Ever since his early teens, Lud had lived in many places worthy of the name Hell. He had lived in a world ravaged by blood, guts, vomit and excrement. He didn’t think much could make him recoil. That was wrong. Very wrong.
What the...?
The Saint before him was different from those horrors. She was ghastly on a much larger scale. When she turned her eyes on him, darkness, the deepest, blackest darkness imprisoned him. This darkness wasn’t just bottomless. It was all-enveloping.
“Aha... So that’s how it is? Interesting!! A fake... In that case, I will teach you what the real thing is, you imitation!!”
As she spoke, she reached out her hand toward him. Lud stiffened.
“Master!!” Sven did not know what the Saint was doing. She only knew that she needed to protect Lud. “Don’t touch him!!” Sven tried to punch the Saint, but the moment she drew back her fist, light erupted like an explosion. “Aaagh?!”
As the light swallowed Sven, some kind of power was activated around her. That power destroyed the stone floor, walls, ceiling and pillars. Everything around her collapsed.
“Master! Master!!!”
Assailed by a vision of the whole world crumbling, Sven reached for Lud. But, she could not touch him. The Saint placed her hand on Lud’s forehead and she was doing something to him. Lud didn’t move. Or rather, he couldn’t move. He had frozen like a statue.
“Master!” Sven shouted again, but Lud didn’t answer.
The Saint’s voice reached her ears with an odd clarity, despite the falling castle.
“Fake doll... I will teach you despair. True despair!”
At that moment, outside the south tower...
“What the?!!” Blitzdonner shouted in surprise at the sudden flash, explosion, and then the deafening crash of the collapsing castle.
“Major!”
At that unguarded moment, a bullet—perhaps random fire—struck him in the chest.
“Gugh!!”
The shot was so poor he would normally have predicted the trajectory and moved aside in time. It was a perfectly lucky hit; proof that even with eyes closed, any shooter has a chance of reaching his target.
“Tch! I flubbed up!”
Blitzdonner made light of it, but for a lucky hit, it was unfortunate for him. The bullet damaged the joint of his right arm, and he couldn’t move it.
“We got him! We got him!”
The young fighters from the Security Department were excited to have delivered a blow against their monster-like opponents.
How amusing...
Their joy over this small success was pitiful.
“How dare you shoot the major! How dare you!!” The red girl who fought alongside him had no pity. “Major! Forgive me for disobeying orders!” Rebecca’s eyes flashed red, the signal that she had released all functions and was shifting into full-power battle mode.
“Stop, Sharlahart! Don’t kill them!”
“I must teach these rookies a lesson!!”
Blitzdonner’s commands no longer reached Rebecca. Her priority was to execute the fools in front of her for committing the crime of threatening her beloved master’s life.
“Your safety, Major... I must return you unharmed!”
“Sharlahart...?”
Rebecca had promised herself something before beginning this raid. Finally, after disappearing for more than ten years, Blitzdonner had returned to his family. She would take him back to his son Jacob and wife Charlotte. To that end, she would use all her power.
“I’ll kill every last one of them!!” But before Rebecca could slaughter the enemy combatants, something happened.
“What the?!”
One young opponent’s face exploded with a blam!
“No way...”
It was not Rebecca’s doing. She was shocked at what she saw. But that wasn’t all. Bullets were fired from their flanks. Unlike the shots from the Security Department’s recruits, these were accurate. These bullets were shot with considerable training, polished skills and experience in actual combat.
“What? Where’d that come from?!”
“Hide! Find cover quickly!”
“No, fall back! Retreat, retreat!”
Under attack from unknown assailants, the soldiers were confused and frightened. Yet even more merciless attacks pursued them. A sound rang out like the lighting of a candle—pshoonk! Blitzdonner knew what it was.
“Major, get down!”
Rebecca also heard it. In fact, she had recognized the sound before Blitzdonner. It was a Panzerfaust anti-tank rocket launcher.
“Are they crazy?!”
The shell struck, followed by an explosion. The enemy soldiers were blown into scattered bits, as if a mischievous child had tossed a rock at a bunch of dolls. Body parts rained down with tiny thuds.
“Stop! That’s too much!!”
Blitzdonner shouted, but the force behind the surprise attack did not stop. A second shot, a third shot... and each time an explosion occurred.
“Stop!!”
The explosions drowned out his shouts. It only took a few minutes. Within ten minutes, most of the Security Department’s soldiers were eliminated.
“Are you all right?”
Fully equipped soldiers appeared from the bushes. They had removed their insignia, but one soldier’s face was recognizable.
“You... Toolman?”
It was the special combat unit of the regular Wiltian army.
“I’m honored you recognize me. Um, may I call you by your name?”
Blitzdonner was officially missing, even as he undertook secret missions.
“Do as you like. There’s no one left alive here who might cause trouble if they heard.” Blitzdonner answered sarcastically.
“What’s going on? Why are you here?”
The unit led by Captain Toolman wasn’t supposed to arrive until early the next morning.
“Yes, I suppose Major Sophia is leaving the royal capital about now.”
“Did you... trick all of us?!”
He guessed everything from Toolman’s nonchalant expression as the man answered.
“It couldn’t be helped. The Security Department... Or rather, rebellious elements have infiltrated everywhere. They’re even within the royal palace and private companies, and inside the military. This was necessary to avoid any leaks in the plan.”
It was the most basic of strategies: To fool the enemy, start by fooling your allies. To successfully pull a surprise attack, spread misinformation so others let down their guard. You could even deceive friendly forces.
“Oh, I see. I suppose that’s why you included Rundstadt?”
“Affirmative.”
Toolman had never intended for Sophia to join the actual combat unit. For better or worse, she was incapable of deceit. She stood out, so he had fed her false information. Most likely, she was still in the royal capital attracting the attention of the Security Department’s spies. Then, he had gathered only those soldiers he could trust and hidden just outside Penmunde last night.
“You expected us to come and you used us as a decoy!”
“Affirmative. However, I didn’t ask this of you.”
“Why you...”
What Toolman said was correct. No one had ordered Blitzdonner or Lud to come. Toolman had manipulated information and swept them along toward the course of action that best suited him.
After all, he is the Bulletproof Baron...
Toolman had successfully carried out many difficult missions. Blitzdonner understood how Toolman had earned his nickname.
This man is a whole different creature from Rundstadt, Langart or me. He’s more like Genitz.
Like that resourceful general, Toolman would even use human psychology as a tool.