NOVEMBER 18TH, 2024, 01:00 AM; PRAGUE

THE HEISEI BEGAN THE EURA STRONGHOLD RAID TO SUBJUGATE THE EURA STRONGHOLD

THE BATTLE THAT WOULD DETERMINE THE FATE OF MANKIND WAS SET IN MOTION

THERE WAS NO STEP BACK

1 - Seize The Stronghold

The sky was pitch black and starless, and yet the moon, as if on purpose, stared at the unfolding catastrophes from above. It was greatly intrigued, it laughed at the situation as it could see everything from a perfect angle. It understood everything so perfectly that it made no sense.

The Heisei had to advance through parts of the city. Their objective was the castle where Aizawa herself resided. Their secondary mission was to retrieve and potentially rescue Oskar Weber - who had been struck with complete memory erasure and converted into a Nachtvessel. Their main mission was to burn the stronghold to the ground and kill every last remaining soldier of the Servata Cordis. While Kaito Kamiki was busy trying to locate Mukawa, and too careful to engage in contact with Aizawa, the Heisei bore the burden of protecting human free will in a cruel and hateful world.

On the other side of the conflict was the Servata Cordis - the cause for which Aizawa was willing to bleed, but not die, as the cause was directly tied to her existence. She positioned the Nachtvessels in a way that would disrupt the Heisei’s movements, and most importantly, weaken Sakuto Hitori before her inevitable confrontation with her. Prague would bear witness to her wrath and the hatred of the soulful who, after finally learning to live, was deathly sorrowed yet again.

And so, the Heisei pushed forward.

“How long until contact?” Sakuto asked. He had an expression of absolute confidence on his face, he was filled to the brim with so much hatred that his presence was not a flare, it was a whole firework show.

“Dunno.” Zawadski shrugged. They walked through the bombed streets and the occasional fires. Such wars among soulfuls, as was seen in the Soul-bound War, had their outcomes decided by individuals, not armies. “Just keep going until we see something.”

“Speaking of seeing something...” Ichigo said, pointing in the distance. “That...thing. It looks like a giant robot...”

“It looks more or less the same as what I fought against.” Ichika confirmed. “Looks like they’re pretty well-prepared.”

“I can already sense fluctuations and multiple presences constantly flaring up.” Jian said. “We should probably divide ourselves now.”

“Hm?” Yuuka wondered. “Right now?”

“The primary strike force, consisting of Sakuto Hitori, needs to head straight for the castle.” Jian said. “Its objective will be guiding Sakuto Hitori to the castle and assuring that he does not get injured or tired along the way.”

“And the rest of us will just walk around and hunt down the other soulfuls?” Ichigo asked.

“Precisely so.” Jian said.

“Sounds like a perfect setup.” Zawadski said. “Me and Yuuka will get Sakuto there. Gonna feel like a mechanics worker delivering a nuclear bomb to a testing ground...”

“I agree, let’s do it that way!” Yuuka cheered. “Sakyuto, we’ll keep you fresh and healthy! :D”

“Sounds good to me.” Sakuto said. “Then let’s move out. The sooner we get there, the less the chance we get intercepted.”

“Sakuto-”

Sakuto turned around, hearing Ausra’s voice.

“I’m coming with you to the castle.” Ausra said. “Oskar is probably way deeper in there, regardless of his condition. I’m coming with you.”

“Putting him down won’t take me too much time, especially after the evil bitch is dead.” Sakuto said. “Stick with Ichika. Hunt down the rest of-”

“Sakuto, I have to be the one confronting him.” Ausra said, with so much trust in her words that Sakuto had no other option but to concede. “And besides, we need you fresh. Please, Sakuto...”

“You’re the only one that can kill her.”

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“Right.” Sakuto nodded. “In that case me, Yuuka, Zawadski and Ausra are heading straight to the center. Everyone else, kill any soulful you see on sight. No matter what they say or do, no matter how much they beg you, if they’re associated with that evil bitch, we’ll kill them.”

“Sakuto, I know you’re reasonably upset, but...” Ichigo said. “If we are dealing with a memory manipulator, it’s highly likely that most of her subordinates are just brainwashed.”

“Then we’d do them a favor by killing them.” Sakuto said. He wanted to walk away, but Ichika’s gaze kept her in place. Ichika slowly approached him.

“Sakuto, remember what you told me?” Ichika asked, reaching to hold his hands and gently caressing them with her fingers. “That we’ll either survive it together, or...”

“I remember.” Sakuto said. “What about it-”

Ichika leaned in and kissed him on the lips.

“Dying together sounds romantic and all, but I’d rather we live together instead.” Ichika smiled. “So let’s make sure we both survive, okay?”

She took a few steps back, gently waved her hand, and sprinted off into the distance...

“She is going...alone?” Jian asked.

“That’s the best way to go about this.” Sakuto said.

“In that case, me and you will head out together, Ichigo.” Jian said, already walking away. “One of the presences is getting a little too close to us.”

“Let’s get outta here.” Zawadski said. “We should keep our presence low so they won’t instantly go towards us. And uhh...Sakuto, I know it might be hard but, keep your presence low, okay?”

“I’ll try.” Sakuto said, taking a few seconds to lower his presence. It was very hard for him to do so. He didn’t want to wait for the journey or walk the path, he just wanted to get in there and cut the head off of that horrifyingly strong soulful.

“Alright, let’s move out!” Zawadski said. And the four of them walked forwards.

They crossed multiple streets, they climbed over heaps of debris, and they had no intention of stopping.

“Hold it.” Sakuto said, suddenly stopping. He heard a gunshot. And Zawadski dropped dead on the ground.

“Three o’clock.” Zawadski said, pointing at the shooter. Sakuto quickly located him - it was a man who looked like he belonged anywhere but a battlefield - yet another mindless zombie, he thought. He pierced his skull with a quick strike from a sharp shadow tentacle.

Sakuto quickly turned around, seeing another such zombie rush at him with a knife. He jabbed in the face, breaking his face and stabbed him in the stomach with his blade. He pushed him down and pinned him on the ground.

“How many are there?” Sakuto asked, sounding furious. “Where are their heavy hitters?!”

The mindless soulful didn’t reply. Sakuto, angered even more, elbowed him in the face with so much power that the soulful’s skull was cracked open. He was dead after that single strike. Sakuto got up.

“Sheesh, he’s focused...” Zawadski thought. He felt the ground shake a little, and after turning around, he saw an NV approach him.

“Big mech, watch out!” Zawadski called out. He immediately saved and tried to go in, but Sakuto was faster. Yuuka didn’t even try to do anything, she knew that the thing would die in a few seconds max.

Sakuto slammed his hand in the ground, creating a large blast of ice that halted the mech’s advance.

“Ice manipulation?!” Zawadski yelled. “Oi, foul play!”

“You’re surprised he can do that? He was using Jackal Kagerr’s shadows all the time, teehee.” Yuuka said. “I don’t wanna know how that happened, but I’m glad it did -w-.”

“I don’t know either, I’m just glad he’s on our side. Can you imagine if he was a zombie?” Zawadski asked.

Ausra stood there, watching in hopeful fascination. If this was their superweapon, they would make it out alive.

“He was right. He’s better off fighting alone.” She didn’t even try intervening.

Sakuto ran up the large shards of ice, and, manifesting his blade, jumped on top of the mech’s head and stabbed it. He realized that it wasn’t enough, breaching it and trying to kill whatever he thought was inside was a fruitless endeavor. He jumped back, as the mech swung its arms, trying to him. But Sakuto’s movements, now enhanced with shadow manipulation, were fast, unpredictable, and could bail him out of getting struck.

He was back on the ground, as the NV tried to strike him, Sakuto conjured a giant shadow blade and sliced its hand off with a counterattack. The blade, a second later, was transformed into a sharpened tentacle that he used to pierce the NV’s body. The NV was starting to lose balance. The shadow that pierced through the back of NV’s body later wrapped itself around it.

The NV tried to break out of the restraints, but the insane force behind the shadows ripped it apart. A final crashing blow with a larger tentacle smacked the dismantled part into the ground.

“We continue our advance.” Sakuto said, signaling to the rest of his squad to move on.

“Dunno about that, if those things keep attacking us it might wear you down quite a bit.” Zawadski said. “If there’s multiple at a time, they might cause us a little trouble.”

“They’re quite the convenience for them, hmph!” Yuuka said, annoyed.

“That’s what you two are here for.” Sakuto said.

“Whatever ya say!” Zawadski shrugged. “I’ll try my best.”

“He only cares about one thing right now.”

“Eh...”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”