When he had volunteered to fight in the Great War, this wasn’t the war he was expecting. He had been promised a chance to fight for his country, to fight for the Unified States, against the evil regimes of Europe. Instead, he was forced into an unknown world with his comrades, enslaved by foreigners, and forced to fight a country they had never heard of for a nation they had an equally lacking amount of knowledge of.

 

Few wanted to fight in this war, yet none had a say in how or when they fought. All of them were bound to the will of the nation, to the will of the nation’s magician, and if the nation willed them to fight a guerilla war in the dastardly forests of Jura, then they had no choice. The problem, however, lay in the fact that they were in enemy territory, an enemy territory they had no maps to study with, no communications besides their radios, and no hopes of allies to cooperate with. Moreover, it was a heavily forested one, making the travel extensively exhausting. Fighting against a well-prepared enemy in their home territory is hard enough, but add on terrain like a thick forest, and it quickly deteriorates into a disaster for any force without extensive scouting military support.

 

It was that military force that they now lacked. They were limited in number and extremely limited in supplies. Sure, Falmuth had been granted a whole military base to work with through means the soldiers didn’t understand, but they lacked the industry to produce even a fraction of the supplies the soldiers used up regularly. Falmuth was, as its true military showed, still a medieval country without even the slightest amount of industrialization. With no industry, Falmuth had no means to support a prolonged war of their State scale, their guns unable to resupply beyond crudely-made bullets.

 

It had become fairly obvious to even the lowest of soldiers that Falmuth intended to obliterate Tempest in its first attack, no matter the costs. They hoped to quickly secure defense in the center of the city, funnel in troops through exploited and secured streets, fully occupy the city after eliminating its leadership, and finally, thoroughly eradicate its monster residents within hours. That plan had utterly failed, much to the expense of their already limited manpower, equipment, and resources, as men fell in pairs and trios to horrendous ambushes left, right, and center.

 

As not all hope was lost with the barriers still in effect, Falmuth still held the hope that a second assault from all angles would be sufficient to break its defenses. However, Tempest’s sudden counter-offensive at sunrise had effectively crushed any hopes of victory in all but the most optimistic soldiers and generals, obliterating dozens in minutes.

 

Tempest was enough of a struggle to attack when they were weakened by the barrier, costing them thousands of bullets and dozens of tank rounds, but now they were completely beyond it, somehow having escaped it without issue. The might of Tempest’s armies had effectively shattered whatever might have once existed on the front line, obliterating men and supplies alike.

 

The soldier leaned up behind a tree, glancing up into the sky above. The sun was now right at the top of the sky at its zenith, beating down upon him as his water canteen ran dry. The fighting had now gone on for a few hours, but it had felt like years to the young man. Though the initial retreat in the first hour of Tempest’s counter-offensive had nearly collapsed their entire front, they had managed to put up a desperate defense deeper into the forest, fighting a constant guerilla war as territories changed hands by the minute. However, as the sounds of explosions and screams of pain and terror intensified over the front and he noticed the flying of mages overhead, he gained a dreadful feeling that the true offensive had only just begun.

 

Bullets whizzed past the tree where the soldier was hiding as he tightened his grip on his rifle. He only had so much ammo to use; their original offensive had used up a large amount of theirs, and they were left with barely anything. Unfortunately, it wasn’t much, only what was left in his rifle. One magazine, that was all he had, and it wasn’t even full. A lucky few may have found themselves with a few magazines but most soldiers would run out fairly quickly when encountering enemies. In the last hour alone, he had seen at least a dozen bayonet charges, none ending with any success, as he fled from tree to tree.

 

He glanced to his left as he saw a tree fall tumbling down, sliced clean through as the soldier standing beside it was split in half along the same line. Both the tree and the soldier fell over with a thud as a mechanical beast of armor, as if someone had strapped a tank onto a soldier, and walked past, a glowing magical blade extending from its wrist. The dust of the trees felled was only complimented by the blood of his comrades, an ominous sight.

 

Another soldier, hidden deeper within the forest’s undergrowth and wielding one of the very few anti-tank rocket launchers left in their possession, fired their bazooka at the machine. An explosion rocked the ground as his ears rang, hastily crouching to avoid the flashbang. Glancing up, the smoke subsided as the machine stood unfazed, taking a defensive stance and holding up its arm as a large glowing barrier extended from its wrists, fully blocking the blast. The barrier turned again into a blade as the machine launched forward above him, slicing the soldier who had fired the rocket cleanly into two.

 

Bullets rained upon the machine, however, all that was heard were the tinging sounds of bullets against metal and the thudding of metal on soil. The machine turned and swiftly tore through the soldiers in its immediate vicinity, slicing through over a dozen in seconds as its blade carved a carnage. Stopping only for a moment, the robot stared back to where it had come from, nodded, and launched up above the tree line, with the soldiers below watching and often hiding in terror.

 

The soldier’s focus quickly turned from the withdrawing machine as bullets erupted towards their line like hail rushing toward the ground, enemy bullets if the distinctly different gunfire was anything. Although he couldn’t see the source, as bullets tore through the very trees he was once protected by, the soldier lept for cover into a nearby ditch. The ditch seemed to be a natural formation, providing him with more cover than the various craters that had formed from the machine’s stompings. Curiosity getting the better of him, he just barely stuck his head out, glancing out to witness the carnage that was unfolding.

 

As the rain of bullets seemed to continue without stopping, he finally noticed the source, though it only brought him more questions than answers. The source of the bullets was a massive, floating, rainbow-coloured machine gun, the rainbow color from the many tiny colorful fairies struggling to lift that oversized weapon that was clearly meant to be mounted on the ground. Amidst all the chaos, he could faintly hear a slightly larger fairy laughing maniacally through the sounds of her own gun as she sat upon it.

 

Standing next to the fairy was another of the machines that had just torn through his unit like butter, but this one was even more terrifying to his already fear-addled mind. Though it stood by and did little other than serve as a guard for the fairy having her fun, he could tell it was far better equipped than what they had just been viciously dealt with. If it came down to it, that one machine alone could likely threaten the entire Unified States Army, not that they had much more than a fraction of it. Whatever that … humanoid thing was, it shook him to his core.

 

As the fairy advanced, the retreating army was left in disarray, if any of it was left at all besides him and perhaps a few other lucky survivors. As the weapons of mass destruction finally moved past where the soldier hid, numerous units of monsters marched behind, most serving as a cleanup crew to finish off any stragglers the messy methods of the fairy had missed.

 

Hiding back down into the ditch, he could only sit by and hope he was not found. As the sounds of gunfire gradually faded away and a glimmer of hope began to stir within him, he glanced up at a rustle, hoping it was his comrade, only to see a pistol aimed point-blank at his face.

 

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“-I have taken emergency command over the Unified States mage forces, the commanding officer has been killed! I am requesting immedia-!” The communication from the radio fuzzed out with the sound of an explosion as Rerugen leaned against the desk in his makeshift HQ.

 

He was now placed as the head of all formerly Imperial units in the Falmuth army, with the exception of one, whom he didn’t have any power over. Of course, unlike the Unified States which had the misfortune of having an entire military base be brought into this world out of the blue, he was the commander of the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion, summoned one after another into this world in a manner that was too convenient to be coincidental. Summonings were supposed to be, from what he had heard, completely random, and usually even came from a different world called ‘Earth’ in the first place. The chances of all of the 203rd to be summoned one by one was quite literally impossible, however with how much some of the top mages had been rambling on about ‘god,’ he was quick to pick up that there was some other force at play.

 

He once had some faith in God. Though he never was a devout follower of the faith or anything of the sort, he did believe He existed, if nothing else. However, a God that seemed so eager to throw a country and its unwilling people into a war against a nation they hadn’t even heard of simply wasn’t one that Rerugen was eager to follow.

 

The 203rd wasn’t all too eager to fight in this war either. For now, they had been spared from fighting, much to their delight. The initial attack had no mages at all after the barrier designed by their superiors had basically made them useless. The second battle, which had quickly turned into a desperate defense, was fought mostly by the mages from the Unified States, and as such most casualties were from their hated enemy. The 203rd was designated as basically the prime guard to Falmuth’s leadership and army, which was said to be a glorified ceremonial force as it wouldn’t stand a chance against the modern army of Tempest if the Unified States army fell.

 

The sole reason they hadn’t engaged yet was that Tempest’s armies were far from reaching Falmuth’s armies, or at least they hadn’t made it their focus yet as they swept through the forests. With the Unified States’ mages becoming overwhelmed and destroyed by the second, it was only a matter of time before the 203rd was called into action.

 

The 203rd wasn’t even his unit, in fact, it was the unit of the Empire’s possible war-criminal of an adoptive daughter known as Tanya Degurechaff. For all the chaos that she brought into his life, he couldn’t discredit the effort she had placed into making her unit consist of quite possibly amongst the best mages in the entire world. The loss of so many soldiers was unfortunate, but if nothing else, he wanted to protect those who had signed up with him to serve the Empire. 

 

The soldiers from the Unified States were a lost cause, numbers dropping by the tens every minute passing, but he perhaps could be able to help protect the citizens of the Empire. Unlike most of the soldiers summoned to this world, Rerugen wasn’t bound by the same soul-binding spell as they were. Rather, he was brought to this world seemingly by accident. No mages summoned him, and he joined Falmuth willingly, believing there to be no better options for someone of his background–or lack of one. Believing him to be trustworthy, they had never forced a binding spell onto him, and while the 203rd had their souls bound, they were as of then, bound to him.

 

However, although the 203rd couldn’t disobey any order from their superiors, if the orders came from him, and he could disobey orders, then there was a way out for them. Fleeing wasn’t an option, as they could be fired upon by the seemingly endless rain of bullets slaughtering the Unified mages. They would need to defect and hope their treatment was more favorable with Tempest than with Falmuth once they surrendered. Rerugen knew little of the ‘monsters’ that they were fighting, but with them having befriended nations like Blumund and Dwargon, nations which just before this invasion seemed fairly normal, he was inclined to believe they acted no differently than humans on a fundamental level. In the end, it didn’t matter. If he stood and fought, the unit would die. If he defected, if nothing else, they’d at least have a chance of survival.

 

Walking out into the open clearing where they had made a temporary camp, Rerugen pointed at one of the mages, ordering, “Koenig!”

 

The long-faced man quickly turned in a salute, “Yes, sir!”

 

“Do we have an Imperial Flag somewhere in storage?”

 

Koenig nodded, “I believe someone in the unit had it in their possession from our raid on the Rus capital. We should have it around somewhere.”

 

Rerugen ordered again, “Lower the Falmuth flag, raise the Imperial Banner. If what soldiers have witnessed is true, there may be a citizen of the Empire within Tempest’s ranks that we can negotiate with.”

 

He was, of course, referring to the reported sightings of numerous Imperial-style Panzers and weaponry, although with obvious magical and mechanical upgrades compared to their current equipment. Supposedly some imagery reminiscent of the Empire had also been spotted, but those reports were less consistent or commonplace. They might have been all coincidences, but if there truly was an Imperial citizen within Tempest, then negotiations could occur much smoother with a friendly face to hammer things out.

 

Before long, the flag was found in a tucked-away trunk and raised as the flag of Falmuth was swiftly disposed of, placed flat to signify their turning from the human nation. For minutes they anxiously watched the skies, awaiting an attack or message as the soldiers nervously sat in silence, whichever Tempest decided to respond with. To their surprise, in the distance, a flag of Falmuth was taken down, the blue rays and golden dragon of Tempest rising and taking its place.

 

After just a few minutes, however, the mages of the 203rd and Rerugen stared in confusion as the Tempestian banner was lowered. What was raised in its stead wasn’t the Falmuth banner, but rather an alternative version of Tempest’s, still with the same golden dragon. The main difference, as they could quite clearly see with their binoculars, was that the banner was a direct copy of the Imperial flag in its structure. Though its black, white, red, and gold coloration had been replaced with blues and golds, the design was no doubt a one-to-one mimicry, except for the different dragon which they couldn’t identify.

 

Handing the binoculars back to Neumann, the current de-facto head of the 203rd after Tanya’s death, Weiss’ disappearance, and Viktoria’s situation, Rerugen muttered, “So it’s the Imperial Flag, at least a different version of it. That confirms our hopes then.”

 

“So what now?” Neumann asked, putting the binoculars away into one of his many pockets.

 

Rerugen considered some options for a moment before noticing a magical flare being fired into the sky a short distance from their camp.

 

“That’s a flare formula. Specifically, it’s the international standard used when requesting peaceful negotiations. Usually, it's used when both sides want to gather up their dead or have a temporary truce for whatever reason. It’s very different from the flare to surrender, though,” Neumann explained to Rerugen.

 

Rerugen knew of the various flares mages had and used, but wasn’t able to recognize them from memory. Thanks to Neumann, he now knew what Tempest wanted. This was his chance to negotiate, but even with the skill he gained from coming here, he lacked the combat skills or powers to defend himself from Tempest’s mighty armies.

 

Turning to Neumann, he ordered, “You’ll act as my guard during negotiations. If things go well, we may get out of this war without being obliterated.”

 

Neumann was quick to salute, “Yes sir!”

 

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Gunfire echoed throughout the forest, of lights from the rifles of countless soldiers, tanks, and various other weapons of war Tempest had in its arsenal made a clear front line that seemed to push ever forward. After the disaster that was the Battle of Tempestia, Weiss had expected the counter-attack to be a much harder struggle, at least in terms of the mage fight.

 

With the mage forces of both sides now able to take part in the fighting, it was pretty obvious that an entire army trained by the former Devil of the Rhine was probably a bit overkill to take out what was basically a battalion of mostly green mages. They seemed to be more spread out as some were likely guarding the king and his personal army while the others were loosely scattered across the clouds, but for the most part, the skies were under Tempest’s control. With the dragons handling any planes that they may still have had, there was little need to watch the skies any longer.

 

With the air war won so easily, Weiss’ assignment turned into helping take out the crystals that made up the outer barrier that was the main contributor to Tempest’s former losses. Once the barrier fell, Mjurran and Shuna would make another barrier to ensure the souls of Tempestians weren't lost.

 

The crystal he hovered over now was meant to be taken out by Tempest’s primary armed forces, being only one of four that maintained it. While the armies were advancing steadily, even with Tempest completely overwhelming Falmuth’s armies, it was only so fast one could move a heavily equipped force through a thick forest while still maintaining formation, all while fending off the occasional missed Unified States desperado attack.

 

While he didn’t like taking the glory away from the hard-fighting soldiers, there wasn’t any use stalling any longer. As Gabiru flew over rapidly next to Weiss, he turned and ordered, “Gabiru, you handle destroying the crystal and helping our armed forces. I’ll handle the church’s knights here.”

 

Gabiru nodded and saluted, “Yes sir!”

 

Aiming his rifle at the crystal, Gabiru fired a single magical bullet, causing a massive explosion that kicked dust high into the air before he turned to aid the army. As Weiss slammed into the ground below, the mages took notice of the mage hiding in the dust, aura flaring madly. Firing countless spells into the dust, they all stood in shock as it dissipated, revealing Weiss standing with his barrier protecting him.

 

One knight charged with his sword, hoping to break through the barrier with physical attacks instead of magical spells. However, in an instant, Weiss appeared behind him, bayonet on his rifle glowing and stained with blood, practically steaming from the intense speeds he had just moved. The knight glanced down before falling over in two pieces, cleanly cut at the waist.

 

The other knights launched their attack, but like lightning Weiss raised his rifle in a fraction of a second, firing a bullet at such rapid speed that the head of the unfortunate knight exploded upon impact alone. Turning his rifle in an instant, he fired again, then turned it once more and continued firing at each knight, killing them all within seconds. Placing his rifle on his shoulder as the barrel let out a thin layer of smoke, he mentally thanked whatever shadowy being had given him his Accelerator skill as a trident impaled a straggling soldier. Gabiru was quick to hover down next to Weiss a minute later, soldiers and tanks rushing in not long after as they took control of the camp, raising a Tempestian flag where the Falmuth one once flew.

 

As the soldiers quickly had their way with the camp, disassembling and packaging it, Gabiru inquired, “What now, sir?”

 

Weiss folded his arms and shrugged. “For now, we await orders. The other crystals have been handled by Benimaru and Souei, and the last one will be handled by Tanya herself. You wouldn’t want to get in Tanya’s way, would you?”

 

Gabiru laughed, “Of course not! Seems like we’re done here.” He gave a thumbs up in response, but lowered it as he saw Weiss looking intensely into the distance.

 

“Gabiru, hand me binoculars,” Weiss ordered.

 

Gabiru quickly handed Weiss the binoculars that he had on him as Weiss surveyed through them into the distance of the forest, seeing another flag waving in the distance. The flag wasn’t that of Falmuth, but rather one he recognized.

 

Waving his hand at the side, he pointed to soldiers, ordering “Lower that banner! Raise the flag of the army!”

 

The soldiers acted quickly without question, lowering the blue rays of the Tempestian flag and replacing it with the flag used by the army. The flag mimicked the one of the Empire, the country he and Tanya were from, but with different coloration and a different dragon, but one that was nonetheless an obvious mimicry to anyone who knew of the original.

 

Turning to Gabiru, he returned the binoculars as he grabbed his pistol, “Come, Gabiru. I believe we may be able to sway some folks to our side.”

 

Gabiru, not fully sure what was going on, followed along anyway as Weiss marched silently through the forest. After walking for about a minute, he raised the pistol and cast a flare spell high into the sky. The flare glowed brightly, even in the middle of the day, before fizzling out moments later.

 

The message was seemingly reached as, before long, a matching flare was fired into the sky, signaling their acceptance of negotiations.

 

Gabiru just looked confused, questioning, “Just what’s going on?”

 

“You know now that Tanya is from a country called the Empire, right?” Weiss responded.

 

“Yeah, and what of it?”

 

“The banner that was being waved was the flag of the Empire. If we find soldiers from the Empire, it may be in our best interests to get them to our side. I believe we’ve caused enough casualties for Tanya and Rimuru to become Demon Lords anyway.” Weiss explained.

 

Gabiru finally seemed to understand, but was no doubt content with letting Weiss handle everything regardless.

 

Minutes passed before the sound of crunching through the branches and leaves that littered the forest floor was heard. While Weiss had somewhat expected an Imperial soldier, he was shocked to see someone wearing a high-ranking Imperial Uniform. It was no doubt someone from the General Staff, though Weiss did not know of any of them personally.

 

A bigger and rounder man followed the officer from behind, donned fully in Imperial Mage gear. However, as the man saw Weiss he let out a laugh, launching over as he quickly slapped Weiss on the shoulder, “Weiss! It’s been a while! Where the hell have you been?!”

 

The military officer nodded his cap and muttered, “So this must be Major Weiss. I’ve heard a lot about you from the 203rd. My name is Erich von Rerugen, formerly Brigadier General in the Imperial Army. I’ve had the… unique pleasure of working with your late battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Degurechaff, in the past.”

 

Weiss chuckled, “Well it's good to see a familiar face. Though it's strange how many members of the 203rd have ended up in this world. I mean it's not a lot, but it seems too convenient and too many to be coincidental.”

 

Weiss speculated for a bit, but if this ‘Being X’ Tanya spoke of was truly involved, it made sense that the entire 203rd could get dragged in during the crossfire, or perhaps even on purpose.

 

Neumann shook his head, “You don’t even know the half of it. The entire battalion is here! Except for Lieutenant Colonel Degurechaff and yourself of course. Falmuth got lucky that they tried to summon us after the Lieutenant Colonel died. If they had tried to summon her, there would’ve been a bloodbath.”

 

Weiss didn’t feel like now was the right moment to break the news to them, deciding to push that off for later, “Haha, right… Tanya… Anyways, I assume looking at the situation you want to defect with the 203rd?”

Rerugen made a respectful bow and muttered, “We will accept any terms that allow us our continued survival.”

 

Weiss shook his head, “No need to beg like that. It’s not fitting for your position. Anyways, I have no problem letting you all join Tempest personally, and I feel like she’d be pissed off if we decided to kill you. So I’ll help you all enter Tempest safely, just follow me,” Weiss turned to Gabiru, who was, again, confused, “Gabiru, you take over from here.”

 

Gabiru gave a salute as Weiss followed Rerugen and Neumann back to their camp.

 

Though as they walked Rerugen thought back on what Weiss had declared and muttered to himself, ‘She?’

 

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Hakurou and Geld walked side by side, steadily towards the defending force guarding one of the crystals keeping the barrier over Tempest. If they took it down, assuming the others did their part, the entire barrier would come down and Lord Rimuru would begin the final phase of the plan.

 

Staring across from them were three large tanks, with several more positioned behind for intense initial firepower. Several armed soldiers stood, ready to fire upon what they believed to be a fairly insignificant force, perhaps a group of fleeing monsters for them to prey upon.

 

The three tanks rolled forward, crawling closer to the duo before the first tank fired. The shell ricocheted off of Geld’s shield as he raised it to protect himself, slamming into a nearby tree. As the second tank fired at Hakurou, he used his blade to swiftly deflect it off to the side, redirecting it into the ground beside him. The third tank also fired, aiming to catch both of them in the blast as the shell exploded before it even reached the two.

 

As the smoke subsided, the final shot was somehow vaporized, a demon was seen standing with her arms behind her back and a barrier before her. Taking a few steps forward casually, the demon muttered, “Sorry, I almost mistook you for an enemy army. What’s the purpose of your visit? Business or pleasure? Do you have a visa?”

 

The tanks all fired in unison at the demon child, Tanya simply standing unphased with a smile as the shells slammed and exploded against her unshaken barrier. “No visas? No worries, you can still enter the country… as corpses!”

 

Tanya fired a single bullet right down the barrel of the central tank from her by-now-known rifle, causing it to erupt in a massive explosion that engulfed the two tanks at its flanks as well. The central tank was reduced to little more than dust as the two on the sides were smoldering piles of melting steel.

 

Tanya walked through where the center tank once stood, glancing at the burning piles and shaking her head, “I thought the Unified States was supposed to be an Industrial Juggernaut, a sleeping giant, a growing superpower! Well with these kinds of tanks, you’d be lucky to win against a blind communist.”

 

The crowd of soldiers began firing at Tanya, who simply applied her barrier once more and turned to address Hakurou and Geld, “Take out the crystal, I’ll handle things up here.”

 

The two swiftly ran past, largely ignored by the army trying desperately to take out Tanya. With a snap of her fingers, the entire army was engulfed in numerous explosions, wiping out every human soldier in an instant as tanks flew and munitions detonated. 

 

“Surprised nobody noticed the small glowing orbs right next to them before I detonated them. Honestly, it's their fault for not at least noticing. Even my own soldiers would have fled,” Tanya muttered, stepping forward to locate any remaining stragglers.

 

Suddenly, her attention was brought upwards as she crossed her arms, applying her barrier as a magically enhanced bullet fired directly at it, exploding upon impact. Though her barrier held, the fact remained that it was the strongest bullet that she had ever had to block in this life, including Rimuru’s when they occasionally sparred. Even Mary Sue’s bullets lacked the kind of punch she had just resisted.

 

Landing on the path before her was an Imperial mage of long, brown hair, and deep blue, yet lifeless eyes. Tanya took a step back and winced in frustration. She immediately recognized the woman in front of her: Viktoriya Serebryakov.

 

Once her personal adjutant, she now seemed to be little more than a puppet if Tanya’s Transcending Eye was accurate as usual. Again, Viktoriya launched her attacks, firing bullet after bullet in a fairly predictable manner. Any of the skills Viktoriya once had as an elite mage didn’t seem to be present at all; she was a lifeless husk bound by a heavy and strict control over her who only knew the basics of the basics.

 

Tanya leaped forward, punching Viktoriya right in the chest, shattering the control spell on her in an instant. The spell was powerful and controlled her every will, but for Tanya, it was incredibly simple to break as a demon, who naturally possessed great magicule control and domination.

 

It was as Tanya’s fist collided with Viktoriya’s chest that she noticed the Type 95 around her neck. Quickly jumping back, she grabbed her rifle, aiming it at the girl as she waited with an intense stare.

 

Viktoriya took a few steps back, trying to stabilize herself as she blinked her eyes, life once more visible within them as she glanced around. She spotted Tanya, even despite her differences, reaching out and waving her hand to the side, “Get out of here!”

 

Viktoriya collapsed again to the ground, slowly stumbling up as Tanya noticed the Type 95 glowing a bright golden hue she was unfortunately all too familiar with. She immediately fired at the Type 95, taking care not to hit Viktoriya, pumping more than a fair amount of magicules into the shot. However, it was too late, and her bullet was repelled by a powerful barrier glittering with a golden sheen.

 

Suddenly, Viktoriya started cackling, her voice echoing in unison with another, more masculine, and far more familiar voice, “Hahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHA! HA HA HA HA HA!”

 

A golden beam of light engulfed Viktoriya and reached up into the sky. Tanya launched back, floating in midair as she gripped her rifle tightly, aiming it at the silhouette of Viktoriya as the light faded. Viktoriya hovered above the ground, eyes glowing a pure golden hue all throughout, just as Mary Sue had before. Viktoriya extended her arms out as two sets of angelic golden glowing wings sprouted, radiating a heavenly aura, practically begging Tanya’s demonic heritage to thrust her bayonet into their flesh. Her brunette hair had turned to a bright blonde as two glowing swords made of golden flame appeared in her hands, her rifle dropping to the ground.

 

Tanya wasted no time in slamming Viktoriya with a nuclear blast, blasting her with the strongest attack her barrier could withstand as she could, only to hear the echoey cackling again.

 

“Explosive Nullification? My, what hell did you put this girl through that she would obtain something like that?” Viktoriya’s voice merged with the masculine one, creating one single voice that sounded like neither yet both at the same time.

 

“Finally showing your face, Being X? It’s about time. Though I didn’t know you liked to be in the body of a woman. What happened to being the ‘father’ of all?” Tanya grinned, though was vividly frustrated that he wasn’t defeated so easily and that he was using the body of her adjutant that she had so thoroughly trained.

 

Being X cackled in response, “The form matters little. Soon enough, it will adapt to my will. My focus is defeating you, Argent. When I attempted to stop your soul from being born again here, I finally regained my memories. The old life I lived, not as the creator, not as a God, but as the protector and loyal servant to the true creator, the true God. It was my destiny to restore him. You got in my way then, you won’t get in my way now!”

 

“Nice to see you’ve gone insane since we last talked. These last few years really have been a pleasure, it was nice not seeing you, so let’s go back to that, shall we?” Tanya raised her rifle, aiming it at Being X as he inhabited Viktoriya’s body.

 

Being X readied his glowing blades, a wide smirk decorating his cruel face as he prepared his stance for battle. “Agreed.”

 

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“As Osiris descended upon the world, seeking to reduce it to nothing but dust, Argent was left to stand alone as the sole guardian of the world. The True Dragons took little notice, or in the case of Veldora, lacked the power to help, given that it was a direct creation of their eldest brother. Rouge and the demons in hell had little care for the world above, and all other potential allies couldn’t offer much more than what the Argent had herself.

 

Knowing of Osiris’ immense holy magic, Argent created a new Unique Skill, ‘Divine Nullification’ in order to give herself and her subordinates a fighting chance. Argent brought forth her many machines of war to fight Osiris, however, when the battle came, they did little besides act as cannon fodder against the being who had destroyed far superior entities. Osiris tore through her machines and weapons like they were little more than paper, her people turned into blood splatters and bone dust. Her Empire was reduced to ashes as the final assault from the combined magical and technological efforts of the whole Argent family failed to kill him, eradicated in mere moments.

 

As Osiris tore through the last of Argent’s great war machines, she and her family devised one last method to take him down. By gathering the souls of every demon in the silver family, they could funnel all of that power into a single attack, one strong enough to hopefully defeat Osiris for good. 

 

As Argent launched her attack at Osiris, he realized that he couldn’t dodge. In the last second as Argent’s fist met Osiris’ body, he attempted to use his skill to flee the world and escape to another, thus allowing him a chance to regroup and strike again. However, the power of Argent’s attack, mixed with an attempt to flee, sent them not only across space, but across time as well.

 

The two ended up in another worldly universe, located before the start of time itself. Osiris’ soul would be greatly damaged and weakened, with much of his ego damaged and with only a fragment of his original Ultimate Skill. He would forget his past life as his memories would fade away into the depths of his soul over the eons past. Over time, he would continue his purpose, not knowing why, just that he had to. For millennia, he would serve a few worlds as their protector and God, a role he now took on with pride rather than hesitancy. As for why he took pride, even he didn’t know.

 

As for Argent, her soul would fracture into three. One fragment, the true successor to her soul, but now without all of its power and with much of its ego lost forever, would simply drift on. Barely holding on thanks to Athena’s quick thinking, the soul would very slowly regain power, until it was later reborn in the body of a human, the most compatible species for its creator’s favor. As for the other two fragments, each a fragment of different aspects of her personality and power, they would form into their own souls, creating new demons which would birth into new Primordials; black and white, Noir and Blanc.

 

Eventually, Osiris and Argent would cross paths again, neither remembering their past lives, but by their very instincts, they grew a distinct hatred for each other. Osiris, formerly kind and benevolent to his subjects, grew spiteful and angry whenever he crossed paths with Argent’s reincarnation, striving to torment it however it could. Before long, Argent would be reborn a second time, then a third. In the third, they would once more take their mantle as a demon, and as Osiris followed them to strike them down, they once more ended up in the same stalemate. The two would always end up at the start of time with their souls weakened, memories gone, and with Argent splitting into three. This is the cycle that has gone on for thousands of times, over and over again. It has yet to end… At least, not yet.”

 

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Thanks to various editors and helpers on the Discord who helped with things like plot decisions, grammatical errors, and other aspects of the chapter:

 

Dr.Rx, Dragon1008, Dtrackt, Dragon348

 

To join the discord for chatting, discussion, updates, or to apply to be one of the credited helpers, join the link below:

 

https://discord.gg/xcCvpSxmA7

 

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Alphas and Beta Comments Deluge!

 

Dragon1008 - I can just imagine a bunch of fairies struggling under the weight of a massive machine gun and trying to support it as Ramiris goes overboard and uses it to unleash hell on anything below like a child with a new toy and Beretta disapproving and saying it isn’t a toy and that she should take it more seriously. XD

 

Dtrackt - For the Empir… no wait For Tempest!!!!

 

Dr. Rx - LET’S GO TEMPEST LET’S GO! RIP FALMUTH’S ARMY TO SHREDS!