Duty of the National Defense Officers: Episode 7 (129/225)
As has been mentioned time and again—but forever etched in the memories of every Atlantean—some twenty years ago, in the inaugural year of the Atlénos Kingdom's transformation into the grand Atlantis Empire upon proclaiming its imperial status, the Lucid forces crossed the border without a declaration of war and massacred trillions upon trillions of lives.
By the time enough people had died, it became nearly impossible to find a single family untouched by the slaughter of their kin at Lucid hands. In the minds of countless Atlanteans, the Lucid invaders became beings whose blood one could drink by the gallon and still not slake their thirst for vengeance. The number of people pounding on recruitment offices in rage over lost loved ones easily numbered in the trillions.
Of course, resolving to act and actually carrying it out were worlds apart, and in their dire circumstances, Atlanteans were instead slaughtered by the very Lucid forces they despised so fiercely. This was simply because they lacked the power to turn their convictions into action.
The Cates Empire provided weapons and aid, slowly strangling the Lucid Empire through economic sanctions, but as their own national treasury dwindled under the pressure, the Lucids grew ever more obsessed with recouping their "investments."
Withdrawing from Atlantis now would mean writing off far too much sunk cost, and having poured the lives of quadrillions into the Atlantean front, the Lucid Empire couldn't afford to retreat lightly—lest their own regime collapse overnight. To avoid expulsion from Atlantis, they grew more ruthless by the day.
Dropping nukes on civilian districts or dragging people off as test subjects for poison gas and bioweapons under the guise of scientific advancement was just the beginning. Yet for most Atlanteans, powerless to defend themselves, there was nothing to do but suffer helplessly.
But in this moment, at least on this planet where Kaif had descended, everyone united to drive back the Lucid forces. The same troops who had gleefully beheaded bound POWs for sport or conscripted women as sex slaves now crumbled pathetically before "Berserker" Kaif and his wonder weapons.
"Wha... fuck... why the hell is it bouncing off..."
Even among those dishonorable ranks, there were the brave ones. Some soldier boldly approached Kaif's tank—fluttering the enemy banner amid the battlefield—and fired an anti-tank rocket. But before the untested Atlanium armor, it rang out with a cheerful ping and ricocheted harmlessly away.
Once that brave Lucid soldier's strike proved futile? It was Kaif's turn. Kiririk... He didn't let the fool who dared fire on his tank escape, swiveling the turret and delivering a devastating blow.
Seeing such valor fail only deepened the chaos in the Lucid lines, where far more troops had already fled or were fleeing than remained to fight.
Facing a Tiger was bad enough, but this beast—several times heavier, yet somehow faster than a Tiger, maybe even rivaling a civilian car—charged while shrugging off every attack and smashing their weapons to scrap? Lucid morale didn't just hit rock bottom; it burrowed straight into the earth.
"Good, excellent! Crushing the enemy underfoot has always been the sacred duty of the National Defense Officers' Corps—no, of every soldier in the National Defense Forces! Keep it up, everyone! Press them until not a single Lucid shadow darkens this land!"
Kaif, unable to contain his reckless nature and charging at the forefront, still retained enough reason to spot the chaos in the enemy ranks and exploit it ruthlessly, denying them time to retreat to safety.
His orders boomed across the division-wide command network installed in his custom tank, and every soldier obeyed the supreme commander's ironclad directive—blasting shells and lasers into the Lucids whether they waved white flags or not.
"Fuck, if tank shells don't work, call in the air force, right? Get the air force here! Damn it, even a Tiger can't survive if you pop its lid!"
The Lucid ground forces, fleeing desperately until cornered with nowhere left to run, finally remembered their air support and screamed for anti-tank strikes. Most aircraft, lacking warp engines, knew full well they were doomed if the ground troops fell—and eagerly answered the call.
Kaif's tank-led vanguard was the first torn apart by the raptors from above, massive mushroom clouds erupting wherever Lucid bombs fell. Ha, haha... alright, got 'em? No way—even demons from hell couldn't survive that.
"D-Damn it... what the hell? Can't see through the mushroom clouds... did we get 'em?"
"You fucking jinxed it, and now those bastards are popping out fine as ever!"
Was it some soldier's careless words that raised the flag? Kaif's armored division burst through the bomb-made clouds unscathed. The craters left behind would stymie normal tanks, but the Tyrannosaurus Rex, hovering slightly off the ground, ignored them entirely.
In the end, confirming even air strikes were futile, the Lucid forces tried digging into the earth to escape or turned guns on their own as hostages to bargain with the Atlanteans.
Kuhuhuhu... hahaha... as expected of a protagonist-buffed tank—nothing beats that cheat code. Performance confirmed. Zero friendly losses, forcing one-sided bleeding on the enemy—what a weapon!
"Oh, the Luftwaffe boys are finally getting their moment to shine again."
As Kaif grinned maniacally from his tank, aircraft emblazoned with iron crosses streaked overhead. It seemed the Atlantis Air Force had just received Kaldir's dangerous inventions and sortied.
The Lucid air force, buzzing around to "support" their ground troops, was no match. The new fighters were so fast even Luftwaffe aces struggled to adapt, yet their hyper-maneuverability—hypersonic dashes into right-angle turns or vertical climbs—made them a pilot's dream.
Tanks were one thing, but planes could crash if mishandled, no matter the specs. Yet the Luftwaffe had made the bold call. Lucid bombs couldn't even dent the new tanks anyway—no need for cover, but extra help never hurt. Time to do my part.
My part? KILL! Kaif lived his creed: "Every military op boils down to four phases: K, I, L, L." With top aces providing cover, within hours, the Lucid landing force vanished without a trace.
But countless planets clamored for "Berserker" Kaif, and without time to celebrate, he raced to the next battlefield. The Luftwaffe squadrons Grozny had thoughtfully assigned followed, and there too, Kaif added to his legend.
The Kaif who had once distrusted Kaldir at their first meeting—vowing to "crush her myself if she's lying"—was long gone. He'd always leaned positive: "If it's real, hire her as munitions minister on the spot."
Seeing the Tiger vs. Tyrannosaurus Rex test results, had he thought, "First tank to one-shot my Tiger—love at first sight!"? Or did its stellar combat debut seal the deal?
Either way, riding the Tyrannosaurus Rex now wasn't the "Kaif Bayern" who hid his madness behind a normal staff officer facade in HQ. This was the rampaging biker who crushed surrenders and all.
Each planet he liberated had Lucid garrisons, but this one's misfortune was fighting blind—their neighbors had vaporized at light speed without warning them. Predictably, they crumbled pathetically upon learning their foe.
Watching them raise white flags after a few tank rounds made Kaif's mantra ring true: "Lucids are civilian-massacre geniuses, combat retards."
"Commander, those fuckers—no, the Lucids over there—seem to be raising a white flag?"
"What? Waving surrender? Begging to be targets?"
White flags rippled everywhere, but Kaif's unit rejected them just like on the last planet. The commander himself led by example, using the banners as bullseyes to greet any would-be POWs with massive payback.
Killing openly surrendering foes risked war crimes charges, but Lucids had broken "battlefield rules" first—slaughtering POWs wholesale, faking surrender only to pull grenade pins as Atlanteans approached. No National Defense soldier took their white flags seriously anymore.
And so, this Lucid garrison followed their predecessors into oblivion just hours later.