The battlefield was, in theory, supposed to be a place of discipline, teamwork, and tactical brilliance. In practice, for Linked Hearts, it had devolved into barely controlled chaos that somehow worked out through sheer luck, questionable tactics, and an overwhelming surplus of stubborn determination. The current mission was a mock battle — part of the second phase of the Guild War Trials — a structured skirmish between participating guilds meant to test coordination under pressure. What it actually turned into was a live-action comedy routine.
The opposing guild, Steel Vow, was known for its rigid formation tactics and serious demeanor. Every step they took was in sync, their spells perfectly timed, their armor gleaming with unnatural polish. In contrast, Linked Hearts had a half-drunken bard humming the wrong tune, a squirrel-obsessed Beast Tamer riding a boar through the midline, and Kira — who had, within five minutes of battle, somehow gotten herself suspended upside down in a snare trap.
"This," Kira hissed, red-faced and arms flailing, "is clearly part of my grand plan."
MC paused mid-sprint, narrowly dodging a flying ice bolt, and turned to stare at her. "What plan involves getting your leg caught in a rope trap while yelling insults at the enemy?"
"It's called distraction tactics, peasant!"
"You called their leader a 'tin-plated poser with daddy issues.'"
"It worked, didn't it?"
The leader of Steel Vow was, in fact, still red with anger, abandoning his formation to yell obscenities at Kira while attempting to cut her down from the trap she was now swinging in like a sarcastic piñata.
Lina groaned and launched a wall of fire to force the attackers back. "Can someone untangle the rogue before she burns to death or combusts out of spite?"
Iris blinked once, muttered a time-freeze incantation, and calmly walked across the battlefield to snip the rope. Kira fell with a yelp and landed face-first in a bush.
Jax, ever the attentive bard, immediately began singing a ballad titled "The Fall of the Rogue Queen" with absolutely no rhyming structure and lots of awkward lute strumming. Kaela, who was currently using a bear-owl hybrid to flatten enemy mages, didn't even turn around as she shouted, "Stop singing or I'll feed you to the squirrel army."
Luna tried to keep everyone alive, her healing magic practically glowing from overuse. She darted between the members of Linked Hearts like a panicked nurse in a hospital overrun with drama students. At one point she had to slap a sleep spell on Jax just to stop his attempts at battlefield interpretive dance.
Despite everything — the trap mishaps, the misfired magic, the complete lack of a coherent plan — they were somehow winning.
Steel Vow's carefully orchestrated strategy crumbled under the bizarre, unpredictable whirlwind that was Linked Hearts. Every time they tried to form up, a random factor would ruin their rhythm — Kaela's boar sliding into their ranks like a bowling ball, MC blinking behind them by accident and panicking his way through a copied stealth attack, or Lina melting their shields with an "accidental" overcharge fireball.
By the time the horn blew to signal the end of the match, half of Steel Vow's members were tangled in vines, buried in summoned snow, or dazed from Jax's dissonant battle hymns.
Linked Hearts stood victorious, though not gracefully. MC's shirt was half-burned, Kira had leaves in her hair and a very smug smile, Luna was slumped in exhaustion, and Jax was asleep in a pile of enemy shields like it was a feather bed. Kaela patted her beast mount, nodding solemnly as if the entire mess had gone exactly according to plan. Iris, completely expressionless, simply brushed off some dirt and walked away like none of it was worth acknowledging.
"I think we did great," MC said, breathing heavily.
"You say that every time," Lina replied, tossing a fireball at a leftover banner.
"Because we survive. That counts, right?"
Kira crossed her arms, wincing as she pulled a thorn from her cloak. "I'll have you know that trap worked perfectly."
"You were the only one caught in it!"
"Exactly. No one suspects the bait. Strategic genius."
MC looked to Iris for backup. She just blinked. Then walked away.
Jax snored from inside a helmet.
And thus concluded another glorious, chaotic chapter in the legend of Linked Hearts — a guild that couldn't follow instructions, lacked basic structure, and had the combined battlefield grace of a circus on fire… but somehow, impossibly, kept winning anyway.
END OF CHAPTER 40