VILE FRANCOIS PLOT THWARTED IN ARENE !
Yesterday, our war against the Francois Republic, which our ancient enemy started out of petty fear and naked greed, reached a new unprecedented low.
Our more academically-minded readers will no doubt know that the city of Arene hasn't always rested within the borders of our Empire. Up until the previous conflict between the Reich and the Francois Republic, Arene belonged to the latter, but was granted to the Empire along with its surrounding territories as part of the peace treaty both countries signed and swore to abide by.
But as the Republic already proved with its cowardly, unprovoked attack in the Rhine, its leaders regard such things as treaties as little more than suggestions. And, it seems, even the international laws seeking to restrict warfare in order to minimize its inevitable human cost aren't sacred to the opportunistic, war-mongering commanders of the Francois Army.
According to this journalist's sources in the Imperial Army, yesterday afternoon, Francois aerial mages attempted an attack on the complex railway hub through which so much of the supplies our troops on the Rhine front need pass. That much could be seen as mere good tactics, for to strike at the enemy logistics has long been part of the art of war. But that wasn't all, oh no !
In a move of breathtaking callousness, the Republic manipulated the people of Arene, men without even the most basic military training, to take up arms and rise in insurrection against the Empire. Needless to say, the use of such irregular combatants is a gross violation of the laws of war, to say nothing of the fact the Republic clearly sought to use the people of Arene as human shields, relying on the Empire's unwillingness to attack a city full of civilians, only a portion of whose had joined the uprising.
One can all too easily imagine the cold, monstrous calculation that went through the minds of Francois high command. Either the Empire did nothing, and our troops would be starved of food and ammo and be promptly crushed or forced to withdraw, leaving the industrial heartland of our nation defenceless, or we would move in force to retake Arene, and they would cry out to the other powers about our violent response, nevermind the fact that they orchestrated it all ! Truly, the hypocrisy of the Republican generals knows no bound.
The situation could easily have escalated into such a bloodbath, but thankfully this was not to be. Though the exact details are yet obscure and an investigation is ongoing, we know that the aerial mages dispatched by the Republic to enact this criminal scheme were defeated by Imperial elite soldiers travelling through the very railway hub they aimed to destroy.
Yet even in defeat, these so-called liberators lashed out against the very city they claimed to be here to save, setting entire buildings ablaze with their reckless use of destructive spells before finally being brought down or fleeing in disgrace. At the sight of this wanton destruction, the partisans they had incited were shocked out of their bloodlust, and laid down their arms to assist in saving the city they loved so much they were willing to kill and die for it from the flames.
At the time of publishing, Arene is still on lock down, with few communications in and out being allowed while the Imperial Army Logistics corps work to rebuild the damage inflicted on the railway hub as well as suppressing the fires and handling the flow of wounded civilians.
What this unconscionable acts will mean for the recent string of victories won by the Imperial Army on the Rhine front, as well as for the future of Arene, is unclear at the moment. We have reached out to one of the history experts of the Berun Institute …
Excerpt from the front-page of the Berun Post, May 5th, 1925
CRUEL IMPERIAL OPPRESSION IN ARENE ESCALATES !
Ever since our beloved Republic declared its war of liberation to thwart the expansionist ambitions of the Empire, one of its stated goals has been the liberation of the lands that were unjustly torn from its embrace the last time Republican and Imperial armies clashed on the field of battle.
Within these lands stands the city of Arene, and despite decades of oppression, its inhabitants still remember their roots. They have kept their Francois heritage alive, defiantly continuing to proudly wear the culture of their blood in the open, and rejecting the subversive efforts of their conquerors. For this, the people of Arene have suffered, as the Empire cannot tolerate dissent within its borders; yet still the people of Arene endured, waiting for the right time.
That time, it seemed, was yesterday, when like our ancestors once did they bravely took up arms to claim their freedom from tyranny. They made no secret of their intentions, broadcasting their call for revolution across all frequencies using radios seized from the Imperial oppressor. The streets of Arene were full of men, women and children rising up in the name of freedom. In the trenches of the Rhine, our valiant soldiers took heart as Arene's cry reached them, their faith that the flame of the Republic's greatness can never be extinguished renewed once more.
Alas, it was not to be. Less than an hour after the song of defiance had begun, it was silenced in steel, blood and fire. All civilian radio transmissions from Arene have fallen silent, and one shudders to imagine the unspeakable acts that surely the denizens must be subjected to in the hands of the Imperial state police, now given a pretext to unleash the full range of its cruelty upon its recalcitrant subjects.
Yet even with the imposed blackout on communications and armed guards stationed around the city, no doubt with orders to shoot anyone trying to escape, the Imperial warmachine still couldn't conceal the plumes of smoke rising from Arene, testament to the violence visited upon the city. It is not difficult to imagine what happened : how, when faced with the prospect of losing one of the Kaiser's prizes, the Imperial Army unleashed their killers upon the city. No amount of Republican fervor, after all, can help someone armed only with his courage stand up to an aerial mage raining death from above. How many civilians did the Empire ruthlessly slaughter before the rest were forced to submit to protect their loved ones ? God only knows, I am afraid.
This outrage cannot stand, and will not stand. The Empire has shown its true face once more, and all civilized nations must come together to put an end to its atrocities once and for all. Only when the Republican flag flies over Berun and the Kaiser's armies have been crushed will peace return to a continent freed of the threat of Imperial expansion and oppression, the two facets of the same coin that, yesterday, fell upon Arene like the Devil's own cruel hammer.
Earlier this week, Councilor-in-exile Abensoll expressed his worry for the people of Legadonia, who were left defenceless after their soldiers were forced to leave their fatherland behind to continue the fight abroad, their exemplary valor and courage no longer enough to balance the Empire's devilish warmachine. And now that we know the Imperials are willing to set fire to cities that refuse to submit, what horrors await the people of Legadonia who were unable to flee ahead of the Empire's merciless advance ?
In this dark hour, we must redouble our support to the war effort. Recruitment stations are still open, and for those unable to participate directly in the protection of the Republic, buying war bonds remains possible …
Excerpt from the front-page of La Flamme de Parisée, May 5th, 1925
May 6th, 1925 – Imperial City Arene
Colonel Eric von Lergen did his best to conceal his nerves as he descended from the military train into the still-rebuilding train station. Construction crews were hard at work all around him, replacing damaged track sections and rebuilding the various elements of the station that had been damaged during the battle three days prior.
A young man in a standard Imperial uniform with a Lieutenant's insignia saluted him. At first glance, there was nothing that distinguished him from any of the hundreds of young recruits Lergen had seen in recent years, yet the Colonel still felt a shiver of unease as he approached – there was something … wild about the young man, a sense of restrained power and violence simmering just below the surface.
"Colonel Lergen," the blond man greeted him. "Welcome to Arene. If you'll follow me, your car is waiting to bring you to the Major."
"Thank you, Lieutenant … ?"
"Warren Grantz, sir. I'm part of Unit W under the Major."
Unit W. Projekt W. Werwolf. Oh, joy. He was going to be driven around by one of the shape-shifting supersoldiers responsible for their unprecedented success on the Rhine Front of late. If he remembered their spec sheet correctly, and he did, then the man in front of him was capable of tearing a tank apart with his bare hands when in his battle form.
"Then let us be on our way, Lieutenant Grantz," he said, showing none of the discomfort he felt.
"Yes, sir. By the way, the Major apologizes for not coming to welcome you in person, but she's still recovering from the battle."
Lergen frowned at that. "Was she injured ? There was nothing about that in her preliminary report." Of course, that report had been frustratingly light on details, which given that the Republic had clearly known where and when to find her Lergen could hardly blame her for.
"Not … injured, per say. But she definitely isn't in a state to stroll around the city. You'll see for yourself soon."
As they drove through the city, Lergen watched through the car's window. If he had to described Arene in one word, it would be 'quiet'. Far quieter than he'd expected it to be, in fact. If not for the traces of the battle they passed by (cordoned off sections of the road that were damaged, the burned-out husks of buildings, and other, subtler signs), they could have been in any other city the Colonel had visited in his career, rather than one that had been the site of a partisan uprising and a fierce magical battle only two days ago.
There was a crowd gathered around the Kalerian Cathedral, and Grantz parked some distance away. The crowd wasn't hostile, nor was it praying as Lergen would've expected it. Instead, this reminded Lergen of the memorial ceremonies he had attended, mixed with a somewhat festive mood. Several open kitchens had been opened, and people were passing out bowls of food as well as carrying them inside the cathedral itself.
Others were painting night skies reigned over by a moon that seemed somehow wrong to Lergen, with a surprising amount of skill given that their clothings indicated none of them were likely to work in an artistic profession. The snippets of conversation Lergen could hear (the locals spoke both Imperial and Francois, but the Colonel was fluent in both) often mentioned someone or something called the 'Lady of Stars'. He also heard several complain about the war, which was common enough, but more surprisingly the people here seemed to be blaming the Republic for starting it.
Also surprisingly, the people of Arene didn't send any angry looks at the two men in uniform walking among them. Lergen knew that anti-Imperial sentiment had been quite strong in the city, but even the most loyalist of Imperial towns could've been forgiven for some degree of resentment after a battle had been fought inside its walls. Instead, the citizens looked upon the two officers with a respect that wouldn't have been out of place in Berun itself.
A few pairs of soldier carrying rifles of a strange design Lergen had never seen before were stationed around the Cathedral, keeping watch on the crowd for any sign of violence. Judging by the nod of greeting Lieutenant Grantz sent in their direction and their curious gear, they were probably Division Y personnel, dispatched to Arene alongside the Wunderwaffe the Major had requested permission to deploy. Given that their usual posting would be Castle Schwartzstein itself, Lergen could only imagine they were used to much weirder events happening on the regular.
"You may want to take a look at this one, sir," said Grantz quietly, pointing at one of the artists in particular, around whom several dozens people had gathered to watch her work.
The artist couldn't be more than ten years old, but her work was perhaps the most vivid of all those on display. It showed a human silhouette made of night sky, with stars shining within it, fighting against winged figures against a backdrop that had to be Arene burning. Lergen supposed this must be the 'Lady of Stars' he'd heard about. The painting's artistic value was matched only by how disturbing it was to have something like that painted by a child.
Something was definitely going on here that hadn't made its way into the preliminary reports. But what exactly, Lergen had no idea.
"That is impressive work," the Colonel admitted, "but apart recommending her to a good art school in Berun, what do you expect me to take from that ?"
"The Major will explain," was all the answer he got as the Lieutenant brought him inside the cathedral proper.
Inside, the Cathedral had been converted into a temporary shelter for the citizens whose homes had been destroyed during the battle as well as a makeshift hospital. Due to the city's position near the front, its hospitals were already overflowing with wounded soldiers, so all but the most gravely injured citizens had been brought here instead. Civilian doctors and nurses worked alongside military medical personnel, with volunteers pitching in to carry supplies, bring food and water to the wounded, change bandages, and other such tasks.
Lieutenant Grantz led Lergen to a door leading to a side-room. After knocking, announcing himself, and being told by a muffled voice to come in, he opened the door and the two officers entered.
A feminine figure in a full uniform with a gas mask stood ramrod straight behind a wheelchair, and Lergen felt the hairs on his neck rise as he recognized the woman for one of the Untoten, the flying killers responsible for the Empire's crushing victory in Legadonia. She saluted him as he entered, but kept one hand on the handles of the wheelchair.
And there, on the wheelchair, was Major Degurechaff. Her eyes were covered by a blindfold, but she still raised her head as Lergen entered. At the sight of her, still clad in her uniform under the blanket covering her legs, Lergen was once more struck by how small and fragile she looked, despite all that he knew she was capable of. What little of her skin he could see was even paler than he remembered.
"Major," Grantz announced, "I've brought Colonel Lergen as ordered."
"Thank you, Lieutenant," she said in a voice that betrayed her exhaustion. "Please keep watch outside and make sure nobody is listening in on us."
The Werwolf saluted and left the room, leaving Lergen alone with one of the Empire's most dangerous weapons as well as a vampire mage.
"Hello, Colonel. Sorry for not getting up to salute you."
"Hello, Major. Don't worry, under the circumstances, that's more than alright. But Lieutenant Grantz told me you hadn't been injured ?"
"I wasn't, not exactly. I'll need time and special attention to fully recover, though."
"And … your eyes," Lergen asked hesitantly. "Are they … ?"
"I am not blind, Colonel, don't worry," she reassured him, before gesturing at her face. "This blindfold is here for the protection of others, not mine."
"The protection of others ?" Lergen repeated, confused.
"You saw the paintings outside, right ? The ones about the 'Lady of Stars' ?"
"I did," Lergen said slowly. "The Lieutenant specifically directed my attention to them on the way here. Why ?"
"Because that's me."
"… I beg you pardon ?"
"When the Republic attacked the city in support of the partisan uprising they orchestrated, I used a serum that transformed me into what you saw painted. A huge humanoid form seeming to be made from the night sky. When the serum's effect ended, I returned to normal, but not completely."
"You used a Projekt without authorization ?" Given the situation, she could hardly be court-martialled for it, but it was still a worrying sign. Lergen knew more than one officer at Headquarters worried that the Major was going to go on a rampage with Division Y's arsenal, and how hard it would be to stop her if that happened. He knew, because he was one of them : that scenario often haunted his nightmares.
"It wasn't a Projekt : it hadn't even been tested yet. When faced with the Eikons and with no way of escape, I took the risk of injecting myself with an enhancement serum we'd recently designed."
"You injected yourself with an untested serum ?" asked Lergen, appalled. The girl squirmed in her seat, looking ashamed.
"I know, I know. It was incredibly risky and even more unprofessional of me. But I didn't have a choice. It was either that or death, and then the serum would either have been destroyed or taken by the enemy … so, in the heat of the moment …"
"You are already paying the price for your recklessness," Lergen cut in, "so I think we'll ignore that for now. What were those Eikons you mentioned ?"
"I refuse to call them 'angels'," Degurechaff spat, "nor will I dignify these brutes with the title of knight."
She described them to Lergen, whose blood ran cold at the thought that the Republic had somehow found a way to create their own supersoldiers. How could Intelligence fail to notice that ? Wait, nobody in the Republic had known about Division Y either until the war started. Maybe neither side's spies had thought it plausible that their enemy would research such ludicrous-sounding concepts.
"We have secured the bodies of the ones who died during the battle," Degurechaff continued while Lergen was having an internal crisis. "They will be shipped off to Castle Schwartzstein for study as soon as possible. Several of them managed to escape, so we have to expect to face them in future battles against the Republic."
"We'll need all the intel we can get about them," agreed Lergen. "You're confident your people can find something useful ? From your descriptions, these Eikons are quite different from the sort of stuff Division Y usually works with."
"The Eikons may be shinier, but they still proved inferior products in the end. We will follow all proper procedures, but I'm sure we'll find out something useful from cutting their corpses apart."
Suddenly, Lergen was hit by the thought that he was discussing the dissection of angel-like beings with a little blindfolded girl sitting in a wheelchair inside a Cathedral, with her vampire bodyguard listening on the conversation while a werewolf kept watch outside. This was definitely not what he had signed up for when he had joined the Army.
Well, at the very least the fact they hadn't all been struck dead by lightning so far was a good sign. And none of the supersoldiers appeared affected by standing on consecrated ground either, come to think of it. Something to note for later, if it ever came down to a propaganda battle with the Republic.
She continued with a detailed report about what had happened, starting with the arrival of the Eikons and ending with her collapsing in the Kalerian Cathedral after killing most of the attackers and forcing the rest to flee. The more she spoke, the more Lergen could feel his stomach twist painfully in his guts. All in all, he couldn't deny that she'd behaved like a true hero of the Empire, up to sending her own bodyguard away to assist with the wider tactical situation.
"What exactly was that serum you used to fight the Eikons ?" he asked when she was done.
"In the instructions we used to create it, the serum is called Kosmosblut. I am not going to bore you with the detail, but it is incredibly difficult to prepare, requiring the mixture of specific reagents and the exposure of the resulting solution to very precise frequencies of light and sound for extended periods of time. What I used was the only dose our alchemists had produced by the time I left Castle Schwartzstein for the Rhine."
"Kosmosblut, Blood of the Cosmos …" A disturbing thought struck Lergen. "Any relation to Projekt K ?"
"Of course not !" Degurechaff immediately replied, sounding genuinely outraged that he would even suggest such a thing. "I would never deploy Projekt K inside a city, be it Imperial or Republican ! If not for the fact the Francois had already deployed their own magically-enhanced supersoldiers, I would never have used the Kosmosblut either. I only took it with me because there was no time to properly secure it before my departure, and I was worried the researchers would get over-enthusiastic and try to test it in my absence."
"That is quite the lucky coincidence," Lergen remarked. "If you hadn't had it with you when the Francois attacked …"
"Yes," she said, her face looking like she'd just bitten into a lemon. "Quite the coincidence indeed."
"Alright," the Colonel said. "That is quite a lot to take in, and I can see why you didn't put that in the report you sent over the telegram, especially since our enemies have proven they can intercept our communications. But to come back to our starting point, this doesn't tell me why you think you need to hide your eyes to protect others. I can understand needing to conceal changes that most would find frightening, but that's not the same thing."
There was a pause, as the Major visibly struggled to find her words for the first time since Lergen had met her.
"You have seen the state of the city," she finally said. "Did anything strike you as strange ?"
"Well, now that you mention it, the people of Arene appear remarkably calm and peaceful, given the circumstances. I would have expected a lot more simmering resentment. The Republic might have started the trouble, but I'd assumed they would still blame the Empire for the consequences."
"Nationalism is a powerful mind-warper," agreed the Major. "But, it turns out, it's not the only such business in town. Look at the table next to you : there should be a pamphlet on it. Please read it."
Lergen did as she said, his blood running cold as the implications of the rant printed on the cheap paper set in. When he was done, he put the pamphlet back down as if it were a live grenade.
"Major Degurechaff," he said at last. "Did you just start a cult ?!"
"It wasn't on purpose !" she all but whined. "Our working theory is that my transformed aspect inflicted some kind of mental contamination to all those who saw it. That's why I ordered the quarantine of the city and the blackout on communication until we were sure it can't spread. And even after I returned to normal, my eyes were still weird, so …"
Lergen thought for a moment, then said, as firmly as he could : "Show me."
"Colonel ?" She sounded genuinely surprised.
"Show me," he repeated. "I'm familiar enough with your methodology to know you haven't tested whether you are still capable of this mental contamination and chose to err on the side of caution. That is commendable, but the Reich needs you at full capacity, and you can't do that while deliberately blinding yourself."
"But you might end up brainwashed or something !" she protested. Lergen smiled bitterly.
"Major, if you accidentally mind-controlled an entire city, then we have much, much worse problems than that. We need to know whether what happened to the citizens is really some kind of supernatural effect or a quote-unquote natural result of witnessing such an apocalyptic battle. It's not as if there are a lot of psychological studies on the subject."
Lergen was aware that he was being uncharacteristically reckless here, of course. But the mere thought of what the Major was suggesting was a diplomatic nightmare. Forget the vampires and werewolves, forget the destruction of the Dacian Army and all the fears of the other nations about the rise of the Empire as a continental superpower : if the other powers suspected the Empire could bend the minds of others into accepting their sovereignty, then there would be nothing they would stop to in order to destroy them utterly. And truth be told, Lergen couldn't blame them. The very notion of such violation of Man's sacred free will was deeply revolting.
"But … alright. On your own head be it."
She reached up hesitantly and pulled her blindfold down, revealing her closed eyes to Lergen. Then she opened them, revealing two black orbs in which swam entire galaxies. Lergen felt himself pulled in, and a crushing sense of futility fell upon him at once. They were so small, all of them, the soldiers and the Empire and even the entire world. Less than a speck in the immensity of the cosmos, and yet they spent so much time, effort and blood fighting each other for such stupid reasons …
But then, he had already known that, hadn't he ? He had spent enough time fighting in the pre-war border skirmishes against the Legadonian Entente to know the brutality of war. Lergen had joined the Army to do his duty, to protect the Fatherland and its people, because he genuinely believed in its meritocratic and scientific values. The Reich wasn't perfect, of course, but that just meant it was up to its citizens to work to improve it. And humans might be small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but they were still alive, and still struggled for a happiness they couldn't even define most of the time. And regardless of what the universe said, that mattered.
Eric von Lergen blinked, and the pull of the Major's gaze vanished. He was back in the side-room of the Kalerian Cathedral, shaken but still himself as far as he could tell.
"So ?" Degurechaff asked after replacing her blindfold.
"I do not think I would call it brainwashing as the concept is understood in popular media," he said slowly.
"You don't feel any different ?" Degurechaff sounded like she was containing her relief, which was good, since it meant she understood how wrong it would be to mind-control people. "I mean, the Imperial soldiers didn't seem as affected as the locals, but even they confessed to being shaken somewhat."
"No, I feel fine. Of course, I didn't get the full effect, but perhaps the Imperial mindset is less susceptible to that kind of shock, as we are generally less spiritual than the Republic." That wasn't to say the Empire wasn't religious, of course, but it did tend to a more pragmatic approach to religion compared to its neighbours, especially in the last few decades with the rise of the scientific approach to magic. "The quarantine should probably continue until you can bring in some experts and we have done some damage control. Have there been any incidents related to this ?"
"No. So far, the effects on the population it seems limited to rejecting the Republic, which given they set fire to the city and planned to use its people as meat shields is understandable, and wanting the war to end, which everyone wants apart from the arms merchants on both sides." Much as Lergen would have liked to call that excessive cynicism, he couldn't. "It's the religious undertones that worry me. There haven't been any actual gatherings of this Path of Stars, unless you count the crowd outside the Cathedral."
"Well, the Empire guarantees freedom of religion so long as no laws are breached," Lergen shrugged. "We'll have to make sure nobody links you to the Lady of Stars, unless you'd enjoy being a figure of worship ?"
To Lergen's great relief, Degurechaff's reaction was one of unrestrained disgust.
"Good," the Colonel continued, ignoring the fact that the words the Major had used to describe what she thought of that weren't something a child her age had any business knowing let alone speaking out loud in an adult's presence. "Now, onto business. When I arrived, I expected to meet you in the local headquarters of the army. Is there a reason why you are staying here instead ?"
"I took refuge here after the battle, and was too exhausted to move. By the time the situation had calmed down, getting me out without anyone noticing would have been more trouble than it's worth. Besides, it's not like the Imperial military doctors in the city can do anything to help."
"In truth, I still find it hard to believe the Republic would go that far," Lergen said, shaking his head.
"I know what you mean," replied the Major. "Striking at the train facilities makes perfect military sense. Timing the attack to happen while I am there recovering Projekt V is also perfectly logical, and yes, they knew I was going to be there and when, so we'll need to check our communications for signs of enemy infiltration. But the uprising, that, I cannot forgive. They planned to use the civilians as human shields, Colonel."
Lergen had thought as much when the first reports had arrived, of course. However repugnant, the Francois scheme had been obvious. What was more surprising was the disgust in the Major's voice as she spoke of it – if anything, Lergen would've expected her to admire the Republic's cold-blooded ruthlessness.
But then again, perhaps he was doing her a disfavor. For all his doubts regarding her character, Lergen had to admit that Degurechaff had always followed the exact letter of the regulations around her, and the Republic's partisan uprising had been a blatant violation of the laws of war covered by the romantic disguise of a heroic popular rebellion.
"If I hadn't been here," she continued, "if the Eikons hadn't shown up but just regular Francois mages, the partisans would have overwhelmed the Imperial Polizei and seized the city easily. And then the Empire would have had to choose between razing Arene to the ground or allowing the complete collapse of the Western Front. Can you honestly tell me, Colonel Lergen, that the Empire wouldn't have chosen to burn a city that had proven to be occupied by irregular troops rather than abandon its soldiers to die ?"
It was truly a nightmarish scenario, and Lergen couldn't reject the possibility out of hand. The Francois plot had truly been despicable, and it would have worked if not for Degurechaff. Hell, based on the damage he'd seen across the city, if the Eikons had focused their efforts on destroying the infrastructure instead of going for the Major, the Empire would have had no choice but to give ground to shorten its supply line or have the soldiers in the trenches fight with fists and harsh language instead of bullets and artillery shells.
"If the Republic is willing to go that far and use their own magically-enhanced supersoldiers, then we have to end the war as quickly as possible, or we might end up with nothing left worth fighting over. Which is why I'm going to have to ask for your help, Colonel Lergen. Visha, please give the box to the Colonel."
The Untote moved from behind the Major, reluctance obvious in her body language. She reached under the small bed and took out a plain metal box not much bigger than a shoebox and handed it over to Lergen, who picked it up cautiously. It wasn't very heavy, but he couldn't stop himself from shivering at its contact. A thick envelope was attached to its top with a wax seal.
"What is this ?" he asked, knowing the answer was unlikely to make him happy.
"This, Colonel, is Projekt V."
Lergen had to stop himself from dropping the box and jumping backward. Unlike Brigadier General Zettour, he didn't know what Projekt V was, but he knew the Major had asked permission to deploy it on the Rhine front in order to bring about a decisive Imperial victory, and the thought of holding a Wunderwaffe in his hands was an unsettling one.
"Why," he asked, doing his best to conceal his feelings, "are you giving me this, Major ?"
"Because now that I am in a state to travel, I have to return to Castle Schwartzstein. The mages there have the expertise needed to assist in my recovery, and more importantly, I need a proper check-up to make sure the after-effects of the Kosmosblut had limited to what seems obvious." She smiled tightly. "I don't want to end up sealed in an underwater temple for the next ten million years, after all."
"… Understandable," replied Lergen, choosing not to think too long about what she meant by that, for the sake of his own peace of mind. "And what does that have to do with giving this to me ?"
"The Imperial Army still needs the support of Division Y to win on the Rhine Front," Degurechaff explained. "With the appearance of the Eikons, the deployment of Projekte U and W is more important than ever, and we must achieve victory before the Republic has a chance to advance its own research into Elder Magic and creates more Eikons, or something even worse. With me not in a state to command the operations of Division Y, someone else has to take charge of its assets."
Oh no. No no no no no, she couldn't possibly be saying …
"Division Y operates under the direct command of the Central Headquarters," she continued mercilessly. "As a representative from Brigadier General Zettour, you have the authority to take over operations on the Rhine while I'm away. The letter attached to the box contains my recommendations on how to use its contents for maximum efficiency, which will require coordination with the Western Army commanders. If you agree, Lieutenant Grantz will help you liaise with the other instances of Projekte U and W on the front."
'If you agree', hah. As if he really had a choice. For months, Central Headquarters had foisted off the responsibility of managing and deploying the Wunderwaffen on a prepubescent girl. Regardless of his misgivings and the burning feeling in his stomach, how could Lergen possibly refuse to bear that burden while she recovered from her efforts to single-handedly save the Empire from being forced into a situation where there wouldn't have been any good choice to make ?
Still, there were some points he needed to clarify.
"Are you assured that your … people, will follow my orders ? I know they have great respect for you, but I am an outsider to Division Y, regardless of the chain of command."
"That won't be a problem," she assured him. "I have trained them well. But if you're worried, you can use Grantz : he's one of our most powerful instances of Projekt W, and the most disciplined."
"Then I'll be relying on the Lieutenant's assistance. Are the details of Projekt V's effects detailed in your notes ?"
"Yes, inasmuch as we understand them. We know what the end result will be and the broad strokes of how that will be achieved, but the nature of the Projekt made it difficult to do precise analysis." She paused, seeming to hesitate. "That section of the note is written on a different paper than the rest. "It might be better for you not to read it, to be perfectly honest, Colonel. The work of Division Y isn't exactly conductive to a resting sleep or a healthy mind, especially for someone like you who hasn't been exposed to it."
"I am touched by your concern for my well-being," Lergen said with a touch of asperity and dry sarcasm, "but if I am to pull the trigger, then I should know exactly what it is the gun I am firing is capable of. That, too, is my duty as a soldier."
"Yes, I suppose it is. Then Visha and I will depart as soon as we can find a train. I wish you luck and success, Colonel Lergen."
"Thank you. You know, when I pushed for your transfer to research group instead of combat, this isn't what I had in mind," Lergen sighed.
She smiled, the first expression he had seen on her face that looked like it belonged on a child her apparent age. Of course, her next words immediately broke that fragile illusion :
"Believe me, Colonel, this isn't the career path I expected for myself either when I volunteered to join the Army. Still, don't think I am not grateful for your efforts to keep me safe from harm, even if that didn't pan out like either of us would have wanted."
Lergen blinked. Was she really saying – no, that was ridiculous. And yet … could it be that, just like she had said the Wunderwaffen were able to twist the minds of people, her own warped nature had been affected by the work of Division Y, making her, if not less disturbing, then less violently so ?
That would be deeply ironic, to be sure. Someone as ruthless and cold-blooded as what he had seen several years ago at the military academy, actually developing a semblance of humanity due to exposure to the dark wonders of Division Y … the poets of the future would get a lot of inspiration from it, if the details ever became public.
Although it would no doubt be a long, long time before the truth about Division Y was ever declassified, if it ever was.
May 7th, 1925 – Parisee – Ministry of Defense
Pierre-Michel De Lugo sat back behind his desk and sighed deeply in relief. The last few hours had been draining to say the least.
He had managed to convince the President not to have him and every other officer who had signed up on the Arene operation demoted, arrested or shot, and though the latter had always been unlikely it had theoretically been within the realms of possibility. Regardless of rank, war crimes (and that was what the Arene operation had been once you stripped all the paint) were punishable by summary execution if circumstances demanded it (which was a fancy way of saying if they didn't work out as intended and you lost). Pointing out that the Holy Knights who had returned from the Imperial trap were still their best shot at fighting the Wunderwaffen on something approaching equal ground had helped, as had off-handedly mentioning the fact that these most powerful of aerial mages seemed to be willing to take orders from him as Vianto's superior, but hadn't shown any sign of doing the same with anyone else.
It had been a shock when the flight of angels had landed in the Ministry's courtyard after dazzling their way through the anti-air forces defending the capital, none of whom had been willing to open fire on or otherwise challenge absurdly powerful but still familiar mana signatures using fully official security codes. After their landing, they had transformed back into their human forms, though their eyes had still blazed with golden holy light, and their skin had become as pale marble, all mortal imperfections smoothed away.
Listening to their tale of what had happened to Arene, De Lugo had felt himself on the verge of a mental breakdown more than once, holding himself together through sheer will, faith, and bloody-mindedness. The confirmation that God was on the side of the Republic had been welcome (in the privacy of his own thoughts, the Vice-Minister could admit that he'd entertained doubts in the dark, sleepless hours of the night), but it was unfortunate that mere men were flawed vessels for His power. Had Vianto and his men been in full possession of their faculties during the operation, De Lugo was certain the outcome would have been much different – but then again, who was he to question the will of the Lord ?
And now at least they knew the name of their enemy, the head of Division Y and source of all their woes. Tanya Degurechaff, the Devil's apostle on Earth, a monster disguised as an innocent-looking child who had led the Empire down the path of perdition and who could face off twelve Holy Knights and emerge victorious, defiling the very steps of a Cathedral with their blood in the process.
All was not lost, however. While the liberation of Arene had failed, Vianto and his Holy Knights had still dealt a blow to Imperial logistics by damaging the city's railway, and forced the witch to use the Wunderwaffe with which she intended to crush the Republic in the Rhine prematurely. They needed to use the time bought by Vianto and the others' sacrifice wisely. The rest of the Republic's military leadership were despairing over the failure of their operation on Arene, but they were fools, lacking in vision and audacity. Yes, the stated goal of Vianto's deployment had failed, but the opportunities it had revealed were still there, waiting to be seized.
De Lugo had asked the Archbishop what he needed to bless more Francois with the might of the Lord. The old man had assured him that the only requirement was for men of faith and magical power : the latter so that they would know the basics of how to wield His boons, and the former so that they wouldn't be destroyed by them. Even then, Beauvais had been clear that the Second Wing of Special Operations had been especially blessed, and that those who would follow in their footsteps wouldn't come with the same divine guarantee of being suitable.
Those chosen to become Holy Knights would pay a price for the power to defend their homeland, but De Lugo knew there would be no issue at all with finding volunteers among the Francois mage corps. State and Church might have been separated in recent years, but the Republic was still a nation of faith, and none would turn from the choice of laying down their lives in its defense.
In the time the Second Wing had gained them, the Republic would assemble a true host of Holy Knights. With those, they would slay the Empire's unholy monsters and the witch leading them, and claim eternal glory for the Francois Republic. Beyond the joy that went with doing the Lord's work, nobody would question the Empire's dismantling once the corruption of its leadership was revealed. At long last, the threat to Francois would be removed from the nation's border.
This was God's will, and De Lugo would see it done no matter the cost.
May 10th, 1925 – Londinium
The Round Table met once more, in the same well-furnished room where they had convened after the fall of the Osfjord. Unfortunately, the reason for that meeting still wasn't any good news, although whether the news were as bad as they had been last time was subject to debate. Various documents were spread across the table, from mundane newspapers to confidential reports that would need to be burned after the meeting was over.
"You are certain there is absolutely no chance this mess in Arene will be linked to us ?" Kay asked Agravain.
"None whatsoever," the group's spymaster assured him. "We withdrew our last operative in the city weeks ago, the moment we caught wind of the Republic's plan. If the uprising had worked and Arene had been liberated, the last thing we'd have wanted was to give the Empire the excuse of the whole thing having been orchestrated by 'foreign elements'. There was a few exchanges where we handed over the keys to a handful of safehouses we kept that could be used to store smuggled weapons in preparation, but that's it."
"That's all well and good," scowled Mordred, "but that means our only source of information is this report De Lugo passed on to us. And we're lucky to have even that. Agravain, can you confirm that De Lugo isn't just feeding us a bucket of hogwash in the hope of making us join the war openly ?"
The Vice-Minister's message, discreetly passed on to their agents in Parisee, had claimed that the operation had failed due to the Empire deploying the Wunderwaffe it had meant to use to break the Republican Army on the Rhine Front once and for all. It also claimed to have identified one of Division Y's members by name, though it didn't say just how De Lugo had come by that information.
"We know that something happened in Arene, that much is clear," replied Agravain. "I haven't yet succeeded in getting people inside, but that's just a matter of time. Keeping a city sealed up is far more difficult nowadays than in the days where there were walls around every settlement. However, I can confirm that the wild rumors that the Imperials burned Arene to the ground are unfounded. The city is still very much there, and what damage there was appears to be minimal. There also doesn't seem to be anything violent going on, though my observers have noted a consistent congregation around the Kalerian Cathedral – but the Imperials haven't dispersed it either."
"Which means we can't even use this disaster to brand the Empire the enemy of the world," sighed Mordred. "What about the other part of De Lugo's message, about the identity of Division Y's chief of operations in the Rhine ?"
"Tanya Degurechaff," nodded Agravain, speaking the almost stereotypically Imperial name slowly. "I will get my people on the case, have them find everything about her. One good thing about the Imperial bureaucracy is that it keeps records on everything. If we are lucky, something will have slipped through the cracks when they classified her past that can lead us to Division Y. We'll need that kind of intel in the war."
"Are we ready to join the war, then ?" asked Mordred.
"As much as we can be," shrugged Kay. "The troops are mustered, the stockpiles are full, and we've recalled as much of the Navy as we can without compromising our interests in the colonies. There is always more than can be done to prepare, of course, but if you chase perfection you'll never get anything done. High command is putting the final touches on our deployment plans as we speak – mostly blockading the Empire, keeping them from landing troops on the mainland, and supporting the Republic where we can. What about Legadonia ?"
"We have made contact with the groups unwilling to accept the Imperial occupation," said Agravain with a slight scowl. "Welding them together into something usable was a challenge, let me tell you, but we got it done. They are planning to announce their existence to the Empire in a big, noticeable way soon, which should divert some resources over there at the very least, and help us secure a foothold for our own forces eventually."
"So all we need is for the Republic to hold on a little longer and we should be able to divide the Empire's efforts once more," concluded Mordred.
"That's not the only thing we need," Kay reminded them. "Unless we figure out a counter to the Wunderwaffen, throwing our hat into the ring is only going to get a lot of men killed without achieving anything but cement the Empire's position as a continental hegemon."
They had all watched the copy of the Republican recording showing the Imperial monsters at work in the Rhine. Once, they would have dismissed it at an obvious fabrication, although Merlin would have praised the skills of the mages who had cast the illusions. Now, they couldn't reject anything out of hand, which was a problem for many reasons, the least of which was that the Republic hadn't stopped using propaganda to demonize the Empire, making it harder to distinguish truth from lies.
The idea of sending the Kingdom's soldiers against such horrors as the Devils of the Rhine was far from pleasant. There didn't seem to be a lot of them, which was the only reason they were even contemplating joining the war instead of pressuring the Republic to start drafting the terms of its surrender while it still retained some negotiating power.
But as the Empire had so aptly demonstrated, it knew how to make use of those few it did have to devastating effect. And while De Lugo's message had hinted at the Republic having deployed some kind of counter-weapon (the Secret Services had yet to find out what exactly that meant, though they were on the case, if with a lighter touch than in the Empire), the fact that Arene had still been a monumental failure was a clear sign that the Empire still had the edge in that area.
Right now, their only possible counter was to create so many fronts that the Empire couldn't concentrate the awesome power of its Wunderwaffen on a single opponent, since each deployment of Division Y's work had been months apart – hence their efforts to keep the Republic in the fight and start trouble in Legadonia. The Kingdom's diplomats had also been hard at work trying to persuade the other powers to join in as well, but the Unified States were of two minds on the subject, and trying to get the Russy Federation to do anything was an exercise in madness. As for the other continental powers, the Ildoa Kingdom was infuriatingly neutral, and the Ispagna Collective was too torn by internal political conflicts to get involved either.
"Agravain's people will hopefully find something, even now that Division Y is sure to increase their anti-spying measures in response to what happened in Arene. But we need something now. Merlin ?" asked Mordred. "Do you have anything for us on that regard ?"
"I searched through our entire archive of materials rescued from the Inquisition's pyres," answered Merlin, his words explaining the deep circles under his eyes. The Royal Wizard wasn't getting any younger, and trudging through that pile of old scrolls and books had clearly taxed him – and unfortunately, the nature of the restricted archives meant that he had to do the research on his own, without any assistant. "And while I uncovered some tidbits that should probably be sent to our own magical research divisions, I found nothing anywhere that could even begin to explain the capabilities that the Empire's Wunderwaffen have already displayed."
"Then it is as you first guessed," said Kay, "and the Imperials have developed entirely new spells and uses for magic ?"
"That's what I was going to conclude, yes." Merlin's expression became uneasy. "But just as I was going to throw in the towel, I accidentally stumbled onto something else."
"Accidentally ?" asked Agravain with a raised eyebrow.
"I knocked over a pile of centuries-old books unrelated to my investigation and one of them fell open on a page that immediately drew my attention, once I stopped coughing from all the dust." If Merlin had been less tired, perhaps he would have looked embarrassed by the admission; instead, the old magician looked unsettled, which was at odds with the serene and wise facade that, as the Royal Wizard, was part of the job description.
"Why was it unrelated then ?"
"Because it is older than the Inquisition's purges, centuries older, so it wasn't in my first, second or even sixth search. It was a collection of writings from the Dark Ages, apparently collated by an order of monks to which I found no further reference anywhere. Here," Merlin passed on a sheet of paper to each of his colleagues. "I did my best to translate the relevant passage. Take a look."
There was a moment of silence as the three other members of the Round Table read through the text, and another one as they digested what they had just read. In the end, Mordred was the first to speak :
"Well, that's … ominous. Agravain, you might want to warn your spies to be very careful in their investigation of Degurechaff. Just in case this is more than ignorance and superstition."
"That would probably be best, yes," agreed the spymaster.
"We left the village at dawn, yet when we reached the end of the valley only a few turns of the glass (TN : a few hours) later, a blood moon shone in the sky, and vile stars looked down upon us. There laid the root of the evil that had plagued this land, a nest of beasts and men altered through forbidden magicks, made to possess unnatural forms and power to serve their dark master. I saw men who were beasts, and beasts who were men, and dead things that walked and hungered for life. I saw things I cannot describe, things I cannot remember, and others I wish I could not.
We slew them, though they slew many of us in turn, and finally came upon the figure of the Not-Man (TN : the closest thing to a literal translation would be 'the thing that looked like a man but was not'), by whose hands all these horrors had been made. Its skin was as shadow, not like that of the men of the lands beyond the southern sea but like the darkness of the deepest cavern, and its eyes alight with the very fires of Hell.
Of the three hundred who had left that morning, a third had already fallen, and before the Not-Man was finally slain half our number again had been sent to the Kingdom of God. But we were armed with blessed weapons and fought with the name of the Lord on our lips, and thus there could only be one outcome to this contest. We stood at last victorious, and watched the Not-Man as it expired, cursing us and proclaiming that it would return and wreak terrible vengeance upon our descendants, even should it take a thousand turning of the seasons for it to drag itself out of the darkest pits of Hell where it belonged.
Even with the fire of righteous victory in my belly, I still felt its dying words like a dagger of ice (TN : really just a fancy way of saying 'icicle') in my heart.
At the command of the priest (TN : literally 'blessed one'), we burned the temple/lair/workshop and all its foul contents. Then he salted the ashes and spoke words that made our ears bleed, and which left naught in their wake but dust, that all traces of the Not-Man and its foul works would be erased from the world. As we made our way back, under a sky that was once more mercifully blue, we were told not to speak of what we had seen : the Not-Man's victims were to be remembered as falling prey to evil bandits and feral beasts, lest other wayward souls be tempted to follow in the Not-Man's footsteps.
I know that I am breaking this command by writing these words, but the things I saw that hateful day haunt my nights, and I hope that by consigning them to parchment they may finally leave me be. I pray that (TN : The document ends here, rather abruptly. There is a note written by the copyist in the margins of the manuscript, however, indicating there was blood on the parchment from which this text was copied.)"
Excerpt from the document presented at the Round Table meeting, translated from the source language by the Royal Wizard of the Allied Kingdom, original text dated late ninth to early tenth century.
AN : I promised you a special POV, and it's our boy, Lergen ! Writing the POV of our dear, long-suffering Colonel was very fun. So fun, in fact, that it ended up being the longest POV in this entire story so far.
The translated text at the end was a last-minute addition due to the muse striking again and all but demanding at gunpoint that I add it in rather than just have Merlin sum up what he found out. And yes, that text and its implications are going to be relevant going forward. Also, I didn't even try to make the text look like it was written in 10th century English, because no. Just no. Also, Merlin translated it, so there. There is an in-story reason I didn't have to spend however many hours researching what that would even look like. If someone want to take a go at it in the comments, be my guest.
Next chapter will finally contain the use and reveal of Projekt V in all its terrible glory. But I am going to need to decide where exactly the story will go afterwards on the strategic scale : I have a lot of ideas and I know more or less how the story will end (well, I say 'know', but really it's more a direction, as I fully expect the story and its characters to force a few changes by the time we get there), but the road leading to it is still very much in flux. Right now, I need to decide whether to follow canon or not in regard to the Francois Republic. I am angling toward not, but that means I need to figure out what happens instead of more or less duplicating canon with added eldritch horrors.
Oh well. I will trust in the muse to figure it out. That, and your suggestions, of course. After all, the very concept of Tanya having a mind-warping field in her Lady of Stars form was something suggested by the readers. When I wrote the last chapter, I considered the changes of mind of the last two POVs to be 'natural' reactions to witnessing that sort of eschatological battle, but after everyone on SB assumed Tanya had twisted their minds without realizing it, I decided that made much more sense and shamelessly ran with it. Just like I shamelessly stole the idea of Tanya still having transformed eyes after the effects of the Kosmosblut ran out.
(The process to create the Kosmosblut that Tanya describes, by the way, is ripped off from the creation of Wodan's Blood, also more mundanely called the catalyst, from the comic book series Über.)
One quick question relating to YS lore : I am four volumes in of the LN, and I still haven't found a single mention of the A/B/C/etc ranking of mage potential that I have seen used in the fandom (most especially in A Young Woman Political Record, which was my entry point to the series and that I heartily recommend). Did I just miss it, is it an Anime-only thing (I haven't watched the anime, because my first reaction to Visha's character design was "KILL IT WITH FIRE" and I had other sources to draw from so I never went back to it, even if I probably should at some point), or did the fans make it up wholesale ?
As always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to your comments and suggestions. Also, thanks to Remorseful1 for gifting the last chapter.
Zahariel out.