Eight hundred meters from the Royal Palace's main gate, the two armies met.
Iden and Valerian Ex exchanged a glance, then continued forward at the head of their respective armies.
Only a little over three thousand men remained atop the palace walls.
The Palace Gate General watched the enemy troops draw closer, took a deep breath, and drew his longsword. "Loose!" he roared.
More than fifteen hundred guards each drew three arrows and nocked them to their bows.
The arrows left their bowstrings with a sound like tearing silk.
Just as the arrows were about to fall, Iden and Valerian unleashed their battle qi simultaneously, forming a barrier that blocked the thousands of armor-piercing arrows.
On the avenue leading to the Royal Palace, neither the First Legion's warriors nor the Eleventh Corps' soldiers faltered. They charged forward behind their generals.
Atop the palace walls, a profound sense of helplessness welled up in the Palace Gate General as he watched the armor-piercing arrows fail to have any effect.
Iden turned to glance at Valerian and nodded, then drew the longsword at his waist and flew toward the gate.
Before the sword itself arrived, its cutting edge had already struck.
With a thunderous crash, the palace gate, forged from magical metal, was torn apart in an instant.
Valerian wasted no time either. Gripping his Knight's Longsword with both hands, he delivered a full-force strike at the palace wall.
White light flashed, and everything fell still.
More than three hundred meters of palace wall vanished completely beneath that strike, exposing the pavilions and towers beyond.
Standing atop what remained of the wall, the Palace Gate General roared and charged straight at them.
In an instant, his view suddenly rose much higher.
As he saw his own back, he suddenly felt considerably more at