The ground shook. As did the mana.
Something's coming! Something incredible.
Someone terrible is coming this way! That was something Teuchi understood not through reason but through the instinct he had cultivated over all his battles up until now.
"Orders! All mercenaries on standby are to arm themselves and gather at the front border ASAP! I repeat! All mercenaries, gather at the front border immediately!"
The messenger soldier ran around shouting orders, causing the Trade district to buzz with noise.
Due to necessity, the Trade district was positioned to be the most in danger of being attacked. Naturally, mercenaries and soldiers were constantly posted around the area, and they'd always stopped any attacks. However, the fact that they were calling those that were off duty as well meant the situation was serious.
The mercenaries hurried to gather together, and the gate guards were forming up before the border. Going along with the flow, Teuchi equipped himself and ran out of the entrance to the Trade district.
"Mister Teuchi! What's goin' on?!"
"As if I'd know!"
Teuchi met up with another fellow mercenary on the way by the name of Kaiza, and while they ran, Kaiza asked Teuchi what was going on, but Teuchi didn't know either. However, his instincts as a warrior were warning him.
It starts today… A fight bigger than anything before. A fight to protect this country!
"But this atmosphere… You get it, right? It makes my skin tingle… ! It's here… ! The final battle that's been on the way for so long!"
"So that means… the Ram is attacking?!"
"On the way." Everyone was predicting this would happen eventually. The war with Fiona the Rainbow Ram had reached a stalemate, but that wouldn't last forever. At some point, Fiona was going to attack again with everything she had, for sure. Everyone understood that and feared it.
And that moment that was "on the way" was here!
"Captain!"
"Ohh! You're here, Teuchi!"
By the time they'd reached the border, the border patrol had already finished getting into formation.
Teuchi found the large man that served as his captain and ran over to meet him. Although they were in different positions as a soldier serving his nation and a mercenary hired for money, they were still both comrades protecting the same place. The two recognized and trusted each other.
"What's the enemy's size?!"
In response to Teuchi's question, the captain silently handed over a pair of binoculars. That probably meant that it'd be faster for Teuchi to see for himself.
Looking through the binoculars, Teuchi laid eyes on a nightmare that he would rather have never seen, covering everything in his vision.
The army approaching the border was an avalanche of monsters, monsters, and more monsters. The huge army that consisted of who knew how many bodies pushed ever closer with no sense of order or discipline.
"…Wow, looks like the Ram's being serious today."
"Yeah. The question is, 'Why now?'… Just what happened to set this off? Or did she just suddenly feel like it?"
"As if I'd know. It probably just took this long to gather that many of them, right? More importantly, what do we do? Are you seriously telling me we're going to have to keep that at bay by ourselves until the main army arrives from the castle?" Teuchi said sarcastically, resting his favorite claymore on his shoulder.
Right now, the guards at the gates numbered a total of five hundred men. And with two hundred mercenaries, that made for a total of seven hundred fighters. There was a limit to how lopsided a fight could get. There just weren't enough of them.
There was still a chance of them being able to resist if the main army were here, but it was more likely that they'd all be killed before buying enough time for the army to arrive.
"It's crazy but we don't have any other choice. They've already gone out of their way to make a greeting and give us time to get ready. So we have to answer in kind."
"So that earthquake just then really was a declaration of war. That sheep, playing all cool."
There was no need for her to warn us of her attack with an earthquake. The best time to use an earthquake would be just before the attack, to crush any advance or counterattack we could try. But instead, Fiona caused an earthquake long in advance and gave us time to prepare ourselves. She went out of her way to send a message, saying, "I'm going to attack now."
"I'll invade and conquer, but I won't start a war without announcing it first. I won't attack by surprise."
…Wasn't that one of the rules that the now departed Lunaru Fenris set for herself?
You cocky sheep, taking after your master in the weirdest ways. Teuchi thought as he spat onto the ground.
"But thanks to that, we managed to make some preparations. All mages, forward! Kill as many of them as you can before they come close!"
Following the captain's orders, robed magicians stepped forward.
This was Svel, the country of magicians and scholars. The country ranked first in the world in the number of magicians within its borders. The magic barrage unleashed by them wouldn't allow the monsters to pass easily.
"FIIIRRRREEEE!"
A wave of magic was fired in time with the order.
That order became the signal for the great war for the country of Svel to begin.
"Let's go! We're going to hold on until the army comes, no matter what!"
The captain's orders reverberated throughout the air, and all the soldiers drew their swords. The mercenaries also drew their respective weapons, and they all kicked off the ground.
The number of enemies was large and unknown. The long-ranged sweeping fire of magic should have lessened their numbers, but the original number was so large that it was actually hard to tell if it made a difference.
"OOOOAAAAHHHH!" Teuchi howled and bisected an approaching monster with his gigantic claymore.
A great warrior that anybody making their living as a mercenary should have heard of at least once. That was Teuchi. Although he didn't quite reach the level of the vaunted sword saint, his skills still ranked at the top of the world. He could bury any half-baked monster with a single strike and would cleave straight through shields and armor to kill the enemy within.
"Come at me, you monsters! I'll slice you all in two!"
A second strike. Teuchi sliced a howling wolf, a wolf-shaped monster, in two as it jumped at him.
A third strike. Teuchi cut down a living armor, an empty but moving suit of armor, as it tried to attack him from behind.
A fourth strike. Teuchi struck down a bird monster that tried to descend on his head with the pommel of his claymore before slicing it apart while it was on the ground.
"OOAAAAGGGHHH!" Slice! Cut! Slice!
Even after putting down every monster that came at him one after the other and being bathed in their blood, Teuchi didn't rest. In the blink of an eye a small mountain of corpses piled up around him, and that pile only grew bigger.
"W-Wow! So that's Teuchi, the man hailed as the strongest mercenary…"
"What unreasonable strength…"
The other soldiers around him reacted in wonder and amazement. That was just how strong Teuchi was and just how isolated he was from everyone else.
However, no matter how strong he was, Teuchi was still human. There was a limit to how many monsters he could take on at once, and no matter how many he killed, with the number of monsters present, he wasn't anywhere near strong enough to push them all back. There was no doubt that Teuchi fought furiously. However, that was almost meaningless in front of the sheer mass of monsters that was thrown at them.
"GWOAAARRGGHH!"
"—! Kaiza!"
One of Teuchi's friends screamed as he died.
Teuchi looked over and saw that his friend Kaiza's throat was ripped out by a leopard monster before his body was swallowed up by a wave of monsters in the next instant and disappeared.
War is merciless. Life is reaped equally, whether one knows a person or not. Even a friend who was just recently laughing with you can be changed into a corpse. Teuchi had experienced that countless times; it was a fact that he knew well. However, no matter how many times it happened, he never forgot the rage that followed.
"YOU BASTARDS! HOW DARE YOU!"
Teuchi swept away all the monsters swarming Kaiza's body with his claymore. However, he was already too late.
The little bit of Kaiza that Teuchi saw after driving off the monsters was no longer in the shape of a human. What was left was also quickly trampled on by other monsters, and it would surely continue to be trampled all the way until the end of the battle, at which point it would just be some sort of mass of color painting the battlefield.
"Gyaaahh!"
"Hiiiiiggh!?"
Everywhere, soldiers and mercenaries alike were screaming their last, and the numbers of Svel's defenders were dwindling. The enemy should have been losing fighters as well, but it was impossible to tell just how many. Even now, monsters were swarming around, and it was still impossible to tell just how many of them there were.
"Tch!"
A human-sized praying mantis, an Anveterin, sunk its sickle into Teuchi's shoulder. Although he immediately struck back and beheaded it, it hurt too much to take. Of course, it was so in the sense of pain, but also—and more importantly—in the sense of loss in fighting ability.
His arm would still move, but it was clearly weaker than before. In a battle that would continue for who knew how long, a wound like that was basically a death sentence.
"Dammit! Is the army not here yet?!" Teuchi complained while swinging his claymore, cutting down monsters that jumped at him.
How many more minutes? How many more minutes do we have to hold on? Five? Ten? Or even more than that? Impatience swirled in Teuchi's chest, and his movements started to lack their usual brilliance.
Along with the passage of time, Teuchi's number of wounds grew, and his stamina continued to chip away.
This was the weakness of the country of magic. It had abundant mana, as well as abundant mages and sorcerers. However, magic had an opposite… In other words, the country had almost no acolytes or priests who used the power of heaven, or heaven-arts. Especially the flugels, who were most proficient in said arts, hated mana, and wouldn't come near. It could be said to be a fatal flaw.
Basically, Svel lacked the means to recover and heal during battle. It wasn't as if there were no practitioners. However, the number of users was clearly lacking. For this specific battle, the insufficiency was too big to ignore.
"Guargh!"
Another hit. This time, Teuchi took a wound in the leg. With that, almost all of his mobility was gone. Taking that into account along with his exhaustion, Teuchi was already at less than half fighting power compared to how he was in his best condition.
Fear and resignation started to creep into Teuchi's heart and take over.
Is this it…? Am I going to die here…? In his mind, Teuchi pictured the faces of his dead wife and the precious daughter she left behind. Unlike him, who only knew how to swing around a weapon, she was smart, and clever, and his pride.
Right now, she's surely doing her best at her studies in the Academics district.
Teuchi thought about her and banished his resignation from his heart.
Not yet! I can't die yet!
In a flash, huge spears of water crashed into the monsters.
"—?! W-What the hell?!"
Countless blades of water rained from the heavens. And strangely, after hitting the monsters, they went back up into the sky.
Teuchi—no, the entire battlefield followed the blades with their eyes… and saw it.
The jaw itself, dancing through the sky, was over 100 meters across. Its body, made of water that was chock full of magic, was clear, and it was wriggling like it was covering the whole country of Svel. Its length was unclear. In the first place, it used to be a lake that surrounded the entire country… Most likely, it should've been at least several kilometers.
That was the giant dragon created by the Witch Princess Juvia, one of the Seven Maidens of Midgar who once defeated the Black Empress, using the lake as a medium.
The artificial guardian deity: Levia.
The holy beast that protected the country of Svel howled, and the sound was loud enough that the world itself seemed to shake. And in the next instant, hundreds of monsters disappeared into the dragon's jaws.
"The g-guardian deity Levia… Finally, it's come… !" The captain, covered in wounds, muttered in blank amazement as he watched the giant dragon.
Now, look! Look at this magnificent form! What impressive gallantry! And what a beautiful dragon!
This is the pride of Svel! The strongest iron wall of a guardian deity, Levia! It's invincible! As long as this great guardian is here, even the Grimm King or the Black Empress would break!
The dragon's presence was so overwhelming that the defenders believed that.
"Soldiers, you've held on well!"
The next voice they heard was the cornerstone of this country's defenses. Everyone's gazes gathered on the speaker with looks of respect. Her long, azure blue hair fluttered in the wind. Her dark blue eyes were sharp like blades and held the glint of great knowledge, and she had the signature doll-like proportional face of an elf. She wore a dark blue witch-hat with a yellow ribbon coiled around it and a navy blue color theme coat, both of which have flowers patterns in the interior. She also wore black-colored skirt, golden earrings, and brown boots with yellow ribbons. She was standing with a crutch since one of her legs stopped working after a battle with the Grimm King long ago, but even so, she was just as reliable as ever.
One of the Seven Maidens of Midgar, the Witch Princess Juvia Rayne.
The soldiers's excitement bubbled over at the sight of this lone transcendent figure appearing as if to paint over this entire situation.
"Ohh! Lady Juvia! Lady Juvia has come!"
"Great Witch Juvia, the Elf hero! And the guardian deity Levia! Ohh, we're saved!"
"Hahahaha! Look! The monsters are like trash!"
The monsters were being chewed apart by Levia one after the other, and their numbers were dwindling in the blink of an eye. It was exactly as if a dragon were fighting some ants.
Unable to do anything in the face of Levia's gigantic body, the monsters could only be killed one-sidedly. No. Even if the monsters were able to do something, it still wouldn't have been much of a threat at this point. There was an insurmountable gap in levels between Levia and the monsters, so even if an attack were to land, it would effectively do nothing.
However, the people, elated over the appearance of the guardian deity, didn't notice.
Levia was the country's last line of defense, and the fact that it had to act signified just how far their backs were up against the wall.
No one knew… of the fact that this was their last resort.