Sindri Fabricius was shoved to the paved ground, his hands cuffed behind his back, his eyes blindfolded, and his mouth gagged. It would’ve appeared that he was the victim of a kidnapping, but this was far from reality. He was to receive a sentence, three days after committing a heinous crime. The crime of committing an indignity on the remains of his squad mate.
Two Titanian soldiers stood behind him. One removed his blindfold and gag, while the other took off his handcuffs, before both left the area. Sindri gasped for air as his eyes searched the sky to identify where he was.
The butterscotch day sky quickly told him that he was back on Mars, his native planet. He was in the courtyard of a prison for military offenders in a small fortification. It was much smaller than the famed Xanadu Penitentiary on Titan, yet the people housed in it had all violated the highest form of Titanian law--the military code.
It had taken two days for the proper documentation to be filled out and approved, but the person who had the honour of handing down his sentence was standing at the other end of the courtyard, donning a full-dress uniform as opposed to the armor he had worn thred days earlier.
“Why are we back on Mars?” Sindri asked, pulling himself to his knees. “Who sent me here?”
“Oh? That’s the first thing that comes out of your mouth? Lucia’s getting treatment only a couple hundred yards away, and Malin’s body is being prepared for her funeral in the morgue below us as we speak. You’re not concerned about them at all. You disgust me.”
“Unfortunate, I suppose. Judging by the way you’re looking at me right now, it looks like you have business with me.”
“Unfortunate?!” Meinrad shouted, having an incredibly hard time grasping the words coming out of his Sindri’s mouth. “Lucia saved your life. Malin’s and your ability went so well together, and how did you repay it? You pounded her head until it was a lump of flesh attached to her neck. When we take her back to Titan… it’ll be me who’ll have to explain to her mum why she can’t look inside her daughter’s coffin. Selfish prick.”
“They’re just stepping stones.” Sindri spoke bluntly. “Both of them.”
Meinrad’s fingers became white as his hand squeezed the hilt of his sword in its belt. He was done listening to the freak. He was ready to enact the oldest remedy in Titanian law—punishing a subordinate soldier via combat.
Klaudia watched from inside the prison walls, as the punishment was only considered legal with a witness present. She knew of Sindri’s raw, monstrous strength, and of Meinrad’s cunning and intelligence. It would be a tough fight, and she feared Meinrad’s attributes would not be enough to help him.
There he goes, she thought as Meinrad raced towards Sindri, his knife held above his head. Sindri had already known what Meinrad was about to do, and his body reacted by converting to his Berserker state. Sindri parried Meinrad’s blow using his arm, even though he only had on a prisoner’s uniform. Meinrad grunted as he jumped back to avoid the same fists that disfigured Malin’s corpse.
“Ah, see? This is why you couldn’t join the regular military like your fellow Martians,” Meinrad spat as he adjusted his footing for another charge. He raised his sword upwards, thrusting its tip at the last moment to stab into Sindri’s thick chest. “Your anger is all you are!”
“Wanna see it?” Sindri roared as he rolled backwards, completely ignoring the pain inflicted on him. He was mad, hungry to draw blood, desperate to destroy. His impulse had taken full control of his body. He could not use techniques such as Barriers. The ends of Sindri’s fingernails were long and sharp, like talons. He dug them into the ground, crushing the pavement between his huge fingers into large chunks that he gathered in his hands. The speed at which he did so was great, so much so that Meinrad barely had enough time to create level 15 Barriers as the chunks came hurtling at him. He was protected from the projectiles, but the sheer force of the throw had caused him to fall off his feet and tumble across the ground.
“Get up, Meinrad, get up!” Klaudia cried as she desperately wished to interfere and save her closest friend. The two of them together likely would’ve taken down Sindri with ease, but this was trial by combat.
That freak is too much for him. Again with his rash decisions. Always getting other people hurt, even himself, Klaudia remarked.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“This is why the colonel recruited me!” Sindri boasted with a cruel laugh. “Should’ve brought more than just that sword, Terran.”
“She used you because you had a trait that was beneficial to her squad. There’s nothing special about you.” Meinrad said as he tried to pull himself up to his knees, but one of his shins had a piece of pavement lodged into its skin, causing him moderate discomfort.
“Fuck you, you little ape! I am the superior species. I won’t lose. I will evade this punishment and I’ll crush your head like I did that bitch’s… while you’re alive!” Sindri roared as he punched, jabbed, and threw lethal hooks that would instantly kill ordinary Titanian soldiers at Meinrad.
However, each and every one of those blows was avoided with ease as Meinrad either dodged or parried against each blow with his sword, made with the highest quality Utrium.
At that moment, Klaudia made a realisation.
Meinrad’s making him angrier and angrier. On purpose?
It looked like Meinrad was getting bored, and Sindri getting more furious. That was when Meinrad changed his moves. He stuck his sword into the ground via a crevice Sindri created earlier, using it to leverage himself and raise a leg in the air.
Is he trying to stop his fist with his foot? What the hell is he thinking?
Sindri smirked as he opened his fist, completely encompassing Meinrad’s boot-clad foot inside it.
“You idiot. You little pea-brained ape. What did you think you’d accomplish by doing that? You’re not different from the rest of the vermin.” he spoke proudly, as he squeezed down on Meinrad’s appendage harder and harder while hoisting him up in the air. Meinrad groaned as he felt the bones of his foot push against one another.
“Colonel Gerlachus is a smart woman,” Meinrad managed to spit out despite his pain. “The only mistake she made was not getting rid of you sooner.”
Was Meinrad just… toying with him the entire time?
Meinrad swung his free leg upward and locked it around Sindri’s neck. Its strong, thick muscles gave the young Titanian a hard time breathing as his hands tried to claw at the tight leg.
“Let go of him!” Klaudia cried. “Before he tears your leg apart!”
Instead of heeding the pleas of his worried second-in-command, he leaned his 220-pound body hard and fast, causing Sindri to crash to the ground face first. Without wasting any time Meinrad crawled away from the mess of limbs and grabbed his sword while Sindri tried to catch his breath.
With one swift swing, it was done. Sindri’s head relinquished its 17-year-long union with his body, marking the occasion by shooting a stream of blood from the stump of his neck onto Meinrad.
“It’s done.” Meinrad said, as he staggered backwards and hit the ground on his rear end, his sword dropping with a clutter to his side.
Klaudia came rushing out into the courtyard, dim purple light glowing from her palms as she rushed to his side, kneeling next to him.
“Is your foot okay?” she asked.
“Might be… a tiny bit fractured. But nothing a little rest won’t fix.” he sighed.
“You don’t need rest,” Klaudia said as she pulled off Meinrad’s boot, casting her hands over a mass of broken toes. “You need healing.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right.” Meinrad said dismissively.
A team of soldiers entered the courtyard with a stretcher. As they placed Sindri’s head and body onto it, Klaudia couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. The Frei Squad’s black sheep had finally been eliminated.
If Malin knew what that monster did to her… I’m sure even she would be glad to see him dead. But she can’t.
--
Joakim gazed into a large window that offered a glimpse of the hospital bed inside. The person inside was awake, having a casual chat with the nurses observing her.
Should I go in? Joakim asked himself.
He felt a finger tap his shoulder, causing him to turn around. He always had to look up, since every single person he had interacted with in the past several months was at least a head taller than him with the exception of only Klaudia and Malin, now only the former.
“It would be wise to see her, Private.” the feminine voice spoke as Joakim made eye contact.
“C-Colonel?” Joakim said, raising a hand in salute. “What are you doing here?”
“I came here as quickly as I could. Major General Brose gave me three days’ leave after I was informed of what happened to Corporal Schenk.”
Joakim looked down at his feet. Two days later, and he still couldn’t process what happened to her. First, her final words of affection towards him and her mother, then the brutal disfigurement of her body. The only thing that comforted him was the fact that Meinrad was giving Sindri exactly what he deserved as he and Colonel Gerlachus spoke.
“I understand how you feel, Private. She was…”
Tove paused for a moment to stop her voice from breaking within the professional premises of Fort Bence.
“She was a good soldier. Her loss will be felt for a very, very long while. Take it one day at a time.”
“And Sind—Lance Corporal Fabricius?” Joakim asked.
“Believe me when I say this,” she said, her voice emanating with unusual sincerity. “But I fully planned on opening an investigation on his behaviour had this war not happened. I knew what was going on in that palace. It wouldn’t be fair for me to hand down his punishment. Captain Glynn and he were never on great terms, so it’s for the best that he be the one to do it,”
Joakim looked into the hospital room window again, as the two nurses inside took their leave.
“Private Holt, you still saved one of your comrades. Go speak with her.”
“Yes, instructor.” Joakim saluted before he walked through the sliding doors of the hospital room.