From Trash to Villain Master of Card: With Harem of Evil women-Chapter 84: The Culmination of Progress?

The Bottleneck — Ambush Begins

The Avernor army entered the narrow pass with the confidence of superior force.

Fifteen hundred soldiers in a tight column.

Exactly where Aurelia wanted them.

She watched from an elevated position, surrounded by ten repeating launchers.

Each loaded. Each aimed.

"Wait... wait...!"

Half the enemy army was in the kill zone.

"NOW!"

She raised her hand.

Ten operators—trained by Aurelia in two days—pulled levers.

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

One hundred projectiles launched simultaneously.

Iron spheres wrapped in oil-soaked cloth. Lit aflame.

They rained down on Avernor’s formation like burning meteors.

Explosions of fire. Screams. Immediate chaos.

Soldiers trying to dodge. Others caught in flames.

But the launchers didn’t stop.

"RELOAD! FIRE! RELOAD! FIRE!"

Thirty-second cycle.

Ten projectiles each time. Launcher after launcher.

In three minutes, two hundred burning spheres had fallen.

Avernor’s formation—once perfect—was chaos.

Marcus the Iron shouted orders.

"Shields up! Hold formation!"

But it was hard to hold formation when the sky rained fire.

Then he heard a different sound.

BOOOOM!

---

The Cannon

From the opposite elevation, Aurelia’s cannon roared.

An iron projectile—twenty kilograms of solid metal—fired with primitive gunpowder.

Speed: enough to destroy.

It struck the center of the enemy formation.

A direct hit on a dense group of soldiers.

Twenty-three men fell instantly.

Some dead. Others shattered by the projectile and shrapnel.

Marcus watched in horror.

"What... what was that?"

His second-in-command, equally stunned:

"I don’t know, General. I’ve never seen..."

BOOM!

Second shot.

Eighteen more fell.

The cannon took two minutes to reload—slow.

But each shot was concentrated devastation.

Aurelia, operating it personally, shouted instructions.

"Angle adjusted three degrees! Full gunpowder load!"

"And... FIRE!"

BOOM!

Third shot.

Twenty-five soldiers.

Marcus made a decision.

"Charge! Get out of the kill zone! CHARGE!"

He ordered a full advance.

Exactly what Aurelia expected.

---

Phase Two — Smoke and Chaos

As Avernor troops charged out of the bottleneck...

Aurelia activated the second phase.

"SMOKE BOMBS! NOW!"

Twenty soldiers threw smoke grenades—ceramic spheres filled with synthesized chemicals.

They shattered on the ground.

DENSE smoke erupted.

Not normal wood smoke.

A chemical Aurelia had perfected.

It caused instant tearing. Severe coughing. Disorientation.

Not lethal—but incapacitating.

Three hundred Avernor soldiers were blinded.

Stumbling. Coughing. Helpless.

Adelheid, commanding from a central position, gave the signal.

A red flag.

Four hundred Neudämmerung soldiers charged from the flanks.

Emerging from the smoke with protective cloths (another Aurelia innovation).

They struck the blinded enemies with surgical precision.

Not massacre. Tactical disarming.

Capturing. Incapacitating. Neutralizing.

In ten minutes, three hundred Avernor soldiers had surrendered or fled.

Fifteen hundred had been reduced to twelve hundred.

And the battle had barely begun.

---

Avernor’s Counterattack

Marcus wasn’t a general by accident.

He saw the trap. Understood the strategy.

And adapted.

"Archers! Aim for the elevations! Destroy those devices!"

Three hundred archers aimed toward the launcher positions.

RAIN OF ARROWS!

Aurelia shouted.

"Shields! Protect the launchers!"

Operators raised reinforced metal shields.

Most arrows bounced off.

But some penetrated.

Two operators fell. Three launchers damaged.

Aurelia cursed.

"I need cover! Naporia! Your turn!"

---

Naporia — Cavalry Charge

Naporia had been waiting.

One hundred riders under her command. Hidden in a side forest.

Now she charged.

Sword high. Iron Will fully activated.

Crimson eyes. Visible aura of absolute determination.

"FOR NEUDÄMMERUNG! CHAAAAARGE!"

They struck Avernor’s archer flank like an avalanche.

Naporia at the front—cutting, destroying, unstoppable.

Her sword was a blur. Every move killing or incapacitating.

Thirty archers fell in the first thirty seconds.

The rest tried to retreat.

But cavalry was faster.

Marcus saw his archer formation collapsing.

"Damn it! Spearmen! Protect the archers!"

Two hundred spearmen turned to face the cavalry.

Pike formation—effective against horses.

Naporia saw the trap.

She didn’t care.

She charged directly.

At the last second, she leaped from her horse.

Landing in the middle of the pike formation.

Like a manifested demon.

Her sword spinning in a full circle.

Ten pikes cut. Fifteen spearmen fell.

But even she had limits.

Surrounded by fifty. Exhausted.

A cut on her leg. A blow to her arm.

She kept fighting but...

CRASH!

Valeria arrived.

Like a human battering ram.

Her axe sweeping through the enemy formation.

"Naporia. Backup function executed."

Naporia laughed despite her exhaustion.

"Thanks!"

Together, they broke the spearmen formation.

Allowing the cavalry to escape and regroup.

---

Phase Three — Aurelia’s Final Surprise

Marcus observed the battlefield.

He had lost five hundred soldiers. One thousand remained.

But the enemy was also exhausted. Four hundred reduced to three hundred effective troops.

Numbers still favored Avernor.

Three to one.

"General charge. Crush them with mass."

One thousand soldiers advanced.

Like a tide of steel.

Adelheid saw.

"We can’t hold that."

She looked toward Aurelia.

"We need your surprise! Now!"

Aurelia smiled.

"I thought you’d never ask!"

She ran toward a tarp-covered device.

Revealed it.

It was... strange.

A massive barrel mounted on a cart. A long fuse extending from it.

"Improved BARREL BOMB!"

"Fuel: oil synthesized with sulfur and saltpeter!"

"Result: an explosion that makes everything before look like CHILD’S PLAY!"

She lit the fuse.

"Valeria! Push this toward the enemy formation! QUICK!"

Valeria didn’t question.

She pushed the cart with superhuman strength.

Gaining speed.

Aimed directly at the center of the thousand advancing soldiers.

Marcus saw the cart approaching.

"What...?"

Then he saw the burning fuse.

"RETREAT! IT’S A TRAP!"

Too late.

The cart reached the center.

The fuse reached the barrel.

KABOOOOOOM!

The explosion was... apocalyptic.

A ball of fire twenty meters in diameter.

A shockwave throwing soldiers like dolls.

Metal fragments flying in all directions.

When the smoke cleared...

Two hundred soldiers dead or incapacitated.

A five-meter crater where the cart had been.

And absolute silence.

Both armies stunned by the scale of destruction.

Aurelia broke the silence.

"THAT is what science CAN DO!"

She shouted toward the enemies.

"There’s MORE where that came from! THREE more!"

It was a lie. She had only made one.

But they didn’t know that.

---

Surrender

Marcus the Iron observed his forces.

He had started with fifteen hundred.

Now he had eight hundred. And traumatized.

The enemy had three hundred. And weapons that defied comprehension.

The math had completely changed.

He raised a white flag.

"I surrender."

His second-in-command protested.

"General! We still have numerical superiority!"

"Against a science we don’t understand. No."

Marcus rode forward.

Kaito came out to meet him.

The general dismounted, kneeling.

"Lord Kaito. I acknowledge defeat."

"In the name of Avernor?"

"In the name of this army. I cannot speak for my king."

Kaito nodded.

"Then I offer you terms. Your men withdraw. They report honestly what they saw."

"And tell your king: Neudämmerung does not seek war. But we do not kneel."

Marcus stood.

"It will be... difficult to convince him. But I will report the truth."

He looked toward where Aurelia was inspecting the remains of her explosion.

"That woman... what is she?"

"The future. Perhaps."

"Or the end of the world."

"Possibly both."

Marcus nodded slowly.

"Then I hope she controls that power well."

"Me too."

---

After the Battle — Field of Victory

Four hundred Neudämmerung soldiers victorious.

Against three armies. Three thousand combined soldiers.

Neudämmerung’s total losses: four hundred (half their original force).

But they had won.

Impossibly. Decisively.

Thanks to Adelheid’s brilliant strategy.

Naporia’s ferocity.

Valeria’s resilience.

Lilith’s cunning.

And Aurelia’s impossible science.

Kaito walked through the battlefield.

He should feel... something.

Victory. Relief. Joy.

Instead he felt...

Satisfaction of a solved equation.

A completed problem.

Nothing more.

Adelheid approached.

"We won."

"Yes."

"How do you feel?"

Kaito considered honestly.

"Like a solved problem. Statistically favorable."

He looked at her.

"I know I should feel more. But..."

"But the cost of the fifth summoning."

"Yes."

Adelheid touched his cheek.

"Do you still love me?"

"Yes. But differently."

"Enough?"

Kaito covered her hand with his.

"I hope so."

They kissed.

And Kaito felt... something.

Warm. Distant. But real.

Enough.

It has to be enough.

---

Celebration — That Night

The kingdom celebrated.

Three invasions repelled. Neudämmerung survived.

Against all odds.

The five queens gathered on Kaito’s balcony.

Watching the celebrations below.

Adelheid to his right. Naporia to his left. Lilith and Valeria behind. Aurelia bouncing between them all.

"We won! My science WORKED! I KNEW it!"

Naporia smiled.

"Your crazy science saved our asses."

"INNOVATIVE science! But yes!"

Lilith spoke softly.

"And the cost..."

She looked at Kaito.

"...was high."

Kaito nodded.

"But necessary."

Valeria added.

"Function completed. Kingdom preserved. Cost accepted."

Aurelia, more serious than usual.

"Kaito. Important question."

"Yes?"

"Was it worth it? Losing part of yourself?"

Kaito looked at the kingdom. The lights. The celebrations.

People alive because he made a decision.

"Ask me in a year. When I see what else I’ve lost."

"But now?"

"Now... I hope so."

The five queens exchanged glances.

All thinking the same thing.

They saved the kingdom.

But they lost part of Kaito in the process.

Was it enough?

Or did they lose more than they gained?

Time would tell.

But for tonight...

They had won.

And that would have to be enough.

---

Kaito’s Office — Midnight

Kaito was alone.

Looking at the chest of cards.

Dozens still remained.

Each promising power.

Each with a cost.

The fifth summoning had taken emotional attachment.

What would the sixth take?

The seventh?

At what point would he stop being Kaito Yukimura?

At what point would he become... something else?

He closed the chest.

Locked the bolt.

"No more. Not unless absolutely necessary."

But he knew.

Eventually...

There would be another crisis.

Another impossible threat.

And he would be tempted again.

How many summonings until nothing of me remains?

He had no answer.

Only a quiet fear.

Distant.

Processed as data.

Not visceral emotion.

And that, perhaps, was the most terrifying thing.

That he could no longer fully feel the horror of what he was losing.