Summary/Disclaimer: Time for another chapter of The Lioness and the Wolf. Enjoy the 2000-Word chapter. I don't own AGK, Takahiro, Square Enix and a few others do.

(Empire)

Jace tossed one of the soldiers to the side before rolling behind a pair of crates as gunfire shredded the area behind him. He watched one of their team stab a blade into an imperial soldier before another aimed their weapon at him.

Jace tossed his knife towards the man which spiraled into the man's head and caused him to collapse to the ground. His body went limp as he fell which confirmed his death. Jace sighed as he realized he had discarded his only weapon besides his imperial weapon.

Another imperial soldier fell with claw marks in their chest while Leone flipped off their chest and towards him. Jace pondered how long it was before they managed to flank and slaughter them. It wasn't at all something that the former rebel Colonel wished to ponder on his mind. Leone tore into another imperial soldier, kicking in the ribs of one of the soldiers and stabbing another in the throat which almost made him roll his eyes.

He wasn't at all interested in how this ended. He wanted it to be done and dusted at the second. They could rip apart and slay imperial soldiers all day long, but any cargo or interesting intel was going to be destroyed if they didn't manage something. He wasn't at all ready for what came next.

"We need to find the intel before they destroy it," Jace stated while he sighed to himself. "And there are too many imperial soldiers to simply fight off," Jace stated while he frowned to himself and started to glance around with interest.

Leone said nothing as they started to brawl anew with the imperial defenders. He had to find a way to clear a path through their forces and towards their target. It helped that he was in battles like this before. He simply raised his claws and slammed into another imperial before a bullet sliced into his arm. Leone slammed into the soldier in question and twisted their head to the side before he dropped the soldier in question before simply chasing after them with her claws extended.

"Don't go crazy," Jace stated while he held a hand to his wounded limb. "There will be more, and they won't surrender in time for it to honestly matter…. I don't think they plan to surrender at all if I'm honest." Jace said while he rolled behind a crate as gunfire ripped into the areas around him.

Neither of their imperial arms made them bulletproof if he was right and he doubted Leone was at all able to tank a dozen bullets considering what had brought her down. He wasn't one to test that theory either as he simply wanted to find what Matias had been after.

Now he'd simply be lucky if he survived this battle long enough to find the intel he needed. He sighed to himself as he watched one of the rebels fall to the ground with a bullet ripped through their leg. This battle wasn't at all swinging in their direction he seemed to believe.

Yet, they hadn't lost. There was still some time to attempt to turn it around. Matias hadn't brought most of his army to bear on them and it seemed as if he had no real limits on how much chaos he could bring. They still had a chance to win this yet.

He gazed at Leone who batted one of the soldiers aside and into a crate next to her. She turned and kicked one of the Imperial soldiers as she pivoted, crushing their skull into a crimson mist which made him ponder many things.

How the hell was she this good at combat? How had she managed to get recruited into Night Raid? So many dozens of questions and no real answers in sight. Jace pushed them down deep into his mind as he tossed one of Matia's men into a pair of crates. He had gotten off track. There were still so many of Matia's soldiers in the area to combat and so many to lay waste to before it was too late. This did bother him so much to see that there were so many soldiers in the area and not enough of them were dropping yet.

Matias had to know about their attempt to defeat them anyway. Jace guessed their spies had told him of the fact that there were to be future attacks on his empire. No sane commander would lose a handful of ships and then simply ignore it as a small setback. Then again? Matias wasn't exactly the type to care if he lost men and resources in battle, only that it stopped him from achieving his goals. He had to plan accordingly to stay in this game.

"How many soldiers does he have?" Leone questioned to which Jace rolled his eyes.

"Dozens, all it takes is a little coin or promises of power to sway people into his pocket. Sad, yeah?" Jace responded as he seemed to slowly grow bored. "He isn't one to stand down either. If I had to guess? Matias sent more reinforcements to this base. It will only take a few minutes before they swarm us. Empire can never take the rebels in a straight fight." Jace responded with a roll of his eyes as he seemed to realize there was no real danger in this place from any real soldiers.

'Matias fears the rebels destroying what he has. That, or he's more arrogant than Honest and is hiding away.' Jace mentally stated as he seemed to ponder his options.

He could order a retreat; save what soldiers he had left and stop new losses. Yet that also meant not only would Matias be free to destroy all that had been built, but he'd be aware they were being hunted and would take precautions so as not to be in a position such as this once more. Matias was cocky, but he was no fool. If he was able to be allowed to escape, he'd never show his face again.

No, despite their slowly mounting losses? He had to continue to battle Matia's men. He'd rather gain even a pyrrhic victory than retreat and allow the dead soldiers to be for nothing as of now.

Leone seemed to pursue the gun-toting soldiers, swinging a leg around so she could properly punt the head off one of them. They were stronger than any of Matia's men in hand to hand, but it was only a few minutes away from them managing to shoot them. The only real way to counter that was to try and press them before they did something that threw both off balances. It was not easy to do when almost everyone seemed to be an enemy. It was both horrifying to her and yet something Leone to react to with enough time and effort.

He hadn't ruled out trying to let Leone rampage across the rest of the area. There was so much on his mind besides military tactics, yet he wasn't a general nor had he the proper skills to own this war on his own. He needed the resources to handle the enemy properly.

'This is both the most insane project and the most perfect one that I've been a part of. It was honestly starting to become more insane than perfect. I here with an assassin who seems to have a murder fetish and a few other flaws. I need to cut through them and find where they have the intel to handle this. The sooner I find somewhere to go? The sooner we can focus on retreating. Matia's army can wait, this won't be worth it if I don't find something that can cripple his army in the future. The sooner. I need to figure out what will come next. That will be the best move to make.' Jace said as he sighed and rolled his eyes.

There was a flash of motion as he watched Leone swipe her claws across one of the soldier's throats. He watched as her claws flashed in the light releasing a rush of blood from their throat as the soldier collapsed to the ground. Jace only stayed silent and pondered how to slice into these soldiers properly.

"Leone, I need some help clearing a path through their forces," Jace stated which made him sigh at the second as he realized what had escaped his mouth. "Need some people at the moment. We cut a path through them, get the intel, leave." Jace stated before a splitting pain came up his arm.

He stared at the soldier who had stabbed a blade into his arm. Jace backhanded the man which threw him into a crate and shattered it into pieces. He stared at the soldier before plucking the knife from his arm. Blood gushed from the wound and he cursed. He looked at Leone before starting to ponder his options.

Leone turned and noticed a soldier behind him starting to raise their rifle and pouncing towards them. Her feet left the ground for only a moment as he seemed to stare at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Damn it, screw it. We keep going back and forth…" Jace stated before he raised his head into the air. "RETREAT! EVERYONE FALL BACK!" Jace hissed as he backed away from the battle and stared at Leone.

More gunfire followed them as the duo started their retreat. It became harder for them to adapt to the fact that there were so many soldiers to fight through. The simple detail that there were dozens of soldiers to face off against and no real reason to expect a proper battle with which there was a chance of winning. This had become a harder time than anything.

He sighed and cursed as he and the remaining soldiers melted back into the forest, leaving the few dead soldiers they had incurred at the second seemed to bother them. Jace cursed at the fact that these soldiers had driven them out and with nothing to show for it. Matias felt another pain rip up his other arm and cursed in pain while rushing around towards the exit with annoyance.

"Damn it," Jace stated as he cursed and continued dashing forward. "How many times are we going to need to run away from his arm? How many times?" Jace asked as he placed a hand on his wounded arms.

There was no attempt to pursue them as this happened. He'd take a wild guess and assume Matias had more pressing issues to attend to and that each and all soldiers were to be reported.

That meant if he was as smart as Jace expected him to be? He'd be upping security then. That honestly didn't seem to fit the man, but he doubted Matias was stupid enough to squander what little of an empire the man had at the moment. It had become a game of how long he could run. He was going to end this. There were a lot more times he could screw up, but all those times were going to be few and far between.

Blood dripped down his arms as he sighed, he had failed. Matias had escaped and it became harder to keep hunting him. No intel lost men. This wasn't going to end well for his conscience when it came down to it.

Author Notes

Phew. Another chapter is done! I want to point out that the chapter will be in 2-10 months and will show both Jace and Leone talking and more about Jace's past and such. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!

P.S: Next chapter will be 900-6500 words at the moment and will be delayed at the moment. It will be delayed at the moment and will be much longer.