I…Ran.
I ran.
And…I ran.
I felt it, my legs about to fall off. But I couldn't stop.
"TTC ON THE RIGHT!" Narkit warned us. The TTC fired, but missed us barely.
"Keep running, I will deal with the TTC." Ferry's voice blared through the radio. And the TTC on our right blew into unseen fragments.
"Okay!" I responded.
We kept running. We ran as fast as we could, dodging the branches and bullets. It felt as if nature itself was paving the way for us. We ran as the world behind us was falling into an invisible abyss.
"Hostile soldiers visible in the right!" Barnett informed us.
I turned right, and so did everyone. And we were on their trail now. We were faster than they.
"Ready for engaging," I ordered.
We took our guns in our hands. And just as we were near enough.
"OPEN FIRE!" I commanded.
We fired and took down as many as we could
As we ran and fired, we were entering a place where Arkanians once laughed and lived. We were in Egnisk.
"You are reaching the main enemy line. Be careful." Ferry warned us.
"We will hit from the back," I ordered.
"Roger," They shouted in unison.
We crouched behind the wreck of a house, gasping, then I raised three fingers. One…two…three—"GO!"
We burst out, face-to-face with the enemy line, and opened fire. Bullets tore through bodies. Adrenaline drowned the fear.
A TTC swung into view, cannon aiming straight at us—then it erupted. The ARK's thunder rolled across the battlefield.
"TTC down," Pierson confirmed, nine hundred meters away.
"More APCs inbound!" Ferry shouted. His drone slammed into one with a flash.
Then gunfire split the air behind us—Crescent Army reinforcements. They charged into the fight.
"Spare some for us," a corporal grinned, slapping my shoulder.
"First come, first served," I shot back, and he laughed.
Together we pushed. The enemy began to buckle. Step by step, they fell back. Victory tasted close—but my gut twisted. Something was wrong.
"We shouldn't push further," I warned Major Werner.
"My drones are being torn apart," Ferry cut in. "Cannons and mortars in the rear."
Alfred's voice cracked with urgency. "They're dragging us into a trap—tanks are waiting!"
Werner snarled, eyes blazing. "No! We're winning. Here and now!"
"Sir—" Barnett grabbed his arm.
The earth split before she finished. Mortars. Cannons. A storm of fire and steel. Soldiers screamed, torn apart. Victory turned to a massacre in seconds.
"Fall back!" Major Argis roared.
We broke, running for our lives. The town gate blurred past as shells tore into us. Egnisk slipped from our grasp.
We didn't just lose the city. We lost hundreds—brothers who had come to reclaim it. Instead, they were swallowed by fire.
We halted our retreat two kilometres from Egnisk, gasping for breath. We had lost both the men and the will.
"We'll fall back to HQ and wait for reinforcements," Major Werner ordered.
"No, we can't retreat." Major Argis stepped in front of him.
"What do you mean? Go back to that hell and die?" Werner snapped.
"I'm not telling you to jump in and die. I'm saying we need a new plan and a counterattack." Argis fired back, furious now.
"I'm not sending my men to slaughter. If you want to fight, do it alone." Werner spat.
"We're in this mess because of your reckless judgment!" Argis shouted louder.
Before it could spiral, a jeep pulled up. Colonel Yornus stepped out, his presence enough to silence them.
"Enough. We counterattack at sunrise," Yornus said flatly.
"But sir—" Werner began.
"Werner, I know what you'll say. You're right—it would be suicide now. But if we wait, they'll regroup and push forward. We don't have that luxury. Don't worry, I came with a plan." His voice cut through Werner's resistance.
"Yes, sir…" Werner muttered, beaten.
Yornus called for a map. Pierson rolled one open. The Colonel studied it for a long minute, then spoke.
"Pierson, how many snipers do we have left, including ARK teams?"
Pierson thought. "Forty. Including me."
Good. Snipers take the western and southern ridges. Split between ARK and normal. Normal snipers handle infantry and mortars. ARKs target armor and TTCs—meanwhile, ground forces advance, supported by tanks. Artillery will bombard the rear. The window is small; we must act quickly and aggressively.
"What if they call in air strikes?" Argis asked.
"Our jets will stay overhead. The upgraded defenses just arrived. They won't risk it," Yornus replied.
"Why not just bombard the rear?" Werner objected again.
"Because the moment we do, our jets' positions are exposed. We lose the air shield. That's why speed matters." His eyes swept the majors. "Any objections?"
Silence.
"Then take your positions. At sunrise, we will strike."
"Yes, sir!"
That was it. The last offensive on Egnisk. Two outcomes: veterans… or martyrs.
Pierson called me. I was assigned to the snipers. My squad went into the main ground force. We moved in silence, slow and careful around the hill, until we reached our positions. Now, all we could do was wait for the light that would decide the fate of humanity.
"All personnel in position," Pierson reported.
"Initiate the attack with the first ray," Yornus ordered.
I sat trembling. The last two defeats haunted me. My hands shook until Pierson laid his hand on my head.
"Third time's a charm, Martin." His voice steadied me.
I gripped the trigger, eyes flicking between the sun and the town. My breath slowed. I was ready.
The first light struck a rooftop. My shot followed—straight through a soldier. The offensive began.
Gunfire erupted everywhere. Armour exploded. Artillery rained down. The enemy scrambled, caught completely off guard. We fired and fired, and mercy vanished with every pull of the trigger.
"Keep firing, don't stop!" Pierson commanded.
"Ground forces moving in. They're falling back!" Argis reported.
"Enemy regrouping in the rear!" another soldier called.
I swung my scope, cut them down before they could regroup. The ARK thundered, its sound shaking the ridges. For a moment… it looked like we would win.
Then the nightmare arrived. Five double-cannon TTCs, heavily armoured. Their shells tore through houses, artillery, and even the western ridge. Dozens of our snipers were obliterated in seconds. The survivors were too weak to stop them.
Pierson and the ARKs managed to eliminate four, but then two single-cannon TTCs rolled in. Their fire collapsed our ridge. We plummeted. Rocks crushed everything.
"Martin! Martin!" Ferry's voice jolted me.
"Yeah… I'm alive," I coughed. My left leg screamed in pain.
"Thank God," Alfred sighed.
I turned. Rocks were everywhere. My comrades—buried, dead, or alive, I couldn't tell. Pierson was beside me, breathing but bleeding heavily, unconscious.
"The rest are all down. I don't know how many are alive. Pierson is alive, but he is bleeding. My leg's broken," I rasped.
"Stay where you are," Narkit told me over comms.
Then the two TTCs that had hit us were finally destroyed by our forces. Flames climbed into the night sky.
"We need to deal with that double-cannon. BTR rounds won't pierce it," Barnett said.
Everyone tried, but their shells just bounced. I looked around, desperate. Then my eyes landed on the ARK beside me.
Tyrnik's words came back: 'do-or-die.'
"Give me an opening. I'll use the ARK."
"You're insane! It'll rip your shoulder!" Alfred shouted.
"There's no time. We have no other option." My voice cracked, but I didn't waver.
Silence. They knew it too.
"Fine," Narkit finally said. "I'll draw its fire. You take the shot."
Fear clawed at me. My heart hammered like a drum. But then my father's words echoed— But, whenever you get the chance to fight for Arkania, give it your all.
I had no choice.
Narkit fired grenades, three of them. The TTC's cannon locked onto him. He sprinted, shells chasing, barely missing. He ducked behind debris. The cannon stopped. Then it tilted up—toward me.
But I was already aiming.
Deep breath. Finger steady.
I fired.
The bullet screamed through the air and pierced the engine. A heartbeat later, the TTC erupted in a fireball.
"Bullseye!" Barnett confirmed.
"ALL UNITS, ATTACK!" Argis roared.
The tide turned.
My arm… it was still attached. But useless. Broken, limp.
I don't remember much after that. Only that our forces surged. The enemy was pushed back. That Egnisk was ours again.
I closed my eyes, the echoes of battle fading.
Father. Brother. We have won!