Editing Liscor-Hectval War

The '''Liscor-Hectval War''' is the war between [[Liscor]] and the [[Hectval]]-Drisshia-Luldem Alliance. This event started in [[Chapter 7.62]] and is ongoing.

== Belligerents==
{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
!<u>Liscor</u>
!<u>Hectval-Luldem-Drisshia Alliance</u>
|-
|
* [[Liscor]]
* [[Liscor's Antinium Hive|Free Hive]]
*[[Yolden]]
*Silent Hive (''unofficially'')
*Armored Hive (''unofficially'')
|
*[[Hectval]]
*Luldem
*Drisshia
*[[Manus]] (''unofficially'')
|}

==Inciting Incident==
Hectval had sent their Scalespeaker and a delegation to establish diplomatic relations with Liscor after a route past the [[Bloodfields]] was created. This ended on a sour note as Councilmember [[Lism Swifttail|Lism]], offended by Hectval's prejudice of [[Gnolls]], punched and insulted the Scalespeaker, while kicking the delegation out of Liscor. In retaliation for the insult, Hectval sent four ambush teams to harass Liscor and assassinate notable figures, hoping to bait them into war while already mobilizing its army in preparation. While the attackers largely fumbled against the [[Floodplains]]' natural fauna or ran up against Liscor's Watch and the Antinium, one team was able to reach [[The Wandering Inn]] and hit [[Erin Solstice|Erin]] with poisoned crossbow bolts, putting her in critical condition.<ref>[[Chapter 7.61]]</ref>

==Battles ==

=== First Battles ===
Enraged, Liscor immediately declared war against Hectval. The hastily assembled Liscorian forces, numbering around 16000 and led by [[Olesm Swifttail|Olesm]], were made up of the [[Liscorian Army]]'s 4th Company, the city's [[Liscor's City Watch|Watch]], [[Adventurers]], and civilians from Liscor, [[Celum]] and [[Esthelm]], set out to destroy Hectval. Hectval sent a regiment of three thousand soldiers ahead to intercept the retaliation, setting up a roadblock on the new road. The regiment was quickly overrun and destroyed by the furious Liscorians.

Liscor advanced at a rapid pace, Olesm's Skill [Vigor of Champions] nullifying fatigue and rage providing motivation. However, they were slowed down as Hectval soldiers began surrendering en masse. Liscor held the Drake soldiers prisoner and let the Gnoll conscripts go. With the loss in speed, Hectval's army retaliated, setting up ambushes and exploiting the Liscorian forces' lack of cohesion and discipline. Liscor had also neglected to bring supplies for a prolonged engagement and a large number of captives.

As progressively more prisoners slowed them further and groups started attacking independently, Liscor's offensive was falling apart. Then, the armies of Drisshia and Luldem entered the conflict to reinforce Hectval. The prisoner train was recovered by Hectval, and Liscor found itself enveloped and pinned down. The Gold-ranks halted the Alliance's advance and pressed in, and casualties accumulated on both sides.

[[Maviola El|Maviola]] arrived to rally Liscor and break the stalemate. She secured the rear with flames and reignited the army's furious charge. They used the [[Magical Door]] to bring in [[Free Antinium]] and more fighters from Liscor, and Maviola sowed chaos in the enemy ranks with fire elementals, drawing the attention of Hectval's [General]. Maviola was shot and abducted by [[Belavierr Donamia|Belavierr]] amid the combat, but Liscor still emerged victorious. Olesm killed the [General] as the Alliance's army collapsed, and the prisoners were ransomed within an hour. He then had the Liscorian forces return home.<ref name=":0">[https://wanderinginn.com/2020/12/13/7-62/ Chapter 7.62]</ref>

===New Army===
Liscor needed a proper army to wage war against Hectval. Neither High Command nor Liscor's Council approved even a portion of the Liscorian Army coming back, so they created a [[Liscor’s Second Army|Second Army]] of volunteers. They were put through the Watch's and Commander [[Embria Grasstongue|Embria]]'s crash training.<ref name=":1">[https://wanderinginn.com/2022/02/09/interlude-hectval-pt-1/ Interlude - Hectval (Pt. 1)]</ref> Using armour provided by the Armoured Hive, Antinium of the Free Hive joined the army in high numbers as [Crusaders]. Liscor had time to train this new army because Hectval's offense was stalled due to the [[Flooded Waters Tribe]] raiding their caravans in revenge for harming Erin.<ref>[https://wanderinginn.com/2021/04/10/8-16/ Chapter 8.16]</ref>

===Belavierr Incident===
Hectval still sent a siege regiment to attack Liscor directly before their army was prepared. Because of the actions of Belavierr, the attack group arrived two days earlier, to their surprise. They targeted the new parts of the cities not yet protected by walls and moved to capture the inn. 

The Hectval cavalry and [[Plain’s Eye Tribe|Plain's Eye]] Doomslayers began attacking each other when a wounded Belavierr exited the inn and killed members of both groups as her magic returned. Belavierr began summoning something that might wipe out the whole city, causing both Liscor and the Hectval forces to target her in the hopes of stopping it. As neither could affect her in any way and [[Grimalkin Duveig|Grimalkin]] and [[Xrn]] engaged her, they resumed attacking each other.

Liscor counterattacked with the Watch and 4th Company, and [[Calruz]] drew Hectval's fire. The two threats distracted Hectval from the burrowing Antiniums destroying their catapults and attacking from below. The soldiers attacking the inn were killed by its defenders and monsters from the [[Liscor's Dungeon|dungeon]] summoned by Belavierr. The attack group was destroyed and Belavierr escaped.<ref>[https://wanderinginn.com/2021/06/19/8-28/ Chapter 8.28]</ref>

===Campaign===
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|The new army set out once it was ready. It consisted of 3000 Antinium and 5000 soldiers.<ref name=":1" /> 4th Company initially stayed in Liscor and then rejoined via the Magic Door. In the first two days since leaving, Hectval harried their advance. In the first significant conflict of the campaign, Hectval cavalry ambushed the army from two angles and and armored advance from Drisshia targeted the flank, but the Antinium [Crusaders] broke their morale with a Combination Skill and drove them off.<ref>[https://wanderinginn.com/2021/08/04/8-35/ Chapter 8.35]</ref>

Eleven days passed without any engagement with Hectval. They marched past the Bloodfields without incident and entered Hectval's territory using a similar route as the first time, avoiding their enchanted towers. The inexperienced soldiers had difficulty climbing up the highlands, but when [[Belgrade]] remedied the problem with his own Antinium soldiers, he was placed in charge of a third of the non-Antinium forces.

In that time, Calruz would also be assigned to train the Antinium. He uncovered talented individuals, told [[Tersk]] how to be a better leader, and had [[Artur]] become a flag bearer. Belgrade would also demonstrate his strategic talents in simulation battles against Division Leaders.

The next battle began at dawn after the twelth day. Battalions 1 and 3 of the Antinium regiment fought on the front lines, once again clashing with Drisshia's heavy infantry. They tried to use Antinium War-era tactics of an armored charge with long weapons to deal heavy damage an fall back, but it was ineffective on the armored Antinium. The charge turned into a melee, and [[Dekass]] rotated his soldiers until the exhausted Drisshian line collapsed, had the Antinium fire their crossbow when they retreated, and they in turn charged Drisshia's infantry. A second charge attempted to reinforce Drisshia, but was equally ineffective. The Antinium broke off when magical attacks covered Drisshia's retreat.

The battles in the ridgeline of Seventeen Fingers prevented Olesm from seeing the battle he was coordinating. He had Belgrade's forces link up with Ramia's. They advanced to secure the passes, to prevent the Alliance from barricading Liscor's army. The Alliance targeted the Antinium especially, but couldn't cause serious casualties. Alliance mages collapsed a pass onto Battalion 3, but the burial was ineffective and they fought off the pincer attack that followed. Liscor continued to advance and held half of the ridgeline by nightfall.

Several Luldem mages were taken out in the battle. Battalion 3 of the Antinium division was given a commendation, rewarded with half-rations of food besides their paste, and given a moniker. The newly named Crab Battalion would enter combat five times over six days and receive commendations three more times. Crab Battalion was attacked more than the other Antinium battalions, such as withstanding enemy spells, creating a snowball effect where they leveled more, led advances, and recieved more commendations.

Liscor's army took the ridgelines. The main battleground of the campaign would be a series of hills that expanded into a large network of caves and valleys. The Alliance's garrison force fell back to link up with the larger army.

The first big engagement of the war saw other Antinium battalions receive their own monikers. Four battalions, one in each division of Liscor's army, were commended per day. In a week of real fighting, Liscor has only suffered a little over a hundred casualties. The Alliance's mage advantage is countered by Liscor's archers and Olesm's [Instantaneous Barrage], which kill their mages when they reveal themselves. The Alliance had done two rounds of recruiting in their cities, and Liscor was largely winning the war.<ref name=":1" />
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===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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===Battles Against Manus===
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|Liscor's advance would be stalemated in the foothills for two months.

The day after the battle, before the reinforcements arrived, the Acolytes started a ritual of morning prayer to give the [Crusaders] hope. Olesm clearly saw that the Antinium were targeted, and started planning on how deal deal with them or account for their presence. Ramia's division was assigned to serve under Belgrade, who was placed in charge of the right wing.

In the next battle, only Manus' archers participated with the Alliance, sniping the Antinium reinforcements. Hectval was emboldened by their previous victory, but were repelled. The Antinium smashed their ranks, 4th company charged into the center of enemy lines to kill an officer, and Olesm ordered a charge when their vanguard fell apart. The battle after that was a running engagement between both armies' mounted units. 4th company was a bit battered, and the Antinium shot arrows until the Alliance peeled off.

Lulv waited two battles for Liscor to drop their guard before initiating a second assault. Hectval split up their army and attacked from four vectors, threatening to pincer Liscor. Olesm was forced to split his forces as well. He took command of one army, gave Bepol an Antinium force, and gave Belgrade and Embria each an army to command. Manus attacked the Antinium under Olesm's command from a cliff with enchanted arrows, and Lulv threw javelins. They first sent ice arrows which did little damage, melted them with fire arrows, and finally fired lightning arrows into the water. Olesm couldn't return fire due to the enemy's range and elevation, though he did force Hectval to fall back. He lost over a hundred Antinium.

Olesm then had the Antinium digging fortifications, just as Hectval spread out further. Olesm saw that Manus wanted them to spread out further so they could target the Antinium more easily. Ramia and Bepol were assigned to the left, Belgrade still held the right, and Embria was assigned to roam while Olesm attempted to hunt down Manus' forces.

Lulv leapt down a cliff face to attack the Antinium. Olesm was waiting to ambush Manus and rode in with nearly two hundred mounted archers. Wary of aiming at the [Spearmaster], he instead ordered a volley at manus' soldiers, but a taunting Skill forced him to aim at Lulv instead, who deflected the arrows. Unable to stop them, he opted not to follow them and turned his attention to the Alliance forces, who were trying to take advantage of the Antinium losses to envelop Ramia and Bepol. His archers took down the [Riders] trying to intercept him and volley'd Hectval's lines from behind. When the commander turned to box him in, he retreated and led to pursuers into an attack from 4th Company. Once again, Hectval stalemated or lost while Manus won.

Olesm next tried to scatter Antinium companies among non-Antinium forces, so that there would be no unified body of Antinium to target. In the following assault, Manus punished Liscor for this by cutting down Liscor's soldiers along with the Antinium. Lulv cut through one of Liscor's squads to get at the Antinium and attempt to kill Tersk, but Olesm's retaliation forced him back. Liscor's officers rebelled as a result of this attack. They feared incurring more casualties from Manus, and justified that there would be a thousand Antinium replacements for every hundred volunteer replacements. Olesm was forced to place the Antinium back into their own division. 

Belgrade had requested command of the Antinium division, but was denied due to his new class and his role in the war. He had been assigned more artifacts and Antinium bodyguards after the assassination attempt. Only one of those guards would die over the next month and a half of fighting. As he could not save the Antinium, he focused on the right flank. 

He experimented and applied his new Skills. [Springwood Supplies] let him deploy more traps. [Antinium-Expertise Command] let his forces dig and maneuver through narrow tunnels, allowing them to ambush and set traps for the enemy, and the Alliance soldiers retreated or mutinied rather than advance. Whenever they did try to advance, [Prepared Battleground: One Hour] let him fill the battlefield with traps and defenses, and gathered a prepared force. With this, Belgrade's division would achieve the highest kill ratio in the army, and suffered a lower casualty rate than the left wing and center. He would gradually advance from the right, threatening the rest of the Alliance.

Over another four assaults, Manus had taken two deaths, both shot through the head, and four major wounds. Another thousand Antinium had perished, resulting in a third wave of reinforcements. Liscor bombarded their own lines multiple times to force them to retreat.

Calruz would fight enemy combatants alone, as he was not permitted to lead soldiers. He would still inspire a battalion of Antinium to adopt the virtues of the Beriad.

Artur was rotated between battalions due to his morale Skills as a [Flag Bearer]. Due to his non-combatant role, he was ignored by Manus, who opted to kill armed Antinium first. He was also privy to information from Olesm's tent as he stood outside of it, such as the 213 Antinium reinforcements, Olesm winning a protracted battle, and a shipment of [[Corusdeer]] steak as premium rations. Bepol led his squads into a failed charge when he mistakenly believed there was an opening, causing them to lose faith in him and be transferred to other divisions. Artur was next assigned to Ramia's command, as an excuse to transfer three of those squads with him. Belgrade, doing well in his theatre and having destroyed an enemy camp, sent reinforcements to the center to support Ramia. Artur participated in two battles under her, then was sent back with a commendation and returned to Bepol's division. As more of Liscors flags, he became more of a target by the Alliance. 

Artur saw that Bepol was making the same mistake as before, as he became fond of shield-breaking charges after it had worked the first dozen times. This time, the Significant Beavers squad was bogged down by a reinforced second line. And as Bepol focused on saving his charging soldiers, he never noticed the Alliance [Riders] until they cut into his forces. Liscor squads briefly had to fight on two sides and suffered casualties before retreating. Artur gained a new Skill, making him more valuable. Tersk and Bepol argued about who needed him more, but Tersk eventually ceded as Bepol recently had notable losses. 

The next day, the Alliance charged them, but Bepol got tunnel vision again. As he set up a killing zone for the enemy vanguard with [Shield Walls] and archers, once again he didn't see the [Riders] coming. Artur first tried to warn him, but then directly issued an order to counter. They felled half the [Riders] and Bepol rotated the squads out when he noticed the disturbance. Olesm figured out that Artur was the one that saved Bepol's soldiers from another side-charge, and Artur was the first Antinium to be promoted, becoming an officer.

A [[The Traders of Roshal|Trader of Roshal]], Cubol, approached Olesm. He tried to appeal to his anger to convince him to sell prisoners of war into slavery, but Olesm broke the Skill used on him and refused, banning him from Liscor's camp.

Olesm would visit the part of the camp where morale was lowest, which meant he often went to visit the Antinium. While attending one of their sermons, he said that the Antinium should feel anger towards the soldiers who kill them. He later ordered that all Antinium soldiers are to receive standard Liscorian rations, that each new Antinium reinforcements are to be fed before entering battle, and made a request to Liscor's Council for supplies like books for their use. Tersk was told to announce their next meal from them on. His officers objected due to their shortened supply from this, but Olesmhad the order stand as a matter of morale. After seeing the Antinium make their food paste, the officers no longer objected.

Theophilus tried to raise morale with his sermons, but was disheartened as Lulv and his forces kept killing the crusaders. That would give way to anger, and in his rage-filled sermon he denounced Hectval as evil and hellbound. He inspired the [Crusaders] to fight more ferociously and the other [Acolytes] to go to the front lines, and he and Jerimy became [Clerics] while [[Zimrah]] became a [Priest]. Faith had been restored among the Antinium, and the Alliance was retreating in the face of this new fervor and unknown powers some displayed.

The Alliance asked Manus if they would do something about this. Manus had taken less than ten casualties in every engagement, less than five in most, and kept their losses near non-existant. The three irregular Antinium were marked, but their protective rings and amulets protected them from potshots. On two occasions a commander had tried to issue Lulv orders and were ignored, and he threatened to quit when they tried to court marshal him. [Slaver] Cubol approached the Alliance to convince them to sell Antinium and they were receptive to this for the amount of gold he was offering, but Lulv had forbidden slave-trading and threatened to leave if they did so. Lulv was considering giving up as it seemed that the levelling Antinium weren't a non-replenishable resource, and more unique Antinium were appearing.

And Manus soldiers were still suffering from mysterious [Sniper] attacks, which accounted for most of their deaths at this point and several Alliance officers. These attacks prompted Alliance officers to remove easy markers of their ranks like plumes or badges. They could not seem to permanently kill the Worker responsible. In Liscor's camp, Dekass noted that the archer squad B-Squad had a member unaccounted for. Lulv prepared for an assault to kill at least one of the odd Antinium.<ref name=":2" />

Calruz began going into battle with Battalion 6 of the Antinium division, dubbed the Beriad of the Free Antinium, who all carried two-handed weapons. At first there were thirty of them, but in later battles hundreds were part of the Beriad. <ref name=":3" />

Liscor received reinforcements of two hundred [[Painted Antinium]], sent with the collective approval of Pawn, Xrn, and the Free Queen. They proceeded to outperform every battalion in the following battle, where they handily beat Drisshia. They had high morale, fought in perfect sync, and were generally higher leveled than the [Crusaders].

Manus had prepared for them, hoping for their appearance. They first let the Alliance's first assault tire them out, then Lulv and four hundred of Manus' soldiers left the Alliance lines to charge them. A bombardment of [Valmira's Comet] launched from [[Wyverns]] hit the Antinium, and four [[Oldblood Drakes]] ambushed the presumed [Sniper] when he showed himself to shoot Lulv. He then killed one of the [Clerics], and a [Mage] hit the backlines with [Chain Lightning]. Tersk ordered Battalion 1 to split into squads and was targeted by multiple attacks and wounded by Lulv. A volley of arrows prevented Lulv from executing him. Olesm was riding towards the battle but was intercepted by a [Fireball] and unhorsed. Lulv threw a javelin that killed the other [Cleric] and Manus fell back. Manus lost two dozen soldiers in the engagement.

Antinium morale plummeted with the recent defeat. Theophilus, Jerimy, a hundred and forty Painted Antinium and as many [Crusaders] had died. The remaining sixty Painted Antinium left the next day. Tersk was incapacitated by poison and ceded command to Dekass. Zimrah could no longer heal and kept away from the front from then, and Artur was sent to Belgrade's division for protection. Dekass counted casualties aloud and Olesm invited him to have a drink later. Having lost hope, Crusader 51 was the first Antinium to desert in the history of warfare.<ref name=":2" /> Crusader 53 survived the battle and was the first Antinium to be captured by the Alliance in this war. He was taken in by Big Yam squad of Luldem, who were hoping to be assigned guard duty to take leave of the next battle.<ref name=":3" />

The rest of Squad 5 did not divulge where Crusader 51 went, and he was declared dead. Liscor received unexpected reinforcements. Zimrah tried to fill Theophilus' role in the sermons and inducted new Antinium into [Crusaders].

Manus redoubled their assault. They attacked Liscor's camp to cut off Dekass and kill the remaining Painted Antinium before they returned to Liscor, and only thirty of them were left. The Painted Antinium had received reinforcements by way of the Magic Door before Manus destroyed its mana stone. They were gathered up on a hill as Manus prepared a final push to wipe the remaining forty, who were making a last stand. Olesm managed to down a Wyvern, Manus' spells were intercepted, and a squad rallied around Calruz.

Having leveled his [Bug Collector] class into [Ant Farmer] away from the battlefield over the course of two weeks, which had a strange interaction with the Antinium, Crusader 51 could feel the peril the other [Crusaders] were experiencing and returned. He charged into Hectval's lines from the side, and the [Sniper] attacks resumed at that moment. Crusader 51 survived the first arrow volley from Manus' archers, and was soon surrounded by Alliance soldiers. Lulv threw a javelin through his shoulder, but he kept fighting. Getting stronger by the moment, he deflected the second javelin. Crusader 51 summoned a blinding pillar of light and became the first [Templar] of the Antinium. He fought Lulv and Manus' soldiers by himself as the other Antinium retreated, directed to do so via Crusader 51's [Minor Telepathy]. Barriers of light prevented Manus from pursuing, and he singlehandedly killed at least thirty enemy soldiers. Thanks to his sacrifice, the Antinium forces successfully escaped.<ref name=":2" />

The next day, Olesm had a debriefing about Crusader 51's last stand with those that witnessed it. The Painted Antinium returned to the Free Hive with a letter from Dekass detailing the recent events, and Olesm sent a public posthumous commendation for Crusader 51 with him to post with the casualty reports. He also passed a request to the Council to increase the squads on weekly break from 2 to 3, one of which being an Antinium squad, letting sixty soldiers return to Liscor every week.

A delegation of nineteen Drakes from Yolden entered Liscor's camp. Seeing an opportunity to fight back against the Hectval-Luldem-Drisshia Alliance and break the monopoly on iron Drisshia has over them, they offered an alliance proposal to Liscor. Olesm drove a hard bargain to make them commit significant forces, then sent messages to other nearby cities to see if others would ally with them.

The immortal sniper returned, and its arrows began piercing through enchanted armour. Olesm advancing his class meant that his officers could use his [Instantaneous Barrage] Skill, threatening Manus' Wyverns. Manus received information on Liscor's army from Pallass, specifically reports from Bepol, who was a Pallassian officer before joining Liscor's new army and had requested to Pallass to pull Manus out of the war.

Over two thousand Yoldenite soldiers entered the war on Liscor's side, mostly as skirmishers. They attacked from hilltops, and threatened one of Drisshia's mines, which made them want to pull out of the war to secure it. Three hundred soldiers riding ponies attacked the Alliance with slings in hit-and-runs. Unused to the intensity of the war, they suffered significant casualties when a Hectval line of crossbows opened fire on them. They also tried to capture a group of Luldem soldiers, but ended up in a close-quarter fight when they refused to surrender. The Yoldenites later collapsed a shelf onto a hundred and fifty Alliance soldiers. They would also trade up their gear for plundered armor and weapons as the war progressed.

While Crusader 53 was held prisoner, the Alliance was trying to source an expert to interrogate him while Big Yam guarded him. Manus demanded that the prisoner be placed into their custody. 

Cubol then approached Big Yam to convince them to sell him their prisoner immediately, before Lulv came. With his wealth and Skills or spells, he had convinced the whole squad except [[Vess]] to accept the deal, and to murder Vess to cover up their transaction. Just as Cubol's bodyguard was about to kill Vess, the [[Silent Antinium]] intervened. They had come to rescue Crusader 53, and slew Cubol, his slaves, and Big Yam except for Vess. After the rescue, they also ambushed Lulv and forced him to run, killing six of his soldiers in the attempt. They retreated with Vess as a captive as two Wyverns arrived to blast the area.

From this point on, Silent Antinium would be part of the war, and Armored Antinium would bolster the number of Antinium soldiers among the four hundred eighty-two latest reinforcements, though their participation was not officially acknowledged. The Alliance pulled back its forces as the right wing had been completely overrun, where Liscor had built a giant dirt-and-stone fortress to sally from, and Manus received reinforcements. Olesm made a deal with the Alliance High-Command, letting eighty prisoners return home on the condition that they didn't rejoin the war.

The Liscorian Army sent reinforcements, the 6th and 9th Companies, and 11th Company who had escorted [[Relc Grasstongue|Relc]] and the Gnolls of Cellidel. Embria ensured that there would not be disputes between them and Olesm.<ref name=":3">[https://wanderinginn.com/2022/02/16/interlude-hectval-pt-3/ Interlude - Hectval (Pt. 3)]</ref>
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===Manus Exits the War===
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|The day before the attack, Ishkr gave the army a flame of Glory to boost morale.

Olesm enacted a plan to finally defeat Manus. He placed the survivors of the assaults that had counter-levelled into the backlines and in safer engagements until he had enough to field a fighting force of higher-level Antinium soldiers, taking advantage of the fact that their faith classed could no longer be appraised when they were a high enough level so that they would not be targeted by Manus until then. He had also stolen a speaking stone to spy on their orders during the battle.

Liscor prepared for a night attack from Manus, expecting them to sneak through Drisshia's heavies. Olesm requested that Xrn come to combat Manus' flying [Mages], but she was still wounded, so Pawn and [[Yellow Splatters]] came instead with the best of the Painted Antinium. [[Archer B12]] was selected to become the new [Avenger] that night, which was the explanation for the immortal sniper, after the last one was killed behind enemy lines by a Wyvern ambush. Manus decided to capture the sniper the next time.

When the Drisshian soldiers arrived, Bepol moved up his lines to engage. Manus' forces had doubled from reinforcements, and brought multiple Wyverns to the battle. Eight hundred soldiers arrived in the front lines. 9th company of Liscor's Army was ordered to shoot at the Wyverns, and 6th company waited on the wings. 4th company took their position in Bepol's lines.

Lulv targeted Pawn, theorizing that his death would collapse the Free Antinium. The [Mages] were prepared to destroy the entire Antinium force to achieve this. The Antinium resisted his intimidation Skill. The first ranks of Manus' lines clashed with the Antinium without slowing. Crab Battalion charged. The flame of Glory was unveiled and Artur ordered another charge to protect Pawn. 

Calruz was present, fighting with the Beriad. Crusader 53 killed a [Captain] and Archer B12 began killing the Wyvern teams. [Mages] appraised him and Manus learned the secret of the sniper attacks. Zimrah cursed Hectval, and used [Marked For Hell] on Sokkel. When B12 killed him, a void opened under him and something grabbed him and took him away. This unsettled Manus, and she damned another soldier before Pawn stopped her. Manus redoubled their fighting and marked her as a priority target.

When the [Mages] unleashed their bombardment, Pawn used his Skill to cancel their spells. He then inflicted bad luck upon Lulv as Yellow Splatters engaged him and retreated. Manus' charge stalled out and the Liscorian companies engaged.

The Antinium made a brazier from the flame of Glory. Artur charged with the company that have it in their possession, covering their weapons in it, and Embria did likewise. Her class advanced and she fought Lulv with Yellow Splatters.

The Antinium further counter-levelled, and Lulv ordered that they all must die, even if he and half of his command lost their lives. More [Templars] emerged, and the Antinium advanced. Manus was flanked by Liscor's companies, and Drisshia, who had been skirmishing with the Yoldenites, was pulling out due to Liscor's right wing overrunning their centre.

Lulv realized that they could not win anymore, and would only make the Antinium stronger in the attempt. He ordered a retreat back to Manus. He would make a report for the Walled Cities' High Commands detailing his errors and suggesting they either try to subvert the Free Hive and cause a rift among the Hives, or consider destroying the Free Hive if they're capable of it. He marked the Free Hive as the greatest threat of all the Hives.<ref name=":3" />
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===Further Fighting===
With Manus gone, the Alliance retreated back to their cities. Liscor continued to advance while the Council was negotiating a cease-fire, demanding exceptionally generous terms.

When battles broke out in the Great Plains due to the events of the [[Meeting of the Tribes]], Olesm raced the army back to Liscor.<ref name=":3" /> Afterwards, the war consisted mainly of skirmishes.

==Other Effects==
Hectval suffered diplomatic consequences as a result of their actions. [[Pallass]] did not participate due to its treaty with Hectval, but chose not to renew it once it expires and severed diplomatic ties with the Alliance.<ref name=":0" />

Crusader 51 may have caused a minor ecological disaster near the Bloodfields by creating an ant supercolony and making sure it could sustain itself without him before returning to the battlefield.<ref name=":2" />

Fighting with the Antinium accelerated their acceptance among Liscor's populace.

The Antinium veterans of the war with Hectval & Manus would later further advance their image among the world when they helped stop a massive monster wave from the high passes. Their reasons for committing to such an action would further undermine former sentiments of the Antinium. These veterans would also later serve as the new core for the [[Antinium Crusade|Seventh Hive]].

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Events]]
[[Category:Izril]]
[[Category:Wars]]