“We’re stopping them today at the gates of Rignon. I’m seeing everyone coming together for this grand endeavor. Southern Ygeians levees. Mercenaries from Nomos. Battlemages of Exousia and Eleos. I’ve seen Virtus folks from the Imperial Core too. They say this is a battle for humanity, to slay the first Calamity in history. This is more than gold or territory. This is a battle between the demon devils and us, the forces of the Holy Gods. I pray to the gods that we triumph.”

- Journal from a Landschneckt mercenary.

+++

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Near Lotagne

AUG 30, 1538 CE

You’re such a mean boy.

“My legs! My legs—”

Hans stopped his shouts mid-sentence, as his eyes widened. His hands were outstretched outwards. Almost as if he wanted to strangle someone. He frowned and raged at the defeat he had suffered. Immediately, his hand crushed whatever imaginary neck he was holding. Then, he banged his fist into the side.

“Damn it!”

“Lieutenant? What happened over there?”

He realized his fist banged on the button for his comms.

Hans sighed.

“Nothing, nothing,” Hans said. “Just had a less than decent wake-up dream.”

“Less than decent?”

The suspicion in her voice was clear.

Hans masked his unease with a chuckle. There was no need to bother her with his problems. They needed to focus on the second attempt. The second time might work. Even if he wasn’t convinced about that. It appeared that his conventional weaponry wasn’t enough to kill her.

“Nothing, nothing,” Hans replied. “I’m fine now.”

“Well, you clearly weren’t seconds ago.”

“Past is past.”

“That was pretty much the present.”

“Yeah, yeah, can I have breakfast momentarily please?”

He heard Alizée’s cute yawn as she woke up. That, and Adelyn’s sudden amused giggle. It seemed that it already distracted his captain enough. So Hans smiled.

“That, and I believe that kid needs breakfast too.”

“Fine…” Adelyn said, probably patting Alizée’s head. “But only this time.”

“Sure, Captain…sure…”

Hans closed his comms as he took a deep breath. That was certainly the sucky way to go. He didn’t know having his waist be sliced sucked ass. Well, it’s quite the brutal way to go. He briefly touched his waist. Being sliced and all. He shook his head slowly, before crumpling a bit with his hands on his abdomen.

That was when he remembered how painful it was.

He almost wanted to vomit at the interfaces in front of him.

But Hans held it off. This loop…He reminded himself. It appears that I don’t even have the luxury of time. He looked at his screens. Not even a day before death. It’s either I figure this out fast already…

His eyes widened.

Or I’d be dead again.

A change of tactics? Delaying moves?

He wasn’t sure what his plan would be this time. Perhaps, this was it. Where his abilities' utility would be tested. His mech failed. His skills and upgrades proved to be insufficient. And there would be no time to improve it. Everything he worked for. Everything he prepared ever since he got here.

All of it failed in front of that thing.

No amount of self-repair would save him. Not his resupply system either. Nor would his mech's demon detection upgrade work in the first part of the battle. His personal skills also were just as pointless for this fight, only the last one for detecting hostile entities was useful. All he had now was his true ability.

Going back in time whenever I die.

He felt his guts turn.

And there’s no way to retreat from this.

He’d have to die endlessly until he won.

+++

The Imperial Army and the Duke had arrived.

“Order an immediate evacuation of Rignon,” Hans banged his fist on the table as he looked at the assembled officers in front of him. The Duke himself almost jumped at Hans’ insolence. But Hans didn’t care. This was the only way to win this one. How’d they even manage to fight with civilians in the way after all? “That city is a death trap. The Army will only have few means to even fight the creature.”

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Milord, I apologize for his…manners,” Captain Strobel said with unease. “But believe me, this man knows what he’s talking about. He was instrumental in killing two demons.”

“Three now,” Adelyn added. “We suppressed another demon in our journey here. Alongside our companions.”

“Is that so?” The Duke asked, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Hans. “Foreigner, I’d like you to know that you have no idea what you are talking about. Rignon is a fortress of man—”

“And so was Rousselot, and so was Fort Elmo, and so was the countless other fortresses that she destroyed. She’ll turn the city into a bloodbath. Tens of thousands of innocent civilians were reduced to nothing but minced meat. Order the evacuation!”

“Is that so?”

“The city ahead of us should show that clearly,” Hans said. “Please, if you would like, you can take a peek at that city. Lotagne, now nothing but a city of mangled corpses perverted into whatever horrors that thing creates. It’d be worse if it reaches Rignon and commits those crimes on the people living there.”

One of the officers coughed beside the Duke.

“I confirm that, Milord,” the mustached officer said. “My scouting teams have scoured the city in the hopes of finding supplies for the Army. All we found was…horror.”

“Hmm…” the Duke shook his head. “And then what? Pardon me, but where shall we send those people? How will we feed them while moving to wherever they shall flee? How will we tell those places to accept them in time? Hell, how can we even organize all the wagons, and horses themselves for such an endeavor? Do you understand what you are talking about, YOUNG MAN!”

The Duke’s raised voice made Hans flinch momentarily. But he bit his teeth, he needed to tell them now. Now that they needed to run. Or else. Or else…those people. Children. Women. Men. The elderly. All turned into that perverted, fleshy biomass. Against their will.

“Now, enough of that, sir,” Adelyn suddenly butted in, going so far as placing herself in front of the Duke and Hans. “My subordinate is merely passionate about helping the people. We had seen what the Calamity of Desire had done in Lotagne. He’s understandably still shaken.”

“Shaken or not, if he must tell me a solution, then he better think that it’s a solution. Now. Onto your missions. Our regiments shall march straight into the defense of Rignon. You two, you foreigners—will scout and find that unholy cretin yourself.”

“It shall be done, sir,” Adelyn said, still clearly hostile and defensive. “We already gave that mission to ourselves before you even came here.”

“Don’t talk that way to your elders.”

“And don’t step on my subordinate when he’s just trying to help you, sir. He’s one of my men. Not yours.”

“If this was any other circumstance, I’d have both of your heads removed.”

“Thanks for informing us then, sir.”

“Bah, you two are mere tools,” the Duke said, waving his hand dismissively. “I have nothing else to say to you. Leave. Do your job. Perhaps that will please me to overlook this insult. Go.”

“We shall leave at once then,” Adelyn turned to Hans. “Let’s go.”

“But I haven’t gotten him to order an evacuation yet.”

“Forget about it.”

Adelyn smiled at him.

“We’ll stop her before she reaches Rignon.”

+++

Hans was still realizing what he had done.

Goddess…why did I do that?

He was becoming more and more impulsive as time went on. He didn’t understand why. Back in Terra, he’d suffer the worst injustices, yet he’d smile and carry on. As expected of any good Lotharingian man. Discipline, in front of his betters, and the diligence to do what was asked of him. That, and the drive to push forward to win a fight.

That was what Hans embodied.

Yet now, he felt himself slowly turning squeamish. Afraid of death. Fidgety. Nervous. He hated how he was slowly turning into a man vulnerable to fear. It was dismantling his decision-making. It was sabotaging his ability to act level-headed when the situation demanded it.

I just strained the relationship between us and the Imperial Army. He almost wanted to bash his head on his controls. What the hell was I thinking?

Why did he even think that they could evacuate Rignon in a day? He was delusional. Turning delusional. He wanted to die out of sheer embarrassment for his mind’s mistake of thinking like that.

He looked at his hand.

It was shaking.

I thought dying again and again would slowly get me used to it. He wanted to vomit, imagining dying a second time again to that creature. Instead, I’m fearing death more and more.

He needed to find a way to numb himself again. To become someone like the Hans Hoffman who faced death during that battle in the vain hopes of letting his platoon escape. Without reservations. Without an ounce of fear for his death.

Now, his actions were guided by self-preservation. It was stupid. It should be the reverse, Hans thought. His actions should be guided not by avoidance of death when it was a temporary inconvenience to him.

I don’t understand it.

But he needed to correct it soon.

“Adely—,” he corrected himself when he pressed the button. “Captain, I apologize. That was…a bit of a blunder from me.”

“Apologize? For what? For saying the right thing? They should have evacuated the city a long time ago. I am on your side. There’s nothing to apologize about. That’s his fault for getting too worked out when he should have listened calmly to your suggestions.”

“I should have been calm when I said that,” Hans said, still apologetic. “It won’t happen again.”

“You met enough horrors already that I can’t fault you for that,” Adelyn said, her voice turning ever softer. “I mean, yesterday, I almost panicked into firing my main gun when I saw those…‘dolls’. There’s nothing wrong about it.”

“I’m a man,” Hans insisted. “And a soldier. There is absolutely something wrong about that.”

“Oh, please, don’t hit me with that, ‘I’m a guy so I must be stone-faced even when seeing horrors inconceivable to man’ shtick. I don’t like that nonsense coming from my men, you hear?”

“But Captain…”

“Tch, I don’t like false machismo in my ranks. You’re all human. If you fear death, I’m not shooting you for it. It’s fine. That’s why I’m with you.”

Hans looked back up to his screens, then, his hands. It stopped shivering. He placed it on his control sticks.

“You’re right,” Hans said. “We’re…together.”

“Exactly. That’s why we’ll do what we always have done,” Adelyn said. “Like always, we’ll kick a demon’s arse, win, and return as unscathed heroes. Together. We haven’t died yet, so…let’s just try our best, okay? Calamity or not, we’ll stop it from doing what she did in Lotagne to Rignon.”

Then…his hand shook again. She’s naive. Hans thought. We died so many times already. Does she think she’s comforting me with that?

He took a deep breath again, as he controlled his nervousness.

No, she was still right.

He just needed to try his best.

“Alright…Captain. Let’s hunt then.”

“Copy. Laura and his friends must have been waiting for us already. Move out.”