Second Battle of Plainville

The Second Battle of Plainville is a battle in the series of Madan no Ou to Vanadis, where the joined forces of Brune and Zhcted, known as the Moonlight Knights lead by Tigrevurmud Vorn, fought off the south branch Sachstein invasion force lead by Hans von Klugel at Plainville Hills. The first half of the battle was a non-progressive war of attrition to both sides. It wasn’t until the involvement of Valentina Glinka Estes, who suggested a tactic to lure Sachstein Army far away from their battle fort, for Tigre to spot a chance to snipe Hans and thus put an end to the battle. However, Valentina also orchestrated her script in secret by using this battle as a chance to plant more seeds of chaos into Brune's already unstable political situation.

Background
Brune Army's horrible defeat against the decisive Sachstein Army put Brune in the most vulnerable position under its enemy kingdom's invasion. To make matter worst, some of the ports (La Mer, Agde and Massilia) were fallen easily to their enemy, which believed to be defection from merchants and retainers who were (ironically) loyalist to the late Felix Aaron Thenardier before Sachstein Army even began its attack. Consequently, Nemetacum was captured by Sachstein Army without res and Melisande-who was also a perpetrator in a a conspiracy of Sachstein's invasion-was locked away in Nice Imperial Palace for interrogation. To save the kingdom from impending invasion, Brune had to call Tigre for his immediate return from Zhcted.

Zhcted's Response
Tigre, who was celebrating the Sun Festival in Silesia at that time, learned Sachstein Army's Invasion upon his home kingdom during the banquet and requested King Viktor for his immediate return for Brune. As Zhcted's response to Brune's latest crisis, Viktor dispatched two Vanadises (Elen and Valentina respectively) and 5,000 soldiers (2,000 from Leitmeritz while 3,000 from Osterode) to rescue Brune from its peril despite Sofy's skepticism towards Valentina's participation. Nevertheless, Valentina replied to Viktor and everyone that since Brune was Zhcted's close ally, she would obliged to help Brune in fending off the Western enemy.

Reunion Between Silver Meteor Army Generals
Under Tigre and Elen's leadership, Leitmeritz Army of 2,000 soldiers have arrived to Alsace where they were greeted by Elvin, a magistrate who was dispatched by Queen Regin to secure Alsace prior Tigre's absence and a modest feast was held tp celebrate Tigre's homecoming. On the next day, Tigre and Leitmeritz Army then traveled for Territore where they met Mashas and his son Gaspard but not House Augre's members (Hughes and Gerard) who went to Nice to help Regin. When Tigre told the Chancellor that Zhcted would provide assistance for Brune in order to repel the invasive army, Mashas also informed Tigre about what happened in Brune, from Durandal's disappearance and the cousins's (Regin and Melisande) feud during the Halo Festival to the fall of Nemetacum and other Brune southern territories. To his horror, Tigre also heard more about Brune Army's horrifying defeat after hearing stories from Shaie, who was one of 7,000 survivors from the first battle. Seeing the situation was more serious than they anticipated, Tigre and Leitmeritz Army had to ally themselves with Brune Army once again in order to defeat their invasive enemy.

First Failed Siege Attempt
On the next day, both Moonlight Knights and Sachstein Army were engaged in Plainville Plains where each army was split in several divisions. For Moonlight Knights, an army of 10,000 would split in four divisions: Tigre and Mashas would led the main force of 4,000 troops, with Leitmeritz Army (2,000 right wing) and Lutece Knights Squadron (3,000 left wing) served as their respective flank assault while the remaining 1,000 troops would cover the rear; Sachstein Army's would split in half where the first 10,000 troops (assault force) would participate the battle. The assault force was also split in several divisions as well, where the 3,000 troops acted as a right wing assault whilst the 4,000 troops served as the left flank, and the remaining 3,000 troops would defend their army's read and their stronghold.

The battle began where Sachstein Army's archers fired a volley of bolts against Moonlight Knights's Leitmeritz Army, only to see Elen's wind shield protected her soldiers from their bolts. As retaliation, Elen ordered her unit's archers to fire two volleys of arrows against the Sachstein Army, which was initially a success when Sachstein Army's shield were overwhelmed by repeated arrow shots. Despite the earlier advantages, Elen and Lim remained vigilant as they watched several castle defense mechanism from the Hill Fort, which presumably prepared for their arrival; moreover, their suspicions over the demons presence further heighten their wariness as Elen would try not to use the Veda as much as possible. Nevertheless, Elen ordered a charge towards to the enemy army.

After hearing a word about Leitmeritz Army's charge, Tigre also ordered the Right Wing to attack the enemy where the battle turned violent as Brune Army sought revenge against Sachstein Army for their previous defeat. To Tigre's and Mashas's shock however, Hill Fort's size became larger than before, which forced Tigre to order a full scale retreat. However, temptation of vengeance had overcome Brune Army's (including the Lutece Knights Squadron) senses as they continue to attack their enemy, without realizing that Sachstein Army's left flank was trying to provoke Brune Army's left wing (via throwing sticks) and lured them into an unknown trap. To prevent Sachstein Army's ambush, Tigre left Mashas to secure the retreat while he rushed to decimate the Sachstein Army's ambush unit with his arrow shot, causing a disarray and confusion within Sachstein Army and resulting the left Wing's immediate retreat. Just as he was rushing for the central unit while narrowly survived a bolt attack, Tigre also learned that Hans led his 5,000 troops towards the Left Wing, prompting the remaining force to provide their support for Leitmeritz Army to repel Sachstein Army's detached force.

Meanwhile, Elen also learned that Hans's Unit were on its way towards them and despite Brune Army's retreat, Elen insisted to attack all 5,000 troops (including Hans) as her ambushing but protested by Lim. However, after hearing Lim's advice that the detached Army would not attack after learning the Right Wing's retreat, Elen and the rest of the Left Wing also forced to retreat from the battlefield.

The Interlude
The first battle resulted 600 men casualties for Moonlight Knights and Sachstein suffers 1,000 casualties at the same time. The Moonlight Knight's initial siege attempt was a failure but Lutece Knights Squadron suffered the biggest toll of over 300 men dead soldiers, especially after their devastating war against Hans Army which immediately led to a war council for a newer approach. Elsewhere, Hans was disappointed over the lost while deeming both Elen and Tigre were more challenging than the suggested rumor.

The Fall of Hill Fort
After his negotiation with the Void Vanadis, Hans immediately ordered 100 men to secure the Hill Fort every key entrance just to prevent Valentina's escape despite his insecurities and suspicions about her, claiming that having a captured Vanadis as hostage could also benefit her even if the Night Raid was a failure. Once he completed his army's preparation, Hans further deployed additional 500 troops in order to increase Hill Fort's security as he believed that his army rendezvous with Schmidt's Invasion Unit and continuing their invasion towards Nice should his Night Assault Unit succeeded in decimating the Moonlight Knights's main camp in one strike, eventually abandoning Hill Fort and advancing northward to rendezvous with Sachstein's main unit.

After Hans and his Assault Army assembled at a certain location in Plainville Plains, he commanded a full assault towards on where appeared to be the Moonlight Knights's "Main Camp" with rings of Chain Mails in order to demoralize the defending soldiers. Little did Hans and Sachstein Army realize however, the "main camp" was suddenly turned bright as they were attacking the camp with holes and oils, further triggering the trap where the Moonlight Knight began to attack them within the darkness. Chaos immediately ensued as Sachstein Army became disoriented over the ambush and Hans was livid to realize Valentina's trickery but didn't know the numbers of his enemies due to the darkness itself. Miraculously, Hans was saved by his own soldiers who were tend to help him escape while stalling Elen and her ambush unit from chasing after their leader. During Sachstein Army's retreat, Hans narrowly survived the arrow shot but losing his helmet in the progress where he forced to watch the massacre of his other soldiers by the three-sides pincer attack from three sides, from front and rear, forcing Hans and his surviving Sachstein soldiers retreat from the scene.

Whilst Elen's unit continued to cause confusion to Sachstein Army's ranks, Tigre and 2,000 Lutece Knights were charging towards Hill Fort in order to capture the Fort and rescuing Valentina from peril. By the time he and his allies successfully capture the Fort and found Valentina however, he saw the Void Vanadis was covered in mud and losing her artificial roses where she used it to cause a fire on a tent before she managed to "escape" from her imprisonment. Because of exhaustion she wants to be carried piggyback by Tigre and due to her exhaustion and keep begging, he got no choice but to carry her.

The result was very decisive for Moonlight Knights as they managed to capture the enemy headquatres without any problem, forced Hans and surviving 13,000 soldiers forced to flee  approximately ten Belsta (10 km) away from the battlefield. For that reason, Sachstein lost around 5,500 soldiers in one night, either death or even fleeing admist the chaos of the darkness during night ambush, especially from the previous unit attack from Elen's Ambush Unit or Tigre's Siege Unit. Not losing the will to fight, Kruger ordered his men to go south despite already losing the main camp and he decided to hold out and prepared for the third battle while also awaiting the supplies and food from Nemetacum.

Klugel's Last Stand and Death
In the battle's third round, both Moonlight Knights and Sachstein Army fought in a final struggle and despite an disadvantages from one side of the army, Sachstein Army's tenacity and resolution were proven too overwhelming for the Moonlight Knights as Gaspard Unit and Bouroullec Unit were trying to retaliate against them. Because of this miscalculations, Mashas was somewhat upset about it but urged Tigre to return safely for Brune even he had to use his men as his living shields. Whilst leading his 300 men from the Central Unit to aid Bouroullec, which forced Sachstein Army to retreat Elen also joined the fray since she left the Right Wings's attack to Lim. Despite Elen warned Tigre that there might be an Crossbow Unit hiding in a bush and waiting for an ambush, the Alsace Earl told the Wind Vanadis that he would not need Arifal's help. prompting Elen to ask the alternative way which Tigre nodded.

On the hilltop, Hans was watching the Moonlight Knights's struggle while preparing 500 archers to standby their ambush. Rather than marching for hill's slope, the Moonlight Knights stopped as Tigre was notching his fire arrows while his men prepared to throw bags of oil via a large string. Tigre then fired his arrow with an amazing feat of distance-which shocked Hans-and the fire arrows finally land on the hillside, where the surroundings were emblazing by the fire arrow. To worsen the Sachstein Army's problem, several oil bags were thrown towards the hillside and created a large smoke that surrounded the entire hill, instantly dropping the Sachstein Army's morale.

Using the smokescreen as their advantage, Moonlight Knights charged towards the helpless Sachstein Army who was overwhelmed by the surrounding fire and the cavalrymen attacks. In the midst of chaos, Tigre and his army was Hans was escaping via a hill slope and being protected by ten soldiers. Without any hesitation, Tigre fired his arrow and killed Hans where his arrow pierced through his throat, causing the Sachstein General to fall down whilst seeing his dice rolling from his sleeve. After taking his last breath whilst unable to reach his prized possessions, Hans was perished in the battle.

Aftermath
Hans's death by the Moonlight Knights not only forced the surviving soldiers to surrender, it also crushed the former unit's expedition to Brune's southern territories. Instead of keeping the surviving 6,000 soldiers as prisoners which he deemed too much even for the Moonlight Knights to handle, Tigre freed Sachstein soldiers and told them to bury the fallen and take Hans body back to their home kingdom. Despite suffered casualties that merely lesser than 1,000, Tigre and Titta were upset over the lost of three Alsace soldiers. In order to give a good news to Regin while giving the army to rest, Tigre and the Moonlight Knights decided to march for Nice without knowing that Hans's false rumor (about Tigre being Zhcted's "puppet general") has already spread to Nice.

Valentina, who was acted as a reserved backup for the Moonlight Knights, had just woke up from her nap and anticipated the Moonlight victory. Viewing Tigre as a "fun" person while suspecting King Viktor's ulterior intention in interfering Osterode's affair, Valentina would highly anticipating her further expectations towards Tigre especially after witnessing Elen's and Lim's relationship with Tigre, prompting her to yearn seeking another opportunity in teasing Tigre again. She would later joining the Moonlight Knights's meeting with the queen and to be involved in quelling Melisande's uprising where she briefly saving Tigre from Ganelon's attack.

In Brune, false rumors about Tigre's "treachery" eventually reached to Nice's Royal Palace, instantly worsen ministers's and retainers's animosity towards Tigre without any investigation. Consequently, some ministers decided to defect for Melisande whilst plotting to revolt and even kill Regin and Tigre (assumed traitor). Of all Brune ministers and retainers however, only House Augre, Auguste and Regin remained skeptical upon the rumor and believed that Tigre was innocent. The incident would later lead to a civil skirmishes between two factions (Regin and Melisande respectively) where the Moonlight Knights had to quell the usurpers by force.

Elsewhere, Nice Invasion Division unit are also mourning late general's death after they receiving the news from Nemetacum. Leonhardt, Nice Western Invasion Unit and Calvary Commander, who also an admirer of Hans, would swear vengeance for the his fallen comrade and vows to defeat the Moonlight Knights. This would lead an all-out-war between Sachstein Army and Moonlight Knights that will take place in Prowirl Plains where the battle also involves Asvarre Army who (supposedly) aiding Sachstein's invasion, only to betray its ally later after Tallard's secret meeting with Tigre that forcing Leonhardt and the entire Sachstein Army to retreat from Brune.

Trivia

 * This is Valentina's first mentioned battle in the series, although she only used her tactics instead of Veda or combat skills to fight.


 * By far, before Valentina's "late" arrival, breaking through Hans's fortress was Tigre's hardest siege attempts in his campaigns due to Hans's strategy on building the fortress, something Tigre never faced before, meaning that he was unable to use Ludmila's siege strategy to defeat Hans's own.


 * This is the only battle that each of round has around 8-12 hours of break between battles (1st battle during afternoon, 2nd battle during the midnight and 3rd battle during afternoon) effectively 24 hours has three battles.