"Here we are," Cray commented to those around him. Lina, Gourry, Akira, and Renima were nearby. They had volunteered to be part of the sacrificial unit along with Cray. It really didn't bother them that much though. Nowhere was it written in stone that the entirety of the sacrificial unit had to die, in fact, it was possible to have the entire unit of about fifty soldiers/mercenaries to survive. Lina, Gourry, Renima, Akira, and Cray had all sworn to survive and be paid at the advance rate. Such was the mentality of mercenaries.

"Can the semantics," Lina commanded, "I know what you're thinking, and I have no intention of dying here. I just want the higher pay that's coming to the members of the sacrificial unit."

Cray laughed aloud, but the sound of his voice was muffled by the heavy frozen foliage of the forest just outside the borders of Seyruun city. "Well spoken, my bitchy sorceress friend,"

Lina probably would've blessed Cray by removing the burden of a few teeth if a barking sound in the distance didn't signify the beginning of the operation.

"It's begun," Renima commented, "Lina, stop bickering with everyone and take whatever bizarre frustrations you have out on the enemy."

"Shut up, I'll do whatever I deem appropriate!" Lina snapped back as she and the rest of the unit advanced out from the cover of the forest and upon foothills that lead to the entrance of the hideout.

Lina was in an especially foul mood this morning. Gourry wasn't entirely sure why, but he suspected that she had been having trouble sleeping. His room was next to hers and he had heard her through the walls, talking during the night, perhaps as in a dream, commanding someone to stay away from her. Gourry couldn't remember the name of the person she had been telling to stay back, but that wasn't too surprising since he had an amazing ability to forget names in a period of just a few minutes. A combination of the concern for Lina and the uncharacteristic seriousness that overcame Gourry in pre-battle hardened his visage and narrowed his eyes. He drew his long sword (followed by the other swordsmen and fighters of the unit doing likewise) and frowned slightly as the unit made its way in loose formation up the foothills.

Movement wasn't too simple, due to the fairly deep snow that had accumulated overnight. Most all the soldiers were wearing heavy cloaks over their armor to battle the cold. The unit came closer to the entrance to the mines, attempting to keep themselves at least partially secret by using mounds of snow and rocks to hide behind as they advanced. As they came closer to the entrance, a single bandit could be seen standing on a balcony above the entrance; probably some sort of lookout. However, he didn't seem to be doing too good a job of lookout since he was drunk off his hook and staggering with a jug of sake in his hand.

"Aa. . .sakana. . ." the lookout sang drunkenly, ". . .sakana. . .sakana. . .kireina sakana!"

"The hell?" Lina mumbled.

"Boku wa kireina sakana ga imasu! Kireina sakana wo tabemasu! Doko ni watashino sakana ga imasu ka?"

"If he's sad about its disappearance, why'd he eat the fish in the first place?" Gourry asked Lina stupidly.

Lina appropriately responded by slapping the back of his head. Gourry grimaced and rubbed his aching head with his hand. The lookout above started both singing and shouting as though he were intending to address someone.

"Silly silly Seyruun! Silly silly Seyruun! Cat's outta the bag! Won't survive, nope! Throne is ours! Silly silly Seyruun! Did they really think their plan would work?"

"What?!" Cray gasped, realizing the meaning of the drunken lookout's song.

The drunken lookout suddenly snapped to, not seeming drunk at all anymore. He threw the jug of sake down at the position where the unit was. Apparently the jug was not filled with sake, but with some sort of violate liquid as evidenced by the fact that it exploded on impact. The explosion didn't injure anyone in the unit, but the sound was the signal for the rest of the bandit forces.

Suddenly waves of bandits came out of hiding spots near the forest, rushing the sacrificial unit in a pincer attack and cutting off any attempt of escape. Rows of archers appeared from behind boulders atop the mine and shot flaming arrows into the forest. Fortunately, the arrows weren't as effective as they could have been due to the snow that weighted the trees' branches, but nonetheless, some trees caught ablaze.

"Someone has leaked information to the enemy!" Cray shouted to the unit, "They know our tactic and have turned the tables!"

One of the members of the unit blew a horn signifying to the Seyruun forces in the forest that they needed to resort to Plan B. As it was, the general strategy of Plan B followed something along these lines: screw tactics, go all out. The message probably wasn't needed seeing as many of the forces in the forest were already running out to avoid the blazing branches that were falling all around. As the scrambled Seyruun forces ran to the foothills for safety from the flames, they encountered the bandits who were well organized and ready. It was a massacre.

A hail of arrows cut down dozens of Seyruun soldiers and mercenaries working for Seyruun before they could completely realize their surroundings. The bandit masses shouted a deafening war cry and charged the Seyruun forces head on. The initial charge cut down dozens more soldiers before they were ready. A bandit unit of about a hundred broke away from the two tidal waves of soldier clashing and went to attack the sacrificial unit.

"Bastards. . ." Lina muttered as she began chanting a spell, "FIREBALL!"

The sphere of flames leapt from Lina's hands and slammed into the front of the enemy unit, killing a few bandits instantly in the initial explosion, but the rest of the unit charged valiantly onward. Cray and a couple other sorcerers launched their destructive arts. Flames, hails of ice, and blades of wind cut down a good ten more bandits, but the sacrificial unit was still vastly outnumbered. The swordsmen of the unit and the sorcerers who could wield a blade stepped forward to accept the initial shock of the two bodies colliding.

The two masses met with a deafening roar consisting of shouted war cries and curses mingled with the clash of steel and the screams of the wounded. Gourry and Akira were leading the unit, and they fought heedless of their personal well-being. Gourry sidestepped a vertical slash aimed at him and cut down the offending opponent without a moment's hesitation. Akira used the odd contraption strapped to his wrist. He fidgeted for a moment with the wires, then the dart shot out with amazing speed. It flew straight through the stomach of its first target and knocked the axe out of the hand of another enemy. As the dart retracted it ripped the gash in the first bandit's stomach to an even larger size, causing the bandit to collapse to the ground with his mouth gaping in shock and pain.

The sorcerers and sorceresses of the unit took their turn next. The swordsmen threw themselves down as the confused bandits were assaulted by another wave of fireballs, icicle lances, and vacuum blades. The swordsmen of the Seyruun unit took some casualties, as they didn't manage to quite get to their feet before the next line of bandits arrived. Multiple soldiers were killed before they could even raise a blade or shield to defend themselves.

Gourry parried a sword strike and countered, but his aim was off due to the distraction of two other bandits attacking him and thus his counter went way off target. The three bandits ganging up on him took their turns slashing at him and attempting to crush him with war hammers, pressing him backwards away from the rest of the unit. Of course, at this point, formation really didn't matter anymore. Not only the sacrificial unit, but also the rest of Seyruun's forces as well as the enemy forces were scattered around the battlefield, quickly littering the hills with bodies and turning the virgin snow red.

A vacuum blade swirled quickly past Gourry's face, almost cutting off his nose. Fortunately, it appeared the caster of the spell had taken care in his of her aim, as evidenced by the spherical magic blade slicing into the chests of two bandits, making them drop to the ground. The vacuum blade faded as it flew off in the distance and Gourry quickly took the opportunity to defeat the third bandit who was quite unnerved by the sudden deaths of his two allies. Only after dispatching the foe did Gourry take a quick look over his shoulder to identify who aided him. Renima stood a few meters away. She flashed him a quick smile, but had to divert her attention as more foes came her way. She summoned a wall of winds around herself that knocked several of the advancing enemies many dozen meters away. The flying bandits landed on enemies and allies alike, adding even more chaos to the already confusing situation.

Another hail of arrows from the top of the mine slew entire lines of Seyruun soldiers. The situation was not looking good for the Defenders of Justice. The Seyruun forces were just lucky that it appeared the bandits didn't have any magic-users in their ranks. Lina attempted to parry an axe with her sword, but the maneuver didn't work as well as she would've hoped. The axe made a gash along her left arm, but the wound was far from fatal. Lina countered by ducking low and swinging her foot out to collide with the foe's legs. Her opponent tripped and collapsed to the ground, never to rise due to Lina's sword in his ribs. The fiery young sorceress noticed out of the corner of her eyes that there was apparently some sort of scuffle going on atop the mines where the archers were positioned. Perhaps Seyruun had managed to get a few soldiers up there to deal with the ranged enemies.

A line of bandits, each armed with some variant of pole arm charged forward at the unit.

"Icicle Lance!" Cray commanded the shards of ice forming in his hands forward, impaling one of the pole men. The others advanced quickly though and stabbed many of the mercenaries to death with their superior range. Another hail of arrows loosed from above, but it was sparser this time. The projectiles were apparently not as well aimed as before, as evidenced by the fact that they took down bandits as well as Seyruun soldiers.

Gourry leapt to avoid a sword strike to his ankles, and countered with a downward chop. Another bandit rushed up behind him and made a slash across his back. Gourry cried in pain, but his armor took most of the blow giving him time to recover from the pain before the next attack came. The advancing bandit and Gourry took each other on one-to-one; it was quite amazing that the chaotic battle raging around them didn't seem to interfere. The two spend a good twenty minutes trading parries and minor blows as men and women died all around them. This foe was good, that was no understatement. Gourry found himself quite impressed with his dueling partner, and wished he could've found out who the person's mentor was. Suddenly a dart and chain flew right into view, going straight through the bandit's head, killing him reasonably painlessly. The chain retracted back to its owner, and Gourry frowned at the intervention by Akira. He was a mercenary, but regardless he was a soldier of honor. Having Akira take the kill by surprise did not please Gourry at all.

Neither Gourry nor Akira had time to worry about the past though, for both were almost immediately taken upon by more foes. Gourry managed to defeat three men and a woman after about ten minutes of parrying and countering. Akira on the other hand, had a much more aggressive idea of combat. He encountered a man and two women who were advancing upon him. He began by launching the dart and chain at one woman, killing her before she could anywhere near him. The chain began retracting, but not fast enough to get another shot off. The man and remaining woman shouted war cries as they charged with their weapons. Akira nimbly dodged the man's war hammer and took a hideous slash across the shoulder by the woman's sword. He reached out with his clawed gauntlet and spilled the lifeblood of the man by slashing his throat open. The woman charged at him again, but this time an inventive idea had entered Akira's mind. He swung the chain of his dart around his head like a whip, and then lashed out at his foe's legs with it. The chain tangled her legs, pulling her to the ground. The black-cloaked mercenary then stomped down on one of her arms with a heavy boot, crushing the bone and preventing the arm's use. The woman screamed an expletive and smashed the pommel of her sword into Akira's face. The black metal mask he wore cracked and fell to pieces, revealing what was beneath. The woman was about to strike again, when she suddenly stopped and stared surprised into Akira's face. She opened her mouth and was about to scream, but Akira's hands clamped around her throat and choked the life from her.

"I should be down there. . ." Phil scolded himself as he watched the raging battle from a balcony at Seyruun castle.

"I will not allow it. You are the ruler of Seyruun and we would be directionless should you fall in battle," an advisor told the prince.

Amelia was also near the two, watching sorrowfully at the chaos off in the distance. It had been multiple hours since the battle started. Many soldiers on both sides were so exhausted they could barely wield their weapons any longer. It was not in the least clear to the spectator which side was winning. There was no longer any semblance of formation to the troops. The general rule of battle was something along the lines of attack whatever attacks you. This caused some problems, as every now and then a soldier on either side would accidentally kill a comrade in the disorientation of battle.

"I can't take this any longer," Amelia looked away and went back inside the castle. She felt so helpless. Helpless that she couldn't do anything to stop the senseless violence, helpless that she wasn't there aiding her country and her friends, helpless that the Keepers of Justice were forced to participate in such a battle. Amelia was familiar with violence; she had fought Mazoku multiple times after all. The difference came with the fact that Amelia was more familiar with small-scale battle, rarely consisting of more than ten participants. She could deal with that, but the though of not being able to turn your eyes to avoid the sight of gore and death revolted her. She sat down in the hallway and leaned her head against the wall. Worry for the lives of her friends weighed heavily in her heart and made a burning sensation in the back of her throat.

"Why did this have to happen?" she mumbled to herself as her eyes welled up with tears.

"Hmm. . .this is not having the affect I desired," the leader of the bandit hordes commented to his right and left hand men as he stood atop a pulley system that allowed an excellent view of the battlefield.

Neither advisor said anything; they were aware that their leader was displeased. Even if he were in a good mood, pretty much everyone in the bandit horde was cautious of the strange looking, almost demonic, man.

"Tell me," the leader rasped threateningly, "We learned of their tactic, we got the jump on them. . .why are our forces losing the battle?"

Again, neither advisor spoke.

"Dammit! They didn't even manage to kill Lina Inverse! That was my plan for this whole battle!"

That statement took the leader's right hand man aback.

"You mean you organized this whole battle and sacrificed the lives of thousands just so you could kill that woman?!"

"Do you question me?" the leader asked maliciously.

The advisor drew a scimitar and positioned himself ready to attack his leader.

"I thought the whole point of this war was to take over the Seyruun throne!"

"Idiot!" the leader roared, "I don't give a damn about Seyruun. I only want that woman dead. I know her well, and I know assassinations won't work against her. I also knew she would fall into my trap if I orchestrated this whole situation. What I didn't know, however, was that our forces would be so incompetent as to not kill her!"

"You've slit the throats of thousands of our people!" the advisor roared back, "All for some pitiful personal conflict?! I should kill you where you stand, you revolting dog!"

"Then let's see you try," the leader whispered.

The advisor lunged and slashed, but the leader of the horde sidestepped and kicked the advisor in the stomach, causing him to drop his weapon. The leader then grabbed the advisor's throat and lifted him off the ground with a single hand. The advisor gasped desperately for air against the leader's iron grip.

"I care only for my own desires," the leader told the insurrectee, "You can burn in Hell for all I care."

With that, the leader threw his right hand man off the pulley system they were positioned on, causing him to fall all the way to the ground below. The snow muffled the sound of his landing, but there was no question that the man was now dead.

The left hand man, who until now had just been trying to stay out of the confrontation, shifted nervously as the gaze of his leader's gray narrow eye fell on him.

"Congratulations," the leader commented, "You've just been promoted."

The remaining advisor said nothing, but continued to stir nervously.

"Send a message out to the forces. Tell then that I'm disbanding their servitude. If they wish to survive, I suggest they flee from Seyruun immediately. I suppose it's up to me to take care of Lina,"

The advisor bowed respectfully and left his mysteriously cloaked leader.