Chapter 128

Showdown at the Tomino Basin As soon as dawn broke, Neuro learned of the group that left the Byakkokan Checkpoint under the cover of night. He knew it totaled around a thousand and that Tsukasa Mikogami, Ringo Oohoshi, Aoi Ichijou, Keine Kanzaki, Prince Akatsuki, and Lyrule—his target—were among those who fled. How had Neuro learned so many details so quickly? It was all thanks to the Dragon Knights he’d sent to patrol the skies. By using the sight-copying spell he’d once cast on Nio and the other exchange students, he was able to project what the Dragon Knights saw directly onto his crystal ball and maintain a bird’s-eye view of the battlefield from countless different perspectives. He quite literally had eyes in the sky. He saw everything through them. No surprise attack was safe from his all-penetrating surveillance, and it allowed Neuro to devise swift, effective countermeasures to every enemy maneuver. It was much the same as how Tsukasa and the Prodigies had fought using their military satellite. However, they’d recently lost that particular asset, and Neuro was using the same tactic against them. After utilizing his aerial viewpoint to spot the Prodigies, Neuro took the ten thousand soldiers he’d assigned as a reserve corps and pursued his quarry down the Byakkokan Checkpoint detour. Light cavalry riders were the second-fastest type of imperial troops after Dragon Knights. Neuro selected five hundred of them to strip all nonessential equipment—and chase the detached Yamato force with no regard to rank or formation. Once their initial attacks slowed the enemy, the plan was to swoop in with the other two thousand cavalry members and 7,500 infantry troops and crush them. Neuro’s actions were as swift as possible, a testament to his fear of losing Lyrule. “You’re not going anywhere…” Neuro’s words had none of their usual easygoing lilt. His voice positively brimmed with purpose. He urged his horse onward through the night. The plan to kill Lyrule, the person who’d inherited Yggdra’s seal, and revive his creator, Father, using Emperor Lindworm’s body wasn’t something that Neuro had devised on his own. It was a collaborative plot with the other Four Imperial Grandmaster homunculi, who were presently hunting elves in the New World. If Neuro had wished to make certain of his success, he would have waited for them to return before resuming the fight with the Prodigies. However, that wasn’t what Neuro did. Everything from Neuro offering to send the Prodigies home to the current war had been his decision. He hadn’t sent a single report to the others—and for good reason. Neuro wished to produce better results than the others so Father would praise him. Neuro had been born a little after the others, and he was always the one who got the short end of the stick. Being abandoned in the empire was the latest evidence of that. His siblings constantly stuck him with the boring jobs and took the responsibilities that would earn Father’s praise for themselves. It really pissed him off. However, Neuro had discovered that the information about the elves fleeing to the New World was just a distraction they’d cooked up with Yggdra. Neuro, the one left behind in Freyjagard, was the closest to the elf protecting the seal. Neuro had no intention of letting that stroke of good fortune pass him by. For all the opportunity, there were risks, too. If Lyrule managed to elude him, he’d have to shoulder the entirety of the blame. That would incur Father’s displeasure. Neuro might even lose his chance to get Father to return him to his original body. “…” The thought was so terrifying that it made him tremble. It reminded Neuro of when they’d attacked Yamato in the hope of tracking down leads on the seal. When Neuro and the other grandmasters finally located the elf village, they also found the body of their old compatriot, Yggdra. They tried to destroy the traitor’s corpse but couldn’t get the job done. Yggdra had evolved into an all-but-perfect life-form, and though she was dead, mortal human bodies couldn’t so much as damage her. Neuro had never cursed his new form more than at that moment. If, by some improbable stroke of misfortune, he failed to kill Lyrule, and Father blamed him and forced him to remain in that inferior ape form… Neuro couldn’t bear the thought of such a wretched existence. He would rather die. If it ends up coming to that… Neuro cast a furtive glance down at his pocket… However, he quickly clicked his tongue and tore his gaze away. “There’s a one in a million chance that ends up being necessary. No, one in a billion.” …and shook his head to drive off that horrible notion. The otherworldly Prodigies guarding Lyrule were a nuisance, to be sure, but they were still only human. They weren’t angels, just apes who died when you stabbed them. Neuro only required his overwhelming magic and military assets to crush them. Even without his original body, his magical knowledge was years more advanced than anything this world possessed. There was no way he could lose. He decided to stop worrying about unlikely possibilities. Instead, he focused himself and glared into the distance toward his target. Neuro knew full well that his enemies’ movements were a trap designed to lure him out. Yamato couldn’t win this war traditionally, so it made sense that they’d aim to launch a pinpoint strike on him, the one person responsible for the conflict. Neuro had to give his opponents credit; it was a clever move. When faced with the possibility of Lyrule getting away, Neuro had no choice but to pursue. The High School Prodigies likely intended to launch their nuclear missiles and defeat him with extreme firepower. “I have to say, you’re really not giving me much credit.” Neuro was a little offended. How could they ever hope to kill him with a weapon that had failed to finish off the likes of Gustav? Neuro’s only concern was the possibility his foes had increased their strength via unexpected backup. However, he’d already taken measures against the aid from Elm. Masato Sanada’s hatred for Tsukasa Mikogami was the genuine article. There were no signs that he was lying, so Neuro was willing to put a fair bit of trust in him. He felt confident that Masato would stop the Elm reinforcements. That meant all he need worry about were the thousand troops accompanying Lyrule, and they were no match for him. “I’m going to make you regret refusing my offer to send you home.” Neuro chased after Lyrule and the rest of the group that had fled from the main battle. The relentless nature of his pursuit meant that his foot soldiers were left behind, but he’d never counted on their strength. He was only up against an infantry of a thousand. Even taking the Yamato soldiers’ raw combat prowess into account, Neuro had 2,500 cavalry members, counting the five hundred that rode off ahead. That was more than sufficient. After all, Neuro’s mounted troops were no ordinary riders. Neuro’s aggressively swift response, facilitated by his reserve force that answered only to him, paid off. Roughly forty hours after Neuro began his pursuit, right as the sun crested the mountains, Neuro’s light cavalry advance troops finally slowed the Prodigies and their thousand Yamato soldiers enough for him to catch sight of them in the Tomino Basin. The Tomino Basin was located on the northern side of Yamato, and when the Yamato detached force arrived there from the Byakkokan Checkpoint, it stopped its march and set to erecting defensive fortifications on a hill situated right on the edge of the basin and the forest. This position was necessary to fend off the impending five-hundred-person cavalry charge. Lightly equipped or not, cavalry was still cavalry. The Yamato detached force was primarily composed of infantry, and it wasn’t hard to see just how poorly things would go if they engaged the Freyjagard force without a solid defensive position. Like it or not, retreat was no longer an option. Granted, the Prodigies’ goal had never been to help Lyrule escape, but to use her as bait to draw out Neuro, so they hadn’t been fleeing in earnest anyway. Still, there was no reason to let their enemies know that. The Prodigies stopped in their tracks, pretending that the oncoming cavalry had left them with no choice as they set up their position atop a hill in the Tomino Basin, the location that they’d been planning to make their stand at from the very onset. They placed their main forces at the hill’s apex, then surrounded it on all sides with a defensive line about halfway up the hill in preparation for the light cavalry’s attack. Because the Prodigies had gotten a head start, they knew their foes would need to use cavalry to catch up. In anticipation of that, they assembled their force with over four times as many soldiers with pikes and great shield carriers as usual and arranged them in a square formation. Repelling the light cavalry would be child’s play. The imperials lost over half their troops and gained nothing in return after the first charge. Then they forfeited another half of the remainder during the second, and suffered more casualties during the Yamato counterattack before they could mount a third assault. However, due in no small part to the fact that the Yamato side fought defensively because it couldn’t afford to waste any soldiers, the conflict took a long while. As a result, by the time the light cavalry was dispatched, Neuro’s other two thousand mounted warriors had arrived. “They showed up quite quickly, that they did.” Aoi glared at Neuro’s troops from atop a small hill as they surged from the mountain path. The Tomino Basin had few trees, making it easy to spot foes from as far as three miles. “By my count…there’s close to two thousand of them.” “When he found out there were only a thousand of us, Neuro must have decided that he didn’t need an infantry and sent the faster members of his force’s army ahead.” Tsukasa turned his attention to the clear white winter sky. Three dark shadows circled overhead—Dragon Knights. They must have employed some method to transmit the Prodigies’ whereabouts and the size of their force to Neuro. Tsukasa was sure of it. It was precisely what he’d wanted the Dragon Knights to do—and the reason why he’d left them in the air unbothered. However… “That’s quite a lot more cavalry than we expected,” Keine remarked. “Indeed,” Tsukasa said, grimacing. He’d known that Neuro would take his cavalry and ride on ahead. As a matter of fact, Tsukasa had acted specifically to get Neuro to do that. However, that was a hell of a lot of cavalry. He’d expected to face less than half that total. “Neuro’s army hasn’t fought on the front lines a single time during this war. It’s been kept in reserve throughout the entire conflict. The fact that the grandmaster was able to hold that cavalry back… Suppressing that Blueblood uprising must have made him even more influential than before.” The enemy cavalry outnumbered the Yamato forces defending the hill by a factor of about two to one. What’s more, the light cavalry battle earlier had prevented the Prodigies and their troops from fortifying the hill as planned. Splitting up your forces and having them fight independently was normally a go-to example of poor military strategy, but Neuro’s decision had denied Tsukasa and the others the time to enact their tactic properly. Now the Prodigies had to fight off the tidal wave of imperial cavalry with nothing guarding their position on the gentle slope but a handful of loosely scattered trees and boulders. All that said, though… That Neuro devoted so much to launch such a blistering pursuit just goes to show how terrified he is of the prospect of Lyrule escaping. Despite the complications, the situation proceeded exactly as expected. “We’re sticking to the original plan. Our job is to draw our foes in and hold this hill until Akatsuki has time to finish setting up the plan,” Tsukasa declared. One of the Yamato generals hurried over to deliver a report. “Mr. Angel, the hostiles are on the move!” A second look at the enemy forces in the distance revealed they were charging straight toward the hill. As the brains of the detached force, Tsukasa reacted in turn. “Ringo, do you have a lock on Neuro’s position?” Ringo had been using her goggles’ binocular function to search for Neuro. “I—I do! He’s with the central company, near the back!” she replied. “Good. Then let’s pay our opponent back for the other day before he has a chance to close in. On my mark.” “Got it…!” Ringo and Tsukasa nodded, then held their bright-red flare guns aloft. They pulled the triggers. “Thor’s Hammer, numbers eight and eleven, fire!” The two red signal flares rising into the air were a sign to the watchtower on the Elm border to launch a pair of nuclear missiles. Upon spotting them, the Bearabbit AI in the watchtower promptly relayed the order to the missile site in Elm proper. Without a moment’s delay, a pair of missiles went speeding for the Tomino Basin. Neuro had eradicated the Prodigies’ military satellite, so the Bearabbit AI loaded onto the missiles themselves had to handle the post-launch aiming. The Prodigies had used the network to inform the Bearabbit AI that Neuro was a full-fledged enemy back when the satellite was still up and running, so Ringo’s brilliant creation wouldn’t mistake his target. The missiles sped in from the distance straight for Neuro’s army. All they had to do was hit, and the Prodigies would win. It was a shame that so many soldiers would die in the process, but ending the war now would keep the deaths to a minimum. However… “Ah…” Ringo found herself at a loss for what to say. Just before the missiles connected with the imperials, a series of lights that resembled laser beams shot from Neuro’s army, cleaving the rockets in two. Ringo used implosion-type nuclear missiles, so as soon as they were cut through from warheads to vents, the damage made them incapable of triggering nuclear explosions. After rupturing half-heartedly in midair because of their propellants and ignition powder, the missiles tumbled to the ground as impotent hunks of scrap metal. “They both…got shot down…” “Were those lasers?” “Presumably, it was a tactical magic version of the war magic he used the last time. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that Grandmaster Neuro is keeping such a close watch on the sky.” This development earned a slight shrug from Tsukasa. There wasn’t any serious disappointment in the gesture or in the expressions of the other Prodigies. They’d seen this coming, after all. Neuro knew about nuclear missiles. He wouldn’t have come out of hiding without countermeasures ready. This wasn’t the result the Prodigies had wanted, but it was the one they’d expected. “I hoped to get a little payback for the war magic he used the other day before he was too close to fire nuclear arms, but I guess he’s intent on doing this the hard way. Apparently, there’s no other choice, then. All units, prepare to intercept!” Tsukasa adapted swiftly and issued orders. “We’re up against cavalry. They’ll want to take advantage of their momentum, so we don’t have to worry about them going past the tree line and slipping behind our hill. Instead, they’re going to charge and meet us on the slope. We’ll need to intercept them from three sides, the right flank, the left flank, and head-on. “The front group will defend against the brunt of the hostiles, while the groups on the sides will be positioned for when the enemy tries to close around us. Listen, our opponents aren’t going throw all their strength at us from the onset. There isn’t much point in attacking in tall vertical formations with cavalry. Instead, I expect them to divide into a forward and rear group and attack us in waves. Our defensive formations need to remain intact at all times.” The instant Tsukasa finished his explanation, the oncoming cavalry did exactly what he predicted and split into a vanguard and a rearguard. The rearguard decelerated to a stop at the base of the hill, while the vanguard continued up alone. The first clash would begin in less than a minute. Knowing that, the Yamato general raised his voice and issued one final directive to his troops. “They outnumber us two to one! And what’s more, they’re almost all mounted! Yet we have nothing to fear! We are soldiers of Yamato, and our strength is known the continent over! Let’s show these sons of bitches who reigns supreme here on our home turf!!!!” “““YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!””” The soldiers on the hill answered their general’s fervor with a war cry as they formed a defensive wall halfway down the hill with their shields, pikes, and bodies. The warrior’s gritted teeth were proof of their determination not to cede a single inch to the overwhelming force barreling forward. However… “““Arrrrrrgh!!!!””” …a full section of the Yamato central defensive line got blasted away, determination and all. Their bodies were shredded into flying chunks. The two armies had yet to collide. What had happened? Soldiers hurriedly scanned their surroundings, and when they did—they saw them. They saw the balls of fire the enemy army was firing off as they charged. “They’ve got cannons—no, magic!” “Tch! Stay frosty! That’s no ordinary cavalry! It’s a mage cavalry!” “Ha-ha-ha! Weaklings, weaklings, weakliiiings!” “Did those numbskulls seriously think we were just cavalry?” “As if a few hunks of wood were ever going to stop our mage cavalry, the strongest military division on the continent!” The charging vanguard mockery rang out loud and clear as a handful of them shot fireballs and lightning from their swords. It was tactical magic. The vanguard forerunners were anything but your run-of-the-mill mounted soldiers. They were members of a mage cavalry, a unit made up of Imperial Mages. Their spells gave them firepower on par with mortar gunners’. Fire and lightning rained from the sky, causing explosions that tore huge chunks out of the Yamato soldiers’ formation. “W-we’re getting slammed here! Archers, aim for the spellcasters!” While the Yamato soldiers watched their comrades fall in droves, they fought back by having each of their archers fire off a volley. For all their accuracy, the arrows flew wide like leaves scattered by the wind. “It’s no use! Every arrow is missing! They’re still coming!” “They’re using wind spirits to cast protection spells!” “Grab every shield you can off the ground! I don’t care if you have to gnaw their horses’ legs off; just don’t let them break our line!” Moments later, the two armies finally made contact. The hill’s slope dulled the cavalry’s charge a little, but they were still a serious threat to any unmounted infantry. Many of the Yamato soldiers got injured when the incoming steeds slammed them into the soldiers behind them, and some of the unlucky ones got crushed to death. However, the Yamato soldiers were strong and proud, and they refused to go down easily. Their general had given them an order right before they clashed with the enemy, and they were determined to obey. Wherever the frontline soldiers had dropped their shields upon getting blown apart by magic, the soldiers in the back ranks scooped them up and plugged the gaps in the formation. All the soldiers who had been selected to leave the Byakkokan Checkpoint were veterans. There wasn’t a single rookie conscript among their ranks. Field battles demanded more experience than simply defending a fortified position, and Kaguya had made the appropriate arrangements knowing that. Now that decision was paying off. Thanks to their experience, the Yamato soldiers were able to quickly reassemble the defensive line and just barely keep the charging cavalry in check by skewering the oncoming foes with their long line of pikes. Then, anyone not equipped with a pike went in and stabbed at the immobilized horses with their katanas. When the animals bucked wildly from the pain, they sent their riders flying to be trampled by their own mount and those around them. Despite the efficacy of the Yamato force’s techniques, it wasn’t enough to keep Freyjagard’s soldiers down. The reason for that was simple: The imperials were mounted. People often misunderstood why cavalry units were so powerful, but it wasn’t just the speed and force of a mounted charge. Even in stationary melees, cavalry soldiers were leagues more powerful than infantry warriors. Being on horseback gave them the high ground, but the mightiest weapon of all was the steed itself. Even the lightest warhorse was six or seven hundred pounds, and while the damage they could do with a full charge went without saying, they could easily lay someone out just by casually gamboling around. A kick with a horse’s weight behind it was more than enough to crush a person’s lungs. That made warhorses plenty scary. All this meant that cavalry soldiers were a problem, but that was only half the issue. Neuro’s army had mages mixed among the ranks. While the two armies butchered their way through each other on the front lines, the mage cavalry enjoyed the run of the battle. Wind spirits were gathered around their swords in the shape of blades. With each swing, they sliced through five or six Yamato soldiers, shields and all. Against strength on that scale, even the mighty Yamato samurai were powerless to stop them. There weren’t that many mages, so they weren’t able to completely obliterate the Yamato defensive line, but they did manage to chew through the wall of bodies here and there. Neuro laughed in delight as he watched it all play out from the rearguard. “Heh-heh-heh. Those apes should have fled into the mountains like good little monkeys. Did our scant numbers fool you into believing you could hold us off? Well, you’re dead wrong.” Most of the Imperial Mages were off on the New World campaign, but Neuro’s personal army boasted a considerable number of those who’d remained. All those mages under the nobles’ command were technically just on loan from the imperial household, so they only had a few at their disposal. The same wasn’t true of Neuro, however. He and the other grandmasters weren’t nobles, instead fighting for the emperor directly. Lindworm trusted them deeply—and thus allotted them far more spellcasters than usual. That meant Neuro’s army was more powerful than anything the Prodigies had fought to date. It almost defied comparison. “This is probably your first time going up against an army with magic-users. After all, most of the nobility’s mages are over in the New World. This must be your lucky day. You finally get to taste their terrifying might for yourselves.” Neuro raised his hand and gave the signal, and fifty or so foot soldiers who’d been waiting with the rearguard at the base of the hill stepped forward. The group had ridden to the battlefield by wagon, and it was comprised of boys and girls with faces that had yet to shed their youthful innocence. They were Imperial Second-Class Mages—students still attending the magic school owned and controlled by the imperial family. Individually, their spells were weak, and more importantly, they required time to cast, so they couldn’t wade into the fray like the mage cavalry. However, they could still be an effective asset when gathered in one place to act as a fixed battery. “Assume the artillery formation.” “““Yes, sir!!!!””” The youths gave Neuro’s command a rousing reply as they formed a line. Each drew a wooden wand off their hip and gathered fire spirits to its tip. The light at the ends of their wands gradually intensified, becoming flames. Then… “On my mark, Firebolts!” …by Neuro’s command, the students launched their flames in unison at the hill where the Yamato formation made its stand. They aimed for the center of the battle, paying no mind to the presence of allies. Neuro’s army suffered major casualties, of course, but the Yamato side lost even more. The bombardment left the Yamato defensive line so tattered it barely even functioned anymore. Neuro wasn’t going to let that opportunity go to waste. He gave the order to the rearguard cavalry that had remained at the base of the hill when he split his forces front to back. “All rearguard units, advance! Break through the enemy’s line while it’s reeling and trample it into the ground!” When Neuro gave the order for the rearguard to charge, the vanguard cavalry soldiers battling the Yamato defensive line heard the bugle call. They followed the plan and pulled back at the sound. After making their way back down the gentle slope and putting some distance between themselves and their foes, they took a breather and prepared for the next push. However, the Yamato soldiers were afforded no such luxury. As the Freyjagard vanguard disengaged, the rearguard stormed up to take its place. And that wasn’t all. Just as the vanguard had been full of mounted mages, the rearguard sported plenty of special units, too. A magical monoceros carried several times the strength of a regular warhorse. An armored one with a rider created a squad capable of the deadliest charge in the entire imperial army. The magical bombardment had destroyed the Yamato side’s formation, and the armored cavalry’s assault gouged nearly halfway through their defensive line in one fell swoop. “We’ve got armored cavalry soldiers attacking from the center! We’re suffering enormous losses!” “The mage bombardment sent our left flank into disarray, and the hostiles are breaking through our line! It’s chaos out there!” “O-our right flank’s getting pounded from overhead! The Dragon Knights are going on the offensive! We’re taking heavy hits!” “W-we can’t hold out any longer, Mr. Angel! The enemy’s bombing us from the sky with their magic, and we can’t maintain our formation!” Tsukasa’s expression turned grimmer with each report about the fight. The Yamato forces were falling quicker than anticipated. He’d assumed that an army made of powerful Yamato soldiers fighting with the high-ground advantage would hold out a bit longer. That mage cavalry’s a problem. The armored cavalry was threatening, too, but ultimately, it was formed of stronger horse riders. Its strength was the force of its charges, but the terrain did a fair bit to blunt that. However, it did nothing to slow the mage cavalry. It had the mobility of a mounted company paired with the close-quarters capabilities of infantry and the long-range destructive power of artillery, allowing them to single-handedly embody the principle of combined arms. With how limited the Prodigies’ resources were, the mage cavalry was a nasty foe to contend with. It had fallen back for the time being while the imperial rearguard took center stage, but as soon as the rearguard faltered, the mages would swoop in for the imperials’ third assault. If they get another chance to attack us… As things stood, that would be more than the Yamato defensive line could withstand, and Tsukasa wasn’t the only one who knew it. “Mr. Angel, shouldn’t we be pulling back our forces and retreating into the trees?!” one of the Yamato generals asked. However… “We can’t. Not yet.” …Tsukasa shut him down. “B-but why?!” “Because we can’t afford a protracted battle. Retreating into the forest will allow us to survive the present situation, but it will extend the fight and give the enemy’s infantry time to get here. If that happens, we’re done for. If we want to win, we have to maintain this position and hold the enemy in the Tomino Basin kill zone so we can gamble on the plan I gave Akatsuki.” Tsukasa made his call. “Aoi and Keine, we’re going to go assist on the front lines.” “You’re moving out, too?” Keine asked. “Things are worse than I anticipated, especially over on our right flank. We’ve probably lost our general over there to one of the bombing runs. I’m going to bring some soldiers from up here with me and rendezvous with the right flank so I can get it back in fighting form. Ringo?” “Yeah?” “This will leave the headquarters underdefended for a bit. Neuro’s strategy is based on giving his cavalry room to build up speed, so I doubt he’ll try using the tree line to circle behind the hill. Still, stranger things have happened. Make sure you stay vigilant.” “Y-you…got it!” “Keine, I want you on the left flank. Aoi, you’re in charge of the center. Your jobs are to help our fighters maintain the front while we pull our defensive line eight-tenths of the way up the hill. Our Yamato veterans withstood the first and second charges by the skin of their teeth, but the third charge will be the death of us. By falling back a bit, we can reduce the amount of ground our line needs to cover and bolster our density.” “If we pull back that far, our line will be right up against the headquarters and Lyrule,” Keine said. “Are you comfortable with that?” “It’s fine. Better that than holding our current position and having the hostiles break right through.” “Very well, then.” “It shall be done!” Tsukasa nodded at their responses. Akatsuki hadn’t said a word the whole time, and Tsukasa shot a glance over at him…or rather, at the ninja disguised as him… “Akatsuki says he’ll be finished in thirty minutes, and I’m confident he’ll come through. This is do-or-die for us. We need to put everything we have into holding the line here, no matter what it takes.” …then offered some words of encouragement, as much for himself as anything, and drew the rifle off his shoulder as he made to descend the hill. Aoi and Keine followed. Before they got very far, someone called after them. “Hold on a moment!” It was Lyrule. Tsukasa, Aoi, and Keine turned to face her, confused. When they did, she spoke in a voice with an uncommon degree of conviction. “I want to fight, too!” Meanwhile, over on the front lines, Neuro’s rearguard gnashed at the Yamato soldiers fighting desperately to hold them off. The Yamato side was taking full advantage of its uphill position and its anti-cavalry pikes and bows to stop the imperials just short of breaking through the line. Such a feat would have been impossible if not for the Yamato troops’ morale. However, any front held together by morale alone eventually reached its breaking point. The Yamato soldiers boasted incredible strength, but this was still a battle of cavalry against infantry, and the enemy had mounted mages and armored warhorses. It went without saying which side was stronger, and the majority of the corpses tumbling down the bloodstained slope belonged to those fighting for Yamato. In the short time since the battle to defend the hill began, the Yamato army had already lost more than half its ranks. It had managed to hold against the second charge and bring things to a melee, but the soldiers all felt it. They wouldn’t survive a third. “Shit! That magic is a problem, but the armored cavalry’s no joke, either!” “I know how to slice through iron when it’s just sitting there, but doing it against a moving horse is a different story!” “If only Master Shishi were with us!” “Yeah, well, he isn’t!” Two of the samurai fighting on the front lines exchanged complaints like they were trying to spit out the nasty feeling of despair rising in their chests. However… “Ha! These poor bastards put up a good fight, but they don’t know when to give up! There’s no way a group of foot soldiers could ever beat our monoceros warhorses!” “Eat this, you rebel dogs!” …no matter how hopeless the situation nor how much their bodies ached, they never felt the urge to flee. “Enemy reinforcements are coming in. Thirty on horseback, all of ’em armored. You want to make a break for it?” “You’re kidding, right? Like hell I’m gonna let those imperials walk all over us.” “I couldn’t have put it better myself. If I go down here, I’m dragging every one of those bastards to hell with me!” The samurai kept their battered bodies upright with little more than sheer willpower as they glared at the armored cavalry racing up the hill. They were determined to stop the warhorses, even if it meant biting through the horses’ legs. Then it happened. “That’s the spirit, that it is!” The Yamato headquarters enacted the plan to change the tide of the battle. A girl leaped over the two samurai battling the cavalry and landed in front of them. There, with both her indigo-blue kimono and black hair so glossy it nearly looked wet fluttering in the breeze, stood prodigy swordmaster Aoi Ichijou. “M-Ms. Angel?!” “It’s admirable that you haven’t let your spirits waver in such a dire situation! There is still time yet to be bought, though. It is too early for you to be burning yourselves out, that it is!” After telling off the samurai, she gestured at the charging cavalry with her lapis lazuli blade. “I shall stop the enemy’s charge. Follow along after me!” “Wh-what do you mean, ‘stop the—’?” How did she plan on halting the enemy’s advance? The Yamato soldiers never got a chance to ask. Aoi took action faster than they could voice their doubts. She stood in front of the cavalry alone, inhaled deeply… “HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!” …and shouted. The sound was more than just vocal cord vibration. It was a bellow squeezed from every inch of her body. It wasn’t the sort meant to encourage herself or her allies. “Eek!” “Gah! Ah?!” Aoi’s cry carried her bloodlust, pure and unvarnished. It far outstripped that of either army. The samurai near Aoi weren’t her targets, yet they shivered so intensely that they struggled to stand up straight. The imperials had it even worse. “Ahhhhhhh?!” “Wh-what’s going on?! Shit! My horse is freaking out!” “The hell’s wrong with you? Why’d you stop?!” The riders themselves didn’t react too strongly, but the warhorses were cowardly herbivores by nature, and the intense fury in that cry threw them into a panic. They stopped in their tracks, turned to run, and wound up crashing into each other. Aoi seized upon that dysfunction immediately. “Forgive me—Iron-Cleaving Flash.” She raced forward, practically gliding over the ground as she charged into the steeds while her body spun like a top. Aoi’s slash was low and even, and with a single blow, she sliced through a good ten horses’ legs, armor and all. “You…you demon!” The riders thrown to the ground went pale at the incomprehensible development, but they drew their swords all the same. However, cavalrymen without their mounts were hardly anything to fear. “Hraaaaaaah!!!!” The Yamato soldiers who’d followed Aoi as per her orders slew the imperials without giving them time to stand. “I guess that’s the power of an angel for you! I can’t believe she stopped the armored cavalry in its tracks with just her voice!” “Now that the horses are standing still, we can handle them, too! Everyone, aim for the monoceros’ hind legs! The plates back there can’t possibly be too thick! We should be able to cleave through their armor!” “““Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!””” These veterans hadn’t survived Yamato’s many battles on luck alone. Now that they’d been afforded an opportunity to get off the ropes, their actions were as swift as they were precise. The two samurai and their troops descended upon the remaining horses, targeting their hind legs. The monoceros’ armor hadn’t been designed to withstand rear attacks, and the Yamato soldiers swiftly rendered the beasts powerless. The cavalry attacking the center of the Yamato formation suffered critical damage from the sudden organized counterattack. Eventually, the Freyjagard troops abandoned the fight altogether. They turned around and descended the hill so they could rebuild their momentum. While this was happening, something similar was transpiring on the left flank. “Let me go, dammit! I can still fight!” “Not with half your guts spilling out, you can’t! I need bandages! Someone get some bandages over here, now!” “Owww! It huuuuurts!” “Quit your whining! It’s just a broken leg!” The situation here wasn’t much better than the one at the center. Soon after the magical bombardment had thrown things into chaos, the cavalry charge had inflicted grievous casualties. A short distance from the front lines, halfway up the hill, soldiers incapable of fighting were receiving emergency first aid. However, there was only so much the combat medics could do so close to an active battle. Most of the wounded had bled out, and even those the medics narrowly managed to stabilize were racked with too much pain to be useful. If Neuro’s forces got through, the wounded would be massacred. One of the medics grimaced at the sorry state of affairs. “Man, this magic stuff is killer… It’s just like three years ago, when we couldn’t do a thing against Gustav’s Rage Soleil…” The byuma samurai receiving treatment grew furious at the medic’s complaints. “That’s loser talk! Master Kira and the others back at the checkpoint are fighting an army many times the size of this one! Once you’re done patching us up, we’re heading right back to the front lines! Those with broken legs can drag themselves into the fray! Even from the ground, we can still stab an imperial in the balls!” “I told you to quit shouting! I just got your guts back in, and now they’re falling out again!” “Oh, shaddup!” The samurai was so intoxicated with passion that he couldn’t feel pain. Ignoring the hole in his abdomen left by a spear, he tried to stand and return to the battle. That’s when she arrived. “Well, what a lively bunch of patients we have here.” “A-Angel Keine?! Wh-what’re you doing on the front lines?!” the soldiers exclaimed. She was supposed to be up at the headquarters. Keine didn’t answer the question. Rather than wasting time indulging their confusion… “…Lacerations on the left torso, fracture in the right ocular fundus, partial break on the right upper arm, multiple sternum fractures, right leg completely missing, multiple open abdomen wounds, open fractures and stab injuries in the femoral area, one punctured lung, dislocated left shoulder, partial breaks on the right-hand ring and pinkie fingers…and minor burns and subcutaneous bleeding from blunt trauma across the board.” …She cast her gaze over the wounded and promptly diagnosed the level of every injury. Her white gown billowed as she hurled several rolls of bandages over the injured soldiers’ heads. “Now, this will only take a moment.” “““Huh? Whaaaat?!””” With only the slightest of warnings, Keine charged into the injured soldiers’ ranks. The troops braced themselves, unsure of what she intended to do, but their caution was unfounded. Keine wasn’t the sort to hurt people. She was a doctor. She ran like the wind, weaving her way past the wounded, then whirled around once she got to the end, caught the bandages in both hands, and stowed them in her gown. “I have stanched the major wounds and provided stopgap treatment for all the fractures. I’ve also dulled the pain, so it should be easier for you to get around.” “Huh? Whoa! My wounds! They’re all closed up!” “What? C’mon, man, don’t be ridicu—wait, what?!” On hearing Keine’s announcement, the soldiers looked down at their bodies and cried out in disbelief. All their wounds, even the serious ones, had been wholly mended. “She did all that running past us?! Angelic power is incredible!” the byuma samurai who’d been trying to return to the battle despite having his guts hanging out exclaimed. He squeezed at his sutured wound to test it, and though he felt a dull, painful tightness, not a single drop of blood escaped. With a suture like that, he could get wild without fretting over it coming undone. “M-much appreciated. Now we can get back to the fight! To arms, everyone!” “Way ahead of you! I can move again! This is no time to be lazing about!” “Thank you, Ms. Angel!” The Yamato soldiers had their fire back. As Keine watched them, her shoulders sank. “It brings me no joy as a physician to help people overexert themselves. But I do recognize that this is a situation where you have little choice but to keep fighting despite your wounds. I intend to assist in whatever meager way I can to help you do the most with what you have.” Keine’s support ended up playing a huge role in keeping the left flank together. Some of the soldiers’ wounds were beyond treatment, but Keine was able to get anyone with superficial punctures and lacerations right back to the front lines. Clashing against a defensive line that remained unbroken no matter how much they carved away at it started taking its toll on Neuro’s forces, and eventually, they had to retreat from the front lines. And the right flank, the one closest to collapse from the Dragon Knight’s bombs, was no different. “Th-they’re nose-diving again! Those Dragon Knights are coming in for another bombing run!” “Spread out, spread out! If we clump up, they’ll just blow us all away!” “Archers, FIIIIIRE!” “It’s no good! They keep dodging!” “Dammit, what the hell are we supposed to do?!” “COLLECT YOURSELVES!!!!” The shout cleaved through the disarray like a knife. The Yamato soldiers turned to the source and saw that Tsukasa had come down from HQ with more soldiers in tow. With all eyes upon them, he said, “Collect yourselves. It’s true that enemy air forces are powerful, but you’re devoting too much attention to them. Can’t you hear the sound of hooves?” “Wh—?!” “Oh, shit! The cavalry’s coming!” “A Dragon Knight can’t carry very many bombs at once. They’ve already used up their supply. That last nosedive they did was a diversion to thin our formation.” “““Ah…””” Realization dawned on the soldiers upon having Tsukasa point it out. Now that they thought about it, the Dragon Knights hadn’t actually bombed them on any of their last few nosedives. Merely losing their general had sent the troops into such a panic that they were falling for the most rudimentary of bluffs. Embarrassment was plain on their faces. And if they were embarrassed, then they were paying attention again. When Tsukasa saw their expressions, he felt confident the soldiers could still fight. “We’re never going to survive a cavalry charge this spread out. I brought reinforcements from HQ, so let’s tighten up that defensive line! Form up!” “““Y-yes, sir!””” On Tsukasa’s orders, the newly composed Yamato soldiers quickly reassembled their formation. With shield carriers in front and pike soldiers in the back, they engaged their foes as a wall of murder. The Dragon Knights up in the sky swooped down to scare them off again, but this time… …Tsukasa’s rifle had something to say about that. He quickly shot each Dragon Knight down as they dived… “Hold the liiiiiine!!” …and under his command, the right flank rallied and successfully drove the cavalry off. “Our second wave of armored cavalry failed to break through the enemy’s center!” “Something weird is going on over on the left flank! The enemy ranks just aren’t dwindling! We’re getting pushed back!” “We’re charging straight into their right flank, but the enemies are so skilled that we keep losing ground!” “The enemy vanguard troops are pulling themselves together, Your Excellency!” Neuro clicked his tongue at the reports from the hill. “Tch. What the hell are you people dawdling around for?” He’d assumed that the second charge would be more than enough to demolish a tiny group of infantry, but the pests were proving more tenacious than he’d expected. “It would appear our enemies anticipated we would come at them with cavalry. They’re defending themselves well, and none of our forces except the armored cavalry and mage cavalry have been able to make any headway.” “Your Excellency, we have news from the left flank! Apparently, the angels have come to the front lines and are commanding the Yamato soldiers in person!” “…!” Upon hearing that, Neuro’s look of displeasure transformed into a malicious grin. “Ohhh? So they’ve joined directly. They must really be at their wits’ end. Enemy ringleaders brazenly exposing themselves presents us with a perfect opportunity. Focus the Second-Class Mages’ Firebolts on the enemy’s right flank. We’ll blow their heads clean off. Then, as the Firebolts land, our vanguard forces will go back in for their next attack and send them straight to the afterlife.” “At once!” When Neuro gave the order, the Second-Class Mages at the foot of the hill acted. Again, they lined up horizontally, summoned up their fire spirits, and launched their spells. “Aim all Firebolts at the enemy’s right flank! FIRE!” The Second-Class Mages were far from experienced, but Neuro was taking full advantage of their numbers to launch a powerful suppressive bombardment. A wave of burning spheres erupted from the mages’ ranks. It arced through the blue sky and rained down on the Yamato army’s right flank. Countless fiery blasts bloomed simultaneously, engulfing the hillside in the blink of an eye and the right flank along with it. No amount of armor was enough to survive concentrated power on that level. The Yamato soldiers and the hill itself had undoubtedly been blasted away. Anything less was inconceivable. And that was precisely why… “What the…?” …Neuro couldn’t help but gasp. The fire had obscured his view, and once the wind blew it away, he saw that the hill yet stood, despite being buried by explosions. It wasn’t even smoldering. It was almost as if…