+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

  Nomosian Countryside

  “Contact! There’s a second demon on my left flank, fast approaching! Disperse at once!”

  Those shouts from Hans’ speakers were immediately taken by the members of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit. Hans pulled his Wanderfalke into a hard retreat. Vines and leaves raced to slice him, as Hans pulled tight turns left and right to get out. Meanwhile, the Calamity of Recklessness rushed to protect its ally.

  She used the trees, vines, and leaves that she summoned to block out their attacks. Hans, and even Adelyn, on the other hand, were forced out quickly. Even the Viceroy was forced to retreat, as she tried using her staff to cut down the vines and other plants that shot out from the ground.

  “Damn it!” Hans said. “It’s like she’s controlling nature itself.”

  “This is some extreme manipulation of Organic Magic,” Adelyn shouted. “And I thought it’s mostly used for agriculture. Not combat.”

  “Truth is, all magic can be used for combat,” the Viceroy grunted as she landed behind Adelyn and Hans’ vehicles when they stopped retreating. She aimed her staff back in the direction of the demons, and a purple magical circle appeared. “It seems that this demon is a previous organic mage.”

  She began firing spell after spell at the Calamity of Recklessness, who stood between Hans’ allies and the first demon.

  Suddenly, out of the horizon, a horde of night wolves began appearing. All of them hungrily looked at the positions held by the 1st Anti-Demon Unit.

  Hans loaded in fresh new belts for his machine guns. It was his ADI MG34—the same rounds that cost him sixty AP per belt under the [UPG: TRACE THE DOTS I] upgrade.

  Doesn’t matter if she has reinforcements. Hans thought. The musketeers are already ready. Not to mention…

  He opened a secure comm link with Captain Strobel. At once, the buzzes of his handheld radio came. He seemed to be at the rear, coordinating the rest of the defense of the Presidio redoubt with Captain Weibel. Hans immediately spoke.

  “Load those canister shells at once!” Hans ordered. “Look at the distance. There’s an incoming horde of night wolves that this mad woman probably controls.”

  “There's what now? Wait, I’m taking out my spyglass.”

  He paused for a few seconds.

  “That’s probably hundreds of wolves!”

  “Exactly. So get all those canister rounds you can get. I want all of them ready to be fired once that horde crashes on us. After that, you’ll once again focus on the two main demons. Understood?”

  “Clear. I’m riding out to get the artillerymen their new orders. Godspeed to us all.”

  The radio link between the two went dead. Already, the battle had resumed. Cracks of gunfire and spells blotted the battlefield, as the Calamity of Desire and the slightly healed wolf demon tried charging in their defenses. But Adelyn and the Viceroy began actively containing it. Adelyn’s main gun sang in an almost rhythmic manner to the Viceroy’s continuous spell barrages.

  Meanwhile, beams from the first demon struck foxholes and trenches. It even began reaching the first lines of defenses manned by a few squads. The demon would charge in as musketeers opened fire, and then it would use its claws and fangs to massacre the unfortunate soldiers.

  Many began breaking ranks after witnessing it, climbing out of their foxholes to run. But flying sharp wooden sticks raced and hit many of them. All of it was sent by the Calamity of Recklessness. The numbers of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit were now starting to take a minor dent.

  Hans pushed his mech into a frenzied flanking maneuver. He needed to stabilize things quickly.

  Flying above him were multiple canister shells that released hundreds of small iron pellets on the battlefield. Many of them struck the copies of the wolf demon. Others pelted and shot dozens after dozens of the night wolves that were joining in on the battle. Musketeers and battlemages, noticing the new threat, also joined in.

  Hans thus had to dodge both friendly fire and the incessant attacks that were coming from the two demons. Soon, the Viceroy and Adelyn finally sapped and disrupted the assault of the demons enough that Hans found a good opening on their left flank. He jumped over one of the foxholes, then he dashed through the kill zones of the redoubt.

  He aimed his main gun straight at the injured wolf demon, now already fully revealed because of its wounds. He knew that it was already somewhat depleted. The best he could then was to push it further into inevitable death. And that was exactly what he did. He fired an MPAT round straight at it.

  With the wolf demon nearly fainting, Hans turned his attention to the Calamity of Recklessness, who seemed to be dueling Adelyn to death. Unfortunately, the demon made the mistake of presenting her back to Hans. And he capitalized on that mistake.

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  A barrage of ADI rounds from his double coaxials peppered the woman’s body. She immediately turned his attention back to him as small fires burned her clothing and skin. In response, sharp wooden sticks began flying in Hans' direction. It forced him to push on the gas pedal hard as he tried dodging it. But at least two pierced through his legs. One even shot through his mech’s hull, but luckily it struck no critical component.

  That was close!

  Hans continued charging in. Locking back into the limping wolf demon, Hans jumped above a bunch of sharp vines that flew out of the ground. They almost sliced his mech, but instead, he was in the air. And he deployed his mech’s razors, just as he landed on the wolf demon.

  A pained howl came from the creature, as Hans pushed it on the ground and dragged it forward. Its sharp claws almost ripped him in half, but he managed to pull out and jump away. His turret however didn’t relent, turning back to rain a few more rounds on the downed demon.

  Unfortunately, he now fully attracted the attention of the Calamity of Recklessness. Vines and sharp wood sticks began flying in his direction. Hans began pushing his mech into a hard retreat as he tried his best to dodge in response.

  “You’re beyond bold!” the Calamity of Recklessness shouted as one of the sticks struck Hans’ turret once more. A warning sign appeared on his displays, but Hans was already in full retreat. “The audacity. To charge and run like that!”

  A final vine attack nearly sliced him, but he managed to get out just in the nick of time. On the other hand, much of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit was now faltering. And it was the same with the demons ahead of them. She had already picked up the downed wolf and began retreating.

  The surviving night wolves did the same.

  +++

  The dead and wounded were still being piled up. There were dozens upon dozens of them. Corpses, either charred, slashed, or even torn apart. Many injured had massive perforations on them, as healers rushed in and out of the hastily set up tents to tend to them.

  Hans had already finished his emergency repairs on his Wanderfalke. He was lucky enough that nothing important was hit, and all that happened was superficial damage. Adelyn on the other hand was different. Her mech was now parked on the side of one of the destroyed buildings on Presidio’s outskirts.

  And it was slightly glowing, as her [UPG: ARCANE MAINTENANCE SYSTEM I] was activated. Alizée was sitting right beside one of the legs, clearly worried about the entire affair. Adelyn on the other hand was utterly inconsolable, still ranting a bit about the damage her mech sustained.

  “Well, at least it’s just the radiator,” Hans said. “Could have been worse.”

  “If I hadn’t just driven too close to that woman…” Adelyn groaned. “Ugh, I can’t believe I blundered this bad.”

  “Look, you did alright. Trust me on that. Just repair, and then we’ll keep fighting. We’re doing fine.”

  “Alright…” Adelyn shook her head. “I just don’t want to disappoint you all…”

  Behind them, the Viceroy silently finished drinking her water. She was visibly tired as well. She had expended a lot of her AP in the battle, and fatigue had set in. Hans turned to her.

  “What about you?” Hans asked. “Are you good over there?”

  “Just give me a few more minutes,” the Viceroy waved it off. “I can recover. Then we can come back to the fight.”

  “You pushed yourself a bit too far,” Adelyn commented. But Emilia simply shook her head.

  “Not as much as you two did. Or…what Lieutenant Hoffman here did. That was beyond a crazy attack…”

  “I had to do it,” Hans said. “Were it not for the damage I sustained, I would have kept up the tempo to disrupt them.”

  “We’ve got the new boys rotated in,” Captain Weibel said as he and Captain Strobel arrived. “The redoubt is now being solidified. We’ve shifted four more guns to the area where the demons last attacked. Alongside two more musketeer platoons.”

  “What’s our powder and morale situation?” Hans asked.

  “We still have three-fourths of our munitions supply,” Captain Strobel replied with a grin. “And, since we forced them back, while we have taken some losses, the men are all still ready for a fight.”

  “The cavalry is shadowing them,” Captain Weibel added. “It seems that they’re just trying to regenerate and recuperate. They’ll probably attack again in a few minutes to dislodge us from this city.”

  “Well, we better return to our frontline positions soon then,” the Viceroy declared as she frowned. “I’m not losing today. We have to eliminate them. If we have to bait them here, then we should do it.”

  “I doubt that’s necessary,” Hans said. “That woman seemed incensed by my attacks. Well, our attacks in general. We did hurt her. Audaciously. I’d say, from my experience with demons, she’ll be pissed off enough at our ‘transgression’ that she’ll charge back here just to teach us a lesson.”

  “Well, in that case…we better teach her a lesson instead then,” Adelyn resolutely declared. “Let’s move out. We’ll act again as the mobile reserve force.”

  “Aight,” Hans nodded and turned straight to his Wanderfalke.

  +++

  Within a few dozen minutes, the two demons were finally walking back to the area that they had attacked. Naturally, the 1st Anti-Demon Unit further solidified this section of the redoubt. More personnel were now manning the hastily set up foxholes and trenches. Battlemages on horseback and cuirassiers circled the area, pistols and staffs at the ready.

  Eight artillery guns were also prepared in entrenched and elevated positions, all aimed at the direction of the demons. Standing amongst the arrayed forces of mankind, were the mechs of Hans and Adelyn. And of course, the veteran former Imperial Mage Corps member, the Viceroy herself, was in the center.

  The Calamity of Recklessness briefly glanced in Hans’ direction. But then, she turned to Emilia’s direction. A cold frown graced the demonic woman’s face, her golden eyes glowing slightly as leaves began flying around her.

  “You all seem overly cautious now,” the Calamity of Recklessness’ voice reverberated throughout the battlefield. Behind her, the wolf demon’s two heads snarled as it growled. “I see then. This would be a great challenge. But I…the Calamity of Recklessness, appointed by my lord, the Archdemon of Recklessness, won’t be stopped by your puny and cowardly tactics!”

  Hans shouted at his speakers in response.

  “Everyone! Open fire at once!”

  Discord server here!