Empire of India: Rise of the Ruthless Prince

Warangal, Vijayanagara Empire.

The stage was set for a great battle as the sun rose from the horizon and the cold night's aftereffects faded as the warmth of the morning cast over the field. Raghav Reddy had prepared for an initial ambush for the Shekhar army as they passed through the forest to reach Warangal.

The archers were in positions in the forest, and the special units were placed to detect and eliminate the scouts that came up ahead of the army. The ambush was precisely placed in a spot so that they would have to run to the area where Raghav's army would be waiting.

Raghav, sporting his ornate armor and a sharp steel talwar, was ready for battle.

"I can't lose this battle!" he muttered.

Raghav was at the edge, as a loss would mean the end of the family even if he didn't die. Covering the debt owed at that point would be hard. He would need to sell all his assets to even become debt-free with all the interest.

Screams echoed through as the birds flew away and the forest rumbled. Tens of thousands of men were pouring out of the forest into the open field in a neat shield wall formation.

A few minutes earlier, the army of the Shekhar was passing through the forest. Venkat leading the army knew that the forest area was a particularly dangerous area, so he placed scouts in front to avoid any potential threats.

But in reality, Venkat was too late. The scouts were killed and replaced by the scouts of Raghav Reddy, and they were luring him into a trap.

When Venkat reached an area inside the deep forest, he noticed something weird. There was some occasional glint coming from the trees. He squinted his eyes to focus and see the glint's source.

To his horror, the glint was from the hundreds of archers aiming at their army from the trees.

Venkat quickly realized he fell into a trap.

"ASSUME SHIELD WALL"

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The confused soldiers scrambled at the sudden outburst. But they managed to put on a solid shield wall. The arrows were let loose like a hailstorm of steel into the shield wall as they scattered across the shield.

The quick response minimized the damage and injuries done by the barrage.

"MOVE NORTH!" He commanded.

He saw an open field on the north, so he wanted to move away from the forest in order to stop getting ambushed from all sides.

The open field was a good idea initially until Venkat saw the army of Raghav neatly arranged in formations for war.

"What the hell??" He croaked as he saw a wave of soldiers ready to fight in the open field.

By the time Venkat came back to his senses, the ambush units were no longer seen, and hundreds of soldiers were charging at him. The archers and special units retreated, retracing their steps back to the backline of the army using the forest cover.

Taking command quickly. He began arranging them into the defensive positions.

"RAISE YOUR SHIELDS, TAKE DEFENSIVE POSITIONS."

The soldiers quickly scrambled into defensive formations, raising their shields up to protect them from the onslaught of the archers and infantry.

The impact of the man and steel was thundering as the noises of agony filled the battlefield. Fresh corpses lay mangled and bloodied and covered in mud on the ground.

War elephants began charging, breaking through the disorganized shield wall for a moment. The assault was quickly quelled with archers taking apart the mahouts who broke in the formation with elephants.

"INFANTRY DEFENDS SOUTH. PUSH YOUR PIKES OUT," Venkat commanded, seated on his horse, slicing off the occasional soldier who targeted him.

The enemy cavalry charged towards the southern flank. Due to Venkat's quick thinking, the soldiers managed to deal with the brunt of cavalry by switching positions a bit. Pikes pierced the horse, and many of the enemy cavalry were mercilessly trampled and stabbed by the infantry.

The aggressive onslaught continued as Venkat's army scrambled to gain some ground. Bodies dropped with each slash. Venkat needed to find a favorable position to turn the tides of the battle.

Venkat sent skirmishers to take out any hidden archers in the forest. Slowly adjusting to the onslaught, the formations were finally adjusted to make a better defensive position.

The skirmishers used the forest to get to the back of the enemy's army and use hit-and-run tactics to chip off the backline of the enemy.

"CAVALRY CHARGE."

The mahouts and cavalry finally were unleashed. The cavalry clashed with infantry stabbing and impaling the infantry with their charges. Meanwhile, the war elephants break apart the enemy lines with ease.

The loss had already been significant by now.

'Damn it! They are strong. Fuck! Didn't they go bankrupt?'

His son Hemant was leading the cavalry unit, taking charge, doing charges, and breaking the enemy lines.

An enemy lunged at Hemant, seated on the horse. He quickly impaled the enemy right in the gut, throwing the corpse to the side with a flick of his wrist.

"SOLDIERS MOVE TO THE OTHER SIDE." He commanded.

The horse galloped as the time started to speed through the battlefield. The infantry of the enemy were cleaved through by the charged. The flank broke, allowing them to cut down soldiers with ease.

'Finally, I did it.' Hemant exclaimed.

Little did he know that the infantry opened up deliberately as the cavalry cleaved through the shield wall. The cavalry unit was fooled as the infantry surrounded the unit. Shield wall stood tight, and pikes braced for assault.

'What?' His mind went blank as he saw that he had fallen into a trap.

A skirmisher amidst the infantry threw his axe with great power, slashing and lodging it in Hemant's throat through the gap of his armor. Hemant fell to the ground, croaking and coughing blood, taking his last breath.

The infantry closed, pincering the unit with no mercy as they tried to escape to no avail. They were continuously impaled by pikes and stabbed mercilessly by swords. The cavalrymen fell and were trampled on by the infantry.