The report reached the West Wind Knights during the night, Mondstadt had indeed carefully anticipated a scenario where the citadel would be invaded once again.

  However, there was an event that shook the castle, an unthinkable, foreseeable but never the case, a scenario that had occurred.

  "Ma'am... They..."

  Everyone in the meeting was shocked by the massacre of civilians in the castle's front yard, regardless of who they were, children or women, they either shot them and hastily buried them in a mass grave, or be hanged like the other lifeless corpses to deter those who stubbornly held the last ditch defense before it collapsed and Mondstadt's army had to fall back. Perhaps, except for Amber, there were no other Prisoners of War.

  Jean gritted her teeth, the invaders were now clearly challenging her limits.

  "Fuck it!" – Jean hissed softly.

  In the midst of the great silent meeting, Jean's curses were heard. It was not loud, but enough to feel the knight's heart tighten when she heard the news.

  "We've been too lenient with these little shits."

  She was losing her composure before the actions of the invaders, for Jean, there was no reason to stop her from playing her last card.

  "Venti."

  "I need you to come with me for a second."

  ...

  After days the sky covered with ember and smoke, either from a burning bodies or the burning houses. White clouds and the sunlight returned to warm the withered souls below.

  Felix walked through the streets, before his eyes were rows of houses collapsed by artillery bombs, ugly and horror.

  "Perhaps the city buildings in Germany lately are not much different from this..."

  He sighed as if he wanted to deny that rotten truth. Suddenly a strong smell rushed into his nose, running from the hemisphere of his brain, down to his chest and then swelling his lungs. Felix ran hastily in order to pass the newly burried hole not too far away.

  Disgusting, so disgusting, he cursed under his breath, waving away the smell of death.

  He went to the tavern that had been left behind after the artillery shelling, pushed the door open and entered, Felix immediately saw his two comrades uncorking the wine.

  "Hey! You drank without me!" – he cheerfully walked in.

  "You're late! Come in!"

  The warm atmosphere and the laughter of his two comrades helped him temporarily forget the horror outside. Felix quickly joined the banquet, picked up the bottle of wine and began to drink.

  "So, any news?" Felix asked, putting the bottle down on the table.

  "Yes, I just got news," one of his friends replied. "They pacified the front yard by causing a massacre of civilians right in the castle. Mondstadt must be very angry."

  Felix frowned, "Killing them would not solve a shit."

  Felix's two comrades nodded in agreement. They drained their cups one after another.

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  Felix continued, "We'll have to rush inside that castle soon anyway, let's see what kind of people they are."

  "That's right," the other replied. "Their Vision will definitely help us a lot."

  Felix and his two comrades continued chatting and carefreely downing the remaining alcohol in the dilapidated tavern.

  Despite the victory in sight, far away from the castle, there were still some people who couldn't believe it was happening, especially Lieutenant General Günter, who was still extremely skeptical of Mondstadt's puzzling strategy. Why didn't they send out Vision-holding knights like the Citadel Campaign he had led last time but only that girl with a great sword? Was Mondstadt hiding their main force? Or was it simply that his or Jürgen's troops got them badly so they are not be able to respond to the front line in time?

  Either way, the plan to retake the field was right in front of them, soon....

  .

  .

  .

  Felix suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, surrounded by only the sounds of the summer choir humming melodies on the leaves, on the trees, and the flickering sound of the campfire in the distance.

  Not knowing if it was an omen or not, he felt nauseous, as if something huge was rushing into the middle of the camp. Worried, Felix go out to see.

  "Fuck..." - he cursed silently when he saw a creature writhing like a dragon in the dark sky, "what the fuck is that?"

  The mild winds suddenly turned bad, tents were uprooted, furniture was swept up, everyone be awakened.

  Shocked, he tried to run away, but the wind was too strong, pushing him to the ground. He felt like there was a thousand-pound pressure pressing him down to the ground, as if he dares to stand up, it will blow him miles away on the mid air. Felix grabbed the ground, hoping he wouldn't be blown away like those pots and pans.

  The storm dissipated, the dragon landed, it was huge, majestic like a powerful guardian protecting this land. The dragon roared loudly, resounding throughout the sky.

  "Pull yourself together!", everyone was stunned by the terrifying scene before their eyes: A dragon twice as tall as them, its wings alone made those small, weak people scared out of their wits.

  The belongings flew everywhere, the Panzerfaust chests were no exception, where did it fly to? God knows!

  There was a guy who found a machine gun in the chaos, he didn't think much, he fired all the ammo belt at that monster. It was not even left a scratch.

  The dragon was provoked, it spread its wings, crawled towards that poor soldier and roared. The power of its scream was like a mountain wind, blowing the guy away, hitting the wall, well... I bet he wasn't alive anymore since he was blown away.

  The artillery must have been removed and was being moved here. Without artillery, and without Panzerfaust either, the battle-hardened SS stood before the monster were not different from the knights without any gear fight against the standard infantry fully equipped. Perhaps the armored squad would be useful in dealing with them, but only until it flapped its wings and flew up, out of the evaluation range of the tank guns...

  "We still have the Wirbelwind, right?", Schwindler asked Kapon

  "... Yeah?"

  "It would be very useful." – he said vaguely.

  Kapon was puzzled, the four 2cm guns mounted on the hull of a mobile Panzer IV tank, specialized for anti-aircraft missions, so what? Was he planning to take down the dragon with four toothpicks stuck into potato?

  "Forget it, forget it. No, absolutely not..." – Kapon waved his hand at Schwindler.

  "Why?"

  "You're asking again! How can a 2cm gun deal damage to it!"

  Schwindler replied: "Then FlaK can take on the role of main firepower. Wirbelwind can provide fire support!"

  This guy's words were not entirely wrong, somehow were partly right, from some perspectives. But it was clear that exposing anti-aircraft artillery squads to deal with a dragon was clearly illogical.

  "Still don't believe it? Come down here, I'll show you where the guns are placed."

  They rushed down to the basement of the ruined house.

  There was one thing, if it was really just an ?idea that crossed the mind?, then why did he explain it so thoroughly?

  The map was so terrifyingly detailed, it was hard to believe that a single gsx could create this.

  "... Hey."

  "?"

  "You did this alone? When the fuck did you did this by the way?" – he raised his head, glancing at Schwindler suspiciously.

  "N-no? I've been thinking about this plan for a long time!"

  He could feel the cunning man's words faltering. So he knew about the existence of the wind dragon before?

  "So you knew about this creature before today? Aha, who told you?"

  Schwindler was speechless for a moment.

  "I accidentally saw it before! I thought it must be Mondstadt's army, so I came up with this plan."

  "Mhm." – he coldly hummed.

  Kapon thought to himself that this guy was not trustworthy from the very beginning, perhaps he had yet to reveal himself as a cunning bastard.

  He didn't think much more

  about it, continuing to listen to his plan.

  "I might sit back and watch his play, see how deep he can act."

  ———To be continued———