+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Nomosian Countryside

Hans, Adelyn, Emilia, and Valeria all charged forward. Behind them, the rest of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit began closing in as well, their long-ranged spells and artillery opening fire at the Recklessness' remnant force.

In response, she began sending more and more of her most lethal spells. Spikes, vines, and roses all began rushing in their direction, slicing and piercing them. The madness of her attacks began turning truly demonic, with Hans starting to struggle to dodge their sheer mass and energetic movements.

Still, he hardened his focus on his controls. This was it. This was the final deluge that would determine the fate of the Calamity of Recklessness. She'd be dead before this day was over. With that in mind, Hans focused on one of the elephant demons. It was being pummeled left and right with spells and artillery, leaving huge gaping scars on the monster.

Around it, the few surviving wolves tried to scatter out and defend it, locking in on Hans' mech and sending their balls of light at his mech, but he dodged it rapidly. His double coaxials briefly turned on them, and in a few seconds, a hail of bullets came from the Peacemaker. More of their corpses fell on the field, as Hans charged on and pounced on the weakened elephant demon.

With his razors engaged, his mech's blades sliced through the behemoth's neck and back, causing it to stumble and collapse. Unable to respond to his attack, Hans decided to deepen the stab wounds, his mech's legs driving it deep into the creature. When he was done with leaving a bloody work of art, he jumped off.

Right on time, Adelyn finished his work—sending a plasma APFSDS straight at the demon, melting and utterly bastardizing its body. All that was left was its mauled carcass, with a massive, hollow, and cauterized hole on its body.

Another demon was liquidated.

"All units, focus on the Calamity of Recklessness again," Hans shouted over his speakers. "She's nearly dead!"

"Get away from me you dogs!" Recklessness shouted back, as she tried her best to dodge and black the cacophony of attacks headed her way. Already, the two other demons left in her employ began to back off, before running away in a full rout. "Damn it!"

She aimed her staff in Hans' direction, sending three massive green spikes in his direction. He quickly dodged it, but one of the spikes grazed through his mech's turret, slicing it and causing sparks to fly. But he had pulled his mech down well at the last second, fully dodging it.

Hans finished switching back to his remaining incendiary rounds, and just as quickly, his machine guns replied in kind. Three bursts spat out of his guns, chasing and hitting Recklessness as she tried to flee.

In front of her, cutting off her escape path, Valeria and Emilia both ganged up on her. Valeria's sword once again met Recklessness' staff, sending shockwaves throughout the battlefield as the two clashed once more. On the other hand, Emilia began sending pulses of shadow magic spells at Recklessness, creating more brutal wounds and injuries on her ailing body.

The grit of a demon trying to survive a little bit more struck back, sending Valeria flying off with one powerful slash. But Valeria managed to land and plant her sword on the ground hard, leaving massive rifts in the soil. Then, with the anger possessing a woman driven by revenge, she charged back, defiantly facing a demon head-on.

She's a battle maniac. Absolutely crazy woman.

Hans tried his best to find an opening through the chaos, his targeting equipment working hard to gain a good bearing on his main target. On his side, a pack of wolves once again attempted to challenge him. They managed to get uncomfortably close. One of the wolves almost bit his legs off, its teeth managing to nip away a few layers of steel from his mech.

Fortunately, he backed off enough away, before unleashing his machine gun against them. With a few controlled bursts as he retreated, he left four more corpses of Recklessness' wolf army on the battlefield. He looked back at the desperate back-and-forth between Recklessness and his allies.

Valeria and Emilia seemed to be both losing steam. Adelyn was turning more cautious with her shots as she ran out of even her regenerated ammunition. On the far end of the battlefield, most of the cannons held by the 1st Anti-Demon Unit had fallen silent, either overheated from constant usage, or out of ammunition.

Even the spellcasters from the 2nd Specialized Battalion were already faltering, their horses pulling back from the chaos due to their tired battlemages unable to keep up.

Yet, Recklessness stood there. Wounded, brutalized, mortally injured—but defiant. A final slash from her sent Valeria flying off again, forcing the Viceroy to abandon her frenzied attacks to help her friend. On the other hand, Recklessness planted her staff on the ground, her body barely holding on.

"You held on neatly, Ms. Recklessness, but it's over now," Hans said over the speakers, stopping his mech for a bit. There was now a lull in the battle. Everyone, both sides, was at their wit's end. Nearly everything was expended. Any wrong move that would waste firepower could spell defeat for one side and victory for another.

"Don't use those words on me now, Grey Knight," she warned, her voice turning low, the glow in her golden eyes flickering. "You make a mockery of me and nature. Look at the masses of dead animals you left behind…"

"You used those animals and sent them to death, respectfully, Ms. Recklessness," Hans snapped back, enjoying taunting her. "You see yourself as a guardian of nature. But no, you're just a demon hellbent for power and domination. You justify killing humans for protecting nature. I say that's stupid."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"All those weapons you used against me," her hand holding her staff began to tremble. "All of it will be cultivated one day to be used criminally against this world. I already saw it years ago…when I…when I…"

She teared up.

"None of it matters now," shakingly, she raised her staff again at Hans' direction. "I will stop it. I will stop…man's terror, by destroying mankind. This world deserves to be beautiful, not be under the thumb of your cancerous races—"

"You were once part of us."

"I renounced my humanity!" she shouted. "Hence why I am this. I have the power to go against the cruel world we would have created. Wars, crime, exploitation…eventually, all of it will pile up to destroy this world. I am only trimming a vine that seeks to consume everything else!"

"You're too far gone," Hans said, aiming his main gun at her. "Die."

He pulled the trigger.

Immediately, a sabot round careened out of the Peacemaker's main gun. It flew straight at her, before being blocked by a well-placed spike. The two projectiles disintegrated mid-air. With Hans' attack blocked again, he charged into the demon, readying every last ammunition he had left.

On the other hand, Recklessness readied her staff, aiming it at Hans. A final storm of roses was sent at his mech, which Hans only dodged at the skin of his teeth. It sliced and rattled through the sides of his mech's light armor, two of them even piercing his mech and striking his radiator and engine.

For a second, those two subsystems almost failed, but they held on just enough for Hans to send a heavy burst of his incendiary rounds. In seconds, the two guns themselves also overheated, shutting down. Falling back to his last option, Hans finally revved up the final power his engine could provide.

The legs of his mech pushed his vehicle high, the two sharp blades of his forward legs engaging itself. The Calamity of Recklessness could only watch with doomed awe before his blades struck deep into her chest. Her staff fell on the ground, as she was dragged meters away by Hans' mech.

Then, with a quick jump, Hans disengaged and fled. He radioed Adelyn to finally finish the business.

"Give her one last love tap," Hans ordered on the comms. "It's over now."

"Copy that, Lieutenant."

A flash of light slammed into Recklessness' body, stopping her from standing up once more. She screamed in pain as the flames from Adelyn's shot brutally consumed her. Hans could only watch from the side, as nearly a minute of brutal fire consumed the lone woman. When it was done, all that was left was her trembling form.

She was on her knees, her body and face unrecognizable. Only her golden eyes which still had a flicker of light on it was recognizable.

"All units," Hans' sole voice reverberated on the battlefield using his speaker. "Ceasefire at once."

Nothing moved or made a noise around them. Hans readied his pistol again and opened his hatch. Quite frankly, hoping that he'd get anything from her was a fool's errand. But then again, it wouldn't hurt to try. She was clearly dry by this point.

He jumped off his mech after opening his hatch. Then, he cocked his pistol, approaching her. For a second, he felt his hair rise when he looked at her burned and mangled flesh. The agony of burning so brutally yet living through it must be hellish.

Thank goddess I die quickly. I guess there are some perks to not being so tough.

"Hey," Hans called out when he was finally close to her. "Got any ideas where your partner, Injustice is hiding?"

No reply. She merely looked at the ground, before raising her quivering eyes, full of agony, up at him. While he could barely make out her lips, she seemed to try to smile. She was taunting him, even in her end.

"You're useless then," he aimed his Ruger at his face. "I hope you find peace—"

"Get off here," someone pushed Hans off. It was Valeria. "She's my kill."

Hans almost shot the Virtus mage then and there, but instead, he acquiesced and stayed back. On the other hand, Valeria readied her sword, aiming it at Recklessness' head.

"You, Calamity of Recklessness," Valeria hissed, half-tearing up. "In the name of the countless victims you murdered, and in the name of my friends, Marco and Enrico, die!"

With a swift slash, Recklessness' head found its path to the dirt. Hans sighed, placing his Ruger back into his holster, before looking at Adelyn's mech, which was watching the entire affair from the side.

They won.

[3 DEMONIC ENTITY LIQUIDATED!]

[77 NIGHT WOLVES LIQUIDATED!]

[LVL UP! NOW LVL. 12!]

[PROGRESS TO LVL. 13: 45%]

[AVAILABLE AP: 1400 PTS]

[NEW SKILL SLOT UNLOCKED!]

+++

+++ Unknown +++

A single old man watched the distant battlefield. His eyes were a calm, empty silver, and his hair raven black. He wore what appeared to be a foreign uniform, grey in color, with a flag patch attached to his shoulder.

He smiled as he looked at the two distant war machines. To the inhabitants of this land, such a machine was alien, unnatural, and unknown. He was different. He looked at them with glee, realizing the potential challenge these newcomers represented to their cause.

"Recklessness…it's such a shame to see someone as fine as you die like that," he gave a cruel chuckle. "Those two certainly didn't hold back. I told you so already…you cannot underestimate them. In the end…you're just like the title bestowed upon you."

He laughed.

"Such a reckless woman!"

He watched as one of the 'soldiers', a man in his mid-twenties, walked back to his mech. The rest of the soldiers on the battlefield were already mopping up the scattered remnants of Recklessness' horde army, but this man seemed disinterested in that. Instead, he went straight into the second mech of their group.

A blonde woman emerged from the second mech, and in seconds, the two foreign soldiers were in deep conversation with each other. The calm confidence in the man's face suddenly broke. Anger filled his veins.

"...Is that?" his eyes narrowed, squinting in an attempt to see the face of the woman that the 'Grey Knight' talked to. "Unbelievable. Not only are they my countrymen…but that woman…indeed, it's her! His daughter."

In seconds, his rage was replaced with bloodlust and amusement.

"Heh…heh, so I can strike back, you bastard," he laughed more and more. "I couldn't burn you when you removed me from the company I worked so hard under. That's right—I'll correct the injustice against me. It's only just to kill her when you ruined my life!"

[ARC VII END: YOUR VISION]

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