"So, let me get this straight." Winter pointed her chopsticks at the screen as we ate on the couch. "Selene was dumb enough to fall for that bastard Seaward?"
"Yup." I slurped ramen. "And then Beech went to the Temple of Purgation to become a Purged Monk."
"That's stupid." She huffed. "Everyone knows that the Purged have to let go of all emotion."
"He's in a bad mood."
"It's just someone being dumb! Move on, Beech!"
"Well-" Winter's hand clapped over my mouth.
"Sirens." She glanced around. "Three blares, high frequency. That's Grimm. You should get to the training hall to meet up with your team."
"Alright." I stood up and stretched, then helped her to her feet. "See you later, I suppose."
She smiled. "Alright. Don't die."
"I'll try not to."
The training hall was packed full of people and their associated weapons. I knew many of them by face from the weekly drills we practiced against Grimm attacks, and quite a few were in uniform. And now we would be forming Volunteer Teams to put our training to the test. We would assist the soldiers in entrenching and securing the areas while Hunter teams blunted the Grimm attack and bought time for us to finish.
There was a quick, awkward reunion with the girls from the combat school and I had to make up a story to explain why I ran off. Twayblade reassured me, but Raven looked at me in silence and I felt a shiver run down my spine, like she had seen right through me. Huginn, her surname was.
Everybody in the hall had already been assigned to a team, which had happened last week. I was in the hospital then, so they merely stuck me with the few others who hadn't been able to make it. I'd been greeted by a girl with bright blonde hair, Delilah Samson. The other two were Twayblade and a young man from the all-boys combat school: Odhran Belmont.
The three apparently knew each other, judging by the way he and Delilah kissed while Twayblade rolled her eyes.
"That happen often?" I asked Tway.
"Every time."
"Damn."
"So, where's your weapon?" Tway looked around me. "Is it a pocketknife?"
I had considered bringing the bracers, but I wasn't very good with them. I was more proficient with rifles anyway.
"I'm still working on it."
"Huh." She gave me an odd look, and then shrugged. "Well, there's weapons over there."
I nodded and made my way to the armory, which drew a few odd looks. It was embarrassing, and I double-timed it. I came back to the other three a few minutes later with a sniper rifle slung behind my back and a longsword/pistol strapped to my hip. I'd also taken a vest to put ammunition and grenades in.
Twayblade looked at me with her chin cupped in her hand. "Hm. Needs fashion, but later."
I was about to argue when the hall's military liaison, a Lieutenant Colby called for the assembly to begin. We all organized into our teams and made our way outside. A convoy of armored cars was parked on the asphalt, and the avenue-as far as I could see-was clear of traffic.
"So, are we going to be debriefed or not?" I asked as we walked
"They do it on the way to wherever." Twayblade tapped the cars' hulls as she walked over. "Car 451. Ah, here!"
Our handler debriefed us from the car's shotgun seat as we barreled down a tunnel. Cars had pulled up on either side to allow us to pass. We would help fortify a town called Stahlmarsh roughly 30 kilometers from the city alongside three other VTs and the Valkyrie regiment from the Glory Dawn. A large horde of Grimm had been spotted nearby, and would most likely attack the town by twilight. We had to be prepared by then.
Delilah explained that the fortification required involved setting up firing points, trenches, mines and barbed wire, and command posts for the robots as she gestured to a map of Stahlmarch with a pen to lay out the defensive plan. She led us in a cheer for team Samba before we got down from the car.
Making the defenses was hard, backbreaking work but we all pitched in. I had volunteered the use of my portals to move materials while the other three dug and moved in shifts. Because I hadn't yet figured out how to place glyphs beyond melee range, setting up a network involved walking from place to place, and I quickly found out that the strain of holding the portals open depended on the range between two points and the mass that was being moved. I had drunk at least a liter of Schneenergy (I was going going to talk to them about this some day) by 2:00 PM, and was bleeding from the nose by 4.
However, we were the first team to complete our section of the fortification and we'd gotten some commendations from the commander for smart thinking and great effort as the Valkyries set up shop. Meanwhile, the four of us had decided to camp atop one of the command posts. I set up my rifle so that it faced the treeline while I rested.
"So, why are we here anyway?" I asked Delilah.
"Well, we're here as a last resort in case the Grimm get past the Huntsmen." She said, taking a sip from Tway's canteen. "It'll be fine like, nobody dies anyway. Want some?" She offered the canteen.
I looked at Tway and she shrugged, then nodded. I took a sip. It was ginger tea. Refreshing. "'s good."
We watched the sun go down as the thunder and rumble of explosions in the distance grew ever closer. A deathstalker sailed out from the treetops and dug a trench into the ground past the barbed wire and mines, then tumbled into the river and never surfaced. The air was teeming with energy and the lack of it. I suddenly understood how they said that the Grimm have no souls as a tidal wave of black and white surged out from the treetops. Auras flickered on and my teammates readied their weapons.
Tway stepped off the roof as her cane transformed into a pike, which she used to lower herself to the ground. Delilah brandished her twinned falcatas, and Odhran his claymore. It shifted into a machine gun in his hands while Delilah's became shotguns. I racked a round into the chamber.
I had forgotten just how scary combat could be. My palms were sweaty under my gloves. The Huntsmen carved through the advancing front, but it seemed like they were too few to make a large difference.
"Who are we?" A harsh voice rose over the din.
"The Valkyries of Atlas!" The reply rippled down the lines and trenches.
"What are we?"
"We are the sword and shield!"
"What do we do?"
"We fight for others who cannot!"
A Boarbatusk squealed as it tangled in the barbed wire. I centered my sights and shot the thing. Beowolves leapt into the air and landed among the mines. The machine guns opened fire among the explosions. It was chaos. I forced my hands to stop shaking. I fired with my left hand despite the right-handedness of the rifle. It allowed me to keep my finger near the trigger when I cycled the chamber.
The Paladin-290s lumbered forward, launching barrages of missiles and autocannon fire into the horde while the spider-like Lancer-245s hung back and pounded the larger Grimm from long range. Combined fire from three of them tore an Ursa in half as a Paladin wrestled with a Deathstalker and punched it into mulch.
I was halfway through my second magazine, and I took the head off a Beowolf as it tried to leap into a machine gun emplacement. The ammunition loader lifted a thumb's up at me and I nodded. I continued shooting. Every shot found its mark.
"Now!" Delilah waved Tway and Odhran forward as pack of Beowolves closed in on a squad of troops retreating from the first line. I managed to pick some of them off before they made shooting impossible.
Odhran caught their attention and made a gesture. The soldiers ducked and he fired over their heads, stumbling the Grimm hot on their feet as the two girls almost danced into battle. Delilah's hair whipped around as she spun and kicked, blinding her targets as she slashed them apart with her blades. Twayblade's polearm constantly changed length and she used it to block and parry claw slashes before ending them with a precise thrust.
I had just centered my crosshairs on a Beowolf that was about to bite down on Delilah's head when her hair came alive and wrapped around its head. She grinned and flipped it onto Tway's spear as Odhran charged their Alpha and cut it in half with one swing. The sonic boom ripped through the battlefield and stumbled the Grimm closest to them. And I felt very inadequate as they fought.
The Beowolves were closing in despite the efforts of my teammates and I was running out of ammunition. I checked the transparent side of the loaded magazine. I only had one shot left, and there were way too many targets.
I looked around to see if I could get help. Soldiers and volunteers everywhere were locked in melee, and there was no help forthcoming. It was hopeless.
No. There had to be another way.
Warmth flowed from deep within my chest and through my arms into the rifle as the Dust folded into its metal reacted with my energies. Lines carved into the barrel began to glow, and acting upon a hunch, I fired at the ground in front of the retreating soldiers. I felt the round traveling through the air, almost saw it in slow-motion. And then the round kicked up a puff of dirt, but more importantly, I felt a connection in my head. The same kind I felt when I opened one half of a portal.
"Go!" I screamed, gesturing to the portal on the ground as I opened the other end beside me.
The Valkyries took the hint and rushed through, falling in a heap on the roof. My teammates nodded to each other and rushed through as well, though they landed far more gracefully. I closed the portal around a Beowolf's neck on accident and the severed head rolled off somewhere.
One of the Valkyries grabbed my hand and drew me into a half-hug. "Thanks, brother. We'd have been gone if it weren't for you."
I found a sandbag to sit on as they chattered around me, cracking open cases of supplies. My ears rang.
"I mean, wow!" Delilah pumped her fists in the air. "We were fighting left and right like holy shit, we're running out of space and there's too many. I'm out of ammo, and I'm getting tired."
"Then bam!" Tway punched me on the shoulder. "Deus ex machina right here! And that Valk, he called you brother, man! That's big respect!"
"Hey, hey." Odhran led them away. "Give him some space, girls. Can't be easy holding open portals all day. He's tired. Give him a few minutes before we get back to fighting. Deli, can you find some .50 cal for the two of us?"
"Sure thing, Odie!" Deli jumped off the CP and went somewhere as Odhran sat down beside me.
I took the can of soda he offered and started drinking.
"You alright there?"
"Yeah. Just a bit tired." I said. I meant it in more ways than one.
I could never completely fit in to Remnant, I realized. Fighting was a way of life for them. For me, it was a nightmare.
Somehow, the universe was intent on pushing me back into the nightmare.