VERONIA...
"Reku, we must fall back now!!" Jessica begged Reku as she pointed towards a group of their warriors getting gunned down while trying to push the enemy back.
Reku hesitated for a moment before turning towards Sigurd who is panting heavily, not only that, his left arm is wounded by a bullet.
He then turned back in observing his sorroundings, loud cracks, screaming and fighting are still audible in the distance.
A warrior would get killed in each passing second, with their enemies only having slight casualties.
Jessica was right, they really do need to retreat, they were now down to fifty men, not leaving sooner would no doubt result in getting all of their men killed.
Reku then turned his head back towards the wounded Sigurd and spoke.
"Sigurd." he spoke, earning Sigurd's attention.
"Boss?" Sigurd responded back.
"Would you have the honors of being our rear gua-" Reku wasn't able to finish his request as Jessica interrupts him.
"I volunteer!! he's in no condition to lead a rear-guard unit." Jessica stated, earning her a shock look from Sigurd himself.
"You dare question our leader's wise judgement?!" Reku's lieteunant scolded
her, while Reku kept himself quiet after hearing this.
"Shut up Leonard! you're just someone who's blindly following orders without thinking like a dog!" Jessica snapped back.
Reku's lieteunant now known as Leonard, was shocked and surprised at her answer.
Not finding the right words to speak back to her, he forcibly kept his mouth shut after this, his head hung low in shame and embarassment.
"Leonard seems to agree with me now." Jessica continued, making Leonard stare at her in anger.
Sigurd stared at Jessica for a moment before protesting.
"No, it's only an arm wound, I can still do well in protecting our leader." Sigurd declared, making Jessica flinch in annoyance.
Everyone started to argue like that, until Reku loudly interrupted them.
"That's enough!" Reku yelled, making everyone stop their babbling.
"Time is running out, I've already changed my mind and decided that Jessica would be our rear-guard, no more questions, let's move!!" Reku ordered.
Jessica sighed in relief while Sigurd grunted in annoyance and frustration.
Half of their forces began to move out without saying a word, while the rest stayed to defend Reku's retreating unit, and to delay their enemies at the same time.
Jessica waved and smiled at Sigurd's retreating figure, Sigurd then gave Jessica a sad and worried look in return.
Leonard noticed this and smirks, after a few seconds, his face then turned into a frown as he suddenly felt bad for the two.
He didn't know why he felt this towards a person who insulted and humiliated him earlier.
Leonard then shook his head to clear his thoughts and proceeded to follow Reku's retreating force.
As Reku's retreating force disappears from Jessica's view, her smile then turned into a serious blank face as she stared the warriors who is currently battling the otherworlder men.
Jessica then began to walk towards them, her eyes beginning to burn in determination and anger.
"EVERYONE ON ME! IT'S NOW OUR TIME TO DIE!!" she yelled to the surviving warriors which got their attention.
The warriors then loudly cheered as strength instantly filled their souls and body.
They then began to overpower the enemies they're currently fighting at in melee, the ones who unfortunately ran out of ammuntion.
With their swords and spears against knives, clubs and shovels, they crushed their enemies like wall and paper.
They then proceeded to gang up on the injured and started beating them up to death.
Meanwhile, Jessica just recently killed an enemy who tried to fire his pistol towards a warrior who had his back turned.
The warrior turned around and smiled at Jessica for saving him, Jessica smiled back in return.
But their moment didn't last long as a crack was heard and the warrior's head suddenly exploded like a watermelon.
Every warrior ducked at this and took cover in the nearby trees including Jessica herself as loud cracks were repeatedly heard in the distance.
Small chunks of the trees blew up as lead impacted on it, sending shockwave to the person taking cover behind it.
"Fuck, I need a head count now!" Jessica ordered, dust and wood flying everwhere as the cracks continued.
"ONE!" a warrior yelled.
"TWO!" Another one followed.
"THREE!" Then another one.
"FOUR!" And another.
"FIVE!" and another again.
"SI-" a warrior wasn't able to finish his counting as a stray bullet managed to penetrate his cover and hit him in the head.
His lifeless body slumped down in the tree he was currently taking cover at, his blood now flowing on the ground.
The loud cracks still did not stopped it's barrage as it planted holes everwhere in the forest.
"I'm supposed to be the seventh but since he's dead, im now the SIXTH!!" a warrior declared.
"SEVEN!!" a warrior then followed.
After a few minutes, nothing else can be heard except the loud cracks in the distance that kept shooting projectiles towards their location.
'Then I'm the eighth?' Jessica thought to herself, sweat dripping all over her body as hopelessness and frustation began to flood her entire mind.
Then she suddenly spotted one of the otherworlder's weapon lying on the ground near her.
"The thunder rods!!" she exclaimed as she crawled her way towards the weapon and grabbed it.
She then went back to the tree she was taking cover at earlier, but not without getting her right shoulder shot at.
"Aghh!!" she screamed in pain as she then immediately took cover behind the tree.
Grabbing her right shoulder tightly to try and stop her wound from bleeding, she heard worried cries from her fellow warriors.
"J-Jessica!!" a warrior shouted worriedly, he then got up from his position and began to run towards Jessica.
"Fool!! get back in there!!" Jessica warned while still clutching her wound.
But it is already too late as a group of lead managed to find it's way towards the poor man's body, instantly killing him.
They're now down to seven men, including Jessica herself, she gritted her teeth in anger at this.
But suddenly... the loud barrage of cracks stopped, surprising the remaining and surviving warriors.
Jessica and the warriors felt relieved at this.
Plans and strategy on 'what to do next' starts to form on her mind but it was cut short as she accidentally pulled the trigger of the rifle she's carrying.
It made a loud boom-like crack, shaking and surprising her and the warriors immediately.
The warriors turned to her direction with confuse look on their faces, that is till they found Jessica with a smoking rifle and an evil smirk on her face.
"Jessica, what the hell are you doi-" the warrior tried to scold her but ended up getting interrupted by her also.
"Quickly grab the thunder-rods or sticks or whatever you call it, now!!" Jessica yelled to the rest of the warriors.
Surprisingly, they didn't complain and just complied at Jessica's words.
They all quickly scrambled to find any otherworlder's weapons that can be used against the enemy.
After they're done, they all immediately went back behind the bullet-ridddled trees for cover.
"So, what are we supposed to do with this?" A warrior randomly asked.
"Just point it to the enemy and pull the small lever-thing below it." Jessica instructed to the warriors.
"I-I see." The warrior responded as they all went to inspect the rifles they've founded.
Jessica then observed her new weapon again, she tilted it only to find a long rectangular metal sticking below the rifle.
"Hmm, what's this?" She said as she begins touching it, but her inspection was interrupted by rapid footsteps closing in.
She heard and felt it came east from their direction.
"Get ready!!" Jessica ordered to the warriors.
They all nodded and cheered in response.
She then peeked her head curiously behind the tree to find any enemies that was closing in.
And she was very right about that, for about a dozen meters away from their location.
She saw six men, armed with their rifles, and was currently running towards them, weapons raised.
She slowly aimed the barrel of the rifle towards the approaching men, her hands shaking nervously, for it is her first time using this kind of weapon.
As the men got closer, she immediately pulled the trigger, which causes a loud boom-crack sound, as smoke suddenly came out from the rifle's barrel.
The warriors were immediately surprised and shocked at this again, causing them to frantically aim their new weapons towards the noise.
As the smoke dissipates, Jessica then narrowed her eyes to get a clear view on what she's done.
Her face then suddenly lighted up as she saw one of the enemies lying on the ground, dead.
His other comrades were also stunned at this, before running for cover to avoid getting shocked.
Seeing this, Jessica pulled the trigger again twice, hitting one of the men in the stomach and killing him.
"Shit! it's true, they've gotten their hands on our toys!!" One of the men loudly yelled to his comrades, his language still not understandable to Jessica's ears.
Jessica's fellow warriors began to pile up towards her location and have already started aiming their rifles towards their enemies.
They then started pulling their new weapon's trigger, creating large and loud cracking noises while smoke came out from their rifles barrel.
Catridges began to pile up below their feet as they continued firing their new weapons.
They pinned their enemies like rain and shell, they even managed to kill one of them by a bullet to the head, reducing their numbers to three men.
It goes on like that for a few seconds, raining lead on their enemies without stopping.
That was until a warrior's thunder-rod started clicking, the others followed as their new weapons started clicking too.
The next thing they knew, all of them had run out of bullets.
"W-what?" a warrior said, pulling his rifle's trigger repeatedly, yet no lead flew out from his barrel.
"This is bad..." muttered Jessica to herself as her rifle had already ran out of ammo like the others did.
She then immediately looked towards the area where those three men have been hiding at.
Then her eyes widen as they had already went out from their cover, their rifles raised and aimed towards them.
"Take cover!!" Jessica yelled, in an attempt to save her last remaining warriors.
But it is already too late, their enemies had already opened fire on them, Jessica was the only one who managed to get herself to cover.
Their cracks filling her ears as she watched her last remaining warriors gunned down in front of her.
She gritted her teeth in anger, her eyes filled with vengeance and hatred.
She quickly jumped away from the tree she's hiding and immediately began to sprint towards the three enemies who were responsible for her comrades deaths.
They were taken surprise at this and quickly aimed their rifles towards her and pulled the trigger.
She heard small clicks from their weapons and smiled, she then quickly unsheathed both of her daggers while running towards them.
The three men quickly reloaded their rifles, which took a good five seconds before aiming it back at her.
But it was already too late for them also, Jessica had already managed to close their distance by only a few inches away.
"Fucker!!" one of the men yelled in frustration as Jessica raised both of her daggers towards him.
She then quickly planted the two blades on both of the man's eyes making him scream in pain, she then removed her daggers from his skull, killing the man.
The last two were shocked at this as the man's lifeless body immediately fell to the ground.
One of the two opened fire on Jessica, but Jessica was fast and managed to avoid the bullets sent at her.
She then jumped and aimed one of her daggers towards the still-stunned man.
The man didn't see it coming when the blade impacted on his forehead, piercing his skull and quickly killing him.
The other man didn't noticed this as he still continued to fire at Jessica who was now currently circling him.
Then he suddenly heard a small 'thump' besides him, he tilted his head only to find his other comrade's lifeless body on the ground.
Now he was alone.
He gulped and looked back towards Jessica.
But she was nowhere to be seen, he panicked and aimed his rifle on every direction, frantically trying to spot her.
That was until he felt something sharp pierced his back, he made a small yelp as pain started to engulf him.
He slowly turned around as blood started to seep out from his mouth.
His eyes then widen as he saw Jessica a few meters away from him after turning around.
"B-Bitch, you-" he wasn't able to finish his sentence as his vision darkens and he himself fell to the ground, dead.
Jessica sighed as she proceeds to remove the daggers from the men's bodies.
"Thanks for showing me earlier how to use thunder-rods again after it ran out of projectiles." She muttered to the dead bodies after remembering how they reloaded their guns when it clicked a few minutes earlier.
'I don't feel like dying today.' she thought to herself as she grabbed small metal boxes which were magazines from the bodies pockets.
As she was about to grab a rifle on the ground which belonged to the dead soldiers, she suddenly heard a shout on her left.
"FREEZE!! DON'T MOVE, BITCH!!"
She paled at this and turned to her left, and immediately she saw two-hundred enemies, with their rifles all aimed at her.
She then heard a few rustling on her right, and immediately she turned her head towards the direction.
She was then met again by a few hundred men, with their rifles still all aimed at her.
It seems she is sorrounded now.
That was until she felt a small sting on her neck, but before she can give a thought about why she felt the sting, she immediately lose consciousness.
"Take this one to Qhoris." Was the last thing she heard before everything went black.
A/N: Ah yes!! Chapter done!... See ya guys in the next chapter!!