- Unknown Village, Avalon Empire’s territory–

- inside an abandoned shack -

- 2100hrs, local time -

The three mercenaries were silent for several moments, trying to analyze the situation they just encountered. Mostly Jaeger, who’s the extremely silent one. Certainly, if it’s a normal circumstance, he could deduct how it works, but what they’re dealing with can’t be described with just the mere logic of a normal human from Earth. Though, someone is a bit too tense in that situation.

“What the f**k Danny?! What’s that thing hovering in front of you!?” shouted Coyote in confusion. “How’d you manage to make that appear out of nowhere!?”

“Shut the hell up, Jonny! Your voice is louder than my mom calling from half a block away! And the hell if I know!”

“don’t compare me with your mom, damnit!”

“Will you two f**k off with your idiotic debate!?” as Jaeger raised his voice to the two, they suddenly went silent since they found his tone was rather dreadful. Jaeger sighed, raising his visor and pinched his eyes. “60k, you mention that it’s like some sort of [status panel], right? Try to say [close] or [exit]. Maybe it’ll disappear.”

The Hispanic man doubted his words at first since he thought that it was ridiculous to say it was not a video game after all. Regardless, he said the word just to prove Jaeger wrong, though his squad leader was right somehow. “how’d you figure that out quickly?”

“I found out when I was forcefully teleported from my aircraft. The princess from the holy kingdom did have that floating in front of her before she called us out. Maybe she’s checking our status or something, “Hmm… maybe it’s like the cliché setup of a certain genre”, or so I thought. It looks like it worked tho.”

“Our?” 60k raised an eyebrow as questions popped out of his head. Who is the other person he was referring to? Though it’s his fault for being oblivious about a certain thing, “Didn’t Jeanne give all of you a copy of my report a day ago? I got teleported alongside a civilian teenage boy. Though, he won’t be counted as a civilian anymore as he took arms for another nation. His codename is [Hero].”

“oh yeaaah… that report! Right, right…”

“… you didn’t read it, did you?”

He averted his gaze and changed the topic nervously, “W-well, that aside, let's focus on our objective!”

- the castle, Ersten, the capital of the Kingdom of Apollyon –

- inside the gathering hall -

- at the same time, though, it’s daytime -

“those idiots…” Jeanne muttered, irked at the way they carefreely talked in the middle of the Op. Though she’s not that worried since most of the Generals and nobles that are present are somehow immersed and enjoying it as if it’s an action-comedy film. It was broadcasted through three helmet cameras mounted in front of their IR strobe, right on top of their helmets. They were seated in a row whilst the projector and the King were seated side by side. Since he’s the VIP, it’s mandatory to put him in the front row from the others.

“apologies for their crude way of talking. It’s just their habit back on our planet,” Jeanne tilted her head down as she said so.

“No, No, it’s perfectly fine, Miss Himmelsdorf. They were quite entertaining to watch.” One of the generals/noble reassured her, letting out a small chuckle. “as expected, they were too relaxed since it’s my men that were deployed,” she thought as she straightened herself again. Jeanne then excused herself since she needed to affirm something from the Operation's progress. Outside the Gathering hall, Jeanne leaned back to the wall near the door, crossing her arms as she pressed a button on her earpiece. Her face is now rather grim and tense as she hears the voice from the other side of the earpiece.

“Commander, we’ve truly lost contact with Delta and Omega. Though Delta Flight’s last known location was twenty-five kilometres away from their LZ radius as they were retreating, it was 10 minutes ago. As if they were shot down by some sort of anti-aircraft weapon.”

“That’s Impossible! The Condor’s anti-ballistic forcefield could withstand dozens of shelling of calibres up to 48-inch naval guns! It’s battle-tested!” she groaned, leaning her back to the wall. “it’s a good thing that only Alpha element was broadcasted.”

“but still commander… about the lost teams…”

“Look, if they still can’t be contacted within 35 hours…” her frown grew even more. Losing some of her best in the second operation of her mission frustrates her since she only has minimal manpower at her disposal. “I want Search and Rescue operation to be conducted at their last known location! Have the other frigate act as their mobile carrier! I’ll disclose this information a day after the rescue operation starts. Understood?”

“Yes Ma’am!”

Right after the call ended, Jeanne slammed her right arm into the wall. Gritting her teeth, “Damnit!! The deployed satellites are f**ked, the comms in the AO are distorted through time and space, and now I lost two fireteams and two air assets!? Are you serious?!”

“Any problems, miss Himmelsdorf?” Jeanne jolted out from her frustration when the king suddenly asked about her condition. She didn’t feel his presence behind her nor any sound of the door opening; maybe it was because of the frustration that took over her. Jeanne cleared her throat, regaining her composure.

“N-no, your majesty, everything’s fine; it’s just some slight blunder that’s out of my expectations.”

Somnus didn't bite her subtle lie; he could hear her cuss of frustration earlier on as he wanted to go to the toilet. Then again, he put up a feigned ignorance and went on. “If you say so.” He remarked as he walked away from the room entrance. Jeanne sighed, relieved that she didn’t need to explain the loss of several losses her group had suffered to her client that just started hiring her merc team. But as she wanted to return inside the room, someone that she didn’t want to meet coincidentally turned around the corner of the corridor.

“ah- H-hello there, your Highness”, she bowed, putting her public mask on as she gave a forced smile. “what brings you here?” she continued as she straightened herself again.

“Well… I heard from my aide that the nobles were gathered here to see something called [live broadcast] about the operation you are commanding. Am I allowed to see it too?” Aurora politely asked, though her face was painted by her curiosity as per usual. Jeanne held her irritation against her. Every time she looked at Aurora’s face, she was always got reminded why her brother got trauma that made him against committing a relationship. As she wanted to permit to let her in, Somnus, who just came back, interrupted her.

“Rose, you’re not allowed to enter this room nor meet anyone gathered here.”

“f-father!?” she turned around as his heavy yet young voice echoed through the corridor. “but why?? I wanted to see about this [Live broadcast] that I’ve been hearing amongst the otherworldy soldiers.”

“You’re allowed to go outside because your brother promised me to keep your existence a secret from most of the public. Then again, you haven’t committed your social debut amongst the nobles. Which is why I can’t let you in.”

“but then, why am I getting marriage interviews a few months ago!?”

“you were hidden behind the curtains; it’s still fine since those spoiled brats didn’t see your face.”

“but-“ he gestured his hands to silence herself. The princess complied, though she was quite down about it. “thank you for understanding. Looks like she taught you properly.” He said as he opened up the door, going inside the room with his usual disinterested look. The two girls stood there in silence as they didn’t know what to talk about. The ice then broke as Jeanne chuckled nervously.

“I’ll have myself leave for now, your highness.”

Aurora nodded, and Jeanne reached out the door handle, opening it. But as she wanted to step inside, the princess called her again. “Ah- umm… miss Jeanne?”

Jeanne glanced to her right, looking straight at her. “yes? Do you need anything?” unknowing to Jeanne, Aurora noticed that Jeanne still had an expression that harbours some sort of hostility towards her, which she didn’t know about since she hadn’t done anything wrong. “did I… did I do anything wrong that irks you?”

Jeanne didn’t answer at first; she looked away with a small frown on her face. “No, you didn’t. Your face just made me remember someone that I hated back then” She left the princess alone and walked inside the room, closing the door shut.

Jeanne sighed, slightly guilty for her redirected hate towards the girl who didn’t even do anything to her or her brother, but that aside, she was surprised that the room went silent as the participants inside had a look of dread and fear as if they saw something so ominous from the broadcast.

“your majesty, what happened here?”

Somnus shook his head; he didn’t know what was happening either, but as she looked at the projected screen, her eyes grew wide. It was something inhumane…

- Unknown Village, Avalon Empire’s territory–

- outside the local church-

- 15 minutes ago -

“1-1 to 2-1, we’re at the back entrance of the church. Drones are currently deployed to check inside the building. Keep an eye out for us.”

“Aye, sir! Nothing on my scope currently. You’re cleared to breach.”

The team is stacked up on the side of the backdoor of the church, guns up and ready. 60k is currently eavesdropping on a conversation that came from inside the church, which is between the suspicious nun and a priest. The drone landed on top of the window frame, its micro camera looking straight towards the two.

“Are you sure the kids are asleep?” the nun asked the priest. “I don’t want to waste more useless half-boiled sacrifice. The spell will only work if our sacrifice develops their mana pool into something that could contain bottomless mana.” She continued, crossing her arms.

The priest nodded. His gestures seemed to be slightly lifeless, unlike during daytime. “they are currently in slumber, I can assure you that.”

“Good, return to the catacombs. I need to check our storage for a moment” The priest nodded again and left. Outside, 60k gave a hand gesture that everything was clear. Jaeger, who’s taking the lead, opens the door slowly. The backdoor has a small corridor leading towards a kitchen and a dining room. After making sure there was nobody in the small corridor, they swiftly went inside. As they were inside, their boots made soft creaks on the wooden floor. They swing their guns left and right, checking every corner of their room while not flagging each other with their weapons. “clear.” Said Coyote, easing up slightly.

They moved to the next room, which was the main prayer area. In the place where the talks earlier took place, the praying area doesn’t seem to be much different from churches on earth, except that the praying altar has the sculpture of the goddess they’re praying to. Since 60k already did scouting before with the micro drones. He could find the trapdoor for the secret entrance towards the catacombs located behind the altar. The team then slowly make their way inside.

“2-1, this is 1-1, we’re proceeding our way into the catacombs; comms might get disrupted since we’re underground, still, keep an eye out.”

“copy, stay safe everyone.”

“you bet”

Jaeger ordered the two to switch from night vision to thermal vision on their visor. Their visor then let out an inaudible hum as it changed its mode. The stairway was quite long, approximately going down 20 meters deep. They didn’t expect it to walk down for 5 minutes or so, and between the tense moment of it, 60k questioned something.

“Coyote, what makes you think that Nun is suspicious in the first place? Like… you can’t just put a random guess and mark someone as a potential threat. Though, you’re actually right somehow. Say, is it because of her massive tits?”

“No, it’s just… I’ve seen her expressions similarly back on earth many times before.”

“yeah, that and probably her massive tits.”

“dude… can you stop mentioning tits for like ten goddamn minutes!?” 60k let out a small chuckle at his buddy’s getting annoyed by his remarks, still guarding their rear by pointing his shotgun up the stairway. “surely she’s like your average nun, but my gut kept saying that something’s off about this place.”

“but for real though, her badonkers are massive.”

“ughh…. I sometimes question why am I stuck with this s**tshow of a friend…”

They finally reached the end of the stairway, greeted by a wooden door. Coyote tried to pull the door, but it was futile; the door was locked with a metal bar from the other side. “damnit, it’s locked hard.” he said. Unknowing to them, 60k slowly pulled his sledgehammer out.

“step aside! Let me relieve my old days of being a combat engineer~.” He said, grinning. Coyote took a position behind Jaeger, watching his friend as he prepared himself to swing the hammer. 60k took a stance and pulled his first swing; the impact caused a large echo behind the door, shattering some of the wood of the door. He pulled another swing with his sledgehammer; this time, it shattered the whole door completely. 60k was quite startled by this; he wasn’t expecting the whole door to be blown away. Then again, he’s using an exoskeleton. Jaeger tapped his shoulder; the word “good job” might be the right one to describe it.

“Well, the door’s open, but… they definitely heard us,” Coyote remarked, whistling at the amount of damage that was given to the door.

“no s**t Sherlock, thanks for reminding.”

The three then continued walking down the corridor, glancing left and right as they heightened their situational awareness. They found themselves needing to check back the map from the underground radar scan they did in the afternoon since the place could be described more like a dungeon than a catacomb, even though it’s man-made. During the time they checked the scanner results again, Jaeger noticed a slightly wide area that looked like rooms built inside from the 3D model of the place and had some sort of suspicion about it. They then proceeded to walk according to the makeshift waypoint that was made by Ofnir. Right as they arrived at the place that Jaeger put suspicion into. Their eyes grew wide, lowering their weapons as they looked in horror around them.

“holy s**t… this place… what in the f**k? those are kids that are being held captive!” 60k was the most shocking out of the three. Several children were held captive, and most of them seemed to be malnourished and beaten up.

“60k, calm down…”

“calm down?! I can’t calm down after seeing this! We gotta help them!”