Pilot and Angels

Chapter 49: Broken Arrow

"Uhuk, uhuk!" An Arius soldier rose from the billowing ashes, shaking the dust and pebbles off of her uniform. As she came to, the first thing on her mind was to get her weapon back in her hand. She looked around for a moment, and there it was, her assault rifle, lying on the ground near her.

"Urg!" She grunted in pain as her arm reached out for the rifle. Her body slowly trembled as she moved into motion. She remembered the massive chain of explosions that happened before she blacked out, how the fire engulfed everything around her. She was lucky she could still come out relatively alright when compared to her other unconscious comrades.

As her hand gripped the handle of her rifle, she slowly stood up. Her legs were shaky and unstable, prompting her to use her free hand to prop her frame up. "Huk..." She looked around, seeing all her friends lying unconscious and needing medical treatment.

But the mission comes first.

She moved forward slowly, pushing through the deafening silence of the desolate battlefield. Pushing to where her intended target was supposed to be. Pushing to where her target was supposed to be killed by their relentless assault.

She did not know how many of her friends failed to take Him out. She did not know how many of those eerie specters perished by His hands. She did not know how many of their automated machines He crushed.

But all of her thoughts were blown away as she approached an astonishingly grim sight. Slowly, she raised her hand to her headset. "Overlord..." She weakly said. "Iota Zero-One, reporting." She approached the spot of interest.

A monument of crimson red.

"Shhhshkkk..." For a moment, all she heard was the buzzing static of her radio. "Shhshkk- py that, Iota Zero-One, receiving." But then, the static slowly disappeared, turning into a much more audible and sensible string of words. "What is the sitrep down there? We lost contact --- all of our units in that sector."

She did not answer, but merely stared ahead seemingly in a daze. The sole survivor kept walking until she was standing before a knee-height piece of rubble. She breathed out, the feeling of great relief washing over her like the lapping waves of the ocean.

It was over.

Her mission was finally finished.

A pyrrhic victory.

But a victory nonetheless.

"Iota Zero-One, come in." The radio demanded an answer, but still, she stayed silent. "Overlord..." But only for a moment as she quickly returned from her daydreaming.

"Target neutralized."

"..." The other side paused for a moment. For what seemed to be a lifetime, silence loomed over them, before the other side could respond. "Can you confirm?"