Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 150: Arc 3, - 60: Seventh Time’s the Charm
"Tank on the move, get into positions. Thundering Blade that’s your cue," the first lieutenant signalled.
Jotou had already walked to the front, step by step. The blonde gazed down to her boots as she did. ’Huh. I still walk weirdly; with the balls of my feet, toes first. Odd.’
"Pssst, Jotou. Are you sure you don’t need to be invisible?" Asobi’s voice spoke, but no elf could be seen.
"I’m sure. You guys know the plan, I’m drawing the fire away from all of you so that the Hartamat soldiers can follow after me. I just have to take down the tank," Jotou searched for it through the sand.
"Aegis-aura," a dulcet breathy voice casted.
Jotou smiled as a bluish aura surrounded her, "Keep your distance and keep your eyes out. Fumeko?"
"Right here."
Jotou peered to her right, only a voice, "Very funny detective, I can’t see you."
"You can still hear me."
"Once that tank is down," Jotou paused.
"I’ll come in and take down anyone surrounding it, then back off and pick my targets, stay out of your thunder’s blast," Fumeko continued.
Jotou drew her sword out, "Good. We don’t need to deal with the rest of the army; we’ll fight through it, but our objective’s that tent," she pointed with the blade.
"It means I can still run distractions!" Asobi giddied.
Jotou took a moment to ponder, "I care about all of you. If we fail, we’ll try again; but we won’t this time. We’ll challenge the reality of fate itself," Jotou narrowed her gaze to a barrel poking out, attached to an oncoming vehicle.
Her blade glowed with sparks, "Strike like lightning, echo like thunder. We’ll fight till our last breath, we’ll stand till our legs give out and if we fall we’ll get back up. It’s time we put this rogue battalion six feet under!"
Her breath quickened, electricity webbing across her forearms as she dashed forward in the sand with a grunt, "We have a goal! We have a dream! And you’re in my way!" Jotou cried out in her dash, "It’s time I returned the favour!"
"There she goes," Fumeko muttered.
"So dramatic..." Hotaru chuckled.
"It’s fantastic!"
"YEAH!!!" The invisible three turned behind them to see the readied soldiers cheering in vigour.
"Guess she had an audience..." Fumeko looked back to the blonde dashing forward. The soldiers lined up to the edge of battlefield, aiming to lay cover fire.
Between her and that tent stood a battalion, barricades of sandbags, artificial covers and a tank already aiming as it went up the small slope.
Although, this tank was green, the barrel seemed longer and the vehicle was smaller than the previous one. Battalion soldiers marched behind it, "It’s her! Get ready!"
Jotou ran, her eyes barely blinking as her blonde strands flew in the air behind her. She brought the blade to her head, blocking just enough so that she can see. "TING!" A bullet fired off onto the blade.
"Blast!" "Blast!" "Blast!" "Blast!" "Blast!" "Blast!" The bullets hailed across, flying back and forth between the opposing sides. Some shots fired off into her—protected by a thin layer of electricity, a shielding spell and her enchanted gear.
Even so she grunted—the feeling akin to soft rubber bullets against her torso and legs. Her momentum did not stop, still sprinting towards the one target she had.
The barrel of the tank aimed to her as Jotou kept running inwards from its line of fire. The barrel clicked, a shell fired from the chamber...
"BOOM!" The sand burst into the air, leaving a crater in its wake. The dust muddled everyone’s vision...
Except the blonde who leapt and—"CLANG!"—stabbed into front of the tank. With some sand trapped in her blonde locks, she leapt and climbed up atop the vehicle; she pulled her sword out of the metal. "SHING!"
Her footsteps clinked on metal as she held her blade with both hands and spun—her coat and skirt twirling with her as lightning arced around her arms, coursing down to her blade.
She spoke no spell, "HYA!!!!" she spun till her blade sliced into the metal and a yellow flash took over. The plasma resonated and vibrated into the tank itself as Jotou directed her blade down.
Lightning flowed through her hair, her eyes; she gritted her teeth—all through till the end of her sword... "BLASTTTTTT!!!!!!" The barrel flew off like a toothpick onto the soldiers.
A sharp ringing echoed in those who stood close by except the caster herself. Jotou grunted and looked down onto the ground and the nearby soldiers.
They were stunned, screaming and crying as the sound rang in their ears; some got picked off by the gunshots from the Hartamat soldiers from afar.
The Hartamat soldiers advanced, seeing the tank taken care of. The battalion soldiers a bit further from the blast now were able to see the blonde again after the initial tank shot.
They aimed for her- "Woosh!" Shadows appeared and a dagger went under to slit their throats; the shadows would disappear and reappear; the victims only catching a glimpse of a purple pinafore.
Jotou leapt down from the tank onto the tips of her toes like a falling cat and endured the impact. The soldiers near her saw a sparking woman, flickering yellow as her blade came forth.
"Thundering Strike!" Jotou dashed forward to the closest soldier, as his eyes widened and all he saw was a yellow flash going through him and his comrades. "BLASTTT!!!!"
The bodies scattered in crimson as Jotou directed the thunder’s echo; the sand crystalized to her lightning as she stood back up, surveying the field. A few sprints away from the tent she had to get to—at least fifty or so soldiers in her way.
The Hartamat soldiers rushed forward, taking out any of the stragglers still trying to fire their muskets. Jotou took one breath, readjusting her wrist and her sword before dashing forward again.
"Boom!" "Blast!" Grenades and muskets fired off behind her; the soldiers separated their push towards the rogue battalion.
"Zap!" "Slash!" Jotou made her way forward alongside the other soldiers. ’One more time. This one final challenge in my way. This will be the last of today!’
She got close to a soldier, before catching the musket barrel in her non-dominant hand and stared into the eye of her enemy before the sword sparked through the soldier’s neck.
"Blast!" The musket fired off.
"Gah!" Jotou winced, throwing the corpse aside. The bullet slashed across the left side of her face—white flesh before blood took over her cheek.
Before the crimson could drip for too long, a hand covered in glowing blue water caressed the gash on the blonde, "OW!" making her flinch.
Illusions appeared before her—a wall made of sand to create at least a visual cover they would not shoot through whilst the mysterious floating hand finished healing her up.
"Thanks Aru, and Sobi," Jotou stood upright, trying to peer to the tent only a few sprints away; the flap opened—brown leathers, metallic pauldron on his left shoulder.
Under the protective layer was the emblem of the Trailon Regime. Tanned skin and spiky black hair—a black goatee to match. He held a rifle in hand and glimpsed at the waging battle.
"He’s here; it’s time to finally see this end," Jotou uttered.
"Jotou!" Fumeko appeared next to her, "I was watching and some of the soldiers seem really sluggish; slower with aiming and missing really easy shots.
A lot of them were still fine though. Could this be something to do with the device or is this just a fruitless lead?" Fumeko panted, held a hand to her chin whilst her other hand held a bloody dagger.
"Maybe; you can keep working on it detective, but focus on the mission now first."
"Whatever it is, be careful. Remember what Jotou said, that rifle Frye carries can pierce through the aegis-aura and even our enchanted armour," Hotaru repeated.
"Right! Should I put on a show now!?"
"Go for it, the more confused the enemy, the better," Jotou nodded before the sand wall fell.
"Rejuvenate!" as Hotaru splashed across in a small fountain, Fumeko disappeared into shadow and Jotou moved forward.
Lieutenant Frye from his tent brought out his telescope, trying to get a closer look at the target. What he saw was a battle of pure carnage and confusion—muskets shooting left and right grenades exploding.
And in that battle, more soldiers appeared out of thin air, butterflies of every colour flew through his soldiers, not harming them, but screwing with their field of vision.
Grenades blew up invisibly and finally, his telescope caught onto a blonde, sparking with lightning as—"BLASTTT!!!"—another thundering strike blew the sand into chunks of crystals.
Frye winced, the bright light and the echoing thunder blasting past his hair. Frye looked through again only to see a crimson rain from the body parts that didn’t fry with her lightning.
She wiped the blood off her lips and stared right back at Frye. The lieutenant had his mouth open, eyes widened as he shut his telescope.
He readied his rifle and took aim at the blonde. However, illusions of light clouded his view- "Boom!" "Boom!" Grenades blasted behind the blonde’s glare to the man, staring right into the barrel of the rifle.
Frye stared right back, fear seeping in, "Why does she keep coming back and messing with the experiment!? What devil did Kria summon from the pits of hell!?"
That worried look; that pissed off look on Frye’s face—Jotou could watch from where she stood. The corners of the blonde’s lips rose, "FRYE!!!" the blonde’s elegant voice echoed across all the noise.
Frye fumbled his rifle for a second, re-aiming as all the soldiers felt a chill down their spines. Jotou smiled, "Thanks for making my voice louder Sobi," she gripped her sword handle.
"No problem~!" the invisible voice replied before the blonde dashed across the sand. Her footsteps, every one of them, perhaps faster than any of the previous times.
A rush of adrenaline, a push from her mind. The nerves in her wrist showed themselves as enemies fell around her from the shots of Hartamat soldiers and a detective blinking all over the place. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
One sprint, the dust flying up—the loose sand carrying her weight. The rifle aimed, merely a few steps away from the blonde. She was too far, there was no way, she could-
"BLAST!" The rifle fired.
"TING!" Jotou stopped moving, bringing her unbreakable sword up to her face to shatter the rifle round into a hundred pieces; even then, a very, very light scratch etched across her armite blade.
Jotou brought her sword away, sprinting forward again as Frye reloaded his rifle. The blonde giggled cynically as she ran. "You little shit! My rifle’s not going to jam this time! HAUGCK!"
Before the next rifle shot could fire at the blonde running towards him, a shadow appeared behind Frye’s neck, landing on the back of his neck and shoulders.
Her dagger slashed into his throat, spurting out blood onto Fumeko’s hands. Jotou rushed forward, reaching for Frye’s belt and stabbing her blade into it to tear it off.
She reached for the device, seeing Frye’s hand reaching for it in his final moments as well. However, her hand was just a little, quicker.
Jotou grabbed the egg-shaped device in her hand. Frye fell, a shock in his eyes as his neck bled out. "That’s for the first shot dick," Fumeko landed onto the ground, kicking his corpse.
Jotou stood over his body, Fumeko walking next to her as the two surveyed the soldiers still fighting. "It looks like we’re going to win," Fumeko checked her surroundings.
Jotou held the device in her hand, slightly giggling. "Finally... I want to make sure Hotaru and Asobi are safe first."
"We are!" Asobi’s voice poked from right beside her.
"We’re all here Jotou," Hotaru’s voice quivered a little, "We did it."
Jotou laughed, "This madness can finally end. Good night and good riddance. Move a bit guys." Jotou threw the device into the air. She held her blade with both hands as she twirled.
The other three rushed away from her immediate vicinity. In her spin, her blade lit up with lightning, "Thundering Strike!" Jotou hit the device into the air.
Like a baseball being hit, lightning pierced through the device, bending and breaking the metallic layers as a flash of yellow shot out across the starry sky underneath the moonlight.
"BLASSTTTTT!!! BEEPEEEEEEPPPPP!!!" The device shattered in the thunder Jotou echoed into the skies and with it came a flash of white light that went across the entire field and beyond.
"Gah!"
"AH!"
"OW! OW! OW!"
Hotaru, Fumeko and Asobi fell to their knees, holding their heads. Groans and grunts echoed from all the soldiers in the area, wincing and recoiling.
The feeling of ten thousand needles being pushed into their brains at once and as if someone was hitting their bodies with crowbars.
Jotou groaned, her body feeling a sudden fatigue, but her mind still felt fine. The weakening feeling rushed over everyone for a few seconds before it disappeared, as if a pain was never there.
"Hey, are you guys?" Jotou peered around her.
"Fine, fine now," Hotaru splashed a rejuvenate on herself for safe measure.
"Ughhhh...... The consequences," Fumeko uttered, stumbling before she got back up.
Asobi giddied onto her feet, "I feel great!"
"Yeah, whatever that was it’s dying down," Jotou held her stomach, looking back to the soldiers who were all in various states of getting up; one or two shots still fired.
"Asobi, I think we’ve won. You know what that means?" Jotou put on a smile.
"It’s, celebration time!?"
"Go on. I think with everyone feeling like this and their lieutenant down," Hotaru glanced to the corpse of Frye, "We can say it."
"YAY!" Asobi twirled around and threw her wand into the air; multiple white lights fired into the night sky with a whistling sound. Fireworks of every colour exploded into the sky.
The soldiers peered up, seeing the words ’Victory’ written above them in magical light. What remained of the battalion soldiers looked at each other...
The Hartamat soldiers aimed their muskets, injuring the legs of the enemies who tried to shoot back. Many of the battalion soldiers sighed, raising their hands up and dropping their weapons.
A wild round of cheers went around the crowd of soldiers; the four of them stood near the tent on a little slope, watched up as fireworks wrote their victory.
’It’s over. We won... We finally won.’ Jotou smiled, gazing to the sky; her eyes softened and she let out an exhale as all the adrenaline died down—so relieved that her body could melt and crash out.
Her friends all around her, still living and breathing. The blonde closed her eyes.
