21 Chapter 21: The War Against Being X Part 2. Beginning of the All Out War.

"Finally we suppressed the remnants of the François Republic soldiers. Quickly, order our forces to assist the 203th Aerial Mage Wing."

"But sir, are they still alive? We are talking about 6 thousand combined forces of Mage and Planes. Even if it's the Argent or the infamous Knight of the Realm, no way 60 troops can stop a forced hundred times their number." The Major retorted after hearing the Colonel's order.

The Colonel turned to face the Major before putting his hand on the Major's shoulder.

"Until I see their corpses with my own eyes, none of them are dead. Now, bring the troops to reinforce the 203th Flight Wing or I'll do it myself after putting bullets in your skull and bury you six feet under, for an attempt of insubordination . Do I make myself clear, Major?"

"Y-Yessir!" The Major replied in a panic before scurrying away.

"Sir, I think you are too harsh on the Major. You are smart enough to see the truth in his words. Not even the Argent can take on a hundred on her own, much less her troops. By normal protocols, once we cannot contact a unit for an hour straight. The unit will be considered MIA or KIA. But in their case, I am afraid it's the latter one, sir." One of the leaders under the Colonel couldn't help but say it out loud.

"You know me, old Heinz. I would be bothered if it was another unit. But this is the 203th Wing we are talking about. The most promising and the pillar of the Empire. I will carry this sin for the rest of my life." The Colonel drops to his seat and massages his pulsating vein on his temple. "I will carry the sin for allowing the Empire's hope to break free from this dire straits till the rest of my life."

"I can't, my old friend. I will not rest until I confirm their deaths with my own eyes, Heinz." The Colonel added while his old friend and also subordinate, nodded in understanding before returning to the communication staff that handling various radios and machines.

The communication staff had been busy handing out orders from the frontline to the Command Post and vice versa. Various transmissions come and go every single moment. But one transmission in particular caught the attention of the commanding officers in the office.

"Colonel, you would want to hear this, sir! An incoming transmission from the reinforcement Mage Wings for the 203th Wing we sent half an hour ago."

Seeing his old friend sound excited instead of somber, the Colonel thinks it's good news. He instantly jumps from his seat and rushes to one of the radios accepting the incoming transmission.

"This is the Colonel speaking, report your discovery immediately." The Colonel demanded excitedly.

"Yes, sir. This is the assigned leader of 403 to 408 Assault Mage Company leader reporting the current visual and sensor reading." The transmission continued before going silent for a second. "We detected a violent mana signature six kilos ahead. We believe a battle is happening as we speak but we also pick up intense radio and mana jamming within the area. However, the mana signatures all match the archive and confirmed is the 203th Commando Mage Wing."

"What is our next order, sir?"

No wonder, mana and radio jamming. No wonder they cannot pick any more transmission after the last one where he gave the order to Ray via any available troops that they could reach, to delay the enemies.

"Quickly join the battle and reinforce the 203th Mage Wing."

"Yessir!"

"Bzzttt" The transmission then cut off as the on site unit immediately went to carry out their order.

The Colonel then looked at his other subordinates. There are no words as everyone nodded and immediately went ro relay orders to divert all available agile units to send reinforcement.

The Colonel nodded approvingly before looking back at the communication staff.

"Connect me to the Imperial military office immediately. Tell them I seek to speak with the Military General Staff."

"Understood, sir." The communication staff manning the equipment immediately change the frequency to connect to the secret transmission line to the Military General Staff office.

———

After that shameful display, Ray managed to get the situation back under control after he slid on another persona and resumed combat. The Spiritual Subjugation ability was honestly quite a boon for Ray. Although it takes a lot of effort to try to dominate a person's mind while keeping it intact, if that is out of the picture, turning enemies into mindless kamikaze puppets is honestly quite easy. He forcefully shreds their mental defense along with the soul which unfortunately have side effects of being brain dead and orders them to self-destruct, taking out their surroundings allies.

As a result, multiple explosions of violent mana overload occurred and dozens of green energy orbs lit up the sky.

"I should have been doing this from the beginning. Just a dozen of them can take out ten more in one go." Ray talks to himself while continuing to shoot down those hybrid planes that have been quite annoying of late.

"Glory for the blessed Q-" Another Albion Kingdom Mage tried to get close in an attempt to use his body to restrain me and allow his comrades to shoot me down.

"Shut up! My ears are delicate, you piece of shit." Ray looks at another zealot rushing at and materializes the Ghost King Blade and stabs the idiot on the throat and sucks away the good quality soul to preserve its freshness.

"Seriously, the military should be introduced with occupational safety and health regulations or I will be riddled with chronic health issues by the time I leave this world." Ray ranted while causing another wave of explosion that took out at least three hundred more mages and planes.

He had been trying to find the enemy commander for quite a while but still had no luck simply because the battle was so chaotic and there were so many enemies that it was like finding a needle in a haystack while riding a roller coaster.

While I was distracted, someone sneaked up on me and brought me a warm hug. I quickly looked to my back and saw the same Unified States Mage from before, smirking wide and stare down at me just like Tanya did in her anime.

"It's a shame I cannot keep you for myself, my cute boy." The Mage said while panting heavily and taking a smell of my body from behind. Not to mention his bulging thing behind me I can feel, is twitching and rock hard. "If I cannot keep you for myself then no one can! I'll drag you to hell with me, my cute lil boy!"

*Bzzt* *Crack*

*BOOM*

The horny gay soldier overloads his computation jewel and causes his Orb to explode and take both him and Ray in the explosion.

Fortunately, Ray came off unscathed since he has Magic Resistance that lessens the damage and automatic magic shield that activates once needed. Unfortunately, Ray came off with a mental scar that will not be resolved until he wipes the Unified States from the face of the planet along with the main cause, Being X.

"Ray! Get a grip on yourself!" Tanya shouted from a distance and was looking at him with great concern but couldn't leave her position to help.

Ray was thankfully alright, a mental scar is something easily resolved with an easy mental tweaking or selective memory wipe. He returned with greater rage than before and used his Spiritual tendrils to indiscriminately injure and heavily damage the enemies soul. He didn't care about collecting souls anymore. He wants to get this shit done immediately and wipe away the repulsive and shameful memory from his mind.

———

(Lot's of self talking.)

Meanwhile on the other side of the battlefield, a few minutes ago.

"Ray! Get a grip on yourself!" Tanya couldn't help but scream to Ray using a Voice Amplifying spell since other methods of communication were unusable.

"Tch, better not die, idiot. My future is literally depends on you." Tanya whispered with discontent and slight anger but mostly worried about Ray.

She wanted to ignore his order and join him to lighten his burden, fighting alone. But the moment she had a thought of disobeying his order, she could physically feel her heart tighten as if someone squeezed it tightly and made her choke on her breath. It's no doubt the Piece doing its job.

What even is the purpose of having her and making her stronger if Ray wouldn't even allow her to fight side by side with him. Tanya thought while channeling her anger on the spells she is shooting at another enemy that almost reached Ray.

'Could it be that he treasured me so much that he couldn't bear to put me in danger?' Tanya thought again but quickly shook the thought away. 'I doubt it. Although not obvious, he never tried to get close to me in an intimate way. The way he treats me is like I would treat someone that is useful to me.'

Even so, Tanya felt that she didn't mind it at all. Ray is someone with a great goal that is beyond her comprehension. He isn't the type that will be tied down and will keep moving forward. Sooner or later, he will move forward and leave her in the dust while she will stay here unable to get past the wall blocking her progress.

To be honest, if not for Ray. She wouldn't even be this strong right now. It was his lessons in magic, gears he made for her and the Piece that placed in the soul, in the position of her heart. Those are the only reasons she is stronger than her previous self. Not to mention it was him who managed to break her free from Being X clutch.

She might no longer be Japanese after her reincarnation. She still held on to the moral code firmly. She is immensely indebted to him for too many things she could never repay in her lifetime. She owes him her own life, literally. That's why she accepted the Piece knowing it's basically giving up everything except her own free will.

When looking at Ray and Charlotte. Tanya half expects soon he would claim her body too with how surprisingly strong his sex drive is. But to this date, he never did. He never even ever looks at her with desire unlike how he usually looks at Charlotte like he is ready to push her down at any moment.

'Am I not beautiful enough?' Tanya couldn't help but ask herself the doubt she held.

She can attest that many have called her pretty, cute, fairy-like beauty etc. That means she is by conservative estimations, good looking. However, Ray just shrugged her off and told her to grow some curves before trying to seduce him.

His words leave her with indignation and a new fire. A will to grow up into maturity and make him choke on his own words for calling her unattractive. Fortunately for her, she is in her growth spurt and growing up by the days especially after Ray fixed the issue with her growth stunt.

She let Ray be for now, fooling with her bitch like a pair of dogs in heat. But, she's gonna make him regret later in the future.

Besides, not that she can let go of Ray even if she wanted to. She is literally clinging on to him with her dear life because he is the only person that could resist Being X and her current strongest shield in this world.

With Ray taking over her role as the overall leader of her Wing, she has no responsibility anymore other than following orders. She also no longer needed to desperately fight to assure the mission's success since Ray can take care of it himself, literally with the Francois Republic stronghold.

"Major! Major!" Weiss shouted at Tanya after she didn't reply to his initial calls.

"Major!" Weiss braves himself and taps Tanya by the shoulder and she suddenly turns and loads another spell in her rifle, about to shoot but stopped after seeing it's Weiss.

"What do you need, Lieutenant Weiss? You better have a-"

"We are getting visuals of friendly forces coming to our position at 5." Weiss reported before she can finish talking.

"Which division?!" Tanya suddenly jumps on Weiss and grips his uniform with her fust while demanding the answer.

"The Assault Mage Company, Major."

"Finally!" She screamed excitedly before letting Weiss go and cast a Voice Amplifying spell.

"Great news, everyone. Our reinforcement had arrived! No need to restrain yourself anymore, it's time to go all out and crush our enemies!"

"Let's go! I'm gonna drag him back and teach him some lessons about being reckless." Tanya is all fired up and release a warcry

"YES, Major!"

"Seriously, what did he think I was? An antique porcelain vase that breaks on the slightest touch?" She added before leading a charge into the battle after the reinforcement got her signal to attack immediately. Only to feel something gripping her heart and be reminded of the order placed on her which she couldn't move forward.

———

I was cleaning up the battle rather quickly now that I don't bother to gather intact souls any longer. I use my Spiritual Subjugation to force my enemies to self-destruct while taking their allies along. Until I suddenly hear Tanya's angry shout of my name using a Voice Amplifying spell.

"Ray! Let me join the fight. The reinforcement arrived." Tanya said while pointing at the Empire mages swarming in.

However, instead of releasing Tanya from the order. I instead panicked and killed faster. My EXP is going to be stolen by others if I dally any longer.

Without any attempt of conserving even an ounce of my mana, I flare them up and use Spirit Subjugation in conjunction with Psychokinesis to wreck greater havoc and kill even faster.

I willed my mental tendrils formed by my willpower to grab one of the Mage turn kamikaze suicider and throw it to more distant enemies and detonate his Orb. I repeated again and again until the reinforcement was already on very near me then I stopped.

Everyone that arrived is in awe with me casually killing dozens of mages like nothing. The leader among them greeted me and told me the Colonel back at CP ordered them to provide support. I just nodded and let them handle the enemies while I fly high to the sky and find the leader that was actually on a plane after backtracking the mana signatures of their communication that were unaffected unlike us.

All it takes is an Enchanted Round with Gae Bolg enchantment to take down the leader. Once it's done, the enemies become like headless chicken that is easy prey for Tanya and the others to deal with.

Wait, I think I've forgotten something… Oh, Tanya… I forgot to release the order. I quickly release her and look at her direction.

Well, she looks very grumpy. Not something unusual. In fact, Tanya is usually only very angry when she smiles menacingly instead of showing her anger. If she still has capacity to show her anger means she is still not on the last rope, yet.

"Maybe I should get her some chocolate later to appease her anger. From my experience, dealing with females in a bad mood was never good." I made a mental note before assisting on taking on those annoying hybrid planes.

I wonder how the Empire hadn't thought of this ingenious idea. Heavily enhancing a plane to be a tank in the sky that is manned by Mages. Those hybrid planes can do significantly better since Mages didn't need to worry about oxygen levels and stuff. Only one mage needed to keep the plane afloat with Spell formula and defending against enemy while two or three other mages focus solely on casting spells.

Barring myself and Tanya, I hardly think there's anyone that can handle those planes alone without at least 3-5 highly skilled mages combined efforts to take it down. While the planes didn't need very experienced mages except the pilot. They only needed to know how to cast spells and shoot. Combined with the advantage of planes, these are nigh unstoppable normally.

———

On the next day, the attacks were thwarted although temporarily. It seems that Being X is hell bent on killing me.

After the mix fleet of Flight Mages and airplanes, the capital suddenly delivered the news that massive mobilization of the enemies detected from the western seas. All concentrated around the area I was deployed.

Unified States, Albion Kingdom and its Commonwealth is marching troops into the Empire's border. This battle was nothing more than a smokescreen to distract the Empire's attention so the enemies could get as close as possible so that the Empire couldn't react in time or deploy their troops properly across it's border.

One can say, the situation is very grim for the Empire. Just like its counterpart when The Third Reich is nearing the dawn of its glory.

"What are our orders right now, sir?" I sat across from the Colonel with his escorts of officers and mine was Tanya.

The Colonel looked worse than yesterday, with bags under his eyes and exhaustion clearly shown on his face. He took out two shot glasses and offered one for me.

"Do you drink?" He offered to pour which I nodded but stopped him from filling up more than half.

"Is the situation really as bad as expected?" I drop the formalities as both of us are not really in a mood for formal settings or rather, he isn't as I always am.

The Colonel didn't reply immediately but gulped the whole shot before pouring himself another.

"It is, I'm afraid." He gulped the clear amber coloured spirits before sighing deeply. "The General Staff office is in chaos basically. Many proposed to surrender instead of being crushed and ripped apart by the superpowers but they soon were surprised that the enemies did not seek our surrender. Instead, they seek the annihilation of the Empire."

The war hardened veteran immediately sagged on his seat and poured himself another shot despite his subordinates discouraging him because he still needed to be capable of leading the soldiers after this.

"Had God forsaken the Empire?" The Colonel asked in his intoxicated mumbles. Both Tanya and I couldn't help but cringe at the fact that the god he was praying to was actually the one responsible.

"So… is there any particular assignment for me currently?"

"No." The Colonel shrugged. "At the current state, I would be surprised if the Empire still wants to continue this war that looks pointless. Even if we win, it would be pyrrhic. There is simply no way for the Empire to emerge victorious fighting not one but two military superpowers along with their colonies."

"I am old now Ray, there is little for me to do but die for the Empire, my beloved Fatherland. But you, you and the Major are still young and have a promising future. Heed my advice and save yourself. The future of the Empire is now dim, very dim like a dying ember." The Colonel said before excusing himself and dismissed me and Tanya until further notice.

In the hallway leading to our barrack, I couldn't help but think about the Colonel's words. Even ignored Tanya that was trying to get my attention as my mind is occupied and my body is moving on autopilot.

"Dying ember huh… But, the Empire cannot fall yet. Not until I achieved my goal."

"Tanya." I called after stopping suddenly. But hearing no reply, I turned to look at her only to find her looking away and continuing walking with a growling noise.

"Tanya." I called again and stopped her by the shoulder.

"What? Finally gonna talk to me after ignoring me the whole time?" She said angrily which I found cute, like a startled kitten baring her non-existent claw and fang. If you look closer, you can even observe a lock of hair standing from the rest and twitching according to her mood swing.

Well, the image is there. Tanya is an independent person like a cat usually is. Easily changed mood, on instance she would act normal and second later she would hissing at me. She wouldn't admit that she wanted attention but sometimes when her mind is somewhere else, she would enjoy some skinship like headpats that make the odd lock of hair twitch in what I assume is joy.

Looking at her, I couldn't help but compare her to the original Tanya. Although not as ferocious as the original, my Tanya is like a kitten that can turn into a tiger when presented toward a hostile person. Still cute though, too cute that my hand unconsciously lifted her head and rubbed it.

"Seriously, you need to calm down a little. Here, some of your favorites." I said and stuff a bite size chocolate into her mouth and continue to rub her head in her stupor.

She was overwhelmed by what's going on and took some time to process it. But long enough to see the chocolate take effect and melt away her tension and relax a little. Probably just me but she reminded me of a cat

"There, feel better?" I asked after feeding her another one. She simply nodded and hummed absentmindedly before she came to a grinding halt when she remembered she was supposed to be sulking and swat my hand away from her head.

"Stop doing that, I'm warning you!" She tried to growl threateningly but ended up looking more adorable instead.

"You sure you don't want more?" I asked while producing another one between my fingers and waving it in front of her. She just kept glaring at me in silence. "I see, it's a shame." I purposely dismissed the chocolate I produced with mana in front of her and walked away toward another direction, to the Communication Room.

"Wait, you create the chocolate from mana? I thought Gradation Air cannot be used to make food? Hey, wait!" Tanya quickly followed behind me, eager to learn how to unlock unlimited supply of her favorite chocolate instead of having to rely on shipments.

Of course, Gradation Air couldn't because the taste is hard to replicate. But Alteration got that part covered.

———

In the Intelligence office, capital. Zettour is in his office brooding over the situation of the Empire and how to break free from it. He even thought of defecting to be honest. He simply couldn't find another way to fight and win against a coalition that has 6 times the number of soldiers than the Empire, manufacturing power, superior technology if the recent enemy aircraft were to be considered and the burning passion to annihilate the Empire.

This is a losing war unless the Empire has a way to cripple the logistics of the enemies. The only possible way to win against such a big number of enemies is to cripple the logistics and let the coalition army wither away from lack of supplies and equipment.

The meeting that he just had was discussing exactly this. The military has a weapon. A weapon that was created was accidentally sealed away but was kept just for this kind of situation. The situation when Empires are losing and there is no other way of winning, a weapon of mass death, a virus that is biologically engineered to destroy an entire continent.

Many opposed using this weapon because there is a great risk that the animals can bring it back to them even if it was deployed offshores.

However, only Zettour himself knew this isn't true, both the creation and the danger of this weapon. This was just one of the numerous prototype weapons Ray created as side projects and sold to Zettour as a way to acquire funds for his research. As for why Ray is creating this kind of weapon, it was Zettour who said he wouldn't accept the stuff he sells unless it's a weapon. Something he did on purpose to milk the worth out of Ray's particular branch of magic he called magecraft.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Sir, you have an urgent transmission from the frontline, sir. It's from Colonel Ray."

"Connect it to me immediately." Zettour ordered as his face brightened in anticipation for what card Ray was going to expose next.

—————

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