Chronicle Legion:Volume 3 Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Two-Headed Dog

Part 1

"Morrigan, inform the defensive forces at each tutelary fort on my behalf."

After the merged divinity of the Four Gods vanished, Edward immediately issued orders.

"Tell them to keep defending their respective tutelary forts for two hours. Once this designated duration is over, each army will act at their own discretion depending on the changing circumstances."

"Affirmative."

The loyal spirit Morrigan nodded in response to Edward using the doll she was possessing.

They were on the roof of the nation-protecting keep at the first tutelary fort, Seiryuu Gate. Edward quickly walked over to a waiting wyvern.

"Very well.. It is time to get back to square one. I will take my personal guard, the Knights of the Garter, and leave this first tutelary fort. Morrigan, you come with me too."

"Affirmative. Are you going to converge with the main force, Prince?"

"Indeed, you know me well."

Seeing the subtle expression on Morrigan's face, Edward smirked.

...Despite losing his impregnable fortress, the superior officer seemed to be in excellent spirits. Edward was thankful for the leveled playing field, allowing him to have a showdown against Tachibana Masatsugu on equal terms.

Morrigan was appalled by the Black Prince's love of battle, but felt curious about how he would command his army.

"Let us set off, Morrigan. I have brought four hundred Legions to Seiryuu Gate, with eight hundred remaining at the central command center. A total of a thousand and two hundred Legions should be plenty enough forces. The Japanese enemies must know that the black knights of the British Empire will be the ones to dominate the Hakone battlefield."

Apart from the Garter Knights, there were another hundred and fifty-odd Crusades at Seiryuu Gate.

The Black Prince ordered them to defend the tutelary fort while he took his personal guard to converge with the "central main force." He was going to launch a vicious counterattack next, to destroy the enemy armies in the four cardinal directions respectively—

This was Edward's plan. However...

"Of course, you are going to hinder me, right? Tachibana-dono..."

Leading the four hundred Legions under his direct command, the Black Prince moved towards Oowakudani—

There was another ambush force there. Eight hundred Knights of the Garter were already detected. Leading a total of a thousand and two hundred Legions, Prince Edward was setting up his position in the sky over Mount Souun—

Retainer beasts such as aquilas and yatagarasus had returned with the above reports.

Needless to say, Tachibana Masatsugu was kept informed of such intel at all times.

However, there was one matter that needed to be discussed and settled prior to entering the battlefield. It would not be wrong to call it a negotiation. In other words, a meeting with the renowned general of Japan's "ally," the Eastern Roman Empire.

The key point was how to defeat the enemy's leader, Edward the Black Prince—

Riding blue wyverns, Masatsugu and Rikka headed to the rendezvous point in the sky over Oowakudani.

After the battle at Suzaku Gate, six hundred of Masatsugu's Kanesadas remained while Rikka's hundred and fifty Kamuys were virtually unscathed.

Meanwhile, riding a silver wyvern, General Wei Qing brought roughly four hundred and fifty Centuriae.

In order to hold the Black Prince's attention at Seiryuu Gate, Wei Qing had confronted the English longbow formation head on, losing over half of his army of a thousand as a result.

The rest of the Roman and Tōkaidō forces had stayed at the four tutelary forts in the north, east, south, and west.

Those forces were currently fighting the armies left behind by Prince Edward.

Currently, the hundred and fifty Tōkaidō Legions combined with the four hundred and fifty of Rome's to give a total of a thousand and two hundred.

Given the proportions, it would not be wrong for Tōkaidō to be in command. However, if the Roman army, which had sacrificed the most so far, refused to cooperate, this battle would be extremely hard to fight—That was how the proportions worked.

While thinking over these matters, Masatsugu reached the rendezvous point in the sky over Oowakudani.

Leading his Centuriae in a spherical formation, General Wei Qing arrived from the direction of Hakone Yumoto.

"Masatsugu-dono."

"Yeah, I'm going to talk to him for a bit."

Masatsugu gave Rikka a look and left the Tōkaidō army of seven hundred and fifty Legions. Riding his wyvern alone, he approached the Roman army of four hundred and fifty. Who knew what would come out of his discussion with General Wei Qing?

The two of them met in the sky over Oowakudani.

Wei Qing said very candidly, "I am willing to cooperate with your plan, Masatsugu-dono."

"...Now that's really helpful of you to be so accommodating."

That being said, Masatsugu could not help but grumble this time.

"Since I haven't even told you the plan, aren't you agreeing too quickly?"

"Please rest assured, this is the power of my Feat of Arms."

"What?"

The ability to renact migty feats from the battlefields of one's past life—

Such was the special power of Feat of Arms. However, what kind of ability had Wei Qing invoked during this conversation? Masatsugu was greatly puzzled.

Wei Qing pointed at his own temple and explained. Normally low key, Wei Qing was speaking in a mischievous tone of voice for once.

"I have no idea whether my daily conduct resulted in karmic backlash, or I am simply afflicted with poor luck, but as a result, I am always surrounded by troubles outside of battle. Examples include unreasonable treatment from the upper class, or being forced to lead armies that are clearly weaker than the enemy..."

His words sounded like complaining, but Wei Qing's tone was filled with levity as though he were not talking about himself.

In fact, there was a gentle smile maintained on Wei Qing's face.

"Perhaps due to this, my intuition is especially sharp when it comes to matters of advance or retreat."

"Intuition?"

"Yes. My expertise lies in knowing when to advance or retreat, knowing where to move for better fortune and which positions are disadvantageous... All this is clear to me in a kind of premonition."

"You can really see that stuff?"

"This time, my intuition tells me that you hinted at is the most effective path to survival... This is precisely the effect of my Feat of Arms—Kanglong Youhui."

Wei Qing easily revealed his completely unassuming ability.

Masatsugu was very intrigued. Did this really count as a Feat of Arms?

Wei Qing smiled again and said, "There have been many eccentric people around me in the past. This includes an emperor who was a good judge of character, but had poor understanding of human hearts, the emperor's willful older sisters, obstinate generals, etc... Perhaps after being pushed around by those people for long years, I developed this kind of ability as a result."

"I see."

Masatsugu understood, but he was only half-convinced.

General Wei Qing having such an ability was probably true. Otherwise, he would not have obediently committed to Masatsugu's battle plan without knowing anything in advance.

However, a Feat of Arms purely for "improving intuition"—That was quite difficult to believe.

Masatsugu speculated that Wei Qing had exercised "temperance" in only telling part of the truth. The true effects of the Feat of Arms should be more powerful with intuition as merely the tip of the iceberg.

"General Wei Qing, if a chance arises, I'd really like to get to the 'bottom' of you some day."

"My true nature is not interesting at all. On the other hand, Tachibana-dono, your identity is far more intriguing."

"Me, you say?"

"The way you have fought your battles so far are only possible with a deep belief that your troops are the elite of the elite. Such are the types of tactics you employ, which take an excessively heavy toll on the soldiers."

"......"

"It is most likely that you hail from a strong nation, or perhaps you were a general leading heroes of the most elite sort?"

"Speaking of which, you said the troops you led were old and weak, General?"

Faced with Masatsugu's question, the handsome general smiled wryly and admitted, "Yes, the emperor assigned cavalry to me by to subjugate the equestrian Xiongnu tribes... Unfortunately, the riders and horses were all raised within Han borders. Compared to warriors who spent their entire lives riding across the steppes—The difference was as great as between heaven and earth."

In any case, the matter of command was settled with unexpected ease.

Dozens of minutes later, the two of them finally faced off against Edward the Black Prince.

"Morrigan, it is time to begin."

"As you command."

Edward had divided the Knights of the Garter into two divisions.

First of all, nine hundred of them formed a wide wall formation as the "front rank." A couple hundred meters behind, the remaining three hundred were the "back ranks."

With the black knights in the back ranks all equipped with longbows, "mode anglais" was fully prepared.

Edward himself and Morrigan were among the back ranks. The genie had switched to a doll-size simulacrum and was sitting on the Black Prince's shoulder.

Looking out at the enemy position, Edward was quite surprised.

"Drawing a diagonal line across the battlefield... An oblique formation, huh? How old-fashioned to employ the tactic of Lord Epaminondas. Hohohoho, famed generals of past and present, oriental and occidental, all use the same methods, is that it!?"

Speaking of medieval knights, the majority of them were actually uncultured brutes.

The point of promoting chivalry was to impart a system of basic morals on these unruly men who frequented battlefields. So-called knights were nowhere as elegant as imagined by modern people.

However, there was a rare exception right here.

Having received an elite education since childhood as part of the English royal family, he was instructed in courtly elegance and etiquette.

Apart from mastery in martial training and the arts of war, he was also well-versed in Latin with deep knowledge in classical Greek and Roman texts—This was what Black Prince Edward was like as a person.

Now, he noticed that Tachibana Masatsugu had recreated a famous tactic from ancient Greece.

"We are about to have a real showdown against the prince. All units, assemble into a line to create a wall."

Now consider the coalition force between the Tōkaidō Fiefdom and the Eastern Roman Empire.

They had also entered a wide wall formation like the enemy. Both sides were in the sky over Mount Souun at Hakone, forming their own respective "wall" with over a thousand Legions.

However, the coalition force's wall was very different from the British side's.

Starting from the left and moving across, there were six hundred red-purple Kanesadas, then four hundred silver Centuriae, and finally a hundred and fifty blue Kamuys.

Along the entire line, only the Kanesadas on the left were intentionally arranged in a column.

Thus, the formation became an "L" with a protrusion on the left instead of a perfect horizontal line.

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The column on the left consisted of the six hundred Kanesadas.

Instead of uniform ranks, this arrangement concentrated not only manpower but also the toughest troops on the far edge in extremely deep ranks. This tactic was known as the oblique order, a type of unbalanced formation.

Part 2

Back to the second tutelary fort, Suzaku Gate.

The great phoenix of the Four Gods guarding this fortress was already gone.

However, the hundred-odd Crusades stationed here by the Black Prince were still around, currently fighting the coalition force of Centuriae and Kurou Hougans.

They had probably received orders to stay in the tutelary fort and continue to draw the enemy's attention.

At this rate, things should be fine.

Relieved, Shiori decided to change the subject.

"...The oblique order is an ancient Greek tactic."

The Tōkaidō side had set up a simple tent as a temporary camp on the lawn inside the tutelary fort.

Shiori was sitting on a foldable chair in the tent with a blanket over her lap. Activating the master-servant enchanted ritual had depleted her stamina greatly.

Fortunately, she remained conscious and was still able to use noetic control.

Currently, she had sent reconnaissance yatagarasu to observe the showdown between Masatsugu and the Black Prince.

The battle situation was projected into the air for a live broadcast. On the screen, Tachibana Masatsugu had ordered the Legions to enter an oblique formation.

"Back then, the mainstream tactic was to deploy troops in phalanxes with wide ranks of equal depth. However, Epaminondas, the commander of the city state Thebes, deliberately used a much deeper phalanx on the far left and succeeded in defeating a Spartan army of twice their number."

"Winning when outnumbered two to one!? That's amazing!" Hatsune's eyes glimmered brightly, very impressed. "But what I don't get is why it's a 'formation in a diagonal line'!"

"By concentrating elite troops on the left, the left side inevitably advances ahead. If the center and the right fail to keep up, the scattered forces would be subjected to either a frontal breakthrough or defeat in detail."

Consequently, the soldiers in the center and the right, which are advancing slightly slower, must follow the elite troops in the left—Shiori drew a diagonal slash in the air to explain.

"From overhead, it looks as though a diagonal line has been drawn on the battlefield from the top left to the bottom right."

"Princess, if Onii-sama knows this kind of sure-win tactic, that means he might be from ancient Greece!"

"This is undoubtedly impossible."

"Y-You don't have to reject my idea so decisively!"

"The essence of oblique order is not about 'drawing a diagonal line' but 'concentration of force on one side to be employed skillfully.' When deploying troops with this principle in mind, one would naturally choose similar formations."

After explaining the tactic in detail, Shiori added, "This has nothing to do with a commander's identity, geographic origins, or era."

"Oh I see now."

"On this occasion, it just happens to resemble oblique order, that is all."

"I get what you mean now, Princess. But from the tone in your explanations... Why do I get the feeling you already know Onii-sama's origins?"

"Is that so? I had no intention of insinuating that."

Hatsune pointed out the heart of the matter straight away, startling Shiori.

Acting as though nothing had happened, she hid her true feelings very naturally. After observing Masatsugu's behavior for a while now, Shiori had come to her own conclusion.

However, she had no evidence. It was not yet time to announce her findings at the current stage.

It was imperative to focus on the battle at hand to reach a swift conclusion, so that they could hurry to Tachibana Masatsugu's aid as early as possible—

"By the way, Hatsune, Masatsugu-sama also mentioned that your power is absolutely essential to this battle. You must prepare yourself, alright?"

"Yes, Princess!"

"I shall muster my greatest spiritual powers... to foil Prince Edward's calculations."

Shiori knew roughly what the Black Prince was thinking.

He intended to defeat the two Resurrectees of Tachibana Masatsugu and Wei Qing at the center of Hakone before moving on, successively visiting the four tutelary forts in the four cardinal directions, to defeat the Roman-Tōkaidō coalition forces.

Hence, he had ordered the Legions stationed at the various tutelary forts to stick to defense.

Conversely, Shiori's side had to do the opposite.

They must swiftly defeat the defense forces at the four tutelary forts then head over to aid the Tachibana-Wei coalition force in the center, to encircle the Black Prince—

Fujinomiya Shiori was the key to this battle plan.

Taking a deep breath, she focused her noesis again.

Back the sky over Mount Souun...

Masatsugu's Tōkaidō-Roman coalition force versus Edward's British army.

Facing each other, separated by several kilometers, the two armies finally moved forward. If they were to continue advancing like this, they would enter melee range.

Naturally, the two armies started by exchanging gunfire.

Capable of firing at a rate of ten shots per second, the bayonet rifles kept shooting, again and again.

Each side consisted of a great army, a thousand and two hundred strong. This implied a total of two thousand and four hundred rifles discharging scorching beams, producing a curtain of gunfire.

White protective barriers neutralized the endless beams.

The glow coming from both armies was precisely their means of survival. Unfortunately, many beams remained potent, striking the winged giant soldiers in their armor or body, puncturing them directly.

In this rifle showdown, the coalition force was holding a slight upper hand.

In other words, the united army of Kanesadas, Centuriae, and Kamuys were winning slightly.

The reason was simple. The three hundred Legions in the British back ranks had not participated in this contest of volley fire.

The black carcasses of the British Knights of the Garter kept crashing down one after another.

Naturally, the three hundred black knights did not remain still. They drew their bows and nocked their arrows of light, launching an archery offensive from the back.

"All archers, I am counting on you again."

Responding to Edward's command, the Garter Knights began to fire repeatedly at high speed.

Draw, nock, loose. Arrows flew with the sound of tearing wind.

Such was the nature of bows and arrows as a weapon, unlike rifles that shot with a pull of the trigger. The contraptions of modern convenience could fire at ten shots per second, while the English longbow could only reach a maximum rate of one or two arrows every ten seconds.

However, these arrows of light were capable of piercing protective barriers.

Even with their radiant glow for defense, the Legions of the coalition army could not stop the black knights' arrows.

Furthermore, the Garter Knights in the front rank had formed a "wall" to protect the three hundred black longbowmen, completely preventing the coalition army from retaliating against the back ranks.

Enabling the longbowmen to focus on firing was the essence of "mode anglais."

The marksmen in the back ranks raised their longbows at an angle to release their arrows. Tracing out parabolic trajectories, the arrows hurtled towards the coalition army's position.

One after another, many Legions, red-purple, silver-white, or blue in color, were shot down by the arrows.

They were clearly dying much faster than the British black knights. The British Empire's side was still superior in a shooting match...

However, the coalition army was not to be outdone.

Using an echelon formation, the Tōkaidō-Roman coalition's left column stood out especially.

The Kanesadas assigned to the left side were flying slightly faster than the Centuriae in the center and the Kamuys on the right.

With the left wing ahead, the entire army formed a diagonal "\" shape.

In contrast, the Garter Knights on the enemy side were in the shape of a horizontal "-" line.

In a minute or two, the front rank of the black knights were going to clash with the leading Kanesadas head on.

"Kanesadas—the two hundred of you in the front—Draw your swords and charge."

"I knew it would come to this. Focus the rain of arrows on the advance party. Do not let them succeed, or else the samurai swords will disrupt our formation."

The army of Kanesadas at the top left of the diagonal were many ranks deep.

The two hundred at the forefront accelerated and charged, causing the unit to protrude even further, closing in on the Garter Knights in one go.

The bayonet rifles in their hands all turned into the famed sword, Izumi-no-Kami Kanesada.

The Kanesada unit with drawn swords must serve as the vanguard to approach and cut down the British Legions, thereby disrupting the enemy's packed formation by creating numerous dead bodies.

Once a packed formation began to break, all that was needed was to focus attacks at the breach and the formation's collapse would be inevitable.

However, arrows continue to rain down.

The longbowmen of the Garter Knights focused their fire, trying to annihilate the Kanesada vanguard that had their swords drawn. The red-purple Legions swung their Japanese swords, deflecting the rain of arrows.

Blades and arrows clashed.

Almost a month ago, the Kanesadas led by Masatsugu had used the same method to defend against English longbows many times.

However, the situation today was different from last time.

"Tsk."

"Sure enough, the enemy is fatigued."

Masatsugu clicked his tongue whereas Edward grinned.

The Kanesadas' swordsmanship was clearly disorderly, lacking their original acuity.

Normally, Shinsengumi swordsmanship was capable of blocking the vast majority of arrows, but today, one out of every two arrows met their mark...

Dozens of Kanesadas crashed down from the sky, heavily damaged.

"Transporting the Tintagel was an excessive drain, huh?" Edward chuckled.

Odawara's shore was roughly sixteen or seventeen kilometers from Lake Ashi. Masatsugu had ordered his Kanesadas to fly while carrying a 183m-long large destroyer. Of course, this consumed substantial ectoplasmic fluid.

For Legions, this depletion of ectoplasmic fluid was equivalent to fatigue in humans.

No longer sharp in swordsmanship, the Kanesadas kept making mistakes they would not normally make.

"My archers, no need to pity them. Shoot with all your might."

Edward told his troops that this was the chance for victory.

The merciless rain of arrows kept slaughtering the red-purple swordsmen, inflicting substantial damage to the fatigued Kanesadas.

In the end, over half of the vanguard died before they could engage the enemy.

Even so, the echelon formation's sword-wielding vanguard finally approached the horizontal line of Garter Knights—

"All units, draw your swords. Show the enemy Hijikata Toshizō's swordsmanship."

In the ensuing battle, the famed blade and Hijikata Toshizō's swordsmanship were of paramount importance.

The remaining four hundred and seventy or so Kanesadas entered the flat seigan stance and rushed at the British black knights, the Black Prince's personal guard.

Unexpectedly...

"Shame be to him who thinks ill of it—The hundred of you engaging the red-purple Legions in the front, make use of shields."

The Black Prince recited holy words to invoke a Feat of Arms of the shield.

The Garter Knights and the katana-wielding Kanesadas clashed head on. The short inscription of "Honi soit qui mal y pense," resembling Latin, appeared on each shield wielded by the Garter Knights.

"My knights, you are protected by the insignia of the garter. Now raise your shields of justice to triump over evil!" "

The Garter Knights resisting the Kanesadas head on were one hundred out of the entire army.

Their armaments transformed from the standard bayonet rifle to rectangular shields—not English longbows. The shields were almost the size of a Legion's body.

This was another of the Black Prince's trump cards and it had successfully defended against Tennen Rishin Style swordsmanship before.

However, the Kanesadas had no choice but to soldier on. Masatsugu ordered them calmly, "Forget about defense—Go."

A hundred British Legions had given up their rifles for offense to raise up giant shields.

In that case, there was no need to strike a balance between offense and defense. Just attack with the strongest slash at full strength. The Kanesadas swung their swords to chop at the "black knights with raised shields"—They used the stance of hassou.

The so-called hassou was a type of upper stance with the sword. Gripping the hilt, one would raise both hands to mouth level.

The vertical sword's tip would point at the sky and the clouds, thus in Tennen Rishin Style, its nickname was "the cloud-oriented sword"...

"Cut them down with all your might."

The Kanesadas kept chopping at the hundred shield-wielding Garter Knights.

They focused all their strength on their one sword strike without thinking about defense or follow up attacks.

However, the Japanese swords were almost always blocked by the shields of the holy knights. Some of the Japanese swords managed to cut into the shield's steel, but they were rare exceptions.

"Hohohoho, are samurai swords only capable of this much?"

"Try harder. You are the troops led by the man known as 'The Merciless.' If this is all you've got, watch out for the mockery you'll face in hell."

The commander of the holy knights smiled whereas the Merciless Vice-Commander calmly ordered the attack.

Responding to Masatsugu's orders, the Kanesadas lived up to their names as "demoniac children of the gods." Using hassou slashes, they attacked from behind their failed comrades or went over the heads of the troops in front of them—Fresh red-purple swordsman rushed out nonstop.

As for the Garter Knights, they raised their giant shields to cover their entire body.

The Kanesadas used their own bodies to smash into the shields or kicked to throw the British Legions off balance. Then seizing the opportunity, swordsmen from behind would rush forward, using their deadly swords to leave mortal wounds on the British Legion's body.

This method of fighting lacked the exquisite skill sought by the spirit of Japanese swordsmanship.

Instead, it more resembled "well-coordinated thugs used to street fighting in large groups."

This method of slaughtering enemies was unique to the Feat of Arms of Izumi-no-Kami Kanesada inherited from the Shinsengumi Vice-Commander Hijikata Toshizō. During a chaotic battle, one could not rely exclusively on skillful swordsmanship.

At the same time, this offensive was also planned by Masatsugu.

"Impressive as always, Tachibana-dono. Does the oblique formation take credit for this fierce offensive?" Edward muttered from the back of the British army.

While the soldiers in the front were locked in combat, troops in the back would rush forward to deliver a second strike, and a third, etc, fighting relentlessly to break the enemy formation—

Putting elite troops in a column with deep ranks had this effect.

And currently in a column, the katana-wielding Kanesadas had turned into a sword's tip to stab into the line of Garter Knights.

At this rate, the black knights' formation would not last for long.

However, the Black Prince had expected this as soon as he saw the enemy's oblique formation.

He said, "I knew long ago... You are a famed general capable of thrusting your samurai sword at my throat. Naturally, as a knight, I have prepared retaliatory measures as well."

Edward was flying on a wyvern mount.

He looked down at the melee battle taking place between the two armies. The Tōkaidō-Roman coalition in echelon formation was currently fighting the line of Garter Knights.

The protruding left side of the echelon formation was clashing violently with the right side of the line in a chaotic battle.

However, the other soldiers were separated by dozens to a hundred or so meters, and were exchanging gunfire without entering the chaotic battle at all.

Edward calmly observed the battle situation.

He was watching the melee contest between samurai and black knights.

Breaking through at that point would instantly overturn the battle situation—

"Upon a knight's honor... Pierce them."

The Plantagenet prince issued the order for death.

The three hundred Garter Knights in the back had been focused on firing their bows so far. Their armaments spontaneously turned back into the normal bayonet rifles.

Rising by a height of four hundred meters, they occupied the sky over the echelon formation.

The Black Prince commanded sonorously, "Knights of the Garter, charge at full speed with all your might!"

Edward had ordered a cavalry charge.

The cavalry charge was the favorite tactic of Richard the Lionheart.

Using the bayonets as "cavalry lances," the Legions flew towards the enemy at maximum speed to pierce Legion armor with the sharp blades. The impact and momentum of the charge was able to scatter the enemy. A so-called cavalry charge was to use hundreds or thousands of troops to conduct such an attack offensive—

This time, three hundred Garter Knights were used to launch a cavalry charge.

Unconcerned with harming friendly forces, Edward went as far as to issue a cruel order that attacked them as well.

The black meteors crashed towards the left wing of the echelon formation from four hundred meters above!

At the same time, Masatsugu issued a new order.

He could not help but smile when he saw that the enemy general was just as insane as he was. In a certain way, this also meant that they were truly good rivals.

"So we both came up with similar tactics..."

Immediately...

The Kanesadas and the Garter Knights that had started a melee battle, as well as the black knights charging at them, friend and foe alike—All of them were caught in an attack from the side.

This wave of attacks came from rifle fire of the hundreds of Centuriae and Kamuys on the Tōkaidō side.

Part 3

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Part 4

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Part 5

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