Chapter 14: The Path Of The Pure Is The Most Arduouspt2

Ever since the war began, many Gallians fled West to avoid living under German occupation. Many, who still remember the experience that they lived through the Great War, did not want to suffer again and were more than willing to leave their homes and head towards the safety of the Randgriz and the remaining territory that Gallia had.

However, there were those who did not fear the Germans but instead, wanted to join them. Believing that the German military would bring better change to Gallia, some also decided to join them and fight their own countrymen, all in the pursuit of power after the war.

And these guys were no exception.

Andrew's Panzerfaust shot out and hit the halftrack. It was then engulfed in flames, as well as alerting everyone else. As soon as the halftrack was destroyed, Alfons also fired his Panzerfaust at the armored car.

Still confused as to what was happening, the Panzerfaust hit the armored car as it was just turning its turret towards the area where the rocket had come from. The rocket hit the armored car and exploded, causing the top hatch of the armored car to open and a jet of fire spewed out, killing everyone that was inside.

While all of this was happening, Valerie pulled the pin off one of the smoke grenades and threw it into the ensuing chaos, the grenade landing near the destroyed halftrack. After a few seconds, it began to release a white smoke.

After counting to 5, Andrew then turned to Caitlyn and nodded while turning to Alfons and Valerie and motioned them to follow him. As the three began their dash towards city hall, Caitlyn looked down the scope of her rifle. She aimed at the first machine gun emplacement, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger. She then chambered another round, took aim, and fired again.

The first round hit the gunner between the eyes, killing the gunner instantly. Her next shot hit the loader in the right shoulder, forcing the soldier to recoil back and grip his shoulder, screaming in pain. Caitlyn then took aim at the other machine gun crew and like the other one, she was able to kill the gunner and loader in rapid succession.

Her sniper fire drew the attention of the collaborators and as they were about to fire on her position, Amy and Cedric proved cover fire. Cedric fired his captured MG-34 LMG, laying out a wall of lead on the collaborators while Amy was supporting him with her Gallian 4 rifle.

With the collaborators' attention on those three, this gave Andrew, Alfons and Valerie enough time to make a run for city hall. The three sprinted across the square, running past confused and disoriented collaborators and reached city hall's front door.

Not wanting to lose momentum, Andrew decided to just barge through the door. He launched himself at the door and broke it down. As the door broke down, it surprised the three collaborators that were coming down a flight of stairs and were heading towards the door. Alfons and Valerie followed Andrew in and, after seeing the enemy just standing there, mouths gaped, both did not waste time and fired their rifles at the enemy. Soon, all three were on the ground, riddled with bullets.

"Let's go, people. We need to secure this building. 11, take 12 and secure the bottom floor, I will secure the second," Andrew said as he got back up. Both Alfons and Valerie nodded as Andrew then began to climb the stairs leading up to the second floor. As he climbed the stairs, he could hear some discussion coming from one of the rooms.

As Andrew approached the door, he heard hushed voices on the other side of the door. Before barging in, he listened in.

"Who the hell is attacking us?! The Gallian main force is still attacking our main defenses."

"I don't know! Whoever it is, they are well coordinated!"

"It doesn't matter! We must get rid of the evidence before they get it!" And that got Andrew to act. He took a step back and kicked the door down. Inside, there were three collaborators, most likely the leaders, standing over a table with another collaborator attending to the radio.

All of them looked over to the entrance, and upon seeing Andrew, attempted to reach for their sidearms. Andrew didn't even hesitate, he aimed his rifle and fired. He killed two of the officers in rapid succession and wounded the third. The soldier manning the radio charged towards Andrew and slammed him into the wall before Andrew could fire. The tackle caused Andrew to drop his rifle to the ground. The two wrestled with each other as one tried to get the upper hand over the other. The scuffle eventually resulted in the two landing on the ground, with Andrew giving a punch in the soldier's stomach. This caused the soldier to wince and Andrew took this small pause to reach for his 1911. He pulled it out of his holster and was about to point it at the soldier, but the soldier grabbed his hand, doing his best to prevent Andrew from shooting it.

As the two wrestled, they didn't hear Valerie climbing up the stairs. Once she reached the room, she saw the fight and was going to shoot but stopped as she did not want to shoot Andrew. So instead, she set down the rifle along the wall, pulled out her knife and approached.

Andrew was having a hard time killing this soldier. Then he saw a hand pull the soldier back and a knife slashed his throat open. Blood began to spill from the wound, and the soldier choked on his blood as Valerie threw him to the ground.

Andrew got up and then pointed his 1911 and pulled the trigger killing the soldier.

Valerie gave him a shocked look before Andrew explained, "I am not a monster. Better to put him out of his misery. The other one however," Andrew then looked over to the wounded officer. He had crawled away clutching his wounded. Andrew briskly walked over to the wounded soldier.

The wounded soldier tried to reach for his pistol, but Andrew pointed his pistol at the soldier's head.

"Now, I think you would want to live so I suggest you raise your hands and keep them raised," Andrew said. The soldier then reluctantly raised his hands over his head. Andrew took this time to take the soldier's sidearm and forced the soldier up. He heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Alfons enter the room.

"The others arrived. They are clearing the ground floor right now, but I don't think there are any more troops. Most either retreated or are dead."

"Good, in that case, you are in charge of interrogating our prisoner here," Andrew said, presenting their new prisoner.

"Oh?" Alfons looked over at the prisoner and then smiled, "Don't worry. I know how to get birds to sing lovely tunes." Alfons then took the prisoner and brought him out. Andrew was going to follow until he looked over to Valerie who had a horrified look on her face as she was reading a piece of paper.

"Valerie, what's wrong?" Andrew asked, using her name since there was no one in the room that could hear. Valerie turned to face him and just silently handed him the paper she was reading. Andrew took it out of her hand and gave it a read.

"Jesus…." Andrew muttered and then ran out of the room.

After navigating through the streets, Kurt and his group made it to the location where the mayor and his family were being held. In his group, Kurt, Riela, Annika, Gloria, Clarissa, and Guilio. They were able to sneak most of the guards and since the attack at the front by the regular army, most of the collaborators went to stop the attack, leaving the rear largely undefended.

As the group approached the location, which was a hotel, Kurt peered around the alley they were in to see that there were only a few troops outside with no vehicles that he could see. There was a machine gun nest near the entrance and Kurt could see it was a Maxim machine gun.

Kurt signaled Riela forward and once she was by his side said, "Riela, get your grenade launcher ready. Aim for the machine gun."

Riela nodded and got her grenade launcher ready. Said grenade launcher, the Rangrizer M, was Gallia's answer to charging trenches during the Great War. As trench warfare was difficult to begin with, clearing them with grenades became the strategy that was preferred for troops. To safely clear the trenches, the Randgrizer M was born. The launcher was attached to the rifle and since it was under the barrel, it didn't require the shooter to load a special round to shoot the grenade. There is a mechanism near the trigger, allowing for an easy launch of the grenade without affecting the rifle's operation.

Riela nodded as she took out a grenade and loaded the launcher. She then calculated the range to the machine gun position. She then raised her rifle into the air once she had the range and then she pulled the trigger. The grenade was launched and arched through the air towards the machine gun position. The grenade exploded on impact with the ground, creating an explosion that killed the gunner and the loader.

Taking advantage of the confusion that was caused by the explosion, Kurt poked out of the corner and fired his submachine gun. He was able to catch the collaborators off guard and kill a few of them before they reacted.

As Kurt was firing his submachine gun, Annika and Gloria ran out of cover and made their way to an idle car. Gloria then set up a captured MG-34 LMG on the hood and Annika loaded the MG with a new belt of ammo. Once she finished the reload, Annika tapped Gloria on the back, letting Gloria know that the machine gun was loaded.

Gloria fired a short burst at the enemy soldiers, killing a few that were not in cover and forced the others to get behind some cover. Gloria showed that she knew what she was doing as she fired in short burst to avoid having the machine gun from overheating.

While Gloria was providing cover fire, this gave Kurt and Riela the opening that they need and made a run for the hotel. As they ran to the hotel, some of the enemy soldiers noticed them and began to fire at them. Kurt can hear the whizzing of bullets around him and blindly fired back as he and Riela made their way to the hotel. They were able to reach the front door but as Kurt tried to open the front door, he found out that it was locked.

"Damnit, c'mon," Kurt said as he tried to get the door open, even as bullets were hitting the building around him. Riela, who was covering him, saw Kurt struggling to get the door open and then came up with an idea.

She went up to Kurt and tapped him on the shoulder. Kurt turned to see Riela motion to Kurt to step back. As he did, Riela pulled out a grenade from her waist, placed it on the door handle and then pulled the pin. Kurt's eyes widened in shock as she grabbed him by the lapels and threw him and her on to the ground. A few seconds later, the door exploded, giving them an entrance.

Kurt looked at the door and then to Riela, at first shocked but then smiled at her quick thinking and said, "Nice work Riela."

The comment caused Riela's cheek the redden a bit before both got up and then went through the door. As they entered the hotel, they saw that there was no one at the front desk or any defenses for that matter. Kurt then heard footsteps and then looked at the stairs to see an enemy soldier come rushing down, a scoped Kar98K rifle in his hand.

Kurt aimed and fired a short burst at the soldier, hitting him multiple times in the chest, causing the soldier to crumble to the ground. More footsteps came from behind him and the two turned to see Clarissa and Guilio come through the door.

"Thirty-Two and Forty-Six, clear the second floor of enemy soldiers. Take prisoners if you can," Kurt ordered. Both nodded and proceeded to make their way up the stairs with Guilio leading the way.

"Thirteen, we are going to clear the ground floor and see if we can find any clues on where the mayor and his family is," Kurt said. Riela nodded and the two then proceeded to the door that was behind the front desk.

Kurt didn't hesitate and kicked the door open and rushed in. Inside were four enemy soldiers, all confused and panicked when they saw Kurt. Riela followed Kurt in and shot dead two of the soldiers.

Kurt was able to kill one more before rushing and tackling the last soldier, who was trying to reach for the Luger pistol that was on the desk in the room. The two fell to the floor and got into a struggle as Riela was trying to get a shot on the enemy soldier.

The soldier threw a punch at Kurt's face, but Kurt dodged it and it gave Kurt enough time for him to reach for the pistol in his holster and point it at the soldier's head. That caused the solder to stop struggling.

Kurt got off the soldier and pulled him up. Without removing the pistol from the soldier's head, Kurt motioned Riela to search him. Riela shouldered her rifle and began to search the soldier. Once she was done, she looked at Kurt and shook her head. Nothing.

"Where is the mayor and his family?" Kurt asked the enemy soldier. The soldier gave him a stare before chuckling.

"That traitor and people like him got what they deserved," the soldier answered.

"What do you mean by that?" Kurt asked.

"Just as I said, why don't you go look for yourself?"

"Where are they?" Kurt repeated. The soldier then motioned him to the door on the other side of the room.

"Thirteen, guard the prisoner. If he moves, shoot him," Kurt said. Riela nodded and Kurt made his way to the door. The door opened and showed a flight of stairs leading towards the basement. As Kurt descended the stairs, a strong smell hit him as he got closer to the basement. He put a hand over his nose and mouth to cover the smell.

As he reached the basement, he could hear flies and his heart sunk. He saw the light switch and a part of him didn't want to turn it on. But he had no choice as their mission was the save the mayor and his family. So, he slowly reached for the light switch and turned it on.

The sight that greeted him almost made him throw up.

Inside the basement, were the bodies of the mayor as well as the rest of his family, which from the report that he read was his wife and three children. Judging from the wounds all over their bodies, they were machine gunned down. There bodies were not the only ones there as there were about ten more bodies and it wasn't just men but also women and even children. Judging from the smell and the decomposition of some of the bodies, some of the bodies were there for a while.

Kurt made his way back upstairs, feeling sick all the way. As he got up, he was greeted with Riela having a shocked look on her face and Andrew who was beating the shit out of the prisoner.

Kurt overcame his sickness and rushed to pull Andrew off the prisoner, who was beat up with what looks like a broken nose and busted eye.

"Twenty-Eight, that is enough! He is a prisoner of war," Kurt said as he held Andrew back.

'Fuck that! He and his disgusting friends massacred everyone in town," Andrew explained himself as he finally calmed down and got out of Kurt's grip.

"What are you talking about?" Andrew pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to Kurt. Kurt took and began to read what was on the paper. The paper was a set of orders that were to secure the town and to link up with a German advance force that would come from Vasel. Kurt then became shocked as he reached the end of the paper to see that there were also orders to kill everyone in town before the Gallians could retake the town.

"They saw that most of the townsfolk and the mayor did not like the idea that Gallia should belong to Germany, so they decided to just kill everyone. And the mass grave where everyone is buried is in the path of the regular army's path," Andrew stated.

"In that case, we need to let the others know. How did your attack go?" Kurt asked Andrew.

"Things went as well as expected. Everyone is fine, they are outside, guarding the perimeter."

"Any prisoners?" Andrew looked at Kurt for a minute and then slowly shook his head. Kurt understood why.

Gusurg looked through the porthole of the tank and saw another enemy tank, a Panzer 2, entered the battle and fired its 20mm gun at the regular army and militia troops.

"Antonio, tank at our 12 o'clock," Gusurg relayed over the radio.

"I see the bastard," Antonio replied and squeezed the trigger. The 88mm high-velocity gun fired a AP shell, hitting the Panzer 2 head-on, destroying the tank and throwing the turret away by 10 meters.

"That should be the last of them. Unless they are hiding anything else," Gusurg said. Him along with the rest of the Nameless squad that was not a part of the attack, which are Imca, Amy, Felix, Leila, Serge and Deit. At first the regular army and militia forces had a hard time penetrating the defenses but thanks to the Nameless leading at the front, the Gallian forces eventually broke through.

The enemy forces that met them were tough as all of them fought to their last breath, quite fanatically Gusurg would add. In fact, it was as if that they didn't even want to surrender at all.

Upon seeing that there was no one else, Gusurg took off his headset and opened the hatch. Poking his head out, he took in the fresh air, or as fresh as it can be after a battle. Antonio also opened his hatch to let some air out from the tank.

Gusurg then saw Amy approach him with the radio in hand.

"Six, Seven is on the line. He says he needs to talk to you. He sounded urgent," Amy said. Gusurg took the radio from her and answered.

"Go ahead, Seven."

"Six, what is your status?"

"We just finished up the enemy troops here. They fought to the last man. The regular army and militia troops are securing the area."

"Six, listen to me! We found intel at our locations. You need to know that-"it was at this moment that Gusurg heard a scream. Not a scream of someone getting wounded but more from a horrified scream.

"What the hell was that?" Gusurg said as everyone also looked at the direction of the scream. A few soldiers and militia troops ran to the area of the scream, weapons drawn.

"Six, can you hear me? Are you there?" Gusurg could hear Kurt ask over the radio.

"Wait a minute Seven. I think something is happening," Without another word, Gusurg gave Amy the radio back.

He then went back to the tank and pulled out a submachine gun from his seat.

"Fifteen, stay here with a Hundred and Forty-Five. The rest of you with me," Gusurg said. Amy and Serge nodded as Gusurg along with Imca, Felix, Leila and Deit also made their way to the area of the scream. As the rounded the corner, they saw that a group of troops were just standing around something.

"What is going on?" Felix asked. No one answered but some people did turn towards them but their faces had looks of horror and shock.

Curiosity got to him and Gusurg made this way through the crowd to see what they were looking at.

He would come to regret this decision.

What he saw was an open air market but instead of stalls that would sell food or trinkets, instead those were all cleared and now what he was seeing were the bodies of the townsfolk. All of them were lined up and then shot at. What made Gusurg even more sick were that there was no distinction between Darcsens and non-Darcsens. Everyone was shot, even the women and children.

"Did the enemy do this?" Gusurg asked.

"What do you think? She was the one that found them all," the soldier pointed to one of the female soldiers that was leaning against a nearby building with a shocked look with others trying to comfort her, "This isn't even all of them. Apparently, they even burned some of the bodies over there."

The soldier then pointed to other side of the market and noticed that there were charred remains with the smoke still wafting into the air.

"They were trying to get rid of the evidence," the soldier concluded. Gusurg could only nod as he looked over the scene. He turned to see Felix looking shocked and mad at the same time, Leila also just gritted her teeth and gripping her whip with enough force that it could snap, Imca also looked pissed along with Deit.

It was then that Kurt and Andrew also turned the corner and saw the massacre scene.

Gusurg saw them and before he could say anything, Andrew beat him to the punch, "We got intel that they had massacred everyone in town and were trying to tell you over the radio." Gusurg could only nod as he looked back at the scene before him.

"We should at least bury them," Gusurg said. Kurt agreed.

"I will order the squad to help. Some people from grave registration are on their way to help as well. They spent too long out here in the open. They deserve peace."

Annika still couldn't believe it. It took them about 2 hours and with the help from the regular army and militia troops, were able to bury the townsfolk in a nearby field. Annika was standing over a grave, one that belonged to a little girl. There was no way to find out who was who so a simple cross was placed above where each person was buried.

"What was the point of all of this?! Just indiscriminately killing everyone for now reason, other than they wanted to join the Germans," Felix stated, frustrated about all of this.

"Well, we couldn't take any prisoners, thanks in part most of them fought to the last, but yeah what would this have done for their cause?" Guilio also noted.

"I heard that some escaped but there won't be any place safe for them. I will hunt them all down if I must," Leila stated as she cracked her riding crop.

Annika didn't say anything to them as they talked. Instead, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again.

"The town is in ruins. Even the children are dead," Annika muttered to herself. She then noticed that someone walked up to her from behind and turned to see it was Gloria.

"Annika, this is the strength you were pursuing," Gloria stated solemnly. It was at that moment that she understands what Gloria was trying to say before the battle. Annika didn't reply so Gloria continued.

"This strength, if you don't know how to use it, you'll just bring trouble to others. What if a three-year-old picks up a gun? This is the same thing." Gloria then placed a hand on Annika's shoulder.

"If you want to pursue strength, find it the right way. Otherwise," Gloria then motioned towards the town, "you'll end up just like the rebels."

'How?!" Annika cried, shocked that Gloria could say that.

"I don't want to see you become like them. You are still young; you have many painful experiences to endure. Have a strong hear to endure it."

"A strong heart?" Annika asked.

"Remember, that is justice," Gloria replied with a smile and took out her pipe for a smoke.

"Justice… ah!" Annika then finally realized what Gloria meant but before she could reply, Kurt called of them.

"Everyone, get ready to leave. We are heading out soon!" Kurt stated to everyone.

"What is the rush? We just finished a tough fight?" Cedric asked.

"The Gallian Army and multiple militia squads just launched an attack on Vasel Bridge. They took losses but were able to make it to the bridge. But they need reinforcements, so they called us," Andrew answered him.

"They need our help to retake Vasel and this will be the first major victory our forces will get since the start of this war. The units we fought with will handle the cleanup here. I know that everyone…. Are shaken from what we just saw but we need to move forward so that we can make sure that this doesn't happen again in Gallia." Kurt said to everyone. With the determination of preventing this from happening again, everyone got ready to head out.

Vasel awaits them.

Soooooo, it has been awhile. Life really took a toll on me with a mix of school and personal life. But do not worry, I have not forgotten this fanfic. Since this was my first fanfic, I will continue to write this fanfic, even if takes forever. I will try to update more frequently but I can't promise anything other than that it won't take me another year to update this story. Hope you all enjoy the new chapter and see you all next time.