From Trash to Villain Master of Card: With Harem of Evil women-Chapter 80: The First Wave
Southern Border
Fog covered the field like a shroud.
Eight hundred Neudämmerung soldiers in formation. Armor gleaming faintly with dew. Sharpened weapons. Determined but tense faces.
Before them, emerging from the mist like ghosts becoming solid: a thousand Meridia soldiers.
Blue banners with a rose as their symbol. Light but mobile armor. Spearmen and archers mainly—a force designed for speed over brute strength.
Kaito was on an elevated position—a small hill offering a view of the entire field.
Adelheid beside him with a spyglass, studying the enemy formation.
"Standard Meridia configuration. Archers in the back. Spearmen in three lines. Light cavalry on the flanks."
"They expect us to charge. The archers would tear us apart."
She lowered the spyglass.
"Then we don’t charge. We draw them in."
Kaito nodded.
"How?"
Adelheid pointed to positions on the field.
"Our main line here. Apparently weak in the center. Strong on the flanks."
"When they charge the center, it closes like a jaw. Cavalry—led by Naporia—strikes from the flanks simultaneously."
"Valeria anchors the center. If anything breaks through, she contains it."
She looked at Kaito.
"It’s a classic trap. But it will work if we execute perfectly."
"Then we execute perfectly."
Kaito turned to Drake.
"Signal the troops. Jaw Formation. Everyone knows their positions."
Drake nodded, raising a specific flag.
The troops moved with practiced precision.
Five days of intensive preparation. Every soldier knew exactly what to do.
Center: three hundred soldiers apparently exposed. In reality, stronger than they looked.
Flanks: two hundred fifty on each side. Partially hidden by terrain.
Rear guard: Valeria with fifty elite soldiers. The anchor.
And in the side forests: Naporia with the cavalry—one hundred riders split into two groups.
Adelheid raised her sword.
"For Neudämmerung! We do not kneel!"
The shout resonated.
"WE DO NOT KNEEL!"
Eight hundred voices like thunder.
The battle was about to begin.
---
First Phase — The Trap
The Meridia archers fired first.
A rain of arrows briefly darkening the sky.
The Neudämmerung troops raised their shields. Most blocked. Some fell—five, ten, fifteen.
But the line held.
The Meridia commander—a middle-aged man with decorated armor—watched from a safe distance.
He saw the apparently weak center.
He smiled.
"Charge the center. Break them."
The spearmen advanced.
Three hundred soldiers in tight formation. Spears gleaming. Shouting war cries.
The Neudämmerung center seemed to waver.
Retreating slightly.
The Meridia commander smiled more broadly.
"Push!"
More spearmen advanced.
Until they were fully committed to the center.
Then Adelheid gave the signal.
A red flag raised.
The flanks closed.
Two hundred fifty soldiers from each side converging with surgical precision.
The Meridia formation—extended and committed—was trapped.
The enemy commander realized too late.
"Shit! It’s a trap! Retreat!"
But retreat under fire is the most difficult maneuver.
Especially when...
THUNDER OF HOOVES!
Naporia emerged from the side forest with fifty riders.
Her sword high. Eyes red with Iron Will activated.
"CHARGE!"
They struck Meridia’s exposed flank like a hammer.
Naporia at the vanguard—cutting, destroying, unstoppable.
Her sword moved so fast it was barely visible.
Three soldiers fell in two seconds.
Five more in the next breath.
Simultaneously, another cavalry group—fifty more—struck from the other flank.
Meridia was being crushed between iron jaws.
---
Center — Valeria
The pressure in the center was immense.
A hundred Meridia spearmen trying to break through despite the closing trap.
They knew they were trapped. They knew their only way out was through.
They threw themselves against the central line with the desperation of men who know they’re going to die.
Valeria was there.
Axe raised. Empty expression. But absolute purpose.
"This line does not break."
The first spearman reached her.
She blocked with the axe handle. Spun. Struck with the flat side—hurling him back three meters.
Second. Third. Fourth.
All fell.
The fifth tried to flank her.
Valeria moved with speed that contradicted her size.
The axe cut the spear in two. The follow-up struck the man’s shield, shattering it.
"Warning: retreat recommended."
The soldiers didn’t retreat.
Then Valeria stopped warning.
She became a living wall.
Every strike measured. Every movement efficient. Zero waste.
She didn’t kill when she could incapacitate. But she incapacitated without mercy.
Fifteen soldiers tried to break her position.
Fifteen soldiers were stopped.
The central line held.
Because Valeria held it.
---
Command — Adelheid
Adelheid observed the battlefield with eyes that never stopped calculating.
"Center holding. Flanks closing correctly. Cavalry causing maximum damage."
She looked at Kaito.
"They’ll collapse in five minutes. The enemy commander will see and order a general retreat."
"Do we let them escape?"
"No. If they escape intact, they’ll regroup and attack again."
Adelheid raised another flag—green this time.
"Archers. Block the escape route."
A hundred Neudämmerung archers—positioned on high ground—adjusted their aim.
They fired at a specific area.
Not to kill. To create a psychological barrier.
Arrows falling where enemy troops would have to pass to escape.
Clear message: retreating is dangerous too.
The Meridia commander saw.
Understood.
He was trapped.
He raised a white flag.
---
Surrender
The battle had lasted thirty-seven minutes.
When it ended:
Two hundred Neudämmerung soldiers fallen. Wounded or dead.
Four hundred Meridia soldiers. Twice as many.
Three hundred more had surrendered.
The remaining—three hundred—had managed to flee in the initial chaos.
The Meridia commander was brought before Kaito.
A man in his forties. Bloodied face. Broken pride but intact dignity.
He knelt.
"Lord Kaito. I surrender."
Kaito looked at him.
"Why did you attack? Orders from your king?"
The commander hesitated.
Then nodded.
"They told us you were a threat. That the villains you summoned would eventually destroy everything."
"That it was better to attack now than to wait."
"And now? After fighting us. What do you think?"
The commander looked around.
At Neudämmerung soldiers treating the wounded—both their own and enemies.
At Naporia—the feared Empress—helping a wounded Meridia soldier drink water.
At Valeria methodically cleaning her axe but not celebrating the slaughter.
"Now... I’m not sure what to think."
Kaito nodded.
"I offer you this: your men may withdraw. With weapons but without armor. Return to Meridia."
"Tell your king that Neudämmerung does not seek war. But neither do we kneel before threats."
The commander blinked, surprised.
"You won’t take us prisoner?"
"I don’t have the resources to feed three hundred prisoners. And I’m not a butcher."
"Go. But do not return."
The commander stood slowly.
He bowed.
"Thank you, Lord Kaito. This will be... reported honestly."
And he left with his men.
Adelheid approached when they were gone.
"That was risky. Letting them go."
"I know. But killing them would have sent the wrong message."
"And this message?"
"That we are strong but not cruel. Capable but not aggressive."
Kaito looked at the battlefield.
Two hundred of his soldiers fallen.
"Let’s hope it’s worth it."
---
Battlefield — Aftermath
The following hours were grim.
Gathering the wounded. Counting the dead. Organizing cremations for those who didn’t survive.
Two hundred wounded or dead out of eight hundred.
Twenty-five percent casualties.
Victory. But costly.
Drake approached with an intelligence report.
"Commander. Scouts report."
"Second wave?"
"Kalthor. Seven hundred soldiers. Three days away."
He paused.
"And Avernor. Fifteen hundred. One week."
Kaito felt the weight settling.
"We can’t sustain this. Not with two hundred fewer."
"No."
Drake looked at exhausted soldiers resting.
"They’re depleted. Medical resources almost exhausted. Morale... high from victory but fragile."
"We need time we don’t have."
Kaito nodded.
"Gather the captains. We need a plan for Kalthor."
"Yes, Commander."
---
Infirmary — That Night
Kaito couldn’t sleep.
Instead, he visited the temporary infirmary set up in a large barn.
A hundred wounded on cots. Aria and the medical team working tirelessly.
Kaito walked between the rows, looking at faces.
He recognized some. Soldiers he had personally trained. Citizens he had met in the market.
Real people. With families. Lives. Dreams.
Now bleeding because he had led them into battle.
A young soldier—no more than twenty—noticed him.
"Lord Kaito."
Kaito approached.
"How are you?"
"Alive. Thanks to you."
The young man smiled despite obvious pain.
"We won, right?"
"Yes. We won."
"Good. Then it was worth it."
Another soldier—a woman in her thirties—spoke from a nearby cot.
"Are you going to summon another queen? For the next battle."
Kaito froze.
"Why do you ask?"
"Because if you need to do it, do it. We don’t want you to hold back for our sake."
Other soldiers nodded.
"I’d rather you be safe than worried about... whatever it costs."
Kaito felt something tighten in his throat.
"I won’t summon unless it’s absolutely necessary."
"But if it is, do it," the young soldier insisted. "You have us. But you also have to protect yourself."
"Because if you fall... we all fall."
Kaito had to walk away before they saw the tears forming.
He left the infirmary.
Cold air hitting him.
And a decision crystallizing.
I can’t keep losing people like this.
Three days until Kalthor. One week until Avernor.
How many more will die?
How many more faces will I see in the infirmary?
He touched the pocket where he kept Aurelia’s card.
Not yet.
Kalthor first. With what we have.
But if we lose more...
If I see more young soldiers bleeding...
Then I summon.
Regardless of personal cost.
The decision was forming.
Slowly. Inevitably.
Like a rising tide.
---
Kaito’s Room — Later
Adelheid found him on his balcony.
She approached silently, wrapping her arms around him from behind.
"I saw your face in the infirmary."
"That obvious?"
"To me, yes."
Adelheid rested her head against his back.
"You’re thinking about summoning her. Aurelia."
Kaito didn’t deny it.
"Two hundred, Adelheid. Two hundred of our soldiers."
"I know."
"And how many more in the coming battles?"
"I don’t know."
Her voice was soft.
"But I know this: if you summon now, you’ll change. More than before."
"And maybe that’s a price I have to pay."
Adelheid turned him to face her.
"Or maybe there’s another way. One we haven’t seen yet."
"Which one?"
"I don’t know yet. But give me three days. Until Kalthor."
"If after that battle, you still believe the only option is to summon..."
She paused, pain visible in her eyes.
"...then you’ll summon. And I’ll be there with you."
Kaito embraced her.
"Three days."
"Three days."
They stayed like that.
As the storm approached.
And the decision waited.
Inevitable.
