“The enemy…” Wilhelm pursed his lips. “They definitely know of this move.”

  “So what?” Alexa asked. “Am I supposed to be deterred by those words? Now, should I fear them now, when our options are so limited? Wilhelm, I can see in your eyes that you’re unsure about your current schemes.”

  Alexa stepped forward, placing a hand on her chest.

  “I, the crown princess of this realm, have a responsibility to my subjects to make sure that they will live to see tomorrow. Phoebe already agrees to this risky mission, and I do so too. There’s no roadblock except for you.”

  “W-wait, Your Highness—!” Alfred shouted, outraged by the proposal.

  “And you too. Tsk, you two men, always so overprotective of us for some reason. Well, since you’ve involved me in these matters, starting your schemes in the Grand Academy, I believe this is a natural conclusion.” Alexa looked straight at Wilhelm’s eyes. “Isn’t this what you banked on from the start anyway, that I and Phoebe will be able to carry the torch so mankind will live?”

  “I…” Wilhelm was unable to speak, clearly ashamed. “I still have options…”

  “You’ve changed, haven’t you, halfway through?” Alexa accused. “I don’t blame you for that. Maybe it’s even our fault that you’ve gone soft, and I am happy to see that, but Wilhelm, surely, you’ve already considered this, but you didn’t tell me anyway.”

  Wilhelm gritted his teeth. “What I did in that battle was something I regretted, even if we won. I know, how lame, but that’s the truth. That’s why I resolved myself to winning this war quickly with my conventional methods and limiting using you two as a crutch when things get hairy.”

  “Wait, wait, slow down,” Alfred said. “I only agreed back then to the plan in Fort Henderson because you had a group protecting you and an entire army distracting them. It’s different now. Hey, Wilhelm! Surely even you can see this!”

  “I know, damn it,” Wilhelm bashed his fist on the table. “Look, can I at least ask to buy a day or two to figure things out? Even if you’re asking me to be the old ruthless Wilhelm today, I will be that guy since you request it, but I cannot sacrifice two of my best assets into a hail mary plan out of nowhere.”

  Alexa’s eyes widened. The fact that he referred to the two of them as ‘assets’ drove the point home. While Wilhelm did in fact soften up, perhaps after seeing the toll of war in Alexa’s psyche, alongside other factors, now that she asked his old self to come out in this time of crisis, the laughing fox immediately appeared. He now wasn’t interested in sending her off there to capture Henry because he felt bad for her but because he wanted to keep her as his ‘useful asset.’

  Alexa pouted though, as she realized this might just be illusory. He was just acting tough to dissuade her.

  “How long will it take for us to reorganize tired and worn-out troops to go up north?” Alexa asked, as she crossed her arms. “How long?”

  “...”

  “How long?”

  “...There will be territorial losses and unavoidable casualties,” Wilhelm said. “Because…there will be delays, but we will get there and plug the gap.”

  “And what if your conventional methods don’t lead to a collapse of the rebels within weeks?”

  “At the worst-case scenario, it will take us a month to defeat the rebels and move north to support Army Group Center.”

  That piece of information finally tipped the scales. Alexa made up her mind. It was clear that Wilhelm was being foolishly optimistic in an attempt to hold the two of them back.

  Well, I say, it’s my turn to be pragmatic then.

  “We’re going,” Alexa declared. “That’s final. No arguments about it. We will end this war tomorrow. No matter what.”

  “Only if I come with you,” Alfred insisted on the side. “I will blast a way through their defenses. Surely, Phoebe can carry a third person to infiltrate them anyway, no?”

  “Well…” Alexa smiled. “You’re my knight anyway, so sure. I’ll let you do your job closely this time. Though, Phoebe, can you carry both of us, alongside Henry, when we’re done?”

  “...Of course,” Phoebe nodded, confident in her tone. “My spell to fly and levitate people can carry a few more, if need be.”

  “Wonderful. It appears we’re set then; isn’t that right, Wilhelm?”

  Alexa watched as Wilhelm stood on the side, silent. This was probably the closest thing to despair that Wilhelm’s unmoving and steely features could show. Perhaps he never truly envisioned this, a point in time where his schemes and designs would fall apart, and the direction of the story would be out of his hands.

  He looked like a man who had his pieces on the chessboard slipping from his hands, and he was now unable to control things as he had. It certainly made him look distressed. His plan wasn’t the plan anymore. And so, Wilhelm just sighed.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “I will attempt to distract the enemy then,” Wilhelm said. “In preparation for the infiltration mission, I will send every man in the army straight into the jaws of the enemy’s defenses. They will be focused on us. That should…give you all an opening, but there is no guarantee.”

  “I know that Henry probably learned from the battle at Fort Henderson,” Alexa admitted, as she tried to smugly grin. “But what use are lessons if your enemy is simply so superior to your capabilities, don’t you think?”

  “...You must remember, though, that Henry has certain capabilities—”

  “I know, I know. That’s why you can’t stomach this. But we have to do this, okay?”

  “...”

  And so, the day ended, with the decision set for Alexa, Phoebe, and Alfred to attempt abducting the leader of the rebellion—Henry Richard von Hecker himself.

  +++

  It had been a while since Alexa consulted the Iron Saintess novel.

  And so, on the night before the planned attack tomorrow, she tucked herself inside her tent before flipping the pages of her most valued book. Her eyes glazed over the words that were written on its pages, which had changed again to reflect the reality they were dealing with right now. As she had feared, Wilhelm’s conventional plan wouldn’t have worked.

  It seemed that the novel hadn’t been fully updated yet, and it only chronicled what would have happened had Alexa not suggested her plan earlier. Instead of Wilhelm strategically defeating Henry easily took the field of battle before turning north to support defensive operations against the demon horde; the assault by the loyalist armies turned into a quagmire that lasted two weeks.

  It was enough for the horde to break through the defenses of Army Group Center with such speed that even the field marshal in charge of it, Eric Runstedt, died in battle somewhere in mid-December. The result was the demon horde blasting its way through the central region unimpeded, with the Defense Forces, now brittle due to months of lack of supplies and manpower, shattering.

  Alexa placed a hand on her mouth as her eyes read through the parts where Wilhelm and Henry signed a truce before trying to fight the demon horde. Such a rare display of brotherhood, though, was cut short, as they both died fighting the Archdemon of Wrath and Greed. While Wilhelm’s tactics and strategies managed to eventually tire out the demon horde’s offensive, he would perish, and so did Henry.

  By the time Phoebe was ready to take on the horde by early January, the frontlines in the central region were broken. Their armies were leaderless, broken, and demoralized. Mankind’s future was bleaker than ever, and the only ones that everyone looked to and hoped for salvation from were the saintess and Alexa Theresa.

  Alexa closed the book.

  I don’t want this timeline. Sure, Alexa and Phoebe didn’t die, but Wilhelm died. Even if Phoebe could eventually turn the war around and defeat the archdemons, as Alexa knew from the Iron Saintess novel that Phoebe had the power to do that, it still wouldn’t change the fact that going with Wilhelm’s plan was going to lead to so much suffering and death.

  And I don’t want to lose Wilhelm.

  She hugged the novel tightly as she curled into a ball. Truth be told, Alexa was scared, so scared, that Henry would be able to win against them. She knew, after all, that like her, Henry had some kind of power that was beyond broken. From what Wilhelm hypothesized back then, he could return back in time, even if Alexa and Phoebe killed him.

  Over and over and over again, and they wouldn’t even know it. Such a terrifying power indeed, that, Alexa believed, was something they only managed to tame back then because of Wilhelm’s impeccable preparations and planning. It was how they drove Henry without a fight, and how it led to this situation.

  But there’s no luxury of that anymore.

  She didn’t intend to just fight Henry, though. Sure, she was crashing there to attack and capture him, but that wasn’t it alone. Should force fail, Alexa believed that she could persuade him. After all, if Henry would lower his arms against her if the demon horde broke through, wouldn’t he do the same if she could make his appeal to him? Alexa and Henry had so far been bitter enemies, with Henry attempting desperately to kill Alexa, for whatever insane reasons.

  But as Wilhelm said, we’re similar.

  Perhaps, if Alexa could appeal to his ambitions or something else, she would be able to make him surrender and join her. It was a shot in the dark, and she could fail and die, but there was no other options left. She needed to get to him face-to-face and either force him to sign the surrender or appeal to him for a truce.

  +++

  “A letter from the Defense Forces, sir…” Elisabeth calmly entered Henry’s room, holding a piece of paper, before handing it to Henry. It was extremely early in the morning, and the man was still having his morning coffee when this letter arrived in their headquarters.

  Naturally, Elisabeth’s eyes widened when the junior officer outside told her that this needed to reach Henry’s office, and even she was surprised by it, and her curiosity about the information held within rose. The Defense Forces wouldn’t just talk to them, unrecognized rebels, after all, without good reason.

  So she rushed here and handed it to him. She could see that even Henry was surprised by this, as he usually wore an annoying smile whenever she was inside his room. That smile was gone as he took the piece of letter, perusing through its contents with muted confusion.

  “The Defense Forces, eh?” Henry asked, furrowing his brows. “I can’t say that I’m not surprised.”

  Elisabeth stepped back, waiting for Henry to scan through its contents. She half expected that he would wave her off, as, Elisabeth had an inkling that Henry could see through her, that he knew that she was searching for the perfect opportunity to backstab him and prove herself worthy of the clearly winning side…

  But, instead, he spilled everything with a laugh.

  “My…my, my…” Henry shook his head as he folded the letter. “Well, I guess we’re all in a sinking ship in that case. Wouldn’t be of character of them to send this to me otherwise.”

  Elisabeth narrowed her eyes. “Whatever could you mean by that, Sir Henry?”

  “The war is ending soon,” Henry smiled. “Please have a read of its contents.”

  Elisabeth took the letter from his hand. As the words inside registered in her mind, however, instead of an optimistic smile upon knowing that the war was ending, she felt a familiar horror shooting up her spine. The image of a demonic creature, the same one that eviscerated her best friend right in front of her back then at Perlenstadt, a creature that she barely managed to escape alive…

  Its cruel smile was once again looking at her.