Chapter 6: Progress and Field Promotions (R-18)

In a luxuriously adorned office that is black and red in tone, a woman is sitting graciously on her throne. Holding a field report in her slender hands, covered by black lace gloves, she carefully reads it. The content written is shocking, so much so she has been rereading it three times now. She let out a troubled sigh before putting down the report on her desk. As she leans backward, her curvaceous body is reflecting on the full-length mirror in the room. Wearing a rather revealing raven dress with crimson and gold accessories, complemented by a magnificent black royal robe with a red inner, her stature screams ' I am the Empress.'

She turns to look at herself, taking pleasure that she does look good.

" In fact, I think I'm the greatest beauty there is." The woman smirks and starts making a few poses. Her amber-colored eyes squinted in delight when she accentuated her bountiful breasts, the medals pinned on her dress only served to pronounce her curves.

Well, she is not wrong when she says she's a beauty. For a lady, she is tall at 1,85 meters. Her skin is of a healthy white and her hair, passing her hips, shone the sheen of platinum with a few strands of red. Atop her head is a pair of metallic horns, black with red stripes, they point upward before curving back. Her facial feature is magnificent, with an ever-present mysterious grin adorning her lips. Not many people can tell what is hidden behind the smile, save for the person that just teleported into the room.

" Umu, welcome back, Hel." Stopping her posturing, the Devil herself greeted the new arrival with a fond smile.

" I'm home, darling." Hugging the woman on the throne before sitting down on her laps, the woman in black returned the greeting.

Letting out a contend sigh as she leans on her lover's bosom, the woman in black lay still. " Lu, I'm tired."

" I can see that." Gently stroking the back of her lover, Hel. Lu starts to check out her partner while changing her posture, allowing Hel to rest more comfortably. Hel, the venerable Ruler of Life and Death, is being taken care of like a kitty by the Devil, no less. The thought put a smile on Lu's lips.

Adorning herself in a similar get-up like Lu, minus the revealing part and her accessories are a bit more... holy, in terms that they are silver in color and are more cross-shaped than Lu's. The crosses, fitted to her dress, also denounced her affiliation and status in the Yggdrasil's Temple.

Using a hand to caress Hel, Lu says. " You worked hard."

Hel's skin is of a healthy pink and smooth to the touch. Tracing her fingers alongside her partner's breasts, pass the lace cross choker, and up to Hel's cheek. Lu uses her hand to part the strands of grayish-blue hair away, revealing the misty purple eyes and pink lips of her partner, lover, and wife. They stare at each other, demanding the opposite's attention and love. For a few seconds, they keep their gaze before sanity is thrown out the window.

With a flurry of movements, clothes are strewn across the floor and they start kissing each other deeply. Sitting on the throne, kiss after kiss, they soon up the stake and position themselves for the more juicy acts.

" I hope your schedule is cleared." Hel, now straddling Lu with minimal clothing, said.

Licking her lips as she bears witness to the gorgeous hourglass body of Hel, Lu reply. " We have all the time till the next morning."

" Good, because you will have to satisfy me, darling," Hel smirked while her left hand reached down to grasp a visible bulge beneath Ly's panties. " with this thick asset of yours."

Seeing her wife so hungry for her cock, Lu snickers. " Am I the Devil here, or you, my Goddess?"

" Heh... You don't like it?"

" Nah, I love it." Unable to contain her lust, Hel displaces their panties, revealing Lu's meaty cock, now fully erect. With visible eagerness, Hel direct the shaft to her aroused pussy. Surprisingly, the penetration is very gentle, mostly due to Lu being considerate.

" For a Devil, you are a big softie sometimes."

Smiling wryly, Lu responds. " That goes to say how much I love you then."

Hel swallows the shaft down the base, letting out a low moan in the process. Seeing that her lover is ready, Lu pistons her cock up and down, slowly. It's a pleasant surprise how tight Hel's walls are when they wrap around her dick. Lu can't help but marvel at how good they are in wringing out her cum.

" Ah... It feels nice to have you in me. So warm." Hel moves her hip to accommodate Lu's asset, partly to make her lover feels good, partly to alleviate her sexual urge.

As they are mating on the throne, Lu has a great view of Hel's unblemished body. Hel's rack, now completely exposed when they discarded all their clothes, bounces up and down in a teasing manner. Tempted, Lu takes a lick at the pink nipples dancing in front of her eyes.

" Fufufu... they're all yours." Accentuated her large breasts, Hel let Lu play with them however she wants. At first, Lu gropes and teases the nipples, it soon escalates into her taking them into her mouth, sucking hungrily. At the same time, she up the speed of her moving her cock, shoving deep into the inner walls of Hel's pussy.

The sudden fierce assault is a surprise for Hel. She let out gasps and moans as she pulls Lu's head deeper into her bosom. Wet sounds echo in the room while their love juices are sprinkled on the carpet below. As the pleasure intensifies, so are the moans and grunting of the two lovers keeps getting louder and louder.

" Ah... It feels so damn good!" Hel exclaimed loudly. " I blame you for making me a mess like this." She slaps Lu's butt as if telling her to go faster.

Unable to reply as her mouth is being blocked by a faceful of boobs, Lu lightly bites Hel's nipple and ram her cock harder into Hel. Her little payback garners more excited gasps from Hel as is swiftly approaching her limit.

" More darling, give me more!" Drowned in lust, Hel demanded more and more pleasure from her partner.

Her flesh walls clamp down hard on Lu's cock, enrapturing them both in pure bliss as they reach their climaxes. Lu pumps the hot baby batter into Hel's hungry pussy as she too comes onto the thick rod deep in her belly. For a moment, the only thing they can muster is satisfied grunting while embracing each other. Strands of love juices pool out from Hel's pussy and onto their legs. Soon, the precious throne will not escape defilement from their love-making activity. Though this isn't the first, nor the last time it will happen.

Lu, now free from her breast-sucking duty, looks up to Hel. " That was fun... Care to go for a second round?"

" Why yes, darling. Fill me up to the brim with your love." Hel, bathed in the afterglow of good sex, is raring to go for a second bout.

Licking her lips, Lu picks Hel up in a princess-carry and heads for their bedroom. It is only after they have six sessions and the day turns midnight do they deem it a good time to stop. By then, the room is in anarchy but not that hard to recover with a bit of magic.

Laying on the hand of Lu, Hel rests to recover from the accumulated fatigue she gained during the work hours in the day.

" You know, I wish Yuki can join us here. I really miss her right now." Her attention is grabbed when Lu mentioned Yuki.

" ... Care to explain how you wish Yuki to join us?" Suddenly thought of something outrageous, Hel tries to confirm it with Lu.

" I want to fuck her."

" What the fuck?" Hel sits up, astounded? " She is only 15!"

Lu turns toward Hel, her head is laid on top of her palm. " She is also a beauty with a well-developed body."

" And our daughter!" Hel added.

" Correction, adopted daughter, perfectly fine." Lu shrugs with a smirk, she enjoys teasing Hel like this. Though the notion of bedding Yuki is very tempting for her too. " Maybe knocking her up isn't a bad idea. Preferably with the two of us in the act together."

" ... You are saying you want to make her pregnant in front of me now?" Exasperated, Hel facepalms and wonders how did it come to this conversation.

Pinching Lu's waist as a warning, to which Lu feigns being in pain, Hel says. " I'm officially putting a restraining order on you, Lucifer de Venusian. You are not allowed to commit any sexual act on Yukia Rosetta de Venusian until she is 18. I, Hel Rosetta will be responsible for supervising your deeds when you interact with her. Any transgression will be met with punishment from me. Is that clear?"

" Aww... But I love her!" Pouting, Lu throws a tantrum. " Love knows no boundary, you can't just ban me!"

" And yet, here we are." Not surprised by Lu's outburst, Hel calmly placates her lover by pushing Lu down and straddling her. " While I know you are the Devil and all that at least show some decorum and patience when approaching the issue."

" You speak as if you are not loving her as much as me. Scratch that, I think you're the one that wants to bed her the most right now." Lu snickers as she pulls Hel down into a hug. In response, Hel blushes

" ... You're not wrong. I do entertain the thought and find it very appealing. But I know that the matter must be treated with finest, unlike you brute." Hel isn't one to hide her desire in front of her lover.

" I know, I know. Her consent and all that. It should be fine, in my opinion. Yuki has been with us ever since she's infant, she is also smart enough to figure out our kinks and stuff. To be honest, I think she knows about our skewed love already, it's just that she doesn't have a chance to approach the issue." Lu stops fooling around. She also wants to treat the matter carefully.

" ... You think she will accept us?" Unsure of their daughter's decision, Hel has a rare moment of hesitation.

"As I said, it will be fine. She loves us deeply as a family, we love her back in a different way but it's still love in the end. Knowing our little genius, I think she will just shrug, saying ' Is that so? About time we discuss the matter' before hugging us to sleep at the end of the day."

" Heh... Yeah, it does be like that with our cute daughter." Remembering the time before her departure, Hel smiles fondly. " Speaking of, how is she?"

For a while, Lu has a thoughtful look on her face. It takes her a few seconds to answer. " Well... all I can say is her whereabouts is uncertain."

" Say again?" Hel squints her eyes.

" It's not the bad kind of uncertain. It's like we are unable to determine her exact location as she is too fast! Like, the speed of her advance is too fast for us to keep a check on." Lu scratches her head. " For Yggdrasil's sakes, her Division covered 322 kilometers in 24 hours! By nightfall of yesterday, they attacked Reno and successfully captured it in less than a day! The time it took for them to march from Bocage to Reno and seize it is unheard of! Hell, last we checked, they were preparing to cross the river near Reno, but they could have completed the crossing already. Not to mention the fact that the Division sometimes moved out of communication range because our logistic really can not keep up with them. This also added more enigma factors into the Division's current location. To which our staffs are pulling their hairs out trying to figure where the hell are they."

After Lu's ranting is over, Hel has a thoughtful look. She says. " This sudden change in the battlefield, and our daughter's approach in this issue. Don't you find it weird?" While she does feel proud of her daughter's success, the matter has many mysteries.

" It stinks with trouble, yes. I can feel great trouble for me in the times ahead. Though, it's a good kind of trouble so I'm looking forward to it." Lu sighs.

" Your instinct is telling you that?"

" Yeah, it never fails me before. And I trust our daughter to bring good changes to us all."

" ... Well, in that case, it's about time I break this news for you," Hel informed. " the Einherjars are deployed."

" What!? How many?" It's Lu's turn to be shocked.

" All of them," Hel said deadpanned. " all the Einherjars of the Inner Sanctum moved out. I am still unsure when but I did pose the issue to the World Tree."

" And her answer?"

" ... All are to follow the will of the Princess of Iron and Blood." The answer is a bit cryptic, more akin to a command, Lu thought.

" So can that explain the turmoils surrounding Yuki lately?"

" I think it does. Einherjars have always been the guardians of the World Tree. They only listen to the command of either Yggdrasil itself, or the Chose One which is our Yuki. We never see Yuki commands any of the Einherjars but with the situation right now, I think Yuki set them up covertly. Without any of us knowing, she and Yggdrasil control everything behind the scene, leading to the increasingly favorable situation of the war against Ustio. It's a great boon for us as it increases our political power while also diminishing the wood elves' holding over the military."

" Einherjars are known to be holders of great skills, if Yuki employed them in covert warfare, the wood elves have no room to maneuver." Lu ascertained.

" Yes, with this chance Yuki gave us, many officers and administrators have investigated and start removing the wood elves' tendril in both our military and government. A surprising amount of dirt came up and many of the elves and their allies are being sentenced as of now. Though with a matter like this, those haughty elves with power will not sit still for long." Hel then analyzes those that will move against them, the Royals' interests. Lu listens, sometimes adding her one analysis.

" Speaking of isn't the issue right now exactly like what Yuki written in the documents?" Lu, now finally notice why everything feels familiar, said.

" You mean the ones where she wrote detailed instructions, orders, and assets acquisitions that were delivered by a delivery company?"

" Yeah, those."

" ... Should have known. We could as well be speaking to an Einherjar, back then."

" Damn... She is one heck of a genius to plan all of this." Again, Lu and Hel can only lament why their daughter chose to hide her talent, all the way until now.

As parents, they are very proud of Yuki's accomplishments. But they feel a bit left out when they are not there for their daughter's big moments and the time when she almost lost her life. They are sad that they cannot keep up with the changes that Yuki made for herself, and them.

Goes to say how much they love her, and how much she loves them back. Though this story will continue on a later day. And the ending will be of much fulfillment for both sides.

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" Forward, forward!" A soldier waved his hand, signaling the approaching Panzer II. " Easy does it, friend! Slowly now, turn left for a bit."

With the soldier directing him, the driver on the Panzer II made it onto the pontoon bridge without a problem. Saying a quick thank you to the guy, the crew on the Panzer II sped up and made way for the vehicles still behind them.

Similar scenes can be found across the river La Pucelle, as it only has one stone bridge, the 404th Division constructed many pontoon bridges to expedite their river crossing. The town of Reno was much obliged to provide them with building materials.

" I still can't get over the fact that the Town Chief and his citizens were that cooperative." Said the ex-cadet next to Captain Aleph Morrick.

Overlooking the river crossing on a hill, he and some other officers are taking a small break. The ex-cadet is one of the few cadets that chose to stay with the division after the crash landing. From what Aleph gathered, she performed well as part of a scouting party. In fact, all the officers and ex-cadets here are ones that achieved admirable records in recent days. Aleph has an inkling reason as to why this group is gathered here, under the order of their Commander.

" It's not surprising if you think about what happened," A Colonel answered, she took a sip of her tea before placing it back on the picnic table. " more than half of the Ustian garrison ran without firing a single bullet after all. Those that stay were admirable, sure, but they couldn't mount a proper resistance. Leaving Reno to fall in a span of a few hours."

With her hands putting down her military cap, she continues. " The town has no choice but to accept our demand to gather materials, else we can just commandeer some. Thankfully, it didn't come down to more forceful methods. Though I think that's just the surface reason."

All the people at the table have their attention captured, they are interested in knowing the reason as to why everything went smoothly this time. You have to remember that the last town they seized was a building to building battle.

" From what I inferred from my briefing and the time I spent interacting with the locals, Reno's Town Chief is of Belka descendant. Hailing from a heritage of Belkan traders, he's the reason why Belka products are distributed in the surrounding region. Doesn't take him much effort to have the citizens under him to have a good view of us Belkan military. Well, that and the fact that our Princess Commander managed to persuade the people gathered at the Town Hall to aid us. I think the latter is the last nail in the coffin, we avoided much annoyance thanks to her Princess's effort."

" That's true." Everyone can agree that the Princess's endeavor saved them precious time and resources.

They then continue to chat about the current war situation. It's a bit of a surprise to them when the ex-cadet that posted the question earlier can keep up with their topic.

" Hehe, back in the academy, I competed a lot with Her Highness. While I am lacking on-field experience, I strive to improve myself so that one day, I can be of great use to our nation." The ex-cadet said with her green eyes showing off a glint of determination.

The others at the table sincerely give her their blessings, saying it is a nation's fortune to have a younger generation like her. Though they also remind her to be cautious and not become arrogant in her quest. She gladly accepts their advice while also posting some other questions.

The table chats away until footsteps are heard approaching them. It was Bryn, their Vice Commander. They were about to stand up and salute but Bryn waved them off.

" At ease, everyone." She said. " I hope everyone is having a relaxing time after all the actions."

" Yes, ma'am." The group answered. " The tea is especially good." The Colonel added.

" Glad to hear that. Our Princess isn't here yet?"

" Not yet, ma'am. I think she is still playing with the town kids." One of them answered.

Bryn nods as she put down a briefcase, she sits on an unoccupied chair and starts filling some paperwork. The rest of the table resumes their earlier discussion with Bryn sometimes adding in her insight. Time passes like that till Princess Yukia arrives.

" Excuse me that I am late. I hope that doesn't upset anyone here." Yuki said with a smile. She took a spot next to Bryn, peering over to take a look at the document she brought.

" Ah, I see that all the necessary people and papers are here." Yuki clapped her hands, gathering everyone's attention. " Now then this should be a short but fulfilling meeting for all of us."

" Congratulation, all of you here will be promoted!" The Princess announced with glee. This took them all by surprise, even though some were expecting it. They didn't think a promotion will come this soon, especially when all of them will be promoted at the same time.

" The promotions are due to your hard work these past few days. For our Division to properly function, combat, and maintain good morale and cohesion, it is all thanks to your efforts. Efforts which I keep track of and today is the day you receive the fruits of your labor."

Bryn hands over a file to Yuki, she takes it and reads the file out loud.

" Cadet Erika Hartmann, due to your outstanding bravery and ingenuity on the field, as part of Fireteam Oden, you are officially accepted into the 404th Division with the rank of Sergeant. For those that don't know, Erika here led a scouting party that managed to ambush two motorized squads, dismantled them, and exfiltrated out the area without taking a single loss. I would say for a cadet, her actions inspired many of us." Starting with Yuki, everybody claps their hands to congratulate Erika. She earns their respect for passing her trial by fire with flying colors.

Erika Hartmann can only shyly accept their praises while showing them her gratitude.

" Up next, Captain Aleph Morrick. Well, this is a no-brainer given the fact that all of you here should have read up on the Captain's report. He is more than capable of holding the rank of Major now. Let us all congratulate him in taking up his new post." This time, the entire table gives Major Morrick a toast.

" To be honest ma'am, I never thought I will rank up this high or this fast." Morrick scratches his head, still a bit in disbelief.

" Don't fret it, you earned my recognition the moment you braved danger alongside your men, rescuing us when we crashed back then. Not to mention you have actual talent that I appreciate, and trust me when I say being a Major is but a temporary post."

After pondering for a bit, Morrick accepted his promotion.

" Now then, Colonel Alexa Lilianna, care to be a Brigadier General?" Yuki asked the female Major, Alexa, with a smirk.

" Hoh... What if I refused?" The female Colonel jokes back. " Being a Colonel is already tiresome enough. A General rank can only make it worse. "

" Oh please, I know that you want that post with a passion. That's literally what's stated in our contract." Yuki rolls her eyes. " You wouldn't have accepted the recalling order otherwise."

" Fufufu... That's true, I guess. Ah, the things I do for my fellow sisters." The Colonel now Brigadier General lamented exaggeratedly.

While they don't know what the contract entails in the conversation between the Princess and the General, they know it's better not to ask right now. Though, knowing that the newly promoted General is a Succubus, some of them dreaded what the contract entails.

What comes next is more awards and promotions before Princess Yuki hands each of them a stack of documents.

" With the rewards out of the way, the documents here," She hands each of them stacks of papers. " contain what you need for your new job. Peruse them when you get back."

" Gentlemen and ladies, the path we took before was the easy one. Now, after this river, the White Rock fortress will be the last obstacle we have to face. Still, it appears we managed to piss them off quite a bit. White Rock sent a detachment of quick-respond force. They're on their way to intercept us as we speak." Yuki let her words sink in for a bit.

She smiles before saying. " They hope to form a blockade, a defense line, on the other side of the river. Little did they know we already crossed the river and are setting up an ambush position as of now. Their little motorcade will be in for one heck of a surprise."

The officers nod, they have a clearer outlook than the newly promoted cadets, so they understand the significant impact of the words Yuki said.

" The annoying part about White Rock is that it is manned by an infantry division alongside an armored brigade. A frontal assault, with only one division which is us, is suicidal." Major Morrick folds his arms. " But thanks to the hastiness of the Ustians, by splitting up their forces to intercept us, we now have a chance to wipe out a portion of their strength."

" I concur with Major Morrick's assessment. Princess, did our scout report on the strength of the Ustian detachment?" General Lilianna asked with a serious attitude. As everyone is now discussing important matters, she sees no reason to continue joking.

Yuki motions for Bryn to explain while she drinks her tea. Matters like these. Bryn handles them for Yuki, acting as a perfect secretary.

" The enemy force consists of a brigade of infantry and an armored regiment, headed by a Colonel, they are moving day and night toward us. If we haven't been sending force over the river right now, we would have been worried about them setting up a sizeable defense line. I don't need to tell you if they did succeed, we will be moving into a meat grinder." Bryn emphasized. " Having foreseen this, the Princess has ordered the recons, pioneers, and anti-tank groups to go to the other side first, allowing them ample time to set up a kill zone."

Having listened to Bryn's explanation, Sergeant Hartmann raises her hand to ask a question.

Yuki smirks at this. " We are not in a class, Erica, lighten up for a bit. So, what do you want to ask?"

" While we do have time to prepare, they do have an armored regiment in the mix. How will we take them out if our ambushers don't have enough armor support, ma'am?" Scratching her cheek, Hartmann poses her concern.

" A valid concern, even if we have fortification advantage, stopping an armored column with just infantries is plain stupid. But sending our Panzer force over there will take too long, not to mention risking being detected by enemy scouts. That's why I send over the recons, the refit gives the recon regiment a sharp edge in countering enemy armors. Employs them correctly on flanking maneuvers, they can cripple the Ustian armored vehicles. And with the forward observers on that side, we can have them coordinate fire supports stationed here, on this side of the river. Not to mention we can request bombing runs from our Air Force, though I don't want to use this card yet as their strength can be used in future battles."

" I see, you will have the recons to employ the combat theory that you brought up, back in the academy. Asymmetrical warfare, is that right, Princess?" Yuki's answer satisfies the curiosity on everyone's faces. As officers, they're privy to much information about the Officer Academy that Yuki attended. Many of them have read Yuki papers on asymmetrical warfare about how a smaller force can combat a much stronger enemy. Guerilla warfare, trap and feint tactics,... It opened their eyes but they lack the experience to actually implement the methods describe in the papers.

While Belka and the entire world have experienced a Great War and now the Second World War, battles have always been circulated around the theory of: ' If they bring a stick to hit you, retaliate with a grenade! If they bring a grenade, spray them with a machine gun! If they bring a machine gun. well then. Hans! Get ze Gustav!'

At the end of the day, they have been too used to whoever has the bigger gun sentiment. So excuse them if they failed to understand how Yuki wants to fight. Though the Princess is willing to wait and nurture Belka slowly after all of this.

Having said that, Princess Yuki imparts some more instructions before ending the meeting. Watching as the group dispersed with only Bryn staying behind, Yuki says.

" So, what do you think?"

" We have a great chance of inflicting serious damages on the approaching foes. But whatever the result of this encounter is, the White Rock fortress isn't going anywhere. We still have to face its walls and cannons." Bryn answered with a cold face. As the matter stands, they will pay a great price if they attack the fortress, reduced defenders or not.

" Which is where you come in, my dear Bryn. How are the squads holding up to our expectations?"

Days before, Yuki devised a bold plan. If attacking from the ground is a foolish endeavor, why not attack the White Rock from the air? Not by using aircraft but by sending in trained soldiers capable of flying. The advantage of Belka is that it's a country composed of many races. Finding capable soldiers that are Angels or Devils isn't that hard. Just send them in to perform night raids, with their innate physique, human beings can hardly compete against them.

" The squads are well-trained with high morale. Before the onset of the siege on White Rock, sending them in to soften the defense during the night will yield great results. To ensure the smoothness of the operation, I will personally lead them during the raid." Bryn said with confidence.

When Bryn first heard the plan from Yuki, she lamented why she, a Valkyrie, had never thought of incorporating the innate physical talents of different races into the equation. Sure, magic and technology are important but the military seems to forget about the treasure trove that is the physical diversity, presented in the Belka armed force.

Bryn quickly came up with a training regime and gathered those she deemed suitable for the task. Experienced, and well-armed, Yuki gave the newly established Shocktrooper squads the collective name that is ' Night Witches'. As all the members are females of different races.

" It's a good thing I can trust you in leading them, Bryn. This is a very high-risk operation I gave you here... I'm sorry."

It pained Yuki that she currently lacks the necessary manpower to entrust them with the raiding operation. She really doesn't want Bryn to deal with this hot potato.

" It's ok. Before all of this, I was a Valkyrie of War. I lived my fair share of battle before so this won't be any harder for me." Bryn reassured Yuki. To be honest, she is touched by the care her former student shows her.

Can't say that she dislikes the feeling as it seems to make her heart warm and fuzzy.