No Quarter

For two weeks, General vont Smith's troops fought to retake the Durres. Each time they made greater and greater progress. Yesterday, they had made it onto the battlements and fought the rebels on the wall.

Today, the General let his troops rest. Last night, the king sent word and Array Master was on his way. Additionally, the Array Master brought his teacher. The king instructed his friend Jing not to offend the guest and be as accommodating as possible.

The next day Rupert and Nuvian arrived. Rupert's milk chocolate skin was even more tan in the Albanian heat.

Seeing the cadre of military officers, Rupert felt out of place. Rupert was an introvert, all he needed was a good book and a cup of tea.

"Welcome Master Rupert and Grandmaster Nuvian," a major bowed upon greeting them after they debarked from the airship.

Rupert and Bradley had both broken through to the master realm. Bradley broke through first, just before the train was finished. Rupert broke throughout a month ago when he artificially made a portable clock.

"Is W-Will here?" Rupert asked.

"Major vont Ballard is currently in Podglorica acting as the king's envoy to the Orca Clan. He conquered Western Albania within a month. His achievement is quite outstanding," the Major said.

The General vont Smith gave the Major permission to share top-secret information about Will with Rupert, and his master.

"Yes, Will's always been outstanding even when he was a student in the Mage Academy," Rupert smiled glad to hear his friend/ employer was okay.

"Please follow me, Master Rupert," the Major said.

"You can just call me Rup—," Before he could finish, Nuvian interrupted him.

"Foolish disciple! Always let inferior humans know of your superiority. You humans breed like rabbits, but you are the only human Artificer on Terra. Be proud of that achievement. You'll be able breakthrough to Grandmaster, then you'll understand how weak humanity is!" Nuvian advised.

It didn't take long until they arrived at General vont Smith's tent.

"Greetings, esteemed Array Master and Runesmith Rupert vont Zeppelin and Grandmaster Nuvian. Please sit and eat. I have prepared a wonderful meal for you!" the General said nicely. His officers were amazed to hear General vont Smith's tone change.

"I didn't know he could speak so nicely?" said a captain.

"Quick someone help, the General has gone missing, who is this imposter?" laughed a second captain.

"Why doesn't he speak like that to us? Does he think, we like it when he spits as he shouts?" as another captain.

"Thank you, but we just ate on the airship. Please lead us to the array so we may leave and head to our next stop," Nuvian said.

The other officers knew to better than to say anything. And just as they expected, the General asked the three captains who spoke to lead Rupert and Nuvian to the array.

When Rupert saw the array he smiled, "It's an Aqua Array, no wonder you can't break it. It gathers water to maintain its defenses. Any of your aquamancers could have told you this?"

"All our mages are pyromancers," said the captain.

"Well, that explains, why you've struggled to cripple the array," Rupert chuckled to himself and began working.

Arrays and runes worked together like hand and glove. An array was a conjuration that manipulated the mana around an object and used flags to mark the perimeter.

Rupert didn't have to walk long before he found the first flag. Using the method his master taught, him, Rupert was able to remove the flag and break the array.

When the rebels saw the array fluctuate, they at once tried to attack Rupert.

If only they had looked at Nuvian's pointy ears they might have kept their life. When the first arrow was shot at Rupert and Nuvian, Nuvian unleashed an inhuman aura of bloodlust. The elf didn't even need to use his sonic spear.

He wrapped himself and Rupert in his aura. Being within range of the aura was enough to kill humans several times over.

When the three captains felt the bloodlust, they at once pissed themselves in fear. Even worse they couldn't move, they were paralyzed in fear. The fear was from seeing an apex predator, which made each of their noses bleed.

When Nuvian retracted his aura 33 rebels were dead. And, another 47 were paralyzed behind the wall with warm blood running down from their nose, and cold piss running down their legs.

With the array gone, Rupert and Nuvian returned to General vont Smith's tent, to the general's surprise. General vont Smith had given the order for the mages to shell the city before the infantry marched in to conquer the port.

"Greetings, esteemed Array Master and Runesmith Rupert and Grandmaster Nuvian. The airship is ready for your flight to Vlore. Your work here is done, we thank you," the General vont Smith bowed. He wanted to get rid of these two so he could conquer the port.

"Go on and say it, dear disciple," Nuvian said, having coached him earlier.

"I-I demand compensation! I'm a civilian, not a soldier. If not for my master, I might have died," Rupert said staring at the ground the whole time. He had rehearsed those lines on the airship.

'If that stupid elf wasn't here, I'd knock his teeth out,' Jing thought angrily.

"How much?" the General asked.

"I think a fair price is 1,000 Silver Leafs," Rupert said.

"You don't want Fermion to be paid in Fermion Currency? I've never heard of Silver Leafs, is that Elven currency?" General vont Smith asked.

"Yes," Rupert said.

"Didn't the king already pay you?" the General asked.

"Your king paid me," Nuvian grinned, at fleecing the king.

"Fine, I'll pay you 1,000 Silver Leafs. How much is that?" the General asked.

"One silver leaf equals 200 gold. I'll take my money now and a certified debt certificate," Rupert said.

"That's 200,000,000 coppers!" exclaimed a First Lieutenant in shock.

"You expect me to pay you 200,000 gold for breaking an array. It only took you 10 minutes!" General vont Smith's bloodlust began to ooze out. However, Nuvian's aura protected Rupert.

"General, we were in the middle of an important project, when your guards rudely summoned him. Now we'll have to restart the whole thing. You are also not including the time it took us to fly from Gadreel's to Tirana, and from Tirana to Durres. You're paying my disciple, not for 10 minutes, but his last two weeks," Nuvian informed him.

"Fine, here is a debt certificate for 200,000 gold. You can cash it at any Silver Phoenix bank. Now, please leave!" General vont Smith's rough mannerism has returned.

"Thank you for your patronage," Rupert bowed and then he and his master embarked for Vlore.

When they left, the General released all his pent-up rage. That elf was as greedy as a dwarf.

With the battle having restarted, General vont Smith gave the command to attack.

His troops quickly climbed the walls and began fighting. With the array gone, the mage's brutal assault gave the infantry the cover it needed to advance. It didn't take long before the Fermion soldiers were on the battlements.

The screams of the enemy filled the air as they were blasted apart by magic spells or stabbed with swords alike. The experienced Fermion soldiers' thrusts were extremely efficient at piercing through the rebel's chests. The injured rebels were kicked down from the ramparts to the awaiting Fermion soldiers below.

While some ladders were pushed back down to the ground below, crushing some of the soldiers below, the majority of soldiers gained ground. It wasn't long until the soldiers surrounded and overwhelmed the rebels.

When the rebels lost hold of the wall, they lost their only defensive advantage. Without a way to defend themselves, the Fermion soldiers began attacking them inside the port.

The level of chaos and carnage wrought upon the Fermion besiegers in such a short time was unimaginable.

The rebels were terrified by the numerical advantage Fermion had on their side. The spells alone nearly annihilated the port and the rebels.

When they lost the wall, the rebels concluded that Fermion's invasion was fated to end in an overwhelming victory.

Watching his troops flood into the port, General vont Smith knew it would not be long before the portcullis was lifted, and the doors open. His lips curved into a wicked grin as he gave his final command, "No quarter! Let this message to any other rebels!"

Almost on cue, the doors were flung open.

"It shall be done, General," said the Colonel.

"No mercy for the rebels," the Colonel yelled.

After General vont Smith's orders were given, roughly 8,000 soldiers, who had waited their turn to fight, stormed into the port and cut down the rebels like a scythe to wheat. Not a single rebel was left alive.

With Durres firmly under Fermion's control, the last battle was still taking place in Vlore. If the attack on Durres was considered a bloodbath, then the Siege of Vlore would be considered a sea of blood.