The scene changed to Laswell in her command center looking down at papers with a tablet on her side.
"Sending a bird is out of the question. If they take it down, they will know the US is involved, can't risk that." She explained, "they have S-400 anti-air systems in there according to reports."
"S-400? In this part of Urzikstan?! Subaru sounded shocked, "Since when do they expect rebels to show up with a Cobra helicopter?!"
"We are still looking into that, it might be because of a PMC…But this is for another time," Laswell sighed, "I might have something for you."
"I'm listening." Subaru took position near Hadir and the rest of the group.
"We have a gunship that can reach your position in about half an hour…But it will only enter the perimeter if you take out the S-400, radar, and coms. I will give the order for it to take off, you need to pull this one out if you want it there, understood?"
"A gunship? Isn't that more dangerous?" Subaru wondered, not knowing if it was better or worse.
"Too far over the clouds with a certain altitude, with no S-400 and coms, they won't ever know what hit them." Laswell explained, "it will pass by, do its job, and fly away undetected."
"Sounds like it's in my capabilities, let's do this," Subaru cocked his rifle," 3-1 out."
"Copy. Good luck out there. Watcher out."
"A gunship?" Ricardo repeated, "oh this is about to be good."
"Another odd name…" Reinhard spoke to himself, "a gunship…"
"A gun is what they are using to fight, and a ship is…A boat?" Anastasia tried to figure out what it could be, "Mh…Could it be an armed boat?"
"I do not see any river, or body of water around," Julius followed his lady's assumption, "how odd."
"No, big bro said earlier that what they needed was air support, so it flies!" Felt corrected them, earning a gasp of surprise from the merchant princess.
"A-A flyin' boat?!"
"Woah! They would have such a technology to make floating things fly?!" Mimi exclaimed to her mistress.
"That's…Amazing but why wouldn't they just use a plane with guns?" Crusch frowned in confusion, "it does not make sense to go as far as to make ships fly when you already have flying machines…"
"Maybe…It is not possible to put guns on planes?" Felix tried to think with his master as well.
"No, no…Remember on the first viewing? That viking fella came around flying, and then the entire place was on fire!" Tivey replied loudly.
"Then, a different type of firing process? Maybe even more powerful nya!" Felix exclaimed.
"Mh…Perhaps…" the Duchess thought again, "but then, why would it be on a ship?"
Meanwhile, Al observed the situation unfold in front of him, blinking under his helmet several times at the thought process these people were having.
"I don't even know if I should tell them or…" He uttered to himself, glancing to his right to see if Priscilla was as confused as they were, to see that she was focused on watching the screen rather than asking herself pointless questions.
"هل يأتي خداعك يا أخي؟" (Will your cheat come, brother?) Hadir uttered to him.
"If we're brave enough…" Subaru laughed as Hadir followed.
Farah walked in front of all the rebels, facing them as the canons prepared to shoot the base.
"Brothers! Sisters! This is the moment we were all waiting for! We get in there, attack their armory, take their weapons, and take their airfield! Retrieving the land that is rightfully ours, we will not back down!"
"نعم كريم!" (Yes, Karim!) The rebels shouted together.
Farah then turned around, facing the airfield.
"من أجل أرضنا! من أجل الحرية!" (For our land! For freedom!)
Everyone raised their eyes up front as Farah held her rifle high over her head.
"FOR URZIKSTAN!"
As the cannons fired their shells to rain down the base, even their hellish rumble was not enough to muffle the war cries of the resistance army, standing up and running towards the walls with rage in their hearts, as one mortar shell destroyed the wall they were running towards, breaching the base for them.
"Cannons! Fire the towers! Let's not give them any advantages! Snipers, get ready to defend our advance from the enemy troops! Mortars, adjust your shots from 20 to 30 meters beyond the initial target, to deal a maximum of damage to their equipment!"
Farah coordinated her troops like a real army commander, to Subaru's own surprise. He didn't really doubt the lady's ability to lead, but to see her in action was clearly a different deal than what he expected.
"Impressive," Wilhelm smiled at the commander, "very impressive."
"It seems like she knows how to inspire good spirits to her troops…Good. This is half of the battle," Julius commented with his own smile.
"Indeed, I believe she is very much experienced when it comes to commanding her troops." Reinhard praised with a slight smile.
"Yeah! She's hella good!" Felt smiled with a fist in the air, "Come on guys!"
"Wow! That was so cool!" Mimi couldn't help but shake her tail in excitement.
"Gotta admit what we gotta admit." Ricardo smirked with his hands up, impressed by Farah's panache.
"I knew she shouldn't be underestimated the second I saw her, but this is still quite impressive isn't it?" Crusch smiled at the sight of the Urzikstani leader bringing fire to the soul of her troops.
"She is amazing…" wishing she would hold such voice power one day, Emilia stared at Farah in awe.
"Hm, she surely knows how to make an impression'." Anastasia smiled as well.
"Seeing competence one in a while is refreshing," Priscilla nodded her head in satisfaction, "this is not around here, that I shall see anyone capable after all."
The resistance began to run towards the field as Subaru followed them up close. Looking up, he could see the bombs coming down and obliterate several positions in the base, taking the guards towers down to cover their approach.
The path they took was like a natural built trench, the ground offering positions to hide behind with holes, rocks and fallen trees.
"This looks so dangerous…" Petra gasped in fear for her hero, as the screen showed how he ran to take cover, "more than the other times…"
"Because he actually doesn't have the advantage here…This is a group of rebels fighting against a military force," Otto followed the little maid's thoughts.
"They have no other choice, have they?" Frederica said as she winced, looking at these young men and women fighting for their land, "they are here to free their territory."
"And they are on their own. Remember that Subaru-dono wasn't even supposed to help them in the beginning," Crusch grunted in frustration, "they were at the mercy of such an empire on their own for so long…"
"Through here! Come on cousins!" Hadir yelled at the top of his lungs.
As they ran, a loudspeaker began to echo in the base, certainly from the commander.
"Мы под атакой! Южная стена пробита! Укрепляйте периметр! Управляйте своими станциями! Авиагруппы немедленно явиться в ангар!"
(We are under attack! South wall has been breached! Reinforce the perimeter! Man your stations! Air groups report to the hangar immediately!)
While most of the cast was confused over the sudden language they heard, the subtitles provided by the screen managed to make them understand this Russian language as well.
"Now, this is a weird language…" Anastasia grimaced, "I really can't get used to that."
"We heard a bit before, but it sounds really…" Crusch winced as well, "distasteful?"
"Unusual would be the word, Crusch-sama." Ram corrected her, earning a nod from the Duchess.
"Well, most of the languages in here are unusual to be honest…" Felt scratched the back of her head, "even ours has that accent to it…"
"But don't you think it's fascinating? The language Subaru speaks with the locals, and the language the Russian speaks…They are in the same world, yet these two tongues doesn't look a single bit like the other." Petra pointed out, to everyone's approval.
"I wonder just how many they have…And if they're all like that," Garfiel said thoughtfully, "so different."
When one group of the theater were in wonders about the linguistic riches of Subaru's world, the other part was more interested by the turn of events this story would showcase.
"Their reaction time was immediate," Ricardo hummed with a smirk, "didn't waste a second before sending reinforcements where the fire rages."
"I fully expect this empire to react accordingly, but I am quite afraid of what is next," Julius replied to the dogman, "we are going to witness their capabilities to fight back in direct combat."
"This ought to be interesting don't you think?" Ricardo began to rub his hands, "let's see what they got."
The first Russian troops began to show up and take position over the walls to defend, but they were quickly shot down by the snipers in position who were waiting for them to show their faces.
One of the rebels ran towards the hill with a heavy machine gun, a PKP Pecheneg, and dived on the ground with the bipod down as he began to fire up the breach to pin the Russian forces.
"This is our opening, keep firing!" Hadir told the rebel, as he came closer.
"This is so nerve-wracking…!" Crusch exhaled, watching the group running to the field.
The excessive sound of the machine gun, coupled with explosions, screams of men and rush through the eyes of Subaru, managed to fill the theater with a tense feeling of fear while being unable to take their eyes off the screen.
They were hooked to their seats, staring with bated breath.
"Don't do anything too bold, please…" Emilia whispered, watching her knight run under the sounds of power blowing up and fire raging over him.
Subaru went in front of Hadir and picked up a Molotov, lighting it up and throwing it over the wall, immediately hearing cries of fear on the other side.
"He put fire to the-!" Frederica's breath was cut short, "so this is how it is used!"
"Oooooh! This is so smart!" Petra cheered with stars in her eyes, under the worried gaze of Frederica for her young apprentice to have arson tendencies after seeing such a use for alcohol.
"Wait…Didn't she find Roswaal-sama's…" Frederica thought to herself with rising fear in her heart.
"Aaaaah, I knew it!" Otto gripped the handles of his chair, "man, this is smart but also so damn scary! Alcohol being used in such way!"
"It's bette' than gulpin' in down like you do every damn night!'" Garfiel picked up on his friend's remark to throw a jab, "At least captain' is makin' good use of it!"
"WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT OUT LOUD?!" Otto reprimanded the tiger boy, whom would had shared sensitive information to the people around, if they weren't too focused on the screen to even care about what they were saying.
"Perhaps this would help to convince you into stopping such unhealthy habits, Otto-sama," Frederica, who in contrast had heard everything, didn't waste the opportunity to remind Otto of such a bad second nature of his to abuse on his liquor.
"It definitely gives second thoughts…" He sighed as he turned towards her wincing, disappointed in himself for the reputation he had around his own camp members.
"Hm…So this is how they make a weapon' outta it." Anastasia narrowed her eyes, "I never thought of that."
"I mean, this is high impro i'd say," Ricardo commented, "it's ingenious as hell! But it ain't anythin' that would come to our mind, since ya know…We don't need that to make a fire."
"Aye! One magic sweep and we go!" Mimi said with striking gestures.
"It is original, but rather obsolete." Tivey continued with a nod of his head.
"Hey, they make do with what they got! Don't be too haughty now!" Ricardo grabbed both their heads in his gigantic palms, shaking them.
"One would say, through hardships would come the most nonsensical ideas to survive…" Julius wondered, eyes full of admiration, "I suppose this is most true."
"And to whom do we owe such words?" Wilhelm questioned with an assured smile.
"I believe you know him as much as I do, Wilhelm-sama." Julius smiled.
"Nyow would you look at that…" Felix shivered, "is this what you expected of these bottles, Crusch-sama?"
"...I must voice my surprise," she scoffed, "but I cannot say I dislike it. Such ingeniosity should be praised."
As they came closer the machine gunner stopped firing, and Subaru picked up a stun grenade from his belt which he stepped forward to throw by the hole.
"What's this now?" Roswaal narrowed his eyes, "another one of these grenades?"
"Looks like it's another throwable weapon." Reinhard thought aloud, interested into what would be the result of it.
When it blew up, he rushed inside followed by Hadir and other rebels, all of them shooting the disoriented soldiers waiting at the wall before taking cover with whatever they could find, the place being filled with containers, storage packages, vehicles and small buildings.
"Hm…" Emilia grimaced, her eyes saddened by the sight of her knight taking lives in cold blood. Of course it wasn't new, but this wasn't something she could get used to, no matter how many times she saw it.
"It's okay," Feeling the remorse in Emilia's voice, Ram spoke in a respectful voice, albeit her eyes still directed towards the screen, "he can take a hundred more lives if he has to, Emilia-sama. Under such circumstances, I would much rather see that, than him being the one losing his life over a moment of pity for whoever he faces."
"Correct, in fact." Beatrice replied, still holding her contractor close tightly.
Emilia took a deep breath in and exhaled, but couldn't erase the sadness off her visage.
"I know…" She uttered, "I know."
"Even if nee-sama is right…Subaru-kun…" Rem whispered with her fist on her heart, "Subaru-kun shouldn't even have to fight there…"
If only she was there to protect him, is what she thought. But would he even allow her to follow him on such dark, rotten lands? She knew better than most that he would categorically refuse.
Yet, she still wishes she could be there. Anywhere he was. Just so he didn't have to walk such plains of desolation alone.
If only such a wish could come true.
"We're in!" Hadir laughed loudly.
"This is only the first part, don't get cocky now!" Subaru warned him, as he took position on the side of the cover and began to shoot enemies from his firing angle.
"Good, he's not getting carried away." Julius smiled in relief, "at least your mind grew along with your age there."
"Ya're too harsh, Julius-kun!" Anastasia teased with a grin, even though she was agreeing with her knight.
"I am only stating the obvious, my lady."
"Big bro's managing to keep a composure while under the heat of the fight, that's kinda amazing of him," Felt mused, proud of her battle hardened big brother, "he's got this."
"The second wave of drones should be here any second! As soon as they explode, we move in, yes?" Hadir told Subaru while he began to shoot towards the enemies.
"Wait for the mortars to shoot first! If they take cover from the rain, they won't be able to react in time to defend themselves from the drones!" Subaru replied, seeing more and more troops showing up.
"I do not know if my heart agrees with such tactics," Reinhard winced, thinking about how the enemies would have low chances of survival with the said coordinated attacks, "but I must agree that Subaru's ideas seems to flow quite naturally, even in the heart of such a battle zone."
"Hey! If it isn't them, it's him!" Felt reminded him, "big bro is doing his best to keep himself and the people he fights with alive, and it starts by taking down the guys on the other side!"
"I acknowledge that, my lady." Reinhard bowed his head, "But please understand, that as a knight-"
"Where do you see knights over there?!" She cut him right through, "remember this is big bro's world, and these guys are just dipshits! No reason to fight with honor if they don't have any to begin with!"
"..."
"I hate to say this because it sounds so unbecoming, but…" Otto spoke for Reinhard to hear, "I agree with her, Reinhard-san."
"Tch, you guys just can't take the fact that I'm right!" She shot back at the merchant.
"Wha- I am agreeing with you!" Otto blurted in outrage.
"But you're doing it like a pussy!"
"L-Like a what?!"
"Felt-sama!" Reinhard stopped his lady from going further, quite embarrassed by her choice of words while Garfiel couldn't stop his laughter.
While the exchange of gunfire continued, Russian troops began to regroup to form their defense, several squads making their way towards the breach.
"Смотреть слева! Смотреть слева!" (Watch left! Watch left!) The first squad yelled to the other, noticing the rebels coming out of the breach and shot their weapons, taking out three of the rebels who couldn't get to cover in time.
"Damn it!" Garfiel grunted as he saw the fighters die.
"They couldn't make it in time…" Otto winced at the sight of the dead soldiers, knowing full well it could have been Subaru if he didn't move as fast as he did to take cover.
"Such is the brutality of war…" Roswaal sighed with narrowed eyes, "if only it was as easy~than keeping all your companions alive~"
"The enemy is taking position, their surprise effect has lost its advantage by now," Wilhelm leaned a bit closer, "the fight will become more tough as of now."
Emilia, Rem, Ram, and Beatrice felt their heartbeat rise upon hearing the old man. When all they could see was already full of near death experiences, then what could anything more than that even look like?
Everyone else shared the same thoughts, but now wasn't the time to grieve and mop over what they were witnessing, not while Subaru was still alive and pushing through.
"Shit, we're pinned!" Subaru gritted his teeth as he picked up a smoke grenade from his belt, "Farah tell your troops to keep their positions for now!"
"This is one of the 'smoke' Hadir gave him," Crusch mused aloud, "do you think the name gives a self-explanatory use?"
"I believe it indeed, Crusch-sama." Wilhelm replied, "considering the situation they are in, it would also be most useful."
"So ya sayin' that thing is about to unleash smoke?" Anastasia picked up on the Duchess' thoughts, "hm…I guess, to blind the others it could be useful."
"This is precisely what they need, obscure their enemy," Julius noted, "they are currently trapped under fire, and need a way out of this tightening grasp."
Farah heard him and nodded her head while taking cover, Subaru threw his smoke grenade over his head, making the enemy troops unable to acquire targets.
"Spot on." Anastasia smiled.
"Mhm." Crusch grinned as well, satisfied with her correct assumption.
"Hadir!" Subaru yelled, losing his patience.
"Right!" Hadir agreed, looking back to see the canons ready to fire, "they are about to shoot!"
"Give the order now then!" Subaru yelled as the cannons fired from afar.
Hadir picked up his radio while the shells flew up his head, "Yasin, we're inside the base! Get more planes in the air!"
"Understood! Second wave coming in!"
"Here it comes…" Ricardo leaned in.
The bombs hit the ground, successfully hitting the enemy positions up ahead the rebels as the sound of flying drones could be heard in the distance, going down LIKE kamikazes to finish off those who would have survived from the mortar blasts.
Most of the cast found itself disheartened by such a sight, aside from people who had already seen much worse or similar like Roswaal or Wilhelm, the sight of a fleshed out corpse burned down by the blast of an altirelly-or a C4 drone- was not anywhere near appealing.
"By the gods…" Frederica uttered, flabbergasted by the sheer violence of explosions which turned the enemy side to bits, while making sure Petra wouldn't look.
"Yeah, alright." Ricardo grunted while keeping his own twins away from such a sight, "I don't even know what I expected…"
"You thought it wouldn't be so ugly?" Al commented from the above, seemingly unphased by whatever was showcased on the screen.
"War in itself is ugly, so no," Ricardo replied with a click of the tongue, "but at least, less…Bloody. Would be cool if the guy holding us up thought about the kids around."
"I don't think he can do much about what bro is seeing, though." Al shook his head.
"AHAH! THEY'RE GETTING IT!" Hadir shouted, "COME ON COUSINS!"
"Hadir don't rus- Damn it!" Subaru cursed out loud even though no one heard him, getting up to follow Hadir in their advance.
"You stupid fool, in fact!" Beatrice yelled in frustration, "Don't you dare bring Betty's Subaru into trouble with your maladive hastiness!"
"Why won't you stay put," Ram cursed under her breath, squeezing the boy's shoulders, "don't go and get yourself killed for some stranger's sake."
Crusch raised an eyebrow in surprise as she managed to hear the maid, thinking about how ironic were her words considering the very reason why Subaru was seating her in the first place, started by what she seemed to loathe.
"..."
And Emilia, who had grasped her words as well, decided to remain silent.
"Captain, Lieutenant! I see several helicopters taking off from the north of the airfield!" One of the snipers told them through the radio.
"They are coming for us…" Farah looked up at the sky as she saw them approach.
"Tell Yasin to send another wave!" Subaru tapped Hadir's shoulder as he went up front, "a part of it focuses on the choppers, the rest can hit the ground forces!"
"Copy CIA!" Hadir replied as he took cover to contact his men.
"Wait, what is he doing?!" Otto got up from his seat with a jolt, "Stay back you moron!"
"No no no no!" Emilia held a hand to her mouth, "don't go over there! What are you doing?!"
"Subaru-kun!"
"Barusu!"
"You stupid contractor!"
"...I would want to add to such worry, but you surely know what you are doing…" Crusch thought to herself, albeit her heart beating faster.
"I will forever curse that warden for putting mineself in the same room than these utterly pestering, barking animals!" Priscilla tapped her heel in annoyance, unable to properly enjoy the scene presented to them with so much noise in the background.
"Farah, you and your team stay in cover until the helicopters are dealt with! I'll bait them, you guys can flank when you have an opening!" he began to shoot towards the first helicopter he saw, successfully hitting the front glass if it wasn't for its bulletproof capabilities.
"What do you mean, bait?!" Crusch blurted out, cursing her own thoughts for what she had said a second ago.
"Captain, what the fuck?!" Garfiel yelled with his hands upwards in incomprehension.
"WHY DOES IT ALWAYS COME BACK TO THIS?!" Otto nearly cried in frustration, "GET A BRAIN YOU DORK!"
"Subaru! No!" Emilia yelped, gripping the edges of the seat in front of her.
"Tch." Ram narrowed her eyes, clutching the shoulders of the boy in front of her.
"Subaru-kun! This is too dangerous!" Rem leaned forward, afraid of the bravado her hero was displaying.
"You better not worry Betty this much, in fact! You better fight them off,and win!" Beatrice tried to dry the ears coming out of her eyes as she spoke.
"His ways didn't change, it seems…" Reinhard lamented with a faint smile, seeing how easy it was for his friend to put himself in danger.
"You guys should just trust him more, geez!" Felt retorted in annoyance to see so many people panic for nothing.
Surprisingly, Felt was the most confident in Subaru's ability to fight through. Smarter than she seemed, she already knew there was nothing to truly worry about when it came to these viewings and the role Subaru had in them.
"Ты сука!" (You bitch!) The pilot gritted his teeth as he activated his guns to shoot towards Subaru.
He quickly ducked down, sliding towards a lowered wall and ducking behind it, then he glanced towards Farah's group.
"Now!" Farah ordered one of the men with an RPG.
He jumped out of cover, aimed, and shot a rocket which the pilot saw and tried to avoid unfortunately too late as it hit the back rotor of the helicopter, making it spin in the air.
"Wow! Alright, I like that!" Mimi cheered up.
"It was daring, but we have to admit the diversion worked." Wilhelm thought aloud, albeit not pleased with how it had to play out.
"It blew up! It blew up in flames!" Garfiel howled, "Let's go captain'!"
"One down, we have two more coming!" Hadir spat out, "Yasin, where are the planes?!"
"They're coming, Lieutenant!" Yasin replied in haste, "taking off right now!"
Subaru changed cover as his eyes focused on the second and third choppers coming, the first one crashing with a loud roar in the background.
"They saw the first one go down with an RPG shot…They will expect the same tactic and make maneuvering support." He thought to himself, as he met with a group of enemies shooting at him, forcing him to take cover sooner than expected.
"SHIT!" Ricardo spat out, "that was close!"
"Way too close…" Tivey continued, watching with his ears down in stress.
"Seems like he's under pressure," Anastasia mused with a shaking leg, "glad he didn't take the hit though."
"He needs to be more focused. The middle of a battlefield is not the place to wander in thoughts." Julius severely reprimanded, letting out his anxiety more than anything.
"Wha- Give him a break! He wasn't even that unfocused!" Otto replied in outrage to his friend, "you know it won't hurt you to show worry like a normal person?"
"..." Julius just glared at Otto for a second before averting his gaze, the merchant knowing he had won just by the expression on the knight's face.
"Please, don't be so reckless…" Emilia whispered, joining her hands in front of her face.
"Please…"
"Shit!" He grunted as he pulled another Molotov, throwing it towards them.
When they saw the bottle, the soldiers began to take their distance and take cover, a moment of inattention which Subaru used to take aim and successfully hit three of them who dropped dead on the ground, the bottle falling on their bodies and lighting them on fire.
"..." Reinhard opened his mouth as if to say something, but couldn't get a word out.
"This is…Kind of morbid." Al grunted, "man, poor bastards."
"And what could possibly be the issue?" Priscilla asked of her jester, fanning herself, "they are dead. Fire should not inflict them any pain, would it?"
"It's more of a question of respect, princess. Yeah they're enemies, but once they're dealt with it sounds disrespectful to burn their bodies, you know?" Al tried to make a point to his master.
"While I fail to grasp why respect should be given to your foes, this is neither the boy's intentions to perform such an action you call 'disrespectful', neither anything which could be considered wrong," Priscilla replied, her eyes back to the screen, "for a corpse which will be forgotten, abandoned and left to rot in the middle of these desolated grounds, would it not be better for it to be burned to cinders, away from further degradation?"
"...I guess, said like that." Al concluded, not willing to fight Priscilla on this matter and rather, trying to process the thought of her actually defending Subaru.
She was obviously warming up to him, but it was a premiere even for him.
Subaru continued to run to his position, but quickly noticed that he failed to bait the helicopter who took the rebels as targets. There, he saw one of them attempting the same tactic as him.
"No! Farah, tell them to go back to cover!" He shouted in his radio, a second before the helicopter ignored the rebel trying to get his attention and shot his miniguns to the second one with the RPG, shredding his body to bits in front of all his comrades.
Frederica promptly covered the eyes of her younger maid, while most of the cast let out gasps of fear and disgust at the sight of the sudden death, aside from Priscilla who clicked her tongue for the foolishness of the rebel, who so easily died for such a little mistake.
"Inexperienced men have no place in a battlefield." she uttered behind her fan.
"That was…Scary." Anastasia sighed as she witnessed the sheer destructive power of the helicopter's weaponry.
"We should have expected as much, and yet…" Crusch held a hand to her forehead, "I suppose we will not get used to such brutality."
"Hm." Wilhelm remained stoic, not feeling as if anything he saw was new to him. He was impressed by the speed and force of the weapons used, but the result was not anything he didn't already experience.
"FUCK!" Subaru spat out, before being reminded of his own fight as a bullet hit the corner of the wall he was standing behind, breaking the cement which spat out dust a few centimeters from his nose.
"Ugh!" Otto held a hand to his mouth, "damn it!"
"No!" Rem gasped in fear, "Subaru-kun!"
"Okay now THIS was too close!" Ricardo was shaking on his seat, "get your shit together lil' boss!"
"Subaru…!" Crusch felt like her nerves were at their edge because of the frustration.
Emilia and Beatrice only stared with wide eyes, unable to say a word because of the fear of the moment taking over.
Ram, breathed out heavily, ruffling the hair of the boy in front of her to reassure her nerves, as the viewing seemed to become more and more tense.
"He is dead, cousins! Focus on the enemy and keep fighting, for his death to not be in vain!" Farah shouted to her troops before they tried to check on him out of shock.
The helicopter went forward to Farah's position, but right as it began to spin its miniguns, one of the drones struck its side and exploded it in air, the carcass falling down, as another batch flew towards the last helicopter.
"Holy shit!" Garfiel let out without thinking, at the surprising crash.
"I nearly forgot about those!" Felix realized, "they are surprisingly useful nya! Though…A second earlier would have been better…"
"Hopefully they may get their advantage back with these," Reinhard commented, "if they do not turn the tide right now, things might become even more difficult."
"Они используют гребаные игрушки, чтобы заполучить нас!" (they're using fucking toys to get us!) yelled the pilot as he blew several drones up, until one collided with the front of his chopper and blew up.
"Poor guy…" Tivey sighed.
"Seeing your death coming right at you must be so scary…" Mimi continued, "I feel bad for him."
"I guess they knew what they were in for, just like us." Ricardo grunted, patting the heads of the twins.
"One doesn't become a soldier without the fear of death constantly looming over him," Wilhelm closed his eyes, "such is the path that is taken."
"It's still fucked up." Felt uttered with a grimace on her face.
"The choppers are down!" Hadir yelled as he kept up.
Using the rumble of the carnage, the rebel which tried to bait the helicopter initially, aimed towards the troops who pinned down Subaru, shooting one in the leg and the other in the abdomen.
"Nice! Good cover!" Otto said in relief.
"Finally these guys are useful, you mean!" Petra replied with a frown on her face, "Subaru is the one doing all the work during all this time! It was about time somebody helped HIM!"
"..."
"..."
"I mean I kinda agree with her." Felt nodded her head.
"Yes, Petra-chan is right." Frederica patted her head in satisfaction.
"Alright but still, he helped him!" Otto replied, "So it's good to appreciate it!"
Subaru nodded to him in thanks and ran towards his enemies, finishing the two soldiers off as they were trying to reach their weapons on the ground.
"That was just an execution…" Anastasia looked away in disgust.
"They were still trying to reach towards their weapons, Anastasia-sama. Barusu was in his right to stop them once and for all." Ram replied to her in a cold tone.
"I was not showing disdain towards Natsuki-kun, ya know?" Anastasia raised an eyebrow towards the maid, "but rather, the action itself."
"Not like there was any choice either, boss." Ricardo commented on the side.
"I know." Anastasia nodded her head, disliking how she was nitpicked on for such a meaningless reaction.
"More than the action itself, I just dislike it." Emilia exhaled in sadness.
"I think we all do, Emilia-sama…" Crusch replied, assuming that she talked about the viewing itself.
"It is about my knight, Crusch-sama…He kills without second thought, doesn't even seem disturbed by it…" Emilia winced, "my knight…isn't like that."
Crusch narrowed her eyes towards the elven candidate, failing to hide the sudden resent which rose in her mind towards her. She was tired of her constantly complaining and crying about everything Subaru was doing in these viewings already, yet had to keep a facade in order to keep her camp ties in place.
Subaru was doing what he had to do, because he had a mission.
And Emilia wasn't understanding that.
« Они уже сбили несколько вертолетов! Они окружают нас! » (They've taken out multiple helicopters already! They're swarming us!) The remaining troops shouted as they fell back, "Мы не можем оставаться здесь! » (We can't stay here!)
« Используйте гранаты! Держите их обратно! » (Use grenades! Keep them back!) The commander shouted on the radio.
"They're retreating! Looks like they did get the advantage back!" Felt cheered as she tugged Reinhard's coat, remembering what he pointed out."
"Indeed, my lady. It seems like they are." The sword saint answered with a smile.
"They won't give up that easily," Julius narrowed his eyes, not sharing the same excitement as the two others in front of him seemed to bask in, "but it is a step forward."
Subaru and Hadir kept their advance as they lead the way for the rest of the rebels who charged the positions, leaving the Russian troops more and more exposed as the rebels gained more terrain.
"They're about to put themselves in defensive positions and use grenades, we need to act fast and keep pressuring them!" Subaru ordered as he shot a solider right in the head, "Hadir, Farah! Both your groups control each flank, force them to retreat to the center and pin them with a suppression fire!"
"A-Alright!" Hadir nodded his head in surprise, turning to his sister who agreed with him.
Subaru picked up another Molotov and threw it to his left, effectively making the enemy distraught and out of cover.
"Seems like they were surprised at his sudden orders," Crusch pointed out, voicing her thoughts, "I suppose they expected him to simply follow like the others."
"Capn' should be the one leading all of them already!" Garfiel stood up, taking over what Crusch had said, "they'd already be winnin' if they let him take the lead!"
"That is perhaps the worst thing which could happen, Garfiel-dono." Crusch shook her head, reprimanding the betrayed young boy who thought to have found yet another Subaru supporter.
"Why is that, Crusch-sama?" Otto asked with a curious expression, "Far from denying your words but, Natsuki-san already proved himself to be a competent leader in the previous viewings, don't you think?"
"Of course, this much is something we cannot deny, Otto-dono. However, you must remember the situation they are all in right now," Crusch raised her eyes towards the screen, showing how Subaru was running alongside the rebels, "this army and these people, are affiliated with Natsuki Subaru by nothing but an alliance."
The front row took a moment to look at the screen, some already perking up with what the Duchess tried to say.
"I don't understand…What would happen if Subaru-kun decides to lead them?" Rem, still confused, decided to ask of the Duchess for more information.
"Rem-dono, if I would step into your lord's mansion, and I began to give you orders only Roswaal-sama would be allowed to command most of the time, how would you react?" Crusch pointed out, while Rem widened her eyes in realization.
"I would…Certainly be outraged, Crusch-sama."
"Because such is not my right to do so," the Duchess nodded her head, glad that the maid had understood her, "same goes for Subaru-dono here. He has no right to give orders to people he doesn't know for more than a few hours. Such is not his place."
"Hey, I don't think bro was trying to do that, you know? He just proposed a plan…" Al tried to interject, feeling like they were blaming Subaru for something he didn't come close to attempt.
"Ah…I was just voicing my thoughts over the matter, do not take it to heart Al-dono." Crusch smiled back at him, assuring him she didn't mean anything wrong.
Aldebaran nodded his head and threw her a thumb up, glad to know nothing too outlandish was taking place here.
For an instant, Roswaal eyed back and forth between Crusch and Aldebaran. noticing how unusual it was for these two out of all people to friendly interact with each other.
"How interesting…" Roswaal smiled to himself.
To Roswaal's surprise these viewings seemed to create as much discord than actually bringing the people of the theater closer.
"Ah, should I really find it as surprising as it appears to be?" He said in a hushed tone to himself, smiling at how obvious it actually was.
How would it not conclude to people getting closer, when the source of what they are here and worrying about is the same for all?
"It seems that you really have a certain trait of character, to bring whoever you meet closer…" He closed his eyes for a second, thinking about his past life, "if only I was…No, if only my existence was different, then perhaps…"
For a brief instant, Roswaal remembered that he was himself a man with wishes. Beyond the tool of the witch, was still a human.
Unfortunately, this man only came around every once in a while, during a fleeting dream.
One of them, noticing Subaru's approach, decided to throw a grenade towards him hoping that he wouldn't notice in the middle of this bullet storm.
However, Subaru did, and immediately kicked the grenade back with his foot before running to cover, grenade which then exploded in mid air.
"WOAH! THAT WAS SO COOL!" Felt cheered up with stars in her eyes.
"HAVE YOU SEEN THAT?! BROTTO! BROTTO CAPN' IS AMAZIN'!" Garfiel brutally shook his friend with both hands on his coat, while his eyes kept staring at the screen.
"Yes! YES I DI- GARFIEL!" Otto whined in despair as he felt like his stomach couldn't take such movements much longer.
"Erm…" Frederica winced with a smile, acknowledging how heroic this movement was, but nonetheless disliking how dangerous it was, while her little maid and younger brother were watching.
"Subaru might have lost his leg!" Petra pointed out with a pout, "why does he toy with my heart like that!"
"GAH!" Mimi and Tivey covered their ears.
"Subaruuuuuu!" Emilia clenched her teeth, feeling her heart was about to stop after witnessing such a move from her knight.
"Such reckless behavior is bad for my temper…" Crusch exhaled, having nearly broken the armrest of her seats in anxiety.
"This kid is born bold!" Ricardo laughed, appreciating how impressive Subaru was rather admonishing him for his actions.
"That would have been me, I'd have lost another member." Al grumbled under his helmet, pointing out how his luck was even worse than his outer-world counterpart.
"Bravo!" Priscilla raised her fan up, her eyes lit up in excitement, "such a display is finally worth mine divine sight! Give me more!"
Out of everyone in the theater, Priscilla was most certainly the most loud and high spirited right now. For a long time now she was waiting to see something interesting happening in the heart of this battle, and this simple move from Subaru on screen seemed to have made her heart skip a beat.
"That was a bold move brother!" Hadir praised, as Subaru panted in actual fear of perhaps having lost his leg when he noticed the time between his kick and the explosion of the grenade.
"Pft, he doesn't seem really satisfied with his own actions here." Anastasia scoffed, noticing the shocked gaze of Subaru.
"Let us just be relieved that he completed his action in time, my lady." Julius replied respectfully, trying to stop thinking about what his friend had just done.
"Come on! Keep these positions!" Farah commanded from her side, chasing the enemies out from the flank towards the main hardpoint of their position.
"Они повсюду! Ебаные тараканы, нам нужно отступать! » (They're everywhere ! Fucking cockroaches, we need to retreat!)
"Отступать!" (fall back!) The captain yelled at his troops.
"Seems like they're getting overwhelmed, finally." Al changed his seated position.
"For now, our side seems to be gaining more ground." Felt thought aloud, earning some glances here and there from the theater, noticing how invested in this battle she was.
"Guess we have a side now?" Ricardo glanced at Julius, who nodded his head.
"Isn't it obvious?" He smiled back at the mercenary, both amused by this situation of theirs.
«Установите опорный пункт. Из города приближаются подразделения поддержки» (Set up a hard-point. Support elements are inbound from the city!) Their commander ordered through the radio.
"Сколько времени? "(How much time?!) The captain asked while panting, the pressure of the situation gaining on him.
"Около 10 минут, может меньше, если поторопимся, мы делаем так быстро, как можем! Вы, ребята, держитесь со всеми, кто есть!" (About 20 minutes, maybe less if we hurry, we're doing as fast as we can! You guys hold on with everyone you got!)
"Это будет слишком поздно! Мы будем мертвы через 10 минут, нам нужно отступить на базу! » (This will be too late! We'll be dead in 10 minutes, we need to fall back to the compound!) While talking to his commander, one of the captain's main got shot in front of his eyes, causing him to gasp and drop the grip on his radio as he hid back to cover.
" Копировать! Перегруппируйтесь с основными силами внутренней базы и подкреплениями, займите оборону и удерживайте позиции! Не дайте им взять эту авиабазу, поняли? Используйте все, что есть в вашем распоряжении, но я приказываю вам не потерять базу!" (Copy! Regroup with the main forces of the inner base and reinforcements, take defensive positions and hold your ground! Do not let them take this airbase, understood? Use anything at your disposal, but I order you to not lose the base!)
As he went forward in haste, Subaru didn't take the time to check his surroundings, and a Russian soldier jumped on him in the middle of this mayhem, pinning him against the wall.
Nearly everyone in the room didn't manage to hold their voices at the sudden attack. Watching with bated breath and crippled stances as Subaru was fighting off his assailant.
"Shit!" Felt cursed out, "This guy is huge!"
"Come on capn!" Garfiel howled as if Subaru could hear him.
"Do not touch Betty's contractor!" Beatrice yelled as well.
The soldier tried to choke Subaru by pushing him against his throat, cursing him at the same time while attempting to punch his guts. Subaru retaliated by kicking his kneecap and headbutting him, being careful to hit his nose and not the helmet.
"Oof!" Ricardo held a hand over his mouth in reflex.
"Nice!" Felt smirked, "now he's done for!"
The soldier groaned and took out his knife, towards which Subaru just scoffed and raised his rifle, as his enemy gasped in fear…Until he pulled the trigger, for nothing to come out of the muzzle.
"What?!"
"Why is nothing coming out?!"
"SUBARU!"
Subaru looked back and forth between his enemy and his rifle, both realizing that it was jammed. The soldier growled and tried to draw his pistol out of his holster, but Subaru quickly threw his rifle to his face, pulling out his own pistol right away and shooting the soldier multiple times as he let himself fall down on his back.
"So much for the gun that never jams, Mikhail!" Subaru spat out, slowly getting up to see the rebels taking the advantage.
"There we go! That's my capn!" Garfiel shouted in glee.
"This was a good fast thinking performance," Wilhelm nodded his head in approval, "even though, Subaru-dono has already made his mark as quite competent in terms of improvisation."
"That he did." Crusch chuckled, remembering how he came up with the idea to bring one of the world's biggest calamities down.
"Mhm, good. Keep on that track." Ram whispered,
"W-Who is Mikhail?" Emilia looked to her right and left, wondering if there was something she missed, even though she didn't feel like she had zoned out enough to not hear something like that.
But Crusch shrugged at her question, making it known that she had no idea as well.
"Maybe…He is related to Subaru's weapon?" Reinhard tried to make a deduction with what he had heard.
"It nearly got him killed, so screw him!" Felt blurted out, not caring about anything else, "good thing big bro is resourceful."
"It has always been one of his forte to turn any situation to his advantage, I didn't expect anything less to be fair." Anastasia mused aloud, "That's not anytime soon that you will bring that fella down."
"I guess, for you to recognize that, he must have impressed you enough?" Crusch pointed out, as Anastasia snorted to her reply.
"You kidding? Since the beginning I acknowledged his place around 'ere! Why do you think I have the same goal as you, after this all ends?" She said with a finger up and a wink, which didn't appease Crusch at all.
"...Right, how silly of me." Crusch turned around, facing the screen again, not noticing how Emilia eyed their conversation with an uncomfortable gaze.
"They are retreating!" One of the rebels shouted, "they're getting in the inner base!"
All of them approached a squared position of sandbags, crates and materials, behind which Farah made a sign for everyone to regroup on her.
Hadir, his men and Subaru joined her as she pointed towards a red little building on the right.
"This is their armory, we should find ammunition and weapons inside if we take it, but this is a key position," She explained, "they might still try to defend it or trap it…"
"No," Subaru shook his head, "they didn't have enough time to successfully trap the entire armory after the order of retreat, so if it's defended, it's just the guys inside."
"Good," Farah nodded to him, "You have more experience in these areas, so I will trust you CIA. My team will secure the rest of the perimeter until the gate of the inner zone, you and Hadir secure that armory."
"Count on me, commander." Hadir smiled as he looked at Subaru.
"Roger that," Subaru nodded to Hadir, tapping his shoulder, "let's go."
"The situation is calming down…They did it?" Felt looked up to the Sword Saint, who faintly smiled at her.
"I believe they have reached their first objective, Felt-sama. But the battle is not over."
"It's too soon to call it quits yet, but for now they're the ones on the winning side," Otto breathed in relief with a hand over his torso, "let's hope it continues this way."
"They are not wasting time, good," Frederica nodded her head, "the sooner they are done, the sooner they will be out of danger."
"It looks like they gained control of the entire first part of the base," Priscilla narrowed her eyes, "however, they will be meeting the fiercest resistance after they step further into the second part of this battle…The enemy had the time to regroup, and take positions which will give them a serious and undisputable advantage on all of them."
Al kept listening to her while keeping his mouth shut, thinking about what she was explaining aloud.
"Most of them are untrained, unprepared fighters. Turning the situation around will be, again, a duty solely rested on your shoulders." She concluded, smirking confidently as she knew she wouldn't be disappointed.
They both approached closer to the red building while checking their surroundings, but the enemies seemed to have left the zone, except for the voices inside of the armory.
" Они здесь! Блин, а где остальные?!"(They're here! Shit, where are the others?!)
"Они уехали! Мы сами по себе!"(They left! We're on our fucking own!)
" Бросай мне винтовку, быстро! Они прямо снаружи!"(Throw me the rifle, quick! They're right outside!)
"…Hadir, stay here," Subaru murmured as he brought his scarf up to hide his face and readied his pistol.
"Wait, he wants to face them alone?!" Emilia yelped in fear, "Subaru, no!"
"Is it because he wants to avoid putting someone else in unneeded danger…?" Reinhard winced at his friend's actions.
"Or…He has something else in mind?" Crusch whispered, watching with attention at what would happen.
He took a deep breath and kicked the door of the armory down.
" Руки! Покажи мне свои чертовы руки!" (Hands! Show me your fucking hands!)
"WHAT?!" Otto exclaimed in surprise.
"NO WAY!" Felt looked around to be sure they all heard the same thing as her.
The whole theater was in sudden shock upon hearing Subaru speak yet another language, the language of his enemies much less.
At the second he entered, the Russian soldiers aimed at him, but didn't shoot because of their surprise of hearing their language.
"Ч-что за херня?!"(W-what the fuck?!)
"Бросьте это на землю. Сделай это сейчас или я просверлю дырку в твоих головах" (Drop that on the ground. Do it now or I'll drill a hole in both your heads.)
"Кто такой ублюдок?! (Who's that motherfucker?!)
"Как ты думаешь, что будет?! Ты стреляешь в одного из нас, другой все равно убьет тебя! Ты не выиграешь здесь, сука!" (What do you think will happen?! You shoot one of us, the other one will kill you anyways! You ain't winning here bitch!)
"He…Wants to spare them?!" Otto realized, no knowing if it was a good or a bad thing.
"Subaru…" Reinhard smiled in joy, realizing that his friend was ready to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Now, he only hoped that his two foes would comply with his demands.
"Ugh, that'll just bite him back!" Mimi raised her fist up, "Just get rid of garbage!"
"I…Don't really know which side to take…" Tivey let his ears down, confused on the stance he should take.
"Unfortunately, Subaru-dono is no mercenary. What he does has a goal and purpose." Crusch didn't even turn around to reprimand the twins.
"Hey hey, Duchess…" Ricardo sighed in annoyance, disliking that he couldn't really talk back to a royal candidate.
"You better leave my kids out of this, Duchess." Anastasia, for one of the rare time since the beginning of the viewings, let out a threatening tone to her royal counterpart.
"No, I think I will do as I please," Crusch replied in a nonchalant tone, "children or not, they are not immune to be reprimanded for their unwelcome words."
Mimi and Tivey kept grimacing behind the Duchess' back, while Anastasia kept staring at the verdant-haired woman as if she was about to declare war.
"Я здесь, даю тебе шанс спасти твою жизнь. Либо ты сдаешься мне прямо сейчас, либо стреляешь в меня. Но выбери второй вариант, и десятки повстанцев, ожидающих снаружи, подожгут этот чертов арсенал и сожгут вас, двух засранцев, дотла! Ну что брат?" (I'm here giving you a chance to save your life. Either you surrender to me right now, or you shoot me. But choose the second option and the dozens of rebels waiting outside are going to torch this fucking armory up and burn you two assholes down to cinders! So, what is it brother?)
"И если мы не умрем здесь, они все равно будут мучить нас, как собак!"(And if we don't die here they'll torture us like dogs anyways!)
"А ты вообще кто такой?! Думаешь, мы тебе поверим только потому, что ты говоришь по-русски?!" (And who the fuck are you anyways?! You think we'll trust you just because you speak Russian?!)
"Либо ты мне веришь, либо умрешь очень мучительной смертью, по крайней мере, я даю тебе шанс выжить, товарищ, но выбор за тобой!" (You either trust me or die a very painful death, at least I give you a chance to live comrade but that's a choice up to you to take!)
"Please…Be reasonable…" Reinhard silently pleaded to the two men in front of his friends.
"If they don't take that deal, it'll not be a waste to get rid of such stupidity." Al scoffed, while Priscilla glanced at him in surprise.
"Would you look at that? You actually spoke sense, for once." She said with a genuine smile.
"I mean, at this point…" Al laughed at her reaction, realizing how she managed to influence him.
"I actually want them to surrender now, it would be useless to die after being given that chance!" Felt exclaimed, agreeing with her knight.
"No matter what happens, Subaru-kun will not be held accountable," Rem narrowed her eyes, "he took the decision to give them mercy, even though they don't deserve it. Shall they refuse it, the consequences will be theirs to take."
"Look who's talking about consequences." Al uttered to himself.