KANAN'S POV

I am currently seperated from the main formation. The only ones I can see alive who are with me are my dad and eleven more people, plus four Legionnaires riding ahead of us. The fog obsecures my vision as I rode through the gloomy landscape.

The Expedition has lasted for more than three hours. We managed to advance deeper into Wall Aya's fields. Our horses have carried us many kilometres away from Wall Emi, so now we are somewhere halfway between the two Walls.

However, as we travelled deeper and deeper, more Alpacas appeared to attack us. Even as our formation has so far proven effective, it makes us fat targets for the packs of Alpacas grouping up to eat us. Yet we cannot just abandon the cannons that the central formation brought for this Expedition. The commanders decided to have the frontline Expeditionaries scout ahead and scatter. This is why I am at my current position. Me, my dad, and the others are positioned at the far northwestern flank.

I am nervous. Even though we have done surprisingly well as horse archers supporting the Guardians and Legionnaires leading the attack, the Expedition has already lost 2,107 men out of the 400,000 who set out at Wall Aya. This is just how difficult it is to fight them off considering most of the Expeditionaries are undertrained militias and forced conscripts.

I am anxious for my ammunition. I have only about fourteen arrows left in my quiver. I am scared as much as the others are. We all know that the closer we get to the hole at Wall Aya, the more Alpacas we will encounter, particularly the nasty ones such as "chargers", "abnormals", and "jumpers". Worse still, we have not yet even faced the Armored or Colossal Alpacas.

Looking at my dad is the only way I could calm myself. He gives me a sense of security.

"Kanan, are you alright? Can you still fight?"

"I...I do!! We have no choice besides that, right?"

"....yeah....I guess we don't."

We rode through a foggy and gray field with some trees. Unlike the open fields, here our Legionnaires and Garrisons

Moments later, we started hearing cannonfire behind us. This should mean that Alpacas are attacking from the far right. It also meant that we should slow down our advance, since our mission is to protect the central flank. My dad shouted the command to slow down.

However, as we continued to ride forward, I heard strange noises......then.....we all saw a dead body of a Legionnaire on the ground.

"What the?!!"

"Oh no!!"

"Everyone, stop!!", my dad gave the order to stop immediately. We unsheathed our bows as we prepared for the possibility of an Alpaca attack.

"Those four Legionnaires ahead of us are probably dead by now!! If you see any shadow through this fog, scatter immediately!!"

We waited for something. We waited....

Soon, a large Alpaca came out and charged at us. We managed to dodge it and began our retreat on horseback.

"Darn it!! Everyone withdraw!!"

By the time we rode a safe distance away, we looked back to identify the target. I readied my arrow as I pulled out my bow and aimed it at the Alpaca, close enough for us to identify amidst the thick fog.

My eyes grew wide at what I saw. Our attacker is not like any we have faced before. My hands trembled a bit. The others feel the same way.

"It's the ARMORED ALPACA!!", shouted my companion right of me.

"Run!! We stand no chance against it!!"

All of us hurried away from it. We all knew what we faced - the very creature that destroyed the Inner Gate of Wall Aya. It is our first time to see it personally at close hand. Our entire group quickly lost morale; demoralised by the sheer terror that the Armored Alpaca had established upon us - the fear and the lack of visibility caused by this thick fog made things worse.

"Everyone!! Keep yourselves together!!", my dad, Shinzo, quickly took command of the group. He succeeded to keep us all together and maintain our focus. We tried to keep our distance as we ran away. We did not risk to scatter amidst this thick fog and the possibility of other Alpacas lurking around, nor did we try to waste our arrows on it.

Dad ordered us to focus on retreating back to the central formation, hoping that the cannons and other elite troops would assist them in time to fight off the Armored. He already fired a black signal flare, but amidst this thick fog, it is uncertain if his flare could be seen by anyone miles away from where we are.

Even so, the Armored chased us and caught up. It succeeded in killing about five of our companions. It used acceleration and rush tactics - we all felt like we are being chased by packs of wolves.

At one point, the Armored killed one more of my companion by biting it's head off. It then bit the man's horse and threw it at Kanan while she aimed at it. The Armored thankfully missed - the horse it threw fell just beside Kanan. It almost freaked out my little girl so I called her to ride closer to me.

Everyone started to fear for their lives, I did to - knowing that the Armored is smart since, unlike the other Alpacas, it paid attention to a horse and used it to kill us. I could not do anything besides riding forward with my dad. A lot of thoughts raced through my mind: am I gonna get killed next? Will we make it out alive? Can anything such as a cannon do damage against that Alpaca's armor?

"The Armored is catching up!!!"

"I do not want to die!!"

"Our horses cannot run faster than they are!! We're screwed!!"

As the Armored got even closer to us, we saw shadows in front of us.

"Look!! Someone is coming to help!!"

"My God, we are saved!!"

Not before long, five Uranohoshi Garisson Guardians arrived. We screamed back at them and briefly told them what is happening without slowing down our horses. Immediately, they told us to keep moving forward as they dealt with the Armored, holding it off to allow us to escape.

"We saw the flare!! Get out of here and tell High Command!! We will deal with this!!"

We escaped safely, the Armored is forced to shift it's attention to the Garisson.

"Shit!!? So it's the Armored that is chasing them?!"

"Damn! Everyone hold it off!! Even if you die!!"

"Armored monster!! I saw how you broke into the Wall!! This is payback!!"

We left behind the Garisson who held it off with their screams and blades. I never saw them again thereafter.

----

SHINZO'S POV

God, we are so lucky to have survived that!! I know that those Garisson soldiers will die, but I assure they died heroically.

We quickly headed back for the central formation. We heard cannonfire again as we retreated. The eight of us succeeded in regrouping with the formation.

"Kanan, we are safe now. Don't be afraid.", I said to calm my daughter.

We saw a Garrison captain as we rode by. I swiftly rushed to him to ask for a report on the situation, as well as reporting to him our experiences.

"Sir, we just escaped from the Armored Alpaca! We are the hunters assigned to scout at the far northwestern flank."

"Thank God you are still alive though. I have to let you know however that we just had a serious setback.", the captain said as gave a very disappointed and frustrated face.

"Setback?! What happened?!!"

"More than 30,700 Expeditionaries have deserted the formation!!"

"What?!!", all of us responded in surprise as we learned of the worsening of the situation.

"Many of our soldiers have deserted and turned back towards Wall Aya!! They took advantage of this fog to escape!! They are all damn cowards!!"

I see. This is the problem when you have a huge percentage of untrained, demoralised militia - citizens and farmers with no combat experience - who make up the Expedition. Desertions are almost a guarantee considering the circumstances: no clear sign of an attained goal or physical evidence for it, lack of discipline, moving in dangerous Alpaca territory, navigating through thick fog, and finally the news of the arrival of the Armored Alpaca; all these combined to overwhelm them with fear for their lives.

I understand them, but this understanding opens me to a realization - mankind is filled with deserters such as them. Most of us deserted our freedom for security and comfort inside the Walls.

It is now inevitable, if any of those deserters survived and returned to Wall Emi, their arrival will surely make the residents aware that this operation failed.

"Things have happened already. We can't change it back anymore. All we need to do is to survive, that is what matters.", I replied.

"At least your group survived. In any case, I would like you all to go and regroup at the left flank of the formation. Stay there and standby until further orders."

"Yes, sir."

We rode at the left flank just as we are ordered to. We stayed there and awaited for orders. Everyone in my group managed to calm down now. As we waited, I had to think over what might happen next.

So far, the fact that the cannons are still firing meant that the formation is still working properly. The problem now is the threat of more Alpacas coming in to break one of our flanks and even more so the threat of that Armored Alpaca.

I believe that the Armored will punch a hole through our formation, considering it's speed and durability. Afterwards, it might send an army of Alpacas to wreck more of our troops. It is bad when I think about it, now that I realised that the Armored is intelligent too. Who would have expected that the Alpacas out here have brains?

Suddenly, we heard a faint noise of screaming men.

"Oh no!! What is going on?!!"

"Has the formation been broken?!!"

A messenger arrived at us and gave a report.

"What is going on?!! Has the Armored Alpaca attacked?"

"Sir, even more bad news......they say that the COLOSSAL ALPACA HAS ATTACKED THE FORMATION!!"

When we heard "Colossal" everyone panicked all of a sudden. However, I wanted to double check - it is not inevitable for the army to be giving confused and mistaken intelligence.

"What!!? Wait....is there actual confirmation?!! Amidst this thick fog, it is easy to mistake big Alpacas with the Colossal."

"Yes!! We saw the Colossal!! It is actually attacking - ", before I even managed to analyse if this man actually did see it, another soldier came.

"Everyone!! Run away, now!!!"

Moments later, soldiers started reporting that a massacre is taking place. Much of the right and central flanks have been attacked with much losses. A lot of men are dying.

"Soldier!! Clarify your report!!", I demanded.

"There is no time! The commander of this Expedition, Duke August Cunningham, has issued a massive withdrawal!!"

"A withdrawal!?"

"Yes!! Duke Cunningham has decided that the Expedition is a failure!! Right now, he is leading the counterattack with about 224,000 men!! His orders are to let the remaining troops retreat back into - "

"Wait, you're serious?!! He is taking 224,000 with him?!!"

"Yes, sir - "

"What the hell is he thinking?!! Why would he take more than half of the Expedition with him!!?"

"Who cares?!! He wants to hold them off, let him do it!! For now, we should be thankful that he considers it appropriate for us to get back home!!"

"It does not make any sense - "

"JUST FOLLOW ORDERS, SIR!"

Against my wishes, I am forced to obey orders. Our group did what was demanded of us and we retreated to Wall Aya. We followed a big group that headed for the retreat alongside us. The eight of us kept our distance a bit further from them since we all know that Alpacas love to chase after big groups of people.

As we rode back, I tried to contemplate what is going on. Why did the Duke commit half of his entire army to fight the Alpacas without further support? We still have enough men to consider pushing even deeper into Wall Aya, even though we will run the risk of facing more and more Abnormal Alpacas.

If the Duke did consider that the Expedition is no longer plausible, he would have ordered everyone to retreat properly together, instead of sending more than 120,000 to escape while he leads the other half.

Finally, if he and his formation did encounter the Colossal Alpaca, it would be common sense for everyone to fall back immediately. I would have been hearing lots of explosions and probably the roar of the Colossal if it was around. No one would dare try to fight it off amidst this heavy fog.

I cannot help but feel that the report is either fake or misinformed. Especially so that the soldiers reported of a Colossal sighting yet they clearly did not mention of an Armored Alpaca sighting. Technically, it should be the one causing havoc right now. I was expecting we'd face it again once more but we didn't.

I decided to think deeper - about the actual goal of retaking Wall Aya. I know this Expedition has it's flaws but for me the biggest flaw is how we retake it.

For example, why are we not carrying any materials to fix the Wall? Carts alone will be really helpful, especially since the Love Live Corps always bring them during their previous Expeditions. But right now, I did not see anything - it's like everyone forgot that there is a hole in the Wall that needs to be fixed.

It led me to presume that our objective may not be to retake Wall Aya, but if so, what is our goal here? It also bothers me that our commander is a Duke from the Inner Wall Suzuko. He would most likely be taking orders from the government over the captains here. Or at least, this Expedition will proceed based on how the government wants it to -

.....wait....this Expedition is the Central Government's idea....which means....if I were the one in charge of managing this Expedition, I would have managed it based not on what the rest of the people want, but what the Government wants....in other words, their interests.....

Not for long, I suddenly figured it out. When I realised what is actually happening, I felt shivers in my spine......

I decided to call Kanan and tell her what I thought.

"Kanan....I think I know what is truly going on...."

"Huh?"

"It is just my hunch, but....I think the duke did it on purpose...he wanted us to leave even when there actually is no threat to the formation right now...."

"Eh? But why would he do that, then?", Kanan replied in confusion.

"....probably to fulfill the true purpose of this Expedition...."

Kanan started to wonder what I meant. I continued to explain.

"Kanan, I believe that this Expedition's true objective is to have all 400,000 of us die outside these Walls!!"

Kanan was shocked. I could clearly see her face is already as distressed as it already is. She asked me for more details.

"Huh!!? But why?!!"

"It is probably so that the people of Wall Emi would have less people to feed. If we think about it, it makes perfect sense. Since there is scarcity of resources and space inside Wall Emi to accommodate millions of people, letting 400,000 die would be the best solution to make up for that."

"But....would they really want this Expedition to - "

"Yes, Kanan. If that was not the case, why are we not bringing any materials to fix the hole in Wall at all?!!"

The moment I told her that, she started to think. My ten year old daughter managed to grasp my explanations. She looked around and tried to remember things before the Expedition set off. She realised what I was thinking too as she replied:

"...how...how cruel....no wonder why Duke Cunningham wants to send 224,000 men with him to die. But....to commit a mass suicide....that is so - "

"Screwed up? That's right Kanan, it is. In fact, everyone inside the Walls is screwed up. If you think about it, no one would actually join an Expedition if the government did flat out tell mankind that this operation requires everyone to die outside."

We continued to stare at each other for a moment, before I continued.

"Look, whatever the reason, we need to get back alive. Once we come back, we should tell the people what I came up with. Kanan, scatter and prepare to - "

While we are speaking, three small Alpacas rushed in out of nowhere and attacked us. Our fellow groupmates failed to spot them because of the thick fog.

"!!! KANAN!!", I screamed as I pushed Kanan back. She fell from her horse, but it was worthit - in a split second, a green Alpaca jumped and grabbed me with it's mouth.

I....lost consciousness.....

KANAN'S POV

"FATHER!!!!"

I screamed so loudly in shock. I witnessed my dad bitten all of a sudden.

I looked at him....he is dead. Soon, the Alpaca swallowed my dad whole. I screamed in terror.

"NOOOOOO!!!!"

"Girl, get out of here!!!", a man passed by on horseback telling me to get back to my senses and run away. I regained my focus - immediately, I whistled my horse and it came back. I rode away as fast as I can, whilst looking at my group getting slaughtered as they tried to hold off the three little Alpacas.

The man that screamed at me a while ago struggled to rescue his daughter. She had been cornered by one Alpaca.

"Sarah!!!"

She and the others faded into the fog, disappearing from my sight as I got away further. I would never see them or her come back alive. Poor girl.

I felt so hurt. My dad died, everything in my life felt broke. I cried very loudly out of despair. Add to the fact that my dad mentioned the possibility that this Expedition is meant to be a massive suicide mission, I also felt frustration.

I continued to ride away with my horse. But then, a big, blue Alpaca appeared and charged at me, bit my cloak to take me off my horse, and threw me off. I fell somewhere nearby.

I quickly got up and tried to call back my horse. It ran off in panic, my whistle failed to bring it back. I found myself alone in this bleak grassland - with an Alpaca walking towards me from behind. I looked back at it and felt fear beyond my imagination. I thought I will die.

"No...no no no...I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die!!!"

Thoughts of dying raced through my mind. Immediately, I ran away in fear. The Alpaca I am facing right now is one of those Abnormals who prefer to "play" with their prey. Otherwise, it would have tried to bite my head off than to throw me away somewhere.

I kept running for my life. My bow would do nothing against it, it is too tall for me to hit it's eyes with on ground floor.

Then, I found a cannon. It is abandoned - the Expedition must have considered it useless now. But for me right now, it wasn't.

I went to the cannon and attempted to make it work. From what I know from school, cannons are simple tools - put gunpowder then a cannonball inside the barrel, then light up it's match to make it fire. I hurriedly tried it out to save myself.

The Alpaca got closer. I struggled to calm myself, to tell myself to keep living and fighting as I carried the heavy cannonball inside the barrel. Finally, I managed to load the cannon and I lit up the match. I aimed the cannon at it and I covered my ears as I waited for it to fire.

"DIE, YOU BIG PIECE OF SHIT!!"

Seconds later, the cannon fired. It was really loud. The cannonball accelerated into the air towards the blue Alpaca. It hit it's front leg and destroyed it - the Alpaca still continued to walk towards me as if nothing happened.

I panicked, I searched for more cannonballs but there wasn't anymore left!! Then I saw shadows of Alpacas right through the fogs. It meant that I have nowhere to run unless I wanted to die.

The sight made me stand up paralysed with hopelessness. I am doomed. I am gonna die here....like my dad. I closed my eyes as I shivered and remembered the faces of the people who died their way to get here. I am scared beyond comprehension. I readied myself for my death.

"....i-it...it's over....", I said to myself.

...however....

"AHHHHHHH!!!!"

Suddenly, I felt a huge explosion behind me. A wind blew my hair as I opened my eyes in surprise. I looked behind me -

The big blue Alpaca....is dead on the ground. A man is on top of it's corpse. My eyes widened as I saw the man and the green cloak he wore which had the Pure logo of the Love Live Corps.

A Legionnaire....a Legionnaire heard the noise of the cannon I fired and came here to save me just in time......I am saved....oh my god....

"Come with me!! I know where to hide!!!", said the man who had black hair and one arm as he came to me and carried me to his horse and we ran off to safety.

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A/N: I am so happy to publish this chapter since it is one of my most favorite drafts so far for this Volume. Sorry if it seemed too long. I would love if you guys share this passage to others to show that this story/parody has just begun to show it's great parts! Commenting on how you felt after reading this will help my motivation a lot!!

Next chapter is coming up soon.