Extra 16: Gate (17)

"Portal to another world" - Kurama muttered while frowning because this shouldn't be possible, not with the dimensional stream blocking the way - "Unless it is this stream that created the path."

Kurama was confused, but if this was true, then the time he would spend in this dimension would be much longer, which was bad because he couldn't detect the difference between the time course between this dimension and his home.

"Is something wrong, Kurama-sama?" - Tyuule asked with a serious expression.

"No, it's nothing" - answered Kurama as he tapped his desk with his index finger - "Just pointless thoughts, but let's put that aside, I want you to send our army as quickly as possible to [Alnus], Delilah will brief them on the overall situation."

"Ok" - nodded Tyuule as she left the room.

Kurama was silent as he thought as fast as he could, though the more he contemplated his situation, the more serious his expression became - "I may have to change my standpoint and take a different course."

* * * * *

2 hours later, the troops of [Samsara] were already at a safe distance from the hill of [Alnus]. They rode relentlessly to get there as soon as possible, which Delilah was grateful for because she could see how the soldiers were starting to get annoyed at not hearing from them.

"Status, Delilah-sama?" - The cavalry leader asked.

"Captured civilians, at least 100 of different ages and gender" - Delilah replied with a frown - "We have Zorzal in our possession, so we will try to conduct a hostage exchange negotiation to get the civilians while you create an ambush."

"No survivors?" - The soldier asked as his eyes glittered slightly, after all, he had a deep hatred for the empire and its actions against members of his race. He was a dog man, and since his tribe was enslaved, they were forced to work in mines or other heavy labor where much of his people died.

"No survivors" - Delilah replied neutrally.

"Perfect, I'll let my soldiers know, they will be excited" - replied the dog man as he let out a laugh.

"Will we also join the attack, Delilah-sama?" - asked a rabbit girl as she licked the edge of her knife.

"Yes" - nodded Delilah as she shook her head because it was obvious that her subordinates were excited to kill the empire's soldiers, although if she was honest, she also wished to cut off some human limbs.

Half an hour later, everything was organized and ready to begin the operation.

Delilah had instructed her subordinate to launch a new message with her arrow.

The hostage exchange was ready, and the two groups were prepared to begin.

"Where is the prince?" - Asked the squad leader as he looked neutrally at the rabbit woman - "Though leaving that aside, I'm surprised that you are the ones responsible for all this."

Delilah didn't answer, she just dragged Zorzal, who had woken up after all the rough treatment he had been getting.

"That's not a good way to treat your hostages" - said Zorzal as he looked at his soldiers, and then at his hostages - "Interesting, they are exotic specimens."

The hostages started crying when they heard this as they hugged each other in fear.

Delilah gave the prince a look full of disgust, so she decided to ignore him and focus on the soldiers - "Here's your prince, and he's alive!"

The leader of the soldiers looked at the hostages and put them in front - "I want you to hand over the prince to us."

"Do you really think we are idiots?" - Delilah asked disdainfully - "Hand over the women, and we'll hand over the prince, then you hand over the men to us."

The leader of the soldiers frowned, but still nodded and made his soldiers follow the rabbit woman's instructions, after all, they had numerical superiority and just needed to make sure the prince was safe with them to start the attack and capture these bitches.

The soldiers frowned as they handed over the women they were about to enjoy.

"I think it's your turn" - said the leader of the empire troops.

"Right" - nodded Delilah with a huge smile.

The army leader had a bad feeling when he saw this, but it was too late.

Before he could say anything else, he felt something pierce through his body.

With the little strength he had left, he saw how, under his feet, a group of spears came out.

The leader of the soldiers felt how he lost consciousness before hearing the screams of his subordinates, after that he lost consciousness, ending his existence in this world.

Delilah watched silently as her soldiers began to eliminate all the allies of the empire, regardless of whether they belonged to it or not. It didn't matter if they begged for mercy, or begged to be allowed to return to their villages, they had already chosen to work for the empire and wreak havoc on innocent people, now they had to pay the consequences.

The soldiers of [Samsara] were enjoying the massacre, while the hostages were trembling with fear to see the massacre so graphic.

Zorzal remained silent as he felt his heart break as he saw that his last chance, had disappeared without him being able to do anything.

The battle lasted 30 minutes, time that the troops of [Samsara] managed to use to completely annihilate the empire's troops, after all, they were tired after invading that unknown dimension.

Delilah slowly walked towards the cells after making sure the battle didn't hurt any of the hostages - "I'm sorry you had to see something like that, but it was the only way we could save you without complications."

The hostages looked at each other, confused by the overall situation. One moment, they were shopping or talking to their friends, after that they were being attacked and captured by what appeared to be fantasy creatures, to end up being transported to a different dimension where all sorts of different races inhabited.

"Did they come to save us?" - A woman asked as she looked at Delilah and began to cry - "Thank you, thank you so much."

Delilah smiled when she heard this as she told them what she would do now to prevent them from being frightened. She would mobilize them inside the cages to their city because they didn't have enough mounts to move all these people separately, and they couldn't just have the soldiers carry someone else because it might complicate the defense against ambushes.

The hostages were a bit skeptical of this, but it wasn't as if they could do anything about it, after all, they were just simple untrained people.

"If you need anything, just ask" - smiled Delilah as she pulled out a document and began to write - "Kurama-sama needs to know this."

"Kurama-sama?" - asked a man with surprise because that name sounded too Japanese to be a coincidence.

"He is the god of our city, and the kindest man we know" - Delilah answered with a dreamy smile.

The women immediately understood that the tough and beautiful general was in love with this "god", while the men did not know what to say, because it was not expected that in this world there would be a god living alongside humans.

"Shouldn't gods be in another world?" - asked one man, confused by the rabbit girl's words - "Are you sure it's not someone posing as a god to trick you?"

The soldiers looked with hostility at the man who had said those words because he was not only insulting the person who had given them a second chance, but he was shitting on all their efforts to improve their lives.

"Listen" - Delilah said while trying to calm her troops - "We will forgive this transgression, just because you are new in this world, but if you ever say or insult Kurama-sama again, I promise you that our kindness will disappear, and your life will be hell. Is that clear?"

"L-Like crystal!" - The man exclaimed in fear because he could feel the soldiers' killer instinct.

"You ungrateful bastard" - muttered a cat girl with disdain - "If it wasn't because Kurama-nyama helped us, you would still be slaves and the women would possibly have ended up being treated as objects to satisfy their captors."

The man remained silent because these words were enough to change the hostages' minds, after all, it made sense. That Kurama guy, he was directly or indirectly their savior, and they had to have at least a minimum of respect for him.

"Well, since we put that aside, I think it's time for us to head back" - Delilah said as she shook her head.

* * * * *

"It's over" - muttered Kurama as he read the message Delilah had sent him - "What doesn't surprise me is that he tried to kidnap civilians."

"From what I read, it's a normal thing in Zorzal during his conquests" - Tyuule answered with disgust - "He has a harem full of women from clans or species he defeated, he considered them a reward for his efforts"

Kurama felt a deep hatred when he heard this, but he quickly calmed down because this was also a normal thing in his world. During war, everything was a prize for the victor, be it territory, natural resources or the people themselves.