Chapter III
"I saw absolute hell unleashed from the other side. The magic I saw from them, and the metal dragon roaring over me, wiped out an uncountable amount of men before my very eyes. War was no longer Glory. This War is Hell. Show mercy upon us Emroy," Diary entry from a surviving Imperial Soldier.
"Caution. Pull up."
"Caution. Pull up."
"Caution. Pull up."
The F-35's engine burnt shaking the inside of the cockpit
Shit, this isn't going anywhere.
"Count, Trigger. Come in."
"Dammit, if this continues, this thing is going to plummet to the ground and explode."
She made the decision and pulled the ejection lever.
The plane dropped to the ground and slammed into a rock face, near a small village.
Shit, that doesn't look good.
God, if I ever get back I'm going to give the general a piece of my mind about making us use tech we don't have time to get used to.
She landed her parachute and walked towards the village not expecting anything.
Fort Alnus April 8th, 2020 (1343hrs)
"What do you mean we can't conduct a search and rescue?!" Count shouted.
"Count, please calm down. We don't have the necessary resources for one," General Hazama replied. "Besides, if a fire dragon that fast and large were to roam around, it would put even more people in danger. Those smaller dragons Trigger shot down had scales that the missiles barely even penetrated them. Imagine the difficulty of killing a dragon that size and strength."
"Dammit, well what can we at least do?"
"Well, the black box is still active and will be for the next thirty days. She will be marked M.I.A. And I will inform the recon teams to be on the lookout for her. Now please leave. I am very busy."
Trigger and Count leave the office.
"Shit, I hope she's alive," Count said in frustration. "Ejecting with a dragon in the area, not to mention into unexplored territory is just plain dangerous."
"Count, wait stop," Trigger said, but Count wasn't stopping.
God damn fool, what kind of bullshit am I going through.
[Location Unknown]
By midnight, Huxian was already very exhausted and aching everywhere from the walking she had to do. She was carrying no food, water, or supplies. Only a Berretta M9 with a few magazines, and a combat knife. There was no way she would be able to reach that village. Despite attempting to keep pushing on, Huxian leaned on a tree and fell asleep.
Nine hours later, she woke up to hear explosions and see flashes of light. She decided to investigate and pull out her gun in case she came across hostile people. She peeked at the source and found a girl with bright blue hair and an old man. The girl was shooting a bright light out of her hand. When the girl saw Huxian, she hid behind a tree, but she knew she was being stared down.
1342hrs
Itami and his crew got the girl out of the well and checked for and signs if she was alive. The girl still had a heartbeat, so they took her inside the jeep.
"Her body temperature has returned to normal," Kurokawa informed to Itami.
"Honestly, I am surprised she is even alive," Itami replied. "She's probably the only one alive."
"We need to head back to the village and warn them of a dragon in the area," Itami said. "Wait, HQ is sending a transmission."
Early Afternoon
Leilei La Lelena was practicing a new spell that Kato taught her to do when she saw a mysterious woman wearing unusual clothing. The woman tried to talk to her but Leilei did not understand. She told Kato about the woman, but Kato couldn't understand her either.
Leilei continued to stare in her direction until her attention was broken by a messenger running towards them.
"We just received word that a dragon is nearby where we are," the messenger said quickly to Kato. "The Elder told me to tell everyone that we need to pack everything you own and leave with everyone else."
"What?!" Kato said incredulously. "But the dragon is supposed to wake up after another fifty years."
"We were also told that the settlement nearby us got wiped out by the dragon," the messenger replied. "So hurry, before time runs out."
"Leilei, we must pack everything now. Quickly, get all the books. Maybe try to get her to help."
Huxian didn't know what to do, but the girl with blue hair was making hand gestures to her, which she assumed was to follow her. When Huxian went inside, she saw the old man carrying a large stack of books and articles of clothing, which was definitely too much for him. Subsequently, he tripped over and crashed into the ground. Huxian picked up the books, which the girl pointed to a large cart with a mule tied to it. Huxian set down the books.
The three spent a long time putting in sacks of food, clothing, and books until Huxian realized that the cart was getting too heavy. The girl showed an indication to this too and went to talk to the old man. Huxian could tell the old man was complaining. And now she was watching them argue about something before the girl shot something at the man, who then scolded her about her actions. Huxian realized that there wasn't a place for her to sit on the cart, so she was forced to walk despite her just realizing that she was on an empty stomach.
By the time she reached the village with the girl and the man, it looked like there were lots of other people in carriages full of other people's belongings.
Itami was leading an entire village move out because of the potential fire dragon when he saw someone who looked awfully familiar.
Isn't she the MIA the General said about?
Itami's question was quickly answered by him recognizing the air force uniform bearing the flag of Osea.
"H-Hey over here," Itami said. "The General said to look for you."
"Yeah?" Huxian replied gasping for air. "I got something to say to him when we get back."
"Bad timing for an expensive plane to go down. IUN will go crazy when they hear about it. But right now, we need help and someone's cart is blocking everyone else."
"Those people are speaking the same language as that woman we were with," Kato said in astonishment.
"They are all wearing different clothing too," Leilei added. "All with that same blue and white banner of stars."
"Woman soldiers too?" Kato said.
"I'm going to get a closer look," Leilei said.
"Wait," Kato replied.
Leilei jumped off the cart and ran towards where the soldiers were. She saw a little girl on the ground, disoriented.
She's in danger.
"She has a concussion," the black-haired woman said. "Possibly a fractured skull."
"You stand back."
Doctors.
Suddenly, the horse got up and screamed in a menacing position. Leilei panicked.
Suddenly, the horse dropped as a metal staff created explosions, piercing the horse's skin, killing it instantly.
"You, are you okay?" The woman asked.
Those people. They saved me.
"Why aren't any Lords helping us?" Kuruta asked.
"The Lords were sent to fight at Alnus Hill," Itami replied. "Most of them were killed including the one around here."
Nighttime at some campsite
"I hear that the entire Coda Village is on the run right now," a bandit said.
"This could be our chance," another bandit said in excitement. "We can not only take a village but an entire town."
"But won't we need more men?"
"That's okay," the bandit leader said. "We can just round up survivors from the last battle.
"This is so good. We can overthrow the local lord."
"From bandit leader to lord. I like it," he said smiling, before dropping dead instantly, still smiling.
Everyone panicked and felt a sinister sensation in the air.
"Gentlemen," A girl's voice called out. "Thank you for tonight."
"The all father is pleased with your contributions and now he asks you to present yourselves to him," she said while swiftly killing a bandit.
"I am Rory Mercury. Apostle to the Dark God, Emloy."
"She's one of the Twelve Apostles! Death God Rory!"
"She's… She's wearing the Emloy Shrine Oracle Uniform!"
"RUN!"
All the bandits run for their lives.
"Oh I don't think so."
Rory proceeds to completely slaughter all of the bandits in quick succession. The bandits continue to run despite seeing their friends die behind them, before they get a halberd buried into them. Finally, brutally executing one on the ground.
The carts were still dragging on for another four hours and everyone had already abandoned Coda.
Damn, I guess news of a dragon really spreads quickly, Huxian thought exhausted again.
"Her vitals are steady. She will regain consciousness soon."
"I hope this evacuation can finish up. This kind of sucks," Itami said in boredom. "Seems like we're just heading for nowhere."
Everyone's attention was diverted by a girl holding a giant axe walking on the same road they were on.
"Huh," Itami thought. "Is that… a child?"
Itami noticed most of the refugees running towards the girl in joy.
"It's the oracle!" a child exclaimed.
"We had to run from our village because a fire dragon was going to attack."
"Who are these people?" The girl asked.
"They're good people and they saved us."
"Oh, so you're not being forced out?"
"Not at all."
"How does this move?"
"I don't know, but it's way comfier than the carts."
"I want to see."
"Uh, hello, how are you doing?" Itami said confused.
The girl proceeded to jump onto Itami's lap refusing to get off of him.
"Get, get off!" he shouted panicking.
"I'm so jealous," Kuruta said.
"Don't get the wrong ideaaAAAAA!"
Somewhere up in the sky
"Count, you know that the dragon moves like Mr. X right?" Trigger said cautiously.
"I know, but I heard that some of our guys are evacuating refugees. Just need to make sure the dragon doesn't kill anyone," Count replied.
"Oh shit. Speak of the Devil. Radar is pinging a large object. It's the dragon."
"Allied aircraft, can you hear us? We need help! That dragon is flaming all of us," called out the voice of Itami.
"We see the dragon. Okay, Count, listen very carefully, we're gonna have to do something very risky. We're going to fly very close to the dragon to grab its attention. That should buy them some time."
Trigger and Count swooped right in front of the dragon, which began to follow both of them.
"They've distracted the dragon. FIRE ON THAT DRAGON!" Itami ordered.
Third Recon proceeded to fire everything at the dragon, their M16A4 assault rifles, and a Browning M2.
Dammit, that dragon is moving too fast for us to get a good shot, Itami thought.
Trigger and Count also fired their cannons at the dragon, but it's also not scratching it.
"Dammit, I can't get a lock on it," a frustrated Trigger said.
Even they are having trouble killing it, Itami thought.
Suddenly, the elf got up, and pointed at something.
"Eye?"
Itami took another look at the dragon. There was an arrow on the dragon's eye.
"Dammit, what do we do, we're gonna get killed at this rate," Count shouted.
"Trigger, Count! Shoot at the dragon's eyes!"
"Copy!"
Trigger and Count again unleash their cannons at the eyes, successfully sinking some rounds. The dragon roared in pain.
"Now's our chance, fire all of the missiles at it," Count said.
Trigger and Count unleash all of their missiles, similar to how they fired at the Arsenal Bird. The dragon dodged most of the missiles but two hit the dragon, blowing off an arm and creating a crater in the dragon's back. The dragon flew off and Trigger and Count couldn't catch up to it.
"That was intense," Trigger said.
"Couldn't agree more," replied Count.
"By the way, I'm still alive you two," Huxian cut in.
"Holy shit, how did you…"
"Yeah, I'll tell you about back at base."
Nighttime
There was a massive amount of civilian casualties. Recon Three held a funeral for those who died. Itami, found a girl crying, and he comforted her in a reassuring way.
"I'm sorry, but we can't take them all," the village chief said in regret. "We also have to take care of ourselves."
"Will, you leave them to us?" Itami responded.
"Yes, and thank you for taking them in," the village chief said before leaving. All of the departing villagers waved goodbye,
Itami then looked at the remaining few staying with them.
"What's going to happen to the remaining villagers?" Kuruta asked.
"They're going to other towns nearby, the people there will take care of them. It's just the children and the elderly who have nowhere to go."
Fort Alnus April 9th, 2020 (1019hrs)
Trigger, Count, and Avril found Huxian confronting Hazama.
"No no, I don't care! Why would you make us fly in 123 million Zollar planes that still have so many technical issues, and you didn't even give us time to even get used to them, you just threw them at us. What the hell were you thinking?!
"Huxian, please calm down. We're glad that you're okay," Avril tried to say.
"Yeah, I'm glad I'm okay too. I'm glad that I did not die at any point of my "adventure" with a god damn dragon flying around trying to kill me twice."
"Lieutenant, I'm gonna ask you to leave. I'll figure out what to do," Hazama said calmly.
"WHAT?!" she shouted back. "So that's it huh?! Just going to leave it at that?! You should've been figuring out what to do when I went down!"
"Huxian please sto-" Trigger was cut off by Huxian already slamming the door and storming off.
"Damn," Count said. "Never seen her vent like that before."
