n

n

nI heard Aisa chuckle a bit next to me, and even though I didn’t look at her, I could tell she was smiling.

n“That’s badass… I want to be like that,” She muttered before pulling the trigger, only a few seconds of hesitation holding her index finger back.

nBAM

nHer sniper shot and perfectly splashed through two people who had lined up just as they were about to cast a spell together.

nOur mages fighting the remaining straggling mages were a bit surprised but continued to press on as they cleared the way for us.

nPew… Pew… Pew… Pew…

nI felt like I was in the zone now as everything around me had drowned out, but I quickly caught myself before I fell any deeper as I threw my sniper behind me and pulled Aisa down.

nBAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM

nA hurricane of bullets flew past us, and we both tried to catch our breath, realizing that if we fell any deeper into our scopes, we would’ve died.

n“Phew… Thanks,” Aisa said before handing me my sniper, and we soon took another position at the opposite end of the trench.

nWe filled the enemy’s skull with lead to the best of our capabilities and this continued for about half a day until… we finally reclaimed the trench.

nIt had been widened by explosions, but we just made it a bit deeper and expanded its sides so we could continue to press forward.

nOne of the people from my platoon was sent as a messenger in order to alert the people behind us, and after another few hours, we gained momentum.

nPeople picked up the vacant shovels and dug as if their life depended on them.

nBut… one thing occurred that caused all of us besides my lieutenant and me to become shaken.

n“Shit… I can’t feel my arms anymore….” The mage platoon leader said as she lay on her back, the massive hole in her chest and shoulder pouring gallons of blood into the dirty and dark trench.

nThe sky mourned for us as rain poured down in tandem with her blood, muddling the already stiff and tense air.

n“I-It’s my fault… I-I should’ve stayed up longer and not have gone to sleep. B-Because of my carelessness, you’re now dead,” Aisa muttered as she sat next to the mage platoon leader, leaking ugly tears onto her pale face.

n“Shut up. You did well enough… An old-timer like me was destined to die. I just wasn’t strong enough, and that’s how things are,”

nAisa just bit her lip, trying not to cry anymore as she wanted to try and look cool as the woman’s life slowly faded away.

n“Hey… Lock… Dying is scarier than I thought. It’s so scary that I just want it to end… Kill me… Don’t heal me. I’m already destined to die,” The woman muttered as she looked at my platoon leader, who had a cold gaze.

n“You look cool,” He said.

n“Thanks… Bella, take care of my platoon. I better not see a single one of you in hell,”

n“Y-Yes, Ma’am… Please rest easy,”

nMy lieutenant took out a combat knife and slit the woman’s throat without even a single hint of remorse.

n“Seems you were the captain, so make sure not to disappoint Michelle. It’s a large pair of shoes to fill, so work hard, and just as she said, don’t get your platoon killed,”

n“Y-Yes, sir,”

n…

nA few weeks have passed, and we’ve encountered another stalemate as the enemy has managed to gather a new platoon of mages that are much stronger than the past platoon, which our mage team struggled with.

nThey were clearing out the trenches at the very front lines, so, of course, the general gave us orders to take down this platoon.

nHe saw how great our teamwork was with the mage platoon, so, in the end, we were forced back into the very front lines where a sense of dread gnawed away at our minds.

nAisa has almost completely adjusted, but it seems she’s fallen victim first to trench foot.

n“It hurts to walk so bad… Though at the same time, I can barely even feel my feet. It’s such a weird feeling,” She complained as we sat back, waiting for the mage platoon to give us the signal.

n“You should let them breathe a bit in our downtime,” I muttered as I lay against the sturdy trench wall and stared up into the dark sky.

n“You make it sound so weird….”

n“Oh, shut up and stop complaining. Listen to my advice or lose your feet later on. Up to you,”

n“Tch… Whatever,” She muttered, but before she could remove her heavy boots, the signal, a large green explosion, was shot up into the sky.

n“That’s the signal,” I sighed before placing my sniper against the top of the trench wall and scouting the area next to the magic platoon.

n“Enemy’s 2, 1, and 11,” Aisa muttered as she also helped me scan the area.

n“They’re mages with magic shields… Use the magic penetrating bullets,” I muttered.

nWe both took out our magazines, grabbed a new one with a blue bottom, and shoved it into our snipers.

nThen, we proceeded to take aim and…

nBOOOOOOM

nAll of a sudden, the area besides us in the trench had exploded with magical particles slowly drifting down in the thick and humid air.

n“So you all are the ones giving us trouble,” A man with a light blue robe said, his long white hair fluttering with the shifting amounts of magic in the air.

nThe people defending us had been slaughtered in an instant with his landing, meaning we now had to fend for ourselves.

n“Hey… Orion… I was getting a bit hungry,”

n“I’m feeling a bit peckish as well,”

n