Bombardment

Each guard had an open-faced helmet with a nose guard and a long blue plum poking out of the top. Their white armor was thick, just a few steps down from plate armor with all the maneuverability of light armor due to gaps at the joints. Each carried a spear two meters long in their right hand and a small, round shield made of wood with a steel rim in their left.

More importantly, almost everyone gave off the Divine strength of Exemplars. The only exceptions were the guards with red plumes instead of blue, who were distinctly Avatars. There were around four hundred and fifty of them, thirty of which were the red-plumed Avatars. An impressive number even with genetically inheritable Manifestations.

The large influx of Embodiments, combined with the way the guards flanked the Fractured army, was just enough to turn the tables. In the confusion of the surprise attack, many of the Fractured stumbled over each other to try to about-face and face these new challengers. The result was dozens of them tripping and falling, receiving a quick spear thrust to the neck for their stupidity.

The confusion stretched to the frontlines, the Fractured yelling to each other about the enemy attack from behind and causing many to falter. The Venlanz forces, used to uphill battles where they had to take every chance they could get, pounced on the opportunity and sliced hundreds of throats in the turmoil.

General Ferdind had already moved around to the right side of the Fractured army minutes ago, peppering their exposed flank with his Dark orbs. With the Venlanz forces to their front, the guards to their back, Ferdind to the right, and the wall of Frendnann to their left, they were surrounded.

There were still gaps on the left, as Frendnann's wall was round and thus only covered about half of their left side, but anyone attempting to exit that way got a crossbow bolt to the head from a guard on the wall or a sword to the neck from a Moral Inquisitor.

Thanks to their Divine Reach, about three dozen were able to ward off both of these, fleeing as fast as their legs could take them or trying to flank the Venlanz forces. The former made it; the latter were cut down in moments, but not before taking out a few of their enemies.

In a word, it was chaos.

Fate sighed. 'I suppose I gotta go rejoin the fight.'

He readied his sword, gripping it in front of him with both hands, and hurried around to the left side of the Fractured, where it seemed he was most needed. Ferdind could take care of the right, his Divine Energy reserves nearly endless when it came to using his Manifest Power, but the guards only had so many bolts, and many of them lacked ranged Manifest Powers.

'At least it's almost over.'

An hour after the battle between Venlanz and Fractured had broken out, Fate had an idea and waved at the guards on the wall to catch their attention. One of them, a guard with a red plume, noticed Fate and struck him with a bolt of lightning. Fate accepted it, not finding any danger within.

It turned out that the bolt of lightning established a connection between the two, allowing them to exchange thoughts. The bolt latched onto both of them, forming an azure line of light in the air as it crackled back and forth.

Using this method of communication, Fate told the guard, who named herself Captain Remena, about his aura's Divine Energy-eroding qualities, and asked if the city had any ballistae or catapults.

The woman laughed, the relief and glee permeating through the connection. "Aye," she responded in an accent that sounded vaguely like Old Earth's Irish. "Without their Divine Reach, they're sitting ducks. What's the range on your aura?"

"A thousand feet. Don't worry about hitting me, they'll pass right through."

"Even better. Just do me a favor and make sure they don't miss, will ye?"

Shortly thereafter, the sky, once filled with lighting and dark clouds from Hedra's Manifestation, was now filled with boulders and ballistae bolts. They rained down from the city, crushing the Fractured to paste and causing panic among their ranks as they were unable to stop the projectiles with their Divine Reach.

Fate was the linchpin to this whole strategy. His aura ate away at the Divine Energy of the Embodiments around him, taking away the fuel for their Divine Energy, while he himself used his own Divine Grasp to shove away as many telekinetic efforts as possible.

In the realms of Embodiments, one's Divine Reach range could extend for miles, allowing those Embodiments outside of Fate's aura to attempt to stop the projectiles in their companions' stead.

Fate worked to stop that, fighting to allow one boulder in at a time. His Divine Reach carried his aura's corrosive aspect, meaning bringing each boulder down was like an athlete playing tug-of-war with a teenager.

While many of the boulders were too heavy for him to lift with his Divine Reach, that corrosiveness was more than enough to level the playing field. But for every boulder and bolt he brought down, the Fractured foiled twenty more, throwing them to the sides or into their enemies.

General Ferdind, along with the other Embodiments in the Venlanz forces, caught almost all of the boulders and bolts sent their way, themselves sending the projectiles off behind them. The plains around the two armies quickly became littered with thrown-away rocks and ballistae bolts.

Meanwhile, Fate's plan was working perfectly, taking out a quarter of the Fractured's remaining forces before Captain Remena sent another bolt down and told him they were out of ammunition. He thanked the woman and unsheathed his sword, flickering in and out of intangibility as he started killing the Fractured soldiers around him.

The conflict lasted three hours. With nowhere to run to, the Fractured had no choice but to fight to the last man, at least until all of the Morale Inquisitors were dead. When the last one fell, the remaining four hundred soldiers threw down their arms and surrendered.

The guards from Frendnann, or what was left of them, brought out metal collars designed to blow the wearer's head off if they mustered their Divine Energy and put them around each of the new prisoners of war. Out of the corner of his eye, Fate caught General Ferdind making his way over to him.