+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

He wasn't a fan of all this. Adelyn charged forward ahead of him again. It was ridiculous. She could just stay back and provide effective fire support for him. But again, he was reminded of what he had just done earlier.

But, sure, he charged ahead without informing her, but did she really need to be this petty?

Whatever.

Hans pushed his mech's engines to their limits.

My job is to protect her.

No matter how many risks she took, Hans wouldn't back down. His mech swerved forward, ahead of Adelyn's mech, and before he knew it, he was the one at the frontline again.

You can't take my role here.

After all, that was why his class was [VANGUARD] and hers [FINISHER]. He had speed, sensors, and reaction time. She had unapologetic firepower. She should stay in her lane, just as Hans did.

"Captain, I advise you to stay back and provide me fire support," Hans coldly said, as his mech neared one of the demons ahead of them. "I'll take the bastards' attention."

"D-damn it, why are you so much faster than me?"

"Sorry. But this is a battle, not a race."

Adelyn seemed to have listened, as she stopped trying to get ahead of him, but instead, she repositioned to a good firing spot, the position giving her the best arc of fire possible.

Perfect. She may get petty at times, but at least she can get a hold of her emotions quite easily.

One of the humanoid demons abandoned its fruitless attack on the walls, turning and charging at Hans with its sword drawn. Hans sped up with a blistering pace, his machine guns practically tearing apart the demon like Swiss cheese.

Then, right behind him, Adelyn fired a plasma round straight to the demon's face. Truly, her accuracy was no joke. Considering the speed of movement of the humanoid demon, even Hans might miss such a shot, but she struck it on the first shot.

It was clear that Adelyn must be perfecting her gunnery skills. She seemed to be wasting fewer and fewer munitions on misses or near misses. Hans mentally thanked Adelyn for that, as his mech pulled a hard drift while passing the humanoid demon.

Main gun aimed, he pressed on the trigger, sending a round blowing straight at the hip of the humanoid demon. The second demon, seeing its partner suffering, charged at its side.

But Hans suddenly pulled back out of nowhere, and the second demon's blade slice missed his mech. A cold smile grew on his face.

I'm never letting any of you bastards kill me.

When did he last die again? Oh, that was quite a long time ago. This far in, he knew he had already won the battle, all because of a brave gamble where he charged forward. Funny how courage could change a lot of things.

He opened fire with his machine guns, backing out rapidly as the first demon tried to get revenge, charging at him angrily.

Suddenly, a barrage of spells from the walls struck the demon at the same time, stopping it in place. Hans looked briefly at the walls.

The Empress was up there, personally directing her men to, battlemages to be exact, to aim their staves and fire volleys at the demon.

"Seems like they're really determined to get out of this," Hans said, as he stopped his mech. "Adelyn, can you support me rapidly in clearing them out? I think I can finish them in one go."

"Are you sure?!"

"Just make sure that you target whoever tries to flank me," Hans readied his mech's engines. "You got that? We have heavy support coming from the walls, so they should be weakened."

"Hans!"

"What?"

"You're…you're going to risk yourself again. They're opening fire heavily on those two."

"But you and I know that won't be enough," Hans said, as he looked back at the Empress.

She was staring at his mech.

I see.

"I'm going now!"

"Clear copy."

With Adelyn's permission, Hans charged forward through the thick deluge of spells and musket balls. Right then, as if the Empress noticed it, the attacks from the wall lightened, and the two demons, battered and bloodied, turned to Hans.

A rain of his bullets struck the first one, then, his mech's legs screeched, before it pushed his mech up high. The second demon tried to attack him from the right side, but suddenly, Adelyn's plasma shot struck it, sending it off.

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The first demon, now badly disoriented, was stabbed by his leg razors. He sliced through the bastard completely, practically pushing it near to death, then ran away. Right at that instant, two cannon balls from the walls and a concentrated volley of spells and bullets rained on the demon.

It was dead in just a second.

The Peacemaker landed on the ground, drifting, right as another shot from Adelyn flew behind him, striking the second demon's neck. That attack sent the bastard's head flying, and its body plopped dead on the ground.

Hans languidly turned his turret to the direction of the battlefield.

Both gunfire and bombardment were now tapering off. Most demons were now being killed systematically by advancing battlemages and musketeers. Meanwhile, thousands of soldiers from the Empress' contingent fully linked up with the relief force, and they joined forces to mop up the remaining demons.

"Well…" Hans breathed out, tired. "That was quite the victory, I suppose."

[2 DEMONS LIQUIDATED!]

[PROGRESS TO LVL.36: 94%]

[AVAILABLE AP: 7800/200 PTS]

+++

General Kohler was impressed.

Not only did Hans charge through one of the most densely packed battlefields, at least in demon terms, and survive, but he also managed to carve a hole with Adelyn straight through the demon lines and reach the Empress first.

The victor of the day was clear. Humanity triumphed, quite nicely too.

While casualties ran high, especially on the side of the Empress' protective contingent, this was the best casualty ratio they had with demons yet in a massed open battle. More than twenty demons lay dead in the fields, all in exchange for five hundred plus soldiers.

That was practically a miracle.

They, to put it simply, wiped out several demons that back then would have caused nearly a hundred thousand dead in just a month using the Ygeian Expeditionary Corps. It was such a massive victory, that the few demons hanging near them that were spotted by the recon cavalry teams seemed to have retreated.

Hans was of course suspicious of such details, as he was expecting one of the calamities to show up here, and he was suspecting that one of the demons spotted by the recon teams was a calamity, but…

For now, they did their mission well and finished it. The Empress, whose name was Elisa d'Ottavio, the sole ruler of the Holy Virtus Empire, was now saved. The moment the soldiers on the ground saw her, Hans expected that they'd all cower and kneel.

Instead, it seemed that his previous suspicions were confirmed. While they did go on this mission to save her for the sake of political maneuvering, specifically, to unite the Empire, it seemed like that would be easier said than done.

To put it bluntly, Her Majesty Elisa d'Ottavio was now an unpopular monarch. The soldiers, most of them recruited by the Imperial Ygeian Company from the lands of the former republic, regarded her with suspicion. There were even some soldiers, mostly the elderly veterans of the Imperial–Republic wars back when the Vanus race ruled half of the continent, who were openly hostile to her.

It made sense. Her armies were the ones who broke the Vanus Republic's defenses, took land on a continental scale campaign, and established one nation rule amongst all mankind. The process of doing that to Hans' estimation was a bloody one.

Judging by her ways though, she doesn't seem like the type of woman who'll do something like that.

She was meek. She didn't appear anywhere near the strong conqueror she was said to be. Even Adelyn, who to Hans' view was quite soft, wouldn't beat this woman at appearing innocent.

Maybe it's all an act. A way to make herself look better, especially after she abandoned nearly the entire world to fend for itself.

Now that they stood inside an abandoned castle west of the previous battlefield, Hans, Captain Weibel, Colonel Strobel, Adelyn, and General Kohler all surrounded the royal. She looked down at the table, as if she were accused of a great crime.

"...I have no excuses," she said.

"I'm not asking for excuses," General Kohler said, stepping forward. "Your Majesty, I'm just here to ask, what happened? Where is the Imperial Government? Not even the Imperial Army's high command ever responded to the calls of lower-level units since this crisis started."

When she didn't answer, General Kohler slammed his hand on the table.

"Answer us! I may have ordered my men to save you, but as you have noticed, none of us is in the mood right now for something empty. We want answers. What is happening?"

"The pope believes that mankind deserves what's coming for it," she replied. "He had a complete stranglehold on everyone at the top of the government, except me. They will watch until this continent is cleansed of 'the true blight'."

"What?"

"What are you talking about?" Hans suddenly spoke up. "What is this, some kind of joke? The Imperial Government refused to act because of brainwashing? What magic even is—"

"There was a banquet back then where most high-ranking officials drank wine laced with a poison, or something, that the pope had placed in it. I drank it too, but I…I had resistance," the Empress grimaced. "Look…the leaders of the Empire right now are all under the influence of the pope—the Calamity of Hubris."

Hans took a step back, his eyes darkening.

A calamity?

"...I was kept under house arrest for a long time while he kept the facade of normality in the Imperial Capital. He tried to figure out many ways to fully manipulate my mind, because I was to be the perfect puppet of him. He failed, and Sir Marco and his men managed to break me out of there. Barely."

"They're still chasing you?" General Kohler asked.

"I believe one of the calamities was tasked to chase me. One of the reasons I went to the West too is because I've learned that the pope considers the West a growing threat. Their cleansing operations in the east thus lightened, and they tried to organize attacks in the west instead. But somehow, no matter how many demons they sent here, they needed more."

"So you learned that we must have a way to fight back here?" Adelyn asked.

"Indeed. I've learned that the only hope for mankind lies in the West. I had to make a journey to get there and follow the path to the east. Look, the reason why people are turning more and more into demons is that the pope set up a 'warding beacon' in the Imperial Capital. It kept the citizenry calm, as the Imperial Capital had never been attacked by demons, because they controlled most lesser demons. But outside of it, any person susceptible to grave negative emotions will be corrupted."

"...Indeed, this poses a massive problem," General Kohler said, nodding. "All the time, in the rear, cases of people turning into demons are not uncommon. It's why we're a bit limited in numbers in the actual front. We have to keep garisons in the rear in case someone turns."

"The only way to end this then, is to get to the Imperial Capital, destroy that beacon, and kill Hubris?" Hans asked, his voice cold.

Everyone turned to the Empress.

She nodded.

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