"Thirty six thousand? Are you absolutely sure of that," Tsukune was having a hard time believing the numbers he had just been given.
"I'm afraid they are accurate. Ours eyes counted many times a piece. I would say that we could not be off more than a thousand in either direction," the harpy that was giving its report was grim in its manner.
"Wow, we hardly have ten. Those are not great odds, but that means they must have called up most of their forces in the hemisphere here. Yokai aren't rare by any means, but we aren't as widespread as humans. What do you think, Pops," Tekeshi was sitting on the arm of a sofa that had been placed in his father's command tent, as his mother sat beside him on the piece of furniture properly.
Tsukune let his face remain unreadable, "They should mostly be monstrels. That barely starts to tip the scales to us though, not with those kinds of numbers. What I wish we could get a definite read on, is how many s class they have among them. I know that they will most likely have Kuyo on the field, but how many others like him, how many vampires? Have your people continue to gather information. I want to know as much of their makeup as possible."
"That may be hard, Sir. They seem to be maintaining human forms at all times. Most likely to make it difficult to obtain such intel. We will do our best, but I cannot make any promises. We were able to ascertain that they seem to mostly be armed with human firearms. There were also artillery pieces seen being assembled and readied for operation. We don't have any way to combat those currently, but are looking for an opportunity to sabotage them," the birdlike woman answered.
"Tekeshi, figure out who will be most capable, and deal with those cannons. I don't want to have to worry about what might fall on our heads when we least expect it," Tsukune found this annoying, but not overly concerning.
"They are probably howitzer rather than cannon, but regardless, consider them done. You get eyes on the shells," the teenager rolled his eyes at the constant incorrect identification his father made of weapons.
The harpy hesitated before Tsukune gave a nod, "Yes Sir. About two hundred meters north of the guns themselves. A brownie was able to get close enough to count. About two hundred and fifty shells, for five guns."
Moka raised an eyebrow at this, "Fifty rounds per gun? That is a really low number for any battle. Hopefully that means that they are not as well equipped as we could fear. My biggest question is where they got the pieces, and how well they can operate them. Do we have any intel on what caliber, or make, they are?"
"152mm and what appeared to be Cyrillic writing was reported. Unfortunately we found them during a time when they were mostly unattended, so we have no clue as to what they have for crews," was the scouts response.
"!52mm, that means they have to be either Russian, or Chinese guns. Almost everyone else uses a 155mm to match up with NATO countries. So they most likely stole them from a nation that would cover it up very well, or they might have been North Korean stock that was awaiting disposal after they fell. Either way, the guns are less important than dealing with what feeds them. No shells, no barrages. I will see if I can find anyone that can bring some heat to the party. Don't worry about me reporting success, you are going to know it, everyone will," Tekeshi said as he stood and left the tent, soon followed by the scout.
"Well, at least our son doesn't lack confidence. I don't like the numbers. It wouldn't have bothered me before, but with what happened, I... have less than I used to facing Fairy tale," Moka hated to admit it.
Tsukune took a deep breath and looked at his wife. He had noticed that she had developed a slight inferiority complex since she had been shot with the silver buckshot. It was easy enough for him to understand why, and he couldn't fault her for it. She was a shinso, she was supposed to be unbeatable, yet she had been taken down by a single teenage girl that didn't even seem to really know what she was doing. That would have caused anyone in her place to start questioning themselves.
His biggest problem, was that he had no clue how to snap her out of it. This wasn't something that his father in law could help with, or any of her sisters. None of them had any clue what was going around in her head, and as much as he wanted to think he did, he hadn't been raised in a way that would let him understand. He had been born human, and had more trouble understanding how he was to be unbeatable.
"Moka, we are going to get through this. We are going to come out on the other side together. I don't care how much silver they have to throw at us, we are not losing this battle. If I know our son, not only will he deal with their artillery, he is probably going to see just how far he can push things and mess up their entire line of battle. I think that is what it would be called," Tsukune was not a military strategist, so he wasn't sure of that last bit.
Moka pulled her knees up to her chest, "Tsukune, I don't want him to be here. I don't want any of the children to be here. I know there isn't much of a choice, but I don't want him to fight. Everything that we said at that assembly, I, hated even hearing it. Especially knowing that Fairy Tale is going to be using guns against us. I don't think that he would survive what I did."
"Moka," Tsukune moved over to the couch, and put his arm around his wife as he sat down, "I know. Do you know what my dream would have been, if we weren't what we were?"
The woman took a minute before she could ask, "No, but I want to hear it."
"I would have wanted us to move out to the countryside. Just live quietly, still see our friends, but mostly quietly. Tekeshi would have, well, I don't know how that would have gone. Given that we might not have gotten the Buick in that life, but he would have come along most likely. I don't know what we would have done as far as careers, but, it would have been us making our own decisions on how we live, and that would have been enough for me," he knew how cheesy the whole thing sounded, but he also knew how much Moka loved his cheesy human side.
"It would have been nice, to be able to just live like we wanted. Tsukune, do you think, after Tekeshi graduates, and doesn't really need us anymore, we can just, go," the words sounded a little guilty as she said them quietly.
Tsukune reached over and turned Moka's face to his, "Moka, if you truly want to leave all this behind one day, we will. I know that when he finds his place, Tekeshi will do fine for himself. He has good friends, good family, and someone that loves him, like we love each other. I have considered resigning from the school more than once. I'm tired of all the politics, the battles, and the strife. This isn't where I thought I would be, even when we first faced Fairy Tale. Moka, I will take you wherever you wish to go, and forget that the world even exists, when the time is right. I promise."
The look on her face reminded him of the Outer Moka as she spoke, "I'm going to hold you to that. One day, I want it to be just us, for a while at least," her lips pressed to his, and he felt his breath hitch, as it always did when this wonderful woman kissed him.
Three figures used the cover of night to avoid notice. They kept a large distance apart, but still within sight of each other. Low, slow, and measured were the movements they made as they approached the area the artillery guns were emplaced. It was a little away from the main camp, for safety, or security, there was no telling.
Tekeshi didn't know the two witches that were with him, but Madonna had recommended them highly. According to her, they had both come to their order during World War Two, and had been partisans. One, Monique, had been in the French Resistance, the other, Aleksandra, had been in the Polish Underground. They were both experienced in sabotage, which made Tekeshi feel much better given his own lack of experience.
Occasionally they would come upon a sentry line, and it would simply go silent. Tekeshi may not have not had much experience in sabotage, but he knew how to kill very well. The two demons that were partnered to the women were both female, and were uniquely vicious. Very little was left of the sentries that Fairy Tale lost.
Jakkasu slid through flesh silently, sometimes that of more than one enemy at a time. Tekeshi knew that every one that was left a corpse, was one less that could come against them on the field. It bothered him how few they were actually finding though. Artillery was always a number one target for exploitation attacks. If you could get behind the lines, you dealt with command first, artillery second, and supply third. Disrupting command and supply could always help deal with artillery as well, but were easy to replace. You had to destroy the guns to make sure they never could be a problem again.
When they got their eyes on the battery, they stopped to observe. There wasn't enough activity around them. Tekeshi often studied military history and tactics. As long as there was a chance that you could have to do a spur of the moment fire mission, you had at least one crew with their gun. There weren't any crews, and the guns looked wrong. He couldn't place it off hand, as they did look exactly like Soviet D-20 howitzers, but something was wrong.
The longer he watched, the more he was certain that something was up. He signaled his team to stay put, and ran to the ammo dump. He knew that he could move fast enough that he wouldn't be noticed. What he found though, made him know that didn't matter.
The shells were wooden. They weren't even really well done. They were the rough shape of an artillery shell, but were too small to be 152mm shells. There was a mixture of Cyrillic, Korean, and Chinese script, sometimes on the same shell. This was either a trap, or misdirection.
"I was right. Who else would come besides the son. I had hoped that your father would be concerned enough to try to take out this perceived threat himself, but you will do to take a message back to him," the voice behind Tekeshi was very well measured, and polite.
"Oh, for the love of," Tekeshi turned as he stood and was surprised.
The man in front of him, was, off. He definitely was a yokai, but he felt completely wrong to him. Not to mention he looked, just, plain. The fact he was in a wheelchair just made it even more confusing to the young vampire.
"I don't mean you any harm, and I don't care how many you killed to get here. If they died, they weren't of much use to us anyways. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Kaneshiro Hokuto. I am, well the exact relationship I have with your father is, complicated. Regardless, I am wanting to give him another chance to avoid the bloodshed, and perhaps lead the world to a, different path," Hokuto said as he pulled a cane from behind the chair, and stood to walk to stand in front of Tekeshi.
"So, you are some high level person in Fairy Tale," Tekeshi didn't focus his eyes on the man, not trusting that there wasn't some other individual that was waiting to attack him.
"I am, the leader of Fairy Tale, for reasons. However my desires, are not necessarily as polarized as many of my followers. I don't want to destroy humans, or enslave them necessarily. However I do believe that we should rule them. I believe that your parents would be the perfect ones to be those rulers, and maybe even you to follow them. Tsukune, he is a gentle soul, and a good man. I believe that he could be the only one that can bring peace between yokai and humans," Hokuto leaned heavily on the cane as he spoke.
Tekeshi cocked his head to one side, "You have to be joking. My old man has been working at that for a long time. I think it is part of the reason that I was raised among humans. Look, I don't know who you are, and I don't care. If you set up a fake battery to talk to one of us, well, maybe you aren't stupid. You are barking up the wrong tree though, we don't want to rule, we want to just live. We want everyone to just, be. So, take your kingdom, or whatever bullshit you want to push on us, and go suck yourself."
Shock was written on the face of the older man, "Well, you, you aren't much like your parents are you? Still, at least give him the message. He may have a change of heart in order to stop this. I don't know, I haven't spoken to him in almost twenty years. He may have changed more than I expect in all that time. I must apologize, I have improved over the years, but there is only so long that I can stand at a time. I only recently began using a cane, so it is still tiring. Please, give him my message. You shouldn't face any opposition as you leave. I made sure of it."
Tekeshi didn't waste anymore words. He simply walked from the tent that was covering the fake shells. Hokuto walked back to his chair and sat back down, breathing hard from the effort standing like he had been. Kiria stepped from behind a stack of the items with Lizzie.
"Good old Teki, he always spoke his mind so freely. I think it is one of the things I love about him. I doubt he gave your a second thought though, he is stubborn, and I don't think that his parents will be much different," the girl said, a slight smile on her face.
"I agree with Miss Cauley. I really think this was little more than a waste of resources and personnel. What was the goal with all of this," Kiria did not have as happy a look on his face.
Hokuto took another breath before he spoke, "Doubt. I already know that Tsukune and Moka would never consider such an idea. They are strong in their convictions, and are not that fond of the position they occupy. The point, is to make them doubt whether their moral position, is right. Which would be better, having most of their forces wiped out and humans subjugated, or take a deal and rule humans peacefully. What the..."
Explosions sounded outside. The three rushed to see what was happening. What they saw, both impressed and horrified them. Exploding ammunition and, well, explosives lit up the night. It seemed like every ammo dump in the camp was going up. Sounds like millions of fireworks sounded as the flames rose to the sky.
"How did he even have time to do this," Lizzie thought she knew the boy fairly well, but this was not something she would have expected.
Two miles from the camp the three infiltrators just looked on. The two witches were smiling like fiends as they observed their work. One of the things they had enjoyed was simply walking unobserved, and placing time bombs all over the place. Yes they had been ordered to stay put, but by the look on the face of their commander, they weren't likely to be chastised for their initiative.