“Even the most ferocious of beasts has parental instincts deep down.” - Old folk saying.

“Fuck! Sera, take over teams one and two and help support Mischka, we got trouble in the back!” cursed Elfriede as she received Reinhardt’s warning through the receiver artifact she wore by her ear. “Ignaz, Silva, Katja, Olyvee, we’re taking teams three and four and heading back! They’ve got our asses on fire right now!”

Since they were squished in the center of the rather narrow formation, Elfriede’s platoon had to form up in a rather narrow single file, which meant that there was a bit of distance between her at the front and the rear which fell under attack just now. She was about to have her people support Mischka’s advance, but immediately turned back with some of them when she received the message.

Part of it was due to tactical considerations. If the enemy soldiers were able to break through one of their flanks and out the other, it would directly cut off the front half of the company from the back, which was a potential disaster in itself. Since the others were occupied by the enemies they were facing, it fell to her platoon – who were in the center – to react to the situation.

The other part of the reason was because it was Alycea’s platoon that the enemy soldiers broke through, and if they were to breach through the rear end of Elfriede’s own platoon, those same enemies would end up on the back of Erycea’s platoon as well.

Normally, Elfriede considered herself a woman with little in terms of emotional attachment. It just wasn’t something for her, in general. Her two daughters, however, were one of the very few exceptions to that, and she couldn’t help but feel a tinge of worry for them in her mind, even if she knew that both girls were trained and prepared as best they could to face situations like these.

It was a rare and foreign feeling for her, to worry about another like that. Probably it was the so-called maternal instincts the others had told her about, perhaps it was part of her ego unwilling to see someone she had raised from infancy be taken away from her, she was uncertain which. Not that she truly cared what the source of the feeling was.

One thing was for certain, in that her footsteps were faster and more hurried than usual as she led her troops back to counter the enemy incursion, her people turning around in the rather tight confines to follow after her. They noticed the atypical way Elfriede was moving and knew better than to accidentally provoke her at such a time.

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The moment they reached the area where the breach was, Elfriede gave orders for her troops to split up. Katja and Olyvee went towards the region where the enemies were breaking through from, while Ignaz and Silva led another half to reinforce their own fellow platoon members who were fighting off the enemy soldiers.

Elfriede herself led a smaller group and headed straight for where Alycea and her small group of close friends were still holding on at the front, fighting with all they had. Tight-knit teamwork and the small group’s exceptional skills had allowed them to repel the enemy forces even while they were being heavily outnumbered all this while.

Since Olyvee and Katja together with the troops behind them were covering the main breach to one side of Alycea’s group, Elfriede circled around to the other side of Alycea’s group and descended upon the enemy soldiers there. The unfortunate enemy soldiers trying to force a breach between the second strike platoon and the small front held by Alycea’s group had not seen her coming until it was too late.

It was a difficult matter to fight in the midst of a chaotic, cramped battlefield where one would barely have enough room to properly swing their own weapons, but some mastered the way to fight under such conditions nonetheless. Elfriede’s unusual method of perception in particular allowed her to thrive in such an environment, as she was aware of the movements of everyone around her, friend and foe both.

She slipped under blades being swung, at times used her body to cover an ally’s strike, only moving away at the last moment, all while weaving through the crowd and reaping lives as she pleased. Given the cramped conditions which made it difficult to utilize the full length of her weapons, she flipped them around, using the dagger blades at the bottom of the hilt instead of the longer blades above, keeping her movement compact as she stabbed, ripped, and tore the flesh of her foes in passing.

When an enemy soldier was aware of her presence and swung his blade at her, Elfriede nonchalantly caught it between the dagger at the hilt and the crescent blade on her weapon’s handguard, keeping the enemy’s weapon immobilized with a slight twist of her wrist. Then she allowed the strike to continue on its way, safely past her, while raising her elbow at the same time with lethal intent.

Her elbow pushed against the unsharpened back of her weapon and helped drive her blade’s tine into the enemy soldier’s throat from the side, the blade piercing through from one side of the man’s throat to the other. When Elfriede then yanked down with her hand that held the weapon’s handle, the sharp blade of the tine sliced right through the front side of the man’s throat and showered her with blood as it sprayed briefly out of the wound.

Without pausing, Elfriede continued on her rampage as she scythed down one enemy soldier after another, often before they realized that she had closed in on them. Her clothes quickly soaked through with blood – entirely her victims’ at that – as she reaped lives as if she was harvesting wheat, while her troops behind her helped lighten the pressure that went to Alycea’s group, who were all still fighting in the frontlines as well.

Meeting up with her daughter could wait. Reducing the pressure and keeping her safe until that meeting was what mattered at the moment to her.