Tyranny of Steel

Nearly twelve hours had passed since Empress Itami Riyo had her position usurped by her most trusted general and was placed under house arrest. Currently, she sat within her room staring longingly at the Julian pillow, which she was hugging tightly while beneath her covers.

For the first time in a long time, Itami had no desire to work on improving her nation, or its efforts to combat the upcoming German invasion. In the blink of an eye, everything she had worked so hard to achieve had been taken from her by her most trusted advisor. 

She could hardly believe that Shiba would betray her like this. After everything the two of them had been through together, the man had utterly backstabed her during her hour of need. Perhaps at this moment Itami should be feeling the need to cry, but there were no tears running down her eyes, rather there was an endless pit of darkness that had replaced her heart, filled with a desire for vengeance.

As Itami lied down, and struggled to come up with a way to avenge herself, something peculiar happened. The sound of explosions and the felt force of their wake startled her out from under her covers. The Germans were attacking. When she looked at the clock, Itami realized that it had indeed been seventy-two hours since Berengar made his last demand of surrender. 

Perhaps she would finally know peace as the sarin gas snuffed her life away. All she could do was close her eyes and wait for death's cold embrace. One second passed, then two, until finally five whole minutes had gone by, and yet while the sound of explosions continued to go off in the background, no lethal gas had entered her room.

Bewildered by this sudden change, Itami was quick to rise to her feet as she approached the locked door to her bedroom. She placed one ear on the hard wooden door and listened for any sign of infiltration.

Itami could hear numerous shouts occurring through the palace, as her former soldiers hustled about, as if they were looking for something. However, in the next moment, a burst of gunfire echoed through the halls, and Itami realized that the Germans had indeed infiltrated her palace.

She immediately fled back to her desk, and opened a drawer, where the divine sword of her imperial regalia lay hidden away from Shiba's grasp. She quickly pulled the object out of its scabbard and pointed it towards the doorway, completely unafraid in that moment, as she prepared to attack those she believed had come for her life. 

However, in the next moment, two gun shots echoed just outside her door before it finally opened to reveal a familiar face. In one hand was a smoking gun, as Min-Ah entered the room with a flashlight in her other hand. When the Joseon princess noticed that Itami was safe, she sighed in relief, before stashing her weapon away and holding out her empty hand to the wary empress. 

"Come with me. Your mother and sister are already waiting for you at the extraction point!" 

Itami was instantly bewildered by Min-Ah's statement. In fact, she did not trust a single word the woman had said to her. Extraction point? What extraction point? Just who had come to her rescue? These were not the echoes of Japanese weapons shooting off within her darkened halls. In fact, that was another matter of concern. Why had all the lights gone out at such an hour?

These were the questions on Itami's mind, but before she could ask a single one of them, she had been grabbed by the wrist and pulled away from her desk. Realizing that Min-Ah was not giving her a choice, Itami screamed at her to stop. 

"Wait! I need to get the other artefacts! I can't allow them to fall into Shiba's hands!"

Min-Ah silently nodded her head, and allowed Itami to collect the divine mirror and jade stone, before the two of them rushed out of the corridor and into the halls. Narrowly avoiding the gunfire that was being exchanged between the German sturmkommandos and the Japanese Imperial Guard. 

Finally, after crossing over numerous corpses, Min-Ah led Itami around a corner, where a group of men with assault rifles flagged them with their weapons. Before the German soldiers could shoot, Min-Ah said a code word to clarify her identity as a German agent. 

"Innsbruck!" 

When the German Sturmkommandos heard this, they lowered their weapons before grabbing hold of the two women and leading them away from the combat zone.  Andreas Jaeger was leading this group of special operations operators, and as he dragged the two women through the halls, he could not help but curse Min-Ah out.

"You took your sweet fucking time! I was told you would have the Empress out of her fucking room and ready for extraction before we infiltrated the palace. Do you have any idea what you put us through by failing to achieve this? If I didn't know any better, I would say you are the worst field agent I have ever come across."

Itami did not speak German, and thus had no idea what these men were saying, however she knew now that she had fallen into the hands of her adversaries there was no escape. She supposed she should not be surprised that her other most trusted confidant had also betrayed her. Not after what had happened with Shiba. 

The group fled through the walls of the palace, and out into the courtyard, where the flaming ruins of the nearby power plant were immediately visible. Itami could easily understand what the Germans had done now that she had seen this mess. 

Berengar had ordered for surgical strikes on critical areas of Heian-kyō's infrastructure to draw attention away from the palace. It worked like a charm too, because not nearly as many members of the Imperial Guard had been around to protect the Empress and her captivity. 

After carefully making their way out of the city, and towards a nearby lake, Itami saw a German sea plane waiting on the water's surface. The German sturmkommandos did not bother waiting for her questions, and instead carried the Japanese empress through the waters and into the boat, where Itami saw her mother and sister waiting with frightened expressions on their pretty faces. It was only now that they had been reunited that the three women broke out into tears.

However this reunion was short-lived, as Min-Ah piled into the aircraft, and squeezed herself by Itami's side, immediately after that the plane took off, and headed to the Wakasa Bay where the German Sixth Carrier Strike group sat and waited for their arrival.  No longer able to contain her curiosity and outrage, Itami began to berate Min-Ah for answers while mid flight.

"Just what the hell is going on here, Min-Ah? Why have the Germans infiltrated my palace, and where are they taking me?" 

There was a rather irritated expression on Min-Ah's face as she scoffed before informing Itami of what she knew.

"After the declaration of the Shiba Shogunate, the Kaiser figured you had been placed under house arrest. Thus, he decided to change his plans, from a chemical strike on Heian-kyō, to your liberation. I don't know much, but he intends to use you to rally the people of Japan against Shiba and his military dictatorship."

Naturally, Itami did not take this news well. She had already suspected from the moment Min-Ah cooperated with the German soldiers that she had been an agent of the Reich. However, she did not care about such a betrayal at this moment, and was more outraged by Berengar's schemes. 

"So I am to be that man's puppet as he tears my empire apart from the inside?"

It was at this moment that Min-Ah gawked at Itami as if she were looking at an idiot. Though she did not want to explain everything to the woman, the Joseon Princess felt compelled to do so, and thus spoke to Itami as if she were a mere child. 

"Yes... In case you have not yet realized it yet, you have lost this war, Itami. If you want to keep your pretty little head intact, as well as those of your loved ones, then it is in your best interest to work with the Kaiser and see Shiba's illegitimate government overthrown. By all means, continue to resist Berengar, but I can tell you from personal experience it is best just to submit to the Germans..." 

There was a look of pain and suffering on Min-Ah's face that did not go unnoticed by the albino empress. Itami realized in the next moment that it would be best if at the very least she heard Berengar's proposal. After all, she had nothing to lose at this point. 

Thus, the remainder of the journey to the SMS Osterreich was completed in total silence, as nobody felt the desire to speak about what was unfolding in Heian-kyō at this very moment. 

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