(A/N) Japanese translations will be mentioned in the notes at the bottom.
With this chapter, SW: Return has broken the 100k word mark. My first story to do so!
I had some trouble with uploading this chapter. I did not receive email confirmation and it did not appear in the chapter list after I opened the story manually, so I deleted it and republished it. I apologize for any inconveniences this may have caused.
Strike Witches: Return
European Arc
Chapter 28: Deep Strike
July 3rd, 2012
"Let's begin." Minna said. Everyone had just gathered for the briefing for the attack mission. Success in this mission would give the witches the necessary ground they need to launch a future attack on the hive in Karlsland, so everyone was present and paying attention.
Yoshika, Perrine, Louise, Erica, and Trude were picked for the mission with Trude leading the assault. Kye, Mio, Lucchini, Shirley, Mei, and Yoko would be flying standby just outside of the neuroi's detection range in case the strike team needed backup.
There was a map of the mission area pulled up on the board. Mio and Minna drew and pointed out the path the strike team would be flying for the least opposition.
Just before the briefing ended, it was interrupted by a certain ghost white haired girl followed by another girl with long jet black hair and a matching jet black outfit, consisting of a simple t-shirt and jeans.
"You're Intel is no longer accurate, General Wilcke." She said as she approached the board.
"And you are?" Minna asked.
"We are conducting a briefing and you are interrupting." Mio said. "Who are you?"
The 511th witches and wizards, as well as Kye and Yami, needed no introduction to know who the white haired girl was, but only Kye and Yami recognized the black haired girl.
"It's all right, Mio, Minna." Kye said. "They are friends."
Liliana turned to face the witches littering the seats around the room. "I know it's been a while, but I hope you can forgive my absence. I see a few new faces, so for the sake of introduction... I am Lieutenant General Liliana Lucch... oomph!"
She was tackled to the floor in a hug from Lucchini.
"Liliana Lucchini." Yami finished. "I see Francesca is happy to see her."
"And I'm surprised to see you." Kye said, eyeing the black haired mystery girl.
"Oujo-sama konnichiha." The girl said, bowing to Kye. She spoke in a soft voice. "Ohisashiburi desu."
"Soudesune." Kye said. "I need to speak this language for those that do not speak ours, if that is okay. I know you don't like speaking it, but could you just for now?"
"Hai." The girl said. "Sorry, Princess."
"Would you like to introduce yourself?"
She turned toward the others and bowed. "My name is Shadow."
'She must not want to use her real name.' Kye thought. She glanced down at Lily, who was still on the floor in a hug with an overly happy Lucchini. "Psst... Lucchini, can I borrow her for a moment?"
"But..."
"Please?"
"Okay." Lucchini reluctantly got up and returned to her seat.
"So, to get to the point, the Intel you have on your mission parameters is no longer accurate." Lily said. "Everywhere is much more heavily guarded, and to top it off... if you are detected, reinforcements will be sent to the fortress you are targeting immediately."
"That's troublesome." Kye said. "I doubt it's a good idea, but I don't suppose we could just brute force our way there?"
"Not a good idea." Lily said. "That will take too much time. If you try it, there will be extra waves of reinforcements and pretty soon you'll be fighting a losing battle. You'll be able to last until your magic runs out, but that's as far as you'll get."
"So we just need to get to the target destination undetected." Minna said.
"Yes, and it's not an easy feat. That's why I have brought... Shadow... here."
"Who is she?" Minna asked.
"A childhood friend from the Light Kingdom." Kye said.
"She's been traveling with me for a while now." Lily said.
"She was with me before that." Yami added. "I ran into Lily a few months ago before I started staying here."
"I see." Minna said. "So is she immortal or how does that work?"
"Those of us who are from the Light Kingdom, but are not here in the mortal world via rebirth are immortal." Yami explained. "The drawback is, to interact with anyone on the mortal plane, we have to condense our power enough for mortal bodies to handle. If our mortal bodies die, it would appear to you as if we vanished, where in reality we have just returned to our immortal status and unable to interact with you anymore. It takes several years to condense our power to the mortal standards, so it's not like we carry no consequence for our mortal bodies dying."
"That makes sense, I suppose." Minna said.
"Enough tangents." Kye said. "Shadow is a childhood friend from the Light Kingdom, here through the same method as Yami. I assume you brought her here so she can assist in the mission using her unique ability?"
"Right." Lily said.
"What is her ability?" Minna said.
"Stealth. She can project a sort of barrier that basically renders anything inside undetectable."
"That solves our detection problem, then."
"How many can you conceal at once?" Kye asked.
"My power isn't limited in number, but in proximity." Shadow said.
"Can you demonstrate?" Minna asked.
She nodded and vanished from sight.
"So it renders one invisible?"
"Not exactly." Kye said. "It's Shadow Magic, not to be confused with Dark Magic. The effects are more complicated than invisibility." Kye waved her hand in the spot where Shadow was standing. "It erases the existence of whoever it affects from everyone not affected. She is not only invisible, but you can't even touch her or hear her. She can hear and see everything, but nothing can detect her. It's as if she doesn't exist to the rest of us while her magic is active. Right, Shadow?"
"Yes." She answered after reappearing in front of everybody.
"So, Minna, what do you think?" Yami asked.
"If she is willing to help us, our mission will be a success." Minna said.
"I am willing to do anything that will help my Princess." Shadow said softly.
Kye put her hand on Shadow's head and ruffled her hair gently. "I'm not a princess here, goofball."
"You will always be my Princess." She said adamantly. "It does not matter to me if you are mortal or immortal."
"All right, then." Kye said, knowing it was useless to argue with the girl. "I want you to help. Get them to their destination so they may accomplish their mission."
"Of course, Princess. Anything you wish." Shadow said, bowing slightly.
"What is her battle skill like?" Trude asked. "Does she have auras and blade spells?"
"I do not." Shadow answered.
"She's unique." Lily said. "She's a capable combatant, though.
"And if Lily says that, it's true." Kye said.
"Other than the addition of Miss Shadow, the mission remains the same." Minna said. "Sneak into the neuroi fort and destroy it. Any questions?"
Nobody asked any questions about the mission, but Lucchini wanted to know how Lily knew Kye and what her connection to the Light Kingdom was. Lily reluctantly explained her status as a rebirth and how she grew up with Kye in their past life.
"All right, then." Minna said. "The mission will begin at 1600. Dismissed."
About an hour after briefing, it was time to start preparing lunch. Kye and Lily were showing Shadow around the base, with an eager for opportunity Lucchini sneaking around behind them.
As they were walking down the hallway heading toward the kitchen, Lucchini finally saw an opportunity. Lily was straggling behind a short distance. Taking her chance, Lucchini charged, hands extended, but when she tried to latch onto Lily, she ran right through her, as if nothing was there.
Lily used her space magic to phase out just before Lucchini tried to grab her, and phased back in to do the job herself.
"This is the second time somebody grabbed me!" Lucchini said.
"You are pretty sneaky." Lily said as she released Lucchini after having felt groped her enough and turned around with her arms held up. "Okay, your turn."
A tear came to Lucchini's eyes as she reached to Lily's front side. "You're so nice. And perfect! Not too big or small!"
Lily giggled at Lucchini's response. "Yours are the same. I would say I got it from you, but my Light Kingdom self is your ancestor... so you got it from me!"
Kye and Shadow traded amused glances with each other.
"Are you two enjoying yourselves?" Kye said in as teasing a tone as possible.
"Maybe." Lily said.
Lucchini only had a very satisfied expression to give.
Kye waved them toward her. "Well, come on."
As they approached the kitchen, Yoshika was coming out and bumped into Shadow. Kye caught Shadow and Yoshika fell backwards to the floor, though she did manage to catch herself before landing.
"I'm sorry!" Yoshika apologized immediately. Kye held out her hand for Yoshika and pulled her to her feet. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Miss Yoshika." Shadow said. "You feel, though."
"Oh, I'm fine!"
"Miss Dunce here can just heal herself anyway." Kye said, lightly mocking Yoshika.
"Hehehehe." Yoshika said. "So what are you doing?"
"Showing her around the base." Kye said. "This is our last stop, actually. Would you mind showing her the kitchen?"
"Sure." Yoshika said. "We were just about to start cooking, so I can show her as we go."
"Might I ask what you are preparing?" Shadow asked.
"Tori Dango Zosui."
Shadow's eyes lit up and her formal attitude was replaced by that of an excitement. "I love that! Can I help? I used to cook that for my mother back home."
Her change in demeanor took everyone aside Kye and Lily by surprise.
"Oh, sure!" Yoshika said, happy about Shadow's interest. "We can compare recipes! Come on!" She grabbed Shadow's arm and pulled her into the Kitchen.
"Well that was unexpected." Kye said. "Amusing, nonetheless. It seems Yoshika and Shadow will get along well."
"I'm glad." Lily said. "She rarely talks to anyone. This will do her some good."
"Yeah." Kye said as she started walking away. "Let's leave them to it."
"Trude, give me an update." Minna said over the radio.
"We're approaching the border." Trude said. "We'll be in detection range soon."
"Proceed as planned." Minna said. "Kye, Mio and the others will be near the border if you need them."
"Roger that." Trude said.
Trude was leading the stealth invasion of the neuroi fort in western Karlsland. Erica, Yoshika, Perrine, Louise, and Shadow were with her heading in.
"Everyone fall in." Trude said.
"Activating stealth magic, range about twenty meters." Shadow said. "Please stay near me."
As she activated her magic, everyone inside experienced a weird euphoria. The entire world lost its color. Looking out of the stealth barrier was like looking through advanced greyscale night vision goggles.
"Whoa..." Erica said. "This is... weird."
"I don't even know how to describe it." Perrine said.
"Doesn't matter. We have a job to do." Trude said. "Shadow, you know the path we're taking, right?"
"Yes."
"Lead the way. Everyone else, stay close."
As the girls flew over neuroi territory, an occasion neuroi floated above. Not being used to Shadow's stealth magic, they couldn't help but feel uneasy with the occasional enemy overhead, which increased in number the closer they got to their destination.
As they got closer to the neuroi fort they were aiming for, they saw the giant cube shaped structure. Once they were upon it, they few up top and immediately noticed that the fort was identical to the floating neuroi base from Fuso they destroyed a few months back.
"It has a barrier." Louise said. "Just like the Fuso one did."
"Can your magic get us through it?" Trude asked, looking at Shadow.
"Yes." She said. "My magic all but erases us from existence. To anyone outside my stealth barrier, we don't even exist."
"And they can't detect that which doesn't exist." Louise said.
"Let's go then." Erica said.
"Wait a moment. If this base is the same as before, then I know how to get to the core room." Perrine said.
"Shadow's magic can allow things outside the barrier to pass through us, right?" Trude said. "Could we just phase straight through to the core room?"
"I advise against that." Shadow said. "My magic can phase us through objects, but we will not be able to see while inside anything. We could very well go straight through the bottom, fly into the ground, and kept going down without even knowing. If anyone exits my barrier while phasing through, or if my magic power runs out while inside an object, you'll lose whatever body part is phased into an object. There's a high chance of death in that case."
"Scrap that idea, then." Trude said. "We can stay stealth the whole way to the core, though, so we can still get there undetected and destroy it before anything can react to us."
"Yes, and after the core is destroyed, I can reactivate my magic and we can escape."
"Good." Trude said. "Let's go."
The witches entered the barrier and immediately flew toward the tunnel in the middle of the cubical fort. Louise and Perrine guided everyone through the winding passages, occasionally having to phase through a neuroi.
After a few minutes, they finally arrived at the core room. The core was big and had a barrier around it.
"We can't rely on Shadow's magic to get us through that barrier." Trude said. "We wouldn't be able to attack the core with it active."
Erica pulled her glaive off her back and generated a miniature Sturm around the bladed tip. "I'll destroy the barrier."
"I'll help." Perrine said.
"Me, too." Louise added.
"I'll get the core, then." Trude said. "As soon as the stealth barrier is deactivated, we'll probably get swarmed."
"I'll use my shields." Yoshika said. "So you can focus your magic on your attacks instead of using the SFS for its built in aura."
"Roger that." Trude said. "When you're ready, Shadow."
As soon as she dropped her barrier, the entire room lit up red and dozens of beams shot toward the witches, only to be blocked by Yoshika's many shields. Erica rammed her glaive into the barrier, managing to dig into it somewhat. She, Perrine, and Louise channeled their wind and lightning magic into the weapon and shattered the barrier.
Trude pounded her fists together in excitement and charged forward, putting as much magic as possible into her punch. The core shattered, and slowly the entire fort started to disintegrate, leaving behind a mass of white neuroi fragments.
Shadow reactivated her magic, covering all but Yoshika initially. Yoshika was just out of range, but launched a white aura enhanced Power Wave, destroying every neuroi within one hundred meters.
Shadow pulled Yoshika into the stealth barrier and the witches took off toward home.
"Mission successful." Kiyoko reported. She was able to sense the destruction of the neuroi fort from such a long distance due to Kye and Mio channeling their magic to her. "I momentarily sensed the strike team, and then all but Yoshika disappeared. She was slightly out of range of Miss Shadow's stealth barrier, but she destroyed a few neuroi just before Shadow pulled her into the barrier. I assume they are on their way back here."
"If they fly straight here, estimated travel time is about twenty minutes." Mio said. "We'll wait for them to return."
"Good job, witches." Minna said over the radio. "We're one step closer to a hive assault. With this neuroi fort out of the picture, their force will be drastically reduced."
"They certainly won't be able to supply the ridiculous amount of reinforcements as they did in that battle in Gallia." Kye added. "I have one other goal, however, before we assault the hive." "What's that?" Mio asked.
"We will attack the Dark Witches base and free the girls there that are forced into fighting."
"You know the location?"
"Not yet." Kye said. "But the three Dark Witches we are housing do, and they have promised to talk if we rescue their family beforehand."
"All right. When?"
"I don't know yet." Kye said. "We are still a few weeks away from a possible hive invasion, regardless. We have to thin out the neuroi numbers in western Karlsland before we can move to the hive in the east. And there's still one more fort to destroy in central."
"I'm for the idea." Mio said. "If we can free the Dark Witches, perhaps they will fight for us." "I hope so."
Translations
Shadow: Oujo-sama konnichiha (王女こんにちは): Hello, Princess.
Shadow: Ohisashiburi desu (お久しぶりです): It's been a long time.
Kye: Soudesune(そうですね): Indeed
Shadow: Hai (はい): Yes
Yoshika: Tori Dango Zosui: Chicken Meatball Rice Soup
Note: I don't know the Kanji for Tori Dango Zosui and it wasn't given on the recipe page where I found it.
Note2: Many words and phrases in Japanese have multiple meanings. I am confident these phrases are accurate in the context they were used. I don't claim to be 100% perfect with my translations, but I did research phrases in context to find these. If you have corrections and sources for any of these, feel free to talk to me about them.)
Techniques Introduced
Wind and Lightning Combination Attack - Erica, Perrine, and Louise
Power Strike - Trude
Note: Power Strike isn't named in the chapter itself, but this is the name of the attack Trude used when she channeled her magic into her fist and punched the core to pieces. It's derived from an Energy Projection technique called "Instant Projection" where the user pours a mass of energy/magic into their attack for only a split second. Trude's variant lasts longer than a split second and is not an Energy Projection technique itself, but a "Blade Spell" used with her enchanted gauntlets. (I Hope you guys didn't forget that every one of the 501st have enchanted weapons now and a fair knowledge of Blade Spells adapted for their specific weapons.) Trude's Power Strike is a very strong attack but cannot be used in rapid succession. It's damage potential rivals that of the Full-Power Reppuzan used with the White Aura (Previously known as the Shin Reppuzan).
Characters Introduced
Shadow
Age: ~10,000
Appearance: She has long black hair, wears black clothing, and has silver eyes.
Note: Everyone from the Light Kingdom has silver eyes.
Note2: Shadow is not her real name, but a nickname derived from my former username "Shadow1121". Her real name is known by Kye, Yami, and Lily, though none of them will speak of it if Shadow does not want it revealed. She has her reasons for keeping it secret, so don't poke at her!
So by now, all of the 511th (and obviously the 501st) know who is from the Light Kingdom, who is a rebirth, and who isn't. Kye, Rei, and Lily are all rebirths of their Light Kingdom selves, although Rei has no knowledge of her own status as a rebirth, and only a few others know at all. Yami and Shadow (as well as Zen Akari and Yuko Akari) are not rebirths, but entered the mortal world by sealing their power as immortals from the Light Kingdom are too powerful to exist in the mortal world. (They would be unable to interact with any mortals without sealing their power to a mortal level, so their higher power is useless. Only the gods can exist in the mortal world at their full power, though there are several rules on what the gods can and cannot do, one being that they cannot interfere with mortal affairs without permission from Queen Xera or King Zalen.)
We also know now that there is one more neuroi fort in central Karlsland to destroy before the witches can attack the hive in eastern Karlsland. Aside from the neuroi, Kye intends to free the Dark Witches from Zen's control. Nami, Aiko, and Eiko have agreed to divulge information on the Dark Witches as soon as their family is rescued from wherever they are being held hostage.
If you see any errors, please let me know so they I may fix them. If you wish to contact me about the story, feel free to send a private message or leave a signed review (so that I may reply to you personally).
