Alicia could feel her heart sank as the tank closed its distance, the one and only vehicle to overturn this pitiful resistance the town had prepared. One of her squad member fell to his knees, the color on his face drained before losing grip of his rifle. He looked ready to faint before Alicia gripped his arm, forcing him to stand.

"Stand proud. It finally came to us." Although the girl herself shivered on her boots, Alicia tried her best to muster a smile, pushing any negative thought to the back of her mind.

She encountered the very same tank back at the main plaza when she was walking around together with a certain 'outsider' she deemed suspicious not too long ago. She prayed silently for his safety as well as his family.

"The tank from the plaza is finally here!" someone shouted, alerting the rest of the town watch.

Before someone managed to speak another word, a man raised his hand from beyond their lines, gathering the attention to himself. It was one of the leaders who stayed back at this fortification, giving orders and overseeing the fight to ensure the safety of those who evacuated. He stomped his lit cigar on the ground as every town watchmen looked upon him.

"Do not panic. First, we scatter to avoid potential cluster damage. Divert the tank from attacking the gate before us somehow, or this defensive line would be meaningless. Now move it, brave souls of Bruhl!"

As he barked his orders, the quick-witted ones were already moving their pace, helping the injured move away somewhere safe. Those who felt brave—probably foolish as well—pushed out from their cover, trying to divert the attention of the tank right on the get go.

Alicia did neither. She only stood her ground, gripping the edge of her rifle hard. She wanted to complain for the madness thrusted upon them, but who would listen to her plea? It was Valkyrur herself who granted this calamity upon this small town, was it possible to beg her to take it back? Her throat felt dry already, as if the prayer she chanted deep down demanded more desperation before a miracle could happen.

"Snap out of it, girl! Don't drag your squad down!" A friendly voice called her back to the situation at hand as desperation almost took hold of her mind. Noce slapped her hard enough on her back, the pain felt sting but sobering. As Alicia turned around, she realized gazes of her squadmates on her. She could feel not just their resolve, but also their trust to her as their team captain.

"Alicia, let's do this," said Noce as he offered his fist to the girl.

Alicia responded with bumping her own fist to his. "Yes."

From the window, William's eyes widened as he tried to process what happened down below on the main road. The remaining town watchmen dispersed all over the place, leaving the fortification they had just defended to death earlier, some of them even tried to push their luck by fighting the tank heads on. Among the crowd, he caught a glimpse of Alicia running into a dark alley with her squad, never again looking back to the defensive line.

"They all fucking abandoned the gate!?" William shouted as he felt a certain rage inside him, forgetting the fact that they were hidden from both sides combatants. He received a rather forceful kick to his stomach as Hardt glared at him.

"This is the second time! When will you learn!?" Hardt said, remembering the stupidity of the young guy beside him just not too long ago, almost revealing their location to the enemy when it was only the two of them. Realizing what he had done yet once again, William silently cursed his mouth, hoping no Imperial soldiers were nearby to hear his shout.

Hardt went back to his scope, sighting more Imperial soldiers pouring inside the hot zone. "... Still have a handful of soldiers to fight, and add that accursed thing as well...," he muttered over his unkempt beard, loud enough for William to hear. Hardt lied prone over the window's balcony before he inhaled short bursts of breath, sounding ragged as he looked through the scope.

"S-sir, should we retre—"

"Hahhh, hahhh... hrm."

BANG!

One down. Hardt inhaled, quickly followed by another exhale.

BANG!

Two down. Another inhale, then exhale.

BANG!

If William was asked to prove if humans could turn themselves into a killing machine, Hardt would definitely be on top of his list right now as he witnessed the old Darcsen dispatched every target he put his sights on in rapid succession. Every two seconds as he released his breath, he pulled the trigger of his sniper rifle and scoring another kill, occasionally stopping to reload. The sweat over his forehead doubled than before, but so too the amount of kills he racked.

Creating a rhythm to shoot and reload by own's breathing, a technique William never heard before. He furrowed his brows as the Imperial soldiers poured from every direction toward the gate, some of them laid victim to the old Darcsen beside him. William was worried that his shots would alert the enemy of their position, but soon he noticed gunshots coming from houses surrounding the area as well, aimed at the Imperial soldiers and the tank.

"Huh, turns out some of them have balls." Although feeling grumpy for a bit, William felt a certain relief as he took mental note of which houses were occupied and shooting back.

'But still, this is bad,' thought William, 'if no one intercepts that tank, that gate will go down anytime soon.'

The tank acted as the vanguard for the Imperial soldiers. Its turret were busy shooting back toward the retaliation from the town watchmen hidden in houses, but it kept moving directly toward the gate, never once slowed down by the distraction posed by mere potshots of simple rifles. There was nothing else on the main road leading to the gate, meaning an easy way in for the tank. It could just run over anything on its path, and the gate wasn't an issue thanks to the explosive capability it boasted. One decisive push was all it needed to destroy the gate, and that means cutting the escape line from this situation.

In case of sneaking out, William was certain he could manage by himself, but the old man beside him already had difficulty controlling his breath while running back then, potentially sabotaging their location. If they hid until the skirmish is over, there was no guarantee those scum wouldn't do another sweep on the perimeter either. They would eventually find this barricaded house, open it by force, then William and Hardt were done for. Even standing their ground would prove futile as one careful shell from the tank was all it took to destroy this three-story house.

William snorted as he realized there's no safe way out of this mess. If he wanted to survive, that tank had to go down, at the very least.

"Hardt, we need to do something with that tank!" William said, earning no response from the old Darcsen as he kept shooting.

"I'll somehow stop that tank, you hear me!?" Another silence in between. Hardt didn't even glance back.

"I'm going down there—"

William almost vomited as Hardt punched him right on the gut, moving so suddenly from his post next to William in an instant. Still stunned from the shock, William clutched his stomach as the pain pulsed, his knees gave out as he fell to the floor. Before he could react, Hardt was already halfway through tying him with a hemp rope he found on the corner of the room, both hands and feet.

"Hardt! What the hell!?" was the last thing William could say before Hardt forced a rag inside his mouth, even tying a scarf as well as another preventative measure.

The old Darcsen simply turned around, slowly moving back to his window. "You will thank me someday... Please believe me..." His voice wavered as his feet staggered on the spot. "They all... did the same... died... not you too..." His words getting lower for each steps he took to reach his sniper rifle, returning back to the window.

William's eye widened, still shocked from the sudden action. Why did he do this? The one person he thought he could rely on backstabbed him. Why couldn't the old man saw the same thing as he did? Either way, one thing stayed true. William had to get out, either by force or something else entirely.

The former caused William to shudder. He had tasted directly what the old man can serve just by his fist alone, not to forget the aftermath he witnessed as well on that empty house, signs of Hardt taking down many Imperial soldiers by himself when William was away. His body might be old, but it serves as a mask of his full potential. Just what on earth is this old Darcsen hiding from him?

Trying to convince him seemed pointless as well, judging by the rashness of his action. It felt like Hardt was determined to see things through by his way, ignoring the rookie behind him as he continued to shoot from the window. Words and wisdom seemed unable to reach him. In fact, the old man would have more wisdom than William did, albeit vague in a sense. In another way, it was a no-go to fight with words.

The only option left for William was to get away silently, but how? His eyes darted across the room, looking for ways to escape. He cursed himself as he looked at the blockade he had prepared earlier on the door, the only way in now becoming the only way out. One of those furniture surely would creak if he pushed it to the side, alerting Hardt in the process. He would leave the window once again, tie him up for the second time, then went back to—

'Oh... shit.'

There was, in fact, another way out, guarded by the beast inside the room. The window Hardt positioned himself was big enough for William to jump through. He remembered there was another balcony directly under that one, even bigger than this floor had, and the height was not a problem for William. He could land there before jumping down to the road.

William silently wiggled the rope tying his hands, trying to make some space to work which, much to his surprise, loosened off rather easily. 'Hardt, you finally made a mistake for once,' mused William as he worked to loosen the rope on his feet as well. William made sure to fasten the sling of the rifle on his back, all without making a noise.

'Now, how do we pull this...' Thinking a way to distract Hardt while making it believable enough to fool a war veteran, William finally settled on an idea rather similar with what he did not too long after this invasion started. Fingers crossed if the old man would fall for this, but it's better than to poke him directly. Probably. After fixing the ropes position, making it looked tightly bound as before, William sighed. 'I'm sorry, old man.'

William kicked and stomped around, flailing as hard as he could. "Hmm! Hmmnnn! Hmmmmnnnnnn! HRGHHHHHH!" The gag on his mouth muffled some of the noise, but nonetheless it caused Hardt to glance at the young guy, noticing his tantrum.

"What?" Hardt stood up from his spot, creeping closer to William. The young guy kept wailing and flailing without any sign of stopping. The rope was loose enough for him to break free at any moment, but the old man didn't seem to realize it even as he crouched beside William.

"HNNNNN! HMMMNN— AH!" As the total gag on his mouth being removed, William's breathing become more rushed. "That noise below us! Did you not hear!?"

"What sound?"

"Oh no, the door! THE DOOR!" Without missing a beat, William looked more erratic, his eyes wavered to the blockaded door. "DID YOU NOT HEAR THOSE SOLDIERS APPROACHING!?"

Hardt's face immediately paled as the young guy panicked, staring at the door to this room. Was it his age that regressed his hearing ability? The one vital skill for his profession on the field of staying hidden at all time, and it had failed him now? Right when he got someone to protect? Muttering curses under his breath, Hardt positioned himself near the door while putting his ears to the floor, trying to gauge the amount of their attackers by footsteps. He did hear one set of footsteps running. It wasn't coming from under them, rather from beside him as William dashed to the window.

"YOU—" Hardt's hand merely grazed the wind as William managed to jump earlier, landing on the balcony under them.

"Sir," William looked up as he gripped the railings of the balcony. "I need your help taking down that tank. Clear the way for me."

Leaping from the balcony, he managed to land safely to the stone-paved road as the old Darcsen muttered even more curses.