Alissandre Biren. He was one of the prominent generals that served the Emperor of the Hellivan Empire. It was the smallest of the five empires of this world, and one that faced thorough discrimination for treasuring their females since the very first Emperor was a woman herself. Alissandre, who escaped from that hellish place after losing his mother with Nathaniel, his best friend, found solace in Hellivan Empire. They lived there for years of peace until the empires decided to wipe Hellivan from the map.
Fortunately, the demons in another continent offered their help upon knowing that Alissandre was one of them in a chance encounter.
Currently, this marked the sixth month of war against the empires. They were winning, but they didn't know if they could hold on further with their ranks' diminishing numbers. They were running out of options. They did consider conscripting women and training children, but they only wanted it to be voluntary. They didn't want to be like the other empires that would force someone who was unwilling. However… This fight was their final straw. Alissandre's heart was aching when his men kept whittling down by the suicide squad of women.
For some reason, something happened in the enemy camp. Moreover, the one woman they couldn't kill was still rampaging through their ranks.
Alissandre treated this as a god given gift. While the woman was busy killing their enemies, he ordered his men to cut through the formation. This was the only opportunity for him to take down this stronghold. Once this mission was a success, and the mysterious woman survived through this whole ordeal, he could ask for support. As far as he could see, she was the only one who could stop the women from exploding.
They cut through the thin numbers of their opponents and arrived where the scene of carnage was apparent. There were corpses laid down, their bodies butchered. Meanwhile, there was a woman with her long white hair that shined silver under the afternoon sun. She was picking swords and inspecting them, then throwing them away once she knew it was garbage. When she turned around and her red eyes shone ominously, Alissandre remembered something from when he was in his mother's womb. He was pleading for mercy as soon as he felt the boundless energy coming from that person. What he was witnessing was the same, but it was much stronger than before. Could this be… the same person? He didn't know.
He stood rooted until the woman approached him. She circled around him as she inspected him. Now that he noticed, the woman was much taller than he was.
"Hey, you have the same aura as Freedom's son. Oh my. You've grown."
That concluded it. The woman in front of Alissandre was the same person who gave his mother's name; but didn't this person die before he was born?
"Miss Chang Xiuying?"
"I am Emersyn Lachlan now."
"I'm Alissandre Biren, General of the 2nd Army."
"How many years has it been since I saw you?" Emersyn lightheartedly asked.
"It has been thirty years."
"You were just a small blob back then, Ali," Emersyn said as she gestured with her thumb and forefinger of how small he was.
"...."
Emersyn laughed then patted his shoulder.
"I am only kidding, Alissandre. I am proud to see you like this. So, General, can I help you?"
Just like that, an ally, who destroyed the stronghold all by herself, was obtained.
***
Once they looted the stronghold that was brimming with high quality food, Emersyn lit a fire on her finger and threw it on the stacked woods. There were several of them and there were cauldrons situated over. She asked the women who knew the basics of cooking and had them help her prepare food for the soldiers. Although the women still hadn't regained their sanity, Emersyn didn't push them to work or their traumas would resurface. They could still follow a few simple commands, so it wasn't that hard.
The people that were capable of utilizing mana offered their help to maintain the constant temperature of the fire. Since it had been a while since they had someone cook for them.
"Miss, miss… how much longer till it is cooked?" One of them asked with a drool.
"Just a little longer. You have to wait, okay? After that, you can have seconds all you want."
"What?!"
"Really? Really?! Really really really?!"
"Uwaaah!!! Praise the madame!"
"Praise!"
"Quite down, you lot!" Emersyn reprimanded.
"Yes, ma'am!" They all whispered.
Alissandre smiled stiffly as he came over.
"I'm sorry for the ruckus. It's rare for them to be this worked up."
"I can understand," Emersyn laughed. "I have people I have to protect too. They were also a bunch of rowdy people, so I am used to this. Especially my son."
"... excuse me for asking, but how long has it been for you?"
"Hmm… around eight months? I don't know. I never really counted the time. I can't even remember when it was my birthdate. Let me see… uh… Emersyn was born at… the sixth month of the year 2000. When I left, it was in February 2025. Uh… I regained consciousness at... 2024."
As Emersyn tried to remember, Alissandre was giving her a confused expression. She reasoned, "I have been world hopping, so… you are bound to hear words that are foreign to you. Besides, I didn't come from this world nor from the other side."
"World… hopping?"
"You see, I've been going to and fro in worlds that I encounter. That's called world hopping. In Strevalia, there are Gates that opened that will lead you to different worlds. Every world has its own time axis, so it's understandable that you age fast compared to those of Strevalia."
"Understood. How did you revive as someone else?"
"I killed myself in the process of acquiring the full potential of the Dark energy in me, but my body wasn't strong enough to hold the entire authority of it. Then, when I felt that I was merging with something, I woke up as Maajidanashi and had no memory of my previous life."
"Interesting…."
"So, kid, be careful."
"... for some reason, you calling me kid sounded so natural that I can't complain."
"... well, technically, I am older than you, but I am not going to comment on that."
"I understand."
"... okay. You're older than me, so I retract what I called you earlier, sir."
"... please stop."
"Oh. The food is all done!"
"Finally!" The soldiers flared up with wooden bowls in their hands and formed a line to each cauldron. There were a total of fifteen cauldrons that Emersyn fished out from her inventory, so they could even get their third helping if they so wanted to.
After a satisfying meal, the soldiers slept like a log after massaging their muscles to avoid cramps tomorrow. Emersyn said that she was going to keep watch while she ensured the safety of the women. Since they were still bound to have nightmares and get violent in their sleep. Of course, Emersyn put up a wide scale barrier for insurance.
***
Now that they finally took over one stronghold, Emersyn set out to help them throughout their attacks on the empire. She also received news that the rest of the empires were deploying countless reinforcements at every direction. Alissandre explained to Emersyn that this was supposedly their last attack and perish as they fought for their beliefs. Basically, it was a suicide mission where the chances of dying was a whopping hundred percent.
"I'll be back," Emersyn said as she took out a sturdy sheath and its sword. She hung it on a belt and wrapped it comfortably on her waist. That was all she did, but it seemed to make the others afraid for her safety. She chose to ignore it and immediately disappeared in front of them.
Once she was out of their sight, her vision caught the details of her instantaneous travel to the nearest attack point. She arrived beside a female general that was watching the one sided fighting with a wry smile. She was wearing a red suit of armor and her soldiers were wearing a red band on their forearms. With that, Emersyn appeared where the clash was more violent. Her sudden appearance put an abrupt stop before she was attacked by her foes. She immediately unsheathed her sword and decapitated bodies in a flash.
The soldiers with their red bands on were aghast as they witnessed a gruesome scene, and a fantastic display of enormous strength, made them shiver. Their commander also sported unbelievable strength against them when she first appeared. They were dumbstruck then, but now that they could see a woman freely kill people without much of a blink, the fear they buried before this mission resurfaced.
Fortunately, as they noticed, she was their ally.
Maybe… just maybe… that they could come out alive of this mission.
Meanwhile, Emersyn was contemplating as she cut down numerous enemies that came at her to kill her; whether to release the women of their misery, which was killing them, or give them another chance in life to live in a better world. Her eyes caught sight of women with no regards for their life fight using a crude sword in their hands. This was a place where you had to kill or be killed. However, Emersyn had the strength to spare their lives without putting her life in danger.
She tilted her head slightly when an arrow whizzed through and used that momentum to dodge the attack of her opponent in front. When she recovered her balance, she pointed at the archers situated on the wall and fired multiple compacted lasers with heat at around 200 degree Celsius.
The beams exactly fired open their craniums and they all collapsed and fell from the wall. Meanwhile, her right hand was deflecting and attacking the enemies that went after her. Her feet took her closer to the stronghold as she contracted her leg muscles then jumped over the high wall.