Olimpia

"Is this what you call 'cleaning house.'" Said a venomously sweet voice off to the side of Panta, "I would think cleaning would require having a house at the end. What are the reports saying now? Half the Second Ring and all of the Third are burning?"

"Only a half of the Third Ring and a small section of the Second Ring have been burned, Lady Ponpti," corrected Quineeta from where she stood across from Panta. She stopped talking momentarily, tilting her head to the side as she took a report and moved one of the figures on the large city map the Command Table had become, a street forward. "And we expected part of South Town to burn."

"Ohh~?" she hummed in question as if Prefect Pompi had made an important point that made her think, "And did you also expect that your inhabitants would rise up against your rule? Have you made their lives so unbearable that they would rebel so openly?"

Panta sighed as he looked down at the enlarged version of the Triad on the Command Table. It would be a gross misinterpretation of the map to call the events it represented anything good. It was a shitshow, plain and simple.

While the fires in the second ring were finally put out less than an hour ago, that did not mean the fighting was over. The area where most of the fighting was taking place had shrunk to a handful of districts, but it was still as intense as when it had started. It just focused the fronts of the forces involved into smaller lines. And that assumed that any troops marching to those areas weren't ambushed on their way, opening up new battle lines for a time.

The only place Panta knew for certain was secure was a few blocks to either side of the main boulevard, and that was because the street was practically lined with legionaries acting as guards. It wasn't that the legionaries weren't clearing out the buildings as they marched through, but that tunnels were everywhere. And new ones were popping up all the time.

If the legionaries went down the tunnels, they collapsed once a couple dozen men were inside. If they didn't, the tunnels were an active threat and required guarding, which took up manpower that could be better used elsewhere.

The only real option was to send Knights Terra around to collapse the tunnels, effectively playing a game of whack-a-mole. This wasted their psy and energies, stretching the knights to their limits with the incessant running around, preventing them from appearing on the front lines.

As for the other knights in the legion, most of them were busy controlling and containing the spread of the fires. The rest were standing in reserve in case a break in the line needed to be quickly filled or were waiting for the orders of a concerted push to be given.

Panta could call on the knights in the Senatorial Guard, but Legatus Hellieous was unwilling to offer up more than a few of his Knights. Even with the chaotic battle stretching over days, the 15th faced little chance of being destroyed or even badly malled with the current forces arrayed against them. All this fighting was only delaying them as it took an agonizingly long time to advance every step in retaking the city. A fact that was a thorn in the back of Panta's mind that he could not help returning to and probing despite it not helping anything.

On the other hand, Hellieous's troops were focused on the Kin, and they noticed a lot of activity around their city and forts over the last few weeks. Recently, more warbands than usual were seen moving along the Rush and Twins, making Hellieous nervous that they were preparing for another attack.

It was a legitimate concern, but Hellieous could have provided more Knights than he was without compromising his defensive readiness. Panta could try to force the issue, but it wasn't worth the price. There was currently no blatant need to end this battle as quickly as possible, so if he tried to take direct command of the Senatorial Guard, The Senate could argue they had the right to remove him from his position for overstepping his authority. A position he had no doubt would be taken as someone called in favors in an attempt to gain all the glory of repelling the invaders for themselves. Or, that was how they would see it.

The keyword in all of this is blatant. Every instinct Panta learned on the battlefields in his youth and the skills he gained slogging his way up the legion's ranks by overcoming political rivals was screaming at him that the situation was not as it seemed. He could smell the latrine pit nearby even if he couldn't see it, and the longer the scent hung around, the more confident he was that he would trip or be pushed into it.

So Panta was pushing his legion as hard as he could without suffering unreasonable casualties, while the little viper by his side was just making everything more complicated. He had no doubt Shree Ponpti was the reason Hellieous was trying to draw out this battle without stepping over the line of open insubordination against a superior in a time of war.

The only real choice left to Panta was to have his legionaries grind out the battle. Turning it into a bloody fight in which no quarter could be given or expected. A battle that was mostly being fought against the inhabitants of his city, which could never be construed in such a way as to make him look good. What made it worse was that the opposing side of this conflict seemed to want this fight to last as long as possible — which was another problem — making it nearly effortless for those looking for his downfall to paint him in a bad light.

While there was some fighting in the Second Ring, most of what was happening within that section of the city ended up closer to a riot than anything else. It felt like roadblocks were on every street intersection, everything that was wood and out in the open was being burned, and mobs of gang members and even some citizens were running around looting and being a nuisance. It was not a real threat, but it stalled everything to nearly a crawl.

The Third Ring was where the mindless puppets showed up in force. As his legionaries first made their way into the Third Ring, some of the fleeing inhabitants spoke of seeing people who looked like all the life had been drained away from their eyes and were marching in jerky unison, but everyone wrote it off as hysterics. Reports from frantic people within a battle didn't hold much credibility.

The number of reports and mental images Panta had received supporting those supposed hysterics had long removed any doubts of their existence. In the next few weeks, Panta would have to figure out how the dark elves accomplished the feat of turning the population against him, but that didn't matter right now.

Whatever mental casting the dark elves were using was effective, especially when combined with the fact that they had also discovered a way to make it nearly impossible to sustain a Union within the entire fortress for an extended period. Which was practically a crippling feat all on its own.

The main saving grace was that the puppets were not kitted out with the best armor or weapons, but their complete lack of fear, pain, or survival instincts meant that if they were not treated with care, they could inflict severe losses on the 15th. Which was another problem slowing them down.

All of this came together to make them barely in control of the Second Ring, though they did have forces scattered around its area, putting out the proverbial — and literal — fires. As for the Third Ring, after three days of fighting, they had only cut their way through half of the districts the dark elves had claimed.

And it didn't help that every day this fight dragged on, and the bodies within Southtown mounted, the little ambitious serpent winding around his feet to trip him was making more noise about his incompetence. He would have to soon show her the consequences of overstepping her position. But that moment had yet to arrive, not to mention it would open up a whole set of problems he was ill-prepared to handle at the moment.

Finally, turning from the map after long seconds of ignoring Shree Ponpti's comments, Panta turned to look at the young woman. She was lounging in a chair placed in the corner of the room, one gold braceleted arm holding up her head and the other hand letting a goblet of wine loosely hang from her fingers. Her simple white rippling dress fell loosely around her figure, only pulled tight around her waist and shoulders by a couple gold chains and clasps.

"You are as aware of the situation as I am." Panta said calmly, "They may be citizens of the Republic, but they are under mental compulsion, effectively making them living weapons. We do not have the time or ability to subdue them without casualties."

"So you say," The Tribune Latic said behind the rim of her goblet, "I am not so convinced that we have to rush or that they are as far gone as you say. In fact, I have a ma—

Her words were cut off with a boom as the doors to the chamber slammed open, and a messenger scurried into the room. The messenger looked confused, glancing at the guards at either side of the door before hesitantly stepping forward.

For the guard's part, Panta caught them throwing glances at the Tribune Latic, small smiles twitching at their lips. It seems that I am not the only one annoyed with the woman. Panta thought with droll amusement.

Before the woman could gather the wind back into her sails and lash out at the ones who interrupted her, Panta barked, "Report." It was rare for a messenger to arrive in person rather than relay the message telepathically. However, as a battle wore on and psy management became more essential, messengers who had to run messages up the chain of command but didn't have critical news to report could be seen running about with increasing regularity. And in this fight, it was happening more often than usual thanks to its unique circumstances. Which might be a concerning prelude to what will come as we continue to fight the dark elves.

Panta pulled his attention away from his dark thoughts and back onto the Senatorial Guard messenger as he finished his salute and started to speak. "A Kin messenger has arrived at the gates of the Northern Fort and requests to deliver a message from Scout Green. He will not deliver it to anyone but the fortress's commander."

As the messenger spoke the name of the scout, Panta noticed Quineeta perk up and snap her head at the man with narrowed eyes. He felt the name resonate with something in the back of his mind as well, but he could not put his finger on it.

"Bring them to me," Panta ordered. "Whatever they have to say, if they are willing to come at such a time, must be important."

The messenger saluted and dipped his head, but Panta did not miss his eyes shooting to the side to look at Hellieous, who gave a slight nod of confirmation.

As the messenger turned and rushed out of the room, Panta threw out a tendril to connect with Quineeta, and he asked, "Who is the scout?"

"He went out on a… diplomatic mission," Quineeta responded carefully, even though they were in a mental link, and listening in was hard. But the face of the scout flashed in his mind and what he was doing, and he approved of her caution. Just because something was hard didn't make it impossible.

"Who is Scout Green, and why is he in contact with the beastkins?" Tribune Latic Ponpti asked, sounding annoyed she had to ask the question at all.

"He came into contact with one of the Kin several times during their attack on the Triad and was given information as different factions within their people vied for power. We sent him to watch the Kin, and it appears they have contacted him again."

Panta could see that she was skeptical, but he didn't care. If Green sent them a message, it was important. As they waited, the room fell into an anticipatory silence. No matter how Panta's mind might want to speculate on the content of the message, he pushed the thoughts aside and went back to managing the battle of Southtown, as wasting any of his time would only mean the deaths of more of his legionaries.

When the messenger finally returned, he was accompanied by four legionaries, the Kin standing in their center.

"You have a message for me?" Panta prompted the male Kin as he turned to face the man fully.

The man, who had features suggesting a fox along with their tail, stepped forward and bowed, but the twist of his lips took away any of the implied respect associated with the action, like the man was mocking Panta. "Scout Green came across some information he requested we share with you. It appears that the Letairry have infiltrated and conquered the city to the east of here along the river. At the least, they have an army outside its walls and are engaging one of our factions along the river's banks. Your 14th legion has abandoned their position, as they were cut off from supplies and are attempting to fall back along the forts composing the northern side of the Cradle."

No one said a word in the room as shock filled everyone's mind. The first person to speak was Shree Ponpti, who immediately rejected the words, "That's impossible! I will not listen to such lies."

"Is there anything else?" Panta calmly asked the messenger, ignoring the young woman's outburst, his face blank.

"Nothing from Scout Green," The messenger said, his lips curling with enjoyment more than Panta thought possible as he said the next part. "But I was told to inform you that a Letairry army is camped outside your walls under a concealing artifacts and will attack in the next couple of days at the latest."