The End Of The War

Chapter 32

As the others began firing on Tenko, Izuku and Ochako charged him together. They took him on at the same time. They should have been able to overwhelm him, especially with blaster bolts and acid fire coming towards him. Yet, he kept his blades spinning, deflecting all attacks. After a solid minute of trying to get through him, Ochako noticed the one glaring flaw in his perfect defense. She decided that she would exploit it. She put her blade right inside the ring that Tenko's hands held the blade by. Izuku followed almost immediately. Tenko looked from the blades to the ones holding them.

"You know if we do this, you won't survive. Surrender," Izuku said.

"You expect me to just give up? Like hell I'd surrender to you, Defiant Izuku!" Tenko shouted.

Before he could jump back to keep his lightsaber intact, Izuku and Ochako cut through the spinning ring. As soon as the red blades flew away, he was hit with multiple blaster bolts. He fell to his knees, not quite dead yet, his mask falling off. Ochako gave Izuku back his lightsaber, and Izuku walked over to him, blades still ignited. He pointed one at his head. Tenko's face held a mix of rage and fear.

"You still expect me to give up? There are some fates far, far worse than death," he said.

Leading with his face, he dove onto the blade. Izuku deactivated the lightsaber too late. Tenko's lifeless body dropped, a look of contented peace on his face.

"That... That was..." Camie said, sounding like she was about to vomit.

"Yeah..." Katsuki said.

"Not that I didn't appreciate the help, guys, but how--" Izuku began.

"Almost as soon as you engaged that bastard the Empire turned tail and ran," Katsuki said.

"Kitty-Kat, I know the Empire. They don't retreat. They regroup," Camie said.

"All the more reason for us to be ready. Half-and-half, Ponytail, get me a count. I want to know how many..."

Katsuki trailed off when he looked at the state of the airfield and the clan members still standing. He knew how many they had in total, planet wide. Well, over a hundred. Most of them were spread out, stationed at outposts in case they were ready to make a move against the Empire. That left forty Mandalorians to guard the palace and airfield. Standing before him, the only surviving members of this attack were thirteen others. In total, they had started with 52 fighters. 52 people who were ready to begin their own war from this position. Now there were 25. Less than half of how many they had begun with. Ochako walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"This is what war does. It takes, and takes, until there's nothing left," she said.

Katsuki wanted to admonish her, but he couldn't. He knew that she lost so much more than he did. He lost some of his clan just now to the Empire. She lost everyone except Izuku to the Empire. He remembered that she was the one who was constantly airing on the side of caution, telling him not to gather too many Mandalorians in one place, to not gather everyone back together at once. It was because of her insights and caution that the entire clan wasn't destroyed. Now that he had experienced such an event...

"Tell everyone... We're pulling out to CST," Katsuki said hesitantly.

"What? Why? We could stand. We cou--" Mitsuki began.

"What would stop them from wiping us out with bombers? After they regroup, we will be outnumbered."

"Then recall the outposts and--"

"And what, old hag?! Lose everyone else?! You heard Camie, they don't retreat, they regroup! And when they come back, we're all dead!"

Mitsuki wanted to keep arguing, but Katsuki was making valid points. The last thing she wanted was to fall back and leave, but there was no other course of action they could take. Katsuki pulled a comlink from his belt.