The next day the group moved closer to the front lines.
The land had completely changed.
It was torn apart by craters, barbed wire stretched across the mud, and shattered trees stood like broken spears across the battlefield. The trenches ran endlessly through the earth, packed with exhausted soldiers covered in dirt and smoke.
Gunshots cracked constantly in the distance.
Every few moments artillery shells screamed across the sky before exploding somewhere along the line, shaking the ground beneath their feet.
Diana walked through the trench beside Steve, looking around in disbelief.
Men were wounded everywhere. Some sat silently with blank expressions, others cried out while medics struggled to stop bleeding with dirty bandages.
This was nothing like the battles she had trained for.
This was endless suffering.
Suddenly a group of civilians appeared further down the trench. A frightened woman clutched a small child while several elderly people followed behind her.
She grabbed Steve's arm desperately.
"You must help us," the woman said, her voice shaking. "The Germans… they took our village."
Diana stepped closer immediately.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
The woman pointed across the battlefield toward the German lines.
"They are holding everyone there. Women, children, the elderly… all of them."
Her voice trembled with fear.
"They say if anyone tries to escape… they will kill the children first."
Diana's expression changed instantly.
Her hands clenched.
She looked toward the distant village beyond the battlefield where smoke drifted into the sky.
Steve spoke quietly beside her.
"We can't cross," he said. "The Germans have machine guns covering the entire field."
But Diana barely seemed to hear him.
The cries of wounded soldiers echoed around her while shells exploded in the distance.
Her gaze remained fixed on the village.
"They cannot do this," she said.
"And I will not allow it."
She turned to Daniel, who was holding her sword and shield.
"Here you go," Daniel said, handing them over.
Diana blinked in surprise. She had expected him to argue, to stop her.
But he didn't.
She took the shield and sword without hesitation.
The next moment she climbed out of the trench.
Her long coat slipped from her shoulders and fell behind as she moved, revealing the armor beneath. The coat landed directly on Daniel's face while she rushed past.
Daniel pulled it off slowly.
He folded the coat and tossed it into his inventory.
Around them soldiers shouted in alarm.
"What the hell is she doing?!"
Diana was already running into the open battlefield.
Bullets began tearing through the air immediately.
Daniel sighed.
"Well… I'm going too," he said calmly. "She's right. What's the point of standing here doing nothing when millions have already died… especially when you know you can stop it?"
Before anyone could respond, he stepped out of the trench and followed her.
Across the battlefield, German soldiers saw the figure of a woman charging toward them through the smoke and mud.
For a moment they didn't understand what they were seeing.
Then the machine guns opened fire.
Bullets rained across the battlefield.
But every single one of them struck Diana's raised shield and bracelets, deflecting away in flashes of metal as she continued moving forward.
"Umm… I'm going," Sameer said, watching Diana charge across the battlefield while bullets tore through the air. "If that lady is brave enough to face that madness… then as a man I shouldn't be scared."
Steve let out a breath and shook his head.
"Well… we follow her."
Charlie grabbed his rifle and climbed out of the trench while Sameer and Chief followed close behind.
Ahead of them, Diana had already reached the German line.
She burst through the sandbag position like a storm.
A soldier tried to fire at her from point-blank range.
Diana slammed her shield into the rifle, knocking it aside, then struck him with the edge of the shield. The man flew back into the trench wall.
Another soldier lunged forward.
Her sword flashed.
The rifle split in half before the soldier even realized what happened.
Diana moved through the trench like lightning—blocking, striking, throwing soldiers aside with overwhelming strength. Gunfire echoed around her, but none of it slowed her down.
From behind the trench a German machine gun crew tried to aim at her.
But before they could fire—
A shadow dropped from above.
Daniel landed in the middle of the position with a heavy crash.
The wooden platform beneath the machine gun shattered as he struck it. The entire gun nest collapsed under the impact, the weapon flipping into the air before smashing into the mud.
The soldiers nearby froze for a second in shock.
Daniel stretched his shoulders casually.
"Alright," he muttered.
Then he grabbed the fallen machine gun by the barrel and swung it like a club, sending two charging soldiers flying into the trench wall.
Behind them, Steve and the others finally reached the German position as the battle began to turn.
At a distance, a heavy tank rumbled into position, its armored body grinding through the mud as the crew turned the cannon toward the trench where Diana and the others were advancing.
"If that fires, we're finished!" Steve shouted.
The turret rotated and the barrel lowered until it pointed straight down the trench. One shot from that range would tear through the entire line.
Just as the gun finished aligning, the metal barrel suddenly jerked downward with a loud metallic groan.
The crew inside stared in confusion before the entire armored vehicle lurched violently to one side. With a deafening crash, the tank tipped over and slammed into the mud, its tracks spinning uselessly in the air as smoke and dust burst outward around the wreck.
The battlefield went strangely quiet for a moment before a figure stepped out of the drifting smoke. Daniel brushed the dirt from his sleeves as if he had just finished moving a piece of furniture, then clapped his hands together lightly and glanced across the battlefield.
"Well," he said casually, "that was annoying."
*****
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