Tyranny of Steel

The following days after Berengar had taken Itami to the carnival for their first date, were filled with some unexpected changes around the palace. Seemingly out of nowhere, Itami had become much more cheerful and had even begun helping out around the house. 

When Itami wasn't cooking delicious Japanese dishes for Berengar and his family, she was generally finding some excuse to speak with the man himself. These chats usually ended in some harmless flirting and some mild kissing. No matter how much Berengar wanted to strip the albino beauty from her dress, and have his way with her, he restrained himself. Thus, coming across as a proper gentleman. 

If there was one person who was rather upset with the sudden shift in Berengar and Itami's relationship, then it was Linde. Though the Queen Spider could not explain why she felt a sudden hint of danger from the Japanese Empress, her intuition was seldom wrong, and thus she kept a watchful eye on her husband's latest fancy. Yet, despite going the extra mile, Linde could not find any reason to explain her sense of anxiety. 

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While Berengar and Itami's relationship blossomed, the war with Japan had reached a new height. In the wake of German propaganda efforts, a group of common citizens now gathered outside the palace, demanding to see the young Empress.  Shiba gazed out the window of the Japanese palace with a look of contempt in his eyes, as he read the signs of the protestors which were written in red ink. 

"Free the Empress!" 

"Down with the Usurper!"

These were just a few of the slogans which were being thrown around as the Japanese peasants demanded to see their Empress Itami Riyo. Shiba watched the protesters for some time as his hands curled into fists.

After seeing enough dissent, Shiba turned away from the window where he was immediately met with the head of the Imperial Guard. A feral look appeared in Shiba's dark eyes as he screamed at Otagi Kiyotsune for his failures.

"I thought I said that I wanted everyone who openly supported the exiled empress to be executed for treason! Why are there now thousands of people gathered outside the palace demanding to see Itami!?! Should you have not beheaded them already?" 

Otagi bowed his head as he responded to the Shogun's fury with a shameful look on his face. 

"Your highness, I have given the orders to round up and imprison those who dared to question your legitimacy. However, many of the men in the Imperial Guard are diehard members of Itami's cult. When they heard the order to act against the exiled empress and her loyal followers, they abandoned their posts, and fled to the countryside. 

It also doesn't help that the Germans are producing propaganda that portrays the exiled empress as a pure maiden who was used as a puppet for the vain ambitions of a tyrant. They even say that you were the true mastermind behind the previous royal family's demise and that everything Japan has done since then has been under your orders. If the enemy is to believed, then Itami has always been a simple figurehead. 

Despite our best efforts to counter these claims, more and more people are demanding to see Itami. We simply do not have the resources to execute them all! In fact, the more we persecute these people, the more the German propaganda seems legitimate in the eyes of the public!" 

Shiba did not take this news well. Itami had fled from his side, to that bastard Berengar and no doubt by now had already submitted to him thoroughly. There was no denying this fact. After all, she was happily obliging with the German propaganda which she knew to be false. 

The very idea that Itami had become physically intimate with another man drove Shiba mad. Perhaps it was this thought that compelled him to give the following orders, which would forever leave their dark mark on Japanese history. 

"How many men do you have that are loyal to me, here in Heian-kyō?" 

Otagi had no idea what Shiba was thinking of, but was quick to answer nonetheless. 

"Around a thousand, maybe two..."

Shiba turned his back to the windows where the protesters were visible. A cruel smile emerged on his face as he gave an unthinkable order to the head of the Imperial Guard.

"That is more than enough. Gather them here at the palace, and have them dispose of these traitors properly. Needless to say, lethal force is authorized!"

Otagi shuddered at the thought of employing such violence. He had done everything in his power to secretly ensure that the men and women accused of being traitors for supporting Itami were given fair trials. Despite being among to first betray the exiled empress. After all, though he may be a traitor, Otagi would never condemn unarmed civilians to a horrible death without a valid reason for doing so. 

There were thousands of men and women gathered in the streets outside the palace while peacefully protesting against the current regime. The very fact that Shiba wanted to use lethal force as their first option to remove them from the premises had proven that the man had completely lost his mind Thus, at this moment, Otagi decided to take a stand, and in doing so openly refused Shiba's insane orders. 

"Absolutely not! I may not be the most moral man on the planet, but massacring thousands of our unarmed citizens, simply because they are concerned about Itami? Have you gone mad? Do you really expect my men to commit such a heinous act? These are our people, and not some filthy savages in some foreign land! If you do this, you will be remembered in history exactly how the Germans portray you! I will have no part-"

Before Otagi could even finish his speech, Shiba withdrew his pistol from its holster and fired a single shot straight through the man's forehead. Killing the highest ranking member of the Imperial Guard on the spot. The moment he did so, a group of Imperial Guardsmen rushed to the scene and saw their boss lying dead in a pool of his own blood and brain matter. 

The gun in Shiba's hand was still smoking as he pointed it towards the group of soldiers, who struggled to come to terms with what they were witnessing. After several moments of awkward silence, Shiba raised his brow before giving commands to the highest ranking officer present.

"Congratulations, you are the new leader of the Imperial Guard. If you do not wish to share the same fate as your forbearer, then I suggest you follow my orders without question. First dispose of this trash, and then gather all the men you can manage, and eliminate these traitors who have gathered outside my gates in an act of rebellion!" 

The officer remained still as he gazed upon the corpse of his superior, and the Shogun, who continued to point the smoking gun in his direction. In the end, he decided to forego his honor and salute Shiba while following his orders to the letter. 

"Yes, sir!"

After saying this, the new leader of the Imperial Guard motioned for his men to clean up Otagi's corpse, before rallying all the troops he could manage at the palace. Once both tasks were completed, he stepped forward among the ranks of his fellow soldiers, who pointed their semi-automatic rifles towards the crowd of protestors. 

The protestors, perhaps in an act of hubris, remained standing still while spitting upon the Imperial Guardsman, and shouting their slogans towards them. They were so rowdy, that none of them noticed the tear forming in the officer's eyes nor the apology he said before giving the order to kill them all. 

"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry... Open fire!

Nobody could have anticipated that the members of the Imperial Guard, who were thus far untested in battle, would flip their rifle's safeties off and unload their magazines into the large crowd of unarmed civilians, who were doing nothing more than peacefully protesting. Yet that is what exactly happened, and before anyone could react, hundreds of men and women lie dead in the streets.

Bloodcurdling screams followed the echoes of the gunfire, as hundreds of Japanese citizens dropped dead in the center of Heian-kyo, however even after the guns of the Imperial Guard ran dry, they simply reloaded and continued to fire upon the scattering protestors. 

They did not stop there, but instead actively pursued the crowd and gunned down anyone they saw, even if they had not participated in the organized protest. By the time the sun went down, nearly three thousand Japanese citizens lie dead in the Capital. 

Unknowingly to Shiba, who watched the event unfold from the safety of his palace, German agents had recorded the entire massacre with their camcorders. In a few days, the violence displayed on this day would be used in German propaganda, to prove to not only to the Japanese themselves, but the entire world that Shiba was everything the Germans had claimed him to be. Thus, in a way, exonerating Itami of all the crimes she had been previously accused of. 

As for how Itami reacted to this massacre, the moment she saw Shiba open fire on the unarmed protestors, she felt compelled to do more than sit back and funnel propaganda into her homeland. Though what measures she would undertake to achieve this is a story for another time. 

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