“To chase those that lie beyond the reach of man’s grasps, to break free from the prison of this continent—the Imperial Ygeia Company shall pursue it in the name of Imperium.”

- IYC Charter

+++

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Near Lignon

You’re such a mean boy.

Hans crushed her neck.

And a deep grin appeared on his face. Death again, huh? He tried to hold himself still with that devious grin, as he felt the lingering phantom pain course through him. That sharp…appendage, stabbed a gigantic hole through his body. It was so painful. But it was soon gone.

Is that really my purpose?

He questioned it hard.

To die, and die, and die?

Three times. Three times already. And yet, he had only barely discovered a way to defeat her. All he knew was that they must have done something that alerted her. Something…that lured her into Hans’ group. I wonder why?

“But I see…” Hans said coldly. “She can change. She can become even stronger than the demon we faced in Rignon…”

That left a bitter taste on his tongue. He could almost taste it again. His blood. Once more. His blood…

He chuckled and chuckled at the thought.

All my maneuvers. All my tactical decisions.

He shook his head as he let out another painful laugh.

All defeated by a damned, crazy, old hag.

She was stronger than a main battle tank. Faster than a Wanderfalke. More agile than a normal human. And she used magic that could create hostile biomass…swarms of hostile biomass. Swarms that his conventional weaponry was ill-prepared to fight. And the worst of all…that axe.

That damned axe of hers. It could slice them all like nothing. Not even Mathieu, a Vanus swordsman who held an enchanted sword…could block her. Much less his unarmored Wanderfalke. Maybe Adelyn would be able to survive a strike from her, but Hans doubted it. She could just slice Adelyn’s legs. Then she would slice through the Wanderadler’s weak side armor.

Once again, it proved that the two of them were just glorified artillery pieces to these things. Thus…if they wouldn’t be able to truly kill her in her most powerful form (so far)...then…

I need a more unconventional solution.

He snapped his hatch open and jumped down. In the distance…they finally arrived. The IYC. The Duke’s Army. All of them rushed toward the place where Hans and Adelyn were parked. Horses. Men. Artillery. Hans almost despaired at the futility of this force.

They’re just meat she can turn into those swarmlings. Hans thought. Nothing much can be expected of them.

He lamented that part of the equation. These demonic beings. They were so strong that they truly fitted the term given to them. Calamities. Something that men with the force of guns, artillery, swords, and magic wouldn’t be able to top. He then glanced in the direction of Adelyn’s mech.

Alizée.

Her name was the only thing that mattered now to Hans.

You manifested your ideal.

The only “angel” he knew who did. He didn’t exactly understand what would trigger it. Adelyn was an “angel”, but she certainly had none of those powers that Alizée had. And for some reason too…it wasn’t like Alizée seemed to be capable of manifesting her ideal when she wanted to do so.

After all, she only ever manifested it during great danger.

Though she never said that there was a limitation. Perhaps she can call it anytime? But it seemed that she only manifested it partially when we tried making her do it in the last loop.

He glanced down at his gloves. He’d need to figure out all of this. Corruption. Ideals. The conditions for it to manifest. Or the question of why someone would be corrupted into a demon or a calamity. He looked back up, straight at the army approaching them.

Perhaps, understanding that is more important than knowing how to pilot my mech better.

After all…his maneuvers and gunnery had always been on point.

Yet he lost way too many times.

It was time to admit the truth.

I’m too weak.

But now, there was no time to be had. No time to prepare further. No time to grind levels, and hope for more upgrades. Skills. Or even the new “attributes” thing he had unlocked. He’d have to work with what he had now.

And in that case…he’d have to get the only pieces he had on the table properly. The people around him.

This is it.

He told himself.

The final battle for Ygeia.

I don't know when I’ll escape this day. This damned prison where I keep dying and dying. But damn it. I’ll bash my head through this quagmire until she’s dead and we’re all safe.

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“That’s right,” he reminded himself as he hid the fear in his face. It was replaced with the cold, dead, thin, and neutral facade of the Ace of the Southern Front. “I’ll get them all out of this battle. Alive and well. No matter the damned cost. That’s my responsibility.”

+++

The light to summon Alizée’s ideal was underwhelming at best. When she was finished, all she had was her armor. Hans and Adelyn looked at each other, both a bit proud of what the young girl was capable of now. But, Hans…he wasn’t feeling very good about all this.

“So, uhh,” Hans leaned down in Alizée’s direction. “Um…you see…”

“What is it, Sir Hans?”

“You see, the thing is…” Hans pointed to her hand. “I remember you had a crossbow when we fought the ‘Tentacled Eel’. It’s how you helped us defeat him, remember?”

Alizée’s eyes widened, and then, she looked down, holding her left arm uncomfortably.

“Umm…Sir Hans, Lady Adelyn, the system says I only can partially manifest ‘Crosslight’. I look at the attributes, and the only thing it grants me is ‘Body Durability I’, ‘Strength Enhancement I’, and ‘Rapid AP Regen II’.”

“Is that so?” Hans looked to Adelyn. “Well…it seems her attributes are quite on the underwhelming side.”

“So if I’m looking at this correctly when she manifests her ‘ideal’, which is ‘crosslight’, it will grant her these powers. Skills, equipment, and…well, attributes.”

“Perhaps when she fully manifests it, her abilities would be better,” Hans said. “And she gets better and better equipment to match it. Like some…magical summons thing. Fascinating.”

“Hmm…” Adelyn frowned. “I wonder what it’d be like if I manifested my own ‘ideal’. It seems like something angels do. Oh…would I be such a strong creature? Able to punch walls and things? Or can I fly? Maybe I’d have wings and really powerful magic too?”

Adelyn’s eyes shone at the imagination, while Hans groaned.

“Oh, come on, what’s even so cool about it?” Hans asked. “I bet just like with corruption, manifesting one’s ‘ideal’ has a cost. I mean…when did Alizée manifest hers? She was abducted that day.”

“Hmm…” Adelyn turned to Hans. Then she bopped his side. “Lieutenant, maybe you should let a demon—”

“Shut it, dumbass.”

“Hey! I’m just suggesting things!”

“I…I don’t how to manifest it fully,” Alizée admitted weakly. “It only ever happened once. And that was when I first gained this ability. Sorry, Sir Hans…”

“Oh, come on, don’t ever be sorry,” Hans said. “It’s fine. We’re gonna figure things out.”

“I still can’t believe I’m looking at two angels,” Mathieu muttered from behind. “I thought the seven angels were supposed to be unique ones. That they’re the only ones that exist.”

“Maybe they’re all goners now, and these two are the replacements,” Hans said, pointing at Hans and Alizée. “That’s a possibility. I mean, they disappeared. That’s missing-in-action in my definition.”.

Both girls suddenly pouted in response.

“Oh, so now we’re just easy replacements,” Adelyn crossed her arms.

“Yeah! That’s so mean, Sir Hans!”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Hans replied, before facepalming. “Goddess, I swear, everything that comes out of my tongue will be twisted one way or another.”

“...Anyhow,” Laura interrupted their discussion. “Are we moving out now?”

“Yeah,” Hans said. “Be ready for combat. We’re…I don’t know, my guts are telling me that the Calamity of Desire might be smarter than normal.”

“You mean…”

“Yeah, it might ambush us, or worse,” Hans said. “Can’t discount that possibility. Hence, I’m leading the pack. Keep a good spacing. We’d be advancing with combat protocols at full alert.”

He looked to Laura, Charles, and Mathieu.

“You three try to keep up. During combat, I want the roles to be very clear.”

“Okay?” Laura replied, unsure.

Hans pointed at Adelyn.

“You, your job is to deal with whatever elements that support the Calamity of Desire.”

“Hmm, what?”

“You saw those doll things right?”

“Yeah?”

“I have an inkling that she’d be using that for something nefarious. Ready all your remaining AP into more ADI MPATs. We’d need to incinerate a lot of them.”

“Alright…”

“Charles, you, the arrow guy.”

The archer grunted.

“Yeah?”

“You have fire-based magic?”

“I use it for my arrows,” the archer replied. “I do it decently, good sir.”

“Then use it to support Adelyn. Mathieu, you…your job…is to keep anything that gets too close to Alizée away from her. But don’t fight them. Try to lead them away by running away and…well, being distracting.”

“What? But I have my sword.”

“Mathieu, that’s never going to stand against a demon,” Hans warned, remembering how the young man was sliced in a split second. “Your job is to be a distraction, not to take a hit.”

Hans then turned to Laura.

“You…use your magic to support me,” Hans said. “Keep anything I attack off of me. Don’t use your strongest spell, Purilae, but use basic ones. Especially those that incinerate.”

“Fire magic?”

“Yes.”

And finally, Hans turned to Alizée. The girl however only frowned as she backed away a bit. Then, she looked down.

“I know what I should do, Sir Hans,” the girl said. “I know.”

Hans just sighed.

“All this fighting made you mature way too fast.”

+++

Hans went with the same route they took last time. He hoped to time things well. I guess that’ll be the test life then. His goal was to lengthen the battle for as long as possible and discover who she was. Hopefully, by making his team fight as competently as possible, he’d be able to reduce her to her weakest point.

And if not, I’d be able to identify gaps I’d need to fill.

Hans' plan in his next life was to eventually have a plan on how to use the Duke’s Army for this battle. They had battlemages there, so he hoped to get most of them and get them to use their spells and magic effectively.

Otherwise, he hoped that they’d be able to defeat the Calamity of Desire alone.

And if not, then so be it.

He waited and waited. Driving and driving. Waiting for her to come. Perhaps she wouldn’t come, but Hans suspected only one possible reason for her ambushing him like in the last timeline.

We made Alizée partially summon her ideal.

Desire and Purity were the two fundamental opposites of this world’s faith. Thus, Hans reasoned that the Calamity of Desire and the Angel of Purity were somewhat connected. Perhaps, Alizée could smell and find her, just as the Calamity of Desire would be able to do the same to Alizée.

In such a case…she should appear…now!

He bashed his hand hard on his microphone button.

“Everyone! Dodge at once!”

The crack on the soil when the Calamity of Desire slammed her axe on the road…was dodged at once by Hans and Adelyn. On the rear, Laura’s group immediately dispersed. Hans immediately took note of the situation, his sights being aimed in the direction of the demon in front of them.

I see then.

His cold smirk grew.

Time to learn everything that I can about you. I wonder, what are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?

And most importantly…

Who are you really?