+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

  Nomosian Countryside

  Hans charged forward, his eyes now locked straight at the Calamity of Recklessness.

  Killing her was all that mattered to him, and his movements showed it clearly. He ignored all monsters that were around him, even the demonic serpent that failed at stopping him. Recklessness, surprised at Hans’ audacious moves, raised her staff in his direction.

  But his mech raged on, dodging the torrent of her attacks. Vines, wooden spikes, everything that nature had to throw at him were thrown, but Hans pushed on, the legs of his mechs rattling at the sheer pressure being placed on them.

  His guns opened fire, sending a hail of bullets that ignited upon impact. Naturally, the Calamity of Recklessness panickedly retreated to dodge it, only affirming Hans’ calculations that indicated her greatest weakness—she was fragile.

  At the very least, she couldn’t be anywhere near tougher than the Calamity of Desire.

  “Focus fire on her!” Hans ordered using his speakers. “We can kill her now!”

  The Viceroy and Adelyn tried to block the attacks by the rest of the monsters and the serpentine demon. It meant that they were unable to greatly support Hans, with Adelyn only able to provide a few shots from her main gun before her attention was diverted.

  Then it all falls to me.

  Hans’ mech faced another set of sharp vines that shot out from the earth, going straight to him. He dodged three of them, but the fourth one, finally managed to nail his mech, only stopped by his shields.

  That was too sloppy.

  Hans laughed at himself.

  He still hadn’t perfected his ways.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?!” the Calamity of Recklessness asked as she was forced to retreat further. It must be quite the humiliation for a powerful demon like her to be placed in desperate defense while fighting a mere mortal. Her eyes showed both fear and panic, clearly not understanding how Hans would have the guts to charge through her defenses.

  “Because I want to kill you,” Hans replied with his speakers, his double coaxials reloading after he emptied it. Another set of strikes came from the demon, and he dodged it all. “I swear, no matter where you go, I’ll kill you!”

  “The sheer hate radiating from you,” The calamity of Recklessness stopped after a wall of night wolves finally managed to stand between her and Hans. “I understand many humans hate us for what we do, but you…you’re different.”

  “Of course I’m different,” Hans laughed, eyeing the snarling night wolves in front of his mech. All it would take is one wrong maneuver from him, and their sharp, enhanced claws and fangs would tear his mech to shreds. Yet, he didn’t care. He’ll get through them all—and kill her. “Unlike the rest of mankind, I have the strength and guts to liquidate you. That’s right, my mission here—is to liquidate you!”

  Hans charged forward, as the wolves lunged at him. The gunfire stopped them and forced them to disperse, as the strength of his incendiary rounds terrified and overwhelmed them. Then, he found himself charging straight into Recklessness’ wide-open defenses. The demon tried to stop him, sending spike after spike at him, all of which missed due to his breakneck maneuvers.

  Hans managed to get his main gun trained nicely on her, and with an MPAT round safely loaded, he pulled the trigger. It flew straight to her, causing a violent explosion when it made contact. The Calamity of Recklessness was thrown many meters away, her body so badly damaged that it almost seemed like she was reduced to a ragdoll.

  And to punctuate that, Hans pounced on her, the mech’s engines revving up hard when it jumped—his forward leg razors deploying themselves. His mech rapidly landed on the ground, only dodged at the last second by Recklessness, who ran to his left flank.

  She stopped, facing Hans. Her body was filled with wounds and perforations, and she was bleeding badly, her green hair already so badly roughed that her former face was almost unrecognizable.

  “I see then,” she breathed in deeply. “You…you bastard.”

  Hans turned to her, reloading his main gun and double coaxials as she pulled herself back up.

  “That machine of yours…so unnatural, that it barely belongs to this good world,” she spat blood on the ground, as she gave him an amused grin. “I understand now. A good weapon leads its user to overconfidence. Recklessness to destroy everything around him. Look at the wildlife you murdered, the fires you started, the damage you bought…”

  “Shut your trap,” Hans replied. “You and your corrupted fellows do worse things.”

  “It’s all in the goal of trimming the unruly down!” she shouted, as her eyes glowed. “Mankind, when left to its devices, can only do damage to itself and those around it. A malignant disease to the natural order of this world. It needs to be trimmed and controlled.”

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  She raised her staff again, and its greenish glow only intensified. Hans pulled back slightly, opening fire to somewhat disrupt her. But instead, a mass of roses began appearing in thin air, surrounding her and the battlefield. It all began spinning widely, their sides slicing any object nearby.

  “Nature…needs to protect itself!”

  So this is your real power…

  Hans warned Adelyn and Emilia immediately.

  “Everyone!” Hans shouted at his speakers. “She’s preparing a new, different attack.”

  “What?!” Adelyn replied, still seemingly overwhelmed by the night wolves that were swarming her. “Wait, roses?”

  “They’re sharp!” the Viceroy shouted, dodging the roses as it finally descended on them. She prepared her magical wards too to block it, causing her body to glow a slight purple each time she was struck. “You two need to dodge it!”

  Hans and Adelyn were already in full retreat, alongside Emilia. Adelyn was especially struggling, as each rose began slicing through her armor, even though it was holding a bit better than Hans’ mech.

  Hans found himself in the worst situation. So many of the roses were flying straight at him, and since they were flying high above him before striking him, he struggled to dodge. He found his mech’s armor taking slice after slice each time he failed to dodge the barrage, causing constant degradation to his mech’s structural integrity.

  I can’t lose my legs or engines to this.

  Hans gripped his controls harder, his hands and feet moving frantically just to keep up with the demands of dodging and retreating the menace that was being thrown at him. By the time his mech finally managed to get out of her range, his machine almost seemed like it was on its final lease of life.

  Slices and scratches filled his mech’s armor, some even causing deep holes. Luckily, no critical subsystem was struck, but regardless, his mech’s hull structure took great damage. It wouldn’t be prudent to drive so recklessly after this.

  “Damn it,” Hans turned his mech one last time to the Calamity of Recklessness. Her eyes were locked on him, a burning fury clear on them. “You’re actually fairly strong.”

  But it didn't dissuade Hans. He felt even more pumped up now for the fight.

  The challenge’s difficulty increased again—and it delighted him.

  “I suppose a few more adjustments are in order then,” Hans said. “Heh. No matter, all it does is improve my skills. Bring it on then.”

  +++

  +++ Captain Ebert Strobel +++

  “Captain! Reporting!” an officer rushed to Ebert as he surveyed the battlefield. Both of them were on horseback. “B Company is requesting for a pullback from their dugouts. Same with C Company.”

  “That’s more than half of the 15th Infantry,” Ebert replied, frowning. He raised his spyglass to survey their positions. It seemed that the members of B and C Company were manning their lines with diligence and discipline. Hundreds of wolves already lay dead on the battlefield, right in front of their trench lines.

  He watched as each soldier kept up a scattered pace of fire, ensuring that at every moment, a musket was firing in their sector. They also expertly covered their brothers who were being forced to retreat, their responses coordinated to the best of their abilities. But he could also see that they were being dragged down badly by the battle.

  He watched as dugout after dugout was overrun, the musketeers below being forced into close melee which they almost always lost. Some squads that were on full retreat would be unfortunately attacked and mauled by the wolves, their bodies either left as lifeless, bloodied flesh on the ground or devoured completely.

  He recoiled at the sheer display of power by these monsters. They’re not normal. Even with the constant pummeling by his artillery and combat mages from the rear, it seemed like the bastards were tough.

  “The way they take damage is concerning,” Ebert said, watching as one of the wolves took four musket shots before collapsing in a bloody inferno. “Even with the strength of our enchanted cartridges, they’re managing to overwhelm us.”

  “Sire, what are your orders?” the officer asked again.

  “Permit them to retreat,” Ebert said. “There’s no point, we’re just here to hold and delay. We can’t lose too many of our boys uselessly. Notify the 22nd Infantry to remain on high alert, and tell the 2nd Fast Recon to get Dragoon Squadron moving. I need the cavalry to plug the holes in our lines.”

  “Aye, sire!” the officer saluted, before pulling his horse to the side and galloping away.

  He turned to his left, noticing that Captain Weibel was rushing fast in his direction, his horse sending plumes of dust as he stopped beside Ebert.

  “What is it?” Ebert asked.

  “Where the hell is Hans and Adelyn, or the Viceroy?” Captain Weibel asked, frustrated. “My mages are complaining that their AP is dwindling.”

  “Just keep them working, Captain,” Ebert said, shaking his head as another barrage of their artillery thundered. This time, special exploding shells were sent hurling toward the elephant demons that terrorized their front. The enchanted shells nominally suppressed the creatures, but they could simply recover and continue. “I don’t have an idea yet about where they are.”

  “I thought they’ll bait the Calamity of Recklessness here, and then we’ll fight as one?”

  “Well, that’s the problem. Hans already deduced that the Calamity of Recklessness won’t be swayed to expose herself. We have no choice. Someone has to go and kill her.”

  “Damn…”

  The two craned their heads back at the battlefield, as something caught their attention. In the distance, a heavily armored human-like creature charged through the battlefield. He seemed to wield a sword, and he almost sliced through an unfortunate squad of musketeers, only for his blade to meet another blade.

  Clad in a white, knightly uniform of the Imperial Mage Corps, a single Virtus woman faced the armored demon.

  “Wait, is that the Valeria girl? The Viceroy’s friend?” asked Captain Weibel, bewildered.

  “Crap,” Ebert groaned. “It would appear that a stupid idea managed to worm itself into Ms. Torre’s brain again. In that case,” he drew out his saber. “If we’re not going to falter, then we better dedicate our souls to the fight like her.”

  “...I like that idea,” Captain Weibel said, as Ebert rode straight into the gathering formation of Dragoon Squadron. “Let’s save that dumbass!”

  “Gentlemen, a lady has just gotten herself in the delusion to play hero today,” he grinned. “Let’s not let her die to a demon. Onwards!”

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