When Monika left the bar, the first thing she did was to be assigned to the frontline, she needs a place where she can just devote to work and clear her head in the process, she then was gone to the city of Cadiarc a city that is known for its industry sectors, however, recently there has been reporting of constant natural disasters and appearance of unknown monsters. When she finally arrived, the situation of Cadiarc is far worse than she thought. She couldn't help but realize that when she was having fun, there's people out here struggling for their basic survival needs. The city from far is all ruins, in the edge of city where Monika arrives, people are begging for food and supplies.
Just when she's about to give a young boy her food in the backpack, a wild mutated bear charged into the main road. Monika quickly carries the boy away, then proceeds to deal with the bear. The bear is infected by a frenzy parasite, a parasite that exists to make their host enraged so they can spread in the water or further places. Some imperial army uses that to purposely increase the fighting efficiency of the soldiers. As the road is getting cleared, Monika draws her sword challenging the two meters tall bear in front of her. Everyone who's hiding covers their eyes to prevent them from seeing the girl getting shredded into pieces.
The bear uses one of its pawns to do a right hook slash, but when it feels pain, the right pawn is already flying away from the arm. Then Monika jumps over on the air, then proceeds to drop a slash vertically throughout the bear's body. As she sheaths the sword, the bear is already in half. Everyone was amazed by her skill and bravery. People surround her cheering her as the red-haired hero. Monika is not familiar with this but she's still happy that no one got hurt from it. She then proceeds to help people to dismember the meat and help them to carry their stuff back to their city.
After Monika is done with today's work, it's already midnight. She went to a hotel, then took a long warm shower. She's glad that despite the disaster, the water supply system is still available. In the bath, seeing her beautiful body outline, she's indeed for most people a perfect girl. However, at this lonely and tiring moment, she couldn't help but start thinking about her home and friends. Later, she's out of the shower, she then changes into some-more comfortable clothes. She lies on the bed, the moonlight from the surrounding moons reflecting on her spotless skin as if she's covered in silver paint. Soon, due to the tiredness Monika fell asleep, in her dream she was with Trazyn, but he was a real person. A person that she's never met in her life. In her dream, she was giggling constantly because of the jokes and stuff, but soon the ambiance starts getting ambiguous, and just about their face is getting closer and closer, she suddenly woke up.
Her cheeks are burning hot, her heart is still ponding even after a quick shower and geared up for the second day. Monika, wonders what Trazyn is doing but soon she dismisses that thought, she's here to help people not to think about... think about what? Is he even a friend? She then shakes her head and then heads downstairs.
Some people recognize her while she's eating breakfast, she just simply waved back with a grin. suddenly someone approached her from the back: "You like the feeling, isn't it?" A man with an imperium commissar uniform sits across her. Monika didn't answer him, she just wants to be done with her food and off to her day. He doesn't really look hostile but surely isn't friendly as well. He takes off his hat then starts digging the food:" Sorry if I interrupted your breakfast. I was just glad to see a capable person come to this emperor forsaken land."
"What do you mean?" Monika asks.
"Well, let's just say that there isn't really more reinforcement coming to this place, therefore we all need to rely on ourselves." he then shakes his head in a disappointing way. By the way the name is Anton Thorn, commissar of the Kronus Regiment." He extends his right hand for a handshake.
Monika shakes his hand and asks:" Kornus? You are a few star systems away. Why are you here?" Monika is a bit curious about the commissar sitting across from her.
"Well, young lady. That's a military secret, right now we are supposed to help to rebuild this place. We are glad to have you on board. "He then proceeded to drink his grass juice.
"I am a captain of the Imperial Navy, so please start talking like how you are supposed to talk to a superior officer." she takes out her army tag then handed it to him. She usually doesn't do the powerplay unless it's between military personals, in all honesty, she didn't like the way Anton acted when they first met, as if he is doubting her identity or strength.
He holds her tag then examines it carefully, he then smiles as if he's out of pressure:" Glad to have you, captain, ready for instruction." he then stands up and wears his hat.
"At ease, I'm not really a person who's into formalities." She stops him before he is about to salute her with the standard imperial salute. Then she starts to finish the last piece of bread on the plate. "So, why did your regiment come here and what can I do to help?" This time she is asking Anton as a superior officer, any other dishonest answers will face punishments.
"Captain, we are here to repel the Xenos but so far we are kind of being overrun, the pool near the city is already infected with a frenzy parasite thus it is full of monsters and beasts that exist to tear you apart." He replies with a defeated tone.
Monika gives him the tag number of her communication device:" Call me if you require help. Right now, I'll be off for some help for the cityrs." She then runs to an old man to help him push his wagon outside of the hotel.
Anton looks at the picture on the tag, couldn't help himself but feel his heart beating faster. Even for a minor genetically modified soldier like Anton, Monika's looks can still act like natural adrenaline.
Just far away from where they were sitting, an old man with a green right eye is enjoying his food while having two ravens on his shoulder. He then whispers some words to them, as if they can understand his words; in an instant, they are gone and nowhere to be found.
A week has passed, and it seems the situation has almost no improvement even though Monika already cleaned out some nests of the monsters around the city. She starts to think about what commissar Anton said a week ago: there's no reinforcement coming, we are all abandoned in this emperor forsaken land. But it wasn't all in vain, a lot of shops reopens due to the better situations even though it was just a bit better.
When she's drinking water from her bottle, she senses something is approaching her. Something not big but fast with mechanical noises. After 10 seconds a dog-sized half mechanical animal came out from the bushes. It seemed like a normal dog but the mechanical skull from it shows that it is being purposely experimented on and making it more vicious than usual.
But it didn't attack Monika, it just kept looking at her with rage and terror. This gives Monika a bit of time to fully observe the creature in front of her. She noticed that some liquid is dripping down from the "dog". As she is about to advance to investigate more, the animal runs away. She takes out a small bottle to collect the liquid then proceeds to go back to the city.
After a week of helping the city, the people give a nickname to Monika: The crimson angel. Crimson is due to the sheer speed of her attack the combination of her red hair as if the only color you can see while she's fighting is the dark red color. Angel is because she's like an angel that was sent by the emperor himself to save this city. People give a really cliche name to describe her. Monika personally doesn't like it, because she doesn't really like to be exposed by her peers. Also, the name is bad, the sheer lack of creativity would frustrate her if is in her teenage years.
As she gives the liquid to the small test lab in the city, she's gone to eat lunch. It is at this moment; she sees someone she knows. Wednesday is digging the steak in a civilized manner, even though the people around him can only get bread and butter for lunch.
She approaches him from behind then stops on the side of the table:" Hello there, Mr. Wednesday." She said it with a polite tone.
He quickly swallows the meat in his mouth then cleans his mouth: "OH, hello, young lady. What can I do for you?"
"Do you not remember me? We met at Dreyer's bar, a few weeks ago." She replied while examining his clothes. It's still the same as the day she met him.
"Pardon me if I get it wrong, is it Ms. Terra? I think I can recall it from the color of your eyes." he smiles.
"Yes, and if I may ask…. What are you doing here?" She asks while having both of her hands on her back: "This place is not exactly known for having a great tourist spot and besides, the whole area is really dangerous."
Wednesday put away his food then stood up:" I am here to do some work, young lady. If I may ask as well, would you like to accompany me around in this town? I do have some errands to run."
Monika gives a thought about it then nods her head.
While walking in the town, Monika and Wednesday talked a lot about various things. And then they stopped at a park. "My dear, I'll be meeting someone in private. If you want, you can hang around in this place and try to explore the local culture," he said to Monika then left with a wink.
Monika nods and she immediately goes into a dessert shop that she's already wanted to go to when they were passing by. It's a dessert shop that's dedicated to the rose cake. It is a special dessert that's made by the flower of rose. She immediately takes five small pieces and starts to enjoy them on a bench.
As she starts to eat the third one, she sees a little girl looking at the rose cake in her hand. But she soon got pulled away by her mother. It kind of reminds her of herself, but she then shakes her head trying to shake away the thought of homesickness.
When she's finally done with her cakes, Wednesday comes and sits beside her:" Enjoying the local food?"
"Yea, the dessert in this place is amazing. Do you want to try it out?" she asks while wiping the sugar coating from her lips.
Wednesday looks at the dessert place:" No thank you… I think I'm fine." he then takes over the empty bag then smells inside it:" I think the scent will do this time. I bet it's too sugary for my taste."
Monika didn't really get weirded out by his move, but she thinks that it's time to ask the question she always wanted to ask: "So, how did you know Trazyn? and what kind of person are you to be able to go to the hub just by yourself, are you like an imperium designated traveler or something?"
At first, his face is full of confusion, then he realizes it was the robot she was referring to: "Well, we don't really know each other. It's just we've met once, and it wasn't in a good term. "Before Monika asks more follow-up questions, he tells Monika to get on with the walk.
They spent the whole afternoon with each other and talked a lot about almost everything. Monika at some point feels like he is Trazyn in disguise, but the way he talks, and his act just cancel her suspicions.
"It was nice to talk to you, Mr. Wednesday," Monika said in a nice tone, she likes the way Wednesday acts, it looks like someone really has experienced a lot and knows about a bit of everything.
"Was my pleasure, it's always fun to have someone as beautiful as you to be around" Suddenly there are two Raven lands on the tree next to him. Monika didn't really notice anything out of ordinary. Then they bid each other farewell.
At night, Monika had a dream about home again, but this time she didn't wake up but fully emerged into it. When she woke up, she never felt more refreshed and noticed that there's a bit of teardrop from the edge of her beautiful eyes.
A few days later, Monika suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, it's already the third time in this week, where she had the unspeakable nightmare since she arrived at this place. She took an early shower then left her hotel for breakfast.
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Almost every day she can at least find one partner for breakfast, either commissar Anton or Wednesday. She kind of likes it at some point, because eating alone isn't really fun, having people to talk to might be better. Today, she decided to talk about the nightmare she's been having.
After she describes the decayed flesh and the mechanization of bodies in her dreams, even Wednesday says that she's mad. "Well, that wasn't helpful," she sighs while on her way to the lab to check out the test result of the liquid she found.
When she's checking the lab result, it's written that liquid is some form of oil. Oil? From a dog? She thought. This is when she starts to give more awareness to this problem. She then called Anton about what she found out and therefore made him be sure to capture the dog if he ever sees one.
When she was walking past a store, something attracted her eyes. It's a power sword from unknown regiments. But normally these weapons are only wielded by the mighty Astartes, the genetically modified warriors that are the spearhead of every assault. They are one of the main fighting forces for the imperium of man. The moment she looked at it, she fell in love with the general design and the sheer energy that reeks from the weapon. She then quickly asks the owner how much for the sword. "Fifty thou…" just before the owner could finish, she already gave him her credit card.
Monika and Nova never really struggled in terms of money, both of them had a very high paid job for the imperium standard. Unlike Nova who loves buying gadgets, Monika really never had a lot of chance of spending her money because she always tries to make her own stuff. At this point in her saving, she has millions of imperium credit.
When she's holding the sword, she felt an increase in weight, almost tripping her on the floor. The owner explained that it is because this is an inbuilt gravity proportion system where it will make the attack heavier than usual. Of Course, it also needs an Astartes in order to wield it. But what the owner doesn't know is that Monika has the talent of fixing or adjusting the gadgets. After a few adjustments, she disabled the system, thus making it able to be held even with one hand. But the owner just thought the girl had some superhuman strength and remained silent the whole time.
Monika decides to keep her old sword, even though the power sword is better in every way possible. But she still has an emotional attachment to her old sword. She decides to put the power sword on her back and still have her old sword holstered on her waist.
Satisfied by her purchase, she decides to go to the dessert place again for more of those nice rose cakes. When she steps in, she sees Wednesday is waiting in line. She gives a small smirk then grabs his arm and pretends that Wednesday was doing the line for her. Wednesday's face turned from surprise to a nod.
While both of them are enjoying the cake, Monika told him what she saw and did today. She was in an unusually good mood, so she couldn't stop talking about everything. At the end Monika told him about the reason she came to this place. Wednesday didn't really say a lot in the whole conversation, but he knows that this girl is definitely something unique. Something that reminds him of his past.
When Monika talks about her nightmare again, Wednesday lifts his finger and with a weird noise, Monika suddenly feels sleepy and falls asleep on Wednesday's shoulder. When she wakes up, she's back in her hotel, fully dressed yet Wednesday was nowhere to be found. But that was the best sleep she's ever gotten in her whole life. She felt better in every way, as if she was being cursed her whole life. Her mind is clearer, and her movement is swifter than usual.
The second day, when she was ready to head out, Anton found her and gave a report. It was a scout mission that they discovered an ancient cave which is a location of the last hell spawns in the area. She quickly assembled a small squad then headed out to the cave.
"The plan is simple; I will go in and draw attention from the lowest level of the bastion. Then you guys can kill anything that comes out from the cave." Monika briefs the plan before going into the cave single-handedly. From the past, this is the most efficient way of cleaning a nest, due to the nature of the daemons being extremely violent and unorganized. Once they find a target, they are most likely going to chase it till it's been ripped apart.
Most of the soldiers have a grim look on their face, it's the face of distrust and fear. Commissar Anton puts his gun on one of the soldier's foreheads:" If you will not serve in combat then you will serve in the firing line!" Just about the trigger being pulled, Monika slaps away the pistol from Anton's hand.
"We will not do it this way!" Monika pushes Anton a few steps back. She's extremely unhappy about things like this in the army, this was one of the reasons that she left in the first place. She then gives back his gun and starts walking to the cave. Anton didn't really say more, in fact, he's kind of glad that his new captain isn't some cold-hearted monster. But the morale isn't going to rise itself if he and Monika don't do anything.
"I'm going in, remaining radio silence." As Monika enters the cave, everyone starts to set up their weapons. After about 2 mins, the outside of the cave becomes a death trap for anything that would dare to step in.
While waiting, everyone is secretly discussing what just happened between Anton and Monika. Anton heard it and some of the comments aren't nice towards him, but what can he say? At least people's morale is getting better. So, he decided to keep reading intel instead of involving in the conversation.
The cave is enormous, you can even fit a knight-class titan and it wouldn't have a problem moving around. At first Monika didn't see anything irregular, until she stepped into a broken human spine on the ground. As she turns on her flashlight, she sees the green-skinned creatures are looking at her with the killing intent. However, they did not attack.
As she goes in further the place becomes narrower, until she sees a wooden gate. She opens it slowly then finds herself in a place like an arena. Just as she was about to realize something went wrong, the gate got filled by boulders. She's stuck in this place with no retreat. "Damn it," she said internally. She looks around and the spectator seats are all empty, there's really no sign of life except the green skins near the entrance.
Suddenly the cave lights up, oil dripping down from the ceiling's lamps. The previous empty spectator seats are now full of Orks in mere seconds. The whole room reeks with the smell of feces and blood. Apparently, her intel was wrong from the start, this is a gathering place for Orks, but there hasn't been an Ork kind anywhere on this planet for centuries. Monika doesn't show any fear on her face, but she's trying to find a route out of this place. Suddenly the front gate opens, two ork soldiers pushing a weak teenage human girl out and throwing her a sword. "FIGHT! WAGGHHHH!" the orks screams.
This moment violates everything Monika stands for, at this moment she just wants to annihilate the whole ork cave by herself. But now she needs to find a way out for both her and the girl. The girl picks up the sword and slowly runs towards Monika, the closer the girl gets, the clearer Monika could see the tortured mark on her unclothed parts. Just about the girl hits her, she lightly hits the girl on the side of her head and the girl fainted.
"I'm sorry.' Monika said. Then she points her sword towards the Ork that sits on the very top of the spectator seat, the one who yelled "FIGHT". The ork did not hesitate, he jumped down and the whole cave trampled. Compared to three meters tall ork, Monika really is just as big as his arm. The ork pulls out the rusty metal axe from his back and starts charging towards Monika. She didn't dodge the attack, instead, she used her power sword to hit directly on the Ork's axe. The axe shattered like a piece of glass. Just about the ork feels confused about what happened. She throws the power sword between the Ork's eyes. As an experienced officer, taking down a big creature is like a walk in the park. she pulls out the sword and began to survey the surroundings.
The crowd was silent for a few seconds, but they went back to screaming. Monika realizes that isn't their leader, just as she's trying to find the leader, a shackled fly towards her. Monika tries to hit it with her sword, but her hand was chained, then her other hands as well. Strangely enough, those chain doesn't look like they are thrown but more like homing target projectile. This is the moment she realizes that she's at a disadvantage and starts to struggle. However, on each of the end, a trained ork soldier constantly pulls her arms, making her incapable of doing anything.
The ork soldiers suddenly slam down the chain, making Monika's body lose balance and therefore fall on the floor. The crowd is even louder than before. Some of the weaker goblins start jumping into the arena with a dagger coming towards Monika. She sees the goblins reeking with the scent of lust and greed with their hateful and deformed face. Monika tries to break off the chains but more and more orks start pulling the chains that bind her hands and eventually she was overpowered.
Monika kicks off the first few approaching goblins, but more are coming, quickly some of them hold both of her legs, at this moment, Monika loses her hope. It was her arrogance and pride that led her into this very situation. As they put her on her knees, some of the goblins started to put their hands on her body and start to rip her body armors off. Revealing her white, milk-colored skin underneath. She felt hopeless, this is how she will die, in one of the worse possible ways to die. At this instant, the time stopped. She sees Trazyn, the man who saved her before. But this time, he didn't come. It is just a mere illusion in her head before she loses consciousness. However, the illusion tells her a series of untranslatable yet memorable words. But when she repeats it in her mind, blood splashes on her face.
The whole arena is filled with corpses with weapons piercing through their body. Every orks were dead except the one that first touched her. The goblin runs back, but with just a glance, a black sword appeared from nowhere and pierce through the goblin's arm, pinning it on the wall. She was silent the whole time, she used her jacket on the ground to wipe off the blood on her face then took a rag on the floor to cover the ripped off clothes on her body. Repeating the same word in her mind, a sword that's made by some kind of black steel appeared out of thin air. She walks slowly to the goblin with only rage and cruelty in her eyes.
"Where …. Are the rest?" She refers to the prisoners that are being held in this place. The goblin pointed to a small gate on the other side of the arena, then he saw his own body collapsing after a cold feeling on his neck.
Before she went for the prisoner gate, she ran quickly to the girl who she knocked out. The girl has black long hair and her skin is pale like a lifeless corpse. Just about she picks her up, Monka's knees drop on the ground. The "ability" she used earlier completely drained her stamina. She puts the girl's head on her lap and calls for an emergency evacuation.
When Anton and his men arrive at the arena, he sees his captain having extremely messy clothes. The Ork blood is everywhere, and Monika is holding a little girl while surrounded by hundreds of unrecognizable swords and dead green skins. He and his soldiers decide to keep the whole thing a secret by just reporting it as a simple cleansing operation, where Cpt Terra called for backup due to the sheer number of green skins in the area.
Monika woke up in a standard military hospital. She doesn't have anything that's plugged into her, which means that she was just too exhausted from the fight. However, she still feels strengthless, it's just like after an intense muscle workout the second day you feel like your arms are made of noodles.
Just as she was trying to flip the blanket, someone knocked on the door:" Are you up Miss. Terra?" She did not answer, but then commissar Anton entered. He was startled because Monika was looking at him when he turned.
"You woke up. Captain," he said it while saluting.
"How long?" she doesn't really have the energy to form a proper sentence.
"52 hours to be exact. And you don't really have to worry about anything, the prisoners are all being released and tended." then he adds:" we also took care of the girl with black hair."
She nods, the last part was exactly what she wanted to hear. She then lays her head on the pillow, resting while closing her eyes.
"Captain." Anton speaks while closing the blinders on the door." there's something I need to discuss with you." he then takes out a file and presents it in front of her. "So... if I may ask, did you 'summon' all of those blades?"
After a few weeks of working together, she knows the commissar in front of her isn't really into advancing in ranks, instead, he wants to help the locals in the area. She left out a long sigh:" I did, and I didn't even know I had the power before. "she's confused that somehow she managed to pull weapons out of thin air. "Did you report it?" she looks at him with an innocent face.
"No, we did not, in fact, we are about to burn those images after showing you." Anton sees Monika more like the savior of the place where the emperor's light cannot reach. Of Course, he wouldn't sabotage her.
"What about the soldiers?"
"They are my close men; they are like me who want to protect this place."
"Good" Reassured, Monika sipped a bit of water from the water bottle next to her bed. Even at this moment, she's still trying to replicate what she did in the cave, but she really doesn't have enough stamina to do anything except rest.
As Anton leaves the room, she inspects the little sword she made under the blanket while he was here. It is small but still fairly sharp. At this stage, she can only make objects that look like swords, but nevertheless, it's still sharp enough to pierce flesh.
Later in the afternoon, she could already walk on the ground. The first thing she did was to check out the girl she saved in the cave. When she entered the room, no one was sitting in there. In her sleep, she looks just like any other girl in her age. But when Monika is thinking back in the cave, that's the image that she cannot forget. The lifelessness and the mark of torture enrage Monika from the core. Even though she eliminated the orks, she still couldn't drop them, not until this girl recovered her sanity.
Just about Monika to leave the room, the girl suddenly grabs her hands. She looked at Monika with tears in her eyes:" Please…. don't leave…." she said with a broken tone.
The girl has blue eyes, but it's not like Nova's blue with a bit of green. Her eyes are just sky blue. That's something Monika didn't notice before. Monika slowly sits down and gives a reassuring grin:" I am here, and I won't leave." After half an hour of chatting, Monika stayed even as the girl fell asleep.
The girl's name is Kira Vartrix, her family was a long-term resident of the city of Cadiarc. They were raided by the Orks and everyone was killed in front of her just for the sake of entertainment. She was held for weeks before Monika found her. Surprisingly she didn't die in the harsh environment of the place. Needless to say, the assaults marked on her by the orks speak more than words. This girl is just the definition of a miracle and even after this she still craves human emotions. Most people would have their minds broken long ago and die in a corner piled up as food for the green skins.
Monika was shocked by the sheer horrific sight Kira had seen. She regrets that she did not come here earlier to prevent all of this from happening. She couldn't help herself but protect the girl who lived and survived in hell. Kira at some point gives Monika the purpose to stay and make this place have fewer stories like this. But in the city of Cadiarc, a city that is abandoned by the emperor himself, stories like this happen almost every minute.