“She had the most detestable smile I’ve yet seen.”

- Excerpt from Lieutenant Hans Hoffman’s Journal Entries.

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+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Near Rignon

The woman charged in towards Alizée.

But Hans countered that with a hail of machine gun fire. She laughed at that maniacally, jumping away and dodging his shots. Damn it! Keep tracking her. Stupid hands! He tried to keep up, spraying the woman with his bullets as best as he could, but most of his gunfire barely even damaged her.

It was…almost as if she was stronger compared to his last death.

H-how?

He fired his main gun, the MPAT round accurately hitting her just enough that the proximity fuse went out. Momentarily, she was stopped, as a cloud of dust obscured her location.

“Oh…that was…owie…a nasty one,” she said, as they all heard twisting sounds. It was almost like she was reforming her body naturally. Hans had already positioned himself in front of the frozen Alizée. Adelyn, who had regained her composure, also joined in. Her mech stopped fifty meters on the right of Hans’ position.

And she aimed her turret in the woman’s direction.

Hans pressed his speaker.

“Alright, everyone,” he ordered, as he waited for his next round to be loaded. “All of you aim at her. Let’s not get this one wrong. Concentrated fire, all at once. That woman’s going down today!”

Zip, and she was out of the place. A pink arrow was fired by Alizée—and it missed. Just a few meters above the crazy demon. She ducked and went in the direction of four speeding giants. Hans didn’t account for that again! He thought there were no people here to convert.

At least, until he remembered that convoy.

So she must have turned them into those things before ambushing us.

“You’ve proven yourselves quite capable,” she sang as she climbed one of the giants. Soon, the four sickly creatures surrounded them. One of them looked like a tanky one, with arms that looked like it could punch a Wanderfalke flat, and she was on top of it. Another looked like a gigantic spider thing—its appendages bloodily sharp. The third one seemed more like a massive land dragon. And the last one, the smallest one, seemed like a hunched goblin. “So, that necessitates some aid, wouldn’t you all think.”

The dark mist around her had finished transforming her. Her black hair turned into a dirty gray. Her red eyes almost seemed like it was bleeding. Her skin was fully pail, and there were cracks on it. Her clothes then changed to a tattered white dress under a dirty, brown coat.

No more was her deceptive youthful face there. This was her true form. A middle-aged woman, corrupted beyond recognition.

“Goddess…what the hell is she?”

The comment from Adelyn didn’t go unnoticed by Hans. In front of them…were the most disgustingly ugly creatures they had laid their eyes on. Creatures made up of a swarm of small, fleshy doll-like creatures. For a second, Hans remembered that quote from the battlefields of Terra.

If the Goddess is real…why would she let this exist?

“So that’s her when she’s prepared,” Hans said, now realizing the weight of opposition against them. Again…he wasn’t sure why. The last time, they caught her in a bad position…and even then, they lost.

“That’s…mother…” the disbelief and anguish etched from Laura’s face

Now, they were the ones caught in a bad position.

He gulped as he realized his fate.

I’m going to die again.

“You’re evil!” Shouted Alizée as she charged up another arrow in her tiny crossbow. “You need to be put down! You turned those people into those ugly things, evil! Evil! Evil!”

“And you’re nothing but a naive child living in her childish delusions,” the demon mocked. “If only you listened, you could have gained real power. You could have given in to your desire—and took it yourself! Now you’re nothing but a pawn of the ideal. And all pawns of the ideal end up in one fate. Death!”

“Shut the hell up, you crazy monster!”

The reply from Adelyn’s speaker was punctuated by the Diligence’s main gun opening fire. The shot sliced through the giant holding her. Then it detonated into a violent blue inferno. She however had jumped away from it, a frown gracing her face. She pointed her axe in Adelyn’s direction.

“...Die,” she ordered, and her giants charged forward.

“Damn it! Adelyn, load normal shells. Don’t waste your specialized one on her minions. You only have six right?!”

“Y-yeah? Why? How’s our normal shells going to destroy those swarms?”

“Alizée!” Hans pressed on his speaker. “Do as I tell! Target whichever of those giants gets near me. Laura, Mathieu, and Charles! Keep them away from Alizée. Captain Wittenstein…please have my back, just like the old days in Einweg Company.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

He heard Adelyn’s voice turn colder.

“I’ve always had your back,” she said. “Move out! Let’s keep these monsters off Alizée!”

Their two Wanderpanzers charged forward, straight into the maw of the monstrous, fleshy entities. Machine gun fire flared up, as Hans targeted the spider-looking creature. Targeting one of its legs, he let off an APFSDS round straight into it. The depleted uranium penetrator immediately sliced through the leg, causing the creature to stumble from its charge.

On the side, Adelyn did the same with the hunched giant. An MPAT round detonated on the face of the creature. This disoriented it. Hans watched as Adelyn peeled off, and tried to drive through the side of the monster. The creature, undoubtedly confused, chased her—only to be punished by a beam of light.

“Pulirae!” Shouted Laura, the beam from her magic circle slicing through the next of the creature. Hans immediately exploited the confusion, spraying his machine guns on the face of the spider-like giant. Then, he positioned himself to the side and jumped. Engaging the razors of his Wanderfalke, his vehicle dropped down on the creature.

Then, he pulled out another shot.

The MPAT round decimated thousands of the tiny dolls in the creature’s body, before the razors of his legs sliced through it. The four rear and middle legs of his Wanderfalke continued pushing his vehicle through the body of the creature. Meanwhile, his razors sliced through it open, until he reached the neck.

There, he made a sudden turn, slicing it sideways, before jumping off the ground. Retracting his razors, his mech drifted on the green soil, as the head of the creature fell off. Another arrow, this time, coming from Charles, finished the job. The archer seemed to have used a fire-based spell on his arrow, causing the beast to slightly burn.

But he didn’t relent, firing another shot. Then another. Then another. Each of them started a fire, all of which toasted and destroyed the swarm of fleshy dolls. Hans smirked, as he watched the giant slowly burn to a crisp before he turned his attention to the next one charging in Alizée’s direction.

It was the land dragon-looking one. Hans responded swiftly. Zipping through the battlefield, his machine guns rained hell on the creature.

But before he could fire his main gun on it, he ducked his mech low on the ground. Then, he drove it sideways, just in time to dodge the woman who struck him.

The Calamity of Desire fully joined in. Her oversized axe slammed on the ground, creating massive cracks. And she turned to Hans just as quickly.

“You’re a damned, slimy little rat,” she grunted, as she pulled her axe out of the ground. “And you’re not even one of the angels!”

Hans immediately turned his turret to the rear. Driving at full speed, he tried his best to gain some distance from the woman, as she dashed into his direction. Her damned superhuman speed! Hans opened fire, his machine gun rounds desperately trying to stop her.

But each of them pinged and bounced off her skin. Hans gritted his teeth, as his feet stepped harder on the pedal. The dragon-like giant however was now only fifty meters ahead of him, and it suddenly lunged in front of him.

Crap. I need to dodge again!

And without any time to think about it, he once again overclocked his propulsion systems. His legs pushed hard on the ground, jumping at insane speeds as the dragon’s head bit the now empty air. Razors protruded out of his frontal legs, as he landed on the creature’s back.

It sliced through the swarm hard, until he managed to jump off the gigantic, flesh monster. A shot sliced through his wake—it was from Adelyn. The MPAT round nearly dismembered the neck of the swarm dragon. Hans dropped hard on the green ground, as plumes of dirt flew in all directions. In two seconds, however, his legs restored control, and he began speeding out again.

And then—he squeezed the trigger.

“Focus fire on that giant!” Hans ordered. “Get that disgusting monster out of the battle now!”

As his Wanderfalke circled the creature, with everyone—Adelyn, Laura, and Charles opening fire on the swarm dragon, Hans let loose with his machine guns. Then, he fired another MPAT round, decimating thousands of tiny swarm dolls of its body. The continued bombardment however ended when he noticed the demon charging into Alizée again.

“Everyone! She’s coming for Alizée!”

The bulky giant behind him, which had reformed from Adelyn’s opening attack, bashed its fist on Hans’ rear. He was only a second away from being crushed when he zipped out of its reach. Rushing toward an intercept route against the Calamity of Desire, Hans watched as Adelyn’s shot detonated on the demon’s face.

A massive inferno opened up, and she almost disappeared. Hans pushed his foot hard on the brake pedal. His legs stopped hard, slowing him down, as a shot was fired off his main gun. The MPAT round clipped the woman hard. Then, Hans added an extra measure with his machine gun.

“Die! Die! Just die!”

The woman, filled with bloody holes and burning skin, ragefully zoomed out of the inferno that Adelyn created. Her eyes were locked on one target—the Angel of Purity, Alizée herself. Mathieu finally positioned himself in front of the little girl, his sword readied to take the axe.

But when it met the Calamity of Desire’s weapons—it completely shattered, and everyone watched as Mathieu was sliced without even a single chance of resisting.

“Now…onto you, little girl!

Hans tried to charge in one last time to stop her, but his mech was struck by the reformed spider giant swarm. The sharp legs of the swarm sliced through his mech’s rear, causing Hans’ propulsion system to utterly fail.

“H-how—!”

He looked at his camera feeds. The swarm. It merely rearranged itself. Of course. Hans despaired. Of course, it’ll just do that. He had no choice unless they managed to incinerate all of them. They’d just group up, and form whatever twisted creature that the Calamity of Desire…desired.

He looked at Alizée’s direction. The little girl was thrown hundreds of meters away when she was struck by the woman’s axe. Alizée flew directly into Adelyn’s mech, which was driving in the demon’s direction. Naturally, Adelyn stopped, as Alizée stood back up.

She just took an axe through her body!

Hans was utterly flabbergasted about what he had seen.

How did she survive that?!

Alizée’s armor glowed, as she stood up, walking in the direction of the demon. The Calamity of Desire merely smirked as she watched Alizée’s bloody wounds.

“Angels who manifest their ideals really are tough ones,” the Calamity of Desire said, as she pointed her axe to Alizée’s direction. Suddenly, a glow appeared on Alizée’s hand, and a pink-colored sword appeared. “And you’re manifesting the next stages of your ideal as well. How fascinating. Yet it boggles the mind! Why would your conviction in the ideas of purity be that strong? Oh…to be a foolish girl!”

The mocking sneer on the demon’s face failed to discourage Alizée. She continued walking onward, even when bloodied and weakened.

“You harmed my friends! Sir Hans! Lady Adelyn! You…you monster, I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!” Alizée shouted. “In the name of the Goddess of Purity—you, the agent of Desire, I’ll—”

Hans’ spectatorship was promptly cut off when the legs of the creature that had pinned him finally sliced through his cockpit. The solidified appendage sliced through his chest brutally. Yet…in that brief moment, as his eyes turned gray, and his blood sprayed on his mech’s interior…

I’m proud of you, Alizée.

His final thoughts flashed, as darkness claimed him once more.