Chapter 55: Western Kings and Western Queens

Que the Intro

(Song This is War) A warning to the people (Show the people of the Empire) the Good (Tatsumi stands with Night Raid, his generals and his new army in his new attire and flag of Night raid and Golden Dragon on shared pole held aloft by its standard bearer) and the Evil (Volgoth in front over a demonic host with the Six Arch-Devil Generals in front with Valtor's shadowing form and Mark in the background and Argardon towering over the rest of the Generals along with Boreth and his inner circle scheming) This is War. (Tatsumi and Esdeath protecting Makoto and his sisters) To the soldier (Bulat wearing Incursio without the helmet and Air siting in his lap) the civilian (Angela holding Ieyasu's hand as she rallies the people in the shield) the Martyr (Budo's dead body) the Victim (Kyoko being held and comforted by Tatsumi) This is war. (Armies clashing) It's the moment of truth (Isshin's Ghost without his face mask looking at Tatsumi) and the moment to lie (Volgoth grinning at his servants) , the moment to live (Tatsumi finding resolve in a fight) and the moment to die (Soldiers dead on the ground), the moment to fight, the moment to fight, to fight, to fight, to FIGHT! (Que battle montage) To the Right! (Spear destroying a Dwarven Automaton) To the Left! (Esdeath killing a Revolutionary Army soldier with her new sword) We will Fight to death! (Sheele taking down a target yet to be revealed) to the End of the Earth! (Eden from space) It's a Brave new World! (Tatsumi kneeling before Supreme Matriarch Maltise) From Last to the First! (Emperors showing Tatsumi's Grandfather, Father, Uncle and Makoto) To the Right! (Bulat killing a Revolutionary Army General) To the Left! (Mine Firing away) We will Fight to Death! (Tatsumi slicing an enemy in half) To the Edge of the Earth! (Eastern Lands) It's a Brave new World (Strongholds of the Giants) a Brave new world! (Dwarven capital of Karak Hammerdeep) (End battle Montague and show Melitine under shadow of Volgoth with Red sky above) A warning to the Prophet (Syura clutching a Staff of Asha) the Liar (Volgoth sitting on the Imperial Throne with Graal and Lorhish to either side of him) the Honest (Aria with her new long hair and new outfit clutching her new sword) This is War. To the Leader (Najenda in her new get up and with her new ponytail with her Desert Eagles in hand and Susanoo at her side in a battle pose) The Pariah (Esdeath in her new outfit with her hair cut short levitating ice shards) The Victor (Spear in her new Teigu Armor Valkyrie with her new Teigu Greatsword Yadviga held aloft atop a mass of dead enemies) The Messiah (Tatsumi in the Golden Emperor's Armor with wings fully aloft and his sword Michael in one Hand and his shield Enoch in the other facing off against a Argardon) THIS IS WAR! (Mangled bodies of Volgoth's victims and of enemies killed by Tatsumi, add also Koro devouring baddies as Seryu grins maniacally) It the moment of Truth (Tatsumi with Akame his mother hugging him) the moment to lie (Boreth Falkland scheming) the moment to live (Tatsumi in bed with Merraid and Akame) The moment to die (Tatsumi killing the Skaven King) the moment to Fight! (Battles) the Moment to fight! (Tatsumi and Spear side by side) The Moment to Fight! TO FIGHT! (Night Raid vs the Arch-Devil Generals) To the right (Najenda firing her desert eagles) to the Left (Susanoo destroying a blob of Revolutionary Army soldiers) We will Fight to the Death! (Falkland's two generals killed by Sayo's arrows) To the Edge of the Earth (Map of Eden showing Tatsumi's journey so far) It's a Brave new World (Tatsumi overlooking the cities of the Lizardmen) From the Last to the First (Line of the Emperors of the Empire) To the Right (Spear driving her new Teigu Greatsword thru an enemy) To the Left (Akame slicing down several Skavan at once) We will fight to the death (Tatsumi fighting Volgoth) To the Edge of the Earth (Tatsumi overlooking a city not Melitine) It's a Brave new World from the Last to the First (Line of Emperors again with Tatsumi included) It's a Brave new world! (Empire's End logo appears) (Song End)

Zemal Marakk, Western Empire two weeks later… Of the lands of the Empire the west was easily the wealthiest part outside the heartlands, thirty provinces comprised the region which could be attributed to a quarter of the Empire's territorial size and were some of the most populous regions in the Empire itself with millions living throughout the regions. Amongst the sights of the Western Empire were impressive ruins of fallen kingdoms that had been defeated by the First Emperor, sparkling cities that were kept clean and well-plotted with seldom a slum insight and that were some of the Empire's biggest cities, the largest being Trader Town which was at the heart of the Empire's trade routes sitting in between two long rivers the Nandor and the Makella and was protected by large curtain walls made of titanium the city being the prize of the region and the attention of many an invading power seeking to claim the wealth. Apart from Trader Town other major cities included Magalla, Vardomier, Zaranzil which had been a Dwarf Hold in the past and inhabited by the Silverbloods before their exile after the War of the Mad Emperor, Hadrus and Segunta along with the twin cities of Ravenna and Megara.

Tatsumi's journey to these lands had been by airship courtesy of Umber during this he had picked up everyone that he'd sent out to gather allies with as he had recruited everyone that was in range and wasn't to the west, with Esdeath being required to leave her Wyvern behind as Umber was not willing to either have it fly alongside or heavens forbid inside her ship, so she left Yandral in the care of her troops that would have to make a long march overland back to Tokorra, with the south pacified Tatsumi could start building up and readying the armies in preparation to takeback the Heartlands and Melitine specifically, according his spies Volgoth had made no moves to take anywhere beyond the outlying villages and hamlets outside Melitine directly, Tatsumi suspected that his enemy was preparing his forces for something major but also could understand the logic, what was the point in taking other nearby locations before he had his force at full readiness, also what did he stand to gain from such a move, in fact the chief goal of Volgoth unknown to him at the time was to deal with Tatsumi and with the loss of all but one of his generals he was content to wait in Melitine for Tatsumi to come to him and more importantly make his enemies come to him in one location to defeat them in one decisive invasion: Volgoth was wanting to focus on Tatsumi specifically because he knew that if Tatsumi were to die nobody else would be able to oppose him, Tatsumi's strongest allies would either fall to grief and give up or leave him to hope to ride out the storm that would destroy their world.

"I'm the world's only hope and a fool's hope at that, I'm a human up against powers far greater then me and with that in mind, I'll need everyone I can get without compromising my values because if I do that I'll be no better than Boreth or Volgoth and everything I'm fighting for will mean nothing if I become a monster like them" Tatsumi thought to himself as he woke up, he was naked and beside him still sleeping was Kurome and to the other side of him Tsukushi who had his arm wedged between her ample breast, and to warm him further Poney lay atop him: he looked at the sleeping former members of the Elite Seven, of his harem they weren't pregnant, Gin had told him the night prior that she was wife child and other members of his harem had reported similar tidings. With that in mind every day the weight of being a father wanting a future for his children weighed harder on him along with all his other responsibilities, the only way to relieve the stress and pain it put on him was sex because of all his means of stress relief it kept his mind sharp and alert but also gave him drive and built up his stamina further alongside daily training and sparring with anyone that would do so with him, he was NOT going to leave anything to chance if he was going to fight a monster, not of his world he'd have to be at the peak of human ability and then some.

Tatsumi's thoughts were interrupted when Pais and Roxanna entered the room. "We're here!" Pais shouted awakening his sleeping wives, yes he had wed the other members of the Elite Seven and rather recently at that about three days ago, granted without any grand celebration or ceremony, they simply had Angulas perform the ceremony privately and the four of them then had the honeymoon soon after, which led to more efforts. He hoped that the three women now getting dressed in him could have bare children with an eye on Kurome. Kurome had been overly enthusiastic on the manner and absolutely insisted on banging him every day until she knew she was pregnant.

After getting ready Tatsumi made sure that all measures were taken to be ready to speak to the residents of the hold, for unlike a number of Dwarf Hold this one wasn't abandoned and had recently been retaken to act as the headquarters for an elite black ops unit Tatsumi had dispatched to the western Empire about a month prior to the coup and was actively carrying out assassination missions against Teketh's forces, Tatsumi had made sure this group answered only to him, Esdeath and Makoto, when Dwarven support had been secured Tatsumi sent messages via drone to the group to inform them of the state of affairs in the Empire but that had been about a month ago and Tatsumi had yet to hear back and thus now was going to visit them in person. Fortunately for him the Dark Squad as they were named were not inclined to attack a Dwarven airship under any circumstances so when Tatsumi and his entourage walked out they weren't immediately attacked: the presence of himself, Kurome and Esdeath were a good incentive along with Makoto being there too. As he arrived a group of Dark Squad members moved out of the way to allow their superiors to pass by. In this case the detail was surprisingly uniform in that the officers were women, five to be precise all beautiful but their beauty being concealed by their wolf masks, something that all members of the Dark Squad sported.

The Dark Squad was a special operations unit created to replace the Elite Seven after the desertion of Akame and her team, Kurome had been put in charge of the unit and their training, the unit had been selected from younger but still veteran soldiers most having served in the War against the Southern Tribes; the group trained in Elite Seven tactics and combat drills along with the fighting styles of the group however the members lacked the Teigus of their forebearers and weren't able to perform up to that muster, the unit was also strictly uniform in dress with gender-specific uniforms all of which were black or grey with some having white or red stripes on them; the men wore black dress shirts under armor that was similar in appearance to armor worn by Aria during her Night Raid missions back when things were more simple and the only demons were those in human skin, and black pants that were easy to move about in, they came standardly equipped with two short swords and supply of throwing weapons along with a crossbow for silently sniping targets from a distance. The women on the other hand wore outfits of the same kind as Kurome's standard get up in the Jaeger days, with alternations between having red stripes and white stripes as the trims for the skirts and blouses they wore; in terms of weapons, they were similarly equipped. The officers on the other hand wore uniforms similar to standard imperial officer uniforms though the female uniforms replaced the pants with skirts in the same vein as the standard uniform, also vests replaced jackets for both genders and this was to avoid drag that a jacket entailed in battle, however, all wore wolf masques to conceal their identities.

The four women were of varying appearance, the leader of them was tall about the same height as Tatsumi himself, she had deep sea-green eyes and dark green hair that was styled in a pair of buns underneath her ears, she was beautiful, she had a graceful and modesty figure with build similar to Akame's, at her side was sword of the light kind that suggested a Rapier or small sword but was actually a Colichemarde which was a sword made to counter sabers and other slashing blades: she wore a black uniform that was similar in design to those worn by most high-ranking Imperial brass but it dark red trims and skirt as opposed to pants and no jacket but instead a vest, she did wear a lighter mask of a wolf design but it didn't obscure too much of her face, she was Shadow Commander Cena the leader of the Dark Squad and a friend of Kurome's who had fought alongside her in the South, but had also been one of the few members of the Group of Terror that had joined the organization and was part of the instructors for the group.

The women to all sides of her sported the same uniform with notable distinctions in rank but that was where similarities ended apart from the fact that all three were beautiful. The first was the youngest being about sixteen but she looked younger about 13, though her body was developing, she had dark pink hair in pigtails that indicated western ancestry and blue eyes she was also rather tall for her age being about Tatsumi's height though that was typical on Eden, at her side were two Butterfly swords which had short blades to a point where they were more knives then swords. The second woman was taller and more developed with a build similar to Akame, she actually looked like a grown up future daughter of him and Akame as she had short brown hair like himself and the red eyes sported by Akame but there was a notable birthmark shaped like a heart under her right eye, her uniform had been modified to show off her cleavage likely to distract enemies, and she had a katana at her side but her posture and figure suggested a boxer and martial artist with Tatsumi could spot from having trained with Spear, her posture immediately made clear to Tatsumi she was trained in the Imperial fist but to what extent was unknown and how many rings and katas she knew was also unknown. The last women had black hair which was long and styled in a ponytail and she was busty with a figure comparable to Leone or Sheele but not stacked like Tsukushi or Esdeath, her eyes were black, at her side were two mid-length swords that were of an older style from about ten years ago, and a singular Tachi.

"Greetings your majesty" Cena greeted. "I'm relieved to see you still alive and having survived all manner of trouble since we last met, these are three of my commanders that aren't on an active mission at the moment, the girl with pink hair is Commander Chidori, the brown-haired girl is Yu Lan and the last is my second in command Kylie who was the younger sister of our former leader Kyle Pandrax before his unfortunate demise at the hands of the woman standing guard alongside you; I've been briefed by your messengers about the state of affairs but I want proof of your legitimacy to being Emperor before I agree to anything further beyond are still continuing efforts against Teketh though I'd note his forces have been withdrawing and scorching the earth as they do so: my operatives acquired information and intel that suggests a withdrawal now that General Nymeria has returned being supported by Dwarves and Giants I assume that was your doing and I'm not surprised at the state of affairs from what I've heard via messengers, nice using Dwarven drones it saves my troops the risk of killing allies on accident, but still I want to see proof that you are who you claim to be and not someone who is trying to claim the throne without a royal claim because if you don't have one the people won't recognize you as Emperor" Cena explained.

Tatsumi had anticipated such a move but was prepared nonetheless, he took out the Mirror of Time and had Spear open the box containing the royal documents, Cena looked over the documents then looked at the Bracelet of Kings noting it and the Golden Crown of The Empire, she nodded. "These are official but I must see more to prove it as any of these documents could have been forged" Cena commented, Tatsumi held her hand and activated the Mirror, then showed Cena the full truth of the matter, after this she accepted her duties to the new Emperor and the rest of the Dark Squad fell in line.

"I welcome your loyalty, I've many tasks ahead for your group, they are involved in the Western lands; there are a number of barons, princes and dukes that would see me dead and the Empire gone, we need to end their threat permanently, Cena I need your unit to assassinate the most aggressive leaders, if their successor shares their views kill them too" Tatsumi explained.

"There are a number of kingdoms that border the Empire that will fight to resist Imperial control at all costs even if it means dooming the world my beloved, we need to defeat those border princes and merchant states first" Esdeath explained.

"Well you heard Esdeath, your first targets will be the leaders of the nearest hostile western nations; a decapitation of their leadership will make it a lot easier to absorb them into the Empire, I need the soldiers to fight the Demons and if they the Westerners will resist my offers and desire to call them to arms against an enemy that will destroy the world I'll have to take them into my empire by force" Tatsumi replied, the captains saluted. "Now I want you to gather all remaining strike teams and regroup at the western border I'm assembling quite an army for this expedition and I'm not leaving anything to chance in case somehow something insane comes our way" Tatsumi explained, the captains left and Tatsumi looked at Esdeath and then at Aria. "Here we go again, having to fight other human beings when our real enemy is the demons" Tatsumi commented.

"At least they aren't fellow imperials this time but people that have been at war off and on with the Empire for centuries" Aria commented.

"To say that is an understatement but at least the Westerners are largely civilized people, they aren't like the savages in the North or the South: the only drawback is they are fiercely independent and not willing to cooperate with people they've got a long-standing grudge with; that includes other western nations, which is why there really hasn't been a unifying leader that has ever united the region and that's saying something considering that some of the western cities are thousands of years old" Esdeath explained.

"I just hope that I can get some sense; the bordering princes and city-states have refused my offer and request for aid; they have decided to go to war and war is what we must deal with and do so quickly; now are the kingdoms further from the border likely to be more cooperative?" Tatsumi replied.

"Oh they are, as much as they aren't big fans of the Empire they tend to hate their neighbors more as old family feuds and border disputes make for the sparks of many local wars especially in the small kingdoms of Lariyd, Tersh and Parsa where it's said that the norm is great hunts, followed by feasts, followed by high taxes followed by peasant rebellions with those being followed by brutal crackdowns and the cycle begins again as the victors call for another feast; these areas beyond the borderlands really haven't changed much in hundreds of years, some cities don't even have access to gunpowder or view it as unchivalrous whatever that means: the only thing that is consistent is Orcs are always on the move and looking to beat up anything that gets in their path and that any of the kingdoms will set aside rivalries to beat up the greenies; which reminds me the western part of the Empire has a serious greenskin problem so keep an eye out for them; many emperors have tried to deal with the issue but they just keep coming, also there are some of the more dangerous danger beasts in the western lands including dragons" Esdeath explained, at the mention of dragons Tatsumi cocked an eyebrow.

"Actual dragons, not Earth Dragons right?" Tatsumi asked, Esdeath smirked the prospects of hunting made her happy.

"Yes, indeed, live dragons, lesser drakes and their much larger kin can still be found west of the Empire through the larger variety are rare and generally people go looking for them instead of the other way around, they tend to pile up huge piles of gold which while it has no monetary value for them is bait to lure adventurers, glory seekers and Dragon Hunters to become dinner; it's a rather effective trap" Esdeath replied.

"Any chance I'll have to worry about one?" Tatsumi replied.

"Not the big ones they tend to sleep and wait inside whatever place they've established their treasure horde for food to come their way and that usually does come a lot, however we will have to worry about the lesser ones, the winged Drakes that fly about picking off Aurochs and other unfortunate beings wondering the plains, the Lindwyrms which are wingless green dragons that breath and excrete acid, and of course the lesser dragons that don't breath fire at all and are just big monstrous lizards the size of a small house looking to chomp down on anything along with the smaller lesser wyrms that are usually about the size of a bear and twices as mean" Esdeath explained, Tatsumi shrugged and noted the danger of dragons away for future reference though he bet the real danger would be of the human variety as it had usually been since he first left Karsawa whenever that was it may have really only been about five months at this point but it felt like an eternity ago; Tatsumi also tended not to think about the village as it had been destroyed by Volgoth, he saved the people and what could be saved but the home he grew up in along with the homes of everyone that lived there were now demolished.

After about an hour of waiting patrols returned to the abandoned holdfast and the Dark Squad had been recalled in its entirety, about 500 elite assassins were now at his command, Tatsumi then ordered everyone on board; Umber and a few Dwarves came off of their airship and brought out a large rune that they placed in the center of the courtyard; Tatsumi had been informed that this was to mark holds for restoration and return to Dwarven inhabitants the rune in this case inscribed the sigil of her own clan. "Zemal Marakk was once one of the richest outputs owned by the Goldenbeard clan, it would have grown larger and more wealthy if the War of the Mad Emperor didn't happen as there were rich deposits of Silver and gold beneath the mountains and more down deeper if our miners were to have been believed some told even of mithril in the lower deeps" Umber had explained when he asked about the history of the place, when Tatsumi asked why humans hadn't moved in she told him that the Dwarves never mentioned the mines and sealed them off for good measure after they left.

The secrets of the Zemal Marakk aside Umber had told Tatsumi a number of important things concerning both the western lands and their inhabitants both human and not. According Umber there were about 75 independent states between the Imperial border and the Western sea, and an additional two unified nations were on a subcontinent off the coast known as Sarvanapum: the two nations were the Confederacy of Ikollon and the Theocracy of Publum; other than those about 60 Dwarven holds were scattered about the western lands with the largest being in Beorg Mountains the highest range on the planet and so tall that you could not see the tops of them from any angle on the ground and not even dragons flew high enough to see the peaks, only the Dwarves had seen the top and not until they developed their airships to fly above the clouds and the tops of the peaks had only been scaled by the hardiest of automatons; the tallest of these mountains was Mount Hammerfell under which was the mightiest and oldest of all Dwarven holds: Karak Hammerdeep or Hammerdeep as it was more often referred to as: about 14 other great holds called the mountains home and number of others were in the smaller ranges and isolated peaks. Umber explained though that the 60 holds were the ones that were still controlled and home to Dwarves, about two-hundred holds across the continent of the 700 or so Dwarven Hold that were known of and not kept secret had been lost over time, abandoned or sacked with the Dwarves driven out by horrors in the deep thousands of years prior or crushed by earthquakes. Umber explained that 40 of said holds were out of Dwarven hands in the Western lands and told him that each of them had fallen to a catastrophe of a different type; one hold had fallen due to a massive earthquake that had awoken a volcano that the hold had been built around, another fell to Dwarven greed delving too deep and far awakening horrors beneath the world, another had fallen when the Machines the Dwarves considered their friends turned on them, about half a dozen to Skaven, three to infighting by clans that resulted in a bloody civil war, though the most that had been last fell during what had been called the Time of Loss which according to Umber had started ten years after the War of the Mad Emperor and ended two hundred years ago.

According to Umber the cost of the war with the Empire had done significant damage to the Dwarven Empire, about as much as the Golden Empire itself had taken, with many of their race having died in the war, so great was the loss that many widows were married in the dozens to many a Dwarf Thane to make up the difference, the real loss had come with the fall of the Imperial holds which amounted to about a hundred dwarven holds and hundreds more outposts and holdfasts that had to be abandoned in terms with the peace treaty, also the Underway a massive underground road network that connected every hold in the Dwarven nation had been lost as the Dwarves sealed off the entrances to prevent Imperials from using the road against them. With the loss of these hold resources that had come from them were now unavailable which was made worse with the Pact of Gold being broken thus ending all trade between the Dwarven holds and the Empire and led to the Dwarves in terms of power becoming weaker. To make matters worse a number of great natural disasters rocked Adonai as if the gods were punishing both races for their actions: with these disasters, many vaults collapsed or were sealed off by the Dwarves to prevent what happened next. Because with weakness amongst the Empire and the Dwarves the enemies of both took full advantage of the weakness during this period of history, the Empire had been ravaged by western and northern warlords in addition to this the Skaven rose up in search of vengeance for their defeats against past Emperors; during this time the Empire also was in a period of many civil wars with many claimants trying to take the throne only to die in droves and things wouldn't return to stability and order until the reign of one of Tatsumi's ancestors the Pearl Emperor Tatsumi IV Gildenstrom who managed to reunify the Empire and decimate the enemies of the Empire according to Umber Tatsumi the fourth had been so effective against the Skaven that they were regarded in the Empire as extinct, though that came as a result of something else however when the old Emperor had lost his prime he was killed by an assassin sent by the Skaven as revenge thus leaving the Empire to once again fall into decline. The Skaven took great advantage of the chaotic age and took many holds, vaults, and deeps from the Dwarves, their warfare led to carnage and suffering but the war drew the full attention of the rats and thus after they had been beaten by Tatsumi the fourth they focused all their might on the Dwarves who held back what they could. The greatest however of the losses during this period had been the mighty Karak Gurkarak also known as the Golden Mountain which had fallen to one of the mightiest Dragons to have ever lived Glauradrost the Titan of the Skies a three-headed monster with a golden hide and wings so large they eclipsed the suns when he soured the sky and who also killed a fully grown Tyrant in his youth had decimated by himself one of the mightiest holds that had been spared from the cataclysmic events at large taking the vast treasures and creating a horde beyond compare in addition to breeding a terrible brood of young drakes, the hold was now feared as a place to treed and the dragon had when he ventured forth laid waste to Kingdoms as he fed so much to the point he had claimed the titles of King Eater and Emperor of the Dragon Domain, his brood had also been prolific with a number leveling Western principalities and a couple of great monsters he sired taking smaller Dwarven holds and leveling entire nations. When Tatsumi asked if the three heads meant it only had a third of a brain in each she explained each one had a full-sized dragon brain in it and Glauradrost had the intelligence of three extremely smart dragons.

"I hope I never have to face that monster," Tatsumi said to Umber after she went into detail about the Dragon's feats and the words it would often say 'Cower as my wings eclipse the suns.

"Oh don't be saying that, when you make statements like that I've found the universe will go out of its way to throw you at the thing you hope to avoid" Umber replied then sipped from her goblet which was full of a rich wine that she was sharing with Tatsumi. Tatsumi had laughed about a few days ago when Leone challenged Umber to a drinking contest, something which resulted in him immediately stopping her and reminding her that she was pregnant and then telling her you cannot out drink a dwarf. Bulat had tried in Leone's stead failed spectacularly with Air poking him with the sheath of her sword afterward. Which lead to Tatsumi having to having to train Air again and he found surprisingly she had improved rather well and was even pulling off some techniques he'd never seen her use before, but his sister-in-law was still young and had much to learn Tatsumi figured though in about a year she'd be at the same level he was at when he finished Night Raid's training regimen granted she'd have a long way to go before she was on his level but he figured she could get there someday and he had a lot of tricks up his sleave to show her. "Hiyagh!" Air yelled as she lunged Tatsumi who parried the lunge, Air then tried to use her legs against him however this was not helpful as while this would work against some opponents that didn't focus on their footwork Tatsumi was not one of those and he had the advantage of being in better shape and age on Air so she was essentially trying to kick a tree down; Tatsumi capitalized on this and disarmed her. "Word of advice don't try to attack the legs of a bigger opponent with your own, if you are going to attack your opponent's legs use your weapon to do so; attack with what is the strongest option you have" Tatsumi replied.

"What about this?" Air replied and tried to knee him in the groin, Tatsumi smiled as she pulled back her knee clutching it and yelping.

"I learned to avoid that in Sheele's first instructive lesson; I've taken precautions to protect that spot, it's not comfortable but considering there is always the chance of a dirty fighter that will try to knee me in the balls I'd say it's worth doing" Tatsumi replied.

"Are you sure it's not to avoid girls kicking you there when you say something perverted?" Air replied.

"I'm not a pervert Air, if anything I'm one of the most polite men alive, last I checked I wasn't Lubbock; speaking of if you see him tell him he's in charge of keeping you out of trouble while Bulat is out" Tatsumi replied.

"Wait what?" Air replied.

"You heard me; besides he could use a little bit of trouble for his life get him used to the troubles of fatherhood same thing with Bulat as he is with my sister; damn it makes me feel old when my sister is well romantically involved, anyway let's keep going until you get tired of this" Tatsumi replied and the two engaged once more in sparring. About half an hour later Tatsumi noted an announcement that the ship was descending and that they had arrived at the Western border; Tatsumi stopped the sparring and collected his entourage, the airship soon landed and Tatsumi took the first step outside and noted something well- impressive. Since the last Western invasion that had pushed deep into the Western Empire Esdeath had ordered the construction of a massive stone wall across the border that was already dictated by a single large river known as Vala River and at the heart of it the rebuilt town of Westgart which was the last Imperial city before the border; the wall had been planned as a five year project after the Mercenary attack on Westgart but Esdeath's engineers took about five months to build it as the wall as Esdeath had ordered them expedite the process after Esdeath beat back a major incursion that had pushed as far as Trader Town before Esdeath forced the invaders back. The wall itself was a colossal structure with each segment being about a hundred feet high and the only entrances were fortified gates at the bridge crossings for the river. Accord to Esdeath the Western forces of Revolutionary army seized the walls while she had been away in the north fighting Numa Saika and had let in a western army that had been supporting them; that force had been destroyed by Teketh along with most of the Revolutionary army forces in the region. Nymeria was awaiting him with a vanguard and Tatsumi could see his army assembled by the walls.

Nymeria then informed him that she had been fighting Teketh's forces exclusively, Teketh had done a good job and had wiped out any remnants of the Revolutionary Army he also left behind massive graves and pillars of skulls along with broken and empty hamlets across the western countryside and razed one city Vertoisagrat to the ground after the inhabitants refused to surrender, Teketh's fighting though had stretched his army thin and when Nymeria returned with the Golden Dragon Army at her back supported by Dwarven and Giant allies his forces had crumbled utterly and Teketh had been forced to take what he had left back to Melitine: Nymeria also informed Tatsumi that Teketh was now part of the faith of Valtor and had been under Volgoth's orders constructing temples and other structures of Hellstone as the black stone was now dubbed along with forcing the people to convert to the mad faith with those that refused being offered up on the alters as grizzly sacrifices, this only added fuel to a fire of hatred the locals had for Teketh and when Nymeria arrived it was the final nail in the coffin, a massive uprising joined Nymeria's force full of people desperate and willing to follow any leader that wouldn't make them partake in the evil abominations from Volgoth, the scope of the uprising was large enough that not even the 200,000 strong army Teketh had with him could hold it back and when the 300,000 strong force led by Nymeria came into the picture he was forces to take a tattered army of 3000 survivors back to Melitine after a failed counter attack turned bad. Tatsumi was disappointed that Teketh had escaped his wrath again but felt relieved that at least he now had the two people hated the most in one place and that meant he could deal with them at the same time.

Tatsumi took a good look at the wall and Esdeath noticed this. "It's an impressive structure, you'd be surprised, the original architect thought it would take at least five years to build, but the diligence and hard work of my troops took only five months to finish it" Esdeath commented.

"I'd second that and boy was that not easy" Spear commented.

"Yeah; Esdeath how often have the Westerners invaded the Empire?" Tatsumi asked.

"For about a thousand years give or take, those lands use to be part of the Empire but after the death of the Dragon Emperor your ancestor the Empire collapsed into civil war and many states took their opportunity to secede, their culture was so distinct and never really imperialized and they were mistreated even back then, the contempt that some imperial have for westerners is something I've never understood, perhaps it's that they are jealous of their appearances or because they stand out: I will note that my clan may have suffered some prejudice but none that did have those views ever expressed them because of our reputation for punishing slights. Since those states broke away they have been countless wars to retake them by many an Emperor and at the same time there have been many so called wars of liberation by the westerns to take the Western Empire, I say so called because the people in this region despite having western blood, features and ancestry are loyal to the Empire thru and thru, they didn't choose to breakaway when the Dragon Emperor died; which has led to a degree of hatred from some western groups that they consider those people race-traitors whatever that means, the Westerners may look different but they are still human at the end of the day" Esdeath replied.

"So, the feeling of racism cuts both ways?" Tatsumi asked.

"Yes; though really its more of a cultural hate for each other over historical grievances then it's over how a person looks, the average Imperial and Westerner don't distrust the other based on what someone looks like but rather over centuries of mutual violence against one another, one Westerner may accuse the Imperial of burning down their grandfather's barn during a border conflict only to have the Imperial reply it was vengeance for that grandfather raping their great aunts and grandmother; it really is a cycle of violence and really the only way to resolve it in my opinion is for the lands to be unified under a strong leader who is capable of reconciling the long standing grudges; oh and don't get me started on the matters between Dwarves and Imperials even when there was great friendship between the Empire and Dwarves there were still disputes mainly over mining and trade rights, never get a dwarf to talk about mining they see human made mines as built wrong and accuse humans of not taking the care and safety needed to mine properly" Esdeath answered. Tatsumi looked at the border again then looked at his blade and thought that war was now on the brink because of centuries old disputes that should have ended with the deaths of the original parties as Tatsumi viewed that the descendants aren't responsible for the crimes of their ancestors and of how many people would die because idiots wouldn't join to fight against the end of the world because they were too dead-set in their ways.

"I've a more interesting question Tatsumi what was it like?" Esdeath asked noting Tatsumi's facial expression.

"What was what like?" Tatsumi replied not knowing what his wife was asking about.

"Your first kill" Esdeath asked, Tatsumi frowned.

"Human or danger beast?" Tatsumi asked hoping the latter.'

"Human" Esdeath replied crushing Tatsumi's hopes of avoiding talking about the thing he hated most, having to kill other human beings some of which in cold blood.

"That's a touchy subject, though I'll let you known I didn't attack first, he attacked me: he was Captain Ogre of the Capital Police, Seryu's mentor and a respected figure on the surface but beneath and in secret he was a monster that would sell his own mother just to make a profit; he was corrupt and operated with an Oil merchant named Gamul one of the largest racketeering and illegal slave trading operations in Melitine" Tatsumi replied.

"I see and Seryu doesn't hold any resentment for that?" Esdeath replied turning to the Justice Queen who was near her.

"None whatsoever, in fact it's the opposite I'm grateful to Tatsumi for doing what I couldn't killing someone whom I respected and cared for who turned out to be nothing more than an evildoer; Tatsumi did what I wanted, gave him a quick death and not one unwarranted" Seryu replied.

"I see thank you Seryu." Esdeath commented and looked at Tatsumi again. "You said Tatsumi that Ogre attacked you first, that would mean you killed in self-defense" Esdeath remarked.

"Yeah; and importantly he fought back he didn't just sit back and take it and he was tough, the fight would have gone on for a bit if Aria hadn't stabbed him in the back it weakened him and allowed me to behead him" Tatsumi replied. "I remember his face, the moment of his death, he had the face of a mad man the whole fight and when I killed him it made him look even more crazed as if he was angry that I had killed him so easily and that this young teenager had just killed one of the best swordsmen in Melitine" Tatsumi replied, the memory of Ogre's face was in his head.

"I see what about your first kill that wasn't in self-defense?" Esdeath asked, Tatsumi honestly could not remember who that had been off of the top of the head, which worried him something like that should have been prominent, then he remembered.

"I'm not sure it would count because the person in question tried to kill me before I killed him; he was- well a monster and to be fair it was a test by Aria and the rest of Night Raid, in fact most of the time even though every person I killed in cold blood was a monster I still feel remorse, they were evil but at the same time they had no way to defend against me and on top of it I pity them, the evil people I've faced never were always so evil, they were once good ordinary people the just went bad, part of me always hopes that some redemption could be had but I know it won't be in this life, when I've killed those who couldn't defend themselves I think of the lives they ruined or snuffed out along with the lives I've sparred, understanding doesn't mean that a person escape the consequences of their actions; I just never have or will gotten it into my head that killing them, murdering them is the right thing to do, it may be a necessary evil but it's still evil, if I let myself think that what I'm doing is right when I kill then I'd not be able to stay my hand, spare lives that don't need to die or I'd become someone who could kill anyone, if anything my philosophy saved me from being used by Boreth and the Revolutionary Army to do horrible things and saved a number of other people from that faith of madness; to summarize it Esdeath I kill only when I have to and because it's the only option, if there are other options I'll take them even if it isn't the most practical option but I'm an idealist and I still believe their hope for humanity otherwise I'd become a nihilist with a desire to sow misery and kill just because that person deserved it" Tatsumi replied, then took a long hard look before saying what he said next. "Many that live deserve death Esdeath, but many more that die deserve life, can I give that back to the people, I can't give life like I can death, so I'm not so quick to deal out death as a judgement I'm not wise enough and not even the wisest of people can see every end; in my experience small things, a life saved can change a thousand lives; Aria took one act of kindness on me and that act has changed the lives of everyone on the face of Eden, it gave them the hero they need and not the one deserved; above all though if I let myself think killing is acceptable I'll become one of the very many monsters that I'm trying to stop; I want the killing to stop, that's way I'm fighting and killing, to stop the killing so that my children our children don't have to live the life I've had to live that of a murderer and yes I view my assassination work as murder most people didn't have the chance to fight back and those deaths I hate worse because everyone in my mind deserves the chance to try and survive and not just be put down like a rabid animal" Tatsumi explained, Esdeath held him as he began to let tears rain down his cheeks.

"I understand, and that reason above all others is why you are strong, it takes greater strength to spare a life then to take one, even if that person is wretch, even more so you have a belief that no human is incapable of redemption but at the same time you believe that no one can escape the consequences of their choices and that sometimes you have to take a life to save many more" Esdeath comforted. At this they ended the conversation and it was an important one as Tatsumi needed to get that off his chest and Esdeath wanted the answer.

Tatsumi noted however something else ahead that was more grand then Esdeath's wall, that was the army that had been assembled for him to lead, a sea of soldiers from all over Eden and with a myriad of different looks and weapons, this was but a small taste of the grand host of Order that was to come but the sheer variety and spectacle of the sight with banners flying proudly and soldiers from all over Adonai was a marvel to behold; and to think this was but a taste of the grand host that would take back Melitine and destroy Volgoth's evil was something that was hard to process for Tatsumi; this was by far the biggest army he'd ever seen, about half a million soldiers from all walks of life and many different races were there waiting for him to lead them and 200,000 more would join them before they crossed the river into the west and to think this was but a fraction of the power he'd bring to bear against his enemy, a fraction of his Empire's might was aweing and humbling too. "They await you" Esdeath replied.

Two days passed before Tatsumi's whole army was gathered, during this time Tatsumi dispatched the Dark Squad with their missions across the river, he then gave three more days to allow them to travel to their targets, it was then on the Sunday of the following week that he finally gave the order to cross the river Vala via the five great bridges with him crossing at the town of Fivecrossings which was at a point where the river split into five sepperated rivers before converging about ten miles later into one river again as such he had to cross five large bridges that were interconnected into was called the Fivebridge or the Longcrossing: the bridge was wide and strong enough to march tens of thousands of tons worth of an army across the Vala unscathed; the nice thing was that the crossings were uncontested as one of the initial Dark Squad missions had seen to the elimination of all picket stations on the western bank and this was without the fact that Tatsumi choose to cross at night.

By the time the Border Kings heard about the army it had fully crossed and marched 15 miles into the Western lands unopposed, and this had been by surprise completely as none of the rulers had expected an Imperial invasion as they were aware that the Empire was in a state of turmoil and were readying their own invasions to take advantage of the chaos: The Golden Dragon Army had marched in at the right time as the enemies were still mobilizing and still readying themselves: Tatsumi had a plan and wanted this war done with as little blood-letting as possible because he needed the manpower to fight against the real enemy so he decided in advance that once his enemies were defeated there wouldn't be a final example massacre, Esdeath was against this but Tatsumi reassured her that by showing mercy in this case he'd set an example to other neutral kingdoms who'd be more willing to engage him in diplomacy and would preserve the manpower reserves that he really wanted; he had no interest in the wealth of these regions but rather the soldiers at this point everyone that could use a weapon and that was within his recruitment criteria was welcome and if he showed mercy these enemies would be more inclined to fight for him and more loyal then if he had just ransacked their lands.

This campaign went on for about three days before encountering the first enemy force which attacked on sight, after the battle was won Tatsumi made a case of showing leniency he didn't order pursuit of the routers and released every captive after treating them to a hot meal and clean clothes along with giving them the good news and what was on offer for joining his cause, he also made his men bury the dead; this under other circumstances would have inspired resentment but Tatsumi had earned enough clout with his troops that he could afford to take these actions without been disliked for it. This had a good impact as people began to take up arms to fight for him after word got out for his actions these were chiefly of the younger generation along with the lower and middle classes that had been under higher taxes due to the local nobility wanting a big slice of an amazing economic upturn and harvest, so great was the shift so much that they began to turn against their leaders who had chosen to go to war out of old grudges and for hopes of plunder. With this the borderlands fell with little struggle and loss of lives, the brief battles and skirmishes left less than 3000 dead from both sides with the Westerners losing about 2500 in that share and the war ended swiftly: it was then with these lands secure that Tatsumi sent out diplomats to head further west and with special focus on the largest kingdoms, those of Francia, Melromarc, and Gilneas but also Vagan and Tzarka League which was a collection of barons that formed a loose confederation against their ambitious neighbors in the Vagai mountains which were a west to east running range in the mid-section of the Western lands.

These missions were largely successful with the smaller nations with the lucrative incentives on offer being more then they could dream off but the rulers of the larger nations wanted to meet with Tatsumi in person to discuss an such proposals; also the diplomats were accompanied by Dark Squad spies that Tatsumi had given instruction to look out for local trouble that could be used for Tatsumi to gain favor and gratitude for rooting out problems that the rulers had difficulty with; Melromarc was the most open to dialog their Queen's ambassadors explained that the Queen had just had to carry out a mass arrest, trial and execution of a vast amount of the ruling nobility and clergy that had planned to depose her in favor of created a more aggressive nation these had been secretly worshipers of Valtor, these included her husband of 23 years, that had sparked a civil war that the Queen was losing and needed Tatsumi's involvement. About half a week later he arrived in Melromarc, a kingdom that was in dire straits due to the failed uprising and the ongoing civil strife, Tatsumi's journey was not an easy one as he had been required to take a small force with him and from entering Melromarc the local danger beasts seemed to have it in for him.

During this time Tatsumi encountered his first drake, a white and blue scaled fire-breathing reptile that was terrorizing a local village, the drake was aghast at his arrival in the Dragon Armor and yelled something along the lines of "EGG BREAKER!" before soaring up and swooping down at him, Kurome took advantage of the Drake's focus and drove Yatsufsa thru the beast's flank into its heart, creating a new puppet that flew over his retinue in a macabre fashion and gave Tatsumi the creeps; were it not for the sight benefits it gave as Kurome could see what her Puppets could on command he'd have had it sent back to the Puppet encampment. Speaking of Kurome's force of puppets had been growing in the thousands to a point where she stopped naming them after the number involved grew to an inordinate amount: they served as essentially cannon fodder that could be sent in first to tie down enemy troops and allow the rest of his army to move in with minimal losses, the amount of corpses Tatsumi had from Kurome had proven useful during their battles with demons in the south.

That the drake was now a puppet aside the encounter with that drake was not the last of Tatsumi's encounters with the dragon-kind. Mainly due to his own desire to win affection and attention from the masses, each of the monsters he killed added to his reputation but also a number of them had prices on their heads which Tatsumi then turned in and used the money to buy more public opinion whenever he got the option. A week later and Tatsumi arrived in the capital of Melromarc which was also known as Melromarc with much fanfare from the majority of the populace though jeers and dislikes from the ruling elite who viewed him as a threat to their power. Queen Mirellia Qinilia Melromarc of house Melromarc which happed to be the name of the ruling dynasty, capital and nation to make things simple was eager to see him arriving in person to great him and- well she was a goddess with dark purple hair that was short cut in a rather interesting fashion that left two bangs to either side of her head and bright purple eyes as customary with westerners along with fair white skin, she was dressed in a purple and golden gown that highlighted her curves with a regal cape and purple collar and wore a spiked crown of gold studded with garnets and drake-scales with a garnet on the brow of her forehead she carried a halberd of ornate Dwarven design and obviously a Teigu, at her side were her two daughters dressed summarily. The older of the two Malty had dark magenta hair, green eyes and was of similar figure to her mother though she had a more muscular build which indicated a warrior training and was indicated further by the large Greatsword on her back that was clearly a Teigu if Tatsumi had ever seen one. The other daughter Melty was shorter but no older then 16, her body was not as developed as her mother and sister and she was more petite, she had blue hair in pigtails and indigo eyes and wore a blue dress and was short too about 5'6 which was short for Eden's standards but she was due to grow some more so; the three women approached him alongside a retinue of armed guards, Tatsumi noted that one sported the head of a man with beard along with a few more sported the hats worn by the priests of the land.

A page ran forward. "Welcome to Melromarc, the city, land and nation of: presenting her majesty Queen Mirellia Qinilia Melromarc first of her name, ruler of Melromarc and Dragon of the West, champion of Talkas and slayer of the great Dragon Verthemenor; presenting also her two daughters and the only children of her issue her firstborn Princess Malty Melromarc, Head of her majesty's army, slayer of Seven Great Drakes, the slaughterer of Sungal and scourge of Melromarc who slays all enemies of the kingdom within it and without, and her other daughter and heir to the throne Melty Melromarc, the Blue Flower and beauty of ages; look on her and be filled with hope" the page introduced; Pais stepped forward and held forth her own introduction.

"We are glad and honored to meet with your royal personages; presenting his Imperial Majesty Emperor Tatsumi VII Gildenstrom of the Golden Dragon Empire, seventh of his family name first of the new Empire's emperors, Golden Dragon Emperor, Demonslayer, Tyrantsbane, Favored of Avawahy, Destroyer of the Revolutionary Army, and the Last Hope of the Eden amidst other titles" Pais replied and would have listed the further titles were it not for her Spear signaling her to allow Tatsumi to speak.

Both rulers bid their guards to give them space as they approached each other. "Welcome to Melromarc, I'm glad that you've come to meet me in person, my Kingdom is in dire danger and words and tales are told of your deeds from the Dragonshore to Amannar; I'm pleased to welcome the man who is the best hope for Eden but far more relevant to this moment the best hope for Melromarc: I- need your aid" Queen Mirellia explained.

"I'll gladly assist where I can, though we need to be quick time is a commodity our world runs short of daily" Tatsumi explained.

"I'm aware; I've heard of the great danger posed by the Arch-Demon and self-proclaimed Emperor Volgoth Ugor, he sent emissaries here and agents too I've also encountered the cult of Valtor whom those emissaries demanded us worship: I refused their demands and told them that I'd have no such thing occur; a fortnight after they returned demanding the same and more; again I refused them but soon after the skies began to darken and wicked men that I've tried my best to destroy during my reign began to operate openly; about a month ago loyal agents sent me word that there was conspiracy in Melromarc to overthrow me and any of my line and install someone else on the throne, as absurd as it sounded they were right and a day later one of the agents of the demon I mentioned was captured by Malty trying to escape the border; my daughter can be quite persuasive and- well informed me that the spy gave names of a number of prominent officials; a thorough investigation revealed my husband the King whose head now rests on a pike along with the Pope of the Three Dragons church and a number of others both in the clergy and nobility were part of a conspiracy to depose and murder me and my children and replace us with Cultists also that they had been worshiping the demon's master in secret for decades; as such I had the lot of them tried and put to death; I've since made enemies of their supporters and Melromarc is in a state of war and stress; also I've found myself without a spouse and the Kingdom of Leranse on our border declared war for the death of my husband whom they were in league with: My daughter Malty and I have been busy culling the cults remnants in the city and surrounding towns but there is still much that needs done; aid me in this and you shall be rewarded" Mirellia explained.

"Alright any enemy of Volgoth's is a friend of mine, is that your husband on that pike?" Tatsumi asked.

"Yes; the gall of him, I was married to the man for 20 years and what did I get for my trouble? Constant issues in my nation, constant nagging and complaining for me not giving him a son even though women have as much right to rule here as men do, not appreciating either of his daughters, ingratiating himself with the church pah, the priests in the city were in the cult; those cads claimed vows of celibacy by day and by night committed debaucheries; I've had no shortage of trouble thru out my rule, whether its dragons or orcs or my own people: I'm 35 and I feel like I'm twice my age; thrice damn those traitors and thrice damn those in league with them" Mirellia explained becoming very wroth before calming down. "Well enough ranting about dead men and traitors; you see the issues in my realm are many, I've got invaders from the north, Orcs to my south, Cults taking up arms throughout the countryside and most horrible of all I find myself without a spouse to bare more children which is very important as thru my husband's schemes he has reduced the royal line to three people, myself and my two daughters thus in order to save Melromarc I've no other option then to wed a worthy husband and none of my subjects will do I trust nobody in my realm to wed me or my daughters; no only a foreign ruler will do. To that end Emperor Tatsumi because you seem to be the only ruler that has enough sense to recognized the true enemy whereas my neighbors are still concerned with old quarrels made by fops centuries ago and themselves, you are the most powerful ruler on Eden and you've shown yourself an exemplar thru your actions I seek with your approval to wed myself and my daughters matrilineally to you and join the Golden Dragon Empire; I hate having to give up my Kingdom's independence but my subjects have proven unworthy of it and if I am to have some semblance of authority because I know what you do with foreign rulers that join you I must do so please I beg you accept I've no other options" Mirellia explained; Tatsumi did the only thing that seemed natural in that moment, he hugged her, it was not meant as a gesture of romantic interest though Mirellia took it as one but was meant to be one of comfort and empathy as he knew full well the stress she was under and what it was like to be monarch who was part of a line that was nearly extinct.

"I accept: now we need to see to threats within, once those are dealt with I will follow thru on your proposal and you and your people can join me in the War that Matters; now I want to know the extent to how bad things have gotten; also I'd like to know something why is your younger daughter the heir and not the older one?" Tatsumi replied.

"There are many things that need addressing and as you said little time to address them; as to my succession, well you can blame that on the church and the legal system; my eldest daughter is wroth in the ways she deals with our enemies and also celebrated for and well after coming back from one of the wars she was with an infant of course the nobles started rumors of Malty's character and accused her of siring a bastard of all sorts of nonsense but nonetheless idiots bought it and believed those old codgers, a bastard is regarded as serious offense by the church and she was excommunicated for doing so on say so that wasn't proven it was either I disinherit her or kill her as punishment; I may be able to kill the criminals of my nation but my own issue, not a chance especially on fraudulent charges, that was three years ago and the priests and a bunch of nobles recently who were in league with the Demon tried to destroy her image further along with mine by claiming that I had cucked my husband and that Malty's eyes proved it, nonsense of course; my own father had green eyes: that incident didn't help the matter; no Malty has since then become my enforcer she's a prodigy; a wonderful daughter and once we've dealt with the issues at large here I'll be giving her rightful place in succession back" Mirellia explained; that detail made Tatsumi look at Malty with- interest

"Don't worry I've been taking good care of the little angel, he's sweet even during the terrible twos" Malty replied.

"I see so does he take after you or someone else" Tatsumi replied.

"He isn't my child at least not from my womb, but I consider him my child I couldn't just leave him not after I killed three of my soldiers for killing his parents and planning to kill him" Malty explained.

"Don't worry my dear I'm fairly certain Emperor Tatsumi will be quite kind and caring towards him now we must be off to see to preparations, there are a number of issues to deal with and if Francia decides to go to war with us on top of everything else I'm fairly certain it will be unsalvageable "Mirellia explained then led Tatsumi and the others off.

They soon arrived inside the palace from there Mirellia led them to her war room, as expected the map of Melromarc was marked heavily with enemy flags and serious issues; the most prominent and largest concentrations were annoyingly on three different fronts and in three different directions. "Well here is a map of my realm such as it is; note that the locations were subject to about a week ago; the enemies will have moved further" Queen Mirellia explained, she then pointed at a series of miniature tokens that were made in the image of orcs. "Here in south happens to be one of the largest Orc armies to have ever invaded Melromarc; a large and vicious host led by one of the most conniving and large Orcs to have ever walked the face of Eden; they are led by Gashrak Goreclaw, a behemoth of an orc about the size of a troll, my spies report he's clad in some of the thickest armor that they've ever seen a orc wear, wields a massive Mansplitter which is an axe that normally takes two hands to wield in one-hand with a shield that is more like a barn door in the other; he's protected by an elite guard of some of toughest and most ferocious orcs possible but also the most devoted and when not with them he rides a Wyvern: I've not seen a warboss with such a monster since I was a little girl reading a story book" Mirellia explained. "My scouts report there are over 200,000 orcs and goblins under his banner; my forces have been using ambushes and hit and run attacks to thin their numbers but that has done little; of the threats that are tearing apart my kingdom I'd argue they are the largest" Mirellia explained.

"Alright what about the others; you said you had uprisings and an enemy kingdom invading on top of all this" Tatsumi explained.

"I'll handle that mother; the enemy kingdom is the nation of Leranse: King Stefan has been trying to get his hands on our nation for most of his life as have his forefathers; we were once the same nation but a will by one of the monarchs left the realms divided, since then it has become our national sport to try and beat the shit out of each other with the prize being to take the other over. I have thrashed his armies before but this time with manpower being tied down fighting this invasion force which is made up mainly of what he left had after I thrashed him last year and conscripts that he is yoinked off the farms" Malty explained.

"You think he can be reasoned with?" Tatsumi asked.

"Nope; Stefan is as stupid as a cow and as stubborn as a dwarf; Leransians tend to be which is why they've never succeeded in conquering Melromarc; even in the face of the Empire's legions with their top of the line equipment or a Dwarven throng he'd still fight; if you want to try diplomacy I'd suggest doing so with his men I'm willing to bet a number of his barons and certainly his conscripts aren't willing to die fighting the Empire" Malty explained.

"And lastly the most pressing threat as it is the closest are the traitors: chief among them House Aldmeri who are leading the uprising, I've had to crush two uprisings they funded within my reign, the first when I came to the throne and the second when I outlawed the slave trade and slavery as a whole in Melromarc: that second one was worst because I pissed off a lot of nobles and merchants who are now dead in doing so" Mirellia explained.

"Ok then I'm guessing I have permission to move my armies in?" Tatsumi asked.

"Indeed you do, Captain see to it that you find your best and most loyal rider so that I may give him a message with my royal seal allowing the entry of the army of the Golden Dragon Emperor into Melromarc; also see too he's given our best and quickest mare or stallion and a writ of Kama to allow him to pass thru any checkpoint unhindered; now who Emperor Tatsumi should I address this missive to?" Mirellia.

"Empress Esdeath Patras Gildenstrom" Tatsumi explained, Mirellia raised an eyebrow and Malty grinned.

"The Empire's Finest is still alive and is your wife, not a surprise that she is still alive though I'm surprised she wed you of all people I've heard she is notoriously picky and is an Ice Queen with an ice barrier that no man has cracked, her reputation proceeds her and see to it she and her troops are kept on a strong leash I don't want them ravaging my countryside" Mirellia explained.

"Don't worry Esdeath won't do anything of the sort and neither will her army without my say so: besides I've been rather lenient so far though I do recommend that since these rebels are cultists of Valtor that you send a firm message; since they are the closest threat we'll take what army is ready at the moment and strike them first" Tatsumi explained.

"An interesting tactic; a sound strategy too, as for the punishment I'll see to it that they'll never be able to rebel again" Mirellia explained. "Malty assemble the army also tell my arms bearer to bring me my armor and my sword; I'm leading the army to war; Melty you'll be in charge of the city while your sister and I go forward, also I want the remaining the captives from the cultists to be strung up in gibbets for the sport of the crows; that'll send a message" Mirellia ordered her two daughters left the room with their orders.

"So how do you plan to handle the rebel leaders? I have found as a ruler you need to get the message across loud and clear also if there are still those that may yet join us call them in we need everyone we can get to defeat the demons" Tatsumi asked and explained.

"As to the leaders of this movement I'll see all male members of the noble houses in question of age to have children executed, the women and the children will be spared and stripped of the house name along with being banished to whatever nation will have them; they'll be allowed to keep a good sum of money and most of their possessions to start new lives but the rest of it will be spoils of war and wergild for my family whom they have wronged greatly; special attention to house Aultecry my treacherous former husband was of their family and they've not taken too kindly to me having executed him for treason" Mirellia explained

"And the method of execution, it needs to be long, drawn out, and public to get the message across; I suggest you have them crucified" Tatsumi suggested.

"Crucifixion? An Imperial punishment, no that would have the opposite effect of what I want, I can't be seen as an Imperial puppet otherwise there will be uprisings galore, no instead I'll opt for having some them boiled alive in oil with the rest being thrown into a Wyrm pit; I've a pet Wyrm of mine and while I've fed him recently he'll be starving by the time I get back; now that we know the rebels are the first target in which order do you want to handle Stefan and the Orcs?" Mirellia explained.

"The Orcs are the bigger threat my armies though should be more than a match for them; when we've seen to the Orcs I'll have the head of Gashrak sent to King Stefan and his men, along with a declaration that Melromarc is now a protectorate of the Golden Dragon Empire, he may back off but if not then I'll take his kingdom also I'll offer his vassals incentives to join me: war may be unavoidable but there is no sense in killing all of our enemies when some may be convinced to join us; the Orcs I doubt will be willing to except by a show of force" Tatsumi explained.

"You'd allow greenskins to fight for you?" Mirellia asked.

"I already do, there are a good number of Hobgoblins in my armies and a fair few normal goblins too, they may not be the most seemly of allies but they are loyal and they aren't demons also they'll follow orders and are able to be trained so that's enough for me; besides I can't be picky with my troops apart from my not taking in monsters in human form or deserters as I need every single fighter I can muster to save our world; when the world itself is at stake you can't afford to be picky or to take half-measures" Tatsumi explained.

"I see, you'd be hard pressed to convince a number of people in Melromarc to see your point of view; now though if you can't afford to be picky why not allow everyone who wants to join to join" Mirellia explained.

"Two reasons; first off the monsters in human form are little better then demons themselves and I don't want them going loose on innocent people, the Revolutionary Army allowed them to join and they did immense damage to the Empire's ordinary people. As for deserters, those are men and women who literally ran away from battle if they show cowardice in the face of humans they certainly won't stand and fight against demons if they panic they are dead and so are a bunch of other people standing with them" Tatsumi explained.

"That is wise leadership; now that we're done with strategy I must prepare myself for war; in the meantime use what time we have left before we march to enjoy yourself and make ready; as soon as I can assemble the army we'll set out" Mirellia explained.

It wasn't too long after that meeting something interesting happened while Tatsumi was about with Nancy and Mine, he had decided to see the sights of the city and take a walk on a clear sunny day, something that needed to be appreciated as he feared those remaining days were few. That interesting thing was when took Nancy and Mine to go see the local market and they bumped into someone; a girl about 17 with pink hair and pink eyes, something which was not out the ordinary as many westerners had this particular trait, but this girl was different. "Mine!" she shouted out at the top of her lungs and rushed over towards Tatsumi.

"What? Who?" Mine asked startled.

"It's me; your sweet little sister Kellia; I haven't seen you in years now; and what is with the get up; if it hadn't been for your face I wouldn't have recognized you let your hair down too" the girl greeted

"Mine who's this?" Tatsumi asked.

"My apologies, I- Kellia? I didn't recognize you, you've- grown also what are you doing here" Mine explained.

"Leading a trading expedition of course, mom and dad wanted me to prove myself and see how well I could do trading so they sent me to Melromarc to buy some of their goods; you'd be amazed what they sell here and for such good prices; of course I hadn't expected to be stuck here with a war going on; now my expedition can't go back to Francia; mom and dad must be worried about me; though not as much as they've been about you Mine, what happened to you, why did you run away and where to; mom and dad have been upset the last few years and have been putting us and our relatives in charge of the family business, it took Nymeria two weeks to convince them to leave the Empire and head to Francia when the civil war broke out, in fact how has that been going is it safe to return home yet; tell me! Tell me! Tell me!" Kellia explained eagerly.

"Well; I've been around, a lot; as to the civil war; well the Revolutionary Army is gone but so is the Empire; Demons have invaded Eden; this is my husband Emperor Tatsumi Gildenstrom the seventh and Golden Dragon Emperor; yeah we charged into a relationship and when I got pregnant we married" Mine explained then her sister got in her space putting her ear to her belly and rubbing it.

"So cute! I get to be an Aunt in a few months; what are you going to name it? Never mind how did you catch the attention of this hottie and how is he emperor if the Empire is gone?" Kellia explained.

"That's a long story; though in summery I'll give it; I'm rebuilding it from scratch; a demon invasion happened, the Prime Minister was killed by this monster Volgoth Ugor, but before that I discovered that I was secretly the son of Emperor Isshin the Lost, it's a long story but to cut it short my dad was murdered by his rivals and my mother escaped she went to this village and raised me in secret lying to me my whole life about who I really was to keep me safe from my father's enemies; I found out the truth after a series of life-threatening and life-changing events and well my cousin gave me the throne not that it matters much, after he found out the truth, Makoto is a good kid and he really never wanted to be emperor and gave me the crown because he thought I'd be both a better ruler and because I was supposed to be the ruler" Tatsumi explained.

"So how did you to get married also why did you run away Mine?" Kellia explained.

"Because I didn't want to be married off to an old man twice my age: Mr. Ketterly was a good man and nice person but he'd have been twice my age still and not remotely attractive also he couldn't handle me, besides I was sick of mom and dad treating me like a child and basically making me do things for their benefit, I know for a fact the reason they wanted to marry me off was so they could get their hands on his shipping company I'm not a commodity I'm a human being" Mine explained.

"Yeah you are human but still that's not an excuse to run away and disrespect your parents, didn't you just here they are worried sick about you!" Nancy commented.

"Shove a dick in it Nancy, you bitch I don't want to hear about respecting my parents decisions, you know that Lilianna ran away for the same reason as me when your father made that choice despite telling her that she could marry for love her whole life; also you don't know what it's like to conform to every expectation your parents have for me you bastard; bastards like you have all the freedom to make what they can of themselves all the time even if you're nobility; I've had to conform to lady expectations, had to wear dresses that were uncomfortable as all hell to balls and galas I didn't want to attend but was forced to, had to never speak my own mind on anything, I couldn't tell anyone what I thought about them to their face and worst of all my parents doted on Nymeria to my expense they only paid attention to me when they needed me to do something for them and when it was expedient at least my parents weren't as bad as Akame's though I'd have taken a life in that training program over a life of pampering and demands!" Mine ranted.

"Oh, really then how do you think they felt when you ran away? Mine your parents loved you, they dotted on you! By all the gods I've never met a person more ungrateful for the lot they were dealt: you think being a bastard is easy; try being treated with disdain by all sorts of people just for existing even if my father gives me everything I could ever want and loved me dearly in more ways than one, to a point where he was willing to kill and destroy anyone that so much as spoke badly of me; my mother loves me, my father loved me before he was murdered by that monster Volgoth; and because their love for me I cannot stand by and let anyone curse their parents I could have been like Leone or any number of my father's bastards that he didn't know about; but even then he'd have taken me in and loved me: your parents Mine are important and when we visit Francia you must see them otherwise you'll never be a true woman!" Nancy replied, at this Mine slugged her in the face; and the two then went at for a good few punches before Tatsumi grabbed both of them and held them up in the air.

"ENOUGH! I've had it, I've had enough your arguing and shit about each other; I love both of you but you need to get along and love each other, if you want to love me you have to treat each other with respect: Nancy apologize to Mine, Mine I'm making you visit your parents and apologize to them; if either of you refuses I will file for divorce; If you two are going to let your quarrels come before me and anyone else you love then I don't want either of you in my harem!" Tatsumi yelled, both of them looked at him, teared up and then began crying; Tatsumi suppressed his anger at them and channeled it towards himself, that had to be done but he felt inside that he had taken it too far.

"I'm sorry Mine; I'm sorry Tatsumi; It's just that- I loved my father, and I'm still not able to cope with the fact he's gone and when Mine came back I- well I took my grief out on you; it wasn't your fault Mine, I just am in so much pain in my heart for the loss even though I love you dearly Tatsumi there are two gaping holes in my heart, I lost my father I loved dearly and who loved me dearly and lost the first person that ever loved me: Mine you need to not take your parents for granted or have any hatred for them because if you do it will hurt even worse when they are gone; I'm glad I left no quarrels with my father and got to feel his loving embrace one last time before he was consumed by that monster Volgoth: what I wanted from you is to reconcile with your parents that way when the day comes to say goodbye you'll not have any regrets" Nancy apologized.

"I'm sorry I called you those names; I'm sorry I've been such a bitch since you joined up with us; I'm sorry Tatsumi for all this drama and going forward I promise I'm not going to fight with Nancy about this ever again; also Kellia I'm sorry I ran away and when we right the problems here I want to see our parents and apologize for running away though I will say that I don't regret it because if I didn't I'd have never met the man I love most or gotten to spend my first time with him or saved Nym's life, and those of everyone else; I hope they'll forgive me because all the lives I saved and meeting the love of my life was worth running away to live for" Mine apologized.

"Apology accepted sis, you know after you ran away mom and dad stopped being controlling, they let us make more decisions ourselves, what you did sis changed them and made them see us as their children, as people that are capable of making our own choices" Kellia explained. "Also, I'd like to know this hottie of a husband you have more I'm still single and more than willing to mingle" Kellia added at this both Nancy and Mine glared at her then laughed.

After this incident the rest of Tatsumi's time in the city was spent exploring and making the most of the city's sights along with enjoying what the city offered as this may have been for all he knew at the time (and which he was later glad to have been proven wrong) the last time he'd ever get a chance to enjoy Melromarc. After this Tatsumi was informed by a messenger that Queen Mirellia had readied her force for war and that she was only waiting for him and his retinue to do the same.

So, it was then in about another hour Tatsumi and his retinue joined with the soldiers of Melromarc, the Queen's army that she could assembled numbered about 5000 veteran troops with thousands of more troops scattered across the Kingdom holding out against the various threats that opposed them. Mirellia explained that the Cultist army numbered twice their number and held a fair few bastions. That being said Tatsumi's retinue of about 500 with a large number of Teigu users evened those odds out quite significantly; especially when Susanoo, Amaterasu and Koro were factored in as the three alone were army killers. Taking all this in stride the army left Melromarc with a garrison of 3000 to protect it with the local populace being called to arms to form a militia.

A day was spent traveling towards the first rebel stronghold which was old castle that looked like it had seen better days and was defended by a good-sized garrison. Having time being a luxury Tatsumi and Mirellia ordered the construction of ladders and the bringing up of mooring hooks and launched a night attack on the enemy bastion.

The Defenders were outclassed, while they could have held back the Queen's troops they weren't prepared at all for Imperial soldiers much less Tatsumi's veteran retinue that was made up largely of Imperial Arms users and Royal Guard nor were the defenders able to defend against Tatsumi himself as he used the power of Smaug to burn packed formations of Cultist defenders alive with fireballs and fire waves in addition to the blood draining abilities of Valruost, and when you added in his fifteen dedicated Empress bodyguards who were fanatically devoted to protecting him and their future the defenders stood no chance at all. The aftermath left no Imperials dead, 200 loyalists died however but compared to them the defenders had lost a total of 3,000 troops that had fought to the last standing.

Because of the sudden and swift force of the attack the defenders hadn't had time to destroy any information as to the plans and movements of the Cult as a whole these gave valuable intel about the positions of enemy troops as well as exact numbers; it turned out the Cultists had less numbers then was initially reported but not due to bad intel but because a part of Gashrak's Army had attacked them before being driven off and thus inflicting moderate losses on the enemies. Also during this time the gruesome aftermath of cult rituals were found and Tatsumi was not surprised to find what he did, by this point this kind of thing was something he'd gotten used to seeing and rather than shock only disgust and desire to end it once and for came into his mind.

About two days later a vanguard of Tatsumi's Army largely consistent of about 5,000 Cavalry, 20 tanks, and 10,000 infantry caught up with them and joined the march bringing up the numbers Esdeath had sent General Cena with this vanguard and about 40 Dark Squad Assassins to allow for special ops missions against the enemy. With these reinforcements the Cultist forces fell rapidly as the Dark Squad assassins killed crucial leaders, eliminated foraging parties and destroyed provisions which forced them out into field battles where the Imperial cavalry and tanks ruled the battlefield; by the end of a week the cult had been decimated with the survivors being executed in the city square of Melromarc, the losses had been minor for Army of Order as Tatsumi was now calling this alliance against Volgoth and had numbered less than 500 in all. With the cults defeat about 20,000 Melromarcan troops were freed up from broken sieges to fight alongside the army which had now been joined by the full Imperial army of 200,000 along 40,000 allies from the other races and 30,000 mercenaries hired on by the Golden Dragon Empire now was a battle hardened and powerful force that was capable of defeating any threat.

With this new balance of power Tatsumi and Mirellia commenced phase two of Operation Save Melromarc, dealing with the Orcs; Tatsumi sent Imperial diplomats (Esdeath and Najenda) with an ultimatum to King Stefan of Leranse that Melromarc was now part of the Golden Dragon Empire and that continued hostilities would result in war with Empire and that Emperor Tatsumi Gildenstrom VII the Golden Dragon Emperor would meet him personally on the field of battle. The King sent a message back "Bring it on" Tatsumi took this challenge as war, which meant that Leranse was now on the docket for conquest as soon as he crushed the Greenskins.

To expedite the process, he sent Goblin Emissaries to the Warboss Gashrak Goreclaw challenging him to single combat with the victor becoming leader of his army; Gashrak refused the terms of combat but said "You want a scrap hummie? Come and face me, it's been days since I had a right proppa fight and da boyz want a give some hummies a good zogging" which was a challenge to a fight but on the battlefield.

About three days later the Greenskin horde was in sight with their warlord flying above on his Wyvern and when they saw Tatsumi's army the Orcs charged giving little time to prepare for impact, Tatsumi's force however managed to set up just in time to receive their massive charge with a few volleys of ranged fire before the lines crashed and a melee began. Tatsumi active his dragon wings and fly up into the sky while Esdeath rained icy death down on the greenskins alongside Sayo who unleashed barrages of light arrows at the horde while on the ground the army stood its ground, it was a battle of brawny savagery from the greenskins against technologically superior opponents but still the fighting was savage with both sides dying in droves due to the fury of both armies.

Tatsumi paid little heed to the battle below and engaged Gashrak in single combat cutting off the head of his wyvern thus sending him plummeting, the Orc Warboss was unscathed by the crash and angry for death of his prized Muncha as he named the beast and charged towards Tatsumi with his Mansplitter in hand. The two fought with bitter rage, blades clashed, despite the fact Tatsumi's weapons were superior the Mansplitter and Shield had been made out of so much metal that they could take the abuse of strikes, the Orc's armor was equally impressive in its resilience as it was less armor then a huge amount of metal slabs that had been fused together and added to with more slabs in the shape of armor; weight that humans couldn't dream of bearing made for a hard to kill opponent. The two warriors clashed with blades locking, Gashrak's raw attacks and furious strikes were stonewalled by Tatsumi's defense, Tatsumi could not go on the offense as Gashrak's attacks were so fast that openings to counter were near-impossible to exploit. So, this turned into a slogging match; one that continued for a good amount of time, even when Tatsumi channeled Valruost's battle-rage to make him faster the orc warboss powered thru and Tatsumi tried flinging fireballs but the orc powered thru the pain. The fight dragged on until Tatsumi got one critical opening; the orc had made a slip in hard shield guard and with that opening Tatsumi slipped Smaug thru that opening and into Gashrak's throat; the orc's raging red eyes went black as dark red blood seep out the wound: Tatsumi not able to draw the sword out sepperated the head from the body then had to drop both weapons to push back the hulking corpse from crushing him. Tatsumi then picked up the head of the warboss and let out a loud roar; both sides stopped fighting and noticed the Emperor standing atop his smitten enemy's corpse atop a high hill and the sharp eyed saw the head; at this the Greenskins gave way; breaking in horror, as they routed the army gave no quarter and slaughtered every greenskin they could catch, with this the battle was over.

Tatsumi then collected the axe of the fallen orc as a trophy, the massive axe was heavy for a human to lift; Tatsumi didn't have too much issue but it still weighed a considerable amount; he then had the weapon stored with the rest of his trophies, a collection of spoils of war from his campaigns and the many enemies that faced him, from there his injuries that he had taken in the fight were treated including a dislocated shoulder that came from one of the Orc's more brutal strikes and which had done little to impede Tatsumi's performance as it had been dealt to his scarred shoulder, suffice to say the Orc had managed to give him a firm run for his money and rather than having Gashrak's body burned with the rest he had him buried full honors as a worthy foe.

A day later Tatsumi awoke to find himself being carried about in a palanquin, Sheele noted this. "You're finally awake" Sheele commented.

"I am- hey what happened?" Tatsumi asked noting himself inside the palanquin.

"You were so far asleep that Akame and the other champions carried you here, you've slept all morning and, I knew fighting an Orc warlord can be tiring but I never assumed that you'd have burnt that much energy" Sheele replied.

"Well that orc- ouch- was one stubborn and ferocious enemy; he could've given Volgoth a run for his money" Tatsumi remarked, the ouch came from his shoulder. "How the hell did I manage to sleep that long, did anyone try waking me up?" Tatsumi asked.

"Oh, we did, only you slept thru everything including a bucket of ice water" Mine commented.

"I tried smelling salts" Sheele replied.

"We tried many methods but now you're awake and ready to lead" Aria explained, Tatsumi took one look at her smiling face and was now fully awake.

"Where are we now?" Tatsumi asked.

"About 20 miles from our destination, we sent orc heads to King Stefan like you ordered last night, he's issued you a challenge to single combat winner take all" Aria explained.

"Did you tell him I'd accept?" Tatsumi replied.

"Oh, we did, do you though really my dear Tatsumi?" Aria replied.

"Remember what happened to the last asshole I challenged to single combat? Yeah I do, especially if it make my job easier and saves lives" Tatsumi explained, Aria smirked and kissed him on the cheek.

"General Cena wanted to speak with you later today, with the war in Melromarc nearly done with she wants to ask what future orders you'll have for the Dark Squad; she wants the meeting in person not thru an intermediary" Sheele explained.

"Alright I'll meet with her later after we've got time, when will we meet King Stefan?" Tatsumi replied.

"Soon we agreed on to meet near the town of Callamain" Aria explained. Tatsumi looked at her and then at his sword.

"Is this a fight to the death, if so I pity him" Tatsumi replied.

"Yes; he stated honor dictates it, also he called your mother a whore" Aria replied, at this Tatsumi was pissed.

"I'll cut his head off!" Tatsumi yelled then smirked at the thought.

That afternoon they arrived at the location, King Stefan and a retinue of Leransian Knights waited for them; a circle had been made to denote the fighting arena and King Stefan was waiting. "Welcome Golden Dragon Emperor, you've answered my challenge; here's the rules: the fight is to the death, no restrictions and the winner gets all the loser owns; Kingdom, wives, children, possessions, treasures and the losers head; now that the rules our outlined we will fight here, I want nothing held back and no rules apply to this fight other than that the loser dies!" King Stefan explained, as Tatsumi approached, he could not see the King's face as it was obscured entirely by his great helm which was rather ornate and decorated with the carved figure of a bull's head atop it, he wore full plate underneath a heraldic tabard depicting his household crest and the feats of his household along with the motto 'Fortune favors the Bold' under the image of a black bull with gore drenched horns.

"I was told that you'd insulted my mother" Tatsumi replied drawing both blades as he entered the circle.

"That I did, and only a whore could produce a peasant like you who claims to be an emperor! Ha PISSENT!" Stefan replied and readied his own weapon a fighting axe; Tatsumi dawned the Dragon Armor and readied Valruost then took a duel bladed defensive stance.

"Your move; after all only a whore's son would respond to base taunts that are lies, the weapons of a weakling" Tatsumi replied, the King charged him; Tatsumi decided to toy with him; the King was about his own age but his style of fighting suggested he'd had no experience in actual battle and that all his fighting was for tournaments and duels of honor, Tatsumi doubted the man had even shed the blood of a man; so he humored him let him think he was winning for a bit before ending the fight with a sweeping strike from Valruost decapitating the king. Stefan's helm and head flew off from his body the helmet landing in a corner and the head nearby the face of Stefan petrified in shock; Tatsumi being Tatsumi looked at it then picked it up and took it to the King's second. "I take it I win" Tatsumi commented, the knights and men-at-arms bowed. "Rise; send one of your number to inform the King's army and another to inform his people, tell them that the King is dead, they are now the sovereign vassals of the Golden Dragon Emperor; say these words the King is dead Long live the Golden Dragon Emperor" Tatsumi ordered, the knights drew their swords and rose.

"Long live the Golden Dragon Emperor!" they cried forth and sounded a bugle in his honor, the most senior of the knights stepped forward and handed Tatsumi his sword.

"I pledge myself and my men to you my liege; I'll see to it that two of our number inform them of the events that happened; the Kingdom of Leranse is at your service, I ask though what is to become of the late King?" The Knight asked.

"Bury him; but do so nearby and without a great marker for the needeth it not, also his armor and weapons are mine by right; I'd have one final look on his face though before he is intured" Tatsumi replied, he tapped the knight on both shoulders and returned his sword to him, he then took a look at the face of his enemy; as Tatsumi suspected the King was near his age perhaps a year younger but had been filled with impetuous tempers; some months ago that King and Tatsumi were of similar in action but all that was time ago and one look at the face made he realize that the two could have easily had their roles reversed with him being the arrogant warrior and Stefan being the calm and wise leader who humbled his enemy before death. "I hate killing; but especially since in another life we could have been friends and because he was in the prime of his life but that is the way death works; death is the enemy that cannot be defended against it claims all be they young or old; like time it's a constant and shows up when you don't want it to" Tatsumi thought then handed the head to a soldier. "Bury him" Tatsumi said presently then looked out at the sky, the suns. "A brave new world that's what is at the end of this journey. A brave new world" Tatsumi thought, he then took a look at things.

A three days later in Melromarc… "By the authority vested in me by Avawahy and the other great gods and goddesses I bless this holy union and bind for eternity in marriage Emperor Tatsumi Gildenstrom VII to Queen Mirellia Qinilia Melromarc, I also bind to Emperor Tatsumi Gildenstrom VII, Princess Malty Mira Melromarc and Princess Melty Minerva Melromarc in matrimony for eternity; by the grace of gods let these unions bare forth a new generation in this great world and also bring forth the unity of the nations under the banner of the Golden Dragon; let this be said in Avawahy's name AMEN! You may kiss the brides and the brides may kiss the groom" Angulas proclaimed, Tatsumi then proceeded to kiss each of the three in turn but doing so chastely as he was aware of the station and circumstances of this union to act untoward; granted though that didn't stop all three from immediately peppering him with kisses after: Mirellia afterwards stayed at his side the whole time with Malty and Melty doing similar but not crowding him; the two monarchs cut the finely prepared cake soon after and Tatsumi noted behind him Makoto was eager to get at it while Esdeath was as usual trying to keep him from hurting himself as while he wasn't Emperor her maternal instincts as his step-mother were fully on display.

Shortly Tatsumi found himself at the table and thought about his cousin "At this point I'm more a father to him then his cousin, well he may be my cousin I will raise him though like my son; I'm just so angry that so much has been taken from him, whatever gods that dictate our worlds events better have some remorse for making all those bad things happen to him because if not they don't deserve veneration; and Valtor and Volgoth they don't get anything but hate for what those monsters have taken from him thru their actions; if those two demons had never returned from the void Makoto would have had a normal life, hell I'd have had a normal life; but no those monsters took everything that would have been normal from us and took our family from us; for them I have no forgiveness or any pity they are evil thru and thru, as for Honest- well I can't help but pity him after finding out what I did, if he hadn't found that crown he'd have never fallen so far, but if he didn't then Leone and Nancy wouldn't have been born; Oh is this really the best way things could have played out; I hope so because I'd hate to see this world be worse" Tatsumi thought then thought of one way it could be worse, the nightmare that he kept having ever since Volgoth had introduced it to him, in fact that nightmare was the worst possible scenario; a scenario in which he not only lost the person he loved most but was to blame for that loss and in addition to that lost everyone else. "What would I have to live for in that world? What would I? What kind of person would I have been, a fool a monster, someone consumed by hatred and puppet of evil?" Tatsumi thought; Mirellia noticed him.

"You're having hard thoughts; don't have them; be grateful for what you have and right now there is a wonderful piece of cake on your plate and I'm going to eat it if you don't" Mirellia commented, at this Tatsumi at his cake, then got more cake as the cake was delicious, along with more food and drink until he was stuffed and thought of what awaited him.

With the feasting concluded only one part of the ceremony remained one that Tatsumi loved most of all; the bedding; the revelers escorted them to the royal chambers and waited outside the locked door. Tatsumi did not have to do much apart from move after his new brides stripped him and themselves.

"Now girls let me go first and show you; he's your first and as a mother I'm obliged to show you how to make this experience enjoyable for both yourselves and Tatsumi, watch and learn my darling daughters" Mirellia explained Tatsumi took one look at her ample E-cups and pulled her to him; she kissed him then pressed him back; she then slowly kissed him planting kisses down chest tell she came down to his royal phallus as Kurome had termed it and began sucking on it with skill that was refined over years of marriage; she smiled as she did so taking her time before stopping she then placed his length in between her ample breasts. "You like this don't you?" She teased.

"Oh yes" Tatsumi replied. "Malty could you and Melty come and sit on either side of me" Tatsumi asked, the two did so hesitantly; while Mirellia went back to work being coy and doing so in a cute teasing manner as she slowly rubbed his phallus with her breasts before taking the top into her mouth once more sucking him off as she massaged the length.

Melty and Malty sat to either side of Tatsumi he then whispered instructions to each sister; Malty planted kisses on Tatsumi's cheeks while playing his nipples Tatsumi brought Melty towards him he cupped one of her modest b-cups and brought it him and placed his mouth to the breast and licked the nipple, Melty eeped, Tatsumi reassured her by stopping she then motioned for him to continue, Tatsumi licked at her breasts once more readying the nipple before he began to suck on it and drink from it; Melty's milk was sweet about as sweet as she was; he placed his hand on her soft but small rump and pulled her towards him. Mirellia continued sucking him off, Malty continued kissing him playing with his nipples while Melty moaned. Outside the room the wedding guests and revelers listened clearly and began to be bored as Tatsumi was clearly not in a hurry to get to the fun part; some of them then left.

Those that did missed out on when things got heated about five minutes later, what the revelers couldn't see was that Mirellia has decided to have her daughters experience Tatsumi's length first; Melty being the younger of the two and thus being the more eager thanks to Tatsumi's nursing was the one who got first dibs.

"Be gentle please" Melty requested, Tatsumi picked her up and gently placed her on a pillow then held her tight.

"I'll be gentle" Tatsumi replied and kissed her, he entered her slowly and gently; he encountered her barrier he decided to be quick, broke it swiftly and comforted it, Melty was too focused on the kiss and the tongue in her mouth to notice the pain; she kissed him, Mirellia then pulled Tatsumi onto his back and planted herself above his face; Tatsumi needed no telling from Mirellia to do what he did next and best with his tongue and Mirellia let out a rather loud moan as Tatsumi found her tender spots, something that her late husband had never managed; granted he never used his tongue well at all but Tatsumi- well he was something else. Malty decided to tend to Tatsumi's balls as she had enough from her mother's lessons on that matter to do that though she also decided to show her jealousy of Melty being first by giving her rear a spank. "Ouch!" Melty yelped.

"Shut it, that's for first dibs; I'm jealous sis, very jealous" Malty replied.

"I'll- this is wonderful Malty you get to be next once he- well finishes in me you get on" Melty replied.

"Thank you sis" Malty replied and fondled her sisters breasts, to moans.

"Malty?" Melty moaned.

"You like this; don't worry I'm just finding the spots for Tatsumi dearest to play with" Malty replied, Tatsumi kept Mirellia in a trance like state of pleasure she didn't register at all what her two children were doing and just kept moaning Tatsumi's name pausing only to place his hands on her breasts, Melty just moaned as Malty schemed. "My sister and my Mother; both of them are hogging our man, I'm going to have him to myself for my time" Malty thought and soon she got the opportunity as after a few minutes; all three orgasmed, Malty the immediately pushed both off and pinned Tatsumi to the bed. "Fuck me: Hard" Malty begged to Tatsumi's face; Tatsumi grinned.

"You asked; you shall receive: I don't get asked for this often and especially for someone's first time" Tatsumi replied and pinned her with himself on top he popped her cherry and rather than her screaming or moaning she let out a load "FUCK YES!" then slapped his rear; Tatsumi shrugged it off and thrusted in hard and fast; Malty grinned and moaned loudly yelling " Yes" both her mother and sister looked at Malty with concern.

"Mommy I think Malty is enjoying this too much" Melty commented.

"Yeah she is but let her; you only have one first time Melty best to make it memorable; my one regret is that mine wasn't" Mirellia replied.

"Really?" Melty asked.

"We don't talk about that; I don't want to speak of your father anymore, his treachery and life are not worthy of remembrance, I treated him well and was faithful to him and what did I get from your father in return, betrayal; no Tatsumi will not betray me or you, he's a man of honor and while he may be a ladies man he's renowned for his loyalty to his harem and does not shirk his responsibilities; from what I've learned from the others" Mirellia replied she then watched as Malty enjoyed herself. "Let's give your sister some space I'll give you some more pointers on positions you will likely be taking with Tatsumi" Mirellia replied, and the two went off to the side of the bed while Tatsumi gave Malty everything she wanted until she was burned out and grinning in her sleep; Melty was then given a turn by Mirellia because she wanted both her daughters to have had their limit before testing Tatsumi himself. Melty was kinky and enjoyed anal and having Tatsumi in that particular position was enjoyable; very much so though Tatsumi enjoyed her blowjobs more; the whole experience with Melty did leave a bit of taste in his mouth and thought she looked younger then she actually was, Tatsumi got Kurome vibes from her but she was only 16 and had about 2 more years' worth of growing in her before she was fully grown. Because of this Melty tired quickly and Tatsumi placed her to one side of him while Mirellia teased him.

"You waiting for an invitation" Tatsumi remarked.

"I'm just enjoying the moment; delayed gratification but I won't delay any longer" Mirellia replied and pushed Tatsumi back and kissed him, she was atop him. "I'm the Queen in Melromarc and while you may be the Emperor this is my bed and my room, my rules: I'll enjoy riding the dragon I've never ridden one before I've killed plenty of Drakes and Lindwyrms along with lesser wyrms and slew one particularly ferocious full grown Dragon but riding one much less a human dragon well that will be something to experience" Mirellia replied aligning his phallus with her vagina.

"It will be, I'm one of a kind" Tatsumi replied.

"That you are and so am I" Mirellia replied and impaled herself. "OOAAHH!" She moaned Tatsumi pulled her down and captured her lips in a kiss before going to the large breasts of his new wife; the queen felt Tatsumi's lips on her right nipple and moaned as he began drinking. From then on Mirellia experienced the night of her life.