....I see.

"Re-form!" I yelled ripping through the ranks with Alias' help reaching back to the main unit without too much trouble.

By the time we arrived back though it was already too late to reform, the enemy not only not backing off but becoming even more savage.

That was when I saw it.

As the main enemy troop arrived those who had already been here battling began to get cut down by those coming down.

"They dare to cut down their own soldiers? Arrogant and idiotic!" Alias' yelled in rage dodging an arrow, "These fucking evil--"

"Watch out!" I pushed him eating a spear to my back, luckily the cape saved me from most of the damage.

Looking over at the female fairy master she was already begginning to throw another spear, but where is she getting them from?!

"Fall back to Huantu's unit!" I yelled, no afirmation needed the men began to back up in groups of three and four in a squad successfully disengaging.

Another spear came but this time clearly aimed at me, however it was sliced in half causing the fairy master's eyes to shake slightly in shock.

Raising both hands a third spear began coming into creation, the fairies around her burning brightly their screams reaching me quite clearly now that we began to retreat and the sounds of battle had died down somewhat.

Wait, the sounds of battle died down?

What happened in the west?

Not willing to glance over in case the fairy master caught on I began playing rear guard as the men escaped.

It seems that they can't see the spears?

Are they invisible spears?

Perhaps only people with affinity can see the spears, just like with fairies only being capable of being seen by those with affinity?

Shit.

She need's to die and quickly if that is the case, it's too big of a risk letting her live.

By the fifth spear fairies began to drop out of the sky charred so badly that as they hit the ground they turned to dust.

We finally reached the main field area where Huanto's unit had disappeared.

"Huanto?! Where are you?! We need you!" Alias' yelled desperately, "Come out now!!"

Barely getting the formation back in order we began getting encircled, our two hundred and fifty man unit getting shaved down to barely two hundred men.

Flicking my head a spear landed right behind me digging deeply into the soil, a sinister laugh spreading over the field.

"It seems that your companions have run away leaving you all to die! Such is the flaw of regular soldiers, soon my reinforcements will arrive and there will be no escape," The fairy master said with a sharp smile, "I am Matel Loijon, of the Loijon Syndicate, Kreyan my younger brother was weak and without the gift, killing him will be your last achievment."

Raising her hand her men charged as she began firing smaller spears, but it seems that these can be seen by the soldiers since Alias her first target warded away the small spear like flicking away an arrow.

Feeling out my bodies condition I know that this warm feeling won't last much longer, like a burning flame it will soon have no fuel left, whatever the fuel is.

I need to take advantage of this now.

"Rip them apart!" I ordered furiously as I slaughtered five men in a single swing, now that I got used to the strength a little better I can use some amateur level sword techniques without stumbling, "Alias take charge."

Without giving him a chance to speak I began massacring the enemy whose experience level was in no way lacking to our own troops, though their physical strength seems to be lacking from ours.

These are properly trained soldiers made for battlefield combat not one on one combat making them excellent in this situation if only not for one thing.

"Every single soldier of Durlivan is trained to fight alone, and get's teamwork experience on the field making their skills refined and their teamwork not only built on experience but on trust." I said as I closed in on the confused looking Matel, "Even the most highly trained soldiers cannot work flawlessly together if they do not trust one another one hundred percent."

Suddenly several of the Durlivanian soldiers who heard my words smiled yelling, "So that's why you ran with us!"

"And made us all help eachother!"

"And nearly killed all of us in training!"

"Scarlet Demon! To the Lord!" Alias finally shouted, the soldiers had become much more comfortable in the combat falling into a rythem with one another outdoing the teamwork skills of the enemy.

Despite that however I know that there is a time limit to that, soldiers get tired and mistakes happen, a single soldier in the chain falling can mean a fatal gap in the entire formation.

"Scarlet Demon?" Matel smiled viciously, "Covered in blood and entrails with an expression that could even put ghosts to rest, you certainly live up to the name."

"Matel Loijon, I killed your brother and impaled him on Durlivan's fields, you will soon join him there along with the rest of your twisted Loijon bloodline who dared to pick a fight with me." I replied closing in on her my blade just about to reach her.

However.

The instant that I was about to kill her she pulled a dagger slashing at me, but more importantly, one of the captive fairies flew into my sabers path forcing me to step back and block the incoming dagger by my other hand.

"You dare...." I whispered a deep surge of anger filling my mind however just as I was about to try and think of a new tactic I saw the eyes of the fairies now that I was upclose with the clump of them.

I'd seen those eyes many times.

They are my eyes, my old eyes.

They believe that this is the only way, among them the previous scouting fairies are nowhere to be found, likely killed for crying out.

"...I see." I muttered evenly shaking the blood from my sabers.

"What do you see? Your own death?" Matel mockingly said walking forward with the clump of fairies like shields all around her, "That's the problem with good people, they are so easy to take advantage of---"

"I am not a good person." Slashing down I cut down both Matel and the fairy that blocked my saber.

I had seen it in their eyes.

That look was worse than my own, each of those fairies were prepared to die here, all of them wish to be done with everything.

I will grant your wish.

Slashing several more times I killed the remaining fairies who each looked happy as they turned to dust never dodging, never resisting or showing even an inclining of wanting to live.

They were done with this life, I hope their next one treats them better.

"I'm sorry." I said lightly as I cut off Matel's still shocked looking head, an expression of anger, hatred, regret filling her eyes even in death, "Rest easy, fairies."

Turning back many of her elite guards began to collapse one after the other a horrible flame engulfing them as my men backed away quickly only to find that it was not hot.

Reaching out my hand I felt some invisible force stop my arm.

"That is the fire of servitude a curse that only those blessed by Laminas can use to forcefully endenture other to their service, I can't believe he survived all these years," Voice-chan?, "Do not touch the flames they cannot be saved, if Seramia was here then perhaps, but it is now too late their souls are already almost burnt completely."

"Can't you do something?" I replied feeling my body tense and my fists clench, so these were slaves? Innocents forced to battle as well?

"Not with the kind of power I have right now, there is no way for me to help them." Voice-chan replied a subtle undertone in her voice, "That damned Laminas and his ilk."

"Who is Laminas?" I asked as the fires danced in my eyes dying out slowly as the people turned to ash's.

No response?

I guess that's as much help as she can give me.

At this moment Huanto and Netman appeared from the west woods covered in blood and with a large portion of their units missing.

"What happened?" I asked quietly as I gathered the fairies ashes.

"Sir, we were ambushed by a second unit higher up in the mountains laying in wait, Huanto noticed the distress and came to our aid helping to lure them far away splitting their forces, we were in a dire situation but suddenly the enemy burst to flames, several of our men were caught in the blaze." Netman said quickly with a somber tone.

"What of the wounded?"

"We put them away in a safe location away in the plains with a few guards laying low with them since they kept struggling trying to return to that fairy master." Huanto said shortly holding his arm.

He's wounded, so are many of the other men.

"Yu, go and get Marcus' unit and make a head count then take a few fairies to scout the battle fields, find anyone who is still alive and mark them, Marcus' is to retrieve them and help to tend to them." I ordered stiffly, "Everyone else, come up to the encampment up on the mountain, we will recover there."

"Yes, Sir!"

We arrived up at the encampment swiftly, a strange odor permeating the whole camp, if it can even be called that.

In reality there are no tents, there are no tables or fires, there are however, heavy boot imprints as though many hundreds of men had been standing in the same spot for many days, no wonder they were so weak, they were probably starving.

Clearly this was a preplanned assassination attempt, had it not been for Alias I would have likely wandered right into a trap in my own conceit thinking that the mountains were all safe and sound.

In reality the fairies don't inhabit all of the mountains and there are people like Matel who can enslave those few fairies who do find them making it impossible to report back.

I was careless and it almost cost me dearly.

Glancing over at Alias I spoke lightly, "Thank you for speaking up, if not for your instincts we would have had a lot more casualties and perhaps even lost everyone."

"I- uh, yes, well it is my achievment isin't it! Yes! Hahaha!" Alias nervously laughed breaking into real laughter at the sight of the men staring at him causing a wave of laughter.

After this the men promptly went silent as they checked through the camp ready to battle at any time.

Nothing was found.

"Yu?" I called.

"Master, there were a total of one hundred twenty five injured and two hundred dead across all the battlefields." Yu replied, "Also, while I was beating up that evil witch's corpse a map fell out."

Handing over a map much larger than herself she asked, "What is it?"

My eyes went wide a small sparkle appearing.

On the map are several locations of bases as well as the codes to enter them, be they in cities or in the smallest villages, they have bases everywhere in the Earldom, like a locust swarm.

We will need to get them all at once if we want to cleanse them, if we attack one place all of them will go on alert and more than likely switch their bases to new ones.

Among the places on the map are weapons cashes and safe houses.

This.....