Chapter 65 - The Draw Back of the Sacrificial Card Plan
Two of the important tasks that Captain Wright entrusted to his fellow Captain have been accomplished. As lt. General Junaid received the report, he was already looking into it after receiving multiple reports with the same content.
Lt. General Junaid quickly discussed the matter with the other lt. Generals, they all came to agree to cease their defense as they can't afford to lose thousands more of soldiers.
After making the announcement to retreat, lt. General Junaid complained. "Those I.E.A. bastards pulling dirty tricks up their sleeves like these, just how many more loses will we have to endure from them!?"
"Take it easy, Dr. Hilton have already made precautions by retrieving the Power Source in the Serendipity District a few months ago. So it won't be much of a problem if we retreat now." Lt. General Kalei assured.
"You don't get it, Kal. These I.E.A. pests won't ever stop ruining our peace. TAKE A LOOK OUTSIDE!!" Junaid points to the direction where the district is. "IS THAT NOT A PROBLEM!?"
Then as the junior lt. General saw the district in complete ruins, he got startled by the furious rants from his senior. "I.E.A. may be fighting for a meaningless objective right now, but this is their main goal, Kal. They're not just trying to rob us of our posessions, but to obliterate us!! Don't forget we're their enemy when it comes to the future of humanity!"
"I-I know! I get that just as well as you do. But what else can we do in this situation!? We still have to retreat or the I.E.A. might wipe out all our people in the battlefield!"
Lt. General Junaid glared at Kalei, finding him irritating. And lt. General Landon stepped in to stop the argument from escalating into another headache. "Hey, let's put aside any disagreements for now. Our best bet is to retreat quickly. Staying around here any longer will put more lives in danger."
"...alright. Let's get moving."
Then as the army of E.D.L. fled the eastern coasts, I.E.A. have claimed yet another victory. While watching the E.D.L. depart on a live drone-recorded monitor, officers of the I.E.A. military cheers. They were all gathered at a conference room within the nearest naval ship at the shore.
"WHOOO!! IT'S ANOTHER WIN FOR US AGAIN!!"
"We really showed them who's boss this time, heh!"
"I was afraid that we'll be the one folding from this battle."
"Thought about that too!! I don't know what weapon the E.D.L. were using but there were a few times where they blasted this crazy weapon that wiped a lot of people and a freaking naval ship!!"
A sense of unease settled among the officers after hearing about the incident. The memory of what had happened left many of them feeling upset and unsettled.
"It's just an estimate, but there's around 19 thousand soldiers died because of that..."
"...I've also caught rumors that the generals were sorting to fall back at the time. It was a really devastating loss, but I'm glad they decided that we all keep fighting and pursued to win this battle."
"Those bastards... they're unforgivable for killing thousands of our brethrens!! The next time we fight, never show any mercy to the enemy!!"
"YEAH!!"
Heinz who was silently watching the monitor had her eyes focused on the most monstrous war machine that I.E.A. have unleashed. To her, that weapon of mass destruction was once her buddy whom she looks up to. And seeing her friend turned into something inhuman made her upset.
The live drone monitor displayed the worsening state of the war machine. It continued to wreak havoc on the battlefield, even in the absence of visible enemies. Consuming every fallen body it encountered, the war machine expanded in size and destruction. The more it eats, the more larger it gets and the more destructive it becomes. This won't stop until there's nothing left for it to feed on.
"Damn it!!" Heinz yells, she left the room and searched for the man responsible turning Reginald into that horrendous war machine.
"JOAQUIN RAYA!!" She storms into the higher administrative office where all the lt. Generals of I.E.A. gathers and went for lt. General Joaquin, grabbing him by the collar.
"Ms. Heinriette!!—" the generals addressed Heinz by her real name in shock to suddenly have her coming into their office. "—what do you think you're doing?!" Blurted lt. General David.
"BECAUSE OF YOU!!—" she looked at Joaquin with eyes full of rage and contempt. "—BECAUSE OF YOU, REGINALD BECAME THAT MONSTER!!... YOU!! YOU FUCKING SICK BASTARD!!"
"MS. HEINRIETTE!!" The other generals were about to stop Heinz from harming Joaquin, but before she can even land a punch on Joaquin's face, her fist was swiftly twisted in one full turn by Joaquin himself.
As the pain registered in her wrist, Heinz screams in pain. "Ah, AHHHH!!" She let goes of Joaquin and held her busted limb.
"Hmm, seems like you're not used to pain, are you Captain Heinriette of the Special Forces?" Asked Joaquin as he fixes his uniform.
The other generals returned to their seats feeling relieved that Joaquin was able to handle it well. They may be all past their primes, but generals are usually as strong as a top ranked shifter wielder which made them earn and be worthy of owning their positions in the military.
"Y-You!!..." Heinz resentfully glares at him.
"I understand the grief you feel after losing a close friend. Sir Reginald's death was also a huge loss to the I.E.A. as his strength is worth a thousand soldiers, but his sacrifice was necessary to attain this victory." He steps closer to Heinz and took her injured arm.
"So wipe your tears and stand proud for him, his sacrifice have brought the I.E.A. a step closer to save the future of humanity." He then suddenly untwists her wrists on spot which got Heinz screaming in agony again.
"—FUCKING BASTARD!!" She slapped Joaquin before walking out of the room.
Lt. General David scoffs at her attitude. "That arrogant woman!... how dare she walk out like that!?"
"Just understand it David, she lost her companion. Anyone would be devastated like that." Lt. General Erik said.
"But to act so disrespectful towards a general! It's unforgivable! Just because she's favored by one of the highest authorities and has been given the position of Captain in the special forces, doesn't mean that she can get away with what she did!!"
"N-No need to get so upset, David."
"Tsk! We can't let her get away with her actions!! Joaquin, why do you stand so quiet there!?" The hot headed David glanced at Joaquin who's now grinning back at him. "Heh, I didn't know you were so concerned about me." He jest.
"Moron!! I'm only mad because of that disrepectful attitude of hers!"
"Such thing matters so little to me. What's important right now is to focus on how we're going to retrieve two things before we go back to the base." Joaquin mentions.
"Two things? What else is there to retrieve in the Serendipity District than the Power Source!?" David asks.
And back to the grounds that I.E.A. won, the monstrous war machine was now disabled after clearing up the piles of corpses. The soldiers of I.E.A. were about to check up on the war machine and found the contraption to have grow twice its original size.
"What the hell, so this is the 'Sacrificial Card Plan' they mentioned?"
"Seems like it."
"How are we going to retrieve this junk with just a few of us? It's humongous!" Complained one of the retrieval team that's sent to fetch the war machine.
"Got no clue either. I'll call more over and see if we can drag this back with us."
"Sure, we'll wait here!—WOAH!!" And one of them were freaked out when they saw the face of the war machine. "This thing's freaky!!"
"Holy shit, it is!"
The members of the retrieval team that stayed have began to inspect the face of the war machine. "Damn, did they really have to construct it face so... demonically?"
"Maybe it's meant to scare the shit out of E.D.L. soldiers."
"Right. I think I'm going to have nightmares after seeing this face." And as one of them leaned on the face of the war machine, most of them didn't notice its little movements.
[...LIFE FORCE DETECTED... REACTIVATING IN 5... 4... 3... 2...]
The war machine revives. "—AAAAAHHHHH!!!"