74 Playing Total War

Marcus' hands wrapped around Sirin as he pulled her into a hug.

"W-What do you think you are doing!?" The white-haired beauty started to panic in his hands.

"Cuddling with my Void Queen?"

"I-I can see that! I want to ask why!?" This close contact was so alien to her that she was freaking out!

"What a stupid question. Do you realise that the greatest reason why I brought you to live and worked my ass off to create all of this is that I like it?

To make your body how I remember every single piece, I had to combine millions of pieces just right. With AI, it's easier, but I still have to oversee everything." He whispered into her ear.

"Y-You are a crazy man!"

"Brilliance and Madness come hand in hand, Sirin. If I didn't like you, we wouldn't have met."

"...Hmph! You wanted Kiana Kaslana, not me!" The void Queen would not accept this so quickly! The last excuse she has is Kiana Kaslana, not her.

"Hahaha, what a silly excuse. You are part of her, so what do you mean?" His finger poked her cheek.

"The goody two shoes who constantly speaks about 'beauty of the world' and all that nonsense!"

"Yes, well, you are part of the same coin, so I get what I wanted either way. So we will cuddle like there is no tomorrow!"

"W-Wait! That tickles! S-S-Stop kissing my neck!" Sirin started to struggle as she felt his lips on her neck.

The beauty tried to run away! This situation was embarrassing! Like hell! She is a Harbinger of Death! A Herrscher who brings the judgement day to humanity, not some little girl who is afraid of tickles!

~~~

"...By Satans!"

"... Unbelievable!"

The pair of Sona and Rias looked at the massive expanse under the ground! They could see thousands of men practising combat, a bunch of parked jets, mobile-like suits parked at the side, and other machinery they had no idea about!

"To think that there is a runway under our school." Sona had no idea how to react to that!

They have turned her school into a military base.

Without her even knowing!

"You think Runway is impressive?" Gu Yuena scoffed.

"Troops here are enough to challenge the pantheon here. But knowing how reclusive they are, they would ignore goading, making us lose in offensive combat. But if they are to leave their heaven, we have enough manpower to get a good fight." The dragoness proudly explained that.

"We don't need to know that." Sona's response to that was that she doesn't care about things which are beyond her capacities.

"Just saying. You should, at least, know the bar."

Gu Yuena shrugged at Sona's reply.

The group of girls went into the barracks. The amount of knight-like soldiers only got denser the closer they were to the centre of this base.

Eventually, with Aurora's guidance, they arrived at a plain room with nothing on the walls, ceiling or the ground.

It looked like a grey, featureless room carved from stone.

"Is this the place? The last time I did simulations, it was in a room made from pure diamond tiles." Sona commented as she looked around.

[This was in the test room. This place is the S.P.B.A. training room. Not meant to simulate Deity-level fights] Aurora explained before asking Athena.

[Goddess Athena, do you wish to run a Total War simulation?]

"It's the same one where I fought against Marcus?"

[Yes]

"Then I want that one. I wish to request the same rules when we played then." The Goddess asked with barely hidden giddiness.

[Simulating according to your preferences]

Like shivering fog, the surroundings shifted to grasslands. All three opponents got three windows.

[Participating commanders have 4000 points; select your faction, and according to the faction, you will get specific troops to choose from]

"Girls, I suggest you two work together. Because I won't be holding back, my divinity is Warfare that much, you know. You two will have a higher chance to win and impress me."

As Athena said that, she picked up her faction and her city. Selecting an owl on a blue background. Her city colours.

~~~

"Sona, she is right. We will work better as a team." Rias commented as she saw Athena disappear.

The grasslands changed to a different terrain.

[Location selected: Greek Coastal Area.]

The pair looked around. The pair can see a few small hills and a steep coastal area. Such terrain choice is perfect for a tactical battle in a smaller area.

"Fine, what troops will we select?"

The pair of girls can see a bunch of banners. All of them are factions from ancient times.

"Well, I suggest the dominant faction from that era. Rome?"

Sona nodded at Rias' suggestion. She went with the Golden Eagle on a red background, with the letter S.P.Q.R under the eagle.

As the Sitri Heiress selected the Roman faction, a bigger window greeted her. It was a complete list of ENTIRE Roman military structures! Like the Praetorian guard, a cohort, Velites, Triarii, and even Gladiators! She can make an entire Roman legion!

But she can't! She has this currency, limiting her to a specific number.

"This— will take a while."

[To make this as fair as possible, you have a time limit of five minutes] As Aurora said, a clock appeared in the air.

[Once troops are selected, you can choose how to deploy your forces]

"Sona, time is ticking. I suggest a classic approach. Legions with Velites support. Maybe some cavalry for the sides.

Since we know our opponent, Athena will choose Athens. I can't see a patron Goddess of Athena not picking her city."

Rias' reasoning made sense to Sona. Her opponent is a Greek Goddess; she will play as her faction. That means classic cohorts are necessary.

Classic Greeks fight as hoplites, the traditional heavy spearmen; the legions are natural counters for those.

Apart from that, the girls took the ranged units, the Velites, which meant lightly armoured skirmishes.

"We could take some mercenaries."

"No, even if they are cheap, points-wise, their morale is low too. I would rather invest in another heavy infantry unit." Sona used the last remaining points to get another Praetorian Guard unit.

[Time is up!]

The pair looked around, seeing the surroundings had changed one more time. They were moved to one side of the map.

~~~

Athena looked at what was in front of her. While she has no idea what kind of troops the girls selected, she does know what kind of faction they picked.

She can see a massive illusionary banner on the other side of the map. That is the same for the girls. They can see her Athens banner, too.

"So predictable. I already knew what they would pick. Romans do have impressive military units.

But sadly for them, I have studied their tactics since the creation of their nation. Being one of their Goddesses does help." The Goddess of Warfare smirked for a second.

They should have picked a non-Greek-influenced military if they wanted to have greater success in victory.

Maybe Celts or Parthians?

'No, I shouldn't give them ideas; it's a huge pain to deal with Parthians.'

The Goddess grimaced as she started arranging her soldiers.

'Since they are using Romans, I should utilise some tactics used by their boogeyman.'

Athena proceeded to deploy her hoplites in the shape of a triangle.

Her elite-picked hoplites are to be placed on the sides with citizen cavalry. She has some mercenary Cretan archers.

They are cheap and easy to use, plus very fast on their feet. It's faster than Roman Velites. Since those two use Roman troops, she can guess their selected soldiers, and Velites are a standard staple of the Roman military.

Once she had placed her units in the shape she wanted, she selected battle to start.

With her ready, the other side got a timer of two minutes to choose formation before the battle started.

But there was no need to wait for that long as, like ghosts, thousands upon thousands of soldiers began to manifest around them.

'Impressive, the amount of soldiers we have went up.' The Goddess immediately noticed the scale of the conflict.

Seeing this many soldiers made her nerdy side get excited.

With her overview screen, she counted that she had around forty thousand soldiers.

~~~

"...Whoa. Sona, this is so cool. Do you think we could have some sort of anime battles in this kind of simulation?" Rias started to get all weeb seeing this many soldiers manifest around them.

"Focus on battle! Look at that formation! Why did she place her main force in a triangle?" The Sitri Heiress gets a bad feeling about this when she sees Greek soldiers move down from a small hill in the distance. The amount of blue and white made her legs a little bit shaky.

"Well, triangle is the best shape?"

"Normally, yes, but we have three lines of legionaries."

The pair spoke. But then the girls wondered how they were going to— fight!?

"What are your orders, Praetor?"

For a second, the pair freaked out after seeing the Romans standing next to them speaking to them!

"R-Right! The Velites to advance and harass, while the legion to slowly advance." Sona quickly got over and issued orders.

"Orders understood!"

Moments later, horn blows started, and the men began to advance.

"...this might be difficult," Sona mumbled to herself. She might have studied military tactics. But her studies are related to rating games, not leading forty thousand men.

Battles like these were Athena's field of expertise.

"Look, the triangle is breaking apart and spreading out!" Rias noticed the Greek formation breaking down and spreading to create a vast and relatively thin line.

"Proceed to focus on destroying the centre line. We should concentrate on smashing it with our legionaries!" Rias, being the brute force lover, suggested.

"Your reasoning makes sense." Sona did agree, but she wondered why the triangle-like front still existed. Why is the Goddess sacrificing those units?

"Advance, we will smash the front line and then spread the second and third line to the sides!"

'Since we have superior forces to hoplites, we should be able to have raw power to destroy their spear walls. Romans created Legions to fight spearmen.'

"Order understood!"

The Romans proceeded to advance, and soon enough, the skirmishes started.

Athena revealed her mercenary archers, who proceeded to harass the Roman Velites. However, the javelin users didn't go down that easily. They have shields to defend against archers.

But, this is meaningless if they can't get close to using their weapons.

"We should send cavalry to deal with them before the front lines collide."

Sona nodded at Rias' suggestion and ordered the cavalry to attack the archers harassing their Velites.

Not that this move worked as Athena's mercenary archers proceeded to retreat behind the hoplites.

The pair of devils swiftly realised that.

"Not good. We are falling for a trap! Tell the cavalry to return!"

The Sitri Heiress anxiously commanded.

'Can believe I have fallen for such a basic tactic!'

With little space left, her idea to harass the troops had failed, and she needed to pull her skirmishers back.

Since she uses three legionary lines, her Velites range wouldn't work from the back. So, she decided to place ranged troops to the sides.

With the loss of cavalry, her manoeuvrability has dropped significantly.

But she swiftly started to see a grim picture.

They have limited size to manoeuvre, and now her range units are open to Athena's cavalry.

"This is bad; we will lose our ranged units!" Sona exclaimed while biting her nails from frustration.

Her inexperience to command actual troops shows her teeth.

"Then we have no choice but to smash the front line!" Rias, next to her, responded with the only ideal solution she could think of. They still have superiority in the weapons.

"Fine. I don't see any other way either." the Sitri Heiress scowled as she felt frustrated by the situation.

"First line charge, double time. Second line, move to the right and the third line to the left."

After giving the command, the heavy Roman infantry started to advance rapidly.

But this was where something strange happened: the 'triangle tip' began to pull back.

It is inverting itself, and then the troops on the sides start to surround the girls' forces

"...What the—! The centre is retreating!"

"...Damn! Of course! The classic encirclement! These are Hannibal's tactics!" Sona finally recalled where she saw the triangle-like shape in a small area.

However, those archers, the formation changes midway made her ponder the actual plan for this.

"...Hmm, Hannibal? You mean the serial killer?" Rias was confused for a second.

Her rival deadpanned at her.

"The Carthaginian general who nearly destroyed Rome!"

"...Oh…"

The crimson-haired heiress smiled sheepishly.

Not that it mattered; Athena's move fully encircled The pair's army, and it was game over.

The soldiers' morale shattered, and the simulation stopped.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The Brown-haired Goddess walked over. She had her hands crossed.

"Did you two learn something from this?" Athena asked the pair. She wondered if the test did anything.

"Yes. Leading thousands of troops and a small peerage are two different things."

"And? Anything more?*

"...weapon advantages don't matter that much," Sona added some more. The pair believed that just by playing for the Romans, they would win in a fight regarding ancient warfare.

"Precisely. Anything more?"

"I wish to try again," Sona asked seriously.

"Fine. We can play this one one-on-one now. After this, I will test you, Rias Gremory." Athena nodded with a smirk. She can't say no to a tactical fight like this.

"My thanks."

~~~~~~Later~~~~~~

Marcus looked at the data he got from Lilith. He had never seen anything like this before.

It appears Hades and Angra Mainyu did something to her. Some sort of alteration. They might have tried to control her. But the side effects of their tinkering are absurd.

Her DNA now is like clay; it can shatter, reform, and turn into liquid or solid material; the devil is like Ditto from Pokemon.

This woman revolutionised how he builds DNA just from a single scan.

'To think that something like this could even exist.'

It has been a while since he was impressed like this. He needed to allocate more than half of his AI's capacity, which is absurd considering how powerful his Aurora is by this point.

But this was to calculate and experiment with the new DNA sequences.

'I suppose it's time for me to get a new ring. But first, Aurora needs to crack the code.'

Marcus proceeded to see the calculations of how to crack the infinite possibilities of this DNA.

Well, he can slash that 'infinity' with variables. Something like exposure to specific environments, powers, and waves. So on and so forth.

And his AI, which already has considerable data with this, started to solve the code.

'With this, I will be able to control evolution itself. What a pleasant surprise. Who would have guessed that Angra Mainyu would give such a gift to me?'

Marcus chuckled to himself as he saw the possibilities of this.

"Did you find something amusing?" The white-haired girl looked at him as if he was the biggest offender on Earth.

Sirin wasn't happy with all that teasing he did to her.

It was embarrassing, to say the least!

"Indeed I did. But it's not laughter from amusement, but from gratefulness towards the incarnation of evil we are fighting at this moment."

"Now, you are not making sense. How can you be grateful to someone like that?" The Herrscher was confused, to say the least.

"To all the spoils of war he offered to me. With the last trip, when we saved Quinella, I recovered Lilith, the progenitor of devil kind.

After scanning her, we are at the principles of Manipulating evolution itself.

While I can create life without difficulty, evolution itself was still something I was crude at."

He explained to her as he once again got closer to her.

This time, Sirin scuffed away the moment she saw him getting closer.

But the next second, she was on his lap either way! He was abusing his power!

"...You know— this is called power abuse."

"Says the beauty who can wipe out humanity with the same power abuse."

*Hmph!*

"That doesn't count."

"Why not?" He asked while stroking that long hair.

"Because—" She pondered for a second before answering." That was a fighting situation! This is different! You are abusing your power to tease me!"

He rolled his eyes at the semantics she was saying to him.

"Hmm, did you stop taking over Kiana's body when she asked you in a non-combat situation?"

To his question, she huffed at him.

"Different circumstances! That body was built for me!"

"Depends, but that doesn't matter now. You have a body for yourself." Once again, he hugged her more tightly.

By this point, the Herrscher decided to stop complaining as he didn't care about her complaining.

"...So when are we going to battle?" She asked him. If they are going to war, then at least he won't cuddle her like this!

Oh, how little did the poor Herrscher understand!

"Soon. I want to see what my Fiance is cooking with those devils."

"Cooking?"

"Not in a literal sense. It can mean scheming."

'I do want to see if they are useful, not as just mere test subjects.' Marcus said that to himself. He has enough bed warmers and maids. It's different if he has actual commanders.

The commanders he creates with the S.P.B.A. methods lack certain qualities. While he has variations to the synthetic memory, it's not the same as actually powerful and talented tacticians.

He even tested tactical battles with Athena's help. The Goddess wiped the floor 9 out of 10 times with the commanders he prepared.

And those odd times his side wins are when his fiance underestimates the 'inhuman' factor of his troops.

This means he needs someone outside his Ecosystem.

For a second, he stroked the hair of the girl on his lap.

"I see. But why are you treating me like a cat of some sort?" She asked suddenly; the Herrscher had this feeling that he was treating her like some sort of pet.

"Oh? Maybe I am; I am used to cuddling with my lioness all the time."

"...Why are you not 'cuddling' with her?" She said, cuddling with a chilly tone.

"Oh, now you sound like a jealous cat. But don't worry. I don't need my Atalanta at this moment. I have this gorgeous Queen on my lap."

Sirin narrowed her eyes. This guy is smooth; for a second, she almost lowered her guard.

"Don't worry, we won't be staying in Japan for long. We will go home, and I will show you to my parents."

"!??"

The Herrscher snapped her gaze to the side and looked at him. Panic started to bubble in her stomach.

"W-W-What are you talking about!? S-S-Show me to your parents!? I didn't consent to that!!!" The white-haired girl started to panic. She began imagining scenarios in her head.

Part of her is still a naive little girl regarding specific scenarios like romance, weddings, and all those things!

"Hmm? What a reaction. I wasn't expecting you to react like that." He teased while saying that.

"What do you mean to react like that!?" She turned fully around, and her hands grabbed his cheeks. The Void Queen started to pull them. The beauty was feeling like a volcano which was ready to erupt.

"You told me that you will introduce me to your parents! Do you think I am ready for such a thing!?" She tried to pull his cheeks even more, but they didn't stretch beyond a certain point.

"As I was saying, you are overthinking. But this is to be expected of girls."

For a second, she stopped and narrowed her eyes.

"Explain."

"Since they discovered my hobbies of building stuff in the garage, I started to show them my creations." He explained plainly to him.

"...Garage? you seriously still call that?" The Herrscher was more concerned that he called her something of a creation in a garage.

"I do. What of it?" He almost challenged her.

"Nothing."

As the embarrassment subsided, Sirin realised the awkward position she was in!

The Herrscher was sitting on his lap, fully facing him. This position was incredibly intimate! Something only lovers should do!

She wanted to retreat the next second, but Marcus grabbed her incredible rear and kept her in place!

"L-Let me go!"

The embarrassed reaction from her only made him want to keep her in place.

"Nope. We will stay like this until I am tired."

"... That's not funny!"

"Do I look like I am joking?" He said that with a serious face.

"..."

"My Herrscher requests to be pampered. There is no way I can say no to that." The Inventor said with a straight only, making her cheeks get rosier by the second.

"You are one—"

"Dashing, very terrifying, extremely intelligent individual, I know." He finished for her, which made her stop in her tracks.

"...*Sigh*..."

"I give up."

If she had met someone like this guy in her original world, she might have killed herself on the spot with a subspace lance.

Or something more drastic! Maybe she should have tried to kill him by detonating her core.

Honestly, this man, as he said himself, was very terrifying.

"Hmm? Already? But we only started to flirt."

"...F-Flirt!? You call that flirt!? I am at— what do humans call it? Umm—"

"Your 'wits end'?"

"Yes! That! Honestly, I want to choke you to death!"

"Hmm, we could try that. Kissing until I am dead. That could work." He said with a smirk. He knows damn enough that he can't 'choke' that's what mortals do. He can't do that because his body will adjust, and instead of air, he will use mana to sustain himself.

That's the thing; he doesn't need to eat by this point.

Sirin narrowed her eyes when she heard that. This was a trap! Regardless, his hands went up through her back and made her lean towards him.

"This is a trap."

"Maybe~ what of it?"

"I am not falling for it."

"Hmm, I thought you wanted to choke me to death. I am giving you a solution."

"I didn't mean in the literal sense." Now, she has started to 'adjust'. She was pretty serious, but with the proposed solution, she decided it was a joke.

"Oh? Is my Void Queen joking? I never expected such a serious and regal queen to joke."

~~~

Quinella's eyebrows were twitching as she saw the new creation of her Master flirting with him. This girl, from the data she got, has no synthetic memories and, by all means, was an outsider to their ecosystem.

She is not questioning her Master's ability to seduce women. She is annoyed that the girl is 'hostile' to Marcus.

It makes the assistant want to shake this girl until she understands who she is trying to provoke! The sheer gal to speak like this and threaten it makes her blood boil!

Regardless, for now, she will stay quiet. Quinella was in a mess, as it is. If she is to make some sort of fuss, she can mess something up again.

For now, she will do her tasks and take her time.

With that in mind, she walked back to the room given to her and proceeded to check the work she had to do.

"...You have to be kidding me…" The assistant's mouth slowly opened as she saw how much stuff she had to double-check!

"A-Aurora! W-Why do I have to do your routines!?"

Instead of someone speaking, she got a message on her screen.

"I know it's a punishment, but this is sadism!"

Another message popped on the screen, which said, Creator's orders.

"..."

"Brutal, *Sniff* now he is punishing me for the qualities he gave me!" Regardless of her complaining, the girl's fingers danced through the keyboard.

She swiftly sorted mundane tasks, stuff like sorting files and erasing rubbish data.

Something maintenance Aurora bots should be doing in the information centre!

~~~~~~Later, Next Day~~~~~~

"Well, this was fun! I haven't had this much excitement since the invention of Chess!" Athena stretched herself out as they finished with the games.

"...C-Can we finally go home?" Rias asked with a tired look; she had bags under her eyes.

The devil heiress has no idea how much has passed, as according to Artificial intelligence, time dilation does exist within the system.

Something about Realitus particles interfering with how the human brain interacts with surroundings; the Crimson-Haired Heiress doesn't know the exact details.

If Rias didn't know any better, then she would think that this system was created to torture people.

"Fine. I suppose today is enough. You girls still need to learn that this is not a Rating game. The weakness and strength of weapons don't matter that much.

What truly matters is intelligence, the geography of the surroundings—-"

Both Rias and Sona nearly passed out again from the constant lectures.

'How in Great Satan's name Marcus can bear with this woman?'

Athena was way too nerdy!

"...And on top of it all, Morale is essential too!"

"...Yes, we understand."

"Good. Now, let's return to the surface."

As the girls walked, they met the lion maid and Dragoness, who were leaving a room which looked like a kitchen.

"Huh, you three are done?"

"Yes. I have a clear idea of how good these two are." Athena sharply explained, as if she were a professor who just finished testing her students.

"...You don't say." Gu Yuena looked at the state of those two.

'They look like they went through an entire war campaign.' The Silver-Haired Dragoness didn't know if she should pity these two, just laugh from amusement.

"Yes, well— I got carried away for a bit."

"..."

"..."

Sona's and Rias' red and tired eyes looked at the Goddess. They had no answer to that claim; they had no strength to complain.

"I can see that. Master is preparing to leave. Around 18 hours have passed since you three entered the simulation." Atalanta wasn't that amused with the suffering she saw.

This kind of behaviour is usual for a Greek God; they all are addicts, and Goddess Artemis is no different. They used to hunt for weeks at a time with minimal breaks simply.

"I see. In that case, we should return to the surface as quickly as possible."

"Yes."

While it was sad that Marcus was leaving, Rias and Sona were too tired to care. After saying goodbye, they went to sleep.

The Inventor smiled, seeing them go through a grinder.

"You tortured those two poor girls."

"...Did I? I don't know. After the third day of simulation, they started to learn. Besides, they were learning from a Deity of Warfare. It's an honour not many can brag about." Athena explained with crossed arms.

She found it interesting to teach devils. They are more durable than humans. That alone makes it more fascinating for her.

"True, I suppose. And what is my Goddess consensus?" Marcus asked with a curious look;

"They have ways to go. But they do possess the talent to lead." Athena gave honest feedback.

"I see. Then we can arrange something once we are done with the war."

"Yes, that would be for the best."

After the pair finished speaking, Marcus decided to check on Valerie.

The naughty Dhampir didn't even come to see him!

He didn't need to look far for her as she was in Gremory's occult building.

"Gah!!! you!" A loud voice attracted Marcus' attention.

The inventor looked at the source.

"And you are?" For a second, he was confused about who was calling him.

What he saw was a plain brown-haired teen. Not that he remembers him.

"Y-You messed with my gear! And you don't know it!?"

"...I messed with many gears, I made many as well. You should be specific." Marcus shrugged his shoulders without care.

"My Boosted Gear!"

"Oh, he is the Red Dragon Emperor?" Gu Yuena instantly got curious, and she walked to the front.

"But I can't sense a thing from you." The Silver-haired Dragoness looked confused.

Now that she thinks about it, she was here for over a day, and the Red Dragon Emperor was here the whole time!

With a burst of Red, a red gauntlet appeared on the brown-haired teen's left hand.

[You are a dragon. Yet, you are human.] a draconic voice spoke from the hand.

Instead of saying anything, Gu Yuena grabbed the gauntlet and inspected it.

"H-Hey!"

She easily manhandled him.

"Your power is remarkably restrained. Pity; I thought I could challenge the heavenly dragon gear users."

[The gear was tampered with by that man. If you want a fight, the gear needs to be altered] The dragon sounded pissed off.

"I know, and I wanted to see what my creator did to your gear." The Dragoness' words shocked the brown-haired teen the most.

He looked with jealousy.

"H–He made you?"

"From the data he collected from this gear—" She stopped yanking him around and just released. "And White Dragon Emperor."

"You can say I am the next generation."

Not that Marcus listened; he was not even in the room anymore.

"H-Hey! he just left! And here I was pointing fingers at the last generation!" The dragoness pouted and proceeded to catch up to her Emperor and creator.

"...What is with these people!? They do whatever they want!"

The teen frowned in annoyance. He was very pissed, and at the same time, he was enlightened!

To think that there exists someone who could simply create a harem for himself!

He saw it! He saw a group of women just following this guy!

"So that's a Harem King!"

[I am pretty sure he is more than that. But yes, I see your point]

"Yes! Since I saw him in person now, I know what my goal is!"

[...Good luck, wake me up when you find something interesting] The dragon didn't care at all about the monologues.

~~~

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