+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

"We meet again, Grey Knight! How has it been?!"

Hans' mech swerved back rapidly as he dodged that powerful slash, one that cut three trees clean behind him as he backed off into the treeline.

This damned demon.

The Vanus swordsman, a powerful demon that he had been dealing with, was completely locked in on him. Heavy machine gun fire and 90mm standard MPAT shots seemed to barely faze him now.

That was a massive problem in Hans' eyes. The fighting retreat he envisioned was becoming harder and harder. He knew his paper-thin mech wouldn't stand a chance from even just one mistake, so he immediately activated his insurance policy.

[UPG: SMOOTH RESPONSE II ACTIVATING!]

Come on, do it now!

[UPG: SMOOTH RESPONSE II IN FULL EFFECT!]

Behind him and Adelyn, the cavalry already began to intervene. On horseback, they opened fire with their combat wands, firing beams of light straight at the two demons on the two's backs.

"Friendlies? Behind us?"

"Obviously. Yell at them with the loudspeaker to retreat now!"

"Alright, I'm on it."

Hans stopped his mech for a second, while Adelyn escaped another powerful slash from the silver-haired Virtus demon woman.

Guns blazing, Hans suddenly reversed course, charging forward while using his firepower to distract and disrupt the two powerful demons. His mech moved like a swift ghost in the fields, forcing the two demons to divert all their attention to him.

Being suicidal is my specialty anyway.

The Vanus demon quickly moved to intercept him, sending a barrage of swipes and slices with his magical sword that Hans barely dodged. His machine, as swift and agile as it may be under his control, was still a large mech.

Quite frankly, he doubted he could do these kinds of maneuvers back then. He doubted normal humans would even withstand the Gs all his breakneck moves created, but his mech did just that.

"You damned! Grey Knight! Why can't you simply lay down and die?!"

"I can say the same to you, dumbass!" Hans replied using his speakers, as he fired an APFSDS straight in the Vanus demon's direction.

It streaked into the air, striking the demonic creature's torso as if there was nothing, sending him hurtling into a painful roll on the ground.

Just then, Hans' mech turned around again, facing off against the Virtus demon who rushed behind her fallen comrade. She sent him a series of swift attacks with her sword, none of them connecting as the Peacemaker danced in rapid left-right motions.

Then, with a good burst of his incendiary machine guns, he nailed her hand and sent her sword flying. Injured and pinned, she watched as the powerful mech suddenly jumped up high—pouncing with its leg razors on her demonic comrade.

"Ughkk!"

"Like the taste, asshole? Well, goodbye!"

Leaving the Vanus demon bleeding and brutalized, his mech disengaged and sped past him, running away in Adelyn's direction. Just then, before the two demons could pick themselves up and use their swords, a cryofreeze round struck them, followed by a barrage of spells from the roving cavalrymen.

"Good job, Adelyn!" Hans shouted on the comms with glee. "Now, full retreat. I can sense that they have more behind them!"

"Copy that. Everyone! Fall back now. This recon mission is over!"

+++

"You fought against two demons?"

"Yes sir. That is exactly what happened near this town."

General Florian Kohler looked at the town on the map that Adelyn was pointing at as she explained what had happened. Hans was on the side of the tent, sitting on a wooden chair while chugging down water from his canteen.

He was quite badly winded by all those maneuvers he took in that little skirmish.

"I would suggest you start moving up all those cannons into better positions," Hans said, as he closed his canteen. He took something from his pocket. It was a map, folded. He stood up and gave it to the general.

The officer unfolded it, before looking at it curiously.

"What is this?" Florian asked.

"Map of this area. I acquired it yesterday. I decided, instead of sleeping, that I should mark good places to set up artillery."

"Really now?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Yes sir."

The general laughed.

"I see. You remind me of Captain Strobel now. Always giving me updated copies for artillery positions."

"Well, that makes sense. He learned it from me."

"...I see. I'll look into it later."

The general folded it back, before placing it on his table.

"In any case, your mission is complete," the general clapped his hands. "As of now, it's best for us to wait and see what will happen. I'll be alerting my officers of this. For now, you two can take a rest."

"Rest? Shouldn't we conduct routine patrols?" Adelyn asked.

"No. Not really. I have my cavalry already doing that. Nothing's going to sneak up on us. Even Injustice or any calamity demon."

"...Hmm, but sir. What if your recon units die in case of a sudden attack?"

"That's not really a problem, Captain. Once they hit any section of our defense line, we'll be alerted, then, I can send you two as my reserves."

Hans and Adelyn looked at each other, bewildered. Then, they spoke up in stereo.

"We're your reserves?"

+++

"Grrr!"

"What the hell's the problem of that thing on me?"

"Hmm…seems like it just hates you," Ebert patted Hans' back with some force. "Haha, guess that makes sense considering how scary you look."

The land dragon in front of Hans regarded him with much-subdued hostility. While it didn't make many defensive or offensive movements against him, he could feel from its piercing brown eyes that it didn't like him.

The creature was quite like a dinosaur, to Hans' mind. It was four-legged, with thick, tough scaly green skin. Somewhat, Hans wondered if the creature could be mistaken for a triceratops due to its two large horns. A magical version of it, perhaps?

Yeah, yeah, keep eating hay, lizard thing.

Hans leaned away, as the creature decided that eating from the crate of hay in front of it was better than looking at Hans so threateningly. Still, Hans had to admit, he kinda hated the fact that these things didn't like him much.

Guess that's just because of my partial demonic nature. Heh…whatever.

"So we're receiving our first batch of these guys?" Hans asked, and Ebert nodded behind him.

"Yes. With the resupply were eight transportation variants of these things, alongside the feed for them."

"How many troops can that transport?"

"Each of the six-wheelers they pull seems to have the ability to fit twelve guys if we pack them inside well."

"Hmm…"

Hans placed a hand on his chin and stepped forward to observe the creature better. It once again growled again, before huffing and returning to eating hay.

"Is this thing a woman," an irate Hans asked, and Ebert nodded. "Damn…it's fine to you but not to me?"

"Maybe you just smell bad?"

"Hey! You two!" a cheery Adelyn walked on the road, going in their direction as she waved her hand. "I've managed to cook something awesome! You both need to try it!"

"Later," Hans turned his back, jotting down notes on his notepad. "We're checking the supplies we received."

"Hey, you can't just ignore this one. I worked hard for this one. I need to show off that my culinary skills never rust even in battlefield conditions!"

"Alright, what is it?"

"It's steak! Of the finest kind. Butchered freshly from a wild ox the guys in the field gave me."

"Quite frankly, I'm starting to grow suspicious of the meat you keep getting on your hands, Adelyn."

"What do you take me for? I check if it's safe thoroughly and cook it well. And I thought you enjoyed my cooking, hmph."

"Come on," Ebert laughed beside Hans. "My men ain't bad, they won't poison you. They're just giving Captain Wittenstein neat stuff because she's such a sweet heroine. Even they give me some of their stuff, though they only give me the crap parts. I bet she received the best ones in comparison."

"Is that why you're so giddy?"

"She did say we should both try it."

"Fine. I'm just…"

Hans paused, closing his notepad. Then, he sighed.

"At any point, those demons might attack us. We have to get all these supplies distributed and prepare defenses."

"...I'll get my XO to do that," Captain Strobel said. "Let's just go. You ought to enjoy life a bit more, especially when we're once again going to a big battle. Quite frankly, who wouldn't want a fine steak as their potential last meal."

"Oi, you shouldn't say that," Hans chastised. "Win and live, that's how we're supposed to do things."

"Then live. Your lady's nagging you to eat her stuff. What, you're not doing it because…you're busy? Ha! You're going to die alone, brother."

Hans looked back at Adelyn. She didn't seem to hear properly what they were talking about, as she stopped nearly a dozen meters away from him, annoyed and with her arms crossed.

"Alright…fine," Hans shrugged. "And what's wrong with dying alone?"

+++

+++ Lieutenant Erwin Karstahl +++

207th Artillery Regiment

"Get your asses out, boys. Go! Go! Go!"

As his company's transport carriages stopped their rapid drive into the town, dozens of soldiers rushed from their rear.

Holding his musket pistol closely, Erwin pushed his men to fan out. They were the forward assault element sent by General Kohler, and their goal was to capture this area and use it as a favorable artillery post.

Outside, musketeers began searching rapidly through the houses that dotted the mountain village. Erwin personally led a few of the house-to-house searches with his platoon, all of them tense yet quick at their job.

Going with one of his squads, they opened the door to the last abandoned house, five guns immediately aimed inside should a monster or lesser demon be out there.

There was none. He quickly turned to one of his privates, telling him to relay the all-clear report to their captain.

When they were done, he and his men were able to watch the defense lines below established by the 1st Corps. Up here, they could cover the entire left flank of their little army. Exactly why they were sent here.

"Here they come," Erwin said to one of his men, as suddenly, four land dragons carrying eight towed guns arrived on the only road that led to the quaint village. With their captain's orders, quickly, the men got to work, erecting dug-in positions where they could mount and prepare their guns.

Down below, silence dominated the frontline, as Erwin and his men got into their shovels, digging and digging.

A small, black flash caught his eyes down below.

It looked like the Grey Knight's 'mech'.

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