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Chapter 553:

"Medea!" She giggled.

"Look at you, a goddess and so willful. Or is it because you became a goddess that you became more willful?" Medea accepted it regardless.

Medea didn\'t like deities. She could be courteous and respectful, but there was a subtle uncomfortableness when she was around them. It was to the point where I was conscious of her when Izzy was around.

However, that seemed to not apply to Jinn.

Medea didn\'t show even a miniscule of dislike towards my genie.

Maybe it was because Jinn had no ulterior motives, and it was just so obvious to see.

"Do I get a hug too?" I looked at Medea, holding my arms open.

Medea scrunched her nose. "A hug? I should be kicking your ass. Do you have any idea what your daughter has been doing?"

"Did Kunou already get in trouble?"

Medea looked at me then laughed.

"What happened?"

"I\'m not telling." She snorted. "You can find out from her when she comes home for the holidays."

Right, that should be a fun talk based on her words.

"She\'s doing okay though?" I asked.

Medea\'s expression softened. "She\'s doing fine; don\'t worry."

Good, that\'s good.

"Come on, I wanna see the thing you made in action!" Jinn playfully tugged on Medea.

"Alright, you silly girl." Medea huffed. "It\'s the whole reason I took the day off anyways. Otherwise, I didn\'t want to be anywhere near your little war."

"Let me show you the portal we made!" Jinn continued to pull Medea away as they ran ahead.

It\'s good to know that Kunou is doing better, and it took everything in my power not to press Medea for more answers. But... I didn\'t want to \'intrude\' on Kunou\'s time, even if I wasn\'t physically doing so. I would hear the stories from her when she came home, and things she wanted to keep to herself, they would stay to herself.

Obviously, as long as they weren\'t harmful or we didn\'t need to know.

The surroundings of the portal changed drastically in Kyoto.

It took almost the entire day to move the vast majority of our troops through and secure the foothold in the Fae Lands.

I underestimated the logistics of moving so many people in unison and keeping everything orderly. Just another reason I wouldn\'t be good in a commanding role like that.

Now, the surroundings were set up as a defensive position.

Hundreds of different magical and mundane defenses overlapped in this small area, with thousands of soldiers on standby at any given time.

Not to mention it had become a forbidden zone for anyone not participating with a large distance from the city.

I could have just popped Medea in on the other side, but I didn\'t want to take any unnecessary risks.

The way that realm operates is so alien to me in the brief time I\'ve been there that I didn\'t want to be flippant with my ability to jump to other worlds. Peace of mind only costs like an extra 30 minutes of traveling.

"Not bad, not bad." Medea was looking over the portal, tapping her chin. "Not what I would have done, but it\'s quality work."

"Practicality trumps elegance in this case." I shrugged.

"I helped!" Jinn raised her hand.

"I\'m sure you did most of the work." Medea smiled. "The boy over there probably hoisted the majority of the workload onto you and just wants to take credit."

I rolled my eyes and ignored the short jab. It wasn\'t anything new for Medea to take shots at people without much heat to them.

Without hesitation, she trudged right through with Jinn at her side, and I quickly followed.

She took a moment to take in the surroundings.

At this point, walls had been erected, buildings were up with more on the way, and even \'roads\' had been carved out in the most basic manner.

I quickly put a hand on Medea\'s shoulder and scooted her to the side. She was about to say something to me, but she noticed the cart full of materials skirt by almost hitting her.

"Careful, we\'re in the middle of traffic." It wasn\'t just us coming and going from the portal.

Medea scrunched her nose. "I don\'t like this place; it feels foul on my blood. Tell me when you\'re ready so I can watch my creations in action, then get out of here."

"It\'s going to be a little while." Jinn told her. "There are some neat things though! I found a few magic plants."

"Oh? Alright, show me." Medea seemed content to go off with Jinn.

I just shook my head and made my way towards the main….well, what would it be called? It was one of the first buildings raised and where the bigwigs were gathered to talk about the fighting.

Regardless, I nodded to the guards outside the door and pushed it open, entering.

Several of Yasaka\'s Youkai Generals were at her side as she leaned over a table, only adjusting herself as I entered.

"Is Medea here?" She glanced my way.

"She\'s with Jinn. She doesn\'t want to be here any longer than necessary." I nodded, realizing there were a few faces I didn\'t recognize.

Opposite Yasaka was Artoria, along with Mordred and Arthur. And someone I hadn\'t seen in awhile just as well.

"Agravain." I named the man, giving him a nod in acknowledgement.

He bowed his head more politely and stayed silent at Artoria\'s side.

Makes sense; he was one of the people running the Pendragon family and would have a hand in things happening.

He also looked a lot better than when I last saw him back at the Pendragon Castle when we invaded.

Also at the table was Nurarihyon along with Aotabō, his third seat. But Nurarihyon had one other person, and their presence was rather...hard to ignore.

In fact, standing this close to him, his body cast a shadow over me, and I had to tilt my head upwards to meet his eyes.

"Hello, I don\'t believe we\'ve met." I greeted politely since we were all on the same side. "Wilhelm Henry Schweinorg."

The big man—no, the massive Kappa looked at me with a gentle smile. "You can call me Sadao. I\'m the second seat." He held out his hand and gently took mine in a handshake, despite his hand being several times the size of mine.

And when I said he was big, I meant he was almost as buff as Father Swole. Maybe a few inches smaller in scale.

It was, frankly, an almost comical sight to see a Kappa with muscles this size.

"Am I going to meet this First Seat?" I could tell that Sadao here was several times stronger than Aotabō, which makes sense considering his higher \'position\'.

"Don\'t expect it." Nurarihyon grunted. "That lazy bum can\'t move easily. He\'s back home protecting the place."

I shrugged, a little curious but not enough to ask for too many details.

Yasaka\'s tail snuck up around my waist and pulled me to her side. "We\'re getting prepared to march. It\'s going to be our first campaign, so I wanted you to be there with us."

The way she worded that sounded more than her asking for me to participate. "I assume you won\'t want me to get overly involved in this instance."

Yasaka smiled, as did her generals. "You catch on quickly. As I was telling Artoria, we need this. That is, us Youkai need this first fight, this first blood. Our desire for revenge isn\'t going to cloud our judgments, but we can\'t settle in his instance."

"I do not object to your intentions. Morale is important, often conflicting with logical strategy. It is undeniable that my knights assisting would be the better move; however, the hearts of your warriors demand differently." Artoria replied, closing her eyes. "As long as the lives of my men do not get endangered from such types of orders, I see no reason to refuse. We will not participate in this first battle and continue to secure the area while your forces march."

"If I may?" Agravain spoke softly as everyone acknowledged him. "To prevent any wedges from being placed between our forces, should we accompany your warriors with a small contingent of our own, perhaps a small but elite force? While they would not participate openly, it would be a gesture of cooperation and moral support."

Nurarihyon took out his pipe, biting onto it with a gruff hum to accompany his agreement. "My boys would appreciate the gesture more than Yasaka\'s."

"That\'s true." Yasaka looked thoughtful. "My people have seen your family demonstratively for months now. They\'ve trained together, eaten together, and suffered together. Not to mention everyone knows that Artoria here helped during the rebellion. The Pendragon family has much more goodwill with mine than the East."

"I will attend, and I will bring along a group of magicians to aid defensive measures." Artoria chipped in.

"Sounds good." Nurarihyon agreed.

"Did you make sure to remind everyone to keep their mouths shut when dealing with Fae?" The last incident was still fresh in my mind.

Yasaka let out a short groan. "We made sure to give everyone a refresher."

"There\'s always one idiot that needs to be an example for everyone else." Mordred snorted, crossing her arms.

Well, there is a small bit of cultural clash here as well. Around these parts, when someone asks your name, it\'s pretty much an unconscious action to give it.

Still, he should have known better.

They had tens of thousands of troops; there was bound to be one slip up eventually. At least it was in a situation where the damage was mitigated and could be a lesson for everyone else.

"From what our scouts have told us, our target is a castle with some attached land and an accompanying wall. Magic was detected and expected. Though the number of enemies inside is unknown, there were a few hundred patrolling on the walls at any given time. Despite the small scale, we\'re going to treat this as a true deployment. We\'re going to convene at the North exit; make note of any logistic issues, and we\'ll address them afterwards."

Yasaka gave her orders, and everyone began moving.

This was going to be the first \'fight\' of the invasion, and despite it being rather small, it was clear everyone was excited.

@***@

"You have a look, Wilhelm." Artoria glanced my way as we accompanied the thousands of Youkai marching north.

It wasn\'t too far away, enough that a straight but modest walk was enough to reach the castle within the hour.

"Just thinking. I\'m surprised at how...traditional this has been so far."

Hell, we even had horses and stables erected back at the foothold.

"Ah. Did you expect more fantastical elements to be involved in this conflict?" She asked.

"Something like that."

"We have yet reached the threshold for such things being required. I have familiarized myself with the elements of warfare here, and such things as mass teleporting is an important strategy to utilize." She responded.

True, I do acknowledge that there was no point in throwing out those kinds of things when not needed.

Well, I say that, but glancing backwards, hundreds of Youkai were pulling those massive carts with tarps draped over them.

Medea\'s little project.

Should I be worried?

She spent an awful lot of time creating them and a lot of resources. She spent only a few days equivalent to create Kunou\'s birthday present, and that was an utter work of art.

She spent months tinkering with this invention.

She called it crude but practical.

I guess we\'ll see then.

The marching came to a steady stop as the castle came into view.

It was my first time seeing it, and it wouldn\'t be out of place in a movie. Artoria nudged me, and I followed her to the front after she gave the people with her a few orders, the Magicians spreading out defensively.

I didn\'t need to look to feel the magical barriers springing up all around the army.

I looked up at the sky; we weren\'t under my Storm any longer, but I was keeping an eye out in case any of our voyeurs would do anything. However, I think after my retaliation the first time, they were hesitant about overextending.

High up in the sky, a warm and cold glare could be easily felt due to my Authority.

I took my place up near Yasaka.

Despite not wanting to steal the proverbial thunder, I was a part of this as Yasaka\'s lover and as someone who was recognized by the Youkai as one of their own.

I stepped past thousands of lines of Youkai, many of which glanced at me as I passed before taking my spot in front.

Yasaka looked at both sides of her. "Come, we\'re going to give them a chance to surrender."

Maybe I was skeptical, but the way she said that made me think it was a very slim chance of happening.

Oh well.

As we got closer, I started to notice some irregularities in the castle. The bricks weren\'t uniform; actually, they looked... fake? Like someone just casually grabbed a bunch of different rocks, shaped them magically, then stacked them up in a way that resembled a castle.

Actually, I think some of them weren\'t even made of stone.

The magical defenses were impressive, however.

But that was to be expected. Fae were... well, they had a mastery of magic from what I recall. Though their particular brand of magic was different. But Magic it was all the same; they utilized Magical Energy even in their strange ways, and they were a type of magical being.

We stopped not too far from the gate, but not too close either.

It was just enough that the owner here could approach without feeling a threat from the army standing on his doorstep.

It didn\'t take long for the gate to be raised, and all the Fae visible on the walls stood up straighter.

Three exited the gate, and normally, I would only say one person, but in this realm, I wasn\'t too sure.

It was... two horses and a person. The man, I presumed, looked like an elf of some sort, but with butterfly-like wings on his back. But once he got closer, I realized there was something wrong with the horse he was riding.

Mostly the fact that the horse was a badly sown horse suit and there was clearly a person inside.

The other horse seemed \'normal\' though.

"Woah, my trusty steed." The Fae called out loud as the not-horse came to a stop a few yards in front of us.

"Are you the Lord of this castle?" Yasaka addressed him.

"Lord? Lord…Lord!" The Fae snapped his fingers. "I like that! My adviser, write that one down! I wish to be addressed as Lord for now on."

The horse next to him fell on its bet and spit out a scroll and quill and awkwardly began to write that down using its hooves together. "Yes, my Lord." The horse replied in a monotone voice.

"Ah, such a dutiful adviser! Not like my last one!"

"What happened to your last one?" I asked, not able to help myself. Normally, I probably wouldn\'t have spoken while Yasaka was at the forefront, but honestly, this was a rather strange situation, and the more we learn about these Fae, the better.

"Incompetent!" He shook his head. "Why you wouldn\'t believe it. I told him I wanted a blue carpet for my menagerie, and do you know what he brought? Periwinkle. The nerve! I told him, Adviser, what did I tell him?" He looked at the horse.

"You told him that your horse could do a better job, my Lord." The horse responded in the same monotone as it still tried its best to scribble on the parchment.

"That\'s right! So, I did just that!" He nodded to himself with a wide grin.

Right, I\'m guessing we know who\'s inside the horse outfit under him then...

"But enough of my incompetent former adviser!" He kicked the fake horse under him, and it neighed. The thing is, I don\'t think it neighed on purpose; I think when he traded their \'roles\' his former adviser lost the ability to speak. "I assume you\'re here to offer recompose for my herald that you killed unrightfully."

"No."

"Excellent, we..." He paused. "Come again?"

"Your Herald, as you called, attacked one of my men. That removed his status as a messenger, and he was executed without hesitation." Yasaka said sternly before taking the\'scroll\' that was brought along and tossed it to the ground in front of him.

"Incredulous! Fabrication, Erroneous! My herald has even navigated the courts of Winter; he would never make such an error. You have trampled over the rules of hospitality!" He harumphed.

Yasaka\'s hand lit up with Foxfire, and she threw it at the scroll, setting it on fire under his gaze.

Honestly, I don\'t know what it said, but after seeing her read it the first time, she got pissed off, so I didn\'t ask.

"You seem to misunderstand. We\'re not here to argue; you are being given the chance to surrender."

"Surrender!? But I am not at war! I have received no declaration, nor have I broken any promises, and I am most assuredly in no one\'s debt! You have no right!" He seemed confused and slightly angry at Yasaka\'s declaration. "I withdraw my hospitality, and my threshold rejects you!" He turned his nose up, and I felt the simmer of the magic surrounding the castle flare up.

"Very well, if that\'s your decision, then we\'ll do things the hard way."

The Fae scoffed even as he retained a lofty smile. "Away with you, trespassers! Lord Felmort bids you good night!" He kicked his fake horse, and it turned around, trotting back inside along with the very real horse that held the parchment in its mouth and followed after.

I looked up at the bright sky overhead.

It was still daytime.

"Well, we tried." Yasaka didn\'t seem to care; frankly, she preferred this course of action. However, wartime \'rules\' dictate giving your enemies the chance to surrender.

"I am reminded of why I let Merlin deal with any WildFae that appeared within my lands if possible." Artoria muttered, furrowing her brow.

Right, I understood her sentiment exactly.

"Pull the weapons up!" Yasaka let out a shout as we got close, and instantly, the warriors in formations let out a roar of approval.

Nurarihyon even had a smile as he silently trailed at our side, content with the course of actions, it seems.

The warriors parted like a sea as the massive siege weapons were brought up to the front, and Medea was in tow along with Jinn.

Medea unceremoniously pulled the tarps off of them with a flick of her hand.

At the base, it was normal wood to support, then as it climbed high, pieces were made out of Magical metal found in Skyrim. It culminated in a very large glass orb at the top with a place that could apparently open up. And there were four floating glass circles with Mithril wrapped around the edges. They each took up a side of the \'sphere\' forming a square shape around it.

Upon closer look, the glass circles were engrained with beautifully woven spell circles. Not just the circles, but the orb itself had every inch of it covered in magical symbols and formulas.

If you wanted to be pedantic, they were scaled-up versions of what Medea devised for each warrior to wield, the \'wands\' that allowed for casting without any magical knowledge of energy to utilize.

Medea cackled as she floated up and pulled off the \'lid\' on the glass orb and dropped in a massive chunk of dust. She then inserted several Soul Stones into various places underneath, slotting them into intended spots.

The whole thing hummed as it came to life, and I could taste the magical energy it was exuding.

Medea then floated down, her job done as she shot a thumbs up to Yasaka while several Youkai, apparently having been trained in it, positioned it appropriately, aiming towards the castle.

There didn\'t need to be some grand speech or building up hype for the gathered Youkai.

I looked at the castle not far enough; the Magical defenses were genuinely impressive, and some of them, well, they were foreign to me, and I couldn\'t understand them at a glance.

Suffice to say, I would have to expend some effort to bulldoze them using my power if I tried.

The Magical Siege Engine vibrated in place as everyone seemed to hold their breaths. The Dust inside—the Fire Dust slowly disintegrated, and with the Glass \'Circle\' pointing towards the Castle at the front, the Spell Circle within it started to glow a very similar red tone.

As soon as the entire Spell Circle lit up, another Spell Circle appeared in the air, projected right in front of it, then another, larger, then a third even larger, about the size of the contraption itself.

"Fire." Yasaka gave the order, and the air vibrated.

A beam of condensed fire-aligned energy from the magical source shook everything as it shot out towards the castle.

It slammed into the magical defenses of the castle and seared right through them. The large gate that we approached earlier was reduced to slag and ash as the beam tore through the walls, what was behind them, and continued onwards until we could no longer see.

Reinforcing my eyes, I could see some of the Fae playing as guards or \'knights\' that escaped from other parts of the walls as they looked at the destruction in utter confusion and surprise.

There was a silence as the attack ended, the Fire Dust seemingly running its course as it was completely used up.

This thing made the cannons on my ship look like toys.

The glass circle that housed the magic circle sizzled as steam wafted from it. Then, the Four Glass Circles rotated as a \'fresh\' one now pointed forward.

"Wilhelm." Yasaka called out to me.

"Yes?"

"Do you see a white flag or any signs of surrender?"

"I do not." I told her.

"Fire Again."

@***@

A/N

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