“Who are you?”

A sentence of unfamiliarity. Rasu’s voice is no longer recognizable to her incomplete mind. To her, the three soldiers in front of her are no different than the ones she had slaughtered without a thought. They are only background extras, obstacles before she reaches her final destination: Avalel, whatever he looks like, wherever he may be.

She has simply forgotten who she was. Her identity was severed months ago, her current self just an empty shell. She knows it, too. Purpose, identity, aspirations… Her whole life is built only to kill Avalel, isn’t it? Then who is this man in front of her, calling her by name?

“Kavlina,” Rasu calls out again. “The mess, the bloodbath around us… It was you, wasn’t it?” He used to call her Kav, a short, succinct nickname for her elegant title. But that is gone now.

“How do you know my name?”

Silence. Rasu is at a loss for words, not knowing what to say. She is a long lost close comrade, missing for months. He is a stranger before her, never having existed in her mind. What was the Squad Rasu now suddenly feels like a long lost memory. Even if it was just a short period of time, to Rasu, it was a period he genuinely enjoys, having even a sliver of happiness in the otherwise soul-crushing war. And she has forgotten it all. To Kavlina, Squad Rasu never existed. Whatever they were, whatever they are to her, it is all nothing but dust.

“Where is Avalel?”

The only one she remembers. She has forgotten everything, even his face, but his name remains etched in her fractured memory.

“You aren’t Kavlina,” Evi plainly states. “You are just a confused girl, lost in your maze.”

A swish of wind, and Evi finds her neck nearly touching Kavlina’s blade, the latter stopping just beside her.

“Distractions shouldn’t speak.” Even through the mask, Evi can feel Kavlina’s chilling gaze staring at her neck, but somehow, within that mask of intimidation, there is a hint of repressed reluctance.

“You’re hesitating, aren’t you?” Evi asks.

Clang!

Smiling, Evi points her rifle at Kavlina’s head, her neck not even flinching as Rasu’s blades hold Kavlina’s prosthetic arm in place, unable to even touch the skin.

“Tch,” Kavlina scoffs, quickly kicking Evi’s shin before jumping away, swatting away Rasu’s blades like flies. “Out of my way.”

“Forgive us, but we quite enjoy fighting you.”

Bang! Bang! Tari fires. Two shots find themselves pummeling the ground where Kavlina was, yet the young, machine-like soldier has already dodged them, again throwing herself between the three of them, her right hand reaching for her knife.

A shot from Tari aimed at her temple, dodged with minimal effort. A host of blades from Rasu aiming for her back, parried with rapid movements of her knife alone, her blade dueling with Evi, chipping down her rifle. Even with all three of her former comrades bearing down on her, she is unafraid, her attacks fatal strokes of violence, brimming with endless hatred. Even if they are just stubborn obstacles in her way, the way they fight, the inefficiencies in their attacks show only a will to delay her, not to kill… Annoying, just annoying.

Behind his helmet, Rasu smiles. Their purpose is obvious to the formerly brilliant girl. As the three of them dance and orbit around Kavlina, they keep her confined inside the ruined fort, attacking sometimes from behind collapsed walls, sometimes in front of her face, sometimes leaping for the strike in unison. Like a free verse poem they weave themselves to and fro seemingly without much pattern, yet there is a set rhythm, built and solidified from their experiences in battle together. Kavlina, having lost that chemistry, can only parry and react, unable to even have the space to attack.

It is physically taxing for all of them, the air in their lungs insufficient to fuel their high intensity attacks. Rasu’s eyes dart about, straining as they track Kavlina’s movements, like a cat chasing a beam of light. A slash aimed at her shoulder. She parries, as expected, taking a step back to steady herself. Another attack from behind, halting her movements, forcing her to block once more.

She is entangled, confined in his trap. It is only a matter of time until she loses to attrition. At least that is his hope. At least none of them will have to die.

Live. Bairuel certainly meant it for the others as well. For the whole squad. To live, live with passion, to truly live, live with purpose. That was supposed to be how they should continue onwards. It isn’t supposed to be like this. But at least, at least he can do what he can to shut down this machine without harming the fragile, human body of Kavlina inside.

“It seems distractions can be distracted as well.”

Returning from his brief daydream, Rasu looks at his trap. Kavlina is gone, a small crater, still smoking, in her place. His limitless blades should’ve pinned her in place. Any movement that isn’t a parry will allow the blades to pierce her to the bone, limiting her further. It should’ve been impossible to escape from his trap.

“Rasu!” Evi shouts in alarm.

Thok! Rasu dodges, his eyes just catching a flash of Kavlina’s blade as it barely misses his body, and behind it, Kavlina’s blood soaked vest, five of his own blades lodged deep inside her flesh. Her blood gargles, spurting out, bathing her hair and mask with a shower of crimson. Somehow, it only makes her all the more terrifying.

A swing. He ducks, hearing a screech as the blade grazes his helmet. Darting backwards as fast as his weak legs can offer, he can hear his own heartbeat reaching its limit, the blood flushing to his vitals. He isn’t injured, so why… Why does he feel he is about to die?

A flurry of shots from Evi and Tari, temporarily distancing Kavlina from Rasu. Even though for the past while, they have only been standing in place, attacking Kavlina from a distance, they are already greatly tired, their armor more a suffocating prison than a protective fortress. Kavlina, practically rinsed, drowned in sweat and blood, shows no sign of exhaustion. If anything, her aura only grows stronger, her energy boundless, her will unfazed.

Rasu’s blades begin to flicker like apparitions, his senses blacking out for a moment before they return. Even for the young man twenty five years of age, such an exertion of energy is already far beyond his normal physical capabilities. Evi’s well-trained body is faltering, her proud stature slouching a little from her own weight. Tari has refused to even speak, focusing all his strength instead on his weapon. It is not Kavlina who is growing tired from attrition, but the three of them.

If he is a normal soldier, the general sitting at his office, it is natural for him to retreat. It’s the logical course of action. Live to fight another day. Or so they say.

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He agrees. Had they retreated faster, earlier at the Pass, then perhaps not as many would fall. Perhaps he wouldn’t have to lose an eye. Perhaps he wouldn’t have to lose Bairuel, his pillar. But not now. Nothing has changed in Kavlina. Nothing yet. She is still a machine, not Kav who fought alongside him. She has no purpose other than to kill Avalel. She isn’t truly living.

He cannot bear to fall back once more, to leave behind another of his comrades. Even in his pitiful state, he cannot fall, he cannot fail. But no matter how much he wills to live, he can feel it. The swift decay of his body, worn down from the extreme exertion of his energy.

The familiar screams of artillery, the shrieks of aircraft overhead. The rest of the Confederation is near. There isn’t much time left. They know.

“You are tired,” Kavlina says.

“You really are a prodigy,” Rasu compliments weakly.

“Leave,” she commands, as if Rasu’s comment has just slid past her ears. “I’ll pretend you have died. I don’t know who you are, but it is enough.”

That hidden corner of humanity, still untainted, is fighting inside for the control of Kavlina’s body.

“I don’t want to kill you.”

She lowers her blade, her mask no longer concealing her violent gaze, but hiding a sort of reluctant softness. Under the Elyfesta, she is like an unwilling messenger of fate, coldly looking at the three of them, the emotions only coming out as a bland taste of nothingness. For a moment, Rasu can see her again: the confused girl who didn’t even know the reason for her allegiance to the faction, who carried a sort of pride in her martial prowess, suppressing her feelings within. A girl neither leader nor follower, neither familiar nor unaccustomed to the world, only forced to become independent under the cruelties of war. For a moment, Kav, the young, inexperienced soldier of Squad Rasu, stands before his eyes.

The rumbling of boots, organized, running in step. Kavlina tenses a little, her blade repairing itself, the metal growing back like it’s alive. As Rasu’s blades dissolve into thin air, her wounds close up gradually, the blood flow dwindling until there is nothing but purplish stubs. However, her mind does not care about the state of her body, but fixated on the two familiar figures who flank her sides.

Rasu quickly scans the soldiers with his robotic eye, the only sense still fully functioning. Armed lightly with personalized weapons, they seem more like mercenaries than soldiers of the Confederation, yet both bear the same emblem. Like Kavlina, their faces are covered with masks, hiding their faces, concealing their expressions. However, they are not machines in the slightest, each having a unique personality that cannot be quelled. One stands just slightly taller than the other, a woman of considerable stature, her cloak concealing the many weapons strapped around her belt. Her mask, unlike the others, is only a surface of black, distancing herself from the colors of the world.

Both of them are splattered with blood.

“Took us long enough,” Tevlaia says, marching up to Kavlina’s position. Somehow, it is different from the coldness exhibited earlier as she lightly pats Kavlina’s shoulder , taking great care to not cause any more pain to her healing wounds. “A shame we didn’t arrive earlier.”

“You didn’t need to.” The humanity inside Kavlina is gone once more as she faces Tevlaia, her voice bland and emotionless.

“You are tired.”

“I will not stop until Avalel is killed.” The robotic sound echoing through her vocal chords feels almost unnatural, her body frozen like a statue.

“You are tired,” Tevlaia repeats. “Please, just rest for a while.”

“I will not rest.”

“Then at the very least… Let us go with you.” Tevlaia completely breaks her authoritative aura, kneeling down, looking at Kavlina with an arm still resting on her shoulder. Her voice is gentle, almost whispering, attempting to melt away Kavlina’s stubborn, frozen mind. If not for their appearances and the environment, it may very well be an older sister trying to comfort her upset younger sibling. “I don’t want you to risk fighting him alone.”

Kavlina pauses, surprised at such a gesture. “Whatever you say,” she says, pretending to brush it off. “If you can catch up to me, that is. Avalel is mine to kill. Those three distractions… I don’t know them.” Before any of them can even react, she is gone once more, leaving two boot prints on the dusty ground. Tevlaia doesn’t stop her, just looking at the cloud of dust settling on the ground again.

She turns to Rasu, her ruthless aura returning to herself. “I’m surprised the three of you didn’t attempt to attack us during our conversation.”

“Even if we had, we would simply fall to your weapons,” Rasu says plainly. “Besides, it is rude to interrupt a conversation, isn’t it?” It’s quite obvious that the conversation earlier was not merely one between two soldiers. He gasps, having difficulty even breathing. The exertion earlier has taken a huge toll. Inside that prison of armor is not one of the New Rule’s greatest soldiers, but a rapidly aging, deteriorating body, exhausted, depleted from the overuse of energy.

His Gate is already fully opened, the inside already dead.

“You wouldn’t mind to have a break now, would you?” Tevlaia asks, understanding Rasu’s meaning.

She approaches Rasu, her bloodied hands empty. Behind, Kerohar silently stands, his rifle pointing at the ground. Despite Evi raising her rifle in caution, Rasu gently lowers it again, meeting her with Tari at his side. Surrounded by the noisy, chaotic battlefield, they are just a pocket of silence, time slowing down only for them.

“Was she important to you?” Tevlaia inquires.

“You could say so,” Rasu answers, weakening with every word. “She was a subordinate.”

“Her wounds… None of them were close to being serious. Was that your intention as well?”

“I would say I’m just weak,” Rasu laughs softly. “But really, I just wanted her to live.”

“Even at the risk of you and your other subordinates’ lives?”

“Even that.”

Tevlaia scoffs lightly. “That was not very wise, was it?”

“I wanted her to realize, at least, that there’s more to life than being a killing machine.” He clutches his chest, the agonizing pain stopping him from taking any more than shallow breaths. “I thought I could knock some sense into her.”

“You may be right,” Tevlaia responds. “It’s a shame you didn’t serve the Confederation, teaching our wise Common Leader the idea of humanity.”

“I’m just a dying man now, useless and limp. You can kill me if you want.”

“Rasu–” Tari tries to protest, but is instead gently pushed by Rasu, indicating for him to release his support. Almost immediately, Rasu falls on his knees, his legs no longer having any strength left in them.

“Do you not have the same will to live, the same as how you want her to live?” Tevlaia asks.

“My job to live is finished,” Rasu says. “I have faith that she will find her way to live again. Not under me, but under the tough care of a certain cloaked soldier.” He looks at Tevlaia.

“That, I have already done for the past two months.”

“Then I trust you to take care of her for two more.”

Tevlaia sighs. “If only all soldiers had such a noble heart,” she mutters, seemingly to herself. Picking out a knife from her belt, she raises it to the Elyfesta, feeling the light reflect off the blade to her face.

Rasu fights the urge to vomit, the insides of his body rapidly collapsing and dying. “May… May I remove my helmet?” he asks. “And for you, your mask? It would be nice to see the face of my killer.”

“Of course,” Tevlaia says, amused at Rasu’s morbid sense of humor. “As for the other two… Please do not let me recognize you on the battlefield again.”

“Live,” Rasu says simply. “For me, for Bairuel, for everyone else, alright? Treat it as a final order from your squad leader. Please.”

Nodding slightly at Rasu, Evi and Tari reluctantly walk away, taking a glimpse back every once in a while, looking at their squad leader becoming smaller as they go further until he has disappeared from their sight.

The two of them remove their headpiece, staring at each other’s faces, their own reflection seen through the other’s eyes.

“Your eyes are beautiful,” Rasu compliments, seeing above him not a face scarred by war, but the eyes still uncorrupted by its destruction.

“Your face is like a child’s,” Tevlaia responds awkwardly, not knowing how to respond to the dirty mess in front of her.

“I know.” His voice barely above a whisper, he arches his head backwards, exposing his neck. In the end, I couldn’t even fulfill his last wish.

“I’ll give you a proper burial.”

“Thank… you,” Rasu mouths, blood flowing from his eyes, nose, and mouth.

Live. What an impossible command.

Blood splashes across Tevlaia’s clean face.