On a grey day in the battlefield, the sky hangs heavy with thick clouds, casting a dreary pall over the desolate landscape. The air is thick with the metallic scent of blood mingling with the stench of vomit. In the muddy wasteland littered with debris and the bodies of fallen soldiers, The distant echoes of artillery fire reverberate through the air, punctuated by the anguished screams of the wounded and the laughter of the insane. Amidst the chaos, there is a pervasive sense of despair and hopelessness, as each passing moment brings only further suffering and loss.
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"What are we gonna do captain, the situation isn't looking good, and the rest of the squad is restless, it's very dangerous." Lucas said.
"...." The captain looks at him for some time and open his mouth as if trying to speak, but he just stayes silent.
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*Outside the tent*
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"Hahahahaha, ahahahahaha, ahhhhhh "sob" hahahah " someone started laughing and crying.
"What is wrong with that dumbass, why is he laughing and crying at the same time, how is he even able to do that? Wow, forget what I just said, that is actually impressive, he is talnted." Charles said out loud.
"Leave the guy alone charles, he was the new guy remembe? He isn't even 19, but now he has to die, life is already hard enough on him." Diana scolded him
"Well, we too are gonna die, if not from the enemy, from the empire, and if not, those crazy motherfuckers are gonna get us killed eventually, it's just a matter of time." Said jin who was not very fond of these stupid people.
"well said jin, we are basically the only sane people left here, all 50 or so members have gone insane just like that crazy fuck over there." Said Juan sarcastically to try and piss jin of, but failed to do so.
"Yeah? I don't want to be in a group with your asses too, i'd rather be home playing with a woman or two, not in this fucking shit hole filled with the smell of blood, vomit and faeces. " Charles was disgusted by his own words.
"Owwww, that is so romantic Charles, i love you too." Diana tried to embarrass him, and almost succeeded.
"Shut up bitch, anyway what is the captain gonna do, he and Lucas have been in there for too fucking long, i am starting to get a little nerv..." charles stops before he finishes the sentence because he saw Lucas, who was coming out of the tent.
"So?" Juan asks him anticipating good news hopefully, but Lucas ignores the question and closes his eyes as if to remember what the captin said to him or to remember something precious to him that he regrets coming to this doomed place and leaving what ever it is, they didn't really know what he was thinking of, so Charles, who was becoming more and more nervous by the second and the fact that this bitch Lucas stood there in silence closing his eyes for almost 2 minutes that seemed like forever to them, almost breaks down, but with what seemed like his last sane thought shouts at Lucas with what jin believed to be the loudest voice he heard in his entire life:
"WHAT DID THAT MOTHERFUCKER DECIDED TO DO." Lucas ignores him shouting at his superior and then says with a clear and calm mind
" he has decided to die."
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*almost 8 minutes earlier inside the tent*
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"Captain, captain, CAPTAIN!" Lucas almost gets angry at him and shout at him in an attempt to make him answer.
The captain looks at him again and say "do you have someone?" Lucas was startled by the question for a second, but understands what he meant and says "they told me not to come here." the captain laughs "you should have listened to them."
Lucas looks sad for a moment as if remembering those who told him not to go and then says "Captain this isn't the time for small talks, please decide on what to do."
"Well, what is there to decide on, the empire gave its orders, 'the remaining 100 squad must stay at the frontline to buy our empire's loyal holy knights some time to prepare the back and the home front to the full assault of our enemy, any deserters will be punished accordingly after the war ,may god be with you brave soldiers' , that is us included, squad 57, so we loyal soldiers have to obey." He said it in a tone almost sarcastic but not quite.
"You know that's bullshit, and you know they just want us to die so they can have more time preparing the "nobles" to flee with there money." Lucas retorts.
The captain wanted to scold him about how to talk about the higher ups as he always does, but he just chooses to shrug it off and say "do you think I don't know that?"
Lucas raises an eyebrow, and with a questioning look says "if you know that already then, why don't you want to flee like the other 34 squads that did?"
He laughs at how naive he sounds "do you know that almost all the 34 squads that fled, fled by killing their captains first?"
"Your point? Are you saying that we have to kill you first? Because trust me those crazy fuckers out there were planning to." He almost sounded like he regrets not letting them now.
The captain laughs again "yes, yes, thank you, I'm alive all thanks to you, but all of you are alive thanks to me too." Lucas tries to acknowledge it but the captain cuts him off before he even starts talking. "I'm not talking about stuff that happened on the battlefield, that's my duty as a captain, think about it why would the empire mention the holy knights in its orders? They don't even have to prepare the home front, that's the job of the logistics and the smaller squads, the holy knights jobs is to use there fancy enchanted gears and magic scrolls to kill." Lucas was a little confused about what the captain meant and before he could ask the captin answered,
" 'you peasants have to die for our sake, you lowly scum have to die because we orderd you to die, you insects that don't even have the gift of using mana have to die, and at least you're gonna be useful for once in your life, and if any of you maggots try to leave the frontline in any direction but to the enemy's our sons and daughters, your masters, the holy knights of our empire will kill every single one them, so you better stay put or come and die earlier than you should' does this translation of our esteemed nobles' orders help you understand the situation better?"
Lucas was taken aback he never heard his captain talk about the higher ups like that, he could hear the hatred in his voice a hate for nobles magicians, and holy knights, but he can also hear the fear in his voice, the fear that is in ever soldier and every peasant that can't use mana, the fear to be killed, not that the captain is afraid of death itself but afraid to prove those fancy bitches right, that they are peasants and insects, that they should just obey there masters without questioning, but deep down all of them, not just him, already know it's true, and they should not make them angry and just live a peaceful life, in the end what can insects do in the face of giants? Nothing.
Lucas was silent for a while, he didn't know what to say, he knew that the nobles, magicians and holy knights treat them like equal humans just on the surface but deep down they view them as lesser, just insects even using them as meat shields in war if necessary, but he never thought they would actually straight up kill them if they try to save themselves, he thought wrong, they would definitely do it, to assure there survival, they would absolutely do it. "Fuck" he finally said.The captain started laughing again. "Yes, yes, fuck, well said soldier, hahahah."
'This insane fuck, what is he laughing at...' Lucas thought, his train of thoughts got cut off by the captain. "Hahahah...., you should have listened to them,....I should have listened to them." He sounded defeated but apologetic at the same time.
"Yes we should have." Lucas said as he left the tent.
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*outside the tent*
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The atmosphere was almost silent, if not for the screams of the wounded, the insane's laughter and the sound of artillery, breaking the silence. The scent of gunpowder, blood and vomit permeating the atmosphere making any one who smells it want to vomit, making the smell even more disgusting.
The rest of the squad was dumbfounded, unable to speak for a while, then juan break the silence."what do you mean by that."
As if coming back to his senses, Charles shouts again. "I told you we should kill that bitch." Diana calms him down." Shut up and let him explain you bitches." "Go on, explain." Jin says as if he already knows what he's gonna say. After Lucas tells them what the captain said to him, they got startled by the shouts:
"ENEMY ATTACK." "ALL SOLDIERS TO THE FRONT." "FOR THE EMPIRE, FOR GLORY." "LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR, LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE." "ATTACK." "KILL ALL OF THEM." "ATTACK."
The captain finally gets out of the tent and says to them. "Are you ready to die?" They don't answer, some even start crying. "Blame yourselves for not having the capacity to use mana." He says while laughing and walking to the frontline. "let's go, there's nothing left to wait for." Lucas says to them, some follow them while others, mostly the ones who got crazy, stay behind.
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*Somewhere on the battlefield*
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"How many hours have passed since Charles died, I don't even recognise his corpse from all these bodies, he would be so mad at me right now for thinking of usle....." Diana was thinking, as she suddenly exploded on the spot, before she could even hear the shouts of someone: "MAGICIANS."
Jin wanted to run but it would only delay the inevitable, so he watched as juan runs with 100 or so other soldiers, and continue fighting with the normal soldiers of the enemy, while the magicians kill the ones trying to escape as it would be a headache to search for them after the battle, or if some of them hide amidst the corpses and ambush them while off guard, they wouldn't be able to distinguish them from the dead as they are just low level magicians.
'What fucking idiots.' Jin thought while thinking about the deserters, they are idots because there's nowhere that is safe, and the magicians, they are also idiots because the deserters aren't smart enough to think the magicians won't find them amidst the corpses, he continues to dodge while his opponent thinks he got him cornered and aimes his sword at his nick for the kill, but suddenly jin ducks, and then with all the force that he could muster he thrusts the tip of his rusty dagger in the nick of his opponent. 'Shi..' he didn't even finish his thought before the dagger was all the way in.
'Piece of shit.' Jin thought as he looks around trying to find his captain and the rest of the squad, if any. Suddenly he hears Lucas's scream: "BEHIND YOU." That was the direction of the enemy he just killed, there was no one else there. 'Ah, fuck, damn magici....' he understood, but it was too late already, the corpse already came back to life and finished the job it couldn't before its death, beheading him on the spot.
Lucas shudders as he see the dead body moving again, but then brought back to reality by the shouts of the captain. "Focus and let's enjoy the last moments of our lives".
He and Lucas continued to fight all the way until dusk, not that they knew the time in this shity and cloudy weather, they got separated by some accident,well, not that it mattered any way they were gonna get killed eventually. They didn't even know it, but by some coincidence they were in the same trench, well it was not really a coincidence as all the remaining soldiers were in the same trench.
'Where the fuck did the captain go, that piece of shit, wants to die alone, doesn't he?' 'Well I can't blame him really, I want that too.' Lucas felt peace in mind he knew he was about to die, but so what? He couldn't change it any way.
'Ahh, fuck, I'm so tired.' 'I'm so fucking weak, if it was some holy knight in my position, well, they wouldn't be in my position, they would never do something so.....' The captain's thoughts cut off when suddenly he sees something in the sky. 'What is that, a human?' All 200 or so soldiers remaining in the trenche think at the same time.
The "human" in the sky suddenly speaks and says "hahah, the glorious empire finally understands that no one can stop us, huh?" "Their last line of defence is you? Pathetic, oh, I guess they are dreaming of escaping? Hahaha, what fools, our lord is personally here to greet them and they think they can just escape from him, hahaha, what fools, our lord, the supreme mage, no one can escape from him, not even you, peasants." "Now die"
he was speaking in a low voice the whole time but they could hear him just as if he was speaking in their ears.
Almost no one really understood what he meant by "supreme mage" and "our lord", well almost no one, Lucas knew some rumours "Supreme mage? Does he mean that leg...." before he could finish "legend", the mage in the sky finished his spell and aimed it at the trenche and then released it.
Within 50m of him any living being that he could see died on the spot, if Lucas was still alive he would surely curse him for not letting him even finish speaking, alas, he just died like the rest of them.
The mage descended in the trenche, and started grumbling.
"Our lord really sent 10000 normal soldiers and 500 magicians just to take care of some 5000 or so soldiers, our lord truly overestimated the empire." "They just abandoned their people, although they were peasants, to have some time to attempt fleeting, pathetic."
Amidst his grumbling, he was standing infront of a group of dead bodies and then he went quiet as if thinking of something or someone, no one knew what he was thinking really, well, it's not like there were any one there other than him anyway, almost before finishing his thought, suddenly the corpses behind him starts moving and the captain of the 57 squad of the second battalion of the empire of karo, emerges from under the group of corpses and with a swift movement the head of the mage fly away, in an almost none humane speed, by his sword. Not that he was proud to be from this kingdom anymore, but that's who he is, well, was, that's who he was
After the captain beheaded the mage a spell activated automatically and the mage exploded in the most violent explosion the captain ever saw, the body of the mage, the captain as well as any thing within 5m were disintegrated completely. The final thoughts of the captain was,
'This dumbass how can he not detect me behind him.' 'Is he not strong enough? And how did I not die like every one else? Does he have to see me in order for that spell to work?' 'Well, whatever, I will at least try to kill him for killing all my soldiers, I just have to be quick enough, well, I hope he doesn't have any defence spell on him.' 'I can't believe I killed a mage, oh my go..' 'Fuck, he doesn't have a defence spell, he has a "if I'm gonna die you're gonna with me" spell, that petty motherfucker.'
The captain thought he was gonna die finally, resting after a whole day of fighting, laughing and almost but not quite crying, well, a whole life of that actually, but whatever he's finally resting in this shit whole, on the border between karo and whatever the fuck the other kingdom is called, he doesn't even remember. "Did any one even tell us? Fuck those assholes, who were we even fighting, supreme mage? Who the fuck was that." "..."
"Why the fuck am I still alive, huh?" "What is going on! Am I even fucking alive were is my body? why am i flying? Were even am I? Is this a fucking dream, wait could it be the after life?" "Hellooooo! Any one here? Where the fuck am I? someone answer, please."
The captin was in an all white space, swimming in a ghostly form like he is a mage, a ghost, or even his own soul? He didn't know what to think of this situation and kept moving around aimlessly until he heard a voice, a voice that sounded so far but also so close him at the same time it startled him when it said."welcome esteemed traveller, it's a pleasure meeting you."
He didn't know what to say for a while but then asked."where am I, and what are you?"
The voice came back and said "I'm your assistant esteemed traveller, and this is a point between your world and another world, esteemed traveller."
The captain was a little confused, he asked. "What do you mean this is a point between two worlds? So I can just cross worlds or something like that?" It answered. "Yes, esteemed traveller, precisely so, but unfortunately esteemed traveller, you have died in your world so you can't go back there, besides this is a one way point anyway you can't go back, only forward." The captain was baffled, not about that there is other worlds beside his own but about something else, he thought. 'Why the fuck would I want to go back to that shit hole of a world anyway?'
The voice said."it's quite wonderful, esteemed lord, since you don't want to go to your previous world anyway, do you perhaps want to go to this new world full of new and wonderful opportunities?" The captain was startled."how do you know that? Did you just read my thoughts?"
The voice:"yes,esteemed traveller"
The captain:"could you stop saying that?"
The voice:"yes, of course, now what are you gonna do, sir?"
The captain:"well, fuck it. I already died once, what the worst that can happen, Do it."
The voice:"initiating transmigration, please hold sir, you are gonna arrive to your wonderful new world in no time." The voice said almost with a hint of sarcasm.