Chapter 15 Massacre of Arene part II
+DISPATCH TO ALL ARTILLERY AND AIR CREWS IN ARENE SECTOR+
+FROM HRH WILHELM VON HOZOLLERN 4TH MAY 1925+
+BRAVE AND NOBLE SOLDIERS OF THE EMPIRE, YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN ORDERS THAT ARE TERRIBLE IN THEIR NECESSITY. MANY OF YOU MAY FEEL YOU ARE BEING ASKED TO DO SOMETHING AGAINST YOUR MORALS, A THING SOME WOULD CONSIDER EVIL.
KNOW THIS BRAVE SOLDIER, I STAND WITH YOU THIS DAY. IF THE EMPIRE DEMANDS BLOOD, THE EMPEROR'S OWN BLOOD WILL SHED IT WITH YOU. I KNOW MUCH IS ASKED OF YOU, AND MUCH MORE IS EXPECTED, SO I WILL DO MY BEST TO LESSEN YOUR BURDENS.
THERE ARE SOME THAT CALL ME A SAINT IF THAT IS TRUE THEN I WILL ABSOLVE YOU OF YOUR SINS.
I PRINCE WILHELM VIKTOR VON HOZOLLERN, AS A MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL ROYAL FAMILY, TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS THIS DAY.
FOR THE GLORY OF THE EMPEROR AND THE VATERLAND+
Telegram found in Imperial 7th artillery headquarters.
May 4th Unified Year 1925
Rhine Front, City of Arene
Christina grasped her rifle tightly as they approached the outskirts of the town. It was eerily quiet as they made their way towards the towering cathedral that dominated the skyline of the city. It looked as though many of the buildings had already seen plenty of damage during the unrest that had preceded their visit. Many of the buildings were missing roofs or parts of walls and were covered in the tell-tale signs of fire damage.
She glanced over at the prince, his severe expression seemed to have softened a little as they approached the city. Whether this was because he had reconciled his thoughts or if he was concentrating on the mission she could not tell. Although it was comforting to see his confidence returning, she still felt uneasy, the prince should not have allowed himself to get into this situation. She feared the effect it would have on his mental state.
The Imperial doctors had assured her that they could find no signs of the mental illness the old Duke suffered with, in the young prince. This was completely counter to what the Letzenbourg doctors sent by the regent had diagnosed. She had been ecstatic at the news, the boy was so intelligent, seeing him slowly degrade would be heart-breaking. Once he was no longer medicated, the boy began to flourish, and she was happy to be by his side to help him reach his potential. Still, he was only 10, he lived in a state of near-constant fear for his life and took on responsibilities people even four times his age would balk at. There was only so much the boy could take before he would break, she was worried this might be the final straw.
"It doesn't look like anyone's here." Lieutenant Grantz observed, pulling her from her reverie. She mentally rebuked herself for not concentrating, she knew better than that.
"We flooded the streets with evacuation orders, they obeyed," Wiess stated. Christina wasn't so sure, in her experience things never went so smoothly.
Suddenly a shot impacted the protective film of one of the imperials towards the rear with a loud crack, then rifle fire from the militia flooded the air. It seemed her suspicion was right, it was an ambush.
"Engage!" Shouted the Degurechaff girl. "Everyone split up!"
As though of one mind, the Battalion obeyed, and each company sped off in different directions in perfect unison. Her flight had been attached to the 1st company, led by the commander herself, so they followed as they descended into the depths of the city. Soon they were forced to split further as more fire erupted from between the winding streets of the ancient city.
"Enemy mages approaching," Lieutenant Serebryakov reported, and soon a barrage of mana infused bullets assaulted their protective shields.
The Major ordered their flight down one of the avenues to engage a group of mages, supported by some militia who had captured some field guns and set them up in the street. She sounded slightly reluctant to allow them to act independently of her own platoon, this was another thing that irked Christina about the girl. The prince was more than capable of command, yet she barely let him out of her sight, it was an insult. She couldn't see why the prince seemed so fond of the girl.
As they turned into the street, the bright setting sun beamed down on them and Christina had to squint to make out the enemy over the shimmering sunlight. The guns began firing airburst rounds, fortunately, the militia was poorly trained, having little time to learn to use the cannons before the battalion had arrived. The shells smashed into a nearby building, detonating ineffectually, minimising the shrapnel hit to their shields.
The prince offered no surrender today and no chance to flee, instead he remained silent and wore a mask of business-like stoicism. More unusually he'd yet to draw his sword, opting instead to ready his pistol, which he had added stock to for this mission to help with accuracy and recoil. Usually he wouldn't bother with it, as he would be at such close range it was all but impossible to miss, but obviously he expected the need for greater distance on this sortie.
"Christina! Take out those field guns, Hausmann, Sophia, snipers left and right," Ordered the prince promptly. "I'll engage the mages at the end of the street." He finished advancing on the enemy at full speed. She couldn't even see the mages at the far side of the avenue, the glare from the sun engulfed them but the tell-tale signs of their mana signatures told her that five men were bearing their weapons down on them. A volley of homing rounds fired at them from the golden orb to remove any doubt of their position, as yet they were too far away to inflict any real damage.
They obeyed their orders quickly, Christina aimed a shot into the ammunition store behind the cannons, which detonated soon after with a satisfying whomp. The militia scattered as the explosion sowed confusion amongst their ranks. The guns were out of action, she hoped by targeting the ammo, the casualties to the militia would be minimal, they still had the chance to surrender once the mages were dealt with, she prayed they would.
At her flanks, her sister and Hausmann mirrored each other's movements as they came to a halt at the broken windows the snipers had been firing from. They each tossed in a grenade before pushing off from the wall like a swimmer launching themselves from the wall of a pool. She heard some men shout "run" before both grenades exploded simultaneously, it wasn't just the 203rd that could perform like a well-oiled machine she thought proudly.
There had been quite a long fuse on the explosives, hopefully, the men had escaped without too much injury. Once the enemy mages were dealt with, the militia would surely lose heart, at least that was the plan. If only the prince would issue the surrender request himself, I'm sure he could persuade them.
The three of them reformed and began giving the prince supporting fire. Republican mage doctrine preached disciplined fire, they would use superior fire and range to limit the prince's movements as he approached, while one attempted to get a direct hit. They would try to keep themselves at a range, to make the best of this strategy. Keeping the prince at range would be wise for any enemy but limiting his movements would be all but useless, he would only try to dodge the deadliest of fire.
Contrary to popular belief, by both the propaganda and the rumors that circulated amongst the soldiers, the prince was not an especially strong mage. He was perhaps average at best, as far as mana potential went, and he was probably weaker than a sizable portion of the 203rd. What he excelled at was managing the release of his mana, he had learned to increase and decrease his output much more precisely than most mages, even managing to make himself all but undetectable unless doing something that needed large amounts of power.
He'd extended this control over his mana output into modifying both the active and passive barriers mages used for protection, deploying them directionally to save power instead of creating a defensive bubble. This obviously left him at risk from attacks at the rear of the flanks but when charging directly at the enemy, he could reinforce his barrier forwards to be all but impenetrable, without overloading his computation orb. He also used his shields offensively, smashing into his foes like a freight train, to devastating effect.
The prince was closing fast and even the disciplined republic mages were rattled at the limited effect of their fire. They began to back off, but it was too late, the type 97's they'd procured helped increase their speed far beyond that of the republic mages and the prince smashed into the platoon leader using his forward barrier like a medieval warrior smashing his shield into the enemy. The man went tumbling as the prince sped upward into the glaring sun, using their own tactics against them.
The enemy platoon's guns tried to follow the prince but were too slow. As Christina and the others closed, she could make out his silhouette in the sunlight surrounding him in a halo, then a torrent of penetration rounds from his machine pistol, fell on the enemy like rain. He peppered another soldier's shell until it collapsed and a bullet found its way into his mechanical steed causing it to explode violently.
Christina and the rest of the flight added their fire to the prince's and the enemy began to panic. Suddenly they found themselves surrounded, and without numerical superiority. Despite the glaring sunlight, they charged the prince to make their escape.
By now the prince's machine pistol was empty, he had no time to reload however, he grasped his rifle turning on the lead mage. It struck his shield causing it to flicker and fail. He quickly pulled at the bolt, letting the empty case drop and the next entered the chamber. A second shot finished the man and he fell lifeless to the ground. The enemy was now between the flight and the prince, Christina and her comrades could no longer fire on them without risking hitting their young master.
The prince backed off, they were getting too close for the rifle, she wondered why he still hadn't drawn his sword. He detached a frag grenade from his belt on a short-timer, it tumbled down towards the remaining two mages, exploding in front of them. Their shields flickered but held strong, suddenly the leftmost mage was struck hard in the gut by the prince's boot. The prince ignored the spluttering trooper, who impressively managed to stay on his mount, instead of aiming his rifle at his comrade. At point-blank range, the round obliterated the man's shield and then his head soon after.
The last trooper had now recovered and grasped the prince by the throat screaming vengeance for his fallen comrades. Christina gasped in alarm, raising her weapon to take down the last soldier. She peered through the sights, trying to get a clean shot, but paused. The prince was smiling. He held up a grenade and pushed it into the man's uniform. It must have panicked the man as he immediately let go of the prince and began hurriedly trying to rid himself of the explosive.
Taking the opportunity, the prince escaped and flew back towards them as quickly as possible. He turned onto his back and shouted "Äddi" with a chuckle, as the soldier exploded in the air.
The street was now quiet and empty, but gunfire still echoed around the city. They regrouped with the prince in a nearby damaged building, he was breathing heavily from his exertions and rubbed his throat which was showing signs of bruising from his struggle. Once again Christina couldn't help but be impressed by what the boy could achieve when he wanted too, but the effort had obviously winded him. As he gave the group a reassuring smile, she noticed he had a cut across his forehead, instinctively she went for her first aid kit and began wiping it despite his protestations.
"It's just a stray piece of shrapnel Christina, we need to hurry and regroup with the Commander," He stated while trying to fend off her ministrations.
She quickly cleaned him up and they launched once again to re-join the major's company. She was hovering above another ruin berating her deputy for being hit. As they approached, she heard a snippet of conversation.
"You think too much, you hesitated right? You big idiot. When I get back you're gonna get it." She heard the girl yell before she blasted off. Christina scowled, maybe you should try blaming the enemy for shooting rather than your own men for being shot! She thought, wondering if her opinion of the girl could drop any lower. At least she had the decency to let the wounded fall back, she'd got the whole unit so indoctrinated, she'd half expected her to charge them in. It was a miracle the 203rds losses were so light.
"Awaiting new orders Commander," The prince reported as they formed upon her, she glanced over to them with a dismissive frown and gestured for them to follow. They soon caught up with the rest of the major's platoon, who was mopping up their engagement.
They were still being peppered by sporadic fire from the militia on the ground, they hid in buildings and behind makeshift barricades made up of what seemed like every piece of furniture in the city. The company fired, cutting them down as they advanced, Christina felt her stomach clench as she saw the men drop. Just run away damn it! Give up while you still can.
Meanwhile, the enemy mages were being pressed on all sides, the 203rd were engaging at close range negating the republic's fire doctrine. Soon they began pulling back, firing as they went.
"Enemy mages are retreating," Reported Lieutenant Serebryakov. Christina glanced towards the towering gothic temple and saw the silhouettes of enemy mages retreating into the ancient steeple. From this distance, they looked like a flock of birds flying to their nests but there were few flocks of birds that were nearly as deadly as this one.
"They're regrouping inside the cathedral." The Major's adjutant finished.
The prince readied himself for pursuit, quickly reloading his weapons as he floated forward preparing to accelerate.
"Let the bastards hide if that's what they want, the assault is over," Degurechaff stated flatly. The prince came to an abrupt halt and lowered his weapons. Christina expected him to question the order, but he just hovered in place, still and tense. His hand hovered over the hilt of his sword for a moment, before clenching into a tight fist instead.
"We're not chasing them?" Questioned Serebryakov, echoing the question that was on her own lips. The major looked over at the prince for a moment with a look of suspicion before answering her subordinate.
"If we ensure they can't touch the artillery, we've achieved our objective, what happens to them isn't our problem," The Degurechaff girl stated, and Christina felt the knot in her stomach become tighter. This is it.
"Let's make our declaration," The major said pausing for a moment before looking over to the prince once more. "You're sure you won't don't want to do it?" she asked raising an eyebrow. Please, my prince, they won't listen to her, you're their only chance Begged Christina internally. He remained silent and began chewing on his thumbnail nervously once more. The prince would not offer Arene surrender, the Saint had no mercy for them.
"Patch me through to everyone," The major ordered as she composed herself to deliver Arene's final warning.
Christina looked around at her fellows, the air was filled with guilt and unease at what was to come. Lieutenant Grantz especially looked as though it was getting the better of him, she turned to her fellows in the Letzenboug flight. Hausmann looked physically ill and Sophia had already turned away. None of them expected them to surrender, soon Arene would be no more.
"A message to all people engaged in open rebellion against the empire, in accordance with Article twenty-six, Paragraph three of The Rules of War on Land Combat Treaty. We order the release of all imperial citizens and the unaffiliated members of the general population. The unlawfully imprisoned are citizens of both Arene and the empire. We cannot allow your acts of violence to continue." The major broadcasted across the city. Her voice echoed around the streets, distorting and reverberating strangely as its message found its way to every resident of the doomed city.
"In accordance with Article eight, Paragraph five of The Wartime Combat Treaty. I demand that you surrender, failure to accept this offer will force us to consider you enemy soldiers." She finished and an unnatural silence overtook the city. Despite the legal jargon and officious language, the message was clear, surrender or die.
There was a disturbance from the cathedral, Christina used an optical formula to take a closer look. An imperial soldier, battered, bruised and tied up had managed to slip free. He had burst from mighty doors in a desperate attempt to escape, Christina turned away as the man was mercilessly gunned down by the militia. They had their answer
"You get that?" The major asked and Christina thought she heard the tiniest hint of regret in her voice, it seemed even Rusted Silver wasn't entirely comfortable with this operation.
"Yes, Ma'am." The Silver's adjutant confirmed before sending it off to HQ. There was another silence as they waited for orders from command, it seemed like an eternity. She glanced back at the prince once more, his eyes were tightly closed, and he continued to chew his thumb nervously.
"Soon." He muttered quietly.
"Command to all units involved in the operation. Your orders are now to wipe out the enemy, eliminate all Republican forces in Arene." A voice over the radio ordered, and with those words, the fate of the city was sealed.
Far behind them, the artillery crews had already loaded their guns, and their commanders gave the order. Thousands of pounds of explosives went hurtling through the air, Christina heard the first few shots whistle overhead before they landed obliterating some buildings on the far side of the city. A second distant thud heralded the next wave of death delivered to the beleaguered citizens. Within minutes, the city was ablaze and screams of terror and pain could be heard escaping the flames.
Christina tried to block the scene from her mind, she still had a job to do, she still had to see the prince safely out of this nightmare. She looked over to him, fearing what effect of the terrifying scenes unfolding in front of him might have.
He hovered motionless staring into the flames, even when a shell fell short and landed nearby, he didn't so much as flinch. He had a strangely desperate look on his face and something else that she couldn't quite place. Shadows created from the flicker of the flames danced across his face, they almost made it look like he was smiling. She knew that couldn't be true though, her prince was noble and merciful, he would take no joy from these horrors.
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws," he said wistfully to himself. The major must have heard him because she turned to glare at him.
"That's enough! We have prisoners to rescue," She yelled snapping everyone from their reverie, and she soon began busying the battalion with instruction for the extraction of the hostages.
"Commander, permission to act as a spotter for the artillery," The prince cut in as his expression became professional and impassive once more. Christina and her sister both looked at him with surprise, while the Degurechaff girl regarded him with suspicion.
"Denied, the artillery have their own spotters, we're rescuing prisoners." She rebuffed before turning away.
"Major," The prince called as she began to move away "I want this over as soon as possible, it'll be done quicker if I help them out, I'll take full responsibility." The girl stopped and turned regarding him thoughtfully wearing a sour look.
"Fine," She spat eventually "but I'll be listening over the radio, don't do anything stupid" she warned and Christina felt her already strained temper rise at the girl's disrespect. This seemed to satisfy the prince, however, and he turned back to the rest of the flight.
"You three go help the major, I'll handle this on my own" He stated flatly. Sophia tried to protest, and Christina expected him to get angry but instead, he turned back to them once more with a strange smile.
"Please do as I ask, it'll all be over soon"
Xxxx
May 4th Unified Year 1925
Rhine Front, City of Arene Several hours later
Tanya felt dirty, the ash and soot seemed to get everywhere, and the air seemed thick with filth. This wasn't the main reason she felt so unclean, however. There had been so much waste, it seemed fundamentally wrong to allow so much human capital to go untapped and burn like refuse. Not to mention the investment in matériel used to level the city. Even her loyal war maniacs seemed subdued by this mission, she wondered if she should do something about morale when they got back.
Still, as she'd told lieutenant Grantz, anyone they left alive would just pick up a gun later and become an enemy. People could be irrational like that, they didn't know when to quit. If they could be trusted to behave, she'd happily let them live and fulfill their potential to be a productive member of society, unfortunately, they were like a certain irrational person that had pushed her past self in front of a train.
Speaking of Grantz, she should probably discipline him in some way. He'd questioned her and the brass's orders, she'd said she would let it slide but that could set a dangerous precedent. Then again, he did follow orders eventually, perhaps he was overcome by the wastefulness too. He did seem like a promising officer, it would be a shame to stifle his future career over something she felt herself. After all, he was still young, he was bound to make the odd mistake. She learned in her past life in HR that you had to balance punishment against how much you had already invested in the person. There had been considerable investment in Grantz and she didn't want to have to go through the trouble of getting a replacement. Perhaps she'd give him something like latrine duty and then give him a chance to redeem himself later she mused.
As the artillery continued firing and bombers flew overhead, she wished command would give the order for them to pull out already. She had already dragged out the rescue mission as much as possible, she wanted to get out of here and have a bath. She wanted to forget about this place.
She sighed, she was currently a soldier and they hadn't been given the order to withdraw yet, so they were stuck here. At least she could sleep soundly knowing she had followed the rules properly and avoided as much legal fallout as she possibly could.
That reminded her, the brat had quoted some ridiculous notions about rules earlier, hadn't he? Was it Plato or Socrates? Either way, it was nonsense, good people don't need rules indeed! Rules were the foundation of civilization, it's the rules that protected good people like her. She felt slightly insulted by the offhand comment. She supposed his skewed view of the world was inevitable, he ignored rules he didn't like and somehow managed to get away with it, no wonder he didn't have proper respect for them.
At least the little colonel has been behaving himself today though, she thought listening to him give reports back to the artillery over the radio. It seemed even his blood lust was dampened by this place, it was a shame it took an undertaking as bad as this to get him to act so professionally. He'd been true to his word about following orders, he hadn't even drawn his sword, maybe one day she might even get him to part with it.
Her thoughts were soon interrupted by the crackle of the radio, Tanya crossed her fingers hoping it would be the withdrawal orders.
"Pixie battalion, this is Hotel 04, sorry about this but we have another group retreating in sector C3, there are some surviving mages interfering with our barrage." The voice reported.
Again? Thought Tanya suppressing a sigh but before she could answer she heard Wilhelm pipe up over the radio and she went cold.
"This is blue bottle 01, I'm nearby I'll handle it," She heard him respond and she felt a flicker of panic. If Grantz had reacted so badly how would Wilhelm manage? She couldn't risk him doing something stupid, she would have to find him.
She launched into the air and began calling the little colonel over the radio, but she was greeted by static before the receiver spat back into life once again. Someone was transmitting city-wide again, but why?
"Imperial Soldiers!" The colonel's voice echoed through the air as she desperately searched for the source. "Today you have done your duty, you need not feel guilty, you need not fear the judgment of history. I take responsibility for every death today!" He cried as Tanya finally found her mark and began racing towards him. What was he doing? Why was he trying to take responsibility? Was he insane? None of them would be responsible in the first place, they were only following orders. By now the boy had raised his rifle, she would be too late to stop him.
He fired. Time seemed to slow for Tanya as she tracked the bullet, expecting an explosion to engulf the column of civilians behind the battered mages, not civilians she corrected, they'd been classified as Republican soldiers. The first volley struck the lead mage and he disappeared into the explosion of the artillery formula, the second hit another with similar results.
He was still exclusively targeting the mages she realized, he was still technically following orders, even if the collateral damage was engulfing hundreds of others. As she closed, she saw him laughing in a fit of manic hysteria, he looked oddly relieved, had he snapped? He was now out of ammunition, he dropped his rifle and reached for his machine pistol as if ready to charge. Tanya had finally reached him and pulled him away roughly.
"It's over Wilhelm!" She growled the last of the mages were gone, obliterated in the flames, she quickly radioed the artillery to continue the bombardment before turning to scowl at the little colonel.
He looked at her confused for a moment as he pulled himself back from his frenzy, at least she'd stopped him before he charged in.
"Yes," He breathed his hysterical smile growing. "Yes, it's finally over!" he laughed happily drawing his sword. Tanya backed off instinctively, the boy didn't seem to be in the right frame of mind at the best of times but right now he was positively unhinged. Better to keep her distance if he was going to be waving that thing around.
He stared at it a moment and began to grow pale, before glancing back at her with a look of dismay and disbelief. He turned the sword back and forth hurriedly as if it would somehow change whatever he was seeing.
"No!..I…it can't be…There were so many." He stuttered as he descended to the ground. His legs buckled underneath him, and he sank to his knees.
"The Church there had to be…..there were hundreds at least!" He mumbled before looking up at Tanya "I took responsibility!" His eyes were becoming teary and unfocused and his lips were turning blue. He was shaking and breathing quickly. He wasn't making any sense, was he shell shocked?
"It doesn't matter if you take responsibility, we were following orders that's all," She began, she needed to keep him calm until one of his minions arrived. "Even you can't be held responsible for this mess." She stated, although she wasn't sure how he would have fared in a war crimes tribunal if he'd charged in and gunned them down with his pistol. I hope someone comes soon, I can't deal with irrational idiots like him, who tries to take responsibility for a massacre?
"But…..I was going to be free," he said in a small sad voice, still staring at the blade in his hand which was now resting on the floor. Something about the quiet statement pulled at Tanya's mind, she turned back and stared down at him, he seemed to have shrunk. He looked utterly defeated, it was as though he had been on the receiving end of the barrage.
"What do you mean free?" She asked narrowing her eyes, he looked up at her and opened his mouth to speak but they were interrupted by shouting and the sound of boot steps pounding towards them.
Soon the Letzenbourg mages were crowding around the boy fussing over him and her own troops were alternating between questioning her why he had tried to take the blame for the mission and assuring him that it wasn't his fault. Strangely every time someone tried to comfort him, he seemed to recoil as if in pain.
Finally, the order to withdraw came, and they began their trip back. Wilhelm had composed himself enough to fly unaided but still seemed dazed, Christina had given him something to calm him and the Letzenbourgers were keeping him close.
Tanya's head began to ache, the mission had been bad enough but the little colonel's meltdown seemed wrong somehow. Had he believed his own hype at being called The Saint? And what did he mean by being free? He had more freedom than almost everyone in the military right now. She sighed, she'd get no answers while his underlings were protecting him that was certain.
Fatigue was starting to tell as they finally reached the landing fields, she stifled a yawn and began to imagine the steaming cup of coffee and warm bath she would soon be enjoying. She landed and began wandering towards the equipment shed to stow her gear but stopped and turned when she heard a thud behind her.
Wilhelm had landed and immediately began shedding his gear, leaving it on the ground as he stepped over it in a daze. The sisters rushed forward to try and tend to him as Hausmann collected the abandoned equipment with a worried look, but the prince turned on them as they approached.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" He snarled and the women both recoiled in shock, he seemed to calm momentarily "Sorry, I…I need to be alone." He finished looking at the ground.
He kicked off his flight boot and walked away towards the chapel, Tanya watched him suspiciously. As far as she was aware, he only ever went to the chapel when she went to curse Being X. He'd never joined in the 'prayers,' instead he'd stood leaning in the corner with a mocking grin. She had assumed he was an atheist and was looking down on her for her 'so-called faith,' it was one of his few redeeming qualities, so why would he go now?
She considered following him, but decided it wasn't her concern, she knew the boy could be emotional, he seemed borderline bipolar at times. He'll no doubt be back to his annoying self soon enough She told herself as she stowed her gear and headed back to her rooms. Visha had already left a steaming cup of coffee for her and Tanya silently thanked whoever it was in personnel that made Serebryakov her aide as she began running herself a bath in the private bathroom her suite contained.
There was a knock at the door, and Tanya grunted in annoyance before crossing to answer it. She blinked in surprise as Captain Hausmann saluted as she opened the door, closely accompanied by lieutenant Serebryakov.
"Sorry to intrude, Major, it's the prince," He began and Tanya sighed before bidding him to continue "He's shut himself in the chapel, it seems like he's smashing the place up, we're all very worried." He finished giving her a beseeching look.
What do you expect me to do about it? She thought grumpily, as he looked at her expectantly.
"We thought maybe you could talk to him Ma'am," Serebryakov added and Tanya suppressed a groan, the brat seemed intent on making her life difficult again.
She reluctantly complied and they led her off to the small chapel on the mansion grounds. As they approached the two sisters were hovering by the door nervously. They looked worried, they'd obviously never seen the boy this agitated, and Tanya began to wonder if she'd underestimated the colonel's condition. Battle fatigue was a real danger to all soldiers, thinking back the boy did little to help himself stave it off.
Apparently, the colonel had ordered them to stay out and neither sister wanted to disobey him, it had been quiet inside for some time. For some reason, everyone had gotten a strange notion that she and Wilhelm were close, and she would somehow be able to pull him out of whatever psychotic episode he has to have. Short of knocking him unconscious she didn't have any ideas on how to deal with it, but she supposed she would have to give it a try.
She ordered the rest of them away, it was better than they were out of earshot. She might have to get rough with the little colonel and it'd be better if his servants weren't around, you were supposed to slap people that were hysterical right? She carefully pushed open the door and entered the small temple.
The chapel was a mess, it looked as though a bomb had gone off. Wooden pews lay smashed and large splinters were scattered across the floor. The wall candles had been ripped off and all the ornate religious imagery that decorated the walls had been slashed and vandalised. Ahead, the altar had been thrown aside, the silver collection plate was split in half and the cross had been bent and disfigured. At the far end of the church, the prince stood shaking with his sword drawn in front of the tall statue of the Virgin Mary. He hadn't noticed her enter.
Without warning, he yelled and charged at the statue hacking at the lifeless stone with his blade.
"Bastard! Lying Bastard!" He raged as angry tears ran down his face. The clanging of his sword echoed eerily around the room as continued to strike, chipping pieces from the effigy's stone form.
"I was going to be free! I don't want to do this anymore!" He cried before raising his blade once more and beating the sculpture so hard the sword flew from his grip and went spinning across the room stopping at her feet.
"I don't deserve this! Why didn't it work?" He sobbed falling to his knees, while Tanya looked over to him with a feeling of foreboding. He was raging against God, with the same amount of hatred she reserved for Being X. Was Being X trying to corrupt him like it had Schugel?
She looked down and saw the enigmatic sword that the boy seemed to both love and loathe laying by her feet. Gingerly she picked up the blade and studied it closely trying to divine some hidden meaning from it. From her limited knowledge of swords, she saw it was an old cavalry saber, the sort popular before technology began taking over modern warfare. It was old but obviously well looked after, aside from the notches caused by beating the statue and surrounding furniture. The blade was still reasonably sharp and well-oiled, and it shone in the moonlight that beamed through the windows. Surprisingly it was simple and unadorned, even her own parade ground sword was more decorated. The only thing remotely unusual about it was a small single spell computation orb fitted into the pommel, presumably, it was what the colonel used to harden the blade.
"Can you see the number?" The boy's tiny voice called over to her, filled with sadness and desperation. She looked over and saw him looking over to her hopefully.
She looked at the sword once more but couldn't so much find a makers mark, let alone a number. She turned back to him and shook her head, he deflated once more and returned to sobbing. Perhaps she'd been overthinking it, maybe he had just lost it and was blaming Being X for being an absentee deity.
"This isn't how it's supposed to be, I'm not supposed to be here," He whimpered staring at his hands. "This isn't me, I don't even know who this is." He continued breathing hard through the tears.
"This isn't my time, this isn't even my world!" He yelled angrily. Tanta stared at him as a suspicion began forming in her mind. It couldn't be, could it?
"That monster, that bastard tricked me and sent me here!" He growled clenching his fists.
Tanya's heart stopped, and a cold rage built inside her as she dropped the sword, suddenly it all made sense. The reason why Wilhelm felt wrong and out of place, the reason for his strange comments that only she recognised, the reason he didn't seem like a ten-year-old boy. He wasn't of this world, he was like her. Damn you Being X you sent him here to get to me!
She moved without thinking, her feelings of revulsion and anger towards the would-be God, momentarily overtook her rational mind as she rushed the distraught boy. Fearfully he tried to rise but he was knocked onto his back as she grabbed him by the collar and smashed him onto the floor, falling on top of him.
"Tell me what you know about Being X!" She demanded as she shoved him forcefully to the ground. He winced in pain, before looking up at her with a mixture of fear and confusion.
She cursed herself as her senses returned to her, while mentally chastising herself for momentarily losing her rational self. Obviously, the Type 95 had had a greater effect on her than she had anticipated, or perhaps proximity to another of the creature's victims exacerbated the mind-altering effects.
Being X was what she had named the thing that sent her here, she reminded herself. Of course, the boy wouldn't know what she was talking about.
"The thing that calls itself God, did it send you here?" She growled tightening her grip, understanding began to creep on his face and fear began to be replaced with anger.
"It's not a God, it's a monster! A Devil!" He spat venomously, she was right he was another victim of Being X's games. He obviously wasn't as mentally equipped to deal with it as she was however, that thing had already left the boy as good as broken.
"D….Does that mean….You're like me aren't you?" He continued hope filling his voice. She fixed him with a glare, she still wanted answers.
"Who are you really? What did you mean you'd be free?"
Authors note
I know you all saw it coming. Yes, he's a reincarnation like Tanya. Sorry, it took so long to get here the story sort of ballooned far beyond what I ever originally intended. This was originally going to be chapter 5! I know it seems I'm adding more questions than I'm answering (part of that is to keep you interested tbf) but from now on the prince gets POV so hopefully you'll begin to understand what he's really about. You won't even have to wait long for more back story, that's what's coming next!
About Arene: I tried to only write the bits that the prince and co were directly involved in, I didn't want my characters to take any of the significance away from what happened in the cannon. That's why I had Tanya mention Grantz to show he had already had his crisis of conscience.
I had all the characters keep pushing for the prince to make the declaration, purely because unlike Tanya, he is respected rather than feared (although not necessarily for the right reasons). So it made sense to me that even Tanya would prefer him to offer the surrender, at least from the perspective of getting results.
I was already a little wary about the prince trying to take responsibility for the massacre, the world won't accept his guilt, but I was worried it might seem a little disrespectful to the lore. My only other choice was to engineer another massacre, but I also felt that would detract from the significance of Arene.
I did enjoy letting the prince kick some ass though, I like writing fight scenes, I can imagine them in my head as I type. I wanted to show he is worthy of being an Ace, I'd like to engineer a fight between him and Tanya at some point, but I'm sure he'd only be able to stand a chance of winning through trickery. It could be fun though and would maybe give him the overconfidence to face off against Mary later.
A few other notes: I know literally nothing about guns, if anything is incorrect I apologise but my total experience with firearms was firing an air rifle in the boy scouts. If anything needs correcting, let me know.
Äddi is Luxembourgish for goodbye (according to google translate). Originally, I had it as Auf Wiedersehen, I thought they spoke German and French in Luxembourg, but they have their own language, so I learned something.
The prince's quote "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws" was Plato and although the Prince is a bit of a hypocrite in using it, I thought it was a great quote to piss off Tanya lol.
When the prince broadcasts that he will take responsibility for the deaths he says: "you need not fear the judgment of history." That's actually part of a quote from Adolph Hitler ("We need not fear the judgment of history. Who, after all, speaks today of the extermination of the Armenians?"). I'm not super happy with my character quoting arguably the evilest man in history, but contextually I thought it fit quite well.
I hope you are still enjoying the story and, as always, thank you for reading.
Xanen