Pygmy's Army Sandbox

Welcome to my new obsession after Back For Bloods.
==Fantasy RTS Tourney Battle Royale Fight==
Part 2:Dead Armies
The Kintaran tundra was a potent defensive feature in itself which left most of Death Town's sentry work to checking for anyone who was brazen enough to try going through it without any prior experience with the intense cold and ending them with an ambush attack. Neither the Army or Empire had wanted to commit to an invasion at the beginning as their arrogant rulers at least had to realize that the winter would be a hazard in itself to their armies but as more and more forces were defeated and their lands were conquered, that couldn't last. Sooner or later, one of them would come to take the Baxters' territory and their loyal townspeople along with the mercenaries who they had bonded with would make sure the snow would be stained red when either kami or imperial decided to give the order.
"It's been a couple hours since we were informed that the Lord's of Extinction had fallen, Paulina, do you think they're preoccupied with their own borders?" David Baxter spoke to his adopted daughter Paulina Flores as the only one who could hear his concerns, the Coffin Gatherers couldn't speak and Elin Enid was standing guard somewhere in the network of cabins. "Hmm, I don't think so. You wouldn't be having to use your glove so much and I've dragged a couple dozen bad people down where they belong. I feel like they are being cautious but why aren't the Varnellians charging? They have no reason not to, those spirits at least have your 'friend' to their side."
"A good point indeed, they might not even trust Together We Jive. Perhaps if their soldier was right, the Empire is fearful of when they'll be turned on. But it does seem like the Army is far more aggressive even with Tomas nearby." Paulina nodded and smiled as she listened to her uncle's impressions, he didn't give himself much credit for strategic thinking but he did a good enough job to keep their town going so long on their own and he spoke what was on her mind. "They might be building a siege force but it's not entirely implausible that they might try something more underhanded? They do use prisoners as sacrifices from what we've heard."
"Yes, I would not doubt that. Magical assassinations aren't unknown but most wouldn't be able to handle this polar wind with how little they wear and how slow they'd have to go. Their summoning appears to be only temporary in most cases and they wouldn't be able to dig under us without anyone figuring out what they were up to." David went over all of the possibilities that he could think of but he just couldn't figure out how exactly the Varnellians would be able to catch the Kintarans off-guard in their own home, he wasn't sure where they hailed from but their troops certainly didn't act prepared for the low temperatures and didn't keep fighting for longer than they had to. "I should probably get going again, shouldn't I? The town and our hires can't take on everything the enemy throws their way, they might have even delegated a Champion to an offensive!"
"A risky move but most people get impatient easily. Stay safe, dear, and don't bite off more than you can chew!" "Ugh...uncle, I love you too but those jokes are horrible!" Flores left the Baxter to his desk after waving goodbye, a quick sigh at his warning as well, and swiftly moved through the snow which didn't bother her in the slightest, not being like normal people was a bit of a pain but at least mere temperatures didn't bother her anymore.
Paulina remembered when she would make snow angels and snowmen while playing for hours and then have to stay in bed for a couple days, at least her uncle spent time with her longer on those times even if she had to hear him tell her what she already knew. She may just be a young girl but he had always given her his full attention when he visited and when she got really sick that one winter, she swore she'd stay by his side if she lived, but she didn't expect him to go to such lengths just to save her and the town. He wasn't like his father, Baxter put the people and her first before himself which made her worried about how much he carried, just because no one came to see Flores and the other doctors gave up on her didn't mean he had to throw his happiness away...
No, he's happy with Paulie, isn't he? I taught myself how to cook from those family recipes he had lying around and I listen to all his concerns without any complaints yet he still treats me the same as always, perhaps he is too good for this entire situation...
Paulina couldn't imagine what life would have been like for her uncle if the plague hadn't started affecting their village, he probably could have moved out of Kintar and started working in someplace better although she knew that was a false hope, the entire Northeastern Continent was falling apart. She snapped back to reality as she heard footsteps crunch the snow and she could smell that they weren't Death Town soldiers so she prepared her lure, should she sit down and start crying or approach them with pretend tears, a bit awful but their foes had little regard for others' lives. Flores opted for the former and fake sobbed as loud as she could before long pikes pushed through the branches and she saw the distinct armor of the Dynastic Army, she was getting tired of eating them but she picked out one notable individual with a sharp-looking face, pointy hair, and his glowing white eyes seemed to pierce through her.
"Is that your first move, fiend?" How did he know who she was, she didn't leave anyone alive that wasn't currently imprisoned so that meant he had to be what she was cautious of facing even with her powers... "Are you that Emperor's Champion?"
"My name is Okuchi Magami, ascended to the pantheon of our deities, and you are not quite human or undead, rather you're one of the sea gods' hosts, aren't you?" Paulina smiled darkly with serrated shark teeth as Okuchi bared pointed wolf fangs, the two drew their main weapons as the other kami scattered, leaving them to stare each other down with the ancient Carnegean labrys and Sword of Kusanagi in hand. "I am Paulina Baxter and I cannot let you threaten my uncle with your continued existence. Your Dynastic Army was a concern for him even before this tournament began so I'll end one of his greatest foes here."
"You can try to match me and fail miserably or just stand still so I can cut off your head although it appears you've made up your mind." "You talk far too much, this is why the Beastkeepers don't like wolves, huh?" With those final insults spoken calmly, the two rushed at each other and the Sword wound up knocking the Labrys aside, Magami smirked in satisfaction as he prepared to go for the decapitation after countering Flores' sloppy attack, it was clear she had no talent with the weapon. However the kami assassin wasn't prepared for the Baxter girl to just fade into otherworldly electricity and he definitely didn't see the squid tentacle coming from behind to wrap behind his neck and yank him to the ground, he simply tore through it with his claws and ignored the bleeding wounds on his throat. Okuchi wasn't expecting her to retract her tentacle and then send out three Peregrine Falcons that started squawking something that sounded like "never" at him but that simply made him laugh as he sent the Kusanagi blade flying at Paulina where she barely jumped off the tree branch to avoid and three pikes were thrown at him by the Roto.
Flores leapt into the air as her birds pecked and clawed at Magami's face with him taking the assault while only closing his eyes as she prepared to slam her axe on his neck when a Falcon got jabbed by a flying Nagaboko and she took one in the gut which forced her to hack the Tsukumogami in half. The kami assassin had managed to touch all of the weapons with his feet in mere seconds and pulled the Sword back to him to puncture the Baxter girl's back but she deflected it with her Labrys and stomped hard on it so it would stay under her boots as their minions flew around. It was clear that the Tsukumogami were victorious as they punctured the last of the Peregrine and Okuchi rushed forwards with his claws to tear Paulina apart limb by limb if he had to but she breathed in his face, the amount of time she had been holding it made him sway in a daze for a moment, before her tentacle came back out to shatter the pike handles and tie up his arms before she sank her teeth into his jugular.
The serrated shark teeth spilt blood into her mouth once more and Flores bit down harder as she raised her axe once more but was thrown to the ground by a massive wolf, Magami had transformed himself and rolled around with her still attached which forced her to break off the death grip. The Baxter girl felt like several bones were broken and instinctively warped to avoid getting pounced on and the wolf fangs aiming for her head before slamming down on the kami assassin's back with her Labrys and feet, driving him to his belly and making him whine in pain. Paulina was dissapointed to still feel the Tank cuirass beneath the fur but noticed his helmet lying nearby and kicked it away before dodging the Sword returning to Okuchi in his regular form, he simply held it for a couple seconds before swinging at her weapon and hitting the handle.
What looked like wood turned out to feel and sound just like metal as the clng echoed through the woods, Flores smiled and put all of her strength into forcing Magami back but he proved to be just as strong as her, if not a little bit more physically powerful. Either way, the Baxter girl kicked at his knee and the kami assassin raked his claws across her arm which forced both to break the weapon lock although they still took another blow which made them fall over before they warily got back up and figured out their next moves. Paulina hadn't taken a cut deep enough to reach her heart from the Sword but it definitely hurt until it closed, that was probably all her last dinner could do, and the last of Okuchi's consumed souls fixed up his bleeding forehead from the Labrys hit that actually cut part of his skull.
"You...might not be a pitifully weak opponent after all, why you decided to bind with a human child is beyond my reasoning however." Magami remarked.
"Maybe you are a skilled fighter but I've caused more damage to your body than you have scratched mine. Weren't you going for my head?" Flores countered.
"Congratulations, I now have to take this fight seriously, Baxter or Leviathan, you shall be another slain foe for my emperor."
"Seriously, have you spirits done that?!" 
"What do you-Is that something burning?"
"So you're clueless, that only means one possible culprit and going right for my uncle, I really do hate the Varnellians." The Baxter girl simply warped repeatedly away after saying that which left the kami assassin snarling in disbelief and waving the Kusanagi blade in the air as his Roto were taken off-guard by a Bunyip ambush from the nearby water and Fijian arrows coming down on them, giving him something to kill to satisfy his rage.
The base camp of Death Town had been quiet a couple minutes ago but now it was getting torn through by a massive Hlut that unleashed a second lightning shot that got dangerously close to David Baxter's cabin, he had only just used his own electricity a moment before. A Fire and Ice Sweigen duo had rampaged into the perimeter earlier and several infantrymen were roasted alive or reduced to ashes while others got shredded by ice spikes, the Blizzard Cannons thankfully ended the former with a double-shot that made it fade into smoke. The latter Sweigen still ran around and went for a group of Cleaver Girls and Big Soldiers after hacking a Psycho Mercenary in half with an ice axe when David's glove made a lightning bolt come down from the sky and shock it until it turned into ice, unknown to him the summon time had ran out and he'd hit something other than his rejuvenated undead.
The Ruthbloud immediately materialized after dropping an odd stone, stabbed his own heart, and a Rhitari Heilag was born from his corpse which immediately shredded the infantry group that had avoided their earlier demise and then ignored every projectile that was sent it's way before it finally dematerialized after the next lightning shot. To add onto the previous damage, it had started a fire through the unnatural electricity and that was now giving the base defenders another task to deal with on top of guard duty and helping the Plague Doctors tend to the wounded's injuries which made it a surprise to hear the door creak open again. The Coffin Gatherers awoke and immediately turned their attention to figuring out who had opened it as there was just the snow and winter breeze before one angrily groaned and swung at an intruder, the Blutmezz didn't expect to be found out so easily but he had creaked the floor boards.
The falchion blade dug deep into the Varnellian's body and tore through his leather device but the other Gatherers were locked in combat with the other Blutmezzen who showed surprising skill in keeping up with the undead using just their shortswords and David pulled out his hunting knife to help. Little did he know a summoning knife hovered behind him, ready to puncture his heart and summon a Firtribunga from his corpse, if the man didn't get grabbed with a squid tentacle from behind and yanked to her own death from shark teeth chewing through his brain. The three remaining Blutmezz quickly tried to retreat and flee back to safety with their device rings but Paulina caught all of them with swift and lethal swings of her labrys that split one's head, hacked open another's torso, and the last one got his throat ripped out with the clawed tentacle.
"Paulina! I am grateful you saved my life but how did you get back here so fast?" The Baxter head was shocked by how close he came to being assassinated by the Empire's elites but he couldn't let the incident completely overtake his reason, there would have to be a change in Death Town's strategy now that he knew that one of their neighbors was practically undetectable. "The smell of smoke led me back here and I can move quicker when I warp intermittently."
"Paulina, doesn't that exhaust you?" "I saved Uncle so it's worth it! Anyways, the Dynastic Army sent their Champion and I'm assuming these were Varnellians?" "Indeed, what to do now?" The scientist sat back down at his desk to think for a moment as the Flores girl held onto his side, just in case anyone else tried to stab him so she could more easily put him behind her and at worse take the blow, but really it was just a hug as he patted her head before giving his new orders.
"We cannot stay in our territories any longer. I think it's time to take Tomas on that joint-assault offer so we can get closer to our ally and take out one of our current threats." "I hate to admit it but working with him now is probably our best option, the Kami aren't far away from here and we can't match them well in a direct fight while the Varnellians have already compromised our perimeter and it's only a matter of time until more come to finish the job of their late soldiers." The Baxter family was in agreement about what to do next and Elina was ready to implement some changes although the idea of a full-scale offensive from a defensive position could take a while to get ready, currently, it did tie into the order to move away from the kami forces however...
----
"Gibiot, the Blutmezzen squad was unsuccessful in assassinating the necromancer. Should we start a assault to back up your next group?" Kalt Degan had an annoyed look on his face, both from the loss of manpower and from his closest subordinates in his guard not grasping his next plan, he had learned a lot from the Ruthbloud carrying his stone device and it still functioned well in the snow, completely forgotten in the chaos of their neighbors retreating. "No, keep them in reserve for the time being but watching this...'Death Town', they appear to be preparing to assault the Dynastic Army which is beneficial to us."
"Ah, just let our enemies kill each other, your strategies are still the best in the Empire." The Blutmezz guardsman only made Kalt sigh from the compliment, he deliberately tried to avoid personal attachment and this was just traditional Varnellian tactics, his true master plan was simple as well but it had already been sealed from the opening moves of this tournament. "Flattery gets you nowhere, results do and I believe that those undead and mercenaries could give us quite the opening to exploit, I would keep them away from the necromancer until it's clear that they have lost and he doesn't have any support, crippling the so-called divine spirits is far more valuable."
"Understood, your next squad will be informed of your orders. Wouldn't it be beneficial to kill both leaders however?" "No, I am quite certain that the Town will destroy itself in the process while the Army won't leave an opening for long if it's made. My scouts have picked up some very interesting conversations that indicate a potential civil war could break out if the Blutmezzen are successful." Degan frowned at first from the simple logic that his protector showed but was smiling at the end of the conversation, he didn't have to take many risks at all if his foes kept on giving him opportunities such as this and he was well prepared to keep moving events forward in the Empire's favor.
----
"Consolidating the territories we have gained is our best move, comrades. Let the other armies bleed themselves out, our red flag will be the only one standing. No need to keep wasting fuel and soldiers so the monarchist hounds can gain ground." The Soviets erupted into applause from Leon Trotsky's speech, once more he amazed them with his clear vision of how the revolution would be carried out and for once all of his minds were in agreement, even Stalin didn't see a problem with letting their enemies kill each other for a while.
"Only fight to defend the land we have, use the machines sparingly, and continually train when you're not guarding or resting, the final push will still be a formidable task even for our righteous might. Remember, the end to all commoner's plight justifies any means so do not feel ashamed or cowardly for being patient to finish off whoever remains." The army leader continued and even the Thralls nodded in acknowledgement with the Order of Trotsky wordlessly giving their approval as well, the only one who seemed to have any problems with their current strategy was General Georgy Zhukov who waited until after the orator was heading back to his quarters to speak.
"I do think your plan is wise, Trotsky, but wouldn't it be best to show everyone in the Northeastern Continent how powerful the Soviet Red Army is? We have no idea if they'll actually be forced to acknowledge our victory and there are still other forces not participating in this tournament." Leon simply smiled and shook his head before countering with his own view of the battlefield commander's words, his face showed impatience rather than a true concern of what happened after their victory. "Then we show them our achievements first-hand, that's why we try to save as much troops as possible for that possibility or perhaps, your desire for the battlefield is calling you once more. I suppose you can't just be satisfied with Germans, what are you craving now, Kintarans, Hinomotons, or Varnellians?"
"Since when have you had a sense of humor, am I speaking to Joseph Stalin?" Zhukov half-joked himself but he knew something was up.
"No, comrade, I know you don't always like waiting but we didn't just decide to sit here for no reason. My recon flying machine missions and the Stealth Mages have both told me two massive assaults are about to take place, even though our previous opponents were surprisingly easy to overcome, you do realize that we only have, at best, half of their lands and are still dealing with remnants of Craven's Legion?" Trotsky said that in a way that made it clear he was withholding something from Georgy until he got called out on it which he took the bait and asked the obvious question.
"Are one of our new neighbors involved in one of these assaults?"
"Da, that is correct. There is supposed to be both of them participating in different attacks but the necromancers haven't made a move to support their allies and the Templars are facing a direct siege which gives us an opportunity to take more territory in the aftermath."
"So you are not just planning on waiting the mid-point of the battle out?"
"Who said anything about battle, you and a small group of my Order can scout the area before so we can know it's open."
"I gladly accept the mission I have been given." The battlefield general walked away smiling after giving his response to the army leader's orders, he would get the chance to introduce more foes to "I performed intercourse with Germany" hopefully soon enough and in the meantime, he could always help in training the Soviet military.
----
"Where are Tomas' forces?" Paulina Flores asked in a tone that sounded to David Baxter like one of the rare times she tried to prove she was right about something that she disagreed with him doing and sadly, at least half of the time she had a good point against him in those brief exchanges.
"His Cleansing Horde is probably assaulting the other end of the fortress already or getting ready to." The scientist had to try to be the head of the family and Death Town so he gave the most logical explanation he could think of, it was a big structure that he was honestly impressed could be built on such short notice but he had always thought Kintar's terrain was enough defenses until the Varnellians ignored it.
"I hate to agree with the little gremlin but wouldn't there be some troop movements to that side or sounds of combat drifting over here? All I see and hear are a bunch of glowing-eyed people forming a porcupine and an entire battalion of archers on the walls just looking for something to shoot." Elin Enid didn't ever agree with his niece unless she was right which put even more pressure on him on how to make this situation not turn into a complete disaster for them and an easy victory for the kami but even though he wasn't part sea god, he certainly had a plan for how to break their ranks.
"It's quite simple how you change that. You see those giant centipedes hanging near the back and even one in the middle?" Paulina and the mercenary leader nodded as David pointed his targets out and he moved onto the next part of his plan, something that was admittedly a bit hopeful to actually work as he didn't quite know if his greatest inventions could puncture that carapace. "I'm having the Blizzard Cannons concentrate fire on them."
"Why exactly, my good fellow? That's a waste of fire-" 
"Doctor, your knowledge of beasts is lacking. Obviously even a giant insect can be a problem when angered."
"And since the creatures are near our foes, all we need to do is make a wall of fire!"
"I've got to admit, that'll throw them off-balance and even the odds quite a bit if we can keep the centipedes from going for us instead." Elin let the Plague Doctor, Big Soldier, and Cleaver Girl speak before giving his opinion and it was clear from his tone and opened visor that the veteran Psycho Mercenary had his doubts about this plan but he was more concerned about what the other parts were. "Now I know you're already gambling that those beasts aren't nearly as smart as the other Kami creatures but what exactly is being done about their leadership that's likely holed up in that fort?"
"I've got unfinished business with...Okuchi Magami, I believe but what about the emperor uncle?"
"It won't take every Cannon to start a rampage so five will serve as cover for a direct assault of the main gate where I will personally lead with my Coffin Gatherers." Flores' face darkened and Enid shook his head at those words as Baxter revealed the full extent of his plan that was made with Tomas' observations and his troops', the Dynastic Army was a very competitive force at best with their own troops and their emperor was the main thing keeping them together. "If the emperor falls, that could very well be his army's death as well."
"Yeah, the only coffin they'll be gathering is yours with that insane plan. That place is guarded more heavily than a Bunyip colony billabong."
"Uncle! You don't even know who he is! I might be able to match his servant but you're just a human compared to someone who could very well have lived centuries!"
"Elin, I know how to easily bust through that gate and clear the main wall although it's a gamble that there truly is just a skeleton force inside the fort and Paulina, you don't need to worry so much about me, I'm just as capable and almost every known leader is a mage."
"So we'll be left with even less manpower? Alright then, I don't like it but this whole plan is probably the only real way to beat them for us and their forces aren't too formidable either at this point." The mercenary leader still sounded grim but much more accepting of the plan once he saw his hirer's conviction.
"Uncle...I trust you...so please come back after you're done..." His niece just looked at him with sorrow but he didn't want to see her cry again, she'd done too much of that in her life from her brief visits to the outside just to be bullied and after the most difficult choice of his life, so he hugged her again and rubbed her head while he gently replied to her concern. "Of course, Paulina, I'll be back here in a couple minutes, I promise."
The Flores had been regarded as Bryzion hounds by the entirety of Kintar for centuries, they had no hesitation reporting anyone for 'anti-imperial' activities and gleefully enforced their rule on any uprising, which resulted in them being reduced to shrewd politicians in recent times after the Empire's downfall. Poor Paulina had been an unfortunate child to be born into such a family and she spent most of her life sheltered in the estate and yard with abuse from her peers as her reward for trying to connect with them and cursed by those still too hateful from the past. David took quite the beating to his reputation for taking care of her, especially during the plague as almost every other youth fell one-by-one and his family tried to get him to work harder on the war effort against the southerners, he kept aiding her even at her weakest and with the worst case by far.
The scientist had relied much more on magic than his preferred trade then and he had his suspicions of the true nature of the illness but even so, all of his focus was on keeping her alive and after stopping a cult dedicated to the living dead with the chief members being her own parents and his close friends... Perhaps something did break when the Baxter head had to slay his closest supporter and the woman he had loved, thankfully far worse at their craft then Lady Melissa, which left him in the aftermath of a bloody home and dying village just doing what they had tried to but differently. While not skeletons, his undead had immense bloodlust and the Beastkeepers were an equally distasteful Order with him having to call up his old family mercenary contacts of dubious morals and worst of all, David turned his precious niece, Paulina, into a monster that could only feed on other civilized creatures just so the reaper couldn't take her to someplace better.
"Uncle, Paulie would sooner starve than harm you so just let her stay by your side, alright? I'd rather be there for eternity than some void where ghosts relive their pasts and only know how to make themselves happy, you've only been truly happy now, haven't you?" Her uncle felt tears on his coat and couldn't help himself from doing the same while his niece whispered in his ear, he knew she wouldn't let him go on his own and he didn't feel brave enough to leave her alone again. "Paulina, that's not entirely true, I was young once and Elin had a son..."
Elin Enid just closed his eyes and let the family have their moment, he had been involved in far too much bloodshed lately to interrupt it and if this was how he died, then it just runs in his Protector bloodline.
----
The Dynastic Army had never been truly challenged so far, all that had attacked them was disposable raid hordes of undead that came back as soon as their master willed it and the insane humans who fought alongside those cursed beings in the frozen woods but that time had ended. Now the full might of the village of the dammed was upon their eastern garrison and the bells were chiming as they approached with the Rōto Footman forming a spear wall around the Ikusa Miko and the three Mukade Demons were barely kept under control while the Archers on the wall took aim. Frustratingly the cowards stopped advancing a couple feet away from their nagaboko pikes and dodged arrows while pouring gasoline in a circle around them before lighting it on fire but if the fools thought they could actually bait them into moving, they grievously underestimated kami resolve.
However what happened next was nearly instantaneous as giant icicles flew through the air and hit the Mukade, not enough to kill them but enough to drive the giant creatures mad with fury and the results were horrific as the centipedes thrashed Footmen and Miko several meters away. If those casualties weren't bad enough, the beasts stepped onto several kami in their stampede and one even spit cyanide indiscriminately that melted more warriors yet it was ultimately a foolish plan as they came for the undead next and burst through the flames to get to them for their vengeance. The Death Town army was forced to back off even more and tried to fell the Giants with their Blizzard Cannons and numerous heavy projectiles, only one was slain by an icicle, while the remaining two impaled numerous enemies along with the horrible fates inflicted on the Army's troops.
It was here that Okuchi Magami finally returned from the Kintaran tundra and found himself staring at utter chaos as the panicked Rōto and Ikusa came under fire from flanking forces that wreaked havoc in their lines with exploding cans and large pieces of debris but that was not his greatest concern. The kami assassin heard the fort's gate breaking apart under Cannon fire and saw a small group of undead going inside before he gave the order to his Mamorigami Riders, Kimunkamui Berserkers, and half of his Followers of Magami to aid the garrison while the rest followed him with the Footmen. The Riders charged and ran into War Stalkers who caught the massive wolves on sarissa pikes and their Amur tigers tackled the riders off but their lances punctured many of the Beastkeepers' flesh and their mounts dealt mortal bites to many of the beasts that were attacking after overpowering them.
The Berserkers roared in their bear forms and ran into Oceanic Cavalry where the Fijians dismounted after a couple arrow shots and let the Bunyips deal with the armored shapeshifters who surprisingly were evenly matched and after slowing them with unnatural howls, began to grapple them. Teeth pierced throats and claws ripped open stomachs on both sides while the plates did nothing against the monsters, unfortunately their worthy foes began clearly losing the fight as a small group of man Kimunkamui chased down the riders with Ōmasakari battle axes which easily dealt with their clubs although the bows scored their lethal hits. The Followers clashed with Psycho Mercenaries who blocked most of their hoko polearm barrage with their tactical shields before managing to hold them back after barely reacting to the leap with their longswords while the Konoetō proved to be an equally useful sword.
Some Followers of Magami tried to use twin tsurugi swords to gain an advantage only to be disarmed in a swift shield movement and cut through by longswords while the Mercenaries with winged spears found their shafts chopped in half before the Konoetō moved onto their flesh. All of this mayhem occurred as Okuchi finally made it inside the fort and found himself facing down Girls, Soldiers, and Doctors alongside a familiar face who wielded her labrys axe with the same murderous expression as before and he caught a glimpse of a man traveling with four abominations to the main structure which made him grip the Sword of Kusanagi tightly.
"Halt wolf, we haven't finished our combat." Paulina Flores calmly spoke as her body tensed to intercept him if he tried to move.
"You did the same, fiend, I need not uphold honor when you have none!" Magami snarled in righteous fury at the girl host who followed his every step as he circled her.
"We both have a lord who means the world to us, mine was under attack by petty assassins and now he goes to fight your emperor. Do I need to explain the difference or do you mean to insult me that I don't truly care about my uncle?!" Paulina's indignation was evident from her yelling the last sentence at the kami assassin who was impressed once again.
"...You are right but I do not have the time to enter another even duel. Your sea god should have granted you some power so we can settle this decisively." Flores laughed darkly at that comment and kept it up while her face got a malevolent grin that didn't faze Okuchi at all although the lesser troops showed great concern with their expressions. "Very well, I haven't eaten well so far in this tournament so I'll accept. I hope you're ready for a true apex predator or this will just be a dissapointing end."
"You boast already, Baxter? Your soul will be the one making my ascended form even mightier but you are welcome to try defeating me." Magami spoke in a completely confident tone to the girl host, the Sea Gods had no power against the divine pantheon of Hinomoto but he would still greatly enjoy ending this duel with a worthy opponent. "Come then, let's see if you can still keep your tenuous grip on unlife against the power of the ascended!"
"Your overconfidence will be the death of you, you're just a hunter like us except the difference is that she was here long before you were even born so please have tasty flesh for us to consume, alright?" Paulina's sentence got increasingly more deranged with every second as her body went through a change that would be horrifying to most beings but merely made the kami assassin smile at the true face of his foe before he started laughing and assumed a fighting stance.
"Let us begin a clash of two gods then!"
Magami's body was enveloped in a golden light that made him shine like the sun and the divine winds sped up around his body as Flores grew much taller and her body started decaying in front of him with exposed innards and an eye completely falling out but he noticed an otherworldly nature to it as well. Both of their forms were something that shouldn't be possible in the world of mortals and their followers couldn't look at either for long without being momentarily blinded or enduring a headache but the two weren't concerned at all with the lesser foes, a deity's name was at stake. Magami's Okuchi Omakimi state enabled him to still use his Sword of Kusanagi and his reason was still available to him as he calmly inspected the abomination's form while Flores' Feeding Frenzy had reduced her to a snarling beast with snapping shark jaw hands and squid tentacles pushing out her back as she stared hungrily at the spirit.
Okuchi didn't expect Paulina to still be able to warp and she wrapped her tentacles around him as her many jaws widened but he simply let her bite down only for her teeth to bounce off and then he decided to start his offensive after letting her have the first blow. The kami assassin swung the Kusanagi blade as fast as the wind but the girl host warped away with only a slight cut and he found himself greatly enjoying this challenge, the other deity was proving to be a skilled foe as she kept avoiding his strikes before moving in again. Tentacles wrapped around the Sword and tried to yank it away, only for Magami to rush towards Flores and slam her into one of the base structures as their followers began to start fighting while avoiding the main conflict that would utterly annihilate them.
Rōto Footmen kept Cleaver Girls at bay with their nagaboko pikes while they tried to corner them with gasoline fires, both sides maintaining a hood distance to keep the polearm away and reduce the possibility of being rushed but there were exceptions to this. Some Girls maneuvered around the pikes and relentlessly hacked away at the Rōto with their natas until they found flesh or knocked them into the fire where they yelled as they burned while the Footmen stabbed Cleaver warriors through the chest on their main weapon or drew chokuto swords to match them before cutting them in half. The Rōto Bowmen fired far more arrows from their maruki-yumi longbows than the Big Soldiers could throw large objects but they took most of the shots without falling and the brigandine definitely wasn't protecting against their bones being crushed by their enemy's projectiles.
Some got close enough to engage in close combat where uchine battle arrows were launched into Soldiers' brains through the eye, Bowmen were picked up and hurled at their fellows to crush multiple bodies, and Rōto got lucky stabs to the heart in melee while Big warriors regularly smashed their skulls with their fists. The final confrontation was the oddest as Plague Doctors threw chemicals at the Followers of Magami which ate through their keiko lamellar and flesh as they leapt to close the distance and rushed in with the Konoetō longswords while their foes tried to send their fellows into a rage. Some Doctors avoided touching the other undead and placed hands on Magami's chosen which made their eyes roll back as they instantly perished or managed to surround one with scalpels before carving him up but the majority of Followers cut the Plague hunters to bits with longswords, punctured them with thrown hoko, or cut clean through them with Tsurugi. 
The Dynastic Army forces were faring better overall as their armor kept them from being killed more easily than the physical weaknesses of the Death Town units which made them more susceptible to attack and their lack of armor didn't help that situation either. Ultimately it would seem that, overall, the undead and mercenary coalition was taking far more losses than they had in their territory while the kami fought harder than before in the tournament as their base was invaded and the Emperor was in danger. Paulina's mouth sank into Okuchi's shoulder and he grimaced as it broke through his energy field to draw blood before the abomination yelled in fury and hurled him away with her tentacles to warp towards the main battlefield and he followed to continue the duel.
Magami found Flores chewing on numerous Rōto bodies and her wounds closed with the feast before she turned to him and hissed in anger as she lunged at him, only getting forced back by the Sword's impressive swinging speed once more which enabled him to press the advantage again. The girl host's shark mouth hands snapped at the kami assassin's arms but he avoided them for the most part, only suffering small cuts, and even kept up as she warped around him in a frenzy, the predator getting angrier the more this divine foe was evading her and forcing her on the defensive. Paulina finally got in a good hit as she wrapped her back tentacles around Okuchi's legs as he went for a lunging downwards swing and her mouth hands bit into his upper arms which left his neck open to be choked by her squid wrist tentacle and a shark tooth bite aimed for his skull.
Flores shrieked as Magami's neck muscles broke her appendage and he sunk his own wolf fangs deep into her neck before she could react, she kept on holding his other limbs back however and the two were soon feeling a bit weak from the bloodloss before something interrupted their fight. A Mukade Demon flailed itself at the two champions, knocking them away from each other, and it proceeded to charge the girl host who simply let it get closer before thrusting her hands forwards and completely tearing through it's carapace with both punches before getting to work feasting. Okuchi watched as Paulina gorged herself on the massive centipede's body, every wound he had inflicted was quickly closing up, and she looked his way with a malicious grin before warping right on him as he grasped the Sword of Kusanagi in both hands before striking.
The three minutes for both of their ultimate powers was almost up and while Magami lacked the means to easily heal, he had recovered enough from the few souls he had claimed, and Flores had gotten far too confident after her great feast, losing the cautious fighting instincts of before. This left the girl host open to a trio of slashes aimed at her neck, waist, and shoulder that made her shriek in pain as blood spurted out from all of the wounds that occurred at a blinding speed that even she couldn't react to and the kami assassin fell to his knees afterwards from the exertion. Paulina's waist recovered itself after being cut completely in two, the spine reconnecting just in time to prevent her from splitting in two, but Okuchi's sword had left a nasty diagonal gash down her shoulder and into her heart which at least healed as well and her throat was only slightly cut open.
Still it was clear that Flores was weak as she tried lifting her labrys axe in shaking hands and Magami rose to finish the job with his Kusanagi blade, speaking one last sentence to his barely still standing foe before he moved in for the final strike. 
"I think I'll let your soul pass on instead for that worthy fight and out of respect for a fellow god." 
The kami assassin gritted his teeth afterwards as something thrust into his leg, a plate armored human with a Bunyip painted on his helmet came in from his left, and the Baxter girl's determined but pitiful look at the situation turned to surprise as Elin Enid yelled at her. 
"Go to the Head Baxter! I'll delay this dog!"
"You dare interrupt a deity, human?! I shall have your head!"
Okuchi shouted as Paulina went back to the Mukade carcass for more fuel to repair her body before she warped to the Emperor's royal castle and he slammed his Sword into the mercenary leader's chest, cutting it open in a spray of blood before trying to pursue and falling face-first to the ground.
"Cowardly mortal, what did you-" The kami assassin started to yell before realization kicked in.
"This might be the death of our entire army but at least I figured out something from this catastrophic loss. My boy, I tried my best to keep them both safe..." Enid reflected in his final moments.
Magami decapitated Elin in rage before falling again after picking himself up, noticing that his opponent's winged spear had a peculiar stain on the point, one that matched up perfectly to the color of the cyanide spit leaking out of the deceased Demon, it was nothing he couldn't survive but it would slow him down. Eventually the kami assassin would be able to get back up and finish the job he started against the Baxters but now they were perfectly free to attack his Emperor, the thought made him snarl in fury as he tried to move his crippled for the time being muscles but they refused. Okuchi saw a blur in the distance falling from the castle and what he believed to be something catching it before they both dissappeared again, he finally was able to force his legs to stand up and shakily walk towards Takeru's location before anything else tried to kill him.
----
The small garrison of Dynastic troops was preoccupied with Death villagers and a few Psycho Mercenaries which left David Baxter and his Coffin Gatherers free to push open the doors to the Emperor's throne room, leaving the sounds of clashing blades and flying projectiles behind for a brief silence.
"Who exactly do you believe you are, necromancer?" Yamato Takeru shouted in a tone of righteous fury at the unholy beings who invaded his home.
"The one who will drag your selfish dreams of omnipotence back down to Earth." The Scientist vigilante calmly spoke as he slowly walked towards the ambitious Emperor on his chair with Yamato Hime no Mikoto, the High Priestess of Amaterasu, by his side.
The Gatherers ran at the Imperial Guard who held their Bishamon Yari halberds up to stop the charge but the falchions batted most of them aside while the two that sunk into their undead flesh through the scavenged metal plates were ignored as the elite guards started engaging in another melee of the conflict. The Imperials kept up fairly well with their Tsurugi swords against the arm blades as the two sides moved in a blur of strikes and blocks as their leaders were soon within ten feet of each other which made Takeru create a smaller fireball with his exorcism rod before sending it at Baxter.
David's glove sparked and the electricity cancelled out the fireball, leaving a puff of smoke where the two projectiles collided, while Yamato shifted uncomfortably in his chair as his foe got closer with a hunting knife pulled out of his winter coat. 
"Let me deal with this damned mortal, my lord." Hime spoke as she intercepted the first stab from the Scientist with her exorcism rod and swiftly twirled it around while whacking him at opportune times where he couldn't block although he just fought through the pain and eventually grabbed hold of the staff with his glove. 
The blessed wood cracked in a couple seconds of the grip and Baxter moved in for a disabling slice to the arm but no Mikoto dodged backwards as Takeru watched with growing concern, he couldn't use his fireball again with her that close but he had an idea and a nearby weapons rack.
"Now you shall easily purge this evil, High Priestess!" The Emperor shouted as he tossed a Tsurugi sword to her which she caught without hesitation and forced David back a couple feet with a few warm-up swings, he glared at her while clutching his knife in the middle of an all-out guard brawl.
"Can you get even more hypocritical for someone who covets 'honor'? You refuse to fight personally and now you have your mistress wielding a sword against my knife?" The Scientist's mocking comments got under Hime's skin and made her commit to a full forward slash but he narrowly sidestepped and cut her hand on the way, forcing her to utilize her less-dominant hand for combat as Yamato yelled at the enemy leader in his throne room. "You have no room to speak, necromancer! There is no honor in what you do or the actions of your soldiers!"
"You commit heresy against Amaterasu!" Baxter avoided a stab this time and hit no Mikoto with his glove as she shouted, this time finally taking her out of the fight as she rapidly lost consciousness and spun around to lay on the floor while he barely avoided Takeru's next fireball which he zapped away as well. 
The Gatherers and Guard had managed to kill two of each of their rivals, a Bishamon Yari halberd splitting a Coffin undead's head which made it even more hideous and a Tsurugi decapitated another one while an Imperial kami got relentlessly hacked at until his limbs were all severed and one was overwhelmed by their foe's appearance before getting his head smashed into the wall which broke his neck. One of the Guard troops rushed to Yamato's aid as he smacked at David with his exorcism rod, the Yari forcing him back from knife distance again as it bounced off enchanted Keiko lamellar, the Scientist looked at the Emperor again in annoyance before focusing on his new Tankō plate armored foe. The Imperial kami fighting the remaining Gatherers had luckily caught another one's head with his halberd and was forced to duel the last one with blades once more as his fellow Guard and Baxter moved to deal a mortal wound in front of Takeru who sat comfortably.
"This is the end, necromancer!" "Again with the refusal to fight on your own." Yamato and David exchanged verbal jabs as the Imperial kami moved in for the kill with a downward hack but he stopped in place and started twitching uncontrollably as the glove gave him a shock and the hunting blade was dug deep in between the plates to cut into his neck.
"You have any more grunts to throw at me?" 
"I shall just have to deal with you myself, necromancer. Even though my leg cannot walk, I have won far more victories than your twisted mind could possibly imagine."
"You've finally decided to fight your own battle. I got tired of waiting for you to do something besides hurl fire at me. I'm not in a good situation either so don't think your comfy chair will earn you sympathy."
"You will respect the son of Amaterasu and Divine Emperor of All that is below the Heavens!"
"Ugh, your giant ego is giving me a headache." The Emperor sent more fireballs at the Scientist who just hit them with sparks from his glove to reduce them to smoke as he closed the distance before he took a swing with the hunting knife but he didn't expect it to be blocked so effortlessly by the exorcism rod.
Surprisingly Takeru proved to be a skilled foe as he forced Baxter back while taking opportunistic whacks at his arms and legs while his foe tried to get the blade close enough to attack or even to grip the staff but the kami's speed appeared like a blur to the human. The Scientist's bones started to crack from the assault and the Emperor would not let up as he felt his body slowly weakening, he resorted to zapping his foe at close range as the enchanted keiko lamellar clearly didn't work as well against magic before kicking his chair. Yamato toppled to the floor as his seat fell over before David kicked the exorcism rod away and stabbed downwards with his hunting knife in the glove hand, the lamellar held however and the human could hardly do more than a slight cut to the kami's chest.
"It's over, your twisted superiority complex has blinded you to the worth of other races."
"You are a coward, necromancer! I do not fear you in the slightest and you are the one who has lost!"
"Big words for the man currently on his back."
"You can't even watch your back." While the last Imperial Guardsman and Coffin Gatherer had ultimately ended their duel by slitting their foe's throats with the Tsurugi and Falchion respectively, the undead was finished off by Hime's blade cutting through competely before she came at Baxter as Takeru chopped the side of his neck with his hand.
"Get away from the chosen lord of this world!" David staggered backwards from being finally pushed back by Yamato and the shock of the sudden hit before narrowly reacting to the yelling no Mikoto and throwing her into the throne room wall, knocking her over again despite suffering a cut to his chest, before realizing that his foe had gotten his chair back up. The Emperor began beating the Scientist around the head with the exorcism rod, sending him stumbling back with a series of three powerful swings as he forced his chair to move closer to the balcony that his foe was being pushed back towards as he readied a final strike.
"I send you to your damnation, necromancer!"
"No..." Baxter barely shook off his blurred vision to block the blunt object attack with his hunting knife, Takeru putting all of his strength into it and yet he was successfully pushed back although he quickly retaliated with a smack across the back that sent his foe tumbling over the railing.
David fell without a word from the top of the fort's throne room and Yamato was satisfied that his foe was doomed, he could tell his forces had already outlasted the undead abominations and they would be ready to clear up any stragglers, another great victory for the mightiest non-ascended kami alive. However if the Emperor had bothered to check one last time for the Scientist's splattered remains, he would see that the human was actually caught by a girl that appeared in a flash of light before disappearing again, but he was more focused on checking if Mikoto was still alive. Takeru found no Hime wearily getting up even with the divine energy coursing through his troops but that was the least of his problems as a pack of shadows appeared out of the dark corners of his throne room with blades drawn, the sound of clicking, and glowing ring devices.
----
"Paulie?" Baxter practically whispered the name despite his head injuries threatening to make him lose consciousness but he forced himself to stay awake as he saw a face he feared he'd never see again, Flores looking at him with an equally pained expression as she carried him away from the battlefield, neither appeared to have done well against their Dynastic Army counterparts.
"You never call me that anymore...not since I was tiny but that doesn't really matter now, does it? Are you doing alright?" David was hurt how Paulina cared more about his own well-being than her safety, he could see blood soaked through the girl's lumberjack outfit and her throat had the outline of a cut, his whole body ached but she had to be exhausted using her powers right after being wounded beyond her healing's immediate capabilities.
"I think I have a cracked rib or two, a concussion, a bruised neck, and very sore limbs. Nothing I won't survive, are you sure you're alright?" The Scientist asked his niece with a concerned expression, he had a feeling this whole assault had went extremely poorly for Death Town and he only saw green woods now which did not bode well for his troops and mercenaries.
"I'm just a little tired, uncle, I'm perfectly fine otherwise. Our town and allies are...well, I think it's safe to say we're out of the tournament. Those Dynastic forces just seemed to be fighting at full strength all the time, your cannons helped a lot but I think our people fought to the last and our hired friends just routed after a while." Flores spoke based on what she had observed while Baxter was out cold, the icicles were still inside Rōto lines but the crew and the undead were completely lifeless on the ground while she caught a glimpse of a couple fleeing Beast Keepers after their tigers had died and the two mercenary groups fleeing with what little plate armored troops and Bunyips were left.
"Ugh, I made a mistake. We lost this entire force here, we can't match the others in numbers and clearly nor quality either." David groaned in pain of the physical and mental kinds, they had left two other 'armies' back around Kintar but they were mostly the same composition and he didn't want them to have to keep living as nomads for the rest of their lives, it especially wasn't fair to Paulina.
"No, it was the best decision. Staying was suicide and Tomas promised to aid us before leaving us to die. Hah, I really thought we could take them if we kept up the momentum but that one garrison was too hard to crack. I'm especially to blame for underestimating Magami, I don't know if he's a true god but he was certainly more trouble than I gave him credit for." His niece belittled herself but the Scientist just held her hand as she laid him down next to a tree and sat by his side, she had done too much work for her to not feel like she was the strongest of them both, his own failure was the more abysmal of the two.
"I lost to a man stuck in a chair, it doesn't get lower than that. All of my Coffin Gatherers were wiped out as well so we have absolutely nothing to rely on here, huh? What about Elin?" Baxter saw Flores' face darken as he said the mercenary leader's name and he could tell that he wasn't going to get good news, it was the same as last time, he had too much faith in his capabilities when they were severely lacking, now he had a dead son and father on his hands.
"Stop that, uncle. Neither Enid or Lafe would want you blaming yourself for their deaths, they chose their fates and Enid...died saving me, he didn't stand a chance against him and yet..." David's heart couldn't take much more pain after the stabbing feeling of watching Paulina start crying again from a sight that he had a good feeling was identical to one of his own memories, that Chimp brute should have gone down from the hits he took but then he raised his Dolabra.
The sound of steel plate being pierced echoed through his mind and the Scientist pulled his niece closer to him in a shaky attempt at a hug, needless to say neither of them were doing much better than their Town at this point and it was a struggle to even stay awake.
"At least there's still the others, all hope isn't lost. Good grief, what a dysfunctional family we are."
"I think we make a pretty good pair. Wait, I think I'm-"
Flores couldn't even finish her sentence before going comatose and her head laying on Baxter's shoulder, the two Death Town individuals left to rest in the woods after their failed invasion of the Dynastic Army lands, it wasn't a bad day to just pass the time in silence.
----
"So this is the true face of my enemies? A horde of cowardly assassins?!" Yamato shouted in fury at the Blutmezzen and Shadowalkers currently staring him and Mikoto down from two different sides of the throne room, the high priestess wasn't in any condition for a serious fight and he had his doubts about taking on such a large group yet he was the son of Amaterasu.
"Very well, if this is truly how you wage war, cowardly sending your minions out for murder, Yamato Takeru, Divine Emperor of All that is below the Heavens and son of Amaterasu, will show you how wrong you truly are!" The Emperor swung his exorcism rod hard at the neck of a Shadowalker that moved too close, breaking the demon's spine, and no Hime slashed open another one's guts with her Tsurugi, the rest warily stood back to bide their time before striking and looked at the nearby humans.
"I shall keep praising Amaterasu and guiding her chosen until death claims me!" The Blutmezz squad leader simply nodded and joined in an encircling hail of blades with his men and their temporary allies and despite the kamis' incredible speed, eventually Mikoto cried out in pain as armblades and shortswords hacked into her flesh over and over until eventually she toppled over again as her words became true. 
A Hlut Summoning Dagger was thrust into her chest and punctured her heart as she laid on the floor, summoning a Firtribunga from her spilled blood as no Hime took her last breath, and the Varnellian summoner sent it at Takeru who cracked the skull of one of his men open with his staff. The creature walked towards Yamato and ignored a trio of fireballs to the body that merely scorched it's flesh, hissing in pain from it's torso mouth, before grabbing the exorcism rod as the target started to react more slowly to the threat which left him open to a Shadowalker armblade to his back. The enchanted lamellar held up well even against that brutal punishment but it was failing as the demon's blades began dripping with crimson and the Emperor began to shake in weakness from the bloodloss as the Firtribunga melted through his staff and touched his helmet and chestpiece next with it's corrosive palms. 
Takeru gritted his teeth as it broke through and he fell off his chair in agony from the two sided attack as the Blutmezz squad leader turned to the Hlut and silently gestured past the fallen kami, the summon decided to heed the human's orders and started lumbering towards the Shadowalkers next. While a pair tried to attack the Firtribunga, it easily dispatched them both by clamping down on one's entire body with it's torso opening up like a toothy flower and just melting the other one's head to nothing as the rest of the demons decided to retreat back to Tomas' lands. Now the Varnellians were free to claim their prize and the Blutmezzen stood over the bleeding Yamato with their shortswords raised, his back not even feeling anything but numbness after the injuries he sustained and his cheek and chest partially melted away, as a subordinate drew another Hlut summoning knife.
"Your leader...is a complete...coward who is doomed to...ruin even if he achieves victory here..." The human stabbed the Emperor through the exposed bone and he gasped in pain as he grabbed onto the man's arm, his glowing white eyes blazing in his killer's vision until his last words were over.
"A curse upon your people for spilling the blood of Amaterasu in a shameless murder!" Yamato Takeru's eyes finally lost their brightness and closed as he let out one last ragged breath as another Firtribunga rose from the royal blood leaking over his own throne room's stone floor, his arms simply flopping to the sides next to his broken exorcism rod and knocked over chair.
The Blutmezzen should have left there but they couldn't escape retribution as the blessed doors swung open and the first thing the new occupant did was throw the Sword of Kusanagi in an arc, bisecting three of the five humans, before the youngest sent his Hlut at Okuchi Magami in a desperate attempt to save himself. The divine assassin caught the blade on its way back and started hacking away at the monstrous Firtribunga, keeping it easily away from him even in his weakened state with a furious set of blows, until it finally faded from mortal existence due to the large number of deep cuts through it's body and head that completely left it a shredded mess. Magami merely growled in pain as the other Hlut chomped down on his shoulder and started touching his arm only to be slammed into a wall as the Blutmezz was knocked down by the blunt side of the Sword of Kusanagi as he attempted to cut the kami's throat, his summon screeching as claws were dug into it and ripped it apart with only slightly more difficulty than the last one.
Okuchi quickly saw his Emperor's desecrated body and the Varnellian trying to flee, his squad leader having activated his device rings from the beginning of the encounter and left through a window, pinning him to the floor with his blade while yelling in fury even as he turned invisible. The divine assassin's senses still would have tracked him even if he had gotten up but the Blutmezz cried out in agony as the claws dug into his wound's sides and his head was bit into with teeth before more force was applied, his body splitting in half as he was decapitated. The human's soul was dragged wailing to the enraged Magami who quickly got a more somber mood as he rushed to Takeru's body and touched it for any sign of life, he couldn't feel any and he began crying in mourning over his master's body for several moments before working up his determination and picking up the remains.
"Kami of the Dynastic Army, is this how the Divine Emperor of All that is below the Heavens should have been slain? Not in a glorious battle but by a group of assassins?" The defenders gasped as they saw what had become of their leader and many began to pray to Amaterasu for forgiveness after Okuchi had carried Yamato's body outside, a look of vengeful bloodlust filling his face as a Rōto Footman spoke what many were thinking.
"How can we ever make this sin up to the Amaterasu?!"
"You can keep fighting and kill every last human you see. It was not even the undead that committed this treacherous act that took the noble High Priestess from this plane of existence as well. No, it was humans who stabbed our glorious Emperor in the back as the abominations and their hired killers actually fought with some honor!" The divine assassin spoke in a passionate haze of righteous anger, he would take up where his lord had left off and he would see justice be brought to every other force here, any who dared oppose the divine right of the kami would die.
"I ask you to join me after we lay our worthy dead to their final rest and march to the east to slaughter the cowards who did this just like how they treated our finest. Only when their heads are all sitting on spikes and their souls sacrificed to the Omikami will there be due compensation!" Shouts of approval came up from the shapeshifters and Followers, even riling up the Mukade, while the Rōto and Miko seemed far more hesitant with going through with Magami's plan, conquest was one thing but an outright massacre seemed to be no better than mortals at best.
"Stay here and I guarantee you, none of you will ascend. But with this last glorious campaign, we can honor our Emperor one last time! Come then, you worthy kami of the Dynastic Army and let us make our victory stand on a mountain of inferior beings' corpses!" Okuchi's loyalists followed his march without any questions while the other kami reluctantly began to follow at a more cautious pace, the main element moving into Death Town's former territory at a rapid pace to get to their first target and fulfill their vengeful desires.
----
"The Varnellians chased you off as you were going for that idiotic Emperor, is he dead and is Death Town crippled?" The Shadowwalker clicked in response to Tomas Rallis' questioning and he smiled slightly while he nodded in approval, the plan had always been a joint strike, he had never lied to David about that but he never said that it would be a sacrifice to assassinate his biggest threat while he reformed his forces.
"I truly did think Baxter had potential, deeply flawed in execution of his forces and far too attached to notions of what is 'good' and family but I admired his creations. It's of no consequence, my fanatical neighbors are now after the Varnellians for the murder of their beloved leader and Baxter certainly wasn't vital to my plans especially after his poor performance at that siege. But in the end, I'm the only one who can manipulate this battlefield to my advantage and the Northeastern Continent belongs to me alone, I'll let them all slaughter one another before I decide to end their miserable existences."
"Should we maneuver the majority of your subjects to the eastern border to take the kami homeland while they fight?" The necromancer heir was interrupted in his monolog by one of his Harpy guards trying to influence his strategy, he felt disgust towards the demon but controlled himself so he wouldn't make maintaining the binding process even more difficult than usual for his willpower.
"No, the Soviets will notice that my troops are moving to the other border and strike, they're the kind of opportunistic scavengers to do that. And if anything, it benefits me to keep the kami around as long as they're focused on other targets, if I don't give them any reason to strike me, they'll do even more work than Baxter did against that accursed other alliance. Let us see if Magami can make his final act of devotion to his leader a memorable one." The demons laughed sadistically as Rallis thought about how his next moves would change depending on how well the Dynastic Army performed, this was certainly looking to be one of his greatest plays yet in his quest for complete control of his homeland and one day, even those oh so clever Varnellians would call him king. 
----
"This is certainly fun. I just see jungle as far as the eye can see, let's just Crescendo Stick it to ash and be done with it." A dwarf Piano Thief talked to the human Valkyrie carrying him on the back of her Pegasus, making her sigh before she replied.
"Please don't tell me you actually think we have that many Sticks to level all of that greenery and still be able to bombard our other enemies. Think of the future, Brogan, our orders are simply to observe the Templars before Lord Apollo or Menrva give the order to strike them." The woman had been looking at the same sight as her short-fused compatriot for about two hours and hadn't once thought about being a complete idiot, if anything, she just wanted her scout shift to be over so she could report back.
"Annoying, isn't he? I guess it comes with being stuck on the ground for most of your life, we elves-"
"Good grief, magical hippogriff this, magical hawk that, nobody cares." The human sighed and rolled her eyes at Brogan and Alierana getting into another argument over who's species was better, the elves and dwarves had an ancient rivalry but this was ridiculous, she could swear she even saw one of the mountains move at this rate.
"Valkyries, move now!" The relief Pegasus rider finally arrived to relieve the three soldiers of Together We Jive currently on shift only for them to turn in confusion as a loud bang echoed and a brief look of horror before a gigantic lead bullet completely pulverized their bodies, leaving a red mist to fill the air they occupied.
----
"The last scouting group should have been back by now. I think something happened to them, Menrva."
"You just want to get out of this wasteland. I'm not happy about sitting on Boneville either, particularly when our next adversary practically gave it to us." Menrva Harp was referring to the previous skirmishes in her discussion with Apollo Longstrider where the Templars of Sutherland just kept retreating while fighting briefly and mostly in cheap attacks like musket fire or Molemen ambushes, she really hated the latter and was shocked her foes considered themselves good with those horrible creatures.
"This place certainly isn't helping me make any upbeat music, that's certain. But I don't like any of this as much as you do, those holy men are definitely planning something and it feels like they want us to besiege their territory."
"Jungles aren't exactly a fun place to fight if you remember our earliest campaigns, I still can't believe how many gnomes can be hiding in one bush."
"That's the Valkyrie pair I just sent out to relieve the previous group." The music God's tone was anxious as he saw the Pegasi coming in quickly to land and the veteran being prepared for the bad news that was probably coming with them, the entire unit seemed panicked because of something they had seen over the jungles of their most recent foe.
"The entire reconnaissance group was wiped out by a gigantic bullet! I have no idea what even fired the shot!"
"Calm down, my child, explain to me what happened as best as you can." The lead Valkyrie was still panting from the shock and exertion of rushing back after watching three of her compatriots getting completely annihilated but Longstrider was understanding and listened patiently as his follower tried her best to relay what she saw which was certainly shocking.
"I think I know what you're saying next."
"Of course you do, Menrva, we've only been together two millenia at least. Begin Shock and Applause against the Templars and be wary of that jungle." Harp got the assembled Jive forces into their standard formations quickly as they eagerly prepared to spread their faith to a new area, the masterful music of Apollo would spread throughout the Northeastern Continent when they were done, and it was a very nice feeling to be marching on an enemy again.
----
"I know our negotiations failed but shooting them immediately like angry farmers is a bit rude, don't you think, Kavoren?"
"The Giants didn't want to wait any longer and I'm hoping to lure the Jive into our lands, great-great grandfather. You said they might be superior in direct battle but our forces don't need to fight like that inside our homeland so why not give them an incentive?" Kavorous Kavoren only talked a lot to Duàn Jingguo and he put his own input into most of his ancestor's strategies which had helped the Templars of Sutherland win many a battle in the past, their combined intellect enabling them to outmaneuver any foes the kingdom had seen.
"Well that's definitely going to attract their attention but we could have used a bit more subtlety than our greatest creation attacking scouts." The spectral founder spoke out of concern for how well their forces would fare against a foe who was clearly quite powerful from all that they knew from the previous battles, coordination was extremely high among Together We Jive and their intriguing music magic combined with their wide arsenals made them a considerable threat.
"And about their alliance, where exactly are the Varnellians?"
"Looting the fallen territory of 'Death Town' and fighting off our attempted allies reportedly. In a way, we do actually have our own alliance." The normally quiet fighter withheld the rumor that the elusive Blutmezzen were scouring the Middle wilderness as it just seemed too incompetent to believe as the feared leader hunters wouldn't be fumbling about that wasteland if they had any sanity and they certainly had enough problems to focus on.
"It's at least better than those treacherous necromancers' excuse for one. I believe Tomas Rallis will be a particularly nasty foe if we make it through this conflict."
"Have faith in Kriller, great-great-grandfather. Our previous foes were soundly beaten not just by our efforts but by the jungles of Southron. I'd like to see them try getting through everything that lives in there." Kavoren himself didn't enjoy having to deal with that on a daily basis, if those monstrous predators and acidic plants were still devastating to their people, outsiders would be even worse off, particularly when it became night which was what he was counting on an attempted assault starting at that time.
"I don't believe they'll be brought down so easily by that, they remind me of the invaders of my day, vast, formidable, clearly favored by their gods."
"Do you think we will lose, great founder?"
"No but it will be a very costly victory at the least, I hope we can still be an army afterwards and not just a roadblock."
"That's the challenge for every participant in this battle, is it not? Who will truly be left with enough of their fighting potential intact to launch the final push. The way I see it defense is the smartest plan until the endgame when all of the attackers have been whittled down to nothing." Kavorous was confident in their chosen method of warfare that would expend as little resources as possible and keep their troops close together, if anything, the factions trying to gain land during this period were gambling far more by splitting into garrisons and assault teams.
"Your logic is sound, my boy. The only problem is that every participant still around is fairly fresh in the fight and it's only after the middle campaigns that we will see exhaustion and casualties start to wear down the survivors. With that in mind, we need to keep Apollo's soldiers at bay or it doesn't matter what happens afterwards." The quiet fighter reluctantly nodded at Jingguo's wisdom, it would certainly be the defining point of the Templars' battle for the Northeastern Continent whether they could last against one of the aggressive middle pushes and last till the end to take advantage of their weakened competition.
----
Gertrude had never imagined that her career as a Valkyrie in Apollo's service would take such a turn for the worse, being captured immediately in their greatest hour by a hostile force then inexplicably being let go by the man calling himself Elin with the other prisoners and told to flee into the Middle with their equipment. Death Town was surprisingly generous to not leave their prisoners of war to Varnell's merciless killers and yet after fending off a couple wolves and a bear, she found herself hurling her last Crescendo Stick at a Blutmezz who was blown to bits as the rest of his squad approached her with lethal intent. While they had an alliance, she was certain the Empire wouldn't pass up easy sacrifices especially with no one to confirm their presence along with them immediately drawing their shortswords after seeing her watching them start dragging off a kami but their presence was still odd.
As far as she could recollect, they were assassins foremost and the Middle was not a place that was popular with the armies, let alone leaders, as the place proved to be a serious pain just from the exploratory parties sent to scout it, the animals weren't very nice creatures as she quickly found out with her fellows. Even the tower had only been used once and then left to decay while the territories were caught up in conflicts, she had a feeling that her 'host' decided to make his own move and she had no idea how that went but at least this place was inhabitable if one was knowledgeable in what was edible. For a Valkyrie that wasn't a problem but fighting dismounted against a squad of elite troops on her own certainly was and the orc was quickly backed into a corner by the Blutmezzen who encircled her around a tree in their now four-man squad before the leader stepped forwards to interrogate her.
"Have you seen the Baxters, deserter?"
"I've been trying to return home this whole time and I last saw them getting ready to leave their lands. That's all I know about what happened to them."
"Take her for the sacrifice stockpile...Scatter!" The squad leader's order was too late as a giant bolt of lightning slammed into the middle of their formation, frying the Varnellian elite troops except for him and his life was swiftly ended with an axe as he struggled to pick himself up off his knees as Gertrude stared in disbelief.
----
"This place is typical of filthy monarchists, designed to rule the workers through fear."
"Da, that is true but are you satisfied with fighting zealots, comrade?" The Standard Soviet that was speaking before Georgy Zhukov nodded in agreement as the Soviets' recon force advanced into the former territory of Craven's Legion, the force traveled extremely lightly with no vehicles but that shouldn't be a problem with Together We Jive being so thoughtful to distract the heavier forces of their target.
"Hold, I think the filthy stealth boys are back with their intel after having several hours to do so." Sure enough, the Stealth Mage Defectors had finally decided to reveal themselves to the Red General's infantry force and they didn't even seem to have bothered with hurrying up as there wasn't a single piece of dirt on them unlike his men who had to go barreling through the woods.
"There is a sizable garrison directly in your path, mostly polearm and musket wielders along with cats."
"Cats? What, do they not want to part with false gods and their pets on the battlefield?!" Zhukov got a hearty laugh out of his men for that joke as the Defectors just seemed to ignore him as they proceeded to detail the forces currently using one of Craven's many dummy bases as their outpost to defend their new territory, nothing a good group of Soviets couldn't handle.
"Onward, we have an actual battle ahead comrades!" Georgy got his infantry formation into marching formation again to push towards the Templars of Sutherland garrison, he wasn't just about to let a good opportunity for the Soviets to hit a weakened foe and snatched some of their territory go to waste, the revolution was made through action.
The Standard and Ranged Soviets made it to the former Craven base first, causing the Templar-Paladin Musketeers manning the wall to shout in alarm and start moving forces over to add to a firing line from the walls, a silver blur moved past their sight before a hail of Dual-Auto Crossbow Bolts started firing into them. The unarmored ranged infantry suffered significant losses to the Red General's accurate aim and the Soviet infantry was able to withstand most of the gunfire before returning fire with their Mini-Explosive Crossbows, the casualties being even more atrocious than the last volley and spraying Templar parts across the woods. Zhukov smiled under his Anti-Magic Plate Armor as the Sutherlanders retreated to the inner base, quickly motioning for the Ranged Soviets to approach the wooden gate protecting them before something popped out of the ground and grabbed his leg, he looked down to see an absolutely hideous monstrosity created by the fanatics.
The Molemen certainly didn't impress Georgy as he reluctantly thrust I Performed Intercourse with Germany into the beast's head as several others dragged proud Soviets under the ground where they were opened up like tin cans and mutilated by the Templar support, they had been left as a fantastical minefield around the base. The surprise defensive creatures did substantial damage when they first burst out of the ground but the Standard Soviets started quickly eradicating them with quick stabs of their Chuikov Pikes while their Ranged comrades watched for any movement from the base before they continued with the original plan. Explosive bolts tore through the wooden gate after the last Moleman was punctured through the heart, revealing a large force of Cataphracts, Polegians, and Templar-Paladins waiting for them although the Crossbows started blasting their ranks next which increased their chances of winning the melee.
Standard Soviets pushed through the ruined gate and clashed Pikes with Winged Spears and Modified Halberds, running a couple lightly armored Polegians through but having greater difficulty with the heavier Cataphracts who proved capable of bashing through their armor with the hammer side of their polearms. Georgy rushed through and quickly cut through the Templar-Paladins attempting to flank his troops with his broadsword before they could fire their muskets again, the Polegians had started to pull out their Flanged Maces to get through the Anti-Magic Plate in the brutal close-quarters combat. The Red General freely used his confusion field to further disorient the Templar infantry as many saw the battle moving in slow motion and some simply couldn't react in time to block lethal stabs, the results were the Polegians and Cataphracts surrendering after the substantial casualties they took and a host of fleeing cats.
"It looks like our first mission was a success comrades, now to find those filthy stealth boys so I can get the news to Trotsky..." Zhukov was in high spirits after tasting victory over the people's enemies once again, it was a shame he had to rely on the cowardly Defectors' telepathy to get the go-ahead to continue the Soviet push into Sutherland's territory but it was better than figuring out where to put the prisoners.
----
Apollo's musical energy tore through a Rock Golem and several other Templars of Sutherland ground troops while clearing somewhat of a path through the jungle that was proving hellish for Together We Jive to push through, the opposing troops were bad enough without the starving mountain lions and giant pitcher plants to worry about. The Muses cleared a path through those hazards for the Bowstring Thieves and the Strings as they turned their hammers against the Gallowfold Chimeras next, Hummingbird throwing knives and engraved arrows flying through the foliage to attempt to hit the Templar infantry committing to a guerrilla warfare strategy. The holographic Muse shields blocked a couple Paladin musket shots but those that hit proved to be almost always lethal as they tore through the lightly armored Jive infantry and the Cataphracts and Polegians certainly weren't against ambush attacks with their winged spears and modified halberds.
TWJ didn't even have air superiority as the Valkyries had to retreat in aerial dogfights against Wyvern Templar who were still wary of the destructive Crescendo Sticks with a couple flying lizards being sent into the foliage hissing in agony but several pegasi and riders had been caught already. As they were torn apart by claws, teeth, lances, and Kilijs, the Gallowfold Molemen occasionally made their presence known by dragging a couple lighter infantry units to their deaths although they fared poorly against wary foes and they clearly weren't the most powerful forces in the jungle. As the Muses bashed the Chimeras to mush with a couple casualties to stingers and teeth finding a weak point in the armor, the Disco Death Knights arrived in the clearing and quickly showed how adept at combat they were even in the hostile landscape that barely hindered their Grani mounts' movement.
Entire Templar ambushes had been forced to dance until they died and the Rune land mines blasted several infantry away, the Knights proved equally lethal with their harmonic lances tearing through almost anything, unfortunately the Paladins were their mortal enemies as the lead balls were able to get through their plate armor. Lesser infantry were usually cut down before they could use their halberd hammers or flanged maces which meant that the Muses tended to push first for all of the Jive forces inside the jungle although Sirens using Soundproof songs did just as well for keeping their most valuable troops safe. The Disco riders kept on pushing into the Sutherland territory before a trio came across a large stone that they were going to circle around before a large boom echoed through the jungle and they were crushed under a giant lead ball along with some of their accompanying infantry.
The momentary confusion had earned the Golem the first blow but the remaining Knights quickly focused their runes on making mines on the leg that they saw before activating them, the series of explosions making the giant construct stagger backwards and opening a sizable dent in the rock. A Piano Man crew turned towards the Rock behemoth with a charged blast as his fellows tried to blast the mounted Templars out of the sky and succeeded in a couple hits, cutting Wyvern and rider in half with pure sound, before the massive noise launched at the opposing siege unit. The Golem only had a moment to recognize the projectile before having a pile of rubble falling from where it's head used to be, clearing the path for the Jivers to continue on their assault and they ran into more hostile creatures in wild drakes that spit fire before being slain as a mountain lion dragged a Thief off.
A String backed up into a pitcher plant's acid pit during the fight, adding several more casualties to TWJ's considerable losses just to nature and the Sirens couldn't reach most of the bodies, but it was about to get worse as the main attack team ran into a fully fledged defensive position with Musketeers already in firing lines. The Muses were quickly dragged underground for a couple moments by Gallowfold Molemen and a strange fog started rolling in that only drove the Templars into an outright counterattack as the Jivers struggled to react to the barrage of lead that was only somewhat blocked by Soundproof and their vision being hindered. A couple mounted Templars were even in the charge as halberds, winged spears, and lances slammed into the Bowstring infantry who desperately tried to fight back with short swords or start using smoke bombs as the Strings attempted to fire into the legions of Sutherlanders coming at them as the Muses finally crawled back up after bashing far too many Moleman heads in.
The Sirens attempted to resurrect those who had died further down the line but they couldn't resurrect most of the Jivers who were quickly being forced into a tactical retreat despite the Muses' return and Knights' efforts which did little to blunt the ambush attack's effectiveness and then the fog changed. What was already a losing battle became a killing field as the vast majority of beings in TWJ wound up breaking out into blisters and coughing violently in the now yellow mist covering the area while the Templars were entirely unaffected and were quickly put down. The Sirens fled underground to regroup with Apollo and Menrva so that they could tell them what had happened and regroup with sections of their army that were still alive so that they could keep up the invasion despite the high number of casualties from that engagement.
----
"They certainly weren't expecting that, descendant. I told you we didn't have to resort to another leader rush for victory, just let the conflict play out, they'll fall eventually." Duàn spoke with pride as the Templars of Sutherland expertly carried out his and Kavorous' orders to force Together We Jive further back into their territory with the combination of his fog, he was particularly pleased to keep his great-great grandson away from anymore all-out gambles.
"I hate to tell you this great-great grandfather but those troops appear to have completely recovered from your fog and there's even a couple with broken limbs that are miraculously healing. I think we should start making sure their soldiers are dead or captured." The fighting descendant spoke almost mockingly as the spectral founder sighed before opening his mouth and having to just follow along as he was dragged into another personal conflict where the moth blasted two Valkyrie scouts with a single screech, killing their Pegasi as well.
The mount proceeded to fly right into the surprised group of Bowstring Thieves, Strings, and a Muse guard on the ground where the hammer wielder wound up whacking himself in the face through a portal before the magic chain-weapon's blunt end pushed him back again as several arrows flew through the air. Unfortunately for Kavoren's foes, he was a master at blocking or evading those projectiles while the Jivers caught several recurve bow shots in the eyes or throat as the chain-weapon's blade tore through even more flesh and sent those it hit to the afterlife after their previous brush with death. The Muse came back with a furious charge but the moth knocked him back with a leg before the rider's Steel Mace began pounding on his helmet before it was bashed into his fractured skull and the rest of the infantry besides a single Thief were quickly cut down by the Sutherlander who immediately started interrogating the last soldier.
"How did you recover so quickly from your injuries? What you have healed would have crippled a normal person for life."
"You sick bastard, this was a recovery camp!"
"No, that's a couple meters up the jungle and you've certainly bombed enough of our wounded encampments." Kavorous might have tracked this group from that camp but he wasn't just about to let these troops rejoin the battle after a brief healing period, the Templars had enough to worry about and Kriller didn't frown upon or at least make clear killing a fully recovered foe who didn't surrender was unworthy conduct.
"You still tracked us down from there, how can you call yourself a Templar?"
"Who healed you all with such speed?"
"Go to Hades, you hypocrite!" The quiet fighter simply knocked the warrior unconscious and began tying him up as Jingguo appeared at his side, clearly concerned with how his great-great grandson had handled the situation but not condemning him for his actions in protecting their own troops' lives.
"Kavorous, I think we should do more than attacking the recently recovered, supernatural aid or not. A squad taken out on the front lines would be far more devastating."
"I agree, you noticed how none of those spectral creatures were around or a Champion?"
"How does that prove the Leader has anything to do with it? Granted I believe the music pummeling our landscape is his work but those creatures can hide themselves." Duàn had a feeling this would lead to the exact same situation as the last confrontation no matter what he said and he didn't like the thought of attempting that stunt twice in the same campaign as he knew that their enemies would be expecting it if they had good recon capabilities which the Jivers did.
"Would you not have sensed them by now? Besides the music is always there and it only intensifies when the blasts begin, our faithful order has even reported that Together We Jive has abnormally fast recovery from injuries even in the field without a visible mage or familiar. I'd say there's a correlation."
"Let's slow down for a moment, you're not like this to rush into battle on your own. The Necromancer was an educated guess but this is a theory, not a fact. Why are you so eager to go after an enemy commander again when you were fine supporting our fellows earlier?"
"How is this different? If Apollo dies, Together We Jive's morale goes with him at least and it leaves us with only one more target for victory." Kavorous was exceptionally heated for his usual nature and the spectral founder had caught on that something was bothering him since a couple hours ago which made him scroll through his wealth of knowledge to remember one important event that had happened just before this phase started.
"Are you going after Apollo for your friend? He would not want you to risk your life for vengeance that Kriller does not condone!"
"Sivan was a good man and they did not just bombard his wounded camp once but kept on bombing it even when they put up the white flag! What soldier would do that?!"
"Perhaps...they could not see it...but it deeply wounded me as well, descendent." Jingguo had seen the ruins as well and only felt shame at having not had some form of defense for their healing outposts, he had thought it would help them go unnoticed but he was wrong and now the quiet fighter was feeling the first loss of someone close to him, he could remember his own battle-rage as a young man on a similar occasion.
"Whether or not they saw it, they will notice their 'God' has died and then they will be lost without any guidance so that our order can keep Sutherland safe."
"Or you make them outright bloodthirsty? Vengeance is a brutal loop, my boy, trust me on that." The barbarian's king, Duàn remembered how he struck him down for cutting down his own friend and that set his followers off on a frenzied spree of widespread murder, sacking villages, and even worse, it was his worst mistake and he didn't want Kavoren going for the same move that cost Sutherland so much.
"I've made an oath to treat every foe with respect and never to harm the helpless. Apollo is very clearly not a figurehead but a dangerous so-called deity with devastating power. Our fellow faithful fare far better if he's gone."
"I hope to Kriller you're right about this..."
"I plan on proving my conclusion before aiding our faithful once more." Kavorous urged his Moth to fly swiftly towards the former Necromancer Order's territory after dropping off the prisoner with the Archangels and the spectral founder following closely behind, the latter reluctantly as his great-great grandson headed to a battle that might determine the fate of Sutherland before the Templars had a chance to weaken the Jivers further.
----
"I truly detest jungles. The Northeastern Continent surely is a bizarre territory." Apollo Longstrider had seen few places with the very conflicting nature of this new land, arctic regions and imposing mountains next to tropical archipelagos, farmland and cities in the middle, and an all-encompassing jungle in the south, but truly the thought was more to ease his concerns about Together We Jive's casualties.
"My lord, it's nice in some areas but I find this Necromancer's abode quite unsatisfactory."
"Yes, I'm sure you'd prefer grassy plains everywhere you go. Just be thankful we didn't have to maneuver down this hill." The Dragon Knight complained before Echo took a jab at him, the God of Music had gotten used to the relatively calm power struggle in the Bards' ranks but both had their points, this bone boy place wasn't conducive to cheerful playing and the trails were carved out of the mountain rock like a flailing serpent.
"Here they go again, just listening to our God playing with all his heart isn't enough. Everything has to be a complaint or power move."
"Are you not joining them, dear brother? Hypocrisy is the worst indulgence."
"Quiet down, my Bards, I think I see one of the Valkyries returning." After Bulwark and Percussion's input, Longstrider saw a Pegasus gliding back towards the Jivers' current command area and noticed a blur behind the rider which tore through her and the mount with ease before coming straight towards him, his Harp sent a trio of daggers punctuated by a Lance at the intruder.
The giant moth swerved past all of his projectiles and ignored the Piano Men still firing on the Templars of Sutherland, revealing a young man he didn't know and a ghost who had quickly become one of his favorite individuals on the Continent even if the Varnellian treaty forbade further alliances.
"Are you Apollo?"
"That's one of my names. Who exactly are you hanging out with Duàn?"
"I am Kavorous Kavoren and we met before you decided to invade my homeland." Kavorous Kavoren's voice had an irritated edge to it which Apollo knew was most likely not just the reaction of another wallflower being forgotten by him, his entire army was musical so those who didn't show any personality tended to be looked over although in this case, he seemed important to the Templars.
"My great-great grandson has sworn vengeance on you due to your artillery annihilating a healing camp and his friend."
"...Ah. I made my Valkyries' Crescendo Sticks into strike markers for my Piano Men and they tend to make decisions quickly, truly sorry about that."
"Is that all you have to say?" The God of Music always sounded cheerful and he regretted that trait sometimes, particularly when situations like this happened where he had to explain how someone's loved one got the perfect eulogy music and cremation through sound although even to him, that event description sounded bad.
"I understand how it feels to lose close to you, particularly after you just killed one of my Valkyries in front of me, but I do not have my followers go out hunting for aid stations to nuke."
"You're not helping matters, Apollo."
"Yeah, I got the feeling that this was a 'I have come for your head' situation, Duàn. I have to warn you though, kid, I will kill you if you don't fly back to your jungle." Longstrider gave an intense glare to the vengeful warrior who immediately pulled out his Recurve Longbow and began firing on him, the leader's Harp began playing more rapidly with ten daggers forming around his foe before hurtling forwards, neither side caused any serious damage through a combination of armor and evasion.
Apollo ignored the counter portals attempting to send his own weapons flying at him and easily moved out of the way of the ones trying to snag his feet, leaving Kavoren with no choice but to abandon that option with his moth getting several more bleeding wounds as daggers, a couple axes, and a lance came down at him. The vengeful warrior's magic chain-weapon didn't do much better as the God of Music simply kept on humming while drawing the Sword of the Morning to block the pointed end before the chain was wrapped around his foe's blade and kept it out of the way as he readied his steel mace for a lethal blow. Longstrider merely whistled and a new lance hit Kavorous' brigandine from behind, knocking him off his steed and onto the ground, which let him free his Sword and chop off one of the moth's legs mid-stab, leaving the beast to attempt to screech angrily before thrusting into it's mouth and avoiding the attack.
Apollo clearly skewered the giant moth's brain and yanked the Morning blade out quickly to focus on ending the rider next, Kavoren was shocked at the ease with which the enemy leader slew his companion but he shaked it off quickly to stand up and focus on finishing his mission on foot for the good of his people. The God of Music had seen more than enough battles to have a good idea of how the vengeful warrior's weapons and abilities worked, even that ticklish feeling in his head told him the boy was trying to read his thoughts which was an amusing attempt against a being far older than even the Northeastern Continent. Even while Kavoren and Longstrider prepared to duel to the death, their loyal guards had been clashing with an inevitable conclusion being revealed gradually as casualties mounted on one side and prepared to aid their charge in ending the adversary that had chosen to engage them at this moment.
The Archangel Followers had swooped on the Bards from the beginning of the projectile trade and the Knight and Bulwark instinctively moved in front of Echo and Percussion to stop the glaives from reaching beyond their halberd and warhammer, the former's magic working wonderfully for that task. The strange mist forming and the melee combat forced the second in command to prepare traps and the sister to keep aiming until the Dragon Bard pushed a Follower back and she let a barbed arrow fly into his neck which was followed up by two more as the stunned man fluttered backwards. The mortally wounded Archangel finally collapsed and Echo had the right opportunity to blast another one with sound who was struggling to back off from Bulwark who kept pulling the man back to almost bash the glaive out of his hands with his warhammer before readying an overhead blow.
The staggered Follower couldn't stop the Bard from smashing his morion helmet down into his neck and the head with it, the blow leaving a pile of steel scrap and fleshy gore on a stump before the corpse fell over, and the opposing guards realized that this was a losing battle before they flew back to rethink the situation.
"Yes, flee cowards!" The Knight shouted at the Archangels who simply looked down at his group as the fog around them suddenly turned yellow and the Piano Men began crying out in alarm as it became much harder to breath, their foes seeming to not even be worried about the unexpected change.
"This is what they call a feigned retreat." Echo stated sarcastically as her fellow Bards were hindered by the mist and the melee fighters could only make sluggish attacks against the divebombing Follower duo, the Piano crews fared far worse as blisters covered their hands which prevented their firing in support of the troops in Sutherland.
Kavorous swung his chain-weapon to ready it for Apollo who stayed outside of the range before humming with a noticeable drop as an axe came for his foe's head, the Templar dodged the attack however and in the same movement, sent the point of his tool at the Jiver who blocked with the Sword but that was a distraction. The vengeful warrior's magical chain wrapped around the God of Music's legs before pulling and causing him to fall over as he raised the hammer side, only to be forced back by a Morning blade swing that barely missed his stomach as his steel brigandine had a sizable cut in it. Longstrider kept up the diversions with a seemingly endless barrage of daggers before a lance came flying at Kavoren's face and the Templar was completely unable to prevent the Jiver from freeing himself before getting back up, his foe's reaction was to open a portal underneath his feet but he managed to hop over it.
Apollo noticed Kavorous glaring at him as every attempt on his life was thwarted and knew that he had the advantage if he kept aggravating the Templar, humming to summon more weapons to hurl at his opponent as portals were summoned to redirect the attacks at the Jiver but while his foe was slowed down, he kept moving freely. The God of Music noted that the vengeful warrior seemed to have trouble keeping up with his portals and actually fighting with his reaction to a Sword swing was to attempt to close a portal around the Jiver's arms which he easily moved his limbs away from and forced the Templar to raise his chain-weapon. Kavoren seemed to be tiring out from the seemingly endless Harp projectiles and now having to block Longstrider's personal attacks, his foe noticed the yellow fog and realized that he had to kill the Templar quickly to get rid of the spectral founder's likely power and he didn't even know what the kid could do at his best.
The Archangels kept coming for Glaive swings against the Bards, coming close to killing the Knight and tiring out Bulwark, while Echo and Percussion failed to do much besides sluggishly dodge attacks before one flying strafe finally ran the sister through on a polearm, punching through her steel lamellar and dragging her off into the sky.
"Percussion!" The group tank yelled as he intercepted the other Follower and sent him to the ground with a hit from his warhammer, Percussion's body crashing to the ground a moment after and the Dragon leader guarded the sound mage to protect against the same move taking his other squadmate out, only to hear something heavy hitting the ground next.
Bulwark's furious swings were still weaker and slower than before as his favored weapon smashed the ground three times and destroyed the Glaive's shaft before the Archangel saw an opening against the Bard, Duàn Jingguo's fog and the rapid assault he had endured left him unable to defend a briefly exposed weak point on his neck armor.
The brother choked on a rapier blade and his blood poured out as he dropped the warhammer behind him and toppled onto his back, the brother and sister of the guards being killed a couple seconds apart but that would be the Followers' last victory before their own deaths would be quickly ensured. The Knight stared down the flying Archangel's next dive and expertly gauge the exact time to swing his halberd despite his exhaustion for a killing blow into the Templar's neck, severing his head and making his corpse crash into the dirt near him as Echo finished the other off. Her sound magic blasted the last Follower at close range and his bent rapier blade could not do much to save him as his eyes burst along with a good chunk of his brain, leaving what was left to pour blood next to the Jivers' fallen, the Dragon leader and sound mage attempted to walk away from the carnage only to fall into a pit.
Kavorous was concerned that Apollo still was keeping up with him but he had one last ability he could use against the Jiver and the Templar had some time to finish him off before the Archangel Followers were defeated, he used his chain-weapon to yank the Sword aside once more as he drew his mace once more. The God of Music anticipated a similar move and finally drew his round shield, tired of playing this one-sided game, before the ground gave out on him and he fell over, only barely blocking the steel object hit that splintered his shield and resorting to humming another lance into existence. The Harp projectile injured Kavoren enough to stumble forwards with a bleeding back as it broke through his brigandine and let Longstrider hack into his chest afterwards, the cut debilitated him even more before he gave a backhanded mace hit to the Jiver's head, sending him tumbling into the massive portal.
Duàn seemed worried for Kavorous and he had no doubt why that was, he was bleeding badly from the last hits and he was expending almost all of his energy on a mile-wide portal, even if he died here, at least Apollo, his guards, and their entire siege battery would be sent to the afterlife with him. Massive pianos and the few barely living crews of those who endured the ghostly founder's fog yelled in a panic as they fell down from the heavens to be reduced to debris and gore on the Necromancer's hill, the quiet warrior considered it darkly fitting this was where the Jivers' chances of victory died. Kavoren was hardly capable of continuing to fight afterwards and he realized that this was likely his last battle after a couple minutes of fighting Longstrider but he was still shocked when a loud boom echoed through the air aired made the ground shake before looking up to see the God of Music coming down at him with the Morning blade, unable to move his limbs quickly enough to react.
Apollo's plummet rammed his Sword all the way through Kavorous Kavoren's forehead and into his torso, the bascinet and brigandine hardly slowing down the rapid speed of the impact, before he landed on his feet with a slight crack from his left leg, still Duàn dissapearing meant that he had gotten the kid with that last move. The God of Music tried his best to look sympathetic and pulled the Morning blade as quickly as he could but the quiet warrior's body was still crumpled in two, likely a severed spine, and eyes wide open before the Jiver closed them, he looked at the devastation the Templars brought to his forces and his remaining Bards with a darkening expression.
"That was awful, could you wait any longer before we wound up broken like the others, Echo?!" 
"You're lucky my magic can help break a fall. Still, you're afraid of heights? But you're a Dragon-"
"Not now, my faithful Bards. Now is a time for mourning and ending this battle with the Templars for good." The Knight sounded panicked even though he wouldn't admit it and Echo immediately seized on the opportunity before Longstrider intervened with his grave tone, the two guards looked at their fallen compatriots and grimaced as their leader simply stared out at the jungle with his back to them.
----
The Familiars scampered between the Templars of Sutherland infantry to keep them fighting at their full potential but it wasn't enough to prevent the Soviets from breaking through their defenses and sending the cats fleeing as explosive bolts got too close to them, the Cataphracts, Polegians, and Paladins were utterly beaten soon afterwards. Georgy Zhukov walked among the rubble, dead, and the surrendering Templars before nodding in satisfaction to his appointed Standard Soviet sergeant, Dimitri Danko, not noticing the centipede crawling out of a dead Musketeer's body to enter some poor Ranged Soviet but waa alerted to the Stealth Mage Defectors'sudden reappearance.
"Trotsky has given the order to stop advancing, this was the last holding for the Templars in Craven's lands and their conflict with Together We Jive is likely ending soon with the latter's victory."
"The people have had their fill of battle today anyways. Might I ask how exactly you know that the fanatics are falling?"
"They reached out to us for aid with a Wyvern Knight and said that they would be willing to renegotiate with Soviet views. Trotsky rejected because he didn't forget the horrible treatment our cause got from their response and...it's only a rumor but their Champion is allegedly dead."
"Hmm, a pity. I haven't proven Soviet superiority to a single one and yet the pacifists took one more out of the running, at this rate, it looks like my men will be stuck facing guards for the entire conflict." The Red General was honestly dissapointed by the news of the Templars' best falling more than the order to cease their advance, there was hardly any point in hammering an already practically dead enemy into the ground even more and risking a new battle, even if he thought the Jivers were pushovers who only knew peace.
"Tell Trotsky we will start securing this base like the others. Surely we could use a buffer against our new neighbors who want to introduce us to the 'beauty of music'."
"Da, they have not heard our glorious anthem or they would have surrendered immediately!"
"Very well, General, I will pass your message to Trotsky. I would suggest treating Together We Jive more seriously however, of all the various lands on this world, I have not heard of a single similar force." Dimitri and Georgy laughed off the Mage leader's warning, it was typical for magic users to rely more on knowledge than actual experience but this wasn't the first time the Soviets faced off against a group of Bards that was more of a inn brawl than actual battle against a mercenary group, still the two and their men absolutely despised flutes thanks to the incident.
"I think he might have a point, Dimitri, we might have to fend off the Chimps or worse, Southron, after we prove Soviet superiority. I don't want to have to clean ape dung out of my armor or have to fight monks after all these religious fanatics." But even so, the brutish apes and puppet kingdom were the least of Trotsky and Zhukov's worries at the moment, the latter actually wanted to march against Together We Jive but the Red Army leader refused to lend support for that campaign as it put them against the Varnellian Empire as well, the General's concern was that the latter would let the other forces bleed their manpower if left for the final battles with no factions to draw their attention away. 
---- 
Menrva Harp sincerely hated jungles, it was far too easy to run into an ambush like the Wyvern Templar led charge tearing through her battered Muses and Disco Death Knights, her sound amplification helping the tired Strings to hit harder and reverb giving the elite melee units a second hit against the Templars of Sutherland force. The interdimensional commander cut through the Wyvern and rider personally with her piano wire that tore through the other Sutherlanders with ease as she whistled with annoyance while the Piano Thieves helped bring down the last Templar, Cataphract, and Polegian infantry with their short swords and Hummingbirds aimed at necks. The vibrating blades helped a lot in cutting down the Templar infantry and the typical Molemen ambush that just resulted in swinging downwards at those beasts' hideous faces, Harp's wire kept wrapping around men like a giant python and spilling blood onto the jungle foliage when it coiled.
However the outcome of the skirmish was never truly in doubt, the Sutherlanders had been resorting to these desperate infantry ambushes for the last hour of the Jiver invasion and the major threat to Menrva's forces at this point was exhaustion as they sent their foes to the afterlife. What the interdimensional commander didn't expect was a Familiar running towards her with a white flag sticking out of a harness on it's back, she stared at the cat cautiously before deciding to follow it through the jungle as her troops were victorious and a handful of Muses served as backup. After a remarkably long trek through trees, bushes, and other annoying plants, Harp found herself going up a trail built into a mountain and finding a hidden door built into the rock at the top, she really hoped this wasn't just another ambush attempt as she opened it.
"Greetings, Menrva."
"It's been long enough since you were trying to join our alliance and now you've killed several of my best warriors. Speak now."
"Yes, the battle has not gone very well for my order despite that, I must sadly admit. You might have heard that my descendant has been slain by Apollo." Menrva felt some sympathy for the spirit but it wasn't like she didn't see her troops as family and equally worthy of respect, the cold tactical tone of Duàn Jingguo getting on her nerves when referring to their deaths like some small victory, still she needed to hold in her emotions in case this annoying battle could finally be ended.
"I am sorry for your loss but you should know by now that every battle can take someone close and more than that, assassination runs are not the smartest tactic with one of your leaders."
"I know, the truth was Kavorous' last act was our last hope for victory. All refusing to surrender would do now is kill even more of my men."
"Your wisdom is not clouded then after all." The interdimensional commander knew that the Jivers had won the day, the only problem was how much longer would they have to keep hunting down various Sutherland guerrillas and how many more people would she lose, so the spectral founder wanting to concede defeat was the best case scenario for her.
"I would like to surrender my land to Together We Jive and forfeit the tournament on the condition of my men being free to leave the field."
"I see no reason why Apollo would deny those terms but are you sure your men will obey your wishes?"
"They will listen if I order them to stand down, the Templars of Sutherland are not fanatics, we merely entered this competition for the sake of our people." The somber tone that Jingguo had made Harp sure that this conflict had dealt some irreparable damage even to a ghost's heart, perhaps she was the one who was too cold about the deaths she inflicted and casualties she suffered, but now it would finally be over even as she cursed the Varnellians blocking expansion in the other direction.
"Your people have no need to fear, Apollo has no desire to be a tyrant or allow this land to suffer any more."
"That is good to hear. I hope this day actually results in something better."
"How will you deliver the message to surrender?" Duàn could not leave this room as far as Menrva knew now that his mortal link had been slain, she could give the boy points for bravery at least but it was foolish to believe the God of Music to be an easy target, with or without the Bards, at best, he would have been crippled in the attempt even if he succeeded.
"I have already sent the remaining Familiars on their way. They will deliver my wishes to the remaining groups of Templars I have."
"I assume you will remain here?"
"I have nothing better to do than to see this through to the end in the hope that I will find a better age beginning for my troubled home continent than any under the Bryzion Empire or the chaos after they fell." The interdimensional commander knew all about what the Northeastern Continent had been through before and she realized that it must be hard for the people here to trust anyone, let alone newcomers, she merely left the spectral founder to his thoughts without another word and her own grimace growing.
How much more bloodshed will this land see until we are done, Apollo? I tire of unnecessary death just as much as you do...
----
"You got thrown out a building and beat over the head by a mage. You got mauled by the Wolfman and were only saved by your family friend's aid. What made you think attacking the Dynastic Army head-on was a good idea?"
"Tomas said he would offer support."
"I would think you would know best how treacherous other necromancers are." The blonde girl glared at Gertrude but she simply ignored it while the dark haired man had a sorrowful expression as he spoke, the duo were now cooking a bear in the middle of the woods and the Baxter family did not look good, clearly Takeru and Magami deserved their reputations as fearsome warriors and it was good the imperials and last undead were next in their path.
"Well, I don't mean to be the bearer of even more bad news but I have no idea how to get back to Together We Jive so we'll be stuck in this wilderness of horrors for a while, hopefully only a day or two."
"Somehow I don't think your people would appreciate our presence."
"Apollo is more open than most deities, not like that delusional sun god kid or his pet assassin." The orc Valkyrie had never liked either of those two from the first time she heard of them and seeing David Baxter looking like he was nursing several nasty bruises while Paulina just chomped away at bear meat with a bloodspattered outfit, she had a feeling that wouldn't change, at least now they were all on equal footing, her without her fellow Jivers and they were without an army.
"You have any idea what's going on now?"
"One of the Varnellians spoke of Magami mobilizing the Dynastic Army against them before I pounced, seems they took out Takeru."
"Sounds to me like you got played like a fiddle. I don't think Apollo trusts those backstabbers as much as he acts like he does but at least they're getting a nasty reward for their abhorrent tactics." Gertrude's words made the younger Baxter shoot a nasty look her way but it seemed like even she had doubts that Tomas was anything but trustworthy, the guy had turned one of the most flourishing kingdoms on the Northeastern Continent into a ghost town and that was the person David thought wouldn't screw them over at the slightest opportunity for him to get ahead?
"It's not that I didn't have my doubts, it's just that I didn't have any better options. The Varnellians and Kami had us pinned, staying put was dooming us to a drawn-out demise."
"Honestly, sounds like you should have tried to get the two to kill each other sooner."
"Only problem with that is that those "holy" warriors hate us and the Varnellians scurry off into the shadows at the slightest hint of danger." Paulina ended the conversation about the downfall of Death Town while chomping the bear's paws down, her injuries at least starting to heal up while the elder Baxter could at least finish up copking the portions of meat for him and the Jiver who kept winding up with them, Gertrude managing to find one last thing to ask before they started their rather primitive dinner.
"Which one of those two blowhards do you think will off the other?"
----"Oh bloody hell, this is Kalt's doing, isn't it?"
"Judging by how those Kami never had issue with us before and I can see their entire force invading our territory, I'd say that dead Emperor was his choice, sir."
"Great, exactly what I didn't want to waste troops on." Heiz Degan couldn't believe his grandfather continued his scheming over here and wound up biting their expeditionary force in the ass with his latest plan, he wanted to keep his forces in tip-top shape to crush Together We Jive, not have to repulse an enraged wolf and his army of top-rate soldiers to keep Varnell in the match but at the very least, he could get some real action against a worthy opponent now and that William had the telescope over to that edge of the line.
The barrage of arrows flying through the air caused the Varnellian troops to seek cover behind their shields and boulders littering the landscape, a volley of slingstones enhanced by Fire and Sonic Lithomancy answered that attack and smashed ineffectively against the magic dome protecting the infantry but the men quickly took note of how few Miko seemed to be left and put into effect the first stage of their defenses. The Empire had enough prisoners from their previous raids to drag them out and stab them in the hearts to send a sizable wave of Sweigen rushing towards the waves of Pikemen advancing on them, the fireballs, icicles, and lightning continuing to wear down the shrine maidens before Magami's Followers, the Riders, and the Berserkers intercepted them, trading blows with sharpened blades and claws against elemental bursts and axes. The Sweigen lived up to their fearsome reputation as they inflicted tremendous losses on what little remained of Okuchi's loyalists, their elemental bodies enabling them to keep going far longer than even the rage-fuelled Kami and each Fire and Ice Sweigen claimed up to five souls before being brought down while the Lightning Sweigen continued to fry them from a distance before a form leapt into the middle of them and started cutting them down.
Magami roared as he used the Sword of Kusunagi to bisect and decapitate Lightning Sweigen with as mjch ease as mortals, the deity slaughtering the last of the elemental constructs and actually unnerved the Varnellians as they now had to prepare to hold the line on the outskirts of their territory with no more prisoners left in this section. The swordsmen yelled out battle-cries and formed a formation with their Gravity Lithomancy blades to brace for the charge of the remaining elite Kami and their Champion, one Isahros already riding off to alert the other lines and seek more reinforcements to help beat back the invasion, trying to ignore the dying screams of the footmen as the other horsemen flanked the shapeshifters and dogmen. The lithomantic pistols claimed more of Okuchi's finest but the kami growled at the shots that hit him and cleaved a captain in two with his sword, the lances puncturing through even more of his men only driving him into more of a bestial rage as he used his claws and fangs to rip through the heavy plate the Isahros relied on to save their mortal bodies from being torn apart.
The slingers could see the growing bloodbath in front of them and only tried to angle their slingshots enough to hit the Kami on the head and try to weaken the Ikusa Miko shield further as swordsmen fled in terror, some cut down as they ran with the only thing even raising the mens' morale being the sudden appearance of an old man driving a knife into his chest, something that seemed to even give Magami pause as his face twisted into a scowl. Rihtari Heilag's massive, bellowing form sent a pillar of lightning smashing into the Mikos' shield and making the shrine maidens cry out in pain as they dropped their exorcism staffs, several Roto Pikemen getting fried in their armor and sent flying off as the Varnellian slingers already ran back for the boulders to avoid the behemoth's vengeance for being bound, one of them still being demolished by a flash of lightning and killing dozens of men. Okuchi only looked back at what little of his men remained that bared their fangs and the devastated Pikemen and Miko formations, shouting "Onward for Takeru!" and they managed to make another push forwards as a man strolled forwards with his cape flowing in the wind and his plate armor glimmering in the night, casually running his blade through a Follower's heart leaping at him to summon his personal Hlut.
"Okuchi Magami?"
"You dare adress me, mortal?!"
"Leave your battered warriors to lick their wounds. Find your vengeance in a duel with Heiz Degan!" Heiz's challenge made Magami's face twist with hatred as the mortal dared to act like he had any honor but the fact that the Roto and Miko were seeming ready to retreat and that his men had so few numbers left to continue the struggle with meant that he could entertain this to raise their spirits by claiming the Varnellian Champion's head and lead them to the glory their Emperor would have wanted. "Very well then, entertain me, mortal."
The gemstone sword and Sword of Kusanagi clashed as Magami and Heiz pushed forwards against each other, each one seeking to overpower the other and the kami chuckled at the fact that this mortal's blade held up to his divine steel before going to scratch the Varnellian's chest with his claws. Degan blocked the blow with his gauntlet and Okuchi's eyes widened in shock as the mortal's armor held up to his blow, only thin scratches left on the metal plate, before he saw Opfar flying towards him and had some Tsukumogami longswords intercept him by puncturing the Hlut's body with them, not reacting in time to avoid getting kicked away by the Varnellian. Heiz floated into the air as Magami quickly recovered and threw his Sword at him, the Varnellian dodging the attack and surging forwards to run him through as the kami only held up his hand with a grin, the blade slamming into the mortal's back and knocked him to the ground belly-first as his sword clattered to the ground with the canine demigod moving in for a decapitation before a blast of magical energy sent him flying on his side.
"Cheap shot, mortal."
"You hit me from behind first."
Magami only growled as Heiz recovered his hilt after exploding the gemstone with Fol, forming a new one as Opfar shattered the longswords with his powerful limbs and flew back to aid the Varnellian but the kami was prepared as he left his Sword on the ground and lunged right into the Hlut, sinking his claws and teeth into the summon's chest and neck. Opfar managed to get the better of Okuchi and threw him hard onto his back but his body quickly covered itself in black fur and muscle before a giant wolf was standing upright and facing both the Varnellian and Hlut, Heiz only quipping "That's new." before barely shattering a nagaboko pike that tried to skewer him and getting pounced on by the Ōkuchi. Opfar tried to crash into the massive wolf to aid his friend but howled in pain as Tsukumogami exorcism rods smacked his head and side while a Uchine battle arrow stabbed into his chest and wrapped around his neck to restrain him, the Heilag's destruction leaving Magami with many new tools to use as he tried to chomp Degan's head off, the Varnellian barely holding the jaws back with his gauntlet.
While Okuchi focused on trying to crush his chest with his paws, Degan realized that he didn't have enough room for his sword and decided on the less honorable option, a loud bang echoing as the wolf howled in pain and was sent crashing to his side as the pistol's gemstone bullet sunk into his chest and the Varnellian capitalized on this by going for his own beheading blow. Magami kicked Heiz hard in the gut with his hind leg, winding the Varnellian long enough to see that Opfar had shattered his latest weapon-spirits just as quickly as the last ones and was now flying towards him with a shriek of rage, the kami sighing as he transformed back and summoned his Sword of Kusanagi back to him with his hand outstretched to grab the hilt.
"Consider yourself lucky, mortal. I had wished to save this for later but your dirty tricks make you so annoying to kill that I have to use it on you before your pitiful army."
"Well, don't hold back then!"
"Hah, foolish mortal! As you wish...perish at the hands of a god!" A blinding light enveloped the area at the last words of Okuchi and made Degan squint to see what exactly had just happened, not expecting to see glowing light forming a ray of armor around his foe and the kami's frame appearing even more physically imposing than before, even Opfar seemed a bit shaken by that sight.
"A worthy challenge indeed..." Heiz wasn't one to back down from any duel however and quickly rushed in with his Hlut covering him, aiming to cut into Magami's unprotected neck or at least keep his Kusanagi blade occupied for Opfar to end the fight but the Omikami simply guffawed and dodged so fast that he appeared to be just a flash of light before sending the Varnellian spinning into a rock with a single swing. Okuchi looked up to see Opfar divebombing him and only grinned as he planted his Sword in the ground and grabbed the Hlut's hands before sinking his claws into the summon's arms, the kami proceeding to mercilessly thrash and slam the dragon around before glancing to see Degan with blood pouring down his face going for an aerial slash. Magami shook his head and blocked the blade with his arm, only for another massive Fol explosion to hit his face and upper body at point-blank range, Opfar flying away as he made a pleased growl at the Varnellian saving him before Heiz barely reformed his blade to give himself a few more seconds to avoid losing his head to the Sword of Kusanagi, the blade shattering in his hands.
"Bloody Hell, now this is more like it!"
==Other Tourney Ideas==
Sci-fi RTS
Fantasy Skirmish
Civ/Steampunk Army
AOE?