Author's Notes:
So this one...is basically a Blue Archive isekai to the Vietnam War. Specifically during the First Battle of Quang Tri, but there are also historical differences here. The 1st Marine Div. of the USMC will be in the battle to support ARVN forces, and our angels will be caught in this bloody battle in this war. For example here a US Marine battalion and a marine tank battalion will be reinforcing Camp Carroll to defend it. So this basically means that this will definitely be historically inaccurate as it's an alt-history scenario (ha! Take that history buffs!).
You may ask "b-but Rapid Intervention, why the fuck are you adding American marines and tanks in a predominantly Vietnamese vs Vietnamese battle?" well my friends, because if I'm going to add angels with 'magic' in the Battle, we might as well add the true angels, the marines, and because they bring more tanks and soldiers = much spicier battle, also who knows, maybe Quang Tri will hold? Plus can it really feel like a Vietnam war story if the Americans are absent outside of bombing shit from the air? And this is late war, where the situation was so bad for the US they are so demoralized their really running the fuck away, making it even more interesting how US soldiers would feel about their situation.
Also, because this is a crossover fic...yes you heard that right, the Vietnam War scenario in this fic is based on the game Modern Campaigns Quang Tri '72, specifically the US marines intervening in Quang Tri to assist the ARVN scenarios. And yes, I did in fact make a crossover fic with an ancient ass hex strategy game that practically no one knows and a gacha game. Go figure.
Oh and a warning, this fic will be pretty dark, significantly dark compared to Blue Archive, why you ask? Because it's Vietnam. Yeah I don't think I need to elaborate any further.
In any case, Welcome to the Rice Fields.
---
Prologue
"And when he gets to heaven to St. Peter he will tell: 'Another soldier reporting sir, I've served my time in hell."
The world of mortals is a fickle place. An unwelcome world to anyone born and raised in the safety of a near-perfect world.
A world where men and women die in gruesome ways. A world where violence truly leads to death and suffering.
Do you hear it? The artillery fire? The thunder of guns? The musical orchestra of rockets, the sounds of war machines fielded by men of war. The screams of the damned? Don't you smell it? The burning scent of gunpowder and napalm?
Welcome to Earth, welcome to Vietnam.
In the burning forests of Quang Tri, the 2nd Indochinese war continues. 2 sides are locked in a brutal and unending conflict. And young men and women are once again sent into the meat grinder.
Here there is no good.
Here there is no honor.
Here there is no innocence.
Here is nothing but organized chaos. Here is where men show their most primal instinct of violence. Here is where hundreds of thousands die.
Here there is only war, and war alone.
Welcome to the rice fields...welcome to Hell.
---
March 30, 1972
Camp Carroll
Heavy artillery began raining down on the ARVN soldiers stationed at the Camp.
The Easter Offensive has begun. Scrambling the men rushed to defend themselves, as artillery continued to fire. All over Quang Tri, both sides engaged in a deadly battle.
Such an unexpected offensive to an unprepared defender, Quang Tri might fall.
But that would be unacceptable. American aircraft screeched through the skies as they bombed North Vietnamese positions.
Hours later, in Quang Tri, a squad of US Marines steeled themselves for the upcoming battle. They are sent here once again to intervene and tip the tide of war to their side.
As artillery grumbled in the distance, Sergeant Jordan watched from their staging areas the battlefields in somber silence.
They are being sent to hell again. And his men and his company will be in the thick of it.
"When the hell is this going to end?" He thought as F-4s screeched above him. Taking a gum, he puts it in his mouth and began to chew. Turning around to prepare for the upcoming battle, all his mind thought was simple.
"I hope we can soon go home, away from this hell."
---
Chapter 1: A Hellish Land
"War is fear, cloaked in courage." - William Westmorland
April 2, 1972 - 09:14
Quảng Trị, Near Camp Carroll
The Easter Offensive
"Welcome to hell, Serika."
Serika's eyes fluttered open, above her was a clear blue sky. Turning her head around she sees that she is lying on the grass. As she regained her senses, she sits up while rubbing her eyes.
Then her hearing came back, and as the white nose dissipated it was replaced by loud bangs. Then the cracking noise of bullets screeching far away from her.
Her sensitive cat ears went into panic mode as she took a defensive stance. The sounds of artillery, gunfire, and cannons blaring in the distance.
"Where am I?" She thought as she equipped her gun. Recomposing herself she moved forward and pushed a bunch of bushes in front of her.
Her eyes widened at the scene lying in front of her.
Her blood rushed furiously through her veins, as adrenaline is released in her body.
In front of her was a massive battlefield. Tanks fired off salvo after salvo in the distance. Gunfire shrieked through the horizon, as the sounds of battle drowned everything.
There she can see soldiers lying down in cover, firing their guns on the other side of the frontline. There were destroyed tanks, and more disturbingly...soldiers or bodies that were just lying motionless in the fields.
Unlike the battles of Kivotos between students, this was different...bloody...and as she continued to watch the scene, she felt another thing.
Terror.
She gasped as she stepped on something on her right. Turning in its direction, she saw something horrid.
A corpse riddled with bullets.
"AHHH!" She slipped herself backwards away from the corpse in pure shock.
"W-what the..." Recomposing herself, she moved slowly towards it, and looked at the corpse, before carefully turning it carefully.
A man in his 18s was what she saw, and his mouth was still gorging out fresh red blood.
He was just recently shot. And his situation was very, very bad.
The man opened his eyes, slightly startling the tense young girl, but she bit her lower lip and steeled herself.
"Uhh sir..."
The man looked at her in confusion, before he suddenly smiled at her as he stared at her.
"...I-is...is this h...heaven?" Serika stared at him in confusion.
"W-why would this man think he's in heaven?"
"A-ah sir! Please hold on, I'll call help!" She responded frantically before the man held her.
"...It's no use..." He smiled weakly as his eyes drained in color. "A-at least...I-I guess I get to see an angel before I go..." He chuckled, as he closed his eyes, while Serika frantically tried to keep him awake as she tried to cover the blood gushing out of his gunshot wounds while shouting for help.
"N-no no no, you will not die...just hold-HELP! PLEASE, SOMEONE! S-sir please don't-someone please HELP!" She cried out, again and again.
"N-no please no..." She muttered weakly as his body went limp, as he expired in her tiny arms. Yet the man held a relaxed smile.
Even in death. It was absolutely disturbing.
But he is finally free from hell.
His somber and painful demise was marked by Serika frantically trying to wake him up, but to no avail.
She simply sobbed as gunfire continued in her surroundings. The loud bangs and artillery filled her ears. For the first time, she was bothered, no scratch that she was frightened by it.
To see a real person, an adult without halos, die to gunshots, was a disturbing thing. An occurrence she had never experienced.
Normally they just get knocked down by continuous gunfire, but this...this gory and bloody mess.
It was different...and frightening.
The amount of blood...oh the blood.
"How did people even have that much...blood?" She nervously thought as more blood dripped from the corpse.
"I'm confused...what is happening? Where am I?!" She internally screamed as she closed her eyes. A stray shot manages to nail her in the face, but she didn't even feel it.
She was too focused on staring at the dead man in her arms, too confused at what was currently happening.
Suddenly she hears someone shout behind her.
"Brandon! Brandon! ...Wait who the fuck are you?!" Turning around she sees a marine aiming his gun at her in a hostile manner. "W-wait...WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU! What the fuck did you do to Brandon?!"
Behind him more marines arrived near her position, all of them stopping as she pulls out her gun in a defensive stance as well.
"Stay back!" She shouted in response as she stood up while aiming at what appeared to be their leader, a foolish action on a battlefield as a bullet hit her back, but it simply bounced off harmlessly.
The marines who arrived and crouched or lay down had their mouths dropping in shock at the scene laid in front of them.
...
"For fucks sake! Why did that retard not retreat with us?" Jordan cursed rapidly in frustration as he ran back towards their last position before they retreated, determined to get their lost comrade back.
The chaos of combat after the PAVN saturated their position with gunfire led to them not realizing that one of his men didn't get back.
But no man gets left behind.
The gunfire continued to pass through the group from around North West of their position on the other side of a small river. Just south of them was a road and then near it was Camp Carroll itself, currently being defended by the 1st Tank Battalion and the ARVN Gamma Company, part of the 56th Regiment stationed in Camp Carroll.
He was a part of Angel Company of 1-1 Marine Battalion, assisting in the North of Camp Carroll to prevent them from being flanked and being cut off in the roads from Cam Lo, a move that will ensure Camp Carroll won't be encircled.
They were rushed to Quang Tri to defend it, originally they were supposed to pull out of Vietnam completely, as the war has not developed necessarily to their advantage, and there were policy changes to how the war would be conducted.
But the recent surprise offensive screwed those plans, and the ARVN called for help. And America responded.
Not a lot of them wanted to be back to this hellish place they had no business to be in, yet they are here again, fighting tooth and nail against the PAVN.
As he ran with his squad behind him, he hears a frantically shouting voice from their last position.
"-Someone please HELP!" A female voice exclaimed, alerting them. Why would a civvie be in an active combat zone?
Running towards it he shouts, "BRANDON! BRANDON!"
He stops, as in front of him a crying teenager was cradling Brandon, who looked dead.
"W-wait, who the fuck are you?!"
But the girl...was strange, first of all, she had a fancy-ass custom gun, and she looked like a student.
"Wait, what the hell is a student doing here? And why does she have a gun?"
But most importantly, she had a floating red halo on her head! She turned around, and he sees a...cat ears!
"Ok what in the actual fuck is she?" Aiming his M16 at the girl, Jordan shouted in a hostile manner. "W-wait...WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU! What the fuck did you do to Brandon!?"
His fingers hovered on the trigger, who knows, she might be an elaborate commie trap. You never know, but then how the fuck did Charlie gain an angel-like being?
His squad arrives and takes cover behind him as he tensely aimed his gun at the possible hostile. If she doesn't put down Brandon, or acts in hostility, putting down another civvie would be nothing.
Immediately she recoils in fear, pulling out her fancy gun and aiming it at him, causing Jordan's itchy finger to almost pull the trigger in response.
"Stay back!" The girl shouts in response as she stood up. Now this was bad, she might get shot by the NVA, as gunfire continued to saturate near their position.
And get shot she did. But it bounced harmlessly from her. Jordan can swear all of his squad mates had their jaws dropped to the ground.
She didn't even flinch, she just shrugged it off. Like it was nothing...
"How in the actual fuck did she just shrug that?" He thought as he examined her further.
"What the fuck really are you?" Jordan then shouted at her as gunfire intensified near them, alerting his squad to the direction of gunfire. "Miss, duck down, GUNFIRE!"
Serika ducked down as a burst of bullets nailed her, but she didn't even feel it. The marine in front of her, the same marines as this dead guy, turned in the direction of gunfire.
"Contact! Charlie at 9 o'clock!" The man who originally shouted at her exclaimed as he fired off his rifle.
Immediately the rest responded by firing at the source of gunfire, as she ducked down, she spotted dozens of other soldiers, wearing a different uniforms, attacking them.
Looking back at the group of marines near her, she sees them firing back at their enemy, but they were being pinned.
Then one of them was hit in the neck, the bullet penetrating him fully, leaving a streak of blood behind it as the bullet exited on the other side.
The man dropped and began choking on his blood.
"MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN!" One of the marines shouted as he rushed to his comrade, pulling him to cover.
She watched the marine put bandages on the man's neck, but it was no use, as soon the marine choked on his blood, or lost too much blood, and died. His comrade simply punched the ground in anger before aiming his gun at the PAVN soldiers to retaliate for his dead brother in arms.
She looked at another marine, who was shot in his abdomen, as he cried in agonizing pain while his comrade tried to give first aid.
"MAMA! MAMA! HELP! It hurts! IT HURTS! I DON'T WANNA DIE!" The man shouted in pain as blood came out of his mouth.
"Angel Actual, this is Angel 1-3, Charlie attack in the North, we got injured and a civvie," a radio operator lying in cover calmly spoke, before peeking out of it and joining the fight.
All of it happened as she simply lay down in fear and confusion. The squad in front of her continued to fire off inaccurate gunfire, as they were pinned by the attacking force.
Looking around frantically, on the other side she sees the other soldiers dropping as they were also pinned down by the US Marines.
"What do I do? What do I do?" The gunfire continued on as another marine near her was hit in his shoulders.
"AHHH!" The marine exclaimed in pain as he clutched his shoulder. "SARGE! WE'RE FUCKED! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!"
Jordan looked at his subordinate for a second. "WE CAN'T, IF WE RUN WE'RE GONNA GET SHOT, WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR HELP!"
The PAVN troops soon closed in as another marine in the marine squad stood up, and aimed his flamethrower. Pulling the trigger, flames exited his weapon.
"BURN YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!" the marine shouted.
3 unfortunate Vietnamese soldiers found themselves burning in the hot searing flames, but not before a shot hits the flamethrower guy. His tanks exploded in flames as he screamed in agony.
"HOLY SHIT!" A marine exclaimed as he watched his comrade burn brutally.
4 men dropped into a fiery demise, as both sides continued firing off at each other.
Just a few hundred meters in front of them, 2 F-4 phantoms screeched above them and dropped napalm straight at a far away Vietnamese position, but it didn't really help them.
"Where the fuck is the reinforcements!" Another marine exclaimed as he fired off bursts at the pinned down Vietnamese, before the enemy returned fire on him, but luck was on his side, as he immediately dropped down to avoid the incoming fire, "SARGE! WE'RE REALLY FUCKED IF WE DON'T GET HELP!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP MIKE! WE HAVE NO OTHER OPTIONS!" Jordan responded as he ducked from the enemy gunfire.
Serika watched the extreme brutality unfold in her eyes. She didn't understand what is happening.
"W-why are they fighting?" She looked back at the marine still lying and bleeding from his abdomen, as his cries of agony filled her ears.
"What do I do? What should I do?" She frantically thought, she didn't know if she should intervene. And if she even intervenes, which side will she take?
She has no idea as to who even is on the right side, all she knows is both are shooting and killing each other.
She looks back at the lying man, just as he stopped crying as he slowly entered Blood Shock. She had to do something. Making a decision she stood up, readying her rifle, she took aim at a surprised North Vietnamese soldier a few dozen meters in front of her, who was about to take cover in the trees.
Aiming quickly, she pulled the trigger, and then the man plopped down from her gunfire. The other North Vietnamese soldiers turned at her, aiming their guns, they fired at her.
The 7.62s simply bounced off her, as she responded by firing accurate bursts at the offending soldiers, dropping and pinning them down.
Jordan couldn't believe what he was seeing, the strange teenage girl stood up and joined them. And she just once again shrugged bullets off like it was nothing.
"Ok, what really in the actual fuck is she?" Jordan shook his head to recompose himself before returning fire at the NVA troops.
She fired burst after burst as the NVA troops dropped down, more arrived but she simply slammed a mag in every time she ran out, but more and more tried to charge at them, determined to kick the invaders of their homeland.
Jordan ran out of bullets, as he pulled a new mag and reloaded his gun, he looked back at the strange girl, as a blue fire light thing suddenly enveloped her.
Then she fired her gun. Blue-colored projectiles rapidly rained down on the PAVN troops, completely gutting their ranks.
The survivors immediately routed and retreated as she stood there menacingly, her gun's muzzle still smoking.
The marines simply had their mouths on the ground. Even the marine who was lying down after his gunshot wound stopped sobbing in pain as he looked at the strange sight before them.
Just moments ago they were outnumbered and outgunned, most likely dead. But she turned it around single-handedly.
And was that magic? Or an unknown technology?
Those blue things? What were those? The cat ears and halo were one thing, but that...who the hell is she? What the hell is she?
"A-an angel..." Mike muttered in shock as he stared at her.
She simply stared at the fields, there those strange troops that were swarming them lay down, either dead or wounded.
She stood motionless for a few moments, as her mind experienced a moral crisis.
"What I have done?" She asked herself as she looked at one of the soldiers a few dozen meters away from her who stared at her in terror, as blood gushed out of his mouth. His torso was almost exploded.
"I-I...I murdered...so many..." There, in front of her, laid the results of her actions. Wounded men weakly dragged themselves to cover, while others simply lay down motionless.
Dead.
Truly, completely, and utterly, dead.
"...Who are you?" Turning around she sees the soldiers that she assisted staring at her in shock, confusion, and terror.
"W-what the hell even are you?"
Author's Notes:
Well, there you go. What a hell of a first contact, thrown into the Vietnam, immediately absolute chaos and terror. Not sure what other characters from BA I'm gonna add, but whatever. I hoped you enjoyed this one, Rapid Intervention out.