… Midnight.

Four hours after the destruction of the Hagi’Shar Forward Army’s base camp.

The flames had completely died down, and without braziers or Vice-general Kuraku’s exploding ants to ward away the cold, the blizzard had already buried everything under rugged mounds of snow. There were still traces of fallen vine walls here, frozen mushroom buildings poking out the ground there, but for the most part, the land directly beneath the slope up the blackrock mountains was ‘barren’. Not lived in. By morning, the blizzard would have the debris completely pushed under, and it’d be like nobody ever even attempted to establish a base camp—it’d be like the spirits of Hagi’Shar were telling the Attini Empire to back off, and to never attempt invading the village of worms ever again.

But General Wanuy was tenacious, if nothing else.

“... Sorry,” Kuraku muttered, a living corpse with holes riddled across her torso, burn marks scarring her skin all over. He had to cut both her arms and legs off to make her lighter to drag through the snow as well; not that his bodyguards had any trouble doing so with their sharp mandibles.

“A direct confrontation between the Empire and the locals of a region to be conquered is only inevitable,” he said, one hand gripping onto her collar while the other was stuck in his pocket. “Our history books have shown, time and time again, that it does not matter whether the Empire’s Forward Armies win or lose their first confrontations; the second one is always the last, and the Attini Empire has never lost the second one.”

Kuraku stayed silent. He supposed she didn’t want him to look back at the slope and see her destroyed outpost as they trudged down south. The border outpost wasn’t that far away, after all—they should be back after a twelve-hour trek through the blizzard. They could probably make it back before lunch was served.

“... The worm children are powerful, huh?” he said, sighing as Kuraku refused to say anything for a few more minutes; he didn’t like the silence from her. “At least now we know they will be an asset in humanity’s war against the Swarm. You did well holding them off for as long as you did. Do be sure to write me a complete report of their abilities once we get–”

“It was just ‘Seven-Shot’ Sparrow,” she mumbled, shaking her head softly. “The rest of the ‘Worm Mages’ are ineffective. Cowards in warfare. Alone, they will not pose a threat to us, but… there are two defects among them. Both Sparrow and that silver ant scout are trained soldiers. If the two of them can teach the others how to be ‘fearless’, then Immanu might grow to become a barricade we have to bludgeon our way through.”

…

He’d already guessed as much, of course. Before he’d pulled Kuraku out of the snow, he’d walked around checking on some of the other children’s corpses, trying to identify all of the dead by their faces. If not one, then there were only at most two bullet holes in each of their bodies; such accuracy could only be demonstrated by the Hagi’Shar Forward Army’s best anti-human marksman.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Of course, he’d had his suspicions as early on as two months ago, when the silver ant scouts had said the boy who shot their rifles out of their hands fired seven times before they could fire once—but it didn’t seem like his three bodyguards knew anything about it, and he glanced at them from the side, watching them narrow their steely grey eyes.

It was only now that Kuraku seemed to notice the two of them were being trailed by three shadows trudging through the snow, keeping a wide berth around him.

If she had the strength left to shudder, though, he wouldn’t even have pulled her out of the snow.

“... Well,” he said, putting a bit of energy into his voice as he glanced around at Kuraku, “at least Sparrow did not severely damage most of the children’s bodies. We will have them brought back to the border outpost in a bit. They can still serve the Attini Empire the way they are.”

A pause. “And… the Worm Mages? What will we do about them?”

“Them?” He shrugged, turning to nod at his bodyguards. They each nodded firmly back before stopping in the snow, saluting with their arms across their chests. “I have already prepared a letter and a small gift of apology, so the three of them will be sent up to this ‘Immanu’ to make amends. You do not have to worry about their orders. I imagine we will hear from them in another month’s time.”

He couldn’t see her face, but he imagined her lips were trembling. “You’re… sending just three soldiers up to Immanu?” She didn’t sound at all convinced. “Sparrow will slaughter them. Wounded he may be, if he managed to outwit even me, then there is no way–”

“That is because you only understand the strengths of the three battalions under your command,” he said curtly. “But Capital law demanded we bring this last battalion with us as well, so I had, in passing, studied some of their tactics and abilities—and while it is unfortunate we set off on this campaign with twenty bullet ant soldiers in the First Bullet Ant Battalion, that four of them are still alive in Hagi’Shar must amount for something, no?”

Then he took his other hand out of his pocket and scratched the back of her ear, making her flinch and grumble and try to swat his hand away with her head.

“The three of them will do just fine,” he said softly, slapping the back of her head one last time. “First foremost, focus on the reconstruction of your body—then, we can talk about total victory for the Attini Empire.”

“...”

She was silent as he continued dragging her through the snow, only the fierce snow and howling winds keeping his ears company—until he heard what sounded like quiet sobs from her end, her whole body shivering like she’d caught the common cold.

“Do not cry,” he said plainly. “Ten years since we ran from our hometown, and I promised your father I would protect you until the Swarm is defeated. Until humanity wins, you are not permitted to cry. You are not permitted to stay idle. You will be my right-hand until death, and then even after that—do you understand, Vice-general Kuraku?”

“...”

Silence for just a moment longer.

But then she sniffled and spoke; her voice was tight and airy, dead and hollow; there was steel in it nevertheless.

“... Understood,” she whispered. “For the Attini Empire.”

He nodded slowly back—a small, wistful smile curling his lips.

“For the Attini Empire.”

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Arc Three, “The Bullet Ant Soldier”, End