Act 2 - Chapter 4

Eastern Reunion

Nona Oda sighed to herself as she sat atop her horse. They were finally leaving the deserts of the Elves that sat to the west of Nippon, and it had been a day since they had entered the mountains hat separated the two. and it would be another three before they would be back in the lands of Nippon.

"Lady Nona, are you alright?" one of Nona's honor guard, a man named Lin Xui asked. He was a tall man with prominent muscles and short black hair. He wore armour the color of ripening red apples, and he held in his right hand a long shaft of wood topped with two metal prong like spikes.

"Ah, yes, of course!" Nona replied quickly with a smile. "Do I look otherwise?"

"It would be wrong of me to say so, my lady, but you look deep in thought." Lin Xui said calmly. For one like him, a simple honor guard to speak so truthfully to Nippon's Smiling Princess would normally have been taboo, but in the weeks of serving as her honor guard, he had found Nona to be cheerful and more than willing to loosen the barriers between rank. It was yet another reason why she was loved by the masses of the people.

Her thin, and spotlessly clean skin that shone like moonlight. Her long raven black hair done into a ponytail. The regal garments of simple bright green like grass and the few bare pieces of silver metal that gleamed over her clothing. She was the angel of Nippon, the Smiling Princess, and the simple fact that he was with her honor guard was a blessing from the gods themselves.

"I, suppose I am." Nona admitted, looking downtrodden as she did. "Brother wished for us to create, at the very least, an understanding with those elves in the west. The fact that they refused everything I asked or suggested is worrisome. They seem to not trust us, in fact they seem to hate us. I do not wish to worry my brother with the possibility of Nippon having more enemies, not after we've finally managed to unite our land and bring peace to it!"

"The Peace of Nippon was fought for with much blood, and tears. It will not fall so easily." an old general by the name of Yuu Shin stated. He was broad built, with a bald head and yellow eyes like the sun. He carried a large curved blade on his waist, and a heavy shield of steel and bamboo on his back with the image of a rising moon stained on its back. He was known as a simple and reliable man, and was the other of Nona's honor guards.

In front and behind them were two carts and numerous men on horses, the main body of Nona's diplomatic mission, with the equipment and provision for such a march, and guards in case of banditry.

"Peace is a transparent lie, one that must be held onto, if a land is to flourish." stated Xin Lao lung, the head diplomat. He was a man with long white hair done into a simple braid down his back. His beard was long and white as well, adding to the look of wisdom in his grey eyes. He wore simple robes, but they concealed weapons that Nona, Yuu and Xui knew he hid in the fold of clothing.

"Peace must be worked for, and it is not a lie." Nona replied strictly to Xin. The two of them never saw eye to eye, and had very different views on most things. They did however agree on things when it came to the important choices for Nippon, though it made no difference with the elves, who had ignored everything they said.

"If peace must be worked for, then we have our work cut out for us." Xin said with a shake of his head, very annoyed by how things had gone for them. They denied an alliance, a peace treaty, and even simple trade negotiations. Stating they would have to converse with their 'current allies' about the possibility, and that they would not have an answer for many months. It was all a waste of time; nonhumans making them wait for no reason whatsoever.

"Yes, we will." Nona said with a sigh as she looked up ahead, noticing the sky ahead them turning orange and red. "It is getting dark. We should set camp before it becomes too dark."

"Agreed. Our ladyship is correct. Pull over to the side of the road and make camp!" Yuu called out loudly so that the entire convoy would hear him, and within seconds it began doing just as he commanded.

Following them over, Nona was the first to jump off of her horse, doing so with a grace that her looks did not show. Yuu and Win however spoke up immediately.

"My lady, please stay to the side. We do not wish you to be hurt.

"Indeed."

Nona scowled at this, glancing to Lin for assistance. He merely frowned. While he was one of her honor guards, he was a lower rank than Yuu, and was not about to argue with a superior unless he was specifically given permission to. Doing so would not only tarnish his own honor, but that of Yuu and Nona's as well.

"General Yuu, I know I have told you many times that I do not care for sitting idly by while others work around me when I could assist!"

"But Princess Nona, that is not-," Xin began to say until she turned her glare to him, causing him to stop instantly. "And I know that my brother asked you to not hold me back in such things, Xin. I do not believe that a princess like myself should simply stand by while others work. I will assist, even if I must only assist in the simplest ways to appease your ego!"

Both diplomat and general sighed heavily. They had tried to stop this many times already for it being improper, but both their lord and his sister were progressives, wanting to be directly in what was being worked around them. They had no choice but to drop the subject.

"Very well, my lady," Yuu said with a nod. "Would you then perhaps be willing to light some torches around the camp?" Yuu asked, noticing that many of their people were already setting up the unlit torches.

"Very well, and thank you for understanding." Nona said as she walked over to the nearest torch and raised a palm to it with a calm stare. "Flames of the Gods above and below, Alight the flames of life and destruction by my hand!" Instantly a ball of fire formed in front of her hand, before splitting into dozens of smaller fireballs that began circling around her like a barrier of flame. With a simple flick of a finger one of these balls of flame danced over to the nearest torch and planted it within, lighting it with a bright orange flame.

With a nod she began to walk around the camp, lighting torches as she went, and allowing Yuu, Xin and Lin to command and lead others to their jobs. Within minutes the camp was prepared and meals were being made. Everyone would be fed and the watched set before twilight was upon them.

And from the calm winds around them, it would be a similarly calm night.

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Shibata Katsuie growled as he swung his balled fit into a mechanical monstrosity, throwing it into a tree and smashing against it, blood and oil alike squirting out of it as it slumped onto the ground lifelessly.

"These creatures, once human now serve a demon of iron." Shibata said solemnly as he continued to walk through the forest.

"Sir Katsuie, our scouts have returned." said a shinobi that dropped out of a tree ahead of him, as silent as the graves of their ancestors.

A mere day and a half outside of the capitol Shibata had run into a massive number of survivors, trying to escape the metal menaces. They were mostly farmers, smiths and traders, but some few soldiers, shinobi, monks and priests had made it to join them. He had his duty to preform, he had to find and protect Nona, while giving her brothers sword to her, but he knew that he could not simply leave these simple and honourable folk to the monsters that had by all accounts now taken over the capitol. "Have they found anything of import?"

The shinobi nodded his head. "Yes. One scout believes he has sighted Princess Nona's diplomatic party from atop a nearby mountain. He clearly saw a camp being lit down in a valley that matched General Yuu's organizational methods. It looked calm, so he suspects that they do not yet know what is going on!"

Shibata stiffened at this news and grimly turned to look at the nearby mountains. "Which direction are they coming from. I must find them before those monsters do!"

"Please be calm, General." The shinobi insisted carefully." they are at least a day or two away. When we leave in the morning, we can head in their direction and meet them halfway."

"Those metal monsters do not rest or tire unless they are killed!"

"I realize this sir, but you have been moving constantly since this morning. You must rest if you are to make it to her in one piece. And everyone needs you as well. Please return to the camp and rest, sir. I will take over your watch."

Shibata looked at the shinobi and let out a sigh. "Very well, I shall take you up on that offer. Thank you."

"There is no need for thanks, sir. I merely serve the land how I can best, and that means keeping you alive and meeting Lady Nona, as she will be our new ruler in this dark time."

"Yes. She is the next in line now that our Lord has fallen. What dark times we live in indeed, when our smiling princess must fan the fires of war on her own."

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"Something is wrong." Xin muttered as the convoy moved down the road, the midday sun beating down on them from between mountain peaks and treetops that surrounded them on both sides. When they had set of in the morning everything had been fine, but as soon as they had entered this area of the mountains, everything felt wrong. The forest was to quiet. No bugs buzzed about, no birds sang in the sky, and no wind blew through the boughs of trees.

"I know." Nona said with a nervous glance toward the trees. It's unsettling. Like something is out there waiting for us."

"Perhaps something is." Yuu said grimly as he stood up in his stirrups and surveyed ahead of them, just before scowling. "Something ahead of us has spooked birds into taking flight."

Lin, Xin and Nona all looked at Yuu in shock. If something spooked them ahead of where they were . . . "We should prepare for battle. Horseback would not be a good idea with such narrow corridor to fight in." Lin commented.

"Indeed. All forces, dismount and prepare for battle at our head!" Yuu called out, his voice resonating to every soldier in the convoy, getting them to act immediately as he called out more orders. "Archers take to the rear for support; all forces form a wall to protect the wagons!"

As Yuu moved to the front of their forces on his horse Xin pulled back to the supply wagons, leaving Nona and Lin alone in the centre, Lin knowing exactly what Nona was planning on doing. "Yuu will be upset if you go up to the front." He stated calmly as he hefted his twin headed spear in his right hand.

"I know. I will not simply sit idly by while my people fight in front of me. If Yuu would be against my joining the men on the front, I will simply support them from here."

"Then I shall stay here as well." Lin said stoically. "Anything that tried to get to you shall become scars upon my spear!"

Nona smiled as she pushed the sleeves of her clothing up, revealing large bracelets on each of her wrists. Each bracelet was made of a piece of heavy cord with numerous Magatama around it. The Magatama were all of varying colors and hues, some even having spots of color. And for a very good reason; each Magatama was a carefully carved and infused magical jewel, carrying within it an element or spell, just waiting to be unleashed at the users will or word. While Nona was hardly a weapons master, her ability in enchantment and her capability with combining numerous Magatama spells to create new ones was well know.

And was something everyone present was about to rediscover.

Without any warning a swarm of people burst out of the forest ahead of them, surging towards them with swords in hand, and short barreled muskets in the others. All of them began firing as they ran, creating a cacophonous noise of death just before they met the soldiers awaiting them, the sounds of metal striking metal shrieking across the trees.

Their enemies were strange to say the least. They wore black plate armour with patches of cloth between them, but their bodies looked gaunt and thin, as if malnourished. They fought tooth and nail, but not a single one made sounds besides the odd screeching that seemingly came from their limbs. And all of them wore black helmets with a strange ominously glowing red cross on its faceplate.

At first many soldiers, and Yuu as well, thought they were just well equipped, if starving bandits. Unfortunately that concept was thrown off a high cliff when he took a step forward and thrust his sword into the head of one enemy, pulling it out to find no blood, or even refuse of any kind on his blade. Glancing at the body as it fell to the ground he reached down and grabbed its helmet, only to find it was not a helmet, it was its head, and the glass of it showed a mass of metal and sparks. "What sorcery is- These foes are golems of magic and metal!" Yuu roared at the top of his lungs." Give them no quarter, for you will receive none!"

This information came as a surprise to Nona and Lin, both of whom still had not had to engage the enemy, though both were ready. "Golems." Nona muttered as she immediately began summoning small fist sized ball of flame that began circling behind her.

"Made of metal no less. They will be dangerous and difficult to destroy." Lin said grimly as he twirled his spear a bit. "Perhaps I should join the front as-."

"No." Nona said seriously as she moved her hose parallel to the enemy lines and climbed up on it, standing fully on her saddle with her back to Lin." get down and hold my legs, I will need you to balance me!" Nona stated as she raised her palms out toward the fighting ahead of her, just as the flames circling her began to pulse and flicker, changing from red, to orange, to yellow, and then finally to white.

The heat was so intense that sweat was coating Lin's face as he climbed down and did as Nona had asked. The heat was however, not his primary concern. "M-my Lady this is improper, even if you ordered me to do it." Lin said squeamishly as he gripped both of Nona's ankles, keeping his head to the side. Her clothing did not have any gaps in it, but he did not wish to be seen as a lowborn pervert regardless of the reason, and kept his gaze away from Nona's person.

"Please get over it." Nona said, now breathing heavily as she summoned more fist sized white flames, increasing the number to amounts that stopped Lin from being able to count them all. "Controlling this much flame, and at this heat is . . . difficult."

Only then did Lin look up at Nona to realize how horrifying she looked. Illuminated in white light, her normally pale skin looked dangerously so, and her entire body, and her clothes were completely drenched in sweat. Her whole body, especially her legs and arms, were trembling, and Lin could see the small pieces of armour she wore beginning to glow from the heat, only her soaked clothing protecting her from it.

Then she unleashed her power, and the entire battlefield knew that nothing in the underworld could compare. Balls of white fire streaked and danced across the sky above everyone's heads until they made it to the enemy lines, and dropped onto them all at once.

"Shields up!" Yuu roared just before every ball of flame exploded, blinding anyone not prepared, and covering the golem's lines in white hot death that melted anything it touched.

When the light and flames died out and everyone could use their eyes once more, it became apparent that Nippon's Smiling Princess was also a harbinger of the gods own wrath. The ground where her fires had landed was melted into white glassy rock, no remnant of the golems closest to them remaining. The trees on the battlefield's edges no longer had leaves and were burnt to cinders along with the ground around the glassed earth. The only golems that were whole had been the ones closest to their own people, and even then their entire backs were melted into slag, leaving them helplessly immobile and easy to finish off. Their own people were mostly whole, some pieces of armour malformed from the heat, and hairs singed, but they had been far enough to be mostly unaffected.

All the soldiers let out cheers of victory as they cut into the surviving golems, barely a handful of them having been wounded, and not a one having died. Back in the support column however all eyes were focused on Lin, and on Nona, who had fallen off of her horse from exhaustion, being caught and carefully placed on0 the ground by Lin.

"H-how did . . . we do? Are our people safe?" Nona asked with pained breaths as Lin very slowly gave her sips from a waterskin.

"Yes, the golems were utterly obliterated." Lin said quickly giving Nona many short, quick sips of water to not injure her dry throat. "I've never seen such power though. I had not expected it, and some of your armour pieces are melted beyond repair."

Nona nodded with a smile as she coughed up a bit of water. "I figured they would be. Brother said I shouldn't wear metal, just for that reason." she said with a chuckle.

"Your brother knows of that spell?" Lin asked in surprise.

"He knows of all of them!" Nona said with a grim smile. "Why do you think the rice paddies of the Houshou family dried up in a day? Why do you think the Wu-sheng army was washed away in a sudden rainstorm that flooded their lands? Who lit the Asakura Manor into a conflagration? How did the Mori become frozen in a sudden blizzard that left them dead and like statues? And why did Fuji explode and destroy the Takeda in a wave of flaming earth and mud?"

Lin's face turned gaunt at the realization. "But that would mean . . . . . . . . None of it was the god's wills, smiling upon us?"

Nona simply shook her head. "There's a reason my brother cares so dearly for me, besides his undying love for me, of course. Please don't tell anyone, okay? Everyone needs something to keep them going and the gaze of heaven helps many."

"Of course, my lady. My lips are sewn shut."

"Thank you."

With Nona so weak and the injured to tend to, it was decided to camp, with doubled watches, and quickly evening fell.

"I said I'm fine now, Xin. All I needed was some rest." Nona said with a sigh as Xin stood in front of her, stopping her from leaving her tent in any way.

"No! I will have none of that! You used spells I had only dreamed of and looked like death had come to take you. We will leave again in the morning if you look healthy, but we shall not leave so close to the evening!"

". . . It's evening? How long was I asleep for?"

"From the end of the battle I am told." Xin said simply. "Lin told me you collapsed in his arms as he tried to give you water. I did not think fire could get a hot as you made it. But even now I am told the earth you, glassed, as some are calling it, is still warm to the touch and glows a warm orange."

"I see. . . . . ."

"Regardless you should go back to sleep. You still look haggard, and we must be ready to march in the morning. Yuu wants to make up lost time tomorrow."

"That will not be necessary." came Yuu's voice as he entered the tent with a bow. he looked utterly exhausted, like he had just ran a great distance. "Our lookouts spotted a person, not a golem, and you'll want to meet them, Lady Nona. May I send them in?"

Nona looked to Xin, who simply nodded, albeit nervously. "Please do."

To both of their surprise, Shibta Katsuie, Nobunaga's most trusted general stepped into the tent, looking sullen, tired, and relived all at the same time. "My Lady Nona, I am glad to see you alive and well."

"And it good to see you again, Shibata." Nona said with a smile, just as it soured. "Why are you here though? We are still at least a week from the capitol."

Shibata's expression became solemn. "My lady, I must inform you of what has passed while you have been away, and you will not like it." he stated as he pulled out Nobunaga's sword and presented it to Nona.

Nona looked at the sword in horror and spoke as she took it from Shibata. "Brother . . . he's dead?"

Shibata nodded.

"Then tell me, tell me everything!"

Authors note: And now we can begin to see why the East is also important, at least I hope it can be seen. Hmm. Oh well, we'll see.

either way now that I'm back in the swing of messiah, hopefully I can crank out these chapters.