THE SOLDIERS WERE AWAKENED an hour before sunrise by General Imoru. Shortly after, they were assembled into a column formation and began to march toward the border of Akuni. News of a potential attack in the southernmost point of Chisana had reached Zenpan’s regiment, and they had begun to make their way there from Murasakino.

After about five hours of travel, during which only one break was taken for food and rest, the troops were nearing their destination.

“So, this is it,” Yukan remarked in his ranks. “The first day of battle is here. We’re facing Aotoshi today.”

“We are,” Ite responded. “I’ve been anticipating this for a week now, but now we’re actually taking lives. This is war.”

“This is murder,” Kadaina added.

As they continued to march, the realism of this situation had begun to slowly sink in. The three of them were going to be killing other innocent men and women, whose only wrong choice to earn this fate was laying down their line to defend the nation they loved. They knew that it was kill or be killed and each troop had to throw away any inhibitions they held to killing should they wish to survive the upcoming battle. They continued on in silence as they approached their vantage point.

Aotoshi’s troops stood upon Oka Hill and saw as Akuni’s fleet began to approach their location.

“There they are,” Shirei remarked to General Dreschler. “Send a message to Kunshu and sound the horns quietly. We don’t want them to realize how close we really are.”

“Of course,” Drechsler confirmed. “Shall we prepare the archers?”

“Yes,” Shirei answered. “Have them ready to fire on command. Aim for their front lines, but don’t hit Kenshi. We have orders to keep the varmint alive.”

“Understood,” the general confirmed, heading toward the communications tent. “I will alert Emperor Mujihina right away.”

The horns blew quietly, sounding as if they were miles away if you were any further than seventy-five feet of it. The archers on Oka Hill drew back their strings, preparing to rain arrows upon the Akuni army from only a few hundred feet away. Yukan paused as he heard the familiar timbre of brass.

“Horns,” Yukan remarked as the troops joined him in pausing. “That must be Aotoshi. He’s here.”

“Cool it, Yukan,” Kadaina interjected. “We don’t know that yet. This feels off. Why would they blow a horn from so far away?”

“Isn’t that a common courtesy of war?” Ite answered. “Blowing a horn and announcing your presence?”

“It is,” Kadaina began, “but that’s not the problem. If they’re so far away, why would they signal it? It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

The troops began to speed up their pace as they moved through the trees near Oka Hill. As they sped up, a shield wall was formed.

“Why are we running at them from so far away?” Yukan called out.

“That’s the thing!” Zero shouted back. “They’re not!”

Yukan looked behind himself and saw several troops impaled through the skull with an arrow, their bodies limp.

“Run in, men!” the general hollered over the horns, which now blasted at their full volume, as he unsheathed his claymore. “Make them pay tenfold!”

Akuni’s forces began to charge at full pace toward the Aotoshi vantage point, hearts pounding at a speed that one may only know when they truly fear for their lives. As the frontlines charged forward, barely protected by the shield wall, the archers began to fire at their attackers.

Despite having the low ground, Ite’s aim remained true as she released an arrow from the Nukenai Bow into the neck of one of the archers. He then toppled forward, landing onto the arrow as it further impaled his throat. Witnessing this, Ite stood frozen and afraid. She gazed upon the lifeless and bloodied body of the man she had slain, struggling to admit that this was her fault. His blood was on her hands.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Soon afterward, Ite was tackled onto the ground. Once she could process what had happened, she saw an arrow fly past the both of them, flying through the exact spot where her head once stood.

“Dammit, Ite!” Kadaina exclaimed as he got up from the ground. “You almost got yourself killed! Don’t stop firing!”

Ite simply nodded, keeping a vacant stare toward the fleet of archers at the top of Oka Hill, and pulled her drawstring back once more.

At a different point on the battlefield, where Aotoshi’s troops had begun to charge down the hill, Yukan had sent the Omega Blade cutting through the stomach of an Aotoshi soldier. Yanking the sword downward to complete the cut, the man’s entrails leaked out in a wretched pile of amalgamated flesh.

Although the sight of such a maimed body was indeed troublesome for Yukan, the worst part of it was not the mere horror of a gruesome death. What scared him most was the fear that he had crossed a line in that moment, from which he could never return. Just as Ite had been struggling to process, Yukan was now responsible for the death of an innocent man. Some may dare say that he was no better than Kunshu in that regard, the man that he had grown to hate the most of anyone alive.

Kadaina’s psychological state was burdened much more by the former of Yukan’s worries, the grisly sights of these pools of blood and exposed organs. These sights were unfamiliar to Kadaina, as opposed to Yukan who had to bear witness to them before. The most he had experienced in this regard was seeing drawings of these organs in a textbook or diagram. Seeing them in real life was almost too much for Kadaina to bear. He choked back his own vomit as he worked to heal the wounded on Akuni’s side.

Amidst the chaos, a laugh that had become all too familiar for our trio and their general could be heard.

“It’s that bastard!” Yukan yelled as he charged in the direction of Kunshu’s voice. “He’s mine!”

“Men, retreat!” Zenpan desperately yelled out, knowing what was to come of his presence. “Yukan! Get your stupid ass back over here!”

As Ite fell back with the other troops, an arrow found its home in her left shoulder, destroying the scapula underneath. Yukan was busy trying to make his way through to Kunshu and cleaved through a troop that had tried to block his path. In that moment, he was too focused on killing the man that had ruined his previous livelihood to contemplate the morality of that man’s death. Yet, one thing stopped him in his tracks. Ite’s cry of pain had caused Yukan to turn around and see his girlfriend, lying on the ground, being charged at by an Aotoshi swordsman. At that moment, he had something more important than revenge to worry about. He bolted toward Ite as quickly as he could while the Aotoshi soldier smiled devilishly and prepared to send his broadsword through her spine. He yelled as his sword pushed through the body.

For a moment, Ite had braced the impact until feeling a spurt of warm liquid as opposed to the sharp pain of a stab. She turned to look and the Aotoshi soldier had begun to fall to his knees, impaled with his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Yukan pulled the Omega Blade out from the man’s chest before returning it to its sheath and picking Ite up.

“Yukan…” Ite wheezed, “Thank you…”

“Let’s get you out of here,” Yukan grunted as he heard another soldier approach. Thinking fast, Ite pulled the arrow out from her shoulder blade and fired it into the soldier’s head, only processing the pain as he died.

“Kadaina!” Yukan shouted, rushing toward the retreating Akuni regimen. “Get your nerdy ass over here!”

The mage began toward Yukan, only to be blocked by Kunshu as he landed in between the two boys. The Emperor of Aotoshi began to bring the Alpha Blade down upon Yukan, knowing that the swordsman would not drop Ite to unsheath his weapon. Yukan held his girlfriend close and braced for impact.

The sound of clashing metal emerged as Yukan heard Zenpan and Kunshu’s swords scrape against one-another. Yukan found the opportunity to slink past the two dueling forces and retreat into the fleet’s defensive positioning.

“Do you mind?” Kunshu groaned. “I was in the middle of some very important business.”

“Forgive me,” Zero spat. “I just can’t recall the last time I saw the great Emperor of Aotoshi in person. Long time no see, Mujihina.”

“No respect for those above you, I see,” the emperor taunted. “Perhaps you are something different from the other generals. State your name.”

“You don’t remember me?” the maila replied as he let up a part of his shapechanging magic, revealing his true face to Kunshu. “I’m shocked. I’d think that you would know to recognize your old pal Zeronius.”

Kunshu broke away from the battle for a moment, taking in the face of his attempted assassin. For so long, he had fought to evade being caught at the wrong end of the maila’s blade, but he now found that this streak of safety was at an end.

“I will give you this one chance to leave the battlefield alive,” Zero demanded.

Kunshu brought out a radio transmitter, never letting his left hand drop the Alpha Blade.

“Good work, men,” he began, his usual confidence now showing a few cracks. “Akuni is retreating. Oka Hill is ours. Set up camp in the meantime. Shirei and I shall be holding a meeting for our next battle in Jidi.”

“Oh, and stay away from those three, while you’re at it.” Zero added.

“That blade will be mine and nobody will stop me from claiming it,” Kunshu retorted. “Not you, not that boy, not his two accomplices, and certainly not Kashikoi Masuta.”

“Why you-” the general began, only to have Kunshu once more activate Suornha and take to the sky.

“Farewell, Zero,” Kunshu called out from the sky. “I hope to paint these fields with your blood one day.” Kunshu then sped toward Aotoshi at a speed that would make a falcon look sluggish in comparison. Zenpan huffed angrily as he returned his claymore to his sheath. To learn of the death of a trusted friend of his in this way was the ultimate insult.

“Regroup, now!” Zenpan yelled out as the surviving injured were loaded onto cots toward a nearby military hospital.