“The nature of the Calamities remains unknown as of the time of this writing. But, current evidence has been clear. They lead several lower demons under them. Perhaps, their removal will be one of the most effective ways of clearing out these monsters.”
- Excerpt from ‘An Emergency Treatise on the Subject of ‘Demons’ by Daniel Specke.
+++
+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++
Near Rignon
“All units!” the speakers from Hans’ Wanderfalke boomed throughout the fields. “For Rignon! For Ygeia! We’ll resume our mission! We shall search, and slay that monster!”
“For the Imperium!” came the response from the 4th Holy Ygeia Regiment.
Hans and Adelyn immediately dashed forward on the roads. Behind them, Laura, Charles, and Mathieu’s horses followed in a fast gallop. Further behind was Captain Strobel’s cavalry, rushing toward different routes straight to Rignon.
Hans and Adelyn however took the fastest route toward the city. Already, they could hear the sounds of distress from a distance. Heavy artillery from the city walls was opening fire. The cracks of distant musketry were ongoing. Word from the rest of the Duke’s Army had been clear—the new ‘anti-demon’ regiments were already engaging her.
“Do you think they’ll stand up against her?” Asked Adelyn, worried about the thousands of men trying to hold onto Rignon. “We almost lost.”
“They won’t,” came another worried reply from Alizée. “That’s why we need to get there quickly. Thousands…thousands of people are going to die.”
“She’s a Calamity. She’ll be murdering thousands. Perhaps Rignon will be destroyed after this. But what matters now is that we end her bloodlust. But, we can’t blame ourselves. We’re already doing our best.”
“I know,” Adelyn said. “We’re responding as best as we can. We can do this.”
“We’re getting closer…”
Hans’ Wanderfalke drifted into a hard stop kilometers in front of the city’s walls. Outside, they could see the Duke’s Army resisting stalwartly. Musketeers, pikemen, battlemages, and even cavalrymen fought against her hard. The artillery on the other hand pummeled both the four giants and the new fleshy swarms that she was creating.
Hans and Adelyn immediately cut it straight into the city. On the other hand, the Calamity of Desire continued her rampage. She sliced through swathes and swathes of soldiers that tried to resist her. Musketry and spells slammed into her body endlessly. But her strength was beyond that of mortals.
The ranks of the defense were completely routed in front of her. Men, realizing how futile their weapons and spells were, scattered. The few brave souls who tried to stand in her way received brutal slices. Their bodies became nothing but red decorations or ribbons in her wake.
Soon, she slammed into the city’s gates. With a single slash of her axe—she broke through. The defenders inside barely had a chance either, as they tried to stop her. But nothing worked. Nothing was going to be able to stand against her. And Hans knew it.
Dashing straight into the route that the Calamity of Desire took, the two mechs passed by the demoralized and dazed men of the Duke’s Army. Hans briefly gave them a few glances. To these people—they were the only ones capable of doing anything.
I have no high hopes for this. Hans told himself. For all I know, the moment I enter that place, I’ll be dead.
He pushed his feet harder on the pedal.
But if all these people rely on me, then damn it is it my responsibility to help Alizée finish this fight!
His mech galloped toward the gate that was blasted open. Once inside, it was already chaos and destruction. Fires were everywhere. Bodies filled the streets. The swarms of dolls were already starting to coalesce and form into sickly masses of flesh. No doubt, giants would appear from the thousands of civilians and soldiers that she was killing and converting.
But the two metal beasts ignored them. The skies finally darkened, as the first droplets of the rain poured down. So it begins. Hans frowned as visibility began to rapidly worsen. The fires and smoke began to dissipate, but the thunderstorm above them was rapidly intensifying.
Switching to his thermals, however, Hans wasn’t going to be blind.
“I bet she’s going for the city center,” Hans said on his comms. “Straight to the IYC headquarters.”
“You think?”
“Call it a gut feeling, Captain. I’ll try to get there faster and delay her from doing damage. Get Alizée there fast.”
“Copy, Lieutenant.”
Hans stopped and scaled one of the buildings to his left. Meanwhile, Adelyn continued on the streets, navigating the tight and confusing labyrinth that was Rignon. Hans meanwhile achieved total navigational freedom. While the houses and buildings could barely support his mech’s weight, he could still move and jump through them.
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Some of the roofs however collapsed whenever he stepped on them, so he had to be careful. Trying his best to quickly move, Hans left a wake of destroyed buildings behind him. He moved street by street, straight into the direction of the smoke and fires.
She must be there.
Hans steeled himself, as he felt his senses numb further. Unlike in the open, it’d be harder to enact evasion maneuvers here. Hans jumped on another house, before hopping to a store. Civilians below could only cower in fear as they ran. Many even screamed upon seeing his monstrous mech.
He tried to formulate a possible plan for fighting her in the urban setting. But it was hard. Until it clicked on him.
Play as the rat.
Use the buildings.
Use the streets.
Hans smirked, as his mech landed on the road below. Soldiers and civilians immediately scattered off his path. He immediately changed the APFSDS round that he loaded into his main gun for an MPAT round. Then, he set the round into airburst mode. Galloping through a bunch of abandoned wagons, Hans emerged in front of the Calamity of Desire.
“Mrs. Ambre!” He shouted as he laughed mockingly. “You know you can’t run from the hand of humanity!”
The woman turned around to meet him—only to be greeted by an MPAT round directly to her face. Thrown dozens of meters away, the building that caught her collapsed on her. Gunfire further streaked down toward her, pinning her down, before Hans disappeared on the streets.
“So is this what you want?” Hans continued, taunting her. “To murder entire cities just because of something that happened to you and your family?”
“I am merely an agent of desire! My past has nothing more to do with this!”
She rampaged further, trying her best to find Hans. But Hans was a sneaky little rat. Loading another round into his gun, he appeared from one of the lanes behind her.
“Let’s play a little game then, Mrs. Ambre!” Hans pulled the trigger. A sabot round careened from his gun, striking her back. The Calamity of Desire was once more flung away violently. The depleted uranium penetrator tore through her so hard, that by the time she stood back up, Hans had already disappeared. “I like to call it hide-and-seek. I played it a lot in the last wars I’ve been into. It’s the only way for me to live on after all!”
“You damned cretin!” She blasted through building after building. Hans felt the sheer rage emanating from her actions. He weaved through street after street—lane after lane, as behind him, buildings and entire blocks were deleted by the enraged demon. “Where the hell are you?!”
“Perhaps I’m behind you, in front of you…or beside you—” he appeared again from one of the lanes that was directly on her right. She only had a second to glance at him before another sabot dart nearly tore off her hips. Flung away, Hans once again disappeared. The rain made it even harder to see anything.
“Come back here, you damned soldier! You muppet! You interfere with the work of the Great Archdemon! You’re going to pay. Pay! And none of your desires shall be met. You’ll be nothing but a piece of meat sliced into oblivion!”
“You know, I can even be above you!”
She stopped in her rampage, as she looked back up. Hans, on top of a building, had his gun aimed at her. Hans smiled in glee—as he pulled the trigger again. The MPAT round he released exploded violently. Jumping down on her coughing form, Hans deployed his forward leg razors. Then he gave her a little love tap, sliding his razors on her chest, and dragged her body a few meters ahead. Disengaging it, he immediately galloped into the darkness. “It tastes awful to taste humanity’s wrath for once, no?”
He immediately disappeared into the thick rain and tight streets. Hans playfully ran away. He knew that the woman was now extremely pissed. And that fury was aimed at him. But Hans relished that. He hurt her. He harmed her in so many ways just by being an annoying rascal. And that was all that mattered.
I’m whittling her down.
In fact, there was even a quiet satisfaction that he felt at inflicting pain against her. He had been sliced and murdered so callously many times by that lunatic. Now…he finally was inflicting the same terror against her. Even if he died once more, he’d take this satisfaction with him.
But I’m not letting her get another shot at me.
He dashed further inward through the city.
She’s rapidly exhausting everything she has. No more sloppiness is acceptable.
+++
He’d been in this dance of death with her for a few minutes already. He was now down to five munitions. Three MPAT rounds…and two APFSDS rounds. Hans was in all aspects exhausted of his means to combat her. He wouldn’t be able to fight any further.
I did everything I could.
Hans reasoned that bitterly to himself as he retreated.
I gave it all that I could.
He ran and ran as the Calamity of Desire chased him from the rear. He had been taunting her endlessly. And she was beyond pissed. He listed all of her crimes. He mocked her. He rubbed it into her face how her actions betrayed and harmed her daughter and granddaughter.
He told her directly, with an anti-tank round flying straight to her face—that she was no different to her husband. That angered her beyond the point of reason.
“You damned mutt! You’re just like him! You’re no different! Abuser! Dog! Just a man who knows nothing but to take what you want!”
She sliced her axe below him as he jumped away. Hans pushed the button for his mech’s speakers as he continued running.
“And you’re a woman obsessed with murdering people for your wants. And your wants are literally just as absurd! All you want is the power to enact pain against everyone else.”
“You’re right! You bastard, I’m a murderer, a criminal, and a demon!”
She cried, and she cried. She screamed at Hans with the most high-pitched of wails. Jumping into the sky, she readied her axe to strike him down.
“But I will not be compared to that man!”
A pulse of white light struck her. It stopped her mid-air. Below—Hans saw Laura’s staff glowing, the young Virtus Priestess holding her tears as she struck her own mother.
“You’ve already done that to yourself, mother!”
Then, as the Calamity of Desire fell to the ground, Alizée blasted forward. A swing from her sword sliced through the woman’s torso. The force of impact was so strong, that she was once again flung a dozen meters away. Alizée’s voice coldly filled the streets.
“And we’ll either wake you up from your corruption or kill you…Lady Ambre.”
Alizée’s sword disappeared, as she summoned her crossbow back. Hans pulled his mech into a break and turned back toward the fight.
Heh…guess I won’t be dead yet then. He prepared his remaining munitions. To his side, Adelyn’s mech dashed as well into a hard break. Finally, some proper damned reinforcements.