? Yeah, now that you mention it. I guess it’s more like all our more recent battles were the odd ones!” 

“Right. I mean, we went up against Steinþórr, the Battle-Hungry Tiger, and his army of berserkers. What a monster... Then it was that Grímnir, the Masked Lord, and his band of armed riders that appeared and disappeared whenever they wanted.” 

“Hey! Chatterboxes! We’re in the middle of a battle, here! Shut your damn mouths and focus!” 

“Oh, crap!” 

Chewed out by their squad leader, the two talkative soldiers turned their focus back to the work in front of them—thrusting their longspears forward towards the enemy. 

They were fighting with their lives on the line. There was no excuse for slacking off. 

Of course, only a very tiny portion of the Steel Clan soldiers were as relaxed as those two were about this. Even so, the fact that some of them could even afford to fall into that attitude showed just how pervasive the anticipation of an easy victory was among their ranks. 

However, that soon changed completely. 

Despite the fact that their bodies had just been skewered, the frontmost soldiers of the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance Army all lurched forward again without flinching from the pain, and grasped tightly onto the hafts of the longspears. 

They did this in defiance of obviously fatal wounds, or even in the best case, wounds so numerous and painful that they should have been unable to do anything more than writhe on the ground in pain. 

Something was very clearly wrong here. 

“Ggh... I, I can’t move my spear!” 

“Wha... oh, oh crap!” 

“N-No, no don’t come any closer! Guaah!” 

Now that the longspears were immobilized, the other Anti-Steel Clan Alliance soldiers pushed forward through the gaps between them, closing the remaining distance. At last, they got within striking range and thrust their spears into the Steel Clan soldiers. 

“D-Damn you...!” 

One of the Steel Clan spearmen in the next row back cursed aloud and plunged his longspear through the chest of an Alliance soldier, taking vengeance for the death of his comrade. 

However... 

That soldier completely ignored the spear that had been thrust clean through his torso and ran forward, thrusting his own spear into that Steel Clan soldier’s neck, taking revenge for his own death in the final seconds before it claimed him. 

“Wh-What are these people?!” 

“They’re just like those berserkers from the Lightning Clan!” 

“No, these guys are even more insane!” 

Even in defeat, they used unseen strength to seal the movements of their Steel Clan attackers, or even to kill them outright in a sort of equivalent exchange of life. 

Against foes like these, even fighting for your life was useless. 

The Steel Clan soldiers gulped hard as a deep, unfathomable fear began to take hold of them.

“Haah... haah... khh!” 

Fagrahvél’s body threatened to topple over, but she barely managed to stay on her feet by planting her scabbard on the ground and leaning on it heavily. 

Like a gourd bottle with a hole suddenly cut in the bottom, she could feel the strength draining out of her with terrible speed. 

Though it had been five thousand fewer than last time, she had still used Gjallarhorn’s power to force the courage and morale of twenty-five thousand soldiers to a fever pitch, drawing out all of their latent strength. By nature, that was simply too powerful a work of magic to be fueled by the ásmegin of a single person. 

“Fagra... Master, are you all riiight?” 

Bára rushed over to Fagrahvél and offered her shoulder. 

Just now, she’d almost addressed Fagrahvél by name, the way she used to back when they were children in school together. Such a clumsy slip was unlike her. Perhaps that was an indication of just how grim Fagrahvél’s condition appeared to her. 

Fagrahvél herself could tell all too well how powerful the feedback was this time. 

She’d used her power again before having the chance to completely recover from the effects of its last usage. 

If she were to relax her grip on consciousness for even a split second right now, she’d surely lose herself to the white fog that was threatening to swallow her mind. 

If she was being honest, even using her scabbard as a cane to support herself was quickly becoming too painful to keep up. 

If she just let Bára support her, she wouldn’t have to use her own dimming strength to stay on her feet, and that would relieve a lot of the pain. 

However, Fagrahvél clenched her teeth and pushed Bára aside. 

“I don’t need that...! Who would follow in the service of a commander... haah... hahh... who’s so weak they can’t even stand on their own two feet without leaning on someone else’s shoulder?!” 

Gasping for breath, Fagrahvél struggled to get the words out. 

This helped nothing. It was only to satisfy her own ego. 

She knew that. 

The soldiers had already had their morale raised past all sensible limits thanks to the power of Gjallarhorn, the Call to War. Something like this wouldn’t affect them in the slightest, either positively or negatively. 

She knew that. 

But even still, she had been the one to force that surge of morale within them, sending them forward to fight fearlessly in a situation that meant certain death for many of them. How could the one who did that to them be allowed to take the easy way out?! 

“Honestlyyy... you are so, sooo stubborn. That pride of yours is going to kill you, you knooow.” 

“Heh, if I die staying true to my pride, I’ll be satisfied... ngh!” 

She understood that it was one of the more unpleasant parts of her disposition. 

However, she didn’t have it in her to live life compromising on who she was, either. She just wasn’t a flexible person. 

“Weeell, maybe that stubbornness came in handy this tiiime. It looks like the soldiers stopped the enemy from moving in any furtheeer. They should be able to hold out for a little whiiile.” 

“Haha, even after using this power... hahh... it’s all they can do just to hold on for a bit. The Steel Clan truly is... a terrifying foe...!” 

It seemed that the power gap between the two forces’ soldiers was simply too great to be overcome. 

The truth was that, before this, part of Fagrahvél had believed that perhaps there was no one else in this world capable of defeating her. 

She had Bára as her military strategist, and soldiers that had no weaknesses in battle. The Sword Clan seemed to boast the strongest army in all of Yggdrasil, and Fagrahvél had not seen fit to doubt that. 

That pride had been mercilessly torn to shreds with this war. 

The hit-and-run tactics of the Steel Clan’s cavalry unit had left her with no recourse but to rely on the power of her hated enemy Hárbarth for support. 

And even in this current battle, the soldiers empowered by Gjallarhorn were holding back the enemy, but if it had just been the soldiers from the Sword Clan Army alone, they would have been completely overrun by now. 

As an individual general, she had completely lost to her opponent. 

However, right now Fagrahvél was in command of an alliance, a combined army from five nations. 

The most simple principle of warfare was at play here; that most fundamental of fundamentals. 

The greatest influencing factor on a battle’s momentum was the difference in numbers.

“Here it comes here it comes here it comes—!” 

Erna, chief of the Sword Clan’s Special Assault Squad, who had been put in charge of the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance Army’s right wing, leaned back and shouted to the heavens. 

She felt a powerful fighting spirit welling up within her heart. 

She felt an overflowing strength in every inch of her body. 

She felt like she could win against anyone right now. 

“Woooo! Ernaaa! I’m ready to go too!” 

Hrönn howled with excitement as well and thrust her weapon into the air—a giant spear that didn’t match her small size at all. 

There was no longer any trace of childishness about her. Right now, she looked just like a hungry beast ready to find and devour its prey. 

“Both of you are as simple-minded as ever. You always lose yourself in Master’s power.” 

Thír put a hand to her cheek and let out a disappointed sigh. 

However, despite what she said, her eyes also housed a dangerous, almost violently hungry light. 

Her tongue darted out, licking her upper lip. 

“Just remember, this power is a double-edged sword for its user. That’s why we need to finish things here as quickly as possible. Come on, you two!” 

“Right!” 

The three Einherjar led the right wing into a charge, and, like a wave, they came crashing down towards the left flank of the Steel Clan Army.

“Hm, it feels like my heart is buoyed by a powerful excitement. I feel physically energized too, as if I have access to a bottomless well of strength. But, honestly, I don’t like it.” 

At the same time, over in the left wing, Sígismund stared down at his clenched fist, his expression twisted in annoyance. 

He was the patriarch of the Fang Clan, the proud ruler of his nation. 

He was meant to make people serve him, not follow someone else’s orders. 

And yet, here was a power acting upon his heart, urging him to fight irrespective of his own free will. 

He could think of nothing more vexing than that. 

Thanks to Sígismund’s iron will and unshakeable pride in himself as a clan patriarch, he was able to maintain a cool head, but the same could not be said of the soldiers under his command. 

“Whoaaaah! Hurry up and let me fiiiight!” 

“Kill, kill, kill!” 

“I’m gonna kill every last one of the Steel Clan!” 

It was no longer simple fighting spirit that filled them, but a violent bloodlust that seemed to erupt from them. 

It was hard to believe these were the same men who, just moments ago, were trembling in fear of the thunder bombs the Steel Clan was throwing at them. 

They were, by all accounts, a different army entirely right now. 

That, too, grated on Sígismund’s nerves. 

These were his sworn children, and their sworn children. 

As their patriarch, seeing their hearts so easily manipulated by an outside power was anything but enjoyable. 

“Still, it’s undeniable that our chances of victory are incredibly slim without relying on the effects of this ludicrous ‘power.’ Tch... I hate every damn thing about this.” 

Sígismund cursed bitterly and clicked his tongue in frustration. 

While he didn’t admit as much out loud, he was also incredibly annoyed at how he’d been made to see, thanks to this war, just how much he’d overestimated his importance through his own ignorance. 

The Steel Clan reginarch, Suoh-Yuuto. 

The Sword Clan patriarch, Fagrahvél. 

Compared to them, Sígismund was insignificant. 

That thought kept creeping up to the surface of his mind, despite his best efforts to try to bury it away. 

He shook his head violently to clear his mind and shouted to his men. 

“All right men, all of you, pay attention! We’re going to show the Steel Clan just how terrifying the warriors of the Fang Clan truly are!” 

“Yeeeaaaaaahhhh!” 

As if they’d been waiting for just those words, the Fang Clan soldiers erupted in a chorus of war cries and launched themselves towards the flank of the Steel Clan forces. 

An arrow flew out from the Steel Clan lines, carrying a thunder bomb that exploded as it neared them. 

Several people caught near the heart of the explosion were thrown off their feet by the blast, suffering painful burns. 

However, that was all the damage they suffered. At this point, that was nothing to them. 

The other soldiers didn’t show any concern and continued rushing forward, surging like a wave towards the Steel Clan lines. 

The sound of another volley filled the air. This time, a multitude of arrows came flying directly at them. 

They were arrows with such powerful penetrating power that they could pass all the way through wooden shields with little resistance. 

Those terribly destructive arrows were fired on them without pause. 

However, even as those arrows pierced their bodies in several places, the soldiers kept up their charge without so much as flinching. 

Of course, the ones who suffered mortal wounds couldn’t keep running for very long. Eventually, they collapsed to the ground, unmoving. 

However, until that very last instant, they spent the last of their energy serving as human shields for the soldiers running behind them. 

Once they were through the storm of arrows, the soldiers were then confronted with a wall made of dark metal that shimmered dully in the light. 

The fact that their foes had prepared such an incredible thing was a little awe-inspiring, but even so, this barrier wasn’t high at all compared to the walls of Dauwe Castle. 

The Fang Clan soldiers ran right up to it and used the backs of the men in front of them as a foothold to climb up and grasp the upper rim. One after another, they scaled the metal wall. 

The instant one of them pulled his body up on top of the rim, a spear shot out from behind the wall, stabbing him and sending him tumbling back down to the ground. 

For the Fang Clan soldiers of a few minutes ago, after being so thoroughly rebuffed by these ironclad defenses, they would have wondered how they could possibly get past, and likely would have had their spirits broken. 

However, at this moment, not one of them showed an ounce of hesitation or doubt. 

The Fang Clan ceaselessly continued their assault.

“Ugh... Okay, this could be a little bad.” 

Yuuto furrowed his brow and groaned. 

Technically, the Steel Clan Army was still pushing their way forward, dominating the contest between the two sides... but something felt very odd here. 

In warfare, victory and loss were determined by a battle’s momentum. 

Paying no heed to losses or overwhelming odds—refusing to surrender and fighting bravely down to the very last man—those sorts of situations just didn’t really occur on a real battlefield. 

Most soldiers in a clan’s army were drafted from the various farming villages and towns within its territory. 

The loyalty of such draftees didn’t really run all that deep. If it became apparent to them that their side was going to lose, they would abruptly turn and flee in an effort to save their own skins, scattering like dandelion seeds on the wind. 

That’s what felt strange here—those conventions didn’t seem to apply at all. 

The enemy’s ranks were showing no signs of breaking whatsoever. 

The difference in power between the two sides was clear as day. Even the least-experienced men among their rank and file would have quickly realized that they stood no chance of winning this. But not one of them was turning to run. 

“Dammit, they’re actually fighting back even harder than before...!” 

Yuuto was quickly receiving more and more reports from his frontline squads that claimed the enemy troops had “changed” in some way. They were fighting as if they’d been possessed by some kind of vengeful spirit. 

It made them seem like they weren’t even human anymore. Even just hearing about it secondhand, the image was uncanny in a way that gave Yuuto the creeps. 

However, right now it didn’t matter whether Yuuto found them disturbing or not. They were a definite threat like this, and needed to be dealt with quickly. 

No matter how many of them were killed, they’d never stop coming. 

Something like that would easily wear down a person’s spirit if left unchecked. 

To begin with, the Steel Clan Army was already fighting through all of the fatigue they’d built up over the course of their forced march. 

The encouragement they’d received had boosted their morale and gone some ways toward making them forget that, but it was like they were being held up by a cord that had been stretched taut. There was more than a small chance of that morale coming crashing back down the instant something in this battle pushed them just a little too hard. 

And, as if timed perfectly to add on to that pressure, two more reports came in with very unwelcome news. 

“Lord Reginarch! The detached right wing of the enemy’s forces has launched a second assault on our flank. Even the explosives haven’t been able to stop them this time!” 

“It’s the same with their left wing, my lord. They’ve already pressed in all the way up to the Wagon Wall, and I’m told we won’t be able to hold them back for much longer if this continues!” 

“Tch. So it’s turning out exactly like I was afraid it would,” Yuuto said, clicking his tongue in frustration. 

The greatest weakness of fighting with phalanx formations was that they were vulnerable to attacks from the back and sides. 

In order to mitigate that weakness, Yuuto had made the decision to protect his army’s rear flanks using Wagon Wall barricades, manned with soldiers at their rims throwing tetsuhau bombs to frighten and stun the enemy, while crossbowmen behind them launched arrows continuously using three-rank volley fire. 

That setup was intended to make it so that just a small allocation of his men could serve to keep enemy soldiers from closing in on his flanks, but it was beginning to seem uncertain as to just how long they’d be able to maintain that. 

At the very least, at the rate things were going, there was a very high probability that the Steel Clan formation would be encircled—and subsequently crushed—long before they could push through the enemy’s central defensive line. 

“Big Brother, if this carries on in this way, we are done for! What should we... Ah?!” 

Before Felicia could finish voicing her question, she stopped and gasped. 

The aura around Yuuto had transformed. 

Each time Felicia witnessed this change and felt the overwhelming force of presence and incredible pressure he projected, she always found herself unable to keep from shuddering—half from fear and half from delight. 

The roaring lion within his heart had awakened. Here stood the destined conqueror of this world. 

“It appears I’ve no choice left but to get serious with them, too.”

“Wonderful news! It would appear that Hrönn’s squad on the right wing has at last successfully passed beyond the enemy’s barricade of carriages and is pushing further into their formation as we speak!” 

“I... I see... So Hrönn succeeded... in her mission.” 

Alexis delivered his report with excitement, and while Fagrahvél could only respond between gasps, it was with a faint smile. 

Hrönn was the youngest member of the Maidens of the Waves, but even among the many strong and brave warriors of the Sword Clan, she was, at the least, among its top three in terms of her valor in battle. 

While Erna was an Einherjar whose powers were concentrated on enhancing the strength in her legs, Hrönn was an Einherjar whose powers were concentrated in her arms. 

It was highly likely that she’d used those incredibly powerful arms of hers to pull open a gap in the enemy’s wall of carriages. 

The fortifications were made from carriages; naturally, those carriages had been brought in on wheels. 

They were mobile, so there was no way a girl as strong as her wouldn’t be able to move them by force. 

“No matter how sturdy the fabric, unravel one seam and the whole thing starts to come apaaart. That is just the nature of thiings. Well, weeell, we somehow managed to—” 

Before Bára could even finish expressing her relief, her words were cut off. 

“What?! An enemy cavalry unit is closing in on Hrönn’s squad from their rear!” Alexis reported, his voice filled with tension. 

“So now is when they chose to make their mooove.” Bára motioned to a messenger soldier nearby. “Relay a message to Erna’s squad. Tell her to head over and reinforce Hrönn’s squad, understooood?” 

This was a different cavalry unit than the one in Víðríðr, which meant they would have to be the Múspell Unit, known as the Steel Clan’s strongest fighters. 

That also meant they’d be headed up by their leader, Sigrún, who was herself known for holding the title of strongest warrior in all of the Steel Clan—the Mánagarmr. 

In that case, there was no choice for Bára but for her to send their own strongest against them. 

“Yes, ma’am!” The messenger said, and hurriedly ran off as fast as he could. However, Alexis’ worried expression remained unchanged. 

“U-Unfortunately, as the enemy unit is on horseback, they are moving much faster than we can. Hrönn’s squad has been caught by surprise from behind, and the attack is causing them quite some trouble...” 

“Khh...! We couldn’t react in time...” 

Fagrahvél spit out the words bitterly, overcome with frustration. 

Even with Hárbarth’s power allowing him to know every detail of the Steel Clan Army’s movements, the only one he could communicate that information to directly was Alexis. 

Once Bára and Fagrahvél received the information from Alexis, they would then have to use standard military messengers to send out orders to the appropriate places. Naturally, those messengers were on foot. There was no avoiding the time it took for them to deliver those messages. 

“Oh, no!” Alexis exclaimed in a pained voice, placing both hands fretfully against his cheeks. 

“What... is it now?!” 

“It appears that, because of the sudden attack from behind, our forces suffered a momentary lull in their own assault, and the enemy exploited that opening. They were on the verge of breaking moments ago, but they’ve reinforced their numbers, pushed our forces back outside of their barricade, and rebuilt the breached section.” 

“Are you seriooous?” Bára’s shoulders slumped. “They are just too resilieeent.” 

For just a moment, Alliance forces had finally broken the enemy’s defenses, and she’d become convinced that victory was soon at hand. That made this sudden reversal feel all the more disappointing. 

However, after another few moments, Alexis suddenly perked up with excitement. 

“Oh, ohh! Now it appears that Sígismund’s forces in our left wing have pushed their way past a part of the carriage wall and into the enemy’s flank!” 

“Oh, goood!” 

Bára’s own voice was brighter, too. But, once again, her joy was short-lived. 

“What?! How?!” 

“What is it this tiiime?” 

From the shocked tone in Alexis’ voice, Bára could already tell it was something she wouldn’t like to hear, but she had to ask anyway. 

“I-It would appear that the Fang Clan soldiers are now being attacked from their flank by the cavalry unit from before!” 

“Whaaat?! Weren’t those cavalry still in combat with Hrönn’s squad from the right wiiing?!” 

“A-Apparently, the enemy cavalry has already disengaged from combat there and, using their superior mobility, swiftly moved to aid the area being attacked by Sígismund’s forces.” 

“Excuuuuse me?!” Bára shouted. “Regardless of the circumstances, that reaction is far too faaaast!” She raked the fingers of both hands wildly through her own hair. 

Even Fagrahvél, who had known Bára for more than fifteen years now, had never seen her worked up to the point of losing her composure like this. 

However, Fagrahvél herself felt exactly the same way and merely lacked the energy to be capable of expressing it. 

Just like before, the enemy cavalry unit’s fierce attack caused the Alliance Army’s assault to falter, and during that time, the Steel Clan Army plugged the hole in their defensive line. 

It was tempting at first to think of it as an unfortunate coincidence, but that pattern continued to repeat itself many times afterward, as well. 

The Steel Clan Army’s defenses seemed breachable, but never actually broke for good. 

“There is... clearly something strange about this... Far too... strange...” Fagrahvél said between haggard breaths. 

That much was easy to understand, even with how hard it was to think through the fog in her mind right now. 

No commander, no matter how talented or experienced, could fully know the status of all of the troops of an entire army. That was especially true for an army numbering more than ten thousand. In fact, it was categorically impossible. 

“The enemy has broken through defenses on our flank.” 

That information would first need to be relayed by a soldier to the commander, and running that distance would take a certain amount of time. 

The commander would then send out an order to troops to go aid the endangered section, and once again, it would take time for that order to reach the intended squads. 

However, the most important point was something else. 

The Steel Clan Army’s cavalry unit was detached, moving around and fighting independently of the main body of their army. It would be one thing if they were communicating only the most basic information using simple signals, but in this case, the orders sent out to the cavalry would need to include details on the exact location that was being breached. 

How in the world could they possibly do that?! 

It didn’t make any sense. 

It was the Alliance Army who were the ones using supernatural power to do what should normally be impossible, observing everything about the layout and movements of their foes, and moving their own troops accordingly. 

But those foes were reacting even faster than that! And by a wide margin, no less! 

“Do they have... the ability to see the future...?!” 

Indeed, it was as if the enemy commander knew which section was going to be overrun next and had sent out orders well in advance. That was the only way to possibly rationalize it. 

And each of those orders was so precise! 

Steel Clan troops moved in to strengthen those areas that had just begun to weaken, and they moved without hesitation to attack any tiny vulnerable spots in the Alliance Army formation the second they presented themselves. 

When the Alliance Army forces prepared to launch a counterattack, their foes immediately pulled back and avoided taking losses. 

Fagrahvél had been told that the ruler of the Steel Clan was a young man still in his teens, but his performance as a commander was more in line with that of a cunning old veteran with many years of experience. 

His command was a perfect mixture of rigid force and flexibility, as if he’d lived on the battlefield for so long that all of its many intricacies came as easily to him as breathing. 

“Is this really... the work of a human...?! It couldn’t be... Is he... Is this Suoh-Yuuto actually the incarnation of a war god after all...?!”

“This is Kris. The Klaes Squad has had its section of the wall breached.” 

“Got it. In that case... Okay, have the Sveigðir Squad move to support them!” 

“Understood.” 

“Sigrún! Did you get all that?!” 

“Yes, Father!” 

“I’m sure you’re all worn out from fighting back to back like this, but can you keep it up?!” 

“That will not be an issue! My fighters are not so weak that this level of work would tire them out. I trained them hard enough to make sure of that!” 

“Okay, then I’m counting on you! But make sure that confidence doesn’t mislead you—give them some rest whenever you get the chance to!” 

“Yes, Father! Now, if you will excuse me!” 

“Al! How are things on your end?! No problems yet?!” 

“Nooope, right now everything’s just fine!” 

“Okay, if anything happens, let me know right away.” 

After barking out one order after another in rapid succession, Yuuto at last let out a long, deep breath, and lowered the transceiver from his ear. 

“...Phew, I guess that’s it for now.” 

He’d made use of transceivers once before, back during the Battle of Körmt River, by sending someone out to spy on the enemy’s movements and using that information to determine the timing for his strategy. 

However, he’d originally brought them with him from modern Japan to Yggdrasil in order to use them more like he was now—for high-speed communication and coordination between the units in his army active on the field. 

It was because he’d meant them for that purpose that he’d brought so many of them—fifteen in total. 

He’d allocated thirteen of them to Kristina, Albertina, and their subordinates in the intelligence division they led, and by spreading them all out, he could get updates about the condition of his entire army almost in real time. 

As soon as some part of his defenses started to break down, or a vulnerability was found in the enemy forces, he could immediately send out orders to one or more of his agents, who could then run quickly to the appropriate commanding officer close by. 

With one transceiver for himself, he’d given the last one to Sigrún, so that he could send her mobile cavalry unit to the places most in danger and have her hit the attacking enemy to weaken their momentum. 

By using this method, Yuuto had access to fourteen separate points of observation, and it became possible for him to move around the various parts of his massive ten-thousand strong army as seamlessly as if they were his own arms and legs. 

Indeed, his control over them was so fluid and seamless that, from the perspective of someone for whom messages between army units could only be conveyed on foot, what he was doing could only be explained as the ability to see into the future! 

However, that control alone wouldn’t be enough to put a stop to the fierce attacks by the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance Army, whose soldiers fought on ceaselessly as if possessed. 

A vast amount of useful information was still useless without someone in command with the capability to properly process, organize, and act upon it. 

Even if orders could be sent out to their recipients with lightning speed, if the orders given weren’t the correct decision for each situation, the troops would end up overrun by these fearsome foes in no time at all. 

As it so happened, the Steel Clan did indeed have someone capable of doing just that, sending out exactly the right order in each instance with surgical precision. 

Humans are creatures capable of growth, and it is the young among them who hold the greatest potential for that growth. 

It had been just over two years now since he’d become a patriarch. He’d been through several wars and seen numerous individual battles on the field, surviving hard-fought struggles against one powerful foe after another. 

That had been his life from the age of fifteen to seventeen. 

Those two years, the most impressionable of many young men’s lives, had been packed with countless important and enriching experiences, and it was those experiences that had unlocked a great potential sleeping within him. It was a gift he’d been born with, but would never have seen use in the world of 21st-century Japan—the talent of a battlefield commander. 

“Oh, this is baaad.” 

As Bára focused on the current battle situation, she seemed unaware that she was biting down hard on her own thumb in an obvious display of both nervousness and frustration. 

She was a woman who had built up a reputation for always being unflappable and seemingly carefree no matter the situation, but right now her anxiety was written all over her face. 

It had already been six hours since this battle had first gotten underway. 

The fighting had only grown steadily more and more intense during that time, and while the battle lines had repeatedly pushed forward and back in what seemed like a continuous loop, at last, the overall trend had become apparent. Little by little, gradually but obviously, the scales were tipping to one side. 

That is, towards the Steel Clan. 

“Haah... haah...” Fagrahvél stood in front of Bára, panting with exhaustion but saying nothing. 

Suddenly, Fagrahvél’s body tipped over backwards and started falling towards the ground, as if she’d been pulled down by an invisible cord. 

Bára gasped in shock and hurriedly rushed over to her side, managing to catch her just before she hit the ground. 

“A-Are you all riiight?” 

“...I am.” 

She could tell right away that Fagrahvél was lying. 

Her complexion was already as pale as a corpse’s. Bára could hardly sense any semblance of vitality from her. 

There was no way a person in such a state could possibly be fine. 

“Hey, Fagrahvél, can you see thiiis?” 

Bára held her index finger in front of Fagrahvél’s eyes. 

“...Mm? ...Three? Three... what? What does that... mean?” 

“Nothing, don’t worry about iiit.” 

Bára replied with the same nonchalant voice she always used, though her expression was as pained and bitter as if she’d bitten down on a bug. 

She’d noticed that Fagrahvél’s eyes had looked like they weren’t focusing, and her little visual test had proven that fear true. 

She’d also just addressed Fagrahvél, her sworn parent, by name, and Fagrahvél hadn’t noticed that either. 

Normally, Fagrahvél would absolutely have noticed and made some sort of comment, regardless of fatigue. 

It meant her consciousness was so dim at this point that her mind wasn’t capable of paying any attention to that. 

She had pushed her body completely past its limits. 

“Don’t... concern yourself... with me. I can still...!” 

Even as she continued to struggle to speak between feeble breaths, Fagrahvél tried to stand again. 

No doubt, because she felt that it was her duty as her army’s commander. 

“Khh... ngh...!” 

However, apparently the strength of her will could no longer force her body to obey. 

As she put her feet against the ground, her legs shook violently, but she couldn’t stand on them. There was no longer enough strength in her body for even that much. 

She’d expended every last ounce of her vitality, to the point that the fact that she could still remain conscious at all was nothing short of a miracle. 

After all, even at this very moment, her rune Gjallarhorn was still draining energy from her to maintain the effects of its power upon the troops of the Alliance Army. 

“I can’t stop yet! I won’t stop... until the Steel Clan is defeated...!” 

Those words spilled from Fagrahvél’s lips in a weak, delirious voice, as if she were muttering in her sleep. 

She was hardly even capable of coherent thought right now, and yet she was hanging on as if driven by subconscious instinct. 

Right now, if she were to lose consciousness, the power of Gjallarhorn would be cut off, and the Alliance Army soldiers would lose the strength they needed to hold back the Steel Clan. They’d be crushed in minutes. 

Thanks to her experience as a commander, Fagrahvél understood that fact on an instinctive level. 

And the cruel reality was, that understanding was correct. 

“Her Majesty... my little sister... I must protect her...!” 

That singular will seemed to be the only thing tying her mind to the waking world now. 

Fagrahvél’s mental strength was something Bára sincerely respected, but in her current state, even that would likely not hold out for much longer. 

She wasn’t just on the edge of consciousness—Fagrahvél was approaching the edge of life and death. 

“I’ve never really liked gambliiing, but it looks like there’s no other choice but to take a risky, all-or-nothing beeet.”

“Failed again... Damn it all!” 

The one spitting out those words in loathing was none other than Erna, member of the Sword Clan’s Maidens of the Waves, and leader of its army’s Special Assault Force. 

Her squad, along with the squads of her fellow Maidens of the Waves members Thír and Hrönn, had been attacking the Steel Clan formation in alternating waves, stacking consistent force against them, but every time it seemed like things were about to break in their favor, they were pushed back again at the last minute. 

“This is getting nowhere. At this rate, we’ll...!” 

As the feelings of anxiousness surged through her, she clenched her teeth tightly. 

When the battle had first gotten underway, the sun had been at its zenith in the sky. 

Now, it was beginning to sink behind the tall peaks of the Himinbjörg Mountains, and the evening light was painting the sky bright red. 

It was proof a significant number of hours had passed, and Erna was worried for the health of her master and patriarch, Fagrahvél. 

“Now is no time for such weak thoughts, Erna. There’s no time left for them, either.” 

“Huh?!” 

Surprised at hearing the voice of someone who shouldn’t be here with her, Erna whirled around, wide-eyed. 

“Thír?! And... and all the rest of you, too?! Why are you all here?!” 

Standing before Erna were all of the other members of the Maidens of the Waves, aside from Bára. Seven Einherjar, the strongest and most elite warriors of the Sword Clan. 

By Erna’s understanding, all of them were supposed to have been working separately, each leading their own squad of soldiers. 

The fact that they were all here now would mean they’d abandoned those orders to come here. 

It was a behavior that made no sense for such senior officers. 

“We’re here on Bára’s orders. This is our last big chance to turn the tables.” 

“Our ‘last’ chance... I see.” 

Even Erna immediately grasped the meaning behind those words. 

It meant Fagrahvél was already nearly depleted of any remaining stamina. 

Thír nodded slowly. 

“That’s right. We Maidens of the Waves will use all of our strength combined, and see if we can’t spear our way through the Steel Clan Army’s thick hide.” 

“All of our strength... That is quite a bold and aggressive move for Bára.” 

Honestly, it was pretty surprising. 

Bára was cunning and calculating by nature. Her style was to set things up in such a way as to create a winning scenario before beginning the fight. 

It was certainly true that if the Einherjar who made up the Maidens of the Waves attacked as a single concentrated unit, they could assault their foes with tremendous power. On the other hand, they were also valuable to their own army in their capacity as skilled field officers. Their absences from those key positions would considerably weaken the rest of the Alliance Army. 

In a situation like this, where their side was already desperately struggling, such a shift in strength could risk weakening their troops enough for them to become overwhelmed by the enemy’s momentum, and subsequently crushed. It was an extremely dangerous bet to take. 

“That just shows how much our backs are up against the wall right now. Bára said that she’d make sure the rest of our forces held out in the meantime, but I doubt they’ll last long.” 

“......” 

Gulping, Erna said nothing. 

She was painfully aware that resting on their shoulders right now were the fates of the Sword Clan Army, the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance Army, and perhaps even the empire itself. 

“We’re going to do this, Erna. Let’s show the Steel Clan what it means when the Maidens of the Waves fight together.” 

“Right!” Erna shouted. That brisk response was her only option. 

The battle had, at last, moved into its final act.

“Haaaaaah!” 

Thír, swinging her sword with both hands, repelled the hail of arrows that fell towards her as she charged forward. 

The Steel Clan had fortified their flank defenses with archers wielding crossbows, which fired arrows that traveled far faster than any bow from this era, but despite that, Thír could still see and track every one of them with total ease. 

In terms of pure physical ability, she was a step or two below Erna and Hrönn, but thanks to the great many battles that Thír had fought in, her combat experience vastly outstripped theirs. 

The direction of the enemy soldiers’ eyes, the relative intensity of the killing intent she sensed from them, the flow of the air currents—using all of that and more to read and predict the attacks of her foes was a skill at which no one could compare to her. 

She easily reached the wall made up of linked wagon carriages, at which point a smaller figure darted out from directly behind her. 

Hrönn was small in stature, but she had the Sword Clan’s strongest pair of arms. 

She stuck both hands into the gap between two carriages, and pulled. 

“Hrrngh!” 

Despite the added weight of the archers standing inside them, she easily pried the two carriages apart with nothing more than brute force. 

Such strength could hardly be considered human; it was much more akin to that of a large bear’s. 

As soon as Hrönn pried open a gap in the barrier, Erna shot forward through it. 

The swiftness of her dash was downright supernatural. The Steel Clan soldiers close by weren’t even able to see her. 

“Gwah! H-Huh...?” 

“Wha?! Wh-When did she—” 

“Uagh... blood... I’m bleeding...” 

All at once, before any of them realized what was happening, their lives were brought to an end. 

A beat later, their bodies crumpled, splaying lifelessly. 

Incredible feats like this made it all but impossible to deny that “specialized” Einherjar with powers completely focused into one aspect were nothing short of superhuman in those particular areas. 

“That’s our Erna! Fastest feet in the Special Assault Force!” 

“You better leave room for the rest of us to shine, too!” 

“Yeah, we all want the chance to give our bodies some exercise with some real fighting.” 

With those excited comments, the other seven Einherjar followed after Erna through the opening in the Wagon Wall. 

They were only the eight of them, now deep in the midst of their enemy’s ranks. 

By any normal standards, they were hopelessly outnumbered. 

However... 

“Th-They’re too strong!” 

“What the hell are they?!” 

“Every one of them is as strong as Lady Sigrún!” 

It was the Maidens of the Waves who held the advantage. 

They were receiving the power of Gjallarhorn, the Call to War, which drew out their latent abilities and forcefully boosted them to their limits. 

Their combat strength right now far surpassed even that of a normal Einherjar. 

And, that wasn’t all. 

The eight of them also had a bond formed by their long history of fighting together. They were comrades-in-arms. 

They each had a full understanding of the others’ abilities, personalities, and fighting styles. Rather than getting in each others’ ways, they were instead able to fight in manners that complemented each other well. 

These eight women fighting together now were not merely eight Einherjar. 

True to their namesake, they were united as a single, powerful wave, and they swept through the ranks of the Steel Clan Army.

“Father, Father! We’ve got a huge problem!” 

“What’s happened, Al?” 

The voice coming in over the transceiver was panicked, but Yuuto replied in a calm tone. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Albertina’s word that there really was a significant problem, or anything like that. Rather, Yuuto always tried to stay true to a policy of keeping calm on the battlefield at all times. 

“The spot I’m in charge of watching over is getting attacked right now, but the people leading the charge... six... seven... there’s eight of them, but all of them are incredibly strong! They broke through the Wagon Wall in no time at all! I think they’re probably all Einherjar!” 

“...Hmm.” 

Yuuto’s expression grew more severe, and he put a hand to his chin and thought for a moment. 

“So, it looks like they’ve decided to bet everything on one last gambit.” 

It was true that bringing eight Einherjar together to attack one location would likely be enough to break past the Wagon Wall’s barricade without much difficulty. 

That was just due to the nature of Einherjar, who as a rule possessed combat abilities much greater than those of normal humans. 

What’s more, there was a high likelihood that these weren’t just normal Einherjar, but the Sword Clan’s most elite Einherjar warriors, the “Maidens of the Waves.” 

Even if Yuuto moved troops to reinforce the area under attack in the way he’d been doing so far, the reinforcements might themselves end up swept aside by the overwhelming strength of these particular foes. 

And, frankly speaking, right now the Steel Clan Army didn’t have comparable Einherjar available to send against them. 

Including Sigrún, there were three combat-oriented Einherjar in the Múspell Special Forces, but currently, they were in the middle of providing aid to an area on the army’s opposite flank, and it would take a non-trivial amount of time to send them over to where Albertina currently was. 

He couldn’t move Hveðrungr out of Víðríðr, and Skáviðr was far away in the Álfheimr region, protecting the front there. 

As for the four Horn Clan Einherjar known as the Brísingamen, one of them had perished in the Battle of Élivágar River; Rasmus had suffered a heavy wound that had basically forced him into retirement; Haugspori was unavailable, as he’d been sent as leader of the reinforcements for the Wheat Clan; and the final member was key to the defense of the army’s right flank and couldn’t be moved either. 

The twin girls from the Claw Clan were both Einherjar, but their abilities weren’t geared towards open combat on the field like this. 

That meant Felicia was pretty much his only remaining candidate, but sending her in alone would be placing her against hopeless odds. 

That was the situation Yuuto found himself in right now. 

Yuuto finished thinking, and moved his hand away from his chin, revealing his mouth... the corners of which had curled up into a wide grin. 

“So... the few enemy troops that can cause me real trouble are all gathered up in one spot, then. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

“Begone!” 

Erna cut down the Steel Clan soldier attacking her. Then, with a practiced flick of her arm, she flung the blood from her sword’s iron blade. 

She’d previously taken the weapon from the corpse of one of the Steel Clan’s Independent Cavalry Regiment men, and that had proven to be a good decision. 

Her foes right now were also wielding iron weapons. 

If she’d been fighting with the type of bronze sword she’d always used before, then by now its blade would surely have been broken into pieces, leaving her in no shape to fight. 

But with an iron sword like this one, the blade might suffer a few nicks, but it didn’t crack. She could keep fighting! 

“We can do this! We can do this!” 

The Steel Clan Army had completely outclassed the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance Army in terms of the combat strength of their troops. But those same Steel Clan soldiers were no match for the power of eight Einherjar. 

At this rate, they would be able to change the flow of this battle before Fagrahvél’s strength reached its last. 

Erna got the sensation that a path to victory was nearly within reach. 

That was when it happened. Abruptly, the wind stopped. 

A change in the wind currents during a battle wasn’t unusual. It was fairly common. 

However, something about this felt off. For some reason, Erna felt a terrible sense of foreboding about it. 

From within the ranks of the Steel Clan’s soldiers, something was tossed out in her direction. 

It was some sort of small object, slightly long and cylindrical, and though it was darkly colored, it glinted strangely in the light. 

If, in that split second, Erna had used the flat of her sword to hit the object and send it flying back in the direction it came from, perhaps her future would have held a very different outcome. 

However, she didn’t have the faintest idea what the object even was. 

And so, she was too late to react to it. 

Without warning,white-colored smoke erupted from the unknown object. 

In the span of a few seconds, it engulfed the area around Erna. 

“Wh-What’s happening?! Ghagh!” 

“My eyes! My eeeyes!” 

“Khak khagh... My throat...! It’s on fire!” 

“What is this?!” 

One after another, Erna’s comrades, the elite warriors who had each fought with such unmatched prowess that none of the Steel Clan soldiers could hope to stand against them, now cried out in pain. 

This small, cylindrical, smoke-releasing object they had fallen victim to was none other than the tear gas grenade. 

In the modern era Yuuto came from, it was a non-lethal chemical weapon used mainly in the suppression of riots. 

It was also being sold over the internet as “security equipment,” readily available for the price of five to six thousand yen apiece. 

Einherjar might be stronger and faster than normal humans, but even the Maidens of the Waves weren’t fast enough to evade the pressurized smoke that instantly expanded to fill the air around them. 

Their eyes, noses, and throats were assaulted by a violent, burning sensation, and they flailed in pain. 

“La, la, lala...” 

Their ears, however, picked up an odd sound—a young girl’s voice, singing a little melody in a carefree manner that seemed completely out of place on the battlefield. 

Immediately following that, a sudden breeze picked up. 

It wasn’t a very strong breeze, really, only just enough to blow a person’s hair a bit. 

However, because the wind had been completely stopped in this area, that breeze alone was enough to push the white smoke in the direction of the attacking Anti-Steel Clan Alliance Army soldiers. 

“Gyaagh! It burns! Why does it burn?!” 

“My eyes are on fire!” 

“Khagh, ugghh, I can’t—I can’t breathe!” 

Their screams multiplied, turning into a total uproar. 

The smoke itself would momentarily clear, but the effects of the tear gas would continue, keeping them all in agony for at least fifteen minutes. 

Unstoppable coughing fits and the searing pain in their eyes and throats would practically paralyze them. 

Even simply breathing was a struggle for them at the moment. 

In that sort of state, it didn’t matter if they were powerful Einherjar or soldiers who fought like an army of the living dead. They couldn’t put up a fight right now. 

Steel Clan reinforcements arrived, and one by one, the Maidens of the Waves were pinned to the ground and tied up.

“I got them all!” 

“All riiight! You did great, Al!” 

Yuuto cheered for Albertina, pumping his clenched fist in the air. 

This plan was something he’d originally devised to use against Steinþórr, but it had saved him here instead. 

“To think the day would come when Al would actually make herself useful on the battlefield...” 

Her twin sister Kristina’s voice over the transceiver sounded decidedly more mixed. For her, Albertina’s hopelessness was what made her adorable. 

“Why, I half expect it might snow tomorrow,” she muttered. “Or perhaps it will hail. Spears.” 

“Wha?! Kris, that’s so meeean!” Albertina whined indignantly, ignorant of her sister’s feelings, which prompted a laugh from Yuuto. 

“Ha ha ha! So, how did you like using the gas grenade? It’s the perfect weapon for the girl who wields Hræsvelgr, Provoker of Winds, wouldn’t you say?” 

One of Albertina’s powers was the power to “provoke the wind,” just as the namesake of her rune suggested. 

However, the truth was that until now there hadn’t really been much practical use for that power. 

The winds she could create were weak, so they couldn’t be used for something major like boosting the strength of archer volleys. 

The most they’d been good for was creating a localized tailwind to slightly boost the traveling speed of a wagon, or a nice breeze to help cool off in the heat of summer. 

No one would have suspected they’d be what she used to defeat eight Einherjar all by herself! 

Without Albertina’s power to rely on, Yuuto would have had no choice but to leave this plan on the shelf. Using gas weapons with only the natural air currents in place was leaving things up to nature, which was leaving them up to chance—there was the risk the wind could end up blowing the tear gas back at his own troops, and then he’d have done himself in. 

There was no questioning that the greatest accomplishment in this battle had been won by Albertina’s hand. 

“Yeah, it worked really well,” Albertina said. “I’m so glad Kris spent all that time having me practice over and over how to use it. It really paid off!” 

That prompted another laugh from Yuuto. 

Of course she’d done that. 

Much as could be expected of Kristina, no matter how insulting her words were, at heart she’d also wanted nothing more than to help give her sister a chance to accomplish something for herself. 

Also, she’d secretly assisted Albertina on the battlefield as well. Kristina had used her rune Veðrfölnir, Silencer of Winds, to still the air currents before Albertina took action. Of course, she’d never admit that openly. 

She really was twisted when it came to the way she acted towards her beloved sister. 

“Okay, so now that’s set... Hm?” 

Yuuto stopped short, feeling something change in the air. He turned to look in the direction of the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance Army. 

The heavy, almost painfully uncomfortable pressure that he’d been sensing coming from their soldiers quickly began to vanish, like mist evaporating in the sun. 

“Well, now... It looks like the clock’s struck midnight, and their magic has run out. All right, we’re going to hit them all at once with everything we’ve got!”

“The Maidens of the Waves... all defeated...?!” 

When the news reached Fagrahvél, it was the final straw. Long after passing what should have been her physical limits, she’d still been barely holding on to consciousness with what could only be called a death-defying determination, but it was as if her spirit broke in two. 

As Fagrahvél collapsed, Bára caught her in her arms. 

Bára looked up at the sky, almost in a daze, and whispered, “So against Suoh-Yuuto the war god, even eight Einherjar are no more than a trifling challenge...” 

Bára’s assessment of the Maidens of the Waves was not affected by personal affiliation. They simply were the best of the best. 

In particular, Thír, Erna, and Hrönn were strong enough that any of them should have made for an even match with the Steel Clan’s famous warrior Sigrún. 

They’d been enhanced by the power of Gjallarhorn, the Call to War. 

No one would be capable of stopping them. Bára had felt absolutely certain of it. 

But instead, it turned out that all eight of them were easily defeated and captured. 

It was all she could do not to laugh. 

“Utter defeat. There’s no other word for iiit.” 

With the effects of Gjallarhorn’s power gone, the Anti-Steel Clan Alliance Army no longer had the strength nor the courage to stand against the Steel Clan Army, and the soldiers had already started to flee for their lives. 

Bára had made thorough preparations before this battle, doing absolutely everything that was necessary to place things in her favor. In fact, she might go so far as to say her preparations had been perfect. Despite that, her foes had fought her head-on and overpowered her with their strength. 

“Victory and defeat are often decided by fortune.” It was a common saying, but it rang hollow to her. 

She’d been made to feel like the difference in their strengths was so overwhelming that she could face this foe a hundred times and would still lose every time. 

“This is the limit of what we can do here. Send the order for all troops to begin the retreeeat.” 

The remainder of what happened from then on was decided in that moment. 

“Sieg Iárn! Sieg Reginarch!” 

The victorious cries of the Steel Clan echoed over the fields of Víðríðr.