+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Near Venido

Hans and Adelyn looked at the demonic mech cautiously. Hans felt his throat turning dry as he did.

He eyed its sensors, which let off a dangerous, red light color. The old man jumped back inside his mech, and immediately, it turned its main gun in Hans's direction.

Alarmed, Hans shouted at Adelyn to pull back.

"Captain! Prepare for armored combat—"

Just as he said that, suddenly, an APFSDS round, 90mm to be specific, nearly nailed Hans' Wanderfalke. He dodged it at the last second, but the fact that he was now facing an enemy with an equal weapon to him, caused his chest to tighten.

"You damned," Hans turned his main gun on the demonic mech, as it began zigzagging to them rapidly. Hans had a hard time getting any decent luck, but he managed, firing an MPAT round set to penetrative mode.

The shot came out of his barrel, and the MPAT's fins stabilized it for the flight. Traveling in a flash of light, it made contact with the demonic mech, sending a jet of hot molten metal in an attempt to pierce its armor.

What came out shocked Hans to the core.

"Unharmed," Hans said, his eyes losing all of its color. "How did that thing resist my shot? It has no armor."

"Hehe, it's like the old times, eh?" The old man laughed from the speakers of his mech. "It tickles my fancy to see you two at last. A taste of the old home must be something you two have been longing for. Ah…believe me, I'm no different."

Adelyn's mech finished backing off into a more covered position, as the rest of the army fell back. The appearance of the automaton practically broke their morale, causing them to rout as the Virtus and Vanus demons chased them from their defensive positions.

Behind Hans, the artillery continued its incessant hymn. It sent shot after shot at the two demons, attempting to at least slow them by causing shrapnel wounds. Even the battlemages behind them tried their best, all to cover and protect their fleeing comrades.

Hans, who had no more idea on how to deal with this new threat, gritted his teeth, watching as the four-legged mech made its move. Once again, it aimed its main gun at him, and Hans pressed his feet hard on the gas.

"Now, Grey Knight!" the old man shouted, as he fired another shot. "You're mine!"

Hans pulled his mech down as he traversed the elevations around the battlefield, using a brief depression to hide his mech. His combat instincts for tank-to-tank combat flared up completely, and he began using the depression to his advantage.

The same was true of Adelyn. She pulled her mech back into a good ridge, hiding her hull and only exposing her turret armor.

Smart cookie. Hans thought, as they began firing round after round at the demonic mech, which moved rapidly through the battlefield, still trying to close in on him. Come on, why aren't our rounds working?!

Another shot careened, this time to Adelyn's mech. In a flash, it struck her mech's turret, causing an explosion to rock it. The Calamity of Injustice must have fired MPAT, and Hans immediately panickedly turned to his comms.

"Adelyn!" he called out. "Are you alright over there?"

There was a brief buzz and incoherent garbled noises on the radio before it became clear.

"I'm fine!" Adelyn shouted back. "I'm hull-down, so I should be fine. I'm loading anti-demon plasma, APFSDS!"

"Copy, copy," Hans replied, as the demonic mech turned its attention to him. Another MPAT round nearly clipped Hans' Wanderfalke, but he pulled down on the ridge at the last second, allowing it to fly over him harmlessly. Pushing back forward, his turret emerged again, and he fired another shot.

It was a continuously draining affair. Due to how vulnerable he was to this demonic creature, he had to keep hiding behind cover, reducing his fire rate. Already, the Vanus and Virtus demons were truly overwhelming the soldiers at the frontline.

There must be hundreds of them dead already, and the number only kept rising as they overran more and more positions. On the other hand, the demonic mech noticed that Adelyn loaded her plasma round, which left a slight bluish glow in her main gun. It began taking a more cautious approach in response.

Heh…is this it?

The enemy mech was hiding. They were hiding as well, and they were trading shots like scared kittens. They constantly tried to move and reposition to get a better firing angle, or to counter the movement being taken by their enemy, but it was a pure stalemate. If anyone exposed themselves too much—they would be dead.

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Even Adelyn could only expose her up-armored turret armor.

…I see then, this is Terra all over again.

Hans watched as Adelyn fired her plasma round, as the enemy mech rushed through the dugouts that were overrun. At the last second, the demonic mech managed to dive down a good ridge, and Adelyn's shot missed. In response, it lobbed an APFSDS round at Adelyn's turret, forcing her to back down a bit.

"I took another direct hit!" Adelyn complained. "Damn it, my aim sucks too."

"Don't worry. I'll try to do something," Hans said, as he tried to peek out of the ridge he moved to, firing another shot at the demonic mech when it also tried to peek out. Hans' shot unfortunately missed again, and in response, the enemy mech took a quick peek to fire a shot at Hans.

Naturally, he dodged it, and then Adelyn replied, sending an MPAT round that detonated close to the enemy mech, most likely causing minor damage even when it pulled back.

"Again?! I missed it, again!"

"Just calm down, and keep your guns firing," Hans said, watching as the two other demons sped up their pace overwhelming the troopers around them.

Many poor sods already were trying to retreat to the next set of trench lines, practically jumping on them once they reached it just to hide from the terror being unleashed by the three demonic entities.

"Shit, this is tricky," he cursed.

Hans tried to find any tactical opening that he could exploit. But it was difficult. At least, until the demonic mech emerged from its hiding spot, charging forward in his direction. Behind him, in response, the artillery opened up.

Three cannonballs that glowed red struck the demonic mech, causing it to stumble briefly. Hans decided to take the opportunity, popping right out of his cover to open fire. An APFSDS round immediately darted through the skies, striking the demonic mech straight on its turret.

It pierced through it, but the shot simply flew from one side to the other.

What?

+++

Captain Ebert Strobel

It was rapidly becoming difficult for Ebert to contain the attacks incoming to them. General Ercole had already ordered all units to hold fast against any assault, and throughout the contact line, nearly six demons were attacking them. Hans and Adelyn, on the other hand, responded in the sector attacked by Injustice and two demons.

Ebert already dispatched his infantry battalions to the frontline, with two of his infantry battalions, the 15th and 18th, marching into the sector held by Hans and Adelyn. Even him, with the 2nd Fast Recon's two cavalry squadrons, was speeding up to get there.

When he managed to climb a hill that overlooked the battlefield, Ebert took out his spyglass to begin observing.

It wasn't going well.

"Lieutenant," he called out to one of his officers. "Move A and B batteries over those hills. I want those guns unlimbered and firing within ten minutes."

"Copy that, Captain," the officer saluted, before riding away to the direction of the cannons being pulled by horses.

Ebert on the other hand continued his observation, noting how General Ercole's troops continued retreating in great desperation. He watched as musketeers either ran through the fields, being sliced and decapitated like nothing by the two demons, or how others valiantly sacrificed themselves by firing their muskets until their last breath.

They were giving all they had just to delay the enemy's advance. Not that it wasn't paying off. Increasingly, the Virtus and Vanus demons advancing to them were becoming injured at increased exposure to General Ercole's guns.

On the other hand, the strange automaton demon that resembled Hans' mech was being pinned and suppressed by Adelyn and Hans.

He watched as their mechs clashed at great distances, trading shot after shot that went nowhere. It reminded him of a normal firefight between soldiers—a constant back-and-forth until someone took a bad hit.

"Damn it," he lowered his spyglass. "Hans is too close to Injustice. Those two demons might gang up on him if he isn't careful. Unless…"

He looked back at the group of cavalrymen from the Dragoon Squadron arriving behind him. A grin appeared on Ebert's face.

+++

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Hans was now running out of options. They were getting close—too close. Practically only two kilometers away. That was essentially knife-fighting distance for tanks and mechs.

He could already see the effects of Injustice's tactics. By using his mech to suppress Hans and Adelyn, he was allowing his underlings to do the dirty work of mopping up the small fries. The ending was clear. Once the normal conventional troops of General Ercole were either eliminated or forced to retreat, Injustice and his underlings could focus on the two.

Not acceptable.

Hans wouldn't allow that kind of scenario to play itself out. Quickly, he began generating ideas about how to disrupt these bastards. It took a while, but when he was done, he spoke to his comms.

"Adelyn," Hans called out. "Cover me. I'll screw that mech up."

"What?"

"Load normal rounds," Hans said. "Prepare your plasma round when I say so. I'm going in!"

Loading an MPAT round using his autoloader, Hans' mech screeched forward into the battlefield. In response, the demonic mech in front of him fired a shot that Hans narrowly dodged.

"At last!" the old man spoke with his speakers. "Let's have a tango then—mano-a-mano!"

"Sure, you old bastard," Hans gritted his teeth, as he dodged a torrent of heavy machine gun rounds headed his way. It began striking his light armor, causing ugly marks on it, and some even began penetrating his mech in areas of lighter construction.

In response, Hans opened fire with his ADAP machine gun rounds, straight at the demonic mech. It didn't do much, but it began to rattle the old man's vehicle. Adelyn behind him also joined in, sending sabot after sabot into the demonic mech.

"You two sure are something!" the demon shouted, as his mech rushed to meet Hans' Wanderfalke head-on. "Alright then, let's see where this stunt of yours will go."

"Go die, old man!" Hans yelled as he fired an MPAT round straight at the enemy, causing a direct explosion. It rattled the demonic mech, allowing Hans to cut in closer. "Now Adelyn! Load your plasma round now!"

"Copy that!"

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