Fourth Year/War in the north 1

Between the 10th of Kirv, the date of the invasion, and the end of the month, all three flanks moved towards their first targets of the war and started besieging, intending to be swift and move on.

The western flank consisted of the 1st legion and half of the 10th elite legion; they moved swiftly, arriving on the 13th of Kirv at Fremba city, quickly besieging it. The legate was a talented young 40-year-old tier 3 Squire knight called Aruius Gerhem, a commoner with silver talent who made great contributions to leading troops during the revolution.

As soon as his legion and the detachment of the 10th legion arrived, they immediately started building their siege camp. Engineers of the 1st and 10th legions immediately began moving the 35 siege engines, which included 10 Onagers,15 Ballistas, and 10 ladders/siege towers. Immediately upon the siege engines' arrival, the engineers began firing them into the unlucky barbarians inside Fremba.

Luckily for Legate Aruius, they only had 10-foot-high wooden walls, which were swiftly taken down by the Onagers within a day, leaving a gaping hole for the legions to move into. The Ballistas were being used to cut down soldiers on the wooden wall, and swordsmen filled the gap in the broken wall. The enemy archers were attempting and failing miserably to get shots off at the legions who were standing out of range in their rectangular formation, watching the barbarians get battered.

This made the legate chuckle, thinking, 'These barbarians are useless. This war will be easy.' 

Legate Aruius, after this thought, then, proceeded to unsheathe his sword and swing it forward in an arch, ordering his Swordsmen and spearmen to charge with him to breach the gap and take the city under heavy enemy archer fire. Upon this order from their legate, the siege engines stopped firing, and the mages also moved forward, staying behind the main infantry, offering their support and destruction spells. During these troop movements, the archers also moved forward to target the distracted enemy archers on the wall.

A crack was heard as an early Rank 3 lightning mage used 80% of his magica reserve to smash down a lightning wave upon the enemy defending the gap in the wall, forcing their ranks into disarray and killing many unsuspecting enemies. 10 seconds after this attack, the Legate crashed into the chaotic enemy lines, slaughtering many enemy soldiers who were panicking. Quickly pushing forward into the city, the legate, while clashing with enemies, ordered his Centurions to spread out and capture this city.

The Centurions immediately did as ordered, some moving along the wall targeting the archers and others moving forward with the Legate towards the city hall. The Centurion leading the charge against the enemy archers on the wall was a Late Rank 2 Page Knight, who was covered in blood from this battle so far. 

Elsewhere, Legate Aruius had pushed the retreating enemy back halfway toward the city hall, where the first proper challenge awaited him. In front of the Legate hiding on the top of a nearby building was the enemy Chieftain of tribe Fremba a Rank 3 middle Squire Knight.

The enemy Chieftain locked onto Legate Aruius, immediately jumping down at the tiring Legate, hoping to catch him off-guard. Unfortunately for the Chieftain, the Legate was alert, expecting an enemy attack from any direction, immediately meeting the axe swing with his shield. Unluckily for the Legate the Chieftain wasn't alone, also jumping down was the Chieftain son a Rank 2 Late Page Knight. The Chieftain's son managed to slash the legate bicep on his right arm, leaving a deep bleeding wound, forcing him to drop his sword, making him vulnerable.

The Legate's hell training with Marshal-General Helvius immediately kicked in, forcing him back a few steps to get away from this new threat. While doing this, he also put his foot on his dropped sword and pulled it back with him. Upon getting two steps of breathing room, the Legate immediately dropped his shield and grabbed his sword in his only usable hand, preparing to meet the enemy attack head-on.

Without a word, the enemy Chieftain and his son moved towards Aruius from the left and right sides, ready to take out their most powerful enemy and achieve victory. They moved together, with Aruius having to use his superior body and agility to avoid critical damage but still getting unavoidable cuts to his legs and arms. Aruius was fighting for his life, knowing he had to end this quickly, hoping to bring glory to his kingdom but also return home to his wife and kids at home. With this in mind, he quickly made a dummy attack on the Chieftain's son's right side before immediately switching to the left and puncturing the left side of the son's chest through his lungs. The Chieftain's son immediately fell backward onto the floor, coughing up blood. His fate was sealed.

Upon witnessing the death of his son and heir, the Chieftain went into berserk mode, not thinking straight, attacking the wounded and tired Aruius with a vengeance. The Chieftain smacked the Legates, still turned back with his shield, making him tumble onto the ground in front of him. Luckily for Aruius, the Chieftain wanted to take his time, ignoring the battlefield around him, stabbing Aruius in both knees and forcing a scream from the Legate. 

The scream, luckily for Aruius, attracted the attention of his number two Stanop, who had just finished off an enemy soldier. Stanop immediately ran towards his Legate and stabbed the Chieftain through the back, instantly ending the berserk barbarian miserable life. 

After killing the enemy commander, Stanop ordered a nearby swordsman to pick up the terribly wounded Aruius and run him back to the siege camp, where healers and doctors would be waiting to save his life. 

Stanop then took charge of the final push towards the city hall, capturing it and taking out the remaining wavering enemy soldiers. As punishment for what they had done to his Legate, no soldiers were left alive.

Elsewhere the war between Galicia and Romanium truly hit a new level, with the General-Marshal and the High Chieftain of Galicia clashing on the battlefield. The Marshal-General Helvius Accensus, rushed to the battlefield from the capital on the 1st of Gerus, after reports of the High Chieftain a early rank 4 Twaller knight, appearing on the central battleground. This caused mass casualties for the 2nd legion, including the legate Droniu Gorbaium, as the top powerhouses of the 3rd legion were late rank 3 squire knights, killing over 1000 soldiers within 10 minutes before leaving the battlefield. This greatly eased the pressure on the defending forces of Averom, allowing their reinforcements to arrive.

These two early tier 4 rank knights could cause mass casualties to either army by using their superior techniques and weapons. The General-Marshal and High Chieftain clashed for the first time during the siege of Averom, a city 10 miles from the border between Galicia and Romanium which directly leads to the capital on a dirt road.