Courtroom, Ministry of Right and Wrong, Higan

For the first time in living memory, Shiki's courtroom wasn't hearing judgment. Instead, the Yama was talking with Yukari and Eirin. Reisen, Ran, and Komachi were standing off at the door with nothing to do.

"The way I see it, we might not be ready before the invasion starts," the Yama was saying. "We have had some of the best warriors in history teaching us how to fight like the outside world, but now that it's clear that we're vastly outnumbered..."

"We still have the support of the moon forces once this starts. I know for sure that the Lunar Defense Corps have better weaponry than the earth. I designed most of myself," Eirin paused. "But the problem would be the casualties from the fighting. With the time that Yukari has calculated, we would be short on the proper medicine for at least a month after the first attack. The youkai can heal fast, but I'm worried about the Hakueri miko and the magician."

Yukari nodded and sighed. "That's one of our priorities after all. Even with the barrier gone, we still can't let Remiu get hurt. The same goes for Marisa. Those two are close, if either of them get hurt, it all goes downhill."

"I can't bend the rules of life and death for either of them," Shiki said. "The best I can do is to tell them to stay sharp. Even your power of manipulating boundaries can't bring back the dead. Lord Yama has made sure of that."

"There may be a way, but I doubt that either of them would approve," Eirin started.

"The Hourai elixir cannot be an option," Yukari stomped the idea. "Its common knowledge that the one thing Marisa values above everything is her humanity. And for Remiu to give her's up would make her give up what she is. The Hakueri family has always been human, and mikos are supposed to be human. Remiu won't ever want to give that up."

"So that brings us back to our original question: how are we going to keep Remiu from getting killed during all this. And why should be bother with the barrier gone?" Shiki asked.

"Remiu is the only one that can keep everyone from cutting each other's throats. The Onis respect her, the vampires listen to her, the humans have started to trust her more, and even the underground will pay attention to her." Yukari looked away. "And it's my responsibility to make sure that no harm comes to the Hakueri line. That's a promise I have kept for so long and I'm not about to change that."

The Yama knew that this was as close as the gap youkai would get to confessing more of her past, so she let it go.

Eirin had picked up a large book that was stilling nearby. Absentmindedly, she flipped through it. Then something caught her attention. "Who all have you brought back from the Netherworld to teach us, Eiki?"

"So far, we had Simo Hayha, Pancho Villa, Francis Marion, George S. Patton, Napoleon Bonaparte, the Duke of Wellington, Robert E. Lee, the Red Baron, and a few others."

"This book, have any of you read it?" The Lunarian holds it up. "It's a very through book. We can learn a lot more from the author." The book was titled Infantry Attacks. The author was Erwin Rommel.

"Erwin Rommel? I haven't heard that name in a long time," Yukari pulled a textbook from a gap. "Earned the title of "The Desert Fox" during the last World War. Was able to turn a hopeless campaign around with limited support and supplies. Lived by a high moral code. Considered one of the best generals of all time."

"He's teachings would be extremely useful. Why haven't we got him yet?" Eirin asked.

"One of us appears to have an issue with their past. Until she comes to terms with it, Field Marshal Rommel's time won't really make that much of a difference." Shiki shook her head. "It's somewhat sad. She has nothing to be ashamed of."

"It took me a while but I finally see that."

Walking into the courtroom, Sakuya held her head high in her dark blue uniform. But it wasn't her regular maid uniform. This time she wore her German Army uniform, complete with her short saber and white gloves. Even with her bias against the earth's military history, Reisen couldn't help but feel a little jealous of Sakuya.

"None of you seemed surprised. Was I really that obvious?" Sakuya held her service cap under her left arm. It bore the silver German eagle with lightning held in its talons.

"The way you were always obedient to your master was a strong hint. That level of obedience can only come from either military training or being a sh. Add to this the fact that you were more mission type than directive type. That was a stronger hint, since that was how the Germans did so well in the Second World War." No one except Shiki and Eirin had never heard Yukari analyze someone so thoroughly. The gap youkai shrugged. "And I'm sure the others had their ways as well."

The yama held up her mirror. Eirin shrugged. "For a human to be able to last as long as you, it really was obvious. And Reisen's report on how quick you picked up the marksmanship courses were extra."

Yukari had taken to inspect Sakuya's uniform. The way the dark blue complemented the black trimming. The way that it was shaped to her. It was one of the best uniforms that she had seen.

"This uniform, is it one of the first production runs?" Yukari eyed the Sam Browne belt holding her saber.

"It was the one that Hugo Boss had as the sample to present to our High Command. He was so impressed with the way it looked on me that he had them issue it to only me. From what I heard, I was the only one with a uniform like this. It survived Europe, Russia and North Africa."

"This would be a great base for our own uniforms." Yukari pulled out her cell phone, snapped a quick picture, and sent it to Ran with instructions. "Don't worry. I told Ran to make sure that the kappas make some changes to everyone else's."

"I can't really argue with that."

"Now, I think it would be extremely useful if you could tell us what exactly you did during the war."

Lunar Palace, Lunar Capital

Behind the Lunar Palace stood a large field. Usually it was used by the Lunar Defense Corp as a lounging area. Now, it was filled with line infantry. The regiment closest to the palace had stopped and were rearranging into an infantry square. Seeing the more than 200 moon rabbits go from marching in a line to a perfect square in less than ten seconds satisfied Yorihime. Another regiment had gone from line to light infantry and back again and again.

"It's a little sad, isn't it sister?"

Toyohime had just returned from meeting with the scientific department of the Defense Corp. "We haven't had a real war in so long. And now there's a real chance that we could be sending them to their deaths. And what makes it worse is that they won't ever question us."

"Which is why we have to be absolutely sure about this. Master Eirin had asked for our help. I'll be at the front to make sure we can end this fast. Has the science department made any progress?"

"They already tested the prototype. And it worked flawlessly. The signal expanded copper casings to twice their original size. Our weapons were able to fire once every three seconds, a vast improvement over the estimates."

"And the body armor?"

"So far, all the tests are cleared. The next step is to speed up the conversion of our current uniforms to those with the threads sown in. Keeping the uniforms the same makes the change smoother."

"With all of our technological advances, isn't it ironic we have to resort to such an ancient style of fighting?" Toyohime waved toward the regiments that were drilling. "Even the Earth doesn't fight like this anymore.

"But some of them still train their armies this way. They may fight differently, but it comes from the discipline that the Line of Battle doctrine instills. Don't forget that we have trained them to be able to switch from Line of Battle to light infantry whenever the need arises. That's where our advantage comes from."