❝A BATTLE WITH ONESELF; битва с самим собой ❞

[ 𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ]

| 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒇𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉;

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Currant hues is etched upon the firmament of the 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜, one of the major powers allied against the empire and also considered as the main threat amongst all nations. A canopy of thick glaucous colored clouds layered the horizon-a fitting picturesque of the receding war against the 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧; due to their long-smoldering border disputes and territorial issues. It's a picture that is embedded to everyone's mind as they reminisce the vicious fate they have encountered on this very day. Crimson blood overruns along the cold filthy ground as hundreds of archfoe's carcass scattered all throughout the battlefield.

The young maiden soared up high dodging the cloudburst of mana cartridges unloaded by the banes as if she was gifted with transparent outstreched wings. Howbeit, despite of being acclaimed as skillful, the woman seems to be baffled and disoriented without her captain's instructions to guide her amidst of warfare but she managed to activate the passive shell into safeguarding herself from small caliber bullets and blast waves initiated by the enemies.

Three long hours of exhausting combat drained the maiden's body, dislimning the vision of her blue sapphire eyes that is now clouded. The woman is already worn out and her body started to feel groggy, numbing the forefinger that is now glued to the trigger point of her rifle as her steady equilibrium began to disarray having her outbalanced, giving a leeway for the enemy to struck her head from behind with his 𝐑. 𝐒. 𝐂. 𝐌𝐥𝐞 1917 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐦.

Completely blacked out with the impact, the woman is falling in a rapid speed with her body enclosed to the stifling air threshed with sharp particles of dust, scraping the interior of the her face with half-pint of stripes destroying the beautiful visage of the lady.

The view of the landscape underground became more clearer, with her body already passed through the considered safety threshold and will almost hit the ground that will surely inflict a grave injury for the woman. She was in dire need of help and no one is coming to her salvation. Not until, 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐮𝐬 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐬 the captain's substitute and also the battalion commander for this operation, exploited all of his mana to dive through thin air in just a span of ten seconds to saved her right off the bat. Weiss took a lot more damage than visha, except that both of them fainted atop of the mountain of bodies. A sticky red liquid trickled down the head of the man, as he hit his head on one of the small boulders lying around, painting his face with a dark shade of red. Their bodies is being carried down on a stretcher by the combat medical staffs to their outmost effort and proceeds to the first-aid tents. Tending to their injuries, visha and weiss head's are both enwrapped with a bandage to stop the bleeding, resting them on two unoccupied beds altogether with those wounded soldiers.

Exchange of tactics is still ongoing, cannonballs flew over the skylines exploding every ground that has been hit leaving those huge holes permanently. It went on for 5 long hours after the attacks finally subsided and proclaimed victory. The battalion company mages proudly encores the name of the Empire with confidence while sticking the flags of Empire across the Republican borders applauding their successful triumph.

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

The side effects of the drugs is already kicking in, circulating inside her system. The medicine injected by the nurse stabilized the vitals signs and brought her condition back to normal. she was in a deep slumber due to the severe injuries invoked by war. Abruptly, she was thunderstruck from a voice; the lady assumed that the voice came through her own subconsciousness.

𝑽𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒂....

The sharpness and high pitched voice belongs to a kid, and it was familar.... The Captain! It must be the aftereffects of the drugs that aroused this hallucinations to her mind. Three whole weeks passed by after the captain departed alone to her mission, the 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐬 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐧 𝐙𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫 conjured captain degurechaff personally to address this top secret mission war against the 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡. The maiden is tickled again to spied those golden silky blonde hair glowing glamorously, together with her cyan coloured irises capable of bewitching anyone who will dare to look, and a vibrant pink pigment coated it's luscious lips resembling a cherry-yet don't be fooled for every word that it utters is atrocious. Tanya is marching up carefully to visha until she reaches the side of the bed, the commander parted those strand of brown hairs with her delicate fingers that overlies on visha's forehead, she leaned in closer to give her a kiss. The part of the skin that was touched slightly gives off heat, her heart oscillates in a much quicker pace seeing her chest upheaves up and down yielding her every breathes, it was breathtaking of a scene.

This was a dream she had hoped for, apart from those melancholic eyes. Those commonly intimidating sleeked eyes of hers softened up in an oddly manner, it's hideous to see the troubled face of the woman she loves. She felt a sharp pang of sadness, an ache to her heart as the image of her captain slowly disperse just like a bubble.

She jumped off the bed with a gasp, grasping her chest in distressed pleading for air. Her head crooked, and globules of liquid fell down garnering up on her hands. It was tears. Visha considered her dream as a 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧, she was worried that something bad must've happened to the captain. With that, she aggressively removed the needle attached to her hand, as the blood drips on the dorsal part caused by the sudden withdrawal tracing the rough bony edges of the upper surface of her hand. After an hour of irrational searching she recognized the black tinted tiles of the hallway, the elegant lamps attached to every wallings and the majestic chandelier hanged on the ceilings nudged by a cold breeze of air.

Back from the Empire's headquarters, the maiden frantically search around the vicinities for 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐄𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐯𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐞𝐧, and finally stopping on her tracks infront of the gentleman's room. The lady barged inside his room panickedly without permission, she even forgot to knock before going inside. She let out a sigh of relief knowing that she wasn't scolded for her rude demeanor as she took a glimpse on the lieutenant's expression.

"𝑳𝒊𝒆𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑹𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒆𝒏, do you have any recent report regarding the 𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 case of Commander Battalion 𝑻𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒂 𝒗𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒇𝒇?" The lady salutes to the lieutenant before completing her sentence.

"Haven't you heard about the 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒔? The commander of the 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 203𝐫𝐝 𝐀𝐢𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 Tanya von Degurechaff is already 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅. After she declared the success of the mission-on the midway of their victorious alarums and excursions 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐒𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐱, her archenemy unloaded her very last ounce of mana targeting Tanya while everyone is on the middle of celebrating their personal achievements letting their guard down from any 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒔. She blew up a hole next to Tanya's heart. Nonetheless, the commander's heightened senses is an advantage, she was quick enough to 𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 the same damage she obtained from Mary. The mission was a success but it never ended 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅. We have lost an 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒆, a indestructible weapon to dominate the world. Now, the higher-ups is on distraught clashing on their very thrones determined to search for another 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒚 on the 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅. They buried her remains on the cemetery exclusive for heroes, you will instantly recognized it as they environ it with flowers of roses everywhere. Beforehand, they noticed a 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 inside her battlesuit and it was almost blown into smithereens, next to her wound. Thankfully, it was salvaged. They informed me that it was 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 to you, and she 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 it with all her might. The soldiers placed it on top of her desk. Go, and check it out." he finished out his sentence with his back turned against her.

𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐝...

𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐝...

𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐝...

That word constantly replayed on her mind like a film from a wrecked cassette tape. Dispirited, her strength diminished paralyzing her whole body slumping her knees on the cold ragged floor. Grasping her hair in discomfort, all of her anxieties and depression surmised, it was so excessive that it's too much for her to bear. The dream she had recently is the last moment she will ever witness the face of Tanya. Beads of tears raced as they stream down on her solemn azure orbs. It was painful. It was a struggle for her to walk as she leave the room, every step is burdensome as if she's carrying a grandiose weapon on her back, with ankle weights impeding her treads she stumbles a countless of times after finally ariving to her destination. Visha's hands reached for the key inside her pocket and unlocked the door to Tanya's room, her solitary finger traced every corner of the room she was reminded of her, she can't voice out those words that run across her mind it was as though a lump was stucked on her throat suppresing every sound she tried to make.

The lady buried her face on her captain's pillow to smell the scent that she always love that still lingers on this room, her hand clasped on bedsheets with forceful effort while letting out her bellyaches loudly resonating to all four corners of the room. Hours of anguish drained all of her strength, her voice is now hoarse from continuously screaming, she exerted more effort to reached the bedside table for the letter and crashed to the soft and bouncy mattress once again.

The letter is drenched in tanya's blood, it smelled 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 and 𝐬𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝, the appearance is 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐟𝐮𝐥 and too 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 for her too look at. It depicts how ardously she suffered pain before eventually accepting her death. Everyone will claim that this letter is not a love letter from its 𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒆-𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 complexion, it is something that you will accounted as a threat but for the lady it was romantic seeing how her name engraved meticulously. It was handled with care and love. She removed the garnish, a dried out rose attached to the envelope and smell it, it's fragrance is suited only just for Tanya. A flashback of her commander's photoshoot surrounded with flowers displayed on her mind, her lips slowly curved into a smile. It was one of the moments that tanya despise the most, as she was forced by those designers to wear those ridiculous gown for kids. Using her swiss knife, she opened the envelope carefully not to slice any part of it and brought the letter out.

𝑇𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑑...

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