Nobody knew exactly who was on the other side. Would we have even looked in the Gate's direction for one second if we had an inkling of what lay beyond? No, and yet still we marched through. Experiments. That is precisely who we were.
-Bertram of Sadera
GINZA TOKYO, MIDDLE OF THE SQUARE
Herm knelt beside his father in a blur and pulled him behind one of the chariots. Hamish's thrashing and cursing made the task easier said than done. "Kill them!" He cried, "Kill them!" He pointed a bloodied arm at both men in blue.
The ogres had taken much longer to register what exactly just happened. Both stood beside the three knights, slack-jawed at this new, powerful weapon. And as both men in blue aimed those terrifying weapons up and yelled, the ogres responded with quick and controlled brutality.
Instantly, a massive axe came at them and smashed hard into the road. Causing the concrete and shards of bone to fly out from the pressure. Herm fell back, dragging Hamish along with him, and Formal jerked his horse away from the churned-up concrete. The other ogre stepped quickly in front of the three.
"Dammit!" Formal cursed and steadied his mount, "Dammit!"
Herm lifted Hamish, who was now clutching at his chest. Two blood trails neatly oozed down the armor, and an odd circular wound was visible inside the very body.
"Father!" He cried desperately, tears stinging in his eyes. "Father, oh gods no!"
"Get him here!" Formal commanded from atop his steadied steed. Acting fast, Herm placed Hamish's arm over his shoulder and walked him over. "I'll help you lift him, don't worry!" He reached down.
"It's his belly, be careful!" Combing their strength, the two lifted and sat Hamish on the back of the horse.
The ogre, after making very sure that his opponent was dead. Took the axe away, leaving an utter mess of gore and rock. "They's dead, sirs!" His voice boomed as Herm handed Hamish a waterskin.
The shock troops turned their massive frames to the knights, looking for guidance. Herm did the same but to Formal and Hamish. He didn't know what to do.
Formal stared out at the city and ogres, then at Herm, and finally at Hamish behind him. "Old friend, are you alive?" He appeared calm and relaxed, yet there was an evident look of concern on the knight's face.
He groaned softly and felt himself, "Barely...what was that?"
"Whatever that was up and went right through your armor"
Hamish cursed again, trying to hide away his pain. "Boy..."
Herm perked up and went to the horse's side, "Yes? Yes, father?"
"Lead the army forward...I will return soon. Show these dogs their new masters..." Hamish coughed, and blood came out. Herm was about to go to him, but his father raised his hand and pointed to his son's horse.
"B-But-"
"Don't. Question. Me. Do...as..." he coughed again, and more blood came out, landing on the road and reflecting the sun's light.
Formal quickly added, "I'll get him to the backlines and seek a healer. I'm sorry, son, but your father is right. We've come too far to retreat, you must lead the army for now."
Without letting him get another word in, Formal turned and gripped his horse. Making it gallop back the way they came. Herm watched them, a pained knot forming in his chest. The weight of an entire realm set itself upon his shoulders in only five minutes.
Gritting his teeth and returning to his mare, Herm signaled the legions to start approaching. To which legates began yelling at every man to begin marching forward. He then went to the ogre's, looking disgusted at the bloodied mess beside them. The ogre's intimidating appearance wasn't of much concern to him anymore as he rode stone-faced beside them.
"Be ready to join your compatriots." He ordered.
"Yes, Sir!" They acknowledged.
The ogres both about faced to guard him. Herm sat waiting in tranquil fury, staring ahead at the road ahead. There were buildings much like home. However, that seemed to be all there was in this damned city. No castle, no palace, not even what seemed to be a townmaster building.
He signaled the dragon riders, and another flew down, landing gracefully. This one was older, with graying hair and a wrinkling face. He and even his wyvern bowed their heads down at him. "Sir!"
"Have you or any of your fellows scouted an area where we may establish a foothold?" Herm questioned.
He shook his head forward, "While we haven't seen many familiar areas. North of here at about a thousand paces or so is what appears to be a palace. It is...an odd construction, but I know it must be what you're asking for."
Perfect, he thought. "Good work dragon knight. Tell every man in the sky to attack anyone dressed in a blue and black uniform with an odd hat. Also, report anything more unusual you see, even if it seems like nothing. Do you understand?"
When Herm mentioned the latter, the older knight gave him a questioning gaze. But only momentarily. He nodded again and yelled, "Yes, sir!"
He whispered something to the wyvern; it flapped its wings, and they both shot back into the air. Just as he left, the legions finally caught up to his and the ogres positions.
The two ogres joined back up with the other shock troops, and the two legates leading their respective legions rode horses alongside.
They were dressed in full plate armor like him; the many engravings and ornaments edged into them signified two very experienced and hardened leaders. "Sir Herm," one said; he flipped up his visor and revealed a scarred left eye. The other was silent, did the same, and showed no scars.
Herm ordered the two to march north and said no more. They, in turn, yelled back at their men, the centurions yelled at their units, and finally, the message reached the backline where Hamish was currently being treated with Formal watching over him. All within a matter of a few minutes.
Herm had to be quick and concise when leading. That's what Sir Gray always told him.
There were many things to be taken in when becoming a knight- logistics, tactics, weapons, and, most importantly, leading men into battle. You needed to be fast and give orders as fast as possible when the time came. Herm practiced, but he'd never preached.
So far, he was doing well. But soon, they could face off against the real enemy. Then the true exam would begin.
Herm furrowed his brows, thinking deeply. At the same time, the dragon knights flew their wyverns overhead. Seeking to destroy any potential opponent before it could even think of approaching the main legions.
A projectile, he felt embarrassed for not realizing sooner. Inside the tube must've been a projectile like an arrow or a crossbow bolt. The weapon even had a trigger like a crossbow, more minor, but he'd seen one before...father...
He'd not even thought about him, and Herm again felt a knot tighten hard within his chest. The healers would most certainly do their jobs but it didn't cure his worry.
He rubbed his face as the legions crossed an intersection leading right, left, or forward. Shock troopers threw those strange metal chariots aside, and they kept moving after a few minutes of this.
Trying to get his mind away from his father's injury, Herm focused on something else. To home. He wondered what everyone in the roses was up to right now.
They'd known each other since the age of seven. There were eight in total, but that wasn't entirely true. Technically, it was more than four hundred actives. However, those were simply knights put under their command. Each led fifty said soldiers personally.
Herm thought fondly about each but felt on edge when thinking about the princess herself. Like in a way, she would know he was thinking of her even while thousands of miles away.
Theatre and tales of heroics influenced Pina into a love of knights. Eventually, it would result in her, alongside a few other noble children, being put under the guidance of accomplished knights to be trained into disciplined killers.
Though Herm wasn't ever a part of her "entourage," father still found a way to get him into training. He saw it as an opportunity to give the Maio name reverence and class. His family was a noble house, though they weren't as respected as, say, Palesti or Ror's.
It wasn't easy; he was relatively small as a boy, and the girls would pick at any mistakes and find more faults in footwork or strategy than any trainer could. Especially the princess and...Norma. But Herm pushed through fifteen years of brutal training, and just two months ago, Emperor Molt knighted him alongside the other eight.
The army had begun to catch up to the otherworlders. They looked to him like little rodents or bugs scampering down the streets and sidewalks. Herm had stayed on the frontlines and watched the ogres and wyverns go upon them.
Herm had never seen death before, having lived a privileged life in the capital. He'd known it to be a part of a knight's trade, and he hadn't comprehended seeing those two men in blue be crushed into a paste. Soon, however, he would be as scared as those he once thought as ants.
Some of the men and women were trying to resist. They screeched and yelled in foreign languages; some even pointed strange rectangular things at the legions marching forward. This appalled Herm. Were these people so arrogant or coddled that they couldn't realize an invading force was approaching them?
They learned their situation very quickly when a man standing in front of the ogres way with that strange mechanism was swatted so hard by one's backhand his body splattered into a mess of broken limbs and blood. Some others joined his demise, either trampled by a horse or stabbed for being in the way.
It took at least a few dozen dead for the situation to sink into these people. This wasn't some parade, theatre act, or a bunch of deranged fools. These were men and beasts here to conquer their land.
Herm passed the broken and twisted bodies trying not to look at any of them. He'd been prepped to see death and expected it. But again, one could never really prepare for when push comes to shove. He had a duty, however. Lead this army and get a foothold at this castle.
Still, he couldn't keep himself from staring at the bodies. It was like a ship sinking, you couldn't just look away. Men and women lay broken by stabbing, crushing, or slashing. The army didn't have any opportunity to take captives as valuable as they could be. This would be a long march, and the front and backlines consistently increased forward. Moving them would take time, and time wasn't on their side.
They reached a tighter road surrounded by buildings with those strange letters plastered all over them. Herm made the mistake of thinking the palace was here, but sp
It was hard to compress together. The ogres had difficulty fitting their big bulbous into rows, moving up or forward to make new ones. He rode along by the calvary in the mid-line and couldn't see even when moving to the far right or left as the ogres shields took up any clear vision forward.
He worried for a few moments. What if these barbarians were mounting a defense and were readying an ambush? What if the ogres didn't see them, and the barbarians cut the formation in half? All the ideas swam through Herm's head within about ten seconds.
That weapon had penetrated plate armor. An armor which he'd been told was invulnerable. Arrows, bolts, swords, and spears; the only thing which could even hope to get through would be a well-struck warhammer blow. But even a hammer would only transfer force through and not penetrate.
This...fire stick, at least he'd begun calling it that, had not only found a way into the armor, but it'd even shattered through like nothing. He let the realization sink in and was interrupted as the army turned left out of their tighter surroundings into a wide square like the one they'd entered from the Gate.
The ogres formed back into their former two-line rows, leaving cracks in the defensive shield. It should've taken only thirty seconds at most, not giving any enemy time to capitalize.
This notion quickly fell apart when Herm was again almost thrown off his horse in an instant as a similar sound screamed through the air and cut down nearly fourteen cavalrymen.
Pulling hard on his mares reigns. He listened to confused and angry yells from his subordinates and injured cries from the downed. Herm knew the real battle was about to begin.
Unknown to him. About two hundred meters away, Tokyo police had formed a defense line. They either tried to direct civilians from the approaching invader's path or took potshots at the former.
There were only five in total. The youngest among them, named Aki. He aimed with his thirty-eight special and fired again down at the street. The shot held and became true upon the massive steel shield of an ogre, but their shells fell and did no discernable damage.
"Shit!" He yelled over screeches and cries behind him. His partner, an older man named Hashi, took another along with the others. Their volley smashed against the shield similar to a thick steel wall, stopping them momentarily, but then the ogres began forward after a few seconds like it was nothing.
"We gotta retreat soon!" An officer with spectacles and a pointed chin yelled as he crouched down and reloaded. "This isn't enough firepower!"
"And leave all these people?" A tall and thin cop responded. She tried to line up a shot between the ogres to get at the humans. Firing, and it dinged off against another ogres shield.
To their rightmost, a short but beefy policeman with a full beard waved people along desperately. Trying and failing to get the civilians to not trample over each other to get away. "Ain't got much of a choice, do we?! Hey! Slow down, goddammit. Everyone stay calm, stay the fuck in order, or else you'll all kill yourselves!"
Around them, their cars had been packed together in an awkward line from a ramen shop where Aki and Hashi had been eating lunch and connected to a massive office building that sold printers. They'd been trying to evacuate the surrounding area for nearly twenty minutes while these invaders got closer and closer.
The woman and the short guy came rushing into their lunch hollering about how some army out of a fantasy book just popped into existence. And how they were currently marching from Ginza Square, killing anyone who set foot in their way.
It took a good while for the two cops to believe them. It took even longer to begin clearing out the ramen shop. But as they reached the outside, Aki and Hashi were both googly-eyed to see what looked like small dragons with men flying on them in the air. Both downright began to panic when they saw mobs and crowds pouring down the street, trying to escape dragons or wyverns and something else entirely.
Among the fleeing civies, the spectacled cop made his presence known when he burst from a horde with a wound on his forehead that oozed blood. He confirmed the two others' tales and stuck with everyone.
"Where the hell are we gonna go?!" Aki questioned as the thunderous march of the army reached one-hundred and fifty meters.
"Keep moving back, they get close at all. We're toast!" Hashi ordered.
Before he could speak, Aki was shouldered by a running suit from the office. He fell back and had to roll out of the way or risk being crushed by dozens of boots, shoes, or heels.
An arm grasped and pulled him up. It was the tall police girl. Aki came up to her neck and weaved back before the top of his head struck her chin. "You okay!?" She shouted.
"Fine, I'm fine!" But this was a small lie, or in his mind, it was. As the two took cover, Aki felt his right shoulder and cringed. He was forced to left-hand the revolver as pain swelled through his neck and joints.
"Any ideas on where to move?" Police girl shouted as they all crouched behind their cars. Shortie had given up on trying to direct civilians calmly and orderly, joining them next to his partner.
"Uhhh..." Aki glanced over the hood and saw the invaders marching closer. About fifty meters or so. He knelt back down, shrugging his shoulder and feeling like his heart would burst a hole through his chest. "Back! Just...somewhere that isn't here!"
"Certainly can't drive!" Hashi grimaced at the herds tearing down the streets.
"Can we even make it through without being flattened?" Glasses breathed.
"It's either stay here and have fun with the incredible hulks," Police girl squeaked, "Or get a chance at life!"
The army was nearing thirty meters, and the police decided silently to go for it. They all stood, shot down the ogres way to deter their march, and then turned. Fleeing down past Big Echo Yurakucho. A bar which Aki once frequented.
But as they sprinted for only a few seconds, Aki glanced up and saw the wyvern's massive shape grow closer and closer until it and its rider were only a couple of meters away. "LOOK OUT," he fell hard, and a popping could be heard even over the beast's angry roar at missing. Hashi had tackled him before that thing's claws could reach him.
Scrambling up, the other three were already firing at them. But the wyvern was quick, and its rider wasn't in a hurry to be knocked off his mount. Aki aimed and tried lining a shot up. However, he was never good with his left hand; instead, the bullet hit a lampost.
He swore in strained anger as the rider flew high up and crossed behind two hotels with neon Japanese lettering. "Fucking hell, kid you alright?" Hashi asked as they began moving forward again.
"Fine, fine," he could hear his heart drumming inside his ears, and his shoulder felt like it would pop off his body at any moment. Aki and the others continued wretchedly weaving through the abandoned cars and mobs.
He tried to calm himself, knowing things wouldn't get any easier if he ran out of adrenaline too early. The station "The station!" He cried out loud in his eureka moment.
"Huh?" Shortie yelled behind them, he wasn't exactly built for long-distance sprinting. Even Hashi, a man in his late forties, kept a steady pace ahead.
"Back-up," Aki breathed, "Riot police have gotta be coming soon. The station is only a few minute's drive from here!" He was smiling, actually smiling while all the panic and chaos raged around them.
"Aki?..." Hashi said, perturbed.
"They have what we need," Aki looked over to them all.
"You okay?" The police girl commented while glancing over her shoulders at the ogres. Who was currently barreling at them all.
"Gone crazy by the looks of it," Shortie remarked. His chest heaving from the most exercise he'd done in a year.
"Shut your damned mouth," Hashi barked back at him. Aki had stopped smiling, realizing this probably wasn't the proper time to act so gosh darn happy.
His breath hitched, and the sharp pain in Aki's shoulder almost made him stop an explanation, "They'll be armed with autos and rifles. Those guns will tear the bastard's armor into paper. We only have to hold out until they get here!"
Glasses glanced all around the group at the near unending mobs of civilians and then asked, "It isn't like they'll be here any time soon! Getting buses through is gonna be a nightmare!"
"They would've been here ten minutes ago if it weren't for this!" Aki winced and resisted touching his shoulder, "We need to reach the intersection! They'll probably be there right about now!"
"What if they...aren't?!" Police girl questioned.
"I..." he thought, or at least tried to think while men, women, and children screamed around him. "I don't know, but it's kinda all we have!"
And when she opened her mouth to argue, Aki had to look up to see her face entirely so, unlike the others, he could see a tremendous shadow that loomed over all. His eyes widened, and in his five years on the force, he'd never entirely experienced the wave of shock and fear he did at that moment.
A dark cloud had made its appearance over all. He didn't have much time to do or think about anything as the arrows came pounding down behind them. The mob's screams swelled as they saw death was near. Dozens had already dropped in the two seconds before Aki's group was laid into. "GET DOWN!" He barely managed to croak out and fell hard to the concrete.
His face planted, making a thud against the road. It felt like someone had let off a dynamite charge in his shoulder again. Stars shot and swam throughout his head.
Blood trickling from his left temple, he stayed semi-unconscious for a good dozen seconds. Then, he managed to gain some footing. A groan escaped him when he put pressure on his right arm to get up. It didn't want to do much moving. It felt numb and funny.
So he raised his left hand and rubbed blood away from his pulsing temple. Then he remembered why he had slammed himself into the ground in the first place and looked around. A pumping realization that he hadn't been hit caused adrenaline and dopamine to fill his brain and body.
There were the invaders about a hundred meters or so away. They marched, chanting with such booming voices that it was all Aki could hear or think.
But when he turned to his left, he froze. They were there, all five of them. Lying on the ground with arrows and small bolts sticking out of their backs. Hashi fell on his ass away: tears, anger, and fear welled inside until it all finally came out in a scream which lasted until he could not scream anymore.
He whirled up, his hands going for his gun, his legs tangled together, and he fell. He got up again. He wanted to run, but another dynamite stick went off in his shoulder when he tried. Forcing him to stop.
Crawling to Hashi's side and rolling his partner on the back. Aki saw the old man's life had been extinguished by what appeared to be a small arrow. It'd gone through the nape, and its head had exited from the Adam's apple. Two trickles of blood ran down his neck, and he knew at that moment Hashi would never go home to his wife again.
This had to be a bad dream. It all had to be a bad dream. Folk were all around him in primal and manic instinct. Their screams and the thunderous tramping from the invaders nearly drove him into a screaming fit once more. The bodies themselves were a lake of dead and dying.
Aki's heart was pounding so hard he could no longer distinguish singular thuds. He couldn't run but managed a slight jog down to what he thought was the right direction. Thinking to himself, Make it to the freeway, make it to the freeway, make it to the freeway.
Everything would be okay, the riot police had to be there already. They would be there, they would drive these bastards back. Aki tried drowning everything else out but those few comforting thoughts.
The self-defense force, even the Americans. They also had to be sending aid. Tanks or helicopters.
He just needed to keep his nerve. Aki repeated it to himself again and again inside his head. Keep calm, keep calm, keep CALM.
When he reached a four-way street, he made a hard turn away from a mob blitzing behind him. They'd trampled over their dying dead or wounded citizenry in a desperate bid to live out the day.
He got up onto the sidewalk. He could barely keep moving from how bad the throbbing in his head was getting. Every once in a while, he thought his ears were ringing.
Something grasped his pantleg, and he pirouetted around in a second. Standing at only his knee was a small girl with large black pigtails. Her face was twisted with fear and terror. Tears slid continuously down her face like a water fountain.
Aki'd been trained in situations involving kids, like speaking about an abusive parent or guardian. But now, he had no damn clue what to say or do. So he said, "Huh?!" And coughed a little from how much air he'd exerted.
"A-Are..." She was inaudible due to the horde's noise and the marching. He knelt on one knee and told her to repeat. "Are y-you a police officer?!" The girl squeaked.
"Yes!" He responded.
"P-Papa said to find a-a police officer!" She announced shakily.
"Good!" He took her hand and pulled her away from any possibility of a runner barreling through her, "What's your name?!"
"Hana!"
"I'm Aki, now come on. We need to get-" a familiar shadow appeared behind her. Aki already had his gun out and tugged Hana behind him.
A wyvern flew overhead, the thing was headed straight for him. In a split-second decision and reaction, he aimed for a long shot.
His nambu went up in a half second, and he unloaded at the thing's eyes. Praying to god this would work. His hands shivered, and his heart was ready to explode.
The first three shots were missed, all wholly off-target. The last three shredded right through the thing's right eye. In a heap, it alighted the remaining five or so meters and skidded hard on the sidewalk.
Its rider fell, landing with a crunching sound. Aki kept the gun pointed at him. If he saw even a finger move, he would fire.
A soft groan made him turn back towards the rider, who struggled to stand upright. "Shit!" Aki raised the gun at the guy's center mass, and Hana screamed.
The rider finally found his footing and woozily loured at him. He reached down and grasped a small knife. Aki, without hesitation, pulled the trigger.
A distinct click sounded.
Oh no.
Itami busted out from the clothing shop he'd been hiding in. Deciding now was the time to move, especially after hearing the invaders getting closer and closer. The wyverns were not currently flying overhead, which he thanked god for.
He pivoted to his left and began rushing down the street, trying to escape the approaching army like many others. He wasn't going to die here, he wouldn't leave Risa all alone.
Turning into a four-way crossing, he came to a screeching halt at what he saw next.
A wyvern lay dead on the sidewalk, and its rider or former rider had taken a dagger and began a rush at the officer who must've been responsible. The cop raised his gun and pulled the trigger, and nothing came out.
Itami rushed forward, his eyes focusing on the knight or whatever this son of a bitch was.
Later, he wouldn't have been able to tell someone why he acted how he did in the next few moments. Maybe it was out of some odd nationalistic instict or something as trivial as he just wanted to save people.
Either way, it didn't matter right then as he tackled, damn near speared the bastard. The dagger flung up into the air and landed next to them.
They wrestled with one another. Itami, lucky for him, did have some experience in hand-to-hand combat. But it meant nothing to this guy, who grasped his neck with pure raw strength and flipped him over.
Itami hit the concrete, feeling something cold under his armpit. The guy followed, mounting and trying to squeeze his life out. But before he could wrench Itami's neck, a savior in the form of that kid cop came out of nowhere and smashed the butt of his gun against the guy's head.
He staggered, and his grip loosened. Itami felt under and grasped what felt like a handle. Bringing it out in a split-second reaction, the dagger entered the invader's unprotected neck. "Fuck off!" He screamed.
An odd breathing sound exited him, and Itami heard a slight gurgle. The rider had died almost instantly. He threw the body off and jumped to his feet.
The kid was standing next to him. His breaths came in quick and fast. Itami placed a hand on his shoulder, "T-Thank you!" He managed to croak, then immediately felt his neck.
The kid didn't say anything and just stared at the body. Itami was about to repeat but louder, but something else caught his attention. The girl from the bus stood still behind him. Staring ahead with dilated, small black pupils. Her little face ran pale with a near-albino shade of white.
"Oh my god," said Itami.
The Cop looked back and went and picked the girl up without a word and held her to his chest. He then looked to Itami, his young face murky and hollow, "We gotta..." he stopped and stared at the ground, a layer of sweat on his face, "gotta keep moving, Sir."
Itami took a moment to look around, and everything seemed to just slow. There were vandalized buildings back the way he'd come, hordes of people running and trampling each other to get away, the distant sounds of the still-approaching invaders, and finally, the two people he'd found himself partnering with. A little girl and a cop.
A rising panic had steadily grown within, but he could not scream. He needed to do something, find a way to survive. He searched until his eyes finally rested on the Imperial palace in the distance.
An idea was formed, and he took action.
Notes: According to an anonymous source, I got a few things wrong regarding the geography surrounding Ginza in chapter one, which should be fixed now. Also, I didn't write this in a day; it's just been festering in my doc manager, and I finally finished proofreading it. Chapter three should be done in two or three weeks.