At dusk in Bone-Burial Canyon, the wind and snow struck faces like shards of iron, carrying the scent of blood.
Louis looked down on the battlefield from high above the canyon, his gaze sweeping across that hellscape of crimson and white snow.
Days earlier, his Daily Intelligence System had already revealed how today would end.
Duke Edmund would launch his final offensive here... and fail.
So he had left the Red Tide Fief's defenses undermanned and brought two hundred carefully selected Elite Knights, hoping to change that predetermined outcome.
Traveling day and night without rest, they had finally made it in time.
Of course, Louis knew perfectly well that even if he committed all two hundred men, they would only be swallowed up faster.
But he had brought more than two hundred knights. He had also brought weapons to counter the rage-something the Northern Frontier's allied army lacked.
Every knight carried a Rage-Resistant Potion whose formula he had personally overseen, wore a Frostleaf Mask, and bore a high-purity Cold-Breath Mist Canister on his back.
They even carried limited supplies of Frostleaf Concentrated Explosive Bombs and Frostbite Soul-Shaker Bombs, special weapons the Northern Frontier's allied army had no means of producing.
Louis had invented them using intelligence from the Daily Intelligence System and continually refined them in battle, creating weapons specifically to combat the Sorrowflame Vine Court.
Naturally, upon reaching the battlefield, Louis had not immediately ordered a charge. The battle was too vast; these few weapons had to be used at the most critical moment.
What could truly change the outcome was not a reckless fight to the death, but breaking the enemy's spine at the very height of its power.
So all two hundred men he had brought hid in the canyon's shadows, waiting for his signal.
To the