Well, after waking up aside the repaired and fully functional HAM radio, I was suppressed to find a distress call on playback with a note sticking to a dial. It read.

“This is your first assignment, help out the band of 21st-century operatives about 500 meters away from this library. Your equipment will be this USP with a suppressor and body armour. Good luck Rynosuke. Signed Kuucifer. Heh…like a video game eh?” (Rynosuke) I read and chuckled sarcastically after the clichéd note reminding me of old spy and detective movies that we had watched in the orientation class.

I started to then go through the equipment stated on the list aside from the firearms and body armour, I also found a few smoke grenades, flash bangs, knives and police batons.

After a while, I finished suiting up and started my 500 meters hike down the hills of the library towards the appointed direction and most notably towards the rising smoke column in the distance. I took out the binoculars to check the situation.

A few medieval dressed people…seemed like they were having a celebration of some sorts.

I was confused at this point to why I was tasked to assail their camp… I hadn’t seen any slaves or anything.

However, I soon changed my mind as I saw a group of children, being chained up and led out to the light. So this is why.

A bunch of chained up kids…in military uniforms?!

I zoomed in further to confirm suspicion and to my surprise I was right. The chained up kids were military cadets in several different types of uniforms.

Right! Time to play the hero.

I took off the suppressor and fired a few shots to the air, hoping to rile them up and threw a few clouds of smoke to cover my tracks. I then reapplied the suppressor and slowly made my way through the shadows of the night.

I managed to get to the kids in their restraints, a few of them sigh of relief, and started to rattle. However, I didn’t want to blow my cover thus, I shushed them as I shoot off the chains with my USPs and asked for their leader.

“She’s been taken away, to the large tent.” (One of the kids)

“Where is the large tent?” (Rynosuke)

“Head left from here and go straight, there will be a large tent with a fabric cover for a door. Now, do you know where to know the way to get out of here?” (One of the kids)

I then pointed to the hill silhouetted behind the smoke screen.

“Just walk up the hills, there is a library with some weapons and extra equipment. You guys get yourself patched up and if I don’t come back in 1 hour, send reinforcement.” (Rynosuke)

“Alright! Do we get anything to protect ourselves?” One of them asked as they help up the injured.

I then give them my baton, USP, revolver and a few extra magazines and rounds.

“Use them wisely, the sound might attract unwanted attention and move slowly. I’ll pop another smoke and wait for the sound of the flashbangs, I’ll try to gather them to my position, you guys run for it.” (Rynosuke)

“Roger that!” (the kids)

“Ready?” (Rynosuke) I then pulled out the pin and as they ran away, I threw the flashbangs to a further position and made my way to the tent.

“The slaves are getting away! After them!” (The slavers)

“Looks like everything’s going according to plan…” (Rynosuke)

I smugly stated as I rushed to the objective.

…

I managed to reach the tent, following the instructed route by one of the kids.

“Right! No time to lose.” (Rynosuke)

I then followed the standard breaching procedure, I lunged myself through the fabric tent door and yelled out loud.

“Hands up! Down on the ground now!” (Rynosuke)

In the room were four malicious looking men with scars all over their bodies and chest; aside one of them was one girl in a ripped open Gorka suit with her hair draping down covering her face.

“Well well…Look at what we have here…You seem lost little lady…” One of the men said as they slowly made their way towards me.

I stood tall, held my ground and firmly state my intentions.

“I am Sergeant Rynosuke Tanizawa, I’m sure that everything here today is a misunderstanding. I would wish to resolve this in a civilized manner, so may I have this person, my comrade, back?”(Rynosuke)

“Nyet! Leave me and save yourself!” The girl weakly whimpered, as she crawled away from the man in front of her.

“You fucking bitch stay still!”

He yelled and raised his hand preparing to slap her. I rushed in, drew my knife and push the knife against the man’s neck.

“gurgh! How dare you?!”

“I would choose my next words very carefully if I were you…(Rynosuke)

I stood strong, firm up my wrist and planned my next move.

“You alright?” (Rynosuke)

I asked the girl as she struggles to tie up the straps on her Gorka suit. In which she replied with a nod with her hair still drooping over her face.

“Lassie, you seem to be quite a feisty one…hehehe…we’re gonna enjoy that plump fruit of yours.” (One of the men)

They drooled and drew their weapons.

“Now now…We’re all civilized people, right? Let’s sort out this misunderstanding.” (Rynosuke)

“Get her!” They yelled as four of them simultaneously jumped in with their weapons drawn.

I turned to the right and parried the strikes with the two knives I had. Keeping them at bay, I then shouted to the girl

“Ma’am,…I’ve already released your comrades, they are at the library up the top of the hill…There should be some weapons and equipment to fight these guys off if they try to do anything. Now go! I’ll hold them off.” (Rynosuke) I told her in Russian.

“Nyet, what about you?!” (the girl)

“I’ll be right behind you now go!” (Rynosuke)

“I don’t know what kind of cryptic messages you just said to that whore, nor I am not that dumb to realize that you have released our slaves. However, we’re not worried because our men shall capture them easily. And when we’re finished with you you’ll only be a limbless sex toy used to our desire…Hgh!” (One of the malicious men said)

“One, I-am-a-guy. And two, try standing up after this…”(Rynosuke)

I jumped backwards, dropped two flashbangs on the floor and ran out. A loud roaring groan then echoed through the complex.

As they were dazed from the concussion grenades, I rush through the back opening that the girl had gone through and found her barely standing straight on her feet.

“Hey hey you alright?” (Rynosuke)

Her eyes were watering and she was breathing abruptly, barely manages to keep her head straight and was coughing like hell. I mean I’m no doctor, but in basic training, we had many times heard of the word organ rupture and I had seen her slumping before, gripping tightly on her lower abdomen, so that kinda confirmed my suspicion.

She started to fall in and out of consciousness. At this point the poor girl didn’t had any strength in her legs to keep walking so I hoisted her over my shoulder and carried her. Because of the excessive weight of her body, my speed wasn’t good and from a few tents away I could heard guards scrambling to our position.

However, I was sorta lucky that I still had two smoke grenades left in my pockets. I gave the girl my balaclava and told her to take a deep breath, put the balaclava on her face as I pull the pins and pop the spoons of the grenades. After a short amount of time swirling the grenades till the smoke became thicker and I threw to the sides to cover our tracks and with a single breath of air, I ran as fast as I could, climbing up the hills and rushed towards the lit-up library.

One of the kids shouted:

“Hey open up! Balalaika’s back!”

They opened the gates and several of the kids ran outside, forming a protective barrier with their ak74s and m16s drawn.

“Hurry!”

“You guys gotta help her…ha…ha…She has organ rupture…Anyone here takes combat medic courses?” (Rynosuke)

“I do!” A redheaded girl raised her hand high and rushed to my side.

“You’re a medic good! Check her out! And the rest of you gear up, those guys had dog pens in their camp, I’m sure that those hounds would have gotten our scent by now so gear up! And lights out!” (Rynosuke)

I then sent a few of them on watch duties while I tried to find a good position where the medics would be able to work with a small amount of light.

“You! Medic! There is a reading quarter in the left side of the library next to the HAM radio, behind the fallen bookshelves. Bring some light sticks and a flashlight to work on her wounds. GO!” (Rynosuke)

Though I took the initiative of the leader role and gave out some orders, however, some of the kids didn’t agree to my orders. They stood bewildered and clueless. One of them even stood up in defiance.

“Why the fuck should we listen to you?!” He shouted raising his m16 in the air all high and mighty. It wasn’t even a second that another few followed his lead. Now, most of the kids in the camp were against me, having a distrusted attitude towards how timely my rescue was to their plans of breaking out of their captors.

I raised my USP and shot one shot to the air, gathering their attention and silent the herd.

“Fine, then I’ll leave…” (Rynosuke)

“Eh?” (The medic) The medic turns her head in awe and then asked.

“Why? Hold this for me for a moment Biyeori” (The medic) She passed the scissors and scalpels to her surgeon partner and continued. However, before she could say anything, she was cut off by the same guy.

“We don’t need him, Rina! He might be coercing with someone else who would do worst to us than those bandits.”

“Shut up Nam Seung! He single-handedly saved Ms Balalaika while also sending us to this safe point…IS that not enough?” (Rina)

“Safe point? You call this a safe point? This is basically an open building, we’re basically sitting ducks! And this safe point of yours barely stood at the top of the bandits’ camp.”(Nam Seung)

“Alright alright! I’ll leave, I’ll leave…” (Rynosuke)

“You’re not going anywhere! What happens if you come back and lead them back to us?” (Nam Seung)

“Then shoot me…” (Rynosuke)

I sarcastically provoke him, shoving the muzzle of the m16 to my head.

“Shoot me! Come on now! Shoot me! You can’t kill me! Do it!” (Rynosuke)

This was incredibly stupid as what happened next was that three rounds of m16 burst fire shot through my cranium.

What came next was a red blur with a high pitch scream echoed through the background.

…

“Mister Tanizawa, Seiza!” (Kuucifer)

I kneed down and kept my head low as I started to suffer the scolding of my Demon queen Kuucifer. She first used the ladle she had on hand and hit me with it on the head and then the first wave of insults came.

“Baka-Ryno, what were you thinking?! Explain yourself…And it better be good!” (Kuucifer)

“I…I…I thought…I might be able to teach him a valuable lesson about not threatening his senpai. That’s my reason…Please don’t be mad…” (Rynosuke)

I pleaded for her forgiveness.

“*sigh* Fine! Just don’t imitate stupid movie lines. It’s bad enough that you’re a psychopathic torturer, I don’t need you to also be an idiot. I care about you, you know?” (Kuucifer)

I then prostrated myself (Dogeza) to her and yelled.

“I’m sorry!” (Rynosuke)

In which she crouched down, pet my head in a sisterly manner, followed up with a hug and a few head rubs.

“You are honestly one of the most troubled person that I’ve even greeted…But…You’re my one and only Baka-Ryno, so take care of yourself alright? Now let’s eat, I made Napolitan!” (Kuucifer)

We ate and chatted for a while and I managed to know some more on my master. I learned that she was in school at the beginning of the third Great War. The uniform belonged to her grandmother, she had to use it since her family didn’t have the money, as Japan’s economy was going through a rough time during the war.

…

I would have asked more if the damn clock didn’t start ringing. Kuucifer led me out of the door and handed me my scarf. She then said in a higher than usual pitch.

“Be careful…” (Kuucifer)

Of which she noticed and bashfully covered her mouth. Though I didn’t say anything, I was love-struck. However, before I could say anything, I was thrown back to the world of the living.

Chaos ensued, the library was undersigned by the bandits, Nam Seung and a few others were crying their eyes out and a few of them were heavily injured with blade and stab wounds. Many of the kids fought with each other. Those who were still in a clear-headed state, took arms to protect their comrades. They posted each other on top of the walls and using the guns in the library, they dispatched against the brigands.

The reddish hue was still on my eyes and my bullet holes were still there in my head. I staggered around until I managed to reach Nam Seung.

“Nam…Seung!” (Rynosuke)

I groaned at him as I slowly stumbled towards the boy. Like a wimp, he squeezed up his eyes and started yelling “no”.

I stood up over Nam Seung and reached over his shoulder.

“No! Please!” (Nam Seung)

He yelled while squiggling around like a fish out of water, but I wasn’t reaching for him, but rather the m16 behind his back. I reload the gun and took one extra magazine that was laying on the ground. I chambered the weapon and sheath my knife. On my way to the fortifications, I also picked up a USP with a silencer on presumably dropped by the kid I gave the gun to earlier.

I looked around for a discrete way so that I could flank the attackers. Concealed by the darkness, I stealthily drop through the fences and made it to the other side without the attackers noticing.

And from the shadows, I pulled out the USP and began to take down the dangerously close targets, helping the guys on the walls with their defences. I managed to take out and injure quite a few.

However, luck wasn’t on our ragtag group’s side, one of the kids fighting off the onslaught on the walls got hit by an arrow. He lost balance and fell down on the hostile side of the wall. I couldn’t leave a fellow cadet behind so I decided to cover his escape. I blew my cover using the m16 to take out the guys trying to stab the kid and the three assailants charging towards him.

I then abandoned my position as it was compromised and a few of the charging fighters were starting to target me for their attacks. I rushed to the wounded’s side and signalled him to call for help.

“Who are you?! Hand gestures?” He asked.

“Kha…Pho…Hab…” (Rynosuke) I stuttered as I laid down cover fire with the m16.

“Kha…for? Call for help? No use Nii-san, everyone is too scared to do anything... Nii-san you should leave me and go…ugh…I’m pretty messed up.” He said, gripping tight down on his wound.

However, leaving him behind wasn’t my intentions, so I shook my head and hoisted him up over my shoulder.

“What are you doing? Leave me! Save yourself!” he protested.

I shook my head violently over the protest, let the m16 hang down to my hip, drew out the USP, slowly hugged the wall and made my way away from the kill zone.

My plan then was to try to find a way to get the kid back inside in the most discrete and stealthy way as possible so I could return to battle without the assailants’ notice. I signalled him to call for help when arriving at an opening on the area perpendicular to the front defence and hidden away from the spotlights of the enemies.

“Nii-san? What are you trying to say?” He asked, confused at my frantic hand gestures and head nods.

Hand gestures and sign language had been one of the many subjects we soldiers first learnt in middle school, so this boy’s airheadedness was quite baffling. Nevertheless, the arriving defenders of that wing noticed us and were about to shoot before the kid frantically yelled “don’t shoot” to them.

They dropped down a rope which I used to make a makeshift medical harness and tied the boy’s body to it. The plan was going smoothly till an unexpected jab of an arrow replaced most of my strength with an aching pain in my lower abdomen.

When I looked back, I saw that an arrow had punctured a part of my backside and it was bleeding heavily. I had suspected that it had hit one of my kidneys and ruptured my organ. Aside from my injury, I also spotted several men with broadswords, crossbows and muskets running towards our position.

I took a knee, turned around and fired a few shots to the crowd, dispersing a few of them and tighten the boy’s harness on his body.

“Nii-san! What’s wrong? You’re hurt!” The boy grabbed my hand, vainly tried to pull me back to my feet as he was hoisted up to the wall.

“Nii-san! NO! Let me down! He’s still down there!” He yelled, squealed and kicked around as my body weight kick in and I dropped back down to my knee.

Reloading the m16 with the last magazine, I was prepared for a final stand against these meatheads.

“Nii-san!” His voices hauntingly echoed, throughout the roaring war cries and the thumping sounds of running brigands.

I took aim, pulled the trigger as hard as I could and tried to buy as much time as I could before being overwhelmed. Barbarically, the brigands continuously shoved their swords into my body. The sensation was hardly forgettable, a burning pain with a cold hard finish on top of it.

The feeling of death was more defined then the last time, I felt cold, I felt week and slowly, this time for sure, I was not going to make it.

“You’re so dramatic sho-nen, you really are.” (Kuucifer)

Kuucifer suddenly spoke to me, and though I didn’t manage to catch what she had said, my body felt warm and light. The feeling was more or less like an onsen. What came next I didn’t expect.