The Captain's Story from the Past

July 4, 347

Going outside no longer feels the same; now I walk outside with a goal in mind: to bring order to the chaos.

"Go to your formations!" The instructor demands.

Everyone agrees and spreads out at the same time. My squad, elite squad one, is in the lead, with five members, and elite squads two and three aren't far behind. Misakana and Nekonya are members of the second elite squad. We were handed smoke cannons, which we could use to warn other squads if there was a so-called beast close or whether the territory they were passing through was clear.

Comrades open the stone wall gates, we all started the first expedition, we were travelling a far way out, west side of the city, out into the open, in my opinion I thought it wasn't a good idea because our maneuver gear was practically useless.

All I could hear while riding was galloping and the faint screeches of adjacent beasts, as well as the wind. My face and fingers felt frostbitten by the snow smacking itself onto my face

Suddenly,

"A red flare!!" a comrade yelled behind me.

"North west!" another added.

I looked across to the red smoke and fired one to warn the other squads on the formation's east flank.

"Should we help them?" I asked the instructor.

"No, stay in formation, they can handle one," he replied.

But Nekonya and Misakana were over there...

It began to snow heavily, and I could scarcely see the terrain ahead of me. There was no one in the area. My thoughts were racing; I could've died, and humanoids may be lurking nearby. On the slick footing, I did my best to keep my horse stable.

My horse slipped. I slammed onto the ground with a loud bang. I struggled to get to my feet because I couldn't move properly at the time. It was a coughing sound that I heard off to the left of me. I pulled my swords and raised my guard. It was raining heavily, making the terrain muddy and slick, and my surroundings were obscured.

"Stay s-still and take a look—over..." He paused and collapsed, but his finger continued to point in the direction of where he should look.

I turned over my shoulder and saw a figure through the pouring rain and broken window. It was big, tall, and snarled ferociously. I moved closer to get a better look at this creature, but as I did so, I tripped over something. I swiftly turned around to see what it was. It was a person, but only half of one. Then I saw there wasn't just one corpse here, but the entire west side of the formation. This creature's silhouette turned its massive head. Its growls and yellow lighting eyes were like something out of a nightmare. This is a horrible situation. One that will never end. I aimed the hooks from my gear and struck them to a tree on the left side of the beast. The beast looked up at me and spat something out its mouth. It was Misakana. The top half of her body went flying into mud. I stood there in shock. That meant that Nekonya was dead too. I could feel myself wanting to cry, I filled with rage and launched off the trees.

This beast was chopped by me. To gain speed, I pushed myself off the two trees in front of me. It couldn't react because I was moving too quickly. I continued to slash its body, cutting further and deeper into it. It collapsed on the ground, attempting to get back to its feet. In my ODM gear, I landed on a tree and replaced my shattered blades. I was about to run out of gas. If I pushed it too far again, I'd know. I wouldn't be able to swing high enough into the trees to avoid being eaten. The beast was on its stomach, with its neck exposed. I pierced its shoulder with the hooks I had aiming at it. I'm launching myself to the nape of its neck.I landed on the ground, dropped to my knees, let go of my swords, and wept.

We retreated after the entire east side of the formation discovered me. The next thing I recall is being in the nurses' station, in a bed. I must have passed out.

"Hello honey," she murmured sweetly. "You're awake, that's good."

She handed me some food, and I grabbed it and sat up slowly devoured it. I was devoid of emotion, and the room seemed to be growing grey.

"Hey... She responded, "You did a good deed getting retribution on that beast."

I guess she was right.

"I was too late..." I said in a soft voice.

"You lose people over time, you'll get used to it, best thing is to move on..." she replied.

Instructor Kamado walked in

"You did great out there... captain..." he said.

I shook my head and nodded. All that was going through my mind right now was seeing Nekonya's head on the grass, surrounded by everyone's dead bodies. After a few period of recuperation, the instructor led me to a room where he said that this was my secret training room, that I could come here whenever I wanted, and that I could go outside whenever I wanted because I was the new military captain. I thanked him and entered the room, taking a seat in the centre.

I went over to a cabinet and looked inside after a while. It consisted of a slew of swords, ODM gear, and flares. There were drawers adjacent to it with clothing, books, and pens inside. There was a punching bag and some gym equipment in the centre of the room where I sat. To be honest, I thought this was incredibly awesome. Finally, the unexpectedly large window in the wall meant that, as the instructor had said, I could go outside whenever I wished. I went outside and looked around; it was looking over the entire city, and every now and then I noticed beast heads.