F.I.N.A.L.L.Y.!.

I know you're all going to be saying that too. For now, I'm just glad that I've finally managed to get this chapter finished. And let me warn you in advance: it's definitely going to be the longest chapter I've ever written. In MS Word 2007, it comes out to 87 PAGES, and over 34000 WORDS! So make sure you set aside an hour or two to read this; it'll take you a while.

Why I was delayed so much? I'll pin the primary blame on Starcraft 2; it's too damn addictive. But other hitches like university issues definitely are contributors as well.

And then as for the chapter itself, I had to get things JUST the way I wanted. Note that with so much that I've written into the chapter, I'm bound to have made some errors or made some line repetitions, so try not to be so stingy about it.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my tenth chapter to Lone Wulf. I highly doubt you'll be disappointed.

Oh, and a cookie to anyone who can find the VC2 easter egg of this chapter.

Chapter 10: Duel of the Hunters

Smoke and screams filled the sky over the capital city of Randgriz. The city's great walls and massive gate had been smashed, destroyed by the enormous Imperial war machine known as Marmota. The land battleship had effortlessly broken through the walls, plowing through them and Randgriz's streets unhindered.

Now the Marmota rested at the foot of Castle Randgriz, sitting before its great spire. The castle courtyard had been left in ruins, and was swarming with elite Imperial soldiers and tanks. Many of the royal guards now littered the castle grounds as corpses. A few maids and stewards were among the dead, having been caught in the crossfire.

At that very moment, inside the pearl-white halls of Castle Randgriz's throne room, Maximilian retracted his right hand as he stood over Princess Cordelia, who winced as she lay on the floor at his feet. A royal knife lay in his left hand, one the princess had tried to stab him with. For her defiance, Maximilian had struck her lightly.

"What delightful barbarism…" Maximilian cooed amusedly, staring down at the princess.

The Imperial prince still found it hard to believe that the girl who lay at his feet, whom he had thought to be a holy descendent of the Valkyrur, was actually a Darcsen. But Cordelia's short dark-blue hair was proof enough of her heritage. Her family, throughout many generations, had played part in an intriguing façade masquerading as descendents of the Valkyrur. In reality, their ancestors had only aided the original Valkyria in their conquest of Gallia. It was ironic, Maximilian thought, and at the same time it was a real problem. He had only believed such a story to be a myth. Now knowing this truth, he would not be able to use the princess to sway the people of Gallia to accept his divine rule. She could easily reveal the truth to them. He would have to resort to conquest rather than divinity. But he knew that despite the revelation of the princess' heritage, he would still get what he came for. A great and ancient weapon, Valkof, lay dormant in Randgriz's spire, waiting to be revived. With it, it wouldn't matter whether or not the people of Gallia accepted him as their king. Fear of annihilation would keep them in line. And with the Valkof, he would be able to take his revenge upon his father, Emperor Reginrave, for the death of his mother.

The prince watched as Cordelia trembled as she tried to stand up. She was surprisingly frail; Maximilian had barely slapped her and already she shook as if she had been nearly beaten to death. Maximilian suspected it was not pain that made her quiver, but fear. Cordelia turned to face Maximilian; he couldn't help but admire how beautiful the sixteen-year-old Darcsen princess was. If anything, her dark-blue hair only accented her beauty, complementing her shadowy blue eyes and smooth skin.

Smirking, Maximilian said, "Do all Gallian brides share your lust for blood, Your Highness?"

Cordelia said nothing, simply returning a cold stare. Yet Maximilian did not waver, for Cordelia's blue eyes betrayed her fear to him. He lifted the knife to her throat slowly, prompting Cordelia to turn her head away from the blade with a short, frightened breath. She was clearly terrified, but at the same time fought her fear of death admirably.

With the blade hovering near her throat, Maximilian said, "Shall I satiate your thirst, then?"

Cordelia shut her eyes, believing Maximilian was going to end her life. To her surprise, the blade moved away from her neck. She slowly opened her eyes again. Horrified, she saw Maximilian advancing on Prime Minister Borg, who was standing nearby under the watch of two Imperial guards. Maximilian's movements were measured and ominous in Cordelia's eyes.

"P-Prince Maximilian, wait! Have I not shown my loyalty to you?" Borg pleaded, clearly aware of what Maximilian intended.

Borg had every right to be afraid. Up to this point, he had secretly aided Maximilian in his war against Gallia, so that when the dust settled he would be made ruler of the country. But Maximilian had betrayed him; the prince had gone back on his word and intended to take the country for himself. Now it seemed he wished to take what little Borg had left to give: his life.

As Maximilian walked up to Borg, knife in hand, his face did not break from its stoic expression. Borg, on the other hand, made clear that he desired the prince's mercy.

"I-I'm sure we can come to some arran– GAH!"

Cordelia shrieked as Maximilian grasped Borg's shoulder and drove the royal knife right through his throat. The Prime Minister's face was written with shock as blood seeped from his wound. Borg gagged as his lungs filled with ichor.

Softly yet sternly, Maximilian said to Borg, "The Gallia of tomorrow has no need for your kind, Maurits von Borg."

Maximilian released his grip on the knife and on Borg, causing the Prime Minister to stumble back in disbelief. Blood ran down Borg's robes as he fell to his knees, clearly begging for his life, but unable to speak with blood filling his throat. He reached out pleadingly to Maximilian with his last breath, and then fell forward.

Cordelia could hardly believe what she had seen. Borg, despite being a traitor, had been her regent ever since she was a child. Now he lay dead before her, murdered by Maximilian, who used Cordelia's own blade to commit the deed.

A moment later, Cordelia watched as Maximilian turned to her and said, "If you desire safety for your people, it would behoove you to obey me, Highness. The Valkof is in my possession. To see your homeland burn again… that would be a shame. I will, however, spare your people's lives if you acquiesce to my terms."

Cordelia was unable to say anything to this, mute with horror at Maximilian's threat. Her face turned sickly pale; emotionally, she felt the same way. He had given her an impossible choice: watch her people suffer and die, or submit to his tyranny. Either way, it would spell Gallia's downfall.

Striding past Cordelia, without even looking her in the eye, Maximilian said, "You needn't decide on my offer immediately, Highness. I am a patient man." Then, turning to his bodyguards, Maximilian said, "Escort Her Highness onboard the Marmota, and see that she is accommodated. I will be in the spire."

Maximilian's four bodyguards advanced toward Cordelia, who nervously stood in place. Yet it wasn't the guards she was nervous about. It was the blonde prince who now strode away from her, intent on retrieving a weapon of unthinkable power.

And there she was, powerless to stop him.

The sky over the city of Vasel held a fair number of clouds, yet there was enough blue to keep the day from seeming completely dreary. Smoke and ash rose from the city, however, adding to the clouds that blocked the sun's rays. Sound also rose from Vasel: the sporadic beats of gunfire and cannon, the occasional shouts and screams of soldiers, and the faint roar of tank engines. Chaos had engulfed the city.

From the Gallian Remnant's temporary command post, Varrot was busy giving out tactical orders to the squads that were engaged in Vasel's streets via radio. Outside her tent, soldiers were being hurriedly ferried back from the city bearing new wounds or without limbs. Nearly the entire reserve force of the Remnants had been emptied; there soon wasn't going to be anyone left to send out.

For more than a day now the battle had raged on. Despite being outnumbered, the Imperial forces in Vasel had dug their heels deep into the city on the east end of the River Graz. Though the fighting had been chaotic at first, both sides were now being a tad more selective in their conflicts as losses mounted. The Imperials, despite suffering some losses, were faring well against the Gallians, having more control of Vasel's buildings, which snipers could use to reign supreme in the street fighting scenarios. The Gallians had an advantage in numbers, but this wasn't helping considering the Imperials' strong defenses. Thanks to snipers, machinegun nests and antitank positions, the Gallian advance had been slowed to a crawl.

Varrot listened to the incoming transmissions from her radio operators with narrowed eyes. She had known taking back Vasel was going to be difficult, but she hadn't expected to have to go up against Maximilian's last remaining Triumviri general, Radi Jaeger. She knew a good deal about the Fhiraldian general from intelligence reports: he was a specialist in tank combat and had seen countless battles, far more than her. He was also a tactical genius, and with Vasel as his battleground he had a strong defensive position. His men were among the best Maximilian had to offer, and they had the equipment to match.

As she listened to more urgent transmissions of squads requiring assistance and the like, Varrot worried that this battle was going to cost Gallia the war.

Catherine lay on her back next to a large opening in an adjacent wall. Her body was perfectly still, and tucked away to avoid allowing anyone to get a clear shot at her from outside the building.

An Imperial sniper had seen her and had nearly put a bullet into her neck only two minutes ago. Nearby was the dead body of a veteran sniper from Squad Eight, who had been the enemy sniper's victim. Now Catherine was pinned down, though thankfully the brick wall she was using for cover was tough enough to block an Imperial sniper round. But that sniper was not likely to miss twice; if she exposed even a limb, he'd probably take it clean off. Catherine had only evaded the sniper's second shot since she was a moving target.

Time was short, however. Imperial parties were busily scouring the buildings to try and take out any Gallian soldiers hiding inside, especially snipers. And a group of shock troopers was getting too close for comfort. They would be on top of her in another minute, and she would stand no chance against them.

Catherine inched her hand toward a shard of glass on the floor, carefully plucking it up in her fingertips. She edged the shard above her head at an angle, allowing a reflection of the buildings outside. The shard rotated in between her fingers.

Through the reflection, Catherine could see a sizable group of Imperial foot soldiers, at least six of them, moving through the street. The Imperials looked for any sign of movement and checked buildings as they went. They were only about sixty or so meters away from her building, and once they got inside she was as good as dead once they found her. Slowly, Catherine continued to turn the shard of glass in her fingers, changing the angle of its reflection.

She then saw him: the sniper who had pinned her down crouched next to an open window, at least several blocks away in a tall building. He wore elite red colors on his armor and held a Brondel MXX that looked as though it were aimed straight at her through the reflection. To her fortune, he seemed to be the only enemy sniper covering her area. The Imperial was still as a statue, entirely focused on keeping her in place while his comrades flushed her out. His finger hovered over his rifle's trigger. The moment she made a move, he would shoot her.

Catherine kept the reflection of her attacker before her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she prayed that help would arrive before it was too late.

A loud bang sounded down the street to Catherine's left. In the reflection, she saw the sniper's helmet jolt as a round struck its side. The Imperial slumped over, dead.

"…Target eliminated…" came a familiar voice in Catherine's earpiece.

Catherine sighed with relief. "Good job," she said graciously.

Cautiously, Catherine turned the glass shard toward the street, trying to see the Imperial squad. They crossed the reflection, running for cover in nearby buildings on the opposite side of the block. The Imperials, recognizing the sound of a Gallian sniper rifle, were obviously as worried about being picked off as she was. With all the buildings in Vasel, a sniper could be anywhere.

Seeing that she had a chance, Catherine stood up and made a low dash for the door, entering the hallway and relative safety.

A moment passed as Marina scanned the rooftops from her window in a tall house. She couldn't make out any more Imperial snipers, but they were certainly around in Vasel. Already she had taken out two others; the first one had exposed himself shooting down at Squad Two, while the other had taken a potshot at her and missed. Both were dead now, victims of her GSR-XXX's uncanny accuracy.

Yet the three snipers had been Marina's only kills so far. Welkin had issued an order to her and Squad Seven's other snipers to hunt down and kill the Imperial snipers, as well as any high priority targets of opportunity. In an environment like Vasel, they were at their most threatening, so Marina intended to follow the plan and take the pressure off the other Sevens. The other squads' snipers were busy taking out random Imperial soldiers, though doing so was frequently resulting in their deaths from counter-sniping. Marina didn't intend to make a similar mistake.

Marina's earpiece came to life. "Thanks Marina, I'm clear," said Catherine.

Ignoring Catherine's thanks, Marina kept her eyes open for any sign of movement as she reloaded her rifle. Nothing moved in the windows or on balconies of Vasel's homes, yet there was plenty of movement below in the streets. Besides the distant sounds of gunfire and the occasional tank cannon, it was eerily quiet.

Marina grimaced. Something in this battle was amiss. With all the Gallian soldiers running through the streets, she imagined that more would have under attack by the Imperial snipers. Yet they too seemed to be hunting the Gallian snipers, otherwise only picking off high priority targets whilst being virtually undetectable to the untrained eye.

These snipers, Marina thought, were extremely good…

The insides of the Edelweiss boiled as Welkin's eyes were fixed to the turret's visor. His hands were wrapped around the hand cranks of the Edelweiss' turret controls, ready to angle his shot at a moment's notice. Sweat dripped down his face.

Another tank was nearby, and it wasn't a friendly one. The Imperial tank had taken a potshot at the Edelweiss and had now retreated from sight. While other tank pilots might have just fired at the enemy through a building, Welkin wasn't about to do that if he could help it. He didn't want to deprive someone of their home when the war was supposed to be over. He was going to shoot when he could see his enemy.

The Edelweiss rolled down the street, its turret slightly rotated to the right. It was the direction Welkin had last seen the enemy tank go in. But despite the enemy tank's size, the machine had somehow vanished. Welkin was, at the very least, a tad nervous. Despite the Edelweiss' power, he didn't want to expose his back to an enemy tank of equal size. And right now, he didn't have an infantry escort; the other Sevens were spread out across Vasel trying to help other squads. In retrospect, it wasn't the smartest thing Welkin could have done, but right now it couldn't be helped. Thankfully, the Imperials were seemingly concentrating their lancers at a series of chokepoints in the city, and couldn't seem to afford to spare any to try and ambush wayward tanks. The Edelweiss had not encountered a single enemy lancer away from his post that day.

"See anything yet?" Welkin asked Kreis, who had his eyes to his own frontal visor.

"Nothing yet, sir," Kreis answered. "Though frankly, you can see a lot more than I can, sir."

"I still need you to keep your eyes forward, Kreis. I might have a wider range of view, but we can't afford to run right into that tank and not know it."

"O-Okay, Welkin…" Kreis returned his eyes to the frontal visor.

Looking back at his own visor, Welkin frowned. A tank as large as the one that had fired at them should've been hard to miss, but it seemed to have simply disappeared. Welkin hoped that maybe it had retreated.

All of a sudden, a small home behind the Edelweiss crumbled as a war machine as large as the blue tank roared forward. Welkin quickly heard the crumbling of the house, realizing the enemy tank had gotten behind them. As Welkin also suspected, the tank's cannon was already angled for a shot.

"Kreis, swing us around! Now!" he shouted, furiously working the turret controls at the same time to try and aim at the enemy tank. Kreis, in his panic, slammed the brakes and wrenched the wheel clockwise.

The enemy tank fired, its cannon aimed at the Edelweiss' vulnerable rear. The Edelweiss was in the middle of an improvised slide as the shell struck, glancing off the rear plating. Had Kreis reacted a second later, the shell would have gone clean into the Edelweiss and taken it out in one blow.

And in pulling such a maneuver, the Edelweiss' cannon now pointed toward the Imperial tank. As it screeched to a halt, the Edelweiss fired. Its armor-piercing shell hit the tank at an odd angle, and failed to penetrate its armor. The Edelweiss' front now faced the large Imperial tank, which fired another shell at it. Again, the shell glanced off the Edelweiss' plating, causing the tank to shake from the impact.

Welkin angled the main gun as he shouted, "Fire!"

The Edelweiss fired again. The AP round struck the Imperial tank dead on, punching right through its thick plating. For a moment, the tank only shuddered, but then a shower of flame and sparks erupted from its insides.

Realizing what was about to occur, Welkin shouted, "Kreis, back up! Back up!"

The Edelweiss rolled in reverse just in time. From within the Imperial tank, the shells inside detonated, practically blowing the entire tank to smithereens. The blast was deafening, blowing over a nearby wrecked building from the shockwave.

Welkin sighed in relief as he looked out at a hollow hull, all that was left of the enemy tank. If he hadn't backed away, the explosion could've severely damaged the Edelweiss. The blue tank was tough, but not invincible. The Imperial heavy tanks were the biggest threat to it at the moment, having the necessary punch to break through the Edelweiss' sloped armor if they hit at the right angle or at close-range.

Before Welkin could congratulate Kreis on his driving, he heard Largo's voice over the radio. "Boss, this is Seven Two. Do you copy?"

"I hear you, Largo," Welkin answered, noting Largo sounded a bit tense. "What's wrong?"

"We ran right into an Imperial party on 4th and Oak. We're pinned down and need back up, pronto."

"I'm on my way." Turning to Kreis, Welkin said, "Kreis, 4th and Oak, step on it!"

The Edelweiss turned to the left and sped off seconds later.

Seated in the middle of a commercial road, Radi Jaeger's personal tank destroyer, the Lupus, sat in place. Inside the tank, Jaeger smiled from listening to a Gallian transmission that had taken place seconds earlier.

He now had a place to find his prey.

Looking down at his driver, Jaeger said, "5th and Oak. Load AP round."

The men inside the tank sprung into action as the Lupus rolled off down the street.

Marina slowly crept toward the balcony exit of an apartment building. Her former position had become too dangerous to stay in, as more Imperial teams were scouring the buildings. Even this new position would have to be temporary; she and the others had to keep moving to avoid being caught.

Peering out into the city, Marina checked to see whether or not anyone was outside who could see her. There was no one. Some Gallians and Imperials were exchanging gunfire in the streets, but the Imperial shock troopers and riflemen were too busy fighting for their lives to notice her. In any case, they were unimportant.

Marina edged up to the balcony, crawling flat on her stomach. Slowly, more and more of Vasel came into view. This was a double-edged sword to Marina; she could see more, but she was potentially more exposed. As another figurative sword, due to the shortage of available manpower, she and the other snipers weren't able to have accompanying spotters; Varrot needed every man and woman available in the street battles. Marina was alright with this, however; not having a spotter meant she wouldn't be as easy to find.

Marina's earpiece crackled as Emile's voice came in. "Look at all of them down there," he said. "We should be helping the others from up here."

"Yeah, why aren't we doing anything?" Oscar chimed in. "I could pick off one of two dozen of them right now."

Then, Julius' grave voice responded, "Stow it, both of you. Lieutenant Gunther gave us specific orders, and we will carry them out."

"But there aren't any snipers for us to shoot," said Emile. "Does he just want our ammo to go to waste?"

"Emile, I know how you're feeling," said Catherine. "But Lieutenant Gunther is putting a lot of faith in us to keep the rest of the squad safe from the Imperial snipers. If we don't keep them in check, they're likely to take out everyone down there without a fuss. Keep your eyes out for them, alright boys?"

"Yes, ma'am," said both Bielerts simultaneously.

Then, a moment later, came an unmistakable laugh over the radio.

"Still playing the den mother, O'Hara?" said a familiar voice.

"What the– Cezary!" Catherine gasped.

"You always were the best at keeping those two punks in line," said Cezary. "I'm surprised they've made it this far."

Cezary's intrusion had caught the Sevens off guard. Though some wondered how Cezary had managed to tap into their frequency, Marina wasn't surprised. He had done it before in Bruhl and outside Ironfield Village, and now showed off the trick a third time.

For some odd reason, Marina had expected Cezary to be in Vasel. Perhaps it had been some strange premonition; Marina didn't know, nor did she really care. Her suspicion had been confirmed now.

Then, Cezary said, "Wulfstan, I know you can hear me. Looks like we're back to where it all started. It's funny; ever since you saved that dark-haired bitch, I've always known that someday we'd be at each other's throats."

"…"

"Everything that's happened throughout this war has come to this. You and me, a battle of hunters in a sniper's playground. Sounds poetic, don't you think?" Cezary's voice dripped with sarcasm during the remark, but then, in a more serious tone, he added, "But this time, Wulfstan, you're the game, not the hunter."

"Where are you, Cezary?" Marina demanded, despite knowing he wouldn't tell her.

"Kind of a stupid question to ask me, Wulfstan. But I'll say this: I'm in Vasel right now, and I don't intend to leave until you're dead."

"You won't leave Vasel at all, Cezary. We'll see to that," said Catherine.

Cezary laughed and then said, "I highly doubt that, O'Hara. None of the rest of you would ever stand a chance against me. Wulfstan knows that; you should too, considering all the times I beat the rest of you in drills. Once I kill her, taking the rest of you down will be a cinch."

"Keep talking, Cezary!" Oscar said proudly. "We're not gonna be that easy to bring down!"

"Heh, is that so, Bielert? I doubt your brother will be able to say that in a second."

"What?"

Oscar, to his horror, realized the meaning behind Cezary's words. Time seemed to slow down as he turned toward his brother. Emile must have heard Cezary; the look of fear on his face was proof of that.

Emile remained still as he said, "Osca–"

The sniper round hit Emile dead center, piercing effortlessly through the boy's chest. Emile didn't even manage a whimper as he fell onto his back.

As Oscar looked in horror at his fallen brother, Cezary said calmly, "Easy mark."

"EMIIILLLEEE!"

Oscar rushed toward Emile, desperate to save his brother. Nothing else mattered to him but saving Emile's life.

He didn't even realize that an Imperial sniper had sighted him. The panicked boy was in his crosshairs, an easy target. Emile was simply bait, yet in his blind need to save his brother, Oscar had not realized that he was being lured into a trap.

Evidently, Catherine had also realized this. She shouted, "Oscar, don't!"

The warning was futile. The Imperial sniper fired, his round striking Oscar in the back. Oscar howled as he toppled to the floor.

Out of the corner of Catherine's eye, she saw the shot. She quickly swung her GSR-XX around, aiming down its sight. An Imperial sniper was there, trying to get to his feet and fall back. He was too slow; Catherine fired her round, slicing into the Imperial's neck. He fell over, gagging for a brief moment before going silent.

Catherine quickly ducked back into the shadows to avoid being counter-sniped. Slowly, she inched toward a window to look at Oscar and Emile. What she saw was horrifying; Oscar was on the floor screaming loudly from a bullet to his back, while Emile was unmoving. Both were bleeding badly; one would have immediately assumed they would both die, but Catherine wasn't about to give up on the two boys.

"Someone get a medic to those two!" Catherine shouted. "Please, oh God, someone help them!"

"O'Hara, calm down," said Julius.

Catherine did her best to try and listen to Julius, but the sight of the Bielert twins was quickly making that difficult.

Marina listened in on the frantic cries of her godmother. Both Emile and Oscar were down, which now put Squad Seven at a significant disadvantage. With two less snipers, the others in the squad would be more vulnerable to sniper ambushes due to a lack of protection.

At that moment, Cezary's voice came in over the radio. "Two down, three to go. If you want, I can save you for last, Wulfstan. I'll be in touch." The transmission cut out.

Marina grimaced at this taunt. Cezary was toying with them. Mulling over the situation, Marina surmised that Cezary was probably coordinating with the Imperial snipers. He was an egotist, but that didn't mean he couldn't work with others. Cezary was probably using those other snipers to hide his position. Then there was the shot that had taken down Emile to consider, which Marina guessed had come from the north. She had instinctively counted the number of seconds between the time it had taken for the shot to hit, and when the shot was registered. Judging by that, Marina guessed that Cezary had made the shot from far off. This puzzled her; if Cezary were indeed using an Imperial rifle, he would've had trouble firing from far off due to their lack of accuracy when compared to Gallian rifles. And another thing bugged Marina: the shot would've had to come from somewhere high up, but Cezary had never liked shooting from high places. This behavior wasn't his usual style. Marina briefly thought the possibility that Cezary wasn't the shooter at all, but quickly push that out of her mind; Cezary was a gloater, and often played head-games using radio transmissions against the Imperials when he was still fighting for Gallia. He always taunted enemy snipers when he took them down as a sort of self-gratification. And despite his egotism, he never took credit for someone else's kills; he felt it unsporting.

It was a troublesome revelation. If Cezary was indeed adapting his tactics to counter Squad Seven, Marina was going to have to be extremely careful in taking him out. One wrong move could spell death…

Marina slinked out of her position, having many factors to consider. One thing was clear, though: she had to take Cezary out, or Squad Seven would never make it through Vasel in one piece.

Rosie grimaced as she ducked behind a broken pillar, her team slowly advancing through Vasel's streets. The others, consisting of Cherry, Lynn and Herbert, weren't exactly in a much better mood, especially after hearing that both Bielert brothers were now down. That was two less snipers they'd have to support them out of their five.

Cezary's involvement in the Vasel battle was a particularly bad thing for Squad Seven. He knew all their tricks and how to combat all of its remaining members, and had probably passed on some of that information to the Imperials. Rosie recalled how Cezary once had said "Have a plan to kill everyone you meet." It wasn't his own quote, but he had apparently stuck by the motto. And though Cezary only seemed to be interested in Marina, knowing that the enemy would be ready for their tactics was potentially devastating.

Coming to an intersection, Rosie took out a small mirror and extended it around the corner to have a look around. Several blocks down, she saw tracers going back and forth, yet their sources could not be seen. Regardless of who was on which side, Rosie felt her team would go unnoticed.

With a small hand signal, Rosie ordered the team across the intersection. The crossing went without incident, though each member went one at a time. And despite the fact that the task was seemingly simple, the fear of being sniped made it an ordeal in and of itself.

As the team advanced down the sidewalk, Cherry suddenly asked, "Uhh, Rosie? This isn't the way to the MG nest."

"I know," Rosie replied.

"But Rosie," said Lynn, "we had specific orders from command to take that–"

"I know!" Rosie hissed. "Change of plans: we've gotta help Marina and the others find Cezary."

"What? But Rosie–"

"Look, I know it isn't our field and that we should be leaving it to her, but if there were anyone out there that could match Marina, its Cezary. And honestly, I don't know if she can take him like this."

"So what makes you think we stand a chance?" asked Herbert.

"Maybe we don't… but I'm the one who let him live at Ghirlandaio. And now the whole regiment's being held back because of him."

The others then understood Rosie's decision. Lynn was first to ask, "Alright, so what's our first course of action?"

"Well, first we've gotta find Marina and give her some backup."

"Oookay…" said Cherry. "Sooo, how are we gonna find her?"

"Hel if I know…"

"Tch, do you even have a plan, Stark?" asked Herbert.

"Shut up, Herbert. I'm making this up as I go, alright?"

Lynn and Cherry couldn't help but snicker a bit to this. Rosie said nothing, but signaled for the group to keep moving north.

Largo flinched as a rifle round chipped off a piece of the wall he was hiding behind. He, Juno and Nadine were pinned down by a group of Imperials situated in some sandbags about fifty or so meters away down the street. Nadine was worriedly trying to keep Wendy alive, the shock trooper having taken a bullet to her abdomen. The wound was clearly beyond Nadine's skill; all she could do was try and stem the bleeding until help arrived.

Holding a Theimer MXR, Largo took a brief glimpse at Nadine, and then at Juno. The blonde wasn't her usual composed self, showing genuine signs of repressed fear. Largo would've initially chalked it up to their being in an enclosed space that would probably collapse to a single well-placed tank shot, but this seemed different. Juno had held this pale expression even before the team had been fired on that day.

As more shots impacted against the stone wall, Largo fired back at the Imperials, though his shot spiraled off course and missed his intended target. Ducking back into cover, Largo slid another lancer round into the weapon, having to reload his weapon himself since Nadine was tending to Wendy.

All of a sudden, the thunderous boom of a tank's cannon sounded through the streets. It was very close, and coming from the Imperial side. The sound of the cannon was quickly followed by the oncoming roar of a tank's engine. Not daring to expose himself to take a look, Largo held a small mirror toward the side of the wall, angling it so he could see what was coming.

The sight made Largo break out in a sweat. Joining the Imperials was a unique crimson tank, as large as an Imperial heavy tank, with a main gun larger than any Largo had seen on tanks of such size. Along with what Largo guessed was a tough hull, the tank was protected by an additional array of armor plates that were attached to the outside of the tank. What worried Largo, however, was that this tank was familiar; Squad Seven had seen it at Kloden earlier in the war.

It was the Lupus, the personal tank destroyer belonging to Radi Jaeger. And worse, it was turning its turret toward Largo's position.

Slowly moving the mirror back, Largo said, "I think I'm gonna need a bigger lance."

"Huh? What?" Nadine shouted.

"Get down!" Largo bellowed as he dashed away from the wall.

A second later, the brick wall was blown down in a shrapnel-filled blast. Juno shrieked as she stumbled and fell to the ground, bits of debris showering over her. Largo knelt down to scoop her up, only to have a tracer round skim past his side. Growling, he spun around and fired back at the Imperials. The armor-piercing round struck the Lupus, but exploded on impact, failing to penetrate the tank's outer plating. The smoke cleared quickly, revealing little damage had been done.

As he ducked back into cover, Largo kept an eye on the Lupus, which was now slowly taking aim at him. Any second now, it would blow him and the others away.

Inside the Lupus, Radi Jaeger looked on at the small group of Gallians that were firing back at his men. The leader, a man who matched a description Cezary had given of Squad Seven's chief lancer, fought impressively with his trademark lance. But he was still an enemy, and he had to be taken out, along with his comrades.

Confidently, Jaeger shouted, "Fire!"

Largo watched as the cannon fired. But to his surprise, the shell did not hit its mark, blocked by a mass of armor that moved into the path of the shot.

At the same moment, Jaeger raised an eyebrow, surprised by what had just happened. Then, he smirked; his prey had come.

On the ground, Juno looked up to see the Edelweiss parked in front of the team. Its armor had deflected the shot from the Lupus.

"Welkin!" Juno shouted, though her cry went unanswered.

In their earpieces, the group heard Welkin say, "Is everyone alright?"

"We're still here, boss," said Largo. "Cheslock's in bad shape, though. We gotta get her outta here."

Inside the Edelweiss, Welkin grimaced upon hearing Wendy's condition. Putting it out of his mind, he turned his attention back to the Lupus, which sat ominously before him, not making a move. Strangely, the men surrounding it had stopped firing, and were now behind cover.

Then, over the radio, Welkin heard a familiar voice. "Lieutenant Welkin Gunther, can you hear me? This is Major General Radi Jaeger of the Imperial Panzers. I've been expecting you."

"General…" said Welkin.

"Ah, good. You can hear me. It seems the information Lieutenant Regard gave us was solid about your militia's radio techniques."

Welkin frowned to this. He had already received word that Cezary was in Vasel and had taken down two of his snipers, but now he was truly troubled by Cezary's betrayal. If he had told Jaeger how to crack the Gallian radio frequencies, who knew what else he could have told the general? In all likelihood, Cezary may have even given Jaeger the technical specifications of the Edelweiss.

"Cezary's told you that much, has he?" asked Welkin.

"He has. And a great deal too about your 'Noble White' Edelweiss. It's a magnificent machine, one I've admired for a long time."

"What do you want, Jaeger? Why help Maximilian in this war?"

Seeing that Welkin wasn't in a mood for chitchat, Jaeger said, "I have no qualms playing as a guard dog for His Grace, but what I'm truly hoping for, Lieutenant Gunther, is that you will do me the honor of facing my Lupus with your Edelweiss. That is… under one condition."

Cautiously, Welkin asked, "What condition is that?"

"Tell the rest of your squad back away from this fight and I'll do the same with my men. I wish to face you personally, Lieutenant."

Welkin frowned again. Logically it didn't make sense to do such a thing when Jaeger could easily call in reinforcements, while the rest of Squad Seven would be too far to assist him. But Jaeger didn't seem like the type who would go against his word. And if Welkin didn't agree, he'd be putting his whole squad at risk, as Jaeger's tank would surely overpower the Sevens, especially if Jaeger's men provided support. For a moment, Welkin wasn't sure what to do.

"Alright, General," said Welkin, coming to a decision. "I'll accept your challenge."

"Glad to hear it," Jaeger said with a smile. Then, to his men, he said, "Fall back to our defensive lines. Do whatever you must to keep the enemy from breaching our blockade."

"B-But, General…" said one of the nearby soldiers.

"That is a direct order, soldier. Now get moving."

"Yes sir!" the Imperials shouted. They then took off down the streets toward their lines.

Seeing Jaeger's men pull back, Welkin said, "Largo, take the others back to base camp. Make sure Wendy gets whatever medical attention she needs."

"Got it, boss," said Largo, albeit begrudgingly.

Stunned, Juno shouted, "Welkin, don't! Let us help you!"

"Stay back, Coren!" Largo said as he hoisted Wendy onto his shoulder. "The boss can handle this."

"But–"

"Juno, I'll be alright," Welkin interrupted. "Go and help the others. I'll take care of Jaeger."

Juno hesitated to move, but a short tug from Nadine prompted her to leave the scene. As she left, however, she refused to take her eyes off the Edelweiss until she, Largo and Nadine had turned a corner, putting the tank out of sight.

The two tanks sat before each other, their cannons poised to fire. Neither made a move, however, besides the rumblings caused by their engines. There was an eerie calm in the air that not even the surrounding sounds of battle seemed to break.

Then, inside the Lupus, Jaeger said, "Well then, Lieutenant, shall we begin?"

At the same instant, the Edelweiss and Lupus fired.

Julius crouched low as he peered out a nearby window. From where he was, numerous tall buildings could be seen, including Vasel's Cathedral of the Valkrur, a building that was in oddly good condition despite the battle throughout the city, although a stray tank shell had blown a noticeable hole in one side. Many others had much more damage; the Imperials and Gallians alike were opting to avoid damaging the cathedral due to its religious significance.

Though he eyed the buildings, Julius did not believe Cezary would be in one of them, or at least in their highest points. Cezary had never enjoyed high places; it was more likely that he would be in a smaller building, and there were many of those throughout Vasel. Finding him would be very difficult, if not impossible. Yet Julius wasn't about to let Squad Seven's traitor escape again.

The grey-haired sniper raced his eyes from window to window, trying to catch a glimpse of a sniper scope or a helmet. Nothing so far had crossed his vision.

Frowning, Julius whispered, "Where are you, Regard?"

A moment of silence passed. Then, the silence broke to Cezary's voice. "Haven't a clue, have you, Klotz?"

"Regard…"

"You know, out of anyone I know, you almost match Wulfstan in how much I can't stand you. You and that damned dark-hair Mintz."

Julius grunted at this. Mintz had been shot by Cezary during the latter's escape from captivity, an escape that had also cost the life of Kevin Abbot. Mintz was now in a military hospital, where he would have to undergo surgery just to stay alive. Julius wasn't much of a people person, but Mintz reminded him a great deal of his dead brother, who had been killed in the first days of the war. At Barious, Mintz had even protected a wounded Julius from the Imperial Valkyria, Selvaria Bles. The two had only survived due to Squad Seven's offensive against Prince Maximilian's dreadnought, the Batomys, which forced Selvaria to aid the prince. Despite being seen as a mismatch, the two were quite friendly toward each other, a rarity for Julius.

"You truly have fallen, Cezary. Did you not forget how he once saved your life?" Julius asked.

"How could I forget?" Cezary answered disdainfully. "But you know what, that was the very reason I shot that kid. Being indebted to a dark-hair? Tch, you can't imagine how much that pissed me off. You and him, numbers two and three on my 'most hated' list. At least I can take him off now."

"How despicable. You're undeserving of mercy."

"Spare me the justice crap, Klotz. Soon, you're gonna end up joining that kid."

Julius grimaced as he continued to search through the buildings. Cezary was probably aware of his presence; he didn't have much time to continue searching in his present spot. The fact that he was still alive meant Cezary hadn't seen him, yet Julius knew that could change in an instant.

Suddenly, Julius caught something in his eye. It was a white cloak, from which a rifle protruded out the window of an apartment building a few blocks away, below his position. The shape of a person was clearly beneath the cloak from how it conformed. Julius raised his rifle; Cezary was known for using such a guise in sniper hunts as camouflage. It had to be him.

Julius fired… and immediately realized his error. He had shot a mannequin; its head came off as the bullet struck, letting Julius clearly see it.

The bells of the cathedral began to ring.

And in that same instant, Julius fell to the floor as a sniper round sliced through his chest, a shot from above his position.

"See you in Hel, Klotz," said Cezary.

Julius gasped for breath as he tried to reach for the wound. His body wouldn't move, clearly disabled by the round. He felt as though he were submerged in ice, unable to feel any warmth.

Over his earpiece, he heard Catherine. "Julius? Julius, come in! Julius!"

"B-Bell…"

Catherine's voice became distant as Julius blacked out.

Marina listened to Julius' transmission, hoping to hear more. But Julius went silent. He was either dead or unconscious. Marina didn't know which.

The sniper scowled. Now only she and Catherine were left to find Cezary. Without Julius, who himself was a talented sniper, taking down Cezary would now become far more difficult.

Marina cautiously looked out a window to the north, where Julius had been searching. Clearly, Cezary was somewhere in the northern sector of Vasel. But where? There were hundreds of places where Cezary could hide, which would make it extremely hard to find him, even if he didn't relocate.

But then Marina realized something: "Bell…" Julius had been trying to tell her something.

In the distance, Marina heard the bell-tower of the cathedral. Marina looked up at the tower, its large instruments ringing so loudly they could be heard for miles.

That was it. Cezary had to be in the Cathedral of the Valkyrur, Marina thought. Despite his aversion of heights, even Cezary couldn't have asked for a better place to shoot from. And at such a height and position, he could've easily made the shot that had taken down Emile. It also explained why she hadn't heard Cezary's second shot; he timed it to coincide with the tolling of the bells, so the shot would be drowned out. Even if Cezary wasn't there, Marina thought, it was a starting point.

Logically, it didn't entirely make sense for Marina to search there. Yet her instincts said otherwise; Cezary wasn't using his usual style, after all. Something in her just knew Cezary had to be there.

Shrinking back into the shadows, Marina made to exit the building, and to begin her sojourn toward the cathedral.

Catherine listened as she heard a transmission from a small team from Squad Two. The team had found Julius and was evacuating him back to the Gallian base camp, yet a few voices doubted he would survive. Catherine refused to believe this; Julius was quite tough for a sniper.

Yet at the same time, Catherine began to fret. Cezary had now taken down three of their number, and that left only her and Marina to face him. Marina was probably next, and Catherine knew Cezary would make sure she died. The thought of it terrified her.

Bringing a shaky finger to her earpiece, Catherine said, "Marina, can you hear me?"

"…I hear you…" Marina responded over the radio.

"Marina, we should get out of here. Cezary, he–"

"No. This has to end."

"Marina, please… It's too risky. Cezary's got the upper hand. If–"

"Catherine, return to base. I'll go it alone from here."

"W-What? No, Marina, you can't! He'll kill you!"

"I'll find him first. Wulfstan out."

"Marina, wait! Marina, come in! Marina!"

There was no response. Marina had severed communications.

Catherine shuddered as worry began to overtake her.

"Marina… no… you can't beat him…"

Catherine shut her eyes as tears slid down her face.

"Marcus… Please, help her…"

Four guards stood outside a decorated guest room onboard the Marmota. The door had been locked, however, for it kept a prisoner within.

Cordelia lay down atop a bed sporting an elegantly made blanket, yet she could not sleep with so much wracking her heart. Despite all the luxurious ornaments that surrounded her, they could not mask the purpose of the mighty war machine she was imprisoned in. And they could not hide the intents of its horrible master, Maximilian Gaius von Reginrave.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Cordelia did not answer. A moment later, the door swung open as a young yellow-haired lieutenant entered the room, carrying a covered platter clearly containing food. Cordelia turned to him, yet without standing up. He was a handsome lad, about her height, with a medal pinned to his chest that Cordelia didn't recognize. It was the symbol of a soaring eagle in the middle of a star, clearly meant to represent some great achievement of his.

Johann Oswald Eisen, who was known as 'Oswald the Iron' by his comrades, stood before Cordelia and said, "Your Highness, I have brought you your meal."

Turning away from the Imperial officer, Cordelia said, "I do not require nourishment. Please, leave me."

"I am sorry, Your Highness, but I cannot do that. His Grace specifically ordered me to see that you are well taken care of."

"Then return to your liege and tell him that I must respectfully decline his offers of hospitality." As Johann stared inquisitively at her, Cordelia looked again to him and added, "I am not appreciative of gifts offered to me by tyrants."

Johann paused for a moment to Cordelia's strong words. Then, setting the tray down on a bedside table, he said, "That, Your Highness, I cannot do either." He then took a seat in a chair near the door.

Cordelia looked at Johann incredulously. The boy, who must have been somewhere her own age, was quite insistent. She turned away from him, yet Johann did not move from his chair.

A minute passed where the two did nothing. Then, Johann said, "May I ask you a question, Your Highness?" When Cordelia said nothing, Johann took the moment to ask, "For what reason did you– I mean, your family, hide your heritage?"

"Why does such a thing matter to you?" Cordelia replied. Then, somewhat more stressfully, she asked, "Isn't it commonplace for the sons of the Empire to ostracize and slaughter my people like cattle?"

Johann was taken aback by this question, but answered, "Truthfully, I have never approved of the Darcsen hunts my people take part in."

Cordelia was surprised by this answer. It wasn't a response she was expecting.

"And in my eyes," Johann continued, "I have always thought the concentration camps to be… barbaric. After all, we are all born humans, aren't we?"

Cordelia did not reply. It was certainly welcome to speak with an Imperial who didn't follow the norm of persecuting Darcsens. Yet he was still an Imperial soldier, one who had surely slain several of Gallia's people in combat. But still… he was kind. His voice displayed that trait openly.

"I apologize for asking such a question, Your Highness. I meant no offense." After a moment, Johann got to his feet and said, "I shall take my leave, then."

Before Johann could take a step, however, Cordelia said, "Wait."

Both Cordelia and Johann turned to face the other, with the princess rising up to a sitting position on the bed.

"Tell me your name," said Cordelia.

Johann hesitated for a moment, but then answered, "Johann. First Lieutenant Johann Oswald Eisen."

"Johann, may I ask why you serve Maximilian?"

"Your Highness?"

"If you were to answer my question, I will answer yours: why my family posed for generations as descendents of the Valkyria."

Johann paused briefly, and then answered, "I serve His Grace because… because of my loyalty to someone who loved him."

"Someone who… loved him?"

"Yes. General Bles. Our Valkyria. She recently gave her life for His Grace at Ghirlandaio. I looked up to her, and to honor her memory, I shall serve the man she loved."

"Even knowing what heinous acts he is about to commit? The terrible power he is about to unleash upon the world?"

"Yes…" answered Johann, his tone unenthusiastic.

Cordelia sensed the reluctance in Johann, which brought a sense of pity to her heart. Johann knew what Maximilian was doing was abominable, but he was loyal to a fault, it seemed. Cordelia could not hate the boy for his sense of duty.

"What of you, Your Highness?" Johann asked. "Why did your family hide their history?"

Cordelia paused for a moment, but then began telling Johann the story of her family's lineage.

The Edelweiss' treads screeched as they slid across pavement, the tank attempting to make a hard left turn. An armor-piercing shell flew over the turret, smashing into a dilapidated building before exploding. The Edelweiss shot back at the Lupus, but the round bounced off one of the tank destroyer's outer plates, leaving only a slight dent. The Edelweiss fired again, but missed.

Welkin grimaced as the Lupus took aim again. "Hard right!" he shouted to Kreis.

The Edelweiss lurched hard to the right as the Lupus fired. The shell smashed into the ground next to the Edelweiss' treads, causing the tank to shudder for an instant. Recovering, Welkin turned the turret toward the Lupus as the Edelweiss moved. Most tanks that had hand crank controls for their turrets would not have been able to do this, yet Isara's modifications to the Edelweiss gave it the unique ability to rotate its turret while moving by using an electrical rotation system. The unique system Isara had made also allowed the Edelweiss to angle its main gun much more quickly than other tanks, including the Lupus. Yet despite the modifications, the Edelweiss still had to stop moving in order to fire accurately; though Welkin could shoot while moving, he would never hit the Lupus in such a way.

Skidding to a halt, the Edelweiss fired another shell. The round, however, barely grazed one of the Lupus' outer plates. Welkin realized that in his haste to shoot, he hadn't properly calibrated the gun-sights, so the shot went off-course. Frantically, he worked to adjust the sights to get a clear shot. He didn't have long until the Lupus would have an angle for another shot.

Jaeger frowned; the battle wasn't going as he had hoped. Even though he was clearly winning, it was too easy. Cezary's stories about Welkin's tenacity and cunning weren't showing true at the moment, much to Jaeger's disappointment. Welkin was fighting as though he were a fresh, hot-blooded recruit rather than a reputed tactical marvel. At this rate, Jaeger thought, the Edelweiss would run out of ammunition before it ran out of fuel. He wanted more out of the son of the late Belgen Gunther.

Inside the Edelweiss, Welkin watched as, again, another of the Edelweiss' AP rounds merely bounced off the Lupus' tough outer plates. This was quickly beginning to frustrate the Gallian lieutenant, something that rarely happened to him. No other tank other than the Batomys had ever given him so much trouble before, but the Lupus just seemed to have the Edelweiss outclassed. And Jaeger himself was masterfully controlling his machine, using the Lupus' stronger plating and firepower to compensate for the tank destroyer's lack of speed and slower main gun. Each shot the Lupus had made so far had been patient, and well-aimed, although the Edelweiss' sloped armor had prevented any penetrating hits thus far. Jaeger was also being very careful not to give Welkin a chance to hit the Lupus from behind, so Welkin had been forced to try and punch through the tank destroyer's frontal and side armor, but that endeavor was proving fruitless.

Welkin watched as another AP round hit the Lupus, but again the shell failed to penetrate. "Dammit!" he cursed under his breath.

Unbeknownst to Welkin, Jaeger heard the curse over the radio. Sighing, Jaeger reached for his radio headset, tuning it to the Edelweiss' frequency. "You're fighting much more recklessly than I was expecting, Lieutenant," Jaeger said over the radio. "I wonder, what is with your hasty attitude?"

Welkin didn't answer, choosing to focus on the Edelweiss' instruments. The tank's main gun was currently loading another AP round, and the time between shots was a moment of vulnerability for the tank he had to be wary of, despite the tank's automatic loading system allowing the Edelweiss to fire much more quickly than the Lupus. He had to finish the battle quickly so he could proceed to Randgriz.

"I'm left to wonder if Lieutenant Regard was exaggerating about your talents."

The Edelweiss had reloaded. Welkin angled the shot slightly lower and fired. But again, the AP round hit at a bad angle and glanced off the Lupus. Welkin hissed as he waited for the tank to reload.

"Or perhaps there's something that's distracting you. Perhaps it's someone…"

"…!" This remark made Welkin stop in his train of thought. Did Jaeger know about Alicia?

Then, in a more serious tone, Jaeger said, "Do not think to end this battle so easily. If you continue like this, you're bound to make a mistake, and I'll easily end up defeating you. I've had two opportunities so far where I could've taken you out because you slipped up. I want this victory, and my efforts here, to be meaningful, you see."

"Meaningful?" Welkin asked angrily. "How can helping a madman like Maximilian be considered meaningful? How can you justify destroying our homes and killing so many of our people?"

Jaeger paused for a moment, and then said, "I have my reasons, Lieutenant. Prince Maximilian has promised my homeland of Fhirald its independence if I should help him win the war in Gallia. I hold no true loyalty to His Grace or to the Empire; all I want is for Fhirald to be free. Yet to gain that, I'm forced to help him subjugate Gallia. It's quite ironic, isn't it?"

"I'd heard that you were an honorable man, General Jaeger. But you would sacrifice our country just to get yours? Where's the honor in that?"

"I admit it shames me to have to do this to Gallia, but I made a vow to see Fhirald freed no matter the cost. Understand this, however: my reasons for helping His Grace have nothing to do with our little duel here."

"What?"

With a smile, Jaeger said, "Our battle here in Vasel is because I've never faced a foe as formidable as you. Your Edelweiss is simply a magnificent machine, the finest prey I've ever hunted. And as a hunter, I simply cannot allow such a quarry to escape." At that moment, as the Lupus' cannon aimed straight at the Edelweiss, Jaeger said, "So please, Welkin, fight me with everything you have. It's the only way you're going to pass through here and save your homeland!"

Welkin grimaced as he said, "If that's how you want it, Jaeger… Then I won't show you any mercy!"

With that, the Edelweiss fired another shot, but this time the round was a high-explosive instead of a solid shot. The round hit one of the Lupus' extra armor plates and exploded, blowing it off and exposing part of the tank destroyer's own armor. The Lupus stood strong, despite now having been damaged.

Smiling, Jaeger said, "That's more like it! FIRE!"

The Lupus retaliated, sending an armor-piercing shell at the Edelweiss. The blue tank barely veered to the right, causing the round to bounce off its turret. A gash was left in the Edelweiss' side, yet the tank had narrowly avoided a penetrating hit. As it strafed, the Edelweiss aimed its barrel upward and fired a smoke round. The round impacted a short distance away, filling the streets with smoke.

"That won't help you for long," said Jaeger. Then, to his crew, he shouted, "Load HE round and put us in reverse slowly."

The Lupus began to slowly back up, stopping after a few seconds. A shell burst from its cannon, impacting in the middle of the smoke cloud. The projectile exploded, its shockwave blowing away the smoke cloud with ease. Jaeger watched as the flames and smoke cleared. The Edelweiss was nowhere to be seen.

Jaeger grinned. Welkin seemed to be fighting smartly now; it was how Jaeger wanted it.

Marina knelt next to a broken doorway, facing another across the street, still as a statue. Under normal circumstances, she would've just crossed the street and run in, but with so many Imperials scattered throughout Vasel she had to ensure she wasn't spotted. If she was, she would surely be pursued, and right now she couldn't afford to have that happen. Cezary couldn't be allowed to know she was onto him.

Slowly, Marina crept toward the exit, a mirror shard in her hand. She extended the mirror out of the door, checking to her right. No Imperials were in the street. She checked to the left; nothing as well. That didn't mean, however, that a sniper wasn't around.

Yet to reach Cezary, Marina had to continue on. With a deep breath, Marina sprinted out the door. Each step she took felt as though it took a whole minute, with Marina knowing that, any moment then, she could be hit by a sniper round.

But no such shot came, for no one saw Marina dashing from one side of the street to the next.

Marina skidded to a stop and slammed herself against a nearby wall, checking her surroundings. There was no sign of anyone else in the building. It was quiet, besides the sounds of battle from the outside.

Taking another deep breath, Marina knelt down and moved slowly through the house she had just entered. Her progress had been very slow, yet it had to be this way. To simply run down the street toward the cathedral alone would be suicide. And informing the other Sevens of Cezary's whereabouts would alert him, for he could tap into their frequencies so easily. He would simply vanish into Vasel's shadows, and then Marina would lose her best chance of taking him out.

No, Marina couldn't rely on anyone else to take him out. It had to be her; she best knew his tactics and his skill. And she was, in a sense, responsible for his betrayal. She had to set things right; Cezary had to die. And if she was going to kill him, she had to do the job right… And that meant facing him alone…

For several minutes, Marina crept slowly through home after home, many wrecked by the battle or from the Imperials' first attempt to take the city months before. Glass and wood splinters littered floors everywhere, and several mounds of wreckage had forced Marina to find various detours.

Then, as she entered another home, Marina suddenly heard something… music.

It was a violin, playing a very sad melody that Marina recognized. It was the work of an old musician from the 19th century, whose name Marina couldn't recall. Whoever was playing the tune had clear talent, but that wasn't what made Marina feel sick.

She recognized the tune, for it had been played at Isara's funeral…

Marina continued forward, yet each step she took seemed to make the music come in louder and louder. Whoever or whatever the source was, she was getting closer.

She entered another room. A home radio sat on a table in the middle of the room. It was playing the somber violin.

Marina only needed to stare at the radio for a second before carefully walking over to it and flicking the power switch. Immediately, the radio went silent.

But the music didn't stop. It was echoing into the building from outside.

Scowling, Marina moved slowly to a nearby window and looked outside. No one else was around, yet she could still hear the song. It was echoing all over Vasel.

Then, her earpiece came alive again. "Ahh, brings back memories, doesn't it, guys?" said Cezary. "I remember that day well. Everyone else was so… well, at a loss, I'll say. And all over the death of one little dark-hair. Well, I'll leave you all with something to listen to while you fight for your lives. Regard out."

As Cezary's transmission ended, Marina clenched a fist in her frustration. Cezary was taking things too far with this tactic, forcing memories of Isara's death back into the minds and hearts of the squad. Yet Marina noted the plan's brilliance; the song was one played at many a soldier's funeral in Gallia. Surely just about everyone in the Gallian army had heard it at least once, and many knew its dreadful history. It would surely be a crippling blow to the morale of the Gallian Army, and low morale could be as deadly as any wound in a large battle.

Trying to force the sound out of her head, Marina left the room.

Claudia moaned as she cursed her bad luck. She, along with Ted, Melville, and Coby, were all pinned down by an Imperial medium tank and a few Imperials escorting it. The engineer had taken a stray bullet to her leg, and was busy treating it with Ragnaid and some bandages. The group's lancer, a woman from Squad Six, lay dead from two rifle rounds to her chest.

For once, Claudia noted, Ted and Meville weren't up to their usual tomfoolery. The numerous close scrapes the group had been in up to that point had prompted them to start fighting seriously. While it was somewhat welcome not having to listen to their chatter, it certainly wasn't a morale booster; their seriousness meant that even they thought the situation was dire. Why the group hadn't retreated, Claudia didn't know.

"Jeez, these guys just don't go down!" said Melville with a scowl.

Ducking back into cover, Ted added, "I hear you, Mel. And that tank's not doing us any favors either."

"Quit your yapping, you two, and keep firing!" shouted Coby.

The elderly shock trooper then rose up to fire a burst at the Imperials from behind some sandbags. One Imperial scout took several hits to his torso and went down. But as Coby ducked back behind the sandbags, the Imperial tank aimed its turret toward him.

Claudia saw this, but it was too late to do anything. As Coby rose up to shoot again, the tank's coaxial machinegun fired upon him, tearing through the old shock trooper with ease. Coby fell after being riddled by five bullets.

"Coby!" Claudia screamed, trying to get to her feet to help him. Her leg gave way as she tried to stand, sending her tumbling to the ground, her head exposed to the enemy.

"Claudia, get back!" Melville shouted as he grabbed the engineer by her belt, pulling her back behind cover before a burst of machinegun fire could perforate her.

Thankful that Melville had saved her life, Claudia looked up to try and see Coby. To her dismay, the old shock trooper lay dead in the street with a look of expectation and acceptance on his still face. Coby had been quite old and had not expected to live through the war; his assumption was now true.

"Mel, we gotta get the Hel outta here!" said Ted. "That tank's gonna have a bead on us any second now!"

"No argument here! Claudia, come on!"

The group began to retreat, but Claudia barely made it two steps before falling to the ground, screaming from the wound to her leg. Ted and Melville heard Claudia's scream and turned back to try and help her. As they did, however, Claudia looked over her shoulder to see the tank aiming its cannon toward them.

She shut her eyes, crushed not only by the realization that she was about to die, but that Ted and Melville would die as well. The music of Isara's funeral dirge continued to echo hauntingly in her ears; she knew she would join Isara soon.

Then, the sound of an explosion and metallic scraping made Claudia open her eyes. Looking up, she saw that the tank's turret was now engulfed in flames and had a twisted hole in its side. A loud frenzied shout made Claudia turn her head. Around the tank, the Imperial soldiers were being gunned down by a wild spray of submachine gun bullets. One even tried to flee in terror, but was gunned down by the torrent of rounds.

Then Claudia saw the source of the attack. It was Jane Turner, followed closely by Hannes Salinger, Audrey Heitinga, and a third shock trooper Claudia didn't recognize. Jane was charging crazily at the tank, intent on boarding it. The tank's rear-mounted machinegun tried to turn toward her, but she was already too close.

Claudia, Ted and Melville watched in stunned awe as Jane scrambled up the side of the tank and aimed down at the gunner's hatch. The hatch belched smoke as it was flung open, the gunner trying to get out of the blaze inside. Instead, the Imperial found himself looking up in absolute terror as Jane ignited her Flame Flail.

"You Imps have no idea who you're–" Jane's sentence was drowned out as she sprayed flames at the gunner and into the tank.

The shock trooper laughed as she heard the Imperials scream, burned alive inside the tank. Then, as her Flame Flail ran out of fuel, Jane pulled a grenade from her belt, ripping out the cord with her teeth and spitting it out immediately after.

"Next," she said casually, tossing the grenade into the tank.

Jane leapt off the tank and slowly strode away, not even watching as the metal behemoth exploded from the inside out.

Claudia was speechless. Jane's ferocity in battle had always amazed her, but in this case she had been completely crazy. And yet she did it all as if on a daily basis. It was intimidating, to say the least.

But then Claudia saw Jane stepping toward a wounded Imperial. The scout had taken two bullets to his gut and was trying to crawl away, his helmet having fallen off. He looked to be in his late-twenties. She realized what Jane was about to do, the realization sickening her in the pit of her stomach.

As Jane reached the Imperial she said, "Going somewhere?" She then stepped down on the Imperial's back, sending him to the ground.

Claudia considered herself lucky that the man's face was now hidden behind a pile of debris. Still, she shut her eyes tightly as Jane pulled out her pistol. The man didn't even get a chance to beg for mercy before a gunshot went off.

Slowly, Claudia opened her eyes. Next to her, Ted and Melville showed alike signs of disgust in Jane's brutality. She saw Jane turn toward her; she had fresh blood on the tip of her boot.

"Hey Cursia!" Claudia heard Jane shout. "Are you gonna lie down all day or are you gonna give us some ammo?"

Claudia stammered as she tried to explain herself, but Ted intervened and said, "She got hit in the leg, Jane."

"Really? Ain't that a bitch...?"

As Jane and her group strode toward her, Claudia remarked that, in a sense, she was also lucky that Jane was on her side.

Varrot's eyes narrowed. The funeral dirges that had been playing through Vasel brought painful memories even to her of friends lost. Yet Varrot had heard these songs so often that she was quite used to them. Still, she knew others weren't so fortunate.

At that moment, Ellet strolled into the communications tent and said, "Hey, Captain, are you hearing–"

"Yes," Varrot answered. "I never expected Cezary to come up with something so ingenious, if despicable."

Ellet didn't need to look at all the frantic radio operators to tell Varrot was right. Ever since the radios of Vasel had started to play their elegies, reports of faltering advances had greatly intensified. The men were losing the will to fight. If something didn't happen soon, the entire offensive would break.

The reporter scratched her head as she pondered. There had to be some way to stop the broadcast… or perhaps turn it against the Imperials.

Inspiration struck her. Snapping her fingers, Ellet said, "Captain, I've got an idea! But I'm gonna need the entire communications hub for this to work."

"What?" Varrot asked in surprise. "Ms. Ellet, as you are a civilian, I cannot allow you to–"

"Trust me, this'll work," Ellet interrupted, ignoring Varrot as she went to try and tinker with one of the radios. "I've done something like this before; this is just on a much bigger scale."

Before Ellet could get started, however, Varrot had marched over to her and grabbed the reporter by the wrist. She then said, "Ellet, we need this network to maintain communications with the men throughout Vasel. If we lose this, we will lose the battle!"

"I understand that, Varrot, but at the rate things are going, we're going to lose anyways if we don't do something drastic! Trust me, if I can override that broadcast, we can turn this around on the Imperials! But I can't do that without this hub."

Varrot stared at Ellet, who stared back. The captain would be taking an incredibly risky move allowing Ellet complete access to the communications hub. Without it, the Remnant forces would fall into disarray. If she refused, however, the battle could be lost within a few hours as morale crumbled.

At that moment, the music changed. It was no longer a funeral song. It was a chorus of Imperial voices – the Imperial national anthem. It was a strong, proud choir of Imperial men singing praise of their homeland and of their people's strength, sung in their native tongue.

Varrot grimaced. She had no choice now; her timeline had changed from a few hours to one at most. She released Ellet's wrist and said, "How quickly can you do this?"

"Hard to say," Ellet answered. "An hour tops, if I get your whole staff."

"You have thirty minutes, no more."

Nodding, Ellet turned back to the radios and began shouting out instructions to the radio operators.

Rosie looked at the small Darcsen doll strapped to her neck as she listened to the somber melodies that echoed through Vasel's streets. Each note played brought back painful memories of the times Rosie had mistreated Isara, and how she had only responded with more attempts at getting Rosie to accept her. She now couldn't return those sentiments of kindness, as much as she wanted to.

"Hey, Rosie? Are you alright?" asked Lynn, seeing her look at the doll.

Rosie hesitated to reply, but shook her head and answered, "I-I'll be alright, Lynn." Stowing the doll away in her jacket, Rosie looked ahead and added, "Come on, we've gotta find Marina."

As Rosie peered around, checking for any sign of movement, Cherry asked, "Uh, Rosie? I'm preeeetty sure Marina doesn't want to be found right now if she hunting for Cezary. And you know her…"

"Yeah, I know," said Rosie. "But she's gonna need help if Cezary's after her. Besides, I've got a bone to pick with that son of a bitch for letting Isara die."

"Rosie…" said Lynn.

Sighing, Rosie added, "Should've just shot that bastard at Ghirlandaio. We'd be in Randgriz by now if I had."

Lynn said nothing to this, half-agreeing with Rosie's sentiment. Yet at the same time, her beliefs as a Darcsen told her that killing out of vengeance or some misguided sense of justice only yielded greater suffering. It was for that reason that her people never fought in retaliation, at least in most cases. Her reason for fighting, however, was very different: she fought on behalf of the man she loved…

Then, turning to Herbert, Cherry asked, "You gonna say anything, Herbert?"

"Mmm? Wha…?" Herbert mumbled, apparently having ignored the entire conversation. Cherry groaned at this.

At that moment, the echoes through the streets changed. No longer was it a funeral, but a choir of Imperial men singing of their homeland in a language no one in the group could understand. Yet they knew what it was: the Imperial national anthem. Compared to the funeral songs, however, such a symphony wasn't much better for them.

"Let's keep moving," said Rosie, signaling the group to advance.

Slowly the group moved through the street, with Rosie taking the lead. The redhead shock trooper made sure to check every corner she could see, trying to keep the group from walking into an ambush.

Soon, the group found themselves at another intersection. Closest to them was a fancy restaurant, which had been badly damaged in the battle. The building's front, a low wall supporting a shattered window, showed that the damage had been recent. Rosie stopped before entering the intersection.

It was too quiet. Even the distant sounds of battle or the echo of the Imperial choir didn't shatter the eerie calm of the block. Something was amiss.

"Rosie?" Cherry asked.

"Shh!" Rosie hissed, silencing the others. Her eyes shifted left and right, trying to see any sign of a possible ambush.

Then, out of the right corner of her eye, she saw something. There was a tall mirror standing near the shattered window of a clothing store, bent at an angle.

And in its reflection was the unmistakable shape of an Imperial shock trooper, making hand signals to an unseen ally.

"Cover, now!" Rosie shouted.

The order came just in time. A shutter burst open across the street as a grenade flew out the window.

Quickly recognizing it, Lynn shouted, "Flashbang!"

Rosie, Cherry and Lynn quickly looked away from the projectile as it detonated in midair, causing a bright flash of light. Herbert, however, was too slow to respond, and caught the full blast, blinding him. The others avoided watching the flash, though their ears rung from the loud banging noise of the Imperial grenade. Instinctively they ran for the restaurant, yet Herbert stood stunned in the middle of the street.

Reaching cover first behind the large shattered window of the restaurant, Lynn looked back at the others. As she did, she watched as a burst of submachine gun fire cut Herbert down in a fraction of a second. The engineer only managed a brief gasp of pain before he hit the pavement.

"Herbert!" Lynn screamed.

Just as Lynn moved to try and help Herbert, Rosie slammed into her and forced her back, shouting, "Don't, you idiot! Stay down!"

Realizing she could do nothing for Herbert, Lynn ducked back behind the low wall. Raising her Mags MXX, she fired a blind burst at the Imperial attackers, but failed to hit anything. Rosie did the same a moment later, but also missed. The shots, however, did force the Imperials into cover.

For a minute or so, the two sides exchanged fire, neither scoring hits. Peering out from cover, Rosie could make out that there were at least six Imperials versus her group of three. The Imperials, however, had the advantage, as Rosie's group was pinned down in the restaurant and couldn't maneuver. Another problem was that neither Rosie nor Lynn had a Flame Flail on their weapons; there hadn't been enough left to go around for everyone in the militia, so Rosie and Lynn had basically gotten the short end of the stick.

Then, as Rosie emptied another clip, she ejected the magazine and reached for another. To her shock, she realized she didn't have any more ammo for her Mags MXXII.

"Dammit, I'm out!" Rosie shouted.

"I'm almost out, too!" Lynn replied as she loaded her last magazine into her Mags.

"Hey, didn't Herbert have the ammo?" Cherry asked.

This hit Rosie like a sledge hammer. Herbert had been carrying all of their spare ammunition, but now he was unreachable.

"Rrgh, DAMMIT!" Rosie cursed, realizing her team's predicament. She drew her pistol and began firing back at the Imperials.

Across the street, one of the Imperials noticed Rosie's use of her sidearm. Turning to a pair of his comrades, he shouted, "They're running low! Flank left, we'll cover you!"

Two of the Imperials broke away from the group and moved toward the right flank of Rosie's group.

Noticing this, Rosie shouted, "Cherry, on the right!"

"Got it!" Cherry answered, rising up and firing at the two shock troopers. A shot hit one of the shock troopers in his neck, sending him to the ground and prompting his ally to fall back to his allies.

But as Cherry lined up the second one in her sights, an Imperial rifle round struck her shoulder. She screamed as she was blown onto her back and grabbed her shoulder, shrieking at the top of her lungs.

"Cherry!" cried Rosie as she scrambled down next to the scout. "Cherry, where are you hit?"

"AAGH, dammit! My- my shoulder! AAH, goddammit! AAAAHH!"

Rosie pried Cherry's hand away to assess the wound. Blood coated Cherry's arm as it ebbed from the wound. Rosie immediately knew she couldn't treat it; she was quite bad at medical tasks. Cherry continued to scream in agony.

As more shots impacted around her, Rosie grabbed Cherry's rifle and fired back at the Imperials. One took a hit to the head from Lynn's Mags, but shortly afterwards her weapon went silent, out of ammo.

"That's it, Rosie," said Lynn. "I'm out."

Lynn threw her Mags to the floor and drew her sidearm as Rosie continued to fire Cherry's rifle. Two shots later, however, the rifle clicked, its clip emptied. Rosie looked down at Cherry's rig; she had no spare ammo left.

At this realization, Rosie knew she, Lynn and Cherry were doomed. The Imperials wouldn't be deterred by sidearms, and would just rush the three and finish them off at close range. Though Rosie and Lynn had knives, they would never be able to take out all of the remaining Imperials that way. In fact, all it would take to finish them off was a single well-placed grenade.

Evidently, the Imperials realized this too. Receiving a signal from their leader, two of the Imperials, a scout and a shock trooper, moved out of cover and advanced on the restaurant.

As she watched, Rosie heard Lynn stop firing. Turning, she saw an unmistakable image of despair on Lynn's face. Lynn's pistol was empty, but the look on her face showed she knew she was going to die.

"Karl… I'm sorry…" Lynn cried, trying to hide her tears.

As Lynn sobbed and Cherry screamed, Rosie looked down at the Darcsen doll around her neck. For a second, which seemed like an hour, all Rosie could do was stare at the keepsake Isara had given her.

Clasping the doll and tearing it from the string around her neck, Rosie said, "Lynn, get Cherry out of here."

"What?"

"Grab Cherry and run out the back. I'll hold them off as long as I can." As Rosie said this, she fixed her knife onto the end of Cherry's rifle.

"What? Rosie, no!"

"It's that or we all die! Get out of here, Lynn! That's an order!"

Lynn watched hopelessly as Rosie readied her bayonet, prepared to die in a heroic, but suicidal last stand. The Darcsen doll remained in Rosie's hand.

Still crying, Lynn nodded and moved over to grab Cherry.

But just as Rosie was about to charge, she watched in shock as the two advancing Imperials were struck down by a burst of submachine gun bullets from the left.

"What the?"

Surprised, Lynn looked up to see the remaining two Imperials trying to fall back, firing in a panic at their attackers. Rifle rounds struck one of the Imperials, while the other was cut down by another burst of submachine gun fire.

Rosie couldn't believe it. By some miracle, someone had come to their rescue. Whoever it was, Rosie couldn't be more grateful.

"Ha! That's what you get when you mess with a star!" shouted a familiar, high-pitched voice.

Recognizing the voice, Rosie leapt up from cover and ran to the front of the restaurant. Upon seeing her savior, Rosie was dumbstruck.

"N-Nelson?"

Standing in the middle of the street, bearing a Mags MXXII in her hands, was a petite seventeen-year-old girl with silver pigtails and chestnut brown eyes. Behind the girl were a blonde fifteen-year-old boy with a pale face, and a 23-year-old man with glasses, both carrying Gallian rifles. Unlike the girl, the two engineers were both behind cover, but the girl seemed to be more concerned with making her presence known.

Winking, Edy Nelson said, "A star never really dies, Rosie. She just waits for her big comeback!"

Then, almost disparagingly, Homer said, "Uh, Miss Edy? You shouldn't be standing in the middle of the street like – GUAGH!"

Edy angrily struck Homer in the head as she screeched, "HOMER! You're ruining my entrance!"

"Aahah~ Miss Edy…"

As Homer happily endured the swelling from Edy's blow, Karl stepped forward and asked, "Lynn? Is that–"

"Karl!" Lynn exclaimed, having come up next to Rosie. She rushed out to him.

Both sides watched as the two lovers ran to each other and embraced. Edy then looked away with a small blush as Karl and Lynn kissed.

Rosie said nothing, but smiled; the two had been separated for around three months now, and she wasn't about to ruin the moment.

Vyse and Aika sat beside each other inside a hotel lobby, hiding from an Imperial heavy machinegun situated across the street. Nearby in other parts of the hotel were Freesia, Dallas and Elysse, who were also in cover. Rounds from other Imperials near the MG nest peppered their positions.

Vyse scowled as he continued listening to the Imperial choir. The music was giving the Imperials confidence, to say the least. Their inspired valor had pushed Vyse's group back into the hotel, a position he was not used to. The adventurer preferred to be on offense, but that wasn't possible at the moment.

Next to him, Aika said, "This is bad, Vyse. We're getting creamed here."

"That horrible music is fraying my ears!" Dallas whined. "It's so boorish compared to my old school's choir!"

"Yeaaah… Could sure use some of Rosie's singing right about now," said Elysse.

"We can't depend on that, guys!" Vyse shouted. "Just keep at it!"

Though the others nodded, they knew even Vyse was feeling the effects of the songs that were playing. Vyse had come to love Gallia, and hearing the pride of the invaders was taking its toll.

"Dammit," Freesia hissed. "If only we could get close to that gun…"

After another moment, Aika turned back to Vyse and said, "Vyse, I think we should fall back. We can't beat these guys like this."

"Aika, don't say things like that!" Vyse snapped. "We can still win this!"

Before Aika could argue her point, the music in the background suddenly seemed to distort. Static began replacing the voices, as if the signal had been lost. Both Vyse's team and the Imperials were confused by what was happening.

Then the radios started up again. Only this time, it wasn't Imperial voices in concert. The voices were Gallian.

Vyse's spirits soared as he heard the vast choir of men and women singing Gallia's national anthem ring throughout Vasel. At first, the song started gently, but soon rose to a triumphant concert of pride and spirit. Their voices were accompanied by the melodious sound of a perfectly-played piano.

And at the same time, the Imperials, who didn't know what was happening, suddenly became scared.

Vyse seized the moment. "Come on, guys! Let's show these guys who they're messing with!"

To the others' astonishment, Vyse vaulted himself over the front desk he had been hiding behind and charged at the Imperials, one of his cutlasses drawn, his Mags MXXII in his other hand. Barely a second later, Aika howled as she followed her childhood friend in the charge. And another second later, the other three followed in pursuit.

The Imperials recoiled in terror at the sight of such a charge. One frantically tried to aim his rifle at Vyse, but was shot down by Aika. Another swung his submachine gun at Vyse, trying to bludgeon him with it, but he slid under the blow and past the Imperial. The soldier, momentarily surprised by this, failed to react quickly enough to Freesia, who slashed through him with one of her scimitars. The MG gunner fired at Vyse, yet the adventurer was able to stay just ahead of the spray of bullets, firing his own weapon wildly at the Imperials behind cover. A second later, the machinegun was obliterated by a round from Elysse's Lancaar-SH MXII.

From behind a sandbag, one of the Imperial shock troopers screamed as he aimed frenetically at Vyse, who came down on him with his cutlass.

"OH YEAH! WOO!" Ellet shouted triumphantly. "See? I told you it'd work, Captain!"

As Ellet continued cheering alongside the other radio operators, Varrot could only shut her eyes in a small smile, showing she was impressed. Radio transmissions coming in all around were now of squads pushing the Imperials back toward their main defensive line at the River Graz. The sound of Gallia's anthem could be heard gloriously throughout the city.

The tide had turned. Now they were on the offensive.

As another shell struck the Lupus, Jaeger remained calm as he kept his eyes attached to the turret visor, watching the Edelweiss' movements. Several armor plates had been blown off the Lupus, but the Edelweiss was taking noticeable damage as well. Welkin, however, was now providing a much greater challenge for Jaeger.

Yet now Jaeger had a problem. Reports were coming in of defensive lines being breached all over Vasel. Apparently, Cezary's broadcast tactic had been turned against them, and now morale favored the Gallians. His men were elites, but against such national pride they too were faltering.

The stark reality of the situation was unmistakable: the Imperial garrison was collapsing rapidly. Though he was caught-up in his duel with Welkin, Jaeger had to turn the tables somehow.

Frowning, Jaeger said, "I guess there's no choice."

Turning to his radio set, Jaeger adjusted the frequency. "This is General Jaeger to all mortar units. I want a full barrage on Vasel immediately. Cover the city with rounds."

On the radio, an officer replied, "Sir, we can't guarantee your safety if we–"

"I know the risks, Captain."

"Understood, sir. Valkyrur protect you."

The sound of Gallia's anthem was, admittedly, a great relief for Marina. She didn't know what was going on, but clearly the tables had been turned on Cezary. Whatever effect his strategy had had on Gallia's soldiers, it was now having the opposite effect. Outside, Marina could see dozens of Gallian soldiers beginning to overrun the Imperial positions.

To her, the change of pace lifted a great weight from her heart. The memories of Isara's death were now giving way to thoughts of what she had fought so hard to protect: peace throughout Gallia, for both Darcsens and non-Darcsens. It was so similar to Marina's own goal: to keep safe those who could not defend themselves.

In the shadows, Marina briefly smiled.

Then, in her earpiece, she heard a familiar, frustrated growl. Flicking a finger to her earpiece, Marina said, "Not going as planned, Cezary?"

Scowling, Cezary answered, "Laugh it up, Wulfstan. It won't last."

"…"

"Heh, still the same high-and-mighty routine, is it? Please, we both know that's just your way of hiding the real reason why you hunt."

"What are you talking about…?"

"Now you're listening. I can tell, you know: you aren't fighting for Gallia out of some sense of duty. Not entirely, at least. No, you're doing this because it's fun."

"…"

"All those times you kept going out solo on patrols and hunts, it wasn't about keeping Gallia's people safe, was it? You kept doing that because the Imperials were sporting to you. You, a hunter who spent all her life poaching beasts in the wild, finally got a taste of a real hunt when you killed your first Imp. And then you got another taste, and another, and soon you're out so often you're just popping Imps left and right. All because you think it's sporting… just like the wolves your family's named after. Coincidence? I think not."

"…"

"Come on, admit it. At least you got some challenge out of it."

"…You couldn't be more wrong, Cezary…"

"Eh…?"

"Every enemy I've killed so far… I've had nothing but pity for them. If they weren't a danger to Gallia or the squad, I'd have let them go. But because they are, I had to shoot them down. And each time, I have pitied them."

"Tch, same old answer."

"Know this, Cezary… I will have no pity when I kill you. I won't lose any sleep over it."

Cezary laughed for a moment, and then said, "Is that so, Wulfstan? Then come and find me. I'll be waiting, and we'll see who sleeps soundly tonight… and who sleeps eternally."

The transmission cut out.

Marina continued on, but remarked one thing: Cezary's taunts were slipping. He had never been as snide while under pressure, and right now his plan to cripple the militia's morale had backfired. Additionally, with more of the Imperials retreating back to the River Graz, she wouldn't have to worry as much about being intercepted. She could proceed a little more quickly to the cathedral.

Coming to a large hole in the wall, Marina looked out at the battle. Sure enough, the Gallians were pushing the Imperials back. Tanks roared and infantry cried out as the Gallian anthem resounded through the streets. If Marina had been a patriot, the sight would've brought a tear to her eye.

Marina returned to the shadows, and progressed down the hall. She only had a few more blocks to go before reaching the cathedral.

But then, she heard something: multiple distant booms, rapidly going off without a specific beat.

A moment later, Marina heard a loud, unmistakable howling sound, approaching quickly and in her direction. A second passed, and the floor shook as high-explosive death rained from the sky, smashing into buildings and streets indiscriminately, sending both Imperial and Gallian soldiers into a panic.

Artillery: the foot soldier's worst nightmare.

Marina ran for the exit; she couldn't afford to be inside an unstable building while the whole town was being shelled. Her best bet was to get somewhere low or close to the ground.

"…!"

Though she heard the loud howling, Marina could do nothing to stop the next impact. A shell smashed into the apartment building's ground floor, sending a powerful shockwave through the foundations. The whole building shook.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Marina felt the floor beneath her shift. It was too late to react. Marina screamed as the floorboards gave way under her feet, sending her crashing down to the floor below.

Everything faded into darkness.

Stepping out of the restaurant, Rosie said, "I thought you were still in the hospital, Nelson."

"Well, I WAS," said Edy. "But once I heard that the rest of you were heading back to Vasel, I knew I had to help. And what luck: for once, I end up saving YOUR skin, Rosie! How does it feel, huh?"

Groaning, Rosie said, "Not now, Nelson!" Then, turning to Karl and Lynn, who were still locked in an embrace, Rosie said, "Hey Karl, you got any Ragnaid?"

"Uh, yeah, I've got some, Rosie," Karl said as he let go of Lynn, pulling a Ragnaid capsule out of his pack.

"Good." Gesturing to the restaurant she had just exited, Rosie said, "Cherry took one in the shoulder. Patch her up and get her back to the aid station on the east side of town. It's just off Main Street."

"What about Herbert?" Karl asked, gesturing to the engineer.

Solemnly, Rosie answered, "Nah, he's gone. Never stood a chance."

"Oh. Al-Alright then…"

"I'll help, Karl," said Lynn as she followed him to the restaurant.

As Karl and Lynn went to help Cherry, Edy shouted, "Hey, where's my "Thank you, Edy", Rosie? I just saved your butt, even though you totally don't deserve it!"

Rosie groaned in exasperation. Edy had always treated her as a rival, but the rivalry was one-sided. It was simply that Edy couldn't stand competition, and couldn't stand that Rosie was a talented singer while she was tone-deaf, or that Rosie was the top shock trooper in Squad Seven. The whole thing was ridiculous, but Edy seemed intent on maintaining the rivalry to the end.

Sighing, Rosie said, "Thanks, Nelson. I owe you one."

"Huh? What was that? Say it louder…" said Edy, obviously savoring the moment.

"I said– INCOMING!" Rosie ran for cover inside the restaurant.

The howl of an artillery shell screeched through the air as the projectile slammed into the upper floor of a building next to Edy. The outer wall, blown to bits, came crumbling down above Edy's head, threatening to crush her.

Edy screamed in terror as Homer leapt at her, tackling the girl and knocking her onto her back on the pavement. The debris landed barely a meter from the two Sevens, kicking up dust that made them cough on the fumes. For the next moment, the two huddled together as artillery fire continued to rain on Vasel. Inside the restaurant, Karl yelped in his usual terror, huddling next to Lynn as the shells howled overhead, hoping one wouldn't strike them or the restaurant. Admittedly, Lynn too was terrified.

The barrage soon ended. Slowly, Rosie raised her head to look outside. "Nelson! Peron!" she shouted, hoping to hear a response.

The dust began to clear. To Rosie's relief, both Edy and Homer were still alive, the young engineer on top of the silver-haired shock trooper, covered in small bits of debris. By some miracle, they looked unharmed.

"H-Homer…" Edy said with a blush as she looked at the blonde engineer.

Coughing, Homer said, "Are you alright, Miss Edy?"

Edy's cheeks turned pink as she nodded. But then, a look of shock came to her face as she looked down. To both her surprise and Homer's, the engineer had accidentally grasped Edy's right breast in his hand. In addition, his left knee was provocatively placed between her legs, moving her skirt and almost revealing her unmentionables. This too was clearly accidental.

Mortified, Edy screamed, "KYAH! Get off me, you pervert!"

Homer yelped as Edy swung a knee to his groin, causing him to topple onto his side in pain. Edy scrambled to get up, her arms wrapped around her chest and her face turning red. Her lips quivered with a mix of embarrassment and outrage.

From where she was, Rosie couldn't help but burst out laughing. Now angry, Edy shouted, "This isn't funny, Rosie!"

"It's funny to me, Nelson!" Rosie replied through her laughter.

"Hey, what's going on out there, Rosie?" Cherry asked as Karl tended to her shoulder. "I can't see what's happening!"

Trying to stifle her laughs, Rosie stammered, "Homer just made it to second base!" Rosie couldn't contain herself any longer, and burst out laughing again.

"Nooooo way! You serious?" Cherry said in surprise, adding her laughter to Rosie's. Cherry regretted this, however, after a jolt of pain shot through her shoulder, prompting her to yelp rapidly. Next to her, Karl quickly began applying Ragnaid to her wound, somewhat numbing the pain in Cherry's shoulder.

It took a minute for Rosie to contain her laughter, during which Edy's face was red with indignation. Eventually calming down, Edy turned her head away from Rosie and asked haughtily, "So what were you doing here anyways, Rosie?"

"We're trying to find Marina," Rosie answered. "She's gone after Cezary and she's gonna need some backup."

"Huh? Wait, Cezary? You mean–"

"Yeah," Rosie interrupted. "He's working with the Imps, and he's somewhere in Vasel. He's already taken down Oscar, Emile and Julius."

Shocked, Edy said, "What? No way! How could he… what about Catherine?"

"We haven't heard from her in a bit. Dunno what's going on."

"Well then, I guess Miss Edy and I should help you out, Rosie," said Homer.

"Help HER?" Edy snapped. "Why should we help HER, Homer?"

Bracing himself for another beating, Homer said, "Miss Edy, I was just saying that if we worked together, we'd have a better chance of finding Marina."

Though clearly she did not enjoy the idea, Edy said, "Fine! We'll help her out." Turning back to Rosie, she added, "But this is for Marina's sake, not yours!"

"Fine by me," said Rosie.

The redhead then went to rummage through Herbert's kit, obtaining the ammunition he was carrying. He would no longer need it, after all.

Back at the aid station, Largo and Nadine gently set Wendy down on a stretcher. Gina quickly went to work assessing the shock trooper's wound, though the look on her face wasn't encouraging. Largo wasn't surprised; it had taken them around twenty-or-so minutes to get back to the aid station, during which time Wendy had surely lost a lot of blood. Whether or not she would survive was now up to the medical corps.

Wiping his brow, Largo turned back toward the battle, scowling as he watched artillery shells rain down from the sky. None of the shells were hitting near their position, primarily aimed at the Gallian advance, yet knowing the Imperials had artillery wasn't encouraging. It was something infantry couldn't fight, and yet they had to try and endure it to win. Needless to say, it was going to make things far more difficult. Thankfully, morale was now on Gallia's side thanks to the radio broadcasts.

Sitting next to a lamppost, Juno watched the barrage come down in mute terror. Welkin was still out in Vasel, and even the Edelweiss wouldn't survive a direct hit from an artillery shell. One hit, and he'd die. The thought only intensified Juno's worry.

But after a moment, the shelling seemed to stop. Dust and smoke started clearing from the streets.

For a brief instant, Juno saw a familiar blue shape cross through an intersection, a shell exploding near it as it moved.

She couldn't stop herself even if she tried. Juno sprung to her feet and ran toward the Edelweiss, not even bothering to take her rifle.

A few seconds later, Largo turned to where Juno had been sitting and said, "Don't worry, Coren. I'm the sure boss– huh?" Largo spun around, but didn't see Juno initially.

Nadine saw her first. She shouted, "Juno, wait! Come back!"

Largo turned to see Juno running off, as fast as her legs could carry her. "Coren, get back here! Coren!"

But Juno would not turn back, despite hearing the protests. She had to help Welkin, no matter what happened.

"Dammit!" Largo hissed. "Nadine, come on!"

Largo and Nadine quickly scooped up their weapons and ran after Juno, hoping to catch her before she made a fatal mistake.

A dull howling wind was all Marina could hear as her eyes slowly opened. Everything was covered by a thick haze, and she couldn't keep her eyes straight. Her head was ringing.

The haze began to part as her hearing slowly cleared. Her eyesight came into focus. She had landed on the bottom floor of the apartment building. Debris from the wreckage was everywhere.

Then she felt it: pain. Her right arm screamed from it, as well as her right leg above the knee. Yet she could not utter a sound, too dazed to even murmur. Her breath became short and stifled, almost gasps of agony.

Marina tried to stand; she had to find someplace to hide and to assess herself.

"AAGH!"

Marina's left ankle gave way as she tried to stand on it. She fell to her knees, trying to thrust her arms out to stop her fall. Only her left arm responded, so she toppled onto her side. The landing caused her to let out another scream of pain. Her right arm, in particular, felt like every nerve was on fire. Clenching her teeth, Marina glanced over at her arm, a bit apprehensive of what she might see.

It wasn't quite as bad as she thought. Her arm looked intact, though it bent at an odd angle from the shoulder joint. She had probably dislocated it; Marina was thankful she hadn't actually broken the arm. A simple dislocation could be fixed, though it wouldn't be a pleasant process. And she couldn't do it alone…

She glanced down at her legs. Both were still there, though blood was trickling from her right calf. Marina checked the rest of her body, seeing that much of her uniform had been torn in various places. She couldn't make out her rifle in the darkness. From what she could see, she hadn't any other serious injuries. Her ankle looked like it had been sprained, but it wasn't that bad. Still, considering the other injuries she had sustained, it was enough to keep her off her feet at the moment.

Marina slowly moved a hand to her belt, trying to obtain her only Ragnite capsule so she could patch up her leg. After a moment, Marina's hand clasped the capsule. To her dismay, she felt a sharp edge of glass through her glove; the capsule had been shattered in the fall, its contents now useless.

"…Dammit…"

Marina dropped her left arm to her side. All she could do for the moment was wait until she was strong enough to walk again or someone found her. But with the building so unstable, she hoped for the latter. The ominous creaking that would've otherwise not been a concern to her normally was now a chilling warning that, any second now, she could be buried alive.

Her predicament truly came to Marina's frustration. The Cathedral of the Valkyrur was only a few blocks away, but now she could barely move without being blinded by pain. If Cezary knew of her condition, he would've been in hysterics.

Suddenly, Marina heard a voice, yet from all the commotion outside, she couldn't discern who it was. Instinctively she tried moving her right arm to her pistol, but a jolt of pain reminded her of her arm's condition. Straining, she reached for the gun with her left hand. Grasping the gun, Marina slowly drew the weapon, and prayed that the approaching voice was friendly.

Marina watched as a familiar silhouette appeared in the opening to the wreckage.

"Marina? Oh my god, Marina! Are you alright?"

"…Do… I… look alright?" Marina snarled at Catherine, who slid down beside her. Partially, Marina was bewildered by the fact that Catherine had found her.

Now able to properly see Marina in the darkness, Catherine saw just how badly injured she was. "Oh no, your arm!"

"Just dislocated. Can't get up…"

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get you out of here."

Catherine slung Marina's good arm around her neck. Marina yelped in pain as Catherine lifted her to her feet, yet she forced herself to move toward the exit. Small bits of debris were pelting down from above, and neither sniper wanted to stay for much longer and risk being crushed.

After about ten seconds, Catherine brought Marina outside and set her down behind a wrecked car. Looking to her side, Marina saw her GSR-XXX leaning against the side of the car, and realized this was how Catherine had found her. How it had ended up outside, however, Marina wasn't sure.

As Catherine drew her sole Ragnaid capsule, Marina raised her left hand and said, "Wait…. the arm first. Just… pop it back in…"

Catherine was hesitant to do anything. After a moment, she said, "One second."

The sniper then quickly ran over to a nearby window and tore out a pair of small white curtains. Bringing the fabric back, she brought one of the sheets to Marina's mouth, which the black-haired sniper promptly clenched between her teeth.

Grasping Marina's arm, Catherine said, "This is gonna hurt."

If Marina weren't holding the cloth in her mouth, she would have been screaming at the top of her lungs. Though it had only taken Catherine one swift push to pop Marina's arm back into its socket, the pain that came afterwards seemed to last forever. Yet despite all her agony, Marina shed no tears.

Breathing heavily as Catherine wrapped the second sheet around her shoulder, Marina spat out the cloth gagging her. As Catherine finished, she activated the Ragnaid capsule as she said, "I told you it would hurt."

Marina did not reply as the pain somewhat subsided to the Ragnaid, yet her breathing remained rapid and deep. Slowly her pace dropped, as her wounds became more bearable.

"That better?" Catherine asked.

"Y-Yeah, I guess…" Marina answered, slowly propping herself up against the car.

"That's only going to be a temporary fix. I've gotta get you back to the aid station so they can patch you up."

"N-No, not yet… Cezary's close."

"Marina, forget about him! You could be worse off than we know. You need proper medical attention."

"No… not until… I get him… urgh…"

Marina shook as she tried to stand up, still reeling from the pain. But as she did, Catherine forced her back down and said, "No, Marina! As your godmother, I can't just let you chase after him like this. You're in no condition to face him right now."

"He's close, Catherine… He's in the cathedral, and we're so close…"

"Dammit, Marina, can't you please listen to me for once?"

Grunting, Marina replied, "Dad told me… not to…"

Catherine was stunned by this statement, recalling a moment from Marina's childhood. Marcus had once called her "akin to a mother bear." It was a rather apt analogy when Catherine thought about it.

Groaning, Catherine said, "Marcus… the things you put into this girl's head…"

As Catherine sat down, nursing her eyes, Marina slowly got to her feet and said, "I know where Cezary's hiding, Catherine. If I don't finish him now, he'll come back. I have to finish this."

For a moment, Catherine said nothing. But as Marina tried to slink away, she suddenly said, "Not without me."

"Huh?"

"If I can't stop you, I might as well go with you, Marina. But if you conk out before we get him, I'll drag you back to the aid station whether you like it or not!"

"…Deal…"

With a slight stagger, Marina moved along the sidewalk and back into the torn buildings nearby, with Catherine in tow.

Welkin grimaced as a shell smashed into the Edelweiss' hull, this one landing a solid hit. An armor plate covering the tank's treads was sheared off, but thankfully the treads themselves didn't take damage. The Edelweiss, however, was now covered in scars, and its plating had begun to buckle under the impacts. Rivets were breaking off, and Welkin worried that the Edelweiss wouldn't hold together for much longer.

Opposite him, the Lupus showed signs of battle damage as well. Nearly all of the tank destroyer's outer plates had been blown off, revealing the tank's hull, which also had taken damage. The Lupus' coaxial machinegun had been destroyed, but it still had its main cannon. No other critical points had been damaged.

The Edelweiss fired another shell, which struck the Lupus' turret and bounced off, but left a noticeable dent in the tank's side. The Lupus returned fire, a shot that blew another of the Edelweiss' frontal plates clean off. Welkin, jolted by the impact, hit his head on the tank's visor.

Hearing Welkin's grunt of pain, Kreis said, "Sir, are you alright?"

Welkin shook his head, his forehead now bleeding, and said, "I-I'll be alright. Keep us moving; we can't take much more of that tank's cannon!"

The Edelweiss broke into a left strafe as Welkin angled the turret at the Lupus. The blue tank fired as it moved, but missed, prompting a similar retaliation from the Lupus, a shot which bounced off the Edelweiss' armor.

Welkin rubbed his forehead as he considered his options. The Edelweiss still had plenty of ammunition left, but its hull was not going to take much more from the Lupus' powerful cannon. Welkin had hoped to use the Edelweiss' mobility to his advantage and to get behind the Lupus, but Jaeger was skilled enough that all attempts at such had failed. He had then thought to try and get in close for a greater chance of penetrating the tank destroyer's heavy armor, but the idea of facing the Lupus' cannon at such close range wasn't encouraging.

At the same moment, Jaeger confidently kept his eyes on the Edelweiss. Welkin was putting up a very good fight, but it was simply going to boil down to out-lasting him. He had the advantage in armor, firepower and range, and as long as the Edelweiss didn't get behind the Lupus, he would win by sheer brute force.

Suddenly, another tremor shook the Lupus. Yet Jaeger hadn't seen a shot from the Edelweiss, and the impact had hit the Lupus' frontal plating. Someone or something else had fired the shot.

"Back us up!" Jaeger shouted to his crew.

At the same moment, Welkin saw the trail left by the lancer round that had hit the Lupus. The round had dealt no noticeable damage, but that didn't concern Welkin. What concerned him was who had fired it, and that the Lupus was now turning its cannon toward the aggressor.

Welkin angled the Edelweiss' gun toward the source of the lancer fire.

"What? Juno!"

Reeling from the lance's recoil, Juno dizzily tried to get to her feet from behind a pile of rubble. She had never been trained to use an antitank lance, so she hadn't been prepared for the kickback. She was struggling even to lift the weapon.

Looking up, Juno watched in mute terror as the Lupus aimed at her.

"I'd thought the agreement was that no one from your squad would interfere, Lieutenant," Jaeger said to Welkin over the radio. "I'm afraid I'll need to rectify this."

"NOOO!"

Welkin could only watch in horror as a shell slammed into the rubble Juno hid behind. The girl was sent flying back by the explosion with a scream. As she landed, Juno lay limp on her side, several burns coating her uniform, her glasses cracked.

"Juno…"

A second later, Welkin saw Juno stir. She tried to get to her feet, yet the explosion had clearly stunned her. She would never survive another shot.

"Kreis, fire then full reverse! NOW!" Welkin shouted.

The Edelweiss' cannon fired at the Lupus, the shell exploding as it impacted. Such a blow certainly got Jaeger's attention, for the Lupus turned its cannon back toward the Edelweiss, which was backing up at full speed. The Lupus fired, but missed its mark as the Edelweiss rolled in front of Juno, covering her against the Lupus' fire.

On the ground, Juno looked up, her eyes blurry without her glasses. Scooping them up, she set the broken pair over her eyes, and immediately her eyes widened at seeing her savior. The Edelweiss, which now had turned to face the Lupus, fired another shell, but again dealt little damage to the tank destroyer.

"Welkin!" she shrieked.

"Juno, get out of here!" Welkin shouted over the radio.

"Welkin, no! Let me help you!"

"Juno, you have to pull back! You can't face him– AAGH!"

Juno gasped in terror as a shell slammed directly into the Edelweiss' turret, exploding as it hit. The shot had surely breached the Edelweiss' armor.

"WELKIN!"

Juno desperately tried to stand up, but pain shot through her right leg as she moved and sent her back to the ground. Looking down, Juno saw her leg was badly bleeding, though still in one piece, probably from some shrapnel. She couldn't move the limb; the fact brought a deep despair to Juno's heart. Welkin could be dying and she couldn't do anything to save him.

"Welkin… no…"

From within the Lupus, Jaeger watched his wounded prey. The Edelweiss was crippled by his last shot; one more solid hit would finish the job. He angled the Lupus' cannon slightly down, aiming for the Edelweiss' hull.

"You've been a worthy foe, Lieutenant Gunther," said Jaeger. "I'm sorry it has to end like this."

A round slammed into the side of the Lupus, exploding on impact, but dealing minimal damage. Before Jaeger could even turn to face the attacker, he heard an unfamiliar voice say, "Sorry to break up the party…"

Parked a fair distance to the left of the Lupus was a white tank similar in build to the standard Gallian light tanks, but had clearly been given several modifications. On its side was a pattern that resembled a Darcsen sash.

Inside the Shamrock, Zaka added, "But how's about picking on someone who can actually fight back, Jaeger?"

The Shamrock fired again at the Lupus, but the round bounced off the tank destroyer. As the light tank fired round after round at the Lupus, the tank destroyed rotated its turret toward the Shamrock, soon getting a clear shot. The Shamrock moved just moments before the Lupus fired, dodging what would have been a devastating hit.

Watching as the Shamrock continued to move and shoot intermittently, Jaeger grinned. "There will be time for me to finish you off later, Lieutenant Gunther. It'd be foolish of me, however, to ignore your friend there."

Slowly, the Lupus gave chase to the Shamrock, virtually ignoring every hit the light tank struck it with. Juno watched as the tank destroyer rolled off, grateful to Zaka for drawing Jaeger away.

A second later, Nadine sprinted toward the Edelweiss, shouting "Juno!" as she approached. Sliding over to her, Nadine quickly went to check Juno's leg.

"No, Nadine," Juno groaned. "Welkin, please help him…"

It took barely a second of looking at Juno's expression for Nadine to nod. The engineer quickly ran over to the Edelweiss and scrambled to climb up the side of the battered tank. As Juno watched Nadine, Largo arrived on the scene, kneeling down to check her injuries.

Reaching the turret, Nadine knocked hard on the turret hatch as she shouted, "Sir? Welkin, are you alright?"

A moment passed. Then, the turret hatch of the Edelweiss was nudged slightly. Seeing this, Nadine quickly pulled the hatch open, releasing a small amount of smoke from the tank's innards. Without missing a moment, Nadine reached in and helped to lift Welkin out of the turret.

Juno was relieved to see Welkin was alive. Part of his jacket had been slightly burnt, and his left arm was bleeding below the shoulder. But he was alive, nonetheless, and by some miracle, did not seem severely injured. He was still able to move on his own strength.

Passing a now-active Ragnaid capsule to Juno so she could tend to her own injuries, Largo said to Welkin, "You okay, boss?"

Coughing briefly as Nadine set him down on the Edelweiss' hull, Welkin said, "I've been better." Turning to Nadine, he added, "Get Kreis out, he's unconscious."

"Got it." Nadine carefully moved to slide down into the Edelweiss, taking care to avoid jagged areas where the tank had been damaged.

As Nadine descended into the tank, Welkin turned to Largo and said, "I thought I told you–"

"We got Cheslock back to the aid station, but then she decided to go chasing after you," Largo interrupted, gesturing to Juno. "We tried to stop her, but she's a pretty fast runner, you know."

Welkin looked at Juno, who looked back at him, slightly ashamed. "I'm sorry, Welkin," said Juno, "but I… I just couldn't sit back and let you fight him alone. I'm so sorry. I was completely useless."

"Juno… I'm just glad you're alright," Welkin replied, bringing a small smile from Juno.

A moment later, Nadine lankily moved herself out of the Edelweiss, dragging a cataleptic Kreis out by his collar.

"Largo, give me a hand here," said Nadine, struggling to pull Kreis out of the tank. "Urgh, he's a lot heavier than he looks!"

Largo quickly moved to help Nadine with Kreis. But as Largo grabbed hold of the tank's driver, he looked at the damage the Edelweiss had taken. The buckling armor plates and numerous scars were hardly the worst of it. The worst had clearly come from Jaeger's last shot.

"Oh, Hel…" Largo groaned.

With a slight grunt of pain, Welkin asked, "How bad is it, Largo?"

"Real bad, boss. Real bad."

Welkin slowly turned to look at the battle damage, nervous of what he'd see.

"Oh no…"

It was worse than Welkin could have ever imagined. The last shell that had hit the Edelweiss had done more than penetrate its armor. It was the main gun, now horribly twisted and broken, that had taken the worst of the hit. The cannon had been all but destroyed.

Welkin stared blankly at the wreck that had once been his sister's pride and joy. The Edelweiss could no longer fight.

On the outside, the Vasel Cathedral of the Valkyrur was an impressive sight. The structure was at least forty meters tall at its center, with a tall bell-tower extending almost seventy meters. Its exterior was a glistening white, well-maintained by the religious community of Vasel before the Imperials had retaken the city. Despite all the fighting around it, the cathedral barely looked damaged, besides a noticeable hole in its south side caused by a recent artillery shell that had flown off course.

Marina peered across the cathedral as Catherine kneeled behind her. Cezary was somewhere inside. But the cathedral had many windows on its roof, each open and with a billowing sheet used for construction purposes, and she had to peer carefully through each one. She hadn't seen any sign of Cezary in the bell-tower, so she assumed he had relocated to another part of the cathedral. Even though she knew it was entirely possible that Cezary might have just left the area, some instinct in her said otherwise. He was still there; he had to be.

After a moment, Catherine whispered to Marina, "See anything?"

"…Nothing…"

"Marina, I don't think Cezary's here. We should go back."

"…I know he's in there somewhere. I can feel it…"

"This isn't the time to trust your gut on something like this, Marina. Even if he might've been here, I'll bet he's long gone by now. There's no way he'd stay in a place like that for so long."

Marina couldn't help but see the wisdom in Catherine's words. It went against logical sense to think Cezary would still be in the cathedral after so long; any other sniper would have relocated by now. But Marina couldn't pull herself away; she couldn't just give up so easily and let Cezary escape, not after all he had done.

"…!"

Marina saw it. One of the sheets in the windows was oddly shaped, as though draped over some solid mass. To the casual eye, no one would've noticed it. But Marina had, and she also saw the familiar shape of a Gallian rifle protruding from the window, wrapped in cloth to try and camouflage it. It wasn't quite aimed in her direction, but it aimed in the right area.

Cautiously Marina eyed the shape. Cezary knew how to use decoys, and this could be one of them. If she shot it and it was a fake, she would give away her position to Cezary, and he would have an enormous advantage. Marina had to be absolutely certain that what she saw now wasn't a fake. She had fallen for such a trick once before; she wasn't about to do so for a second time.

She got her answer as she eyed the shape through her scope. The rifle moved, slowly turning in her direction. It was real.

"…I see him…"

Catherine didn't need to ask Marina if she was sure; she knew she was. Looking in Marina's direction, Catherine caught sight of the silhouette.

"You're right," Catherine whispered, seeing the rifle moving slowly toward them.

As Catherine raised her GSR-XX, ready to provide a back-up in case Marina missed, Marina centered the sights of her GSR-XXX on the target's head. Cezary often used a shroud to camouflage himself, but now he had lost that protection.

"…Good night, Cezary…"

The GSR cracked.

Marina watched as the figure beneath the shroud fell backwards, leaving behind a brief spray of blood. The small adjacent windows were stained red.

For a moment, all was quiet.

"You… you got him," Catherine said in disbelief. Then, ecstatically, she said, "Marina, you got him! You got him!"

Marina sighed with relief, then she and Catherine quickly withdrew into the shadows to avoid a possible counterattack. Overcome with joy, Catherine couldn't help but give Marina a pat on the back as they moved through the building.

But Marina was not rejoicing. Cezary was dead, yet she still felt something was amiss…

From inside a small home built above a clothing store, a 25-year-old blonde Imperial sniper heard the sound of a rifle fired from south of the cathedral. More than that, he had seen the shot, but at his angle he couldn't have done anything to counter it, for the shooter had quickly withdrawn. He had, however, caught a glimpse of the shooter: a black-haired woman with pale white skin. It had to be the Ghost of Gallia.

The Imperial knew this individual well: Marina Wulfstan, Gallia's ace sniper. Many of those he had called comrade before now lay dead, their lives ended by her hand. Against her, he knew he stood little chance in a sniper duel. Yet if challenged, he would face her; his personal opinion of the matter meant little. He was, after all, a loyal soldier, and one who would fight to the death for his country.

Next to the Imperial, a small radio came alive as a woman's voice said, "Command, this is Catherine. We got him! Marina got him!"

Another woman's voice, this one filled with more authority, replied, "Catherine, repeat your last transmission."

"Cezary! Marina got him, Elle! He's dead!"

"Are you sure? Where was he?"

"The Cathedral of the Valkyrur. Bastard was in that place the whole time. Who would've guessed it?"

"Excellent work, both of you. Our offensive is pushing the Imperials back to the bridge as we speak. You two have done enough for now. Return to base. Command out."

"Err, roger that. Marina just wants to confirm it. Catherine out."

This last message caught the Imperial's attention. The Ghost of Gallia wanted to confirm her kill. Any moment now, she would have to venture out into the open; he'd have a clean shot at her.

At that moment, however, he heard another voice over the radio. "Bourdais, you heard all that?"

"Roger, Wolf Hunter One," the Imperial replied.

"I'll take it from here. You can pull back. Wolf Hunter One out."

The Imperial was a little surprised to hear this. Wolf Hunter One was about to take the Ghost of Gallia on by himself, and the Gallian ace had back-up. Yet it was how Wolf Hunter One had wanted it; he'd been going on for a while now about how he would take Gallia's ace sniper down personally. Frankly, the Imperial didn't really care. Wolf Hunter One, after all, was hardly a loyal soldier.

Yet an order was an order. "Understood, Wolf Hunter One. Bourdais out."

With that, Helmut Bourdais slinked into the shadows and retreated from sight.

The inside of the Vasel Cathedral of the Valkyrur was, for the most part, colored a light blue. Though rubble littered the floor in certain places, the place was quite pristine, despite quite a few scaffold setups placed by construction workers. Its many pillars stood strong to keep the building from collapsing, despite some having suffered some damage. Painted glass windows on the high walls of the cathedral blocked out most of the outside light, and depicted the Valkyrur's many deeds of the past for which they were worshipped. Small windows attached to the roof allowed small rays of light into the cathedral, though quite a few were now blocked by sheets due to construction. Rows upon rows of pews lined the center of the cathedral, and upon the dais stood a massive statue of a Valkyria Matriarch, bearing a lance and shield.

From a hole that had been blasted in the side of the cathedral by a recent artillery shell, Marina cautiously peeked around for any sign of a trap Cezary might have laid. Even though she had taken him out, that didn't mean he hadn't left anything to keep out anyone who might have been looking for him in the cathedral.

But there was nothing. Cezary had apparently depended on keeping his position hidden rather than setting traps to keep out those who were too nosy. There was no sign of any Imperials in the church either.

Feeling it was safe, Marina entered the cathedral with Catherine in tow. As she reached the aisles below the dais, Marina looked up at the scaffolding above; it was probably how Cezary had been able to position himself at those windows, which normally were meant only to allow light into the cathedral. There was no sign of a body above; it had to have fallen to the ground.

Marina looked down to see where Cezary's body had fallen.

"…!"

Marina stopped in her tracks upon seeing the man, who had a bullet hole through his forehead. It was not Cezary.

This man was rounder, older, and his black hair had been shaved in a tonsure, much in the manner of a Valkyrur Priest. In all likelihood, this man had indeed been a priest until his untimely death. A gunshot wound through his chest, however, indicated that he had been dead before Marina had shot him. The revelation that Cezary had used a fresh corpse as a decoy was sickening.

Marina then saw the cadaver's rifle. Strings were attached to it, which had allowed the rifle to rotate with the aid of a pulley system that had been set up along the scaffolding. It created the illusion that a living target was moving the rifle side to side.

Behind her, Catherine saw the body, and quickly realized the two had been duped. She looked around the church frantically, trying to find some sign of a trap. There was no sign within the pews or in nearby corners.

But then, as the two looked around, Marina saw something. It was only for a split second, but the glint of light was enough to catch her attention. Looking back, she saw what she had been afraid of, emerging from behind a set of large white sheets near the main entrance to the cathedral.

It was a rifle, and it was pointed right at her.

"MARINA!"

Marina hadn't even a moment to react to Catherine's sudden move, which knocked her away. Her rifle flew out of her hands as a shot was fired.

The shot missed Marina… and struck Catherine dead center.

Marina, as she fell, watched in horror as Catherine gasped in pain. The black-haired sniper crashed to the floor behind a large fragment of a broken pillar. Her rifle clattered to the ground, exposed near the dais.

At the same time, Catherine was sent across the floor as a blood-soaked blotch stained the dais, the same point where the bullet impacted after passing through her. She cringed as she lay on her side, bleeding horribly from the chest wound. She couldn't even move her arms to try and clutch the wound.

As Marina looked on at Catherine, she almost threw herself to her feet to try and aid her godmother. But the sound of a cocked rifle, followed by a loud, snide laugh prompted her to hide again behind the pillar fragment. The voice was unmistakable.

From his place behind a curtain, Cezary emerged from the shadows, his rifle reloaded. The Imperial weapon was a prototype, its design based off captured Gallian rifles. Unlike other Imperial sniper rifles, this weapon had power and accuracy together in one package.

Keeping his rifle aimed at the pillar fragment, Cezary said with a chuckle, "Checkmate, Wulfstan."

Marina grimaced. Her weapon was at least two meters away, but was out in the open. The moment she tried to retrieve it, she would be shot down. And each second that passed by was a second less that Catherine had to live. That was, if Catherine's wound weren't already fatal. All Marina had was her Colt and Selvaria's sword, but neither of those would help her. And in her current position, she could barely move an inch without giving Cezary a shot at her. She had to curl her entire body into a ball to avoid exposing any part of her, or Cezary would be able to hit her.

There was no dodging the fact: Cezary had her trapped.

Johann strode through the halls of the Marmota on his way to the bridge. Maximilian had summoned him to the bridge for direct orders, and Johann had no intention of keeping the prince waiting for long.

Yet as he approached the steel door of the bridge, Johann couldn't help but think of the conversation he had had with Cordelia. Her reasons for participating in her family's deception were very noble. Despite having to deceive the whole of Gallia of her heritage, Cordelia did so in the best interest of her people's worship of the Valkyrur. To reveal her true heritage to the people would surely have dire consequences, due to Europa's collective stance against the Darcsen people.

Johann's pondering went so deep that he nearly ended up walking right into the door to the bridge. Snapping back to reality a mere moment before that happened, Johann fumbled for the door handle, opening it and stepping into the bridge.

Aesthetically, the bridge was, for lack of a better term, quite ugly. Various consoles with levers, gauges and dials lined the room, with a technician at each station busily preparing each console for use. But in the middle of the room was an elaborately-designed commander's seat, upon which Maximilian sat and stared down at Johann.

Saluting, Johann said, "First Lieutenant Johann Oswald Eisen reporting, Your Grace."

"I expected you sooner, Lieutenant Eisen," Maximilian replied, a clear hint of displeasure in his tone.

"My apologies, Your Grace. I had to find an alternate route through Deck B."

Truthfully, Johann had been delayed thanks to a chat with his friend and comrade Otto, who had admonished Johann for "getting too cozy with the prisoner", referring to Cordelia. Otto was a loyal-to-a-fault Imperial soldier, and his stance on seeing Imperial dominion over Europa would never change. Their conversation had made Johann quite late to responding to Maximilian's order.

To Johann's fortune, Maximilian did not seem overly displeased over his truancy. Dismissively, the prince said, "Go to the princess' chambers and bring her to me."

"My lord?"

"Helmsman, have all the preparations been made?" Maximilian asked another officer, ignoring Johann's question.

"Yes, Your Grace. We only await your order," the officer answered.

"Excellent." Standing up and waving an arm majestically, Maximilian said, "Release the Valkof from its bonds and take us from the city!"

"Yes, my lord!" was the unanimous response of the crewmen, who immediately went to work on their respective consoles.

Seconds later, as Maximilian seated himself again, Johann felt the floor beneath him begin to shake. The Marmota was moving, pulling itself away from Castle Randgriz.

Outside, the spire of Castle Randgriz slowly began to crumble. The populace of Randgriz broke into a panic as from within the spire's stone and mortar, an enormous mass of pearl white emerged, fashioned in the shape of a Valkyrur lance. The object, completely flawless in design, was almost as large as the Marmota itself, and was tilting in such a way that it seemed as if it would crash down on the dreadnought and crush it.

Yet such a catastrophe did not come to pass. Atop the Marmota, a series of strong metal arms had risen up to catch the lance as it descended. Almost gently, the lance settled itself on top of the Marmota, positioned with its tip at the front of the dreadnought.

Johann could only stare in awe. The Valkof, the most powerful weapon of the Valkyria, was more impressive than he could ever have imagined.

Suddenly, Maximilian broke Johann's gaze as he said, "Do you make a habit of dallying, Lieutenant Eisen? I gave you an order to retrieve Gallia's princess. Carry it out!"

"Uh, yes Your Grace!" Johann stuttered, briefly saluting the prince before quickly leaving the bridge.

Seated in his command chair, Maximilian couldn't help but marvel at the Valkof as the Marmota slowly moved out of Randgriz. The ramblings of his men as they properly aligned the Valkof with the Marmota's systems did not reach his ears.

Maximilian smiled. With such a weapon, nothing could stop him now.

Welkin sighed as Nadine applied a Ragnaid capsule to his shoulder, eying the damage the Lupus had done to the Edelweiss. Though the plating could be repaired in a pinch at the time, fixing the main gun would take weeks, if not months. The Edelweiss had never been this battered before, but now it rested in the street, no longer able to fight. And once the Lupus came back, there'd be nothing left of the tank but a scrap pile once Jaeger was finished with it.

At this point, Welkin had no idea what he could possibly do to turn the tables on Jaeger. The Shamrock would stand no chance against the Lupus, not being nearly as advanced as the Edelweiss and not having the required punch to even make a dent in the tank destroyer. One solid hit would blow apart the light tank easily, and Zaka didn't have nearly as much experience as Jaeger in tank combat. And even if he brought in all of Squad Seven's lancers, he would probably still lose, especially if Jaeger called in backup.

Welkin looked over at the others, who had taken shelter in a nearby ruin. Kreis was still unconscious, with Nadine trying to wake him up with Ragnaid, while Largo was seeing to Juno's leg. Juno's injury was quite bad, and would put her out of action for the rest of the war. Whether or not she would be able to walk again, Welkin hoped that eventually she would be able to.

As Largo placed some finishing touches on wrapping Juno's leg in bandages, he turned to Welkin and said, "Coren should be alright for now, boss, but that's all I can do." Seeing that Welkin wasn't quite paying attention to this news, Largo asked, "Got any ideas, boss?"

Sighing, Welkin said, "None. I'm fresh out. With the Edelweiss this badly damaged, I don't know what we can do against Jaeger."

"Yeah, well in my opinion, it doesn't make much sense for us to stay here. Zaka won't be able to hold Jaeger off for long, and then he'll be back to finish the job."

"Maybe we could set up some kind of ambush for him," Nadine suggested. "We could lay some mines and–"

"That'd take too long," Welkin answered, "and I doubt Jaeger would fall for something like that so easily. He'll simply shoot the Edelweiss at a distance until he destroys it."

"Then maybe we could pull it back and try to fix the Edelweiss."

"You know how long it'd take us to fix that gun?" asked Largo. "The war will be over way before she can fight again."

"Then what are we going to do?"

"No idea, Nadine. This whole thing ticks me off. The Edelweiss has gotta still have plenty of ammo left, but there's no way for us to use it."

All of a sudden, Welkin was struck by inspiration. Yet it was a grim inspiration; the idea could potentially work, but it would come at a terrible cost.

For a moment, Welkin mulled over his options. He didn't see any other plausible way for him to defeat the Lupus. The plan, despite how dangerous and how costly it would be, was the only option he could think of remaining.

"Guys, I've got an idea…" said Welkin. As Largo, Nadine and Juno turned to face him, Welkin added, "but you're not going to like this…"

Marina remained huddled behind the pillar fragment, her gaze forced to look at the prone form of Catherine. The veteran sniper now lay in a slowly spreading pool of her blood, yet she struggled to stay conscious. If she didn't receive help soon, she would bleed to death. Marina worried it could already be too late.

Yet in that moment, Marina was powerless. Cezary had her pinned in place, her rifle was out of reach, and she had no effective way of retaliating against her assailant. Even though she had her sidearm, she lay on her right side in such a way that she couldn't draw the pistol. Selvaria's rapier was in reach, but it would be useless in such a fight. Cezary had every advantage, and it was only a matter of time before he got her. Her mind raced; she had to find some way to turn the tables on him.

Nothing came; she couldn't defeat him in such a position.

Behind the curtain, Cezary kept his eye behind the scope of his rifle, training it on the pillar fragment behind which Marina was hidden. She had concealed herself perfectly behind the stone, yet in doing so she had pinned herself in place. If she had hidden behind the pews, Cezary could've shot her through them with ease. His rifle, however, lacked the necessary punch to penetrate solid marble.

Yet despite all this, Cezary knew he had no need to move. The duel had now turned into a waiting game, and it was only a matter of time before Marina cracked under the pressure. Either she would go insane from the prospect of her imminent death, or she would be forced to try and aid Catherine before she bled to death. As such, Cezary knew he would be safe where he was; no one was coming to help Marina, after all.

So Cezary decided he would do what he could to speed up the process.

"You honestly thought you had me, huh Wulfstan?" Cezary taunted, loud enough so Marina could hear his echoing voice. "Tch, so predictable. I knew you'd find your way here eventually after I took down Klotz. The old pastor over there was kind enough to act as a human decoy for me. Well, after a little persuasion. I've always found violence is more convincing than the words of clergy."

"…"

"Nothing to say, Wulfstan? I'm disappointed. I'd have thought you'd be acting all tough and defiant, as usual. Or maybe now that you're trapped like a rat, all that fire's gone out? Not so tough when you've got your back to the wall, are you?"

"…I need to know, Cezary…"

"Eh? You need to know what?"

"…Why side with the Empire? Why betray Gallia to them?"

Laughing, Cezary asked, "You actually don't know? It was about you, Wulfstan. It was to get back at you for what you did to me. And now I've more than won our little duel: I've bested you, conquered you… hurt you."

"…!"

"Oh yes, Wulfstan. You think I can't sense your fear? Oh, I can. You can't take your eyes off O'Hara. She's probably only got a few minutes left. And there's absolutely nothing you can do to save her. It's just tears you up inside, doesn't it?"

"…You sick bastard… If this were all about me, why drag everyone else into this? You could've left everyone else out and just come for me, so why help the Empire?"

"Ah, now you're being more specific, Wulfstan." Suddenly, Cezary's tone turned far more grim and serious as he said, "It was for power."

"…Power…?"

"All that crap Gunther keeps going on about working together, companionship, and hope? All bullshit, if you ask me. You and I both know, on the fields on battle, those ideals aren't worth spit. Its skill and power, like the kind the two of us have, that matters the most. You've seen it, haven't you, when squads are wiped out in ambushes or when the best of friends are brought down by a single shot from yours truly. And then the power of the Valkyrur…" Taking a deep, satisfied breath, Cezary added, "How that'll change the face of this world!"

It all clicked in for Marina. "…This has nothing to do with the Empire…"

"Now you're catching on, Wulfstan. I only joined them so I could get the power I needed to take you down. And once they've won this war, I'll be hailed as a hero by the Imps, and I'll simply milk them for all they're worth to make my life that much cozier. I can toss them a couple of secrets here and there, kill a Fed General or two, and they won't give a rat's ass on what I do in the meantime. Of course, if things go bad for them against the Feds, I'll just switch sides again and repeat the process, easy as that."

"…You …"

"Gallia's never meant a thing to me, Wulfstan. I'm surprised I need to tell you that. But you and me? That's personal. You humiliated me that day, ruined everything I had going while I was still in the militia. And for what? The sake of one stinking dark-hair? I'd like to believe that, but you've always had it out for me. Saving that bitch Nadine, taking out those guys who would've wasted Wavy and Karl, and then breaking my scope at Fouzen. If you'd just minded your own damn business, I doubt we'd be having this little chat right now, and maybe O'Hara wouldn't have had to go. But she got in my way, just like you always did. And because of that, Wulfstan, you're going to die here for it, and Gallia's gonna pay for what you did to me."

"…"

Cezary's words hit Marina hard. Was Catherine's current state her fault and not Cezary's? Many would have argued against the idea, but Marina couldn't help but see Cezary's point of view. Could so much of the present day's tragedies have been avoided if she hadn't sold him out? Was Gallia going to lose the war because of her mistakes?

No, she couldn't let that happen. Cezary was simply trying to trick her. She had to somehow defeat him. But how? The knowledge that she could not retaliate against his taunts was infuriating.

"…I should have killed you the day you tried to let Nadine die, Cezary!"

Cezary laughed; he was clearly getting some satisfaction out of angering Marina. The sound of his laughter only continued to fuel Marina's anger.

Then, Cezary added smugly, "Let's face it, Wulfstan. You've always been a weakling. You've never taken hold of all that power you could command because you're a coward. Hel, you won't even make use of that sword Lady Valkyria gave you. Do you have any idea just what that thing's capable of?"

"…What?" Marina had no idea what Cezary was talking about. Why had he changed the subject to talk about Selvaria's sword? Was there something special about it, outside of its craft as a blade of the Valkyrur? Marina tried to shove the thought out of her head, thinking it was another distraction of Cezary's.

"No?" Cezary asked. "Too bad. Maybe if you hadn't listened to O'Hara, you might've seen just what that blade can do. But I know, and I know Lady Valkyria knew, and that she was afraid to use its power. Hel, I'd be scared too if you had any idea how to use it."

Marina couldn't help herself; she looked down at the blade. The flower-shaped crystal at its end shimmered with a blue light, a glow that hadn't faded since Marina got the blade. When Marina thought about it, she had never seen a blade quite like it. But what was so important about this sword? Was it so powerful that even Selvaria feared it? And how did Cezary know anything of the sword?

"But you don't know a thing, Wulfstan," Cezary continued. "You don't know about the sword, you didn't think of the damage I could cause when you sold me out, and now you can't think of any way out of this. Well, I can suggest to you a way: just stand up. I promise I'll make it quick."

"…Cezary…!"

Rosie heard the name clearly: Cezary. The word, and many others before it, had come over the radio, an exchange between the traitorous sniper and Marina. Cezary, however, didn't seem to realize such a transmission was occurring.

The earlier report had been false: Cezary was still alive, and now had Marina pinned down. Rosie knew there wasn't much time.

Yet she now knew where to look.

"Come on, you two!" Rosie said to Edy and Homer, taking off down the street as she did.

Startled, Edy shouted, "Hey, wait! ROSIE!" Groaning loudly, Edy charged off after the redhead bar singer with Homer in tow.

The Shamrock fired rapidly at the Lupus as the tank destroyer angled its turret for a shot. All of the Shamrock's efforts so far were for nothing, as the light tank simply did not have the firepower necessary to break through the Lupus' armor, even at close range. And just from a few glancing blows, the Shamrock had taken severe damage from the Lupus. A single direct hit would blow the tank to pieces.

As Zaka called for another round, he looked through his visor at the Lupus. It was aimed right at them. "Hard forward, now!" Zaka shouted to his driver, a Darcsen man named Soren.

Inside the Lupus, Jaeger watched as the Shamrock began to move forward, hoping to strafe right. Skillfully, Jaeger altered the angle of the Lupus' cannon, placing it in front of the Shamrock.

"FIRE!"

The Lupus' armor-piercing round slammed into the Shamrock's left-side treads, wrecking them as the shell broke through the light tank's plating. Zaka braced himself as the tank shook violently from the hit, knocking him around in his seat.

Smoke filled the tank as Zaka shouted, "Soren, you alright? Soren!"

A moment later, Zaka saw his driver. Soren had taken a large amount of shrapnel, and he was bleeding badly from his abdomen. Blood was starting to pool in his mouth. He was surely a dead man, yet he was still conscious.

"G-Get out of here, Zaka!" Soren yelled painfully. "Leave me!"

"Soren–"

"GO!" Soren gagged as blood ebbed from his throat with his last word, and he fell forward onto the steering wheel.

Sorry to see his driver's demise, Zaka held back his remorse as he wrenched open the turret hatch and scrambled out of the doomed tank. Looking over at the Lupus, Zaka saw its cannon angling for the killing blow. Zaka leapt from the tank and sprinted away.

The Lupus fired another shell, which struck the Shamrock squarely in the center, piercing its armor effortlessly. A second later, the Shamrock burst into a shower of fire and metal as its ammunition detonated. All that was left of the light tank was a pile of burning scrap.

As Jaeger watched the wreckage, one of his crewmen said, "Nice work, sir. What about the tank's commander?"

"Leave him," said Jaeger. "He's no threat to us anymore. Bring us around and take us back to the Edelweiss. In its condition, I don't think it'll have gone too far."

Slowly, the Lupus turned itself around and rolled off, leaving Zaka to watch from a nearby building.

Breathing heavily, Zaka muttered, "Sorry boss, I've done all I can."

After a few minutes, the Lupus reentered the long street in which it had left the wounded Edelweiss. Jaeger rotated the turret 90 degrees counterclockwise, expecting to see his prey sitting in the street.

The Edelweiss was certainly there, but not where he had left it. The tank, badly damaged, sat in the middle of the road, directly facing the Lupus. If it had still had a functional cannon, it would have had a strong firing position, yet it was still as mangled as Jaeger had left it.

"Hmm, it's as though he offered it to me on a platter," Jaeger said in amusement.

"Should we get closer, sir?" asked Jaeger's driver.

"No, hold our position here. Gunther may have set a trap for us. We'll shell the Edelweiss at range. Load an AP round."

Opposite the Lupus, the Edelweiss sat in the middle of the road. In the driver's seat, Welkin watched anxiously through the frontal visor as the Lupus lined up its cannon to shoot. One solid hit would blow the Edelweiss apart.

Then, in his headphones, Welkin heard Juno say, "Welkin, there has to be another way! Don't do this!"

"I'm sorry, Juno…" Welkin answered, "but I just don't know what else I can do. This may our only chance to defeat Jaeger."

"Boss, of all the crazy stunts you've pulled, this is the worst!" Largo interrupted.

"I know the risks, Largo. Just be ready to do your part."

"Got it, boss…"

"I'm ready when you are, sir," said Nadine, though no enthusiasm was in her voice.

At that moment, the Lupus fired. Its armor-piercing shell struck the Edelweiss, but failed to penetrate, sheering off a loose armor plate instead.

Bracing against the shock, Welkin said, "Nadine, set off the smoke rounds."

As the Lupus reloaded, Jaeger watched his prey intently. Then, from a building to his right, Jaeger saw a Gallian engineer, a Darcsen no-less, firing a rifle at what appeared to be battlefield debris. But upon taking a closer look, Jaeger saw that the targets were actually smoke rounds, set on the road like makeshift landmines, yet not nearly hidden well enough. As each round was hit by bullets, smoke burst out of the rounds, quickly coating the street in a thick haze.

Watching as the smoke filled the street, Welkin shut his eyes and said, "I'm sorry, Is. I wish there was another way…"

Jaeger smirked. Welkin had already tried this against him several times now, using the cover of the smoke to retreat to hiding. Clearly, the Gallian lieutenant was desperate at this time.

"Load HE round," Jaeger said calmly to his crew.

The Lupus angled its cannon upward and fired, lobbing the high-explosive round into the smokescreen. The blast, coupled with its shockwave, quickly blew away the smoke that filled the street.

But to Jaeger's shock, through the flames of the blast, the Edelweiss emerged at full speed, coming straight for the Lupus. The howl of its engine made clear that the tank was being pushed past its limits, for it moved with uncharacteristic velocity of something of such size.

Caught by complete surprise, Jaeger immediately realized what Welkin's plan was. He was going to ram them!

"Load AP round, now!" Jaeger shouted, furiously trying to angle the Lupus' cannon in the process.

Next to Largo, Juno watched as the Edelweiss sped by them. The sight of it horrified Juno; Welkin was clearly rushing to his doom!

"No, no… Welkin, please…"

Growling, Largo shouted as loud as he could, "You crazy bastard!"

The Lupus fired. Its shell scored a solid blow on the Edelweiss, exploding on impact without fully penetrating the tank's armor. A large portion of the tank's front hull was blown open, enough so that Welkin could see out of the hole clearly, and that Jaeger could see him. Incredibly, Welkin avoided injury from the shrapnel besides a few cuts.

Jaeger watched as the Edelweiss approached, not slowing down in the slightest. The look on Welkin's face as he cried out heroically was nothing short of astounding. There was no stopping him now, and no stopping the inevitable impact.

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Jaeger shouted to his men.

The hulls of the Edelweiss and Lupus met a second later.

A thunderous sound of metal smashing and scraping together reverberated through Vasel's streets. The force of the impact lifted up the Lupus slightly, causing its left side to rest on top of the Edelweiss' hull. Armor fragments and flame scattered across the streets. The engine of the Lupus whined as it lost power. Both tanks were left in a ruined mess as the dust settled.

Juno stared in mute horror at the wreckage.

"WELKIIINNN!"

Cordelia followed Johann through the Marmota's steel hallways, escorted by two guards armed with rifles. Though the guards had surely been ordered not to harm her, Cordelia didn't feel any safer. Johann's expression wasn't encouraging either.

Cordelia shut her eyes briefly as Johann opened the door to the bridge, and then stepped through after him. After a few paces, Cordelia watched as Johann stopped, turned to the center of the room, and made a salute. Turning, Cordelia's dark-blue eyes met Maximilian's light-blue ones.

"Highness, I welcome your presence here," said Maximilian.

"If only I could say the same of you, Maximilian," Cordelia responded icily.

Ignoring her reply, Maximilian turned to an intelligence officer to his left and said, "Have our scouts reported back from Andorhal yet?"

"They have, Your Grace," said the officer. "They report that a militia force around sixty strong is rallying for an attempt to try and retake Randgriz. They have no armor in their forces. Our vanguard could deal with them with ease."

"No, that shall not be necessary." With a small smirk, Maximilian turned back to Cordelia and said, "Still your people resist. How worthless. Yet I must set an example if the bloodshed is to end, and if I am to be proclaimed king."

"An example?" Cordelia asked, afraid of what Maximilian was talking about. If he wasn't planning to send troops into Andorhal, what was he planning?

"Helmsman, I have decided on our first test run," said Maximilian. "Your target is Andorhal."

"Yes, Your Grace!"

As the helmsman directed the technicians on the bridge to change the Marmota's direction, Maxmilian turned to Cordelia and gestured to a nearby chair as he said, "Please, Highness, have a seat. I insist."

Though she stared defiantly for a moment at Maximilian, Cordelia chose to seat herself next to the Imperial prince. As she sat, Cordelia watched as the bridge's metal shutters, which had been closed when she entered, began to slide open, revealing the outside through bullet-resistant glass.

The first thing Cordelia noticed made her eyes widen with horror. It was the monstrous Valkyrur lance stationed atop the Marmota, pointed straight ahead.

"T-The Valkof…!" Cordelia gasped.

"Indeed, Highness," said Maximilian. "I have unearthed the Valkyrur's greatest weapon from its slumber within the Spire of Randgriz. With it, I shall bring Gallia to its knees before me."

As Cordelia gazed upon the Valkof, she slowly looked down at the horizon. The Marmota had apparently left Randgriz, carrying the Valkof out with it. Slowly, but surely, a village came into view in the distance: the village of Andorhal. It was a community primarily revolving around agriculture and farming, and wasn't very large, though at least a few hundred or so people called Andorhal home. So far, the village had been untouched by the war.

The Marmota stopped in its turn. The Valkof was pointed right at Andorhal.

"Your Grace, we've locked on to the target," said the helmsman. "Power level is reading at 45 percent."

"That shall suffice," said Maximilian. "Engage."

"No…" Cordelia gasped. Then, more frantically, she pleaded, "No, you can't! Those people are innocent!"

"They dare to raise arms against Gallia's new king," Maximilian said calmly. "For that, they must be punished."

Terrified, Cordelia looked out at the village. Above them, she saw energy begin to swirl around the Valkof. Azure flames began to engulf the lance as it spun majestically. This, combined with the voices of Maximilian's men as they prepared the Valkof to attack, was an unbearable sight.

"Yet through their demise," Maximilian continued, "all of Europa shall learn of my might, and will tremble at the very mention of my name!"

"No, no, please… don't…" Cordelia pleaded, as tears began streaming from her eyes. As she did, Johann watched her with a look of pity on his face.

"For I am Maximilian Gaius von Reginrave, King of the Valkyrur!"

Energy surged in a bright blue light around the Valkof, bright enough that the light of the sun seemed to retreat from around the Marmota.

"FIRE!"

"NOOOOOO!"

A massive beam of blue fire surged from the Valkof and careened at Andorhal.

Seconds later, Cordelia watched in horror as the beam struck the village, releasing a blinding blue light that forced her and several others on the bridge to shield their eyes. Maximilian, however, did not, choosing to watch as the flames engulfed the village.

After what felt like an eternity, the blinding light faded from Cordelia's eyes. Slowly, she looked out the front window.

Andorhal was gone. All that remained was a smoldering crater, from which a blue cloud of smoke rose into the sky.

"Such devastation, and not even at half its full strength," Maximilian said bemusedly. Looking at Cordelia, he added, "The power to bring any enemy to its knees… Magnificent, is it not, Highness?"

Cordelia said nothing, though her panicked breath could be heard by all on the bridge. Her eyes remained fixated on the burning basin that had once been Andorhal. The whole village, and the people who lived in it, had vanished in the blink of an eye.

"Such glorious power warrants another display," said Maximilian. Turning to the helmsman, he ordered, "Charge the Valkof and target another village. And this time, we shall unleash more of the Valkof's might upon Gallia's people!"

"STOP!" Cordelia screamed.

Everyone on the bridge jolted at Cordelia's voice, except for Maximilian, who looked at the princess with a short smile. The Darcsen princess was now in tears, unable to take any more of Maximilian's threats.

Not turning to face the Imperial prince, Cordelia said, "I… I will agree to your terms. Gallia will surrender… just please… please, no more…"

His smile widening, Maximilian said, "A wise decision, Highness." Turning to his aide, Maximilian said, "Have the treaty brought to me immediately."

"Yes, Your Grace." The aide briskly left the bridge after a short salute.

Maximilian turned back to see Cordelia had sat back down in her chair. Her hands now covered her face, for she wept softly, devoid of all hope. The sight of it was pitiful, yet Maximilian did not hold any sympathy for the princess.

Gallia belonged to him, now.

Cezary's eye continued to gaze at Marina's position. Nearly ten minutes had passed now since he had pinned her there. Cezary had been in longer sniper duels, however, and at this point certainly wasn't tiring. He suspected, however, that Marina wouldn't come out of hiding at any time soon. Somehow, Catherine was still alive, despite having lost so much blood.

It wouldn't be long, however, before Catherine bled out, Cezary thought. Perhaps at that time, Marina would emerge and the hunt would finally end.

"Not much time left, Wulfstan," said Cezary. "O'Hara's starting to look pretty ghostlike herself. I wonder who'll die first: you or her."

Marina grimaced as she looked at Catherine. Having lost so much blood, Marina doubted she was going to survive.

But then she heard a sound she wasn't at all expecting: Catherine was laughing.

At the same moment, Cezary heard Catherine's choking laughter, and was completely bewildered by it. What could she possibly be laughing about?

"I… might not have long… Cezary…" Catherine gasped, just loud enough so Cezary could hear her.

Then, despite all the pain she was in and how weak her body had become, Catherine lifted her right hand. Cezary's eyes widened immediately, for Catherine was holding her earpiece radio.

"B-But… neither… do you… you bastard…!" Catherine spat, followed by a few short, painful laughs.

Cezary immediately knew what was going on. Catherine had left the earpiece on; the Sevens would know he was still alive, and where he was! She had counted on the idea that he had left his own earpiece off to maintain silence, so he couldn't hear any transmissions, including the ones she had made.

Snarling, Cezary shouted, "You BITCH!"

With another chuckle, Catherine said, "Rosie's team… will be here in… a minute or so… Cezary…"

Cezary's face contorted with anger; he had to act now and escape!

"Damn you, O'Hara…!"

From the shadows, Cezary emerged. He wore a customized version of the Imperial sniper uniform, colored black and without any armor plates. The outfit was light and designed for concealment rather than protection. On his shoulder was the Imperial insignia of a First Lieutenant.

Slowly, Cezary advanced toward the dais through the aisles of pews, keeping his rifle trained on the pillar fragment Marina hid behind. Soon, he would have a clear shot from an angle; it wouldn't give him a shot at her head, but he would still have a killing shot available.

Marina heard the footsteps. They were moving to a position behind her, where Cezary would have a clean line of fire and where Marina still wouldn't be able to retaliate. Marina's mind raced; she had only seconds to do something.

But it was Catherine who moved first. Marina saw Catherine's hand move out, grasping her pistol. Yet she wasn't aiming at Cezary; she aimed away from him, at one of the painted glass windows of the cathedral.

"Marina, kill that… bugger… for me…!"

Catherine fired her shot, which struck the window and shattered it. A burst of sunlight shone into the cathedral.

Cezary yelped as he was, for a brief second, blinded by the sunlight that reflected off the pillar fragment.

Marina moved in that instant. As fast as she could, she made a mad dash for her rifle, scooping it up immediately. Without a moment's pause, she swung around just as Cezary recovered.

"WULFSTAN!" Cezary howled, centering his sights on Marina's head. She aimed back in kind.

Two rifle shots went off simultaneously.

Pain coursed through Marina's left cheek. A thin line across the left side of her face began to bleed. She did not move.

"I-Impossible…!" Cezary gasped.

Marina's bullet had struck Cezary right in the center of his forehead, yet lay lodged in his skull. Blood trailed out of the wound as Cezary's rifle dropped to the ground with a dull clatter.

Marina kept her rifle trained on Cezary, despite not having a bullet in its chamber. The grey-haired sniper, despite having been shot in the head, had not died.

Slowly, with his arms stretched out as if to strangle his hated enemy, Cezary stumbled forward, his only thought being the death of the Ghost of Gallia.

"Th-This… i-isn't… over… W-Wulfstan…" Cezary stuttered hoarsely, each word rife with raw hatred. "I-I'll… h-haunt… you… until… th-the… day… you… d… die…!"

Marina watched, still as a statue, as Cezary fell forward, and breathed his last.

For what felt like hours, Marina looked down at Cezary's body. It was finally over. Cezary was finally dead.

The sound of a painful cough from Catherine snapped Marina back to her senses. A sudden dread filled her heart at the same moment. Catherine was dying.

"Catherine!" Marina shouted as she rushed to her godmother's side.

Coughing loudly, Catherine asked, "Did you… get him…?"

"Yeah, I got him! Catherine, hang on!" Marina answered, uncharacteristically frantically.

Marina didn't even notice as Rosie, Edy and Homer ran into the cathedral. The three immediately ran to help Marina try and save Catherine.

Largo watched the wreckage next to Juno, who sobbed uncontrollably, looking for any sign of movement. He doubted Welkin was still alive after such a devastating crash, but he had been ordered to wait, and he intended to follow that order. If Welkin didn't show any sign he was still alive after another minute, however, Largo was to assume that he had died in the crash, and was to complete his orders.

Then, he saw the turret hatch move. Evidently, Juno had also noticed the movement, for she was screaming Welkin's name at the top of her lungs.

"Welkin! Welkin, get out of there!"

Inside the Edelweiss, Welkin groaned from the impact. His head rung like a bell and his body stung from whiplash. There was also a fire inside the Edelweiss; he didn't have much time to escape. Yet in his condition, he didn't have the strength to open the turret hatch. It refused to open in any case, likely jammed in the crash.

Outside, Juno scrambled on her hands to try and pull herself toward the Edelweiss, still unable to walk due to her injuries. Largo, however, was quick to restrain the girl, despite her frantic shrieks. From where they were, Largo could see that the hatch wouldn't open; it had been battered pretty badly.

As he tried to hold Juno back, Largo turned and shouted, "Nadine, get him out of there!"

Nadine was already running toward the Edelweiss when Largo gave the order. "I'm on it!" she shouted.

A few seconds into her mad dash, Nadine shrieked as a hail of submachine gun bullets rained around her feet. As she dived for cover, Largo looked up and saw a pair of Imperial shock troopers had come to reinforce Jaeger, and had positioned themselves in a broken apartment building.

Grabbing a hold of his Theimer MXR, Largo raised the lance to the two shock troopers and fired. The rocket smashed into the room of the Imperial assailants, bringing its ceiling down on top of them. Neither one got back up.

"Keep going, we'll cover you!" Largo bellowed to Nadine, passing a rifle to Juno.

Nadine didn't bother to acknowledge this; time was of the essence, after all. Breaking from cover, she ran as hard as she could at the Edelweiss' wreckage, reaching it in seconds. Quickly, she rushed up the side of the battered tank, pulling out a crowbar from her pack as she did.

Hooking onto the hatch, Nadine said to herself, "I lost Isara already… I'm not gonna let you die as well, Welkin!"

With that, Nadine pulled down on the crowbar with every ounce of strength she had, desperately trying to pry open the tank before Welkin perished within it.

A moment later, the hatch burst open. Not prepared for the sudden release, Nadine yelped as she fell backward, landing in a heap on the pavement. Pushing herself up, Nadine suddenly noticed something that made her eyes widen. It was the Edelweiss' engine; Ragnite energy was crackling from it wildly. With the energy becoming so unstable, Nadine feared the engine would explode soon.

Suddenly Nadine realized what she was doing, prompting her to scramble to her feet and up to the top of the Edelweiss. Peering into the tank, Nadine's face lit up as she saw Welkin, wounded but alive.

"Welkin! Hang on, sir! I'm gonna get you out!"

Juno watched in relief as Nadine hoisted Welkin out of the Edelweiss and led him down its side. Welkin now sported more injuries than before, yet, again, he somehow avoided any fatal wounds. It was nothing short of a miracle.

Thirty seconds passed before Nadine was able to bring Welkin over to Juno and Largo. As Nadine set him down, Juno asked frantically, "Welkin, are you alright? Are–"

Coughing, Welkin answered, "Now I know how a bird must feel whenever it hits a window."

Juno, somewhat exasperated that Welkin was still thinking of his love of nature, couldn't help but smile, crying as she did.

At that moment, Jaeger grimaced as his head rung from the crash. His forehead was bleeding, but he was otherwise fine for the most part. The ramming attack had taken him by surprise; he hadn't expected Welkin to do something so suicidal.

Looking down, Jaeger saw that his driver, who had served him for many years now, lay on the steering wheel covered in blood. The impact had probably caused him to strike his head on one of the instruments; if he wasn't already dead, he soon would be. His other two crewmates had suffered similar fates; both were coated in their blood, either dead or slowly dying from the impact.

"Clever move, Gunther," Jaeger said with a smirk, deciding to mourn his fallen comrades later as he grasped the turret controls. He wasn't about to go down without a fight.

As he sat next to the others while Nadine tended to his wounds, Welkin saw the Lupus' turret begin to move. It was as he feared; Jaeger was still alive. Hearing the screech of metal as the turret moved, the others turned to see the Lupus trying to aim its cannon at them. They would never escape while Welkin was so badly wounded.

"Largo, destroy the Edelweiss…" Welkin said through clenched teeth.

Turning to the wounded lieutenant, Largo wanted to refuse Welkin's order to destroy the tank, a first in his long military career. But he knew it had to be done, and since the early days of the war he had sworn to follow Welkin's orders.

Grabbing his Theimer, Largo said, "Got it, boss."

Stepping into the open, Largo centered the sights of his lance on the Edelweiss' engine. At his range, and against a stationary target, there was no chance of missing, yet Largo hesitated to fire.

Then, in the corner of his eye, Largo saw the Lupus' cannon aim toward him.

The Lupus fired first. Jaeger's armor-piercing shot flew off course and smashed into the ground a few feet in front of Largo, creating a cloud of dust permeated by stone fragments and metal.

"LARGO!" Nadine screamed, seeing the veteran lancer engulfed by the blast.

The dust cleared after a moment. Miraculously, Largo was alive, albeit wounded. Several pieces of stone and metal dug into Largo's body, but he endured, keeping his Theimer steady. Blood trailed down the lancer's arms and legs.

"Sorry kid…" Largo muttered in a posthumous apology to Isara. His lance sparked to life as it fired an armor-piercing rocket.

Inside the Lupus, Jaeger watched as the rocket streaked toward its target. Shutting his eyes, he said humbly, "Well played, Gunther…"

Largo's shot hit the Edelweiss dead center, penetrating into the tank's interior. A second later, the Edelweiss erupted in an explosive funeral pyre that engulfed the Lupus. The blast could be heard for miles. The force of the blast sent shrapnel and fire in all directions as explosive shells within both tanks were set off.

For the next minute, Welkin, Juno, Largo and Nadine mutely watched the flames of Isara's creation. Even in its destruction, the Edelweiss retained its pride and splendor.

Marina pressed a red cloth to Catherine's chest as Homer tried whatever he could to stop the bleeding, an active Ragnaid capsule in his hand. On the sides, all Rosie and Edy could do was watch and wait for a medic to arrive. Yet deep down, Rosie knew Catherine wasn't going to make it. Surely Marina had to have known it too, but the look on her face showed she didn't want to believe it.

Rosie had never seen Marina like this. She was so desperate to try and save Catherine, but had never acted in such a way before. It was completely unlike the sniper she had come to know, who was cold and ruthless. This side of Marina was quite the opposite: scared and uncertain.

"Catherine, don't you die on me!" Marina pleaded frantically.

As she clasped her hands together, Edy said, "Homer, do something! She's dying!"

"I'm trying, Miss Edy!" Homer replied. "The Ragnaid isn't working!"

"What? You mean she's– no, Catherine, you can't die! Please, you can't die!" Edy started crying as she implored Catherine to live on.

Then, as Marina continued to try and hold back the blood ebbing from Catherine's wound, she felt a hand clasp her wrist. Turning, she saw Catherine looking straight at her.

"M-Marina… I'm sorry… for always getting in the way…" Catherine sighed.

"Catherine, don't say anything!" Marina snapped. "Save your strength!"

"You're a big girl now, Marina… And I've always… done what I thought was… best for you…" Catherine coughed loudly before adding, "But now… I'm not gonna be there… for you…"

Marina could only stare Catherine in the eye as she heard these words. All her life, Marina knew she had never treated Catherine well, despite all her godmother had done for her. Marina had never known her real mother, so Catherine had been something of a substitute for her. Only now, however, did Marina fully realize it.

As Catherine lifted her hand to touch Marina's wounded cheek, Marina grabbed Catherine by the wrist and shouted, "Catherine, you are not going to die on me! Do you hear me?"

In shock, Marina watched as Catherine smiled at her.

"Please… stay… safe… Marina…"

"Catherine, don't you dare do this!"

"I'm… sorry… Marcus…"

"Catherine!"

Catherine's wrist fell limp in Marina's hand. Her eyes slowly shut. Her breathing ceased as her head slumped over.

"C-Catherine…?"

Marina couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. Frantically, she began shaking the elder sniper by the shoulders.

"Catherine? Catherine, don't do this! Wake up! Wake up… wake up…"

It was no use. Catherine wouldn't stir. The smile on her still face remained unmoving.

Marina trembled in place. This couldn't be happening… Catherine couldn't be dead…

But the cruel reality was that she was gone…

"No…"

As they stood around Marina, Rosie, Edy and Homer watched as the sniper lowered her head. It was palpable how much pain she was in. They too could hardly believe that Catherine was gone. But then they saw something that made their hearts sink even further.

Marina was crying…

Marina felt the tears as they ran down her face. She hadn't cried in more than ten years, ever since her father died at her hands. But now, the closest person she had ever had to a mother now lay dead before her. She couldn't stop crying.

It was too much for her to take.

Throughout the cathedral, and in the adjacent streets, Marina's wailing echoed.

Watching Marina's cries was too much for Edy to bear. Herself breaking into tears, Edy fell to her knees in front of Homer and buried her face in his chest. Homer slowly wrapped his arms around Edy, trying to comfort her. At the same time, Rosie grimaced as she looked at Isara's Darcsen doll. She too could not stop herself from shedding tears.

For what seemed to be an eon, the four Sevens wept for Catherine O'Hara.

Cordelia could only look in despair at the neatly-made piece of paper before her, an elegant pen in her hand. Written in fine ink, the treaty outlined the terms of Gallia's unconditional surrender to the Imperial forces commanded by Maximilian. Among the terms was the proclamation that Maximilian would be made Gallia's new monarch and undisputed ruler.

Standing behind her, Maximilian waited impatiently for Cordelia to sign the treaty. Once she did, Gallia would be his domain to rule as he saw fit. Yet her hesitance was starting to aggravate him.

"You try my patience, Highness!" Maximilian snapped. "Sign the agreement and be done with it!"

Ignoring Maximilian's words, Cordelia's eyes were wet with tears. In a moment, she was about to doom her country to the rule of a tyrant. But what choice did she have? If she refused, all of Gallia would burn to ashes…

The pen in Cordelia's hand met with the treaty.

"Y-Your Grace, sir!" shouted an Imperial officer.

Cordelia stopped, turning to see an Imperial lieutenant rush up to Maximilian, though the man did not salute him, too desperate to convey some message.

"Be silent!" Maximilian snapped at the officer. "This treaty seals our victory."

"Sir, the Gallians have broken through the Vasel defenses!" said the officer. "General Jaeger is defeated! N-Now the militia is headed to Randgriz even as we speak!"

"What?" Maximilian shouted, clearly infuriated.

Suddenly, Cordelia seemed to feel something she thought she had lost: hope. Gallia's people still fought for their freedom, and now Maximilian's last Triumviri general had been defeated. Then she looked down at her hands, realizing what she was almost about to do.

As Maximilian was scowling over how Jaeger had lost Vasel, he suddenly heard a small metallic clatter across the floor. Turning to its source, he saw the pen he had given Cordelia, thrown away by the princess. He turned to the princess; a second later, he watched as Cordelia tore the treaty in two, tossing aside the halves of the parchment.

Cordelia stared at the prince, her eyes lit once more with stone-like resolve.

Furious, Maximilian shouted, "How dare you!"

"I was a fool to give in to despair before you, Prince!" Cordelia said proudly, so that everyone could hear her. "Gallia's people continue to fight for their home, and for their freedom. As they fight, so too shall I continue to resist. I will not give in! Gallia will not submit to your tyranny, Maximilian Gaius von Reginrave!"

Cordelia's statement clearly infuriated Maximilian further, for he took one step toward the princess and dealt a harsh slap to her face with the back of his hand. Cordelia was knocked to the floor, landing on her side. Her cheek now took a rosy hue where Maximilian had struck her.

Infuriated, Maximilian hissed, "You continue to show such impertinence, Highness? You are more obstinate than I had first thought." As Cordelia pushed herself back up, Maximilian added harshly, "But know this, Highness: I command the mightiest weapon of the Valkyrur! With it, I could reduce your country to dust! If you continue to resist me, I shall make you watch as Gallia burns to the ground!"

Rising to her feet, Cordelia glared back at the enraged Imperial prince. To see Maximilian so angry was strangely satisfying to the princess.

"You will surrender Gallia to me, NOW!"

"Never," Cordelia answered proudly.

Maximilian again lashed out, striking Cordelia and sending her to the floor. The princess winced, yet she did not cry out in pain.

Cordelia slowly looked up at Maximilian, and what she saw was disheartening. The look of fury on Maximilian's face had been replaced with a livid calmness. He was still infuriated, to be sure, but now it seemed as if he were about to relish in some horrible atrocity that would soon come.

"So be it, Highness," Maximilian said in an eerily composed voice. Then, turning to his men, he commanded, "Charge the Valkof. We shall next target Randgriz itself with the full might of the Valkyrur!"

"Yes sir!" the crew responded loyally.

Cordelia's eyes widened in shock, watching as the view rotated back toward Randgriz. The city had thousands of innocents still within its walls, all who would be annihilated by the Valkof's power.

Striding to the front of the bridge, Maximilian muttered, "Damn those peasant dogs. Selvaria should have dealt with them at Ghirlandaio. Her failure was absolute, it would seem."

As Cordelia looked up at Maximilian, she suddenly heard Johann exclaim, "How can you speak of General Bles that way?"

The whole bridge seemed to stop and turn at the young lieutenant, who marched in front of Maximilian. The prince stared back at Johann, whose expression was one of anger toward the prince's words regarding his former superior.

"She fought to the end for you. She would have done anything for you! She LOVED you, and this is how you repay her memory?" Johann shouted. Then, in a somewhat more calm tone, he continued, "I swore service to you, Prince Maximilian, out of my loyalty to General Bles. But I… I cannot let you tarnish her memory with such cruelty! She fought for your sake, and I insist that you remember her for that!"

Maximilian said nothing to Johann, simply continuing to stare at the young man with contempt. The other men on the bridge were anxious; Maximilian was not someone who took insubordination well. To their surprise, Maximilian simply turned away from Johann condescendingly, a simple "hmph" as his response.

Then, moving around Maximilian, Johann walked up to Cordelia, stretching out a hand as he asked, "Are you alright, Your Highness?"

"Yes, thank you," Cordelia said, extending her hand to Johann's graciously. The Imperial lieutenant brought Cordelia to her feet.

"I'll take you back to your– GUH!"

Cordelia watched as Johann shuddered in place, his sentence cut off by a loud bang from behind him. The princess shrieked as he fell forward into her arms, forcing her to kneel as she brought him down to his knees.

"Johann? Johann!" Cordelia said fearfully, for she saw the bullet wound in the young man's back.

"G-General…" Johann gasped. It was his last word as his head drooped down.

Cordelia trembled as she held Johann's body in her arms. Then she looked up at Maximilian. A silver revolver that billowed smoke was in his hand.

"How… How could you?" Cordelia exclaimed.

"Those who are insubordinate to me face death," Maximilian answered. Turning to his men as he holstered his gun, he shouted, "Let him be an example to those of you who think to challenge my command!" All those on the bridge did nothing to challenge the prince, instead returning to their stations.

Then, Maximilian turned back to Cordelia, who gently set Johann's body down on the floor, and then stood to face the prince. But as she did, to her shock, Maximilian swiftly grasped her by the neck and pinned her against the rear wall of the bridge.

As Cordelia struggled to free herself, Maximilian said angrily, yet softly, "I grow weary of your insolence, Highness. Perhaps once you have been made to witness the destruction of Randgriz, you will see the folly of your actions. And perhaps, even afterwards, I may destroy a few other settlements, simply for measure!"

Cordelia gasped for air as Maximilian kept her slightly lifted off her feet. All efforts she made to try and escape from his grasp came in vain.

"Y-Your Grace!" shouted the helmsman.

"WHAT?" Maximilian shouted furiously, clearly not wanting to be interrupted.

"Mi-milord… I think you need to see this."

In annoyance, Maximilian turned to see the helmsman pointing at something in the distance. Upon seeing what it was, Maximilian's face suddenly turned to shock.

"What? It cannot be!"

Maximilian abruptly released his grip on Cordelia, causing the princess to fall to the floor on her knees as she gasped for breath, clutching her throat. Wondering just what had caused Maximilian to suddenly become so concerned, Cordelia looked out into the distance.

"…!"

In the middle of a green field, far away before the Marmota, was a blue light.

The aid station of the Gallian Remnant Army was crowded and noisy, for so many of the men and women had returned from battle with broken or severed limbs, while others had severe bleeding or other injuries. Around 50% of the Remnant Army had been killed or wounded in the battle for Vasel, which had ended in Gallian victory after the supposed demise of General Radi Jaeger. Even though no body was found in the wreckage of the Lupus, it was hard to fathom how Jaeger could have survived.

The battle had come at a steep price for Squad Seven. Coby was dead, Claudia had been injured, and Oscar, Emile and Julius were seriously wounded and had to be sent to a hospital. Juno had also sustained a severe leg injury from shrapnel, and many wondered if she would ever walk again. Additionally, in destroying the Lupus, Squad Seven had lost both the Edelweiss and the Shamrock, along with the Shamrock's driver Soren. Kreis had been badly injured during the battle against the Lupus, and had to be hospitalized as well. The returns of Edy, Homer and Karl did little to lighten the mood, for they bore ill news of the fall of Randgriz to the Imperials.

But that was far from the worst loss. The worst was the death of Catherine O'Hara. Many in the squad were shocked to hear of her death, particularly from Aisha and Juno, who were devastated to hear of Catherine's demise. Nearly equal shock to the news came from Largo and Captain Varrot, who had known Catherine since the First Europan War. Outrage was expressed when it was revealed that Cezary had been her killer, though they were put at ease upon learning that Cezary had died at Marina's hands.

Yet this was of no consolation to Marina, who knelt next to Catherine's shrouded body in the aid station. The sight of her dead godmother was unbearable. Tears still welled in her eyes; she couldn't stop her crying, and the sight of her tears had a horrific effect on the spirits of those around her. Seeing Gallia's ace sniper broken by the death of a comrade brought a sense of despair to those around her.

It was at this moment that two sets of footsteps came up behind Marina. She didn't even need to turn to know that it was Captain Varrot and Welkin who had come to see her.

"Marina, are you alright?" asked Welkin, despite knowing the answer she would give.

"…I should've known he'd be waiting for me… If I had, then she wouldn't have…"

"Marina, you did all you could."

"If I had taken him out when I had the chance, none of this would've happened…"

Welkin opened his mouth to object, but Varrot stopped him. "Sergeant Wulfstan, I know you would have taken every precaution in hunting down Cezary Regard. Yet Cezary was clearly prepared for it. It will do you no good to place blame for what has happened upon yourself."

"But I–"

"But nothing, Marina!" Her voice softening, Varrot continued, "Catherine and I were good friends and I will miss her dearly, but I know she cared for you as if you were her own child. I don't want you disgracing her memory by placing blame for her death on your own shoulders. You must remember, we are only human, Marina. We make mistakes. Do not think yourself above that fact."

Varrot may as well have slapped Marina, for she buried her face in her hands as she continued to cry. The captain's words were some of the harshest she had ever heard, yet each one hit exactly as needed.

Varrot knelt next to Marina and said, "Marina, a very wise man once told me that in battle, a soldier can make every correct tactical decision and still end up dying. That is not a weakness; it is an aspect of life."

Amidst some of her tears, Marina asked, "…Who said that, sir?"

"Your father, Marcus Wulfstan."

"…!"

Marina remembered those words: You can do everything right, Marina, and still fail. It's a fact of life, not a flaw. Her father had been teaching her a small lesson on disappointment, though it had never really stuck. Why she had not remembered them until now, Marina didn't know.

Turning to Welkin as she stood up, Varrot said, "I'm sorry, but I must tend to the organization of our forces to march upon Randgriz. I will need you and your squad ready to move out in two hours, lieutenant."

"I'll do what I can, captain," said Welkin.

As Varrot left the area, Welkin looked down at Marina and asked, "Marina, can I have a word with you?"

"…What is it?"

"Well, you've served with the squad since the beginning, and I've put you through so much since then. You've practically given your life for the squad, even if you've been trying to remain distant."

"Sir, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that, seeing you like this, I don't think it'd be best for you to keep fighting in the militia anymore. Or rather, I think you've fought enough."

Suddenly, Marina seemed to become slightly angry with Welkin. "Sir, you can't be serious."

"I'm not going to force this on you, Marina," Welkin answered calmly. "I'm simply offering you the chance to receive an honorable discharge from Squad Seven. You've fought in so many battles so far, and I think you've done more than enough for Gallia. We can take care of the rest. But you need time."

For a moment, Marina paused. Then, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand, she said, "…I'm sorry, sir… but I have to say no…"

"Are you sure, Marina?"

"Yes, sir. I can't quit now, not after everything we've sacrificed. There will be time to mourn when all this is over."

Welkin paused for a moment, and then said, "Alright, Marina. But I don't want you to freeze up on us when we go to retake Randgriz, understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"I'm holding you to that, Marina. Whenever you're ready, come find us. We'll wait for you."

"…Thank you, sir…"

Welkin smiled briefly and moved to leave. But after he took a few paces, he heard Marina add, "Welkin… I'm sure Isara would be happy that the Edelweiss put up a fight before going down."

Smiling again, Welkin said, "I'm sure she'd be really proud of it."

Welkin left the area, and for the next few minutes, Marina continued to kneel next to Catherine's body, reminiscing of how Catherine had always tried to help her, even when she didn't want the help. Now she was gone; Marina was truly alone now.

"Catherine… I promise I'll finish this…"

Maximilian could scarcely believe what he was seeing. Standing around 500 meters in front of the Marmota, surrounded by an aura of blue fire, was Gallia's Valkyria. Somehow, she had travelled all the way from Ghirlandaio by herself, despite confirmed reports from spies that Selvaria had severely injured her.

But as Maximilian peered out at the Valkyria through a pair of binoculars, he suddenly grinned. The Valkyria was barely standing, with clear blood stains coming from underneath her clothes. She hadn't fully recovered from her battle with Selvaria. Maximilian knew he had a chance to destroy her.

"So, Gallia's Valkyria intends to challenge us," said Maximilian. "Yet she does so while barely able to stay upright. How foolish of her." Turning to the helmsman, Maximilian said, "What is the charge on the Valkof?"

"We're reading at around 65% charge, Your Grace," the helmsman answered.

"More than enough to rid us of her. Prepare to fire!"

As Maximilian took his seat, Cordelia continued to watch the blue flame that stood to challenge the Marmota. If Maximilian was telling the truth, it had to be Alicia who stood before the Marmota. Yet if she was wounded, what chance did she stand against the Valkyrur's most powerful weapon?

"Watch closely, Highness," Maximilian said to Cordelia. "You state that there is hope so long as there is life? Then I shall crush that hope, by crushing Gallia's Valkyria!"

At that moment, Alicia watched as the enormous lance atop the battleship before her began to shimmer with blue light. It was building energy to attack; she had to strike now before it could fire. Alicia raised her lance. Her arms screamed in pain as she moved them, yet she forced herself to ignore it as her lance swelled with energy.

Inside the bridge of the Marmota, one of the crewmen spotted the swell of energy coming from Alicia. "Milord, the enemy Valkyria is preparing to attack!"

"Project the shield!" Maximilian commanded. "Let her realize the folly of her efforts!"

Maximilian watched from his seat as Alicia fired, sending a large blast of blue flame at the Marmota. But at the same time, the battleship was surrounded by a dome of blue energy, projected by the Valkof, which Alicia's blast collided with. The barrier rippled as it was struck, yet it held strong. Alicia's attack dispersed in moments.

Alicia looked on in despair at this. She couldn't so much as dent the barrier with what strength she had left. Already her body felt weary, and the aura of fire around her was beginning to fade. Alicia looked up; the lance aboard the battleship was glowing quite brightly as it surged with power.

"Milord, we are ready to fire on your command," the helmsman said to Maximilian.

"Then let us be rid of her once and for all. FIRE!"

Alicia braced her shield as the Valkof fired, sending a massive blue beam at her. Alicia's shield projected its blue barrier just as the beam struck it. Alicia screamed; the pressure alone from the blast threatened to crush her. It took every ounce of strength she had left just to keep from being blown off her feet. The shield began to crack; the barrier began to falter. In moments, Alicia would face obliteration.

Suddenly, the Valkof stopped. Its beam receded as the weapon wound down from its active state.

Maximilian was furious. "Report! What is the meaning of this?"

"Milord, Reactor Room C reports a fire has broken out among their generators," said one of the technicians. "They had to shut them down to prevent the system from going critical."

Maximilian scowled at this; it seemed the Marmota wasn't fully prepared to handle the Valkof's true power. Improvements would have to be made.

Taking out his binoculars again, Maximilian looked out at Alicia. She barely stood, trying to hold herself up against her lance, which stuck into the ground. Her shield had shattered, its pieces scattered across the smoldering field around her.

"The Valkyria is vulnerable!" Maximilian shouted. "Prepare the Valkof to fire!"

"Milord, we can't," said the helmsman. "If we fire now, we could end up destroying the whole ship!"

Though irked, Maximilian saw the helmsman's reasoning. "Very well," the prince said. "Ready all cannons! The Valkyria no longer has the protection of her shield. Without it, she is but flesh and bone. Fire at will!"

Slowly, Alicia looked up at the battleship. Along its sides, dozens of cannons turned to aim at her. Without her shield, she would never survive such a massive barrage.

Yet in defiance, Alicia stood up and said, "As… as long as I can still draw breath, I… I will defend Gallia to the end!"

Alicia cried out as she ran straight at the Marmota, her lance now beginning to surge with all the power she could muster. The Marmota's cannons came alive, sending hundreds of explosive shells crashing down around Alicia. Shrapnel cut at her arms and legs, yet she forced herself forward.

"I NEVER WANTED THIS!"

Alicia threw her lance with all her might, sending it careening at the Marmota. The lance shattered as it flew, turning into a spear of pure energy that pierced effortlessly though the Marmota's front plate and came out the rear.

Explosions rocked the massive battleship. Men screamed as they were engulfed by fire, steam, and various boiling fluids. The Marmota's guns fell silent as they lost power. Onboard the bridge, the men inside struggled to stay standing. Cordelia was forced to hold onto a nearby railing for dear life, while Maximilian grimaced as he clutched the arms of his chair.

The worst of the destruction passed momentarily. Slowly standing, Maximilian said, "Damage report!"

Reports quickly came in from all over the ship. It was bad, yet not as bad as Maximilian had anticipated. Fires had sprung up all around the ship. Several decks had taken severe damage, and two of the Marmota's eight reactors were destroyed. Without those reactors, the battleship could not wield the Valkof. Thankfully, the damage had been locked down quickly, so none of the other reactors were presently threatened. However, the Marmota's engines had taken critical damage; the battleship was a sitting duck. Thirty men were dead, and many more had been wounded. In all honesty, Maximilian had expected casualties to be far worse, and for damage to the ship to be far more catastrophic.

As Maximilian heard these reports, his thoughts turned back to his foe. He snapped his binoculars up, expecting to see a blue aura through the smoke that billowed from the Marmota's innards.

He saw no such flame. Instead, lying unconscious on the ground before the Marmota, was a brown-haired girl dressed in a tattered militia uniform. Maximilian recognized her from the Barious Ruins; a young peasant named Alicia Melchiott, who had had the gall to point a gun at him while Selvaria stood before her.

Turning to one of the officers on the bridge, Maximilian said, "Dispatch a team to the front of the Marmota and secure the enemy Valkyria. Then bring her to me. If she resists, kill her."

The officer saluted to Maximilian and quickly left the bridge. It was at this moment that Maximilian remembered Cordelia. He turned to the princess, who still clung to a railing.

Smirking slightly, Maximilian said, "Escort her Highness back to her quarters. I shall tend to her later."

Cordelia kept her gaze on Maximilian's still-confident smile as two guards escorted her off the bridge. Despite all that had happened, he still looked as though his victory was assured.

But with Alicia down, did Gallia stand a chance anymore? Cordelia prayed that it still did.

End of Chapter 10

AT LAST, I'VE FINISHED THIS ONE!

But there's still two more chapters to go. I just pray I won't take this long again to finish.

Marina and Cezary's duel had a few inspirations from the movie Enemy at the Gates, although I took a few liberties of my own to avoid making it too similar to the movie. In particular, trying to flesh out Cezary's reason for siding with the Imperials was tricky. He's a selfish asshole, so I had to make his reason selfish as well; he never held any loyalty to the Empire, or to anyone, really. Some people will think it's a bit of a bland reason, but I felt it was appropriate for him.

I had to get really creative in making Cezary as much of a "boss" character as Jaeger or Selvaria. Unlike those two, as a sniper, he can't normally do much to threaten a whole army. But with Vasel, I had lots of stuff I could use; the radio broadcasts, in particular, were a touch I derived from watching media that featured the Battle of Stalingrad. In these ways, Cezary could be more seen as "Squad Seven's demons" given form, rather than just a traitor. Imagine having to face an enemy like that in the 1930's; I'd be scared shitless, honestly.

I'll discuss more with you guys when I get your reviews. The button is below. Now I need to get to laying out the framework for Chapter 11.