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Chapter 32: A Bullet to Change History

Beta-Reader: Ant0nius


'Unknown POV'

This was not how I expected my life to turn into but… I would be a liar if I said I regretted taking on arms on this matter.

When these 'chaos-loving' aliens attacked, no one thought much of it. When they attacked a second time, people started to believe and flock to get recruited. Years of seeing sci-fi movies had prepared us to handle such a mindset in case of invasion, with just a handful trying to advocate peace with a galactic force whose purpose was the extermination of 'inferior beings'. Such as us. To add more to the legitimacy of this circumstance, The entire world had agreed to actually band together in fighting off these dangerous aliens and ally with these other aliens whose intentions proved to be good.

I wasn't sure of the overall diplomatic scope, only that I joined when the first attack happened and that I was now here. The military uniform and armor felt heavier than it looked- it was heavier, I corrected myself as I wore it and could personally say it was quite bulky. Same for the rifle I had been given. It was a surprise- I shouldn't be here, but I was. A quick boot camp experience that lasted little more than a month ended with us, a couple of volunteers, barely aware of how to handle military-equipment of all sorts, for offensive, defensive and support purposes. I was a bit of a strange case, but not 'the' strangest one.

Snipers were quite unusual to spot out from a bunch of inexperienced morons, but I was noticed early on when training started. Good eye, natural grasp of major factors in determining a trajectory, and a quick hand in getting the sniper rifle set and ready to shoot. They told me I was ready but… I didn't feel like that. Not so soon. Yet, I had the growing suspicion I didn't have a chance to get more training.

"Recluta, are you done daydreaming or what?"

Recluta, or Rookie in Italian. The nickname had stuck from boot camp since the drill sergeant had taken a 'liking' with my inherent submissive yet bold mindset when it came to team-building exercises and spars. I was the quintessential model rookie, unprepared for most situations but fast enough to The 'Seconda Divisione Difensiva Italiana', or 'Second Italian Defensive Division', was one of the two divisions Italy was willing to dispatch for this whole operation. It wasn't just a NATO-centered mission, but there was a whole international army dispatched within the large area of the Amazon Forest. Brazil looked nice as a place to visit as a tourist, but right now we were more than that.

"Yes sir," I finally replied, the commanding officer, Sergeant Mattone, gave me a faux disappointed look but then told me to follow him back to our small base. Everyone had been granted a specific area where to set up their bases within the region, all determined by their nationality and the size of the military expedition they sent. I had been looking around to get a proper grasp of the natural environment we were dealing with and… it was going to be interesting to defend with these conditions.

The forest was going to be easy to defend, but I worried for those bastards we were meant to fend off and kill as we were told they were skilled infiltrators. And a forest offered many means for one of those to get through and behind enemy lines if so necessary. And that was the worst kind of trouble in a battle for snipers. Still, there were lots of us here and around, so I wasn't that worried. The team I was part of had two more snipers, both older than I was and one of them being a professional troop that had served in previous military engagements. Way before this whole aliens of the chaotic kind.

Then there was this whole Star Wars-esque situation about a Queen of a long-lost planet trying to beat the 'Dark Side' back through the help of her knight and these Crests. This left me a bit skeptical.

Orders were soon radioed as our allies reported that a problem of the spaceship variety had appeared through their devices and was getting in position to strike the area. The troops were mobilized and the sections of the perimeter assigned to each division were soon filled with battle-ready troops. I had taken position by one of the trees, not too high from the ground so I could jump off and run if the situation ended up getting too hot on me.

A massive ship appeared close to the planet's surface, with smaller aircraft flying down and allowing ground forces to mass in front of our hastily-prepared lines. Each position was reinforced and ready to strike back at our foes and… the clash was intense. While the hostiles lacked the same kind of military equipment we had, their magic seemed to be enough to limit the effectiveness of that advantage.

Some violet blasts blurred through the clearings and forced us all to never get too exposed from our covers. It was easy to pick on these bastards from afar as they had no counter for long-range attacks. Snipers were their worst enemies and… they sure started to lose momentum due to how resilient the entire defense was.

Things were going great, and for a moment I thought the warnings about this being a difficult skirmish were all an effort to overestimate the combat ability of these Narakhans. We were winning and… then something happened. The first rounds of explosions ripping into my proximity forced me down the tree I was sitting by, the wood cracking and exploding in numerous shards and splinters shortly after as a purple orb landed and detonated on impact.

"Everyone move!" Sergeant Mattone barked loudly, an order no one disobeyed. "Recluta, keep moving!"

I was the one the closest to the front line when this happened, so I was now among the last ones to leave. The barrage was relentless, and we were scrambling to find cover where to hide from the explosive assault. I eventually found a small hole in the ground where I jumped onto, it was too small for someone else, so it was just me there.

The loud barrage left me temporarily deaf, and I saw the dark blasts shred onto the ground all around. I saw fellow soldiers torn by the entire development and… then nothing. The loudness vanished, and only the silence of death was left behind. I waited a little while before leaving my cover, looking around for anyone there and… and this wasn't great anymore.

My ears were still ringing, the radio was messed up and I couldn't receive any more signal from it. But the one thing that really shocked me the most was that I was the only one that had survived. My breathing got itchy while my eyes widened in nude horror at the massacre caused by that unexpected assault. That blasted ship had just rained hell onto us and we didn't have any means to cover entirely from it.

Not much could be done against the orbital cannons, except a counter from a ship from these Primes tearing into these. It took a while, but the attack got them what we needed. Breathing space to get things sorted out and… do something about what was going on. There was no sign of my team, or any of the teams that were assigned within the surroundings. It was just me and I was in a far from optimal shape.

I didn't hesitate to leave the area, knowing I couldn't hold it on my own and just decided to venture off to regroup with other teams. I looked around, finding no one or… no one alive. I found many corpses, both Narakhans, Primes and Humans. The fighting was getting quite intense due to that bombardment, and only as I reached a nearby cliff I got a clear sight of the situation. The main battlefield, I hadn't thought we were this close to it. Still, as war raged all around, that was the source of the perfect storm: heavily-armored troops were fighting off some of the crests, while the queen and her knight were dealing with the big bad boss.

The chaos witch had raised the human knight through a stranglehold, the man struggling to break free and… his death would be problematic. Now, what could a mere human like me do in this instance? And well, the answer was in my hands and currently holding enough bullets in its chamber to handle this sort of long-distance rescue. I took aim, making sure to take into account the distance, the wind, the gravity and- And then… BANG!

The bullet soared, and I was growing excited in seeing its trajectory running straight towards the chaos bitch's head. At this point, there was little a normal being could have done. Sadly for me, the hopes of killing the sorceress with that bullet were shattered the very moment the woman seemed to notice the dangerous projectile and shifted her head so it wouldn't hit it. Yet, the lead struck a spot between her neck and shoulder, delivering enough damage to force her into releasing the knight from her hold. Mission completed… or not, apparently Murphy wasn't satisfied yet.

Surprise, anger, amusement, many emotions flashed on her face, but the last one sent shivers down my spine. She was looking right at me and soon I saw something odd happen. Magic can be quite cruel at times, I would soon learn. The bullet soon exited her body by tracing its arrival trajectory and picking up speed as it rushed towards me.

The shock subsided a bit too late, and I moved my head just barely as the lead slammed onto the gun's scope and slammed onto my shoulder. I dropped the rifle due to the pain and fell down. I looked at the injury and… the hole was big. Way bigger than a little bullet should achieve, but I guess the speed it was yeeted back at me was twice if not thrice than the one a normal rifle would deliver it.

I was bleeding a lot and I couldn't get up due to the pain. As a first engagement in this war, considering the way others were dying, I was slowly conceding to the notion I was going to die here. It was logical since my current conditions didn't allow me to make it alive through a lengthy trek back to base. I thought I was a goner… until I wasn't because someone decided to look around for survivors.

"My, oh my. You definitely are something," A feminine voice called and… that was a talking humanoid bear of the redhead kind. And the vibe she was giving me reminded me a bit too much of an 'older step-sister' from some harem anime. Which wasn't a good situation for me. "I think you mean Onee-sama, right~?"

"...Did you just-" I tried to speak up in English, but got interrupted pretty quickly.

"Yes, I read your mind. Now, I suppose you want to be carried onto base, right?"

I could only nod and soon the furred chick just picked me up and… giggled.

"You know, I can hear the way you're describing my precious che-"

"S-Shut up! I'm bleeding here," I whined, causing her to giggle again and make me groan in annoyance at this 'savior' of mine.

G-Goddammit-

"Ambar. My name is Ambar," She mirthfully answered. "And it's nice to meet you… Recluta."


AN

The war happens all around and next time we will see the main clash. After all, Recluta only took a minor role on the matter, but how will Theo use this opportunity granted to him to avoid capture?