Chapter 3:

A war poem once said:

"Soldiers

We are as

in autumn

on trees

the leaves".

For every soldier it had always been like this. They were like the weak autumn leaves, bound to fall at the first soft wind that passed through the branches.

Unlike every other soldier, though, Elisabetta was nothing like that at all. She was a well kept violet which stood in a wealthy house. Although it was not noticeable at first, once you would have recognized its existence you would have been enchanted by it. That's why Elisabetta was not a weak leaf, but a wonderful flower, which made people feel alive in every season of the year.

As ZA-7 walked through the city of Yurlin, its presence became more and more relevant, its steps heavier and heavier. The city around it was a disaster. Fire burned relentlessly and intoxicating smoke was ruining the night's sky.

50 adversary mechas were left to be fought. ZA-7 unexpectedly jumped in the center of the Nugan formation. Elisabetta was not looking for a fight, she was looking for the war general.

As she looked around she recognized that one of the mechas had a slightly lighter color. It was made of Oseka, a stronger metal than the usually used iron. Thus that meant it was probably the commander's mecha.

She started surpassing the iron mechas, which had now become an obstacle rather than the actual enemy. As the Nugan commander understood her scope, he rushed towards her.

Instead of going for the battle, once the commander's mecha was close enough, Elisabetta moved away, letting the enemy follow her from behind. After all, the enemy's mecha was far stronger. It was able to resist attacks far better due to its precious resource of production.

"What are you doing?" Mark asked, but she remained silent, her face full of concentration.

When ZA-7 reached Yurlin's lake, she made it jump down the dam, as the enemy continued to follow her. Once they had exited the city, ZA-7 turned around. Both mechas started firing, however, while the Nugan mecha was shooting against Elisabetta, she didn't reciprocate the action.

BOOM

From behind the commander's back, tons of water came and soon strongly impacted and damaged his mecha. Elisabetta, instead of attacking the mecha, had destroyed the dam barriers, letting water flow against her enemy. 

Using the moment of distraction she launched a punch onto the mecha's torso, making it fall against the gigantic waterfall in front of her. The robot got hugely damaged, making the movement impossible, as water was entering through the Oseka methal.

Once they got the information that their commander had lost, the entire formation ran away from the attack. Elisabetta had successfully protected the further advancement of Nugany, stopping it with a brilliant tactic.

"I knew you controlled mechas well, but I didn't know you were smart too. How did you think of this?" Mark asked.

"I thought of God." She replied.

"What?"

"I thought that God must have left something for me to win this battle. Thus, I firstly entered the enemies' formation, and only in that dangerous position did I have to think of God or nothing else in order for me to survive. After doing so, these tactics came to my mind."

"Thinking of God, uh?" 

Mark closed his eyes. He thought of God. 

But harshly, it was harder for him. He lost his composure, both mental and physical, and soon fell to the ground. He had started thinking about God, but all he could see was his sins, the judgement he was bound to have because of them.

The deaths, the suffering, the pain caused. That was all he had done for God in his life, and it was nothing requested at all. After all, everyone had to die, and so did he. The main difference between him and the people who had died because of him was that, once dead, they would have enjoyed great wealth, while he would have grieved relentless suffering.

In order for this not to happen, he either did something as good as what he did bad or...

Once Elisabetta saw him collapse, she instantly reached out to him, taking his arms. However his gaze wasn't fixed on her.

Or...

"Where are you looking?" She turned around and watched what his face was pointing at.

The mecha which had just been defeated by Elisabetta was emitting visible electric strikes out of its head. If it continued, the commander was ought to die.

Elisabetta rushed once again to the control chair and took control of ZA-7. She made ZA-7 pull the head of the mecha out of water, for the commander not to die.

After doing so, she brought it to the closest military barracks to inspect the structure and interrogate the person inside. Once they arrived at their destination, Elisabetta and Mark got close to the damaged mecha's head to take the defeated commander with them. 

They opened a hole with the strength of ZA-7 and entered it. The core room of the mecha was dark, only enlightened by the sun rays that passed through the hole. Elisabetta lit the place with a torch in her right hand. In her left hand she had some handcuffs, while Mark was holding a shotgun in case of danger.

Once the room was visible, the face of the war criminal who had ruled the expedition against Yurlin was visible.

Elisabetta had a face which portrayed her sense of justice, as her hands held even more tightly the handcuffs. On the other hand, though, Mark, recognizing that uniform, felt something different.

It was the same uniform worn by the general which had used to give orders to Mark. the same one who had ordered him to do so many crimes since his youth.

He could not bear that feeling, he holded the shotgun firmly and then...

Elisabetta turned at him, her purple eyes sparkling due to the torch's light. Before Mark could shoot, he was stopped by her simple and yet authentic gaze.

I mustn't shoot him. He thought, After all, what's inside the head can change. People can always change.

The commander was brought to the barracks and sent into a rehabilitation camp. Nobody knew what happened there. It was said that prisoners were mentally helped to become righteous people.

Elisabetta was rewarded with 3000 Rostrovian Dollars due to her help. Behind there was another soldier, he holded a war prisoner too.

"Take him." He loudly ordered.

"Alright, Turwan Izle, here's 1000 Rostrovian Dollars for you." Turwan Izle was a famous soldier of the Rostrovian army. He was very prideful because of his rank in war prisoners taken.

"Only 1000?" He lamented. "You gave them 3000 dollars, and for me not even half of that?"

"What you gave us is a mere ordinary soldier while they gave us a war general. I guess you can see the difference."

Turwan gave an ugly expression to the interlocutor and left. Before he could exit the building though, he noticed that Elisabetta and Mark had been watching him all along.

After seeing her, he coincidentally changed his attitude.

"Hi Elisabetta! Congrats on taking such a strong soldier with you. the battle in Yurlin was really tough." Turwan then turned his face to Mark, "And who are you know? Her boyfriend?"

Hearing such words, Mark felt like blushing.

"No I'm not any of that! I'm simply a soldier!"

Turwan looked at him in suspicion.

"Well, if it really is like that, than you should try to rank up and become a good soldier such as me! If you don't, how are you ever going to make her fall for you?"

"What?!?" 

Elisabetta then stepped in front of Mark.

"Turwan, that's enough!" She interrupted their conversation eloquently.

"Alright, but I won't surrender. An invasion against Nugany has been planned for tomorrow at 11 AM. I'd like you both to be there!" Turwan turned around, making his back face the girl and exit the building.

Elisabetta guided Mark towards ZA-7 and finally entered its room. At the end of the struggle, they were finally able to get some fine sleep.

The night passed and it was day once again. Since 2 o' clock, the hour they had gone to sleep, they had slept 8 hours and a half. Elisabetta and Mark were both energyless and they both had 30 minutes to have breakfast and the military breakfast had closed already. Once again, all they had to consume was coffee.

Mark prepared two cups to sip together.

"Elisabetta, how much is this war going to last in your opinion?"

"I don't know, but I am sure that something good will come out of it. As they say, there is always a silver lining."

"How can you be so positive about it? War brings nothing but destruction. How are you so happy when you must battle every time it is needed?"

"Why am I so happy? Probably because I have nothing to be sad about. I have a nice house, a nice roommate, and a nice economical condition. What should I complain about?"

Mark was speechless. Her situation resembled his own situation perfectly. And yet he continued to feel desperate. He could not even feel envious of her: their conditions were the same!

When it was finally 11 AM a red point appeared on the map. It pointed to the area of Katesburg, opposite to Yurlin. It was supposed to be a surprise invasion for the enemies to suffer.

As Mark and Elisabetta were going towards the Nugan territory with many green mechas, there was also a white one, clearly different from all the others. It was massive, it's sword long. Not only was it white but it also showed pigments of gold. It was spectacular and Mark kept staring at it.

"That's Turwan's mecha." Elisabetta said. "It is as strong as ours, thus, which is better depends on the one controlling it."

They both arrived at the red point in the map and were the main focus on the invasion. However, they were not in the frontlines, for them not to be hit instantly by the defenses.

As the frontline advanced the Nugan territory, shots started coming from every direction against theme.

BOOM

An explosion which hit not only the bodies, but mecha's heads too had erupted, causing visible damage to the Rostrovian formation. 

How could Nugany anticipate their invasion? The Rostrovian mechas didn't seem to care about the answer to the question and advanced relentlessly. But before they would have been destroyed again, a voice echoed inside the communication of all mechas.

"Quick: retreat!" It was Turwan's voice.

Getting this reccomendation, everyone did as Turwan suggested and headed back. They allowed the Nugan formation to advance. The opposition marched and marched, as Rostrovo was retreating further and further.

After some minutes the entire Nugan formation had entered Rostrovian territory. A pure area of dangerous mechas.

The situation seemed desperate, until another sound came to the communication.

"Now, surround them!" Turwan continued his plan.

As he gave his order, everyone understood what his goal had been all along. The only reason he wanted the Rostrovian army to retreat was that the Nugan one would have been lured into the territory, making it able for his allies to encircle the enemy.

After surrounding the Nugan formation, shots came one after another. Shot after shot, Rostrovo was penetrating inside Nugan defenses.

At this desperate situation, the strongest mecha of the Nugan army came forward. Its pilot's goal was not to go up against Elisabetta or Turwan.

She slashed its sharp weapon against the main forces of Rostrovo, creating a space to walk through to free the encircled mechas. It worked efficiently and the enemy's army was able to escape.

As they were escaping, Elisabetta used ZA-7's sword to destroy a bunch of mechas that were running away at the moment.

Recognizing what had happened, the strongest mecha of the enemies' army, which was once escaping, had now turned its back against Elisabetta. 

Its gaze was firm against the opponent. Dangerous. Motivated. It was looking for battle.