Turncoats

The Indigo Knight, Klaus Wagner, had been a brilliant engineer in his former life, but he was now the man who led the German army with great efficiency, and a man that Louis Delacroix had never even talked to. He didn’t believe it to be necessary. A show of force was all that was required to coerce him into a Truce. Unfortunately, Klaus had added in an extra clause, something Louis had completely forgotten about.

“In the event that the German army has more than twice the manpower of the French army, Berlin reserves the right to cancel the Truce at their discretion.”

Louis reread it over and over, but it didn’t change a single thing.

Berlin had cancelled the Truce and declared war on Paris.

With the French army having lost most of their men in Moscow, Louis was banking on the Germans picking up the slack as they went on the defensive, but now they were just another hyena waiting to feast.

This betrayal should’ve made Louis furious, and while he was angry for a few seconds, he couldn’t help but laugh as the absurdity of it all sunk in.

At first, it was a jovial, light-hearted laugh, but overtime, it got rougher and louder until he started cackling like a maniac.

Slamming down his fists on his desk, he declared to himself, “If it’s a fight they want, it’s a fight they’ll get! We’re ending this in our homeland! And every single barbarian that bangs on our gates will be shown the true strength of our nation!”

***

It was a cool summer night in Paris. Louis had taken Sylvie on a grand date. They had seen the beautiful works of art at the Rodin Museum, taken a cruise down the Seine River, and finished with a fancy dinner at one of Paris’s top restaurants. The two now strolled through the gardens of the Eiffel Tower.

“Did you have a good time?” Louis asked her.

“Mm-hmm.” Sylvie replied before stopping.

He turned to look at her, concerned. “Sylvie? What is it?”

“Louis… Do you think I’m prettier than Celine Menard?”

He almost scoffed at the mere suggestion. “Is that supposed to be a joke? If you were the finest rose then she would be a common weed. If you were a brilliant diamond then she would be a dirty pebble.”

“Hmph!” She pouted and turned away. “You’re just saying that!”

“Sylvie… I know what I can do to convince you that you truly are the most beautiful girl in the world.” Louis knelt before here.

Sylvie gasped, realizing what he was about to do.

He pulled out a box, opening it to reveal a beautiful ring complete with a massive, sparkling diamond. “Will you marry me?”

As Sylvie accepted, Louis felt like he was untouchable. Kosma, Abilities, Knights and Maidens, it didn’t matter. With his goddess, nothing could defeat him.

***

“Sylvie!? Where is she!?” Louis's army had barely managed to evade the Germans as they fled to Paris. However, instead of reorganizing his men or preparing their defense, the only thing on his mind was his fiancee.

“Sir, she’s…” A servant, one of Sylvie's ladies-in-waiting, stammered.

“I need to speak with her immediately!” He grabbed her shoulders, demanding answers.

“S-she’s… in her room…b-but…!”

The woman still had more to say, but Louis did not care. He pushed her to the side and started running. All he could think about was her. It didn’t matter what happened, what came his way, he would overcome it all as long as she was with him.

Without hesitation, he burst into her room. “Sylvie!”

“Louis!?”

His heart sank and he felt his soul die. It was as if a black hole had swallowed him whole. This was worse than anything he had experienced on the battlefield. The cold betrayals of Berlin and Tokyo were like droplets on a rain coat compared to this.

He saw Sylvie in bed with another man.

***

The anti-French alliance had grown to its final size. At first it was just London who stood alone against Paris, but then the French invaded Rome, Istanbul, and Moscow. Tokyo then joined after rejecting a French offer. Finally, New York and Berlin, who were French allies, switched sides. This alliance came to be known as the Coalition of the Seven Cities.

However, their only goal currently was the defeat of Paris and Louis Delacroix.

After Berlin’s backstab, the French were in a scramble, and while they managed to avoid combat, they couldn’t do anything but scamper back to Paris. Now that they have bunkered down on their home turf, all that was left was to siege the city and end the war.

Most of the Coalition’s troops were currently in Berlin where they prepared for the invasion. However, they wanted to make sure this final battle would be successful, so they were taking extra time to prepare.

In the meantime, Keitaro had climbed to the top of Europa-Center, a high-rise that gave him a great view of Paris. With some binoculars, he was able to get a pretty good look. The French troops were already preparing for combat. They might’ve been few in number, but they were focusing their defense on specific choke points. There’s no way the French would win the battle, but they could make it a pyrrhic victory for their enemies. That is…unless they had a trump card.

“You know, I really regret not asking Sylvie about her Ability.” He put down his binoculars. “Too late now, I guess.”

“I-I think it’s for the best…” Toko replied.

“These Abilities create a lot of problems.” Musashi crossed his arms. “You can’t ever expect to defeat an enemy you don’t understand.”

“No kidding, Sun Tzu.” Keitaro had pulled his binoculars back up.

“Oh, it’s not that big of a deal,” Tomoe chimed in. “We have the same advantage too.”

“For now at least…” If Keitaro and Toko ended up having to fight Louis and Sylvie, their Abilities would probably get revealed. “Still. Sylvie and Louis must be reunited by now. I wonder how that went.”

“P-probably not great…” Toko said.

Keitaro sighed. “Hopefully not. I’m honestly banking on things to collapse on the homefront. A floozy like that oughta be found out.”

“Y-yeah…”

“You’d never cheat on me, right, Toko?”

“W-what…!?” Toko stammered.

“You know, pick up some random punk and start treating him like your little brother.”

“O-oh…that’s what you meant…”

“Because if some girl was trying to act like my big sister, I’d tell her to get lost,” Keitaro proudly declared.

Toko glared at him. She knew very well that her brother loved “older sister” types.