The formations of Guilds and Lords with their troops and members could be seen a decent distance away from the only fort Midnight had managed to make considering he had one of the poorest parts of Hel when it comes to being able to get any income. The fort was Lv.3 with a single length of stone walls and a Stone keep within but it's garrison currently was rather poor considering what Midnight could put in it. There was only about 15 Units in total, a mixture of some Skeleton Swordsmen, Archers, Zombies, and a couple of Reavers tossed in for more variety.

But even as Midnight stood on his battlements and looked out with his battle armor on and holding his twin long daggers as their chains were wrapped loosely around his forearms, he knew that as long as he stayed within the fort and held his ground till Reaper and Kommando did their parts, he should be able to hold and push back these invaders.

That being said, as he looked over the vast formations coming forward over the desolate hills and plains and even a few fields of Death Rice recently planted, he wondered how long he had before he would have to start Summoning his own hordes of Zombies just to hold on.

At the forefront of the whole formation that stretched far left, right, and center, and nearly numbering a whole third of it with 50 units in total, was Lord Eugene as his lines stretched far, long, but thinly. His flanks were secured by three different Lords and Ladies with smaller armies with only at most 10 units but they still held their flanks rather securely considering still those numbers.

Behind Eugene we're about 4 more Lords and Ladies with only 5-6 troops in total but there was one army he knew oh too well at this point that was Lord Kirito's although he only had 7 units so he was unsure if Kirito was actually here in full mind for battle like previously. Finishing off the formation were several small guilds as they were acting as partial screening, partial skirmishing units in front of the larger army.

Still, as he looked over the army, he knew this was either going to make or break them when it came to the larger picture of how this games war would play out. If they lose the fort here, then Midnight is forced all the way to his capital as he won't be able to get enough gold or resources from the other villages he has to get even a half decent army out to fight back.

But if they win, he can use the time to get an actual army built up again but as he looked over the enemy coming forward, he was in doubt he would be able to stop them.

Eugene looked at the fort, which by many means actually quite decent in both design and stature, but as he looked across its many defenders he could tell this Prince of Plague was likely trying to come up with any defense to stop them. But as he glanced around as those whom had joined him in this effort, he knew this Prince was about to suffer a tremendous blow to him as all of the units around them would simply swamp any army that came for them.

Of course, watching the Alf army moving along, Reaper and Kommando stood side-by-Side on their mounts as Kommando looked through a spyglass, he wondered if he had brought enough units.

40 Units, 20 Swordsmen, 10 Archers, 6 Cavalry, and 4 Reavers as he had also thrown in 1 of his Bone Giants and 1 of his Bone Dragons too. Reaper was fielding a 45 Unit army of similar composition but he had summoned two Blood Dragons instead of Giants or Bone Dragons.

They both had managed to get their units into Veteran ranks before the battle along with equipping them with half decent BloodSteel items as these two factors alone could make anyone fighting them have a tough time. That and the fact that both of these Princes were also going to be planning on slamming their forces into the flanks and rear of the Alves meant that these Alves were in for a fight that was going to hurt for them more than for what they had come for. Still, as Kommando looked over the enemy lines, Reaper asked him, " You ready for this."

"I am... not sure if Midnight is." Said Kommando as he looked to Midnight as he was on his walls awaiting for the battle to come to him with his small army of units.

"He'll be fine... he's a good fighter... we both know this from our days." Said Reaper as then he sighed and looked at his sword shield and longsword before asking Kommando, "Has the relationship with Sinon been improving?"

"It has in some small ways.. a bit of a way before I can open up to her about who I am really but I think I'm getting there." Said Kommando. "So don't worry over there."

Reaper chuckled before he then said as the Alves began to move forward as one mass, "Here they come... get ready."

The Guilds in the forefront began with bringing up battering rams and a few ladders but even as these small guilds came forward, the immediately had trouble as arrows from the walls of the fort began to coat them rather heavily.

Lord Eugene watched as the guilds tried to make progress using magic but that didn't work as well as even though there didn't seem many units within the fort that each of these units seemed to be putting up a fight worth 2 of them which was annoying but as he watched his front ranks of units begin to approach the fort, it soon was apparent that he alone was going to crush this fort. And so he simply took his sword up and then leveled it at the gates of the fort as he shouted, "Take it for the Alves!"

The Salamander infantry immediately charged forward as though the flanks the other lords covered began to try and move up as best as they could, the Salamander infantry began to break through as ladders and rams began to hammer the forts gates and walls.

Midnight began to chant as his forces began to engage the Salamanders in melee combat on the walls as skeletons and Salamanders began to be tossed off the walls equally in numbers. As he recited the words to a Mass Summoning of Zombies, he then remembered the basic plan he and the others had decided to crush these enemies.

Sometime previously....

Midnight brought out the map and zoomed in on the fort that was soon to be attacked by the Alves as the map showed both terrain and even the current weather of the area.

"Wow... only one fort?" Asked Reaper294.

"Look I didn't have a lot of money... you know I was given the short end of the sticks..." Said Midnight with a sigh as then he said, "But even one fort still makes it hard for anyone coming through."

"I'm assuming it had a garrison naturally?" Asked Reaper.

"It's Tier 3 so normally it has about like 25 units for a garrison but as you know my last siege in Alfenheim had a lot of units in it." Said Midnight.

"Still, at least with this we can plan our attack which will likely be simple because our good friendly Alf neighbors love to keep their batteplans only two ways: defense or attack." Said Kommando.

"That's just begging for them to show us otherwise." Said Reaper.

"This isn't exactly a Total War VR game." Said Kommando. "This is still Alfenheim Online. So they're not exactly going to be using really good tactics..."

"That's true... what do you suggest then?" Asked Reaper.

"Midnight will use his Summoning ability and whatever units he has and can make to hold the Fortas the Alves attack... go figure, I know, but he has to draw them all in if he can."

"As he does that," continued Kommando, "myself and you, Reaper, will be hiding our forces behind the hill here on the right flank and wait for when the enemy is fully committed before we attack them on this flank. I have a spare dragon I can send to the left flank to secure it and tie down anyone who tries to run that way."

"I can send my own Blood Dragons too. That'll make it extra tough to break through." Said Reaper and Kommando nodded.

"And then, we'll force them to the walls and slowly but surely crush them."

"Sounds relatively simple and easy enough... but what if they bring too many units that are forced to take the hill?" Asked Midnight.

"Then it'll be a sluggingfest if weapons and missiles." Said Reaper with a shrug.

And with that, the meeting had come to an end as the boys prepped their commanders and armies for the coming fight.

Back to the present, Midnight watched as the Alves were pushing hard to break through the walls as there were two breeches in it but he hurled more bolts of Plague at them as his forces did their best to hold the line against what almost was an innumerable foe.

The Alves were being very determined as the guilds and Eugene's large force simply tried to throw numbers at them but as he other Alf armies tried to encircle the whole fort, Midnight was doing every single Summoning spell he had at his disposal and then some to keep them occupied and busy.

So far, he was just barely holding his lines against the Alves but he didn't have much longer and he hoped the others knew that too just by looking at how the siege was going.

Kirito watched the siege slowly going on as units were brutalizing one another on the walls and in the wall breeches and as his small army was simply moving up almost as a rearguard, he could tell this fort didn't have long before it completely fell to their hands.

Still, he had to give this Prince a medal of determination as though he was woefully outnumbered by the Alves, he could just tell that for every one of the defenders fell, there seemed to be like 10 Attackers falling.

Eugene laughed as he took out three rotten Zombies in one blow and as their corpses flew away in visceral sprays, he then pointed his sword at the forts Keep and said, "Forward!! Capture the castle!!"

The Salamander infantry surged forward through the broken walls, gates, and up over the ladders as the defenders were being forced back by the tidal wave of bodies and as Midnight watched this, he fired as many spells as his mama could let him as he sought to at least forestall the Salamanders breaking through.

"Not yet!" He simply hissed as he looked to the hill and didn't see Kommando or Reaper but he knew they were there.

And it was even more so when both Kommandos and Reapers battle horns suddenly sounded over the battlefield, loud enough everyone stopped dead in their tracks. Kirito looked up at his whole army faced where the sound originated from and as he watched the Princes of Blood and Darkness slowly appear on horseback, he then watched as the few other Lords and Ladies still around him slowly try and form up their units around him as even Eugene watched.

And then suddenly a horde of blood-red Blood Demons came charging down as suddenly two huge armies came charging from around the Prince including three dragons that flew into the air and then landed on the other side of Kirito and the other armies as he suddenly realized that this was a trap. The Princes had been waiting for them to commit their forces and now they were encircling them to come for the kill.

Kommando watched his ranks of skeletons charge forward as one mass against the alf forces forming against them while his Bone Giant was covering distance quickly to the enemy ranks and as he watched the Blood Demons from Reapers Summoning nearly reach the enemy lines with great weapons in clawed hands, he then looked to Reaper and said, "Alright, let's get to work."

And with that both of them galloped away with their cavalry units right behind them, heading to completely cut off the Alves from behind as the Alves army began to realize the mistake they had done. Midnight laughed as the general Eugene and his entire monstrous Salamander army was completely halted as his units began to fight them with renewed vigor and as he watched this, he finally rolled his head on his shoulders and sighed before he said, "Alright, let's go."

And then as the chains on his forearms began to loosen up, he then jumped off the forts walls as his archers continued to fire from it as he landed below on the ground with the sound of shattering rock and earth.

Eugene tried to force his way through the enemy throngs of defenders but even as he hacked and slashed through them, there seemed no end to them and as he looked ahead as the Prince of Plague was coming forward.

"All units!! Charge forward and Capture that fort!!" He shouted as he continued to try and force himself through.

Kirito watched the wretched Blood Demons come charging forward at his lines and as he tried to get his Spriggan troops into a defensive formation, he suddenly heard screams and looked over to see the towering skeleton of a Bone Giant plant its foot in the middle of another Lords army and then throw it up as it sent the whole army and its lord flying into the sky as it then spun and brought it down on another army as the earth shattered beneath its powerful foot.

And then the demons were amongst them as he took out his sword and sent his War Horse away as the demons began to swamp the frontline ranks of all the lords and ladies still alive around him.

The Blood Demons were all the same blood-red color with human bodies and backward-jointed legs like horses and Goatmen, which were a rather difficult mob to take on as most of them were proficient enough climbers to run along walls and jump around sheer cliffs. They had horns coming from elongated skulls as they all held great weapons that cleaved and butchered Kiritos frontlines as he tried to keep himself alive as another came straight for him.

He used his two longsword to stop its attack as it pushed him back but as he glanced around, his army was being destroyed by the Blood Demons as even though they fought tooth and nail, the special units of the Prince of Blood were still better than they were.

But then, as Kirito managed to throw back the Demon and block another of its attacks, it then suddenly looked to its right and then bolt away as the other Demons headed for the fort and as Kirito looked to the right, he then saw the entire force of the Princes cavalry, plus the Princes themselves, come charging straight for the backs and as he watched them, he simply ran to the nearest obstacle as the Prince came running through whatever remained of the other armies as they came like scythes to fields of wheat, slaughtering what the Blood Demons had left behind.

Kommando watched the dragons begin incinerating and butchering anyone trying to escape on the left flank as he quickly cut down another fleeing Alf swordsman and as he continued running by, Reaper took up a fallen spear and couched it to spear a archer trying to pull back its bow right in the Archers neck.

"You think Midnight has his end cleaned up?" Asked Reaper as he motioned to the fort.

"I'm sure he has everything under control." Said Kommando as they continue to ride onward.

Eugene blocked the first attack Midnight did as he flung his Plague blade at the Alf Lord as the chains attached to it flew after it but when Midnight suddenly spun around and whipped both of his blades around on their chains, Eugene could only stop one before the other chain slashed across his chest as it easily went through his armor. Midnight then flipped himself around and twisted himself in such away that his blades then came up for a uppercut attack and as Eugene was hurled back from the attacks, Midnight took this moment to clean up the area around him of Salamander infantry as he then advanced on Eugene with his own minions still fighting on around him.

Eugene managed to get up as his infantry helped him up and as he managed to block an attack from an archer as they were still firing from the walls above and as he looked before him again, the Prince of Plague stood before him as those chain and blades whirled around them.

"Come on, Little Salamander.... come and face a real opponent!" Said Midnight as he advanced against Eugene.

But as Kommando watched his and Reapers cavalry suddenly come in charging, right into the rear of Eugene's army as they began to sandwich them with their infantry as well now, suddenly something happened no one had expected.

"Plague Fort Captured by Moon Cat Guild! Victory to the Alves!!"

Everyone looked up to the fort as Midnight spun faster than anyone else but as he looked up, he saw what had happened as he looked towards the keep. The Fort has its own Miniboss, a Captain, that only appeared when you reached the Keep entrance and if you beat him, you take the fort.

And as the Moon Guild Cats looks to Midnight as all of his units did so too, Midnight then looked to Eugene and said, "I will see you later it seems."

And then with that, he then shouted to his units, "Everyone! Fall back!! Regroup at the Castle!!!"

Kommando was slightly annoyed at the Alves having captured the fort so quickly, even if by a fluke, but as he looked across the remaining Alf armies, he then also raised his blade as he shouted, "All units! With me! We retire from battle!"

"Retreat!!! Pull back!!" Shouted Reaper and as the three Princes began to pull out their forces, he looked to the Alves and shouted, "Until we meet again!!"

Kirito slowly watched their armies fall back, leaving behind the dead and wounded on both sides but mainly Alves and as he watched them, he looked at what remained of his army and then back at the surrounding armies and whatever remained of them as tattered banners fluttered in the breeze. As he walked along, suddenly Eugene appeared as he was on his War Horse and as Eugene managed to slowly get off his horse, he looked to Kirito as he they observed the battlefield as he then said, "Well, Kirito... I think at this rate we may have a problem keeping ourselves in one piece against them..."