*** Snowkeep – Enemy Camp Outskirts ***

The blizzard howled like a beast unchained.

The Holy Allied Territories' camp was in chaos, half-buried siege engines groaned under the snow, soldiers screaming as their ropes snapped from the cold. The air reeked of smoke, burning oil, and blood.

Then came the thunder of hooves.

"Cavalry! From the treeline!"

A soldier's voice cracked in terror as the dark shapes burst through the veil of snow, riders in fur and leather, charging low, swift, and silent until the last second.

By the time the heavy cataphracts moved to intercept, the lighter cavalry had already slipped past.

"Protect the trebuchets! Don't let them—"

The rest of his command vanished under the roar of an explosion as one of the trebuchets burst into flame, ignited by a flask of oil and a spark of steel.

"Keep moving! Burn the engines!"

"Don't stay to fight! Move, damn you!"

The captains shouted over the storm, their formation splitting like a river, one wave burning siege engines, the other sweeping through supply wagons. The enemy's lines twisted in confusion, trying to tell friend from foe amid the snow.

*** Holy Allied Command Tent ***

"Marquis Raven! The siege engines are burning!"

Raven slammed his fist into the table, maps scattering like feathers. "Where are the reinforcements!?"

"Lord Ilmund is buying time with his fire magic, but he can't cover the entire camp!"

Raven's face twisted in fury. The warmth of faith had long since left his blood; only rage remained.

He could hear the thunder of cannons in the distance, relentless, mechanical, inhuman. The kind of sound no priest could silence.

"How… how can a fortress in the middle of nowhere field such weapons!?"

His voice cracked with disbelief. "Where did they come from!?"

*** Enemy Camp - Siege Engine Stations ***

"Get away, you infidels!"

Baron Ilmund shouted, fire appearing from his hands as he fought to defend the last of their trebuchets.

FWOOSH!

"Watch out!"

A captain spoke, narrowly avoiding a fireball to the face, but the fireball wasn't done. The moment it slid past him, it hit those behind him, exploding on impact and taking down three riders in an instant.

"Taste the flames of the heavens!"

Ilmund roared, singlehandedly defending the remaining trebuchets with religious zeal. He was a terrifying foe, someone that Justinian's cavalry didn't account for when they attacked.

"Fall back! Don't engage!"

The captains yelled out to their respective men, retreating quickly as Ilmund and the cataphracts proved overwhelming for the lightly armed riders.

"Don't let them escape!"

Ilmund barked, mounting his horse and chasing the fleeing riders with the rest of the cataphracts.

*** Snowkeep – Wall Battlements ***

Lucan reloaded the next volley, his hands trembling from the cold and adrenaline.

"Range adjusted! Cannons are hot!"

"Fire!"

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The earth shook again as snow blasted into mist. Enemy formations collapsed like paper dolls under the storm of steel.

"Good hits! They're scattering!"

Caesus grinned from beside him, his trebuchets launching counterfire guided by Fenrix's updated coordinates.

The enemy's attempts to return fire came too late; their projectiles smashed into empty walls or frozen snowbanks where no defenders stood.

Above them, Justinian stood still, watching through the lens of foresight.

Five seconds ahead. That was all he needed.

His orders came without hesitation, like a man who already knew the outcome.

And indeed, he did.

As the battle continued to rage on, the endless bombardment had finally come to an end, and the few thousand remaining crusaders had managed to reach Snowkeep's walls, already placing ladders and besieging the gate.

The actual battle had now arrived.

But while Justinian's army was completely unscathed and fresh, the Holy Allied Territories' army was the exact opposite.

"Open the gates! Bring the fight to them! Don't let them get near the artillery!"

Justinian barked out, the first to move as he kicked the ladder that had been placed on the wall, causing multiple of the crusaders to fall with it.

"Kill them all!"

BANG!

The gates opened outwards, but instead of staying inside and waiting for the gate to be breached, Justinian's army went out and took the fight to them.

His elite men against their elite men.

"Charge!"

Cassia led the charge from the gates while Lucan and Justinian handled the battlements.

It was now an open battle.

Cassia's footsoldiers pressed forward, shields locking in tight formations. Arrows whistled past, yet no man fell; they moved as a single unit, each step measured, each block anticipated. Justinian's soldiers had learned the rhythm of war from him, anticipation before action.

"Hold steady! Push forward!"

Cassia shouted, her voice cutting through the cacophony. Her sword rose and fell in perfect timing with the men around her. Each enemy who breached the first line was met with a wall of disciplined footsoldiers, spears braced, swords raised.

A trebuchet bolt slammed into the frozen ground a mere foot from the line, shattering stone and ice, but Justinian's foresight had them all step aside in unison, leaving the weapon's fury to bury itself harmlessly in the snow. The enemy cried out, confusion rippling through their ranks.

Lucan moved from the battlements, bellowing commands. "Cover the archers! Keep them firing!"

His men shifted their shields, allowing the archers behind to unleash volleys of arrows. Each shot targeted the enemy formations with brutal precision, thinning their ranks before they even reached the walls.

While the arrows were effective, it wasn't the main show; the blizzard made them nearly impossible to use, and when they were fired accurately, they barely even grazed each side's steel plates.

The real battle was through swords, and that was a battle that Justinian's men were winning easily.

They didn't have the numbers; in an open field, they would absolutely be decimated, but with them in a defensive position like the battlements' high ground, the narrow shield wall on the gates.

They effectively made the enemy's numbers useless.

"Don't break formation! Use the city to our advantage!"

Justinian barked out, decapitating a soldier in the meantime.

The snowstorm was just getting started, and Justinian's men didn't mind it at all.

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