“Who knows what the Calamity of Desire really is? They say she’s the most powerful demon in the Ygeia region. She did destroy so many cities, yes. But I doubt she’d survive their firepower. Hah, the only real question is—how much money are we going to get from killing her?”

- Excerpt from Captain Jonas Weibel's letters.

+++

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Near Rignon

It turned out that the 4th Holy Ygeia Regiment was more mobile than Hans had expected.

They moved out at once in organized battalions. Each company, made up mostly of musketeers and some pikemen, rushed through different roads. Hans had already picked where the field of battle was. And all three battalions of the regiment were on the move toward it.

It only took a few minutes for their advance units—Hans and Adelyn, to arrive in the area. Followed on horseback by Laura, Charles, and Mathieu. By the time Hans exited his mech, he joined Captain Strobel and Captain Weibel who surveyed the flat areas ahead of them.

Captain Strobel lowered his spyglass, pointing at an elevation on their left flank.

“Assuming she barges through this road from there, those heights would have a clear shot,” he frowned. “The regiment only has twelve artillery pieces. Divided into batteries of six guns each. You think that’d be enough?”

“Possibly yes if the reports are to be trusted,” Captain Weibel said, shaking his head. “Or not, if that creature’s got some more tricks up her sleeve.”

“She destroyed multiple cities, Captain Weibel,” Hans politely rebuffed, as he placed his binoculars on his eyes, looking through the battlefield. Already, the 4th’s few cuirassiers had arrived, the plumes of their horses’ wake throwing dust through the green fields. Hans lowered his binoculars. “The reports are unfortunately downplaying the reality of the situation. She has a lot of tricks that she can pull on us.”

“Well, we better counter that well then,” Captain Strobel said. He turned his horse to his rear and raised his spyglass to look at the incoming men to their positions. “The rest of my battalions are here. We’ll be forming up into our planned formations. Assuming you’re right—”

“I am right,” Hans said, eyeing a lone woman kilometers away on the horizon. Using his binoculars, Hans couldn’t see much detail. But he could make out that she was sitting, observing them like a predator would. “Form up into our battle formations. Move the horse artillery quickly. She appears to be looking for a pitched battle today.”

“An arrogant fool,” Captain Weibel declared with a laugh. Lieutenant Preisner, on horseback, arrived behind them. “Oh, Malte. You’re late to the fun. She’s here.”

“Gentlemen, the battlemages of the Duke’s Army have arrived on our rear,” the IYC mercenary reported. “They’re the best that Ygeia has to offer today.”

“Dispatch a message to the rest of the Army that the devil is here,” Captain Weibel said, as Captain Strobel grimly shook his head. “I’ll be taking command of the battlemages. Get them on the right footing. Right-o, let’s get this damned mission done everyone.”

“Right,” Captain Strobel said, trying to hold his horse. He pulled out his saber and shouted from atop his lungs. “Alright, men! To your battle lines! We shall slay her for once at last. For the Imperium!”

Hans rushed toward his mech. Eyeing Adelyn’s mech, he watched as his captain gave Alizée a few words of comfort. The girl nodded, took a deep breath, and faced the Calamity of Desire in the far distance. On the other hand, Adelyn climbed her mech and entered it. Hans sighed.

Opening his hatch, he dropped down to his seat and grabbed the control sticks. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the button for his speakers.

“For humanity! Let’s beat her, together!”

+++

Hans and Adelyn rode in her direction cautiously. They needed to bait her out and get her to fight on their terms. Unfortunately, the woman remained sitting, watching them with great interest. Hans didn’t find that quite amusing, but still…

“Calamity of Desire!” His speakers blared out. “You have committed great crimes against humanity and the Imperium. It would be prudent if you laid down your arms, and surrendered.”

Her oversized axe was summoned, as she stood up and walked forward. Her voice, unnaturally amplified by her magic, echoed through the fields. Enough for both Hans, Adelyn, and the rest of the attacking force to hear.

“You’ve done it now, mortals!” she boisterously said. “Is this what you desire? To at last put me down? Well, you’ve done it well. I have found myself in quite the trap. My mind is, however, boggled. How can you who know nothing about me pull this off?”

“We should open fire now,” Adelyn said over the comms. “Seems like there’s no use in talking to her. She’s just gaining ground on us.”

“Only a few dozen meters. The artillery behind us is still setting up. We gotta give them a little bit more time.”

“So baffle her with bullshit?”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“A man’s gotta parlay a bit,” Hans chuckled, shaking his head. “It’s the custom in the old way of fighting.”

“Alright, keep at it.”

He pressed the button for his speakers again.

“Stand down now, Calamity of Desire. If you advance any further, we will have no choice but to dispatch you with indiscriminate force.”

“Indiscriminate force, you say?” She laughed. “The gall in your mind. Why is that child, that…the Angel of Purity hiding behind you? Do you fancy yourselves as a force that can best me, the representative of the Archdemon of Desire herself?”

“You are a pup of evil. But you can still cooperate and return to the grace of humanity.”

“I am the flag bearer of man’s sinful desires,” she replied, her voice turning even more hollow. “For it is the truth of our world. And man will learn what a great calamity it is to be consumed by it. I merely show that quite clearly so that mankind learns its lesson. And yet, fools like you…”

She narrowed her eyes, looking straight at Alizée’s direction, even if she was kilometers away.

“Fools like that idealist cretin…all stand against it,” she smiled in a deranged manner. “You all need to learn, to embrace the truth!”

Hans pulled the trigger. The MPAT round he had released grazed her by just a few inches. The detonation gave Hans and Adelyn enough time to disperse from her direction. Naturally, she immediately came out of the smoke, holes in her body disappearing as she chased the two.

“Captain! Retreat quickly, she’s gonna focus on you!”

“Copy, copy!”

As Hans had expected, the woman chased Adelyn first with great bloodlust. He wouldn’t allow that to go through. As Adelyn retreated, Hans engaged his mech’s legs to full throttle. Gunfire peppered the demon, as he kept his turret and guns tightly aimed at her. Then, at the final moment, he jumped.

The long razors of his mech’s forward front legs pierced her back. Her body was dragged hard in the mud. Then, Hans retracted his razors and jumped away. While Adelyn managed to get far, at last, Hans was still close. She stood up and ran in Hans’ direction.

She can just throw that axe at me.

He kept an eye on that.

Can’t get caught by it again by surprise again!

And that was exactly what she did. Her axe careened straight in Hans’ direction, right in time when he forced a last-minute tight turn. He also lowered his hull to the ground hard. The flying axe missed him by a few meters. He watched her jump to retrieve her axe, but Hans stopped that.

Pulling his mech into a hard drift and break, his machine guns tracked her in the sky. Gunfire peppered her body, as Hans released another MPAT round at her. But she managed to dodge it. Falling to the ground, she pulled her axe up, as Adelyn’s gunfire joined in.

She dodged it way too well.

Heh, as expected.

“You two are some slimy opponents!” She shouted with rage. “Wouldn't it be of much better politeness to fight a lady with some grace?”

“Aha, grace eh? I’m afraid we’re not here to duel,” Hans replied with his speakers as he traced her with his heavy machine guns. “We’re here to liquidate you.”

“Is that so?”

She charged at Hans' direction, as he retreated further and further. Keep harming her and taunting her. He just needed to lead her closer to their prepared formations. Just keep doing it, and most of all, stay alive, stay alive.

She jumped high up, axe bearing down in Hans’ direction. But the Peacemaker’s overworked legs pushed it into a good last-minute dodge. Her axe struck the dirt, as Hans slipped away once more. He continued his retreat back to their formations. Everything, everything that Hans had, he was expending it for this fight.

These breakneck maneuvers weren’t something a normal Wanderfalke pilot would do or pull off. All of his movements were placing great strain on his mech’s legs and structural integrity. But due to Hans turning off every limiter that existed on his machine, such deadly maneuvers were possible.

Keep calm, so long as you don’t mess up.

Hans continued retreating hard, dodging hard, and fighting hard. To the onlookers, it looked as if a demigod and a machine were engaged in a dance of death. Hans’ guns were striking her, yes. But each shot he took had a high chance of being dodged. And even the shots that managed to get to her only scratched her for a second.

In comparison, Hans’ Wanderfalke was vulnerable. A single strike from her could very well end this delicate fight that he was having. And due to their range, no one, not even Adelyn, could help him. Else they’d risk friendly fire.

“Damn it!” The Calamity of Desire shouted with frustration as Hans managed a final dodge. Her strike, once again, swung just in time when his mech pulled its backward dodges. Hans pulled himself hard into reverse, clocking into half of his maximum speed. Unfortunately, his two coaxials ran out of bullets. “You swine! Is this all you know?! Running and dodging?!”

Hans stopped, realizing that she wasn’t coming closer. He needed to lure her further to them. He pressed the button for his speaker.

“Well, if I’m so easy to kill, Lady Desire, come at me then. I’m just a man on a simple machine. A simple, soft, and destroyable machine.”

+++

+++ Alizée Amboise +++

He’s risking himself too much.

Alizée took a deep breath, watching in distress as her new guardian fought the deadly demon. She felt her heart drop every time that demon got close to him. She was worried. Sickly worried. And yet, her crossbow, the weapon she needed, hadn’t manifested.

She tried to think and think how she managed to manifest it back then. But this time around, it wasn’t yet working well. She couldn’t do anything yet. She could only watch, as the fighting got closer and closer to her. That angered her. Angered her…

I’m so useless!

She looked around her. Soldiers. Lady Adelyn. Their newfound friends. All of them were preparing their weapons and themselves for the confrontation. But she was just standing here, doing nothing but waiting. Trying to figure it out. Each slice, each close call.

It brought her closer and closer to a panic attack.

Suddenly, she had enough, when the demon nearly got Hans’ legs. Suddenly, she felt a surge of power go through her body. And the source of that power asked her what she wanted, she only had one answer.

Please, let me do something to save Sir Hans!

[IDEAL: CROSSLIGHT (PURITY) I GRANTED AND SUMMONED!]