“Hmm? What’s wrong Leane? Still worried about the battle at everblight plain? Oh for sparks sake alreadly, stop worrying~ We’ve got commander Arewhel on our side, y’know how strong she is right? She’s the pride and joy of colony 49 after all!”

“B-but I can’t be the only one who’s worried right?! Surely I’m not crazy Annie?!”

“Of course not you Tirkin-brain! Everyone in the colony is worried, we all know the stakes here after all, silver rank versus silver rank, against colony Beta, led by the battlefield technician Taion. But, it’ll work out, I promise hunbun. Once this is all done let’s go grab a celebratory Choclit brog leg pie to calm those post victory nerves.”

“Excuse me, you two are squad leaders, correct? I ask that if you simply must chatter, can you lead your squads troops at least?”

The two women salute and say in unison, “Y-yes commander!” before awkwardly running over back in front of the marching line, leading their troops.

“Ughhhhhhhhhhhh, Annie, how much snuffing longer do you reckon we got till we make it there? Those mechanics in the Levnis back there are so damn lucky..”

The commander speaks up.

“Leane, is it? I’ll choose to ignore your poor work ethic and answer your question.”

“Commander Arewhel! I’m sorry ma’am..”

“It’s fine. I’ll let you know that we’re nearly there, once we march up this hill we’ll be able to see the camp and-” 

Arewhel’s iris lights up and she receives a call. 

“Commander Arewhel, we’re under attack, please provide assistan-”

Static.

Arewhel stops marching, and turns around, causing the squads to stop in their tracks as the leader prepares an impromptu speech.

“A change of mission parameters is in order. Our colony has some of the finest warriors known to Keves, we can’t just sit back and let our comrades die. We are no longer marching to the rendezvous for meetup. We’re marching to rendevouz to save them. All Agnian dogs will fall to our blades!” 

Arewhel unsheathes her katana, pointing it upwards towards the pale gray sky, cheering, rallying the troops into doing the same with their own weapons.

“Now! March to our victory!”

“Yes Ma’am!”

The colony army charges forward, the pounding of army boots smothered by the roaring of the hungry levnis engine behind them reverbing across the battlefield, as a singular Agnian commander waiting  inside battlefield debris behind the Levnis announces to his army that phase one of his plan is complete, and to move into position.

As the army reaches the crest of the hill, they see an awful sight.

The camp was in flames. Agnian soldiers using their blades, cutting down the Keves soldiers, their essence flying into the sky, fueling the flame clock. 

“Find and capture their commander, and find any survivors still alive. Show them our revenge!”

Arewhel points her katana forward, and her army charges, as she uses her incredible leg strength and wings to gain intelligence from the sky for a moment.

She scans the area with her iris, her soldiers rushing the camp, cutting down any Agnian soldiers in their way. She then notices Agnian heat signatures hiding from above the arch overlooking the camp, now emerging from the rocks that were just camouflage. 

“Valkyries, it was a trap! Retreat immediately!”

Arewhel starts dive bombing towards the Agnian soldiers, lunging her katana downards at the ambushers, but is stopped midair by strange paper dolls, wrapping her into a tightly squeezing ball, with one window right behind her, featuring no one but the master Strategist himself, Taion. She tries cutting them down, but they simply replace themselves far too fast for her to possibly escape.

“Smoke soldiers, now!”

Taion yelled, and Arewhel’s window shifted over to her troops, surrounded in smoke, seemingly weakened by it, being cut down, and stabbed in the back, all of them, except the squad leaders, instead being knocked unconscious. 

“Executed to a T, squad E, and the rest of our soldiers as well. We now have more than enough to fill our flame clock for sustenance. Squad E, I ask you to remain here to hold these leaders captive while the rest of you head home.”

“Yes commander.”

Several minutes later..

The three captives of colony 49, Leane, Annie, and Arewhel, rope tied behind their backs, are led into the nearest tent for keves soldiers to rest, now under control of colony Beta, coming face to face with the strategist himself, Agnus guards waiting outside to keep watch for any survivors. 

“Congratulations, Colony 49, you have fallen for my simplest tactic yet. Quite humorous really. Though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised my supreme intellect overcame yours, it’s just the Agnian education at work.”

Annie speaks up with boisterous rage, despite her utter defeat on the field of battle.

“Oh stop that smugness already! That was just a fluke! Right, Commander Arewhel?”

Arewhel stayed quiet for a bit, the frown on her face reaching further downwards, the silence of the room being only broken by Leane’s soft sobs of despair.

“What did you keep us alive for? For ransom? Demoralization of other colonies? A bunch of war trophies to show off?”

“Straight to the point I see, commander Arewhel. Blunt as the stories say. Well, I suppose I’ll give you the answer. But first, are you thirsty? It must have been a long walk, marching all the way over here just to fall for my ambush, why don’t you drink something? I’ve made some absolutely delightful herbal tea for you three, custom made. I hope you enjoy it.”

“Squad E, may the captain of the squad please come forward to hold these little birdies in their cages?”

“I’m coming, commander.”

Taion has the captain hold Annie first, simply because her yelling was getting on his nerves, tilting her head upwards and holding her mouth open, before pouring a strangely coloured herbal liquid into the screeching bird, knocking her out cold soon after.

“Annie! What the hell did you do to her, you bastards!? She was my friend!”

“Hush hush, it’ll all make sense soon enough, she’s fine, as long as my calculations didn’t mess up, which, they *don’t*.”

“Commander, what about that one time in colony Lamb-”

“They don’t!”

Taion pours the tea into Leane’s mouth, his hands getting soaked in her tears, before moving on to Commander Arewhel, who just stared the man down with a cold hateful stare before having her mouth pried open.

“Perfect, let’s begin the experiment!”