The army had been expecting a short march to the 5th. Instead, Alisson’s first order was to head north, toward the land of the Harpies.

“Begin march.”

“Forward, march!”

The army gathered their things and set out down the long roads to the north. He heard his officers grumbling on more than on occasion:

“Does Alisson even know what he’s doing…? He’s young and has never been given such a large command before…”

“Why are we heading north? The fight is to the west…! This golden-haired brat...”

“Our comrades in the 5th are bleeding and dying while we march around doing nothing!”

“Why did we bring so much tar and oil…? Look at how many wagons are hauling the stuff back there…”

Alisson ignored their gripes, and scolded any who dare question him. He didn’t share his intentions with anyone. He had been mulling it over the past two weeks, wondering if he truly had the right to do this, but grimly concluding that it was well within his power to do so.

“Stop here, I need a small group of guards to come with me.”

“Sir!”

They reached the edge of Sidonian territory. His 51st surrounded him briskly.

“Augen.”

Alisson motioned for one of the battalion commanders, a large man whom Alisson had met only in passing. Of the battalion commanders, his stoic demeanor and few words, along with never seeming to gripe about Alisson’s new command, made him to be the most amiable of his sub-commanders.

Augen rode closer, giving Alisson a deep stare. Alisson withdrew a folder that he had prepared in advance.

“Remain here with our forces. I will send a runner to inform you which course of action to take outlined from this list. Do not show this anyone. If no runner arrives within the next day, then refer to the list. Please tell the engineers to begin constructing package one.”

Augen nodded and took the folder. Alisson stirred his horse, and surged forward with his 51st at his back. The harpies were a city state; in that this entire forest could be considered theirs. The trees were massive, and a great deal of unique wildlife resided here. The harpies were nature lovers, and stayed neutral and isolated to protect their lifestyle and their land. The trees broke up large troop movements, allowing the flying harpies free reign for guerrilla combat, and along with their staunchly neutral political stance, made the forest impassable to most.

Alisson was going to negotiate. By the end of today, one of those factors would cease to exist.

It wasn’t long until the outer sentries spotted them, and flew down to ask his purpose. He ignored them, and continued riding toward the center of the forest, not slowing. Harpies flew over head, both watching their formation and fluttering back to their homes.

By the time he reached the coast, which was where the brunt of their infrastructure was, A large group of harpies settled down before the wooden gates of their city, in full combat armor.

“Halt! If you continue to disregard our orders then we will attack!”

Alisson slowed to a stop, flashing a glare at the lead harpy. “I’m here to speak with your brood mother. It is a matter of upmost importance.”

With those few words, the harpies reluctantly accepted Alisson’s request, and escorted him deeper into their city. A few houses on the ground level had been shoddily constructed from wood and twigs to service foreign diplomats.

“Barbarians…”

Alisson muttered under his breath.

Alisson was escorted within one of the buildings and readily dismounted.

“Your weapons and companions must remain outside.”

Alisson frowned, but did as was asked, ordering Dascha and the 51st to remain outside. He had no weapons with him, leaving his sword and knives with Celis and the command staff.

He entered an interior room and was made to wait for a long while. Alisson sat with his arms crossed, deeply frowning at the guards assigned to them. Even their armor was barbaric, and barely covered their frail bodies to allow them to continue to fly. In ground combat, the harpies were probably terrible warriors.

Alisson thumbed the cross that hung from his neck idly when the door opened, and in walked a large, feminine harpy; but one who clearly wasn’t the queen bee. Alisson sat up and before she could even sit down before him, he stated his demands simply.

“Allow passage to all Sidonians in my company, and stay within your huts and homes until the day is over.”

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The harpy stopped trying to sit down and scoffed at him. “What is this? We don’t take orders from you people.” She smirked. “Be civil, small boy, or else all our hospitality will have gone to waste.”

“I’m not in the mood for this.” Alisson growled. “Do as I say.”

“Or what…? You and fifty little men? We can’t very well let you use our forest as a highway – This is part of the neutrality agreement that we uphold with all nations – Have you just woken up from a long nap…? Sidonia is back that way.”

Alisson rose out of his chair. “So then, it’s a no?”

“Look, I don’t know what you’re getting at here, boy, but nothing you do will make us-”

“Very well. Let the record state that I gave you a choice.”

Alisson turned, and tried the door, but found it locked.

“My utmost apologies, but it’s in our policy to hold onto intruders until they’re vindicated by their homelands – You’ll have a lot of explaining to do to your Lady, Nekomata…”

She said slyly. Alisson growled and kicked down the door with explosive force, and started marching through it to the outside.

“Wha-wha-!? Stop him!”

The guards descended on him. Alisson activated his Opensen and surged toward the closest one, throwing an explosive punch at their head which made a horrific crack before the harpy fell limply. He turned and with a flurry of attacks, pushed, tackled, and beat down the dozen guards who had tried to restrain him. Firo’s power combined with his Opensen…Even without any armor on, only wearing his black overcoat and no gauntlets, it was enough.

“Did you truly think a General would be so defenseless…?” Alisson muttered, fixing his gloves, his tails swaying behind him.

Alisson thought briefly to use their weapons, but Alisson saw the crude craftsmanship and concluded that he didn’t want those cobbled together pieces of dirt to violate his hands.

“W-what are you doing!? It’s just one kid! Stop him!”

Alisson turned and gave a glare at the diplomat. He lunged toward her in an explosive action, grabbing onto her throat as her wings began to flap to try to flee. He slammed her light body through a thatch wall, tightening his grip on her neck as she struggled to breathe. Alisson sighed, and mustered his strength to throw her body, which was twice his own size, out of a nearby balcony and into the air. She struggled to stay upright, flapping her wings, coughing and sputtering.

Alisson turned and rejoined his men outside, who were staring down a flock of harpies in the sky of above.

“51st. Go back to where we came from. The order is Roteskreuz.”

“Sir!”

His 51st followed his orders without question, and stirred their horses, leaving him behind. Dascha sat by his side, unwilling to leave, growling loudly at the surrounding birds, her large longsword at the ready.

Alisson crossed his arms. “I’ll be waiting right here.” He called to all the surrounding harpies. “You can choose to attack me as you like, but I won’t hold back. This land is now property of the House of Nuam, and any sign of aggression on my territory against my person will not be taken lightly.”

“YOUR territory!? YOUR land?!”

A harpy surged toward him indignantly, a spear aimed at his neck. Alisson bobbed to his side and kicked the harpy in their back, sending them tumbling across the ground and ruining their wings. Another had seized on the opportunity to attack, and dove from above, the air whistling around their speed. Dascha slammed into this one’s side, and slid the length of her longsword through their body, before quickly returning to his side.

“Wait! Don’t throw your lives away! Wait for the royal guard!”

Compared to man eating beasts, of which untold thousands that he had slain, some stupid empty-boned and empty-brained overgrown hens were no match for him.

After that initial display, it seemed that the birds were at least smart enough to know that challenging him was a bad idea, and waited for their own big-swingers to appear before attacking.

More and more harpies appeared. It seemed they had given up on chasing down his 51st, and had let them leave unimpeded.

It appeared that the plan to distract the harpies was working.

“Those bars…that insignia…You’re a general, aren’t you?” A harpy clad in heavy armor dropped down before Alisson, their clawed legs digging into the ground. “Are you a traitor running away…? Or perhaps something more nefarious? Regardless, your fun ends now.”

It looks like they actually sent someone decent. Alisson cracked his knuckles.

“I am-”

Alisson blurred forward, and the harpy braced themselves, thrusting forward with their polearm, confident Alisson couldn’t do anything to them whilst he was unarmored.

Alisson easily weaved around their weapon, and got chest to chest with the large harpy, slamming his palm against their chest plate. It was time to see what Firo could do. Unbeknownst to anyone else, a stream of slime ran along the harpy’s armor, entering the gaps and folds.

“Wh-what the!?”

Alisson threw his weight against the harpy, but it wasn’t enough to make them fall. The harpy rose with their wings, trying to kick at Alisson with their talons. Alisson sidestepped, and in doing so, found his arm stuck to the harpy, thanks to Firo. Something strange happened however, when their front plate flung off with a pull of Alisson’s hand. Alisson took the opportunity to give a rough kick at their now unarmored chest, which blew the wind out of the bird and sent them stumbling back.

Alisson clenched and unclenched his hand. “Not bad…But I was expecting something more dramatic.”

Firo was quick to answer back, “It’s not like I can go inside someone and vaporize them or something in such a short time span! You’re way too fast! I can’t control independent parts of me if their not connected to my main body!”

“A main body, huh?”

Alisson appeared to be talking to himself, thoroughly uninterested with those around him.

“W-what are you all waiting for!” The large harpy said, coughing. “Go! Attack all at once!”

But, no one moved. That’s because they all noticed it. A stream of smoke entered the circle of fighters. When they looked, they saw that in the distance, fires now raged.

Alisson saw the sudden terror on their faces.

At the edges of the forest, and closing rapidly, the great trees that had stood here for thousands of years, had now caught into a brilliant blaze. Above the smoke, barrels were seen thrown through the air, their contents exploding outwards with black substances, feeding the flames and powering the inferno.

This forest wasn’t usually dry enough to catch fire. The natural wildfires burned at the base of the trees to clear debris…But this was different. The top canopies of the trees were covered with black liquids and sticky substances, before nearby flames touched them, and instantly set fire to an entire cluster of flora. These flames would burn quickly and ravenously. In a few more minutes, the temperature of the whole climate should increase to a level where a self-feeding firestorm was born.

The harpies quickly broke out in cries of confusion and terror, and some even went limp, freezing midair and falling to the ground.

Alisson broke into a smirk, and then a little chuckle, and then maniacal laughter. It was not joyous laughter. His eyes were wide in fear, at himself. That he was capable of this.

***