Chapter 353 - Pyrrhic Victory

Note : Chapter 354 has been written and added to the queue !

Chapter 353

Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth

Darthar-Asaria Trade Route

"Sweet merciful Earth Goddess." Said Manson as the images appeared above the holographic projectors.

Stakes. Just...rows of stakes.

Dead in the center of Sunrise's camp. With slave soldiers arranged around them to make sure none tried to remove or destroy the bodies.

"Analysis of the wounds and blood indicates that none of the subjects were alive when they were emplaced." Said Glitch, in a tone that said she was trying to be helpful and reassuring, except that her delivery left a lot to be desired. Manson flinched, but nodded in thanks.

"There's that. Thank you." Glitch inclined her head, and in the back of Alexandra's mind her appreciation for the duke clicked up a notch. Not everyone on Earth could understand how AIs could fail to make their intentions come across. She didn't even want to speculate for Alcheryos. "So there's no doubt the duchess has won. Otherwise that display would have her front and center."

"Indeed. Though I wonder where these images came from, exactly." Said Alexandra as she looked towards the King's image, who coughed.

"We've had...some backdoors left open to certain nobles."

"Ah. Keeping their options open. I assume they're now asking, begging, for us to show mercy in exchange of information?"

"The few that survived, yes." The King's smiled was mirthless. "As you no doubt guessed, most of those who decided to keep that door cracked either threw in their lot with the mutiny..."

"Or got caught up in the purge."

"Precisely. We have also received intelligence that...that they have received orders to force march and engage your army."

There was a long silence at that.

"I caused that, didn't I?" Said Alexandra, softly. "My...'grandiose gesture'." She almost spat out the words. And she saw that her particular choice for the second word didn't go unnoticed either. "It caused this. The Duchess has no other choice. I've shattered the morale of her army, caused the mutiny...and now, instead of trying to conserve her troops, she's willing to risk it all on one toss of the dice."

Everyone around the council table exchanged borderline terrified looks as her voice wavered, and almost cracked.

"Lady Crystal." Started the King. "Do not blame yourself. They had begun moving towards that direction anyway. If anything, your Mackies forestalled them as they were about to reengage the main army." His majesty's speech was slow, deliberate and almost...delicate. All around the table, there was the kind of tension that only existed when one realized someone else was at their breaking point. Or at least nearing it. And this particular dam was one nobody wanted to see burst. "The question now, is can we win?"

Alexandra's laugh was almost hysterical.

"Don't you get it? We've already won. This purge, this bloodbath? The Duchess' army is going to implode. I don't know what lies she's telling herself, but even a total victory against us will simply make it a tiny bit slower. She won't make it to Darthar. Or Sarth. The war's over. Checkmate."

The looks everyone exchanged were disturbed, and filled with fear. Except Allya's. Allya's gaze bore into Alexandra like a battle laser.

"And what's truly destroying you is that you think you've sacrificed the army, and everyone in it, to achieve that victory."

Alexandra refused to answer....which was all the answer they needed, of course, and fear was replaced with understanding, and compassion, in the others' eyes.

The dungeon core wanted to hit them. Those looks. Those damned looks. She knew those looks. She...remembered. She remembered...

She closed her eyes as a flash of blinding pain went through her mind. As if something was forcefully torn from her.

EMERGENCY MEMORY PARTIONING PROTOCOL ACTIVATED

She flicked a glance to Ghost, who refused to meet her gaze.

Seems someone had been working on some failsafes of her own.

"We can still escape." Said one of the officers, one of Sarth's vassals. "If we move on force march, we could-"

"We can. The golems can. The civilians can't. Probably not even my men." Grimly said the commander of the Kaidani volunteers. "My free companies simply don't have the training or endurance. We can fight but we can't sustain the pace trained soldiers or branded slaves can. The only thing we'll do is delay the inevitable, at best."

"So we save what we can?" Asked the commander of the Desert Rangers.

"No." Said Alexandra, as anger, fury, replaced despair. As raging flames filled her eyes. "We don't. Because there is another solution. We make a stand. Not because of some chivalrous bullshit, but because it's the right move to make. It's the only move to make."

"We'll die." Whispered the vassal.

"Yes." Simply said Alexandra. "But if we fight well enough, if we die taking enough of them with us, we may break Sunrise's army."

"Why would they break? They'd have nothing to oppose them." Said the Kaidani commander, bitterly.

"They will. Because by the time we clash I will have marched out my reinforcement force. One I had been building up in Rebirth." The dungeon core's voice was liquid flame at this point. "That army will be the promise of our coming vengeance. The Duchess now has them obey out of fear. Her people will break once they fear us more than their mistress."

She saw spines straighten as she finally started to get through to them. Officers nodded, slowly, then more and more quickly.

"And if we fail?" Said the Desert Ranger. Not to challenge her, but a genuine question.

"Then we'd have fulfilled our oaths." She sighed. "I wouldn't be able to look myself into the mirror, if I didn't try. But it's not my life on the line. I won't perish from this. I will throw in everything I can, but I won't force any of you to."

There was a short silence. Then the Kaidani smiled.

"We were dead men walking before you came to us, lady Crystal. My people would have died in the woods or under Sunrise's whip. I will ask if any of them wish to leave, but I do not expect many of them will take up that offer. The Kaidani Free Companies will make their stand with you."

"So will I." Said Manson. "Though I will not lie to my men, and any who wish to be released of their oaths will be. The people we are fighting to save will need protectors, now that monsters roam the land in such numbers, if nothing else."

"Your Grace-" Started the vassal, only to be silenced by an imperial gesture of the Duke.

"This is my last war." He said, simply. "I know that. I knew that heading in." He shook his head. "An old warhorse like me can't learn new tricks. The new ways of war lady Crystal has made available to us all...I have only managed so far because I followed her guidance. And it's quite frankly high time one of my heirs took my place. I have no wish of becoming a half mad old man clinging to power. And frankly...retirement does not appeal all that much to me. All in all, there are far worse ways to die. Lastly, quite frankly...I wouldn't be able to look my children in the eyes otherwise."

"There are indeed, far worse ways to die." Said Philia, the Knight-Commander speaking up out of the silence she had adopted since that ambush. Alexandra hadn't pried, but...well, she had the recordings of her ordering her men to prepare to stop the mob of panicked civilians.

And told them to fix bayonets.

"I will ask what remains of my troops, but I doubt any will ask to be released of their oaths." Finished the Knight-Commander. "The Royal Army will join your stand."

The King cleared his throat.

"I...I will talk to Grant. Assemble what is left of our forces. Explore our options. We can't do much from here, but if it is a question of pressure, then every little bit helps."

"Indeed. Though a question remains." Said Manson. "Where will we make this last stand?"

Alexandra smiled, and tapped a vast field near Myriu.

A field now littered with bones, metal and chitin. A field where a dungeon army went to die.

It was poetic the force who had inflicted that death would perish there as well.

"Where else? As his majesty said. Every little bit helps. We know the terrain. We've fought there before. Some of my fortifications still survive. And more importantly, it will send a message."

A message to the UDC, to Glarvistar. That she was done playing.

She would lose this second battle.

But if the UDC threw themselves in, and tried to help Sunrise win, to help them overtake the civilians...

Alexandra would burn it to the ground. She'd been willing to entertain negotiations in the future. She'd been willing to at least consider the fact that this need not be a fight to the finish. Even let him do his bit of maneuvering and not go out of her way to destroy the enemy's most dangerous commander because it might prevent a bloodbath.

It was high time she drew a line.

Crossing it meant death.

"Let us hope it is heard then." Simply said the Duke.

*****

Alexandra lifted her head from the workbench as the door opened.

He didn't bother to ask who it was. Only one person could override it like that.

"Hey sis." She said as Ghost stepped into the room.

"Hey." The apparition walked up to the workbench, and simply leaned back against it.

"...was it like that?"

"Realizing the terrible, terrible cost of victory?" Ghost looked on at the vast store of prototypes in the workshop. "Yeah. It was. It's what broke me. Dooming so many innocents...to save even more."

"Yeah..."

Because she wasn't just going to risk losing the civilians her army was protecting.

But the slaves her troops were going to kill too.

Alexandra blinked as there was a jingle, and Ghost set down a key in front of her.

She picked it up, and looked the apparition, who was holding a similar key.

Ghost shrugged under her gaze.

"I wished to...safeguard ourselves from another impulsive reaction. The authentification code is the Dawnstar's hull number. There are three redundant launch consoles. One in the command center, one in Seraph's bunker, and the last is in my lab."

Alexandra toyed with the key. She knew it was a...token. She could override it. The point was to make it take time. To force her to consider what she was doing.

The exact same could be said for this conversation.

"No." She finally said.

"Good." Ghost's face relaxed as tension bled from her shoulders. Given the memories that had come back up...Alexandra knew what she'd worried about. That she would turn the key. "Come on now. Emilia's waiting for you."

Alexandra sighed, and nodded.

She'd been delaying this...for too long. When was the last time she'd even had an honest heart to heart with Emilia?

She was the vampire's girlfriend damn it! She better start acting like it.

"Right. Lead the way."

*****

The machine was back. Joachim didn't know what the hell it did in its spare time. But the android was sitting by his side, watching the images alongside him.

"This is a suicide play." Said the automata, and Joachim nodded.

"Yeah. It is."

"Those forces will not survive. They will consume themselves in a suboptimal exchange with the enemy's formations."

"That's the idea." And although he'd been surprised at first...he saw the genius of it. The UDC's isolationists would break upon that rock. And so would Sunrise. Their 'victory' would be the ultimate fulfillment of the plan.

"They outnumber the civilian units, why not preserve the troops? Parts could be repurposed to serve in lieu of the lost workers, and key specialists could probably be evacuated from the civilian force."

Joachim made a sweeping gesture at the projection.

"This isn't a question of cold, military or industrial logic. This is politics. This is theater. Everything is a matter of perception here."

The automata shook its head.

"Politics. Theater. Morale. All of them ceased mattering when the bombs fell."

Joachim grimaced.

"Well, it's a new age."

The machine turned to face him.

"And they will stop mattering once more when the bombs fall again."

This time he was silent.

What could he possibly say to that?