The second trial begins
'It seems that the time has finally come...'
'Yes indeed...'
Nico hummed to himself as he stood atop a building in the south, overlooking the entire sector. The male gripped his hands into fists, his left eye in its Kakugan form to indicate that his Ghoul side was awake. Heat rolled off him in waves, almost burning the air around him without causing it to actually steam. His Hellfire coursed through him like blood, ready to be unleashed upon the enemy en masse. He could feel his inner Ghoul squealing in glee, glee that it would be one of the primary powers he would be using for this battle.
5 minutes left.
There was exactly 5 minutes before the estimated time where the enemy would invade.
Things had been prepared, soldiers under his command had been stationed either on the rooftops if they had rocket launchers, or in special fortifications on the ground if they had Gatling Guns. They would not be killed so easily, he hoped, but then again this was WAR and death would always be inevitable. This was a fact he had learned when he fought with the CMA against the Coalition. Those experiences would be drawn on a lot for this battle, Nico realized, but he didn't dwell on it for too long.
While he looked out to the sea, of which he expected his first batch of enemies to come, Nico suddenly jumped when a magic circle appeared by his ear. A magic circle he found himself unfamiliar with since he wasn't that experienced with magic unlike martial prowess. Hey, he was a warrior, not a mage! "Whoa, what the?!" the male exclaimed, but when he heard a masculine voice chuckling from the Magic Circle, he quickly realized who it was. Eyes narrowed, Nico calmed down and regained his composed demeanor, before speaking with a level tone of voice that didn't betray the anger burning inside. "Emiya."
"So, while you were busy screaming like a girl, I'll let you know that I set up a communication system between you, me and our men. It'll work wonders for us, and if you wanna use it, channel your energy into the space this Magic Circle is taking, it'll activate instantly. Say I have to ask, did you get anything done these last few hours? I was too busy prepping things on my end to ask."
Castiel's voice spoke through the Magic Circle, and while Nico had some choice words for the Heir, he decided not to voice them. This was like a military operation he participated in the past, so there was a time and a place for childish antics like that. "I did, Emiya. Here's the rundown, my men have been outfitted with anti vehicle weaponry, as well as anti-infantry. I garrisoned them in the buildings and had them build fortifications for use during the battle ahead. I'll worry about anti-air on my side, but I have ways of defending against that, case in point being my Familiar and anti-air capabilities. I have a communication device that'll work for my forces, but I'm a little concerned if they have artillery. Our lack of Intel about the enemy doesn't help."
"Well, I guess this was as much as I could expect from you." Castiel remarked, hiding the annoyance burning in his chest. It was clear to the heir's eyes that Nico was a warrior through and through and while this was good in and of itself this most certainly did not mean he would make an effective leader. "Anyway, I already set up a defensive barrier on the outside, multiple traps, a surveillance mechanism to allow for quick identification of any and all enemies around us, a communication Circle for us to communicate not only amongst ourselves but also amongst the soldiers, set up smaller platoons so as to allow them to rest in fixed intervals so as to not exhaust our troops, AND prepared multiple teleportation points all around the city for quick deployment and retreat of our soldiers."
Great, this guy seemed to almost brag that he was better than him at this, Nico mentally remarked while hiding his urge to just throw a ball of Hellfire where he coudl sense Castiel's annoyance. It made him bristle with irritation and frustration. Both at Castiel for him looking down on him for not being the 'spectacular' leader that got everything right, and at himself for not doing more. He was not a natural born leader, there was little about him that would inspire others to rally behind him. Not to mention his strong independence and lack of trust in others. Needless to say, someone like him wasn't meant to lead a legion of soldiers into battle, and while a thought crossed his mind on transferring command to Castiel (who had more experience at leadership than him, his instincts said), Nico didn't know if that was even possible at this point.
"Anyway, I am sending you a soldier that is carrying a lesser copy of my surveillance mechanism. You will see that it is effective in detecting them whenever they appear. I am just annoyed that there wasn't enough time for me to prepare two more barriers to protect the city and the magic bombardment mechanism that I was planning to, I guess there is just so much I can do with this limited amount of time." Castiel said with a shrug. He was admittedly annoyed but he knew that he did at the very least the barest of the minimum for the mission.
But he guessed that Zelretch only allowed for this much time because he knew that giving too much prep time for Castiel would take away the challenge from this trial. He was, after all, taught by the Tower about how to defend territory and many different techniques centered on this.
"Alright, I'll notify my men of your embassy. They'll get the mechanism set up for the time being." Nico replied. He guessed that was something he should have thought about himself, perhaps he could have Urthemiel keep an eye out from a high vantage point as a means of a secondary alert system, but that'll only be as a last resort since Urthemiel would have other tasks to do. Before he could say any more though, Nico and his companion heard various noises on the latter's end. Their eyes hardened at this, realization dawning on them that they would have their first of what would likely be many battles.
"Hey, I have to go I just detected my first enemy. Call you back later." Castiel said ending the call.
On the Heir's end, he used the teleportation circle to move closer to the point where the enemy was. It looked like a giant knight'ish blue robot and the energy it emanated was around the low high-class.
'Ok, not that big of a problem. I could try to let the soldiers deal with them, but I'd rather not for now. I think the best option is to get as much of a impact on their minds right now, a show of power to make them not even think of questioning my authority as I am sure some must already be.'
Castiel knew that while his focus on protecting the town was clearly seen there must be at least a few that did not really understood him or would think and do something stupid, this was just human nature and war more often than not brings out the worst of people. Normally he would rather communicate with them and work together with them to build trust, but time was limited and he needed results instead of emotion right now.
He would show all soldiers that he was NOT someone to mess with and that crossing him was worse than death itself.
Finishing his decision Castiel took flight towards the enemy. Said enemy swung his sword in such way that he uprooted many trees with his only swing. Castiel could easily evade this one but for this plan to be more effective he chooses not to and instead simply put one wing in the front of the blade and whispered his name very quietly.
CLANG
The sword entered in contact with the wing and was completely and utterly useless, now that this show how superior his defense was, and when that was done he had to show offensively how powerful he was.
To do that he decided to go overkill, raising his right hand he concentrated his power at it, a great ball of light and flames appeared on his hand as he aimed at the enemy that was preparing another swing at him.
"Cruel Star."
He released the ball of light and flames at his opponent, a huge explosion surged that looked one step away from a nuclear bomb due to how strong it was. The windows of many building were destroyed as the shockwaves passed through the city.
After seeing his work, a crater that now was closer to a perfect mirror due to the extreme heat, Castiel released a small smile. It was then that two new enemies appeared not far from him.
'Well, might as well show a bit more.' Was what Castiel thought as he released his other hand, from it a dark power concentrated and he released a small ball made out of pure dark energy.
"Blackout." He said as the ball expanded when it was close to the enemies, enclosing one of the two on a ball of pure dark energy. Before long the darkness started taking away everything from the beings inside, the energy to move, the capacity to answer, even their form was slowly taken away from them as both turned into nothing more than accumulated dust.
Castiel then aimed one finger at the other and concentrated light essence there, he wasn't a fan of using light spears like most angels so he decided to go with a separate way.
"Salvation Arrow." And with that a bean of focused light essence shoot from his hand, the light piercing right through the sword that tried to deflect it and going through the head of the last enemy as if it was nothing while leaving absolutely nothing behind.
Seeing his work done Castiel turned back and returned to the city. He needed to make sure that the soldiers also pulled their own weight or else they might become dependent on him, and cowardly soldiers are the worse type there was.
He turned to take a look at the new round of enemies that surged, it seemed that there would be more and more coming now and he knew what he should do. He must only act in times of crisis, otherwise, he would use his time better coordinating the soldiers and preparing a possible second layer of barriers.
He knew time was not on his side, but preparing more is essential.
On Nico's end, the male sighed to himself as the Magic Circle disappeared from view. He glanced to the city below him, and his eyes glimmered. 'Well, that could have gone better...' the male thought, cracking his knuckles. Felt a little more human than cracking his fingers at least. He could hear the sounds of conflict coming from the sectors his companion presided over, telling him exactly what was happening. 'But still, it seems that the attack has finally begun.'
'I do not know about you, but there is a difference between this and the men at this CMA. These men do not know you by you reputation, thus you will be considered a stranger to them. I do not think this will be meager, therefore shouldn't you check it out with your Shingan?'
Biko spoke within his mind, and after a moment the male decided to do so. Like Biko said, this wasn't his world, there wasn't anything to make people aware of his reputation. He would be considered a complete nobody by his men, so there may be some doubt and conflict regarding his ability as leader. 'Looks like its like where a pack leader has to show his underlings whose top dog, a display of strength will decimate any attempts at a coup.' Nico thought to himself. Also, to confirm these thoughts, Nico looked down and raised his hand to chest level, showing him the ring on his index finger.
The Shingan.
Originally this thing had a rather limited range of 5 meters, just enough for one to hear their opponents thoughts if they were close enough. However, Nico had managed to figure out that, upon infusing it with his Demonic Power AKA using Desecration like he did on his Skimmer Ember and his Armour, then the thing's range increased by a wide margin. More than enough to cover the entire city. Because of this ability though, its appearance had become increasingly more demonic, with the band part becoming a chitinous black with sharp spike-like edges, while the jewel on top looked more like a slitted demonic crimson eye. The picture of his underlings appeared in Nico's mind, and with that he activated the ring by focusing on it.
All at once thoughts bombarded his mind, most of them random and distorted. Nico figured that was due to him not having much experience with the Ring's use yet, but then the thoughts became ones of confusion and hesitation... hesitation and doubt towards Nico himself. 'Looks like Biko was right, these guys doubt me already. Not surprising, considering human nature. At least the CMA had a cause to fight for, which kept them in check.'
Just then, Nico's eyes sharpened when he heard the sound of a portal being opened by his enhanced sense of hearing. 'Already?' he thought, hiding his look of surprise behind a stone-like mask of indifference. 'I doubt the guy has arrived yet with Emiya's detection system, therefore it looks like I'll have to do this myself.' He'd rather it be this way in any case, since it was what he was used to. Nico did things alone, it was just how it was. He wasn't the best kind of leader, he was a soldier, a fighter, a warrior. 'But for now...'
Clicking his fingers, Nico summoned Urthemiel behind him from a portal made purely from Hellfire. Taking one look at his familiar, Nico mentally linked up with it and gave it a command. 'Urthemiel, stick to the highest vantage point here and keep an eye out for any enemies. I'll take them out myself, let me know either though our link or by roaring.' He told it.
Urthemiel roared in acknowledgement, spreading its wings and taking flight. That done, Nico did the same with his invisible Rinkaku Kagune, taking flight towards the direction of the portals while simultaneously using the Shingan to order his men to stand by, that he would take this problem out himself. Though his emotion sensing powers, Nico sensed confusion and curiosity, as well as frustration and anger, circle through his men.
Hopefully once they saw him in action, they wouldn't doubt his ability to defend them.
It seemed the first attack wave would appear within a four way crossing. Good, at least there he could do some damage without worrying about collateral, and he had JUST the idea for it.
Nico finally landed before the first enemy, and judging by what he saw, it seemed that he wouldn't have as much of a problem as he thought. For in front of him, was what looked like a blue futuristic-looking robot. Its frame was slim but in a humanoid shape, it seemed to carry a rifle on its left side while the right hand sported a large sword.
Pft, childsplay.
That was what Nico thought while rolling his eyes, holding out his hand and concentrating. His Hellfire soon roared to life within his hand, before he focused it and condensed the flames into a solid black Javelin. Sweat formed on his brow while doing this, as controlling the chaotic nature of Hellfire by suppressing it like this did NOT come easy. It was like trying to predict when and where a storm would appear and calculate exactly how much damage it would cause. Still, Nico managed to pull it off, and so far he could only do Javelins and Sickles with the amount of training he had put into it. But that would have to be enough for today.
Once the robot saw him, it quickly charged towards him at high speeds, determined to chop his head off before he'd complete his ability. Nico however, snarled as he let the Javelin loose on mental command, watching it fly into the robot's face and embed itself there. The moment it did, the Robot's movements halted, as it stumbled back while trying to take the Javelin out. If that weren't enough, the second after it impacted, the Javelin... exploded, roaring into a fierce and spectacular inferno that raced upwards towards the heavens.
'#WHISTLE# geez, I only put a small bit of Hellfire into that Javelin...' Nico thought in awe, before Urthemiel's roars made him look to see more Portals opening around the area, revealing more Robots.
'Hellfire is chaotic by nature, as you know, it does not like being contained. Therefore, when compressed and released the flames are doubled in strength. Enough of that, it appears that these fools need to learn NOT to anger a DPU.'
'You just read my mind...' Nico thought back, his hand twitching being the only warning before his invisible Rinkaku lunged forwards, tearing through the Robots without mercy by slicing them in half at the waists. They even beheaded, smashed, and tore apart the others before they could know what was even happening, such was the speed his Rinkaku was capable of achieving.
Not one to leave anything to chance, Nico made balls of Hellfire to shoot towards their remains, burning them till there was nothing left. He would rather not risk them coming back to life through some plot bullshit, and while part of him questioned whether or not they could have gained any information from their corpses, Nico didn't want to risk it. Although fast, the rate they burned and their heat was only second to their true forms when he went DDD. Unfortunately, that form had metal for Armour, so he couldn't use it. Still, at least these flames weren't pushovers either.
'Hey, Biko, how's everyone's emotional spectrum doing?'
'The amount of dissatisfaction has decreased significantly, mostly when you used that Hellfire javelin the first time, but there were some who saw you 'rip them apart without even touching them' according to them. Not to mention, some of them are actually female... and they may or may not want to pin you beneath them and have their way with you.'
Now THAT caused Nico to shudder. His brow shot up, his teeth gnashed and sweat trailed down his head like waterfalls. Great, just what he needed, more fangirls. He figured that they knew how to remain professional when around their colleagues, but thanks to him knowing their hidden emotions it would be like they were just throwing them out there for all to see.
Still though, Urthemiel's warning that more robots were incoming in another area snapped him out of his thoughts, his eyes hardening as Nico decided to Warp to the next area. He could have used those teleportation circles he'd seen about, but he didn't want to risk losing time figuring out something he had no idea how to work. In war, time was precious, he knew that Castiel understood this.
Hopefully, he was doing just as well.
On Castiel's side, he was honestly quite well.
The barrier was working without a hitch and the soldiers were pulling their weight well enough. The weapons that were available were not that effective against the enemies so Castiel was now inscribing some rune patterns on the muzzles so as to give them higher penetrative capacity.
It wasn't that much of a difference on actual power, but it was clear that it was effective enough since the enemies were more easily brought down when the attack had magic properties.
Castiel was staying on top of one of the towers there and whenever he was in full capacity he would stop his work and shoot a Salvation Arrow on the enemy's side. He knew that killing these enemies was the whole objective and that leaving the work all to the soldiers would limit his points, so he still was killing them but managing himself to never overwork his magic circuits or his reserves of energy.
'Hum, that one seems different.' is what he thought as he saw a new model coming out of a new portal. This one looks similar to the previous models, the difference is that this time it had metalic wings and propulsors and he lost the sword and riffle in exchange of getting two canons in the place of their hands. And the worse part is that it felt like it was equivalent to a high high-class individual.
"Well, still isn't a challenge but I guess I should start moving myself some more here anyway. Besides, I must understand how strong this guy is." Was what Castiel said before yelling for the inner parts of the city. "Solgaleo!" and with that, his familiar ran to him.
Without even making his familiar stop Castiel sat on the beast's back and darted towards this new enemy.
Solgaleo roared in happiness when he felt his master on his back, this is what he and Lunala always wanted, a more active place when their master's fought.
Approaching the enemy it tried to take a flight to escape the approaching lion as its sensors could clearly tell that it was just too strong, and the censors were most certainly not wrong since Solgaleo was equivalent to at least the topmost of the high ultimate-class, a fact shared by Lunala but their new power levels were only like this because they were still growing. After all, both of them had the potential to, with time, become as strong as Leader-class at the very least.
Well, the fact the enemy tried to escape was ultimately irrelevant since Solgaleo looked at it with disdain while activating one of its skills by gathering its energy on its mouth before releasing in one mighty bean at the enemy piercing him right through.
When Castiel saw this he was torn between his pride in how his familiar was finally showing his fullest potential, and worry.
This was going too easily, simply way too easily. He understands that this is going this smoothly mostly because they were prepared from the start, but it still was simply too simple for him to defend this is if this was all he had to face.
There was a catch here, he just wasn't seeing it yet and THIS terrified him.
Over on Nico's end, the male also noticed something was wrong.
Not first though, during the beginning of the battle he hadn't paid it much mind. Especially amidst the tearing apart of his robotic enemies. His Kagune did the work there, with his Hellfire powers being secondary in immolating them till nothing remained. They had begun focusing more and more on him rather than destroying the city. It was almost like they saw him as a greater target, which was something he didn't mind. To focus on him and instead of his men would show them that the enemy would feel threatened, which will boost their confidence in him. Honestly, it felt more and more like him asserting his place as a dominant leader of the pack.
During the time between the early and the middle of the battle, something began nagging at his mind while his Rinkaku tore apart his opponents by ripping off their limbs and ripping out their circuits from within. Something bugged him, yet he didn't think much on it still since he had way too little time to think while his enemies laid it on thick on him. Though, Biko had the time to think on it since he wasn't the one fighting like Nico had been. He had the time to maul this suspicion over, to ponder it himself.
It confused the hell out of the Demon Persona, this was just WAY too easy for them. He couldn't see why this would be considered a trial, so far everything seemed to be right up their alley. Fighting monsters and keeping the weaker links out of the fight, that was something he and the main aspect were used too. After all, in their world, they were the strongest of their group. Nico knew this as well, he just didn't think on it much. It was more on the lines of instinct than anything else, since he was so used to being on his own.
Finally, there came a small respite where Biko informed Nico of his suspicions, allowing Nico to realize he had a similar suspicion in his gut. Something wasn't right here, he thought with narrowed eyes. He may not be a leader, but he definitely had good instincts largely thanks to his Ghoul side. Right now, those instincts told him that he had way too much ease in how he had been ripping through the enemy. This trial HAD to have something else to it, there had to be something more to it than this. There wouldn't be any way to call this a 'trial' if that were the case.
His gut also told him Castiel had some suspicions as to this, too.
Before he could think more, two new enemies came before him, emerging from portals in the air. Nico looked up, and narrowed his eyes darkly. These two looked the same as the others that had come before them, only one difference: they both rode these large, futuristic looking crimson armored dragons that moved on two legs, had large main bodies, long necks and elongated mechanical heads. Not to mention they wielded these long ass swords that seemed much larger than the usual ones that he'd fought earlier.
'Thee ones look tougher, but its nothing my Hellfire can't manage...' Nico thought to himself, already prepping a fireball in his right hand. Accounting for the beast's size, Nico felt it better to increase the destructive power of his Hellfire by condensing the fireball till it was the size of a golf club. However, he hadn't done that before, his training mostly considered on helping him manipulate its shape, not its mass and size. Thus, it took too long for him to prepare and thus, one of the dragons fired its own fireball at him.
Quickly, Nico formed a wall of Hellfire in front of him, one that spread across the entire street that caught the fireball and quickly devoured it. Hellfire flames were some of the most aggressive, yet severely powerful, flames there were. They lost it to Urthemiel's primordial flames though, s they were the hottest flames in the dawn of existence. Once the fireball had been consumed, Nico manipulated the wall into several smaller fireballs, shooting them towards the Dragons.
While one got hit, the other one ascended upwards and flew over the rest, much to Nico's annoyance. Its maw opened, and judging from the glowing of that thing's interior, Nico realized it was going to launch another one at the very city around him. His eyes widened at that. 'Sit, is it planning to take out the city along with me? If that's the case, then they must see me as a Threat, but what about Emiya? Meh, no time for questions, gotta react fast-!' he thought...
Before the loud roar of his Archdemon echoed through the skies as its shadow flew overhead.
Urthemiel, having seen the situation it's master found himself in. roared in fury, fury towards the enemy for daring to try and take out its master. That would not stand, therefore these wretches needed to be punished. Severely. It quickly coated itself in primordial azure flames like a phoenix, ripping through the other dragon with ease. The Dragon's Armour, while looking more defensive than the basic soldiers, seemed to be unable to withstand the heat of primordial flames, folding under them like they were smashed by a powerful wrecking ball.
While its partner was distracted, Nico quickly gathered more power for his own attack, putting it into a Fireball and hurling it towards his opponent. He decided that, instead of compressing the fireball, just to add more power to the base one instead of compressing its chaotic nature. He REALLY needed to train more with these flames, the male thought when he saw his attack hit, burning the dragon and rider with it to nothingness.
Once they were burned out of existence by the two flame types, Nico saw Urthemiel land before him, sending rippling shockwaves through the ground upon its landing. There, the Archdemon lowered its head, almost purring when the redhead male smirked as he softly rubbed its snout. Only he, alongside anyone Nico approved of, could do this and any who didn't meet this requirement would be eaten alive.
Unfortunately for them, more portals opened up, both on the ground and on the skies to reveal more robots and robotic dragon riders. 'Ugh, this is going to be a LONG trial...' Nico thought to himself, groaning mentally while both he and Urthemiel turned to scowl at their enemy. Their eyes blazed like the fiery elements they commanded at the sight of their foes getting reinforcements.
Taking one quick look to each other, Nico nodded in the enemy's direction, and thus the Archdemon understood its master's intent, showing this through the grunt it gave before they both took off, Nico on the ground and his familiar in the Skies.
It has been 12 hours, and Castiel understood clearly enough what the real problem of this trial was.
A test of endurance.
There was never an enemy that was simply too strong or anything of the sort, the problem was that the sheer amount of enemies was staggering. It was like a never-ending tide, they just kept coming and coming non-stop.
After using a magic blast to blow up another one of the robots Castiel decided to call Nico, mostly to confirm how everything was going on his side. Castiel realized long ago that Nico was not used to commanding large groups (Castiel at least had those terrible simulators of war to guide him), and he knew how an inexperienced commander could screw over a perfect army without much problem.
And the mood of the soldiers was growing worse as the time passed, but at least it was manageable since Castiel requested part of his hull from the meat he had with Nico and gave it to his soldiers to eat while resting.
He was wondering if Nico at least thought about doing that much or if he just let them eat the food from the city? If he chose the second option then Castiel had to know, mostly to stop Nico from committing any idiotic actions that could prejudice the whole mission. After all, Nico had not programmed rest groups so his side was more heavily guarded but also his soldiers must be getting exhausted, and if he did not share his food then the soldiers would see him in a bad light since he did not provide anything for them beside his own martial powers.
If he really fell on this trap he would not be seen as an actual leader, just a strong mercenary.
Preparation was the key for any war, and this irritating fight most definitely could count as one.
"Nico, I want to talk to you."
Soon enough, the redhead's voice responded after a god solid 4 seconds. Though when it did, Castiel noted how Nico sounded like he was in a mix of emotions. "Yea? What do you need?"
"Just wanted to confirm how many enemies have your side faced."
"Oh, about 300 until now. Why?" Nico answered.
"Nothing, nothing. Just wanted to make sure how pressured your side is right now. After all it must be around time for them to eat, right?"
"Yeah, I guess? I mean, I think they can hold up a while more before stoping to eat." Nico said, earning a mingraine from Castiel at this words.
"Wait a sec, correct me if I am wrong but you did plan for regulat rest troups, right?"
"And why should I do that?" Nico asked annoyedly. "They are soldiers, they just have to keep fighting and that is that. When they are tired they will probably just fall back and rest anyway."
"Wait a sec, you mean that you ALLOW them to do as they please?"
"Well, no of course not. I did put my familiar to watch over them and make sure that they do not slack off. We are here to win this war." Nico said proud of the idea that his instincts guidedhim to. His instincts never lied before so this must be the right answer.
Castiel was honestly speachles when he heard that, it was WAY worse than him ever expected.
'Shit, I am working with a freaking amatheur. A fucking noob is the one supposed to watch my back! Wait, he must have done something, ANYTHING for his soldiers. He couldn't possibly be this stupid on how to lead an army.'
"Do you still have that food you got from the desert? Did you not think about giving some to your men?" the heir asked, bluntly. There was no sense beating around the bush with him anymore, he just had to know if Nico had done at the very absolute least this much.
"Uhhhhh... no, of course not. This is my food so why should I share it with them anyway, they do have food in this city after all."
Nico himself could continue fighting for a long time yet. He had thought that tightly packing them together while diverting the majority of the enemy's attention to himself would have worked. It was his default strategy when in a team and it haven't failed him.
Yet.
Back to Castiel...
Twitching eyebrows could be seen on the heir's face as he groaned, facepalming so hard that the nose of any normal human would break in many pieces, before he finally decided to say it. He'd been holding back for a while now, but this was just the last straw for him. "You really are a stupid neanderthal at this, aren't you?"
"What?"
"What? Were my words to complex to your maggot self to understand? You don't get what it means to be a leader and don't seem to care about getting it either. As you are now you are more of a liability than a resource, honestly speaking you're not leadership material. Freaking going with his fucking shitty instincts, goddammit this is worse than fighting those damn Iscariot again. As you're now you can only amount to a powerful mercenary or a watch-dog. You shouldn't have ever gotten that position in the first place if you only think with instinct and guts. I honestly can't fathom what the hell was uncle thinking when he chose to put the two of us on this trial? Was it to test my freaking patience with your hopeless self or was it to make sure that he would get some laughs when you fail?" Castiel questioned, ignoring the anger in Nico's voice. "*SIGH* Listen here because I don't feel like repeating myself. A leader shares with their troops, prepare his troops for victory and ready a plan for defeat, he protects his troops, and when they're in distress they help their troops through the trials. You've only been doing ONE of those things, you idiot. You also DON'T listen to just your gut, you use your head when leading an army."
"Oh yeah, then why don't you try and lead them then? See if you can do better!"
"Okay." The heir replied, shrugging his shoulders. It seemed that riling the guy up wasn't that hard after all, and honestly if he had only handed leadership over to him before then this wouldn't have happened. It was all on his head right now, so yeah. Castiel was the one with leadership experience, since he HAD been raised to be the leader of an organisation one day.
All Nico had to do was fight and fight, he was a soldier not a leader.
On Nico's end, the male groaned and snarled, breathing heavily while his eyes, mismatched thanks to his Kakugan being active, glared heatedly downwards. His Rinkaku, affected by his emotions, shook off their invisibility to show themselves while performing a quarter on a nearby enemy. A ground soldier whom had tried to get a quick strike on him while he was distracted. His Bikaku also came out, 2 Tail's looming over his shoulder and the other two circled beneath his sides so their tips pointed at his face. All of them quivered though, like they were stopping themselves from going on a rampage to reflect their wielder's anger.
'God that guy can be fucking irritating, sometimes...!'
As he thought that, a tail smacked the ground, ironically going through another robot's head along the way. The headless robot's corpse fell to the ground, front first with a loud bang, though Nico's frustration-riddled mind didn't even attempt to acknowledge it.
Yet even as he thought that, Nico found one thing that kept coming into the forefront of his mind, something that only worsened his irritation at this whole thing. That something, was the fact that the Heir had a point, that he wasn't acting like a proper leader would. If he commanded an army of monsters, he doubted it would be the same as leading humans into battle, but right now he had humans to lead. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't been doing such a good job of it. He had thought that packing them together and providing defensive measures would have been enough. He didn't even think about if they should have food rations provided for them, or organize them better.
The word 'watchdog' struck a chord in him, too...
Two robotic dragon riders charged at him from above and behind, intending to get past his Kagune's defenses to rip into him since their fireballs had been unable to pierce through the male's Rinkaku. However, Urthemiel stopped them by unleashing many fiery attacks of varying sizes and shapes, incinerating them. From their carcasses, a rain of embers fell down upon Nico, the male swatting them aside with his Rinkaku so they didn't even touch him.
Though, that first one could be attributed to his Ghoul side working against him. The thing about Ghouls, was that they weren't really leader material or were the type to share their food, or anything really, with others, often just taking it all for themselves.
If another tried to intrude on their meals, chances were that a Kagune or two would end up flying, usually leaving one poor sod going to the afterlife and the other enjoying the spoils in peace. Those instincts were part of him, and he listened to them regarding practically everything. They hadn't gotten him killed yet, but that was the thing. They hadn't gotten HIM killed, they didn't give a damn about those that he leads. Going with his gut wasn't a bad thing as a warrior, hell it's actually preferable. However, Leaders couldn't do that as much, instead, they had to go with what their brains told them. They had to think more about their soldiers then themselves.
If this battle didn't go the way it had, then Nico likely wouldn't have realized this. It had become quite obvious to him what this was, a battle of endurance and attrition. Attrition warfare was a military strategy consisting of belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and material. That was the way that these enemies were planning to win, by exhausting them and the forces of their supplies before going for a final assault. This had been something he had looked into during his time with the CMA, though he hadn't much experience with it himself, being someone of... well above average stamina thanks to the events in Leanbox.
'I know you are blaming yourself, for this Nico. However, being a leader isn't something neither of us are used to, therefore we are prone to making mistakes. This is just one of them, at least be grateful these people aren't anyone we know of.'
Biko's words sent shivers down Nico's spine, horror-filled thoughts rising through his mind. Outside his eyes widened and he tensed, his Kagune momentarily freezing up in response to his emotions. His enemies saw this coming, and in a bid to get one up on him, rushed to overwhelm him with severe numbers. They cut him off from escaping from all directions, but before Urthemiel could lend some aid to its master, Nico's Kagune lashed out in a wild frenzy, shredding through Armour like a hot knife through butter. Or perhaps a lightsabre through practically anything since his Kagune didn't seem to have any difficulty tearing through even the greatest of Armours.
Yeah, he could DEFINITELY take solace in that. He didn't want to THINK about what might happen if one of his reckless decisions costed the life of one of his comrades.
'Also, think of it like this, now we know what we can train on in the future, instead of just improving our strengths. We can improve our leadership skills, and we have someone perfectly capable as a mentor. Training solo is good, but mentors are there for a reason.'
Again, that was also true, though asking Castiel for anything left a disgusting taste in his mouth. No offense to the guy intended, but he would have liked to got better on his own, he was just that independent of other people. It had been how he had lasted this long, and he feared to ask for others to help him. Even with what happened in Leanbox... Then, he remembered the faces of the girls he called comrades, how they could have been hurt by his actions, and his eyes steeled themselves.
He would likely have to swallow his pride, but... if it were to help his comrades in the future...
But before that, he had to notify the men that they would be getting a new leader... while he mentally decided on what percentage of the gathered meat to send to them.
"Sure, if this is what you decided commander." Is what the soldier that should relay his orders said.
Nico looked all around and noticed how the dark emotions that he was originally feeling bubbling up deep on his soldiers lessen considerably when they heard that they would exchange commanders for a while with the commander of the other troops.
Seeing this was quite the shock to Nico, though he maintained his Mask of indifference when the time came. However the bigger shock was when he arrived on the other side of the battlefield to 'command' Castiel's troops.
It was overwhelmingly different.
The number of actively fighting combatants was smaller, but it was the right number to defend the place without any major difficulty. The resting group was perfectly divided into a small platoon to prepare food and ready the ammunition, one number was separated exclusively to treat any wounded soldiers with maximum efficiency and the resting troops were having warm meals and enjoying themselves talking and exaggerating about their exploits on this and previous fights.
Even if an enemy managed to get closer there were traps prepared all around and the barrier on the city stopped any large-scale attacks.
Heck, there was even more ammunition since, apparently, Castiel managed to improve their heavy weaponry lessening their waste.
This was such a huge attack on Nico's pride, he saw someone his own age that was just as strong as him that could do something that he was incapable off.
Heck, the soldiers on Castiel's side directed him on where to fight instead of the other way around. This was a whole different type of humiliation, a clear-cut demonstration of how he lacked even on a battlefield. Somewhere that he never thought he would fail at.
This... this couldn't continue. That was what he thought as he followed the orders that were given to him, making sure to mask his inner thoughts while doing so. As he continued to fight against his opponents, all the while using the Shingan to familiarize himself with the way things were run by reading everyone's thought patterns, Nico confirmed it to himself.
The difference between him and Castiel in this situation was too great to ignore.
Unfortunately for him, during the battles he got some lip from his Ghoul side, whom had a few words to say to those white-wearing soldiers. Especially when they started directing Nico throughout the battlefield. 'ARRGH, THOSE FUCKERS! THEY THINK THEY CAN ORDER US AROUND LIKE THEY'RE THE TOP PREDATORS IN THIS JUNGLE?! FUCK IT, KING WE SHOULD TEAR OUT THEIR INNARDS FOR THIS-!'
'Shut it, you.' Nico stomped down on his Ghoul Persona's rantings, the finality in his voice curb stomping him into silence. He didn't like it either, but this would serve as to remind himself of the lesson he had learned from this. Ghouls may be creatures of instinct, however it didn't mean they didn't learn. It was how their Kagune became better versatile, after all.
He should know, he'd made his Kagune as dangerous as it was BECAUSE of this... though he felt like his intelligence had taken a blow from all this.
