Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume9 Chapter8 (section)

=== Part 2 ===

From the very start of its existence, it had not really been appropriate to call Tolinea Fort a fort. It was simply an assembly of abattis and turrets built overnight; and now, having been engulfed in flames, those man-made structures had been burnt to nothing.

In the sky above, Yuriah’s flagship and the three other cruisers ignored the flames and turned to fly towards Jozu. The airships that had bombed Tolinea led the way.

Standing on the bridge of the flagship, the general of the Bow of Gathering Clouds Division, Yuriah Mattah, looked back only once to confirm the results of the battle.

He chuckled to himself. It would be nice if those huge, vivid flames could cross the border to the west, he thought.

''Our next opponents will be the western savages.''

With the traces of the flames still smouldering behind his eyelids, he turned forward.

At that moment, behind him, the flames ‘cracked’.

What had been one huge mass of flames now split apart into innumerable fragments and were thrown in the air, but Yuriah had yet to notice.

“E-Enemy ship!”

Yelled the soldier who was observing the surroundings from above the deck. His voice reached the bridge through a speaking tube.

“Putting in an appearance at this point?” The smile still remained on Yuriah’s lips as he spoke.

Everyone on the bridge turned as one to look back.

And Yuriah’s smile instantly faded. To their eyes, it looked as though Tolinea Fort vanished to ash amidst the flames, and a new ‘life’ seemed to be reviving from within the fire.

The Reinus, flagship of the Dawnlight Wings Division.

With branches and leaves that were still alight clinging to it, the dark red hull suddenly surfaced from within the flames.

Yuriah’s fleet had no time to manoeuvre. The Reinus aimed at them from behind and opened fire. One of the cruisers took a direct hit and sunk instantly. Another of the ships had part of the structures above deck blown away and, although it just managed to maintain flight, after receiving a further a succession of shots, it became unsteady and started falling.

“C-Come about, come about!”

Filled with the roars of soldiers, the bridge was in such turmoil that it seemed like a completely different place from what it had been just a second earlier.

By the time Yuriah’s flagship had finished turning, the Reinus had risen further into the sky and had released its airship force.

''You’re joking'' – Yuriah was still in shock even as he sent a message for the airship units to return – ''you’re joking, they were concealed? During the bombing, surrounded by fire, under that? Impossible...''

Tolinea was, of course, a decoy to attract the enemy. On top of it being hastily built, Orba’s side could not afford to divide their already inferior numbers. And so, they had concealed the battleship under what looked like a large pile of leaves and branches. The plan was that, once the enemy firmly believed that Tolinea had fallen and turned their rudder towards Jozu, the instant their behind was turned, the bombardment would begin.

However, that was the last stage of the plan and was only supposed to have happened after Folker had left the enemy headquarters open to attack. It was meant to facilitate Pashir’s assault by mowing down the air force besides causing the enemy’s attention to lose focus. Orba having, as it were, switched over to brute force tactics, they were playing what should have been their final hand.

At the command of the Reinus, Rogue understood that they had been compelled to change the plan. Because of that, just like Yuriah, or perhaps even more so, he was shouting out encouragements to his men.

“We have to take the skies at all cost. Never mind if we have to slam into the enemy’s main force, as long as we cover our allies’ attack. Sky Fang Unit, Wolf Fang Unit, give the signal to send out your platoons!” While shouting on from the bridge, he brandished his trusty sword.

A beacon was sent up from the deck and the airships, that had earlier been pretending to defend the sky above Tolinea but which had actually been making a speedy and calculated escape, now returned. The ships that had launched from the Reinus joined up with them. Without missing a beat, they launched an attack from the sky on the enemy ships.

Opposite them, Yuriah had his airships spread out in a defensive formation. He intended to use that chance to have the ship fix its position and start shelling the Reinus.

Ship and ship passed by each other at speed.

Gunfire was exchanged.

Mephian airships were built to look like flying dragons. The scene in the skies above the Forest of Tolinea was like that of a clash between the last surviving winged dragons.

On the ground below.

While Zaas Sidious was temporarily evacuating Jozu Fortress, he intended to round up his fleeing men.

''I’ll regroup the formation'', then charge again. That was the only thing on Zaas’ mind, so when a roar to make all of one’s body hair stand on end erupted from the side of the fortress, he naturally went rigid.

It was the dragoons that Orba had kept in reserve as shock troops. Their slimy wet scales glittering, reflecting the colour of the flames, a mixed force of the medium-sized Baian and Yunion dragons plunged towards them.

The effectiveness of cavalry charges against infantrymen lay in the speed of the horses and the pressure put on soldiers who could see themselves being trampled under their hooves. All the more so with dragons. Zaas’ unit, which had already lost formation, lost to the pressure from the oncoming dragons and fled just as it had from the fortress.

One of Zaas’ allies was caught by a dragon’s tusk and was writhing and groaning. Zaas was about to go and try to somehow save him when,

“General, this way!”

A company commander pinned his arms behind his back and dragged him away.

“Let me go!”

This commander was one who had served since his father’s time and that was another thing that Zaas could not stand. He felt as though on top of being played by the enemy, even his allies were saying – ''you’re still just a child.''

“Holding our ground is what the enemy wants. General, if you want to win, for now, we have to pull back.”

“For the enemy, this is their last chance at victory,” another one of the commanders joined in to persuade Zaas. “They won’t get us with this. With our numbers, we just need to get back into formation and demolish them!”

Zaas Sidious reluctantly gave his men the order to further withdraw.

Meanwhile, Orba had, of course, also left the fort.

Just before the bombardment began, he, along with Shique and the others, had taken a shortcut to the forest west of Jozu Fortress. The assault unit, Gowen and Gilliam among them, had been kept waiting there. All of them were leading horses, but there was one Baian dragon mixed in among those.

“It’s started?” Gowen called out when he noticed Orba.

Realising that Orba was only smiling with his eyes, he corrected his tone.

“… Has it already begun?”

Before answering, Orba looked around at the assault unit. Two hundred cavalrymen, one hundred foot soldiers. In a way, they were the choice picks, but that was with regards to the ground troops of which there had, right from the start, not been enough. Moreover, the most able had preferentially been incorporated into Pashir’s detached force, so it was inevitable that, compared to them, they were at a disadvantage.

The mounted soldiers especially had been taken from Rogue Saian’s troops and a few dozen soldiers who were “good at handling horses” had even been separated from Odyne’s riflemen. Apart from that, what stood out were the Imperial Guards whom Orba knew well.

“After this, we’re going to be running into the enemy headquarters,” he said. He paused for a moment but none of the soldiers’ faces showed any trepidation. “Don’t turn around, not even once. Pay no attention to your comrades. Those who gallop forward gallop only forward. Those who fall from their horses are to hold back and kill as many enemy soldiers as they can even if they are alone.”

Neither Orba’s voice nor his expression was tragic or heroic. It was exactly as though he were simply saying – ''there’s a guy I can’t stand so I’m going to go beat him up''.

Yet everyone there understood the situation. What would be coming next would be a suicide attack pitting their meagre numbers against six hundred ground troops. Moreover, even if they managed to break through, the same number of troops again would be waiting for them at the headquarters.

Thinking about it normally, there was no hope for them to even first break through. However, and although the procedure had been a little different from the original plan, they had dealt a serious blow to Zaas’ ground troops and to Yuriah’s air forces.

They would stab at that opening.

There was no saying how long the enemy would have that opening, but if they launched a swift, sharp attack through it, there was a chance that they would be able to stretch it wider.

“What’s the reward for taking Folker’s head?”

Gilliam had his vaunted battle-axe hefted onto his shoulder. Orba flashed his teeth as he laughed –

“A word of praise from me,” he answered.

“There’s something to be grateful for. So much so, I could cry,” Gilliam roared with laughter.

Orba walked up to the Baian that the dragon-groom from Apta was keeping chained. He had made a snap decision to choose not a horse but this medium-sized dragon. The original plan had been for Orba and the others to lure the enemy reinforcements. Now however they were aiming for a central breakthrough of the enemy lines. Accordingly, it would be better for Orba, who would be leading the unit, to be riding a dragon.

It was a dragon that Hou Ran had been taking care of since their time in Tarkas’ Group, so Orba wasn’t without any connection to it. The Baian groaned as though it had been waiting impatiently. While touching the nape of its neck the way he had seen Ran do, Orba unfastened the dragon’s chains.

Leading the unit, he took a shortcut through the forest.

They were able to confirm the retreat of Zaas Sidious’ troops simply by looking. Most of the dragons that had charged at them were riderless, at most there were three dragoons among them. Hou Ran herself, riding a small Tengo dragon at the very back of the unit, was getting the dragons to move according to instructions from those three.

Orba immediately had the Baian run up to Ran’s side.

“Move the dragons away towards either side,” he called out to her.

Once they were excited by the blood, the dragons would lose the ability to distinguish friend and foe. They might well hinder the charge.

On the Tengo’s back, Ran gave a slight nod and blew on the small flute that hung at her neck. She had once said that the flute had been carved out of the bone from a dragon’s talon.

Although Orba could not hear a sound, the effect was immediate. At Ran’s signal, the dragons moved quickly – some of them too quickly – to get their large bodies out of the way, parting towards the right and the left.

As soon as the path ahead was free, Orba yelled “Let’s go!”

That shout itself seemed to cleave through the enemy. Raising a spear, he started charging.

Trailing a wreath of dust behind them, a group of riders and foot soldiers cut in a straight line towards Zaas’ troops.

“What!”

“U-Uwaah!”

The Baian sent one soldier flying in the air. Following behind him on horseback were both Gilliam and Shique, one wielding his axe, the other a spear. To the left and to the right, two soldiers who were just managing to respond to the attack were cut down.

“I am Gil Mephius!” leaning forward as the Baian ran on, Orba himself claimed that name. “Fools who understand neither justice nor the times. Prostrate yourselves and make way!”

His voice resounded so clearly and sonorously that it seemed unbelievable that he was being violently jolted up and down as he rode the dragon.

That the enemy commander-in-chief – who was also a man who claimed to be the heir to the throne of Mephius – would charge out to the front line on a dragon was a situation that was well and truly outside the expectations of the Mephian soldiers.

Moreover, his face was perfectly identical to the crown prince’s, and for those among them who had ever so much as caught a glimpse of Gil, the shock of engaging him on the battlefield was identical to that of being pierced by a spear or a bullet.

“His Highness!” One soldier fell on his backside as soon as he caught sight of that face.

“That’s the C-Crown Prince! Pull away your spears!” Another ordered, turning to his comrades.

On the other hand,

“Gil Mephius, you said?”

In the middle of retreating, Zaas Sidious heard the voice saying that – or rather, he heard the commotion raised by the agitated and bewildered soldiers. Although he should have regained his calm, once he heard that the enemy commander had come out, he lost it once more.

His blood was not only raging from the prospect of earning the greatest achievement in this war, he also wanted to check the enemy’s real appearance with his own eyes. Zaas shook off the company commander’s attempts to stop him and turned back along their escape route. While shaking away his men who were getting in his way as they agitatedly escaped, he arrived to see the Spear of Flames Division, feared since his father’s time, being effortlessly cleaved in half.

But that was not the only thing that made his eyes open wide.

''Huh!''

The one riding the dragon in the lead was, without the shadow of a doubt, Gil Mephius.

And even as he recognised that, he drew the sword that had temporarily been sheathed.

“Damned impostor!” the cry flew from his lips.

Having run through battlefields since he was young, Zaas had inwardly despised the crown prince. In the Sidious family, what determined the worth of a ‘man’ was one simple and unequivocal rule: how many enemies he could slaughter. And so, whenever he caught sight of the prince and gave him his greetings at the palace, Zaas would look down on him. ''When I was your age, I’d already reaped the heads of plenty of enemy soldiers on the battlefield.''

Thus it was unthinkable for ''that'' Crown Prince to be splendidly leading troops like this, and furthermore to be charging in the lead. Even though their facial features might be identical, Zaas could only see them as completely different people. In a way, it was because he had such a simple and unequivocal rule that he could so easily see through to the truth.

“We fight!” Zaas shouted and spurred his horse onwards.

As Gil continued to strike down the enemy forces, Zaas once again mowed his through his allies to confront him head-on.

Orba did not recognise this opponent as Zaas Sidious, but he could tell that the young warrior charging straight at him was a formidable enemy.

With all the strength of his youth, Zaas first threw the sword that was in his right hand. Orba knocked it away with his spear. Countless sparks came to life before him.

While Zaas’ horse shied a little to the right as the sparks were still scattering, Zaas himself extracted his spear from his saddle.

The distance between Orba and Zaas was now that of a single blow.

And then, a galloping rider weaved his way into that distance.

Zaas’ spear was struck from two directions.

It was Shique, wielding his double swords.

“Your Highness, leave this to me.”

Hearing Shique call out, Orba nodded from atop the Baian. As he himself had thoroughly hammered into his men, he raced forward without paying any more notice to what was going on behind him.

Zaas was close on his heels but Shique skilfully rode his horse to block his pursuit. He drew up so close to him that the horses’ heads were almost touching.

“Eei, move!”

“I won’t be moving.”

“A paper warrior like you thinks he can be my opponent?”

Zaas gave a broad swing of the spear in his right hand. Shique bent his upper body and returned the blow.

In that time, Orba’s assault troops rode past Zaas, raising a cloud of dust behind them.

Seeing through their strategy, Folker Baran had, on the one hand, driven them into a corner, but their desperate charge was also certainly bringing them some pieces of luck. First of these was that they had been able to reel in the Division commander, Zaas Sidious. Having lost sight of him, the Spear of Flames Division had at the same time lost their centre of command. Be it rallying the soldiers to encircle the enemy from the front, sending the best among them after Gil only, or any other plan to halt the enemy’s charge, they could implement none of them.

And simply because Shique understood this –

“Hah, according to rumours, the Sidious House has fallen. You can’t gauge your enemies’ strength. Looks like you aren’t half what your father was,” he jeered.

Zaas silently thrust at him. The blade swept over Shique’s shoulder. While sweeping it away with his right sword, he was going to slice through him with his left, but the distance was too great.

''Ha ha.''

Atop his horse, Shique laughed. He was not trying to provoke his opponent, but Zaas became even more piqued and spurred his horse closer. Zaas’ spear and Shique’s swords flashed as they sped, creating a fighting space that no one else could approach.

''Oh, what the hell.''
[[Image:Rakuin no Monshou v09 305.jpg|thumb]]
Zaas’ spear grazed Shique’s side. He had expected a burning sensation but felt no pain. He immediately shifted into a counterattack and blew away Zaas’ shoulder pad.

Neither side faltered.

They lunged for another attack.

The Spear of Flames Division having thus, in effect, been abandoned by its commanding officer, Orba’s charging troops tore right through it.

However, there were many lower-ranked commanders that formed its backbone. Even amidst the chaos and panic, they remained unaffected. And many among them recovered quickly, gathered up their platoon or their company, and were starting off in pursuit.

“Give chase!” The company commander who had once pinned Zaas’ arms and urged him to retreat now yelled, brandishing his spear above his shoulder. “This is nothing but a desperate charge. We’ll catch the enemy in a two-sided attack along with the defence line at Headquarters!”

Although their battle formation had been thrown into disarray by a series of surprise attacks, there was still room to recover. Even though they had the momentum of the charge, taken the other way, that was all they had. If they could obstruct even one step of their advance, they would be able to overwhelm them with their numbers.

“Give chase, give chase!” All around, Zaas’ troops were turning around and were about to start their pursuit.

In that moment, a furious roar thundered again.

But this time, it was not dragons.

Because so many canons had fired at the same moment, the overlapping reports had sounded just like a dragon’s roar. One by one, holes were carved open into the backs and chests of the soldiers who had only just turned around. They toppled forward as blood and screams gushed out of them.

“Second row, in position. Fire!”

The one issuing the command was Odyne Lorgo. On either side of the enemy group, his riflemen were laying in position, lined up in threefold rows.

These were the soldiers who had originally lain in ambush at Jozu Fortress and who had fought Zaas’ troops there. At Gil Mephius’ signal however, they had temporarily drawn back to the rear of the fortress, and had then once more advanced in time for his assault.

When Gil Mephius had been fighting hard to cut through the enemy, a sidelong glance had told him that the riflemen had moved in to flank each of the groups to either side of him in which enemies and allies were mingled.

At that time, Odyne had given strict orders not to shoot. Desperate to provide cover for the crown prince, he had felt like giving the order to fire immediately, but given the situation at the time, they would inevitably have injured their allies. And so, they had been waiting eagerly, hidden behind debris blown away from the fort or nearby trees.

And then the crown prince’s troop finally opened a gap through the enemy and the entire group surged through it. Just when the enemy was about to start off in pursuit, Odyne quickly raised his arm overhead.

“Fiiire!”

Under shooting so intense that the area around them was filled with white smoke through which it was almost impossible to see, the platoons and companies of the Spear of Flames Division collapsed.

“Bastards! Come back, come back!” – Some of the units broke up into small groups of fleeing soldiers, while others once more turned around and lunged towards the riflemen. But before they had run even halfway towards their objective, a hail of lead bullets pierced through their entire bodies.

“Bring the cannons here!” The company commander who had earlier issued the order to give chase shouted as he lay flat to the ground. The shooting was so relentless that, if he lifted his head even a fraction, he would probably have his brains blown out.

Dragged on rattling wheels, the cannons finally arrived, but by that time Odyne had already pulled back. After that, his men spread out by company and took up positions that had been determined beforehand, from where they continued shooting, dulling the Spear of Flames Division’s pursuit as much as possible.

The effect they achieved was steady, but Odyne was unable to find ‘the right opportunity’. They had lost their base and in their current situation of being without protection from cavalry or infantry, the riflemen were fragile. They would eventually be crushed.

Actually, several units had already been annihilated. That was because there were many among the enemy troops who had turned and fought back, fearless of bullets. It showed that, although Zaas himself might be lacking in experience, the Spear of Flames Division itself was highly skilled.

“Withdraw.”

Odyne gathered his men at the point in the forest which had also been fixed in advance as their last line of defence.

''How much time have we been able to gain with this?''

Since the crown prince was at the front line, no matter how long they were able to hold them in check, it could never be long enough.

As he quickly reorganised his men between the trees, Odyne watched for the chance to move forward. It went without saying that if ever Gil Mephius were killed, then no matter how bravely they fought or how hard they struggled, their defeat would already have been set. And so, Odyne could not afford to fear the destruction of his troops. When it came down to it, he was determined that they too would attack without worrying about the future.