In the E.D.L. Medical Facility, hundreds of soldiers are getting treated from the damage they suffered during the battle at the North western region. Some of these soldiers will survive and get to keep moving forward, and some will inevitably meet their death in vain.
It was a dull and gloomy day for the E.D.L. as they will all suffer from such a great loss against the I.E.A. This had greatly affected the people of E.D.L. into thinking that this might be the sign that E.D.L. is slowly losing against I.E.A., most felt like they are only fighting a losing battle.
A couple of soldiers getting treated at the Medic ward talks about the spreading rumors regarding on one of the top strongest fighters in the E.D.L. Special Infantry Troop. "Hey, hey. Have you heard about it?"
"About what?"
"You know that popular playboy from the special infantry unit?"
"You mean Leon Belshaw, that asshole?" The soldier scowled his face slightly.
"Huh? You got beef with the dude?"
"Damn asshole stole my fucking girlfriend before. So what about him?"
"Oh, a friend of mine that works here in the medics found Leon in a shitty state. They said he has gone completely blind on both eyes, they also found that he had a lot of bruises on his body, and even vomits blood from time to time! I think the guy's gonna die at that soon."
"Hah! Holy shit, karma does exist. Serves him right." The soldier scoffs.
"H-Hey, it's not good to talk about others like that." The other said concerningly.
Meanwhile, the man of these spreading rumors is quietly lying on a bed at a private room, waiting for his time to come. Not much have visited Leon since then, because many people were too busy with their own businesses—including Julia, which was the person he expects the most.
"...haa, how cold of her." He mumbles to himself.
The lonely atmosphere surrounding the young dying man have made him regret his actions. Leon didn't want to die just yet. He still have a lot of things he wanted to do. Though he may have signed up to this, being a soldier also meant putting your life on the line, so he can't blame anyone but himself.
And so he indulged himself in his 'what if' thoughts.
What if he didn't try to chase down the small explosive I.E.A, weapons?
What if he declined Raphael's invitation to do that retrieval mission?
What if he never pursued this profession at all?
Of course he would still be alive and kicking, probably living a simple life in his home district. Leon could've become the model he always wanted to be, or atleast get married to a kind and beautiful woman. Thinking of marriage, Julia crossed his mind.
Leon really liked her, even though he knows that he has no chance since Julia is greatly infatuated with Raphael. He sighed and got himself feel even more lonely than ever.
'Someone... anyone... can't there be atleast one person to stay by my side until my last breath?' He was about to cry until he heard the door to his room creak open. "...Julia?" He calls out, expecting it to be her.
Leon was blind, so he won't know who this person is until they introduce themselves. "J-Julia, is that you?"
"I'm sorry to disappoint you but that woman is also in the progress of recovering, so I'm not her. They said she was also affected by the radiation sickness, but she's able to recover unlike you."
"...w-who are you?" The voice of this person is unfamiliar to Leon. He can't even tell if it was a man or a woman.
"You can't tell who I am?"
"Well, I'm blind right now and... you don't really sound familiar."
"I guess that's fine."
"But who are you?!"
"I'd rather not say."
"Oh... erm, okay then. Thanks for visiting, that really means a lot to me right now." He was still disappointed that it wasn't Julia who showed up, but he's thankful that there's someone who appeared.
However, things aren't exactly going as he thinks it will.
"Of course it would, you're dying and yet no one cared enough to visit you like I did." This person's words surprised Leon.
"Excuse me?!"
"I'll get straight to the point here, Leon. I don't really care much about you, so I'm not here to do some friendly visit like you're thinking."
Leon fell silent, he can feel the hostility from this person. "...what are you here for then?"
Suddenly, he felt that he's pinned down on the neck by foot. "G-Gah!!... C-Can't!... A-Arghh!!"
"You're going to die anyway, right? So do me this one favor and die for me." The person's shifter weapon slowly transforms into something unimaginable, as if it was a live creature with a mind of its own.
Then the person gave an order to their shifter weapon. "Go ahead, eat his insides. But make sure not to damage the external body." And the shifter weapon crawled its way to Leon's mouth, slowly feeding on his insides.
Leon's visitors quickly left after their shifter weapon was done devouring his insides. With his sudden death, there was a noticeable change that occured. Those that ranked below Leon have instantly been promoted by one rank higher.
This greatly disturbed those who didn't expect Leon's death too soon. At an artillery training grounds, Gunther Neumann stopped his training session for a minute to sort his thoughts. He never wanted to get promoted like this.
To him, getting promoted by the death of someone who ranks higher than him is pathetic. Gunther is the type of person that wants to achieve his goals in a proper way. "...not like this." He mutters.
He also didn't get the chance to pay the guy a visit.
And another person who just woke recently have found about this grave news. Julia felt remorseful for not being there with Leon on his last moments. "...Leon!...no..." she cries on the palm of her hands.
But that was just the start of it.
As for the past few days, a number of deaths occured in the medical facilities.