Complete the Job

Nutrient bombs were one of the most important things to me in the next twenty-four hours as I was in the headquarters, meditating and healing while the world fought around me. My reckless assault on a human position alone almost got me killed and left me torn to shreds, along with that reckless stupidity. 

I had overestimated myself and touched upon knowledge in a desperate bid for power at the edge of death. Even now, I was unsure of some of the things I had learned. But one thing I knew was that my grip on my old reality slipped. This world was not a world of logic that my last world had.

This was a world where an energy called Mana changed the rules.

Even now, I have finished using nutrient bombs to heal wounds that should have taken weeks to heal. My control over the basic cells in my body was more than it should be, and I noticed that my body was now closer to slipping out of reality and into the void than ever before. There was nothing that I could see tangibly, but it was there. I felt the void calling slightly in the background of the world as a silent whisper that spoke volumes about how much I changed myself to survive.

The moment I finished healing myself, I left that solo world. Looking around, I saw a guard watching me without anyone present. "Report," I said to the guard as I stood, unwilling to sit out of the battle any longer.

"Supreme Commander, the battle rages in the noble district with us fighting back the humans!" The Bunny-kin said, "There are reports that the real war outside the city has begun!"

"Where is Florine?"

"She is closer to the front of the Battle Remnants. The human rebels are holding a position in the west noble district." The guard replied, "Are you healed, ma'am?" he asked, sounding worried.

"I have," I replied bluntly and saw his surprise. Now," I said, walking toward the door, "Good work guarding me. Bring me to Florine or someone who knows where she is."

"YES SUPREME COMMANDER!"

The smiles on the soldiers' faces as I came out healed were worth more than anything. I could see relief as supplies moved around toward the fighting. The sound of mana clashing was not far in the distance, but there were even more sounds farther out, faint to the ear but evident.

War was raging inside and outside the city, and I thanked the heavens that we were defending outside the city without humans in the trenches. That would have spelled disaster. Things might be going worse than I believed, so I moved with the guard, and he brought me to a little house where the fighting sounded louder and no more than a block or two away.

"Here, Ma'am."

"Good work," I said, heading inside and seeing more and more injured and dirty soldiers smiling as they saw me.

Inside, Florine was tapping her foot but looked up at me startled as I entered. "Supreme Commander! Chelsea, things are looking much better. Are you healed up?"

"I have," I replied bluntly, "What is the situation?"

"The Empire rebels have been fought back. After you started to meditate, our forces started to surround and separate the rebels into pockets of resistance. It took us over a day, but we split them into twelve groups of fighters and took out eleven. We have just three blocks down a tight pack of six B rankers and fifteen C rankers. The C rankers are all wizards of various types, with One B ranked Wizard. The rest of the B rankers are three swordsmen and two spearmen. We have confined them and are clashing with them and wearing them out."

"Perfect, then carry on. I see no reason to override your orders." I replied bluntly and saw Florine's surprise.

"What? You're not taking over?"

"Why should I?" I asked in front of other surprised soldiers, "You took command, did an amazing job, and did it well. How are the supply positions and the rest of the city?"

"I have given a large group of soldiers rest for a couple of hours and kept a bit more than I think I need to contain the humans here. I reinforced all the supply points and have only one squad going to undead sightings. They are a bit overwhelmed, but they are taking heavy precautions."

"Then no notes, continue the good work and capture as many as possible without hurting our people. After this, give our people a few hours to meditate and recover in cycles, keeping people out for no more than four hours until everyone has recovered. We can't fight outside the city right now anyway, and we need to retain control of the city if they have to retreat. Other than that, carry on; I am going to go to the front and see if I can assist."

"I thought you were going to take back control?" Florine questioned herself.

"Florine, Commander Florine, I should say. I need Commanders, brigadiers, and people doing what you just did while I am not around. You did exactly as I hoped you would after I did something stupid. Good job. I expect to hear good news when I return. You are in command until further notice."

"Yes, Supreme Commander!" Florine said with a massive smile. I saw the other soldiers in the headquarters smiling but trying not to show me.

I turned and walked out, and hopped up onto the roof.

I looked around and saw parts of the nearby areas that had been on fire put out. There were signs of battle all over the place, and I broke into the void and stepped into it only to step back into reality at one of the supply points. It was interesting how much easier that had been just a day or two before, and the fabric of the world seemed much more flimsy to me now. But also the terror of the other side. 

I looked around and got a couple of reports before moving on to check on everything. It seemed that whoever started the attack thought that taking out the leadership was more important than the supply points. They wanted to retake the city, but because of their greed, they failed.

That was a relief. I had no idea how they moved that many people into positions, but the war could continue because of their greed and poor planning. If they had taken out the supplies or more transportation with how razor-thin the margins are, I would have had to have backed off. There would be no chance to push forward at all.

The Empire would be free to sit outside our position without fear of being pushed back. We would have to come crawling back into the trenches again. And if they took out enough, I would have a hard time coming to grips with the fact that I would have to tell the civilians here there was no food for them to eat.

I would have to prioritize the army and starve the humans.

That would be catastrophic for my long-term plans.

Even if it was their own fucking fault.

Shaking my head of the dark thoughts, I moved to the west city walls and gasped as I stepped out of the void to watch the horrors of war.

The landscape before me, if before a painter, would paint a hellscape of death and destruction on a mass scale. The Empire was pushing hard into the trenches with the blood of human battle slaves. Rampaging shirtless men and women charged into the trenches only to be massacred by the Beast-kin like nothing while, at the same time, the Empire was being pushed back by the very slaves they sent into the grinder. 

I saw a tiny pinprick fall into a rank of human slaves attacking the beast-kin, and not even a minute later, those slaves turned and ran back at the Empire. The humans were caught off guard, but this was happening across literal kilometers of the front before me. The Empire had committed their Battle slaves, and they learned that the beast-kin had an answer.

But communication was not immediate, and the wave of human slaves was cut up, and as the battle, slaves were chopped to bits by the Empire. The Beast-kin rallied behind them. I found myself stunned as Isabelle did an amazing job. Countless slaves ran into the battle and then turned into our allies by a mix of potions and Illusionists altering their reality, allowing them to disobey their collars. Or I should say, misconceiving who they were attacking.

Behind them, Beast-kin, who had been killing them moments before knowing the plan, smashed into the line of steel and cut into it. 

I felt my blood boil, and I leaped from the wall and started to run toward the front and headquarters.

It was time to join the battle!

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