Chapter 18:

Orders & Ordeals


In previous chapters: In the middle of the rain, a chaser squadron intercepted Squad 207B while they attempted to cross a river. Deciding to leave Takeru behind and cut the rope, the five girls run away deep into the jungle in hopes of losing the aggressors. Following orders to clip the pigeon's wings, the remaining chasers resolve to strike at the cadets without moderation now that their captain went silent on their requests for orders.


Warning:

This chapter is dark and contains content which may hurt some sensibilities. It contains scenes of graphic violence and non-consensual acts.

Reader discretion is advised


Recommended Music: Ghosts, Berserk OST.


Squad 207's notebook had the word 'complication' underlined many times over, as cruel as the rain ravishing the treetops. It had always been there, that cold and dark cloud stalking their steps. As if biding its time to reverse what habitual clear skyline they lived, were caged under.

"Meiya-san, give me your hand! C-Come on, stand up!"

Much like the weather now the inner replay of such worst case annotations are. Ever since their prior CCSE they were pushing against the wind with an iron ball chained to their ankles. Every passing second stinging more than each droplet's gavel on their shoulders, shaking branches slapping at arms in rushing escape.

"I a-am alright… My back is merely- Behind you!"

The overcast pressure, like a crow's distant cry, had both dulled and frozen their gestures and minds during training. Knowing that most of them were selected, grouped together.

Isolated

"Oi, nice reflexes! Why don't you show me more of- Ugh!"

That, too, is how they feel at present time. Much like the verdant sanctuary razed by the tempest, when faced with a marshal tone to the crows' cackles. A query their seemingly fatalistic notes had no answer to.

"Damn, I told you to stay close! Squad, don't try and engage. Focus on escaping!"

Today, however, for the first time, truly, they realized how safely cradled they had been within Yokohama Base.

Was it the repeated sting on their limbs already drooling slivers of blood? How harsh their soles burn with each forced stomp forward through seas of muck? Perhaps the rising nausea as the salt-smeared humid wind punches their breaths where they came from? Maybe the groping of cold hands all over, into their already revolting stomachs and choking their exerted lungs?

Or, perhaps, the actual answer would be more simple. More crude.

"Come on, girls! Stay and play your part!"

"Heh, I knew the UN would train ours to end up like cowards!"

"Fits those blue helmets well! Always running away, even leaving people behind to take the fall!"

Rasping breaths collapse further into each of their chests, seeming to know no end under the drizzle of rain and insults and gunshots.

Clouds ignore their pleas, the rain hails down, the thunders grant them no cover nor sanctuary. The never-ending corridor of trees grows ever narrow in its monotony stuck in looping mockery, losing the chasing barks an impossibility. So running in rushing haste the five remain, intimate with nature's company to not waste a single second.

"Chizuru-san- huff- maybe we should scatter!" Mikoto suggests, hopping over a bush in the lead.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Chizuru immediately counters, slowing down to jump over the trap along the rest. "We'll lose our direction, we won't make it to the target!"

"But at this rate-"

"We have to outlast them, reach another bridge…Gasp…We can't fail here!" Not after what we did to Shirogane… I can't fail you all again

"W-We can use the stars as a guide to-"

"No, we can't risk that! If one of us is captured by these-"

One sharp sound cuts through the storm, heads instinctively duck. Bullets miss their mark, slice through the air. Bark then splinters, and eyes close as it impacts. It burns and pikes, so much that both feet entangle in the blindness, struggle against the sawing of a tripwire. Lips kiss the mud violently, coughing, swallowing, slipping, rolling into the cold embrace of the tide.

"Tamase! Shit, shit, shit-" Kei runs back, towards the little one cradling her own features.

Shadowy rustles break through the verdant walls, lunging forth at the hand offered to the tumbled fellow. Kei takes a quick step back then raises the guard, arms already stained and now recoiling under smacks of a baton and the drizzle.

The pain doesn't last long, a sharp kick sends the aggressor back to the bushes.

"I told you to stop acting on your own!" Chizuru admonishes after the save, arms raising and bracing for the incoming blows.

Kei covers a flank, trading punches as well. "Go ahead and run if you want!"

"Don't I love myself some feisty girls!" one chaser smirks, licking his lips while striking away, every hit seeming to feed the crazy frenzy. "We're gonna have some fu-uuuuuUUUUUUGH-"

Screaming hard enough to be detected by all of his comrades, the man flip flops in the muck as he tends to his pelvis, recipient of a fierce kick from behind. From a shape shaking more than the puddles under the tempest, eyes and knees more swirly too.

Kei uppercuts the other aggressor into a branch in the second of tilting, nodding back to Chizuru when throwing glances into the foliage.

"L-Let's go!" Chizuru yells, grabbing onto Miki's wrist and rushing away, dragging the feet that barely mimic the manic march.

Heads duck as the three rush away to Meiya's signals, branches shaking and some breaking. Rubber bullets continue to rain down without an ounce of envy for the storm. Those sounds are gentle compared to the aggravations erupting after the five of them.

Harder, faster the stomps, the heartbeats, the wading against the storm, the blurry area those glasses could barely make out through the dampness.

Forward, ever forward, only forward.

Away. Faster. Without ever looking back, even if the barking and footsteps grows ever closer.

Even as everything grows blurry, feet almost slipping forth on their own along the small current flooding the ground.

Don't stop. You can't stop. You mustn't stop.

Even if you can't see what's ahead? Of course, if behind only the abyss waits.

Thus she seems to reason, leaping forward non-stop along the torrent. To a certain degree, the hunch spurred by the salty gale whipping at her face is telling the truth, to prevent her from ending still as a pillar were she to look back on her choices or options.

But if behind is the void, and you're moving further into the dark without a compass then-

"Sakaki, look out!" Meiya screams, hands reaching out to stop.

They don't make it in time, Mikoto up ahead does not either. Kei as she whirs back at the yell even less, though managing to cling and pull the pink strands of hair.

A wire trips the boots, sets off a net. The yells help to cause a quick hop, propelling forward and missing the falling threads by a second.

But then both feet slip up when finding uneven and slippery muck in the landing, the flooding turning her for a spin. Chizuru's boots draw half a circle of filth on the nearby trunk in her mimic of a ballet. Glasses, lost to the air along her breaths. For the chin ran straight into a branch, the tree landing a vicious lariat. All the marching rush, suffocated into the storm. All lights, out and cold. Cold, just as Sakaki's body as it splashes a tidal wave into the sea of mud.

She lays limply and soundless, holding her burning throat unable to even cough.

"Chizuru-san, are you alright?!"

"Shit! Someone carry the princess, we can't waste more time!"

"Sakaki, can you hear me?"

"Ugh… J-Just go," the whisper barely makes it out.

"Do not even jest! How could we ever-"

"Oi! Found them!" the shout is followed by rustling bushes, in ample quantity.

Miki is thrown backwards, into Mikoto, as Kei takes point in front of both of them. From nature's cover rush batons lusting for blood, screams defying the rain. The rest stall moves, then in half a breath the one in front takes a low strike form.

Kei pushes forward, alone, to block the swing of a baton with an arm, sending a low kick. The initial counter halts the Raven's momentum, yet the woman lifts the free hand to again smack at the cadet. Evading then backhanding the wrist sharply, gripping it for an opening, Kei steps forward and buries a balled fist into the abdomen, choking lungs hard.

A faint smile lasts nothing, washed away along the water off her face when the chaser swings the pleasantry right back with double the impulse. Kei staggers as her sight spins, in that blurry second the baton hits the forehead, dead-on. Still bound to a wrist, she throws a kick while falling back. Stinging like the rain is the impact that finally grows her eyes dizzy, a follow-up kick on the side sends Kei to dive face-first into the mud pool, squirming on it as an earthworm cut in half.

The lingering cinders of pain in her cheek are faint, but also old. Such a familiar feeling that does not warrant the quake in her arms and teeth. Kei can tell as she slowly raises from the muck bath, she got slapped. The aggressor had smacked her right in the face, not worthy of a proper strike and aiming more to scar and dampen, before literally kicking her in the butt. Like how you'd admonish a child. Like Kei suffered on all those brawls in the slums when as cold as today she was, half a breadloaf as her only friend. Nothing has changed since then for you, has it?

Clenched teeth hurt, to hold rising concoctions within the fracture. A mumbled yell sort of reaches Kei as the chaser lifts the baton, to drop the curtain to her play with double payback.

Yet Kei grips the mud, pushes, rolls away. Hopping back up, eyes then meet before she storms after the Raven.

Pouncing like the roaring thunders above, kicks skirting the legs along every punch thrown. Aiming at the face. Nowhere else. Forcing arms to raise and block, grunts almost biting the tongue in their defense. Fooled into it.

On a second of full focus in defense, Kei grabs onto the chaser's blocking arms in vicegrip. Planting her feet hard against the resistant pulls, spinning onto her anchor, her support. A slight scorching comes through her heel, slipping on the flimsy footing but those ripples pale against the tidal mess caused by the throw ragdolling the Raven straight into a tree trunk, strong enough to set off a falling net on its own.

"…You enjoy playing with your prey, asshole? Hope you also enjoy the payback," Kei says, spitting, failing to cleanse the rot inside lips, that phantom pain still lurking in her cheeks.

"Oh, I am going to enjoy this, so much," the woman snarls, hopping back up as she quickly whips out a small standard knife from the belt.

Then, flashing her teeth wide, she rushes forward as if propelled by the stormy gale into Kei. Another low kick finds its target, this time the Raven does not flinch. All her breaths support the choking onto the blade, which kisses and nibbles at shaking palms which then cry red, stopping the tip from pecking the chest. For a moment killer glares silence the other, before Kei recalls a day of training then takes in air, whirring back and fro into a headbutt. Both battlers end up tossing unto the muck and roots, still linked through a hand, a cold blade clawed at from all directions yet unclaimed.

Another back meets the bark of a nearby tree, trying to cover the one rolling and rolling. One eye closes as pain flares, the other compels legs to move before she's ensnared.

"What's up?! Not feeling like attacking, huh?!" a chaser yells while he stumbles after her shadow in wide, rough swipes.

"Contention aims not only to counter with the sword," retells the advice in her head.

Mitsurugi keeps a closed posture, deflecting strikes and verbal offensives. Brushing her feet to avoid slipping, to try and trip. Evading is all she does through uneven pools of muck, unlike the one chasing her who slips a few times.

"In normal circumstances, a Kodachi would be lesser than a standard katana. In the contention form, however…"

"All you're doing is running in circles… Didn't take you nobles for pussies!" the Raven shouts, redoubling the vigor behind each of his swings and rushes.

It only serves to split water and make mini waves below, never meeting the calm current in front. And yet there is no retaliation when a feet slips on poor ground or a flank is wide open. Only steps back in moderation through vines and branches, bent and slapped right back as a shield. Time and again the strikes miss, no counter is offered, the rain weighs down, the greenery pokes and slaps at the Raven. Meiya remains curving behind trees, sneaking on each side, still dodging, always dodging in perfect pulchritude as if the rain slipped through her frame.

In battle, the trading of blows is crucial as sunrise for the crops. It is expected, and very much necessary. What does it say then, to be denied of it? To be swiftly evaded, time and again?

Unnerved and mocked, the brush of feet that sends more mud than punches finally has an eye twitching mad. The Raven lets a hollow roar spread wings after Meiya in a rushing tackle, a final gambit to break through the stillness in indifference. Slicing through the falling foliage, the swung baton connects into an arm. Which then swipes outwards, the hand grabbing at the base of the baton, lifting it. The other, burning into the jaw through the gap multiple times in machinegun repetition. The Raven tries and struggles, yet again finds uneven footing below, unaware of the snare Meiya had been setting up in her camouflaged search of stable ground.

Upon the falling and unbalanced weight, Meiya lurches forward and a knee slams itself into the stomach, compels a rough gasp from the Raven. Stolen the baton as the chaser contracts in pain, the weapon falls in full to the head which then collapses onto the puddles. Meiya finally sighs, yet remains somber when looking at her adversary squirming painfully in the muddy water.

"By blocking with the Kodachi, you are allowed a brief moment to retaliate. Be it with another blade or your own martial arts, do not forget to polish this form despite its simple appearance. Even when holding a lesser weapon you can turn the tide to your favor, if you employ a well-placed counter," Mana's voice whispers in the back of her head.

The reminiscence is cut short as Meiya hears a yell then sees a small mass of pink falling through the bushes, immediately compelling action out of her.

A blunt grip onto one of her ankles stalls her when moving forward. Twisting the hold, hurting, a scream betrays Meiya's lips along the burning in her left ankle, which veers further away from its intended position and upsets her balance.

Crawling onto the muck to spit away and stand again, her back burning a bit when doing so, at the same eye-level she is greeted by the cackle of the crow.

"Cough-heh. We ain't done here yet, princess…"

Close by, shrieks reach her ears as she struggles to break free under assault, and under the piercing punches pinning her to a tree's roots and reopening the gash which had healed by now.

Those shrieks she still hears keep raising, further as a rock suddenly thrown misses the target, the treetops too. Perhaps it soon would meet the clouds even, where those screams also seem to reach as the distance is closed, as a hand reaches out to capture. More manic Miki shouts with every harsh pull of her hair, the forced spinning then used to sling her into a tree.

Rolling quickly over a root she manages to decelerate, the follow-up kick is avoided as she hops away into another roll. Gripping grass she shakily stands, Mikoto throws a pebble at their chaser, giving them a second to regroup. Their eyes open like a squirrel on as much coffee as the XO, unblinking and burning. Retreating with the same haste, hopping over bushes, under branches, into narrow spaces under Mikoto's signaling fingers.

The Raven reads the intention, also hopping over the bushes while striking seemingly at the rain. Setting off tripwires and nets, entangling the surroundings even more, more entangled are the screams in defiance of the claws of the crow. Low strikes from the sides, feints for raising fists behind bushes, blocked the former than tanking the latter, contorting in a tile to send a round kick, which misses their small shapes by a hair, their faces now in overdone makeup for natural muddy style. It tastes awful, more than the pit in their stomachs as they retreat again from the falling baton and following kicks. Thrown rocks or steps back into traps, all are avoided in minimal movements within the shallowness of the verdant walls. Yet the Raven remains calm, never pushing too far but not letting them out of sight either.

In such a stalemate they find themselves despite best efforts to piece the defense, yet the chaser knows, can see the resemblance which tells their composure will bend first. When cornered, even a herbivore will try and overtake the aggressor. Much like this Raven and many others had to do, when charging with their all on one move to survive incursions. Danger spurs resolution, and haste. And haste is the maker of waste.

Mikoto sees a few nets above when hiding behind a tree, points to them with her jaw when making eye contact with Miki, who sheltered behind a nearby fallen trunk. Both nod at each other while rubber scatters in odd intervals at their hiding spots. Unable to hear anything through the rain as they take in air for the following attack, what butterflies swing tornadoes for wing-flaps inside Mikoto have her recalling bouts and practices, the quiver dancing over her trying to picture herself besting the impregnable defense of the newbie of the team to gain some valor before signaling the countdown.

But Miki, on her end, cannot see the still shaky hand counting down from three or the nods Mikoto had given. All too aware of that one singular hit she can deliver to win, the sight of Kei falling to the mud before, that of Meiya seemingly cornered by another chaser, the one of Shirogane being mercilessly beaten down before, to death perhaps, make her breaths oscillate more than the treetops, colder. She must act soon, the weight of her piece of the rifle and its wear on her neck says. She has to, agree the shivers on her spine as her hiding trunk shakes when hit by bullets. She owes them such, would seem to say the rain masking other battles. She cannot allow herself to be dead weight any longer, can she?

A few sticks breaking, stepped on roughly. Like the squirm of old wooden planks under rushing footfalls.

Lightning above casts a shadow nearby, close to the tree with the traps. It's booming echo a mirror of a grenade or a gunshot flaring right besides her ear.

A shuffle in the gust, carrying but a sliver of a scream. Muffled, but it was there even if barely. Barely there, about to vanish under the scream of the tempest.

And Mikoto would want to scream as such too, when seeing the teeth gritting, the quaking knees, unblinking eyes fully wide as if Miki was but a totem left on the island, corroded with moss and cracking apart.

Cracking is that posture when the sudden rush is met with uneven footing, tripping with her own legs. Wide open for the Raven to simply glide forward, baton falling onto the pink. Mikoto throws herself from hiding, stepping on a wire, throwing a punch. Blocked the first attack, the Raven locks her arm around the second fist thrown. Hearing the tear above them, a hand grabs the metallic piece of weaponry Mikoto was carrying and then, with the slippery mud as an ally, she curls to a side as if dancing, the grip pushing down and throwing Mikoto into a spin back where she had come from. Manic screams continue for a moment as she cannot move her limbs, entangled in the falling net at odd, inappropriate angles thanks to the anti-materiel rifle's piece getting stuck under a root. Facing upwards, back tilting slightly as if subjected to a wheel of nightmarish tortures, limbs zigzagging thanks to the net and cracking bones at the minimal push, for a moment Mikoto tries to remain calm to find ways to squeeze herself out. For only a moment, before a tall shadow stalks closer to her again. Before the sole of a boot begins to fill her whole view. And her sense of taste as well.

Seeing the chaser about to stomp, Miki bites her lips as she stands and again rushes at the Raven. Seeing this as an opening, she grips and lifts the piece of the rifle she was given, aiming it at the head, yet the chaser doesn't try to block or even move. A hand, closed, is bent backwards as if to throw something when she grows ever closer. A second of hesitation is enough before Miki's eyes are closed shut by a cold, prickly sensation. Coughing and stumbling in blindness when trying to clean the mud off her face, the weight of the swung anti-materiel rifle causes her to stumble more than expected, it only further boils the slap of wings after her. Planting her heels in place allows some enduring of the strikes onto her arms in blocking defense until a kick to a side sends Miki tripping, headbutting a fallen trunk she was hiding in.

All she can do is rub the aching, rasping a hair's width for a breath while languidly standing up as the rifle slips away from her.

"These are elite cadets?" the Raven grumbles in frown, cold, spitting at the girls shaking in under the rain. "You wouldn't even be useful as comfort corporals, you're just little girls parading as soldiers. Oi, you plan on crying there all day long?!"

A sharp kick lifts the stomach and makes Miki hit the bark again, silencing what few breaths remain inside. This time she cannot get up, or move much at all.

"To think people like you get to live large in the backrow… Unaware of the real war, of what it means for the rest of us."

Turning around, glaring at the shouts Mikoto gave in sympathy has the Raven closing in, stomping the shoulder, the heel pressing onto a cheek, burying it further, letting Mikoto taste the blend of grass, soil and rain.

"You can't even defend yourself. You don't even know how, don't you, eh?"

"L-Leave Yoroi-san alone!" Miki yells, allowing the inner storm to lift her arms to throw her half of the rifle at the Raven.

Who simply ducks and rolls her eyes, grabbing at the broken branch falling from the impact of rough steel splashing nearby and showering Mikoto in more mud. Then, the chaser returns the pleasantry by throwing the broken wood, dashing alongside it, catching Miki's hair and slamming her onto a tree. Ignoring insults from Mikoto and Miki's covering hands and feeble kicks, the Raven grips further into the scalp, pink filtering in between fingers before she bends it, and smacks Miki against the bark.

And smacks Miki against the bark.

Again, and again, and onto the roots, then drags Miki by her twintails to where Mikoto was, to grant visuals to the comrade. All the while, the chaser is wincing harder and harder by the second, every drop of rain flooding an already overflown and cracked cup.

"All safe without ever risking your necks, I bet. Wearing whatever you want, doing your hair however you wish without a slap to the wrist or anything, ignorant of proper regulations or form much less combat techniques…"

Contorted arms about to break free are stomped on, when they shield the head the gavel falls unto the stomach. When Mikoto tries and return a kick, the tip of a boot finds and falls onto her jaw, brushing the delicate canvas full of grime and hate, over and over, the heel pushing the chin backwards little by little, tensing and testing the strings of her spine over the root as if to draw a perfect circle. All the while a tight hand had lifted Miki to where a branch was broken, the splintered wood kissing and nibbling at her nape while the cage constricted each breath all the more.

"I heard you lot have an officer's room each. Three meals a day, you even get some meat too… And this is all you can do?! Stand up, you pathetic piece of shit! Show some grit, for fuck's sake!"

"My back- Stop, it'll brea- A-Ahhh!"

"And you, not even resisting anymore… Can't even protect yourself much less someone else. You're a worthless waste of air! It makes me retch…"

"I-I can't breat- Guh… Cough!"

Mikoto shuts off her eyes, her fingers slipping off the boot drilling at her jaw. Seeing the tattered state, the Raven kicks at a puddle, splashing the cadet with more cold muck, making her flinch back to wakefulness.

But the Raven wasn't focusing on Mikoto, not directly at least. Both hands now on Miki, one on the neck, the other roaming the abdomen.

"Wanna know something funny, girl?" the Raven softly asks, tilting her head yet loud enough to be heard by both cadets.

Hands frantically raise to claw the tightening over her throat, eyes then open before they almost pop out of the sockets when the other slithering hand slips under the tanktop. Making eye contact with Mikoto, for a moment neither could move, simply shaking in place under the rain.

"Back when I was forcefully enlisted in 1998, our dear Shogun passed a law to draft convicts and bolster our army's numbers. Apparently, stealing our futures wasn't enough to get the nobles the amount of meatshields they wanted."

Heel of a boot plants itself atop the head when the one below tries to resist further, the Raven's fingertips belatedly yet repeatedly ring small doorbells when smiling at the one lifted above. Both cadets simply thrash about as wildly as the gale, equally ineffective at doing much against the impregnable verdant walls caging them.

"You know how that was? Sharing showers and bunks with those bastards?" she asks, grimacing and wilting more.

The boot shifts to softly push onto the mouth for a moment, Mikoto breathes in filth and is left coughing and hacking. Miki rasps a yell, attempting jabs and kicks as she gasps haggardly. The manic attacks barely tickle the thicket of the large chest, the Raven continues talking as slowly as her hand's intrusions while staring her dead in the eye.

"Wanna know how many of us had to endure sleepless nights all so that you rich assholes got to stay safe in Tokyo and Sendai? How many of us had to stand watch in the shower rooms?"

The grip spins as if tightening a bolt until the roots of the doorbells burn the whole hills, Miki is made to stare into venom wanting to poke and prod her sight open. As slow as the droplets filtering through the treetops and onto them is a finger, softly traversing the curve of her neck, softer is the other doing the same until it nests into her bellybutton then digs in, as if starved.

"…Can you imagine how it feels? Waking up blinded and bounded, surrounded by dogs in heat? Avoiding the bathrooms in fear for weeks, having to shit out in the open to not risk running into them?"

Then the choking returns, constricting ragged breaths into feeble gasps, doubly so as a balled fist softly but constantly presses itself against her stomach's pit as the middle finger continues its mining of Miki's bellybutton. Flaring kicks and clawing hands find no success at all, fumbled strikes below don't either and only gain further choking via soft stomp.

"Can you imagine what your superiors would say if you speak out, huh?"

A sigh soft yet enough to make Miki shiver is heaved, before her posture onto the bark is adjusted. The fist leaves her stomach, making her cough faintly and firmly after, when that hand has her hips lifted while the one on her neck constricts but cradles now. Eyes widening meet those of the chaser, who lets a dry chuckle turn the lips into half a smile. The Raven edges closer and closer, enough to extend a long flicker of her tongue over Miki's cheek, from the eyes to the chin. Cackling at the confused then panicked yelps the petite girl gives out, when the slurping begins to lower further over the curves of bones.

"Perhaps I should teach you what happens in our line of work when you're this much of a failure and fuck things up, girls, since you're about to lose your ticket to being an Eishi…"

"W-What are you- Please, stop, I-"

"Shh, shh… That's a big no-no in our jig. Trust me, if you simply take the beatings and surrender, no one will lend you a hand. No one will break into your room as you scream for help. No one will ever hear anything in the showers, you know…" she whispers while wincing again as gentle nibbles fall upon Miki's chin, softly cradled onto the bark.

And stomping on Mikoto, when the tearing of the net lets her barely claw at an ankle.

Still glaring yet more muddy and muddled than the root she was locked into, she remains pulling at the boot despite repeated kicks at her head. "T-This can't be part of the test, the I-Instructor- Ow! Guh-Gruh…" she spits mud, her innards wanting to follow suit. "The Instructor- She will hear about this…"

Yet the Raven stops the kicks, offering a wilting wince to Mikoto when looking down. "…If you still think punishments are handed out equally in the military, you must have had a wonderful instructor. But considering what our orders were, this is for the best… Don't worry, I'll try and rough you up softly."

One hand keeps Miki's neck tight, breaths short as the other slowly pulls and lifts the tanktop. The other steadies the waist, running many laps over the calves and buttocks. More and more does the crow edge closer upon faint screams for help and flaring kicks when biting at the chin, licking at the fresh droplets falling from Miki's eyes. All the petite girl's strikes do is rattle the machinegun fastened to the Raven's back.

"So be brave now, soldier. Break free on your own… or learn the same lesson the Shogun and the rest of those above saw us grunts befitting of during the invasion."

"N-No, stop- Get away from me! Ugh, huff… Ow!"

"Leave Miki-san alone! Urgh… S-Stop! You can't- Cough!" all the bravado is reduced to gurgles under the puddles.

For only a second, as the Raven shakes her head. "You'll have to struggle more than that, girls. That barely tickles me."

"W-Why? This isn't…" Miki can't finish her query, tears caught in her throat. Before another thing catches onto it too. "O-Ow, don't bite me! Ahh, it hurts!"

"Why are you doing this?! The CCSE shouldn't be like this!" Mikoto says, almost pleads, as her clawing gestures would sooner resemble that of giving luster to the chaser's boots.

"This is for your own good… At least you'll be ready for the hounds when you're made to march, unlike me. But don't worry… I'll be kind to you, as fellows should," the Raven tells, grimacing before resting her boot on Mikoto's nape to prevent further intrusions but not forbid her visuals.

A knee prevents Miki's legs from closing or kicking, grants support to choke and grope through the damp clothing which is then lifted further. Facing Miki and tanking another slap and clawing at a cheek, the Raven rather than fight it almost nuzzles onto the pain. She smiles ruefully along a snicker as her hand tightens a full grip and shuts off all inhaling, causes a moment of stiffness in Miki. Allowing the chaser to angle the panicked face into the one cackling, lips parting and tongue moistening the teeth.

A thousand worms revolt within Miki's stomach as she claws and punches, fading more with every rump of the knee supporting her. Resistance fading as her sight when the cage over her neck grows ever tight and her nose is pinched shut. When gasping for dear life only foreign spit floods her lips, a thick snake twisting around her tongue and causing further choking. She can taste her own blood as the Raven pecks and feasts onto her mouth, from each cheek into the ceiling of her palate, back under her tongue, chomping at the lips, only to restart. Trying to clamp and bite onto the twister invading her mouth has her throat constricted further.

An eternity of piercing intrusion cutting her threads, leaving only a narrow throat unable to puke the sea of larvae convulsing inside much like the tongue poking the inner side of her cheek over and over. Hands almost gripping those of the Raven in support when she's almost allowed to fall from the hold, the emptiness below freezing her further. A slow quiver in her heart pierces further as the roving fingers now cascade down to her hips again, kneading and pressing her bottom as if making pizza. Only to slide both ends apart, to let one finger pierce and invade the insides to try and mine as it did to the bellybutton moments before. The intrusion enough to make Miki yelp, send her tongue twirling into the Raven's mouth then confiscated there in a carousel she could not get off from. Although the Raven very well might be at the moment.

When opening her eyes, she found that the chaser hadn't closed hers either, but they were slightly narrowed, as if disgusted, yet relaxed as well without flares of malice when returning Miki's stare, her tongue flicking slower around Miki's inside her mouth before tenderly sucking on it, the hold shifted to straighten the cadet a bit more from the compromised position, supporting the weight. If anyone caught sight of them, they'd sooner think two lovers were partaking in a sultry embrace about to tie the knot against the tree.

Completely tilted and blank, suffocation obstructs Miki's sight and thoughts, no longer reacting as the vipers for hands bite and rake her small hips and curves in a mirror to opencast mining, the lack of clear air fully lodging Miki in stillness. She simply closes her eyes, trying one last time to bite onto the Raven's mouth. Yet it only causes further piercing of the snakes roaming her body, followed by a repayment onto her bottom lip until both are treated to her warm crimson blood, which is twisted along in the tender suction pulling Miki's tongue away from her own lips.

Shivering as the cold slap of the rain cloaks her exposed body, gurgling on spit and blood she again tries to bite back while crying, delayed punches finding the drive to reach out and remain pushing despite retaliation. Clawing enough to leave marks on the Raven's cheeks, she finally manages to push those invading lips off, still united by a thread of saliva and blood that the chaser licks over to her own mouth, moistening over her own lips when exhaling hard. Again lost staring those venoms, now fully smiling and flushed, quivers Miki back to stillness, in hesitant fear. Not retaliating when given the chance as the Raven gives her a quick, soft peck, tip of her tongue brushing over the battered and bloody bottom lip, the cleaning suction onto it almost sending eyes fully white. As Miki tries to push away with her muscles burning, the Raven chuckles and tilts her face, letting saliva cascade down as she stares into those quivering eyes. Until a crushing grip shackles a shoulder, before a kick flares one of the Raven's knees in twain.

Through lidded eyes as she falls onto a root, Miki catches glimpses of a half-muddied Chizuru throwing the dazed Raven into the distance, sending the woman into a pitfall. Whatever was down there was enough to compulse a pitless howl that broke through the storm.

For a moment, only the thunders and winds could be heard about along gasps and dry knocks of heartbeats onto the ribs. And despite a cheek being almost sunken into the puddles, Miki makes not a move to get off as Chizuru helps Mikoto out of her binds. Hiccuping as both hands cover her mouth as if about to pray, burning still at the emerging rivers of red painted from it into her chin.

"…Tamase, can- can you stand?" Chizuru asks while gasping, crouching and checking for injuries, wincing upon the defilement onto that almost completely exposed frame.

"…I-I'm s-sorry, I'm-Cough…sorry…" she stifles through tears, a hand twisting and almost sending her back to kiss the mud due to the complete, cold shutdown of her legs.

"Come on, you've nothing to apologize for," grabbing under an arm to support, Chizuru stands and forces Miki to do so amidst the rain of apologies and gagging sounds.

"But I- I didn't- I-I couldn't even-"

"Chizuru-san, wait, l-let me see her face," Mikoto asks when slouching closer, posture still slumped and bent.

Wincing as she gently taps the cheeks up to see, Mikoto's eyes are as sunken as those behind the fresh glasses while Chizuru shakily tries to restore Miki's attire to proper form when checking for injuries again. Her insides dry up once she finds the claw marks littering all over, Mikoto's as well when she tilts Miki's face up, getting a clear look at it with the aid of a thunder above.

"S-Shit, your lips are bleeding badly…"

"Your face too, Yoroi," Chizuru notes, limply.

"Y-Yeah… But my eyes only ache a bit, it's nothing like this," she says, gulping hard when both hands cradle the chin to better observe, yet are slowly brushed away.

"I am f-fine… I can take this, I-I'm not worthless, I'm not a coward…" Miki whispers, spitting and making more gurgling noises that fail to cleanse the rot in her palate when stepping back, staggering.

"Tamase, no one thinks that. I… don't know if I could have fought off such an assault."

"…I wasn't of much help either," Mikoto says, giving an apologetic nod while cleaning her own muddied and swollen face, already reddening. "Sorry…"

Miki remains gazing down as she shakily walks on her own, slowly trying and failing to lift the piece of the rifle she was to carry. "I stopped fighting back, my mind blanked out again… Y-You all needed me, and I let- When she- Ugh…"

The rifle slips away again, her knees follow suit. The weight of steel splashes filth from a puddle onto her face as she covers her mouth. Her mouth, that burns from the inside as her throat is constricted once again. This time, from the shallow inside as her trachea seems to lurch upwards, her stomach wanting to kiss the back of her teeth. The worms revolving within it as well. Soon, she's the one splashing a stomach's worth of filth onto the muck. And yet, the worms are still gushing from within the cracks in her, and from her two comrades as well as they share a gaze. Miki gags and gurgles even when only slivers of bile and spit eject through the impulse and the narrowness still binding her neck. Fingers cradling her mouth, only threads of air can she take in as dizziness sets in.

"Come on, cover your mouth and take a deep breath…" Mikoto pleads, crouching right besides and trying to guide those bruised hands to the motions.

Chizuru simply closes her eyes as tight as she can while getting the stuck piece of the rifle out from below a root, casting glances about and seeing no danger for the moment. "Damn, she'll hyperventilate at this rate…"

"Cough! Bleurgh… Hic… I'm s-sorry… I'm so- Cough! Wheeze… Ugh…"

A hand rests against the quivering back, another joins in a second later. Mikoto and Chizuru give minute rubs, the latter nods down and whispers while casting glances about. "You two distracted that chaser for long enough, and you fought back as best as possible against that depravity. And we're not going to surrender here, are we?" she says, daring a small smile, a pat to a shoulder.

"N-No! I won't, I swear!" she cries out, tears welling up further as she clings onto Chizuru.

"C-Calm down, Miki-san. She wasn't-"

"I-I'll fight back, I won't be dead weight like last time. I'm not a waste of air, p-please don't leave me behind!"

"Tamase!" Chizuru yells, striking a cheek then softly, shakily holding the back of Miki's head. "We all were caught unaware, none of this is our fault. But right now, we must remain focused," Chizuru says, nodding into the still cracked gesture Miki returns amidst drowned wails and apologies, staring into Mikoto until she too returns a nod. Chizuru sighs, heavy, then lets go and helps Miki lift the second piece of the rifle. "We'll treat our wounds later, and we'll report this… indignity once this is over, be assured," she spurns off, frowning venom as she stands tall to make Miki imitate her.

For a moment, Chizuru remains with a hand on Miki's shoulder as the wounded girl tries to fasten her piece to her backside again, insisting on doing so alone. In the midst of this, Mikoto walks to one of the many pitfalls she had seen, where Chizuru had thrown the chaser into. Walking close to the edge, peeking below. Freezing.

Chizuru wipes her glasses then sighs, seeing Miki had regained her own calm breaths. "Yoroi, where did you go? …Yoroi?" she asks, blinking at the lack of an answer.

When turning around, both she and Miki can see a seemingly dazed Mikoto groggily making her way to them, hands covering her mouth and bending under the weight of the rifle.

"W-Why did they put those things in there? That's sick…" Mikoto whispers, paling more than a little bun.

"Yoroi, snap out of it!" Chizuru yells. "What did you see? Can that chaser escape the sinkhole?"

"…N-No," she offers a downcast nod and coughs, shaking as she cradles her bruised arms for life, suddenly appreciative of their entirety. "Hey, what should we do now? Where are the others?"

Casting a look around through the quake in midair allows the three to see no further aggressors were in the vicinity. Through bushes to their Three, a limping Meiya was getting closer and leaving a scrambled mess of a Raven behind.

All of her pulchritude, gone and soiled. Defiled the hair, messy as it could get. Pieces torn off her tanktop, spots of strong pink in her hands and abdomen. The baton she had would sooner resemble the roots exposed to storm and blood in a pitfall nearby. Such nicks and dents litter the samurai whole, spread with the weight of the rain.

What calmness their breaths regained when they see Meiya was at least safe reverts when glancing through a few swaying branches and vines to their Nine, hearing rough smacks and cackles through the salty whirlwinds.

An incessant group beating is falling upon the one missing from their ranks. Those Ravens seem to be so enthralled in their faithful mimic of the tempest that they do not notice the cadets bested their squadmates.

"S-Should we… leave her behind too?" Mikoto whispers, looking at Chizuru.

Miki does too as she quivers, mouth opening loose but emitting no sound except a dry cough, before hanging her head to the noose of acquittal.

Meiya simply approaches the trio, looking at the ongoing beatdown they were staring at, then nodding down, barely audible. "…Your orders, Squad Leader?"

Through the foliage and the cloak of rain nothing can be heard of what's going on. An odd thunder does not allow them to see much of anything either thanks to the tree barring their vision.

"I always told you to not act on your own, didn't I?"

But the attacks fall down incessantly, just as the rain does. Shaking the timber, bending the branches, divesting the treetops of verdant cover. Breaking the bark, even. After all, carelessness in the field is paid in blood. Soon, the roots will be unearthed and cut wide open. Perhaps even end up drowned in the muddy water or its own sap.

"I've always told you to not act individually, we all know what that would get us after last time…"

It doesn't stop. The strikes, which befall their comrade. The rain, which weighs on her shoulders. The rain, which clouds the glasses. Although the latter does not come from the sky, yet it pours far harder.

"It's for the good of the mission, for our goal… We must march on, whatever it takes. We cannot stop over… o-over…"

Sakaki holds her breath, shaky eyelids remaining shut yet spreading their quiver to the rest of her body.

Oil, fuel, smoke, such is the entanglement she smells suddenly as her ears ring in flatline.

Sulfur too, as well as blood.

Even tasting the mixture at the tip of her receding tongue, which hides like a poked snail. Before it is stomped under the heel.

For you must march on, soldier. Even if your shell is shocked and stomped on, you must carry on your way. The mission takes precedence above everything, no? You cannot stop over collateral every time someone gets hurt, to carry on is your duty. So Chizuru seems to reason when one boot takes half a step back, eyes nodding up at chaotic clouds in stoic stillness. An apt conclusion for a leader, perhaps enough to make her father proud.

"…Mitsurugi?" she asks, breaths and legs stopping for a moment.

"Yes?"

"Can- C-Can you… Can you still fight?"

"But of course," she nods, readjusting the grip and raising the baton, her sight as well.

Causing Chizuru to nod back, clearing her glasses. "Yoroi, we…" her eyes linger on Miki, a knot is tied once more in her stomach as worms rebound in it. "…Sigh. We will distract the chasers. Try and force them into the traps to gain the upper hand as I did before," she tells, a belated nod restores a modicum of color to Mikoto's shaky expression when trying to stand straight again. "Mitsurugi, stay low and hidden to pick them off one by one. Your quick reflexes are our lifeline," she orders, receiving an instant flare back. "And Tamase… you stay alert to take Ayamine away from them," she says with Miki giving two quick nods, otherwise petrified.

A round of nods, of looks takes a second. Another before their feet commit to the notion, scrambling about in crouched position, eyes mad over the ground for any wires of traps. The rain as their cloak, closing in onto the location was not hard. Gaining clarity on the ongoings, however-

"Are you enjoying yourself now, you bitch?!"

Almost curled into fetal position, eyes fully shut by the kicks pushing at her nape as it were a drawer not wanting to close, tightening its fillings with every impact.

"Just desserts for what your fucking parents did, if you ask me!"

Barely shielding her head, to stop the claws trying to lift it. At the forehead, to the waist, the stomach.

"But don't worry, with those melons you'll be in high demand as a comfort corporal!"

Then the claws aim for her shoulders, her chin almost colliding with her throat in shrinking escape. Serves for nothing, she's made to stand with both hands bound backwards.

"We're doing you a favor, teaching you how to behave properly for your next post, aren't we? Heheh…"

The hits continue as she's held in place, to her bruised gut, emptied of air, to her swaying head, thoughts spilling out her ears along the excess water on her body. Not even reacting when her tanktop is lifted, fully exposed to further strikes and tight knotting of the doorbells twisting her large hills, raking them full of reddening rivers. As incessant as the rain the assault continues to invade, even as Kei stops reacting to the attacks, simply shivering with swollen eyes and mouth half open, which is soon also invaded and explored fully by the Raven holding her arms in place, soon both tasting the cadet's warm blood.

Crouching, hands trailing the grass. Behind bushes and trees the four approach, their insides so dry the outer moistness only serves to unnerve and shiver. An outline in the ground, Mikoto points with her jaw. A thumb up is given, Chizuru scuttles to her Four, signaling a countdown with her hands. Miki gulps down, all of herself quivering even when returning Meiya's nod.

Three.

Kei is forced onto hands and knees in the middle of a circle.

Two.

Both hands twisted backwards, her belt being messed with, quickly disposed of.

One.

Chin raised, she can only scowl at the thing plopped against her cheek, the pungent odor worse than any exotic flower or other scent in the island and making her nostrils want to puke.

As the corrosion brushes her lips and she clenches her teeth shut, gaining chuckles and a slap to her ass, she suddenly regains her personal space.

A rock almost hits the one in front, rushing out of cover Chizuru keeps throwing rocks littering the ground at the Ravens, which stumble as they were about to fumble with their belts. Smirks in glee to find another prey soon turn to shouts as they chase after Chizuru, who eyes the ground, feels it with her heels before breaking into a sprint the way she came.

However, there is no cover coming for her as she had expected. Further to her right, she sees the reason why as azure threads retreat and push back.

Downwards slash, a feint to do a rising one, stepping back to block, a short step forward then to try and hurt the wrist, trip the pacing. Blocked, swayed away and chased, hold at bay the attack and pushing back with repeated, slow downward strikes for her head. The Raven that had been on the lookout as her comrades indulged in the punishment smiles at Meiya, the latter trying to outspeed and dodge, even avoid the attacker altogether to go give support, yet like a graceful bird Kurama flows after, mirroring her every move, twirling steps as if in a dancing duo.

Rattled and unnerved, Meiya stomps and fills her boots with water all over again to try and tackle the Raven, yet Kurama slowly steps back upon the rush. Then she hops, reaching up to twirl herself upwards on a branch as if in a circus' play, drawing a circle, her heel hitting Meiya right in the nose when descending. Using the impulse when landing and turning around, finding a stunned Meiya blinded for a second, Kurama dashes in and sends a kick to the stomach, sending Meiya to slide onto a muddy and natural conveyor belt. Kurama simply stands in between trees, striking with her baton some traps to entangle the pathways available and giggling as Meiya harshly stands and immediately regains her battle form. Yet both stop moving, one smirking and the other one paling more than a little bun upon the yells incoming from behind.

Hands almost reach the edge of the twintails, Chizuru keeps on rushing away. As she stands her ground to try and hold the chasers off, when three of them close in on her a bush rustles.

Miki jumps and smacks herself against the side of a Raven, impacting a liver and evacuating the air in those lungs. The stumbling in pain gives an opening for Mikoto to jump on the other side, kicking at the backside and sending the chaser to fall face-first onto the pitfall spotted before. Yet it does not freeze nor scare, the Ravens smirk further and raise their yells and curses after them.

Smacking branches or bushes, Miki can barely block the attacks after her. Catching a baton with her hands, Mikoto tries and shield one flank but as she steps back a root trips her and she ends up rolling, the chaser also falling along, both tossing about bushes and muck. Miki's legs freeze, her upper torso moving slightly to try and do something, suffocating as a chaser roars and rushes at her. The petrified petite girl ends tumbled in the same manner as Mikoto. The rolling only coils Miki down as grappling kicks and punches swerve her more and more, soon her tossing becoming an attempt to escape. Until rather than the baton the Raven reaches out to grab her hands, pinning her to the ground and towering over her. Flaring kicks earn further chuckles as the hound gasps and lets saliva drip down upon the desperate thrashing. Miki thought that this simply could not get any worse. Then she saw another Raven, her arms wounded with many red rivers, stumbling their way. When locking gazes, Miki's insides fell to propel shrieks that broke through the treetops and sent a few birds away.

Chizuru blocks a punch, sneaking an elbow strike in the opening before rushing back, colliding onto another Raven, ducking and narrowly escaping the incoming restraining hold. Back against a tree, both sides taken by Ravens. Twisting legs, faking a dash to run in the opposite direction has her reaching the open area, where Kei was still restrained, Mikoto being dragged by a leg on the opposite direction. Steps slow down, heavy all of a sudden when Chizuru looks around and about. Only the cackles of the crows are apparent along the storm. Mind blanking out as she seeks any hint of Mitsurugi being nearby, possible plans and counters falling to pieces in her mind. Cold hands rove on her spine when seeing a small opening as the Ravens chasing after her choose to circle away, towards Kei and the rest. Still having some high ground, the dry knock of heartbeats on the back of her head compels her to pounce on the chance to slowly whittle down the enemy.

Kei tries and shout something, it is too late. The vantage point, the advantage of the high ground amidst the uneven footing in the drenched clearing hid a thread, a few of them, all of which Chizuru snaps in her rush. Rocks fly from their resting traps, hitting a leg, her gut, and as she falls the final one scores a clear shot at her throat. Again burning as it did before when running into the tree, Chizuru can't even scream as she's dragged away close to the rest, as wiggly fingers undo her belt and turn her to face Kei.

In the hazy moment allowed to them, Chizuru gives an apologetic nod, biting at her lips and wanting to swallow her own tongue to choke on it, Kei grits her teeth as she shakes when trying to thrust her arms free, swirling between apologies of her own or demands on why hadn't they ran away. Whatever words they were wishing to share would not get the chance to leave their lips, since they are mashed together as the Ravens cackle and hold their arms firmly under the women's, further crashing their exposed bodies against each other and exploring each nook of the temples. Miki and Mikoto try and close their eyes away, but the punches and pulls of their hair, the pinches and of intrusion on their most private lair, it all jolts them wide awake again as if the roaring thunders had fallen on them before their lips are also forbidden from screaming, flooded to the invading delight exploring and twisting around their tongues.

All four of them, despite resisting, find their struggling muscles collapsing the more air they lack, the more rough the intrusions, their once honed bodies stormed by the raiders truly mimicking the downpour befalling the forest when biting, and sucking, and groping at the havens of the maidens.

Water breaking through the roof, tape sticking desperately to grant modesty to the windows broken, shattered and exposed to the wind's whims to curl all over the insides. What within lies then flooded, tackled by rough nature, torn and cracked. What pillars of resistance stood once the test of time erode under constant thrusting, the rain does not stop. Hands and other colluding parts also don't, tilting the frames further from proper, healthy position until the whirlpool crashes their entrances time and again, sinking them, drowning them. Doors to the soul broken, the refuge tarnished, drapes and colors stripped bare by rising waves painting humidity and decay all over. Revealing the bricks, the foundations to the slapping of the elements with no modesty to speak of whatsoever.

And the crows dive again in cackles, wanting to demolish even the last bit of the temples until only a vast, gaping hole is made of such structures. Until said state became their sole purpose, a receptacle of the filthy flow. Even if windows flap about to ward off the birds, if walls collapse and defend inner rooms from intrusion, even when the roof is sent flying backwards fully tearing the wiring within, the defiling rain will eventually drown it all. The shrieks, the pleading, the gazes growing vacant, the pain.

And as the Ravens peck and bite and grope at the elevations, as they claw archways open, intruding penetration defiling the sanctums, that same hollowness makes nest within Mitsurugi, still close by, barely able to see through the foliage and rain, but unable to get much closer and seething at the small smile her match offered without pause. Steps as unsteady as if balancing on a putrid wood plank, below only debris floating atop bottomless depths. Strikes, far more imprecise than if she were trying to halt the tempest with her bare hands.

She rasps as a kick finds her ribs, the baton shortly after smacking at her neck. Although a sharp thrust is forwarded in counter, the impulse coming back into her is a resistant one. For every step back she takes the Raven in front follows after in contention, aiming to encroach, to seclude. Parries and blocks splash them both with another layer of dampness, Meiya's eyes and knees quivering like trees while still watching her comrades, Kurama smiling down in small, noted movements.

Twisting branches backwards, letting them go to slap upon reckless charges, stepping on obvious wires to set off traps, the nets and slingshots sawing off Meiya's attack lanes. Sawing her patience and footing, as on the corner of her sight she can still see the tide pushing those sanctums unto each other. The pillars no longer standing firm, the foundations fully submerged. Fully still, simply enduring the storm, simply there, like another part of inert nature, another object in the vicinity.

Her hands wring the baton enough to hurt, no roots nor puddle can divert the incoming rush envying nothing to the cutting thunders above. And while sending away each incoming strike like leaves against the gale, it only serves to further litter her with bruises and wounds, the reckless charge.

Upon a moment of silence as she regains her breath, Meiya tanks a hit to an arm, sending her to trip backwards with a root. Groaning as her back flares in pain but biting it back and rolling in dodge again, she twitches when she finds nothing pushing for an opening, space and time given to her. And time almost comes to a stop for the azure as a knee is bent, a pliant bow relented while keeping eye contact. When the Raven folds the talons, to stare into her soul.

"…Would you accept a suggestion, Mitsurugi-sama?"

"What- How did- You… What do you speak of?" she asks, glancing briefly to her distant comrades, still afflicted, before returning her gaze to the chaser.

That was still kneeling, stare unmoving from Meiya. "We were given orders to stall your progress. Orders we cannot disobey. However, if you would cease your resistance, this whole debacle would end sooner."

"You think we'd surrender, after what you've done and are doing? Pah…"

"This is all part of the test, Mitsurugi-sama. Ask yourself who benefits from this, why would this be allowed… I promise to have the aggression end sooner should you stop resisting. Your comrades are already enduring enough punishment as it is."

"Who benefits, why this was done…"

"I'm certain you, of all people, can tell the motive behind this excess in force, no?"

"What? Are you saying I am-"

"I cannot speak further, Mitsurugi-sama," Kurama says, bowing her head. "But I've orders to follow, lest I will be punished as such. I am obliged to fulfill my duty, yes, but it does not equal I enjoy this arrangement. Should you offer your surrender, this shall be over swiftly."

"You… are not deceiving me, are you?"

"My, doubting a fellow? Has the UN clouded your judgment so, Mitsurugi-sama?" she asks, chuckling.

"Mock me not. Your comrades are-"

"They are IJN conscripts, not fellows of mine. Their standing against our orders is far more fragile," bowing again, Kurama clutches a hand to her heart. "If you would not believe me then, please make your escape. I shan't stop you."

"What? You would…" Meiya's lips quiver, shifting her gaze from the still bowing chaser to the ongoing defilement. "I- I would never turn tail and forsake my comrades."

"Then, I ask you'd comply with my suggestion. If you continue to resist… we shall have to follow our commands, to the letter," the chaser says, a frail tone when giving an upwards nod, wiping an eye.

"…You give me your word, then?"

"But of course, Mitsurugi-sama. Should you surrender, their suffering shall not be prolonged. They are not the 'goal' of our task, you see."

"Is… that so." It was all because I am here… Because of my ties, they're being punished to bend my knee. There is no need to prolong this, is there? "Fine… Let them go, I shan't resist you," Meiya says, dropping her baton and both shoulders, chin almost meeting her collarbone.

"Good. Thank you for your cooperation, milady," Kurama says as she stands.

"Please, stop that… I need no honorifics," she laments, hanging her head and casting a glance at the ongoing assault. "Let us dispense with parley," Meiya then nods down, joining her hands and offering them up as if to be restrained. "As I said, I won't resist."

"Well, if you insist…" Kurama smiles as she approaches the downcast cadet, nodding slowly.

Before rushing in, kneeling Meiya in the stomach. Grabbing an arm, she lifts the cadet and slams her backside onto the ground, splashing and vanishing a large puddle, making her bounce a bit after the impact and leaving Meiya breathless in the small, narrow sinkhole.

"Guh! Cough! W-What are-"

Her words stall as both of her wrists are joined behind her, her face pushed onto a tree's root, almost biting grass. On odd whistle comes from the Raven's lips, causing the rest to give loud shouts, redoubling their ministrations. Even if unable to see much of anything, the rising shrieks are enough for Meiya to tell what modesty and dignity were present in her comrades had been discarded altogether.

"H-Hey! You promised they would not be hurt further!" Meiya demands, squirming against the binding hand as a weight sits onto her lower back.

"Oh? I never stated you all were not going to be punished… I only said the pain would end sooner. That is no lie, milady, hehe. Worry not, we shall get to it immediately…" Kurama smiles, breathing onto Meiya's nape as her free hand rustles under the tanktop, slowing down to take on the curves.

"Don't touch me! You vile disgrace… And you call yourself a fellow? Have you no shame?!" she roars, tossing and kicking about.

"Ow… My, how rambunctious… I may be a disgrace, yet lies are only another talent."

"What virtue could deceit ever grant?!"

"Well… It allows me to break stoic blades, such as yourself. But know this, Mitsurugi-sama," Kurama warns, gripping both her wrists and the underside of one of her breasts under the tanktop until Meiya groans in pain, stopping her struggling, "I may have been ordered to simply restrain you, but that does not equal I am not willing to go further to ensure your cooperation."

"…What do you seek? Do as you like with me, but leave my comrades out of this!"

"…You'll acquiesce to my demands in exchange on their safety?"

"I already had, I said I shan't resist you. Release them at once, or else."

"I had some questions I wished to ask, curiosity to be sated… If you'd comply-"

"Free my squadmates first, you vile liar!" she seethes, whirring her head back to strike at the chaser.

Rather then bending under the pain flaring in her nose and mouth, Kurama licks her blood then falls further, pinning Meiya to the moist ground, rolling and pressing herself fully onto the resisting azure. Curious questions dangle in her head as the aggressive kicks and headbutts keep hitting home, yet Kotori ignores the flaring, indignant threats as well as the pain. At first because she thought Meiya amusing, almost adorable in her sheer earnestness.

Later, because her comms were still stiff and silent, her prior call to both Shinohara and Nanase receiving no answer despite one of their lines being open, the dot pertaining to one of their Pleiades remaining on the move in the screen of her own GPS.

So pressing down more until the thrashing stops, licking at the nape and behind an ear, Kurama softly whispers. "Tell me, Mitsurugi-sama… Your squad is supposed to be composed of six cadet trainees, no?"

"…Yes, what of it?"

"Well, where is the last member, Shirogane Takeshi?"

Meiya sinks her face onto the ground, silently compressing onto herself, recalling the relentless beatdown, until the licking resumes bathing one of her ears. "S-Stop that! What do you think you're doi- Ow! Don't bite me!"

"Then kindly answer the query, milady. Your comrades are still enduring their punishments, you know?" she giggles, lapping at the curve of the ear.

"I… I don't know what happened to Shirogane. We had to… leave him behind when we were first ambushed."

"I see… Was that your own resolution, to abandon Shirogane Takeshi?"

"No, he… He had insisted to be the last one to cross," even under fire, he prioritized Sakaki's safety over his own… "Ow! L-Leave my ear alone!" she thrashes and bucks against the weight.

Receiving more chuckles as Kurama grinds her own hips back against Meiya's, knees sliding outwards and keeping the cadet firmly onto the ground despite the thrashing. "Is that so, is that so…"

"Why are you asking me this? What… What have you done to Shirogane?!"

"Who knows? Are you concerned with Shirogane Takeshi's life, even though you abandoned him?"

"But of course I-"

"Quite a hypocrite, are you not. With what expression would you face him after forsaking him so… Your honor and trust has been soiled."

"Wait, but I did not do so out of-"

"Not only that, you've failed to capitalize on the opportunity he bestowed you. Oh, just thinking on what poor Shirogane Takeshi would do if he were to see how you've thrown away his sacrifice!"

"Silence, you vile thing!" Meiya roars and rears back, headbutting Kurama in the jaw a few times and only earning chuckles. "Do not dare and mock his actions! A disappointment such as yourself knows nothing of the weight Shirogane's actions had!"

"Huh, you don't say…" Kurama chuckles, leaning down until she nuzzles onto the fluffy blue. "So he was felled, then?"

"I… don't know. We abandoned him to run away from danger. He was the one who urged us to do so, remaining behind on his own choice…" she says, closing her eyes and taking in air, shaking upon the breaths nearing her nape.

"Is that so… So that's what's going on here…" It is no wonder then that neither that oaf Shinohara nor the Captain are answering. So the signal rushing towards the southern bridge to cross the ravine has to be…" as she takes her Pleiades from her belt kit, she finds that dot gained more distance than previously thought.

"Why are you asking about him? Let him go as well, do not harm Shirogane any further!"

"I should ask those two for support, so that we can go and meet our dear Takeshi by the bridge… Hehe, I wonder what type of face they'll make when they see him? But on the slim chance this isn't a faker…" Kurama smiles and giggles, tongue moistening her lips a bit as she taps her comms, connecting it with Shinohara's and Nanase's signals while bringing the device closer to Meiya. Her other hand, however-

"Hey, where do you think you're- Ow! Stop, don't twist my brea- Ahh! No, stop it with my ear- You said- Ow!"

"You'd do anything to ascertain your comrades' safety, no?" Kurama asks, chuckling hard as she sees a small light blip on her comms, meaning one of Shinohara's or Nanase's were tuned into her connection. "Then a simple punishment is nothing compared to what they're going through, no?"

"I… Just… Let them go, then I'll do as you say."

"…Where would your manners be, young miss?" she asks, low, gripping and twisting the hills.

"Ahh! S-Stop that, it hurts! Ow-Ow," she grits her teeth, wanting to puke as a wet, moist twister invades her ear, a choking one burns her chest. "Let them go… I shan't resist you, p-please… Please, I beg of you, grant them mercy… Do with me as you lik-Aieee! Ahh, ow, stop, g-guh…"

Kurama chuckles while nibbling at the ear and twisting it as much as her hand pulls on the doorbell, seeing the extreme speed the dot in her Pleiades gained all of a sudden. It brings both a warm and cold tingle to run down her spine, sends her tongue to twist and spin against her cheeks and palate. Turning off her comms, she slowly stops her ministrations, slowly stands and then slides off Meiya, giving her space. Then, as the young lady braces on the ground, covering her exposed body, the Raven smiles from ear to ear and bows down in an overly dramatic, thespian-like gesture.

"Your cooperation has been appreciated, Mitsurugi-sama. Now, if you'd excuse me."

"…W-What? But you said- Why did you-"

"Your comrades are in dire need of aid. Do not dally. As I said, I shan't stop you. Feel free to employ your arts, even you would have a hard time dealing with my squadmates without a blade or your style," Kurama gives a brief bow, walking backwards into the foliage.

"Wait, hold it!" Meiya stands, knees shaking, teeth quaking at the unconcerned stance of the aggressor. "You- What is your- Shirogane was already restrained, why did you ask such questions of me? What have you done to him? And why did you touch me so?!"

"…Oh, I was simply curious, you could say. As you should know, we are not encouraged to hurt you much, milady, but I could not help myself. Forgive my… mishandling of you," she giggles while bowing in drama, Kurama continues to walk backwards as she licks her lips to Meiya's groans. "Now then, I've another curiosity of mine to sate."

"Wait, what does that-"

"Go and help your comrades. After all, you had already resolved yourself to abandon Shirogane Takeshito his fate, did you not?" she asks, smirking as she turns around, sprinting away.

When Meiya tries to give chase, a strong gust shakes the nearby trees, hits her face along a thunder which blinds her fully. When looking around again, there is no one close by, no signs to elucidate where Kurama had departed to. Only the quivering puddles below, the cyclone of clouds angrily swirling above, the cries of her friends behind rows of dense foliage.

Ear and chest still hurting, Meiya looks down and lifts the baton she had been using thus far. And even when slowly stepping closer to her comrades behind cover, the lack of modesty or shame present in them or the Ravens are not what cracks at her breaths nor weighs on her arms.

Gulping and nodding to the sky, she circles around the open area, eventually making eye contact with the assaulted Mikoto. A weak nod is given, the stomach tensing and bracing against the revolting inside before she chomps on the intruding tongue, clawing at what pillars her hands were made to caress like a broken elevator running from the ceiling to the floor over and over.

Shrieks in pain drown the rain, eyes open in bloodshot anger along tight fists falling in retribution along insults at Mikoto's head. Yet they cannot strike their target, they don't make it. Those two Ravens are sent flying, one limply falls to the ground while holding the burning in his spine, the other crashes against a tree and is lost in the foliage.

Water splashes about as the unseen attacker runs counter to the gazes seeking the wounded chasers as Mikoto crawls away lethargically. Meiya's arms wring too hard when meeting the completely collapsed gaze of Miki, unfocused. The woman whose fingers were pervading and mining that sanctum soon found herself spinning in the air like a drunken dolphin, landing face-first onto a bush, going fully still, the other Raven toying with the smallest one had his eyes almost rush off the sockets upon the strike falling onto his nape, burying his face deep into the mud.

Kei and Chizuru elbow their bindings when they lose tension in the chaos, bucking their waists to try and roll away from the forced kiss. The muddy soil helps them slip under, away from the Ravens and kicking at them, making the chaser collide onto each other and slide down on the slippery soil. As the final two stumble in the muck to chase after their prey, all they see is an azure mirage rushing at them. With a thunder flashing right behind the risen baton and quaking treetops, Meiya lets the tempest fuse into and propel her forward, recalling her own trainings and style when taking one final step to drop the gavel for a slash.

A tall tree falls, its underside cleanly cut. It makes a few other trees, entangled with its branches, to follow suit and create a small tsunami, a wave that gently washes ashore of Meiya's boots. The final Ravens laid somewhere among those branches and collapsed trunks, completely unconscious and molding into nature's embrace, equally as mauled as the trees.

The baton slips off her hands, she shivers as the wind runs circles around her. Meiya falls to her knees, gasping for dear life as everything grows hazy and narrow all of a sudden.

"Are- Are you alright, you all?" she manages to ask, turning only her head around.

"Cough… N-No injures here," Kei spits, nodding as she helps Miki to her feet, bringing into a one-armed hug to comfort the unresponsiveness. "Tamase… Tamase, it's alright. It's over," she whispers, petting the hair.

"My apologies for taking so long, I…" Meiya tries and continue, but she cannot even stand up. So she hangs her head, seeing her muddied reflection in a puddle.

Gasping through clenched teeth she tries and stand, an ankle burning and almost sending her back down. Biting through the pain, she makes her way to the rest, lending a hand and checking over Yoroi for injuries. She ends up much like Kei, working as a support pillow for the hyperventilation awaiting to happen, the trachea lurching up to kiss the teeth, the bile and gastro acids ejected in spasms.

Rubbing the backside, Meiya can only offer whispers and a soft yet firm hold. "Yoroi, it is alright… They've been bested, it's-"

"T-There may be more! And next time, they may ambush us while we sleep or as we get to the evac point…" Mikoto cries out, clawing at her forearms as hard as the samurai's slashes. "I… I don't wanna be a comfort corporal!"

"Please, calm down… I am here, we are all-"

"I didn't even wanna be military! I-I wanted to join as a doctor but then… W-Why is this happening to us? What did we do to deserve this… Hic… A-Ahh…"

So Meiya uses her own hands to give respite to Mikoto's breaths, resting her chin onto the dirtied and torn hair. "I'm sorry… Forgive me…" If only I hadn't been here, none of you would have been made to endure such a punishment…

"Don't apologize, Mitsurugi," Chizuru states as she finally fixes her own attire, taking out a roll of bandages from her belt kit. "None of this is our fault." And if it there is blame to cast, it is on me, "And I doubt this was part of the test, either. Shirogane might have been right, something's rotten here…"

"…Wait, what?" Kei flinches at the words, the hug onto Miki stiffening, Miki herself as well. "Did Special-kun knew of this?!"

Chizuru shakes her head, simply letting her breaths go. "I don't know… but he reacted to some of the words the chasers said when they ambushed us. He said they were rotten, that we couldn't trust in their words… And I guess his hunch was correct," she then looks down, hand shaking as she kneels besides Meiya and Mikoto to patch up the injuries, almost letting her breakfast leave her when thinking what sort of punishment would have fallen on the abandoned comrade.

"You knew? But why would you- Wait, that woman… She seemed more interested in Takeru than in any of us. But if he was her target, why was she not aware of his name? And they have comms, she should know he's down for the count already… What's going on here?" Meiya wonders as she helps Chizuru tend to Mikoto's wounds, then shakes her head in front of the offers to patch her own. "I am alright, I wasn't… assaulted as savagely as any of you."

"I see… I'll use this then, if you don't mind."

"L-Let me patch you up, Chizuru-san," Mikoto says, coughing and regaining her composure, mechanically going through the motions, both her Chizuru blanking out as small motes of pain flare up here and there on every muscle and joint.

"Ayamine, how's Tamase?" Meiya asks, going closer to offer her own roll of bandages.

"…She's calmed down now. Hey, you okay?" she asks the petite shape clinging to her arm.

Miki nods, still shaking as if in the middle of an earthquake. "I'm sorry… I-I'm sorry…"

"Tamase, we are safe for the moment," Meiya whispers, kneeling close by. "Here, let me see your wounds… Oh… my… Your lips are…"

"If you hadn't knocked that bitch out, I'd have killed her to be honest," Kei spits, angling Miki's neck to grant them both an easier time with the cleaning, letting the rain help slightly as well.

"You've quite the bruises as well, Ayamine…"

"I'm used to this… Always happened in the slums," she shrugs, lifting her face onto the downpour.

"What? Truly?"

"You should know my… reputation isn't exactly good. I've had to…" her lips whir inwards, eyes closing tight, "perform comforting duties to earn my food during the invasion, after I got kicked out of the IJA's training program."

"Oh… B-But this must have been an exception," Meiya nods, tenderly brushing ointment over Miki's lips and wincing upon the wails in pain she continues to give, choking on dry tears. "These were only vile soldiers, our armies would strictly punish such conduct to weed out violent elements like them."

Kei smiles ruefully, trying to chuckle. It comes out as a dry cry. "If you say so… So, how's Tamase?"

"Her lip will need some medical care, she was bitten quite savagely. I… um… Do you feel any pain between your legs?" she whispers, hesitantly placing a hand over a thigh.

Miki shakes her head, hiccuping and wiping her face. "N-No, it d-doesn't hurt… I'm sorry…"

"Please, you bear no sin for this, Tamase."

"B-But my mind blanked out again and… Hic… P-Part of me started to…" to feel good, to try and forget what was happening…

"Even I couldn't do much," Kei reassures, petting the pink hair and nodding down, pointing at her own scars, part of her back and abdomen still burning inside, to say nothing of the scorching still flaring on her chest. "We did what we could, they are the rotten ones."

"Y-Yes… I'm sorry…"

"No need to apologizing, Tamase," Meiya says, standing and offering a hand. "Can you stand by yourself?"

Miki gives a quick nod, shaky legs almost stumbling but raising back with the help of Kei's shoulder. "I can march, I'm f-fine… Uh, thank you. For not leaving me behind," she says, giving a meek nod to Meiya, then to Chizuru.

Those two and Kei share a narrow gaze, sighing as they all give a tacit agreement for a breather, huddling together under some nearby trees to hide from the still pouring rain. For a moment, they wrap themselves in what spray or ointment they brought, taking out the tarp to use as a shelter and searching the missing pieces of the anti-materiel rifle in turns. However, the temples remain cracked. They shakily raise again onto every little sound, manic gazes fearing even the smallest leave departing branches or the raising arpeggios of the puddles. Every shadow, a threat. Every glint, an enemy.

Clearing her throat after checking her timer, Chizuru stands. "We should… Squad!" she yells, more for her than anything, rearranging her glasses and clothing back to proper order as she spits away. "We have- We must continue to march. We don't know if there's more chasers nearby, but this is… no regular CCSE. It's clear someone doesn't want us to graduate," she bitterly says, sharing a narrow gaze with Meiya. "Do we still have any maps intact?"

A small search reveals the three sets of maps, one of which was completely soaked, as well as all their bottles and rations still safe and sound.

"At least this map is still in decent shape," Meiya says when presenting her own, before feeling a void spread inside. "Shirogane doesn't even have a map anymore… Even if he somehow escaped, going by that soldier's queries, how could he even finish the CCSE now? No, he doesn't even know that woman is after him…"

"Well, let us continue to advance as before," Chizuru says, taking a rifle piece from Miki's tender and tattered hands. "I'll handle this for now, Tamase, alright? Good, you watch our backs, okay? Ayamine, you're with her on watch duty," she orders, receiving an immediate nod. "Yoroi, can you lend me a hand with the traps?"

"Y-Yes, of course…"

"What is it? Any sudden pain?"

"No, I was just… thinking about Takeru. If they did this to us, well…" she hangs her head, stifling tears.

All idle time looking at the ground, sharing the rock piercing their stomachs and lungs, the cold hands running down their spines.

Until Meiya clears her throat and steps forward into the foliage. "The best we can do for him is make the most out of his sacrifice, lest we'd be unable to meet his gaze once this is all over. Let us not dally, the way to the evac point is still long," she says, nodding back at the rest. "Even if I'd wish to search for him, in the state we're all in, if we run into any more aggressors… Forgive me, Shirogane," she sighs and lifts her face to the slapping of the rain, the cackle of the Raven which pinned her down echoing in the background.

Sharing one gaze and a deep breath, all five take formation and again pierce the verdant walls in steady march. They still pray some luck and fortune for the one left behind, for him to be safe from any dangers. Despite this, again, they move on without ever looking back.

Carry on, soldiers. No matter what it takes.