Arknights: The Scarlet Devil of Terra — Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Staff Officer

“Flandre thinks you don’t need to be so polite!” Flandre skipped lightly behind Talulah, trailing at the very back of the retreating group.

“If it weren’t for you this time, given the weapon configuration inside, we would have suffered heavy losses even if we managed to take this place.” Talulah paused, her expression solemn in the dim light. “It is no exaggeration to say you saved many of our lives. This gratitude is necessary.”

“So we are withdrawing now, but what about Buldrokkas’tee’s side?” Flandre asked, her little boots crunching against the frozen earth.

“There is no need to worry about the Shieldguards. The intelligence officer has already relayed the news of our successful rescue. They will break contact with the enemy shortly and return to the main base.”

Flandre tilted her head. She had not seen how Talulah and the others transmitted their intelligence, but since the Draco seemed so confident, they must have their own hidden channels. Flandre did not plan on staying with the Reunion Movement forever anyway, so there was no need to pry into their secrets. As long as she knew everyone on their side had safely escaped the battlefield, Flandre was satisfied.

The following day, the Ursus forces, having received nothing but radio silence from the factory, finally arrived to investigate. What greeted them was a hollowed-out facility and a mountain of corpses burned entirely beyond recognition.

The commanding officer was livid. His own men had risked their lives pinning down Buldrokkas’tee, yet this facility, which was supposed to be the most secure location in the sector, had been utterly annihilated.

“Do not be so quick to anger, sir… I believe our opponent might be hiding more than just the Buldrokkas’tee trump card.” A man standing beside him, wearing the insignia of a staff officer, carefully approached the pile of incinerated remains.

“Sir, do you not find this strange? This room is far too clean.” The staff officer crouched, using a wooden stick to sift through the charred, indistinguishable flesh.

“What are you getting at?” A dangerous glint of killing intent flashed in the commander’s eyes.

“I am not suggesting there was a traitor within the Ursus Patrol. With over fifty men stationed here, if they were all traitors, they would not be lying dead on this floor. And if there were only a few traitors, they could never have ended the battle this cleanly.”

The staff officer adjusted his glasses, his gaze sweeping across the blood-splattered walls. “It is as if they did not resist at all, or rather, they died before they even had the chance to process the threat. There are bloodstains everywhere, yet no corresponding battle damage to the environment. These men belonged to different patrol units. It would be nearly impossible for the enemy to plant traitors in every single squad., they died in scattered locations, meaning this was not a concentrated ambush.”

He paused, his eyes narrowing as he pieced the gruesome puzzle together. “I have mapped the bloodstains. They definitely noticed an enemy attack and entered a combat stance. Then, the enemy slaughtered them outright before a single weapon could be fired. The efficiency is simply terrifying.”

Suddenly, the staff officer’s eyes lit up. “Found it!”

He pushed aside a partially burned corpse, revealing a gaping, hollow chest cavity.

“The heart is missing… The ribcage was ripped open from the front, and the heart was forcefully extracted. Just what kind of monster could do such a thing?” he muttered, poking the ruined sternum with his stick.

Knowing his subordinate possessed genuine deductive skill, the commander swallowed his rage and waited for the full inspection to conclude.

When the final report was handed over, the commander’s face twisted into an even deeper scowl. He glared at the staff officer.

“You expect me to believe there is some mysterious expert among the Infected who can move at over a hundred meters per second, can fly, and cleared this entire facility in under ten minutes by ripping the hearts out of fifty armed men?”

The staff officer nodded calmly. “I can find no other logical explanation. Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however absurd, must be the truth. Sir, I mean no offense, but this is the only conclusion the physical evidence supports.”

“Then tell me, who is this enemy? A Confessarius?” The commander pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew his subordinate was likely correct, but submitting such an absurd report to high command was out of the question.

“According to my knowledge of the Sarkaz sub-races, the Confessarii manipulate minds, but they do not eat hearts.”

The commander’s blood pressure spiked. Ultimately, the truthful report was shredded. If he handed that in, his superiors would deem him insane and ship him off to some frozen wasteland to rot.

Instead, he drafted a false report: a cunning traitor had infiltrated the ranks, poisoned the garrison, and burned the bodies to destroy the evidence. The Ursus military was currently tracking this phantom traitor. While he would still face disciplinary action for the loss of the facility, the excuse of a hidden poisoner provided enough plausible deniability to save his career. With a few well-placed bribes, he could maintain his rank and eventually recoup his losses.

Neither Flandre nor Talulah would ever know that Flandre’s sheer, overwhelming brutality had inadvertently kept her existence completely hidden from the Ursus high command.

By the time the rescue party returned to the Reunion camp, it was noon on the third day. Buldrokkas’tee had arrived earlier and delivered the news of Talulah’s success, leaving the entire camp in a state of anxious anticipation.

When the survivors finally marched through the gates whole and intact, deafening cheers erupted across the frozen clearing. Upon learning that the savior of the operation was the very same little Blood Fiend girl they had feared just days prior, shock rippled through the crowd, quickly replaced by overwhelming gratitude.

Alina spotted Flandre trying to quietly slip away toward her room. The Elafia hurried over and scooped the small girl into a warm embrace.

“Little Flandre, you are the grand hero this time. Everyone is waiting to see you, you cannot run away now!” Alina carried the protesting girl right into the center of the crowd.

Surrounded by curious, thankful, and awestruck gazes, Flandre offered a small, hesitant smile. The warmth radiating from the cheering Infected was entirely different from the praise she usually received from her older sister, but she found she did not hate it. In fact, it felt quite nice.

‘Flandre did a good job,’ she thought, mentally giving herself a thumbs-up.

Because she had saved so many of their own, the camp’s previous terror had melted into genuine goodwill. Although the rescue team knew exactly how gruesome the Ursus soldiers’ deaths had been, they formed an unspoken pact of silence. Not a single person mentioned the ripped-out hearts or the blood-soaked walls.

The only tangible consequence of the event was that during Flandre’s morning stretches, a growing flock of Infected children would run over to mimic her movements. This strange little morning routine quickly became a popular habit throughout the entire base.

“Everyone is so full of life,” Talulah murmured, watching the crowd of children exercising in the distance.

“Indeed. It has been a long time since the camp has felt this energetic.” Standing beside the Draco was a white-haired Cautus. A distinct scar crossed the bridge of her nose, doing nothing to diminish her beauty, but rather adding a touch of iron-blooded resolve to her soft features. “Although there are still some stubborn individuals who believe allying with a Blood Fiend is inappropriate, Miss Flandre’s monumental contribution has left a certain Old Stubborn with absolutely nothing to say. I believe we can ask for her assistance with our current crisis.”

The Old Stubborn Yelena referred to was her adoptive father, the Patriot, Buldrokkas’tee. As the last pure-blooded Wendigo and the military backbone of Reunion, his ancient Sarkaz instincts made it fundamentally difficult for him to trust a Blood Fiend. Since the rescue, he had not forbidden others from interacting with Flandre, but he deliberately kept his distance.

Flandre was perfectly aware of the towering Wendigo’s avoidance. She simply did not care. Flandre knew she was not a shiny gold coin; she could not expect everyone in the world to like her. She had no intention of changing herself to please a grumpy old man. Aside from her sister, the opinions of others were largely irrelevant, though the influence of her fused soul did make her slightly more tolerant of their quirks.

As the morning exercises concluded and the crowd dispersed to their daily chores, Talulah approached Flandre and Alina.

“Alina, I managed to secure something special for you. Would you like to come take a look?”

Alina glanced at Flandre. Seeing the little girl nod, the Elafia smiled and followed Talulah away from the clearing.

Flandre turned her crimson eyes toward the approaching Cautus. She recognized her immediately: the captain of the Yeti Squadron, the White Rabbit, Frostnova.

The Cautus’s intent was obvious. Talulah had deliberately lured Alina away so Frostnova could speak with her alone. They needed her for something dangerous, and they knew Alina would object.

“Hello, Yelena!” Flandre greeted cheerfully.

“Hello, Miss Flandre. Would you mind if we spoke somewhere private?”

Frostnova gestured toward a small, elevated wooden platform nearby, typically used for drying preserved rations. Once they were seated, the Cautus wasted no time explaining the dire situation.

The Ursus winter was unforgiving. To survive, the camp required massive amounts of firewood, but logging the immediate forest would destroy their natural camouflage. Consequently, Reunion had established a secret logging camp fifty kilometers away.

Disaster had struck that very morning. An Ursus Patrol had discovered the logging site, and numerous Infected had been taken captive. Frostnova and Talulah feared that under torture, the captives would reveal the location of the main base. If the Ursus military mobilized before the Yeti Squadron or the Shieldguards could march fifty kilometers through the snow, the entire Reunion movement would be wiped out. Forced migration in the dead of winter would be a death sentence for the elderly and the children.

They needed speed. They needed Flandre.

“Alright, tell Flandre where it is. There is no time to lose, Flandre will set off right now!”

She had been feeling bored anyway, and anything was better than playing tag with toddlers all afternoon.

“On behalf of Reunion, thank you.” Frostnova handed over a bulky, metallic device resembling a radar receiver. “Take this. The red blinking light indicates the destination. There is a signal station at the logging camp, and this device is calibrated to track it in real-time.”

Flandre grabbed the receiver. Without another word, she bent her knees and launched herself into the sky, leaving behind a shockwave that drew gasps from the nearby children. In the blink of an eye, she was nothing more than a red streak against the gray clouds.

Alina hurried back to the platform, finding only Frostnova staring up at the sky.

“I am truly sorry, Miss Alina. We encountered a critical emergency that required Flandre’s unique abilities. I hope you can forgive us for borrowing her for the day.”

Alina sighed, crossing her arms. “You already sent her off before asking me. What is the point of apologizing now? Remember, Flandre is only a guest here. She is not a soldier of Reunion, and she is still just a child. You cannot keep throwing her into life-or-death situations.”

Alina was observant. She had noticed Talulah’s evasive gaze earlier and immediately understood the deception. While she recognized the necessity of protecting the camp, she felt compelled to remind the commanders not to exploit the little girl’s immense power, lest they incur a debt they could never repay.

“I understand completely. But the situation was rapidly deteriorating, and truthfully, there is no one else capable of reaching them in time.” Frostnova bowed her head in apology once more before excusing herself to manage the camp’s defenses, leaving Talulah to face the brunt of Alina’s scolding later.

It took Flandre less than ten minutes to cross the fifty-kilometer expanse.

Hovering high above the logging camp, she peered down through the biting wind. The snowy terrain was swarming with Ursus Patrol soldiers in heavy military coats. The Infected miners were desperately trying to use the felled timber and rugged terrain as cover, but the difference in combat prowess was absolute. Unarmed, starving rock-miners stood no chance against fully equipped Ursus veterans.

Had Flandre arrived even ten minutes later, the entire camp would have been shackled and dragged away.

Her crimson eyes locked onto the center of the skirmish. Standing amidst the chaos, directing the capture operation with calm precision, was a man wearing gentlemanly glasses. He looked entirely too elegant for a slaughter in the snow.