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Chapter 33: The clash

Gianni took in the sight of his forces. He had to give Ginevra her due—she acted decisively and swiftly as soon as she realized she fell into his trap.

Now the field was as even as it could be. And scattered with bodies.

After the first devastating wave of mutual shots, both sides could forget about formations. Many soldiers were too disoriented by fires or deafened by explosions to hear commands.

But Gianni had to push at Ginevra, or she would push at him first—exactly like it happened just now. The question was only—was he able to?

All of the sudden, Gianni felt the weight of his years. Only fifty-and-five—a zenith of his lifetime for a mage of his rank. He didn\'t look a year fast forty. But Ginevra was only eighteen—a genius, to reach a third rank at her age—and that youthful energy cracked through her like sparks of lightning. Energy and malice.

Gianni shook off the feeling, gulped down another disgusting mana potion, and cracked his fingers.

"*Hearken these words of mine, ye guardians of the arcane! Conjure magic\'s veil around our lowly selves. Shield us from harm so that we may emerge unscathed and victorious!*"

Mana poured out of him, splitting into dozens of streams that reached towards. This was why control was so important—because with a spell form so complex, the loss of mana because of poor control would\'ve been tremendous.

Gianni\'s control was impeccable. He could\'ve been an Illusion mage himself, if he had access to enough Illusion spells. Instead, he had this.

Magic covered his soldiers, an entire hundred of them, in soft, slightly gloving cocoons. Shimmering and too short-lived to be used before the fight, they were solid enough to slow down an arrow, a sword, or a bolt of energy.

This spell took most of his mana—most of what was left after he threw that Wind Scythe spell—but the potion already began to refill his mana pool. Too little and too slow, but he would hope it will be quick enough.

The next spell Gianni used was a small cantrip to enhance his voice.

"Footmen! Line up! Raise your shields! Charge! I am with you, and so is my protection!"

"Charge!" Federico echoed at his side, raising his heavy mace.

But Gianni and his lieutenants didn\'t move themselves. The infantry huddled together and marched ahead, roaring in enthusiasm, but Gianni and his lieutenants stayed behind.

He threw more commands.

"Federico, make cover around us. Ignazio, get your archers here. Silvio, monitor their illusionist."

The gray-haired man nodded wordlessly from his cover behind a thick, and mostly whole, as of now, tree. Ignazio raised his bow and put another arrow on the bowstring.

"What about them? I\'m good, but there\'s already too much of *un*friendly fire to deal with the friendly one."

"Snipe at mages. At Ginevra, if you can."

Federico chanted a spell and slammed his mace into the ground, creating a deep fissure. A mass of packed earth rose from it in a line-straight wall as tall as a man and as long as five meters. A row of embrasures punctured it. Just enough to fit Gianni, Ignazio, and as many of his archers who weren\'t wounded or scattered through the forest by the explosions.

Federico sat down behind the wall and closed his eyes, meditating during the resulting pause.

Gianni wondered if his side would\'ve been better off if they had focused more on defense instead—or worse off. But hindsight was useless. Instead, he looked into the embrasure and focused on his opponents and on the flow of the battle. At the same time, a part of his consciousness pulled on mana around, gathering it into his almost empty mana pool.

Ginevra\'s troops marched towards Gianni\'s, just as eager to leave the treeline and the starting fires to fight in a more open space. Somewhere where soldiers could feel each other\'s elbows.

Archers and mages from both sides kept shooting, but far more sporadically. Ginevra didn\'t hurry to appear out in the open, but threw two more explosion spells into his forces before they got too close to Nuvoloso\'s for this kind of magic.

Thanks to Gianni\'s shields, though, his soldiers almost didn\'t suffer from these attacks, and even pushed on Ginevra\'s troops at first. Soon, though, the combat grew too chaotic to understand much of what was going on.

And even if it was… The screams, the clangs of weapons, the flaps of clothing, the thuds of bodies, the squelching of bloody earth and thousands of other sounds, joining in one wild cacophony—they make commands hard to hear.

Even when they were enhanced by magic, some soldiers would have a hard time hearing *anything* behind the drumming of blood in their ears.

As it often was with the battles. Sometimes, a man had to wait, gather their strength and pray for the best.

"Ha! And another one," Ignazio grinned, and got another arrow out of his quiver. "A knight, that is. Sure I saw a Mage\'s Mark glinting."

Gianni grunted in approval. He felt his mana pool a third part full. He\'d prefer to make his next move with full mana, but—

He spotted the lithe figure of Ginevra cutting her way through the Oliveira soldiers.

—he didn\'t have the time.