(Julius POV)

"Bye, grandpa. I'll miss you."

Amina jumped and hugged Umbra Moria. He showed no signs of discomfort as he let his granddaughter do as he pleased.

"Not going to say goodbye to your big sis?"

Veronica was also seeing us off.

"Well, goodbye Nica. I would say I will miss you, but I won't. At school, I won't have to deal with your torture."

"Don't be like that Jules, it wasn't that bad."

"It was."

"Ok enough.

Umbra Moria interrupted our banter.

"Kids, enjoy and learn as much as you can at Central High. There are a lot of things you don't want to miss. Experience it all and have fun. Don't just focus on training as a mage."

With those words, we entered the training leaving for Newstein. After being hugged by Veronica, Amina and I got on the train.

***

A military outpost in the demon domain

"I'm all in."

"Ooo... confident Harry."

"Hmm..."

I held my poker face.

"Call."

Richard matched my bet.

"I'm sorry lads, but I'll have to fold."

Tom gave up. The last card was placed and we showed our hands.

"Full house vs my four of a kind. I'll take all the chips."

Richard was despondant.

"Soldiers, break time is over, get back to your post."

Our commanding officer barged in and interrupted our game.

We finished cleaning up and went to our posts. I grabbed my sniper rifle and climbed on top of the guard tower.

I was a non-mage sniper. Soldiers in the civilian ranks made up most of the army, though most mages called us cannon fodder. The weapon I wielded was a magic weapon.

It was a classified weapon only used by the military and was banned from entering the human domain. It gave the ability for non-mages like me to kill mages.

This weapon sucked mana from the atmosphere to fire bullets at beyond hypersonic speeds that could penetrate the mana barriers of even B ranks.

However, this only worked as a surprise attack. If they noticed my attack, they could easily prepare countermeasures.

My partner and I sat on the bench playing cards and munching snacks to pass the time. It was reported that the demons were planning to attack south from this outpost so it was improbable they would attack here.

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Hours passed by and I soon felt uneasy. It wasn't that nothing was happening, I had a feeling that something was occurring.

I stood up a stared at the empty war-torn lands. The aftermath of fights also left a barren wasteland, especially when mages were involved. It would take decades before it could be restored.

I noticed black dots coming up in my vision.

"Hmm? Pass me the binoculars."

"Ok."

I nearly cussed when I saw the image come. An army of human-like beings was marching toward us. They could be confused for humans if not for their horns or monstrous appearance.

"DEMONS!"

My partner stared at me with his eyes wide open. I passed him the binoculars and he saw for himself the demons attacking.

"Was the information wrong? Have they faked their movements?"

"Doesn't matter, we need to send this to central."

I shut up my partner and I rang the telephone.

"GT5, do you copy? "

"Sir, I have detected demons on the horizon."

"Are you sure, soldier?"

"Yes sir."

"Request confirmation from other GTs... GT2, 3, and 6 have also confirmed demon movements."

"Shit, this is a bad situation."

I heard a commotion being raised inside the outpost.

"Solider, hold your position and monitor their movements. Fire if they keep advancing."

"Copy."

I held the phone in my hands as my partner fed me information.

"They're advancing. I estimate the force to be 1 or two divisions. Based on the equipment, they appear to be composed of mostly civilians with a few mage companies."

I relayed the information to the soldiers at the outpost. With that many soldiers, they probably had a least an A-rank commander leading them. Even if they didn't their numbers more than made up for it.

I knew I would probably die here, but I wasn't scared. Actually, I was excited. I resolved to make my last stand. I opened my pendant, in my pocket. It had a picture of my wife, son and daughter.

I was fighting not for humanity, but for them. My youngest named Christopher was attending Central High this year, so I was proud of him.

"Let's make our last stand Jonathan."

"You seem confident we'll die."

"Yes, we will."

"Then we'll kill as many of these spawns from hell before we croak."

My partner and I positioned our snipers and aimed for targets.

*Bang*

I sniped a demon. The demon looked appeared to be a non-mage enemy captain, so I only used a regular bullet. Our job here was to reduce the number of enemy captains possible. We wanted their army to be disorganized.

The nearby demons were enraged at this. The demon army reacted to attacks coming from the outpost and they stopped marching. Solid mages were creating defences to hide behind and other mages led a charge to destroy an outpost as soon as possible.

Despite I smiled.

*BANG!*

Even though I reinforced my arms, I still felt the recoil behind that attack. I used the special function in this sniper that allowed me to gather surrounding mana and use it to fire a supersonic bullet.

The bullet hit the head of a demon mage, killing him. I just did what was thought to be impossible; a non-mage killing a mage.

In retaliation, another mage shot a massive fireball at us. The guard tower explode and I was sent flying out.

*Crunch*

Before I hit the ground, I reinforced my body, protecting myself from the fall.

'I landed on my arm. I think it's broken.'

I managed to stand, with my left arm hanging uselessly. I looked around and saw my partner on the ground nearby.

"John, no, John..."

No matter how much I shook him, he wasn't getting up. Though I was denying it, he was dead.

"Goddamnit man, you had to be a hero,"

His body was burnt and mangled. He jumped in front of the fireball, taking the brunt of the force, while I only had minor burns.

But this was no time to grieve, I need to kill as many of those sons of bitches as possible. I used my other right hand to pick up my sniper nearby.

It was slightly damaged, but functional. It would serve my purpose. I hid behind the rubble and took up my position.

By the time I was ready, the demons were almost at the outpost, ready to attack.

*BANG*

I fired another super-sonic bullet, albeit weaker than the first one. These super-sonic bullets drew mana from the atmosphere, so it took time for the surrounding mana to return to allow for another attack. Though, this bullet still killed another mage.

As I was about fire another bullet, a mage kicked my head and I was sent flying backward. I somehow managed to reinforce myself before I was attacked, but the blow still rocked my head.

I lay on the ground, drained of mana and unable to move. My head was spinning and I was flickering in and out of consciousness.

'Here's how I die. At least I killed a mage before I did.'

I smiled, staring at the beautiful blue sky.

'I'm sorry Miranda, Amanda, Christopher for leaving you behind.'

I can't believe I missed so much of my family's lives. I almost regretted joining the military. Almost. This was to protect them. No matter how weak I was, I still contributed to humanity's victory.

I felt the darkness pulling me. I closed my eyes and embraced it.