1453: Revival of Byzantium

Chapter 372: The Spotlight Is On Giovanni

Giovanni battles on against the increasing drowsiness inside him, he knows that he needs to bandage his wounds with his first aid dressing but the situation is unfavorable in doing so. Plus, he can feel that there are something wrong with his left knee, most probably there is a slight fracture in his ligament caused by the impact of that arrow just now as he can clearly see a huge dent right on the plate that is used to protect his legs. 

Finally, Giovanni could advance no more, this gigantic Latin man finally succumbed to his injuries kneeling on the blood tainted dirt unable to stand up once more and fight. He observed his surroundings for the first time panting heavily up and down, the band of brothers that accompanied him all along since the start has dropped to only twenty of them, all in ill conditions unable to continue their combat operations. 

Giovanni stared at the front, focused his dazing eyes back on to his target, who is now only a mere twenty meters away, a distance that usually would only take him less than five seconds to run there, but now this twenty meters seems to be even further than any other paths he has walked so far. He can feel his strength quickly draining from his body. Is it the end of his destiny here? Giovanni thought to himself as he looked upwards at the darkened sky; The stars embedded in to the milky sky bringing an unusual kind of peace and karma and tranquility, coming to greet the general's eyes through that curtain of dried dense blood, luring both his head and heart upwards, connecting his souls with the supernatural wonders lurking around in the heavenly skies. 

Giovanni's hazel eyes dulled with the light from his pupils fading away, as if time has stopped before his eyes. If it is for the others their mind would be filled with things like families or friends which gives them a sudden burst of energy making them leap back in to battle. But obviously this does not work for Giovanni. Just as he is staring at the skies with his mouth gaping and heart beating like it is coming out of his chest, an arrow came from a far and flew right above his eyes which instantly reinitiated his fighting instinct, making his muscles twitch and the entire person coming back to life. He has never forgotten where he is standing now and what kind of situation, he is in. 

Giovanni looked at the cutlass in his right hand, already full of dents and scratches obviously beyond any further usage. He looked at the man on the white horse, who is still there in the same position looking at him. The distance between the two men seems to be so close that Giovanni can even observe the expression on that man's face; It is a rather haughty one, with a contempt smirk that seems to be telling Giovanni 'Oh? So, this is all you got?' With the last bit of strength concentrated on his right hand Giovanni stepped forward pulling a Kilij blade from a random fallen Ottoman trooper, made a roar and flung it at the Ottoman commander on the white horse. 

The Kilij flew a gorgeous curve across the sky right towards that figure on the white horse twenty meters away. The blade was so close to Mahumad Pasha Angelovic that its tip literally flew right past his eyes, with only inches before it makes a mark on his head. Though fortunately for Mahumad Pasha Angelovic, Giovanni was already exhausted before he threw the blade thus his aiming is not that up to standard as his past times. But still, this life threatening accident made Mahumad Pasha Angelovic burst in to cold sweat like a hammer, waking him up instantly from his fantasies reminding him that this is a battle field, not any where like his training shed, tent or office, no matter who you are, you can still die with insignificance in the end of the day. This blade served as a lesson for this pasha who has been away from a direct close quartered combat for way too long.

The Kilij blade did not just stop there, with enough potential energy it continued flying in the mid year towards the back of Mahumad Pasha Angelovic, finally hitting some thing halting the blade in its path it's a pole, a flag pole, the pole for the Ottoman commanding flag.

Under the horrified sight of the flag bearer, the gigantic almost three meter flag slowly started to have a shift in its central of gravity, bending slowly due to a huge gap from that impact of the blade, and finally it came down plunging on to the ground, causing a loud thump that is hearable even in this chaotic battle field, attracting every combatant's attention towards this side, and for the Ottomans, they became utterly speechless with various wild thoughts running within them, because all of them knows what it means for the commanding flag to fall abruptly on the battle field.

The falling of the flag means two things, the entire commanding and signalling system of the Ottomans that is heavily reliant through flags is now half paralysed, as no more orders can now be sent from the central command. And most importantly, the falling of the flag might symbolise that their foes, the Rumelians have successfully captured their central command, killed or taken their commadner Mahumad Pasha Angelovic in custody.

The entire battle field is muted for a brief moment, before the quick thinking Roman commander of the left wing noticed the falling of the Ottoman commanding flag, and started using back his old trick shouting around in both languages. "The commander of the Ottomans has been slain! Drop your arms and surrender to save your lives!" The soldiers around Mauro too followed their leader and started shouting out in an unified voice, this sentence soon spread to the other Roman war fighters as they started shouting the same thing.

Despite knowing that these cursed words came from the mouth of these cunning Rumelian pricks which is definitely not trustable, the Ottoman combatants still could not resist the fear and temptation growing in their heart and gave more attention to their commanders, which is too far away in this chaotic war zone making them unable to get a clear knowledge of what is going on over there. They prayed hard that the commanding flag will erect one more time sending signals that the pasha is fine, or at least some one start shouting back that the Rumelians are sending false information to them giving at least a mental comfort.

However, none of these things they are praying happened, every one remained speechless, with no flag being raised, and what made things even worse is that after a while the Sultan's royal flag of the white horse too came down, traumatising the Ottoman forces even more. The Romans, now commanded by Mauro, took the chance to slow down their attacks while they managed to re established connections with the heavy infantries protecting Giovanni and extracted the already half unconscious general out of this Ottoman pit hole.

The Ottoman forces' lost their central command in the height of the battle field. Although the situation of their battle already intense with every single unit sticked to their designated enemies in a zig zag formation, the stability of a central command is still a vital thing to the entire army despite it being no longer that useful, just because it serves as a back bone of the entire army telling every one that yes, your general, your leader is here standing with you, he is not a coward, he is not a clone. If the commander is a coward and decides to run away or worst situation, be slain. It would be like the back bone of the army being pulled away leaving nothing behind but a soulless body.

The Ottoman troops, especially the ones trained by Mahumad Pasha Angelovic is considered one of the most elite forces in the entire Ottoman military establishment, one cannot deny that they are an effective forces specially trained using the experience that Mahumad Pasha Angelovic acquired during his failure beneath the city of Constantinople and Thessaloniki, but Mahumad Pasha Angelovic certainly did not consider to put  the situation of what happens if he dies or loses his ability to command in their training. And no one dares to assume the command of the pasha due to his strict discipline and the fear if any one has their influence over him, unlike the brother hood formed between Giovanni and Mauro for years.

Minute after minute passed since the falling of the Ottoman command flag, and now the Romans seems to have gotten their pace lessening the pressure on to the Ottoman front line, while for the Ottomans, what they fear is now becoming a reality. The morale of the entire army is dwindling with the force slipping in to the black hole of their own demise, slowly but steadily.