Due to the inherent limitations of their method of presentation, it was naturally impossible for them to have the thousands of soldiers mentioned in the story on the actual stage. They could only be proportionately scaled down on each side.
Dixie’s army had started off with over seventy-five soldiers, while Emilia only had twenty. Now, however, the ‘great general of Krass’ only had around forty soldiers left.
To say that her advantage was gone entirely wouldn’t be true, but at this point, their victory was no longer as assured.
After all, the opponent was already in an advantageous position, and unless she received reinforcements from Krass, it was likely that she would be left with barely a quarter of her initial force by the time they won.
Such a pyrrhic victory… the great general couldn’t accept it at all. This was especially so since the opponent was just a little girl who hadn’t even come of age a few years ago.
Didn’t that make her decades of experience a joke? How was she supposed to go back to face the war council?
Of course, it was precisely this ego that the princess was banking on. “What? Now that I’m right in front of you, the great general has lost her courage?”
For maximizing visual impact, the castle wall prop on stage was almost twelve feet high, and while it was far from comparable to the real thing, it was still enough to give most people a fright.
Luckily, the little girl didn’t seem to be hurt, and the audience wondered if the team used some special props to soften her landing.
Not to mention the supposed opponent, even they were excited.
Dixie smiled beneath her mask, though she tried her best to make her voice sound ‘derisive’ according to the required character. “It seems like the Cornflower Princess really wants to be trampled on today, huh? But I admire such fearlessness, even if it means you’re just seeking death, so I’ll give you a chance.”
According to the initial script, the great general was supposed to mention that she would hand over this flower to be trampled upon by her troops after plucking it herself, but Dixie naturally couldn’t bring herself to say such words in front of her princess, even if the words were just ambiguous and it was a show.
Had she not known it was Emilia herself who looked through the script and made a few changes, she might even have considered going to the scriptwriter for a ‘chat’.
For some reason, the ‘director’ sneezed, an inexplicable chill running up her spine. ‘Is someone in the audience badmouthing me for the story being nonsense?’
But looking at the enraptured expressions of the crowd, she soon put those thoughts away. ‘I have to strengthen my mentality, ah, it’s expected people will scold me a lot online after watching this on TV. I have to meet my quota at that time, or the commander will skin me alive!’
Fortunately, no one could hear her thoughts.
Emilia wasn’t surprised to hear that her knight changed her lines, and she even praised Dixie in her heart for her improvisation skills. ‘Maybe if she wasn’t so scared of Crystal, she could even work her way up to class A.’
The great general motioned one of her men, who handed her a dark, ominous greatsword.
Although it looked like it weighed a ton, the armored general just grinned and swung it around with one hand, as if it was made from paper. “Little flower princess, since you’ve come down to face me, I’ll give you a chance. As long as you can draw a single drop of blood, I’ll retreat with my men right away. Of course, if you lose… your side surrenders. A win-win situation for you, really. Deal?”
Emilia smiled as she drew out her longsword from the scabbard on her waist. “Deal.”
The eyes of the Cornflower soldiers turned red in both rage and shame. How could they not know why their princess would take such a risk?
They might have held out well at the chokepoint before, but in a real confrontation, the fact that most of the women and teenagers in the army were barely trained would be quickly exposed.
Only a third of the adult men and women among their ranks could actually be considered comparable to the army of Krass, but even then, their weapons were of somewhat inferior quality.
If they fought, it would already be amazing if they could shave off the Krass army’s numbers by half before their death. Most of the previous results were only possible because the enemy never expected such a magical move from them.
After all, even if they didn’t kill or surrender the little witch over, how could they have expected the princess to be crazy enough to let her create many potions and spells?
The atmosphere instantly solidified as the Krass army cheered their general on to crush the ‘weakling’ and show the little girl her place.
Dixie, however, only circled around the unperturbed beauty leisurely, as if examining which angle she should destroy her from.
Compared to the greatsword-wielding general in her ominous armor, the princess really looked like a rabbit in the face of a lion, weak and helpless.
Perry, the little witch, could only stare anxiously as her princess confronted the great general of Krass by herself.
Could a girl who wasn’t even born when the great general started spilling blood on the battlefield really be able to win such a fight? Even if she had experienced firsthand how stubborn and fierce she could be, it was impossible for her not to worry at this moment.
Suddenly, the great general broke her stride and shot off towards the princess like a bolt of lightning, her momentum so terrifying that most people didn’t even realize she had made her move before she was almost in the face of the crimson-haired princess, her greatsword aimed right at her neck.
Even some of the audience couldn’t help but scream. “Fuck!”
”So fast?!”
A resounding ‘clang!’ rang out at this moment, and the princess seemed to have used her sword to barely change the trajectory of the heavy greatsword while ducking to avoid it at the same time.
The great general wasn’t perturbed at all, though, and controlled the greatsword just enough to avoid it slamming into the ground. Using the remaining momentum, she spun on her heel and struck right back at her opponent again.
This time, her greatsword could only slam onto the empty ground with a boom, however, leaving the audience dumbfounded.
The princess had already backflipped to open a safe distance between them.
”No way, is that thing really that heavy?! How is that girl swinging it around like that, then?!”
”No no, it must be a sound effect added by the team, right?”
”T-The stage looks damaged…”
”Who cares? Hello, the princess did such a graceful backflip?!”
”Too bad she’s wearing tights underneath that dress, ah!”
”… I’m a little concerned?”
Back on the stage, the princess didn’t give her surprised opponent the chance to recover. Before the general could correct her stance, she had already rushed right up the armored general’s greatsword, the pointed end of her sword aimed right at her neck.
The general managed to barely avoid the strike, but the princess still smashed her knee right into her mask, sending the armored woman staggering back in shock and horror.
Her mask was cracked, and Dixie could tell she must be bleeding from her nose. ‘E-Emily wasn’t kidding when she said I’d get beaten up if I held back!’
It was only then that she realized that Emilia was no longer as weak and fragile as she used to be when they first started training together. Maybe, if she really went all out, Dixie wouldn’t even be able to fight back.
The realization made the dark-haired girl feel relieved. Since this was the case, there was no need for her to disobey her princess to prevent her from getting hurt, was there?
Dixie stopped holding back, and aside from restraining her strength to an extent, Emilia also went all out.
Not to mention the crowd, even Penny was struck dumb by the constant booms and clangs resounding through the stage as they fought all over the place.
Many couldn’t even see their movements very clearly, and could only stare silently at the flying sparks and blurred shadows.
Can people really fight like this in real life?
At some point, Emilia’s sword broke, and the top half went flying. As it stabbed into the ‘wall’ on which Penny was standing, the girl couldn’t help but shiver in fright. ‘Mom! I-I almost got turned into skewered Penny!’
The audience had already been scared silly, worried for the safety of the actors, but just when they were about to heave a sigh of relief, Emilia simply threw the broken sword away and continued fighting by hand.
Of course, the general wouldn’t discard her own greatsword just because her opponent lost their weapon.
The princess had a faint edge over the general before, but now anyone could tell that she was somewhat suppressed due to having to completely avoid the greatsword with no way to parry or deflect.
Just when everyone thought her defeat was imminent, however, the princess suddenly shot forward like lightning, far faster than she had been before, and the great general didn’t even realize when an explosive kick landed on her wrist, sending her greatsword flying.
Dixie found herself pinned face down on the ground, the soft palm of her princess gently grasping the back of her neck.
Emilia’s expression was firm and indomitable, but those who knew her could feel the gentleness in her voice. “Great General of Krass… admit defeat!”
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