Chapter 20 - 3

=== REUNION MOVEMENT ===

Talulah watched the evening sky settle. The Reunion started strong, but the assault petered out after a few hours. Not much progress was made past the initial push when the LGD stopped the main force from breaching the walls. The flank distraction also proved ineffective and were routed by reinforcements. Fortunately, most slipped back to the slums and escaped along with the retreat.

More importantly...

Her eyes landed on the two commanders behind her.

Crownslayer looked at the ground. On the other side, Faust was gripping his fists.

Mephisto and Skullshatterer had been captured. Their fates were now in Lungmen's hands.

Kaschey plan was partially successful. Out of the 4 commanders in the assault, only 2 remained.

Though something felt wrong...

Talulah had suspicions that something else was at play, but she moved it to the back of her mind. Losing two commanders would only make the Reunion hungry for revenge. They would be all the more happy to follow her orders after she explained her next move.

"...what do we do now?" Faust behind her asked. The boy's expression was stressed. News had reached him that Mephisto had been captured. The witnesses said that they didn't see him die, but they knew nothing was certain. The LGD was more like policeforce, but that didn't ensure their commander's survival. If they didn't kill him, then there were other parties who could.

Wei Yenwu would probably send his Shadow Guards to eliminate them.

Kaschey could tell that much. If it was Talulah really leading the Reunion, she wouldn't have known about her uncle's secret force.

"Faust, I'm giving you command. Secure our forces and wait for me to return with reinforcements." Talulah would bring the rest of the Reunion to assault Lungmen. The city was weak and another attack would open up opportunities for them to capitalize on. "Crownslayer, you failed with your mission. So I'm putting you under Faust's command. Don't fail me."

"Yes...ma'am." The hyena commander fixed her stance.

Faust looked uncertain. "What if they launch a counterattack while you're away? The Reunion can't defend well." To defend, they needed a strong organization and cohesion between teams.

The Reunion did not have good organization, nor did they have good cohesion.

"The LGD will not attack. Lungmen will be too busy convincing its citizens that everything is under control. The city will rush to cover everything that's happened inside."

Kaschey doubted Wei Yenwu would do something risky now.

"What about the other commanders?" Faust wanted to know what Talulah's plan was moving forward. "How are we going to rescue them?"

"That depends on how long it takes for us to capture Lungmen."

Faust stared at Talulah incredulously. Where did she find her confidence? They were up against Lungmen, a city that was far more secure compared to Chernobog. Every battle the Reunion took had to be a carefully chosen battle. Many factors had to be taken into account when evaluating their chances against such powers.

The Reunion...they were just a small speck in the grand scheme of things. They were nothing like the great powers behind the cities of Chernobog and Lungmen. Ursus and Yan were countries that could crush the Reunion if they chose to. Instead, they were too busy dealing with internal issues if not other nations.

A small seed of skepticism and distrust rooted itself deep within Faust.

Crownslayer, Skullshatterer, and Mephisto. Three of their commanders had been lost- and without anything gained for it. Talulah should've worked together with Patriot. He was a general. Patriot would've stopped this disaster from happening.

"Please hurry." Mephisto was all Faust could think about. His friend was in Lungmen, captured by enemies- if not destined for execution.

"Have faith. Patriot will not leave our comrades in the city abandoned. If worse comes to worst, we can leave Lungmen alone in exchange for the captured prisoners." Talulah tried to soothe his worries, but it didn't soften the worried expression on the young teen's face.

Kaschey was never one for comforting people. He just needed them around for a little longer. Just long enough for his plan to reach the final stage.

Lungmen was now locked in place. The city wouldn't be able to move for some time due to the damages Talulah made on the wheel systems on some of the tiles. If Lungmen decoupled from one another, those tiles would be sitting ducks until repaired. It was safer to lock the city down and repel the Reunion until they could get engineers underneath and repair the systems.

Now, Kaschey just needed Chernobog.

Talulah's eyes left the city of Lungmen and moved in the direction of Chernobog.

Only one last hurdle to overcome.

Patriot and FrostNova.

=== CHERNOBOG === 1197

At lunch, Shirou was asked to meet with Patrio by one of his messengers.

Shirou entered the room and closed the door behind him. FrostNova was there too, leaning against the wall while eyeing him.

Guess she still doesn't trust me.

He'd put that on the back burner for now. Shirou didn't really know how to prove to FrostNova that he could be trusted. He admitted that he was against the Reunion's current path. Joining them and changing them would take too long, so the plan was to help Patriot take over and usher change. Patriot didn't trust Shirou either. At best, they were on a transactional basis.

Give and take.

Shirou didn't plan to stick around for long. Patriot didn't want Talulah to run the Reunion into the ground. Together, both those problems could be solved if Patriot had help overthrowing Talulah.

"Doctor Emiya." The old general greeted. Shirou had already gotten used to that name. The patients back in Chernobog helped it grow on him. He may not have been a licensed doctor, but Shirou picked up a lot of first-aid and other helpful tidbits when it came to fixing up injuries.

Worse comes to worst, nothing a brief contact with the sheath of Avalon wouldn't heal.

Just had to make sure they were unconscious during the "procedure".

"General." Better to keep things cordial in front of FrostNova.

"You've heard of the news, correct?"

"About Talulah returning, yes." Shirou confirmed.

"Good. We're on the same page." Patriot picked up the small notebook and extended it to him. "Here are notes I have on Talulah. Read it. Dispose of it afterward."

Shirou accepted the information. He traced Talulah's weapon when they first met, so he had his own stockpile of information on the Reunion's leader. Still, the information Patriot knew on his supposed ally would be substantial too.

"When Talulah arrives, she'll be suspicious. We're not supposed to let you walk around freely. She will want a meeting."

Ah, so the general was just making sure they were on the same page. If there were any inconsistencies between him and Patriot's words, then there was a chance the Draco would catch on.

"Do you plan to convince her that it was a good idea?"

"No. She was already suspicious of you from the very start. Talulah warned me to keep an eye on you ever since you woke up." Patriot admitted. He could understand the caution Talulah showed. As the Archer, Shirou single-handedly slowed down the entire Reunion. The fighters who engaged him in combat were at a loss on how to deal with him, even with the overwhelming numbers they sent. Especially his ability to face Talulah down.

In the entire Reunion, only Patriot and FrostNova could face her. Patriot was powerful- the strongest member of the Reunion. FrostNova had her ice arts- a direct counter against Talulah's flames.

But...Patriot was sure that Talulah ordered him to watch Shirou for a different reason. Not because he was a threat, but because just like the general- Talulah wanted to know Shirou's stance on the Reunion.

"She will want to talk with you directly...about the Reunion."

Just like Patriot did with him.

"Does she want to win me over?"

"I believe so. Your value as an Oripathy doctor is the key to controlling the Reunion."

That option was out the window when Talulah threatened the civilians and children. Shirou may have worked with criminals at some point, but there was a limit to who he tolerated.

"What do you want me to do during the meeting?" Shirou asked. He doubted they would just let the opportunity go. It was likely their best chance to ambush the Draco.

"I want you to turn the tables on her. Convince her that attacking Lungmen will not solve our problems." Patriot held his hands together.

"You tried. What makes you think I can do it?" Shirou argued. Patriot and FrostNova knew more about the Reunion than he did. They would've had better reasons to convince Talulah with.

"Because you bring hope."

Shirou blinked. He looked at FrostNova who spoke.

"Talulah has a weakness. Something we notice whenever the people are happy. She can't seem to make the same efficient and ruthless moves. But when the people are sad or hungry, she riles them up and directs their anger at the non-infected and the cities." She continued. "There's something there. Something missing that we can't figure out. It's one of the few weaknesses we can use."

Shirou opened up the notebook. If there were other things he could use against Talulah, then it'd be better to ask Patriot and FrostNova while he had the chance.

.

.

.

"Are you sure this is the right idea?" FrostNova asked once Shirou left the room. "We know Talulah would be suspicious of us, but throwing Shirou at her to try and change her mind is impossible. We've tried the same tactic, Talulah knows when we're playing to her weakness."

"...we will only know afterward." Patriot released a deep breath. "Talulah is interested in the doctor. It is possible that her plans could change if she learns more about him. She might try and bring him to her side, but Shirou is smart enough to delay. It will take time, which plays into our hands."

Their goals aligned...for now. Patriot understood that Shirou was only around in the short term. That could last from a week to a month. He needed to maximize moves while they had a third potential chess piece that could push Talulah back.

"But...it's going to be dangerous. Talulah won't let us attend the meeting." FrostNova's worry leaked through. She was disappointed that Shirou wasn't entirely on their side, but still cared about him. "What if they fight?"

"Talulah would not do that. She works behind the scenes." Patriot had been a general swamped in military politics long before Talulah was even born. When he agreed to merge with the growing infected movement, the Draco was nowhere near the monster she was now. Back then, he could read her like a book.

But the past few years erased that mindset.

After Alina's death, something broke within Talulah. She became withdrawn- harsher. Talulah became less tolerant of members who abandoned the movement. Her efforts to recruit infected became more radical. The Reunion changed. At first, Patriot thought that it was simply the group mentality changing on its own.

No. He only started noticing Talulah's prints after the third year.

She was dancing around him, at the edge of his awareness. Talulah was making moves Patriot couldn't see, always a dozen steps ahead. It was on a different league compared to the politics of the Ursus Empire when he held the position of general.

That girl could not be Talulah.

But she was.

Patriot considered bringing the idea to FrostNova once, but couldn't collect enough proof for it. Not that it would've done much. If he couldn't work on the hunch, then FrostNova would have more difficulty putting the pieces together.

"We will just have to do our best."

And hope their efforts weren't going to waste.

After all, Talulah knew all their moves.

===

Author's Note

This is the end of Arc 3. We're going to Arc 4 and ending this Chernobog-Lungmen Saga soon! (I hope) Also, I'm going to cut down on the cluttered povs. I will write less from other character povs now since it has become too troublesome for everyone.

I'm back to being slow at writing. No excuses on my end. To make up for it, I'm just making my chapters larger. Special thanks to Dovar and Dabbins for their donations!

Each little donation helps me out and motivates me to finish chapters earlier, so it would mean a lot to me to have your support!

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