Amelia and Ophelia: The Former Grand Duchess and Saintess.

Standing on the edge of a forest next to the snow-covered Barrah plains, Marshal Belle was gripping her halberd tightly. It had been a good while since she personally led a battle or even fought in one that wasn't a training match. Her breath was visible in the cold air whenever she exhaled. Her eyes were looking over at the plains before her and when she glanced to her back, she saw the soldiers of the 1st Army waiting on her orders to advance onto the plains. They would do so soon when the dual monarchs arrived but since they had yet to, they were just here waiting. She had checked in with the 2nd and 3rd Armies and they were in their waiting positions and awaiting the dual monarchs to lead them while the 1st Cavalry Corp was on standby in a clearing not too far from where she was standing and hiding within the greenery to keep themselves hidden, even the combined air support that was to come was on its way, all was moving just as planned and she hoped to herself it would keep that way until the battle was over. 

{!} 

Suddenly, the communication crystal holstered at her side began to vibrate while glowing a faint pink and when she picked it up, she poured a bit of her own magic into the thing to activate it. 

"This is Belle, go ahead" She spoke into the crystal 

"Ma'am. The dual monarchs have been spotted, they are inbound in a few" The voice in the crystal replied, causing the former Varangian to smile to herself 

"Understood. Stay hidden and regroup with your units" She ordered them 

"Understood Ma'am" The soldier replied before she deactivated her crystal 

{!} 

Sure enough, the moment she holstered her crystal back on her belt, she heard the flapping of massive wings and turned her eyes to the grey sky. A smile was on her face as she saw Spithe fly overhead, kicking up the freshly laid snow with the gust of wind that followed behind it and coating her and the rest of the soldiers of the 1st Army in their cold embrace. 

"Right. Let's do this" She mumbled to herself as she turned to her men 

"All units! Move forward onto the plains! I want everyone ready to go now! Get those magic crystal generators up and running I want them to mask us until our enemy shows themselves!" She bellowed as she raised her halberd high

"Understood!" The soldiers replied as they began moving about, the sounds of heavy footsteps crunching along the snow filling the air with their work 

Several groups of soldiers began carrying massive rectangular objects that were made of iron and ironwood and had a sphere in the center of it. The chassis surrounding the sphere had several wires that snaked around the thing and the sphere itself had several blue magic crystals sticking out of it. There was a set of levers and gauges on the center of the chassis that were linked directly to the sphere and while they were not active now, their purpose would soon make themselves known. 

As the army marched out into the plains, they stopped around the midpoint of the massive place and once they did, the army stopped in their tracks and formed into their divisional formations, forming a 4 column and 4 row formation that had large avenues in-between each column and row that had a magi-crystal generator sitting there. 

"Activate the generators!" Belle ordered 

{!} 

At her orders, the generators began giving a high-pitched howl before turning into a low melodic hum as the sphere in the center began spinning around and the magic crystals began glowing faintly as they spun with the sphere. Once the generators were giving that low hum, a cloaking field began forming around the army and the generators, while alone produced a small field, with a few of them interlocking and overlapping their fields, the range became greater, great enough to cover the entire 1st Army and hiding them in plain sight. Undetectable by those with low power rankings and only detectable by those who were at S-Rank or higher. 

Once the entire cloaking field was in place, the soldiers stood at the ready, their eyes facing forward through their helmets that shielded them from the snow coming down, their heavy plate armor shifting slightly with them as they steadied themselves for the fight which was to come soon, it was make or break here and now and by the Gods themselves the soldiers of the Halkare Empire were determined to win it. 

"Steady everyone. Now we wait" Belle said as she heaved a sigh and relaxed her body before straightening up and keeping her gaze towards the horizon.

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

As Spithe landed in a clearing in the first just behind the Barrah Plains, the dual monarchs quickly hopped off. 

"Nicely done Spithe, you really gave them a scare" Amelia said as she took a transformation cube handed to her by Ophelia that morphed into her personal jagged plate armor of black with gold accents 

"Indeed, it was an impressive show" Ophelia said as she tapped her clothes that morphed into her personal set of jagged plate armor of black with purple accents 

"Thank you for the compliments Masters" 

"We are pleased to have done so well" Spithe replied with smiles on their faces as they bowed their heads 

"Do you know what you need to do now?" Ophelia asked as she brought out her personal bastard sword Judgement Maker and flourished it 

"Yes Master" 

"We are to assist once the battle is in full swing" The twin-headed Divine Beast replied with nods from both heads 

"Good. Make sure not to do all the work, the army has to get their licks in as well" Amelia said as she patted one of the heads that made the Divine Beast purr 

"Alright, we are off. You know when to jump in correct?" The raven-haired empress asked as she looked at her beloved and saw that they were both ready

"Yes Master" 

"Alongside the wyverns" Spithe answered 

"Good. Alright, here we go. Goodluck everyone" Ophelia finished as she kissed Amelia on the lips before sprinting towards her army

"Right, let's get this done" Amelia mumbled to herself as she looked back at her beloved before taking a deep breathe and sprinting to her command 

""Time to fly"" Spithe told itself as they began flapping their wings and soaring high into the clouds 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

High above the region and above the grey clouds that blocked the sight of the ground below, flying in a massive formation that would make anyone shake in fright upon its sight was the combined might of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Air Wings of the Imperial Air Service. These 12,000 wyverns were ridden by dedicated riders who had formed a bond with their mounts and flying alongside these mighty beasts of war were dragonkin officers who could also handle the high altitude they were flying in. The formation they were flying was a multi-layered staggered formation that gave each squadron of 12 wyverns and 8 dragonkin a clear route to fly through. At the head of this formation, dressed in a suit of jagged plate armor that was colored black, with her lance in her untransformed hands and with her crimson hair fluttering in the wind was the clan leader and representative of all dragonkin of the empire, Clan Leader Fafnir who held the official rank of Imperial Air Marshal, which was the overall commander of the Imperial Air Service and subservient to the dual monarchs themselves. 

"Ma'am. We are on schedule and will reach the sight within the next few minutes" One dwarven rider atop his wyvern reported as he flew next to her 

"Good. We have made good time. The winter sun is beautiful up here don't you think?" Fafnir asked as she turned to look at the sun before looking back a the soldier 

"It is beautiful Ma'am. It isn't every day we get to do something like this" The rider replied 

"Have you ever been in combat before rider?" The dragonkin asked 

"A few times Ma'am. Against the Hinterlands Confederacy" The rider replied 

"Good. So be prepared, this will be larger than anything you have done so far" Fafnir told him as she moved her gaze back forward 

{!} 

Suddenly, they saw a massive twin-headed dragon punch through the clouds below in the distance and twirl in the air before hovering in place. Fafnir saw both heads turn to them and she had a small smile on her face upon sighting them

"Right, here we go" She mumbled to herself before she rolled over to face the rest of the formation 

"All squadrons! Get ready! Once we regroup with the Divine Beast, there will be no turning back. Understood?!" 

"Understood!" The squadrons replied 

"Then let's do this!" 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Arriving at the 2nd Army's camp which was inside a small forest on the far right flank of the 1st Army already on the plains, Ophelia was greeted by the sight of the army already at the ready and awaiting her. The soldiers were arranged in two rows of 10 rectangles that were all facing a leo beastkin general wearing a black general's uniform with a black winter overcoat who stood before them with his elven colonel by his side who wore a similarly black outfit but with silver accents that hinted at her rank. 

"Ah! General Korab, I am surprised you are my advisor" Ophelia said as she appeared beside them so suddenly, startling the soldiers and Korab himself 

"Oh! Your Majesty. I personally volunteered to be your advisor" Korab replied as he straightened up and looked down a the already tall Empress before him 

"I hope I don't disappoint then" Ophelia replied with a small nod 

"I believe you won't Your Majesty, so there is no need to be scared. Oh! This is my second in command. Colonel Irwen Shael" The leo beastkin general said as he moved to the side and gestured to a beautiful elven woman with flowing black hair standing behind him 

"Colonel Shael, Your Majesty. At your service" Shael said as she did a snappy salute 

"A pleasure to meet you" The raven-haired empress nodded 

"With the pleasantries aside Your Majesty, I believe you know the full plan that is about to go down?" Korab asked her as he shifted his weight 

"Yes, Belle was quite thorough in the explanation" The raven-haired empress replied 

"Nice. Well, to recap. Once the fighting begins, we will march out onto the plains under cover of the fighting going on and from the magic crystal generators and once that is done we will circle around and crush the enemy from the rear" Korab stated 

"It is a solid plan by all accounts. The enemy cavalry will be too busy trying to fight our own and they won't notice us swooping in from behind" Shael added as she brought out a small paper map from her bag of holding before placing it back in after looking at it briefly 

"Indeed it is, once we win here, it is a straight march to the Dukedom and the continent will finally be united under our banner" Ophelia stated as she flashed a smile that made the soldiers and the two officers before her cheer 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Elsewhere, Amelia arrived at the 3rd Army's camp which was nestled in a clearing that was on the far left flank and at the westernmost edges of the Barrah Plains. She saw the army already in formation and awaiting her, the 3rd Army was arranged neatly into two long columns that had 5 formations per column and standing at the head of the two columns was a demonkin man wearing the standard General's outfit and next to him was a boar beastkin officer wearing the outfit of a colonel. 

"Hello there!" Amelia said as she appeared to their right so suddenly, startling the demonkin and boar beastkin officers and some of the soldiers 

"Your Majesty!" The demonkin general replied as he snapped to attention, with the rest of the group quickly following in his actions 

"At ease everyone. I am sorry for the sudden appearance" The blonde empress replied with a smile that sent a wave of ease through the soldiers before her 

"No apology needed Your Majesty" The demonkin general replied 

"Ah! Where are my manners? I am General Rohm and this man here is Colonel Mohc and we are your supervisors for the 3rd Army" Rohm stated as he and Mohc bowed their heads slightly 

"A pleasure to have both of you on board for this event" Amelia said as she kept her smile on her face 

"Thank you Your Majesty. Just in case you are still not as well-informed, the 3rd Army is to march out once the fighting starts. We will attack as soon as the 2nd Army does, we will have to time this just right, and when we do, there will be literally no chance of escape for the enemy" Rohm stated as Mohc brought out a map from his bag of holding and the two of them pointed at the directions on the map 

"Although we are the farthest of the armies in terms of where we are positioned, it will not be that much of a disadvantage as if the enemy sees the 2nd Army, they will most likely try to pivot away and thus leave themselves open to us coming in for the kill" Mohc added with a nod 

"It really is a sound plan" The blonde empress said as she crossed her arms 

"The Marshal has really thought of something that will probably be talked about for years to come" The dragonkin general stated with a grin 

"Right, so now we just wait" 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

It had been around three hours since Sir Matthews and the bulk of the army chased after the twin-headed beast that had wreaked havoc on their supply wagons. The reconnaissance cavalry were waiting for him and the rest of the army before a region that was known as the Barrah Plains by those slaves they had captured before. Although there was supposedly no clear indication that the dragon flew this way, Matthews and the cavalry begged to differ. 

"There, look at the snow, its all disturbed and unevenly distributed" He told his second in command Morneus as he pointed to a pile of snow resting near a tree, with half of the trunk covered in snow compared to others before it

There was even what was supposed to be heavily covered grass was now slightly exposed and large uneven piles littered the trail before them as they continued on

"The gust of wind?" Morneus asked 

"The gust of wind" Sir Matthews replied with a nod 

"Meaning it was flying low" 

"Yes, and while it looked like we didn't hurt it. I think we did, I think we got it scared with our response and that's why it started running" 

"How sure can you be about that Your Grace?" 

"I'm not, but it's what I would do" 

After around another hour, it was about 4:00 in the afternoon and while the snow was coming down steadily, the army finally reached the Barrah Plains and to Matthews' joy, he could see that the freshly laid snow was uneven all over the place, with large piles in one area and some freshly laid ones that were significantly smaller in another. This was great for the army and Matthews could feel that the beast was nearby, hidden somewhere but nearby still. His heart raced with the excitement of bringing back the heads of the mighty beast for his beloved Mako who was probably waiting for him in anticipation and triumph. 

"I want the army to form into a massive line! I want the entire plain scoured for any more signs of the beast. Move!" Matthews ordered atop his horse

At his command, the large column of soldiers behind him moved into a massive line that stretched out across the plain, the soldiers standing tall in the freezing snow and the cavalry which had always been at the forefront now relegated to the rear as a sort of thanks from Matthew for always keeping the head of the advance clear. 

"Morneus, I want you to head back to Sullivan to check on him and see how well the FOB is set up. Once you have done that, bring up some of  the supplies for us to make encampments with, I want us to set up another FOB here before we proceed any further" 

"Understood Your Grace, happy hunting" 

Matthews watched as his second in command galloped back the way they came and he straightened himself up as he rode to the front of the formation, a large smile on his face as he looked back at the rest of the army before him, seeing the full might of the dukedom he was about to inherit made his heart swell with a sense of pride as this was all going to his and his beloved's plan. 

"Right, everyone. We have exactly around 4 to 6 hours before the rest of the supplies get here. I know a lot of you are tired from the endless marching but I tell you, when we are done here. When we have claimed the heads of that dreadful beast that terrorized our home, we will be welcomed back home as heroes!" Matthews bellowed with fervor as he raised his sword high 

"Yeaaah!" The soldiers shouted back at him with their own fervor that matched his, their voices excited and charged with the fuel to carry out what was needed of them 

"Signatari! Advance!" He ordered as he turned his horse and began trotting forward with the army right behind him 

But as they advanced into the Barrah Plains, they had no inkling of what was about to come next, none of them were able to sense what was waiting and many of them would not see it coming until it was too late. 

For they had just waltzed into a trap., and there was no way they were going to get out of it alive.

A/N: I hope you are all ready for a ride! Here we go!