+++ Empress Elisa D'Ottavio +++

Western Asfaleia

"Your Majesty! I cannot in good conscience commit to the plan you've given me. I beseech you, we must leave at once! I will gather my most elite men and troops for this task."

"No. I told you. If we do that, we'd leave two thousand soldiers trapped alone in this fortress. I cannot accept that!"

"But Your Majesty!"

A member of the Imperial Guard, specifically Elisa's personal knight—Sir Marco Magath, gritted his teeth as the Empress refused his idea.

Elisa for her part couldn't accept what her knight was proposing. To flee the men she took for this expedition was unacceptable. The gods knew how much she'd already failed her people for years when her chains were tied. She couldn't accept doing that again now that she was out of the pope's grasp.

Still, these demons really are proving to be beyond powerful.

They've practically defeated large chunks of her once-powerful Imperial Army, something she cultivated for years before she got sick. Even her most powerful mages in the Imperial Mage Corps or the Imperial Guard struggled against these creatures.

She remembered how earlier, one of these so-called 'lesser demons' had fought two of her knights into a standstill. It was difficult to imagine. They were General Tier IV, close to the best of the best out there.

Yet, one of them died before the other one managed to use a spell to immobilize said demon and allow her artillery to open fire and kill it.

"If we do not do this," Sir Marco tried again. "The window of opportunity to flee will be gone."

Instead of replying, however, Elisa closed her eyes, activating a special skill of hers and expending nearly half of her AP. Her golden eyes glowed lightly when she opened it, as her mind was suddenly assaulted by a torrent of voices.

She began to hear everything. She heard her men screaming, dying, or fighting hard and giving out orders. She could hear even the lowliest of musketeers desperately calling for his comrades to pass on ammunition.

But not just that. She heard the incomprehensible thoughts coming from those 'demons'. Their screeches and thoughts felt like glass shattering in her ears, but she relented, even as blood dripped through her nostrils, and expanded the area of effect of her skill.

Until she heard something.

"Captain! Cover me! I'll take this one out!"

"Hans, damn it. I told you to avoid charging ahead of me!"

Her eyes widened.

It's them. Reinforcements from the west. I knew it. My gamble still has hope.

"Your Majesty!" Sir Marco shook her back awake, as Elisa practically fell on her knees, her nose bleeding profusely while tears prickled her eyes. The first thing she saw was the strands of her silver hair on the cold stone floor, before she looked up at her worried knight.

"I have a plan now," Elisa said, wiping the blood on her nose. "Get me the communication crystals. We just need to hold on to this fort a little bit longer."

"I told you not to use that skill anymore! You're no longer fit to use the Angel of Love's ideal too much. You know you weren't compatible with it to begin with—"

"Will you shut up for once? This is not the time for this," Elisa pushed her knight away, going for the distant table in the room that contained her communication crystals. "Ready your platoon once I finish giving my orders. I intend to personally ensure that our defenses are repositioned properly."

"I can't believe this. You're still placing yourself at great risk, Your Majesty, when the entire point of this expedition is to move our leadership to a safer place!"

"Is that so…?" Elisa turned back to her knight, as a frown appeared on her face. "Then where did you get the foolish notion that I'd get to a 'safer place' if I simply sat like a doll in this room, Sir Marco?"

+++

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

"Halt orders were given, but that doesn't necessarily mean we have to stop now," Adelyn insisted. "There seems to be a lot of trapped soldiers over there. We can't just let them die, now, can we?"

"Of course we can," Hans said, as he lowered his binoculars. "Right now, we're too far ahead of the Vanguard force and the rest of the Ygeian Expeditionary Corps. It's an impossible task. There are at least twenty demons over there."

Adelyn curled her fist, before placing her binoculars to her eyes.

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Hans did the same, observing as the distant star fort continued firing its guns ceaselessly, runic circles appearing randomly around it that attacked and kept the demons attempting to break through at bay.

However, there were just too many of them. One of the ravelins, seemingly heavily garrisoned by mages and musketeers, was attacked by five beastly demons. Their jaws, claws, and magical attacks overwhelmed the defenders, the walls practically cracking from their powerful strikes, silencing the artillery guns above the ravelin.

Then, a snake demon climbed up and began eating the soldiers on it en masse, forcing the rest to retreat below the ravelin under heavy cover by the forts' bastion and curtain wall behind. The rest however died a brutal death, barely able to keep off the demons until the outwork was secured.

Then, the guns from the curtain wall began bombarding the overrun ravelin hard, same with the cannons from the bastions that overlooked it. Hans grimaced a bit, as he watched runic circles appear again, blasting the demons on the ravelin including the few dying soldiers on it.

At least they managed to force those demons on a retreat again…

"Damn it," Adelyn turned red. "To just sit and watch like this…"

"Ebert already told you, right? That we're going to position ourselves for the relief effort soon. We just have to wait."

"And I'm tired of waiting. I can just…summon my ideal, then deal with all these bastards."

"Adelyn, you're being too reckless. We don't even know if there's a calamity over there."

"What? But there's been no reports—"

"Exactly," Hans narrowed his eyes as he kneeled close to the bush in front of him. "Considering the Empress is likely stuck over there, it's a possibility that a calamity is hunting her. The problem is, we don't know which one or what its power is…so best if we can get the entire corps with us first."

"I thought General Kohler would be very fast at getting to us," Adelyn complained. "It's been nearly an hour already."

"Then we can wait another hour. You can't blame him. Unlike the two of us who can cruise beyond sixty kilometers per hour, the Ygeian Expeditionary Corps can't. They're fast, but not that fast."

"...Fine. It just doesn't sit right with me, watching from behind with our binoculars as people die. Those are soldiers. People. As the Angel of Justice, it is my duty to protect them, even if I risk my life."

Hans looked back at Adelyn, his mouth a bit wide.

Did she really turn this way after my coma? Hans looked back at the besieged fortress. Then again, I did hear that she had to practically fight alone for a good while. That might have affected her a bit. I don't remember her being this eager to fight back then.

Not that, she was truly eager even now though. He could sense the fear in her eyes and little gestures, but it was noticeably more suppressed.

Still…

Better keep a close eye on her. She might be stronger, but she could overextend herself for my sake and other people's sake.

He didn't like the sound of that. That was his job, not hers'. He could come back in time if he died, but she couldn't. No matter the strength difference between the two, fundamentally, Hans was just in a different league in terms of qualification for meeting uncertain danger head-on.

No matter what it was, he could come back from it and survive. She wouldn't. If she died, he'd end himself then and there without hesitation to save her, and Hans hated the fact that his Ruger was starting to have quite a rising score for things that killed him.

All in all, best to remain cautious with this one, especially since he'd need to understand again how Adelyn ticks in combat.

Dozens of minutes passed as their foes continued besieging the distant fort. Nearly every five minutes, red signal smoke rose to the sky, most likely fired by the forts' defenders to signal distress.

On the other hand, Hans focused on moving his mech constantly to patrol their deployment area, as the first elements of the vanguard force and the rest of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit arrived.

Assigned to the left flank of the battlefield, Colonel Strobel took it as his role to ensure that his guns were well-positioned for the upcoming battle and that his musketeers and cavalrymen were ready to advance.

Adelyn and Hans kept themselves firmly at the center.

Within an hour, General Kohler arrived on the battlefield, alongside the first brigades of the Ygeian Expeditionary Force. They began forming up on the center and the right flanks of the distant star fort.

"Seems like those demons are starting to get desperate at assaulting that place," General Kohler said, as he strained his eyes while using his spyglass. "Say, could it be that the Empress is in there?"

"We don't know," Hans said, lowering his binoculars, as artillery pieces pulled by land dragons were moved behind them. "Tell me. Are we just going to brute force assault that area from all sides?"

"That's a likely option, but that's a lot of demons to deal with, and their abilities can be quite nasty," General Kohler said.

Then, Ebert spoke up.

"Sir, if I may propose, what if we commence long-range bombardment first before marching forward?"

"That's already on the table, and is how we'll approach this," General Kohler said.

"No. I want more than that. Instead of a ten to twenty-minute barrage, I propose we do a softening phase of two hours. Then, we march forward."

Hans nodded, intrigued by that cautious idea. That felt more in line with what he wanted.

"Do we have the ammunition for that though?" Hans asked.

"We do," General Kohler said. "But if we do that, we won't be able to push forward after this until a resupply. I can't have that unless I'm sure that the Empress is over there. I'd rather take increased casualties than have us hampered a day or two due to resupply requirements."

"Then I'll figure out if she's over there," Hans said, grimly smiling to himself. "Don't tell Adelyn this, but I'm riding alone over there. Then I'll retreat quickly once I make contact. I think if I force myself through an area where those demons have less presence, I can get inside the fortress, talk with them, then send a green signal with those smoke flares to confirm her presence."

"That's such a risky plan!" Ebert protested. "She'll get very angry if she finds out about this."

"Yeah, but it's impossible for the two of us to do this anyway. She'll understand that. Besides," Hans took a deep breath. "My mech was designed for this. What purpose would I have if I don't pull this off?"

That's right. And if I die, I'll just tell General Kohler that I'm sure that the Empress is in there.

"...Your bravery is still quite chilling to me," General Kohler said, before nodding. "Alright. I permit this plan."

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