HA1 0.0 - Prologue

Under the darkness of night sky, on a steep slope in one corner of Avrika Continent, Hide leaned on a rock while looking at Carlson who desperately tried to stop the bleeding in his left stomach.

But Hide realized the gunshot wound in his stomach could not be healed. No medical procedure could save a victim of a hollow point bullet.

"Carl, don't waste your time. I can only last twenty minutes at most. Go, I will hold them off."

Carlson looked at Hide with a deep sigh. Hide was his old and loyal teammate who was certified as an surgeon, and he never gave up on an injury of any kind.

Twice, Carlson nearly died from gunshot wounds and already became half a corpse, but Hide managed to save him when other medics had surrendered. It would be also too difficult to count the number of people that Hide had saved using his medical skills.

"Any last messages?"

"No, I have no one to receive it anymore."

Hide lit a cigarette before inhaling deeply, and he immediately felt an intense pain from the wound in his left stomach.

"Help me set the remaining Claymores, then get out of here fast.”

Without a word, Carlson complied with Hide's request. There were only two remaining Claymores, but to reach Hide's position there was only a steep path. So, two claymores were more than enough to bleed their pursuer profusely.

When Carlson finished setting up the Claymores, Hide had also finished setting up a demo-bag filled with RDX, put it on his lap, and then he calmly enjoyed a cigarette while staring into distance.

As he put the detonator into Hide's grasp, Carlson said, "Either in hell or in the next life, I will looking for you, and then we will become teammate again."

"Wilco Brother."

Hide slightly smiled while looking deeply at Carlson. However, after Carlson was out of sight he looked back into distance. Slowly but surely, remorse then appeared in Hide’s heart, a dark regret that had haunted his life for dozens years. The taste was so bitter that it made Hide repeatedly accepted high-risk job with the hope that it would end his life in honor.

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Five years as a member of 1st Airborne Ranger Brigade, eight years as a support element at 1st SFG with six qualifications apart from sniper and CQB, six years as a mercenary until finally he ended up in a corner of Avrika , sitting alone and drowning in regret while waiting for the end of his life.

"Aizawa... I really miss you."

Tears streamed down on Hide's cheeks while his mind was filled with memories of his half-sister to the brim.

His mother died when giving birth to him, so Hide grew up without ever knowing her. A decade later, his father remarried a Brittis woman named Emily Rhoe.

Emily was a piano player in a high-class pub, specializing in jazz songs. Initially, his father just fell in love with Emily's music, but slowly and surely the relationship between the two became deeply serious. Not long after their marriage, Emily gave birth to a very sweet baby girl named Aizawa Rhoe.

Emily was a soft-hearted woman and an almost perfect mother. Therefore Aizawa could live her days full of joy. But life always went to unexpected directions. When Aizawa was four years old, Emily died in a traffic accident.

After she lost her mother, Aizawa then made Hide as her support, her half-brother who didn't care about her at all. But Aizawa had no other choice as her father who was too carried away in his sadness, no longer cared about his children. Even though Hide treated her poorly, Aizawa continued to follow him.

In the end, little Aizawa had no parental figures, while at school other kids stayed away from her and some of them even bullied her.

According to psychology, three-year-old children were already able to read emotions that were being projected on them. So Aizawa easily realized the negative feelings that Hide projected on her. However, Aizawa tirelessly tried to be an obedient child and never fussed with the hope that one day Hide would accept her.

But hope was only hope, when Aizawa was seven years old her father was killed in a robbery, at the same time Hide chose to leave her.

Hide, who panicked when receiving the news about his father’s death, chose to leave and joined military. Fortunately, officials from social service gave a helping hand to take care of his father's funeral, and then they put Aizawa into an orphanage.

It was only when Aizawa was 16 years old that Hide dared to meet her. Hide, who at that time finally felt that he was worthy to be relying on, invited Aizawa to live as a family. Of course, Aizawa answered his invitation with overwhelming hatred.

Hide fully understood Aizawa's hatred for him, but he couldn't let her live with a drug and alcohol addicts. Moreover, this scumbag treated Aizawa harshly and often beat her.

Hide decided to intervene and managed to separate Aizawa from the addicts. However, Aizawa responded by establishing a relationship with a far more bastard man. This cycle was repeated several times until finally, Aizawa's life was at a point where it could no longer be tolerated.

Ironically, by the time Hide finally knew what he had to do and how he had to do it, Aizawa had committed suicide by overdose, and the last message he left was 'Hide, I hate you.'

Since then, regret has followed Hide wherever he went and crushed his heart day after day. In short, this world became his living hell.

"In the next life, let me endure all your suffering so that you can live without a single regret."

Hide muttered as the faint sound of footsteps could be heard from the bottom of the slope. He immediately opened the detonator's safety, and then he calmly waited.

By relying on his hearing, Hide could tell that a dozen targets had just entered Claymore's range. He then pressed the detonator gently and the two Claymores instantly exploded and spewed out hundreds of steel balls.

Not long after that, moans and groans filled the night air, but Hide didn't have much time to listen into it, because his pursuers fired RPGs sporadically and one of them hit his position.

Along with a loud and dazzling explosion, Uesugi Hidetada left this world while carrying the greatest regret in his life.

*****