Madness

""Chaaaaarge!!!!!!!!!!""

Yuu's ear tremble hearing the war cry from the approaching enemies.

"Hammer!"

Shouting out a single word, she jumped backwards reading herself for another charge. The other cat girls, hearing her command, followed her lead, doing exactly the same but a second later.

"Shaa!!!!!!"

Jumping forward while doing big swing of their claymores, Yuu and her sisters put all their strength on their attack to destroy anything and anyone in their path before the enemy reinforcements had the chance to save them.

Seeing the incoming strike, the enemy had no choice but to retreat backward to dodge it, but doing so was impossible because their retreat path was blocked by the group of plant girls that arrived seconds ago. Caught between the hammer and the anvil, they knew it wouldn't take more than a single hit for their formation to break away, but knowing there was no retreat they stood firm in place, welcoming the enemy strike in defensive positions, aiming to launch a counter attack even at the cost of their lives.

SLASH!

Blood flew everywhere as the claymores traveled through many layers of bones, meat and fat until they reached the ground. Any sane soldier who survived such menacing attack should have lost all their will to fight, but the Oni were not common soldiers, they were drones created for war. Despite most of them never receiving proper battle training, at least in a matter of discipline and will power were not lacking at all, and that's exactly why, just as the claymores hit the ground, the survivors counter attack started as they threw themselves recklessly at the transformed cat girls who should be now unable to defend.

Yuu didn't see anything, not did she hear it coming, she just reacted impulsively due to her screaming instincts, making her tilt her head just in time to dodge the spear strike that arrived unannounced directly from inside the bloody mess that stood in front of her.

She was lucky, but the same could not be said for her sisters who suffered various wounds, varying from a stab in their arms, to one in their neck. Yuu had no time to count the casualties, she just continued to finish off the remaining offenders as there was no more than a minute until their reinforcements arrive.

Up in the mountain, Apollo observed the situation while slowly moving along his boar girls to the right side. Seeing all the blood and guts spilling around, his face turned pale but he was able to force himself to hold on.

This was not the first time he was face to face with death and for good or bad this last week's experiences had helped him tough up, if only a little bit. At least now he wouldn't faint on sight or start throwing up, he had the least amount of self control to keep himself from panicking and while his hands and legs were still trembling, he was even able to move around on his own, not needing to be carried around like a princess again.

As the new group of enemies reached Yuu at the same time she finished the first batch's commander with one vorpal strike, Apollo saw a sudden commotion happening in the forest far away, making him silently cheer inside his head.

(Great! Hime must have gotten the egg! Now, if we can hold for just a little while longer, we will be able to use the wild boars to inflict some huge damage at the enemy's army! Go Hime! You can do it! Throw the egg right on that guy's face!)

This gave him a little bit of hope of ending things fast as he knew time was not in his favor, after all he had a limited number of girls with limited stamina while the enemy still had around a third of his troops still fresh waiting their turn. In another words, he had played most of his cards, while the enemy had quite a few in his hand.

On the right side, after suffering some casualties due to the log trap, the Oni troops had started regrouping before marching again toward the center to flank the armored girls.

Observing from the top, Apollo noticed that there were only 10 of the armored girls still fighting, as the other ones laid still on the ground covered in blood. He didn't know if they were incapacitated or dead, but their chances of surviving was quite low so such a sight brought a lot of pain to his heart.

On the other side, Yuu's battle had started again and the whole place changed color in the blink of an eye. The fire spread around, forcing the girls to retreat step by step while the enemy walked over their own companion corpses in close pursuit.

"Damn! They won't be able to hold on! What the hell!? Those Oni not only can spread fire, but seem to be immune to it as well!"

The correct word would be resistant, but let's not be picky now.

Seeing the approaching movements from the forest, Apollo guessed this was Hime bringing in the boar stampede. He found it odd that instead of staying focused, the stampede seemed to be spreading around, but he was not free enough to file a complain, the clock was ticking and he had to act right now.

"Bacon, you take the lead! Last charge! Wedge formation! Let's do this!"

"Yes Master! Girls bows down! Time to trample these guys! Master, hold my neck!"

Taking out the gigantic silver masks that were as big as their own bodies, each boar girl positioned the mask like a shield in front of her before starting to revert into the boar form. As their body transformed and their tusks grew in size, the tusks fit perfectly into the masks two lower holes, making the mask impossible to take out without transforming back again.

As the transformation occurred and Bacon's body grew more and more, Apollo who was initially holding her neck suddenly found himself on top of her back. He grabbed the mask that was high enough to cover half his body and tied the rope he had prepared beforehand.

"I'm ready! Do or die! Let's go!"

Anyone who knew him before would have thought he had lost his mind. Well, in a way I guess they were not wrong. But the madness in his eyes were not due to drugs or a panic attack, but the sole desire to win and bring this new family safely home. Because they were family, he couldn't allow them to risk themselves alone.

Even if he was weak, even if he was human, he desired to be on their side in the good and bad times. It was not enough to give out orders, formulate the best plan, and wait quietly for the best. He felt it was his responsibility to be there with them, holding on his own weapon and using his own strength along them to win.

As I said, it was madness. Complete and utter madness. But a madness I respect, and maybe that's why I'm writing about it.

Saying the single most repeated word in the battlefield, the boar cavalry charged down the mountain striking the unaware Oni right wing troops from behind. The boar tusks pierced through the enemies bodies, their masks protected the boars' faces from any kind of retaliation and their sheer weight made sure none of the trampled enemies could ever stand again.

Creating a trail of gore, the boars made a large curve as they changed their target to the enemies at the enemies in the center, leaving little to no time for the armored girls to retreat back. Daisy and her sisters already knew the plan but they had no plans of stepping back. Quite the opposite, they had set their mind in standing their ground even if that meant using their own body as walls to ensure no enemy could not escape from there.

Seeing the boars incoming from the side, Daisy smiled fearlessly and held her weapon horizontally, blocking their path. She took a deep breath and shouted out one last order after taking a short glance at Apollo's feature on top of Bacon's back.

"Push!"

Then, gathering all strength she had saved by fighting defensively while doing just enough to hold the enemy in place, she and her sisters pushed the group of enemies twice their size toward the incoming silver masked boars.

The end results were not pretty, but at least these boars were not simple beasts but servants in beast form. They had not only intelligence but could easily distinguish allies from enemies, being able to make their best to evade any friendly unit on their way, and that's what saved the last ten armored girls from sharing their enemy's fate.

As the boar cavalry passed through and the dust started to die down, Daisy emerged from the middle of the corpses with trembling hands and difficulty to get up. She looked around and saw her sisters doing the same, slowly getting up again. As she noticed that none of her sisters had been trampled by this charge attack she couldn't help but let out a happy laugh that echoed through the field, and her sisters, upon hearing her, started doing the same. While the battle was not over yet, at least this bout was won by them.