Ryoma
By the time the enemy arrived, our numbers were pretty near two thousand, and still more coming in.
Immediately, though, I could see that we were outnumbered. In the sky alone, their numbers were about two thirds of hours, and there were even more on the ground. It was ironic, though. The first time that so many humans and sky people were working together, and it was to overthrow the royal family.
Unsheathing my dual swords, which the younger Atobe had brought on his trip from the palace, I fell into a half crouch in preparation for the charge. To my right was my cousin Kunimitsu and immediately behind him was the older Atobe who went by the name Keigo, Tomoka, and Sakuno. To my left was my childhood friend Syuusuke and behind him were his younger brother Yuuta, and two other childhood friends who had come from Hyotei and went by the names of Akutagawa Jirou and Oshitari Yushi. Behind them, were the rest of the students and their friends and family. Everyone had been fitted with weapons gathered from the homes of the families participating.
I had had to argue for a long time for my cousin to let me lead the charge, but I had eventually gotten my way.
When the other side saw us, they faltered for a moment and I decided to take advantage of that opportunity. Screaming a vicious war cry, I charged forward and everyone on my side fell in behind me.
As the two sides clashed, I danced from opponent to opponent, slashing them all down in minutes. Growing up, I had learned kenjutsu from the best swordsmen alive, both sky walkers and humans.
After my tenth opponent, when nobody else challenged me, I took to the air to survey the situation. The area around the school had turned into a bloody battlefield and I could see the human students of Seigaku hiding inside.
Immediately, I knew the situation was bad. The enemy were gaining ground and our side were forced closer and closer towards the school.
At that moment, I felt a slight change in the air pressure around me and turned on the person that had tried to sneak up on me. Bringing my leg up, I tried to land a kick on him, but he caught me and threw me to the ground.
Surprisingly enough, I landed softly, not at all hurt, and my attacker said in a familiar voice, "You've grown stronger, your Highness."
My eyes widened and I gasped out, "Gen-chan!"
The one who had attacked me was Sanada Genichirou, the son of one of my father's most trusted advisers.
Leaning in close while pretending to attack me, he said, "Fear not, your highness."
I immediately leaped up and as the two of us fought a mock battle, he explained to me his strategy.
More than half the sky people in the opposing army were in fact undercover agents. They had discovered the plot to overthrow the royal family not long before the attack, and so had sent spies to join their ranks. What nobody had expected, though, was that their aim wasn't the king and queen, but me, the crown princess.
When they had failed to prevent the army from coming here, they had formed a quick strategy wherein I and the people supporting me would continue to fight the opposing side while the undercover agents would slowly pull back.
After they had formed a ring around the battle, slowly, they would commence, attacking the enemy from behind.
Finishing the explanation, Gen-chan shot me one last worried look, then turned and left. Looking around, I could see that a lot of the people on my side did in fact look as if they were holding back their power, while their opponents were too caught up in the fight to realize it.
Finally, about ten minutes after Gen-chan had told me the plan, I heard the tell-tale cries of surprise going up from the other army.
Some of the less concentrated fighters turned back to look and we began our counterattack.
Being pressed from both inside and out, the other side quickly began to lose their ground. Within minutes, we had all but won, and the approximately hundred or two of the opposing side that were still standing surrendered.
As ropes seemingly appeared from nowhere, the people on our side that were the least wounded began tying them up. About an hour later, the sky people on the opposing side were being transported to our capital city to face a trial, and the humans (who were much larger in numbers) had all been arrested and been sent to various prisons in the surrounding area to await their trial.
As doctors and ambulances arrived on scene to treat the injured, I swept through the crowd, taking in the damage. In the end, it was determined that the number of lives lost on both sides totalled 64. The number was pretty low for a battle of this magnitude, but I was nowhere near pleased.
Of the 64 that had died, 21 were sky people and the loss was like a blow to me. I had tried to steel myself, I knew that this would happen, but I couldn't take it.
I hadn't known any of the 21 personally, but that didn't make the loss any less bearable. I sank to the ground, cradling my head with sobs racking through my body.
"Your highness…" came a soft voice. Looking up, I saw a small group of people standing in front of me. Judging from their tear stained faces, I assumed they were the family of some of the dead.
I braced myself for them to tell me how much they hated me. Instead, they looked at me sympathetically and one of them said, "It's not your Highness's fault."
I shook my head, still crying. "It is. It's all my fault! Why? Why don't you guys hate me?"
"They volunteered to fight because they loved you, just like we did. They definitely hold no resentment towards you," said another girl. "Besides, you fought just as valiantly as any of them, probably even more. I'm sure they were proud to have fought alongside you."
I kept shaking my head and crying. Even though they had forgiven me, I couldn't forgive myself.
Suddenly, I felt strong arms wrap around me and looked up to see that I was surrounded by my friends and family.
It was Syuusuke who was holding me and his eyes were open for once, but he wore a gentle expression.
"They're at peace now," he said and that calmed me somewhat.
I lay my head against his chest and was tired enough to fall into a deep sleep.
SkyGem: So, what did y'all think of this chapter? Leave a review and tell me what ya thought, ne? And until next time, farewell!
