Putting this here first.
If you haven't joined the discord to vote on the direction of the next story, around now is the last chance. When the next chapter (not this one) is posted, that will be it, the vote will close and the direction for the next story will be set.
aKAQg4bnYu for the discord channel. Ignore the mess please. :)
Chapter 97
(Kodori)
As I left the radio room, I heard both of them click their equipment over a channel and say, "Kitsune is heading to West Point to reinforce."
There was hardly anyone around now. In the last few hours, all but a handful of JSDF had gone... elsewhere. There was a single person at the desk, a maid, and a handful of soldiers in the rec room getting a nap. That was it.
"Where is everyone?" I asked as I passed the front desk, doing an equipment check and making sure things were tied closed or secured properly.
"Headed across the bridge to keep peace in the Capital." He replied, "Our orders are, in essence, to stop anything from burning down."
I could tell the order was bothering him a little. "They have to learn to stand on their own." I said, "Being a big brother is hard too I guess."
He nodded, "Good luck Ma'am."
I left through the front doors, got a sharp salute from the two guards outside, and turned towards the west gate. I did notice that there was only one Humvee there now, and all the horses but one were gone.
"Ah, Lady Kodori. Before you go, may I have a word?"
As you would expect from the head maid of the most elite maid squad in this world, Kaine was standing there the instant I had turned back to start down the street towards the town's exit. "Ma'am Kaine. For you, of course."
"With the current crisis at hand, your people have returned back to Alnus." She said, "It is a shame, since the last market held here was quite the success."
I nodded, "It is a shame. And while I hope you don't hold it against us, with the danger of having the Gate open too long, it will probably be the last one."
She nodded, "The Guild employee who was here has seen to it all things were made equal between us, at least in a monetary sense. But they also left behind something for Lady Myui."
"Oh?"
"Indeed. While I myself might not see it happen, it is my hope that my successor will be able to implement a similar system to yours." She replied with a smile, "Extend my thanks to Sir Royman for the instructions on how to start our own 'Guild'."
Even with everything going on, I had to laugh. "He left the plan in the best hands I think. So long as 'greed' never takes hold in the Guild, you will succeed. Get word to Rondel, with Sage Cato. He will be able to get you the tools you need for such a grand undertaking."
She bowed, "Thank you, I will make note to do that. Fare well, Lady Kodori."
"You too, Ma'am Kaine. And if you can, give little Aurea some praise for me." I bowed in return, then started jogging towards the western gate of Italica.
(Rory and Shinkage)
Someplace during their story exchange, about a half hour past, the Orario caravan had trundled its way past them. This not only broke the monotony, but left the two of them with some snacks. While it had been what amounted to 'day old' bread and various Orario styled finger food, they were still thankful for the distraction.
"You seem quite popular." Rory commented as she dusted a few crumbs from her nice dress. "Considering how dour you seem."
Shinkage stopped using her flaming breath to re-heat some spiced meat skewers, "Orario values strength. I suppose it helps that I am..."
Unable to help herself, Rory goaded the other Goth Loli, "Go on, admit it!"
"sigh adorable." Shinkage grumbled, handing Rory one of the skewers, "Strength and beauty. Power and poise. Being strong is not enough in Orario. The constant fighting in the dungeon, as well as the constant death toll, means you must be unique in some way to be noticed."
"Much like any army, those who do well are given rank and honour." Rory nodded, taking a careful bite of the food.
"A formal military would not help in the dungeon. The discipline and training would, but regiments and marching lines not so much." Shinkage nodded, "Hm." She looked northwest, as a sudden lightning bolt seemed to come out of a cloudless sky. "Not as boring as they hoped."
Rory blinked, "Ah, that would have been Delly. Such interesting magic she has. Shame I never had the talent for it."
"You do." Shinkage said simply, pulling out her string of communication beads. "If that story of the cult is any indicator, you should have at least a little talent for it."
"You thin-"
"This is Kodori to Kaede and Shinkage. I am heading to back up Maki, Delly and Momiji. Be extra careful Kaede!"
Shinkage double tapped Kodori's bead, "Understood." then closed her hand over it to turn it 'off'. "Yes, I do think so." She said to Rory. "Here." And she handed Rory a small rectangle of silvery metal.
It was one of the 'spell cards' Kodori had made for Shinkage, with a strange perfectly angular design on one side. "Curious... It's not lead, is it? No... not soft like lead..."
"It's made of something called Tungsten. Heavier than lead, strong as most steels, and has a melting point close to three times that of the hardest stone." Shinkage explained.
"What do-"
Rory and Shinkage both turned to look north to track a quickly lengthening line of dust as a small figure in white zipped westward. "Ah, she's in a hurry as always." Shinkage nodded, picking up one of the other little gifts from the returning caravan, "Tea?" She held up a clay pot, and without waiting for a reply huffed a small stream of fire at the bottom.
"How does it work? And yes, please." Rory said, looking closely at the pattern on the little card.
Before Rory could get impatient, Shinkage stopped breathing fire on the little pot and replied, "First, do not point that side at yourself, ever..."
(Kaede)
As much as she would have liked to, Kaede couldn't reply to Kodori's call. She heard it of course, but she was too busy dancing around the slowly increasing number of Zorzal's troops hitting the shore. Individually, she could probably have beaten every single human in the Empire.
But just within sight she could see close to fifty of them with another boat filled with just soldiers on its way, and they were starting to push back the other defenders around her.
At first, once the torch had gone red, she had thought it was a signal for help. But it was only half right.
"Where are you going!" Kaede yelled as the two archers she'd been with a moment before stopped firing and left the low wall behind her. "Shoot them!"
She couldn't keep looking in that direction, but kept an ear tilted that way as she jumped towards some of the landing soldiers, kicking one back into the water and thrusting her katana through the chest of the one next to him before he could get his shield up.
"We're supposed to fall back! It's signalling our reserves! You're in danger there!" It was the voice of someone else, someone with more authority in their tone. But seeing how Kaede was doing, he pulled his sword free and picked up his shield from its place on the wall, "BLUE FIRE! SUPPORT HER!"
A moment later, the archers were firing again, and some footmen came out from behind the wall to stop Kaede from getting surrounded. "That's better!" Kaede shouted, parrying a sword and punching its owner with her free hand, "Keep hitting that boat!"
It was poor form to have two commanders in combat, but when no countering order came the handful of archers focused all their efforts on the still reloading riflemen. Two of them managed to get another shot off, and one of the footmen near Kaede went down with a sudden jerk of his head as a lead pellet slammed through his helmet, but the boat was almost clear now.
A new voice called out as Kaede and the footmen started to push the enemy back into the water, "Another boat closing in! Cannons!" It was the lookout for the now broken catapult, still doing his job even though he had no catapult to guide.
Kaede looked that way, trying to measure the threat. Two more boats, and four...
With a sudden, abrupt and VERY fatal splash, a long spiked shaft of wood took out one of the cannon boats. That still left three, and the bolt had come in on a downward arc, getting out of range of the closest fort next to them.
"To the east! One more boat! Two more Cannon!"
Five cannon, and three boats filled with soldiers and riflemen... "Back!" Kaede shouted, even as one of the footmen cut down the last of Zorzal's invaders, and an arrow cleared the boat of riflemen. "Back!"
"RED FIRE! Pull back!" The commander yelled, confirming the 'advice' of the crazy rabbit.
There was a muffled 'Thump' from her left, and a brief whistling noise that stopped suddenly. "DOWN!" She shouted again, throwing herself to the gravel.
"Pull Ba-" And the commander's head simply vanished as a fist sized ball of iron passed through it.
A moment later, the front wall of the fort took two more impacts, the cannon balls ripping through the stone and starting a slow avalanche as it started to come apart. Kaede just managed to get to her feet in time, jumping back and away from the collapsing bunker, "Back!" She yelled again, picking up the still moving body of a footman and running back towards where the archers had been, "What do we do?" She asked the man over her shoulder when she saw the archers weren't there.
"There..." He wheezed, lifting an arm towards the road that had been recently laid down here to help build and supply all these new forts. "There's a..." He coughed, spattering Kaede's front with blood, "Second line... mostly archers. Forts... disposable, slow them down..." He coughed again.
Kaede could see the backs of the rest of the retreating soldiers. The tactic reminded her a fighting retreat, cutting down a few, backing up, cutting down some more, until you could find equal footing and win, or eventually escape by bringing down a tunnel.
"Right, no more talking." She said, catching up with the others, "Hey! Got wounded!" She called ahead to one of the archers she'd saved.
"Not much further! See?" He slowed down a little to let her catch up properly, "That's our wizard. Behind her is our second wall."
Kaede saw it. It was little more than a farmer's field wall. Made of stone, simple clay mortar, and wooden posts. But as she crested a small hill, she saw there had been a small moat dug in front of it, and most of the stone wall was actually covered by a ramp of dirt and clay. They'd used what was already there, and turned it into a poor man's castle wall. And if they were lucky? An irrigation ditch for later.
If there was a later.
The wizard, a mousy looking lady in an ink stained robe and floppy hat, was even now tossing magic flares into the air. But as soon as they made it past her, she stopped and retreated behind the wall with them. "What will you do Ma'am?" The archer asked as a pair of tough looking villagers rushed towards them from the behind a line of archers to take her burden.
Kaede looked back over the wall, then at the line of torches that went the length of the river's coast. "You! Give me a bow and your quiver!" She accepted them, "I'm going to that one and working towards the bridge." She pointed to the torch that was still burning blue next to the fort they had just abandoned.
"Alone? You can't be serious!" Someone (who hadn't just watched her fight) said, "Crazy Bunny..."
"That's me." Kaede said, tightening down the new quiver and grabbing a handful from a barrel with extra arrows in it that was by the wall, "If they get smart, they'll just land and start sweeping your forts. Then just hit one spot on this wall too!"
Apparently that hadn't occurred to most of them, and Kaede suddenly felt bad for saying it.
"Just keep your heads down when you see them aiming!" She tried to at least give them some advice, before she hopped back over the low wall and started running again.
Kaede ran towards the next blue torch in the line that was blue. If she could get there fast enough, maybe she could keep Zorzal's soldiers from starting a 'tactically sound' sweep of the shore defences. She held no illusions that she could fill a gap on her own. Even if she were level two in a world of 'civilians', she knew just how hard those rifles could hit.
As she ran down the well beaten path, she got her bow ready and started to really listen to what was going on. Shouts, thumps of the catapult arm hitting the padded crossbeam, irregular snaps of rifle fire, bows twanging... She made a sudden left turn, slowing just enough so she wouldn't drop any arrows.
Kaede really wished she'd brought her own bow. But with her adventurer's strength, speed, and reasonable amount of skill, the instant she spotted a helmeted head charging towards the next bunker, she started firing. The sudden ambush drew not only the attention of the invaders, but the supporting archers of the mini-fort.
"Focus on the boats!" She yelled as she skidded to a halt, the borrowed bow singing in her hands as she knelt to make herself a smaller target and give herself a more stable aim.
"Steady! FIRE!" This fort's commander was a bit younger, a little less cautious. "Keep firing! Spears with me! Archers aim for the cannons!"
No back line general, this young man was eager to prove himself, and to not be stood up by the 'random helper'.
All too soon though, Kaede ran out of arrows, and she charged in, but a quick head count over the water told her they were going to lose this fort too unless she did something drastic...
(Third Recon and the nightmare cat)
"I still think politics are stupid." Hagane rumbled, easily keeping pace with the galloping horses.
"Hey now. We have more to think about than just local affairs. Sure, it would have been so much simpler if we just put one through his ear months ago..." Itami sighed.
"No one but that reporter is really looking. And now, you have what will probably be another ten thousand deaths. If you had just 'put one in his ear', then when you eventually got home, you could have justified yourself with a simple 'removing the leader of a known terrorist group' argument."
"That's what I kept telling them." Shino sighed, "The US keeps doing it, why can't we?"
"Because Japan is a super tiny military power, who's already been nuked twice?" Katsumoto ventured.
"Well, if we do see Zorzal, there's no orders stopping us..." Tozu trailed off, "Also, we might have a patrol ahead. If these things had better suspension, I'd know for sure."
"It's a horse, not a Humvee." Yao said, "I see them. Itami?"
"We shoul-" Itami started to slow down...
But Hagane just kept running. Moments later, from just ahead, there was a chorus of screams, frightened horse noises, a few bone crushing impacts and a sound similar to a ball of wet tinfoil being crushed.
The others urged their horses back into a run, just long enough to catch up to the... mess.
"I found us two more horses." Hagane said, his new metal hands holding the bridles of two extremely spooked horses. He didn't even defend himself as one of them kicked at him, the metal horse shoes sparking off his adamant hide. "I suggest you calm them down before they hurt themselves."
A quick spell from Tuka calmed the horses down, and the six fleshy people of the group decided on a short break. Their horses were pretty tired after all the running, and it would have been cruel to run them into the ground.
"We're making good time." Katsumoto said, "Not sure my horse likes me any more." He was carefully offering the horse water, the war horse looking like it was going to bite him.
"Something occurred to me." Shino said, also watering a horse, but without the death glare. "Think Zorzal is actually with his troops? I mean, we might end up going to an empty castle."
"Even so, Furuta is 'just a cook'. He'd still be at Zorzal's castle, right?" Tozu said, looking puzzled, "There will likely be a garrison, but..."
"It depends on how much Zorzal likes food."
They all went silent for a moment, then Yao spoke, "He strikes me as a coward. He will probably be hiding in his keep, his best warriors around him."
"Since we don't have a better lead, we stick to the plan." Itami said, "If he isn't there, we'll ask one of Zorzal's guards."
They nodded, "So... who rides what, now that we have two new horses?" Katsumoto asked.
"Take a fresh horse, Yao, Tuka, double up on the other, Shino Tozu and I will stick with our old ones." Itami directed, "We should hurry, since we can't just hide these ones." He motioned to Hagane's 'mess'.
(Delly, Maki and Momiji at the West Point town)
Things were not going well.
It seemed, that even before Delly had spotted the barrel floating towards the bridge, that the entire town had been surrounded. The outer walls, really only made to deter wild animals from entering, were useless against the primitive black powder explosives and single shot rifles. Fire was everywhere, the town defenders had been overrun nearly instantly, and the only ones left standing were the JSDF, a small group of civilians with pitchforks and crude weapons, and the adventurers.
Even with the JSDF's weaponry, there were simply more bodies than they had bullets.
Maki yanked her blade from the chest of a pig faced Mongrel-folk in hardened dark leather armour, then jumped backwards as she spotted two more of them taking aim at her. Not for the fist time since this started, she felt something ping off her armour, the impact stinging, but not heavy enough to leave more than a little dent in her bracer. She lined up a shot of her own, a killer icicle slamming a Mongrel-folk off his feet, but had to duck behind the Humvee to get out of the line of fire.
"We need to get over that water!" Maki said, "I can do it, but not if we're pinned here!"
One of the JSDF nodded, popping out over the hood of the Humvee and snapping off a couple of quick shots with her Buddy. "I agree!" They replied putting their back to the heavy solid rubber tire and watching the street. "How much time do you need? Gunner! Ammo?"
The 50 Cal on top of the Humvee grunted out three heavy shots, then three more, before the solider in the cupola yelled back, "Half out!" Another trio of shots, and the sound of someone grunting before a heavy body hit the ground.
Even with every hit an almost guaranteed kill, the Mongrel-folk were no zealots. They used cover, they tried to draw fire towards themselves before fading back out of harms way... They were doing their best to make them waste ammunition.
"Delly! Can you do something?" Maki called out, "Momiji?! How is he!?"
One of the officers had been hit, the iron spike from the rifle clipping the edge of the plate carrier under his arm and at the very least breaking a rib. Of course, the supporter of the Rookie Team instantly got them out of harms way.
"Once I get this out of his side, I can use a potion!" Momiji said.
Delly's reply wasn't done with words. Instead she peeked out of cover from behind the stone wall of someone's front yard, and sent a bolt of lightning down the street. "My wings took a hit, I can't really fly." She sent another blast out, keeping the rear of the Humvee clear of attackers, though the 'way out' was in the other direction. "Going to make a bridge Maki?"
"Yeah! Need cover!"
"Too many people in the way!" Delly replied.
"Just do that light thing you did!" One of the JSDF shouted, putting a three round burst into a Mongrel-folk who was about to run a town's guard through. "FALL BACK!" They called out in the local language.
"The driver is getting back in his seat again!" Momiji called out.
"I'm going to run ahead towards the bridge! Do not stop!" Maki called out.
"Cover fire! Follow us!" The squad leader shouted, "Delly! Cover that side!"
Maki rushed ahead, feeling the protective magic of Momiji fall over her skin. Behind her, she heard the snap of JSDF rifles, the clash of swords, the crackle of lightning, and the heavy staccato of the 50 cal. The initial shock of the ambush had been overcome, and it was time to strike back. The brown haired Kitsune swept her sword out a few times, her strength and speed cleaving through the mutated soldiers, and more than once she felt the bruising force of something as it tried to break through the mystic armour of Momiji's magic.
Then the bridge was in sight. She couldn't stop her charge, else she might end up getting run over by the Humvee, so she trusted her allies to keep her path clear, took aim down the length of her sword sheath, and sent out a fully charged blast of cold through the end. Her 'instant ice wall' spell swept over the ruin of the bridge and the water below, not 'fixing' the problem, but at least making it possible for the Humvee to cross.
Upon seeing the bridge form, she sped up just a little more and jumped clear over the icy span of frozen wood and water, landing well ahead of the Humvee and drawing her sword so she could engage more of the Mongrel-folk.
But even as she cut down another one, two more seemed to take its place. There were just so many of them! The Humvee slammed into one as its heavy suspension and all terrain tires bounced and skidded over the wreck of ice and wood.
There was a shout from someplace, deep and guttural, a language she didn't know. And she turned, too late, to stop one of the enemy from running into the path of the Humvee. Carrying a barrel almost as big around as he was, both he and his cargo were on fire as the front bumper of the Humvee hit him.
(Kodori)
I wasn't expecting what I saw. Part way there, nearly as soon as I got to the first crossroad that led south to Alnus, east to Italica and west to the town I was headed towards, I saw the tell tail red glow of a large fire off in the direction I was going. Had this been modern day Earth, or magically active Orario, a fire that large would only be 'bad'. But this, in this world, without someone like Lelei, meant the town was probably going to burn to the ground, leaving nothing but blackened stone behind.
As I got closer, I saw people fleeing the fires. A small amount of guards, and every able bodied person who could hold a weapon, were fending off a large group of solders. Wearing black leather with dark skin and only the occasional glint of metal from their weapons told me how they'd managed to sneak past Delly.
Almost there now, a couple hundred metres at most before I got to the east facing entrance...
Then something in the middle of town exploded, sending up a spiky blast of black ash and smoke, the jagged outline stark against the red of the fires burning through the town.
(Kaede)
Kaede braced herself, her feet planted firmly at the base of both of the ballista's arms (the bits that bent when the string was pulled back), put both hands on the thick rope that was strung across them, and straightened herself. Almost like she was stretching herself out over one of the Manor's nice couches. The strain was intense, but not beyond her adventurer's strength, and she hooked the rope over the locking lever, priming the war machine for one of the heavy steel tipped shafts.
It had taken a little convincing, but after she had shown the firing crew she could lift one of those shafts with one hand, and told them she was kind of like an apostle, they let her do as she pleased. Heaviest task done, she dropped off the 'table' (the longest part, where you rested the shaft of the bolt), and lifted one of those bolts and put it in place.
Before she'd gotten into the bunker, she'd cleared most of the soldiers who'd run along the shore from one of the beachheads they'd made. But above her, she heard the near constant snap of bows and the shouting of the commander as he directed their fire.
"Head down Ma'am!" The soldier at the firing lever shouted over the noise. "Aiming!" He called up through a small hole in the ceiling.
"Left! Medium range!"
Two others, each at a big clunky gear wheel, turned them to adjust the firing angle and arc of the war machine. The forth person of the crew, a lookout, waved a hand for them to stop, then brought it down in a chopping motion.
With a heavy Thwump noise, the ballista bucked and sent the three metre shaft of iron tipped wood out over the water. "MISS! They're turning inward!" The target finder called out, "Hurry!"
Kaede was already on it, hopping nimbly up the contraption and using herself in place of the heavy ratcheting crank that three people had to turn to cock the arms with any speed.
"Lower aim!" The target man said, "Hurry! They'll start turning!"
Kaede dropped another bolt into place, then ducked her head down, folding her ears back to protect them.
Whomever had been on the rudder of the troop boat had been smart. Coming in at an angle, then coming in straight on after a shot had been fired, then changing angle again after a slow count of thirty. But with Kaede helping with the reloading...
This bolt did not miss. The team leader of the ballista crew was cut off in mid sentence as the ballista Thuwump'ed again, and the heavy ballista bolt went from the front of the boat to the back, taking a half dozen soldiers clear off their feet and throwing them into the water. The crash of bodies snapped the rudder itself off, and the boat now had no choice but to rely purely on clumsy oarsmen, who now had to pay attention to steering.
There was a cheer from the soldiers above, but Kaede didn't join in. There was no time for celebration yet. "We're going to run out of bolts soon!" She grunted as she once again cocked the ballista.
The one at the firing lever called up, "Resupply!"
The Commander echoed the word, "Resupply!" Then added, "Yellow fire!"
A moment later, the torch guard sprinkled something over blue burning torch, the flame flickering and turning back to a more normal 'red and orange' then a nearly solid yellow.
Of all the problems to have, running out of ammo wasn't the worst of them.
"Right! Long range!" The commander called out, "Catapult! Sweep that ship!"
"Incoming along the shore!" Someone else called out, "From the west!"
Kaede waited until the Ballista discharged its next shot, then ran out from the bunker, drawing her blade and picking up a discarded tower shield.
(Maki, Momiji, Delly)
Maki couldn't hear anything. Physically, she felt... bruised, but intact. Playing the last few moments in her head back, she promised to get Momiji something nice next time she went to the market without her.
She had been ahead of the Humvee, clearing away some of the enemy as she saw them. Then she turned to see what might have been this world's first suicide bomber, as he jumped in front of the Humvee with a flaming barrel in his arms, as well as being on fire himself.
She had tried to run a bit faster, but when the Humvee slammed into the bomber, the barrel shattered and all at once the powder inside exploded. There was a sudden blur of motion, her eardrums popped, and she was suddenly in the dark.
With a quick look around, a little mental check, and the practised motion of finding her potion pill bottle, uncapping it, pouring a couple pills in her mouth, and corking the vial again (similar to someone using a fancy lighter on a cigarette), her hearing returned with a liquid wobble, and she carefully stepped through the comically shaped hole in the wood wall she had gone through.
Delly, the physically weakest of the Rookie Team, saw the impending explosion before it happened. Due to the nature of her magic however, she could do nothing but dive behind a low stone wall, covering her head (and ears) from the sudden thump of noise and concussive force.
But very little changed. The towns people were still screaming. The fire was still blazing (and getting worse) and people were fighting. However, as she got back up, to see how bad it was for the Humvee and the people inside, she had to dive backwards again as the heavy vehicle toppled like a tree, finishing what looked to be a slow backward roll. What was left of the hood was on fire, all the windows were gone, and with a sudden rending crunch, any hope of recovering the 50 cal vanished.
There was a grunting shout from behind her, and she turned to see a huge pig faced warrior in the dark black leathers of their enemy. Without really thinking about it, she flung her hands out towards him and with a static crash of noise, he was sent backwards, energy arcing over his body for a moment, even after he crashed into a burning hay bale. She had to jump away again as another one leapt at her from behind a low wall, the spherical head of a mace arching down towards her head.
Surprising him, and herself, she punched him in the nose, snapping his head back sharply before the rest of his body slid out from under him, depositing him firmly on his back in the direction of the rolled Humvee.
Quickly, and without really thinking too much about it, she picked up the heavy (for a normal person) mace, and started to fight like any of the rest of her Familia.
Momiji's ears were ringing, her stomach was doing weird flip-flops, and the world was slowly falling on its side. When the driver said "Get down!" she had flopped her body over the still recovering JSDF, and covered his head with her hands.
Then everything was noise, foul smelling, glass shattering, lurching, until finally, the motion ceased and she lay on her back, a bar of metal crammed uncomfortably across her back, with the heavy body of the soldier laying on top of her.
Opening her eyes and quickly taking stock, she already saw the retreating rear of one of the solders as he crawled out of the back window. There was a heavy sounding crack of electricity, then a sound similar to a fish being slapped against a cutting board, then a few quick shots from a rifle. And with a sudden motion, the JSDF who had left was fitting themselves back in, "Come on! Let's get you clear!"
"Here, take him." Momiji said, pushing the groaning weight off her body and towards the waiting hand, "I'll check the ones in front!"
The JSDF took hold of the soldier on top of her and hauled him out through the back window. Outside, combat was still ongoing, though it was getting closer to the Humvee. Ignoring that for the moment, she saw that one of the JSDF was pulling himself out of the passenger window, but the one in the driver side seat wasn't moving.
No, he was moving, his eyes looking at her even as he held a hand to a gushing slash across the side of his throat. Without stopping to think, she ran a finger along the top of her potion belt, selected the last one (unlike the rest of the Familia, she counted back to front) and pulled the vial free. With firm insistence she poured almost all of the red beads out, held the still open container in her mouth for a moment, moved his hand aside and slapped her loaded palm down over the wound.
Normally, you would stop the bleeding first, but it was clear something had cut through his jugular vein, and she had no time to clear blood from the wound. Diluting a potion in any way reduced effectiveness, but she had to try. With a gurgle of pain the only reaction, she took the bottle out of her mouth and pulled him sideways so he was laying more or less flat over the roof/floor of the overturned vehicle. "Try and swallow." She said, putting the vial between his lips and tapping it to free the last healing pill.
Even with the horrible noise of combat outside, Momiji did what she always did when tending the fallen. She trusted the others to deal with it, while she brought someone back to their feet.
(Maki)
Maki didn't see the Humvee flip, but she emerged in time to see a soldier crawl out from the passenger side window. Looking a little scratched and bruised, she was still quite capable of fighting, using quick short bursts from her Buddy to keep people away from the Humvee. On the other side, she saw Delly, swinging around a heavy looking mace like a toy, her wiry almost frail looking frame hiding just how strong she actually was compared to a normal person.
That's right. The surprise was over, and now, whomever they were, faced a party of Orario adventurers.
She held that thought for a moment, then discarded it as arrogance. Even as a half dozen of them spotted her and charged, she could see they were outnumbered several hundred to one, and they looked determined to leave no survivors, even if this town was a lost cause.
(Kodori)
I jumped over a few dozen townsfolk as they fled the burning buildings behind them. The clash of swords, yelling, screaming, and the occasional sound of magic were clear signs that they were still fighting. Even with the town like this, they were still fighting.
Why?
It didn't matter. Not at the moment.
I landed past the running citizens, and faced a dozen ugly looking humanoids. Ah, more of those people, the same ones we caught at the refugee camp, before they all killed themselves so they couldn't be interrogated...
Well, Hardy had already been a bad host. I'm sure she would understand if a little extra paperwork was sent her way.
NOTES!
Things are heating up, and the fighting intensifies! I know I know, this isn't really going to be a challenge...
Yet.
Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!
aKAQg4bnYu for the discord!
And my actual book, Were Too? is on Inkitt.