Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 272: Arc 4, Act II, - 117: Shifted Tides

"We did it, I can’t believe we did it," Laiso clutched his rifle, blood splatter across his uniform. He glanced around the battlefield; how many of the Cravoltan soldiers went down was still unknown, the chaos had just come to rest.

The Sun had left a pinkish sky going into deeper blues, the dust had settled, the earth no longer shook and the last of Division One defended.

"Move it!" Fumeko yelled across as she and Jotou rushed Daiyu towards the large tent. The soldiers made way from the half-limp princess groaning like a bear while she passed.

"Aru! Daiyu’s been poisoned!" Jotou exclaimed into the tent. Hotaru had her hand across Arabella’s nape, the dark bluish-green having healed off of her.

The redhead swivelled her head and ran towards them, "Come on, hurry set her there," she pointed to the edge of the tent. Arabella got up and rushed to help Daiyu down. "Arabella, go sit down, you need to rest," Hotaru had her eyes only on Daiyu.

"I can’t feel my fucking arm..." Daiyu bit her lower lip.

"I’ll hold her up," Jotou pulled up her adventuring attire, aided by Hotaru.

"Meko," Hotaru’s palms took on a bluish hue, "Help take care of Asobi, I haven’t had the chance to heal her properly yet, just, ugh, get her ready," her voice cracked.

"What?" Fumeko peered around the tent with a dozen plus soldiers before she spotted the magician sprawled across a table, her eyes closed. She blinked to her immediately and glanced at her unharmed adventuring attire.

However, there were clear depressions across her form, blood smeared across her neck where a scar needed to be healed and her face was...

Fumeko with widened eyes held Asobi’s face, a pinkie to the side of her lips that dripped blood; she could feel her shallow breath against her fingers as Asobi let out little mutters.

"Hey, hey, stay in there!"

"Fumeko, gently, please!" Hotaru turned for a second and then focused back on Daiyu. Poison webbed under the skin of her leg and arm, making a path inward. Jotou held Daiyu together whilst Hotaru did her work.

"Okay, okay," Fumeko exhaled, hovering her arms over the buttons of Asobi’s blazer. She opened up Asobi’s blazer and vest underneath with ease, but she could see blood pooling under the silky white shirt, unabsorbed by the enchanted gear, "Shit..."

Arabella put her fingers to her lips and whistled loudly, capturing the attention of all the soldiers. She pointed her finger out of the tent.

The soldiers in confusion and worry of their princess, made no effort to disobey the Ashen Whisper’s glare. Footsteps rushed out of the vicinity, leaving the six in there.

Fumeko unbuttoned the shirt- If her eyes were to go any wider, they’d pop out of their sockets. "Sobi..." her fingers quivered. Crimson sluggishly gushed down the open shirt onto the table.

Her ribs were broken inwards and some parts poked out her skin. A lot of her blood had already been soaked up into her white undergarment; soft bruises the size of feet went under the bra.

"Only so much enchanted gear can protect," Fumeko murmured under a groan. "Hey wolfy, how long is it gonna take?" Fumeko’s brows crumpled up, trying her best not to let tears exit her eyes.

Hotaru’s hands shook, "Please, give me a moment," she implored. Drops of the poison was extracted out of Daiyu’s skin. Akin to a sponge the poison was extracted into the water Hotaru would cast with, before she threw the liquid away and casted again...

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry," Fumeko shut her mouth and scrunched her face to Asobi.

"Go take care of her first," Daiyu sighed with her arm completely de-poisoned. "I’ve got a few minutes."

"Let’s not split my focus; Arabella, get me medical supplies for Asobi, please. Jotou can you lift Daiyu’s leg up?" Hotaru continued.

The brunette petted Asobi’s hatless head, "Hang in there, okay, just hang in there. You can hug me after," Fumeko choked down her own breathing...

Jotou kept her gaze lowered, breathing slowly. "You’re doing fine Hotaru, keep going," her voice was surprisingly calm. ’Everything will be okay. Panic has no benefit. Everything will be fine. They’ll be fine.’ She kept repeating in her head.

_

"Hey."

Daiyu turned, "Hey there loser," she uttered. She leaned against the side of a tent by the makeshift barricade, looking at the mess yet to be cleaned up outside and the Moon sparkling up above.

One or two soldiers traipsed the area, gathering the remnants of Division One. "Feeling better?" the blonde sighed in relief. The hour was closing in on midnight, a day coming to a close.

"Yeah," Daiyu folded her arms, "Can feel both halves of my body again; it’s nice."

"You don’t say," Jotou leaned her arms onto the barricade, facing in the distance their broken carriage, with horsaroaches nowhere in sight.

"Waiting for transport," Daiyu rolled her shoulders. "They’re calling it a ’victory’. Wouldn’t really call it a fucking victory now would you," she muttered into the silent wind filled with the songs of chirping bugs.

"Well, could’ve been worse," Jotou shrugged a shoulder.

"I guess..." Daiyu puffed her bangs away from her face. "Asobi woken up yet?"

"Nope. If I’m anything to go by, she’s gonna be asleep for a good bit."

"Arabella’s keeping an eye around."

"Fumeko’s," Jotou glanced about, "...somewhere I’m sure." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

...

Daiyu shook her head, "Shit really hit the fan today. Me and Ara got poisoned, Fumes got thrown off a cliff and Asobi got trampled; all four nearly died. Woo..."

"Two elites though."

"True. I’ve got a good feeling Feather isn’t coming back after what she said; so at least another off the board."

"Oh yeah," Jotou faced her, "You knew she was telling the truth. You were, using your truth tap thingy?"

Daiyu nodded slowly, "...Yeah. She was talking, saying she didn’t wanna fight; so I decided to listen—a bit."

The blonde smirked, "Who are you and what have you done to Lan Daiyu?" Daiyu half-closed her right eye and stuck her tongue out. Jotou responded in kind with a wink.

A few seconds passed in silence, feeling the light breeze past their ears. ...Awfully noiseless for a military base.

"I wonder what Feyan’s up to."

"Probs worrying about you."

"Well that’s a given," Daiyu pouted. "He’s probably more worried about Rain and things. Hey, since uh, some of us like, nearly kinda died today."

Jotou looked over to Daiyu.

"I, sorta kissed him," Daiyu lifted one shoulder and said with a smile.

The blonde knitted her brows, "Like, before we came here?"

"No, this was like, well before we left the palace."

"Hm," Jotou looked to the south. "Cute. Hope it goes well."

Daiyu stared... Then furrowed her brows, "That’s it?"

"What?"

"You’re not gonna make fun of me; nothing?"

Jotou raised a brow, "You welcomed me into Cravolta City with a parade and a prank, and now you’re begging me to mock you?" she giggled, "You’re getting pathetic Yu-Yu."

Her eye half-closed, "Whatever."

"Don’t worry, there’s plenty of material to mock with," a sly smirk. "I’m just taking a rain check for now; I’m really tired—emotionally. Physically too, to a certain extent."

"I get ya," Daiyu gave a weary smile. "Once they get the radio up and running fully again, we can tell everyone back at Division Six."

"Thundering Blade, Undying Princess," Pevan Ghalib called out as he approached. "We reached Division Six; they have some urgent news to share."

"Speak of the devil," Jotou stretched up.

"You take the call, will ya? I’m not really in the mood for ’urgent’," Daiyu faced Jotou.

"Sure, sure. I’ll let you know later if your boyfriend’s the one calling."

Daiyu exhaled audibly through her nose... There it was...

With a catty spite in her tone, Jotou walked off.

_

Handing the radio over to Jotou, the soldier walked off, leaving the blonde alone in the tent. Jotou pressed the button, "General? Some parts of the radio was damaged in the fight, can you hear me?"

The transceiver crackled, "Thundering Blade, Division Six’s General Yunus, I copy. Finally we could reach out; we received Ms Namora’s letter. The situation there is resolved, yes?"

"You could say that, definitely. After one last body count, we have seventy-six soldiers from Division One remaining, including the non-Cravoltan allies.

We’re gathering everything we can," Jotou walked as she talked, pulling the cord all the way till the flap of the tent. "Plan is to request transport from Division Two and leave the remainder of the troops there.

Division One is, abolished," she peered to the stars outside with a sigh. "What’s happened with the Rainstorm Slasher on your end? Is that the urgent news?"

"Not quite... There is good news; the Ordinate came by around dusk and fitted the affinity-lock onto the Rainstorm Slasher. They teleported him back and the Royal Guards alongside the police force should be placing him in a cell as we speak.

The bad news; I’m informing you that we had to dispatch King Akimitsu towards Division Four and the front portion of Division Five among one of their companies."

"What happened?"

"While the Poison Feather had you occupied in the far north, the Cindering Brimstone made an appearance near Division Four. After the emergency was reported to Division Six, the king volunteered.

With some of our forces and his, he made it westwards. It seems that the Cindering Brimstone made the push towards Division Four and Five within hours before tactically retreating alongside hundreds of troops."

Jotou let out a much longer sigh... ’Of course.’ "At least the king was there. Looks like my intuition served me right."

"You are being informed the latest," the radio paused, "That Division Four has also been abolished. The king is currently escorting the thirty-three survivors of Division Four towards Division Five.

Division Five is waiting on standby for now, on whether to push or retreat. We thought it best to contact the princess and Division One before making any judgements.

Many of Cravolta’s advances have so suddenly shifted, masses of our troops missing within hours and if you’re confirming that Division One is, gone...

We have some tough calls to make and little time. Not too little, but we have a small window and that alone."

Jotou tightened her lips, "I understand."

"Army Chief Egebe is also waiting to reach out; so I’ll leave him to you. Out."

Jotou took a large breath and blew it into the night. Parting her bangs she walked over to the radio and took a seat on the table it sat on.

’Well... Things are changing quickly—too quickly. Weeks of pushing and advancing, retaliated within a day... I preferred solving cases in Kria and figuring out the time device in Hartamat compared to all this nonsense.

Then again, I probably whined about them at some point too. I’m so tired; I literally woke up from a short coma this morning... Ha... That was this morning... This isn’t adventuring at all.

I feel terrible dragging Fumeko, Hotaru and Asobi into it... Asobi...’ Her dream was to make people happy; the memory of her saying that as they shared a laugh in Hartamat. Then a recent image of her unconscious and battered form entered Jotou’s memory.

"No," Jotou wiped her face with a palm. ’Stop thinking like that. They wanted to be with you and you with them. No regrets and hell, we’re all still alive; thousands of soldiers don’t have that luxury.

Besides, four elites down; it’s nothing to scoff at. The Cindering Brimstone is just another enemy to face and then Trailon loses their biggest hitters; assuming we can deal with whatever Frost’s up to. You’ve come this close; don’t give up yet Jotou.

Keep standing. Tomorrow will be better.’ Jotou smiled a little. ’Thanks for reminding me, me.’

The radio crackled, "Thundering Blade, do you copy?"

Jotou pressed the button and leaned back, "Chief Egebe? I copy."

"I heard all the information. Are the princess and your squad amongst you?"

"Just me. The rest of us are, tired, helping around or unconscious, but alive. Anything you relay to me, I’ll relay to them."

"We have already contacted Division Two to send transport to escort what remains back to them. Thundering Blade, while I do have some strategies I mind, I would like to hear your input, if any.

I am sure you’re aware of the situation. There are many things we need to decide and change. The state of affairs is quite dire and many of our soldiers are not doing too well."

"Perhaps you don’t have any strategies and are simply asking me for some plan, hm?" Jotou giggled. "Sorry. I can make some suggestions, sure."

’Time to think Jotou. Let’s see...’

"Realistically speaking, with Division One and Four down, we’re going to have to reinforce and move our bases closer together. Four elites are down, we know the location of their strongest.

Changing our battlefield will be the most beneficial. It allows traps like landmines and camouflaged soldiers to go undetected easier; the enemy won’t know after the massive shift in our positions. Over."

Chief Egebe replied, "I already had a plan to tighten Division Three’s current position. It seems the enemy isn’t too keen on mounting an attack from the rear.

While some preparations should be done just to cover our backs, Division Three I think will move further westwards and combine from our current split position.

The same I think, should be done for Division Two; it has been split to where half is further westwards. Bringing it back east will prove beneficial."

"On the topic of that," Jotou’s mind ran, "Bringing our forces closer together might be a gamble, anything with a large radius for damage like tank shells and bombs are easier to hit the target.

However, considering the attack on Division One, I don’t think it makes much of a difference and being spread apart has no use at this point.

If we can take down the remaining elite soldiers, I’d bet a lot of their forces would fold and we can expand after. I think Division Two and Three moving further south as well might be good.

Adding on to that, with the position of the Cindering Brimstone clear and if he is planning to make a push, I think we should combine Division Five with Six; maybe meeting somewhere in the middle?"

A moment passed before the radio replied, "That is a good option. A more defensive position until the more powerful enemies and weaponry on the field are dismantled."

"That’s all I can think of for now. I’ll head back to Division Six soon and talk with the king to get a better idea of what happened; maybe there’s a better plan to be made."

"Understood. Return safely and I will contact Division Six sometime soon."

"That’s quite a sombre voice chief," Jotou smirked. "Don’t lose hope just yet. There’s a lot more to do. Changing the tides isn’t a matter of strength and power alone; we can do this. Thundering Blade, out."

"Understood. Out."

The radio crackled. Jotou sighed, setting the microphone aside. "How are we ever supposed to win if everyone’s this depressed?" she muttered to herself, shaking her head.

"You can’t really blame them," a voice came from the entrance of the tent.

Jotou took a glance and smiled, "There you are detective."