The Tussle of the Greats!

“My Lord! A raven has arrived and it has the Queen’s mark on it” Lord Pratap’s squire had been running all around to convey this news and he finally found him where he should’ve looked in the first place, the tavern!

Pratap as usual had been drinking way too much, being on a break from all the wars he had fought lately, mostly for friends!

“About time, huh? Well hand it over to me kid. What are you looking for?” Pratap instructed without even taking his eyes off his wine!

The raven read, “Hey Pratap, it's time! We’ve been challenged by N3O, UTB, GJs and a few other worthy opponents at once and we need all the help we can get in order to take control of the Adamant Fortress! I know we can count on you and Log1c but just in case you both cannot commit to the cause, I totally understand. But otherwise, please march for the Fortress as soon as possible. Regards, Queeny!”

Queeny was the queen of the seven kingdoms and Pratap, who usually never liked pledging his sword to anyone, had bent his knee for her! Was it because of her kind heart or eternal beauty or righteousness? Well, no one knew for sure but the only evident fact was, if Queeny would ever call Pratap, he’d definitely be there!

Pratap gulped his wine in some rush and rushed towards the Great hall to inform Log1c about the raven. Log1c had been strategizing about the arena event quite intensely and was always occupied with it.

“Hey you! Leave this crap and get ready! We have a war at hand and Queeny needs our support. You have a couple of hours to get ready so grab whatever you need and we’d march for the Adamant Fortress” Pratap informed Log1c and rather gave him an ultimatum.

“Oh is it? Alright. I won’t need much time to prepare anyways and once we hit the road, maybe we can discuss a bit about the strategies I’ve come up with for the Arena” Log1c was still half occupied with the Arena and kinda annoyed Pratap a bit too because he didn’t care too much about such stuff and believed only in valor, courage and killing his enemies!

“Oh man! Can you please just stop with this before I kill you instead?” Pratap was so annoyed but he knew it won’t make any difference as Log1c would still do what he wants to do!

“Alright alright! Who are we going to support by the way? Any idea?” Log1c sensed the frustration and therefore tried to change the topic.

“Well I am not particularly sure but I am guessing ‘peacetown’ and ‘Athena D God’ should be there for sure. And unless I am guessing it all wrong, we might also have ‘Black bear’ with us” Pratap had done this before too so he had a fairly good idea on what to expect although for now, this was just a way to kill their time whilst they marched to the Fortress.

But each and every kid, men, women and elderly was well aware of ‘peacetown’ and his greatness. ‘The knight of unparalleled might and strength’ is how they used to describe him. There was hardly any battle which he hadn’t won and basically, his hat had all the feathers!

‘Athena D God’ and ‘Black bear’ were not very different either. They too were one of the strongest and most reputed lords of the seven kingdoms! They too were proud champions of many tourneys and wars and battles so, all 3 of them coming together meant that the enemy won’t have an easy job.

Lost in glittery stories and memories, Pratap and Log1c didn’t quite realize and soon they reached the Fortress. The siege had already begun and N3O warriors were in abundance, clearly the toughest opponent for the day!

N3O had several mighty warriors too like Meridianos, b3nni, Dracken and Tweety! And that meant if they’d get decent support from other lords and ladies, they could totally occupy the Fortress and emerge as Conquerors!

“I think it won’t just be about the bannermen tonight! All the reinforcing lords and ladies would play equally crucial roles because their soldiers would bleed the most. Or am I mistaken, my Queen?” Pratap had a cute smile on his face and he had almost sneaked up on Queeny and peacetown while they stood across the battlefield, staring at the enemies!

“About time! Good to see you here Pratap! And yes, once again, you’re not at all mistaken” Queeny was extremely glad to see Pratap and Log1c. Log1c as always bowed from the distance, as that’s what he used to maintain - a bit of distance!

“Great to see you too PT. With you being our first bannermen, I am pretty sure that we won’t have much to worry although N3O seem prepared” Pratap greeted peacetown, who was often referred to as PT.

“Hey Pratap! Good to have you here. Let’s not underestimate our enemy. I will try to take control of the Fortress from the very beginning and then let’s see how it all pans out but I am pretty sure that N3O won’t back out” PT was one of the best and he knew the importance of not undervaluing the enemy.

The moment had arrived. All the warriors were ready, geared up and raring to go fight for their side. And as soon as the barriers opened, PT managed to enter the Fortress with lightning fast speed and soon after that, all the other lords and ladies rushed in to reinforce him with the best soldiers so that N3O warriors won’t be able to defeat him.

Lord Pratap commanded really high quality cavalry soldiers but since PT’s defense consisted mostly of spearmen, he knew that having cavalry there won’t give PT any strategic advantage.

“I know I haven’t given you guys a good enough training opportunity but please, for the love of God, don’t get me humiliated by doing something funny. Go, slay all the enemies and make me proud” Pratap commanded his spearmen soldiers as they marched for the Fortress, to be commanded by PT from here on.

Log1c on the other hand was a lot more relaxed and confident as he commanded some really amazing spearmen soldiers, “Well, I am pretty sure that N3O would try and hit us really hard but my soldiers are strong enough to hold them off, all by themselves”.

And while Pratap and Log1c joked around, Queeny drew their attention to the fight. “Fellas, keep an eye out! Looks like N3O and WAO have already launched an assault. We need to focus here too” Queeny emphasized on the battle but if only she knew how these 2 were accustomed to fight and win.

And it was indeed true! Syler had decided to target PT alone, with a solo march and well, the outcome of course was extremely ugly for him.

But apart from him, all the other warriors who tried to attack PT, couldn’t even scratch the wall of the Fortress and they literally got hunted down!

Pretty soon N3O and all the others realized what they had to do. They decided to coordinate their next wave of attacks - all of them coming at once at PT. But as it turned out, it did them no good either! Amidst all this action, Pratap, who at first seemed pretty relaxed, suddenly got shocked. He could spot Mandy and Scooberman ralling PT. Now, Mandy and Scooberman were two really good friends of Pratap and alongside Log1c, they were used to fighting together most of the time, so that’s what made Pratap wonder, ‘what the hell changed for so bad?’

“Don’t be too surprised brother! Scooberman and Mandy both have their allegiance with UTB and therefore, they can’t leave them and fight with us. Hence, they’re against us” Log1c explained the situation, or better to say it like ‘solved the mystery for Pratap’.

It all made sense. But Pratap was still wondering, ‘How will we manage to overcome all these warriors?’ Meridianos, b3nni, Dracken, Tweety, Biet, Syler, steliosss, Mandy and Scooberman - all of them targeting the Fortress in sync so there was definitely a chaotic situation out there but PT stood strong.

“What oh goodness! What a disaster this is! I mean, he commanded full Infantry soldiers to have an edge over spears and still such a massacre, I feel so sad and sorry for Scooby but damn this is so funny as well” Pratap couldn’t decide whether he wanted to enjoy this or be sad about it.

Since Scooby got totally annihilated, it was only obvious that tintin too got butchered badly. This only hampered UTB’s hopes as now it was obvious to them that they couldn't do much until PT was in the fortress.

Biet too had a similar outcome for his assault on PT. There seemed no glimpse of hope for anyone as the Fortress’ defense seemed impenetrable. But all of a sudden, STORMZ from N3O managed to take control of the Fortress. Apparently, too many warriors came all-in and at the same time, and even though they all did little damage, it all added up in the end and that resulted in the downfall of the defense.

But that didn’t last long as ‘Athena D God’ solo’ed the fortress and took back control. N3O warriors didn’t reinforce the castles on time and that didn’t give much fighting  chance to STORMZ!

Vi per  tried to snatch the fortress by targeting Athena but that wasn’t a wise decision and he too got annihilated. Syler faced the same outcome but Dracken’s army managed to beat his defense. But that still wasn’t enough to take over the fortress.

“This is not good news. If they keep bleeding us in the Fortress, I am not sure for how long we’ll be able to keep defending” PT knew the significance of dominating from the moment go but the challenge was ensuring Athena and Black bear could also hold and defend.

“I believe they can hold. But let’s see for a bit more time and then maybe we can try to put you back in the Fortress and that clearly would be a lot easier” Queeny agreed with PT but she had a lot more hope and patience!

Athena managed to hold off loads of enemy hits and then finally, they decided to go for the hard swap. The real tension was not about PT, it was about ensuring that both ‘Athena D God’ and ‘Black bear’ get the next two occupations! 

“Alright let’s do this! Athena, let go of the castle and one of our allied lords will grab the Fortress. Black bear is also ready to go and then he’d take over the Fortress defense” PT conveyed the master plan but everyone was well aware that the plan sounded much easier than it actually was.

And there it was! Once again it was a successful swap! Black bear managed to get hold of the fortress and all the other warriors once again reinforced the fortress with the same agility. The original plan was to ensure that Athena would finish second and Black bear would be third but all of a sudden there was a moment of stress when PT and Queeny realized that they hadn't been able to swap Athena back in the fortress.

“If this is how it’s gonna go, we might not succeed in our plan! We need to come up with a new plan and strategy. Any suggestions?” PT wasn’t sure what to do next as Black bear wasn’t able to disband the Fortress and all the enemy warriors kept bleeding the fortress.

“In order to win, we might have to lose first” Pratap couldn’t hold back anymore so spoke up, still trying to control his laugh!

“What do you mean?” Queeny was well aware of Pratap’s quirky methods and she knew she wouldn't like one bit of it but still, had no other choice!

“Well, if BB can’t disband and we all keep reinforcing, it will be like an endless tussle. We’d keep bleeding but won’t get what we want. So maybe we can recall all our soldiers from the Fortress and let them have it. We can then switch to offensive and take it back! Maybe this time under Athena’s banner!” Pratap expressed his point of view to be honest, it was all bad or spooky! 

Everyone was on board with this plan but the real tension was, it was very risky. What if N3O manages to take control of the fortress with one of the strongest warriors like b3nni or Dracken or Meridianos? But they had no other choice anyways! Athena was the most stressed out person as the burden to get the fortress back, lied on his shoulders!

“Time to recall all marches and I can’t stress enough on this point guys, once we lose the Fortress, we need it back quickly so please, as soon as Athena manages to grab it, reinforce it quickly” It was too stressful all around and PT came and made the big announcement! Athena was all set, raring to go!

All soldiers recalled, and soon the fortress was lost. And now came the real issue - “will Athena manage to get back the ownership and control of the Fortress or will this risky move prove too risky?”

But Athena did well and managed to take over the Fortress! This was one of the most heroic pull-offs, despite so many mighty N3O warriors being on the other side! But that wasn’t the end of it.. It was already an established fact that once Athena enters the fortress, all the warriors would start attacking. And that’s exactly what happened. A flurry of attacks started pouring in from all sides and while it was difficult, Athena still defended against them all. But the most anticipated matchup was yet to come. The big fight which might determine the success of this swap!

And as expected, Dracken quickly launched an attack on the fortress, causing really high damage!

“Alright, we’ve got to do one last swap! Athena is being targeted pretty hard so we need to swap you inside for better defense!” Queeny was adamant to not receive high damages and definitely not now, when all the targets had been achieved.

“Yeah I guess we can do this! It shouldn’t be too tough and I really hope that helps all our warriors” PT was on the same page.

The last swap turned out to be one of the easiest ones! PT was able to take over the defense of the fortress and not just that, he managed to hold it till the very end! And that was Game, Set & Match!!

“Well, looks like your plan worked really nice after all Pratap! This has been really nice and we managed to grab all 3 top spots tonight and although we bled a bit more than we wanted to, it’s a huge success!” Queeny was pretty happy with the outcome of the battle.

“Well as we all know, I’m a genius! But yeah, jokes apart, I am really happy for this outcome but we’d have to leave quickly now. There is some unfinished business back in our kingdom so we’d need to address it quickly! But if you need us anytime, we’d just be one raven away, like always!” Pratap started off with a ‘flying high’ attitude but came right back on the ground as a raven had arrived from back home, highlighting that there might be some conspiracy and rebellious activity going around.

“Thanks again for coming here and helping us out. In case you need any help with anything, let me know! I wish you a safe ride back home” Queeny hugged Pratap and wished him well as he grabbed his sword.

Pratap and Log1c greeted PT and others and left immediately for their kingdom. The war was won and the buffet started in the Adamant Fortress in the celebration! All the lords and ladies sat down for a great supper and the only thought going through Queeny’s mind was how Pratap and Log1c missed this moment. But if only she knew these two fellas! Pratap and Log1c on the entire road back to their kingdom were pretty much drinking and talking about so much useless and senseless stuff, which indeed was kind of fun for these two! Well, it is what it is, some people just enjoy nonsense talks more than a supper!