Author's Note: Well well well, it's chapter 6, and you guys know what that means? Yup, the second wave of catastrophe is here! Now you guys will get a TRUE demonstration of Alice's firepower; and maybe a special something…

Edited chapter 3 about the passing of Raphtalia to Naofumi. And just for the sake of your guys' time, here's the short passage rewrite so you don't have to go back and reread the whole chapter to view it.

Naofumi shifted his eyes back and forth between the two of them. "Raphtalia, come here." He motioned with his finger. Pulling out a harness containing a small dagger, he handed it over to Raphtalia, who took the blade.

"Hey Alice, how come she isn't showing up as someone I can invite to a party?" Naofumi asked.

"You'll need to head to Beloukas' tent. Just tell him the assertive woman sent you to change the blood connection of her crest. I would recommend you ask him to remove it, but then she'd become a target by anyone who notices and hates demi - humans enough to want her dead."

"Dammit, alright." He responded with a sigh. "Fuck this world." He murmured. "Now Raphtalia, draw the dagger." Naofumi ordered. Confused, Raphtalia drew the small blade from its hilt and held it up. "Now, attack this thing." Naofumi said, pulling back his cape revealing a balloon monster that had latched itself onto him.

New chapters every 2 months to make space for Recommissioned.

Disclaimer: I don't own ROTSH or Kaiserreich as they belong to whatever companies own them. I just own my OC.

"Quotes."

Thoughts

"Reading"

"You will hear thunder and remember me,

And think: she wanted storms. The rim

Of the sky will be the colour of hard crimson,

And your heart, as it was then, will be on fire."

Anastasia Akhmatova, 1889 - 1966

Outside Lute Village, Melromarc

January 8th, 0807 Hours, 1944

As the bells rang out, a white, flashing aura surrounded the Bow Hero and her companion. Closing her eyes, she took several quick breaths before she felt her feet be swept out from under her and the cobblestone road be replaced with a soft, earthy texture. Opening her eyes, the scene of the entire world changed. Gone was the blue sky and rolling hills overlooking Lute village, replaced with now a crimson red sky with a large, swirling orange tear that ripped right through it. Alice starred as her mind swirled with a mix of confusion and fear before a hand grabbed her shoulder, bringing her out of the shocked trance.

"Alice, look over there!" Rifana shouted, pointing towards a large clump of strange bug - like monsters that suddenly appeared from the eye, swarming the land. The sound of running came from nearby breaking their stupor, which, when looking around, they saw the other three heroes just below them under the crest of the hill.

"Rifana, we've got a job to do so let's get to it! We need to stop this thing before it overpowers our front lines and exploits the gaps." Alice said, her basic training kicking in.

"Aye Sergeant." Rifana responded. As they moved down the hill and slowly caught up with the other heroes, they heard a loud thunk followed by a burning light. Tracing the origin of the noise, Alice saw a flare rising over Lute village.

Shit, a signal flare. Whoever left must be in some deep shit. "Rifana, change of plans. Head for Lute Village, we need to secure that area!" Alice shouted. Picking up the pace, the pair of them changed course and raced towards the village.

A burst of .45 ACP impacted an undead knight, sending its corpse to the ground with a squelchy thud. Running over to the man it nearly killed cowering in fear, she grabbed him by the arm and hoisted him to his feet. "What the hell are you doing here? This place should have been evacuated." Alice questioned the man.

"The— the monsters. They came so fast. We couldn't get word out before the flare." He spoke in a shaky voice.

"Son of a bitch. Alright, Rifana, you take these people over to the mines and set up a bunker!" Alice ordered urgently.

Rifana quickly turned to Alice and voiced a flaw she found in the plan. "But what about you!? You'll be all alone out here without your battle buddy."

"And I'm well aware of that. I'll draw these fuckers attention. Get these people to safety Private. That's an order!" Alice shouted.

Even though conflicted, Rifana stood strong and nodded to her friend and superior. "Consider it done." She responded, before taking off to gather as many survivors as she could find.

Alright, let's show this fantasyland what REAL firepower is like. Charging towards the center of town, Alice made note of several different targets ranging from lightly armored undead to large insects swarming families and whoever was left standing with a weapon. Taking aim, she sent another burst at a group of large flies bearing down on a mother and her child. The advanced weaponry and ammunition tore through their paper thin skin and fragmented out the other side, shredding their disgusting companions in shrapnel.

Once the swarm disintegrated, the mother looked over and momentarily locked eyes with their savior. "Get the fuck outta here. I'll cover you, just go!" Alice yelled at them before shifting her attention to an undead attacking a group of men armed with farm tools and blew its rotting head off.

"Alright listen up! Reinforcements have arrived so civilians need to fall back to the nearby mines! I'll take care of these affronts to God! Now MOVE IT!" She commanded before taking off for another sector of the village. The authority in her voice shook some of the villagers out of their stupor, providing them the mental capacity to run.

Blowing out the kneecap of her next target, as it fell immobilized, she ran up and discharged a single round, splattering its brains on the earthen soil. A dry groan then suddenly came from behind her. Turning around, one of the undead had managed to sneak up on her. Bringing her Thompson up, it was swatted away by its thrashing arms before it grabbed hold of Alice's own. Now struggling to disengage, she felt its ragged hands burying into her arms, ticking her health pool away.

"Get… off me… you… fucking abomination." She said between grunts. Almost as if her wish was granted, a sword was impaled through its chest and lifted, neatly bisecting the zombie.

Falling over, it released Alice who saw her saviors were none other than Naofumi and Raphtalia.

"Alice! Are you alright?" Raphtalia asked with a concerned look.

Taking a moment of respite to catch her breath, she nodded at the two of them. "Yeah, yeah I'm good. Thanks. Christ, don't let me do that again. Why're you here? Shouldn't you be helping the others kill whatever's out there?"

"We didn't see you join us. We asked around and a knight said he saw you take a detour down here." Naofumi quickly explained. "Where's Rifana?"

"Gathering up survivors and taking them to that nearby mine we visited a couple days ago. She should be done soon. We need to clear this place out. You two should take the other side of the plaza while I finish up here. Then we just hope Ren and dick for brains finish this bullshit." Alice said, laying out her orders.

"Right. Raphtalia let's go. These people need our help now more than ever so." Naofumi said, taking off. Raphtalia followed behind, but not before waving goodbye to the woman who saved her. Alice, for her part, reciprocated the gesture with a simple nod.

Picking up her Thompson, she continued forward. The scream of panic from trapped survivors rang through her ears, providing a good indication of who was still in trouble. Heading towards the southern end of the village, a small horde was clumped together outside a two story building staring at a man and woman who appeared trapped on a balcony. Wasting no time, she brought the stock to her shoulder and pulled the trigger. An automatic flurry of saint & sinner justice flooded out from her weapon at seven hundred rounds per minute, each .45 ACP round over penetrating and acquiring four or five kills each.

Reloading her spent munitions, she guided the box magazine into the magwell and silently thanked John Thompson for the open bolt design. With the entrance now clear, she made her way inside, determined to save another life. Her first sight was the main lobby, and to say it was trashed would have been an understatement. It's a miracle this place is still standing. She thought. Everything from the floor to support pillars had suffered varying degrees of destruction.

Pushing it out of her mind for the moment, she looked for a stairwell which was easy enough to find amidst the chaos. Racing upstairs, bodies of both villagers and monsters alike lay strewn across each step. Reaching the second floor, she found herself in a hallway with several doors going both ways, with most already smashed open. That was with the exception of one where a rather large, no, gigantic undead wielding a large club kept trying to smash down the door.

Easiest kill of my life. She smirked. Lightly pulling the trigger, she burst rounds into its bulbous torso. It then came as a shock when, while staggering, it didn't drop dead like the rest of its comrades. Scheisse. You're a beefy one, aren't you? Adjusting her aim, she sent another team of bullets right into its head, shredding half of it. Falling to the floor, it impacted with a resounding crack as the wooden floorboards gave out beneath the monstrous weight.

Hearing the banging on the wooden door that separated them from certain death be replaced with quick booms before silence, the man who had been previously clearing on the balcony slowly opened the door and poked his head into the hallway. Where the monster had previously stood trying to get to him and his wife, a woman in strange olive drab clothing and a metallic weapon held in her hands took it place.

"Don't worry, it's safe at the moment. You need to get out of here and make your way to the old mines, it's safe there." Alice told them without hesitation.

Getting a frightful nod from the man, he grabbed his wife's hand before bolting from the door and disappearing downstairs. Heading over to the balcony to check on the defensive progress, she saw the village had become a lot less crowded than it was nearly an hour ago, however, it was also a lot messier.

"Alice!" A faint and familiar voice called out. Looking to its origin, she saw Rifana sprinting over the crest of the hill that overlooked the village. Waving wildly to the weasel demi - human, she made her way back down and regrouped with her friend.

"Are the mines secure?" Was the first thing Alice asked.

"Affirm. I found a squad of knights willing to pull security so I made my way back. I see you've been busy." Rifana smirked.

"Not busy enough. C'mon, I've secured this sector of the village and sent Naofumi and Raphtalia to clear the other side. We're heading to the central plaza in hopes of finding them. Understood?"

"Crystal. Let's do this." Rifana replied with enthusiasm.

"Eager, I like it." Alice commented with a smile.

Their journey through the scorched village was peaceful; well as peacefully as one could get during an apocalyptic invasion. Bodies of friend, foe, and non - aligned alike littered the battered Earth. From the looks of it, everyone that wasn't an unfortunate casualty had escaped, and Rifana's face dropped even more solemnly with each passing corpse. When they finally made it to the center of the village, Alice grabbed Rifana by the arm and quickly ducked into cover behind a collapsed house.

"Alice, what is it?" Rifana whispered instinctively.

"Take a look at the tower. It's swarming with undead and I swear I saw Naofumi climbing to the top." Resting the handguard of her Thompson on the debris, she pointed to the silhouette of the Japanese man. "It seems he made our lives easy by packing them together. Go ahead and get some combat practice." Alice smirked maliciously.

Squeezing the trigger, a single round flew from the barrel and found itself embedded in the head of a zombie and the three behind it. Rifana sprinted out from behind their cover and darted towards the horde, her sword in one hand and M1911 in the other. Once within melee range, her display of ruthlessness was sickening.

Stab twice, shoot, repeat. Stabby stab, shoot, repeat. Was all Rifana thought as she moved from one armored opponent to the other. Each kill was brutal and gory with limbs, dried blood, and other unidentifiable parts being flung in every direction. She was never as graceful as Raphtalia had been during their playful sword fights at home, but she always swung a helluva lot harder.

A distinctive click broke her rhythm. Looking down, she saw the slide of her M1911 locked back with an empty chamber. As she went to grab a replacement magazine, her man made distraction caught up with her. She felt a sharp pain course through her back before suddenly shooting forward. Looking down, she saw a sword embedded through her abdomen.

A pained cry came from her lips as she felt the blade retract and fell to one knee. A burning sensation flooded the wound making even the slightest movement hurt. Looking up through her matted hair, she saw nearly a dozen undead raising their weapons at her, each about to be brought down in a display of true overkill.

A series of bursts escaped the barrel of the American made weapon. Alice saw what happened to her friend. The pulsing sensation in her chest tightened and her eyes narrowed as darkness surrounded her vision. In front of her, the burning village changed to a series of interconnected trenches and the undead now wore uniforms with reminiscent patches of identification. Alice growled and stood her ground for just a moment before she charged forward at the enemy.

Leaping over the debris of her cover, a loud, roaring bellow escaped her lungs. "Superior Firepower!" At the glass shattering pitch, her gem glowed bright orange before its energy seemingly encased her Thompson in an enhanced field.

Her training kicked. Rage filled her eyes as every single one of them she could see was filled with a burst of .45 ACP until she needed to reload. Each round impacted with the force of a tank shell, exploding entire bodies upon impact.

"Alice, watch out!" Rifana painfully shouted to her companion. Yet it fell on deaf ears.

A burst of fire struck the Syndicalist in front of her, dropping the man dead. Another immediately lunged at her with a knife, which she countered by raising her Thompson to meet the blade, knocking it to the side and spitting another burst into the woman's chest. A grinding sound came out from down the line. Turning her head to face the origin of it, she was met face to face with a Sherman tank with its main gun pointed right at her.

Shit! She thought in panic.

The gun blew out its load, she, however, found herself instead brought to the ground. Momentarily thinking she was dead, she lifted her head only to find another soldier now on top of her wrestling her arms to her side.

"Get. The Fuck. OFF OF ME!" She shouted as the head butted the individual. A clear thunk of force from the metal M1 Brodey met flesh, but instead of the expected result, she was met with a heavy slap striking her across the face. Closing her eyes from the shock in her cheek, she grunted before opening them again, but this time revealing a different scene.

"Alice, can you hear me?" Rifana's pained voice asked for the unknownth time.

"Rifana… what… what happened? You were hurt, I failed." Alice asked, looking over her shoulder. Her eyes went wide as she saw another one of those "fat - fucked" versions of the zombies she had previously fought having its large club currently being held back by Raphtalia.

"It's a minor wound, but hurts like a bitch. I'll show you later. It's just good to have you back after whatever that was." Rifana expressed gladly before rolling off, grabbing her pistol, and magazine dumping the hulking infected right through the head.

Alice shook her head to clear it. Now back to some semblance of normality, she lifted herself off the ground and grabbed her Thompson to continue the fight.

The immediate exterior of the tower had been cleared out during her blind rage rampage, but it was still packed around the ladder and support pillars. Looking up, Alice could see several undead climbing the ladder, almost to the top.

What happened next would classify anywhere from crazy to batshit insane.

Alice saw Naofumi grab an oil canister from the wall beside him and throw it onto the approaching undead. Immediately following, a torch and lantern fell right behind it lighting the undead, and eventually the tower supports, on fire.

"What the hell is that crazy bastard doing?!" Alice shouted in shock. "Clear the rest of the area. Whatever happens next we're gonna want to not be in the middle of combat." Raising her Thompson, she checked the chamber and, seeing a loaded cartridge, nodded to herself.

Her aim was nice and true. She was trained for quick engagements against other riflemen and close quarters. The slow, lumbering medieval undead stood no chance given her advantage in range.

A gust of wind shot past her as Rifana and Raphtalia surged forward as a duo of death. Thrusts and thrashes, slashes and stabs, they stood back to back cutting a bloods swath through the remaining ranks with the occasional gunshot from Rifana's handgun. Soon enough, the trio of trained warriors grinded their foe down to the last dozen before loud cracking and splintering overcame the intermittent silence in between reloads.

Alice, being the furthest, saw what was happening first. "She's coming down! Get to cover!" She warned the two demi - humans with haste.

Glancing over and seeing the state of the tower, the pair hurriedly dashed backwards, avoiding the collapsing structure. When it came to the fight between wood and earth, earth won. The tower shattered into dozens, if not hundreds of pieces. The usefulness of it went both ways as, once the dust settled, it had either crushed or trapped the remaining undead. On the other hand, Naofumi's writing body laid beneath one of the support beams.

Placing her boot on the fallen zombie, she lazily aimed her Thompson at its head and pulled the trigger, letting a single round sail through its rotting skull. Scanning the area for any more targets, the village appeared clear with any undead beyond the village being left too far out of range to accurately hit.

"Area's clear!" She alerted before running over to the trapped Naofumi. Grabbing the log that held him to the ground, she strained her muscles and was only able to shift it slightly. "Rifana, Raphtalia, I need some help here!" She shouted. Within moments, the tanuki and weasel demi - humans were by her side and grabbed the log. "Ok. 1… 2… 3!" With their combined strength, they were able to lift it a few inches off Naofumi's trapped leg allowing him to scoot out from under it. Dropping the log with a thud, they took a few breaths before helping Naofumi up.

"Thanks. I… that wasn't pleasant." Naofumi stated.

"No shit, it was stupid. But it worked so that's a plus." Alice replied.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a loud phewww rang through the air. Looking up, Alice saw a bright light arching straight towards them. "ARTILLERY!" she cried at the top of her lungs.

Naofumi grabbed both Alice and Rifana and raised his shield over the three of them. A few seconds later, the light burst into a cluster of flaming arrows shooting out in every direction. Naofumi grunted under the strain of the attack, while Alice shielded Rifana with her body as a secondary layer of protection. After roughly twenty seconds, the barrage ended. Flaming arrows lit everything in the village from the grass at their feet to the homes that had been left standing.

The sound cluttering and collected thuds of metallic boots marched towards them. "Well I'd say we did a good job clearing out this infestation." A familiar voice said. "Ahh Shield Hero, we didn't see you there. It's a miracle you survived that attack." The man said sarcastically.

Gritting her teeth, Alice stood up from underneath Naofumi and made herself known. Standing in front of her was a platoon sized organization of knights, with their commander being a familiar racist asshole.

"Ahhh Bow Hero, you're here too? Heh, I'm glad you also survived. Say, what about your little runt?" The commander asked.

Alice calmly walked up to him. Once she was within six inches of his face, she sent a right hook sailing into his jaw before spinning around and doing a flying back kick right into his stomach, knocking him to the ground gasping for air. Three knights immediately jumped in and restrained her, but not without resistance.

"You cock sucking bitch! Fuck you! Fuck you, you motherfucker! You nearly fucking killed us you son of bitch! Let me go so I can send your ass straight to hell!" Alice shouted at the wounded commander.

At the sight of the commotion, Rifana ran over in front of Alice and wrapped her arms around the writhing Civil War Marine. "Alice. Alice! He's not worth it. Remember what you told me yesterday. Don't get yourself in any more trouble, please." Rifana begged.

The pulses in Alice's chest came back as she gradually began to calm down. The feeling of a hug from someone she genuinely cared about is nearly foreign to her, yet it felt natural, soothing, safe. As her anger softened and rationality returned, the knights slowly let go of her. Returning the hug, Alice squeezed tightly around Rifana's stocky form with her face buried in her shoulder.

They must have been in bliss for several minutes at that point because some coughing came from behind them. "Aww how sweet. Next time, I won't look away so generously, asshole." The commander snarked, still somehow not having learned his lesson.

Suddenly releasing from the hug, Rifana walked up to him and simply kicked him in the balls hard enough to make him seize up and fall over again. "Ok, maybe he's worth it a little." She said, looking over her shoulder with a smirk.

Alice chuckled and walked with Rifana back over to Naofumi who by now was talking to Raphtalia about the situation.

Lute Village, Melromarc

January 8th, 1441 Hours, 1944

The battle had only been around three and a half hours according to Alice's watch. In that time, however, the destruction of Lute Village alone was comparable to an entire day's worth of shelling of an urban environment. Some of the infrastructure was left intact, but not enough to keep the population sheltered. After the knights had left to assist the other heroes, the crimson blanket covering the sky had been lifted. The recovery of the survivors from the mines was easy, but when they broke down seeing what remained of their homes and loved ones, Alice couldn't help but turn away.

She knew the feeling all too well. It was one of helplessness and guilt. One where you run through the myriad of scenarios where you think you could have done something differently, but the result would have still been the same, if not worse. She felt a gentle hand be placed on her shoulder and saw it was Rifana who was doing her best to comfort the grizzled woman. The pair didn't exchange any words. Rifana may have never been to war, but she had suffered the shackles of slavery and understood the pain. However, the two of them didn't get to enjoy the moment for long.

"Excuse me, Bow Hero." A voice called for her nearby. Looking around, she saw it was an elderly man being accompanied by two younger men carrying two small bags. "On behalf of my village, we wish to provide you with these funds." He said, taking a bag and extending each to her and Naofumi.

The Japanese man stood silent and pocketed the coins while Alice hesitated for a second before looking into their own savings and frowning. Sighing, she carefully took the lumpy bag from the elder. "Thank you, this means a lot. How many coins are in here?" She asked, taking a look inside.

"Three hundred silver pieces my dear. I hope it serves you well. It's the best we could do on such short notice." He explained gratefully, his enthusiasm breaking the solemness of the depressing situation.

"I see." Alice nodded before reaching in and grabbing a hundred coins and handing them back. "But unfortunately I can't, in good conscience, take all of it. You'll need some to pay for repairs to your village."

It was the elder's turn to hesitate, clearly not expecting to be given some of the money back. "Very well. You truly are worthy of being labeled as a hero. Now I shouldn't take up too much more of your time. Those knights seem like they want to have a word with all of you." He said, glancing over at an incoming entourage.

"Shit." Naofumi muttered under his breath.

Alice sighed. "Dammit, alright. Again, thank you for your generosity." She humbled herself before taking off towards the knights.

Upon seeing the knight commander among them, Rifana scoffed. "What do these assholes want now? I thought they didn't care about us." She said flatly.

"Hopefully it's a declaration to leave us alone." Raphtalia commented.

"Not a clue, but we're about to find out and let's hope it doesn't get dramatic." Alice calmly replied, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Once the four of them were face to face with the commander, he held up a piece of paper before boldly stating in a loud voice, "Heroes! The king had requested that all the heroes partake in a banquet that is being celebrated tonight in the main castle!" He said, but not before lowering the piece of parchment in his hands. "But I personally suggest you don't come, you criminals. Your mere presence would only ruin the food provided by his majesty." The commander spoke, a smug grin curled onto his face.

Alice, in less than a millisecond, quickly shot back with her own idea. "Then it seems like we're going! Rifana, how does free food sound?" She asked, turning to the girl in question.

"That sounds like a great idea! Who doesn't like free food, especially when we're personally invited!" Rifana exclaimed with a smug grin of her own. Scowling, the commander just grumbled, muttered a few words at them, and left, not wanting to be near the pair any longer, his attempt at insulting them backfiring miserably.

"Alright then. Once we're done here, we'll head out. Don't over - stuff yourself, you need to be ready for tomorrow morning's training exercises." She told her.

"Yes mom." She said, rolling her eyes as they made their way back into the village.

Author's Note: And that's the wave! I hope you all enjoyed this rather action packed chapter because I had a lot of fun writing it. Next chapter, we'll get to see some political mischief at play, so stay tuned!