I can't say I cared for the flashback, though. The transition from Karrus' POV to Akara's felt smooth and natural, whereas the shift to the flashback was jarring. This was mainly due to the shift from the limited narrator in the previous chapters to a suddenly omniscient one.
Quick thought about ideas and implementation: even a good idea won't work, if executed poorly. Good ideas aren't worthless (as some spec fic writers have claimed), but they must be executed well.
The idea for Chap 9 was that the narrator is Karrus himself. The short sentences, matter-of-fact descriptions, focus on military matters (uniforms, order of battle, battle formations, weaponry, strategic significance of the plains): this is the story as Karrus relates it to Akara. Detached, emotionless, not personal. He's analyzed the battle and he's relating the story the way an officer might deliver any battle report. "Just the facts."
I think, as a chapter, this idea was fine and interesting. Interesting, in character, shows how Karrus thinks. The implementation was flawed: it wasn't made clear enough that this is Karrus' account, not a flashback. Three simple changes would fix this: including "Karrus began:" at the top, moving the time/location to the body of the chapter, and italicizing the text.
My initial thoughts for the beginning of Chap 10 was to clarify this even further: begin with Akara POV, describing Karrus telling her this story (including the last 2 or 3 sentences of chap 9 as dialogue), how he describes things in a matter of fact way, with little facial expression, and draws units in the dirt, showing how the battle played out. Combined with the three changes above, it would integrate the scene, and make for a good implementation.
The thing is, Asmodemon is right. It isn't that this is a bad idea, it's that there's a lot of potential being wasted. Instead of the dry retelling Karrus does, a close third POV showing how he experienced it—a true flashback—would be more involving, more visceral.
Killing a divine and holy being deliberately, even to save the prophet, is a significant event emotionally. It ought be given more space and more description. I like the idea of Karrus describing a battle, and some other battle might be described that way later in the book, but this isn't the right battle to do that with.
So, a better idea has been presented, and I hope to implement that idea well. Thanks for the comments, all. (And thanks for the compliments, Flo.)