That Time an American was Reincarnated into Another World

Chapter 227: Don’t Deny Me This

December 15th, 625

“We lost a wheel!”

“Just keep your foot on that pedal! We’re dead if we stop in this blizzard!”

I pushed the trigger once my words finished, pelting our rear with another several hundred rounds as Harsha focused on making sure we didn’t get drowned in the sea of monsters around us. 

I could sense them absolutely everywhere. Behind us, flanking us, and in front of us. Only the blizzard kept them all from knowing exactly where we were. It was a madhouse with those monsters tripping over each other with the lack of visibility, the only solace in this situation. 

“Reloading!”

My callout came right when the last bullet in the belt ran through the Browning. With practiced motions I threw open the cover, kicked off the empty ammo can, slammed down another, ran the belt in place, and threw the cover down. 

The handle was racked twice within 1.96 seconds of running empty, yet it felt like 1.95 seconds too long. Monsters gained ground every millisecond and the only reason it didn’t feel like the Browning was firing too slowly was because every round packed a .50 cal punch. 

“The snow is clearing!”

We heard Harsha’s call, even though we could all see it. 

I reloaded as the blizzard started to fade. Jasmine had already passed me Polly’s words so I knew we were crossing the furthest range of that Sovereign-Class’ snow storm. Her orders were also what gave us our new rendezvous point. 

The threshold was rather sharp. One minute we were still blind, the next we saw the entire landscape open up to our eyes. I raised myself and looked out of a hatch so get a grasp on the situation. 

The biomat all around us had a layer of snow on it, not as thick as that within the blizzard, which meant the Steed could move faster. 

But then we saw all the thousands of monsters around us, all charging toward the Steeds and Hummers ahead of us. There were several fewer than when we left which, based on my estimations, meant there were at least three platoons worth dead, dropping our numbers to around 260. Considering we had some Steeds filled with mostly wounded, which were at the front and safe, our combat effective numbers were around 200 at best.

Based on my counts thus far we had only killed around 1300 monsters. It wasn’t quick because of the blizzard. We could only kill what was in front of us. 

Still, there were at least another 20 thousand monsters and we were now effectively outnumbered 100 to 1. 

Now, that wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the fact that the average Authority of the soldiers outside the Snow Doves and Umara’s squadron sat around Authority 6, while the enemy averaged an entire Authority higher. 

We were outclassed and outnumbered in every way. Not that I didn’t already know that. It just meant that 100 to 1 odds were actually looking at this situation nicely. 

And now we would have to make our stand. 

“There’s a Steed stopped in front! They’re Doves!”

“Get to them!”

I called out and let out a harsh breath, looking down at the Browning. 

“Looks like your time is up. We did well.”

I sent it back to the dimension before climbing up to the roof of the Steed. I looked to our front and saw the halted Steed, all but three of its wheels destroyed and the Snow Doves within getting surrounded. 

I frowned. If we stopped then there was no way we could get rolling again. The issue was that we wouldn’t be rolling for much longer anyway with the way the monsters were starting to converge on us, and our Doves were the only people capable of putting up a meaningful fight. When the odds were stacked against us so heavily, we needed every valuable asset. 

They were worth it. 

I ducked down, “Get to them and disembark! We fight on foot the rest of the way!”

Harsha responded, her eyes glued to the monsters beyond her windshield, “If we stop we’re dead!”

“That’s for me to decide! Stop at their position! That’s a fucking order!”

Harsha grit her teeth and changed course, going for the Doves. The only reason fighting on foot wasn’t hopeless was because the rendezvous was only three miles away. The risks of not securing more Doves was greater than crossing that distance. I didn’t need Harsha to understand that. I just needed her to listen. 

I climbed to the roof of the Steed, looking around us before tilting my head up. 

In this dark night the moon was our only source of light. It was full and cast a soft glow on everything around us. I could see clear as day anyway, but the moon would be the guiding light for the rest of my troops. 

Then I sat down. We had about 53 seconds before arriving within the vicinity of the Steed, and there was something I had to do. 

I took out my MG 42, its barrel warm in anticipation. I could feel the burning hatred within it. This was the first weapon that I had felt such strong emotion from. Others were determined to perform as they were built, others were capable of forming an intelligible connection with me that increased accuracy. 

But this weapon connected with me because we both felt hatred. It was the most potent conduit for my wrath against the Scourge of this planet. It was weaponized malice and I was the only one who could bring it to bear. 

I had put it through battles well above its tolerance, and it hurt. Not because I was pushed past its limits, but because it couldn’t meet my demand for more. Thus far it was my most effective weapon against the masses of monsters we fought but it raged against its limits because its entire being was driven by the desire to kill more. 

There was only one thing I could do to raise its ability to my standard. It was something I hadn’t considered for any other weapon because I always knew there was another waiting for me at a later Authority that would surpass the performance of anything I could find before. 

But not only had I gone back to find this weapon, it was only just short of meeting the standard two Authorities above it. 

I decided that now was a good time to carry out my first Marriage, when the odds were so skewed against us that even escape carried far more risk than I was normally willing to take on. 

I needed a weapon that would turn the tide and give us higher chances even in the most terrible circumstances. Now and in the future. 

“So I Call. With my soul I bear. Before God as my witness.”

A single line of scripture flashed to life and wrapped itself in orbit around me and the weapon. It displayed my words in a language I did not understand and carried power beyond what I provided. 

“Upon my life I declare my intention: To utilize this spirit as my weapon, to carry out war, to kill those that seek to kill me, to kill those who I desire to kill. Without prejudice or restraint I demand this of this spirit.”

The scripture inscribed itself into reality, and I paused, waiting for the response I knew would come. 

More scripture wrote itself, but it came not from me. 

The spirit declared, through my tongue, its desire. 

“To be used as a weapon, to kill those that seek to kill Man, to kill the targets of Man’s hatred and wrath, to be used with prejudice and without restraint. This, to demand of Man.”

More scripture appeared, and these desires of the spirit conflicted with my intentions.

I pondered, knowing that they would need to be resolved to continue the Marriage. 

The problem was that the desires would demand that I only utilize this spirit after fulfilling those conditions, which meant what, or who, I could kill with it would be limited. 

To kill those that sought to kill me. There was no conflict there and the targets of that condition automatically encompassed all of the Scourge. 

But it did not encompass all people. 

To kill the targets of Man’s hatred and wrath, was an interesting condition because I did not hate everybody, nor did I want to bring down wrath upon everyone. So that meant I could only kill those that sought to kill me or those that I hated. If they did not seek to kill me and I didn’t hate them, then I couldn’t utilize this weapon against them. 

This was a problem because I could think of several people that hadn’t sought to kill me, and that I hadn’t hated, that I had still killed. 

But since those who had earned my wrath were also included, I supposed it would have to be good enough. If I really couldn’t fulfill all of the conditions then there was a high chance that I wouldn’t feel the need to kill a target anyway, because they were either completely innocent or I was oblivious to their guilt. It depended on my knowledge of the reality, which was always the case regardless. 

As for the omission of “To carry out war,” I didn’t believe that I’d be carrying out a war against an enemy that not only didn’t seek to kill me, but that I also didn’t hate or feel wrathful against. It was a redundant line. 

More than acceptable conditions to me, so I changed my intention. 

“Upon my life I resolve and declare my intention: To utilize this spirit as my weapon, to kill those who seek to kill me, to kill the targets of my hatred and wrath. With prejudice and without restraint I demand this of this spirit.”

The new lines of scripture appeared, amended the prior lines, and were then accepted. 

The revolving lines spun and split into two. One sunk into my body and then burned into my back, the entire scripture being written upon my skin. 

“To the world I declare this Marriage, by my name: John Jacob Cooper.”

My name was burned at the bottom of the scripture, my signature, tied to my very soul. 

The other half of the scripture sunk into the weapon, being engraved upon its steel. On its cover, its name was engraved in glowing red letters. 

“Totenstahl.”

The Marriage finished with another connection being established. I could feel the spirit become attached to me, become a part of me like another limb. When that happened, the spirit, Totenstahl, returned to my Mind Palace. 

My fabrication plant automatically created a large steel ammo pack and sent it to the armory where bullets were being summoned into long belts. 

The belts filled the ammo pack endlessly, hundreds turning into thousands turning into tens and hundreds of thousands. The pack was weighed down, a metal feed chute attaching to the port at the top and extending down to Totenstahl’s receiver where the first bullet fed into it. 

Then, I opened my eyes. 

“John! It’s time to move!”

I heard Umara yelling from the side. I looked down and found Totenstahl in my lap. 

I stood, feeling the weight of the steel ammo pack put strain on my back even though it was also strapped around my waist. Even with Vigor my core had to activate to keep me upright. 

The feed chute rested over my shoulder following my arm to the receiver where it was mounted. 

I reached and ripped the cocking handle for the first and last time, grabbing the bipod toward the front and hefting it around. 

We had just reached the killed Steed, everyone dismounting to clear out the Scourge surrounding our Doves. 

I thought for two seconds, getting a grasp upon the entire situation, feeling Totenstahl in my hands, the barrel already glowing with wrath, merely waiting for my trigger pull to dispense it upon all the monsters around us. 

Umara launched a bolt of fire behind me, killing a monster that had jumped on top of our Steed and lunged for me. 

In turn, I raised Totenstahl and aimed at the monsters flooding in around us. 

The trigger depressed, and my weapon spit fire. 

It cycled faster than before, surpassing 1200 rounds per minute, climbing to 1400 and only increasing as more monsters came. 

I yelled, “Go and secure them! We need to fucking move!”

“Roger!”

“I’ll hold them!”

I swept Totenstahl across all that came our way from atop the Steed. It didn’t matter how powerful or large they were, they were all slaughtered as if I were sawing trees.

There was ease on my Psyka despite the killing power increasing significantly. I killed a hundred immediate enemies in seconds and even more as my killing radius grew. 

Soon enough there were no incoming enemies for 100 yards. Concentrated fire eliminated any that dared come in our direction, the blizzard obscuring my view of anything beyond. 

The monsters around our rescued Doves were also cleared, and I was called. 

“John!”

“What?!”

“This needs your attention!”

I frowned and looked back, Umara waving me over as all those who were able stepped up to hold the rest of the enemies off. I noticed her Companion Spirit, the large snowy blue six legged wolf that had fresh blood dripping from its teeth, munching on nearby Scourge corpses. 

I lowered Totenstahl, disregarded the dog, and ran to where Nonnen stood with a wounded knight. It only took one glance to tell me that he was sliced across the chest by a Scyther, the only thing that could cut through armor and a knight’s body that deep and clean in one go. His legs were also gone, as was half his left arm, another Scyther based on a knight that had shallow wounds nearby. They had gotten hit by several based on the wounds around the Steed. 

He was obviously suffering. It hadn’t gotten his heart but one of his lungs was cut and organs were open. If he had a healer and dedicated attention, he could probably make it out alive. He was Authority 8 and that kind of vitality was capable of miracles. 

But we didn’t have a healer nor the time for attention. We didn’t even have the room to keep wounded safe. The big hitters were coming and fast. We had to move now. 

I looked at Nonnen, “What’s the call?”

He was conflicted, indecisive. I knew what the call was, but he didn’t want to give the order. 

“...We can’t care for wounded.”

“No, we can’t.”

I answered quickly, without the hesitation that Nonnen had. 

That’s when the knight reached out and grabbed my leg. My eyes snapped to him as he struggled to get out words, half suffocating on his own blood. 

“Don’t… let them take me…”

Blood gurgled from his mouth. I could see the fear on his face. We had been seeing more Corrupted as the Scourge pushed their attack. Reports had come in of familiar faces. Those were always kept away from the masses lest morale fall. 

But with greater power came greater sacrifices. The Snow Doves were required to know about these things because we couldn’t allow the Scourge to get their hands on powerful soldiers. Even worse than them dying was them coming back as enemies. 

I thought about having this knight take the Overkill Pill, the last resort. It was designed precisely to keep people from getting corrupted and it had the added benefit of allowing the user to take a few more Scourge with them. 

But he didn’t have his legs and was already halfway into the grave. Not even one of those pills was going to do anything. It would just make him suffer longer. 

I knew what had to be done. 

I raised Totenstahl, pointed it at the knight, and squeezed the trigger. 

Nothing happened. 

This man did not seek to hurt me, and I did not hate him, nor was he the target of my wrath. 

Totenstahl would not kill this man. I would have to, with another weapon. 

I brought out a pistol, a 1911, and spoke. 

“I will do what must be done. The rest of you, form up with 5th Squadron! Now!”

The other soldiers in the area ran off hastily, throwing a few glances back before continuing. 

Nonnen remained, as he should, and I pointed the pistol at the knight. 

“Herdot Aneirin, first son of Mannix and Ziyah Aneirin. Your family will know that you died a hero. You will be remembered. May you rest in peace, knowing your work is done.”

“I’m… sorry…”

He gave his last words, and I pulled the trigger, giving him an instant death. 

Nonnen and I lingered there for a few seconds before I put the pistol away. 

“Let’s go.”

“Yes…”

He stowed the body into his storage ring, stood, and turned with me. The two of us started walking back to the rest of the formation. 

Then, I spun around, raising Totenstahl just as Nonnen unsheated his sword. 

My eyes narrowed when I saw the King Blood Royal that appeared behind us. Its face was a void of black, with a purple body and digitigrade legs, wearing full black armor with a long serrated knife in each hand.

And it sat at Authority 10.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

I pulled the trigger while retreating, yelling. 

“RUN!”

My boots threw me backwards as the King Blood lunged forward. Nonnen went to intercept, slashing down with his sword, rage across his face. 

They collided, coming to a standstill. However, I could still sense the other four Brigadier-Class Royals in the area, two of them converging. 

I could also sense Amira and our third Brigadier Rahman heading our way from the rendezvous. They would be here soon but now they were outnumbered by two, not to mention that one was a King Blood. 

Neither Amira nor Rahman were at Nonnen’s level, and neither could handle two at a time. They would die sooner rather than later and then we’d be fucked. 

I was pretty sure I couldn’t hide from a King Blood of Despair at Authority 10. I had rationalized Anarchy, not Despair. Sure, I could shrug off this King Blood’s Aura, but that didn’t mean I could hide from it and the rest of this entire force, let alone the rest of Umara’s squad and the Snow Doves. 

We had to leave, and people were going to die doing it. 

“FUCK! GO, NOW!”

I screamed at the rest of our group. Tana, Feiden, and Harsha were already leading the charge alongside whatever knights were in the group of rescued Doves. The warlocks like Umara and Jaya were casting spells and clearing out anything in front of us as fast as possible so that we didn’t have to stop running, Pup in front with the knights helping the charge. 

I brought up the rear, leaving Nonnen to fight the King Blood. At some point, Amira and Rahman shot past me and intercepted the other four King Bloods. I watched them instantly fall on the back foot, taking injuries within just a few exchanges. 

I turned around after some time, facing forward, my boots carrying me as fast as a car across the snow with active magic. I kept up with the rest, Totenstahl constantly firing into the hordes around us, keeping our flanks clear. 

The rendezvous came into sight, the top of a hill that dropped off into a cliff, the rock face 500 feet tall. 

And, in the distance, I could see the helicopters coming. They would be here in a couple minutes. 

Just a couple of eternal minutes.

“Go! Get to the rest! We need to hold the line!”

Everyone picked up the pace once the Pathfinders came into sight, helping what little remained of the battalion hold off all the monsters around them. 

We slaughtered our way there, my eyes occasionally glancing between the helicopters and the group at the edge of the cliff. There were destroyed Steeds along our way, all of their occupants dead, some devoured. 

I had a bad feeling.

“Faster!”

I moved up and started aiming forward, clearing monsters with the others, not even looking back, solely moving forward. Like a spear we slashed through the hundreds of monsters in our way, most powerful enough to take a few spells from Umara before going down, delaying our advance lest they collide with us and injure someone. 

They did anyway, the troops we rescued running into powerful Royals and being brought to a standstill. They couldn’t follow, we continued, and they were lost forever. 

My bad feeling grew as we desperately fought to keep from getting drowned, my eyes drawn to the Pathfinders fighting for their lives at the rendezvous, surrounded from all sides but behind. 

Then, I caught it. 

I looked between each person, seeing Pollux casting ice spells to create barriers that stalled monsters and gave his troops time to kill or protect wounded. 

Then I saw the last person I wanted to gaze upon. 

I saw Eric, and when he looked in our direction, seeing us barreling toward them, his eyes went bloodshot, then solid blood red. 

He snarled, then smiled, and raised his blade. 

And he swung it toward Pollux, shattering the man’s barrier, and decapitating him in one motion. 

“NO!”

Totenstahl’s fire rate increased as Eric released a blade of black vigor into the backs of several shield bearers, dropping the battle lines.

“FEIDEN! GET OVER THERE NOW!”

I saw him vanish as soon as he heard the order in his mind, appearing amidst the other troops almost instantly. He quickly found Eric, but he went to retreat into the hordes all around them after letting the monsters in. 

“KILL HIM!”

Without Pollux, the other troops and Pathfinders started falling. The thousands of monsters once scattered and dispersed by the blizzard were all converging on one point, the only point with humans. 

Feiden pursued Eric, using his power of instantaneous movement to dodge all the nearby Royals and attack Eric. 

Whatever demonic power Eric had gained allowed him to barely evade. It boosted him well into Authority 8, and after just a few seconds other Royals converged, three Authority 9s pursuing Feiden. 

Feiden pushed in anyway, releasing an attack that took off Eric’s arm. I got hopeful but then Eric threw something out, a small orb that rapidly brightened. 

Feiden jumped out, the orb exploding with the power of space, tears in reality shooting out like particles of radiation before rapidly being repaired. And Eric ran away, further than our reach. 

“FUCK!”

It took us another couple minutes to arrive, all while the Pathfinders were decimated and eaten, not even Feiden able to save them as tides of monsters jumped on them, dozens to each person, completely overwhelming each troop. We had to fight through hundreds even when we arrived, slaughtering all the nearby monsters, bringing up new battle lines and securing the lives of that which remained. 

There was only one, and he was a Chief from the Snow Doves, injured, but still standing. 

I looked around. I saw remnants of Pollux’s head, and half of Amary’s body. I saw Gabriel, Brisa, Winston, some of the few Pathfinder veterans left after so many reinforcements and deaths. 

They were all dead. The Pathfinders were dead. 

No, not all of them. There was one left. 

I turned after reaching the cliffside, shoring up our lines with the other Doves we rescued that still remained, and unloading on the monsters in front of us. Some of the Doves were cut down in an attempt to hold Authority 9s back, Umara launching spatial spells to kill those our Doves fell to, even Pup taking on some to give us time to muster attacks that could injure or kill such powerful creatures. 

I looked off into the distance. I didn’t see Eric. I couldn't find him, not with my attention pulled so many different ways. He was hiding, like the scum sucking rat he was. 

He knew I would kill him. He knew I would string him up by his intestines. He knew that he had to stab Pollux in the back before we could get there to have a chance of escaping. 

It was I who should’ve seen it sooner. 

I continued to monitor Nonnen, Amira, and Rahman in the distance. Their battles were extreme. Amira was bringing out everything she had and Rahman was trying to match her, and failing. He would fall first. 

The helicopters weren’t here yet. 

But as I glanced around in search of any hint of Eric, I saw a glow. It wasn’t the wrathful shine of Totenstahl’s bright red barrel, nor the moon above us. 

It was the glow of white armor. 

It pulled my attention instantly. There were 8 armored individuals that came from our flank, slaughtering their way toward us, steadily in an impenetrable formation obviously practiced hundreds of times before. 

I intuitively understood where they were from. They weren’t of the Kingdom. 

Templars from the Church. 

I didn’t know why they were here, but when I felt the Aura of a Brigadier shoot off in Nonnen’s direction, I quickly stopped caring, especially when yet another Dove fell in front of me. 

Perhaps the only reason we would survive had come. 

I heard one of them yell, “Reinforce our brothers and sisters!”

“Hoh!”

There was a resounding response, and one of their warlocks, dressed in full armor just like the knights, cast a spell that unleashed column of fire. It swept through our front line, turning any monsters in its way to ash. 

They used that channel to rush to our side, the knights hoisting massive tower shields and planting them like walls. I could see the shields flash with enchantments and then expand with magic, connecting to each other to form one long barrier that completely fortified our front. 

The remaining knights raised their spears, stabbing or slashing anything that got close, the warlocks launching area spells to blast away clusters of monsters. 

I stepped up between two of them, leveling Totenstahl over the barrier, and clearing my sector of fire. 

Thousands of monsters came and thousands of monsters were annihilated. My hatred burned hotter with every second that passed, thoughts of killing Eric filling every corner of my mind. 

And then I saw one of our Brigadiers go flying. It was Rahman. 

He was supposed to be a warlock but I saw him hit the ground like a knight that had been thrown like a rock, as they often were. Monsters surrounded him when he went down but they were blasted away with a quick spell. 

Before Rahman could stand, two of the Brigadier-class Royals landed on top of him, one coming with a cluster of explosive spells and the other following up with a long spear.

The one with a spear stabbed, slashed twice, stabbed again, and then slashed one more time. Rahman never rose from the ground, and when the knight from the Templars came flying in, the Royals flew away. 

The Templar reached down plucked something from the ground, before getting attacked by another Royal and shooting off into the distance again. 

Rahman never flew with them. 

I turned, seeing the helicopters approach. 

I clicked my Aerial.

“Bird One, Two, and Three, come in!”

“We read you, Envoy!”

“It’s fucking hot down here! All of you lower altitude to our level and get ready to receive us!”

“Roger that! Lowering altitude!”

I saw them start dipping down, the sound of their blades beginning to reverberate off the rock face, echoing in our ears. 

If we could hear it, the Scourge could too. 

I yelled, “Protect the helicopters! They’re our ride out!”

“Copy!”

“Incoming!”

I heard the call, looking up to find a massive fireball sailing toward one of the helicopters. 

One of the Templars backed off the line, raising a staff. A hundred ice shards bloomed above them and shot toward the fireball, colliding and making it explode. 

“Another!”

“I got it!”

Umara called and created a blade of vapor. She aimed at an incoming cluster of boulders, throwing one blade out per boulder. 

They hit the boulders and pierced into them before blasting them to chunks that fell on top of us. 

I just continued firing. 

“Brigadier!”

Another call, and I looked up to see one of the Brigadier-Class Royals soaring through the air. The Templar jumped after it with obscene strength, going a bit faster. 

But I still watched as it broke through two barriers that the Templar warlocks created, and then crashed into one helicopter, knocking it out of the sky with its body. 

The Templar went after it, slaughtering it in the air. It was already wounded and this finished it off, but now we were down a chopper. 

The Templar formed a platform out of his Vigor and jumped back, reentering the battle. 

“Bird Two down!”

“They’re almost here!”

I yelled after hearing the call in my Aerial. 

Then my eyes snapped over, seeing Amira tumbling across the ground. 

She landed not far from us. One of the warlocks cast a spell, grabbing her body and dragging her back to us. She was heavily wounded, a sword through her chest. 

I saw the Royal fighting her pursue, heading toward us, also heavily wounded. 

“Breaking formation!”

One of the knights in front called out. I looked down at him, eyes wide, recognizing that voice. 

And recognizing his height when he straightened out and stepped forward. 

“Support!”

Another warlock called, moving forward with him and killing the monsters in the area. I focused my fire to take the pressure off. 

And the knight collided with that Authority 10 Royal, bashing it away with his heavy shield. It recoiled before launching itself back at him, attacking so fast that I could barely follow the tip of the sword it swung. 

And it sliced through the knight's arm, clean through the armor. 

But the arm, holding his sword, didn’t fall. Instead he raised it like nothing happened and returned an attack, slashing the unsuspecting Royal and taking off its leg. 

I was incredulous, but I continued shooting, more monsters converging now than ever before. 

They continued fighting that Royal, the warlock able to attack since I took off most of the pressure. They gave it wound after wound, worsening existing injuries and knocking it to the floor. 

Without any fanfare, they eventually chopped off its head, collected the body, and retreated back to the line. The knight, who should be mortally wounded, ran back without a drop of his own blood leaking, filling the gap in the line like nothing had happened. 

I turned, looking at the helicopters. 

“They’re here! Initiate retreat! Bird One, open your hatch!”

“Roger!”

A summoner within the helicopter opened the back hatch, the pilot backing up to the edge of the cliff. 

“Snow Doves, board now with Amira!”

“Roger!”

“Scyther!”

One of the Templars called out just as I sensed it. I spun around with Totenstahl, the scyther jumping out from beneath the biomat a small distance away. 

I couldn’t turn fast enough, even when I activated my coat and dilated time. It moved too fast, and I reacted too late. 

Its talon reached forward, slashing through the rotor assembly and sending the entire helicopter spiraling as its blades fell apart. 

As soon as it dipped below the edge of the cliff, I spun back around. 

“FUCK! Bird Three, lower altitude and hold position!”

“Roger!”

Our last helicopter lowered itself below our line of sight a distance away, holding there so we didn’t lose our last mode of transportation out of this hellhole. 

Amira remained behind us, dying. 

I yelled, calling upon my telepathic connection with Nonnen. 

“Nonnen, retreat now! Helicopter is here!”

“Too risky! Go without me!”

“Fuck you and get over here! We’re not going anywhere until you’re in, I can promise you that!”

“We don’t have the room for that John!”

“And I’m telling you to go fuck yourself! Hurry up before we all die here!”

I cut my connection with him before he could respond. Totenstahl was firing at over 1600 rounds per minute and yet there were so many Royals and monsters that it felt like I was throwing lead into an ocean of hide and blood. Bodies were stacking high enough that incoming enemies had to climb to get to us. Sometimes I wasn’t sure if I was shooting a live monster or just a falling corpse.

One of the Templars turned to me. 

“Go ahead and board! We’ll hold the line!”

“We’re not going fucking anywhere before our Brigadier is back!”

“They aren’t going to be able to separate from that King Blood! Our Brigadier is killing the others but until he’s done, yours won’t be going anywhere! We’ll have to hold until then!”

“No fucking shit, Sherlock! Just focus on the fucking fight!”

I turned away and continued firing, the Templar looking at me for a second longer before doing the same. 

Over the next several seconds our fields of fire interlocked and the monsters started to cascade. Some fell off the edge of the cliff trying to hit and pile over our flanks, the warlocks using explosive spells to push them over if they got that conveniently close. 

The knights in front held strong, nothing able to shake their line. I was genuinely impressed with the hits they took and shrugged off. Spells that would topple other knights and shatter shields just brushed over them. They were an unbreakable bulwark, and because of that I was able to focus purely on dishing out as much hate as I could. 

Thousands more fell over the next several minutes. One by one I could sense the Auras of the Brigadier-Class Royals in the distance wink out, killed by that Templar, the freakish son of a bitch. There were flashing blades of Vigor that split the sky, blinding elemental colors shooting across the land and creating new trenches, mere remnants from their battles. It was power I couldn’t yet hope to fight against, or match. 

Yet. 

Then finally, all that was left was the Templar, Nonnen, and that King Blood. 

All three Auras converged, and then I felt the two humans start to retreat. 

I made the call. 

“Blade Three, come up! Everyone, get ready to board!”

The helicopter rose, hatch open, and reached the edge of the cliff. 

The remaining Snow Doves dragged Amira in. Then Umara sent back her squad. Then some of the Templar warlocks boarded and raised large barriers to protect against spellfire and the incoming bodies of monsters and potential scythers. 

The knights, Umara, and I all remained, holding a smaller line, as Nonnen and the Templar retreated. 

They arrived quickly. 

“Get on!”

I turned and jumped in, grabbing a handle on the wall before whipping back around and continuing to fire over the shoulders of the boarding knights. They all filed in as quick as they could, barriers raised, everything protecting the helicopter from all the Royals that tried to down it. Umara stood by my side, barrier raised, spells being slung over my shoulder while Pup vanished back into her shadow, wounded. 

I saw Nonnen and the Templar running over. They landed where we left, Nonnen jumping in. 

He grabbed my hand, and I yanked him over. He was heavily wounded, heaving for air, barely standing. The Templar seemed to be the same but I couldn’t see anything past the thick bloody armor. 

The Templar turned back to the King Blood before jumping in, lunging at it, taking one of its hits before gathering his power. 

The King Blood blocked, but the attack that the Templar released blew it off the floor and away from the helicopter anyway. As it went flying, mortally wounded, the Templar jumped on. 

I yelled. 

“GO! GO! GO!”

The pilot went full throttle, speeding away from the edge of the cliff. 

But I kept my eyes open, watching the King Blood as it recovered and looked at us. 

It raised its blade, pointing at us, and I saw unholy power converge into a single point. 

I saw its void black face fade to grey, its purple skin fading, cracking open to reveal dry blood. 

It was dumping its very life into another attack, making me grit my teeth. I didn’t know why they were trying so hard to kill us but now I was enraged. 

I fired at it, never taking my finger off the trigger, pelting it with rounds that did nothing more than flatten against its body and armor. 

But then I felt someone take a step. 

I looked back, and saw Amira take the sword out of her chest. Blood pooled out of her mouth but she barely reacted to it. 

Her pupils were dilated, her skin flushed red, and when I stopped firing, I could hear her heart pounding at dangerous speeds. 

Her Vigor circulated, taking on a red hue, as she stepped forward. 

The Overkill Pill. 

I wasn’t sure if I could quantify how much rage I felt, seeing her walk, already dead. 

I reached down and grabbed her armor before she could step to the hatch. 

“Did I fucking tell you to take that!? I didn’t say that you could kill yourself! You’re supposed to follow my orders and stay alive! How many Doves do we have to lose?!”

She grabbed my forearm and then shoved me against the wall. I hit it harder than she expected. Her strength was unlike anything I had ever experienced. 

She looked at me with a neutral expression. She had always been stoic.

“You’ve done more to keep me and my unit alive than anybody else I’ve ever called my superior. You’re someone I want to keep alive. Don’t deny me this.”

She ripped my hand off her armor before letting go and turning around. 

Then she jumped out of the hatch, the force of her jump jerking the helicopter downward. 

We recovered enough to see her sailing toward the King Blood, red vigor gathering around her body placed between us and that gathering attack. 

The King Blood turned to ash, and the attack released. 

I flinched when I heard the scream, Amira’s vigor exploding when it collided with the attack, reality being torn to shreds. Darkness and light flickered, my eyes closing when I saw that I was blinded, the harrowing sounds threatening to rupture eardrums as it tore apart reality. 

My vision came back right as the screaming stopped several seconds later. I looked up, finding the entire side of the cliff gone, all the monsters and their corpses vanished from existence. 

Nothing but a massive hole in the world. 

The hatch started closing at the pilot’s behest, eliminating my view of the devastation.

I looked down when it went dark, finding a pendant in my hand, Amira’s parting gift. It was jade encased in gold. 

I fell to my knees, Totenstahl clattering to my side. 

I shakily reached and opened the pendant, finding a picture of Amira and her husband on one side, her parents on the other. 

I shut it before I could cry, the images already seared into my brain. 

My heart pounded as I bent over, my hand curling around the pendant. 

My chest hurt too much to speak, to scream. 

What would I say to their families?

How would I explain this?

How much more could I have done?

Where did I go wrong?

What would I have done if Umara, Feiden, or Tana was placed in that situation?

Why couldn’t I prevent all of this from happening?

Why wasn’t it ever enough?