Tasvill and Tholaria

Ludwig's face paled as a terrible thought came to him before they were interrupted by the loud sound of an explosion.

The three men in the room wore shocked and worried expressions when they heard the sound while Senton began to laugh hysterically as if he had lost all sense of reasoning.

Senton's laughter created a strong contrast in the room's tense atmosphere, causing all three men to flare up in anger. Ludwig stared at Senton while he laughed, his already hard expression hardening even further.

"Ah, I like your expression. It fits you. You might look confident, or just have an angry expression. But I can tell, you're afraid, your eyes say so. You can't hide it."

"Fear is a funny emotion isn't it?" Senton taunted Ludwig with a creepy smile.

"I don't need you again," Ludwig spoke softly before piercing Senton through the heart with his lightning-coated hand.

Blood gurgled in Senton's mouth as he stared at his chest where Ludwig's hand was, before weakly raising his head with difficulty to look at Ludwig, his face still having that irritating smile.

"K-killing m-me will change n-nothing, T-tasvill will fall today and y-you'll witness it with your eyes." Senton forced himself to say those sentences, his gurgles becoming more violent with each word spoken.

After the words left his mouth, his body went limp, his face dropping towards the ground. Ludwig pulled his hand from his chest, allowing the body to fall. Senton's face still had a smile plastered on it even in death, as if satisfied with the predicament Tasvill was in.

Ludwig might have hated to admit it, but Senton's words had him deeply worried. If Senton was telling the truth, that meant that all of the other nine bastions were all under simultaneous attack at the moment. The revelation left him distressed.

Ludwig, Song and Gohnn all stared at Senton's body with grim expressions, his last words echoing loudly in their minds.

With a soft sigh, Ludwig finally looked away from Senton's body. "Let's go," his troubled voice beckoned to the other two men in the room.

As soon as they were about to move out of the room, another explosion rocked the entire Haven, this one even louder and more violent than the first. Ludwig's expression twisted as he moved out of the building with haste with Song and Gohnn following closely behind. Upon getting outside the building, a shocking scene greeted Ludwig's sight.

Four large rifts in the space were present In Front of the Haven's gates, their surface swirling furiously like a maelstrom of colors and energy. The edges pulsed with an intense blue light. The air around it seemed to vibrate making it look distorted.

The presence of four huge warp gates was shocking enough, but what shocked Ludwig the most were the men that poured out of the gate in an organized manner, each man dressed in a military uniform of deep blue, adorned with silver lines that ran meticulously across it. The uniforms were reinforced with dark leather armor at the shoulders and chest, giving them an imposing appearance.

They all held weapons of varying shapes and sizes. Some carried gleaming swords, while others wielded long slender spears. There were archers among them, their quivers were filled with arrows fletched in blue and silver. The soldiers moved with precision, their feet thudding against the ground in unison as they quickly fanned out in a formation, their every step and action suggesting that this was already planned out.

As the soldiers were still pouring out, a particular figure stepped out of the gate, his features more distinctive causing him to stand out. Other than the fact that his uniform had a distinctive feature of three silver stars on his shoulder, with the silver lines on his uniform being more profound, he gave off a suffocating aura, his presence causing the rubles on the ground to vibrate. The large scar that went across his left eye only added to his savage and imposing appearance.

Following closely behind him was a flag bearer that carried a deep blue rectangular flag. The flag had a crescent moon on it, with a silver arrow over it pointing towards the sky. It was as if the crescent moon was the bow.

Ludwig stood dumbfounded as he scanned the force that had assembled in the streets of Yaran, just In front of the Haven. His eyes shook as he saw the flag under which the men were marching.

"Tholaria!" Ludwig's anger flared up as he recognised the flag.

Tholaria was a military-ruled nation to the east of Tasvill, harboring a deep-seated hostility towards its neighbor. This animosity stemmed from an incident that occurred many years ago when Tasvillers visiting Tholaria were brutally murdered by Tholarian military personnel due to their differing religious beliefs. Instead of condemning the actions of their soldiers, the Tholarian government supported the killings, labeling the victims as heathens and justifying the act as a necessary purge.

The massacre sparked outrage in Tasvill and drew condemnation from the body of the international community, which viewed Tholaria's stance as unjust and barbaric. The relationship between the two nations soured, leading to an era of heightened tension and minor skirmishes instigated by Tholaria.

In retaliation to Tholaria's continuous provocations, Tasvill launched a strategic economic offensive. Rather than engage in a direct military confrontation, Tasvill obstructed Tholaria's major trade routes, crippling their economy by cutting off supplies from key allies. This blockage forced Tholaria into a corner, leading them to declare war on Tasvill.

The ensuing war was brief but brutal, with Tasvill emerging victorious overwhelmingly and imposing strict terms on Tholaria. Tholaria was compelled to agree to an unequal treaty to reopen their trade routes, an arrangement that left them humiliated and simmering with resentment. The fragile peace was marked by distrust and the prohibition of travel between the two nations.

The strained truce was shattered two years ago when a military coup in Tholaria overthrew the aristocratic government establishing a strict military regime. The new government reignited old hostilities, engaging in a series of provocative actions against Tasvill.

Even with all this, Ludwig still thought it wasn't enough for Tholaria to blatantly charge into Tasvill for a direct confrontation, at least their last confrontation should have made clear the difference between them.

But that had been generations ago, and Tholaria was still recovering from the disruption of their established governmental rule. They shouldn't have been ready for a direct confrontation, even if they were, where had their confidence come from to just strut into Tasvill suddenly?

Thinking up to this point Ludwig suddenly thought of the recent events at the Haven and how they could be connected with the sudden appearance of Tholaria'

'Was this all planned? Since when?' Ludwig thought with a raged expression as he stared at the Tholarian forces.