#The Northern Campaign — Preparations#
It had taken a lot of time and nerves, had cost a fortune for seemingly unnecessary preparations and indirect investments, had demanded not only a few lives before the first enemy had even been sighted, but when the first boot came down on the northern side of the Lynsk river to liberate this territory once and for all in the name of Kislev, it wasn't alone:
Shortly after the victory of the Army of Light against the Black Bears, the preparations for the Northern Campaign entered the next phase.
The railroad system along the Lynsk river was reaching its completion. The engineers were already stress-testing the routes, discussing improvements and preparing for their next mission. The time frame was rather small, but would suffice. Hardware was already deposited in warehouses along the river. And as soon as the campaign would gain momentum, they would begin several construction projects into Troll Country that would supply the war effort, acting as lifelines for both the military and later colonists and settlers.
The mobilization of the conscripts was issued. The best twenty-five percent would gather in the training camps the Army of Light and the Kislevite military had been erecting along the Lynsk. There they would be taught by the soldiers that would provide the first and second wave of the campaign. In regular intervals the ranks would be stocked up by these recruits, while the active soldiers would be rotated regularly between front and training centers. With time, many of the conscripts would return there as veterans, training the next wave of conscripts.
The more average conscripts would serve the greater good by assisting the engineer platoons that would construct railroads, streets, and improve the general infrastructure. They would also be distributed throughout the country, as the secondary railroad routes and streets they would erect improved the connections between the many small and big settlements within the kingdom.
And while the attention of Kislev was moving more and more to the North, the Tzarina made sure to keep an eye on any potential interior enemy. Kislev's environment alone made sure that the citizens would have to fight for their survival. Over time, many people had earned higher positions, by fighting Chaos, by protecting their villages from famines, sickness and the many dangers that lurked deep in the long dark nights. But many descendants of these great men and women had grown greedy. It was irrelevant if this was caused by the ever-present Chaos, the harsh environment or if this was simply a part of the human soul. Kislev was standing on the threshold to a new era. And it was time to make sure nobody would hinder Kislev on its way to a glorious future.
Silently observing the reactions of her subjects as she had introduced reforms, a certain list had grown over time. The mobilization would bring many more names to this list. And while she would continue to silently observe, the people on this list would have incidents, would be tasked with the more dangerous operations during the campaign or simply vanish under the ever-present snow of Kislev. No crime had been grave enough to brand someone as enemy of Kislev, but when decrees were presented to the village with reinterpretations, when people with different ideas had the tendency to simply disappear or if certain family names somehow succeeded in evading their due taxes, this all hinted to reservations towards the kingdom.
Sooner or later, Kislev would have to undergo similar developments as the Empire or Bretonnia. And while changes didn't have to always be bad, it would be better to clean the house of any potential major troubleshooter before it was too late. Too long the Tzarina had allowed far away settlements too much autonomy, too many nobles thought that they were irreplaceable for the kingdom. Many verdicts already had been decided, but the Tzarina was benevolent: Great accomplishments during the campaign could erase names from her list.
It needed a few weeks and the help of several well-versed German lawyers to find the correct wording without provoking, embarrassing or threatening any of the grandmasters of the many Knightly Orders of the Empire, but in the end, all of them vowed in presence of the Emperor that their will to fight Chaos hand in hand with their brother and sister orders was still burning strongly. More than one order hinted the possibility to partake in the Northern campaign if the need would arise. Grandmaster Huss assured them that the would approach them as soon as they would need their help, allowing these orders to keep face and promising further fighting strength in the coming campaign.
As the imminent threat on the home-front was eliminated, the Army of Light could now move its soldiers to the North, where many already had been to train and learn in the cold that would be their homes for the years to come. Still, enough soldiers and other staff members of the order would remain visible throughout the Empire, as the order had learned from the Germans that the home-front could also be decisive in war. More so as the campaign was planned for many years, with continuous need of reinforcements, financial, moral and social backing.
Thinking back to the old days, many officers and would-be officers found it worrisome that the direct fighting was deemed the easy part in war.
#The Northern Campaign — Start#
When it finally begun, everything was planned with German precision.
Maps of the Northern Oblast had existed for centuries, but were not up to the task to provide the necessary information one needed to conduct a modern war. So new maps had been made. German satellites provided the base material, scout planes had observed the region during the previous months, smaller shock troops had gathered ground samples, several geologists had even been flown deep into enemy territory to investigate the environments further away. So now the armies had detailed maps—printed for squad leaders, digital for larger units—and the scout troop (ground and air units) would continuously provide updated data.
Each unit knew exactly what to do, knew at least three backup plans, and had at least one radio within a few kilometers. As the fist phase of conquest would be filmed by no less than thirty film teams, the entire operations should commence as precisely as possible, but as no battle plan survived contact with the enemy, the units were trained to make their own decisions how to achieve the goals of the mission. The planners didn't expect any enemy contact for the first few days, but made a point to always be prepared for one.
During the past few weeks, there had been not a moment were one could look from horizon to horizon without seeing a train transporting goods. Be that soldiers, ammunition, food, clothing and many other goods. The scout activity on ground and in the air had more than tripled.
On the southern banks of the Lynsk, several thousands of soldiers awaiting the begin of the operation that had been planned for exactly noon. The weather forecast promised two weeks with perfect weather, routine screening of the soldiers found no sicknesses that might lead to epidemics, and the mages felt no dangerous surprises in the last moment.
The Tzarina herself would lead the attack of the army group 'PRAAG' that would cross the Lynsk north of city of the same name. A minute before the operation would finally begin, silence fell upon the gathered army, the anticipation rose. Everyone observed the Tzarina as she stood on the massive bridge foundation, looking across the Lynsk, the deserted foundations in the middle of the river and on the southern bank, the Northern Oblast and to the far away Troll Country that would soon become integral component of her kingdom. So near the river and with the increasing allied military presence during the past months, no enemies would be found. But nonetheless, for public relations reasons, for all bridges that would soon span the river, only the foundations had been constructed. The bridge structure itself had already been built but would only be installed after the operation began. However, these steps would not be necessary at this location.
Exactly at noon, the Katarin raised her arms to begin to gather her magic. Within moments, fingers of ice began to grow from the foundation, stretching towards the other foundations. With each passing moment, the ice grew more and more, first building filigree patterns, then it began to spread out and thicken. The final product was a bridge made from her eternal ice. Within hours, she would adjust her work so that the bridge would get a non-slip cover, get two railroad tracks installed and would incorporate cables and pipes, but for now this symbolized the connection of the old and new Kislev, created by her majesty herself.
Now, Katarin turned around, drew her ceremonial sword and addressed her soldiers:
"The way is open, the goal is clear. Let us take what is rightfully ours!"
As response, she received a volley of confirmations and jubilation.
She was joined by Luthor Huss and a group of hand-picked leaders that would command their armies. Katarin at the front, Huss a step behind and then followed by the high-ranking officers, the group slowly crossed the frozen bridge—that had received a pattern to prevent slipping. In rank and file, the soldiers followed their leaders. The image of Katarin, Huss and the others crossing the bridge was broadcasted live, filmed by several drones from all sides. It had been arranged so that the Tzarina would be the first to officially enter the northern side after the begin of the campaign, to take possession of her new territory. When her foot touched the snow on the other side, the operators immediately informed the other army groups.
"Her majesty has crossed the bridge. All units, commence operations."
After the leadership had crossed the bridge, they made space for the following soldiers that would sweep the territory. The first days should be easy and without much problems, but because of this, a very strict regime had been ordered. Here, in the relative safety the troops could learn while still allowing mistakes. Later, these same mistakes could easily cost lives. They had to make sure to enemy presences hid in the rear, as even if the following units would be armed and alarmed to be always careful and cautious, they would lack the skills, training and equipment of the front troops.
***
A provisional HQ had been erected beyond the bridge for the Tzarina and her retainers to observe the operation. This task could easily be done in Praag or Kislev itself, but it was a question of prestige to do this in 'enemy territory'. It had been two hours since the initial crossing, and there were still troops crossing the bridge, cheering loudly as they passed their queen. Until now, everything had happened just as planned, no enemy contact, no bad surprises, no incidents, no dead.
"Bis Weihnachten sind wir zu Hause…" Hearing the muttering, the attention of the Tzarina switched from her motivated troops to Torben Treumark that had no eye for this demonstration of willpower and was already back to his planning mood, bending over a map and observing the incoming reports from the other army groups.
"What does Christmas has to do with any of this?" That Treumark spoke this in German could only mean it was cited from some German source, but the Tzarina knew no connection between the German customs for their Christmas celebration with this ongoing military operation.
Just now noticing that he had spoken load enough for her to hear him, Torben had to think for a moment what to say. In the end, he found no reason to hide the truth.
"Excuse the disturbance, your Highness. To explain my comment, it was in reaction to the cheerful manner your soldiers march to war. From what I have learned, the German soldiers of the First World War were somewhat similarly cheerful, thinking they could beat their enemies quick enough to be back home for Christmas. In the end, the war took way longer than anticipated, cost way more lives and brought Germany close to the collapse."
"They all know full well how dangerous a fight against Chaos is. We planned this campaign to last many years, so it is clear this is no quick skirmish."
Treumark bowed politely before her, before agreeing.
"It is as you say, your highness. A morale boost might help at first, but as soon as it fade, the false hopes are another factor to be considered. Us await many dangers, many deaths and surely many setbacks. So at least the leaders have to stay level-headed and make sure to always keep in mind our final goal."
After that, Treumark apologized again and returned to observe the operation. While Katarin's eyes returned to her soldiers, her thoughts still remained with Treumark. Her instincts had served her well during her life. And while this feeling had been very vague, something deep within had told her to be careful what to say to this man as he had spoken about their final goal. A mere merchant. A man that had earned the recognition of Luthor Huss that was known even in Kislev. A man that had payed a large role in forming the Army of Light. A man that had brought to her the idea for this crusade in the first place. It might be prudent to keep a close eye on him. He might be many things, but surely not normal.
#The Northern Campaign — First mistakes#
The successes during the opening phase were overwhelming. Four months after the operation began, large swathes of land had been 'liberated'. As news about the new ways to conduct wars after the arrival of Germany have even reached this far to the North, the smarter potential enemies retreated to Troll Country, awaiting the humans far away from their well-protected cities and known territory.
As such, the soldiers liberated mostly empty lands and smaller settlements that nominally already belonged to Kislev but which could not been protected at all times in the past and had been deemed 'expendable'. But this time the Kislevite—and their Imperial allies of the Army of Light—had come to remain. A network of railroads would connect the larger settlements with Kislev; guards, scouts and officials would remain behind to turn these settlements into real parts of Kislev.
During this phase of the campaign the armies learned how to sweep a territory, search for enemy presence and clear potentially dangerous locations. The following waves of soldiers would be stationed in these lands to repeat the same procedures again.
Many settlements resented the liberators. Many of them had suffered under bandits, be them Orcs, Trolls or humans. Kislev never had any interest in them. And now they were suddenly loyal subjects to the Tzarina, had to change their ways of life and had to partake in all these reforms Kislev had undergone in the past few years. They feared that they had to follow of the demands, had to fulfill all the duties, but that their liberators would flee as soon as the first enemy would appear. Just like they had done in the past.
This wave of resentment could be removed as the armies had their first major clash with the enemy, displaying their willingness to fight for this lands.
Army group 'ZHEDEVKA' that had started from Choika south of the Lynsk, soon had made contact with the namesake city. Its size and the proximity to the Lynsk made the city rather safe, but it had to endure recurring raids from a tribe of Orcs. Knowing roughly where and how many enemies to expect, the Allies could have stomped the Orcs with ease. But another approach had been decided upon. Never again they would have the chance to test the training and skills of their fresh troops so close to reinforcements and safe retreat locations.
Tactical coordination would be made from the flagship of the small zeppelin fleet the Army of Light had acquired. The LIBERATION would provide aerial reconnaissance and coordination, experienced soldiers from the Army of Light and the Kislevite army would lead the soldiers, but the majority of the troops would be Kislevite and AoL recruits.
This was also the first time that penal battalions would partake in battle. The members of these battalions would normally await their deaths or would rot in prisons until their last days, but the new jurisdiction allowed all prisoners within the Empire a clean slate after serving two years in the North. Until then they would receive food, commodities, camaraderie, trust and recognition depending on their deeds, no questions asked about their past.
The four day operation saw about 500 dead soldiers, more than half from the penal battalions as they received the more dangerous tasks. As the confrontation had been clear even before the begin of the campaign, many of the identified troublemakers had been assigned to units that would partake in this battle. Several of them lost their lives before they could harm the war effort too much, others realized their wrongdoings when the Orcs reached their lines and killed their comrades.
Officially, the high amount of dead was justified as wrong leadership decisions, inexperienced troops and missing cooperation between the units. Unofficially, the matters were quite different. Not only a few members of the penal battalions attempted to escape as soon as they found a chance. All of these were soon dead. They had broke their oath that the next two years, they would live, fight and die for the Army of Light. Others simply broke down under the stress expecting to confront hordes of Orcs doing their best to kill them. These people were quickly rotated with others and sent to rear-guard duties.
This battle helped the war effort in several ways. Nothing was officially stated, but rumors soon spread throughout the entire North which deeds were seen worth to deserve the death sentence. Soldiers fleeing hopeless situations received help and later even psychological help. Soldiers that caused deaths under their comrades because they had made mistakes received punishments but would be sent back to the front for the next battles with the words that just as he or she was responsible for this death, it was their duty to protect their beloved from Chaos, that they were the only and last bulwark protected Empire and Kislev from eternal pain and suffering.
Especially the penal battalions soon learned what it meant to be part of the Army of Light. The survivors received their combat badges just like all other partaking units. Many of them were requested from other units that had taken losses. As soon as they had proven themselves in battle, nobody saw in them the prisoner that could be used as easy sacrifice, but as comrade in arms.
Thanks to these prisoners realizing that they really received a second chance here, the penal battalions and the units mainly accepting proven members would provide more than their fair share of veteran soldiers and officers, many who would save the lives of countless of their comrades.
***
But not everything was good. It had been anticipated that especially in the beginning unforeseeable problems would arise that had to be fixed as soon as possible. And when certain problems became clear, the Allies handled them in the methodical and uncompromising manner that would soon be the trademark of cooperation between the Army of Light and the Tzarina.
Going through the campaign records with some more sophisticated German statistic analysis software to examine trends and suspicious irregularities, certain units had a tendency to require addition ammunition, lack behind their objectives and failed to meet up with local nomads in the vicinity. The same units had a rather high attrition of equipment and the simple medications used to calm down troops after battles—even if only minor skirmishes had been noted. Further irregularities were the lacking of complaints about delayed supplies that were normally received from all the other units. When investigators were sent along the march route of the units to investigate a suspicion, this suspicion was soon confirmed. They quickly found two mass graves of nomads, killed by gunfire at a location where no combat had been reported. Further investigating the matter, it soon became apparent that certain Kislevite nobles already planned the far future of a specific region. They had no need for any former settlers as they wanted to turn the lands into their own private kingdom, with their loyal subjects as new inhabitants. They had succeed to assign like-minded people within the command structure so that the troops they commanded would kill at the first strange sign or would even provoke said signs.
When the Tzarina was informed about the matter, she immediately demanded a list of responsible people. As the investigations were only at their beginning, the list was short and mostly no clear evidence could be found yet. But the names were enough to send out Katarin's special envoys.
One week later, Katarin provided the results:
"Three of the seven men were innocent. Their families will be compensated adequately. The others were guilty. They have provided my interrogators the names of all their conspirators. Interrogations of these men will be made less… final. It would be a shame for Kislev to help the dead take revenge on innocent rivals and cost Kislev the lives of truly loyal subjects. You may await the families of the traitors as new members of your penal battalions."
Within Kislev, the Tzarina would enact punishment. Beyond the Lynsk, she was satisfied that some trustworthy aides observed how the AoL enacted their punishment. This would be the first real mission for one of the more exotic assets the Army of Light had been able to acquire.
Two companies with each about a hundred members had been marked for punishment. Their leaders would receive the death penalty, their direct subordinates the same as nobody of them had noted anything unusual in their mandatory reports. The rest of the companies would be transferred to penal battalions until their loyalty was once again proven.
While the investigations had been conducted, the affected companies had been put on standby. It was assumed that the traitors might surmise the events and were prepared for whatever was to come to them. As it was unknown if only some, most or all of their subordinates were in to this betrayal, the entire company was deemed an enemy until proven otherwise.
Luckily, the companies in question had not been first-line units, so they lacked the heavier equipment that might had been unnecessary until now but the troops should already accustoming themselves with the equipment until they were needed. They still had several machine guns, mortars and night vision equipment for the three scout snipers each company had that acted as first line of defense when camping.
Assuming the worst, each punishment force might encounter an entire hostile company. That they remained at the same location as when they had received the standby-order might be good or bad. They still followed general commands, but could have taken the time to accustoming themselves with the terrain and prepare for the coming ambush.
***
The attacks were conducted by two different units of the Army of Light.
One were the Reapers, a special operations unit that had been trained by the German KSK and Imperial assassins. The men of this unit had been trained from the first day for unconventional warfare deep in enemy territory, highly adaptable and ready to follow any orders.
The other was a group of shinobi, mainly kunoichi. They had fled Nippon after one of their missions resulted in a series of further assassinations resulting in five clans perishing. They had been ready to die for their master, but he and his clan had been killed, and their enemies died by the hands of another clan before the shinobi could enact revenge. How and why they ended up in Birkewiese in front of the Army of Light headquarters was a mystery. But they had offered their bodies, skills and souls for the opportunity to find worthy enemies.
Both units, the Reapers and the Shadows as the shinobi called themselves, were to decapitate the company command structure. Then, the regular forces in form of first-line units with heavy equipment would approach the companies and would hopefully be welcomed by cooperative or at least disorganized soldiers. Both units were given free hand to plan the mission.
The Reapers opted for an ambush at night after observing their company with miniature drones for an entire day. Lucky for them, the scout snipers didn't take their jobs too serious, only one of them were on station and that not very enthusiastically. That might had been a sign that the traitors had not alarmed their subordinates which would mean they either wouldn't trust them or they still hoped to get away alive.
In the end, the Reapers killed the sniper on station, infiltrated the camp and killed the leadership before retreating. Only when the regular forces approached the camp and demanded that all forces assemble unarmed, were the deaths of their leadership discovered. Twelve members of the company attempted to resist. Seven were killed by the incoming forces, the others by their former comrades, realizing what was happening.
The Shadows had opted for a different strategy after being briefed what equipment the enemy had exactly and had received all personal information available about the members of the company.
***
They were shinobi. They killed in the dark, unseen from enemy and friend. They lived a life hidden away from the public, honing their skills for the day they would die on the order of their master. But their master was dead, his clan had perished. Not because of their failure, but because they had been too successful. They had succeeded were fate had wanted them to fail. Fate also had robbed them the chance to atone by killing the murderers of their master.
Seeing no reason to continue living, they had been ready to kill themselves. But cruel fate still seemed to have use for them. They met another shinobi, hunted like them. And even if he told that he never saw anything or knew anything, his eyes told them the truth. He knew everything. Whatever they would have done, already at the moment the father of their deceased master had been born, their fate had already been set to stone. Because the string of assassinations throughout history had allowed no way out, at least now way with honor or without sacrifices.
The clans had been the necessary sacrifices to stop the string of assassinations. The Tenno had denounced the assassinations and all the bloodshed that had followed. He had declared that any death of higher ranking authorities would be investigated, that any death capable of disrupting the harmony of Nippon in this times of change would be seen as attack against the Imperial family. As such, anyone ordering or conducting an assassination would become the enemy of Nippon, hunted down with the entire might of the main clans. No mercy would be granted to the shinobi causing all of this bloodshed, no place in Nippon would ever be safe again for these shinobi. That was the official declaration.
Even if the shinobi thought it, not a single word was uttered that all of this had been planned by the Tenno. As the Tenno was absolute and infallible. And if their lives were needed to make Nippon a better place, they would be more than willing to also make this sacrifice. But the goals of the Tenno had already been achieved and he saw no need for further bloodshed. That was the only possibility how the scene could happen as it happen when the shinobi had escaped one of the freighters connecting Nippon with the distant Germany.
Nobody had seen them when they infiltrated the harbor, nobody stopped them when they boarded the freighter, hiding away unseen by the crew. But someone still had been onto them, because after the freighter already had left the harbor, they received a present:
On a last minute request, the captain had accepted one additional container and the mission to read out load a certain message on deck:
"Hidden beauty is most beautiful. Blooming under the moon may be fate. Never forgotten is the sun."
When the captain found out that there were twenty-seven hidden passengers, he wanted to immediately return to port. Then he learned that all of them were trained assassins, the additional container contained enough food for all of them for the entire cruise and enough money to keep them along with only the occasional bleating.
Their master was dead. But they still had received a mission. To fight for the honor of Nippon, even if they would never be appreciated and their deeds acknowledged. And so they ended up with the Army of Light. And the task at hand would decide how worthy they would be to serve their new master in this new and unknown lands. As such it was a question of honor to present their abilities to their fullest.
The sun was just about to rise when the shinobi sent an open message to their target company:
"Your leader and his direct subordinates were deemed traitors by the Army of Light and the Tzarina. We are coming to take their heads as ordered. All soldiers not resisting detention by the regular forces will be transferred to penal battalions until their loyalty is proven. All others await only death. You may decide your fate by yourself."
Twenty minutes later, they approached the camp from three different directions. The weather was clear, nearly no clouds to see. One group through the snowy forest, one over the frozen lake. The last would wait until the right moment to appear literally from thin air. As they had heard gunfire before, they assumed that at least some of the soldiers wanted to capitulate—they had been ready to take on the entire company.
The forest group was greeted by one of the scout snipers and a machine gun nest. The shots of the sniper missed one after another just so barely. If he would still use the night vision equipment, he might had noticed that the silhouette of the approaching shinobi were not at the same place as the heat signatures. Ninjutsu might not be on the same level as complex magic, but more than enough to foul the human senses.
The machine gun trained on the group of approaching shinobi, ignoring the single one that the sniper would surely take down any second.
The shinobi had only a few months to learn about modern guns, but were quick to discover their weaknesses. The higher the specs of their weapons, the more the people would solely rely on them. Approaching at the speed of world-class sprinters, the group of shinobi hid behind the thick tree trunks which the machine gun was unable to penetrate. The knowing eyes easily discovered the hidden surprises were the snow lay not as perfectly as everywhere else. One moment the machine gun attacked an optical illusion, then one of the hidden mines exploded and demanded the attention of the machine gun crew long enough so that one of the shinobi could approach near enough to throw something into the machine gun nest. Assuming a grenade and letting their drill take over their bodies, the crew jumped out in expectation of an explosion. But the shinobi only had thrown a rock at them. When they realized their mistake, all of them were hit by poisoned throwing knifes.
The sniper was still shooting, but his mind had been caught in an illusion, having slowed down enough so he was no longer. A threat He never saw the shinobi, jumping from treetop to treetop in a speed other might sprint. A short slash and his neck was severed. With that, the forest group had reached the outer limits of the camp.
The lake team had been awaited by another machine gun and eleven soldiers with normal rifles. As the sun was directly behind the shinobi, the enemy couldn't aim very well. Assuming that a full magazine and about three hundred meters of open area was enough to stop any attack, they tried to do with quantity what they lacked in quality. Seeing silhouettes running over the lake, some of them opened fire.
"Hold your fire! Where are you shooting at anyway!?"
Ninjutsu were very reliant on specific conditions. Optical illusions for one needed just the right angle, amount of light and concentration of the viewer. So it was difficult to manipulate a larger group of people, especially if they were too far apart. But the shinobi never had planned to cross the lake, at least not like the enemy would assume. So catching their attention and distracting them from other things were fine enough.
Most of the soldiers wouldn't act against their superiors, but also wouldn't cooperate in the futile attempt to resist whomever attacked them. It would had been wise of the commander to simply allow the unwilling soldiers to retreat to the back of the camp, but he was stupid enough to threaten a group of armed men that had nothing to lose. A salvo from one of the few automatic rifles the company had, and the leadership was dead. Even with their leaders dead, some of the soldiers didn't want to simply give up. They feared punishment—punishment in the Kislevite way. Death in direct battle was preferable so they still prepared for the incoming attack.
While some nervous gunners again opened fire against the optical illusions beyond the lake, a head appeared from a hole in the ice on their left flank. Two kunoichi had dived under ice and had approached the shore without being noticed. Their training allowed them to hold their breaths for a prolonged time and endure the ice cold water for a certain amount of time.
Seeing their comrades reaching the shore, it was time for the third group to make its appearance. They had approached aboard primitive kites whose control they had mastered in years of training. Hidden by another Ninjutsu and the distractions their comrades caused, they now were above the camp and ready to break loose hell. There were five kites. One of them threw down a grenade into the machine gun nest, while two others threw down smoke bombs and grenade dummies to force the enemy to flee. When grenade and bombs went off, the kite group jumped down for close combat, as were the shinobi that had approached by diving.
In the chaos of the few next seconds, all enemies along the shore had been killed and the shinobi from beyond the lake already had crossed it halfway, graciously jumping from ice floe to ice floe where the gunfire had broken up the ice. One minute later, all twenty-seven shinobi had entered the camp, looking for further enemies.
When it became clear that all enemies had been killed and all remaining soldiers had been disarmed, they asked who had killed their leadership. The soldiers were intimidated by this strange group of people. Neither of them carried any firearm. But all of them had drilled in long and hard training how firearms made an army vastly superior to anyone not armed with them. And here, this group of foreigners—that mostly consisted of women to boot—had killed a group of armed and trained soldiers without so much than a single scratch.
The culprit finally raised his hand, fearing what these monsters would do to his comrades if he remained silent. He was approached by one of the few men that looked him deep into the eyes. The soldier already feared for his life, as he had seen their reactions when they discovered that their mission was ultimately a failure, as they couldn't kill their targets. They still beheaded them and were ready to 'take their heads' just as they had said, but it was clear they were very dissatisfied how things worked out.
But the strange foreigner simply turned around, spoke some words in an unknown language and then all of this strange people turned around to leave. The culprit found himself in the strange situation that he had to ask what would this all meant for them. The foreigner that had observed him turned around for a moment.
"You… your eyes say you worthy man. No dishonor for us. Wait for your people."
