The Night of Blood

At Formal Mansion...

The architecture was European, confirming Tsunami's claims that this world, is Cultural Anachronism Stew.

The maids' outfits are maid uniforms from England in the 19th Century.

The Knights' outfits are northern european work. The JSDF looked up ancient armor but it seems the armor of nobility or those wealthy enough can afford 'better armor'.

'Hey, I still only see humans and still girls not my type...' Kurata muttered.

'Can't be helped, Italica's under siege they're out fortifying their storages while hiding them from the enemy.' said Tsunami. 'And of course, hiding their kids. Beastmen are valuable as slaves however despicable that sounds because prejudice is taken out on them, justifying slavery simply because they're not human.' she growled in disgust. 'The mere thought of it makes me want to burn these pieces of trash. I'll kill them all. Them and their ilk and their prejudiced bloodline down to the last infant.' she swore in deep bloodlust in a very frightening way of speaking that definitely promised death, unconsciously flaring her bloodline gifts through her rage and her bloodlust excited Rory while the others who felt it soaking the hallway shook in fear that gripped their hearts tightly and squeezing it.

'C-calm down Tsunami-chan, we're in a foreign setting!' Itami pleaded as they're about to arrive to an office.

'I can't calm...what did they do again to calm me down? I forgot...'

'Lelei, calm her down with magic pronto!' Itami cried urgently as Lelei raised her hand to mutter a spell and Tsunami looked dazed.

'Everything...will burn?' Pina gasped out anxiously and incredulously as the oppressive atmosphere was gone she could finally breathe easy.

'Three years ago, the empire attacked her village in the north. Her adoptive community.' said Kuwahara as Tsunami was boiling in anger, shaking while walking, and sparks are dangerously...sparking. 'The purpose was to enslave. Tsunami lost control and awakened her power for the first time, burning her village's enemies to death, unwittingly saving her village but she has no control they did something to calm her down. What her people did is unknown...'

'Wait a minute...the only record with that incident...the Warrior Bunny Village!' Norma exclaimed as the knights froze, knowing of the reports. 'She's adopted by Warrior Bunnies?!' four jaws dropped as the knights looked at Tsunami incredulously. That means...this young girl was the one who burned nearly 3000 men all by herself?

For Pina, while its OK to go to war with casualty, her brother got away alive horribly scarred from flames, half his body burnt and unable to sweat anymore he was effectively scarred, and overheating half of his body he wanted to cool down a lot. Due to his situation, nobody'd want to marry a scarred-effectively mutilated-man and his temper is at an all-time foul their father had to put him under House Arrest, forbidden to leave his mansion no matter the circumstance since he'll trouble all around him, and effectively replaced his servants with male ones...on Pina's private request, to protect them from his new foul personality and hired help is hard to come by!

With Zorzal effectively neutralized, Diabo is now Crown Prince of the Empire. And he was 'much nicer' if only he wasn't so paranoid and makes things complicated...just that, he has to watch out for retaliation.

'Yes. She's fiercely loyal to them and very kind to beastmen.' said Itami. 'The mere thought of anybody going after beastmen out of senseless prejudice will set her off. She'll burn anyone who claims to want slaves in beastmen. So while she's still out of it, watch what you say when she's nearby or you effectively jumped into your grave...she'll stop at nothing to kill you to protect beastmen.' he warned. 'No prejudice, got it?'

'...very well. We'll be careful...besides, we're not into that sort of thing!' Hamilton sputtered defensively.

'Good for you, too bad for idiots.' said Kuribayashi wryly, crossing her arms over her ample bosom. 'We don't believe in prejudice either, they just start unnecessary trouble nobody wants. We can't help what we're born as, y'know.'

xxx

And so...the planning continued while Tsunami was being held in check by Lelei until the surge of her flames subsided enough for her to wake up.

'...you OK? Lelei's soft-spoken voice asked her.

'Y-yeah...' Tsunami shook her head and she found herself on the couch. When she got up, a maid offered her tea which she took gratefully.

'You nearly lost it.' said Lelei. 'The others are in the talk of plans about the bandit raid.'

'I see...'

'But Tsunami...if you see bandits pour into the city...you might lose it again.' said Lelei worriedly. 'Your trauma...seeing armed bandits pour into Italica might trigger your memory of your village being razed and enslaved...'

'...' Tsunami pursed her lips. She nearly lost it. 'It was horrifying...seeing those kind to you fight to the death than be enslaved...Queen Tyuule paraded naked to humiliate her while their general said she willingly gave up for us to be spared and its a surrender or else...if everyone's down, what will happen to us kids back then? What will they do to us, if my magic never awakened on time and all adults are gone? Will they make us do that when we're like, ten years old-below?' Lelei balked and the maid with them gulped. 'I'd rather do it with a man I like and chose, not some despicable bastard.'

'...perhaps its not wise if you join these types of missions.' Lelei advised. 'Until the day you're strong enough to overcome your trauma, going against invasions is unadvisable. Without a means to control your anger and trauma, you'd be burning everything in sight. Control your anger and redirect it elsewhere. Easier said than done but its the hardest thing to actually do for someone with a situation like yours.'

And she's right.

'I'll try to cool it.' said Tsunami. 'I'm a warrior. Its shameful of me to be held back by something like this. I should be the one fighting and protecting, not the one being protected. I'm old enough to be in war in Bunny culture if only as support.'

'Well, you'll be with me as a precaution.' said Lelei. 'As magic users, we're the long-range. The plan is...' Lelei explained the plans, but Tsunami's instincts were making her feel that everything will go wrong with that plan.

'Hey Lelei, war isn't something organized like moves on a chessboard...war is anything goes and the last group standing wins.' Tsunami frowned. 'This won't go as she planned. While we're stuck here, the enemy has an advantage of when to come while we're forced to stay up all night waiting for them, fatigue tolling on us and then they'll strike at our worst. We're at a disadvantage.'

'Itami told us that much in private.' said Lelei. 'He intends to teach the princess a lesson that in war...things don't always go as planned. Its a lesson she must learn the hard way.'

'There's that.' Tsunami sighed before chuckling and smirked. 'A lesson learned the hard way. Its clear she and those two others aren't soldiers. They're clearly just decorated nobles who got knighthood by position while the old guy with them smells of blooded steel...a veteran who knows what to actually do yet not even he can say no to the wishes of those who pays his paycheck. Sucks to be him but he's probably hoping for the same thing as Itami does while surviving this case in the process.'

'Those nobles are definitely going to learn the hard way.' Lelei deadpanned.

'Well, did you find a trader?'

'I did. But he locked up shop to protect the shop's money I couldn't make a trade...'

'Maybe later. Ah, let's go eat a lot before tonight since we won't have the opportunity to eat two hours past sunset...and a lot of coffee!'

'You mean that bitter thing the JSDF drinks?'

'Well, there's different types of coffee...some delicious, some very bitter but the tradeoff is a nasty kick to keep you awake waaay past midnight.' Tsunami grinned. 'We can always wash the nasty taste off with some nice sweets.'

Lelei made a face.

'The day I actually taste delicious coffee is the day Master stops being an idiot.' Lelei stated flatly.

'That'd be sooner than you think...' Tsunami smirked as Lelei nearly tripped on the carpet. 'Why you haven't had ones mixed with milk and chocolate yet. Those ones are to die for!'

xxx

Earth...

'So you made a decision, Sawada-san?' the counselor mused as she saw Sawada Nana leave her house and lock the gates...with some luggage.

'Yes...I want to catch up.' said Nana. 'I already lost four years of her life plus four months. Its a tough fight for me especially when she probably wouldn't want to see me...' she shuddered nervously. 'But I have to make up for everything even if it meant doing work in Alnus.'

'Well, just remember, Tsunami-chan is a trained amazon and a trained soldier. There are some things you can never stop her from doing, especially when she knows she can, and can't do it. The guys at the Gate speak highly of her and treat her as a colleague she's definitely a shoo-in after high school into the Military Academy, probably.'

'Tsu-chan, a soldier...' Nana gulped. 'If I picked her up instead of going to friends on that day...would things be different...? And if those teachers did their damn jobs would things have been different...' she shook in adult justified anger.

'Life deals us cards. Some good, some bad.' said her counselor. 'Tsunami-chan got bad cards in Earth but got good cards beyond the gate. She's doing too well in tutoring too so in two years she's ready for Junior High. Find a good place to relocate though?'

'...I'll try saving up the money since my husband has the deed to this house I can't sell it...'

With that, Sawada Nana said farewell to a lonely house

xxx

Italica...

Because Tsunami felt the attack would come 'extremely late beyond midnight', it took some convincing to let Pina order everyone but the Fletchers and weapons suppliers and some people to stand watch to sleep to have the energy to fight later and for the day watch to be able to rest and leave the rest to those fighting in the night.

Itami also called for reinforcements to be triple-sure.

They ate and slept, and when they woke up, they ate a lot again before going to their assigned posts.

'So that's how you feel? They'll have bad luck while we're stuck here with nothing to do?' Itami asked Tsunami.

'Yup. My intuition, ever since awakening my powers are always accurate. Too accurate since I sometimes feel 'something' warning or telling me to stop or suddenly I get ideas that turn out to be good...'

Delilah did say she found a lot of wells and mines if left alone that Tyuule gave her Honorary Kin status. She brought them a lot of wealth!

'Sooo yeah, we're sitting idiots here while the knights drew the bad luck. Buuut you're going to teach them a lesson that in war, there's no such thing as perfect plans?'

'Yup.' Itami nodded. 'The most we can do is get what intel we can, prepare all we got, so no regrets later.' he grinned. 'I'll let them stew over there for 15 minutes into the fight before we go rescue them.'

'You can have a pretty mean streak there taicho.' Kurata snickered.

'Royalty and nobility learn the hard way a lot no matter what world.' Itami shrugged. 'Making them do things our way with a great difference in social status will be a pain in the bum since they'll use it to say 'I'm right, you're wrong', so being subtly sneaky is the best way to go. So let's get ready, loaded and after giving them a scare, we rescue them with guns-a-blazing. Then Col. Kengun's airforce will strike fear into the princess so she wouldn't want to fight with Japan by seeing our country's military firepower firsthand.'

Itami may be the jovial, laidback, carefree cheerful taicho but he can actually be scary because as an Otaku, he is very genre savvy, and can definitely be capable of psychological warfare, his first targets being the Princess and her Knights.

'Hmm hmm! Don't mess with Japan.' Katsumoto grinned.

It was what everyone agreed on.

xxx

Later when a fire at the East Gate is confirmed, the 3rd Recon Team simply messed around and joked about.

'Er...how come they're pretty happy over there?' Rory wondered aloud, as not far from them, the 3rd Recon Team were playing cards and joking around!

'Well, its their way of passing time while driving a stake of fear into the hearts of the arrogant nobles, is all.' said Tsunami casually, using a whetstone to sharpen her weapons. '15-20 minutes, then we start pitching in. That's enough time for Col. Kengun to come here and be the final hammer to drive that stake in, base-deep.'

'Ooh, I like it.' Rory licked her lips. 'Intending to make arrogance pay a costly price! The question is, will they learn or not?'

'Well, reality is a cruel teacher who'll give remedial lessons any day of the week, month and year?'

Rory laughed.

After some time, they went to the East Gate to help fend off some of the bandits, and showed how deadly they all are.

'Tuka, Wind Mage for the bandits, ensure the archers' arrows gets through their deflection.' Tsunami instructed in what she calls her 'Enlightened Form'. 'Lelei, back Tuka up and watch her back as well as send out what you do best and make sure its very deadly. Rory-sama and I will just go crazy over these idiots.'

'OK!' Tuka and Lelei went off to the walls to help the townsfolk's arrows get through while Lelei fires explosive magic. Rory, Kuribayashi and Tsunami went mano-a-mano. Tsunami even sprouting wings of flames to fire flaming feathers as sharp, burning implements designed to stab and immolate at once, since her swords weren't...good enough against the broadswords of the bandits, combined with the weight and force applied when swung down by the beefier men. Too thin and too brittle they broke! So she made do with flames and acrobatics.

Come sunrise, the reinforcements came...

xxx

Pina Co Lada was shaking.

Everything went wrong, when she planted the men-in-green into the more vulnerable South Gate since it was breached before she thought they can handle it while they handle the other gates. But they attacked where they were, overwhelming them!

She was just glad that they managed to sleep and eat before all this.

That, and they came when they noticed!

However, the men in green can kill from afar with those black weapons they carry.

Is that magic?

Magic wherein small holes is enough to kill a person when shot?

Then there's Rory the Reaper. She swats away armies as if they're paper, splattering blood in her wake.

Lelei-dono causing explosions. Can she teach that to the empire?

Finally the second horrifying thing they have that's actually human. Rory didn't count as she's a demigoddess therefore not human.

To Pina, the men in green are terrifying who can pierce through thick shields and kill from afar, and toss black balls that explode.

The second terrifying thing was Tsunami, the adopted human child of Warrior Bunnies. She was a Fire Mage who can even fly, and burn anything with a touch! If told to, she can burn down villages, towns and cities all by herself.

However, the horror that outstripped her ranking of the 3rd Recon Team and Tsunami was the iron arks and pegasi that makes unusual sounds, and laid waste on the bandits and survivors.

Just what kind of enemy did the Empire cross?!