“Forty-eight falconets and two thousand muskets of the new ‘snaplock’ variety from the blacksmiths are to be ordered from the Duchy of Bantua. The two new anti-demon regiments being raised are also required to use the new enchanted paper cartridges from the Duchy, which will come with these orders.”
- IYC Board of Firearms
+++
+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++
Near Rignon
Damn it! Get there faster!
His guns rained a hellfire on the charging demon. The two girls, alarmed by the demon’s sudden change in direction, fired everything they had against the Calamity of Desire. White beams from Laura’s staff struck her. And so did another arrow from Alizée. The Calamity of Desire however was undeterred.
And she was getting close.
She readied her axe for the attack. Laura, sensing that she was the target, broke ranks. She pragmatically turned tail and ran. Alizée on the other hand was different. The girl steadfastly stood her ground. Preparing another arrow on her crossbow, she aimed it at the charging demon.
“You ungrateful brat!” The Calamity of Desire shouted as she jumped high. Her axe swung in Alizée’s direction. But it was just in time for her arrow to fly out. It struck the glowing axe, stopping it. A powerful flash of light engulfed the battlefield. Its shockwaves violently pushed both Alizée and the demon off each other.
Meanwhile, Hans’ Wanderfalke pulled into a hard stop.
His gun’s stabilizers barely held on as he drifted sideways. The shockwaves rattled the side of his Wanderfalke. But Hans steadied his main gun on the calamity of desire using the buttons on his control stick. Just slightly more to the left. He gritted his teeth. Stabilize, stabilize, straight to her chest…
And he pulled the trigger.
A violent shot came out from his barrel. The sabots around the penetrator flew off as it exited. Flying through the battlefield in barely a split second, the Calamity of Desire was struck once more. Through her left chest, the depleted uranium penetrator disintegrated. It burrowed a hole so wide, that it was almost as if her blood turned into pink mist.
The remaining material of the dart careened out the hole created on her body, flying as debris on the other side. The Calamity of Desire fell on the green earth like a brutalized doll. One of the giants, however, the land dragon-looking one, dashed to block further attacks against its mistress.
Hans frowned.
“Keep up the fire, everyone!” He ordered using his speakers, as the giant’s head erupted into an open inferno. A courtesy from Adelyn. “We’re very close to getting this rascal killed.”
“You’re all lying to yourselves!” A cry came from her. “Me? The Calamity of Desire, defeated?! You’re all delusional. Delusional. Blinded by your wants. Wants that goes against reality!”
It seemed that neither Alizée, Laura, nor Adelyn cared about her words. Again and again, the trio kept up the fire in her direction. Even when the giants tried their best to protect her. Hans joined in on the fun. And so did the rest of the 4th behind them.
Artillerymen limbered their guns and drove their horses into dispersed positions closer to the fighting. All to get more shots. Battlemages prepared more volleys of spells, bombarding the giants that tried to hold out against the relentless attacks against them. All while the musketeers rushed to surround her.
Muskets, cannonballs, spells. All were being thrown at the Calamity of Desire. Hans relished the thought as he squeezed his trigger. His machine guns went ham against her. We’re close! We’re close! But then, he stopped. A sickly, blood-like glow came from the area she was in. And it rapidly increased its luminosity.
Then, a massive runic circle appeared on top of them. It almost looked apocalyptic for them. Hans pushed the button for his speakers.
“Everyone! Retreat at once! She’s going to do a dangerous attack!”
It was a disorganized rout. Men began running. Musketeers fled their positions and broke ranks. Artillerymen abandoned their guns. Officers on horseback and the cavalry galloped away. Even Hans and Adelyn pulled out of the area.
A whirlwind of magical attacks came from her. Men, horses—many were turned into a fleshy puddle. They disintegrated into the same doll-like things that she liked to create. A powerful scream also came from her. Immediately, the fleeing men broke into further panic.
His mech somewhat blocked the high-pitched sound waves. Yet, he was affected.
His mind was bombarded with a flood of strong emotions. I just wanna stop dying. His mind screamed. I just wanna stop dying! Hans teared up, as he lost control of himself. He wanted to stop dying, but he knew it would never happen. And whatever that demon did to him, it convinced him well that he wouldn't.
Anger overcame him. If he was going to die anyway, then why not just let the world burn? His hand began moving, turning his turret in Adelyn’s direction. At the same time, even Adelyn’s mech began turning her gun to Hans. Almost as if she too was preparing to attack him. I just wanna stop dying! His mind screamed again, and he was about to fire his main gun at her—when another pulse struck his mech.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
A cool pink light washed over the battlefield. The thoughts stopped, and Hans almost puked on his controls then and there.
“Don’t you dare do the same to them!” Alizée shouted, her voice now amplified on the battlefield as well. “You evil monster!”
“What the hell happened,” Adelyn coughed on the comms. “I almost fired my gun at you.”
“Seems like she has a lot of things under her sleeve,” Hans said, as he aimed his gun back at her. “We gotta keep going. All units! Return to your—”
Hans stopped, looking around. Corpses filled the battlefield. Hundreds of the musketeers from the 4th Holy Ygeia Regiment killed each other with their guns, swords, and other weapons. Others had been reduced to fleshy swarm dolls by the demon.
The remnants, probably two-thirds of the regiment, were in full retreat. No one. Not a single one was being rallied back to the fight.
Except for Laura and Charles. They charged forward back into the fray. Charles got to work with his arrow-based attacks against the giants. Their bodies were being incinerated slowly. Laura followed suit. Her attacks began targeting the Calamity of Desire herself.
Damn it.
“We’ll, it’s just us then,” Hans said. “Let’s finish this then!”
“Alizée! She’s charging forward!”
“What—?”
Hans watched as the little girl dashed through the green fields. Her crossbow had already disappeared. Now, it was replaced by a pink glowing sword. On the other hand, the Calamity of Desire, still being attacked by Laura from a distance, also charged forward.
Her body, injured and filled with holes, had been reformed. She was now in her true form. Her skin was sickly white, with cracks on it. Her youthful appearance was gone. Her eyes were hollow and purely just a red light by now.
She slammed her axe against Alizée’s sword. A powerful shockwave tore through the battlefield. Hans circled them, trying his best to find the perfect angle to attack the demon. Then, he found it.
“Alizée! Strike her again! Pin her!”
Alizée did just that. Her sword swung and struck the woman’s abdomen. The demon raised her axe, slicing Alizée’s side and flinging her away. Blood oozed out of the girl’s armor, but Hans had a clear shot.
Pulling the trigger, another APFSDS flew toward the Calamity of Desire. But she swung toward Hans’ direction, and her axe pinged the penetrator away. It was sliced in half, and almost disintegrated at the force of impact.
“You damned troublemaker!” she shouted at him. “Let me finish my business with my family!”
She charged at him, before being struck from behind by a pink arrow. Alizée, who had recovered from the attack she sustained, prepared another one.
“You’re not hurting him!” Alizée shouted. “If he saved me, I’ll save him too!”
“Tch,” she aimed her axe at Alizée’s direction. Charging another spell, a red magic circle appeared in front of her axe. On the other hand, Alizée charged her crossbow. The two fired their attacks at the same time. Hans tried to keep up by firing his guns at the demon, but when Alizée’s arrow and the demon’s spell struck each other, everything stopped.
The battlefield was washed by a powerful light that nearly blinded everyone.
+++
“I’m not done with her yet,” Alizée insisted, still half bleeding. “She’s going to kill everyone in that city!”
“Shh, shh,” Adelyn said, as she panickedly treated her wound. “I told you fairly clearly not to try fighting her directly. You’ve endangered yourself enough.”
“But Lady Adelyn, my ideal is supposed to be used to fight her! If I don’t, then this power is useless!”
Hans dropped beside them, placing his back on one of the legs of Adelyn’s parked mech. He grabbed his canteen and drank his water. He then turned toward the two.
“Nearly two hundred people died,” Hans said. “Captain Strobel is reforming the regiment, but morale is low. Everyone almost went crazy from her scream. Goddess, even I feel like shit right now. Can’t believe that happened. I almost killed you, Captain.”
“She really is a calamity,” Adelyn said. “I can’t believe she just disappeared after that attack from Alizée.”
“She didn’t disappear,” Alizée insisted. “I saw her running away. Straight to the city’s direction. She’s going to turn everyone there into those giants we incinerated as replacements. Then she’ll fight again.”
“Stow that idea away, Alizée,” Hans warned. “You’re not chasing her alone. Give the army a few more minutes to rest and reorganize. We all need to gather our breaths. I can barely even breathe right now.”
Adelyn shook her head as she watched Alizée’s flesh finish its self-repair. Even Hans was amazed by it. While manifesting one’s ‘ideal’ appeared to be a conditional thing that disappears eventually, its effects were massive. Alizée’s attacks also seemed to be the most effective in general.
Almost as if her ‘ideal’ was designed to directly counter the Calamity of Desire.
“You two are getting into so much danger,” Adelyn said. “How are you holding up, Lieutenant? All those maneuvers are no joke.”
“My head is spinning and I think my eyes are about to pop off.”
“And your Wanderfalke’s structural integrity?”
“It can still go on…” Hans groaned. “I’m going to wipe out my damned AP stocks after this for the repairs, fuel, and munitions. I’m so goddamned lucky.”
“We better finish the battle so you can do that then.”
Hans fell silent. Truthfully, he was already starting to consider taking the bitter pill. He could do it by going to his mech and utilizing his pistol for its intended purpose. They had failed at killing the Calamity of Desire in the open. But at the same time…
She’s already extremely weakened. All those injuries and spells she used. The amount of AP she must have consumed will have been astounding. I have no assurances that we’ll even get this far if I insist on another attempt.
He had after all confirmed that all that magic had to be drawn from somewhere. In Alizée’s case, her ideal caused her AP capacity and regeneration to be greatly increased to the high thousands. Still, her regeneration abilities and the spells she used ate a lot of her AP.
Especially the spell she used to cancel the attack that the Calamity of Desire used to scramble their brains. Thus, Hans reasoned that if they could chip away whatever she had…
They would win.
No, I’ll keep going. Hans stood up, his head still spinning a bit. I’m not giving up when we’re so close to victory.