"What… is that!?"
Geo Gilbars reeled, his mind nearly shattered as he witnessed his right-wing forces engulfed by a crimson inferno. The hellish torrent, writhing like a serpent, devoured countless soldiers. They had no time to scream before the flames consumed them.
It happened in an instant.
Logner's army, spread like a bird's wings, saw its right flank collapse. Barely moments after clashing with the Gandians, their numerical advantage evaporated, their plan to envelop and crush the enemy reduced to ashes.
"What is that!?" Geo's cry was drowned by soldiers' screams echoing from all directions. The unimaginable horror gripped them, fear chaining into a storm of panic that began unraveling the battle lines.
"Damn it…!" Geo gritted his teeth, suppressing his own terror, and bellowed at the wavering troops. "What are you doing? Reform the lines!"
But the collapse was unstoppable.
"Is that… Setsuna!?"
Leongand Rei Gandia gaped, stunned by the ferocity of the crimson flames that swept through the enemy's right wing. The thick band of fire mowed down Logner's soldiers, its impact unimaginable even to the Gandians.
Leongand nearly dropped his lance, the shock coursing through him like lightning.
(Beyond anything I expected…!)
The clash between Leongand's elite Gandian unit and Logner's forces had been a mere skirmish. Heavy infantry traded blows in a back-and-forth struggle, while Leongand, astride his white steed, darted in and out of enemy lines, aiming to disrupt their formation. But it wasn't enough to break them.
As Logner's left wing began to move, their right wing followed, preparing to encircle the Gandians. Lucion's White Holy Knights would handle the left. The mercenaries held the right. Then it happened
Crimson hellfire obliterated the right wing, unleashing chaos across Logner's faltering lines.
(Bel! You did it!) Leongand suppressed the urge to shout, driving his lance into the throat of a stunned enemy soldier.
"What do you make of that?"
Halberk Reus Lucion's question went unanswered as Rinoncrea Reive Lucion couldn't tear her eyes from the crimson blaze torching the enemy's right wing.
It happened mid-charge, as her swift steed Everwhite carried her toward Logner's left flank. Confirming the battle's start, she led the White Holy Knights to strike the enemy's exposed side, as planned.
Halberk's presence was unexpected, but his steed Moondread matched Everwhite's speed. No issue there. Still, a lone man among a troop of silver-armored female knights felt out of place, prince or not.
Regardless, Rinoncrea's White Holy Knights pressed forward, aiming to exploit Logner's overextended left wing, stretched thin in their attempt to envelop Leongand's main force.
Then it happened.
Far ahead, the enemy's right wing was swallowed by a cataclysmic inferno. The sight was overwhelming. In an instant, Logner's formation crumbled.
A wing of their army had vanished.
"It's an Armed Summoner, no doubt," Rinoncrea managed, her focus drifting to the flames despite the enemy lines looming close.
"No other explanation," Halberk said, his usually calm face taut with intensity. Not a soft man, he leaned toward wildness, but his constant smile made his rare steely expression stir Rinoncrea's emotions.
This was a battlefield, though. No time for feelings. She turned her gaze forward, answering her husband. "No…"
Gandia's Armed Summoners were mediocre at best. A talented summoner wouldn't serve a faltering kingdom like Gandia they'd seek brighter prospects elsewhere. Rinoncrea would.
Faria Belferia, a far superior summoner, was here but not under the king's command. She served the Continental Summoners' Association, her origins making her untouchable. Even her Aurora Storm couldn't wreak such havoc—it wasn't suited for war, by her own admission.
That left one possibility.
"Setsuna Kamiya!" Rinoncrea's whisper carried on the wind as Everwhite leaped forward.
"Hold! Reform the lines!"
Was it a roar? A scream? A death cry? The desperate shout, swallowed by chaos, could've been any.
Setsuna, stunned by the hellish scene, calmly processed the flood of information. Corpses littered the ground—hundreds of charred bodies, still clad in armor, felled by the raging crimson flames. Heavy armor, impervious to weapons, meant nothing before the inferno's wrath.
Logner's soldiers could neither flee nor fight. They burned in moments.
"Goddamn, what a pain," Lux Vain muttered behind him, his voice dripping with disinterest. After painstakingly cutting down a dozen foes, seeing someone achieve tenfold his results in a flash must've soured his mood.
Setsuna felt similarly. Unexpected. Unintended. Who could've known his black spear held such power?
(No…) Shaking his head, Setsuna stared at the spear, its sinister yet beautiful form fitting perfectly in his hand. Its touch sharpened his mind, heightened his senses, as if the spear itself fueled him.
(This isn't right.) A vague certainty drew his eyes to the gem embedded in the spear's base. Once, it had absorbed the entirety of Karan's great fire. Now, it gleamed with transparent brilliance.