Apprehension was the best way Fanilly could describe the feeling grasping at her heart.

It was little better than the nerves that had plucked been plucked at when she spoke to Prince Erion himself. This was an almost incomprehensible legend, the one responsible for the birth of the modern world after the fall of Talderia.

What was she supposed to say? What was she supposed to do?

The conversation had been a mess, and Fanilly knew it.

But she was Knight-Captain. It was her duty to put the best foot forward.

Just as it was her duty to seize victory in this trial.

Not to defeat Prince Erion's Knights. That wasn't their goal. It was to secure victory by simply getting into striking distance of the legendary hero himself.

It was foolish to ever think that something like this would be easy, no matter how simple it may seem.

Fanilly inhaled deeply.

The plan she'd concocted was flexible. It had to be.

They were outnumbered, which meant they couldn't engage Erion's Knights and keep them away from the throne on a one to one basis.

But what they [i]could[/i] do is pull them away as best they could by making feints, by drawing as much attention as they could.

That was their duty. To distract them. To make so many possible attacks on the throne that they could eventually push one through.

A wide-ranging assault from multiple angles that would spread their defenses as thin as possible. This was the attack strategy she discussed with her knights in the leadup to the first trial. It had to be composed so that any one of them could be the one to reach striking distance. Relying on just one person to reach Prince Erion would make it that much easier for them to be bogged down and held back. Any one of them could perform as a distraction, just as any one of them could become the tip of the spear.

A flexible attack with the single purpose of reaching the Prince. The only one she'd been clear about their role to was their new mage. She was undeniably best served to staying further back and using ranged spells in order to disrupt their opponents' formation. On top of that, she could coordinate with her sister(?) to keep on further pressure.

They were up against legends. Fanilly had no idea how well they'd perform.

But they had to try.

The young Knight-Captain's cape fluttered in the wind as she smoothly drew her blade from its sheath.

"Iron Rose Knights, advance! Reach the throne!"