Darkar Chronicles: Song of the Isles

by jedi7000nathan

Two years after the rise of the Golden Dragon Empire, Tatsumi sits upon the throne of the mightiest nation on the face of Eden. When a foreign King sends a diplomat offering his daughter's hand in marriage and requesting aid against an aggressive king Tatsumi accepts not knowing what would happen as a result. This is an alternate version of Hinowa ga Crush, pairing Tatsumixharem

4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Monster

Tatsumi yawned opening his eyes he felt the warmth of bed silks pressed against his naked body but also something equally as warm and he looked at her. Rinzu lay asleep on her side looking sweet and innocent in her current state, not that she did not look like that when awake. "There she is, the woman every man in these isles wanted but none of them can or will claim her, I will protect her and love her and cherish her" Tatsumi thought. "She looks so sweet and gentle sleeping like that, anyone that would want to do evil to such a kind and caring soul is among the lowest of the low a monster that needs to be crushed and ground into a pulp of mangled flesh" Tatsumi thought further he noted his arms wrapped around her and he held her protectively. "Nobody will hurt you Rinzu not while I'm around to protect you" Tatsumi thought and noted Rinzu open her eyes sweet sapphire blue eyes looked into his peridot green eyes both smiled at each other and kissed. After they broke the kiss both sighed and looked at each other. "You're so sweet Rinzu; I feel well hope when I'm near you" Tatsumi replied.

"Same here Tatsumi-kun; you and I will make an amazing couple; so now that we're married what is the plan for the future, when will I get to see the sights of the Empire?" Rinzu asked.

"As soon as I deal with the threat of Tenrou; it would be malpractice of me as a ruler to just let my military handle it without taking part; you know this war is to a degree my fault" Tatsumi replied.

"This war isn't your fault at all Tatsumi-kun, it's all Zuou's fault, he wants to control all of Wakoku and possibly all of Eden, his hubris is what started this war his pride as a warrior and his viewing the Empire as an external threat are the reasons for this war; but you can beat him I know you can that's why I chose to marry you because it meant I wouldn't be a slave to him" Rinzu replied.

"I know' you know though that you'll be part of a harem though" Tatsumi replied.

"Oh I knew that would be the case and I have no issue with that whatsoever, it does suck to give up my nation's independence but we were going to lose it anyway Soukai just doesn't have the manpower to keep up with Tenrou's and the fact that the Ten Stars keep winning victory after victory against us and our allies; the only hope we had to avoid enslavement was to offer myself and my nation to you for protection I just hope Imperial rule is well- better than the alternative" Rinzu replied.

"It definitely is, it may not have been a few years ago but things have changed since then; the Old Empire that was mired in corruption and conflict no longer exists it was destroyed by the War that Mattered, my Empire the Golden Dragon Empire is a much better place, a golden age of prosperity and innovation has come out of the fires of war and any that want to take part in it are welcome to do so; let the masses come and they have the right to try to succeed and thrive in a growing power and enjoy the freedoms of the Empire; rights to property, to select their leaders, to live free without risk of ever being enslaved, to own land the land you till and to forge a new destiny in a place of abiding freedom and peace where one can travel from the Western lands to the Eastern Kingdoms without fear of danger as a strong Imperial Military keeps clear the roads of monsters both human and Danger beast alike; all I ask in return of those people are loyalty to their nation and to follow the laws thereof, those that break the laws of the Empire will face justice regardless of station and those that keep the laws will be protected by those that enforce them" Tatsumi explained.

"The Empire sounds like a wonderful place; I've made the right decision I'm glad I have you know last night was- the best night of my life, you know how to take care of and love those you are married to I have to ask how did you manage it?" Rinzu responded Tatsumi grinned.

"Experience, having a harem helps, though I can say most of my knowledge comes from Leone and Vatima who educated me in the arts of pleasure; you'll meet them soon enough I brought them with me to Wakoku and I'm sure you'll become good friends with them and everyone else in my harem perhaps if you swing both ways you can learn to love them as I do" Tatsumi replied, Rinzu blushed.

"I've only love undying for you, no one else would be better then you Tatsumi as for loving my sisters-in-law well I'll show what affection I can" Rinzu replied. "So, to a more serious matter what will you do with the rest of Wakoku?" Rinzu asked.

"Those who want to join willingly can do so, those that want to be allies but want to stay independent can do so also, those that want to fight me though they will have to conquered, it's the only way to prevent future conflicts, Esdeath my wife and the Empire's greatest military mind told me that in order to truly win a war you have to make sure your enemy never can rise up to fight you again, by choosing to fight me I'll have to take over Tenrou and its territory I'll be just unto the ordinary people but those who take up arms to against me will face my ire and justice according to my laws of war" Tatsumi explained.

"What are your laws of war?" Rinzu asked interested.

"Victory, unconditional victory the only stipulations is that children and women who are with child and the other innocents not be harmed in the process enemies that choose to do so along with those under my command that do so regardless of my orders will hang from a cross until they die" Tatsumi explained, Rinzu winced at the last part.

"I've heard tales of that particular form of punishment why though do you allow such cruel measures to be practiced?" Rinzu asked, Tatsumi noted that while she had training as a warrior she had never fought in battle let alone a war, not to mention her lack of inexperience as a leader.

"Because war is cruelty and the crueler it is the sooner it will be over, also I've learned the only way that the monsters of the human variety can be delt with and prevented from creating more is by making an example of them, to show them the punishment for their actions to make them in their last moments feel how their victims felt perhaps then they'll realize that they were evil and that their actions were evil perhaps they'll repent of their deeds as they die or if not they'll know what it's like to be on the receiving end of pain and torment, also those who survived their crimes and those who lost loved ones to them can be sure that justice was truly done; justice Rinzu is blind but she is also ruthless and impartial she doesn't care who you are only that in the end you get the fate your actions warrant" Tatsumi explained the door to the room opened and in walked Esdeath along with Lord Haruge and a few other people. "What is it? I gave the Four Rakshasas orders not to let anyone in unless it's absolutely important" Tatsumi asked.

"Tenrou has invaded Soukai, an enemy army attacked the southeastern side of the island and took Kalakori Castle" Lord Haruge explained. "The survivors that fled reported thru messengers that General Kyoukotsu leads this army and any that are in its path should be afraid and run for safety" he added.

"Great, I get a time of solace and peace for a good amount of time and now fate has decided to throw another war at me; Esdeath tell the troops to come ashore if they haven't done so already and make ready for battle; we'll march and stop this invasion in its tracks; Lord Haruge order any and all military officer to a planning room there we'll plan our counter attack and once I'm there I want the full details on this General Kyoukotsu the first rule of warfare is to know your enemy afterall, in the meantime all of you out I need to make myself decent and I need to make a collect call" Tatsumi responded, at this everyone stepped out of the room Tatsumi and Rinzu got out of bed and both helped the other dress.

"So, our first battle together is at hand?" Rinzu replied.

"Not yet, I need to take your measure Rinzu if you can hold your own against me then I'll let you go into battle and even then not unaccompanied you'll be by my side I don't want to not be able to be there for you when it is needed" Tatsumi explained.

"I see, at least you recognize me as a warrior we will take measure of each other's skills and I hope you find me worthy of going to war at your side; now what was that about a collect call?" Rinzu replied, to her confusion Tatsumi went over to where his things were kept and pulled out a strange device, it was a satellite phone and he dialed in a series of numbers the phone rang and Rinzu was surprised by the sound and shortly Tatsumi began talking.

"Saryana, you need to increase the speed on the fleet and get our force to Soukai ASAP Tenrou's armies are already on the move" Tatsumi began, Rinzu heard a garbled voice though Tatsumi heard Saryana loud and clear. "No, I can fight back this army with what I have, It's just that I don't want to have to worry about a follow up attack? How long will it take you to get here and full speed, 2 days? Seriously oh I see the troop transports are slower than the rest of the fleet? What about Air drops? Ok fuel would be an issue they could stop at Triton for refueling or refuel in route from an air-tanker. Parachute issues, can the Dwarves at least make it here in time?" Tatsumi continued, the conversation went on for about ten minutes and eventually Tatsumi smiled when he heard that the Dwarves at least were ahead of everyone else with their faster airships and that Umber would bring could throng for battle in about two hours. Tatsumi hung up and turned to Rinzu.

"So good news? And what is that magic thing?" Rinzu asked.

"Good news the Dwarves at minimum can get here quick though they won't have any War Titans it'll take too long to offload the Primus Imperator, as for what this device is it isn't magic just a very advanced piece of technology it's called a Satellite Phone a stop gap measure until we get the phone line towers set up for Cellphones, this was a gift from the King of Nova Atlantea, they invented these devices the jist of what they are is that they allow me or anyone that has one to talk with anyone that has one over any distance, speaking of the King of Nova Atlantea I have to make a collect call to him now since their closer I bet they can airlift in troops and tanks to back up my force, it may be overkill but I'm not taking any chances and I want to minimize losses" Tatsumi explained.

"How does it work?" Rinzu asked.

"It's complicated to explain, you're best off asking Dorothea about it she's a super genius" Tatsumi explained then dialed in another series of numbers, he then had a productive call with his father-in-law the King of Nova Atlantea who in the case of war had authorization for 20 days to take military action without the approval of parliament; Tatsumi viewed civilian leadership as a hinderance and when he reorganized the Empire he made sure that was the sole providence of Emperor and his military Tatsumi believed strongly that those who have never served in war or know little about it shouldn't dictate the policy on it as he believed it could lead to protracted conflicts that the civilian leadership had no guts to win; with that in mind Tatsumi who was very practical when it came to the field of war that being he viewed it as a last resort because he hated war as a whole and the killing that it brought in particular, his rule was not one of join wars of aggression no it was defensive he didn't start wars unless someone else started them first and since Zuou had started this conflict it was only fair that he end it especially since Zuou's demands for any peace deal would be completely out of the question, he had married Rinzu and annexed Soukai fair and square in custom with the laws of both parties if Zuou wanted to go to war over it then he was a fool to do so but Tatsumi wasn't going to let him get away with it especially since already people of his Empire newly found subjects they may have been had become casualties of the horrors of war with all that it entailed.

Tatsumi hung up after a long discussion and smiled. "Air support will be there as needed; drone scouts are already on the way" Tatsumi responded.

"Air support?" Rinzu asked.

"This will be a long discussion" Tatsumi thought. "Ask Dorothea" Tatsumi replied smoothly, if anyone could handle the amount of questions Rinzu had it would be Dorothea.

Tatsumi soon left the room followed by Rinzu his bodyguards awaited outside at the ready but also to his surprise Sheele. "So how did your phone calls go?" Sheele asked Tatsumi, Sheele was easily the most inquisitive of his wives and that came with her position of Minister of Security better known as spymaster, she knew that field in-depth as unlike most people Sheele was raised with the art of intrigue and for it; a master assassin and leader of a shadowy guild of Assassins a secret known only to a few Sheele was the exact same age as Tatsumi and they shared the same birthday; both of them were meant for each other: Sheele was a goddess in terms of her beauty, her figure was both graceful and fit but also well-endowed with ample E-cup breasts, graceful hips and a rear end that Tatsumi frequently enjoyed, her real distinguishing features were eyes and hair both were bright purple and she wore a set of glasses the frames were humble and simple compared to the rest of her current attire which was Qarkeshi in style; the dress was bright purple with orange and blues thrown into the mix she covered her arms with long purple silken detached sleaves that were purple in color, the dresses most distinguishing aspect was that it left one breast bare to see or it would if not for the fact she wore a bra under it on Tatsumi's request he was ok with her wearing her Qarkeshi outfits in the Empire but when outside it Tatsumi insisted she keep the breast covered to avoid people getting wrong impressions as Qarkeshi customs were- not known widely outside the Empire, her crown was one part headdress the other part crown and was made of silver with amethysts sparkling on it.

"They were fruitful but mixed, the Dwarves will get here ahead of the main army in a couple of hours, also the Atlanteans will provide air support and air lift in some of their forces but they are still mobilizing their troops you know their soldiers don't work full time" Tatsumi explained.

"Good that will give us some major advantages, Esdeath and Aria sent me to lead you to the briefing room" Sheele replied, Tatsumi smirked then followed her.

Tatsumi arrived at the room in question where a planning table with a map of Soukai laid flat on it occupied most of the room the rest was standing room only where Tatsumi found both the generals of Soukai and those of his own entourage in vigorous debate. "Alright what's the situation" Tatsumi asked as he walked in; people turned towards him some knelt immediately out of respect Tatsumi took a good look at them and nodded his approval for them to rise.

"I'll be brief Tatsumi-kun, the situation is this, last night as you know while you were abed and the rest of the palace was likewise occupied an army of Tenrou invaded Soukai attacking the eastern part of the island and capturing Kalakori Castle about 30 miles south of here, scouts came back and reported well- you aren't going to like what comes next" Esdeath explained.

"How bad is it?" Tatsumi asked.

"Better to let our lone survivor tale what happen" Esdeath explained and nodded for a man, clad in the gear of a foot soldier, who had been sitting in a corner in a chair that Tatsumi hadn't noted as the tall Esdeath had obscured his view came over his face was that of someone who looked like they'd not slept and was in shock, Tatsumi needed only take one look at the man's eyes to know that this man was a survivor of an atrocious massacre.

"Could you please introduce yourself?" Tatsumi asked.

"Toshiro, that's my name Toshiro, I was an Ashigaru officer to the Daimyo of Kalakori Castle Lord Isunoya who is sadly no longer amongst the living and well the gods have mercy on his soul and of everyone that met their end in that- oh what word best describes what I saw it wasn't a battle they came upon as at night when we sleeping then they killed anyone who resisted and took those who didn't captive then I saw him- he- Kyoukotsu the demon-wolf of Tenrou! Oh I wish I hadn't and I'm glad I had sent my family to visit my relatives in Tachibana but now we have no home, everyone else wasn't lucky the monster and his army of monsters in man's flesh despoiled Kalakori they razed the village and took the Castle, then Kyoukotsu picked out people from the prisoners he- did horrible things to them, turned them into- what he called works of art, flayed men and women alive, skinned the faces of four poor little girls and sewed them back on backwards just for laughs after raping them; his soldiers they- showed no mercy- and when Kyoukotsu tired of what he was doing he ordered every captive except me buried alive and the reason he spared me was because he needed someone to tell the tale and that he is coming for- us all!" The soldier stammered out then to Tatsumi's shock pulled out a dagger and readied to bring it to his wrist Mez tackled him and threw the blade away. "Why won't you let me die!? I lost everyone in my town the pain I can't live with these memories!" Toshiro yelled, Mez clasped in a sleeper hold and he was out.

"I think you get the picture now" Mez replied.

"Mez I want you and Suzuka to take this man to a nearby hospital and get Rinzu to sing for him, that will calm him down and reassure him" Tatsumi ordered, Mez nodded and the two Rakshasa Champions picked him up and carried him away, Tatsumi turned to Esdeath. "I want immediate plans for a counter-attack we can't just sit back and wait we need to stop this monster's rampage as soon as possible especially while he's only got one location taken if we strike now we can put a premature end to his rampage" Tatsumi ordered.

"We've been drawing up plans for a counterattack for some time now, we heard that reinforcements were coming thru Empress Esdeath I'd assume you want to wait for them?" One of the Generals at the table commented.

"Yes, but I want to immediately make some moves to force that army to stay in one place, there is too much at stake and I don't want any more lives lost if his march isn't contested" Tatsumi replied.

"I've already considered that measure, Najenda as you know is better at such tactics but I've got enough experience to pull of such a maneuver, I sent in our- Night Owls and our cavalry under Nora to scout and if an opportunity presented itself to harass the enemy" Esdeath explained, Tatsumi grinned, Night Owls was a code-name for a special unit of elite soldiers that were better known by another name Night Raid. Officially after the end of the War that Mattered Night Raid had been disbanded, that was indeed the case with the original group but after the war Sheele on Tatsumi's authority created a new Night Raid this one would have a different purpose while the original Night Raid had been founded with the purpose of changing the Empire this new one has a different mission preserve the New Empire that Tatsumi had created by whatever means necessary, they served as both an elite black ops unit and a secret police force in fact they were publicly known to the civilians as the Protectors of the Dragon which served in a law enforcement role and while the bulk of the average members did do this job the upper ranks had more important jobs. The upper ranks or Night Raid proper also called Night Owls after the insignia on Night Raid's banner were a mix of new up and coming military personal that had distinguished themselves enough in training to be selected for special training, the rest were either former members of the old Night Raid that weren't keen on retiring like his wives Sheele, Tsukushi, Gin, Naomi and Cassandra, or were operatives of the well-known Dark Squad that had been one of the last organizations that served in a similar capacity to be used by the Old Empire and had sworn loyalty to Tatsumi during the War that Mattered and the events that had led to the fall of the Old Empire, this organization had numbered about 4,000 before the War that Mattered and has maintained its strength entirely afterwards as the Dark Squad had been placed under Tatsumi's order to protect against demonic attacks that didn't happen but he wanted to make sure there was some counter against.

These Old Guard shaped the new units, in fact to a degree the Dark Squad still existed even on paper it just was now a sub-sect of a much larger organization that was very secret and specialized in missions that were of- the more delicate nature and the more secretive as well; these included raids behind enemy lines, assassination of corrupt officials and external enemy leaders, and a number of other secret missions, the Night Owls were what the average Night Raid soldier team would be referred to as but there were higher ranks then those currently in existence. Esdeath had sent a team already and these operatives at least the current teams that Tatsumi had brought with him and were elite in their rank bore Imperial Arms which made the 24 soldier teams a small army in their own rights.

"Good that will buy us time for a counterattack, I want our troops with firearms in front we'll use our ranged advantage to the best extent, there is a significant difference between the quality of their armor and ours let alone the weaponry; were the new model Assault Rifles been distributed to our troops before we left?" Tatsumi replied.

"Yes; the only catch I'd note is that some of the troops haven't used the new model yet so they will have to get used to the- kick" Esdeath replied, the new model Assault Rifle dubbed the AR-84 was a new firearm manufactured by Grundel Arms the company owned by Aria and her family, with new ballistics and design help from the Dwarven Engineers guild the company had managed to develop a weapon that had the perfect mix of accuracy, firepower and range, the ideal main weapon for Imperial frontline infantry; the rounds used too were new and again Dwarven engineered; the killing power behind those rounds was enough to go thru in testing some of the best crafted Imperial battle armor though it stopped at anything crafted by a journeyman Dwarven Smith. To the soldiers of Tenrou however these weapons amongst an arsenal of others would soon become the scourge of their existence as despite Zuou's best attempts to advance his army into a formidable force he was nowhere near the Empire's current technological level. The only thing stopping Tatsumi from completely crushing Zuou outright was the fact it would take months to fully mobilize the Imperial War Machine and transport enough forces to the islands as at the moment the only thing that kept Zuou safe was distance from the Empire itself but that wouldn't help as now that he had started a war and shed Imperial Blood he'd sealed his doom, Tatsumi would give him one chance to surrender, if that wasn't taken then he'd have to die Tatsumi gave no quarter to enemy leaders that refused to surrender.

"Excellent; now the first thing we need to do is send out our cavalry to harass them; that way we can get a sense of their numbers and get some early casualties in, also it'll slow them down, we have to stop this army before more damage is done" Tatsumi ordered.

"Already taken care of, I sent Nora with our cavalry and Soukai's as soon as we'd gotten scouting reports, I anticipated your orders and all that remains is to assemble a fighting force also we need to determine an ideal location to battle the enemy" Esdeath explained.

"Good; as for a location let's try and find a good chokepoint ideally one that also offers high ground for our troops and artillery; also inform our bomber squadrons to take off and hit their column of march" Tatsumi replied.

"It will be done my Emperor; Nikola give orders to General Gunther tell her that she is to instruct our bombers and fighters to carry out a sortie targeting the enemy army; smart ordinance only oh and make sure they target the enemy cavalry first; I'd rather they not have any sort of mobility in a field battle to work with and that way Nora can hassle the enemy at our leisure" Esdeath ordered.

"Yes Esdeath I'll see to it personally" Nikola remarked, Nikola 'Graf' Gildenstrom was one of Tatsumi's wives but also one of the two Generals in charge of his special operations forces, the other being her friend and sister-in-law Chiara, the two had married Tatsumi during the War and had fought by his side from the First battle of the war against the Revolutionary Army to the Walls of Melitine itself and had been in command alongside his good friend and now Field Marshal Wave of his personal vanguard.

By comparison to the War that Mattered this war was going to be a cakewalk for the Imperial Military but that was only if Zuou insisted on fighting him in field battles, should Tenrou decide to fight asymmetrically it would drag the war out for months possibly a year; however the Empire would still win Tatsumi knew how to fight asymmetric warfare both as the defender and as the aggressor from his time in the Revolutionary Army, in fact the original Night Raid had been a group that specialized in that type of warfare. Also, there was the technology gap.

They went on discussing the battle plans, more orders were given out and troops were mobilized and after the briefing Tatsumi was accompanied by Esdeath and Leone out of the room. Leone's presence in the military briefing was surprising as Leone despite her being a formidable fighter wasn't a military tactician by any means. "If you were wondering why I was there it was because you'd be there, and I want to spend some time with you my beloved Tatsumi-kun" Leone explained when he asked her. Leone was a beautiful busty blonde, when she'd first met Tatsumi their initial meeting hadn't gone over well, not remotely as Leone had conned him out of the money and left him penniless on the street of Melitine at night and in the winter, fortunately fate had decided to throw Aria in his path and that had started him on his journey to where he was now; the ruler of Eden's largest and strongest nation and savior of the world from a vile demon. At this point in time their first was water under a bridge that had been made the long way to the ocean.

Leone's beauty was unique in a way courtesy of her Teigu Lionelle, during the War that Mattered she had fused with the Teigu and absorbed its power, it altered her appearance giving her cat-like features including a pair of ears and a long tail but other than that she remained largely human, she had blonde hair that she had grown out since they'd first met as she wanted to look more- maternal as she had borne Tatsumi three triplet children after the war ended; two of them named Honest and Catherine had been born with the cat features of Lionelle including the ears and tail which had been a surprise to Dorothea and the other doctors when they had performed the delivery; their third child another daughter named Kayla after a- late friend of Leone's mother and who was also their oldest had been born fully human but had inherited her mother's features, father's eyes and interestingly enough her grandfather Honest's White hair which had skipped a generation. Honest was Leone's father a man whom didn't deserve the life fate had delved him and a man who if he had known about Leone would have raised and cared for her in a heartbeat, at the same time though if Honest had been the man he was she wouldn't have been born, unfortunately while Honest was in her mind and was by all rights her biological father the true source of Leone had been the Demon Volgoth who had possessed his body. This fact however didn't deter Leone from loving her true father Honest and led her to naming her first son after him. Leone was currently dressed in a gold and black gown with threading of actual gold but that had been tailor-made with her body in mind.

"I'm glad to hear that Leone; I'd like to spend time with you too my lovely wife" Tatsumi replied, Leone held his hand and he and Esdeath walked out of the room to find Rinzu waiting for Tatsumi looking rather cross at him.

"The guards outside wouldn't let me in, even though as your wife and Empress I'm fairly certain my position lets me attend" Rinzu stated bluntly as Tatsumi existed.

"My apologies Rinzu I gave them orders to allow the Emperor and his protectors only thru; my bad, so you wanted to attend?" Esdeath explained with an expression of genuine concern that she may have offended Rinzu in some way, ordinarily Esdeath didn't make these sorts of errors but when she did she was eager to correct them especially considering that Rinzu was the newest of her sisters as far as she was concerned and her beloved Tatsumi obviously loved Rinzu deeply to a point of her being a stand out among the harem a Beta by the terms and- by the looks of things a potential third Alpha.

"If I offended you that was not my intention I didn't think that you'd want to attend" Esdeath replied.

"I've some education in the matters of war and Soukai is my home if there is anything that comes to helping protect my home and my people then I'm by all rights entitled to know" Rinzu replied matter of factly.

"My apologies, though well you have an education in warfare and training have you actually any experience?" Esdeath responded, at this Rinzu stopped her disappointed posture.

"No, my father has kept me back from war, he doesn't want me to endanger myself and risk being captured; I can see his logic but I don't agree with it, people are dying because of me, because a foreign ruler has a lust for me, I should fight alongside my people and honestly I'd rather die in battle then live as Zuou's slave, but my father wouldn't let me take to war, because I'm the last of our house apart from him and even then I'd rather out clan die out then fall into Zuou's hands but he insisted on me marrying to have children; you know I wonder what life would be like if I had been born without breasts and with a penis then maybe he'd be more inclined to let me do things related to martial pursuits outside of the tournaments and sparing then again if I had been born male this war wouldn't be happening. Anyway I had an ulterior motive to marry you Tatsumi, the real reason apart from my vision I chose you is because I couldn't wed any of my subjects because of political reasons and none of the other kingdoms that would marry me have any worthy suitors in all honesty really the best match was to marry a foreign ruler outside because that way I could avoid having to avoid offending any other kings by telling their princes no because I didn't think one thing or other about them and really they'd be little better then Zuou because basically everyone that wanted to marry me that wasn't from the islands saw me as both an avenue to power over a very valuable kingdom and as a pair of tits atop an ass that happened to also be the most beautiful woman in the isles, maybe if I'd been born with a harelip they'd have not been in a hurry but I don't think they earnestly care; no I chose you as a husband Tatsumi because I heard so many stories about you and I figured if at least half were true and more than half are true I was best off marrying you, I don't care about having to share you, I just want my people to not have to endure rule by Zuou, what he does to kingdoms that resist is not something I want my nation to suffer, entire cities and castles have been put to the sword for defiance by that man and his generals and I'm not willing to stand by and let Soukai share their fate, also I heard in the Empire Empresses that marry into the royal family are allowed to fight alongside their husbands in times of war and I want to fight alongside you Tatsumi" Rinzu explained.

"I see" Tatsumi replied then frowned briefly before smiling. "I'm willing to let you fight beside me Rinzu but first I need to test your skills with a blade; I've got a policy, my wives can fight beside me in battle but they need to be able to hold their own, also you will have a personal bodyguard group; you're the reason this war is being fought in the first place and I can't leave anything to chance" Tatsumi explained, Rinzu smiled.

"If that is what I must agree to in order to fight alongside my people I'll gladly accept those terms my beloved Tatsumi; let us head to the sparring chamber I'll test your mettle there" Rinzu replied.

Meanwhile… Nora Saika sat atop her stallion and looked over her troops the Imperial cavalry and many more local Soukai Ki. The Imperial Cavalry unit that had traveled with their Emperor numbered about 2000, they were a mix of Imperial knights, Eastern Kataphraktari, Centaurs, Western Knights, Nomadic horse archers, Imperial Raptor Calvary, and Hob-Goblin Warg Riders; this was a reflection of the Empire's multi-cultural status of a nation which had established a thoroughly professionalized and highly advanced army which employed troops from many races and ethnic groups each with their own fighting styles into an army of professionals that could fight their enemies in any number of ways.

Nora Saika was the half-sister of the last king of the North a tyrant and man she loathed named Numa Saika; Nora however was a sharp contrast to her brother and a sharp contrast from the Saikas as a whole what few remained were like her; civil, kind, caring, skilled in whatever role that they needed to fill and female, for not a single male Saika was alive on the face of Eden, they had all been wiped out in the War that Mattered as they had fought on the side against humanity and for the demon Valtor whom was worshiped as part of a Barbaric custom in the North called the Old Ways. The largest impact was that as a result of the war all remaining female Saikas were married off or betrothed to Emperor Tatsumi VII to solidify control of the north Nora however was not sore about the fact that only she and her sisters and cousins female all were what remained of the Saika dynasty nor that she and , she viewed that her Brother and those like him had earned their fate as they were monsters in human skin. A beautiful woman with long blue-black hair and green eyes, with a figure any man would want in a wife Nora was beloved by her husband Tatsumi and though it had been a matter of political expedience that had seen them wed she deeply loved him for many reasons the chief being his tolerance and willingness to care for those different from him.

Nora's main expertise was however as a warrior and as a battlefield strategist of the likes that few could match and those few either were on her side or were unlikely to face her on the battlefield. In fact fighting Nora's forces in a straight up field battle was a rarity as Nora preferred to us the tactics of feigned retreats and attacking the enemy supply lines along with other in-direct methods to fight and beat her enemies; she'd only commit to a battle if the enemy had been worn down or if an engagement was one where they had overwhelming force advantage. As such the enemy army of Tenrou that had invaded Soukai by the estimates of scouting parties and drones numbered somewhere about 30,000 to 35,000 and it wasn't too hard to spot them as they were ravaging the countryside of Soukai. "General!" A captain shouted riding over to her.

"What is it?" Nora asked.

"One of our scouts just reported something you're not going to like seeing" The captain said with a look of horror on his face.

"Show me" Nora replied and was lead from their current position towards a grove where a horrific sight was on full display. The horrific sight were bodies, human bodies of men, women and children that had been horribly mangled and mutilated and arranged into what looked like a sick attempt at bad art, what shocked her the most though were that in addition to these unfortunates who were clearly people of Soukai were additional bodies that were dressed still in the armor and colors of Tenrou, but the skin on them had been turned inside out and the bodies has been hammered together one atop the other as if to form some sort of human totem pole; the smell was rotten and engraved nearby in both a script that was native to Tenrou and the Imperial Trade Language was a name: Kyoukotsu, an artist of war.

The sight made Nora's blood boil. Nora was no stranger to this sort of violence not even remotely; her brother during his rule as King of the Saika Kingdom had made all sorts of grizzly displays just as savage and some even worse than this one; the only difference was that her brother had a flare for dramatic but blunt work whereas this was meticulous as if someone who did this considered it art; the only people Nora knew off that practiced this sort of behavior were the Red Bears and they were wiped out entirely in the War that Mattered as they had thrown their entire lot in with Valtor.

"Who could have done this" One of the soldier asked Nora, Nora looked at the soldier who was rather green by the looks of him being a younger boy of Soukai a noble's son just come of age and out of training.

"A monster; of the kind that should be extinct and are in the Empire, apparently their kind exists here on these islands" Nora replied, the soldier looked at her.

"What kind of monster, what kind of freak would do this?" the soldier asked.

"Unfortunately a monster of the human variety; soldier do me a favor I need you to ready our troops we'll begin our skirmishing strikes sooner than I expected to; we can't afford to be idle lest more people suffer as these unfortunates" Nora explained the soldier departed and the man who had reported the incident looked at Nora. "Inform your men and women to split off and look around for foraging parties, this is fresh and the enemy advances further in; also inform General Cassandra that her Night Owls are clear to commence full operations to cut the enemy supply lines" Nora ordered the soldier who grinned and rode off, Nora took one hard look at the word Kyoukotsu and registered the name away for future reference.

In the skies of Soukai… Captain Temeth of the Commonwealth Air Force was taking a keen look at his radar displays, two displays one that showed the area around his aircraft and another which displayed a global map, the map showed they were now over Soukai, the drones had been sent ahead and were sending out visuals of the enemy troop movements. The commander of the Triton's finest aerial bombing squadron was a veteran of the War that Mattered and chiefly the Battle of Melitine where he and his crack bomber pilots had dropped loads of ordinance on demonic troops and flew about fifty sorties during said battle. Other than that, the actual use of Commonwealth Air Force and his Doomdropper Squadron as they'd called themselves had during his twelve years so far been limited to intercepting runaway pirates, clearing out Danger beast lairs and hours of practice in combat training. Temeth was a man in his mid-thirties and was regarded as one of the best pilots in The Commonwealth. As part of the post-war treaties The Nova Atlantean Commonwealth had become a protectorate ally of the Golden Dragon Empire, the principle being that the Commonwealth maintained its existing government and was part of the Empire but did not have to pay taxes instead mutually beneficial trade deals made up the difference however the Commonwealth had to provide military and economic assistance to the Empire which meant the Commonwealth shared their technological advancements with the Empire; something that Captain Temeth who was a traditionalist wasn't too happy with but that was beyond his control. Besides the Golden Dragon Emperor was an excellent leader and had saved Nova Atlantea from a demonic invasion and with that in mind Temeth figured the Empire wouldn't misuse the knowledge with him in charge.

"Captain Temeth to all wingmen, we are over Soukai now; expect to find the targets shortly" Temeth barked out, the planes then flew low, about 1000 feet above ground, drone footage from low flying drones showed their targets a marching army with wolf banners; part of Temeth felt some regret as they were about to strafe and bomb soldiers that had no means to retaliate, soldiers fighting in an archaic fashion of bygone eras this would be a massacre.

Soon the jet fighters broke off from the bombers and started their runs; on the ground bellow eager Ashigaru and Samurai of Tenrou were boasting to each other about the recent victories at Kalakori Castle and ravaging the countryside, their boast were interrupted by a howling noise they'd never heard before, the giant spiders carrying archers stopped in their tracks and the local birds immediately took to the sky; that rush of movement caused many soldiers to look up and- begin running as giant metal birds were making their descent, a loud crack of gun fire was heard and high powered rounds tore apart the most heavily armored soldiers with ease, the wolf banners of Tenrou worn on their backs were tattered by bullets.

But that was only the beginning missiles had been launched and homed in on their targets blowing up the giant spiders and clumps of men, these were followed by the loud noise and some soldiers looked up to see the last sight, large metal balls descending on them the balls made a howling noise and then exploded. This panic caused the army of Tenrou to become divided rushing under woods avoiding the strafing runs then after a few minutes of utter hell the bombers and fighters pulled back and vanished.

"All planes report in, did we suffer any losses?" Temeth asked over the radio, all pilots affirmed they hadn't taken any losses or really any damage as they had been out of range of even the most capable of units. "Return to base we'll rearm and prepare for another sortie" Captain Temeth ordered and the planes withdrew.

Meanwhile… Tatsumi had made quick work assembling an army and began marching; during this time he was introduced by Hinowa to his Hatamoto: as expected Tatsumi noted they were all within his age group also that they were evenly split between men and women; in total there were about 60 of them: the commanding officer selected by Spear based on a simple series of tests was Hinowa but for the actual chain of command the four main captains of the group were Hinata, Tobari, Tobimori, and a young man named Hisami, the rest were all of varying skill but each was a skilled swordsmen or swordswoman and all favored bladed weaponry which was fine by Tatsumi as he preferred swords himself, other stand outs from the group included two women named Iroha and Nemuri but also two men Suzamaru and Kumehachi who were the lieutenants for Hinata and Hisami respectively. Tatsumi noted when he walked into the dojo to meet them all for the first time for sparring he got the reaction he expected, all them bowed and when he had them get back up he took a good note of their body language as he explained their duties, as expected all the women and some of the men looked at him with looks of desire which didn't surprise him and while the men had no chance as he didn't swing both ways all the women did have a good shot as far as he was concerned provided they survived and proved themselves worthy of his affection.

They were surprised however when Rinzu as Tatsumi had planned walked in, dressed for war rather than for the court. "Alright now that you are all aware of your duties I'm giving you all the most important task possible you are to protect Empress Rinzu in battle, she is expected to do likewise; that is your first job and now that I've clarified it I'll begin by testing your abilities, first individually and then as a group; we'll have about an hour before the army is assembled for your first battle, Soukai is being invaded and I'm certain all of you are eager to rally to its defense, only one catch with the exception of Hinowa your leader none of you has fought in actual battle, yes I'm aware you've been trained but there is a difference as I've learned between learning how to fight and actually fighting; with that in mind I will start your education properly and I want to see how well you'll do before we go into battle, just so you know you will all be chaperoned by veterans of my personal retinue, they've all fought in the War that Mattered along with the Wars against the Revolutionary Army and the Warlords that were left in the wake of the fall of the Old Empire and they will have the duty of both overseeing you in battle and making sure you follow orders; don't rush into any fights without thinking of the consequences" Tatsumi explained, the students frowned and some complained about how they would be essentially held back in the first battle. "Enough! We'll start training now; I'll face you all individually at first and then we'll try a group effort, also follow the orders of your officers they know what they are doing" Tatsumi replied to their complaints and selected his first opponent.

The next half hour was one where the new Hatamoto discovered that their new liege was just as much if not more of a badass then stories told them; using only a wooden bokken practice sword Tatsumi defeated each and every one of them in short order pointing out the flaws in their fighting styles after he let them fight against his defensive stance as he did so, then came the group fight and- well if Spear had given them a lopsided beatdown the previous day Tatsumi gave them a curbstomping though he was gentle enough to make sure he didn't injure them.

"Alright! I see that you all have enough skill to hold your own in a battle but not enough that you'll win any awards yet. With that in mind I'm now going to test Rinzu's abilities to see how she fares" Tatsumi explained.

"I'll gladly show you what I can do my beloved" Rinzu replied and picked up the practice blade or rather two practice blades Tatsumi was impressed that she favored duel-blade fighting. Their spar was completely different from the other students unlike the Hatamoto Rinzu knew what she was doing and had a great deal more practice; she was very good and actually held her own for about seven minutes before Tatsumi overwhelmed her guard and disarmed her; for a princess who had not actually gone to war she was trained with all the skill of a professional Samurai and Tatsumi noted this which meant that Rinzu was more than capable of contending with the best, she was an A-Tier Swordswoman.

After the sparring concluded Tatsumi quickly made ready as Esdeath arrived to inform him that the army was ready to move out and was waiting only on him.

The rest of the day was spent marching down Soukai's road network southwest, during this time reports by radio came in to Tatsumi that Kyoukotsu's army had been forces to halt their advance and had rushed and taken a fortified castle where the inhabitants that survived the attack were now being used as human shields. "I hate it when my enemies do this" Tatsumi remarked aloud, then had to think; this tactic has been frequently used by the Revolutionary Army and a fair few warlords that had chosen to battle him; Tatsumi had developed a proven tactic for it; night rescues by elite special forces and in this case he had those in spades; he also believed a display of power would be needed to intimidate the enemy and thought "Shikotazer: Primus Imperator deploy!" and on his ship an alarm was sounded that he had activated his secret weapon.

The Shikotazer or Primus Imperator was a rebuilt Dwarven Imperator class Titan which had received numerous modifications the most important being the gargantuan war machine was now an Imperial Arms that could only be commanded by the Emperor himself, it wasn't always that way it formerly could be operated inside by anyone, now however it was only controllable by Tatsumi himself, something he could either control from the cockpit inside the Imperator's head or and this was the biggest change remotely via his own thoughts. Now however was the time to deploy it, shock and awe was needed for the first battle of this war and Tatsumi was inclined to display it to get a message across the reason being Tatsumi wanted to make sure that the people of Wakoku's kingdoms knew what he was willing to do if you made war upon his Empire. This would also make the siege a cakewalk. Reports came in thought of airstrikes by the Atlantean air force and Tatsumi gave orders to cease bombing as human shields were now being used by the enemy.

Tatsumi then later that day ordered the army to halt its advance about a mile from the enemy held positions, preparations had to be made and the Primus Imperator had to take a circuitous route to avoid trampling settled areas and people on accident so it would be slow in arriving. That left him time to prepare for battle or rather prepare his newest troops for battle.

Later that evening in a training tent… Tatsumi parried an offensive strike from Tobimori, she was a lovely woman with brown eyes, black hair kept in two spherical buns on either side of her head, she wore glasses and the combat armor of an Imperial royal guard soldier. Tatsumi had gotten a request from Hinowa which he granted to have a custom armor made for the unit in order to make them stand out from the rest of the troops, the idea was to craft sets that integrated the best from both Imperial and Wakokuan armor which would be forged by one of Tatsumi's Dwarven smiths for maximum effectiveness.

Until then however they would have to make do with standard guard armor which was already top of the line, Tobimori was a good swordswoman and was improving with each strike of her swords as she opted for a duel wielding style which Tatsumi respected as he had used that style in the past. At the moment however she was tiring and made a mistake that allowed Tatsumi to slip his practice blade thru her guard and tap her on the chest. "Dead" Tatsumi remarked.

"Damn it! I'll do better next time I swear my Emperor I'll improve myself you know it" Tobimori cursed, Tatsumi grinned.

"You're doing great Tobimori, you're at the level where you can contend with the average enemy effectively enough your style is great and while you still have a lot to learn from me you're more than ready for battle; now get yourself some rest, the battle tomorrow will be interesting and it does no good having a low self-esteem or beating yourself down on the eve of battle" Tatsumi replied, she nodded and left with a twinkle in her eye. With Tobimori's sparring done Tatsumi had finished with teaching his students for the day but felt pent up and uneasy as battle was on the horizon. After walking out of the training tent Tatsumi came across Esdeath and Leone who had been waiting for him to finish.

"Tatsu-bunny" Esdeath greeted and pulled him into both a hug and her breasts as normal Leone did the same and he found himself nuzzled in between their chests, Tatsumi was allowed air shortly and looked at his wives.

"I'm glad to see you to my Ice Queen, and you my Lioness Empress" Tatsumi greeted, Leone came over and repeated what Esdeath had done but also kissed him on the ear as she was prone to doing before kissing him on the lips.

"Good to see you're still full of energy the night is young, and battle is ahead, oh the thrill of it, anyway, let's go to our tent Esdeath and me have a surprise for you" Leone replied.

"And that is?" Tatsumi asked as Leone's tail rubbed against his butt having reached behind him.

"That would be telling wouldn't it, you'll enjoy it when we get there" Esdeath commented and the two lead Tatsumi off; Tatsumi was then stopped by them and told to wait outside the tent for a bit and after a wait that felt like an eternity to Tatsumi but was really only three minutes Leone told him to come in.

Inside Tatsumi found Esdeath and Leone, in what had to be the most seductive outfits possible for the location, they were dressed in the attire of Wakokuan Geishas and not the kimonos usually sported but the exotic and revealing negligee that was worn by concubines and high-class prostitutes. "Where did you get those?" Tatsumi asked.

"Oh, Rinzu loaned them to us; before you ask she had these specifically for any husband she married and yes they fit me; my breasts aren't feeling any pressure whatsoever" Esdeath explained then opened the negligee to reveal said breasts to Tatsumi's cherry blush, she smiled at the reaction. While Tatsumi was staring at them Leone had slipped behind him and was now removing his clothes; Esdeath came over and helped with that task and both kissed Tatsumi while doing so, he returned the kisses before both women picked him up and carried him to the bed together. Leone was the first to act wrapping her breasts around his erect length and licking the tip, Esdeath sat on his face and followed suit with Leone, Tatsumi began to caress and tend to Esdeath's wet clit, the blue haired goddess moaned as he did so and continued her Paizuri, both her and Leone alternated between licking and sucking his length off for about five more minutes before they knew Tatsumi was reaching his limit, Esdeath reached hers though first and juices flooded Tatsumi's face, he licked them up and came all over the faces and breasts of both of his wives soon after.

"So, who is first and how are you going to do it" Leone commented, Tatsumi chuckled then grabbed Leone and spread her butt cheeks out and plunged his length into anus, to Leone's moans. "Me and in my ass, got it, oh I love that my Golden Dragon" Leone moaned she didn't get Tatsumi responding to that remark and she turned then noticed the reason being that he was drinking from Esdeath's right breast, Esdeath held him by his back and smiled happily, Leone also noted Tatsumi's hand fondling Esdeath's other breast and felt his other hand clasp rump, Leone's tail wrapped around Tatsumi stimulating him as Tatsumi kept going inside her. "Oh Tatsumi-kun" Leone moaned; then placed a hand on her brow where her crown rested, being Empress was something Leone hadn't expected to happen to her but it was something she loved because it meant she was married to her Tatsumi, Leone could only look at Tatsumi and grin and she felt it as he released. "Yeah fill my ass" Leone moaned.

Tatsumi pulled out and grabbed Esdeath pulling her onto his length and laid back pushing her upwards, Leone sat on his face and he began licking, both woman pressed their breasts against each other and grinned. "Oh Tatsumi" both moaned and smiled. "You know every time we do this Esdeath I keep thinking of my first time, threesomes are amazing" Leone commented.

"I agree, I love spending time with both my Tatsu-Bunny and my sisters; it's so good to have a family and love it" Esdeath replied and moaned as Tatsumi went deeper his length was now at the walls of her womb.

"Yep it's amazing, and while our kids may be a handful I wouldn't trade it for anything else" Leone replied, Esdeath smiled something that was quite refreshing, smiling for her had been something Esdeath did often now that she and Tatsumi were rulers of the Empire, he made her happy and Leone knew that, in fact the idea that Tatsumi had such a huge impact on those he loved filled her with hope and happiness, that hope, that concern, that love, was what allowed him to reforge an Empire and defeat a primordial evil bent on destroying the world.

Nothing could stop the three from their fun, it only escalated when other members of Tatsumi's harem joined in and as night fell Tatsumi fell asleep his head resting on Leone and Esdeath's breasts instead of a pillow as Esdeath held him as a body pillow.

Tatsumi was awoken the following morning and after being dressed by his wives was met with the success of last night's rescues being a success, virtually all hostages had been rescued and were now being sent back in ACPs to Yaenami with a rearguard being sent, the Imperator had arrived too and had done so quietly. With those developments Tatsumi made the traditional preparations for battle, he first summoned up his wife Angulas to perform the pre-battle offerings to Asha and Avawahy the two patron deities of the new Empire, Angulas was priestess of both deities in addition to being his wife as neither deity forbid the marriage of priests and priestesses, Angulas was a beautiful woman with bob-cut burgundy hair, blue green eyes and pale skin she wore garb that was a fusion of battle armor, priestly raiment and an Empress's dress, on her brow as a tattoo mark of Avawahy and to either side were marks of Asha which were much smaller. "In the name of his majesty Emperor Tatsumi VII we make this offering unto the Eternity Queen and the Lord of Life, unto them and the gods of the skies we offer these fine bulls to you, in return we ask only for victory in the coming battle" Angulas proclaimed, then said a number of prayers and made final preparations, two angry and stubborn local cattle which had been forced up and strapped down to an altar were killed with a sacrificial sword with that out of the way Tatsumi turned to his soldiers and was tempted to give a rousing speech but he decided before sending his troops in he'd have the Imperator approach the castle and give the enemy a wakeup call on the offhand chance that they may surrender outright.

That being said he then gave a speech about how important the battle was as it was the first of a new war and that despite the many advantages they had it was important not to be complacent in the face of the enemy especially one who was a monster who'd do anything, he then spoke at length of the many monsters both human and danger beast that he had slain and informed largely the soldiers of Soukai that they should not have fear for at the end of the day one monster was but one man and who did all he did to sow fear and that giving into fear would be giving the monster what he wanted. At this there were many cheers and Tatsumi then concluded his speech with a last call to ready their weapons and follow him into the heart of battle. Tatsumi then let the Imperator advance ahead of the army alone with the rest of army following behind at a respectable distance, orders were given to have the Soukai Ashigaru and Samurai placed on the wings of his army behind his own infantry on those wings and as far from the Imperator as possible to avoid them risking being trampled.

With the army arriving just out of range of the enemy archers Tatsumi picked up a megaphone. "Attention soldiers of Tenrou, in the name of the Golden Dragon Empire and myself Emperor Tatsumi VII I offer you one chance to any of your number that wishes to stand down and surrender to do so now. What stands in front of you is a fully armed and operation Primus Imperator its weapons are capable of decimating your entire army by itself and the King Beam could disintegrate the stronghold you are inside with a single shot, behind it is an army of 100,000 of the Empire's Finest and 20,000 of Soukai's own; you are outnumbered, outgunned and most importantly outmatched in addition to being at a massive disadvantage when it comes to technology; I ask only you surrender now and all save your commander who is a monster will be sparred; if not I will have any of you that does not surrender crucified that is the fate that awaits all my enemy's soldiers that defy me: this is your first and last warning; your choice awaits you" Tatsumi barked, then to make sure the message was heard mentally sent the message to the Imperator which repeated it using the massive speaker of its mouth.

At the prospect of this the army of Kyoukotsu left the fortifications of the castle behind, however they were not coming to surrender but to battle with horns being sounded to signal an attack; Tatsumi frowned. "Great there goes my three-day streak without having to kill someone" Tatsumi remarked then turned to Esdeath. "You have your orders bring up the troops and begin a slow advance, once we are within range have our skirmishers and gunners unleash death on them when they charge" Tatsumi ordered.

"Yes, my beloved, you heard your Emperor make ready!" Esdeath shouted out, Tatsumi then turned to Rinzu.

"This is my first battle, so- "Rinzu commented.

"Wait for my orders, we'll advance slowly and set things up, in the Empire we don't close the distance until we're ready; besides, you haven't seen the Imperator in action" Tatsumi replied, she frowned. "Don't worry just stick by me and your protectors and do as I do, apart from throwing yourself into unnecessary danger" Tatsumi explained, she grinned at that and drew her swords, a Katana in one hand and Wakizashi in the other, Tatsumi's harem of bodyguard followed suit readying their weapons; Tatsumi had Sayo and Remus advance with the forward skirmishers then gave a series of mental commands to the Imperator. The crimson eyes of the rebuilt Primus Imperator sparked with combat intent and a number of weapons were brought out from under its hull, the new shields that had been installed by the dwarves were activated and it began a slow advance towards the charging mass.

Once the charging mass of Samurai and Ashigaru had gotten within 50 yards of the Imperator the weapons acquired their targets and fired. Within seconds ranks of armored soldiers were made mincemeat piles of gore, about a thousand died in the first ten seconds of the salvo, so many weapons were brought out, it even got worse with the hands were raised and more turrets locked on and fired. The enemy Cavalry were the priority targets but even as the heavier horsemen fell the lighter and faster cavalry moved out of range and behind the Imperator, not that moving behind or to the side helped as weapons had been built into those areas to allow a complete 360 degree combat arc; Tatsumi then signaled for it to charge, it did so at about 40 miles per hour after it got started and barreled towards the enemy lines that had been scattered, the light cavalry however was closing in and Tatsumi along with his officers across the army gave a signal to halt, brace and to the frontlines to fire. The Loud crack of gun fire echoed thru the valley as horses were dismembered by the rounds and their riders shared a similar fate. To the surprise of Tatsumi's troops those riders that had survived being thrown off and managed to get back up charged the lines in spite of being under massive amounts of suppressive fire from titanium rounds which were making piles of gore out of anything; these sobs charged vainly towards the lines with weapons drawn as the rounds tore them down.

All this death did not discourage General Kyoukotsu from battle as he had made sure there was no retreat for his troops and was cruelly whipping his troops into the fight as he held back with his guards, he did soon however call off the attack and ordered a withdrawal, not however to the castle but to the large forests that surrounded and dotted the valley. Those that were left as a sacrifice at least the Samurai sought death in battle with the Ashigaru dropping their arms and surrendering, with this the first battle had been won and Tatsumi's army rounded up the enemy survivors; Tatsumi then gave each a chance to join him once again, those with nothing back in Tenrou for them or who valued their skins more than anything else did so, all other survivors Tatsumi had rounded up for interrogation he wanted any information they had along with finding out who the worst ones were so that they could be properly crucified.

After the battle Tatsumi told his troops not to rest on their laurels as the enemy still was out there and had merely made a tactical withdrawal in search of a better position, with that in mind he divided his army into small detachments placing them under capable commanders with orders to search the forests for enemy forces he then ordered parts of his army not tasked with the search to secure and fortify all paths in and out of the valley to complete cut the enemy off.

"New orders any enemies that remain are to be captured if possible killed if not, I want information we can get and in order to do that we need to capture any enemy we can; also special orders anyone who finds General Kyoukotsu is to bring him to me personally" Tatsumi ordered his commanders, they complied and search parties were sent out, Tatsumi then ordered his main force to take and occupy the castle before taking his retinue off into the forest in search of Kyoukotsu.

The search dragged on for many hours into the afternoon and evening Imperial troops cut thru wood and fen in search of the enemy finding them in some cases, being found by them in others, Tatsumi's own retinue however did find more than in other locations as the bulk of the elite force of Kyoukotsu had by some bizarre twist of fate gone in the same direction as Tatsumi himself, the monster too had gone that way, further in the signs of his passage were found as the general had- well dealt with those of his subordinates that weren't keen on following him any further in a grizzly manner, their mangled bodies hung from the trees in various poses and mutilated in various fashions no two bodies had been treated the same way. "He's been here" Aria remarked, Seryu stepped forward with Kuro her Teigu dog ahead; Tatsumi and Esdeath along with the others looked for tracks and found a trail with blood stained steps left; at this point Tatsumi took his Hatamoto and Honorguard forwards and eventually followed the path to a large and hollowed cavern.

"I hate caves: hate having to fight enemies in them, I've done enough fighting caves to last me a lifetime and yet here we go again" Tatsumi remarked.

"Hey at least there aren't any rodents of the huge size lurking in them" Leone japed, Tatsumi half chuckled and then took a deep breath.

"We can only hope" Tatsumi remarked.

"Rodents of huge size?" Hinowa asked, Tatsumi looked at her.

"You don't want to know, trust me if we see them I'll be the first into the fight, I hate Skaven" Tatsumi replied, Hinowa was still confused. "An old enemy, fond of living underground and eating anything they can get their hands-on including humans; not nice creatures and hopefully none are on Wakoku's islands" Tatsumi explained then he and his honor guard marched into the cave weapons drawn and defenses ready.

Tatsumi noted that as they went deeper in the cavern branched off into multiple paths any of which could be the direction the enemies took, that being the case he instructed Esdeath to take his Hatamoto and go down on passage, he Rinzu and his protectors would take another and the rest would go down any path.

The deeper Tatsumi went into the cave the more he felt uneasy, caves always gave him the creeps as they were seldom unoccupied either by wildlife, by people, or by other things of dark and slimy variety, soon about ten minutes after he and his party of 20 had ventured down the passage they came into a chamber were calls of Banzai were shouted and swordsmen came charging them. The fight was a brief affair and no enemy survived as none had the sense to surrender and there were only a dozen of them, all warriors of Tenrou all with the standard of a wolf on their back and painted on their armor and all were Samurai; he followed the passage further until it came to a dead-end a rather literal one as five more Samurai charged at him being hewed down with ease by Akame who had darted ahead of everyone else and ruthlessly dispatched all of them with strikes from her swords. From then he had them march back to the passage where he waited for the rest of his troops to return. The first of these parties led by Aria returned with all her troops and no prisoners, the second led by Leone and Chelsea returned with similar tidings, however Esdeath and the Hatamoto returned with the jackpot, six captives all high ranking officers with their arms secured in manacles of Ice; at her side was Hinata and one of the captives that being General Kyoukotsu himself the general had a gash on the side of his hip and was missing a hand his dominant left hand in fact.

"My troops have captured the spider himself, he tried to resist and when that failed to kill himself, fortunately Hinata managed to disarm him and subdue him long enough for me to render him into his current state" Esdeath explained.

"Indeed, and it was rather well orchestrated you know I never thought to see the Empire's greatest military mind in such a place, shame I couldn't make you my partner" Kyoukotsu commented receiving a backhand from Esdeath.

"Do not speak to an Empress of the Golden Dragon Empire such a way; on your knees vermin before the rightful Emperor!" Esdeath remarked, Kyoukotsu spat in Tatsumi's direction, bad move as he received a beat down from Mez and Kurome who weren't remotely going to take an insult towards their husband and Emperor whom they had sworn as Rakshasa Champions to protect lying down; Kyoukotsu soon had a black eye and was missing a few teeth, before Tatsumi called both off then picked the man up and held him against a cave wall.

"I see that you lack respect for your better Kyoukotsu, now tell me what exactly you meant by making my wife a partner, because if you were implying you would rape my beloved Esdeath, my Ice Queen, my diamond of my harem and the mother of the New Patras Clan then I'll cut your manhood out here and now and force feed it to you!" Tatsumi interrogated Kyoukotsu chuckled.

"Maybe you'd make an amazing partner too: I'm not picky I'll take men, women or children to my bed if they are my type" he replied arrogantly as if the threat of castration wasn't enough to scare him from making that remark perhaps he didn't think Tatsumi would follow thru with that threat, he was wrong, Esdeath conjured an ice dagger and handed it to Tatsumi who cut open his pants seized his member and removed it however the man didn't yell in pain and merely made a look of shock his mouth wide open before Tatsumi shoved the removed wiener into it the man chewed it grinning and swallowed it. "So, you are one who follows thru I must say I admire that in a- "Tatsumi backhanded him before could finish then knocked him out. "Secure him; we'll take him back to camp and you can work your magic there Aria" Tatsumi ordered.

"I can do that, though I'm a bit irked you castrated him in such a hurry and sloppily too, I'd have cut it off one piece of a time" Aria replied.

"I know I was sending a message" Tatsumi replied.

The night had fallen when they returned to the nearby castle Tatsumi found the place had been cleaned up by the troops he had left behind, he also found the accommodations rather nice thought that didn't hold much comfort to him, what did however was a rather surprising report of no losses in the initial battle and only few people had been wounded rounding up the remaining enemies thanks to the overall technological superiority.

While Tatsumi slept Aria spent the night interrogating and torturing General Kyoukotsu who simply laughed at her efforts even Aria's best torture techniques didn't seem to intimidate him, in fact it was after the acid treatment and the Judas chair and in between the rack and dipping the stub of his righthand in boiling tar that Aria realized that the torture had driven him insane, he had been multiple cards short of a deck and Aria's interrogation efforts only caused him to discard the hand he had left, in between insane babble and ranting about something or other and memories of evil acts committed by the madman she managed to eventually get enough information to call her session a success at 2 in the morning.

She then had the guards muzzle the captive and went to find Tatsumi's chambers she was tired but she was not going to sleep with blood in her nails or heavens forbid her luscious flowing blonde locks and thus took a bath in adjacent room making sure to clean every drop off before returning to Tatsumi who was passed out she didn't bother changing and merely climbed into a rather crowded bed pushing a sleeping Cosmina off and onto a sleeping Rinzu before slipping into Tatsumi's arms without him noticing; she then gave him one final kiss before passing out. The following morning Aria was woken up by Tatsumi, and both had overslept. "Morning my Capital Angel" Tatsumi greeted.

"Good morning my Golden Dragon, how are you feeling this morning?" Aria asked coyly rubbing a finger across his cheek.

"Refreshed, how did your 'hobby' go last night?" Tatsumi asked.

"Oh that, well you'll find that the General has completely lost it for starters, his brain wasn't there to begin with and when I was thru he was babbling like a lunatic; though I did manage to get a good deal of information out of him" Aria replied.

"Alright what did you find out?" Tatsumi asked, Aria smirked, a smirk Tatsumi knew all too well.

"Oh that would be telling how about this, you give me what I missed out on last night and hopefully put another child in me, that will be baby number six at this point or seven as we could have twins twice, the triplets last time were surprise" Aria teased, Tatsumi shrugged, he gave Aria what she wanted as he could not refuse her and spent a good twenty minutes and three rounds until she was satisfied enough to reveal the information.

"Ok out with it" Tatsumi remarked.

"Alright; first off the bastard did receive orders to capture Princess Rinzu and bring her back to Zuou, also to conquer Soukai and kill you for starters. Second thing he was rather insistent that he would have raped the Princess as soon as he got the chance so that Zuou couldn't have his way with her, also he explained that Zuou plans to once he has Rinzu force her to marry him and he will have her with or without her consent" Aria explained both of their faces turned to disgust and anger at this revelation. "I know, horrid stuff, trust me I wanted to kill him when I found out but that isn't my decision its yours as to how you want him to die; you want to tell Rinzu about this or should I?" Aria remarked quickly.

"I'll tell her myself, anything else?" Tatsumi asked.

"Zuou according to Kyoukotsu was rather insistent on having her at any cost even if it meant throwing away the entire army, what kind of message do you want to send him in response to this information?" Aria replied.

"A Phoenix one; I'm going to have Erasiel fly to Tenrou and drop Kyoukotsu's head on the foot of his throne room" Tatsumi remarked, Aria chuckled then fondled his chest playing his with nipples.

"Oh, I'm sure you will, now I'm not sure whether or not you got me pregnant you think you could you know come about five or more times in me to be sure" Aria teased, Tatsumi replied.

Later that day in the castle courtyard… Tatsumi had Kyoukotsu brought into the center of the yard, a number of horses were strapped to his limbs waiting for the signal that would pull him apart, nearby a crowd of people from his army and the surviving locals had gathered and were jeering at him. Tatsumi walked forward with Esdeath on one side and Rinzu on the other; Kyoukotsu opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue, the fact that his teeth were all gone made him look more repulsive. "For crimes against the people of the Golden Dragon Empire I sentence you General Kyoukotsu to die by being drawn and quartered; any final remarks or information you want to let slip before you face death" Tatsumi explained.

Kyoukotsu laughed, a mad laugh. "OH, the things the things! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh HE! Oh, Shogun Zuou you'll be pleased with me, oh I am a star and I burn bright and burn bright for you! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kyoukotsu jabbered out then laughed crazily. "Do your worst pretentious Nanban savage! And know what an artist dies with me!" Kyoukotsu yelled, Tatsumi raised a pistol into the air and fired startling the horses who bolted yanking the general apart and instead of screams the sounds that came from his mouth was laughter and when Tatsumi removed the head from the corpse he saw a face of pure demented madness, a man of pure bedlam and monstrosity.

"Artist? No a monster dies with you Kyoukotsu; string up what's left of him and hang it out in plain view for the city to see: Erasiel take this head and deliver it to Tenrou, inform Zuou that the Empire will wage war on him and check his aura I'll need more than the words of a lunatic to back up what Zuou has planned" Tatsumi ordered.

Tenrou an hour and half later… Zuou was sitting on his throne after a rather interesting affair he was due in two days to marry the princesses offered to him by the kingdoms of Hiro and Satake as part of their treaty negotiations however he was anticipating news from Kyoukotsu either of success of failure; the Imperial dignitaries had left after delivering the formal declaration and had been allowed to return home unharmed, while Zuou had no qualms against letting his armies run rampant against his enemies he respected the rules of diplomatic protocol and it was dishonorable to harm a diplomat so to keep his honor intact he had let the Imperials leave uncontested despite some of his advisors wanting their heads to be sent back to the Emperor as a warning; Zuou had ordered them stripped of office for suggesting such a brazen and dishonorable move but also due to the fact that such a move wouldn't help his case with the other kingdoms he hoped to bring on side.

Zuou's thoughts were disturbed when the door to his throne room was thrown open and a man walked in or what looked like a man apart from a long feathery tail as yours truly walked into his throne room with my trusty staff in one hand and a basket with Kyoukotsu's head in the other. "Who are you and how have you come into my palace" Zuou said drawing his sword.

"I'm just a messenger, Erasiel Darkar, sworn advisor to his Imperial Majesty Tatsumi VII Gildenstrom and I come bringing his response to the recently failed invasion of Soukai" I told him, his aura lit up with rage but he sheathed his blade, I then handed him the basket and he opened it to find Kyoukotsu's head inside, he was enraged.

"You dare come into my hall and bring me the head of one of my best generals' what kind of person treats me with disrespect?!" Zuou asked.

"The kind who views you as beneath him for starters, secondly you know you did order a war started if Tatsumi didn't comply with your demands and let's be honest you should know that the Emperor wasn't going to comply with the demands of a man who obviously seeks to rape an innocent woman, murder her people and destroy her nation for his own ends; not to mention you had plans to invade the Empire once you had conquered the islands of your homeland; Tatsumi was merely minding his own business but you had to go and make it hard for him" I responded, Zuou motioned for two samurai to attack me barking orders in his language, he was shocked when I raised a hand and said "Immolate!" causing both warriors to be set on fire. "I'm disappointed trying to kill a diplomat, I thought you thought it dishonorable" I remarked.

"You're no diplomat, you are a warrior, a demon, an afront to my honor and my halls; now leave or I'll kill you myself" Zuou replied, I chuckled.

"Death is irrelevant to a Phoenix and I am no demon, I am a god, a being beyond your comprehension I am the Eternity King Erasiel Darkar consort to Asha the Eternity Queen the Greater Phoenix goddess of Order and her most loyal servant; before me you are a human, one of the lesser races you've seen what I did to your warriors I could easily do the same to you Zuou but I won't your head is Tatsumi's to claim; I merely came to deliver a message now that the message is sent you'd be wise to consider surrendering and making this easy on yourself Tatsumi may even spare your life, for your information not one of your soldiers survived that battle and not one died on Tatsumi's side; he has weapons that are greater than anything you could dream of producing; I have advise for you and that is surrender, this is the only offer I'll give" I told him, Zuou dawned armor that was clearly of the Teigu variety and drew two swords and charged towards me, I teleported out of sight leaving the severed head and an angry Zuou in my wake.

Shortly… Zuou steamed in anger and roared to Muzachi who rushed into the room. "Get me Nahashu immediately!" Zuou barked, he then sat on his throne and looked at the head of Kyoukotsu, at least he had been rid of that liability to his image but had at the same time lost one of his best generals and a veteran army to boot. Nahashu walked into the throne room and knelt "Nahashu something had just occurred; Plan A has failed and Kyoukotsu is dead a messenger came here and dropped his head on my throne room floor and had the nerve to demand I surrender; BAH! I ignore those demands you know what to do fetch Moegi and send her here I have orders for her and her Hungry Wolves, I've need of them the time for half-measures is over I'm sending my best now get her and don't dally!" Zuou ordered.

"And if she does?" Nahashu asked.

"That is on her not you, now go and bring her here right now! I'm in a bad mood also, Muzachi take this head and throw it to the wolves I'll not have Kyoukotsu's remains buried he is a failure and will be treated as such; those who fail get thrown to the wolves!" Zuou ordered, the two men left to fulfill their tasks leaving the Wolf King of Tenrou to seethe in his anger at the most recent developments before leaving to practice his swordsmanship on the condemned.

Later at Moegi's Mansion… Nahashu was irritated, he hated to have to be the messenger granted Zuou respected him greatly, but he didn't like being the one to fetch the best general in the islands for a number of reasons.

Out of the other nine generals of the Ten Stars Nahashu has a disdain for three, though two came from his view on their military tactics, the one he disliked the most however was Moegi for a number of reasons, not do to her tactics though as she was easily the best among the Ten and her accolades and successes were many she had also been one of the first to join the group and had a history with Zuou.

For Nahashu his dislike of Moegi came from her personality and- actions as opposed to her military feats he having fought alongside her in a few of the earlier campaigns of the wars against Zuou's enemies viewed her as a person that merited her rank and reputation as the best general of the islands even going so far in his mind to be comparable to General Esdeath of the Empire in her knowledge and mastery of the art of war. No Moegi's personal choices and her personality as a person irritated him to no end, chief being her flamboyance, her decadence and most of all her- nymphomania. Nahashu wished that Yomihime was here to do this job instead she was better at it or Amateru, but that priestess of war was busy in meditation centering herself for the war to come and interpreting the war god's will. "War god bah" Nahashu thought, he believed firmly in the gods of the Old Empire and while he had integrated very well into the society and ranks of Tenrou adopting many of the customs of the locals including a new name in place of his old one which was doubly important as he wanted the old him to be still thought as being dead, only Zuou and his wives knew his true identity and Kuriaya but that enigmatic ninja or kunoichi knew the secrets of everyone mainly out of self-preservation if nothing else.

Moegi was going to be an annoyance to him as she was rather- insistent towards him, three of her 'Muscle Militia' how he hated that name allowed him entry as he approached with Zuou's seal in hand, he noted the various sights of Moegi's manor as he walked. Moegi's manor was a large residence about the size of an Imperial manor of high ranking military official or wealthy noble but similarities ended as it was about three times as excessively decorated and flamboyant. Golden statuary of Moegi in various poses and circumstances doted the courtyard with a large fountain of marble depicting her as a mermaid naked relaxing in the water, the outsides were decorated with all manner of ornaments, busts, reliefs, and frescos along with columns and a massive obelisk that depicted in art her greatest conquests and triumphs both on the battlefield, which Nahashu had no issues with as he has done similarly with own place, and on the bedroom which he hated.

As Nahashu walked inside the smell of myriad perfumes mixed with incense attacked his nose and even more brazen and crass decorations from lewd tapestries to paintings of men and Moegi in a variety of carnal acts about the walls, men wearing speedos and other revealing outfits moved about along with equally scantily clad women also in the role of servants, all these people were obnoxiously happy and Nahashu noted music being played from another room he approached one of the servants who looked at him in surprise and with lust as she was one of female variety. "General Nahashu what a pleasant surprise, what brings you here?" the Servant asked.

"I need to see Moegi, the Shogun has orders for her and wants to see her in person" Nahashu replied disregarding the servant's attempt at flirting.

"She is currently in her busy at this moment, but she'll be happy to see you and make an exception for you General Nahashu" the servant replied.

"Can I just give the message to you and have you tell her for me?" Nahashu replied hoping to avoid seeing an indisposed Moegi which for him was NOT something wanted to see as Moegi's idea of being indisposed repulsed him as had a low view of women that were like her his own wives weren't like that and he'd rather avoid seeing something that would make him want to take about three baths and spend a long talk with his beloved wives specifically his dear Annamarie to get the bad image out of his mind.

The servant destroyed that wishful thinking in an extremely polite manner. "Of course not, such an important message from the Shogun should come from the Shogun's appointed messenger and not a household servant" she replied, Nahashu sighed, pressed his right hand against his face and consented to being lead to of all places Moegi's spa which he considered the worst room in the manor for him to visit; it could have easily been her library, or her chambers well not that one, or her den or dining room or any room in the house but that one, because that room presented the most chance of- before he could finish that thought he was already at the room which was unfortunately on the ground floor and not too far from the entry hall, the servant opened the door and steam came out from the hot baths, indoor sauna, and steam pits which came from indoor fires being treated like a sauna heater.

In the center of the room on a large flat lounge coach sat what he hoped not to see. Moegi was there for starters but so were five men, with little but speedos keeping them from being exposed, one was massaging Moegi, one was feeding her grapes, one was fanning her and two were fondling her as she smiled. Moegi's stat of dress was- naught but an open transparent kimono that left virtually nothing to the imagination as her breasts and loins were in plain sight, she smiled. Moegi was a beautiful woman easily the equal of Rinzu, she had long dark crimson hair and eyes, her body was curvaceous with ample f-cup breasts and a kush that any red-blooded man with a pulse and little self-control would want to tap and ride to her enjoyment, her long hair was let down except at the base where it was bound into to form a slight ponytail without a tip, her normal attire was- less revealing but still not helpful for a man trying to maintain his fidelity to his spouse or spouses even in battle her armor left a considerable amount of her skin exposed she could afford to do that as her Meihou Naginata that she named Inazumahime which allowed her to move faster than the wind and render any attempt to shoot her moot and even then she could move so faster she could cut the arrow or bolt out of the sky.

When Moegi noticed him she smiled, a seductive smile and it required firm restraint to avoid arousal, if any bulge became noticeable she would take that as an invitation and be on him rather quickly she had no self-restraint when it came to her nymphomania and the only way to prevent her from doing anything when you were on her side or a neutral party that she wasn't actively attacking was to have the self-restraint of a blind celibate eunuch monk and then some; something which Nahashu had out of an immense disdain for nymphomaniacs and floozies like Moegi, he liked women to be nice and chaste along with pursuing a lasting relationship there was no room in his mind for one-night stands as he had seen enough of people doing that in the Imperial Army to last him a lifetime and his training from young age had exposed him to horrors of unrestrained people. The one thing Nahashu wanted to avoid was being her enemy because if you were Moegi's enemy if you didn't surrender and were foolish and brave enough to resist her then it would be over for you, she would rape a man until they died of exhaustion if they had made her enemy and tried to stop the inevitable fate of resisting her in war and resisting Tenrou and the Shogun above all else, her troops were called the hungry wolves for a reason and while stories were told of General Esdeath in the Empire Moegi's reputation was- far worse. It led to more enemies surrendering then fighting her which was good for them as Moegi was merciful to those that surrendered and treated those people with respect going as far as to provide them with food and help rebuild any damage and going so far as to execute anyone that didn't comply with her orders to treat them with respect and to clear the surrounding areas of any predators be they outlaws or danger beasts.

"Nahashu-kun, welcome, welcome, it's so good to see you back in Tenrou and in my humble abode" Moegi greeted.

"Humble isn't the word I'd use to describe it, more like astonishingly decadent would best describe it" Nahashu replied, she laughed.

"You are right, I was just pulling your legs but seriously welcome; I hope you come seeking pleasure and not on business, my offer from last time still stands and I'm here with nothing to hide and all the stamina to please you" Moegi replied, Nahashu frowned suppressed his erection and body that were trying their best to betray him then looked at her with a look of annoyance.

"I must politely decline, we've been over this about I don't know about 500 times at this point Moegi I'm a married man with seven beautiful wives and have 12 children with more on the way while you may be one of the beautiful women in the isles perhaps on Tenrou I've got standards and you aren't my type" Nahashu replied, she frowned and then humped.

"Prude. If it isn't pleasure that brings you what is it and it better be important you rarely come by for a social call and every time you do come for a social call it with your family and you insist on me having everyone dress in what you call modest attire, pah I hate modesty my body is a gift from the gods and goddesses it should be displayed for all to see; you know I can think a few ways I could deal with your prudish nature; what's your preference, anal, oral, missionary, bondage, spooning whatever it is I've engaged in it at some point either way I can think of many ways you'd fall to my feminine charms I could dress as an elven maid from Amannar with fake ears and real elven attire, or as one of those Qarkeshi women, or a courtesan from Cathnequay or any number of things I can be anything-" Moegi replied and would have continued.

"Refrain from having me in your sexual fantasies Moegi, and that's not what I came here for, if I wanted sex I'd have gone home and asked any of my wives especially Shion she's always up for it; point being I'm here because Shogun Zuou has orders for you and has requested your presence in his throne room; mind you he's not in a good mood right now" Nahashu replied sternly.

"Oh Zuou-kun wants me, that's different I'll be there but you said he's a bad mood better give him some time to calm down, are you sure you don't want to take me for a tumble; there are so many ways I could please you that your wives couldn't dream of matching" Moegi replied, Nahashu shook his head and left the room, after he was out of both earshot and the many he bodily muttered aloud "Slut: I swear one of these days that woman will be the end of me". Inside Moegi frowned and turned to her servants, the five men who were tending to her resumed doing so until she had exhausted the grapes, the cream and had all her pains massaged out.

"Well my studs, once again I've failed to snare Nahashu, I love it when they play hard to get but I like it even more when they are larger than life: anyway I'm horny you all know what to do; tend to my needs and I'll tend to yours" Moegi remarked after they hand finished and removed the transparent kimono, her servants removed their speedos presenting full erect and decently endowed lengths the largest being about 8-inches long but the smallest was about six-inches long so none was what Moegi deemed unworthy of her time.

"Oh cocks, big cocks I love cocks; fuck me my studs and tend to your she-wolf" she ordered, then stood up to allow one man to lay down, she then straddled him allowing him entry into the folds and moaned as he went inside, she then smirked at the man behind her a young man with brown eyes and black hair who took her from behind, she then signaled the other three gather around, the two men did their work how Moegi loved it when cocks took both her holes, it was amazing, a man with purple hair stood to her front and he had a big cock which she took into her mouth without thinking working her tongue, she then held those of the other two men with her hands caressing them with her soft and warm hands before alternating changing cocks with her mouth all the while the two man kept tending to her from behind and she could only smile as she sucked and caressed one dick and then another, soon she orgasmed and soon the men inside her holes did the same, she then had the others swap and the purple-haired man was now taking her pussy as the dark brown-haired man boned her from behind.

Soon she was bored by the chair and bid her servants to carry her to the bath where in the warm soapy water she smiled as two men tended to both her holes the one in front tend to her breasts, these servants were bed slaves Moegi had bought when the slave trade was still widely practiced in the Empire, however the reign of the Golden Dragon Empire had seen an end to slavery as a whole, while they had been slaves they were now free men but still served her as she was generous with her gifts and needs, she had two go to fetch more of her servants and she soon changed venues again returning to the lounge coach where about five more of her servants arrived along with the two she had dismissed, they tended to their mistresses needs each filling her holes with their seed some tended to her breasts suckling from her teats to her enjoyment and then after an hour she concluded, her servants carried her to her room and dressed her in her courtly attire which while it revealed ample cleavage was modest. She then took her naginata and headed to the throne room.

Zuou smiled as Moegi walked in smiling. "Good you're here Moegi, you took your time but that was warranted, no doubt Nahashu told you I wasn't in the best mood and I have calmed down sense then, is that a new perfume I smell?" Zuou asked.

"Yes; its unicorn rose perfume from Amannar, it bought about half a ton of it on my last trip about a month ago, you know the elves are pleasant people and the men especially though they tend to think highly of themselves, I guess that happens when they live for thousands of years, anyway you summoned me I wonder what need you have" Moegi replied.

"A few orders for you, first off Nagisa Castle on the isle of Saryuu is being a thorn in my side, too many loses and General Kobiyachi is taking too long; correct that matter, also send him back that he may face the wolves for his incompetence" Zuou ordered.

"Yes milord, what else do require of me?" Moegi replied.

"That is where it gets interesting: General Moegi; the Empire has annexed Soukai and their Emperor Tatsumi has wed Princess Rinzu; she was supposed to be mine and now he has her; the Empire will soon mount a full scale invasion; take your army and confront him on Soukai; see if you can persuade him to desist in his efforts and abandon Soukai to its fate you are quite persuasive, if it comes to battle defeat his army, take him and Rinzu captive and bring her to me; you can keep the Emperor for yourself, without him the Empire will fracture, removing him from the equation is the only hope of our kingdom's survival without it I will be forced to take drastic measures" Zuou replied.

"How drastic?" Moegi asked.

"We'll make this war last for years; I won't let my kingdom fall into the Empire's hand even if I have to sacrifice every last soldier and every last coin in my treasury to do so: Moegi you are my best general and given this is the largest threat ever faced by Tenrou and the Shogunate thereof you must lead and face it where Kyoukotsu has failed; his head arrived earlier today" Zuou replied, at this Moegi smiled.

"Oh that creep is dead wonderful, that was a favor done, can't have people that don't have discretion when it comes to making examples or creepy art fetishes in the Empire, no matter how good at his job he was; as for the task challenge accepted, I've heard of the Emperor, the young man who supposedly saved the world, I must take my children to witness this, it's a rather interesting development, especially our little Nobunaga, but what will my reward be apart from being able to keep the emperor" Moegi replied.

"For your reward I'd marry you Moegi, and yes take your children with you, let our son witness victory; oh and take this writ as reward for your last campaign I meant to give this sooner I'm legitimizing our son, people will be sore about it but I don't care if he inherits half of our shared brilliance he may one day be Shogun himself; but go now and be ready for war; bring me Rinzu and the Emperor; I will have her and you may have him: take your Hungry Wolves and lead them to war, Tenrou will rise and the Empire will fall!" Zuou ordered then smirked, Moegi grinned.

"What a wonderful challenge, I like it, oh this will be fun I'll tell you; I'll be back either in glory or not at all: I go forth to see if the stories of Eden's Savior are true; you know I've heard many, I wonder though if he is as skilled in bed as he is in battle" Moegi remarked.

"Test him for yourself, remember thought what is at stake; the independence of Tenrou and the fate of Wakoku itself hangs in the balance; you will either succeed in your task or doom us all; just make the right decision when the time comes" Zuou replied.

"Oh don't worry I will, trust me I'll honor my word to the letter; farewell for now my liege, my wolves are hungry" Moegi replied and kissed him on the cheek, she then left the throne room with Tatsumi in her sights, she had to know whether the stories were true and she also had orders to follow. "Oh, I'll make the right choice Zuou the question is what is the right choice?" Moegi thought, then considered Rinzu and felt jealousy that Zuou was obsessed with that woman, she was the fairest in the isles in her mind not Rinzu and believed the stories were hearsay, but if they weren't well- she would have to up her a game when it came to her beauty; also there was the matter of Yomihime she looked forward to meeting her again.