"Push them back, we're almost there."
The Knight's Captain screams, swinging her spear's shaft like a helicopter.
These girls are terrible with their current weapons but still wreak havoc.
Imagine if they had their usual falchions and the bullshit anime powers they're known for.
They would have leveled the city a day ago, with or without my cunning plan and the horse.
Well, the battle is far from over.
The initial chaos takes about an hour to settle and the lines become more organized.
The Trojan Palace is in sight, and our main forces are marching on it.
"If we break through here, it's over." Achilleus joins in, crazed from all the fighting.
She's covered in the enemy's blood from head to toe, her hair damp, dark, and sticky from it.
She isn't like her normal self from the pages, her inherited memories from the Ilias make her extra crazy. It makes her less annoying, but she still pauses often to look where Aratsuki is.
"Did you see that? They can't even put a scratch on me. And what did you do so far Ara— I mean Nestor? Babysit that Anchor boy? How cute." She at least has a short sword she can use.
Yeah, some things don't change.
She still has to show off to her old-time rival, no matter what.
We follow the army towards the main palace from a safe distance, but I wish we did more.
That's the seat of power for every Greek city, at least this is what Odysseus's memories tell me.
If we can take it, we win, and the enemy has already surrendered en masse in other areas.
But resistance is stiff ahead, and our elite — the waifus — are out of breath.
They had been fighting for the whole time, even before the rest of the Greek army arrived.
"Cover our flanks, I don't want the Trojans to show up behind us."
The Captain barks a few orders as Agamemnon from the front lines.
"Where the hell did the sorcerer go?"
I don't know how much she spent sleeping inside the wooden horse like me, but she carried this assault on her back. The friendly rival character is the only one still in a tireless frenzy.
"I haven't seen them since we left the main square, but if I catch her, she's dead." She yells back, and she means the big bad from the manga. They lobbed some arrows at us then disappeared.
"Careful. I know I said we can't lose the Anchor or we would be stuck, but the same is true for everyone. If you die here, you won't return to your world, you die for good."
The Princess Knight looks more anxious the longer the fight lasts.
She acts like a bodyguard now, and I love-hate it. My heart flutters from being this close to her but I want in on the action.
Achilleus is always on the frontline, unlike her manga version unstoppable and invulnerable.
Even Aratsuki looks exhausted, and her only job is to keep me away from danger.
"Did you listen to me? They can't even scratch my skin. All this blood and grime is from the enemy. I never had this much fun before." The rival protests, having the time of her life.
And here I am, walking behind them like a useless kid. It sucks. Whether it's a dream or a magical Dive as she put it, I want to do more than sit back and watch the battle unfold.
She's adamant that the Anchor must survive, and won't admit that my plan with the weird horse statue worked.
All I get is her tsundere-style scolding and the harsh truths.
"What kind of training do you have?" She asks, her firm grip on my wrist.
Well, she's right.
But if the Best Girl of the Princess Knight holds my hand all day, I can get used to this.
"Do you think holding formation and fighting all day is easy? We, knights, trained for our entire lives and we've been through countless battles. And you're what, a high schooler?"
"A high schooler that got you inside the city without a fight."
There's enough pride in me to counter her tsundere notes with mine.
She's acting way out of character, and I'm onto her.
"You're not older than me either, and I know your secret." It would be more accurate to say, 'I know you have a secret', but I'm yet to figure it out.
I'll let her guess for now.
Except she's busy with something else.
I can only spot a crimson flash from the corner of my eyes, and arrows rain down on us.
As I said, the battle is far from over.
"Ambush, from the left." The Captain shouts.
She's the first to react as she returns from the frontline.
The big bad enemy character from the manga tries our flanks, but it's too little too late.
Their small-scale attack won't turn the tide.
It's more of a desperate delaying action, but it comes right where Aratsuki wanted to tuck me away from harm's way.
"Hold the line, turn to face them!" The Princess Knight dashes into action.
She only needs a second to switch from the tsundere bodyguard to a practiced killer.
"They can't get Odysseus."
They attack about a hundred yards from the palace with only a handful of men, but they're close.
I already saw them earlier but it's still a surprise.
The main enemy has a striking look.
They only appear on the last panel in the manga as a teaser.
If the warrior waifus stuck out like a sore thumb, she's completely out of this world.
Her crimson skin is striking, and she's almost naked to show it off.
She's a sexy demon sorceress with a thin, red pair of horns on her head, and long black hair.
One of her henchmen from the manga shows up too.
Of course, all the powerful characters in the story are girls, and she has to be the hottest villain.