Immortal Coil

Chapter 4: Battle Tactics

In the Emperor's Palace there was a meeting being held, between Jiro, General Ishiki, and the royal guard along with the royal advisors. Everybody awaited Jiro's arrival to the room, they all stood in silence as they waited. The royal advisors were agitated, constantly looking at one another and the door. As Jiro walked into the room everyone bowed and then began to sit in their respective seats waiting for Jiro to start the conversion. One of the royal advisors breaks the silence.

"So Emperor, what is the plan for the rebellion that is marching through the south?" One of the advisors said.

"Hmph...It seems as though they are trying to block us in, by coming from all sides. One of the scouts I sent a while back says the northern part of the rebellion is the biggest one out of their troops. I feel as though we should take down the head of the snake and then deal with the rest later.'' Jiro said as he pointed to the map that laid on the table.

"Actually if you don't mind, Emperor, I think it's best to deal with the smallest troops first. We lose less men that way and we dwindle their forces even more. We already killed one of their leaders. They have been weakened ." General Ishiki suggested.

"That is smart actually. If we send multiple groups of our men to ambush their forces that are in our territory it will force them to push back and retreat." the other Advisor said.

"Hmmmm I don't know if I like that plan Ishiki...if we send out different groups of men to deal with their smaller troops wouldn't that leave us open and easy to attack? "Jiro questioned Ishiki.

"Well Emperor, it will not affect our bigger troops. We will send a select number of men to deal with the small troops of the rebellion that are inside our territory. I'm thinking it would be good if we send 5 groups of 10 men." General Ishiki said.

"Hmmmm that would be 50 of our men...that would work" Jiro said as he got ready to leave.

"Wait Emperor, what about the new recruits? Do you think they are ready for battle?" General Ishiki said with a shaky voice.

"Well yes I saw first hand what they can do. But for now try to train them to the best of your ability." Jiro said as he walked away.

In an open field Koji sat on top of a hill under a huge tree that looked as tall as a tower.

It overlooked the training grounds which were full of mud and dirt and small tents which soldiers lived in. He was writing a letter to Aka, his face turned a bit red as he put the feather down on the page. There was so much he could say, but where should he start? With his first battle and brag to everyone at home about how it went and how awesome he thought he looked? Or his friendship with Jiro? Maybe that was a little bit too boring for him to write about. He sat there thinking long and hard, but he was interrupted by the beast.

"This war is going to be a long one, boy." The beast said as he stood in the shade like a statue under the tall tree.

"Huh? What did you say?" Koji looked up at him with confusion written on his face.

"Why are you up here and not training?"

"Well...i got excused by the general, i'm writing a letter to my wife, she's pregnant. It's crazy to think that ME, Koji Kentoro, is having a damn child. Time goes by so fast." Koji said in disbelief, holding the sides of his face.

"Congrats Kentoro" the beast said in a low tone as he crossed his arms.

"Thank you very much, I appreciate it. I really hope it's a boy though. But Beast...do you have any family?"

"...no... all I have is my weapons, all I know is war. The beast said in an emotionless tone.

Koji went silent not knowing how to respond to that. He felt bad for him. The beast walked away before Koji could say anything. Koji then looked down at the camp where he sees soldiers training and moving about, he sees the wounded ones with bandages over the parts of their body that are injured move lifelessly through the camp. He then looked at the Beast as he walked away.

I can tell through that cold voice and emotionless face that he is sad. Crazy to think a crazy guy like him is like that. I just hope that I don't end up like that, with nothing. I don't know what I would do if I were to lose my family. To think that this is my life is wild, I never thought that life as a soldier would be like this or even look like this. This shit is depressing. A part of me wants to go home and the other part just wants to stay and fight. I don't know how I feel about all this. My grandpa's stories really got to my head I guess.

Koji started to write his letter to Aka. He wrote about his first battle and what the Beast did, he told her about his friendship with Jiro and how he and Fuji got so drunk with him. He told her how much he missed her and how he couldn't wait to return home. Most of all he told her how excited he was for their baby. After he was done writing he rolled up the paper and put inside an engraved cylinder shaped container, it was a bronze color with circular engravings all over it. Koji went to the messenger tent to send his letter in. There in the tent sat a boy who looked to be around 18 years old, he had golden blond hair that reached to his neck, he had gray eyes that looked as if he could peer into your soul. He turned to Koji with a faint smile.

"Hello...you're new around here right?" The boy said as he walked over to Koji.

"Yeah, I'm new, I got recruited a couple weeks back. But I'm here to turn in my letter."

"Alrighty, just pass it here and I will get it to whomever in a week's time. But my name is Pike. Nice to meet you, newbie."

"Pike? Is that like your actual name or like a nickname of yours or something?"

"It's my actual name...uh i don't know why my father named me that, i know...it's a weird ass name."

"Yeah no kidding and by the way my name is Koji Kentoro. Wait, do you have a last name?"

"Nope, just Pike. I never knew my parents. I was born in North Malduin. That's basically all I know about my past but other than that I was raised by a couple of bandits and a couple years back I decided to become a soldier cause why not. Pike said as he took the letter from Koji's hand, shrugging his shoulders.

"Wow that's crazy...well Pike it was nice meeting you but I have to go back to training, I guess they assigned me a team or something. Koji said as he waved at Pike as he left the tent. He set out to look for the general, hoping to find out what team he was put into. He walked through the muddy terrain of the camp until he reached the biggest tent, the general's quarters. He walked in with his chest puffed out trying to look tough, he held his head high walking straight toward Ishiki without even glancing at any of the other soldiers in the room. Ishiki sat in his chair over his desk, there laid a map of the land which had red and blue circle shaped pieces that laid across it. Ishiki was stuck in thought with his hand over his chin.

"Ahem...G-general, my name is Koji Kentoro and i-i was wondering what group I a-am apart o-of...I mean what squad." Koji said as he stood straight up looking down at Ishiki with a nervous look across his face.

"Ahhhh Koji, the Emperor said some promising things about you. You're in group B, you guys will be accompanied by me. We will set out to these coordinates starting tomorrow afternoon." Ishiki said as he pointed to one of the red circles on the map.

"YES SIR" Koji said in a loud tone.

"You should get some rest, it's going to be a long day tomorrow." Ishiki said as he shooed Koji away.

As the Sun set in the sky, within the castle the royal advisors talked amongst one another about Jiro.

"We all know what that boy did to our Emperor, he should pay the price! I can't stand talking to him, he is so full of himself...thinking he knows everything" Royal advisor 1 said with a low tone as if he were whispering to the others.

"It's fine...he will pay for killing our beloved Emperor. I knew ever since that boy was born he was the spawn of the devil. I've sent out a hit for him, in a month's time Jiro Gushiken will be dead." Royal advisor 2 said. The other two stood up from their chairs in shock, their faces confused.

"W-what d-do you m-mean?" Royal advisor 3 said, holding his head.

"I've hired the Red Ronin to kill Jiro, He sent back a letter letting me know that in a month's time he will arrive here at the castle to assassinate him." Royal advisor 1 said grinning, his body full of excitement as he thought of the death of Jiro. The other two advisors stayed silent and they all began to pray.