Editing Liscor-Hectval War (section)

===Manus Enters the War===
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|Worried about the Antinium leveling, [[Manus]] entered the war on Hectval's side in order to kill as many Antinium as possible. An elite force of four hundred, each at least level 20 and outfitted in enchanted gear, led by Spearmaster [[Lulv]] was sent out. As smaller cities do not like Walled Cities getting interfering in their conflict, the Manus force officially passed themselves off as a mercenary force called Wytel's Spearlance. They also attached one of their strategists, Sokkel, as a consultant. They first observed the Antinium fighting to evaluate their capabilities, and waited for the Alliance to become desperate enough to stop insisting they be under the direct leadership of one of their officers. Afterwards, they travelled to forty miles outside the war front before joining Hectval's army.

The first attack from Manus happened at night, twenty days into the fighting,<ref name=":1" /> following a midday battle at Lookout Lookout Hill that ended in Liscor victory.<ref name=":2">[https://wanderinginn.com/2022/02/13/interlude-hectval-pt-2/ Interlude - Hectval (Pt. 2)]</ref> The Alliance's full army charged down. The Antinium division went to the left front, Belgrade's division went to the right, and Bepol's and Rami's divisions under Olesm took the center. 4th Company started getting warning signs that something was off about this battle. 

As the Alliance soldiers retreated, Manus' soldiers pressed on to engage the Antinium. Lulv opened a breach in the Antinium lines for the soldiers to charge into. Then he used an intimidation Skill to break their morale while another Skill plunged the battlefield into darkness, blinding both armies. Communication spells were jammed, and confusion and chaos spread in Liscor's ranks. Under Sokkel's advisement, Hectval's forces created a wedge through the Antinium gap, flanking the other divisions. Manus' soldiers than began massacring the Antinium, their enchanted weapons going through the unenchanted shields, armors and weapons. 4th company saw this and tried to engage, but had to retreat when anti-Liscor tactics were deployed and the officers faced Lulv, though they managed to identify the new combatants as being from Manus. The Antinium retreated in disarray as Manus pursued, until volleys of arrows called by [[Dekass]] fell onto the [Crusaders]' positions and made them retreat.

On the right flank, Belgrade tried to rally his troops and noted that Hectval was equally uncoordinated, as squads where engaging each other instead of battalions. Unable to organize his soldiers from his command, he resolved himself to go down to the battlefield directly, however he was sniped with a poisoned barbed arrow. Delirious, he still tried to reassert control and save his forces, earning the respect of his officers. He barely survived, and leveled up from the near-death experience.

938 Antinium were killed in that battle, a third of the Antinium division, with far more wounded. Battalions 1, 3, and 5 had endured the worst of the fighting. The rest of the army had taken a tenth of the losses per division. Hectval had also targeted their supply lines, resulting in a potion shortage. Manus only suffered 6 casualties, two from Dekass' order, one from 4th Company, one from Liscor's troops and two from [[Crusader 51]] and [[Crusader 53]]. The [[Free Queen]] and [[Xrn]] approved the replenishment of the Antinium forces, and three of [[Pawn]]'s [Acolytes] joined the army for morale and healing. Calruz was also deployed as a war asset.<ref name=":1" /> Seeing the few losses as unacceptable, Lulv pulled fifteen soldiers to replenish, and assigned them a minder and two regulars if they were recruited from the Alliance.<ref name=":2" />
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