Awesome / Inter Nos

• Natsuki demonstrates the use of the daos. The Himeans have been told that she is unparalleled with the weapon. She uses the metal ball to smash one target, changes the direction of the ball mid-flight by flexing the chair, and then wraps the weight around a final target, drags it to her, and slices it neatly in two with the sickle end of her weapon. Even Nao, who had been antagonizing her, is near speechless.
• Shizuru is knocked from her horse, and is surrounded by Mentuleans. It looks dire, until Natsuki enters the fray, begining with a Groin Attack using her daos that ends up leaving the soldier as Half the Man He Used to Be. She then slays every Mentulean that attempts to get close, as they came one at a time instead of forming ranks, making their deaths assured. Natsuki, Shizuru notes with amusement, has an utterly bored look on her face as she takes out the foes.
• After the battle, Shizuru can't find Natsuki, and is worried that she may have fallen in battle. Then there is a commotion, and it turns out that Natsuki is riding up on her horse, essentially dragging the commander of the enemy forces behind her. She then speaks to Shizuru, which astonishes everyone, as she had been Elective Mute before then.
• Shizuru, with nothing but a calm smile, Natsuki at her side, and a potent "The Reason You Suck" Speech, sends Emperor Obsidian back to his territory with his tail between his legs.
• When an assassin who has been trying to increase hostilities between Hime and Mentulae is caught, he refuses to speak as to whom his employer(s) are. He proves resistant to whips during the interrogation, but Nao demonstrates that she knows more than one way to get the answers she wants
• A couple of Shizuru's soldiers get drunk and accost a slave, stealing food from them. Shizuru has to punish them, and placate the wealthy citizen whose slave had been accosted. She gives an impassioned speech to her assembled legions about how she has always watched over them, treated them with fairness, and considered such petty acts as beneath them, and reflecting poorly on her. By the time she's finished, the two soldiers responsible are in tears and begging her to flog them for their transgressions.
• When Takeda draws his sword on Shizuru, Natsuki intervenes, using the weight of her daos to swing from the rafters, landing between the pair, using the sickle end to cut through Takeda's sword, Takeda's cheek, and a thick wooden table.
• When the arch-conservatives put up a Tribune of the Plebs to decry Shizuru as a thief and being in the thrall of a "foreign whore", Shizuru loses her temper, something no one present, Ally or foe had seen or believed possible. She rips him apart, verbally for the warrantless accusations of theft, and then states all generals have affairs during their campaigns, and if any cared to deny it, she could cite two-dozen examples in attendance and provide details. There is an audible gulp from two-dozen throats as they realize she's not bluffing.
• Shortly after losing her leg, Alyssa shows up to reclaim Natsuki from the Himeans, saying she wanted her cousin back. Natsuki interrupts the argument between Shizuru and Alyssa by tossing an apple between them, having hopped out of bed on one foot to get the point across.
• When an Otomean named Bemys is infuriated at being denied a promotion, he barges in and challenges Natsuki to a duel. She agrees, and he says anytime and anywhere. Her response? "Then here. Now." She flings two darts from a concealed bandolier. One takes out Bemys's left eye. The other nicks his carotid artery. She declares the fight over, and Bemys, though protesting, collapses before he can do much else.
  • Having witnessed the above, a Himean officer rode to get Shizuru. Shizuru is so infuriated, Natsuki has to try to hold her in place to keep her from doing anything rash, and is only able to stop her when she's finally able to inform her that she felled Bemys.
  • Crossing over into Heartwarming, despite the fact that Shizuru is in overall command, since it is a matter involving Otomeans, Natsuki asks Shizuru not to kill Bemys if he should live (he dies later), pointing out that if Shizuru kills him, it proves that Shizuru is in charge, which everyone already knows. But if Natsuki deals with the situation, it proves Natsuki is still in control of her own situation, which she needs to demonstrate now because of Bemys's challenge. Shizuru recognizes the logic of what Natsuki is saying, and relents.
• In universe, Natsuki has Memetic Badass status. She has a pet panther, Shizuki, which Shizuru gave her when it was a kitten. She has modified the saddle of her horse, Niger, so that she can ride at a full gallop while sitting side-saddle, owing to her missing leg. Add that to her above defeat of Bemys, and the druids who serve the Mentuleans are convinced that she's a sorceress who commands beasts to do her bidding and can slay giants with a flick of her fingers. This belief has them decide not to try and employ poison against Shizuru.
• Nao and Natsuki firmly establish themselves as Vitriolic Best Buds when Natsuki tells the Himeans of a hidden mountain path into her homeland, then promising Nao she'd die if she tried invading that way. Nao says she doesn't like that Natsuki casually predicted her death, but does appreciate her honesty in doing so, then ribs her by pouring her a full glass of undiluted wine and proposed a toast.