Tyranny of Steel

The Battle for the shores of Busan had already begun. Currently, Itami stood upon the bow of her flagship and gazed through her spyglass as she witnessed the chaos of war unfold from afar. After receiving a ruthless pounding from the Japanese naval guns, the Joseon defenders who survived the initial onslaught abandoned the forts that lined the coast.

The men fearlessly rushed to the shores in a desperate attempt to force the Japanese invaders to fight in melee combat. After all, there was no way that the Japanese Generals would fire on their own soldiers. Thus, they figured they'd be safe from the overwhelming power of the Japanese Navy.

The first of the Japanese rowboats, which contained a squad of soldiers, reached the shores, where the men onboard stood up and fired a volley towards the Joseon warriors. The lead projectiles pierced through the enemy's armor and flesh while claiming their lives. However, a single volley from a squad was not nearly enough to put a dent in the army that was approaching.

In retaliation for this attack, hundreds of Joseon bowmen knocked their arrows and loosed them upon the Japanese squad. The bamboo arrows fell from the sky and rained upon the enemy, piercing through their cotton tunics and into their flesh. Before the Japanese could reload and fire another shot, they were turned into pincushions.

Upon seeing such a nasty fate befall their countrymen, those brave souls who rowed towards the shore aimed their rifles and fired towards the gathering army. A plume of smoke filled the air as hundreds of rifles spewed lead towards the Joseon defenders, who now stood upon the shores waiting for the Japanese forces to land.

The Japanese invaders fearlessly rowed towards the shore while taking potshots at the Joseon defenders in between their actions. The closer they got to the shore, the more arrows fell upon them. It was a bloodbath the likes Itami had never seen before.

In her past life, she was never deployed to a combat zone. It was only in this life that she learned what it felt like to claim a life, and how devastating it was to lose the men beneath your command. Her heart bled as she witnessed hundreds of her soldiers pierced by the bamboo arrows of the Joseon Army. She had never suffered such losses before.

She had underestimated the effect of the bow and arrow, and overestimated her own military might. It turned out that the enemy could force her into the range of their weapons, and when they did, her unarmored forces suffered heavily. She had made a mistake by preparing for war with Germany, when she should have been preparing for war with the Joseon, the Ainu, and the Ryukyu Kingdoms who were her immediate targets.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of Japanese soldiers died as they struggled to land on the shores of Busan. However, once they found their footing, they were quick to turn the tides of war. The overwhelming volume of fire provided by the rifles that the Japanese soldiers wielded quickly thinned out the Joseon numbers, forcing the enemy to charge at them with their melee weapons.

However, was the Japanese army so easy to defeat? The Japanese soldiers fired another volley before charging into the grand melee with their bayonets affixed. They shouted their battle cry as they thrust their blades forward and into the torsos of their enemy.

"Tennōheika Banzai!"

With this suicidal charge, tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers rushed forward with bayonets and swords in hand. The fearlessness of death in their eyes as they cut down the enemy quickly overwhelmed the morale of the Joseon defenders. Who, despite inflicting heavy casualties on the Japanese, were rapidly dwindling in number.

With their artillery knocked out, and the Japanese soldiers continuing to pour into the shores, the Joseon General gazed in horror as his army routed. However, Itami's forces were not merciful and immediately opened fire the moment the Joseon turned their backs and ran.

Technically, this would be a war crime in the era Itami came from, causing her to bite her lip in displeasure when she saw her soldiers gunning down the fleeing enemy. In the civilized world, one was supposed to give quarter to a defeated enemy.

However, she desperately needed to end this conflict here and now, especially after suffering such heavy losses. Thus, the albino beauty found her inner resolve to give the naval gunners an order that she despised.

"Fire upon the fleeing army with your 110 pounders. I want these bastards wiped out! If we can destroy the enemy here in Busan, the rest of the Kingdom will fall with them."

With the command given, the crews aboard Itami's fleet loaded their guns and adjusted their aim to fire on the fleeing enemy. The 110 pound shells rocked the shores of Busan as they blasted men into mincemeat. The Joseon who fled the battle were pelted with a mixture of naval bombardment and rifle fire as they were ruthlessly blasted to oblivion. In the end, less than a thousand men escaped with their lives, leaving the entire Kingdom utterly defenseless against the Japanese army.

After the coast was secure. Itami took her own rowboat and landed on the shore where she stepped foot on the bloody sand and gazed upon the gory scene. Tens of thousands of bodies lie hewn on the beaches. If she wasn't already been so accustomed to death, then the woman would have vomited all over the beach.

Nearby, a Japanese man looked like a porcupine with the amount of arrows that were stuck in his body. He had died in a kneeling position, staking the banner of the rising sun into the Korean soil. The banner was tattered and scorched by the fierce battle that had taken place only moments ago.

If one were to look a few feet away, they would see the body of a Japanese soldier who had his head decapitated by a Korean swordsman. That same swordsman lie dead a mere two feet away with a massive hole in his chest caused by the large caliber projectiles used in the Japanese Rifles. He had died with his sword in hand.

Leaning against a rock was a young man no older than eighteen. This soldier had multiple arrows embedded in his torso and was on the brink of death. He gazed upon the Empress in her military uniform as she strode through the death that surrounded her with a stoic expression on her pretty face. He mustered what little strength remained in his body to reach out towards her and call out the title that her most loyal soldiers referred her to by.

"Kami-sama..."

Itami shifted her gaze to the dying man and saw that he was still holding his rifle in one of his hands. Tears streamed down his eyes as he gazed upon the beauty of the War Goddess, who was closer to him than she had ever been. Itami could only sigh as she saw this before kneeling next to the man and comforting him in his last moments. She placed the dying man's head on her ivory thighs, which were concealed by a skirt, before closing his eyes for him and comforting the poor soul who was about to enter the afterlife.

"You have fought well... Rest now, you have more than earned it..."

Shortly thereafter, the man passed away with a bitter smile on his lips. At the very least, his goddess had given him a lap pillow before he passed away from this world. Despite the man's death, Itami stayed still with his head in her lap for some time.

Eventually, her lead general approached the scene and saw the distressed look on the woman's face. She was very clearly trying her best not to cry. After all, she needed to project strength to her soldiers, who were licking their wounds after a hard fight. Shiba placed his hand on the young woman's shoulder and attempted to comfort her as she stared lifelessly at the dead men who surrounded her.

"Itami-sama, it's over, we have won the battle... The Joseon Kingdom has no soldiers left to fight against us. These men died so that their homeland could prosper. So that you could lead their families to a better future..."

Itami nodded her head in silence before gently placing the deceased soldier's head on the ground. She rose to her feet and wiped the tears from her eyes before responding to her general.

"You're right. I don't have time to lament the loss of life. This is war, and we are so close to victory. I shall honor the fallen by annexing this Kingdom. If our civilization has a chance at becoming a global power, then we need the iron that the Joseon have buried away in their lands.

I want our dead brought back to Japan and entombed in the lands of their ancestors. As for the Joseon corpses, or the ones that remain intact, bury them. After we have disposed of the dead, we shall advance forward and take the city."

Shiba nodded his head before responding in affirmation to Itami's orders.

"As you command!"

After saying this, Itami took a few moments to collect her thoughts and harden her heart. She had never witnessed so many deaths on her own side before. However, unlike Berengar, she was not angry at the enemy for inflicting such fierce casualties on her army, instead; she respected their strength and determination.

She had not anticipated such losses when she planned this campaign, and the simple fact that she suffered so much proved the Joseon were a capable Kingdom even if they were centuries behind in military technology. The enemy had suffered enough, and she would not act with vengeance when she finally ruled over them.