"Can you believe that Utro didn't think we could take this tower? I can't wait to take that crappy tower just so I can throw it in his stupid face." Gaileo said as his army marched through the snow.
"Hmph, you'd been acting so respectful in front of your brother. I'd been waiting for you to lose your temper and say something like that." Shion said with a chuckle.
"I just can't stand to be looked down on by guys like that. All by life, no matter what I do, they always treat like some kind of germ. Like I'm lower than the dirt. Well, when I'm Emperor all that's going to change. They'll all be sorry when I'm in charge." Gaileo declared.
"Yes, I believe it will be quite beautiful to see the shoe on the other foot." Shion replied. "But more importantly, I believe I can see our objective on the horizon." He said as he pointed to the silhouette of a massive tower on the horizon.
Initially, the tower didn't seem all that impressive. However, as they got closer, they realized that it was much further away than they had thought. When they finally arrived at the base of the tower they could see that it was so massive that they could barely see the top of it from where they stood at the bottom. It was an awe inspiring sight for many of the soldiers in the army.
"Who goes there!?!?" A guard shouted from up on the tower.
"I am Deputy General Gaileo Shukure! I've come here to request your surrender! If you refuse to surrender, we will be forced to attack!" Gaileo replied.
"Well we certainly don't want you to attack, but we can't surrender either." A new voice shouted back to Gaileo.
A man dropped down from one of the balconies of the tower. He had spiky red hair, and wore shiny red armor with a large katana on his waist. When he jumped down, he was flanked by three men in white armor.
"My name is Genbu, I'm the Chief of the Honshu Tribe. These are the Byakko Brothers, they're the mightiest warriors of our tribe." He said.
Gaileo felt powerful auras from Genbu and the Byakko Brothers. "You and your comrades seem to be quite powerful, but you can't have much more than 200 men in this tower. I have 20,000. Your defeat is certain, just make this easier for everyone and surrender." Gaileo said.
"You should know that surrender is never an easy option for a man of the North." Genbu replied. "Our men could hold against a force 10 times the size of yours in this tower. Even so, I'm sure that the Empire has the men to spare. They would take this tower eventually. So, we can't surrender, but we can't win either. Might I propose an alternative solution?"
"Oh? And what would that be?" Gaileo asked.
"It's simple really. I have 5 powerful warriors here, including myself. I propose a 5 on 5 match between my best fighters and yours. Last man standing wins. If you win you can take the tower, if we win obviously I'd like for you to withdraw your army. It's a fair arrangement don't you think?"
"Certainly I wouldn't have any issues with that arrangement. However, you said it's a 5 on 5. You seem to only have 4 men there. Where's the fifth?" Gaileo asked.
"Oh, shoot. I must have miscounted. 1 2 3… yeah it's just four of us. Hmm, I don't really anyone else I can send. Oh well, hey Himiko! Come on out here!" Genbu said as he called out to someone in the tower.
"This guy's not that bright." Ma Ten thought. "He's a bit like Gaileo I suppose."
After a while a dainty woman with black hair in silver robes and furs walked out of the tower.
"You don't seriously expect that woman to fight against my men do you?" Gaileo asked.
"No, but I don't have anymore officers and it wouldn't be fair for a regular soldier to face one of your officers. You have a woman on your side too. I figured the fairest thing to do is to make those two fight each other." Genbu said.
"That's so stupid. It doesn't make any sense. Even Gaileo isn't dumb enough to agree to a ridiculous suggestion like that." Ma Ten thought.
"That sounds fair. I accept." Gaileo said as he shook hands with Genbu to seal their agreement.
"Huh? I have to fight?" Elara asked nervously.
"Can it. Do what I say." Gaileo said dismissively.
"As usual he exceeds my expectations." Ma Ten thought.
"Very good, I'll let your men pick their opponents. Then we can split up to have our fights one on one." Genbu suggested.
"Sounds good, but you guys can pick the opponents that you want. We are on your home turf after all, we ought to give you a bit of an advantage." Gaileo offered, and it was graciously accepted by Genbu.
Gaileo's men split up and matched up with the officers of Honshu. Gaileo was obviously matched up against the enemy commander, Genbu.
"You there, with the tacky hair. I'll take you on and show you the TRUE meaning of beauty." Said a man with long white hair wearing an elegant silver robe with white fur trim.
"Do you really think you could defeat me? Either in beauty or brawn, you would be hopelessly outmatched by me." Shion replied confidently.
The man pouted about Shion's response while the next man, who was a large muscular man carrying a massive axe, pointed towards Benji.
"Huh? You want me to fight you?" Benji asked. "Do I have to Boss?" He asked Gaileo. "One on one fights aren't my forte."
"No complaints, just fight him. It's not a big deal." Gaileo said dismissively.
Now it was Benji who was pouting. Finally, the last of the Byakko brothers stepped forward and chose Kazuma as his opponent.
"Yay! I get to fight!" Kazuma exclaimed loudly.
"Just hold on a second. Trust me, you don't want to fight Kazu. Pick someone else. Pick Ma Ten, he's a tough fighter." Gaileo said.
"No can do. I picked him so I'm going to fight him. In fact, you saying I shouldn't fight him just makes me want to fight him more." The man replied.
"Oh come on. It's fine isn't it?" Genbu asked. Gaileo reluctantly agreed and with that the battles for the Queen's Tower were underway.