Fun day at the hospital yesterday. Sarcasm. You never want to have to go on a Saturday (or Friday I suppose) in the UK because of our drinking culture. So many times my appointment was pushed back by drunk idiots stumbling in because they've got in a fight, done drugs, or have drunk themselves to collapse and been brought in by the police.

I drank a lot when I was at uni but never once got that bad. Sheesh. I don't know when absolutely zero self-control became cool.

Oh God I'm doing an old man rant.


Cover Art: GWBrex

Chapter


The collapse of the enemy's right flank led to a full rout of the main line with staggering speed. No sooner had they collapsed on the new right flank did it buckle, as levied militia threw down their spears and shields, and trained soldiers were left outnumbered. In a strange way, there was less fighting involved than Jaune imagined. He thought they would have to crush them to make them break, but it was more like the knowledge along of their having won on the right side caused the enemy army's morale to crumble. People fled long before they got close, and, on the furthest side, they broke without ever being in range. Jaune couldn't tell if that was normal of cowardice, though Ozma assured him it was the former, and that this was what always happened.

"No one wants to die, and everyone is acutely aware of that risk. If the right flank could fail, they could fail, and that's enough for the levy. They're not trained or paid for this. They were drafted from villages and towns on the promise of a quick and simple battle against a doomed enemy."

The church's overconfidence had worked against them yet again – but this time it wasn't any mistake on their part. It was just a natural result of them having had thousands of years of one-sided success. Even if they had done their best to impress on the levy how dangerous he was, most of the people there assumed the battle would be a massacre in their favour. And when you were so sure of yourself, you had a lot further to fall.

That wasn't to say it was simple or bloodless. The soldiers fought their way out and killed many to do so, and the Chosen refused to be taken alive. They threw their lives away, taking down numerous faunus as they did so. Even when faced by their aura-users, the average Chosen was more experienced and more skilled, and would take down two or three before they died. It was still a greater loss for the church than it was for them, but he hated it all the same.

As the enemy fled, the faunus didn't really follow. It probably would have been better to rout them fully, but their numbers were so low that every single person in their army was exhausted. A lot were wounded, too, and everyone was low on aura. There just wasn't enough stamina left for anyone to feel capable, and so the enemy were allowed to flee to their encampment and their mounts.

Jaune tensed, waiting to see if they'd try and come back under the command of the man he'd let go or if they'd stick to their word. There was a long pause as the enemy mounted and seemed to argue. If there had been any Chosen left alive, he was sure they'd threaten and force the army to engage again, but there were none. They'd all of them died. Without anyone talking on behalf of the church, the wounded and beleaguered army turned and limped away. They'd return to their camp on the western coast there they could patch their wounds and resupply. They had their ships that they could take back to Vale.

They wouldn't receive a warm welcome. It was hard to tell whether Salem would execute them all or not. There were a few thousand people in all and killing that many would surely turn a lot of people against her. It might be better for her to offer them a chance to "redeem" themselves by fighting in the defence of the goddess.

But there was no knowing for sure how mad she'd be, or how vindictive.

As the battle officially ended, their own lines became messy, people slumping down to sit, others pushing through the ranks to find family and friends, and others just standing there with blank looks on their faces. If he'd expected happiness, there was relatively little. A few people here and there slapped backs and laughed with their friends about surviving, but it was muted, and closer to relief than joy. A lot had died, and many more had been badly injured.

"The only thing worse than a battle won is a battle lost…"

"I've heard that saying but I assumed that came far after the battle once everyone had calmed down." Jaune spoke out loud. He was far enough away from anyone to get away with it. "I didn't realise it'd be so immediate."

"What comes later is even worse I'm afraid. Once the reality of it all sinks in. The happiness most people refer to doesn't come for months or years. Few people fight because they want to, and those that do are not people you should wish to be around. People fight because they believe the results to be worth laying down their lives for. Whether that be to defend a loved one, give them a future, or challenge a tyrant. Violence does solve problems, despite what learned men would like to have you believe. But, even when it is the correct course of action, it is nothing to be admired."

Philosophy was too much for him at that moment. He was just too tired. Walking on, Jaune received a few words of thanks for having collapsed the flank to save them and shook hands and patted the back of the occasional faunus who came to talk to him. He was looking for Sienna, but she was nowhere to be found. He'd have thought she'd be commanding them right now, but maybe she was in a meeting with the other commanders.

Jaune left the line and approached the command area behind. A fanciful name for what was essentially a flat area of ground with the battle lines scrawled into the mud. It had just been somewhere they'd discussed the plan. There, he found an older faunus he recognised from various meetings with Sienna.

"Hey." Jaune announced his presence as he approached. "The enemy have fully quit the battlefield. I'm looking for Sienna. Any idea where she is?"

The man pointed. "Out there, face down in the mud."

Jaune froze. "No…"

"They went for her specifically. Chosen bastards. Group of five. Gave their lives to punch through the line and kill her, even when they were stuck ten ways through by spears." He spat. "Sienna never stood a chance, but we made those fuckers pay. Not one of them survived."

Sienna was dead. The news hit harder than he expected it to. Sienna had been the driving force behind Menagerie's army, and the constant leader and tactician, drawing on the various people under her and bringing them together to plan things out. This battle line had been her plan, as had the harassment of the ships and so many other parts of their success. Had the church known that, or had they just gone for the leaders? Maybe they'd even been looking for him on both lines and targeting anyone who looked like they were important.

"What do we do now?" asked the faunus.

"What are you asking me-?"

"Someone has to take over. It isn't going to be me." The old man shook his head. "The people will listen to you. Dark Lord or not, sane or not, you've proven yourself capable, and they'll be deeply afraid once news of Sienna's passing spreads. They're going to need someone to rally behind, and it isn't going to be an old man like me."

There really was no time to argue. Jaune could have given many reasons why it shouldn't be him, but it had to be someone, and there was no one else here. "All right. I'm going to suggest we take some time to lick our wounds before taking to the ships. Is that the correct decision?"

The faunus looked pleased he was asking. "Let those only lightly wounded and tired rest here, but the badly wounded should be taken to the ships. They can be more comfortable below decks, especially if it starts to rain. More hygienic, too."

/-/

It took time to get the people organised, and a lot of shouting and waving and sending out of healthy faunus as messengers. The ships had been brought in as close to shore as they could get without beaching themselves, and the wounded were brought on board and belowdecks where they would be safer. Supplies were offloaded as well, food and tents for shelter, even as Jaune had sentries set in case the Grimm came early. Salem would surely send them in once she knew her people failed, but she might not know that yet. From her perspective, the battle should still be raging, or just about closing up in her favour.

Being on the water wasn't a guarantee of safety either with aquatic Grimm out there. If they were sighted, the fleet still had the unfavourable option of beaching themselves for safety. They'd be stranded in the shallows where most of the bigger Grimm couldn't reach them, but then so too would their entire army be stranded on Mistral.

As the faunus were lifted onto the ships and the lines cleared, the full scale of the battle quickly became clear. There were dead bodies littered across the wetland, many half-buried in mud from where people had been forced to step onto the bodies. Armour lay muddied, weapons discarded, and those trying to drag their companions out the mud so they could be cremated found it increasingly difficult. They had to work in pairs of two, grasping the feet of corpses and hauling with all their might to get them unstuck.

It was grim business, and the time involved made it clear they couldn't afford to offer the same respect to their enemies. Thousands of dead would remain here, rotting, for no crime greater than believing the words of an immortal witch who called herself a goddess. The same as how he'd believed them all and been so devout.

Sienna wasn't the only person he knew to die as well.

Blake delivered the news of Adam's death, along with returning Jaune's sword, bloody as it was. She was distraught, visibly shaking, but she told him that Adam had given his life well, falling to a full team of Chosen who had thrown themselves upon him just like they had Sienna, believing Adam to be the Dark Lord. His distraction had worked perfectly and won the battle. If not for Adam, they might all have died here.

"I'm sorry," said Jaune. "I tried to warn him…"

"Adam did what he knew was right," said Blake, hands clenched into fists. "Adam won us this battle, and he knew he would die. At least… At least you held your end of the bargain and routed them. And the Chosen that did this to him died. I killed one myself."

"Sienna died as well. In the same way."

"They targeted our commanders then. Cut the head off our army." Blake ran a bloody hand through equally bloody hair, pushing it back from her pale face. She looked exhausted, clammy, and in need of a good rest. "I… I need help carrying Adam's body out. I want to give him a proper sendoff."

"I'll do it."

"No." Blake shook her head. "You're needed here. You can come when it starts, but people need to know someone is taking charge. Just… Just order a few people to help us. There are a lot of our fallen in the forest and they don't deserve to be left there."

Nodding, Jaune stepped out and asked for volunteers from those resting by hastily built fires. A few faunus offered themselves and followed Blake to collect a wagon. There were far more than Adam who had given their lives for this.

To his guilty relief, there were no other losses among the people he knew most. Ruby, Taiyang and Yang had managed to come out alive, Ruby staying back and using magic while the latter two each had experience in shield walls above and beyond most of the faunus here. Ren and Nora had stayed safe too, with Ren using his magic from far away and Nora looking after the blind man. Their own Chosen, Coco, Weiss and Pyrrha had been more than able to protect themselves. Coco didn't talk to him, but Pyrrha and Weiss were helping collect the dead using magic to dig them out the ground.

All the while, more faunus came and reported losses to him, giving him a growing idea of the cost of their victory. They'd come here with close to 5,000 and, by the looks of it, would be leaving with nearly 3,500 left. Jaune wasn't sure what to make of the numbers. Beating the church's army, four times their size, and losing less than half their people was obviously great, but they'd only beaten Salem's first army. The Grimm would come next, and they'd lost a lot of people.

"Any advice?"

"We cannot return to Menagerie and find more people. I'd love to say you could conscript those you defeated by offering food and medicine, but Salem has ensured our reputation is poison. They would not trust us, and so we could never trust them. You will have to make the most of what you have."

"What I have isn't an army, Ozma. Your previous hosts had much larger."

"While that is true, my previous hosts did not win a battle against the church as you have. You have done more with less-"

"Because they made stupid mistakes."

"You keep looking for excuses as to why the victory was not yours. They made few mistakes here. Your plan with Adam caught them by surprise and they crumbled. This was not a victory won because of their arrogance, Jaune. It was won by you."

"By Adam."

"By all of you. You are far too cynical for your age."

That was what having a dead man in your head tended to do, especially when it led to most of the world being out to kill you. Jaune felt he'd earned his pessimism, thank you very much. Maybe Ozma had a point, though. Salem really hadn't made that many mistakes here, leaving it all in the hands of her people, and the church hadn't sent a small or ill-equipped army. This victory was deserved, but that didn't change the fact they weren't in that good a shape.

"Let's just hope it takes a few days for her to learn about the loss. We need time."

"Even if she were to know, she must wait for her people to leave the island. If the Grimm attack you, and they witness it, then they will question their faith. Worse, they might join with you to fight the Grimm, at least on a temporary basis. The Grimm are monsters one and all, and even enemies will often set aside their grudges to deal with them."

Jaune hoped Ozma was right.


Sorry it's short but health issues.


Next Chapter: 27th August

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