A warrior's spirit
Authors note: ok I know that I have made the last chapter short but it's all for this chapter so don't throw any hate on me please? But we'll continue with the battle and this time we may get to see Chesare fight.
Chapter 23:
Chesare and his men marched for a good miserable thirty minutes, they didn't get much sleep, their rations are burned to the ground along with their tents and some other essentials. They are now down to nearly half of their numbers in just a short period of time. The raids and ambushes have done a number on the numbers and moral of the men. Many of the complaints were heard but the officers took no notice since they even felt the shame and humiliation the troops were feeling.
"Go the the army, it's a man's life… yeah right look at how miserable we are!" one would say, they have every right to complain, because they are tired and hungry and the constant raid really lowered the moral of the troops. Chesare was just as miserable as the rest of his army, he felt like he failed his master and he's failing in his task, he just hopes that he still has the dignity and bravery to fight the allied army at the capitol.
"Sir we must claim our revenge against these knight." One of the generals said angrily.
"I've never felt so humiliated in my life." Another complained.
"Are you insane? Think of the troop!" a third scolded the first two.
"Gentlemen I understand your point of views, and feel sorry for the troops myself. However we still have a job to do, and we must not let the pope get into harm's way." Chesare said in a worried tone. He has never felt so tired, so hungry, so humiliated and so shameful that he would consider offering his life to his master. His only hope is that he could at least gain some form of vengeance. Just then as they make a turn, a group of about a hundred horsemen stood right in front of them, it was then he realized that they were the ondine knights that have been wreaking havoc on their lives. Many of the troops and officers seethed with rage just by seeing them. Clad in light armor and wielding rifles, swords and many other weapons they couldn't even mention.
'so these are the ondine knights huh? And those mismatched armored warriors I'm seeing must be the Samurai which I've been hearing about' chesare thought, just then he saw a pink haired girl in a form of armor similar to that of the Samurai wielding a form of polearm behind another samurai who's armor is a combination of black and blue.
'that must be court mage Louise, I've heard that she is always seen together with a Samurai these days but why is she here?' chesare thought in confusion. Just then a blond armored knight rode a few step ahead, it was just then Chesare knew who he was.
"Listen up you lot, I'm giving you one chance to surrender, retreat and return to your homes this instant, or else death would fall upon you." Chesare quickly learned that this was Guiche chevalier de Gramont, commander of the ondine knights, rumor has it that he was a coward however it was soon learned that he became a great warrior and commander in a short amount of time. Chesare is impressed with this young commander's growth, however he had him now outnumber by more than five hundred to one and they are standing in the open waiting to be slaughtered.
"I am Chesare, second hand of the pope, you are outnumbered! And we will have our vengeance!" Chesare called, he signaled for his men to prepare for battle.
'I won't be much of a battle, but a slaughter.' Chesare thought as his troops took positions. However just his men were about to prepare for a fight, a rain of war cries came, Chesare knew that it was another ambush but it doesn't make any sense, if the knights are in front of them then who are the ones doing the war cries? It was at this moment they finally figured it out. A plethora of more than fifty thousand cavalry and a few thousand musketeers arrived at the scene. It was at this moment that Chesare knew that he was doomed. All the knight orders of Tristian, the five hundred Samurai, and many more knights and cavalry from the elves, Germania and a few volunteers from Galia arrived surrounding what's left of the Romalian relief army.
"Get them lads!" one commander shouted.
"Ikuze!" Oda called out.
"Charge!" Karin called yelled
"Attack!" guiche shouted. Many of the commanders called out and the cavalry charged the enemy line, swords and lances ready to strike and bows and carbines fire their projectiles as the cavalry charged closer to the enemy. The Romalian Relief forces tried to get into formation to protect against the cavalry however due to their sleep deprived and weak status, they formed up in a clumsy fashion, their cavalry however tried to intercept the enemy horsemen but they got easily unseated or killed by the initial charge, As the horses began to clash with the infantry who tried to defend themselves with their pikes and polearms, the defensive line got broken quite easily. The horsemen slash, skewered, and shot many of the infantry and what we're trying to defend themselves from the onslaught of the cavalry, and because of that a route was made as the first set of soldier started to retreat. With that the battle against the relief army has ended. Quick as it may be, the cause of their loss was due to hunger, lack of sleep, and the mental exhaustion caused by the raids and ambushes done by the ondine knights. The relief army has been reduced to less than half of what they've started since their initial march, although a quarter of the numbers were either killed or wounded, the rest have have fled from the skirmishes or the final battle itself while the rest were captured. Many of the officers and nobles that were with the relief force we're taken for randsom, Chesare was among the captives and he looked down in shame.
"[shouldn't we let him commit seppuku Saito sama?]" oda asked, Saito shook his head in response
"[no… we need him alive oda, he's leverage.]" Saito answered, with that the entire cavalry went back to camp with their captives.
The leaders of the siege were very pleased with the ondine knights, and allowed them to rest in their proper tents before they can return to the siege. The fate of Chesare no rests in the hands of the allied armies, he couldn't bare the shame he had brought upon himself and tell the pope about it even though he's held prisoner. The he contemplated on how it all went wrong, but he still didn't know what till he realized that there's no glory in war, and all the wrong doings he committed will be returned in full force. Meanwhile Saito, Guiche, Montmorency and Louise sat in saito's tent celebrating their victory on some beef bowls that Saito just made. The meat was mainly preserved in salt so he used a dark miso and a bark dashi instead of soy sauce. It was still good either way but they were proud of their work.
"I must admit, that was the biggest victory we have yet!" guiche said proudly.
"Don't let it get to your head guiche, we still have a siege to win." Saito said smirking.
"You boys just love to trash talk don't you?" Montmorency said, her smile gave the boys the impression of a mother talking to her naughty sons.
"Try not to get on each other's necks allright?" Louise said smiling.
"Sorry!" the boys said in unison.
"Oh yeah I've heard from Tabitha that she has found her sister at a local nunnery or so." Montmorency said changing the subject.
"And?" Louise asked.
"Remember those three siblings you fought back at Alhambra?" Montmorency asked.
"Of course me and Louise knew, what about them?" Saito asked.
"Turns out they are extracting her and are going to reverse any brainwashing effects the pope may have done." Montmorency answered.
"I'm glad that the twins will soon reunite after this is over." Guiche said relieved.
"You say that but we are ones who are doing the dirty work in this siege." Saito retorted, this cause the two couples to laugh and they continued to feast on their rice bowls that evening. Many of the ondine knight celebrated in their own ways. Malincorne along with Reynald and Gimli told some of the other soldiers about what happened as they feasted on roasted boar caught by one of the troops. Malincorne even made an exaggerated story on how he got shot in the ass, he told the group that he made an officer angry by telling he had fun with his sister a while and got shot in the ass for it.
"And so, as soon as I rode away with the other they started shooting at us, but then I felt a sharp pinch in my butt, it only when we were far enough and out of harm's way when I found out I've been shot in the ass!" Malincorne said.
"Must have been humiliating for a noble such as yourself to get shot in the ass like that." One soldier laughed.
"It's fine, lucky for me I got a plump figure. Some girls love soft guys like me right?" Malincorne joked, everyone laughed at that joke as Malincorne hugged himself swaying from side to side. It was all good laughs though the only ones that knew the truth are the rest of ondine knights. However not everyone were in a good mood. In the papal church at the popes chambers, pope Victorio in in despair, he just got news that his relief army just got intercepted and dispersed in just one battle.
"How did this happen? It was perfect from the beging!" Vittorio shouted, he racked his head trying find an answer to his dillema
"I'm surrounded, we're running out of food, the relief army has been beaten and now I have nowhere to escape!" Vittorio said to himself, he paced back and forth trying to find a way out of this, it was till then he got a brilliant Idea.
'If I managed to excommunicate the monarchs, I may have a chance to get the public opinion against them, not only that I have Charlotte's twin Jossete, she could be of use if I played my cards right.' Victorio thought.
"I wouldn't dare." A voice whispered. Vittorio looked around to see who it was, but there was no one in the room.
"justice has come come for you." Another voice whispered.
"Who's there?" Vittorio yelled. Just then a knock on the door was made causing vittorio to jump.
"your grace it's time for sermon!" vittorio realized that it was that voice of a cardinal just calling out to him.
"I'm coming!" vittorio called. as he got out of his chamber he greeted the cardinal with respect and followed him to the church halls, on the way he could have sworn he saw a specter of some sort, he rubbed his eyes t make sure he wasn't imagining, but the specter disappeared.
"Cardinal did you saw that?" Vittorio asked.
"Saw what?" the cardinal asked in confusion.
"Nothing, I think the siege has probably got me stressed." Vittorio dismissed trying to act calm.
"We're all stressed your grace." The cardinal added. What vittorio didn't know was that the specter was someone familiar to him, not in this lifetime though, but what he didn't know is that this specter will haunt him for some time in the foreseeable future… the specter was right about one thing thought, the hammer of justice will soon fall on him hard. That night he dreamed that he was in a huge circular hall, there he was being tormented by a pink haired goddess and a blonde elf, saying that he wronged them, and exiled their most trusted friend. And just then he got hit by a curse and changed into an ugly beast as punishment. Vittorio woke in middle of the night realizing that it was just a nightmare, however little did he know was that nightmare will come true and a past he never knew he had would come to haunt him.
The next day it was like any other day in a siege, but this time there was a different feel in the air, it was the air of anticipation as if something was about to go down. Colbert was in the tent talking with Saito on strategy. Many members of the gang including the queen came to see what the fuss is about.
"And you managed to get the mixture right?" Saito asked.
"As far as I'm concerned, I really hate to use something like this for war but in this case it's absolutely necessary." Colbert answered. many of the spectator watched this unfold not understanding anything.
"To think that the rising sun is this highly educated." Montmorency commented.
"And I thought I'm the one whi understood jean the most, this makes me jealous." Kirche added.
"hmmm?" Tiffania hummed in confusion.
"Ugh, I can't believe that they are so friendly like that." Louise said looking annoyed.
"It's kinda weird seeing them like that." Siesta said awkwardly.
"I kinda feel for you Louise." Henrietta said smiling.
"At least they are discussing strategy." Guiche said. The two men talking were busy with whatever they were tinkering with.
"You know that these compounds mixed together are pretty unstable and would create a massive explosion right?" Saito asked.
"I'm aware of that, however I also found out the if placed correctly in a wall, door, or even a building, it could crumble with just one huge blast, or in a chain reaction of smaller blasts. However it can only be set off if it's shot with a good amount of velocity." Colbert explained.
"And you have these with our agents?" Saito continued.
"Of course I did, and hopefully they will have them in place by now, all we need is a sign from them and we'll storm the gates!" Colbert said triumphantly.
"Um professor if I may, even if you are right and our agents behind those walls have placed these explosives, how will we know that they're ready?" Henrieta asked butting in. the two men looked at Henrietta with a smile.
"Don't worry your majesty, we will know when they're ready." Colbert said confidently. Just as every single occupant in the tent were wondering what Colbert meant a large commotion was outside is being set. The entire gang ran out just to see what the fuss was all about. A group of artillery troops were looking at the newest cannon ball that has been shot at them recently.
"Make way! let me see!" Colbert shouted as he went to see the cannon ball, he dosed it with some water from his canteen just to cool it of a little and picked it up and took it away from the firing zone. The entire group followed suite just to see what's so interesting about it. as they arrived at a relatively safe zone, Colbert inspected it a little closer and found out that it's solid copper which has been carved and painted black to look like iron. Upon further inspection of the cannon ball, the carvings turned out to be both the location of the explosives and the signal that they're ready. Colbert looked at the queen with a beaming face.
"Your majesty! they are ready! Have the artillery unit's aim at the gates and blow it down!" Colbert called. Henrietta looked a bit shocked but she trusted Colbert enough to know that he knows what he's doing.
"Have one of the rising sun howitzers aim for the gates! If it's speed and accuracy we need, then we'll use one of those!" henrietta called, with that the howitzer was put into position and ready to fire. Back at the walls, the captain of the papal guard watched with interest as he sees the united armies of the enemy with a telescope. He noticed that they are aiming on of the Samurai's odd howitzers ready to aim at their gates.
"Very interesting type of cannon… longer barrel, loading from the back, conical shaped projectile. These rising sun samurai seemed to have better weapons tech than we do. I wonder if they had constant war with many rivals, just so they could one up one another just to get ahead in an arms race or something." The captain asked himself. Just then the Howitzer fired and the entire gatehouse shook with a loud bang. The captain stood up with his ears ringing from the explosion, he couldn't hear the panic from the troops but could clearly see what's going on even when he was dazed from the blast. It was just then he realized that the gates have been blown to shreds, portcullises and the gates themselves.
At the main camp of the allied armies, the sight of the gate exploding and opening up was the exact moment they have all been waiting for, and now is the chance to take the city and end this war once and for all. The entire line cheered at the sight of it all and they were keen to storm the city and occupy it. Many of the commanders readied their troops as they waited for the order to storm the city.
"Have the troops take the walls first, then take the rest of the city district by district. If I see any civilian hurt or even killed. If anyone tries to pillage, plunder, murder or rape any civilian albeit a noble or a commoner, punish them immediately, I don't care if you use a flogging or beheading." Henrietta ordered the commanders, her tone made it very clear to the commanders that they shouldn't get themselves into trouble.
"Move out! Take the city!" the commanders ordered, and with that they charged into the fray and stormed the gates. The Romallian defenders tried to hold them off with pike, musket fire, and a whole lot of spells just to keep them away from the city. The defenders rushed with ladders and got onto the walls, the defenders were so disoriented that they didn't have time to try and repel the ladders, as soon as the allied troops stormed the walls and the gates, chaos ensues as an all out melee battle combined with spells being thrown at the enemy. as Guiche and his ondine knights stormed the walls, they mowed down any enemy that got in their way.
"Don't leave any straglers! if they surrender make sure they don't have any weapons on them!" Guiche called. the Samurai and ashigaru followed suite and began to form in small groups just to take any part of the walls to ensure no one has the smart Idea of turning the table. The agents who were behind the walls all this time began to throw away their cover and revealed their true colors.
At the church pope Vittorio watched from a window to see the capitol city being turned into a battlefield. He's happy that the allied armies are sparing the civilian population, those that resisted would be held captive till the battle is over. A good number of the Romalian defenders are surrendering left and right as they were being overrun by the enemy. Vittorio still couldn't believe that all of his plans went down the drain in a course of a couple of weeks.
"your judgement is arriving." Theses voices kept on coming in his head for a good while now. All about saying justice against his sins, what were these voices even trying to tell him? What was this justice they were even trying to put on him? All of these questions plaque his mind and he thought about them over and over and over again. Just then a priest came up to the pope in a pleading tone.
"We must leave your grace, the allied armies have come!" the priest begged. Vittorio knew that he must leave, however something tells him that even if he fled, things will only get worse, and he would be hunted down by bounty hunters and the like.
"No." Vittorio said.
"What?" the priest asked.
"You and others will leave, I must stay." Vittorio declared.
"Your grace!" the priest pleaded.
"If I leave then I would only be hunted like an animal, I must know why they are doing this, and I hope that they will listen to what I have to say." Vittorio explained. The Priest stared dumbfounded but immediately agreed to the popes words.
"Yes your grace." With that the priest left for safety while the pope stayed.
'I must go to the grand hall and wait for whoever comes to see me.' Vittorio thought.
"Henrietta is young and Naïve, she must understand that she's just a girl living in an adult world." Vitorio told himself as he left for the hall.
The allied troops have taken the city and marched to the grand church while taking district after district. Many of the romalian defenders tried to hold the line and failed to reclaim lost ground. Any civilian that tried to retaliate were immediately subdued, due to Henrietta's order of not killing any civilian made the commanders scared for any retaliation if they even shed any innocent blood. Some tried to attack via the canals and the overhang bridges which were a pain to the attackers. But all in all they managed to get towards the center without fuss. As they marched forward Saito started to get a sense of de-ja-vu, as if he had done something similar, and so did louise and Tiffania. However the three didn't let that get to their heads as they have finnaly arrived at main church where the pope sits waiting for them. Henrietta looked nervous knowing that this is it.
"We've finally arrived at the church, all that's left is to confront the pope." Henrietta proclaimed.
"the question is who would be brave enough to confront him?" De Poitiers asked. Many of the officers and knight were wondering who would have the gall to confront the pope. It understandable that the pope is high up in the ranking systems, akin to that of a king or a duke, however due to his religious status it's becoming a problem. Saito saw the commotion and immediately thought of a plan.
"You thinking what I'm thinking partner?" Derflinger asked.
"I certainly do." Saito answered putting on his menpo.
"I'll do it!" Saito shout volunteering himself. Many of the knights and officers looked in surprise seeing a samurai willingly volunteer himself.
"Saito are you sure you wanna do this? This is the pope!" Louise said franticall, she's worried what may happen to her lover if he may do something stupid. Saito looked at louise and smiled behind his menpo.
"It's ok louise. His religion isn't mine, and besides, something tells me that I must do this." Saito answered as he took a few more steps.
"you will know the time to help me!" Saito said as he marched on. Louise looked worried yet she knew that this is something that must be done. Tiffania walked up to her friend equally worried.
"Do you think he could do it?" Tiffania asked.
"I hope so, I trust him with my life, but I can't help but worry… if what he said is true and that I will know the time to help him, I want you with me." Louise answered while asking Tiffania.
"I'll always help you Louise, you are my best friend." Tiffania said smiling. Meanwhile Saito arrived at the gate and studied them closely.
'thick metallic plates, giant rings… this seems like a well defended area.' Saito thought. Just then he turned to his comrades, he could see the looks of worry and anticipation on them as he knew that this would change the course of history. He stood tall and prepared to speak.
"For I while I've foreseen that this will come! And now we've unite against an manipulator who would do anything to get what he wants! We may not know his motives but we will find out and make him pay for his sins!" Saito shouted, many of the Samurai and knights cheered at his speech, even the royals were impressed by this. Just the saito turned to the heavy doors and pushed them open. As he walked inside the hall he knew that this would be the final confrontation of the third and last Oni as he drew Derflinger from his scabbard.
"are you ready?" Saito asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Derflinger answered, and the two continued to seek the pope.
Authors note: ok I'm gonna stop the chapter here. The final chapters are coming up and please wait for a while. When I'm ready ya'll will find out what will happen. Please be sure to wait till the final chapter. And as always see ya'll in the next chapter.