Chapter 15: All is permitted

Flashback:

At the time, I couldn't believe that the Imperials still had troops to spare after all those battles. They were crawling all over the palace.

Reaching the main hall was almost as hard as moving through Malberry. Also, we didn't have Elena to back us up cuz obviously, the tank can't fit inside. Nevertheless, we managed to reach the main hall but it was only the beginning of our struggle. The Imperials were dug in and fortified the 2nd floor using whatever objects they can get their hands on. We were basically pinned down for a while. But the timely arrival of Gallian Army reinforcements enabled us to push further.

When we reached the 2nd floor, we split into several groups. Our squad headed towards the throne room. The halls leading towards the throne room was crawling with Imperials. It was hard but we managed to reach our objective. There, we saw Tulius, Shadow and several Imperial soldiers holding Princess Cordelia hostage.

"Who knew that Gallia was led by a savage..." Tulius said "No wonder they are weak! I wonder, now that you know the truth, will you still try to save your little princess?"

"Tulius, you bastard!" Croix shouted

Tulius smirked and said "Still maintaining that bravado, I see... But how long will that last?"

"You bitch!" I shouted

"Drop your weapons, Gallians!" Tulius demanded as an Imperial soldier points his pistol at the princess "Unless you'd want to see your little princess' head splattered all over the floor..."

Back to the present:

"I've lost count as to how many dire situations me and my squad faced during the entire war and that was only 7 months!"

"But you guys always manage to turn the tables around right?"

"I know… But it just kept on happening over and over again that I'm beginning to think that it's a running gag!"

Flashback:

"I'll ask again…." Tulius said "Put down your weapons or your precious princess gets her head blown off!"

"What do we do?" I asked

"No use making a choice..." Emilia replied "Either way, he's going to kill us and Princess Cordelia…"

"That son of a bitch…" I said

It was a stalemate. I forgot how long it lasted but it was really nerve-racking… One wrong move and we could all be getting out of that battle inside body bags… But then, a nice surprise came by and ended the stalemate.

Gallian Army Snipers shot the Imperial soldier restraining Princess Cordelia and the princess was able to hide behind cover. That was our signal to return fire. Almost immediately, it erupted into a firefight. Our squad quickly moved to secure the princess while the Gallian Snipers provided some much needed cover fire for us to reach her safely. Within a few minutes, we secured the throne room and the princess.

Not wasting anytime, we handed the princess into the safe hands of the Gallian Army while our squad chased Tulius and his men deeper into the castle. Although, Rick stayed behind to tend to the wounded. We weren't gonna allow that bitch to escape!

When we reached the Royal Garden, we were confronted by Tulius and Shadow.

"I applaud you Gallians…" Tulius said "Luck seems to be on your side for most of this war!"

"It's over Tulius!" Croix said "The Empire's invasion force is defeated!"

"Defeated?" Tulius replied "What makes you say that?"

When we heard him say that, we knew he still had cards to play. We readied ourselves for the worst.

"Did you remember that Valkyrur during the Battle of Naggiar?" Tulius asked

"Selveria Bles…" Emilia said

"Very good, Maj. Lualdi!" Tulius said

"But she died during the Invasion of Ghirlandaio Fortress!" She replied

Taking the advantage of the opportunity, Croix fired a shot directly at Tulius' head but it was blocked... by Shadow, who was holding a shield.

"Oh shit..." Croix said

Tulius smirked and said "Shadow, if you please"

With that, Shadow took off his, or should I say her, coat. Revealing that the skilled assassin was a genuine Valkyrur…

"Not good…" Croix said

And thus begins the most difficult battle in the entire war, fighting an Imperial Valkyrur.

Her destructive powers were unmatched, not to mention her astounding regenerative abilities and speed. It looked like a losing battle as the Imperial Valkyrur shrugged most of our attacks as if they were nothing.

"This is getting hopeless!" I said

"Don't give up!" Croix replied "Valkyrur or not, she still bleeds! We just gotta find an opening!"

"Even if we manage to shoot her, she'll just regenerate!" I said "Remember Naggiar?"

"No…" Emilia interrupted "Valkyrur have astounding healing capabilities but that's their vulnerability…"

"What do you mean?" I asked

"She can heal" Emilia replied "But its not as fast as you think..."

"So how do we kill her?" I asked

"Shoot her in the head…" She replied "then when she's down, cut it off for good measure…"

"Sounds pretty gruesome…" Paul said

"It's the only way I can think of" Emilia replied

"Let's do it then!" Croix said

Easier said than done… Finding an opening was hard enough... Landing a head-shot is just wow...

I then saw her charge her spear and I knew that she was about to unleashed that same energy wave that nearly killed us back in Naggiar.

"Incoming!" I shouted as we scattered to evade the beam

We narrowly managed to cheat death but she managed to detonate a couple of explosives, placed by Tulius, in the area...

Which pretty much, sent the entire squad flying all over the place.

As we staggered to regain our composure, I saw Shadow approach Paul, who was heavily injured. Paul tried to shoot her with his pistol but she simply blocked them all.

"Son of a bitch!" Paul shouted as he emptied his pistol magazine "Die already!"

With a cold look in her eyes and a simple thrust from her spear, Shadow ended the life of my long time friend...

"PAUL!" I shouted as I tried to regain my composure

As the Valkyrur turned her attention to me, Sonia stood up and furiously opened fire on the Valkyrur but all her shots were easily blocked. She then stabbed Sonia in her shoulder.

I reached my turning point at that moment and simply put, I was enraged... I recovered and began to shoot at her. I think I emptied an entire rifle and pistol magazine at her but the Valkyrur quickly turned around and blocked all of my shots.

"You idiot!" Emilia said as she stood up "Your shots won't work if you attack her from the front!"

She then charged towards me and tried to stab me with her spear but I managed to evade it. Unfortunately, my reflexes were not fast enough to dodge her kick... And the force of which landed me near a wall... I then saw her toss Emilia in front of me as the Valkyrur slowly walked towards us...

"This is the end…" Shadow said as she neared Emilia

"Emilia!" I shouted

But Emilia was still struggling to get to her feet...

As the Valkyrur was about to end her life, Croix quickly jumped behind her and restrained her arms & legs.

"Aster!" he shouted "SHOOT HER NOW!"

Back in the present:

"Gallian-1R rounds were designed to go through a target..."

"So… that means..."

"It means that if I shoot her, the bullet would go through her and would inevitably hit Croix"

"I get it… You didn't want to risk Croix getting shot…"

"Yeah… But I knew that was our only chance of landing a bullet on her… So I quickly reloaded my rifle and..."

Flashback:

...Aimed it at her head…Took a deep breath and made 3 shots… 2 landed on her chest and one landed on her cheek. She, along with Croix, collapsed to the floor. I then saw several blue flames emerge around her wounds.

"She's healing!" Emilia shouted "Kill her now!"

Acting fast, I took out my knife and began to furiously stab her throat. After stabbing her countless times, the blue flames finally disappeared and I knew that she was dead. I quickly moved her body out of the way so I could check on Croix.

He sustained bullet wounds on the left side of his body and on his right arm.

"Croix!" I said "hang on! We'll get a medic up here!"

"No…" Croix said as he grabs my arm "There's no time... You have to stop Tulius! Go without me!"

"But Croix!" I said

I then spotted an Imperial squad headed our way.

"You have got to be shitting me!" I shouted

"Go!" Croix said as he stood up "I'll hold em off..."

"What!?" I said "You can't! You're injured!"

"There's no time!" he shouted "Only you and Emilia can end this cycle of pain and suffering!"

"B-But..." I said as I clench my fists

Back in the present:

"I... I didn't know what to do... I wanted to stay but I couldn't... But if I left, then Croix would have... he would have..."

"What did you do?"

Aster looked at the dark rainy sky...

Flashback:

"Croix..." I said "Don't do this... we can take them on..."

Emilia then walked up and said "Aster... we don't have much time... We need to move..."

Another hard decision...

"Why? Why must we suffer like this!?" I shouted "First our parents, then our town, our friends... Why...?"

As I cried Croix said "That's life, bro... You won't understand it now but maybe soon you will..."

"Croix..." I said "What do you mean?"

"Aster..." Croix said as he pats my shoulder "I'm sorry that I almost got you guys killed… Maybe this is my retribution…"

Before I could respond, bullets began to whistle past us...

Pulling out his pistol, Croix said "Go! Don't let that bastard escape!"

"But..." I replied

"I said GO!" Croix shouted

Clenching my fists, I said "...ok"

We then shook hands... for the last time...

Before we left the area, I looked at Croix. He looked up into the sky and said "Hey Aster! Don't worry… I'm going home!"

Our fearless squad leader... He picked up Sonia's pistol and dual wielded it with his own... And he...

He made one last stand...

As me and Emilia went on an alternate route, I could clearly see the battle that was ensuing...

Croix had nothing to lose... and so with one last battle cry, he charged towards the Imperial squad, guns blazing...

He was shot multiple times but he kept going... Gunning down one Imperial soldier after another.

Just then, the regular army arrived at the scene and eliminated the remaining Imperials... I took one last look at Croix... He sustained multiple bullet wounds to his chest and he was bleeding everywhere...

"CROIX!" I shouted

Dropping both pistols, he raised his right arm, smiling, and gave me a thumbs up before collapsing into the ground...

Back to the present:

"With that, our squad leader joined the others in death…"

Popuri could see Aster welling up in tears... she then asked:

"What about Sonia?"

"Thanks to Croix, she survived..."

The two were quiet for a while then Aster continued:

"Now it was just me and Emilia… We were the only ones left to stop Tulius. Remembering all that has happened till then; we strengthened our resolved and continued the chase..."