Chapter 10: Prelude to the "Final" Battle

The present:

"Popuri… What happened after Fouzen?"

"Well… After your squad left, the military took over and they were really prejudicial towards my people… I really started to miss you guys…"

"Oh really? I'm sorry that we haven't even visited you in a long time…"

"It's ok… At least I finally got to meet you and know more about your squad… also, after a few weeks, me and my brother moved out of Fouzen so even if you guys did try to visit me, you won't find me there anymore…"

"You moved out of Fouzen? Where did you stay?"

"Courrière, a small village in the north"

"So you moved further north eh? But why did you move out of Fouzen?"

"I don't know all of the details… But all I know is that my brother's friend is from that village and offered us a place to stay. After settling for a few days, my brother left for Randgriz…"

"Randgriz? So that's what happened!"

"Huh?"

"That explains why he suddenly appeared…"

Flashback:

We were gathered at the usual meeting room, initially, we thought it was another mission but it turned out to be something else…

Croix said "This is Rick. He's our newest member"

"I'm Rick!" He said in a formal tone "I look forward to working with you all!"

The young man then saluted us

"Wait…" Cooper said as he recognized the new recruit "Aren't you Popuri's older brother?"

"Yes I am" he replied

"Oh really?" Cooper said "How's is she?"

"She's doing ok…" he replied

"That's good to hear!" Cooper said

Your brother was suddenly assigned to our squad. You could say he replaced Flunky's original role as our one and only engineer. He seemed to be really excited to be working with us.

"If I may ask…" he said "Where are the other 2 members? Morris and Flunky, was it?"

For the next few minutes, not one of us could utter a word. I saw that we all held our heads down. I think your brother quickly understood what we were feeling.

"I'm sorry for asking…" he said

"Don't be" Croix replied

Flashback:

"My brother knew about Morris and Flunky's deaths? Why didn't he tell me?"

"Actually, I told him not to tell you…"

"Why?"

"You were only a little girl… You think you can take news like that?"

"I guess not…"

"But I am sorry that I made him keep it a secret from you… But at least, you never gave up on us and still remembered us…"

"Yeah… and don't worry, I understand why you had to keep it a secret from me…"

She looks up at the rainy sky and after a while, she says

"So… my brother joined Squad 9… He didn't even tell me about that… All he said was that he joined the Militia…"

"Your brother was a hardworking man… He almost reminded me of Flunky…"

Flashback:

By September, The Empire was losing the war and they were getting pretty desperate to at least claim some victories against us… On the alert, HQ sent us to scout out Shimerwood Forest, located near Naggiar Plains…

We set up a base camp in a hill. Quite a sight, if I may add. The heavily forested area on the left and barren plains on the right. I tell you… If we weren't in the middle of a war, I'd enjoy the sunrise and sunset on that hill… Of course, we also brought Emilia. We couldn't really keep her alone inside HQ so we had no choice but to take her with us. After we were finished setting up camp, we all gathered together to create our battle plan.

"Ok…" Croix said "I'll scout the area to the north and—"

"Wait" I interrupted "I think its best you sit this one out Croix…"

"What? Why?" He replied

"I think you're not ready for scout duty…"

"What the hell does that mean!?" He said in an angry tone

"Look… Me, Emilia, Cooper and Rick will scout the area while the rest of you stay here and make sure this area is secure"

Surprised to hear me volunteer Emilia, Croix was clearly against it.

"What?" Croix said "No! And you're taking that Imperial with you? I won't accept this! No!"

Paul then stepped in and said "He's right Croix."

"You too?" he replied

"You're not yourself. For all we know, you may go on another rampage if you see that man again… We can't have our leader doing that again now can we?"

Croix could not think of a reply to that and simply stayed silent. After pondering it for a while, he had no choice but to accept my proposition.

Back to the present:

"So Croix was still vengeful?"

"Yes he was… I mean something like that can't really be forgotten that easily…"

"Oh… so did you find anything?"

"Yes…we did…"

Flashback:

We travelled north and reached the end within a few minutes. We spotted the Imperials below the cliff. What we saw was a huge battalion of Imperial soldiers.

"Whoah!" Cooper said "Looks like the entire invasion force is here!"

"They're planning an all-out assault?" Emilia wondered

Using my binoculars, I began to observe the activity in the enemy camp. One of which caught my eye. I saw a tall Imperial woman. She looekd like an officer, judging from her uniform, and she was holding what looked like a lance and a shield.

"Emilia take a look at this" I said as I handed the binoculars to her "Know who that is?"

Looking through the binoculars, Emilia gasped and said "That's Selveria Bles... Prince Maximilian's Second-in-Command"

"Second-in-Command?" I said "This looks dicey... And what's that she's holding? They look like those weapons used by those Valkyria stories I kept on hearing way back"

"Because they are..." Emilia replied in a nervous tone "...In the army, she's known as the 'Blue Witch' because of her power..."

"Power?" I asked

"You know the legends!" Emilia replied "She has enough power to destroy an entire tank battalion!"

I was shocked to hear that these 'Valkyria' actually existed... Never mind that, the the army's going to face these Imperials in a few days! If this Valkyria activates her power... God knows what will happen...

"This isn't good" I said "Rick, get over that radio and inform the others. Command needs to know about this!"

Following my orders, Rick quickly grabs his radio but as he began to contact Croix, someone shot his radio. We then saw a tall figure wearing a mask and seemed to be wearing some sort of cloak. Looking through the mask, we could only see the figure's pale soulless eyes…

"Shadow…" Emilia muttered

"We've been spotted!" I said "Rick, you ok?"

"I'm fine" he replied "But the radio's broken! I can't contact Croix!"

"Damn it!" I shouted

The masked figure then proceeded to attack us. I quickly grabbed my boot knife but I was outmatched by the figure's skill in hand-to-hand combat and I was easily overpowered. Emilia quickly grabbed my dropped rifle and shot at the cloaked figure. The figure dodged the shot and quickly overpowered her too. Luckily, Cooper managed to shoot him in the arm with his pistol. For some reason, the masked man retreated. Although we were able to fend him off, the shots alerted the Imperial forces in the area.

"Damn it! We gotta retreat!" I said "We have to warn Command about this"

We retreated further into the forest with Imperial squads in close pursuit. The situation was getting worse, we were getting outnumbered. We got pinned down hard because of the heavy enemy fire.

Just then, we heard sniper fire coming from somewhere. I took a peek and saw Croix suddenly jump out of the bushes and kill the entire Imperial squad with his knife.

We were saved when Croix and the others arrived on time to back us up. We explained to the others what we saw and tried to inform command but we heard that the Militia and Army would converge on Naggiar Plains for a final battle. I tried to warn them of the Valkyria but command wouldn't listen to us. to make matters worse, Croix wanted to attack the enemy camp.

"That's too risky!" Paul said

"I don't care!" he replied "The entire Imperial invasion fleet is there! If we strike now while they have their guard down, we can deal a decisive blow to their army!"

"Croix… They're already on high alert after spotting us!" I said

"No!" Croix said "We can still pull off a proper ambush!"

"How about that Valkyria?" Paul replied "If what Emilia said is true, then we can't hope to match a power like that!"

"She's still human!" Croix said "If we can catch her off guard, we can easily kill her!"

"Don't underestimate the Imperial Army…" Emilia replied "They won't be easily ambushed like that… Especially someone like Selveria Bles."

"Who asked you, Imperial bitch!?" Croix shouted

"Croix!" I said as I tried to walk towards him but was stopped by Paul.

"Croix…" Paul said "… You and me both know that your true objective is to hunt down Tulius and avenge Flunky & Morris"

"So?" he replied

"So!?" Paul said "You're going to risk all of our lives just so you can satisfy your petty vendetta!?"

Hearing those words, Croix was seething with anger.

"Petty Vendetta…!?" Croix replied "You call what I'm doing, a petty vendetta!? How could you say that! We're talking about Flunky and Morris here! They died horrible painful deaths because of that bastard, and now you're calling this, a petty vendetta!?"

"I know how you feel, Croix" Paul said "They were my friends too!"

"Then why don't you understand why I'm doing this!?" he replied

"Because not only are you throwing your life away, you're throwing away OUR lives too! You think killing Tulius will bring those two back? You think getting us all killed will accomplish something? You think, even for a second, I wouldn't avenge their deaths if I had the chance!?"

Croix couldn't come up with a response to Paul's statement and simply kept quiet

"What happened to the man who would always put his comrade's lives over the mission? What happened to the cheerful Croix Goosens we all knew! What happened to that brilliant strategist? I'm with you in avenging their deaths but disregarding our lives won't get us anywhere. If you ask me, it'll get us killed! You know, Croix; it's a good thing that Flunky and Morris aren't here to see you like this… Because they'd sure as hell be disappointed in you…"

Croix kept his silence as Paul walked away. He has been consumed by revenge… I was really worried about him… I could see how aggressive and violent Croix has become. He was no longer the calm soldier I knew…