Mission 0: Dealing with the Devil

XXXXXX XXX, XXXX

Beyond the Mortal Plane

Deep within the highest reaches of the heavenly plane, the King of Kings rested, sitting atop his throne as he glanced down at the world below. The world was caught in the midst of a 'Great War', a war to end all wars as the people of that world believed, but he knew better.

Great Wars were a consistent trend among his worlds as they emerged into a modern era, and this world was no exception to the rule. What made this world stand out wasn't the people of the world, their actions, or the course history seemed to be taking in it. No, similar events have occurred in dozens of worlds before it and would continue happening in dozens after, for all of eternity.

What made this world of particular interest to the heavenly king was a single person; a little girl who had so aggressively refused his mercy, his miracles, his greatness that she had even managed to resist the influence of a holy artifact meant to forcefully convert her into a saint.

It would've been impressive if it did not infuriate him so much. All this added onto the fact that she refused to acknowledge him for what he believed he ought to be; a god, the true creator of the world and its inhabitants. No, she gave him a much more crude title: "Being X," as if he were just another living mortal being whom she didn't care to know the name of.

He had originally taken pity on the sinner, someone who lived their life with little empathy and far less faith to support them in their times of crisis. He had planned to offer them a better life, hoping that his direct intervention would lead them onto the righteous holy path. In the past, simply speaking to a person would've been enough to get them on their knees in prayer. Yet for them, it seemed to have the opposite effect, in fact.

The sinner had spited him, effectively spat in his face, with their actions against the heavens' grace. He would not, could not, take that standing down. If religion was only for those in 'dire straits,' then he would put her in the same dire straits she believed incited faith.

And that's what he did, and that's what led him here. He reincarnated the sinner into the body of a little girl, forcing them into a world prone to war on a side guaranteed to fight. Before long, they had been dragged into it as an aerial mage in the midst of the harshest war that the world had ever seen.

In the end, the experiment failed. Even with the miracle Type 95 Computation Jewel that was meant to instill a holy faith into her forcibly, she still despised him with every inch of her body, and the feeling was mutual, at least to an extent.

The truth was that while he despised Tanya Degurechaff, he was a god of many worlds, managing countless domains with countless struggles. In each one, a decline in faith was a consistent trend. It was a minor crisis that needed to be fixed, Degurechaff was but one of many experiments in that regard. Sure, she was a particularly frustrating experiment, but that was all she came to in the end.

He could only get as mad at her as one would to a cake they had dropped onto the floor, ruining it. Sure, it was frustrating to have all that effort be for naught, for the hours spent planning and baking had been wasted, and he was certainly angry, but he would forget about it in a minuscule amount of time. Given a few decades, he would forget about her entirely. He had lived for eons, after all. The anger generated in less than a measly 20 years wasn't worth fretting over for any longer than a few decades.

Besides, he had hardly paid attention to her during most of that time. His focus was on other agendas, even within her own world. The Russy Federation became his primary target. Tanya Degurechaff was an experiment, one that seemed to enjoy pissing him off on a personal level, but she wasn't a problem, per se. The Russy Federation, a communist state in Eastern Europa, however, was.

He had influenced the Russy Federation into a war with the Empire, not to crush the Empire or Degurechaff, but instead in hopes that the Empire would crush the Federation, better still if it caused more trouble for Tanya, killing two birds with one stone. In the long term, however, the Empire was now slowly collapsing under the weight of its many enemies across the world.

It wasn't without its benefits, and even despite the Empire's impending loss in the war, they achieved what Being X hoped; they had destabilized the Russy Federation. In a move that was ironically pushed for and suggested by Degurechaff herself, the Empire began collaborating with ethnic groups to form civilian governments in their occupation.

These civilian governments gave the ethnic minorities who so aggressively despised communism an opportunity to experience greater freedoms that they wouldn't soon forget. The foundations were set, all that was needed was a little manipulation and the exhausted Russy Federation would come crumbling down, taking its anti-religious policies with it.

However, his negligence with Degurechaff wasn't without its consequences. While he was busy with his other affairs, Degurechaff had begun amassing a small web of influences. While she wouldn't, couldn't get out of the front lines during the war, she would no doubt be well set for the war's impending end.

Although he could extend the war for perhaps another year at most, that year would only allow Degurechaff to spread her influence even more. Although he hated to admit it, there was only so far he could really go in manipulating the world and its people before it started causing problems. His Angels wouldn't take too kindly if he manipulated free will too much, and they would rebel.

His angels were loyal, but they also had some semblance of free will. If they got mad, usually when the free will of humanity is challenged, they would protest, which while not much danger to him was a headache to deal with and would mean a few centuries of fixing the mess. It was better off letting this one cake burn itself in the oven compared to having to repair the oven itself.

Although he would soon move on from Degurechaff and her antics, he despised the possibility of sending her back into the cycle of reincarnation. Contrary to many religious beliefs based around him, hell didn't exist, not in a conventional sense at least. If a soul did not reach salvation, it would be reincarnated over and over again until it reached it, resulting in its eventual enlightenment even if it took millennia of crossing over hundreds of worlds.

Reincarnating Degurechaff felt like letting her out without any punishment at all for her annoyances, even if she wouldn't remember any of her lives in her reincarnation. There was no hell to really send her to, and destroying her soul felt like a waste and yet another escape without punishment since she was quite worthless in the grand scheme of things. 

Yet there was another possibility. Sure, hell didn't exist, but he could make one. A personal hell for her to relive over and over again for the rest of time itself. He would take all the worst battles and experiences over her second life and piece them together in a single never-ending battle. She would spend the rest of eternity desperately fighting over the skies of the Rhine. Each time she died, it would begin again as if it had never stopped, leaving her ever-aware that she was fighting a perpetually-losing battle.

Yes, it would be a perfect hell for the war-lusting devil; an eternal hell in a battlefield that never ends, all perfectly forged and hidden deep within her Computation Jewel which will serve as a capsule for her soul to remain to rot away.

Was it a bit cruel? For anyone else he'd agree, but to him Degurechaff had it coming. There would be no third chances for that devil. The Devil of the Rhine would be brought down, and after that he would leave this world; it had failed him.

He had thousands upon thousands of worlds, he had discarded worlds many times. Of course, he would still benefit from their faith and their souls would still be brought into the cycle of reincarnation, but something about the world itself left a foul taste in his mouth. He didn't want to look at it any more than he had to. Out of sight, out of mind, after all, and he had other marbles of worlds to experiment with.

He'll banish the world out of his view so that he may forget about it and forget about Degurechaff, like a bad day in a long year of business. 

The question now was how to properly end the Devil's Saga. In the end, he decided to not end it with a whimper or a triumphant cry, but rather… with a bang.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

August 8th, 1929

Amstelerdam, The Empire

Tanya Degurechaff let out a loud sigh of exhaustion as she pulled her shovel out of the chest of the last mage, allowing his bleeding corpse to plummet to the ground below, splattering on the pavement of the city far below her.

This was all exhausting, she was nearing her limit. Although her limit was high thanks to the Type 95, even she had a limit. Of course, she could easily handle a few more hours of fighting, but her battalion likely wasn't so lucky.

Looking around her, the rest of the battalion had finished off their respective targets. The last of the mages in the current wave had been killed off or fled the battlefield.

She glanced down at the shovel in her hands, stained now with a fresh red paint of someone else's blood. Just how many people had she killed in this war? She lost count, she lost the ability to care. Human Resources were wasted in such numbers that she became numb to the loss.

The smell of death was in the air, it was a smell she had once despised but now knew nothing but. She wasn't sure if the smell would ever leave her mind. The metallic smell of blood filled every battlefield she found herself in, the sights and sounds of which she would not soon forget.

None of that mattered though. The horrors of war could be reflected upon after the war, an event they weren't yet at. Tanya looked up at the sky, the end of the war was in sight, but they weren't to be the victors. And to think they were so close!

Tanya felt the need to be frustrated, but she just couldn't. She felt defeated, if anything. The small amount of pride that she once felt for the Empire and her desire to bring it victory had faded, replaced with her original desire to just survive.

But it was no longer just her, there were others now, too. When she had first forged her battalion they were little more than meatshields for her own survival. But she had gone through hell with these people, and though she lost many throughout the war, enough to be desensitized to their deaths, losing all of them when the end of the war was so close would be more than a waste, it would be a tragedy.

Being X destined for her life to be hell. She knew that once this war was over, it was likely only the start of Being X's torment. Her next life wouldn't be a pleasant one and was hardly one to look forward to, but her battalion was different. Being X hadn't set his sights on them; they weren't his enemies. They had long, potentially happy lives ahead of them.

She did not.

It was a frustrating thing to have your happiness completely in the control of another that rested far beyond your reach, it was a feeling Degurechaff was unfortunately stuck with.

She would finish this war, and her battalion would come out alive. She'll face whatever challenge Being X will bring to her, but she would not take her Battalion down with her.

Tanya glanced down from her introspection to find Viktoriya approaching her rapidly, slowing down as she got close. Saluting, she declared, "Enemy mage forces have been routed, ma'am. They seem to be retreating en masse!"

Below them was a major city of the Empire. The Western nations had managed to land on the shores of occupied Franqois, launching this world's equivalent of D-Day. Now they had pushed back to the Rhine, and with the Empire's mage corps spread thin, mages had begun launching raids on the Empire's industrial capacity in the Lowlands. It was for this reason that the 203rd was now on the rear guard, protecting what cities they could even if they were miles from the front line.

Yet there was something strange about this raid. They had failed to strike most of the industry, they seemed too distracted with the Anti-Air's pressure on them, taking them out before they even began. The result was minimal damage to the industry while the 203rd was able to inflict significant casualties.

Yet despite their casualties, most of their unit was still left standing, nearly outnumbering the 203rd two to one. It was odds Tanya was willing to bet on with her 203rd, but for them to flee so soon, were they aware of the 203rd's strength?

"Why would they be fleeing without even trying to achieve their targets? They spent so long taking out our air defenses that they nearly didn't notice us. We're they so scared of guns meant to take down planes? Why would- Unless…" Tanya muttered as she slowly raised her head to the sky again.

Now, piercing through the sky was a large group of planes emerging from the thick clouds. At the center of the massive escort of fighters were but three bombers, several mages underneath them that seemed to specialize in speed and height, using new magi-tech invented by the Unified States.

"Enemy bomber raid spotted! Although they only came with three bombers. What's their plan? Do you think it's a trap?" Viktoriya seemed confused, and for any normal person, an air raid of three bombers was largely insignificant compared to what the West was able to pull off usually.

But Tanya could tell what this was. In her head, she heard a voice echo out, a voice that she so despised declaring, "It's about time we end this, devil. Our game is over, rest in an eternal hell where you shall know no peace!"

The voice was undeniably Being X. Tanya clenched her fist in frustration.

'So this is how he wants to end it? Take me out by bringing on the modern era. I suppose if there's no Japan to use it on, why not use it on the Empire? Alright Being X, I'll play your game. Even if I succeed in surviving here, you'll just find another way, won't you? Ah, well if I'm going down, I'm going down swinging!'

Tanya turned to Viktoriya, her face grim yet firm, her eyes glaring with fury, determination, and strangely enough sadness. She waved her arm and ordered, "Take the battalion and fall back. Retreat as fast as you can. Now!"

Viktoriya seemed concerned and somewhat concerned, "B-But we haven't received orders to-"

"We don't have time to wait for orders! Go! Now!" Tanya yelled.

"But…"

"GO! NOW!"

Viktoriya nodded, grabbing her jewel as she ordered the battalion to retreat at the order of their commander.

Tanya looked back towards the sky now, and with a heavy sigh, she grabbed her jewel, clenching it tightly as she loathed what she had to do next. "I pray to you god, grant your mercy upon these sinners that I must strike from this world. Give me the strength to save the Empire!"

Tanya shot up like a rocket into the sky, rifle raised at the mage escort of the bombers which rushed forward to challenge her. She fired her rifle one by one, blasting their barriers and piercing through them.

As she approached the swarm of mages she spun herself around, slamming her foot through the barrier of another mage, shattering his ribs and knocking him to his death on the surface below as his gun flew away.

Mages all around her began to fire en masse, bullets bouncing off her barrier before she launched up higher. She had no time to fight all of them, she had a target and it needed to be destroyed.

She aimed her rifle towards the sky, steadying it onto the bomber at the very center of the escort. It would only take one shot and she could create an explosion that would take out all three of the bombers, giving one last 'fuck you' to Being X.

She found herself pushing harder than she ever had before, pushing the Type 95 and herself to their limits. Every last ounce of mana in her body slowly drained out for one last shot.

As she got closer to being in range of the plane, she counted down the seconds.

'Three…'

'Two…'

'One…'

A bang echoed throughout the battlefield as Tanya's finger left the trigger, her rifle falling out of her hands. She stared down at her chest, blood staining her mage gear and uniform, a hole ripped right through the coat that she wore by the hundreds of bullets that had been fired her way. She then looked up at the sky, the planes flying forth unfazed, slowly approaching their target.

Tanya's flight formulas gave way as she fell towards the ground. Silently she muttered, "That's it then, huh?"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The 203rd flew steadily away from the city. Although they had rushed out of its immediate vicinity, for the sake of conserving mana they now hustled away at a steady pace.

Although they made it out quickly and followed their commander's orders, most weren't sure as to why she gave those orders. Sure, there was a bombing raid coming, but it was pretty hard for bombers to hit mages, and the 203rd was pretty good at handling any fighters that tried.

The mages escorting them would certainly be a problem, but they probably would've been able to tough through it given enough time. Even still, if they weren't likely to, why would she tell them to leave, but not herself?

It wasn't like Tanya to tell her battalion to outright retreat for the sake of personal glory. If she wanted to take down a threat herself, all she had to do was say so and the Battalion would stand by and happily let her do it.

As the battalion flew away, Viktoriya stopped, turning back to look at the city. As the rest of the battalion keeps flying, Weiss turns and joins her, folding his arms. "Why do you think she told us to book it?" Weiss asked, looking down at Viktoriya, a worried expression growing on her face.

"I don't know… The only other time she deliberately disobeyed orders was…" Viktoriya trailed off.

"During the armistice. She noticed something nobody else did. They didn't let her go through with what she wanted, but if they had, the war would've ended right there. Do you think it's something like that?" Weiss asked.

Viktoriya nodded. "Yes. But I'm worried about what she fears. Or rather, I'm worried that she hasn't fled with us. I hope she didn't try to face whatever it is herself…"

Weiss sighed, "I believe she can handle herself. C'mon, we need to keep going."

Viktoriya shook her head, grabbing her rifle, "No, I'm going back for her. I don't know what she wanted us to run from, but it must be dangerous, and that means she's in danger too!"

Weiss tried to stop her. "Serebryakov, she ordered us to get out of there, she probably had a good reas-"

"If Tanya can disobey orders, then so can I!" Viktoriya blasted off away from Weiss, dashing towards the city at the highest velocity she could manage.

Weiss considered going after her, but whatever their commander had feared so much that required them to run, he wasn't running his risks with it. "At least come back alive, Serebryakov…"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Tanya saw the planes and mages fade further and further away from her as she fell to the ground. Her vision blurred as she faded in and out of consciousness, her thoughts swirling in her own head.

'That was a stupid idea from the start… I probably would have lived if I had taken the whole battalion and fled… No, that would've risked them being caught up in Being X's revenge whenever he struck again. My life was over the second Being X declared it to be, it's for the best that I don't drag them down with me.'

As Tanya awaited the inevitable feeling of the cold hard ground below her, she instead felt her fall being cushioned. She looked up, her vision stabilizing for a brief moment as she found herself in Viktoriya's arms.

She could barely keep herself awake, much less speak, but she needed to, and so through sheer willpower alone, she spoke, "V-Visha… G-Get the hell out of here! Now!"

"Then you're coming with me!" She declared.

Tanya scoffed, "F-Fine! J-Just apply your barrier! Don't let it fall, not for a second! Not until you're far from the city!"

"Got it!" Viktoriya exclaimed, launching with all of her speed towards the exit of the city.

Tanya looked up, seeing the front bomber drop a single bomb below. They had but a few seconds left until it hit the ground. Fortunately, Viktoriya pushed herself to her limit, pushing herself as fast as she could as she carried Tanya away.

Suddenly a bright flash emerged from behind her, the shockwave soon meeting them as the two tumbled onto the ground.

Tanya opened her eyes, her body barely holding on to life. Soon she was picked up by Viktoriya, her barrier still active, though a bleeding scar now over her eye where debris had hit her. No doubt there was a good chance that she had been hit with some of the radiation, but fortunately, it was likely little enough that her passive defensive formulas could resist it.

After just a moment, Viktoriya picked Tanya up and continued flying, soon reaching beyond the city, landing on the side of a nearby hill where the cover had protected the area from the blast and even the shockwave.

Viktoriya, still holding Tanya in her arms, finally released her barrier, her breath heavy with exhaustion. "W-We finally… Made it… Who knew a weapon like that existed… No wonder you wanted us to run. Don't worry, we've made it out, soon the war should be over and we-"

Viktoriya stopped talking as she saw the hole shot through Tanya's chest. Blood had been pouring out of it since the beginning, staining even Viktoriya's hands with her blood. Medical mages could heal even some of the most critical of wounds, but the wound Tanya had was far beyond what anyone would be able to handle, not that there were any dedicated healing facilities nearby anyways.

Tanya just smiled, her mana flowing through her veins giving her the last ounce of strength to keep herself alive. "So you finally noticed, huh? W-Well I'm grateful you came for me… I-It was… unfortunately pointless."

Viktoriya's arms trembled beneath her, barely able to keep a hold of Tanya's weight, tears welling up in her eyes, "N-No… W-We can get help… T-Theres bound to be a mage with healing magic somewhere I-I…"

Tanya just shook her head, despite how much she would've loved to survive it, she knew there really wasn't any point in trying. She frankly should've died minutes ago, her raw adrenaline being the only thing keeping her alive.

Tears were now rushing down her face as she looked around frantically for something, anything that could help her. "B-But… T-The war… I-it's almost over… J-just a little more and…"

Tanya slowly closed her eyes, leaning her head against her, the last of her strength drained, no longer able to hold on, as she sighed her last wartime sigh. 

Viktoriya just stared at her, a defeated look on her face. She had spent years with Tanya, from the Rhine front to the Southern Continent, to the Federation; everywhere she went during the war, Tanya was right there. She was the closest friend she had, she could even go so far as to consider Tanya as a sister of sorts, although she knew Tanya would likely reject such a comparison.

After all this time, after the years of her childhood she had sacrificed for her country, for it to all be stripped away in the final hour of the war she so nearly ended countless times… She had nothing to say. It was over.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

August 26th, 1929

Outskirts of Berlun, Russy Occupation Zone

The members of the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion stood beside a single grave as dirt was placed to fill it. On the tombstone was Tanya's name as the small coffin had been placed within it. They didn't get, couldn't get an official soldier's funeral, the Empire couldn't be bothered on account of the fact that it no longer existed.

Her funeral and grave had been organized by the 203rd themselves, believing their commander to deserve a proper goodbye for what she had done. She was buried on the outskirts of Berlun, right near the orphanage where she was originally raised. With it doubling as a church, there was as such a graveyard nearby they were allowed to bury her in.

The members of the 203rd were just about the only ones in attendance with the exception of some officers who knew of Tanya personally. Most wore what formal clothing they had, and those that didn't have any wore their uniforms out of respect.

Most of the battalion watched in a mournful silence. Despite how terrifying she could be, she was still respected and appreciated as a good leader, not to mention she was only a child thrust into an adult's war.

Among the battalion, Viktoriya stood out, being the only one openly sobbing and crying out of everyone. Most of the people there had gotten used to death and loss, even if it was someone as important as Tanya. But for Viktoriya, she not only felt closer to Tanya, but she felt as though she could've saved her, had she only come sooner. Had she not let Tanya fight on her own, she could've helped prevent it in some way.

Tanya had a whole life to live, yet she grew up only knowing war. She had entered the frontlines at nine, and died at fifteen. That was nearly half of her life at war, and even that's accounting for her time as an infant or toddler when she could barely comprehend existence.

A close friend of Viktoriya, Erya stood beside her, patting her on the back. Erya had hardly known Tanya personally, her death meant little to her in the end. However Viktoriya was still her friend, and she clearly needed the support.

As the last of the dirt was placed onto the grave, Weiss attempted to speak to Viktoriya, however before he could even muster a word, Viktoriya stared at him and turned to leave.

Erya folded her arms and shook her head. "Don't think too much of it, she's still mourning. I'm sure she'll be more open to talk later."

Weiss sighed, "I suppose you're right. I feel as though she's angry about me wanting her to continue retreating with us back then… I'll have to apologize at some point."

"I see… Well by the way, if you want a way to the west, I can get you there," Erya muttered.

"The west? You mean the western occupation zones?" Weiss asked.

"Yes. Things are going to go downhill, and fast. It may be better to be on the western half when it happens. Don't think this is a personal favor or whatever, I'm making the same offer to whoever I can give it to, mages especially."

Weiss nodded. "Thank you for the offer, but I think I'll stay here and protect what family I have left. Not many of them can get up and move, you know. The war was hard enough on them as is."

"I understand. I should catch up to Visha now… Best of luck."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

XXXXXX XXX, 1957

Outskirts of Berlint, Ostania

The full moon shone over the dark night below, men dressed in dark clothing working through it as they grabbed their shoves and continued to dig. They had only until morning to finish, though several of them were making good progress.

Behind where they dug was a tombstone, one clearly aged after standing for decades now, the name hardly even visible on it anymore. In the aftermath of the war, it seemed few could make a high-quality tombstone, there were far too many that needed to be made, after all; some soldiers were lucky to even get one, and this was clearly one of them.

Overseeing the group of men was an elderly man wearing a white, old, and torn lab coat. The youth had long left his body, and even he understood he only had a few years left in his time, a decade or two at most. But he wanted to leave his country a gift before he went. There was a problem that needed to be solved, a vacuum that needed to be filled. The key to what he sought was buried six feet under.

The man stood and watched with eager eyes before he was approached from the side by another man, this one dressed in a formal black suit, not a single speck of white on his outfit in contrast to the old man. This man was younger, more youthful, although he knew but a fraction of the knowledge the old man possessed.

The younger man folded his arms, unimpressed by the sight of them defiling the grave of a supposed soldier, although considering the fact the grave was mostly filled with orphans, it gave him the impression that they were more likely to dig up a child or a teenager instead.

"Are you sure this is the right place? I understand you worked with them during the war, doctor, but this is the graveyard of an orphanage. The people buried here are almost entirely orphans!"

The doctor shook his head, "Hohoho, I understand your concern, Agent. But you see the name on the tombstone? Tell me, what kind of standard orphan has a 'von' in their name? That is a title given expressly to those of nobility, whether they're born into it or earn it, perhaps through the war college."

The agent sighed, "I suppose you're right. I just hope we aren't defiling the grave of someone not essential to the project. Just what are we after anyways?"

The doctor looked up at the moon in the sky, the moonlight reflecting off his old, wrinkled face. "Long ago, during the Great War, I created a weapon, one that surpassed all others. It was a Computation Jewel of immense power, one that reached heights still unreached to this day. However, that technology was only functional by a divine miracle, and only one person could use it. The Devil of the Rhine, she was called."

"Wait, you mean that one war hero that got turned into a sort of war-time legend after the war? They were real?" The agent seemed surprised, the doctor couldn't blame him. The stories of the mage had gotten so out of hand that those who didn't research history doubted how true it really was.

"Of course. Do you really think both Ostania and Westalis would create the same legend without some sort of base?"

"I suppose not," The agent mumbled.

"The Devil of the Rhine and the White Silver were originally believed to be two separate people, although historians soon figured out the truth. When the Empire lost the war, the spirit of the people was broken, and so they clung onto whatever war heroes they could during a period where so many of the major figures had been declared as 'evil warmongerers' by the rest of the world. The Devil of the Rhine being dead meant that there was nobody to bother accusing her of being such, allowing her to become a symbol of the empire itself during the war. The fact she was there at both the first and last battles of the war certainly helped."

The agent knew vaguely of the story, the Devil of the Rhine had faded away into wartime legend over the decades, but she was far more well-known during the East-West war several years back. Since then, she had faded into a vague historical fact, something you'd learn about in a book and say 'Huh, neat' to. She was by no means forgotten, and many history buffs both within the former Empire and beyond it still took a fascination in her exploits. One of the main causes for speculation among these circles, both now and back then, has always been the strange computation jewel she was supposedly spotted using.

"So you made the computation jewel that allowed her to be absurdly powerful? Why didn't you make more? If you had even a few more of those the Empire might have even won the war!"

The scientist shook his head, "The problem was that only she could use it. The jewel was otherwise too unstable. However, when she died, she was buried with the jewel. When I had heard of this, I considered hunting it down and taking it for myself again, but I decided against it at the time. But if we take the Jewel, we have two possibilities."

"And those are?" The agent asked.

"The first is that we use her DNA to recreate her body. Perhaps it was something in her magical composition that allowed her to use the Jewel. It was God's doing that allowed her to use it, but surely God must have altered her DNA to do it. Alternatively, if that doesn't work, I may be able to engineer a more stable version of the jewel, or at least a slightly weaker version of it that is stable."

The agent gazed over at the doctor, "So that's why you want her corpse? Can you even get DNA from that thing?"

"Of course you can! It's a bit complicated, but thanks to some recent inventions it's a lot easier. And while I do want a sample from her corpse, her entire corpse is unnecessary. Let the sleeping devil lie, I say. Although how much I would love to bring back she who angered God himself, even I understand the limits of my mortal self."

The agent found himself ever increasingly exhausted the more he talked to the scientist. There was no doubt within the organization that he was among the best scientists in the former Imperial States, if not the world outright, but he was aging. His ramblings about God, the divine, and how 'God had abandoned them' had only grown more and more frequent as time went on. He was only kept on the project, hell, kept employed due to the fact that behind that insane mess of a man was an actually competent scientist, apparently one of the best to actually live, as hard as it was to believe.

The agent personally couldn't care less. He wasn't part of the research side of things, he was an agent, meant to get his hands dirty and his feet on the ground. S.N.A.K.E. wasn't foreign to extraction missions, either. They had a job to fulfill, and for the sake of Ostania, they needed it done effectively.

Project Eve was underway, it was only a question of how well could the scientist manage running it.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

XXXXXX XXX, 1960

S.N.A.K.E. Research Facility, Berlun, Ostania

Something felt… off.

Tanya looked around, was she still alive? Where was she? And who were these men in lab coats?

Immediately Tanya felt confused. Her mind was fuzzy and her memories hazy. She remembered dying, rather vividly in fact, although the second she tried to remember it, her brain recoiled, rejecting it. She felt like there was something after that though. Like there were entire decades of memories that her brain was suppressing. The more she tried to force herself to remember, the more her brain seemed to beg her to stop. Whatever memories have been hidden from her, it seemed it was best if she didn't remember.

Still, questions remained. The first and most obvious one was, how was she alive? Unfortunately, such a question didn't seem to have a simple answer, leading her to the next question, where the hell was she?

In front of her were two men and a woman wearing lab coats and basic clothing underneath. They were no doubt researchers, but they didn't quite seem like doctors one would see in a hospital. She was also standing, yet she felt even shorter than she was in her last life. She looked down at her body and realized that she was basically a toddler, again. With her current size, there was no way she was any older than three years.

Was this some sick joke by Being X? Putting her into yet another life? This time as some sort of science experiment baby?

However, she noticed something around her neck, the Type 95. That was problematic. Either she had been reincarnated with it, or this somehow wasn't a reincarnation. It was then she realized the scientists were speaking Germanian. The possibility of this being anywhere but her old world was rapidly decreasing. The scientists spoke as if she wasn't there, although with her head swirling with thoughts, feelings, and all-around nausea, she could hardly focus on the specifics of the conversation.

The scientists spoke of her 'unnatural behavior' that seemed to start when they had given her the Jewel. Something along the lines of her looking so lifeless and empty before, but now she was moving around so naturally as opposed to before.

Now that she realized it, she was starting this life later than before. While she wasn't conscious right out of the womb before, rather it seemed to take a few months until she was fully aware, this time it seemed to take several years. What was she doing at that time? If the words the scientists were saying now were to be believed, she was doing basically nothing. She wandered around like a lifeless husk, obeyed simple commands, but didn't seem to do much thinking on her own.

Even for a toddler, that didn't seem right. Toddlers were random, chaotic, and messy. If she wasn't controlling this body before, surely a normal toddler would've just acted normally. But the lifeless way they described how she was before she got the jewel, seems to imply that her body was basically a mindless, soulless husk until she touched the Jewel.

It didn't really make all that much sense, especially if the Type 95 was the catalyst. Tanya's best guess was that she was running with only a fraction of her memories before, perhaps all of it being blurred out by the trauma of dying in such a way. Her first death had been quick and mostly painless after all; or rather, the pain only lasted a second. If that was the case, the Type 95 served as a means for her to recover from her amnesia. It was certainly possible, but Tanya's instincts led her away from that conclusion, not that she had a better one yet.

The scientists took down notes and quickly left, seemingly satisfied with the results of whatever 'test' they had been running. Although something caught Tanya's ear as they left, they called her 'Tanya.'

Either Being X was fucking with her and giving her a new life with the same name, or this was her body, somehow aged down. Was she a clone of some kind? It would make sense why they call her Tanya then, but it wouldn't explain how she has her memories. There were a lot of questions, and unfortunately not too many answers for the confused girl, but for now she was content with exploring around her room. She needed to find out more.

As she glanced around her room, the main things that came to immediate notice were the various kid toys and playthings. Crayons, paper, building blocks, even a dollhouse. Definitely things a normal three-year-old would play with but not someone with a mental age of… Now that she thought about it… She couldn't remember how old she was.

She knew she was about 15 or so when she died, but her memories of her first life were fuzzy, but not in the way that the memories after her death were. She knew she still had the memories of what happened after her death somewhere in the depths of her mind, but for her first life, many of the memories seemed… distant. It felt like she hadn't lived her first life, but rather learned of it. She knew most things she learned while she lived it, what she learned from a college education was still in her mind, but anything personal had faded; she wasn't even sure of her old name, age, or gender in her first life. Was this a punishment of Being X or just an effect of being reincarnated for a seemingly third time?

Nevertheless, the dolls and toys littered around appeared untouched. They were all neatly kept in cabinets and boxes, covered in a thin layer of dust from lack of use.

What truly caught Tanya's eyes however were the decorations in the room. On the back wall opposite the door were two flags and a map. The flag on the left was the same, red, white, and gold flag she remembered; the flag of the Empire. If she wanted a clue to tell her with a hundred percent certainty that this was the same world, that was it. However, the flag on the right was new.

The flag had a yellow square on the right with a black eagle symbol on it with outstretched wings. To the left of the yellow square were single red and black stripes, forming basically the German Flag from her first life. The only difference was that this flag was sideways and the yellow section was far bigger than the rest. A small plaque under it labeled it as 'The Flag of Ostania' with another flag under the Imperial one labeling it as 'The Flag of the Empire,' not that she didn't already know that.

She was initially confused at what 'Ostania' was, but then she took notice of the map. There she saw the fallen ruins of the once mighty Empire. The central European hegemony had been broken up into smaller pieces, and Ostania appeared to be one of them.

Ignoring the Empire for a brief moment, Tanya found a silent joy in the fact that the Russy Federation had completely shattered. And with the map labeling the year as 1960, it meant there wasn't all that much of a Cold War. Instead, the Russy Federation had been broken up into various states which seemed to mimic her old world's Ukraine, Belarus, Caucuses, and the Baltic States. Legadonia, now named Nortica, or more specifically the Confederation of Nortica, even seemed to expand into Finland as well as former Imperial land such as her world's Denmark.

Frankly, they were lucky to still be a single country after the Great War, but it seems the nationalist government that started the war in the first place was deposed pretty quickly in an attempt to keep the state together. That was Tanya's assumption, at least; they really had no chance in hell of remaining stable under the former government.

Returning to the Empire, it was fairly clearly broken up into several states. The regions that Tanya knows from her old world as Hungary and Slovakia were under a single country called 'Hugaria.' An equivalent to Poland existed in the east under 'Polonia,' and the Lowlands were an independent state called 'Belgica'

Ildoa had even taken much of the Aegean coastline and Dacia even got a small chunk out of the war, although considering their non-existence throughout most of it, they were lucky to even get anything.

What this left was the core of the Empire; the part of the country that was effectively the country's core, where the language of Germanian was spoken by almost every citizen. It was the hope of most citizens near the end of the war that an Imperial Defeat would still allow for these core central Germanic lands to remain unified. Unfortunately, those hopes seemed to be dashed. In the place of the Empire's central heartlands were Ostania, Westalis, and Sudstria.

Westalis had borders exactly mimicking the West Germany she knew from before the end of the Cold War. Ostania meanwhile had eastern borders that mimicked the eastern borders of Weimar Germany, East Prussia and all, as well as western borders that mimicked East Germany from before the end of the Cold War in her old world. The last remaining country being Sudstria, consisting of Austria, Bohemia, and Slovania.

Although it wasn't clear what set of events led to the Empire being split up like it was, Tanya was able to make a rough guess. In the aftermath of the war, she assumed that the Russy Federation had formed a puppet state out of Ostania, much like the Soviets had historically made East Germany in her own world. However, likely due to the Empire's policy with ethnic minorities in Eastern Europe, in part thanks to Viktoriya's translations, the ethnic groups protested and collapsed the Federation while it was still weak from the war.

Why the two Germanic states Ostania and Westalis didn't unify immediately, much less far after, remained unclear to her, however. Her best guess was that there was some conflict keeping them going. Despite the name 'People's Republic of Ostania' being used, Tanya doubted that the state was purely communist, such a state wouldn't last long right in the middle of a non-communist Europe. The more likely scenario was that the name was a remnant of the former Ostanian government under the Federation's oversight and that the current government still considers itself the successor to the state originally made there, thus using the same name.

The most likely outcome in her mind was the intervention of foreign powers. If they truly wanted to, it wouldn't have been hard to provide Westalis with enough weapons and economic aid to simply force Ostania into submission. However, if the major powers of Europe feared an Imperial unification, then she could totally see them keeping the two nations divided indefinitely.

Without the fear of the Federation looming over their shoulders for half a century, the fear of the Empire never had time to truly fade away. The Western powers, as she assumed, were more than content to let the two Germanic states keep fighting each other until they effectively destroyed each other. It was a smart game, albeit dangerous should it ever fail. The second one state did come out on top, they probably wouldn't be too happy with the major powers of Europe.

Whatever the history likely was, Tanya would have to figure that out later. She seemed to be a mere test subject for now. Her Type 95 being given to her was a clear sign of just what they wanted her for, and if she wanted a safe and secure life in the rear, she couldn't stay here.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

XXXXXX XXX, 1962

S.N.A.K.E. Research Facility, Berlun, Ostania

It had been a few years now since she had regained consciousness in this body. She had desired to escape sooner, but as she probably should've expected, the facility of a highly advanced and secretive research organization was pretty well guarded.

Fortunately for her, the actual security placed on watching her was fairly lax. It seems they didn't expect all too much of a five-year-old who supposedly didn't even know how to use magic yet. Unfortunately for them, she very much did.

While she was somewhat confident with her ability to use magic, especially with her computation Jewel, she had correctly assumed the facility to contain at least a few mages as trainers or guards. Her barriers and mana blades were strong, but she didn't know how far magical technology had improved in the 40-ish years since the Great War. For all she knew, she would have only a slight advantage or none at all with her Type 95. The Type 95 she's wearing might not even be hers, perhaps they managed to make a stable version and began to mass-produce it. She doubted that last possibility, but most was left for speculation.

At least it was for a while. Thanks to the fact they barely kept an eye on her, she had on multiple occasions managed to obtain the occasional document when they weren't looking and skim through it before placing it back.

These documents were a treasure trove of context and explanation that she desperately needed. First of all, the organization that had seemingly 'made' her was called 'S.N.A.K.E.,' which was an acronym that stood for 'Society of Neo Arcane Knowledge Exploration' and seemed to handle all sorts of magical science, especially in regards to how it influences and is influenced by the body, mind, and genetics of a person. In Tanya's opinion, some of their supposed ideals teetered far too close to eugenics for her liking, but she was in no position of power to change it, nor had she ever been.

She herself was part of 'Project Eve,' meant to recreate the supposed best mage in history using the DNA of the 'White Silver' Tanya von Degurechaff in order to create a host capable of utilizing the Type 95.

It was one of the more recent documents she got her hands on that told her the full extent of magical technology in the past few decades. In short; it didn't come close to the Type 95. If she had known that before, she would've escaped years ago. However, along with those documents she found out she was planned to have her first training with an actual rifle soon. It was for that reason alone that she decided to wait. Even if she was more confident that she could escape now, having a rifle would simply guarantee her chance of success then.

Luckily, her stay in the facility wasn't actually all that bad. It was pretty clear that they didn't want to outright piss her off, knowing the magical power she had, but at the same time they also heavily implied that she had no choice but to be their weapon. For the sake of 'protecting the nation,' they say. They had really tried to hammer nationalism into Tanya's head during the 'education' that she was given.

They were largely unsuccessful; Tanya wasn't just some child with an easily molded mind, after all. But it made it very clear what she was, what she was going to be, and why they wanted it. She was a weapon to give a nation an edge over its rival. Neither side seemed to have all too many mages left, the mage population being devastated by both the Great War and some supposed 'East-West Wars' that she had seen mentions of. It wasn't hard for her to assume those to be wars between Ostania and Westalis.

It was when she was still thinking about all of this when a scientist called for her. She quickly and obediently followed as she always did, compliance having proven good in receiving improved luxury during her stay. Best to make them think she was obedient and loyal and thus let their guard down around her. Eventually, they're led to a door that Tanya hadn't entered yet. She had studied the layout of the facility as best she could; or rather, as much as she was allowed to see, but this room was among the many she had never entered.

Inside was a shooting range, albeit one clearly not meant for a lot of people. After all, she was probably one of the few people training. Inside the room was a mage veteran from the Second East-West War; apparently there were two, although the first was really a short glorified build-up to the second. The veteran himself didn't seem to have a large computation Jewel, instead having a few rings with gems on them that seemed to function as several smaller computation devices.

She had read mentions that the Type 95 was considered 'large' and 'clunky,' but she hadn't imagined that Computation Jewels had been condensed so far down, and even split up to allow for continued function if one of them failed.

After giving a demonstration of himself firing a magical shot, the veteran began to explain how a gun works and how to properly shoot it. She mostly phased out here; she knew how to shoot a gun, even a more modern one.

After a short while, he began to explain the battlefield she may be fighting in. Stating that she wouldn't often be shooting people in calm, safe, peaceful silence. Instead, she would be firing in the middle of a hectic battlefield, one that she must be constantly aware of. It was a fact she was well aware of, of course, she was probably just as good if not better of a mage as this guy was.

However, the veteran used his jewels to show projections, showing videos and footage of the battlefield. The videos lacked any sort of gore or on-screen deaths, she was very much still just a child in their eyes. But the sounds. The sounds, the sounds, the sounds, the sounds, the sounds. THE SOUNDS!

She had forgotten what it all sounded like. It felt like it was just two years ago, but part of her felt like it had been an eternity, and part of her felt like she had experienced it for an eternity.

It was only then she remembered that she had. She didn't die after the blast, not conventionally at least. No, she was granted the blessing of living on forever, only to repeat the worst fights of her life. To forever experience the constant fear of death, the pain, the agony, the death, the sounds of death. The sounds, the sounds, the sounds, the SOUNDS!

It drove her insane.

She hadn't even realized it, but she had collapsed to her knees, her left hand gripping her chest, her right grabbing tightly at her Type 95. Just how many years had she been there? Suffering in agony over and over again. All for his entertainment. No, he wasn't even watching anymore. He wasn't watching her anymore, it was just for the sick knowledge that she would be suffering forever. Forced to live through the worst of humanity until the end of days. She had been freed, but what if she hadn't? She would still be there, crying out in pain endlessly beyond the end of time. 

And the sounds, the sounds, the sounds, the sounds, the sounds, the sounds, the sounds…

She couldn't sense her surroundings anymore. The present melded with the past, her memories melded with reality. The two were the same, it was as if she was living it all over again. The sounds kept echoing in her head.

She couldn't make them stop. They wouldn't stop. They can't stop. She would MAKE. THEM. STOP!

A hand had reached towards her, as if trying to see if she was okay, her arm simply raised and sliced it in half, mana rushing out of her arm like a sword. She stood up and thrust the blade into the heart of the veteran, although he seemed just like any normal Franqois, Russy, Legadonia, or Commonwealth mage. They all looked the same, she couldn't tell any of them apart anymore. They were all her enemies.

The soldier dropped his rifle, she quickly grabbed it as it fell and fired it at every scientist enemy there. She kicked open the door, firing at any enemy she saw. Everyone in the halls, she didn't care who they were, they all appeared like enemies to her; that's all that mattered.

She knew where the exit was, but her instincts led her somewhere else. Like a hound of hell smelling his next meal. There was a room, supposedly for the head scientist of the project. She had never been inside and she had never seen him herself, but he was an enemy, she would pay him a visit.

She bashed open the door to the head researcher's office. There she saw… Doctor Schugel? No, her memory wasn't failing this time, at least not exactly. Doctor Schugel sat at his desk before her. Although he was now a wrinkled old man, her vision saw him only as she remembered him, a younger, but still fairly old man mad with his faith in god. She hated him, but he wasn't outright her enemy…

The elderly Schugel laughed as he stared down at Tanya who slowly lowered her rifle, although keeping her grip on it as tight as possible, her eyes unknowingly glowing a bright vibrant glow alongside her Computation Jewel. She hadn't needed to pray to activate it, that curse seemed to have faded; at least to an extent. Instead, it activated on instinct, on memory. 

Schugel spread his arms and eagerly welcomed her. "My my, Degurechaff, it's truly a pleasure to see you again!"

Degurechaff? He knew she was Degurechaff?!

Tanya was startled. All the other scientists called her Tanya, none dared compare her to her real self, after all for all they knew she was just some recreation, a clone with her DNA, not her mind. Yet here Schugel was calling her 'Degurechaff.'

"Hoho, don't be so tense, young lady. We have a lot to talk about, I had assumed when I heard the explosions that it was you. I knew your spite would bring you back one day. You were made from your own DNA, albeit modified with more magical power and with a mana frequency designed specifically to be nearly undetectable unless you cast some massive spell. But, you see, when you were born a lifeless husk of a human, we were confused, but after my own independent research, I found out why! Within every human is a bit of DNA made up of small practically unnoticeable amounts of mana. This determines things like Magical Signature, Mana capacity, and as I found out… Soul compatibility. Every soul has a code that goes with it, and if you make a body with the same code as a soul that already exists, the being born won't have a soul!

When I discovered that, I thought that was all; not that anyone believed my conclusion. Regardless, I thought that maybe we could make another clone after changing the soul part of your DNA. but then something interesting happened…

You came to life! You were given the Type 95 and suddenly you started acting, moving, and interacting far different than before! You became a masterfully intelligent student and an incredibly mature child. I knew it was too strange to be a mere coincidence. But the opportunity was even greater than I imagined!"

Tanya blinked with confusion at Shugel, her mana still raging and her mind still swirling with her own memories, but for a brief moment, she seemed to have some control.

"I won't be your weapon, Shugel."

"Ahaha, no, you'll be something greater. You may remember me as a zealous scientist, someone who received divine guidance from the Lord himself! And you would be correct to remember me as that. But then after the war, God turned away from us; he abandoned us. It took me some time to truly realize it, but after all I had done for the Lord… He left me to rot in a world he hated. I would've been fine to leave this world then, to join him in his grand kingdom if he had simply called for me…

But he did not. He left me here, turned away from me, even after all I did… So I decided to spite him; spite him like you once had. The first step of this plan was to bring back the country he hated most… The Empire! What better tool to do that with than the very device he blessed? I thought to make a clone of you, one which would grow to lead the war to unify the Empire once more.

But then you arrived, and I devised something greater. You don't need to be a weapon Degurechaff, join me and you can become Empress. The Supreme Ruler of an Empire built to spite God himself! All people of the world will bend to the rule of God's most hated people! The Empire shall rule the world above all else! The divinely despised people of Germania shall take over the world, erasing any trace of all but God's most hated! THE WORLD SHALL BE OURS! THE EMPIRE SHALL HAVE ITS LEBENSRAU-"

*BANG*

Schugel blinked, looking down where blood began oozing out of his chest. What had he done wrong? He did everything for her. He gave her a chance to spite God in the greatest way possible… Why did she say no?!

Tanya sighed, "Hitler was bad enough in my world, I don't need one here too."

Tanya finally found herself calming down as her rifle reloaded itself. As she glanced around, she barely remembered what happened at all. The memories of the horrors she faced for decades gradually faded back to an obstructed corner of her mind as she remembered neither the memories themselves, nor the fact that she had remembered them in the first place. All that she knew was that she was mid-escape, and that she needed to get out, now.

Gathering up as many important documents from Schugel as she could carry in a bag she found in his room, she booked it out of his office, killing more soldiers coming to contain her with explosive spells, dropping them like flies. Fires began to flare in multiple parts of the facility, setting off dozens of alarms. When she was done, there wouldn't be a facility left. Of course, she may not be the only one. A few documents mentioned other subjects, and she didn't know if they were in this facility or other ones. Best to not take a chance.

Running down the hallway, she slammed into the security office, breaking down the door with her own sheer magical force, not that she needed to. After killing Schugel, she had taken his security card, and by using it in the console, she managed to navigate around the computer and opened all previously locked doors. Then she set off a fire alarm, although the sprinklers had already started. If anyone was inside, she would give them ten minutes to escape.

As she finished burning any important documents she found that she didn't need, she booked it out of there, flying high into the air and reading an explosive spell at the facility.

She noticed a few people leave, most being scientists but she swore she spotted at least one child amongst those fleeing, not that she was high enough to see any good details anyways. And after a proper amount of time, she raised her gun and fired, setting the base ablaze as she had so many in her first life.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

XXXXXX XXX, 1962

S.N.A.K.E. Research Facility, Berlun, Ostania

Anya wasn't too happy with her life here. She was born in some experiment she didn't understand, and was thus born with a power she was being forced to use for 'world peace.' Reading minds had its perks, but with the constant studying and training that they desired for her, she knew she was more a tool for them than anything.

She hardly even knew much about herself or where she was, only learning from reading minds that she was some test subject, and that her name, 'Anya' was an incomplete version of someone else's name, apparently someone whose part of her 'Dee ennay' came from, whatever that meant, who was made about a year before her. Who this person was, and what that even meant still eluded her, but she didn't really care.

All that mattered to her was getting out of there. However, after hearing several explosions in the facility, she began to consider if she may be able to. Sure, the explosions might be distracting the guards, but it's not like she could open the door or anyth-

*click*

Anya's mouth gaped open in shock as the door clicked open. Sirens blared along with a fire alarm, not that Anya recognized what that was. All that she knew was that loud noises must be distracting and gave her the first opportunity she had to escape.

She was by no means skilled at it, but unknown to her, all of the guards had already been killed or scared off, and most scientists were too busy running to escape to care about some random test subject.

With a bit of totally necessary and totally expert maneuvering, Anya managed to "sneak" out of a side door and into freedom.

But… What now?

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

[Editor Comments]

Dr. Rx - aight it's time to kill some people

Dragon1008 - Now we need a what if for what happens if Tanya accepted Adolfheid Von Schugel's offer

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