“Sir! We are…” “I understand the situation. We have to figure out the enemy’s trick. Until then, you need to keep its attention. You can do it, right?” “” It was barely a question. The confidence and expectation in the way he asked that lit a fire inside Natalie. Pushing all extraneous thoughts in her head to the side, she focused everything she had on a singular goal. “Yes, sir. Leave it to us. Valkyries, let’s do this!” Her voice excitedly rose as she led her flight back into the secondary pillar’s range. And so Hamburg base’s counterattack began. 6 “” The blond playboy standing in the middle of the rubble-filled command post—Alejandro Ostley—crossed his arms. He had assumed command out of necessity, but his makeshift headquarters was just a mound of debris and corpses, and the enemy was an unparalleled menace: a secondary pillar. Things were bad no matter how he looked at it. Particularly the last bit about the secondary. Alejandro had been through a bad experience with a secondary before. The idea of having to clash with one again made him wonder if the nightmares would ever end. It was enough that he wanted to curse his fate and question whether there really were any gods, but— “At least the food in the stockade was really good. I guess we can call it even.” That idle musing drew a laugh from his subordinates, who were frantically rushing all around him. The one silver lining was that Alejandro’s direct reports had not suffered any casualties in the base attack. They had been standing by in the rear, since their commanding officer had been thrown in the stockade, and that had turned out to be a stroke of good luck. When the alarms started blaring, Alejandro had been released, and the junior officers who had served with him for a long time followed his orders without delay. Their quick reaction speed had prevented the complete cratering of morale. The Valkyries were reacting well, too. There were plenty of reasons left to be able to keep their heads up. “Th-the secondary pillar…” “Oh, you’re up and moving about? You were lucky.” Alejandro pulled his focus from the monitor displaying the current state of the battle when he heard a familiar voice. He watched an operator with black hair shake her head as she stood up. She was one of the survivors who had been buried in the rubble. Her expression warped in pain as she scanned the battered command post. “Right after the general gave the order to engage the secondary pillar, it started moving, and then…” “Oh, you remember that, too. Good. Saves me time not having to explain things. The fighting is still ongoing. Normally, I would want to get all the casualties out of here, but…” Alejandro glanced bitterly at the entrance to the command post. Following his gaze, the operator turned to look as well. And there she saw the completely ordinary steel door at the room’s exit. “Huh?” However, what should have been behind it was completely missing. Past the doorway was something that should have been impossible—lush green plants and a thick canopied forest. Of course, there was no way the command post was normally connected to a forest. “Seems like it’s connected to that secondary’s bizarre ability. Space around here has gotten warped. Right now, there’s no telling what parts of the base connect to where anymore.” “” Alejandro nodded in affirmation of her entirely understandable shock. The fact that he and his subordinates had managed to reach this place had been largely luck. The warping on the base had occurred right after he reunited with his subordinates at the stockade, and they had miraculously managed to arrive at the command post after passing through several different bends in space. And thanks to that, he had gotten there right before General Barkley died. “” Alejandro glanced over at the row of dead bodies lining one of the command post’s walls. Less than 20 percent of the command staff had survived the attack. And because they couldn’t do anything else for them yet, the deceased had been lined up and covered with coats. Among their number was the base’s commanding officer, Major General Logrev Barkley. He had been on death’s door by the time Alejandro reached the command post. Gasping for air, he had entrusted command to Alejandro before breathing his last. It was almost a miracle that he had held on that long, refusing to die until he could entrust his duty to someone else. “No, that wasn’t a miracle.” Alejandro didn’t believe that everything came down to fate or chance. He wouldn’t deny that the whims of fate and the luck involved in being at the right place at the right time could be deciding factors, but everything began when someone had the determination to take the first step. That was exactly why… “All the repositioning is going to badly disrupt the chain of command. I need someone familiar with the base. I understand you’ve been injured, but I need your help.” His request was directed at the woman whose face had gone stiff from everything that had happened. Slowly, she shifted her focus to Alejandro. “You’re conscious, obviously. Is your head clear? What’s your name?” Alejandro asked. “—Michelle. Michelle Heyman.” Alejandro nodded at the clear response, which was far better than he could have hoped for. “All right, then, Michelle. Let’s get to it. My crew are a rough lot unfortunately, and I need someone who can take care of more delicate tasks.” “Yes, sir. Understood.” Ignoring the pain racking her body, she stood up and returned to her post. Alejandro watched her courageous figure before returning his attention to the monitor. On the screen, it was clear that all the troops, and the Valkyries in particular, were putting up a valiant fight, desperately trying to turn their disastrous position around. But the situation was still undeniably awful. And the biggest reason for that was— “The terrain’s become a jigsaw puzzle. That secondary really pulled a fast one on us,” Alejandro complained. Doors, hallways, and stairways no longer connected to the locations they were supposed to. In a situation where it was impossible to move freely, the army wouldn’t be able to coordinate the way it desperately needed. If communications had been severed as well, the European Army would have completely melted away without even putting up a proper fight. But even with their resistance so far, that fate was drawing ever closer. We need to do something to normalize communications and movement, but— “—Colonel! There’s a call from outside the base!” “Now? Who the hell could that be? Put them through!” It was an unnatural occurrence right when they were tackling a crisis. Normally, that would cause a moment of pause, but Alejandro did not hesitate at all to take the call. “This is Alejandro. I’ve assumed command of the base. Who is this?” “” “—? We’re a bit busy here. If you don’t need something, I’ll deal with you later.” There was a brief silence on the other end as Alejandro furrowed his brow. But he sensed a breath, as the other end did not want to lose contact after finally getting through. “Apologies, I was a little taken aback after hearing a voice I didn’t expect.” “—That voice…” “This is Captain Rusalka Evereska. I have a report for the operation’s command staff.” Alejandro raised an eyebrow as the name and voice on the other end clicked together. And then he fell silent, waiting for her to continue. Taking the hint, Rusalka continued. “I have figured out the secondary pillar’s trick. Unfortunately, it requires an analog solution, so you should get a map.” 7 Earlier, when Rusalka first spotted the secondary pillar… “—A secondary pillar.” The shock of what she was seeing pierced her whole body. She completely stopped moving, almost like she was in a trance. Soldiers all around her froze as well, all other thoughts falling away after catching a glimpse of the imposing specter visible in the distance. The secondary pillar was covered in a green carapace and had five pairs of long arms tipped in scythes. It was an imposing figure that exerted a menacing pressure powerful enough to crush a human’s spirit. Rusalka was no exception. If anything, it was even worse for her because of how massive the secondary pillar loomed in her past. Because humanity’s greatest enemy, a secondary pillar, had… “Amy…” The name of the girl who was a crystallization of her regrets slipped weakly from her lips. The First Valkyrie, humanity’s greatest hope, her savior from the Ride of the Valkyrie, and the hero who had taken down the only secondary pillar ever defeated in human history at the cost of her own life. It had been a secondary pillar that had killed Amy, Xenia, Victorica, and Canan. “” Why had a secondary pillar appeared here all of a sudden? A fierce revulsion filled her head as she cursed the irrationality and outrageousness of it all. But however much she wanted to beg and plead, the reality of what she saw didn’t change. Deep down, she knew it had been bound to happen sooner or later. With the emergence of the third generation of Valkyries, humanity had stopped faltering in battles with just tertiaries. Because of that, more secondaries had started to appear. It was only a matter of time before they would appear again on the European front—the site of the harshest fighting in humanity’s great struggle. Because of that, it was practically a given that she would encounter one at some point. Once it did happen, all that remained was to summon the will to fight back. “I…” She clawed at her chest and gritted her teeth, gathering the courage to fight against that grotesque monster— “Do your duty, Rusalka Evereska!” “Ngh.” The reprimand that had gotten her moving just minutes ago flashed through her head as she remembered to breathe again. Breathe in. Breathe out. She repeated the action, taking one deep breath after another until the tension slowly melted away. And then she finally started to move again. Committing herself to that momentum, she started running for the command post before her legs could stop again. She chose not to consider whether it had been the man’s voice or the order that had compelled her to act. “They’re already engaging the enemy…!” High in the sky above, she saw jets circling, pulling the enemy’s focus away from the city and the base. Their job was to draw the tertiaries’ fire and limit the amount of danger the Valkyries and anyone on the ground would be exposed to. Since conventional weaponry didn’t work on pillars, they were little more than decoys. The pilots were risking their lives to lure the enemy in and make them give chase. Their battlefield was in some ways even more difficult than the one Valkyries endured. But it was thanks to their efforts that Valkyries could fight to their full potential. “” Above the clouds, the pillars chasing the fighter jets were shot from behind and enveloped in flames. The trees bursting out from inside the shattered pillars consumed the remnants before plummeting to earth. It had been a Deus ex Machina with a gray fuselage that lit them up. One of the Valkyries in Natalie’s flight had perfectly timed her shots. Rusalka was the one who had suggested trying that technique when the young Valkyrie had been struggling to improve. The girl had an incredible amount of potential that shined brightest when she could operate with the support of allies. Fortunately, she had been open to hearing Rusalka’s advice and clearly taken it to heart. Even though it must have been mortifying to take advice from a Valkyrie who had folded up her wings. But even as Rusalka became enthralled by the emotions she was feeling, the Valkyries continued to score victories. Natalie made tactical breakthroughs, always heading wherever enemy forces were thickest. The direr the situation, the better she performed. Alma’s bombardment attack had a large area of effect that took full advantage of all the enemies her flightmates concentrated, utterly wiping out anything that came within range. And the other Valkyries were impressive as well. Their flying wasn’t flashy, but they steadily and reliably whittled down the enemy’s numbers with their teamwork. The battle was steadily turning in the European Army’s favor. But that was all overshadowed by the eerily patient secondary pillar standing still in the distance. “It’s not making any effort to act. What is it after…?” The secondary cast a shadow over the whole battle, even though it hadn’t made a single move since it first appeared. From what she could see, the Valkyries hadn’t attacked it, most likely on orders from command. That could certainly be considered the right choice. The secondary hadn’t done anything overtly threatening yet, and it wasn’t participating in the general attack. Because of that, the defenders had been able to focus on clearing out the tertiaries, which dramatically limited the amount of damage that could have occurred. So in a sense, they should be grateful the secondary wasn’t moving, but… “I have a bad feeling…” A vague apprehension was growing in Rusalka’s heart. She couldn’t put it into words, but she thought it was the wrong choice to let things proceed this way. Was there some reason the secondary was simply watching and waiting? “” Certain insects were known to lie in wait for hours or even whole days to catch their prey. The pillar was only mimicking an insect’s appearance, of course. There was no guarantee it was copying its predatory instincts as well. But even so, perhaps its actions had something in common with its form’s inspiration. If so, then it wasn’t just on standby— “It’s gauging its prey…?” But the Valkyries it should have considered the greatest threats were already in the sky. So what was it after if it was ignoring them? There was no way there was anything more important than the Valkyries on the battlefield, unless— “It can’t be.” Rusalka suddenly took off as she felt a dangerous premonition. The pillars’ current assault was already far removed from the standard playbook. So how could she be sure the enemy wouldn’t make the optimal choice? If it understood humanity, had formulated a strategy, and was waiting for an opportunity to strike, then the best move it could make right now was… “We have to abandon the command post right away—” Running down the hallway, she burst through the steel doors to warn the core of Hamburg base about the terrible possibility she had realized. But what greeted her was not the general’s stern figure. “Huh…?” A green conifer forest filled her field of view. The gears in her head ground to a halt at the completely unexpected scene. And without any concern for her shock, the situation suddenly changed, taking a dramatic turn for the worse. “—Wah?!” A thunderous explosion rang out behind her. She immediately turned around, just in time to see black smoke rising into the air. It had come from the center of the base—from the building that housed the command post. The very same place she had been on the verge of entering. The upper half of the base’s headquarters was blown away, and the building itself had sustained tremendous damage. It was clear at a glance that the command post itself had been hit. But Rusalka’s eyes widened as she struggled to figure out how it had happened. What had hit it? And why was she standing in a forest so far away from the base? How in the world had this happened? “I can’t just stay here…” It was an inexplicable situation, but Rusalka immediately started running to get back. The command post would need help after that attack. She needed to help the survivors and make sure the chain of command did not collapse— “—Agh?!” As she left the forest and raced down the slope, there was another sudden shift in her field of view. She frantically put her hands against the gray wall that had appeared in front of her without warning. She gritted her teeth at the shock that went through her arms before immediately looking around. She quickly realized she was now standing in the middle of a road in Hamburg proper. “First the forest and now the city…” She had been in the forest just ten seconds earlier, only to now end up kilometers away in the center of the city. The massive distance had been crossed in the blink of an eye. It was clear something unnatural was taking place. She had moved from the base to the forest to the town in a matter of seconds. No, it’s not just affecting me, either. “Wh-what the—?! Why am I in the city?!” “Aaah! What happened…? I was just going into my room!” “Waaaaaaaah! Papa! Mamaaaaa!” Panicked screams, shouts, and wails filled the air. The cause of this pandemonium was the same teleportation Rusalka had just experienced. At a glance, there was no defining characteristic to the people who had been affected. There were soldiers and civilians, men and women, young and old. It was not a large-enough sample size for her to make a confident assertion, but it didn’t seem to be affecting only certain people. In other words— “It isn’t triggered by movement. Certain areas are being linked somehow.” Just like the command post’s entrance had led to the forest, the edge of the forest had connected to this street. Space was being warped, changing the very lay of the land. That would also explain the trick behind how the base had been attacked even though that seemed impossible. “The secondary pillar’s ability…!” The secondary was still glaring down at the European Army from its position next to the pillar of light. Its emotionless red compound eyes were like a hunter tracking its prey—it was then that Rusalka became sure her instinct had been right. If she had only reached the command post a little bit faster… “Now isn’t the time for regrets…” Shaking her head, she roused her flagging spirit. The world would not stop and give her time to wallow in self-pity. People would keep dying every moment she stood still. There was no time to get drunk on despair during a battle. “—Time to go.” Even though she still didn’t know what she should be doing, she hurled herself forward, running with all her might, not allowing herself to stop for even a second. 8 “—Not this one.” Though she had set aside her regrets for the moment and was in motion once again, Rusalka kept running into more strange twists in space. It felt like the secondary was laughing at her. Trying to get back to base from the center of town, she passed through a civilian’s house, a graveyard, and even wound up back in the forest. “—Not here, either.” It almost seemed like she was watching a bad movie as disconnected scenes flashed by in quick succession. These passages were caused by unnatural rifts in space, so even when she crossed massive distances, it happened in the blink of an eye and didn’t tire her at all. But the mounting impatience and unease she was feeling robbed her of composure and ate away at her nerves. “—What do I do?” She could see Natalie and the other Valkyries struggling against the secondary overhead. But on closer examination, Rusalka could tell their movements were not as sharp as they should be. There was a hesitation in their attacks and evasive maneuvers. They were fighting without any guidance due to the destruction of the command post. All the decision-making responsibility had fallen on the flight’s commanding officer, Natalie. She had a strong sense of duty and an impressive amount of self-awareness, but she was still just sixteen. She was too inexperienced to be comfortable shouldering the lives of everyone on the battlefield all of a sudden. “—Wagh.” Rusalka had focused too much on the sky above and lost track of the ground below. Opening a door in front of her and stepping through without paying attention, she lost her footing and fell straight into water with a splash. After a moment of panic, she realized she must have been transported to a lake near the base. “” Using the light from the surface to determine up and down in the shadowy depths, she launched herself off the bottom of the lake. She was skilled at swimming, but that had been the most dangerous warp yet. It would have been fatal for anyone who couldn’t swim. As soon as her head broke the surface, she started treading water and looking for the shore— “—? Is that a voice?” She swung around, searching for the source of the sound she was hearing. It seemed like a child screaming. Her heart began to race as she kicked the water and hurried over toward the voice— “—Gh!” Right as she was swimming, another warp occurred. She reached out to keep from falling over. “This is…” The floor she had landed on was flooding. The water reached just below her knees. It was apparently connected directly to the lake, which explained where all the water was coming from. It looked like a civilian house somewhere in town, but it would only be a matter of time before it was flooded. “H-hello?” As Rusalka confirmed the situation, she heard a child’s trembling voice in her ear. Turning, she saw a little boy around ten years old holding his knees as he sat on top of an off-kilter bookshelf. He had probably climbed up in fear of drowning when the house started rapidly filling with water. It was clear the scream she had heard in the lake had been his. “Hey! You, the lady who’s drenched! You okay in there?!” And right as she noticed the boy, Rusalka heard someone through the wall. It was a man’s gravelly voice calling from outside the flooding building. Looking over, she saw part of the house had collapsed, and the voice was coming from the other side of the rubble. “I’m safe! The boy inside is, too!” “Really? That’s a relief. After that first impact rocked the base, a huge piece of shrapnel came flying this way and crashed into the door. I’m tryin’ to move the debris, but…” “Yes, that isn’t really a realistic option.” Judging from the poor condition of the house, they would need heavy machinery to clear a path, but there was no hope of that, given the current situation. That meant she couldn’t count on help from the outside. “Looking at the force of the current, it would be difficult to go against the flow…,” gauged Rusalka. The warp Rusalka had passed through connected to the lake, but she couldn’t see herself being able to swim back that way while carrying the boy. Going with the current and finding a gap in the rubble would be the simplest solution. “” Taking a deep breath, Rusalka stuck her head beneath the surface of the water, following the current in search of some exit. Finally— “There is a gap the two of us should be able to clear, if just barely. Do you think you can hold your breath and hold on to me for a little while?” “Waghhh…” Rusalka approached the boy on the shelf and explained that she had found a way out, but he was struggling to make a leap of faith. Meanwhile, the water continued pouring in. It was almost at her waist now. Sooner or later, they wouldn’t be able to breathe anymore. Or the building’s structure would give out and collapse completely, unable to endure the force of the rushing water. “” She could hear the man from before and several other voices outside desperately trying to clear the rubble. It was obvious they wouldn’t make it in time. “I understand it’s scary. But if all you do is wait for others to save you, nothing will change. If you want to be saved, you have to reach out your hand, too.” “I—I do…?” “Yes, that’s right…” She paused for a moment, seeing herself in the terrified boy. The Rusalka who had rejected Amy’s outstretched hand. Who had rejected Xenia’s outstretched hand. “—You have to reach out and grab on to whoever’s trying to help you.” But she swallowed her momentary hesitation and continued talking to the boy, trying to reassure him. Hearing that, he gulped and then slowly held out his hand to Rusalka. “May the wings bless you for your bravery,” she recited. “Wings?” “The great wings that protect the sky for you and your family and your friends and all the good people of the world.” Even though she knew it must look awkward and clumsy, she forced herself to smile for the boy as she took his hand. And then, holding him close, she turned to the escape route. The water was up to her chest. There was no more time, but she didn’t feel worried. She was surprised at how calming the thought of that blessing was— “—Bwah!” “Oooh! They made it out!” Popping her head out of the water, she and the boy emerged from the cellar at last. A pair of burly arms grabbed the boy and pulled him up. “Thank you for that,” Rusalka said gratefully. “Don’t be ridiculous. If anything, we should be thanking you. Are you hurt anywhere?” “You needn’t worry. I’m not injured… Though we did run into a little trouble on our way out.” When she had been following the current, Rusalka had just barely managed to slip through the gap in the rubble while holding the boy and had been in real danger of getting stuck. If it had been any tighter, big breasts would have been the death of her. “C’mon, gimme your hand.” Accepting his help, Rusalka was pulled out of the water, too. Totally soaked, Rusalka shook her annoyingly clingy hair and stood. Finally getting a good look at her, the man furrowed his brow. “I thought I recognized your voice. You’re the one from last night…!” “—? Have we met before?” “Yeah, at the pub. Guess the drinks weren’t too good, since you don’t seem to remember a thing.” The big man scratched his head bashfully as he mentioned meeting her the other night. She inhaled slightly at that, struggling to respond: “Is that so? Either way, it’s good that you seem safe and sound. Have you all been rescuing others?” “We ain’t doing anything special. I just rounded up a couple of muscle heads, and we’ve been trying to pull people out of collapsed buildings… Besides, it ain’t like we can run away right now.” The man glared at the pillar visible in the distance. It seemed they were generally aware about the warped space and were trying to deal with the fallout somehow. And the fact that they had chosen to save people in this situation rather than run away in a panic was worthy of praise. But— “We’re just doing this because there’s nothing else we can do. It’s pathetic,” bemoaned the large man. “…Is that really true?” “What?” The man cocked an eyebrow at that. Noticing his reaction in her peripheral vision, Rusalka narrowed her eyes as she wrung her jacket dry. After having warped several different times, there was something about the movement from the lake to the house—or more specifically how she had ended up there—that was bothering her. It was— “Miss…” As she was thinking about that, the young boy came over. He looked a little bit tired, but he walked right up to her and lowered his head. “Thank you for saving me.” “That’s my job. I’m a soldier. Any soldier would have done the same.” “But you were the one who came to save me. So…” The boy raised his soaked head and looked directly at Rusalka. “Thank you for finding me, Miss.” Rusalka’s eyes widened. His plain and simple gratitude hit her right in the heart. Catching her breath, she averted her sky-blue eyes. “…You said before that there was nothing else you could do, right?” Rusalka asked the big man. “Huh? Yeah. You can call it rescuing people, but it ain’t gonna solve any real problems.” The man looked uneasy as the topic of conversation turned back to him. And there was a certain truth to what he was saying. No matter how many times they pulled people out of the rubble, there would be no end to it until the battle was over. But— “In that case, would you be willing to cooperate with me? We might be able to change this situation.” “” “I understand it’s difficult to blindly take me at my word. And I’m not completely sure of myself, either. But I believe there is at least a chance of victory…” Rusalka was trying to say that she wanted to get them all out of this disastrous situation. She had come up with a plan, but she couldn’t execute it by herself. She needed more people. And that meant she needed their help. “Damn, you really are one unpredictable babe. Just full of surprises.” “…Eh?” “You don’t have to look so desperate. We’ll lend you a hand if that’s what you want. I said it before, right? We’re only doing this because there’s nothing else we can do. If you’re saying there’s another way, then we’re all ears.” The gruff-looking man broke into a smile and looked around. The other civilians who had all gathered to help the child nodded when they met his gaze. “” Rusalka was taken aback as the man turned toward her again. “Let’s do this, Valkyrie. After all that talk last night at the pub, it’s time to see what you’re made of.” “…What was I crying about at the pub?” “Huh? You don’t even remember that?” The man scratched his cheek as his determination fizzled and transformed into awkwardness. But sensing the earnestness in her gaze, he heaved a sigh. “Honestly, that was our bad. We had a few too many and let things get outta hand. It wasn’t right sayin’ those things to someone like you, who’s fighting for us… Like telling ya to get your shit together and all that.” “” “That’s when you sent my ass flying. Sayin’ ‘Valkyries are heroes.’” I really said something that embarrassing with a straight face? Rusalka could feel shame well inside her, but the people around her were reacting differently from how she expected. The man’s face drooped, like he was embarrassed at what he had done, and the other men all looked the same. She was only just realizing how many of them had actually been at the pub. “And you were right. Of course you were. So let us help you. If we can do that much, then maybe we can make up for last night and that cheap booze.” The man extended a hand. While she was still trying to decide how to react, she felt something grab her sleeve. She looked to see what it was, only to find the boy also holding out his hand for Rusalka. “Take the hand reaching out for you, just like you said, right?” “—Yes, that’s right.” Urged on by the very same words she had told the boy, Rusalka quietly turned and accepted the man’s handshake. “Thank you for your help. I will make sure you don’t regret it.” “Yeah, I’m countin’ on ya, hero. Or should I say, Valkyrie.” Rusalka struggled to respond as the man shook her hand, a look of anticipation on his face. But she felt something unmistakable. She turned to the boy. “It is dangerous to stay here. You should go with one of the adults. I have to do my duty.” “Okay! May the wings bless you!” “—Yes, and you too.” She nodded at his little prayer and then peered up to the sky. The Valkyries were still fighting the invaders without any reinforcements. In order to break the impasse and change the flow of battle. “We’ll do whatever it takes, so tell us: What do you want us to do?” The big man was ready. To protect the city, to stand a fighting chance, Rusalka turned to the men, and— 9 “—With the help of volunteers, I have created a map detailing both the positions of the spatial distortions and the locations they currently connect. An analog analysis of the results is ongoing as we speak.” Rusalka was scrawling notes across a map of the city. It was a massive sheet of paper that had been hanging in a factory she had arrived at after crossing through several different warps. The map had details of the forest and lake and other areas in the vicinity in addition to the city itself. All that was missing was a map of the base. Without that, she couldn’t finish her analysis, but— “Fortunately, I serve directly under the command staff.” “Wait, the base map’s definitely confidential. Are you saying you revealed that to civilians?” “Yes. The pressing nature of the situation necessitated desperate measures. Is that a problem?” Rusalka’s defiant response was met with a laugh from the command post. “No, if you judged it necessary, then it must have been warranted.” It had been less than twenty minutes since she had requested help from the civilians. In that time, a new officer had assumed command of the base and reestablished the command center after the attack, and he was now praising her actions. She had been surprised when she recognized him as the man from the stockade, but when she heard his name, it all made sense. “You’re a nasty man, Lieutenant Colonel Ostley.” “You weren’t the only famous person around here is all. Don’t go getting testy on me now, Captain Evereska.” They both made their positions clear by addressing each other by formal rank. The soldiers manning the command post filled out their map, following Rusalka’s directions. And there were astonished gasps as they confirmed all the notations. Rusalka’s plan was to use incredibly straightforward human-wave tactics to deal with the warps in space. The warps randomly connected different places over an area spanning several kilometers all around the city, but the physically disconnected areas were still connected somehow. The lake water flowing into the house and the child’s screams reaching her in the lake proved as much. In other words, the wiring was messed up, but it was still possible to walk straight through from one side to the other. Given that, it seemed obvious that what they really needed to know was which areas connected where. A guide to find the path. “So you used people as pathfinders. Standing people at the edges of the warps to serve as signposts. And with guides, you can minimize confusion and panic.” “Like a guide for someone arriving at the base for the first time. It’s still not so simple that I would claim we can move freely now, but simple navigation shouldn’t pose such a problem anymore.” “But still, even if you figured that much out, it can’t have been easy to pull off. And there’s a battle still raging. You did well to convince the civilians to help you.” There was a tone of admiration in Alejandro’s voice as Rusalka closed her eyes for a moment. It went without saying, but the battle going on overhead was not just some unrelated concern for the people on the ground. If the Valkyries or fighter jets, or even the tertiaries, took a hit, they might well crash into the city. It was a situation where civilians should have moved to shelters. But the first man Rusalka had asked as well as several other civilians had all chosen to help her instead. Without them, she would never have been able to complete such a detailed map. Alejandro’s surprise was fully warranted. And if she had to explain it, she had only one answer. “Everyone has the right to fight for the things they want to protect.” “…Either way, I’ll send the updated map data to all units. We should be able to get things moving again with this. All that’s left is…” “Yes…” Rusalka and Alejandro were surely both looking up at the secondary towering in the sky. They were making good progress on curbing panic and confusion on the ground. The next task was figuring out how to deal with the giant secondary. Overhead, the Valkyries and the regular fighter pilots were all actively engaging the secondary and tertiaries still in the sky. But as long as they didn’t have a way to deliver a decisive strike, the situation would continue to gradually turn against them. And the source of that problem was also the source of the strange bends in space, which had not only disrupted the base’s functionality but had also caused a tremendous disturbance for the people on the ground— “According to reports, space is being warped in the air as well. An attack by the Valkyrie flight got caught in one and somehow hit an ally. They’re currently engaging in a delaying action, but…” The unspoken implication was that they would reach their limit soon. Either they would get shot down when their focus lapsed or be forced out of the action when they had no more fuel left. But there was no guarantee they wouldn’t bump into some lethal bend in space when they tried to touch down for refuel and resupply. They needed to solve the disconnects in the air, too— “What on earth are you hesitating over, Captain Evereska?” “Michelle?” A woman’s voice suddenly cut in. It was a familiar voice that she immediately recognized. In fact, it was one she was used to hearing through a radio. Michelle had been the operator for Rusalka’s flight back when she was still flying. And just when Rusalka had stopped moving in order to think, Michelle pleaded with her. “You aren’t thinking about this like it’s someone else’s problem, are you? As if the sky wasn’t your battlefield…?” “Michelle? Your voice is… Are you wounded?” Detecting a note of anguish in her quivering voice, Rusalka quickly realized the cause. Considering where her post was, Michelle must have been in the command post when the secondary’s attack hit. With that much force, there was no way she would have escaped unscathed. Ordinarily, she should have been recovering in a bed at the very least. “I’m not what you should be concerned about right now!” “” But she had no patience for Rusalka’s interest in her condition. She had always been so cool and collected, regardless of how dire the situation, so Rusalka was speechless at hearing her flare up. However, Michelle didn’t stop there. “My injuries are irrelevant… Even if I wasn’t injured, I still wouldn’t be able to fly. I still wouldn’t be able to fight.” The pain in Michelle’s voice took a sharper edge, but she endured, putting even more force into her words. “But that’s not true for you!” “I…” “We would fight if we could… I know I would… But I can’t! You’re the only one who can! You’re the only one who has wings, Rusalka!” “Ngh.” Michelle’s words pierced her heart. A loud, hacking cough followed the desperate plea. Rusalka shuddered at the sound of the bloody wheezing, but Alejandro chimed in, reassuring her. “She’s okay. Just got a little too worked up. But she meant what she said.” “I…I know that…” Rusalka didn’t want to be so thickheaded that she failed to understand Michelle’s heartfelt plea. And it also explained the confusion she had felt about Michelle’s actions up to that point. She had probably wanted to share those thoughts with Rusalka any number of times from the moment they had first met again at Hamburg. She had said it countless times already even. “Unlike me, you can fly, can’t you?” It would not have resounded so strongly if it had been said out of anger or hatred or offhand annoyance. It would have just been fuel for the fire of self-hatred that already tormented Rusalka. But the emotion in Michelle’s words was completely different. Her voice was filled with sadness and aspiration. From the bottom of her heart, Michelle was genuinely remorseful that Rusalka Evereska could not fly. “What was it you said? Everyone wants to be able to fight for the things they care about?” Alejandro tried to recall. “” That wasn’t exactly what she had said earlier, but he had gotten the gist of it. Rusalka didn’t want to argue over semantics and waited in silence to let him finish his thought as he continued in his usual self-confident tone: “I’m the same. We all are. That goes for everyone at the base. And I’m sure it’s the same for the civilians who helped you, too. Everyone wishes they were in your shoes.” “In my shoes… You mean as a Valkyrie?” “Yeah, that’s right. But that’s just us burdening you with our own selfish expectations.” “Eh?” Rusalka’s eyes widened, and she put her hand to her chest. There was no way Alejandro could see her, and yet— “Bet you’ve got a pretty shocked look on your face right now. But the weight of everyone’s hopes and dreams is too heavy. You can’t get off the ground carrying that much baggage around. Why do you think birds are so lean? It’s so they can fly, right?” “” “Whether you fly or don’t, and what burdens you carry or don’t, that’s for you to decide, Evereska. Whatever you choose, humanity can take responsibility for it.” She was taken aback by how he so easily brought all of humanity to the table. Her lips cracked, and a little laugh escaped. “Aren’t you supposed to tell me to take responsibility for my own actions there?” “If it was something you could be expected to carry, then I would have. So if everyone wants to fight to protect the things they care about, then…” Alejandro paused for a moment before he asked, “…What is it that you love?” “” It almost felt like she could see him staring straight at her through the radio. She looked up at the sky. The air units were engaging tertiaries as the fighting continued. But in that moment, her eyes were trained far beyond that as she took in the wide-open skies above. The setting sun was starting to fade, and a few stars were barely visible in the distance. She looked up at the sky she had once yearned for. The sky she had given up on somewhere along the line. The endless blue skies she had yearned to melt away into— “What’s precious to you, Rusalka?” Alejandro asked again. And this time, Rusalka did not hesitate to respond. “It’s—” 10 —Run. “Over here! It’s forest past here! Watch your step!” —Run. Run. Run. “This way leads right into a wall! Don’t crash into it!” —Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. “Straight ahead! Straight ahead! If you go straight—” —Run. —Run. Run. Run. —Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. —Run! “Chief Technician Reever!” “Rusalka?!” Seeing Rusalka dash into the hangar, Roger’s eyes widened in surprise. Not unreasonably, either, since she had not appeared from the entrance to the hangar. She had slipped in through a window and rolled across the floor. Shaking her head to get the leaves out of her hair, she ran over to Roger. “Is my Spitfire ready?!” “—Gah. Of course! It’s always ready to fly!” He had a moment of shock at Rusalka’s intensity, but it faded as soon as it appeared, and he flashed her a thumbs-up, pointing to a corner of the hangar in the same motion. Rusalka’s beloved crimson Deus ex Machina was sitting there, waiting. “I got word from the command post. It’s ready to go whenever you are.” “Johnny on the spot, like always.” With Roger’s seal of approval, Rusalka sprinted to her Spitfire. She caught the pair of goggles one of the men in the hangar threw to her and quickly put them on. She hadn’t made any preparations to fly. Even a novice would know it was suicidal to go up into the air like that. But she didn’t have time to change into a flight suit, and the path to the changing room hadn’t been mapped out, either. She had not even changed out of her soaked uniform yet, so it was just all around too late to be worrying about something like a flight suit. “Rusalka! I’m worried about how much ammo the others have left! If possible, get them to touch down for a resupply!” Chief Reever called out. “I’ll let them know. Please stay clear.” Fuel concerns aside, the fact that no one had touched back down for a resupply yet was worrying. Concerns about spatial distortions were preventing safe landing, but it was dangerous to keep flying without any means to fight back, too. She needed to determine a safe way to land for the people who had been in the air since the start of the battle and share it with the others. All the more reason she needed to get into the air as soon as possible— “” She slipped herself into the cockpit with practiced ease, fastening the harness and putting on her flying cap and goggles. She reached out to check the gauges, and that was when she noticed it. Her fingers were trembling. She couldn’t move. “Gh…” She had gotten that far by buckling down and forcing her weakness aside. She had gotten there without losing her nerve. And yet, this now that I’m sitting in the cockpit? “” Roger and the maintenance crews who were watching her leave started to look perplexed, sensing something was off when her engine hadn’t turned on yet. Rusalka scolded herself, telling herself to not worry them like that. But even so, her arm refused to move— “You are a Valkyrie, Rusalka.” “—Ah.” That was when an encouraging voice spoke to her through the hangar speaker. Even though there was no way the command post could possibly see what was happening, he still knew somehow. The mastermind of miracles, Alejandro Ostley, continued: “The sky is the place you dreamed of. So fly, Rusalka! You’re going to be like Amy, right?!” “—Argh. You promised not to tell anyone that!” Gritting her teeth, Rusalka finally started moving again as he revealed what she had talked about that morning in the stockade. The hand that had frozen stiff, refusing to listen to her at all, finally started working the controls in the cockpit. The engine turned, and her machine roared in joy. “…Sorry for keeping you waiting.” She apologized to her beloved plane for making it spend so long gathering dust on the ground. Naturally, Roger and the mechanics had kept it in perfect condition, so the dust was just metaphorical. “You weren’t the only one wasting away, gathering dust, though. I was, too.” Closing her eyes, Rusalka exhaled. The entrance to the hangar opened in front of her, and the Deus ex Machina’s wheels started rolling. She steadily picked up speed— “Give ’em hell, Rusalka!” Roger’s deep voice boomed out, followed by shouts from the rest of the maintenance crew. It was too heavy to fly carrying the weight of everyone’s expectations and hopes. Alejandro had been right. But even so, that was exactly what she’d decided to do. “Rusalka Evereska, taking off.” Her crimson plane spread its wings, dancing through the sky once again. 11 “Gh…! Shannon’s frame can’t take much more! Alma, support her!” “You’ll be defenseless if I do.” “Just do it!” Natalie was desperately looking all around her, giving orders even in the midst of a dogfight with bullets of light closing in on her from all sides, doing everything she could to support the rest of the Valkyries in her flight. Alma hesitated for a second when Natalie gave that order, but she obeyed and went to support Shannon. Natalie desperately wove and evaded as the enemies intensified their attacks on her instead. With Alejandro’s encouragement, morale had risen for a while. Natalie and the other Valkyries were fighting the good fight, of course, but the pilots in the fighter jets were valiantly drawing the attention of the enemy, too. The outlook was grim, though. “The distortions…” From the bits and pieces she had heard over the radio, she could tell it was affecting the ground as well. There was mass confusion in the air and on the ground as the secondary lured various groups into friendly fire. Because of that, every unit was struggling to support one another, and the civilians were having trouble reaching the shelters. Natalie gritted her teeth at the dire state of affairs. “How much longer do we have to wait? We could really use a miracle here.” Natalie hated herself for so desperately clinging to that hope. She hated the laziness of leaving it to someone else to figure out how to solve the problem and not thinking for herself. Just then— “Natalie—” Natalie exhaled at Alma’s vague message. Was it someone in a pinch? Or the secondary doing something new? Either would mean another blow to their position in the battle. She would have to limit the damage as best as she could. “—Ngh.” Perhaps that timidity and inattention had affected her wings, because there was a slight disturbance in her plane’s evasive maneuver. A split second later, a light round grazed one of her wings, and her plane cried out, hampering her ability to move freely. She didn’t even have time to say anything. The tertiaries right in front of the restlessly evasive Natalie had been waiting for that moment, and they sprang into action, ready to pounce on an opportunity to take down a Valkyrie. There was no way out. Natalie could tell immediately with her peerless spatial awareness. And she also realized that meant this would be the end of her short life. “” As doom drew near, Natalie reflexively closed her eyes. Even though she knew that was equivalent to giving up, to cutting off any possibility that might still be available to her. And because of that— “Only a fool averts their eyes in the face of the enemy.” Natalie was the only one who didn’t see the crimson Spitfire flying straight up from below. “Eh…?” The red line swerved through the air, machine guns roaring as lines of fire erupted from its wings. The next instant, a hole opened in the swarm of tertiaries closing in from the front. It was a small opening, but that was more than enough for her to slip through. Natalie dove into the gap, desperate to escape her impending death sentence. The firefly-like tertiaries batted their wings, accelerating in an attempt to keep Natalie from escaping their encirclement, but they were uncoordinated, and several ran into one another, causing cracks to form in their shells. Natalie gasped as she saw fragments of light scattering from those collisions. And then that voice slipped into her ears again. “You would do well to remember that pillars can be damaged when colliding with one another or when hit by another pillar’s attacks.” A stream of bullets mercilessly poured into the fractures that had formed in one tertiary’s shell. The shots were weak enough that they would have been deflected by the shell, but they slipped through the breaks and slammed home, striking the tertiary’s core. The next instant, the tertiary disappeared in a flash of light that lit up the whole sky. “You can make them crash into each other in midair? That’s…” “It was common practice among Seconds. Our planes don’t have the firepower to crack the enemy’s defenses head-on. A bit of wisdom gleaned by the weak through trial and error.” The voice responded again to Natalie’s stunned murmur. A sudden intruder—no, she knew who it really was who had stormed onto the battlefield. The crimson Spitfire tearing through the night sky was the same Deus ex Machina that had been biding its time in a corner of the hangar, waiting for its master to finally return. “—You’ve woken up again at last.” “—? I don’t recall being asleep.” “I didn’t mean it like that!” “Just kidding.” For a second, Natalie was dumbfounded. She wanted to berate Rusalka for not taking this seriously enough, to ask how she could be so at ease in a battle where a moment of carelessness would get someone killed. But she hesitated, given what had just happened moments ago. “Do you mean to say you’re able to remain composed even in a battle as intense as this?” “It has nothing to do with that at all. It’s just something an old friend taught me.” “Is that what it is?” “Yes. The worse the odds get, the more important it is to crack wise.” Natalie was half amazed and half dumbfounded by that tall order. She looked over to her side again, seeing both the crimson Deus ex Machina and the unmistakable silver hair in its cockpit. “I’ll be counting on you, Captain Evereska!” “You’re the flight leader, so do as you wish.” Natalie’s heart was dancing on edge at Rusalka’s polite response. It was probably because she was lined up, wing to wing, with Rusalka’s Spitfire. With the plane she had chased after and dreamed of flying with ever since she had been chosen as a Valkyrie. “How did you manage that attack just now, Captain?” Natalie shook off those jitters of excitement as she followed up with a question. She and the others had been holding back in order to avoid friendly fire, due to the high amount of spatial distortions. But it looked like Rusalka had attacked with confidence that hers wouldn’t be redirected. “It’s simply psychological warfare. The enemy can’t freely warp space however they like. That much is clear from the fact that everything on the ground is still technically connected.” “But my shots hit Shannon’s plane…” “It must have positioned the tertiaries in locations it had prepared beforehand with spatial distortions. That’s what caused your shots to hit Shannon.” “” “From the enemy’s perspective, that only needed to work once. After that, we would be forced to stay on guard against it, unable to attack freely. This secondary is a crafty one.” If that was true, it would be unthinkable. What she said pointed to a dire possibility. A possibility that the pillars might be able to think, make plans, and execute those plans. “No, there’s no point in trying to deny it anymore.” The enemy had challenged them to a fight the very next day after the last battle. It had even sent in a secondary, an enormous commitment of fighting power. And it had even dealt a massive blow to the command post in its very first attack. To continue in the assumption that pillars were mindless and couldn’t act strategically would be starry-eyed optimism. “You’re quite adaptable.” “…Don’t treat me like a child. There is no time for complaints in the air. Do you have any ideas for how to defeat the enemy, Captain?” “Naturally. I have a few, but…” Considering the situation, it went without saying that continuing to fight a delaying action in hopes of the enemy reaching the limits of its energy would be extraordinarily difficult. She wanted to believe Rusalka had some kind of plan if she had returned to the sky, but— “It’s Alma Conturo.” All of a sudden, a man’s voice broke into their line. Alejandro. His forceful voice caught her attention, and it took a split second before she realized what he meant. But just as she realized the answer he was getting at, Rusalka also spoke. “I was also thinking that was the only choice.” “We don’t have time to waste getting things set up. She’s the only one here with the firepower to actually damage that secondary. What do you say, Conturo?” “” Alma had been silently listening to their back-and-forth. With the Grand Slam munition she had loaded on board, it might actually be possible to break through the secondary in one shot. “But if we fail, her bomb might go off inside the city.” “If it comes to that, then we’ve already lost this battle, and that was just all the fates had in store for us,” Alejandro stated simply. “Gh! Are you really just going to give up like that?!” “Of course not. And I don’t think it will come to that, either. I just trust in our fate.” Alejandro laughed at Natalie’s fiery response, but there was no laughter in his voice when he continued in a quiet, confident tone: “I believe that if we exhaust every last bit of our wisdom, every last ounce of our strength, and don’t give up even at the bitter end, that fickle goddess of fate will come through for us—miracles are just the last bit of spice at the end.” Such was the resolve of the man who had shouldered the responsibility of command at the drop of a hat. The man synonymous with miracles was explaining what it took to draw fate to their side. There were a few seconds of silence. “—Got it. I’ll do it.” “Alma…” “I’ll do it because my friends are asking me to—get me to the enemy.” Her request was sent out to the whole army, but to Natalie’s ears, it sounded like a personal request of her. She had assumed Alma hated her, but during the battle, Alma had told her she was wrong, and now she was asking her for help. Natalie caught her breath. “—Of course I will! Who do you think I am?!” “You’re too loud, Natalie.” “How rude!” Alma slowly started to climb as she responded bluntly to Natalie’s enthusiasm. She had already dropped one Grand Slam. She had only one more left. She would have to hit the secondary with that one shot and put an end to the battle. They would need to do whatever it took in order to deliver her into position and draw the secondary into her sights. Reaching that conclusion, Natalie glanced to Rusalka, who was flying beside her. “I’m transferring command to Captain Evereska.” “Natalie, that’s…” “You aren’t a waste of space anymore. The colonel is correct. This is not the time to be obsessing over positions when we have to give our all. Please take command.” Rusalka had a far superior track record in the use of flight-level tactics and was better suited to take command because of her experience. But Natalie wouldn’t have yielded command merely because of such a surface-level conclusion. “—I’ve waited a long time to be able to fight under your command.” Now that they had finally managed to fly together, she could finally convey how she really felt. 12 I’m focused. “” The air was clear, and it almost felt like she could see beyond the night and into the next day. The wind sounded distant and calm, soothing her heart as she flew through such a furiously deadly battlefield. “It’s odd.” She had flown so many times before. Fought the same incomprehensible enemy more times than she could count. She couldn’t remember them all anymore. And every battle had been desperate. She had always maintained a calm facade, but on the inside, she had very little composure to speak of. That was just Rusalka’s limit, and the simple truth of the matter for second-generation Valkyries. So how could she be so calm as she rode out to fight again? “—Ah, that’s why.” Something about it felt familiar, and she suddenly realized why. It was similar to how she had felt the very first time she had taken to the skies for battle. Though she never would have wished for it to happen that way, her heart had soared when she had been made a pilot and ascended into the sky like she had always dreamed. When she had felt that exaltation, she had prayed she would get to fly again in that same sky. She had finally remembered that feeling, and having regained it— “—May the wings bless and protect you.” She offered up a prayer for the others as she nudged the nose of her Deus ex Machina down and accelerated. The flight followed her as one, diving into the enemy’s ranks. The swarm of hovering tertiaries’ lights danced wildly, swaying to the left and right. She wove among the incoming fire, twisting her plane to evade, treading a fine line between life and death. There was no distortion in space in the areas where the tertiaries were active to prevent friendly fire on the pillars’ side. Rusalka’s analysis had been correct, and the flight shot down one enemy after the other, turning them into bursts of light and plant life. “” Clutching the control stick, Rusalka focused entirely on evading enemy fire. Unfortunately, there was a fundamentally insurmountable wall between the capabilities of second- and third-generation Valkyries. But that was only limited to their Deus ex Machinas’ offensive and defensive abilities. Skill and craft were another story. While Rusalka did not have enough firepower to finish off a tertiary on her own, she had survived in these skies, stalked by such powerful enemies, longer than anyone else in the world. It had been like that in her old flight, too. “I’ll take the lead and draw the enemy’s fire. Use that opening to take them down.” It was a particularly dangerous role in a Valkyrie flight, resolutely leading the enemy around by the nose. Natalie had been the one shouldering that role, but her experience could not begin to compare to Rusalka’s. More importantly, Rusalka had no choice but to rely on her comrades, since she didn’t have the strength to shoot down the enemy by herself. “Now!” At Rusalka’s sharp order, a hail of bullets rained down from the sides, pelting the defenseless tertiaries strung out in a column behind her. They had focused too much on her and lost track of their surroundings. The cost of inattention was a heavy one, and the tertiaries would not get a second chance. Shattering into bursts of light and greenery, they fell to the earth, returning the life that had been stripped away. The absorption’s effects were grave, so every little bit that could be returned mattered. And it was also payback for the atrocities the pillars had perpetrated. “That was too easy…” One of the Valkyries murmured in awe as she followed Rusalka’s orders. Obviously, she was a member of the third generation, so she had several times the firepower that Rusalka did. There was no way that was her first time shooting down a tertiary, either. She had almost surely already shot down more in her short career than Rusalka ever had. The reason she was so shocked at fighting with Rusalka was because of how effortless it felt. “Natalie studied the tactics well, but…” In Natalie’s case, her superb spatial awareness had gotten in the way of her playing the role of the decoy. Her vision ended up nagging at her like someone who could hear a gnat buzzing right next to their ear. In addition, it was hard to leave an enemy to others when she was capable of shooting it down herself. Because of that, her movements were always a little bit flat when playing the decoy. But Rusalka didn’t have that vision, nor did she have that attack power. And the decoy tactics had originally been designed for second-generation Valkyries. There was no way Rusalka, the pioneer of those tactics, wouldn’t be able to execute them perfectly. “” And Rusalka was performing her old role with a much greater precision than she had in the past. There wasn’t any sign that she had grown rusty despite how long it had been since she had last flown. Her comrades—no, her younger sisters—gasped at the skill with which she soared through the skies. It was only natural, though. Even when she hadn’t been flying, there was not a day that had gone by without her thinking about the sky. Even when she tried to put it out of her mind, she couldn’t help herself. Ultimately, not a single day had gone by where she had not thought about flying and how to fight. “All that time I thought I wasted is just another weapon.” She just barely dodged the incoming tertiary fire by nudging slightly left or right. Her bright-red fuselage flew freely all around the sky, and the more it annoyed the enemy, the better. Natalie and the others shot down the enemies clinging to her tail, turning them into bursts of light and then green. And as Rusalka led the tertiaries around by the nose, her Deus ex Machina closed in on the secondary. “” Instead of swinging at Rusalka to specifically swat her down, it unleashed a single horizontal slash. The scythe split the wind, tearing through the sky without concern that some tertiaries in the way were caught up in the attack. Faced with that line of death, Rusalka had two choices—up or down. Her decision was immediate and her movement near instantaneous. Up or down seemed like the only way to go at first, but both were wrong. The correct choice was to keep going straight forward. “You like forcing people into ‘heads, I win; tails, you lose’ choices, don’t you?” Most likely, she would have crossed a distortion and ended up in a deadly position whether she dodged above or below. Or maybe she would have even been transported right in front of a wall and died immediately in the unavoidable crash. Either way, she won her bet. The scythe barely brushed the top of her cockpit, tearing off the canopy as it passed, leaving Rusalka’s silver hair fluttering in the wind. Blood ran down her temple where a fragment had struck her.
Chapter 10
56 min read