Hey, happy new year, everyone. I'm back, and I have a bit to say. If you read more than one of my stories, this little blurb is going to be kind of the same across all of the stories so feel free to skip it.

But basically, after finishing the original And How Was Your Day, I really fell off on writing. I chalked it up to going to the office more, but frankly I just wasn't feeling a ton of motivation to write, and that went across a lot of my stories. For some of my other projects, I considered starting over from zero and restarting, but frankly I was just being lazy and didn't want to push forward to the end. I kind of forgot how fun it was to write.

NaNoWriMo 2021 came around. And I blasted through that shit. I mean, it's like 1667 words a day, and I was frequently writing 2k+. I wrote in a notebook, then typed it up, and for the first time it was fun to write. I got to kind of just write for myself again, and I think that's why I stumbled for a while, is that I wasn't quite writing for myself, anymore, I was more writing for you guys, and so I forgot to just go along with the flow and have some fun. Not that you guys aren't cool, it's just that it's more fun to fool around and be less serious about writing sometimes.

So, I have decided to try to get back on writing again. It's gonna be tough to juggle uhhhh a lot, because I have Japanese, some editing work, and this. Plus, I'll be actively trying to get the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo published, though it'll likely be self-published since ahahaha I doubt my stuff is good enough for that, but it'll be a nice goal to see through. I started to have fun with writing again, and I hope it carries through.

Feels good to be back after all this time, though. Let's see it through.


Chapter 15: The Siege of Saxe Gotha


Somehow, it's been forty seven minutes, yet they haven't managed to breach the gates. Hiraga's aerial acrobatics has ground the aerial advance to a halt, with him targeting dragon riders that seem to be carrying additional personnel according to Springfield's sights, preventing them from flanking us from the inside.

Agnes' explosive devices have also stemmed the tide, combined with Springfield's aim and her actual issued weapon. After having figured out that the eastern entrance is a no-go for now, they're concentrating on where the field isn't hidden with explosives, forcing them to go through our field of fire.

Combined with the sharpshooting of all four girls, they haven't breached the main gates yet, but they're getting close. A few have managed to make the climb up, but no definitive breaches yet, courtesy of my shotgun.

"Commander, it's not looking good!" PPK yells as she leans over the rampart's ledge, emptying three shots into the chests of three wall-climbers. "I estimate we'll be overrun in five minutes!"

"Eliminate this wave, then commence phase two!" I yell back. "Enfield, what's the movement on the other gate?!"

"Looks like they're realizing they can start moving!"

"Then don't light the match, let's move! Spectre, PPK, hold here until Enfield and Springfield are down, they'll cover your escape!"

"Got it, sir!"

"Springfield, Enfield, move it!"

Utilizing the ladders we had previously set up, Agnes, Springfield, and I quickly descend down to the street level and retreat back to a constructed barricade. Springfield then radios the other two, who climb down under covering fire, with them kicking away the ladder to prevent an easy way down.

With that, the enemy starts to climb over the gate, but many of them fall prey to a barrage of gunfire from the muskets Agnes gave us due to the longer range they have. They'll have to get that gate open somehow to let their main forces in, but since they have to be on this side to do so, we're exploiting that and slowing down their advance as long as possible.

Without an easy way down from such a height, the troops they send up having to tie a rope somewhere, which costs time. Time that is spent lining up a shot and firing. Most of them get smart and move to where they can't be spotted due to the buildings, but every second that takes them is a second that those gates aren't open.

The corpses continue to pile higher with every successive shot. A few bodies fall from the ramparts after they climb up, hitting the ground with a sickening crunch. I'm sure it's more than shocking for the infantry they send, to just see twenty corpses of your comrades on the ground as you climb over the wall.

Yet, they push on, not being stupid and realizing that they have to force us out of the barricade to have a shot at opening those gates.

The pace of the battle is broken up by a loud explosion and the crackling of flames, coming from—

"Western and southwestern gates are likely broken down, traps were set off. I can see the smoke from here." Agnes says, not breaking in her stride as she continues firing at the enemy troops. "They'll probably bring along water mages to put it out, but it should take them a while to move them. Not to mention they'll be exposing potential healers to the front lines."

"A risk they'll take?"

"Not likely. They came to take this city, judging by the lack of fire mages breathing down our neck. They know Tristain needs this port too. It's unlikely either side wants to send it to high hell. They'll need to keep 'em alive."

"Good for them."

"Heh."

It's slow, but eventually enough soldiers keep making it over to where they're able to make significant strides on our barricaded position. Even with all of our skill and better weapons, when it's five against fifty thousand… well, fifty thousand's going to win with enough corpses.

"Alright, begin next phase." I say, putting on my filtration mask. Agnes does the same, with the T-Dolls not needing them due to the fact they don't need to 'breathe' per se, but they put them on nonetheless mostly so their face is shielded. Don't need it being that something in the smoke ruins the cameras in their eyes or something like that, after all. "Begin torch and burn."

With all of the prepwork from before, as soon as we start torching the buildings, it spreads out from our barricade towards the gate. I can hear yells of confusion from the alleyways as the fire rises while we make our way to the next rally point, swiftly followed by cries of pain as no doubt others are caught in the flames. Even PPK seems a bit phased about it as we run. Hell, even Agnes seems to be second guessing herself. She's experienced a… definite trial by flames before. It's one thing to say that you could do it to the enemy, but doing it yourself is…

Well, that person did always say that I had a bit of a demon lord in me, too.

The second barricaded position is a makeshift bunker on the rooftops overlooking a big plaza area, just south of the northern entrance we were at. Originally we wanted to stay off the rooftops so we could have a straight shot towards the gates for anyone trying to open it, and also increase the amount of time it would take for someone to reach us in melee range, but now that we've fallen further back, we can take the high ground.

From here though, you can already see the inferno, with smoke rising up into the sky. Even if Hiraga hadn't been giving us air cover, there's no way their troops could easily see through that smoke, thus forcing the fight to the ground unless they wanted to risk hitting their own troops.

A few stragglers finally start making it through into the courtyard, just as we intended, having blockaded off several streets and alleyways via explosives earlier, creating a natural path that would lead them into our field of fire.

I notice the T-Dolls give each other a glance. I don't say anything about it, but it's Springfield who breaks the silence.

"Commander, if we do have to move from this position, do we have to set everything ablaze?"

"...no, we don't have to, but it was part of the strategy."

"Then…"

I swallow, wondering what to do here. While the best thing to do to survive is indeed, set fire as we go along, it's evident that the T-Dolls under my command have moral apprehensions about it as protectors of humanity.

"We don't have that luxury once the monsters start coming into the city." Agnes says, perhaps trying to make herself the villain in the situation. "Unless you'd all like to go against multiple ogres and have twenty enemy troops charging at you."

Springfield opens her mouth, but can't argue with that.

Though, after ten minutes, the flow of troops isn't as… strong as I estimated and I swear came to a stop. Is the enemy being overly cautious? Or are they trying to bait us into coming out?

Hold on, I don't…

"Everyone, air target check."

"It's clean, sir." Spectre says, confirming my fears.

"Get to the southern gate, double time! Down on the streets!"

In the cold winter night, the flames of the buildings don't even cause so much as a sweat as we run through the streets. There aren't any stragglers in the fires, meaning that there's only one explanation for this.

I can hear my breathing through the filtration mask, each inhale and exhale pounding in my ears as we make our way through the scorched streets. There are a few bodies here and there, some with bullet holes, others that are clearly death via burning. If there was ever a way to describe the scent of "death", it'd be that strange mix of gunpowder, smoke, and burnt flesh.

When we reach the gates, it's exactly as I thought it would be, with Hiraga having touched down and fought. I can see the Zero having made a landing in the dirt, along with plenty of crushed bodies underneath it. But more importantly, Hiraga is dealing with multiple hostiles, wielding that sword of his and a distinct glow on his right hand.

"Get up high and support him!" I yell, ripping off my mask.

Goddammit, Hiraga, we told you where to land so you'd be safe and we could engage smartly! I won't let you die that easy!

"Target the infantry when you get up there, it looks like he's taking on the bigger targets that we struggle with! Keep the cannon fodder off his back!" I yell as we start climbing up one of the ropes left behind by those who had scaled the wall earlier.

"We're not going in?"

"We'll only get surrounded if we do so! Hiraga's got a sword to engage at close quarters, but our most effective range is out of theirs! Look for priority targets, infantry about to flank or mages, and keep them off of Hiraga!"

Something about the battle feels off as we rain fire from above. It's the numbers, I think. Fifty thousand, that can't be right… There's two main options from here. One, is that the fifty thousand was a bluff, and they were using measures that made their force look bigger. Straw dummies and whatnot in wagons, to make it look like there were a lot more people and the like.

The other is… this is just the advance force. Something to soften us up before they bring out the big guns.

I pray to God that it's the first of the two.

At the very least, the enemy is less worried about us and more focused on Hiraga. However, due to our shooting, they can't get an easy surround on him as if they have their backs turned on us, we'll just put a bullet in them. As such, they try to rush around him to get to us, but Hiraga keeps moving to intercept them. With his superhuman speed, he blazes right in, disarming knights and standard infantry alike before striking them down or dealing enough hurt on them to where they retreat.

Guess that's a luxury for him, huh, to decide whether or not they live or die like that. It's a lot harder for us considering the range we have to fire at.

"Where the hell is their artillery?" I mumble as we shoot yet another hail of gunfire. "They rained some down on us at the start, didn't they?"

"It was probably just to take out the encampments on the outside of the walls. There's no point using it here against the magically reinforced walls or firing on the field when they dominate it." Agnes says, ducking below cover to reload before popping out and firing another shot. ""Not to mention that if they know it's only Hiraga out here, they'll risk hitting their own troops more. He's a flexible target, they can't pin him down that easy!"

"Commander, look! They're retreating!" Springfield shouts.

"Impossible…!"

But when I do look out, it seems the knights are indeed retreating. The good news is short lived though, as monsters such as ogres come to fill the ranks instead. Accompanying them are the sounds of cannons.

"I guess they are the cannon fodder." Agnes mutters. "Their commander probably wisened up. Tch, monsters are pretty disposable too, so no one wonder they brought out the artillery. Had to open my mouth."

"Or the main force arrived to relieve the advance force."

"I'm seeing a lot of dots in the forest, Commander." Springfield says, the grip on her gun clearly tensed up. "They're coming in full force."

"Hiraga's going to be overrun at this rate." PPK says, glancing at me.

"Spectre, go and get him. PPK, you're on demolition duty. Dash in and use the explosives we recovered earlier to blow that plane to pieces, it can't be allowed to fall into enemy hands." I say, handing her the C4 charges.

"Yes, sir."

"And Spectre, use the smoke grenades we have to cover your escape if things get rough. Let's move. Springfield, you're on your special weapon, I want you providing the best cover you can."

"Understood, sir!"

With that, Spectre and PPK move down the ladders on the side of the wall the enemies were scaling up earlier, Spectre's movement enhanced by her exoskeleton. From up high, I watch PPK elegantly weave through the enemy forces that attempt to intercept her as she makes her way to the plane, which it appears several enemy knights were moving to take. In a few swift seconds, eight elite knights are swiftly dispatched.

"Sir, PPK is reporting she's planting the explosives." Springfield says, pausing in her shots only to reload. "Patching you through."

"PPK, estimated time to detonation?"

"Give me thirty seconds, sir, just making sure that it'll really go off. Are you sure you don't want to wait for them to try to take it again?"

"Bird in the hand beats two in the bush, don't know if they have any magic that might disable those explosives. As much as I hate destroying an antique, send it packing."

"Anything for you, sir~"

"Even in the middle of hell, she wouldn't stop that kind of attitude…" Agnes mutters.

"Sir!" Springfield yells, snapping her head towards me. "Spectre's pinned down by fire mages!"

"Fire mages…?"

"She's not responding on her comms, but I can see her signal!"

Dammit! It's definitely something regarding her leg, I know it…!

"I'm going in!"

"Like hell you are!"

"Enfield, you're in charge, watch for—"

I find myself yanked back and pulled into a headbutt from Agnes.

"Don't make such a rash decision like that. We need you up here directing the battle. I know you want to help her, but you've got to think about it." Agnes says in that cool, emotionless voice of hers.

"And if it was one of your musketeers, what would you do?!" I ask back, with Agnes faltering for a second in her expression. "You personally went to go take on the mage back at the theater all that time ago, and personally went after Colbert as well!"

I get the feeling she wants to say 'that was different', but we both know that's a lie. In a sense, perhaps it is why we moved so seamlessly despite my taking of her former position. In the end, we tried to get everyone home, but we weren't above personally putting ourselves on the line if it was personal. A good commander should be able to distance himself from something like that, but…

...guess I'm not the best commander, nor even close.

Agnes undoes the holster around her waist with the Five-SeveN and hands it to me. "Make it quick. Don't you dare die, or the princess will be upset."

I take it and wrap the holster over the one that carries the pistol Agnes gave to me along with several magazines offered to me before heading for the ladder down.

"Oi, Springfield." Agnes says. "M1903's a goddess of victory, right? Give him a blessing."

"Good luck, sir." Springfield says with a smile. "She's at a straight two o'clock from where we're facing. I know you can do it."

"Enfield's got the LRTD so she can keep me posted. Keep everyone safe."

With that, I clamber down the ladder as fast as I can. Truthfully, it should be someone else. Anyone else. Not me. Logically speaking, of course.

But this is Spectre who we're talking about. I'm the one who kept insisting to her that she wasn't useless without her leg. The one who kept saying it was fine for her to be the way she was. If I wasn't there for her when she needed it, just what the hell kind of commander would I be?

"Squad of three coming at you from your eleven." Agnes calls out over the LRTD. I draw the Five-SeveN and empty several shots into the advancing group of infantry before I keep running towards Spectre, hearing explosions and dirt being kicked up into the air as cannonballs start raining from the skies.

No doubt I'm getting plenty of attention from the various groups of monsters, but as I keep running, Springfield keeps putting them down before they can get too close. Another explosion takes their attention off of me, with Agnes forwarding the message that PPK detonated the plane.

Scurrying from crater to crater, I keep on running, seeing the fire mages that are pinning the duo down. I raise my pistol and aim down the iron sights, pumping lead into them with extreme prejudice. A few of them turn their sights on me, but I immediately dive into a ditch, avoiding the flames that pass overhead.

"Hiraga!" I yell out, trying to get a beat on his location.

"Over here!"

My one o'clock. Three meters.

"Catch!"

I reload the pistol before, with a Hail Mary toss, I throw it in his general direction.

"You armed?!"

"I've got it!"

"On my mark!" I yell again, preparing my shotgun. "Three, two, one, mark!"

As soon as I pop out of cover, I see Hiraga move even faster than I can, his aim true. Out of the remaining six mages that were pinning us down, none make it out of his quick draw.

"Good God, that's terrifying." I mumble, clambering into their foxhole. "Spectre."

"C… commander."

"Hiraga, cover us." I say, handing him several magazines. "Spectre, come on. You've got to get home."

"But, I… even with the exoskeleton, I—"

"You aren't useless, Spectre!" I say, grabbing her shoulders. "I know it's rough. Facing the flames again, when fire is what blew your leg to hell in the first place. It's horrible, trying to face up to it and overcoming it. There must've been countless doubts running through your mind when you encountered that squad, if it would end the same it did the first time around. But you're still alive."

"Because I'm in this ditch. I… I froze up. I just thought back, to you know, when we..."

"I figured. But that's okay, Spectre, you managed to get to safety and have protected Hiraga until I could get here. Let me guess, you worried about losing even with the exoskeleton, right?"

Spectre weakly nods.

"And you thought, 'what a useless T-Doll I am' too?" Another nod. "Spectre, do you know what I consider absolute victory?" She shakes her head. "Everyone comes home. That's what I think of as an absolute victory. I don't care what shape you get home in. Come battered, bruised, missing an arm, your weapon destroyed, I don't give a damn. You do what you need to do so everyone gets home. Weapons and equipment can always be replaced. But the you, the you with me, here and now, having this conversation, where the memory is truly a memory and not just a backed up memory copy, is irreplaceable to me. If you care so much about being useful, then come home. You say that you froze up and your doubts seized you for a second, but I think you remembered my orders to come home. So you moved, into safety, instead of being melted into scrap there. The enemy's advancing on this position fast, so I'll ask you, Spectre, what are you going to do? Lie here and become melted into scrap metal?"

"...no, sir."

I won't say that the light returned to Spectre's eyes, but I can feel it in the air that something's different.

"Like I told you in the cave, Spectre, I'll always be there to point the way, as your commander. Whether that be in the inferno, in your head, or in your heart. If you ever falter against the flames, just remember that I'm counting on you to make it back."

"...yes, sir."

She nods, getting up. I glance over, finding Hiraga dodging a swing from an ogre's club before leaping up and slicing its neck, blood gushing everywhere as he descends.

"We've got to find a way to break out of here, though. Hiraga, we're getting ready to retreat!"

It's going to be rough as hell, though. Those ogres have long legs and so their stride length can easily match us sprinting. I'd hate to be chased by one of those things.

Note to self, cut the speeches short next time, or just haul ass out before I give them.

"Wait, hold on—who is this?" Spectre says as Hiraga joins us in our retreat, the three of us sprinting away from a small horde of those ogres, with Hiraga in the lead due to that damn magic enchantment of his. "Affirm, that is us!"

"Spectre?!"

"Commander, give the order to fire at the ogres!"

"This is Commander Baker, giving the go ahead to open fire on those monsters!"

I hear what sounds like a small explosion and dare to turn around, finding whatever the hell the hit that ogre is, it's completely dead. Even its cohorts stumble around and pause, wondering what the hell just happened.

"Patching the radio through to speaker, Commander!"

"Identify yourself!" I yell as we keep running.

"This is M200 Intervention. We picked up your signal a few days ago, but we weren't sure if it was a trap. It seems that it wasn't, though." Come a cool, detached female voice. One that sounds a lot younger than Agnes, too.

"Kept us waiting, huh? What's your position?"

"Relative to your current heading, we're at your three o'clock in the woods."

"When you say we, who's with you?!"

"RD5 and Jericho, sir."

Jericho…

I shake my head, snapping out of it. "Understood! We're in the middle of a retreat, but we'll figure out how to get you to us!"

"Make it quick, sir, it looks like a lot of enemies are heading to you."

"Keep a low profile if you can, then! Spectre, let Springfield know the cavalry's arrived!"

They must have been the ones we picked up on. It's a damn miracle they showed themselves here; looks like broadcasting where we were on a daily basis paid off in the end.

"Copy that, sir! Springfield, friendlies on your left, somewhere around your twelve o'clock if you're facing outward from the wall!"

I hear another roar of pain behind us, with an ogre that was closing in falling dead. Thank God, M200's really able to pack a punch. Springfield is great for when we need some additional power, but even her shots aren't as straight up effective on bigger, meatier targets.

"Thanks for the cover!"

"Target immobilized. Commander, what are these things?"

"We'll have to explain when you get over to us, but those things aren't human and think of this place like a fantasy book! You got Anti-Human protocols?"

"No sir, but I'm able to fire on those things as they're not registering as human on the targeting system. They only have humanoid appearances."

"Got it, that's good to hear!" I say as we finally reach the wall, scaling the ladders, where Hiraga returns the pistol I tossed him. "Hiraga, the hell are you doing?!"

"You have friends out there, right?! We can't just leave them, and if I don't stop the enemies, then we'll have to run!" He says, having not climbed up the ladders.

"Goddammit…!"

I hate the fact that Hiraga's right in this case. If we run away here, we might miss the chance to link up and combine our forces together. But the fact that I know he wants to find his way back into the battlefield clouds my judgment.

Think, Oliver. Somehow, we've got to carve a path through the enemy squads pouring in. Ogres, other monsters, knights, mages, are quickly coming through the field. We need to hold this position at the very least in order to secure our getaway.

"Springfield, you connected?" I ask as I finish my climb up the ladder.

"Yes, sir."

"Patch me to M200 and put me on the speaker." I wait for her to give the ready signal. "M200, give me a sitrep of your situation. Are you carrying anything we'd miss?"

"We have an out of commission M14 T-Doll with us, as she sustained heavy battle damage before we ended up wherever we are, sir. Jericho insisted that she not be left behind."

"I see. We can't let her fall into enemy hands."

"With all due respect, sir, does the enemy even have the capabilities to analyze her?"

"That's not something I want to risk. The fact I ended up here, means there's a chance. We aren't leaving her. How are the others? Are their comms damaged?"

"They're in working order. Their comms are working, but in order to telegraph less of a presence when we weren't sure if this was a Sangvis trap, I'm the only one communicating."

"Understood. Hold position as you can, then, we'll work something out."

"Here comes the snow."

Hm…?

While it has indeed been lightly snowing the whole time, I notice that it has started to pick up a little bit. It should impose some low visibility on the battlefield, but it won't be enough. However… tch, we've only got two smoke grenades. If we had more, then we could definitely give better cover to them to run.

While the distance from where they are to the northern gate isn't long per se, it's still going to be at least a three minute dead sprint, assuming they weren't unencumbered by their weapons. Moving at a steady pace, with whatever other cargo they have, it's going to be at least double that, I'd think.

With the enemy forces closing in, we don't have much of a choice. We may have to make an all-in push, link up with the rest of the dolls, and bug out, using the woods, darkness, and snow as cover. We'll be in deep enemy territory, but we still control most of this island. Making our way to Tristain controlled territory won't be too difficult.

"Hey, you can't—!"

I'm snapped out of my thoughts as I see Spectre trying to stop Hiraga, who's about to head out on the field just as Spectre was about to start climbing up.

"Hiraga, the hell are you doing?!"

He looks at me, dead in the eyes from down below.

"Mister Baker, let me have this."

Before I can react, he slips out of Spectre's grasp, apparently having hidden a knife for him to quickly withdraw, and his hand glowing. The power those runes give him is utterly terrifying.

"Sir?!"

I grit my teeth, clenching my fists as I look down from the top of the ramparts. "The hell are you going to do?!"

"If I can break through to their camp, they'll have to fall back to defend their leaders and supplies! It should disrupt the enemy siege long enough for your allies to link up!"

It's… a solid idea.

"...Enfield, you know what the runes on his hand do, right?"

Agnes nods. "So that's why, huh? I can't blame him. As far as we know, it's a one way trip here. I thought familiars were supposed to fall in love with their masters or something, though."

"He's a fighter."

She nods again. "The rest of you, don't hold it against your commander. That kid's just... "

"Freeing himself from slavery. I'll explain later." I finish, shaking my head. "Hiraga!"

He stops walking away, turning back up.

"Godspeed and God willing, we'll meet again. We'll cover you."

With that, Hiraga salutes, brandishing his sword and charging with superhuman speed forward.

"Springfield, M200, I want you covering Hiraga's charge as best you can! M200, take out the bigger targets like ogres and any dragons coming his way! Springfield, you take of any mages or bigger knights! PPK, authorizing full use of your ability, I want you using it to support Springfield fully! Enfield, Spectre, we're staying as long as we can."

"Yes, sir!"

"Understood, sir!"

"Keep that boy alive, so help us God!"

There's a general sense of understanding of what the objective is, and a feeling of guilt that we staked everything on Hiraga.

"Springfield, something wrong?" I ask as she pauses in her firing, looking up at the sky. "Are you detecting enemy air?"

"No, it's just… I wonder if my sight needs calibrating. Something about the sky feels off. Spectre, PPK, confirm wind conditions?"

"Seems to be around eleven point two kilometers per hour, now due north." Spectre says. "Are your shots not landing?"

"No, I've adjusted for the wind, but something is registering as off."

"Keep me posted, then."

"Understood sir. The only thing I have is that my visuals don't seem to match up. My wind readings are correct according to Spectre, but the visual input regarding the movement of the clouds does not seem to match up as the clouds appear to be moving south."

"Hmm, alright. Shit, I don't know enough about weather to make a call on that. Just keep a watch on it, let me know if it desyncs further."

"Don't make that face, by the way." Enfield says as we continue our guns blazing assault. "You're not like the other commanders. You didn't leave him to die and right now, we're trying to keep him alive."

"I know, but still. But, if you want to take the airship and go meet up with the rest of the fleet, go ahead. Take the LRTD so we can find each other easily, Enfield. The princess was personally on her way here before all of this went down, right?"

Agnes bites her lip, looks at me, as if trying to find some kind of hidden meaning in my words, before speaking.

"I'm with you, sir."

I must've had a surprised face on, as Agnes glances away. "The princess wants you to come back. No better way to do that than do it myself. Besides, I'm not one to run with my tail tucked between my legs. I'm here to the end, sir."

"Oh Enfield, you don't need to be so shy~" PPK says as she reloads her musket, getting a snort from Agnes. "It's okay to admit you've fallen for the Commander~"

"I applaud your audacity at attempting to have a love-comedy moment in the midst of a siege while surrounded by corpses, but please turn off your comms unit if you're going to do so."

M200's voice echoes out from Spectre, who hadn't turned off her speaker option yet.

"Alright, well, M200, you heard us. We're coming to you as soon as Hiraga clears the way."

"Understood."

We keep firing, as I use the binoculars to track Hiraga's progress. The enemy siege basically caves once they realize he's making their way to their backline, with panic beginning to settle in as they're unable to stop his charge. Not to mention he's also making a beeline to their siege engines.

"Should've done this from the start, huh?" Agnes mumbles.

"We needed to hold out long enough to take out their air power, but… sorry for being selfish."

"Well, we're all still kicking. Nothing to apologize for yet."

"Don't say that just yet." I say back, seeing that several forces that were hammering our walls on the western side peeling away to stop him. Rather than going for a line drive, Hiraga occasionally to let the foes catch up to him. But, of course, this is just to pull more enemies towards him. If they think they have a chance to stop him, they'll exhaust themselves getting to him. It's… rather brutal. "...he's got a pretty good head on his shoulders for combat."

"Is that concerning?"

"Just worrying. He's giving them hope, only to destroy it and send them into further panic."

Seems a bit personally motivated, to me. It's a reflection of everything he's suffered. Hoping to go home, but constantly having it dashed. To the enemy, he's an unstoppable force. To him, he's just… someone wanting for it all to be over. But he's still got a sense of responsibility, plus the runes might be trying to screw him over. He can't just throw his life away, it's got to stand for something at the very least.

"Press forward." I say, as he slowly fades out of view. "M200, we're linking up with you. Prepare to cover our approach."

"Understood, sir."

"Scale down the ladders the enemy were using, let's get moving, GK Team!"

Here we go.

We head down the ladders, all of us hurrying while Hiraga bought us some time. There's enemy troops chasing after them, but most of them are stragglers. Personally, it's a bad idea to suddenly recall the entire offensive, but I'm sure their logic was something like, "there's only a few defenders and no sane general would have stayed behind, we can take the city eventually". There's no sense sacrificing your generals and big guns for one city, as it's a hell of a trade.

"Sir, heads up, air units incoming."

"An airstrike?! I thought they were out of air power!" Agnes yells. "They certainly weren't bringing it out against us earlier!"

"They either healed any injuries that Hiraga dealt, they're getting desperate, or they were saving it for later! M200, what's their vector!?"

"They're arriving from your two o'clock. Find some cover, fast."

"Don't make yourself an easy target, spread out and use the debris and craters!"

Breaking off into two groups, PPK and Spectre in one, Enfield, Springfield, and I in another, as we lay low and try to avoid making ourselves an easy shot as we can see them closing and fast.

"They're right over you!"

"Got i—"

"Commander!"

I hear Springfield's words echo as the explosion from whatever wind spell they launched disorients me by sending me careening through the air. I hit the soft ground with a bit of a crunch, the breath stolen out of me. A quick movement check reveals I didn't break anything fortunately, but being thrown for a literal loop was not fun.

"I got him, keep moving to whatever Hiraga was flying!" Agnes yells as I feel myself getting picked up. "I've got you, Commander. Springfield, cover us!"

"Understood!"

I can feel myself out of it as I get pulled over, as everything fades in and out, my vision slipping away occasionally.

When I really start to come to, I can see that Agnes puts me below what's left of the wing attached to the main chassis of the plane before pulling out her musket and opening fire.

After about more thirty seconds, but eventually I shake it off, groaning as I return to reality.

"I'm up… Enfield, Springfield, sitrep."

"That quick?" Agnes asks.

"Might not be completely up to snuff, but I've got enough to help. I couldn't hear much while you pulled me over, what happened?"

"Hiraga's taken a lot of heat off of us, but they've since devolved into chaos. The siege cannons aren't hammering the city or at least, I can't hear them doing so. PPK and Spectre have made it safely to M200, but we're pinned down."

"We haven't been overrun?"

"Not yet." Springfield says, reloading her weapon before continuing to peek out and fire before pulling back to avoid getting stung by a launched spell.

"Those fliers are a real pain in the ass, though." Agnes grumbles, peeking out from below the wreckage. "We can't really move without them getting a clean shot off on us. We got lucky that they didn't blow us up while we made our way over, but I guess they figured they'd knock us out in one blow and PPK got their attention."

"And if we don't move, we're going to get overrun when the enemy gets its shit together." I finish. "M200, advise on capabilities to hit those fliers above us?"

"That's a tall order, Commander, but we might be able to put together a makeshift mount to angle my weapon."

"Not exactly a light weapon, huh?"

"Oi, Springfield, quit zoning out!"

"It's not zoning out, it's…" Springfield pauses, pointing up at the sky. "I have been monitoring them as instructed. The winds have kept shifting, and now they're going north again, maybe a bit back to the northeast like they were when Hiraga took off."

"And?"

"So why have there been a mass of clouds constantly rolling due south?"

Agnes opens her mouth to argue, but looks up at the sky. "Hold on, wait, yeah, you're right. The hell?"

"That's what's been bothering me since then."

"Does the enemy have some kind of weather control system? But that kind of magic, it'd exceed anything anyone knows. The only way someone could pull it off is if they were using that magic that Vallerie girl has."

"I don't know, but it's slightly worrying." Springfield says. "But sir, we need to move."

"We're still pinned down. M200, status?"

"No luck so far getting a good angle, sir. Those are some high fliers."

"I see. Advise on enemy positions?"

"I've got a rather large group of enemies coming at you from your three o'clock, if you're facing towards the forest."

"Dammit…"

"Sir?" Springfield says, looking at me.

"We've just got to hold out. If it gets really dicey, we'll try to bug out, but I don't like taking our chances. Are those fliers overhead just watching over us?"

"I get the feeling they know we're up to something. If we make a break for it, we'll have to avoid running straight to the others or we'll risk them alerting their comrades on where to go. Those things are way faster than us, after all."

"Cheh."

"Sir, I have additional contacts. Fliers on fast approach."

"Goddammit, not more—"

"But they're coming from the city?"

That causes Agnes to double take. "From the city? But they haven't captured—"

"They're almost right above us now!"

Flashes of green light up the sky, with the fliers that were pinning us down overhead suddenly thrown from their rides. Up above, several dragons descend from the clouds, dive bombing the area and scattering the soldiers that were coming for us.

Are they shooting at each other now?! What the hell is go—

"That's the Majesty!"

From the clouds that disperse as if they were never really there, arrives a fleet of airships, spearheaded by a massive airship with the words Majesty emblazoned on the sides. Waves of dragon knights are surging from those ships, starting to pelt the enemies that were besieging the city from above, along with some of those ships beginning to rain fire down onto a scattering enemy.

"Guess the princess would never abandon you, Enfield." I say, looking up as the sudden surge of air power drives back the enemy forces.

"She would chew them out over leaving Hiraga, yes." Agnes says.

I wave up to the dragon knights, which Springfield confirms are wearing Tristain's colors. "Springfield, if the field's clear, have the others come over to us. Seems we control this sector now."

"Yes, sir."

"Heads up, someone's coming down."

Escorted by several dragon knights and a squad of pegasus knights, a familiar face arrives.

"Princess." I say, saluting. "You shouldn't be here. This is a live battlefield."

I'm not met with words as she simply comes up and embraces me. "Oh thank the Founder, you are alive."

I nod as she breaks away. "Our work isn't done just yet. Hiraga's still out there."

She bites her lip. "I see. We'll search for him, then. You need to rest, you look terrible."

"I need to see to him myself, ma'am."

"With all due respect, sir." Agnes says, interrupting. "We've all been up for almost twenty four hours. Let the aerial knights here find him, though you'll need to send troops on the ground to cover the forests."

I sigh, knowing Agnes is right. I can feel myself starting to hit my limits, or at least, starting to strain.

"We'll find him." Henrietta says. "Please, trust me. I want to have him back as much as you do, as a friend of mine."

"I'll take him back with me, Your Highness." Agnes says. "He won't get away that way."

"We link up with the rest of our team first, then we break."

"Understood, sir."

"Springfield, can I trust you to debrief the others once we confirm they're safely extracted?"

"Leave it to me, sir."

It doesn't take long to confirm that everyone is brought onto our side safely, and as much as I want to go ahead and greet them, my body isn't able to keep up. I can already hear them greeting each other, but my eyelids are… already really heavy… the adrenaline is starting to wear off.

As I feel exhaustion crashing over me, I give a selfish prayer from my heart. I know that Hiraga went out there to die, but yet I still would feel guilt if he did. So Hiraga, stay alive… so that I might be able to sleep calmly at night. And so that way, we can find a way to make the wrongs against you right.

Ha… it seems that I've fallen back into the style of things during my youth. When I thought I was invincible, with nothing more than a meddling sense of justice. But I suppose, knowing the way this world is… maybe that isn't so bad.

Still though, this was one hell of a last second miracle. I hope my luck hasn't run out completely just yet… for now… though, I need to… take a rest…


Wow, so I've been sitting on this chapter for like a year, but I just didn't get around to publishing it because I didn't have the heart to do so. Author notes at the beginning kind of outline this.

Not a whole lot to say overall, other than that this was probably one of the largest battles I've written. I tried to keep a good tempo for each phase going, and having Saito as a wild card was fun. Especially with the end, with it being implied Louise was using Illusion to hide the fleet's approach so they could spring a surprise attack on the enemy.

Either way, we now have an upgraded cast, with M200, Jericho, and RD5. It took a while, back when I originally wrote this, to figure out who I wanted to add in, but decided on those three as a good mix. I did want to add some more "fan favorite" T-Dolls, but also kind of wanted to stay away from the obvious picks in that regard which somewhat influenced my choices. Mostly M200 was there as a way to distinguish from Springfield, as both are Rifle classes but their weapons serve different roles.

Honestly, I'm glad that I kept Saito around, as he's somewhat evolved more than what I had roughly planned. And lastly, kek, title drop at the end. Roll credits!

Anyways, it's good to be back. I can't promise regular updates considering how I've got a lot to juggle, but I'm feeling motivated to actually try and finish this story.