Chapter 30.1: The Final Battle - Blood, Guts and Mayhem
Personal System Calendar: Year 0009, Days 1-28 Month XI: The Imperium
Imperial Calendar: Year 6854, 11th month, 1st to 28th Day
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Winter's Death Grip
As soon as the first day of the winter season arrived, the enemy did too. They marched in the echoes of death, their thirst and hunger for a bloody battle was audible even from a great distance. Beyond the visible horizon, trees trembled and the ground shook as thousands upon thousands of Shadowfen forest beasts crossed the border into Lonelywood's territory.
The rumbling was unlike anything the region had experienced before. The growls, roars, and screeches of both the strongest and weakest of these beasts echoed throughout the forest floor, creating a cacophony of violence that sent flocks of birds fleeing skyward and smaller creatures burrowing deep into whatever shelter they could find. The conquerors had come, and for the first time in the great forests' history, they came on a scale that was never before witnessed.
If this horde had instead targeted human cities instead of their neighboring forest, half of the central continent would have burned within the first month, even before allies from the east and west could mobilize effective relief forces. But this was just a united western great forest invasion, not a coordinated assault by all the great forests combined. If such total coordination ever occurred, it was said that within a week the entirety of the central subcontinent of Arkanus would be decimated, devoid of any sapient life.
The western territories where the empire lay would be forced to march entire armies to defend the central continent, or they too would face invasion if the beasts decided to expand their conquest beyond the initial targets. The eastern kingdoms would face similar existential threats.
But such total annihilation could still be prevented because the beasts, as of yet, weren't truly united across all regions. For now, the empire could focus on containing this conflict to these two adjacent forest territories. The Emperor had mobilized even the Dragonguards from the 20th Cohort with Head Master Kaizer of the 20th Dragon Cohort at its helm, it was the same elite warriors who had escorted August and his companions home, redirecting their considerable combat power toward containing the war and preventing spillover into human settlements.
These Dragonguards were then supported by regional imperial forces drawn from cities all throughout the empire, even the most distant garrisons from the far north and south. While their allied kingdoms were also actively participating in the containment effort because these borderlands were, after all, their territories that lay adjacent to the forest regions.
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The Arrival of Reinforcements
Last month, Lieutenant Commander Da'alkapon had sent his request for additional support to Imperial Regional Command. Within the fourth week, reinforcements had arrived at Maya Village: approximately 1,000 soldiers from nearby northern garrisons and 1,500 from southern positions. The rest of the available regional forces were focused on containment operations, preventing beast spillover into areas where the creatures would prefer hunting easier human prey in undefended settlements.
An additional 2,500 imperial soldiers wasn't a massive force given the scale of the invasion, but they would make do with what they had. Such was the reality of frontier warfare.
Command of the combined force now fell to the most senior officer among the imperial troops: Colonel Commander Araxes. He was a beastman who had demonstrated exceptional potential and risen through imperial ranks without the backing of any of the Pillar Ducal House or even of its branch families. His ascension had been achieved through grit and willpower alone, earning everything he had accomplished through personal merit rather than inherited advantage.
His success was acknowledged and respected throughout the military hierarchy, proof that the empire's meritocratic ideals, however imperfectly implemented, could still elevate capable individuals regardless of their background.
As the most senior ranking officer, Araxes was now in command of this entire theater of war. It was a significant responsibility and a test of everything he had learned.
He wasn't the most experienced with territorial defense operations. His previous assignments had been in relatively peaceful regions that weren't constantly threatened by external invasion. However, his theoretical knowledge of defensive strategy gained through imperial military schools and extensive study was profound. Even without the support of major noble houses, he had earned advanced education through examination scores and demonstrated competence.
For the first time, he would apply this theoretical knowledge to real defensive operations, protecting this newly verified imperial protectorate with all his strength. Maya Village was one of many protectorates under imperial authority, but it was unusual to have a single settlement designated as such rather than an entire country or kingdom.
When Araxes first examined the maps of the region, he had been puzzled. The settlement wasn't even marked on most military charts. But he understood the strategic reasoning after some consideration. The area was positioned near the central point between the northern and southern territories of the central subcontinent, and it was relatively close to the western empire's borders. Whatever the higher-ranking strategic planners had envisioned, they had clearly seen significant value in this location.
He had initially been shocked that the Empire hadn't simply conquered the territory outright and integrated it fully, leaving it instead in this peculiar political situation as both ally and protectorate. It seemed unnecessarily complicated.
But his assumptions were challenged when he arrived at Maya Village a week ago and saw the settlement firsthand. The place had its own unique character, a quaint and serene community established deep within the forest. It had no direct routes connecting it to major population centers, though he had heard there were plans to link it to the imperial highway that ran along the riverbanks throughout the central subcontinent. But those plans had been halted due to the ongoing Beast Dominion Wars.
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The Village's Hidden Potential
What truly surprised Colonel Araxes was the people themselves. At first glance, they appeared to be normal farmers and hunters, simple folk living simple lives. But upon closer observation, it revealed something quite different. These people moved like professional soldiers from the more militaristic kingdoms, just disguised in civilian clothing. They were closer to a professional militia than simple villagers.
Their bodies were honed through constant training. They demonstrated combat tactics during drills that were surprisingly sophisticated. They weren't afraid to exchange hard blows during sparring sessions with professional soldiers, and they treated practice as seriously as actual combat. This wasn't the typical village defense force that knew how to swing farming implements when threatened. This was a combat-ready population that simply happened to also farm and hunt for their livelihood.
Considering their chosen location deep within a dangerous forest region, this made strategic sense. The settlement's leaders had clearly established a culture where everyone could fight, not just a dedicated guard force. It was the only way such a remote settlement could survive long-term.
Then Araxes had encountered the truly powerful individuals who lived in this place. Due to his more profound and developed senses as a beast man he had felt it immediately upon meeting certain residents: the distinct pressure that emanated from beings whose personal power far exceeded normal humans or even most beastmen. These presences made even a Colonel Commander like himself feel threatened on an instinctive level.
There was the old wizard who seemed harmless until you looked closely and realized the ambient temperature around him was several degrees higher than it should be. There was the young man named August who carried himself with the bearing of someone who had survived far more than his apparent age suggested. There were the massive predatory beasts that lived peacefully among the humans, relationships that should have been impossible from their perspective as city dwellers.
The village contained a mixture of races and species: humans, beastmen, and intelligent beasts themselves, all living in apparently harmonious balance with each other. It was unprecedented in Araxes' experience, a social experiment that somehow worked despite all conventional wisdom suggesting it shouldn't.
But these observations would have to be filed away in his thoughts for later analysis. The war had started, and intellectual curiosity had to give way to their immediate tactical concerns.
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Guerrilla Warfare
The beasts of Lonelywoods Forest had agreed on a guerrilla warfare strategy: hit-and-run tactics rather than their normal full-on frontal battles. Their forces had been depleted significantly by their previous conflicts and couldn't endure another full-scale head-on engagement. They lacked the numbers for sustained combat against Shadowfen's overwhelming horde.
Instead, they would make the enemy pay dearly for every meter of ground gained. For every ally killed, the invaders would lose ten. For every territory seized, they would bleed a hundred times over. The defenders would use their intimate knowledge of the terrain, their ability to move through the forest unseen, their capacity to strike from unexpected angles and vanish before retaliation could be organized.
It was a strategy born of desperation but executed with cold calculation.
The first few hours of combat were exactly as brutal as everyone had anticipated. Blood, guts, and mayhem were written across the land in visceral reality. The snow that had begun falling that morning has turned red within hours from the sheer amount of blood spilled on the frozen ground. Bodies of both attackers and defenders lay scattered throughout the forest, testament to the savage intensity of the fighting.
The temperature dropped as the day progressed, winter asserting its grip on the region. Wounded fighters who couldn't reach shelter faced the additional threat of hypothermia and frostbite alongside their injuries. The cold weather actually helped in some ways, slowing blood loss and reducing infection rates, but it also made movement more difficult and exhaustion set in faster.
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Talon One's Mission
Meanwhile, Talon One, joined by Benithar and members of Talon Two, their newly formed secondary combat group, were conducting their own assault operations deep in the forest. They focused on killing stragglers from the main horde, isolated groups that had separated from the larger formations.
These killings might not seem like much in the grand scale of tens of thousands of invading beasts, but from a strategic perspective, every single enemy's death brought them closer to victory and it also meant fewer enemies to fight later. More importantly, every beast that they have killed in the village's territorial outskirts was one less threat that might reach the village itself.
If they could eliminate significant numbers now, the village would be safer, and casualties among the less combat-capable defenders would hopefully be reduced. But everyone in Talon One knew that even their most successful operations would only mitigate the inevitable death and carnage, not prevent it entirely.
Another factor driving their aggressive forest operations was Talon Two's need for experience. The newer combat group needed some real battlefield experience (outside the forest). They must learn to work together against more formidable threats, since that is the goal as the premier military cohort of the village defense force. They are sort of the most elite of the elite and they should be able to strike anywhere as long as it is a significant threat to the village. And the outskirts fighting have provided that much needed forest training ground while still contributing meaningfully to the overall defensive effort.
August led these operations personally, using the gifts from the Emperor to devastating effect. Dorgon's Fang sang through the air, leaving trails of unquenchable fire that marked his path through the battlefield. The mythical-grade weapon's power was immediately apparent, cutting through beast armor and hide that would have turned aside normal blades.
Adam anchored defensive positions, his earth magic creating barriers that channeled enemy movement into kill zones. Milo danced through combat with his dual blades, his speed enhanced by wind-element accessories making him nearly impossible to track. Erik and Rexy functioned as a mobile strike force, the massive wolf's presence alone was enough to scatter regular ranked beasts while Erik's combat skills handled anything that stood and fought.
Hiraya and Adarna provided aerial reconnaissance and ranged support, their arrows finding vulnerable points that ground fighters couldn't exploit. Isabel's wood magic created obstacles and traps throughout the forest, turning the terrain itself into a weapon against the invaders. Angeline and Betty kept everyone alive, their combat healing preventing injuries from becoming fatalities.
Benithar, master of Ben's Magnum opus, was now an experienced warrior and he joined their group, and he brought superior firepower (literal magma and fire) and tactical knowledge that complemented August's instinctive battlefield awareness. He had now fought in most of the major wars that the village had experienced, not just any minor skirmishes, and that experience showed in how he positioned himself and anticipated the enemy beast's movements.
Talon Two, still learning to coordinate as effectively as their parent group, followed the veterans' example and began developing their own combat rhythms. They made mistakes, certainly, but they learned from each engagement and adapted quickly.
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The Empire's Bread and Butter
In other areas throughout the forest, imperial soldiers were fighting their own battles. Even watching from a distance, one could see the quality of their combat effectiveness. These were just regional garrison troops, not the main royal army from the Capital, or where they were even near the talents of the elite Dragonguards and other specialized units, but their training and discipline showed clearly.
They moved in coordinated formations that maximized their defensive capabilities while maintaining offensive pressure. They rotated fighters efficiently, ensuring that fatigued soldiers were pulled back before exhaustion made them liabilities. They used combined arms tactics, coordinating infantry, archers, and mages to create layered threats that the more primal beasts struggled to counter.
The regional soldiers also demonstrated remarkable adaptability. When standard formations proved ineffective against particular beast types, they adjusted tactics on the fly, trying different approaches until they found what worked. This flexibility, drilled into them through extensive training, made them far more effective than their numbers alone would suggest.
Colonel Commander Araxes watched his troops perform and felt a measure of pride. These were his soldiers now, his responsibility, and they were proving themselves worthy of the empire's trust.
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The Village Beasts Contribution
Aetherwing and several of his mature offspring had joined the fighting and were doing what they could to stem the invasion. The Guardian Beast and his family fought with the desperation of creatures defending not just their current dominion and territory but their very flock, their future generations left vulnerable behind the village's mountain cliffs.
Aetherwing's massive presence above the skies of the battlefield was transformative. Where he appeared, the invading forces faltered, their coordination disrupted by the sheer power radiating from the Guardian Beast. His offspring, while not as individually powerful, worked in coordinated strikes that overwhelmed even boss-ranked enemies through sheer tactical excellence.
Their Grimfangs, the wolf pack that had now made their home near the village, also contributed their considerable combat capabilities. They moved through the forest like shadows, appearing from nowhere to savagely attack and kill isolated enemy groups before vanishing again. Their intimate knowledge of the local terrain made them the perfect guerrilla fighters.
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The First Wave's Cost
The start of this winter offensive was exactly as brutal as everyone had imagined, perhaps worse. The attackers had suffered significant losses, but these casualties were still within calculable margins for Pico's strategy. She had expected to lose thousands of weaker beasts in the initial assault. Their deaths were part of the plan, clearing the way for their stronger forces while exhausting the defenders.
The defenders, although they had made the enemy pay dearly for every advance, were also being steadily worn down. Every engagement cost them fighters they couldn't easily replace. Every casualty was someone they knew or loved. The psychological toll was mounting alongside the physical losses.
This pattern would continue for another five days of brutal combat. Then, according to intelligence reports, another wave of much stronger enemies would attack. Not the expendable fodder of the initial assault, but the true elite forces of Shadowfen, the regional bosses and specialized predators that represented Pico's genuine offensive capability.
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Was There Still a Hope?
In all honesty, the situation appeared hopeless. The numbers were against them. The enemy's resources seemed inexhaustible. The best-case scenario was surviving long enough for additional imperial reinforcements to arrive, and even that assumed those reinforcements would be sufficient.
But as long as they breathed, there would be battles to be won. As long as they could stand and fight, there was still hope, however slim. Surrender was not an option. Retreat was impossible. They would hold this ground or die trying, because there was nowhere else to go and nothing else to do but fight for their home.
The question that haunted everyone, even the beasts themselves during quiet moments between engagements was simple but terrible: would the forest survive this onslaught, or was this the beginning of their end?
The snow continued to fall, beautiful and merciless, covering the ugly reality of war with a pristine white blanket that would soon be stained red again when fighting resumed at dawn. Winter had arrived, and with it, death on a scale the region had never known.
But the defenders still stood against all odds. They were battered, bleeding, and exhausted, but they are still standing. And as long as they stood, the battle wasn't over. No, they will continue and fight and see it through until the very bitter end.
The first few days of the winter war had passed and most of them had survived. But there will be many more of it to come, the question remains. Will they still be here to see it through until the end?