One week later, the battlefield outside the Black Wood Forest Outpost was wreathed in smoke, the ground littered with corpses.
Duke Douglas, clad in Fine Steel Armor, stood on a hastily constructed command platform.
The handsome, middle-aged general maintained a ramrod-straight posture. He gazed at the distant Rosenia army's formation, then brought his arm down in a steady motion. "Full assault!"
The cavalry of the Vilt Kingdom charged the enemy lines like a torrent of steel, their warhorses' hooves thundering across the early autumn grass and kicking up clouds of dust.
Leading the charge was the Duke's Knight Corps. They carried banners emblazoned with the sigil of a deep black river, the emblem shimmering with a dark luster in the sunlight.
"For the God of Truth!" The soldiers' roars shook the heavens.
The Rosenia army responded swiftly.
Prince Vladimir was draped in a heavy, black bearskin cloak, his thick beard obscuring most of his face.
