Chapter 54: Eye of the Storm (4)

“Hey, brother! Where’s Her Majesty now?”

In the central command hall, Kaya strode toward a busy senior officer, grabbing his arm.

“—Call me Colonel!” The officer yanked free.

“Got it, brother.”

“Tch… Her Majesty, in her [Valkyrie], headed twenty kilometers east to support the transport convoy,” the colonel answered without looking up, his voice brimming with unmasked agitation. “We even sent a gunship.”

Kaya froze.

Seraphina went herself?

Something’s off.

From what she knew of the woman, Seraphina would never leave Eisenburg’s core during a crisis like this.

—Especially with Mili still unsecured.

“When did she leave?”

“Half an hour ago.”

Kaya frowned.

Half an hour…

Right around when the shelling started outside the city?

Maybe even earlier…

“Any other way to contact her?” Kaya pressed.

“Comms are completely jammed. The south’s a mess; we can’t spare anyone.”

The colonel looked up, glaring wearily.

“We’re stuck waiting for Her Majesty to reach out…”

“Ugh…” Kaya fell silent, then turned to leave. “Thanks, brother.”

Colonel: “…”

The queen was out of reach. Kaya had to get back to the medical station.

Leaving the command center, she rushed toward the southeast outer district.

The streets were chaotic with fleeing civilians and roaring military vehicles, sirens blaring through the night.

This war was far fiercer than expected…

Why hide Mili at the medical station?

She recalled what Seraphina told her yesterday when hiring her—

“Kaya, I need your help.”

“Name the price, I’ll do anything.”

Kaya lounged on a plush sofa, legs crossed, flipping a coin.

“It’s not about money.” Seraphina turned, her heterochromatic eyes glinting coldly:

“It’s about trust.”

“Oh?”

“There are traitors in Eisenburg. Many.” Seraphina rapped her knuckles on the table, her voice eerily calm.

“The political sphere’s a given—I just purged the Senate’s parasites.”

“But the problem is—”

She paused, staring straight at Kaya.

“The military’s compromised too.”

Kaya’s brows furrowed, her casual demeanor fading.

Traitors in the military—she knew what that meant…

“Once Mili’s exposed to them, one slip, and she’s gone…” Seraphina continued:

“I haven’t caught their trail yet—I’m running out of time.”

“Until then, I need someone to protect her.”

Seraphina loomed over Kaya’s slouched posture.

“Why me?” Kaya met her gaze. “Aren’t your personal guards more reliable?”

“Because you’re an outsider.” The queen was blunt. “And your reputation?”

“…”

Kaya paused, tacitly accepting the assessment.

“The price?”

“Your food and gear—Eisenburg covers it all.”

“Five years,” Seraphina added, raising five slender fingers.

“Deal.”

Kaya agreed without hesitation.

Five years…

For a wasteland trader living day-to-day, that was practically a lifetime’s security.

Kaya clapped, raising her arms in mock praise: “Seriously, wouldn’t you two be safer sticking with the army? You watching her—who’d dare try anything?”

“I’m using this operation as bait to flush out every rat in the gutters, clean my ranks.”

“And I want her loyalty willingly…”

“So greedy? You’re betting big.” Kaya’s lips twitched, her crossed leg dropping.

Taking everything and expecting devotion…

Ruthless.

“I’ve won once before—”

“And who said I’m betting?”

“Scheming bastards…” Kaya muttered under her breath.

…

Back then, she thought—this woman’s insane!

But she was just a hired hand, no say in the matter…

Now, looking back…

This wasn’t just infiltration.

It was inches from all-out war!

Maybe Seraphina foresaw this, making Kaya the wildcard outside the board.

—A neutral third party, bound only by contract and principle, not Eisenburg’s military or any faction…

Bang—

Gunfire on the street snapped her from her thoughts.

At the crossroads ahead, a squad of gray-clad Church soldiers fired on fleeing civilians.

How’d they get in?!

Wasn’t Eisenburg’s wall supposed to be impregnable?!

No time to detour!

“Damn it—”

Kaya cursed, drawing her curved blade, crouching low, and using collapsed walls and houses as cover to close in.

Slash—

The first soldier didn’t see her coming, his throat slit in a spray of blood.

“Enemy attack!”

The others reacted, swinging their rifles toward her.

Rat-tat-tat—

Bullets whizzed past, cratering her cover and the ground.

Kaya moved like a dragon, weaving through the hail of gunfire, her crossbow and blade dancing, her sharp eyes catching every soldier’s move.

Shoulder twitches, glances, raised arms…

Tells before firing.

Her blade and bolts seemed alive, each strike claiming a life.

In minutes, she’d cut down most of the dozen Church soldiers.

The survivors, terrified by her inhuman skill, cowered behind cover, blindly firing.

“What the hell is that?!”

“A… monster…”

Kaya ignored their fear, pulling a homemade explosive from her pouch, biting the fuse, and hurling it.

“Grenade! Scatter!”

“Get down!”

Boom—!

The blast flipped the hiding soldiers, scorching shrapnel peppering their faces.

Kaya didn’t pause, using the smoke to charge, closing in.

A dazed Church soldier staggered up, squinting at the figure rushing him.

He reached for his chest…

Empty.

His rifle, unsecured, had been flung away in the blast…

He drew the dagger from his thigh, meeting her blade.

Clang—

Metal sparked.

Kaya kneed his jaw, swept his dagger away with a kick, and, as he reeled, slashed his neck.

Bang—!

A muffled shot rang out, searing pain hitting her calf.

Kaya grunted, rolling behind cover, sweat soaking her vest.

A sniper?!

She didn’t dare peek, tearing her waist scarf to bind her bleeding leg.

Blood loss dizzied her, but she smashed her fist into the ground, the pain forcing clarity…

She had to get back!

Even crawling, she’d make it!

Mili was there…

More Church soldiers poured from the streets.

Not the half-trained fodder from before, but elite, tight-knit tactical units, advancing with coordinated cover.

Their best were converging.

“There! Take her out!”

“For the Church!”

Kaya took a deep breath, hooked a rifle from a corpse with her good leg, and fired, stalling their charge.

She tossed her last smoke bomb and limped into another alley.

At the alley’s end, Eisenburg patrols clashed with another Church squad.

The Church’s forces were endless, wave after wave…

They didn’t care about losses, using bodies to block bullets, lives to burn ammo…

A Church soldier, roaring, charged the patrol, explosives strapped to him, only to be shot through the brow and kicked away.

Boom—!

The explosion collapsed the alley’s entrance, dust and rubble swallowing everything.

Kaya was flung down, ears ringing, taking ages to recover.

Struggling up, she faced despair…

Both ends of the alley were blocked by Church soldiers, black muzzles aimed at her.

The Eisenburg patrols lay dead in pools of blood.

She was alone.

Her gun was empty…

Her crossbow nearly out of bolts…

Only her blade remained.

Church soldiers rushed like rabid dogs.

Kaya gave a bitter laugh, dragging her wounded leg to meet them.

Her movements, once fluid, were now labored, each dodge and parry exhausting…

A bayonet stabbed her side; she coughed, elbowing the soldier’s nose to pulp.

Another bullet hit her shoulder, nearly making her drop her blade.

Blood soaked her clothes, her vision blurring…

Her strength drained, her body heavy.

With her last ounce of force, she thrust her blade backward, piercing another heart, and collapsed…

Lying among corpses, Kaya stared at the smoke-reddened sky, gunfire and shouts fading…

She saw her father’s scarred face—

The old trader who taught her to survive the wastelands, only to die at a client’s hands.

“Dad…”

Gasping, her vision darkened, the world spinning.

“Humans… are tougher than… mutated beasts…”

“Damn… deadly…”