Elijah raised his rifle and charged forward, his intention was to see how far he could get before the Thalorian artillery or infantry eliminated him.
He didn't get far enough, a shell dropped next to him and the explosion rocked his body into the air.
He fell several feets away before being trampled by the charging Umbral kins, and as if mocking him, the cold lifeless voice of the demon lord revival system whispered into his ear.
[NOTICE] You have died, Triggering revive point.
...
Elijah once more awoke, his body reacting to the pain of death as he lost his breath, and his body trembling unnaturally.
"Hey, you alright kid?". The cat eared man asked in good faith.
Ofcourse Elijah wasn't alright, but he couldn't say that, infact. He couldn't say anything at all.
Elijah grabbed the cat eared man and dragged him along, they were slower, but managed to evade the shell at the very last moment.
The cat eared man was stunned, and Elijah felt it was unnecessary to save the man, he even felt slightly stupid for doing so, but it was too late for regrets now, he might have well take advantage of it.
The cat eared man was in awe of Elijah.
"How did you?...".
"Don't worry about that now, tell me... where is the commander located?".
The man normally wouldn't answer that question, but seeing as Elijah somehow saved his life, he answered without a second thought.
"North West, in a dugout trench... it's hard to miss".
Just after the man spoke, the familiar radio crackled and the same old orders were issued once more, ofcourse they only were old to Elijah.
Elijah didn't waste anytime, trench warfare tends to last several months, but Elijah knew they had to find another way to defeat the enemy advance forces, capture their artillery and prepare for a large scale deployment towards the enemy's main force.
That has to be done within five days, at the very least.
Time was of the essence here, so Elijah maneuvered through the trench, until he made it to the command post, the cat eared man was right, it was hard to miss.
The place was fortified and heavily guarded, Elijah simply walked up to the wooden door, and when a random runner ran out, he took the opportunity to slip in.
The inside was slightly crowded, Elijah even saw the Major, sitting there while sipping a cup of tea, besides him was the man ushering out orders, the commander.
Elijah recognised the man's deep and calm voice from the time Verayth almost strangled him to death, he seemed to have supported her motion for mass recruitment.
"Commader, I need to speak with you".
Elijah yelled out, but just as he was getting close, dozens of bullets punched into his body, he fell to the ground as the life began to drain from his body.
The commander turned towards Elijah's bloodied corpse before turning his attention towards the Major.
"An enemy spy seemed to have slipped through our security while pretending to be a runner".
The Major was silent for several moments, he seem to recognize the bright green hair and dark skin, but he felt no remorse, so he said plainly.
"It seems like First Lieutenant Verayth was wrong about him, which I found quite odd, seeing as she's often right".
"The Lieutenant, I need to find her first... before doing something this stupid again".
[NOTICE] You have died, Triggering revive point.
...
Elijah's body protested in pain as tears streamed down his face, apparently. The pain of being shot to death was alot more painful than being obliterated by a bomb.
The cat eared man was flabbergasted, Elijah was calm one moment, and then bawling his eyes out the next, but before he could attempt to console the teenage soldier.
Elijah grabbed him by the collar and shot forward, this time, the movement was more clean, they both effortlessly escaped the shell.
But before the cat eared man could say a word, Elijah wiped his tears and asked sharply.
"Where can I find First Lieutenant Verayth?".
...
The battle between the Umbral kin and the Thalorians waged on, following the same pattern as before.
With the order to charge at the enemy given by the Commander, First Lieutenant Verayth and her platoon of fifty men stood at the forefront.
Verayth moved swiftly and decisively, everywhere she went, Thalorian blood was spilt.
Her crystal blue eyes were completely indifferent to the carnage before her, that was until she spotted a streak of familiar green hair, racing across the battlefield.
Weaving and dodging against death, Elijah finally spotted First Lieutenant Verayth, it took him nearly the whole day to do so.
She was as glorious as ever, a beauty trapped in this pale world of death and carnage.
Elijah shook his head to get the poetic nonsense out of his head.
First Lieutenant Verayth found it odd that Elijah was shaking his head, she was even worried that he was hit by a rifle.
Elijah finally made it to the First Lieutenant, and without a moment to lose, he grabbed her hand and pulled her closer, he wanted to make sure she heard every word.
"Lieutenant, this is just a decoy, the enemies main force is further away, we can't allow them to finish digging up their trench, if they succeed in building a stable base, we are going to lose the war".
First Lieutenant Verayth was silent for several moments before deciding to reply to Elijah.
"we know". She said plainly.
"Da fuck do you mean by you know, so you're telling me HQ knew all this while, then why the fuck are we doing something so stupid as charging full force at endless machine gun fire and artillery bombardment, how about we just save the Thalorians the trouble and just murder ourselves".
Verayth was taken aback, this was the first time she got yelled at ever since becoming a First Lieutenant.
Just as she opened her mouth to speak, a shell plummeted from the sky. Its pitch black surface gleamed ominously in the fleeting light, reflected in both Elijah's and Verayth's wide eyes, before landing squarely between their legs.
[NOTICE] You have died,Triggering revive point.