The Goddess's Gambit

Rockefeller Center, Manhattan, New york
March 5st
4:40 PM

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  Vilhelm  POV
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The soldier started running towards the big table with the map. He carries crucial information that should be heard by important men, especially for Vilhelm, the general in command of the troops that the Empire had deployed in the city. A young man, short black hair, amber eyes almost red, a man in his mid-20s, his face was a young and handsome man if he were not accompanied by his perfect uniform and his sword at his waist that reflected his high rank he could easily be mistaken for a student. As soon as he heard the message he yelled in surprise, how the hell had they accomplished that? He just sent out a whole squad of Dolls, how did they get destroyed? It's only just been a couple of minutes !? 

If that is the truth, the bases in the port had no salvation, they could already be considered lost. From the beginning, from the conception of the idea of attacking this place, it was already known that his enemies would regain control of the city in a short time. But even having adjusted their plan accordingly, the Alliance was moving too fast. They had moved overwhelmingly fast and as if they had foreseen everything from the beginning it seemed they had to do to annoy the original plan. Everything they had planned in advance to ensure success had completely epically failed.

Taking their biggest threat out of the game killing her was completely impossible for them. They had managed to infiltrate some of their best agents into the meeting but she somehow managed to discover and kill them. Despite her efforts, Adelis seemed to have a guardian angel like no other. Vilhelm ironically thought that it would have been easier to kill the president of the United States, that they could have done it if they wanted to, but he had to follow the plan they had prepared for him to the letter.  The next thing that was to steal the information that she might have was also impossible because somehow it was impossible to access the computers that this woman used. The Empire had currently managed to access the defense system of one of the most important cities in the most important country in the world but did not manage to decipher the password of a laptop, or even less steal it. The next point had been to kidnap his daughter, Maria,  in case the first two failed to still have something to protect her with. But once again despite sending a Doll after her, the plan failed. It seemed a lie that those three separate plans, carried out at the same time, could fail, but even so, the miracle happened and everyone missed. It was even fascinating to try to discover how all of this came to fail point by point as planned. 

Part of the plan was also heavily based on the speed of the initial attack and the surprise factor. Sending soldiers and equipment north of the city as quickly as possible was vital to ensuring the success of the mission. That is why so much emphasis had been placed on securing and keeping the bridges under control as quickly as possible, but when one of them was destroyed by some group the speed of the men sent decreased enormously. They even made traffic jams for their own troops to use one of the other two roads available. The same waste of time that the UN security team managed to use to dig deep into the surroundings. Advancing through the city became a titanic task since the large number of civil vehicles blocking the road and the large buildings made the area impossible to maneuver freely or with speed. As if that were not enough, they had been ambushed in the city with guerrilla tactics. Short but devastating attacks, cannons hidden in the entrances of the buildings. But the worst was the simply vulgar number of windows in the city. Because it was a paradise for snipers, it was impossible to have an idea of where there could be shooters because any place was a good place, and if they were discovered they simply had to walk a little, and again they would start again. 

It was impossible, Vilhelm thought. There was no way that chance could so influence something so well thought out in advance. They had been tricked, fooled, and quite possibly bamboozled. Adelis should be behind everything again, somehow she figured it all out ahead of time and planned to pretend she fell into our clutches, just to show that they were ultimately dancing on her hands all the time. She feigned weakness when she was strong, lack of control with overwhelming leadership. She even took the liberty of risking her life to make them think they had won before their time. She had full confidence in her team, they knew what they were capable of and to what extent to take the risk. It was this unknown group that gave her the victory from the start.  Surely it was a team of mercenaries that she managed to secretly get together with people outside the Alliance,  this way there would be no way to get their identities.

Once again his rival had been one step ahead of him. His Goddess of War had shown once again that he had a lot to learn, which excited Vilhelm knowing that she, her idol, was still the best in her field, she still had that spark, that something that made her different from others, and that he loved. The young general's admiration for his rival could only be compared to the level of obsession. During the entire conflict, these two have been separated by a huge distance, but in the end, they play them at the same table. The two did not know each other personally, but Vilhelm knew her on a level that he thought was intimate and personal. He was considered a genius, a formidable leader, and a warrior. A purebred military strategist, until the fateful day he first tasted defeat at her hands. She, with her simple past, daughter of some nobody, showed her humble in the most poetic way possible. In the years following the conflict, he saw a rival, someone to measure himself against, someone with whom to polish his tactics. But she like a Goddess was unattainable He had followed his evolution as a person throughout the war, He saw how at first she was cautious and reserved, afraid to stand out. But that something at some point changed her, she went from being on her guard to a wave of uncontrollable anger, a desire for revenge took and hold of her for some reason.  Something happened to her during the conflict that made her lose her fears and seek redemption by ending the war as soon as possible. And that same was the reason she managed to end up in the capital of the Empire in such a short time. It was no exaggeration to say that the only reason why a genius as young as Vilhelm had accepted such a risky mission was simply to see his girl again whom he believed was destined for him and feel the emotion of life again if it was only for a few more moments. 

He turned around and then he saw it, and with it, he remembered something.

That he does not have the guts to go beyond certain defeat, sticking with the original plan no longer made sense. Dying here and now they would end their hopes of being able to see her again another day. Vilhelm asked one of the other officers if they had managed to transport the portal as planned. They told him yes, that it was finishing being installed inside the main building, but that with the hurry of the situation they were unable to fully charge the battery. Knowing the seriousness of the situation, because without that machine working everyone could be considered dead, he quickly thought of a solution. The power from the city had to be diverted to the battery, The battery could handle the high amount of power and store it. The only thing that had to be done was to take the power plants for a moment to fulfill it and to ensure their means of escape. 

Trying not to come out with a complete defeat alone, Vilhelm looked back at the map to see what else he could do. Which of the objectives that Fritz had calculated that they could achieve, would be the one that he could complete. Due to the delays of the initial attack, they had not yet succeeded in besieging the UN building. The men and supplies he had were more than enough to capture the building, but what they did not have now was the time to do so.  He decided better to go against Fritz's orders, but he would at least try to carry out the last part of the plan that he prepared. He decided to prepare all the details for his retreat, but he would also enlist his best men and his Dolls for one last strong attack at the end moments before leaving the city. Try to capture one of the most important leaders of the Alliance.  With this, they would make their message clear, That the empire will remain united forward at any cost. 

To achieve this, he would have to reserve his Dolls for the final moment, because if this mystery team was able to deal effectively with the androids, making constant use of them only reduced its possibilities. He had to save them for the opportune moment, But doing this also meant having to leave several of his men at the mercy of their enemies. Outside groups who did so bravely what they could to keep the Alliance away from their compatriots, seeking to ensure success even at the cost of their lives, would be left to their fate. But there was nothing that could be done, only to make his sacrifice, not in vain. Because for Vilhelm, nothing was more important than trying to reach his Goddess.