Altair and the general moved their armies toward Sicily, preparing for a second siege. Now that she knew about Sheena's tricks and the guns, Altair felt confident. It had been two days since their battle, and her hand had fully healed. She was eager for a rematch. Alas, Sheena had not come out to meet her.
"Has Sheena come out from her hiding spot?" Altair asked.
"No, Divine Host Altair. We have not seen her," the soldier replied.
"Divine Host Altair, you have asked that question four times now. Please rest assured. If our soldiers see her, you will be the first we report to." The general chuckled.
"We have been besieging Sicily for a day now. Don't you think we should move into town already?" Altair asked the general.
"The resistance is weak, I agree. But that makes it suspicious." The general hesitated. There had been barely any resistance. Sicily had been bombarded numerous times before, so it was understandable that Sheena had not been able to rebuild its defenses. But the defenses were too weak. They should know that Altair would not forgive any of Latvin's soldiers, so they should have fought to the death.
"More traps?" Altair frowned. "What kind of traps would these scum conjure this time?"
"Hahaha. If we knew, they wouldn't be called traps. Anyway, let's put two squads of knights inside."
The general sent two of Litmus' knight squads into Sicily, and they found the town empty. When the knights reported back, they reconquered Sicily while scratching their heads. Altair tapped her foot furiously as she lounged at the dining table with her soldiers.
Litmus and Latvin did not officially count how many times their symbiotes had lost or win a battle. It was a rare occurrence to begin with. They usually perished whenever they lost. However, Altair knew her fellow symbiote users would mock her forever if she returned without paying back her losses.
But she knew her limits. She had learned her lessons. She promised herself she wouldn't be caught off guard like that anymore, so she listened to Litmus' general this time.
"Hm… They knew they couldn't hold this town, so they left, huh? Ruthless, but logical. They probably knew we wouldn't kill their civilians." The general assessed the report coming in from the knights. There had been no resistance—Sicily fell just like that.
"Even if we kill all the civilians, I doubt they would change their minds," Rebecca added. Such comments were unthinkable for Litmus' knights, who valued chivalry, but she knew better how Latvin operated. She knew Latvin's nobility had zero empathy toward their people.
"Well, with Sicily in our hands, the road to the capital is now clear. Let us prepare. We will depart in two days."
The general dismissed the meeting. He then organized the deployment plan. Of course, things never went according to plan. Latvin besieged them again the very next day.
On the night before, on the other side of the field, General Sheena met with her advisors. She had retreated not because she had lost, but because she knew she would win. Delghar, another one of Latvin's symbiote users, had been ordered to rendezvous with her after Latvin learned of Litmus' invasion.
She had bought enough time, and her scouts had told her that Delghar had arrived in the capital a few days ago. Now, he had come to meet her. She decided to conserve her army and met him on the road between Sicily and the capital.
Delghar was a hulking man, towering over seven feet. His symbiote was brown, like mud, and with it, he could grow wings—just like Sheena. He arrived with a flourish, mocking her for her failure.
"Hmph! To think you failed to defend the kingdom and even lost a duel against those barbarians and fanatics. Tch… I just quelled a rebellion in the former Vertia, and now I have to pick up your slack." Delghar laughed.
"You! General Sheena still outranks you, Captain Delghar—watch your mouth!" a soldier lashed out at his rude remarks.
"Not anymore. I am a general as well. Did you miss my promotion? As expected from old bumpkins—you're too used to dealing with goblins."
"She is still your senior!"
"With no achievement of late, let this Delghar show you how to hunt symbiote users. You can just watch from the sidelines, Pigeon. Let the hawk do the hunting." Delghar mocked the white wings owned by Sheena—pigeon wings.
Sheena was unperturbed. She knew how arrogant some symbiote users were. And true to his words, she admitted she had lost the battle. She had no plan to tilt the fight in her favor now that Litmus and Mutual were wary of the baiting tactic.
"Be careful, Delghar. Unlike Vertia, they have our guns—stolen from our soldiers in Evesys. They could mimic our baiting tactic after seeing it just once. But they only have one symbiote user. The others are weak and can't fly. We have the advantage if we gang up on her."
"You can do so if you wish. But the credit is mine, understand?"
"That's…"
"You can't be serious! We shall defeat it together. Why only you get the credit? Our unit needs it too—we have lost many people defending the empire against this invader."
"And you lost. Remember that. There is no place for losers."
"Tch. So be it. I shall give you a chance. I will acknowledge you, if you win, that is." Sheena spat and left.
Dark thoughts swirled in her head. She wondered whether she should just abandon everything and leave this country behind. But doing that would make her no different from the nobles she hated. She had to show loyalty, even if her loyalty wasn't rewarded.
The only thing keeping those nobles from leaving was the belief that Latvin hadn't lost yet. If the invasion progressed and the capital was besieged, surely those Latvin dogs would flee to the shore, to the next continent where another great empire—one that had trade deals with Latvin—resided.
"You should leave, Sheena. They never thanked you, and it's dangerous for me as well. That symbiote user is no slouch. He is as powerful as we are, Sheena. I don't think Delghar will be able to beat her." Nana, Sheena's symbiote, whispered. Unlike other users, Sheena used only a minimum amount of drugs—just enough to keep it under control and show who was in charge—so her symbiote had some semblance of sanity.
"Stop talking. I need to show my loyalty. We of the Ankhir household have served the empire ever since its founding 500 years ago. We are just in a bad time."
"I see. I shall remain silent then. Please treasure your life. Your life is mine as well."
"No need to tell me that. You need to pull your weight and stop being a parasite."
"Understood. Please eat healthy. I need energy to support you."
"Understood. But nothing more than that."
"Geez, let me borrow your body once in a while, would you? This is stressing me out."
"No. You are dangerous."
"Alright, alright. I will do as you say." Nana sighed.
Sheena slept through the night with the thought of turning deserter. She felt it was the right thing to do, but on the other hand, her loyalty kept her from doing so. She refused to be put in the same place as those nobles who turned tail at the first sign of danger.
"Let's see what these scum have! Everyone! Prepare your guns! Time for a hunt!" Delghar laughed maniacally as they besieged Sicily. He then summoned his symbiote; brown tentacles grew from his back and transformed into wings.
"Shit! They brought reinforcements!" Litmus' general panicked. "We should plan a retreat."
"Tch! Prepare the trap. Cecile, Nana, I will rely on you," Altair said.
"Lady Altair."
"We will retreat, General. However, we will not run like headless chickens, understand? I will try to save as many lives as possible. All of you need to work hard for that purpose."
"Understood. Thank you, Divine Host, Altair." The general calmed down. Logically, they were screwed. Hiro was not a combat symbiote, so the only symbiote they could rely on was Altair—and she had a hard time against Sheena alone yesterday. If Delghar, another symbiote user, came, they would surely lose.
They didn't know what power Delghar had, but a symbiote user should be powerful. And just like Sheena, he could fly as well, , so they could catch up to a knight on horseback.
"Leave three squads of knights—two from Mutual and one from Litmus. Support Altair: when she dives down, fire at the enemy. One squad, engage the Latvin soldiers who breached the wall. The rest, prepare to retreat," the general commanded.
"I will stay behind as well. My skeletons should be able to hinder their soldiers," Elysia said.
"Stay safe. You are Litmus' symbiote user as well. Despite what others might think, we value you." The general nodded as he looked above, where Altair had met the enemy.
"Thank you." Elysia bowed to him. Hiro bloomed his flower larger on her. Motes of light gathered around Elysia, supplying her with mana. She then used this mana to summon skeletons to guard the gate. It wouldn't do much—only serve as an alarm. If the summons died, she would know, and then she would relay the information to the others.
"So, you couldn't win without your cowardly soldiers, and now you brought in a bird friend? Who is this bird?" Altair scoffed at Sheena, who flew behind Delghar.
"I am Delghar! Remember this name. Unlike this pigeon behind me, I have slain over three symbiotes—and you shall be the fourth!" Delghar flourished his eagle wing.
"Must have been luck. I don't believe an idiot, muscle-brained thug like you could kill a divine host. Shall we test it out? Want a duel? Or are you afraid? You must have been ganging up on Vertia's divine hosts with that pigeon." Altair mocked him, attacking his ego. She didn't expect to win, but she was confident in her speed. If she could buy enough time for others to flee, that would be wonderful. If they followed her back to Litmus, Seraphine would help her, and he would blast these birds out of the sky.
"Fuck you! You shall regret those words!"
"So, a duel then?" Altair glared—a challenge. Delghar accepted; he had grown overconfident in the past couple of months. He thought he could bait Altair toward his soldiers and do the usual trick. As a new general, he also wanted to test his limits. He wanted to fight her fair and square—and win. Altair had struck where it hurt: his pride as a new general.
"Bring it on, golden lizard!" Delghar roared. Altair smirked as the battle began. They had fallen for her trap. With this, the retreat was guaranteed to succeed.