As the day advanced towards noon, the battle continued. The battlefield was now piled with corpses strewn around, most of them belonging to the rebels, but the fighting continued nevertheless. Janus surveyed the battle with prudence, giving orders from time to time, but what he wanted hadn't been accomplished yet. They were decisively winning, but he needed to end this quickly. As he pondered over the battle's course, a rider hurriedly galloped towards him. He halted at a short distance, saluted the commander, and started speaking in a panicked tone,
"Sir, the flanking force has encountered another enemy unit!" Janus was immediately alarmed, and it took him a moment to think this over. Then he bid his sixty bodyguards follow him, as he galloped at full speed to the hill at the right. This wasn't good, even though they would most likely win, he can't afford to lose a substantial amount of his riders and delay the flanking maneuver. They didn't have all day, because since there was one reinforcing army, there could be another on its way. Janus estimated in his mind the enemy numbers, about a hundred riders, and his own sixty bodyguards could turn the balance of power.
With this thought, he charged into the fray, and his bodyguards didn't need to be told. They crashed down on the tired enemy and killed a great many in this charge, but the fighting soon resumed. It quickly turned into a melee as soldiers and warriors violently fought on horseback, crushing skulls or cutting hands. Janus was also caught in the fight, but his skill and armor did well to protect him. More likely the armor, which was a fine lamellar cuirass over a mail suit. The commander protected himself with a sword, cutting through enemy soldiers. Soon enough he spotted Ishikawa, spies had told them the rebels were led by an old man who held his head high and matched the description the spies provided. But he must not go forth to meet him alone, it was pretty dangerous. But the little fight had ended, and the remaining enemy riders were retreating in a disorderly fashion, while the Romans gave chase.
Ishikawa cursed them in his mind, both the Romans and his cowards of warriors, but could do nothing now. But as he turned his horse to run as well, the steed shrieked in a horrific voice. And rightly so, as when Ishikawa turned he saw two large Roman arrows planted on his horse's hind leg, the beast could no longer run, or even walk. The rebel general dismounted his horse, which collapsed as soon as he got off. Taking a deep sigh, Ishikawa threw away his bow and quiver and took out the katana. He wore traditional samurai armor, albeit without the helmet or the metal face mask.
Taking a look around, the elderly warrior could recognize that he was all alone now, his men had deserted him. There were the sounds of battle coming from the battlefield a distance away, and the Roman riders had surrounded him. Easing his stance, he spoke directly to Janus who was sitting over his horse directly in front of him,
"So, this is the end of mine." Janus taunted the man and replied,
"You recognized that quickly, Ishikawa." The latter simply neglected those words, and spoke again with his head held high,
"It would be below me to rot away in some far-off prison of yours, I've heard how you Romans ship off captured enemy leaders to your lands," With another deep breath, he continued as Janus and the other riders listened,
"So allow me to challenge you to a single duel, I'm gonna die anyway, whether you win or not." The mood remained tense, as Janus put his hand to his chin in thought, and then replied with a smirk,
"I wouldn't be ashamed to say that I'm not the one with weapons. However, if you want an 'honorable death', you can duel with my best man here." As he ended his sentence, a warrior rode forward. He was clad in full plate armor head to toe, beneath which was a mail suit, with a helmet that had little breathing holes in it, while he carried a poleax in his hand; his horse was equally armored.
Getting down from his steed, the man took a battle stance before Ishikawa with his poleax, while Janus resumed speaking,
"This man here is a knight, much like the samurai of your lands Ishikawa, but as I speculate, 'better'. We only recruit them in small numbers, but I can't doubt he'll be a good test for your skill." Ishikawa said nothing but merely got to a battle stance, while Janus remarked one last time,
"Get ready Ishikawa, for you'll be defending not only your honor but that of your whole kind."
The knight then lunged forward, his heavy armor clanking as he rushed at his opponent. He swung the poleax at Ishikawa, who managed to dodge it and parry the enemy's weapon and took the moment to strike by slashing with his Katana at the knight's sides, but the attack unsurprisingly had no effect. The knight faced Ishikawa again, and rushed at him with the pointy end of his poleax forwards, like a spear, and managed to inflict a cut on his foe's left limb. But the force of the attack took the knight forward, and Ishikawa, the quicker one, took advantage of it by getting behind his opponent and aiming at his neck. Another strike, but it was in vain, the chainmail and leather padding easily defended the attack and the knight got back into a fighting stance.
He now swung his blade sideways but Ishikawa dodged it, but instead of readjusting his weapon, he hit Ishikawa on the forehead with the butt end of his long weapon. The samurai wasn't hurt that much, but he seemed stunned for a few seconds, and the knight took advantage of it by preparing for another devastating strike. He got back a few meters and then swung his blade with full force over his head, and into Ishikawa's shoulder. The samurai's shoulder pads were made of interlocked leather plates, so they didn't do much to stop the strike, and the axe cut halfway through the collar bone, now jammed into Ishikawa's body.
The old samurai screamed in pain as blood started leaking out from the wound, and his left hand was now unusable, while the pain made doing anything else impossible. The knight pulled out the poleax roughly, causing even more damage, and then prepared for the final strike. Ishikawa was now on his knees from the pain, his left hand hanging loosely, while his right hand used the katana as support.
The knight looked back at Janus as if asking for permission, the latter nodded, and the knight turned back to face his foe; he was by now a terrifying sight, blood all over his cuirass, while nothing of his emotions could be comprehended through the cold steel of his helmet, which made it even frightening. He once again swung the weapon over his head with full force and with one strike to the neck, ended the duel.
Land of Frost
Loud footsteps echoed through the palace walls as three men sneakily ran through the corridors. Their faces were covered with cloth, and they carried short swords, yet they weren't shinobi. Their clothing was a completely black male kimono, and the steel of their blades reflected the candlelight. Their steps were quick but cautious, and their eyes keenly looking around.
Suddenly, as the candles flickered, the man at the back groaned and fell dead, three senbons stuck on his neck. The other two looked back in horror and with caution, quickly examining their surroundings, there was no one. A few seconds later, the man at the front gave muffled screams as a sword went right through his stomach, and he was forced onto the wall, by whom they couldn't see in the dark. The unknown foe then plunged his sword deeper into the man's stomach, making him groan in great pain, then pulled it out as his victim fell over the wall, blood pooling around him.
The last man, scared and panicked, threw his short sword in that direction, but it hit nothing, so he drew his katana. With terror in his eyes, he slashed at anything in front of him as he hurriedly took steps backward, but it was all in vain. For a split second, he saw the dull candlelight reflected on steel, then it planted itself in his chest. The assassin limped backward as his foe forced the sword deeper into the chest cavity, making him scream even louder. As he fell to the ground, his opponent pulled the blade out, and that was the end of him.
Maximus pulled the blade back, he was panting, the three assassins were nothing special, it seemed. After regaining his breath, he took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood off his sword, it wasn't so pleasant to be awakened from sleep in the middle of the night and then go back to sleep with a bloody sword. As he cleaned his blade, he heard footsteps coming from both sides of the corridor.
Lo and behold, it was the palace guards, six of them. They carried naginatas and were quickly stunned to see three corpses and one man on the scene, perhaps the screams of the last man had alerted them. Maximus didn't pay them any heed, and after putting his sword back in its sheath, he spoke to them as he walked back to his room,
"You're too early here, warriors."
Ramparts
Licinius watched with satisfaction at the battle commencing below the walls, or rather, a massacre. They had been besieged for a few days, but the peasants didn't know what to do in a siege. They had been able to successfully get 150 riders outside the city and hide them in a thicket nearby, and as the main forces sallied out, the enemy farmers were smashed between the legionaries and cavalry. It hadn't helped either that the Romans constantly harassed the besiegers with musket volleys, that outranged the enemy's bows and slings.
Licinius casually took a puff from his cigar, as his subordinate approached him, a young man with straight blonde hair and light stubble,
"So, what now sir? The peasants have been crushed, do we go back to the fort?" Licinius turned his droopy eyes to meet his subordinate's, and replied calmly,
"No, the jobs need to be finished first. I thought of being courteous first, but these knuckleheaded brutes of barbarians won't understand that way,"
"So what are we gonna do?" Licinius took another puff from his cigar and continued,
"We'll think of that later. Word has reached my ears that one of those 'nobles' of this city has snuck out and is now leading the rebels, who've hired a group of three rogue ninjas to fight for 'em. Tell that Marcus' kid he gotta take care of it, and after that he is released from this mission." The subordinate nodded and then went back.
Byzantium
Marcus was sitting inside his villa, which was a comfortably large residence. His study room was nothing less than a mini-library, with more than five bookshelves arranged adjacent to the walls, filled with books and texts, both official documents and literature. The governor himself was seated on his wooden desk, a dozen texts scattered around him, while he was reading one of them, all of them were in the local language of the shinobi continent. He was completely engrossed in what he was doing, so much so that he didn't notice as Severus entered his room, only getting the idea when the old man seated himself before him.
"What seems to be the matter, Severus?" Marcus questioned without looking up from the texts, Severus cleared his throat and then began speaking with satisfaction in his voice,
"I have good news, Janus' men have defeated the major rebel army, and the siege of the Frost capital is nearing the end." Marcus smiled and commented, without looking up,
"That's excellent." After that, both remained quiet for a while, Marcus engrossed in his reading and Severus trying to comprehend what he was reading.
"You know what strikes me, Marcus? How can you remain so calm and 'chill' even when a damn rebellion is going on in the province." Marcus again smiled and looked up at his peer,
"I think you have read the Greek texts, Severus? You're an educated man, you know what is stoicism, so you have your answer."
"Yes, but sometimes it's necessary to be worried."
"I don't think so." After this answer, Severus just surrendered and ended the argument. But another curiosity was still bugging his mind, which presented itself in a moment as Severus posed another question,
"What is it that you're reading?" Marcus seemed satisfied that Severus was showing interest in this, and seated himself upright, face to face with the old man, and began answering,
"I am a man who likes to study history, Severus, and if you only look briefly into this continent's myths and history, you'll be instantly captivated. Of course, the boundary between history and myth becomes hazy after a few generations of the event's happening, even more so without written records. These texts here are a written compilation of all the major myths and epics of this continent that I've gathered, with the help of local monasteries and traveling monks of course. I'll recommend you read them in your free time."
"I am too busy for that, and you haven't told me what you're reading." Marcus now leaned back on his comfortable chair and continued speaking,
"The odd thing that strikes me about this land is its people, the Land of Lightning to be precise, whose people look the same as those in our African provinces. Unlike all others who look like the Chinese and Koreans, but are completely different in their customs, language, and religion. How come this be? You should wonder about that at least once." Severus smirked and taunted Marcus,
"So what evidence have you gathered, 'Herodotus'?" Marcus ignored the taunt and continued his narration,
"Well, the first striking difference is religion. While the other countries mainly worship the sage of six paths, 'the enlightened one', and a host of minor deities, the black people of the northern lands believe in animistic spirits and ancestor worship. Moreover, in the most remote valleys and islands of northern Land of Lightning, as one local traveler's account told me, the people speak a remote dialect of this continent's language, that he described as 'unpolished, rough, a mix of our own and some other tongue that is unknown to us.' The earliest historical text I could find from this continent, albeit clouded in myth and stories of gods, gave me a brief insight into the origin of these people, or what they believe in how they originated.
According to myth, these people in their earliest days, perhaps more than a thousand years ago, were led by a council of 50 clan leaders and a demi-god figure known as Jimmu, who 'led them bravely in the war against the tall, fiendish barbarians, who had skin as black as the depths of hell, and a heart even blacker, as they massacred villages with indifference, even if it contained their kind.' Of course, this is biased as hell, but it gives us an idea that there were two people groups in this land's earliest days. From matching current landmarks and geographical distinctions with the descriptions in these texts, I have concluded that this supposed Jimmu and the 50 clan leader council controlled land stretching from 'the Land of Night in the west to the Land of Earth in the east, and the Land of Iron in the north to the Land of Lakes in the south.' This is only one half of the continent, so it is probable that the 'black barbarians', as the migrants called them, and their sister tribes, inhabited the other half of the continent.
It is said that seven generations of Jimmu's descendants ruled as emperors until the last emperor died and the territory was permanently carved up between the dozens of powerful noble and regional families. This is the point from where we can say a 'proto warring states era' of the continent started, as the various families and clans sought to establish regional dominance or restore the emperor's position with the crown on their heads. Even now, the royal families of the Lands of Earth and Fire claim descent from Jimmu's lineage.
"Another myth that I find interesting is that of the sage of six paths, who is worshipped and adhered to in equal measure. It is believed that he was the son of a goddess and a regional Daimyo, and this man introduced the chakra and its powers to the continent. He traveled through this vast land, spreading his teachings of peace and the power of chakra to be used for good purposes. He had two sons, the elder one going rogue over the fact that he wasn't named his father's successor, while the younger one continued the sage's legacy. A long line of successors thus continued for a century or so, which finally ended after a bloody purge of the last sage and his followers. Do you know what's the most interesting thing? The sage's elder son was the progenitor of the Uchiha, while the younger one was the ancestor of the Uzumaki and Senju. Likewise, many of the sage's disciples soon created their bloodlines that transformed into most of the modern clans.
However, instead of fostering peace, as the sage wished, the power of chakra made warfare even more destructive through its powers. The unmatched power of the shinobi, which the samurai and levies could not counter, quickly became the main factor in war as mercenary clans popped up everywhere. And from that bloody era until now, not much societal change has taken place aside from the creation of villages."
Severus clearly showed interest, but chuckled, and replied whimsically,
"Well then, your narrative was good, why don't you write a sequel to Ptolemy's geographia?" Marcus merely laughed it off, as Severus walked back out.
Author's notes
I know that it's been a while and that I'm dragging this too long, but trust me, I will be ending this arc in the next chapter. How did you like my worldbuilding in the last segment, it might be a bit unpolished, but spare me. Suggestions to expand the worldbuilding are always welcome. Also, I use mcskeleton's Naruto world map for reference in this fanfic, so check it out to understand what I mean by so many nations.
As always, leave a review if you've read this far :)