+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++
Nomosian Countryside
November 17, 1538 CE
The Peacemaker doggedly stopped in front of what appeared to be a destroyed local manor. It dove straight into a mud puddle, before jumping near the fence area. He already prepared his machine guns. Same with his main guns. And then, he enabled his speakers.
“Show yourself at once! Look, we don’t need any more of this!”
The response to his announcement came empty for a while. The reported local demon was clearly over here. Hans of course knew well from his previous observations that it shouldn’t be too difficult to apprehend. It seemed to be on the weaker side. Even still, the demon managed to kill eighty-four soldiers before it was forced to retreat.
It appeared on the balcony of the manor. She seemed to be that of a young Vanus child. Her skin was pale, and her eyes were black and empty. There were floating, sharp shards of light around her. Hans immediately aimed his guns at her.
“Now raise your hands if you’re willing to cooperate—”
She pointed her palm in Hans’ direction. The shards immediately flew and nearly struck him. But he had already pulled his mech into a hard retreat. He truly hoped to at least try and apprehend and perhaps test out a “theory” that he had in his mind. He wanted to see if he could somehow “pull” out an individual from their corrupted state.
A weak child turned into a demon seemed to be something that Hans hoped was a suitable target. He had, after all, almost succeeded in doing it back then to Alizée. This child reminded him closely of Alizée. Sure, he died and he failed. But Hans wasn’t going to let that theory merely die when he almost succeeded in it.
Then again…Alizée was only in the process of corruption back then. Hans gritted his teeth, as more of those shards appeared on the little girl. But I already tried this multiple times earlier.
And no matter how many times he tried talking to the demon, she’d either attack or run away. Never had she once vocalized a single word. Hans already wasted four hours of their search on this detour. There was also the possible risk that her corruption would reach further, worse stages.
I guess I pushed too far already. No point in overextending.
After her second attack, which he once again dodged—except for one shard that managed to nick mech’s leg harmlessly, he decided the game was over. If he couldn’t pull her off her corruption, he decided to simply end her misery.
Alright…I’m sorry.
He activated his [UPG: TRACE THE DOTS I] upgraded machine gun rounds. He had an entire belt of ADI, MG24 that he prepared earlier. And it only cost him fifty AP in total. Which was…nice? It was, unfortunately, costlier than his standard main gun rounds. The three hundred ammo belt of ADI, MG24 for example, cost him fifty AP.
And he unleashed it on the demonic creature.
His gunshots all caused a violent incineration of the tiny creature. He heard it scream. Then she ran away. But Hans wasn’t going to let some child lengthen her pain. He opened fire with his MPAT on the manor. It immediately began crumbling from the strength of his 90mm munition. He loaded another one and fired it again.
He soon found the demon running from one of the doors on the left side of the structure. Aiming his turret at her—he pulled the trigger for his machine guns. Violent screams came from the child, as fire raged from every shot that pierced her body. By the time Hans was finished, all that was left was a macabre reminder of a corrupted girl.
And his guilt.
[1 Demonic Entity Liquidated]
[LVL UP! NOW LVL. 32]
[PROGRESS TO LVL. 33: 10%]
[AVAILABLE AP: 700 PTS]
+++
“We’re still not getting any sightings,” Adelyn groaned after she finished checking something on the Diligence’s turret. Below, Hans just shrugged. The Viceroy on the other hand seemed just as disappointed as she climbed back up on her horse.
“Then we better keep moving,” the Viceroy looked ahead of the road. “I’ll be going ahead of the two of you. Same with the rest of the force. I think you two spent a good while hunting that demon anyway.”
“Eh,” Hans shook his head. “We don’t need rest.”
“Well then, catch up on us quickly!” The Viceroy’s horse galloped forward. She seemed to be in too much of a rush to hunt and dispatch the Calamity of Injustice. She almost always led their formation, if not for the fact that Hans and Adelyn would sometimes charge ahead of them and leave everyone in the dust.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Beside them, the soldiers of the 4th Holy Ygeia Regiment continued marching onwards, side-by-side with the cavalry and the supply wagons. Hans craned his neck back to Adelyn, who sighed softly.
“You still feel bad about it?” Adelyn asked.
“Huh? About what?”
“Killing that girl?”
Her voice was slightly melancholic. It seemed that it wasn’t just Hans that was reminded of Alizée when they did that mission. Frankly, the strange thing was the fact that Alizée was the one who was the most “out for blood” of the trio. The moment she found out that it was a demon, all she demanded was for Hans and Adelyn to kill her.
Mostly because they also witnessed the aftermath of one of the skirmishes conducted by local soldiers against the demon. A lot of them died, and Alizée managed to catch a glimpse of the corpses when they were inspecting it last night.
“Well…we did what we could,” Hans replied. “That’s all there is to it, to be honest. We tried. We failed. We did the best we could do. Kill her and end her suffering. Same thing we do to all demons we encounter.”
“...You know, I’ve been wondering,” Adelyn looked at the skies. “Is this our job? Ultimately, most people who've been corrupted seem to have suffered greatly. And they’re lashing out against the world. And all we can do is…to free them from their rage.”
“Perhaps?”
“It’s not fair…” Adelyn said. “If these people are usually just normal folks who’ve suffered, why would they inflict suffering on others too? And why…why is killing them the only form of justice or end that we can give them?”
“...Well, it’s the only thing in our arsenal of solutions right now,” Hans walked toward his mech and climbed up on it. “For now, if it’s the only solution that we can give to a problem, then we’ll do our best to deliver it.”
Adelyn seemed unsure about it, but she nodded nonetheless.
“Alright, Lieutenant.”
+++
November 18, 1538 CE
Hans woke up.
It had been a long drive and march last night. Quite frankly, they were moving around a massive area in the search efforts. And so, it took quite the toll on Hans, Adelyn, the Viceroy, and to a lesser extent—Captain Strobel and Captain Weibel, who always tagged along as best as they could.
On the other hand, the rest of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit simply continued marching southward while scouting. That too sapped the stamina of the entire unit. And so, when Hans opened his eyes groggily, he felt his mood at least lighten up compared to last night.
I’m getting a bit sore from sitting my ass here for a while now.
Hans stretched and yawned a bit. Then, he booted up his mech’s display screens. Searching for a powerful demon had always been such a task. Killing a demon was a difficult and deadly proposition. Scouting out a demon…well, it was tedious, laborious, and painful.
I wish I was back to Terra at this point. Hans looked up. At least back there, scouting the enemy is much easier. Sure, those Flandrians like to hide. But you can’t hide an entire army. You at least know where the frontline is relative to you.
When his screen was fully open, he looked at the peaceful village beside the road that they were parked on. His vision was briefly blocked by a wagon that passed by. Behind it, he could even see the half-asleep soldiers of the 4th Holy Ygeia Regiment.
You can’t even know here where the fighting will be. And we’re getting too scattered.
Not that he had much protests about the latter. He liked the fact that Captain Strobel moved his companies in a dispersed manner. On different routes and roads. It made things…safer. And because they weren’t marching in one straight stupid line, they almost seemed to move much faster.
The fact that the rest of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit could keep up with Hans and Adelyn was a testament to that.
Hans soon exited his vehicle to talk again with the rest of the unit as they ate breakfast in one of the tents that Captain Strobel set up. The Viceroy wanted to continue pressing onward. Adelyn wanted the same. Captain Strobel was different though.
“We need rest,” Captain Strobel declared once he finished his plate. It only had gruel on it. The same food that the rest of his men ate this morning. “Real rest. And provisions resupply. We’ve been on the march for too long now. Forced march too. Considering we have to fight a demon, I need my men in the best condition.”
“He does have a point,” Hans said. “Quite frankly, it’s already almost impossible to fight a demon for the average soldier. What more if he’s fatigued.”
“But I can’t stop the search,” the Viceroy insisted. She turned to Hans and Adelyn. “I just cannot. We have to find that monster and kill it. Swiftly. If we cannot do that, he might slip away and continue his rampage unabated in the south.”
“You know,” Hans looked at the Viceroy. “Have you ever given an order for the entire Principality to evacuate?”
“Where will they evacuate, Lieutenant Hoffman?” the Viceroy asked. “All other Principalities are also infested with demons.”
“Well, Ygeia isn’t,” Captain Weibel pointed out. “Or at least, it only exists now in minor numbers in the border areas. Mostly because of incursions by demons active in the other Principalities.”
“Yes. So what?” the Viceroy asked. “Are you going to ask the city’s poor, or the peasants to simply…move? Even if some of them can hitch a ride, walk, or move. It’s risky. And that’s if they can afford it. Not that staying isn’t equally deadly. It’s a death sentence too. Hence…why it’s our duty to stop this demon.”
“I and my battlemages can keep up,” Captain Weibel informed. “I’ve got you guys covered. We just might lag behind a bit. But I can do it.”
“Not for me,” Captain Strobel reiterated. “Give me half a day. We’ll scour the countryside for provisions while resting and recovering. Then we’ll be back on a forced march.”
“I think they can do that,” Hans suggested. “While we, the real cavalry, advance to continue the search.”
“That will significantly reduce our combat strength should a battle occur,” Adelyn mumbled. “Not to mention, we’d have to stop regardless and wait for them to catch up again.”
“But we have to keep going,” the Viceroy declared. “Please.”
“Then we’ll keep going,” Hans nodded. He turned to Adelyn. “Captain, are you still up for it? It’s a bit more risky—”
“So what? I agree with her. We need to keep up and do our job,” Adelyn stood up and grinned. “I say, we continue onward. At once.”