Shadow over the Frontline (Madness Combat x Girls Frontline)

A true Viking

Qilin POV

Gunshots... rain closely. Everything... on fire. Two worlds collide... and we're in the center of it all.

Officer: attack! Go Go Go!

A whistle is blown, signaling our assault. None of us are expected to survive... how it has always been... this is what I've sighted up for after all.

I slap the charging handle of my MP5 down and leap out of cover. Heavy artillery rain down on our position as I see my fellow Recons fall one by one.

This has happened all before... and now I'm experiencing it all again.

A muddy battlefield, on an advance to my death, hopeless situation and no escape. Only one way to go... forward.

I rush through the fire but an artillery shell knocks me on my back. Stuck in a crater as my recon goggles are covered in mud. I can't see anything. I try to ignore the screams and shots.

I try to wipe the mud off of my lenses but it just makes my vision blurry. I take the goggles off and see the world as it is. I take a good look around before I notice another Recon in the same crater as me. His legs were blown off. He tried crawling to his weapon.

I couldn't do anything but watch. He was losing a lot of blood. There's no saving him and he knew it too. He collapsed and died as he reached his weapon... finger on the trigger... an undying will to fight expected from every soldier.

I shook my head to snap me out of it and look out of the crater. The assault on the Nexus Core facility was still a full go. Most of our assault wave was wiped out. But we still stand. I grabbed my MP5 and kept on advancing while our tanks blew up around me.

We're nothing. Penal battalions serving for our horrible deeds. Suffering through our own personal hell. But something makes me think that this is better than anything that would await us in the afterlife.

I slid into cover behind a broken wall. More Recons that made it through the relentless fire stacked up next to me. Grenadiers now moved in and fired at the defenses. A full on assault is a go. The human wall was effective and bought our grenadiers enough time to get into position. They rained hell down on the Nexus Core. But it's not over. It never is.

We're a means to an end. Replaceable. As all soldiers are. I'm not delusional. I'm the bottom of the bottom. Cannon fodder to ensure the success of the operation.

Officer: they're cornered! Attack!

One of the Recons peeked out of cover and his head swiftly exploded after. His brain matter painted the walls red. My uniform now drenched in mud and blood... but no weakness. I need to push further.

We threw smoke grenades to cover our advance and started to rush at the facility. Treading through all the mud and corpses got harder and harder. But nothing we couldn't handle. The enemy sprayed through the smoke. Gunning us down one by one.

But maybe being a means to an end isn't such a bad thing. At least it gives you purpose. Something we all lost so long ago. Makes you feel like you're worth something. Even when it's just to die and be a statistic.

I push through the smoke while comrades fell around me. We finally reached the facility. I gunned all of the agents down that got in my way. Quick and easy kills. I stacked up on the front gate. I reloaded my gun and looked back at the assault wave. We've been decimated. I was the only Recon left. My uniform warm from all the blood. I can't tell if it's mine or that of someone else... probably both...

Because at the end of the day, we've all have something to be proud of. Even if it's just that we've survived the day. No matter how small and insignificant. Just making it through the day is a victory all by itself.