Other than the transport boat I was in, there were six other boats heading to the shore. Rose and I were in the same boat, Isabelle and Luke were I another, and my adoptive fathers were together in a third.

“900 yards!” A man behind me yelled.

“S-so… what’s your… favorite movie,” Rose asked, trying not to look me in the eye.

In the closet, by Steve Berkan, Pemo quipped.

Shut the fuck up, Pemo.

What? Just trying to lighten the mood.

I mentally groaned, then replied out loud “I don’t watch movies. Usually too busy engineering or planning.”

“You’ve gotta have watched at least one.”

“Hmm… sometimes, I’m willing to sit down and watch a movie with realism.”

“Oh… cool!”

“500 yards!”

…

“What about books,” she asked, glancing behind me and slightly to the left for a split second.

Hey, Pemo, what’s she looking at?

I thought you wanted me to shut up.

Don’t be a dick.

With a sigh, Pemo said Isabelle’s helping her flirt.

…

Cute.

No, it’s not! You’re clearly gay!

I can say someone looks cute.

I… fuck you.

“10 seconds!”

Sorry, you’re not my type.

The boats hit the rocks forming the beach, and as the front ramp started opening, gunfire shot down the soldiers in the boats.

I immediately jumped over the side of the boat, and into the water. Once I was hidden under the waves, my suit’s helmet formed, and the water trapped inside was filtered in just a second, giving me the freedom of oxygen.

“Ah. Refreshing.”

As if god himself was trying to spite me, when I rose my head above the water, a splash of blood hit the helmet visor, covering up the entire left side.

Sighing, I ducked my head into the water to clean it off, then stood up, and immediately running for cover.

What are you, a vampire? I didn’t know you liked blood like that.

“Alright, I’ll give you that. That was clever,” I said out loud, finding a chunk of metal embedded in the sand to hide behind.

“Wow. She has a crush on a psycho now. Great.”

I looked to my right, and saw Isabelle, sitting down next to me behind the metal, with a KAR 98 sniper rifle in her hands.

I scoffed, then unsheathed one of my swords, thinking of a white and blue semi-automatic rifle. The sword then electrified with green and red electricity, surrounding the sword until it disappeared, leaving a rifle exactly as I imagined in my hands.

Then, I heard a loud bang, followed by Isabelle saying loudly “Hmm. Cute. But a semi-automatic rifle’s a bit too… lazy, right?”

“Maybe. But it’s also far easier to advance and manage,” I replied, laying down and setting my rifle down on an outstretched part of the metal.

I then closed my left eye, and with the other, looked into the scope, seeing a bunker with a machine gun poking out, rapidly firing bullets at the holographic, yet incredibly realistic soldiers rushing up the hill.

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“Sure,” Isabelle said, shrugging as she fired another round, before cocking the bolt back to immediately fire another round.

“But it isn’t nearly as satisfying. It’s like a garand. Normally, running out of bullets in the chamber is the worst feeling. But with a garand… reloading is what every gun user craves.”

“The same applies here. If someone hasn’t learned to appreciate these… feelings, they’ll hate having to cock the bolt back. But to people like me, that’s the best part about shooting.”

Finally, I fired my first shot, straight through the cracks of the machine turret, and then, I turned my thermal x-ray vision on, allowing me to see the bullet bounce around the entire bunker, killing 13 soldiers, including the one manning the turret.

“What’s your count so far,” I asked, turning my rifle to the trenches.

“Really? You’ve fired only one shot, and I’ve fired four. Well…”

She cocked the bolt back, and fired again.

“Six rounds so far.”

“Still asking.” Seeing a soldier pop his head up, and I fired immediately.

“Fourteen. Looks like you’re slacking.”

Isabelle’s eyes widened, and she let go of her rifle, not realizing it was falling over.

“What the hell?! How?!”

I smirked, then replied wittily “Magic.”

“Oh, hah hah. Could’ve just said it was a secret.”

Isabelle picked her rifle back up, and fired a shot immediately, cocking the bolt back intensely.

“Just to make things clear, this little interaction… it doesn’t make us friends.”

“Agreed. Cause I don’t make friends… only enemies.”

Isabelle stared at me with intrigue, yet I could tell that she wouldn’t dare ask me to elaborate.

“Eh. Everybody makes enemies without trying. But friends, on the the hand…”

She looked to her right, and watched as Luke, Issac, and Rose rushed through the war zone.

When she started to stand up, I asked her “You a psychologist?”

“Was planning on it. Until… well, you know.”

I then watched as Isabelle joined the others and they all jumped down into the trenches to engage in closer combat.

“Eh, fuck it.”

I stood up, held the rifle high in the air, then swung it quickly to my size, causing it to quickly transform back into a sword.

I waited a second, analyzing the remain gunner’s pattern, then ran to the trenches when I saw an opening.

I sped past a storm of bullets, from the machine gun as well as other enemy guns. At one point, a bullet nearly hit my helmet, but I raised my gauntlet up which caused a flash of blue lasers to cover the front of it, creating an energy shield.

Once I was close enough to the trench, I front flipped into it, and slicing down a soldier’s sides as I landed on my knees into the trench.

An enemy soldier shouted something in German, but was interrupted quickly when my energy shield detached from my gauntlet, and, grabbing it with my free hand, I spun around and threw the shield through the splitting sides of the first soldier, allowing it to fly through 5 other soldier’s stomachs.

I jolted my head to the right, seeing some more enemies charging. So, in response, I slowly unsheathed my sword, and as soon as it was in it’s scabbard, I ripped two Glock-19s from my belt, spun them around, and began firing every single round into the wave.

As soon as I heard the click signifying the empty magazines, I slammed the bottoms of the pistols into my hips, causing the magazines to eject out, and then I pushed the pistols onto the extra magazines hanging off my belt, allowing them to slide in. Finally, I roughly brushed the chambers across my hips, cocking them.

I did all this in about 2 seconds, give or take a couple milliseconds. Seeing there were no more soldiers in my direct eyeline, I looked to the right, seeing a massive cluster of three bunkers mashed together off in the distance. So, I started walking to my destination.

So… how are you doing, Steve?

Eh. Not good, but I try not to think about it. No point in feeling bad if you can’t do shit about it.

Alright… hey, are we okay? Cause I know I can sound like an asshole sometimes… but I’m really just trying to joke around.

Yeah, I know. It’s alright. Just… don’t do it all the time, okay?

A soldier suddenly drifted around the corner, so I quickly unsheathed a sword, slashed through their legs and right arm, and immediately sheathed my sword and continued walking like nothing even happened.

“Ugh, this is gonna take forever.”

I reached into one of the pockets on my belt, and I pulled out two technology disks with purple stripes. I looked at the cluster bunker out in the distance, and quickly calculated the force I’d need to use.

Once I was done, I threw one of the disks forward, waited a second, then pressed the button in the center of the disk still in my hand.

Blue electricity shot out from the disk, completely engulfing me for but a moment, before retreating back into the disk to show that I had been teleported to the entrance of the cluster bunker.

I was now in a courtyard-like area with a slightly elevated circular platform in the middle, with a mortar cannon on top.

Dozens of soldiers trained submachine guns on me, from various parts of the room. I looked down at the teleportation disk still on the ground, then slowly raised the one I was holding high in the air.

Once I had fully raised my arm, I double tapped the disk, and a current of electricity bounced across my body between both disks, with lighting bolts shooting out of the current towards random soldiers.

Even though this basically turned me into a human lightbulb, I remained unharmed, mostly thanks to my suit.

Once the enemies were dead, I put the disks back in my belt, only for more guards to run out of the cluster bunker.

Sighing, I unsheathed one of my swords, and thought of a staff. The sword transformed into a staff, but this time, the electricity surrounding it was more unstable.

That’s when I started to hear a voice from it.

Use me. Kill everyone. You can take all the power, and I can do that for you. C’mon.

I grunted, sweat dripping down my forehead. I slammed the staff into the ground, causing I giant wave of energy to disintegrate the soldiers around me, along with parts of the simulation room.

Finally, smiling pridefully, I stepped forward, only to immediately fall unconscious to the ground.

Doo doo doo. Commercial break!