00165. The first signs of rebellion?


    After H gained over a year of livebat experience with the Einherjar, she ended up back in Asgard to undergo more training. She still trained inbat with different weapons each day. But the bulk of her time was split between magic lessons, military operations nning, strategy lessons, battle tactics, leadership sses, learning to control her innate abilities and much more.


    Apparently the goal was to turn H into a formidablemander and fighter who could lead the charge in battles. Her lessons were long and she normally copsed into bed each night when they were done, only to wake up within a few hours to start a new day. Thatsted for almost five years until she was finally summoned before her father again.


    H arrived in the throne room and couldn''t help but think of thest time she was there. It was when her father sent her off to fight with the Einherjar over six years ago. Was that why she was asked toe again? Was she going back out to fight again? H''s mind raced as she dropped down onto one knee in front of the steps leading to her father''s throne.


    Odin studied H for a while before he said, “Your teachers informed me that you finished all of your lessons and they have nothing left to teach you.”


    H almost responded, but stopped herself. While she wanted to be praised by her father, she held back since he only made a statement and didn''t ask a question. It was something drilled into her by her teachers over the years, since she always liked to ask questions. She still did it, but it wasn''t as often as it used to be and now she at least waited till it was appropriate to ask.


    After a few more seconds Odin said, “From now on you are to join the official ranks of the Einherjar. You will start with no rank and your only goal is to put the knowledge I gave you to practical use. Is that understood?”


    “Yes, father.” H said with her head bowed.


    “Good, now go report for duty and don''t disappoint me. Prove to me that you are worthy of everything I’ve invested into you.”


    vvvvv


    H nced around for a moment through the smoke filled air. The sound of battle was all around her, while the stench of blood hung heavily in the air. If a normal person was here they would most likely copse from fear at what was happening around them. But for H, this was her life. For the past five years, this was all H knew.


    H breathed heavily as she pulled her sword out of her opponent''s chest and nced around again. She quickly assessed the fighting around her before she charged to a weak spot in the enemy''s defensive line. She arrived within moments and shed her sword down on the nearest enemy.


    Her attack was swift and deadly as the man''s head separated from his shoulders. H instantly pivoted, pointed her hand towards another group of people and used her powers. Out of the air ck swords appeared and took flight before they impaled over ten people in the chest.


    With that simple, yet deadly attack, the enemy troops broke ranks and their formation quickly copsed. H watched for a moment before she raised her sword in the air and yelled out, “Charge, don''t let any of them escape! For Asgard!”


    “For Asgard!” The warriors around her bellowed as they raised their weapons into the air.


    H didn''t wait for anyone else and directly charged into another group of people. She didn''t aim to kill this time, but attacked the opponents legs. They could always use more intelligence, so now that they started to retreat it was the best chance to capture people.


    Every move H made was calcted, she would cut a person down before she kicked them in their head. While it took a few extra seconds, it ensured the person was either knocked out or dead. H wanted to ensure that no one behind her would be able to threaten her.


    Over the next hour H led arge group as they picked off all of the retreating enemies. Once finished with her task, H and her helpers collected anyone still alive as they headed back to the main force. When they returned, they were greeted by a temporary base camp being set up.


    H left her prisoners with the other soldiers before she split off from them and headed towards themanding officers tent. At the front of the tent stood two powerful guards who moved aside to allow her to enter. As she entered inside she saw the armymander and a handful of others gathered around a hastily set up table.


    Themander noticed H first and asked, “Were you able to capture anyone important?”


    H stopped in front of the table as she said, “I caught their second inmand. I almost had the leader too, but he decided to kill himself rather than be captured, sir.”


    “That''s unfortunate, but still a great job as always, lieutenant.”


    H nodded her head slightly before she nced down to study the map. As she did themander pointed at a spot and said, “Unless we get actionable intel from the prisoners, this will be our next target.”


    H frowned slightly before she asked, “Sir, isn''t that just a farmingmunity?”


    “It is, but it''s also one of their main food production areas, so it needs to be destroyed.”


    H nced up at hermander as she asked, “What about the civilians living there, sir?”


    Themander looked up at H and locked eyes with her before he said, “There are no civilians this time, everyone is to be killed by order of the king.”


    H stiffly nodded before she said, “Understood, sir.”


    “Good, now go get some rest.”


    H left the tent and headed towards a bonfire some troops were using to cook with. As she walked the only question in her mind was why her father wanted the civilians killed this time? Through all the campaigns she fought in, this was the first time something like this was ordered by him. It was strange, but it was her father and she was sure he had his reasons.


    vvvvv


    H''s legion of troops were tasked to enter the city and destroy it, while the rest of the army surrounded the area. Their main job was to destroy the farmnds and kill anyone who escaped from the city. Since themander wanted everything to go smoothly, they started the operation early in the morning hours while it was still dark outside.


    H used her magic to grant herself and her troops low light vision, before she said, “Remember, they''re civilians. It''s already bad enough we have to kill them. So do it quickly and as painlessly as possible.”


    After her troops nodded in understanding, H led them quietly into the city. Once there they started to separate into teams of two or three before they moved to different houses.


    H moved alone to one of the houses and tested the door. It was locked from the inside with a timber beam, so H ced her hand on the door. She focused for a moment and under the force of her powers the door and beam behind it quickly decayed into ashes without a sound.


    Once the door was gone, H stepped into the dark single room house and looked for the upants. She found an older man asleep in a bed along with an older woman. H closed her eyes for a few moments to steal her resolve before she raised her hand at the couple and released her power. The couple were instantly killed as blood pooled around their bodies.


    H nced at them for a moment as she let out a sigh and thought, <em>“How is something like this considered honorable?”</em>


    As H walked out of the house and towards her next target a scream ripped through the air before it was abruptly cut off. H frowned slightly as she rushed towards the next building. As she reached the door it swung open as a young man half dressed walked outside.


    Before he even noticed H she already swung her sword and decapitated the man. His body stood there as his head fell towards the ground and H stepped past him into the building. H found a young woman inside in the process of putting on clothes. As the woman nced up at H she froze in ce and H used that split second chance to kill her.


    As H walked out of the home the sound of battle filled the air along with screams of pain and yells of anger. That first abrupt scream seemed to have awakened the whole vige and now chaos erupted as a result. H calmly observed the situation for a few moments before she charged to the area with the most resistance.


    H appeared like a specter of death as she weaved through her troops and the desperate townsfolk who were trying to defend themselves. Every enemy she passed dropped dead a momentter and within a minute the only people left alive were H and her troops. She nced at them all as she said, “Don''t worry about the runners, just sweep the entire vige and make sure no one is hiding.”


    H and her troops swiftlybed through the rest of the buildings and found a handful of people. Once theypleted their task, they set fire to the vige and headed in the direction where the vigers ran. Within twenty minutes of leaving the vige they heard the sounds of people crying out for help.


    H frowned as she sped up and within moments found a handful of women surrounded by another squad of troops. In a pile off to the side was the rest of the vigers that escaped. Only the men and some of the children were killed, while the rest of the people still alive were already half naked with their clothes being torn off.


    The leader of the other squad of troops grabbed the loudest woman by her wrist and tugged her towards him, before he smacked her across the face as he said, “Shut up, no one is going to save you.”


    He shoved the woman back down before he said with a sneer, “Listen up all of you, because it''s your lucky day. If you resist, you will find what happens next unbearable. But if you cooperate and possibly enjoy yourself, we''ll let you live.”


    H stepped forward into the group of soldiers and asked in amanding tone, “What do you think you''re doing?”


    The squad leader wore a slimy smile as he said, “I''m just letting my men blow off some steam.”


    H''s gaze turned cold as she said, “You know what our orders are, stop wasting time and carry them out.”


    The man''s face fell as he said in a condescending tone, “I know exactly what my orders are, <em>‘Lieutenant’</em>. Butst time I checked, I still out rank you. So leave, that''s an order.”


    H nced at the leader for a few moments before she lifted her hand towards the women and children huddled together. A secondter ck swords flew out and stabbed into each of their hearts. As H lowered her hand she said, “Yes, sir.”


    H turned around to walk away as the leader roared out, “You stupid bitch, what do you think you''re doing?!”


    “Just carrying out my orders, sir.” H said as she walked out of the circle of troops.


    vvvvv


    H wasn''t disciplined for her act of defiance, a handful of squad leaders and other people made it clear they didn''t approve of her actions. While H didn''t care what they thought about her, she still took note of those people. She then used magic and other means to spy on each of them. Most of them were just upset she was disobedient towards amanding officer, but others were like that squad leader.


    Since H found people she deemed unfit for leadership roles, much less being in the Einherjar, she nned out how to eliminate all of them. It wasn''t quick, but within a year over ten officers and a handful of others died in battle. H barely had to lift a finger to do it, just a low level spell here or there at the right time in the midst of a chaotic battle and someone would die.


    H was extremely cautious with her actions and would always make sure nothing could point back to her. Another rule she decided on was to never target a person directly, but the area around them. It made it a lot harder for people to find out if there was foul y involved in the death. Even though no death in the middle of battle was ever investigated, H didn''t want to leave any trace behind.


    She also used each person''s death to help improve her military career at the same time. She had to be near them to cause the ident in the first ce. So she used those opportunities to personally dispose of whoever was lucky enough to kill who she targeted. Which made her look like a hero to a lot of people and helped her move up in rank a few times.


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