Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 274: Arc 4, Act II, - 119: Brimstone

The hour went into the evening; seventeen hundred hours to be exact. A good eight plus hours of rest since they got back in the morning and nothing was disturbing their slumber.

All except of course, Arabella who had already gotten put together as she surveyed her sleeping- She wanted to think comrades, but at this point, she may as well admit she had friends she held somewhat close.

She took a glance at the sole trash can in the tent and squinted to the ash scattered about... With two fingers she lifted them up to her eyeline; ash from paper no doubt.

"Hello?" a posh voice ’knocked’ at the tent.

She flew the ash into the trash proper. Fluttering her hair back, Arabella went to open it up. She flipped the flap and greeted Feyan.

"Admiral, how was your rest?"

Arabella tilted her head to the side.

"I checked in earlier and it seemed no one was awake yet; I did not want to disturb, but now that the evening draws near as well as the king, I thought it would be wise to wake them up now," Feyan took a look inside to spot Daiyu.

Arabella covered his view with the tent flap as Feyan looked back to Arabella. Arabella glared and jerked her brows.

Feyan blushed and threw his hands up. He squeaked out, "No! I was not trying to get a glimpse of anything-"

Arabella cocked her head to the side.

"I was just checking in on the princess’s wellbeing... Apologies if it seemed like something else to you," he closed his eyes and gave a sigh. "If you will; wake them up please," Feyan walked away.

Arabella closed the tent up, with a little smirk upon her lips.

_

With Jotou and Daiyu ready, Feyan escorted the two a little ways west to take a look at the additional encampments set up; hundreds upon hundreds, like the size of Division Six’s main base had quadrupled in size.

A curving orange path connected the chasm in between the west and east of their position. Carriages came in droves, alongside a number of tanks driven very carefully across the narrow bridge of land.

The three surveyed from their little vantage point as troops traipsed all around them. In the distance, something seemed to be approaching. "That is the king arriving with the last of Division Five," Feyan relayed. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"Oh yeah, you told us Division Five’s merging with six," Daiyu crossed her arms and glanced at Jotou.

"Mhm, me and the chief decided it. It was while you were taking some alone time to think about Feyan."

Daiyu jolted, digging her nails into her own arm. Feyan’s face took the shade of light reds; both their eyes widened whilst a grin crept up on the blonde. Daiyu slowly turned her head, half-closing her right eye...

"Calm down princess, do you want to look like that in front of your crush?" Jotou held both hands behind her back and leaned her head forward.

Feyan shied his head down, "Ms Jotou, it is, n-nothing like that, were rumours like that spread?"

"He knows, no point playing it unaware," Daiyu growled.

"So shy and defensive about it. What’s next? Handholding?" Jotou fake gasped. "Although, I guess you’ve gone well past that stage~"

"My lady, you... told of her that?" Feyan sweated.

Daiyu faced Feyan, "I was, tired and just talking and it just like, slipped out, ugh!"

"So that’s how it happened~?"

"No, no! The princess and I have done nothing of the sort! It was j-just a kiss!"

"Daiyu’s been holding out on you huh?"

Daiyu yelled and grasped Jotou by the sides of the shoulder. She held tight and was about to violently shake her-

"Ahem," Jotou’s eyes darted to their surroundings, a smile still on her face. The soldiers around would peer or notice. Daiyu breathed heavily... and pulled Jotou into a hug...

She squeezed the blonde, "I’m gonna burn an effigy of you in the middle of Cravolta City!" through gritted teeth the princess muttered.

Jotou winced in her grip but still with a smug grin sang, "Daiyu and Feyan, sitting on a tree, F-U-C-K-I-N-G~"

All the while Feyan wished he could dig into the sand and hide his flustered face.

_

"I managed to catch a glimpse of him. The remaining troops of Division Four were fleeing eastwards as I arrived. A legion of Trailonian troops were not too far behind.

From the distance, I could see, destruction—ruin. Ash and smoke billowing into the sky... Shadows emerged into view and began marching towards us.

From their wake, I could gleam embers drifting into the night. A dark, ruby-like red, scorched across the earth that shifted darker and darker, till they were a very dark blue...

Those were the fires as he marched. His armour gleamed, of golds and oranges as the bluish flames licked up his large longsword. We had no time to think of a fight, instead we turned around and made our way back, escorting what survivors we could.

He gave chase and every time I took a glimpse, all I could see was brimstone," King Akimitsu described in vivid detail. In the small meeting they had, everyone was silent...

"That sounds really scary..." Asobi hid behind her wand. She was still tired and weary of course, but her illusions hid her face well.

"Well obviously, he’s the most powerful," Fumeko uttered. "But still, we took down Gale, we can take down this one too," she crossed her arms.

"If that’s him... I think I’ve seen a bit of him," Daiyu glanced at the king, who sat proudly despite the grim tale he had weaved. "I saw things through Dread’s memories; did his armour also have bits of blue and black?"

The king closed his eyes, "I am not certain. We were in haste and advancing towards the elite for battle seemed unwise of me to do at the time."

"We don’t really need more recognition, do we? It’s him, we know. Feather’s out of the picture, I have a good feeling that Frost is out too," Jotou stated. "Which means, this is the last elite."

"What makes you say Frost won’t come back?" Hotaru’s ears pricked.

"That’s just Frost. She’s the weakest of the elites for a reason; she’s not there to be much of a fighter. It was the same in Kria; she came in, did a little damage and escaped," Jotou summarized.

"And she did the same this time," Fumeko supported, though she side-eyed the blonde. "Which is a shame, cause I wanted to stab her a few more times."

"I’m sure you will get the chance, but for now," the Division General held the bridge of his nose and opened up documents, "We should be focusing on countermeasures."

"I believe there are things of note?" Feyan questioned.

"Yes, there has been quite the shift in positions for the divisions by Chief Egebe with the Thundering Blade’s recommendations. We have radio outposts from west to east, down the traversable path.

Hidden mostly from sight. They will be tracking the position of the Cindering Brimstone and his forces, reporting it back live. Currently, the elite has been spotted moving towards us, with reports saying, two thousand plus troops...

From what our outposts can gather, the enemy’s units are split apart, some taking rest while the others march forward. There are also twenty-six tanks spotted in the approach.

At their current marching speed, with the Cindering Brimstone in the vanguard, they will arrive on the morning of the 28th. In other words, at the dawn of tomorrow, they are making a grand siege against Division Six..."

"We need to plan something; at this point, it’s a matter of time before they come in for a buffet of slaughter," Daiyu groaned.

"Well, the plan’s still the plan. There’s a reason why we changed all the positions. We need to lay traps, request backup from the other divisions who’re closer by now, you get the idea," Jotou spoke to the general.

"I surmised as much. Of course, you have no need to be worried about the advancing forces. However, we require your expertise in the elite soldier; so your orders are to deal with that threat," the division general replied.

"I assume you’re already making a plan?" Hotaru smiled to the blonde.

’I just woke up like an hour ago... Alright brain, let’s start running.’ Jotou took a deep breath, "Somewhat. There’s a lot of details... First of all, Asobi, go back to sleep; we’ll wake you up when we need."

"Kay," Asobi shut her eyes and started to lean to the left.

"On your bed Sobi," Fumeko’s eyes glazed over.

"Oh, right," she sprung her head back up. She got up waving goodbye to everyone before departing the tent.

"What’s next?" Daiyu turned.

"It’s not too complicated actually," Jotou muttered. "We know the destruction Cinder can cause, but we have no clue about his spells or affinity."

"I’d say offensive by the sound of things," Fumeko guessed.

"I concur," the king replied. "The amount of destruction brought upon that division in such a short amount of time; it could only be an offensive affinity."

"Well..." Jotou squinted, "I was about to say it didn’t matter, but, sure offensive affinity; which means more dangerous, but danger’s already expected."

"Are you failing to strategize?" Daiyu mocked.

"No," Jotou stared at the ground...

...

A moment passed in stillness, then another.

...

The blonde broke the silence with a sigh, "I’m just trying to anticipate all the ways it could go wrong and trying to find a countermeasure for each scenario," her brain nearly fizzled out.

"Apologies; all the ways, what, could go wrong?" Feyan leaned forward.

"Direct assault right out of the gates."

Hotaru’s eyes bubbled, "You’re kidding..."

The blonde still stared to the floor, "I’m not," she shook her head. "I just, don’t see a trick up Cinder’s sleeve. I feel like he’s already played his cards and is saying we can’t beat him even if we have more intel.

I mean, he’s not sneaking about, you said it; he’s in the vanguard—literally at the front. We know his position.

He’s not retreating and finding other ways, he’s not hiding himself for a surprise attack later, we can see all his troops coming and yet he’s just marching towards us like a juggernaut.

If this is supposed to be a final charge against us, I personally wouldn’t put my strongest advantage out on the field first. I’ll let it come in the middle of the fight. That was even our strategy against the rogue battalion.

As far as any plan I can make goes, as long as the intel can keep coming in about all of the Trailonian troops coming our direction, our best ploy is to isolate Cinder from his troops and take him down together in a fight."