Chapter 23 - 1

=== LUNGMEN ===

0400 Hours, Lungmen.

Kal'tsit watched as the Rhodes Island operators lined up at the docking strip. A VTOL aircraft was en route from the landship to pick them up and bring them back to the landship to resupply and regroup with the other deployment teams. From there, they were going to head over to Lungmen and begin the operation.

"How long until the transport arrives?" Rin asked behind the Rhodes Island leader. They only caught two hours of sleep before everyone was due to depart. Behind them, the Doctor carried a half-asleep Amiya on his back. Kal'tsit looked at the immaculate-looking doctor in front of her. Rin looked as if two hours of sleep didn't bother her.

"In about 10 minutes." Kal'tsit watched as the last Fuyuki doctor, equally as unfazed by the short sleep schedule, attended to Misha who wasn't used to waking up so early. Sakura was nudging the younger girl awake while they waited for the VTOL aircraft.

"That's them." She pointed out when a small blinking dot in the night sky appeared. Rin saw the flashing signal and went over her next few steps.

"If we're late, could you wait for us?" Rin requested to borrow an empty room once they reached Rhodes Island. Kal'tsit agreed, but highlighted that they only had less than two hours to land in Chernobog if they wanted to avoid being spotted. The VTOL aircraft would be seen if it approached the city once the sky brightened.

"How important is this?" They only had a short window until sunrise. Kal'tsit would secure her operatives' safety first. If Rin and Sakura took too long, she would give the green light to send the teams. The two Fuyuki doctors would just have to remain behind in the landship.

"..." Rin grimaced. After the Holy Grail War, most of the copied servant souls in the Lesser Grail disappeared.

Most. Not all.

The last one was extremely powerful, determined to keep itself around despite losing the mana support generated by the Holy Grail. In fact, she was more than capable of supporting her own existence after unlocking her core in the previous Grail War.

Shirou, Rin, and Sakura made sure to keep an eye on her. The only thing stopping her from returning was the lack of a body provided.

"We have reason to believe Shirou is deliberately staying with the Reunion. He is more than capable of escaping on his own. We don't know his reasons, but this would guarantee his capture." Shirou's strong. But he wasn't that strong. Rin and Sakura were bringing the one thing that could literally keep him down.

"You believe he chose to stay?" That was a worrying thought.

"Shirou is stupid. He is prone to causing a lot of trouble when he decides to act." Rin didn't even hold back her annoyed tone.

One Kal'tsit could understand very well. Some of her operators were prone to accidents and she had to step in and clean up after them. Others did it deliberately, despite her warnings to tell them not to.

A few meters away, Skadi sneezed.

Kal'tsit weighed the risks. Rin was confident about her plan, but if she delayed for too long, her teams would be deploying beyond the ideal time window.

"15 minutes. That's the most I can give you."

"And if we take longer?"

"Then you'll have to find another way. I can't risk my teams' deployment."

Tsk. Rin didn't know if they could still finish within the window. They'd be rushing the preparations and casting, and they couldn't make mistakes or else they'd be back to step one.

"We'll just have to try our best."

Maybe have Sakura craft a familiar they could ride on.

"MMPHHFMMFF, H FMMMPHHHNNNGG HHHMM FMMPHHH!!!"

Rin turned to the course of the constant muffled screaming. Flanked by a number of Rhodes Island operators, a certain grey-haired Sarkaz was gagged and duct-taped in a kneeling position.

Kal'tsit noticed where Rin's attention was directed at. "Oh her? She's going to be our guide in Chernobog." Rhodes Island didn't come prepared to apprehend anyone. The girl's capture was entirely unplanned for and they had to make do with whatever they could find on hand and nearby.

"HMMPHH FFGGHMMMNNGGG MMMFFFPHHH!!!!!"

Rin decided not to comment on the woman's methods.

The sound of a vehicle drew the attention of the group. Several turned their heads to see an SUV driving in their direction. It slowed down near them and a few familiar faces exited the car.

Kal'tsit regarded the arrivals with scrutiny. Rhodes Island announced their departure from Lungmen just an hour prior. If Lungmen or the LGD wanted something from them, the city would've held them back.

The Lungmen trio stood awkwardly on the side until the blue-haired Lung moved forward. Kal'tsit and the Doctor regarded the girl in her mid 20s as she stopped in front of them.

"Yes?" The green-haired leader of Rhodes Island asked.

"I..." Ch'en forced out her words. "I heard that you're heading to Chernobog. I...need to join."

Kal'tsit raised an eyebrow and looked at the two girls behind Ch'en with a questioning gaze. "I'm afraid I'll have to decline. It's too dangerous." As impressive as the former LGD Superintendent's achievements were, she wasn't going to let a stranger join an operation as dangerous as infiltrating a rampaging city under rebel control.

"It's not because I don't trust your ability. Rather, your connections make it difficult to bring you along." Kal'tsit laid out the facts. Bringing along Wei Yenwu's niece and former head of the LGD with them would bring political pressure among other problems.

"I can fight Talulah."

Kal'tsit paused.

"She is your biggest problem, right? I can fight her." Ch'en was bullshitting. She didn't know how strong her sister was. Her fireballs smashed numerous Lungmen defenses and Ch'en could only slash a few midair.

"Talulah is not our objective."

"Assurance." Ch'en insisted. "Rhodes Island and the Reunion are enemies. You can't ignore that risk."

"Why? Why are you so determined?" The purple-haired sister studied the former LGD commander. She could perceive something below the surface beyond the commander's expression.

What is it that pushes you to do so?

"Talulah...is my sister. I want to...no-" Ch'en gripped her sword tightly. "I need to meet her."

"Too dangerous. Absolutely not."

"You're hired."

Rin blinked. Did Sakura just- she did. Kal'tsit deadpanned at the second Fuyuki doctor with a deadpan expression. Ch'en's expression blanked as her mind caught up to what Sakura said.

"Rin, we need more assistants right?" Sakura hummed lightly while looking at her older sister. Her small smile and innocent message absolutely did not hide her underlying attempt at granting Ch'en her wish.

Sakura had been on the other end of a broken relationship before. Thankfully, the world was kind enough to save it. All thanks to an equally broken boy she met.

She just wanted to give Ch'en that same opportunity.

"Right..." Rin sighed. She could understand what was going through her sister's mind. "She'll be our bodyguard I guess." Rin raised an eyebrow at the dragon looking at them with wide eyes. Ch'en quickly nodded.

"Good. Your first job is to escort us in Chernobog."

=== CHERNOBOG ===

0400 Hours, Chernobog.

Nearl was fast.

The last time Shirou observed her speed, it was during the sprint in the underground sewers two weeks ago while Chernobog was invaded by the Reunion. That was with the blonde pegasi chasing behind him. This time, he was running beside the knight from Kazimierz that Shirou saw her real speed. He was falling behind, even with Reinforcement. His boosted leg muscles were working hard to keep up with the pegasi flying down the street. Shirou didn't push more mana than necessary to increase his pace. Already, trace amounts of Originium were entering his body- Shirou would need to control his intake if he didn't want ito overwhelm his body like before. He doubted there would be an opportunity for him to purge his body once the battles begun.

Nearl reached the first camp a minute before Shirou did. When he arrived, the Rhodes Island operator was scouting the guards inside a rundown gas station further down the avenue. Shirou slipped in behind her and mentally counted down the time. Patriot and FrostNova were due to start moving 15 minutes past 4 am. The better part of the night had been used to send runners out to inform the divisions under them about the uprising. The two commanders were confident in their people and Shirou believed them.

"Didn't they say that there was a contingent near this camp? Where are they?" Nearl searched for the iconic forces. Patriot's Shieldguards were some of the most well equipped groups in the Reunion. They were heavily armored and they moved with extreme discipline. The Yetis under FrostNova were also disciplined, but they were offshoots of Patriot's forces who committed themselves to serving under the Cautus commander who- until recently- had a problem controlling her ice arts, causing the environment around her to plunge into tundra levels of temperatures- the reason why they were called the Yetis.

"That's them." Shirou pointed out to unarmored Reunion members walking up to the guards.

They aren't in armor. "Why aren't they armored?" Nearl whispered to him. "Are you sure they're Shieldguards?"

"I can read the history of their weapons." Oh, so Shirou could apparently read their history this far out? That was a worrying thought. Nearl was seeing the dangers of having Shirou as an enemy.

It was scary. Shirou could easily break anyone's cover.

"I assume Patriot ordered them to keep their cover for as long as possible before the rest of the Reunion figured out that they were betrayed."

Nearl's eyes widened at his answer. It made a lot of sense now. A sizable chunk of the Reunion would be dealt with before they realized it. Even then, it would still take even longer for them to muster a response to Patriot's forces. By then, the Reunion in Chernobog would've had their command structure damaged if not outright eliminated by the superior divisions under Patriot and FrostNova.

Just as Shirou said, they were Shieldguards. The unarmored rebels quietly assaulted the guards and the brief scuffle ended with the guards dead. The prisoner camp slowly awakened when the small group of unarmored Shieldguards roused them awake.

"That's our que." Shirou nudged Nearl and walked out into the open with his arms up to show he was unarmed. When he wasn't attacked, Nearl slowly emerged behind the cover and trailed behind him slowly. The two dozen and so undercover Shieldguards looked their way. They recognized Shirou but shot a few looks at Nearl. Turns out, the Kazimierz champion was not as recognizable to other demographics outside those from Kazimierz.

One stepped forward and pulled out a radio. He handed the device over to Shirou. "It's on the officer's channel. If teams run into trouble, they'll ask for help here." Reports were coming in about successful prisoners being freed. Already, a few locations were calling in to report that they ran into significant trouble.

"Can you secure the prisoners while regrouping with the others?" Shirou was already walking back to Nearl.

"Yes, sir."

"Good, Nearl let's go. They need help three avenues over." Shirou had a mental map of Chernobog's core plate. He'd have to lead Nearl around until most if not all prisoners have been saved. They sprinted in the dark, reinforcing teams as they attacked the prison camps not under the control of Shieldguards and Yetis. It wasn't long before the Reunion caught on. Thirty minutes past four, loyal Reunion forces started fighting off the rescue teams and some prison camps were executed to keep from falling out of the loyalist's hands.

By then, the Shieldguard and Yeti contingents had already moved into the early positions, locking down important city areas to assault Reunion camps and isolate them from one another.

Nearl returned another child to her frantic mother as Shirou and a few Yetis cleaned up the last rebels of one particular camp. A good number of non-infected had been murdered before the rebel numbers fell to the superior force.

"Those bastards." Nearl hissed under her breath while watching a husband cry over his dead wife a few meters away. Some of the unlucky ones they had been too late to save.

"The forces under Talulah knew they were outclassed by Patriot's forces. To them, it was either surrender or death. They wanted to reap their revenge before we caught them." The old Shirou would've mourned for them, but he had to keep moving. More would die if he and Nearl stuck around. A lot of prison camps were still under Reunion control.

A flash of red lit up the night, followed by a deafening sound of a building crashing half a kilometer away. Nearl froze when Shirou's radio and several from the Yetis started blaring out alarms, screams and panic audible in the background.

"That's..."

There was only one person on Chernobog who could unleash such carnage.

"All forces retreat from the impact zone on Timiryazeva Street." Patriot's voice suddenly overtook all comms. "I will handle Talulah." The command was booming and Nearl doubted anyone else could fight the Dragon of The Reunion.

The radio buzzed and Patriot's booming voice overtook all comms. An order was issued to retreat from the visible impact zone.

"Was this taken into account when planning?" Nearl turned to Shirou.

"We did. Talulah staying at the Chernobog command tower was the best case scenario we could've hoped for. It would've been easier for us to fight for ground control and surround her." Talulah reacting this quickly to their advance meant that the Draco had expected it.

"She knew you were coming." Nearl had seen her fair share of plans going sideways. "How confident are you about Patriot's chances?"

"Not very."

"What?! Is it because of his age?" Rhodes Island had a profile sheet on the former Ursus general. Before they were dispatched to Chernobog nearly three weeks ago, Kal'tsit debriefed the operatives of the threats they would potentially face while extracting the Doctor. Patriot was at the top of the list, followed closely behind by Talulah.

"You've faced Talulah once. He will face the same problems you did." Shirou had a grim expression on. He attempted to sneak a modification on Patriot's equipment- just a little reinforcement and alteration to transform them into fire-proof composite- but the general was vigilant and Shirou didn't find the opportunity.

Nearl swallowed nervously. Her equipment only lasted a few hits. How would Patriot's fare against Talulah? She didn't know what quality they were or whether his equipment was in good condition.

"Nearl. We need to keep moving." Shirou urged. "Once enough prisoners are secured, We can leave them to you while I help Patriot."

Patriot wasn't going to engage Talulah directly. He was there to delay and distract her until Shirou could support him.