Another Side

Phesx Caolia advanced through the forest, looking at his sides and trying to take the path where his sides are more or less 'protected' by many rows of trees, even deviating a little just to have it done. With more than a year in the military, holding his rifle like this was no trouble, but the esteemed time to cross the forest was between 1 and 2 hours. Not that little.

“…” As he continued for half an hour, having traveled a little deep into the forest, Phesx Caolia silently looked up. His light black eyes contents dilated, ‘Are those oranges?’

If there was something that could take place in Phesx Caolia’s mindset, of which Sofia couldn’t traffic into the encampment despite being able to get chocolate, it was oranges. Phesx Caolia’s salivated a little, but he didn’t move, debating. He cannot just get distracted.

3 minutes later, Phesx Caolia peeled his first orange with one of his knives and ate it right after.

Once he ate, forgetting he was in a unique forest, with the dirt he stepped on already dead, with a dull, grayish purple tone to it, he continued hunting for possible paramilitary folk.

While it was better if he did not find such people, and could keep his ammo, with less than 7 magazines of his rifle and 3 of the submachine gun in his military bag, still hidden. Phesx Caolia wanted to find more people to ‘play’ with. Either way, he’d be fighting whether he joins Prona or finds danger within Preut, alone.

Yet, as time passed, and the first hour went by, Phesx Caolia continued advancing with his stance lowered. He ate another 2 oranges, feeling super energized and in a good mood. He found no one, although he could distinguish a few traces of having taken paths nearby.

Those were old, though. Phesx Caolia continued moving and still found nothing. He couldn’t tell how long he was from the other side, as this was his first time here, and he was just employing what he was taught. Fortunately, Phesx didn’t lose his way when detouring, and after picking his sweet, delicious oranges.

… 40 minutes later, Phesx Caolia saw the revealing the image of buildings in the distance amidst the trees. These districts were the wealthiest in Preut, with the tallest buildings, where if they weren’t 80 meters tall at least, they were 60 or 70 meters tall. It was also much more packed than in Prei, the most populated section. Let alone Prequa, with the least population and most territory.

Phesx Caolia advanced with long strides as the morning lights showed him the desolation yet beauty of Prona. At first, he thought he’d see himself surrounded by the interconnected districts made into a single one, yet, he realized he was much higher than the ground level.

There was a high steep leading down, but there were some construction site’s structures to either go down the forest or up. These might have been built to take care of the forest from this side, as they expanded throughout the forest’s northern perimeter. However, a lot of it looked destroyed, probably during the Prona Prequa battles in the beginning.

“!” Phesx Caolia was just stepping out of the trees to look at the nearest structure to the steep, when he heard vehicles move towards a close by location. He stepped back and hid behind a thin tree before checking the dirt areas and roads directly down his location.

There were several vehicles parking relatively near each other in an open space, trying to keep the distance between each other. Phesx Caolia only needed to hear their engines to know it was military, but he still checked them with his uncomfortable, enhanced vision.

‘Prei and Prequa?’ Phesx Caolia jumped his eyebrows, surprised. ‘They don’t seem to be trading, or playing the spy game. Is this some negotiation talk?’

Phesx Caolia frowned. Wanting to hear more, he stepped forth. He had just stepped down, and felt his left foot stabilize in the solid ground, when he witnessed a sudden gunshot take place. A preq sitting on the hood of a military car suddenly stood up, turned to the preis, and lifted his left arm, firing off the chest of the preis’ leader.

As the prei fell, the other prei aimed their weapons and fired away. The preqs seemed prepared, but they still got confused when the signal was given, regardless of how obvious it had been.

3 preqs immediately fell, riddled with gunshots even after falling. Blood and gore unmasked each side’s hostility as death descended upon everyone. The military vehicles had no machine guns installed on them, so it was a matter of personnel alone.

Phesx Caolia was still far from them, about 200 meters from their battle zone. He fearlessly crouched down in front of the tree, remaining immobile as he calculated with his mind alone. He didn’t bother about his slight visibility from where they were and counted.

They were approximately 40 and 60, with more prei, but the preqs were simply better equipped and knew how to hole up, exactly as he expected it. Phesx Caolia’s light black eyes slightly flashed, showing untraceable emotions before taking off.

Phesx stepped off the edge, skidding his feet down the steep before landing on a platform, falling lying down. His body inadvertently made a loud, dull ‘pang’ sound. Although not that loud, it traveled far. It attracted the 2 sides’ focus, alarming each other, but seeing nothing, they rapidly returned to shooting each other.

After feeling his back was no longer creeped out, and the sensation of about to be cut disappeared from his neck, he dragged his body to the side, where a few other structures would obstruct his body after standing up.

‘Phew.’ Phesx Caolia stood up at once, aiming down, but didn’t see any soldier and just stared at a few empty areas, with bullets being shot about from afar. ‘The prei are retreating.’

Phesx Caolia thought, becoming alarmed. He looked to his left and started looking for routes. The prei were to the front in the west of him, while the preqs were at the east. He had to think fast. After looking at the platform leading further to the left, Phesx Caolia discarded it, as he would come out of hiding and become visible if he followed that path.

After not finding a good route, he just looked down before strapping his rifle behind his left armpit and around his neck. He walked to the edge, turned around, and soundlessly dropped himself, grabbing the tubes and stepping down on them as he went further down.

Boooom- bang bang bang, bang! Trrrrrr rrrrrrr…

Hearing more gunshots, submachine guns, and the use of explosives, Phesx Caolia calmly climbed down the structure. When he was 3 meters from the ground, he jumped off, impulsing himself slightly backwards to not hit himself unconscious in the head, immediately crouching once down. He aimed left, then right, before crouching to the nearest building wall.

After checking his left, with the prei still not retreating to his position, and securing his moving wouldn’t be seen by the preqs, he advanced to the building left of him crouching. He was fast, maybe even faster than soldiers running with full equipment amidst battle.

When Phesx Caolia’s back was against the other building’s wall, and he stopped to hear if they were talking about him, the preis were barely starting to retreat. “Back, go back!” - “Go to the 2nd point!” - “Grenaaaade- boom!” - “Shit!!” - “Leave him! That’s just a fucking foot- leave it, I said!”

Phesx waited at the left corner of this building, checking when the preis’ footsteps further retreated. When he heard them stop still 20 meters behind his position, Phesx looked at the buildings from behind, where biologists and some guards might’ve lived in the past. Some were destroyed, but there was a good elliptic row of small buildings on the preis’ rear.

‘Hm.’ Phesx Caolia thought in a good mood before running forth with his back lowered. He would now be seen, but he had expected it.

On the Prequa side, the soldiers firing at the prei, finally taking another 2 down as they forced the preis to retreat, suddenly noticed a civilian running away with a long weapon. A soldier wearing sunglasses asked his immediate superior, “Sir, did you see that?!”

“Keep shooting. I haven’t commanded you to act as a judge to this battle. Get those fuckers! They’ve allied with scum, they are worse than scum!” - “Hurrah! Hurrah!!” - “Hurraaah!” - “Aye! Hurrah!”

The soldier wearing sunglasses, with short, balding blond curly hair, cocked his head before taking down another prei fella. ‘There’s still more of them than us, shit…’

Phesx Caolia couldn’t care he was seen, as the prei didn’t notice. He rushed into the back of one of the buildings, expecting them to have their backs broken apart by a shell or explosion. The buildings behind them were destroyed, but those he targeted were completely fine.

Cursing his luck, Phesx Caolia discarded the thought of rushing to one of the front entrances. However, thinking like that gave him an idea. Taking a few deep breaths in, he raised his posture and aimed ahead before walking to the right, showing himself behind one of the houses.

The preqs were momentarily startled, and some aimed at him, but then, Phesx stopped moving, crouched, leaned against the wall near the corner before firing off at the head of a prei from his helmet. The preis didn’t notice at first, engrossed in the front, but a few looked down when their comrade didn’t respond to their calls.

“Behind! Enemy behind! Behind!” A prei soldier exclaimed, turning around before his immediate superior could stop him, an older, brown, gray-bearded man. “Stop! Don’t-”

Trrrr- The older man watched his soldier turn into a porcupine, with blood splattering on that soldier’s back before falling limp on the dirt. Immediately after, prei divided a third of their less than 50 elements to aim at their rear and get rid of the enemy.

Phesx Caolia didn’t cover. He didn’t have grenades, but he had a slightly good angle from here. But he was still exposed. A prei soldier shouted, half scared and half enraged, “FIRE!”

Tkrrkkk… Phesx Caolia heard the bullets graze the wall above him and stop before him. He fired his rifle, immediately bursting the third portion aiming at him, as they had to move to get into place first. It wasn’t that Phesx Caolia was really good at fighting larger numbers, he just took them by surprise in the worst moment and in a decent spot.

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“Aagh!” - “Oooh- holy shit!” - “Aagh, al carajo!” The soldiers struck by Phesx Caolia tumbled down, some with their abdomen bleeding, and others with their sides cut by flying bullets. They were approximately 70 to 80 meters away, keeping Phesx Caolia safe but in a difficult position to accurately kill them off.

This was truly the first time Phesx Caolia participated in the war, fighting another section, or more. What’s more, from large distances. If he used his medium pistol now, he’d at most hit 1 or 2, instead of about 5, like now.

“Mff!” Phesx Caolia felt a bullet go through above his left shoulder, dangerously near his neck and head. He groaned through his nostrils and prepared to retreat, when a grenade arched towards him through the air. He stopped and remained crouched, calculating with his light black eyes.

Anyone would’ve wanted to dash away while shooting a grenade and forcefully explode it coolly. But even without training, Phesx Caolia knew how guns and grenades worked, and his rifle had a good chance of doing that only when up close because of his accuracy.

Phesx Caolia looked at the grenade, only slightly lifting his rifle, and ignored the bullets closing up to his feet and sides, landing on the ground. But even then, many would fail to explode a grenade in the air, built to resist things such as other explosions, albeit not impenetrable.

Bang- boom! Fortunately, Phesx Caolia wasn’t that bad at aiming. His rifle’s special effect destroyed the grenade, just it 8 meters before him in the air. Although he only felt a slight impulse backwards, and most of it was directed at the small building’s wall he was leaning on, he let his body’s right side loose.

Like swimming against the current, only putting strength on his left side, he was dragged backwards. With an additional light tap from his right foot, which he nearly tripped from, Phesx Caolia threw himself around the corner, mostly safe from the gunshots. But remembering the past, where his spine was nearly blown off, he forced himself up and away.

“Where did he go?!” After the grenade, Phesx Caolia didn’t suddenly appear and continue shooting at them just to get barraged with bullets. A prei soldier in position around the corner of another house in the opposite direction shouted, but no one had the answer.

‘Oh no!’ That’s when they realized something, returning their sights to the front after getting distracted with the single enemy’s disappearance. They saw their comrades fall one after another. Their bodies no longer moving and others receiving hurls of firepower at them.

Before they noticed, the preqs cleaned their comrades’ right flank and aimed at them near the houses. One of the preqs even shouted, “Support our friend! Fire!”

Trrrrr rrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrr…

“Aaaaaagh!” - “Efk- bblm…” - “Grrflgh- ggrrlggh…” The preis on the houses’ walls rapidly fell, with no cover or support from their comrades. The remaining preis grouped and moved towards another building, wanting to follow the example of their enemy, but it was only slightly nearer than those in their rear.

Seeing the preqs were now doing well behind another house far from his previous position, to the rear left flank of the preis, Phesx Caolia rolled away and continued moving into their left flank.

Little by little, the preis were mowed down, but the preqs were not without casualties. While the preis became less than 10 a few minutes after Phesx Caolia’s intervention, the preqs had lost more than 20 of their numbers.

“Aaaaaagh! Damn you, tyrants! Blaagrrhk!” The remaining soldier, the gray-bearded brown man had 3 shots on his right leg, nearly gone limp, as he shouted and took a large pistol out. Phesx Caolia’s eyes widened when seeing this, as did the preqs.

The preqs’ leader rapidly shot his neck, letting the man choke while snatching the large pistol from the brown man’s hands. Now victorious, he lifted it and asked out loud, “This is a nice prize. Who wants it? No one? Well then, I’ll generously have it. Thank you.”

“…” The soldiers looked at their leader and snarled, but didn’t dare say a thing. The leader got busy with cleaning the blood off his new, extremely costly pistol, when a soldier came and reminded him. “Sir, shouldn’t we check for that guy?”

“Right… You, you, and you, go check the flanks. Arrest him,” the leader said, pointing at a few soldiers who were at the sides. They nodded before rushing ahead with their full backpacks. Some soldiers frowned, still aiming at their flanks and the front. Why not send them with a partner? That person was clearly a good scum, or ex-military, even paramilitary.

The leader wanted to take a look at that rifle, it was modded, obviously, and he liked it, too. However, what he didn’t know was that the unknown guy, a young boy still, had moved to the flank where his soldiers used the least explosives…

3 soldiers rushed to the front, where Phesx Caolia fired at the preis, another at the left flank, where he first showed himself, and another to the right flank. Phesx was hidden underneath a house in the right flank.

Step, step, step, step. As the soldier with the full backpack rushed around, aiming carefully at his sides, Phesx Caolia opened his eyes and extended his right arm towards the soldier. His nails out, and his body no longer trembling, he crushed a left leg’s ankle joint.

“Uwaah!” The other soldiers heard their comrade’s scream, easily identifying it, before a few pistol gunshots went off. They didn’t raise their voice and just moved towards the house with their guns aiming and their nerves wracking inside. Bang! Bang!

Trck tck- “Spread!!” When they were moving towards the house’s side, and saw a body after bending down but no extra feet, a pair of mechanisms sounded. The leader and a few soldiers remained behind. The leader frowned, constantly looking at the soldiers gone to investigate.

Suddenly, some soldiers rushed back out before a couple grenades exploded on each side of the house after bouncing off the walls a couple of times. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

“Aaaaaaah!” - “Daaammiiiiiit!” - “My legs, holy fu- AAAAH!!” Several soldiers were killed or maimed. Not letting the moment die out, Phesx Caolia threw flash grenades amidst the smoke after hiding beneath the first soldier’s corpse. He came out with his eyes closed and, after stealing someone’s helmet, with his submachine in his hands and his folded bag out.

Trrrrrrr rrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrr…

A few fleeing soldiers were finished off on the ground, with others tumbled down after being shot at from behind and the side. Phesx Caolia pushed his gun aside and made a full-on run for it towards the other side.

Phesx wasn’t just fleeing, though. As the leader looked at the explosion, he noticed a helmet coming towards him and mistook him for one of his soldiers despite the difference in clothing. The soldiers behind the leader aimed at Phesx but lowered them when their leader did nothing.

‘Isn’t this the guy?!’ They all thought, but didn’t shoot in the end, dooming their leader. Phesx Caolia clawed his fingers deep inside the man’s neck after a slight jump and lunge forwards. The leader was looking at his injured soldiers, which meant less ‘rating’ for this successful mission, with a hopeless stare.

“AAAGK!” Feeling his throat hurting, with liquid coming out, chocking him and bathing him, the leader didn’t realize when he was kicked down before his aggressor fled. The soldiers were shocked, they should’ve had done something!

Bang bang bang bang- trrrrrrrrrrrrr… But it was too late. Phesx Caolia was already running into their left flank, disappearing into the houses as they fired at him.

Ptf ptf ptf ptf…

“Arrgh…” Phesx Caolia groaned, feeling a few bullets almost penetrate his back, with his bag failing to cushion their force. He continued rushing into the buildings while feeling bleeding from his lower right back. He began tying his submachine gun to the left side of his right arm before strapping his rifle around his neck after having stored it.

Phesx Caolia hurried up to the platform, climbing rapidly and making sound all over, sometimes impulsing his body half a meter higher even. As he did, a preq shouted, raging and scared of returning without an explanation, “He’s right there! Leave the wounded— go after him! Go!”

‘Impossible…’ The soldier with balding blond hair and glasses looked at Phesx Caolia’s back, astounded. Here he thought they had a hidden ally.

The soldiers aimed at him, but Phesx Caolia once again had a great angle. This time, it was against them, though. Half his body was hidden by the corner of a house, while the rest moved agilely up the tubes and onto the platform. Once atop it, he aimed at a blonde guy with glasses before blasting his head off, then rushed to the steep he had come from at first.

“Huff, huff…” Phesx Caolia didn’t notice it, but his right hand was shot at, with its lower right side torn off and dangling from his flesh. He used a sticky tape from his belt to strap it along his submachine gun’s straps, continued fleeing from the rain of bullets with the higher ground on his favor, when it happened. Booom!

A grenade exploded a few meters behind him, immediately lowering the platform he was running on. He stopped and inadvertently half-crouched with his left knee up. He instinctively held his rifle and aimed at the remaining preqs. With his higher ground, and the house’s rooftop covering for him, he fired at them. He simply felt he would fall in the next second, but it didn’t happen.

However, he headshot the preqs one by one. He saw the helplessness they were filled as he killed them off, but instead of feeling a sense of camaraderie from his past, he enjoyed taking them down faster.

Phesx Caolia was too engrossed to notice a trail of dirt smoke slightly raising from the distance, moving closer towards them.

“!” Phesx Caolia’s eyes strongly widened when he realized the platform was only momentarily holding on. He impulsed his body forth, lunging it forwards, feeling like his blood was too slow to follow his movements, thus feeling colder as he acted. He rushed to the next platform, whereas some soldiers who were nearing him from below stopped, not wanting to be crushed.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

However, being in such a sensitive state, Phesx Caolia looked back, crouched, and fired at those 5 soldiers while others rushed to get a good angle of his side from the empty space ahead. After killing the preqs, Phesx Caolia rushed forth but was shot in the left knee.

He immediately understood what happened and widened his eyes, baffled and in disbelief. But Phesx fell down, helplessly. His back faced the soldiers who brought him down. He covered his neck and ducked his head, when a few bullets took his helmet off, grazing the back of his head with blood, and semi-stunning him.

The notion sobered him up, albeit with a blurry expression, to rapidly stand up and aim his submachine gun. The soldiers felt at ease, seeing that rifle slide almost off the platform’s corner, hung by the strap, and completely unprepared to face Phesx Caolia’s submachine gun.

Trrrrrr rrrrrrrr rrrrrrrr…

Phesx Caolia fired his whole magazine in a couple of seconds before reloading as fast as he currently could, with all these injuries and his dizzy mind. After reloading, barely noticing those 4 were all caught by surprise and died with wide awake eyes, he emptied the magazine again and wondered how he could stand before feeling weak.

It all happened too fast, making Phesx Caolia feel an incoming headache. After a while of aimlessly looking down, he felt some tears from his eyes, possibly from the oh so near death sensation still shuddering over him. He didn’t even bother checking the mess he left behind, as all preqs and preis were finished.

Feeling the new bulge in his bag from the large pistol, he limply went to his rifle, picked the strap, and suddenly, he was able to hear without muffles again. The doors of vehicles being closed and shouts emerging from below, slightly far away, became thunderous.

“!” Phesx Caolia reacted like someone whose both sides of their head were impacted with the extremely loud claps of hands. His shoulders jolted, and his neck ducked before looking ahead… and below.

“Don’t move anymore! Don’t! Move!” A female voice, headstrong and unchallengeable, shouted at him, with a modern rifle aiming directly at his lucky, still untouched brain. Phesx Caolia looked in shock at the gun, while the soldier in question, wearing a different emblem from a hand raised up or farms on her shoulders, gave him the sensation she wouldn’t hesitate to off him. His age wouldn’t even be considered higher than the fact that he was just suspicious-looking.

Phesx Caolia stood with his legs spread. His right arm was down, with his left hand slightly opened, and its palm faced upwards. He was bloody and dirtied, with a mix of both as he looked at the row of military vehicles and a few dozen soldiers, from more than a hundred, wielding modern weapons and similar armor as this female soldier.

‘Pronas… Is she from a special force unit?’ Phesx Caolia frowned, preparing to kneel in his weakened, trembling legs; to rest, more than in surrender. When the platform he stood on was pulled backwards by what his sensitive ears recognized as the other platform, exploded and crumbled, continued to fall.

Trriit trriit- rumble, screeeech~…

…