Chapter 41: Paris.

It's been a long time since the last time. Again I apologize but the laziness and the move work have been maximum these last weeks.

I'm already here with a new installment.


Before us stood a super fortress worthy of a "final boss" from a video game of more than twenty hours.

Something so hardcore there was no point in her being here. If this was planted here to defend Paris during the inter-season period I couldn't imagine what would be waiting for us in Berlin when it was time to liberate it.

The structure of the enormous fortress resembled the ancient fortresses of the eighteenth century, with a star shape and overlapping triangles to achieve the largest attack surface at almost any angle. The only thing that differentiated it from those ancient fortresses was the peculiarity that the structure was partially raised from ground level, giving it a certain resemblance to a black fortress from the 40k universe.

Aside from the massive and impressive raised structure with enough attack surface to wipe the entire invasion force off the map if it were within range.

It was so fucking big and dense that I doubted a tier five could handle it, all without counting that trying to use more than fifty percent of your mana all at once can leave severe injuries, if you use more than seventy-five then you are likely to stay. useless for the rest of your life. And since I am not Yoshika, if I lose my magical capacity due to a totally unconscious and immature imbecility, I will not be able to regain magic even with my strange relative.

-It hurts that the "union" does not exist in this universe. Because some Katys could come in handy right now.-
-Yes, a couple of dozen would make our lives much easier.- Tommy agreed.
-I can't think of another piece of artillery that can cause enough damage from enough distance to help us. What I would give for a TOPOL right now.-
-I think that a current artillery regiment would be enough. Any of the RA regiments could do the job.- Iona added.
-Then why don't we just call the reinforcements?- Georgie chimed in.
-That you have not understood "current"? None of the regiments ac ... Oh, I see. I meant the modern regiments of our time.- Iona came to realize her own mistake on her own.
-Are you implying that the British forces will not be sufficient for this task?- Georgie inquired with an exasperated air.
-Not at all. I am not suggesting anything. I simply state a fact.- Iona replied dryly and curtly.
-Girls, stop the discussion. We need ideas to figure out a plan against that thing- I argued while pointing to the huge neuroi fortress with both hands.- That thing is so big that if someone approaches and shoots with all attack zones on one side it will pulverize the attacker even with a shield. -So, any ideas? -
-I think we don't have enough information. Did you forget what happened by attacking the fortified neuroi on the mount? -Georgie asked with an intellectual air.
-And what do you suggest? To obtain information we must approach and that thing will open fire against anything that comes near it.-
-Don't you remember my inherent magic?- Georgie replied visibly upset.
-What about you? You never told us you had one.- Iona cut seeing that the conversation was becoming an argument between two.
-Sister. Just because she can hide her being and presence is not a trained skill. Don't you remember that he was even able to hide from Erik's sonar? - Tommy intervened.
-If that's true, you're a bit of a rare recognition unit.- I never saw or heard about a Churchill VII doing recon. The store was huge and very noisy.
-I can do it, let me try,- Georgie replied with a determination glint in her eyes.

I held her gaze until I had to give in. -I get it. But try not to be seen, as soon as you notice that you are no longer safe, come back to us.- She nodded, turned around and, as soon as she broke the line of sight with my eyes, her signal became somewhat diffuse in the mental image of the sonar and continued to blur as he walked away until it finally disappeared.

-Well, it is going to be true that it can trick my sonar and disappear.- With such a high camouflage and concealment ability, it could either make unpleasant ambushes to the enemy or reconnaissance of medium and short distance. Now I wonder if her ability would also circumvent the vigilance of Sanya or Oberstleutnant Wilcke, would it be at least curious to see her playing hide and seek with that type of witch.

-Do you think it will be alright?- Iona asked with a worried tone.
-I don't know Iona. Maybe. -Her concern seemed to increase with those words. -Ohh. Sorry Iona, I didn't expect you to look for conciliatory words, you know well that I'm not good at that kind of thing. But I can't lie to you, apart from why I don't know how to do it right, because I would not forgive myself for giving you false hopes.- I was going to add something else but with the inept social ability I would only ruin it more.
-No, it doesn't matter. You're right, you didn't know that facet of Georgie; you could not know the extent of his ability. In fact no one could, we have known each other for just over three months and Georgie the last two. - Iona replied affectionately.
-Don't bother yourself anymore, sister. Neither knew how things could turn out. In fact, in my opinion, they have already been going too well. - replied pessimistic Tommy.

It was curious to see how despite being twins and genetically almost the same, the twins were actually very different.

We waited and waited almost an hour for Georgie to return, always attentive to the environment; for she could always return at full speed, possibly fleeing from enemies if they detected her.

Two hours had passed since Georgie left and he had already started cleaning my weapons, starting with the MG-42 he had; I was mounting it again when Georgie reappeared in my sonar. I smiled slightly and Iona reacted to this gesture.

-She will be right back? How did it go?-
-How do you want me to know if it hasn't arrived yet?-
-I thought that the sensitivity of your sonar allowed you to see from a distance as if you were in front.-
-Generally yes, but Georgie I always notice her blurred until she is very close.-
-Then it only remains for us to wait for it to arrive, so patience, sister.- Tommy reassured his already nervous sister about the imminent arrival of our unexpected explorer.

We waited a few minutes for him to reach our position and I noticed by the way of approaching our checkpoint, that he wanted to play.

-Tommy, Iona; hide behind those rocks and bushes. Georgie wants to approach cautiously, probably giving us a scare. We will hide and scare her. - The twins agreed and occupied their positions in total silence and in the most cautious way possible; in fact, if I didn't have my sonar, they would have completely disappeared.

We waited a few more minutes for Georgie to appear at the makeshift camp.

She looked confused, it was noticeable that she expected someone to be in the camp. She looked both ways and after briefly scanning the surroundings she approached the position where the twins were hiding. She circled the large stone to see what was on the other side, at which point the twins surrounded the stone but on the opposite side, leaving a visibly surprised Georgie who looked confused at the opposite side of the stone hoping to find someone but not seeing anyone.

As soon as the two twins turned around hopelessly and using their synchronicity they jumped on both sides of the armored witch shouting.

The attacked witch deployed her scared shield as she screamed in terror and tried to hit her alleged attackers with the butt of her cannon.

The result was funnier than it seemed because of a powerful stockade she sent Tommy several meters away and crushed Ipna to the ground.

Never mess with a "britannian lady". Hahaha.
I see, I think I am not going to repeat the experience as the twins and I will appear slowly and visibly so that it does not hit me.
It reminded you of the fox witch who tried to kill you, right?
Yes, that's why I prefer to avoid repeating stories.

Doing as I told Sybilla, I appeared in the clearing. Trying not to seem too sudden so as not to be the target of a new attack. With hands extended at chest height to lower the threat level. Georgie reacted to the new stimulus but when she realized my identity she seemed to come to her senses and retracted her shield when she concluded that the enemy she was holding was not what she thought.

Then she seemed to notice something. -Ohh no. Tommy.- Georgie ran to where Tommy fell. - You're good? Sorry Tommy. - She turned to us. Iona stood up and I rushed to her side to help her get up and check her condition - Sorry guys, I didn't know it was you. Just try to give you a little surprise. But I didn't tell you I wasn't good with surprises. -Then she stood with her hands on her hips looking at Tommy from above. Tommy got up and dusted himself off.

-Nothing happens Georgie, we are to blame for trying to make a joke like this in a moment like this.- Tommy explained still sore from the blow that sent him over a hundred meters.
-Yes, we're sorry about the joke. Sorry Georgie.- Iona apologized as she also got up from the floor in pain like her brother. -The only one who hasn't apologized is Erik,- Iona added, looking up at me.
-I really wasn't going to scare her at any time, so ...- I tried to sneak away.
-No, now you are not going to run away from this one. You were the one who said that Georgie wanted to play and that we hide. - Iona argument.
-Well ... - I was scratching my chin in a suspicious pose and "totally conceals gives".
-It is true. You're the only one who might have noticed me approaching. That was my main idea, I apologize.- Georgie admitted.
-Bah. It's the same. What is the Georgie report? What have you seen?-
-When after spending hours observing the monumental enemy I have come to the conclusion that it is the union of seven independent enemies. On the one hand it is good because we can wear down the fortress little by little but on the other hand it is not so good because after destroying one of the enemies we would still have another six to defeat.-

We deliberated for a while longer until we came to the conclusion that we should destroy the enemy in front of us even if it was little by little to avoid time running out, and if at the end when the bulk of the army arrived there was still an enemy, they can you help us. We calculated that we could destroy four of the seven before the reinforcements arrived, then with the support of the artillery and the witches brought in at the landing we should be able to destroy what was left.

So we hatched a guerilla war plan through the town's sewers, the few that were still entire, through which we will brutally attack by carrying out lightning attacks; attacking, destroying the target if possible and quickly retreating over our position to attack from another angle. So on until we defeat one of the superimposed enemies and decide to attack the tunnels or finish them all.

Again, we form groups of two people; This time we formed segregated couples, that is, Tommy and I on the one hand and Georgie and Iona on the other. Boys and girls separated.

It might seem like the optimal grouping was again for the twins to be together but if we needed synchronicity to attack the enemy simultaneously from different angles it would be best to use the twins and their strange ability to synchronously attack both groups perfectly.

We calculated that with my active sonar, Georgie's ballistic calculation capabilities and the timing of the twins we will be able to fire at different enemy cores from different angles to neutralize each unit in two or three rounds.

All without taking into account that we would have to keep ourselves safe between shots and avoid being hit.

We started moving towards the first "peak" of the fortress, for some reason the enemy thought that placing the core at the end of the "wing" was safer than putting it behind the protection of the multiple layers of armor, well it was probably put there to anticipate the effect of the experience of his enemies; They will look for the nucleus in the best protected area. But obviously they must be unaware that there are people who can see the nucleus directly, like me, or they probably do, but they will know that the probability of finding a person with these qualities is slim. Or not. Surely we will never know, nor is I going to ask them if humanity ever learns how to communicate with them because my mission is to destroy them all and trying to talk to them would make my mission much more complicated.

Neurois are after all like the Nazis, you are not going to worry about those minutiae, you are just going to go out there to kill as many as you can without looking back.

-Ehh ... Erik, go back to earth.- Tommy looked at me with a mixture of dismay and curiosity; I had evaded myself again with my own thoughts.
-Sorry Tommy, I was deep in my thoughts ... -
-Yes, I've already noticed. What were you thinking about? To all this.- He asked with curiosity and all the dismay dissipated.
-Well, it may sound strange to you, but I think I miss the perverted Tanuki.-

Tommy made a funny face. - How can you say that? That girl is not normal.-

-Yes, but I know her from before and for longer than you.-
-Anyway, I'm not going to delve into the matter. Now I don't care what you think anymore.- Tommy replied disappointed.

On the one hand I had lied to him, but the fact is that after thinking about my old squad a strange feeling of nostalgia invaded me.

Wait, I'll fix that ... Is that it, better? Now you can focus on combat without external concerns.
Thanks Karen, but don't do that very often, I don't want to forget them.
Understood, but now focus on the mission.

Immediately I started and Tommy and I entered the sewers of this freeen… Galian town.

The first round of shots was the toughest, and of course, as we hadn't tried this tactic yet we weren't really sure we would hit the target with it or they would kill us all after the first try.

We went out to the warehouse of a store in the village located below ground level, we went up the stairs and without saying a word or waiting for anything we shot at the place where we knew the nucleus was. The firing of my StuH and that of Tommy's 75mm cannon hit just half a second before the girls, very often one after another.

The idea was to use the powerful explosive charge of my 10.5 against the armor, then Tommy's cannon fragmented the internal armor allowing two consecutive 77mm shots to reach the core and destroy the neuroi.

Without waiting to see the result, I grabbed Tommy and ran to the security offered by the underground warehouse.

Soon we heard a small muted detonation and the noise made by hundreds of thousands of ceramic fragments or rubble hitting the ground and the roofs of the town's streets. The operation seemed to have been a success.

Then we received a transmission from the girls asking that we wait a bit for her to catch her breath; for they had remained to see the result and how the enemy had received miasma fire. Luckily Georgie does have a shield to protect herself and they were able to escape safely.

After scolding the girls for not following the plan and exposing themselves to danger, we continued to destroy the "peaks" of the fortress. Four more and we finish them all.

Now the bottom and top were left. The lower one could still be destroyed using a tactic similar to the one we use for pickaxes, but the upper part ... Our weapons simply did not reach enough range to destroy the last core.

We started with the same tactic, but since the enemy is not stupid as much as it may seem, something totally unexpected happened. The nucleus began to move inside the enormous neuroi towards the best sheltered areas, making its destruction impossible; for the moment.

This caused us to have to think of alternatives. So Georgie came up with the idea of using the twins as a distraction due to their perfect coordination and while the two of us used charged shots with our magic cannons to destroy the neuroi's body completely. It was not efficient but it was effective, tremendously effective.

Then we started the massive attack of magic artillery on the neuroi, the idea was to destroy only the opposite part of the body that it was in and, gradually, get to where the nucleus was in order to try that it could not "escape" because there was no path.

We begin the attack with the expected brutality. As soon as the twins left the safety of the sewers they began to receive fire, but after Georgie and I fired the first cannon shots, the neuroi seemed to focus his attention on us, we seemed to him a more dangerous target; That's right.

After exhausting almost all the existing ammunition and covering ourselves with the existing covers and Georgie's shield, we managed to destroy the main body of the neuroi thanks to a precise shot by Iona at the exposed core. The top neuroi continued his artillery sieges against Georgie and me, a moment subtly exploited by Iona. Now the upper neuroi was alone, he was also flying or rather levitating.

The latter was a real challenge, as we had no idea how to reach it and time was running out, we could already hear in the distance the tanks and vehicles were arriving.

* Here the combined air command of the Witch Corps. Do you need any help, girls? * A youthful female voice called over the radio.

-Ignore her, this objective is ours. If they want a piece of the glory that would have come sooner.-
- Of course. The cake has already been distributed and they are late for the party. - A tired or almost exhausted Georgie answered but with the determination not to yield the objective to any newcomer.

The twins nodded in agreement with Georgie's words.-Well, it's time for a railgun with magic ammunition. That they arrive early enough to see the fireworks but late enough that the result is inevitable.-

I started charging static electricity around my barrel and created an "extension" of my barrel just on the other side of the muzzle. The same crystal structure as always but this time it would be of a higher caliber.

Then I loaded magic into the bullet and cannon as Georgie deployed her shield to keep the deadly rays from the neuroi fortress from reaching me.

The roaring sound of the aerial strikers only approached.

When I was sure that the explosion would be powerful enough so that the core despite being able to escape would receive deflagration through the internal chambers, then and only then did I shoot, discharging almost all the remaining mana from my reserves causing the vision to It will cloud me and my legs will fail me.

Even so, I could see how the colossal neuroi exploded, at which point Georgie passed out and I, using my last strength, placed myself in front and parapeted. Use my hands to shield the face. Hundreds of shrapnel crystals hit my armor and the unprotected parts of my body. As soon as the strange rain Via ceased I fell to my knees, covered by my own blood and with a painful pain in my hands. They were shattered.

The next thing I remember is waking up in a different place and with a different ceiling.

-Again? How many times am I going to wake up in a strange place? -
-You are awake.- A woman dressed in a khaki jacket was next to me.- I am Colonel Dona Strait of the Liberion army and I can tell you that you will surely be decorated for your bravery.-
-I don't want medals, I just want to see all the reduced neurois nothing.- My head hurts. I went to massage my temple with my fingers when I saw that my hands were completely bandaged.
-You were lucky, your magic began to heal your wounds before we arrived. If you were a normal person you would not have survived.- The witch responded to the inquisitive grimace that I must have made when seeing my bandaged hands.
-If I were a normal person I would have died long ago.-
-True. May I ask you a question, Captain?-
-Sure.-
-Why didn't you just deploy the shield? You could have defended yourself much more effectively with your shield.-
-I did not know that the shields weakened with the fatigue of the user. It is simple, I do not use a shield, I have no familiar, so I cannot fly or deploy shields. The witch of my squad fell unconscious and the fragment rain was imminent, what else could I have done to cover her?-

The witch Liberian looked at me incredulously. -But if you don't have a shield, what do you do on the front? Aren't you afraid of dying?-

-What am I doing here? To fight. And everyone is afraid of death but if things are done well there is no chance for death.-
-You are clearly affected, I will let you rest.- The Liberian simply could not process what she had said and used the excuse to let me rest to get away.

After a few more hours, I left the makeshift field hospital to meet my team.

Thankful Georgie did not part with me.

One of the generals I met in the conference room of Britannia's underground bunker gave me steel gauntlets as thanks for my effort and to cover the ugly scars that now ran down the skin of my hands.

They were a better medal than a medal proper, as they attested to the performance of being in a tough battle but at the same time served more than just adorning my uniform.

As soon as we were all fully recovered we went with the bulk of the army to retake Paris.

It was a surprisingly short and enjoyable eighty kilometers, all the more so given the slow pace of these WWII transports and the fact that he was used to road vehicles easily exceeding seventy kilometers per hour.

We arrived in Paris; the city of love, the churches and I don't know what more bullshit; at about eight in the afternoon. By the time we arrived, the coalition air witches had taken care of almost every enemy. And it was not surprising because with the fortress destroyed, all its drones fell with it, leaving the city partially deserted. Only the "autonomous" neuroi populated its streets.

But the aerial witches ahead of the transport column to destroy as many surviving enemies as they encounter.

As soon as we arrived we disembarked and thanks to my sonar we soon found enemies and we entered into combat with them.

By midnight the city was ours.

A short celebration took place around the banks of the Seine. I was sitting on a curb outside the riverbank looking at the soldiers partying and sharing drinks rather than knowing where they had found. They shared drinks and danced to an imaginary melody with witches who were in the closest age range to those soldiers.

-I'm going to sleep guys. I know what you are going to say but or I am very partying and alcohol no longer makes sense to me. I am also tired. I will be at a point where the field can be well controlled but it is far enough from the "party" to let me sleep.- Before waiting for an answer, I turned off the radio for the first time in a long time, then I directed my eyes towards the strange and the city's iconic steel tower.

After discovering that the electricity was not flowing and therefore there would be no elevators, I had to climb the hundreds of steps to the first floor of the tower, I found a more or less covered place from which you could see the area of the river well where they were all celebrating.

I did all my "before bed" chores and just lay on the floor, covered by the sleeping bag, a; of course; sleep.


A long time has passed since the last chapter. I have been very busy with a very heavy project. Also with the work at home issue I now spend more hours at work. And with all this because I had no desire to write after finishing work. In fact my motivation to return to write has come after discovering a novel fiction writer who could be described as a follower.