Author notes:
Oh, my Yggdra~! I am so damn beat! Holidays are supposed to be when you can let loose but to me, it's a Yggdra-damn nightmare! I won't bore you all with details but suffice to say, the first chapter of this year is delayed quite heavily because of the holidays season... I am dreading whatever the hell Lunar New Year/Tet will be cooking for me soon. Screw my life...
But hey! I think I compensate for the delay pretty well though! I have written a 3.3k words chapter, wrote it pretty well too and I said that at the risk of tooting my own horn. I think you guys would love to read it when it gets available.
Other than that, I added three new pictures to the album. Hopefully, the next few days will be calm enough to work on my creative journey.
Once again, belated Happy New Year and I will be wishing you all an auspicious 2024!
Link to album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/waZgkRa3UQhqKQBi9
P.S: If anybody can spot the references in this mini-arc, do tell :D
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*Knock* *Knock*
"Please, come in." Kallen said while sitting by the bedside, holding up Natasha's hand to give her the comfort she needed.
With a gentle push, the door leading inside the Crusaders' allotted quarter swung open, revealing Yuki who stepped inside. "I came as soon as I heard the news." The Belkan Marshal said, moving to close the door before resting her back on it, crossing her arms beneath her breasts in the process. Right now, they're on the aircraft carrier Yggdrasil of the 1st Carrier Strike Group. The heavily armed Strike Group is poised to support the military operation that is bound to happen soon.
"How was she?"
Kallen frowns sadly, remembering the moment when Natasha dove into her with her very being exuding a despondent aura. "Bad. Natasha had her periods of ups and downs before, even when we were in Spain. But to see thousands of them being used in such a way? To see the kids she used to take care of being the victims of... Of humanity's hubris!?" Kallen went heatedly on the last sentence before toning it down with a bit of an effort and a grimace. "Countless were sacrificed and countless more will be slaughtered to create beings like us in the name of what? The Lord? If there exists God, why would he allow such madness when others were punished!"
"Because Yahweh is dead." Yuki answered as if spouting the obvious. "And it's people like them that killed her."
Kallen looks at Yuki and sees the latter's calm demeanor. The Crusader then comments, her eyes still a bit red due to her shedding mournful tears before Yuki arrived. "Right, your religion preaches about that matter before. You gonna come and ask us to go to your church?" That came out a bit more harshly than Kallen intended, making her flinched.
Yuki shrugs, thankfully not minding her severed wordings. "I think the last thing you need to talk about is the matter of faith. For now, though, I suggest you and Natasha try to rest up for a week or so. Get your bearings back before deciding on your next move. I can have a plane carry you back to Spain if you feel like it?"
Kallen shakes her head, offering her thanks. "Thank you, but I think I will wait till Natasha wakes up before deciding on anything. With her mind exhausted like this, it will be a while till she can recover though..."
Yuki smiles gently in reassurance. "Don't worry, Kallen, you're not intruding on my hospitality."
Kallen forces out a smile of relief before tentatively asking. "Ehm... Yuki, with this information, what will you do about it?"
Hearing that, Yuki ponders for a bit before giving Kallen the answer.
"As a Marshal, I must prioritize taking out Sardegna's means of creating supersoldiers like you. Vilifying the Papacy, which has been a tiny thorn at most for Belka, thus making the entire world dead set against the religious state, is just an added bonus among many. But as a human being? I will do everything it takes to grant merciless judgment to whoever participates in those vile acts. Victims will be rescued and Belka, together with other factions, will work toward granting them asylum. Either way, by the end of next January, Sardegna as you know won't exist anymore. The state will be disintegrated by other powers if nothing goes wrong."
Kallen sighs in sadness. "So this is the end for the country of God, supposedly. I spent half my life, fighting not just for myself, but also for a course that had been demonized into the very thing I sought to destroy. How stupid of me, as an S-ranked supersoldier, to fail to see the rotten nature of my home. I have failed not just Natasha and my battle sisters but also the entire world."
"You are a Saint, Kallen, for not just Natasha but also your sisters and many others." Yuki spoke up with a shake of her head. "But you are not a Saint of an entire world. You have no duty nor obligation to bear the weight of the planet on your shoulders. Yes, you may have your shortcomings, just like Natasha, just like me, not to mention countless others. No one is perfect, Kallen, and if those shortcomings result in something we disagree with, well, all sentient beings have the right to remedy that."
Kallen stays silent. Though she has listened to the advice, she doesn't know how to make sense of it just yet. The lady is basically too good for her own good. Being confronted with the dark side of her home country has led her thoughts into a downward spiral, much like Natasha by her side. But at least the latter is graced with the blessing of being unconscious, Kallen doesn't have that luck.
Try as she may be, Yuki is not well-versed in the art of curing PTSD or anything along that line. She used to hold absolute providence over the end of all things, but delicate matters like this should be left to Yggdra who governs life instead. Nonetheless, Yuki still says.
"Honestly speaking, I can not say that you or any of your Crusaders, in particular, is sinless in this matter. After all, ignorance is a sin. Now you can sit here and wallow in your misery, which will only further cause distress to Natasha when she wakes up, or you can chin up and face it head-on. If your sin happened because of your ignorance and inaction, then get involved, now."
Yuki takes a look at her pocket watch. "Right now, the RMS Yggdra will be getting into a position for sortieing our planes at any moment. Our mission will be conducted soon and come morning, that hellhole will come crashing down. Once we are in the clean-up phase, you and your Crusaders are welcome to join my troops on the ground to process the rescued captives. You will be facing ridicule, you will be facing hatred, yet, so can you soldier on and take responsibility for the power given to you by others' sacrifices? You are being given a choice on how you want you and your other dependants to live your lives from now on, Kallen. Personally, I would want you lots to be the chivalries that you are. Hell, you can still believe in the Sardegnian's teachings for all I care, but do not waste your lives on your own volition when others clearly didn't have the chance."
Yuki stands straighter, taking a good look at the pensive Kallen. The woman is surely tired, mentally exhausted after everything being thrown at her in one night. Gone is the figure of stalwart morality that Yuki came across when she first laid her eye on her. "You should lay next to Natasha, Kallen, get some rest when you can. Can't have you keel over taking care of Natasha when she wakes up, right?"
Kallen seems to be shaken awake from her mind when she hears that. "Right, just... Thank you, for your advice. You have given me a lot to think about."
Yuki just smiles gently, pushing the door open. "Don't mention it."
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Deep in the Sardegnian mainland that is being bombed night in and night out, a group of heavily armed soldiers reconvenes with each other, hiding in a patch of forest as flashes of bomb explosions appear over the horizon. There are twenty two of them in total, wearing camouflaged combat vests and carrying suppressed weapons in the form of the various variants G1 platform. Namely, the G1 battle rifle itself, the PSG1 marksman rifle, and the MG1 magazine-fed machine gun, all chambered in 8mm Mauser for fun and giggles. It also does not need to be said that each of the soldiers also carries their respective sidearms, the USP service pistol chambered in 9x25. Just from the weapon loadout alone, one would know that these dead machines are members of the Belkan military. More specifically, they're airborne infantry.
The leader of the section, a Captain, performs a mental headcount of his men and women before asking, keeping his tone low. "The chutes?"
"All hidden away."
"Equipment?"
"All checks out."
"Good, radio it in. 3rd Platoon has touched down safely and undetected. We're moving to scout the DZ."
One of the airbornes nods before sending out an encrypted radio signal, pinging it home to their AWACS above. With the green light sent, the Captain nods at them.
"Airbornes, welcome to Sardegna. Our task is simple, as a Pathfinder stick, we're to scout out a good DZ for a night drop of our brothers and sisters and our mechanized components. And I don't think I need to say anything about discretion is key here. The last thing we need is for us to be swarmed and have to call in a Prairie Fire." The Captain received collective nods around him.
Hoisting his rifle at a low ready, the Captain adds. "Now, let's hope the Luigies don't mind us dropping in. Move out."
The men and women of the 3rd Pathfinder Platoon, belonging to the 1st Battalion of the 305th Infantry Regiment and subordinate to the 501st Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, trek quietly into the night, their guns poised to be raised immediately at the first sign of trouble. Despite the stealthy drop amidst the chaos ongoing Operation Rolling Thunder provided, the men and women who have painstakingly earned their red berets never cease to maintain their alertness in the surrounding area. Even with night vision devices or racial traits that allow them to see in the dark, one can still be jumped upon by a demon hiding in a bush or a random patrol that somehow evades their notice.
Following their point man to the potential Drop Zone, which is an unplanted wheat farm, the Pathfinders seek to avoid contact whenever they can, laying low on the ground or behind cover whenever a vehicle with its light on drives past them in haste. It seems like whatever the B-40s are bombing right now has caused an increase in vehicular activity, both civilian and military alike. Luckily for the Pathfinders, the wheat farm is far away from the main roads with only a traveled dirt path which is now frozen in winter. It takes them about twenty minutes to get to the farm. With a timetable to keep, these Pathfinders set out to secure the farm perimeter and ascertain the condition of the DZ. The latter is swiftly deemed suitable and equipment is deployed to guide the transport planes airdrop both soldiers and war materials. The former, however, runs into a surprising snag.
"Captain, we got four EIs moving up the path."
The Captain stops before making his way silently onto the farm's low wall. The man idly noted that the wall would have been inadequate to stop any form of demons. Perhaps it's why it was abandoned before they arrived. "Patrol?" The Captain asked the markswoman of the team, a Wood Elf and one of the better ones at that.
Adjusting the scope of her PSG1, the markswoman replies. "Doesn't seem like it. It seems they're running away from the cold, the snow is not helping them either." As an elven Ranger and a Pathfinder, the woman can see in the dark just fine without the aid of a night vision device. However, it's still given to her to allow the ability to see IR laser and strobes. "You want me to take the shot or you would like to get down there and dirty?"
"Synchronize our shots." The Captain said, lying down next to the markswoman before speaking through short-range radio waves. "Schultz? Kamov?"
"We got eyes on them all, Cap. Take your pick."
Training his battle rifle down range, the Captain turns on the IR laser module attached to the right Picatinny rail of his weapon. He paints the target of his choosing and so does the elven markswoman. On the other wall to their left, the Pathfinders named Schultz and Kamov paint their own too. With all the lasers aimed at the approaching Sardegnians without them knowing, the Captain starts the countdown.
"3...2...1."
With simultaneous trigger pulls, 8mm Mauser bullets are fired, the shots suppressed and inaudible by anything outside the farm. Striking true on their targets which are the heads, the bullets eviscerated the brains of their enemy, cutting them down like puppets losing their strings. A bit of noise can be heard as the guns and lamps are dropped to the ground alongside their owners. However, the brief commotion is swiftly covered up due to the snowy conditions with a bit of wind.
The four shooters still maintain their sights on the downed targets, searching for any further movement. After a moment, the markswoman moves her sniper rifle away, scanning for any more contact coming up their front.
"... Clear."
"Clear."
"Clear over here."
"Schultz, Kamov, pick two others and go hide the corpses. We have a good position to provide overwatch for you."
"Roger that Cap."
After a minute, a four-man team of the Pathfinders move out with their guns raised. They approach the corpses with two providing security while the others start dragging the carcasses away alongside their dropped equipment. Once they're done, it's like the Sardegnians never existed on that spot, bleeding out of their heads.
By the time the Pathfinders receive the notification that the first wave of transports is inbound, not a single soul has approached the abandoned farm, albeit they could sometimes see motor vehicles moving in the far distance.