3. pov
And so the time slowly passed while both sides prepared for the decisive battle. During this time, Ken Kaneki also gathered allies to defend themselves against those who will undoubtedly be after them, whether CCG or Phoenix tree, they will find them sooner or later and destroy them. Therefore, Ken visited every faction and formed an alliance with a few of them, as they too fear the influence of the Phoenix tree. Since the attack on the clowns 3 months ago, it has become very quiet around the Phoenix tree, even if it is only the calm before the storm, and so daily life went on for most people: ghouls hunt people, people hunt ghouls and they really hate each other, an endless cycle of hate and revenge. Finally the day that would decide everything had come. The CCG had evacuated and fortified the 13th district. All the important people were present, such as Kisho Arima, Yukinori Shinohara, Itsuki Marude, Kotaro Amon and many others. But not only had the CCG mobilized all its forces, but Organization V or Vasuki was also armed to the teeth and ready to solve the problem here. They were currently gathered because a trustworthy person had announced that the Phoenix tree was finally moving and their destination was their current location, the 13th district. When it was afternoon they could finally see their opponents on the horizon and as they slowly came closer you could see that they also had many famous ghouls in their ranks, such as Tatara, Noro, Ayato, Eto and not to forget Artoria. When both parties were only 200 meters away the fight began. No words needed to be said, it was either they or their enemies would die and so the chaos began.
Artoria pov
We had finally completed all preparations. We managed to gather an army of 4,500 ghouls from all over Japan, which is insane considering the amount of human flesh used. Yesterday the last troop led by Ayato returned and today was the day we went to the 13th district and eradicated the last remaining resistance from the government. I am very aware that many will die in this fight, but it would simply be too boring to do the work all by myself. A little later we finally saw the city, if you can call it that, but it looks like a fortress with CCG staff and Vasuki's people everywhere. The moment we were a certain distance away, both ghouls and investigators fired with everything they had at the other side. The ghouls mostly hid behind their kagune or objects, while the CCG hid in buildings and behind metal shields. When I saw that we were slowly being pushed back I decided to change the playing field. I activated Mana Burst and swung my sword horizontally, cutting a 50 centimeter wide beam through all the buildings the sword was pointing at. It took a moment until most of the city's buildings fell over or collapsed. However, this horrific sight did not stop the fight. Instead, the sides fought in and on the ruins of the former metropolis. You could also slowly see that the battlefield was divided into different areas where the leaders fought individually against several investigators and I could already see my companions for this battle coming towards me. They were Arima, Shinohara and Juuzou, the latter wearing armor and carrying axes. Since I was facing a battle-hardened group, I decided to play with them a bit before getting serious. I could hear them talking while we prepared for the fight. "Shinohara Juuzou, she is extremely dangerous, attack her from the sides, I'll come from the front." I already had my sword in my hand and blocked the sideways blow that Arima swung at me with a sword and at the moment I blocked the others came from behind and wanted to stab me but my leg swung and sent the two of them back a few meters so that they rolled on the ground. Arima did not miss this chance however as he broke away from me and then stormed towards me, aiming at my head. I then quickly raised my sword and blocked the blow before pushing his sword away with my gauntlet and hitting him in the stomach, causing him to fall into some debris but quickly recovering. As the steps approached, I swung my sword backwards and cut Shinohara's chest through his armor, causing him to fall to the ground with a dull thud. You could hear Juusou screaming for the man. "No, that can't be true. YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!" With that she charged at me like a mad dog and tried to throw an overhead strike but left a lot of gaps. I dodged to the left and thrust my sword through her chest, knocking her to the ground. Turning my head I could see Arima standing there calmly and watching me pull out my sword as Juuzou. I was curious why he stopped attacking until he spoke. "So that's it, we never stood a chance against you, you were just playing around with us." "Hmm, what made you think that?" "Every time I hit you, you didn't move an inch." "Oh well, I didn't want to kill you all with one attack otherwise it would be boring, I mean, look around, isn't this paradise?" "Anyway, my life will end here, but I will try my best to take you with me!" And so we clashed again, only this time the difference in strength was more noticeable. We continued to exchange blow for blow, but over time he became slower and more sluggish until I swung his sword out of his hand and cut him in two with a quick horizontal slash. When I looked at Arima's dead body I had to admit that apart from me and Eto, he was by far the strongest in the world. After I had looked around the battlefield, it had just reached its peak, with ghouls and humans slaughtering each other like crazy in direct combat. You could also see all kinds of projectiles flying around here and there. The epicenter of most of the destruction, however, were the battlefields where Noro and Eto fought, flattening everything in their surroundings. What surprised me was that Ayato seemed to have died and Tatara was badly injured, but oh well, it's give and take. In any case, the fight seems to be slowly but surely coming to an end as Eto begins to hunt the weaker investigators and slowly but surely destroy the CCG and their allies. The corpses of the fallen began to form small hills in the city, the majority of which were humans, as a normal human was still far inferior to a ghoul, and so it took another 20 minutes until the last resistance was eliminated. Now that all the enemies were cleansed, it really did look like the apocalypse; scattered limbs, exposed organs and decapitated bodies were not an uncommon sight here, and yet it was surprising that we were able to defeat an army of around 10,000 men with only 1,500 casualties (though it must be said that at least 1,000 died in my initial attack, but that was still impressive. After the troops have had a proper feed and rest, we will split up and destroy one district after the other, recruiting new members as we go. Because now that they've sent almost everything they had here, the districts are as good as defenseless and leaderless. When I heard footsteps approaching, I turned only to see Eto staring at me with a puppy dog look before asking. "Mistress, did I do well?" I look at her blankly for a few seconds before answering her, "Well, you did your job well and saved us a lot of losses, why do you ask that?" "Well, I wanted to ask for a reward, namely that Lady Artoria strokes my head and tells me that I was a good girl." Most people would definitely have described an armored girl covered in blood as frightening, but I found it quite sweet and besides, I don't really touch her with my gauntlets anyway, so what the heck. "Fine, but don't ask too often about such nonsense." "You good girl." I said as I stroked her hair and felt her literally melt away. She looked extremely contradictory when I pulled my hand away from her, but she could only accept it. "Good, now go to your squad and get ready." "Yes, master." And so she disappeared. Maybe after I'm done here I'll allow her to just call me Artoria, only time will tell. After 3 hours everyone was more or less ready for action again and so we set off in different groups, each accompanied by a leader.
Kichimura Washu aka (Nimura Furuta) pov
Everything that my family had built up over generations was destroyed in such a short time. We had founded the CCG and hidden under their noses; if it weren't for these dirty rebels, the cycle would have continued and the Washu family would have control of this power until the distant future. But now it has happened; the combined forces of the CCG and Vasuki, who was subordinate to my house, have been destroyed. Now every day there is a report of an attack or a lost sector, so it won't be long now before we have lost all ground beneath our feet; until then I can only sit here and wait to take as many of these rebels with me as I can.
3.pov
The news that the CCG is severely weakened and the phoenix tree is advancing further and further prompted many ghouls to finally take revenge for years of oppression and fear, and so the situation for the remnants of the CCG simply became untenable as the normal ghouls simply overran the branches. The only exceptions where people were not imprisoned or torn to pieces were the 20th district, where a large group of ghouls maintained law and order, and the 23rd district, where a relatively high number of armed personnel could still be found thanks to the cochlea that stands near the Washu house. As the Phoenix tree slowly but surely gained more and more ground, many volunteers joined the group until finally every district except two had fallen. However, this was because the higher ups of the Phoenix tree said that more men should arrive and be gathered before a decisive blow was struck. One day later, the attack was launched, with Artoria and Noro leading the battle at the 20th district, while Eto and Tatara marched into the 23rd district.
Ken pov
We had received a lot of news from the different districts. What was being done to the people there is really barbaric. I mean, I can understand that they are angry at the people for being oppressed and hunted, but where will it end? If they kill all the people, they will start eating each other. That's why we defend them, even if that makes us enemies of Phoenix tree, because most people are prepared to die for their ideals. We tried to increase our strength as much as possible by training and eating dead bodies, but in the end we had to rely on Yoshimura, Yomo, Toka and me against the ghouls from all over Japan. I know we should stay positive, but I really don't see any hope of how we are supposed to survive. A loud explosion tore me out of my thoughts and I set off with a bad feeling in my stomach.