SG Vol. 1 pt. 27

My plan backfired on me.

I wanted to torture these brats, but the sugar-free gummy bears worked even faster than I thought they would on their stomachs. Because I didn’t actually want them to run around with shit-filled pants, I ended up sending them to the infirmary and then having to explain to Clover and some other nurses there why exactly all my cadets had horrible indigestion.

While Clover looked like she was trying not to laugh, the rest of the nurses didn’t exactly look happy with me.

They looked really unhappy with me.

Zane had to call me to explain how what I did was wrong, but really, he ended up just laughing and telling me to give them less next time. He also said he’d try sneaking me a sugar-free gummy bear the next time that I’m not expecting it, so I can no longer trust anything consumable that comes from that bastard.

Now, without my cadets to instruct and hours left on my day, I have nothing to do.

Well, nothing left that I'm supposed to do but paperwork.

I’m not going to do paperwork.

So instead, I head back over to the simulators.

I tell one of the nearby operators to set me up with the LA simulation and an A10-C VSU once I’m strapped in. There are already cadets and other instructors using some of the nearby simulators, but there are a few left that are free to use for the next couple of hours. Might as well take advantage of that and make sure my own skills don’t rust.

Now, strapped into the simulator’s cockpit and ready to go, I give the camera a thumbs-up and wait for the simulation to load.

The simulation loads and I find myself piloting an A10-C VSU on the deck of a carrier.

Los Angeles, ruined and occupied, is within sight.

Landing craft carrying tanks and soldiers alike are approaching the coast as proper jets fly by with bombing runs. Artillery barrages are fired from nearby battleships and destroyers to wipe out the opposition as much as they possibly can, and VSUs are finally taking off from their carriers.

It’s time for me to launch.

The objective is simple: retake Los Angeles.

Wipe out the enemy, assist where needed, and push the demons back – prove that humanity is a threat worth taking seriously.

Cutter-class along the shore have already been wiped out from bombing runs, but there are more hidden within the ruins of the city that are shooting plasma beams up at passing jets.

After every beam of plasma, a barrage of artillery hits where they come from.

But it’s not enough.

Even if it’s likely that hundreds if not thousands of the demons have already been killed since the start of this simulation, there are countless more.

“Launch,” a simulated voice tells me.

Time to go.

Pillars of smoke rise from the ruined city as buildings and debris are reignited from the fighting.

A beachhead is established by the time I fly over it and defending this beachhead until it’s fully defensible will be my first objective.

I know that this is just a simulation; I know that none of this is real.

But… this is the happiest I’ve been since I was last in a unit. Just knowing that I’ll be killing the demons soon is enough to make me smile.

Another barrage of artillery travels over me and decimates the buildings lining the beach.

Even though this operation is taking place during the day, it feels as if I’m flying during the night just from how much smoke is already in the air.

I switch to thermal imaging and get ready.

The grotesque silhouettes of Forager-class crawl out from the rubble. Even though many of them are missing their arms and legs, some even missing their heads, the tangled masses of flesh charge down the beach.

As long as there are only Forager-class, I can stay hovering in the air shooting their backline as those on the ground take care of their frontline.

This part of the simulation was always so easy. All I have to do is shoot them until—

A beam of plasma tears through my unit’s right foot, almost taking out one of my thrusters in the process.

Shit! They’ve changed the simulation if there are already Cutter-class this early.

There is no choice but to descend and bring myself into range of the Forager-class.

I draw my sword.

Two Forager-class use what limbs they have left to jump up at me, hoping to latch onto my unit, but my sword tears them both in half with a single swing. The GAU-8 Avenger built into my left arm continues firing below as my right arm focuses on slashing any Forager-class out of the air that try to jump onto me. Whenever I don’t need to swing my sword, the gun built into my right arm fires on the rest of the demons below.

Hot blood spilling out from the demons’ bodies shows up like an ocean of lava on thermal imaging, making the imagining less effective.

Shit. They’ve seriously increased the realism of these simulations since I went through training.

A Forager-class jumps onto my left leg while I’m distracted with slicing more out of the air, and it immediately gets to work gnawing on the metal armor until it makes a big enough hole to force its hands into. As soon as it can slide its hands into the armor, it starts tearing the leg apart from the inside.

I bring my sword down against it, severing its arms from its body.

The arms continue scratching at the inside of the leg for a few seconds after being severed.

I don’t have the time to try and take the arms out, so they’re going to have to wait.

There are too many Forager-class – far more than what used to be in this simulation. I guess they’ve finally given it a proper difficulty deserving of being called the hardest simulation.

I’ll have to land if I want to take them out while protecting the beachhead.

Crushing several Forager-class underneath my unit’s remaining foot, keeping the thrusters on just enough to stay upright and balanced without my right foot, I keep my guns firing while rotating my unit’s torso to sweep the sword along the 180-degree angle I’m facing.

A single sweep from my blade takes out dozens of the Forager-class as my left arm decimates almost as many.

Even if this is just a simulation, knowing that those glowing chunks of red that go flying under thermal imaging are the body parts and blood of the demons is enough to satisfy that craving I’ve been having.

It might not be as good as the real thing, but it’s enough. For now.

The first phase of the operation is complete. The Forager-class have been thinned out enough that the beachhead will be able to defend itself with naval assistance as long as my unit and the simulated VSUs push into the city.

My only problem is that I can’t actually walk through the streets. I have to stay hovering off the ground whenever I’m not standing still.

I need to find those Cutter-class.

Then, once I find them, I’m going to—

“Simulation ending,” the robotic voice says as the light in the cockpit flashes between yellow and red.

The base’s alarm is blaring outside of the cockpit.

The alarm rises and falls in pitch, never-ending as it makes my heart stop in my chest.

There probably isn’t a single person on the island right now who isn’t hearing this.

We’re under attack.