Ryan slowly opened his eyes.
For several seconds, he couldn’t understand what he was looking at. His vision was blurry, his body felt numb, and a high-pitched ringing filled his ears, drowning out almost every other sound around him.
He tried to move his arm, but pain immediately shot through his body.
Ryan gritted his teeth and pushed himself up from the snow. He was lying near the edge of the massive crater created by the energy beam, his body covered in snow and debris. His clothes were torn in several places, and blood ran down the side of his face.
He slowly stood and looked around the pale world, the battlefield he remembered was gone.
The soldiers that had been fighting the Eidolons had been torn apart in an instant. Bodies were scattered across the frozen ground, while the massive crater stretched through the battlefield where the beam had passed.
The Eidolons they had been fighting were gone as well.
Their bodies had been caught directly in the beam, leaving nothing behind except scattered remains buried beneath the snow.
Ryan’s expression became grim.
His ears were still ringing badly, making it difficult to hear anything, but he could see movement around him. One soldier slowly pushed himself out of the snow, coughing violently, more rolled onto their backs before forcing themselves upright.
Some were injured badly, others were barely able to stand, but they were alive.
Ryan looked towards the direction the beam had travelled.
His eyes followed the destruction until he eventually spotted Andrea, Yuri, Hannah and Old Man Bo standing together in the distance.
Ryan immediately started moving.
His legs were still shaking from the impact, but he forced himself forward, stumbling through the snow before gradually regaining his balance.
He reached the group with his hearing still almost completely gone. Andrea noticed him approaching and turned towards him.
"Ryan, we need to assemble the survivors and launch an attack on the Eidolons."
Ryan pressed his hands against his ears until the ringing finally began to fade. He slowly shook his head.
"Our army has been destroyed. Half the survivors can’t even stand on two feet." He looked towards Andrea, his expression becoming grim. "Even if the other forces all join us, there’s simply no hope for us to win this. The day is lost, Andrea."
Hannah looked towards Old Man Bo.
The old man was staring at the crater in silence, his massive hammer still resting in his hand. Hannah’s expression slowly fell before she hid her head beneath his thick fur.
This battle was supposed to be their way home. They had believed that if they won, everything would finally change. They would survive, find a way back, and leave this frozen hell behind them.Now, after seeing the battlefield, even that hope felt fragile.
Andrea wasn’t blind.
She could see the state of the army. The energy beam had wiped out an entire section of their forces in an instant, and the survivors were exhausted, wounded, and barely capable of fighting.
If she had seen the Eidolon army coming sooner, perhaps the plan would have continued without a hitch.
But she hadn’t. And now they were standing in the middle of the consequences.
Ryan looked towards the distant Eidolons before turning back to Andrea.
"Andrea, let’s retreat and fight another day. Perhaps a day better than this one, where you don’t have to sacrifice your life and the lives of others."
Andrea remained silent. Before she could answer, Yuri stepped forward.
"And when would that day come?"
Ryan’s eyes shifted towards her.
Yuri’s expression remained calm, but there was something different in her eyes now. The exhaustion from her battle with the Divine Priest was still visible across her bloodied body, yet she stood straight despite it.
"Stop lying to yourself, Ryan. If we allow the Eidolons to have this day, then whatever will we have to fight them with would die here and now."
She looked towards the battlefield.
The surviving soldiers had begun gathering around them, listening to every word. Yuri tightened her grip around her bloodstained katana.
"I would much rather die fighting than be hunted like an animal."
The soldiers surrounding them remained silent for a moment, then several of them nodded. One injured soldier slowly forced himself upright despite the pain in his leg and shouted proudly with his weapon raised.
Ryan had never expected something like that from the quiet Yuri. Yet her words seemed to ignite something inside him that had nearly gone out when the weapon fired.
Even Andrea looked surprised, then she smiled. It was small, but Yuri noticed it.
"Claire should be sending the second advance force any moment now." Andrea looked towards the surviving soldiers. "We sharpen our blades and mend our own wounds. When they arrive... We kill some Eidolons."
The surviving soldiers slowly began moving again.
Some searched through the snow for their weapons, pulling swords and axes from beneath the debris while others helped injured soldiers back onto their feet. A few of the wounded could barely walk, forcing their comrades to support them as they moved away from the edge of the crater.
The soldiers that were still capable of fighting began gathering together, checking their weapons and looking towards the distant Eidolon army. There was fear in their eyes, but none of them were running away.
Several soldiers dragged the bodies of their fallen comrades away from the battlefield, while others began clearing the snow from the area around them. The survivors were exhausted, but they were slowly rebuilding what remained of their formation.
Andrea watched them for a moment before turning away.
Yuri walked up beside her, while Ryan approached from the other side. The three stood together, looking towards the distant Eidolon army that had remained strangely still after the railgun attack.
Till Yuri broke the silence.
"There’s absolutely no way we can win this, we should still stick to the original plan".
Ryan nodded.
"Sacrificing anyone doesn’t sit well with me, but at least that plan has hope of actually saving some of us".